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I somehow thought Metodey and Randolph were the same character for way too long


Jotari
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1 hour ago, RainbowMoon said:

Thanks! And yeah, I've seen a few CF "fix" ideas recently, but they weren't very good or completely missed the point of the route. Honestly though, CF being the shortest route doesn't really bother me the way VW's half-assed story does. It actually makes a lot of sense seeing how Edelgard is the shortest lord the Empire's starting off at such a clear advantage in part 2. They don't have to rally and make a comeback like the Kingdom or the Alliance, so they can get right to it and end the war. And it certainly helps that the route's length is offset by some truly unique story and battle experiences (taking Garreg Mach in ch.12, Hubert's paralogue, Tailtean in ch.17, the final boss). VW by comparison feels like they got lazy and didn't feel like writing a story for Claude, so they just copied one they already had. Which really sucks too because Claude's such an interesting lord, but his character arc just ends up reading as so... flat compared to the other two. I've only seen a few minutes of the video so far but I'm enjoying their take on the story. Putting a greater focus on Almyra and its politics I think gives Claude and his ideals that extra bit of depth that was missing in the game.

One of my favorite go to arguments for bad writing is to point out that a scene could be cut and it would affect nothing in the story (in fact I did it here in this very thread). Verdant Wind being Silver Snow, but with Claude stuff is almost like they designed the route specifically to entice me to criticize it.

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3 hours ago, Jotari said:

One of my favorite go to arguments for bad writing is to point out that a scene could be cut and it would affect nothing in the story (in fact I did it here in this very thread). Verdant Wind being Silver Snow, but with Claude stuff is almost like they designed the route specifically to entice me to criticize it.

Exactly! The way it is now, the whole damn route could be cut and the story wouldn't suffer one bit.

Finally sat down and watched the rest of the video, and I've gotta say... Holst being an enormous beefcake with pink twintails is my new headcanon. But also, this guy pretty much nails all my major issues with VW. Only thing he doesn't really touch upon is the conflict with Houses Gloucester and Ordelia getting treated as a background event when it could've made for a more interesting story arc than Claude pulling a Dimitri and gunning for Enbarr. But making Judith recruitable, putting a greater focus on Claude's goals and most importantly cutting out the random Nemesis crap (and all the Rhea plotjacking that goes with it, this isn't SS dammit) would go a long way towards telling a better Golden Deer story. Not to mention that Claude casually popping Thales one in the forehead before he can launch the nukes would be hilariously in-character for him.

I'll admit that his idea for the ending, with Claude coming to blows with his father in trial by combat, sounds like a really cool way to wrap up the story on paper. But it'll need some hella foreshadowing and definitely more than one chapter dedicated to it to read as a proper ending and not just another random final boss. I actually prefer the first idea he had for the ending, where Claude's goals for Fodlan put him at odds with Rhea and we experience a different take on SS's final battle. Of course, for this to flow nicely we'd probably need an extra chapter between Shambhala and the final boss (maybe a battle with Seteth and co. to convince them to help us fight Rhea). But personally I think Gronder should just be cut anyway, so we wouldn't wind up with over 22 chapters. Also, I love "Funeral of Flowers" and so one more final boss that uses it is a huge plus for me.

Finally, I like how he said that Claude would step up as the new leader of Fodlan instead of Byleth. I never liked the whole "god emperor Byleth" thing that VW pulled at the end and I feel like Claude becoming Fodlan's new king and opening its borders to everyone is a more satisfying ending to his story. Not to mention that in CF ch.14 he literally tells Edelgard that's what he wanted to do.

Anywho, those are my thoughts. Sorry that it got so long lol

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6 hours ago, RainbowMoon said:

I'll admit that his idea for the ending, with Claude coming to blows with his father in trial by combat, sounds like a really cool way to wrap up the story on paper. But it'll need some hella foreshadowing and definitely more than one chapter dedicated to it to read as a proper ending and not just another random final boss. I actually prefer the first idea he had for the ending, where Claude's goals for Fodlan put him at odds with Rhea and we experience a different take on SS's final battle. Of course, for this to flow nicely we'd probably need an extra chapter between Shambhala and the final boss (maybe a battle with Seteth and co. to convince them to help us fight Rhea). But personally I think Gronder should just be cut anyway, so we wouldn't wind up with over 22 chapters. Also, I love "Funeral of Flowers" and so one more final boss that uses it is a huge plus for me.

