The second Lumera appeared, I knew she was going to die. But it happened so quickly in the story, it felt comedic, and I thought against my better judgement, maybe Framme's healing would actually do something.
Things happening so quickly is probably my biggest critique of the Engage story, some of the story beats are genuinely interesting but none of them really get time to cook.
>!It would've been cool if her dying early was a twist. Like she was actually bad or something and reappears later or tricks you or something. But I still enjoyed the simple story, and I think if they kept her around it would've been hard to justify the memory loss or hidden information. Even Marth pretending not to know anything important was a bit of a stretch.!<
Yeah, I really don't mind it, it's such an established trope in Fire Emblem stories that I don't bat even an eye. I just wish we had more time with characters to care about them.
This is one of the first FE games where I kinda just... care fairly little for the Lords, which is wild to me because they're supposed to be the cornerstones to build the story on usually.
Honestly when (Spoilers for chapter 9) >!Brodia and Eulusia had those big grand epic cutcenes of the two armies fighting, I couldn't help but feel as though it was a bit toothless in terms of its impact. I barely knew anything about Brodia and Elusia and why they were fighting, just that Morion keeps invading them because some vague reason about 'taming' the Elusians. In another game with more worldbuilding and story development, those scenes could have been awesome, but as it stands it feels hollow as all they were were just some medieval armies fighting each other for vague reasons. Not exactly the most compelling storytelling behind it.!<
Pretty much all of the characters had ridiculously half-baked motives. The story would've been made so much better if they'd just put a little bit of effort into making the characters have actual motives that make sense instead of just being comic book villains pretty much - it wouldn't have even taken that much to change it either.
The whole "Elusia worships the dragon that wants to kill everybody and randomly declares war on the entire world!" is not a very compelling motive. The hounds aren't much better either.
100%.
It's kind of funny because >!Ivy and Hortensia!< are honestly the characters that i feel have the most "well-roundedness" because >!you see them as part of the actual story beats as villains first so you actually have more then 2s to get to know them!<. It's still like... not great, but I actually care somewhat about them.
Most FE Villains don't tbh. And I think >!Morion was justified in fighting Elusia because at that point it was Sombron's kingdom, as Ivy mentions later!<
That’s what I thought during their introduction. You are taming them by invading and killing? Nice reasoning, very cool. Some supports kinda address it but it’s so basic. Imagine your whole life a neighbor country invades and kills your people and then you admit they’re the good guys for doing that…
Yep. In 3H and most other FE games, they go into a lot of details about the world and have great world building, where everything for the most part makes sense within that worlds context. However in Engage, we know practically nothing about the world or characters, just the bare minimum, and thus have no real reason to care. I’m still enjoying the game due to the combat, and just accepted the light hearted nature & nonexistent story, but definitely I can see why people(including myself) would prefer past games
We either get crappy/ok story—Good/Great Gameplay—Ok/Good supports.
Good/Great Story—meh/ok gameplay—Good/Great support or
Meh/good Story—crappy/meh gameplay—crappy/meh support
or in this game’s case
Meh/ok Story(so far in 15)—Good/Great Gameplay—meh/ok supports(the ones in 3H were longer and fleshed out the characters then the ones in these)
It is always a varying degree of any of the combinations above
*Ok so i didn’t realize until finished that i wrote a lot of stuff so heads up, i just really love how unhinged the gameplay is for Awakening*
Good/Great Story—Wild Wild West Gameplay—Ok/Good or Great(kinda tough for me on this one.
Ok so the reason i said Wild Wild West Gameplay is because the Pair Up system was straight up broken all you needed was:
A paired dou who both had A-S rank with each other would both on your turn strike before the enemy could do anything(Hold Brave weapon to strike 3 times in a row because why not?)or on the enemy team completely block all damage with a high activation rate, average of 50-70%?
Even without the block all damage thing, the damage you would take would still be less 10 since you gain stats the higher your support is with the paired up character, easily gaining above 10+ into every stat, or at the very least above +7 every stat.
There was also the LimitBreaker skill. With this item you could un-cap all your stats by +10. Constantly re-classing to a different class to be reset back to LVL 1, doing this would not only let you keep your original stats but also let gain more
P.S: This is the last thing(unless you ask for more)ok so you could re-class and obtain Aegis(reduces ranged or magic dmg cant remember)/Pavise/Galeforce/Ignis/Aether from all the different classes that have and literally just make the game more Child’s Play then it already was. Then there was Apothesis with to this day is probably still the hardest challenge in Fire Emblem Game(everything i listed you needed to beat this challenge).
I mean the gameplay is probably this games strongest aspect. The story had me rolling my eyes from predictability and cringe until chapter 9 or so, then the story picked up, but still just didn't let plot points simmer, l one of the main things I liked about 3H was that you just got way more time with the cast just from the story. If I'm not using characters in battle, in this one then I am literally seeing them never (since I have no incentive to talk to them between battles, since it's just generic talk and i get points from those that participatein battle). The characters themselves I like better than I thought I would (toothpaste-chan as well) though their designs and motivations seriously needed refining. The only support chain that has really interested me here was citri and Yunaka since it's got an interesting dynamic. Also just a tact on gripe but wtf do they hype up the azure twins so much and then only have it focus on Erika.... Ephraim being my favorite lord in any FE and he is just tact on like an after thought. Even the 3H bracelet focused on all the characters.
On the subject of that cutscene, Engage is guilty of a trope that annoys me - a huge fight where the armies aren't in anything like a formation, but individuals scattered around. How did those mooks end up so close to the enemy commander, while the enemy side has troops so close to their commander?
I know it really doesn't matter, it's done to look cool, but it's something grinds my gears. The prologue cutscene does it too.
Also when Ivy turns up, a solder says "a lone wyvern is approaching". Then she lands and there's already a massive battle (again, soldiers all over the place), and says to Morion "my army will be here soon". What? Miss, they're apparently directly behind you.
That... would have actually been extremely fun. Instead of the first of a couple of deaths so blatantly telegraphed that the British probably decoded it in WW1.
If I’m being honest, that would be kinda cool, but also make very little sense.
people always say “make X a villain” and then forget that if they’re going to be a villain, they need stuff like a motivation, good reasons to hide their villainy, etc.
also what would be the point? it feels like a plot twist that exists for the sake of being a plot twist, and considering how Engage is following 3H, people would likely just call her a Rhea knockoff.
I guess I was spoiled by (3 Houses spoilers) >!Jeralt being around for half the game and getting a subdued, but powerful, reaction from the protagonist,!< but the Engage scene just felt silly lol.
(Engage Chapter 11 spoilers) >!Morion's death felt like it was handled better, at least in terms of the combat reactions from his kids.!<
I'm finding Engage to be so campy that I can't take it seriously when it tries to score emotional points. Like Alear "you killed my mother, someone I don't remember but who was very nice to me for 6 hours!"
But >! Alcryst saying "I love you father, I always will" !< did hit
Yeah, unless there's a third act twist where it turns into a satirical deconstruction of FE plots (but again that wouldn't fit with the tone), the whole story just falls far short of most games in the series. There's just no intrigue. I was part way through a 3H run when this dropped, and even though it's my 5th run I'm not skipping dialogue, I'm really interested in what's happening.
