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About archetypal characters


VermillionSon
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I've been working on creating my own game that is similar to Fire Emblem in many ways, enough that I'm actively debating with myself if I should incorporate the name of the series in the title.
Obviously a game like this would have a roster that needs filling, and one of the easiest ways to fill said roster is creating characters that fit into the FE archetypes. I already have a few characters that are designed to fit into these archetypes, such as a cavalry duo and pegasus triplets, but before I commit to writing more of these characters, I'd like to ask a question: 

Do you prefer seeing characters that are designed around a given archetype or characters that can be placed into one afterward?

An example of a character built around an archetype would be Rhobes, an archer appearing to be a simple traveler before being revealed to be not a noble of some kind like Jeorge or Virion, but rather a noble thief in the style of Robin Hood who convinces the party to help his band of merry men.

An example of a character that can be placed into an archetype after being written would be the prince Nelchael, who starts as an incredibly bloodthirsty warrior due to his upbringing, before learning that his enemies are not all faceless evil beings and suddenly becomes painfully aware of his horrific actions, and later joins the party as he realizes the true evil behind the conflict. He begins as a violent corruption of Camus, almost as comically evil as Hans or Iago, but grows as the story progresses to become more like the Lorenz archetype, joining the party for the betterment of his people.

Or is the example a mix of the two? I guess that's why I'm asking, I haven't really found the best answer.

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to be frank, your first mistake was caring about whether or not these characters fit into archetypes at all. I find it's to just write a character and not bother at all what kind of archetype they fit into unless you're actively trying to write that kind of archetype. Tropes are just an inevitability in anything so I just find it easier to not worry about anything I write coming off as tropey or anything.

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To be honest, I've just been writing characters that I think would be cool in the game. I had a feeling the archetypes didn't really matter, I just wanted confirmation of it. It's just something that was stuck in my mind.

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2 hours ago, VermillionSon said:

I've been working on creating my own game that is similar to Fire Emblem in many ways, enough that I'm actively debating with myself if I should incorporate the name of the series in the title.

I wouldn't, unless you want to be on the receiving end of a Cease and Desist letter.

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