I remember proposing, of all people, Acheron as the final boss. How would this work? Well, while Claude is off fighting the Empire, Acheron is turning wheels behind the scenes (in this version, he sends a patsy to the Great Bridge map). He convinces the other Alliance Lords to reassign the role of "Head" of the Alliance - from the young and oft-absent Claude, to the more experienced and reliable Count Gloucester. Moreover, he starts to facilitate rumors - not only is Claude working with their hated enemy, the Almyrans, but he himself is one as well!

After Claude returns from Shambhala, he receives news that turns his blood to ice - "Nardel", accused of being an Almyran assassin who killed Count Gloucester, has been sentenced to death! Claude takes the bait, traveling to Dierdriu alone to negotiate and stop this madness. Thus, he falls right into Acheron's trap! Except that, Claude snuck several of his allies into Dierdriu, and the Professor is shortly behind him, ready to fight. Here, Claude publicly avows the rumors, and asserts that it was only by breaking the barriers between Fodlan and Almyra, that they were able to push back against the looming shadow of the Empire.

Acheron is the main boss here, showing up in a Dark Knight-type class, at the northeast corner. But, he's surrounded with support gambits - people who give him Blessing and Impregnable Wall. There are a few sub-bosses here too - Margrave Edmund (Sword) at west, Count Ordelia (Mortal Savant) to the south, and Lord Holst (War Master) manning the ships. Normally, you'd have to defeat all of them to beat this map - but you can convince them to leave with Marianne, Lysithea, and Hilda, respectively. As for Acheron, he gets unique dialogue with Claude, Byleth, and Lorenz.

Anyway, the idea here is, the battle representing the triumph of Claude's globalism, and desire to forge lasting bonds between nations, over the Old Alliance Lords' insularity and focus on short-term interests. Leaving the Alliance in Judith's capable hands, Claude and co take a "victory lap" around Fódlan, trying to repair the damage done by the war, and spread goodwill - even convincing some prominent Almyrans to join him in the effort. The Professor is elevated to the throne of a United Fódlan, again, because *shrug*. After this trip, the current King of Almyra offers Claude the title of Heir Apparent - but he turns it down, in favor of becoming the modern era's first Almyran Ambassador to Fódlan. In this manner, Claude manages to achieve a peace treaty between the two great nations, that includes joint administration of - and controlled travel through - Fódlan's Locket.

Anyway, that's my Verdant Wind fanfic, lemme know what you think.

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2 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

I remember proposing, of all people, Acheron as the final boss. How would this work? Well, while Claude is off fighting the Empire, Acheron is turning wheels behind the scenes (in this version, he sends a patsy to the Great Bridge map). He convinces the other Alliance Lords to reassign the role of "Head" of the Alliance - from the young and oft-absent Claude, to the more experienced and reliable Count Gloucester. Moreover, he starts to facilitate rumors - not only is Claude working with their hated enemy, the Almyrans, but he himself is one as well!

After Claude returns from Shambhala, he receives news that turns his blood to ice - "Nardel", accused of being an Almyran assassin who killed Count Gloucester, has been sentenced to death! Claude takes the bait, traveling to Dierdriu alone to negotiate and stop this madness. Thus, he falls right into Acheron's trap! Except that, Claude snuck several of his allies into Dierdriu, and the Professor is shortly behind him, ready to fight. Here, Claude publicly avows the rumors, and asserts that it was only by breaking the barriers between Fodlan and Almyra, that they were able to push back against the looming shadow of the Empire.

