Fire Emblem Three Houses: Name Origins – Do They Mean Anything?

[This article is spoiler-free but may indirectly reference the plot and characters. If your radar for foreshadowing and symbolism analysis is top-tier, I suggest you read this another time after you’re done with Blue Lions and Black Eagles.]

Fire Emblem Three Houses is my first entry into the franchise and I’ve been completely charmed by its lore,plot,characters,setting and gameplay. (Basically, everything about it)

And when you’re absorbed by its fandom and content, you get curious and try to associate certain aspects in the game to real life. Also, my intentions in making this article is for fun. I mean no ill, especially when I briefly reference history. In this case, we’ll take a look at name origins and legends related to the house leaders.

(Babynames.com, here we go!)

Edelgard von Hresvelg

The Gemarnic name,Edelgard, when put together means “Noble Protector”. If you split them into two, “gard” literally means ‘fence,enclosure and protection. Sampling the word from Norse Mythology ‘Midgard’ in Old English directly translates to Middle Earth where humans live. The word has evolved into many iterations.

Adel (another variation of Edel) on the other hand has also Arabic origins that means “one who judges fairly.”

Her family name, Hresvelg, has the most connection to her lore as it originates from the giant who takes the form of an eagle in Norse mythology named Hraesvelgr. In Old Norse translation, it means “Corpse Swallower”. Yikes.

Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd

The name Dimitri/Dmitri goes way back to ancient Greece and is related to Demeter, the goddess of agriculture. His first name literally means “devoted to mother earth/demeter”. There is a Christian martyr and a military saint called “Saint Demetrios of Thessaloniki“. Many of his stories revolve around him miraculously defending the city and in one particular picture, he is portrayed as a man riding a horse with his spear piercing through Kaloyan, the emperor of Bulgaria at that time. The history behind the war he was involved in was quite complicated and I haven’t really gotten deep into its history but TLDR; at somepoint, Saint Demetrios’ enemy waged war against the crusaders, the Church’s army, and referred to his place of ruling as the empire.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demetrius_of_Thessaloniki

Meanwhile, Alexandre/Alexander is also derived from Greek which means “Defender of the people” or “Protector of men”. A lot of rulers that date back to the BC timeline up until modern times bear the ‘Alexander’ name. There’s also a ton of variations of the it that has spread through the world.

Blaiddyd/Bladud means “Wolf Lord”. Not exactly what we’re looking for since he’s the house leader of the lions. There’s a tale surrounding King Bladud on how he believed in necromancy or divination through the spirits of the dead. He passed away after thinking he could fly with fake wings. Oof.

Claude von Regan

It’s kinda sad reading ‘Claude/Claudius’ name origins. A lot would lead to the word “lame” but there are at least two prominent Klaúdios in history (Ptolemy and Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus)  in a sea of people that bear the Claudii “family” name. After researching a bit, it is hard to pin-point a connection to FE Claude but hey, Urban Dictionary says the name means “cool” and I’m satisfied with that.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Claude

Thankfully, the name ‘Regan” has a more solid origin story than his first name. It’s a gender neutral Irish name that means “The king’s child”. What’s interesting is that the O’Regans of Meath from Ireland are a part of the Four Tribes of Tara, an alliance formed by different clans. There’s a lot of history involved in their lands and it might be a little tedious to go over them one by one so I’ll link you to the wiki.

My mark is totally off on this next point but I thought of including this still since it just reminds me of Fodlan a bit.

What I would love to highlight is the map that features Meath/Mide, one of the places where O’Regans were based 900 years ago:

Today, the Leinster province is much larger now compared to the past and I can’t help but think the partitions is similar to Fódlan. (Except for the northern area,of course)

I’m sure there’s still more details that I’ve missed but that’s the gist of it! I’ll see if I can do this article again for the other students. Let me know if you’ve enjoyed this article.

Thank you again for dropping by! You can DM me at @RikuCasts

Sources:
Wikipedia
Babynames.com
fireemblem.fandom.com
villains.fandom.com

Before You Rant: Grand Chase Dimensional Chaser

“Ay, pangit. Hindi parehas sa PC game”
“Bakit ganito gameplay?”
“Mobile pala? Wag na lang.”

Taken from the official facebook page of Grand Chase PH

There’s probably a couple more I’ve missed but this pretty much sums up some of the reactions I saw at the comment section of Grand Chase Dimensional Chaser’s announcement. A lot of people have been looking forward to the return of Grand Chase and there have been a few games that sorta tried to fill that void: From Elsword to Grand Chase Mobile M , it wasn’t the same.

