If everyone in the cast didn't have a gimmick....

[amadeuscho]

Kellam didn't get a break from his gimmick, just like how Sumia couldn't catch a break from hers. Those two are the best examples of being hit hard with a gimmick that doesn't do them any favors. Look where it got both of them: hardly anyone gives a damn about Kellam and Sumia gets hate piled on top of her.

How could this be in any way considered a good thing that he cannot say a single line without referencing this?

It's like having to hear a bad joke over and over and over. In Kellam's case close to a dozen times during a single battle because the guy somehow references this for every single action he does.

Dodging! Attacking! Dying! It's the same even when he freaking kills other people!

Because it's funny. When I find out the hidden joke on Awakening's cover, I could not stop laughing. His death quote did really well in death quote poll I did a while back. I think it makes him stand out more in all honest. Knights tend to be pretty bland characters from my experience, and aren't look at by the FE fanbase,

And why doesn't anyone notice Kellam? because they are in on his gimmick too.

[RJWalker]

But it's not funny. There's only so many times that you can repeat a joke until people get sick of it. Kellam never stops.

[amadeuscho]

Maybe Kellam can fall off that cliff without sustaining brain damage too

Emm got damaged because she is a terrible Assassin it's worse than that other time where some guy broke his leg jumping into a haystack terrible

If Kellam fell off the cliff no one would notice.

But it's not funny. There's only so many times that you can repeat a joke until people get sick of it. Kellam never stops.

We'll just have to disagree on that. I admire consistency. By the end of it, it ends up half joke and half tragic.

“I-I'm done for... I wonder if...anyone will notice...I'm gone...”

-Kellam

That was not a joke for me. It really tugs on your heart strings. Isn't that everyone's fear when they die?

Kellam - Oft Forgotten

After the battle was over, Kellam departed Ylisse for a long journey. Of course, it took Chrom and the others several years to notice his absence.

In any paired ending: Her husband's name has been lost to history.

I chuckle at the first one. The second one: not every soldier can be remembered by history. That is the nature of war.

[Book Bro]

I gotta agree that Kellam takes it way too far. My first time through the game I went from being amused by his "invisibility" to feeling sorry for him to being irritated by it coming up all the time to getting seriously angry that he didn't even get a proper paired ending. Now I prefer not to even use him. He's completely lacking in character development.

[Loki Laufeyson]

Being a reader of comics myself, that may be the reason why I'm complaining about the characterisation here so much because really after getting spoiled by 600+ issues of Thor's beautifully done characterisation and all his dynamics with Loki and Odin and his relationship with earth and asgard and the whole godhood thing and tons of feels my standards for characterisation got pretty damn high

The Marvel writers also like to slip cute little earthly things Thor likes to do (like preferring lattes to coffee c. Uncanny Avengers #1) sometimes, but it doesn't overshadow any part of his character, but serves to make him more adorable. It's just a cute little snippet/fun fact and I think the gimmicks might be handled a lot better if it's slipped in rather than IN YOUR FACE.

and I will shut up about Thor now because if I don't it will turn into a tl;dr length meta and I will cry a lot during it

I feel ya. While im hardly a comic reader, i understand what you mean about really thorough characterization for a very large cast of characters. I got exceedingly spoiled with A Song of Ice and Fire which has a cast of 1600 (!!!) counted so far. Ok, not every one of that number gets characterization, but the MAIN cast plus Point of View characters is still extremely large. 31 characters end up with Point of View chapters/epilogue/prologue chapters. 31. That isnt counting all the non-POV guys who are really major characters. (thats when we get into the stupidly high numbers of characters.) All of them have very well thought out, or massive characterization. They all have their own mannerisms, personal tics, interaction, etc. So creating a story with a laughably large cast and making them seem very much like well rounded people (and not just one note nonsense) is entirely possible. Just very difficult to do. Some of those characters do have "gimmicks" though. Like Dolorous Edd for example. His "gimmick" is being the eternal pessimist who cracks really depressing (but hilarious) jokes about a situation. One guy (Axell Florent) is so over the top hilariously gimmicky, you wonder how he managed to survive in that universe. Then...theres the people Daenerys interacts with. Her own handmaidens have the silly Dothraki "It is known" gimmick. But in their case, they arent just really one-note. Nearly everyone in that story is their own person and develop as characters.

