Have your opinion of awakeing changed?

[Junk]

I played awakening a bit to much. I never found myself caring for the gen system so I just did supports with random people. Maybe when I get the DLC I may start a lunatic run and actually care about supports and pairings. I found shadow dragon more fun because maybe it was more simple. I just don't really like fire emblem getting complex which is why I don't like Fe 4 either I guess. Awakening requires a lot of time and effort to be put in.

[algae]

Was it your money's worth? Is it worth telling people to go ahead and play it if they're on the fence about buying it?

If nothing else, it's a good starting point for someone who's new to the franchise.

[Skynstein]

I mean sure, Awakening's story is an important factor in evaluating it as a game...

But I don't think it should have *THAT* much impact.

"Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but it's not that important." (John Carmack)

If I want to follow a story I'll watch a movie (not a porn movie!) or read a book.

Pokémon RBY and GSC story: become a Pokémon master. Super Mario up to 64 story: save the princess (in 3 it actually isn't but becomes that later on). All of them memorable games.

Goldeneye 007 story takes elements from the movie but is a complete mess itself. There is a serious continuity error at one point that would make certain people on this forum foam their mouths. Yet it's one of the best games on the N64.

Need for Speed went downhill after they incorporated story into the games.

And so on.

Games that are too much story driven tend to lose the point of what a game is. You want to PLAY the game. If most of the game is watching cutscenes or reading text then the point is lost. Since Awakening is an RPG the story becomes slightly more important, but heck, if I only cared about the story I don't even need to buy the game, just watch someone play through the game on YouTube.

Pokémon X and Y story sucked IMO, but what made me not like the game as much as other entries in the series is that the Exp. Share completely breaks the game and sucks the challenge out of it. It was a GAMEPLAY element that made me not like the game, not the story. I could avoid using the Exp. Share, but it's there, it's part of the game, so why wouldn't I use it?

Edited April 2, 2014 by Malebolganone

[arvilino]

I think the situation is that, the more you play Awakening (subsequent playthroughs)... the more you realize its flaws.

The only problem I have about it is that when people love it so much when they take out the story element because the gameplay elements are so fun... and then turn around and bash it after actually being able to read it. (Repeating myself again, sorry)

I mean sure, Awakening's story is an important factor in evaluating it as a game...

But I don't think it should have *THAT* much impact.

The story shouldn't have that much impact and I'd even argue it's actually delivered in a way that's more suitable for the pick up and play style of the handheld medium. The main story and dialogue in between chapters is briefer than other(excluding NES games) entries in the series, but the bulk of the dialogue is contained within the supports and additional content, hence someone wanting to just play the main game can do so without being bogged down by a massive amount of plot(Radiant Dawn for example) and the ease of accessing supports(compared to previous entries) allow them to read about the characters that they want to but those who are more interested in the characters and 100+ hours of re-playability are catered for.

Though there's also the case that to the release date of the game between Japan and the West and how that story events were specified here there are a lot of people who went into the game knowing all the spoilers ahead of time and so anyone who wanted to pick it apart had literally nothing to be surprised about plot-wise.

Edited April 2, 2014 by arvilino

[Loki Laufeyson]

I think the situation is that, the more you play Awakening (subsequent playthroughs)... the more you realize its flaws.

The only problem I have about it is that when people love it so much when they take out the story element because the gameplay elements are so fun... and then turn around and bash it after actually being able to read it. (Repeating myself again, sorry)

I mean sure, Awakening's story is an important factor in evaluating it as a game...

But I don't think it should have *THAT* much impact.

Was it your money's worth? Is it worth telling people to go ahead and play it if they're on the fence about buying it?

In that sense, my opinion about Awakening hasn't changed. I mean, sure... I tell them I'm really biased for the game because I love it some reasons are more obvious than others... but I make sure they know that when I recommend it to them.

NO JOKE.

There are plenty of games out there with meh stories that i love. Story is kinda lulzy? Oh well, the game is fun to play, so i freaking like it. I think Awakening's plot is bad but it really doesnt matter at the end of the day, because im having so much fun with the game anyway. I actually like the character interactions, sue me. Some of the supports are meh but i like seeing these guys talk to each other and the DLC chapters and shit. I like playing around with skills and making my guys all amazing. This has not changed over the past year.

[TheFreshestSlice]

I've only played the ones released in America and Genealogy, but from what I've seen, the writing has most certainly improved....

[metalsnowman3]

NO JOKE.

There are plenty of games out there with meh stories that i love. Story is kinda lulzy? Oh well, the game is fun to play, so i freaking like it. I think Awakening's plot is bad but it really doesnt matter at the end of the day, because im having so much fun with the game anyway. I actually like the character interactions, sue me. Some of the supports are meh but i like seeing these guys talk to each other and the DLC chapters and shit. I like playing around with skills and making my guys all amazing. This has not changed over the past year.

