Fire Emblem

Yeah I was gonna say "What's so special about the cast of Geneology?" I don't know a whole lot about the game but your rank in file are literally replaceable as a game mechanic.

People tend to like Arvis for reasons. Like, I see him and his role in the plot get cited a lot as why that game stands out.

I'll teach you a lesson about just how cruel the world can be. That's my job, as an adult.

Arvis as a character to me is...well, I wouldn't say he exactly stands out among the rest of the series' cast, but I do think he's a well-written character in terms of the narrative role the game wants him to fit in. He's a complete tool, but he's also rather pitiable given the circumstances leading up to his backstory and miserable status by the end of the game.

I wouldn't be placing him in any "Top 10 personal favorite characters" or "Top 10 personal most memorable antagonists" lists of mine, but I don't mean that in a bad way; it's just that there are a bunch of other characters I like more.

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...Huh, of course they got Show Hayami to voice him. He certainly looks like a Hayami-type character.

Though to be honest, if Toshiyuki Morikawa wasn't already Sigurd, I would have guessed he would have been Arvis, mostly because I'm more used to Morikawa voicing villains (Griffith, Sephiroth, Naraku, Tyki, etc.)

Edited by dragonfire5000 on May 4th 2024 at 9:59:02 AM

I appreciate Arvis being the ultimate monkey paw. Got what he wanted but it didn't make him happy.

Mileena Madness

Make a deal with the devil with precautions, and you get burned.

I'll teach you a lesson about just how cruel the world can be. That's my job, as an adult.

He's an incel who actually decided to stop being one.

Where there's life, there's hope.

Ehhh, I wouldn't give him that much credit on that front considering he never once let Deirdre learn the truth, and it's because he made such a bad deal with the cult that she's dead.

I'll teach you a lesson about just how cruel the world can be. That's my job, as an adult.

Just finished chapter 7 of Path. The storytelling in this game is fantastic. There's a lot of nuance to the character exchanges I appreciate. Ike's really growing on me as a lead.

Yeah, there's a reason Tellius is looked upon quite fondly (although it definitely makes missteps later—you'll know 'em when you see 'em).

As to Genealogy, I'm only in Chapter 4 at the moment, but I agree that there's not a lot going on, character-wise. They're almost entirely defined by their political loyalties. The only character things that have so far stood out to me:

• Sigurd's and Dierdre's comically overplayed mutual thirst
• Lewyn's goofy banter with Sylvia and Rahna
• The various flavours of minor villain screwing each other over with their petty greed

Otherwise, you could probably replace the majority of my army with "Grannvale Soldier X/Y/Z" and it wouldn't matter.

And to be fair to Genealogy, you see this with the Archanea games have this problem too. 90% of the cast is roughly two whatever lines off of being a completely generic unit that I don't care about.

FE: Genealogy Story Run 7PM PT Sun, Mon, Fri; Expert Unicorn Overlord 7PM PT Wed, Thurs: http://www.twitch.tv/kuroitsubasatenshi

Arvis is but Kaga’s prototype of what would eventually become Edelgard:

"You can't change the world without getting your hands dirty."

The funnier thing is that since PoR is very much a standard Lord's Journey style FE that means said missteps are things it sets up which RD eventually executes in a seemingly haphazard way.

Part of it is that support conversations (which are, of course, very useful for fleshing out characters wouldn't be introduced until Binding Blade, though ironically Genealogy was the first "shipping simulator" of the franchise. While paired endings would exist in some form from then on afterwards, it was only really with Awakening that you got both modern-style supports and explicitly creating romantic pairings between your units.

Which makes sense given that Three Houses' original concept came from the relatively throwaway plot point that Sigurd, Quan and Eldigan all attended the officer's academy together. (Though the post-Time Skip bits are arguably Koei Tecmo trying to retell the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story yet again.)

INT is knowing a tomato is a fruit. WIS is knowing it doesn't belong in a fruit salad. CHA is convincing people that it does.

There are so many genealogy references in Three Houses I'm surprised the game resonated so well with an audience that never played the former TBH.

Well, that's mostly because you don't need to play Genealogy to understand 3H's story.

Where there's life, there's hope.

Yeah, that's the thing. They referenced Genealogy a lot without going so overboard that it becomes incomprehensible to someone who's never played it. Best of both worlds.

Which really isn't the case with Hopes, which loses so much if you haven't played Houses.

It's also because a lot of the things people liked about Three Houses were either original to it or introduced in a game that came after Genealogy.

Like for example while I have my misgivings about the reclassing mechanic in general Three Houses giving the player unprecedented levels of unit customization definitely helps a lot. While support convos are nothing new they continue the post-Awakening trend of them being shipping simulators. And even if the Monastery mechanics are polarizing among core fans at best they're popular enough that they came back for Engage (albeit in a state closer to Fates' My Castle). Not to mention that between the subtle Tarot Motifs and the presence of a time management mechanic you get some crossover from Persona fans.

In fairness, Hopes is in a weird place where it's an explicit "What if?" of a pre-existing game in the franchise. Spinoffs tend to either be standalone crossovers like the first Warriors game, Heroes, or TMS:FE, or FE tends to do sequels if they like the game setting enough.

Edited by Kinkajou on May 4th 2024 at 7:13:54 PM

INT is knowing a tomato is a fruit. WIS is knowing it doesn't belong in a fruit salad. CHA is convincing people that it does.

Age of Calamity is also a whst if Zelda game but is semi canon weird...

Mileena Madness

Yeah they're not directly comparable, but still feel like Three Hopes could have worked harder setting the stage for newcomers.

Age of Calamity is a game I've vacillated on for months.

Hopes isn’t for newcomers. It’s a spin off for people who have played Houses.

It’s like playing Birthy by Sleep without playing other Kingdom Hearts game.

"You can't change the world without getting your hands dirty."

Which New Mystery did try to add to the entirety of the Archanean cast, but most of them still failed to make me care about the eleventy billion tertiary characters.

FE: Genealogy Story Run 7PM PT Sun, Mon, Fri; Expert Unicorn Overlord 7PM PT Wed, Thurs: http://www.twitch.tv/kuroitsubasatenshi

Oh God, every level so far in Radiance feels like a brick wall. in chapter 8 having to defend for 8 turns against 30 assorted armored soldiers. Oscar and Mia are all but useless, Boyd doesn't hit fast enough and dies in 3 hits, and Titania can't be everywhere at once.

I have 3 levels of BEXP, feels like I'm forced to spend it all if I want to make it through without a death. What a time not to have a Sniper and Knight.

The left trickles in somewhat slower, so that's usually what the rest of the team wants to handle. Then Titania will usually be successful taking on the right, while Regal Sword Ike can solo the southern Cavs (even if he's super Str-screwed, like my last Ike was).

FE: Genealogy Story Run 7PM PT Sun, Mon, Fri; Expert Unicorn Overlord 7PM PT Wed, Thurs: http://www.twitch.tv/kuroitsubasatenshi

It can be worth remembering that not killing enemies is a viable strategy. If you don't attack, they don't counterattack and if they don't counter-attack, they deal less damage to you per turn.

You just have to clear up the left to pick up Illyana.

Do you not recruit Ilyana, then?

Nach jeder Ebbe kommt die Flut.

Even though I don't use Boyd in the long term, a Speedwing on him is pretty helpful for the first couple chapters.

Where there's life, there's hope.

Yeah, I gave him one and a few bonus EXP levels, he's more useful than Ike, at least in the early game.