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Thane

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    New interview reveals some neat info

    in Fire Emblem: Three Houses

    Posted

    3 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

    Khalid could easily be the main lord since he can survive all routes. The game could easily play coy about exactly what happened while he was in Fodlan and perhaps can employ some imported save data ala the Tellius games. That said just an entirely different story set in Almyra could work too. 

    This is precisely what I don't want, personally. It doesn't feel like it would do Three Houses justice if that's the route they went, which of course makes a potential sequel that much harder to make.

    New interview reveals some neat info

    in Fire Emblem: Three Houses

    Posted

    14 minutes ago, Thunderstar said:

    From I have seen in other websites, the source is Nintendo Dream.

    I tried finding it there but couldn't. Do you have the direct link?

    13 minutes ago, Enryx25 said:

    Another interesting info is that Silver Snow was actually the first route done, implying Verdant Wind is actually a copy of it and not the opposite like many think.

    Yeah, that's very interesting as well. I've seen people wondering which of the routes came first, but I did find the arguments for Silver Snow being the first route more compelling, if only for the last cutscene in Enbarr.

    It seems as though Edelgard's role and route were originally rather different. It was meant to be harder to get into Crimson Flower, which might explain why it's shorter.

    What are some TH predictions that aged poorly, that you could think of?

    in Fire Emblem: Three Houses

    Posted

    I was convinced that the antagonist would win at one point and Byleth would use a huge Divine Pulse to travel back in time further than ever before in order to stop it. That didn't age well. Maybe it would've been too similar to Awakening.

    I also expected stuff like school festival and a lot more typical anime high school stuff than we got. I'm glad I was wrong on that account.

    New interview reveals some neat info

    in Fire Emblem: Three Houses

    Posted · Edited by Thane

    Hello chaps.

    7pfqrhyi5yn41.jpg

    Apparently there's a new interview floating around. This person on Tumblr has split up a translation in two parts.

    I can't find a definitive source for the article, however, at least not on Famitsu, so if someone knows where it's from, let me know.

    There are some really interesting stuff there, though I think this is the coolest by far (and thus also the most depressing that it didn't come to pass):

    Quote

    When did Edelgard undergo the crest experiments? Why does she get the same crest as the main character?

    -There wasn’t any other text in the game to suggest the timing besides after separating with Dmitri, but since TWSITD called Edelgard their “greatest masterpiece”, this suggests that they would have had the tools and abilities which suggests that the experiment happened after the experiments done on Lysithea.

    -Regarding Edelgard bearing the same crest as the MC, this is because initially Edelgard was going to become the MC’s rival on an equal plane. Scenarios such as when the MC was stopping time, Edelgard suddenly appeared in that space to interfere with the MC…would have been interesting but we never got to delve any deeper into that.

    Edit: a lot of the interview has been translated here: https://serenesforest.net/2020/03/24/three-houses-nintendo-dream-interview-reveals-first-route-claudes-real-name/

    New Heroes: Harmony amid Chaos

    in Fire Emblem Heroes

    Posted

    If you exclude Flayn, there is one more male student than there are female ones. I know female units sell more than males but I still wonder what they'll do when they mostly have the TH guys left. I guess they feel like they can safely ignore Ignatz and Raphael. 

    I like Fates more than Three Houses

    in Fire Emblem: Three Houses

    Posted

    39 minutes ago, zuibangde said:

    You get the point. The characterization of TH’s cast can honestly get quite repetitive at times...name one trait and you can name a decent amount of characters that all share it.

    This can also be a strength, as it often is in Three Houses. It can be used to cement important themes, like the Crest system, or tie characters together to a certain event, like the Tragedy of Duscur which has multiple characters dealing with the aftermath of it in radically different ways. 

    As you said, and as Fates has proven many times, a good concept is not enough without proper execution. 

