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    Fire Emblem Sense of humor

    March 28, 2021

    Fire Emblem Sense of humor

    Sense of humor

    Posted: 28 Mar 2021 01:57 PM PDT

    Doga blocks the Suez Canal

    Posted: 28 Mar 2021 07:53 AM PDT

    Byleth in Rune Factory universe! (OC)

    Posted: 28 Mar 2021 03:44 PM PDT

    (OC) I was commissioned to draw Soleil

    Posted: 28 Mar 2021 10:23 AM PDT

    [OC] Younger Hanneman redesign

    Posted: 28 Mar 2021 08:05 AM PDT

    Petra was right.

    Posted: 28 Mar 2021 03:36 PM PDT

    My friend got me a FE9 poster from Etsy and a family friend got it framed for me. This is the result.

    Posted: 28 Mar 2021 04:39 PM PDT

    Eirika + Seth

    Posted: 28 Mar 2021 01:08 PM PDT

    The Return of Fire Emblem Pitfalls: Speedruns and LTCs

    Posted: 28 Mar 2021 11:32 AM PDT

    Petra as a FNF character

    Posted: 28 Mar 2021 06:21 PM PDT

    Cordelia x Robin (Summer)

    Posted: 28 Mar 2021 07:03 PM PDT

    [OC] Enjoying The Shade

    Posted: 28 Mar 2021 01:15 PM PDT

    Very happy I was able to get the Byleth amiibo. My collection is complete.....for now.

    Posted: 28 Mar 2021 11:26 AM PDT

    NOM - Tibarn x OC Sylana [by Crescentia Fortuna]

    Posted: 28 Mar 2021 06:05 PM PDT

    Ilia: A Land of Death, Poverty, and Hope

    Posted: 28 Mar 2021 07:20 AM PDT

    Ilia is a cold, harsh place where subsistence farming is unviable; as a result, the people are forced to do mercenary work to earn the money they need to live. At first glance, it fits the trope of a "mercenary nation" already done by Macedon and Thracia beforehand and Regna Ferox afterwards. However, Ilia is more than just the "mercenary nation" trope; great attention is played to building up this nation in both Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade and Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade. Today, we're going to look at the ways that Ilia has been built up with so much detail: the detail on the harsh life conditions, the unique social structure, and the other little stories that make the life of people from this country so vivid.

    Before beginning, I would like to know that this essay assumes some familiarity with Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade and Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, especially with the characters from Ilia. I would also like to warn that there are FE6 and FE7 spoilers up ahead; if you don't want to see spoilers, then turn around.

    A quick summary of Ilia

    Ilia is one of the various nations in the continent of Elibe. It is located in the northeast, north of Sacae and east of Etruria; Ilia was founded following the scouring by Barigan, a knight who wielded the Maltet lance. The country is a very rural country with a wintry climate. Ilia's only outright visit during the games is in the Ilia route of FE6 (Chapters 17-20xI) during which Roy pushes out Bernese forces and their collaborators from Ilia. The largest settlement within Ilia that we see is the city of Edessa which is probably the de facto capital of the country; the lord of Edessa, Zelot, is a paladin who joins as a hired mercenary of Ostia in Chapter 7 along with his two knights Noah and Trec. Zelot is also married to the falcon knight Juno who joins in Chapter 20I; Juno has two younger sisters, Thea (who joins in Chapter 11) and Shanna (who joins in Chapter 2) who are also pegasus knights that can be recruited. One additional character lives in Ilia at the time of the game; this is Niime, the druid who joins in Chapter 19I. However, she is not included in this text because she is likely not Ilian herself.

    In Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, Ilia is not directly visited. However, three of the recruitable characters are from Ilia; those three are the pegasus knight sisters of Florina, Fiora, and Farina. In addition, Ninian reveals in her support with Florina that she was born in Ilia, and it's quite likely as a result that Nils was born there as well.

    The Harsh Reality of being a Mercenary: How Death is Made Present

    Ilia is a country of mercenaries; many Ilians have no choice but to sign up for mercenary work to earn money for the homeland. The threat of death obviously hangs over the head of any mercenary, but the worldbuilding of Ilia makes this threat much more real. There's many details peppered within the conversations of the Ilians that makes the danger of death become clear; an example of this is a custom which is revealed in Zelot and Noah's support chain. In that support, Zelot reminds Noah that he has to write his "letter." The "letter" as it is referred to is a letter which Ilian mercenaries write to their loved one(s); the letter is delivered via pegasus knight following the mercenary's death, and Zelot implies that this is something that happens more often than not. Certainly the mere existence of the letter as a common custom should be proof that death is far too common among Ilians, but Zelot's words make it even real.

