#Jamke's fucking doing great though.

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

I feel like you've read my mind because I specifically want Sigurd to be the parent who gets called into the preschool during the middle of the day for an emergency parent-teacher conference about the fact that Julius won't stop biting the other kids.

Also, like, considering Sigurd never got to see his son grow up and all that, canonically, I think he should be allowed to spend as much time with his kids as he wants. But also like. It would be really funny.

Everything happens so much in Jugdral's politics! In Agustria, you have President Chagall flipping his shit because Eldigan, governor of Nordion, is more popular with the people. You have the governor's younger sister running his presidential campaign, despite the fact that Eldigan has said he does not want to run for president of Agustria. (He wins anyway. Quan and Sigurd swear a life debt to Lachesis for making it happen.)

And then in Grannvale, one of Prime Minister Kurth's main advisors is the son of another prominent politician - a politician who killed himself twenty years ago after he found out that his wife was cheating on him, with Kurth. What in the goddamn soap opera hell is that about?

And then in Verdane, the youngest prince disappeared suddenly and then was found a month later shacking up in Grannvale with a priestess.

And the prince of Silesse has a soundcloud and actually has a few bangers.

There is never a dull moment in Jugdral.

Robin debating with her thesis advisor about whether spurious text messages with her estranged father from two years ago are a usable primary source.

#the answer for 'what in the soap opera hell is going on there' is that Arvis has not felt an emotion in ten years #he has mentally checked out of Grannvale high society. he is being blackmailed by a cult. #he has three friends and one is his younger brother and one is his friend-with-benefits #and one is his middle school pen pal who he met on chess dot com. Arvis' life is in shambles #Jamke's fucking doing great though. #three frat houses au

[cavaliant]

10 for everyone for Max Positivity

10. What do you love about your muse?

Wow you’re really out here wilding with the meme asks again LMAO.

There’s a couple charas on here that I don’t know if I’d say I LOVE love but I do like all of them and tried to think about the thing that draws me to them the most.

Asaello: Brusque with a soft centre might be done to death but I still love it

Balthus: :/ he’s big, he’s dumb, he cares a lot for his friends and family. Gotta love those boisterous bruisers who are cocky yet super sincere about caring for and supporting their loved ones

Beowolf: The conflict between the careless (both as in rash and as in lacking care about things) mercenary he presents himself as and the more sentimental side he can show despite that. How he really just does not give a shit about some things but really, actually does give a shit about others. You already know this but playful flirty joker with hidden depths (who cares more than they let on, who can be surprisingly serious sometimes) is my absolute fave 😔

Diarmuid: He’s very...normal and placid compared to the rest of his family lmfao. A child’s longing for family and pressure to live up to them is something common to characters in Jugdral but I still like exploring it with him in particular ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ He’s one of the most stable and mature of the children imo so while that can make him flat I also like to think about how much of it is purposeful and how much is instinctive. How did the circumstances he grew up in shape his personality/demeanour today?

Fergus: Another playful misfit who cares more than he lets on :/ ready to throw down to the death but also ready to listen and protect. The whole secret holy royal bastard in hiding but living on the wild side while still ostensibly in hiding is pretty fun. This goes for most Thracia charas but there’s a lot of room to just make shit up to fill in the gaps in their stories and Fergus’ life really has the potential for some truly wild theories/times ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Fred: I like that he actually stops with his commander like she’s an equal to evaluate and think for themselves where their morals stand and if they truly want to keep going along with what their country is doing when it goes against those morals. I also like that he was willing to yell at Kempf and storm a fortress alone but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Homer: He doesn’t hit my hidden depths love as hard as the others but :/ sometimes it doesn’t need to be that deep. It’s just fun to fuck around with him lmao.

Jamke: He’s just a guy who’d rather be with trees than people and I respect that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Verdane as a whole interests me bc it really gets fucked over even for Jugdral and :/ Jamke did kinda betray his brothers and country! Even if they were assholes it took him a while to commit to doing it for what he felt was right and I’m sure he felt some regret over their deaths. Also Jamke-Dew-Edain dream team lmao. They’re so funny...