This and this is easily the most replayable FE game between different pairings and classes, DLC and DLC conversations.

[NoNameAtAll]

"Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but it's not that important." (John Carmack)

It also cements my stance that Fire Emblem has never excelled in storytelling except maybe the Jugdral games, and even then, that's mostly background stuff rather than the story actually in the games.

[Duke of Dozel]

It also cements my stance that Fire Emblem has never excelled in storytelling except maybe the Jugdral games, and even then, that's mostly background stuff rather than the story actually in the games.

Even then, there was a ton of story elements that wasnt added until FE5 and several other story sources (manga, developers notes, etc.) were released.

Awakening doesn't have a complex story because it was a game that was meant to lure in more fans to the series, since it was going downhill after PoR. It adopted the popular marriage and support systems so a new level of character development could be explored. It is a pleasing concept. However all in all, this title wasn't supposed to be taken seriously. I've seen what Fire Emblem is capable of, and the game just drifts off course too much.

[ClassyWolf]

I really agree with that the story is really bad, but for me it has a far larger impact, because if get uninterested with the story, I will most likely stop playing the games, it's either that or the callenge, lore, world etc. that keeps me with the game usualy, and I didn't find i that hard (exepct L+ because I'm not gona start a reset fest).

And the amount of unexplained events and retcons just anoy me, but this is more of a personal opinion and while fire emble stories tendto quite simple (at least on the surface), their still enough to keep me interested, I just got really quickly tierd of awakenings plot and had to force myself to play it.

[HauntD]

I just don't get why people complain about the story really. In like 85% of plots theres a loop hole, obvious or not. The game is still fun however my only quarrel is the luna+ restarting only because its annoying.

[Tamanoir]

Even then, there was a ton of story elements that wasnt added until FE5 and several other story sources (manga, developers notes, etc.) were released.

Awakening doesn't have a complex story because it was a game that was meant to lure in more fans to the series, since it was going downhill after PoR. It adopted the popular marriage and support systems so a new level of character development could be explored. It is a pleasing concept. However all in all, this title wasn't supposed to be taken seriously. I've seen what Fire Emblem is capable of, and the game just drifts off course too much.

The translators sure as hell didn't take the story that seriously. They saw the game as what it was and decided to have fun with it. And it sure as hell is fun.

You know, I'm French, so I really love cheese. Cheese makes everything better. (Look at Cheese Burger for example).

Is it an artistic masterpiece ? Is it an epic story that will still be remebered in a decade ? No. And it's not really the goal.

The difference of opinion about the game depends on what people are expecting out of it.

It is clearly not the best FE ever made. I don't think that was the goal. The goal was to pander to the largest crowd, because the survival of the series was engaged. And that goal was perfectly well met.

If someone says this is a flawless game, he is wrong and delusionnal.

But does these flaws really stop you for enjoying the game ?

I can understand why some "veterans" would be angry about the broken game system and repetitive missions, but for a newcommer, or someone "casual", it's really fun, and its large customization options addd a lot of replay value.

The story is full of hole, and kinda poorly written, but it's pretty effective at what it does.

Which is what most asks out of a game. Few games (if any) changed my vision of life forever (or if it did, it's my vision of what a good game is, or at best what art can do).

Characters may be not that developped, because they sacrified character developpment to diversity.

I played this game so much, and abused grinding to exhaution (which is my fault, I admit), but this game is still a pretty enjoyable game.

Hype backlash happened because we were awaiting far too much from this game, and It didn't deliver, because it could never have delivered.

My main concern is that all the wonderfull creativity we had when it came out quickly leaded to shipping war, and endless fruitless debate about skills (GF) and story.

[arvilino]

I really agree with that the story is really bad, but for me it has a far larger impact, because if get uninterested with the story, I will most likely stop playing the games, it's either that or the callenge, lore, world etc. that keeps me with the game usualy, and I didn't find i that hard (exepct L+ because I'm not gona start a reset fest).

And the amount of unexplained events and retcons just anoy me, but this is more of a personal opinion and while fire emble stories tendto quite simple (at least on the surface), their still enough to keep me interested, I just got really quickly tierd of awakenings plot and had to force myself to play it.

The main story is pretty brief for this game so even if you don't like it it's not really that intrusive and it doesn't take long to understand what's going on. The bulk of the dialogue is in the supports and optional.

I could believe you if it was any other Fire Emblem(from SNES onwards) and especially FE10 because if you don't like the story/plot in that game even if you like a set of characters you're mostly screwed from enjoying anything to do with it's writing.

[ClassyWolf]

I could believe you if it was any other Fire Emblem(from SNES onwards) and especially FE10 because if you don't like the story/plot in that game even if you like a set of characters you're mostly screwed from enjoying anything to do with it's writing.

