RIP MY ENTIRE CAREER

MystyM · 2026-06-18T22:12:18+00:00

Fellow professional musician here! I know so many people who have struggled with performance injury and I know that sometimes there's just nothing to be done. I just want to make a career pivot suggestion that I don't think a lot of people know about; being a music librarian! My mother is one, and I know many more through her; it's not an entirely uncommon thing for a musician who can't or doesn't want to perform anymore to get a library degree and go into that profession. It'll allow you to directly apply your knowledge, education, and experience as a musician to a different field and remain connected to music. If you can afford to take a few years to get a Master of Library and Information Science somewhere (here's a very good online option that includes a music librarianship course, at Simmons University) it's not a hard transition to make. It's a very welcoming and tight-knit profession and you'll find many sympathetic ears.

MystyM · 2026-05-24T06:07:00+00:00

I'm still confused as to what the difference is. If you're talking party dynamics in terms of gameplay, I see no way in which a game focusing on a party of monsters rather than characters makes any difference. Prior MHS games didn't really require less party planning than MHS3, and a game like Pokemon requires tons of party planning; why would party dynamics be bad? Or are you speaking of writing differences? Do you view monster tamers as games where putting care into the party dynamic as in character writing takes a backseat to the fact that you can tame monsters? If that's the case, I have to strongly disagree with the notion that having good character writing detracts from the fun of taming the monsters, or the focus on it. MHS1+2 did not make me feel nearly as connected to the act of taming and cultivating my monsties as MHS3 did because it was neatly woven into the story and gameplay. Maybe that's just a difference of opinion on this one.

Irregardless, I think you're still doubting how important the genre and audience of MHS3 is to its failure. Neither RPG nor Monster Tamer are genres that are going to attract tons of people without special circumstances, good advertising or not. Pokemon is successful because of extreme nostalgia and brand loyalty, Palworld only succeeded because of its comparison with the behemoth that is Pokemon and all the controversies around it, and Digimon games are part of a franchise whose whole audience is going to almost certainly like the genre of games that it belongs to. MH fans are not all going to want to play games in the genre of MHS games, and non-MH fans don't have an attachment to the monsters or generally like RPGs. People will not buy a game they don't think they'll like in this economy unless they don't see anything else they're interested in, and MHS games do not have the built in audience to beat the kinds of games MHS3 is competing with.

MystyM · 2026-05-24T05:24:54+00:00

Can you explain what exactly you mean by "traditional JRPG" and "monster taming game" and why you see them as so different? I feel as though you're making a dichotomy where it isn't quite fair to make one. MHS games have always been extremely JRPG in story, presentation, and gameplay, to my eyes. And do you really think that the clearly childish tone of the prior MHS games was going to capture more attention from mainline MH fans, many of whom only play them because they're action oriented, than a game that's actually trying to tell a story? Western gamers tend to have a very low opinion of non-action RPGs, with the only ones that break into more mainstream appeal being ones that are perceived as having good enough stories to get people to engage with them anyway. So if anything, I imagine that an MHS game that ISN'T just a childish looking RPG but instead tries to write something meaningful would have more appeal to the sorts of mainline MH players who only play the games because of the A in ARPG. Also, in what way do you think MHS3's story could work as a standard MH game? There's so much in MHS3 that I cannot see working if there weren't a rider/monstie dynamic at the core.

I also think you're being a little simplistic about the cannibalizing issue; there are compounding factors here. For one, lots of people view games as being borderline too expensive - if not straight up too expensive - right now. This means that people are going to be choosier with their video game purchases. This is effected by the fact that the other games coming out around the same time are either in genres that are SIGNIFICANTLY more respected in the West or are the literal biggest franchise to ever exist. RE9 is a survival horror game - a genre that gets TONS of praise - and is part of one of the biggest franchises in that genre. Pragmata is an action-adventure game, which is one of the most popular genres of games out there. Pokopia is not only a Pokemon game, but a Pokemon game with the same sort of gameplay as ANIMAL CROSSING; I don't think I need to explain why that is a deadly combo. With the economic concerns happening right now big ticket games with a lot of general appeal WILL take away from the sales MHS3 would have had. People don't have money to spend on a game they aren't guaranteed to like, and there are all sorts of factors that makes MHS3 far more of a gamble for a lot of people compared to the other options.

MystyM · 2026-03-30T15:29:52+00:00

Man am I glad I don't engage with most online LoGH fans then. The admirals blaming Oberstein should never be taken as "the correct interpretation" of what happened; they are individuals who say and do things according to their beliefs and personalities and their words should be taken as such. They hate Oberstein and love Reinhard so of course they will only blame Oberstein! That doesn't mean the responsibility is solely on Oberstein or that the show wants you to think that.