Lachesis: Her growth as a character! She goes from a sheltered, inexperienced princess to a fierce warrior, someone who had to depend on others to fight for her (and hated it) to a master knight who wanted to take everything onto her own shoulders. A baby sister to a mother/mother figure who would move the world for her children but doesn’t always understand that sometimes they just need simpler things than superhuman feats. She’s someone who will bite the head off of someone and then coo endless praise for her loved ones in the same breath. She’s flawed and messy but she loves so deeply and is so fiercely passionate and 😔 I love her. Truly a lionheart.

Machyua: Ok past all the Filipina jokes there’s really not much to say here lmao. She’s a cool big sis with an axe. No secret hidden angst or wild backstory or whatever, she’s just there to support her Magi pals and do good.

Miranda: Child rulers aren’t uncommon in FE either but :/ I still like to look at the stress of being a ruler forcing her to grow up too fast and act far older than her age. While at the same time still having some childish remnants in her behaviour and desires. I love her fire but it also makes me sad how quickly it’s extinguished.

Oscar: It’s not that deep here either ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I just like older bro figures. And guys who can cook.

Ranulf: He somehow manages to strike a perfect balance between chill and responsible, joking and serious, brave but also cautious. He’s one of Gallia’s highest ranking warriors but he still goes out of his way to cheer up others. He’s one of the most even-keeled characters in the series and I respect him a lot even if idk if I’d call it LOVE TO DEATH.

Reinhardt: I guess I should say something for the og muse of this blog :/// it’s interesting to formulate my own theories about why he became the way he is. What drives someone to fall apart so completely like he does? The contrast and intersections between the composed, fearsome general of Friege, the model older brother, the fawning servant, and the pitiful man who would rather die by his sister’s hand than live for anything any longer are fascinating to me. Not that you would know from my recent posts since I now crack it up more often than not but :/

Shannan: Another big bro figure :/ a sad one. One incident so drastically changed his entire sense of priorities and the person he grew up to be and :c it makes me sad. I’m a sucker for sad tired older bros who try to hide their sad and older chara surrounded by younger ones too.

Sigurd: My love who I absolutely did not expect to become my love owo;; I love his love, passion, naïveté, his innocent desire to help people and do what’s right...and how absolutely dumb and lacking in foresight he is and how he doesn’t escape consequences for it :///

Thor: They’re really just here to mess around in Rein’s body bc I thought it’d be funny :/ and to be weird fluffy dragon gramps

Tibarn: Another one I’m not sure I’d say I ADORE but his interactions on here have been pretty fun. That’s pretty much the case for all the muses like this lmao. I like their character but it’s their relationships/interactions with others that drives me to keep them going. About Tibs specifically though I like that he’s a fearsome warrior and king but is capable of great understanding and gentleness.

Zelgius: Again the contrast between different, contradicting sides--the upstanding general and the cruel executioner, the honourable knight and the selfish groomer, the idea that Black Knight and Zelgius are both one and the same. That no matter the circumstances under which he became Black Knight, he was still the person behind the helmet who committed those deeds. What drives someone to vary so radically in their actions? How can the two sides (which sometimes start to overlap and blur into each other more as time goes on) be fit into a single person? Those are the things I want to explore with him (even though I also end up shitposting a lot with him :/ smh @ me)

#sireneia #words are all we have (replies) #;muses #well i guess i killed the formatting somehow but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ #long post

[agoddamn]

Refine Judgements

F Kanna > Tsubaki > Gordin > Athena.

As per usual, the 5* option is almost obnoxiously good. Spectrum Stance--or just +4 to everything at all times if you're willing to put Dull Close in her B--as a base effect is great, Attack/Speed Lull refine is even better. Not gamebreaking (dragons are in kind of a weird spot now tbh), but she's definitely worth using now if you've had a pitybreaker haunting your barracks.

Can't wait to see what garbage they give M Kanna in return.

