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kelbunny · 4 months

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Roland for the character ask game? :)

First impression

I latched onto Roland instantly. This was back with the debut demo (the chapter 6-7 one), so I got a good peek at his early game angst, and boy, did I want to see him break. I could tell he was already slotting into that role.

And I only got more interested after he was pointed out to be wearing Maxwell's mask in an early trailer. Masked men my beloveds.

Impression now

I wanted him to break, and break he hecking did. I'm a huge fan of his tragic slip into his own despair. I have so many thoughts about him all the time.

He's the most interesting and well written character in all of TriStrat in my opinion. The fact that his major character flaws (his self doubt, recklessness, etc) are visible from as early as chapter 1 really helps set him up for later in the game. And I really love how chapter 17 gives him two major paths to go down. You've got his own ending, where he gives into those negative qualities about himself, and golden, where he, with Serenoa's guidance, works to push himself to be a better person. I think about his mid battle convo with demigod Idore a lot, where he admits he has been struggling to find himself.

And there are so many more thoughts. At some point I really aught to turn on voice to text and just dump all my thoughts about this princling, bc boy, they are many and not always coherent haha.

Favorite moment

I really, really like his part of chapter 18 Golden, where he tries to reason with Gustadolf as well as the fight itself. He still hates Gustadolph, but he's putting his trust in Serenoa's plan even if it means siding with someone he still considers an enemy. That he's allowing himself to lean on Serenoa's conditions till he has the strength to stand up for his own. And when negotiations fail and it turns to battle, you have his mid battle convo with Gustadolph, where he admits that that desire for revenge has been eating away at him. It's feels like a good first step for Roland as he tries to climb out of his despair.

And then there's his battle with Serenoa in liberty, where he breaks but in a far different way than utility. Despite how much he treasures his friendship with Serenoa, he's envious that Seranoa had everything he didn't: fatherly love, the support of his people, even just skill in battle. And the fight is so hecking good. It's by far the most charged of the three and it's the one I consistently rewatch.

Idea for a story

I've mentioned wanting to write a post golden comfort thing between him in Cordelia in her ask, but I also want to write or comic something short and emotional between him and Serenoa set between arriving at Wolffort after escaping Whiteholm and the order to surrender Roland to the Duchy, where Serenoa tries to help ground a Roland who's trying to come to terms with everything that just happened.

I also want to write something post liberty of what leads him to where he is as a wandering monk haha.

Unpopular opinion

I don't think Roland is ooc in chapter 17, I just think a lot of people aren't really recognizing his motivation of why he's aligning with Hyzante. I won't go super in detail here as I did that in a seperate post.

Favorite relationship

There are, so many!

First and foremost, his sibling relationship with Cordelia. I said this before, but I'm a sucker for sibling relationships, especially if the older sibling is the protective type. Like maybe it's just me also being and older sibling but just like, siblings man.

On a similar note, the friendship between him and Serenoa. Part of the reason I like the Liberty Ending Battle between him and Roland is because it hurts so much because they had such a natural friendship between them, so seeing in break is heart-rending. They 100% feel like they've been friends for years, and they feel brotherly, even before learning that they are brothers.

And then there's the father-son dynamic of him and Maxwell. One of my very few complaints about Triangle Strategy is that they should have allowed the two to interact after Maxwell recovered though if they had been given the chance to interact, I doubt Roland would have come to his chapter 17 decision. A talk with his dad would fix him

Favorite headcanon

Despite him being my favorite, I do have to admit I don't really have any haha, outside of some post ending speculations like him rising up against Serenoa in Liberty.

I guess one that there is is that I don't imagine him as the religious type, both towards the Goddess as well as towards whatever religion is big in Glenbrook glances at Cordelia's cleric class, but I do imagine him leaning towards the Glenbrook God/Gods post liberty as something to try and rally the people around, if only because he's referred to as a monk at the end of Liberty.

#triangle strategy #triangle strategy spoilers #roland glenbrook #If my constant posting and pfp didn't give it away I really like Roland haha #And I know I've done some minor things before but I really want to explore Post-Liberty Roland #Liberty just has so much potential in general #Kelbunn answers

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littledragonkana · 11 months

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Ok I have reached chapter 17 and I dont know what to do. All three ways are horrible.

Not as in stupid or wrong. I just couldnt fully support any of them. Especially Roland

I get where Roland is coming from. He wants his people or rather everyone in Norzelia to be happy and thus wants to surrender Glenbrock to Heissand so there won't be another war if one country has all the salt. On the expanse of the Rosaile. Which I also understand because there is no other way in his plan to ensure peace for the masses.

But I feel like this goes against what he stood for for most of the story? He wanted to rebuild Glenbrock as its king. He was quick to take the title of ruler from Cordelia when Glenbrock Castle was retaken. And now he just wants to give all of this up?

I really didn't expect Roland to give up so easily. Well easily isn't the right word. So many things happened that were both painful for him and his people and he was disillusioned by it. But I kinda feel like he owes his people to stand strong now and keep going. He did so much to reclaim Glenbrock FOR his people. To free them from Aesfrost and build a better future. He can't just give up now. And surely this plan he makes won't play out the way thinks. Aesfrost still wants the salt and since they have this bomb (idk the English name) Heissand is an easy target for them. If they take Heissand's capital then what was once Glenbrock would also fall into Aesfrost's hands again. So everything Roland fought for was for nothing.

Also I can't agree to this plan on my own morals because we promised the Rosaile to do everything we can to free them when we convinced them to go back to Heissand where they essentially live as Slaves. I just cant do that. We betray them. And Frederica too. The Rosaile trusted us which was the only reason they agreed to this. Its just wrong.

You know a story is well written when it really makes you think deeply about what to do next. I wanted to go for Roland's route but now Idk what to do because I really disagree with him.

And Benedict's plan isn't much better either. After everything that's happened I don't want to cooperate with Aesfrost. We have no reason to trust them. They don't have any reason to trust us. Sure we basically have the same goal here but imo the end doesn't justify the means here. No way in hell am I going to stand on the side of the people who started this whole war. I can't stand the guts of any of the royals. Maybe Svarog isn't half as bad as the others but still. They are all terrible people. We don't know what they will do once we won against Heissand. What is keeping them from betraying us the moment the battle is over? Glenbrock is still weak. They can take over the mine again and then we didnt really win anything either. They want to be the strongest country in Norzelia and they are not afraid to kill to achieve that goal.

Also Benedict saying that Serenoa would be a better king than Roland? Idk. Probably. But I don't want to betray Roland after EVERYTHING we did. Sure Serenoa has the right to claim the throne but that is just a terrible thing to do. We fought so Roland could retake Glenbrock's throne and now we just say: 'Nope. Times up to play King. This is my country now. Bby buddy!' That's just wrong.

Honestly with Frederica's plan there isn't so much that bothers me but the fact that we are essentially running away from the whole geopolitical problems we have take responsibility for. She wants to free the Rosaile and lead them to Centralia where they came from in the beginning. Which is really good. We are keeping our promise to save them from slavery and bring them freedom. But we are pretty much abandoning all our responsibilities as a leader. We caused a lot of the problems. I mean Frederica didn't. I barely ever went with her plans. But she was involved in our doing either way. And Serenoa can't just leave. He is the head of house Wolffort. He is a prefect of Heissand. He is basically the right hand man of Roland. He can't just leave all of this behind and go somewhere else.

