Medeus

Aw, Flannel's are so adorable! Also, I'll fourth the wish to be able to decorate our weapons and mounts, my dragon desires shiny rubies on his armor!

That's pretty much my issue with it as well. I don't mind incest in stories as long as it has helps develop plot and characters that you're trying to tell, which stories like the ones you mentioned did well. Fates is very clearly only doing it for fetish pandering, and as mentioned before, it does the opposite of help the story and characters since it neuters an important thematic for the game. So to me, the incest is horribly handled and comes across as just pointless fanservice.

Thanks, it may not be official, but at least it gives us an idea of what's done for the game so far. It was, it's not present in any version of the game. What makes it interesting is that it may've been CERO who had something to do with that, particularly if this interview is any indication.

Do you have the link to where that was said? I don't remember it, but I'd like to have that information on hand.

Looking at the localization change subsection, it looks like the only game that they changed growth rates for was Sacred Stones, so I don't think they'll mess with them. Base stats and weapon ranks I could see as they have done that a bit more often before, and it'd be nice if they did that since a few characters could benefit from getting those changes. Another thing I'll say on the matter is that in terms of gameplay changes, they could address some of the complaints about certain maps. For instance, Nohr's Chapter 19 seems to get a lot of flack due to how RNG based the level can be due to the Foxes, addressing that in localization would help in making the difficulty smoother and the gameplay better for players.

According to GameFAQs, Nintendo Dream ran a poll recently for all of the characters and they posted the results. I'm still looking for the source to verify it, but you can look at the thread here. Results were:

The thing with Sacred Stones is that Lyon and Formortiis work within the realms of the story that the game made, they don't really need to be changed for the story to be better. Formortiis is a generic villain, but the way the story treats him ends up working to its advantage since it benefits Lyon by connection. He acts as a force that corrupts and exaggerates his bottled up desires, adding to the tragedy of his fall and developing him at the same time, that couldn't really be pulled off if they went for a gray angle as both characters being on the opposite spectrums that they are allowed for that dynamic. Granted, I'm not going to say that having generic villains just for the sake of them is OK, and I wouldn't be happy if Formortiis' role was completely like Grima's. Having said that however, the thing about villains is that they have to work in a way that benefits the story and characters around them, and personally, that's what I think Sacred Stones managed to do with its villains. It doesn't need to be changed otherwise as it used the characters it had well.

If they're doing it like Awakening's, most likely the entire cast from the most liked male/female to the least liked of their groups.

Voted for Flannel and Oboro today, I'll vote for a couple more of my favorites on each side over the next couple days.

I'd honestly use the generic Witch just for that portrait and the animations, the class looks great!​ That's good to hear, while I figured they would since Vanguard gave out its skills to female characters, it's nice to know that male characters will have the same skill available to them and I don't have to worry about another Galeforce situation.

I like the idea of an Avatar, but I don't feel that they've been handled well overall. Kris, just screw him. Forced into a plot where he didn't belong, built up to be some a tremendous character that Marth sees him as his other half, and is hyped up in the plot even at its expense. He's honestly the worst example to me since he warps an existing plot around him rather then a plot catered to him being warped like with Kamui and to a lesser extent, Robin. Kamui is also pretty bad, mostly because the game refuses to let him grow from the consequences he causes. I've seen a lot of fans bring up Lief and I agree that there's a huge contrast with them, Lief made stupid mistakes and paid for them, and thus had to grow as a character. Kamui doesn't really make any mistakes that forces him to grow, so he never feels challenged in the same way. Additionally, a number of characters are completely warped around him to an unhealthy extent such as Camilla, who has barely any characterization outside of her love for Kamui. He could've worked if the narrative balanced out his role in the plot as well as his effect on other characters, but as it is now, he's a Black Hole Sue to me. Robin is the best of the lot, though I will admit that's not saying much. I still do have a number of problems with Robin since he falls into some of the same traps that Kamui and Kris do such as warping the plot a bit around him (especially towards the end) and the fact that the choices we have don't really have a consequence (Do you choose to kill Grima or let Chrom do it? Doesn't matter, you live anyway, just kill him yourself as you're not dying). However, I will give him credit in that it's not as bad as Kamui or Kris, and at least for some of the plot, he's treated as a secondary character and thus doesn't overtake others for a time. He's still not a good example, but at least he had some good points to him compared to the others.

I'm happy to see that Elincia's Gambit came back as that was one of my favorite maps in RD, I look forward to seeing how they adapt it for Fates. Also, I like the portraits for the Witch and Ballistician classes.

