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    Fire Emblem Linhardt

    June 06, 2021

    Fire Emblem Linhardt

    Linhardt

    Posted: 06 Jun 2021 03:51 PM PDT

    Summer byleth WIP (you can support my Twitter @cozybambii)

    Posted: 06 Jun 2021 07:43 AM PDT

    Lissa's frog prank backfires (commission by @RedKite59623438 on Twitter)

    Posted: 06 Jun 2021 09:05 AM PDT

    Finally trying fire emblem! Got this for my birthday, I heard the story is outstanding and has multiple different variants.

    Posted: 06 Jun 2021 01:55 PM PDT

    Altina Dual Wielding On Water

    Posted: 06 Jun 2021 01:43 PM PDT

    I drew Niles and Rhajat! Happy Pride Month!

    Posted: 06 Jun 2021 11:18 AM PDT

    Lianna and her Hairpin (Commission Drawn by @tenchan_man on Twitter)

    Posted: 06 Jun 2021 05:54 PM PDT

    Cordelia emotes.

    Posted: 06 Jun 2021 05:48 PM PDT

    Code Name S.T.E.A.M. is Intellegent System's magnum opus of strategy games, and you owe it to yourself to play it.

    Posted: 06 Jun 2021 12:35 PM PDT

    Code Name S.T.E.A.M. is Intellegent System's magnum opus of strategy games, and you owe it to yourself to play it.

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    Is it ironic that I got this image from Nintendo of Europe's web page?

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    Code Name S.T.E.A.M. (Called STEAM for most of this review out of laziness) is a 2015 3DS game set in a Steampunk 1800s, in which Abraham Lincoln fakes his own death in order to lead a team of fictional characters from American literature, from Oz's Tin Man (reimagined in samurai style) to Peter Pan's Tiger Lily, and of course everyone's favorite American literature character, Lucina from Spider Man. Their goal? Why, saving the earth from an invasion of Lovecraftian Aliens, of course. Occasionally, Honest Abe involves himself directly in the fight by piloting a giant steampunk mech to punch out Cthulu himself.

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    Yes, the mech is shaped like Lincoln himself, did you really have to ask?

    …

    …So, uh…

    …Why the hell are you still here? Go buy the game already, holy shit, did you not READ what I just wrote? The only thing more insane than this game, is the fact that it's only been 6 years and it's already forgotten. Nobody bought it, nobody ever talks about it. Fire Emblem Fates came out only 2 months later in Japan, and nobody will shut the fuck up about that game.

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    Well, leaving STEAM's unfortunate fate as a discussion for the end of this reviewtrospective, I'm going to do my damndest here to explain to you why you're an absolute donkey for not having played this game for half a dozen years.

    Gameplay Introduction

    STEAM is a 3rd-person strategy game where you control 4 out of a roster of 12 agents, each with unique weapons and abilities. Think Valkyria Chronicles but steampunk, if that means anything to you, and you're in the right ballpark. The steampunk setting is baked into the game's design, as moving and firing your gun both cost steam. Each turn, everyone regains some steam, and it's up to you how to spend it. If you end a turn with enough left over, certain guns can perform overwatch attacks on the enemy's turn, dealing damage to aliens as they scurry out from corners that kept them safe from attack on your turn, and maybe even stunning them in their tracks entirely. Most of the time, you can also store up more steam than you regain in one turn, so sometimes it's best to save some steam, even if you don't plan on using an Overwatch attack.

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    White steam is remaining steam, and we can see here it takes 3 steam to power Henry's rifle, which the game cheerfully describes as firing \"3 patriotic shots\"

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    There's a lot of depth from the steam mechanic alone, as it creates a constant tension between rushing forward (something most maps give good incentive to do) and holding back so you have more steam to attack and overwatch with. In addition to their unique weapons, each character also comes with a passive ability, and a once-per-map special that costs no steam, is accompanied by an amazing cutscene, and can have game-changing effects.

    (I'd embed the special attack video, but it deserves to be watched with audio so please, check that link out)

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    You can also equip them with a variety of sub weapons, from standard sidearms and grenades to shurikens and ally-healing guns. Lastly, you equip a boiler, which determines how much steam an agent regains per turn, their total steam capacity, and might have other effects too like modifying their attack and defense, or regenerating some health each turn.

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    To go into a bit more detail on some of the characters you'll play as – there's Oz's Lion. Cowardly no more, he now throws himself headfirst into battle with a jump pack that lets him leap around the map. He can use this to get behind enemies for critical hits on their weak points, and the sub-weapon he starts with, the Steam Crossbow, deals extra damage when hitting weak spots. Or, he can jump into a crowd and use his special to deal massive damage to enemies all around him.

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    You can use this attack to glomp your foes, uwu

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    If getting in close isn't your style, how about Queequeg from Moby Dick? If you've ever read Moby Dick, you'll of course know that Queequeg launches mechanical penguins at his foes, that travel in a straight line until they reach an obstacle or enemy, then blow up. Making the most of him requires careful aim and a good stretch of ground without holes or bumps in it, and this mindful positioning is also key in utilizing his Harpoon special, which can pierce through multiple enemies if they're lined up right.

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    The ability to pan the camera makes this weapon useful for scouting, too!

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    To get enemies lined up for Queequeg, you might try bouncing them into place with Tom Sawyer's punch gun. Or baiting them into lining themselves up with Randolph Carter's unspeakable lure. Or any number of other things. This is just a brief overview (I have a full tier list I'll post another time), but I hope even this quick glimpse is telling as to how varied the characters are in STEAM.

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    We talk about how random level ups that change a handful of numbers, or different characters that share the same base classes but have slightly more different numbers than other characters of the same class, make Fire Emblem replayable. But the creativity and variety on display in STEAM's roster of just 12 characters (13, actually, not counting amiibo but shhhh, it's a secret) makes it replayable on a level that puts Fire Emblem and Advance Wars to shame.

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    Casuals always ask if you've read the Fire Emblem manga - who here's played the Fire Emblem comic book?

    Speaking of Fire Emblem, though, you CAN use Fire Emblem amiibos of Marth, Ike, Lucina, and Robin to unlock those 4 characters for use in the game, which is neat! Unfortunately if they fall in battle, you have to re-scan them, which is I suppose their attempt at making sure you don't use one amiibo to scan into a dozen games, because clearly sharing amiibo was going to be the only sales issue with Code Name STEAM. Good news is, you only have to re-scan an amiibo if you complete the mission after one dies. There are in-game incentives to keep everyone alive anyway, and if you're down 1 of your 4 characters you'll probably want to restart anyway unless you were at the end of a mission, so this something that sounds awful on paper, but has actually never been an issue for me a single time in multiple playthroughs.

    The third-person camera

    "There's no overhead view, no map, no nothing, it's solely dependent on what you can see from each of your teammates' perspectives. Lose track of where the goal is and you could spend turn upon turn ambling around looking for it." – Polygon

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    "unlike the aforementioned Valkyria Chronciles (sic), Code Name S.T.E.A.M. never gives you a clear, top-down map view of what's happening on the field." – Gamespot

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    "Any game that centres itself around tactical movement and intelligently derived decisions regarding when to attack and defend should, one would think, make it a priority to allow you to see the battlefield. Code Name S.T.E.A.M demonstrates that this isn't always the case - its camera is seemingly designed to unfairly limit your field of view to the point that you feel as though it's making some sort of cynical statement about how third-person cameras perform in general." – DigitalSpy

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    You guys remember the folk tale where John Henry became a steampunk cyborg, right?

