Do you like where FE is heading...? /:

[IceBrand]

There is a bunch of fanservice Awakening and FE:if is guilty of (aka Nono/Now I and Tharja)... but damn, I'm getting the vibe that the OP seems to be saying the series before this was "pure".

Yeah, "Pure" pure bloodlines, incest. If anything FE got fanservice like during FE4.

[NoNameAtAll]

Well, considering the alternative to having FE:if was not having FE at all due to sales going down the drain at an increasing rate, then yes, I'm fine with FE's direction.

And yeah, none of the games are particularly innocent. Not saying Awakening is better in that aspect, but fanservice isn't just about chest bits. Exposed legs and whatnot can count (Hi Lyn and Karla especially).

[Florete]

Someone is bitter.

It's fine. Despite its flaws, Awakening was still a great game, and If is looking to be another great entry in the series. Having a few sexy characters doesn't ruin anything for me.

[Mighty Kamina]

Fanservice has been in far more than just Awakening and If. Aside from the really fanservicey things (oh hey Camilla), I actually (for the most part) like the art direction for in Awakening and If for the most part. Same thing goes for characterization. Awakening's cast is rather average compared to other casts in the series. (by average I mean middle of the road quality wise) While tons of the complaints about Awakening and If's direction are quite valid, a lot of the problems in Awakening are found in other entries in the series.

Gameplay wise, I still have a lot of fun with every game in series, Awakening included. I do like that the Nohr path in If seems to want to cater to the more old school fans, gameplay wise while the Hoshido path seems to want to cater to the fans Awakening brought in.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

As long the game will be better than FE13 (which is most likely the case, if I see the story) I actually have no huge problem with the part of fanservice.

Unfortunately it's a trend, which doesn't only apply to Fire Emblem. Fanservice becomes more important in videogames in general.

FE13 was more focussed on fanservice and waifustuff than on a good story (no this game didn't even have one) and good gameplay.

A very bad idea for someone like me, who plays FE games mainly for the strategical gameplay.

Edited April 5, 2015 by Mister IceTeaPeach

[shadowofchaos]

This is all to appeal to casuals and turn our beloved series into...whatever this is? I'm not even going to talk about SMT x FE.

Hahahahahahahaha.

You and I both know how bad we used to be. You have no right to talk like this, Soul.

This is pretty hilarious coming from the guy who used to act like Sanaki was his girlfriend.

If you've seen it with me, people tend to be vocal and hate on things that remind them of their last selves especially when invested in characters.

Waifu BS was here before Robin/Rufure and Kamui. It will be there despite fanservice character design or not.

FE14 sounds like it's cockblocking the S-Supports with "siblings" context, but that's just speculation. At the very least, Ryouma literally said he was your blood sibling.

Moving on, the waifu crap is just vocal minority. People love the attachment, but it isn't as bad as Soul is implying as it is the main indicator of the series' direction.

Edited April 5, 2015 by shadowofchaos

[Refa]

What's frustrating to me is that I like the new art style in general and I like the character designs so the misplaced fanservice just comes across as a lot worse to me than it would otherwise.

[Junkhead]

I wonder why no one takes their time to reply to so many posts as myself...

You said you don't want annoying fanservice making this into another Soul Calibur/DoA series. How bad was the fanservice in those games?

It's pretty bad, among the worse I've seen in this one aspect. But like I said, this doesn't ruin their good gameplay/story from taking place.

I do object to examples like F-Kamui having her armor just dissapear around the groin area, whilst she is armored elswhere. Many female mounted units in FE13 suffer this problem as well, and I feel that it looks ugly because of how it is so dreadfully jarring compared to the rest of the design.

Yeah, that's the first thing I've noticed that set me off.../:

Now, if this game turns out to focus on waifus and grinding despite initial impressions, then I'll be disappointed. Not only because I dislike those things in FE, but it would probably impact the story and gameplay in negative ways, since a big part of the story is family and a big part of half the campaign is limited levelling (which would clash with Awakening-style skill/class system). It'd feel like they're compromising just to satisfy new fans. I admit it's a little disheartening that they felt they had to keep one campaign with a world map and free grinding. It kind of shows they're not confident enough to be totally free in how they design the game for fear that the new fans will get turned off. But, I chalk it up to them wanting to ease new players into the series.

Expressed even better than I did, I like how you see it. Fortunately, it is indeed too early for us to know that part yet. So, for all you know, FE...14 (sounds weird, I like it), could end up getting better gameplay than FE13 did.

Unfortunately, if I play female MU as a Wyvern Lord I get a face-full of her ass at endgame and if I play male MU in the same class I don't. That's where it really annoys me.

