Shanty Pete's 1st Mate

Presumably, they didn't want to get sued by Hershey's. Me and the boys, on our way to kick Jarod out of our country. Best innovation that Tellius never seems to get credit for? Colored circles around units. So I can remember to move even "dull bluish-gray generic Soldier dude".

This shouldn't be too difficult to figure out. Just raise the base stat by 2 (or 7, for HP). An Ike who starts with 19 HP, and uses a Seraph Robe, has an equal chance to cap as an Ike who starts with 26 HP, and doesn't use any boosters. On the contrary, by PoR's design, Mages essentially already have a "split promotion". As you can pick whether they promote into Knives or Staves. It's horribly imbalanced, granted, and there was a thread about what would make Knive Sages "worth it" in PoR. There were some interesting ideas, although it mostly boiled down to "make Knives better in the first place". Although, a formally split promotion could kinda solve this. Obviously a "Knife Sage" should get a larger Strength boost, but what if they got a bigger boost in Magic as well? Or saw their Tome ranks increase by a larger margin? Then there'd be a reason to go "Knife Sage", even if Knives still sucked. Likewise, Cavaliers enjoy a "split promotion" into Paladin, since they can choose their secondary weapon type. In practice, most will take up Axes, since it's the best weapon type in the game. But here, too, some associated stat changes - i.e. a larger Speed boost for taking up Swords - could sway the logic one way or another. Even if PoR had branching promotions, I doubt Ike would get one. In most games with branching promotions, the Lord class still doesn't get a choice. In practice, an option for Ike to get Lances (or Axes, like his father) would be a big deal, in a game with ranged forges. But perhaps they didn't want Ike to become too strong (they were saving that for RD, haha). Bad idea time: A remake of both Tellius games, but in the Genealogy engine. PoR is part I, and RD is part II. Have fun siezing castles across Tellius and setting up your "inheritance"! (In truth, RD's structure would not be particularly amenable to this at all, outside of a massive rewrite.)

This brings up option 4: something of a "happy accident". See, the localizers didn't design ローロー's Einherjar team composition. That was done in Japan. When the localizers got it, they saw a man in a mask leading a bunch of identical Berserkers. A "legion" of them, if you will. It's not totally clear what to make of ローロー as a name, and the character hadn't been localized yet, so it was at their own liberty. They decided to call him "Legion", which fit with his function in the chapter they were aware of. Do I think this is how it went down? Not necessarily. But I think it's a more-than-remote possibility. We'll probably never know for sure, outside of notes or interviews with the localization team. "I wish Aran's localization was truer to the original Japanese!" finger on Monkey's Paw curls "Alright, time to make sure Laura is in position to recruit Buladdo." Oh, just discovered this from the wiki: Aran stays losing.

So, what we know is, the "coming-of-age ceremony" is required to ascend to the throne of Bern. We also know that the Ceremony is supposed to occur on Zephiel's thirteenth birthday. With the Fire Emblem "stolen", King Desmond said that the ceremony would have to be "cancelled", rather than "postponed". It's not at all clear that, were the Emblem to be rediscovered later, a "make-up" ceremony could take place. My interpretation of Desmond's initial plan is: 1. Fire Emblem gets stolen 2. Zephiel's 13th birthday comes and goes 3. Fire Emblem is "rediscovered" later, sometime before Guinevere's 13th birthday 4. Guinevere gets the "coming-of-age" ceremony instead 5. Guinevere is now Desmond's successor Maybe? It's still very values-dissonant to me. Like, we're doing the right thing, but it has disastrous consequences. Athos can see into the future - apparently - so surely he knows that saving Zephiel will cause war to erupt in twenty years. And the whole mission our three Lords are on is... preventing a continent-spanning war. While killing Zephiel (and Nino) is currently the Black Fang's goal, it's not as though doing so would somehow ignite Nergal's desired war. Yeah I agree with this much. Sacred Stones has some similar themes, but does them better. Characters like Orson and Lyon are driven to villainy by their grief, and inability to accept loss. Can't wait for the inevitable remake to undermine this theming by giving us a Turnwheel... What's funny is, I'm not such a fan of Thracia 776, but it's not for failing in any of the reasons that I like games. Really, it's just the "Kaga bullshit" involved. Stuff like "ballista reinforcements that just killed the character I need to access the final paralogue". But in terms of worldbuilding and immersion, it's definitely up there.