    But before I go any further, I have to talk about the most controversial decision STEAM made. Stripping away the fantastical and over-the-top setting, the decision to lock the camera behind the playable characters and remove any sort of overhead map may seem like an innocuous change at first. A tiny technical detail, nothing more. But it's a change that defines the game and sets it apart from its peers, turning it into a wholly unique experience.

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    In STEAM, if you want a better view of your surroundings, its up to you to get it yourself. Find some high ground – but is the better sight line worth being more vulnerable to enemy attack? Blow up some cover to see what's behind it – but what if you need that cover later?

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    Example of a good angle to survey a map from

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    How DigitalSpy played the game, probably

    Most of the time, you'll simply be using your agents to scout out the area. There's one thing about the steam mechanic I neglected to mention earlier – movement doesn't instantly spend it. Unless you attack, get attacked, or gain HP or steam (by finding pickups on the map or by an ally's effect) you can always peek a corner to see what lurks around it before quickly doubling back to where you started, with all your starting steam back.

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    Enemies obey these mechanics too, and most if not all of them actually display different colors to show if they know you're around. Much like in a stealth game, an enemy can have no idea where you are (green), have you currently in your line of sight (red), or have seen you moving around earlier in your turn but can't see you right now (yellow).

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    Yes, they're literally stop-light color coded, it's adorable.

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    Flying airborne foes make great lookouts for the aliens, and there's even a race of blind aliens who have powerful melee attacks, but have to rely on audio cues to find you. There are certain sub-weapons that play around with this, creating noise to distract aliens, and are especially useful against these blind foes, as they tend to attack wherever they think you are, and won't hesitate to hit their allies if you manage to trick them.

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    "You can take out enemies that stand in your way, but more aliens will just respawn in at random times and locations, so …" - Polygon

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    The closest approximation I can give to this whole camera system in Fire Emblem terms would be to liken it to fog of war. But here's the thing, I fucking hate fog of war in all its incarnations, but love STEAM. Keeping track of your surroundings feels natural. If you get ambushed, it's because you failed to notice an alleyway, tunnel, rooftop, etc with an alien. The very first map even gently teaches you this concept, by placing a single weak alien such that they'll quietly creep up from behind you towards the end of the map.

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    One of these dudes, in fact

    "Different characters have different abilities, predominantly linked to which gun they're carrying. Thinking about where to position them in relation to each other in order to make the most of their respected firing ranges is a constant worry, one made more difficult thanks to the aforementioned camera frustrations." – DigitalSpy again

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    This leaves you with a choice every turn – which way do I face my agents? Do you keep everyone facing forward, to get maximum firepower on the aliens ahead? Or do you have a few agents turn around to cover your flanks? You're pretty sure you killed all the aliens behind you … but HOW sure? And even if an agent can't overwatch, their back is still a weak point, so facing is important. And I normally I hate SRPGS that waste my time by making me pick a direction to face every turn. It's rarely impactful, and never a hard decision. No shit I'm going to look towards the enemy, I'm not planning on just turning my ass to them so they get extra damage. But the lack of an overhead map in STEAM turns this from a waste of time to an engaging risk/reward mechanic.

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    Exploration? In my strategy game?

    Further enhancing this system, maps are littered with medals that unlock new sub-weapons. There are also 3 gears hidden in each stage – these unlock new boilers. In searching for them, you might find other cool details, such as "lore" signs you can read around the map, which give tidbits of insight into the world, and are often subtly funny to boot. More impactful to gameplay are the glowing green hint screens, which not only help new players in a convenient, non-intrusive way that doesn't break the flow of the game, but also refill your steam, giving you incentive to seek them out even on replays. Other goodies to find: You could destroy a crate in a corner and get a health or steam refill for your troubles. Or maybe you'll find a destructible wall behind which an alternate flanking route is hidden.

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    https://preview.redd.it/ndvqa68ixo371.png?width=2880&format=png&auto=webp&s=a99801e3bcf41bc0cb647f084aebf12b82aa06c1

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    "It doesn't help that there is very little encouragement to speed through levels or to take interesting risks. With rare exceptions, there is no urgency in Code Name: S.T.E.A.M., just a slow, dreary march forward." - Gamespot

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    "…dawdling almost never makes sense. This messaging is complicated by collectibles you need to upgrade your squad throughout the level. You have to expend steam and turns to find these items, so how, exactly, it's best to proceed is often a crapshoot." – Polygon

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    But never lose track during all of this, that most maps put you on the clock in one way or another, often through reinforcements. You don't have time to leisurely check every corner, so this again presents another choice between splitting up your agents to search for secrets, or keeping them safer by clumping them together.

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    The ability to explore a map like this and discover secrets is such a foreign experience to any strategy game I've played. Coupled with the fact that most maps task you with simply reaching an end tile or defeating a boss, STEAM is a game that feels great to replay. Miss me with the tedious RNG-fest that is LTCing Fire Emblem – STEAM LTCs are where it's at. Almost every unlockable sub-weapon, no matter how ridiculous, has a use. Admittedly, not all of them are secretly amazing weapons that'll save you a turn on some obscure map. But when the game gives you a weapon called the bananapult, that's not the point. The point of the Bananault is to hurl banana peels at C'thulu's spawn and watch them trip, and it's fun to go back and find the best ways to use it because it's just intrinsically ridiculous.

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    (Also, jokes aside, the Bananapult is actually kinda good?)

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    If you need some more extrinsic motivation to replay maps outside of finding all the gears, STEAM has you covered with optional challenges for every level. One challenge tasks you with playing the level without your steam gauge or enemy HP bars visible. Another tasks you with winning while your steam doesn't replenish when you move back to your starting position. These are both kinda lame if I'm honest, but both grant you a medal multiplier and aren't really any tougher than playing the stage normally once you have a basic understanding of it.

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    Merciless Mode is where it's really at, giving you a full 2X medals but offering up much tougher enemies (and I think more/earlier spawns, too, but I'm not sure). Merciless really pushes your strategy, often encouraging you to avoid combat where you can to reach the goals quickly. It also makes the non-combat weapons more viable, since the purely damaging weapons are no longer as efficient at killing things. All in all, it's the best "Merciless" mode IS has ever put into a game.

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    Pictured: Your lord and savior for Merciless mode

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    But at the same time, STEAM never feels unfair on a first play either (Well, OK, literally one time, the first couple turns of Chapter 11 are bull). And if all this does sound too unforgiving, know that each map has multiple save pillars. These are single-use, but you can spend medals you earned on the current map at them to restore the current agent's health and steam (for a few medals) or restore the entire party (for a whole lotta medals).

    The one unfortunate thing about replayability in STEAM, is that its 32 maps are grouped into 16 chapters of 1-3 maps each, and you have to replay them all again if you ever want to go back for fun, or to collect a missing gear. I don't think being forced to replay old levels just to get one gear is good design, but it was in replaying an old mission that I first realized just how much fun I could have breaking the level. So personally, I don't mind this at all, but it's a nit worth picking.

