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GuardianSing

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Posts posted by GuardianSing

  1. On 3/1/2024 at 8:52 AM, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

    that is because that's the demographic of most gamers.

    Remembered to add something here. Most census data on the subject shows that the demographics are far more equal with gender, with males only getting a very slight majority and that getting smaller and smaller each year. It only often feels like a male dominated hobby because those are the people who most often dominate the online spaces regarding it which can create an unequal perception on who is actually playing these games most of the time.

    6 hours ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

    I got hit by "gamergate" (right wing) and "communism" in the same discussion.

    I mean if you couldn't already tell I'm not particularly unsympathetic towards communism so it was meant to be an example

    6 hours ago, Lightcosmo said:

    Whats so great about you doing your fans a dishonor?

    Nobody is saying it's great, the system as we live in it is just too much for some people and I sympathize with anybody whom the expectations of their job plus the act of doing it are destroying them from the inside.

    5 hours ago, Lightcosmo said:

    I feel like this really does seperate quality. How can anyone put love into something that "feels" like it's out of neccessity?

    Most jobs are out of necessity. If you want to have a roof over your head and food to eat for you and your family, you have to work, it is the way of things. A poor cashier trying to make ends meet has much much more to worry about than putting all their love into each of their daily shifts.

  2. 11 hours ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

    yes

    it's called being a professional

    Being told to always be professional is the hallmark of corporate driven profit. It doesn't not benefit the worker in the slightest to act professional to a tee, it only effects the company's image which is why they drive it so hard. If you think you have to sacrifice comfort for absolute professionalism despite the fact that the company does not reward you with any additional material benefit then you have fallen victim to their propaganda.

    11 hours ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

    Wrong - Some might be, but not even close to all.

    Who are you trusting to say what is and isn't authentic? A fluent speaker of both? Because if not then what authority do you have in saying a certain translation is more authentic to the original version than another?

    Regardless, all translation is a form of interpretation because no language perfectly maps onto each other like pallet swaps, especially not Japanese and English who have evolved completely independently from each other.

    As an example I could say "Konnichiwa" translates to "Hello" in English and we commonly understand it as such, but it also could translate to "Good afternoon" "Good morning" "How's it going" "Hi" and so on. The word doesn't literally translate to anything because there's no such thing as a single language map that the Gods use for every language. It has always just be an interpretation from translators to connect words that have the same use cases in their respective societies. etymologically speaking the words "Hello" and "Konnichiwa" have absolutely zero relation to each other historically but are interpreted as translating into other because they are used in the same contexts.

    That is just one simple greeting phrase. Now imagine that nuance for the entire language and how things like different grammar functionality have to give some form of interpretation. 

    11 hours ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

    the fans

    I specified that fans aren't a monolith and that the fans I was referring to are the ones actively antagonizing the workers. That I specified that and you still went onto the defense, in effect claiming that behavior as being endemic to fandom as a whole, then that is certainly disappointing.

    So I ask again, who are you more willing to side with? The specific sect of fans sending death threats to a translator? Or the translator trying to push back against the harassment? Unless of course you deny that something like that is even happening and every single fan has always been acting in good faith.

    11 hours ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

    People pay with their money and get a product - have every right to complain with something they dislike and air grievances - and if said "minimum" wage workers responds to questions with namecalling, swearing and hate on the fans, then they aren't free of blame - and honestly lose all my sympathy. If you get question on the wrong communication channel, then point to the right one or block. If you use the wrong communication channel yourself (ie private account) then you just made that communication channel the defacto right one.

    Perhaps, but that has nothing to do with translation or localization conceptually, it's about individual character, something that I personally would also find pretty irritable if I had a two year deadline for a localization that requires six. There's no "evil localizer" conspiracy.

    9 hours ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

    that's not a good excuse imo

    It is the perfect excuse if your definition of "The Fans" is really just the small demographic of a fanbase who are invested in this and not even close to representing the entire group of people who might consider themselves a fan. The people's communist party very rarely has much of "The People" actually within it if you get what I'm saying.

