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the-priestess-of-dawn · 4 months

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Grima and Final Blows

The other day I mentioned that I had an essay about Grima to write that I'd been putting off, and between that and all the great essays my fellow Grimleal scholars have been putting out recently, I decided to sit down and finally get it done.

So here you go. An analysis of Grima's difficulties with directly killing people.

Okay, so I’ve been thinking about this for quite some time, because one of my favorite things to explore when it comes to Grima is the gap between their villain act, which they actively play up in front of others in both Awakening and FEH, and their true feelings, which are hinted at in Awakening (particularly through the Future Past DLC) and made even clearer in FEH— their own evil actions are repulsive to them, and they wish they could live normally among humans, but they don’t believe they have any choice but to be the monster that “the fell dragon, Grima” is supposed to be. They are committed to this “fell dragon” character, to putting on a show for everyone, and they are so good at it that it’s easy to overlook that they… uh… aren’t very good at killing anyone important. Not directly, anyway.

Sure, Grima is responsible for numerous deaths. But what is their actual kill count? Well, in Awakening’s main game… zero. (Unless you count Chrom, but, as we witness, that was not a voluntary act on their part; Validar took control of their body. You could also make the argument that Grima “claiming the sacrifice” at the Dragon’s Table counts, but the problem with that is, although it’s obvious that Grima accepts the life force of the Grimleal members as a sacrifice, it’s not at all clear whether or not Grima personally kills them. Although it’s possible that they did off screen, it’s also possible that Validar killed them, or that they were ordered to take their own lives; there’s no reason Grima would have had to lay a hand on them.) In the Future Past, it’s… one, maybe one and half (Naga’s spirit, and Tiki, but only in body. More on this later.)

And it’s not as though Fire Emblem shies away from showing villains directly murdering people, Even in Awakening itself, the intro to Chapter 9 shows Aversa killing a Plegian soldier for delivering an unsatisfactory report, so it wouldn’t have been out of place to let Grima stab a few NPCs as a show of brutality. Especially seeing as Grima is the evil dragon final boss. As early as Mystery of the Emblem, we can see Medeus killing his cleric hostages to restore his own health if you fail to rescue them before trying to defeat him, and as recently as Engage, we get a whole cutscene of Sombron eating Hyacinth. Fantasy violence my beloved <3

Anyway, the point is, Grima could have been written to be much more violent and I don’t think anyone would have complained. Instead, though, Grima repeatedly— and consistently across the series— tries to avoid engaging in direct combat.

Let’s start with what Grima does in the main game of Awakening. We know that Risen pursue Lucina into the past, because we see them fall out of the portal with her in Chapter 1. We also know that those Risen, as well as the others that are appearing throughout the land, are not being directly controlled by Grima, because later in Chapter 13, as the Shepherds are leaving Plegia after meeting with Validar, Aversa, and the Hierophant, they are pursued by more skilled Risen, and Frederick notes that “Either they are learning our ways, or someone is commanding them…” So… It seems that sending the Risen—with or without specific orders—to attack while Grima is not themself present is a favored tactic.

But what about when Grima is present? Take a look at the Endgame: Grima chapter. Yes, you eventually get to engage Grima in direct combat. But not immediately. What Grima does first is…

Grima attacks the Shepherds with dark spikes from a distance, reducing everyone’s hp to 1. Now, here’s what happens next: Grima attempts to possess their past self, Robin hears the voices of their friends and breaks free, Naga heals everyone back to full health, and then the fight against Grima begins… Except actually, the Shepherds have to get to Grima first, because they’re at the top of the map and they’re not budging. Naga warns them that “Grima’s servants will beset [them] to no end.” and she’s not kidding. Grimleal reinforcements will spawn infinitely, and they can hit pretty hard. Even with everyone starting at full health, it’s possible to lose units to these Grimleal soldiers if Grima isn’t defeated quickly. Can you imagine what would happen if Naga hadn’t healed the Shepherds first?

Well, I’d guess that they’d probably all die to the Grimleal without Grima having to face them up close. Which was probably what Grima was going for.

This isn’t the only time Grima tries the dark spikes trick, either. Grima attempts this exact same move in the Future Past 3 when they face Lucina, Severa, Laurent, and Gerome.

Grima announces “With the next blow, I will kill you.” and then demands that they hand over the Fire Emblem as well as the gemstone they hold. The threat is very real. But…

Given that at 1hp, a gust of wind could take the kids out, would it not have been easier and faster to kill them and just loot their bodies immediately? And yet Grima lets the kids have an extended discussion about sacrifice, and even suggests that Lucina would indeed buy a little more time by running… Again, I cannot stress enough that Grima should be able to finish them off in one hit at this point.

So the plan was almost certainly to back off and let the Risen do the actual killing, even though that would be a lot less efficient under the circumstances. And when Chrom and the Shepherds arrive, Grima immediately turns their attention to them, saying “If it’s a reunion you seek, my soldiers shall welcome you on my behalf.” Then they once again pick a spot at the back of the map and refuse to move from it, forcing the Shepherds to fight through the Risen in order to engage Grima in combat at all.

And sure, Grima has some excuses. “I was hoping not to have to flex any muscle,” they say right before the dark spikes attack, as if to justify why they didn’t do it sooner. And of course they taunt Lucina over having to choose to whether to run as her friends sacrifice themselves for her or to stay and fight and die with them. “I must say I shall enjoy this either way!” Yes, Grima, we get it, you’ve made it very clear that you’re an arrogant asshole.

But is arrogance really all there is to it? If we look at what Tiki tells Grima in the good ending of the Future Past, it looks as though Grima’s arrogance has brought their own downfall. “If you had left Mount Prism alone, Grima, you might have stood a chance. Instead, you have brought the Awakening right to your feet.” However, when you think about it… Is Tiki’s continued existence not in itself a result of Grima’s repeated pattern of not really wanting to land a finishing blow? The game states that Grima did in fact kill Tiki… but only in body, not in spirit. This is, according to Tiki, because Robin intervened.

Now, the question I have is… Is it really possible that Robin could have intervened both against Grima’s will and without them having any idea? Honestly, it’s hard to tell exactly how aware Grima is of Robin’s resistance, because they lie about it a lot, e.g. stating that Robin’s spirit perished in sending Chrom back to his own world, even though just moments later, Robin is once again overpowering them. So, keeping in mind that Grima is a liar, was Grima really arrogant to leave Tiki’s body in Ylisstol, and to not make sure that her spirit was fully destroyed? Or was Robin simply able to capitalize on Grima’s propensity towards backing off?