    Another ever-present part of the life of a mercenary is the possibility of friends becoming foes on the battlefield. This possibility is first entertained in Zelot and Noah's B support; in that support, Noah brings up a rumor that some of their former colleagues were hired by Bern. Zelot shrugs off this possibility as he notes that this is natural for a mercenary; they give up themselves in return for money. But the possibility of fighting one's own friends becomes real in Chapter 19I. In that chapter, the boss is a pegasus knight named Sigune who refused to ally with Lycia because she felt that Lycia was the same as Bern (in that both would try to exert dominance over the continent) but weaker. We learn from her battle conversation with Thea that she knew Juno in some capacity; her relationship with Juno is put in more detail in Juno's B support with Noah. Juno remarks that Sigune was her rival when they were younger yet she also recalls that Sigune was kindhearted underneath her tough facade. She expresses regret over Sigune's death even after considering that this was bound to happen in a war. Countrymen fighting each other isn't all bad though: it is revealed in Zelot and Shanna's B support that Zelot and Juno had met because they had fought each other in Etruria.

    A third consequence of the presence of death is the destroying of families. The sisters Juno, Thea, and Shanna were orphaned when their parents were both killed; this forced Juno to step into the role of a parental figure for her younger sisters even when she was a teenager herself. Juno was unable to have a "normal" life because of this; her sisters' needs took priority over her own wants. It is assumed by many that Fiora served a similar role to Farina and Florina; one can infer this from the fact that Fiora read bedtime stories to Florina in the latter's childhood and that Fiora had come to save Farina in a training accident gone wrong. This isn't directly canon, but it wouldn't be totally surprising if this were the case.

    Poverty of Ilians

    Ilia was dealt a bad hand geographically: it's in a mountainous area lacking arable land with a climate that is not conducive to agriculture. In simpler terms, food is hard to grow there and has to be bought from the outside. This situation is taxing on the Ilians. Much of this angle is showcased in the character of Farina. At first glance, Farina has a singular gimmick: she's greedy and wants as much money as possible. This is played up in her recruitment in which she asks for 20,000 Gold to be recruited. However, looking at it deeper shows that this "gimmick" comes from the fact that there is little else that a mercenary like her can solidly depend upon. There's a specific line from Farina's A-support with Hector that comes to mind:

    We mercenaries are pawns, bought for gold. It would be wrong for us to expect friendship from anyone. All we can trust… is gold.

    "All we can trust is gold." It's a reality that all of the Ilians have to face. Gold can put food on the table, gold can settle debts; that's more than what anyone or anything else could do for them. Even Ilia's food (or what little of it they have) cannot be relied upon; an example of this is in Fiora's C-support with Geitz. In that support, Fiora recalls a bad harvest a few years ago which almost resulted in Ilia being plunged into famine; it was only through the generosity of Bulgar merchants (including Geitz) that they were saved. Ilians can't trust other people, they can't trust their comrades, they can't trust their food; they can only trust their gold.

    Zelot's A-support with Juno also touches upon this topic, and it places a better spin on it. In that support, Juno tries to convince Zelot to not pursue mercenary work again after the war; she believes that Ilia now has the capability to grow enough food to support themselves. But Zelot has to bring up the harsh reality that they cannot rely on a good harvest every time; he has to do mercenary work so they can have savings to fall back on in case something goes wrong. It's an unfortunate reality that gets in the way of Zelot's desire to spend time with his family, yet one that he's made terms with already. Yet, there's still a twinge of optimism at the end as Zelot expresses his hope that Ilia will become truly self-sufficient one day.

    Governance of Ilia

    Ilia's governance is not touched upon that much, but it is rather interesting. Ilia is never shown to have a singular leader during the events of FE6; Zelot is said to be the lord of Edessa, where his mercenaries and the pegasus knights were headquarters, but Edessa is never said to outright be a capital. It's likely based off of these facts that Ilia is a rather decentralized government, much like Lycia; it was probably vulnerable to the same kinds of backstabbing seen in Lycia across FE6 and FE7. One could even interpret Sigune's alliance with Bern as an example of this. Suffice to say, governance in Ilia was likely rather weak, thus contributing to Ilia's harsh conditions.

    It is said in Zelot's long ending though that he unifies Ilia, previously a "Knights' Union," into a kingdom led by him. This ending provides more evidence for the idea that Ilia was a decentralized "state" much like Lycia was.

    Societal Structure of Ilia: Women first?

