How Bad is FE7's Story Actually?

[@CyanYoh]

You're aware enough with my misgivings with the Plinkett Emblem series. Poor faith criticism hiding behind the CinemaSins veneer to throw stones for stone-throwing's sake. And to your credit, the humor was probably clearer for those who created it than those who consumed it, but it felt like a fair bit of effort and work wasted on a ill delivered joke. That you went and revisited this subject with a bit more dignity is probably for the best, even if we probably aren't going to entirely see eye to eye. Reductionist views on theming and story purposes miss the mark here, even if we do agree on points of FE7's failure. Glad me ripping into FE5 for 2 hours was at least slightly productive.

[@somethingwithultra7231]

It's like the actual Plinkett reviews they were based on. Honestly they had some points but they're very outdated to use as an actual criticism to judge a story by.

[@MrPizzamoe]

@@somethingwithultra7231 Did I miss sth? What was the problem with the last series? Seemed like very well constructed criticism to me. Or am I not getting a joke here? xD

[@matthewzakrzewski1797]

The fact that the Plinkett review model itself was used is pretty telling lmao. Those reviews in and of themselves were pedantic and ultra-opinionated. People forget that Rich is pretty much singlehandedly responsible for those, Mike only provided the voice.

[@andrewkos5560]

@@matthewzakrzewski1797 Yeah, you can definitely tell that, while improved from a quality perspective, they've definitely felt done with that style for a while. I think Picard offended Mike so much, he brought it back out of spite.

[@AlexT7916]

Where can I watch you rip into FE5 ? It souns kinda interesting

[@the_sacred_stoner285]

Fe7 is just a story bartre told to everyone during fe6

[@quinn8336]

Half of the people in fe7 aren't real bartre is just schizophrenic

[@Evan_S_601]

this is now canon

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

Roy: So... what was Ephidel even doing on the mainland? Bartre: I have no goddamn clue, but he sure was mysterious. Roy: Oh. And Nurgle's whole Quintessence thing? Bartre: I'm gonna be honest kid, I never understood a single word that guy said. Wimbly wumbly, evil, dark magic, dragons, I gave up. I made up that stuff myself, and just kinda assumed he was responsible for all of everything we did. Roy: I'm going to ask Merlinus for his version. Bartre: Gonna stop you right there, that wasn't Merlinus, I just never learned our quartermaster's name, and filled it in. Never saw him again. Roy: ...and Marcus? Bartre: He'll tell you he did everything himself in about an hour. Uphill both ways. And that kids these days and their save states have gone soft. And that Dart was horrible because his promotion item was worth a lot of money. Weird guy, that Marcus. Roy: ..Good night Bartre.

[@funninoriginal6054]

​@@aprinnyonbreak1290 "FIR! YOUR DAD FORGOT TO TAKE THE FUCKING PILLS AGAIN!"

[@eleonorepb4565]

Or it's Larum's fanfiction

[@green_unit9359]

Dorcas’s mutton never got poisoned. False advertising, bad game, 2.1/10

[@yeyo1019]

I had to trust people instead of trusting nobody 1.4/10

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

@@yeyo1019 I trusted nobody, became Marcus, and saved the Fire Emblem in about an hour and thirty minutes. Fire Emblem 7/like15 or 16. Would reccomend.

[@MrRockmusicjunkie]

I'm starting to think this was all a plot to make me read the Banzai rant. I'll never get that time back.

[@Hanesboi]

Same. And I actully liked it lol

[@monfernova]

If it was literally just a normal ass video series it would've been fine, it really was the voice changer and style that was just...yeah, hard on hearing.

[@monfernova]

I think it certainly would've been taken more seriously if you'd just done it normally, it's an odd mix between a sarcastic not so serious voice and genuine analytical criticism which is oil and water.

[@nate567987]

@@monfernova in short don't do cinama sin type jokes they are not funny make you look like a ahole/sexist and kill any point you might have been trying to make also just talk about each of your issues in turn doing it chapter by chapter or we will lose the plot and the last thing is nergal was nuts so what he makes are nuts

[@TheRealMycanthrope]

​@@nate567987oh no, sexism.

[@nadnap]

imo the biggest differences between the plot failures of FE7 and the newer games are that FE7's plot holes are less obvious, and the game's solid character writing helps mask them better. As in, the plot contrivances in FE7 aren't as detrimental to the overall enjoyment of the game because other aspects of the writing are good. I think older games in general get away with more inconsistent storytelling because of how they're presented as well as player expectations. I'm going to be much more critical of a game released in 2020 vs. one in 2003 because of budgets, platforms, and overall expectations as a player at this time. While many of the criticisms were valid, the way it was presented didn't really make me sympathetic to your misgivings with them (I didn't care for the voice modulation, the style of humor, and how the criticisms were couched, to be specific). However, the Maeda video at the end was cathartic viewing and def the best part of the series. Thanks for revisiting and sharing thoughts a few years later.

[@TwilightWolf032]

Also, FE7 doesn't have maids setting themselves on fire nor ninjas dying because of an Earthquake caused by you not having high enough support with him! That helps maintaining the suspense of disbelief.

[@xaropevic7918]

Yep, FE7's good story is the friends/units we recruted along the way

[@l.n.3372]

Regarding the idea about people hating on a game others like, I think people have to understand that many people criticize because they wanted things to be better. I loved 3H but I criticize it all the time because I *want* it to be better. I accept that it's flawed and wish it was stronger *because* I like the game so much. And I also think that people need to maybe develop thicker skin when it comes to fiction. Others are allow to dislike fiction you like - even if you like it, that doesn't make it flawless. Accepting that fiction isn't perfect and being able to poke fun and criticize it anyway is part of loving something. You can't really love it if you are unwilling to listen to criticism about it. That's blind nostalgia tinted love if you cannot listen to any criticism of what you love and enjoy.

[@Bloodiasfire]

100% agreed. As someone who likes exploring media and really thinking about why I like/dislike certain stories/games, it's pretty goddamned disheartening to have people act as if you're trying to stop others from enjoying stuff all the time.

[@l.n.3372]

@@Bloodiasfire I agree. People act like criticism is unnecessary and like it hurts them personally, and I have no idea why. But it's absolutely necessary to develop better games and shows and movies etc. Everything in fiction can and should be analyzed. That's how improvement occurs. You accept and understand feedback and utilize it for a better product next time around. That's why 3H felt like a drastic improvement to many skeptical fans when compared to several notable flaws present in both Awakening and Fates (both of which I also enjoyed BTW). Because 3H focused on characterization and story better. IS took criticism and feedback and used it to make the next game better in the eyes of many fans, helping to bridge the fandom divide. Criticism can be rooted in loathing but more often than not, criticism of things we love demonstrated how much you love that product because you want it to be even better than the last.

[@maltheopia]

I also want to add that criticism can help me appreciate what a bad game does right more. I used to just write off FE7 as a lazy and boring jRPG plot, but after analyzing it I realize that while overall the writing was worse than I thought, there are also some diamonds in the story that would've made it much better if they were polished and ironically make me appreciate Blazing Blade more. There are some genuinely interesting and compelling plot elements in FE7 (i.e. morph/human relations, human/dragon relations, Lycian dissatisfaction with Ostian leadership, the border of Bern and Sacae and Lycia descending into savagery) they just left lying around; they just needed to be used better.

[@l.n.3372]

@@maltheopia I agree. One of my favorite story moments was in Hector mode (which I've never played since I've only played the game once, and Hector mode doesn't unlock until 2nd playthrough). But I watched videos of the Hector mode version and I remember the scene where they hire bandits/pirates to help. And Lyn understandably freaks out because she associated all brigand types with those who killed her family. She's unwilling to trust and forgive. But Hector doesn't understand her reason at first and then grows to realize her perspective. It's a touching character moment among many that shows just how good the Lords were in this game (I happen to think all 3 Lords were done well in FE7). It's just the sloppy narrative driving the plot that's flawed and could be improved. The main characters themselves are already good and could have been done better justice with a stronger narrative to suit their characterization. Also doesn't help that 7 is a prequel and thus they were always kinda boxed in by already knowing Hector's fate in 6, knowing Eliwood fate in 6, and they made Lyn up for 7 already knowing she obviously doesn't exist in 6.

[@bgbss680]

Criticism's a good thing when it's done with tact and said at the appropriate time

[@gargervon8697]

I actually really found your analysis on FE7 fascinating, because I had always thought the plot was pretty solid, at least to the extent that the only plot hole I noticed was the name of Florina's pegasus. I did feel Lyn was vestigial in the main story, but I liked the character, so I didn't care that she was basically "along for the ride." But my favorite thing about it might be your last video where you discussed the difference in vision between the previous writer and the newer one. It explains so much, and I can see that change, even between Binding Blade and Blazing Sword, and certainly the half dating sim feel of the most recent entries shows the series leans heavily into that like it didn't used to before. I like writing, myself, and I actually find you have pinpointed a lot of weaknesses in Maeda's writing that I see in my own writing as well. I feel your review may really help me improve my own writing. Thank you for taking the time to do it!

