Controversial Aspects in Fates? (Possible Censorship in NA?)

[Tolvir]

The funny thing is, I think they did make Nowi less of a child in Awakening, compared to the Japanese version.

That.....That is actually a scary thought. Really want to know the people currently writing and coming up with characters. They have to be from some crazy harem anime or something.

Edited January 21, 2016 by Tolvir

[arvilino]

thirded, i'm not sure why some people just can't accept that some of us wants fire emblem back to the good old days of not being really creepy and perverted in its optional content.

Eh "The good old days" was filled with people dropping the series and calling each the latest game the worst yet from Sacred Stones through to New Mystery. The shift in tone of the optional content is today's version of Sacred Stone's map grinding, Shadow Dragon's Reclass or New Mystery's casual mode. It's really just another thing another group don't like, this isn't really any more special of a demand(other than the fact the sales went up instead of down).

[ckc22]

Eh "The good old days" was filled with people dropping the series and calling each the latest game the worst yet from Sacred Stones through to New Mystery. The shift in tone of the optional content is today's version of Sacred Stone's map grinding, Shadow Dragon's Reclass or New Mystery's casual mode. It's really just another thing another group don't like, this isn't really any more special of a demand(other than the fact the sales went up instead of down).

I don't personally think this stuff is why awakening was successful.

[Dwlr]

While I didn't care for Soliel's supports I want to post in defense of leaving them as they were on the basis that giving in one aspect can and usually does open the flood gates for other aspects. You aren't going to please everybody anyway and the vocal minority is the only side you ever get to hear, it stands within reason that people that aren't a part of a Fire Emblem community or following the news avidly speaking their mind actually would have liked the original support for whatever. When companies listen to the minorities and appease them we end up with everything being turned into Call of Duty. Starwars Battlefront, Call of Duty Starwars, Halo from 343, Call of Duty Space Marines, Gears of Wars Judgement was also turned into Call of Duty and that didn't go over well in the end, but it was more 'mainsteamed' they even cut out Horde because more people played versus than their signature mode. I'm still bitter about the changes after the Gears of War 3 beta where the Retro Lancer (and the other Rifles) were perfectly viable options instead of it being Gnashers of War again like the vocal minority wanted since the Rifles how they were wasn't allowing the thoughtless tactics that worked in the previous iterations of the game even though the Gnasher was perfectly viable still if you didn't charge STRAIGHT at somebody using a rifle especially the Retro Lancer which was designed for close sacrificing your long range option when you already had a shotgun sub-weapon not matter what you chose as your main weapon.

Listening to the vocal minority does only that pleases the vocal minority, it's not necessarily a good change for the majority so I see keep it as the original vision until you see how it sells if the changes affect sales then change, that's my take away on it. If you cut content people already assume is going to be in the game and it still does worse well you're getting a skewed statistic by those who didn't order it because of X or Y even if it was change AND you're getting those annoyed/upset by the changes made after the edits.

Tl;dr

Stand by your initial product even if it might not do as well as if it was tweaked.

[arvilino]

I don't personally think this stuff is why awakening was successful.

Oh yeah I don't think the sexual stuff is why Awakening was successful(however the aspects they're linked to are part of the reason in my opinion). But it was just a feature some didn't like and I'm highlighting previous entries also had elements poorly received by a subset of the fanbase.

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

i think we can all agree that the main reason why awakening was successful was advertisement.

no really, every game in the series had the potential to rake in mad cash if more people knew of its existence.

[BrightBow]

i think we can all agree that the main reason why awakening was successful was advertisement.

no really, every game in the series had the potential to rake in mad cash if more people knew of its existence.

To be fair, they did do an really awful job to keep the series accessible for beginners. Fire Emblem might not be hard but it is very punishing if you don't know what you're doing.

[Irysa]

I was talking with a friend some more about this subject and I think we came to a consensus.

Fates isn't trying to make some kind of statement w/supports like that (or it's approach to characterisation), the game was/is intentionally made to be pandery stupid fun and it has no inherant depth or meaning that people aren't projecting onto it, so when I see a change like this I'm just seeing them trying to make sure that the game fufills that for a different audience. Like, the collective western community (and people outside of it) are kind of a bit delusional about these characters and take them a lot more seriously than they deserve to be treated, so it makes sense that there's a stronger reaction to this kind of dumb shit. Characters like Soleil aren't made with some kind of intent of LGBT representation, they're there for gag/light fetish fuel, and that concept applies to most of the cast in both FE13 and 14. "Fixing" this support is simply a way to make the game pander to this region's sensibilities as a pandery game.