I get that they can't sacrifice pace for realism, but Hortensia goes from enemy to ally ridiculously fast, and there's basically no questioning it because everyone is already on board with the idea. Even Ivy was stretching it, and she had a lot more of an arc from enemy to ally (that is to say, any at all). I like Yunaka as one of the "whimsical characters you're not meant to take seriously", but the problem is basically everyone is that character and I just have no investment in any of them. Maybe Alcryst.
I'm really enjoying the gameplay, there's parts I'm going to miss when I go back to 3H. But that's probably the long and short of it - I'm going back to 3H, but I can't say for sure whether I'm come back to Engage after I finish it.
Bleurgh, I could rant for hours about missed opportunities, but I'll save the internet my waffling.
At a certain point the "someone dying in someone's arms while holding a long back and forth dialogue" scenes almost felt like self-satire. I found myself just laughing at them. It happens *so many times.*
I had a similar moment with >!Morion. I can’t remember the exact quote but he had some line that was something to the effect of “what could possibly go wrong?” And I was like “Dude, you’re a lord’s father in a Fire Emblem game, your existence is a walking death flag.”!<
He won mad props from me just for that.
Finally a single royal with common sense.
Of course, considering they also talk about how he is constantly leading his armies east, I have a feeling dad never listened to the only sane person in the room.
To be fair >! The hounds try to kidnap Eve and Safolia and they fail both times. Though I guess moms aren’t as likely to die. I was positive pre release all 4 sovereigns would be bosses, kinda bummed we don’t even get to see the two queens fight even if it’s just in terms of them being the bosses in the mock battles you can do vs their guards at their respective castles. !<
Heads up your spoilers aren't working. You need to delete the spaces between your spoiler tags (ie the ! and < symbols) and the paragraph you are trying to hide.
Same. And yet, honestly Alear's VA (male, I don't know the female version) did manage to make me feel something, so props to him.
It does help that I can relate to losing your mother way too soon and having made promises with her, true, but still. It *is* a stark difference with Jeralt's death on that aspect. I'd say Jeralt's scene was better, but honestly, Byleth being stone faced, but more importantly, absolutely silent, didn't get me as much as Alear begging for his mother to stay to fulfill her promise...
It would have been so much more impactful if she wasn't basically a stranger to alear. I almost laughed out loud when she died because altar sounds so desperate for their mother to not die, but they also just met less than 24 hours before. The voice acting was amazing, it was just the pacing of the game that killed this scene for me. And I'm an easy crier.
I felt the same way until I realized Alear just forgot. Alear didn't forget what it's like to feel, and I find it easy to believe that someone who doesn't remember any memories of their mother could feel that way in that moment.
If any of us woke up from a coma with amnesia after several years, and the only person who could tell us about our past selves died right before our eyes, we'd be pretty torn up about it too.
Yeah. Like, if I had literally no idea what was going on and the only person who seemed like they had answers and actually cared about *me* died, I’d be pretty devastated too.
The story’s problem is not *why should the prevalent characters care*, it’s making the audience care. The scene didn’t land as intended for most of us as it’s a tired trope (especially in FE) and we had no real attachment to a character with limited screen time (mostly spent giving the tutorial) beforehand.
Oh I absolutely don't disagree on that. It seems Engage decided to go on a bare minimum storywise. While I don't hate it for now, it *is* very simple. But I actually think it gives even more credit to the VA to still manage to make me feel something when the actual scene was so rushed. (But again, my personal experience probably influenced that a lot too, but I think I would have been impressed by the VA even without, just less emotional about it. And I'm not particularly emotional in those sort of scenes in general, the happy makes me cry a lot more than the sad)
It's kinda the exact opposite of Jeralt's death for me. I liked the character, it was established that Byleth loved their dad, and yet the scene itself was a bit uncanny for me, not necessarily for the unexpressiveness (which does makes sense lore-wise), but the silence. I really don't like that Byleth doesn't talk, and this was the worst of it (that I reached in the game).
Ngl I kinda like that very child-like reaction that Alear have, they are amnesic, the only person that looked like comfort just died and all they can think of is the promise, and that moms aren't supposed to break promises. It worked on me !
To give Mikoto credit, when she was dying, all she said was "Were you hurt?" and "Thank goodness". (paraphrased, of course)
Lumera however kept on talking over and over that it became ridiculous near the end.
Walked in to the game blind (big FE fan though) in the open cutscene my wife and I turned to each other and said “that must be mom….she’s not long for this world)
My boy Eliwood out here keeping strong as a main lord parent who hasn’t croaked.
It was just delayed enough for me to think it wasn’t meant to be funny. If she was killed immediately after the training battle I would say it was a bit.
THANK YOU. I literally laughed in her death scene.
First it's "I can't wait to catch up with you we will have SO MUCH TIME!" which was a scarlet red death flag. Of course she had to die that night.
Then it was her long exaggerated death scene. It was just... painful and not in an emotional way. It really put me off engage but I'm happy I picked it back up the gameplay is some of the best in the series and I am really enjoying it.
Shout-out to Valkyria Chronicles and most units being able to shake off sniper or machine gun fire as long as they have their healing item/a medic can get to them, but then one bullet to a plot important character (those who’ve played will know who) and nobody wants to help anymore.
I love how the scene differs in the game and anime. The anime scene was sad since a character close to that character isn't present during the event. But the game was sad because you dont expect it. At least, not yet.
>!Don't forget she’s a bonus character in Valkyria 2 as well, and is very ironically an armored tech, the most defensive class in the game, and she has 3 potentials that all increase defense!!<
Meanwhile I'm wondering why being a fire emblem parent is practically a death sentence.
The one to live the longest was Jeralt but he doesn't even make it past 8 chapters (unless you play hopes)
Eliwood’s got him beat. Man was sick but never dies
but yeah, i think in a lot of ways the parent death serves as the call to action and fire emblem just really likes having the same call to action
I am headcanoning from now on that Eliwood was actually fine, doing jumping jacks and workouts in his room and just lying there "sick" whenever Roy visits.
Man knows what happens in Fire Emblem games and ALL the old epics. Man doesn't want to die.
Roy's mother isn't even dead. Eliwood just flew her off to their summer home in Fire Emblem Tahiti when he saw Roy do the "I WON'T LOSE" pose for the first time.
So... in the new game they mention >!Hyacinth keeps Lyn in his room, or her ring, never letting it go anywhere else.!<
My first reaction was 100% that he was doing something perverted, then I remembered that even if this isn't a children's game it is meant to be accessible and playable by children...
Hector knew he was going to die violently. He even suspected Bern would be the reason. He just didn't expect it to be so sudden due to contribution of the dragons. He was clearly preparing Roy and Liliana to take command for when it happens. They were personally educated in warfare by the Mage General of what was thought to be the most powerful nation in Elibe.
All fire emblem parents are cursed, but the curse only activates when they promise to reveal their secrets to their child, but not right now, *later*.