[@lpfan4491]

That's not even a plothole, the Pegasus is just another victim of poor translation.

[@miles128cast5]

Ya know I'd really like another story like Fe7 were instead of big army clashing on a field (build an army trust no one) it'd just be a group of friends goin' on an adventure.

[@alimohsen7986]

That is EXACTLY why i liked fe7 story, it doesn't follow the same clechè story of bad kingdom suddenly attaking the good kingdom because the evil dragon/demon got awakened again, and has a relation with the bad kingdom. So the young prince of the good kingdom has to lead the army and defeat the bad kingdom and the evil dragon/demon. Instead, you have a story about a bunch of friends having an advanture about a secretive and mysterious group, which then turns to be more deep and complex than they thought and together they travel from place to place following leads that may help them reach the truth and find the answers (except that in fe7 we found no answers, sad)

[@xxx_jim_the_reaper_xxx]

@@alimohsen7986 If you want to experience a great and engaging story, try to play some romhack plots like Fire Emblem : Eligor's Spear, and Order of the Crimson Arm. I'd recommend it.

[@dustgraystone9448]

​@@alimohsen7986...I though we did find answers?

[@alimohsen7986]

@@dustgraystone9448 Yea I mean kind of I guess, I think I was referring to the plot holes in the story that was never filled in. I already forgot the story so I am not sure what answers I didn't get.

[@dustgraystone9448]

@alimohsen7986 then that sounds disingenuous to say that we "except in fe7 we found no answers, sad" unless you meant it's been a year and you forgot the context of why you added that to the end. That was the only grievance I had, sorry. >

[@Gultykappa]

Glad to know that my willing suspension of disbelief was not the only one to be tested in FE7.

[@PallaEmblem]

The terms you guys are looking for are usually referred to as Passive/Active reading. Probably a good idea to avoid rant styled criticisms in the future. Unless you're with a small group of close friends they usually just make a lot of people mad rather than influence opinion in a constructive manner.

[@Mark-nn2ce]

Just because they don't change minds doesn't mean they aren't productive. Persuasive writing isn't the only valid form of criticism. One of the reasons the original Plinkett Star Wars reviews are popular isn't because they're persuasive, but because they help those people who didn't like the films figure out why. As Mr. Plinkett says, "you didn't notice, but your brain did." And that is what Plinkett Emblem helped do for me. FE7 gets so much praise that I sometimes feel crazy for not liking its plot. It's good to hear someone take on useful criticism.

[@PallaEmblem]

@@Mark-nn2ce I don't disagree, but it seems to me that he wanted to influence opinion with the series which his style did not help at achieving.

[@MrCactuar13]

The failure was that no voice changer can match the cadence and tremolo of Mike Stoklasa's narration

[@weeeeeeev]

I will admit, whenever I looked back at Plinkett Emblem I kinda just disliked it more, it felt like a lot of work was wasted for the sake of a joke that wasn't delivered well - I couldn't really recommend it to people You two going into it here as your proper selves should hopefully make something more accessible

[@CyanEyed07]

I thought Plinket Emblem had plenty of valid points, but the presentation was a huge turn off for me. The voice changes bothered me and the jokes weren’t my humour at all.

[@Logans_Login]

I thought this was a False Swipe Gaming parody for a second

[@adryanbarbosa7186]

Same

[@Mekkkah]

the title is a FSG reference yeah lol

[@TheDiego908]

It needs more capital letters

[@Mekkkah]

@@TheDiego908 i dont do clickbait sorry

[@pableitor2009]

I was expecting the video to start with "Unfortunately" ngl

[@SmellyMelly92]

Aside from the voice modulation thing, I didn’t really realize how much people weren’t into Plinkett Emblem. Maybe I’m just a big sucker for deep, almost nitpicky analysis of storytelling but I love examining all forms of media through a critical lens. I feel we should be thinking more critically about the media we consume, including games. Which is all to say I enjoyed the Plinkett Emblem videos and this one and would be very into seeing more thorough analysis content in the future.

[@LiveLXStudios]

Screw that. Hyper nitpicky criticism is how fanbases turn into stuff like the trash that is the Star Wars fan base. Always looking for something to be angry about, treating hyperbole like it’s fact, and always trying to grasp at weak excuses to treat subjective feelings like objective fact.

[@alexmartin6561]

52:40 That's why I love the dawn brigade. Daein is weak after the war and they only win due to micky's gift. You really feel the difference in power when playing as micky's group and then switching to the power house that is the greil mercenaries. It adds to the desperate feeling micky has and why she hasty makes bad decisions due to pressure. It also translates well and adds a middle ground with elincia's chapters as you don't feel weak like micky's group but you also can't brute force it like Ike's group. (except the god HAAR!)

[@illuminia25]

Yep! I think this is a point people seem to miss when they complain about the DB being bad. Whats really cool about RD is that strong characters are strong in game and weak characters are weak in game. This is also exemplified when the DB has to fight Ike in 3-13 for example. Unless you do something like try and cheese with sleep, he really feels unstoppable - having Ragnell you cant attack him unless you use leonardo (lol) with a longbow. Having the DB basically having all their plans fail against the GMs and all the GMs plans seeming to generally succeed, it really shows the difference between them. And in maps where you control the DB against the GMs, it really does feel like fighting a losing battle because the DB is mostly just a group of random people, outside of the few that are from PoR, meaning it makes sense they cant beat a (at this point) veteran band of mercenaries with tactics to turn things to their advantage

[@misterpayah7723]

@@illuminia25 Agree completely. I always appreciate it if games can transmit narrative elements through gameplay. I have my complaints about how unbalanced RD is by endgame, but the Micaiah chapters in Part 3 are always my favourites because of how desparate they feel.

[@ghost245353]

Correction: Micaiah

[@Elyseon]

Correction, Mickey Sue.

[@garbageman9999]

I just think it’s an entertaining story, not necessarily a great one

[@arman_llc624]

Lance Legstrong nah, even though fe 7 was one if my first games even I can admit that its story and even characters aren’t very interesting, and even in terms “haha its so bad that its funny” it still loses to fates. But its all subjective which is fair

[@typhlocube9359]

@Master Knight I'll take a laughably bad story with little to no unironically good moments like Fates over an uninteresring story carried by the character moments like FE7's any day. It's not that I prefer Fates's story as a whole, it's just that watching Corrin getting dumber and dumber and more and more sucked off by their siblings that aren't really their "siblings" for their dumbness as the story goes is so funny to me (except at the worst moments when it actually pisses me off), and giving Corrin a dumb name makes the experience even better. FE7's story on the other hand makes me feel nothing except when someone dies or when X character does something cool. Fates's story is really awful but it sucks so much sometimes that it becomes enjoyable.

[@arman_llc624]

TyphloCube I completely agree. Even though technically speaking fe 7’s story is not as awful as fates, it doesn’t have the charm of being so bad that it becomes good. Personally speaking aside from jugdral, tellius and maybe three houses and echoes none of the other gamers delivers a “interesting” story, so when people criticize fates story I really have to wonder in what bases are they criticizing it for, and what are they comparing it with, cause gba stories are pretty bland for the most part if you ask me

[@typhlocube9359]

@@arman_llc624 I like Sacred Stones's story, not my favourite but I enjoy it. The beginning is pretty unimpressive but then it gets pretty good. It has some pretty memorable moments like Orson's betrayal and also the other certified Orson moment later. Lyon's death and his arc overall was also pretty sad. I disliked when Eirika gave him the Sacred Stone but in her defence she just hoped that her friend could come back, as Lyon told her as his normal self (not in Fomo mode). That's a bit the same situation as Celica in Echoes when she was under the pressure of Jedah who litteraly told her "bitch come with me or I'll let Alm and his posse die". I know it was a lie (if you didn't send Alm into the Necrodragon volcano whatever the name was) but Celica had NO WAY to find out. Eirika and Celica aren't dumb dammit. Also Grado has some really cool generals, and also Selena.

[@arman_llc624]

@@typhlocube9359 yea the villains and their personal relationship with some of your characters was pretty cool to see. orsins scene with his wife was also pretty dark, but overwall fe 8's story isn't all that but yea it does have the best story compared to the other two gba's

[@lolmetaknight]

I was just thinking the other day, if Eliwood's father was able to badly hurt Nergal but stabbing him from behind then why did Eliwood had to go find a legendary weapon to defeat Nergal then?

[@lpfan4491]

Because Elbert is just too strong for the plot.

[@hi-i-am-atan]

@@lpfan4491 elbert was packing *_61_* hp

[@V-Jes]

Because his mustache made him that powerful.

