Jump to content

Would you like to see an older character as the protagonist?


Recommended Posts

I'm a huge fan of older characters. Maybe that's because some of the most interesting FE characters happen to be a bit older.

Hell, my personal FE fangame project features a mid-fifties protagonist.

If a character's age stops you from being able to relate to them (aside from severe examples, like a 90-year-old character to a 12-year-old player), you're just bad at empathy (horrible oversimplification, I know). The fictional character I've been able to relate to most of any character ever is nearly twice my age.

Age is only relevant to empathy if you're a bad writer.

 

Edited by DuwaShuwana
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 100
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I've been debating with myself as if I wanted to share the idea for the MC of the game I'm kinda kindof not working on (I suck at it)

but the main character starts off around 18, but in the middle of the game, at the end of the first part, it skips around showing him grow up to an older man

in the second half he goes on a journey to find his youngest daughter who is studying magic in another nation as the town he lived in was attacked by another contry who had killed his 12 year old son in the process of trying to find his daughter. After he rescues her he then moves on to join the bastard prince, who is the true heir to the thrown of the nation that attacked his town, to track down the knight who killed his son

Link to comment
Share on other sites

52 minutes ago, SuperIb said:

 

Wow, she doesn't look it. I mean, I played RD but I don't remember the ages of characters so this surprises me lol.

 

She's branded, so they show age slower than normal people.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

57 minutes ago, DuwaShuwana said:

Age is only relevant to empathy if you're a bad writer.

Oh hey, it sounds like you're talking about teenage me.  I completely agree.

On an unrelated note, you have a... very interesting profile picture, my pal.

28 minutes ago, Captain Karnage said:

but the main character starts off around 18, but in the middle of the game, at the end of the first part, it skips around showing him grow up to an older man

This in particular sounds like the plot to Assassin's Creed 2, which is my favorite game in the series.  Except in that case, the revenge story starts at the beginning when he's barely an adult, rather than when he has a family of his own.  But I don't think enough games utilize time skips to tell an ever evolving story.  You might get transported a few months or a year into the future at most, but hardly ever do you get a decade shaved off in this manner.

And that also reminds me of the first time I played through the original Fable; specifically during the imprisonment segment, my character's hair started greying and I thought a lot of time was passing until I realized it was just a part of the weird appearance changing system in that game.  At least if I'm remembering the game correctly... had something to do with gearing your character towards using magic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Micaiah is technically the oldest, but she still looks like a teenager, so she kinda doesn't count. I'd like a lord in their 20s that actually looks to be in their 20s. We have enough teenager lords and teenager-looking lords.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Micaiah is technically the oldest, but she still looks like a teenager, so she kinda doesn't count. I'd like a lord in their 20s that actually looks to be in their 20s. We have enough teenager lords and teenager-looking lords.

What's the difference between teen and 20's? If we're talking about old, I was thinking of 40's. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, ElectiveToast said:

What's the difference between teen and 20's? If we're talking about old, I was thinking of 40's. 

Why thank you

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, ElectiveToast said:

What's the difference between teen and 20's? If we're talking about old, I was thinking of 40's. 

There's a pretty nice difference between 16 and 24, thank you. Though personally, I'm just kind of tired of lords being 18 and younger most of the time. Even just 20 would satisfy me. Chrom doesn't count, he wasn't 20 until his game's time skip. And I already explained Micaiah.

Also, look at RD Ike compared to his PoR self. PoR Ike is 17-18 and RD Ike is 20+.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, ElectiveToast said:

What's the difference between teen and 20's? If we're talking about old, I was thinking of 40's. 

What Ana said.  Of course there's a world of difference between someone in their 40's and someone in their 20's, but much in the same way, there's quite a difference in maturity between someone in their mid teens and someone in their mid twenties.  When you reach a certain age within that range, you typically start to see the world more outwardly instead of more egotistically like most who are underage.  You'll also probably have reached your peak in sexual maturity by around 25 even if you hadn't ever had intercourse (probably having the realization that you're asexual if you had yet to figure it out).

I think when a lot of people hear "20's", they think of college students who go to keggers and tailgate parties all the time, but within that age group you might also have people who've served a decade in the military, worked long enough to own an apartment of their own, have run a successful business for five years, or even had kids.  Most teens in "regular" 1st world families have done none of this.  Of course some of this is due to customs and laws preventing teens from doing some of this stuff, but those were born out of recognition of minors' cognitive and physical attributes rather than for some misguided and arbitrary mandates.

