To those who started/only played with Awakening...

[angienessyo]

Odd, one of the main reasons why I prefer the older titles to Awakening is because I felt they did a much better job with character interaction (excluding the ones without supports), but I'll admit that Awakening was certainly more into the fluffy humor.

Now that I think about it, something that all FE titles suffer from is that lack of character interaction across the cast within the story. Granted, this is probably unavoidable just given how large the casts are... although surprisingly enough, I think Radiant Dawn did that best job at that. If only their supports were as good as it's predecessor...

Yeah, I think it'd be insane for them to try to have everyone interact haha even Awakening which is all about the interactions and supports has some really weird missing ones. Like really? Lucina can't talk to all the kids and can't recruit them? Kind of a huge oversight on their part.

And like Cadmium, I don't only care about interactions, but that extra bit of charm gets me more invested in the game. I do love the actual strategy involved too, which is why I've been enjoying the older titles.

[Jedi]

Odd, one of the main reasons why I prefer the older titles to Awakening is because I felt they did a much better job with character interaction (excluding the ones without supports), but I'll admit that Awakening was certainly more into the fluffy humor.

Now that I think about it, something that all FE titles suffer from is that lack of character interaction across the cast within the story. Granted, this is probably unavoidable just given how large the casts are... although surprisingly enough, I think Radiant Dawn did that best job at that. If only their supports were as good as it's predecessor...

Yeah this is where FE's strength is (outside its gameplay), its characters and their interactions, while supports were a pain to get in the GBA games, its what makes them truly timeless, Awakening tries way too hard to make sure everyone has something to say to everyone, which makes some supports sound repetitive. While supports in the older games told different parts of a characters story, which allowed for overall stronger writing in terms of characters, and don't get me wrong, Awakening has some nice supports, but there is a bit of bloating to how many and how meh a good chunk of those are.

As for character interaction in the story itself, Path of Radiance is probably strongest here as Ike I think talks to every new member at least once due to base convos, and FE7's Lyn mode had her entire team make comments on situations. These 2 are the main standout examples. New Mystery kinda does the PoR base talks with Kris and those are pretty nice too.

Edited January 16, 2016 by Jedi

[Irysa]

Well, Thane, I'll speak for myself now: while I love some FE stories even if they are far from perfect, I mostly play FE for the gameplay, therefore even if the story is crap (like FE7, where I mostly enjoy the characters and go "lolwut" at the cutscenes, even if I like the writing translated by Alexander O Smith), I enjoy it overall, I care for my units because they either are likable enough or strong pillars of my team, I get touched by certain events even if they are babby tier emotional writing, et cetera., because it's not my main focus and it's a very good dessert for the main course.

I think this is broadly how I feel too, but FE12 (and to a lesser extent, FE10) made me realise I have a minimum standard for not getting legitimately pissed off at plots in videogames. Like, sure, I'm here for the gameplay, but if the story descends into such utter shit that it begins to start betraying its own previous themes and engages in character assassinatons of it's own cast, I can't really just "ignore" that. I think FE7's plot is downright awful, but I honestly don't care too much about it since it only really hurts itself when it does that, but FE10 and FE12 both retroactively hurt games I found very enjoyable and cohesive.

FE13's story doesn't really "bother" me in the sense that the story is bad (even though I think it's executed horribly), I'm more bothered by the mentality of the developers and the ideas behind the game that are represented by how they made and wrote it, and the same goes with FE14.

Edited January 16, 2016 by Irysa

[Thane]

But it doesn't change Chrom as a character and as soon as Gangrel is dealt with he doesn't really focus on her ever again, shes nonexistant from his character as a whole. He doesn't struggle with anything in the game whatsoever after he avenges her death.

Ike nearly gets merc'd by the laguz as well, if his father hadn't been in the Beast Kingdom when he was born, Ike's "subhuman line" would have probably screwed him out of getting any help whatsoever. Its through other people that Ike succeeds, not his own actions until he eventually starts going back to Crimea where he has learned through all of his mistakes over the course of the game. He loses several times to the Black Knight through said Brash attitude.

Worst stories I've seen? Certainly not Fe7 for sure. But lets see, Fallout 3, Elder Scrolls Skyrim, The last arc of one of my favorite RPGs of all time Star Ocean Till the End of Time, Pretty much anything bioware has done since the first Dragon Age (there are exceptions but... What happened). Kingdom Hearts is getting super messy too.

