About Awakening's story

[Raqa]

So first off, a little disclaimer. It has nothing to do with the topic so I'm putting it in spoilers.

Spoiler

1. English isn't my native language so I apologize beforehand for any dumb mistakes and misspells.

2. I have no idea if this topic has been talked about before.

3. This is sort of my opinion, so if you dissagree then feel free to make a good point on why you dissagree.

Alright. So I know Awakening (and Fates, but that's maybe for another time) got kind of a hard reception in the story department, and I can totally see why. We all know by now that it's not a masterpiece when it comes to the way the plot is written and/or presented to the players. 
But I'm not here to add salt to the injury and keep complaining on how it's "so bad". Because I know it is, I've played Awakening several times.

I'm here to give a... kind of unpopular opinion, I guess. Hear what the rest of you have to say about this and maybe help some people see the story from a different perspective.

Let's get straight to the point: Now don't kill me for this but I like Awakening's story, I think it's really good. Where I think the issue recides in is the way it's presented, the way it's written. So maybe many of you already came to this conclusion, but I just want to expand on it.

Awakening had really nice ideas plotwise, interesting and feel-packed if I may add. It could've turned out to be such an incredible experience had they worried on how to present it. It's kind of a shame, really, that an amazing idea like that one is looked over and ignored 'cause the writing didn't do it justice.

Let me go through Awakeing's first chapters of the story a little bit differently, for example. Beware as this is going to spoil this entire part of the game.

Spoiler

Spoiler heavy (I'm narrating with male Robin, just to make things more simple):

We start the story with an amnesiac brilliant mind waking up after a weird dream to three strangers (a girl and two men) who found him laying on a field. They don't introduce themselves as one of them says it's not the best idea. After some debate, they proceed to take him to the capitol to sort things out over there, since he could very well be a spy from the neighboring lands. The amnesiac can already guess from this behaviour that there are some tensions between two kingdoms, and that these three strangers are some sort of knights, maybe even important knights. This is somewhat confirmed to him when they derive from their way to help a town that's being attacked by brigands.
The trust of two of the strangers towards the amnesiac grows after he helps them save the townsfolk with sound tactical advise and another sword to rely on. The third stranger, however, remains wary.

They set in for the night with a campfire and a needed meal. Once the four travelers are alseep, however, a weird noise wakes up one of the strangers. The girl wakes up with the shifting and they both decide to investigate the strange noise. Decision that takes them into the nearby pitch dark woods.
Seeing how this is clearly not the best idea, they stop and resolve to return next to their companion and the amnesiac when the ground starts suddenly shaking, creating gigantic fisures and having the two of them realise this is not a normal earthquake.

Now scared as hell, they turn and run for their lives as fire and magma start rising from under the ground, setting nearby trees on flames. They manage to reach a clearing in the woods by the time the earthquake stops. Panting, the girl notices some strange lights in the sky and urges the man to look at them.
The lights form a line in the night sky that transforms into a turqoise eye, leaving them dumbstruck and unable to notice their companion and the amesiac had managed to catch up with them after waking up from the shaking.
Weird figures drop from the eye and fall to the trees in front of them, rising to the heights of an adult human and drawing axes out of who-knows-where. Those things light their crimson eyes and rush towards the scared and confused group with obvious ill intentions. Both men step in front of the amnesiac and the girl and proceed to try and fend off those creatures. There are too many, however, and some of them skip past the men and attack the other two. The amnesiac uses magic out of nowhere in desperation and the girl is too shocked at the sudden revelation to flee when another of those creatures comes to attack her.
Luckily, a masked person jumps from the woods and intercepts the axe directed towards the girl, saving her. With the help of the new stranger, the travelers rout the creatures with a bit of effort. Once they're done, they reagroup in the middle of the clearing to thank the masked person and ask all the questions they have.
The person refuses to give a name and leaves with a warning: to be careful as this is only the begining. Confused, exhausted and hurt, the group hurries to the capitol in hopes that those strange beings haven't reached that far yet.

Once in the capitol, the group sneaks around the crowded streets until they reach some sort of garrison near the palace. There, they wash up a little and heal their wounds with the help of the girl. Apparently, the amnesiac earned the trust of her and one of the men so they decide to introduce themselves. Turns out two of them are the prince (Chrom) and princess (Lissa) of the halidom, while the other is a loyal knigt who still doesn't trust the amnesiac fully (Frederick). They enter the palace and meet up with the current ruler and old sister of the royal siblings (Emmeryn), informing her of the recent event they went through and introducing the amnesiac (who remembered his name on the way there) as Robin.