In RD I acctually enjoyed the challenge, and somewhat liked the story to part 4, and while there are things that are broken (like you having 3 promotinons and the only the enemy bosses) and I liked a lot of the mechanics in radiant dawn.

With the snes games, I acctually did find the stories in the snes games interesting enough to keep me playing, put aside the very merry sueish main characters (luckily remedied in Shadow Dragon for FE3).

If you wan't to tell a game I will have a hard time to enjoy, rather say the nes games, and even there I enjoy gaiden for what it is, yes, the story in it is pretty bland (after all, it's an nes game, what would you expect?) and it's really grindy, and I acctually did get tired of it a few times, but I came back to it every timne, and now I'm hoping for a remake to fix the problems it has.

And about awakenings plot, it's because it's brief, bland, predictable and clished even for an FE, I got bored with it, it has little lore of it's own, we know very little of the world, and bulks of texts isn't a problem for me, heck I would even argue that awakeing would need more exposition into the main story to explain things and have that overworld storyteller, or whatever it's called in english, that every other FE has.

[XeKr]

I think the situation is that, the more you play Awakening (subsequent playthroughs)... the more you realize its flaws.

Hmm…I can comfortably say that my enjoyment didn’t noticeably diminish the more I played it (if anything, the opposite as the flaws were immediately obvious), and sometimes find myself wanting to play it as I’ve been replaying older games in the series. I enjoy the simplicity of FE mechanics compared to other srpgs like FFT or TO, so the trimming and streamlining of unnecessary gameplay stuff is a plus for me. However, I do see a lot of complaints regarding flavor/nostalgia (which are fine, even great to have), yet with traditionally little tactical/strategic value (defense maps, magic triangle, light magic, third tiers, etc), so it’s clear some players may prefer certain types of fluff, compared to others (in which, FE has been notoriously inconsistent about.). Not really a surprise. However, just throwing in stuff is non-trivial to balance properly, a consequence perhaps we're aware of. Arguably every FE deals with it, despite relatively simpler mechanics.

I’m also still amused by the occasional fan art skits and Support/DLC convo snippets that I happen across scattered around the interwebs.

(Maybe I haven’t reached the breaking point yet? I definitely haven’t reached even close to the time invested of some fans, but I did thoroughly play Lunatic with a variety of conditions)

I am, however, reminded of something else I dislike about the fanbase. The passing implication that “true fans” or “veterans” inevitably prefer older games, or newcomers will adopt that opinion once they play a “real FE”. While it’s true there are many players who probably haven’t experienced all the games, no need to blindly speculate or generalize them one way, individual people will always have their own preferences. This can already be observed from a subset of our niche community (which ebbs and flows, like I’m again seeing a cycle of FE4 hype), so just imagine the general larger one.

Edited April 5, 2014 by XeKr

[TheFreshestSlice]

I am, however, reminded of something else I dislike about the fanbase. The passing implication that “true fans” or “veterans” inevitably prefer older games, or newcomers will adopt that opinion once they play a “real FE”. While it’s true there are many players who probably haven’t experienced all the games, no need to blindly speculate or generalize them one way, individual people will always have their own preferences. This can already be observed from a subset of our niche community (which ebbs and flows, like I’m again seeing a cycle of FE4 hype), so just imagine the general larger one.

That's something that happens across pretty much anything in any fanbase anywhere. "I played an older game. I liked it. Didn't like this one, so...." It's going to be said by the vocal minority at one point or another, so I let such things go by without a care. And too my knowledge, FE4 has always been one of the more popular and successful titles, and for good reason. It's less of a niche and more of a classic in that regard. It's just simply not as relevant so it'll only be spoken of as a reference of how one thinks a game should be.

[RJWalker]

I am, however, reminded of something else I dislike about the fanbase. The passing implication that “true fans” or “veterans” inevitably prefer older games, or newcomers will adopt that opinion once they play a “real FE”. While it’s true there are many players who probably haven’t experienced all the games, no need to blindly speculate or generalize them one way, individual people will always have their own preferences. This can already be observed from a subset of our niche community (which ebbs and flows, like I’m again seeing a cycle of FE4 hype), so just imagine the general larger one.

Conversely, there's the just as prevelant attitude that anyone who likes an older game but dislikes the latest one is a 'hipster' or a 'nostalgiafag'. Pokemon is a big example here. Genwunners definitely exist and are annoying but anyone who prefers Gen 1 to the latest one is immediately branded as a 'genwunner' and abused.

[Ishi]

my thoughts on awakening have changed dramatically. it was my first fire emblem game and got me into the series but after spending about a year playing other ones in the series i look at this and realize its not as good as i thought. like all the chapters are rout enemy and defeat boss. and the reclassing seems bad to me like shadow dragons i could handle it doesnt make a unit overpowered but awakenings is awful if you spotpass someone 80% of the time there maxed stats. also the magic got awful radiant dawn had the best with the light and dark as well as wind fire and thunder but awakening dumbed it down to almost nothing. the skill system is weaker i feel in this game anyone can get almost any skills making units seem less enjoyable like in genealogy lex was unique because of his paragon skill but in awakening each class ends up the same.

