The Wolfsguard, The Sable Knights, and Macedon (FE12 spoilers)

[mark_asphodel]

 Now that many of the character endings are leaked/translated (thanks so much to shimizu_hitomi!), here is my gut reaction to some of the content in this REBOOT (not remake) of Monshou no Nazo.

I'm cool with recruiting the Wolfsguard.  There always was the option to let all of them live (same mechanism-- have King Aurelis call 'em off the attack) even if you could only recruit Roshea.  And my concern with them, that a happy fun ending for Hardin's most loyal men would undercut the cost of the War of Heroes, has been 100% allayed with what happens to Wolf.  In brief, while his comrades adjust to the new order, Wolf commits indirect suicide by hurling himself into a violent battle "as if seeking a place to die."  Bravo, IS.  And I thought what you guys did to Knoll was bad-- this is hardcore.  This is, in a sense, better than simply being killed outright in the Battle of the Pass (as many FE3 FAQs, including Italian and Spanish-language ones, urge the player to do in revenge against the Wolfsguard's crappy Book One stats), because the dialogue between the Aurelians gives some characterization as a groundwork.  So, yay.  Good change!

I was also leery of the survival of the three Sable Knights once under the command of Camus (Belf, Leiden, Robert), because again-- let's have some cost to this war, people!  They suffered no repercussion from Camus going rogue and then managed to survive on the losing side the War of Darkness?  If having one minor contribution to the cause of light makes survival so easy, why does everyone not follow it?!?  But Belf's conversation with "Sirius" allays some of that-- in addition to being very welcome dialogue with Sirius, the dialogue raises a tantalizing prospect. Sirius floats the idea that, were Belf to ally again with his beloved captain, they might not "gather revolutionary forces" and seize back Grust.  Sirius then indicates why this would not be a good idea, but it's a puzzler given that hey, didn't we already liberate Grust like twelve chapters ago?  Mm, no.  Marth liberated Grust from General Lang and friends.  The suggestion here would appear to be the suggestion of native Grustians liberating their motherland from the current occupying force-- Marth and friends. 

Combine this with the fact that the Grust twins still have their crappy FE3 ending and it seems that yes, it's not just my dark mind and the actual in-game characters can see that something's very wrong here.  Seriously, wouldn't this have been much nicer?

"Grustian Prince Yubello: He studied magic in Altea after the war.  Supported by his sister, he later became a just and compassionate king."
"Brave Princess Yumina: She completed her studies at the new Academy in Pales, then returned to her brother's side in Grust.  The people welcomed their courageous princess."

Something like that!  :(

BTW why study magic in Altea given that Linde indicates that noble families of Altea are magic-averse and that Merric is an oddity?  And Merric isn't even IN Altea because he's in Pales with Linde Elice!  This setup would appear to be in the best interests of someone other than Yubello.

And while we're on the subject of injustice....

In some of my FE2/3 fusion stories (a couple published and some WIPs), I have a pretty sinister depiction of postwar Archanea from a Valencian perspective.  This is in part playing off the FE trope of the "dracoknight/wyvern rider" nation as being aggressive, expansionist, and usually the cause of all the trouble.  And Archanea has wyverns while Valencia emphatically does not.  And it's mostly tongue-in-cheek because hey... if Macedon is co-opted by the mainland, then Marth is in charge, and really he does not and will not equate to Zephiel or Ashnard or zombie!Vigarde.  Not even if you kill Caeda and have Medeus eat Elice and push him really, really hard.

But, just as FE12 retconned Tropes from the Future onto FE3 characters, so the sinister shadow of wyvern wings does rise again in the east.  And with Michalis sitting once again on the Macedonian throne, in command of his loyal Dragoons... IS apparently decided to go for broke and have Michalis set his sights on conquering other continents.  Maybe this is where we're going in FE13?  Fire Emblem: Revenge of Michalis!  There is so much I despise about the scenario that I dearly wish the initial translations of Michalis's ending (about being "stripped of supreme leader status") were correct.  I hate the implications for Lena, Julian, and Matthis, for Minerva and Maria, and for poor Catria and Palla.  Hate it.  

For a moment, it looked as though FE12 might upend my conception of Archanea as the bleakest and most unforgiving of all FE worlds.  But, no, we still get a game-verse in which many characters who put their lives on the line for "light" simply disappear from history and die unloved.  And after it's "over" and the dragons are sealed away, you still have violent battles raging (so that Wolf can throw his life away), you have the shadow of provincial insurrection against the latest continental overlord, and you have a very dangerous man with a large and highly mobile army plotting conquest in the south.  In FE3, the message seemed to be "the adults screwed up, so the world goes to the kid(s)."  In FE12, the message appears to be "the lunatics are running the asylum, and nothing ever really ends."

Comments

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

That's exactly what this is, Manna. A fun and glossy rendering of a familiar story with the moral center skewed so terribly that it no longer really exists.

I liked the new Trek film a great deal, but in essence it was not Trek.