    7 hours ago, Lightcosmo said:

    This again, is an excuse. How about giving me a good reason? Lol 

    Hey now. Don't get too political with what has been one of the core discussions in politics for the past 200 years and still going strong.

    If you like to work hard than good for you. Some others however try to work as hard as they can because they are told they will achieve great things and well...there's a reason the suicide rate in this country is so high.

  3. 58 minutes ago, Armagon said:

    You underestimate how people will do the minimum sometimes because the job doesn't pay enough. 

    Especially if the studio is based in the US the pay is usually never enough on it's own which is why most of these freelancers are working on multiple projects around the same time.

  4. 43 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

    The system being sucky doesn't change the responsibility of the worker towards the consumer.

    If a mistake happens from client side and i have to do stuff again (which happens to me, daily, and right now as i am writing lol) my company gets extra money, i don't, and i have to do work again. If a mistake happens from our side, i also have to do work again, and no extra compensation  - and it's the client/consumer's right to complain then - it's not harassment.

    That's just the thing isn't it, the company isn't paying you anymore for working harder or more productive, they'd shoot you dead to make a profit. Why, as a worker, spend far more time than what is reasonably good for one's mental health to do everything perfectly when you can do good enough and the only people who will notice are those more mentally invested in the project than you could ever have time for.

    The vast majority of people watching these localized shows aren't particularly miffed about it, because if you are invested enough in an overseas show to want to watch in it's quote on quote "original form" then you have plenty access to it already, no official translation is depriving you of that experience, if you trust the work of machines or amateurs to make it authentic then they are there to do so.

    24 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

    And this doesn't just apply to Translations mind you - players or fans wanting the product to be good and complaining about bugs/bad games/etc. is not harassment - and the fact that the game industry or media industry is shit is not the fans' fault. Yeah yeah fan demands and capitalism and such - but maybe put the blame on the lack of labour protection laws and not the fans

    It being a complaint is what bugs me. Complaint implies a hindrance of life, of self determination. Translation differences and preferences are points of discussion, because I'll reiterate again that all translation is a form of interpretation that only a fluent speaker could ever verify the authenticity of.

    25 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

    And this doesn't just apply to Translations mind you - players or fans wanting the product to be good and complaining about bugs/bad games/etc. is not harassment - and the fact that the game industry or media industry is shit is not the fans' fault. Yeah yeah fan demands and capitalism and such - but maybe put the blame on the lack of labour protection laws and not the fans

    Then the people may send those complaints to the CEOs I mentioned earlier and not the workers trifled under them.

    The fans aren't monolithic and consist of a variety of different people with different views and reactions. It does not change that some fans are directing their complaints to a minimum wage worker, essentially directing all responsibility onto them and fault to them, antagonizing them, accusing them. My question for you is who are you most inclined to side with? Who do you relate to the most?

  5. 10 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

    If I have a bias in this, its that I have seen through experience that most official localizations are just fine, some could be better, some could be worse, but it definitely isn't dire enough to harass people about it.

    I mean complaining about the work of an underpaid individual because of the minute details of a translation not being 1 to 1 with the original language (A feat that is impossible to confirm the true authenticity of if you aren't a speaker of both) is peak consumerism towards capitalistic incentivized art, let alone harassment. Who is at fault here? Is it the company pushing harsh deadlines and inconsistent information between overseas teams? Or is it the single freelancer just trying to make a living with the little cut they get for their work?

     

     

  6. Screenshot_2023-10-10_152607.png?ex=65f1

    So just throwing some ideas...

    2 hours ago, Lightcosmo said:

    And in my opinion, since more care is put into female designs, they tend to stand out and look better/more fun to me.

    Personally I think they just need to hire more bisexual artists, that would fix the issue right up.

    18 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

    All things considered, it probably wouldn't affect things that much.

    Give Ethlyn a side quest to get her daughter back so she can be in Thracia 1776 or whatever it's called.