[@greninja4175]

Elbert was built different

[@ledah7195]

Elbert is a legendary weapon

[@MetaDash]

Like with Revelation, I find myself ping-ponging back on FE7 ("do i like it? or is it not as good as i figured"). It's still a game I have a lot of fondness and nostaglia for, but at the same time, the review was good at highlighting all the weird errors and inconsistencies of the the story that most don't see or grasp at their first, second, or even third playthroughs. Largely because for a lot of us, we have that 2003 beginning-of-fe-in-the-west fondness so we haven't so hard about it. Imo it took me a while to get used to Plinkett Mekkah, but I had really enjoyed the series....and when I watched it, it was a really difficult time for me personally, so I thank you for that. I think the only part of it that I disagreed with is the whole part with Fates and Maeda. For me it felt more like a retroactive bias thing, like "see! fates was bad because of this guy and this guy worked on fe7 so that cements it!". I know that's not what you said explicitly, and while you can draw a pattern because he took a directoral role in THE divisive game in the series, I just felt the logic was flawed. Back to FE7, it's a game that has a lot of dumb stuff but....it's still a game I can play like, whenever. It's not like Thracia or Radiant Dawn or Three Houses where I kinda have to be in the right mood to get situated with its mechanics or more difficult parts.

[@bretginn1419]

Honestly, I don't mind Revelation. I actually like it a fair bit and find it to be one of the more fun FEs to play from a map design standpoint. I found the gimmicks were fairly enjoyable overall. Especially compared to Conquest, because I think the gameplay there is twice as bad as the story.

[@bgbss680]

@@bretginn1419 Conquest's story isn't really that bad, or not bad enough to justifiably single it out from a series with noticeably worse entries

[@Elyseon]

@@bgbss680 Fates is a steaming turd though.

[@bgbss680]

@@Elyseon Ok?

[@DSaC_]

I really enjoyed Plinkett Emblem, because I personally always felt unsatisfied with FE7's plot but never really thought about *why* that is. Plus you had an entire episode on how Nergal is just store brand Gharnef, and any Gharnef appreciation makes me happy because he's FE's most underrated antagonist. Also, the phrase Irysa is looking for to describe Thracia is "story-gameplay integration". Thracia's story and gameplay are closely intertwined to make you more invested in both of them, while FE7's story and gameplay are constantly at odds with each other.

[@monkeman5895]

Thracia’s Story and Gameplay are not always intertwined with each other well and you can see this in how they balanced each other: Illyios is somehow stronger than Olwen in terms of base stats and weapon ranks even though he’s a commoner while Olwen is a noble who is trained by Reinhardt himself Diarmuid whose supposed to be as good as Fergus is lorewise since they both are forrest knights and have holy blood, but nope, Diarmuid kinda sucks in Fe5 Even though both Marreta and Galzus have holy Od blood, they can’t use the Bragi blade for some reason And finally, the fact that Diarmuid can use the Beosword but Nanna can’t

[@DSaC_]

@@monkeman5895 None of those are really problems with the story or gameplay though, aside from the Bragi Sword part which is a pretty big oversight. Sure, Illios is stronger than Olwen, but who you are and who you're trained by can be offset by pure talent and motivation. Diarmuid's problems are more how late he joins and the fact that FE5 lategame is all indoors, rather than raw stats. The Beo Sword can be explained with Diarmuid and Nanna being half-siblings, and I think this was intended to add to the confusion of who was the father of those two.

[@monkeman5895]

@@DSaC_ Confuse the canon pairing for Lachesis but not for Lewyn? Not to mention the more fanfiction sounding writings of Fe5 when it comes to characters like Eyvel (Only Forseti is even willing to make pacts/deals with humans because the other dragons just don’t care) and apparently, Mareeta and Galzus having major odo blood even though it’s explicitly clear in Fe4 that it’s one major blood per generation.

[@DSaC_]

@@monkeman5895 Yes, because that was the intent? Also I dunno where you're pulling the one major blood shit from considering that FE4 itself has ChulainnXAyra to give her kids Major Odo Blood.

[@monkeman5895]

@@DSaC_ Because it was a glitch much like Hilda having Dainn blood even though it’s supposed to be Fala blood. Otherwise, you’d be seeing more Major blood characters running about Hell since Ulster and Larcei are twins, it would mean Brigid and Aideen both should have major ullir blood because they’re fraternal twins but they don’t because again, 1 major holy blood user per generation

[@mcihay246]

I find things that are ambiguous tend to be interpreted differently depending on the viewer. Because it seems as if it's between a joke or something serious, people get to decide whether to take it seriously or not.

[@acsu96]

I appreciate the discussion about themes presented at the end. It connected me back to my high school AP lit class where we said a major theme of a work of literature should have a concrete sentence that has arguable merit, rather than just a single vague word, like "loss". Also from the perspective of someone who likes the characters in FE7, I think the supports and stuff around characters like Nino, Legault, Renault, and Raven are really interesting at ways to cope with loss as a theme - probably why I didn't have strong feelings about FE7 while playing it, but I felt much more emotion while watching Ghaast's support science videos

[@maltheopia]

Is 'coping with loss' really the best theme the people in this game can come up with? C'mon, what Fire Emblem game DOESN'T have that as a theme or even a primary motivation for certain main villains?

[@boredomkiller99]

@@maltheopia @maltheopia fe 1-3 had little theming in general. 4 is largely based on the idea of how good intentions of good men can damn us all as the plot of fe4 is mostly due to both Sigurd and Arvis both trying to do good and leading to the anti christ being born. Fe5 is a lot about the hardship of leadership and the flaws of ego. Leif due to his idealistic desire gets himself in trouble multiple times and leads to even the death of a trusted advisor. Fe6 theme is hard to pin but I would saw it is about the evil within men as humans largely started the war with dragon and Zepheil is delusional due to his father attempts at killing him. Fe6 theming kind of sucks in general and Zepheil's reasoning breaks down pretry bad. Fe8 theme might be accepting and resisting one's destiny. Ephraim does not want to be King, Lyon can not accept his dad's death and the natural disaster that will hit his nation. Erika can not accept that Lyon has become the demon King and must kill him. Fe 9 and 10 os obviously racism Fe11 is actually about lose and Marth overcoming his personal lose to become a good leader including realizing the citizens of the country that betrayed his father are not deserving of his hate. Most of these above games don't really have loss as the central theme. Yes all of them have loss in it but not aa the main theme. I mean in fe6 the only real big death is Hector which before fe7 adding characterization basically shows up and dies so Roy can be the leader and is barely impactful. Meanwhile in fe7 all three main characters main arcs revolve around losing or not wanting to lose loved ones and the impact of it. Honestly you just seem to have an irrational hate boner for fe7.

[@DoctorLocke]

@@boredomkiller99 Don't mistake little text with little theming. I'll concede FE1 doesn't. 2's theme is humanity rising up to need no guardian god, with both sides fighting a war against an army that makes liberal use of said god's power and Celica trying to revive her own goddess only to in the end give up the idea and join Alm. There's very little text in this game but the general idea is there. 3 uses two main themes (mostly in Book 2 with some setup from Book 1). The first one is knowledge of the past: Marth spends a good part of the game retreading old legends and learning more and more of the legends of his ancestor, to then actually relive them in similar ways while avoiding the mistakes they did. See for example the curse of the Emblem, that Marth (in the good ending) is actually able to shatter and live happily. The second one is still related to the past, but a closer past: Marth and army in both Books are fighting to fix the errors of the previous generation. Notably, every previous ruler had issues of some sort with the exception of Talys' King. Grust's king is a weak coward. Gra's king is corrupt and generally evil. Medon's old king is murdered by Michalis for being supposedly weak and Michalis himself is a confused and corrupted youth. Akaneia's former rulers are described as shit rulers by Camus. Marth's father is portrayed as a warrior first, with the anime even making him an asshole. Not necessarily evil, but Marth wins by being a kind soul instead of a warrior. Aurelis' king is an old man, the most sympathetic of the bunch but he is not capable of dealing with his brother in his conditions. And by the end of the game, Marth unifies the entire continent, being now a good ally to all the surviving heirs to the previous generation (all shown to be better people than their parents). You could even argue FE4 is a reconstruction of the inheritance theme that FE3 presents negatively

[@boredomkiller99]

@@DoctorLocke you know those are excellent points you just made like hot damn.

[@Zarcyne11]

I'm replaying FE7 right now and just got passed the Dread Ilse part of it, so the story's fresh in my mind right now. About Ephidel in specific, my take away was that he was keenly aware that if he fought Eliwood's army, he would lose, and that he has no use for the chumps that Eliwood could defeat anyway. I will say that he doesn't seem to be doing anything substantial, and doesn't have a personality, even if that's on purpose it's bad, but calling him out on making a mistake over and over again doesn't make sense. His big mistake, to me, was that he was overestimating Eliwood's army, and that he did not want to die. I won't say anything about after his death, since I haven't made it that far in my replay yet, but Ephidel doesn't seem as bad as you guys are saying.

[@haroohusky]

My brother has a theory that Ephidel was made much weaker than Sonia and Lim, which indeed he was. I'm guessing stat-wise he was as strong as a lv 10 mage promoted. He's sneaky and refuses to directly fight your lords countless times even after Nergal tells him to.

