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What type of DLC do you think this game will have?


DLC Expectations/Wants  

74 members have voted

  1. 1. What character DLC you expect

    • None
      8
    • Characters from 3H that didn't make base game
      60
    • New characters
      27
    • Returning FEW characters
      9
    • Amiibo characters
      2
    • Other FE game characters
      7
  2. 2. What character DLC do you want

    • None
      4
    • Characters from 3H that didn't make base
      56
    • New characters
      28
    • Returning FEW characters
      14
    • Amiibo characters
      2
    • Other FE game characters
      20
  3. 3. What kind of content dlc do you expect?

    • None
      4
    • New route/house
      14
    • History maps
      22
    • New side missions in existing routes
      31
    • Other
      3
  4. 4. What kind of content dlc do you want?

    • None
      2
    • New route/house
      37
    • History maps
      21
    • New side missions in existing routes
      11
    • Other
      3
  5. 5. Will there be new playable classes added in DLC?

    • New classes
      13
    • Returning classes from older FEs
      22
    • Unused classes from 3H
      33
    • None
      6


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Fodlan did not put in any crossover characters, thus Three Hopes should not force any in by default. This takes place in Fodlan and exists to further flesh out the world and its characters. It's a waste of time and effort to push in unassociated FE characters. The most they should do in terms of crossovers is let Cipher's gang, Poe especially, get a second chance.

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1 hour ago, Seazas said:

Fodlan did not put in any crossover characters, thus Three Hopes should not force any in by default. This takes place in Fodlan and exists to further flesh out the world and its characters. It's a waste of time and effort to push in unassociated FE characters. The most they should do in terms of crossovers is let Cipher's gang, Poe especially, get a second chance.

Welcome over! Let us continue.

I think the Cipher gang coming in counts as a crossover, and one more difficult than any single character from FEW since they'll need as much work as any Three Hopes orginal character would, outside of some pre-timeskip concept art. I'm not saying I don't want them in Three Hopes, because if you've seen my posts, I clearly do. But I don't think that they're an exception to the rule. If they're in the game, it's a crossover. A quieter crossover, yes, but a crossover nonetheless. If they can be in the game, then so can Rowan and Lianna at the very least - they're the OG IntSys/KT OCs and most of the assets are available - and other FEW at most. 

I also don't see why crossover characters can't flesh out the world. It's through Laslow's prompting of Xander that we learn that royal families in Fateslandia don't have physical manifestations of their dragon's blood/crest. It's through Selena's pestering of Subaki that we learn how the Pegasi of Fateslandia differ from the species in Ylisse. ...Odin doesn't really contribute in this argument, but we learn that Garon talks to himself and that Leo was so cynical of Odin that he sent him on impossible quests that Odin actually succeeded in! Laslow was used to flesh out Azura's dancing philosophy and motivations, while Subaki!Caeldori goes an extra step and actually helps Selena gain some form of closure and catharsis about her own mother issues. These things helped flesh out both characters and the world around them. And guess who they were done by? Crossover characters.

In Warriors, we get to see fun interactions as well. Camilla's stalking becomes inspiring for and is inspired by Frederick and Tharja. Chrom's support with Ryoma isn't just the two talking to each other, but we get details about their fighting styles as well. It's more of a Technician vs Performer here - Ryoma's strength lies in his accurate attacks and superb technique, while Chrom's abilities lie with his fluid and dynamic style. This is something that the cutscenes in Awakening show for Chrom, but it's also fun to see it described by other characters. 

In Three Houses, one of Annette's best supports is with Claude. The GD House Leader completely misreads her "Creepity Creep" song in the best of ways, and it's hilarious. This is because Claude is looking through the lens of Annette's songs with lens of an outsider, ergo his perspective is different - crossover characters offer that sort of experience in spades. Even better, they aren't hampered by the geopolitical baggage that new characters from the world may carry. (Back to Fates for a second, Odin and Felicia have a very fun and meta conversation about how weird everyone in the army is. Felicia doesn't really see it until Odin points it out, because despite being a ham, he's still an outsider and can see how weird things actually are.)

Crossover characters are also great people to deliver exposition to, because what's obvious to characters in-world won't be obvious to them. You want to explain something about the church to the audience? You find someone who doesn't actually know about this thing, so you prevent "as you know" dialogue from being redundant or obvious. Three Houses was actually pretty good at avoiding this at times, but Three Hopes may not be as good, particularly if it has to introduce mechanics players already know about again. Giving the characters someone who doesn't know the mechanics or the in-world reason for them to talk to is a great way to justify talking about it. Robin could be excited to learn about battalions and how to use them, noting about how they add variety to battle strategies. They could ultimately allude to a time when they had to do something similar, but it involved crashing a whole fleet of ships. In that small exchange, you've now introduced a game mechanic to a character overtly, encouraged players to explore its potential, and told us a bit about a character in a way that's nostalgic for those who know the crossover character and intriguing or amusing for those who don't. Suddenly, this one character has a history. Lucina (and/or Corrin) could bring up what's happening with the Agarthans without casting blame or hinting at one side not being truly evil. They could bring up how they've seen circumstances where persecution and hatred lead to pain, and that pain leads to a cycle of violence; and underneath of of that there are people who just want to live their lives. Maybe the Agarthans are similar. (Yes, in-game characters such as Ingrid and Dedue could do that, but they're both route-dependent at this point in time and would need to see beyond their own pain to do so. Then again, that could be a conversation between Ingrid and Lucina/Corrin.) Corrin could shed some light on the Manakete transformation process in Fodlan, maybe in a support with Seteth about they should try to hide their transforming powers outside of battle, lest it attract the wrong type of attention. From there, we can talk about the Immaculate One and potentially other shifters on Fodlan. 

This doesn't mean I don't want new characters for DLC or in the base game, I just don't think it's an "either-or" situation, particularly for characters who were in FEW. You make your new characters, and if you have enough of a leftover budget and some time, you reuse the assets from FEW, hire the artist for a little more art, and get the VOs (that are always on call because of Heroes), and you're golden. No scraps wasted, no "either-or" required, and no mess. Only fun. 

Crossover characters and crossover importance are what you make of them. If you make them a big deal, then yeah, they're not going to fit in this game. If you make them a small, unobtrusive thing that's just happening, then they'd work fine. Lucina at Garrag Mach can work - treat her like any other character. Let the players explore and find out what she's doing there through her supports and paralogues. Let her interact with other characters from Fodlan and thus gain a new crew of people to associate with; let her bring insight to her new peers and maybe allow her to learn something about herself. The focus and lens though which the story would still be on Fodlan and the House Leaders and Shez, so what's the problem? 

Lastly, and the least important reason, but still one that should be mentioned, is Heroes. Three Hopes will usher in new characters and alts, and I think popular characters with Three Houses/Hopes/Garrag Mach uniform designs is a thing that would sell like hotcakes. If you think we're not going to get Ascendand versions of the House Leaders over the coming months, I think you'll find yourself sorely mistaken. Frankly I'd prefer a Garrag Mach banner to have existed separately from any Three Hopes crossover material, but I'd be blind to say that there isn't a connection that could be made. 

 

 

*The Book of Boba Fett is a great example of when a show can't maintain its identity. Its best episodes are its crossover episodes, during which, the main character shows up for maybe five minutes in that second crossover episode. But because of that, the show fails to main its identity. While the show has a lot of other problems, the mistake here is obvious to see - the show turned its focus to the crossover characters instead of focusing on the main characters and seeing things from their lens. I have faith Three Hopes wouldn't do that, because Fates and Echoes didn't do that. Despite having crossover characters, the focus stayed squarely on the main characters, and thus the crossover characters were unobtrusive and fun cameos at best. Those two games succeeded and failed on their own merits regardless of the crossovers, and that's what I believe will be the case with Three Hopes as well. 

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^^
Thats actually a great way of putting crossover characters in. I guess I always think of crossovers as being annoying because I’m stuck in the marvel mindset in movies where they shove cameos and characters in your face that I personally find detract from the overall experience, but as long as they take more of a backseat while still being present, it’s okay.

I would prefer the focus to be expanding Fodlan with in universe characters. Explore some of the lands around Fodlan, explore Sreng, explore house Kleiman, explore family relations, the agarthans, Indech and Macuil, even just more commoners, so many things that could be expanded upon, and create interesting dynamics. If not present in base game, this is where I feel the focus should go. I don’t object to crossover characters, hell there are characters I really want, but I just feel like Fodlan has so much potential, they could easily get 6 waves of DLC from just Fodlan alone.

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12 hours ago, Use the Falchion said:

Welcome over! Let us continue.

I think the Cipher gang coming in counts as a crossover, and one more difficult than any single character from FEW since they'll need as much work as any Three Hopes orginal character would, outside of some pre-timeskip concept art. I'm not saying I don't want them in Three Hopes, because if you've seen my posts, I clearly do. But I don't think that they're an exception to the rule. If they're in the game, it's a crossover. A quieter crossover, yes, but a crossover nonetheless. If they can be in the game, then so can Rowan and Lianna at the very least - they're the OG IntSys/KT OCs and most of the assets are available - and other FEW at most. 