Like, for a quick comparison; when the Love Live! mobage app was released in english, most of the light yuri stuff in the game was changed to make the girls straight. However, rather than them being bi/gay in the first place because of representation or some other motive, the reason they were like that is because of the concept of idol purity in Japan. Idol stuff like that is created with the kind of fantasy of being involved with the girl in question as a straight male, and the industry has the viewpoint of "An idol who has dated a guy she's impure and has to quit, she's broken that illusion" or something like that. So lay that on with the fact that gay relationships (esp between girls) aren't considered "real" by a lot of people in Japan ("it's something you grow out of!") that allows for some risqueness without disrupting the Idol Fantasy. In the West, girl on girl stuff has entirely different connotations and can actually exclude the demographic of straight males it's targeted to, so it was changed to make sure that that audience doesn't react negatively to it, that they still are able to indulge in the illusion.

The "problem" here wasn't it being changed from gay > straight, it's that there's inherantly a pandery and indulgent basis to the reality of the media itself, and that being tweaked to accomodate the audience is literally a localisation change. There is no reason beyond culture to adjust Soleil in the context of the game's purposes and goals. People should be more aware and conscious of what they're actually consuming or supporting rather than what they like to think is the case.

Edited January 21, 2016 by Irysa

[Tolvir]

Advertisement definately. Saw more advertisement for Awakening that any other FE game combined. That and they made them accessible for beginners. Plus as much as people like to hate against the marriage system, and all of the other new features, they do broaden their target audience.

I was talking with a friend some more about this subject and I think we came to a consensus.

Fates isn't trying to make some kind of statement w/supports like that (or it's approach to characterisation), the game was/is intentionally made to be pandery stupid fun and it has no inherant depth or meaning that people aren't projecting onto it, so when I see a change like this I'm just seeing them trying to make sure that the game fufills that for a different audience. Like, the collective western community (and people outside of it) are kind of a bit delusional about these characters and take them a lot more seriously than they deserve to be treated, so it makes sense that there's a stronger reaction to this kind of dumb shit. Characters like Soleil aren't made with some kind of intent of LGBT representation, they're there for gag/light fetish fuel, and that concept applies to most of the cast in both FE13 and 14. "Fixing" this support is simply a way to make the game pander to this region's sensibilities as a pandery game.

Definately with some of its characters. I don't think Owain was ever meant to be taken seriously. And even before Awakening we had characters like Illyana who were clearly just meant as comedy. Though I can understand the want for it to be a bit more serious with it's characters, especially in comparison to Radiant Dawn or Path of Radiance where the overall setting was serious.

[nyainou]

I can't decide if I'd rather have Soliel still be a (pseudo) lesbian, or just be rewritten as completely straight. As stated above, the western audience will(and has) interpret it seriously, as actual LGBT+ representation. Mostly because, ya know, we want that. We've already seen how people generally reacted to Soliel and her gay-but-not-actually shtick. I'm certainly glad the support has been altered, but what about Soliel as a whole? Do we know yet? Personally, I'd rather have Soliel as the lesbian option than Tharja 2.0. The main reason I'm disappointed with Shara is she's nothing new; on the other hand, Soliel IS. Which instantly makes her more interesting and attractive. But, if the keep her as is--a faux lesbian- then that'll really upset fans, especially queer ones like me. And if they just make her straight? Gay erasure. Or, it'll be interpreted that way, at least. I don't want anymore jokes to represent us(as in, the gay/lesbian community), but I don't want to see her homosexuality just tossed out the window. If you can even call it that, anyway.

[Michelaar]

but how do you actually get somebody of the same gender to love you?

[CrimeanRoyalKnight]

but how do you actually get somebody of the same gender to love you?

You mean this on a gameplay standpoint? You can have an S support with them, just like you do in Awakening, but you can do this only with two units.

[Crimson Red]

"Controversial Aspects in Fates"

literally can't think of a single thing about the game that isn't controversial or that isn't justifiably dislikeable except maybe Saizou's critical animation

EDIT:

I was talking with a friend some more about this subject and I think we came to a consensus.

