Random thoughts based upon this post.

As the beta build of Pokémon: Black/White shows, there was originally a difference in Ghetsis' characterization. He originally was supposed to lean way more heavily into the self-righteous religious hypocrite mold: he truly did believe Pokémon training and the whole system around it being evil and wrong, raised N to believe the same, preaching against in in public, and sought to have it abolished by conquering the world and instituting his own system that hypocritically was far more harmful to people and Pokémon but Ghetsis is deluded into thinking it's good and just since he thinks he is good and just. In the finished product, Ghetsis has shifted toward being more of a politician than a pastor; he doesn't actually believe in the system as a moral wrong and only fools others into thinking it is to advance his own agenda: seeking to take over the world to satiate his insane narcissism.

Now of course there is a debate going on if the Ghetsis we could have gotten was better, or if the one we got is preferable. Proponents for the former say it would have made Ghetsis both more interesting and more frightening, which is fair enough - after all, the most frightening version of Ghetsis is the Pokémon Adventures manga version that re-incorporates the religious quality into his character even if largely as motifs rather than anything fundamental. Where I draw the line are those who also say that the beta version would have been better because having a villain who doesn't actually believe in the morality of what they're preaching somehow cheapens/betrays/ruins the story and its message / undermines N as a character.

I've said it before and I'll keep on saying it: this is bullshit.

First of all, let's purely focus on beta Ghetsis. His character archetype can be done very well, as I have noted with Disney's Frollo and Emperor Belos / Phillip Wittebane. The problem is...

....Well, just read that beta dialogue again!

"I will not yield although I am surrounded by the forces of evil!"

"How befitting for I, the hero of justice who will rule the world!"

"Why, why, WHY? Why does everything go the evildoers' way?"

It's just "I'm good, you're all evil!" over and over and over again.

What made the likes of Frollo and Belos work, beyond better-written dialogue, is that we actually get insight into their psyches, we are shown why they hold their hypocritical and extremist views and why they have a psychological need to double down on it when faced with adversity and opposing viewpoints. Frollo spent his life trying to be the most pious religious devotee there could possibly be, and doubles down when faced with realities that contradict this position. Belos murdered his brother over his religious beliefs, and now must double down to avoid admitting he was unjustified in committing the mortal sin of fratricide.

Ghetsis in the beta build doesn't feel like that sort of character. He feels like a strawman, namely of the PETA types who have long attacked the Pokémon franchise over the training and battling system. It's literally a character sharing that exact moral stance, framed in a religious way, who is themed name-wise, design-wise, and action-wise after the Devil. An embodiment of evil yelling that everyone else is evil while doing evil. He feels less like Frollo and Belos, and more like Oliver Crangle from the Twilight Zone episode "Four O'Clock".

And with that said, I turn back to the Ghetsis we have. Not only is the deceptive, cruel, narcissistic politician angle more realistic and relevant than ever given our current real life political situation, but he still succeeds in the exact same contribution to the story and its message / N's character as his beta counterpart: he is the moral's antithesis. He represents inflexible intolerance, the refusal to stop seeing things in black and white terms and accept other points of view. He may not believe in the Pokémon liberation cause he espouses, but he still does believe in himself. He's perfect, he's always right, he's the strongest and smartest and best-suited person to rule the world and dictate what everyone else does. The larger point wasn't him raising N to believe in Pokémon liberation, it was him raising N to be that same sort of person...and N ultimately not becoming it. N still retains many of his Pokémon liberation-based beliefs; what he no longer does is try to force them upon others and not consider others' beliefs on the matter. He is open to a dialogue on the matter, which is the exact opposite of Ghetsis who feels like there's no need for a conversation on anything because he believes he already has all the answers...and suffers a mental breakdown when he is unable to enforce those answers on other people and make them bow to his genius.

So as to where I stand on the matter: I'm glad that we ended up with the Ghetsis we did.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Continued from my last post.

This will be my final such post for the year, covering up to the end of Part 1: White Clouds.

- The same sad music from Chapter 10 is playing in Chapter 11's Explore map too, only the context has changed: before it reflected Byleth's grief over Jeralt's death, now it reflects their sadness over Sothis, their literal closest friend, being gone, leaving them behind with an uncertain destiny. Dorothea's remark during this time stands out the most to me: "It's like you're sort of floating above the clouds, separate from other people... And like you've got no interest at all in ever coming back down." Byleth is beginning to feel more god than human.

