RPG

Leona found herself slightly bothered by Balthar's attitude. She couldn't tell if he was being optimistic or cynical, and by referring to her as "my dear", she immediately began to wonder what kind of first impression she had left on him and the others. As much as she was tempted to do be habitually unresponsive, Leona chose to address the statements her superior provided. "I'd rather not wait in the shuttle. I'm a trained lookout and I've been training for combat for years." She told Lorentz. She wondered if that last sentence sounded too arrogant or self-focused, but she tried to swallow her admittedly petty worries.

If you want to trace motivation back to a single source, generally we do things in our own self interest. Going to the gym helps with health, appearance and confidence, studying leads to better grades, working hard on a project will lead to recognition or another payoff, etc. In cases such as housework, I'd say there are things that we are preconditioned to do by society or those around us. If you make housework a part of your routine, it becomes a task that should fit itself into whatever your schedule may be, and whatever reluctance you have in doing it should lessen. Creating a productive routine for yourself is one way to condition your brain into getting things done. The idea of a routine also applies towards working towards a general good, or whatever you may believe to be good. If you're told that giving money to homeless people is a good thing to do and your mind accepts that idea, you'll be more inclined to do so. If people aren't doing things out of self interest, then they're generally doing them because they have accepted them as the "right" thing to do. There are other motivations such as rebellion and experimentation, but that's another conversation entirely.

Leona sat in silence as she peered at the small girl with the robot out of the corner of her eye. She was so young and carefree that Leona felt envy stirring inside of her. During her time in the vehicle, she was preoccupied with what impression she would make on the others. Not only was she among the tallest on the trip, but it was impossible for her to be comfortable in such a small seat. It was difficult to give off the "strong and silent" vibe when she kept shifting her seated posture. At least she had the mission to occupy her self-critical mind. She wasn't particularly worried. As a border guard she was used to spending long periods of time in inhospitable weather conditions, and she was very confident in her combat training. And of course, by volunteering to help with this project she could finally see more of the strange world waiting beyond Arcalon's borders. After nervously drumming her fingers on her leg for what felt like several minutes, Leona decided to speak up only to make her presence known. She adjusted her glasses then raised a noticeably toned arm into the air. "Question, sir." She called out to Lorentz. "With all due respect, why is a mismatched group of volunteers trusted with a mission that could risk the government's reputation?" Realizing that sounded less respectful than she intended, she added a quick "Sir".

Hearing Haythem's suggestion, Garrimor growled in frustration. He hated feeling helpless, but he bolted to the forest to find cover.

I'm fine stylized designs, that's where a lot of the charm in Fire Emblem comes from. Awakening just took it way farther than what I would have preferred.

I don't like the art style in general, but that's a pretty major problem I have with the game, going far beyond little annoyances. But yeah, the armor is especially silly since Fire Emblem outfits have previously designed with combat practicality, other than the occasional battle-miniskirt. I hope that if the next FE game takes a more serious tone (which I really hope it will) that the armor designs and character personalities would be changed to be less comical/exaggerated.

There have been times where I feel like a burden and wonder if things would be better if I was gone. But I don't want to cut my life short. Indeed, death is an unknown, and I'm going to assume that there's no way back to Earth once we pass. So I want to use my brief time on Earth to its fullest, and accept death when it is time. There's a lot about the world I still want to learn, and I believe that if I can contribute to society even in small ways such as making people laugh, then I should keep on living. And I naturally don't want to give me family and friends any grief. There's an essay by Edgar Allan Poe called "The Imp of the Perverse." I recall that in it he theorizes that people do what is considered "wrong" because they know that they aren't supposed to do it. This is as a result of being rebellious or curious. And indeed, I find myself curious about death, curious about how easy it would be to kill yourself, and that it might even only take one action in defiance of my instincts to end it all. But I'm always reminded of how much I enjoy life as a whole, and how much I can still give to the world. It's too early for me, and I treasure life.

