And now, an FE4 post...
May. 9th, 2012 05:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mark_asphodelWithout spoilers for New Canon and such.
Is it wrong that I hear all Leaf's lines in FE4 as though spoken in the voice that Brad Swaile used for Quatre in the Gundam Wing dub? I don't really have a clear voice in my head for most of the characters, but that voice for Leaf comes across clearly to me.
Been trying to write some Second Gen 'fic, essentially on a dare, dealing with an offbeat take on the Tirnanogue kiddie army. I've been skimming the script, glancing at the Light Inheritor manga, and going through horribly translated J!fen 'fics to try and get a grip on these kids. There's not a lot that's useful, though... the interchangeable nature of many second-gen lines is part of it. Levin's son apparently has the same final dialogue with his father at the end of the game, no matter who he is. Said son's girlfriend, if she follows him to Silesia, also has the same dialogue regardless. You don't even get the tenuous distinctions that mark, say, Leaf's final dialogue with his potential girlfriend (Nanna/Lana, Fee/Leen, and Lakche all have slightly individualized conversations with him... and apparently Tinny gets nuttin' despite their dialogue earlier).
The boys generally come off the worst, IMO. The girls have enough of an association with their pre-programmed mothers that you can carry over a sense of personality from, say, Adean to Lana or Ayra to Lakche. But the boys aren't small copies of their mothers, and since their fathers can be just about anyone, there's not even that to use as a platform. And if they're not well-characterized individually, and not knockoffs of First Gen guys... well, there's not much of anything, is there? To get a sense of, say, Lester, I end up using things like a cross-comparison of his battle dialogue with Scorpius to Faval's battle dialogue with Scorpius, to see how Lester speaks compared with Faval (or anyone). That's reading a lot into the difference between "That's my line!" (F) and "I believe that's my line" (L).
Boys also get shafted in that their fathers generally don't want to speak with them, which closes a potential window on characterization. Levin has surprisingly touching scenes with Tinny and Leen, and I've never seen an equivalent for Arthur or Corple. He will have a confrontation with Sety, though-- which Sety initiates. And Finn can't be bothered to give Delmud/Lester/Skasaher the time of day. Corple does get some nice paternal bonding with Hannibal, unless that sort of thing skeeves you out.
Did they really have to set Hannibal up as a fiftysomething male virgin who just happens to kindly adopt an adolescent orphan boy? Maybe times have changed, but people generally don't go "D'aaaaw" at this scenario.
Ahem. Without taking FE5 into account (re: Leaf, Nanna, Sety, Altenna, Corple), here's how the kids stack up at present. I'm not ranking Celice because he's the lead character and gets waaaaaay more dialogue than anyone else.
Vividly characterized (their dialogue really shouldn't be mistaken for any other character):
Fee-- whether you like her or not, she's pretty memorable.
Leaf-- it's not quite the same characterization as in his own game, but I think there's a reason my brain has supplied a "voice" for his lines.
Patty- I don't even like thieves and she brings a smile to my face. Especially when Celice warns her about no more stealing at the end of the game.
Altenna-- both and an enemy and an ally
Sety-- though the Levin conversations really make him in FE4.
Faval-- "Of course, I floored the guy for saying that." Points off for having one convo that can almost be switched out, word for word, for Skasaher.
So-so characterization with one or two stand-out scenes:
Aless-- I want to like him more than I do.
Nanna (her best scenes are with Aless, IMO)
Johalva (his stated concern for the people sets him apart from his brother, IMO)
Corple (his dialogue with Altenna is sooooo sweet)
Arthur-- has his moments, like the fantasies about crushing the skulls of his relatives.
Characterized by one salient trait that can quickly lead to caricature:
Tinny-- moeblob.
Lakche/Luchtaine/I Hate Men (I do like her scenes with Celice)
Johan, aka Mr. Romantic
Leen
Yuria
Vague characterization:
Lester
Skasaher/Scathach/Scrabblebits
Delmud
Oh, look who's down in the toilet-- the Three Brothers. They are defined mostly in contrast to other characters (Lester when compared directly to his cousin Faval, Skasaher compared with his hot-headed twin, Delmud compared with his far more interestinghalf-brother fellow Forrest Knight Fergus... oh, wait, I wasn't bringing FE5 into this). Delmud (based on both his appearances) appears to be the super-mellow pothead of the group, only momentarily fazed by the idea that his mother is probably dead and able to take in stride the loss of his sister if Nanna dies in FE5. Skasaher is the comparatively timid and skittery one, and Lester's just... normal, really. He does have a sense of humor that surfaces in his conversation with Patty, but it's not that appealing.