Well, it would let his son use Excalibur without really trying... which could get messy during family dinners. "Daddy, why is my brother named Medeus?" Well, I named him after someone I killed during the war. "Oh, that makes sense. Thanks for explaining!" No problem, Sheema! They're "classes that could originally use Swords, but nowadays, can almost always use Axes instead". Also, "everyone" is an overstatement, right? Snipers and Manaketes weren't swinging Swords, were they? "To make sure I'm on the right side of this war! Ol' Gharnef may be trying to plunge this world into an external darkness, and that stinks - but I draw the line at pedos, ya dig?" People sleep way too hard on Pegasus Knights in FE4. It's always "road tiles this, 8 move promoted that, no Rescue-Carry the other thing". All the while ignoring instant access to both the Brave Sword and Lance, Staves upon promotion, Pursuit on Erinys and Fee, and the fact that most maps have areas blocked off by mountains, ledges, or water, which only fliers can reach. Erinys and Fee are unironically "top 6" units in their respective generations.

That feeling when you come to the right answer, but for the wrong reasons. Xane: "Hey Princey, would it help if I transformed into Princess Caeda?" Marth: "...I'm listening." Weird how a bunch of the Axe classes - Berserkers, Heroes, Generals, and Wyvern Riders - started out using Swords instead. Hey now, it's Marth's own fault for not keeping Falchion with him. And not predicting that the old wizard he killed a couple years ago would inexplicably manage to come back to life. It's the oldest trick in the book! Perhaps Mostyn, in honor of his father-in-law? It starts with an "M", in any case!

For the record, I'm not saying "don't use them in Part III", I'm saying "take any skills and items of value off of them in case they die". Meg still has value as a warm body blocking the central ledge in III-13, for instance. Same with Fiona, or anyone else you've left untrained. Yeah, Fiona feels like she's in the wrong game. Her base level, stats, and weapon rank seem "fine" for any unit joining in the seventh chapter of a given campaign. Like, compared to Treck, she has the same HP, Strength, and Defense, with higher "everything else", and starting at C Lances rather than D. Treck's only advantages are E Swords, and starting at a lower level. But Treck, while perhaps the worst Cavalier in FE6, is pretty much universally regarded as "fine enough, I guess". Definitely not a basement-tier unit. Because he exists in a game where enemy stats are lower, he has more chapters to level in, and the map designs are far friendlier to cavalry. Nah, I'm fine with this. It makes removing a semi-personal skill a choice with consequences. If I could just put it back on for free whenever, there'd be no gravity to removing it in the first place. It's kind of like pawning off a weapon in FE4, and then buying it back. Having said that, I do think the game should warn the player the first time they're about to remove a skill. Make it clear what they're getting into, so they don't make a choice that they expect to be easily reversible.