Acheron is the main boss here, showing up in a Dark Knight-type class, at the northeast corner. But, he's surrounded with support gambits - people who give him Blessing and Impregnable Wall. There are a few sub-bosses here too - Margrave Edmund (Sword) at west, Count Ordelia (Mortal Savant) to the south, and Lord Holst (War Master) manning the ships. Normally, you'd have to defeat all of them to beat this map - but you can convince them to leave with Marianne, Lysithea, and Hilda, respectively. As for Acheron, he gets unique dialogue with Claude, Byleth, and Lorenz.

Anyway, the idea here is, the battle representing the triumph of Claude's globalism, and desire to forge lasting bonds between nations, over the Old Alliance Lords' insularity and focus on short-term interests. Leaving the Alliance in Judith's capable hands, Claude and co take a "victory lap" around Fódlan, trying to repair the damage done by the war, and spread goodwill - even convincing some prominent Almyrans to join him in the effort. The Professor is elevated to the throne of a United Fódlan, again, because *shrug*. After this trip, the current King of Almyra offers Claude the title of Heir Apparent - but he turns it down, in favor of becoming the modern era's first Almyran Ambassador to Fódlan. In this manner, Claude manages to achieve a peace treaty between the two great nations, that includes joint administration of - and controlled travel through - Fódlan's Locket.

Anyway, that's my Verdant Wind fanfic, lemme know what you think.

If we're just generally sharing ideas now, I would definitely have a major facet of Claude's character arc being trying to get into Edelgard's pants in order to enact a political marriage to unite Fodlan, though Edelgard would largely ignore his advances in Part 1, but might actually agree to it in certain Part 2 routes depending on how her war is going. Course this would necessitate a rewrite from the ground up where Claude, Dimitri and Edelgard are actually characters in Part 1, as none of them are until the Holy Tomb chapter (and yeah, I include the lord you're currently with in any given route, you might get to see their character, but the proof is in the pudding as to how irrelevant they are in Part 1 in how they can so easily be substituted without a single damn thing changing).

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5 hours ago, Jotari said:

If we're just generally sharing ideas now, I would definitely have a major facet of Claude's character arc being trying to get into Edelgard's pants in order to enact a political marriage to unite Fodlan, though Edelgard would largely ignore his advances in Part 1, but might actually agree to it in certain Part 2 routes depending on how her war is going. Course this would necessitate a rewrite from the ground up where Claude, Dimitri and Edelgard are actually characters in Part 1, as none of them are until the Holy Tomb chapter (and yeah, I include the lord you're currently with in any given route, you might get to see their character, but the proof is in the pudding as to how irrelevant they are in Part 1 in how they can so easily be substituted without a single damn thing changing).

As someone that ships Edelgard and Claude, I very much approve quite a lot of this. XD

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5 hours ago, Jotari said:

If we're just generally sharing ideas now, I would definitely have a major facet of Claude's character arc being trying to get into Edelgard's pants in order to enact a political marriage to unite Fodlan, though Edelgard would largely ignore his advances in Part 1, but might actually agree to it in certain Part 2 routes depending on how her war is going. Course this would necessitate a rewrite from the ground up where Claude, Dimitri and Edelgard are actually characters in Part 1, as none of them are until the Holy Tomb chapter (and yeah, I include the lord you're currently with in any given route, you might get to see their character, but the proof is in the pudding as to how irrelevant they are in Part 1 in how they can so easily be substituted without a single damn thing changing).

Edelgard's got a massive crush on Byleth though. I think Claude would have more success if he told her "Hey if you agree to stay out of Alliance territory you can marry Teach. Deal?"

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6 hours ago, Jotari said:

If we're just generally sharing ideas now, I would definitely have a major facet of Claude's character arc being trying to get into Edelgard's pants in order to enact a political marriage to unite Fodlan, though Edelgard would largely ignore his advances in Part 1, but might actually agree to it in certain Part 2 routes depending on how her war is going. Course this would necessitate a rewrite from the ground up where Claude, Dimitri and Edelgard are actually characters in Part 1, as none of them are until the Holy Tomb chapter (and yeah, I include the lord you're currently with in any given route, you might get to see their character, but the proof is in the pudding as to how irrelevant they are in Part 1 in how they can so easily be substituted without a single damn thing changing).