     

  7. Fire_Emblem_4_-_Seisen_no_Keifu_J303.pngFire_Emblem_4_-_Seisen_no_Keifu_J304.png

    The saddest part about this death is that I never got to see her promoted animations.

    Fire_Emblem_4_-_Seisen_no_Keifu_J306.pngFire_Emblem_4_-_Seisen_no_Keifu_J307.png

    Fuck it, might as well use this thing before the timeskip.

    Fire_Emblem_4_-_Seisen_no_Keifu_J308.png

    I- How did you get here?

    Screenshot_2024-02-27_154907.png?ex=65f0

    The council of pony tailed gingers

    1 hour ago, Newtype06 said:

    Debatable, even in a vacuum. Overall, i'll still say localized is worse. Corrin turns lesbians straight now.

    In either case the main problem was the writers lampshading gayness while refusing to actually add aside from two characters and only with Corrin.

    Personally if feel that if you're gonna make a game where the player gets to decide who marries who, you should just make everyone bisexual at that point, why limit yourself, they're gonna write fanfiction about it anyways.

    1 hour ago, Newtype06 said:

    Speaking of the Iberian peninsula, I returned to my Portugal save and managed to become a saint with my third character. I think this will be my first time going until the game ends in the year 1453.

    This is one of those games where I'm willing to bet at least a quarter of regular players never play all the way to the end.

  8. 20240225142600_1.jpg?ex=65f07561&is=65de

    20240225143442_1.jpg?ex=65f07565&is=65de

    Ehhh, lets not be Irish nationalists too early, don't want to pull a reverse UK on the Scots, Welsh, and Anglish in this timeline. This shall be a multicultural empire united by faith and region!

    Ignore the fact that all the English and Welsh Duchies are owned by Irish nobles because they didn't let me choose local rulers.

    20240226075151_1.jpg?ex=65f07626&is=65de

    The life of this queen was truly insane. She outlived all her daughters, defended successfully against an invasion of thrice the Empire's military size and managed to best it with the defense of all the combined Duchies and Petite Kingdoms armies from peasants to nobles on her side. And she declared the new Empire of Celtia and was crowned it's first Empress. She lived to be older than any member in her dynasty had before, pushing strong at 72 without even becoming an Infirm yet.

    20240226080142_1.jpg?ex=65f07dbc&is=65de

    Empress 'The Adèle Tuatha Dé Danann' of Celtia.

    I might call the run there honestly, I feel that's a satisfying climax to the Dimasaigh dynasty. I know there's outta be more stuff to do like keep this new Empire stable, continue trying to defend against hostile Catholic Europe, the Bubonic Plague, and whatever else but I feel ready to move onto other sections of the map.

     

    9 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

    Damn, and then you win a defensive crusade out of no where? That is kind of impressive, as those things can cascade into a real disaster.

    Yeah I definitely didn't save scum every time my army lost a battle.

    6 hours ago, Armagon said:

    This can also apply to names, phrases, etc. If a character is named Chola, that shit ain't flying in El Salvador.

    Yikes. With the new president you'd be arrested on the spot for affiliating with Gang members with that kind of talk.

     

  9. 2 minutes ago, Armagon said:

    Do you think there's Japanese people who get really mad that the JP localization of an American game isn't a direct 1:1 translation?

    This is only partially related but I have heard how there are Japanese fans of western English shows that also argue if either subs or dubs are better.

    But to the point I would have to imagine there's an agreement that direct translations are incomprehensible with how different the languages are.

  10. 20240225121244_1.jpg?ex=65eeb106&is=65dc

    20240225123525_1.jpg?ex=65eeb106&is=65dc

    20240225132633_1.jpg?ex=65eeb106&is=65dc

    I-It all happened so fast.

    10 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

    -Southern Italy. So much for "Mongols can't swim".

    Side note

    20240225105547_1.jpg?ex=65eeb1f8&is=65dc

    The OG Khan had already died before I checked the leader screen but apparently he was called Temujin 'the Feeble' which is incredibly funny.