[hooves.livejournal.com]

I also liked the new Trek film, but 1.) it didn't feel very Trekkie to me (despite being a GASP Star Wars prefer-er myself), and 2.) The fandom. Exploded. (On one hand, I understood the wank, on the other, I didn't. @_@)

But yeah, from what people have been saying about this Reboot, it's not really...like it should be? I never actually played FEDS, probably because the sudden name changes bothered me (I'm used to hearing about the fan-translated named characters), but also because I'm still so darned stuck on FE7. (I own FE8, 9, and 10, and FEDS, but play none of them.) But I guess, also, that eh. I was worried about what would happen if they redid all the games.

Sure, they did okay with FEDS, but...what about the rest? When/if they redo FE4, will they skewer it so badly it's nothing like the original? (Cousins can marry one another in that game, if I remember right.) What about FE6? (Someone once asked me about FE7 being remade, and I higgghhhly doubt they ever do that. But still-- how many ways can it be changed until it's nothing like the original? (Or at least...not enough like the original to be a remake, but as you've named it, a Reboot.)

It's an interesting...situation, to be sure. But honestly, I don't even know how I feel about it personally. Remakes scare me. Sequels scare me. I don't really like them. They tend to change details and confuse people, and just-- argh.

It's like writing a fanfiction of a series when you're halfway through the actual series. You write a 50-chapter epic piece, and then you realize, in episode 47, Character A dies a horrible, tragic death, and now your epic piece of fiction has been rendered AU. Hurrah. (And in a year, when everyone has seen every episode, you will hear 1,000 times, "Didn't you know that A died in the 47th episode?")(And if your fandom is so small nobody reads or cares, then you just get to feel dumb. Even better.)

Either way! This remake has stirred up the flist quite a bit, I'd say.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

was worried about what would happen if they redid all the games.

I want a straight-up remake of FE2 in some fashion, even if it's bonus content on another game. However, I kind of wouldn't mind an FE2 remake that kept plot and characterization intact while introducing gameplay elements to make it more "Fire Emblem" and keep the punters happy. And I am now fixating on an FE2/12 sequel with Michalis as the bad guy and Alm/Cellica kicking his ass.

Cousins can marry one another in that game, if I remember right

Half-siblings. Cousins, too (I don't see that as an issue myself) but half-siblings can and do marry and have children. You can even trick the "love system" in the game to have the game hero marry his OWN half-sister.

What about FE6?

The idea of an FE6 remake causes me to groan. It was a GBA game! Remaking classics from the NES/SNES era is one thing, but remaking a GBA game? That's pushing it. I may be biased because I remember when the GBA debuted. Hell, I remember when the Game Boy debuted. Though frankly... I kind of think that FE7 was in some ways a "reboot" of FE6's universe, what with introducing Lyn and Mark and all the other elements that have to be erased to maintain FE6 continuity. And in a sense, FE11/12 is doing that to Archanea (MyUnit, gaiden characters, et cetera).

Sequels scare me. I don't really like them. They tend to change details and confuse people, and just-- argh.

Well, FE has as a franchise been all about the sequels and the sidestories from the get-go. FE5 conflicts with FE4, for instance. And, ah, what I said about FE7, heh. My issue with Michalis is not that "it's different." It's that this particular change appears to be in gross violation of the moral underpinnings of the series, which is one of the things that drew me in to Archanea and Fire Emblem to begin with. If the "good guys" can act like the bad guys and get away with it... what are we fighting these wars for, anyway?

It's like writing a fanfiction of a series when you're halfway through the actual series.

Oh god yes. I thought I was safely dealing with closed canon and just had to worry about ancient stuff becoming translated/available (designers' notes and such). And... BAM!

But it's much like the seventh book of Harry Potter and its impact on the part of fandom I followed. This new installment is so messed up that we may be 'ficcing about it for years to come!

[sailorvfan10.livejournal.com]

My issue with Michalis is not that "it's different." It's that this particular change appears to be in gross violation of the moral underpinnings of the series, which is one of the things that drew me in to Archanea and Fire Emblem to begin with. If the "good guys" can act like the bad guys and get away with it... what are we fighting these wars for, anyway?

THIS! Just...word.

I thought I was safely dealing with closed canon and just had to worry about ancient stuff becoming translated/available (designers' notes and such). And... BAM!

This too. Especially with the name changes, which trip me up all the time, and now they've rebooted the canon and I...

It confuses me so much. There's never a worse feeling than, "HEY MY FANFICTION IS NOW CONSIDERED AU, HUZZAH!" simply because they changed things in a game that's almost twenty years old (in reference to FE3 specifically).

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

There's never a worse feeling than, "HEY MY FANFICTION IS NOW CONSIDERED AU, HUZZAH!" simply because they changed things in a game that's almost twenty years old (in reference to FE3 specifically).

Well, and when 17-year-old things I've placed investment in are axed out of canon, like the changes made to Cain's ending. Why, IS, why?

It's surreal.

[sailorvfan10.livejournal.com]

I don't understand why they changed his ending. Or why they changed most of the people's endings. What was the point, anyway? I want answers, IS!

This has taught me that even 'ancient' canon isn't safe.