    I like Fates more than Three Houses

    in Fire Emblem: Three Houses

    Posted

    5 hours ago, zuibangde said:

    I think if Fates' supports were more developed and better written, Fates' cast could be more likable. There are many ideas that had potential but unfortunately fell short. Camilla and concubine wars, Nyx being cursed to not age, Charlotte being a non traditional gold digger + trying and failing to hide her brute side, Hayato losing both of his parents at a young age and how that forced him to grow up, Reina's obsession with death, Flora's insecurity and how the past haunts her, Shura's role in kidnapping Azura, Sakura's social anxiety etc. Unfortunately, the poor writing has caused most of these characters to turn into simple caricatures or a contradictory mess. 

    If the character development was done with as much care and quality as TH's, I'd think Fates' characters would be a lot more well received and reflect the morally grey concept that Fates tried to do.

    Not to belittle your point, but "if they were better written and more developed" would improve, well, any game with supports.

    8 hours ago, Imuabicus said:

    My reason for liking the Fates cast is purely gameplay related though.

    Ah, pardon, not what I was after. I meant in terms of writing.

    4 hours ago, lightcosmo said:

    Don't most the girls have subtle differences?

    The guys do too. Raphael doesn't have a black shirt and neither does Felix I think. Ferdinand has a cravat, Linhardt has baggy pants, etc.

    I like Fates more than Three Houses

    in Fire Emblem: Three Houses

    Posted

    On 2/19/2020 at 2:38 PM, Etrurian emperor said:

    In the end I don't respect Fates nearly as much as I do Three Houses and I'm a lot harsher on its flaws. The reason for this is that so much of what went wrong with Fates doesn't seem to be mistakes but deliberate acts of bad faith. In Fates I often feel that the developers know exactly what they should have done artistically but that they also refuses to do it because other factors took preference.

    I think this is a very good take. Even if Fates and Three Houses' flaws were exactly the same and directly comparable, which I don't for a second think they are, then Fates would still come up short because its flaws feel intentional and cynical while Three Houses' shortcomings feel like they stem from an insufficient development time. There's a big difference.

    The difference in the way the two games treat their casts is night and day. While not everyone is a winner in Three Houses, you generally get to know the characters pretty in depth, their likes and dislikes, their take on the current conflict and the reasons why they came to Garreg Mach in the first place. Everyone has a unique background from places you can actually see on the detailed map of Fódlan and the surrounding areas, making them seem part of the world. It helps that the worldbuilding is also solid, complete with different cultures and traditions and noble houses.

    In Fates, we learn very little about the vast majority of characters, many of who only exist as a satellite to other, more important characters. Kaze is a good example of this, turning his back on the good guy nation to help Corrin because they mentioned that they want to end the war and "change things from the inside, stop the death and destruction". When Corrin invades Hoshido, Kaze doesn't say or do anything about that fact, despite that the main reason he defected was to stop all the fighting. 

    Even the supposedly more important characters in Fates, like the royal siblings, end up contributing fairly little. It was already a strange idea to give Corrin two sets of siblings with the exact same composition and age range, but weirder still to market them so heavily when they themselves primarily work as satellite characters to Corrin and are defined mainly through their relationship with them. Remove the legendary weapons (that no sister got for some reason, hmm...) and, besides Takumi in Conquest and Elise in Birthright, their involvement in the plot based on their own actions is limited to say the least. You collect them almost like Pokémon in almost all routes and then they sort of...tag along.

    This might have been fine if Fates had a stronger overarching narrative. While one can rightly talk about plot holes and plot conveniences, I would also like to bring up something that is more rarely discussed, namely the interactions between the characters before and after chapters and the structure of the plots in all three versions. After the prologue, very, very little time is spent on the characters actually interacting or talking about anything that isn't immediately connected to the main plot. There is no character building or any moment where you can see the chemistry between the characters. Look at Birthright, for example, and how Corrin suddenly feels right at home with these people who until very recently had been strangers to them. There's no dialogue about how Corrin doesn't feel like they fit in or  how they don't understand some of the cultural aspects, and the siblings never ask about their time in Nohr, how they got along with the Nohrian royals, etc. Everything is brushed aside to focus only on the plot at hand, which leads directly into another major issue: the idea of all three versions after a certain point is to get Corrin from point A to point B, and they get attacked/tested on the way there. There is very little planning, talk of strategy, resources, morale or anything of the sort; it's Corrin and their army marching in a straight line until they run into an obstacle .

