Janson I appreciate the thought behind that post—to be clear I like Dimitri, and so far Blue Lions is a hoot—but I think it warrants spoiler tags. I haven't seen any of that stuff yet
My apologies, it’s probably not revealed as early as I thought. Have now spoilered it!
And, also to be clear, Dimitri being different from the other lords isn't a bad thing. It's interesting! It's good for his character and his place in the story. It's not a failing!
Felix already got into Dimitri's failings, but all of the lords are morally compromised in different ways
yeah if anything I would say Claude is the odd one out for being kinda boring and obvious
I think Claude does pretty ok too, really
Azure Wind Full Route (but safe for SilverWind)
Namely in that he's a manipulative liar who openly and flagrantly uses Byleth as a figurehead so that he can wage a holy war against the empire, aiming to get all the benefits of Edelgard's conquest without the work or karmic burden of having to do it himself
And he's the only one of all the kids who actually wants to have an empire. Not an "empire" like Edelgard's where you cede land rights and full sovereignty back to indigenous populations in Brigid before making real peace treaties with neighboring nations, but a real empire, like a "Fodlan, Almyra, Brigid, and Dagda will be one nation, and one day the world itself will have no borders" empire
Claude has a mighty dream that is genuine and wholesome and he'll do whatever it takes to get there with the smallest amount of bloodshed he can get away with, even it it means trickery and lying
Honestly the biggest difference between Claude and the other major characters is
He’s not broken in some major way. Dimitri, Edelgard, and Rhea are all heavily traumatized people that have to deal with a lot of harsh emotional baggage and personal suffering. Byleth is broken in a more literal sense.
Beginning of Chapter 6, vague spoilers for pretty much all paths
Hmmm. 1174, you say. I'll check the dates in the library...
But also, the way that Rhea spares no particular concern for the other people purportedly kidnapped/killed by the Death Knight but mobilizes the entire church and the student body to find Flayn definitely suggests she has some concrete ideas about what kinds of people are worth protecting
Honestly the biggest thing condemning Rhea for me is Cyril
Why the fuck can't he read and write
You run a school
The only reason to keep him illiterate is so that you can keep making him your unpaid servant, you piece of shit
Apparently in his supports with Lysithea he tells her he hides the fact he’s illiterate from people.
It would also be nice if we knew how literate Fódlan society was, too. He’s at least apprenticed to Shamir (which works well for him).
Although Cyril’s murkily written and there’s a lot about him that’s treated dubiously in the game, but I don’t wish to comment on it as it’s a Japanese game and I’m coming at it from a non-Japanese perspective...
I mean yeah, I’m not going to excuse someone who keeps a 14 year old as a worker, but this is also a world that makes 14-15 year olds fight real battles, where orphans are everywhere and where pretty much every family does some really fucked up shit so I’m also not going to single any one character out...
A couple of character design things:
First, am I the only person who really doesn't like F!Byleth's design? It's all over the place. It so... mix-matched. It isn't particularly stylish or practical overall.
Like, I like the flower print leggings and boots on their own, but clash with the design aesthetics of her top, which is just a mess overall. It's like... armor, but it's weirdly incomplete? It does the stupid thing that lots of women's fantasy armor where it takes away large pieces of armor just to show skin... except the places where it takes away armor are weird and not particularly flattering or aesthetically pleasing. I think the cut of the lines are bad and not helped by the way she wears her jacket. The jacket is an okay design in theory but having it just always hang on your shoulders just looks stupid. You can have a jacket hang on a character's shoulders on certain occasions but having it be all the time... well, as I said, it starts looking real dumb the more you look at it.
M!Byleth's design is not amazing but it is leagues better. And like probably just about every other lady's design in the game looks better.
On a more positive note:
Using Ingrid in my Black Eagles playthrough I just absolutely adore her post-time skip design. It's dignified, composed, confident, and she looks ready to fight. And that color palette and pretty yet practical hairdo. *chef's kiss* With the exception of Dimitri it might be the design I think improves the most from pre to post time skip. She just oozes "I am a confident lady of war and I will kick your ass."
I wasn't a fan of f.Byleth's design at first, but it's kinda grown on me now.
I like the idea of Byleth as an absolute fashion disaster who has the attention span of a baby bird when it comes to clothes. Like she'll just see something and go "oh that looks neat" and then wear it no matter how badly it clashes.
I wasn't a fan of f.Byleth's design at first, but it's kinda grown on me now.
I like the idea of Byleth as an absolute fashion disaster who has the attention span of a baby bird when it comes to clothes. Like she'll just see something and go "oh that looks neat" and then wear it no matter how badly it clashes.