Because surely the only way Grima could be unaware that Robin had acted against them is if Robin hadn’t actually acted against them. I don’t think I believe that Grima really wanted Tiki gone. Naga, sure—longtime nemesis and all. But if Grima had truly cared about seeing Tiki’s existence destroyed… Well, I doubt Robin could have interfered that much.

But maybe it could still be a matter of arrogance. Maybe Grima just didn’t think Tiki’s spirit could do anything with Naga’s spirit gone, and thus didn't care to pay attention to her anymore once she seemed dead enough.

If that’s true, it doesn’t explain why Shadows of Valentia Grima exhibits the exact same habits when fighting Alm and Celica, despite never having been outside of the Thabes Labyrinth at this point in their life. As opposed to the various Terrors throughout the rest of the Labyrinth, which chase Alm (or Celica) down in the overworld to force a fight, Grima is immobile in their room, and will wait patiently there indefinitely until the player chooses to engage. You can even evacuate from the dungeon.

But if you do choose to fight Grima, it proceeds much like the battles against them in Awakening go. The main difference is that they actually will move from their starting position this time, if you position someone in their range. That still requires a fight against (proto-)Risen who are spawning in from the sides to stop your party’s advance.

So… Now it’s starting to look like Grima actively prefers this one particular trick… And it’s a fundamentally defensive maneuver, which makes perfect sense from SoV Grima’s standpoint (they were attacked out of nowhere, after all), but is not really an obvious standout strategy for Awakening Grima, whose taunts and threats suggest an aggression that would be better supported with a more offensive strategy… Consider, too, that Awakening Grima is in fact being even more defensive than their SoV iteration, since they don’t move towards you at all.

With all that in mind, it really, really looks like Grima doesn’t want to fight, especially in Awakening. Not that they don’t intend for the Shepherds to die—on the contrary, they’ve set everything up so that the Shepherds will eventually be overwhelmed—but that they don’t want to land the killing blow.

(And gee, I wonder what might be fueling their reluctance? Being controlled and made to kill your best friend by your own hand wouldn't be totally traumatic or anything, right?)

And then... Funny thing here, I’ve been procrastinating writing this essay for a long time. I originally started thinking about it shortly before the Depths of Despair banner was released in FEH, so imagine my surprise when I saw this characterization hold up in the writing of Fell Exalt Chrom’s Forging Bonds as well… The Grima there says that Chrom was the one to kill the rest of the Shepherds. Now, it’s pretty clear that it was through Grima controlling him, but that’s not the point. The point is that once again, Grima didn't have to do any direct killing.

Look, if it had only ever happened once, I could buy that maybe Grima was just underestimating their opponents, that maybe they thought they could get away without having to put very much work in. But for Grima to operate this way so many times, so consistently, and to their own detriment? No...

Grima doesn’t like direct combat. Grima has trouble even when it’s a fight they asked for.

And when you think about it, that makes their reaction to Robin choosing to land the final blow themself in the sacrifice ending all the more understandable.

“…YOU WOULD… NOT DARE!”

Because Grima would not dare. Grima has always preferred to let someone else land the final blow.

#grima #fire emblem awakening #fe13 #grima studies #honestly realizing that main game grima doesn't kill anyone kind of shook me #future past grima only has naga and tiki... neither of which we get to see on screen so tbh grima might have weaseled out of them too #expiration has 5 range after all. naga could have just taken some dragon breath to the face from afar. we truly have no idea what grima did #to my knowledge the only time we see grima actually try to KILL kill (not dark spikes 1hp em) is... rearmed grima in the forging bonds stor #not her specific forging bonds but the general overarching one for that banner #which i have major problems with for other reasons anyway #and which might be retconned by feh itself bc thrasir said arcane weapons should be avoided at all costs yet... so many rearmed heroes now #so i don't feel too bad ignoring that one #but yeah like... writing this essay made me feel for grima even more #um... you know that one quote that the robin who's part of the day of devotion duo with chrom has...#“Having someone to express your love to is an amazing thing. There IS more to life than constant battle!”#yeah. i think about that quote and i think about grima's defensive fighting style and i. feel things.#to exist always on the defensive...#such an exhausting life they lead

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emblematicemblazer · 5 months

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World building and theories of Engage

King Morion - father and warmonger

Alear's impression

Alear first learns about King Morion from Alfred's introduction. Alfred describes him as an 'ambitious man' who is always launching attacks on Elusia to expand his own territory. In his introduction he also mentions that Firene is part of a non aggression pact with Brodia and Solm however getting Brodia to sign the pact took some doing. Right from the beginning Alear is given the impression that King Morion is a warmonger.

When they enter Brodia, the landscape and greeting does little to change that impression. Alear is nearly hit by an arrow fired by the youngest prince and his two retainers look like they want to kill him. Lapis even claims that Brodia is a kingdom of warriors, if Alear cannot dodge an arrow then they are not worthy enough to enter. The rugged landscape also adds to the atmosphere. This builds up the expectation of King Morion being a fearsome warrior, even if Alcryst is self deficating.

In the battle against Hortensia, she says that her father told her that Brodia is a 'greedy and barbaric country'. This description adds to the impression that King Morion is an inhuman, warmongering monster.

After Diamant introduces himself, his father shows up unannounced. The father and son role is reversed as King Morion is scolded by Diamant for leaving the castle. Alear mentions to Alfred that they are surprised by his friendliness. King Morion presents himself as informal, friendly and a family guy. His fatherly side is demonstrated by his eagerness to greet Alcryst who has arrived home and praises his son for his good work. The informal side is demonstrated by the way he goes to throw the Emblem ring to Diamant. Finally his friendliness and hospitality is demonstrated by the proposal of a welcoming duel and his sympathy for Firene's plight. Clearly he is a big personality and Diamant pressed the importance of him staying alive. Alear is shocked when King Morion goes to face King Hyacinth without the aid of an emblem ring. What Alear thinks beyond being shocked is unclear.

Alear only has a positive experience with King Morion. They witness him as a family man having heartfelt conversations with his sons who clearly show their love. Alear does not see the 'demon ' on the battlefield because they do not face him as an enemy. It is natural that Alear is upset when he is turned into one of the corrupted.

The blame for the return of Sombron

It is clear that King Morion's military action in Elusia caused the royal family to assist in the freeing of Sombron. In chapter 9, The Clash of Forces, King Hyacinth says;

'Your invasions of my country come at a very high price and now you will pay it.'

