I've come to realize that I've been way too harsh on this game and so I decided to give it another chance. I played it again in the context of the ironman challenge, a self imposed ruleset among Fire Emblem fans where resetting is completely banned. This challenge is, in my humble opinion, the most enjoyable way to play Fire Emblem if you have enough experience with the series, as it forces you to engage with permadeath in away that playing vanilla doesn't and also because the lack of resetting just inherently causes the game to be paced better. This is the most charitable set of conditions I could have played the game in. So what do I think of it now?
It still fucking sucks lmao

I can barely form a coherent thought about what I just finished but I feel weirdly seen by Final Fantasy VIII and its protagonist in particular as this understanding of specific feelings of capitalist alienation that I've been unable to articulate for the longest time. I don't have any official diagnosis and especially do not want people I barely know armchair diagnosing me online but Squall's struggles to process the most basic social interactions in terms of anything other than capitalist obligations like school or work, "shut up and get the job done" mentality, and specific jaded outlook are core parts of myself I never expected to see reflected in this fashion. While I narrowly prefer the basic bitch choices of VI and VII in terms of Final Fantasy games, this surreal response to the cultural zeitgeist of the latter game and weird as fuck (complimentary) use of Marxist theory (specifically the "annihilation of space by time" described in Grundrisse and expanded upon over a century later by David Harvey) in the same way that most RPGs use religious/mythological concepts solely because it sounds cool is a game that will no doubt have a special place in my heart from now on.