GuardianSing

That's a thing you can do?

Don't mind me, just testing out to see how well Switch screenshots will work on a forum post. This'll be tough, because this on it's own is too big but if I make it any smaller it'll blur itself to oblivion. I could probably do some fumbling in photoshop to get it to work but that's tedious as hell to do for every single image I might post. I guess we'll have to see what happens. No but I bet I would enjoy them if I found the right one. Hahaha. Next time I'll have to use him. Ironically the reason why the Fates games are so high is because of the gameplay (Well that and because I think the visuals and music are the toppest of topnotch) They are examples of times when I enjoy a game for it's gameplay just because of how fun it is to pick and choose different classes, see them grow and fight and such. Something I was going to add at the end of that but forgot to was I Don't Care About Gameplay In Video Games *Most of the time. All of the string instrument tracks were really good.

Jesus Christ where do I even begin? Out of all of the Fire Emblem games I've played, Path of Radiance definitely is the most deep in terms of it's messaging and storytelling, that little funny tier list I posted the other day with the different lords and their perspectives was no joke, the majority of lords are very generic in their beliefs. They believe in "peace" and want the world to be a "better place" but never do we get to hear about what that actually means to them, they're pretty much just the paragon needed to fight the big bad. Now most of the time the lords lack complex beliefs because their world itself lacks complexity, they may lather up their backstory with political intrigue but ultimately the characters rarely have a philosophy behind that intrigue beyond "Killing is bad unless it's me doing it" Path of Radiance is one such story where the problems of their universe, I.E, the oppression and objectification of the Laguz, aren't treated as an edgy backdrop, it's something that Ike and his companions passionately fight against, both in and outside the big bad country. I've talked about how much it's not a good idea to use fiction races as an allegory for real racism, because it more or less implies a fundamental difference between real races that just doesn't exist in real life, but for the most in part I feel like IS was just trying to avoid correlation to actual real life races because despite the physical differences, the laguz characters don't fall into the noble savage archetype. Their struggle is the forefront of the middle story, and it was the part that spoke to me the most being a Native American. Certain scenes like Reyson speaking his language out into his old forest now just a bunch of burned trees, and the dungeon filled with the corpses of hundreds of Laguz, nearly had me bawling just because of how familiar it all felt. Being Native American means experiencing loss, a loss greater than imagined, you can't avoid it, when your language, home, culture, and people are almost extinct, that is a loss that PoR speaks to in a way that I had never seen in a video game before. That aspect of the story was definitely the highlight, but there are other parts too. Ike as a character is just the most charismatic lord I've seen, like most other lords the game tries to convey as "charismatic" it's a very token charisma, like they are "kind" and "generous" and so on. Ike is genuinely funny and a blast to listen to, he's someone who I can genuinely believe people would like for more than just his idle generosity. And of course, he's distaste with royals is amazing because up until this point, whenever a Fire Emblem peasant complains about royals, it's always surface level details. Ike's reaction to the situation in Begnion was pretty much how I reacted to a lot of royal scenes in previous games, a real good "What the fuck are these idiots doing??" However not every aspect of the story was a plus for me. Something that I found interesting about Fire Emblem is that it, like many stories, falls into the trap of having the most interesting part of their story be the beginning and end with the middle being a slog, with Path of Radiance it's almost the opposite, I actually found the beginning and ends to be the least interesting with the middle being the most engaging. Elincia is probably the biggest flaw, as she is a character with a lot of potential that is mostly shafted for the entire story. It's a real big shame because I feel like she's the only secondary female character in the series who actually has a justifiable reason for being so passive beyond "being a woman" Elincia's whole deal is that she's been internally dealing with the trauma of seeing her whole family die in front of her and that's a perfect reason for why she's so quiet yet the story never dwells into that, she's treated as the object that the team has to protect from the bad guys. I feel like the writers knew this as well because at the very very end of the story they pretty much speedrun her development by rapidly introducing a bunch of new characters with surface level traits that knew her from childhood, and even that doesn't give us much of her internal thoughts, her whole role in the story was a big disappointment. The Villains I also have to talk about, Petrine, The Black Knight, Ena, and Ashnard are all interesting conceptually but they all fell flat for me when compared the very serious tones the story was delivering. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Petrine being a reluctant soldier who only acts tough would've been a lot more interesting, especially learning that she was of mixed race like Soren, The Black Knight was built up from the very beginning as Ike's true rival yet their confrontation and conclusion just felt anticlimactic, mostly because The BK himself doesn't get much of any details told about him. Now of course this is likely because Radiant Dawn exists, but I feel like a few more hints would've been nice. Speaking of which, Ena's end with her lover, while a great moment, I feel would've also been stronger if more hints were thrown around about it. Ashnard is probably the biggest disappointed among the villains. When playing through the game and learning about him I foresaw two possibilities, either he was going to be this world's Hitler and he was fighting for absolute Daein superiority over all other races and nationalities, or he was going to be more sympathetic and be fighting for land rights for his people. However, the route that the story went for is making Ashnard the extreme of the might makes right philosophy, that the entire world should warring with each other at all times and whoever ends up on top is the supreme ruler, he is a pure evil villain that exists for the spectacle essentially, and while that's okay, but when you compare his cartoonish villainy to his incredibly heinous acts, it just doesn't feel right, and ultimately all the villains aside from Ena feel like Disney villains in a story about slavery and genocide. There just lots of little things I feel would've made the story better, like perhaps if the team stayed in the Begnion capital a little while longer an acted as underground abolitionists, the Apostle could've still been on their side but would've been under heavy influence from the council and wouldn't be allowed to speak about it. Leaving a few more of the Heron alive, showing more one on one moments with Elincia, lots of little things that I probably think about till the end of time. So now, the gameplay. Alright so here's the deal, I think I've said this before but I'll say it again. I Don't Care About Gameplay In Video Games The things that attract me towards video games are the visuals, the story, the characters, the music, the setting and so on, very rarely in my life have I been attracted to the idea of playing a game for it's gameplay. Even with Metroid this month I played it more because I wanted to experience more of NIntendo's first party IPs than because I like Metroidvanias. And that's basically what it boils down to, I play to experience games. I don't beat games to get a sense of accomplishment because I can't feel that sense of accomplishment, with the way my brain is wired I just don't feel good when I complete any task, I just feel exhausted. It's part of my personal struggle as a human being because it makes me devoid of any motivation to do even the most basic of tasks like cleaning my house. I don't feel any satisfaction from completing them so I hardly have any motivation to do them and I just end up not doing them. Now with that being said, I do enjoy gameplay sometimes. While I don't feel good when I complete things, I do feel good when I do things I like doing if that makes sense, and in games if there is a challenge I do find that enjoyable, however my personal line between something that is challenging and fun to something that is challenging and frustrating is so incredibly thin it's almost situational, and I'd rather have a game that's too easy than too hard. I know that was a long way of saying "This game is really easy and boring but also I don't care too much" but I felt like it was worth bringing up. My review is basically done at this point but I might as well add some mini rankings for the other aspects of the game. Artstyle was great Music was forgettable and generic. battle animations looked good but were way too slow Animated cutscenes were really fun and haven't aged poorly in my opinion. Huzzah! I've taken the first step in the world of Tellius, after a quick date with a certain white haired empress, we shall return for Radiant Dawn. Isn't that just the "Celebrate our differences" song? Hahaha! Well if it makes you feel any better it means I can shed these Edelgard scales early before diving into the games you do like ...I guess it wont make much of a difference since it's still just me, but at least this playthrough will be really funny!