Some comments on the survey: While it's nice to get a lot of the positive feedback about the game, I would've liked to see some of the negative critiques. Granted, the questions didn't lend too well to that, but it did seem a lot more skewered towards positive feedback and it was disappointing to not get a fuller idea for how they felt about the entire game. I'm pretty surprised at how little of an impression that Phoenix Mode seemed to leave on fans. I was pretty sure that more would use it for casual play, but it seems that most just ignored it and used the other modes. So I'm curious if they'll bring it back for future installments due to the lukewarm receptions it seems to have received. Finally, I'm very surprised (and happy) at how well Oboro did as not only did she make it into the top ten, she managed to be Ryoma, Aqua and the Hoshidan sisters despite being much more prevalent in the plot. I guess that goes to show how well handled she was as a character if she left that much of an impression on fans. On the same note, while she still broke the top ten, Aqua ended up scoring lower on it then I expected her to. Considering that she's has the second most focus in the plot after Kamui and characters like her tend to do better then that (ex. Lucina), I figured she'd be within the top 3, but all of the Nohr siblings as well as Takumi and Oboro all beat her out (and Ryoma was only off by two votes). Overall, these were interesting to read. While I didn't agree with all of the results, it was nice to get a larger sample size for feedback about the game.

Not all stories have to be gray vs. gray morality, that much is true, however, I don't think Fates even succeeded as a black and white story either. Even if the perspective was supposed to be Nohr is the generic evil empire and Hoshido the generic defending army, the former is horribly developed in that regard and gets nothing in the way of being a fleshed out nation. The Nohr siblings have motives, but they're underdeveloped and tossed aside as soon as Slime Garon gets into the picture, any sympathetic angles that could've been developed like the lack of resources thing is barely given any attention, and three of Nohr's top villains are generic mustache twirlers with no character to them otherwise. So with that in mind, I don't feel Fates succeeded in either respects, whether it'd be as a gray morality story or a black and white one because one of the nations and its characters aren't fleshed out well enough and have a lot of untapped potential. This is especially the case if we look at previous Fire Emblem games like Sacred Stones, which managed to flesh out its evil nation and the villains there better by giving them more personal and detailed motives then what we got with Fates, and Sacred Stones didn't have the luxury of us being able to play as that nation to understand them. So I don't think Nohr should get a pass just because the intention may've been to be a "black" nation, because it's not done well enough to really stand out even in comparison to older examples in the franchise.

It necessarily isn't, but that doesn't mean that the decision here wasn't a poorly written one. Again, you have to consider what the decision means for the plot as a whole as what leads up to it and what happens after it forms a major part of the story, and ultimately the effect it does have is a negative one. Kamui and Aqua look like idiots, alternate scenarios that would've been much less destructive were completely ignored, and many people suffer as a result. To add a sweet cherry on top of all that, Kamui and Aqua are let completely off of the hook for all of this as Takumi is vilified for his justified dislike of Kamui and what he does, and the sisters never call him out when by all rights, they should be pissed at them. So for me at least, I don't feel that decision is poorly written because I disagree with it, I feel that decision is poorly written because it and the event leading up to it causes many problems for the plot as a whole.

It actually does as the specific part in question has a negative effect on the plot thereafter. The problem with that plot point is that it causes Kamui and Aqua to push the Nohrian war efforts with Hoshido, slaughtering who knows how many innocent lives in the process, just to sit Garon on the throne to prove who he is. That by itself is already a horrible extreme to go to, and it gets worse from there once you start taking into account more of the plot elements. That whole scenario was completely avoidable as at least two options existed that would've fixed the issue of Garon without going to that extreme, such as Aqua telling Kamui everything about IK and thus exposing Anankos' plot that would leave both countries in ruins. So not only was the more logical solution ignored, they caused a lot of unnecessary collateral damage and sacrificed many lives (including two people held near and dear to Kamui and Aqua) rather pointlessly. So from what one bad moment of writing, it cascaded into becoming something far worse for the plot as a whole. Kamui and Aqua do so much harm to everyone around them, especially to the people they care about, and it didn't even have to happen. That is bad writing, and when combined with Nohr's other problems, it completely bogs down what could've been a great story.

Actually, Genealogy is very popular in Japan. According to a Famitsu poll held in 2012, it got 11th on the list, beating out well every other FE game: http://mynintendonews.com/2012/01/02/famitsu-readers-rank-the-top-50-nintendo-games-of-all-time/?_ga=1.111726016.554693458.1431838621

I don't really agree with the Radiant Dawn example as Micaiah's dislike of Ike is pretty much just in a throwaway line in Part 1 and a small tidbit in Part 4, it's never given enough attention to be developed as a reason she's vilified. It's especially not to the extent of Takumi, whose major reason for being turned into a villain is pretty much because of his dislike of Kamui (even though it makes a lot of sense in Nohr). Either way, while it is true that this is an aspect that shows up in media, that doesn't mean it was handled well here nor does it being handled worse in other examples write off the problems that popped up with it in Fates. The thing with player worship in Fates is that it's done to an extent that it starts to negatively affect the plot, and Takumi is just one example of that. S/He takes focus from characters that direly need that focus, characters have their entire personality warp around them such as with Camilla, and the story never gives enough breathing room for other aspects of the world to really be developed outside of them. It's becomes an issue because the story becomes way too centered around the main character to be healthy, and that does cause the story to be dragged down. So even if it's done in other stories, I don't think we should write off the problems that it did cause in this one.