With the dragon's return, Garrimor found himself at a loss. He had always been a believer in survival of the fittest and that only the strongest ones deserve to live, but that was much easier to preach when you were the strongest man in the room. With a nigh-invincible dragon assaulting he and his comrades Garrimor just wanted to stop the creature. So Garrimor did what he was best at: proclaiming his god-slaying glory. "HEAR ME MISERABLE CREATURE!" Garrimor shouted to the heavens. "You act superior as you fly about like a gnat and sling spells like a coward? HA!" He moved away from Haythem and Isis to make sure that they wouldn't be too close to him. "You know nothing about what it means to be a real man! Come to me and face Garrimor the Great, SLAYER OF GODS AND A KING AMONG MEN!" Making sure nobody was in the direct vicinity, Garrimor beat his chest and howled. He could hardly believe he was using himself as a distraction, but he shook those thoughts out of his head and resolved himself to bear anything the dragon threw at him.

Classes of the same tree sharing critical hit animations. Especially bothersome since the GBA and DS games made each separate class extremely individual looking in battle. Also, no crit animation for Levin Sword/Bolt Axe/Shockstick. Plus the crits are boring, though the cut-ins still make them satisfying at least. Lack of customization for the Avatar, especially if it's supposed to be a self-insert. Bride and Dread Fighter don't make sense as counterparts. Libra looks too bulky and narrow-eyed (according to anime conventions) to be androgynous IMO. Most of the weapon designs are silly. Javelins and short axes in particular. The silver axe also rubs me the wrong way, it just seems incorrect.

Garrimor tried to take in Haythem's words. Their people? Their kind? It was all too vague and complicated for him right now. He understood Haythem's request at least, and carried him over to the wyvern Garrimor recognized as his. "Awright kid, I'll lower you down gently. If you want to try standing, lean on me." Garrimor prepared to ease Haythem onto his feet. At least that's what he was expecting. But then there were snipers. Garrimor ducked, lowering himself and Haythem to the ground. "Sneaking bastards!" He put Haythem down rather ungracefully, and searched around for a target, but he knew he couldn't leave a wounded man undefended.

Garrimor stifled a growl as Greta ran off. He was used to his recklessness and boisterous attitude being insulted, but coming from Greta it actually bothered him for some reason. Deciding to let it go, he turned to the wounded Haythem. "Alright little guy, don't push yourself too much. Garrimor the Great will be your support!" He gently picked up Haythem as if he was a baby. It was an odd sight, a grown man being carried by another (albeit much taller) man as if he were a small child. Garrimor was prepared to run off, but then he realized that he wasn't sure where to go from here. Were they just going to leave behind the dead horses, wagon wreckage, and corpses? Especially considering that Greta's father was one of the casualties. Seeing no answer as to what he should do, Garrimor turned to the man in his arms. "Could you tell me what that dragon was? In my many years I haven't seen any beast that powerful."

Had Garrimor not been hit by the dragon's first spell, he surely would have charged the beast and gotten himself killed. But in a somewhat luckier turn of events, he was instead blasted by an explosion, and smashed his forehead on the ground upon impact. Seeing that they had a brief reprieve from the dark monstrosity, with some effort he staggered back towards the group, taking note of the newcomers, who seemed to be friends of the foreigners. He was confused, dizzy, and wounded, but least he wasn't dead. The dragon's strength was unbelievable. "I could have stood a chance if the thing use that cheating magic!" Garrimor thought to himself as he felt warm blood trickle down his face. His body was weakened and his pride was crushed, but he wasn't going to get down on himself just yet. He slowly made his way over to his employer. "I can carry the lad if you want, Boss," Garrimor said to Greta, indicating Haythem. "He needs healing, but if that thing can come back we'd best get out of here. Hopefully these new strangers can cover us." The gravity of the situation sobered Garrimor's attitude significantly. Now wasn't the time for boasts.

When the wagon crashed, Garrimor first smashed his head against the ceiling, then was sent careening into the back wall. With a snarl he tried to force his way past the other passengers and towards the exit of the wagon, despite the throbbing in his skull. He made it outside of the wagon in time to see the dragon getting assaulted by dark energy. Seeing his opportunity, Garrimor began to dart forward, axe in hand, but he didn't make it to the dragon before it cast its own spell. Garrimor was stopped in his tracks, and fell forward onto all fours. He could feel the energy being sucked out of his body. Fighting to stay conscious, he began wildly punching the ground beneath himself, howling like a wild animal. Soon he would black out completely. As the edges of his sight blurred, Garrimor's thrashing slowed down and his mind slipped in and out of consciousness, the dark dragon looming in his frame of vision.