I agree it's underdeveloped, and I said that on the last page. However, he does try to live up to her ideals but in his own way, and I think that shows. Don't get me wrong, I'm not calling Chrom a good character, I just think he's serviceable and I think he both has a bit of development and his role as the straight man throughout the story is funny; that's more than I can say about any other Fire Emblem protagonist.

Funny you should mention that, because I found his first interaction with the Laguz to be shit; it's one of the scenes that stick out in Path of Radiance for me. It's essentially what I complained about earlier with people just outright saying racism and racism terms are bad and that's all the narrative accomplishes with its message; it's so shallow and serves no real purpose in the two games other than to give people a reason to fight. It's a plot device.

Ugh, tell me about it. Dragon Age II and Inquisition were just abyssmal. I think Bioware has gotten amazing at character interactions, and might be the best in the business at it after Mass Effect III (that shit is hilarious), but their stories are just awful. I sold Dragon Age Inquisition back to the store after I was done with it since I had derived no joy from playing through it.

--Snippity snip--

But I feel like Franky will now reprimend me for believing in shitposting. Ouch.

I wonder what you'll think of Fates...oh boy, the player worship and the fragmented, awful storyline...

First of all, I don't think you'll be reported for speaking your mind; that's what forums are for, and I appreciate someone going through the details of their opinions, rather than just coming with vague statements like "people who like Awakening like it because they like anime".

I also get weirdly passionate when it comes to bad sories and, despite valuing other opinions and all that, I can get perplexed when people like stories I just can't stand - I think what gets me most riled up is probably people calling Persona 3 better than Persona 4, but that's for another subforum I suppose.

But as for what you've said, the sugar-coated epic? I think that can be applied to all games in the franchise; that's part of the problem with the writing of the series. Everything ends super happily, conflicts cease because the big bad is defeated even though there are supposedly tensions between nations or races (again, one of my gripes with Tellius), our heroes are the chosen ones/heroes of prophecy/the only badasses capable of putting an end to centuries of bla bla bla etc. etc.

I will mention that I did point out the fragmented storyline in Awakening, and it's really bad; the entire second arc could've been removed, and I think a lot of players simply don't understand why it's there in the first place. They could've fleshed out the existing world or villains with that time. However, I still think it's done in a better way and generally written better than other entries in the series; in a lot of the older games, it feels like people are having two separate monologues, rather than interacting, and that's where the writing of the series failed but where Awakening managed to step up. It's usually not WHAT you write about, but rather HOW you write it; that's what separates classics from clichés (I'm not calling Awakening a classic, just, again, better than people give it credit for).

Also, if you like JRPGs with a good story, have you played Persona 4? By far my favorite of the genre, and my second favorite game in terms of story of all time. Shame it has several minor problems, such as an unhealthy dose of player worship and cringy shonen moments. Still amazing though.

You've had people actually say that shit to you? Good gods, man, im really sorry thats happened. Thats really dickish and i really wish the fandom wouldnt resort to such nastiness. Ive encountered some really foul stuff being said to me and to others about the new game. Its so unfortunate people get that gross. /pat

Not uncommon at all, that's usually what you see of Fire Emblem on the internet: people complaining about the series direction and complaining about new fans for whatever reason. It's partially why I was so sceptical of joining this site, expecting people to be far more hostile and unwelcoming (and a lot of members were, but the majority turned out to be okay).

[Jedi]

I agree it's underdeveloped, and I said that on the last page. However, he does try to live up to her ideals but in his own way, and I think that shows. Don't get me wrong, I'm not calling Chrom a good character, I just think he's serviceable and I think he both has a bit of development and his role as the straight man throughout the story is funny; that's more than I can say about any other Fire Emblem protagonist.

Chrom has no development at all though, he ends as he starts, he learns nothing other than to 100% rely on his tactician, he has no character arc which is even apparent at the end, where he is willing to sacrifice the safety of the human race just for 1 person, which is true and utter insanity, not even his sister would want that. Compare this to someone like Marth (Especially considering this is the guy who stated "I am a prince before I am a son or a brother"), Seliph, Leif, Hector, Eliwood, Eirika, Ike, etc who all at least change a little bit (If not a fair bit) while keeping somewhat true to their old ideals, but with a better understanding of how the world works.

I will grant he's a fair bit amusing, but his spotlight is taken from him much too often by Robin to get a true gauge of his character.