King Morion's policy of basing Brodia upon a war economy is what causes Sombron to be freed at that particular point in time. King Hyacinth was acting to defend his people. If Brodia hadn't been invading there would have been less urgency to free their god.

King Morion should not take the sole blame for Sombron's return. There are other factors such as:

Solm and Firene not pushing for Elusia to be involved in the non aggression pact.

Lumera not using her influence to encourage peaceful solutions

Fanatics of the Fell Dragon and Zephia's involvement.

I still think that Sombron would have returned even without Brodia's invasion. Zephia is fanatically loyal to Sombron and a powerful and influential mage dragon. Mauvier reckons that she could have been the Fell Dragon if Sombron hadn't existed. With her mind controlling abilities, her ability to lie and manipulate people and her renown, it is likely that she would eventually find a way. Sombron has her obeying him with the possibility of giving her a child when his ambitions are met. The fanatics of the church, an institution that engages in brainwashing, would have done everything possible to free their god.

Without Brodia's invasions it is likely that Sombron's awakening would have taken longer, potentially giving the surrounding countries an greater opportunity to stop any rituals, or at least to bolster their forces. Sombron would not have had easy access to sovereign blood. Elusia would have no reason to attack Brodia, therefore little opportunity to capture King Morion. In a way King Morion is the architect of his own downfall.

Why war?

It is impossible to say when Brodia started to attack Elusia and use their worship of the fell Dragon to dehumanise and fearmonger Elusia. Alcryst mentions that Brodia had been in conflict with Elusia for as long as he can remember. My hunch is that King Morion did not start the invasions nor the propaganda against Elusia, he carried on Brodia's single minded approach to war.

What changed to make Brodia go to war? For a time after the First Dragon War there was a period of peace. Here is my theory; Brodia is not an abundant country in the same way Firene is. The harsh climate makes agriculture difficult as well as the lower quality of soil. Lapis hints at a period of hardship like the potato famine. Brodia is based on Scotland and in 1846, in the Scottish Highlands, potato blight caused the widespread failure of potato crops. I reckon that wide scale crop failure in Brodia caused them to adopt warfare as a way to provide for their people. There could have been several periods of hardship in the 1000 years after the First Dragon War. It wouldn't be the first time the Fire Emblem creators have used infertility as a reason for war. In the two most recent Fire Emblem games before Engage, the Sreng attacked Faerghus to seek fertile land and Nohr, before Garon was possessed, conquered to supplement their resources. It is not unreasonable to believe that they would use a similar scenario again.

Grey?

King Morion fits nicely into the grey area character category. As a father it is clear that he adores his sons, he encourages them and they idolise him, but at the same time they are able to question his judgements. Diamant and Alcryst are allowed to speak freely. From the way Saphir talks about him it is clear that he looks after his loyal soldiers. He lifts spirits with tournaments, balls and feasts. He can be reasoned with, as proven by the signing of the non aggression pact.

As King, he is responsible for maintaining a competitive culture where 'the weak serve the strong', criminals can justify their crimes because it is believed that it is fine to take things by force, nobles can push for invasion to increase their wealth and Alcryst has a pessimistic attitude due to constant criticism. He is responsible for failing to adopt peaceful ways to improve Brodia's economy. His warmongering policies forced Elusia to retaliate by freeing Sombron. He also does nothing to change the negative opinions about Elusia, in fact he encourages such attitudes. Alcryst calls Elusia 'unpredictable and dangerous'. This attitude would have been learnt from his parents.

For a npc with a couple of chapters of screen time, he is multilayered and faceted. I think his informal nature contrasts nicely with Diamant. I also believe that Diamant's and Alcryst's ability to love, respect but at the same time criticise their father is a credit to their upbringing. He has many faults and has to take a large portion of the blame for Sombron's return but I like that he is not a one dimensional warmonger. He has warmth and likeability.

#fire emblem engage #fe engage #Fe brodia #fe diamant #fe alcryst

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felikatze · 1 month

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Morgan meets two new "allies", has a conversation, and starts a very stupid plan.

New plusquam at last... it's been a thousand years, hi. Another slower chapter, but we're getting silly in the next one.

#Feli writes #fire emblem awakening #plusquam

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umbracirrus · 21 days

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20 Questions for Writers

Tagged by the lovely @thequeenofthewinter to answer some questions, and I will leave an open tag to anyone who wants to answer to feel free to say that I tagged them 💛

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

I have three, at present - I have posted many a fic to AO3 over the years, but with my current account, just three.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

70,506 at present

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Elder Scrolls at present, though only have Skyrim posted at present - hoping to get something for Oblivion posted soon though! I've also recently dabbled in writing some things for BG3, and also Stardew Valley (though I don't think that any of them will be posted unless I find myself very satisfied with how they end up). Historically, I've delved into and posted Fire Emblem (primarily Awakening/Fates/Three Houses because they were the main games I had played), and even further back (back when I first started writing fanfic when I was about 12/13! I just realised I've been writing fanfic for half my life writing that out!) Pokemon.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

As I only have three fics posted on AO3, I can only do them, but in order: 1. The Perfect Storm (it's my main and longest fic to date, so unsurprising) with 117 kudos 2. Purity (a Vilkas/Dragonborn oneshot) with 17 kudos 3. Seeking the Sun (prequel to The Perfect Storm which I started on after it!) with a mere 2 kudos.

5. Do you respond to comments?

Where I can string together a coherent thought, and if I remember (and I am terrible at remembering!) I try to!! But I do read every single one, even if I don't remember to respond.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Now, as I haven't finished any fics (as of yet) beyond a few oneshots, I will have to base my answer on some plans for the few fics which I have planned out, and I believe that the story with my Hero of Kvatch Aelia is most likely to have the angstiest ending. She throws away her entire support network, including friends and family, to wallow in her misery and grief in the Shivering Isles, descending into madness, because all she wants to do is bring Martin back.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I really want it to be The Perfect Storm! I haven't planned out the ending for it yet, but I want it to be happy. However, I shall delight in stirring the pot and make Elyse and Balgruuf work for that happy ending, you hear? 😂

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really? The closest thing to that which I got was being told that my writing was 'too dramatic'... Shame that I love writing me some drama. Dramatics can be taken from my cold, dead hands.

9. Do you write smut?

Yeah, though I don't think that I've posted any of it yet.... I still need to actually finish the smut which I was writing for my birthday. My birthday which was over a month ago. Ooops.

10. Do you write crossovers?

Nope. I just don't really like them. It's something I've always got to filter out when reading fics.... The closest I'd get to writing a crossover is, say, references to stuff from Oblivion in a Skyrim fic? But would that technically even be a crossover, if they're both Elder Scrolls? Though they are separate games....