Im not saying Fire Emblem has to be as extensive in characterization as ASOIAF. (hoo boy that would be a localizer's worst nightmare! see Xenogears for details.) But when an FE game has a smaller cast, it is sort of expected to give the main cast ample characterization outside of cute gimmicks/stereotypes. Awakening's cast is big, but it actually seems to be smaller than that of say, FE7 and especially FE10. So there ya go. FE10 committed the crime of introducing new faces without giving them much in the way of...anything really. Dawn Brigade members got hit with this the hardest. And due to the lack of fleshed out supports, it suffers even more. A great deal of Awakening itself revolves around supports. This is why people are so disappointed with the treatment of many in the cast. So there it is.

[HK Motendra]

BTW, I've yet to see any mention of Lon'qu being a good potato peeler. Anyone know which support its brought up in?

[General Banzai]

But it's not funny. There's only so many times that you can repeat a joke until people get sick of it.

untrue

Im not saying Fire Emblem has to be as extensive in characterization as ASOIAF. (hoo boy that would be a localizer's worst nightmare! see Xenogears for details.)

why would you want a worse version of something, when you could have something completely different

the problem with you guys is that you all expect this game to conform to a certain standard of "characterization" when honestly it doesn't give a fuck about that and instead does its own thing

Edited September 18, 2013 by General Banzai

[HK Motendra]

untrue

Give it some time. It'll get to you eventually

why would you want a worse version of something, when you could have something completely different

the problem with you guys is that you all expect this game to conform to a certain standard of "characterization" when honestly it doesn't give a fuck about that and instead does its own thing

Interesting perspective there, and I can agree with it somewhat. Too bad not everyone thinks like that

Edited September 18, 2013 by Hero-King

[Constable Reggie]

the problem with you guys is that you all expect this game to conform to a certain standard of "characterization" when honestly it doesn't give a fuck about that and instead does its own thing

Clearly it does considering that there's a few brilliant flashes of characterization hidden beneath all the bullshit "attempts" at it

[Vashiane]

Clearly it does considering that there's a few brilliant flashes of characterization hidden beneath all the bullshit "attempts" at it

The thing is, you can't say they're all bad: look at Virion, Gregor, Cherche and Donnel. Henry and Gaius both roll with their gimmicks pretty well also. I mean, there's something good IN there. They at least TRIED, just some things didn't exactly work.

[Pieloswine]

BTW, I've yet to see any mention of Lon'qu being a good potato peeler. Anyone know which support its brought up in?

To my knowledge, it's not mentioned in a support, but in the roster when you check the unit list in the barracks. Each unit gets their own mini profile with their birthday and stuff, and a "is the most/best ________ in the army", or something along those lines. Lon'qu's is being the best potato peeler.

[HK Motendra]

To my knowledge, it's not mentioned in a support, but in the roster when you check the unit list in the barracks. Each unit gets their own mini profile with their birthday and stuff, and a "is the most/best ________ in the army", or something along those lines. Lon'qu's is being the best potato peeler.

Yeah, I know that. That's where I thought everyone's gimmicks were from at first

[Thor Odinson]

That stuff I don't particularly mind, since it's not plastered all over their supports.

[ConfidenceKBM]

This is VERY IMPORTANT for all the Severa haters. Please read her supports with Brady. It's a COMPLETELY different side of her.

Honestly all of Brady's supports are good... He's a damn good character... In my first playthrough I married Donnel to Maribelle, which honestly should be canon because it perfectly explains why Brady is the way he is.

*also my sig*

Edited September 18, 2013 by ConfidenceKBM

[amadeuscho]

This is VERY IMPORTANT for all the Severa haters. Please read her supports with Brady. It's a COMPLETELY different side of her.

Honestly all of Brady's supports are good... He's a damn good character... In my first playthrough I married Donnel to Maribelle, which honestly should be canon because it perfectly explains why Brady is the way he is.

*also my sig*

I love her support with Brady. It actually made me love both the characters even more. In fact, when I got it, I had never really used Brady too much, choosing the easier to level up Laurent and leaving Brady aside (this was back on my like second playthrough). But the perspective of outsiders is great. I love loners on a team setting.

