[What Would You Do If You Opened Your Door And Saw The Avatar Above You?]

1 hour ago, Hawkwing said:

Wonder if now is the time to finally give the Kingdom Hearts series a try.

Ask Link if he needs to buy anymore swords before his current ones break and direct him to Ana if he says yes.

[Anyone else can’t stomach their horror very well?]

I can stomach horror generally, I don't know why but there's something about horror in a video game that feels alot more detached than a movie so the gore/guts tend to rarely seriously terrify me in games (I guess due to you know, not being life-like), though I do prefer horror games since they can rely on tense gameplay and survival mechanics that fill me with a sense of constant dread rather than just gore and jumpscares.

I actually kinda love the thrill of a good ol' survival horror, never knowing if you have enough resources and constantly weighing up whenever it's better to fight, run or occasionally hide. (Which is why I'm not too much a fan of the "Just run away" games, it can work occasionally but in most of them for me it just kinda gets boring after a while.)

I do get annoyed when a non-horror game tries to be horror-y by just having tons of blood and guts everywhere, it can work occasionally (Tomb Raider 1's Atlantis is a strange place, where the walls are made of flesh that pulses as if it's alive while enemies are hatching from eggs, it's definitely something else being in this strange fleshy place that seems to be somehow alive.) but mostly it just kinda doesn't work. (Tomb Raider 2013, where it gets so over the top Lara has a literal bloodbath and they even do the "skeleton's head rolls off as you move by it" trope and the game is trying to be 100 percent serious here as if it doesn't realize how absurd it's being.)

That said, a well done horror movie (Such as The Thing.) will always manage to get the gore more gruesoem for me due to it being more life-like. (Though certain horror films do actually use dead animals and their guts for gore, which I feel is a bit much, I know at least for a time it was actually cheaper to just use real human skeletons instead fake ones which is kinda all kinds of messed up.)

 

[Would You Want A Horror Themed FE Game]

I've always been a horror fan, not sure how exactly it'd work for a SRPG but it could be interesting.

 

[Do you dislike any popular video game characters?]

16 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

No one(at least canonically) died in this chapter we’ve discussed this. You thinking anyone did is no more than personal headcanon which makes any criticism from that completely moot.

 

Once again this is a subjective stance being pushed as a criticism when it’s not. I found it funny but does that mean I find actual woman on man abuse funny? No, that’s sick. Why would I even think this is abuse to begin with? It’s just basic slapstick. It’s not presented as abuse. Like I said you’re ignoring context.

Where is it stated no one died? (And even then, thats a terrible contrivance and some pretty godawful writing which still doesn't change the fact the Shepards don't care if any of their own die nor do they show concern for the people they just cut down.)

Again, we're in a perma-death series, generally if one of my people get hit a bit with swords/arrows (even just twice in the case of Donnel), they die on the spot pretty quickly, I do not believe that me setting dudes on fire with the fireball or zap them with lightning, that they're simply just sleeping off what would logically be kinda horrific injuries.

In a game with Perma-death,  I'm pretty sure it's logical to assume that "People die when they are killed" and that by killing someone when I deplete their life that they are in-universe dead, that's how it works roughly 90 percent of the time in most FE games, it's how it works logically and it just in general doesn't make sense for people to magically walk off injuries (Yes I know magic heals injuries but it's established that you generally can't bring someone back from the dead, this isn't Konosuba where you can die every other day and come back, you die in FE, you're generally dead for good.) 

If my own units die 100 percent of the time, plot armor not withstanding, I think it's safe to assume the weaker, enemy units die from roughly the same punishment, I don't think its a Headcanon to assume "People die when they are killed.".

That's how most FE games work and that's how most strategy games (Such as X-com or Jagged Alliance. )work, you fill something with lead, burn it, crush it or slash it til' it stops moving/vanishes from the battlefield, it is dead. 

I don't see how assuming the basic rules of the game applying both ways is a headcanon.

It's slapstick that is just "woman attack man funny", it wouldn't be funny if it was the other way around to most people nor does Virion really deserve being kicked in the first place.

[Do you dislike any popular video game characters?]

40 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

Okay but aside from the virion and Kellam introductions tell me where in the main story does the comedy ever take center stage to devalue any dramatic weight the story has? Maybe if you just so happen to get a more comedic support afterward but that’s not the fault of the main story just a random string of events that effect your personal experience. Other than though the story never really lightens the mood drastically enough to the point of devaluing the weight of the current situation. I mean yeah there’s the Sumia punching Chrom moment but that’s just a trope from shounen stories in general and is placed appropriately to lighten the scene in order to inspire hope to both the player and the characters. Chrom needed that punch to the face to snap out of it. Like again am I missing something? But I just don’t see how this is an objective flaw to the game’s writing. It may be a personal problem to some because tastes will be tastes but I don’t see how it is in any way a fair unbiased criticism of the game because to me at least that criticism holds zero weight.