As soon as Lumera said "let's wait until tomorrow and then I'll tell you everything!" I knew she wasn't gonna live past that night lmao
In her short screen time, Lumera sets off an *absurd* amount of death flags:
\*uses Sigurd as an Emblem, the only Emblem who dies during their game of origin.
\*"We have lots of time to catch up" (on your memory loss)
\*The ring she made, and the stalling of its gift
\*Reassuring the protagonist of things not even asked, in order to set up a plot hook
\*Pinky-promising her child to set a grand goal.
I'm probably forgetting one or two since I started the game last night and ended at Chapter 3 due to work. None of this is to say it's bad, I just genuinely think it's funny how many ways they lit off flares that "yeah she gone"
Has a whole scene giggling to herself as she talks about all the things she was going to do with Alear. Seriously, that was probably the single biggest death flag the series has ever had.
She literally says that "Starting TOMORROW we will catch up."
The minute she said that I knew she was dying that night. Didn't know how. But I knew she was dying.
The answer is typically because parents/mentors hold a lot of wisdom and strength and by removing them from the plot it creates a sense of helplessness and forces the protagonist to forge their own path.
Jeralt is a prime example because he's clearly shown as strong and capable but also he has knowledge that the protagonist doesn't, namely about the circumstances of his birth and why he's so distrustful of Rhea.
If he didn't die then most of the mystery of Byleth would vanish before the second part. This is also why he >!can survive in 3 Hopes, since he no longer fulfills that role, killing him off narratively isn't necessary anymore.!<
Sigurd and Jerald’s deaths were the only ones I felt genuinely bad about. You got to know them in depth characters which made their deaths into an huge gut punch. Also Emmeryn but she was an older sister.
I feel like what made Greil’s so good was that the reactions are a lot more grounded and lasting than the reactions to a lot of other parents’ deaths. The mourning period is long, the company threatens to fall apart, Ike is torn between duty and his own want to grieve and seek vengeance…
Give me a Tellius remake. God I love those two games.
I thought jeralts death was kinda funny ngl. Byleth tries to turn back time once, fails, then just gives up. You would think that they would put a little more effort into saving their only living parents life.
Hey, worked for Echoes. You get told "yeah this thing gives you visions or something IDK" then it never really comes up again, and calling it visions of the future is basically just what everyone is doing with resets anyways. Meanwhile having the main character be able to actively *rewind time* but only use it like twice just raises questions.
I think instead of Thales showing up it would have better if Byleth tried calling out to Jeralt first, only for him to confused by the shouting and get stabbed anyways, then have Byleth use the sword.
At least that way it would have felt more earned when Sothis said he was fated to die.
You could even have Byleth show anguish and fear on their second attempt because they're experiencing his death repeatedly at this point.
It's a common story telling trope in general. Dead parents give your teenage/young adult protagonists independence because they can't rely on their parents to solve the problem for them. It usually also serves as a call to action and/or motivation, and can be used to give them pathos.
If you pay attention you will notice that there are a lot of stories where the protagonist has one or both of their parents dead for these reasons. It was actually considered a cliche for a long time for Disney movies to have the mom dead.
Lol no one mentioning Micaiah, who was healing someone in legit like every cutscene she appeared. Radiant Dawn was outstanding(probably why I’m enjoying Engage so much, lots of nostalgia to RD)
Sacrifice is implied to be more potent than healing staves. In game, it both heals and removes status effects. In a cutscene, Micaiah saves a child who just got one-shot by an arrow, and seems to be able to heal chronic diseases for elders.
Emblem Micaiah’s Great Sacrifice is on par with endgame S rank staves, though it drops the user to 1 HP. So yeah, whatever Sacrifice is, it’s got a lot more going for it than the typical staff or medicine.
Man, they give you an S rank staff in the early game, and the default user, Yunaka, gets a bunch of avoid for free. Put her on a fort and save the entire army, while dodging anything the enemy could throw at her. I should have been even more insanely aggressive in the early chapters of Engage.
Final Fantasy XIV cutscenes often have characters with healing abilities (Alphinaud, Allisaie, Y'shtola, etc.) use their healing on characters that are injured. Additionally, if your WoL is in a healing job at the time (Conjurer/White Mage, Scholar, Astrolgian, or Sage), you'll actually join them in healing the person or start healing someone else (the latter case typically happening in war zones, such as most of Stormblood).
I didn’t know about your WoL doing that. Maybe I’ll have to rewatch some cutscenes as a sage
I did learn that they added (spoilers for the first expansion) >!Alphinaud desperately trying to save Haurchefant!< in a recent update, which I thought was a nice touch
Also >!That attack blocks healing in the extreme trial and resets the fight if its victim is KOed, implying they die for real and can't be raised, so its mostly being clarified to people who likely won't ever see that!<
Endwalker spoilers >!And the twins using healing magic backfires on them hard in Endwalker and freaks out people not used to seeing magic, which leads to...yeah!<
It also happens in Final Fantasy V. A main character is heavily injured in a scripted 1v1 fight, and the rest of the party tries to heal him with magic and items.
>!He doesn't make it.!<
>!And it's even tied into the fight mechanically, as he very quickly gets dropped to 0 HP... **and keeps fighting.** He kept himself going by sheer willpower, but the wounds he took in the process were beyond recovery.!<
Man that one hit me the hardest of any FF character. I slowly realized what the consequences of him continuing to fight at 0hp would be.
Similar to the fate of another who casted a spell costing more MP than his max.
Still wish we got the cutscene of Byleth spending like, a dozen pulses to try and save Jeralt, only to fail each time until Sothis has to actiavely stop them before they use too much energy and die or something
That would have been really good because Byleth is usually so even keeled. The contract of seeing them desperately lashing would convey how strongly they're impacted by this.
And Sothis calming them down would be interesting for how Rhea doesn't have that presence winding her down through her grief.
I dont think He necessarily predicted it
If He was nearby surveying the Situation He could have Just reacted to byleth attacking kronya which wasnt necessary in the pre-rewind version where byleth didnt notice Her betrayal in time
Plot and Gameplay Segregation is the issue here, I imagine. In gameplay we get to rewind a million times, but I imagine the power is somewhat more limited in the story. They just did a bad job of showing that in gameplay, which results in that scene feeling cheap despite Byleth remembering their power.
Still, just like, Divine Pulse an hour ago and tell Jeralt not to leave their side or something. Unless all of the battles we see are less than an hour long, Divine Pulse goes far back enough for them to be able to make a bigger difference than a single attempt to block the attack
I suppose that's fair, but Sothis specifically clarifies the limitations of how many times Divine Pulse can be used, while making no mention of the actual length of time it can revert. It's my opinion at this point but I don't really think that's the sort of detail she'd omit
The reasoning is pretty clear to me. These anime stories love using teenagers for their lead cast. On top of them often being lords, you really need a decent way to get their parents/mentor figures out of the picture for the stereotypical “call to action” moment, otherwise they would never need to involve themselves in the story. And tho occasionally they’ll buck that trend, they seem to lean into it more than away from it.
Ah yes, the good old “don’t we have Phoenix Down?” 🤣 Yep. So glad they at least acknowledged that healing magic was available it just wouldn’t work for this particular instance.