    Karla and Farina's B-support brings up a curious point. Karla mentions that where she is from (which is outside of Ilia), women were not allowed to wield swords. This leads Farina into explaining the social structure in Ilia; there, the women are the breadwinners because they are the only ones who are able to ride pegasi. Because of this, the women of Ilia are more valuable than the men; Farina even criticizes the male knights, saying that they are "not even our [women's] equals." (One could read into this as lampshading that Noah and Trec are the "worst" cavaliers in FE6.) It's quite possible that Farina is just exaggerating considering some of her other supports, but it's probably accurate that women in Ilia are at the very least equal to men due to the prowess of the pegasus knights.

    The Story of the Ice Dragon

    Ninian and Florina's A-support chain relates a story of an ice dragon who protected the Ilians before the Scouring. Florina tells Ninian the story of the ice dragon who helped the humans through the snow; she says that Fiora told her this story as a bedtime story. It's implied heavily that this ice dragon is in fact Aenir, the mother of Ninian and Nils; this can be inferred from Ninian saying that she was born in Ilia. This doesn't add too much depth to Ilia, but it's a nice story to add a finishing touch to the details.

    The Loyalty of Ilians

    One last thing to delve into with Ilia's worldbuiding is how Ilians are perceived by other nations. Ilians are perceived by some to be bloodthirsty animals, vultures that profit off of war. This is brought up in Noah and Zelot's B support, where Noah asks his commander about this perception; Zelot seems to have moved on from this criticism as he dismisses it and simply states that Ilia wouldn't survive without the mercenary work. But the fact that Zelot just dismisses it shows that he has heard of this criticism before, maybe even had it told to his face; it's quite likely that Ilians are looked down upon in the rest of Elibe.

    Yet, there is still one thing which Ilians can take pride in: their commitment to the contract. Ilians are renowned for never breaking their contract with anyone. This is taken to the extreme, as seen in FE6 Chapter 7 where Zelot refuses to flee from Ostia even though his original employer, Hector, had died and in Thea's recruitment where she only joins Roy on the technicality that her boss Klein had become a turncoat. Ilians' extreme loyalty is their saving grace; it sets them apart from other mercenaries and gives them an edge in getting the income that they need.

    Conclusion

    Ilia surprisingly has a high amount of detail put into it. Effort was put into fleshing out little details about this nation: how they're perceived by others, the governance structure, their feelings, and the impact of death. There's a lot of things for Ilians to get bogged down by because of the poor hand they were dealt with in life; yet, they still are optimistic and look forward. We see this above all in Zelot and Juno's support chain where they are optimistic about Ilia one day becoming self-sufficient enough to not rely on mercenary work. Ilia may be in a bad place now, but its citizens are looking to work hard to put it in a better place...hopefully.

    Appendix

    If you liked this writeup and want to learn more about the characters from Ilia, then here are some links to writeups on these characters from the series Bonding Blade by KrashBoomBang for FE6 and from The A-List by LaqOfInterest for FE7. They're good writeups and I highly recommend you read them.

    Zelot

    Trec

    Noah

    Shanna

    Thea

    Juno

    Florina

    Fiora

    Farina

    I have to give credit to these writers for helping me familiarize myself some more with these characters. I also have to give credit to Serenes Forest for hosting the FE7 supports which you can find here and to the translation team led by gringe who made the current fanslation of FE6. You can find the FE6 supports (at least, an earlier version of them before CYL names were implemented in a recent update) here on a thread on SF.

    submitted by /u/Skelezomperman
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    Should a unit be given credit for their starting inventory?

    Posted: 28 Mar 2021 03:04 PM PDT

    So, one interesting question I had on my mind is should a unit be give credit for their starting inventory? Let's set the stage for this properly. You recruit Harken, but you don't plan on using him at all, but you recruit him because you really want his brave sword. Should Harken be given credit for giving you the brave sword them, since there's no other way to get it? Or should the fact that Harken joins with a Brave sword be ignored and we should focus more on his base stats, growths, bases, class, etc.?

    What I'm not talking about

    • I'm not talking about personal weapons/items as only certain units cna use those and thus deserve credit for those
    • About their base weapon ranks
    • Situations like Elincia in 2-P where she can only use the slim sword

    What I'm talking about

    I'm talking about when you don't plan on using a unit at all for the most part and only acknowledge them for the items they join up with. A good example is Wallace in LHM as he joins with a knight crest. Now, Wallace is a bad unit, but that knight crest is very useful for Kent or Sain, so should Wallace be given credit for giving you the knight crest? Let's go even further, if Sophia from FE6 joined with a full inventory of earth seals, should she recieve credit for giving you additional promotion items, which are scarse in FE6, or should we still rate her low because she sucks? To go even further, should Lilina be given credit for essential giving you the Durandal or Maretta giving you the weapons Galzus has as she recruits him? Now, this might start sounding silly, but it's not a question the community seems to have ever found an answer for. I'd personally say no, a unit shouldn't recieve credit for their starting inventory. But maybe that's just me, tell me what you think in the comments below and thank you for reading.

    submitted by /u/Every_Computer_935
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    Fire Emblem Heroes - Mythic Hero (Dagr: Sun's Radiance)

    Posted: 28 Mar 2021 07:59 PM PDT

    I really love Fire Emblem but I need to vent about how awful and thoughtless Nintendo was with this 30th anniversary.

