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  1. any opinions? i would look at tags to start.. i personally really like how they break the 4th wall with the dialogue of course to open; but then i start imagining conversations between my Tactician and the ArchSage himself. i often wonder if they planned it this way currently on the chapter where we recruit Wallace and i had to look him up. didnt want to spoil myself (will most likely read the support conversations,) but was surprised to learn about how involved he was in House Caelin's introductory story to the strife within the Lycian League: racist undertones? country bumpkin vs city slicker? who's hot vs who's not in a game of pick my units anyway? rightfully so, these are my emotional opinions on the choices Wallace makes..i confess i do not pick him up as a unit: but his timing is impeccable as always. some of these soldiers serve with the utmost distinction in deployment strategies we are simply thrown into, and have no reason to solve. so we rescue & recruit him in the chapters he introduces himself, of course, but we also want to know a bit more about this, IMHO, Wallace / Oswin archetype (an old man who still serves) - influenced by this post i once wrote i realize i'm assuming a lot here, but what if FE7 is the "choose your own Lord" archetype game. we all get excited upon Lord (units that are normally chosen for us) promotion, correct? Lord Eliwood receives a Lance & a Horse upon promoting..in my opinion, a reflection and a throwback to one of the strongest (main) Lords in the series: Sigurd from FE4. although they both chose to ride out in different ways, both results ended in war: one as a Rescue mission, the other as a Search party. Eliwood's "farm" after the game? i do not know yet, but hints have been given in certain ways already Wallace's "farm"? he leaves it to go BACK to war. and he remembers his promotional medal this time..but why? i think its the retirement Lord Hausen of Caelin would promise to those in service to their realm under war (should Lycia have gone to war with Sacae over the "elopement" of a Caelin Princess?) on the subject of elopement, my assumption is that Lord Hausen replied "this must mean she loves horses, so lets send some horses after her." knight commander vs sussy baka commander, right? another game of pick my units, but of course, on a micro scale. "we must protect my only kin" "your brother's too old" "you're the rightful heir (or is it..YOUR rightful heir) tee-hee~" all his confidants say, right so the main question here concerning this war within the Lycian League, is why do these men such as Wallace / Oswin never receive the Lord's promotion we always want for them? i believe Wallace's impeccable timing of promotion & recruitment within the tutorial is this promotion we always wanted for one of the regulars. therefore, Lord Hausen's never-ending mission for Wallace, from what i know of him: "i know you're here for the girl. im here for the cadre" as a soldier would or is it "im here for the princess. i've always been here for the princess. so say we all" as a prince would
  2. I want an Awakening-style sequel to Three Houses. By which I mean, a sequel set in the far future of the world after all the characters and events of the original game have faded into myth. Now, admitedly, it's not as if Awakening sets a good example here. For all the things that that game did well, respect for the source canon definitely wasn't one of them. But I think that Three Houses is a much better target for that sort of sequel than Shadow Dragon, Mystery of the Emblem, and Gaiden ever were. For starters, the world building of Three Houses is a lot more extensive, which makes it a lot easier to adapt without having to resort to making up a whole lot of nonsense. Beyond that, though, I also think that a far-future sequel would work pretty well with the themes and ideas that Three Houses already has. There are all of the ways that Edelgard is a mirror of Rhea. There's Rhea's actions being motivated by her ancient trauma/ There's Rhea being named for one of the Greek titans, the generation that preceeded and were replaced by the Olympians. There's the contrast of Indech and Macuil deliberately retreating from the world and fading into myth compared to Rhea, Seteth and Flayn trying to be an active part in it. There's the way that, at least on Crimson Flower and Verdant Wind, we're actively fighting to try to create a new world order rather than just to maintain the status quo. There's even the way that the NG+ crest item for the Crest of Goneril is called the Kalpa Dragon Sign. The basic idea of repeating patterns in history is baked into the world already. I don't know exactly what I'd want the plot to look like, since that would require a lot of work to even outline properly, but my basic thought is that Crimson Flower is canon, Edelgard won, she ended up becoming a religious figure as the leader of the gods who overthrew the previous generation of titans (despite not wanting to be) and the Church of Edelgard has now become greedy, corrupt, and nepotistic. Yeah, it's not exactly a super original plot, but I think it could be a cool way to further explore and reifnorce some of the themese of the original game.
  3. I just completed chapter 22 and Marth's paralogue. Overall, a neat chapter and paralogue. However, there is one thing that confuses me: If I understand correctly, chapter 22 reveals that the ring Lumera wanted to give Alear contained the rest of Lumera's divine dragon essence, which would've made Alear completely divine dragon as a result, and Alear now has the ring, infusing them with that power and making their hair and eyes completely blue. At the same time, after Alear dies a 2nd time, the twelve emblems use their secret one-time ability: the Miracle, to revive Alear as a living Emblem, and they convert the ring into an Emblem ring that stores Alear's Emblem powers. The Emblems say that they could've used this ability at any time, and it was shown in an earlier chapter that they originally were considering using the Miracle to revive Lumera, so it evidently wasn't necessary that Lumera's gift be used as the emblem ring; any ring would've worked. However, Alear is only completely blue-haired while in Emblem form; they are still blue-and-red by default. The other emblems' hair colours aren't all blue, so Alear's hair being completely blue in emblem form is from being infused with the essence Lumera stored in the ring. But, if it is from being infused with more divine dragon essence and not from becoming an Emblem, then shouldn't Alear's hair and eyes be completely blue all the time by now? Making this even weirder is that, as I learned from using engage+ in the Marth paralogue, the person that is using the Alear Emblem (in this case, it was Ivy) has blue-and-red hair even though Alear's hair is completely blue as an Emblem. Maybe I'm overthinking this, but I just find this really confusing. Is there an explanation that I missed?
  4. Read title, thought this would be an interesting thread 🙂 Please be sure to mark your response with SPOILERS, someone might be playing the game you're talking about so don't ruin the experience for them!
  5. So I finished it, and while the map design was still pretty tight and fun in the late chapters. Chapter 25 being a really good map in general, the plot just really took a nosedive, it wasn't good from the start but somehow it just got even worse. I think starting with that chapter where Alear dies and gets revived twice. Then the whole Lumera stuff. It really felt like every chapter was just dumping some new BS on you that hadn't been fleshed out. The villains motivations, the zero emblem. It's just all around hot garbage. Really soured me on the game unfortunately I was enjoying from like chapter 5-20 though it wasn't good but the late game the plot is just infuriatingly bad.
