#because that implies the existence of some kind of author and a narrative and thats also a banger

[featherymainffins]

Me when the narrator is an external entity with its own motivations and agendas and the script it makes you follow is not the one you are confined to but be well aware that all folly has its limits and all relationships might sour

#the stanley parable #slay the princess #theres one more i can think of but i feel like itd look really comical next to these widely acknowledge bangers #like ah yes widely acclaimed game; widely praised beautifully drawn visual novel; and...a parody made by a guy on a whim #nonetheless funnily enough thats actually the one that i always think of in this context #like if you ask me for games where you have beef with the narrator youll get that and only after like 2 minutes will i remember tsp #oh if anyone knows more games like this or any other media like this feel free to drop names because i DIG this every time #nobody does it like this uuuh micro-trope #idk why i love it so much but i do. absolute banger. a hit every time. #what i also count as this is when there isnt a narrator per se but it turns out that the story is run by an actual script #like that there is a script the story is supposed to abide by but its literally just that. a script. its an external thing with no power. #because that implies the existence of some kind of author and a narrative and thats also a banger

[reconstructionbaby]

8, 18

8. A song that you liked when you where 10 that still slaps

bitch!!!! p!nk!!!!!

so like... i will defend the album m!ssundaztood by p!nk all night long bc altho its sometimes kind of naff, kind of un-self-aware, for those things it is so much better at expressing pure teenage grief. like i dont want to hear teenage angst thats afraid to compare ur parents fighting at the dinner table to the vietnam war, thats not how teenagers think and anything more sophisticated would not be honest. but fundamentally m!ssundaztood feels like it has something to say and for that it feels coherent and valubale. not to mention that as much as it is of its time, it also made its time. it was as fresh and surprising in 2002 and equally, it made perfect sense to come out in 2002. anyway representative song is dont let me get me and thats what im choosing here. tired of being compared to damn britney spears who the fuck isnt

18. A song that you like that the lyrics are just so beautiful they’re practically poetry

This is a difficult question because there are many songs with beautiful lyrics, but to compare them to poetry implies that they can exist aside from the music. which isnt a good lyric. for an example “i made it through the wilderness / somehow i made it through” is not so interesting to read, but when its sung in like a virgin for some reason it seems like the most profound thing ever

so i’ll answer the question by not answering the question, and reply with a lyric i keep returning to, which is lolita 108 by jun “i blog about her a lot” togawa. there are many things going on there, but most simply its a song from the perspective of a robot singing about her creator, and as much as she is drawn towards the comfort of his power, equally she feels an instinctual terror towards it. these conflicting urges manifest in self-hated, and an impulse towards self-destruction. as u can tell by the title the lyric also suggests a very creepy interplay of authority between the two

its a fantastic metaphor for perhaps an unwise first love. im interested in the idea of the lover as the creator, because often people feel they are ‘created’ by how they are perceived, and they are often perceived thru a sexual lens. jun also often writes love songs in the context of robots and non-human creatures, stripping their love of flesh and sensuality and presenting you purely with instinct and dependence. its a narrative trick which i always love in art, which is: here is something ugly, how do you respond to it? what does it say about you?

what gets me is how much psychology is packed into a concise pop lyric. “i dont need red shoes / i bought 8cm heels / forgive me, i love you” “what i dream on sleepless nights are dreams of self-destruction” “if you love me, hold me closer / i’ll fall deeper in despair” “the iron virgin” 

so troubling, so interesting, so pop, so good

[bhaalble]

Hey while I'm out here hawking takes I'd say that the weird disconnect I sometimes feel as regards Varric is likely due to how often the writers use him as like, a weird mouthpiece/straight man.

Like don't get me wrong, I love Varric. I love the dynamic he has with Hawke, I like the idea of a guy following around a team of ragtag fuckwits and stealing their actions for story ideas. But I can't ever really shake the feeling that the narrative doesn't really let me engage with his sometimes shitty politics in a very meaningful way.

Like, Varric approaches the world very much like it's one of his books. Authority figures like Cullen and Cassandra are too tightly wound and could use a little relaxing, but are ultimately well meaning. Figures with "dark pasts" like Anders, Fenris, and Solas are compelling 'characters' but ultimately too much 'brooding' gets monotonous. People, to Varric, are simple, and usually good if you get to the heart of it. Most problems are something that a hero can solve with a little skill, wit, and swordplay.