Oh boy, I missed it. It must've gotten lost amidst the "Ludveck discourse". Anyway, I would agree that Fiona has the potential to be good, certainly. Moreso than the likes of Meg and Lyre. But I don't agree when it comes to getting her there. You say "it's easy to catch lower leveled units up in RD", but I have to disagree. BEXP exists, but it's better used on already-strong units, or on "investment units" who've capped a couple stats already. And on Hard Mode, you get less of it, and it's less effective. As for Paragon, you can't even apply it until a unit is in second-tier (excepting Micaiah). You could early-promote Fiona with a Master Seal, sure. But then you're missing out on a bunch of levels, and kneecapping her EXP gain, even with Paragon. Finally, most of the chapters you can deploy her in are ledge- or swamp-heavy, undermining her mobility advantage. Now, I'm willing to give Fiona a try. I've never invested in her, and Meg was a fun project before (on Normal mode), so perhaps she'll surprise me. But for the time being, call me a Skeptical Sanaki. Well, I'd agree that it varies from skill-to-skill. Stuff like Tauroneo's Resolve or Tormod's Celerity, players tend to insist on taking off right away. They're great skills, and their "host units" have availability issues that prevent them from making good use of them. But, let's say we've gotten to a point of the game where Meg is... benched. Fully benched. No chance of her seeing combat. In that context, there are three choices: 1) leave Fortune on Meg; 2) remove Fortune from Meg, and assign it to another unit; or 3) remove Fortune from Meg, and sell it. Per the Wiki, the Fortune scroll has a value of 6K gold, which I believe means it sells for 3K. That can go towards affording a rare item, or a pricy forge. Certainly, in that case, option 1 is doing the least for me. Even if nobody wants the skill, it'd be my best interest to sell it. And, should I even wait until Meg is benched? Suppose I'm ironmanning, and an untrained Meg has survived into Part III. How much is she gonna be doing there? Shovebotting? Fishing for hidden items? If she dies, Fortune dies with her. So even if I'm deploying her, it may be in my best interest to remove Fortune, and sell the scroll.

This is a very good point! Honestly, one of my biggest "turn-offs" in other games, mainly RPGs, is seeing an attack do damage in the hundreds, or even thousands. Where'd that number come from? How did I make it? Can I make it higher? Do I even need to? By rooting itself in double-digit damages, Fire Emblem is a series where it feels like every point - of Strength, of Defense, of Weapon Might - really matters. Is it, though? Killing Zephiel is irrelevent once the Fire Emblem has been stolen. And vice-versa: why block his coronation by stealing the magic rock, if they were going to kill him regardless? Also, the last scene with young Zephiel implies things are going to get better for him and his family, which... no. No, they're not. If they did, FE6 would never have happened. Maybe they were going for "sadly ironic", but it really feels moreso like dissonant messaging. To this end, I actually disagree. Like, I think the overall plot is totally broken. But I think there are some really strong themes contained within. Eliwood and Nergal both deal with grief and loss, but where Nergal obsesses and goes mad in isolation, Eliwood counts on his friends and keeps on living. Lyn first seeks to become stronger to avenge her family, but changes course to discover the family she never knew. And Hector learns to be more emotionally open, while also taking on more responsibility - to his friends, and to his land. I don't know if FE7 has one single thesis, but I think it succeeds at fleshing out its core characters and making their feelings matter. Just my take, though. Answering the core question here: the fact that I've been playing a couple games in Japanese, despite just knowing enough Katakana to get character and place names, suggest that story doesn't actually matter all that much to my enjoyment. On the flip side, I'm one of those sickos who actually enjoys the gameplay of Genealogy, so... ...Actually, I think there's another reason. "Do I feel like I'm in a real world, and that my actions matter to it?" See, one of the coolest things FE4 did is, you essentially play on the world map. Each chapter bleeds into the next one, and it's honestly beautiful. Likewise, the cool thing in Echoes? I can explore dungeons! And towns, to a lesser extent! These are real places, not just backdrops. Finally, in 3H, we have the Monastery. It gets a ton of flack, some of it deserved. But I think it succeeds at feeling like a church and boarding school, rolled into one. You're doing a real job, for real people. It's not a simulated environment generated solely to gameplay ends, like My Castle or (sort of) the Somniel, but a believable, lived-in environment. Finally, while Radiant Dawn plays more like a traditional FE game, I really feel like the art and sound design created settings (like Nevassa, Ohma, and the Tower) that don't come across as strongly in other games. And the base conversations, my Goddess! My favorite was the one with no playable characters. Just four Crimean villagers, talking about their anxiety about the war, and their relations with the laguz. It gave no gameplay reward, but it painted the scene so strongly. ...Damn, I think I've figured out what unites the FE games that I keep coming back to. It's not just story, notmr is it just gameplay, but a certain "vibe" that can come from both (or neither).