I don't know how dramatic it needs be. We already have "love letter" quests - maybe they could throw in one from Claude to Edelgard? And you can just up his flirting levels in dialogue, pre-skip. Post-skip, though, how about this? Edelgard accedes after Fort Merceus falls, due to the dark turn the war has taken. So, they arrange for a wedding at the Imperial Palace. But it turns out, the Slitherins are using it to get back the Sword of the Creator! So you have this big fight, amidst a wedding, in the Palace of Enbarr. Forced to fight, it results in the deaths of Edelgard, Hubert, and... let's say, Myson. But instead of the SS "kill me, Professor" scene, you get a new pre-battle scene where they're all set up for the wedding, and Edelgard walks down the aisle. Anyway, that's how I'd do this. Sorry, Claudelgard folks, but I want Claude to keep his ending card options open.

52 minutes ago, RainbowMoon said:

Edelgard's got a massive crush on Byleth though. I think Claude would have more success if he told her "Hey if you agree to stay out of Alliance territory you can marry Teach. Deal?"

Hm, polycule time? Three-way S-support?

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

I don't know how dramatic it needs be. We already have "love letter" quests - maybe they could throw in one from Claude to Edelgard? And you can just up his flirting levels in dialogue, pre-skip.

Kind of requires them to actually have dialogue together pre time skip to begin with. Which they essentially don't now (though Claude's battle quotes with Edelgard are a touch on the flirty side at least, if I remember the line delivery correctly). Of course it could just be pulled out if its ass after the battle of Grondor, because honestly as an eligible bachelor and an alleged schemer, a marriage or at least arranged marriage should have been on the cards for him at some point. For a game that clearly wants to criticize feudalism, it completely neglects one of the largest aspects of it.

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

 

Post-skip, though, how about this? Edelgard accedes after Fort Merceus falls, due to the dark turn the war has taken. So, they arrange for a wedding at the Imperial Palace. But it turns out, the Slitherins are using it to get back the Sword of the Creator! So you have this big fight, amidst a wedding, in the Palace of Enbarr. Forced to fight, it results in the deaths of Edelgard, Hubert, and... let's say, Myson. But instead of the SS "kill me, Professor" scene, you get a new pre-battle scene where they're all set up for the wedding, and Edelgard walks down the aisle. Anyway, that's how I'd do this. Sorry, Claudelgard folks, but I want Claude to keep his ending card options open.

If we're talking Verdant Wind then that would also give Dimitri some much needed presence in that route, as he would immediately view Claude as a traitor, even if Claude could use the marriage to convince Edelgard to cease hostilities with the Kingdom.

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5 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

I don't know how dramatic it needs be. We already have "love letter" quests - maybe they could throw in one from Claude to Edelgard? And you can just up his flirting levels in dialogue, pre-skip. Post-skip, though, how about this? Edelgard accedes after Fort Merceus falls, due to the dark turn the war has taken. So, they arrange for a wedding at the Imperial Palace. But it turns out, the Slitherins are using it to get back the Sword of the Creator! So you have this big fight, amidst a wedding, in the Palace of Enbarr. Forced to fight, it results in the deaths of Edelgard, Hubert, and... let's say, Myson. But instead of the SS "kill me, Professor" scene, you get a new pre-battle scene where they're all set up for the wedding, and Edelgard walks down the aisle. Anyway, that's how I'd do this. Sorry, Claudelgard folks, but I want Claude to keep his ending card options open.

 

4 hours ago, Jotari said:

Kind of requires them to actually have dialogue together pre time skip to begin with. Which they essentially don't now (though Claude's battle quotes with Edelgard are a touch on the flirty side at least, if I remember the line delivery correctly). Of course it could just be pulled out if its ass after the battle of Grondor, because honestly as an eligible bachelor and an alleged schemer, a marriage or at least arranged marriage should have been on the cards for him at some point. For a game that clearly wants to criticize feudalism, it completely neglects one of the largest aspects of it.