Thats why, for a guy who for all intents and purposes should want nothing to do with the system, is mostly content to cooperate with cops and ultimately slips pretty seamlessly into Kirkwall politics. Why he can say with no irony in his voice "Kirkwall isn't that bad" and why he finds Anders so irritating at times. Varric is a guy who believes that the status quo may not be perfect, but it sure is better than some alternatives.

All of this doesn't mean that Varric is a bad guy, just that he can drag his heels on change. He wants a hero like Hawke to charge in and save the day, but in the kind of way that doesn't make for a messy aftermath.

And tbh, all of this does make sense for his character to a certain extent. He's not a mage. He's never been enslaved. Racism towards dwarves exists, to be sure, but not to the systemic extent it exists for elves. He doesn't seem to have experienced a whole lot of Orzammar prejudice for being essentially casteless (at least, nothing that seemed to have any lasting effect on him) and he's never experienced the brutality of the caste system underground in the way a Brosca or even an Aeducan would have.

And that shows. It shows in the way he interacts with Anders. With Fenris. Even with Merrill, to some extent. He doesn't understand why they can't just "let go" of their problems because he's never had a problem he couldn't ultimately leave behind. Varric is the kind of clever, fast talking individual who is able to work the system to his advantage while never really having to deal with the consequences of being outside the system. There's no real reason for Varric to be an outsider: if he wanted to go legitimate, he could. Hell, if he woke up tomorrow and decided he wanted to live in Orzammar, depending on who's on the throne he could likely reclaim the Tethras house place in the Merchant Caste. Meanwhile, Anders can't decide to stop being a mage in a world where that's a crime. Fenris can't decide to stop being an ex slave who will likely be hunted for the rest of his life, and he can't decide to stop having trauma around that. Writing it off as brooding or overreaction or extremism isn't just callous, it's a decidedly privileged statement. Hell, even Isabela, who has just as much reason to not give a damn about mage-templar conflicts, decidedly sides with Anders, and though she makes some....poorly thought out jokes about Fenris' past she never implies that he should get over it.

And I wish, just once, we'd been able to push back on that. If just once when he says shit like "I think I'm sick of mages AND Templars" that Hawke had been able to say "hey, that's my life/my father's life/my sister's life you're talking about." Had been able to point out that Varric has the liberty of being fed up with it because until now it's never been anything but a political question to him

Buuuuut hey. Drink and Wicked Grace at the Hanged Man tonight, right? Never miss it....

#varric tethras #varric #not anti varric #but varric critical #dragon age 2 #da2 #hawke #anders #fenris

[semi-imaginary-place]

fe3h blogging 3 because i have no self control

wah. I don’t want to start BL because that would mean leaving Edelgard and Claude. I don’t care about dimirti as much. part 1 dimitri is so earnest though

i think blue lions was written first. 1 the two monthly missions that have to do with students’ families are both in BL (Ashe and Sylvain). I didn’t notice this at first because for some reason I got it into my head that one of them was in the black eagles and so i thought every house would have a “welp and now we kill  your [insert family member]”. 2 two fairly important side characters at the monastery are related to BL students (Annette and Mercedes). Chapter 3 actually provides a intro for all the lords in their respective routes. Edelgard’s scene is serious but not especially sad, instead you can feel te fire burning within Edlegard and the scene shows how she’s willing to sacrifice the lives of those under her if she believes she is doing the right thing. Claude’s is actually quite light hearted in tone after the first few lines and it highlights the mystery surrounding him and makes him seem very sketchy. Chapter 3 in Blue Lions though is really sad. Ashe my baby boy. Here there is a sense of tragedy in the post battle scene.

My opinion of Gillbert slowly plummets as my opinion of Annette continues to rise. I mean absentee emotionally distant father? He doesn’t deserve Annette and her mom. Ok during Dimitri and Annettes C support about how being siblings would be nice, I’m like ummmmm you two are less than half a year apart. Annette is just small not young. its actually off putting to see Sylvain act like a decent person in Dedue’s supports. Underneath all that philandering and shitting on women, he’s actually a good dude and pretty smart, but wow I want to hit him sometimes. wow Felix is actually nice* to Annette. *well nicer anyways. He’s not mean to her. the “fight” Annette and Mercedes have in their B support is so stupid and now I need to get to the timeskip for it to resolve? wow.