It can honestly be something as simple as refusing to acknowledge stuff other FE games did.

Fe7 has us killing honest good Caelin troops because Lundgren is forcing them to fight us, this is treated as a bit of a reveal (since the characters assume the assassins are in with Lundgren intially if I remember) and the cast are honestly shocked and angered by this and bring it up when fighting Lundgren, we kill innocents essentially because we're forced to fight them but the case react oppropriately.

FE Awakening We kill border guards over a contrived misunderstanding at a checkpoint (Also did we really just go to get the help of a nearby nation without sending a messenger or something? also no, I do not believe that in a perma-death series, we are generally not killing enemy units because that's stupid to me.), no one comments on it and the actual leader of the checkpoint is kinda more upset she attacked royalty rather than any deaths on anyone's side, neither do the Shepards seemingly care at all they just killed innocents or if any of their own died. 

So the FE7 cast acknowledge "Oh crap we just basically killed innocent people doing their job" while the "Heroic" (because frankly they just come off as not very heroic people to be honest.) Shepards seemingly don't care they just killed essentially innocents over a misunderstanding. (And it never comes up again so this fight honestly never even needed to exist.)

So in trying to be "Lighthearted" and dodge the issue entirely....Awakening, for me personally, makes the cast look actually like worse overall people than Lyndis' Legion and seemingly lacking any sense of regret for killing innocents.

Again, Perma death so I don't think me setting a dude on fire with a fireball is going to just have him wake up later, I think it's safe to say when I deplete someone's health with a fireball he's extra crispy.

Also Sully kicks Virion because woman on man abuse is totally funny and totally doesn't make the woman look like a horrible violent person and some of the supports (such as Female Robin and Chrom) are just lame jokes that don't actually make the characters feel like they're bonding that make me want to stop reading supports altogether.

And by that logic I could argue you clearly really like Awakening and are therefore biased for it.

[Who's a video game character you feel is overhated?]

12 minutes ago, NegativeExponents- said:

Cyril. He's not the only one with a Rhea problem yet everyone focuses all their hate on him while conveniently ignoring Catherine (not that she deserves any hate either but the double standards are painful). Also gets ragged on for being a poor unit despite coming with good bases and growths along with early access to one of the most broken skills.

Camilla, Tharja and Faye also don't deserve as much hate as they get. Especially Tharja though since I constantly see people accusing her of being an abusive mom/wife when her hexes are at worst practical pranks or placebos like Noire's charm. "oh no, your mother made my nose runny. How ever will I live through this?"

Isn't it implied Noire literally developed her split personality because of her mother's abuse?

[Do you dislike any popular video game characters?]

5 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

But the thing is Awakening isn’t comedic at all in its tone. The only time awakening has any form of comedy is maybe a few instances in the beginning(where the tone is already very light hearted), DLC dialogue, or supports. The main story is mostly a general shounen story about characters overcoming personal struggle. Like I don’t understand this whole criticism of awakening being nothing but a light hearted adventure with no serious conflict cause there is plenty of serious and meaningful conflict within the story where the characters face adversity and hardship. Like need I mention chapter 10 or chapter 9 or the moment Lucina comes to the resolve to kill Robin for the sake of the world or just the main theme of the game in general in overcoming the failures of the past through working together. Are those not serious and meaningful conflicts. Like I don’t get it at all. That criticism just feels extremely tone deaf to me in regards to what Awakening’s story is about.

The light-heartedness can still be poorly placed.

Case in point, Virion's comedic intro completely clashes with the entire scene that literally just happened and is I think one of the worst character introductions I've seen in a video game. (Not that I see many terrible ones but good god is it obnoxious.)

Also I feel being heavily comedic in a Perma-death game is kinda a bad idea, for obvious reasons in that Anime trope hijinks (That I personally find pretty much just annoying anyway.) don't exactly mesh well with the fact someone possibly just died/got crippled and can never fight because plot-armor in the previous battle, if anything it kinda makes the cast look like they're not actually friends when they just don't react. (Yes I know other FE games don't do that mostly but they never tried to tell me that almost everyone got along and were friends so Awakening just draws attention to it when the "friends" never comment when another one dies.)

[Do you dislike any popular video game characters?]

30 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Unless they are named Takumi at least. 

But overall I don't mind Lissa being a brat. Its endearing since its mostly good natured in contrast to Serra just being selfish. 

Fair enough but to me she comes across as kinda more annoying. (And again, the way Robin and other characters act makes it feel like I'm supposed to find it charming or something when I really don't.) 