If we're talking Verdant Wind then that would also give Dimitri some much needed presence in that route, as he would immediately view Claude as a traitor, even if Claude could use the marriage to convince Edelgard to cease hostilities with the Kingdom.

Speaking of Dimitri... how do you think he'd feel about the whole Claudelgard thing? Pre-skip, I mean. I can just picture Claude offering her a dance at the ball while Dimitri glares daggers (I had to. Sorry.) at him from the punch table lol

Maybe Sylvain gets in on the act too just to screw with him :P

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45 minutes ago, RainbowMoon said:

 

Speaking of Dimitri... how do you think he'd feel about the whole Claudelgard thing? Pre-skip, I mean. I can just picture Claude offering her a dance at the ball while Dimitri glares daggers (I had to. Sorry.) at him from the punch table lol

Maybe Sylvain gets in on the act too just to screw with him 😛

Would have made the characters interact more and actually give the tragedy of the three going to war more depth.

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13 hours ago, Jotari said:

Kind of requires them to actually have dialogue together pre time skip to begin with. Which they essentially don't now (though Claude's battle quotes with Edelgard are a touch on the flirty side at least, if I remember the line delivery correctly). Of course it could just be pulled out if its ass after the battle of Grondor, because honestly as an eligible bachelor and an alleged schemer, a marriage or at least arranged marriage should have been on the cards for him at some point. For a game that clearly wants to criticize feudalism, it completely neglects one of the largest aspects of it.

For the record, the game doesn't neglect political marriage. That was Ingrid's engagement to Glenn, before the Tragedy of Duscur. It was meant (presumably) to tie the ailing House Galatea to the renowned House Fraldarius - who, in turn, gets more Crest babies. Also, didn't Mercedes adoptive father wish to marry her off to an older nobleman, for status?

But yeah, definitely not gonna turn down more interactions between the main Lords. Although, right now, they get a few - surrounding the Prologue, before and after chapter 1, and after Gronder I. Huh, that's pretty front-heavy.

Maybe they could've had inter-Lord supports? Even if you can't use them both in battle, they can do mealtime and choir (I think) together. And this can affect certain things post-skip, like Claude giving away the Failnaught on AM (or CF, hypothetically), or the proposed Claudelgard wedding. Then again, that could be a lot of "if" statements to work through.

8 hours ago, RainbowMoon said:

Maybe Sylvain gets in on the act too just to screw with him 😛

Such a Sylvain thing to do. But then Ingrid is staring daggers.

...Felix too.

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

For the record, the game doesn't neglect political marriage. That was Ingrid's engagement to Glenn, before the Tragedy of Duscur. It was meant (presumably) to tie the ailing House Galatea to the renowned House Fraldarius - who, in turn, gets more Crest babies. Also, didn't Mercedes adoptive father wish to marry her off to an older nobleman, for status?

But yeah, definitely not gonna turn down more interactions between the main Lords. Although, right now, they get a few - surrounding the Prologue, before and after chapter 1, and after Gronder I. Huh, that's pretty front-heavy.

Maybe they could've had inter-Lord supports? Even if you can't use them both in battle, they can do mealtime and choir (I think) together. And this can affect certain things post-skip, like Claude giving away the Failnaught on AM (or CF, hypothetically), or the proposed Claudelgard wedding. Then again, that could be a lot of "if" statements to work through.

Such a Sylvain thing to do. But then Ingrid is staring daggers.

...Felix too.

Well yeah there's a tiny bit of that (doesn't Ingrid's paralogue with Dorothea have some other marriage set up too?), but as far as the main story goes it's pretty much untouched.

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9 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Such a Sylvain thing to do. But then Ingrid is staring daggers.

...Felix too.

Felix definitely. Dude's totally tsundere for Sylvain lol

I ship Ingrid with Ashe though. They're absolutely adorable together!

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