I might hate Tsubaki, but he got a damn good prf. Killing effect, Sagittae effect (we really need a nickname for that), and true damage refine. Goddamn great. He's now perfectly poised for a QR tank niche, always dealing at least 14 damage when someone initiates on him. Put Noontime on your special to heal every turn and you've got a really fucking annoying wall.

Gordin got a less supportive refine than his Brave Bow cousin, Klein. It's the same thing Tharja has, a free debuff that's only based on proximity. It's exactly what a Brave user wants (that -4 def = +8 damage for him). His crappy launch statline does hold him back, though. He does have the best technical damage of accessible BB users thanks to the boost from the refine and having a prf (basically a free +5 might, letting him just edge past Jamke even though Jamke has 36 attack to Gordin's 34), but that's all he can do. He's so slow that his high defense is irrelevant. No res, either. If you only need a Brave Bow user IMO it's wiser to either use Klein, who can play support if needed, or throw a vanilla Brave Bow on Blyn or Loki for their movement utility. But if you love Gordin you're probably happy.

...F.

Yeah, Athena just got fucked. Can you believe she's in the same batch as Tsubaki (who got two new effects in his unrefined weapon) and Kanna (who got a new and rare powerful skill in her refine)? Desperation is...nice, but just look at vanilla Lyn; throwing a bunch of B skills on a refine can't save a unit with no relevant identity. Athena really needed something to distinguish herself from the sea of speedy swords and she did not get it. Even worse, it's setup; setup needs to be really good to be worth it, given how OHKO is still the ideal. Being able to hypothetically pull off Brazen double Wrath or Brazen/Vantage doesn't matter if you're pasted in the first engagement. The few Athenafags I've seen aren't happy.

It genuinely feels bizarre that she's in the same batch as Tsubaki. Tsubaki's refine does give him a fresh identity as a tank who can deal true damage and drop special bombs. It even scrapped his base weapon (the Sapphire Lance), realizing the pool is so flooded with lance fliers that he badly needed a new approach to give him a unique niche. It demonstrates awareness of his fundamental issues as a unit. Athena's demonstrates ignorance of how outdated she is.

#boots plays heroes #sorry but I've been so tired lately OTL #work is so stressful #i hate working harder than people only to be paid less!!

[crystalelemental]

While I’m busy annoying fans of Genealogy with my general disinterest in its cast, here are some other characters I have strong opinions about:

Sigurd’s not nearly as interesting as people make him out to be.  The main action leading to him being branded a traitor was super avoidable and his squire even points out that he’s making a mistake.  His “romance” with Deirdre is one of the most shallow things the series has produced, and literally none of the awful events of Act 2 would’ve happened if he had just kept it in his pants.  His actions during the war are made with good intentions that often lead to further conflict, but most of the critical actions that cause disaster were super avoidable and complete his fault.  Good job, moron.

Arvis is also a putz.  Look, I get it.  His entire point is that he’s trying to build the world for the better, but is highly questionable in his means.  Cool concept!  Problem is we spend like no time with him, and the only indications of this are his discussions with Manfroy, where he talks about how he’s not going to persecute them like in ages past, but he’s also definitely not going to let them revive the baby eating god they worship.  Okay, solid.  The issue is, he knows full well he carries Loptyr blood, and that’s why Manfroy is sticking around.  And suddenly, Manfroy appears with some lady with amnesia, and is oddly insistent on you fucking this woman and having kids.  Did...did you never think about who this woman was, or why Manfroy’s so invested in her sex life?  This is not a difficult conclusion to reach, buddy.

I mentioned Eldigan, but it bears repeating: I hate the Camus archetype, and he’s one of the most annoying.  “I am honor-bound to follow my lord’s every command, I cannot join you and must instead try to get them to see reason.”  Yeah, and you know who else had this exact dilemma like two chapters ago?  Jamke.  Guess who’s on our side now, after realizing how fucked up his king was?  Jamke.  There’s no reason you couldn’t do this too.  Honestly, every time the Camus archetype shows up for a leader who is a complete buffoon, I always think of Wallace’s supports with Kent in FE7.  How his king ordered him to capture his daughter and bring her back from the plains, no matter what.  But when Wallace saw the love she shared with the man from the plains, he let her go, because he knew his king would never forgive himself if he tore Lyn’s parents apart.  Wallace put what was best for his king ahead of the order, and the entire moral is that, even if you’re punished for it, your duty is not to the title, but to the person, and you must act in the best interests of the people you serve, not blindly follow a command that would cause everyone harm.  So yeah, I don’t care to hear about the honor-bound idiots who are given plenty of chances to do the right thing but insist on staying with a sinking ship that’s also on fire.