And to help the effect along, I went and dressed them up like this:

- On my Blue Lions file, I only recruited faculty members, adding no student from the other two classes to my ranks. On my Black Eagles file, I recruited all but Sylvain (who thus remains with Dimitri and Dedue) from the Blue Lions and all but Lorenz (who thus remains with Claude and Hilda) from the Golden Deer, and later on due to the choice I made lost Flayn, Seteth, Catherine and Cyril. Finally, on my Golden Deer file, I recruited everyone.

- This exchange is so fucking creepy when you know the full context:

- I love Felix's deadpan remark when the Flame Emperor comes in flanked by Adrestrians:

Like, you would think that would've been obvious!

- The story does a neat thing here. Up to this point, the Flame Emperor - now revealed to be Edelgard - certainly hasn't been on the up and up morally speaking, but she also has been mostly detached from the villainy you've faced, which has primarily driven by the Agarthans without her direct knowledge or input. And given that Rhea is trying to un-person Byleth as the culmination of lord knows how many years of unethical experimentation, the conflict is kind of slanted in Edelgard's favor. Until now, that is, where Edelgard goes full dastard and directly leads a tomb robbing operation, paired with a literal homicidal psychopath, and says that anyone who interferes is to be killed...even if it's her own Black Eagles class! While the emotional burden of being crowned Emperor by her ailing (possibly dead at this point) father and awareness of the bloodshed she is about to cause explains this, it is not an excuse, and it effectively puts both Rhea and Edelgard on the same level of personal reprehensibility.

- Btw, Metodey is voiced by Todd Haberkorn. You could not ask for better casting!

- I love that on the Blue Lions route if you have Dimitri fight the Flame Emperor, he's all serious and pissed off while the Flame Emperor acts dismissive, but on the Golden Deer route if you have Claude fight the Flame Emperor, he just badgers her with questions and she's so clearly annoyed by it. It's honestly a good display of both respective dynamics.

- The Flame Emperor being revealed as Edelgard is honestly the most impactful on the Blue Lions route. Despite being the first version written, on the Black Eagles route Edelgard is there from the start and then when the Adrestrians come in she just casually says "I'm the Flame Emperor". In the Golden Deer route, meanwhile, the switchover from Flame Emperor to Edelgard happens so fast after defeating her that it's almost hard to process and even feels somewhat comical. On the Blue Lions route, there's a fully animated cutscene where we see who's behind the mask, with Dimitri finally cracking since he's been desperately fighting this very suspicion for two whole months now, only for the nightmare to actually come true.

- With that said...sigh...now we come to the problem with Dimitri that I alluded to last time. There is a big difference between going mad and going evil, and the game's writers clearly didn't seem to understand that difference. Dimitri snapping doesn't feel like his trauma fully overcoming his psyche; it feels like a switch was flipped and suddenly he's discarded every aspect of his character but the vengeful aggression, but on top of that adding in sadism - the enjoyment of hurting and killing others (not just the target of his revenge) - and sneering contempt towards all good people who were formerly his cherished friends. He smiles in satisfaction after brutally killing Adrestrian soldiers. He uses the most violent, extreme language to convey what he wishes to do to Edelgard. He is dismissive toward Dedue and Byleth as people and only treats them like they're pawns on a chess board. He's a monster.

And this still would have worked if it was how he was in Part 2! That would have not only been more understandable since he would have been through way more trauma (including physically this time) and lived a much harsher life, but it also would have been more effective. You're gone for 5 years and you return to your good friend Dimitri having become this! But instead, he's already like that right here in Part 1, which gives the impression that I don't think the game was aiming for: that Felix was right, and Dimitri was always an evil monster just pretending to be human (a pretty elaborate act for no particular solid reason, in that case!) And this really harms Azure Moon given how much of it is about Dimitri and hinges upon you caring for him and wanting to see him get better. How am I supposed to even think he can get better when you've gone and made it seem like him having been "better" was all a ruse?

- Funnily enough, this writing mistake also causes a huge error in Chapter 12 on the Blue Lions route, where you are still able to give Dimitri gifts, invite him to Tea or a meal, instruct him in class and have him do weekly tasks with other students as normal, and the game still has him give all of his normal lines and reactions! He's suddenly a mentally stable, polite dork again, which accidentally makes it look even more like he's always been putting on a facade.