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    "This dearth of originality is made all the more painful thanks to a camera that refuses to allow you to play properly" – DigitalSpy, AGAIN

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    Knowledge is a resource in STEAM, and its one you have control of. I've literally spent over 2 pages now on the ramifications of the lack of an overhead map, but I hope you'll forgive me. If the quotes I've littered this review with haven't made it clear, your ability to engage with this design choice - instead of whining about it and claiming it's "unfair", or that it "refuses to allow you to play properly" - will ultimately be the deciding factor on if you fall in love with this game or bounce off it.

    Do I need to be good at action games/shooters to play?

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    With that out of the way, I'd like to take a look at some of the other fun quirks of STEAM.

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    Despite being 3D and having free movement, each map is actually divided up into tiles. You have a good deal of freedom to move about within these tiles, but only crossing from one tile to another will cost steam. This gives you freedom to wiggle around a bit and line up the perfect shot, without spending any extra Steam. Be careful though, because enemies can overwatch you, too! They'll track you with a red laser beam if they see you, and if the beam touches you, you get frozen in place for a moment while the enemy hits you. You have a moment to react, though, so you usually have time to scurry back behind cover. If you're really bold, you may be able to pop out around a corner and fire at an enemy who was planning on ambushing you – but this game doesn't have any sort of pause when you're aiming like Valkyria Chronicles does, so you have to be quick.

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    \"Here they come.\" - Lucina, 2015

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    Make no mistake, STEAM is a strategy game through and through – your victory relies on your smarts, not your reflexes or timing. But having a bit of both doesn't hurt, either. You can also see this in how enemy animations affect their hitboxes and weak points.

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    \"Here they come.\" - Also Lucina, 2015 and 5 seconds

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    A weak enemy may slump down, meaning you can't hit them behind cover like you had been previously. One particular worm-like enemy has a weak point on its upper back, but starts swaying wildly side to side when low on HP. This presents you a deliberate choice – do you try and time your shots to hit that weak point for a one-hit kill? Do you aim at the worm's more stable base, where you can get a guaranteed kill in a few shots? Or do you use a powerful Special move to finish it off, just to be safe?

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    If you've ever played Steamworld Heist (Another steampunk-themed strategy game released in the mid-2010s) you'll be familiar with this element of timing and careful aim, as that game features aim sway on your weapons alongside enemy character animations. Pure strategy gamers may scoff at these "action" elements detracting from the strategy gameplay, but they really add to it. Deciding whether or not to go for a weak point, or to take an iffy shot that requires careful timing, is very much a strategic decision – it's just one that relies on your own skill and knowledge of gun timings, instead of the game telling you there's a 30% chance to hit.

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    On the subject of action, one last note - there are a handful of segments in this game where you play as Lincoln himself, in the cockpit of the giant mech pictured at the start of the review. These use similar controls to normal gameplay but are not turn-based. They really aren't hard at all though, and only take up collectively maybe 5 minutes of the game's runtime. They're not deep, they're meant to be fun little set-pieces, and on that front they succeed spectacularly.

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    The map designer and gameplay designers actually spoke with each other at least once

    STEAM makes the most of its systems with excellent and varied map design, but I'd like to highlight a few moments of playful traps that really showcase how well the map designers understood the game's mechanics. For instance, one map starts you off within walking distance of a gear, just sitting out in the open. This is, of course, a trap, and an uncautious player will find themselves getting sniped by a hidden foe if they don't recognize that this seems suspiciously easy, and approach it carefully.

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    Pictured: The face of caution

    Or for my favorite troll moment – remember those save pillars I mentioned earlier? They retract into the ground when used, to indicate you can't use them again. So there's one early map where you're facing down a giant artillery alien. If you're in his line of sight at the end of the turn (or if one of his eyeball-looking spotter buddies sees you), you're getting bombed. Fortunately, there's a save pillar in front of this guy, how nice! Unfortunately, using it causes the pillar to sink into the ground, and now suddenly the boss can see you, whereas before the pillar broke his line of sight to you.

    It's not at all unfair – there's a giant red arrow that follows you around to let you know the boss can see you, and it only breaks upon reaching the save pillar. And you've seen save pillars sink into the ground many times by now. But it's still a bit odd to think of a save point as a physical object that enemies react to, and will likely catch you off-guard unless you managed to get to page 7 of some asshole's 6-year-late review and they spoil it for you.

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    Oops, sorry about that. But my point is, short of going through every map in the game and talking about all the little awesome details, that the map design and game mechanics are so intimately entwined that something as minor as an animation that plays upon saving is integrated into a fun little trick the map pulls on you. Certain other games these days (not naming names), in contrast, feel like the maps were made without any knowledge that the player could, say, fly, or warp through walls, or increase everyone's movement by 5 squares using the Stride Gambit. Oops again, might've given away the game I was talking about there, possibly.

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    Not all fun moments are at the player's expense, though. Take the second time you encounter the aforementioned artillery alien. He's blocking the exit at the end of this small, linear map, and beating him seems to be the way to win. And sure, that works – but remember, the goal is only to make it to the exit. And if you position an agent with a jumping ability just so, it's possible to leap past the boss and sneakily complete the map without needing to deal with the big lug.

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    Notice how despite being behind a big enemy, it's not particularly tough to see the goal there

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    'Scuse me sir, you're in the way of my 1-turn clear. I never get to be part of LTCs in my own game, let me have this.

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    Again, the important point here is that moments like these are clearly intentional, and thus, they're hidden just enough to feel satisfying to notice, and feel incredible to perform. Pulling off this trick still requires you to get the right agent to the right spot, which, again, is right up next to the body of this guy who can see you from a long way away and launches orbital missiles at you. It makes you feel real clever once you've put all the pieces in place, because STEAM rewards a smart player.

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    "At one point, infuriatingly, the goal was hidden behind an enemy." - Polygon

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    Unrelated, but most maps start with a camera pan starting at the goal of the level and trailing back to your position. Even if you miss that or forget it, maps are pretty linear. There's lots of secrets, sure, but you really shouldn't have to worry about, say, "ambling around looking for" the goal. Unless you're the type of person who has trouble finding your way out of a small apartment each morning without a map.

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    An enemy phase to rival Radiant Dawn's?

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    With all this in mind, I guess it's time to talk about the other common issue cited with STEAM, the long enemy phases. This one actually got patched out in time for the Japanese release a few months after the American launch, with the addition of a fast-forward that sped the enemy turn up by 2 or 3 times, depending on if you had the New 3DS or not. This is undoubtedly welcome at times, but I'd argue that using this feature all the time, treating the enemy turn purely as something to be skipped or minimized, does a disservice to the game and to the player.

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    "When it's your turn again, you're left to swing the camera around wildly, hoping to divine what the hell happened halfway across the map." – Gamespot

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    I've already discussed the importance of positioning and facing your agents to make the most of enemy turns, but STEAM does its best to give you information, even when enemies are out of sight. While you can swap between agent viewpoints yourself during the enemy turn, the game will also automatically swap character perspectives itself when there's something important to see. If an alien is behind a wall or corner, the camera will shift slightly to give you an indication of its general direction. This is backed up by excellent sound design – each enemy has unique footstep sounds so that you can judge roughly where an enemy is and what they are, even if they're not visible yet. When combined with the atmospheric and often-creepy ambient music, even the most seemingly-uneventful enemy turns in Codename STEAM can often be tense bouts of trying to determine where enemies are hiding, even though yes, you technically don't have to press any buttons during them.