Ack! I accidentally posted that last one too early, but it worry not, it continues! Smoked Salmon. She was definitely my favorite character of this run. And Ike is definitely my favorite Lord. Is it just me, or is there something really creepy whenever at the end of the credits they make damn sure they get it through that they own this product? Not gonna tell me what happened to each of my units, huh? Moment of silence for those I lost. ...Yeah Tanith died offscreen. And here are my MVPs. And...that's that! I'll be sharing my full thoughts tomorrow when I wake up probably, but I'll give the short version now. This game, even with all of it's flaws, was I a game I absolutely adored and I would not hesitate to call it my new favorite game in the series. Noooow as for the next title I'll play you'll be surprised to hear that it wont be Radiant Dawn! Nope, with how good I found this game to be I really want to give it time to sink in before I dive into it's sequel, however I will be playing a Fire Emblem game in between that. A single game detour if you will. Yes it'll be quite the cause for Crimson red hot gossip.

The End of Fire Emblem Path of Radiance: Part 2 I probably don't have to say this but spoilers for the end of this game just encase Finally makes Elincia a unit Takes her away literally the chapter after. Oh, damn. I wanted to give each unit a special forged weapon before the final battle but I used the feature so little that I didn't even know there was a limit. Well at least I got one. There's a wojak meme that looks like this guy somewhere. I know I called him MIster steal-your-girl but I didn't think he was literally going to steal our girl. That is one ripped dragon. Which now that I think about it, if the continents of Tellius and Archanea share the same world and universe, does that mean Manaketes are just Laguz with a different cultural identity? In today's episode of Fire Emblem tonal whiplash. Daein commits this world's equivalent of the fucking Holocaust. No but seriously, the similarities are uncanny. The irony here is that my go-too-units at the moment only include like three Crimeans. A good quote but still focuses on an individual achievement. It would've been even better if she followed it up with a "Together we stand, divided we fall" sentiment. You know I have to say. Ashnard is kinda boring as a villain. I like how Ashnard's evil acts of fratricide and Parricide would be considered common practice for medieval dynasties. I̶̛̪̋͋̐̀̈̔̓̅̀̍k̸̨͉̫̘̖̖̟͎̻̻͔̉ͅe̴͈͎̩͖̝͇̟̩̩͍̦̎́͆̆ This honestly got me giddy as I began putting the pieces together. There is no heterosexual explanation for this line.

