spoilers duh My thoughts on Cindered Shadows

[Dragoncat]

Just felt like jotting down some of my reactions to this side story, thoughts, questions, and things I think it could have done to make it better. Feel free to use this topic to do the same for yourself. Apologies if one already exists.

New Playables

My favorite is still Balthus, I love the big goofy dorks. Hapi's nicknames are adorable, Constance is okay. Yuri, despite not being my top favorite, I've gotta hand it to him for pulling off a big scheme on screen. Claude is said to do this, but we never actually see it.

Yuri's Plot:

1: Find out the keeper of Abyss who brought you and the other 3 down here is grooming all 4 of you as blood sacrifices
2: Know he's dangerous af and will kill your mom and everyone else if you squeal
3: Send your people out to scout, secretly and quietly
4: Attract the attention of the church
5: Observe the church people who came down, figure out they're trustworthy
6: Let dangerous Abyss keeper think nothing of it
7: Be rescued at the crucial moment, look completely badass even while getting drained
8: Profit

Step 7 reminded me of a Naruto or Dragonball powerup moment AND I DON'T EVEN WATCH ANIME.

Story

I think most of us can say we saw Aelfric's betrayal coming from a mile away. It didn't help that people on the Shitpost Emblem reddit were making memes about "Aelfric did you fuck my dead mom" and "Aelfric is a necrophiliac simp/Orson 2.0". The first one was indeed spoilered, but I clicked it, so that's my fault.

The first spoiler I saw, however, was that Byleth's mom was named and shown! Completely out of context, just the image of her and Jeralt. And I dawwed. I'd been calling her Vivian, but Sitri works, and with that name, pet names are possible. I already said Jerry(affectionate), Jerald(annoyance), and Jeraldo(major annoyance) as Jeralt pet names from his wife. He can use Sweet/Flower/Fruit, Sour when she's grumpy, and Orange Seed for Byleth in the womb. Two thumbs up, thank you IS for showing us her.

Despite knowing it was gonna happen, I still raged at Aelfric when he started to sacrifice the Ashen Wolves. They all had just enough lines and screentime for me to start caring about them, so I was like nobody's harming these good boys and girls on my watch. Yuri pretending to attack Byleth got me for a second. Once Claude said "Oh he just pretended to cut you" I was like oh okay. His exchange with his fellow Wolves after that was great and feelsy. In Balthus' words: "Hurts. Hurts bad."

I'm fond of Alois, so I'm glad he got a small role.

Gameplay/Maps

I heard of the escape map ahead of time. Thought it would be harder than it actually was. I had like 3 or 4 turns to spare. Yuri's Foul Play was pretty useful to get Edelgard where she needed to be. Used a lot of the divine pulses, but I managed. Wrath Strike playing for that map was fitting.

I can talk about music here too, I suppose. The Shackled Wolves is a good new track. The broken/chaotic sound to it, if that makes sense, really fits this story, and if you listen closely I think you can hear what sounds like dogs/wolves panting.

At What Cost fits as a final map theme, but it doesn't stand out too much to me.

Dwellings of the Ancient Gods fits in the map it plays in, and so does Roar of Dominion.

I appreciate the unique victory conditions, reminds me of Radiant Dawn in a way. I did kinda want to pull my hair out in chapter 1 though. The reinforcements. Kept. COMING. I had to restart the chapter once because I'd thought I was done and along came more.

Unanswered Questions/What Should Have Been Added

Why did Jeralt never show up? This takes place before his death. My best guess is that he was busy on missions or away investigating the Western Church, but it would have been nice if he'd appeared at some point.

Why did Constance get depressed in the sunlight, and when Yuri said he "removed her silence", what was that about? Hapi's monster summoning was explained, but it was never explained how Constance has two completely different personalities. Yes, there are mental conditions, but correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think that specific one exists and in a world with magic and curses that's what it has to be. Yet we never found out what or how. I assume this is in supports but it should have been outside of them too imo.

Rhea said Sitri's "restless spirit is finally at peace" after the Umbral Beast is defeated. But wasn't the Umbral Beast Aelfric? Was Sitri's soul in that thing too? How? Regardless, I was worried the final boss would be zombie Sitri and I would have cried, so, I'm glad it wasn't. I like the Umbral Beast's design btw, it's a better looking decayed cursed dragon than Duma imo.

[Shoblongoo]

I feel like they cut Jeralt out because they didn't want him to upstage the introduction of the new characters.

And if Jeralt was there--he would have upstaged the introduction of the new characters.

