[Chapter 6 choice too early?]

Something has been bothering me about the in-game decision regarding whether to support Hoshido or Nohr, and that is the timing of the decision.

According to the information we have, the choice whether to support either Hoshido or Nohr occurs within chapter 6. While this may make sense from certain standpoints (because the game is being shipped in two versions, "we need to differentiate the two quickly so consumers don't feel cheated") to me at least, this seems way too early in the game. For the sake of comparison, in Awakening, Chapter 6 was the assassination attempt on Emmeryn. At this point in the game, we have yet to meet the full cast of 1st gen characters, nor have we, as the avatar, made it very far in our support convos, so we know little about the characters we do have. If Robin were forced to pick between Chrom and Validar at this point, it is quite obvious who he/she would side with baring some magic trickery from Validar.

For If, assuming the 1st 6 chapters flow similar to the ones in Awakening, Kamui will likely be trying to right wrongs (i.e the usual bandit problem every Fire Emblem beginning seems to have) in Nohr with his adopted family. I could potentially see IS introducing the Honshido (Honshidoan?) family during this time, but if so, how would they do it and convince the player to bond with them enough to betray their adoptive family in the short time before chapter 6? The fact that the cutscene in the trailer that appears to shows Kamui making their decision takes place with the two families standing in front of their respectful armies suggests to me at least that the situation was tense enough, if not downright hostile, prior to this event that Kamui would not have had time to really get to know his/her true family, as any request for the two families to meet probably would have been viewed by the other as a great way to assassinate the entire royal family in one strike.

I guess overall, I feel like the biggest choice in this game occurs way to early to make narrative sense. If I was in Kamui's position, I know who I would side with; the people who welcomed me into their own family despite my heritage and treat me as one of them. Not some mooks who claim to be my true blood family. Then again, I suppose we will know more once the game comes out in Japan and someone lets us know what happens.

If i have gotten some information wrong, or if you see flaws in my argument, please point them out.

[Good day!]

Good morning/afternoon/evening/night everyone!

With the release of Fire Emblem If for those in Japan coming soon, and for those of us outside of Japan next year (why?), and after having floated around these forums for a while, I decided to join the conversations here.

I originally played Fire Emblem Blazing Sword back in 2003 when it hit the states, and the franchise has always held a place as one of the strategy games I play and replay. Of all the games in the franchise, the only ones I have not played are the original and some of the snes titles.

As for myself, I am an International Studies undergraduate who enjoys playing video games (mostly strategy and RPGs) and Warhammer Fantasy. I do not usually frequent forums, but I hope I can afford the time to be at least semi-active here.

I look forward to getting to know all of you while we debate the finer merits of Fire Emblem!