Alright, I'm diving headfirst into the final chapters of PoR. Wish me luck! The funny thing is that I actual have. Well I mean, it's not an Isekai but it's about a ragtag team of socialists John Browning their way across the 16th century attacking slave ships and freeing those in captivity. That's why I don't think power fantasy is inherently bad, but there is a significant difference between "I want to have the power to genuinely change the world for the better" and "I want to have the power to kill a bunch of dudes and own slaves"

if Isekai are about power fantasy, then when are they gonna make one where the power fantasy is being able to dismantle the slave trade.

Part 2 will come out sometime tonight, hopefully before the clock hits 12 and it's still Christmas day, in my timezone at least. More people need to play this game. If more of the modern FE fanbase played this game the art and oneshots would be flooding. Oof, I can imagine. Hah! Fire Emblem really said "And then Sappho and her friend went on vacation together" I didn't even register that Ike may have been able to flee from that battle. I probably would've done that. Truly the most bestest of dude bros. If I remember correctly, homosexuality can also be found in animals. I believe penguin gay couples are common and often adopt and raise the orphaned chicks. So if anyone tries to tell you that "Gay people aren't natural" just tell 'em that.

Over here it's midnight and so technically Christmas day, but I started the session when it was still Christmas eve...eh, in my time zone anyways, so it counts. The end of Path of Radiance: Part 1 Well hey look at that you decided to finally step up and do something. ...Shame it's literally right at the end of the game. Elincia's change in appearance shocked Ike so much that he turned into a generic unit! Girl, I've been saying that all game. Snek...? Okay I decided to turn on battle animations for a bit and wow, I don't even know what to say. Ike is the most genuinely charismatic Lord I've seen. KISS GODDAMMIT. They say hundreds of years from now, a team of archeologists discovered a shared grave between a Beorc and a Laguz, "The grave of the two warriors" the tombstone read "A place for the two resting warriors that fought together in the war against Daein. May they live together happily in the world beyond this one" The archeologists shed a tier and exclaim "Truly the most bestest of gal pals" Tfw the scene of the character describing the event makes me more emotional than the scene where it actually takes place. oh no oh no Took a lot of trail and error, but we did it. With a lackluster death quote like that, there's no way you can convince me that guy is actually dead.

It's no secret that I'm a 17 year old who works as a caterer for weddings and such which when I tell people that fact they freak out because I'm so young for such a high paying job but in reality it's terrible because I know that my job life is going to be all downhill from here. That honestly sounds great, I'd follow. It's this kind of take that confirms the person saying it doesn't understand basic political theory and just likes using buzzwords.

I did it! It was all worth it just for baby Samus drawing. Anyways, Metroid Zero Mission: Pretty solid Fire Emblem game, I like how experimental they were with this one turning it from a strategy RPG to a Metroidvania. Samus was a pretty good lord on par with Ike in my opinion. Solid A tier.

HAHAHA! Oh that's fuckin' priceless. Homophobes when they see any combination of flashy colors: Often when someone antagonistically asks me if I'm gay, I use the comeback of "No, I'm actually bi" Bonus points if they call actual real life women "Females"

What they should've done is replace Corrin in that art with Elise and imply that Corrin was stuffed in the gift bag after being kidnapped from Hoshido

Merry Christmas folks, and hopefully merry PoR final. That's the problem with games that don't have an agenda beyond the game itself. Everyone can enjoy it, even the assholes. Though that does mean it can be pretty funny when Minecraft releases official skins of people with different skin tones and watch people bitch about it and call it "woke" just for adding a black person. Teehee Engage co-op playthrough? Good luck! My best wishes to you and your family. I know mine experienced something similar not too long ago and yeah, it's not fun. I spiritually invite you to my family Christmas gathering in the meantime.

Oh I forgot to respond to this as well. Yeah my review of this game is going to be the longest one yet, so be prepared.