I think Dedue like trauma latched (is that a thing???? I should go look up ptsd sometime) on to Dimitri. Like found the first person that showed a bit of kindness for him and clamped down. He sees himself as a tool of Dimitri, his entire existence is for the sake of another person. He hates Faergus for what it has done to Duscur but instead of helping to enact meaningful resistance against Faergus, he latched on to the first person that didn’t treat Duscur like scum. That’s not rational. Come to think of it everyone in blue lions need therapy like more so than the other houses (who could also use some)

And here I thought Sylvain was the one with self-worth problems, turns out Dimitri’s a part of the gang too. Its like he can’t see any good parts of himself. He is very earnest and straightforward. Also “you didn’t appear to be suppressing you emotions” huh really. not a topic you’re familiar with yourself Dimitri? Can’t remember if I’ve said this or not but why is Dimitri the only one to have a modified armored uniform.

Edelgard: tower, fortune, emperor. Linhardt: hermit. Mercedes: high priestess, strength. Ashe: star. Dimitri: moon, justice, devil?. Claude: sun, hermit?. Seteth: hierophant. Felix: chariot, emperor. Lysithea: magician. Flayn: lovers, priestess. Manuela: empress. Marianne: fortune, priestess, sun? death?. Ingrid: Emperor?. Bernadetta: hermit, moon. Dorothea: lovers, empress. Ignatz: hanged man. Caspar: justice, chariot

Ashe is such a good boy TT^TT

I always thought it hilarious that Lonato got Catherine’s name wrong, but no there was more to it than that.

Also I don’t get why Annette or her mom couldn’t just go to Garreg Mach. She didn’t need an excuse to visit a place, its not like you need a visa to enter. The school of sorcery and then officers academy sounds like such a roundabout way of doing things

I wonder what name Claude ascends the throne under. He likely only took up the name von Riegan upon entering Fodlan and probably used his father's family name before that. I wonder if Claude has an Almyran given name. If he tried to claim the throne under the name Claude von Riegan it’d kinda be an insult like spitting in the face of his people and that wouldn't gain him any favor in Almyra. But would he go under a fully Almyran name? He would be a more popular king showing himself as one of the people. However, I imagine that he'd keep the name Claude. Maybe he grew up with his parents calling him that maybe its important to him now that he's lived under it for ~7 formative years of his life. Coming to fodlan marked the beginning of claude carrying out his plan's to achieve his dream. Its also a period where he is devoid of his parent's guidance and presence. I'd also just say 16-23 is a pretty important period of identity building in a person's life. Its under the name claude that he finds people he wants to walk down this path with. Its an acknowledgement of both sides of his heritage. I wonder if his choice would be different in a non Verdant Wind route.

What if timelines get mixed up and 23 year old felix gets sent to right before glenn dies.  23 yo felix get teleported to an alternate universe or something and meets 13 yo felix. Felix angsts that glenn seems so young and how he's now older than him, maybe yells at his dad a bit and has a chat with 13yo felix.And then idk gets teleported back? Or worse gets trapped so now there 2 felixes running around and i dont know how thats going to affect the time line

Ashe would make the perfect court asassin. He has enough rank/political clout to get access to targets and its not suspicious if he is in proximity to them.But he's not important enough that anyone would pay attention to him. He's a knight and the lord of castle gaspard at most. He's like a minor lord not a duke or anything. Ashe has enough social and emotional intelligence to navigate social situations. He's easy to get along with and has that harmless sweet boy demeanor to him. He already is good at lock picking, sneaking around, and bows. All he need is some training from Shamir and Claude and Ashe would be unstoppable. The only thing stopping this is that Ashe is a genuine good sweet boy and hates deception. My boy is going to be a knight! 

You know what Dimitri needs? A Raphael. Put the one who cant deal with his own emotions next to the emotionally mature on and maybe Dimitri will finally get the help he needs. They can train together too

Dimitri: Kill them all. Don’t let a single one of them escape. Sever their limbs and crush their wicked skulls.

Me: how about no. Kids, don’t do that.

(later) Dimitri: I will search for survivors

Me: Yeah the ones you didn’t kill

The more I learn about Dimitri’s childhood the more I’m like what the hell is wrong with Faergus??? The lifting rocks makes sense because Dimitri is ridiculous strong, but having a kid run all night in heavy armor, or waking an 11 year old up in the middle of the night and having them catch deer. ????? Also Flayn’s cooking and Dimitri’s taste buds are a good match.  “Look at that young maiden wielding a giant lance. How adorable!” I mean that does sound pretty adorable actually.