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    "The music is a grating mashup of industrial percussion, thrash guitars, dubstep breaks, and the occasional (and truly out-of-place) flute melody." – Gamespot

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    Banger alert

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    Speaking of music, STEAM's soundtrack is excellent. Anyone familiar with Yoshito Hirano's Advance Wars OST, particularly Days of Ruin, will be familiar with the feel of the music here – although fun fact, he's listed as Yoshito Sekigawa here. It's speculated he changed his name after marrying fellow IS composer, Chika Sekigawa, which, yeah, I'm willing to bet on that one. That's not only super cute, but also interesting to me, that a man can take his wife's family surname in Japan. Look it up, it's fascinating but holy shit I'm getting off-topic and this review is already massive, fuck.

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    Mods are asleep, post Prowler

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    Anyway, STEAM employs Yoshito's trademark rocking tunes with powerful metal chords, occasionally accompanied by orchestral swells that, taken on their own, are oddly reminiscent of Radiant Dawn. Enemy phase themes often get a bad rap for interrupting the mood or flow of a battle – STEAM was the last non-remake game IS made that used them, I believe – but the game uses them to great effect. They contrast the player themes by being very electronic, very cheesy dubstep tunes. I love them. Also c'mon, I can't be the only one who hears Penny's Theme from advance wars in that, right?

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    Most impressive, though, is how STEAM dynamically integrates its music. Every player and enemy phase theme (and there's a good variety of both) has 3 separate versions – a calm version for when combat hasn't begun or has slowed down, a louder heroic version for when a gunfight breaks out and the player is winning, and a more chaotic variant for when the aliens have the advantage. At least, I'm pretty sure that's how it goes – maybe the game just judges level of intensity some other way, and chooses the music accordingly.

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    All I know is, whatever algorithm they use, it works beautifully, with the music always morphing to match the mood. And since these crescendos aren't tied into battle animations like in FE, you get to enjoy the full soundtrack without having to slow the game down. Although admittedly, I'll sometimes turn off fast-forward just to hear more enemy phase music. Some of them are bops.

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    IDK what images to use during the music segment, so here's The Fox. She's the only character not to be from a book, but she's implied to be Zorro's daughter (they couldn't get Zorro himself for copyright reasons).

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    Oh, one more thing about the music – if you return to the title screen mid-mission, you'll be greeted with a cheesy alternate title theme in the form of a march, narrated like it's the intro to a Saturday morning cartoon. It's this sort of unapologetically patriotic cheese that makes this game so intrinsically American, that it could only have been made in Japan.

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    Story and presentation

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    The insanely goofy story is just another example of this, showcasing how much fun the devs had making this game. Codename STEAM may not make any commentary on the Civil War, and it may miss out on the chance to really flesh out its cast of literary all-stars. Oz's Scarecrow never gets an arc to show how he got his brain and became smart in this game. Califia never gets a support conversation with John Henry to discuss racism in the 1800s south. STEAM is extremely surface-level with its approach to its writing, instead relying on tropy characters whose personality is underscored by their gameplay abilities and strong visual designs - similar to Advance Wars.

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    But it's a very fun surface level. Cutscenes are animated in a still-panel, comic book style, with plenty of cut-ins and onomatopoeia. There are several chuckle-worthy references, even if you don't need to have read all of Lovecraft's works to understand Randolph Carter's character motivation. I'm being heavily sarcastic here, but in truth, while it might've been nice to get some more depth on some of these characters , I don't see that as a missed opportunity. I see it as a game that's clearly focused on being a fun game first and foremost having a shitton of fun with its minimal story. It's entirely stupid, pulpy, cheesy nonsense, but unlike another stupid story released that same year in Japan by the same developer, STEAM knows it's dumb, and is clearly just trying to out-ridiculous itself in the handful of minutes it takes to quickly shuffle its characters between battles.

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    And at the intersection of discussing STEAM's audio design and story – did I mention this game has voice acting? Like, full, honest to god voice acting. Ok, minus a few tutorials, and a few optional conversations with Lincoln. Point is, the story scenes are voice acted, and characters respond to battles with a bevy of quips. They have quotes for spotting an enemy, for being spotted, for shooting and being shot at. They get sassy when left idle for a while. My favorite detail here is that characters will note, sometimes with annoyance, when another character is blocking their way. But I can't go without mentioning that characters will respond angrily when you hit them with friendly fire, too. I may or may not have shot Tom Sawyer and Dorothy a few times just to see what they'd say.

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    Oops!

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    The game's visual style received mixed reception. Some loved it, some thought it looked shite in stills but great in motion, others thought it looked OK in images but terrible in motion. I like it, but the most substantial complaint I can understand is that the environment color palettes tend to be on the muted side, an odd contrast with the solid comic book colors, and arguably the thick outlines only serve to darken even more of the screen. I think it looks fine, and makes sense as it allows the bright blue aliens and colorful agents to stand out but for a comic-inspired art style, it certainly could have been more colorful, for better or worse.

    Playing STEAM in 2021 using eldritch technology

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    That said, if you do happen to play this game in 2021, on means other than official 3DS (Whatever those might be, no comment), you may be able to up the resolution. The game looks surprisingly great at high resolution, as you'll have noticed if you clicked any of my screenshots, which were of course taken on an entirely legitimate high-resolution 3DS with video capture. The flat shaded textures scale great, and the angular, polygonal models look crisp and stylized with their thick comic borders. Nobody would accuse it of looking like a modern HD release but I genuinely think STEAM wouldn't look out of place on Switch, with just a handful of updates to some of the more detailed textures and models.

    ​

    Oh, and if you happen to use those alternate means to play the game, you can also map most of the touch screen buttons to shoulder buttons, and using a real right stick to look around is way more comfy than the new 3DS nub. The face buttons are still the most reliable way to make slight adjustments to your aim, but for general use, having a proper right stick is a huge QoL improvement to this game. You can even find amiibo files, and use them to quickly and easily unlock the amiibo fighters, and re-scan them when they die with a few clicks.

    ​

    And one last note on these mysterious means of playing STEAM outside the 3DS sphere – I hear from reliable sources that the game runs unreasonably well on these methods. Better than the 3DS Fire Emblem games play on some computers, despite those games being mostly 2D sprites on simple 3D maps. How is this possible? The answer is simple – Steam power.

    ​

    Of course, the game is also available cheap if you want a used copy – although I think prices have been rising recently since the game's actually become rare. Used to be you could find new copies for literally 5 bucks, but I doubt that's the case any longer.

    ​

    I'd love to tell you to go onto the 3DS eshop and buy this to support the developer, and please do so if you feel inclined, but honestly, it's not going to change anything. Code Name STEAM is dead. Deader than Advance Wars. Deader than good Paper Mario. It was dead on arrival. No, STEAM didn't die – it was murdered. By Nintendo.

    ​

    Let me explain.

    ​

    How a game based on history became history before ever having the chance to make history

    ​

    STEAM was first revealed during E3 2014. Remember Nintendo's show that year? Back when they got Robot Chicken to do stop motion animation for skits? Remember the joke about Reggie incinerating a man for asking about Mother 3? Haha, funny joke. It's been 7 years, Nintendo...

    ​

    https://preview.redd.it/m1p2cjyz2p371.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9b9e0375e053c0ca6b388678b3d7641737b8eecf

    Aside from jokes, E3 2014 was Nintendo's big push to try and save the Wii U, an endeavor which famously ended as a total success. They showed off Smash Bros, Markio Maker, Bayonetta 2, Pokemon Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire ... and this quirky new IP about colorful characters shooting each other with non-standard guns on an alternate earth environment. Yes, that's right – Splatoon.

