Current Events > Remember Fire Emblem Awakening?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Path of Radiance had a good story. Radiant Dawn was okay

A lot of FE games have pretty bad stories. But Fates, specifically Conquest, has maybe the worst story I have ever experienced in a game. It is nonsense of the highest order.

"I can't betray my family!"
(even though they're literally not your family and just kidnapped you, whatever I guess)

"Garron isn't a bad guy, let's keep fighting to win dad's approval!"
(he's literally a goo monster trying to commit genocide, but sure, go off)

"Oh lmao Garron was evil after all! But don't worry, Azura has this plan to keep fighting this war for him to get him to sit in a chair! That'll show him!"
(?????)

"Oh it turns out that evil goo monster Garron is possessed, but if we ever talk about it, Thanos will get us! Let's not even consider writing this information down or showing this evil mythical floating Thanos kingdom to our allies. We should just keep it a secret and keep killing the Hoshidans to get Garron to sit in that chair we mentioned!"
(?????????????????????????)

"I can't betray my family!"
(even though they're literally not your family and just kidnapped you, whatever I guess)

"Garron isn't a bad guy, let's keep fighting to win dad's approval!"
(he's literally a goo monster trying to commit genocide, but sure, go off)

"Oh lmao Garron was evil after all! But don't worry, Azura has this plan to keep fighting this war for him to get him to sit in a chair! That'll show him!"
(?????)

"Oh it turns out that evil goo monster Garron is possessed, but if we ever talk about it, Thanos will get us! Let's not even consider writing this information down or showing this evil mythical floating Thanos kingdom to our allies. We should just keep it a secret and keep killing the Hoshidans to get Garron to sit in that chair we mentioned!"
(?????????????????????????)

Also I can't emphasize how much I hate Sephiran. Dude's literally the cause of almost every bad thing to happen after the Serenes Massacre in the entire duology, massacres of civilians, genocide, the blood pacts, you name it, but he gets a happy ending in the "true ending" because apparently all it takes to get him to change his mind of complete omnicide he planned for decades was to beat him and get a 2 minute motivational lecture from Ike. What BS. Also, his plan involves killing literally every innocent person which would include his granddaughter figure Sanaki, but of course like Micaiah, when it comes to actually affecting someone he loves he can't pull himself to harm her. Moral Myopia at its finest.
Oh yeah, and it would be a lot simpler if he just tried to kill the corrupt Begnion senate since those were the true villains who burned down the Serenes Forest that instigated everything but he decides that the whole world should be wiped out instead and in doing so he even supports the senate, helping them commit further atrocities and at the end of the day are on their side during the final battle in the tower. Why the fuck did Ashera choose these corrupt villains as her apostles to bless and empower anyway? It's like if God decided to have the KKK and Nazis as His representative. Makes zero sense.

https://youtu.be/8_LeEN5KqDs

At the risk of overly advertising my stupid video series, this episode would be the one for you.

In my version of PoR, he stayed in the cell and RD never happened. Literally changed the timeline.

Unfortunately, he had already gave Ashnard the medallion and told him to start a global war prior to PoR so PoR would've still happened, the Crimean royal family and other civilians massacred, Jill's dad would've still been killed, Micaiah's Daein being subjugated by Begnion and Jarod would've still happened, and maybe without the Black Knight's support this time. Begnion could've still forced Naesala to genocide the hawks. Honestly, Sephiran really should've just tried to poison the Begnion senate or something after the Serenes burning.

I will check out your video though, seems interesting.

PoR's story is only slightly better than Awakening imo. Other than a few laguz moments and Jill it's your bog standard FE adventure. RD's story is actually fairly unique and deep with its multiple perspectives and dealing with the aftermath of former protagonists winning until part 4 where it dives into Fates level nonsensical writing. Sephiran is legit top 3 worst characters in the series.

pair up system and unlimited leveling made the game a joke.

On "hard" (read: normal) difficulty, you could just make a Robin x Chrom tagteam and literally steamroll the game and leave everyone else out of battle. On the backhalf of the game, you can make a Lucina/Morgan tagteam to bolster up.

Sephiran is literally set up throughout all of PoR it shouldn't be a surprise to learn that he's powerful lmao. He was a great character. And part 4 is also good and follows all of the rules the universe set up for itself.

That wasn't the point at all. His motivations are stupid, his goals are nonsensical and contradictory, and his face turn redemption is one of the dumbest in fiction I've seen.
And the blood pact shit comes out of nowhere and is just as stupid as the bubble curse as an asspull reason for why the protagonists act like idiots.