This feels like we're giving up on there ever being peace in Norzelia. It feels like we're betraying the trust of pretty much everyone who ever trusted us. Also Serenoa was raised to lead house Wolffort who are pretty much all of the military strength of Glenbrock. No matter what Roland or Glenbrock as a whole would do once we leave he would have no chance in a war.

These options are all horrible. I don't know what to do. I want to play the golden route whatever that may be. It can't be worse than this 🫠

#triangle strategy #help

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cynical-gamer-media · 6 months

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*gently tugging your sleeve*

Would you tell me about Triangle Strategy?

You got it! I'll do my best to keep it simple:

So 'Triangle Strategy' is set in a land-locked continent called 'Norzelia' that is divided into three countries: Glenbrook (a monarchy), Aesfrost (a newly made meritocracy), and Hyzante (a theocracy). It takes place 30 years after the Saltiron War; a war for the ultimate resource that is salt, for, like in real life, salt is used to preserve food, medicine, it is extremely vital. (as a history nerd I love how salt plays the crucial part of politics). The iron part comes from how Aesfrost has iron to make the best of the best equipment.

You play as Lord Serenoa, the son of the head of House Wolffort, an extremely influential House in Glenbrook, trying to keep the peace of the continent. There are three other crucial characters. Frederica is from Aesfrost and is in an arranged marriage with Serenoa (which is shockingly written very well and their friends to lovers thing is legitmately great!). She is also a Rosellan, a minority that is discriminated across the continent. Roland is a prince of Glenbrook, a long-time friend of Serenoa, who is sort of the runt: he is not crown prince thus is deemed unimportant. Then there is Benedict, long-time retainer to House Wolffort, a pragmatic man who fought in the war.

Gameplay is a TRPG with some awesome stuff. The gameplay is divided into two parts: the combat stages (each character is unique; there is no one healer that is identical to another--thus encouraging you to try everyone) and the voting. With voting you roam around a map to speak with others so you can then try to convince those in your political party to believe/choose your cause. People can vote against you; just because you choose one thing doesn't mean you rule out the majority. I fucking love this about the game.

There are three beliefs: Liberty, Utility, and Morality. You can accumulate points depending on your convictions (what you say or how you respond to people, and how you vote). Whatever you vote determines how the story unfolds: who you recruit, who you kill, places you go, levels you play, political siding, etc.

The start of the game is quite slow, but I think absolutely necessary in building the world and showing the political scene. People say the game is more of a visual novel but I disagree; there are lots of cutscenes, but the majority last maybe 2-3 minutes? I think there is only, say, two that are 10 minutes.

The ENG voice acting is rough in parts and with some characters, especially at the beginning: I blame voice direction rather than the actors themselves. Doesn't help that the protagonist is by far the weakest voice actor. Yet shockingly he grew on me??? Some though are phenomenal from beginning to end i.e. Frederica and Benedict.

There is a free demo of the game on the Switch. It is the start so again it is slow and with plenty of cutscenes, but it does a great job showing you the characters and trying out how the voting system works and affects the story (and the combat too).

I hope this summary gives you some understanding of what the game has to offer!

#Triangle Strategy #Answer #Text #My Text

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alynnl · 2 years

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Triangle Strategy: Utility Ending thoughts

Spoilers ahead

I technically beat this path a few days ago but I haven’t had much time to sit down to a keyboard and properly write down my thoughts.

So. Roland’s ending, the Utility ending.

In terms of map difficulty, I found navigating through the molten iron a lot more difficult than the actual objective itself. Once Svarog was actually in my range, it was just a matter of paralyzing him (I can’t believe that worked!) and pelting him with attacks until I beat him. I did lose a couple of my units in the process because Svarog’s soldiers were no pushovers.

But Utility Endgame was a lot easier, difficulty-wise than Liberty Endgame.

I was amazed, how fast I ended it.

Now, onto my story thoughts...

Svarog was very much a Chekov’s Gunman in that he laid low for a while but then really made a significant comeback to the narrative. At this point in time, he’s a man who’s got nothing to lose: all his family are dead, and his country is at the mercy of Hyzante. While his actions are framed as “going mad with grief” there’s also a sense of pride, that he won’t let himself (or Aesfrost) go down without a last stand.

The last moments he spent talking to Roland and House Wolffort were especially poignant, the way they talked about Dragan and his dreams.

In many ways I felt the Utility ending path almost humanizes Aesfrost and its people.

They are not just the Faceless Red Army that make up the enemy.

We see the people honestly grieve for Gustadolph, Sycras upholding his duty, and at last, Svarog refusing to surrender.

Do I think they are all Morally Right in their actions to put their people at risk? No.

But do I think they’re sympathetic? Yes. Even Gustadolph is sympathetic, in this light.

We have peace and prosperity for some in Hyzante’s Norzelia. I won’t lie, they rebuilt the crown city of Glenbrook quite nicely and we even see some of the people praying and giving praise to the Goddess.

But it’s all unsettling because the player knows the truth (and really, so do Serenoa and Roland) - that the Goddess’s teachings are a lie.

The ending also states that not only the Roselle, but anyone who defies the Goddess’s teachings is sent to labor away at the source.

It’s a society that doesn’t allow freedom of thought: a very repressive one.

It’s sort of disingenuous how calm Roland is, even if he knows the ugly truth.

The hint that Frederica is still out there somewhere is a nice one, and there might be some signs of rebellion like what was hinted in the Liberty ending.

In the end, neither brand of peace or freedom is enough to satisfy everyone.

I can appreciate the effort that went into Triangle Strategy’s writing. It’s clear that they didn’t make the numerous story split decisions, or the tone of the endings easy for the player. However, it does lead one to think about all their different choices, and makes multiple replays rewarding to see how those decisions affect the path going forward.

I’ve decided I want to get all the endings, but I will leave Triangle Strategy to rest for now so that early game feels fresh when I revisit it.

I know I will come to enjoy it when the time is right, even if I did have my rough spots on some maps.

#Triangle Strategy #Utility ending #Triangle Strategy spoilers #Lynn plays video games #Lynn rambles about video games #Y'all I appreciate the story in this one really and truly #it was made with love and care #I hope it does well enough to see another part of the series #not a sequel but a new game with a new setting and same mechanics #the scales of conviction are so neat #So are the TRULY branching story paths #I love this game and I can't say that enough #My love/hate relationship has softened to admiration

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crystalelemental · 2 months

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Triangle Strategy continues. I'm on chapter...13? I think? I forget exactly.

To go through decision points I've had to make:

Visit Aesfrost (I did both in the demo, and fuck Hyzante in particular)

Refuse to surrender Roland.

Refuse alliance with that one house I can't remember. Silvio. That loser.

Reveal the illicit salt trade.

Refuse to hand over the Rosellans.

About to make a choice on battle tactics, haven't decided yet.