But I also feel like the story would have been much stronger + I would have enjoyed it alot more if we got that Jeralt screentime insted of Alois.  And that all-in-all; that was definitely a huge missed opportunity. 



 

[Dragoncat]

43 minutes ago, Shoblongoo said:

I feel like they cut Jeralt out because they didn't want him to upstage the introduction of the new characters.

And if Jeralt was there--he would have upstaged the introduction of the new characters.

But I also feel like the story would have been much stronger + I would have enjoyed it alot more if we got that Jeralt screentime insted of Alois.  And that all-in-all; that was definitely a huge missed opportunity. 



 

I half expected him to show up around the final battle or something.

[darkblade2814]

2 hours ago, Dragoncat said:

Just felt like jotting down some of my reactions to this side story, thoughts, questions, and things I think it could have done to make it better. Feel free to use this topic to do the same for yourself. Apologies if one already exists.

New Playables

My favorite is still Balthus, I love the big goofy dorks. Hapi's nicknames are adorable, Constance is okay. Yuri, despite not being my top favorite, I've gotta hand it to him for pulling off a big scheme on screen. Claude is said to do this, but we never actually see it.

Yuri's Plot:

1: Find out the keeper of Abyss who brought you and the other 3 down here is grooming all 4 of you as blood sacrifices
2: Know he's dangerous af and will kill your mom and everyone else if you squeal
3: Send your people out to scout, secretly and quietly
4: Attract the attention of the church
5: Observe the church people who came down, figure out they're trustworthy
6: Let dangerous Abyss keeper think nothing of it
7: Be rescued at the crucial moment, look completely badass even while getting drained
8: Profit

Step 7 reminded me of a Naruto or Dragonball powerup moment AND I DON'T EVEN WATCH ANIME.

Story

I think most of us can say we saw Aelfric's betrayal coming from a mile away. It didn't help that people on the Shitpost Emblem reddit were making memes about "Aelfric did you fuck my dead mom" and "Aelfric is a necrophiliac simp/Orson 2.0". The first one was indeed spoilered, but I clicked it, so that's my fault.

The first spoiler I saw, however, was that Byleth's mom was named and shown! Completely out of context, just the image of her and Jeralt. And I dawwed. I'd been calling her Vivian, but Sitri works, and with that name, pet names are possible. I already said Jerry(affectionate), Jerald(annoyance), and Jeraldo(major annoyance) as Jeralt pet names from his wife. He can use Sweet/Flower/Fruit, Sour when she's grumpy, and Orange Seed for Byleth in the womb. Two thumbs up, thank you IS for showing us her.

Despite knowing it was gonna happen, I still raged at Aelfric when he started to sacrifice the Ashen Wolves. They all had just enough lines and screentime for me to start caring about them, so I was like nobody's harming these good boys and girls on my watch. Yuri pretending to attack Byleth got me for a second. Once Claude said "Oh he just pretended to cut you" I was like oh okay. His exchange with his fellow Wolves after that was great and feelsy. In Balthus' words: "Hurts. Hurts bad."

I'm fond of Alois, so I'm glad he got a small role.

Gameplay/Maps

I heard of the escape map ahead of time. Thought it would be harder than it actually was. I had like 3 or 4 turns to spare. Yuri's Foul Play was pretty useful to get Edelgard where she needed to be. Used a lot of the divine pulses, but I managed. Wrath Strike playing for that map was fitting.

I can talk about music here too, I suppose. The Shackled Wolves is a good new track. The broken/chaotic sound to it, if that makes sense, really fits this story, and if you listen closely I think you can hear what sounds like dogs/wolves panting.

At What Cost fits as a final map theme, but it doesn't stand out too much to me.

Dwellings of the Ancient Gods fits in the map it plays in, and so does Roar of Dominion.

I appreciate the unique victory conditions, reminds me of Radiant Dawn in a way. I did kinda want to pull my hair out in chapter 1 though. The reinforcements. Kept. COMING. I had to restart the chapter once because I'd thought I was done and along came more.

Unanswered Questions/What Should Have Been Added

Why did Jeralt never show up? This takes place before his death. My best guess is that he was busy on missions or away investigating the Western Church, but it would have been nice if he'd appeared at some point.

Why did Constance get depressed in the sunlight, and when Yuri said he "removed her silence", what was that about? Hapi's monster summoning was explained, but it was never explained how Constance has two completely different personalities. Yes, there are mental conditions, but correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think that specific one exists and in a world with magic and curses that's what it has to be. Yet we never found out what or how. I assume this is in supports but it should have been outside of them too imo.