    ​

    STEAM was notably NOT shown off in the presentation. It was instead presented as part of a behind-the-scenes, Press-only conference. Which is part of why I've been showing off these awful takes from reviewers, cuz boiiiii trying to court the reviewers was obviously a dumb idea.

    ​

    To be fair, Nintendo tweeted about STEAM later. Everyone just bitched that it wasn't Majora's Mask. Yay?

    ​

    It wasn't until January 14th, 2015, that IS would finally get to show off their new strategy game – and it even got to headline the Direct! Give it up for "Fire Emblem IF", everybody!

    ​

    … Oh, STEAM? Yeah, they mention it about 40 minutes in, after announcing the new 3DS model. They use the game to try and sell the new 3DS's new features. So Bill Trinen dryly explained the game for literally 30 seconds, uses the next 15 seconds to shill for how useful the new 3DS's shitty nub is for aiming (it was garbage), and then spends, I shit you not, 1 minute and 45 seconds showing off the amiibo.

    Let me emphasize this: Nintendo spent 30 seconds explaining the fucking game on the most basic level, and then spent 2 minutes advertising amiibo and the new 3DS's sorry excuse for a "right stick". Of the 2 and a half minutes of screentime STEAM ever got in a Nintendo Direct, literally only 20% of that was dedicated to actually showing off the game.

    NO GODDAMNED WONDER WE DON'T HAVE ANY PROOF THE GAME EVER TOPPED 50K SALES WORLDWIDE.

    Lincoln is not happy, Nintendo

    Closing thoughts

    So that's the other reason I include these negative review quotes – I have to believe that on some level, someone at Nintendo agreed. They didn't have any faith in this game to sell anywhere near what Awakening did, or what Fates would. So when I include these reviews, it's not just to dunk on someone who has a different opinion from me – and indeed, it's worth noting that a lot of reviewers ended up loving STEAM for all the reasons I listed and more – it's because the attitude of these particular reviewers make it obvious to me they didn't even give the game a chance.

    They refused to try and engage with the game's unique mechanics and instead repeatedly blamed them for being different instead of attempting to adapt. And then they turned around and said the game wasn't trying to be different, when they just spent the last 5 paragraphs bitching about how the game was unfair because it wasn't like every other top-down strategy game they've ever played.

    But then, how can I blame them when Nintendo themselves never game STEAM a chance?

    TLDR: Please give Code Name S.T.E.A.M. a chance.

    It's what he would have wanted

    submitted by /u/IAmBLD
    [link] [comments]

    Byleth crit a kill he was supposed to be setting up for Lysithea, but I can't complain about the result.

    Posted: 06 Jun 2021 06:10 PM PDT

    Still shocking somehow

    Posted: 06 Jun 2021 07:39 PM PDT

    Gaiden 0% Growths Promotionless - Act 4, Part 1

    Posted: 06 Jun 2021 02:00 PM PDT

    (OC) Hilda in Fates Fighter, and it's promotions, class outfits. Hope y'all enjoy.

    Posted: 06 Jun 2021 05:56 PM PDT

    God I love fe4

    Posted: 06 Jun 2021 06:50 PM PDT

    I make 3D printed light boxes, here’s a few I did recently based on the series. Enjoy!

    Posted: 06 Jun 2021 08:39 AM PDT

    With which games do you think FE should have a crossover?

    Posted: 06 Jun 2021 05:55 PM PDT

    Like the title says, with which games would you like a FE crossover?

    Personally, I'd like to see a crossover with Pokémon. Originally, Pokémon Conquest was going to be that crossover, but it was changed for Nobunaga's Ambition. I think there are many pokémon that fit perfectly in FE (like Lucario, Aegislash or Rapidash).

    The franchise is Kid Icarus. I don't know, but I have the feeling that angels and gods could go well with FE.

    Finally, I'd like a second FE Warriors, just like Zelda had AoC. There are many characters they could use, like Roy, Ike, Byleth, etc.

    submitted by /u/Zac-Raf
    [link] [comments]

    Posting my very long, probably not very good Edelgard Documentary thoughts and criticisms. Dimitri Doc is here too. I hope this analysis isn't awful. Posted this on twitter as well.

    Posted: 06 Jun 2021 06:06 AM PDT

    It is not a bad thing to have a favorite. It is not bad to possess bias. We all have tendencies to view things from a particular angle. This response is to both of Ghast's documentary support sciences and the issues I possess with them. This is not an attack on Ghast nor do I wish this to be used as ammunition for any form of harassment. This is for my own piece of mind. I admit that Ghast is likely far more skilled than I will ever be, however I also believe he has missed some blatant problems with these two videos in particular. I hope if anything that if he sees this, he'll understand that all I intend is to have my analysis heard.

    THAT BEING SAID. I must for the sake of fairness admit my own biases right here and now, as it would be hypocritical for me not to do so. I am a huge fan of Edelgard, as well as not being a fan of Dimitri. I will try to the best of my ability not to let this affect my analysis however it is all too possible it will some way or another. I am also coming at this as someone who is currently rewriting Three Houses. I have set rules up for myself to avoid my own biases as well as giving equal attention to each lord. I also happen to Agree with some of Ghast's criticisms and they will be mentioned when we arrive at that point. Finally I am not a fan nor a hater of Ghast's content. I simply am indifferent to it minus these two videos.

    Dimitri Doc Part 1:

    The introduction does an excellent job at summarizing Dimitri's backstory. In particular this segment sets the tone remarkably well. The first point that I take issue with is his psychosis. Specifically "He doesn't flip/ flip off psychosis" is mentioned, I agree for the most part. But at the same time he also defines the terms rather well. That is not the issue we will come back to. The next issue i hold with the Doc is Ghast not acknowledging the many moments where Dimitri breaks down and his allies have no reaction. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but the game itself points out this is abnormal behavior.

    Ghast points out that Dimitri is an unreliable narrator, which is an excellent point I myself didn't notice for most of AM.

    Then, he says that "While Edelgard may not be the murderer Dimitri THINKS she is and may not agree with TWSITD, the fact is she is complicit with their crimes at Duscur and their ongoing evils." (23:13, yes I am giving a time for this one, it's far broader than one would think). This, i take major issue with. Edelgard was not involved in any way with what happened in Duscur. Ghast knows this, and yet lists it off as a thing that she is at fault for. He just went on about how Dimitri was incorrect with her being the cause. The second half is also very odd. According to knowledge we have in 3H (Death Knight being given to Arundel, Hubert saying DK's not supposed to be in the Monestary, FE pointing out they knew nothing of Remire, FE renowncing TWSITD), Edelgard WAS complicit in SOME of their actions. But to attribute it to all would be ignoring the events of the game. We will get back to this in the Edelgard section but this is a clear mistake that I am surprised and perplexed Ghast left in.

    Ghast is correct on how Edelgard's actions are seen by Dimitri. No issue there.

    The VA Cameo was nice, no real complaints there. Maybe a tad corny but quite charming.

    Dimitri part 2:

    He summarizes the beginning and set up of AM rather well.