  6. I have been playing this game over the course of this month and here are a few thoughts I shall share. Oh and before I begin rest assured I am a Normal Difficulty, Casual Mode player just in case if anyone asks. 1). I am currently on Ch. 10, in which I am aware of what happens there and in Chapter 11. Namely how you will lose your current Emblems and get right back to square one after Ch. 11 and while you do get new ones afterwards. You won't get your old Emblems back until Ch. 17. So in other words I have been doing some grinding with my units for EXP/Engage Bonding, and continued when I realized how the Relay Trials can be a decent source of Master/Second Seals. I have been thinking of doing this until I can get the DLC Expansion Pass since you keep the DLC Emblems even after Ch. 10/11. Only problem is that the Pass is $30, in which I am not exactly against the concept of Expansion Passes in general. But one of my initial problems with this game is that unlike previous titles the Expansion Pass is the only way to get the DLC in the game (aside from occasional free updates like the Ancient Well). 2). Alcryst is seen as basically the Male Bernadetta of Three Houses fame and its not hard to see why. In which even Edelgard indirectly points this out at... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-UsAO3xh8k However one distinct difference between the two is that while both of them are well known for their self-deprecating anxiety but Alcryst has a happier family home. Namely how King Morion is easily a better father than Count Varley (though granted that is clearly not hard to do but still). While it seems like a good portion of Alcryst's anxiety is due to feeling inadequate over how he is certainly not brawny like his father & older brother (even though he seems to be only one who is bothered by that). 3). Oh yes and many seem to point how Engage's story is simpler and not as ambitious as Three Houses. In which plenty accuse Engage of being a gimmicky step down because of that. But some defend Engage on how it actually accomplishes its goals and like seeing a single route game again. (Rather than how 3 Houses tried to cram 3 to technically 4 Routes in one cart and had some cut content as a result.) While I certainly have enjoyed both games for sure as they both have their pros & cons. I do think that Engage has one advantage over 3 Houses. What is that you ask? Simple, in Engage we get to see all of the lands in the world and actually get to visit them all. While 3 Houses was often praised for its impressive world-building in Fodlan for sure. But it was also often criticized for how we got to actually see very little to nothing from the lands outside of Fodlan like Almyra, Brigid, Dagda, Duscur, Sreng and the like. In which most of what we know about the lands outside of Fodlan were only in written text and by the characters. While Three Hopes did try to fix that little issue but it was mostly in Azure Gleam with Duscur and the Sreng. One of the various criticisms regarding Golden Wildfire was on how Almyra's relevance gets pretty much dropped after when you deal with Shahid for a 2nd time. Granted I have heard that 3 Houses was going to pay a bit more attention to the lands outside of Fodlan but some of their ideas got cut because they couldn't cram all their ideas in one game cart. So what do you folks think?
  7. Just like Awakening, we do not have a New Game+ this time. We get a reward for game completion if we return to the file where we defeated the final boss, but otherwise there isn’t much for now. I think the only thing that can be considered post-game content is doing more Trials over and over. But what’s really the point of improving engage weapons if you already beat the game?
  8. These are thoughts I had while replaying Genealogy and watching a let's play for Thracia 776. I love discussing the lore of Fire Emblem, and especially Jugdral, my favorite continent in the series. I am dabbling with writing a fanfiction about Cigyun, and this is an aspect of Jugdral law and culture that I became a little confused about. I would love to start a conversation about this with anyone else who is also passionate about discussing the lore of Jugdral. MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE ENDINGS OF BOTH GAMES. As we know, in the ending of Genealogy of the Holy War Seliph becomes the king of Grannvale (and assorted other kingdoms, depending on your pairings and character deaths) and Leif becomes king of the New Kingdom of Thracia. This seems natural at first glance, but upon further reflection, they may not be the characters with the best claim to their respective thrones. SELIPH At the end of Genealogy of the Holy War, this conversation occurs: Lewyn: The crusaders' heirs will be returning home to assume their rightful thrones. And with the proper leadership, they can pool their strengths again to build a world, one where all can live in happiness. Seliph: A new world, you say... Lewyn: Yeah, Seliph.. a new world. And your role is the most crucial of all. You'll remain here in Belhalla, and you'll guide the rise of this new world as the King of Grannvale. Seliph: Hold on. I'M to be the king?! Lewyn: Mm-hmm. After all that's happened, you and Julia are the last living heirs of the blood of Grannvale's kings. The two of you have inherited the last will of all who lost their lives on this path. These souls watch over you, even now. You mustn't forget the light for which they strove. Seliph: Mm... I understand, Lewyn. So long as I have the power, I'll do all I can. Lewyn: Now, Julia. What do you say? Julia: I agree, of course. I wish to aid Lord Seliph, no, my lord brother, every step of the way. I know this path will be a grueling one, but that's all the more reason to give it my all. (Epilogue, Genealogy of the Holy War) Seliph is the oldest child of Deirdre, who was the heir to the throne. However, he did not inherit the major blood of Saint Heim, or the ability to wield the tome of Naga. His younger sister, Julia, was the only child of Deirdre to do this. It seems here that because of this, Lewyn appoints them to rule side-by-side. However, the epilogue states: In the royal capital of Belhalla itself, with overwhelming support from the public, Seliph was officially hailed as their king. The newly appointed king Seliph devoted himself to rebuilding his land and bringing peace to all, his goal nothing short of a prosperous world free of oppression and bigotry. And by his side, one would always find his loving wife, [wife], and his sister, Princess Julia, regarding his toil with the warmest of eyes... Here, Julia's role as a ruler alongside her brother Seliph, and her conviction to "give it her all" to be a good ruler for Grannvale, is reduced to simply watching over the progress of King Seliph "with warm eyes" as a princess. This seems strange to me, when she is the sole, rightful inheritor of the power of Naga and major holy blood of Saint Heim. According to King Azmur: "Lord Naga's lineage through Saint Heim must not be allowed to perish! I want the two of you to bear a son as soon as possible! If the child inherits the power of Naga, he shall be Prince of Grannvale. And once I pass on he'll become the King of Grannvale. Lord Arvis, until the boy is old enough to rule, you shall be the provisional king. Do raise him well." It seems, according to this, that inheriting "the power of Naga" (which I interpret to mean the power to wield the Naga tome, or major Heim blood) is a necessary precondition to inheriting the throne of Belhalla and thus, Grannvale. Azmur says that IF the child inherits the power of Naga he shall become King of Grannvale. That indicates that if their child does NOT inherit the power of Naga, he will not become King of Grannvale. From this quote alone, it seems that of the three children of Princess Deirdre, Julia alone would possess the right to the throne of Grannvale. However, I also noticed that King Azmur specifically asks for a great- grandson, and only makes reference to a male child inheriting the power of Naga. He doesn't make provisions for a potential great-granddaughter inheriting the power of Naga, which is what he gets in Julia. This seems strange, since he knows female children can inherit this power as well, such as Deirdre. It could be an indication that the Houses of Grannvale practice male-preference primogeniture, although I am not sure how this can exist