    Posted: 28 Mar 2021 04:23 AM PDT

    I don't expect to get a lot of love for what I'm about to divulge so you're welcome to downvote me after reading all this, but at the very least I ask that you also post how you feel since I cant really understand how a vote ^/v is supposed to tell me anything.

    So Nintendo has had a reputation over the years of limiting products for some reason. It didn't become too noticeable until amiibo was a huge thing back in 2014. I gritted my teeth and dealt with it like any other fan and tried my best to secure products from them if I was lucky enough, and no I never resorted to buying off eBay from scalpers. That would just feed into the problem. Years later, I also had a really terrible time trying to get the special edition of Fire Emblem If at the time.

    I also recall GameStop not having any more supply of their preorder bonus so I missed out on that surprise too and Nintendo basically said there was no plans to have more made even though I preordered like everyone else (they gave away my bonus to someone else that walked in, they didn't even buy the game to add insult to injury.)

    Another annoying trend Nintendo has had over the years is making certain products and services limited time too. I remember when I was lucky enough to download Legend of Zelda: Four Swords on my DSi before that got removed from the DSiware shop. For absolutely no reason, after spending who knows how long to port over a forgotten game to more modern hardware they felt the need to just remove it from the eShop, just because. In recent times they wanted to pull this stunt with Jump Rope Challenge, which I didn't find out until a couple of months ago when I was looking up exercise games to play and Ring Fit Adventure was sold out at the time I found out about it from a simple google search and despite following Nintendo on Youtube and Twitter I somehow missed the memo on this limited time software and yet they felt the mercy to not immediately remove it even though they initially said they would after a few months.

    I wasn't sure how else to lead up with what I wanted to say other than to share where I've seen this behavior from Nintendo and if they did this before the 8th gen then it certainly wasn't noticeable until now especially given the news with Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection and other related software being limited time.

    Of all the games to have gotten on the 30th anniversary, why would they localize the very first game in the series rather than another title that has yet to be brought over to English audiences like Genealogy of the Holy War or Thracia 776. Was Nintendo not satisfied with their remake back in 2008? Why was there not an option to select between Famicom or the DS version so that players would have the choice to play the game as originally intended or a remake which not only gives it a graphical facelift but quality of life features too? They could of really knocked this out of the park but they wasted a perfectly good anniversary retreading on a title that didn't need a localization, and while I don't speak for the community I would assume a title that hasn't been localized would of been appreciated over another game that already has had a remake over a decade ago and still holds up very well today.

    Which brings me to my next point, the collectors edition was something of a mixed bag for me and I wasn't sure how to put it into words exactly when I first saw it. The included artbook was an amazing touch and the NES box is probably my most favorite part about the collection. If I'm not mistaken I think this may be the very first collectors edition from Nintendo that has ever not included a physical game. The irony to all this was they bothered enough to make an acrylic replica of an NES cartridge but apparently not enough to make an actual cart for the Switch. What good is a hunk of plastic that wont work in a real NES and one that certainly isn't intended for the Switch? I was really letdown when all that was given for a game was a digital download code. They couldn't possibly think the intended audience for these collectors editions would settle for a simple code did they?

    The last point of contentious is the game's limited time of availability. While its a shame the NSO service doesn't feature DS games so they can put up that incredible Shadow Dragon remake instead, its questionable why for a game series like Fire Emblem that has had a rocky history here in the US why they would limit any games at all. On top of the previously discussed Super Mario 3D All Stars they also plan to take down Super Mario Bros 35 which was an amazing and modern concept on a well known classic platformer, such a wonderful idea of a game that will be lost in the abyss and made sure no one else can enjoy it ever again.

    I really do like Nintendo still and I will most likely continue to enjoy their games for years to come but decisions like this does leave a sour taste in my mouth that makes me wish for them to do better because its what I've come to expect from them and more importantly I really like Fire Emblem. I really do think its a great idea for both veterans and newcomers to get a glimpse of where the series started to appreciate how the series has evolved and progressed to what it is now (for better or worse.) I know Nintendo probably didn't expect sales from the collectors edition and their digital game to sell incredibly huge but I hope it encourages them enough to localize the rest of the games in the series and put forth more of an effort with their collectors editions so it can be something that ends up being played rather than something that sits in a closet somewhere collecting dust.