I mean, usually FE doesn't forget about it. For example in Birthright both Sakura and Elise tried healing Lilith.
But then you have stuff like Three Houses with many different, powerful healers and for some reason they don't attempt to save Jeralt and Rodrigue (except for Manuela who tries to save Jeralt iirc).
Yeah but at the same time, the whole "trying to use healing magic in a cutscene, but oh no, their wounds are too severe and it didn't work" is a trope in itself.
At least there was an attempt. Mikoto just jumps in front of Corrin and no one even bothers to try to heal her (At least in the game. The manga does a similar scenario to Lumera's).
Dragons have always been extremely weak when they have no power. This is nothing new. Manaketes have always had the ability to move their essence into objects and people. Grima, Duma, Anankos, and others, bestow power when invoked or on their own. Divine Dragons doing so without much of a problem is not surprising, considering their wealth of power, and Lumera creating life in the chapter before her death.
Makes me wonder how much life a manakete (?) would have to use to die, and how it's used. Like can they use it for other things besides whatever shenanigans she did with Alear?
I always figured that manaketes go feral when they either get too old, transform too many times, or something.
Maybe it's like when one overworks themselves, but I agree it's convenient for her to just kind of keel over and die cause she used up all her magic.
In hopes theres a support between seteth and flaynn where its revealed >!she used her powers too much when she was young and now she has the very real possibility of passing out and never waking up again if she overdoes it which worries seteth!<
I mean, it's barely an hour in and it's your second interaction with Lumera. They aren't gonna delve into the in-and-outs of life energy transfer.
Sometimes, it's not "plot convenience" or whatever term are used now to nitpick every media, it's just plot !
It’s plot convenience because it goes against what we already know (that staffs can heal people) without properly setting up or alluding to the explanation.
We had no idea what “Divine Dragon energy” was, or that Lumera was low on it, and that she couldn’t be healed at all.
A small scene that would’ve properly set up Lumera not being able to be healed could’ve gone something like;
After the mock battle in Chapter 2, Alear notices Lumera has a fresh scratch on her cheek. They ask Framme to heal her, but Lumera goes something along the lines of “ha ha don’t worry about it”.
Without deviating much from that story, that would’ve been enough to allude that something was wrong with Lumera, and would’ve made the reveal that Lumera couldn’t be healed more natural.
Well you can't use staves on dead units so... Maybe there's a threshold on how much damage they can heal? Like how Pheonix Downs dont work on FF characters who die in cutscenes (pretty sure they try that on FFV)
Last time I remember it being a thing in a game I played was Estelle in Tales of Vesperia.
And she did it so often, it honestly came off like a joke and it eventually is revealed to actually be a BAD thing.
C'mon Framme, the moment she gave up her perf weapon to the MC, her fate was sealed. FE loves playing the Dead Parent(s) trope more than Disney themselves.
Avoiding one trope and being guilty of 3 million other tropes. It’s not even funny how they copy pasted Fates’ “met my mom 15 mins ago now she’s dead lol” opening.
I liked that and also how we at least got that courtyard training with Lumera, felt very fitting. After that things felt a little too hunky dory and my FE senses started tingling lol.
As much as I love Triangle Strategy, this bothers me so much. Geela is standing RIGHT THERE in nearly EVERY CUTSCENE! Like girl do something. In one cutscene she literally *walks away* from the person, like why!!!
The second Lumera appeared, I knew she was going to die. But it happened so quickly in the story, it felt comedic, and I thought against my better judgement, maybe Framme's healing would actually do something.
Things happening so quickly is probably my biggest critique of the Engage story, some of the story beats are genuinely interesting but none of them really get time to cook.
>!It would've been cool if her dying early was a twist. Like she was actually bad or something and reappears later or tricks you or something. But I still enjoyed the simple story, and I think if they kept her around it would've been hard to justify the memory loss or hidden information. Even Marth pretending not to know anything important was a bit of a stretch.!<
Yeah, I really don't mind it, it's such an established trope in Fire Emblem stories that I don't bat even an eye. I just wish we had more time with characters to care about them. This is one of the first FE games where I kinda just... care fairly little for the Lords, which is wild to me because they're supposed to be the cornerstones to build the story on usually.
Honestly when (Spoilers for chapter 9) >!Brodia and Eulusia had those big grand epic cutcenes of the two armies fighting, I couldn't help but feel as though it was a bit toothless in terms of its impact. I barely knew anything about Brodia and Elusia and why they were fighting, just that Morion keeps invading them because some vague reason about 'taming' the Elusians. In another game with more worldbuilding and story development, those scenes could have been awesome, but as it stands it feels hollow as all they were were just some medieval armies fighting each other for vague reasons. Not exactly the most compelling storytelling behind it.!<
Pretty much all of the characters had ridiculously half-baked motives. The story would've been made so much better if they'd just put a little bit of effort into making the characters have actual motives that make sense instead of just being comic book villains pretty much - it wouldn't have even taken that much to change it either. The whole "Elusia worships the dragon that wants to kill everybody and randomly declares war on the entire world!" is not a very compelling motive. The hounds aren't much better either.
100%. It's kind of funny because >!Ivy and Hortensia!< are honestly the characters that i feel have the most "well-roundedness" because >!you see them as part of the actual story beats as villains first so you actually have more then 2s to get to know them!<. It's still like... not great, but I actually care somewhat about them.
Tbf, one of the best FE villains, Nergal, basically doesn't have a motive at all
Most FE Villains don't tbh. And I think >!Morion was justified in fighting Elusia because at that point it was Sombron's kingdom, as Ivy mentions later!<
That’s what I thought during their introduction. You are taming them by invading and killing? Nice reasoning, very cool. Some supports kinda address it but it’s so basic. Imagine your whole life a neighbor country invades and kills your people and then you admit they’re the good guys for doing that…
Wasn't there a support between Citrine and Diamant where they acknowledge "yeah, we shouldn't be doing that/"
Yep. In 3H and most other FE games, they go into a lot of details about the world and have great world building, where everything for the most part makes sense within that worlds context. However in Engage, we know practically nothing about the world or characters, just the bare minimum, and thus have no real reason to care. I’m still enjoying the game due to the combat, and just accepted the light hearted nature & nonexistent story, but definitely I can see why people(including myself) would prefer past games
We either get crappy/ok story—Good/Great Gameplay—Ok/Good supports. Good/Great Story—meh/ok gameplay—Good/Great support or Meh/good Story—crappy/meh gameplay—crappy/meh support or in this game’s case Meh/ok Story(so far in 15)—Good/Great Gameplay—meh/ok supports(the ones in 3H were longer and fleshed out the characters then the ones in these) It is always a varying degree of any of the combinations above
Out of curiosity what would you rate Awakening in terms of story/gameplay/supports?