I also don't see why crossover characters can't flesh out the world. It's through Laslow's prompting of Xander that we learn that royal families in Fateslandia don't have physical manifestations of their dragon's blood/crest. It's through Selena's pestering of Subaki that we learn how the Pegasi of Fateslandia differ from the species in Ylisse. ...Odin doesn't really contribute in this argument, but we learn that Garon talks to himself and that Leo was so cynical of Odin that he sent him on impossible quests that Odin actually succeeded in! Laslow was used to flesh out Azura's dancing philosophy and motivations, while Subaki!Caeldori goes an extra step and actually helps Selena gain some form of closure and catharsis about her own mother issues. These things helped flesh out both characters and the world around them. And guess who they were done by? Crossover characters.

In Warriors, we get to see fun interactions as well. Camilla's stalking becomes inspiring for and is inspired by Frederick and Tharja. Chrom's support with Ryoma isn't just the two talking to each other, but we get details about their fighting styles as well. It's more of a Technician vs Performer here - Ryoma's strength lies in his accurate attacks and superb technique, while Chrom's abilities lie with his fluid and dynamic style. This is something that the cutscenes in Awakening show for Chrom, but it's also fun to see it described by other characters. 

In Three Houses, one of Annette's best supports is with Claude. The GD House Leader completely misreads her "Creepity Creep" song in the best of ways, and it's hilarious. This is because Claude is looking through the lens of Annette's songs with lens of an outsider, ergo his perspective is different - crossover characters offer that sort of experience in spades. Even better, they aren't hampered by the geopolitical baggage that new characters from the world may carry. (Back to Fates for a second, Odin and Felicia have a very fun and meta conversation about how weird everyone in the army is. Felicia doesn't really see it until Odin points it out, because despite being a ham, he's still an outsider and can see how weird things actually are.)

Crossover characters are also great people to deliver exposition to, because what's obvious to characters in-world won't be obvious to them. You want to explain something about the church to the audience? You find someone who doesn't actually know about this thing, so you prevent "as you know" dialogue from being redundant or obvious. Three Houses was actually pretty good at avoiding this at times, but Three Hopes may not be as good, particularly if it has to introduce mechanics players already know about again. Giving the characters someone who doesn't know the mechanics or the in-world reason for them to talk to is a great way to justify talking about it. Robin could be excited to learn about battalions and how to use them, noting about how they add variety to battle strategies. They could ultimately allude to a time when they had to do something similar, but it involved crashing a whole fleet of ships. In that small exchange, you've now introduced a game mechanic to a character overtly, encouraged players to explore its potential, and told us a bit about a character in a way that's nostalgic for those who know the crossover character and intriguing or amusing for those who don't. Suddenly, this one character has a history. Lucina (and/or Corrin) could bring up what's happening with the Agarthans without casting blame or hinting at one side not being truly evil. They could bring up how they've seen circumstances where persecution and hatred lead to pain, and that pain leads to a cycle of violence; and underneath of of that there are people who just want to live their lives. Maybe the Agarthans are similar. (Yes, in-game characters such as Ingrid and Dedue could do that, but they're both route-dependent at this point in time and would need to see beyond their own pain to do so. Then again, that could be a conversation between Ingrid and Lucina/Corrin.) Corrin could shed some light on the Manakete transformation process in Fodlan, maybe in a support with Seteth about they should try to hide their transforming powers outside of battle, lest it attract the wrong type of attention. From there, we can talk about the Immaculate One and potentially other shifters on Fodlan. 

This doesn't mean I don't want new characters for DLC or in the base game, I just don't think it's an "either-or" situation, particularly for characters who were in FEW. You make your new characters, and if you have enough of a leftover budget and some time, you reuse the assets from FEW, hire the artist for a little more art, and get the VOs (that are always on call because of Heroes), and you're golden. No scraps wasted, no "either-or" required, and no mess. Only fun. 

Crossover characters and crossover importance are what you make of them. If you make them a big deal, then yeah, they're not going to fit in this game. If you make them a small, unobtrusive thing that's just happening, then they'd work fine. Lucina at Garrag Mach can work - treat her like any other character. Let the players explore and find out what she's doing there through her supports and paralogues. Let her interact with other characters from Fodlan and thus gain a new crew of people to associate with; let her bring insight to her new peers and maybe allow her to learn something about herself. The focus and lens though which the story would still be on Fodlan and the House Leaders and Shez, so what's the problem? 

Lastly, and the least important reason, but still one that should be mentioned, is Heroes. Three Hopes will usher in new characters and alts, and I think popular characters with Three Houses/Hopes/Garrag Mach uniform designs is a thing that would sell like hotcakes. If you think we're not going to get Ascendand versions of the House Leaders over the coming months, I think you'll find yourself sorely mistaken. Frankly I'd prefer a Garrag Mach banner to have existed separately from any Three Hopes crossover material, but I'd be blind to say that there isn't a connection that could be made. 

 

 

*The Book of Boba Fett is a great example of when a show can't maintain its identity. Its best episodes are its crossover episodes, during which, the main character shows up for maybe five minutes in that second crossover episode. But because of that, the show fails to main its identity. While the show has a lot of other problems, the mistake here is obvious to see - the show turned its focus to the crossover characters instead of focusing on the main characters and seeing things from their lens. I have faith Three Hopes wouldn't do that, because Fates and Echoes didn't do that. Despite having crossover characters, the focus stayed squarely on the main characters, and thus the crossover characters were unobtrusive and fun cameos at best. Those two games succeeded and failed on their own merits regardless of the crossovers, and that's what I believe will be the case with Three Hopes as well. 

Then I'd rather have no Cipher than deal with the mediocre lemon twins again. Poe at least was crafted to be a Three Houses OC so I have a better time excusing her, she fits and it'd flesh out a character who was meant to exist in Three Houses. I don't want crossovers if the game is going to live and breathe Three Houses. That's a waste of effort that can go into so many other things that actually fit what Three Hopes is trying to do. Three Houses is already a popular game, Heroes could make THs based alts without the need of dragging Three Hopes into crossover shenanigans.

I don't want the crossover characters used to flesh out an existing world, that's lazy. Do it with the current cast we already have than wasting time and effort on existing characters that don't fit in a game that happens to not be about them. It gets cluttered and the appropriate theming gets messy. I don't need more Claudes in the form of outsiders, one Claude is enough and he had little shine in Three Houses. I want the game to focus on strengthening Three Houses and give them their shot at glory than being forced to share it with an afterthought of a crossover attempt. There's so much they can do and they actively take effort away from such an ambitious project by making it about characters who have their game already. Fodlan has too much potential to bog it down with Rowan and Lianna, characters nobody cares for.

Edited by Seazas
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4 hours ago, Seazas said:

Three Houses is already a popular game, Heroes could make THs based alts without the need of dragging Three Hopes into crossover shenanigans.

I agree, and I said that. I'm just saying that if/when the opportunity presents itself, IntSys would be foolish to not seize that opportunity. 

 

4 hours ago, Seazas said:

Poe at least was crafted to be a Three Houses OC so I have a better time excusing her, she fits and it'd flesh out a character who was meant to exist in Three Houses.

Yes and no. She was fit for the world, but she's still a foreigner to it, if you look up her quotes about Fodlan. And again with Echoes, Yuzu and and Emma are from Hoshido while Shade is from Nohr, and yet if you didn't know that fact, they'd blend in fine. It's not where one comes from that matters, but how they can blend in to where they are. And I still believe that can be the case for nearly any crossover character. (Artwork helps out a lot with this, and I'm sure any crossover character would have a respectable redesign to fit into the Fodlan world.)

 

4 hours ago, Seazas said:

I don't want crossovers if the game is going to live and breathe Three Houses.

Why? A crossover wouldn't have hurt Three Houses, nor would it hurt Three Hopes. Three Hopes will stand on its own regardless of the crossover, so having it won't mean much. I've never seen a good non-crossover themed game, show, movie, or book that also had crossovers be defined by their crossovers, even if they had more than one. I believe that'd be the case with Three Hopes too. The game won't be defined by the presence of non-Fodlan characters, but by its story, gameplay, and design. (Fun fact, Valkyria Chronicles 4 had a character named Odin voiced by Kaiji Tang. It's not the same Odin, but it's a fun and light-hearted shoutout. VC4 is not defined by this shoutout or reference, even if fans who used Odin didn't do his Squad Story and discover that he's just a normal dude.) 

 

4 hours ago, Seazas said:

That's a waste of effort that can go into so many other things that actually fit what Three Hopes is trying to do.

It really doesn't have to be. The Twins and several other FEW characters have assets lying around. I can't imagine it'd be that hard to port the assets, come up with a design that fits Fodlan's design, and then write the lines and hire the voice actors that have already done the role (some of which for years at this point). For new characters, you need to come up with a concept, design a character and personality, go through several revisions most likely, write the code, find the right VO for the role, and then hire them. It's a lot longer of a process, and one that takes much more time. (Cipher characters would lean more towards the latter than the former - they'd have the concept and revising the art to fit the world wouldn't be bad at all, but the coding, VO, and everything else would take as much time as it would with a new OC. That doesn't mean it's not worth it, simply just pointing it out.)

 

4 hours ago, Seazas said:

Then I'd rather have no Cipher than deal with the mediocre lemon twins again.

