General Banzai Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Maeda Kohei Scenario writer at Intelligent Systems Born in Kyoto in 1977. He wrote the support conversations for Sword of Seals (2002), and ever since Blazing Sword (2003), he has been the main scenario writer. Blood Type: A I knew that there had been a shift in the plot/writing development between FE6 and FE7. Even more interesting is how obvious it seems in retrospect that the same person responsible for what's going on in the plots of 7 through 10 and what's going on in the supports of 6. Anyways, everyone's probably saying "Nobody gives a shit, shut up Banzai we don't like you." Okay, okay. But let me introduce a broader topic here. I got this information from the interview Vincent just posted on the main site, about Radiant Dawn. Here for you lazy bums. I think this is an interesting thing for people to read. It provides insights in the creative process behind Fire Emblem that typically we don't get to see. In fact, almost all the developer notes add a lot more to the games (I'm thinking here of the Dawn Brigade notes, or the Thracia prologue). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geriba Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Wow, no wonder FE7 was so riddled with plot holes and inconsistencies, am I right? Something tells me this calls for a dissertation-length paper, Banzai. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Banzai Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 Wow, no wonder FE7 was so riddled with plot holes and inconsistencies, am I right? Something tells me this calls for a dissertation-length paper, Banzai. I already played with the idea in my essay that FE7 was a "learning experience" for the post-Kaga writing staff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geriba Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 True. And it's certainly appropriate: after all, what better place to include a trash script than a trash game? anyway topic derailment over Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Banzai Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 It's not topic derailment at all; it's incredibly relevant to what I'm saying. Narihiro: From the very beginning of the series, it has always been our intent to make sure to leave space for the imagination of the player. Although, back then, with the limitations we faced with the original Famicom, this was really the only way we could go about it. (laughs) The tradition of the series is to challenge ourselves to avoid providing the players with plain and definitive answers to everything. Anyone familiar with the discussion on the Awakening Board might find this interesting, also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Refa Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 (edited) Doesn't that example why FE characters usually have short names? Anyways, it is pretty interesting that FE7 had a different scenario writer. FE6 always felt like the awkward middle child of FE5 and FE7, with the improved interface and simplified gameplay of FE7 and the giant maps, rescue, main character, and other wierd similarities with FE5. The only thing it was missing was the more emphasis on story of the later games. Edited January 27, 2012 by Refa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uguu Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Also, perhaps because we are of the generation that grew up with Gundam, the overarching theme of the series is how there are also righteous enemies, and portraying how the world isn’t simply as black and white as you might think. I think the fact that the series has retained its appeal after all these years is because of this kind of world view that it has. come on come on come on Fire Emblem with mecha come onnnnnnnnnnn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celice Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Maeda Kohei Scenario writer at Intelligent Systems Born in Kyoto in 1977. He wrote the support conversations for Sword of Seals (2002), and ever since Blazing Sword (2003), he has been the main scenario writer. Blood Type: A I knew that there had been a shift in the plot/writing development between FE6 and FE7. Even more interesting is how obvious it seems in retrospect that the same person responsible for what's going on in the plots of 7 through 10 and what's going on in the supports of 6. Positions like those don't usually mean that he's doing all the work. It's still incredibly collaborative and chaotic. Usually main positions aren't the ones who cause things to happen--they have to check over the work of everyone beneath them and make sure the main agreed-upon quality is being met, and is in charge of getting that degree of quality met. Many series have had long-time contributors who flop around in positions, but that doesn't really mean their signature style of work is gonna shape the game. I'm going to guess the only real position with effort like that is the Director, and that's working in complete collaboration between the dev teams and Nintendo's expectations for a project. So I guess just be careful of making too large of a deal out of something that actually doesn't mean a whole lot of anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Banzai Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 "Main" Scenario Writer implies that he's doing at least MOST of the work, or is at least in the directorial position for the other scenario