Deirdre is a non-entity, so there’s really no point in talking about her.  Seriously, she exists almost entirely to produce the children that will be plot-critical in Act 2, but otherwise has effectively zero agency.  She shows up and immediately wants to fuck Sigurd, spends one chapter helping, and is immediately kidnapped afterward to be brainwashed and become Arvis’ wife.  Then she dies off-screen before the events of Act 2.  But she and Sigurd just loved each other so much!  They just saw each other and had such an overwhelming desire to fuck, it must have been love!  At least Deirdre’s excuse is being secluded away from men all her life and not knowing how to handle these feelings; what’s Sigurd’s excuse?

Quan and Ethlyn are actually wonderful.  No complaints.  But I do have another for Sigurd.  Hey, remember when they died?  Remember when Sigurd is told that people were ambushed in the desert and everyone’s dead, and he pieces together that it was his sister and his best friend?  Remember how that comment is all we get for his reaction to their loss, how it’s never brought up a single time ever again, and how Sigurd shows absolutely nothing about the devastation of this loss?  Yeah, but hey, it’s fine, you don’t need more dialogue to make a compelling story.  It just would’ve been nice for Genealogy to be a compelling story by having characters actually matter more than they apparently do.

Ayra’s cool, but her brother’s an idiot.  In her conversation with Quan, she mentioned that Quan’s suspicion is correct, and that the king was not responsible for the deaths of those from Grannvale.  A random lord took action without consent, so the king had that lord executed, and went to make peace with Grannvale, only to be assassinated along the way.  So what does her brother do?  “We gotta go to war.”  Uh...you know you’ll be slaughtered, right?  “Yeah, but my honor, though.”  Gen 1 was mostly a bunch of morons given political power and asked to play intelligently.  They all fucked up.

Lewyn...okay, I don’t like Lewyn.  I get his whole thing is running from responsibility, and being tired of the in-fighting over the crown, but his solution of just leaving is petty and childish.  It’s not that there isn’t some level of understanding there.  He’s just not doing it for me.  I do, however, appreciate how self-loathing he is in Gen 2.

No one else in Gen 1 really matters at all to anything substantial, so boy, it’d have been nice to have support conversations to flesh out everyone else a bit more.  But hey, maybe the sequel, right?

Seliph is pretty cool.  I don’t have a ton to say, but his story kinda allows him to take an easier route to power, with a more clear antagonist and the world at large being more united in his cause of overthrowing the empire.  Not particularly compelling, but not doing anything stupid or uninteresting.

Leif inherits being awesome from both of his parents, who were also awesome.  His sister, Altena, is also really cool.  Altena in particular actually gets a lot.  Having been taken in by the man who killed her parents, she’s grown up thinking that he is her true father.  Her character is in a position to act more as a bridge between two smaller nations that have constantly been at war, having the bloodline connection to Leif and to Leonster, while having her upbringing in Thracia and feeling a family connection to Arion, the true son of Travant.  She’s one of the better characters in this game, I think.

Ares is actually one of my favorites in this entire game.  He and Lene have great supports, but more importantly, you know what sets Ares apart?  Having a brain cell.  As soon as he realizes the corrupt lord he works for sent him out to the front lines and has likely taken Lene captive, he immediately turns coat, intent on killing everyone in his way to save her.  Thank you, Ares.  Thank you for being better than your father, who would’ve meekly decided he can’t disobey orders because he’s totally too honorable and not a fucking coward for letting his sister almost get killed.

