I fight for the Fire Emblem!

My favourite game has always been Path of Radiance! It’s such a nice game to play! It’s been a couple of years since I’ve played it last though! I’ll have to bring out the wii and give it another playthrough.

Honestly? Engage is the least excited for a fire emblem game I’ve been since Awakening, when I first got into the series. I’m really struggling to see past the art style, I really despise it! Everything else in the game looks pretty okay though so I will definitely pick it up when I have the money. Most likely, my love for fire emblem gameplay/characters/story will help me get past my misgivings.

I should say that I wouldn’t call myself a massive Studentleth fan. I’m more very neutral on it.

As for it being baked into the game and story, I actually think it’s something that can be very easily removed without much ramification. It’s important for characters like Edelgard that they have a crush on Byleth - it informs a large part of their actions in the plot - but I don’t think it necessarily needs to be a thing that’s reciprocated by the end. In fact, the only scene I’d argue is explicitly studentleth is the end scene choice where you pick who to marry. Which is a decision that’s played out after the final boss of the game and is something that could very easily be removed.

The teacher-student relationship is important in the game, I’ll agree with you there, but the relationship between Byleth and the students is never painted romantically unless you, the player, wish to read into it that way. I can understand why, if someone finds the idea of teacher-student relationships gross, they would lean towards a more platonic interpretation of their interactions.

There was a time when I was younger that I would care very much about potentially ‘problematic’ messaging in the media I consumed. This even extended to Fire Emblem (I used to absolutely despise that the two same sex options in Fates were super problematic). I would get mad and upset much like a lot of the people who now call studentleth bad.