writers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anouleth Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Positions like those don't usually mean that he's doing all the work. It's still incredibly collaborative and chaotic. Usually main positions aren't the ones who cause things to happen--they have to check over the work of everyone beneath them and make sure the main agreed-upon quality is being met, and is in charge of getting that degree of quality met. Many series have had long-time contributors who flop around in positions, but that doesn't really mean their signature style of work is gonna shape the game. I'm going to guess the only real position with effort like that is the Director, and that's working in complete collaboration between the dev teams and Nintendo's expectations for a project. So I guess just be careful of making too large of a deal out of something that actually doesn't mean a whole lot of anything. I'd imagine that even during FE6 he would have had some involvement with scenario writing, such as it was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Othin Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 (edited) I'd imagine that even during FE6 he would have had some involvement with scenario writing, such as it was. There are clear differences between the storytelling in FE6 and the games following it. Perhaps the easiest way to draw a clear line is to note that in FE1-6, scenes were only shown on the current battlefield. The only exception I know of is Roy returning through Ch7's map after Ch8. Meanwhile, in the following games, scenes outside of the battlefields became common, greatly expanding the games' room to develop the stories. So something big changed, and this guy's change in role seems like a plausible cause. Even if he was doing something before, it makes sense that he could have become able to do much more. Edited January 28, 2012 by Othin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Banzai Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 There are other distinctions; the most primary one I can think of is that in FE1-6, the lord seems to have all major decisions made for them (usually in the form of the Malledus giving advice which the lord wholeheartedly accepts; often with references to "destiny" and "fate" which imply that the lord has no choice in the matter). Meanwhile, in 7-10, the exact opposite occurs. The Malledus is typically much younger, often as old as the main characters themselves (Seth, Soren), and usually the lord acts in the OPPOSITE manner of how they are advised, coming up instead with a strategy of their own which is less callous. Furthermore, the shift accompanies a general emphasis of storyline in 7-10. Discerning Kohei FEs from Kaga FEs isn't that difficult. The main thing I'm wondering about is how those FE6 supports come into play. The article indicates that Kohei was the ONLY writer working on the supports. The FE6 supports are on the whole incredibly generic; not poorly written per se, but utterly bland. Of course there are also those exceptions (Noah's supports, Lilina/Oujay, Dieck/Klein, a couple others). Of course, we don't know if he was involved in SCENARIO for the supports, or if he was given complete free reign over what to write, or anything, really. Basically I'd like to know more about this guy's involvement in the post-Kaga FEs in general. And how the writing staff for the Fire Emblem games works at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anouleth Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 (edited) There are clear differences between the storytelling in FE6 and the games following it. Perhaps the easiest way to draw a clear line is to note that in FE1-6, scenes were only shown on the current battlefield. The only exception I know of is Roy returning through Ch7's map after Ch8. Meanwhile, in the following games, scenes outside of the battlefields became common, greatly expanding the games' room to develop the stories. There's also the last cutscene which takes place in Nabata, if I remember correctly. You know, it's funny, I never realised that FE6 never had cutscenes that took place in a different setting. I guess I just never thought about it! There are other distinctions; the most primary one I can think of is that in FE1-6, the lord seems to have all major decisions made for them (usually in the form of the Malledus giving advice which the lord wholeheartedly accepts; often with references to "destiny" and "fate" which imply that the lord has no choice in the matter). Meanwhile, in 7-10, the exact opposite occurs. The Malledus is typically much younger, often as old as the main characters themselves (Seth, Soren), and usually the lord acts in the OPPOSITE manner of how they are advised, coming up instead with a strategy of their own which is less callous. Actually, FE4 Oifaye was pretty young... ironic, since Sigurd is presumably the oldest FE protagonist! Edited January 28, 2012 by Anouleth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Banzai Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 No FE before 7 has cutscenes which take place outside of the battlefield area. This is almost comical at times, as in Thracia Chapter 4, where the Julius/Manfloy cameo occurs in a random room in the center of the prison you just escaped from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celice Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 The BS FEs have scenes not limited to a battlefield:e Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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