Julia...oh my god, I have so much to say on Julia.  Has anyone following me noticed I kinda like the Eirika archetypes?  The female characters that are mostly really collected and quiet, occasionally have a showing of fire, and are ultimately either heavily under-utilized and ignored by the plot or given a story that’s really not very good despite how strong their character could’ve been if the story weren’t...the way that it is?  That’s Julia.  I adore Julia.  She spends most of the game not doing much, mostly being silent and also an amnesiac.  She gets like two conversations with Seliph, and they’re...they’re okay.  Nothing exceptional, just...okay.  But hysterically, once she’s kidnapped, she starts to show the makings of a really great character.  She’s compassionate and understanding to her father, who’s realized what a dingus he was, but pushes back against Julius/Loptyr and is pretty up-front about how willing she is now to kill her brother if it means stopping evil from being unleashed in the world.  She refuses to go quietly, and claims she’ll fight them to the end.  And, you know...is promptly brainwashed and spends the entire chapter as an enemy until Seliph kills Manfroy and lets her snap out of it.  Not even just talks to her, that won’t work unless Manfroy’s dead.  She doesn’t even get enough agency to break free of control under her own will.  This is the issue with Julia.  She should be fantastic.  She’s a character who carries the blood of both Naga and Loptyr, the greatest good and the greatest evil of this world.  Within her is a very concrete expression of the good/evil dichotomy that all humans face, and through her actions she chooses to do good for the world, yet acknowledges the potential for evil within her and struggles against it.  That’s super compelling!  Hell, that’s the most compelling character narrative in this entire game!  And what does it amount to?  Jack fucking shit, because her declaration of intent is immediately sidelined for her to be controlled by another for the entire chapter and made to do evil, until the male hero breaks the spell for her.  Only then is she allowed to confront her brother and actually show agency.  Her character arc should’ve been the diamond in the rough, and all the agency and development she brings to the table is immediately undermined.  Julia, sweetie, you deserved so much better than this.

Ugh, that one hurt to complain about.  But since we’re on the topic, Julius.  We’re supposed to be sad about how he’s completely taken over by Loptyr and needs to be stopped.  But...we never really know anything about Julius.  At all.  Julia talks a bit about how he used to be kind, but that’s...that’s it.  There’s no effort to have her and Arvis share stories about what the family used to be like, or give any indication of how close they were aside from saying it was the case once or twice.  So the plight of Julius, the boy who’s possessed, is completely lost on us, and as a result, Julia’s decision to fight against and kill her brother if that’s what it takes, feels a little less impactful, because you just...don’t have any emotional attachment to what’s being lost.

Ishtar is another Camus archetype, but a rare one where I kinda like her?  Kinda.  She’s come far enough to recognize that Julius is killing people and it’s a problem, and does her utmost to circumvent his violent tendencies and save people.  So why doesn’t she just leave?  Well even that’s pretty taken care of.  She was the betrothed of Julius.  She loved him.  Which means she’s another character who could’ve had meaningful dialogue about who he used to be to build up tension, but we’re not talking about that now.  She stays in part because of that love, but also because he’s violent, and seems to have his eye on her at all times.  She’s effectively stuck in an abusive relationship, unable to make a move for fear of what retaliation he might exact on her or the people she’s trying to keep safe.  That’s a way more compelling reason for a character to stick with an awful ruler.  It sucks, but at least it’s ultimately understandable, unlike Eldigan over here.

Oifey and Shanan I feel like should be more interesting characters, but they don’t really get enough time to be much else.  And if those two, who are meant to be prominent, got very little, you can kinda guess that the rest of the cast has basically nothing going for them.

Honestly, a lot of the events of Genealogy at large feel super avoidable, and largely created by idiots being allowed to make decisions.  But on the smaller level, and especially within Gen 2, I feel like all the game needs is support conversations and maybe more dialogue that didn’t focus so heavily on bloodlines.  The history is interesting, but it comes at the expense of most character development, and that’s really not a good trade.  I know people hate when I bring it up, but maybe if the maps were actually chunked and made into several smaller chapters, we could use wind-up and conclusion to castles being taken as a means to fill in more character moments, instead of just having quick exposition dumps and moving on.

#fire emblem genealogy