This is hilariously true. Xd

Yeah, "Pure" pure bloodlines, incest. If anything FE got fanservice like during FE4.

Incest only actually happened in FE4, as far as I know. Yeahyeah, Clarine and Priscilla and their.......crushes. That's relatively innocent, if you ask me. And I don't think incest counts as fanservice, lol...

There is a bunch of fanservice Awakening and FE:if is guilty of (aka Nono/Now I and Tharja)... but damn, I'm getting the vibe that the OP seems to be saying the series before this was "pure".

Actually, I did mention it (that I've had the same problem with FE13, but nevertheless, I love the game).

Hahahahahahahaha.

You and I both know how bad we used to be. You have no right to talk like this, Soul.

....yeah, you're right. And I apologize. That's just me, not having a better word for newcomers. I'm not trying to sound like some experienced veteran elitist player, because if you think of it, even playing for turns is still casual playing.

If you've seen it with me, people tend to be vocal and hate on things that remind them of their last selves especially when invested in characters.

I didn't know this was true for others...

Waifu BS was here before Robin/Rufure and Kamui. It will be there despite fanservice character design or not.

No, I mean, I'm talking about turning the game into discussions of who you married and stuff like that. Admit it, SF conversations became a lot more relevant to that topic ever since FE13 came into the scene. There was always the "who is the cutest character" topics and stuff, but FE13 empaphized on that with The Avatar mechanic.

Moving on, the waifu crap is just vocal minority. People love the attachment, but it isn't as bad as Soul is implying as it is the main indicator of the series' direction.

Welp, by all means, I'm glad to be wrong.

[Magical Glace]

The only FE14 design I really hate is Camilla, but if it's limited to her its hard to say.

I do want a return to GBA style design but that won't happen...

[Integrity]

Liking the game =/= Disliking it's fanservice

i also did not dislike the character designs of fe13 though so

[Anacybele]

I will admit, I hate the forced fanservice. But as long as I can ignore it and enjoy the game anyway, I can call it a good game. But I do wish Tellius's artist would come back. She didn't draw fanservicy characters... Not even Petrine was sexualized much.

[Ein]

Current artist's style I am okay with for the most part so long as the characters are more than just one archetype dragged on for archetype's sake. Sure the designs on some of the female outfits can make one groan but that's an entirely different beast of issues and social conflicts on its own.

The story and progression were what turned me off from Awakening so HOPEFULLY If... isn't as stupid as Awakening in that regard. not holding my breathe though

[Rawkstar]

The thing about life is, you have to be ready to accept change, because things are going to change regardless. I personally really liked Awakening as a game, and I think it's the best Fire Emblem overall. I've played FE7, FE8, FE9, FE10, FE11, and part of FE12 before I got into Awakening, and I loved it as a game. I don't know why everyone was so upset with it...I completely understand how the Fire Emblem fanbase can be annoying as hell, especially with them making us look like pathetic weeaboos who are matchmaking waifu's and shit, but if you just enjoy the game for what it is, you'll find yourself a lot happier. I mean, I love the way supports worked in Awakening, I just hated how stupid some people made the rest of us look.

I think that this upcoming game looks amazing, and I like where the series is going as a whole. I'm willing to accept that things are going to be different, but that's okay. If you don't want things to change, then just go back to an older title, because the series can, and inevitably will evolve.

[Solaris]

Hey, The Red Queen, I like your avatar. Who is the chick?

ON: I don't mind the new direction, but a little less fanservice is never a bad idea...

[Anacybele]

The thing about life is, you have to be ready to accept change, because things are going to change regardless. I personally really liked Awakening as a game, and I think it's the best Fire Emblem overall. I've played FE7, FE8, FE9, FE10, FE11, and part of FE12 before I got into Awakening, and I loved it as a game. I don't know why everyone was so upset with it...I completely understand how the Fire Emblem fanbase can be annoying as hell, especially with them making us look like pathetic weeaboos who are matchmaking waifu's and shit, but if you just enjoy the game for what it is, you'll find yourself a lot happier. I mean, I love the way supports worked in Awakening, I just hated how stupid some people made the rest of us look.

People have plenty of valid reasons to dislike Awakening. I can see why some people hated the Avatar and marriage aspect of it, not everybody wants dating sim elements. The story is bad too, and some people want a good story in their FE games. Also, aside from pair-up, the gameplay was kind of a step BACKWARD after Tellius, specifically RD, had/introduced another magic triangle, unique chapter objectives, light magic, climbing ledges and attacking from atop them, weapon weight, Bishops and Saints, etc. Awakening has none of these things.