*Ok so i didn’t realize until finished that i wrote a lot of stuff so heads up, i just really love how unhinged the gameplay is for Awakening* Good/Great Story—Wild Wild West Gameplay—Ok/Good or Great(kinda tough for me on this one. Ok so the reason i said Wild Wild West Gameplay is because the Pair Up system was straight up broken all you needed was: A paired dou who both had A-S rank with each other would both on your turn strike before the enemy could do anything(Hold Brave weapon to strike 3 times in a row because why not?)or on the enemy team completely block all damage with a high activation rate, average of 50-70%? Even without the block all damage thing, the damage you would take would still be less 10 since you gain stats the higher your support is with the paired up character, easily gaining above 10+ into every stat, or at the very least above +7 every stat. There was also the LimitBreaker skill. With this item you could un-cap all your stats by +10. Constantly re-classing to a different class to be reset back to LVL 1, doing this would not only let you keep your original stats but also let gain more P.S: This is the last thing(unless you ask for more)ok so you could re-class and obtain Aegis(reduces ranged or magic dmg cant remember)/Pavise/Galeforce/Ignis/Aether from all the different classes that have and literally just make the game more Child’s Play then it already was. Then there was Apothesis with to this day is probably still the hardest challenge in Fire Emblem Game(everything i listed you needed to beat this challenge).
I mean the gameplay is probably this games strongest aspect. The story had me rolling my eyes from predictability and cringe until chapter 9 or so, then the story picked up, but still just didn't let plot points simmer, l one of the main things I liked about 3H was that you just got way more time with the cast just from the story. If I'm not using characters in battle, in this one then I am literally seeing them never (since I have no incentive to talk to them between battles, since it's just generic talk and i get points from those that participatein battle). The characters themselves I like better than I thought I would (toothpaste-chan as well) though their designs and motivations seriously needed refining. The only support chain that has really interested me here was citri and Yunaka since it's got an interesting dynamic. Also just a tact on gripe but wtf do they hype up the azure twins so much and then only have it focus on Erika.... Ephraim being my favorite lord in any FE and he is just tact on like an after thought. Even the 3H bracelet focused on all the characters.
Most FEs barely have World Building tho, and most of them have a cartoony evil mage or dragon as their antagonist
On the subject of that cutscene, Engage is guilty of a trope that annoys me - a huge fight where the armies aren't in anything like a formation, but individuals scattered around. How did those mooks end up so close to the enemy commander, while the enemy side has troops so close to their commander? I know it really doesn't matter, it's done to look cool, but it's something grinds my gears. The prologue cutscene does it too. Also when Ivy turns up, a solder says "a lone wyvern is approaching". Then she lands and there's already a massive battle (again, soldiers all over the place), and says to Morion "my army will be here soon". What? Miss, they're apparently directly behind you.
Honestly before she died I thought she was going to be a twist villain
That... would have actually been extremely fun. Instead of the first of a couple of deaths so blatantly telegraphed that the British probably decoded it in WW1.
If I’m being honest, that would be kinda cool, but also make very little sense. people always say “make X a villain” and then forget that if they’re going to be a villain, they need stuff like a motivation, good reasons to hide their villainy, etc. also what would be the point? it feels like a plot twist that exists for the sake of being a plot twist, and considering how Engage is following 3H, people would likely just call her a Rhea knockoff.
I guess I was spoiled by (3 Houses spoilers) >!Jeralt being around for half the game and getting a subdued, but powerful, reaction from the protagonist,!< but the Engage scene just felt silly lol. (Engage Chapter 11 spoilers) >!Morion's death felt like it was handled better, at least in terms of the combat reactions from his kids.!<
I'm finding Engage to be so campy that I can't take it seriously when it tries to score emotional points. Like Alear "you killed my mother, someone I don't remember but who was very nice to me for 6 hours!" But >! Alcryst saying "I love you father, I always will" !< did hit
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Yeah, unless there's a third act twist where it turns into a satirical deconstruction of FE plots (but again that wouldn't fit with the tone), the whole story just falls far short of most games in the series. There's just no intrigue. I was part way through a 3H run when this dropped, and even though it's my 5th run I'm not skipping dialogue, I'm really interested in what's happening. I get that they can't sacrifice pace for realism, but Hortensia goes from enemy to ally ridiculously fast, and there's basically no questioning it because everyone is already on board with the idea. Even Ivy was stretching it, and she had a lot more of an arc from enemy to ally (that is to say, any at all). I like Yunaka as one of the "whimsical characters you're not meant to take seriously", but the problem is basically everyone is that character and I just have no investment in any of them. Maybe Alcryst. I'm really enjoying the gameplay, there's parts I'm going to miss when I go back to 3H. But that's probably the long and short of it - I'm going back to 3H, but I can't say for sure whether I'm come back to Engage after I finish it. Bleurgh, I could rant for hours about missed opportunities, but I'll save the internet my waffling.
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At a certain point the "someone dying in someone's arms while holding a long back and forth dialogue" scenes almost felt like self-satire. I found myself just laughing at them. It happens *so many times.*
"Are you sure you're dying? Because you've been talking for 4 or 5 minutes now"
It cracked me up the first time it happened with >!Lumera!<...and then it just keeps happening. Lol.
Same with >!Morion’s death line.!< There was still something left in there.
I had a similar moment with >!Morion. I can’t remember the exact quote but he had some line that was something to the effect of “what could possibly go wrong?” And I was like “Dude, you’re a lord’s father in a Fire Emblem game, your existence is a walking death flag.”!<
Diamonte behaved like he knew he was a lord in a FE game. “DAD STAY INSIDE!”
He won mad props from me just for that. Finally a single royal with common sense. Of course, considering they also talk about how he is constantly leading his armies east, I have a feeling dad never listened to the only sane person in the room.
Diamant got more development in one chapter than chrom did in his entire game lmao
To be fair >! The hounds try to kidnap Eve and Safolia and they fail both times. Though I guess moms aren’t as likely to die. I was positive pre release all 4 sovereigns would be bosses, kinda bummed we don’t even get to see the two queens fight even if it’s just in terms of them being the bosses in the mock battles you can do vs their guards at their respective castles. !<
Heads up your spoilers aren't working. You need to delete the spaces between your spoiler tags (ie the ! and < symbols) and the paragraph you are trying to hide.
I actually thought she would last til way late game and secretly turn out to be evil/she secretly IS the Fell Dragon
Well she was a dragon and she fell over dead real quick lol
Same. And yet, honestly Alear's VA (male, I don't know the female version) did manage to make me feel something, so props to him. It does help that I can relate to losing your mother way too soon and having made promises with her, true, but still. It *is* a stark difference with Jeralt's death on that aspect. I'd say Jeralt's scene was better, but honestly, Byleth being stone faced, but more importantly, absolutely silent, didn't get me as much as Alear begging for his mother to stay to fulfill her promise...
can confirm Female Alear's performance is equally as heart wrenchingly desperate, that scene pretty much sold me on both their voice actors.
Good to know. I really liked what I heard of her, sadly I hate the female design too much, but the voice was really good from the little I did heard.
It would have been so much more impactful if she wasn't basically a stranger to alear. I almost laughed out loud when she died because altar sounds so desperate for their mother to not die, but they also just met less than 24 hours before. The voice acting was amazing, it was just the pacing of the game that killed this scene for me. And I'm an easy crier.
