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The next Avatar should wear a mask


Jotari
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7 hours ago, NinjaMonkey said:

Why not make all the cutscenes be these, then? That way you don't need to have the avatar character wear a mask at all.

Because that would defy the entire point?

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21 hours ago, The Roger The Paladin said:

Pretty sure that the option is to wear monastery costumes in battle. Either that or my Byleth is being a complete dick and wearing those robes into battle while he's supposed to be a thief so the enemies think he's actually just a commoner... but he's not.

 

20 hours ago, Jotari said:

Nope. Only the inverse. You can use the custom outfits in battle, but not the battle specific outfits in cutscenes a monastery gameplay.

Whoops, my mistake. I got it switched up.

I'm surprised it's not a feature. It seems like a relatively easy thing to do.

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15 hours ago, Jotari said:

Because that would defy the entire point?

Exactly. Having all the custcenes being ingame ones, means that we wouldn't need the avatar character to wear a stupid mask over their face.

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1 minute ago, NinjaMonkey said:

Exactly. Having all the custcenes being ingame ones, means that we wouldn't need the avatar character to wear a stupid mask over their face.

But then the cutscenes would look like shit. I don’t doubt the switch could pull it off but with their current engine yeah maybe not. Not gonna lie a lot of the in-engine cutscenes in 3H kinda look like shit.

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It sounds like a solid idea. A mask would definitely give the animators more freedom than Robin's hood, and they wouldn't have to make almost every cutscene from the first person like in Fates. It wouldn't remove the customization of avatars, either, since as you said, they can take the helmet off in support conversations and non-cutscene story scenes. If they wanted to, they could even add some story relevance to the avatars armor, explaining why they would wear it all the time.

That said, I do see some potential issues. Since the avatars face probably won't be visible, this would mean that their body language would be extremely important in communicating what the character is thinking/feeling in cutscenes, which has several potential snags depending on how much control the player has over the avatars personality. The avatar being energetic in cutscenes when the player had them mostly stoic, or having subtle movements when the player was boisterous, would create a disconnect. The only solutions would be either A. Have several variants of the cutscene to account for  the different personality types the avatar could be or B. The avatar have generic movements.

There's also the issue with reclassing. Granted, all Fire Emblem games that have had reclassing (except Shadow Dragon and New Mystery, by the grace of Marth not promoting) are bad with the lords being in their default costume in cutscenes, regardless of if the player has promoted or reclassed them or not, but the avatar wearing a helmet and armor in cutscenes when they're in a class that has no need of them might be even more jarring than usual.

I should note that the extent of these issues depends on the handling of the avatar in the game, as well as other mechanics. Reclassing making cutscenes jarring can't exist if the game doesn't have relcassing, after all (although the promotion problem might still exist). And having to create slightly different cuscenes depending on the avatars personality might not take as much time and resources at first glance depending on how they are scripted.

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1 hour ago, Hawkwing said:

It sounds like a solid idea. A mask would definitely give the animators more freedom than Robin's hood, and they wouldn't have to make almost every cutscene from the first person like in Fates. It wouldn't remove the customization of avatars, either, since as you said, they can take the helmet off in support conversations and non-cutscene story scenes. If they wanted to, they could even add some story relevance to the avatars armor, explaining why they would wear it all the time.

That said, I do see some potential issues. Since the avatars face probably won't be visible, this would mean that their body language would be extremely important in communicating what the character is thinking/feeling in cutscenes, which has several potential snags depending on how much control the player has over the avatars personality. The avatar being energetic in cutscenes when the player had them mostly stoic, or having subtle movements when the player was boisterous, would create a disconnect. The only solutions would be either A. Have several variants of the cutscene to account for  the different personality types the avatar could be or B. The avatar have generic movements.

We have mentioned something soul edge-senketsu like, wich could do the emoting for the wielder.

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11 hours ago, Hawkwing said:

It sounds like a solid idea. A mask would definitely give the animators more freedom than Robin's hood, and they wouldn't have to make almost every cutscene from the first person like in Fates. It wouldn't remove the customization of avatars, either, since as you said, they can take the helmet off in support conversations and non-cutscene story scenes. If they wanted to, they could even add some story relevance to the avatars armor, explaining why they would wear it all the time.

That said, I do see some potential issues. Since the avatars face probably won't be visible, this would mean that their body language would be extremely important in communicating what the character is thinking/feeling in cutscenes, which has several potential snags depending on how much control the player has over the avatars personality. The avatar being energetic in cutscenes when the player had them mostly stoic, or having subtle movements when the player was boisterous, would create a disconnect. The only solutions would be either A. Have several variants of the cutscene to account for  the different personality types the avatar could be or B. The avatar have generic movements.

There's also the issue with reclassing. Granted, all Fire Emblem games that have had reclassing (except Shadow Dragon and New Mystery, by the grace of Marth not promoting) are bad with the lords being in their default costume in cutscenes, regardless of if the player has promoted or reclassed them or not, but the avatar wearing a helmet and armor in cutscenes when they're in a class that has no need of them might be even more jarring than usual.

I should note that the extent of these issues depends on the handling of the avatar in the game, as well as other mechanics. Reclassing making cutscenes jarring can't exist if the game doesn't have relcassing, after all (although the promotion problem might still exist). And having to create slightly different cuscenes depending on the avatars personality might not take as much time and resources at first glance depending on how they are scripted.

We've never really been able to choose the personality of an Avatar too. That would be a new route for the series.

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Well, If it doesn't look ridiculous. A helmet would be the best option but there would need to be limited hair colors and hair styles cause the helmet need to cover it all. Also two different cutscenes would still need  to be done for both genders. 

 

On 11/15/2019 at 12:40 AM, vanguard333 said:

Maybe the avatar is cursed by the villain into taking on a monstrous appearance, then, when the curse is lifted, it is condensed into a mask that allows the avatar to take on that form at will?

Honestly I'd hate it deeply. I don't want the main character have the face of a monster all the time in cutscenes. I'm down to have a shapeshifter main character like Corrin again; a Laguz lord would be awesome, but not a full time monster. 

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3 hours ago, Mylady said:

Honestly I'd hate it deeply. I don't want the main character have the face of a monster all the time in cutscenes. I'm down to have a shapeshifter main character like Corrin again; a Laguz lord would be awesome, but not a full time monster. 

Mt statement was a joke; it was a reference to Majora's Mask. I've already said as much. 

Edited by vanguard333
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On 11/17/2019 at 12:28 AM, Jotari said:

We've never really been able to choose the personality of an Avatar too. That would be a new route for the series.

I could see them going under or overboard with the idea, but yeah that would be neat if it was customizable in some form.

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On 11/30/2019 at 1:59 AM, Seazas said:

Just trash the fucking avatars already, they're horrible for the narrative

Overall, yes. But I can see some potential in them. I think there are two ways to make it work, and funny enough, IS has come close to doing both of these:

1. The avatar character is a viewpoint character, but does not have the spotlight: the actual protagonist has all the story relevance. Basically, think the avatar in Xenoblade Chronicles X. They're part of the team, but they have almost no relevance beyond that. This one you would want to keep silent, and instead have them use dialogue options for support conversations and such. It would also be good to make it fully customizable; having their growth rates, base stats, and starting class be customizable. Kris comes the closest to this, but they made him too relevant; especially for a character who was outright stated to be the hero in the shadows, not the hero in the spotlight. 

2. A relatively fixed protagonist, but with enough options that the player is essentially guiding them. Think Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher 3, or Link from Wind Waker or Breath of the Wild. Byleth came the closest to this, but those three that I mentioned all have two things Byleth very much lacks: personality, and their own agency. 

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