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Again, no, not that I know of...

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Does it count if I tried co-writing a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fic with a self-insert shiny Eevee with a ff.net friend when I was like 13 that we never posted???? If not, no!

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Honestly... I think it might be the fic based around Elyse's parents, Ingja and Edwyn, which I've only posted the first chapter to here on Tumblr. I know their story - it's all very firmly in my head, and is set to be referred to across Seeking the Sun and The Perfect Storm, but I simply don't think that I would be able to finish it... Plus I like keeping Edwyn's fate very vague. Though Ingja dies, because Elyse will meet her in Sovngarde when she goes to fight Alduin, what happens to Edwyn I've left ambiguous, hence why I don't think I would be able to finish it. He simply leaves one day and after sending Elyse a handful of letters he disappears. It gives me opportunity to maybe bring him in at some point down the line in The Perfect Storm... I kinda want to write a scenario where Balgruuf meets Edwyn now. Damn.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'd like to say dialogue. I don't like putting dialogue into a fic unless I can mentally hear the line in the character's voice, if that makes any sense? If I can't hear it, or can't imagine a character saying it, I won't include it. But in addition to that, a lot of my scene-building and whatnot comes from using dialogue as a baseline. Obviously there are times where that isn't the case, but I do love writing little conversations to push a scene along.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I do believe that just as it is a strength, dialogue is also a weakness! Sometimes, I find myself over-relying on dialogue simply to 'fill space'. Where something like non-verbal communication, or environmental descriptions or even a change of scene would fit better, I'll just throw in some dialogue in the same way that I add cheese to meals - in overabundance! In addition, I would say that finding a way to bridge scenes together is another weakness of mine. I can have a chapter mostly complete, but without that one last bridging moment - often simply a sentence or paragraph or two which can join two scenes together - I simply cannot bring myself into completing it.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue on another language in a fic?

Now, in terms of reading it, I find it really cool as long as some sort of way to translate it is available! In that vein, I do sometimes use some of the dragon language in my fics - mostly when a dragonborn is communicating with Paarthurnax or Odahviing - and I'll have a full list of translations to include in the end notes. On that note, I swear that I have https://www.thuum.org/ open in a separate tab almost constantly when I'm writing just in case!!! I've always found that most useful when trying to include the dragon language.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

That'd probably have to be for Pokemon Ranger Guardian Signs, though none of those fics were ever typed up (I think???). I still remember excitedly pulling the odd page from school exercise books to staple together whilst scavenging for pens to write me some more Pokemon Ranger fanfic.......

20. Favourite fic you've written?

The Perfect Storm, absolutely. Though I do sometimes think of going back to work on/improve some of my earlier chapters in the fic, in particular surrounding Elyse's experience in Windhelm because I'm not as in love with that as I once was. My love for Balgruuf (and Elyse, and the two of them together!) fuels my love, favouritism, and bias towards the fic.

#meg is rambling

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philialdevotion · 8 months

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#PHILIALDEVOTION. this is a closed roleplay account for phila from fire emblem: awakening. written by mabel (she/her, 19, gmt). affiliated with the officers academy as a flying instructor. about. stats. interview.

It is thanks to the many brave knights who came before me that I have the privilege of soaring through the sky. In the same way, it is my duty to pass my skills on to the next generation of those who would mount a pegasus. — Fire Emblem Heroes, Phila: Pegasus Master

an ENORMOUS thank you to Rune for handling all the graphics, theme, and generally making this blog look so incredibly beautiful. I couldn't have done any of this without her doing it for me, so I really really appreciate it!!!! let's go philemm!!!!!

notes.

phila is taken from after her death in chapter 9 and she has very complicated feelings about being alive again (mostly cause she doesn't feel all that alive...!)

phila is a lesbian, and in love with emmeryn. she never really expects those feelings to be reciprocated but. watch out :)

she has joined garreg mach with the hope of passing on the torch of the pegasus knights onto a new generation! if she has been given a second chance, she will do everything in her power to build them back up again. she will make the most of this opportunity.

#ooc #((a new pinned thanks to rune!!!! everyone say thank you rune!!!))#((I cannot stress enough how grateful I am and how gorgeous all the graphics she made are LOOK AT THEM!!!!))

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childofaura · 10 months

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Big question I have: who are your top 10 favourite Awakening characters from the First Generation and why?

This one will be fun :D also same disclaimer I always say: these aren’t in any particular order except for number one, because he really is number one.

That’s pretty much how all my lists go, lol.

Priam. This man is perfect and wonderful in so many ways; before I played Awakening, I watched all the confessions of the male characters, saw him, and went “THAT ONE. HE’S THE ONE .” He left me smitten even before I knew anything about him, like him being Ike’s descendent, and I’ve always been drawn more towards the “Avatarsexuals”. The game always tries to play him off as annoying, but he’s just incredibly passionate about gaining strength. He’s actually pretty passionate about everything he does, especially when he confesses that he’s fallen in love with you. His confession portrait has to be one of the most romantic in the game:

Priam is a hulking beast of a warrior but here, he’s kneeling down in front of you, having taken his gloves off so he can hold your hand in his (no one else does this by the way) while he gazes adoringly into your eyes. Combine that with how powerful and handsome he is, he’s my ultimate husband choice in Awakening. The only downside is how far in the game he is before you can recruit him (Chapter 25) but he’s worth it.

2. Aversa. I like a lot of SpotPass characters, and I like Aversa for her extra lore. Most people hate the SpotPass characters for turning the villains “good”, but I think it’s neat that the bad guys help defeat the TRUE villain pulling the strings (and it’s not like bad guys like Validar became good). Aside from that, Aversa is actually a sweetheart who struggles with making friends because she feels like she doesn’t deserve it (in her supports with M!Robin at least). It definitely makes her one of the more interesting female Awakening characters.

3. Vaike. WHEN, IS??? WHEN ARE WE GETTING TEACH??? Here’s hoping he’s not a demote when we get him… he’s a cool dude and his support with Sully is actually pretty touching, they were made for each other.

4. Frederick. I think Frederick (along with Dedue) is actually one of the nicer vassal characters in Fire Emblem, because Jakob can kind of be an asshole sometimes and Hubert is… Hubert. He’s diligent, cares about others, and holds the Shepherds together.