    If you managed to read this entire wall I want to thank you and wish you a wonderful day. Cheers.

    submitted by /u/StanTheMan1981
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    The Implementation of Different Weapon Types and the Weapon Triangle in Fire Emblem

    Posted: 28 Mar 2021 08:21 AM PDT

    (Hoy! I made a video about this here but I'm posting the gist of it here since direct video posts don't tend to see a lot of discussion on Reddit. Cheers o/)

    So, you promote Astrid in Path of Radiance and you get to choose a new weapon type for her to use. It's presented as an actual, unbiased choice where theoretically, each type is a compromise.

    You've got:

    -swords with high accuracy, low weight, low might

    -axes with high might, high weight, low accuracy

    -lances with middling accuracy, weight, and might

    and when IS was making Path of Radiance there wasn't necessarily supposed to be a right answer...except there kinda is - axes have the highest might, and since accuracy is hardly an issue on the player's side they really are the sort of 'meta' choice.

    This isn't exclusive to Path of Radiance - put into practice, the accuracy and weight differences rarely come into play. Despite the difference in accuracy and weight, when given the choice between a Hand Axe and a Javelin the preferred choice is usually the Hand Axe.

    Then there's the game when the differences in Weapon Stats DO matter: Binding Blade, where axes are so inaccurate only characters with very high skill like Marcus can use them effectively. This causes most player to opt for swords because people generally like higher odds.

    So if one weapon type is usually the most favorable, why have the option in Path of Radiance to choose a new weapon type in the first place? Are lances superfluous there, since axes offer the same 1-2 range with higher might?

    Theoretically, this is where the weapon triangle comes into play. It's supposed to encourage the use of different weapons since you're not supposed to throw a lance user into a pack of enemies that have axes mixed into them. You're supposed to fight different types of enemies with the weapon type that counters them.

    But the weapon triangle only really makes a big difference in Genealogy and Heroes; in Genealogy the weapon triangle advantage is at its highest being 20% hit/avoid, whereas Heroes is basically entirely balanced around the triangle. This is sort of the case in fates as well, where every bit of damage helps to reach benchmarks, but you don't see might bonuses until B rank. And in most games weapon triangle disadvantage can easily be overcome with good stats.

    How many times have you seen a horde of axe fighters, and instead of calculating how much damage each of them does you plop your myrmidon on a fort and call it a day? In these cases the weapon triangle sometimes serves as a substitute for calculations in decision-making, rather than being an additional factor.

    The other thing about the weapon triangle is that while it's not always in your favor, only you can take advantage of it. You can bait an axe fighter with your sword cav, but the enemy can't do that since you'd just attack them with the best weapon match up anyways - even if the weapon triangle isn't all that impactful sometimes, why wouldn't you use it if it doesn't hurt you?

    So besides the weapon triangle, why do different weapon types exist?

    Let's say you get a Brave Lance - big damage, many attacks go brrr. But not everyone in your army can use it - only the lance users can. And this lets the map designers take into account both what weapons the player will have at that point and who can use them - the best example being Thracia 776 with Finn's Brave Lance and the Brave Axe and how they let you capture things more easily.

    Three Houses is a special case where you're encouraged to try out different weapon types to unlock new classes and combat arts - so even though the lower accuracy of axes isn't enough to make a difference, there's still a reason to not just throw axes on everybody and call it a day.

    Lastly, it's personally more satisfying to the average player to have a diverse party. Three Houses gets a lot of flak for being wyvern lord spam, but at least you can have wyvern lords that can use curved shot, right? How many times have you heard the phrase "There's too many sword users in Smash!" While I don't personally agree with the notion, Smash isn't a game designed only around disjointed hitboxes and other sword-like properties like, for example, Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R - there's also fighters that exclusively use their fists or are more projectile based, setting a precedent for a wide variety of fighting styles. Byleth gets a lot of praise for bringing axes and lances to the table, even though it's more an aesthetical thing and you could probably make those attacks work with swords.

    So even if the weapon triangle or the different properties of weapon types aren't always well-implemented, different weapon types are probably here to stay, even if the weapon triangle comes and goes. Simply because that's how it's always been since Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light. I mean, Fire Emblem would seem pretty boring if the main characters only ever used swords, right?

    submitted by /u/Zeros_Daduchos
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    (OC) CSP experiment with Felix!

    Posted: 28 Mar 2021 09:47 AM PDT
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