Congratulations if you read all of that, and I hope that helped prove my point a little better. What I mean is, the concept of the story is so good I can't begin to explain how much I love it. It just bugs me a lot how they managed to present it so... badly. I mean, Awakening's story is the tale of a Prince, a brilliant Tactitian and their companions trying to save their kingdom in a terrible war in which many die, including (spoilers, I guess) the current ruler of their kingdom, who is also the big sister of the Prince and the symbol of peace of their lands.
But it's not only that, since it's also the tale of a Princess who saw the rise and fall of her kingdom, the end of her family and her friend's parent's lives and the destruction and chaos that fell upon the land she grew up in. Is the tale of a Princess and a group of young orphans who left everything behind to travel back in time and try to save a future that would never be theirs again.

I just felt like the story is sometimes ignored due to the bad writing, and that we tend to forget just how good is the story that lies behind Awakening's bad storytelling.
Someone please tell me I'm not the only one.

[Ronnie]

I just never understood why people keep saying the story is bad. The only arguments I read are "the story is bad. plotholes everywhere. worst story in FE." and I'm never explained why. What was so bad about the Valm arc? Was Robin being Grima that bad that it tarnishes the story for people? I absolutely adored the Emmeryn part because it really tugged at my emotions. Lucina's reunion with Chrom was also very heartfelt and the part where all the units call out for Robin to come back and Id (Purpose) starts up brings me chills. Also the finale where Chrom lifts Robin by the hand again without the Grima mark and says welcome back. I thought Walhart was a cool villain if a little basic with the whole take over the land thing. At least it gave Chrom some time to show himself as a leader of his nation since Emmeryn was "dead." Validar I admit was underwhelming since he really just came and went. Is that what the issue was?

[maybe]

the thing is, good concepts badly utilized are still ultimately bad stories

a lot of fire emblem games have the same problem, but a good concept doesn't really matter if it's used in a badly written story. 

[Interdimensional Observer]

Agreeing with Unique. Concept is one thing, execution is another. Ideally you want good of both, but it doesn't always work out that way. 

Valm's problem is that it in no real way contributes to the storyline before or after it. It's a self-contained story with very little connection to the rest of the game. And being disconnected from Plegia/Gangrel and the Grimleal/Grima Arcs, as I call the first and last ones, the final arc is a bit rushed and its characters undercooked. Walhart is similarly interesting, but a bit shallow and so is pretty much everything in the Valm Arc. 

The children played a nonexistent role in the main plot too beyond Lucina. Had they done a little work as a group in the shadows taking on the Grimleal to help Chrom and co. before being recruitable, their presence would have been better felt. Future Past was made to redress this lack of child presence. 

Chrom also is a bit stupid on the final decision he must make, they could have kept his emotion-based reservations about having Robin sacrifice themselves, but written it so it seems like he isn't so wholly opposed to the very idea of Logic. Robin being an MU is also a bit flat and overly perfect.

On the villains side, we have, on a rough spectrum from worst to best: absurdly juvenile (Excellus), no personality and barely any screentime (Yen'fay), intentionally comical (Cervantes), serious but unintentionally comical (Validar), surprisingly generic (Grima), good until her Spotpass Paralogue (Aversa), interesting but not fleshed out enough (Walhart), and the one villain who actually manages to turn out well without any major flaws (Gangrel).

The world of Awakening is also very poorly built. Two giant continents pockmarked with little icons that look nice in 3D, but we lack in actual knowledge of life and politics on either of them. FE has never been that big on world building, but Tellius, Elibe, and Jugdral all made efforts to try. Awakening not so much.

 

There were good points- the Lucina reveal Ronnie mentioned being very touching indeed, Walhart's general idea was good, and the Plegia arc had its strong moments. But alas, the overall package fell a bit short.

[Etrurian emperor]

I'm not the biggest fan of Awakening's story but the concepts behind it was never the issue. The big problem is that Awakening never pauses to commit to any part of its story. Every threat introduced is very quickly disposed off so we can go to the next one and this hinders the storytelling. 

I have the feeling the story was supposed to spread out over two games but that Awakening being supposed to be the last Fire emblem game ever just didn't allow for this treatment. As such the ideas were fused together and everything felt incredibly rushed. It would have greatly benefited the story if it really had been this way. 

[Pixelman]

Does time travel even add anything to the plot? Like, if we removed Lucina and children, what would change in the story?

[Sidereal Wraith]

Some interesting food for thought on Awakening and its story.

 

Edited July 6, 2017 by Wraith

[Sentacotus]

I never really thought it was all that bad.  Sure the world building could have been better and was a missed opportunity but it was competent enough to keep me entertained plus anything with time travel, paradoxes, apocalyptic futures and I'm  there lol.

[Arthur97]

12 hours ago, Pixelman said:

Does time travel even add anything to the plot? Like, if we removed Lucina and children, what would change in the story?

They would fail and die.

[Koumal8]

On 3/7/2017 at 1:18 AM, Zelith said:

We start the story with an amnesiac brilliant mind waking up [...] introducing the amnesiac (who remembered his name on the way there) as Robin.