[MCProductions]

Chrom has no development at all though, he ends as he starts, he learns nothing other than to 100% rely on his tactician, he has no character arc which is even apparent at the end, where he is willing to sacrifice the safety of the human race just for 1 person, which is true and utter insanity, not even his sister would want that. Compare this to someone like Marth (Especially considering this is the guy who stated "I am a prince before I am a son or a brother"), Seliph, Leif, Hector, Eliwood, Eirika, Ike, etc who all at least change a little bit (If not a fair bit) while keeping somewhat true to their old ideals, but with a better understanding of how the world works.

I will grant he's a fair bit amusing, but his spotlight is taken from him much too often by Robin to get a true gauge of his character.

Ya know, I've always wondered about this bit, this makes a great deal more sense if Chrom marries Robin, but if he isn't it clearly dosen't. Considering how obviously rushed Awakening is, I wonder if his dialogue was originally supposed to change depending on his overall relationship with the character, to where he still voices against it, but to a much lesser extent.

Granted, FE always sucks with plot, so I doubt the writers thought that far ahead.

[Lantairu]

I have yet to play Fates, waiting for a US release, but I originally really liked Awakening, which was my first one. Then I played some of the older ones and now whenever I go back to Awakening, I can't help but just get bored. The map designs don't interest me as much and the sheer lack of difficulty disengages me. It's still a good game, but in the face of other FE games I personally find it pretty boring.

[Anacybele]

Don't worry, I've seen the eliteists, and you DEFINITELY not among them. You may dislike Awakening and Fates, but you don't say they "ruined" or "killed" the series, you just hope for something you like better next time. The Eliteists I've seen and encountered are VERY bad. To the point that they won't ever accept people like me who started with Awakening but played the older games, and I'm somehow still an "Autistic loser who only cares about his waifu". These people are pretty much the reason I stick to Serenes for FE discussions. Considering I actually do have Autism, specifically Aspergers, but that is part of the spectrum, these perticuler eliteists managed to offend me on multiple levels

Wait, seriously? I can't believe I missed this post. I myself am an Aspie as well and believe me you, I'd have been so pissed at those people that I would've probably punched them and shoved them to the ground if I was there. You don't insult people with any disability for any reason like that, let alone for just liking a game! And you especially don't call them a loser simply BECAUSE they have a disability!

[MCProductions]

Wait, seriously? I can't believe I missed this post. I myself am an Aspie as well and believe me you, I'd have been so pissed at those people that I would've probably punched them and shoved them to the ground if I was there. You don't insult people with any disability for any reason like that, let alone for just liking a game! And you especially don't call them a loser simply BECAUSE they have a disability!

Yep, seriously, if this didn't happen 2 or 3 months ago, I would link to it, but as it is, it's lost in a flood of youtube comments.

[Nym]

I don't know why, but they think like if we are the people who designed Awakening.

Like I know that sometimes Casual mode can make some peoples go full- idiot mode instead of focusing on strategy.

But I remembered being crited in the end of a chapter in Por and I had to start all over again. This is why I like Casual.

Edited January 16, 2016 by Nym

[angienessyo]

My experience has mostly been people throwing around the word "anime" and "waifu" as reasons why the series is dead to them. And well, as an anime fan when people are like "omg why does Fire Emblem have to be all anime now?!" I'm like uh what's the problem. You're more likely to find the jerks that throw around autistic as an insult as well as a plethora of racist and homophobic insults on Youtube than on a place like here. (although even this place hasn't been immune to homophobic comments) And those kinds of people can fortunately be avoided.

[MCProductions]

My experience has mostly been people throwing around the word "anime" and "waifu" as reasons why the series is dead to them. And well, as an anime fan when people are like "omg why does Fire Emblem have to be all anime now?!" I'm like uh what's the problem. You're more likely to find the jerks that throw around autistic as an insult as well as a plethora of racist and homophobic insults on Youtube than on a place like here. (although even this place hasn't been immune to homophobic comments) And those kinds of people can fortunately be avoided.

I love the eliteists who complain about Awakening being too anime. I guess they COMPLETELY forgot FE3 actually WAS made into an anime, so the series has always been like this to a degree.

[Knight]

I think it has more to do with adopting more anime tropes and character archetypes than the old ones. Not that the old games didn't have them, but they were more downplayed.

[Anacybele]

Yep, seriously, if this didn't happen 2 or 3 months ago, I would link to it, but as it is, it's lost in a flood of youtube comments.