Enter Grand Chase Dimensional Chaser (mobile), a game that is officially announced as the direct sequel to the original Grand Chase(PC) – The one we know and love to bits. Before I give my thoughts on the game, let me tell you my background as a player. I am a huge GC fan since it got released, played from highschool to college (on and off) and stopped around the time Rin or Lime was released in the Philippines.

The intention of this article is to help you understand what I think KOG did great about this game and cite instances of how it relates to the old one. Having a whole new different approach doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be given a chance. Now that’s out of the way, let’s proceed to the review.

Gameplay

The biggest turn off that people found upon seeing videos was the gameplay. As the devs explained, they thought long and hard on how they would approach this and saw that a real-time action RPG was the way to go. You assemble a party of four, control them as a unit and fight your way through monsters and bosses in instanced dungeons. It has the same essence as the original while still making sure it fits as a game in the mobile market.

I found it enjoyable, challenging and addicting as you still have to move around and dodge attacks, gather mobs to get the maximum efficiency when you use your AoE skills and since there are different types of enemies and a variety of conditions for a certain dungeon, there’s still some strategy and planning involved – both before and during the run. I wish I could elaborate more on the RPG elements of this game like characters have individual stats, skills, roles ,equipment, etc but I’ll save that for another article (probably).

Not a major spoiler but I was so happy to see Sieghart again and Arme’s reaction!

Story / Writing

One thing to take from the original GC is it’s story. It isn’t the most amazing thing but travelling through the different worlds and gathering new and unique members to the chase as you go along brings you a sense of attachment to the group. ALSO, WHAT STORY? We keep pressing ‘Z’ or ‘X’ to skip the dialogue back then because everyone is in a hurry to finish the dungeon. But the colorful characters, the concept of many encountered maps and worlds and the boss and monster mechanics were one of the many factors that made the GC universe unique.

Now, what does Grand Chase Dimensional Chaser has to offer? Everything above but better. You have new characters and and old ones from the original cast, cute little dialogue references from the previous game or from other games, occasional fourth wall breaking and banter between the main cast and the villains of the game.

I honestly don’t want to spoil too much but if you’re a JRPG and an anime fan, you’ll enjoy playing through the story and getting to know the different characters that pop in from time to time or that join your group. Take note, this game has an encyclopedia feature where you can read more about your roster and replay the story just in case you’ve missed a cinematic or dialogue.

The best part about the story is that players that never got a chance to try out or understood the original GC will still enjoy this game either way. Nostalgia is just a bonus. And because the story is more of a single player experience, you can now immerse yourself without any time pressure from your peers or randoms.

Art / Design

I think the whole thing speaks for itself. Their approach is a classic anime style JRPG. Character portraits are detailed and colorful that matches the theme of the original, in-game units are quite similar to the Disgaea remake and the maps and environment are quite detailed.

UI design is clean and not confusing at all. For beginners, there’s a lot of things going on on your screen but they made it organized enough that you know where to go and what to click within an hour of playing time. (At least, for me)

Also, you’ll enjoy the game’s OST. You’ll be greeted by the original theme song as the main menu BGM. Dungeons have both new and probably remastered music from the old game just to keep the nostalgia flowing. Sound design is not bad. Different sound sfx when skills register, weapon and bangs and thwacks and character voice lines during runs all blend well together and are well-thought.

On a side note, all characters are fully voiced in Japanese. /weab mode: ON

Not gonna dwell here too much. I just love the design and their approach overall!

Overall Impression

The game has heart, I can tell you that.You can play this game without spending a dime but you’ll probably tempted to do so if you absolutely want a better chance of getting SR ranked characters faster or improve your line-up to go through dungeons with ease. I’m not saying it’s a pay to win game but it’ll definitely make your life easier. This game has no stamina and that’s the reason why I could play this non-stop. Been playing for 2-3 days straight now. There’s plenty of rewards and things to do in the game.

Props to KOG for a job well-done!

Pros and Cons

I’ll keep just enumerate because I noticed this was supposed to be a fast review. I feel like I’m rambling already ;A;

Pros

• Fully controlled PVP
• Lots of things to do outside the story like other game modes,missions and PVP
• Guild feature that gives you guild-only benefits such as trading materials to improve your characters, guild wars, guild exclusive currency to buy stuff at the shop,etc
• Playing through the story mode gives you a truck ton of rewards, even allowing you to choose S ranked heroes from each class
• No stamina – you can play all-day,baby
• Story is good enough to be entertaining and interesting. Feels like I’m watching an anime. I want more.
• RPG style where you have 5 classes and customize your roster however you like

Cons

• No stamina would mean you can just marathon this game and reach the end of the story super fast (Probably would take you 1 whole afternoon. Not bad for a mobile game, I suppose)
• Not a lot of SR characters to choose from so people would end up with the same roster (Asurai pointed this out).