- On my Black Eagles route, I of course made the choice to protect Edelgard and stand against Rhea. As I've pointed out in the past, Byleth doesn't actually turn against Rhea and the Church of Seiros in this moment, they simply decide to defend their student against an objectively unjust demand for extrajudicial murder. It's Rhea's reaction, deeming Byleth "another failure" and trying to kill them, than puts them firmly on the side of the Empire. With that said, yeesh, this route was developed late in production and it shows, as both times Rhea transforms into the Immaculate One it's a sudden still-frame with dialogue over it, making it unclear what's even happening, and the following scene with all of the Black Eagles pledging allegiance to Edelgard just because Byleth does feels super rushed. While I like this route a lot, particularly for how Edelgard's character develops, it needed more time to cook.

- Speaking of Rhea, on the other routes she reveals to Byleth and Seteth the truth she's kept hidden: that Byleth is a vessel for Sothis' Crest Stone and that her aim was to have her mother reborn and absorb Byleth's personality so that it can only be Sothis, in a new body. All because Rhea can't feel she and Fodlan can be at true peace without the Goddess. It's why she doesn't fix many of Fodlan's problems - she feels that right is her mother's alone, and acting on the contrary would be admitting that her mother is gone. That's the tragedy, of course: her mother is still gone. The Sothis reincarnated in Byleth is a new being who, rather than absorb them, co-existed with them as a friend and learned humanity from them and their experiences. She had no interest in ruling over Fodlan as a Goddess and only wishes for Byleth to determine their own path. It's sad....although I admit I still laugh at this exchange:

- Hilda sums up what my position in real life would be:

(Though lol, "Edelgard's so scary!", and then later Hilda curb-stomped her in battle).

- The scene with Claude before the battle gets me choked up. I just love him so much.

- It all comes down to the climactic Battle of Garreg Mach. On the Blue Lions and Golden Deer route, I'm defending the monastery, while on the Black Eagles route, I'm part of the attacking forces. It's an exhilarating but tragic experience regardless of what your position is. Garreg Mach was your home for a year, and now, it burns. Things will never be the same.

- Rhea is amazing in the end cutscene that plays when you're on the defensive side, and there will be more interesting things to come from her at the conclusion of every route going forward...except for Azure Moon; there, this is actually the last that you'll ever see of her! Yes, really. Also, Thales (and the Agarthans in general, really) reaches the peak of his villainy in this cutscene, and on all the routes afterward will degrade into a massive disappointment.

That's it for this year! Part 2 (Crimson Flower, Azure Moon, Verdant Wind) comes next Fall!

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Continued from my last post.

- As I noted last time, as tragic as Jeralt's death is, it's the fall-out of it that I find more interesting and memorable. First off, the entries in his diary are truly haunting ("there's no heartbeat...no heartbeat!"), increasing the mystery and suspense around what Rhea has planned for Byleth given that she appears to have had those plans since their very birth.

- The reactions each of the route's Lords have to Byleth mourning Jeralt's death are very revealing of their character. Edelgard refuses to give Byleth any comfort, partly because it would be facetious of her to do so given that she holds a degree of culpability in Jeralt's death but primarily because she cannot stand for wallowing in the past, saying that "the future is fast approaching" and doesn't wait for one to get over their grief. Dimitri is exceedingly empathetic and comforting toward Byleth, admitting that it's because he knows full well how they must be feeling since he felt it too at Duscur and stating that wallowing in the past can be useful for deciding what you want to spend your future on...even if it's on something dark like revenge. And Claude, while giving a token showing of sympathy for Byleth, puts all emotion aside and is laser-focused on the diary Jeralt left behind and how it can provide clues for what the Church is hiding, what's special about Byleth, and what the enemy's aim is.

- While all routes feature the scene between the Flame Emperor, Thales and Kronya, only in the Blue Lions route are you on hand as Byleth to witness it in person, alongside Dimitri. Unfortunately, the English dub kind of screws this moment up. The Flame Emperor says that the Agarthans will have no salvation in the end given their crimes in Embarr and Duscur, to which Thales says those crimes were needed for the Flame Emperor to acquire the strength they need. Given the blatant disagreement between the two in this exchange, Dimitri reacting as though the Flame Emperor was responsible for the Tragedy of Duscur doesn't make much sense. But in the Japanese version, the statements were more ambiguous. The Flame Emperor merely asks "will there ever be a salvation?" after mentioning the Agarthans' crimes, to which Thales replies "Wasn't it all just for your own gain?"...an abusive gaslighting tactic in proper context, but without context sounding like the Flame Emperor has direct responsibility in what happened and is only placing themselves above it like a mob boss would a hit that they ordered. So in the Japanese version, Dimitri's reaction to what gets said is more logical.