  11. 1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

    Cornwall and London?

    Are navies a thing and could you simply rule the waves and isolate the Holy Roman exclaves?

    Not even a mechanic in the game, you pay money proportional to the size of your army for ships crossing oceans into territory and that's it.

    Though truthfully I'm glad about that, focusing on infantry and boats during war sounds like hell.

    Either way any forceful attempt to grab those duchies is going to be met with the full force of the HRE plus allies and Holy Orders and whatever Catholic leaders might want to join.

  12. 3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

    For me, a 10/10 probably only exists in the higher plane where all ideas originate in perfected form before emanating imperfectly into this lower realm. ...Maybe not the best practical thing to include in a rating a system.😆

    This is why I prefer to just let my words speak for themselves rather than make a rating that only really makes sense to myself with everyone else having to go off of their own interpretations of what the numbered rating or rank means. An 8/10 for one game could be completely different from another 8/10 game, and with thoughts and opinions on media constantly changing over time, a rating a fairly permanent mark on what is an impermanent experience.

  13. 8 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

    The debate may have had a little heat behind it, but I think it went to some interesting places.

    I think it's important because casual misogyny or misunderstandings of women's struggles is still a very common implicit prejudice that persists even in progressive spaces. It's one of the leading reasons that many women don't engage in male dominated fandoms even if they are interested in the hobby, there's often an explicit prejudice or othering that occurs, even if they are otherwise good people.

    This has been a thing since the early roots of feminism where revolutionary men would talk the talk of women's rights and suffrage, but during any meetings or otherwise where a woman was in a speaking or leadership role, there was always a sense of tension that could be felt in the room and a hesitance to follow along.

    8 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

    Aslo it mhgit not be dxelyisa, tehre is taht wlel konwn sudty aobut how ploepe can raed wrods as lnog as the fsirt and lsat lteter are the smae, and it has all the rgiht leettrs in it.

    I mean I didn't even know it was a word that existed then so that helped.

     

  14. Screenshot_2024-02-23_070700.png?ex=65eb

    Nice choice of words, ABC.

    5 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

    Causal was not a typo for casual. A causal relationship is one where one of those things is the cause of the other. What I was trying to say is that I don't think the existence or details of religions really matters to how misogynistic a society is. The mythology is always just a smoke screen, an excuse for inappropriate behavior made to bait those who give people the benefit of the doubt, and the more intellectually minded to fall into a wasteful pit of analysis.

    Oh...

    I didn't even see that as a typo I just genuinely misread that. Curse my dyslexia, I started that whole debate for nothing!

    5 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

    That either indicates those poor women have tragically lonely lives, or that Guardian Sing has a super sexy voice.

    They were both over text so my voice was never heard. It was really funny seeing them peace the fuck out the minute they learn I'm half their age.

    To be fair maybe it's my fault for assuming innocence in casual conversations with strangers but hey it's not my fault we live in an individualist culture that insists any friendly interaction with someone you don't already know means a show of interest.

    5 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

    Not to mention the cruelty of sending Oifey away... I might be letting Oifey's ending sway me a little there.

    That has always been one of my least favorite tropes, they want me to see it as honorable but it just makes the dad seem like a prick, especially in this case where Seliph's mother is also gone.

    5 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

    Like so. Also just out of curiosity, did you get to see the battle convo between Lex and his father?

    I completely forgot that they were related. Prey tell what are the details.

    5 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

    Arvis do a little hypocrising.

    Already I can see the Edelgard parallels. Works with the evil guys begrudgingly and steals other people's wives.

    1 hour ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

    just a reminder

    RkfTv4h.png

    even if most of the world sees it unfavorably (and rightfully so), you guys over the pond are one of the few ones that make it super weird, especially legally.

    Welcome to the United States, where federal laws clash with individual state laws brought in by the local legislator of each trying to mediate with the president on what is and isn't a right to the state and the people ruling over it.

    You know, like feudalism.

