Poll: Fire Emblem Fates Impressions So Far (Tag Story Spoilers Please)

[Lightspeaker]

I haven't seen the original Japanese supports (I don't know Japanese), but I think the characterizations mostly shine through from what I've experienced so far.

You're misunderstanding by what I mean by "screwing up characterisation" I think. I don't mean its poor. I mean they significantly changed a bunch of personalities and interactions between characters to change their relationships and attitudes, which apparently badly harms character development for several of them. This is something I've heard a fair few people who have played both the original and the localised one complain about. Not having played either myself yet (and given my Japanese is quite poor) I can't confirm that, but I've certainly not heard great things about it.

This isn't anything NEW of course, even for Fire Emblem. Awakening had similar issues with several of the characters being made more one-dimensional; as I understand it two of the worst effected were Henry and Gregor. But those I've talked to have found it to be even worse in Fates.

Hell, one support I heard about has apparently been removed wholesale and replaced with absolutely nothing.

Wait, really? I didn't hear about that.

Yeah, here (spoilers...in so far as there's a spoiler in no dialogue):

There's supposed to be an entire conversation there about 'how many have you killed?' or something if I remember the script I read for the Japanese version of this support correctly. Instead there's literally nothing. Just "..." Its either a bug or they literally forgot to put a translation in or...well they just decided to not bother. IDK.

 

[B-Cell_v1legacy]

How long until you take and ruin X-com, Japan? How long until Total War is more about romancing Attilla-kun then it is about leading thousands of soldiers in combat? Enough is enough.

I absoluetly hate romance and love story in any video game.

 

[Hawki]

How long until you take and ruin X-com, Japan?

I thought it was called Valkyria Chronicles.

 

[Fappy]

How long until you take and ruin X-com, Japan? How long until Total War is more about romancing Attilla-kun then it is about leading thousands of soldiers in combat? Enough is enough.

I absoluetly hate romance and love story in any video game.

Why do you hate it? When done right, romance adds a lot to the characters and story. Love/sex is part of the human experience, after all.

That said, it's rare for a video game to handle it well.

 

[B-Cell_v1legacy]

How long until you take and ruin X-com, Japan? How long until Total War is more about romancing Attilla-kun then it is about leading thousands of soldiers in combat? Enough is enough.

I absoluetly hate romance and love story in any video game.

Why do you hate it? When done right, romance adds a lot to the characters and story. Love/sex is part of the human experience, after all.

That said, it's rare for a video game to handle it well.

because i want my games to be badass and manly and not romanticize.

 

[Fappy]

How long until you take and ruin X-com, Japan? How long until Total War is more about romancing Attilla-kun then it is about leading thousands of soldiers in combat? Enough is enough.

I absoluetly hate romance and love story in any video game.

Why do you hate it? When done right, romance adds a lot to the characters and story. Love/sex is part of the human experience, after all.

That said, it's rare for a video game to handle it well.

because i want my games to be badass and manly and not romanticize.

Well, to each their own I guess.

 

[Josh123914]

Still no word on the UK release date. Nintendo pls.

Having checked both versions and asked some degenerate weaboo friends, I'll be going with Birthright. I get that it isn't the hardcore version, but Fire Emblem Awakening on hard is hard enough for me, and really I'll probably end up getting both sooner or later anyway.

 

[Fappy]

Still no word on the UK release date. Nintendo pls.

Having checked both versions and asked some degenerate weaboo friends, I'll be going with Birthright. I get that it isn't the hardcore version, but Fire Emblem Awakening on hard is hard enough for me, and really I'll probably end up getting both sooner or later anyway.

It's weird how you guys get FE late but we get Bravely Second late. Nintendo's weird.

I think the US didn't get Bravely Default until a full year after it was available in Europe.

 

[powerneed]

From what I've seen so far about it here and there they've absolutely butchered the dialogue. Stripping and completely rewriting entire conversations in the name of 'localisation' and completely screwing up characterisation (not that that's necessarily anything new but to a far more extreme extent than is usual).