Awakening also has a lot of fanservice, which some people don't like either.

I don't hate Awakening, don't get me wrong. But I can definitely see why there's hate for it.

Edited April 5, 2015 by Anacybele

[Nobody]

Yes I do. FE If looks awesome so far, and having two paths, one for experienced players and other for newcomers was a great idea.

I couldn't care at all about the designs being fan service-y. I don't enjoy fan service but it doesn't really bother me if the characters wear stupid clothes as long as the gameplay is good.

[Loki Laufeyson]

i liked fe13 more than the ones before it

if looks pretty cool from what little i've seen

hell, i'll reserve judgment until the game's actually out but i'm optimistic, op

I agree with a lot of this. I mean, i love previous games more than Awakening, but i love what Awakening did. And im all for fanservice thats spread across the board. Like, honestly, if the male characters are designed to appeal to me and others, yes please. Look at Marx for example. Thats hitting all the right buttons for me and he doesnt need to be shirtless. The Hoshido faction has a bunch of really pretty boys in it, and thats just freaking awesome. I am not against fanservice. Im against fanservice when it only reaches one and only one demographic. Thats not whats going on here and not what was going on in Awakening. I welcome it. If that makes me a filthy casual, welp. The police. Fuck dem.

As for game mechanics, im also ok with it. Im gonna confess i kinda dig the whole pairing thing. And i like Avatar when she/he makes sense. Kamui looks like he/she is gonna make more sense than Robin ever did, so im more than ok with it. Im curious as to what his/her story is.

[Integrity]

Also, aside from pair-up, the gameplay was kind of a step BACKWARD after Tellius, specifically RD, had/introduced another magic triangle, unique chapter objectives, light magic, climbing ledges and attacking from atop them, weapon weight, Bishops and Saints, etc. Awakening has none of these things.

more complexity is not necessarily a good thing. aside from varied chapter objectives, pretty much all of those things and the other tellius stuff unmentioned were either hokey (ledges, crossbows, biorhythm), didn't really add anything to the game (magic triangle), or were basically just flavor and not gameplay (light magic, bishops and saints).

EDIT: not ragging on the tellius games here: more complexity is not necessarily a bad thing, you just can't say "well awakening cut this and this features and therefore the gameplay was worse" despite those features being really minor or hokey ones

Edited April 6, 2015 by Integrity

[Rawkstar]

People have plenty of valid reasons to dislike Awakening. I can see why some people hated the Avatar and marriage aspect of it, not everybody wants dating sim elements. The story is bad too, and some people want a good story in their FE games. Also, aside from pair-up, the gameplay was kind of a step BACKWARD after Tellius, specifically RD, had/introduced another magic triangle, unique chapter objectives, light magic, climbing ledges and attacking from atop them, weapon weight, Bishops and Saints, etc. Awakening has none of these things.

Awakening also has a lot of fanservice, which some people don't like either.

I don't hate Awakening, don't get me wrong. But I can definitely see why there's hate for it.

Well, you're not wrong. I mean, sure, Awakening did manage to fuck a few things up, but lets look what it fixed from the Tellius games:

Actual support conversations, world map, returning characters from old series, upgraded skill system, pair up system (though you did mention this), promotional options, no more EXP share, and arguably a better shop system (with stat modifiers randomly spawning). I just feel like a lot of the big dislikes can be avoided...like you don't have to read support convos, you don't have to grind, you don't have to utilize the lewd characters...The smaller things can be overlooked. Yeah it's annoying that there's no weapon weight, but I don't think that's a reason to take points off the game.

Admittedly, the story wasn't that great, but honestly, no Fire Emblem game has a very good story thus far. So many follow the same old forumula, and the ones that don't just feel anti-climatic, cliched, or downright silly. That's why this next FE seems like it's going to be awesome.

[Zasplach]

Admittedly, the story wasn't that great, but honestly, no Fire Emblem game has a very good story thus far. So many follow the same old forumula, and the ones that don't just feel anti-climatic, cliched, or downright silly. That's why this next FE seems like it's going to be awesome.

Eh, the older games didn't have such cliched plots as the newer ones, and Awakening's was the worst. They've been able to write decent plots in the past, but it's been to no avail of late.

[Dark Sage]

more complexity is not necessarily a good thing. aside from varied chapter objectives, pretty much all of those things and the other tellius stuff unmentioned were either hokey (ledges, crossbows, biorhythm), didn't really add anything to the game (magic triangle), or were basically just flavor and not gameplay (light magic, bishops and saints).EDIT: not ragging on the tellius games here: more complexity is not necessarily a bad thing, you just can't say "well awakening cut this and this features and therefore the gameplay was worse" despite those features being really minor or hokey ones

Some of the stuff like ledges were decent ideas that weren't utilized properly. I think they have enough potential to come back.