Garrimor had slept through the initial dragon encounter. Wagon rides seemed to do that to him. And by the time he woke up, Greta's group had begun their escape from the monstrosity. Luckily Garrimor's size made it difficult to move in and out of the wagon, otherwise he would have leaped out and charged the beast. He attempted to stand for dramatic effect, but had to settle for a squat when he realized his head was already almost touching the ceiling when he was sitting. "Those foreign idiots are going to die against that thing!" Garrimor bellowed as he tried to support his awkward posture. "Turn back and let me off! I'll show you how a REAL man fights! I'll break its over-sized neck with by bare hands!"

I like Greta the most, followed by Pops. I feel like I'm having a hand in death here >_< But I shall do it for the sake of plot!

It's not really a huge deal either way for me. But fighters are basically just people with axes, it feels like anyone who could swing an axe could be one, so I'm in favor of female fighters since I don't see a reason for them not to exist. As for pegasus knights, it was said somewhere in a FE game that pegasi refuse to let males ride them, so I don't mind that there are no male ones since it's something IS tried to justify. You could argue that it's a lazy/stupid reason and I won't disagree. But also I feel like I'd rather have pegasus knights stay gender exclusive, and I honestly can't place my finger on why. It just feels right to me personally. I don't feel like it's being unfair to male class sets either, and I don't think pegasus knights should have a male counterpart just for the sake of balancing things out. But I admit, my views could totally have double-standards in effect.

I'm one-hundred percent supportive of female fighters/warriors, but for some reason I don't really want to see male pegasus knights. I feel like it could take away from the uniqueness of the class, but I won't object is IS wants to give it a try. Also, if class swap returns (and I'm pretty sure it will), less gender exclusive classes could make the characters less unique gameplay wise, since characters could start sharing more classes (which is something I didn't like about Shadow Dragon and New Mystery and their incredibly liberal class swap system).

I'd say that "policing" other countries isn't the right way to do things. Nations are huge, with so many lives taking their course and internal issues going on, nobody would want another country breathing down their neck on top of that. There are instances that could draw attention however, like if the people are unhappy as a whole and suffering as a nation due to the bureaucracy or others in charge. If people are dying, other countries would naturally want to step in. But if a nation's issues are unclear to the extent that taking sides on internal affairs is messy or exceedingly complicated, I think it's generally best to stay out of it and not complicate matters further. There's really no easy answer to a question like this, because the world does not run on one nation's morals or laws...but maybe looking at such complicated issues from all viewpoints can find a preferable source of action.

Thanks for all the input guys and gals ^__^ For a long time I did what I thought the "right" thing was, just for the sake of doing the right thing. Which isn't necessarily bad, but I was being what some of you mentioned--being the nice guy for the sake of getting the girl. Plus, I did it only because it was what I was taught to do, never bothering to think for myself on such matters, and not trying to find my own conclusions. Life is a lot more complicated than doing nice things and getting rewarded, something I wish I realized sooner. After some time in college on the party scene, I've realized that these relationship games aren't really for me, at least not if I'm looking for anything beyond a hookup. There's value in games, sure, and if people enjoy them then more power to them. I like flirting at parties and such, but I think I'll let the courting game take up less of my life outside of that. Wanting things to happen seems to be a good way of screwing everyone over. And whether I'm flirting or not, I'd much rather be myself. For my own sake, and so people know what they're getting into, haha.

Taking note of the dog's confusion, Garrimor pulled his hand away and stood up, returning his attention to Nimoeph. He loved story time. "I left my hometown almost thirty years ago, to make a stand against the fat cats of the upper class. They sit on their asses while people stronger than them build their castles and serve them food? BAH! So me and some other vigilantes became Garrimor's Bandits, with the mission of knocking sense into people, and taking what they didn't deserve. We reminded the clueless masses that only the strong survive in this world!" Getting into it, he flexed his huge biceps before continuing. "I spent almost half of my life living in caves, forests, or abandoned forts. And even though Garrimor's Bandits have been broken up, I survived and stayed in amazing shape! I'm the world's best wild man!" He didn't bother to question why this girl had taken an interest in him. He just missed the spotlight.