I haven't seen the original Japanese supports (I don't know Japanese), but I think the characterizations mostly shine through from what I've experienced so far. The main complaint I have regarding the supports is just that a lot of them just feel like retreads of the same cliches/themes that Awakening already used. That, and some of them are just plain boring/uneventful.

A few of them have been pretty good so far though.

Hell, one support I heard about has apparently been removed wholesale and replaced with absolutely nothing.

Wait, really? I didn't hear about that.

i know it was already shown but here is a side by side of it minor spoilers i think

 

[ThatOtherGirl]

From what I've seen so far about it here and there they've absolutely butchered the dialogue. Stripping and completely rewriting entire conversations in the name of 'localisation' and completely screwing up characterisation (not that that's necessarily anything new but to a far more extreme extent than is usual).

I haven't seen the original Japanese supports (I don't know Japanese), but I think the characterizations mostly shine through from what I've experienced so far. The main complaint I have regarding the supports is just that a lot of them just feel like retreads of the same cliches/themes that Awakening already used. That, and some of them are just plain boring/uneventful.

A few of them have been pretty good so far though.

Hell, one support I heard about has apparently been removed wholesale and replaced with absolutely nothing.

Wait, really? I didn't hear about that.

i know it was already shown but here is a side by side of it minor spoilers i think

Yeah, that is clearly a case of forgetting to replace placeholder dialog. Not acceptable, I hope Nintendo patches it.

 

[Lightspeaker]

How long until you take and ruin X-com, Japan? How long until Total War is more about romancing Attilla-kun then it is about leading thousands of soldiers in combat? Enough is enough.

I absoluetly hate romance and love story in any video game.

Why do you hate it? When done right, romance adds a lot to the characters and story. Love/sex is part of the human experience, after all.

That said, it's rare for a video game to handle it well.

because i want my games to be badass and manly and not romanticize.

Well, to each their own I guess.

Personally I want all of my games to have the main character be a magical girl in a pretty dress but that's probably just me.

Although I don't think anyone can deny that it would drastically improve Call of Duty.


And thanks for the comparison vid, powerneed. Glad someone put up a better version comparing and contrasting. I really have no idea wtf they've done with it there.

Yeah, that is clearly a case of forgetting to replace placeholder dialog. Not acceptable, I hope Nintendo patches it.

As someone pointed out to me though, when I suggested that myself...if it was placeholder and 'intended to be filled' then why is there more than one dialogue box for each character and yet the number of boxes doesn't line up with the number of boxes in the original?

And also why "..."? That's actually used as a dialogue feature frequently to express a character falling silent. Normally you'd expect unregistered character boxes or something. Or even a translation note of <Dialogue #173 here> or something.

One suggestion I've seen is that this was supposed to be a gimmicky joke (put in at the expense of character development in the original) that's fallen flat, because from what I hear both of these characters are supposed to be relatively quiet types.

Have to wait and see how Nintendo responds I guess to find out what the truth is. If they don't change it then just... *facepalm*

 

[Sabitsuki]

I've got Conquest myself, and have been slowly making my way along through it on Hard mode. It certainly doesn't pull any punches, and I'm enjoying it for that. I had an 11 turn survival mission fairly early on and it was probably one of the most tense mission of that type I've played through in a Fire Emblem game. Though they've also started sending archers at me who somehow have the freaking Counter skill, which just seems rude. One nice feature is that you can turn the difficulty down at any time, but you can't turn it back up, so you can start on harder difficulties and ease it if it's too much. Which I'm considering doing and saving Hard Mode for when I have an idea of how the rest of the game is going to play out..

The classic style mission structure with the mechanical improvements feels wonderful, and nothing stands out mechanically that irritates me. Pairing Up no longer feels incredibly overpowered since it was split up and AI enemies can partake in it as well. I don't miss the weapon degradation at all since the changes to the weapons make them each feel like they have a specific use. Also appreciating them taking a step back from the sheer openness of the class changing of Awakening, it ends up making each unit feel just a bit more unique.