Oh, it was on Youtube? Well, that explains a lot, that place is full of scumbags.

[MCProductions]

Oh, it was on Youtube? Well, that explains a lot, that place is full of scumbags.

Very true, but they're still prevalent enough to cause this fanbase to feel very unwelcoming to us Awakening noobs.

I think it has more to do with adopting more anime tropes and character archetypes than the old ones. Not that the old games didn't have them, but they were more downplayed.

Tbf, the only reason they feel more downplayed in the older games is because there isn't a barracks constantly throwing each character's gimmick in your face, and they had a great deal more support conversations to write in Awakening compared to the GBA games.

[Anacybele]

Very true, but they're still prevalent enough to cause this fanbase to feel very unwelcoming to us Awakening noobs.

Well, yeah, I can believe that.

[CrimeanRoyalKnight]

Also, if you like JRPGs with a good story, have you played Persona 4? By far my favorite of the genre, and my second favorite game in terms of story of all time. Shame it has several minor problems, such as an unhealthy dose of player worship and cringy shonen moments. Still amazing though.

I did, I think I put 50 hours something into it and then stopped because I dislike the gameplay. I am not a SMT expert at all, but I found Persona 4 to be a game with interesting points ruined by the turbo weeaboo feeling and fanservice, also humor put in the wrong situations. Some characters were literally unbearable for me, like Teddy, Yukiko, Chiie and Yosuke. Plus the protagonist always seemed like a douchebag to me (no idea why lol), I saw him as walking wish fullfillment.

Oh yeah, I got something wrong-- with "sugar coated" writing I wanted to say it's well written (a bit pompous, with things like Kingdom changed to "Halidom" to enrich something that was not rich at all to begin with) for something so shallow, not that the game is too happy.

But it still is-- it's far happier than Tellius. One of the things about Tellius is that it implies the relationships between countries and races will take time to develop into something better. This you see in PoR to RD. In RD it's never shown but I guess it's still there. I can also understand if Tellius stopped conflicts for a while simply because the whole continent is tired of war, too. Sacred Stones also has an omnious feeling to it, because no matter what happens a terrible event will strike the continent after the events of the game.

Plus the series, while always ending on a happy note, was always filled with dread, and you could feel this. Awakening, I couldn't feel it at all.

FE stories mostly feel like conflicts between countries or parties (with exceptions), while Awakening felt like ROBIN & CHROM'S EXCELLENT ROMANTIC SHONEN ADVENTURE XDDD. I'm exaggerating, but I guess you can get what I mean. I don't mind happy stories, or dark stories ending on a happy note; however, Awakening really wants me to understand Akaneia has become a harsh world, but at the same time characters happily talk about bear meat and find true love and marriage in little children. It kills the tone and in the end I don't understand how Yilisse, Plegia or Ferox truly feel, because nobody (especially in the main story) talks about the world around them, they either talk about fluff or have a discussion about the current events. Valm, you can understand it a bit more, but Valm is useless.

Not to mention I forgot to say how some of Awakening' stupidest events can't let me take the story seriously. Really, Chrom giving the Emblem to Validar because it was Robin' super sekrit plan. Hiding things from the player is bad if you just want to have a plot twist, in fact, it's the worst use of plot twists. Not to mention it's the ultimate show of Robin not being you but a standalone Mary Sue character. That, for me, is the peak of the game's suckage, along with the endings (both, but Chrom's takes the fucking cake).

Oh, and the extra, non-canon paralogues are the thing that makes it all even worse.

[angienessyo]

To be fair, even people living in harsh worlds and situations still play around/have fun/fall in love. I had a few friends that fought in Iraq and they were still joking around with me about dumb anime stuff every time I talked to them when they were stationed overseas. They generally didn't want to talk about combat and what was currently going on there.

[CrimeanRoyalKnight]

To be fair, even people living in harsh worlds and situations still play around/have fun/fall in love. I had a few friends that fought in Iraq and they were still joking around with me about dumb anime stuff every time I talked to them when they were stationed overseas. They generally didn't want to talk about combat and what was currently going on there.

I know, it's also done in other FE games, but Awakening exaggerated it IMO.

[Knight]

Tbf, the only reason they feel more downplayed in the older games is because there isn't a barracks constantly throwing each character's gimmick in your face, and they had a great deal more support conversations to write in Awakening compared to the GBA games.