Fates isn't trying to make some kind of statement w/supports like that (or it's approach to characterisation), the game was/is intentionally made to be pandery stupid fun and it has no inherant depth or meaning that people aren't projecting onto it, so when I see a change like this I'm just seeing them trying to make sure that the game fufills that for a different audience. Like, the collective western community (and people outside of it) are kind of a bit delusional about these characters and take them a lot more seriously than they deserve to be treated, so it makes sense that there's a stronger reaction to this kind of dumb shit. Characters like Soleil aren't made with some kind of intent of LGBT representation, they're there for gag/light fetish fuel, and that concept applies to most of the cast in both FE13 and 14. "Fixing" this support is simply a way to make the game pander to this region's sensibilities as a pandery game.

Like, for a quick comparison; when the Love Live! mobage app was released in english, most of the light yuri stuff in the game was changed to make the girls straight. However, rather than them being bi/gay in the first place because of representation or some other motive, the reason they were like that is because of the concept of idol purity in Japan. Idol stuff like that is created with the kind of fantasy of being involved with the girl in question as a straight male, and the industry has the viewpoint of "An idol who has dated a guy she's impure and has to quit, she's broken that illusion" or something like that. So lay that on with the fact that gay relationships (esp between girls) aren't considered "real" by a lot of people in Japan ("it's something you grow out of!") that allows for some risqueness without disrupting the Idol Fantasy. In the West, girl on girl stuff has entirely different connotations and can actually exclude the demographic of straight males it's targeted to, so it was changed to make sure that that audience doesn't react negatively to it, that they still are able to indulge in the illusion.

The "problem" here wasn't it being changed from gay > straight, it's that there's inherantly a pandery and indulgent basis to the reality of the media itself, and that being tweaked to accomodate the audience is literally a localisation change. There is no reason beyond culture to adjust Soleil in the context of the game's purposes and goals. People should be more aware and conscious of what they're actually consuming or supporting rather than what they like to think is the case.

oh wow. someone actually knows what they're talking about. I'm not sure I fully agree—I think in some cases they did try to make things legit but just failed, whereas in other cases they just didn't try at all, but still. well-written/researched post IMO, props

Edited January 21, 2016 by Crimson Red

[The DanMan]

I was talking with a friend some more about this subject and I think we came to a consensus.

Fates isn't trying to make some kind of statement w/supports like that (or it's approach to characterisation), the game was/is intentionally made to be pandery stupid fun and it has no inherant depth or meaning that people aren't projecting onto it, so when I see a change like this I'm just seeing them trying to make sure that the game fufills that for a different audience. Like, the collective western community (and people outside of it) are kind of a bit delusional about these characters and take them a lot more seriously than they deserve to be treated, so it makes sense that there's a stronger reaction to this kind of dumb shit. Characters like Soleil aren't made with some kind of intent of LGBT representation, they're there for gag/light fetish fuel, and that concept applies to most of the cast in both FE13 and 14. "Fixing" this support is simply a way to make the game pander to this region's sensibilities as a pandery game.

I don't quite think the situation is as arbitrary or straightforward as that; if it was completely true that all the characters in NuFE were made for gag/pandering, then why do people sympathize with Cordelia over her PTSD? Or obsess over tiny nuances in Leon's character?

While your statement may be generally true overall, there's definitely exceptions; things aren't as clear cut as that. I'd make the argument that the games disservice their own characters due to over-stressing their "gimmicks".

[SilverPants]

Eh "The good old days" was filled with people dropping the series and calling each the latest game the worst yet from Sacred Stones through to New Mystery. The shift in tone of the optional content is today's version of Sacred Stone's map grinding, Shadow Dragon's Reclass or New Mystery's casual mode. It's really just another thing another group don't like, this isn't really any more special of a demand(other than the fact the sales went up instead of down).

When you think about, we see a lot of new entries in series get pegged as inferior to older installments, or changing too much in the formula, this isn't just in Fire Emblem. We see this a lot in Zelda or Pokémon or Mario and the fact is, some people only enjoy the older games and that's fine but I don't really like how some people make it their mission to constantly remind others that the series isn't what it once was. I'm not targeting anyone here, but the majority of times when there is a discussion on Fire Emblem there's always the people who have to chime in and say, "This isn't Fire Emblem anymore, They're just pandering to [insert group here] You should feel bad for liking this game" I get it. I got the first time and I got it the hundredth time, I understand that people don't like the new direction (although I don't really think it's any different in my opinion) but I wish they would just let people enjoy these games for what they are. I don't need to be told what I should or should not like. Again, I'm not saying anyone here does this is just a generalization.