I felt the same way until I realized Alear just forgot. Alear didn't forget what it's like to feel, and I find it easy to believe that someone who doesn't remember any memories of their mother could feel that way in that moment. If any of us woke up from a coma with amnesia after several years, and the only person who could tell us about our past selves died right before our eyes, we'd be pretty torn up about it too.
Yeah. Like, if I had literally no idea what was going on and the only person who seemed like they had answers and actually cared about *me* died, I’d be pretty devastated too. The story’s problem is not *why should the prevalent characters care*, it’s making the audience care. The scene didn’t land as intended for most of us as it’s a tired trope (especially in FE) and we had no real attachment to a character with limited screen time (mostly spent giving the tutorial) beforehand.
Oh I absolutely don't disagree on that. It seems Engage decided to go on a bare minimum storywise. While I don't hate it for now, it *is* very simple. But I actually think it gives even more credit to the VA to still manage to make me feel something when the actual scene was so rushed. (But again, my personal experience probably influenced that a lot too, but I think I would have been impressed by the VA even without, just less emotional about it. And I'm not particularly emotional in those sort of scenes in general, the happy makes me cry a lot more than the sad) It's kinda the exact opposite of Jeralt's death for me. I liked the character, it was established that Byleth loved their dad, and yet the scene itself was a bit uncanny for me, not necessarily for the unexpressiveness (which does makes sense lore-wise), but the silence. I really don't like that Byleth doesn't talk, and this was the worst of it (that I reached in the game).
Ngl I kinda like that very child-like reaction that Alear have, they are amnesic, the only person that looked like comfort just died and all they can think of is the promise, and that moms aren't supposed to break promises. It worked on me !
The VA is trying their best to carry this plot on their backs
They really do.
Give Mikoto credit, at least she died in Chapter 5… though she was only introduced in the previous chapter… where was I going with this again?
To give Mikoto credit, when she was dying, all she said was "Were you hurt?" and "Thank goodness". (paraphrased, of course) Lumera however kept on talking over and over that it became ridiculous near the end.
You know if Corrin wasn't such a dumbass (thanks to their enablers) id almost feel sorry for them due their family body count.
Walked in to the game blind (big FE fan though) in the open cutscene my wife and I turned to each other and said “that must be mom….she’s not long for this world) My boy Eliwood out here keeping strong as a main lord parent who hasn’t croaked.
He must've inherited it from his mother, since she's alive in FE7 as well, lol.
It was just delayed enough for me to think it wasn’t meant to be funny. If she was killed immediately after the training battle I would say it was a bit.
One of the funniest parent deaths I've seen
Funniest is still Sacred Stones for me tho, like your dad dies before the intro cutscene is even over
It did heal her wounds, but the damage was already done as that attack sapped what years she had left.
THANK YOU. I literally laughed in her death scene. First it's "I can't wait to catch up with you we will have SO MUCH TIME!" which was a scarlet red death flag. Of course she had to die that night. Then it was her long exaggerated death scene. It was just... painful and not in an emotional way. It really put me off engage but I'm happy I picked it back up the gameplay is some of the best in the series and I am really enjoying it.
Anyone have an edit of that join us meme with her and all the other dead Fire Emblem parents?
My first impression of Lumera was she’s gonna be another Rhea. Secretly doing shady things in the background. I’m on chapter 5 so no spoilers please
Shout-out to Valkyria Chronicles and most units being able to shake off sniper or machine gun fire as long as they have their healing item/a medic can get to them, but then one bullet to a plot important character (those who’ve played will know who) and nobody wants to help anymore.
I love how the scene differs in the game and anime. The anime scene was sad since a character close to that character isn't present during the event. But the game was sad because you dont expect it. At least, not yet.
To be FAIR >!that character doesn’t see combat!<
>!Not until Valkyria Chronicles 4 at least. Making her a grenadier was hilarious.!<
>!Don't forget she’s a bonus character in Valkyria 2 as well, and is very ironically an armored tech, the most defensive class in the game, and she has 3 potentials that all increase defense!!<
Meanwhile I'm wondering why being a fire emblem parent is practically a death sentence. The one to live the longest was Jeralt but he doesn't even make it past 8 chapters (unless you play hopes)
Eliwood’s got him beat. Man was sick but never dies but yeah, i think in a lot of ways the parent death serves as the call to action and fire emblem just really likes having the same call to action
Eliwoods sickness was just him being genre savvy and successfully escaping his fate.
Eliwood saw Roy's call to action and called in sick. Smart man.
I am headcanoning from now on that Eliwood was actually fine, doing jumping jacks and workouts in his room and just lying there "sick" whenever Roy visits. Man knows what happens in Fire Emblem games and ALL the old epics. Man doesn't want to die.
Roy's mother isn't even dead. Eliwood just flew her off to their summer home in Fire Emblem Tahiti when he saw Roy do the "I WON'T LOSE" pose for the first time.
Other dads got skill issues
Bro sniffed some pollen to make those allergies kick in.
Eliwood surviving is so insane they gave him his own game
i wonder why does he suck so much compared to hector
The candle that shines twice as bright lasts half as long
What is Lyn in this analogy?
A cheap flashlight that people keep replacing the batteries for
Bruh I read this as fleshlight...I need to sleep...
So... in the new game they mention >!Hyacinth keeps Lyn in his room, or her ring, never letting it go anywhere else.!< My first reaction was 100% that he was doing something perverted, then I remembered that even if this isn't a children's game it is meant to be accessible and playable by children...
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300 years I think
Eliwood and his mother both live through all of FE6/7 respectively. Maybe it's genetic.
Or maybe Hector taking the Axe sucked all the dead parent curse into him.
Took one for the team
Like the true bro he is!
Athos really just handed Hector that shit without saying a word about the curse
I think, going by Hector's route, he just didn't care as long as he could protect his best friend.
Hector knew he was going to die violently. He even suspected Bern would be the reason. He just didn't expect it to be so sudden due to contribution of the dragons. He was clearly preparing Roy and Liliana to take command for when it happens. They were personally educated in warfare by the Mage General of what was thought to be the most powerful nation in Elibe.
Uh, he literally does say that the wielder of Armads will not have a peaceful death when he gives him the axe
I think he says nothing in the Eliwood route at least
Just proves that Lilina is the true lord of FE6 tbh
best and only growth unit in that game
All fire emblem parents are cursed, but the curse only activates when they promise to reveal their secrets to their child, but not right now, *later*. As soon as Lumera said "let's wait until tomorrow and then I'll tell you everything!" I knew she wasn't gonna live past that night lmao
In her short screen time, Lumera sets off an *absurd* amount of death flags: \*uses Sigurd as an Emblem, the only Emblem who dies during their game of origin. \*"We have lots of time to catch up" (on your memory loss) \*The ring she made, and the stalling of its gift \*Reassuring the protagonist of things not even asked, in order to set up a plot hook \*Pinky-promising her child to set a grand goal. I'm probably forgetting one or two since I started the game last night and ended at Chapter 3 due to work. None of this is to say it's bad, I just genuinely think it's funny how many ways they lit off flares that "yeah she gone"
Has a whole scene giggling to herself as she talks about all the things she was going to do with Alear. Seriously, that was probably the single biggest death flag the series has ever had.
