Is there really a "divide" within the FE Fandom?

[Jerry Kuma]

Yes, there is most certainly a divide. And as was stated before, this isn't something exclusive to Fire Emblem -- a lot of other game series have these divides in them. It could either be a result of how different a set of games are from another set or simply because. However just because there is a divide, it doesn't mean it's necessarily a bad thing. It's really more just people sticking to their guns with the occasional bump-ins from the other group. At least, that's how it is now. I'm relatively new to all of this despite me playing the games for a few years.

[Jedi]

Such as with all fanbases with popularity or shifts in focus will come splits, infighting is pretty much always going to happen.

Fire Emblem happens to have one of the most vocal fanbases in terms of it's dedicated "core". Although this doesn't mean much to the folks who are or have been more casually fans of the series.

Edited January 21, 2019 by IS Bath Salts HQ

[Roland]

16 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

Men of intellect and culture I see.

Well, I mean it's true. When was the last time you saw a gaming fandom, or really any kind of fandom, that was anywhere near decent?

23 hours ago, Alkaid said:

For years on end I've hardly gone a day without seeing shit-flinging between veterans and fans that started with the 3DS era, so I'd say so. I think it's a vocal minority, but it's a very vocal one.

I'm sure most of the fanbase enjoys or is at least neutral on majority of the games, but the people who dislike any entries in the series love to make sure everybody knows constantly. It's by far a bigger issue coming from the veterans' camp, and in retaliation you get newer players trashing people too. The cycle just goes on. Luckily Serenes stays more tame than most places about this, but go say your favorite game is Fates or Thracia on Gfaqs or other communities and see what happens.

I've also noticed that most of the time, the old guard tends to start the drama a lot. I have my issues with the 3ds titles, but I'm not about to go as far as to take as a personal attack on my life like some of them have. Frankly, this whole "FE War" we've had is...weird. 

23 hours ago, Alkaid said:

Most franchises have that minority of veteran elitists, but FE feels like one of the worst I've encountered. It makes the "there's only 151 Pokemon" crowd seem like a joke.

I'd say SMT and Persona are worse. Far worse.

Edited January 21, 2019 by Roland

[Emperor Hardin]

17 hours ago, Roland said:

I've also noticed that most of the time, the old guard tends to start the drama a lot. I have my issues with the 3ds titles, but I'm not about to go as far as to take as a personal attack on my life like some of them have. Frankly, this whole "FE War" we've had is...weird. 

I've seen cases like someone responding to posts like "I'd like to see a reference to the older games in this crossover" with "The older games had shit stories and sucked" recently on this board. So its definitely both ways.

[Jedi]

24 minutes ago, Emperor Hardin said:

I've seen cases like someone responding to posts like "I'd like to see a reference to the older games in this crossover" with "The older games had shit stories and sucked" recently on this board. So its definitely both ways.

It's for certain both ways, to think this is even remotely one-sided would be comical.

[Tolvir]

You would have to be blind to say there isnt one. Now its not exactly so bad the fandom is just in shambles, but theres enough there that it can make certain things annoying to deal with. Fates release was particularly annoying for myself since there were threads almost daily for an entire year about why the game was bad. I understand the story was bad, but when its on month 8 post release and you have thread #256 of why Fates sucks, its a bit tiring.

Now I will be honest, in my own experience, I think the most vocal of the critics for either side is on the older side. And I think part of that is because some of the most fervent fans that will argue their game to the death belong to the Jugdral and Tellius games. So those specific fans tend to be extremely vocal when it comes to their opinions on things. And I dont necessarily think its a wrong or anything, but I think it definitely makes a situation where one side definitely has its louder members. Keep in mind louder doesnt exactly mean more.

Unfortunately FEH doesnt exactly help matters either, since FEH has done nothing but cause the fandom to turn on the recent games even more than ever due to its clear bias towards Fates in particular. And as much as I personally understood the decisions with FEW, but think the marketing dropped the ball, it didnt exactly help matters either.

 

[Jotari]

On 1/21/2019 at 5:58 AM, Slumber said:

As somebody who's a part of the fandoms of the latter two, no. They're nothing like FE in this regard.

Most people in Zelda and RE tend to enjoy most, if not all of the game. In the few years after RE4, there was definitely a rift between fixed vs. over the shoulder cameras, but it has died down considerably as more and more games were done in the OTS style with different tones and atmospheres. Even RE7 going first person was only a big problem for a very small portion of its fandom, and a good chunk of the people who objected to it were won over by the game going back to the roots of Resident Evil. Most of the fandom these days, it's people going "Yeah, all of the games besides 0 and 6(And/or 5 and CV) are pretty great!" It's really just a handful of contentious games that span two of the prior RE styles.

With Zelda, I can't think of any major divide. It's mostly just people who enjoy certain games, as opposed to others. I can't recall there ever being a "Man, 2D Zelda SUCKS, 3D Zelda rules!" type of fandom rift.

The FE fandom's rift is far more consistent and noticeable. It's pretty much is squarely people who like Awakening and Fates vs. People who like the older games. There are outliers, but this is the most noticeable divide.

There was a time (eons ago in internet time) when Zelda II was looked on very negatively by Zelda fans for its departure in mechanics from the rest of the series. I even saw some people saying they wish Nintendo would declare it noncanon (whatever that even means for a series with no overarching story). Now it seems to be mostly viewed as that one weird one from Zelda fans while fans of NES games in general give it very high praise (and deservedly so imo).

On topic, I think the popularity of some key older characters in the CYL polls (and their respective number of alts) show that there isn't a massive divide between older and newer fans (unfortunately it also proves nobody loves Jugdral).