Love how IS gave Fiona Imbue and Savior, thinking that would make people use her. And then forgot to give her base stats, availability, or any map that would work for mounted units. Anyway, in Tellius, they're sorta-personal, sorta-not. Since you can remove the skills, and put them on another unit (in RD) - at cost. So skills like Astrid's Paragon, while in theory helping her, in practice tend to find their way to a better unit. In PoR, they were more strictly personal (as removed skills can't be reassigned), but of course, this design limited player freedom. So it's debatable which way of doing things is better. Hm... I think they're actually pretty competitive with each other. Each game has really good skills (the Retainers and Princesses in Fates; the Lords, Teach, and Ignatz in 3H), but also some stinkers (Selena vs Raphael, who's got it worse?). Plus, a Villager who's stuck with Aptitude, even though they could've just folded it into their base growth rates, grumble grumble... Obviously, they were fulfilling a quota. See, Corrin was a dragon in gameplay, but not in story. So they needed Alear to be a dragon in story, but not in gameplay. It all balances out!

Hm... what if the Fire Emblem gave him the "Provoke" effect that Marth had in FE1? Although, whether that's a "pro" or a "con" is up for debate. Alternatively, it opens a rift through space and time that... gives Marth and adjacent allies access to the Convoy. Powerful stuff, no? Putting these together, what if the Fire Emblem drastically cut damage from Manaketes' attacks? Sort of a "firewall". The Fire Emblem is then perfect for defending against dragons, while the Falchion is perfect for attacking dragons. They would work in tandem for the ultimate Manakete-buster. Yeah, I was thinking along those lines. Something like "Cavalry and Fliers get three slots, Generic Infantry get four slots, and Armors and Thieves get five slots. Every class gains one slot on promotion". So classes with more mobility would be item-limited, and vice-versa. Thieves having an extra slot because... well, the whole point of being a Thief is acquiring loads of junk. Hm, a strict transliteration would look like "Kashimia". Which is basically the same as "Kashmir", which is essentially "Cashmere". Point is, direct transliteration can get ugly. Maybe they changed to "Chiasmir" to avoid referencing a real-world location? Not like they're consistent with this, considering that Minerva is... well, Macedonian (in NoA). Yeah, it depends on how faithful you want to remain to the existibg canon. It's at your discretion, obviously. But it's never sat right with me, how Gharnef is able to revive Medeus... twice... without using the one tool in the world that can bring back the dead. Here's my plea for "war starts without Medeus". Rather than an alliance between Medeus and Gharnef, it's one between Xemcel and Gharnef. Xemcel wants to revive Medeus to restore Dolhr, while Gharnef wants to rule Khadein, and eventually, the world. Gharnef has the Darksphere (and thereby Imhullu), but he can't beat Miloah, who has Starlight (in this alt canon, Gotoh crafted the tome for him shortly after Gharnef fled). But you know what Starlight can't beat? A Mage Dragon. Gharnef sneaks Xemcel in while "surrending" to Miloah, letting him launch a surprise attack, and taking Khadein. He then "splits up" Starlight and stows the orbs in the Fane of Raman, where he also eventually puts Tiki. At the same time, their new allies in Gra have betrayed Altea, and taken Queen Liza and Princess Elice hostage. Xemcel has also picked up Aum from its shrine in Dolhr. Gharnef faces Elice with a simple choice - use Aum to revive Medeus, or watch her mother die in front of her. Over Liza's protestations, Elice accepts, and brings Medeus back to life. This makes Dolhr stronger than ever before, coaxing Macedon to join them. Liza gets to live yet - she's sent back to Altea, in hopes her presence will quell the anxious populace, although Morzas eventually kills her. Meanwhile Elice stays in Gharnef's custody, while Xemcel - still none too trusting of Gharnef - takes the Aum staff back. ...Or you could reverse these two, IDK. Anyway, that's my proposal. I think the war could work without Medeus revived right away. In fact, it would arguably synergize better with the whole "Medeus is still too weak to leave the castle" vibe, if his revival was still relatively recent. But I can understand being reluctant to make any changes that are too substantial.

