Regarding the Hoshido Path

[Jedi]

Considering we're getting invaded I would not see a reason not to include defend and escape type missions in the story.. It would certainly make more sense for me there since Nohr will basically take few chapters on Hoshido itself to start reforming from the inside. Unless we get some rebellions started so in that case.... Who knows

Still this is just speculation, so we need to make sure we don't go overboard with this.

Sadly this is the Fire Emblem fanbase and we go overboard with everything.

I think this is because people are prone to hysterics (also Awakening was a lot more divisive than FE8 was). We don't even have evidence that Hoshido route is gonna be super-Awakening-y. The press releases have implied it will be more traditional FE in plot and map design, and then also have a world map, while Nohr will have new stuff to shake things up for people who like the gameplay and challenge and stuff. But this is just my interpretation, we don't really know shit.

Here here. We hardly know anything, yet people are putting huge opinions on both. It's quite crazy, I'm liking the look of both personally, I find i'm VERY rare in that case.

I can somehow see Nohr selling more in the west and Hoshido selling more in the east, but that's just me.

Tbh I see this happening too.

[Trickster]

So what counts as a veteran? I've been playing only since around Shadow Dragon, but I've played all but the first although I never bothered to finish 2 So is it based on how long, or how much you've played?

[Mighty Kamina]

Meh, being awakening-like is enough to move units, so I'm betting their giving Nohr so much stuff and advertising its features more than Hoshido to try to see how a more classical Fire Emblem will be received by the fanbase at large, and if they can convince a large chunk of the newer fans to try that out.

I'm going to enjoy both versions, but unless Hoshido or the third path really blow me away/Nohr ends up being disappointing, I'll end up playing through Nohr more than the other paths.

Edited May 3, 2015 by Monado Boy

[MRDRHAWK]

To be honest, I'm fairly non-plussed about the Hoshido path's gameplay being more akin to Awakening's. I'm more concerned about how they're portrayed within the narrative. Are they really going to be the eternal good guys, or is there something deeper behind them? Like, is the queen basically just Emmeryn with black hair, or does she have some skeletons in her closet?

Likewise, will the Hoshido path villainize Nohr entirely, or will there be a fair bit of sympathy for them and an overall message being that "war is shit no matter who wins" or whatever?

[falcoknights]

To be honest, I'm fairly non-plussed about the Hoshido path's gameplay being more akin to Awakening's. I'm more concerned about how they're portrayed within the narrative. Are they really going to be the eternal good guys, or is there something deeper behind them? Like, is the queen basically just Emmeryn with black hair, or does she have some skeletons in her closet?

Likewise, will the Hoshido path villainize Nohr entirely, or will there be a fair bit of sympathy for them and an overall message being that "war is shit no matter who wins" or whatever?

yeah, above is my main thing w/ hoshido- it seems very calm, peaceful goody goody to me right now, and it's... very much just making me nod and look the other way, honestly. i would love it if by the time people in japan and the area have played it end up saying "no, there's a lot more meat/depth to the country rather than peace loving," because i'm seeing more depth in nohr, which is pushing me towards it.

i'm seriously hoping for skeletons in the closet, or at least something that shows that sure, they value peace and pacifism and all that, but it also explores that more- how did those values come to be, and so on, and for the reasoning to not totally be in the white. give me some black and gray, man.

[Ryo]

Since the Hoshido kinda symbolizes Japanese people themselves, I highly doubt they would end up that nasty though, if at all. Not wanting to bring politics in here, but I think we all know their attitude regarding their past actions during the wars. Tbh, the worst I can think of is that you'll have to kill the family that raised you, and that's all about it. I'm not saying that it necessarily have to be bad though; if executed well, even that alone would still have some strong emotional impacts on the players, narrative-wise. However, I'll reserve my judgment for later. I just don't expect any "skeleton in the closet" or anything similar in nature.

Edited May 3, 2015 by Ryo

[IceBuster573]

I'm expecting something is wrong with Hoshido just from eyeballing what appears to be the settings of their kingdoms seen here: http://serenesforest.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/feif-april020.jpg

Everything about Nohr (its leader, the place looking like somewhere in Hell) and Hoshido (its Kingdom appears to be floating or really high up on a mountain, Emmeryn-like leader) is just too black and white at the surface level to be played completely straight.

[Lord Raven]

So what counts as a veteran? I've been playing only since around Shadow Dragon, but I've played all but the first although I never bothered to finish 2 So is it based on how long, or how much you've played?

I'm kind of basing it off of years in this forum/community. Paperblade's been around and posting quite a bit since FE7's release, and I've been around and posting in the fandom since FE8's release. It's kind of arbitrary I suppose.