You do you, but I think this is an overreaction in all honesty. You don't like the twins? That's fine! But the great thing about them being in Three Hopes would be that no one is forcing you to use them or talk to them. They're there, and if I can deal with Selena being in Fates despite her being one of my least-liked characters in Awakening, you can deal with them being in Three Hopes. The Twins also may be better received with what Three Hopes would offer: 

1. More time. From what I can gather and have seen, FEW's story is barebones and short. Giving the Twins more time in a story, even passively, could help develop them. 

2. More diverse people to talk to. The more diverse of a selection of people characters can talk to, the more opportunities they have to change and grow and for us to see different sides of them. The Twins not talking about royalty or other worlds may help them be more relatable. Or you can ignore it since they're not main characters. 

3. Less time in the spotlight. Some characters frankly aren't suited for the spotlight. To me, MCU's Doctor Strange is one of them. I like him as part of an ensemble, but he's terribly boring on his own to me. The Twins may be like that, where they shine when the spotlight isn't on them, or at least more bearable. 

 

4 hours ago, Seazas said:

I don't want the crossover characters used to flesh out an existing world, that's lazy. Do it with the current cast we already have than wasting time and effort on existing characters that don't fit in a game that happens to not be about them. It gets cluttered and the appropriate theming gets messy. I don't need more Claudes in the form of outsiders, one Claude is enough and he had little shine in Three Houses. I want the game to focus on strengthening Three Houses and give them their shot at glory than being forced to share it with an afterthought of a crossover attempt. There's so much they can do and they actively take effort away from such an ambitious project by making it about characters who have their game already. Fodlan has too much potential to bog it down with Rowan and Lianna, characters nobody cares for.

There's a lot to break down here that I completely and utterly disagree with. 

First off is crossover characters being used to flesh out an existing world being lazy. It's not lazy if done well. It's creative and illuminating in a way that in-world characters can't always give. It allows characters that should know stuff to actively know stuff and work with less "as you know" dialogue, something RPGs are rife with because they need to explain things to the audience. Back to Fates, Xander talking about his bloodline and any marks of his Crest would only work in-world to someone like Mozu, since everyone else is a noble or in close proximity to nobility that they should know that little tidbit. Having Laslow ask it not only allowed us to get a nice allusion/shout-out to Lucina, but it gave us a bit of worldbuilding that we wouldn't have gotten otherwise. That's far from lazy in my books. It's pulling double-duty at least! An outsider can also be given grace to ask or inquire about things that would otherwise be taken as insulting. Imagine if Hlida's support with Cyril was given to someone not from Fodlan, who didn't have the contextual knowledge to be anything but ignorant for a moment. Cyril can then educate them on what the reality of working for House Goneril was like, Hilda doesn't look nearly as bad for not knowing what was going on inside her own home, and we've learned something about the world. Shamir can't do that since she's Cyril's teacher, Petra can't do that since they have the outsider kindred spirits thing, and Dedue isn't nearly that ignorant. A crossover character would have worked perfectly in that situation. 

Secondly, how is it a waste of time and effort for a character to not have the game about them be in the game? It's fine for characters to exist in a game that doesn't revolve around them. That's virtually every side character ever! If you truly believe that every character that doesn't have the game revolve around them should be taken out, then Fire Emblem games would be a LOT smaller in size. Take out Ignatz and Raphael, because their stories don't impact the larger workings of Three Houses or Three Hopes at all. Take out Caspar, because he's a second son and doesn't impact anything. Take out Annette, because the only one that matters in her family is her father.

Saying certain characters don't fit a game when you haven't even tried to see if they would fit is such a silly thing also, right up there with theming getting messy. You're saying that Corrin, a character who has a storyline where it's literally about changing the system from the inside and gathering allies for a coup while fighting off an invasion all while taking down an insane and corrupt leader, wouldn't really fit in Crimson Flower, a story about changing the system from the inside while fighting off enemies from all sides and taking down and insane and corrupt leader? You're saying Corrin, a character whose unintentional actions killed their own mother, wouldn't be able to understand a modicum of the pain and guilt Dimitri went through? You're saying Corrin a character who is literally torn between two nations wouldn't understand what Claude is going through or how tough it must be for him? You're saying that Lyn, another character who has dual heritages wouldn't be able to provide a nice contrast and exploration of Claude's background and pride while shining a new light on what that pride looks like? You're saying Lucina, whose entire story is about preventing a shadowy cult from bringing destroying the world while also fighting off a conqueror in red armor wouldn't be able to thematically fit in with SS, VW, or AM, stories where a shadowy cult sometimes appears, and you have to fight off a conqueror wearing red armor? Are you saying Robin, a character all about understanding people and the bonds between one another, a character who was created literally for the purpose of being a host for a god, wouldn't understand why Byleth choses to fight with Rhea or against her in terms of overall story structure? 

Next, Three Hopes doesn't need crossover characters for a shot at glory, you're right. But to say that crossover characters actively hamper it isn't true. You're not wrong to want the game to focus on strengthening Three Houses - I do too! But I don't believe that Three Houses is a failure or a game with so much untapped potential that it fails either. Sales have been great, new fans love it. There's ton of new artwork about the characters and the game each week. It's doing fine. A semi-canon/non-canon/AU spin-off with a few minor crossovers isn't going to hurt it, and whatever happens in Three Hopes doesn't reflect Three Houses - its successes and failures are its own.** As I said above, no good game, book, move, or TV show that had crossovers that I've experienced has ever been hurt by those crossovers, major or minor. They all stood on their own, with the crossover and crossover characters either serving as a fun diversion or a fun inclusion. Sometimes I've heard people who don't know about the crossover character in these cases go "XYZ character is weird, I wonder how they fit in or what their story is," but I've never heard "XYZ takes me out of the story because they don't belong!" Hearing that, particularly in this fandom, has been such a weird experience...

You also keep missing the point that I keep saying over and over and over and over - THE CROSSOVER CHARACTERS ARE NOT THE MAIN CHARACTERS. I WOULD NOT WANT THEM TO BE MAIN CHARACTERS. THEY WOULD BE SIDE CHARACTERS WHO SIMPLY ARE IN THE STORY, JUST LIKE EVERY CHARACTER NOT NAMED SHEZ, ARVAL, BYLETH, CLAUDE, DIMITRI, EDELGARD, RHEA, OR SOTHIS. Is it that hard to get it across that crossover characters don't have to be major characters? "Yes, look at me, stealing the spotlight with my average amount of dialogue and supports compared to every other character in the game, muwahaha." It's like going to the zoo with someone who hates elephants, and the first thing they do is see the elephants and say "I hate zoo because it has elephants! Elephants are native to this area, so they don't belong!" And then they proceed to ignore the rest of the animals in the zoo, or any of the other cool things. Because of the one, relatively unobtrusive thing.

Treat the crossover characters like Fire Emblem games of past have done - just like any other character - and they'll be fine. They're not stealing the spotlight or taking away screentime or working against some overarching theme. They're not turning Three Hopes into some major crisis crossover or introducing another Big Bad that changes the impact of the story. They're not ruining the ambition of the story or game by existing in the game. They're just there, and that's fine.

Lastly, if you're tolerant of an unobtrusive crossover, the Twins are still one of the best bets. They're not as unknown as the Cipher characters, but they have more going for them: 

1. They're still relatively unknown. FEW sold well, but it's not a highly recommended game from what I've seen. Newcomers aren't likely to have that recommended to them unless they come from the Warriors/Musou genre since it's not representative of FE as a whole, nor its it a good starting point due to the crossover nature; tactics fans won't necessarily play it or recommend it because it's a hack'n'slash, unless you're part of that overlapping demographic; Awakening/Fates haters - or just those who are salty about the game like you seem to be - won't recommend it because it offends them, which is their prerogative; and those who played it but didn't like it won't recommend it based on their experience. Heroes also doesn't have the Twins, so fans who know characters from that game aren't likely to know who they are. Honestly, in Target I have seen Awakening sell at a higher price than FEW for the Switch. (So if adding them was some sort of marketing ploy, it's a bad one.) That makes it so that Rowan and Lianna are relative unknowns, making them perfect for unobtrusive yet still present crossovers. If Rowan and Lianna were announced, a person not following the social media or fandom, or just a new player in general is more likely to hear about them being crossover characters via word of mouth than anything the game says or does. That's what separates them from other FEW characters - the other characters would be noticeable crossovers. Again, this doesn't bother me, and Fates made it work, but it does work against those characters and for the Twins. 

2. Lack of effort needed. This doesn't mean "no effort needed," but far less than most other crossover characters.* (With the exception of those listed in FEW, as mentioned above.) As mentioned above, the Twins have their Warriors assets already since FEW was also on the Switch, and KT worked on that game too. Given how we've seen ports from far older games come to modern systems, I assume it's far from impossible to port the general assets over to the new game, make sure they work, and add in a few necessary details. This means that the developers can do a crossover and still save room in development for other things they may have wanted to do or add. 

3. They wouldn't be main characters. Also mentioned above, some characters work better as side-characters than main characters. I think that'd be the case for the Twins, and I think allowing them a chance to be side characters may make their presence a far more forgivable thing. 

 

 

*It's the difference between driving five hours for a one-day meeting or taking a short plane ride for said meeting. For one, you may have to drive, deal with hours of traffic, make rest stops, and book an overnight hotel. The other you just drive to the airport and deal with security and check-in items if needed. They each have their struggles and benefits, depending on which you prefer, but one can get you to your location faster thus allowing for far more breathing room because there's less you need to do.

