Opinions on Cameo Characters

[Jotari]

Way back in the day when Gaiden was made they included a few cameo characters from the previous game (Camus and the pegasus sisters incase you're uninformed). They really didn't have much purpose being there (especially in the case of the pegasus sisters) and were essentially fan service. Strangely this idea wasn't really revisited as the games were released. Each series became more and more distinct from each other until Awakening bridged them together with the Outrealms. And, almost to be expected I suppose, they made use of this to have three cameo characters in Fates.

So with all that in mind how to you feel about cameo characters? Pe-established characters from another game in the series that very shaky reasoning for being there essentially dropping in on a story without the rest of their setting. How exactly do you think they should be handled if they are to appear and what characters from throughout the series would you like to see showing up outside of their own setting?

[NekoKnight]

I don't mind character showing up in close sequels/prequels such as characters in Elibe and Tellius but for stories that don't provide a real justification, I'd rather they not be included. Fates copy pasted a lot of Awakening characters, characters that could have easily been brand new characters. I get it, fan favorites, but they had their time to shine.

I dislike Awakening for introducing the Outrealms and I dislike Fates for making them solidly canon,

[Topaz Light]

It depends on how they're worked in. If the games take place close enough in time and space that it's feasible that the character could show up in the game they're cameoing in (provided they don't have any other obligations that would keep them from doing so), then it's kinda cool. If it's something like Anna and Jake, recurring mascot-like characters where each continuity has its own "version" of them, that's cool, too.

As much as I don't have any problems with most of the specific characters involved, Fates is an example of a very poor way to work in character cameos. It's so contrived, and it's clearly only there to justify the characters being present in Fates' story.

Basically, if the presence of cameo characters makes sense, then by all means, I'm down for it. If it doesn't, then maybe hold off on doing the cameo, or at least give them a relatively-obscure NPC role where they go unnamed or something, instead of giving them such a front-and-center role as "playable party member".

Edited September 21, 2016 by Topaz Light

[Light Strategist]

I'm a sucker for returning characters, even if I don't like the character. I favour a little bit of familiarity to settle any mental conflicts I have. I think that a big issue with some characters returning is relevance, as you've said, but in the case of Fates, at least we have an explanation for the characters appearing and not being left ambiguous (even if in Conquest they don't try to imply to anyone what's actually going on, or in Revelation where they don't contribute to the story like they should).

I've not played very much of Gaiden or FE1/11 and/or FE3/12 to know whether or not the Whitewings were unnecessary or not but from what I'm aware of Camus, his presence is somewhat required in Gaiden.

Moving on, I feel that Ike and Soren's A-Support Ending in Radiant Dawn (if I'm not mistaken) gives them decent setup to do it well, if not just Ike's solo ending.

If I had to pick characters I'd like to see return as extras for bonus reasons, I'd list my top 5 in no particular order as:

Lucina

Jill

Soren

Lyndis

Siegbert

with my reasons as:

Lucina: Personal bias on a large part (I don't count the amiibo unit in Fates for reason of lack of character development opportunities, which, although there were a good few in Awakening, I feel she still needs more of) but also because she still has plenty of room to develop as a character. She's helped save the future and then ups and disappears without a word? I'd like to see where she ended up and who she's helping. She's got so much potential but I don't feel it was maximized in Awakening alone. Plus, if the marriage and children mechanics were kept, I'd like to see her as a Gen 1 character in that game and her relationship with her child(ren) (of which I'm not counting Morgan because she barely gets a word in edgeways and only has generic dialogue in those supports).

Soren: I've only played Path of Radiance, so I can't speak about how he is in Radiant Dawn (outside of ditties of Wiki information I've read). From what I've seen of him he's very defensive due to being a Branded and comes across as harsh to others likely because of his own mistreatment as a child. I don't know how Radiant Dawn expands on his character so a throwback or two to some of the things from then would be nice, even if only covered in supports. Much like with Lucina (and I guess the other characters I'm listing) I'd like to see how Soren would handle parenthood, though with Soren in particular, I don't feel it necessary.

Lyndis: I've played FE7 and I thoroughly loved Lyn's character. She's very driven and friendly which is a pleasant characteristic and she goes above and beyond to help her friends if she can. Lyn's nomadic upbringing has her comfortably at home on the plains and I could honestly imagine her as the kind of person that would teach her kids about their Sacaen heritage. Honestly, I don't really feel she'd be necessary to bring back at all, as opposed to her just being a character I'm very fond of.