The two of us joined SF a day apart though, by coincidence since we didnt really get to know each other for a few years.

Edited May 3, 2015 by Lord Raven

[eclipse]

ACTUAL VETERAN COMMUNITY MEMBER WEIGHS IN (fuck you raven)

##Vote: Paperblade

If you only like one game in the series, I don't think it's unreasonable to say you're a fan of that game rather than the series as a whole. For example, if people only like Red/Blue/Yellow from Pokemon, wouldn't it be more accurate to call them Gen 1 fans (or something like that) rather than Pokemon fans?

I think the people in this thread are concerned IS is going to try to chase after this new audience at the expense of more longtime fans, which I don't think is an unreasonable fear, since it has happened with other franchises.

I think it would be extremely counter-productive for IS to divide the fanbase in two, yet that's the impression I'm getting in this thread. I don't see it as an "us vs. them" thing.

[Lord Raven]

girl i joined a day before him

[arvilino]

ACTUAL VETERAN COMMUNITY MEMBER WEIGHS IN (fuck you raven)

If you only like one game in the series, I don't think it's unreasonable to say you're a fan of that game rather than the series as a whole. For example, if people only like Red/Blue/Yellow from Pokemon, wouldn't it be more accurate to call them Gen 1 fans (or something like that) rather than Pokemon fans?

I seriously don't think that's a good comparison because Red/Blue/Yellow are the first entries in that series, not the latest. Any sequel to Awakening isn't out yet and legally accessing previous Fire Emblem games can be pretty pricey if you don't own a WiiU, it'd be unreasonable to say "Oh you're only a fan of Awakening" to someone at this point.

Take Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, they have sold extremely well for remakes(in fact they outsold B2/W2 in months) and X/Y will probably end up outselling Black/White and Ruby/Sapphire despite the lower 3DS userbase. Imagine before OR/AS release people started claiming "Oh the new players brought in for X/Y are only just Pokémon X/Y fans".

You need to give proper time for new games to actually come out for new fans to buy before you start labelling them. To take Pokémon again it would be like when Red/Blue and the whole franchise was being claimed to be "a fad" before Gold/Silver came out and still sold above 20 million. Without real evidence It's unreasonable to assume how a new audience will act before the next games are even out, some people are being too quick to try and judge both the contents of the games and what the players will like, do and think before the game is even out.

[Crysta]

I think you need to at least play a few games to be a fan of the series, since 'series' implies more than one.

You don't need to necessarily like them all, though. I haven't.

Since I've actually had to write the mechanics/lore to one of FEFF's map RPGs I get a pass even if I had only played one game at the time.

Edited May 3, 2015 by Crysta

[NekoKnight]

As eclipse said, Awakening fans aren't a separate breed of players, different from the other members of the fandom. That IS is treating Awakening fans like they are different and need a simple, easy 'accessible' game is concerning. Unless they think change will literally melt the brains of Awakening fans, there is no reason not to include an equally interesting story and varied mission objectives for BOTH versions. These games are both FEif, so there should not be such a large difference in the target audience between versions.

An Awakening fan should still be able to enjoy Nohr and a 'series veteran' should still be able to enjoy. Hoshido. There is no reason to make different versions to serve different audiences when both games can serve all audiences.

[arvilino]

As eclipse said, Awakening fans aren't a separate breed of players, different from the other members of the fandom. That IS is treating Awakening fans like they are different and need a simple, easy 'accessible' game is concerning. Unless they think change will literally melt the brains of Awakening fans, there is no reason not to include an equally interesting story and varied mission objectives for BOTH versions. These games are both FEif, so there should not be such a large difference in the target audience between versions.

An Awakening fan should still be able to enjoy Nohr and a 'series veteran' should still be able to enjoy. Hoshido. There is no reason to make different versions to serve different audiences when both games can serve all audiences.

They said the game is more accessible than Nohr, when they did they say Hoshido was easy?

Edited May 3, 2015 by arvilino

[goodperson707]

^you know the funny thing I find is that Im sure at least some Japanese fans felt that the Game boy games were more accessible (easy?) compared to the other games, and the next few games barely changed the formula especially compared to the Japanese games. So I feel there seems to be a bit of a double standard.

[IceBuster573]

And I think it's been said before: complexity does not mean good. You can still make a good story that is straightforward.

[NekoKnight]

They said the game is more accessible than Nohr, when they did they say Hoshido was easy?

They said that of the three routes, Nohr would be the hardest, Hoshido the easiest and the middle path somewhere inbetween.

Maybe 'easiest' will still be an enjoyable challenge but I don't think parallel versions should vary much in difficulty as all.

