I want to share some links:
First: An homage to Robin from Fire Emblem
Second: Hoopa's Anouncement!
That's all for now. Until next time!
-T
Showing posts with label 3DS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3DS. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Yeah Pokémans Yeah!
Good afternoon everyone, this is T with another post.
For those of you who are unaware: Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire releases tomorrow. I know it's nerdy, but boy am I excited!
In preparation for the game release, I decided to play my first play through of the game with some special rules.
Pokémon Alpha Sapphire: Normal Mono-Type Challenge:
So, I decided to do an normal mono-type challenge for the following reasons:
1) Normal-type Pokémon are the most numerous type in the game making team-building a non-problem.
2) The first two gyms are the rock and fighting gyms, which should make the game more challenging.
3) My character is the child of Norman, the fifth gym-leader in the game and he's also a Normal-type trainer, which would probably influence my character's decision in choosing Pokémon.
The Rules:
1) I may only use Normal-Type Pokémon in battles. Both Single and Duel types are allowed.
2) A non-Normal-type Pokémon may be used as an HM slave if none of my Pokémon are able to learn the move in question. (Dive and Waterfall come into mind). But these Pokémon may not be used in battle.
3) I may use my starter until I am able to capture a Normal-type Pokémon (NTP).
4) I must capture one Pokémon in each route and no more. If no NTP exists, then I may catch the first Pokémon I encounter and spam the Wonder Trade until I receive a NTP. Different methods of capture even on the same route count as different routes only when necessary to advance in the game.
5) Two exemptions exist:
a) If I already have the existing type in my party or box, then I may pursue a different Pokémon, unless I encounter the duplicate Pokémon 3 times.
b) I may catch a non-NTP for the purpose of a trade in or outside the game. If the Pokémon i receive from the trade is a NTP, then I may use it but I otherwise must box the Pokémon.
6) In addition, three trades are permitted with the following reasons.
a) Buneary Egg with Ice, Fire, and Thunder Punch and A Fighting-Type move. This is allowed since I may come across it's Mega Evolution Stone, which might come in hand later in the game. I can only trade for the egg after beating the 1st gym.
b) Zangoose in exchange for a Seviper since I'm playing with Alpha Sapphire and Zangoose is a NTP exclusive to Omega Ruby.
c) A Pokémon with the move Surf: since I am curious about whether or not the game prohibits HM use until the 5th badge is collected. Also, it's likely that my character would be able to handle Pokémon that know surf since Norman's badge permitted surf in the original games and my character is the child of Norman and probably would have a spare badge.
7) I may capture any Legendary, but I cannot use them in battle.
8) I must nickname all my NTP's.
9) Fainting=Death like in a Nuzlocke, but death can be avoided if I have a revive in my bag. Revives cannot be purchased, only found. In addition, only one Pokémon's death may be prevented per battle, meaning that if multiple Pokémon faint, only one can be revived. This is true in case of blacking out, but at the cost of 2 revives or 1 max revive.
10) Game over occurs when I run out of useable NTPs in the party and my PC, exhaust all Wonder Trade Options, and run out of found revives.
11) All gift Pokémon and in-game event Pokémon permitted and the NTPs can be used in my party.
12) Saving only permitted to save place in story, not to prevent a death.
13) The challenge is completed when I beat the Elite 4.
So, that's pretty much it. Tune in for updates on this challenge or the usual fitness/political/red pill posts that I make. Until later.
-T
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Fire Emblem Part 2: Magic and Medicine
Hello everyone, this is T again.
Let's get down to business, defeat the Huns, and delve in to the world of Fire Emblem and one of the major components that make it tick: magic.
Intro:
As I mentioned briefly in my last post about Fire Emblem, magic has always played a vital role in this series with regards to both plot and in-game combat. In Chapter 1 of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, the character is first introduced to magic through the character Wrys, a priest with a magic staff that could heal all but fatal wounds. This tradition continues throughout the franchise to Fire Emblem Awakening (FEA) where Robin, the player's customizable character, has the ability to shook lightning at the enemy my reading from a magic tome (read: book).