[@TheGuzeinbuick]

​@@haroohuskyEphidel's expertise was diplomacy. He effortlessly manipulated Laus into starting a rebellion with just a few promises of glory. Kind of like how Sonia allowed Nergal to infiltrate the entire Black Fang just by seducing its leader. They're both primarily manipulators. Limstella is the opposite. No rhetorical skills to speak of but an absolute powerhouse in combat.

[@Legault397]

My assumption is that Ephidel actually does kill Hausen (or mortally wound him) and then Leila is just like "yeah Lyn your grand dad is fine back there uh but don't go in there you better go to the Dread Isle now" which I back up with her then saying "Hey Lyn tell everyone who asks that Lord Hausen is dead" so there's never an awkward moment where Lyn says her grandpa's alive and the other person is like "I was at his funeral though" or something

[@lpfan4491]

But I thought her characterending was that she stayed with him until he dies. And it is written to imply that it's some time after the events end.

[@moltz4866]

The sequel no one asked but everyone wanted too anyway.

[@GatorRay]

Imagine if Nintendo ended Fire Emblem before it had a game that wasn't Japan only. MAYBE that would've been for the best.

[@PhotonSieve]

@@GatorRay Lmao no. The majority of the good games in the series are after 6.

[@GatorRay]

@@PhotonSieve BUT so are the majority of the bad games IMHO.

[@PhotonSieve]

@@GatorRay FE 1 and 2 vs Fates and Awakening (arguable). I wouldn't say so.

[@GatorRay]

@@PhotonSieve What about Warriors (Bad Musou game) & Heroes (Bad gacha game)?

[@ninjacell2999]

I would actually just listen to more videos like this discussing fire emblem, it's very interesting tbh

[@glowstickofdestiny1290]

I'll be happy if I never have to hear the Meklett "whaghhgghghghgght" again, that's for sure

[@DownToTruck]

I remember the Banzai rant. That thread became such a cesspool lmao

[@dergeilste1383]

Yo idk if youll see this but this was one of my favorite series ever I watched it about four times and it also got me into RLM reviews, which I also love a lot so thank you I appreciate you putting in all the work

[@davidmejia5740]

I'm surprised at how mixed the feedback was because FE7 was one of my first FE games, and even as much as I liked it, I watched the Plinkett series like "wow, FE7 was really this bad??? lmaoooo," especially when it came to points like Ursula having "more important shit to do," Ephidel not teleporting out, the unnecessary Araphen fire, etc. and it was a lot of stuff I glossed over when I played through it a few times way back because I cared more about the gameplay. Not to say I skipped the story, I just didn't note all the weird silly shit like "Ursula has something more important to do than kidnap Ninian and Nils" and Desmond's "I'm gonna fuck over my son's ceremony but also kill him before the ceremony comes." That said, the Plinkett series was very amusing. Its creation very much epitomized being able to enjoy something (which is why I'm guessing you've done some FE7 draft races) while also being able to acknowledge its (many, MANY) flaws.

[@Larknok1]

I'm a story writer and I think the FE7 story is okay. But to be honest, I'm really just confused why people have strong opinions about it at all. I think there's a couple things that prevent me from getting angry at the FE7 plot, none of which are "I like to turn my brain off in media." Because I'm really disheartened by how bad the writing in a lot of shows has gotten lately. I'm not someone who defends the ending of GoT, or gives a pass to the Star Wars sequels. Bad writing sucks. Anyhow, here we go: 1) FE7 is a game. If a Star Wars movie has a bad plot and bad characters, that's completely fatal -- because an interesting story (plot and characters) make up *the fundamentals* of that medium. FE7 isn't a movie or book, it's a game. So the fundamentals are gameplay, followed by art. FE7 does both of those things well (and I think the 2d sprites still hold up like 10 years later). The story still matters, so if it sucks bad, that's a huge problem. But with this qualification in mind (that gameplay > story), let's get into it. 2) FE7 signals to you that it has a distributed, episodic approach to its story -- with a much heavier emphasis on its characters -- from the very beginning. Lyn's story arc (the tutorial) is basically the signal flare. By beginning and ending in 10 chapters (and even having a rolling "happy ever after" style of credits), it communicates to the player to expect self-contained, bite-sized plot threads. So you play through Lyn's 'story' and then ... Eliwood's starts. This is jarring. I noticed this much even when I was 10 and playing FE7. What carries over between the stories? Very little except the characters. That's the signal to the player that what really counts is the characters. This point is hammered home by the fact that Hector's 'story' is just his perspective on Eliwood's plot, and the fact that this is a prequel: it's plot isn't allowed to impact the future. Even more to the point, the fact that there's three 'stories' in FE7 but only *one* character pool is very solid evidence to the effect that the point is the characters. Now about that: 3) FE7 has some pretty dang compelling characters. Now, look. It's not the case that all of them appeal to everybody -- but that's a herculean, probably impossible goal. Just look at Stardew Valley: half the appeal of the game is about learning about the unique characters in the valley, and *everybody* has their favorites, but almost nobody likes everyone. To be honest, that's probably the point: your 'favorites' let you express yourself. If everyone appeals to everyone (which is probably impossible), then your 'favorites' don't have any personal weight. And when you look at FE7 with that in mind, what is obviously true is that there is a character for everyone. When I was a kid, I liked Kent and Guy, because they were composed and ambitious, and I liked Raven because he was edgy and cool. Now as an adult, I can appreciate Sain's courage to be out there with his positivity and emotions, and Raven's struggle with revenge. As a kid I liked Eliwood because he was 'generic good guy with only good motivations' and as an adult, I don't like Eliwood because he is 'generic good guy with only good motivations.' More important than subjective character preferences, the gameplay of Fire Emblem *incentivizes* and *rewards* investing in your favorite characters: you are supposed to max level the ~10 characters you find the most compelling, interesting, or fun. You are *supposed* to only get the best ending text for the characters you are most invested in, because it makes you feel *unique* for having your favorites and investing in them. I think this is a big part of why people didn't like Marcus back in the day. It wasn't gameplay (he's amazing), it's that he's a wrench in a lot of player's "rags-to-riches" story that they like telling about their favorite characters. It's why, for instance, I like power-levelling Rebecca or Wil. This brings me to my next point: 4) FE7's approach to characterization is a hybrid between traditional story-telling (plot + scripted personality) and 'characters' whose 'story' is entirely head canon made up by the player on the basis of their gameplay choices (as in XCOM). As an example, my power-levelled Rebecca *isn't* the same character as your perma-benched level 4 Rebecca. They share the same plot and scripted personality -- (but even here, only to a point: the game was designed to only show you supports on characters you invest in) -- but my Rebecca repeatedly proves herself saving allies by doubling and OHKOing powerful enemies, while your Rebecca benchwarms and may as well not exist. Each player takes the scripted elements of the plot as an anchor point, and then makes their own story with their favorite characters. But let's look past FE7's great gameplay, art, and gameplay-fueled hybrid approach to a diverse range of characters, and just look at the scripted plot of the main plot thread: Eliwood's. 5) Eliwood's plot is serviceable for what it needs to do. His dad goes missing so he looks for him. He fights a bunch of evil dudes who try to stop him, but perseveres in trying to find his dad. His friends help him along the way, and you consistently recruit new 'friends' from among the enemies in the gameplay loop. Eliwood eventually 'finds out' his dad might be evil, but refuses to give up on him yet. So he makes his way to bad-guy-island following a lead, where he learns about this grandiose cartoonishly-evil plan to unleash dragons on the world. He and his friends struggle, but eventually stop the cartoonishly-evil plan. The end. This is a serviceable plot. It's not a master class in Game of Thrones-style epic plot threads that all come together in the end ... but does it need to be? Are plots not allowed to be simple in service to character and gameplay driven mediums like this one? Are villains not allowed to be cartoonishly-evil? I can see being upset if the game made you *expect* a rich, everything-finally-makes-sense-now epic plot, and then fails to deliver -- but see points 2) and 4) above. The game goes pretty far out of its way to tell you to expect episodic, self-contained plots where the point is that you choose your favorite characters and tell your own branches of their stories. The worst the plot ever gets is when it suspends your disbelief and takes you completely out of the story. So let's look at that. 6) Does all this theorizing about Ephidel's motivations not adding up make a first or second time player suspend their disbelief and take them out of the story? No, definitely not. When I was a kid (if I had the words) my takeaway would have been "the morphs are evil and their villainy causes them to blunder in a number of ways, even if they are competent in other respects" -- and I think that's still pretty much true. Does anything else take the player out of the story? Yeah, a few things do. What's up with the villains not killing characters they explicitly state a desire to kill? Lundgren not just stabbing Hausen didn't make sense to me when I was 10. If his point was to discretely kill his brother, he wouldn't scream "drink your poison!" to him. It still doesn't add up. Ephidel not killing Hausen also made no sense. (Wait, is Hausen just an unkillable demi-god or some shit?) But Ephidel leaving Leila's corpse as a cruel 'warning' to the protagonists? No, that's pretty on point for a malicious evil being who is literally not human. --- That's all I got. You can probably point me in the direction of other plot issues, but I guess I just wanted to contextualize that: * FE7 is a game. Gameplay comes first. * If story elements are to be considered, the game *very clearly* invests more in characters than scripted plot. * And it's not even necessarily the written characterization that matters. It's the diverse cast of characters they let you invest in and tell your own branching narratives. * The plot is a serviceable backdrop for the great gameplay, worldbuilding, and opportunity for characterization via gameplay. This doesn't mean you can't still knock the game for not having a perfect plot -- but that's what you're doing, you're explaining why FE7 isn't perfect. Not why it sucks. Maybe one reason so much focus is being placed on the plot is that it's the most obvious thing that separates FE7 from other titles in the series. Other games have a diverse cast of characters, motivate you to invest in them on your own terms via the gameplay, good art, and good gameplay. So the focus goes to the plot. But I can't help but feel that choosing to judge FE7 on its scripted plot is a deeply strange choice -- one that only really makes sense if you play too much of the FE series and lose sight of what FE7 does all on its own. Anywho, thanks for reading.