**Granted, that's not how people perceive things, sadly. 

Edited by Use the Falchion
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1 hour ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

Imagine thinking that participating in more story and dialogue would make people like Rowan more. 

It certainly did for me with Selena. I couldn't stand Severa in Awakening. I hated her character, her story, her design, and nearly everything about her. Even her usefulness as a unit was annoying! When I first played Birthright, I was downright happy to kill her. But when I played Conquest and Revelation, I got to see this version of the character. I saw her mature. I saw her be a better person. I saw all of the negative traits she possessed in Awakening turned down and rounded out. And then I saw her supports with Subaki and Caeldori. Selena/Severa still isn't my favorite character, but that second chance definitely redeemed the character for me. 

Is it that strange to hope to see that with other characters? Is it that strange to want characters to be their best selves, even if it means being a secondary character in a different story?

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I wouldn't mind if Rowan and Lianna returned with better writing and cooler designs in a direct sequel to the original FE Warriors, but I see zero merit in bringing them or a whole bunch of other crossover characters into Three Hopes. It'd just distract from the Fodlan setting.

At most I could see, like, a single bonus character from another game (Marth? Tiki?) similar to Lyn and Celica's bonus appearances last time, but even that's pushing it when there's so many Three Houses characters to include and so little time to work on them all.

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20 minutes ago, Anomalocaris said:

I wouldn't mind if Rowan and Lianna returned with better writing and cooler designs in a direct sequel to the original FE Warriors, but I see zero merit in bringing them or a whole bunch of other crossover characters into Three Hopes. It'd just distract from the Fodlan setting.

At most I could see, like, a single bonus character from another game (Marth? Tiki?) similar to Lyn and Celica's bonus appearances last time, but even that's pushing it when there's so many Three Houses characters to include and so little time to work on them all.

Honestly, Marth or Tiki would be more distracting to me personally than Rowan and Lianna, if only because they're more well known. That isn't to say it wouldn't or couldn't work - It'd be amazing to see Tiki interact with Rhea, Seteth, and Flayn - but that feels more like a move to promote a crossover rather than having the crossover just be in the background. Marth is supposed to be the face of the franchise, so having him the background...I'd like to see that. I don't think IntSys would do that, but I'd like to see it. 

I'm also not asking for a bunch of crossover characters.* I think at most three would be fine, but the Twins are a set package. (As Eirika & Ephraim or Lyn, Eliwood, and Hector would probably be.) Lucina, Corrin, and Robin could be standalones, but I still think the three of them could work in Three Hopes and not be distracting. Three Hopes is likely to have over forty playable characters, most with new appearances, playstyles, and supports, not to mention new characters with all of those same things. I'm positive the Fodlan crew would outshine any guest appearances in terms of novelty. (Again, Marth is something of an exception in that I don't think IntSys would let Fodlan outshine him, but that's not to say he couldn't fit in naturally if the effort was put in.) 

As for a better writing and a direct sequel, I don't see why the two have to be mutually exclusive. Have Rowan and Lianna show up here and use that to see if they're popular enough (with a revised and larger demographic) to headline a sequel. Three Hopes is all but guaranteed to have better writing than FEW after all, so wouldn't you want to put them in the next game with better writing and gameplay by the same two developers and see how they do there before you have them headline a sequel? 

 

14 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

I'd rather see a new character than to have them double down on a bad character in hopes of redeeming them. Rowan and Lianna are a big no thanks from me, fam.

And that's fine! I just don't think it's an either-or situation.

Rowan and Lianna would be relatively easy to add given that their Warriors animations and assets are still there, and they would be a mostly unknown version of a crossover. New fans aren't going to go "hey, isn't that XYZ character from 123 other project?" because they're so unknown. New fans also won't come in with the same prejudices you and others have, so it may not even be a redemption for them. It's sort of like when Classic Mode was introduced. I remember seeing a fair share of "old-school "fans hate on it whereas newer fans liked the safety net. Your previous experiences will color how you feel about something, especially characters, for better and for worse. The fewer experiences you have, the more of a blank slate the character will be, yes, but that's still not a reason to not have a crossover. 

Adding them would be more of a "we have extra time and money, but not enough of ether to create a wholly new character before releasing the game - why don't we add a fun crossover?" instead of a "let's devote resources away from XYZ character into this crossover." It's using the leftover stale bread from the weekend to make bread pudding for dessert, not the fresh bread on the table tonight. 

 

 

*Let me rephrase - I'm not asking for a bunch of crossover characters outside of DLC. When it comes to DLC, I think anyone's game, and I would have liked for all of the Amiibo characters to be put in the game as instead of item or music bonuses. The items and stuff make the Amiibos more useful long-term, but they're not nearly as fun nor do they tempt me to buy them for the purpose of DLC. 

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2 minutes ago, Use the Falchion said:

As for a better writing and a direct sequel, I don't see why the two have to be mutually exclusive. Have Rowan and Lianna show up here and use that to see if they're popular enough (with a revised and larger demographic) to headline a sequel. Three Hopes is all but guaranteed to have better writing than FEW after all, so wouldn't you want to put them in the next game with better writing and gameplay by the same two developers and see how they do there before you have them headline a sequel? 

Not really, no. If Rowan and Lianna were to be "redeemed" I'd much rather it just be a game that's obligated to feature them anyway, which FEW2 would be (direct Warriors sequels pretty much always bring back the full roster). I've had a few ideas for how a "proper" FEW2 could use them, in fact.

Even if they were well-written, including them or a whole bunch of other FE characters in a game that's supposed to be focused on Three Houses would be incredibly distracting. Overextending and diluting the scope of your game/story/movie/etc. is a rookie mistake.

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25 minutes ago, Use the Falchion said:

Honestly, Marth or Tiki would be more distracting to me personally than Rowan and Lianna, if only because they're more well known. That isn't to say it wouldn't or couldn't work - It'd be amazing to see Tiki interact with Rhea, Seteth, and Flayn - but that feels more like a move to promote a crossover rather than having the crossover just be in the background. Marth is supposed to be the face of the franchise, so having him the background...I'd like to see that. I don't think IntSys would do that, but I'd like to see it. 

I'm also not asking for a bunch of crossover characters.* I think at most three would be fine, but the Twins are a set package. (As Eirika & Ephraim or Lyn, Eliwood, and Hector would probably be.) Lucina, Corrin, and Robin could be standalones, but I still think the three of them could work in Three Hopes and not be distracting. Three Hopes is likely to have over forty playable characters, most with new appearances, playstyles, and supports, not to mention new characters with all of those same things. I'm positive the Fodlan crew would outshine any guest appearances in terms of novelty. (Again, Marth is something of an exception in that I don't think IntSys would let Fodlan outshine him, but that's not to say he couldn't fit in naturally if the effort was put in.) 

As for a better writing and a direct sequel, I don't see why the two have to be mutually exclusive. Have Rowan and Lianna show up here and use that to see if they're popular enough (with a revised and larger demographic) to headline a sequel. Three Hopes is all but guaranteed to have better writing than FEW after all, so wouldn't you want to put them in the next game with better writing and gameplay by the same two developers and see how they do there before you have them headline a sequel? 

 

And that's fine! I just don't think it's an either-or situation.

Rowan and Lianna would be relatively easy to add given that their Warriors animations and assets are still there, and they would be a mostly unknown version of a crossover. New fans aren't going to go "hey, isn't that XYZ character from 123 other project?" because they're so unknown. New fans also won't come in with the same prejudices you and others have, so it may not even be a redemption for them. It's sort of like when Classic Mode was introduced. I remember seeing a fair share of "old-school "fans hate on it whereas newer fans liked the safety net. Your previous experiences will color how you feel about something, especially characters, for better and for worse. The fewer experiences you have, the more of a blank slate the character will be, yes, but that's still not a reason to not have a crossover. 

Adding them would be more of a "we have extra time and money, but not enough of ether to create a wholly new character before releasing the game - why don't we add a fun crossover?" instead of a "let's devote resources away from XYZ character into this crossover." It's using the leftover stale bread from the weekend to make bread pudding for dessert, not the fresh bread on the table tonight. 

 

 

*Let me rephrase - I'm not asking for a bunch of crossover characters outside of DLC. When it comes to DLC, I think anyone's game, and I would have liked for all of the Amiibo characters to be put in the game as instead of item or music bonuses. The items and stuff make the Amiibos more useful long-term, but they're not nearly as fun nor do they tempt me to buy them for the purpose of DLC. 

When you have characters who are bad in every regard - design AND personality, the assets you already have are pretty meaningless. You'd have to change their outfits, hair, VA, and writing. So... essentially you'd be making wholly new characters anyway.

 

It's why I'm surprised they went as far as to redesign all the students in 3H. They could have just used the existing assets and been fine. No one would have thought anything of it. And yet they chose to make more work for themselves.

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7 minutes ago, Anomalocaris said:

Overextending and diluting the scope of your game/story/movie/etc. is a rookie mistake.

