Guessing Thread: Since we pretty much think Fire Emblem Engage might still have LGTB Supports in it like Fates & Three Houses, what playable characters besides Alear do you guess that they could possibly be LGTB? (Legacy FE Characters don't count)

[Armchair General]

10 minutes ago, Metal Flash said:

Now that more characters have been revealed, any characters you guess and/or hope could be LGBT?

It would probably be from an handful of the retainers, and the royalty from that desert kingdom. Other than that, it almost feels that around half of the characters that were already revealed prefers to keep themselves

[Metal Flash]

32 minutes ago, Armchair General said:

It would probably be from an handful of the retainers, and the royalty from that desert kingdom. Other than that, it almost feels that around half of the characters that were already revealed prefers to keep themselves

Yeah, that is a pretty fair assumption right now. I hope there will be some surprises, and variation, but I am not holding my breath.

[Mysterique Sign]

L: Panette
G: Fogado, Alcryst
B: Alear (natch), Timerra
T: Rosado (?)

[zuibangde]

Ideally everyone is bi. This is the direction Japanese games with romance is going towards and FE devs should follow the trend. However, I’m not optimistic about it so the next best thing would be the royal siblings being bi.

Realistically though, the more stereotypically ‘feminine’ male character will be the mlm option so right now I’m guessing Seadall or Alcryst. Harder to guess for wlw.  

[martystarboy]

Since S-supports for Alear have yet to be confirmed, I'm honestly more interested in potential same-sex romantic endings between the rest of the cast. I was only ever really invested in Byleth/Jeritza in FE3H because (like many of you have said) the teacher/student relationships kinda creeped me out. It was also frustrating that a lot of fans were only willing to label characters that could S-support both Byleths as bisexual when obviously there was something really LGBT going on with people like Hubert/Ferdinand and Constance/Hapi, for instance. I'd also like to see more platonic endings, as a ton of the m/f romances in FE3H and Fates felt very forced for the sake of allowing people to "ship whatever they want" (at least when it comes to m/f). The m/f romances in SOV were really good because there were only around 5 and they all actually had chemistry.

Anyways...from the support clips we've seen on the Japanese Engage website, I think Seadall/Amber and Timerra/Merrin have a lot of potential!

Edited December 15, 2022 by martystarboy

[Metal Flash]

12 hours ago, martystarboy said:

I'd also like to see more platonic ending

Even as someone who enjoys paired endings, I think more platonic opposite sex endings would be nice too.

As for my own LBTQ+ guesses, Benet and Jade give me "married to the job" vibes. I have this random feeling that Pandaro and Hortensia could be gay, but have zero clue as to how or why.

[Loliko]

My only confident bets will be that Alear is bisexual to allow the player to romance who they want (if romancing is still a thing to start with) and that Rosado is definitely heavily in the LGBT spectrum.

This twitter thread pretty much compile most of why I believe Rosado isn't just a CIS girl/boy who enjoys cute stuff and goes a bit deeper than that. 

https://twitter.com/ljbtqiaplus/status/1601324316200927232?s=20&t=yJ8peC_D8E0cbK8RTFTHRQ

To add onto that , a few other things I've noticed : a spanish friend of mine told me that Rosado in his language means "The pink one" in a masculine manner. Rosada would be the feminine manner. So we have a color heavily associated with feminine stuff but associated with a male pronoun.

Rosado is almost obsessive on being girly and enjoying cute stuff , to the point that their wyvern has a whopping 18 pretty ribbons attached to them ! Even Camilla and Cherche who were dotting on their wyvern weren't putting pretty accessories on them everywhere.

Rosado is also able to wear female exclusive clothings as shown in this pic (the casual clothes you can offer to the characters). However , their base outfit has a small window opening near the chest , and they wear a black shirt with armor that is only on their arms and legs. But even with that , we don't really see any clevage when a outfit like that would emphasize it pretty clearly.