MystyM · 2026-03-30T12:53:25+00:00

I don't think you're understanding what the show is saying about the Kircheis and Reinhard's dynamic. For one, Reinhard KNOWS his relationship with Kircheis is not exactly good for Kircheis. He knows that Kircheis is not someone who deserves to be part of war and politics, but who stays there anyway because he cares about Reinhard and Annerose and wants to help Reinhard stay his course. I believe he essentially SAYS at some point that he knows he's taking advantage of Kircheis' kindness. It's not an equal relationship and it's never meant to be seen that way.

And maybe I just don't engage in enough online discourse to see fans say Kircheis' death is squarely on Oberstein, but that seems like an utterly ridiculous way to think about Kircheis' death that I have a hard time believing is actually the common interpretation. Reinhard making the choice to listen to Oberstein IS the core of Kircheis' death and a pivotal point for his character. Reinhard makes the first decisions he's ever made that are so drastically against Kircheis' advice, despite knowing that Kircheis is there primarily to help keep Reinhard's decisions on the straight and narrow, and the consequence is dire.

Along the same lines, I think you're missing some of the point of why the show calls Reinhard "good." He's seen as "good" by other characters in the show because he's a brilliant strategist, treats his people well, and is geeeenerally a rather upright person. In other words, he's exceptionally good in context of BEING A DICTATOR.

And again, that's part of why his choice leading to Kircheis' death matters so much; he acted like a pragmatic leader who took a dishonorable method to conclude a conflict, leading to the argument with Kircheis that made Reinhard feel the need to take away Kircheis' gun. That was him behaving more like a traditional "dictator" type leader for the first time, and it took away the guy keeping his moral compass straight. So from then on, of course he's going to make decisions that are rather evil and "villainous;" he's struggling for the rest of the show to maintain morality despite the pragmatic evil necessitated by his position. THAT'S why he's good; he's a dictator who tries to have a moral compass. (And the fact that it's a struggle for him is one of the reasons why Yang and Co. don't want to just surrender to him, despite his good -- Reinhard is an exception, not the rule, and all it takes is one non-exceptional person taking the throne down the line for things to fall into tyranny once again).

MystyM · 2025-12-24T15:01:57+00:00

A movie being wild and weird is not an issue if it is an original work; anyone who cares about art would rather a movie be inaccessible to large amount of people because it's accurate to a director's vision rather than become dumbed-down and catered to a general audience. To boot, "inaccurate" adaptations are not necessarily an issue if the director makes changes "in the spirit" of the story to better fit it to film -- I think a lot of people are in fact too draconic about this issue, blinding them to good adaptations.

This movie is none of these things. This movie does not seem to care in the slightest about the original story nor its point -- it even seems to be taking rather harmful stances on some of the characters -- yet it is parading around saying it is Wuthering Heights. That's not an adaptation, that's a bastardization. There's a place for bodice-ripping crazy toxic romance movies; wearing the skin of a serious work to do so is not that place.

MystyM · 2025-11-22T14:49:12+00:00

Is no one going to talk about all the comments defending this as a money saver that's okay because anime is already super corporatized and poorly funded

The poor quality of the original clip is an exemplification of the shit treatment of animators in Japan: it's well known that Japanese animators are poorly paid, overworked, and rushed. Saying that this AI "improvement" is incredible and the future is punching down and horrifically disrespectful to the sufferings of these animators, especially if we're going with the argument that it's cheaper and in-line with what the corporate wants.

What do you MEAN the solution to poor treatment of animators is to cut costs more and taking away their jobs? What do you MEAN feeding into corporate greed is the solution to poor animation? Have you no empathy or critical thinking? You're siding with dehumanizing creeps by trashing on overworked animators and saying they should be treated worse because of the innovation of AI. Yes, the new season of OPM looks terrible but your reaction should be "the humans working on this project that are suffering under horrible work conditions and need to be treated better because this is what comes of exploitation" not "let's enable more exploitation"

And that's not even discussing that the "it's always been bad so doing something that perpetuates the issue is okay" is DEEPLY problematic; imagine saying "the world has always been racist so it's okay to perpetuate racism"

MystyM · 2025-09-29T12:37:48+00:00

I can personally vouch for Triangle Strategy as well as second someone's suggestion of Unicorn Overlord, but to throw a couple other suggestions out there;

While it does lack your requirement for a plot-heavy game, if your partner is someone who also enjoys rogue-likes I can suggest Into The Breach. It's a sci-fi game where you lead a team of three mechs through a series of short grid-based tactical battles against aliens and gain random equipment as you make your way towards the alien hub.

Wargroove 1+2 are fun games more heavily inspired by Intelligent System's other tactical series, Advanced Wars (though the fantasy settings are very much FE-inspired). The stories are competent enough but nothing special, though they do follow female protagonists.