It depends on how you do so. Expanding the story/game/movie is how many brilliant sequels like The Empire Strikes Back, Witcher 3, and Mass Effect 2 are made. Even certain sequels like Avengers: Age of Ultron, have aged quite well with time. (Fun fact, Empire Strikes Back wasn't actually received as well as it is today when it first came out. It had mixed critical reception; but once ROTJ came out and enough time passed, it started to be praised as the masterpiece it is.) A certain part of the FE fandom praises RD to no end, and no one can deny that it's an expansion on PoR. (I would put it as an example of your point, but there's a certain amount of respect to be given for such an expansive sequel, even if it doesn't fully succeed.) It's not about the expansion itself, but what you do within that expansion and where you focus it. All of these sequels went deeper into the lore and history of the worlds then inhabit, much like Three Hopes is primed to do. I don't think a small crossover would inhibit that. (ME2 has a suit of armor that's an homage to Dragon Age 2. It's up to the players to use it if they so desire. You can also potentially find the world where Dragon Age takes place on. But just because it's there and I didn't like DA2 doesn't mean I'm immediately thrown out of the game or offended these things are here.) 

 

9 minutes ago, Anomalocaris said:

If Rowan and Lianna were to be "redeemed" I'd much rather it just be a game that's obligated to feature them anyway, which FEW2 would be (direct Warriors sequels pretty much always bring back the full roster).

The problem with that is that if they're not liked in the first game that headlined them, they're not going to be liked in the second that headlines them. Having them on the sidelines for another project allows them the chance to become likeable enough to headline something else. If they work out in Three Hopes, great! People like them! If not, no problem! Sub them out for new leads. Besides that way, you don't have to depend on an expanded cast that may or may not live up to expectations ala FEW. 

 

 

14 minutes ago, Anomalocaris said:

I've had a few ideas for how a "proper" FEW2 could use them, in fact.

Oh I'm curious! I had an idea or two, but nothing I was incredibly happy with. Could you share it with me some time, if it's not too much to ask?

 

 

4 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

It's why I'm surprised they went as far as to redesign all the students in 3H. They could have just used the existing assets and been fine. No one would have thought anything of it. And yet they chose to make more work for themselves.

No one's saying that they haven't reused parts of assets. If the class animations are the same, unless each character has a different model for each class, then it's just adding a head to a set model. That's something that has been in FE for ages. (I remember this vividly for the 3DS games, and the Three Houses character designs are pretty similar to that also. Although feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!) 

 

6 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

When you have characters who are bad in every regard - design AND personality, the assets you already have are pretty meaningless. You'd have to change their outfits, hair, VA, and writing. So... essentially you'd be making wholly new characters anyway.

Lianna's design is great! Rowan's is...not good, but it's far from the worst design in an FE game. Caspar's new design is honestly just as bad IMO. Not to mention that the redesigns are easy to do if you have a template to work off of, which the Twins do.

Personality I'd also argue with. The great thing about Three Houses is that the characters changed over time and had ample chances to explore and deconstruct their base personalities. We learn why Sylvain is a flirt (to a degree), why Marianne has such self-doubt, why Claude is so mistrusting, and why Felix so prickly. And then those are deconstructed and ultimately reconstructed in some supports. Sylvain finds people who can empathize with his scenario and finds love. Marianne overcomes her depression and learns to accept herself and a future. Claude opens up to Byleth, to his classmates, and to the world eventually. Felix can ultimately come to repair his relationship with Dimitri and knighthood (to a degree).

The Twins can similarly be given a chance to be broken down and built back up. Rowan can go from loving knights to learning what duty and leadership is, or at least to accepting the type of leader his father was. He can learn passion is fine, but foolhardiness is deadly. (Although he'd get along great with Raphael and Caspar.) Lianna can learn knowing oneself is very healthy, but self-doubt leads to poor leadership - her people believe in her, so she must believe in herself. Those aren't arcs you can do with many characters already in the game. However, the best part about this is that it can happen passively over the game. You don't need screentime to build up or implement this arc. A few supports and some hub-world dialogue can build it up just fine. If you want more, good for you, but that's certainly not where I'd spend my time.

And why would you need to change VAs? If it worked before, it will work again. You don't have to like it, that's just how it is. I don't like the VA for Peri/Hinoka/Selkie, but I wouldn't replace her in other stuff either. 

No, wholly new characters involve a LOT more work. You don't have a personality to build off of, or a design to use as a template, or VAs you can call once you decide the character is in the game. New characters are still worth it, but saying that adding in and finding a decent arc for the Twins is the same as building an entirely new character is completely different. 

 

Anyways, I'm off to bed. I'll respond to any and all replies tomorrow. 

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29 minutes ago, Use the Falchion said:

The problem with that is that if they're not liked in the first game that headlined them, they're not going to be liked in the second that headlines them. Having them on the sidelines for another project allows them the chance to become likeable enough to headline something else. If they work out in Three Hopes, great! People like them! If not, no problem! Sub them out for new leads. Besides that way, you don't have to depend on an expanded cast that may or may not live up to expectations ala FEW. 

Oh I'm curious! I had an idea or two, but nothing I was incredibly happy with. Could you share it with me some time, if it's not too much to ask?

Well, even in the first FE Warriors they weren't exactly headlining. Yeah, they're the protagonists of the story mode, but the marketing focused almost exclusively on all the big names from past titles like Chrom, Marth, Ryoma, Xander, etc.

So I don't think they need a surprise crossover appearance in Three Hopes to "redeem" themselves in advance of a true sequel, if they're not that important to begin with.

As for my idea, the game would take place a few years later and focus on a new character or two plus all the crossover characters. Rowan and Lianna are older, more mature, and sport new designs. but are also demoted to NPCs for most of the story (leading Aytolis's knights and being a war strategist, respectively). Then near the end of the game once shit really hits the fan and it's all hands on deck, they become playable themselves, as a pair of Gotoh/Mycen archetypes, and maybe get some closure with Darios. Nothing too grandiose, just a better use for them than being the central protagonists a second time, in my opinion.

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6 hours ago, Use the Falchion said:

I agree, and I said that. I'm just saying that if/when the opportunity presents itself, IntSys would be foolish to not seize that opportunity. 

 

Yes and no. She was fit for the world, but she's still a foreigner to it, if you look up her quotes about Fodlan. And again with Echoes, Yuzu and and Emma are from Hoshido while Shade is from Nohr, and yet if you didn't know that fact, they'd blend in fine. It's not where one comes from that matters, but how they can blend in to where they are. And I still believe that can be the case for nearly any crossover character. (Artwork helps out a lot with this, and I'm sure any crossover character would have a respectable redesign to fit into the Fodlan world.)

 

Why? A crossover wouldn't have hurt Three Houses, nor would it hurt Three Hopes. Three Hopes will stand on its own regardless of the crossover, so having it won't mean much. I've never seen a good non-crossover themed game, show, movie, or book that also had crossovers be defined by their crossovers, even if they had more than one. I believe that'd be the case with Three Hopes too. The game won't be defined by the presence of non-Fodlan characters, but by its story, gameplay, and design. (Fun fact, Valkyria Chronicles 4 had a character named Odin voiced by Kaiji Tang. It's not the same Odin, but it's a fun and light-hearted shoutout. VC4 is not defined by this shoutout or reference, even if fans who used Odin didn't do his Squad Story and discover that he's just a normal dude.) 

 

It really doesn't have to be. The Twins and several other FEW characters have assets lying around. I can't imagine it'd be that hard to port the assets, come up with a design that fits Fodlan's design, and then write the lines and hire the voice actors that have already done the role (some of which for years at this point). For new characters, you need to come up with a concept, design a character and personality, go through several revisions most likely, write the code, find the right VO for the role, and then hire them. It's a lot longer of a process, and one that takes much more time. (Cipher characters would lean more towards the latter than the former - they'd have the concept and revising the art to fit the world wouldn't be bad at all, but the coding, VO, and everything else would take as much time as it would with a new OC. That doesn't mean it's not worth it, simply just pointing it out.)

 

You do you, but I think this is an overreaction in all honesty. You don't like the twins? That's fine! But the great thing about them being in Three Hopes would be that no one is forcing you to use them or talk to them. They're there, and if I can deal with Selena being in Fates despite her being one of my least-liked characters in Awakening, you can deal with them being in Three Hopes. The Twins also may be better received with what Three Hopes would offer: 

1. More time. From what I can gather and have seen, FEW's story is barebones and short. Giving the Twins more time in a story, even passively, could help develop them. 

2. More diverse people to talk to. The more diverse of a selection of people characters can talk to, the more opportunities they have to change and grow and for us to see different sides of them. The Twins not talking about royalty or other worlds may help them be more relatable. Or you can ignore it since they're not main characters. 

3. Less time in the spotlight. Some characters frankly aren't suited for the spotlight. To me, MCU's Doctor Strange is one of them. I like him as part of an ensemble, but he's terribly boring on his own to me. The Twins may be like that, where they shine when the spotlight isn't on them, or at least more bearable. 

 

There's a lot to break down here that I completely and utterly disagree with. 