Siegbert: Siegbert largely reminds me of Chrom albeit with a bit of an inferiority complex and significantly more worries. He's a generally nice guy and strives to help people any way he can. Due to his minor inferiority complex, he often worries about whether or not he would make a good king or whether he would be a good leader, however whilst he specifically sees that as a weakness, I personally see it as a sign of realism to the character. He, like Lucina, has plenty of room for development and could make use of it.

Jill: From what I've seen of Jill, she's probably the most complex character in the franchise. She's got a large amount of pride and dedication in fulfilling her duties to Daein's army and ultimately joins your army for survival reasons. Her supports reveal some of the details of how she grew up as well as certain story events that feature her. Most notably of these events is her ability to defect from your army when facing her father in Path of Radiance. It's a feature that is unique to her and was brilliantly executed. I fail to see why we can't have more characters that have the potential to defect from your army in the series. Jill was re-recruitable under the right conditions so why not have the same circumstances available for others? As I've said before with other characters, I'd like to see how Jill is as a parent character. I could see her being close to her child(ren) but that's just me.

[C. Turtle]

Personally, I have no problem with characters returning in another game, provided the game they're returning in takes place within the same world, and within a similar enough timeframe that the character would still be alive, a la FE6/7, FE9/10, and even FE1/2/3. Even if they're not relevant to the plot as a whole, at least they're not travelling across the bounds of time and space just to be there. When the character has no real logical reason as to why they're there, don't include them. Don't sacrifice sense for fanservice. (Lookin' at you, Awakening trio.)

Anna's a special case. She's good.

[Jotari]

I've not played very much of Gaiden or FE1/11 and/or FE3/12 to know whether or not the Whitewings were unnecessary or not but from what I'm aware of Camus, his presence is somewhat required in Gaiden.

From my (admittedly, also second hand) knowledge, Camus in Gaiden was basically some dude with memory loss who's a pretty standard enemy recruitable. In fact given how much sprites are reused I wouldn't be surprised if the fact that he was Camus flew over the heads of many players until Mystery of the Emblem was released. However his in time in Gaiden did give him an arc of sorts as a character thus it retroactively became relevant in Mystery of the Emblem when he appeared again as it meant he had other allegiances and couldn't stay with Nyna. Which is how I imagine what you suggest with Lucina could play out.

Personally, I have no problem with characters returning in another game, provided the game they're returning in takes place within the same world, and within a similar enough timeframe that the character would still be alive, a la FE6/7, FE9/10, and even FE1/2/3. Even if they're not relevant to the plot as a whole, at least they're not travelling across the bounds of time and space just to be there. When the character has no real logical reason as to why they're there, don't include them. Don't sacrifice sense for fanservice. (Lookin' at you, Awakening trio.)

I think traversing the dimensions is really more an aesthetic choice than anything else. I mean there was absolutely no reason not to pull a Gaiden and have Hoshido/Nohr happen on a separate continent at the same time as Awakening. Likewise they easily could have thrown an Eliber character into Magvek with little to no justification. Even Jugdral could have taken place at the same time as Archanea since the only thing actually tying them together is Naga who is relegated to the backstory of both of them (though Naga's appearance in Jugdral is a much more recent historical event than any appearance in Archanea which I rather like so I'm not at all against them deciding Jugdral happens in the past. The point is it didn't necessarily have to). Compare and contrast the different Pokemon generations which are distinct enough that they could potentially exist in different universes (and it would make a lot more sense in the case of some legendaries) but they throw in the odd cameo character with little justification beyond they travelled there. Of course the different dimensions are definitely a canon part of the series now, my point is it was a choice and nothing the games themselves forced them to do.

Edited September 21, 2016 by Jotari

[Light Strategist]

His in time in Gaiden did give him an arc of sorts as a character thus it retroactively became relevant in Mystery of the Emblem when he appeared again as it meant he had other allegiances and couldn't stay with Nyna. Which is how I imagine what you suggest with Lucina could play out.

Basically. There's an untapped potential that could be used and further explored, whereas with the other Awakening characters in Fates, they didn't really tap into anything and just about managed to make their inclusion fractionally sensible. They don't really add or detract anything aside from references to Awakening and its DLC depending on how you'd view that.