alongside a system in which it is necessary for a child to possess the power of Naga in order to inherit the throne. It's also interesting that he doesn't name Deirdre Queen of Grannvale, but rather names her husband, Arvis, "provisional king." Even in cultures which practice male-preference primogeniture, it is preferable to have a female heir of your bloodline rule rather than pass control of a kingdom to another House, such as her husband's. (We see this in real world examples such as Queens Mary, Elizabeth I, Victoria, and Elizabeth II.) Does this indicate that in Grannvale women cannot legally serve as monarchs or leaders of Houses? This could be the case, although their neighboring countries don't seem to have the same restrictions, since Queen Rahna ruled Silesse for many years in Lewyn's absence, and Linoan serves as Duchess of Tahra for most of her life. Maybe only single/widowed women can rule countries, but if they marry their husband takes the reigns? Even if this is the case, should the seat of King of Grannvale have gone to Julia's husband and eventual child rather than Seliph, since she was the inheritor of the power of Naga? After all, none of Seliph's children will ever be capable of inheriting major Heim blood, or wielding the tome of Naga, unless he practices incest by marrying Julia (which I do not accept as possible canonically, since it is purely a mistake that this is even possible in the game) or perhaps marries someone else with minor Heim blood, such as Linoan (who is said to have never married in her lifetime). However, it is more than likely that Julia will bear a child with major Heim blood if she ever marries. Would that child not pose a threat to Seliph and his children's claim to the throne of Belhalla? Would this lead to a civil war in the future of Grannvale? As I see it, there are four options for why Seliph becomes the King of Grannvale over Julia: 1) Right of conquest: he led the liberation, he conquered the Empire, therefore the throne is his, and he chooses not to give it up to the rightful heir. 2) Absolute primogeniture: despite King Azmur's words, the eldest child of the heir always inherits the throne of a Kingdom or House, in spite of holy blood inheritance patterns. 3) Male-preference primogeniture: despite the fact that his sister inherited the power of Naga and he did not, the kingdom cannot legally be ruled over by a woman, and so must pass to a male heir. 4) Will of the people: it is stated in his ending that the public overwhelmingly supported his right to rule Grannvale. He was more popular with the people as the "Inheritor of Light," while she carried the stain of her relation to Emperor Arvis and Julius. Whatever the case, with this act, Seliph has essentially changed the ruling House of Grannvale from the House of Belhalla to the House of Chalphy, with the "true" inheritor of the House of Belhalla serving only as an advisor. His children can only inherit major Baldur blood from him, and can only wield Tyrfing, while Julia's descendants will continue to pass down major Heim blood and the ability to wield the tome of Naga. Could this spell civil war for the future of Grannvale? LEIF A similar, indeed, nearly identical, issue happens in the Thracian peninsula. After the liberation army sweeps through, despite discovering and reuniting with his elder sister, Leif takes the throne of Northern Thracian, and eventually the New Kingdom of Thracia. Finn: Lord Leif, the only nation in Northern Thracia that has a male heir is Lenster. The people want you to take the throne and unite Leonster, Alster, Conote, and Manster under one flag. (Epilogue, Thracia 776) Leif's older sister, Altena, simply "helps" him rebuild the country. Leif: I know my sister, Altena, wishes dearly for a restored Thracia as well. Seliph: Indeed. This war has lain waste to Thracia, and I can only imagine the burden laid upon you, the king-to-be of a united peninsula. I pray you give it your best, no matter what happens. Leaf: I will. Seliph: So you're destined for Thracia as well, Princess Altena... Altena: I am, sir. I've got to help the new king in his quest to give rise to a united Thracia. At the very least, I ought to atone for the legacy of my adoptive family... Travant and Arion. Seliph: How wonderful it would be, if Arion were to work together with you... Altena: I...I don't believe that could happen for the time being, sir. But perhaps someday, he'll feel the time is right... (Epilogue, Genealogy of the Holy War) Altena is the oldest child of Quan and Ethlyn, and also the inheritor of major Njörun blood and the Gáe Bolg. It is heavily hinted that Altena eventually marries Arion, inheritor of the blood of Dain and wielder of Gungnir. It seems like this uniting of the two bloodlines that have ruled Thracia for centuries would be the perfect opportunity for the countries to unite under a single House. Years from now, there will probably be Altena-Arion children running around, who have major blood of both Thracian houses in their veins, yet they yield the throne to Leif and his descendants, who only possess minor Njörun blood (and most likely minor Hezul blood, but that's irrelevant to Thracia). This time I see only three possible reasons for this outcome: 1) Right of conquest: like Seliph, Leif lead the liberation army that conquered Thracia, and so has the power to take the throne, regardless of previous traditions of inheritance. 2) Male-preference primogeniture: regardless of the inheritance of holy blood, male children are always given preference to rule over female children. This is supported by Finn's statement that Leonster is "the only nation in Northern Thracia that has a male heir." 3) Will of the people: Finn states that the people if Northern Thracia want Leif to unite the kingdoms there and be their king. This does explain how he could be given right to rule over Northern Thracia; however, I doubt the people of southern Thracia would choose Leif when Arion and Altena still exist. In fact, in Altena's ending in Genealogy of the Holy War, it is stated that Leif "entrusts" the lands of southern Thracia to her. It is not clear what this means, since he still rules over The Kingdom of New Thracia. Perhaps she is a kind of governor figure in the south? Arion's involvement is not mentioned. CONCLUSION These two instances alone seem to suggest that male-preference primogeniture is the established system for inheritance in Jugdral instead of absolute primogeniture or major holy blood/branded children as inheritors. However, with everything else we know about the world of Jugdral, this seems an unlikely form of inheritance for the crusader Houses. How is it that nearly every Duke or King we see in the game has major holy blood if male-preference primogeniture is the practice? It seems unlikely that every inheritor of major holy blood from the crusaders till the time of Sigurd happened to be male. How did the bloodlines continue when we know that children with minor holy blood cannot pass on major holy blood to children (without incest)? Perhaps holy blood preference is the usual system in place, but in these two instances, Leif and Seliph seized thrones only by right of conquest/will of the people. Why do they never bring up the fact they are disinheriting their sisters? What does this say about them and their hunger for power? Could this all come down to the game developers thinking that the only satisfying ending for the player would be to have their main lords become kings of their respective countries? That they thought the players would be disappointed if the ending was "Seliph ceded the right to rule to Julia, inheritor of the power of Naga, and Altena and Arion married and together ruled over a united Thracian peninsula." I don't see a logical reason for these endings when you consider how things must have been done in Jugdral for centuries, and the importance of major holy blood and holy weapons to these ruling Houses. What does this mean for the future of these countries? Several years down the line, would there be civil wars and faction battles? What are the roles of the inheritors of the holy blood of Heim, Dain, and Njörun in the future? What do you think is the best explanation for why things ended the way they did? In possible remakes of these games, do you think the disinheritance of Julia and Altena/Arion should be addressed? Would you want the endings to change, or stay the same?