Also that Dress-cage thing is just a terrible outfit.

 

 

[Do you dislike any popular video game characters?]

23 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

That's a comparison I've never seen before, but it's an apt one.

 

I think it only works in the sense that Awakening is almost trying to be a comedy in general. Same with Fates. Both seem to be more interested in punch lines and reactions than actual storytelling.

Yeah I don't really like it personally.

I think a good comparison I guess is Lissa and Serra, they're both the "Bratty healer" but Serra is actually disliked by characters for her brattiness yet with Lissa the reactions of various characters seems like we're just supposed to find her brattiness "endearing" rather than well, being a brat.

Robin finds Lissa amusing seemingly while Hector hides from Serra, Serra's brattiness is treated as more of a flaw I guess that functions as a laugh rather than purely trying to be funny. 

(also I admit I stole the comparison from a friend but I agree with him when he pointed it out.)

 

[What popular or critically acclaimed games do you dislike?]

18 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

 

 

Red Dead Redemption 2

Actually, fuck all Rockstar games. They obsess over little details and end up being slow, overly animated, boring slogs with bad combat.

Yeah I get you, I miss the PS2 Era GTA games because they at least let you get to the point of the admittingly kinda shallow gameplay that worked as a "sum of it's parts" thing but nowadays you have to sit through a ton of cutscenes and a massively long open world just to get to the actual missions.

Tomb Raider 2013: You took an action adventure game with exploration and turned it into an incredibly linear cover shooter that's incredibly edgy.

Max Payne 3: You took a fast paced John Woo game and you made it a cover shooter with constant cutscenes where Max gets in a specific bit of cover and automatically alerts everyone in the room to his presence because I guess we can't have a video game where the player actually gets to make choices in how to start a fight.

Fire Emblem Awakening; I don't think it teaches how to play FE well, I don't think the characters/story are good (Infact the Shepards come off as frankly horrible people who are arguably worse than some evil characters in previous games which makes it impossible to actually want to see any of them survive.), it's message of "friendship" is undercut by the real Meta being Robin Emblem and actually done worse than other games in the same series and just in general, I don't really like it, at all, it's the worst FE game I've ever played easily as it simply doesn't provide even acceptable gameplay or story, if it does something, it does it medicore at best or downright awful. 

Modern X-com: They took most of the strategy out and replaced it with even more luck-based elements/restrictive game design, I love not being able to shoot down a wall unless I can lock on to a dude on the other side, I love not being able to shoot explosives in the environment intentionally unless I waste an explosive (Which I can only carry one, because inventory items are now one per soldier because they took out the actual inventory system.) and I totally don't hate how, instead of calculating a chance to hit per bullet, now entire bursts of gunfire are now a single chance to hit, it pretty much dumbs down/removes everything I actually liked about Classic X-com.

[Do you dislike any popular video game characters?]

While I've not seen her in-game yet, I really don't like what I've heard of Tharja.

She's pretty much Sonia, both horribly abuse their child but somehow we're not supposed to hate Tharja for it. (And at least Sonia never abused an infant and probably did less to Nino considering Nino doesn't have half the problems Noire has.)

(Also her weird crush on Robin, that's apparently ever explained and just exists.)

Why am I supposed to like (And even want to marry) a character who's literally worse than someone who was presented as an nonredeemable monster in past games.

 

[Who's a video game character you feel is overhated?]

2 hours ago, Topaz Light said:

This is a bit hard for me to answer, since a lot of the characters who I'm aware of being widely-hated, well... I tend to actually see a lot of validity in the gripes with them underneath the hyperbole and vitriol. Doesn't mean I feel the same way, but like, I get why people would dislike them that much.

For me... I guess I'd say Donnel? He's probably more obscure than a lot of characters people are likely to bring up here, but he's just... so incredibly inoffensive as far as I can tell? Like I can understand not really caring about him because he's so easily-missable and I know a lot of Fire Emblem players aren't as interested in using "investment units" as I am, but actively hating him just feels a bit excessive to me.

I wonder if it's possibly because recruiting him is kinda a pain if you're not thinking about just exploiting the fact Archers can't do anything if you physically block them off from moving, so anyone playing Awakening, either as an early game or as their first game. (In my experience) is going to be very frustrated very quickly on how they actually feed Donnel kills without him dying, since he does so little damage it's actually hard to feed him kills otherwise in my experience and border-line impossible to get enemies in the "sweet" spot via attacks from other units since he does that little damage while pretty much dying from one round of combat with pretty much every other enemy. (And his hit chance isn't super high if I remember either.)

So it's probably slightly because of how hard it is to recruit him in the first place (Since people love to recommend Awakening as a first game.) so their frustration with his recruitment overflows onto him.