Rhea said Sitri's "restless spirit is finally at peace" after the Umbral Beast is defeated. But wasn't the Umbral Beast Aelfric? Was Sitri's soul in that thing too? How? Regardless, I was worried the final boss would be zombie Sitri and I would have cried, so, I'm glad it wasn't. I like the Umbral Beast's design btw, it's a better looking decayed cursed dragon than Duma imo.

the umbral beast was created when the chalice absorbed Alphard and Sitri's Body

[Deathcon]

2 hours ago, Dragoncat said:

Why did Constance get depressed in the sunlight

The sunlight reminds her of the death of her family and so she is now afraid of sunlight. To quote the personality section of Constance's wiki,

"Due to the tragedy that befell her house, Constance suffers from dual personality disorder. Her aforementioned personality are her dominant traits when indoors or outdoors during darker hours or overcast days. When she is exposed to sunlight, she is much more lethargic, apathetic, and even self-deprecating. Her tone is much more polite, but always stated in a manner that seems like she is inconveniencing her conversational partner."

2 hours ago, Dragoncat said:

Rhea said Sitri's "restless spirit is finally at peace" after the Umbral Beast is defeated. But wasn't the Umbral Beast Aelfric? Was Sitri's soul in that thing too? How?

In order:

Yes.

Yes.

After the failed ritual Sitri's body and Aelfric combined to form the Umbral Beast, in fact the dragon form may have been Sitri's transformed form corrupted by the ritual and Aelfric. As Rhea says the ritual brings back the husk but not the soul.

2 hours ago, Dragoncat said:

Why did Jeralt never show up? This takes place before his death. My best guess is that he was busy on missions or away investigating the Western Church, but it would have been nice if he'd appeared at some point.

Probably couldn't get his VA do the DLC for some reason or another.

[Dragoncat]

13 minutes ago, Deathcon said:

The sunlight reminds her of the death of her family and so she is now afraid of sunlight. To quote the personality section of Constance's wiki,

"Due to the tragedy that befell her house, Constance suffers from dual personality disorder. Her aforementioned personality are her dominant traits when indoors or outdoors during darker hours or overcast days. When she is exposed to sunlight, she is much more lethargic, apathetic, and even self-deprecating. Her tone is much more polite, but always stated in a manner that seems like she is inconveniencing her conversational partner."

I see, I missed this somehow.

14 minutes ago, Deathcon said:

in fact the dragon form may have been Sitri's transformed form

This assumes Sitri was a dragon herself. She was Rhea's artificially made child, so I guess it's possible, but most if not all of the other instances of dragons having kids with humans in FE give the kid a dragon form, and Byleth does not have one. Roy may or may not count, his mom is well accepted as being Ninian, but it's never said in canon.

[Deathcon]

51 minutes ago, Dragoncat said:

This assumes Sitri was a dragon herself. She was Rhea's artificially made child, so I guess it's possible, but most if not all of the other instances of dragons having kids with humans in FE give the kid a dragon form, and Byleth does not have one. Roy may or may not count, his mom is well accepted as being Ninian, but it's never said in canon.

Eh I don't know. How else does the Umbral Beast become a dragon form unless I missed something myself.

Besides she all the qualities of a manakete, though that might be because he is Sothis' vessel, with pointed ears as shown in F!Byleth's potrait though not as elvish as other manaketes, greenish hair, long life, and the ability to sleep to stave off there wounds like Byleth did as pointed out by Flayn in SS. Though I don't think he has a dragon form like her mother probably does does show she has the genetics of it.

[Azure the Scale Tipper]

Sitri would probably call Byleth “little citrus”.

[Dragoncat]

38 minutes ago, Azure loves his Half Elves said:

Sitri would probably call Byleth “little citrus”.

Jeralt calls Byleth Orange Seed in the womb, cutest shit ever. Especially considering at one point, Byleth was indeed just the size of an orange seed.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

5 hours ago, Shoblongoo said:

I feel like they cut Jeralt out because they didn't want him to upstage the introduction of the new characters.

And if Jeralt was there--he would have upstaged the introduction of the new characters.

I would've bought the DLC a second time if Jeralt showed up at the very last scene, asking "So, what'd I miss?" Personally, though, I'm a fan of Alois, so I'm glad Cindered Shadows gave him something to do.

