blinkingbrave

Ahh, this is what I always point out whenever this kind of discussion comes up. Kozaki's kinda the lil guy in this. If his job is anything like a regular concept art gig, which based on what we've seen of his work it seems like it is, Kozaki likely gets the description for what he's drawing from the writing team and then just draws and submits until Kusakihara's satisfied with it. Obviously, there's probably some kind of back-and-forth going on, but at the end of the day, Kozaki likely does a lot less than people like to credit him as doing in these kinds of discussions. And for that matter, like you mentioned, his opinion also likely factors in a lot less. For one, he's a professional, and concept art jobs are hella competitive, to boot, so you don't want to go around jeopardizing that if you can avoid it. And two, though a newer direction for FE, the Fates costumes aren't exactly trailblazing a new path in sexy video game costuming. Kozaki himself has drawn way more sexualized designs and way more sexualized compositions. Not to mention what the artist's experience creating a piece and the end consumer's reaction to the final product are two entirely different things. Beyond maybe initial reaction to a design if you were to see it in completed form and asked to recreate it, there's really nothing sexual in drawing a skimpy costume.

I mean... A lot of Marx's writing is heavily dependent on nuance, so if we just interpreted something differently, that would more than explain differing opinions on inconsistancy? I guess I could explain myself a lil more thoroughly with actual proper examples if someone wants, but I don't really want to go through the effort of a more detailed analysis unless someone's interested. At the end of the day, I think it was a choice designed to make him look bad (edit: or maybe not 'bad' per say but... softer rather?), though, and I don't think that's a bad thing. He's a flawed character, and one of his biggest downfalls is his emotions. It's a pretty consistent writing decision (along with his issues with duty and bunch of other personality stuff) supported in both the main plot(s) and his supports, not just in his relationship with Pieri, but also in his relationships with Kamui, Garon, Iago, etc. Helps add layers to make him more than just... duty.

Eh, imo, it's not out of nowhere for Marx. If anything his decision to take on Pieri helps show a few of the softer layers Marx usually hides under his duty-bound, prim and proper prince persona. For all his hard facade, underneath... he's still got traces of that squishy, emotional, crybaby kid that he never entirely got around to crushing. And he's a character that wants to act on his convictions. He picked Pieri initially not so much for logical reasons (else their support suggests other candidates should have been chosen) but for emotional ones, tied in to his past retainers. And then you've got Pieri's support with Kamui to show that he kept her because he saw (or wanted to believe he saw) kindness in her. I don't think it's so much Marx waving away her tendencies as some silly lil quirk, and more Marx needing to believe that Pieri's more than her actions. Which would correlate with his soft-hearted idealistic tendencies and his own dilemma associated with the disparity between his actions and his beliefs. tl;dr Marx definitely picked Pieri (their support confirms that), and the decision is probably more to accentuate the softer parts of his personality (and also to redeem Pieri, somewhat, but that's neither here nor there for this).

Elise's mother was a concubine. Perhaps a typo/misread?

Yesss! She's just fun to read. When you've got all these relatively good/normal/predictable characters interacting with each other, I think it's nice to have someone who mixes that up, even if that means the character herself doesn't behave... heroically. Same reason I like Joker, Camilla, and Zero.

I guess... Hinoka and Ryouma could stand to have their flaws accentuated a lil more? I think they're fine now, too, because everything's there long as you look for it, but just making them even a lil more obviously messy and/or challenged by their surroundings in the main plot could certainly help put them on equal footing with their Nohrian foils. Not that their writing is bad or anything, but in comparison to Camilla and Marx, Hinoka and Ryouma struggle at times to appear to reach the same nuance. Edit: And that Marx vs. Ryouma comparison is especially rough. One of the best written characters in the game vs the guy the narrative is afraid to fully color is unfortunate, especially since Ryouma does have all these flaws that the story doesn't quite convey to the extent it does his foil's. Side-effect of the narrative differences between the Nohr and Hoshido routes, I guess?? That recently confirmed bit of info on Leon actually made him more interesting to me. Also, Pieri's one of my faves.

I find Awakening the best out of the designs we've had, personally. The GBA+preGBA designs were a lil too boxy for me, and the Fates ones, though definitely more interesting, a lil too skimpy (or rather, the cutouts on some designs are oddly done?). Long as the costumes stay equal opportunity fan service, I don't really mind either direction (conservative vs skimpy) as they're both pretty classic dark wizard/witch depictions, just with different stereotypes associated with each costume.

Well... I like the story (though, full disclaimer, I'm reading from a translation so I'm probably losing nuance there), the characters (for design and/or writing), and the music. Also, a lot of the new classes and weapons seem really neat. As for dislikes... Without the game in my hands (like I kinda said, my experience with the game is essentially translations), I'm a lil hesitant to list anything, mostly because I'm not sure how prevalent it'll end up in the actual game (like the battle panties or boob jiggle on a few My Room models). If it's easy to ignore, I tend to just ignore it, and I really only care about writing/art stuff, so it looks like my dislike list will be a short one this time around!