Anyways, this is just my two cents even though it may be an unpopular opinion.

Oh, Soliel got censored? Oh well, it was probably for the best. :p Dank memed Soliel replacement incoming

[Crimson Red]

Seconded. Where's a "Like Post" option, SF?

I'd rather have a well localized game that doesn't ooze weird japanese paraphilias that were never in FE until Awakening.

thirded, i'm not sure why some people just can't accept that some of us wants fire emblem back to the good old days of not being really creepy and perverted in its optional content.

i am happy and this is what i wanted.

now if i can just get skinship removed i'll be overjoyed.

I know right? even my forum has a like button. though on second thought, if that means posts like "X is best waifu" are going to get a thousand likes, I'd rather spare myself the mental agony that is my loss of what little faith I have left in humanity =P (being overdramatic buuuut, Poe's Law if nothing else haha)

When you think about, we see a lot of new entries in series get pegged as inferior to older installments, or changing too much in the formula, this isn't just in Fire Emblem. We see this a lot in Zelda or Pokémon or Mario and the fact is, some people only enjoy the older games and that's fine but I don't really like how some people make it their mission to constantly remind others that the series isn't what it once was. I'm not targeting anyone here, but the majority of times when there is a discussion on Fire Emblem there's always the people who have to chime in and say, "This isn't Fire Emblem anymore, They're just pandering to [insert group here] You should feel bad for liking this game" I get it. I got the first time and I got it the hundredth time, I understand that people don't like the new direction (although I don't really think it's any different in my opinion) but I wish they would just let people enjoy these games for what they are. I don't need to be told what I should or should not like. Again, I'm not saying anyone here does this is just a generalization.

Anyways, this is just my two cents even though it may be an unpopular opinion.

Oh, Soliel got censored? Oh well, it was probably for the best. :p Dank memed Soliel replacement incoming

as fans/former fans of many serious with similar situations, I can say FE is definitely one of the worst. even Tales of isn't this bad with its recent changes and how many people (despite still buying the games as loyal fans) aren't pleased with the latest games.

and it's kind of true, Fates is really more like a spin-off than an actual FE game. it'd have been fine if they classified it as such, but Nintendo pretty much false advertised the game in the trailers and gave us something that's about as much Fire Emblem as Persona is SMT (note: Persona was a sub-series and is now pretty much its own thing separate from SMT, so ATLUS seems to embracing the clear differences in the games, IMO, unlike Nintendo)

as for those people who are always chiming in with their thoughts. they feel abandoned and betrayed and lonely. imagine your favorite pizza got different ingredients but had the same brand name and now tasted horrible. or your best friend turned into a zombie in the zombie apocalypse. in some cases, it's so extreme people would rather put the series out of its misery. kind of like, "the least i can do for my best friend is kill him", even if as a zombie, he is a friend of all the other zombies. #WeirdAnalogies

but in all seriousness, you probably have a popular opinion, not an unpopular one. if you ask me, it's people who prefer the old games and don't like the hundreds of things Fates does lamely (in people's opinions) that are in the minority. since they were in the majority--and were the loyal fans for so long who helped keep the series up to this point--yeah, they're going to be salty. can't be helped.

FWIW (note: personal opinions coming): I haven't thought there was a great FE game since FE9, though FE10/12 were both pretty good, and FE13 was fun at first until I got past the "feel good"/"look how shiny this is" atmosphere that the game has. so me being discontent with the series direction isn't anything too new (someone implied fans were having double standards or something, not the case with me), I haven't been super pleased with an FE game since FE9 after all and that's an oooold game. it just kind of plummeted with Fates, minus some of the STRATEGY gameplay mechanics being awesome (pretty much everything in My Castle is trash, IMO, but I'm cool with removal of weapon uses and dual attack/guard even if they're super different from normal FE).

Edited January 21, 2016 by Crimson Red

[Skynstein]

I don't quite think the situation is as arbitrary or straightforward as that; if it was completely true that all the characters in NuFE were made for gag/pandering, then why do people sympathize with Cordelia over her PTSD? Or obsess over tiny nuances in Leon's character?

Because she was the one I identified with the most.

[arvilino]

i think we can all agree that the main reason why awakening was successful was advertisement.

no really, every game in the series had the potential to rake in mad cash if more people knew of its existence.

