| QUOTE (Blazer @ Feb 7 2013, 09:58 AM) |
rofl I am a huge Tales fan but I can't take you all that seriously when you start repping Tales games so hard, not to mention this game has some of the best character development in any game ever, taking into fact that there are a ton of characters sure a cast of 4-8 characters is going to have better individual development but then go play another game, don't play FE and expect it to play like a different game, take it for what it is instead of trying to make it fit your own values and ideals >>' |
That's a lot of assertion with not much backing. I could simply just say that this game doesn't have the best game development and based on those two statements alone, we're at an impasse. Examples, my friend. This may be something that I'll have to grow into as I haven't beat it, but again, my posts have been from my current viewpoint of ~13 chapters in.
Again, my opinion is subject to change as I progress, but I haven't seen anything about most characters that take them above the "well, let's look at their stats" yet (exceptions list is about 2 or 3 characters long so far, but little is revealed about the spoilered sections within the game as of yet). Chrom is a cardboard cutout "Mr. Hero". He's pretty close to what I define as a male player avatar, had the male avatar not existed. Like male leads from anime (in particular harem anime, but that's another topic because that's a massive sided post and I'm trying to get this done between two lectures), he's pretty plainly written as someone you can connect to, someone who you could easily fit inside. Let's put this out there: What is Chrom's character standout? When you compare him to other characters in other games, what makes him interesting? Eliwood's was the rare use of a male character being the team "heart", the guy who is the peacemaker on the team between Lyn and Hector's conflicting ids, as well as his impossibly high "niceness". The guy who stands up to the man who got his father killed, killed a bunch of his men, and possibly caused him to kill his own girlfriend/wife, and say that he pities him. When I think of Chrom...all I can recall is that he's the guy with the broken stats. His biggest moment so far has been...what, being upset in a situation where you expect anybody to be upset. Nothing about his personality stands out yet.
As per the Tales comment, fair enough. It's easier to develop a deep personality for 14-20 characters than it is for 40+. That's why I say that I expect support characters and secondary antagonists/protagonists to have little to no personality. Actually, I'm quite impressed they tried to go with such extensive support lists and I really hope that by going with every possible combination that I can withdraw my comment and say that it may make up for some other issues that I have spotted early.
As per the "repping" - nah. I fully realize they're different game and have different writing staff. That's just it. I don't expect a game which intrinsically needs a better story to be on similar levels for writers with a game what's popular because it's a TBS. In the same way, I don't expect the Zero Escape franchise or Alan Wake to compare to a game like X-COM because one is strictly focused on making a good story and universe while the other is focused on the gameplay.
Tales plays a fairly safe pattern and doesn't work on their combat engine much, spending money writing new worlds now, while Fire Emblem spends its time trying to get a better combat system going and make the player feel like he's actually leading an army.
Maybe it's because the garbage console games don't go out of Japan (with Symphonia, Vesperia, and Graces being the ones I've played...I realize this isn't an extensive list of the Tales games, but it's what I've played), but I've seen a different level of writing on the protagonists and antagonists, even in comparison to FE games that solely focus on the hero. Moral questioning and details past a flat story are quite engaging in the others, while FE excels at making a game engine that works.
I'm certainly not making a game fit my ideals. I for sure enjoy the game, and consider it the 2nd best FE game at this point, behind 7 (which 7 is on my Top 10 games list). I would probably be just as critical of my favourite games (9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors) and say that it's not a game for everyone: Someone who wants high action or something that you can play with your brain shut down will not get what they want. On the flip side, it has amazing atmosphere, some of the most amazing characters, and extremely memorable storyline and plot twists to lead up to one hell of a story climax. Additionally, if someone asked whether or not Serial Experiments Lain (My #1 favourite show) gets "fun" at any point or if Community (#1 Live Action show) ever starts going to slapstick comedy, I'd say no and if that's a deal breaker, cut your losses.
For this game, my question and views are not something that are designed as an attack on the game, but to view it with a critical eye, as I think that this is the weakest point, given how little most people can define Chrom. Heck, the collective mind on TVtropes basically is limited to claims about his appearance, and "badass".