And finally , such a character that present themselves as so girly with this  kind of armor would led to them being a pegasis , a female exclusive class (baring Fates). However , they're a very traditional wyvern rider and even use axes at base , which is one of the most attack focused classes in modern FE.

All of that to say that there are so many contrasts between each end of male/female with Rosado's attitude , design , and choices that it would be definitely be a bit weird if it didn't ammounted to anything. I believe they could be trans , but I could be very wrong as well , or perhaps the game will never make it a big topic of discussion among their supports and just be something that's common in their respective kingdom , which would be a pretty good way of writing it.

 

[szechuan]

1 hour ago, Loliko said:

perhaps the game will never make it a big topic of discussion among their supports and just be something that's common in their respective kingdom , which would be a pretty good way of writing it.

That would be fantastical. Given their track record, I still think IS will have them be a cis man hyper-fixated with cute stuff, which I don't think is bad either. But how refreshing would it be if a game such as this was allowed to tackle gender customs in speculative ways! In any case, I love their design and colour palette.

Also: please m-m romanceable Fogado😭 or anyone that isn't a long haired twink (love me some Linhardt-Yuri-Jeritza, but there's merit on variety!)

[EarthboundAddict]

17 hours ago, szechuan said:

Also: please m-m romanceable Fogado😭 or anyone that isn't a long haired twink (love me some Linhardt-Yuri-Jeritza, but there's merit on variety!)

It's kind of ironic that the gay male options are almost always twinks when the fe men that are particularly popular among gay men are the ones like Ike, Hector, 90% of axe fighters/warriors etc.

I still remember during the cindered shadows announcement every mlm person I knew was praying for Balthus to be the gay option over Yuri

[martystarboy]

On 12/23/2022 at 7:02 PM, szechuan said:

Also: please m-m romanceable Fogado😭 or anyone that isn't a long haired twink (love me some Linhardt-Yuri-Jeritza, but there's merit on variety!)

I think there’s a high chance of Fogado being an m-m option due to him being the only male royal with 2 male retainers in the game. Doesn’t necessarily mean anything but Leo had 2 male retainers and one of the retainers was the only m-m option in Fates (so maybe the retainers are m-m as well/instead?)

But honestly I suspect they’ll combine classic FE with 3Hopes and have Alear only go up to A, but there will be a lot of implied romantic undertones regardless of gender. 

Edited December 25, 2022 by martystarboy

[Loliko]

On 12/24/2022 at 1:02 AM, szechuan said:

That would be fantastical. Given their track record, I still think IS will have them be a cis man hyper-fixated with cute stuff, which I don't think is bad either. But how refreshing would it be if a game such as this was allowed to tackle gender customs in speculative ways! In any case, I love their design and colour palette.

If I'm not wrong , Rosado is one of Hortensia's retainers , so these kind of identity choices would be something accepted by royalty , and by her respective kingdom in that case. It's why I brought it up , because it's important to know that it wasn't the case in previous FE games like Leo refusing Forrest choices before finally supporting him ; It does help that Engage takes place after all FE titles , and seem to be set in more modern times.

In any case , while I haven't looked into Ike's games or Heroes enough to know if there were any rep (I don't recall any instances from FE1 through 8 , and Awakening through 3H doesn't seem to have a canon one) , I think Rosado is currently the one that seems to be pushing it the hardest for a potential trans character. However , I do appreciate that they didn't made it Rosado's thing and nothing else , since they already shown that they're a gifted artist in the Hortensia support , so I'm looking forward to what else they'll have once the game release.

Edited December 25, 2022 by Loliko

[Mirron]

Hmm, can’t really say who is gay as it’s not like FE necessarily telegraphs that. I do hope that if they’re continuing the “avatar can romance all opposite gender options” that they just go for all same as well. 
 

In terms of who I want though, one option is likely not on the table at all, but otherwise any of the Lord equivalent guys would be nice. Pandoro comes to mind too as one I’d like, but really FE is pretty good at making likable characters so whoever is on the table will be nice. Ideally all the Lords and then at least one retainer per kingdom though if they don’t just open the floodgates.