[@pksprite6401]

Idk… i only really skimmed through this, but your points about characters and supports and all that could apply to basically every other Fire Emblem game too. Plus, I don’t think any of this excuses the numerous plot holes, garbage translation, and baffling actions by the villains (and heroes at some points). I’d say that FE7’s plot does suck. You can like the characters and their interactions, and the support conversations, but I don’t think any of that is really the story.

[@drago_excalibur]

I actually do have a disagreement on the point made in 56:45 While I agree that this plot point could have been done better, I dont agree with Athos and Brammimond being merged into one character because it removes all of the importance of what Brammimond brings to the story. Brammimond is essentially what Nergal strived to be but failed in doing and that part is important because it shows what Nergal could have been and it also has alot of importance to the dark magic plot point that Canas, Pent, Nergal and even Canas's mother in FE6 had which was the consequence of dark magic, the never ending desire for knowledge that drives Canas and what the price is to achieve that and when achieved, what that really looks like. Brammimond is an individual that sacrificed everything and surrendered it to learn the heart of dark magic, master it and become probably the strongest mage in existence. Removing him from the story creates a hole in alot of character motivations and also takes away from FE6-FE7's most interesting plot point which is the theme of dark magic, how its not really evil but punishes those with weak minds indiscriminately, how it can be used for good and evil and how it can take a person's very personality from them in exchange for ultimate power, and if thats even worth it. I personally think Brammimond's story and his existence in the game gives it this added depth that it otherwise would not have had if he never existed and only Athos did. Thats because Athos does not have those characteristics to do what Brammimond did and would not work if he just took those aspects of Brammimond's character since it contradicts alot of Athos's own character.

[@Besh091]

it's not often i get excited for new, hour-long uploads, but this has me genuinely excited

[@OGRadion]

NO VOICE CHANGER, THANK GOD

[@aduboo29]

The feeling I got watching the whole series was pretty much what you've said here; it felt like a project some friends had worked on for a very long time that was probably a lot funnier to the people who made it because of that experience. I still enjoyed it, but a lot of the humour missed for me and I do think because so much of it was staged in the ridiculous people were bound to be unsure what was serious criticism and what was poking fun. As far as the voice goes, it isn't that I was used to your voice - it just wasn't a great voice. Really grated on the ears. Yeah, I got used to it too - but that was honestly more because the high pitched voice was even worse and I was in deep enough to welcome the return of the deeper one.

[@fluffy9071]

you really ought to just play Xenoblade DE sometime with all the music you use, haha Great vid, loved to see retrospective of such a big project

[@ericamborsky3230]

I personally did not really enjoy how the story of FE7 was more of the adventure/quest fantasy genre as opposed to the usual military fantasy stories of other games in the series. It bothered me how there was never an army to fight since fighting a battalion "assassins" (that includes the likes of armor knights, cavaliers, generals, axe fighters and wyvern riders of all things) feels far less epic than facing down the army of Bern, even if the maps and enemy compositions are identical.

[@miles128cast5]

For me the story of adventure was enthralling but I can see the dissonance.

[@lpfan4491]

It's strange how almost all of the chapters where we have to take on an actual army are linked to Lyn's forced inclusion.

[@matthewzakrzewski1797]

I've realized what I truly hate isn't plinkett fans, the other fire emblem games, or fe youtubers. Its FE fans themselves lmao

[@14bj337]

"Damn Fire Emblem" fans! They ruined Fire Emblem!

[@DekuOfPower]

I love the characters in FE7. What? You want to know about the story? It's..... it's, uh... It's there.

[@henryreturns1397]

What makes FE7 a favorite for many even though the story sucks ass? Well , compared to Fates were the story was beyond shit , FE7 have charismatic characters that makes you forget how bad the story is, while Fates........

[@maltheopia]

I find this take baffling, I think FE7 has some of the worst characters in the series. Just so many self-oriented, antisocial dickheads more interested in themselves than other peoples' feelings. Only FE14: Revelation compares -- and I still think FE7 is worse.

[@boredomkiller99]

@@maltheopia fe7 benefits from the world building of fe6 something that fate as a whole is pretty bad at. Also the main characters for the most part have character arcs that are identifiable and somewhat executed well. Lyn has the whole being both of nomad and noble birth and the problems that arises from it along with her desire for revenge on the bandits that gets addressed in Wallace support. Eliwood is your standard call to action and passing of torch story, not innovating but still solid. Hector is dealing with the lose of his family, fears of his brother health, dealing with death and the fact he never really processed his parents death in a healthy way. Fates main characters have none of that in the main story. Corrin is honestly a idiot to some degree in every route and has no arc and should of died a hundred tines especially in birth right as he falls into a dozen of traps and the royals only have any depth in supports as that clearly had a different writing team. Plot of fe7 is questionable due to try to wing a prequel story for a game that was not suppose to have one but the actual characters are some of the better ones as up till then most of the previous fe lords had poor agency or character arcs. Marth's character basically didn'tnt exist in fe 1 and only started to in fe3 but book 2 was more concerned with exposition dumping. Alm and Celica in gaiden were limited by the archaic limiation of the nes. Sigurd is actually the first lord with a real character and fe4 is very well written in gen 1 too bad gen 2 suffers from exposition dumping. Leif is probably one of the top best written fe lords only really competing with SD Marth and being tailed by Ike. Roy has no agency and his character is limited to supports. Has no real agency in story. Even with the Tellius games SD I find Blazing swords main characters are some of the better ones in the series. Too bad plot was effed.

[@maltheopia]

@@boredomkiller99 I did legitimately like all three of the Lords in FE7. It's the supporting cast that was awful. There are some characters I really liked (Priscilla, Dart, Canas, Renault, Legault) but there were a bunch of characters that really got on my nerves (Vaida, Karel, Bartre, Guy, Raven, Florina, Farina, Sain, Serra, Wallace, Geitz, Harken, Athos, Rath).

[@boredomkiller99]

@@maltheopia I was cool with most of them because in reality most people are unpleasant to be around and just because you work for the good guys doesn't mean you are a good person. Hell Raven only joins so he can find a way to get revenge on Hector's family.

[@maltheopia]

@@boredomkiller99 And I find that obnoxious and disengaging. Fire Emblem's secret sauce, especially for casual players, over games like Advance Wars and Battle for Wesnoth is getting you invested in units beyond their stats. And a Fire Emblem game that does that poor of a job of getting me to care about a game beyond 'what's your strength, speed, defense, and hp? That? Okay, now STFU' failed on a fundamental level. It'd be like making a D&D video game that discouraged you from gaining levels.

[@BumroyV2]

I actually go back and watch Plinkett Emblem every once in a while. I never liked FE7 for different reasons than you outline both here and in the series, but it was really gratifying and fulfilling to have someone else express quite clearly their problems with the game. I definitely understand why people like it, and, like you two, I've mellowed out over my distaste for the game. Still, Plinkett Emblem is a fun, comforting series to watch.

[@abosikay5952]

I am glad you made Plinkett Emblem, because of this i feel like more people have a greater understanding of fe7’s story, and the flaws with it. While i think this resulted in a lot of people basically 180ing to hating fe7, at least from my experience, but i still think this was necessary. I feel like criticism of the series as a whole is something the community needs more of, as it just bugs me when people worship games like fe4 and 3H, denying the glaring flaws they have in gameplay and story, yet shit on conquest or now fe7 for having bad stories. I’m not saying there’s a magic game immune to criticism, my favorite game fe5 can be fairly judged for being quite skippable with warp staves. But i think, for everything not just fire emblem, communities can have trouble addressing the good and the bad in what they like, because, well they like it. I don’t know what i’m getting at but tldr I hope to see more things like Plinkett Emblem and just general criticism of the series.

