I wish they weren't so 'Black and White' with the character designs

[Kirokan]

Keep in mind that white is the color of death in Eastern nations, so technically both sides are color-coded negatively.

It is also the color of purity in Shintoism, though.

I agree that the rather monochrome appearance with occasional whacky hair color would have made me think it was some game such as Hyperdimension Neptunia before Fire Emblem. XD

As for the evil Nohr, it did say the story is about changing it from the inside, rather than siding with them entirely. It sounds like the Nohr (as it is at the start) is the antagonist both ways.

Edited April 4, 2015 by Kirokan

[Rapier]

Keep in mind that white is the color of death in Eastern nations, so technically both sides are color-coded negatively.

I think IS has an european audience in mind first and foremost, what with the settings of the games being based on european customs.

But Crimea and Daein were also color coded for convenience, and yet both kingdoms had their good share of development and moral ambiguity. I hope this is the same for FE14.

Hoshido is advertised as "good" and the easier route, but doesnt mean they actually are nicer and more morally upright. Nohr is a harder path with more political twists and turns, but doesnt mean they are like, totally evil or anything

While they don't seem to stand in the extremes, I do think Hoshido is supposed to represent the good side and Nohr the bad side. Hoshido is described as a peace loving kingdom, Nohr is described as a glory seeking conqueror. The empress is cute and polite, Garon is creepier than Gharnef, and his actions are morally questioned by characters, to the point Marx defends him ("my father's actions can not be wrong/evil").

At the very least, superficially it will be like this. Doesn't stop other characters from being morally ambiguous.

Edited April 4, 2015 by Rapier

[Tsuky]

I think the black and white is more for the dramatic effects and don't completely dictate the morality. Also, it helps that they threw in the "loyalty vs. family" dilemma into the mix to make your choice not based on ideologies alone. I feel that at the very least, you can sympathize with Marx and your little sister from Nohr even if you do choose to side with Hoshido, the supposedly "good" side; they (thankfully) don't fit the "I'm evil just cuz" theme that plagues much of Awakening.

[Twylis]

To be fair, colour-coordinating factions based on attitudes is nothing new to Fire Emblem (as addressed in the thread I just made).

The difference here is that it's an arguably more moral-shaded contrast; red and blue generally just hold connotations of aggression vs. calmness, whereas white and black are much more prominently associated with good vs. evil (at least in western culture).

I think it'd be more accurate to think of it more in yin-yang terms, though. Rather than a focus on morality, it's more just a contrast of their qualities (although power is traditionally associated with yang/white, which Nohr better embodies, so it's not a direct parallel).

Regardless, I like the change of pace.

[Vitezen]

As for chromatic (no ties to Awakening) complaints, I'm more irked by the hair colors people have. 3 of the Nohr camp have light blonde hair, and everyone else that we know about is some shade of blue or purple. On the Hoshido side, we already have 4 confirmed red hair people (Hinoka, Sakura, Tsubaki and Saizo) plus all the red motifs with their outfits. It's getting a little samey for each faction.

Well they're probably two different races, it makes sense that they would have different hair colors.