First off is crossover characters being used to flesh out an existing world being lazy. It's not lazy if done well. It's creative and illuminating in a way that in-world characters can't always give. It allows characters that should know stuff to actively know stuff and work with less "as you know" dialogue, something RPGs are rife with because they need to explain things to the audience. Back to Fates, Xander talking about his bloodline and any marks of his Crest would only work in-world to someone like Mozu, since everyone else is a noble or in close proximity to nobility that they should know that little tidbit. Having Laslow ask it not only allowed us to get a nice allusion/shout-out to Lucina, but it gave us a bit of worldbuilding that we wouldn't have gotten otherwise. That's far from lazy in my books. It's pulling double-duty at least! An outsider can also be given grace to ask or inquire about things that would otherwise be taken as insulting. Imagine if Hlida's support with Cyril was given to someone not from Fodlan, who didn't have the contextual knowledge to be anything but ignorant for a moment. Cyril can then educate them on what the reality of working for House Goneril was like, Hilda doesn't look nearly as bad for not knowing what was going on inside her own home, and we've learned something about the world. Shamir can't do that since she's Cyril's teacher, Petra can't do that since they have the outsider kindred spirits thing, and Dedue isn't nearly that ignorant. A crossover character would have worked perfectly in that situation. 

Secondly, how is it a waste of time and effort for a character to not have the game about them be in the game? It's fine for characters to exist in a game that doesn't revolve around them. That's virtually every side character ever! If you truly believe that every character that doesn't have the game revolve around them should be taken out, then Fire Emblem games would be a LOT smaller in size. Take out Ignatz and Raphael, because their stories don't impact the larger workings of Three Houses or Three Hopes at all. Take out Caspar, because he's a second son and doesn't impact anything. Take out Annette, because the only one that matters in her family is her father.

Saying certain characters don't fit a game when you haven't even tried to see if they would fit is such a silly thing also, right up there with theming getting messy. You're saying that Corrin, a character who has a storyline where it's literally about changing the system from the inside and gathering allies for a coup while fighting off an invasion all while taking down an insane and corrupt leader, wouldn't really fit in Crimson Flower, a story about changing the system from the inside while fighting off enemies from all sides and taking down and insane and corrupt leader? You're saying Corrin, a character whose unintentional actions killed their own mother, wouldn't be able to understand a modicum of the pain and guilt Dimitri went through? You're saying Corrin a character who is literally torn between two nations wouldn't understand what Claude is going through or how tough it must be for him? You're saying that Lyn, another character who has dual heritages wouldn't be able to provide a nice contrast and exploration of Claude's background and pride while shining a new light on what that pride looks like? You're saying Lucina, whose entire story is about preventing a shadowy cult from bringing destroying the world while also fighting off a conqueror in red armor wouldn't be able to thematically fit in with SS, VW, or AM, stories where a shadowy cult sometimes appears, and you have to fight off a conqueror wearing red armor? Are you saying Robin, a character all about understanding people and the bonds between one another, a character who was created literally for the purpose of being a host for a god, wouldn't understand why Byleth choses to fight with Rhea or against her in terms of overall story structure? 

Next, Three Hopes doesn't need crossover characters for a shot at glory, you're right. But to say that crossover characters actively hamper it isn't true. You're not wrong to want the game to focus on strengthening Three Houses - I do too! But I don't believe that Three Houses is a failure or a game with so much untapped potential that it fails either. Sales have been great, new fans love it. There's ton of new artwork about the characters and the game each week. It's doing fine. A semi-canon/non-canon/AU spin-off with a few minor crossovers isn't going to hurt it, and whatever happens in Three Hopes doesn't reflect Three Houses - its successes and failures are its own.** As I said above, no good game, book, move, or TV show that had crossovers that I've experienced has ever been hurt by those crossovers, major or minor. They all stood on their own, with the crossover and crossover characters either serving as a fun diversion or a fun inclusion. Sometimes I've heard people who don't know about the crossover character in these cases go "XYZ character is weird, I wonder how they fit in or what their story is," but I've never heard "XYZ takes me out of the story because they don't belong!" Hearing that, particularly in this fandom, has been such a weird experience...

You also keep missing the point that I keep saying over and over and over and over - THE CROSSOVER CHARACTERS ARE NOT THE MAIN CHARACTERS. I WOULD NOT WANT THEM TO BE MAIN CHARACTERS. THEY WOULD BE SIDE CHARACTERS WHO SIMPLY ARE IN THE STORY, JUST LIKE EVERY CHARACTER NOT NAMED SHEZ, ARVAL, BYLETH, CLAUDE, DIMITRI, EDELGARD, RHEA, OR SOTHIS. Is it that hard to get it across that crossover characters don't have to be major characters? "Yes, look at me, stealing the spotlight with my average amount of dialogue and supports compared to every other character in the game, muwahaha." It's like going to the zoo with someone who hates elephants, and the first thing they do is see the elephants and say "I hate zoo because it has elephants! Elephants are native to this area, so they don't belong!" And then they proceed to ignore the rest of the animals in the zoo, or any of the other cool things. Because of the one, relatively unobtrusive thing.

Treat the crossover characters like Fire Emblem games of past have done - just like any other character - and they'll be fine. They're not stealing the spotlight or taking away screentime or working against some overarching theme. They're not turning Three Hopes into some major crisis crossover or introducing another Big Bad that changes the impact of the story. They're not ruining the ambition of the story or game by existing in the game. They're just there, and that's fine.

Lastly, if you're tolerant of an unobtrusive crossover, the Twins are still one of the best bets. They're not as unknown as the Cipher characters, but they have more going for them: 

1. They're still relatively unknown. FEW sold well, but it's not a highly recommended game from what I've seen. Newcomers aren't likely to have that recommended to them unless they come from the Warriors/Musou genre since it's not representative of FE as a whole, nor its it a good starting point due to the crossover nature; tactics fans won't necessarily play it or recommend it because it's a hack'n'slash, unless you're part of that overlapping demographic; Awakening/Fates haters - or just those who are salty about the game like you seem to be - won't recommend it because it offends them, which is their prerogative; and those who played it but didn't like it won't recommend it based on their experience. Heroes also doesn't have the Twins, so fans who know characters from that game aren't likely to know who they are. Honestly, in Target I have seen Awakening sell at a higher price than FEW for the Switch. (So if adding them was some sort of marketing ploy, it's a bad one.) That makes it so that Rowan and Lianna are relative unknowns, making them perfect for unobtrusive yet still present crossovers. If Rowan and Lianna were announced, a person not following the social media or fandom, or just a new player in general is more likely to hear about them being crossover characters via word of mouth than anything the game says or does. That's what separates them from other FEW characters - the other characters would be noticeable crossovers. Again, this doesn't bother me, and Fates made it work, but it does work against those characters and for the Twins. 

2. Lack of effort needed. This doesn't mean "no effort needed," but far less than most other crossover characters.* (With the exception of those listed in FEW, as mentioned above.) As mentioned above, the Twins have their Warriors assets already since FEW was also on the Switch, and KT worked on that game too. Given how we've seen ports from far older games come to modern systems, I assume it's far from impossible to port the general assets over to the new game, make sure they work, and add in a few necessary details. This means that the developers can do a crossover and still save room in development for other things they may have wanted to do or add. 

3. They wouldn't be main characters. Also mentioned above, some characters work better as side-characters than main characters. I think that'd be the case for the Twins, and I think allowing them a chance to be side characters may make their presence a far more forgivable thing. 

 

 

*It's the difference between driving five hours for a one-day meeting or taking a short plane ride for said meeting. For one, you may have to drive, deal with hours of traffic, make rest stops, and book an overnight hotel. The other you just drive to the airport and deal with security and check-in items if needed. They each have their struggles and benefits, depending on which you prefer, but one can get you to your location faster thus allowing for far more breathing room because there's less you need to do.

**Granted, that's not how people perceive things, sadly. 

Echoes is a different game. It's not a add on to Gaiden, it's a remake that advertised Cipher as DLC. It was a blatant advertisement and they were intrusive to the point they blatantly aren't canon to SOV's story as no one in the army acknowledges their existence. It still works well enough as SOV was doing advertisements before the Cipher DLC such as the 7/11 items. Three Hopes is not marketing anything.

In regards to your argument about it "not being lazy", they're rehashing characters that they don't even own or fully wrote than further exploring Fodlan. Koei has a freedom and opportunity like no other than bringing randoms like Robin back. And all that shit you're suggesting is unneeded filler at best. If you can't properly build your world without hinging on forced crossovers then that's a matter of writer incompetency than things being limited.

So you want them to pour in lots of resources for these crossover characters. You tried to argue that it's a super simple port but it's blatantly not. They have to make 3Hs portraits, more support conversations, depict them in all the base camp activities, fit them in the brand new class system (mounted units like Xander, Leo, and Elise would have to get reworked for the new dismount system) and alter a LOT about their models to fully fit in the Three Houses style. That's not a copy paste job, they're making brand new characters at that point at the expense of everything else they could focus on. Characters take lots of resources.

To compare Caspar, Raphael, and Ignatz... Characters who exist in their world and are meant to exist in their world from the very beginning to needless crossover fodder is insane. That's awful logic. Side characters exist for the world they're built into. Crossovers are nothing but collabs and shoutouts to something outside of the pre-built world. Leave them out. I firmly believe Three Hopes performing crossover bullshit hampers the focus it's originally aiming to do. 

No they don't. The characters you're trying to defend and justify fitting in Three Houses don't work. I don't really care if Robin "relates to Byleth" when they're otherworldly and don't belong in Fodlan and the prebuilt characters for a game centered around that prebuilt nature. They do not belong at all. If we desire these interactions so bad, have Lyn interact with Claude in a proper Warriors sequel, don't drag down an independent game for these crossover characters. The Hyrule Warriors "sidequel" didn't do it, FE shouldn't be the exception.

