So Medo and Scylla decided to make a Google doc detailing all of their problems with Fire Emblem 4: Genealogy of the Holy War. You can read the Google doc here:
Medo literally tagged me and asked what my thoughts were of his Google doc. This is what prompted me to write this blog post. There are two major problems that I have with Medo’s Google doc:
Medo has only played a tiny portion of Holy War: Before writing this post, I asked Medo if he had beaten the Second Generation. He told me that he gave up on Chapter 4. This is a really bad look because this means that he’s only played about forty percent of the game (and that's assuming that he actually beat Chapter 4). If you’re going to criticize a game, you should at least play the whole game from start to finish. I may hate Fates, but at least I can say that I’ve beaten all 3 Fates titles from start to finish. This gets even worse when Medo tries to criticize parts of the game that happened after he stopped playing.
Medo either misrepresents what actually happens in the game or his criticisms are founded on a misunderstanding of what happened in the game.
The big one. The Aed massacre. I seriously hate this moment. Quan and Ethlyn are heading to reinforce Sigurd's army (through a desert on horses) and they get jumped by Travant. Oh and Ethlyn brought Altena who's a baby at this point with her. Dear God this was a train wreck. Ethlyn bringing her own daughter to a very dangerous situation WITHOUT telling Quan about it makes her look like a brain dead moron and also makes her beyond unlikeable. My guess is that IS didn't want the player to have access to Altena and the gae bolg too soon but they couldn't think of a reasonable way so they went "f it, we will turn Ethlyn into a idiot." I have seen some counter points about Ethlyn trying to run away with Altena and the maps are supposed to be country sized, but I have refutes to these points.
Me: Medo completely misrepresents the ambush in the Yied / Aed Desert. There’s a lot to unpack here, and I’ll begin with relevant screen caps I took of Quan and Ethlyn’s conversation in Chapter 5 that pertain to Medo’s criticism:
Mind you, this isn’t the whole conversation, but it’s the portion of the conversation that’s relevant to this discussion. The idea that Ethlyn brought Altenna to the battlefield without telling Cuan is objectively false. Cuan knew about Altenna’s presence, as indicated by the dialogue here.
The second point is that the dialogue indicates that Cuan and Ethlyn had been marching in their own lands and that Cuan had made Ethlyn promise to go back once they were heading in enemy territory. Ethlyn had no intention of fighting when Altenna was on her lap.
Refute A. I don't understand the map being country size changes everything. Ethlyn still brought her own child to a very dangerous situation WITHOUT telling her own husband. The maps could be planet size or small town size and the problem wouldn't go away.
This needs context. Around a couple of weeks ago, Austin made a poll about who the better mother was: Ethlyn or Elena. Medo rehashed the same tired, talking point and both Austin and I refuted it. Austin brought up the point that the maps in Holy War were supposed to be the size of countries. The point that he was making was that Cuan and Ethlyn were days away from the battlefield.
This is the same point that I brought up, and will bring up again in response to Medo:
Cuan and Ethlyn were far enough away from the battlefield to where they wouldn’t be in any danger yet, and Ethlyn had plenty of time to turn back around and go home to Leonster. If Travant hadn’t ambushed them, she could have marched back to Leonster safe and sound. That’s the point of the map size. Ethlyn was far enough away from the battlefield that she could have marched home without being in any danger. The situation was not as dangerous as Medo keeps harping on about.
Refute B. Because they knew they were sent as reinforcements, Ethlyn should have known combat was going to be involved at some point.
Ethlyn knew that combat was going to be involved. She just didn’t believe that it would happen as soon as it did. Both Cuan and Ethlyn were operating under the assumption that she would have enough time to march back to Leonster before the fighting commenced. Cuan even tells her that they’re about to enter enemy territory.
Another minor nitpick here: They didn’t “know” that they were sent as reinforcements. The choice to reinforce Sigurd was of their own volition. Sigurd had no idea that they were on their way to reinforce him. Medo saying that “they knew they were sent as reinforcements” implies that Sigurd called for aid, and that’s why they’re there. This isn’t what happened in the game so I’m claiming this as Medo misrepresenting Holy War.
Meaning that she would have taken Altena back to Lionster after taking her to a very dangerous situation. She couldn't have said "Altena sweetie, Mommy and Daddy will be heading to an army to help it. Finn will take care of you, your brother, and Nana. Take care."
What was so wrong with that?
What dangerous situation? Cuan and Ethlyn were far away from the battlefield. If Travant hadn’t ambushed them, there would have been no danger.
Bytheway, your hypothetical is a straw man. Ethlyn had no intention of “heading to an army to help it.” Cuan did, but Ethlyn at most wanted to say hello again to Sigurd and Cuan who were about to take on the Grannvale armies. Ethlyn even mentions how scared she is of fighting Grannvale because of how monstrously powerful that country is. For all she knew, Cuan and Sigurd wouldn’t return back from war.