In the Fire Emblem Universe, magic exists in one of the following forms:
-Fire Magic
-Lightning Magic
-Wind Magic
-Light/Holy Magic
-Dark Magic
-Healing Staves
For most of you, it should come to no shock that magic does not exist in the real world. No matter how much pain you experienced getting that lightning bolt tattoo inked onto your forehead, you will not be able to levitate a bookcase off the shelf with a shish and flick. Applying UPB principals to fiction, magic can be understood in fiction as a metaphor, most accurately as mental illness. A coupe of months ago, Stefan Molyneux released a video titled "The Truth About Frozen" that connected Elsa's in film ice magic to a more realistic mental illness that was brought about by abusive parents that most likely were killed by Elsa's hand.
Meanwhile, other interpretations of magic in fiction can be explained as follows:
- Attributing causality to random acts of nature
- Superstitious and primitive people confusing advanced technology as magic
- The application of forbidden or restricted knowledge
- A metaphor for women's sexuality and value in the biological market place
It follows that since Fire Emblem's depiction of magic serves a greater role than just fantasy fun.
Magic and Medicine:
Let's tackle the easy metaphor first. In the game, there are several ways that your units can be healed during combat:
- Using medicine
- Waiting in a fort tile
- Having a healing ability like Relief
- Using a non-medicinal item that heals the character
- Commanding another unit to use a healing staff
The first method of healing can be understood as the application of first aid or battlefield medications to non-lethal wounds. Medicines like Valuables and Elixirs, while RPG sounding in name, can be assumed to be something like anti-infection salves or alcohol for wounds. This is probable for several reasons:
a) Medicine before the 19th Century consisted of ground plants and herbs that were linked to sooth symptoms and some illnesses
b) These medications can be self administered by any playable character regardless of staff stat.
c) Alcohol is used to sterilize wounds and as a proto-painkiller for medical procedures.
This is consistent in the Fire Emblem Universe, especially in FEA, which consists of a Casual Mode and a Classic Mode. For the most part, these modes are exactly the same, with the major difference vein that a playable character with 0 HP in Classic Mode would "die" on the spot while 0 HP in Casual mode has the unit retreat from battle, ready to fight in the next battle. Knowing this, it is safe to assume that the 0 HP mark represents the point in which a character must retreat from battle or risk immanent death. Even if one were to just look at Classic mode, some characters who are important to the game's plot would retreat with a broken leg or a twisted ankle as is the case for the Lyn Chapters for Fire Emblem.
With our understanding of medicine, the second and third methods can be understood as characters self applying medicine to themselves in between bouts of combat.
The final two methods of self healing is where we must apply UPB to the magic illusion. In FEA, there are some non-staff weapons that have the ability to heal units, most notably the Exalt Falcon, a sword wielded by Chrom imbued with the power of the gods. Obviously, swords are much like the Kamehameha in the Dragon Ball universe: the don't heal people. Instead, the unit healing swords can been seen as more of a motivational item that would encourage an injured unit to fight for a longer period of time than had the unit not have the item in the first place.
Simply put, this is the placebo effect put in place. The healing power of these object does not come from an innately magical place, but instead come from some motivation that is attached to the object. The Falcon gains the ability to heal Chrom only after he visits a "Goddess" and has her power imbued into the sword. Since no gods exist, it can be understood the Chrom's faith in this deity combined with the confidence that he has gained through overcoming a trial with a high mortality rate. The placebo effect explains this phenomena due to the fact that while the object holds no healing power, it is still probable that Chrom would gain strength from the sword and would be less likely to retreat from a battle due to the confidence he would feel believing that his Goddess has lent some of her power to him.
This phenomena can also be understood as a temporary rush of adrenaline that is released in the brain as a result of fight or flight stressors activating in a combat scenario. This is true of real life gunshot wound victims who report not realizing that they had been shot until after fighting had stopped.
This brings us to the magical healing staves of Fire Emblem. What is interesting about staves in fire emblem is that the three types of units that can wield these staves are magic users, religious units, and some support unit classes. With some notable exceptions, melee units and magic units a usually kept distinct without too much cross over. It is rare to find a unit that can wield both a sword and a fire tome, though the only two that comes to mind are the tacticians and the dark knights, two classes that were introduced in FEA. Meanwhile, while staves mostly remain in the hands of magic wielders, they can also be wielded by the Queen unit in Radiant Dawn, and by the Bride and the Falcon Knight units in Awakening.