[@Neogears1312]

I feel like 7 poorly handles nods to 6. Like karel is well done, this is exactly how his Noah support went. You’re utilizing the info we already had and making that a thing for a game exploring the past. But so many do a bad job. Bartre needs to be a level 5 warrior and tie karla to get her, but Bartre was only level 2 in 6, which hey being fair Douglas loses 2 levels when he joins you so glass houses, but Bartre literally says she only started journeying with him after she won three times in a row with him putting up no fight, and to top this off this is their second bout. It feels they desperately wanted to have this character but didn’t consider just giving you the unit under like a cutscene that actually fit the story told. Or how about the stupid bit where armads has magic curse powers out of nowhere? Exclusively the axe. Why? Well OBVIOUSLY because hector dies and we wanted to reference that. Lets ignore how any fe6 axe user contradicts this particularly Garret who never dies in combat after wielding it. Or Hector memeishly being the over protective dad of Lilina in a dream because they get together even though Hector in his dying moments wanted Roy to be there for his daughter. Just about every shout out to 6 again ignoring karel and Marcus if we ignore him not talking with merlinus at all in 6, grossly misses the point of the original thing or just flat out ignores it when it feels like it (igrene sure didn’t mention knowing athos, and athos definitely didn’t explain to them the legendary weapons caused global warming and shouldn’t have been used, also conveniently the guy who can teleport everywhere can’t just grab these immediately in preparation if they matter etc) so it feels like mess when ever it does try to tie things back.

[@lpfan4491]

FE6: Bartre and Karla had a rivalry where Karla always onehit him and they got together after he managed to dodge her for the first time. FE7: Lmao, I was drunk and hung over at the same time when I heared it. Is it still on the test? FE6: Bramimond had no set info about them, that's what makes them mysterious. FE7: They literally have no set info to record, so not mysterious at all.(Though I find funny how a random portrait of a female villager is linked to their Class. I just headcanon that being how they looked originally for the memes.) FE6: Nobody questions Zephiel's Class because it makes sense. FE7: Let's introduce this absolutely stupid non-plotpoint that his mother had a heavenseal for him to promote, yet gives it away, which would imply he shouldn't be promoted by FE6...for no reason! It's just...man, what a disaster. And I felt every bit of it when I had to make a canonical timeline for the Wiki. The part about Arcadia is literally "Athos discovers it" "Athos helped the villagers" and no more detail because both games say something diffrent. Or how I just ignored the purely character-related events besides the births of the Lords because I didn't want to deal with that mess.

[@pksprite6401]

FE7 Karel’s stuff towards FE6 Karel also falls flat in my eyes. Plinkett Emblem covers it a bit, but a lot of FE6 Karel’s mystique is the mystery around him. Showing him off in FE7 is one thing, but making him into a comically insane “nothing personal kid” edgelord is a bit much. It’s just kind of uninteresting. Plus he’s kind of an insanely mid unit on top of all that? Jeez. I will say I like the stuff between him and Guy though.

[@absoul112]

There is something to be said about framing and delivery that can effect how receptive people are to criticisms. I feel like if instead of Plinkett Emblem you had released a video similar to the Three Houses videos more people would've been open to it (not necessarily agree).

[@benblem147]

15:21 I checked this one. Nergal says エイ...ル. Note: Aegir and Aenir (エーギル and エイナール). On a lay level that seems rather clear to me (エ...ル would be unclear) but perhaps I missed something (and I like the idea of it being either). Still, to be constructive on what the localisers should have done for Nergal's wife. Keep Quintessence and rename Nergal's wife something like Quentina (for the connection). If you want ambiguity his special death line reads Quen...ence instead. But I doubt very much NOA were given a memo explaining the whole Aegir/Aenir so it relied on the team seeing the connection and they did not (it probably doesn't help that you had multiple people working on it). I know that is off-topic from the criticism of needing to play in a specific mode, and doing an optional map that has twisted joke requirements to reach in order to even see that line said. Still Aegir/Aenir in general gives me Canto vibes: two similar things becoming one and mixed up...in the case of canto that's 'move again' and 'act again' being treated as the same term. Canto (referring to chanting) makes sense as flavour when 'act again' is triggered via a song but for mounted units moving again you get into mental gymnastics of 'it's like cantor or something' to justify what seems like an error. Before you ask the first time 'move again' was referenced in an English FE game was in fact FE7 in some village or other. I'll admit I zoned out on this series pretty early on. Still when it comes to game development in general sometimes some bits of script are shoehorned in lategame and continuity is not being checked on them (we see that a few times with gameplay too, for example Sonia and Limstella being less bulky in Hard than Normal due to using the wrong class). I suspect Ephidel might be like this but more mid-development to try and duct tape Nergal schemes onto everything but since it had to work with the existing foundations it was ineffective and irrational. tl;dr Ephidel is anime filler arc villain.

[@medalkingslime4844]

It's a mistranslation but it still works. "Canto" refers to chanting, but it also can refer to a section of a chant. So the idea that it's an ability that allows you to divide your movement into two sections still works and I think that's why official translations have kept it.

[@lpfan4491]

"move again" is also referenced in FE8, just as a verbform instead. I really wonder if they would write "It allows the unit to canto" in modern times to keep the terms consistent.

[@renren47618]

I personally always liked FE7's story and characters. But that's probably because It was my first FE game

[@mysmallnoman]

It's good mekkah's videos were trash

[@Slenderquil]

I feel like my opinion on fe7 is different from most people's. It might be nostalgia for my first fe talking, but it's one of my favorites along with fe6 and fe9, and it has my 2 favorite characters in the series Eliwood and Florina. Also I somehow really enjoy the gameplay and maps.

[@mousefire777]

LOL I remember that banzai thread. I agreed with him pretty hard after reading it, though I was too much of a lurker to voice it.

[@2tehnik]

I found this video insightful as far as the though process for the series goes. But neither of you elaborate on the claim about thinking that you were too harsh on some parts of the story. So, would you mind saying what parts you meant?

[@jackripper7843]

Ephidel dies a pathetic dead because in your own words “he’s a failure” this was intended. Ninian is slayed by eliwood to capitalize the last scene of nergal. Nergal tried all his life to acquire the dark power of resurrection to no avail and when you finally kill him he asks why and did he loose himself. Right after nergals death Bramimond resurrects ninian…. The story is a master piece and it’s a shame the van wagon got so big.

[@Sarixis]

I'm actually playing through FE7 right now as I never finished it when I was younger. I honestly think the Lyn story works better than the main campaign simply because when it comes to storytelling mechanics, the parts are more consistent in spite of its flaws. It has very noticeable Second Act Sag where the inconsistencies and nonsensical moments become most apparent, but the plot is carried on solid character interactions for a 2003 Nintendo game and an easy to understand core story. Eliwood/Hector's story however doesn't have this baseline consistency in its core story, but it's easy to ignore because there's still solid character interactions. Planting and payoff is a pretty big problem with the overall plot when you apply any scrutiny to it and really drags down the tension. Weirdly enough I think the conflict within Bern's monarchy, King Desmond's envy towards Zephiel, and his actions that are motivated by it, is one strongest bits of writing in the game for how brief it is (excluding how it ties to Nergal). At the very least it draws from historical fiction, which is when FE writing tends to shine in comparison to the anime tropes used imo. Idk if I'll play the game once I finish it, since the plot has good ideas, but very messy and inconsistent execution. Overall the plot feels like it was pantsed (written as you go) and they didn't have enough time to go back for more in-depth editing to tie things together with deadlines.

[@isuckatgaming1873]

I actually appreciated plinkett emblem, mainly because of my mentality towards another game - fates. The story in fates was so blatantly bad to me that I couldn't bring myself to play it past chapter 5. At the same time I had loved fe7, and thought it was well written without properly looking at its flaws. This helped my look at both the story and characters of the fire emblem games I play more critically, allowing me to enjoy them more, regardless of good or bad - but it also gave me a new perspective on fates - the story was always what I blamed for fates being bad, and because of that, I never acknowledged the real reasons I wasn't enjoying the game, which was that the stage design and characters had issues separate of the story. The problems with fates were simultaneously smaller and larger than i thought, and so now I fell better giving it more of a chance on other fronts, whether or not it resulted in a worse view of the game.

[@absoul112]

I remember someone in the comments mentioned the Bonzai post on SF. I read through it and got some migraines.

[@lpfan4491]

According to Kantopia, Nergal actually DOES specifically mean Aenir, because both names are written slightly diffrently and the shared parts in his deathquote use the Aenir-rendering. Anyone care to clarify regarding that?

[@whiskeystones9873]

It's very funny you made this video because in the last couple of days I've been reading through the Banzai thread for the first time. Although in the last few pages the quality of discussion was pretty poor and probably not worth the time it took to read.

[@senfgurke8359]

FE7 has the best story in my opinion because it has Matthew in it and thats the only thing that matters to me. But yeah the plot sucks.

