Bethany Plays

Friday, 20 January 2023

Pokemon Emerald Snapshot: Brendan, Microaggressions and Jerk Rivals

Today, we're going to be looking at one of the less popular rivals from Pokemon's history: Brendan from Pokemon RSE. But first, what do we mean when we talk about "the rival" in Pokemon? The rival character is someone, usually from the starting town, who follows you around in your adventure and challenges you to battles.

The first two examples of the archetype were, to put it politely, jerks. Blue, from RBY, is a very schoolboy bully kind of unpleasant, constantly denigrating the player at every turn, boasting about how much more successful his own quest has been, and seizing the title of Champion before you and becoming the game's final boss. Silver (yes, these are their actual names, early Pokemon was kinda terrible at that), from GSC, was even worse, introducing himself by physically assaulting the player and stealing a starter Pokemon from Professor Elm, before generally being such a cruel and callous little tyke that the only reason he doesn't join Team Rocket is a combination of daddy issues and not being entirely impressed with how bad they are at being criminals.

Since then, Pokemon has kinda been at an identity crossroads when it comes to later rivals. Due to a greater understanding of the impact of childhood bullying, Pokemon has been shifting away from such characters and focusing instead on more supportive rivals, making the character purpose of the rival be more about what the rival is like and how they can better themselves as people- the latter of which was a direction that started with Silver himself. For a mixture of reasons that's beyond the scope of this snapshot, this direction has not worked for Pokemon fans. None of those later rivals have enjoyed popularity, or even likability, as Blue and Silver have achieved. Some characters, who aren't explicitly "the rival" but have rival-like buildup, enjoy an unrelated fanbase, although perhaps it's worth mentioning that most of the characters like this are girls with beloved romantic dynamics (equally strangely, always with the female protagonist).

Brendan is... interesting. As the rival that immediately succeeds the beloved jerk rivals, you'd think he'd be subject to the most scrutiny on the subject, but surprisingly, he often slips out of focus. Whenever someone complains about the low quality of "nice rivals", the list always tends to start with Barry from DPPt- and to be fair, they've got a point. Barry's hyperactivity, occasional bouts of bragging and attempts to fine the player ridiculously high prices for things like "being too slow" represents a clear starting point for the transition between "jerk rivals" and "nice rivals". So where does that leave Brendan?

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones Compilation

The easy-reference list for Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones!

Opening + Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3 - Supports
Chapter 4 - Supports
Chapter 5 - Supports
Chapter 5x
Chapter 6 - Supports
Chapter 7 - Supports
Chapter 8 - Supports
A New Journey
Act 1 Review
Chapter 9 Eirika - Ephraim Part 1 - Part 2 - Supports
Chapter 10 Eirika Part 1 - Part 2 - Ephraim Part 1 - Part 2 - Supports
Chapter 11 Eirika - Ephraim - Supports
Chapter 12 Eirika - Ephraim - Supports
Chapter 13 Eirika - Ephraim - Supports
Chapter 14 Eirika Part 1 - Part 2 - Ephraim Part 1 - Part 2 - Supports
Chapter 15 Eirika - Ephraim - Supports
Act 2 Review
Chapter 16 Eirika - Ephraim - Supports
Chapter 17 Eirika - Ephraim - Supports
Chapter 18 Eirika - Ephraim - Supports
Chapter 19 Eirika - Ephraim - Supports
Chapter 20 Eirika - Ephraim Part 1 - Part 2 - Supports
Endgame Eirika - Ephraim
Epilogue
Act 3 Review
L'Arachel
Lyon
Sexism

The Sexism of Sacred Stones: Victims of Tradition

Fire Emblem's classic games have a bit of a problem when it comes to representing women. The oldest games leaned hard into this, with many of the women you met either starting in distress, spending the story waiting for men to help them with their problems, or end the story giving up their dreams or powers to men. Starting around the GBA, they slowly began getting better at this- Lyndis was a landmark in that regard- but it is still clearly present in the game's DNA, and it wouldn't be until worlds like Tellius and Fodlan that women were allowed their own narrative arcs, thrones and general agency. I feel it may be a disservice to leave it there, so let's unravel it a bit, shall we?