Um... Well, based on the profile layout of Leon's page (and assuming they use the same generic profile format for everyone), it'll probably touch on his insecurities, instead of an obligatory Camus shout out. Leon's was split up a block for personality, a block for opinion/attitude towards his enemy, and a block split into lil subgroups on his opinion of each of the people he has a prior relationship with, so a lil blurb on his thoughts towards Garon, then one each for every Nohr sibling (this is where the quote about Camilla came from), and another two for his retainers (Edit: And one for his son, though it just says 'son,' and another for Kamui). I imagine Marx's will be something similar. Anyways, I doubt Marx's will hold any bombshells. It's the base info they used to write all the dialogue/supports, after all, so if there's nothing in the writing to suggest he's got some weird secret, there's not likely to be anything scandalous on his page. And based on his writing in game, if he were to have a canon secret love interest, a la Leon, the best candidate for closeted romantic feelings seems to be Kamui. Who can be a guy or a girl. And IS isn't terribly progressive. So... he's probably safe there, particularly. Though I certainly wouldn't mind being proved wrong.

Yeah... It can't possibly be as bad as Cordelia, so at least there's that. I don't know enough about his S-supports, but I'd imagine, like Oboro and Marx, he's probably still got plenty of good ones to latch on to. I think it's an interesting dynamic (particularly when paired with his Kamui issues)... but kinda crummy in a game with marriage based mechanics. Since it's not strictly necessary for his relationship with Camilla to be an unrequited romance for the purpose of the plot, I wouldn't be too surprised if localization just cuts it out. Or at least tones down his Camilla support to bury it even further under subtext.

Ah, I can answer this, too. According to the translator I linked in my earlier post, she used the present tense... so at the start of the game. I guess whether or not they continue beyond is up to your interpretation. Sounds like more than puppy love to me, but I dunno enough about his supports to speculate on whether he's got some S-supports that sound like he's... settling, the way you can read a few of Marx's. I'm just waiting around for Marx, Camilla, Sakura, and Hinoka's sheets to surface. Aqua's (and Kamui's if s/he has one) seems like it'll be interesting, too.

This here is probably what people are referencing. I'd just scroll down the blog, because the info's a lil scattered. It's not a translator I really know, but I'm sure some of you guys can vouch for him/her. Eh, if it's true, it's not exactly out of nowhere, so I wouldn't be terribly surprised. As it is, I think I might just wait around for the page itself before deciding anything. Edit: As for the overall affect on Leon's popularity... the book hasn't even been out that long, right? I guess it could be a detrimental thing, but it feels a lil hard to judge, now. As long as Camilla's character doesn't get unjustly slammed though, I don't really care, honestly.

Yeah... I second that list. Skipping the royals doesn't seem like a good idea, and I kinda doubt they're going to do it. We all knew this was going to dictate DLC, and I doubt the fact that F!Kamui's five most popular ships occupy the top five (ignoring M!Kamui of course) is coincidence. Not to mention if you ignore the Hoshidan royals, you have to dip allll the way down into fifteenth place on both lists before you find a Hoshidan other than Oboro. And the most that Awakening poll had to skip was one person, with everyone still being in the top ten. Any rate, maybe they'll split it up somehow to give some non-royals (other than Joker and Azura, who also look like shoe-ins) attention. I just... don't see them cutting the male royals (and thus have no reason to cut the female royals) to do so. Though the idea of giving focus to someone other than the royals is nice in theory, I'm sure I'm not the only one buying the DLC if and only if a particular royal is in it.

Mm, thinking on it, she is the most frequently fan art-ed female, and the gap between her and Camilla and Oboro is noticeable.

Well, people are more likely to complain about things than praise them, so I'm not surprised, tbh. I know I'm not the only one who likes Kamui but doesn't have the time/patience/even temper to barge into those 'Nohr!Kam is utterly terrible' discussions and argue against it. A neutral question like you posed is one thing, but if the discussion starts negative or heads that way fast, it doesn't exactly encourage people to run in with their praises. Eh, it is what it is, though. Tbh, I'm not really trusting any majority opinion or opinion as the majority (beyond the Japanese opinion on the Japanese game) until the game's localized and everyone has easy access to the same material.