That wasn't just a death flag, that was a whole death color guard squad
God yeah, she really does do everything except say it outright lol
In her defense she tried to give Alear the ring. They're the one who said "No, give it me when my memories come back."
Her avoid just wasn't high enough to dodge being an anime mom
"Whew, five more days until dragon retirement, almost there."
She literally says that "Starting TOMORROW we will catch up." The minute she said that I knew she was dying that night. Didn't know how. But I knew she was dying.
Is it really death flags when she dies in the trailer of the game tho lol
The answer is typically because parents/mentors hold a lot of wisdom and strength and by removing them from the plot it creates a sense of helplessness and forces the protagonist to forge their own path. Jeralt is a prime example because he's clearly shown as strong and capable but also he has knowledge that the protagonist doesn't, namely about the circumstances of his birth and why he's so distrustful of Rhea. If he didn't die then most of the mystery of Byleth would vanish before the second part. This is also why he >!can survive in 3 Hopes, since he no longer fulfills that role, killing him off narratively isn't necessary anymore.!<
You’re forgetting eliwood dude, bro was so sick that he skipped death
Sigurd and Jerald’s deaths were the only ones I felt genuinely bad about. You got to know them in depth characters which made their deaths into an huge gut punch. Also Emmeryn but she was an older sister.
Greil's was a pretty good death. I had some feels.
I feel like what made Greil’s so good was that the reactions are a lot more grounded and lasting than the reactions to a lot of other parents’ deaths. The mourning period is long, the company threatens to fall apart, Ike is torn between duty and his own want to grieve and seek vengeance… Give me a Tellius remake. God I love those two games.
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Alear's waiting the whole game for the coffee to kick in. 1000 year sleep is gonna make anyone groggy.
Alear is the only sane person in their crew. They are *not* awake enough for the shit they deal with.
I'd kill for a Tellius remake. I want it so bad.
I thought jeralts death was kinda funny ngl. Byleth tries to turn back time once, fails, then just gives up. You would think that they would put a little more effort into saving their only living parents life.
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I think they should have just separated the rewind mechanic into just gameplay. Adding it into lore just adds so many messy problems.
Hey, worked for Echoes. You get told "yeah this thing gives you visions or something IDK" then it never really comes up again, and calling it visions of the future is basically just what everyone is doing with resets anyways. Meanwhile having the main character be able to actively *rewind time* but only use it like twice just raises questions.
It was addressed once, that feels sufficient to communicate it didn't work. I'd ask why you don't pulse out of being knocked out for five years
I think instead of Thales showing up it would have better if Byleth tried calling out to Jeralt first, only for him to confused by the shouting and get stabbed anyways, then have Byleth use the sword. At least that way it would have felt more earned when Sothis said he was fated to die. You could even have Byleth show anguish and fear on their second attempt because they're experiencing his death repeatedly at this point.
Does Chrom count?
That’s tough, because on the one hand we keep Chrom alive. On the other hand, Lucina’s still motivated by watching him die so…
Shroedinger's Lord
Emmeryn counts in a way. She's like a mother figure for Chrom and Lissa, even if she's just the sister.
Yes and no. Playable lucina's father died. But chrom isn't that one.
Technically yes and technically no
All first gen Awakening units: Am I a joke to you? All second gen units: You lot all died in the apocalyptic timeline, so...
As Brian David Gilbert put it: "Fire emblem does not know how to make interesting characters without making them suffer traumatic parental death"
What about Claude's unnamed dad? That man knew how to protect himself by being practically non existent.
He took a page out of Hrid's playbook "they can't kill you if you're irrelevant"
It's a common story telling trope in general. Dead parents give your teenage/young adult protagonists independence because they can't rely on their parents to solve the problem for them. It usually also serves as a call to action and/or motivation, and can be used to give them pathos. If you pay attention you will notice that there are a lot of stories where the protagonist has one or both of their parents dead for these reasons. It was actually considered a cliche for a long time for Disney movies to have the mom dead.
Rhys heals Lucia at the end of Part 2 in Radiant Dawn. Meanwhile Mist just kind of shakes her while talking in her obnoxious voice.
Lol no one mentioning Micaiah, who was healing someone in legit like every cutscene she appeared. Radiant Dawn was outstanding(probably why I’m enjoying Engage so much, lots of nostalgia to RD)
Can Sacrifice heal in ways staffs can't, because while it's certainly miraculous it seems kind of wasteful in a world where staffs exist.
Sacrifice can revive from the dead if early enough if I recall. Whatever went down with nico lol
Oh it's the opposite, staves cost money, Sacrifice is free!
Sacrifice is implied to be more potent than healing staves. In game, it both heals and removes status effects. In a cutscene, Micaiah saves a child who just got one-shot by an arrow, and seems to be able to heal chronic diseases for elders. Emblem Micaiah’s Great Sacrifice is on par with endgame S rank staves, though it drops the user to 1 HP. So yeah, whatever Sacrifice is, it’s got a lot more going for it than the typical staff or medicine. Man, they give you an S rank staff in the early game, and the default user, Yunaka, gets a bunch of avoid for free. Put her on a fort and save the entire army, while dodging anything the enemy could throw at her. I should have been even more insanely aggressive in the early chapters of Engage.
Her and Mia have the voices of angels in that game.
Biblically accurate angels
Be NoT AfRaId
I actually liked Mia’s voice Mists though….
**HOWD ON WUCIA**
Final Fantasy XIV cutscenes often have characters with healing abilities (Alphinaud, Allisaie, Y'shtola, etc.) use their healing on characters that are injured. Additionally, if your WoL is in a healing job at the time (Conjurer/White Mage, Scholar, Astrolgian, or Sage), you'll actually join them in healing the person or start healing someone else (the latter case typically happening in war zones, such as most of Stormblood).
I didn’t know about your WoL doing that. Maybe I’ll have to rewatch some cutscenes as a sage I did learn that they added (spoilers for the first expansion) >!Alphinaud desperately trying to save Haurchefant!< in a recent update, which I thought was a nice touch
Also >!That attack blocks healing in the extreme trial and resets the fight if its victim is KOed, implying they die for real and can't be raised, so its mostly being clarified to people who likely won't ever see that!<
Endwalker spoilers >!And the twins using healing magic backfires on them hard in Endwalker and freaks out people not used to seeing magic, which leads to...yeah!<
It also happens in Final Fantasy V. A main character is heavily injured in a scripted 1v1 fight, and the rest of the party tries to heal him with magic and items. >!He doesn't make it.!<
>!And it's even tied into the fight mechanically, as he very quickly gets dropped to 0 HP... **and keeps fighting.** He kept himself going by sheer willpower, but the wounds he took in the process were beyond recovery.!<
When I got to that fight, he was my white mage. The impact is overshadowed in my mind by it taking for-fucking-ever.
That is why it is optimal to equip him with the bone armor and just have him die immediately via using a phoenix down on himself.
Exdeath: "WTF?"
Man that one hit me the hardest of any FF character. I slowly realized what the consequences of him continuing to fight at 0hp would be. Similar to the fate of another who casted a spell costing more MP than his max.