    He does mention that many react to Dimitri's behavior differently, but only goes in depth on Gilbert, Felix, and Lysithea. The other Lions are excluded. I alluded to this before but 3H's writing gives the supporting cast about 1-2 lines per event, and in AM, this becomes awkward as most of the Lions just ignore Dimitri's words rather than respond realistically. Felix and Gilbert are the major exceptions, with Gilbert getting the most time. This is an issue that I feel most players wish wasn't a thing, but few acknowledge.

    Byleth: Good summary of the connection with Dimitri and some subtle details were brought to light. Ghast does however say Byleth didn't do much meaningful in terms of progressing Dimitri's arc. I think this is more a Byleth issue than AM, Dimitri, or anything else, and Ghast seems to agree. Ghast then alludes to the rain scene being an issue, but doesn't go into detail.

    Gilbert: Properly summarizes his dynamic with Dimitri. Acknowledges how the support is Gilbert's most important role in Dimitri's growth.

    Felix: Ghast says, during the Dimitri Felix debate scene that Felix refuses to acknowledge Dimitri's point. This is frankly weird, since Dimitri's points are about why people mourn if the dead don't matter...to the character that finds that pointless. It's not that Felix isn't hearing him, Felix simply doesn't agree. This scene is the last time Felix is relevant within the story, as well as the last time a character on Dimitri's side is this critical of his actions, and that is not mentioned.

    He does point out in one scene at the end of the Myrrdin map, Dimitri has become softer. This is a good point few on both sides of the AM coin look at. However the Dedue scene drops his darkness entirely. This implies an even deeper connection between these two than the rest of the cast. This is a good point Ghast makse, however once more, Ghast doesn't acknowledge how this scene affects (or doesn't) the story. This scene is lovely, however if Dedue is alive, he plays no role in the story afterwards, making this scene incredibly bizarre. Dedue and Dimitri's connection is not focused on within AM aside from the supports. One might even say this effects the characterization of both characters unintentionally.

    Ghast does not analyze the two most infamous scenes in AM based on their execution and how said execution affects the characters. Instead during Rodrigue's death he points out how he doesn't like the execution without elaborating, merely saying he wishes to focus on the idea the writers had. THIS...is fine, in a vacuum. All my criticisms are fine...in a vacuum. (We will get there. Trust me.)

    Dimitri part 3:

    Acknowledged Dimitri's apology as well as his redemption, very good.

    Ghast strangely attributes Cornelia's rise as well as the Dukedom to Edelgard. This is odd due to the fact that Cornelia was the one to pledge loyalty to Edelgard, thus Cornelia was the one to make the move. One could fault Edelgard for accepting the Dukedom's willful surrender to the Empire (happening before they were at war btw), but that wouldn't make her responsible for the actions taken before she was involved. This is the second instance where Ghast conflates TWSITD with Edelgard while missing key details such as Cornelia inviting Imperial forces on her own accord. From what we see throughout 3H, Edelgard doesn't plan plays with TWSITD too often, the most we see is them informing each other how their plan went while withholding information. And considering how CF went, it's hard to believe Edelgard was coordinating with Cornelia.

    Once more he states that she is an accomplice to the Remire and Duscur tragedies. Where in both events she does not aid TWSITD in any way. An accomplice is a person who helps another commit a crime. To make such a statement yet again about Duscur is bizarre, and in Remire the game shows in every route that Flame Emperor did not aid TWSITD there.

    I have other issues with the video, however I feel these are what i wish to talk about regarding the next.

    Edelgard part 1:

    Ghast does an exceptional job going over Edelgard's history as well as her supports. Easily the best part of his video minus some hiccups. Ghast does show more understanding of the relationship between TWSITD and Edelgard.

    The first issue. "Facing zero consequences with directly meddling with Thales's plans". This isn't that simple. The first defiance is saving Flayn. We know Edelgard wasn't involved in kidnapping Flayn due to her loaning Death Knight to TWSITD for the foreseeable future, Actually getting Death Knight to back off, and Hubert's dialogue with Death knight ("You're not supposed to be here." and "I don't take orders from you."). TWSITD's plan was clearly to get Flayn's blood. That is clear, however they also had a plan of infiltration. Ghast falsely assumes that this was planned by Edelgard. However if you look at what Hubert says about Monica in Chapter 8, it is very clear that both Edelgard and Hubert know TWSITD are up to something, however they have no clue what Monica's goals are. Second, killing Solon. This assumes that 1.Thales is aware of Solon's death fast enough to react appropriately 2.That Edelgard isn't spending most of her time now with either the knights, black eagles and Byleth, or her growing military backing. Thales doesn't have all the cards by the end of white Clouds.

    He does acknowledge that she does grow stronger over time, just figured I'd still debunk this since he bizarrely goes back to these points despite partially answering a couple.

    Edelgard Part 2:

    Ghast criticizes the fact that Edelgard's allies do not talk about her being revealed as the Flame Emperor or how involved she was in Jeralt's death. These criticisms are valid, BUT are also completely stripped of their context. When does this reveal happen? Right before Rhea orders the death of Edelgard. Right before an escape needed to happen, right before Rhea transformed into a dragon. While it would've been nice to have scenes talking about this, the pacing of events leaves little room to realistically do much there. As well as Flame Emperor showing prior support of Byleth and disdain for TWSITD, and Edelgard pleading with her classmates to stand down at the reveal, the Eagles all give their reasoning to join the cause. Ghast is willing to admit to the bond that has grown over that year between characters, but seemingly is ignorant of how strong these bonds are when they are tested. I still agree these should have appeared (in the timeskip and brought up by byleth) but Ghast oversimplifies this topic.

    Ghast multiple times insinuates that her allies simply forget about her prior actions as Flame Emperor. This likely is not true. Jeritza is proof of this, with everyone being keenly aware of his prior actions as an enemy while acknowledging him as an ally. Ghast makes the mistake of thinking the most likely assumption is that these characters never speak of it again. A better assumption is it happened off screen. Again a very easy part of the game to criticize, but one Ghast seems to take in an odd direction.

    Ghast claims that all CF removes all the consequences of her actions in WC, which is false. Some are poorly referenced, but her past actions are constantly brought up throughout the route. Particularly by Dimitri who questions why she insists upon her path. The entire war is a consequence of her actions and the game doesn't pretend it isn't. This is Ghast applying criticism to one element, then ignoring a glaring point against the statement he just made.

    I already debunked Edelgard's involvement with the Kronya scheme. It is once again an assumption while ignoring context on Ghast's part to continue insinuating that Edelgard knew about the Monica scheme. It ALSO is a very blatant assumption on his part to assume Edelgard knew that Tomas was a slitherer, or even Monica. Hubert is the one to insinuate it in the monastery, giving the same tone as in his B support with Byleth, having quite similar suspicions. I can't confirm Edelgard didn't know they were slitherers. However given how there's no evidence for knowing who Solon is, it's hard to say she knew. In fact, Edelgard like the other Houseleaders shows confusion at Tomas's presence in Remire. In fact she struggles with calling him Solon in their fight, implying that the name Solon is new to her.

    Now Ghast suggests that there should be some sort of retribution or confrontation about Jeralt's death. I agree. This leads me to finally discuss the reason I'm making this. Ghast doesn't apply the same standards to content that he likes to content he doesn't like. I pointed out many points in his Dimitri video that he had an opportunity to critique something, and he didn't. The issue is, that when he is going through CF, he often takes every shot he can get to criticize the route. It's a clear sign of unequal analysis, especially when he acknowledges that AM has issues, but waves them away as if they don't affect anything without any explanation how they don't. This problem will become quite apparent soon.