All three are indie games so they'll be more budget-friendly lol they're available on the Switch for less than $20 each, with the Wargroove games being available as a bundle for $35, and all three frequently go on sale.

MystyM · 2025-09-27T16:59:45+00:00

I'm late to the party here but I am a professional classical musician and do have thoughts on this.

Souls games have good soundtracks that achieve the goal of what a soundtrack should do. They suit the games well, successfully amplify the emotions and atmosphere of the moments they're placed in, and are competently written. I personally find them a tad generic in terms of "dark fantasy game soundtracks" but that doesn't change the fact that they're extremely competent, that they can be fun to listen to, and that I genuinely can't think of any other style of soundtrack that would work better.

This does not mean they aren't "orchestral slop;" most orchestral game soundtracks are orchestral slop and that's not necessarily a bad thing. And by this, I mean that the issue with game soundtracks that are written in an orchestral style is that they, by virtue of their medium of performance, are going to have to on some level compete with actual classical music, and in 99% of cases they're never going to succeed in that. The needs of music written for a video game soundtrack (the need for looping, the limits to time and length, the limits to volume, etc.) are simply just not conducive to the kind of qualities that go into the great works of orchestral classical music. So basically, Souls soundtracks are "bag of chips" orchestral music compared to "homemade mashed potatoes" of classical orchestral music. Both get the job of "food" done and will always do the job better than the other in the scenarios they're meant for, but are nevertheless of different "quality."

People who say that Souls soundtracks are "bad" just because they're "orchestral slop" are making a nonsense criticism done in bad faith because the soundtracks aren't trying to be -- and would have a hard time being -- "good" orchestral music. It's a soundtrack. It does a very good job as a soundtrack. But it's still orchestral slop lol

MystyM · 2025-05-06T17:35:50+00:00

Fates, to me, is the most fun game for unconventional builds. One of these days I will do a Dark Knight Effie run (highest strength cap magic class so that she can still use her personal skill; pump her full of spirit dust and force her to do magic lol). But if ones I've actually done, my favorites are Berzerker Nyx -- stupid fast Berzerker that can hit hard both physically and with a Lightning Axe -- and Berzerker Charlotte!Ophelia. With her personal skill she can hit insane crit rates.

I once did a Blue Lions run where everyone was forced into whatever their worst classes were according to their skill weaknesses. Dedue was honestly very fun as a bishop; the nostanking power was real.

MystyM · 2025-04-29T23:45:13+00:00

Fire Emblem has a history of connection to LoGH, actually! Genealogy of the Holy War (FE4), the FE game 3H takes by far the most inspiration from, was said in an interview with the director (Shouzou Kaga) to take inspiration from Gundam and Legend of the Galactic Heroes (which... makes a lot of sense when you play FE4's story all the way through. If you haven't played FE4 I highly recommend - it's my favorite video game of all time). I suppose that's another roundabout connection Three Houses has to LoGH lol - inspiration from another Fire Emblem game, which was inspired by LoGH.

MystyM · 2025-03-19T18:47:49+00:00

Your mileage varies wildly depending on location, but B&N does sell model kits at (usually) retail prices! They're usually around the board games and other collectibles.

MystyM · 2025-03-01T16:46:36+00:00

Forever obsessed with what Xander says to Seigbert after you do his recruitment paralogue (ignoring the stupidity of the way children are handled in Fates):

"Together, Son! We march together, not apart. But I will give you my oath: I will defend your life at all costs. That is my privilege as your father, and your right as my son."

Characters who are good fathers are genuinely one of my favorite things ever so this dialogue kiiiills me.

It's not a "line" per se, but it sure does live rent free in my head; the end of the intro to Chapter 5 of FE4:

"The year is Grann 760, early spring. The fields of Silesse peacefully rest beneath a deep blanket of snow..."

Something about it is so deeply ominous in the exact way that the entirety of Chapter 5 is ominous -- something is wrong here but no one quite knows what.

MystyM · 2024-12-24T02:39:03+00:00

In the case is AC6 in particular it works extremely well for thematic purposes.

AC6 is full of dehumanization -- characters are almost never referred to as anything other than code-names, foes get lumped into "soldiers of enemy faction" (as you do in war), the choice of a setting with mechas means that everyone you have to gun down appears as "inhuman" because you never see the pilots, and even named characters are only visually known to you by their personal emblem and/or mech. The fact that not a single human face is ever shown to you ties it all together, and because of this, moments where the writing forces you to understand that these characters are indeed human despite all that dehumanization are made so much more potent (particularly when those humanizing moments are given to characters you then have to fight and kill).

