Fire Emblem Fates Appreciation Thread

[Ertrick36]

11 hours ago, Roy's Our Boy said:

And finally the music was amazing. Road Taken, Alight, Far Dawn, Dusk Falls, and Justice RIP were just some of the amazing map themes.

The music in this game is highly underrated, I feel.  I personally loved a lot of the tracks, and I liked the different stylistic approaches to fit the theme of each nation.  Some people bashed it for being "inconsistent" and hated that pretty much every track used the "Lost in Thoughts" motif.  I dunno...  I guess that's not enough to ruin the tracks for me.

Also, I don't think people complained about DLC pricing for this game so much as they hated the fact that unless you bought some DLC, you would never get the full story.  Some still haven't bought Revelation for this very reason, and of course that path doesn't reveal everything you should know.  The pricing complaint is more directed at Echoes, which is another argument entirely.

And honestly, while I think Awakening's cast had maybe more good or decent characters, I think I like a number of Fates characters more than I do any of Awakening's characters.  People shudder and take on a disgusted tone when talking about Fates' cast, but they're exaggerating how many characters are just lame gimmicks.  Though as I've said a number of times throughout these forums, I seldom hate characters, so maybe I'm simply not as harsh a critic as others.

[Dark Holy Elf]

On 2017-05-26 at 10:36 PM, Roy's Our Boy said:

Fates is hands down better than Awakening and yet everyone likes the latter more.

There are a lot of people who like Fates better than Awakening, whether you're talking about people in this thread, these forums, or out there in the world in general. "Everyone" is an extreme exaggeration. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a majority (depending on what you consider as your sample space) but it's not a large one.

(That said I do agree with most of your comments. I like Awakening quite a lot but Fates fixed most of my non-plot-related criticisms of the game and Conquest delivered arguably the best SRPG gameplay ever.)

[Roy's Our Boy]

On 5/27/2017 at 1:27 PM, Ertrick36 said:

The music in this game is highly underrated, I feel.  I personally loved a lot of the tracks, and I liked the different stylistic approaches to fit the theme of each nation.  Some people bashed it for being "inconsistent" and hated that pretty much every track used the "Lost in Thoughts" motif.  I dunno...  I guess that's not enough to ruin the tracks for me.

Also, I don't think people complained about DLC pricing for this game so much as they hated the fact that unless you bought some DLC, you would never get the full story.  Some still haven't bought Revelation for this very reason, and of course that path doesn't reveal everything you should know.  The pricing complaint is more directed at Echoes, which is another argument entirely.

And honestly, while I think Awakening's cast had maybe more good or decent characters, I think I like a number of Fates characters more than I do any of Awakening's characters.  People shudder and take on a disgusted tone when talking about Fates' cast, but they're exaggerating how many characters are just lame gimmicks.  Though as I've said a number of times throughout these forums, I seldom hate characters, so maybe I'm simply not as harsh a critic as others.

Inconsistent? That's a new one. You don't know what you have until it's gone. Alm and Celica's battle themes are amazing, but when every single map has the same damn music, it just gets so repetitive and ruins the effect it first had on me. Personally, I liked the SSBB version of Celica's theme and wish they stuck with that but that's just nitpicking. 

DLC pricing for Awakening was bogus. And I don't think the season pass covered all of it. On top of that, most DLC for awakening was bonus characters. I did like the Bride though. That was a really cool class. Echoes makes me want to drink bleach with its DLC. And imagine being Canadian. $63 for the season pass. 

I think that a lot of people didn't like Fates cast was specifically directed at Camilla. She is one of the most divided characters in the series. Most of her haters probably despised the fact that you absolutely had to use her in Conquest as she is the best unit. I don't mind her as she has an interesting personality. Shes has a little comedic personality and I am fine with that.  If the game was a realistic army, everyone would probably be depressed or completely stressed out and we see characters like that with Xander. That doesn't build a strong cast if everyone was like that. Part of FE is the personalities of units. You build a connection with the character and not just their stats. I know Laslow is pretty bad. I know Ilyana is an underwhelming  mage. But I still use them because they are interesting characters that I like. You might as well play advanced wars if you don't like different personalities (which is also an amazing game); but I didn't mind killing off units because they had no character. FE does a great job of giving every single character playable or not an interesting personality. Even enemies such as Jarod, Sonia, and the Black Knight have interesting character aspects that are somewhat relatable. Like you, I find it very hard to hate characters, at least based on personality (except for Soren. Fck that little sh*t) 