[Loki Laufeyson]

overworld storyteller

Narrator. And now that you mention it, you are correct. There is no narrator in Awakening. Curious! All of the FE games i played had a narrator in it. Hmmm....

And too my knowledge, FE4 has always been one of the more popular and successful titles, and for good reason. It's less of a niche and more of a classic in that regard.

The wider fandom (read: Not Us) doesnt mention FE4 that much and the reason is obvious. The silent majority of the fandom has not played FE4. Now, i think it would be a fantastic idea to remake that game in the wake of Awakening's success, so us Silent Majority can really access the title that supposedly set a standard. But right now, FE4 is still very niche.

[TheFreshestSlice]

The wider fandom (read: Not Us) doesnt mention FE4 that much and the reason is obvious. The silent majority of the fandom has not played FE4. Now, i think it would be a fantastic idea to remake that game in the wake of Awakening's success, so us Silent Majority can really access the title that supposedly set a standard. But right now, FE4 is still very niche.

When the phrase, "a cycle of FE4 hype" was used, it doesn't give the same connotation as, it's unknown. It sounds like FE4 is suddenly seen as a well polished game, before becoming a well polished piece of plastic.

And I'm sure the silent majority of FE is still in Japan. :P

Edited April 5, 2014 by TheFreshestSlice

[Czar_Yoshi]

Narrator. And now that you mention it, you are correct. There is no narrator in Awakening. Curious! All of the FE games i played had a narrator in it. Hmmm....

The narrator's job in past FEs has usually been explaining political tensions as the lord travels about the map. In Awakening, the world map is open and politics are much simpler (two good countries, two bad countries), so the narrator wouldn't have much to do.

[ClassyWolf]

The narrator's job in past FEs has usually been explaining political tensions as the lord travels about the map. In Awakening, the world map is open and politics are much simpler (two good countries, two bad countries), so the narrator wouldn't have much to do.

Because they couldn't write it any better and have slightly more exposition? and sacred stones had a narrator and it worked well even though the game had a world map.

[TheFreshestSlice]

Because they couldn't write it any better and have slightly more exposition? and sacred stones had a narrator and it worked well even though the game had a world map.

That's because there was a lot of backstory that needed to be explained, as well as the setting because Sacred Stones was in an entirely new world with no self-insert with amnesia to ask stupid questions like, "What's Plagia," while wearing clothes from there.

Also, the timeskip is narrated. That's something.

[NoNameAtAll]

Even then, there was a ton of story elements that wasnt added until FE5 and several other story sources (manga, developers notes, etc.) were released.

Awakening doesn't have a complex story because it was a game that was meant to lure in more fans to the series, since it was going downhill after PoR. It adopted the popular marriage and support systems so a new level of character development could be explored. It is a pleasing concept. However all in all, this title wasn't supposed to be taken seriously. I've seen what Fire Emblem is capable of, and the game just drifts off course too much.

Yes, I'm aware. Also note that I never said this game had a good story. No doubt it's among Fire Emblem's weaker ones. I'm just saying that anyone thinking any of the Fire Emblem games have AMAZING story and then accuse Awakening alone as a sudden decline are delusional. It's not a sudden or sharp decline. It's more of a downward ramp rather than a mountain.

[XeKr]

That's something that happens across pretty much anything in any fanbase anywhere. "I played an older game. I liked it. Didn't like this one, so...." It's going to be said by the vocal minority at one point or another, so I let such things go by without a care. And too my knowledge, FE4 has always been one of the more popular and successful titles, and for good reason. It's less of a niche and more of a classic in that regard. It's just simply not as relevant so it'll only be spoken of as a reference of how one thinks a game should be.

I thought the same as you, but iirc for a while, I was seeing topics where FE4 was often maligned as overrated. Though I guess my point is these are probably different people, so sampling/volunteer bias heavily dictates what is considered community “consensus” (regardless of the specific game in question).

Conversely, there's the just as prevelant attitude that anyone who likes an older game but dislikes the latest one is a 'hipster' or a 'nostalgiafag'. Pokemon is a big example here. Genwunners definitely exist and are annoying but anyone who prefers Gen 1 to the latest one is immediately branded as a 'genwunner' and abused.

Yeah, to clarify, it’s indeed more accurate to refer to elitist disparaging remarks in general (I mentioned generalizing one way or another).

Also in my experience, that’s more counter-reactionary react-ception. People love the new game, other (older) fans may not (hype-backlash), other people then dismiss/decry those opinions as such. and then you call them out on it. >_>