I think it was successful because it was the right game with the right advertising. After Genealogy in Japan and after Blazing Sword in the west until Awakening in both regions there was practically nothing that IS added to their games that would have resonated on a large scale with an audience they didn't already have. If it's the wrong product(See New Coke) or has nothing that would immediately capture the interest of a new audience then all the advertising in world will accomplish is spending millions showing tens to hundreds of millions of people something they'll go "Meh" to and never buy.

Awakening just had a lot of things that were worth advertising to people who didn't already like Fire Emblem or were previously scared off after trying 1 game it was definitely the right produce because long after the advertising stopped it still supposedly sold an extra 300k physical copies last year. The last original game before Awakening, Radiant Dawn which had Japanese advertising managed to be the lowest selling entry in the series in that region, in more detail : http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=58096&p=4067452

Edited January 21, 2016 by arvilino

[BrightBow]

I don't quite think the situation is as arbitrary or straightforward as that; if it was completely true that all the characters in NuFE were made for gag/pandering, then why do people sympathize with Cordelia over her PTSD? Or obsess over tiny nuances in Leon's character?

While your statement may be generally true overall, there's definitely exceptions; things aren't as clear cut as that. I'd make the argument that the games disservice their own characters due to over-stressing their "gimmicks".

That Cordelia example is an interesting case. On my first run, I actually thought she was a decent character. I mean, even at the end she brings up her dead comrades while everyone else simply points to their hat. If all you see are the few lines in the main story she seems to be fine. But there are no traces of this in any of her supports. It's all just about her having a crush on Chrom, being great at everything and (from what I've heard since it was apparently changed in localisation), her having small breasts.

Not only is it weird that this is never brought up again... but those are some petty concerns. I mean, she supposedly suffers from severe PTSD and Survivor's guilt and yet the topic of her supports is: "I hope Senpai will notice me?"

It's like her supports and her few lines of main story dialogue were written for completely different characters.

Edited January 21, 2016 by BrightBow

[The DanMan]

Because she was the one I identified with the most.

I wasn't questioning why people sympathized with her; it was a rhetorical question used to back-up my argument.

"Controversial Aspects in Fates"

literally can't think of a single thing about the game that isn't controversial or that isn't justifiably dislikeable except maybe Saizou's critical animation

The overhauling and re-balancing of the core gameplay mechanics Awakening failed at executing properly?

The return of objective variety?

A quasi-solder class?

No gender-restricted classes? (In the base game; screw DLC)

Parts of the games soundtrack? (i.e. the stuff that's not blatantly based off of Hitomi Oumo)

Yeah, I'm a bit tired of hyperbole.

EDIT:

That Cordelia example is an interesting case. On my first run, I actually thought she was a decent character. I mean, even at the end she brings up her dead comrades while everyone else simply points to their hat. If all you see are the few lines in the main story she seems to be fine. But there are no traces of this in any of her supports. It's all just about her having a crush on Chrom, being great at everything and (from what I've heard since it was apparently changed in localisation), her having small breasts.

Not only is it weird that this is never brought up again... but those are some petty concerns. I mean, she supposedly suffers from severe PTSD and Survivor's guilt and yet the topic of her supports is: "I hope Senpai will notice me?"

It's like her supports and her few lines of main story dialogue were written for completely different characters.

Her male avatar support is the big one; pretty much everything else, however, adds to my argument of the game "disservicing it's own characters" (which I believe I've expressed to you before). An unfortunate consequence of fanservice DLC and making everybody able to support everybody of the opposite sex.

Edited January 21, 2016 by The DanMan

[CazTGG]

Listening to the vocal minority does only that pleases the vocal minority, it's not necessarily a good change for the majority so I see keep it as the original vision until you see how it sells if the changes affect sales then change, that's my take away on it. If you cut content people already assume is going to be in the game and it still does worse well you're getting a skewed statistic by those who didn't order it because of X or Y even if it was change AND you're getting those annoyed/upset by the changes made after the edits.

Tl;dr

Stand by your initial product even if it might not do as well as if it was tweaked.