From what I've heard of it, the only part that really bothers me about them is the lack of a save option as it means if you screw up on one chapter, you have to do both all over again. I'd prefer it if it was more like Radiant Dawn's Chapter 6 since it's two different maps, but you're allowed to save at the beginning of the second and make a couple last minute changes to the team if needed.

I like all of them in terms of design and as units, but I'd have to go with Flannel as my favorite since I like his personality and design the most of the group. Nishiki would be second to him though since I also enjoy his character.

While I do see your point and I will admit that I missed quite a few things, I still have a few issues with how it was handled. As you said, you have to piece together the motivations from other supports to get the full story, we don't ever get a full view of their personal dilemmas or how they affect them in terms of the plot, we have to go looking ourselves to do it. While minor characters can afford to be fully fleshed out in supports, this becomes an issue with the siblings since they are major characters and are supposed to drive the plot and the war for their own reasons that end up not being properly explored. Another issue that I have is that in some cases, we don't even get the full story and we have to fill in the holes ourselves. For instance, with your point on Camilla... Personally, I feel that having these characters' motivations be pushed off into the supports did more harm then good. These characters do have their reasons for why they follow Garon, but as Ryo said, they aren't fleshed out well at all and the story does nothing with them. Each one having their motivations and personal dilemmas explored could've made for a great storyline if done well, and yet they're not given the time they need.

Unless I missed one or two supports, I don't see that point. None of the supports explain away the plot holes, none of the siblings explain themselves for why they still follow their father (Leo/Elise's support does give us a glimpse into their past with him, but not for why they're still loyal to him), and Marx is actually more contradictory in his supports as he wants the best for Nohr and yet goes along with his father's favorite past time of eating babies. The supports do flesh out the characters themselves I will admit, but they don't help the story or their role in it, it's still a mess that isn't pieced together well at all.

They'll probably dub it, there's no need for other games to adhere to Smash's own problems with Grandfather Clause. Plus, Codename S.T.E.A.M. already gave him an English voice actor despite also using the Amiibos, so why not reuse him? If they do dub him though, I hope his signature "Minna, miteite kure!" is done well.

Unless I'm just not visiting the right forums, I rarely hear any praise for Radiant Dawn's story overall even nowadays. The best I'll get about it is just some pieces of it like Part 2 and some of the characters' development (especially the aforementioned Elincia). There is some truth to that. IS made a big deal about how the story would be a big feature of the game, hell, they spent the majority of the Iwata Asks on the subject and how they were working on improving it. So of course when the story comes out and it turns out that it's a huge mess, it's going to draw a lot more criticisms since it was what they pushed fans to focus on. Having said that, I don't think that the heightened expectations completely accounts for the criticisms we're getting now. As mentioned before, Radiant Dawn still gets ire nowadays for its poor story and it wasn't pushed to nearly the same extent as Fates had been before its release. So I think regardless of IS hyping up the story, we would still be getting the outrage that we're seeing now.

The thing is we're not arguing whether other countries does it, we're arguing what the effect of the bias has on Fates in particular. The thing is, regardless of who's making the game, there's an intense bias towards Hoshido the whole time in the game and it negatively affects the story as it's portrayed as ridiculously perfect while Nohr is horribly flawed. This makes for an uneven experience and storytelling as neither region are properly developed and fleshed out, it's almost completely black and white. As for Marx, I do agree with what's been said. Marx is mostly portrayed as a man who would do anything if he felt it benefitted his country, yet he blindly follows whatever Garon says even when it completely goes against that logic. You could make the argument that he is trying to hold onto his old image of his father, but that leads into numerous problems such as the fact that it's never properly developed. We never meet or really hear about who Garon was before his fall aside from a couple supports, and the game never delves too far into Marx's mindset in the story. Now, Serena was brought up earlier, and there are parallels between them, but I feel that how she was done was better then how Marx was done. In the case of Serena, she does clearly explain her reasons for why she still follows the emperor, so we get a look into her psyche and why she's remaining loyal to her even though she has her doubts. Additionally, unlike Garon, we get a better look into how the emperor really was through dialogue from other characters like the lord and Lyon, who by doing so paint us a picture of the man he was before his fall. Serena following the emperor was done better because we can get a stronger impression for why she's still staying by him. Marx, despite having even more time then her to get fleshed out in that area, doesn't get the same luxury. Garon before his fall remains a complete enigma aside from stray tidbits, and Marx's feelings on the matter aren't given enough attention for us to get a better impression of his loyalty. If the story focused on him more as a character within the story rather then Kamui, I feel that he would've been a stronger character.