[Do you dislike any popular video game characters?]

34 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

 

• Alm and Celica are big time dislikes for me.  Mostly because of how they were handled in SoV.  There were things that they did right with that game, but the protagonists weren't among those things done right.  Like most say, Alm should've been more of a proper reflection of Duma/Rigel.  Celica... well, there are ways for her to fall into the trap of Jedah that didn't involve reducing Celica's brain to a single-cell organism.

Yeah I agree with you on Celica, I like her for the first half of the game but after the swamps she must have taken a direct blown to the head or something because it's like she's suddenly lost a ton of IQ points, it's kinda hard to believe this is the same Celica defeating pirates early on, it's almost like her character arc is actually in reverse or something because she just gets less competent later on.

It's really bad with Dolth, you're telling me this on-his-deathbed Purple cult dude is able to somehow grab Celica and threatens her friends to get her to come with him? Celica, he's near death, you can cast magic without a weapon, you can literally just cast literally any spell and kill this dude right away, you literally have several different spells that would probably instantly kill this dude.

 

[How many units do you think should be deployed max in a chapter?]

12-ish minimum I guess?

I get about having low numbers, kinda but you reach a point eventually where it's restrictive frankly.

I could take a weak character who'll probably get one-shot....or I could just take a strong character, again.

Due to character stats, I very rarely used Donnel and Fiora for instance, since they felt like glorified tissue paper that'd have incredibly low chances of actually being useful. (Donnel especially, seriously even Archers can 1-round him, I'm pretty sure he must be the weakest unit in the series that's an actual combat unit, insert Gordon Ramsey clip of him calling someone useless.)

During Echoes plot battles though, where I have my whole army deployed, I find myself actually having my weaker units chipping in, I can keep one of my weak Pegasus Riders off to the side, then when a guy is badly hurt enough, have them swoop in and get some EXP and kinda the same for other characters, Yeah I do mostly side-line them but if there's an actual unexpected opprotunity to have them chip in, in a way that doesn't get themselves killed, I can take it, got a weak mage? have them heal other units when they fall back.

So yeah I think a unit cap above 10 is needed.

 

 

[Best unit in this game?]

Mark.

Can't die at all, clearly the best unit in the game.

[Do you dislike any popular video game characters?]

11 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

*sigh* once again you’re missing the point. It’s an intense situation. Donnel feels he’s too weak to protect those he cares about in this situation Chrom says that if he truly wishes to protect those he loves then he should just pick up a weapon and fight to get stronger so he can protect them. It doesn’t matter if you’re a farmboy or not if you truly wish to protect something then protect it. Don’t make excuses such as you’re weak and can’t fight. Get stronger so you can fight. Like that’s the whole point. It’s only when Donnel actually tries and gets stronger that he succeeds. Like that’s the point of the story being told.

 

Yeah because Ricken was the only one able to get close enough too rescue her. Everyone else was surrounded by enemies and likely couldn’t reach her in time before Aversa killed her. Ricken was only able to sneak past because he was small and not with the main army. Chrom was all for just putting a sword in Gangrel’s gut but respected his sister’s wishes as you do. Like what’s your point here? Cause like your argument is just wrong cause you’re neglecting to mention a lot of context. I can cherry pick my points too Y’know.

 

Again, That's not how fighting works, You generally need a bit of training/the element of surprise and like I said, Donnel IS infact actually way too weak to be of any real use in that chapter, he literally gets one-rounded by almost everyone, if you don't want to recruit him you're literally better off having him stay behind, again, proper training is better than a trial by fire, Chrom isn't helping Donnel, he's being an idiot and it's only really by fortune that Donnel isn't dead, the actual gameplay mechanics pretty much confirm Chrom was full of bullcrap in his speech and the fact Donnel Is actualy considered generally to be one of the worst units in Awakening only proves my point that Chrom is an idiot here, just because it can work if the player is good enough doesn't suddenly make it a good idea.

 

No, there wasn't even a rescue plan in the first place, everyone just went there. (if I recall Ricken was even told to stay behind by Chrom, since you know, child.) , Ricken decided of his own accord to do a rescue attempt when the characters should have recognised that a rescue attempt was needed before even arriving and organised to have some of the Shepards try to sneak up on Gangrel's forces (Since again, Gagnrel is sterotypically evil.) , you could even still have Ricken on his own by jumping the gun or something.

If it doesn't bother you fine but to me this just makes Chrom an unlikeable callous moron who should have never been made Leader of any sort of military group.

[Do you dislike any popular video game characters?]