O____O
What do you mean, father, this is a perfectly adequate combination of clothing
Someone made a diagram of how Byleth would assemble her enlightened one outfit (for artists/cosplayers to reference) and it was completely ridiculous and hilarious.
i feel like gal byleth had a more coherent design at some point, and then the artist got back a mysterious note from the art director like "hey could you make this design 35% more like celica? thanks"
I feel as if Celica’s is one of the more reasonable fire emblem female designs? At least in SoV, her Gaiden design has more leg.
Edit: She has that collar/breastplate gap, though, I see the similarities there!
Ugh but that reminds me that SoV introduced Faye, with a completely practical and lovely design, then she turned out to be one of the worst written characters in the entire franchise.
I am normally intensely annoyed by comedy that bases itself in taking game mechanics overly literally, like someone getting thrown into a JRPG world and complaining about how stupid it is that they all stand in line and wait to get hit.
But.
Given all the other characterization around Byleth, I am perfectly willing to accept that they literally actually run full-tilt everywhere. Even during those chapters (y'all know the ones).
My favorite musical instrument is the air-raid siren.
I feel as if Celica’s is one of the more reasonable fire emblem female designs? At least in SoV, her Gaiden design has more leg.
oh i actually love celica's design, it looks great and has just enough of a 90s throwback feel that I initially assumed it was just an update, instead of basically a whole new character
but i feel like they took a couple pieces of her outfit and design for byleth (the collar, wrist armor and general silhouette is what sticks out the most for me) and... i don't think it works as just bits and pieces, if that makes sense
I am waiting for any of these characters, any of them, to unpack that the nobility of Faerghus perpetrated an ethnic cleansing
Like, mistaken or not, manipulated or not, that's something that's in the game and I am waiting with baited breath to see if it does anything with it
This brings up something I haven't thought about: if I had to choose, where would I like to live most in Fodlan?
The Alliance has the least baggage, but because of it's extremely decentralized nature some lords are free to be absolute dirtbags even if on the whole it seems like they might have the nicest ruling class. Also considering its capital is an ocean city its probably the prettiest place to live, at least.
The Kingdom seems like it used to be a relatively nice, or least somewhat fair, place... but definitely not in the time-frame of the game. It has soooo many issues. It was probably a nice place to live back in the day since almost everyone only has nice things to say about the history of their royal family. (haven't played Azure Moon yet though)
The Empire is... kind of a mystery honestly. Since Dorothea is the only major character in the game from the empire who is not of noble descent it's hard to get an idea of how the non-aristocratic people of the empire live. Their aristocracy seems by far the worst out the three though. I'm not sure there's a single noble-born character from the empire who doesn't have a fucked up family. Maybe Caspar? But even some of his family members are called out for being dirtbags even if he, personally, doesn't have a bad relationship with his family. I also haven't seen Lindhart talk about his family like at all, but also he explicitly tries to ignore the social class he was born into so maybe he doesn't like his family, I unno.
The Kingdom, like the Alliance, has two rough halves. The Fraldarius, Gautier and Galatea territories in the east seem stable (though Gautier is constantly defending the Sreng border) and (Act 1 spoilers):
Since their lords are all loyal to Dimitri it can be assumed they didn’t have anything to do with the king’s assassination or the Duscur massacre.
It can be assumed that most of the west of the kingdom isn’t nearly as safe, especially given what happens in 3/4 of the routes.
That being said, Galatea has famines, Gautier is very northerly and cold (poor Sylvain complains about the heat)...
I think it’s less the country and more which particular fiefdom would be best to be in.
So my picks would be: House Fraldarius of the Kingdom, House Daphnel, House Reigan or House Edmund of the Alliance, or Enbarr itself.
I'm pretty sure that Hilda, her Rapier+, and a stand of trees could have taken out Dimitri's whole army, but I didn't feel like committing multiple turns to finding out.
My favorite musical instrument is the air-raid siren.
Posts
My apologies, it’s probably not revealed as early as I thought. Have now spoilered it!
Yes...