Sometimes I think about how the officer’s academy is run as an institution and then I get a headache. The player character students we have number around 25 but you see npcs everywhere around garreg mach and there’s enough of them to fill a ball room. In talking to the students, a lot of them imply this is their first year at garreg mach which would imply that the officer’s academy’s course is 1 year long. This is also supported by the age range of the cast from 15 to 22 with most at 16-17 at the beginning of the year instead of having the younger and less experienced students at a different grade level. With a multigrade system unlikely though, how can we explain the number of students? There are 3 possibilities. First is that the class sizes are huge (conservative estimate is like 60/class, probably more based on cut scene estimates) with full day lecture classes. second is that there are only half day classes with half the students in morning class and the other half in afternoon class. Third is that there are actually more professors than shown.

The Central and Western Churches use the exact same rhetoric as shown in the Ashe-Catherine and Flayn-Seteth paralogues. We are divine and just and you are all heathens and sinners. Goddess this Goddess that. And both of them claim justifications for invasions under this rhetoric. Oh its not that you are politically inconvenient to me its that the Goddess says you are evil and I can’t argue with the Goddess so I have a moral obligation to strike you down. I wonder how many of them are actually delusional religious and how many are just using it as an excuse/cover.

I was thinking star or sun for claude because despite/because of everything he's an idealist. Like the sun guy in p3 akainori??? He take all that pain and tries to make the world a better placeInstead of a picture book though claude tries to revolutionize the worldAhhhhh I love this. theres so many narrative you can pull from these types of thingsDevil is like struggling with vice. Hubert's character arc deals withhis trouble connecting with people, his loyalty to edelgard, and what he has to do. Maybe justice? Rationality, jusgement, and themes of what is justice. Especially his convo with Hanneman that calls into question the execution of his fatherSeteth is probably hierophant as he's that one strict follow the rule book teacher we'vr all had. He also repeRepresents the chuch, authority, and the establishment (initially)Mercedes is a nurturing motherly type person with fits empress well. I take back the priestess statement from earlier. I think mercedes struggles are more external than internal (priestess is like more personal relationshio to spirituality and intuition). Wheel of fortune is an option? ?? Mercedes was born with a crest the her house fell and her step dad only wanted her mom for thr lamine crest. Then the church. then her adoptive dad wanting her for political gain theb the academy. A lot has been outside her control. Byleth is another good option for obvious reasons Edelgard is another good one given what happened in her childhood. If thing had been different she would be living a different life. Emperor could be another good one fore her since its about imposing your will on your surroundings

Dimitri’s stupid. I mean he’s using reasoning, but he’s jumping to conclusions when equally or more probable options are still there. I wouldn’t exactly believe Edelgard’s words either, but its clear Flame Emperor and TWSITD have their own separate agendas. Dimitrii’s  “edelgard is the root of all my sufferings” is like the same reasoning as edelgards “the church and its systems are the root of all suffering in Fodlan” but worse, at least Edelgard is half right.

Its honestly disturbing how willing Dedue is to erasing his autonomy and personhood.

timeskip time~ JP dimitri speech tone is much more calm it makes the dissonance with what he is saying all the weirder. He just making up excuses for his bloodlust now. “they” are “evil” so its ok to slaughter them. also yay monarchists, is gilbert actually relevant in this route???. Fleche and Randolf are actually relevant in this route???? I really hate Faergus. why are all of you following dimitri on his suicide run. why would you let the man clearly not in a good mental place decide the course of the army????

ch14: I mean getting ready to torture someone is one thing. but actually threatening me? You’re on my shitlist dimitri. Boy. You dare threaten me.

Woooowww its like watching a bunch of lemming run off a cliff

Rodrigue gets a bad rap in fandom because its true he’s not a great dad, but I don’t think he’s rock bottom either. He and Felix have different world views and he just has no idea how to deal with Felix. I’d be quite funny if it wasn’t so sad.

Dimitri doesn't have a rational bone in his body

In other news I'm getting kind of annoyed at everyone in azure moon.  Like heyyy maybe monarchy is a bad idea???