I will submit that there are three factors that explain the effect of healing staves:
1. The staves act much like the Falcon in that they evoke increased adrenaline and the placebo effect due to the prominence that religion plays on the characters in the Fire Emblem universe. This theory will be expand upon in the Religion post.
2. The staves, as wilded by non religious units, are a symbol for effective medical technics lost to the ages to all that do to know how to read. This theory will be expand in the Magic and Knowledge post.
3. Staves are more commonly granted to female characters rather than male non-religious characters, symbolizing the idea that women hold a birth given quality that is able to heal or increase the moral of other units in the Fire Emblem Universe. This theory will be further explained in the Women and Magic Post.
For now, this is a good place to stop. Please let me know what you think and have a great day.
-T
Let's get down to business, defeat the Huns, and delve in to the world of Fire Emblem and one of the major components that make it tick: magic.
Intro:
As I mentioned briefly in my last post about Fire Emblem, magic has always played a vital role in this series with regards to both plot and in-game combat. In Chapter 1 of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, the character is first introduced to magic through the character Wrys, a priest with a magic staff that could heal all but fatal wounds. This tradition continues throughout the franchise to Fire Emblem Awakening (FEA) where Robin, the player's customizable character, has the ability to shook lightning at the enemy my reading from a magic tome (read: book).
In the Fire Emblem Universe, magic exists in one of the following forms:
-Fire Magic
-Lightning Magic
-Wind Magic
-Light/Holy Magic
-Dark Magic
-Healing Staves
For most of you, it should come to no shock that magic does not exist in the real world. No matter how much pain you experienced getting that lightning bolt tattoo inked onto your forehead, you will not be able to levitate a bookcase off the shelf with a shish and flick. Applying UPB principals to fiction, magic can be understood in fiction as a metaphor, most accurately as mental illness. A coupe of months ago, Stefan Molyneux released a video titled "The Truth About Frozen" that connected Elsa's in film ice magic to a more realistic mental illness that was brought about by abusive parents that most likely were killed by Elsa's hand.
Meanwhile, other interpretations of magic in fiction can be explained as follows:
- Attributing causality to random acts of nature
- Superstitious and primitive people confusing advanced technology as magic
- The application of forbidden or restricted knowledge
- A metaphor for women's sexuality and value in the biological market place
It follows that since Fire Emblem's depiction of magic serves a greater role than just fantasy fun.
Magic and Medicine:
Let's tackle the easy metaphor first. In the game, there are several ways that your units can be healed during combat:
- Using medicine
- Waiting in a fort tile
- Having a healing ability like Relief
- Using a non-medicinal item that heals the character
- Commanding another unit to use a healing staff
The first method of healing can be understood as the application of first aid or battlefield medications to non-lethal wounds. Medicines like Valuables and Elixirs, while RPG sounding in name, can be assumed to be something like anti-infection salves or alcohol for wounds. This is probable for several reasons:
a) Medicine before the 19th Century consisted of ground plants and herbs that were linked to sooth symptoms and some illnesses
b) These medications can be self administered by any playable character regardless of staff stat.
c) Alcohol is used to sterilize wounds and as a proto-painkiller for medical procedures.
This is consistent in the Fire Emblem Universe, especially in FEA, which consists of a Casual Mode and a Classic Mode. For the most part, these modes are exactly the same, with the major difference vein that a playable character with 0 HP in Classic Mode would "die" on the spot while 0 HP in Casual mode has the unit retreat from battle, ready to fight in the next battle. Knowing this, it is safe to assume that the 0 HP mark represents the point in which a character must retreat from battle or risk immanent death. Even if one were to just look at Classic mode, some characters who are important to the game's plot would retreat with a broken leg or a twisted ankle as is the case for the Lyn Chapters for Fire Emblem.
With our understanding of medicine, the second and third methods can be understood as characters self applying medicine to themselves in between bouts of combat.