  9. My first route for Fire Emblem: Three Houses was Golden Deer/Verdant Wind (Part I & Part II Respectively). I thought it was a pretty fun route to start off with as I figured that Claude was the most rational of the three lords and the Golden Deer house had the best selection of students (imo). After clearing the GD route (and beating the best final boss in the game), I decided to go with a completely different experience and join Edelgard and the Black Eagles, then go Crimson Flower for Part II. Crimson Flower was a bit of a disappointing route, though, as it was much shorter than the other routes in the game. My third and current playthrough is with Dimitri and the Blue Lions/Azure Moon (currently about midway into Part II). Definitely my favorite route and lord of the game for me. Though I have taken a bit of a hiatus from Three Houses due to fatigue and wanting to play other games, so I have yet to finish Azure Moon. So what I'm wondering is this: after I eventually come back to Three Houses and finish off Azure Moon, should I go with a Black Eagles/Silver Snow playthrough? Or is it okay if I decide to skip it? I've heard that Silver Snow is the "canon" route, but I've also heard that Silver Snow is essentially just: "Verdant Wind minus Claude" due to how similar both routes are. I know that Azure Moon also contained a few similar maps and missions to Verdant Wind, but it wasn't too many in particular and I believe that the focus on Dimitri and whatnot differentiated the route enough from Verdant Wind. I've also heard that beating the Silver Snow route unlocks a song and/or something else in particular for the gallery on the main menu, though I can't remember how true that statement is. Lastly, there's two other things that bother me with Silver Snow: 1. Going back through Part I with the Black Eagles and having nothing change except for the last 2 chapters before the time skip. 2. Having Seteth as a "main lord" despite being able to recruit him anyways in Azure Moon and Verdant Wind. So with all of that in mind, I'm wondering if it's worth playing through Silver Snow for a fourth playthrough, or if I should reserve that playthrough for a second run through Crimson Flower, Azure Moon, or Verdant Wind.
  10. Who are the youngest playable characters in the Fire Emblem series, male and female, respectively? Please do not mention playable mamkutes, or other playable characters who are actually ancient, despite their youthful appearance.
  11. Final boss fights are usually the battles that require the player to use every ounce of their skill and abilities in order to defeat them (and maybe a little luck, too). Though for me, I haven't had to use everything I had since beating Dragon Quest 3's final boss, at least until today. So, I just beat Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door for the very first time today, and I thought it was an awesome game (makes me wonder why Nintendo didn't continue with the TTYD format). From the characters to story to gameplay, TTYD was simply a masterpiece in an otherwise gimmicky series (excluding the original Paper Mario for the N64). Most of the bosses in this game weren't too hard to beat, either. Well, at least until I fought the Shadow Queen in TTYD's final boss fight. Here were my stats for Mario going into the fight: Health (HP): 50/50; Flower Points (FP): 50/50; Badge Points (BP): 30. As for my partners, Goombella and Bobbery were the only partners I bothered to upgrade twice. Everyone else only got one upgrade. I had about 3 Ultra Shrooms, 1 Jammin' Jelly, 2 Revive Shrooms, a Repel Cape, Electric Mushroom, and a Super Shroom. Suffice to say, I had a bunch of healing items prepared before the final boss fight. As for badges, I didn't have a single power or defense buffing badge equipped, and instead used them for additional moves for Mario, and one very important badge that allows the player to switch out a partner without using up a turn. Phases 1 and 2 of the Shadow Queen boss fight weren't too bad, but once a rather long cutscene had ended and both Mario, his active partner, and the Shadow Queen had full health going into Phase 3, it was truly time to finish off the demon that lies beyond The Thousand Year Door. The Shadow Queen was no pushover, and proved to be far tougher than both Grodus and Bowser + Kammy Koopa combined (a back-to-back boss fight which also occurs within the Shadow Palace). Not only is she the only boss in TTYD to have health in the triple digits, but she also has plenty of attacks that can deal a good amount of damage to either Mario or his partner. It really did require everything I had in order to defeat her. Every single partner except Ms Mowz was near death, I had to use every single item I had, and I mostly used the Crystal Stars and few of Mario's badge moves + some of the stronger partner moves in the battle. The fight got really tense once it was down to Mario, Bobbery, and the Shadow Queen (I had no FP, items, and a low crystal star meter at this point). The Shadow Queen was down to single digits of health by the end of the fight, and I had sacrificed Bobbery in order to get her health down to only 3 health points. Mario had only about 6 points of health remaining, and if I didn't take her out here, I would have to restart the entire fight over again. Thanks to a stroke of luck, Mario managed to survive the Shadow Queen's attack while Bobbery was down to 0 HP points and was out of the fight since I had no reviving mushrooms left. I jumped on the Shadow Queen one last time with Mario and took her out with a well-timed jump to end the fight. After that, the game was over and the credits rolled. So, that was probably the most recent case of a boss fight that required me to give it everything I had in order to win. It was truly a challenging fight, and fun as well. It was very satisfying when I took down the Shadow Queen within my very first try (Honorable mention goes to Dragon Quest 3 for also requiring me to give it my all, though I feel that the level grinding I had to do along with the special healing stone and multiple final boss fight attempts don't make it quite as special as the Shadow Queen boss fight in TTYD). So, has anyone else had a final boss fight that required them to give it their all? The particular game doesn't really matter. It could be Paper Mario, Final Fantasy, Fire Emblem, or whatever. As long as it was a final boss fight that required you to put everything you had to the test, then it counts.