Beorc and Laguz broke the vow renouncing war pretty quickly. After Sephirans granddaughter was murdered, it was time for judgement. But he couldn't sing the Galdr, and to his knowledge, the Heron were extinct. Did you not play the game or pay attention?

There was no war going on until Sephiran intentionally caused it. And wanting to wipe the world is a stupid idea when the only people at fault were corrupt people in Begnion. Crimea and the Laguz tribes were perfectly fine with each other. Something he himself realized after he's beaten. And after he's caused countless more deaths in the process. Did you fulfill the criteria to recruit him and get the "true" ending?
And of course, in the process of creating that war he helps the Begnion senate commit even more atrocities and is on their side in the final battle, which again, why did Ashera choose the people who were literally responsible for all the war and racism as her blessed soldiers?

Just nonsensical writing and he's one of the worst characters in the series.

Ashnard had already used the Blood Pact to kill his family until he was the one in line to become heir to the throne. This is around the time Sephiran's granddaughter is murdered. There was going to be a war regardless of what Sephiran does at this point. So he tells Ashnard about the Medallion.

Ashnard was king of Daein for 18 years being perfectly happy just ruling. Sephiran only told him of the medallion a couple years prior to PoR, more than a decade later. Begnion's normal citizens generally felt guilty of the massacre as well. It was literally only the corrupt senate that was the problem. He could've just attacked them, maybe send Zelgius at them after finding him. At the very least, he should've sent Ashnard after Begnion instead. But no, he goes into a Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum and thinks everyone needs to die for this.
If they wanted to make him crazy, at least present him as crazy. Instead, they try to portray him as sympathetic and an anti-villain who turns on Ashera even though he was the one who caused genocides to summon her in the first place.
It's Fates level writing.

There is nothing Sephiran can do to stop the Begnion royalty from enslaving Laguz and otherwise staying at odds with the Laguz. Beorc and Laguz had already broken the vow renouncing war in the first place, so no matter what happened, Ashera was going to judge the world the exact same way she ends up doing in RD anyways. Lehran's entire job was to sing the Galdr of Release so that Ashera and Yune could talk before Ashera decides to pass her judgment, but he could no longer do it because he was stripped of his powers when he lay with Altina. He resided in Goldoa for 700 years watching the Laguz be enslaved and when he finally found his Granddaughter, she was promptly murdered for being Branded. Then his people were wiped out. He lost EVERYTHING.

Yes he could. He was literally already publicly opposing them in the games themselves. Doing something like covertly poisoning them or suddenly have the Black Knight or Ashnard massacre them or just teaming up with the other laguz to attack Begnion's senate is a MUCH easier solution than his convoluted plan to wipe humanity that took more than a decade to plan. And again, there was no war at all, let alone a global one until Sephiran himself created one. It's not just Beorc and Laguz renouncing war, it had to be a GLOBAL one, which is why Yune and Ashera don't wake up until Kurthnaga as representative of the Dragons went in.
Yes, him being torn with grief is understandable, but he literally aids the villains who enslaved and killed his people. It's like if a Jew, in revenge for the Holocaust and anti-Semites still all over the world, decided to team up with Neo-Nazis to nuke the world.
You're pulling mental gymnastics to defend the sloppy writing. If I tried, I could defend Fate's writing the way you are as well.

I feel like you really are not grasping racism as a concept. if Sephiran tried to do what you're describing...what do you think that would cause?He even tried to get Goldoa to aid the enslaved Laguz in the beginning but was denied. If Sephiran used his position in Bengion with Sanaki to start a literal Civil War in what is, by far, the LARGEST empire in all of Telius the same thing would happen

edit: Also, no, Ashera waking up has less to do with Kurth getting involved and everything to do with Michaiah, as the inheritor of Altina and Sephiran's union, and possessed by Yune, singing the Galdr of Release

This isn't about racism. The game makes it abundantly clear that as long as one party, the Dragons, stay out of it, Ashera won't wake up. At that point in time, Daein, still ruled by the former king, probably wouldn't join in either as they had little reason to ally or fight with Begnion. Even if it WOULD'VE waked Ashera up, why not try and help the Laguz take down Begnion anyway and see if they aren't able to topple Begnion before Ashera wakes up? Since Sephiran intended her to wake up anyway, why not first try to take down the corrupt Begnion senate? Not to mention, covert methods like poisoning or a random massacre by a masked assassin.

There were countless easier and more logical options other than the crazy convoluted one he came up with. Your apologism for him is like someone from the thanosdidnothingwrong crowd.

Your edit is also meaningless. Yune had to be woken up then or Ashera would've killed the whole world, not just turned them to stone. Plus that proves my point that even with the whole world at war there needs to be a significant amount of casualties before Ashera wakes up, casualties that would be a lot more limited if it was just the world vs Begnion.