    While there are many more things I'd like to bring up, I'll give my two cents about the "choice" in Fates: it's all a lie.

    Ignoring the fact that the version that you bought dictates the side that you can choose, all of it is smoke and mirrors for several different reasons. First and foremost, Corrin is not related to the Hoshidans by blood despite that being the premise. Now, this could've been a good twist if used correctly, but the problem is that it's not used at all - if you don't marry any of, er, your "siblings", this is only brought up in Revelation after which it's immediately ignored and forgotten about. If you do marry one of your non-siblings and the truth is revealed, then nothing changes anyway; one of the main arguments the Hoshidan royals had used to win over Corrin to their side suddenly doesn't apply anymore, and what's worse, Ryouma knew about it and actively lied straight to Corrin's face, but this also gets ignored. Just like Kaze, it's an inconvenience that's swept under the carpet.

    The other reason why the choice doesn't work is even more straightforward: Revelation renders it null and void. Revelation makes both Birthright and Conquest completely obsolete in terms of the story. Some people will happily bring up the multiverse as an argument for everything and nothing being canon, but the fact remains that Revelation offers a golden ending where none of the siblings/Azura die and you defeat the true big bad behind the entire conflict, making the choice to go Birthright and Conquest de facto wrong and a bad idea.

    Fire Emblem Heroes General Discussion and Links

    in Fire Emblem Heroes

    Posted

    36 minutes ago, EricaofRenais said:

    Dang if they really made that Tellius banner with Sephiran on it and Ashnard as the GHB (please give me a male sword dracoknight pretty please) I would be so happy.

    That'd be sick. I also need Dheginsea.

    If they have enough characters left though, I could see them pulling another Fallen Heroes banner with Ashnard appearing there. Ashnard, Lyon, and perhaps (Three Houses spoilers) 

    Spoiler

    Hegemon Edelgard

    I also want another Awakening kiddos banner, as there are just enough characters left for one more depending on how you look at it: regular Noire, regular Severa, regular Inigo, and Laurent. I know I'm quite biased towards Awakening and that they had a good run in the first year, but last year Awakening really didn't do too well, with only one banner and one (fairly average) Mythic. 

    I can be appeased with Awakening characters wearing yukatas, however.

    From one thing to another, my Quan in Hall of Forms is testing my patience. He's got Gáe Bolg, Distant Ward, Smite, and Drive Resistance, and when I finally get another kill on the bloke, he can choose between the following:

    Sapphire Lance
    Harsh Command
    Blazing Thunder
    Defiant Res
    Escape Route
    Threaten Atk/Spd 3
    Defiant Atk 3 seal

    I mean, Escape Route could be good, and Threaten Atk/Spd might be better than Drive Res, but both are very situational.

    Claude's goals

    in Fire Emblem: Three Houses

    Posted · Edited by Thane

    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?

    Thoughts on FEH's fanservice

    in Fire Emblem Heroes

    Posted · Edited by Thane

    I don't play for the fan service but I don't mind it provided it's tasteful. I would like more variety though, especially in terms of outfits for example; why do we have so many bunny suits? Give me China dresses instead. I also really want more casual clothes like on the last year's picnic banner. 

    But to me, better fan service would be more focus on characters hanging out and interacting with each other more. Forging Bonds has that but it's tied to such a monotonous mode. 

    Dead or Evil? Let's talk Fire Emblem dads. (contains spoilers)

    in General Fire Emblem

    Posted · Edited by Thane

    1 hour ago, warriorsalamander said:

    I want a Fire Emblem father that is playable, even if they are added in last chapters.

    I assume you mean for main characters, because we've had Barst and just got Gilbert in Three Houses, to name two examples.

    On 12/26/2019 at 7:15 AM, eclipse said:

    Not counting the time travel thing, I think Stahl/Tharja have living family.

    Yepp. Stahl's father is an apothecary and Tharja's family consists of powerful mages but she still worries about them and keeps in touch via letters. I also believe Kellam's parents are alive and working on a farm.

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