The game's events are coherent and interesting enough. If that sounds lukewarm, it's because it kinda is. I feel like the most interesting tidbits tend to be in the history books, which is not really where I'd want the focus of the game. Don't get me wrong, the general political machinations are interesting, and I think as a novel this would be pretty engaging. It's just...this is a game. And I'm doing a lot more reading than playing. Moreover, this being a game, they can insert little side shots that...kinda completely ruin the vibe of a game that attempts to force meaningful decisions.

Take the Silvio situation. Now, in an ideal situation, I would be looking at this through Serenoa's eyes and thinking on what I know. Logically, I'd probably take that deal. We're running on empty and can't fight this forever. But. The game insists on having a bunch of side scenes, including one of Silvio actively cursing your success in the last battle as ruining his intent. And because that scene played...we know exactly where this is going, long before it goes there. In a novel, a brief aside would just tip off the reader about what's coming, and probably be innocuous enough, or a hook of "oh man, that motherfucker, how are they gonna get out of this?" But when I'm playing the game, the tension of the decision is gone. I know what you're up to. Serenoa wouldn't, but I do, and I can now make decisions outside the scope of what the character should know and feel.

Which leads to problem 2: pacing and the general gameplay loop. So far, the voting sessions have been fairly...let's say not my favorite. In some situations like Silvio, it's actively annoying thanks to knowing exactly which way this goes regardless of your choice. Even when the decision is a bit more complex and you don't know exactly how things are going to go, sometimes there's a really obvious answer and instead of just pointing it out, you have to go hunt for specific pieces of information in a slow, drawn out exploration sequence to use as argument, one at a time, against the people opposed to your intended action. A good example is whether to go along with the illicit salt trade deal, or to expose it. And it's like...guys. Listen. If we do this, the guy running the show has so much dirt on us. We do this? We become the fall guy when he's done with us. Completely under his control. We can't take this deal. But I can't argue that with people outright, I have to dig through dialogue options to find the way to just bring up this very clear point.

The back and forth also leads to an odd situation where I feel like your characters are still fairly flat, despite talking so much. They're all very "Strong convictions, loosely held." Once you realize that the unlock dialogue isn't always beneficial to swaying someone, you can kinda crack everyone. Like I broke Erador down regarding Silvio's alliance first try, despite being told this would be like talking to a brick wall. Everyone claims to have strong personality and beliefs, but they all can be swayed in ways that average out to the whole cast being kinda mellow and, if I can be blunt, uninspired. No one stands out. And I am a character-centric kind of person. I don't care how involved your worldbuilding is, or how actually coherent your complex political plot is. If I don't give a shit about anyone in it, I'm going to stop caring. And the setting doesn't really do much to endear characters to you, really. Everyone is kind of an asshole? Like, Hyzante has a literal slave class they justify as goddess' orders, and Aesfrost's whole freedom scheme is quite blatantly stated to be a privilege of the strong while the weak are trampled. It's been very difficult to care about events, because no one had really gripped me.

Fortunately, there are two (2) characters I am now wholly invested on as of this chapter. Cordelia and Avlora, I'm a big fan of what you two have going on right now. Keep up the excellent work. I hope Cordelia gets her desire and stabs Gustadolph in the throat. Probably not given how the tone of this game operates, but I like her moxie. I remain cautiously optimistic on her tale. Every character named Cordelia is a winner in my book.

Kinda got sidetracked there...the pacing generally feels off, because it's like an hour of talking, 20 minutes of exploration, 15 minutes of playing a map. Which is not a great ratio. It may be because I'm coming off of Unicorn Overlord, which is delightfully fast-paced and engaging to the point I can drop three hours on it and feel like 20 minutes passed, but this game is like the polar opposite. Those 15 minutes of map fucking drag, it takes forever to beat one thing. I mean it doesn't, it takes like 15 minutes, but you get what I mean. It feels much longer than it is because things just move slowly, and actions take forever, and I have to keep fist-fighting the goddamn camera to stay at an angle where I can fucking see anything, because every time an enemy moves it has to whip around to some bizarro shot like it's trying to hide what it's doing from me. The camera thing actively gives me a headache, it's probably my least favorite part of the game. And the fact it keeps spinning means I keep having to orient which way my buttons work, because this game just cannot fathom looking at something directly, it always needs to be at a 35-55 degree angle, and depending on which side of 45 it is, the down button is either left, right, or maybe sometimes actually down. Drives me nuts.

My stance on the game is that it's fine. I'm enjoying myself enough to keep playing it, but I'm less able to binge it. I find myself needing frequent breaks just to work up the energy to slog through more narrative about characters I'm not invested in, or resting my eyes from dealing with the camera. But it's not bad, and there's at least some promise to how thing could resolve. Like with Cordelia, I remain cautiously optimistic.

#triangle strategy

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gascon-en-exil · 2 years

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The Unintentionally Hilarious Echoes of Fire Emblem: Three Houses Discourse in Triangle Strategy

I've been meaning to put this idea to paper (screen?) for about a week now, and with my completion of the final route of Triangle Strategy I at last feel fully equipped to do so. I did think about turning this into a video, but I've got a less niche idea for a thesis that I think would play better on YouTube and that I intend to start working on soon.

I very much doubt that TS's developers even caught so much of a whiff of FE16 online discourse, especially the parts outside Japanese fandom, i.e. all the parts I'm familiar with. Nevertheless, even if unintended the number and degree of parallels between TS and the way fandom has responded to Three Houses in the last two and a half years are so absurd that I just had to compile them.

Be forewarned that this post contains major spoilers for both games. I expect that most people interested in this topic are coming from FE16 discourse first and TS second (or not at all), so I'll be putting more effort into contextualizing elements of TS.

Political Realism! (But Also Democracy is Still Not a Thing)

The game as a whole is more concerned with depicting the political systems of its setting. We get to see a peacetime meritocracy in action in Aesfrost as well as a theocracy that's actually run like a theocracy in Hyzante. Aesfrost boasts of allowing anyone to succeed on their own merits, but it's plagued by poverty and nepotism/cronyism. Hyzante has universal health care but actively excludes or punishes nonbelievers and is looking to expand its faith. The third nation of Glenbrook is a standard pseudo-medieval European fantasy kingdom, albeit with a corrupt group of nobles who want their kings to be ornaments and tend to get treacherous and homicidal when they aren't.

Additionally, while Hyzante takes the expected theocratic approach of wanting to destroy knowledge that it considers dangerous - in this case, Aesfrost's Archives which are the source of its advances in technology - the alternative is implicitly not all that better because it results in Aesfrost essentially bringing Norzelia into the age of gunpowder - which it does even in the golden route. TS has a lot to say about how beneficial technologies can be turned into instruments of warfare, actually, with the concept behind Aesfrost's giant cannon stemming initially from a man who invented bombs to aid in mining. Echoes of the dangerous technologies Rhea banned, perhaps?

Norzelia overall is your boilerplate fantasy of autocrats being autocrats, and this remains the case in all instances including its endings, but TS's central marketing image and core non-combat gameplay mechanic is the Scales of Conviction, a set of scales that burns with magical fire that looks pretty in the trailers and...that's basically it, really. In-game the Scales represent the simple majority of the seven characters to whom protagonist Serenoa awards the right to vote near the start of the game. The voting population is made up of his best friend, his fiancée, and five servants of varying allegiances and job descriptions.