Most of the issues I think arises with them trying to make so many romance support convos. Stuff like a girl making food for the guy he has a crush on or a guy walking in on a girl in a bath seem like they come straight from a romantic filler episode to me. The constant exposure to character gimmicks is another anime-ish thing that I think gets on people's nerves. The characters in Awakening, while funny, often didn't feel natural, almost every character talked like their character archetype would and not how a human being would. Ironically, the bland dialogue of older games is kind of what makes it feel more natural to me. I don't blame them too much, balancing entertaining with natural speech is a hard thing to do, I struggle with it myself.

To be fair, even people living in harsh worlds and situations still play around/have fun/fall in love. I had a few friends that fought in Iraq and they were still joking around with me about dumb anime stuff every time I talked to them when they were stationed overseas. They generally didn't want to talk about combat and what was currently going on there.

I would have liked it much more if we were given a sense that this is what they were doing, but there's nothing really in the game to support this. Having characters break their facade under the pressures of war and death would have added an interesting depth to much of the cast, but they couldn't have a support convo like that right after you do something like the Beach DLC, it wouldn't make sense. I guess supports are really limited by the context of what's happening in the story. This is why I think base conversations are superior to support convos in many ways.

[angienessyo]

I can't speak for some of the older games, but didn't Sacred Stones have moments where the characters literally stop in the middle of a battle to talk about things unrelated to the battle? It's been a while since I've played, but I could have swore that was a thing that happens in the game. Awakening's never bothered me because I could activate the supports whenever so it could be seen as happening during actual down time. While I hear what everyone's saying, a lot of the reasons people have for disliking Awakening are the very reasons I like it haha

[Knight]

I can't speak for some of the older games, but didn't Sacred Stones have moments where the characters literally stop in the middle of a battle to talk about things unrelated to the battle? It's been a while since I've played, but I could have swore that was a thing that happens in the game. Awakening's never bothered me because I could activate the supports whenever so it could be seen as happening during actual down time. While I hear what everyone's saying, a lot of the reasons people have for disliking Awakening are the very reasons I like it haha

Yeah, that's the detriment of the GBA support system, though the writing of Sacred Stone's support conversations seemed better to me. A lot of characters talk about their backstory and the place they grew up in, and what they will do after the war, how they will rebuild broken homelands, etc. Not every support conversation is like that however, there are a lot of just personalities interacting like in Awakening, but that's why I like them better, there was a variety. Path of Radiance has the best system IMO, there were some actually pretty good dialogues in there, nothing amazing, but I liked seeing the development of characters like Jill or Soren.

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

Tbf, the only reason they feel more downplayed in the older games is because there isn't a barracks constantly throwing each character's gimmick in your face, and they had a great deal more support conversations to write in Awakening compared to the GBA games.

if i had to choose one reason why it feels like the characters in awakening are walking tropes, it would be this, an overexposure to the characters themselves, fire emblem rarely has complex side characters or even main characters, but the more stuff is shoved in your face, the more it seems like an issue.

as for the main subject, i'm fine with people starting with this game and will acknowledge them as series fans as long as they like one other entry, otherwise they aren't fire emblem fans, just awakening fans. kinda like how i am not a tales of fan, just an abyss fan.

[eclipse]

[spoiler=Spoilers for FE7 and FE1/3B1/11]

• Lundgren's behaviour towards Marquess Araphen doesn't really make any sense. The Castle is attacked and he is taken hostage by Lundgren's lackeys before Lyn is attacked in the town itself. Kicking up a fuss like that is exactly why Rath was on alert, and thus able to save Lyn. And why would Lundgren send brutes to attack Araphen when his only real target is Lyndis anyway? It would make sense if he knew of Lyndis' alliance with Araphen, but Kent only came back mere moments ago to report that the Marquess would see Lyn, they haven't even talked yet! If anything Lundgren's behaviour seems like it would set Araphen AGAINST him, except this doesn't happen because the Marquess is racist. So either that's like three contrivances in a row, or Lundgren knew Araphen hated Sacaeans and knew he could get away with it, in which case, why the hell did he attack Araphen. Additionally, Araphen is stated to be the second largest province in Lycia. Caelin is comparatively very small. It seems ridiculous for Caelin to pick a fight with Araphen like this.
• Legault does not have any idea of where the Black Fang's base of operations is despite being a high ranking member. He should at least know old HQs or former hotspots.

I'm gonna address exactly two of them - don't think I need to comment on the rest.