I honestly prefer the substitute kiddies in many cases. I like Mana, and Tristan and Roddlevan have a great little scene together.
Is it wrong that I hear all Leaf's lines in FE4 as though spoken in the voice that Brad Swaile used for Quatre in the Gundam Wing dub? I don't really have a clear voice in my head for most of the characters, but that voice for Leaf comes across clearly to me.
Been trying to write some Second Gen 'fic, essentially on a dare, dealing with an offbeat take on the Tirnanogue kiddie army. I've been skimming the script, glancing at the Light Inheritor manga, and going through horribly translated J!fen 'fics to try and get a grip on these kids. There's not a lot that's useful, though... the interchangeable nature of many second-gen lines is part of it. Levin's son apparently has the same final dialogue with his father at the end of the game, no matter who he is. Said son's girlfriend, if she follows him to Silesia, also has the same dialogue regardless. You don't even get the tenuous distinctions that mark, say, Leaf's final dialogue with his potential girlfriend (Nanna/Lana, Fee/Leen, and Lakche all have slightly individualized conversations with him... and apparently Tinny gets nuttin' despite their dialogue earlier).
The boys generally come off the worst, IMO. The girls have enough of an association with their pre-programmed mothers that you can carry over a sense of personality from, say, Adean to Lana or Ayra to Lakche. But the boys aren't small copies of their mothers, and since their fathers can be just about anyone, there's not even that to use as a platform. And if they're not well-characterized individually, and not knockoffs of First Gen guys... well, there's not much of anything, is there? To get a sense of, say, Lester, I end up using things like a cross-comparison of his battle dialogue with Scorpius to Faval's battle dialogue with Scorpius, to see how Lester speaks compared with Faval (or anyone). That's reading a lot into the difference between "That's my line!" (F) and "I believe that's my line" (L).
Boys also get shafted in that their fathers generally don't want to speak with them, which closes a potential window on characterization. Levin has surprisingly touching scenes with Tinny and Leen, and I've never seen an equivalent for Arthur or Corple. He will have a confrontation with Sety, though-- which Sety initiates. And Finn can't be bothered to give Delmud/Lester/Skasaher the time of day. Corple does get some nice paternal bonding with Hannibal, unless that sort of thing skeeves you out.
Ahem. Without taking FE5 into account (re: Leaf, Nanna, Sety, Altenna, Corple), here's how the kids stack up at present. I'm not ranking Celice because he's the lead character and gets waaaaaay more dialogue than anyone else.
Vividly characterized (their dialogue really shouldn't be mistaken for any other character):
Fee-- whether you like her or not, she's pretty memorable.
Leaf-- it's not quite the same characterization as in his own game, but I think there's a reason my brain has supplied a "voice" for his lines.
Patty- I don't even like thieves and she brings a smile to my face. Especially when Celice warns her about no more stealing at the end of the game.
Altenna-- both and an enemy and an ally
Sety-- though the Levin conversations really make him in FE4.
Faval-- "Of course, I floored the guy for saying that." Points off for having one convo that can almost be switched out, word for word, for Skasaher.
So-so characterization with one or two stand-out scenes:
Aless-- I want to like him more than I do.
Nanna (her best scenes are with Aless, IMO)
Johalva (his stated concern for the people sets him apart from his brother, IMO)
Corple (his dialogue with Altenna is sooooo sweet)
Arthur-- has his moments, like the fantasies about crushing the skulls of his relatives.
Characterized by one salient trait that can quickly lead to caricature:
Tinny-- moeblob.
Lakche/Luchtaine/I Hate Men (I do like her scenes with Celice)
Johan, aka Mr. Romantic
Leen
Yuria
Vague characterization:
Lester
Skasaher/Scathach/Scrabblebits
Delmud
Oh, look who's down in the toilet-- the Three Brothers. They are defined mostly in contrast to other characters (Lester when compared directly to his cousin Faval, Skasaher compared with his hot-headed twin, Delmud compared with his far more interesting
I honestly prefer the substitute kiddies in many cases. I like Mana, and Tristan and Roddlevan have a great little scene together.