In the leadup to the game's golden ending, Serenoa discards the Scales entirely and makes an executive decision about what to do next, and this is praised by the voting characters as him learning to be a true leader.

Moral Greyness! (But Only in Some Places)

The player is made to feel much more morally grey than Byleth ever is in FE16, with you being allowed to make some highly questionable choices that other characters will criticize you for, or even fight you over and then leave your party when it comes to the final vote. TS pulls far fewer punches in the name of keeping the player comfortable, giving all of its endings (even the golden one, to a degree) unsatisfying edges and even seeing Serenoa sacrifice himself in one of them. Crimson Flower wishes it went that hard. Furthermore, all story splits are predicated on immediately relevant plot points instead of (playable) character sympathy.

As regards major supporting characters, Frederica picks up the Daenerys-esque torch of lead female character with unusually-colored hair whose stated goal is liberation. However, even though her goal of freeing her enslaved people is a righteous one, it also abandons the rest of the continent to constant warfare without anyone to guide it or mediate over its most valuable resource. It is, essentially, the most selfish, and even happens to be the one ending where Serenoa, Frederica's fiancé via arranged marriage, dies. The two of them are even more romantic in her route than in the golden one...but they don't get a happy ending. Benedict meanwhile is as ruthless as Hubert but doesn't wear his evil on his sleeve, and while he's also selfishly motivated to conquer a continent to satisfy his feelings toward a woman who'll never return them (because she's dead), the person he manipulates into continental rule ends up resenting him over his actions. TS as such paints the motivations of characters much like Edelgard and Hubert as negative, even if they're sympathetic or the right thing to do in a vacuum.

Conversely however, you know all that "you wouldn't criticize Edelgard if she were a man!" business? Yep, that's Gustadolph to a tee; no one needs to criticize him when the game does a fine enough job on its own. He doesn't get a sympathetic backstory or motivation, he's called out repeatedly for his hypocrisy and sociopathic treatment of his relatives and underlings as mere pawns, and his touted meritocratic "freedom" is exposed as a flimsy justification to amass more power for himself. In a deeply ironic moment, after killing one of his most loyal followers Gustadolph is denounced as a "feral beast" who needs to be put down. On a metanarrative level, Gustadolph is the antithesis of Edelgard; where she gets all the story prominence and multiple death scenes and a heavily telegraphed romance with the self-insert, Gustadolph never gets to be a final boss even though he's killed in two routes - and in the route where you ally with him he's kept at arm's length and reduced to supporting NPC status.

Idore, similarly, is Rhea stripped of any nuance or sympathetic qualities, and actually is the theocratic tyrant fandom likes to think Rhea is. He rules over the aforementioned Hyzante, which created a secret history for its religion and also engages in the kinds of magical experiments associated with the Agarthans in FE16 - among them weapons powered by human corpses, a bit like Demonic Beasts. The secret history of the Goddess of Salt makes Rhea's secret history positively benevolent by comparison: she wants to protect herself and her remaining family from humans, while he wants to lord power over other humans and maintain a monopoly on the continent's most valuable natural resource. Idore nominally takes orders from the hierophant, highest of the Saintly Seven who is always hidden behind a curtain...but in two endings it's revealed that the hierophant is a actually a robot, a voiceless female automaton used only as a puppet to legitimize Idore's absolute rule. This not only doubles as a hilarious facsimile of Byleth - voiceless and mindless but possessed of unmatched magical power, treated as always female by the fandom, a puppet at the hands of a much more powerful master (the player) - but puts me in mind of how Rhea's detractors think she handles Byleth. Also, upon his death Idore is revealed to be an atheist who was disillusioned by the greed and weakness inherent in human nature - in essence, the Fire Emblem thesis statement - and sought to rule forever through immortality magic and his undying puppet. Serenoa and friends even make similar remarks as Edelgard, that only humans can/should rule over humanity, but here it's directed not at a member of another sapient race but at a mindless robot used as a prop by a human.

Cultural Diversity! (Except It's Still Insensitive, Probably)

The Khalidstans would have a field day with this game. TS goes to much greater lengths than FE16 ever bothers to characterize a culture influenced by a non-European one; Hyzante invites direct comparisons to the Golden Age of Islam and to the Abbasid Caliphate (roughly contemporary with medieval Europe), and while the official art is not terribly consistent on the matter almost all of the game's darker-skinned characters hail from there. However...it's also the theocracy with the slavery and the corpse magic and the literal puppet ruler. What's more, the Hyzantians' slaves, the Roselle, are pale-skinned people with pink hair, recalling the FE16 discourse argument that persecution against the Nabateans doesn't really count because they're basically white people. Rosellan aesthetics and culture draw from both indigenous Japanese and Native American sources, and their main story thrust of escaping slavery to reach a mythical promised land obviously suggests parallels to the Jewish people. The Khalidstans and others like them would very likely consider this mishmash of cultural references to be offensive to all parties, and would be appalled that TS prominently features a mostly dark-skinned people enslaving a light-skinned people.

What's more, while online discourse has no issue with criticizing Catholicism (even when it approaches xenophobia), the idea of similarly condemning a fictional theocracy inspired largely by Islam seems rather more fraught for issues of insensitivity and bigotry. That the Roselle are persecuted by the Hyzantians because they know the truth behind the secret history of their Teachings (which is that rock salt exists - yes, really) is a subject so fraught with potential land mines of discourse if applied to real-world subjects that I'm not going to even attempt to touch that one.

On a somewhat unrelated note, one of the main characters is biracial, but unlike Claude Frederica identifies fully with her minority (Rosellan) heritage - much as the Khalidstans wish Claude Khalid would. You wouldn't even know she was half-Aesfrosti except that she still regards her Aesfrosti relatives as such.

Roland's Just as Bad as Dimitri! (Except Not Really on Either Count)

Prince Roland of Glenbrook is, superficially, very similar to Dimitri. They're both blond, lance-wielding princes fulfilling a standard FE lord role who angst over their capacity to rule and get a little too wrapped up in vengeance sometimes. Each of them even goes through a period where they're essentially someone else: the raging, self-destructive "feral" Dimitri of early Part 2, or Roland who has to fake his own death in the midgame and hide behind the mask of his presumed-dead combat instructor/surrogate father figure. (Side note: Maxwell puts one in mind of Jeritza since they're both aloof, powerful warriors who wear domino masks...but Maxwell isn't a serial killer, or in any way mentally disturbed.)

Bad discourse takes on both characters would make them out to be more religious than they are - Dimitri based solely on his kingdom being the Holy Kingdom and on his alliance with Rhea in Crimson Flower, Roland because his ending sees him give up his crown and his kingdom to Hyzante because he believes the people need a higher power to believe in and that Hyzante can make the most people happy. For starters this makes Dimitri appear vastly less religious by comparison, when not even the alleged status quo that is Azure Moon's ending comes anywhere close to "I'm surrendering my authority to a foreign power to allow them to take control and convert the entire continent." If anything Roland's continued hesitancy about taking power, even in the golden route, brings to mind complaints that Dimitri isn't mentally fit to rule in any scenario and should step down - but the golden ending has Serenoa affirm that he does indeed deserve to be king.