10 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

I feel like you’re missing the point with Donnel’s paralogue. Yeah Donnel is a weak farm boy. He doesn’t know how to fight but if he wants to protect his loved ones yhen he’s gonna have to learn. He’s gonna have to get stronger. Donnel at the beginning of the paralogue says he’s weak and can’t fight. Chrom says you’re only weak if you think you’re weak and that if you feel that you are work to improve yourself and get stronger so that you aren’t weak. You shouldn’t just give up like that. This is shown through gameplay that the only way to recruit Donnel is for him to literally grow stronger by gaining exp and leveling up. Yeah Donnel is weak but put in the effort and he can become strong. Which is literally the point of what Chrom was saying. 
 

Also you’re missing the point with that Maribelle scene or need I remind you that Chrom was very much so against the idea of a peace talk with Gangrel and that it was Emmeryn’s idea. Chrom even says himself, “I feel we should just put a sword in his gut and be done with it”. Hell, Chrom was the one who attacked first and made the declaration of war. Yeah Gangrel baited him into it but he still did it. Honestly if you’re gonna levy any criticism at all the least you can do is get your facts straight.

Pretty sure you have people learn via training first, rather than just throwing them at armed bandits ready to kill people and hoping for the best, that's not "Helping someone get stronger" that's being rather callous about someone's life with a "Sink or Swim" mentality in my eyes, that's not how you help someone, that's how you get someone killed. (yes I know he has plot-armor if he goes down there, no that doesn't make it better.)

Except Ricken is still the only one to actually go off and rescue Maribelle, which is the actually smart thing to do when you know the person you're going to talk with isn't going to let them go, if Gangrel acts even half as sterotypically evil before the game started as he does in the actual talk, then pretty much every single character (Yes including Emmeryn.) should know that talking to him is a lost cause and at best just use that was a way to stall him while they plan out a rescue, Ricken is still the only one out of the entire Shepards group to realise that a rescue mission is the only way Maribelle is leaving that talk alive and back with them.

 

[Do you dislike any popular video game characters?]

18 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

Yeah but is it inconsistent? To my knowledge no therefore I hesitate to call it bad and the “praise” robin gets makes some kind of sense at least to me. Like my point is that yeah it’s nonsensical to you but it doesn’t bother me at all nor does it have to. Chrom never really trusted Robin right away either he was just trying to be polite is all at least the impression I got. He did heed Frederick’s warnings after all. He’s just the kinda guy to be kind to others regardless of who they may be because he feels that’s what his Sister would do(which is something he contradicts later but he grows from it and corrects his mistake so I’d say that was a good character arc). Even if he has no reason to trust Robin, he still feels Robin is a person deserving of kindness just like everyone else. Kindness begets more kindness. Hate and distrust only breeds more hate and distrust. That’s the core conflict of Chrom’s character arc in the first eleven chapters of the game. Had Chrom not been kind and trusting to Robin then Maybe Robin wouldn’t have helped them fight off those bandits and more lives could’ve possibly been lost. Chrom chose to trust Robin and Robin returned the favor. That’s just how it works.

Chrom comes off to me as surprised at the idea of Soldier's pairing up which is frankly absurd to me since you know, he leads an military group alread, as said before he also drags Donnel into life or death combat with an flimsy speech. (that gameplay promptly proves he was dead wrong about as Donnel basically gets beaten up if most enemies so much as look at him.) So yeah in my experience in the first quarter of the main story, it does not come across as Chrom just being kind to Robin when the same lack of sense applies to very nearly getting a farmboy killed, if anything it just makes it look like yes, Chrom is actually this stupid and probably is only the leader of the Shepards via Nepotism than anything else because he clearly isn't a good leader nor a fighter.

Again, Chrom is also stupid on the subjects of Gangrel and Donnel early on. (Like I said, Ricken, an honest to god child, shows better strategy than either Robin or Chrom in that scene by recognising that just freeing Maribelle with force is the only actually viable way.)

I'm pretty sure you could do a version of Awakening' start where A: Robin isn't as obviously suspicious to the Shepards, B: Chrom isn't impressed by basic battle tactics (You can have a character recognise someone's skill without being surprised by basic stuff.) and C :  Donnel actually opts to join instead of Chrom persuading him with a flimsy speech that I'd take as a terrible attempt at manipulation of Chrom wasn't stupid in other scenes.

Again, Optomism and trust doesn't require the other characters to lose braincells, It doesn't require Chrom to be somewhat Callous with Donnel's life, it doesn't require showing an actual honest to god Child be smarter in tactics than your actual Tactician character and it doesn't require basically everything that I have a problem with in Awakening' story/characters, I do not feel these instances of what I believe to be bad writing comes about because of Awakening's attempt at a lighter tone. 

You can have a fun postive story but the way Awakening does it entirely is just irritating for me and Chrom ends up being a frankly terrible character for me in the process.  (The only way he could be any worse was if he could marry Nowi.)