Though I will agree that anywhere in the 20's hardly classifies as "old".  I think you can only be called an elder when you've hit at least 40.  That being said, my sleeping habits sometimes make me feel like an elder, especially in the summer time...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes please.

I just want an older cast in general. Echoes was good in that a lot of characters were like 25+ which I think is a fine benchmark for an older lord, just have a time skip here or there.

Basically Genealogy Gen 1 but better and not just for half the game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would like someone in their 20's or 30's who is a queen/king and already a parent. Rather than a teen who is learning what it takes to be a leader, have a character who already has experience with many responsibilities.

8 hours ago, Anacybele said:

Micaiah is technically the oldest, but she still looks like a teenager, so she kinda doesn't count. I'd like a lord in their 20s that actually looks to be in their 20s. We have enough teenager lords and teenager-looking lords.

There is more to age than an appearance. A character can show maturity in their behavior even if they don't look noticabley older.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't see them using an older protagonist if they're gonna stick to the types of stories that they've been using since the good ol' days.

An older character needs less time to mature because all of that happened off-screen, and perhaps worse, they SHOULD already know everything about the world they're in if they are that old, which makes exposition slightly more challenging and less braindead, but also could potentially lead to a disconnect when you, as a player, are shoved into this world you know nothing about yet the main character whose eyes you experience the story through does know all of it.

Ultimately, it's a matter of the story in question. An older protagonist can work in a story, but for the ones FE usually tries to tell, with all of their coming of age and growing into a role stuff, it's probably not gonna work, since an older character will already have the majority, or at least a good chunk of it, worked out already unless we're going the mid-life crisis route.

And this is in the context of a notable increase in age. a slightly smaller age gap between the usual Lords wouldn't make much of a difference, given that they would still be in the young adult range, and thus all of the normal stuff FE tackles still works fine.

Now watch, FE Switch is gonna be about a worldly immortal Manakete shota of 1,000 years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, NekoKnight said:

There is more to age than an appearance. A character can show maturity in their behavior even if they don't look noticabley older.

That's not my point. Every lord except Sigurd and RD Ike is a teenager or looks like one. I want more Sigurds and RD Ikes in this sense. We'd get a better variety of lord character designs this way.

Edited by Anacybele
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, DaloDask said:

An older character needs less time to mature because all of that happened off-screen, and perhaps worse, they SHOULD already know everything about the world they're in if they are that old, which makes exposition slightly more challenging and less braindead, but also could potentially lead to a disconnect when you, as a player, are shoved into this world you know nothing about yet the main character whose eyes you experience the story through does know all of it.

Well, that's assuming the character themselves are more matured and smarter to begin with. I mean, just because someone's older doesn't mean they're anymore wiser or intelligent than someone who's younger, even if that's commonly the case. But yeah it depends on the story.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like the idea of an older protagonist. I actually think it can work very well in a Fire Emblem storyline.

On ‎18‎/‎07‎/‎2017 at 6:17 AM, DaloDask said:

An older character needs less time to mature because all of that happened off-screen, and perhaps worse, they SHOULD already know everything about the world they're in if they are that old, which makes exposition slightly more challenging and less braindead, but also could potentially lead to a disconnect when you, as a player, are shoved into this world you know nothing about yet the main character whose eyes you experience the story through does know all of it.

Ultimately, it's a matter of the story in question. An older protagonist can work in a story, but for the ones FE usually tries to tell, with all of their coming of age and growing into a role stuff, it's probably not gonna work, since an older character will already have the majority, or at least a good chunk of it, worked out already unless we're going the mid-life crisis route.

Not necessarily. Regardless of age, one can easily not know everything about the world they are in, and be forced outside of their comfort zone. For one example, look at Ned Stark in season 1 of Game of Thrones: he controls the North, where people say what they mean, work together, and, for the most part, don't treat politics and scheming for power like a game. When he ends up south, he is completely out of his comfort zone. For another example (really two examples), Anduin Lothar and Durotan in Warcraft. They are both fathers and leaders (Durotan being a chieftain and Lothar being a very-high-ranking soldier), but both are completely outside their comfort zone when the Orcs invade Azeroth, and both have to learn.

A coming-of-age story can take many forms, since there are many points in life. For an older protagonist, an obvious example is parenthood, but that is not the only example. Another example would be becoming king, having to lead an army if the land has been at peace and the soldiers aren't ready, or being forced by a wizard and thirteen dwarves to steal an immensely huge amount of treasure from a terrifying dragon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would like to see a character in his early 30s who's been fighting since he was a child (14 of age but still rather manly at that point) who went through hell to make it to power. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On July 18, 2017 at 5:30 AM, Gustavos said:

15 actually. Marth may even be younger in the prologue chapters of Shadow Dragon, as they don't specify how many "years went by" before Chapter 1, where he is 16. If it's at least two, then Marth is the youngest protagonist, if only for a few playable chapters, otherwise it's Roy.