I read an interesting thought on why the prologue happened the way it did.  tldr: smear tactic against the church. It'd look bad if bandits even got close to the nation's heirs. And even worse if they got injured or killed. If one of them died, edelgard could get an advantage

hot take: Claude is naive in the same way Griffith is naive

another hot take: Claude is Buddha. or maybe Claude AS Buddha. Specifically the birth prophecy thing of kingdom vs all of time space

oh to clarify its about how Claude wants to change not only Fodlan and Almyra but the whole world. The Buddha thing is that there was a prophecy that he would either be an excellent king or like a spiritual leader whose teachings would echo through time around the world. so I want an AU

me finding out about dorothea's and mercedes backstories: who do I have to kill

Its implied in the hanneman supports that hubert’s dad might have been a part of the insurrection to protect hubert

I was imagining Ferdinand and Sylvain interacting and Sylvain probably hates Ferdie's guts and then in got dark first Ferdinand dislikes nobles that aren't noble so he'd probably disapprove. sylvain would see sheltered ferdinand and want to make him suffer as he has. not to mention Ferdinand ... always looks forward, he's always trying to improve himself and I can see sylvain resenting that and himself. on the flip side both hold the chavalier position in their house, and they both appreciate the fine arts. like ferdinand is out here being an obnoxious good boy championing everything sylvain hates

me looking at all the dudes Mercedes can A support: none of you deserve her. what are you bringing HER in this relationship

the only thing i likea about faerhgus is their flag. which is just so aesthetically pleasing

petra and edelgard are foils for each other.  they are princesses from opposite sides of a past war.  both are dedicated to their nations and seek to become the person their country deserves.  both are very driven.  each was for a period of their life removed from their home country.  but their positions are very different from one another.  edelgard and petra also have a low key friendly rivalry where they motivate each other to strive for more. they should have had an A support

I've been avoiding jeritza because his character concept seems like an edgier dimitri. So I'm just here to say i like his deaign. Partly covered face + long hair? Its like the devs are out for me by pairing that with a personality I don't get along with

Unpopular opinion but ignatz's part 2 haircut is super cute

i know someone here was plotting out a persona 5 cross over, but the more I think of it, dimitri belongs in persona 4.  that game's all about facing the parts of your personality that you don't want anyone else to see.  I mean feral dimitri is basically his shadow, that part of him that he rejects

A supports/total supports Claude: 10/13 Sylvain 4/16 So here's a comparison of how their trust issues affect their relationships. Claude might be incredible closed off and even in his A supports, still be with holding important information, but given enough time he can still potentially bond with a great number of people. While on the other hand Sylvain has destroyed his ability to form meaningful connections with people, so half of his A supports are people he already has a bond with. Sylvain is a bitter resentful boy and its getting in the way of his life. oh those supports are excluding byleths

Sylvain is deliberately stupid which makes him the true idiot here

i've been wondering, does dimitri's super strength randomly activate or is he like that all the time

Dimitri and sylvain. When 1+1=0

Chess club edelgard, hubert, sylvain, claude

Edelgard assumes there will be costs and doesn't try to find a way around it. That sort of glory in being killed is faerghus' thing

I really wish I could expierence the game in its full state. What we have in yhis reality is like a shadow of what it could have been.  I just want cf and vw to be their complete, best selves. Of all the routes, AM was written first and the only one that was completed and reached its full potential. VW and SS feel like half a route with of the other routes patched in to fill the gaps.  all of byleths lines in VW are suspiciously about rhea.  In some of the cutscenes theres graphical errors where the soldiers are wearing chuch colors instead of alliance.  Some parts of VW were clearing written fot SS and shoved in last minute.  Like the Edelgard scene. That scene makes mire sense in SS where byleth was her house leader, but not as much is VW where you barely talk to her. which is a shame because that’s one of my favorites.  Byleth's lines make sense in SS which is about rhea and saving the churcv but not in VW which is about whats really happening and Claude.  The same of course applies to SS, where seteth just says Claude's lines, and its so weird. And yet VW and CF are the strongest conceptually for me (or at least tickle my personal preferences). I also don't think any route should be seen in the absence of the others. Its is all 4 route together that show what the game is about. Focusing in on any one route is an incomplete picture.  Verdant Wind was so good and yet it could have been so much better.  That gap between the potential and the actual both angers and saddens me.  Also VW is the most big picture of all the routes. Instead of diving in, it takes a step back for perspective. You can see the war as a whole instead of just what's happenibg with faergus or adrestia. You see what's actually happening. That its not adrestria vs faregus but  the remnants of an ancient war still affecting modern politics from the dominance of the churcv to the agarthans who gave been stirring up shit for centuries.  Despite all its flaws Verdant Wind is also my favorite. Its not better than the other routes... but its spirit managed to reach my crusty old heart. Its like an ugly puppy. I just see all the places it could be better... (gronder field, and that ending??)