 

 

 

 

[Do you dislike any popular video game characters?]

16 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

I never said those things couldn’t have been elaborated more just that the characterization in awakening is fine. Chrom trusts Robin not only because he was a smart tactician(which is an awkward gameplay story segregation moment but it’s a fucking tutorial level what do you expect?) but because he risked his life to protect ylissean lives when he clearly could’ve chosen to just up and run away. Hell Chrom outright states this after the battle is done. So again, I ask what’s the problem here? Sure you can say it’s overly optimistic or unrealistic but it’s not inconsistent with anything regarding the story’s own rules and characterization up to that point so yeah. I don’t see the issue. 

You could just have Chrom not trust Robin as much right away, and on a story level, it's a minor fight against some bandits so I doubt it proves Robin's Tactical prowess and it combined with other things just makes it come as the game is sucking up to the player via Chrom. (and stuff like being surprised at Soldier's pairing up only further makes it feel like the game is just sucking up to you.)

It's not even about being optimistic , it's just being nonsensical.

You can tell a light-hearted story without having to constantly praise the player's self-insert.

I don't think my complaints with the writing mean that Awakening can't be light-hearted/optimistic, I just think it does so poorly.

 

[Do you dislike any popular video game characters?]

46 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

And that’s fine. I’m not saying you have to like it. I’m just saying don’t criticize something for doing what it sets out to do. Is awakening light hearted? Yeah it is. Is that inherently a bad thing? No, it’s not. Stories should be criticized on the things they set out to accomplish and the rules it sets for itself not the rules you set for it. If awakening wants to tell a light hearted shounen story about the strength in one’s bonds, then it should have every right to and should be criticized on that front. Are there awkward moments of gameplay-story segregation? Yeah, there are but those moments don’t really take away from the story’s core message if you ask me. You can dislike the optimism the story presents with its ideas or the ideas themselves but it’s never really inconsistent with itself so I don’t really see any problems.

You can be light-hearted without making your characters act stupid though, I don't really think those are related.

I don't think light-hearted and optimism means you need to have your characters act the way they do in Awakening, having Robin go through some amount of distrust wouldn't compromise the message and infact I'd actually make the whole friendship bond thing well, actually meaningful instead of Frederick being the sole person who distrusts Robin and is clearly ment to be seen as "In the wrong" I feel. (Also because ironically personally, Awakening's attempts to make everyone quirky and likeable...actually make them the most irritating characters in FE as well as making their bonds feel cheap when you know that they're able to literally S-rank almost everyone of the opposite gender, if everyone's friends to the point of marriage, then their bonds aren't actually special I feel also still no death reactions undercuts this even more.)

 

[Do you dislike any popular video game characters?]

8 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

Here’s the thing I’m not necessarily gonna disagree with you here though I personally wouldn’t call that bad writing simply because that just sounds like a series of nitpicks to me that kinda ignore the ideas the story is trying to get across. I mean personally none of what you said ever bothered me. I can suspend my disbelief enough to ignore those things as they don’t really effect what I take away from the story. Now am I saying you should just get over it and that this shit shouldn’t bother you like it doesn’t bother me? No, absolutely not but what I will say is that you shouldn’t call it bad writing simply because it doesn’t align with your own personal sense of immersion or suspension of disbelief as that is mostly a subjective thing. Just because it bothers you doesn’t mean it will bother anyone else.

To me, having a character act nonsensically stupid to praise a player's self-insert is bad writing, bad writing in itself is subjective.

By that logic we can't call almost anything bad writing since at least one person will probably like it.

Again, thats why personally I hate Chrom since his entire early game (Which is as far as I'm able to stomach of Awakening since I really don't like it.) consists of "Robin gud" interspliced with moments of stupidity that I cannot believe anyone in his position would realistically make.

 

[Do you dislike any popular video game characters?]

10 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Lissa is a plot important character so I'm guessing that if she falls in battle she merely retires and still appears in cutscenes. And I think that Samz was referring to anime hijinks happening after Lissa was forcefully retired from the battlefield. 

Yeah there's so many wacky anime-hi-jinks in Awakening that the game feels completely tonally disconnected with the whole fact that most characters can die.

FE7 and Echoes didn't try to be this jokey so their usually wasn't a disconnect if someone died while in Awakening there's pretty much wacky hi-jinks in most cutscenes/supports in what I was able to play. (A little after Chapter 5)

It feels more like watching a bad romantic comedy, which doesn't quite gel well with the whole "People can die at any time" thing when there's so many attempts at a joke that I'm probably more likely to get an out-of-place comedy scene just after someone got burnt to a crisp than otherwise which just serves to make it look like the characters can just brush off others die/getting crippled easily.