Darkness Within and Peril Without: Prince Lyon

Lyon is one of Fire Emblem's most interesting villains by far. Or rather, "the villain of Sacred Stones" holds that title. Lyon alone, while still incredibly fascinating, can only offer so much to set him apart from other beloved villains like Nergal, Lehran and Rhea. No, what Sacred Stones does to set itself apart is combine Lyon with Fomortiis, and does so to such a close extreme that it is, in some respects, impossible to truly say for certain whether some actions are to be credited to Lyon, Fomortiis, or the two teaming up. Obviously, not everything, but who's to say where the line is drawn?

A Jewel Without Price: Princess L'Arachel

L'Arachel is my favourite character in Sacred Stones, and a candidate for my favourite overall across Fire Emblem. Her enthusiasm is infectious, she's beautiful, and she loves to become an amazingly gifted unit to use on the battlefield. It would be easy to stop there and say she's one of Fire Emblem's greats from that alone, but underneath the surface lurks a very vulnerable girl.

Act 3: The Demon Prince

While Act 2 may end anywhere between Chapters 14 and 16, the primary thesis of Act 3 definitively means that it starts in earnest with Chapter 17, and any unaccounted for chapters are transitional or setup. That is because Act 3 is about Prince Lyon, what makes him tick, with the Grado conflict that has defined the plot thus far being over. Literally over- Ephraim captured the capital, hostilities with Grado are formally over, and the Grado Army we fight in two of the chapters are Remnants loyal to Lyon personally.

While the maps are identical between routes, the stories are not. Eirika route focuses on the tragedy of Lyon falling into darkness- the man who once made his priority the safety and well-being of his people is now their greatest enemy. Ephraim route focuses on the tragedy of Lyon turning to darkness- the man who believed in strength of character has forsaken his own and became the very darkness he was once the direct antithesis of. At both ends, the core conflict is the same: Lyon should have been a great man, but he is no longer able to be that man because of his circumstances and actions.

I want to make this more about the structure of the story than Lyon, since he's getting his own piece, so my first observation is the fact that the plot does change priorities rather sharply between Acts. Act 1 is focused on Grado's feverish hunt for the Solar and Lunar Bracelets, which would allow them to seize the Stone of Renais. Act 2 seems to have abandoned this plot thread, switching instead to the intrigue of the Dark Stone, the world stage of Carcino and Jehanna, and the uncertainly sown among the ranks of the Grado Empire. Act 3 abandons all of these threads to focus on Lyon's nature (...OK, this is technically the Dark Stone, but the object of doom isn't mentioned at all to focus on the consequences). On one hand, this is a sensible decision- all these proper nouns are no longer relevant once their focal Acts are over. On the other hand, the transitions are jarring, especially for the Bracelets, which get brought back in Chapter 16. It speaks to the weak links in the chain that come with this game's status as a side project where passion takes precedence.

How is this Act mechanically? It's... a bit of a mess. Chapters 16 and 17 are solid progressions, but then it comes to Chapter 18 and it's an EXP bonanza that poses little in the way of challenge. Chapter 19, by contrast, is a difficult mission due to an onslaught of enemies that even Normal mode can find challenging due to the sheer volume. And then it's Chapter 20 and... monsters aren't that scary anymore. Stone from the Gorgons is always horrifying, and Shadowshot might knock out your Cormag or whoever, but monster armies just somehow lack the bite of human ones. I'm not sure if that's lack of variety or actual stats, but the monster hordes just don't quite match the threat levels presented in the narrative. And then there's the Demon King himself: Poor Lyon is rendered powerful but ineffective due to his poor AS thanks to Fenrir and Naglfar's weight, while the Demon King himself suffers from the issue of not having enough to distract your team. Considering defeating him is a wincon, perhaps that is to be expected, but there's no real reason not to beat him in two turns, and thus miss out on that awesome Ravager animation. I feel like they expected monsters to make more of a splash than they did- instead, monsters are the breather sections and the whole gameplay pacing is thrown asunder.

Sacred Stones Epilogue: Ephraim Becomes the Good King

Thankfully, the epilogue for both routes is... more or less fully converged, since nearly everything that was route-dependent is no longer a factor. We do get one extended scene that differs, but I can squeeze it all in one update.

L'Arachel says this and believes this is enough. Just as she has the grandest ambitions of following in her ancestor's footsteps, so too does she have the smallest ambitions of stopping there.

Innes takes the exact opposite position: We destroyed the Demon King's body, a feat that I'm fairly sure the heroes did wind up doing, but Innes is confident that doing so was enough for the Demon King to be gone for good. I'd like to take him at his word, but I truthfully have no idea how that works out for him.