Hanneman legit reminds me of some of my professors. Well intentioned very nice people who are just incredible nerdy. A cute old man.

for all that many of Petra's ending end up in Nuvelle, its not actually all that close to Brigid. Seems like a mistake to me

claude badgering seteth to help him with his translations of old books

also its nice that 3h does not have the male as default thing and there are female background characters. Watching the starwars movies its weird that like every mook is male

dorothea and leonie co-chair the  let's-eat-the-nobles club.  claude and petra are both like fodlan nobles are weird and helpless with goofy dances

Ingrid and raphael competing at an eating competition.  Lysithea joins in because she wants cake

I have been overcome with the sudden urge to bully sylvain.  I want to see him make the sad pouty face

ferdinand is a good boy

I like to think that Agartha while progressing in some aspects, has also lost a lot of their technology in that they can still use it but no longer understand how it works

I want  more ignatz supports. I can see him bonding with ferdinand and dimitri strangely enough

Also claude and linhardt and claude competing for who can turn their room into a library first is so great

Again... still wondering what the climate and biogeography look like. Tall trees tend to be in wet temperate with good soil.  We knoe faerhgus is cold but not how cold.  All we know is that duscur ans sreng are cold and arid/semi arid.  We'd need some interesting wind patterns for fodlan to be temperate. If the northern coast is arid. The only way the interior is temperate is if wind is goinf north to south and gwtring trapped by tje central mountain range.  I dont think garreg mach is up in the himalayas

Sothis poorly grandmafriending byleth. Excellent

Playing AM and wow I forgot how much I want to punch dimitri I just want to off gilbert

I watched one of gilbert and annetes supports and wow I want to beat him into the ground all over again. Gilbert doesnt deserve a family

Ahhhh why did I play azure moon again. I'm stuck with gilbert the rest of the route!

i got a birthday letter from gilbert... i dun wan it

Linhardt really just does not care. Not about your "traditions"  or "laws". He only sort starts caring about "morals" after remire

Count Dominic: i have made the perfect crest bearing knight's daughter Me: you fucked up a perfectly good person is what you did. look at her. she's got anxiety. Me: prepare for pain.

Time to go beat up annettes uncle for giving her anxiety.  now I know where annettes fear of failure comes from... Annette deserves so much better

Sothis really is that gremlin living in the attic

I cant believe the reason dimitri made it past gronder was that his actions were so insane that so one could plan for them

I didn't expect ashe to be my mvp this time round... but he is.  Byleth and dimitri both have good strength but are squishy. Ashe's range is insane. He gets that skill that expands range + longbow + deadeye + horse + ring. And if thats not enough canto gets him back out of range. He crits on every other hit and has like a 60% crit rate with a killer bow. He kills everything in one turn. Armor units? Magic bow. Anything else he doubles and crits.

Alao update on the cornelia conspirqcy theory: busted

She just built firdiad a functioning sewer system

Back onto the debunking of the cornelia conspiracy theory  yeah she totally got replaced

Why am I playing azure moon.... I miss Claude

So the derdriu chapter in AM.... claude isnt as heartbroken aa in CF but he's not in a good place. I think he's mourning/coping with loss (the loss of possibilites, future, what could have been etc.) just like he was in CF. It also makea me think he's planning on invading fodlan in the future. I will need to think over this.