6 hours ago, Ottservia said:

Would you please define what a poorly written character is cause I’ve seen my fair share of poorly written characters and Chrom is far from one of them. Just because a character takes actions you personally don’t agree with that doesn’t make them poorly written. It just means you don’t like the character which is fine but far from an actual fair criticism of the writing in question.

As for the topic at hand, I’ll just say Alm simply because I don’t think he fits the story he’s a part of. The way his character is written pretty much contradicts everything his story stands for. Also I don’t care for Annette either. She’s just extremely boring and one dimensional to me. Like she’s cute and all but nothing more than that. 

For me, a character making bad choices, still has to be making bad choices that make sense in the context of the story.

Chrom doesn't

Robin is an "Able-Tactician" after the very first chapter, you know, the one where there aren't even any tile bonuses where it's just you versus a handful of dudes in an chapter that is pretty much just "Pray they don't get a crit" and uh....yeah that's the strategy pretty much, even when it was my first FE game, I was blown away at how nonsensical it was, Robin has in no way proven they're a tactician even slightly in that first battle nor does he do so in the entire first 5-ish chapters of the game.

 

That's actually a big problem in what I played of Awakening, Robin, does not ever actually display an tactical genius in what I've played, instead he displays a basic grasp, that Chrom thinks is tactical genius except it's very clearly not so Chrom just comes off as an idiot.

He's surprised at the concept of Soldiers fighting together, he leads a group of soldiers, So I find the idea that an leader of a military group who has probably recieved training, needing to be told that soldiers should fight together kinda absolutely stupid, then he goes on a weird odd tirade about how fighting together build's bonds which considering the context of that battle (Killing people at a border over a misunderstanding since I don't exactly buy that you can set a fireball to stun.) feels completely out of place and just outright bad writing, it'd feel awkward enough if we were just fighting Risen.

By Chrom's Logic, Ricken must be a near godly tactical genius for realizing that just rescuing Maribelle by  force instead of negotating with the obviously evil Gangrel who would never give her up. (Which actually only serves to make Robin, again, look like someone who isn't actually a tactical genius when they're seemingly behind in strategy to a literal child, hell if they made Robin the one with the idea of a sneak attack in the first place that would have actually made me start thinking Robin was actually a Tactician but no the literal child gets the one bit of actual strategy in the first quarter of the game.) 

Then you recruit Donnel where he does a completely stupid speech about how "A sickle isn't far from a sword" and how the "Principle is all the same.", the gameplay then proceeds to prove that Chrom is completely wrong when Donnel can be one-rounded easily by literally almost every enemy on the map so Chrom's speech that already makes no sense is proven completely wrong by the actual gameplay, which just again, makes Chrom look like an idiot who literally only was made the leader of the Shepards because of nepotism rather than any sort of skill since he so clearly lacks any skill in leading and sucks as an unit in-game. (Also for a group about protecting the innocent, good job presuading a clearly inexperienced farmer to risk death Chrom.)

 

Chrom comes off as completely incompetent at being the leader of the Shepards and just in general an obnoxious character for me, nothing he does makes sense in the context of the story for me, they're contrivances so Robin can be accepted and praised because he's the player character, they don't at all feel like anything someone would actually do or say, just contrived stupidity so we can get Robin accepted into this group that really shouldn't accept him right away as fast as possible because I guess a slow paced beginning like Lyn mode where the stakes are actually low so Robin being trusted when the stakes get serious isn't something Awakening wants to actually do.

 

[Do you dislike any popular video game characters?]

13 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

All lord employ child soldiers. The baby Archeneans aren't really much younger than the likes of the orphan amigo's, Sothe and Tormod, Delthea, Lissa, Ricken and many others. Even some boys who aren't shota's anymore like Takumi, Ashe or Boey would technically fall under child soldiers. Same with non loli girls like Lilina or Annette. Roy is even a child soldier employing other child soldiers. 

Its anime. Shota's, loli's and teenagers is pretty much the norm. 

They're still less young than Ricken and at least have personal stakes. (Boey and such didn't even actually set out to fight, they were just headed to Mia's temple, they fought out of necessity at least while there's no real reason why Chrom can't just take Ricken home and get an actual adult mage from his army, Celica isn't seemingly actively rejecting the possiblity of taking an actually trained adult instead of a child, they're her friends, who are also trained to fight and they weren't even really intended to do half of the fighting they end up doing,  to the point of recruiting Saber for the purpose of fighting rather than willfully endangering children when there are better options, there's a difference between "Forced to fight" and "Well, I could go get an actually trained professional or have a small child fight and possibly die for me.") 