"No one is forcing you to use them" Except lots of resources WILL go into the twins at the expense of others. Lots of writing and effort will exist if those ugly twins are treated as full fledged characters that get the "necessary details". Koei ultimately has limited resources and time, it should go into making Three Hopes expand upon Three Houses as much as possible. I could care less if the lemon twins are main characters or not, the crossover characters would still take time and resources: resources that are better allocated elsewhere. The twins are obtrusive and needlessly clutter space.

You repeat that point when it doesn't change what I'm arguing. IT DOES NOT MATTER if they are main characters or not, they're still getting supports and effort like every other character and that effort is obtrusive and a blatant waste. Three Hopes is doing a lot as is, wasting time on crossover characters is dumb when they can be focusing on further expanding Fodlan like Strikers and Age of Calamity successfully did. They don't belong, I don't care if they're treated as normal characters, they stick out like a sore thumb anyway and makes their inclusions feel forced. They're either important with a focus on a crossover story or the most shoehorned cameos ever. Either or, I don't like it.

Edited by Seazas
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8 hours ago, Anomalocaris said:

As for my idea, the game would take place a few years later and focus on a new character or two plus all the crossover characters. Rowan and Lianna are older, more mature, and sport new designs. but are also demoted to NPCs for most of the story (leading Aytolis's knights and being a war strategist, respectively). Then near the end of the game once shit really hits the fan and it's all hands on deck, they become playable themselves, as a pair of Gotoh/Mycen archetypes, and maybe get some closure with Darios. Nothing too grandiose, just a better use for them than being the central protagonists a second time, in my opinion.

Ah, interesting! Not a bad idea! Thanks for sharing!

 

8 hours ago, Anomalocaris said:

Well, even in the first FE Warriors they weren't exactly headlining. Yeah, they're the protagonists of the story mode, but the marketing focused almost exclusively on all the big names from past titles like Chrom, Marth, Ryoma, Xander, etc.

So I don't think they need a surprise crossover appearance in Three Hopes to "redeem" themselves in advance of a true sequel, if they're not that important to begin with.

Ah, gotcha. Fair points. I still think that lack of importance, relative anonymity, and reusable assets still make them the best choices for a crossover, though. 

 

7 hours ago, Seazas said:

Three Hopes is not marketing anything.

Not yet really, but they HAVE been promoting bonuses that come from owning FEW and/or Three Houses. That's an easy tie-in for FEW later on if desired. 

 

7 hours ago, Seazas said:

If you can't properly build your world without hinging on forced crossovers then that's a matter of writer incompetency than things being limited.

Why do you keep thinking that crossovers need to be forced or things can't work without them? That's not what I'm saying and that's not what I believe would be happening. Can a game work without a crossover? YES! Does Three Hopes need a crossover to function? No! But it's cool and harmless. It's not going to ruin the game or make anything incompetent. I really don't know why you keep pushing that narrative. 

 

7 hours ago, Seazas said:

they're rehashing characters that they don't even own or fully wrote than further exploring Fodlan.

I've given three examples of characters not being from a game being used to further explore the game. You're not listening at this point, so I'm done trying to explain this. 

 

7 hours ago, Seazas said:

And all that shit you're suggesting is unneeded filler at best.

Unneeded yeah, but that doesn't mean it can't be fun or a highlight of the game. The Ashen Wolves were unneeded filler - you can (and probably have) played the game without them. But before they're some of the most hotly contested characters for Three Hopes right now. They weren't needed to explain anything in Three Houses. But they were added because the developers wanted them, and they didn't hurt anything. The Citadel DLC to Mass Effect 3 is unneeded filler, and it's considered one of the best DLCs of the series by fans who've played it, right up there with Leviathan (which is overrated IMO, but still fun) and Javik's DLC (which is considered all but mandatory to some fans). 

Unneeded filler isn't bad. Unneeded filler probably won't even be harmful so long as it's neither mandatory nor stopping you from proceeding onto the story. Games aren't like books or shows, where you're forced to proceed through XYZ things every time. There may be a tutorial section, and then after that it's free reign. If the Twins are in the game and you don't want to recruit them, that's your prerogative. You're not losing out on anything you didn't want. You get to cut that filler out. But for those who may like the Twins or like recruiting every character, they're worth it. 

 

7 hours ago, Seazas said:

To compare Caspar, Raphael, and Ignatz... Characters who exist in their world and are meant to exist in their world from the very beginning to needless crossover fodder is insane. That's awful logic. Side characters exist for the world they're built into. Crossovers are nothing but collabs and shoutouts to something outside of the pre-built world.

This was to counter your point about characters who don't have the story revolve around them being useless, not the how side characters shouldn't exist. Don't change the meaning of your own point. 

Oh, and side characters exist to fill up a world and it honestly doesn't need to be for the world they're built into. Crossover characters can be side characters in other stories and still work fine in that world without drawing attention to themselves, being noticeable, or disrupting the story. I've seen it multiple times. Heck, I've seen cases where when the character was noticed, it didn't change a thing. Your idea that crossover characters can't exist in other worlds without being distracting, spotlight-stealing, or well-integrated is just plain wrong. They can work. They have worked, even within Fire Emblem. But you don't like to acknowledge that. 

 

7 hours ago, Seazas said:

They do not belong at all. If we desire these interactions so bad, have Lyn interact with Claude in a proper Warriors sequel, don't drag down an independent game for these crossover characters.

Why not both? Why be stuck in this either-or binary of interactions and possibilities? 

 

7 hours ago, Seazas said:

IT DOES NOT MATTER if they are main characters or not, they're still getting supports and effort like every other character and that effort is obtrusive and a blatant waste. Three Hopes is doing a lot as is, wasting time on crossover characters is dumb when they can be focusing on further expanding Fodlan like Strikers and Age of Calamity successfully did. They don't belong, I don't care if they're treated as normal characters, they stick out like a sore thumb anyway and makes their inclusions feel forced. They're either important with a focus on a crossover story or the most shoehorned cameos ever. Either or, I don't like it.

First is that they'd only feel forced if their designs weren't modified (and of course they'd be modified! You're not going to just implant FEW's artstyle into Three Hopes! You're going to smooth things over to make sure it looks like it fits. It's just easier to do that with a template already there than to come up with concept art, making sure it fits and the higher-ups like it before building the specs in the game)  and to people who know who they are - which, as I keep saying, is a smaller audience than I think you and others assume. 

Second, as I also keep saying, there's no reason KT can't have their cake and eat it too. Going deep into the lore of Fodlan and expanding the world and conflict don't mean that a crossover can't happen nor that there's not a use for it. You don't like that use, but that's different from there not being a use. 

You don't like it and that's fine, but not liking something is different from it not working. I don't like Logan, Invincible, or The Boys, but that doesn't mean none of these stories work or that I'd ban them from attempting things within the show (or even crossovers). Just because I don't like a character in Fire Emblem doesn't mean I can't see them crossing over. I hate Makalov, but that doesn't mean he couldn't work in Three Hopes. I wouldn't want him in Three Hopes or any other game because his presence would upset me and I think Balthus is a more likeable version of a similar trope, but that's a different thing than saying he can't work. 

 

But you don't want it and that's fine. @Seazas I'm probably going to just have to agree to disagree with you, because I can feel myself getting heated and these are supposed to be fun conversations, not particularly heated ones. You have a good day. Go forth, be happy. Enjoy your crossover-free games.

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I'm all for crossovers happening in the form of postgame outrealm portals, history maps, and/or free mode. I'm just opposed to the twins specifically. The best case scenario for returning characters would be to have literally everyone return but them.

 

Which is also not an unrealistic scenario for even a direct sequel, as original characters often don't return.

 

(Also, I disagree with Rowan being "far from the worst design. He's easily bottom 5-10%, and even that high is because the franchise is literred with intentionally ugly villains).

Edited by Fabulously Olivier
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On 5/4/2022 at 3:16 AM, Seazas said:

Not a chance. The Ashen Wolves' big identity is being the Ashen Wolves. I don't want them if they get needlessly scattered across the houses, I loved the idea of them being a team.

On the other hand they kinda naturally drift apart into different houses if their backstories, support and personalities is anything to go by. 

The most obvious place for the king of grappling to go is the Alliance due to being Holst's buddy, just as fighting for the Empire just makes the most sense for Constance. Hapi might most strongly lean to the Kingdom, since her nemesis is the most involved in that story, and of all lords she seems closest to ''Didi''. 

Their supports also reflect this with Balthus having the most Alliance one, Constance the most Imperial ones, and Hapi the most kingdom ones. 

Edited by Etrurian emperor
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1 minute ago, Etrurian emperor said:

On the other hand they kinda naturally drift apart into different houses if their backstories, support and personalities is anything to go by. 

The most obvious place for the king of grappling to go is the Alliance due to being Holst's buddy, just as fighting for the Empire just makes the most sense for Constance. Hapi might most strongly lean to the Kingdom, since her nemesis is the most involved in that story, and of all lords she seems closest to ''Didi''. 

Their supports also reflect this with Balthus having the most Alliance one, Constance the most Imperial ones, and Hapi the most kingdom ones. 

This. The only outlier is Yuri himself since his drifter backstory has him strongly associated with both the Kingdom (House Rowe) and the Empire (Bernie). I would place him more in the empire since House Rowe sides with Cornelia against Dimitri anyway, and he has more Empire supports.