5. Gregor. The dude is SO overlooked as “haha funny Russian man” despite the fact that he’s powerful as fuck and even could have been a Khan of Regna Ferox if he wanted to. And RESOURCEFUL, the fact that he knew how to do Cordelia’s makeup is impressive. Plus I think he’s the best dad for Severa (I actually headcanon that Severa is bilingual in Gregor’s homeland tongue and it comes out when she’s pissed off at something or someone). Great dude and I’m glad he got added to FEH.

6. Gangrel. I said it. He works great as an antagonist and he’s a fun ally with a fascinating backstory (he kind of reminds me of Askeladd from Vinland Saga). It’s actually really sad to me that he dies a horrible death if he doesn’t support with F!Robin, I’d have liked for him to have loved to do SOMETHING.

7. Kellam. NO END. I’VE HEARD NO END TO THE INVISIBILITY JOKES. I GET IT. I will ALWAYS acknowledge my boy. He’s such a sweetheart and I adore his support with Olivia. He better get a prf when he gets added to FEH or I will riot.

8. Panne. She turns into a bunny. I like her.

But also she has a great backstory.

9. Virion. Ok yes he’s silly and goofy and flirts with anything that looks remotely female and walks on two legs. But if you read his Support with F!Robin (definitely one of the most sincere supports of the game in my opinion), he’s actually a very noble and caring guy. Especially during one of the DLCs where he sells an heirloom dagger for an old couple who was sick, and refuses to be acknowledged in any way or form for doing so. He’s got a great heart.

10. Mustafa. Does this count? Probably not but I wanna give him a shoutout anyways. I’m mad that HE wasn’t a SpotPass character, as cool as Walhart was, I would have preferred Mustafa. At least he got added to FEH, I’ll take what I can get.

Special additional shoutouts to Olivia, Sully, Lon’qu, and Yen’fey, they’re also really cool. I do like the other characters (especially Maribelle’s support where she knows how to talk like a sailor) but I’d prioritize these guys on the list.

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waywardsalt · 5 months

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this has been a good year for new games for me, ironically bc i had a shit time with totk and was able to better recognize what i like. totk is a game i have not touched since beating it, while every other game i have played this year have be considerably better and just. idk good experiences

so some reflection on the games i played for the first time this year that i really liked!

i played fire emblem engage this year- i literally forgot that that happened this year, i've only been counting games since totk, and i've played some good fuckin games after totk, but i honestly had a good silly time with fe engage. the music is great, the story is a bit flat and hammy at times but was still engaging (hah) and i was pleasantly surprised by the development of the main character, and it was pretty hard even on an easy difficulty, which each map sometimes taking an hour to get through as the story progressed. plus i can't deny that the referneces to other fe games with the emblem rings was a cool selling point, i'm not too familiar with the other fe games and it was interesting to see some of the characters from them. loading into lucina's paralogue and instantly recognizing the map layout and music got to me pretty good as someone who was introduced into the series by awakening. it was great!

i played persona 5 royal after totk and. what a fucking palette cleanser it's one of the best games i have ever played and i've... somewhat liveblogged my first playthrough and snippets of my second, it's fantastic (not flawless tbf) and just a lot of fun. the music is great holy shit and it was also just a great story to experience, with some interesting messaging throughout with the confidant stuff and the things brought up by the third semester. i didn't even initally get persona 5 with the intention to play it myself, it was for my sibling, who played it once and put it down and hasn't touched it since while i picked it up on a whim and was hooked by the music and style and gameplay and... holy shit it's so good. i don't even mind okumura's palace too much.

i managed to get myself a copy of kid icarus uprising (and also got the guide book by accident, don't ask, it's helpful anyways), and... they sure did make a third person shooter on the 3ds and it sure does. Handle. in all honestly the controls are kind of a mess but the game feels really good to play when you get a handle on them, even if i keep accidentally sending pit falling to his death in the ground segments because just moving him is a bit rough. the game is also surprisingly hard, and i wouldn't just chalk it up to the controls, and the music (esp the tracks for the air segments and the way its timed to the game events... ugh) is fantastic, and what i've seen of the story and characters so far is charming! i have only gotten up to past chapter 9 out of... 30? because each chapter is fairly long and... those controls. it's great!

i also managed to get my hands on shin megami tensei iv! i first found it through the fantastic soundtrack, played the first through hours after it failing to boot a few times and getting fucking destroyed by the earliest enemies because holy shit this game will beat you into the ground if you try, and was like 'hm i wonder why they went with that specific sound for a lot of the ost' and then got to fucking tokyo and i. i do not know a lot abt smt iv's story and i'm grateful. getting to tokyo was a bit internal 'holy SHIT' moment and i am so desperate to figure out what the fuck is going on with this story and world it's really fascinating. i haven't progressed the story in a while even through i know where to go just because i'm trying to level flynn and my demons and do side quests because i am not going to underestimate any new encounter ever it's fantastic.

did i start playing clangen this year? i might have. it's good. it's fun. i've played it on voice call with my friend a few times. i'm currently hooked on starting with 1 apprentice and 1 kit like a lot of people are doing on here, building cool stories based on it. it's neat.

that's (probably) all of the new games i've played (and enjoyed) this year so far, but i found out that fallout: new vegas is ten fucking dollars on steam (20 with all of the dlc) and i might have to give that a shot after tracking down a bunch of mods to keep it from crashing, and just from what i've seen of people talking about it, it sounds like a game i really need to try either this year or sometime next year. i'm mostly still just floored that it's less than thirty dollars.

#salty talks #silly reflection on the games ive played this year #ive never given a shit abt fallout but watched hbomberguys vid on new vegas and was sold and went to look it up #the noise i made when i saw the price on steam. i was not expecting 10 dollars. oh my god.#yeah i cant remember if theres anything else new this year #i might play oxenfree? a family member played that and liked it so i need to give it a shot #also. smt iv. very funny to me that it like. begins in like a medieval esque setting but you have characters named walter and gabby #im a fan of walter so far he's my favorite. isabeau is good too #i think the verdict of what i like is like. stock in the story and the world and genuine intrigue and payoff to mysteries #and some neat ways to explain gameplay mechanics and all of that #basically stuff totk fucked up. im more chill abt that game but oooh. ooooooh. beating it to death with hammers #i want to play fallout new vegas so bad it sounds so incredibly good

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punchyemblem · 1 year

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How has your experience with Engage been so far? I've been holding off on buying/playing it since I've heard pretty heavily mixed reviews but that also just seems like the standard for Fire Emblem games askfdlasja

Disclaimer that I’m only on chapter 15 out of 26 I think?