Edited May 29, 2017 by Roy's Our Boy

[Loki Laufeyson]

Camilla hate has nearly everything to do with her design. It puts people off, big time. While you have plenty of folks liking her design (mostly straight guys), more foks detest it because it makes her seem shallow eye candy. Her attitude toward Corrin helps little, sadly. I like her, but her design irks me because of what it reduces her to. My niece has never played Fates, but plays Heroes, and even she dislikes Camilla, and shes twelve. Thats the power of the design and how it affects people's perception. 

[Roy's Our Boy]

22 minutes ago, Loki Laufeyson said:

Camilla hate has nearly everything to do with her design. It puts people off, big time. While you have plenty of folks liking her design (mostly straight guys), more foks detest it because it makes her seem shallow eye candy. Her attitude toward Corrin helps little, sadly. I like her, but her design irks me because of what it reduces her to. My niece has never played Fates, but plays Heroes, and even she dislikes Camilla, and shes twelve. Thats the power of the design and how it affects people's perception. 

She isn't the first and isn't going to be the last character designed like that. Charlotte (even though it 100% fits her character), Tharja, and Aversa all had revealing designs. As for males we have Largo, Hawkeye, Vaike, and Atlas in the new game, who also all did as well (abs are strong but don't stop steel blades.) I never stop using characters because of that (except for Vaike, you would have to pay me to use him.) Also interesting how almost all of them are axe users. So if you are going to hate on Camilla, hate on every character like that. I understand why some people are opposed by the fanservice for Cami (I mean it certainly didn't make me dislike her anymore if you know what I mean ) but it seems very awkward that she got that much hate. Even story wise, do you really think Nohrians would stop her from fighting because of that outfit especially when shes murdering fools for free for her country? Wear whatever you like if you are going to be super saiyan on the front lines. 

Edited May 29, 2017 by Roy's Our Boy

[Loki Laufeyson]

Im inclined to agree, mate. Just explaining thats a big reason Camilla gets static. Charlotte gets a lot of noise at her too. Thing is, male characters don't see the same noise. Theres a reason for that, but its kinda obvious what it is, so ill leave at that.

[Ertrick36]

I don't think Camilla is the sole reason for people hating the cast.  The way many are presented or introduced turns off some.  And it's also just a part of an ongoing revulsion some older fans have for the newer games.  There're other factors too, but that's not the point of this discussion.  Also, I don't particularly swing one way or the other with fanservice.  I only really dislike it when it's used to excuse or mask shoddy writing, and this game is hardly the worse case in that regard.

And to your earlier point about the music @Roy's Our Boy, I've seen people on this site remark on how the styles used between BR, CQ, and Rev don't "mesh".  They would describe it as "all over the place" and "lacking a common theme" aside from Lost in Thoughts.  But I always thought that point was kind of stupid because that's how they're supposed to be.  BR is Japanese-themed, CQ is Celtic inspired, and Revelation is strange and mythical.

But anyway, that's enough Negative Nancy talk for a thread that's supposed to be about appreciating Fates' finer points.  I honestly didn't mean to start a new discussion when mentioning the cast's reception; I was just railing against this notion carried by some fans that Fates' cast was entirely abominable with little redeeming factors.

[Roy's Our Boy]

1 hour ago, Ertrick36 said:

I don't think Camilla is the sole reason for people hating the cast.  The way many are presented or introduced turns off some.  And it's also just a part of an ongoing revulsion some older fans have for the newer games.  There're other factors too, but that's not the point of this discussion.  Also, I don't particularly swing one way or the other with fanservice.  I only really dislike it when it's used to excuse or mask shoddy writing, and this game is hardly the worse case in that regard.

