When I decided to host the mega again a bit ago, I had no idea what to make it about (of course). So it fell between two topics: a post on the importance of sleep, or a post on just how much I love Fire Emblem: The Sacred Echoes. Well, I felt like the importance of sleep was well-known, and could always wait for the next time I host a mega. I wanted to make sure I hit the Sacred Echoes iron while it's hot, because I've almost finished my play through at this point, and it might genuinely be one of the best games I have ever played.
Sacred Echoes feels so polished, considering it's a fan-made romhack of Sacred Stones, with the goal of bringing the 3DS game, Shadows of Valentia (SoV), to the GBA. Everything about the game aesthetically is very well-done, from the portraits, to the battle sprites, and literally anything else that could be thought of about a game. This includes new character writing, which helps the game in areas where Shadows of Valentia was a little, well, off. That's what I want to go over first, and although I've made a post before, I had only played a little bit of the game. Being at the end, I've noticed more things, and grown to appreciate this game even more than I already did.
Let's start off with the relevant (and interesting) bits: Sacred Echoes actually does a really good job at representing a variety of backgrounds, while also being diverse in a way that doesn't feel like it's simply to have a token character. This game doesn't suffer from the cracker curse, for example. Although most of the characters are white, there is more than one person of color (
) . In terms of LGBTQ+ representation, it's even better. There are many gay/lesbian characters, whose sexuality actually plays a role in the plot and how they interact with others. There's also an aroace character, Lukas, who goes through a whole arc of self-discovery in his support conversations (support Python). It's good stuff, and not things I would normally expect from a Fire Emblem game. I hesitate to bring up the (possibly) only trans character in the game, Jesse. HOLD ON, NO HESITATION AT ALL! I just decided to do more research, and I wasn't just projecting. He is 100% trans, and it's in supports, and it's relevant to his plot and backstory, so it's just like the rest of them, thank goodness, I was worried he was a token. So yeah, support Clive and Jesse. Good stuff, and good luck getting to the end of the game so they can actually meet, one fights for Alm and the other for Celica...
This is Jesse
Here's some dialogue between Clive and Jesse, in the context of a will:
Clive: Only the following will be yours - your mother's wardrobe, her jewelry box, and all corresponding contents.
Jesse: Urgh. Even from halfway in the grave he's trying to tell me what to wear. So yeah, he's still the same tyrant he always was. Hasn't changed a bit.
In terms of character background, it's more diverse than one would think, and it addresses the issue of feudal class. Not all of the characters are nobles, and one of the main characters is a commoner from a random village. The plot regularly deals with the fact that nobles and commoners do not get along. However, it does not try to redeem most nobles. If they aren't proving themselves with their actions, they're probably shitty. Even if they are supposedly "one of the good ones", there's usually some underlying prejudice that comes out when you might not expect it. I love it so much, and I am extremely impressed that the plot doesn't try to redeem nobility as a whole, but rather allows the noble characters within the cast to have character development that feels less like justification and more like re-education.
Pictured is the class traitor Lukas absolutely destroying Fernand
For other details about the story, I'll link my original post. I don't want to drag this on too long, and I mention most of the improvements there. It also includes where to find the patch for the game, and how to play the game for yourself. If you enjoy SRPGs, or are new to the genre, I recommend this game. It has an easy mode for the newbies, and hard mode for those of us who hate ourselves (/s), and a normal mode for everything in-between 
The Echoes cast is amazing, and I love how they interact with each other and the world. Each character stands out, and they feel unique in their relationships with the other characters. Even characters that suffer in SoV, like Faye and the Masked Knight (has a name but it's spoilers), benefit from the Sacred Echoes writing, making them actually enjoyable characters. The villains of the game are also great. I don't want to go too deep, because I don't want to spoil too much, but they aren't just pure evil, and for that I applaud the SoV writers. Berkut is probably the highlight of the game, being the heir to the throne of the empire. I am once again asking you to play the game, because IT IS SO GREAT, and I would not have expected these good of villains to pair with Alm and Celica, as well as their armies.
Pictured is the Masked Knight being a gay little guy. The other guy (Saber) is threatening his life...