Hopefully, new updates and content comes soon so more SR characters get added to the roster and end game line-ups would have more variety. Also, I want to know more about the story!

Final Thoughts

While it’s true that nothing has ever came close to the experience we had with the original GC, I felt like KOG did a good job translating the essence of the first one to the mobile platform. There’s a balance of where the old players would probably still be happy seeing the old cast return but at the same time not alienating new players to the franchise. There’s something for everybody.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the review! Here are the download links and you can play and judge for yourself!

Download links
Apple: https://apple.co/2u0PZYm
Google: https://bit.ly/2KI7yDJ

 

Seagate Encourages Us to Be Wiser!

Having to lose your precious files is a nightmare. As a content creator, this is one of the things that I wish to never experience. EVER. Just imagine: raw footage from my vlogs and media coverage done on other countries and events, saved project files, .psd templates, gameplay recordings,etc – all gone.Everything is very important for my work and I’m sure a lot of people can relate. Even if our jobs are not on the line, all our precious memories,programs,games,etc we have gathered overtime just disappear in a snap due to data corruption or from physical causes is still a hassle to deal with.

With Seagate’s running campaign called “Be WISER”, it reminds us that the cliche line “Prevention is better than Cure” can be applied for our internal storage needs and prevent disasters such as the mentioned above from happening.

 

Be WISER!

Purchasing second hand products is a common practice, especially when there are deals that are hard to resist. But it doesn’t change the fact that at some instances, you are putting yourself at risk of sketchy transactions, potential zero customer support and damaged goods . And when it comes to internal hard drives, it can get a little bit tricky. Memories in the form of files on your PC and the time invested to make them can’t be bought back. (Unless, you have a time machine.)

 

You can easily spot Seagate’s friendly reminder through their signages, stickers and posters on their products located at certain stores.

Benefits of buying a brand new Internal drive:

• Its new and the purchase is under your name – saves the hassle of documents for applying for needed services and stuff
• Direct support/Warranty – if ever problems are encountered, you can easily contact them through their customer support hotline or via email and save yourself from solving these things on your own
• After services like “Rescue” for Seagate – they’ve got awesome tools to recover files in-case of emergency and/or you’re just not tech-confident enough to use their software on your own. If you have also accidentally or happen to have important data formatted or deleted, they can help with that too.
• You can check out this link for more information about their “Rescue” plans and services: https://www.seagate.com/as/en/services-software/recover/

Just a friendly reminder,fam! Have fun and keep gaming!

Game: Doki Doki Literature Club – FULL PLAY THROUGH

 

Doki Doki Literature Club isn’t a game. It’s an experience. Don’t be fooled by the cutesy songs and the generic harem anime vibe. If you’re curious about the noise surrounding the game and not a fan of visual novels, feel free to check out my  blind and voice acted playthrough!

If you’d like to continue, here are the rest of the episodes.

Playlist:

• DDLC Episode 2
• DDLC Episode 3
• DDLC Episode 4
• DDLC Episode 5
• DDLC Episode 6
• DDLC Episode 7
• DDLC Episode 8
• DDLC Episode 9
• DDLC Ending

 

Welcome to Riku HQ + More Official Riku Art!

I feel like this really should be the next step – creating a website of my own. What you can find here is a list of my latest works and events, announcements,my thoughts and reviews of different random things! In celebration of my new website, I’ve decided to release my new ‘Riku Art’here!

Background

No need for further explanation. I’ve been very happy working with MSI for the past 2 months as their ambassadress and thought of commissioning an art to celebrate that partnership. If anyone’s wondering, MSI’s dragon mascot is named ‘Lucky’.

 

Background

This commission is dedicated to my fans that have been with me since my early streaming days. I used to stream from the Garena Studios playing League of Legends and every time I go live, the first sound you’ll here is the electronic trumpet squawk from the music “X Gon’Give It To Ya” by DMX. It was my intro music since I’m a huge fan of the “Deadpool”movie. In addition to that, all my twitch alerts are deadpool gifs and soundtrack.

A huge thank you to the fans that have supported me through and through. Couldn’t have reached this point in life without you. Expect more content and behind the scenes!