And to your earlier point about the music @Roy's Our Boy, I've seen people on this site remark on how the styles used between BR, CQ, and Rev don't "mesh".  They would describe it as "all over the place" and "lacking a common theme" aside from Lost in Thoughts.  But I always thought that point was kind of stupid because that's how they're supposed to be.  BR is Japanese-themed, CQ is Celtic inspired, and Revelation is strange and mythical.

But anyway, that's enough Negative Nancy talk for a thread that's supposed to be about appreciating Fates' finer points.  I honestly didn't mean to start a new discussion when mentioning the cast's reception; I was just railing against this notion carried by some fans that Fates' cast was entirely abominable with little redeeming factors.

BUT THATS THE POINT OF THE MUSIC. The 3 routes have different themes because of the context. You have your Japaneshe theme for the Hoshidons and you have your medieval European music for Norh. Whoever said that about the music... Blasphemous. Not Asinine, not asiten, not asieleven, but asitwelve (Skip Bayless reference)

Now to nitpick some positive things (aka things that don't change the overall perception of the game but quality of life things or really small things that I personally thought made the overall experience that much better. Not really game changing things.) 

• Transition from map to battle felt a lot more smooth 
• Weapon durability changes (pretty big change but even if they kept durability, the game would still be fine) 
• My castle and accessories
• Knights and generals not looking retarded (RD generals and marshals were the coolest model ever but Awakening shat on that)
• Raider weapons stripping (I just realized they meant to do that, I thought my game had a glitch) 
• Simplified Forging
• Simplified world map 
• A lot of cool DLC classes ( a lot of them are path bonuses or given for free) 
• Eliincia's Gambit (one of my favorite maps) 
• Malig Knights and Ninjas 
• Dragon Veins (add a lot of cool new aspects)
• Story actually killing off playable units 
• Lethality looks so cool
• 2 MC classes 
• Multiple versions of Yato 
• Personal skills (everyone is different)
• Changing hair styles
• Cleaning up the stat screen (touch screen when looking at units)
• Being able to skip the tutorial 
• No more horse hooves
• Even more goofy weapons (like Felicia's Plate, didn't expect that didja?)
• More gender neutral classes 
• Nohr and Hoshidon versions of weapons 
• Minimap isn't made for ants
• More voice acting chatter
• Actual decision making 
• Replicate and Teleport 
• The singer/dancer/heron can actually fight (not well or consistently but baby steps) 
• More consistent stat caps 
• Having an actually good character to use in Smash 4
• We've got trouble!
• Pettin... Never mind 

Edited May 29, 2017 by Roy's Our Boy

[Ertrick36]

7 hours ago, Roy's Our Boy said:

• No more horse hooves

The most important change in the game; people actually have feet.

7 hours ago, Roy's Our Boy said:

• Knights and generals not looking retarded (RD generals and marshals were the coolest model ever but Awakening shat on that)

I did think the female armor knight and general designs were at least a little better than the male ones in Awakening (barring panty windows), though they were all undeniably a step down from the designs in RD.  The armors in this game look slender (comparatively), but I agree they're certainly an improvement after those dumb tin cans.  If only Awakening came out this year, then I could make all the memes about "cracking open a cold one", with the "cold one" being Kellam.

Spoiler

Though that begs the question: who would be "the boys"?

7 hours ago, Roy's Our Boy said:

• Malig Knights and Ninjas 

I personally loved the Master of Arms, Spearfighter, and the Nohrian servants (Maid/Butler).  And shout outs to Oni Savage because abs and it makes Hayato terrifyingly swole.

[ashlyn]

I mean, of course the game isn't perfect, but it was still an enjoyable gaming experience for me. Some of the game play does get repetitive, particularly in Birthright, but it was fun overall. I really liked the Dragon Veins, because it changed things up a little bit. The characters were also something I liked. There were a few characters that I thought were a little meh, but overall I loved the characters. The character supports were more interesting to me than the actual story was. But my favorite part overall has to be the music in the game. All of the tracks were wonderfully made and they often get stuck in my head. I think the soundtrack helped the game out a lot, because a great soundtrack makes a game more memorable.