It's part of what makes the story enjoyable
My Let's Play Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC2go70QLfwGq-hW4nvUqmog
I think Claude does pretty ok too, really
Azure Wind Full Route (but safe for SilverWind)
And he's the only one of all the kids who actually wants to have an empire. Not an "empire" like Edelgard's where you cede land rights and full sovereignty back to indigenous populations in Brigid before making real peace treaties with neighboring nations, but a real empire, like a "Fodlan, Almyra, Brigid, and Dagda will be one nation, and one day the world itself will have no borders" empire
And he does it with such a nice smile
Claude owns
in the faaaace.
fucking love that boy
but he should be bi
My Let's Play Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC2go70QLfwGq-hW4nvUqmog
But also, the way that Rhea spares no particular concern for the other people purportedly kidnapped/killed by the Death Knight but mobilizes the entire church and the student body to find Flayn definitely suggests she has some concrete ideas about what kinds of people are worth protecting
You run a school
The only reason to keep him illiterate is so that you can keep making him your unpaid servant, you piece of shit
Support Spoilers for Cyril I guess
That he apparently ate, on average, once every two days while serving in House Goneril is fucking bananas
Hilda what the fuck is up with your dad
It would also be nice if we knew how literate Fódlan society was, too. He’s at least apprenticed to Shamir (which works well for him).
Although Cyril’s murkily written and there’s a lot about him that’s treated dubiously in the game, but I don’t wish to comment on it as it’s a Japanese game and I’m coming at it from a non-Japanese perspective...
But I'm going to single a character out
First, am I the only person who really doesn't like F!Byleth's design? It's all over the place. It so... mix-matched. It isn't particularly stylish or practical overall.
Like, I like the flower print leggings and boots on their own, but clash with the design aesthetics of her top, which is just a mess overall. It's like... armor, but it's weirdly incomplete? It does the stupid thing that lots of women's fantasy armor where it takes away large pieces of armor just to show skin... except the places where it takes away armor are weird and not particularly flattering or aesthetically pleasing. I think the cut of the lines are bad and not helped by the way she wears her jacket. The jacket is an okay design in theory but having it just always hang on your shoulders just looks stupid. You can have a jacket hang on a character's shoulders on certain occasions but having it be all the time... well, as I said, it starts looking real dumb the more you look at it.
M!Byleth's design is not amazing but it is leagues better. And like probably just about every other lady's design in the game looks better.
On a more positive note:
(Also, Dimitri/Dedue and Felix/Ashe have great conversations when weeding together).
I like the idea of Byleth as an absolute fashion disaster who has the attention span of a baby bird when it comes to clothes. Like she'll just see something and go "oh that looks neat" and then wear it no matter how badly it clashes.
My Let's Play Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC2go70QLfwGq-hW4nvUqmog
O____O
What do you mean, father, this is a perfectly adequate combination of clothing
Edit: She has that collar/breastplate gap, though, I see the similarities there!
Ugh but that reminds me that SoV introduced Faye, with a completely practical and lovely design, then she turned out to be one of the worst written characters in the entire franchise.
But.
Given all the other characterization around Byleth, I am perfectly willing to accept that they literally actually run full-tilt everywhere. Even during those chapters (y'all know the ones).
Dedue/Dimitri B support
Like, mistaken or not, manipulated or not, that's something that's in the game and I am waiting with baited breath to see if it does anything with it
but i feel like they took a couple pieces of her outfit and design for byleth (the collar, wrist armor and general silhouette is what sticks out the most for me) and... i don't think it works as just bits and pieces, if that makes sense
This brings up something I haven't thought about: if I had to choose, where would I like to live most in Fodlan?
The Alliance has the least baggage, but because of it's extremely decentralized nature some lords are free to be absolute dirtbags even if on the whole it seems like they might have the nicest ruling class. Also considering its capital is an ocean city its probably the prettiest place to live, at least.
The Kingdom seems like it used to be a relatively nice, or least somewhat fair, place... but definitely not in the time-frame of the game. It has soooo many issues. It was probably a nice place to live back in the day since almost everyone only has nice things to say about the history of their royal family. (haven't played Azure Moon yet though)
The Empire is... kind of a mystery honestly. Since Dorothea is the only major character in the game from the empire who is not of noble descent it's hard to get an idea of how the non-aristocratic people of the empire live. Their aristocracy seems by far the worst out the three though. I'm not sure there's a single noble-born character from the empire who doesn't have a fucked up family. Maybe Caspar? But even some of his family members are called out for being dirtbags even if he, personally, doesn't have a bad relationship with his family. I also haven't seen Lindhart talk about his family like at all, but also he explicitly tries to ignore the social class he was born into so maybe he doesn't like his family, I unno.
no worries, you'll get discussion.
FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
It can be assumed that most of the west of the kingdom isn’t nearly as safe, especially given what happens in 3/4 of the routes.
That being said, Galatea has famines, Gautier is very northerly and cold (poor Sylvain complains about the heat)...
I think it’s less the country and more which particular fiefdom would be best to be in.
So my picks would be: House Fraldarius of the Kingdom, House Daphnel, House Reigan or House Edmund of the Alliance, or Enbarr itself.
Naruto fucks, believe it!