Because TS takes the time to show the far-reaching consequences of each ending, we actually get to see that both Roland and Dimitri make valid points when they each condemn the kind of freedom espoused by Gustadolph and Edelgard respectively. In Benedict's ending where Aesfrost's principles spread to the entire continent poverty becomes more common as it's only the wealthy and well-connected who can prosper under the new merit-based system and there are a lack of systems in place to help the less fortunate. Roland becomes a monk tending to the sick and hungry who've been neglected by their rulers, and in this epilogue it's also shown that even with Hyzante's downfall followers of their goddess continue to persist, because you can't get rid of a religion just by taking out a figurehead or two.

Even in his own ending - which many are already saying is the worst of the four, because theocracy - Roland refuses to give into his desire for vengeance when it's time to deal with Gustadolph, as he undergoes a less extreme version of Dimitri's character arc that benefits immensely from the lack of a self-insert. His main source of support comes from his best friend, but there he suffers compared to Dimitri because....

The Game's Not Horny! (At All!)

Are you an anti? Does the irrepressible, unapologetic horniness of Fire Emblem make you deeply uncomfortable? Do you think that Studentleth is grooming and that Three Houses is disgusting for promoting pedophilia and incest and abusive and/or racist ship dynamics? Well, then I've got a game for you, because Triangle Strategy has possibly the driest, most sexless writing I've ever seen outside of anything written by Tolkien. An entire game's worth of innuendo has to be packed into its dancer character, who is appropriately slutty in voice and appearance and disregard for the main character's engagement status and may thus be roundly condemned, and the only other instance of sex is a scene where an obviously evil character who you'll get to kill in a few chapters is fooling around with an unnamed NPC just off-camera. Aside from that...zilch. This game resists horny; it is afraid to be horny. Not even the core romance of Serenoa and Frederica gets anything spicier than something you'd see in a typical Awakening or Fates A support outside of the one route where Serenoa dies, and even there it never amounts to more than the gifting of a treasured memento that becomes tragic one chapter later.

Naturally this dedicated lack of horniness comes with a total absence of queer subtext much less canon queerness, with the possible exception of the dynamic between two women that's basically what Rhea/Catherine would be if Rhea were a young human princess. I assume this would also be unacceptable, because power dynamics or because it's abusive (the knight character is from an enemy nation and killed the princess's brother) or something.

By hilarious juxtaposition, everyone jumped on Serenoa/Roland after the first demo because they're the two young male leads...but then lategame it's revealed that Serenoa is in reality the bastard son of the late king of Glenbrook and therefore Roland's half-brother...and this becomes a plot point in two routes. The reveal of surprise (fanon) incest has stunned the game's small fandom, and I've already seen people blaming the ship on FE fans because we're just so nasty and horny. I meanwhile can't get invested in the pairing even with the gay brocon angle because, as stated, the writing of TS is so dry that it chokes out even the barest hint of eyebrow-raising subtext. It's like a cast full of Claudes.

To sum up, Triangle Strategy is more or less what you'd get if you told the Western fandom of FE16 to rewrite the game, and each argument was decided by simple majority such that it satisfied no one completely. Thus would the scales speak.

#Triangle Strategy #Fire Emblem #FE16 #Fire Emblem Three Houses

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asha-mage · 2 years

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The way that most characters are constantly referring to Serenoa as 'my lord' or 'lord Wolffort' but Frederica and Roland use Serenoa's given name at every opportunity and imbue it each time with warmth and affection and compassion, never letting Serenoa doubt that they at least always see the human beneath the title, the man beneath the duty.

#serenoa wolffort #frederica aesfrost #roland glenbrook #triangle strategy #triangle strategy musing #Not that this stops him from burying himself in his duty (whatever the player decides that is)#and sacrificing his humanity for others

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lunahearts · 2 years

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I think the real question is, was Symon aware of Benedict's intentions? He took Destra under orders, but also raised Serenoa as his own. But as a man whom is considered great for many years, he must have been perceptive. He even has that fire trap on standby, which is stated to be passed down in the family for generations. You'd think his last words to Benedict alone are: I know how you felt towards Destra. But I still trust you look after Serenoa in my stead. Do as you will, so long as he lives

Honestly I think that the assumption that Benedict’s intentions were that clear the entire time is… not necessarily true? My personal interpretation of Benedict’s route is that it is just as informed by his chapter 15 path as Roland’s is.

Benedict wants to leave Serenoa’s service. This is vital information for framing Benedict’s claims about his motives. I’ll stress this again: his claims. Leaving Serenoa to spend the rest of his days by Symon’s side is not only contrary to his supposed decades long plan to make Serenoa king, it’s also not something Symon himself likely would have asked for. It is (presumably) wholly self-motivated.

I think that Benedict loses his footing when Symon dies. Sometimes it is easier to hate someone than it is to mourn them. Benedict knows that he is betraying Serenoa by pushing him the way he does in his route (it’s a very “doing the right thing for the wrong reasons” situation). I imagine he also knows he is betraying Lord Symon and Lady Destra, not to mention Anna, his fucking daughter, who goes from compassionate and concerned to completely shut down over the course of that route. Let’s not beat around the bush here, Benedict is straight up is implied to be contemplating suicide at the end of the route, before Serenoa interrupts him. You know how sometimes people will do bad things because they think they deserve to be hated? I think that is somewhat at play here. Benedict does not like himself by the end of his route, and I think he frames his actions in the least charitable light because of that.

Really, I think Benedict is someone who needs to be told no sometimes - he’s actually shown to be pretty damn impulsive in flashbacks, a trait which, imo, hasn’t gone away as much as he would have everyone believe. Like, this is the guy who wants to flood the city just to ensure victory. He wants to visit Symon rather than deal with the practical problems of the Royalists. He is a brilliant tactician but not necessarily a flawless strategist - he can get you where you want to go, but the things he wants to achieve aren’t always sustainable.

I imagine Symon knew that, and that Symon helped balance that destructive “at all costs” impulsiveness. Symon who ceded his lands to make peace (but managed to shelter the Roselle while doing so), who married someone he didn’t love out of political necessity (but brought love to their family and wholeheartedly raised her son as his own)… that’s someone who I think understood the balance of sacrifice & standing firm, of ideals and reality.

And when Benedict loses him? I think he loses that balance too.

Anyway, I guess my answer to your question is that I think Symon may have seen Benedict more clearly than Benedict even saw himself, at times. I think he trusted Benedict to be the best of himself, knowing that it was never a guarantee. More than that, I think he loved Benedict, as Benedict loved him. And I think that’s a vital piece to understanding their relationship to each other.