[TheSilentChloey]

As someone who has only played Awakening and Fates I don't have much nouse on the older Fire Emblem games. I will say this though:

What I saw in Fates was Severa get more character development which she desperately needed, Inigo was made tolerable and Owain...well he didn't get as lucky as the other two but we got to see him be a father which was nice. The out right copy characters, Rhajat, Asugi and Caeldori while seemingly their own characters recycle a lot of their awakening counter parts gimmicks which while Rhajat isn't anywhere near as annoying as Tharja, Asugi and Caeldori are the more annoying ones to me at least...(haven't read enough supports of those two yet).

To be honest Rhajat sort of makes some sense because she has a reason to stalk the Avatar now (as the Avatar saved her life) and if her classic death quote is anything to go by gives a very good reasoning to Tharja's obcession with Robin (however Robin doubtless had nothing to do with earning that obcession).

I don't mind recurring characters as long as they get either more character development or have a very good reason for being in the story in the first place.

[MCProductions]

I'm a sucker for reoccurring characters, and was actually completely fine with the Awakening trio being in Fates. Tho it may be my preference for less FE plot when playing one as compared to the likes of Jugdral and Tellius as well me being a fan of multiverses in general particularly in FE, I actually like the Outrealm explanation used for the Awakening trio. I do wish the fanservice characters were spread out thruout more of the franchise, like having Lyn or Tiki be there, but eh, I actually like Severa now thanks to Fates, so that's something right?

[KMT4ever]

With the exception of Anna, I'm not a fan of making cameo characters a regular thing. I actually liked how the Awakening trio was done in Fates, but the expies were mediocre. Paying homage is fine, but copying so much of the characterization is lazy. Better to have original characters for each new world.

Although, I wouldn't mind an avatar that pays homage to Morgan. I already have a headcanon that (s)he's Mark from FE7, traveling through the Outrealms as part of training.

[VeryAngryBisharp]

They don't have to be important to the plot for me. They could just be traveling through that continent and end up getting caught in yet another war or something.

Just don't go trying to make them relevant to the plot if you're just gonna make them end up looking like idiots. (Thanks Hidden Truths)

[shadowofchaos]

The should have handled it like the Tales of Series does:

Find some sort of generic interaction to fight them or use them for a chapter. Something that don't require justification like Outrealms or that sort of thing.

Them being there is outside the scope of the story.

Awakening had sort of that kind of thing since the Outrealms were never referred to in story context. It was simply the DLC Gate that had its own separate entity and context.

And the Fates threw all of that out the window with their children.

Edited September 21, 2016 by shadowofchaos

[Anacybele]

I don't mind character showing up in close sequels/prequels such as characters in Elibe and Tellius but for stories that don't provide a real justification, I'd rather they not be included. Fates copy pasted a lot of Awakening characters, characters that could have easily been brand new characters. I get it, fan favorites, but they had their time to shine.

Basically this.

I hated that three of the Awakening kids returned fully and three of the Awakening first gen characters returned as carbon copies. It felt far too forced and brand new characters could've easily taken their place like NekoKnight says. And this is coming from someone that liked Inigo, Severa, Cordelia, and Gaius.

[Sasori]

If it makes sense for characters to return then I don't mind them coming back at all. Characters like Karel, Bartre and Marcus don't look out of place in Fe7 and I don't mind the 9 cast returning for 10 either.

I also don't mind how Awakening did it. Returning characters where reserved for DLC or random hires that had nothing to do with the plot. It was just a fanservice mechanic that did't pretend to be anything other then that.

It becomes a problem when you randomly add characters just because they are popular. The Awakening trio being the worst example of this. It involves traveling to another world and I saw no story reason why those 3 where picked for the job.

[Rend Keaven]

Also as the cameo's are handled well and their appearance makes some sense, then I don't see why not. Especially in Fates with the Awakening Trio, they handled well because they made them feel like different people without them mentioning anything related to Awakening ever 5 conversations they are in. Not so much for Asugi, Caeldori and Rhajat as they were more like doppelgangers were IntSys tried to please newcomers by going "Oh, look! It's your favorite characters from Awakening, the game you all loved and saved the franchise, they're back! Please don't go!"

[saisymbolic]

I agree with the majority in that as long as it makes sense during the narrative, I don't particularly mind it.