- This exchange always gets me:

Sothis and her bond with Byleth are so precious and pure.

- Both this chapter and the next have a sorrowful music track playing during the Explore section that perfectly reflect the sense of loss Byleth is feeling. It's a perfect mood setter.

- I'm disappointed in Kronya. She has a nifty design and an enjoyably sassy and sadistic personality reminiscent of Larxene from the Kingdom Hearts series, and yet not only could she not have killed Jeralt without Thales' interference but here she sets a trap that everyone knows going in is a trap so it's easily defused, she is ridiculously easy to defeat which leads to her running away like a coward, and then she gets unceremoniously killed off by Solon ripping her heart out and using its darkness in a ritual to send Byleth to the Shadow Realm. And yes, I'm aware it's actually called Zahras, but seriously, listen to Solon describe it:

It's the fucking Shadow Realm!

With that said, we don't actually see it. Not until Three Hopes, anyway.

- Ummmmmm.....

I have a problem with this, but I'll get back to it next time.

- I'm sorry, but I can't take the big Byleth-Sothis fusion seriously anymore. I can only think of:

- Once again, we have a scene with Rhea that I'm torn between finding exceedingly creepy and exceedingly sad: her cradling a half-conscious Byleth and talking to them as if they were her mother, saying she doesn't wish to let go and promising to watch over them forever. Ultimately, though, my disgust at what her intentions are for Byleth wins out. Lady, you sick.

Re: Oshi no Ko

Spoilers behind the cut.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Continued from my last post.

First, thoughts on the rest of the Part 1 Paralogues.

Tales of the Red Canyon - I fucking love Sothis. This Paralogue shows that even if she's the reincarnation of an ancient grown-up goddess, Sothis is still her own being now and very much a child. She may possess more wisdom and power than most children, but she has the same fear, curiosity, excitability and vulnerability as any child does. She's just so endearing.

An Ocean View - And I also fucking love Seteth and Flayn. This Paralogue is important for them as it's where the game reveals the truth that makes everything about their dynamic make far more sense in retrospect: they are father and daughter, not brother and sister. I genuinely did not see that coming on my first playthrough, so I must tip my hat to them.

Sword and Shield of Seiros - This Paralogue doesn't really hold any weight unless you're playing it in the Golden Deer route, something it has in common with another Paralogue later down the list. Claude coming along, and his reaction to the pirates disguising as Almyrans, makes all the difference. If you didn't realize his true ethnicity before, you should now.

Oil and Water - Pure filler. Nothing is really gained from this. It's just showcasing Hanemann and Manuela's love-hate relationship without actually developing it any. Highly skippable.

Falling Short of Heaven - Yawn. I don't really care about either Catherine or Ashe, so nothing engaged me here. It doesn't even show what Ashe supposedly found out at the end, and the fact that I feel no need to discover what it was reflects my utter disinterest in Ashe.

True Chivalry - This uses the same map as "The Forgotten", but it's way more enjoyable due to Rodrigue's presence and seeing more of what Felix's strained relationship with him is like. And yeah, I am 100% on Felix's side here! Rodrigue's knightly ideals are all well and good on their own, but he has let maintaining them consume his fundamental humanity much like his colleague Gilbert's failure to live up to them consumed his. Behaving as though his fealty to a dead king matters more than civilian lives and as though his older son dying for that same fealty makes his death commendable rather than tragic is ridiculous, and Felix has every right to call him out on it. Surrounded by that attitude for all his life, no wonder Felix is how he is!

Death Toll - While we got the story of how Raphael's parents died and how Ignatz' parents were connected to it in their Support conversations, this Paralogue ends up deepening that story by revealing that their death was a casualty of political strife between the Alliance's nobility. My God, just when I thought Count Gloucester couldn't be more of a piece of shit! But in the end, Raphael again shows just what a pure soul he is - he's focused on doing good in the present instead of grieving for the past, and he's not going to let Count Gloucester's involvement make him think any less of Lorenz just like how he refuses to think any less of Ignatz. He's far from the sharpest tool in the shed mentally, but he has a powerful heart.