    Ghast also continues to shift the conversation to how CF should've had "redemptive moments". Ghast also implies there is no narrative pay off with the set up. One could argue that, however i think a better description would be "these aspects had little pay off". AND this criticism just so happens to apply to Dimitri's arc. TWSITD, Kleiman, Patricia, the Western Nobles, Sreng, Claude's involvement in AM, even Duscur all wind up having little to no pay off other than "a line of text" if even that. This is an issue with all the routes, however Ghast doesn't apply it TO all the routes. He says this is an issue with CF.

    "These morally dubious situations do not contribute to Edelgard's character arc."

    They do though. The repercussions of her actions IS the war. Just because two things were glossed over doesn't mean she faces no repercussions for anything she did. You can certainly say it wasn't enough. (and once more, this is something that can also apply to AM with Dimitri's 5 years alone, but that's not important.)

    Edelgard's actions from Thales going "unnoticed" is an odd point. Edelgard didn't go against them in a way that affected their plans nor were they there to see her speak to Jeralt and Byleth. AND perhaps there's an assassin in the Monastery that can take care of things if need be, shame he doesn't have one there...except he does. But like i said, this assumes that TWSITD would have an issue with Edelgard...helping the knights after the experiment was over and… forcing Solon to retreat after the experiment was over, which he was going to do anyway.

    "Thales shows no agency or care in the world that Edelgard killed Kronya or Solon in one night."

    Didn't kill Kronya, already pointed out many holes, BUT here's a new one. This assumes that unlike Kronya, Thales wants to keep Solon around despite his name, appearance, and actions for the past few years being well known at this rate. Not saying he wants Solon dead, just saying it's a possibility Ghast did not seem to factor in.

    "The extraction of Flayn" THERE! Right there! Ghast in this moment contradicts what he said earlier about this being Edelgard's plan, but now, when it is to show how poorly written Thales is, he attributes Edelgard's actions to be against the plan.

    Ghast proceeds to conflate byleth talking to Byleth about their meddling, in AM, to Edelgard's actions, some of which I have already pointed out he likely didn't know about. "I know this is a different route, but the same thing happens in CF" no. Ghast you miss what he is saying here. Edelgard has shown to meddle with him covertly. Only at times where he either can't do anything or his agents aren't present. You are conflating Byleth's actions with the Flame Emperor's actions. Remire wasn't a failure for them. Edelgard wasn't stopping the Flayn Kidnapping until there were no TWSITD agents to listen in.

    Ghast makes his biggest mistake. He says Edelgard never develops past the few moments in CF where she shows remorse. And how she doesn't develop into changing her mission or priorities. This is not a requirement for a character to develop. Believe it or not development is not always about characters changing. CF is about Edelgard sticking to her ideals while never going too deep into darkness. Her development happens in part 1 and her supports because Edelgard has a more fully formed sense of self than most of the characters in the cast. She doesn't need to outwardly express if she's doing the right thing or not since it is not in her character to do so. She is emotionally quiet to most. This in my opinion shows a fundamental lack of understanding on Ghast's part to try and understand Edelgard as a character. He makes valid points but then ignores context and paints with broad strokes. He even ignores all the battle dialogue between Edelgard and her enemies in part 2, all of which severely criticizes her actions.

    Ghast also says the route struggles to positively characterize her. Considering she offers surrender, had a great report with many of her enemies, and shows little to no malice, this isn't true.

    For the rat scene, it shows some levity after a very dark subject, as embarrassed as Byleth was, it showed how close their bond has become. Sure they could've added more sadness into the scene, but then the criticism would be that this is nothing new. Which is what Ghast said over Randolph's death. He mentions the rat scene is cliche which while it is, doesn't actually detract from value without reasoning to why it being so lessens it. Here, let me do that.

    This scene would be more effective if the topic transitioned slower, spending more time on the rats, then to Edelgard having a fonder moment, THEN to the picture.

    Chapter 16. The Lie:

    Ghast makes even more assumptions, such as assuming that the Agarthans can launch the pillars whenever they want when judging by all the routes, it would most likely take much time to set them up. He doesn't apply this assumption to the other routes when it is completely applicable.

    And, the Lie. Tactcially Edelgard and Hubert keeping everyone's priorities in check. To abandon the Kingdom campaign now is to abandon their advantage and allow the Kingdom to gain a second wind. He also assumes that the Strike force are now the only people at the monastery, they aren't. Telling them the truth in this situation would likely leak the information.

    Hubert's paralogue is to help TWSITD. The cast do not know who the mages are other than Hubert and Byleth. One may assume that the others know and that is fair. What is a far bigger assumption is telling your allies "the slithers have missiles" would be a good tactical move given my previous points.

    Another thing Ghast never mentions, is the cut Shambhala chapter, taking place between Cornelia and Dimitri. This lie exists due to time constraints, and yet logically speaking it makes sense that Edelgard would lie about this. Ghast mentions that TWSITD can bomb them in Fhirdiad, and while i pointed out flaws in that logic, if we were to apply that to her going after Shambhala, THEY COULD BOMB ANYONE AT ANY TIME. there's clearly a undisclosed limitation to the missiles. One would assume at least a month or two buffer period, considering in SS and VW they aren't fired again until around that time frame. This time frame lines closely with CF as well.

    "Has Edelgard ever brought up her time as the FE in the past five years." I went over this, but not only is it almost assured that she did, the strike force are not the only people in the Monastery at the time and TWSITD KNOW how to infiltrate places. Maybe saying aloud "These mages have a superweapon" is a bit suspicious, rather than playing partially dumb and letting it seem like it's the Church. Ghast mentions multiple times how Monica and Solon infiltrated things but seems to forget in in part 2. Also why would this only now be a concern? Because this is the first time in part 2 Edelgard has actively gone against TWSITD so they're on alert about what she does next.

    "They already would've known about the agarthans, but as it stands they dont."

    How. They know of them, yes. They know there's mysterious mages, even seen some. But what do they actually know? Can you name a single time in the Black Eagles Route anyone from the Monastery sees TWSITD with Flame Emperor or Edelgard? This is once more an assumption of knowledge when it's not realistic to assume so. They can assume the connection and but they would not have confirmation.

    "Edelgard 100% betrayed her classmates"...no? She most certainly did in a manor, but that ignores the context of Rhea and Byleth's decisions immediately after as well as Edelgard making it clear she did not wish them harm. It is not as black and white as ghast is portraying it, especially as the music he uses starts to swell building up a subconscious reaction to his words.

    The real politic thing...kinda sidesteps the actual defences.

    "Is it necessary for her to be morally ambiguous right now." The character has remained consistent in writing and I have been over the other points related to this.

    Ghast never really explains what issues the Black Eagles would have with the lie, other than "it is one". This is another time I will insert something to help his argument.

    "Don't you think that Petra's trust in upholding her promises to brigid would be shaken slightly when she lied here?"

    You can make these arguments, it isnt hard. But then you can say.

    "Petra has spent 6 years with Edelgard, and one lie to keep the army motivated to finish the war would inevitably help Brigid even faster."

    It can go both ways, Ghast. Both have points you can argue for or against, but this video acts like only one is possible.

    "Narratively Speaking, Crimson Flower Categorically fails at making Edelgard's actions, regardless if one supports them or not, impactful towards her own character. Because nothing of what she does has any meaningful consequence."