    39 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

    Because, despite people looking down it and that number increasing, lotsa people still practice it, it's not really as dangerous as Sibling incest (as long as you don't keep doing it over multiple generations in the same family)

    I mean it's this kind of thing happening constantly in royal dynasties over the years that has created the stigma, ain't it.

    42 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

    maybe not in the US, but when americans see it outside, wether in media or otherwise, they tend to go apeshit over it, not knowing that it is not illegal in most of the world.

    I don't know how many Americans who aren't terminally online twitter users or hyper religious puritans are going that crazy over cousin marriage in media, especially since a large chunk of that media is coming from the US as consequence of being the largest culture exporter. I live here, and let me tell you, Americans fucking love stories about monarchs and Greek mythology, neither of which are complete without at least a little bit of incest.

    But also I'm with the lawmakers on this one for once, cousin marriage may be legal in most of the world but so is the 5 day work week so really anything is subject to change.

  15. Fire_Emblem_4_-_Seisen_no_Keifu_J282.png

    Buddy you should see my action economy

    Fire_Emblem_4_-_Seisen_no_Keifu_J283.pngFire_Emblem_4_-_Seisen_no_Keifu_J284.png

    I'm only just now realizing I forgot to repair the broken sword which I probably need to beat this boss. brb.

    Fire_Emblem_4_-_Seisen_no_Keifu_J286.png

    Nevermind, Bridget got it. You can come back Sigurd.

    Fire_Emblem_4_-_Seisen_no_Keifu_J288.png

    Oh man I wonder who's fault that is.

    Fire_Emblem_4_-_Seisen_no_Keifu_J291.pngFire_Emblem_4_-_Seisen_no_Keifu_J292.png

    The selfishness of a father who'd rather die in battle than take care of his kid.

    Fire_Emblem_4_-_Seisen_no_Keifu_J294.png

    No! I haven't been able to see your promoted animations yet!

    Fire_Emblem_4_-_Seisen_no_Keifu_J298.png

    "Now my first move to do this will be robbing my newly wedded wife of all her agency and claim to the only position of power she would've ever had. Make sure her memory stays wiped just so it'll be easier to convince her."

     

     

  16. If I had a nickel for every time a lady in her mid to late 30s got me as a wrong number and started coming onto me when I acted kind in response I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice.

    8 hours ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

    kacJuBe.jpeg

    PDAfEp0.jpeg
     

    The sexual dimorphism of these characters is killing me.

  17. 1 hour ago, Armagon said:

    Yeah but i was referring to the part where you said it's inherently baked in. I mean, misogynist Catholics exist but generalizing the entire faith as a misogynist one is uh, well, a generalization.

    Ehhhh well abbesses have the same ranks as abbots and bishops. They do have some limitations but even that can vary. Some places do give them higher reach than others.

    See, but this is the user as opposed to the tool. Let's not forget that men of the cloth are also supposed to be virgins as well, compared to basically every other denominations where the pastor (not the priest) has no such restriction. The purity aspect applies to both genders ("your body is a temple" and all that). Now, that Catholic leaders of old used it to shame women is a different matter. 

    This is once again the user rather than the tool. Centuries of corruption and restructuring and whatnot, honestly just practice the faith in accordance to your values.

    At the core of misogyny is the strong desire for a mythologized tradition and a driving force for achieving that mythologized tradition has been religion.

    I'll say it again, I don't think it's inherent to religion, and I'd argue that a person is more adhering to Jesus's word by not being sexist, but that's not really the issue, the issue is just how often religion is used as a means for enforcing traditional norms, especially gender norms. Any kind of spiritual practice is very effective at enforcing such ideas and has historically been used as such with religion.