Dividing the World - Yet again, we get a Paralogue that's only effective on the Golden Deer route. It's a good accompaniment to Hilda and Cyril, where Hilda showcases her innocent racism - as in, prejudice shaped by ignorance and what she's heard rather than hatred and malice - and Cyril showcases his internalized racism - the way Fodlan looks upon his kind and the better position he's in now in Foldan compared to Almyra has caused him to resent his birthplace and its culture. Throw Claude in there too and it's a very interesting combo.

A Cursed Relic - Another super-hard DLC map. Myson, one of the Agarthans, is the enemy here, as we see him experimenting on creating Demonic Beasts, presumably on Solon's behest. Constance steals the show here, with the contrast between her regular personality when out of sunlight and her affected personality when in sunlight being vividly displayed with her attitude toward Duke Gerth, yet it still somehow meshes together to form a complete, interesting character. Her regular personality is her as she wishes to be, while her affected personality lays all her true insecurities and responses to her past trauma bare for all to see.

The Secret Merchant - This Paralogue is in Part 2 on the Black Eagles route, and only on the Crimson Flower branch, but in Part 1 for the other two. Aside from getting to see Pallardo before his turn to banditry, it doesn't have much to offer story-wise and can be skipped.

Now then, on to Chapters 8 and 9.

- We have great lead-in scenes to the Remire Village mission in all routes. On the Black Eagles route, the foreshadowing of Edelgard being the Flame Emperor becomes way more blatant while setting up the choice Byleth may end up faced with as a result. On the Blue Lions route, we are formally introduced to Lord Arundel while Dimitri finally reveals his and Edelgard's familial relationship. And on the Golden Deer route, Claude finds a book showing the Immaculate One which Seteth promptly confiscates, exposing that the Church is involved in a cover-up that Byleth may be involved in somehow, while also establishing that Tomas has gone missing. No matter which route, you can palpably sense that the plot is thickening.

- There are two red herrings concerning the Flame Emperor presented here. Given that the chapter is called "The Flame in the Darkness", it's easy to think they're responsible for the Remire Village tragedy that Tomas (actually the Agarthan scientist Solon) initiates, and that their denial of being so is a lie. In actuality, they're telling the truth: they haven't been in the loop as to what the Agarthans are doing since they lent them the Death Knight. The other is that your confrontation with the Flame Emperor always ends with your route's Lord's vassal (Hubert, Dedue and Hilda respectively) asking where their Lord is, causing a distraction that allows the Flame Emperor's escape. Given that Edelgard, Dimitri and Claude have all been acting shady on occasion and that they haven't been in the same area as the Flame Emperor yet, there's reason to suspect any one of them. In actuality, Edelgard is the Flame Emperor on all routes, meaning that only on the Black Eagles route is the suspicion truly justified.

- I have a problem with the post-mission scene on the Blue Lions route. While it effectively showcases Dimitri's trauma from the Tragedy of Duscur and also reveals his motive of seeking revenge for it, it always starts out under the assumption that you failed to save villagers in the mission. When you do, Dimitri snaps and screams "I will cut you to shreds!" But if you save all the villagers, this never happens, and yet Dimitri still opens the scene up apologizing for showing you "that side of him" during the battle, rendering it incoherent.

- A much bigger problem, though, is the scene with Dimitri during the ball. No other route has an equivalent scene, so it once again feels like foreshadowing how Dimitri's personal plot will become a tumor in Azure Moon. Also, if you picked Dimitri for the Goddess Tower encounter as female Byleth, then it will feel like this same scene dragging out longer than it needs to.

- The scene where you come upon Rhea looking out at the night sky and singing the song that Sothis sang to her is extremely eerie, and yet at the same time there's something extremely sad about it that you can't quite place at this moment. Later on, of course, you can place it: at her core, beneath all the illusions of dignity and grace, despite all the centuries of living, Rhea is still a sad, lonely child. The bond she had with her mother was deeper than any of her siblings', and she truly believes that she can never feel at peace in life, that the world itself will have no peace, unless her mother is there. It's just so incredibly tragic.

- Jeralt's death....really, what is there to say? It's devastating, and that's all you need to know. There's more to talk about regarding the fall-out of his death, but I'll save that for next time.