  12. To avoid reviving an old thread missing quite a few supports, I'm making this new one so we can complete it. I will try to keep it in support log order (Byleth first, then lords, BE, BL, GD, others) and may format it differently later. Any help is welcome, such as missing supports or errors like the wrong chapter. There are a few question marks, and I hope someone can help mention any additional specifics, specially since I think some of the pre-timeskip-only ones may have specific deadlines. I also recall seeing some Ashen Wolves supports with timeskip locks, but could only find Ashe/Hapi. Legend: after means after the chapter starts or a pre-requesite is completed; until means until chapter mission; CF - Crimson Flower/Black Eagles Edelgard Route; AM - Azure Moon/Blue Lions; VW - Verdant Wind/Golden Deer; SS - Silver Snow/Black Eagles Church Route; (?) means information may be missing or conflicts with claims Byleth Supports: Here are other non-Byleth supports Crimson Flower only: Silver Snow only: Azure Moon only: Verdant Wind only: Multiple Paths: Ashen Wolves and non-Byleth characters (DLC-only): *Check if the glitch mentioned in the previous thread was fixed with an update: "On new Game Plus, if you access the holy tomb through the Amiibo Gazebo, it appears that the game cuts off some supports that can only be obtained early on (like Byleth x Dimitri C or Byleth x Rhea)"
  13. Hello chaps. Last Direct, what really caught my eye was Project Triangle Strategy. Being a big tactics and strategy game fan, as well as someone who really values a good story, I was hoping for something to scratch that itch while I roll my thumbs waiting for the next scrap of Fire Emblem news. Presentation Triangle Attack's sprite work may be good, but I don't think it services the story it tries to tell, at least not when it comes to the cast. Every character seems to have official art - which is pretty damn good - but you have to click a button to see it, otherwise you're just watching these pixly chibi humans emote. The problem is that the sprites simply can't convey enough emotion or even individuality - one of the best things of Fire Emblem is that every character in your army is unique, and Project Triangle Strategem seems to opt for a similar approach, but the sprites don't look distinct enough for you to be able to tell what each character is about. You can press X when a character is speaking to get a picture of them, but it never changes expression or anything to fit the current situation. Some sprites also look vastlydifferent to their official art. This would could easily be fixed by just including character portraits when they speak. Square Enix could use the official art they already have, and just draw some three or four expressions per character, with more for the main ones of course. I'm honestly baffled they didn't learn this after Octopath Traveler, which suffered from the same problem. This is something games haven't done for decades, so it's so weird seeing this in a modern game from a prominent studio. So, you've got chibi sprites which don't really fit the tone of the game and can't convey the individuality of the characters, but I'm afraid there's one more issue: the voice acting. The English voice acting is...uneven, to say the best. Some actors sound like they're really trying, but some - especially the main character - sound like they had to memorize their lines and don't have the script in front of them. If the chibis don't take you out of it, the voice acting definitely will. The quality is so uneven and the delivery of some characters change seemingly mid-sentence. This is particularly bad since, like I just mentioned, the protagonist's performance is the worst. When Roland mourns his dead father, Serenoa is supposed to convey his sympathy, but he sighs in what sounds like annoyance. It made me laugh during what was supposed to be a serious moment. Gameplay and writing may be king in a game like this, but when you just can't get into it and buy what the characters themselves are saying, you'll feel emotionally disconnected. Three Houses and Shadows of Valentia, regardless of whatever other problems they may have had, consistently managed to sell what was happening on-screen. So far, Triangle Shmiangle has not. Story and writing Triangle Circumference seemed like it had a lot of potential. A mixture of Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, and with the setting similar to Three Houses, I was hoping for some sweet sweet drama and tales of political intrigue. While this may come later, there are some major red flags and inconsistent writing in the demo. The game all but starts with one massive issue which seems unlikely they'll address satisfactorily in the first chapters we haven't seen: Aesfrost's forces manage to seemingly teleport to the Glenbrook capital without anyone being able to tell. Aesfrost is located far to the north, surrounded by mountains with seemingly only one easy way in and out, and that goes through two Glenbrook High Houses territories. Even if they managed to convince House Tellior, whose leader is a coward, they'd also have to pass through or close to House Wolffort's territory, which is the domain of the protagonist. The logistics behind the attack which seems to set off the real beginning of the plot make absolutely no sense. I realize this might be addressed somehow, but this is a red flag for logistics being completely ignored. This wouldn't be the first military strategy game to basically ignore things like these, but it is very egregious here. The villains thus far seem to be mustache twirling Saturday morning cartoon characters or the usual anime take on cowardly nobles. Maybe Gustadolph, who is portrayed as the main antagonist, has some kind of weird reason for what he's doing, but he doesn't have the charisma to sell it. The game pretends like he does, however, which is a problem. Gustadolph keeps the "kind and benevolent king" prisoner, holds a speech about how Glenbrook betrayed Aesfrost during the opening of a joint mining operation. The fact we know this to be false doesn't matter, but what does matter is the people of Glenbrook cheering when Gustadolph speaks for some reason. Gustadolph makes king Regna confess to a crime he didn't commit under the threat of medieval gunpoint, and yet people seem to buy it? And yet in the very next scene, the narrator says the people are confused by Regna's death - why is the game including loud cheers during the pre-execution speech? There's a reason people don't trust people speaking in videos sent by kidnappers. The core of the demo is the decision to give up Prince Roland so that House Wolffort and its allies live another day or fight a seemingly hopeless battle to defend him. On paper, this is a decent moral dilemma. In practice and with context, this doesn't work. You know Gustadolph is a lying and manipulative bastard, and you just spent great effort trying to keep Roland safe. It makes no sense for the cast to go "whew, we just saved Roland. Anyway, should we sacrifice Roland or nah?" The Scales of Conviction is a very strange part of the story. With the power of democracy, you can use this family heirloom to make decisions to avoid regrets, but...putting votes in a hat and then sorting them would literally accomplish the same thing. During this phase the dialogue also seems to be incredibly mismatched. I played both choices, and when I spoke to Frederica about giving up Roland, which she passionately spoke against a minute before, it said she was "indifferent to your pleas", yet her position changed and she still voted to sacrifice Roland. I could also convince one of Roland's loyal soldiers, yet she remains in the party after he leaves, which is...awkward. When I convinced others to let Roland stay with us, Anna, who I thought was Serenoa's spy, said half-threateningly "don't make me regret this", which also doesn't seem to line up with the, er, medieval hierarchy. The "I've had Roland in my party for five minutes but if anything were to happen to him I'd set fire to people's houses and then myself" route Probably the most mainstream choice and honestly there's not that much to say here. The traps are convenient and I dislike the fact that the game assumes you used them all. It's also pretty frustrating that you've got two separate bonus conversations with people going "all according to keikaku". At least this choice lines up with the rest of the game, however... The "Oh hi Roland. Oh bye Roland." route I'm sorry but what is this? Within minutes, Roland is convinced by the man who invaded his country to order the Wolffort house to attack the other loyal house. And the Wolfforts agree to take their army to the other house's doorsteps...is Roland okay? Did we drop him on the way from the castle? So anyway, you fight against the other loyal lord in a typical "misunderstanding battle". These are not too uncommon in strategy games, and there are bad examples of this in Fire Emblem too, but that does not make this okay. Again, due to Aesfrost apparently having an army made up entirely of teleporting ninjas, no one in the Wolffort army notices them approaching, and now you're forced to fight against the other house...apparently. One would've thought these two houses would be in constant communication with each other, especially considering how fast armies move in this universe. This entire battle felt contrived. It was built upon contrivances and poor communication between two houses which should've been talking to each other constantly considering the circumstances. While I understand the other house leader (whose name I've obviously forgotten) would be suspicious of Wolffort, he immediately jumps to conclusions and attacks the Wolffort army. Serenoa, in his idiocy, doesn't just lay down his arms to prove his innocence or anything, but just goes "fuck it, we're killing him". I worry that this game is so focused on giving us choices that matter that they forget to make the choices make sense. Gameplay Honestly? Pretty good. Lots of things to keep in mind and I like the uniqueness of the characters thus far. I also liked the variety of the map layout and the different objectives seen thus far. There is a lot of room for improvement here, however, but unlike the story, I suspect this is much easier to fix. 1) The camera is wonky and getting it in a good position was a struggle. This also affects how easily you can move your units. 2) It's slow. Really slow. Both versions of map seven take far too long and make me nervous to think of the final maps. 3) For some reason it says "search" even when you interact with things in the world, like a ladder. 4) I don't know what it is, I can't put my finger on it, but the UI felt...bad. Really bad. Like I couldn't view all the information available to me. 5) This might just be me which is why I saved it for last, but in the "let's send the prince to his doom" route, I couldn't use the zipline. I tried standing behind it, in front of it, at the side, click on it, but I couldn't see an option to use it despite Benedict telling me to use it in case of combat. Summary Project Triangle Democracy has many major issues which plague the demo. This is especially bad in terms of its presentation and story, and I worry the latter in particular will be hard to fix. There are leaps in logic, ignored logistics, and character interactions that seem inconsistent in addition to lackluster bonus scenes and uncharming villains. All in all, it feels amateurish, and while I realize this is a demo, I worry it's built on a foundation the developers will be hesitant to change.