That... is not Awakening's story. That is Awakening's first few chapter's story, basically Awakening's premise. It's most of what comes AFTER those few chapters that is so badly executed. Whether you like the premise of a show/game/novel/etc...or not is only up to personal taste, no need for in-depth analysis. It's full of essays and the likes on the net explaining what is wrong with Awakening's plot so I won't add anything else, I'm not even that great of a critic.

[NekoKnight]

In addition to what Interdimensional and Etrurian said, I'd say that the story fails at being a sequel and it fails at being a stand alone story. There are so many references to other Fire Emblem games, and the game takes place in the same world as Alm and Marth, but it never really commits to their lore. The connections seem token rather than a legitimate attempt at making a sequel.

 

[Arthur97]

23 minutes ago, NekoKnight said:

In addition to what Interdimensional and Etrurian said, I'd say that the story fails at being a sequel and it fails at being a stand alone story. There are so many references to other Fire Emblem games, and the game takes place in the same world as Alm and Marth, but it never really commits to their lore. The connections seem token rather than a legitimate attempt at making a sequel.

 

It references them, but I'm not sure that being a sequel was ever the intention in the first place. They were more like nods.

[HK Motendra]

22 hours ago, Pixelman said:

Does time travel even add anything to the plot? Like, if we removed Lucina and children, what would change in the story?

10 hours ago, Arthur97 said:

They would fail and die.

OR, the story could be split in to two parts, similar to FE4's 2nd generation, via time skip, instead of literal time travel. Its generally agreed that Future Past was Awakening's best in terms of its quality for giving a small peak of what Lucina and the entire 2nd gen escaped from. Now imagine if all of that was part of the main campaign, with the only person from the 1st gen to survive being Tiki

[Arthur97]

9 minutes ago, Motendra said:

OR, the story could be split in to two parts, similar to FE4's 2nd generation, via time skip, instead of literal time travel. Its generally agreed that Future Past was Awakening's best in terms of its quality for giving a small peak of what Lucina and the entire 2nd gen escaped from. Now imagine if all of that was part of the main campaign, with the only person from the 1st gen to survive being Tiki

But given what we know, they would have lost and died had Lucina not come back. In fact, had Grima not been countering her, Lucina may have not needed to ever join the party. 

[NekoKnight]

2 hours ago, Arthur97 said:

It references them, but I'm not sure that being a sequel was ever the intention in the first place. They were more like nods.

More than nods but not enough to be a meaningful sequel. Lucina is impersonating Marth, there is the Falchion, the Fire Emblem, Tiki and Naga, but too little to connect Valentia and Archanea to the story. The game wants you to know it's the same world, but there isn't really a big reason for them to be connected. It's a story that wants to be a distant sequel but also a stand-alone story (because the events of Awakening have almost nothing to do with events of FE1-3).

Edited July 7, 2017 by NekoKnight

[HK Motendra]

2 minutes ago, Arthur97 said:

But given what we know, they would have lost and died had Lucina not come back. In fact, had Grima not been countering her, Lucina may have not needed to ever join the party. 

While this is certainly true, that's not necessarily a downside and can be worked around. The idea is that the 2nd generation rises up where their parents have failed and triumph over an impossible situation, and possibly even go against their very parents in the form of Risen. Hell, it might even give a reason for Priam to actually exist, besides serving as fanservice to Ike

The only thing standing in the way of such an idea working is the fact that in her future, one of the Gemstones ( I want to say Argent, but I'm not certain[?]) was lost forever, which doesn't have to happen.

[Arthur97]

8 minutes ago, NekoKnight said:

More than nods but not enough to be a meaningful sequel. Lucina is impersonating Marth, there is the Falchion, the Fire Emblem, Tiki and Naga, but too little to connect Valentia and Archanea to the story. The game wants you to know it's the same world, but there isn't really a big reason for them to be connected. It's a story that wants to be a distant sequel but also a stand-alone story (because the events of Awakening have almost nothing to do with events of FE1-3).

Just because it's in the same world doesn't mean they have to be connected. Would you rather they recycle Madeus again.

1 minute ago, Motendra said:

While this is certainly true, that's not necessarily a downside and can be worked around. The idea is that the 2nd generation rises up where their parents have failed and triumph over an impossible situation, and possibly even go against their very parents in the form of Risen. Hell, it might even give a reason for Priam to actually exist, besides serving as fanservice to Ike

The only thing standing in the way of such an idea working is the fact that in her future, one of the Gemstones ( I want to say Argent, but I'm not certain[?]) was lost forever, which doesn't have to happen.

That, and that would make the plot kind of depressing since all of the characters (almost) that you got to know just...die. Nothing you can do to save them, they're just dead when part 2 starts. Just doesn't have the same appeal.

[NekoKnight]

22 minutes ago, Arthur97 said:

Just because it's in the same world doesn't mean they have to be connected. Would you rather they recycle Madeus again.