Refute C. Even the idea that Travant jumping them is hard to believe because both Lionster and Thracia were established to be on bad terms back in the prologue. And Ethlyn is basically the queen of Lionster. HOW DID SHE NOT SEE THIS COMING!?
I had a difficult time understanding what Medo was saying before, but I think what he means is this:
“It’s difficult for me to believe that Cuan and Ethlyn couldn’t possibly foresee Travant ambushing them since their countries are supposed to be enemies.”
^ If Medo means something different than this, please let me know.
In the meantime, I don’t really see why it’s that difficult for Cuan and Ethlyn to be surprised by Travant’s ambush. There are two different times prior to Chapter 5 where Cuan and Ethlyn have to march lengthy distances throughout Jugdral. The first time is in the prologue, where Cuan, Ethlyn, and Finn march from Leonster to Chalphy to aid Sigurd. The second time is during the beginning of Chapter 4 where Cuan, Ethlyn, and Finn march from Silesse to Manster. In neither circumstance do we ever hear them mention anything about being afraid of getting ambushed by Thracia. Why would they start now?
Another important detail is that Cuan assumed that Thracia would attack Leonster Castle, not him and his troops. He actually says this in the game too. So with that being said, it makes perfectly logical sense to see why Cuan and Ethlyn wouldn’t see Travant’s ambush coming. Also, why does Medo jump on Ethlyn’s case for not seeing the ambush coming, but not Cuan? He was the one who made the tactical error. It was his decision to assume that Travant would aim for the castle, and not for his troops. It seems strange to go after Ethlyn, but not also Cuan.
Why didn't Quan or Ethlyn bring any Wyvern killing weapons and went around the desert as a "just in case Travant or anyone from Thracia tried to ambush us?"
In order to understand how dumb this argument about going around the desert is, we need to look at a map of Jugdral:
Cuan knew that Sigurd was marching through the Yied Desert. His plan was to rendezvous with him. The only way for Cuan’s troops to do that is to march through the Yied Desert and meet up with Sigurd. Now I ask you, how else are Cuan and Ethlyn supposed to meet up with Sigurd’s army? The only other ways to do it would either be to fly toward him or to make an armada of ships and sail all across Jugdral. Flying towards Sigurd would be impossible since Cuan doesn’t have access to wyverns. Sailing via ships would take significantly longer than to march through the desert, and Travant would still be able to ambush him. In fact, an ambush via boat would be even easier than in the desert.
If you try to argue that he should march straight into Grannvale, then that’s not likely to work either since they’re marching straight into enemy territory without meeting up with Sigurd first. No matter how you look at it, Cuan and Ethlyn’s only option is to march through the desert.
As to why they don’t bring anti-wyvern weapons: They didn’t expect to get ambushed by Travant. They assumed that he would attack Leonster Castle. This is explained in the story itself.
Travant is another case of an unintentionally unsympathetic character. He's meant to be a well meaning terrorist and he's doing the evil for his nation but other than that, (and even then we only know about this in the manga and Thracia 776)
The idea that only Thracia 776 and the manga portray Travant as doing bad things for the betterment of his nation is objectively false. There’s a conversation that occurs between Travant and Arion in Chapter 8 of Holy War where Travant says the following:
Trabant
“Everything rests on the unification of the peninsula. The fertile lands to the north hold the key to eliminating poverty within our kingdom. Areone, our ways have often been likened to that of hyenas… Yet our mercenary work for foreign lands has meant the kingdom’s survival. However… I’ve had enough. It’s time we move up in this world. Areone, the rivalry before us will determine the fate of Thracia.”
This conversation happens right at the beginning of Chapter 8, so you can’t miss it. The only reason why Medo doesn’t take this conversation into account is because he hasn’t actually played that part of the game. (He also probably didn’t see this conversation happening on a YouTube video either) This makes me wonder why he bothered to criticize how the game portrays Travant since the majority of Travant’s appearances in the story happen after Chapter 4.
Anyone in the fandom who is a fan of Travant’s character views him as a character who tried to achieve noble goals through villainous means, which tells me that the game absolutely succeeded in its portrayal of his character.
the game exclusively paints him as a complete monster who does terrible crime after terrible crime on top of terrible crime. This makes him look more like an irredeemable warlord which if the game wasn't trying to make you feel sorry for him, could have worked.
Citation needed. Medo never provides a single example of the “terrible crime on top of terrible crime” that Travant supposedly commits over the course of the game’s story. He also never provides any examples of how the game makes him look “like an irredeemable warlord.”
He also misrepresents the game by mentioning that the game is “trying to make you feel sorry for him.” While Travant’s motives are noble, I don’t think it’s fair to say that Holy War “wants you to feel sorry for him.” We know that what he does isn’t ethical, but we get why he makes the choices that he does. The game portrays him as a well intentioned extremist who will do whatever it takes to advance his country’s interests. It clearly succeeded in that case.
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