AceNoctali

M'well, misuse of the trope aside, the point still is : mentality has shifted towards a competitive turn, it's mainly present in the American part of the community, and for a regular player (aka not a pathetic noob, but not a stat freak either) fan of the series such as me, that puts me a bit ill at ease. So I'm a casual, or sort of, and yet I still am in the FE community (admittedly not as much, but still am). I don't think all FE casuals are as vain as you describe them, just like you were defending yourself saying that not all elitists are jerkasses. I admit there isn't much to discuss about the Tellius Saga anymore, but what about the JPN-only sagas ? There's still a bunch of storyline data to discover and mysteries to talk about. Hell, even Elibe saga still has some potential, and don't forget the BS games. Okay, a good part of those data are in Japanese, but don't you think it would be interesting to attract casual FE gamers with Japanese knowledge, to get those datas ? And we have the luck to have on these forums members that translate FE stuff too. Competitive elitism isn't all to make the FE community rich. Point irrelevent. This goes for every game community, not just for Fire Emblem. Not everyone in the world has Internet to start with. So there's casual player (without Internet connexion, aka the majority) and casual player (with Internet connexion, aka the minority).

For some reason, the computer loves to give some priority at attacking Holin. Never really understood why, as he's fairly durable compared to other characters, and attacks hard.

Again, no, my point on the mentality shift is true. Were you there in the times of the FESS forums between 2003 and 2007, especially 2003 to 2005 ? I don't think so, since you said earlier you weren't around during the Path of Radiance time. And I can guarantee you the mentality wasn't as focused on competitive matters as now. Maybe I haven't used the trope correctly enough, as I don't believe debaters are jerks here. But I'm betting their elitism is still IMO driving away eventual new and/or casual players. Ike-Mike say it best : the FE Fandom looks like a competition of who's elitism is better as of now. IMO, it rather should be a relaxed place to talk about our fave series as the FE series is.

No, the fact we were agreeing upon, aka the western FE community as of now, especially the American one, is more focused on competitive view, stats, and gameplay debates, is true. Case in point, the French forums dedicated to Fire Emblem are not focused on character tiers and debates. The topics there are more geared towards general gameplay questions and storyline. As for Japan, the few BBS boards I've seen aren't as much focused on tiers and such either.

Off the balcony of her house of course, if you choose the option "Go rejoin your little bird at once".

Ha ha :P

Well, she does throw herself off, but she's caught up mid-flight by the Circus' ringmaster, who happened to be there. [spoiler=Sarah storyline MAJOR spoiler]Well, since said ringmaster is her brother in disguise, acting as a spy for a foreign country, and watching over her sis' in the shadows... You still lose her, as her butler, disgusted by what you did, kicks you out of the job and the house XD

Ha ha, I fucking love Mitsumete Knight. So I'm currently completing the storyline of the last girl in my file, Sarah, aka the resident Ill Girl of the series, and just got a major Special Event. In this Event, her beloved brother's bird just died. Now, in a former Event, she said that this bird is what gives her the conviction that her bro's still alive somewhere, since each time she talks to the bird, asking her if her bro' fine, it sings. So, with that fowl dead, she's now all hysteric and says she's going to throw herself off the balcony and kill herself and rejoin her bird, since she won't meet with her bro again and she'll never recover from her illness, so why bother continue suffering ? You, the Asian, are her private tutor, and have by this point build up a solid relationship with her. Now, here are the dialogues options you are offered : 1) Stop acting like a fool ! 2) Calm down and let's talk ! 3) Go rejoin your little bird at once ! So you can encourage her to suicide ! Wow, talk about video game cruelty ! XD

Utterly seconded. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1iIV7dxG8I

I can't talk for Radiant Dawn, it's the only game in the series I haven't played, because I don't own a Wii (for the time being. I bought the game though, not only for collection but also because FE games are horribly difficult to get in my country a few months after their release). I used the FE4 example, because it's the game I know about the best both game-wise and fandom-wise. Sorry to say this, but I've seen in the past instances where even on situation 1, people were bashed. That said, I agree that when gushing about your characters, you shouldn't say they're the best at everything and being a troll, that's just asking for flaming. You don't have to go all statistical whore to prove your point either, just point out a couple of simple flaws and the trick is done. IMO, a problem the FE community has is that it's because it's becoming more and more elitist, that it's slowly becoming less and less attractive to eventual newcomers. I agree that's not the main problem (IMO, it's rather the lack of new games, having two remakes in a row is proof of it), but just a weenie bit more focus on storyline to counter-balance gameplay debates and such wouldn't hurt, as we're more a generalist forum like, for taking Pokémon exemple, Serebii.net, than a competitive forum like Smogon (well, I perceive it as such. I may be in the wrong, grizzled old FE player as I am). And there's still much to discover about the game's storyline, especially with the JPN-only games, just see VincentASM's recently translated FE4 Designer's Notes.