[CompteSecours]

Rosado is referred with a "he" is the official english translation.

As expected, he is "just" a dude who likes "girly" things, like Forrest was.

[ciphertul]

1 hour ago, CompteSecours said:

Rosado is referred with a "he" is the official english translation.

As expected, he is "just" a dude who likes "girly" things, like Forrest was.

You know if they where gonna go that route they should have given him a "cuter" voice.

[Mirron]

Hopefully they treat him well. I’m not too worried but still somewhat. 

[KoriCongo]

With some more information, I think I can make an educated guess about how Engage with handle romance, and LGBT romances.

I think the game will technically be open in terms of romance, having a special romantic scene/wakeup call after a certain point in the game. We learn from Anna's C-support that Sweethearts Day is an actual thing in Elyos, where couples give gifts to one another. So I expect that you will get a special gift you can give to a character you have at least an A-support to, and get a special gift/accessory back, something like how they handled the Merc Whistle in Three Hopes. I think it will be open to anyone, regardless of gender, as Alear's gender seems to only particularly matter for Class Changing purposes, and not relationship/support dialogue. Said gift will also guarantee Alear gets a paired ending with that character, instead of relying on having the most Support Points between each other. If Paired Endings aren't a thing (which I find unlikely), they will do what they did with Three Hopes and give a special dialogue/CG at the end, something like a more elaborate Three Hopes situation.

This should be a proper compromise in not making another "Dating Sim Emblem" again but also give you the freedom of choice to dote on any character in the game.

If I'm completely wrong though and they have dedicated LGBT characters...uhh...
Males get Seadall, Rosado, and Fogato
Females get Ivy, Yunaka, and Chloe? Maybe Anna if they want to give a fan-favorite and don't mind the obvious controversy that would come from that.

[Mirron]

Honestly I like the “dating sim” aspects so hoping they don’t downgrade stuff too much. And also definitely hoping for more options if they had dedicated gay characters. 

[Etrurian emperor]

Maybe Bunet could be into guys. The (fan translated) affinity chart has him say ''I'm lucky to see lord Fogado's smile'' about Fogado, which implies he might have a crush on his lord. 

Edited January 7, 2023 by Etrurian emperor

[Marin]

Intelligent Systems undoubtedly has been taking (small) steps in the right direction for a while now, so I'd love to start being able to give them the benefit of the doubt regarding LGBT representation, but I don't expect Engage to be the turning point that will enable me to. 

I understand why some people would like every playable character to be "romanceable" regardless of MC's sex, but I would much rather there be a handful of canonically LGBT characters instead. A cast entirely made up of heterosexual people conveniently willing to make an exception for same-sex Alear, simply isn't nearly as interesting or realistic. By all means, include bisexual characters, but don't make their only same-sex option Alear. 

As for my guesses/hopes:

- Fogado would make for a great bi option, I think. He seems like the kind of character who's playful and flirty with allies regardless of their sex. In one of the previews released by Nintendo, he says something along the lines of "I absolutely love/adore you" upon being healed (by, coincidentally, a male unit). When you select him on player phase, he says "I love you all" or "I love everyone".  

- If Citrinne isn't at least bisexual, I will be very disappointed.

- I can't imagine Alfred being with a woman.

- Merrin is a lesbian, and absolutely nothing will change my mind. 

- I don't know what kind of message the first official male dancer in the series being a pretty fortune-telling gay man would send, but I nonetheless would love Seadall to be gay.

- Rosado is apparently just a (presumably straight) man who loves feminine clothing, like Conquest's Forrest. That's completely fine by me, because ultrafeminine heterosexual cis men exist and deserve to be represented too, but I wouldn't be disappointed or surprised if it turned out to be a little more complicated than that.

- Diamant is asexual. I will not be taking any questions at this time.

- Ivy is either the straightest or gayest woman in this game.