[@arachnofiend2859]

I mean that's kind of the crux of the issue: most people understand that FE7's plot is a mess, but there are also a ton of lovable and memorable characters so it doesn't... really matter? Like for the flipside I have a hard time caring about how compelling the plot in FE4 is when the entire cast is just Knightly Dude and Knightly Dude's Future Wife.

[@haroohusky]

Same for me with FE9/10 and Ranulf tbh

[@BowandSvent]

The Xenoblade 2 music made me enjoy this 100% more.

[@calebnguyen7170]

Don’t forget the Sylvalum theme

[@monadoguy7807]

Me having to rewind the video to catch points I missed because I was too busy listening to Xenoblade ost:

[@josedrodriguezpina2527]

I'll be honest, I really enjoyed the Plinkett style review. I know the popular opinion is that the style chosen was poorly received, but having watched Plinkett before this, I quite liked it myself. As for whatever nitpicks you guys had, I think it's perfectly fine to point them out and poke fun of them as long as they're accurate and you don't try to sell these nitpicks as the core problems of the narrative (which you didn't do at all). I definitely laughed at the superpower jokes about Florina and Eliwood for example. Of course you guys are free to do as you wish, and if the majority of your fanbase prefers more serious critiques that's fine, but I'd love to see a return of Plinkett Emblem some time in the future.

[@qazentro4444]

To add on to the "Maeda writes almost like a fanficiton author" and all of that. Not necessarily a bad thing for some probably, but something that always stuck out at me was how inconsequential FE7's plot is in the grand scheme of things. It's been awhile since I've read it, but from what I remember, nothing really happens here that affects FE6's plot (more than the obvious) except for stuff pertaining to Zephiel, and that's only a tiny part of the story. Like a fun little reference, not unlike being able to see Sophia in one of the visitable ruins. All of the would-be important characters either don't show up (mostly Lyn), or have to die either on screen or off. To me, it feels less like a story prequel to set up events, and more like just a fun side chapter before the main event. It just offers some more looks into certain characters and then leaves. If that was the intention, to highlight a point in Elibe's time that was less uneventful, then I think they nailed the idea (if not the execution), but if they wanted to make a true prequel... I think it does fall flat due to how irrelevant it is to the story of Roy. I also think FE7's plot has a very different feel to it (since it feels more like just an adventure), and it took me a little while to realize something - FE7 is the only game in the series that never has a formal war between countries or territories take place during its story. I guess you could say the minor scuffle with the Black Fang could be considered a type of war, but I'd personally disagree. It's more like just... a JRPG story. Not a bad thing, just always thought it was interesting.

[@javxion6576]

I say they just wanted to make a game with the roy and lilina parents.

[@lpfan4491]

Ironically, they produced a microcosm of what FE7 is inside of FE7...with Lyn-mode. And besides the badly done crossover with the mainstory and Lundgren attacking Castle Araphen for no reason, I think that story is actually pretty decent. And ya know, it sorta conveys the same feeling of "more peaceful times", except it does it better because the world ain't at risk. They seriously could have just thrown out the mainstory entirely, but I guess releasing such small games for a small price didn't really work until the digital market.

[@jackryan2952]

Interesting maneuver

[@mgae714]

Honestly, I get it. Seeing people praise something to no end, something that one even thinks is good, just not Perfect(tm) can get pretty frustrating. At one point people just get salty. And salty criticism is never perfectly well-received, so we should strive to be more diplomatic in our criticism, but on the other hand... people really shouldn’t take criticism, especially criticism in joke format, so personally. Plinkett Emblem really wasn’t my cup of tea in terms of humor, but I did appreciate multiple things you guys pointed out, especially the translation errors. Especially when, a few years back when I first discovered Fire Emblem, FE7 was hailed as the non-plus-ultra of all FE games. Really appreciate this follow-up.

[@maltheopia]

I think the Chrono Cross analysis applies here: while I think that FE7 does have really bad writing, at least it sucks in a way that most games don't suck. It's really bad and makes my eyes water, but it's bad in a trailblazing, unpredictable way. I'm actually kind of in awe how much they fucked up Kishuna's story, not just the payoff but the layers of complexity and context of how they fucked it up. I don't feel the same way about FE12 and FE14: Revelation, whose bad elements are bad in predictable and obvious ways.

[@boredomkiller99]

One of the dumbest thing about fe7 is that a lot of it's more interesting plot points are hidden and not paid off well. Nergal actually has an interesting backstory but good luck getting it. Kisuna's back story could honestly be a whole entire another story for another game but eff convoluted side plot instead.

[@maltheopia]

@@boredomkiller99 Yes. There are a lot of interesting plot elements in Blazing Blade, like the descent of the border between Sacae and Bern into savagery or how the Lycian league (not just Darin) is dissatisfied with Ostian leadership or how dragon/human relations are more complicated than FE6 presents them or just the relationship between morphs and humanity that just never get explored. Because FE7 seems to think it's Friendship Fantasy Road Trip story is more compelling than it really is.

[@boredomkiller99]

@@maltheopia yeah I can feel that. I think they tried to course correct with fe7 from fe6 having Roy being so unimportant to the story so they made fe7 character driven and thought the world building from fe6 would be enough to make up for it. It clearly didn't.

[@Frank-ux6hs]

I thought it would be a crossover with False Swipe Gaming because of the video title :(

[@X-Vidar]

Speaking from personal experience, I played fe7 first about a year ago, and when it came to the story I was just confused 90% of the time, but in that last 10% there were a couple of really cool scenes (particularly Ninian's death). I felt that the confusion might've been my fault, and that I needed to play the game again to figure out if I liked it or not. Then I found out Plinkett Emblem and I figured that no, the story is just broken. (I had still understood how dumb Brendan is Reed is though, I think I hate him as much as you guys hate Ephidel writing-wise). Honestly I feel like that people that really like fe7's story don't remember it well, they like the characters and a couple of cool scenes and kind of extend that love towards the rest of the game because of nostalgia. Edit: and for the record, fe7 isn't just an fe6 fanfic, it's a borderline rip-off of Tear Ring Saga if you really want to dig into it

[@lpfan4491]

Cool that one can combine the acts of writing a fanfiction and ripping off some unrelated product and still turn it into FE7 somehow.

[@xacmashe3852]

No matter how little she does, Ninian is still my favorite FE character. Her design, her animations, the fact that she's a Dragon (an Ice Dragon at that), her romance with Eliwood making him more interesting than just a "good boy" (my girl offers him a private dance c'mon), her role in the story (though I don't remember her doing much in it), she's just my favorite character. I love her.

[@craigyeah1052]

Ninian doesn't do much in the plot, but the few things she does do speak to her character pretty firmly, and the fact that her first instinct is usually self-sacrifice also helped establish my opinion on dragons in Elibe, and why they had to hide away.

[@Miguelxcool]

The Xenoblade music makes this perfect

[@GeorgisTrying]

My last full playthrough of FE7 didn't care too much for the plot, I thought the second half of the story was pretty weak. But I didn't realize how messily the plot was written actually. I usually play in bursts of 2-3 chapters at a time, so in between new story beats I forget how roughly written the last one was

[@Sim23.]

Ok honestly fe7 story really isn’t that much worse from other fire emblem stories it has problems no doubt but fe7 story has many good parts that makes it memorable for good reasons 😀 This game has one off the most recognizable cast off characters in the series and manages to get side characters moments in the main game.for example Matthew has his moment with leilea and develops his character after her passing. Nino and jaffar basically have there own character arch which gets resolved in a few chapters.😙 Fe7 also does a great job on expanding fe6 lore by teaching the player more about the scouring by having eliwood and hector meat some of the 8 legends when the get their legendary weapons stuff like this really adds to the story and lore. 🤯 Fe7 also has great villains.loyde and Linus are good villains cause their are cool intimating evil but also gray cause of their relationship with Nino.even Sonia is great she’s sooo bad you want tooo kill her. Even nergal isn’t that bad honestly compared to other evil wizards like manfroy Judah or Thales he actually stands out by killing an important characters in the story. 👿 Ok im almost done lol last I want to talk bout is the entire picture of the story fe7 is all about death family and moving on. Eliwood hector Nino Matthew and more loss a lot off loved ones in the story and death gives this game a theme off redemption and comfort which makes the story pretty emotional at points which makes this game very heartbreaking and touching 😢 If you read all off this I love you ❤️ and and fe7 story still has problems but soo does other fe games and the good out ways the bad.🙂thank you

[@arman_llc624]

Sim64 DS its reconized cause its popular and was many peoples first including mine, so I wouldn’t say that its a result of the characters being amazing but rather familiarity in my opinion

[@memeteam8274]

@@arman_llc624 yea its the most recommended fire emblem game to start with. I was recommended fe7 by everyone just in 2019 and loved it first run. Its the best at introducing new players to the series. If i started with any other game i can tell you i would of dropped the series before finishing. but now ive played them all but any fates (friends tell me not to).

[@Edgeperor]

Saying that something isn’t really that bad because other things are bad too is a boring argument at best, and enabling at worst.