I like Awakening ok personally. It does have some things that bug the hell out of me, like some of the gameplay balance, character designs, plot, characterization. There's enough there to still like though and it's fun.

It looks like IS realized some of the balance issues caused by Pair Up and are attempting to fix it so that's good. I'd hate if the romance (fuck the word waifu) and bad anime stereotypes became more of a focus or if the story was of a similar quality though. Gameplay wise, i wouldn't mind if they took a bit from TRS like its skill system and some things like the world map could use tweaking (like limiting skirmishes to 2 or 3 a chapter).

Also what is it about fanservice that makes people super weird, idgi.

Edited April 6, 2015 by Black Frost

[Junkhead]

more complexity is not necessarily a good thing. aside from varied chapter objectives, pretty much all of those things and the other tellius stuff unmentioned were either hokey (ledges, crossbows, biorhythm), didn't really add anything to the game (magic triangle), or were basically just flavor and not gameplay (light magic, bishops and saints).

EDIT: not ragging on the tellius games here: more complexity is not necessarily a bad thing, you just can't say "well awakening cut this and this features and therefore the gameplay was worse" despite those features being really minor or hokey ones

Making something more complex doesn't necessarily mean it's better, yeah. But what I think she means, is that FE13 took out a lot of the more strategical elements out of the picture. Liek, you're given everything into a silver platter, from Tonics, Pair-Ups, etc. Are you forced to use them? No, of course not. But sure as heck does it seem like you're being encouraged to. Let's also not forget how every chapter is mostly a huge map that you have to Rout and virtually anyone can become a god here.

Remember this is coming from someone who still loves the game, but does realize it has flaws gameplay-wise. =)

Hey, The Red Queen, I like your avatar. Who is the chick?

I'll make it short: You won't find any hentai whatsoever. Edited April 6, 2015 by The Red Queen

[Anacybele]

Well, you're not wrong. I mean, sure, Awakening did manage to fuck a few things up, but lets look what it fixed from the Tellius games:

Actual support conversations, world map, returning characters from old series, upgraded skill system, pair up system (though you did mention this), promotional options, no more EXP share, and arguably a better shop system (with stat modifiers randomly spawning). I just feel like a lot of the big dislikes can be avoided...like you don't have to read support convos, you don't have to grind, you don't have to utilize the lewd characters...The smaller things can be overlooked. Yeah it's annoying that there's no weapon weight, but I don't think that's a reason to take points off the game.

Admittedly, the story wasn't that great, but honestly, no Fire Emblem game has a very good story thus far. So many follow the same old forumula, and the ones that don't just feel anti-climatic, cliched, or downright silly. That's why this next FE seems like it's going to be awesome.

Excuse me, PoR had actual support conversations. And I still prefer that support system over Awakening's. RD dropped the ball on supports though, I'll admit that. As for the things you mentioned, if things like light magic and unique chapter objectives are just "little things" then so are the stuff you mentioned. It's not just weapon weight either. I mentioned a bunch of things. And the thing is, I didn't have a problem with bonus experience or Tellius's shop system.

Also, old characters returning was a completely optional thing and even cost money, plus the series wasn't at risk of ending when Tellius was made. There was no reason Tellius should have had this.

Lastly, I felt that Tellius had an excellent story overall.

Edited April 6, 2015 by Anacybele

[-Cynthia-]

Although, tank classes should look tanky. A good thing about earlier FEs is that each class gave you a fairly accurate visual of what each class is supposed to do and be good at and I would like that to be consistently represented in future class designs.

While I definitely do not disagree with this, Awakening actually went too far with this in some instances- knights and generals in Awakening are just ridiculous looking.and I dunno what the cavaliers are doing either. Practical armor often might be a little dull aesthetically, but there's a balance there too.

[Thor Odinson]

While I definitely do not disagree with this, Awakening actually went too far with this in some instances- knights and generals in Awakening are just ridiculous looking.and I dunno what the cavaliers are doing either. Practical armor often might be a little dull aesthetically, but there's a balance there too.

I was more referring to GBA era animations. Generals there might still suck in gameplay, but goddamn if they didn't look good. I agree that Awakening's class designs for Knight-General and Cavalier is dumb, which I mean, I think you can stick to a historical, practical armor as a base, and then use that as a foundation to build more stylised results that does look good. This goes for art in general - there's a vast difference between purposely stylised art such as Disney, and people who simply don't know how anatomy works. The results are significantly different.