I actually love this game. It’s a really slow start, the universal experience seems to be that it gets good at chapter 9 (rip to the reviewers who only got thru chapter 8 lmao). The story’s fine and the characters drive me insane (complimentary)

There’s a LOT to do. I’m at nearly 30 hours and I’m a little over halfway through the game if you don’t count the paralogues, which every ring has a paralogue with an interesting map and gimmick that calls back to a major point in the emblem’s game. A lot of the level map design reminds me of the more interesting conquest maps? And then the classing works similarly to awakening and I LOVE awakening’s class system

Like basically if you want more of 3h’s plot, worldbuilding, classing system, and character writing, you’re not going to find it in engage. You’re just not.

It’s pretty simple and straightforward so far with some fun twists that they integrate well into the gameplay (CHAPTER 11? HELLO?????), the boring one-note characters are balanced out by the characters that are either pretty fleshed out (ie yunaka) or just plain fucking weird (PLEASE somebody talk to me about zelkov I’m obsessed with him), and the gameplay itself is FUN with some oh shit moments where they twist it on your head

So yeah I’m having fun and I like it a lot and I foresee myself pouring 200+ hours into this game screwing around with unit building and supports lol

#fe tag for my wife’s blacklist #fee

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blizzardsuplex · 6 months

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Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks for the tag, @sublightsleeper <3 Answers under the cut!

1. How many works do you have on ao3? That I claim as Mel? 10. In total? 18.

2. What's your total ao3 word count? 88,469.

3. What fandoms do you write for? Exclusively wrestling that I claim on here, but I've also written for comic fandoms, a single Fire Emblem: Awakening gift fic, and...other things I'd rather not name.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1.) Moon Knight fanfic 2.) be my sunshine and sing (Max^2) 3.) Embarrassing fandom fic 4.) another embarrassing fandom fic 5.) mad that I gave half the day to last night (also Max^2)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I do respond to comments - or try to, at least! Sometimes I just don't know what to say LOL

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Either when your prized possessions start to weigh you down OR i'm no good, I'm here for lust. Pick and choose between "cheating on each other with your respective exes but probably not going to leave with them permanently either" and "fellas, is it an asshole move to leave the guy who just sucked your dick to escape a genius loci?"

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Either mad that... (where Caster successfully gave the other Max his gift) or make those rainbows in my mind (because it was literally written to be non kayfabe compliant fluffy goodness).

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not yet. I hope I never have to.

9. Do you write smut? Very tentatively.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I've only written one crossover. It's a comic book fandom one crossing Stephanie Brown from the Batfam with a very specific Marvel Z-lister. Never finished it but it was fun while it lasted!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Nah.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Hell yeah I have #PBPRPexperience - I in fact literally just posted one a few days ago with @spaghettisaurusrex (grown on the edge of the ocean)!

14. What's your all-time favorite ship? Hmm. In fandom? IDK if I have an all-timer, TBH. I write a lot of shippy stuff but...

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? There was this MK fanfic I had a great idea for that never got past chapter one. Oops. Wrestling-wise I only have two, but they're definitely both things I'd love to pick up in the future: angels scream, searching for some love and understanding and heat it up (never live it down).

16. What are your writing strengths? I have no idea. Once an RP partner told me my sentences are like puzzles/gifts you have to unwrap with delicacy but not with difficulty, so I guess that! I also enjoy really getting into the POV character/s' heads and psyches so I'd hope that my attention to detail re: the narration feeling like a specific person is good.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Finishing things, or its inverse of trying to push too hard to finish a work and getting burnout. Stringing events together in a way that doesn't feel uneven or abrupt in its transitions is also something I struggle with.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Usually do italics translations, but if I ever have the chance to slip Tagalog in I would! :)

19. First fandom you wrote for? Warrior Cats, baby!

20. Favorite fic you've written? Can't choose, really. I really like the MK fic, grown/the collaborative fairy tale AU, prized possessions, and the dark horse pick of never been so divine in accepting your defeat.

I tag El, @shes-a-voodoo-child, @limbreaper, @scissormedaddyass, and @pleasantpastels!

#mel's writing tag #ask game #this was quite fun! :)

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genshinemblem564 · 6 months

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Fire Emblem Heroes x Sagau Masterlist

• Prologue: Starfall

• Prologue Act II: Starlight

• Chapter 1: Summoner's Woes

• Chapter 2: An Unexpected Reunion

• Chapter 3: Awakening

• Chapter 4: New Friends

• Chapter 5: And Old Ones

• Intermission I: Festival

• Chapter 6: Memories

• Intermission II: Time Skip

• Xenologues I-III

• Chapter 7: A Debt Owed

• Chapter 8: The Flames

• Chapter 9: Answers

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dandelionette-9 · 1 year

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Guys my decision to play Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon lapsing between sleep and Victorian boy sickness where I must gaze out at the river wistfully was a horrible decision, but I’m having a great time! Im on chapter 9 right now and my team is looking a little something like

Marth - He’s actually been really good!! I haven’t used him for jsckshit, but he’s on par with everyone, has been leveling up well, and has been able to handle himself. So like. Yay!! Also busted ass rapier win.

Caeda - I knew she was good but DAMN. DAMN??? Wing spear is wild too, shes just absurd. She’s gotten a lot of strength too, which I know dosent usually happen. She could probably solo a chapter me thinks. Also like, love her personality, glad she gets to have one!

Cain - CRITICAL KING!!! He’s literally been stat blessed, his strength and speed and skill are all just so good. He’s just tearing through shit left right and center, I really want to give him a refined steel sword. He deserves it.

Abel - I love dropping him in a pile of units and watching him somehow come out alive. He’s been doubling people for a while but is still struggling to solidly pick up kills. No dig on that though, I only bring it up because he’s so good at literally everything and I can stick him anywhere.

Norne - Im playing on normal just for her, and GOD does she suck but I love her so very dearly for the times she doesn’t. She’s finally starting to double people! Also I gave her a refined steel bow called “Bell Toll” because she always reminds me of bells. She’s sitting at a solid 6 strength rn, but, I’m remaining hopeful!

Cord - The best looking of the 3 axe man, and you can fight me on that. I only tried using him when I learned he made a pretty decent black mage, and DAMN does he actually make a pretty good black mage?? 100 hit rates, doubling, actually leveling magic… also I gave him a personal refined fire tome, “Wildfire”. I’m headcanoning he awakened his magic after I killed Bord off with no remorse. Also my boss killer!

Lena - Staff homie! Keep it up please!! Im begging!!!