    As I have been over...no. CF at making CERTAIN actions impactful. Ghast ignores the majority of CF and Edelgard's dialogue to say this.

    The Naesala comparison is comparing two very different scenarios and characters.

    Ghast once again mistakes the word consequences for meaning bad actions happening to a person (Which...happened in CF. She killed Cornelia and that resulted in tons of innocent people getting killed, so she then played things safer when dealing with TWSITD, and her fighting the church has the direct consequence of every soldier in her army's status, living or dead)

    The Two sovereign nations comment was quite odd. Now Ghasts comments have raised in tone, and gotten less structured. He is ephasizing his words for dramatic effect. Spouting out many things I have previously rebutted.

    Now we get into some telling points "They never did anything morally objectionable to Edelgard". The alliance was aiding both sides as a neutral party, but suddenly started to amass an army from nowhere. Edelgard acted in order not to be blindsided by two separate armies. The Kingdom declared ware on the Empire only after the Empire declared war on the Church. Dimitri's involvment in the war was admitted to be motivated by wanting revenge on Edelgard.

    "Apparently Rhea is laughing Maniacally, loosing her sanity like a cartoon villain." Um...how is Rhea a cartoon villain? She shows multiple layers throughout CF, especially if Seteth and Flayn are spared. The game shows she's not mentally well in the other routes either, but CF had Byleth's betrayal, so of course she would act far darker. This is like complaining about Dimitri cracking at Flame Emperor's reveal. Plus Rhea SHOWS brief moments of composure in CF. She isn't completely gone.

    The Shadow library point. Edelgard brings up the Church's overexertion of their power in her speech. It would be better mentioning these things, but at the same time this doesn't mean they messed up Rhea being a villain. This is more a personal taste thing.

    The information being locked behind a paywall is dumb. I agree.

    "Heavily distorted and out of context interpretation of Fodlan's history that glorifies the Tryrant that is Nemesis." LOADS TO UNPACK HERE. Ok so first of all Edelgard correctly points out the origin of the weapons. Second Seiros DID manipulate the people into aiding her, because she kept the fact she was Nabatean a secret. Third Nemesis was considered all powerful at the time. She is merely pointing out in this scene that Nemesis wasn't corrupted like the Church says. He was just another conqueror like throughout all of human kind. She's not defending him, merely pointing out the lies told by the Church. And she does get a few details missing, none were actually wrong. And the Developers have stated that neither Rhea's nor Edelgard's accounts were wrong here. For a game about multiple perspectives, it's odd how ghast like many others assumes one is completely wrong while the other is completely true.

    "This line sounds racist towards the Nabateans." Of course it does, since you didn't mention the context of why she said it. Nabateans are compared to Demigods, they're literally dragons. The Fire Emblem Series has consistently said "maybe dragons being in power just because they're powerful isn't the best idea." and that's Entirely Edelgard's stance. He of course then jokes "overall a great look." with the same raised tone as most of the CF section.

    And he then tries to question her goal of going against the church by saying that the biggest atrocities were caused by TWSITD...while ignoring that the Church did nothing to solve these issues for over thousands of years while supporting a system that actively allowed TWSITD's manipulative nature to thrive. Sometimes taking care of one issue requires taking care of another first. Ghast seems to not understand a lot of the issues with the Church is the innaction they have taken as well as the actions they have taken.

    "Her own madness is Edelgard's fault" No it's Byleth's. Byleth was the factor between CF Rhea and other Rheas that changed.

    Ghast...there can be multiple threats. You seem to forget what position Arundel is in, he has huge sway in both the Kingdom and Empire. The Church is a smaller threat in terms of morality, BUT it is also the threat they can take on at the present.

    "Resolved Via text blurb" Again this is a thing i take issue with the Dimitri Doc. he DOES NOT apply the same logic there. He doesn't use the same argumentation method on the thing he likes.

    Horrible Mistreatment of Dimitri:

    Ghast. It is confirmed that he only entered the war to kill her. It is confirmed in the game she doesn't recall her childhood with her. It is confirmed that he is obsessed with her. And when his dying breath muttered El, THEN the memories came flooding in. She had no reason to be super nice to him in that scenario since she couldn't remember the past. Ghast, you also say she should tell him the truth, but what would that actually accomplish? What would change? He is deadset on killing her so there isn't truly an alternative, so why bother? You say she secretly cares, but that's only partly true. Her memories she can't access care for him, but due to her unable to remember them She can't remember their connection. She cries because she heard him and then the memories came flooding in. She is heartbroken that THAT is how she remembers him. That after all these years of being unable to remember the connection, she only does while wielding the weapon to kill him. In your analysis of CF Dimitri, you ignore his words before what Edelgard said and then ignore a huge plot point from the game, that appears in your favorite route, in order to make her sound meaner.

    "She kills him in the least sympathetic way possible"...I think killing a man with one quick stroke is far more merciful than you think. The emotions Edelgard shows before she remembers the connection are disgust and pity, and given all the things he says in that moment, What else is she supposed to express. Dimitri is still going on about her killing her own mother and his father. Dimitri is. Not. well. No matter your opinion of him Ghast, you omitting his dialogue from your analysis is painting an incomplete picture.

    If you disagree with me, please simply ask wether or not this route could be done better.

    Crimson Flower is my favorite route, and I don't need to, because i COULD have done better, and I know it. I know it more than many reading this may think. ALL of 3H could be done better. VW, SS, AM, CS, WC, and CF could all be better. I appreciate your analysis, Ghast, as harsh as I may sound about it at points. I simply disagree with most of what you said, and the lack of consistency between the things you do like and the things you don't.

    I am rewriting 3H. I have 3 main rules. The first is to not remove anything. This is to respect the original artists, writers, developers, ect. I can rearrange, reinterpret slightly, but never remove. The Second is any addition must be used to help a preexisting element, none of my "this sounds cool to me" ideas get in unless I really find a way to connect it. Finally, I actively seek out alternative opinions for things that I missed. Rewatching the Dimitri Doc, I had a lot of fun with it, despite my dislike for the character. You were far more fair in your analysis and I respect most of the arguments you made to some degree. As a fellow creator (though admittedly I am less skilled of one) I hope this did not offend, if so that is a failure on my part, to anyone reading this. I know it's likely Ghast will never read this. Not out of malice, of course. There's tons of people on twitter, and there's one of me. But I hope this glorified venting session didn't wind up being a complete trainwreck.

    submitted by /u/Schakingmyhead
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    The Blue Lions in SWTOR

    Posted: 06 Jun 2021 07:39 PM PDT

    What is a character you initially disliked, but as you got to know them more whether through flavor text, story, supports, or gameplay, did you end up liking a lot?

    Posted: 06 Jun 2021 03:09 PM PDT

    Im sure many of of have had opinions on certain characters change over time (looking at the Jeigans) due to many circumstances. Some people prioritize the character over the gameplay and vice verse, but what are your reasons for changing your opinion on someone?

    I used to dislike Panne as I never was interested in Laguz units, but when I heard I should second seal her to a wyvern knight, I was floored over how good she was. Easily is the MVP of my hard awakening runs, not including those who have galeforce.

    submitted by /u/TakeYourTime77
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    FE12 Step 0.8: Survive

    Posted: 06 Jun 2021 04:02 PM PDT
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