[Marin]

On 12/15/2022 at 1:41 AM, zuibangde said:

Ideally everyone is bi. This is the direction Japanese games with romance is going towards and FE devs should follow the trend. However, I’m not optimistic about it so the next best thing would be the royal siblings being bi.

Realistically though, the more stereotypically ‘feminine’ male character will be the mlm option so right now I’m guessing Seadall or Alcryst. Harder to guess for wlw.  

Would you mind naming a few of those games? My curiosity has been piqued🙂

[Interdimensional Observer]

4 hours ago, Marin said:

Would you mind naming a few of those games? My curiosity has been piqued🙂

Mostly the dating & farming sim genre at the moment.

Rune Factory 5 is the latest entry in that farming & dating + action RPG franchise, and the only one that lets you go gay/lesbian/bi.:

Story of Seasons, the pure peaceful farming & dating-sim franchise from Rune Factory came, has also included s/s dating and marriage in its latest games. To be precise:

• the Friends of Mineral Town remake
• the latest new game Pioneers of Olive Town
• and it shall do so again in its next remake- Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life.

Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life remake shall also be the first SoS game to include a non-binary gender option when it comes to pronouns. -Although it won't be the first game with farming & dating sim elements (+action RPG combat like Rune Factory) to allow that, as Harvestella published by Square Enix (not exactly a small unknown company with nothing to lose from cultural backlash that didn't actually happen) did it just last year, and ofc it lets you marry whoever you want of the candidates regardless of your chosen gender.

Maglam Lord, a -rather unfortunately simplistic and lacking- action RPG with a fun lighthearted dating sim component is yet another game that lets you date whoever you want, regardless of whether you pick the male or female version of the protagonist Killizerk.

...That's about it for Japanese games that aren't super-duper niche or supremely-indie. Not a ton, but it is rapid progress that began only in the year 2020 (with FoMT. Although fans of Stardew Valley will point out that that famed 2016 American-developed indie game inspired by Story of Seasons, included s/s marriage first.). Yet, this is progress enough that Fire Emblem should feel more confident in expanding things now. Same-sex romance and marriage is not "risky" and on the very fringe of video games any longer.

-None of the above games, to make it clear, have specifically gay/lesbian characters. The "everyone is bi" approach is convenient and utilized for dating sims because character-writing resources are limited, making everyone bi avoids making the number of bachelor/ettes available for straights and gays/lesbians alike too small. (Dedicated s/s romance games exist, yet they're mega-niche and extremely-indie, usually visual novels, and not-uncommonly NSFW.)

Fire Emblem having 30+ playable characters per game does make gays and lesbians more feasible without being limiting. Though as long as FE refuses to ditch the avatar MC as it hasn't for four consecutive games -minus SoV- playable outright gays/lesbians will be a slightly thorny matter. If Fire Emblem managed to shake off the avatar-lord entirely for one non-remake game, then there would be no excuse not to include gays and lesbians in that game, nor an excuse not to include a couple bisexuals, and let's include a toss in a few on the asexuality spectrum too. For in a game without an avatar, there is no demand to sate the player's wish-fulfillment, whoever they the player may be. Avatars complicate things.

Edited January 9, 2023 by Interdimensional Observer

[Metal Flash]

I too would prefer there be dedicated lesbian, gay and bi characters who have same-sex relationships outside of Alear. Having a handful of LGBTQ+ characters helps make them standout more and, hopefully, let them have more fleshed out characters. With that said, I see the advantages in just making everyone bi.

Recently, I have been thinking Timerra could work well as a lesbian character. All the snippets of supports she has had have been with females and all have been pretty positive. Not to menion, I feel many would find the idea of a matriarcy ruled by two badass queens to be pretty appealing.

[Mirron]

I think at least for Alear/the Avatar everyone should be bi, it’s just the answer that is happiest. Having more varied pairings outside of Alear is good though. It’s better than the previous “almost everyone is straight and wants the Avatar with a handful who are bi”.