Everything about the game design is also amazing. It's GBA Fire Emblem, so the animations are peak and the pixel art is stellar. The maps are improved from the original SoV maps, and they are definetly much better, and much less repetitive. Classes in the game are fun in how they work, each character being able to promote 2-3 times. Mages also work really uniquely and well in this game, with spells costing HP to cast. They learn spells as they level up, rather than by purchasing tomes, which makes for (in my opinion), better gameplay. Sacred Echoes also adds the GBA weapon and magic triangles!
All in all, Sacred Echoes is a great game, and even if you never ending up playing it, you now know of its existence. It stands out as a great romhack, as well as a great Fire Emblem game, AND it has the gay. Can it really get better than that?
If you want my original (and more in-depth) analysis, check out my original post. It's mostly about what Sacred Echoes improves upon the original Shadows of Valentia.
Hope you enjoyed my little nerd-out session, and have a good week everyone! 
DOWNLOAD SACRED ECHOES: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/o9v75blehaid1re2i8qou/ALhV8LN1A59jdFIP6HYRH3c?rlkey=d7fl1m8qh9gl7ztmnim33euu1&e=1&dl=0
PATCH TO AN EXISTING SACRED STONES ROM: https://www.marcrobledo.com/RomPatcher.js/
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at what age did you realize you might be? what do you mean "realize you might be"? like when the thought first floated through your head or?
good question. I guess personally I'm more interested in when people first started to seriously consider being trans. thinking back, even before I learned about the existence of trans people, there were multiple moments over my life where I felt like I was the opposite gender, but I didn't know what to do with that, so I just ignored it, so I think that would be harder for people to accurately pinpoint.
I'd be curious to see both "At what age did you first realize you didn't identify with your AGAB or would prefer being a gender other than the one assigned by others?" and "At what age did you realize you are likely trans?" next to each other to see how much of a gap there is for people.
For me there was like 5 years between "i wouldnt mind being a girl" and "i really wish i was a girl", and then another decade and change before "oh shit i think i might be trans" and then another few years before coming out.
For me it was 5 and 15 respectively, so quite a gap
huh. honestly there was only like a two-three month period of my life when i thought "hey i might be trans" and realizing "oh shit"
then again, i do distinctly remember vocally complaining my distaste for being a cis man as early as 14
yeah, for me the gap between "I might be trans?" to "I guess I'm trans ¯\_(ツ)_/¯" was only a couple months. but for a year prior to that the way I thought of it was like "I kind of like thinking of myself as a woman, but I'm not really interested in actually transitioning", and in the ~12 years before that were when I had those random moments of feeling feminine (and felt dysphoria when there was pressure to be masculine) but didn't know how to process it.
I hate how it's all complicated by the stigma around questioning yourself to begin with. I feel like even if I never ever learned that transgenderism was a thing, even if it somehow didn't exist in society, I could have figured it out sooner if there wasn't strong social pressure to conform to AGAB.
lmao if there weren't already a ton of trans people around me IRL I never would have figured it out, I would have just stewed in the dysphoria forever
Wish I had more trans people around me when I was younger. I had one friend in high school who eventually came out and immediately moved across the country to get away from Texas. Didn't know any until around the time I started questioning. But that timing was annoying because we didn't have the type of relationship where I actually talked with him or hung out with him... but I worried my mom would blame him if I came out and just assume I was impressionable...
For me, I think it was like a 2-day "I might be agender, but idk about trans", then like 1-2 weeks of "I think I'm agender, but idk about trans, to "oh...".
Weirdly, I also think part of the reason why I took so long to realize was because of growing up in a household that didn't enforce gender conformity at home and my mom is gender nonconforming and frequently gendered as a male. So gender always just seemed like made up nonsense that didn't matter (at least as long as you were lucky enough to be born a girl... always was jealous that tomboys could just exist for the most part, but there wasn't a socially approved counterpart for boys). Given what little I knew about trans people (the "I've always known I was a woman/man" narrative), I assumed that meant I couldn't be since "man" and "woman" just seemed to BS.
Of course, I also did mask outside the household because of social pressures and that eventually poisoned my mind. Wish society was a lot more open to anyone doing things like changing presentation, pronouns, hormones, body parts, etc, rather than it only being seen as a trans thing. So I also agree with you.