Concept: A brother-and-sister Gym Leader pair, who specialize in double battles with the Ice-type. There's Rudolph, the older brother, who loves to carve ice sculptures. And his little sister, Noelle, who comes up with the designs for the sculptures. Gym Design: You go through several rooms, each with multiple ice sculptures of the same Pokemon. You need to identify which sculpture is "correct" to pass. Pick the wrong one, and a Trainer will pop out to challenge you. The later in the game you visit, the more rooms (and Trainers) there'll be. Leader's Teams: So, Rudolph and Noelle will each have between 1 and 3 Pokemon. As the third gym, they each gain a second member; while as the seventh gym, they each gain a third member. Each team is listed in order below: Rudolph's Team Alolan Sandshrew //// Sandslash (3rd gym onward) Swinub // Piloswine // Mamoswine (7th gym onward) Wyrdeer [Tera Ice] Noelle's Team Alolan Vulpix //// Ninetales (3rd gym onward) Mime Jr. // Galaraian Mr. Mime // Mr. Rime (7th gym onward) Cryogonal Anyway, that's the team! Let me know if you have any thoughts on it.

Perhaps at that point, Marth could integrate the Fire Emblem - and its powers - into his design? So that it's not taking up an inventory slot anymore. Alternatively, his promotion - or promotion in general - could grant an additional inventory slot. IS seems reluctant, so far, to vary inventory sizes by class or unit. I'm assuming it to be a "hard ch", so that it would sound like "kee-AZ-meer". But I can't find how it's written in katakana anywhere. There's an old map with the location, but it's illegible. ...Okay, this was just me misinterpreting what you were proposing. My bad. I see what you're going for, but it raises some questions. How and when does Gharnef get the Aum Staff? Is he trying to capture Elice, or another princess, for her to use it? We know he keeps Elice in the base game to use Aum, but who does he want her to revive, anyway? Here's an idea - Gharnef is successful. He does force Elice (or maybe Yumina or Maria) to use the Aum Staff, whuch resurrects Medeus. Right now, Medeus' resurrection is explained as "somehow Medeus returned". This would create an actual mechanical and narrative explanation for him coming back. The Aum Staff could still have an additional use on it, once it gets into the player's hands.

Judging by series: Pokemon: Silver was my first, while my favorite is Crystal. ...Which is basically Silver, but improved. So I guess it counts. 1 and 0. Ace Attorney: Justice for All was my first, but Trials and Tribulations is my favorite. 1 and 1. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon was my first, while my favorite seems to rotate between Radiant Dawn, Genealogy, and Three Houses. 1 and 2. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door was my first, while my favorite is... also TTYD. Yeah, I know, least creative millenial on the Internet over here. 2 and 2. Super Smash Bros: Melee was my first, but for favorite... I guess I'll give it to Brawl. Loved that Stage Builder. 2 and 3. Spyro the Dragon: The first was my first, but I'd pick Year of the Dragon as my favorite. Assuming we're not counting the Reignited trilogy. 2 and 4. Crash Bandicoot: I... think the first was my first? But my favorite is actually Wrath of Cortex. Again, disregarding the N Sane Trilogy. 2 and 5. Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass was my first, but for favorite, I'm going with Twilight Princess. 2 and 6. Sonic the Hedgehog: I had the original on Genesis, when the Genesis was already retro. But my favorite is certainly Adventure 2 Battle. 2 and 7. Wario Land: The first (or, was it the third Super Mario Land?) was my first, while the second one is my favorite. 2 and 8. I could do more, but... yeah. Turns out, my favorite is rarely the one I started with. Instead, it's the technically superior one that I played shortly after the one I started with. Perhaps the nostalgia bug bites harder the second time? None of these "favorites", save for 3H, are ones that I first played within the last decade. Huh.