- Araphen has one rather illogical bit on his otherwise racist background, and that's in the form of Rath. By keeping Rath around, he's sending a message that he's willing to cooperate with a Sacaean as long as they're useful to him. Thus, if Lyn found a way to prove herself useful to Araphen (like "I'll give you some of our territory if you help out" or something equally idiotic), then there's a possibility that Araphen would ally with her, at least temporarily. Lundgren, being the paranoid guy that he is, wouldn't want that to hinder his plans. . .but if Lundgren was actually competent, he would've offed his brother as soon as he got wind of Lyn's movements. That way, there'd be no one left in Caelin to speak for her.

- I think the problem here is that Legault needs to be recruited. I don't remember if he shows up if the player killed him/didn't recruit him.

Yeah, there are a number of veterans that tend to scare us off. It took me a long time of lurking here and on the reddit before I finally jumped in. I think it's totally fine for people to dislike the newer games, I get it, change can turn people off. But there's definitely a certain minority of vets that take it a little too far to the point of being actually rude to new fans about their loving Awakening/Fates. Fortunately in my case I realized it was just a few very loud people I could ignore and not just a case of "all veterans are meanies". I've seen a few that hounded people about absolutely having to play the older games to be considered fans of Fire Emblem and that gate keeper mentality is never cool.

It's a people problem, not a Fire Emblem one. Get someone passionate about something, and then pull the rug out from under them. Some people will embrace the change, while others will complain that things were better before.

Now crank it up to 11.

I second playing Hector's story. The few extra tidbits made it so much deeper, and it goes missed unfortunately as it requires someone to play through it again after Eliwood's story. xD

It helps, but that's not where the true gems lie. . .for those, you'll need support conversations. That's where the characters get to shine as characters.

I'll try to be a bit more positive from now on, then, but I AM rather harsh when it comes to stories, and it seems to have provoked a debate as well! As long as I respect everyone's opinions, I hope people won't find me too bothersome.

Thank you as always! Like I said, I might give it a try after my exams...oh dear, I should be studying.

Here's some homework from SF, while you study for exams:

What do you gain from criticizing a story repeatedly?

Oh, and if you really, REALLY need to get off of SF in order to study, PM a mod. We can help.

I think my only negative experiences were from homophobic people yelling at me in threads calling for more LGBT representation in the series. But I'm sadly used to that in gaming communities.

I don't think that's always homophobia. I don't care for romance in games, but that doesn't mean that I'm asexual.

I don't really care for the LGBT stuff in games because, like most other romance, it's done poorly. I don't like playing through a story that's one giant cringe-fest, which is what a lot of video game romance is to me.

snip

That's spoilers, yo.

Don't worry, I've seen the eliteists, and you DEFINITELY not among them. You may dislike Awakening and Fates, but you don't say they "ruined" or "killed" the series, you just hope for something you like better next time. The Eliteists I've seen and encountered are VERY bad. To the point that they won't ever accept people like me who started with Awakening but played the older games, and I'm somehow still an "Autistic loser who only cares about his waifu". These people are pretty much the reason I stick to Serenes for FE discussions. Considering I actually do have Autism, specifically Aspergers, but that is part of the spectrum, these perticuler eliteists managed to offend me on multiple levels

Oh my. . .I can't speak for other places, but those sorts of descriptions don't fly over here, never mind the sentiment!

How is a fanbase supposed to grow if it doesn't accept people who just started on the newest game?

. . .oh, wait, YouTube comments. I take UFO sightings more seriously than them.

---

The people who sign up for SF would do so because they're super-interested in Fire Emblem (whether it be Awakening or other stuff). Thus, the views expressed here will be biased in favor of the older games. To get a better feel, someone would need to magically conjure up the people who have played Awakening but haven't bothered to sign up for a message board. . .but that's physically impossible. From my limited experience, the one guy who started with Awakening said it was "hard" (while playing through Normal).

[angienessyo]

Yeah, there's certainly a difference between "I think Fire Emblem does a bad job writing gay characters/romance" (they totally do) and "why do you people have to make everything gay/gay agenda/I don't want homos in my games/gay people didn't exist back then/it's unrealistic for there to be more than 1 gay person in the game or franchise/insert slurs here". I've definitely had my moments where I've felt very unwelcome due to comments like that. Fortunately for SF I can only think of one particular moment where that happened here, the rest is in other places that you have no control over. And that largely has more to do with the gamer community as a whole and not specifically Fire Emblem, it's just a bummer when it happens in communities for a game you really enjoy.