I find it difficult for you to quantify people who rightfully spoke out about this support conversation as being in the minority since, from what I heard, it's universally reviled by the LGBTQ community in Japan, let alone with some of the examples you listed as "the minorities ruining video games because they're being pandered to" or presuming that the masses would approve of a conversation where a gay woman is drugged without any consent (and could have killed her since Kamui did not know that she could have had a severe allergic reaction to what can best be described as a drug which he put in her drink) and somehow falls in love with him despite her clearly being interested in women. What you're suggesting is that, as an example, Game Freak should have kept Jynx's original color scheme in spite of it resembling blackface because that would somehow destroy Pokémon's "artistic integrity" even if it is, by all accounts, a racist caricature that black people would find offensive (and did), many of whom I imagine play the games. Including something that would be hurtful to a group of people would make the game better, regardless of whether they're considered a minority or not.

That aside, changes like these are not a new phenomenon for the series in any way, shape or form. Historically, Fire Emblem has always changed certain characters' personalities or lines of dialogue within the story during the localization process, most of which have been for the betterment of the story and characters (on the subject of changes, one can even see during the E3 trailer that they changed the singer for one of the songs which was long before we knew about this). Soleil's support conversations with M!Kamui/Corrin was a disgusting display that could be compared to gay conversion, to say nothing of the equally gross reporting by many websites about this character (she's bisexual! It's just a fantasy game! And so on and so forth) and the way the game treats her like a joke, so having it altered for the localized version is a marked improvement over the source material.

On a lighter and slightly unrelated note, I would hope (and this is just a hope since I don't know how technically feasible this would be) that Soleil does get a same-sex support in the localized version, be it with F!Kamui/Corrin, not Tharja or whoever they choose as an option. At the very least, I hope that we don't get another Heather i.e. a strawman depiction of a lesbian.

i think we can all agree that the main reason why awakening was successful was advertisement.

no really, every game in the series had the potential to rake in mad cash if more people knew of its existence.

How could anyone resist picking up a new Fire Emblem game with a genius commercial like this?

"Trust no o-" Don't trust this commercial, more like! I really hate this one, it's one of the worst commercials to a video game ever.

But yes, advertising and creating a new beginner-friendly mode were just a couple of reasons why Awakening did so well. That it happened to be one of the best entries in the series since Path of Radiance doesn't hurt either.

[Solkia]

I know right? even my forum has a like button. though on second thought, if that means posts like "X is best waifu" are going to get a thousand likes, I'd rather spare myself the mental agony that is my loss of what little faith I have left in humanity =P (being overdramatic buuuut, Poe's Law if nothing else haha)

as fans/former fans of many serious with similar situations, I can say FE is definitely one of the worst. even Tales of isn't this bad with its recent changes and how many people (despite still buying the games as loyal fans) aren't pleased with the latest games.

and it's kind of true, Fates is really more like a spin-off than an actual FE game. it'd have been fine if they classified it as such, but Nintendo pretty much false advertised the game in the trailers and gave us something that's about as much Fire Emblem as Persona is SMT (note: Persona was a sub-series and is now pretty much its own thing separate from SMT, so ATLUS seems to embracing the clear differences in the games, IMO, unlike Nintendo)

as for those people who are always chiming in with their thoughts. they feel abandoned and betrayed and lonely. imagine your favorite pizza got different ingredients but had the same brand name and now tasted horrible. or your best friend turned into a zombie in the zombie apocalypse. in some cases, it's so extreme people would rather put the series out of its misery. kind of like, "the least i can do for my best friend is kill him", even if as a zombie, he is a friend of all the other zombies. #WeirdAnalogies

but in all seriousness, you probably have a popular opinion, not an unpopular one. if you ask me, it's people who prefer the old games and don't like the hundreds of things Fates does lamely (in people's opinions) that are in the minority. since they were in the majority--and were the loyal fans for so long who helped keep the series up to this point--yeah, they're going to be salty. can't be helped.

FWIW (note: personal opinions coming): I haven't thought there was a great FE game since FE9, though FE10/12 were both pretty good, and FE13 was fun at first until I got past the "feel good"/"look how shiny this is" atmosphere that the game has. so me being discontent with the series direction isn't anything too new (someone implied fans were having double standards or something, not the case with me), I haven't been super pleased with an FE game since FE9 after all and that's an oooold game. it just kind of plummeted with Fates, minus some of the STRATEGY gameplay mechanics being awesome (pretty much everything in My Castle is trash, IMO, but I'm cool with removal of weapon uses and dual attack/guard even if they're super different from normal FE).

I don't think older fans would have cared about Awakening an Fates animu...ness(?) if the plots weren't bollocks and the "S" in "SRPG" actually ment anything.