Matthis - “Wouldn’t it be funny if I used him?” Yes, and then he became good?? Like, he’s not great, but god damn it he can tank and dish out a good attack. Granted he hits. I’m taking him to end game though he’s my sad little fuckboy. I gave him a javelin called “GAY RIGHTS” because he genuinely supports them, like it’s a canonical thing. Wishing nothing but the best for him

Wolf - The only surviving member of the Coyote squad (I was using Sedger too but he ACTUALLY died without me sacrificing him like a nerd) and like. Reclassing him to a hero was so sexy of me. He’s just murdering the competition. He’s gotten basically all stats up when he levels up. He’s unstoppable. Also I gave him a steel axe called “Pack Blood” to reference the dead homies (ironically Sedger was still alive when I gave him it, but he died that chapter, so, call me a prophet)

Athena - Did not know she came at level 10 but I love her so much for that. She’s like… refusing to crit, even with a killer sword, but she’s still absolutely slicing through units so. No notes! Keep it up girl! Please!

Radd - The reason I didn’t reset when Sedger died is because he died right at the end and I spent Radd’s entire introduction chapter trying to train him in the arena and got some not horrible state growths. He was really making me question using him though after I had to reset like… 7 times because he kept dying in the arena. He’s so bad. He’s a cavalier now. He’s illiterate. I’m gonna make him work if it kills me.

Everyone else, and I mean *literally* everyone else has been sacrificed except for Julian. Call me a gravedigger. Im not sure who else im gonna keep around in the future (definitely Minerva, maybe Midia, Dolph, and Jake, *maybe* but not likely Jorge) but y’know, we’ll see!

#shadow dragon #fire emblem

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verdictvelvet · 1 year

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i beat fire emblem engage last night so i am going to write what i thought about every stage. okay. this post will be very long and of little interest to just about anybody but you can click on it anyway

prologue - does it even count

chapter 1 - normal

chapter 2 - now we are getting somewhere. pretty normal tutorial with One Funny Trick that sets the stage for this being a game where bosses come and get your ass

chapter 3 - this one has a pretty expressive first couple of turns where you spend that first turn really feeling the pressure of not having enough guys and seeing how things are just going to collapse on you from not having enough units to outpace the amount of guys who will attack you. and then you get more guys. but it is not really exceptional beyond that

chapter 4 - this one is good because it is where you get my best friend warp ragnarok. everything is just a little bit too spread out and you do not have quite enough units yet to really feel like you are able to create a united front anywhere, so having somebody who can jump around to different parts of the battlefield and also explode an enemy at the same time feels great, and it really pushes you to think about the best way to use the new tools you are given here

chapter 5 - this one gave me a hard time in a way that i loved but i think i might have made it more difficult for myself than it needed to be. the time pressure of needing to stop the thief from clearing out the chests really pushed me to put myself in some rough spots that took some doing to get out of though, and i appreciated it. this one also serves as a sort of a soft introduction to engage's favorite trick of 'divide your army into two groups and take two different paths to the boss'

jean paralogue - you have to go and protect this little boy. this one is pretty regular i do not have much of a lingering impression of it

chapter 6 - i can not help but feel like this one is really pulling its punches on account of being the first dark level. it introduces a pretty fun give and take of managing vision in a stage like this (that the game never fully delivers on, i think) but the enemy placements and amounts are just not aggressive to provide much friction here

anna paralogue - this is a totally solid stage that winds up feeling kind of unexceptional in the context of a game that has lots of really good ones.

chapter 7 - there are a couple of stages that are just about crossing a big bridge and they largely reveal that 'a straight line' is not that interesting of a setup for a fire emblem map. it is not bad it is just not that compelling. gets some points for the actual boss approach being kind of tricky and for introducing my fail boy

chapter 8 - all the stages in this that require you to start off in a defensive position in this game are pretty good, the balance of holding out until you can be aggressive enough to head for the boss is pretty fun. being a good one of these in a game with a clear best one of these leaves it kind of overshadowed though

chapter 9 - pretty normal. you split your guys up and you go along both routes to the boss and it works. the narrative suggests there is a time pressure here but the stage does not really back it up

chapter 10 - the map design here is pretty cool, i like that it is basically two small fire emblem maps in succession, and they both feel pretty tense. you have a lot of guys to fight you need to do your best

chapter 11 - this one is scary. the only escape stage in the game but they do good work here, lots of individual enemies in your way you need to make smart choices about how to handle, and the asshole in the back with the freeze staff and the micaiah emblem really wants to make your day bad. stay safe out there

lucina paralogue - it is pretty funny that when they go 'what is the iconic awakening stage' the thing they settle on is a big open room with some enemies in it. the enemy positioning is a little more aggressive here but the end result is still pretty forgettable

chapter 12 - there are a bunch of stages in engage that have a clear gimmick where my first reaction is 'this is going to be really annoying' but it is actually used really well. 'desert stage where all your guys move bad' is a fire emblem staple but shifting it from a universal movement reduction to a bunch of spots on the map that you have to move past in one go or else be stuck in for a while does a lot to give you opportunities to try and control your and the enemy's pace and make the way you move your units feel really distinct. the part where this is technically a stage about protecting npcs is weirdly underplayed, it is almost a non-issue

lyndis paralogue - this stage starts off by doing a kind of bad job at communicating what the conditions for stopping reinforcements are but you wind up handling a lot of it by accident anyway. but like some of those guys you are not going to get to by the time reinforcements show up so it becomes a pretty fun scramble by the end. one of the only times in the game where i realized i had made some bad positioning decisions so many turns ago that i might as well restart

chapter 13 - this one gives you the ike emblem (which rules) and timerra (who can kill everything, but not quite yet) so that alone would make it pretty good in my book. the better of the dark stages for sure, in that it is easier to get yourself into trouble, and the encroaching swarm of flying units that snuffs out the torches on the ocean creates a fun pressure. it is pretty funny that there is one house that you can not reach in time and after the battle everybody is like 'wow congratulations you did not let any houses burn down' anyway

ike paralogue - this one rocks. ike puts you into hell and makes you so scared but you have to try really hard to go kick his ass anyway. the balance between being aggressive enough to get to him in time but not being overwhelmed by enemies is really fun to find

chapter 14 - this one is a pretty standard 'split your guys up and do the run up to the boss' stage but the boss room is really good on account of how they put three guys in there that want to be your problem, which is always a good call