Her-herm. The trope is valid. I've seen countless times people being bashed for liking using Lakche over Shannan, or shot down when they dare say it's okay to use Holsety!Corple. They're not the competitive choice of course, but it's the player's choice if they want to use them. After all, the same competitive FE4 players all agree that Ranked Run is broken in this game (notably because of the EXP rank), so why restricting yourself on a so-called competitive basis here ? That said, IMPORTANT NOTE : I haven't said all people are asshole. I just think a bunch of poeple here has lost the principle of this game, as it works on a main gimmick compared to other strategy games : the permanent loss of characters which have their own specialities and personnalities. So in short, the FE series run with the idea that should feel for your characters.

Dark Magician : "Ah ah ah ! You didn't say the magic word !"

You've got a good point that I approve (except for the America bashing, which I feel could have been avoided, and that's a European speaking here). European and Japanese players seems to care more for storyline than American players. However, I feel this isn't the real problem, as I've seen a number of American players loving the storylines and characters during all those years in the FE community. No, the real problem is that the community, and particulary the American one, has changed : it mostly shifted from a "let's having fun with the games both on gameplay and storyline" mentality to a Stop Having Fun Guys mentality. See the growing number of debates with battle of numbers and stats ; in the times of the FESS Forums (aside from its late time), they weren't as proeminent. IMO, this change in mentality comes from those facts : * the veteran players have milked up the games for all its worth and are trying to keep up the flame by doing this, * there's a shift in generation players-wise, and the new players are more focuses in the Stop Having Fun Guys mentality than the former generation. Then again, those who participate in FE forums are mostly hardcore FE gamers : we don't know the opinion of the more casual players (although the series is niche - it's difficult nowadays to find old Western FE games such as FE7 in stores -, so I wonder if that part of casual gamers is significant enough). Maybe they don't have this competitive mentality and play the games for both the gameplay and the storyline. Just my two cents on this issue, that's something that always bothered me when watching the community : since one or two years ago, I have a hard time recognizing myself in it with this mentality shift. Maybe that's one of the reasons why I'm participating less and less in it, aside from the fact I'm focusing my interests more and more towards the Tokimemo and MitsuKni franchises nowadays.

Brotherhood is already at this point of the series ?! Wow, thank god the manga seems to reach its end, seeing the recent chapters. Otherwise, the anime would have caught up for sure.

Seen the Italian dub, but not the English one. The Italian dub sounded okay for what little I understand of that language.

First two pages are filled with links towards sites I'm participating (my Fire Emblem site and its forum, Youtube, Serenes, TV Tropes), or have participated (Wikipedia, Livejournal, a french language Pokémon site, Animelyrics, FESS). Third page and following are filled with sites with obvious advertisement and/or pirated sites with bizarre URLs usurping my nick or videos of my Youtube channel (or even usurping vids of other Youtubers, in which I have posted comments), with a few legitimate sites here and there. :/

Only in Fire Emblem Gaiden. At first because I was a noob and didn't knew about the level cap (this was my first FE, FE4 being my second, and there wasn't a possibility to promote early in there), then because the EXP gaining system is shitty and I don't have the patience to go through completely.

A fellow Star Ocean the Second Story lover EDIT : Crap, beaten to the post.

Plot-driven and character driven. Weren't it for characters such as Sigurd, Eltshan, Alvis, Levin or Cuan, FE4 1st-gen wouldn't be as interesting story-wise. Don't underestimate the power of strong characterisation in a storyline. That said, I agree with you that the background of the world is vital in a good story. I wouldn't have enjoyed FE4 as much without its rich mythos (also driving to the point : I'm much more a player who likes storyline and narrative, than its gameplay, although I certainly enjoyed FE4's orthodox gameplay more than the more traditional one of the FE series - also a reason why I enjoyed FE Gaiden a lot - . Maybe a reason why, since a few years, I'm more and more attracted by the Adventure Games genre with games such as the Ace Attorney series, Snatcher or the Tokimemo Drama Series).

The four main fonts I use are : Comic Sans MS (for normal dialogue in bubbles) Short Hand (for dialogue outside bubbles, and some soft-sound onomatopeia) Monotype Corsiva (when a character is thinking or reminiscing, in bubbles) Media Gothic (For Stage title, and locations, ex: "Marpha Castle", "Junbgy Castle"). Other recurring fonts : Anime Ace Badaboom BB Cataneo BT Chasm Dolphin Dragonwick Feedback BB Flat Brush Haettenschweiler Highlight Let John Kandy Let Letteromatic ! MisterEarl BT One Stroke Script Let Palatino Linotype Ruach Let SF Slapstick Comic SF Slapstick Comic Shaded Smudger Let

Hi, both of you ;)

Superb, thanks a ton Marthur :) I'll arrange Stage 7's script with all needed editing directives, and send it to you. Give me until this week-end.

Hi Enjolras :)

You meant this Gilliam ? :P