"Grrr...you say I am insane? Bah, and this is what I get for doing you the favor of mostly telling the truth?" With a low growl, Garrimor awkwardly placed his hand on Elrey's head. "I've seen all sorts of wild dogs. I am the Feral Wolf after all!" He rocked his hand back and forth on the dog's cranium, clearly not knowing what to do with it. "But I don't see much of the pet kind, not since before I started living in the forest and mountains..."

My Babies Kjelle FeMorgan Maribelle Brady Gaius I like you Sully Vaike Henry Cherche Anna Severa Lissa Inigo Tiki I want to stop using you but I know I won't Lucina Robin Others Others Sorry I just don't like your pot Donnel Aversion towards Miriel Say'ri Virion Yarne Let's not Ricken

Agreed. I thought it was awkward at first, but I got used to it. I would have liked more voice acting as opposed to less, seeing as we're in an era of gaming where it's very doable and can contribute a lot to the game. I would have liked it if some of the more important scenes were entirely voiced, similar to how the Tales series does it.

"Hrm?" Garrimor looked down at the dark-skinned girl who seemed to have suddenly appeared in front of him. "Well of course I know what the deal is! Who do you take me for?" Garrimor might not have understood everything, but he couldn't let this girl know that. "They're here about the Fiery Emblem! That magical thing that people fight over..." That sounded right. What else did they say? "They were chosen by a goddess to find it and add it to a jewelry collection. And they're foreigners. Clueless foreigners that needed the help of Garrimor the Godslayer! But I turned them down since I have a job already. So they decided to travel with us! And, errr, y'see..." Garrimor's thought process stopped, as he found himself distracted by the small creature behind the girl. There was something enchanting about the dog. Cute even? Without realizing what he was doing, he slowly lowered himself and reached a giant hand out to it.

There are plenty of things that are I love about FE6, but there are also several faults that I attribute as the result of the radical shift from FE5. They took a risk with the more cartoon-like graphics, but it proved to be charming, as well as aging pretty well. While flashy crits have been around for long before this, they weren't cemented until warriorcopters and flying nomad troopers came to be, and now they're a series staple. The story is simpler, cheerier, and definitely more of a cliche. It bugged me how every chapter had the same format of Roy talking to Merlinus/another important person about the current state of things. Everything was so plainly spelled out, the story could have used less telling and more showing pertaining to events and enemies. But since more elaborate scenes focusing on enemy units were few and far between pre-FE7, this is understandable. However, the chapters quickly became repetitive because of this formula, more so because the only objective is seize. I really liked the villains. Zephiel's backstory was already pretty tragic, but Blazing Sword cemented it even further and showed us the events that would lead up to his despair. Idoun was another tragic villain, a living being turned into a weapon. Then there were manipulators like Yahn, people you were excited to defeat like Narcien...it was a pretty diverse cast of antagonists. I was disappointed that Roartz and Arcard were built up to be diabolical schemers but then they were shown to be cowards in their first appearance (from what I recall). This is especially disappointing because I expected something more intimidating from Etruria's corrupt nobility, but they were pretty minor in the grand scheme of things. The player units were a little bit more boring, though I liked the large cast. There's also a lot of freedom with characters you want to use. Some were clearly better than others, but it's not like the game would become impossible if you used a few B-listers. The addition of true support conversations also gave characters a lot more room to grow. The map designs are pretty varied, but I found it hard to deal with things that you didn't know were coming (reinforcements in particular). Instead of being setbacks, they became something that distracted you from the main objective. But I like the maps overall, despite the only objective being seize and the annoying gimmicks in the gaiden chapters. Some were just more frustrating than challenging. So I respect FE6 for establishing things like supports convos and fun, flashy crits, and the risks IS took in the move to a new console payed off for sure. Overall, it just could have been less repetitive and more complex in regard to the story format and less frustrating in regards to the map designs. There's a lot of good stuff in this game, but I believe its true potential was far off.