It's why Conquest will be the make it or break it for me.

EDIT: Don't take this post the wrong way, I liked Awakening well enough I just didn't like it as a Fire Emblem game.

Edited January 21, 2016 by Solkia

[Book Bro]

Good change. The fact that she ended up thanking Kamui for drugging her without consent was frankly pretty insensitive. As far as her sexuality, I feel like it'd be too much to hope Soleil will have female S options so I think the next best thing would be for them to make her straight and rework her gimmick somehow. I would be fine with that since the change would be to avoid an offensive and confusing gimmick as opposed to just censoring a gay character for the hell of it. Who knows what they'll do, but points for recognizing there was an issue there.

[Captain Karnage]

How could anyone resist picking up a new Fire Emblem game with a genius commercial like this?

"Trust no o-" Don't trust this commercial, more like! I really hate this one, it's one of the worst commercials to a video game ever.

But yes, advertising and creating a new beginner-friendly mode were just a couple of reasons why Awakening did so well. That it happened to be one of the best entries in the series since Path of Radiance doesn't hurt either.

all commercials from that era were like that

Caz just look up American game commercials from that era of gaming

and on the subject of censorship

I do not like censorship, I do not want censorship, even though I may disagree and not like the subject matter I strongly believe it should not be banned or removed because of my distaste

I don't like what they did to Soleli as a character ( by that I mean the JPN version of the game)

Edited January 21, 2016 by Captain Karnage

[solrocknroll]

I know right? even my forum has a like button. though on second thought, if that means posts like "X is best waifu" are going to get a thousand likes, I'd rather spare myself the mental agony that is my loss of what little faith I have left in humanity =P (being overdramatic buuuut, Poe's Law if nothing else haha)

as fans/former fans of many serious with similar situations, I can say FE is definitely one of the worst. even Tales of isn't this bad with its recent changes and how many people (despite still buying the games as loyal fans) aren't pleased with the latest games.

and it's kind of true, Fates is really more like a spin-off than an actual FE game. it'd have been fine if they classified it as such, but Nintendo pretty much false advertised the game in the trailers and gave us something that's about as much Fire Emblem as Persona is SMT (note: Persona was a sub-series and is now pretty much its own thing separate from SMT, so ATLUS seems to embracing the clear differences in the games, IMO, unlike Nintendo)

as for those people who are always chiming in with their thoughts. they feel abandoned and betrayed and lonely. imagine your favorite pizza got different ingredients but had the same brand name and now tasted horrible. or your best friend turned into a zombie in the zombie apocalypse. in some cases, it's so extreme people would rather put the series out of its misery. kind of like, "the least i can do for my best friend is kill him", even if as a zombie, he is a friend of all the other zombies. #WeirdAnalogies

but in all seriousness, you probably have a popular opinion, not an unpopular one. if you ask me, it's people who prefer the old games and don't like the hundreds of things Fates does lamely (in people's opinions) that are in the minority. since they were in the majority--and were the loyal fans for so long who helped keep the series up to this point--yeah, they're going to be salty. can't be helped.

FWIW (note: personal opinions coming): I haven't thought there was a great FE game since FE9, though FE10/12 were both pretty good, and FE13 was fun at first until I got past the "feel good"/"look how shiny this is" atmosphere that the game has. so me being discontent with the series direction isn't anything too new (someone implied fans were having double standards or something, not the case with me), I haven't been super pleased with an FE game since FE9 after all and that's an oooold game. it just kind of plummeted with Fates, minus some of the STRATEGY gameplay mechanics being awesome (pretty much everything in My Castle is trash, IMO, but I'm cool with removal of weapon uses and dual attack/guard even if they're super different from normal FE).

lol do you know how to argue without abusing hyperbole? genuine question here

A ton of stuff in this post is loaded or exaggerated. I'm also seeing a ton of "I dislike it so it's bad" which tends to be false. You seem utterly stuck to the older games and disapproving of change. As different as Persona? lol. Persona started as a spinoff, this game is the natural evolution of FE. I adore it.

I love My Castle. I love skinshipping. Modern characters are so much better than the old cardboard from FE1/FE6. As you can see, Birthright is my favorite game in the series. Maybe you should stick with the older games and let people who like this stuff enjoy it. Soleil was the worst part of the game, and she's almost fixed. Fates is almost perfect.

and you use a Shulk avatar how could you tarnish his name