Any reason for spelling this "Loedstar", as opposed to "Lodestar"? I do like the idea of Marth promoting, but I must ask - what new power does it grant him? I wasn't sure why everyone was suddenly so obsessed with fine wool, until I realized that this was Europe's version of the bridge that NoA refers to as "Chiasmir". Any reason for this switch? It seems kind of arbitrary. Like, you could have Elice at the end of chapter 28, and Aum in chapter 29. Hell, maybe they're trying to force Yumina to use the Aum staff. Definitely here for the notion of "enemy female Manakete boss". More female enemies in general (and in Paladin), please! This doesn't make any sense. Why would Talys forces stick around to fight Grust? Talys' survival depends upon being as small and inconspicuous as possible, while surrounded by much greater powers. Getting into a fight with one of the continent's "great powers", over territory that isn't even theirs, seems ill-conceived at a bare minimum. Alternatively, we could turn the Prologue on its head. Babby Marth can't fight yet. He doesn't even have a Sword rank. Instead, his soldiers have to fight - and die - to buy him time to escape. It's seeing their heroic sacrifice - and his own helplessness, measured against him - that spur him on to train, becoming a worthy Prince of Altea. I've been mostly critical, but I do like these bits. Maps where Marth isn't the main Lord anymore, and we see more sides to the war. I say this as someone who loves Radiant Dawn - its length is not something to be emulated. Request: For Medeus to actually turn into a Shadow Dragon. For a game called "Shadow Dragon", and "the War of Shadows", it's bizarre that you only fight an "Earth Dragon". Maybe it could be retconned into a two-stage fight?

To the best of my knowledge, Arch Knight and Bow Knight are male-exclusive classes in Genealogy. So that's what I'd assume the Arena enemy to be. It's hard to find work in any of the noble families, when you put "Thief" at the top of your resume. Some real Major Major Major Major energy here.

Started with Shadow Dragon. Definitely thought this. To the extent that, were a stronger version of Thunder to exist, I would expect it to be called "Elfthunder". Interestingly, the other El- tomes only exist in Genealogy, the Tellius games, Awakening, and Engage. Whereas, Elfire adds the Archanea games (and remakes), Thracia, and the GBA games to the mix. So there are far more titles with "just" Elfire. Not the craziest idea. Thinking on it, if I were trying to write "Volcano" in katakana, I would probably go with ボルケーノ. Which transliterates to "Bo-ru-keii-no". Using the ケー combo for a "long a" effect. Conversely, the ガ which they went with has a "short a" sound, the likes of which you'd hear in "cannon". Of course, that still doesn't explain why the went with "ga" rather than "ka".

I would assume that, translated to FE6, the Slayer skill would grant effective damage against Manaketes. It already offers bonus damage against Necrodragons in its base game. Enough to favor Bishop over either (Light) Valkyrie or Sage? Debatable, sure. Also, are we imagining "Ranger = No.ad Trooper"? If so, then they're all screwed, by missing out on a point of movement after promotion. And possibly before, because whatever mounted Bow class promotes into a 7-move Ranger would almost certainly have just 6-move to start with. Speaking of which, hope Clarine and Cecilia enjoy 1 less point of movement. Ugh. Have fun in the desert.

Fair point on this one, I didn't remember. Okay, but like - how does this work, mechanically-speaking? How were we able to take Ivy's Ring, but not take her into custody? After Hortensia retained her Ring upon defeat, in the prior chapter, I assumed that's just how it'd go. So when Ivy lost hers, it came across as arbitrary. Did she drop it? Did someone on our side sneak it off her hand? Is she stupid? Why do Marni and Mauvier surrender their Rings, knowing they'll be punished for doing so? Perhaps I'm being too harsh, or else failing to remember something that was well-explained. But I can never recall an instance where, after defeating (but not killing, capturing, or recruiting) an enemy, and getting their Ring, I thought "that makes sense, narratively speaking".