  14. If you haven't seen the warnings for spoilers, this thread has spoilers, and you have been warned once more in this sentence. Anyway, what I wanna discuss isn't too spoilery, but I wanted to at least give that warning. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Crenel Peak, or "The Road Home, Besieged" if you want the chapter name, is the best map in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (to me, at least). Of course, everyone should take this with a grain of salt because I haven't actually started on the map after that since I've been busy with others things, as well as the fact that this map is my favorite map in the game so far (I've been replaying it quite a bit). For starters, this map comes directly after obtaining the Master Sword for Link. Crenel Peak provides the perfect opportunity to test this new beast of a weapon out. The Master Sword works like any other one-handed weapon, but the key difference is that, when Link is at full health, it shoots sword beams (which is pretty standard Zelda stuff). HOWEVER, the beams come out with almost every attack, which gives a lot of Link's attacks a sizable upgrade in range, at the cost of the sword beams dealing half of the damage the sword would actually cause with a direct hit, that way it's immensely overpowered (again, typical Zelda stuff). This allows for Link to take on slightly bigger groups of enemies at once, which is absolutely perfect for Crenel Peak because the map is absolutely infested with monsters in really big groups. If you're willing to fight every group that you come across, you can rack up about 800-900 KOs in just the top-half of the map. With how many enemies are on the map, this provides for excellent level grinding opportunities. This leads to my next point; once you complete the map for the first time, you unlock the ability to play as any character (except Zelda). If you need to level up your characters, and you don't want to spend the rupees on the training camp, this is one of the best maps in the game for leveling up (except for Zelda). There are plenty of enemies to fight, and a healthy amount of health-bar enemies (I don't know how else to explain this one; basically, the moblins, wizzrobes, and taluses that you fight on this map are what I mean by health-bar enemies... maybe lock-on enemies is a better term?), which can provide a lot of experience for your characters (except Zelda). When it comes to gameplay, this map is just pure Warriors fun. It takes the concept of the one-man army and truly makes it a reality with this map, since you only have access to one playable character (except Zelda) per run-through. Lastly, the music: I have nothing else to say. This game's soundtrack already blows it out of the park, and this song is absolutely a home-run. So yeah, that's me gushing over Crenel Peak. What maps does everyone else like in the game?
  15. So, as I’m sure everyone is aware by now, there are two different routes to take on the Black Eagles path - the Edelgard path or the Church path. Just so everyone is aware, gameplay-wise, the Church route is a complete, watered-down copy of the Golden Deer route. It has the same maps, with the same bosses, in the same order with three notable exceptions: namely, you skip the big post-skip battle between the three nations, some gimmicks that are present in battles on the Golden Deer Route are removed in the Church Route, and the final map and final boss are completely different. But, other than that, they are completely identical in terms of gameplay (well, other than the fact that you mainly have the Eagles students and not the Deer). Story-wise, there is also a significant amount of overlap, but both routes reveal different information at the end. I put this out there because this game is massive enough as it is, and since I know a lot of people have lives to get to, there isn’t much need to play both of these routes if you don’t have the time or energy. As someone who played the Golden Deer Route first, I highly recommend playing that route (as it felt more complete to me than the Church Route) and then watching the cutscenes from the Church Route on YouTube or something. But, I’ll leave that decision to everyone to make themselves.
  16. Is it the final boss themselves? The map having an interesting twist? Difficulty? Story impact? Not having to use specific characters to deal the final blow? The map forcing to engage with it? (Like not warp skipping or straight up ignoring whole segments) Obviously the answer is some combination of things, but what is it for you that makes it good or memorable? I intentionally left out music since pretty much every endgame map has great music (and then there's Thracia) Almost forgot, this is a topic about final maps and thus spoilers will be everywhere.
  17. For those who've heard of GenocIke... I present to you... GenocIke and Ryoma! In this story of sorts, Ryoma has gone insane from too many Conquest timelines and being forced to kill himself over and over again. Then he finds the infamous GenocIke... The story so far: Panels 1-9: Panels 10-21: Panels 22 - 30 (Mild Blood Warning): Panels 31 - 40 (Mild Gore Warning): Panels 41-50: Panels 51-61: Panels 62-70 Panels 71-80 Panels 81-90: Panels 91-100: Panels 101 - 110 More coming eventually... Also, not only will I regularly update this with more of Ryoma's maddness, but I shall also allow you to make suggestions of any panels you want to add. Just tell me: 1. The character(s) you want in the panel. 2. What they say 3. The expression when they say it (optional) 4. Location (optional) 5. Optional things that are happening (i.e. someone being stabbed) and I can get it done using little more than the conversation generator and Paint.net.