Edited January 23, 2019 by Jotari

[Jotari]

On 1/21/2019 at 9:33 AM, AnonymousSpeed said:

"Nobody hates Fire Emblem more than Fire Emblem fans."

See, the Fire Emblem fanbase is a lot like Protestantism. While there are some basic principles we agree on, there are a multitude of vastly different opinions on the details and how to execute even the most fundamental ideas. Thus, the group is very much divided, but is divided into so many sects that it becomes more convenient to view it as a unified whole of disagreement. Ergo, we are not divided because we are.

#HeWillNotDivideUs

Men of intellect and culture I see.

Among the core Dan base this is hilariously true. Though I think it's also something you can say of many fandoms. Just look at the reactions to any Smash roster, especially when streams cross and it comes to Fire Emblem characters in Smash.

Double posting because screw you and your too old to edit three minute old posts.

[god_ewan]

I will say that I am not part of the “divide”. I like each style of Fire Emblem equally and I welcome anything that the franchise has to offer. 

[Jedi]

On 1/22/2019 at 7:28 PM, Tolvir said:

You would have to be blind to say there isnt one. Now its not exactly so bad the fandom is just in shambles, but theres enough there that it can make certain things annoying to deal with. Fates release was particularly annoying for myself since there were threads almost daily for an entire year about why the game was bad. I understand the story was bad, but when its on month 8 post release and you have thread #256 of why Fates sucks, its a bit tiring.

Now I will be honest, in my own experience, I think the most vocal of the critics for either side is on the older side. And I think part of that is because some of the most fervent fans that will argue their game to the death belong to the Jugdral and Tellius games. So those specific fans tend to be extremely vocal when it comes to their opinions on things. And I dont necessarily think its a wrong or anything, but I think it definitely makes a situation where one side definitely has its louder members. Keep in mind louder doesnt exactly mean more.

Unfortunately FEH doesnt exactly help matters either, since FEH has done nothing but cause the fandom to turn on the recent games even more than ever due to its clear bias towards Fates in particular. And as much as I personally understood the decisions with FEW, but think the marketing dropped the ball, it didnt exactly help matters either.

 

It's just, a massive divide that I don't think will ever be fixed, both sides are equally to blame, it's unfortunate. 

[wslegolas]

It wouldn't be completely accurate to call it a divide, it's more of a generational difference (long term fans vs new ones). Awakening is what started it, the good is that it "saved" the series and brought the series the popularity it was bound to get. While awakening did many things well and added a lot of features, I believed Fire Emblem was going to break out with 13 no matter what.

There are plenty of reasons why Awakening and Fates aren't well received by a lot of the longer time fans. The problem is because of the success of these games and popularity from them, it has altered IS and has drawn them away from some of the core aspects of fire emblem. Now the newer fans are mostly caught in the cross fire so to speak, they don't know how good some of the earlier games but also aren't rejecting them. They're just promoting games (In as little as through their purchase of these games, or also through social media and Heroes) that aren't the best in the series. IS is trying to cater to and be liked by everyone and making the game to draw a larger audience. This waters out a series and possibly destroys it. It's so often you see developers try and copy things from popular games, to get that "call of duty" crowd. You can't and I don't blame them for trying to sell as many copies as possible, but not at the expense of the identity and core of the series. I'm being dramatic, and I don't think awakening and Fates is so far from being fire emblem, but this kind of behavior by developers is seen so often and almost aways has the same negative effect on the core fans. The call of duty crowd will buy a game play for a week or two and move on, not the type of people you'd want IS to cater to. 

 

Personal opinion on the newer games:

Awakening and Fates stories were not compelling and the art style is too cartoonish for me, I can't take it seriously. I was not connected to the story and characters like the other games. Echoes on the hand, is brilliant to me (even if too easy).

Edited January 27, 2019 by wslegolas

[Tolvir]

On 1/26/2019 at 6:13 PM, IS Bath Salts HQ said:

It's just, a massive divide that I don't think will ever be fixed, both sides are equally to blame, it's unfortunate. 

It is unfortunate, and yeah. It wont go away. There are so many other fandoms that show that it never really gets repaired, once its there, its there.

Best thing anyone can do is to just not be an ass about anything, there will always be those people but just try not to be one of them. Three Houses will only kick up the dust again since we are in a lull right now with only FEH to direct things at.

And unfortunately I think this little Langrisser debacle has only shown the worst parts of the fandom as well, a lot of what I am seeing directed at the series on other sites has been rather silly and even hypocritical. Its unfortunate that these are the people who are making a first impression for us.

[KamuiMiko]

I think that there isn't a giant divide. It will probably fade in a few months with 3 houses being released.

Edited June 4, 2019 by KamuiMiko

[Slumber]

13 minutes ago, KamuiMiko said:

When 3 houses come out. Fates will be praised and Three houses will be bashed. Trust me.

Unless FETH's characters and story are dogshit, that's not gonna happen.

People praise Fates' gameplay already, the only thing people can really do a 180 on is the story/characters. And considering we know the name of the continent FETH takes place on, it already has a leg up on Fates in story/world building.

Edited June 4, 2019 by Slumber

[SSbardock84]

I think the divide is the newcomers who think Fates and Awakening are the best Fire Emblem games vs veterans who still liked those games but believe those aren't the best and not by far, specifically Fates. Me personally I played all of the American released games before Awakening before playing Awakening. But with that said, I think Awakening is still a fantastic game. There are certainly components from the older games that I thought were better, but Awakening still pulled out to be one of the best games. I think a lot of people who played some of the older games first would agree with that. Honestly, there's more of a divide over Fates I would say. I think it's one of the worser Fire Emblem games and pretty overrated. There's a lot I can only say from personal experiences and interactions with a few people. But those are some of my opinions on the matter.