Well, as someone who did toss a few votes in for F!Kamui, I can tell you my votes were for her character/writing. Since marketing associates her with the Nohr route, I associate her with Nohr!Kamui, who I was a fan of. Given that you're never 'the only one' in these sorts of things, I imagine some of her votes came from there. She's also the most/only (depending on your route) prominent female character amongst all the males, so more screen time may well have given her an edge, particularly in girls like me looking for someone to identify with amid alllllll the male characters. Looking at the people who topped their lists (the handsome, 'angsty' royals who don't tell Kamui their true feelings sweeping the top three, Zero, Eponine, Oboro to an extent), a good deal of them are just generally (more in some cases) popular with women, so more of the poll may well have been women, and similarly to me, they related to F!Kamui to some extent. They may have tossed in votes for her because they generally liked her and didn't care who got the lady portion of DLC. I doubt she had a good deal of fans who reliably tossed votes in solely for her every day, but it wouldn't be terribly surprising if she was one of the lady characters the female demographic, particularly, split their votes between. F!Kamui may well have just ended up on top because enough people split their votes enough ways, and she was the most common overlap. Her design's also nice, like you mentioned, but even to be seen solely as a vehicle of a ship (which I have no doubt she is for some people), she still has to be generally likeable, which it seems she is at least according to the Japanese fandom.

Pretty much this. Especially on the guys' side, since Leon, Takumi, and Marx (with some Joker) pretty much sweep the fanart, too. Excluding those three, despite them winning a poll everyone knows dictates DLC, does IS no favors as far as making money goes. A Hoshido/Nohr DLC split seems most likely to me. Alternatively, the top five characters (excluding the Kamui's) are Leon, Marx, Takumi, Joker, and Ryouma and Camilla, Oboro, Elise, Aqua, and Hinoka, so 2 Hoshidans, 2 Nohrians, and 1 neutral a piece, keeping an even balance (though Sakura being the only royal who didn't make it up there is awkward).

And the more intense fans are more likely to buy the DLC, which is probably a lot more IS's end goal, so running it like this, figuring out who's most liked by the most people, kinda makes sense. Anyways, I'm rather happy to see everyone I voted for (Marx + a mix of Camilla, F!Kamui, Shara, and Sakura) did better than I expected. If Marx ends up with DLC, I may actually splurge on it for once. Seeing enough of a placement difference between F!Kamui and M!Kamui is curious, though. You can kinda guess everyone else who placed highly did so because of some combination of shipping and writing (particularly the royals, given they play supporting/main cast depending on the side you pick so their writing is unavoidable), but it's hard to tell how the Kamui's got their votes. Eh, I guess I can hope some of the F!Kamui votes came from Nohr!Kam's writing (which doesn't seem completely out of the ballpark for at least some quantity of the votes given that that's why she got some of mine). It'd be nice to have more atypical protags and/or atypical protag journeys. Edit: Also, looking at this more closely, it seems the Nohrians generally did better than the Hoshidans, so that's interesting. The most popular Hoshidan non-royal is 15th on the guys, and ignoring Oboro the outlier, the next most popular Hoshidan non-royal is 15th on the girls, too (and is Setsuna for some reason??). And it seems the DLC will fall pretty easily. Both top five non-Kamui gender sets are two Nohrians, two Hoshidans, and one neutral.

Pretty much all for some combination of design, plot dialogue, and support dialogue... Females: Camilla, Hinoka, Sakura, Nyx, Pieri, and Nohr!Kamui Males: Marx, Suzukaze, Zero, Harold, Tsubaki, and Hinata I also kiiiinda want to put Aqua on this list, but her dialogue can be hit or miss for me.