I see you're prologue Marth and raise you prologue Alm!

Young_Alm_Portrait.png.16121f97711a24abe065c05113695e61.png

Screw old guys, let's have our next protagonist be an eight year old who murders people! #HavingAlmMurderSlaydesSoldiers

 

Seriously speaking though is there anyone who would be against seeing an older protagonist? Like after fifteen games and almost thirty years it would be change of pace at least. Maybe it's a more Japanese thing. I can think of at least one game where the writer had to actively hide the fact that you're playing as an older character in order to get one in the game. And that wasn't even an action series!

Edited by Jotari
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Jotari said:

I can think of at least one game where the writer had to actively hide the fact that you're playing as an older character in order to get one in the game. And that wasn't even an action series!

lol wait what? Now I'm curious. What game are you referring to? xD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Jotari said:

I can think of at least one game where the writer had to actively hide the fact that you're playing as an older character in order to get one in the game. And that wasn't even an action series!

I'm assuming you mean

Spoiler

Virtue's Last Reward? And sorry to spoil you if you haven't played it yet (I actually haven't any VN myself), but

Spoiler

I think Zero Time Dilemma applies as well.

 

I'm reminded of how Eternal Sonata, while the game should be focused on Frederic- it's all in his dream world after all- tossed in a generic young sword wielding male in Allegretto, likely because Frederic is 39.

 

And I wouldn't mind an older FE MC, for pretty much the reasons everyone here has said so far.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Jotari said:

I see you're prologue Marth and raise you prologue Alm!

Young_Alm_Portrait.png.16121f97711a24abe065c05113695e61.png

Screw old guys, let's have our next protagonist be an eight year old who murders people! #HavingAlmMurderSlaydesSoldiers

Ohh, I'm surprised all of us forgot about that. Yeah, that prologue is seven years before the start of the game. And if Alm is aged up to 17 at chapter 1 (they don't mention his date of birth in Echoes, only in Gaiden material), then that means he's ten years old and ready for his pokemon journey.

You know what's odd about Alm? His game takes place between Marth's two games. And seeing how Alm is 17 and Marth is 16 during Shadow Dragon...are they the same age? Were they born on the same day!?

Add that to the list of weird Fire Emblem theories that become more true with each release. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

58 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I'm assuming you mean

  Hide contents

Virtue's Last Reward? And sorry to spoil you if you haven't played it yet (I actually haven't any VN myself), but

  Hide contents

I think Zero Time Dilemma applies as well.

 

 

 

Spoiler

I don't think any of it's protagonists are, at best, older than...20 I guess. Well at least two of them. One of them is clearly a kid.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, SuperIb said:

lol wait what? Now I'm curious. What game are you referring to? xD

Interdimensional Observer is correct, I'm referring to this game

8 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I'm assuming you mean

  Hide contents

Virtue's Last Reward? And sorry to spoil you if you haven't played it yet (I actually haven't any VN myself), but

  Hide contents

I think Zero Time Dilemma applies as well.

 

I'm reminded of how Eternal Sonata, while the game should be focused on Frederic- it's all in his dream world after all- tossed in a generic young sword wielding male in Allegretto, likely because Frederic is 39.

 

And I wouldn't mind an older FE MC, for pretty much the reasons everyone here has said so far.

Though it only applies to the second game, not the third. The same character in the third game gets the idea flipped where he appears in a youthful body but with the mind of his older self.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Though it only applies to the second game, not the third. The same character in the third game gets the idea flipped where he appears in a youthful body but with the mind of his older self.

I should have been a little more clear with my spoiler in a spoiler, I wasn't thinking of that character from the second game in the third,

Spoiler

I remembered reading that ZTD hides from the player a character via careful camera work for much of the game. You're led to think the character being referred to by the others is a kid, but the kid isn't the character, the character is a geriatric whom the kid helps.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I should have been a little more clear with my spoiler in a spoiler, I wasn't thinking of that character from the second game in the third,

  Hide contents

I remembered reading that ZTD hides from the player a character via careful camera work for much of the game. You're led to think the character being referred to by the others is a kid, but the kid isn't the character, the character is a geriatric whom the kid helps.

 

Spoiler

Oh yeah that's true but that's the antagonist, not the protagonist. The age clause only applies to out plucky heroes. The bad guy can be as old or as young as the writer likes.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...