    Now I see the point right? It's not religion that drives these things, it's our human arrogance that would exist regardless if a person is spiritual or not. But the point of it now is that religion is used overwhelmingly as a tool for these kinds of issues, and regardless of whether or not I think evangelicals are real Christians or not, that doesn't stop them from using Christian dogma to justify their rhetoric. The church as an institution and cultural way of life has completely eclipsed the original philosophies books like the Bible. Many of the religious justifications for misogyny are merely excuses for bigotry present in the current society and I think it's important to recognize how easily it can adopted as an excuse. I say misogyny is baked into the Catholic church, not inherently, but consequently in the institution as through the generations it has been written into scriptures and holy books by men, the true virtue of women, and that has pushed that culture ever forward even if it is not inherent to the concept.

    1 hour ago, Armagon said:

    I don't think this is misogynist either. If religion is just man's way of explaining the world, then the fact that only women give birth is, well, because that's just how it is.

    Yes but think of it in the eyes of a religious person. If you accept that God made humanity in his vision than you accept that men are the default because God is a man, and women were specifically chosen by him to give birth to men. The point of that sentence was to illustrate how religious stories often enforce that kind of gender essentialism by applying a godly and inherent focus on biology. If you believe God is real and is a man then you believe that the entire fabric of existence inherently has a male bias. It's easy for us to say that women giving birth is simply how we ended up evolving and adheres to no inherent rules of the universe nor does it say anything about the character of an individual but in the theological world there is an entire context on the fundamental creation of humanity you have to consider.

    It's why I like the interpretations of God being a genderless being with not even a physical form that we can comprehend, feels much less arrogant.

    2 hours ago, Armagon said:

    Isn't gender supposed to be different from sex?

    Yes, that was the point of that sentence. Men can also give birth if they were born female.

     

  18. 41 minutes ago, Armagon said:

    I think you may have pissed off all of Latin America with this

    I pissed off a significant portion of the entire world with that, but misogyny is misogyny and religion isn't excused from it.

    43 minutes ago, Armagon said:

    it's interesting because Catholics treat Mary with equal respect and reverence as Jesus and God, to the point where we have a special form of prayer dedicated pretty much to her (well the point is it goes to everyone but it's designed around Mary).

    This is one of the big, big differences between Catholics and other Christian branches. Protestants in the like simply treat Mary as just Jesus' mother and otherwise unimportant. Not to generalize but they generally don't believe that she ascended to his side when she died and so seeing Catholic spaces revere her so highly kinda ticks them off. But then Catholics get ticked off when Protestants don't do that and the cycle continues.

    Indeed, which is why I also considered her as being a possible inspiration for why so many RPGs have Goddesses leading female religious figures. But still should be noted that Catholicism still has misogyny well baked into it as they are completely excluded from the Catholic hierarchy. Mother Mary and the ideas of purity surrounding virginity have also been a leading strategy to shame women in Catholic parts of the world. Mary is propped up as this shinning example of womanhood, a woman who obeys their father and son, a woman who's most important contribution to humanity is giving birth to men.

    I know this because half my family is historically Catholic and many many of my cousins and tías love to go on about their hangups with the traditional depiction of Mother Mary.

    50 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

    Also biology. I mean... really? Call back when men can give birth, then complain the woman was chosen.

    It was God who made it so male's couldn't give birth, placing the burden all on females. Pretty fucked up if you ask me, especially if Jesus could've just been spawned instantly like Adam and Eve.

    Also, men can give birth if they were born female.

    Fun fact, I've heard more than once from former Christian female friends of mine talk about how one of the driving forces that pushed them away from it was the story of Mother Mary giving birth to Jesus. To them, the idea of randomly being impregnated and forced to birth a child was, rightfully, horrifying. If that sounds familiar to you then good, because it's why primarily religious groups lead movements to ban abortion and their historical tendency to overlook martial rape in accordance to general disdain for divorce.

     

  19. 12 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

    I don't think FE has really gotten enough into the weeds enough to talk about a title as one given to a consort. Really that distinction that has kind of lost so much relevance in our times of irrelevant monarchs that it isn't something people generally think about.

    Regardless of the what the game chooses to call it, by action they imply a consort role.

    14 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

    I don't think religion has ever had a causal relationship with misogyny.