#triangle strategy #ts spoilers #triangle strategy spoilers #honestly I think it’s easy to miss Benedict’s whole ass character arc from 15 thru the end of his route #but trust me that guy is GOING THRU IT

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felikatze · 1 year

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genuine q, is triangle strategy good? I couldnt get past the name and wasnt sure if it was worth the investment ;-; pls sell me u seem like u know

FUCK YEAH IT IS

triangle strategy is a top-down srpg from the team behind octopath, as you can easily tell by the phenomenal spritework

the story follows serenoa wolffort, new lord of the wolffort territory after his father falls ill. when the duchy of aesfrost suddenly declares war on the kingdom of glenbrook, of which serenoa is part, the people of house wolffort suddenly find themselves the last line of defense against the invading enemy.

joining serenoa is his fiance, frederica aesfrost, the younger half-sister of aesfrost's duke. she was set to be wed to serenoa as a political ploy to strengthen the bond of the two countries, but finds herself stranded in another land after her brother has thrown her to the wolves.

the other major character is roland glenbrook, the second prince of glenbrook. with his father and brother both slain, he's now heir to the throne - a position he never expected to fall on him, and he now struggles as the main target of aesfrost's attacks.

there's a ton of others with these three and four more as the central cast of seven, but they're the most important.

the story is fucking fantastic. roland's guilt at the death in his name, frederica's struggle to find herself and what she believes in, serenoa's stern upkeep of his duty as lord wolffort - man, i love all of them.

the story's main gimmick are the scales of conviction. at many points during the game, serenoa is faced with a choice on how to advance, and he asks the other characters for counsel. so, all the characters vote. you, as serenoa, cannot directly decide which path to take. you have to convince the characters to vote in your favor.

the story paths reconvene at specific points, so there's not a huge amount of branching paths, but convergence points actually still adjust dialogue to reflect your decisions. at the very minimum, two playthroughs will feel COMPLETELY fresh, and i'm speaking from experience here, i beat the game twice in a row, and the shit i saw was completely different. i beat my first playthrough without setting foot in aesfrost even once.

and let me tell you, the decisions are hard. there's no clear right answer. no matter what you pick, your actions will have severe consequences. characters all have their own opinions on what's right, and it's up to you to set your values. liberty, utility, morality - that's the core three paths of this game, with specific game actions raising your conviction, an invisible stat, in each. conviction stats don't matter that much. they influence when you unlock optional characters, and how easily your companions are swayed by your arguments following the corresponding conviction.

the character development reflected in the system, mwah. characters who start out with one alignment gradually shifting toward the other, fantastic.

that's as much as i'm saying on the story, for now.

as for gameplay, it's really good. there's three types of "gameplay"

first, is the straight cutscene. these are all rather short. you'll never find a scene above fifteen minutes without interruption, which keeps the story feeling brisk and moving. it's an easy game to pick up and play for a short while, yet still feel like you're advancing.

second, is exploration. you travel through small maps (which will inevitably be the maps for battle). here you can talk to your friends, find optional items, learn the layout of the map for later, and answer optional questions for extra conviction. exploration will also always feature before a decision. by exploring, you can find additional information to sway your companions with, so it pays off to keep your eyes open.

third, is battle, of course. this has been a fire emblem blog for a couple months, so it is somewhat similar, by virtue of being an srpg. though there's no "phases": a unit's turn in the turn order is decided by its speed stat. it also has a riff on octopath's boost system. you accumulate one point per turn, and spend points to use special abilities. additionally, maps have height, which affects damage and attack range. always keep the high ground, bucko. also, no permadeath, because jesus christ, if this game had permadeath i'd be fucked.

what this game has over FE is incredible unit feel. every single characters is unique in their abilities. weapons can be upgraded, but not traded, and special abilities are unique to each character. like, there's three archers in the game, right? but one of them is a flying unit who specializes in status ailments, one of them has traps and knockback, and the last one focuses on having the longest range in the entire game.

there is no such thing as interchangable units. who you deploy in battle is highly context dependant. a map with high cliffs? better deploy the guy who can build ladders. though he's kind of useless outside of that. it's raining? better pack your lightning mage for additional damage. even the three healers all work differently. one has straight up heals, one has regen over time, and one specializes in boosting items.

it's a breeze to level everyone up, too. never worry about taking someone underlevelled into the field! thanks to insane exp scaling, they'll catch up quick. but exp scaling works the other way around, too. you'll never be overlevelled. ever.

all around, it's an incredible game with a great story and decent gameplay. i admit, the story was what kept me hooked more than the battles, but they were fun, too! none of them ever felt too easy (though i hear hard mode is garbage). the variety in playable characters is amazing, which leads to a ton of different possible approaches for maps. if you die, you get to keep exp, so it never feels like a waste to struggle till the end, and there's never motivation to reset.

if the fanart has convinced you to give the game a shot, please do. i queued that fanart in march, but i still adore this game a shitton. there's a golden route following specific choices, but i'd still recommend going for one of the three base endings on a first playthrough. follow your heart. choose what you think is right. save a guide for later.

cuz, man. i never even finished the golden route, but the morality ending made me sob so bad. it's fantastic. the liberty ending is great in its irony, too. i never did the utility ending cuz i think it's dumb, though, lmao. but that's just my choice! that's the choice i get to abstain from!

genuienly, the choice system is fucking fantastic. you never really notice how the story converges because each path flows so naturally into it. again, minute dialogue adjustments to make everything smoother. and on my first playthrough, i became invested in the subplot following frederica and the roselle, so i just naturally slid into making decisions that further explored that path. on my second playthrough exploring other options, it was still all new and fresh. convergence points in the story are also incredibly short, typically only one sub-chapter, and then you're off to your next consequence.

other things of note: the voice acting cast of the game isn't exactly star studded. a lot of these people are new to the scene, and you can tell. i still love their performances, though, particularly serenoa and frederica in the ending sequence. though i think everyone does a well enough job, and that adds its own flavor of charm. play in japanese if you want but please give the english cast a shot, at least.

the first chapters are also rather slow. shit hits the fan in chapter 4, so you know when to expect The Good Stuff. the demo only goes up to that point, but the debut demo actually features a vertical slice from chapter 7. if that demo's still around, i'd recommend it over the other one if you're unsure and wanna test the game first.

i cannot recommend triangle strategy highly enough, even if its name is incredibly stupid

#feli gets asked #thinking abt the morality ending again and crying so fucking bad #WHAT DOES A GODDESS KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO BE FAMILY?!#serenoa my man.... my man

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roaldseth · 7 months

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6-8 for the tri strat ask game! :)

6. Favorite Chapter?

This question was answered in the previous ask, however I'm going to use this opportunity to talk about the Falkes battle (Chapter 7 Utility) because it qualifies for point 2, "which chapter I keep returning to again and again." Though I don't have any particularly strong feelings towards this chapter on a base level, however there is stuff to unpack underneath it and much potential here in my silly little brain, all of which in what this marks for the Wolfforts.

Regardless of path, Falkes's fall marks the beginning of the greater clan's fall, possibly its "end" depending on how you want to look at it. And this point or foreshadowing or whatever, Falkes is vocal about it. Utility side, he addresses Erador like what the fuck man? He had fought with Benedict and Erador, and this kind of direct confrontation between these two parties, I'm----I'm chomping at the bit. I want more of this charged tension. I want to look at it, be provoked. I want Benedict especially to get called the fuck out as the steward, as Symon's representative prior to Serenoa's lordship. It is so thematically chef's kiss.