So often do I hear from people like this talking about how their favorite band is the beetles, or Johnny Cash, or Simon and Garfunkel. The irony is so fucking funny. You extended the length of her forehead And you thought I wouldn't notice Yeah, Hercules, did the image not show up for you? I obviously don't actually think Disney has a bias against the Greeks, I was just putting that there for joke sake. Ah, classic Latin America... I'd recommend Encanto. I know with how popular it got it's very easy to be the contrarian and not care for it but it is a legitimately good film about generational family trauma. Racists are like germs, even in places that look clean they still exist to fuck everything up. It's a similar issue in the Historical strategy game genre. In there it really is a fucking dice role whether someone is a nazi or not. That's actually the film me and my family plan on watching for Christmas tomorrow! I haven't watched it in ages and I'm excited to. Oh... That would've been nice to know before I decided to chill out and listen to music tonight instead of play PoR. Oh well. I might not complete the game this Christmas Eve then, but on Christmas day for sure.

I wonder if I should save the final four chapters of PoR for tomorrows finale on Christmas Eve. On one hand it would be cool to end my new favorite Fire Emblem game (Tier placement spoiler) with a long play session of the final chapters, but on the other hand, doing four Fire Emblem maps consecutively sounds exhausting.

I mean if somebody wanted to do an Edelgard edit for me I'd be down to changing mine to that.

I like to combine the two, talk about injustices through sarcastic and snarky means, laughing at the lies that keep us down instead of fearing them. But if you really dislike it that much you can check out for now and come back when the discussion has passed and we're just talking about video games as we always do. Or you know, start a new conversation, the beauty of forums is that you can have multiple convos going at the same time. But know that discussions about politics and racism are inevitable here, as many of us are politicized by the governments we live under just for existing, and we choose to inform others about that in hopes to end the cycle of oppression.

We live in a bigoted world lead by bigoted people, and I'd sooner embrace that fact and try to change it than pretend it doesn't exist.

Kukuna Rattata. That also reminds me, literally a year before Pocahontas, Disney made Lion King which was both a really good movie and a not bad celebration of African Bantu culture. So I guess Disney just has a bias against Native Americans, African Americans, and Greeks. ...But fuckin' loves Polynesians, Chinese, and Colombians. *Cough* I actually liked Princess and The Frog as well as Hercules but had to throw them under the bus for this joke Hey, seeing the community criticize that kind of stuff is better then seeing the community support it, no?

I'd say it's Disney's best attempt at a Native American film but that isn't saying much with how low the bar is. They get the names and language right and the characters are fun and act like human beings but otherwise I wouldn't say it's really about Yup'ik culture since as I said, the main character is a bear for most of the film and the film is mostly about that than about the Yup'ik. Oh no I love the film in an entertainment sense, it's funny and I had a blast watching it, but as a piece of Quechua culture? Pffft! It's both funny and sad because I learned recently that the film was going to be more of the latter. A film that was going to celebrate Incan history and the Quechua people with beautifully crafted scenes and visuals. The original plot was similar to what we got but was of course going to take itself more seriously. What we got was funny and entertaining but I am jealous of the timeline that got the original vision. Oh yeah I forgot that movie existed. I mean maybe? There is something to be said about the film taking place in a myth created by European explorers about an Indigenous land but also just a piece of Maya culture, the culture that I come from, it's not that bad outside of some visual inaccuracies. Honestly when it comes to Native representation the golden standard for me is "Do they portray this person as a human being or not?" and El Dorado does that pretty well, even if the main characters are Spanish. The bad guys are the colonizers and the community gets to live in peace at the end of the film, so it gets a thumbs up from me. I mean I've said this before but while in a perfect world each tribal person would be known and referred to as their tribe, the world we live in requires the collective term that we use so often, even if it isn't totally accurate. The only way to help heal this is by educating people on the different peoples of the Americas. Starting we me how about? Think of me as an American citizen last, a Native American third, a lenca Mayan second, and a human first, sound? https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/workspace/handleMediaPlayer;JSESSIONID=618759e1-59c6-449f-bd90-b5d3d26250c3?lunaMediaId=RUMSEY~8~1~273022~90046772 This is just North America but it's good starting point. I think that was a show.

Yes but from a legal point of view they are American Indians who are affected by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which isn't a lot but it's the best I could come up with. Don't ever call them American Indians though, just call them Hawaiian.

The film takes place in Hawaii so they're American Indians not Native Americans but it was all I could think of. It is severe the lack of good Indigenous media there are that exists. I mean I'd suggest The Emperor's New Grove or Brother Bear but I'm not too keen on recommending a movie where the main guy is an animal for the majority of their screen time and using that as an excuse to not explore the culture the movie is representing. Hey, that reminds of this photo Classic. Ah yes, my favorite brand of bigot. "Yeah, I'm into dark humor *Is openly racist*