Not only that but a married galeforce enabled Brady and Severa are a force to be reckoned.

I think one support can always change your perceptions of the character. And guess what? We are on a site that collects all the characters' supports!

why would you want a worse version of something, when you could have something completely different

the problem with you guys is that you all expect this game to conform to a certain standard of "characterization" when honestly it doesn't give a fuck about that and instead does its own thing

The comparison to comics were funny because I think people were comparing them to their favorite comics. If you read comics (and I've read comics, from Captain America to Runaways to the Flash to Y:The Last Man to Invincible to Batman), you would know that comics range widely within the grand spectrum of quality, genre, and tone. Over the course of multiple issues runs, creators always have struggle to tell stories with the same consistency of quality. But there are different types of story telling. A good Spider-Man story has a different purpose and tone to even a good Batman or Captain America story.

Fire Emblem: Awakening is basically a summer blockbuster. I said this before, but comparing the Fire Emblem: Awakening to FE9-FE10 is like comparing the Avengers to the Dark Knight. The Dark Knight has more depth, but that doesn't make Avengers any less of a good story. They both had very different stories to tell. It's the same with any iteration of these games.

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

"And guess what? We are on a site that collects all the characters' supports!"

I can make over 900 jokes about this, but I guess I shouldn't

So, SF, wheres my Doga support hm?

[General Banzai]

Clearly it does considering that there's a few brilliant flashes of characterization hidden beneath all the bullshit "attempts" at it

Perhaps those flashes are only brilliant because of the context they come from, i.e. the "bullshit" attempts at it

Fire Emblem: Awakening is basically a summer blockbuster. I said this before, but comparing the Fire Emblem: Awakening to FE9-FE10 is like comparing the Avengers to the Dark Knight. The Dark Knight has more depth, but that doesn't make Avengers any less of a good story. They both had very different stories to tell. It's the same with any iteration of these games.

Bad comparison. A better one:

FE13 is to Cabin in the Woods as FE8 through FE10 is to Evil Dead.

Edited September 18, 2013 by General Banzai

[amadeuscho]

Bad comparison. A better one:

FE13 is to Cabin in the Woods as FE8 through FE10 is to Evil Dead.

I've never seen either of those films, so I'll have to take your word for it.

I used those two films because practically everyone has seen them. I do think FE:A's approach is similar to light-hearted touch of Whedon plus action, humor, and character interaction, while FE9-10 has depth and goes with a topic (racism) much like the Dark Knight deals with terrorism and order.

Edited September 18, 2013 by Viewtiful_J

[PM ME MARIANNE ART]

This is VERY IMPORTANT for all the Severa haters. Please read her supports with Brady. It's a COMPLETELY different side of her.

Honestly all of Brady's supports are good... He's a damn good character... In my first playthrough I married Donnel to Maribelle, which honestly should be canon because it perfectly explains why Brady is the way he is.

*also my sig*

I'd say the Vaike describes him better, Donnel's too friendly.

[Djing]

I'd say the Vaike describes him better, Donnel's too friendly.

Vaike's too social. Lon'qu is grouchy and engages in self pity just like Brady.

[RJWalker]

One support where's not a complete bitch does NOT excuse all of her other supports where she is complete bitch except at the very end. And she's such an asshole that it isn't worth putting up with that attitude.

[Phantom037]

any good Brady x Severa was is sort of cancelled out by the utter horror that is Severa x Owain.

[General Banzai]

One support where's not a complete bitch does NOT excuse all of her other supports where she is complete bitch except at the very end. And she's such an asshole that it isn't worth putting up with that attitude.

severa doesnt even need that support to be great

dont listen to the apologists

[Party Moth]

If you took away every characters' gimmicks, they'd be completely bland. It's just about all they have.

[Constable Reggie]

Perhaps those flashes are only brilliant because of the context they come from, i.e. the "bullshit" attempts at it

In the context of Fe13, yes, the few brilliant moments are only so because it's in Fe13. Regardless, this does not negate the fact that writing and characterization on par with 7-9 are present in Awakening.

Bad comparison. A better one:

FE13 is to Cabin in the Woods as FE8 through FE10 is to Evil Dead.

hahaha

better comparison would be Fe13 being Rankin-Bass' Return of the King, and 7-10 being Jackson's RotK