And I think it's been said before: complexity does not mean good. You can still make a good story that is straightforward.

Nohr could have a terribly written story, for all we know, but it's already trying to do something new, which makes it more enticing. If both paths are written with the same competency, I'm placing my bets on Nohr being the most interesting.

[goodperson707]

^ so as i stated earlier I'm sure that some games were easier than others in the series and some were probably intentional, i don't see how marketing it as such makes it different and just cause they are released at the same time doesn't mean they have to be the same game, also i still find the aforementioned slight double standard odd.

[NekoKnight]

^ so as i stated earlier I'm sure that some games were easier than others in the series and some were probably intentional, i don't see how marketing it as such makes it different and just cause they are released at the same time doesn't mean they have to be the same game, also i still find the aforementioned slight double standard odd.

The two routes are being treated as two parts of a greater whole so I think they should have equal difficulty and merits. It's no secret that the developers want people to play both games. You might have a point if they were completely unrelated stories but they are heavily connected. Is it wrong to want both halves of an experience to be equally engaging?

[Aurath8]

The two routes are being treated as two parts of a greater whole so I think they should have equal difficulty and merits. It's no secret that the developers want people to play both games. You might have a point if they were completely unrelated stories but they are heavily connected. Is it wrong to want both halves of an experience to be equally engaging?

A point I think that people are forgetting though is that difficulty modes have been a staple of every FE since...idk. And even in the so-called easy FEs like FE8, Hard Mode is still reasonably difficult. Even if Hoshido is designed to be more accessible, Hoshido Hard/Lunatic mode should still be challenging enough to not be a snorefest.

[arvilino]

The two routes are being treated as two parts of a greater whole so I think they should have equal difficulty and merits. It's no secret that the developers want people to play both games. You might have a point if they were completely unrelated stories but they are heavily connected. Is it wrong to want both halves of an experience to be equally engaging?

It's better for the range of skill levels covered by both games to be wider rather than narrow. They may want players to eventually play both versions but realistically not every player is going to do that, some players will only have just Hoshido or just Nohr. The difficulties probably won't be equal but that doesn't mean they can't be comparable, if it's Normal/Hard/Lunatic I wouldn't doubt Hoshido's Lunatic lies somewhere between Nohr's Hard and Lunatic mode.

Also they said they didn't want it to be treated as if it was split into two. They're supposed to be distinct what if scenarios. Your picture of what the game will be isn't in line with what has been revealed about the game:

Next, Higuchi talks about the story differences. Of course, the story, maps and the player’s general experience will change depending on the campaign you choose.

But at the same time, they’ve designed it so that players will be satisfied just by playing through one campaign. Then when they play the second campaign, they may be surprised at the differences.

Hitoshi Yamagami (the group manager) adds that the Hoshido and Nohr campaigns were not designed to split the game for no reason. Although the first few chapters are the same, the rest of the game–5/6ths of the game–follows a completely different story. What they intended was not to split the story, but rather make the player choose which side–Hoshido or Nohr–they want to ally with and create a story based on that player’s “what if”.

[goodperson707]

^ you said that much better than i could, so thank you.

I do have my own what if? question what would this forum think if awakening didn't exist yet we got FEif as we know of it know anyway? Its an interesting question to me.

Edited May 4, 2015 by goodperson707

[Aurath8]

^ you said that much better than i could, so thank you.

I do have my own what if? question what would this forum think if awakening didn't exist yet we got FEif as we know of it know anyway? Its an interesting question to me.

That probably wouldn't happen. FE:If is basically 1 and 5/6ths the size of a regular game. Considering how the series was slowly dying before Awakening, I don't think IS and Nintendo would invest so much time and effort to make an ambitious game like this. Also remember a lot about this game is also possible because they were able to build upon the existing Awakening game engine and other assets. Without it this game would've taken at least an extra year to develop.

[goodperson707]

^ it was a hypothetical question on the views of this forum to this game if awakening didn't exist. Not a serious suggestion that it might actually could or would have happened IRL.

[Jedi]

A point I think that people are forgetting though is that difficulty modes have been a staple of every FE since...idk. And even in the so-called easy FEs like FE8, Hard Mode is still reasonably difficult. Even if Hoshido is designed to be more accessible, Hoshido Hard/Lunatic mode should still be challenging enough to not be a snorefest.

So FE8 being able to be near soloed with Seth is reasonably difficult. fe8 is a weird beast. It could have been a lot more difficult alone if people like Seth didn't snap it in absolute half at base.

Although Fe9 is even easier, so there's that too. Even on Japanese only maniac it isn't that bad..

Edited May 4, 2015 by Jedi