  18. SPOILER NOTICE FOR CONTENT UNLOCKED BY COMPLETING CINDERED SHADOWS After completing Cindered Shadows you unlock the Abyss library with lots of books in it that the church wouldn’t want you to see. Most of it fits fairly easily into established lore of Fodlan, with the exception of of one - “Romance of the World’s Perdition”. I think this might be the most important book there. It reads as follows: “Romance of the World’s Perdition “In the land of Thinis, where the old gods are said to live, the False God has awakened. Its looming, heteromorphic vessel was resurrected to sink the world to the depths of the ocean. It will bring extinction to all children of men, and salvation to all beasts of the land, sky, and sea. For the children of men who spilled too much of the blood of life, it promises only cruel retribution. ”the False God must be defeated before the world sinks into a watery grave. To this end, the children of men have erected pillars of light upon the land. Thinis, Malum, Septen and Llium were utterly destroyed. Those lands have vanished from this world. Yet even still, the False God stands. And soon, a flood aptly named Despair will drown this world. ”The children of men fled to the depths of the earth, beyond the sight of the False God, beyond the embrace of the sacred sun, and beyond the reach of the waters of Despair. They swore a fervent oath of revenge against the surface world, ruled by beasts, and against their tormentor, the False God.” Ok, so there’s a lot in there and at first glance it doesn’t really seem relevant to Fodlan. There’s four lands; Thinis, Malum, Septen and Llium, that as far as I can see have never been mentioned in 3H or any other FE game. And they all got flooded. Curious. Anyway, I reckon that this might actually be an origin story for Fodlan, and for Abyss. There’s a couple of things that stand out yo support this theory. First is the “heteromorphic vessel” of the False God. “Heteromorphic” means “occurring in two or more different forms, especially at different stages in the life cycle.” - I reckon we’re talking about Sothis here, and her ability to switch between dragon and human form. The second is the last paragraph - if the False God is Sothis, then it becomes clear that this is an origin for the Slitherers, who existed before Sothis and created Abyss to escape the flood that she created. The third is the mention of pillars of light in the second paragraph, which were created to defeat the False God. It’s pretty clear that these must be proto-javelins of light. If all this was to pan true, it would mean that those lands mentioned either used to be Fodlan or are currently under the ocean around Fodlan. This book was clearly written by Slitherers who were probably hiding out in Abyss at the time, but I don’t think it’s propaganda per say. If it was, why use a bunch of old names that no one would understand? Anyway, having established that this book is about the origins of Fodlan, it has some pretty interesting implications. 1. Sothis was originally resurrected - who was she before? 2. Who were the old gods, other dragons? 3. Why did Sothis go all Old Testament? 4. It gives us an actual motivation for the Slitherers to hate the church and 5. Humanity existed before Sothis came about (or at least, was resurrected). I also wonder if this perhaps has implications for connecting 3H to the rest of the series. Anyway, maybe the true villain isn’t Rhea or Edelgard, but Sothis for committing genocide which pushed the mole people to seek revenge over generations. EDIT: Duchess of Strasbourg on the r/FireEmblem discord made some interesting notes about the etymology of some of the names: Septen: Septentrional means "of the north", also used for stars of the Big Dipper Thinis: Capital of the first Egyptian Dynasties Malum: Latin for "bad" Llium: Could be Illium/Ilion, the old name for the City of Troy i.e. the Trojans
  19. Hi all! Big fan of the site and the forums, first time posting. Am on my 3rd playthrough of 3H now, after having just finished CS, and noticed a couple of things that made me wonder to what extent, if any, the Empire (probably TWSITD/Arundel specifically) were involved in the events of CS. (below are spoilers for CS and Part I of the main story) Here's the relevant information/evidence: 1. We know that there are at least two different factions of enemies of the Ashen Wolves that are faced in CS - mercenaries (pretending to be generic bandits) under the employ of Aelfric, and the defenders of the Chalice (the golems that only ever appear when fighting Seiros-associated armies and phantom-like soldiers that make more sense for gameplay reasons than story ones). 2. It seems to have been confirmed both within the game and from meta-game stuff that if Cindered Shadows were properly canon, it would take place sometime after your first encounter with the Death Knight in Ch. 4 but before you face Miklan in Ch. 5. The Death Knight appears on his own (as the only member of the yellow army on the map) in Ch. 2 of Cindered Shadows, and will kill red army units if you let him. If you end the map without killing him, he claims he's had enough fun for the time being before retreating (similar to Ch. 6 of the main story where he gets told off for having too much fun). He does not appear in CS again. 3. In Ch. 5 of CS, where you are supposed to trade off the Chalice for Aelfric, the man keeping Aelfric captive (and the boss of that chapter) is an assassin called Metodey. An assassin called Metodey is also the sub-boss of Ch. 12 of the main story. His job in Ch. 12 and his lines of dialogue are concerned with retrieving the Crest Stones from the Holy Tomb. His purpose in Ch. 5 of CS is to obtain the Chalice. His death quote in CS was extremely suggestive of retreat, rather than literally dying. 4. In Ch. 6 of CS, Aelfric manages to obtain the blood of the lost crests of the Four Apostles. His original plan was to drain the Ashen Wolves of their blood completely, with this hopefully being enough to reanimate Sitri. It is unclear whether the original Four Apostles drained all their blood 5. Umbral Beast Aelfric's Umbral Surge ability allows him to distort space, or something to that effect (Constance has a line of dialogue about it). After the beast uses Umbral Surge, there's a graphic of darkness and glowing energy, the beast is disoriented and can't counter, and the placement effect of your units is random (indicating lack of complete control over the ability). Plenty of spatial magic (teleportation and the like) has been displayed throughout the series, but only one magic has had anywhere near a similar effect - Solon in Ch. 11 of the main story imprisons Byleth in an alternate dimension (described by Byleth as complete darkness). This is also Solon's most powerful magic, and it leaves him temporarily exhausted (in the cutscene he is visibly panting). There's a couple of different ways to explain all this: Theory A - Aelfric is working with the Empire. He may not have started off on their side or be especially close to them, but he reached out to them for resources and soldiers. The Death Knight clearly already knows a surprising amount about hidden areas in Garreg Mach (cf. Ch. 6) and in his thirst for a good fight turns up where he's not supposed to by arriving in CS Ch. 2. Since he works directly for the Flame Emperor, even if the red army in that map were Empire or affiliated to them (they could simply be private hires anyway), he wouldn't care about fighting them. This being Arundel/TWSITD's plan, not Edelgard's, solves the thorny issue of "Why???" that most of Part I's plot struggles with (genuinely I don't understand how incompetent Edelgard has to be to let Ch. 4 of main story happen when you're playing BE. The definition of cockblocking yourself.) Even though Metodey appears under her command in Ch. 12 main story, Edelgard in CF later claims that the idea of using monsters in her army (which is what the Crest stones are for) is disgusting and she hates it, but grudgingly allows TWSITD to use them to their mutual advantage. In other words, Metodey may not actually be especially close to Edelgard beyond her being his superior, and is more aligned with TWSITD/a general Empire stooge ultimately obedient to Arundel, who has been loaned to Aelfric and later to Edelgard to help out (which is why Edelgard doesn't recognise him at this point). Why do the Empire help Aelfric at all? Beyond simply being