I'd rather they make an original world if the connections to the past are irrelevant. Consider how the world in Windwaker came to be because of the events of Ocarina of Time. Windwaker is far in the future but it stays connected to the past. What does Tiki, Marth or the Falchion have to do with Grima or the Grimleil? Not very much.

If a game only has token connections to the past, why do they exist in the same world? Awakening could be the future of Magvel for all it mattered.

Edit: My intention isn't to say "Awakening is shiiiit!", rather I think this is more evidence that their priorities were skewed when writing the story.

Edited July 7, 2017 by NekoKnight

[Thane]

49 minutes ago, NekoKnight said:

I'd rather they make an original world if the connections to the past are irrelevant. Consider how the world in Windwaker came to be because of the events of Ocarina of Time. Windwaker is far in the future but it stays connected to the past. What does Tiki, Marth or the Falchion have to do with Grima or the Grimleil? Not very much.

Do they have to? I must admit that this is a complaint I don't really understand; the game references the first Exalt as much as Marth, for example. The reason why they merely touch upon these mythological events is because they're ancient. 

Now if you complain about how some locations and references don't add up, then I'll agree with you, but saying it might as well be Magvel is stretching this argument mighty thin. I might as well ask why Magvel has to be its own continent rather than its own separate universe, seeing as they don't do anything really new in terms of worldbuilding that couldn't be done in another Fire Emblem universe, unlike Tellius.

Edited July 7, 2017 by Thane

[NekoKnight]

10 minutes ago, Thane said:

Do they have to? I must admit that this is a complaint I don't really understand; the game references the first Exalt as much as Marth, for example. The reason why they merely touch upon these mythological events is because they're ancient. 

Now if you complain about how some locations and references don't add up, then I'll agree with you, but saying it might as well be Magvel is stretching this argument mighty thin. I might as well ask why Magvel has to be its own continent rather than its own separate universe, seeing as they don't do anything really new in terms of worldbuilding that couldn't be done in another Fire Emblem universe, unlike Tellius.

It's fine that they don't bring up ancient history a lot, but the question remains, why does it need to be the same world? Why should I care? It's not like Awakening did a lot of worldbuilding to take advantage of the original setting of FE1-3. It's the same world because they wanted to put Marth on the cover.

[Thane]

Just now, NekoKnight said:

It's fine that they don't bring up ancient history a lot, but the question remains, why does it need to be the same world? Why should I care?

Because of similar elements and throwbacks meant to honor the series. It doesn't rely too much on the events of Marth's games because it has no need to. If you're asking me why they're making references and why some people appreciate that, then I don't know what to tell you. There's also the fact to consider that relying too much on previous titles would alienate a lot of newcomers, and it was Awakening's expressed intent to bring in more people. 

I prefer a more coherent universe and direct sequels rather than Fire Emblem's tendency to make each installment a stand-alone one, barring Radiant Dawn, though even then people claim that game can be played without having experienced Path of Radiance first. However, what Awakening has done with its references than most games in the series, and I appreciate that it doesn't exist in another void like Fateslandia or Magvel.

[NekoKnight]

8 minutes ago, Thane said:

However, what Awakening has done with its references than most games in the series, and I appreciate that it doesn't exist in another void like Fateslandia or Magvel.

So it comes down to liking a game that has token connections to a greater saga over games with no connections to a greater saga. If they all have bad worldbuilding, it doesn't really matter if they are connected or not.

[Thane]

Just now, NekoKnight said:

So it comes down to liking a game that has token connections to a greater saga over games with no connections to a greater saga. If they all have bad worldbuilding, it doesn't really matter if they are connected or not.

Then I guess we will have to agree to disagree. To me, the bigger question is why Awakening would have to be its own universe. There's no denying it made a lot of mistake with its writing, but I don't think they would've been improved by having it play out in another universe.

[Pixelman]

12 hours ago, Arthur97 said:

They would fail and die.

Well, sure, but I think one could make the argument that time travel is inconsequential to the main plot

I think if you change the way certains things work within the plot by just a little bit, you can remove the concepts of time travel and children entirely without affecting the main story too much.

[Arthur97]

9 hours ago, NekoKnight said:

I'd rather they make an original world if the connections to the past are irrelevant. Consider how the world in Windwaker came to be because of the events of Ocarina of Time. Windwaker is far in the future but it stays connected to the past. What does Tiki, Marth or the Falchion have to do with Grima or the Grimleil? Not very much.

If a game only has token connections to the past, why do they exist in the same world? Awakening could be the future of Magvel for all it mattered.

Edit: My intention isn't to say "Awakening is shiiiit!", rather I think this is more evidence that their priorities were skewed when writing the story.

I kind of like the references of older games. Besides, Fates showed that new worlds may not be the best idea.