The final two methods of self healing is where we must apply UPB to the magic illusion. In FEA, there are some non-staff weapons that have the ability to heal units, most notably the Exalt Falcon, a sword wielded by Chrom imbued with the power of the gods. Obviously, swords are much like the Kamehameha in the Dragon Ball universe: the don't heal people. Instead, the unit healing swords can been seen as more of a motivational item that would encourage an injured unit to fight for a longer period of time than had the unit not have the item in the first place.
Simply put, this is the placebo effect put in place. The healing power of these object does not come from an innately magical place, but instead come from some motivation that is attached to the object. The Falcon gains the ability to heal Chrom only after he visits a "Goddess" and has her power imbued into the sword. Since no gods exist, it can be understood the Chrom's faith in this deity combined with the confidence that he has gained through overcoming a trial with a high mortality rate. The placebo effect explains this phenomena due to the fact that while the object holds no healing power, it is still probable that Chrom would gain strength from the sword and would be less likely to retreat from a battle due to the confidence he would feel believing that his Goddess has lent some of her power to him.
This phenomena can also be understood as a temporary rush of adrenaline that is released in the brain as a result of fight or flight stressors activating in a combat scenario. This is true of real life gunshot wound victims who report not realizing that they had been shot until after fighting had stopped.
This brings us to the magical healing staves of Fire Emblem. What is interesting about staves in fire emblem is that the three types of units that can wield these staves are magic users, religious units, and some support unit classes. With some notable exceptions, melee units and magic units a usually kept distinct without too much cross over. It is rare to find a unit that can wield both a sword and a fire tome, though the only two that comes to mind are the tacticians and the dark knights, two classes that were introduced in FEA. Meanwhile, while staves mostly remain in the hands of magic wielders, they can also be wielded by the Queen unit in Radiant Dawn, and by the Bride and the Falcon Knight units in Awakening.
I will submit that there are three factors that explain the effect of healing staves:
1. The staves act much like the Falcon in that they evoke increased adrenaline and the placebo effect due to the prominence that religion plays on the characters in the Fire Emblem universe. This theory will be expand upon in the Religion post.
2. The staves, as wilded by non religious units, are a symbol for effective medical technics lost to the ages to all that do to know how to read. This theory will be expand in the Magic and Knowledge post.
3. Staves are more commonly granted to female characters rather than male non-religious characters, symbolizing the idea that women hold a birth given quality that is able to heal or increase the moral of other units in the Fire Emblem Universe. This theory will be further explained in the Women and Magic Post.
For now, this is a good place to stop. Please let me know what you think and have a great day.
-T
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Fire Emblem Part 1: An Introduction
Greetings everyone! I hope you all have had a productive Thursday.
I know that my Thursday was one of those days were no matter how many things I accomplish, there was just not enough time in the day to do everything. There are several reasons that I can think of for this:
1) I did not plan my day like I normally do
2) My ADD just got the better of me
3) I just did not want to study for my Logic exam
However, the most prominent reason that I can think of is a white plastic square with a computer chip center. I am talking of course about Fire Emblem Awakening (FEA) for the 3DS.
For those of you who do not know about the Fire Emblem franchise, it is a turn-based strategy role playing game series crated by the Nintendo owned company Intelligent Systems. The Fire Emblem series features 14 games, 6 of which have been released internationally. For the most part, the games are unrelated plot-wise from most of the other games with some connections between select sets of games in the franchise.
Gameplay is pretty much the same across all games as the player controls a small band of soldiers, wielding axes, swords, lances, bows, and magic tomes with combat resembling a mix between rock-paper-scissers and the typical Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) health bar. The units you control have defined combat classes and with enough experience and a promotional item can be promoted into a stronger unit. I should note that there are slight differences between games mostly revolving around the inclusion of light and dark magics as well as the existence of werewolf-like units, but someone who played one games in the series could quickly transition to another game.
So why do I bring up Fire Emblem?
There is a short answer and a long answer to the question. The longer answer (with spoilers ahead) can be found in a forum I read on Thursday between study breaks. For the short, sweet, and spoiler free answer: the forum entry presents a theory that all 14 Fire Emblem games occur in the same planet and universe, though they are somewhat independent of each other due to occurring on different continents. I will note that while it is possible that VincentASM is not the original author of this theory, I will assume he is for the purpose of this and possible other blog posts for the sake of simplicity.
