Law/Neutral/Chaos

[Jedi]

Shin Megami Tensei has alot of alignment set stuff. Certain demons only join the character if he/she matches them etc. Choices you make things you have always affected you. In the various SMT games there are usually 2 factions one for Law and the other Chaos, and it seems as if every protagonist of SMT is Neutral to try to balance things out. There was also the Light/Neutral/Dark trio in the later ones as well you'd have 2 alignment sets. example of Light/Law etc etc

So my question here is, will we be seeing alignment in FExSMT and if so who will be what [i think its safe to say FE people will mostly be law lol]

Edited February 20, 2013 by Maverick Hunter Jedi

[Excellen Browning]

We probably will because the law/chaos and good/evil alignments always play a significant role in SMT.

[Happy_Dingo]

I think its safe to say FE people will mostly be law lol

Well remember that Law and Chaos in SMT do not necessarily represent Good and Evil. The same can go for FE. For example:

[spoiler=Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn spoilers]

Ashera was the ulterior antagonist in RD, even though she represented order (law). Yune, being the complete opposite, represented chaos but was a protagonist.

I imagine characters like Ike and Titania might be in the neutral area, while other good guys from RD (Tibarn just as an example) might be considered chaos.

This is all assuming the game is actually formatted like this.

[Jedi]

That is true, we could have a bit of a split of factions in this afterall if it works out this way

[eefara]

I thought it was the earlier SMT games that had the extra good/normal/evil to go with the normal Law/Neutral/Chaos.

[Balcerzak]

Both earlier and later entries had the Light Neutral Dark Axis. In the earlier entries the only way to get Dark Demons was through fusion. Starting with (at least for mainline) Nocturne, you could have Dark demons join your party (though I believe they needed to randomly initiate the coversation), and in Strange Journey you needed to talk to them during Full Moon phase with the Lunatic app for them to have a chance of joining. Also, maybe this is just my imagination, but while you could definitely talk to and recruit Light aligned demons, they didn't actually tend to show up and fight you very often, meaning you were often forced to get them through fusion as well.

[Samias]

As far as Fire Emblem protagonists go, I can see someone like Ike being on the side of Neutral or Chaos, Ashnard, Tibarn and Naesala as Chaos, Dheginsea and Sanaki as Law, and Elincia seems like she'd be Neutral. FE9 had a heavy Chaos/Law dynamic going on which makes it the easiest to split up. FE7 is another fun one, where I can easily see Lyn as Law, Eliwood as Neutral, and Hector as Chaos. Chaos/Law is one of the more interesting SMT mechanics that makes the core games compelling and different from other RPGs, so if it's not present I'll be a little sad. I'm not sure if Light/Neutral/Dark ends up extending to the characters since you don't recruit them and only really figure out their idealogy. I wish they'd take *some* of the random elements out of negotiation like Persona 2, but generally the Persona series is very simplified compared to the main series so I feel like I'm asking for too much...

[Saint of Games]

What about Micaiah?

[Excellen Browning]

good chaos obvs.

[HHS]

Super long post. Big fan of both series so I am amped for this game.

As a note, Evil isn't reeeally evil. It should be self or social. Chaotic self instead of evil but the terminology has been used this way forever.

A good rubric is that paladins tend to be Lawful X and bandits are entirely Chaotic Evil.

The perfect definition of Chaotic Good is a revenge seeker like Harken. The definition of Lawful Good would be Oswin. Someone who uses the established order when it's convenient but will step outside of it when necessary is Neutral Good (Ike).

Lawful neutral is someone who pretty much does their job because it's what they do. Any generic paladin fits this role but a good stand in is Kellam or Gillian. True neutral is someone who goes any way the wind blows, they're the natural element. True neutral is overlooked because people tend to think it's boring or doesn't do anything. This isn't true, it's a balancing effect. They would otherwise keep to themselves but get pushed into action by environmental factors. Lyn is a good example of this. Chaotic neutral is a rogue who doesn't really ponder the moral intricacies of their actions. Matthew the thief is a good example.