Unfortunately as much as I enjoy the characters and their supports, the story is, as was said, rather bland so far. I'm only about half way through but it feels like it's not really going anywhere and the character's done really seem to suit what's going on at all. Corrin is simply too idealistic to get behind, and Garon is just too blatantly psychotic to be believable. You have an absurd contrast between a warmongering father and a son/daughter who somehow manages to lead an army against people who see them as savage murderers without ever killing a single person. In a game about magical knights and samurai with the literal blood of divine dragons inside them, the most absurdly fantastical thing about the story is how Corrin commands an entire army into non-lethal combat. Especially when her siblings and all their retainers are all experienced and enthusiastic combatants, even to the point where Corrin him/herself notes how eager her sibling's retainers are to spill blood.
The previous games got by with pretty idealistic lords that were merciful, yet still killed foes, as was reasonable in a series about medieval fantasy armies clashing. I don't understand why they felt the need to hammer me with this 'the good guys do not kill' moral. Maybe it'll change later in the story.

Aside from complaints about the story though. I am enjoying the game immensely, and I am looking forward to trying Birthright next.

 

[ThatOtherGirl]

How long until you take and ruin X-com, Japan? How long until Total War is more about romancing Attilla-kun then it is about leading thousands of soldiers in combat? Enough is enough.

I absoluetly hate romance and love story in any video game.

Why do you hate it? When done right, romance adds a lot to the characters and story. Love/sex is part of the human experience, after all.

That said, it's rare for a video game to handle it well.

because i want my games to be badass and manly and not romanticize.

Well, to each their own I guess.

Personally I want all of my games to have the main character be a magical girl in a pretty dress but that's probably just me.

Although I don't think anyone can deny that it would drastically improve Call of Duty.


And thanks for the comparison vid, powerneed. Glad someone put up a better version comparing and contrasting. I really have no idea wtf they've done with it there.

Yeah, that is clearly a case of forgetting to replace placeholder dialog. Not acceptable, I hope Nintendo patches it.

As someone pointed out to me though, when I suggested that myself...if it was placeholder and 'intended to be filled' then why is there more than one dialogue box for each character and yet the number of boxes doesn't line up with the number of boxes in the original?

That could be a function of how the data is stored, tested, and the default placeholder. I would not expect placeholder dialog to match up with actual dialog if the dialog is stored at a conversation level instead of at the level of individual dialog boxes, and having worked on dialog systems before I cannot imagine that it is stored at the level of dialog boxes. It is far easier to store conversations.

Consider how each of these scenes work: a conversation between two individuals following a simple script. Perhaps what is passed is the actors involved (actor 1 and actor 2) and then a script. The basic place holder, probably created for simple testing, includes what I would call a minimum but robust exchange - passing the conversation back and forth twice. Easy to create, it can be very quickly skipped for quick testing, it can be applied to any and every support conversation, and it also represents a script of sufficient complexity to actually demonstrate with some certainty that the code is free of major bugs.

And also why "..."? That's actually used as a dialogue feature frequently to express a character falling silent. Normally you'd expect unregistered character boxes or something. Or even a translation note of <Dialogue #173 here> or something.

A few possibilities. First, as I explained above, it is highly unlikely that the dialog is stored how you are thinking. More likely is that when a conversation needs to happen the game is told what script to use, and what is happening is that it is redirecting to the default script because someone forgot to switch out the number. The problem, essentially, might be that someone forgot to tell the game "Dialogue #173 here" and accidentally left it as "Dialogue #0 here". The game therefore plays dialog 0, not dialog 173. It is likely that during development every support conversation initially directed to this default dialog.

Second, non catastrophic fallback behavior is a common design principle. The worst outcome is a crashed game, and that is unacceptable. So when a crash could happen often games try to catch the error and redirect to non catastrophic behavior, usually some minimally intrusive behavior like an empty room or a blank dialog box. What could be happening here is some catastrophic failure occurring, getting caught, and being handled.