VincentASM defends his one universe theory though evidence presented in game across the franchise with the keystone of the theory being FEA itself. What sets FEA apart from other games in the franchise is that it is the first game to both allow the player access to two continents and the ability to play DLC and Spotpass maps with characters from all franchise games including the only Japanese ones. Access to two continents, combined with free reign of the wold map allows the player to not only identify the FEA continents as those that existed in previous continents from the series, but also shows parts of three other continents that have striking resemblance to other game continents, thus identifying 5 known continents to exist in the same world. Meanwhile, access to DLC and Spotpass introduces characters from or related to different games. I should note that hese bonus characters, except for Priam, are spirits summoned from magic cards and that while they have the personality of a different game's character, they are not actually that character. This being said, what makes these DLC characters important is that the characters from FEA recognize them as heroes of legend that they themselves recognize. In addition, Priam is confirmed to be the decedent of Ike, the hero from Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn.
Ultimately, FEA confirms that at least 5 continent, which comprise most of the games in the franchise, exist in the same world and that all of the previous games in the series have occurred before FEA, thus making FEA the most recent game in the franchise.
For non-Fire Emblem fans, it should be noted the Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon, the first and twelfth games in the series (due to the DS remake) both contains the same continent as the continent in which FEA begins, and stars Marth, the ancestor of Chrome. The chronological gap between Marth and Chrome is understood to be about 1000 years with events referenced as early as 2000 years before Chrome by Tiki, a dragon with a long life span who knew both Marth and Chrome. It is thus understood by most fans that Shadow Dragon is chronologically the first game in the franchise's overall plot while FEA is the most recent game in franchise plot. VincentASM argues in his article that due to comments made by Panne, a were-bunny from FEA, it is theoretically possible that Path of Radiance is actually the first game due to connections between were-people, an explanation for extended life for both were-people and half were-people, and due to references in Path of Radiance that seam to imply that the events of Path of Radiance occurred closer to this universe's creation/Genisus-like origin.
So, what does this all mean and, more importantly, why should you care?
If anyone has frequented The Game Theorist on YouTube, you have probably watched his video about how video games seam to accurately depict the world we live in, whether the programs intend to or not. This is similar to the psychological standpoint that art, when not created for the sake of propaganda, is an attempt by the artist to recreate reality. Even in fiction, where people use magic and where dragons and pegusi (sp?) are common place, the themes, dialogues, romances, plots of revenge, and religious fanaticism that is depicted in fiction and specifically these games are meant to reflect reality.
The reason you should care about the Fire Emblem franchise is this: the games provide a warning about threats that still exist in the world today.
Threats that include:
- Theocracy and the power of religion over the unwitting faithful
- Centralized government and democide
- Magic as a metaphor for mental illness
- Gender and characters that would shock anyone who has taken the red pill
- Rasism as an institutional effort
There are other themes that I'm sure that I missed, but my ultimate point is that Fire Emblem is a franchise that is a warning to the player presented as a traditional Medieval tale of knights and princesses.
This entry is Part 1 of a series that I plan to work on over the next couple of weeks. As always contact me by email and twitter and please leave your comments below.
-T
*UPDATE*:
-Part 2: Magic and Medicine Here
I know that my Thursday was one of those days were no matter how many things I accomplish, there was just not enough time in the day to do everything. There are several reasons that I can think of for this:
1) I did not plan my day like I normally do
2) My ADD just got the better of me
3) I just did not want to study for my Logic exam
However, the most prominent reason that I can think of is a white plastic square with a computer chip center. I am talking of course about Fire Emblem Awakening (FEA) for the 3DS.
For those of you who do not know about the Fire Emblem franchise, it is a turn-based strategy role playing game series crated by the Nintendo owned company Intelligent Systems. The Fire Emblem series features 14 games, 6 of which have been released internationally. For the most part, the games are unrelated plot-wise from most of the other games with some connections between select sets of games in the franchise.