Yeah, you've definitely touched on a few points I prefer on Nohr over Hoshido as well. Tbh, it's been a lil while since I read the story but I'm just gonna go for it anyways... I was fangirling over the Nohr story with someone, and she pointed out something interesting in regards to Birthright Kamui. Basically, her understanding (which I agree with) of Hosh!Kamui's kinda jarring lack of empathy/sympathy was that Nohr!Kamui, choosing to side with Nohr obv, believes their army isn't all bad/redeemable and also gets to come and understand this further working with the Nohrians but also understands that the Hoshidan army is the morally right in this situation. Hosh!Kamui decides, pretty much in that choice scene, that fighting for Nohr is morally wrong and that's that. The abrupt shift in mentality definitely gets awkward when you compare to Nohr!Kamui though, and the 'moral righteousness' of it (that gets pretty heavy-handed in a few points) all kinda rubs me the wrong way. Probably could've used a few chapters of development like Nohr!Kamui gets for her issues to make it feel less abrupt/more relatable, imo. I think we might have similar issues with Hosh!Ryouma as well. I think he's interesting on the Nohr route because we get to see that 'this is how it should all turn out, it'll work because I'm good, and it's going to be awesome' mentality challenged, as it feels to me like it realistically should be... but on Hoshido, with Kamui on his side and his mentality unchallenged from the start... he just up and goes on his Chevalier disguise mission, leaves everyone behind with no message, and somehow everything just works out fine. Doesn't help that it pulls a weird (and unfavorable, imo) contrast with Marx, who's visibly struggling and putting work in to keep Kamui alive on early game Nohr. And blocks that blow Hosh!Ryouma doesn't for some reason? My guess is that it might be to show off that Hosh!Marx is a very real threat that outclasses everyone when he's not holding back and sets up Nohr!Marx as 'the defender,' but that does zip for Ryouma, except maybe accentuate Nohr!Ryouma's temper as his flaw. Anyways, I don't think I would've found it awkward/vaguely alienating if we only saw Hoshido because things like this aren't necessarily out of nowhere for FE, but Nohr exists and it really shoots down and/or challenges a lot of the 'the side with the most morally right guys always wins' idea and typical video game power fantasy stuff in its entirety. I know for me personally, going from Nohr, where a good potion of the main cast was challenged hard, couldn't just do what they want, and often had a good deal of visible, unavoidable fallout from all of these actions they were somewhat responsible for even as they struggled to prevent them, to Hoshido, where the sense that they're good and everything they do is always right and always works out in the end is pretty strong, there were a few moments on the Hoshido route that bothered me in a way I don't think it would've going the other way around. Edit: And as for the speech comparison you drew, I think it comes back to one of the base differences between Marx and Ryouma. Marx has had retainers canonically die for him and struggles with the some of the heftier realities of leading a military force, being unable to do what you want, etc. Ryouma... seemingly hasn't had the same issues. It's like they were scared to color the Hoshidans if you chose their side (maybe in order to keep the typical FE story we were promised on Hoshido?). And the Kamui bit I'd probably draw back to Nohr!Kamui's position as their 'heart' being a precarious one even if you chose their side, coupled with the Nohrian royals' (and Marx in particular) dependence on her being their heart, while Hosh!Kamui just being there pretty much solves all the Hoshidans' emotional issues.

I'd play Awakening first. It'll probably end up being cheaper because you can find a used copy, and if you end up liking it, I imagine it'll be more entertaining going from the easier game to the harder one. Also, Fates has some Awakening shout outs that'll probably make the experience a lil more enjoyable if you've played the game. I enjoyed both stories. Personally, I prefer Fates, and I think the writing itself is a lil better, but that's just me. I suppose Awakening is probably closer in style to the older games, though, if that was more your taste. I guess Awakening also stood out to me as a lil clunky near the end, like it needed a lil more writing in some parts.

Nintendo Dream is pretty standard video game journalism type stuff. I believe the votes were mail-in, if that says something? A gap that large seems a lil peculiar, but I dunno what the demographics for FE players in Japan looks like so maybe it kinda makes sense after all? Edit: Also the top ten results are pretty much the same characters as the Famitsu one rearranged ever so slightly anyways, so it seems the same popular characters are just generally most popular.

Yeah, I'm really hoping for something more serious, too. I don't really mind fan service fluff (particularly when it's DLC content), but it feels like there's still a lot of story material that could be explored. Personally, I'd love anything that could allow for some conversations about the royals' relationships with their parents a lil more. Or just give us some more sibling bond interactions. If it is shippy fluff, though, I do wonder what they'll end up doing with the royals... They've already got some DLC (though it wasn't shippy, so I guess there's still room for that), but they're also a good number of the most popular characters.

I'd guess it'd be split Nohr/Hoshido again, with some kinda special case for the neutrals. It'd be the easiest way to make sure both sides get an equal amount of content, because if they just go by overall popularity it kinda feels like there's a risk the Hoshidans will get short-changed. As for content, I imagine it'll be more fun, fluffy stuff, seeing as we got a lot of gameplay DLC and a story DLC recently. Though I definitely wouldn't complain if it turned out to be something more serious. Long as Marx and/or Camilla end up with something special from it, I'll probably end up caving and buying it whatever it.

I'll go ahead and caveat this with an 'I seemed to have comparatively less issues with Awakening than other people' just for the record. For Fates, I'd say the writing itself is better, and the story in Fates is really starting to move to a place where it works to do more than just get you from point A to B and tell you who to fight, while maintaining decent pacing. I thought that though the plot, if you were to just isolate it to its bullet points, had its weak moments, the writing more than made up for it. Personally, I'd say it's better than Awakening by a fair amount. Overall reception, though, I think is all over the place. I've heard everything from rave reviews to rather harsh criticisms. It's probably worth noting that the people I know who love the story really seem to appreciate the extra focus it gives to the playable characters and/or the writing of the playable characters themselves, while most of the criticisms I've heard are more about the lack of world building and the logic associated with some plot points. So if you know which of those two camps you fall into, that might help gauge your interest. I'll also go ahead and say that Nohr route pretty plainly assumes you picked that side to save the Nohrian royals. I think some of the people who picked it because they thought it would still let them be the moral equivalent to Hoshido have ended up disappointed.