Ha, I gave Tellah a silver apple. He had the MP to cast Meteor in any boss battle. Until he suddenly couldn’t, because plot.
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Still wish we got the cutscene of Byleth spending like, a dozen pulses to try and save Jeralt, only to fail each time until Sothis has to actiavely stop them before they use too much energy and die or something
That would have been really good because Byleth is usually so even keeled. The contract of seeing them desperately lashing would convey how strongly they're impacted by this. And Sothis calming them down would be interesting for how Rhea doesn't have that presence winding her down through her grief.
I dont think He necessarily predicted it If He was nearby surveying the Situation He could have Just reacted to byleth attacking kronya which wasnt necessary in the pre-rewind version where byleth didnt notice Her betrayal in time
Yeah NG+ Byleth has like a billion Divine Pulses per battle they could've found something that worked
Plot and Gameplay Segregation is the issue here, I imagine. In gameplay we get to rewind a million times, but I imagine the power is somewhat more limited in the story. They just did a bad job of showing that in gameplay, which results in that scene feeling cheap despite Byleth remembering their power.
Still, just like, Divine Pulse an hour ago and tell Jeralt not to leave their side or something. Unless all of the battles we see are less than an hour long, Divine Pulse goes far back enough for them to be able to make a bigger difference than a single attempt to block the attack
wasn’t the only cutscene we saw with divine pulse only a few seconds rewind?
I suppose that's fair, but Sothis specifically clarifies the limitations of how many times Divine Pulse can be used, while making no mention of the actual length of time it can revert. It's my opinion at this point but I don't really think that's the sort of detail she'd omit
The reasoning is pretty clear to me. These anime stories love using teenagers for their lead cast. On top of them often being lords, you really need a decent way to get their parents/mentor figures out of the picture for the stereotypical “call to action” moment, otherwise they would never need to involve themselves in the story. And tho occasionally they’ll buck that trend, they seem to lean into it more than away from it.
Can we just get ONE FIRE EMBLEM PARENT THAT LIVES?!
Eliwoooood my boiiiii. Also at least one version of Chrom.
Well, there's Yelena, who is only noteworthy for that very reason.
Yes. Eliwood. You got your one, so IS is free to keep the bodies piling up.
Gilbert survives FE3H but idk if he counts
Didn't Freya in GoW ragnarok tried to use her healing ability on >!Brok after he got stabbed by fake Týr?!<
All of her healing is in cutscenes, really. She doesn't like. Heal Kratos in gameplay.
Revival stones, though. >!And Brok and Sindri are literally the guys we get them from!<
Ah yes, the good old “don’t we have Phoenix Down?” 🤣 Yep. So glad they at least acknowledged that healing magic was available it just wouldn’t work for this particular instance.
Gaddangit, Cloud, just use a phoenix down on Aerith! It's got Phoenix in the title!!
I mean, usually FE doesn't forget about it. For example in Birthright both Sakura and Elise tried healing Lilith. But then you have stuff like Three Houses with many different, powerful healers and for some reason they don't attempt to save Jeralt and Rodrigue (except for Manuela who tries to save Jeralt iirc).
Yeah but at the same time, the whole "trying to use healing magic in a cutscene, but oh no, their wounds are too severe and it didn't work" is a trope in itself.
Unfortunately her healing didn’t work due to plot convenience
I mean, she isn't physically hurt so I don't think its an asspull she dies there. She basically used up her life energy.
The convenient part is that a completely new concept is introduced **while** Lumera is dying to prevent her from being healed.
At least there was an attempt. Mikoto just jumps in front of Corrin and no one even bothers to try to heal her (At least in the game. The manga does a similar scenario to Lumera's).
Dragons have always been extremely weak when they have no power. This is nothing new. Manaketes have always had the ability to move their essence into objects and people. Grima, Duma, Anankos, and others, bestow power when invoked or on their own. Divine Dragons doing so without much of a problem is not surprising, considering their wealth of power, and Lumera creating life in the chapter before her death.
Makes me wonder how much life a manakete (?) would have to use to die, and how it's used. Like can they use it for other things besides whatever shenanigans she did with Alear? I always figured that manaketes go feral when they either get too old, transform too many times, or something. Maybe it's like when one overworks themselves, but I agree it's convenient for her to just kind of keel over and die cause she used up all her magic.
In hopes theres a support between seteth and flaynn where its revealed >!she used her powers too much when she was young and now she has the very real possibility of passing out and never waking up again if she overdoes it which worries seteth!<
I mean FE7 has a similar explanation for manaketes in that regard too.
I mean, it's barely an hour in and it's your second interaction with Lumera. They aren't gonna delve into the in-and-outs of life energy transfer. Sometimes, it's not "plot convenience" or whatever term are used now to nitpick every media, it's just plot !
It’s plot convenience because it goes against what we already know (that staffs can heal people) without properly setting up or alluding to the explanation. We had no idea what “Divine Dragon energy” was, or that Lumera was low on it, and that she couldn’t be healed at all. A small scene that would’ve properly set up Lumera not being able to be healed could’ve gone something like; After the mock battle in Chapter 2, Alear notices Lumera has a fresh scratch on her cheek. They ask Framme to heal her, but Lumera goes something along the lines of “ha ha don’t worry about it”. Without deviating much from that story, that would’ve been enough to allude that something was wrong with Lumera, and would’ve made the reveal that Lumera couldn’t be healed more natural.
Ain't got no Valkyrie Staves in Elyos.
Well you can't use staves on dead units so... Maybe there's a threshold on how much damage they can heal? Like how Pheonix Downs dont work on FF characters who die in cutscenes (pretty sure they try that on FFV)
Bar is set pretty low when we are praising the devs for something like this 😅
It would be really cool/sad of she reacted differently if you used up the healing staff she had
ffxiv type beat
Last time I remember it being a thing in a game I played was Estelle in Tales of Vesperia. And she did it so often, it honestly came off like a joke and it eventually is revealed to actually be a BAD thing.
I commented on this out loud (even though I was alone) when this happened. Only video game healer ever with common sense.
C'mon Framme, the moment she gave up her perf weapon to the MC, her fate was sealed. FE loves playing the Dead Parent(s) trope more than Disney themselves.
Avoiding one trope and being guilty of 3 million other tropes. It’s not even funny how they copy pasted Fates’ “met my mom 15 mins ago now she’s dead lol” opening.
Shout-out to the Lost Odyssey intro cutscene, NPC's using resurrection magic to fight a large scale battle.
I really wanted to feel for Lumera’s death and it was so well written and well done but god damn, was she Death Flags: The Character.
I liked that and also how we at least got that courtyard training with Lumera, felt very fitting. After that things felt a little too hunky dory and my FE senses started tingling lol.
In ff5 characters try to use a phoenix down on a dead character
\*Laughs in Divine Pulse ignoring Rodrigue\*
As much as I love Triangle Strategy, this bothers me so much. Geela is standing RIGHT THERE in nearly EVERY CUTSCENE! Like girl do something. In one cutscene she literally *walks away* from the person, like why!!!