Gameplay is pretty much the same across all games as the player controls a small band of soldiers, wielding axes, swords, lances, bows, and magic tomes with combat resembling a mix between rock-paper-scissers and the typical Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) health bar. The units you control have defined combat classes and with enough experience and a promotional item can be promoted into a stronger unit. I should note that there are slight differences between games mostly revolving around the inclusion of light and dark magics as well as the existence of werewolf-like units, but someone who played one games in the series could quickly transition to another game.
So why do I bring up Fire Emblem?
There is a short answer and a long answer to the question. The longer answer (with spoilers ahead) can be found in a forum I read on Thursday between study breaks. For the short, sweet, and spoiler free answer: the forum entry presents a theory that all 14 Fire Emblem games occur in the same planet and universe, though they are somewhat independent of each other due to occurring on different continents. I will note that while it is possible that VincentASM is not the original author of this theory, I will assume he is for the purpose of this and possible other blog posts for the sake of simplicity.
VincentASM defends his one universe theory though evidence presented in game across the franchise with the keystone of the theory being FEA itself. What sets FEA apart from other games in the franchise is that it is the first game to both allow the player access to two continents and the ability to play DLC and Spotpass maps with characters from all franchise games including the only Japanese ones. Access to two continents, combined with free reign of the wold map allows the player to not only identify the FEA continents as those that existed in previous continents from the series, but also shows parts of three other continents that have striking resemblance to other game continents, thus identifying 5 known continents to exist in the same world. Meanwhile, access to DLC and Spotpass introduces characters from or related to different games. I should note that hese bonus characters, except for Priam, are spirits summoned from magic cards and that while they have the personality of a different game's character, they are not actually that character. This being said, what makes these DLC characters important is that the characters from FEA recognize them as heroes of legend that they themselves recognize. In addition, Priam is confirmed to be the decedent of Ike, the hero from Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn.
Ultimately, FEA confirms that at least 5 continent, which comprise most of the games in the franchise, exist in the same world and that all of the previous games in the series have occurred before FEA, thus making FEA the most recent game in the franchise.
For non-Fire Emblem fans, it should be noted the Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon, the first and twelfth games in the series (due to the DS remake) both contains the same continent as the continent in which FEA begins, and stars Marth, the ancestor of Chrome. The chronological gap between Marth and Chrome is understood to be about 1000 years with events referenced as early as 2000 years before Chrome by Tiki, a dragon with a long life span who knew both Marth and Chrome. It is thus understood by most fans that Shadow Dragon is chronologically the first game in the franchise's overall plot while FEA is the most recent game in franchise plot. VincentASM argues in his article that due to comments made by Panne, a were-bunny from FEA, it is theoretically possible that Path of Radiance is actually the first game due to connections between were-people, an explanation for extended life for both were-people and half were-people, and due to references in Path of Radiance that seam to imply that the events of Path of Radiance occurred closer to this universe's creation/Genisus-like origin.
So, what does this all mean and, more importantly, why should you care?
If anyone has frequented The Game Theorist on YouTube, you have probably watched his video about how video games seam to accurately depict the world we live in, whether the programs intend to or not. This is similar to the psychological standpoint that art, when not created for the sake of propaganda, is an attempt by the artist to recreate reality. Even in fiction, where people use magic and where dragons and pegusi (sp?) are common place, the themes, dialogues, romances, plots of revenge, and religious fanaticism that is depicted in fiction and specifically these games are meant to reflect reality.
The reason you should care about the Fire Emblem franchise is this: the games provide a warning about threats that still exist in the world today.
Threats that include:
- Theocracy and the power of religion over the unwitting faithful
- Centralized government and democide
- Magic as a metaphor for mental illness
- Gender and characters that would shock anyone who has taken the red pill
- Rasism as an institutional effort
There are other themes that I'm sure that I missed, but my ultimate point is that Fire Emblem is a franchise that is a warning to the player presented as a traditional Medieval tale of knights and princesses.
This entry is Part 1 of a series that I plan to work on over the next couple of weeks. As always contact me by email and twitter and please leave your comments below.
-T
*UPDATE*:
-Part 2: Magic and Medicine Here
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