Ricken doesn't even look like he's a teenager yet which makes this especially egregious to me, he looks younger than Lyn and she was only 15 in the original Japanese, it wouldn't surprise me if he's barely 12.

 

You've also got the fact clearly much older characters can S-Rank Ricken, which is just kinda disgusting.

 

 

[Do you dislike any popular video game characters?]

5 minutes ago, Glennstavos said:

Assuming there's a difference between "not like" and "dislike" than no, I don't think so. Listen, I've met some bad characters in the games I've played, but when they do or say something I find objectionable, my objections are aimed at the writers and game designers that brought that character to life in the first place. Video game characters aren't breathing, thinking people. They just do what the video game says that they do. 

I agree but I still tend to associate  the characters with the writing, I still know it's the writers but if a character consistently acts like a poorly written character. (Such as IMO Chrom.) then I tend to associate them with it.

While I've not finished FE Echoes, I don't have the same associate  of bad writing with Celica, Yes she does act kinda mighty stupid for the sake of the plot but because she's not normally this stupid, I just associate  it with bad writing since she's actually a decent enough character for the most part while if a character's entire..well...character can be the writing that annoys me, then I think of the character and writer.

 

[Do you dislike any popular video game characters?]

From FE: Chrom Because he looks like an idiot when he's surprised by Robin suggesting an army fights together for the tutorial on pair-up, his animations look stupid (I'm all for rule of cool but you kinda need some restraint, when someone sticks a sword in the ground, even when they're currently in a sword fight with another dude, that's not badass, that's being a dumbass.), He just comes off as a Vanilla incompetent so we can praise the player character, character and that's not very appealing to me. 

Spoiler

And well, what I've heard about his actions in the game's finale kinda make him even less likable to me.

 

Robin: because Avatar-worship (he's overpowered in gameplay and the interactions with him and the Shepards from the start are pretty much him being trusted/praised a large amount because of being the player character in way that feels super artificial.) and the whole "Having other characters breed for child units" thing never sits right for me (I'm a person who generally believes how you play a game reflects on the protagonist so if you're checking over what stats someone's children will have, that comes across to me as Robin doing that.)

Honestly the attempts at a lighter tone/everyone can romance everyone thing from Awakening...doesn't really reflect well on everyone, when characters are actively getting in anime hi-jinks after Lissa just got permanently crippled from an axe to the spine, that sticks out to me even more than just the character's not commenting on it and the fact that most of the Shepards can engage in a relationship with an underage/visually under age character, well, it honestly it basically makes it impossible for me to like someone when I know they're potentially a molester so the game kinda makes the entire playable cast look like not very good people, so yeah, the fact most males/females can opt to be in relationships with Nowi/Ricken is kinda a completely unforgivable thing for me so the mechanics of Awakening kinda make almost the entire playable cast irredeemable for me. (And the individual character writing makes me hate Lissa and Virion though I don't think those two are popular anyway.)

(And if I took Heroes as canon, which I don't, which lets you deploy very young looking versions of the FE1 cast now, then I'd hate everyone who's a unit in Heroes because then they have no problems with literal child soldiers it seems.)

As for non FE characters:

Reboot Lara Croft: She's just a pretty bland character in, her "character development" basically consists of getting beaten up for the most part and just in general she's an uninteresting invincible hero, getting hurt on-screen  and crying about it doesn't feel genuine when 5 seconds later in gameplay, the injury has magically vanished, it just starts feeling exploitative when your main character is constantly beaten up-close on-screen then fine afterwards and when it's not that, she's got plot armor because the usually "Kill them on sight" bad guys don't just shoot her when they catch her,  multiple times. (She's literally killed over 50 of them at one point and it's the second time they've captured her but nah, don't even take her weapons away so when she escapes 5 seconds later she can just start killing everyone again.) So I basically can't get invested in a character when the plot is bending over backwards. (Also, she's an idiot who uses a bow, against a large group of pistol instead of a semi-automatic pistol she already has in this section in a cutscene.) to keep them alive regardless of how stupid they act.

Big Boss: I like him in MGS3 and Portable Ops but I feel after that he basically became a worse character, his entire plot-arc in Peace-Walker is a bad re-trend of MGS3 (Which is extra bad since with the way the plot unfolds, you could probably remove his contrived "Arc" and just have him be motivated by other stuff in the plot.) and his ability to recruit enemy soldiers goes from "Presenting them with evidence that their person their working for is actually going to nuke their home country" to.....He's just that cool I guess that every single soldier in the world will abandon their country to work for him, every single one which is just kinda silly, in PW, then really silly in MGSV which is trying to be more serious yet the exact same filmsy excuse is used so he sorta gets worse for me while others love him in Peace Walker and MGSV.