byleth paralogue - the pretty small amount of units here makes this one of the few stages where i felt like i really had to think about who i was bringing in just to make sure i was killing guys fast enough. but the challenge here is mostly one of efficiency, outside of when byleth is attacking you it is pretty rare to actually be in danger because of how much all the enemies love trying to attack rocks. ultimately it is just kind of okay which is fitting for a three houses stage i guess

chapter 15 - this is maybe the only gimmick driven stage that sucks and probably my least favorite chapter in the game. lots of moving guys through narrow hallways with nothing to do, the stage is divided up into small and mediocre individual combat challenges. it gives you the corrin emblem (and with it the dragon vein skill which is one of my favorite tools in the game) but then makes you constantly use it to wall off your own approach so you can clear out the miasma rather than any of the fun stuff you can do

corrin paralogue - this stage is ostensibly about how partway through the map corrin lights half the map on fire but it is laughably unlikely to have much effect on you because you had no reason to stand in any of the places she lights on fire in the first place. the real star of the show is her twelve unit death ball she starts moving towards you while obfuscating her actual movement range from you with is both a fun tactical challenge and also really funnily abnormal fire emblem boss behavior

chapter 16 - this is probably the most turns any stage took because the raising and lowering water actually can slow you down a lot. but outside of the kind of slow process of getting into position for the boss it is used pretty well to create some unplanned slowing and division of your forces while they are sort of in danger so i do not feel that bad about it. i do think this is one of the worst stages for introducing the emblem mechanics to you, but i also think the eirika emblem is not that good until you level up your bond with it a bunch and get sieglinde and can kill everything

eirika paralogue - i was really underleveled for this one but the thing is it kicked ass to play it like that. sometimes you are just fighting tooth and nail through the stage. i do not really know how this compares to the sacred stones original but here it feels like a really tightly designed endgame stage but you play it a little over halfway through as like a fun bonus for you. never really lets you relax if you are trying to push forward which is fun

chapter 17 - there are like a couple really good and tense turns in the middle of this around when you are dealing with a couple of bosses at once but before and after that it is weirdly low pressure for how high the stakes are supposed to be and how many enemies there are all around you

sigurd paralogue - it was cool to see them try to translate a genealogy of the holy war multiple castle setup and when you take the first castle it shows you the guys you have to get past to get to the second and it looks really gnarly and you are gearing up for a tough fight. but then sigurd charges in alone to his own death instantly and you do not have to worry about any of that and it is kind of disappointing

leif paralogue - this one is mean those ballistas are so brutal and then if you try to clear out some of the ones on the left side of the map then leif goes to fucking war with you. this one really took a lot of doing, it was the first mission where i actually ran out of rewinds. i loved it, maybe i should play thracia 776 and get my ass kicked

chapter 18 - it is kind of funny that this is the only stage where you can recruit an enemy. 'you are surrounded by boats' is a pretty fun setup for a defensive mission. i wish the ballista you had felt a little more relevant but this stage works alright and has a solid first few turns even if it is not able to keep up the pressure

chapter 19 - i feel like i missed something when i played this one because there are a bunch of elements in here that do not really come together. the three laned design of the stages? the ballistas that you fire like maybe one time each? ultimately i just cleared the miasma out enough to stick to one part of the map because that is where most of the enemies are and it works alright and was pretty fun even, it just feels like there is more that i did not engage with somehow

micaiah paralogue - uhhh idk this is kind of another defense stage. it works and is fun enough, it asks you to split up your guys a little bit more than usual just because it starts them so far apart and there is some novelty to that but it did not leave much of a lingering impression

roy paralogue - kind of a lull in the middle of this one after you take out the initial rush of enemies and it never really recovers. actually fighting roy does not have that much going on

chapter 20 - this one is about a guy running around like a freak and just blasting you whenever and teleporting off. and also you are in like a dark castle and fighting over treasure chests and stuff but i mostly just remember that first part even though he basically is not ever a threat as long as you are keeping your guys' health up

celica paralogue - this one is fun it is good when a stage just lets you put your foot on the gas pedal. it is good to be aggressive and go fast sometimes

chapter 21 - for some reason i basically do not remember playing this one even if i remember all the events around it

chapter 22 - this one is pretty easy but it is like a solid enough setup. you are getting your guys back sometimes it is about having a specific thing you are trying to do that asks you to engage with the stage in a unique way and not really pushing you to your limit

marth paralogue - this stage is pretty fun but like sometimes something is solid in a way that does not immediately lend to having a lot to say it is just kind of a classically good map. but it is interesting how with some of these reutilized maps you have a whole special area for approaching the boss that you never go in because they get too aggressive

oath ring paralogue - i was almost hesitant to go get the ring right away because i was like 'oh is it going to end if i kill this guy so fast' but it is good that i did not because it would have been a huge pain in the ass to defend my position away from that central platform. pretty fun but like not exceptional you know

chapter 23 - this one is kind of lame to be honest. the gimmick is not so bad but the two different paths you split your guys up on wound up taking at such different paces that half of my party was just waiting around for the others to line up because i did not want to try and kill both bosses with one party. maybe i should have tried and put myself in am ore dangerous situation and i would have liked it more but engage's favorite trick kind of stumbles here

chapter 24 - this is the only chapter with a turn limit but it basically does not matter there is no world in which i would have needed all 15 turns to get to the boss and in fact i spent a little bit of time just waiting around unnecessarily even under those constraints. the avalanche mechanic is kind of fun to position around, i guess

chapter 25 - i was kind of worried after the last two stages but this one rocks and is also the scariest map in the game. i took it a little slow after the last couple and then they send you to the fucking danger zone and i was barely scraping by killing the boss with like 40 enemies about to charge into the boss room and kill the hell out of all of my guys it was awesome. also i think it is a fun inversion to go from the lumera tutorial stage displaying how the bosses will just come for you to this, basically the last real challenge of the game, with her as one of the few bosses that just stays in place and is extremely brutal about it. loved this one though if i played it again i would probably try less hard to dodge lasers

chapter 26 - this is like a fun experiment in how to make a big dynamic boss fight in the constraints of fire emblem and it is generally really fun but definitely does not offer a ton of pushback, especially in comparison to the previous one. sometimes all of your favorite guys are together and they are just cleaning shit up. it feels good without being completely frictionless. i did not really know enough to match the guys to the 'villain emblems' consistently and probably would not have bothered even if i did just because as always i sort of had my guys switched into two groups for maximum efficiency and the guys that were already nearby just wound up being the guys that would kill the enemies. it did kind of raise the idea of it being a letdown that there were not like evil fire emblem villain emblems with special abilities that you have to fight but that would have been a bit of a huge increase to the scope i guess

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