From my experience, I know Falkes gets a lot of flack for "being stupid," "not a good lord," and "being too loyal [to the crown]," and I disagree mostly with that because that comes from a modern perspective and also Symon exists up to the north. Yes, Landroi, don't burn your fields if you don't have to, Serenoa also says that, but even then I can at least understand why he does that. It's not relevant somewhat relevant, but Silvio's approach in general is also a topic that I also can understand because he also gets flack for caution and cowardice, but his father was Gorde. We know one thing about Gorde, he was the advisor, and I think we see bits of him though Silvio, but Silvio also was raised in a different time under different circumstances so that's why it's only bits.

TL;DR I have a lot of feeling for Landroi. This is a sizable chunk of the feelings, but there's still more. There is the flip-side, Chapter 7 Morality and its Chapter 8, but I said I'd talk about the Utility side specifically, so it ends here. Also Julio as a Falkes angst lives in my mind ready to strike at any moment.

7. Favorite Battle?

This is being judged largely in terms more mechanically--map, units, etc--instead of the ramifications on story. That being said: I have little clue. The naval battle, Chapter 14 Morality, sticks out the most. Fueled by my feelings about Norzelia's river warships, it was an interesting, unexpected choice, and for that, it's kinda neat. I really liked the detail that they made the signature metal plating of Aesfrosti warships conductible. I struggle to recall if there are other maps with metal, except the mine. We also don't really get ship maps for obvious reasons, the closest thing is probably the Wolffort harbor map.

Close runner up for maps is Twins Gate though. I won't elaborate. That one's strictly vibes only.

8. Favorite Ending?

I regret to inform I am a Liberty End fan. Though anything to make Benedict Pascal "happy" is the surface level reason why I like Liberty End, but the subterranean level is how much he shoots himself in the foot with his stubborn blindness. No longer to make Benedict Pascal happy. Anything to make him go through more bullshit, especially if it's his own fault.

But not only does he shoot himself in the foot, but he also puts that last nail in the coffin and then buried Wolffort in it. Landroi is dead (head Falkes representative), Silvio is dead (head Telliore representative), Serenoa (Wolffort's head) is put on the throne--and for the sake of not trying to stammer out an alternative explanation--is then Glenbrook-ified. Sure, he retains Wolffort in name, and this probably drastically changes things for future generations of the royal line down the road, I don't have my local history expert at the moment, but anyway there's abandonment in morality, ethics, land (subjective Serenoa still technically owns it), heritage, and such. It's the Liberty end, Morality is forsaken to achieve it, and the triangle topples. Worse case, you also let Benedict Pascal do what he wants, and the land that was entrusted to the clan also underwent some damage. Don't worry captain we'll buff out those scratches.

HOWEVER, all in all, regardless of this, this is all still done while achieving at least face value of Benny Boy's catchphrase goal--for the future of House Wolffort--because the House in title is still raise to imperial household, but it's at such a steep cost to what it means to be a Wolffort. That meaning of No Matter the Cost is so delicate and fine in the Liberty End. Poetic cinema.

And with that I think at this point I am tying too many red strings between dots, so I will end there. But, if provoked I could run deeper.

#'Benedict Pascal is my favorite character'#I say before immediately kicking him in the nuts and dragging him through the dirt #Thank you for the ask #Triangle Strategy #Ask Game #every ending in triangle strategy causes me distress to think about #but I put Liberty End under my Wolffort lensed microscope #and go ooooo~ facinating

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kelbunny · 7 months

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3, 4, 13, 22, and 23 for the Triangle Strategy Ask Game!

3. Favorite NPC?

Papa Svarog! I always seem to be drawn to sad dad's with dead kids, and I like how he was handled in particular. His grief and handling of grief feels real, and fighting him in the utility ending is painful knowing that he could be and is our ally in golden. And despite still being a serious man, I love how he's warm and loving compared to Gustadolf's cold and cunning, and how it's reflected in the elements they use.

4. Least Favorite NPC?

From a love to hate standpoint, Thalas and Erika, especially Thalas. Heck you you nasty little twink.

From a "you could have been so much more" standpoint, Tenebris. He doesn't feel like a full character and more like he was just made to die in 3/4 of the endings, which is made even worse by the fact he's the only one of the Saintly Seven you never fight. All of the rest of the are all so interesting, and then you have him.

13. Were there any npcs you wish were recruitable?

Exharme and to a lesser extent, Lyla. They're tied for my favorite of the saints, and some of Exharme's skills in particular could be fun to use. Lyla though could be redundant in the skills department however, considering we already have Quahaug.

Another one is Jerrom. We've only got Frederica as a Rosellan unit, and although Maxwell and Roland are great, I do wish we had more spear units.

22. Favorite moment?

all of TriStrat

But to be more specific:

I really like the ending of 14 liberty with the duel between Roland and Avlora and how it reflects the end of chapter 7 battle between Maxwell and Avlora. And of the 3 chapter 13/14 options, it feels the most canon to me, at least in terms of the Golden Ending, both with how it's handled in game, as well as due to fics like The Same Bridge.

And speaking of the Golden ending, the scene where Serenoa realized his own path that doesn't leave any of his friends behind. That cutscenes with the scales *chef's kiss*

23. Any unpopular opinions?

Definitely gonna make some enemies with this one, but I don't really like Cordelia x Avlora. I never really saw it when I first played through the game, and even though we don't get exact ages, the fact that Cordelia is ~17 and Avlora is 30 at her absolute youngest (but definitely seems to be in at least her mid 30's to me based on other in game dialogue) is enough to make me uncomfortable with shipping them.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love their dynamic in game and it's one of the best the game has to offer, but I just can't see it as romantic at all.

#triangle strategy #triangle strategy spoilers #Kelbunn answers

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emblemxeno · 2 years

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Triangle Strategy Thoughts #1

I’m really excited about this game so I wanted to write down my thoughts on plot, characters, gameplay, etc. for the demo. I’ll probably continue it when the full game comes out lol.

Spoilers for anyone interested in it. I’ll put everything under the cut.

Chapter 1

-Just from the title screen alone, the game is fucking gorgeous and the music is incredible.

-The backstory conflict is already believable and engaging. Resource disputes is a common topic in fantasy warfare, but that’s because it makes so much sense to fight over it. Very nice.

-Gameplay is easy to grasp immediately, though I imagine the isometric view might cause some newer players some confusion. Positioning is as key as they say, as back attacks let you do big damage, and you get a follow up if you attack when there’s an ally on the opposite side of the enemy.

-Side Stories to get extra information are a great way to include nitty gritty details without derailing the main story, if the player just wants to get on with it.

-Political marriage between Frederica and Serenoa. However, Symon (Serenoa’s father) suspects that because House Wolffort is just a bannerman house and Frederica is a Rosellan (which, as far as we know, are people with rose colored hair and most likely a race that’s discriminated against), that the marriage is deliberately being made between lower powers of the nations, so if Glenbrook and Aesfrost were to war, there’d be little collateral with the newlyweds to deal with. Frederica is very shaken up about this. Very interesting.