a pain in Rhea's side, TWSITD's interest in creating beasts, in ancient artefacts and in forbidden knowledge also lines up in a general sense. Getting a hold of blood as rare as that of the Ashen Wolves would have been a massive bonus (think of the trouble they went to for Flayn), as well as the Chalice (presumably after Aelfric had successfully used it to reanimate Sitri). It would have been in their interest both to investigate the kinds of monsters that are produced by giving blood to the Chalice and/or confiscating it so the Church in particular couldn't find out any useful information about the kinds of magic/abilities TWSITD might have. Theory B - The Empire is using Aelfric. They clearly would have known about the Abyss spaces, had realised there was plenty in the Abyss that might be of interest, but the Death Knight's solo expedition gathers no results (in Ch.2 Yuri tells Byleth that he has been sealing off passageways to lure everyone following them, including inadvertently the Death Knight, to the arena map so they can't get to the underground town where the Shadows Library etc. is). Therefore, Metodey and his men infiltrate Aelfric's swords-for-hire and help in stealing the Chalice, but over the course of CS Ch. 5-7 get wiped out. Much of Theory A is still relevant here as well, the difference mainly being that Aelfric had no idea the Empire were involved. Given that TWSITD higher-ups can transform themselves, both the above theories are a lot of trouble just for infiltrating/taking over Abyss, but then again much of what TWSITD do makes fairly little sense. But it definitely isn't outside their MO to let groups that aren't directly affiliated with them destroy themselves fulfilling TWSITD's interests, so this is also a possibility. Theory C - The developers got lazy/ it's a set of coincidences. The Death Knight appears to spice up what is otherwise a relatively by-the-books level, they just used Metodey since the character had already been made (or perhaps Metodey is canonically a mercenary hired firstly by Aelfric and then later by Edelgard/Empire? I was pretty sure he was specifically an Empire soldier but I don't think I have proof), and a high-ranking Church member with access to forbidden knowledge could have come up with this scheme independent of TWSITD/Empire knowledge. What do you guys think? Which theory makes the most sense? I should say I haven't played AM, SS, and am only on Ch. 5 of my CF playthrough with all the DLC, (I've completed CF before though) so if there's anything I've missed (information from supports, quests etc.) that's relevant stick it in the comments!
  20. Superman 64. It's a name gamers know, and mock. But what if I told you, the name brings a different kind of memory to some? One not of a horrific game, but of an emotional experience. "How can this be possible?", one may wonder. Well, that's what this thread is for. A review of Superman 64 as I remember it. A visit to a Superman 64 the average person may have never known. Forget the game you knew, because this most certainly isn't it. Join me as we revisit the 1990s, and see something the world forgot. A comic that was overshadowed by a game of a similar name. And now, the spoiler tag, because damn right I'm showing plot that could ruin the whole experience for someone, so be warned in advance.
  21. I was wondering how much we know about the postgame... Are there any new gameplay options? Can you continue grinding? Any info would be great! Thanks!
  22. Scenario: Edelgard never reveals herself as the Flame Emperor, but still takes control of Adrestia and declares herself split from the church. She then doesn't launch any form of attack on the church and waits for Rhea to make the next move. The key things to consider here. *Rhea would no doubt be pissed, but would she go on the offensive against the Empire merely for the emperor declaring herself an atheist. *If Rhea does initiate the war, would the Kingdom and Alliance support her when there is no active threat to their own lands? *How would the Agarthans react? Would they be happy to have a large anti Church empire or would that not be acceptable?
  23. Delete if not allowed, sorry I've complied all of Byleth's supports here: https://pastebin.com/iGGYsmdd There are also a few stray ones here and there If I missed any please tell me Edit: Support s-support pictures have been leaked too: https://imgur.com/a/XAMme9T
  24. Hello chaps. Spoilers for all of Three Houses. Something that I have thought more and more of in recent days is Claude's role in the story of Three Houses. I've read some analyses and arguments for why he's so well-written, but I have personally yet to be convinced. To me, Claude feels like several good ideas put together that weren't fleshed out enough and left him incomplete as a character. In the academy phase, it's made clear that Claude is secretive and a big unknown. No one knows where he came from or what he wants, but it is pointed out that it was very convenient that Duke Riegan's original successor, Claude's uncle, passed away early which paved the way for Claude to be proclaimed the Leicester Alliance heir in 1179. Byleth's first impression of Claude is that "his smile doesn't reach his eyes", and throughout the entire first phase, Claude studies mysteries in the library, listens in on meetings between Rhea, Seteth, and Byleth, and there is a never-ending reference to his schemes. Like everyone in Three Houses, Claude has his own agenda. The problem is that that agenda does not seem to properly correlate with how they portray Claude in the first half of the game. Claude, while seemingly not nefarious, seems like someone who doesn't mind playing dirty in order to achieve this goals. However, once the war arc comes along, there seems to be a huge tone shift in regards to Claude's character that is not related to something like character growth, but more like plot threads were scrapped. Claude is still interested in having questions answered, but it's never explained how exactly that coincides with his goals. So what are his goals? To open up Fódlan's borders. According to Claude, Fódlan is completely shut off from the rest of the world and that's just no good. The dissonance here to me is rather striking. What does this have to do with wanting power and figuring out Church secrets? The dissonance doesn't just come from Claude's character but also the worldbuilding up until that point. We saw plenty of different people in Garreg Mach, and while Shamir and Cyril are not trusted by everyone, they are free to live their lives however they want and they're there with the blessing of Rhea, whom Claude wants removed. Not to mention that Fódlan has seemingly been the defenders against hostile foreign powers multiple times in recent times. There was a war between Adrestia and Brigid and Dagda, but even more important than that, you yourself stop the Almyrans from invading Fódlan in Hilda's paralogue. The fact that Claude does not mention this comes across as intellectual dishonesty, and it should be the first thing people mention when he brings up his grand plan. I should make a few things clear: I am fully aware of Claude's past and how it might make him want to open Fódlan up, and I have read analyses about Claude's distance to other people. I also believe that an outsider's perspective on what's really a war between the Empire and Faerghus *could* work, but I don't think this works. Like I mentioned at the start, these ideas feel half-baked in the scope of the main story - I mean, blink and you'll miss that Claude's father is the king of Almyra. There is one final problem I would like to mention, and that is Almyra. For all the good stuff in the worldbuilding of Three Houses, we lack an emotional connection to Almyra, which is why Claude's goals, even if you think what I have brought up is of little consequence, ring a little hollow. We see a grand total of three Almyran characters in Three Houses, with Claude himself being the only one who actually gets any kind of screen time or development. It's hard to care about a nation when we only have Claude's words to go by, especially after Hilda's paralogue. Even if Claude desired power and to oust Rhea so that he could unite the continent by force before Edelgard beat him to the punch, there would still be a major emotional disconnect due to this fact. What do you chaps think?
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