5 hours ago, Dragoncat said:

Rhea said Sitri's "restless spirit is finally at peace" after the Umbral Beast is defeated. But wasn't the Umbral Beast Aelfric? Was Sitri's soul in that thing too? How? Regardless, I was worried the final boss would be zombie Sitri and I would have cried, so, I'm glad it wasn't. I like the Umbral Beast's design btw, it's a better looking decayed cursed dragon than Duma imo.

The Umbral Beast was borne out of the Chalice, and constructed itself using the bodies of Aelfric and Sitre, who were right there. So in a twisted sense, his dream of being reunited with her was realized.

 

5 hours ago, Dragoncat said:

Why did Constance get depressed in the sunlight, and when Yuri said he "removed her silence", what was that about? Hapi's monster summoning was explained, but it was never explained how Constance has two completely different personalities. Yes, there are mental conditions, but correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think that specific one exists and in a world with magic and curses that's what it has to be. Yet we never found out what or how. I assume this is in supports but it should have been outside of them too imo.

Silence is a Faith spell (staff in previous games) that prevents an enemy from using magic. Yuri apparently used the spell on Constance and Hapi, to prevent them from breaking their bonds with magic. But he either reversed it, or just let it run out (in Three Houses, it lasts one turn).

Constance in sunlight is a psychological reaction. I don't know what exactly to call it. I despise her personality when it happens, she seems so pathetic. Then I feel bad for despising her, it's not her fault. So then I blame the writers. I think her supports build upon it.

[Deathcon]

11 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Constance in sunlight is a psychological reaction. I don't know what exactly to call it. I despise her personality when it happens, she seems so pathetic. Then I feel bad for despising her, it's not her fault. So then I blame the writers. I think her supports build upon it.

It is a full split personality that was born from a tragedy.

Kinda like Jeritza...

[darkblade2814]

11 minutes ago, Deathcon said:

It is a full split personality that was born from a tragedy.

Kinda like Jeritza...

and they can merry 

[Dragoncat]

25 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

I would've bought the DLC a second time if Jeralt showed up at the very last scene, asking "So, what'd I miss?" Personally, though, I'm a fan of Alois, so I'm glad Cindered Shadows gave him something to do.

OMG yes. To both things.

26 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

So in a twisted sense, his dream of being reunited with her was realized.

Yeah, total bruh moment...I wonder how much consciousness he had? Like, Miklan, I figure was thinking HELP ME! but could only roar and growl and drool. If this beast was made from a living person combined with the soul of a dead person pulled from the afterlife abruptly, that could be different. If I were Sitri I'd be kicking his butt once the beast is gone and he's standing in front of her in the afterlife, like "you absolute idiot"

To add something else, I looked up the names of the new characters on Behind the Name, and I'll put them here.

Yuri: Russian/Ukranian form of George
Balthus: Play on Balthazar, one of the Wise Men that visited baby Jesus
Hapi: Egyptian mythology, MALE god
Constance: "constant, steadfast"
Aelfric: "elf ruler"

[Quiyonce]

As soon as Aelfric mentioned Byleth's mom, I thought 'oh God, he's Snape isn't he?' Turned out to be worse but totally called it.

Overall, I waz impressed by the writing. I think 3H could've done better focusing on the lords instead of Byleth so it was nice to see Byleth not be center or center-adjacent. This also helped characterize the Wolves as they depended on and bounced off each other rather than Byleth. I didn't realize this was before Jeralt's death so it is odd that there's a whole subplot about his wife and he doesn't show off at all. It also could've been an opportunity for playable Jeralt! I'm glad we got more of Alois though. Also, there's no way that entire story took place in just one night.

When it comes to the characters, Yuri blew me away. The culmination of his voice, design and actions made for a really good lead. And Foul Play saved my ass a lot trying to get poor four-movement Lin to catch up to the rest of the class. It is weird he didn't get a Lineage skill like the otger lords though. Not giving him an Ashe support is criminal. 

Hapi is another fav. Her characterization is more subtle and she's the quietest of the crew but all of her lines are delivered purposefully and her design is killer. Kinda wish she got supports with Lysithea and or Edelgard to get more context of the experimentation she went through.

I would've liked Constance more if we only got indoor Constance. I understand the reasoning for her quirk but I think I would've liked a more righteous anger or a nothing matters persona more than a 'woe is me. I'm worthless' attitude. Her VA did well though. The cadence for outdoor Coco was so stark and slow I couldn't even wait for her to finish talking before I went to the next line.