Chapter 2

-There are notes scattered throughout towns when you explore, and they build the world without overloading the main story with text dumps from characters. You can read or ignore them if you like, and the entire thing is very streamlined.

-Town exploration in general is very neat. No voiced dialogue, so you’ll have to pay closer attention, but movement is fast and sharp, and the NPCs feel more like actual people rather than ‘History Notes in Human Form’.

-Family drama in the Glenbrook Royal Family. Regna seems to be kind of a distant father, and a king who only pleases others (dignitaries and the sort) to keep his influence. At least that’s what Roland thinks. Roland and Frani butt heads a lot, and Cordelia seems to be stuck in the middle sometimes.

-Dragan getting drunk is something I never knew I needed, I love this man.

-Erika and Thalas are evil children. Their smug auras mock me.

Chapter 3

-Even from just the demo, the class promotions look fucking gorgeous, jesus christ.

-The Scales of Conviction and the Persuasion phase are pretty neat. The decisions you make rely on dialogue choices when you talk to characters to convince them. Getting extra knowledge from talking to NPCs during exploration and strengthening Serenoa’s convictions may unlock new choices you wouldn’t get otherwise. I’m eager to see where this goes. As for the first big choice, I decided to go to Aesfrost, and I was successful in doing so (in a 5-2 vote).

-OH SHIT Cordelia accused Frani of not loving their brother (Roland). I love family drama. I think he does care, he’s just battling with personal feelings vs. royal responsibility. But we’ll see how it turns out eventually.

-Gustadolph and Aesfrost give MAJOR Ladlegard and Empire vibes, what with it prizing freedom above all else. If people show aptitude and desire, they are given equal opportunity to go into any field they please, with no regard to background, gender, or social status. Naturally, I’m suspicious of nations like this, but I’ll keep my mind open.

-Serenoa, while talking to Frederica during exploration, said freedom and meritocracy don’t mix easily. Which is basically what I believe. Having the freedom of opportunity means nothing when you’re not guaranteed the necessities of life. Which is why Aesfrost is suffering from poverty despite having so many opportunities.

-I love all the characters in my party so far. They all have a use and I like that.

Conclusion

Very, very excited for the full game to release. Everything has been promising, and I can’t wait to see how it develops further.

#triangle strategy #square enix #serenoa wolffort #frederica aesfrost

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cheeseandcake-from-ao3 · 2 years

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My first run of Triangle Strategy, told though (mostly) memes and no context.

This has the first half of my first run. Maybe I’ll make more memes, maybe I won’t.

With that, on to the Memes with 0 context! (Spoilers, obviously)

I start by saying Dragan is still my favourite.

Me: Man, I really want to go to Hyzane, but Frederica might want to say goodbye to her uncle and I want her to feel welcome-

Me: Win-Win, I guess.

(But seriously, why are the Roselle, who have lived in Hyzane for generations and are shown to work in the sun, pale?)

Me: Alright. It all worked out. Now, the only danger we’re in is from Sorsley, since he knows about the salt, but since he’s careful, nothing else should be a problem-

Sorsley: *Gets caught*

Me: ...Okay, we might be able to get out of this if I can spin a convincing lie, but then again, they have the whole “You are automatically guilty” thing going on here, so I need to choose my words carefully if I decide the truth, let’s see what options-

Serenoa: We did it.

Me: Damnit.

#triangle strategy #Memes #playthrough #I guess?

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raxistaicho · 2 years

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The end

Mel Brooks would be proud.

Evidently nobody’s who’s gone south beyond this point ever back, it’s just untamed wilderness. Nooooot exactly ideal territory through which to march probably thousands of weary, probably injured salves, but what can ya do. At least the Hyzantians would be fools to try to follow us. And to be fair, the Roselle from the Wolffort Demesne are already used to living off the land.

The gang’s all here :D

Except for Cordelia I guess. Where IS she if you don’t do Roland’s chapter 15? Maybe she joined off-screen lol.

Daaaaw, lol. I didn’t mention it earlier, but Frederica and Serenoa already calling each other husband and wife is adorable.

Uh oh.

It’s Idore!

ON ROBO HORSES!

What the fuck, Lyla, why couldn’t you use your powers for good...

But oh well, guess I get to kill one more Saint before I leave. Exharm’s busy fighting the Duchy on the border, hopefully Benedict and Gustadolph manage to take him down. With only Tenebris left and all the Aelfric taken, Hyzante will surely fall to Aesfrost.

The only mysterious goddess I fear is Palutena.

You should too, she will troll you and then hit you with Black Hole and Mega-laser if you don’t obey her words and do her petty errands for her.

Oh Frederica, spitting in the face of a goddess x3

Better death in the wilderness than rotting at the Source :/

The “mercy” of a slow death >_>

Frederica’s inspired a whole beleaguered, enslaved race to fight ^^

Aight, let’s end this!

Uuuuuunfortunately this is an escort mission and while I’d love to do things “right”, I’d rather just hedge my bets and focus down Idore :D

Can you feel the weight of YOUR sins, you miserable fossil? Probably not, the game outright calls him Idore the Deluded.

Luckily Idore focuses more on keeping distance, trying to seal off the path for the Rosellans with ice or buffing his team.

Rushing up to face him mighta been a mistake, but there’s no guarantee he’d approach my range either.

Yes, now it’s time you paid for YOUR sins, Idore.

Once this is over the Hyzante will know naught but bitter, impotent indignation for the mother and daughter that ruined them twice.

Heheh, you tell him Trish. And she’s not greedy, you fuckhead, she and her father only resorted to thievery to survive in the cruel world YOU helped make.

I have to imagine, given their ages and (former, in Archibald’s case) stations, that Idore and Archibald knew each other well. They might even have been friends once when Archibald still followed Hyzante loyaly. I can only wonder what disappointment Archibald might be feeling.

Fitting that Serenoa end this.

It’s over, Idore. This marks the end of Hyzante and its cruelty and lies, even if your precious Shield stands for a little while longer.

Bah, this old monster refuses to go down.

He’s got Aelfric XO

What!? How old is this geezer???

Oh no XO

So the Hierophant is another of Lyla’s sick toys, then. That explains the dark power it unleashed on Sorsley.

Oh shit :(

He’s asking such a heavy thing of them T_T

T_T His brother, his wife, his loyal followers, and his people will all live thanks to this. One noble final act :(

Oh Serenoa :(

Poor Frederica :(

Her VA really nails the desperate pleading in her voice here.

And the utter agony in this gasp :( I might’ve actually broke down crying if she’d carried on that way.

Regret now, while understandable, would be the ultimate insult to what he gave his life for :( Frederica’s a strong woman.

Now House Wolffort lives on in its last lady and the people she’ll lead to a better land.

And the Roselle will never forget what Serenoa did for them. His name might vanish from Norzelia, but to them he’ll always be a hero. The man who saved them all.

And, as it always will in Norzelia, the cycle carries on. The powerful fight for petty reasons, heedless of the weak caught between them.

I saved some of the weakest, but the rest will have to hold on to what hope they can :( This isn’t a perfect end, but I’ll stand by choosing morality without utility over utility without freedom and freedom without morality.

Hopefully there’s a chance something better can come from what follows :(

#triangle strategy

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