mark_asphodel | FE13: To the very end

Well, then.

You know how an annoying number of Archanean characters just go off and disappear? More than the usual quota for an FE game? Yeah, FE13 is like that for all the kiddies I recruited save Nah. To make things even stranger, baby Lucina keeps on existing and growing normally, and so apparently does baby Inigo. Yikes.

But that means Lucina/Inigo incognito wandering romance is legit. <3

Oh yes. The plot.

Complete. And utter. Bullshit. Nuh-uh, hear me out. I have the same problem with this game as I do with FE12.

Consequences? What the fuck are those?

You make "choices" that don't matter. That's a gameplay device, you say? No. This game-- like its immediate predecessor-- undercuts the stuff I kind compelling about Fire Emblem, especially early Fire Emblem. Basilio sacrifices himself because the whole Valm affair was really stupid? NOPE. He's fine. Chrom dies when Robin succumbs to the powers of Grima? NOPE. He's fine! The Fire Emblem was stolen? NOPE. It's all good! Robin is a vessel for evil and likely can't be saved? NOPE. What do you think this is, FE4? FE8? The power of love and friendship triumphs over everything. Only bad people die. Oh, and Yen'fay, but no one gives a shit about him except Say'ri. Everyone we know and loves live happily every after, at the cost of a bunch of unsympathetic one-dimensional cartoon characters we never felt a moment's pity or sorrow over. And unseen extras, but whatever. And Emmeryn, but there's a Paralogue that "fixes" that, ha ha ha.

And how come, with Emmeryn's example as the turning point in his own life, Chrom wasn't on board with making certain sacrifices? The incoherence of this game's philosophy makes FE4's policy in vengeance and compassion make sense by comparison. -_-

I said things were going downhill with IS and its morality when Michalis got to live because teh pretteh. I stand by that, in spades.

The game was fun. Very fun. Really enjoyed it, look forward to playing more of it, look forward to DLC fun and another run-through with some different pairings. The ending battle, while utterly OTT, features some parent-child combat action that was really fuzzy and heartwarming to behold in spite of how irrelevant most of the kidlets are to the actual plot.

But in terms of what the game was about? Hahahah. Don't bother. If there is anything deep or meaningful or worth contemplating in this, someone other than me will have to dig it out. I'll just look at the pretty visuals and the pretty music and contemplate how damn hot Inigo is with that accent and how perfectly he and Lucina work together.

These characters should've been blown through a portal and dropped off in the world of Thracia 776. They'd all die. They wouldn't stand a chance.

PS: I was miffed earlier that this game contains no Lorenz archetype. Well, it seems to be Basilio. He just doesn't have the tagalong kid that usually comes with the Lorenz role in the main game-- but it sounds like he's gonna mentor ickle Lucina, so there we go. Lorenz archetype confirmed.