Balthus was fun. Not bad but not great. Had some decent one-liners and wasn't afraid to punch Yuri in the face when he deserved it. Probably has the least depth in the side quest. Hopefully, there's more to him in his supports. His gauntlets really helped with all the Aelfric clones in the last chapter though.

The gameplay was fun and the restrictions proved to be a nice challenge compared to main 3H gameplay. I wish they let us forge or replenish gambits between chapters 6 and 7.

Cindered Shadows was a fun experience but I'm not sure it's worth the pricetag. It kinda sucks that one of the best written characters and romance options is locked behind a paywall.

[Deathcon]

Also, I think it takes place during chapter 5 as the Western Church is still being dealt with and this is before you face DK for a second time.

[Quillmonger]

8 hours ago, Deathcon said:

Eh I don't know. How else does the Umbral Beast become a dragon form unless I missed something myself.

Besides she all the qualities of a manakete, though that might be because he is Sothis' vessel, with pointed ears as shown in F!Byleth's potrait though not as elvish as other manaketes, greenish hair, long life, and the ability to sleep to stave off there wounds like Byleth did as pointed out by Flayn in SS. Though I don't think he has a dragon form like her mother probably does does show she has the genetics of it.

Probably because the chalice is similar to a crest stone and those are known to turn people into monsters. They make a point of stating this a few times. That was my reading of it. 

[Azure the Scale Tipper]

7 hours ago, Quiyonce said:

Balthus was fun. Not bad but not great. Had some decent one-liners and wasn't afraid to punch Yuri in the face when he deserved it. Probably has the least depth in the side quest. Hopefully, there's more to him in his supports. His gauntlets really helped with all the Aelfric clones in the last chapter though.

I really liked Balthus. His line “Stop yappin’ and start slappin’” is probably my personal favorite. I wonder how that didn’t become a meme over Balthus’s comment about Sitri.

[Quiyonce]

15 hours ago, Azure loves his Half Elves said:

I really liked Balthus. His line “Stop yappin’ and start slappin’” is probably my personal favorite. I wonder how that didn’t become a meme over Balthus’s comment about Sitri.

Balthus has a fun dialect and his VA delivers pretty well.

I don't remember what he said about Sitri. Wad it Balthus being horny? Cause him wanting Claude's mom is becoming the new meme. He's apparently a major flirt. 

[Deathcon]

1 hour ago, Quiyonce said:

Balthus has a fun dialect and his VA delivers pretty well.

I don't remember what he said about Sitri. Wad it Balthus being horny? Cause him wanting Claude's mom is becoming the new meme. He's apparently a major flirt. 

"Yep.. That lady looks real dead pal."

[Quiyonce]

Ha! I do remember that. Balthus isn't necessarily deep, but he's fun.

[Dragoncat]

Balthus is best boy now lol.

[Etrurian emperor]

On 2/21/2020 at 9:00 PM, Dragoncat said:

Why did Constance get depressed in the sunlight, and when Yuri said he "removed her silence", what was that about?

I never liked Constance duel personality gimmick. It seems tacked on, as if the writers really wanted a gimmick on Contance without realizing that being a Fodlandian L'arachel IS a gimmick.

As for the thing about silencing. I assume that Yuri casted silence on her and Hapi to prevent them from breaking their bonds with magic, and then removed it so they could get free. Apparently magic can save you when tied up. 

[goodperson707]

1 hour ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I never liked Constance duel personality gimmick. It seems tacked on, as if the writers really wanted a gimmick on Contance without realizing that being a Fodlandian L'arachel IS a gimmick.

As for the thing about silencing. I assume that Yuri casted silence on her and Hapi to prevent them from breaking their bonds with magic, and then removed it so they could get free. Apparently magic can save you when tied up. 

Uh any reason to think it wouldn't? And besides I think it was Constance who was specifically called out to be able to escape with magic, she probably showed off half a dozen rope based spells to Yuri and never understood his innuendos and implications.   

As for her Gimmick it also gives her a reason to be in Abyss. 

Edited February 25, 2020 by goodperson707

[Deathcon]

2 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

As for the thing about silencing. I assume that Yuri casted silence on her and Hapi to prevent them from breaking their bonds with magic, and then removed it so they could get free. Apparently magic can save you when tied up. 

Especially ice and wind magic, which she does have.

[Sid Starkiller]

What the hell? I just got to Part 2, and watched the Edelgard/Constance A support. I heard someone on here say that Constance's Part 2 hairstyle was "Part 2 Mercedes" levels of awful, and...no? Constance's hair is just fine.