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27 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

This. The only outlier is Yuri himself since his drifter backstory has him strongly associated with both the Kingdom (House Rowe) and the Empire (Bernie). I would place him more in the empire since House Rowe sides with Cornelia against Dimitri anyway, and he has more Empire supports.

He's definitely the wildcard that can go in any direction or none of them. Though I don't think his ties with House Rowe would influence him much. He seems to have broken ties with them and never talks about going back.

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Just now, Etrurian emperor said:

He's definitely the wildcard that can go in any direction or none of them. Though I don't think his ties with House Rowe would influence him much. He seems to have broken ties with them and never talks about going back.

True. But it certainly was interesting to see him be one of the only characters to have a unique battle dialogue with Gwendal.

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On 5/25/2022 at 6:24 AM, Etrurian emperor said:

On the other hand they kinda naturally drift apart into different houses if their backstories, support and personalities is anything to go by. 

The most obvious place for the king of grappling to go is the Alliance due to being Holst's buddy, just as fighting for the Empire just makes the most sense for Constance. Hapi might most strongly lean to the Kingdom, since her nemesis is the most involved in that story, and of all lords she seems closest to ''Didi''. 

Their supports also reflect this with Balthus having the most Alliance one, Constance the most Imperial ones, and Hapi the most kingdom ones. 

The small amount of supports they have also feature them supporting with each other. Their central identity ties into them being Gray Wolves with their own disconnected underground world due to Fodlan not favoring them enough in fate to the point they lose everything.

On 5/25/2022 at 5:47 AM, Use the Falchion said:

Why do you keep thinking that crossovers need to be forced or things can't work without them? That's not what I'm saying and that's not what I believe would be happening. Can a game work without a crossover? YES! Does Three Hopes need a crossover to function? No! But it's cool and harmless. It's not going to ruin the game or make anything incompetent. I really don't know why you keep pushing that narrative. 

 

I've given three examples of characters not being from a game being used to further explore the game. You're not listening at this point, so I'm done trying to explain this. 

 

Unneeded yeah, but that doesn't mean it can't be fun or a highlight of the game. The Ashen Wolves were unneeded filler - you can (and probably have) played the game without them. But before they're some of the most hotly contested characters for Three Hopes right now. They weren't needed to explain anything in Three Houses. But they were added because the developers wanted them, and they didn't hurt anything. The Citadel DLC to Mass Effect 3 is unneeded filler, and it's considered one of the best DLCs of the series by fans who've played it, right up there with Leviathan (which is overrated IMO, but still fun) and Javik's DLC (which is considered all but mandatory to some fans). 

Unneeded filler isn't bad. Unneeded filler probably won't even be harmful so long as it's neither mandatory nor stopping you from proceeding onto the story. Games aren't like books or shows, where you're forced to proceed through XYZ things every time. There may be a tutorial section, and then after that it's free reign. If the Twins are in the game and you don't want to recruit them, that's your prerogative. You're not losing out on anything you didn't want. You get to cut that filler out. But for those who may like the Twins or like recruiting every character, they're worth it. 

 

This was to counter your point about characters who don't have the story revolve around them being useless, not the how side characters shouldn't exist. Don't change the meaning of your own point. 

Oh, and side characters exist to fill up a world and it honestly doesn't need to be for the world they're built into. Crossover characters can be side characters in other stories and still work fine in that world without drawing attention to themselves, being noticeable, or disrupting the story. I've seen it multiple times. Heck, I've seen cases where when the character was noticed, it didn't change a thing. Your idea that crossover characters can't exist in other worlds without being distracting, spotlight-stealing, or well-integrated is just plain wrong. They can work. They have worked, even within Fire Emblem. But you don't like to acknowledge that. 

 

Why not both? Why be stuck in this either-or binary of interactions and possibilities? 

 

First is that they'd only feel forced if their designs weren't modified (and of course they'd be modified! You're not going to just implant FEW's artstyle into Three Hopes! You're going to smooth things over to make sure it looks like it fits. It's just easier to do that with a template already there than to come up with concept art, making sure it fits and the higher-ups like it before building the specs in the game)  and to people who know who they are - which, as I keep saying, is a smaller audience than I think you and others assume. 

Second, as I also keep saying, there's no reason KT can't have their cake and eat it too. Going deep into the lore of Fodlan and expanding the world and conflict don't mean that a crossover can't happen nor that there's not a use for it. You don't like that use, but that's different from there not being a use. 

You don't like it and that's fine, but not liking something is different from it not working. I don't like Logan, Invincible, or The Boys, but that doesn't mean none of these stories work or that I'd ban them from attempting things within the show (or even crossovers). Just because I don't like a character in Fire Emblem doesn't mean I can't see them crossing over. I hate Makalov, but that doesn't mean he couldn't work in Three Hopes. I wouldn't want him in Three Hopes or any other game because his presence would upset me and I think Balthus is a more likeable version of a similar trope, but that's a different thing than saying he can't work. 

 

But you don't want it and that's fine.  I'm probably going to just have to agree to disagree with you, because I can feel myself getting heated and these are supposed to be fun conversations, not particularly heated ones. You have a good day. Go forth, be happy. Enjoy your crossover-free games.

I think it because Three Hopes isn't focused on a crossover narrative. If you're going to include brand new existing faces, either put extensive effort into explaining why they're there and make them important or leave them in their worlds. Especially when they're going to be full fledged characters in comparison to the blatant ads like Cipher DLC where Echoes doesn't even try to fit them in the story. There's no reason to have them if they aren't important in the grand scheme of things. It's not "harmless" they're making brand new characters with loads of resources poured into them at the expense of a lot of other things they'd be better off doing. 

I just don't like your ideas as they can explore Fodlan without the need of crossover characters. It muddies the waters a lot as they'd be then forced to split the resources into having the character reminisce their own worlds, the impact of that, and give purpose to why they're there (something that is inevitable as shown by every other character inclusion in collabs)... If you want to make the crossovers worth a damn anyway. That reeks of nothing but incompetence if the writer needs to shoehorn Robin from Awakening in order to explain something from Fodlan. Meanwhile new/Fodlan based characters will talk about their homes, no matter what they have more room to explore than with established characters. Fodlan characters that exist such as the Ashen Wolves have their entire lives and stories told in Fodlan only. Brand new crossover characters would tie in to what we know about them, their lives would relate to something outside of the borders of Fodlan's world. And not in a unique way like Brigid, their worlds would NOT exist in Three Houses' continuity so we get nothing out of Marth's relations to Archanea or the twins' relations to their own mediocre kingdom.

Ashen Wolves are automatically better as they're new characters that easily expanded on things without going "hey, hey! remember this funny character you love? haha, isn't that a cool reference??? references are great!", their backstories were specifically tying into the houses, crests, and ideas we know about. You cannot relate Robin's experiences of slaying Grima and being raised in Awakening's world the same way as you can with Yuri living somewhere in Fodlan since childhood. "You get to cut the filler out" No I cannot, as they're full fledged characters that got priority over other ideas and have canon impact + supports. They would get a ton of resources that could've went into making Three Hopes even better. They aren't low effort inclusions, they would have to sacrifice cool things from Three Hopes to make it about these randoms.

That comparison does not work in every way. Side characters exist for a reason, crossover characters exist for a different reason. They aren't the same, keeping needless crossover characters far away do not correlate. That'd be like saying Persona 5 Royale or Persona 5 Strikers should've cut everyone outside of Joker and Ryuji because they didn't bring back characters from other Persona games as playable characters. Instead it did its own independent thing. Three Hopes is automatically less independent by trying to drag itself into obligatory crossovers.

It's blatantly intrusive, they don't serve an irreplaceable purpose here. Crossover characters just aren't a good idea for this game and it blatantly detracts resources from other things. The game would not be crafted with them in mind like your other examples, also the examples in FE are bad to use as they're also obtrusive and left plenty of bad writing holes that made ZERO sense in the actual story.

"Both" that's not feasible with limited resources. You'll get more crossovers in the future, Three Hopes should be its own thing than discount FEW but with a Fodlan coat of paint.

That's not my point. Seeing the same students then random people like Marth standing next to them and supposed to be apart of Fodlan is a massive clash, regardless if he's in the style or not. Especially when it's taking place in only Fodlan, not a brand new world or multiple worlds clashing kind of thing. The chars clashing so hard is one of the biggest appeals with crossover ideas so it's hard to deny that established FE chars would not stand out a lot in Fodlan's world.

"They can have their cake and eat it too" they cannot. That's overambition and overambition is the entire reason Claude and El got left with shells of routes w/ Dimitri also being forced into Silver Snow leftovers to a degree. They tried to juggle way too much and it led to something getting shafted. The same WILL happen to full fledged crossover characters because it's already been proven that it isn't a low effort copy paste job. Three Hopes being purely about Three Houses while condensing elements of the original game opens brand new opportunities for Fodlan with the existing characters we have. We're already seeing instances of this with Felix actually mattering to the plot. I want more of that than Koei balancing characters who don't need to be there. Not everything needs to be a crossover, I like focused games too.

It fundamentally does not work. Resources are limited and we'd be sacrificing something from Three Houses in favor of random characters out of their element. I don't want that. 

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