Ashnard was king of Daein for 18 years being perfectly happy just ruling. Sephiran only told him of the medallion a couple years prior to PoR, more than a decade later. Begnion's normal citizens generally felt guilty of the massacre as well. It was literally only the corrupt senate that was the problem. He could've just attacked them, maybe send Zelgius at them after finding him. At the very least, he should've sent Ashnard after Begnion instead. But no, he goes into a Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum and thinks everyone needs to die for this.
If they wanted to make him crazy, at least present him as crazy. Instead, they try to portray him as sympathetic and an anti-villain who turns on Ashera even though he was the one who caused genocides to summon her in the first place.
It's Fates level writing.

So as I said, you need enough casualties for them to wake up, something that wouldn't happen if everyone teamed up against the Begnion senate.

Ashera would not have woken up without Sephiran's actions. Also I'm pretty sure Kurthnaga being royalty unlike Ena and Nasir had something to do with it

Yep, war came and Ashera still didn't wake up because Goldoa didn't officially make a move and the war "didn't get big enough". It's only global war, the one that Sephiran facilitated that would wake Ashera, up. That's the whole point of his role in the story. His role is fine. His motivation, reasoning, and presentation is garbage, like Corrin's in Conquest's.

Both Ena and Nasir get involved with the previous war...and Yune didn't wake up, so...

Ashera wakes up because Michaiah sings the Galdr of Release

Ashnard was a mad man. Tanath says that he inflicted heavy losses on Begnion during a border conflict when he was young. War was coming.

Deghensia made it his mission for everyone to think there was a dark god sealed away, so Ashnard wanted to wake this dark god. He had managed to secure Lillia as a captive before the Serenes Massacre took place, and he had knowledge of things like Blood Pacts. He has to have knowledge of the medallion to even want Lillia, so it's safe to assume he knew more than Lehran realized.

But this wouldnt even be Crimea and Daein's first war with each other.They had been at war with each other 220 years prior. Ashnard ruled Daein for 18 years to prepare a new generation (recall the devastating plague) for world conquest .

No Ashera literally wakes up because Michaiah sings the Galdr of Release

Dude, use your brain. Do you even remember why they sang it in the first place? Because if they had woken Ashera up by global war, they would have been killed, not turned to stone and not even Yune could've stood against her. She explicitly mentions this.

So as I said, you need enough casualties for them to wake up, something that wouldn't happen if everyone teamed up against the Begnion senate.

Ashera would not have woken up without Sephiran's actions. Also I'm pretty sure Kurthnaga being royalty unlike Ena and Nasir had something to do with it

This is actually not true. Lilia was given to Ashnard by Lehran AFTER the Serenes Massacre. https://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Ashnard. Also I'd forgotten that Sephiran outright GAVE the medallion to Ashnard. So he was fully responsible for all of that, not just informing Ashnard.
In any case, even after the war came and Ashera still didn't wake up because Goldoa didn't officially make a move and the war "didn't get big enough". It's only global war, the one that Sephiran facilitated that would wake Ashera, up. That's the whole point of his role in the story. His role is fine. His motivation, reasoning, and presentation is garbage, like Corrin's in Conquest's.

The point I'm arguing is that it has little to do with Kurth getting involved specifically.

I can accept if you don't like Sephiran's character. But calling his motivations and presentation bad writing is factually wrong because it's actually well thought out and follows every rule that it sets for itself

When Does Lehran give Lillia to Ashnard? I checked the source on the wikipedia, which links to serenesforest. I can't find any source saying that Lehran gave Lillia to Ashnard, and I don't remember it either unless its from the original Japenese or something.

"Sephiran: Lady Sanaki, your theory is half correct... and half incorrect. Sir Ike, Im afraid your fathers death was an unfortunate result of Zelgiuss own personal agenda. I must admit that I did ask him to seize the medallion and hand it over to King Ashnard, but it was not to gain Ashnards trust.
Sanaki: Then why?
Sephiran: Because originally the medallion belonged with me. 23 years ago, I placed it with Princess Lillia of Serenes."

Lillia had the medallion, which Sephiran had placed with her so that she could wake it up. Since Ashnard had custody of her and Sephiran didn't seem to phased by it, it can be assumed that he meant for him to have them.

Although the fact that the order of events is so vague is just another example of Part 4's meh writing.

Are you kidding? Awakening was horrible.

Isnt this the point where FE started to become a dating simulator?

Eh. That might be a little much. It was just meh imo. The characters carried it TBH

Tharja was cringe and so are her fans, cringier than the word cringe.

The characters are what ruin it. They made everyone one dimensional waifu/husbando simulation