One suggestion I've seen is that this was supposed to be a gimmicky joke (put in at the expense of character development in the original) that's fallen flat, because from what I hear both of these characters are supposed to be relatively quiet types.

Have to wait and see how Nintendo responds I guess to find out what the truth is. If they don't change it then just... *facepalm*

It is possible it is just a really bad joke, but I really don't think so. Nintendo should fix it whatever the case, because if it is a joke then that is just embarrassing. I would rather pretend I just messed up a tiny bit somewhere than admit I actually tried to make a joke that fell that flat.

 

[StormShaun]

because i want my games to be badass and manly and not romanticize.

You must be really turned on by such things as Gears of War, and the new Doom.

It's weird how you guys get FE late but we get Bravely Second late. Nintendo's weird.

I think the US didn't get Bravely Default until a full year after it was available in Europe.

Europe and Australia don't even have a release date.
It's quite bullshit.

Sure, we get Bravely Second first, and while I don't really care about it, the US has been assigned a release date for the game.

It's... JUST, why the hell don't we even get a release date?!
At this rate, we'll need to call it a release... ... [HEADING=1]FATE[/HEADING]

 

[cleric of the order]

+It's actually fun to fucking play.
Awakening was boring, and the moment you got a couple good, married pairs you could play through the game on hard.
Not sure if it's the same thing but now positioning matters, enemies can actually change the flow of the battlefield.
With that out of hte way I dedicate the rest of this post to shit posting
+like the castle system
+I'm a dragon
+you can play space dandy, the dragon
+Nohr
+Nohr uses zombies like a smart empire
+best family members (nohr)
+Garon
++Garon
+++Garon
+Garon did nothing wrong, kill the prisoners, war with hoeshito now
-hoeshito
-weebs
-cannot convince the the hoeshito chars to join our cause, despite us wanting to benevolently end the war some how and literally wielding the sword of peace
-Takumi

Spoiler: perhaps the worst part of FE fates

 

[ThatOtherGirl]

+It's actually fun to fucking play.
Awakening was boring, and the moment you got a couple good, married pairs you could play through the game on hard.
Not sure if it's the same thing but now positioning matters, enemies can actually change the flow of the battlefield.
With that out of hte way I dedicate the rest of this post to shit posting
+like the castle system
+I'm a dragon
+you can play space dandy, the dragon
+Nohr
+Nohr uses zombies like a smart empire
+best family members (nohr)
+Garon
++Garon
+++Garon
+Garon did nothing wrong, kill the prisoners, war with hoeshito now
-hoeshito
-weebs
-cannot convince the the hoeshito chars to join our cause, despite us wanting to benevolently end the war some how and literally wielding the sword of peace
-Takumi

Spoiler: perhaps the worst part of FE fates

Totally! Garon is just a loving father who, in his overzealous love for his adopted child, mad a few minor judgement errors. I mean, who among us can say they haven't

Spoiler

involved our unwitting children in a suicide bomber plot with the aim of assassinating the leader of a foreign nation.

I mean, it just happens time to time, no need to over react!

 

[B-Cell_v1legacy]

because i want my games to be badass and manly and not romanticize.

You must be really turned on by such things as Gears of War, and the new Doom.

my friend, I hate gears of war and its just cover based shallow console shooter. so dont compare it to old school fast paced classic like Doom.

 

[SlumlordThanatos]

I started playing a game with my roommates.

I would show them a character from Birthright, and ask "Boy or Girl?"

It was pretty sad how frequently they got it wrong.

 

[Hawki]

because i want my games to be badass and manly and not romanticize.

You must be really turned on by such things as Gears of War, and the new Doom.

my friend, I hate gears of war and its just cover based shallow console shooter. so dont compare it to old school fast paced classic like Doom.

You go on about GoW being "shallow," yet saying "i want my games to be badass and manly" is easily the most shallow comment on this thread (and also one of the most gramatically incorrect - it's "I").

And even though they're separate genres, I'd put GoW above Doom in a heartbeat.