Gautier territory is a cold steppe and known for their horse breeding. Those hairy horses have to come from somewhere

Interestingly dimitri is 3/10 strongest in the army despite being a couple levels higher than everyone. So much for that Blaiddyd strength

Flayn is scared of being forgotten isn't she

Sylvain really takes care of dimitri huh

ahhh yeess claude in a poofy sleeved white shirt

Literally dimitri: no i dont "need rest". I have a headache but thats just from lack of sleep

Rodrigue and lambert ditching class getting high on the monastary roof

Faerhgus really is one giant death cult huh

Oh wow ingrid is like unhitable. High speed + evasion ring + avo+10 +alert stance+ + defiant avo

A-after many years I have finally finished azure moon... I think part of why I don't like azure moon is that it wasn't able to sell me on the rightful king narrative. And I CAN be sold on that as both Tolkien and Claude prove. That and the continued existence of gilbert. My loathing for that man is beyond expression

#fe #fe3h

[isaacathom]

what i know about the other ‘player character’, who we’ll call Sam for now, is that they’re definitely from out of the region, possibly from Sinnoh. You, the player, are one of the first people Sam meets in Urica, and you are essentially their gateway into the whole rest of the region and its people. its on this basis that their potential routes develop. if you treat them poorly, Sam will grow to resent the people of Urica on the whole, and will not offer their help at key points. treat them nice, and they’ll want to help you and Urica, hence joining the Organisation in order to help out in their own way. treat em meh, and they’re sorta... conflicted. they’ll help if you ask, i guess? they aren’t super sure and they dont go out of their way.

whether the player is ALSO from out of Urica?? im not sure. on the one hand its narratively easier and means everything is new, justifying tutorials and tours. on the other hand, you being their gateway to Urica implies you DO have some authority, which isnt really possible if you are also a fresh arrival.

i guess my issue there stems from the fact that in pokemon, the local ones seem kinda weird. who are these kids? oh theyre my best friends? ok. sure. PLUS, in this specific instance, if the player is from Urica, it means they already know Zeke, and that they likely have a concept of Seren as a person who has existed at some point. your parents, certainly, would be aware of Seren having existed. yea, the player was like......... 4? ish??? its been 7-8 hours, but still? your parents would know. which means you would ALSO, except you dont. so itd mean the writing around Seren only makes sense if you forget youre a local. eh. it ALSO would mean you already know Elliot, which would actually make some sense and sounds kinda kick ass. idk. its mostly the zeke thing that bothers me??? though i suppose that does explain a lot about his own character, and how your actions only really affect his view of you and not a whole lot else.

.... hmm... actually, yea. i like that. it gives Elliot a reason to be friendly towards you, it give Zeke a reason to actually interact with you, since he’s an older kid and would otherwise have no reason to interact with two youngins for out of town. Zeke serves as just a friendly guy. ooh, and it means Elliot can be constantly checking on you to report back to your parents, because, yknow.... he knows them?? theyre actually friends. so rather than checking on you as an obligation, he’s checking on you because youre his friends kid, yknow? well, ok, ‘friend’ is loose. but your parent/s certainly know Elliot personally, especially once he moved back home after he retired.

hmm. yea. you’re a local, you’re sent out by your parents (maybe your dad? have him exist for once, thanks dad) to welcome this new arrival, ‘Sam’. but you’re also aware of a previous obligation - you were going to hang at the Lab with Elliot and Zeke for something unspecified. the Player knows this is you getting a pokemon, but the character doesnt. but you introduce yourself to Sam, you can offer to show them around (which you wont actually do but it IS a dialogue option that automatically will give you + points towards friendship. start early, boi), and eventually you’ll head back outside with Sam anyway (i imagine if you DONT offer, they’ll actually ask you to maybe show them around? or maybe their mum will. like Sam’s parents will come up while youre chatting and go ‘oh, dear, would you mind maybe taking my darling Sam on a tour? thank you!’ or, if you offered, theyll just outright thank you for being a sweetheart and they’ll give a potion to your mum to give to you. again, get them + points fuckers. you cant get - points this early on, even though it makes SENSE, but for the plot to advance you kind of need to be polite enough to Sam). so you head outside, Zeke and Elliot cut you off, and the 4 of you go to the Lab. boom, surprise pokemon. Zeke was already in on the plan, but lets you go first. he then goes second (picking the stronger one) and Sam goes last - in that, they dont actually specifically pick one. they want to, and the Professor promises to hold that pokemon for Sam if they can get their parents permission, and at this, Sam sprints home to beg for permission. you have a fight with Zeke, you’re sent back home to show your dad (hell yea) your pokemon, you get the optional potion, then you head back outside and theres Sam and Elliot, and Sam challenges YOU to a battle. which is a liiiittttle weird in terms of progression (compared to BW where you fight Bianca first), but its all fun, gets you exp, bonding, nice.

thats about it but i think that all works.

#codename seren #story blogging #i thinkt hat works. also the other players name isnt Sam im working on it but its a neutral name for now