[@leaffinite2001]

I stopped about 30 seconds into the plinkett emblem videos cuz of the voice, but i have always thought fe7 story was basically cliche fe6 fanfic lmao

[@pksprite6401]

That sums it up pretty nicely lol

[@Corncake1337]

I liked Plinkket Emblem, it was some of your best videos.

[@johnnemblem]

Haven’t we been here before?

[@sieglindes6066]

the voice changer gave me a migrane when i tried watching it so i never got very far- though my main problem with the review was the scapegoating of maeda. maeda isn't listed as a director/supervisor/producer, so it wasn't as though he was a figure of authority on the project,, he's just one of three scenario writers. while fe7 does have its problems, it's impossible to tell where maeda played a part and where he didn't. It made the review come off as an excuse to rag on him and some clarity on that decision would be nice

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

Am I the only one who wants Plinkett Emblem for every Fire Emblem game?

[@rufrox9947]

Huh! Plinkett Emblem was fun and entertaining. Of course some things I disagreed with. It's a fairy tale, it's just par for the course there's plot holes, etc. The characters are simple archetypes (within FE archetypes). In my humble opinion, that's the kind of fun, aloof content that made this channel fun, amidst the good gameplay advice. Now everything's kinda serious around here these days. I've been here since you took off with 'Pitfalls' way back when. I hope you someday regain the ability to make plinkett-like series again.

[@Badbufon]

i joined recently so i am catching up with this Plinkett Emblem thing, it's funny but too long, Fire Emblem games never had a strong storyline to begin with and there is only so much you can ramble about..... now that i think about it, i think Final Fantasy Tactics might have more lore and complexity than all the fire emblem games combined, it's not a burn really, sometimes being just dumb is fun too, i love Super Robot Wars OG and you can't get dumber than that.

[@Hanesboi]

On the voices, I actually liked the voices lol. Even the high-pitched one. I think a lot of people took it too negatively for no real reason. It wasn't like, way untolerable or anything.

[@MythrilZenith]

If you listen to Plinkett Emblem at 1.5x speed it almost sounds like your regular voice, so no need to redo it imo

[@BARadiantDawn]

I would just like to mention i played fe7 when it was first released in the west, and i give credit to the fact it got me into fe. However: even 10 yr old me could tell things were off, though i didnt know how. I think my thing was it just sounded...off. I loved to read books, so the story just felt weird. I might have to take a look see, but maybe sentence structure was weird too for some of it? I still enjoy the game as a whole, but it is ok to be critical of things we enjoy

[@TheGamer19856]

I've never seen the phantom menace review but i liked Plinket Emblem. I've watched it a few times

[@Realag666]

Name a more iconic duo, Mekkah and Xenoblade ost lol I had a great time when you were tearing through FE7 and I found it pretty funny.

[@silvertipstudio9622]

Fe7 always had its own feel for me, it felt different from every other game somehow Maybe it’s nostalgia? I’m not sure.

[@hdaikamo6793]

I feel it kinda had a difference going on for it at the start with the mystery plot about finding your father and getting clues (For the record I consider Lyn mode just a glorified tutorial mode and I don't count it as the start of the game when even in Japan is skipable) but after the Valor parts it just turns into the usual "Get divine weapon, kill dragon" thingy" but more awkward because the villain powers are very ambiguous. Or the Black fang that screams "We are different. We aren't an empire this time around but still are functionaly another enemy army." It is kinda different but I feel that in a very artificial way.

[@Mark-nn2ce]

I somehow missed this upload, but I'm seeing it now. It's interesting to hear especially about the criticism. I've been a fan of Redlettermedia, especially Mr. Plinkett, so I at least understood the humor. A lot of FE7 falls into the "you didn't notice it, but your brain did" category that Plinkett tends to do so well. For me, it was really nice to hear someone say that they noticed the massive problems with FE7's plot. I sometimes have felt like I'm taking crazy pills with all of the praise that I've heard of the game's story. I really liked the series and this behind the scenes episode is good to see too.

[@hansgretl1787]

Mekkah used chill Octopath music, and now he's gonna play that game. He also uses chill Xenoblade music. I don't know if I can take Mekkah playing Xenoblade Chronicles.

[@mwolsen96]

I...I still don’t really get it. Your points were all technically correct but I always just kinda felt like “yeah but...like...it doesn’t really matter?” If you dig into FE7’s story then yeah, there are plenty of flaws. But if the majority of people don’t seem to mind any of them, then maybe it’s not worth digging into them? I don’t know. Cool series, lots of effort and skill went into it, I’ll just never really understand your viewpoint on this one.

[@CosmicToad5000]

“A long time ago” > was like 7 months ago What are we calling pitfalls 1 then, hyper mega ultra ancient? Wait never mind Jesus that was a long time in the making. In all seriousness I’m glad you took another crack at this. I didn’t watch Plinkett emblem when it was first uploaded because the voice put me off but I eventually got round to it and it definitely raised some good points and highlighted some contradictions that I never even thought of, but to me it felt kinda like a response to the overwhelming positivity of FE7 fans in regards to the story and instead of being a proper analysis was more of flip side to those fans with actually evidence that is then twisted to be in favour of whatever the point being made is regardless of what said evidence was actually meant to be.

[@tf7340]

Crazy to me how many people disliked Plinkett Emblem. I actually liked the voice and appreciated the criticism, maybe because I didn’t really like fe7 anyway

[@anthonynguyen1289]

Maybe it's my wide range of content watching, but I never had a problem with Plinkett Emblem. I did notice the dislike, but didn't think it was all that much. Guess the presentation got to people. Which I guess I can see. I usually don't have a problem with presentation just whether the content is boring or not. I watch hour videos with varying humor and presentation over games and series and stuff I might have or haven't played just cause it intrigues me enough. To be fair I'm weird outside of just this I don't have issues with bad animation in animated series or cgi. My philosophies about life and the world are also very not normal.

[@seanm.9942]

I’m feeling nostalgic from the Xenoblade Chronicles X music. Never made it to chapter 7, but I had fun just exploring the world and fighting stuff

[@Cheefoo124]

The voices were a bit painful but it was worth watching.

[@GermanicusCaesar117]

I like the Plinkett Emblem series for what it was, a mix of comedy and review. While it does has some serious points, it was meant to be comedic and not to be taken too seriously. You can see this in the original Plinkett reviews where the guy doing the review was (in character) a mass murdering psychopath who at the same time has a very sophisticated understanding of of film theory/writing. I think if Plinkett Emblem had come out 5-10 years earlier it would have been received much more positively. This style of "comedy review" was big back then with guys like Nostalgia Critic or Spoony. By now, people are tired of these kinds of "reviews".

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

Still better than the stories in Binding Blade, Shadow Dragon, and Fates (even if I enjoy its gameplay on the other hand). Binding Blade's story is literally just a retelling of the original Fire Emblem. It repeats too much of what occurred back on the famicom. While it's not at fault for the inconsistencies that Blazing Sword created, it's harder to care about the overall scheme of things compared to its prequel. Especially since most of the time; when there's a cutscene not involving the villains, it's usually just the Roy, Guinevere, and Merlinus show. At least Blazing Sword had more characters involved and ironically is the reason most people even care about Hector dying in Binding Blade in the first place. Especially with Hector getting more meaningful development than either Lyn or Eliwood. Shadow Dragon is literally a remake of that original and the story in that game is so very yawn inducing. No thanks to the lack of support conversations, it's hard to even care for most of the characters in that game. As for Fates; let's not kid ourselves, the stories in Conquest and Revelations are a train wreck. Regarding Negal himself; despite grievances with him and whether or not a remake would be able to fix most of those grievances, it doesn't stop me from finding him an intriguing villain. I would still take him over Validar any day. Who compared to Nergal hardly has any reason for being evil and also comes off as laughable.

[@SinNombre-_-]

I think I suscribed to your channel because of that series, I really enjoyed the jokes and critisism

[@thrillhouse4151]

Yeah, not impressed by the “Ephiroth” storyline. I ain’t a’scared of him, I’m more scared of the random bandit that killed my Dorcas. It’s trying so hard to be like medieval intrigue but it’s all “spooky evil magic man wants to open a portal” nonsense, a typical DnD plot from the 80s.

[@lucasm.3864]

Holy crap, that was a year and a half ago?!

[@hylianfelldragon1308]

Not gonna lie when I first played FE7 around the time Fates came out, I was a bit disappointed by it. Although that mostly had to do with me expecting it to have a grander narrative than both of the Tellius games combined (which were the only FE games I played at the time) due it's reception from some people I know calling it the best Fire Emblem game ever made.

[@jeans8940]

WOOOOOOOO XENOBLADE MUSIC

[@reviandelumiel2833]

I'm not watching this video cause I really liked blazing Sword and I'm not letting you steal my excitement XD

[@Yuripunk2077]

The artificially lowered voice made me instantly exit the video. Insufferable.