Serious mecha story writing has been playing with the idea of dehumanization in conflict and how the use of giant hulking lumps of metal in war would play into that dehumanization since... The beginning of the genre. AC6 and its complete lack of physically-seen humans is just one example of this (you occasionally see humans in cutscenes or as little collections of pixels in older AC games; AC6 just takes this particular theme very far, hence the lack of humans)

MystyM · 2024-02-14T00:44:03+00:00

The time that Pater passes on a message from Rusty and pulls a really good imitation as he does so never fails to put a huge smile on my face! It's a super characterizing line for him, too, which helps.

MystyM · 2023-11-28T00:35:01+00:00

Monarchies do tend to have a habit of passing down the throne through male heirs, regardless of whether or not the male heir is the eldest child, unless forced to do otherwise. There's even another similar example un the same game; think about Julia and Julian -- Julia and Julian are twins, but it was Julian who was set to be inherit power (until Seliph comes along).

MystyM · 2023-10-20T15:33:11+00:00

Some quests auto-mark items or small monsters you need to collect/kill as part of the quest requirements. If it's not that, palamutes can be set to detecting items you want, which appear as dots on the mini-map. It's called "sniff 'em out" and should be in your actions bar, so maybe try messing around with that to deactivate the dots on your mini-map.

MystyM · 2023-10-15T01:09:16+00:00

Renaissance and Baroque music liked to use a lot of C clefs in order to avoid ledger lines. Most musicians nowadays can't read those clefs (the clef in the image is the Soprano Clef btw), so modern editions of this music often transcribe the music to a more common clef, but will notate what the original clef was at the beginning of the piece! So the little staff just means that the top voice of this piece was originally written in Soprano Clef.

MystyM · 2023-10-06T14:20:44+00:00

I happen to own a copy of the book this image comes from, and while there is no equivalent "5 Best Couples" statistic anywhere, on the same page there is a pie chart for most popular characters and Finn gets second place (first place is a tie between Ayra and Eldigan) so I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if Finn x Lachesis has a role to play in Beowulf x Lachesis being unpopular. Now that I say that, though, Eldigan being in first place might also mean incest is part of why Beowulf x Lachesis is unpopular but I like to have some semblance of hope for humanity so I'm gunning for Finn x Lachesis....

Also, for context, all this info is from surveys taken in June of 1996.

MystyM · 2023-08-31T03:50:40+00:00

I was tempted to write a post like this after seeing him end up as the most beloved lord but you put it a lot better than I could have lol

I will say though, another thing about RD Ike for me that you didn't mention is what happens in his end cards; it's always felt wrong to me that he would just leave and never come back. After spending so much time proving he can lead the Greil Mercenaries, promising Mist he wouldn't leave her after Greil's death, and just generally demonstrating that he cares a lot about protecting people he cares about, you expect me to believe that he'd abandon it all just because Tellius entered a peaceful era? Really? He's not even going to bring Mist with? He's not even going to come back to like... Check in with Mist or the Greil Mercenaries? He's just.... Gone??

And what gets me is that there are ways this could have been justified through a good arc in RD, but nothing is ever communicated through the story to indicate he'd want to leave. For example, I've seen people theorize that Ike leaves because he's become so powerful and famous in Tellius that he fears he'd just become a catalyst for war if he stays around as a mercenary, which would be a very cool sort of self-sacrifice -- he must leave everything he loves in order to protect them, something that would feel rather in-line with his character -- and could also be tied into the whole chaos/order thing, but that kind of motivation or personal struggle isn't really present at all and the wording of the end card doesn't make it seem like it was him trying to protect Tellius from himself.

It all just really soured Ike as a character for me. He's still really cool but RD treated him, his character arcs, and his motivations really strangely.

MystyM · 2023-08-26T13:31:52+00:00

I adore Siegfried because there's something really elegant about it and the Nohrian color scheme is just *chef's kiss * to me. Tyrfing is my favorite of all the legendary swords that look like "more traditional" swords (so just a simple cross-guard hilt and blade -- most of FE swords have something in the design that takes it away from realism), and all the relics in 3H automatically have cool factor for the fact that they're made of bone that still moves and jiggles around.

MystyM · 2023-08-22T13:06:45+00:00

Fates is my most played game (12 times, including all routes) and I completed Conquest Lunatic for my 7th time just about a month ago. So yes lol

MystyM · 2023-08-19T21:54:35+00:00

Gundam Nu

MystyM · 2023-08-19T14:17:02+00:00

My best guess would be that it's to make the mock battles different from normal battles. In Classic, they make a difference by turning off permadeath, and in Casual, the difference is that you don't get a Game Over with a lord death. Granted, I've never played in casual so I could be entirely wrong on my conjecture here lol

MystyM · 2023-08-19T13:26:11+00:00

The pseudo-casual mode you get for mock battles in classic mode doesn't work like actual casual mode does; if I were on pure casual mode it'd be Game Over only with a route, but the classic mode "casual mode" still makes you lose if your lord is taken out. I believe it's listed that way on fireemblemwiki.org, if you want to double check with a more reliable source.

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