    It was never casual. They've been married for several centuries and have had 14 kids. Religion and Misogyny go hand in hand like butter and bread. What else do you expect from a religion in which one of the main female figures is forced to give birth to God's child. I know my way around religious texts and let me tell ya, they aren't complete without one absurdly sexist remark or tenet slapped in there somewhere.

    And regardless, all of theological history disagrees with you on this point, with churches and faiths to this day being one of the few spots in the world that restrict certain membership hierarchies to men only. Official religious leaders almost always exclude women, a pope can't be a women nor can the cardinals electing the pope, the patriarch of Moscow can only be, you guessed it, a patriarch.

    Now I don't think they are inherently linked, and patriarchy has certainly existed with and without religion, but that's just the thing. If Fire Emblem stories take place in patriarchal worlds then how does such a culture continue to exist in a very matriarchal faith? The concept of divine right of kings inspires the story telling of these games but fail to address the how the specific divine is female yet actively denies agency to other women in favor of men being the ones who rule the nations primarily. Female religious rulers exist but unlike the pope in real medieval history, they are largely unimportant or non-existent to the greater political happenings in the story until we get to Three Houses. Men remain the main drivers of the plot and the most important political figures in the world with male preferred heirs to all dynasties, religious power means almost nothing in that sense as Naga seems deeply uninterested in giving her divine right to women. Note how Marth had an older sister who was just completely skipped.

    38 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

    You are definitely painting the religions in FE in far too wide a brush. Due to you playing one of Kaga's games right now, I will be a bit vague here, but Kaga tends to play it fairly straight with the polytheistic gods being powerful being in the world, or that once were part of the world, without much moralizing beyond the most malicious being seen as evil, and kindest as good, although most are rather aloof.

    If you read through the more religious of FE6's supports, Elibe's Church of St. Elmine is a simple monotheistic faith, very like our modern day one with St. Elmine as the prophet of this perfect ideal god that isn't treated as a part of the world. The people of the Sacae also follow a far more animistic religion very vaguely reminiscent of Shintoism.

    I have never cared enough about FE8 to figure out if it even had a religion.

    Tellius is an interesting case, as the truth of the matter is more similar to the flawed character with only minor limitations on their powers, but because the goddesses have not been a part of the world for so long, a faith more similar to that of the moralist nature of monotheism falsely arisen. It is a bit of a theme on FE10 that the gods are flawed in spite of human's beliefs that have come to pass in their absence.

    This is probably a fair critique of how Awakening handles things, but that is another game I do not feel strongly about.

    Fates definitely doesn't have that sense of morality attached to its gods, we don't hear all that much about the dragon gods of old, or how they are usually worshiped (because Fates world building is hilariously bad) but it comes across far more similarly to the way you describe polytheistic faiths.

    I will point out for Three Houses that it comes across to me as a bit of intentional propaganda from Rhea for her own purposes. How much that changes things is debatable, but I do feel it is a bit of interesting context to add.

     

    That wasn't meant as a critique per-say, more of an observation on how the games generally portray it to give an explanation for why female goddesses are common but not female rulers. I know it varies between games but I still get a sense of it closing in on the middle.

    With Three houses it's curious because despite having this matriarchal faith the world still subtly acts under patriarchal framing, with all but one dynasty shown having a male ruler. You have women who will inherent dynasties at the start of the game but before that happens it's all fathers and brothers with Judith being the only one established as otherwise. Ingrid talks about the stress of being the only daughter to a house and having to marry into another family to save hers despite wanting to be a knight which is a conflict that, given the state of their world, shouldn't really be a problem for her. This isn't a world that robs her of agency once she marries so why is the story acting like it is?

    And again Edelgard is an emperor not an empress. You could say it's a gender neutral term but it's good to think about what "neutral" means here, that the male default is also the de facto default. Men are still considered the default. This may be nickpicky but it's what I noticed. I know I praised TH earlier for talking about sexism in a decent way but I still don't think it made sense to be there exactly.

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