Anything evil is often assumed to be chaotic because chaos sounds pretty bad. This isn't the reality though. A character that does evil because of submission to predestination(their perceived calling) and uses the systems in their world by the book is this character. I like Zephiel for this role. True neutral is the deadliest role because it means "by any means necessary." Nergal and Lyon are these. They serve themselves and don't care how they have to go about it, abusing systems when they need to, barbarism when they need to. I mentioned any bandit can be Chaotic Evil, even some protagonists might be (like young Karel). A chaotic character feels compelled to disobey rules but won't always if it puts their own well being at risk. They may defer to a stronger power but only until they can overpower them.

Let's get this ball rolling, who wants to debate characters?

Roy: Lawful Good

Lilina: Lawful Neutral

Marcus: Lawful Neutral

Murdock: Lawful Neutral

Zephiel: Lawful Evil

Idoun: Lawful Neutral

Lyn: True Neutral

Hector: (young) Chaotic Good (old) Neutral Good

Eliwood: Lawful Good

Oswin: Lawful Good

Canas: True Neutral

Jaffar: Neutral Evil

Isadora: Lawful Good

Nino: Neutral Good

Sonia: Chaotic Evil

Limstella: Lawful Evil

Darin: Neutral Evil

Nergal: Neutral Evil

Ephraim: Chaotic Good

Eirika: Neutral Good

Seth: Lawful Neutral

Lyon: Neutral Evil

Demon: Chaotic Evil

Joshua: Chaotic Neutral

Caellach: Neutral Evil

Duessel: Lawful Good

Ross: True Neutral

Ike: Neutral Good

Boyd: True Neutral

Mist: Lawful Good (hence no Fire Emblem corruption, see how this works?)

Titania: Lawful Good

Greil: Neutral Good

Black Knight: Lawful Neutral

Sephiran: Lawful Evil

Naesala: Chaotic Evil (although once the weight of his blood curse is shown and his motive is for his people he comes off as more Chaotic Neutral)

Ashnard: Chaotic Evil

Soren: True Neutral

Micaiah: True boring... jk... Chaotic Good

Sothe: Chaotic Neutral

Haar: True Neutral

Jill: Lawful Good

Brom: Lawful Good

Nephenee: True Neutral

Shinon: Chaotic Evil

Oliver: Chaotic Evil

Emmeryn: Lawful Good

Chrom: Neutral Good

Lissa: True Neutral

Flavia: Lawful Evil (people are going to think this is weird to say)

Lucina: Neutral Good

Frederick: Lawful as hell, Good ...PICK A GOD AND PRAY

Gangrel: Chaotic Evil

Aversa: Lawful Evil

Validar: Neutral Evil

Anna: Neutral Evil (it's true man... o_o)

Tharja: Chaotic Neutral

Miriel: Lawful Neutral

Owain: Lawful Awesome (Chaotic Good)

Gerome: Lawful Neutral

Walhardt: Chaotic Good (don't know if you saw that coming either)

Add as you wish. There are too many characters to really get them all. I only did ones that came to mind.

[Refa]

I don't think they'll have it, or any of the multiple endings. Kind of iffy on the demon recruitment too, at least the traditional sense of it (maybe they'll be recruited like FE people). It might not even have fusion! But that would just be sacrilege.

I'm guessing that they'll simplify a lot of the systems or change things around, not necessarily for the worse.

[Fala]

They'll have multiple endings. It's using the main series. Having those in there is like the sun rising every morning.

[Refa]

The sun doesn't rise in Makai.

[Fala]

YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN! The Alignment System is a core gameplay mechanic like the Weapon Triangle. You can't just take it away.

[Parrhesia]

they took the weapon triangle away in at least FE10HM

don't even think the series started with it

[Refa]

It was introduced in FE4.

[Rehab]

which is how you know it's great total shit great

[Fala]

You people... The alignment system is a core element of the main SMT series. (Not counting Nocturne.) It's needed like the DnD alignment system.

[CO_Fimbulvetr]

TBH a more fitting analogue to the weapons triangle wold be elemental weaknesses and effects (wk/str/null/drn/rft etc).

I've always liked SMT's alignment system, especially the Strange Journey version of it. But... I also like the weird versions, like Nocturne. I think FE would work quite nicely with it. Also, it would be an easy way to bring characters together if political groups fall apart (or don't exist), for example all the knightly type Law/Light characters like Fred and Isadora would quite likely work together.