They don't need to be. In chapter 11, they're perfectly willing to give Emblem support to total randos. They could've done the same, or else invented other enemy characters to wield the Emblem Rings. Hell, maybe make a "12 Rings" organization of named enemies, each of whom has an affinity with a particular ring? The Four Hounds could be a subset of them, or their internal leaders. See, this was frustrating. If a boss dies, it makes sense that they'd drop the Ring, and you'd get it. But the goddamn Hounds never. Fucking. Die. Why can't they take the Ring with them whenever they lose? Why do you ever get it back, if you haven't killed them? This story wasn't even trying. See, I think his appearance at Remire just came out of nowhere. He's just kind of a "hurry up!" feature that most players can completely ignore. Hell, you don't need to visit that side of the map to begin with. It's cool gameplay-wise, to get a couple Crescent Sickles, but they could've easily added those to chapter 6 instead. I'd drop his appearance here, and maybe put a Demonic Beast in his place, if you need a threat. Hm, I've never thought of Arvis as "intimidating". Azelle does, but as his brother, it makes sense. The game does a great job of showing him off as "powerful" and "commanding" from the Prologue, where he can roast enemy Brigands alive. But in that sense, he's more like Pent - and while I see Pent as respectable, even formidable, he's not intimidating.

Path of Radiance also includes Tanith's Reinforce skill, which summons a couple NPCs to aid in the battle. Anyway, more maps like PoR-17 would be really cool to see in the future. I could even imagine a Genealogy remake doing something along these lines, if they're not keeping strictly to the "big maps" paradigm.

Well, it's worth keeping in mind that there are forms of possession that don't include soul-death. Like, what Tatarrah does to Delthea before you recruit her. Of course, killing Tatarrah frees Delthea from the control... so when Duma is killed, are the remaining Witches freed? Do they die as well? Or lead a soulless life? Makes you wonder... They tried to make it about Medusa, but it wound up bricking the 3DS. Whole system turned to stone. "Written and Directed by Shouzou Kaga" I think people like him more for his style than his substance. He's undeniably intimidating and cool, without looking over-designed or "tryhard". He's also shown as actually powerful in gameplay - in most appearances, a nigh-undefeatable force. This stuff makes him compelling, regardless of his personality or motivations.

It's starting to feel like turning beloved, child-friendly characters into horrific killers is about the laziest thing you can do with them. Maybe it was subversive at one time, but nowadays, they're becoming a dime a dozen (and that's after accounting for inflation). I, for one, am not looking forward to "Bugs Bunny captures and tortures Elmer Fudd, the movie, in live-action". Who, exactly, would be making it? Only Kiwis? The Peter Jackson films were international endeavors. And would they even be able to advertise and release it in international markets? Or would everyone have to set their VPNs to metro Auckland to get a glimpse on obscure-streaming-service-of-the-week? Obviously, I'm no expert on copyright law. And at some level, everything comes down to whoever has the better lawyers. But it's hard to see this as a winning, money-making formula. And that's without getting into the question of whether it would be artistically sound.

Disappointment of the year: Fire Emblem Engage. No, it's not an awful game, and there are certainly things it got right. But honestly, I just got exhausted with it. Both in story, and in gameplay. When I don't want to play a game anymore... what's the point? (Old) Game of the Year: OG Paper Mario. Not my first timevplaying it, but my first time beating it. I grew up with TTYD, so I feared the original would be strictly worse. But honestly, it stands very well on its own. An inspired game that changed what "Mario" could be. Game if the Year, by Default: F-Zero 99. This is literally the only new game I've played this year that I want to go back to. It's a lot of fun, and fulfills the "skill-based grown-up driving game" itch that kart racers don't always scratch.

I think there are definitely "degrees" to consider. It's not a dichotomy between "Let's be besties with Daein" and "Let's declare war and destroy Daein". Ludveck seems too savvy to enter into a war that will cost more Crimean blood and threaten his own popularity. Rather, I see him taking a bit of a "cold war" approach. Expel Daein nationals still in Crimea. Close the border - maybe tear down pitfall bridge itself. Put an embargo on trade, and only relent once Daein pays sufficient "reparations". Maybe go to Begnion, as their "suzerain" state, to try to force the ineffectual Prince Pelleas' hand. All the while, building the Crimean army back up for a "rainy day". It's possible that war will come, but it certainly won't be Ludveck's first priority, nor his initial tactic.