Enaluxeme Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 So, I was reading a topic in general about the death of characters in storytelling, and I tought about the permadeath in Fire Emblem. Indeed, the permadeath (or perma-inability to fight) makes the game harder and in turn makes you a better strategist as you probably want to keep everyone alive. The problem is exactly this however: there is no reason to keep someone dead. If one of my units dies, I will restart the chapter no matter what, and the same goes for almost anyone else. There is no meaning in death for the characters, they just disappear, as if they were never recruited. I think this is some sort of minor flaw for the series. There is always at least a scene in every game where all the living/deployed characters say something about how they'll fight/how they are loyal to the lord, but the dead characters are just forgotten. What do you think of this? Am I wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Theres actually quite a number of scenes in various games for certain characters if they die, as well as Ike and Soren having a moment of silence after every FE9 chapter if anyone died, during Soren's reports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hidden Wall Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 I believe that there are also instances in Fire Emblem 12, in which Marth will lament on the number of lost individuals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 I believe that there are also instances in Fire Emblem 12, in which Marth will lament on the number of lost individuals. Yes, this is also true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Certain supports change, depending on whether or not a unit is alive. Makalov's supports do this, if Marcia dies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enaluxeme Posted December 24, 2015 Author Share Posted December 24, 2015 Oh... So they added these features in the Tellius games (wich admittedly I never played) and removed them again for awakening... What about if? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 For supports, maybe (I'm too lazy to dig through all the GBA ones). But the script changing due to dying characters has been around since the GBA days. A very long-winded example Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Topazd Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 Shiida's death has always affected the ending scene, so it's been a thing, if a very minor one, since the very beginning. I agree that the series hasn't really explored the potential story dimensions of permadeath enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anacybele Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 (edited) Oh... So they added these features in the Tellius games (wich admittedly I never played) and removed them again for awakening... What about if? Yeah, and even in Tellius, they missed at least one line that should've been changed for if Boyd dies. Whether he's alive or not, Rolf always says "I nearly shot an arrow into Boyd's backside!" after his recruitment chapter in PoR. lol But I liked how these changes existed. It made the deaths actually affect the characters in some way and made the characters feel more realistic as a result. I wish this was in every FE game... Edited December 25, 2015 by Anacybele Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jotari Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 Yeah this has been the topic of several threads and a major gripe of mine for quite a while. i really think they need to start expanding the facets of perma death to actually encourage mistakes and keeping characters die. Like alternate or Gaiden Chapters (and not in the Shadow Dragon sense where if you massacre half your army you get a bonus chapter -_-. I mean if a character who's meant to serve as your guide dies then you have to find some other route to an area. Stuff that makes sense) or just unique skills/items. The way it is now death of anyone is basically just a Game Over for most people. All that stuff in Path of Radiance Supports is nice but it's almost wasted effort since 99% of people playing the game will never see it (and half the people who do will read it on the forums here). There needs to be some real motive. People have been calling for an Iron Man Mode for a while and a lot of the game design of the series seems suggest that its the way IS wants the game to be played so I'm kind of surprised they haven't done it yet. The might have missed the boat on ever making death important now that Casual Mode is sticking around. Given us alternate content for deaths could still work, work better in fact since it would encourage more people playing casual to eventually upgrade to classic to see more of the game, but somehow I feel it won't be happening anytime in the near future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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