FE4 and the Nerd Problem
Jun. 1st, 2012 05:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mark_asphodelI was engaged in a little offhand discussion about Lord intelligence here and I think it kind of clarified one of my main issues in warming up to the cast of FE4.
Where are the nerds? Where are the true bookish types, driven by a love of learning, powered by sheer curiosity? We have an abundance of mages, the usual "type" to fill this role, but overwhelmingly, the issues driving them are personal. Their problems, too, are deeply personal and rooted in family and bloodline. There's not really anyone who strikes me as an analogue to Pent or to Canas, or even to Lute the self-proclaimed prodigy, or to Knoll, or to Merric, Linde, or Ellerean. Or Ryuto, who got that essential "mage vibe" across despite coming from a more primitive era.
We have an "adorkable" mage in Azel, but he's not quite the same thing. With Azel-- as with Tiltyu and Levin, and with all the magical kidlets, so much of it all boils down to family. Maybe that's the problem. They're not like a class-conscious Ellerean striving to be top dog, or a Lute who defines herself by her encyclopedic mind. The FE4 gang were all born into their gifts. The bloodline chose them... or didn't choose them. There's no need to be a nerd when you're a conduit for god-power.
But man, if you gravitate towards magey-mages, the lack of a sympathetic nerd character hurts. Small wonder so many fans admire Alvis, who hits on more points of the intellectually gifted than any of the playable cast. FE4's Gen 1 mostly come across as anti-intellectual rough-housers by comparison... and well, I've already complained at length about Gen 2. There's Sety, I guess, but he's still mostly defined by his mission... and his rage against his father.
[FE5, OTOH, rectifies this by giving us Asvel, who is basically Merric II (now with even more subtext)... plus some others fitting the "type" that became expected]
Now, there are a few bright spots if you know where to look. The house intellectual for Gen 1 would be Father Claude, keeper of esoteric lore that he can't share with us because Tiltyu's a ninny. Sylvia's son Corple is a thoughtful, serious boy who takes his role seriously... and has almost no screen time and no1 leik him anyway. And of course we have our two tacticians... Oifey the child prodigy (still the most boring tact ever, for my money) who grows into an astute and competent man, and the older version of Levin... who is cheating and hereby disqualified from this tier list. And there are a few more characters who, while not bookish in the Canas sense, at least have something going on upstairs, though it seems to be more intuitive skill (Jamka) or maybe just the ability to put words together into articulate sentences (Leaf) in a land where several characters sound like they hail from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures.
But I do think this was something I found unpleasant about FE4, and it wasn't until last night that I really got that clear in my own head. I like my nerd characters-- not to fetish level or anything, but I do-- and I'm not really finding them in FE4.
Where are the nerds? Where are the true bookish types, driven by a love of learning, powered by sheer curiosity? We have an abundance of mages, the usual "type" to fill this role, but overwhelmingly, the issues driving them are personal. Their problems, too, are deeply personal and rooted in family and bloodline. There's not really anyone who strikes me as an analogue to Pent or to Canas, or even to Lute the self-proclaimed prodigy, or to Knoll, or to Merric, Linde, or Ellerean. Or Ryuto, who got that essential "mage vibe" across despite coming from a more primitive era.
We have an "adorkable" mage in Azel, but he's not quite the same thing. With Azel-- as with Tiltyu and Levin, and with all the magical kidlets, so much of it all boils down to family. Maybe that's the problem. They're not like a class-conscious Ellerean striving to be top dog, or a Lute who defines herself by her encyclopedic mind. The FE4 gang were all born into their gifts. The bloodline chose them... or didn't choose them. There's no need to be a nerd when you're a conduit for god-power.
But man, if you gravitate towards magey-mages, the lack of a sympathetic nerd character hurts. Small wonder so many fans admire Alvis, who hits on more points of the intellectually gifted than any of the playable cast. FE4's Gen 1 mostly come across as anti-intellectual rough-housers by comparison... and well, I've already complained at length about Gen 2. There's Sety, I guess, but he's still mostly defined by his mission... and his rage against his father.
[FE5, OTOH, rectifies this by giving us Asvel, who is basically Merric II (now with even more subtext)... plus some others fitting the "type" that became expected]
Now, there are a few bright spots if you know where to look. The house intellectual for Gen 1 would be Father Claude, keeper of esoteric lore that he can't share with us because Tiltyu's a ninny. Sylvia's son Corple is a thoughtful, serious boy who takes his role seriously... and has almost no screen time and no1 leik him anyway. And of course we have our two tacticians... Oifey the child prodigy (still the most boring tact ever, for my money) who grows into an astute and competent man, and the older version of Levin... who is cheating and hereby disqualified from this tier list. And there are a few more characters who, while not bookish in the Canas sense, at least have something going on upstairs, though it seems to be more intuitive skill (Jamka) or maybe just the ability to put words together into articulate sentences (Leaf) in a land where several characters sound like they hail from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures.
But I do think this was something I found unpleasant about FE4, and it wasn't until last night that I really got that clear in my own head. I like my nerd characters-- not to fetish level or anything, but I do-- and I'm not really finding them in FE4.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 10:21 pm (UTC)Coming to think of it, Tellius is light on the book-nerdry, but it is still full of curious, passionate people with interests outside of those purely personal. (Tormod, Nasir, Almedha, Edward, Oscar -- off the top of my head.) I mean, Jugdral doesn't even have a chefdork.
Forget the books -- you have a serious lack in even love of swordsmanship or something. (Holyn seems like the only one super-enthused about swordsmanship beyond using it for survival.) Where's the passion that isn't purely plot-driven, man?
no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 10:47 pm (UTC)Word.
There's basically no one else. Every single character's passions are otherwise some specific blend of the personal/geopolitical, with the latter usually being driven by the former. I don't need to find out that Altenna has a doll collection or that Lester collects musical instruments, as I don't think that's really characterization either, but dammit, we don't even have that.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 11:18 pm (UTC)"Well, I guess they uh. . . get married and. . . stuff?"
You could imagine interests, make stretches, all that, sure. But there's just not enough to work with on that front to really grab me.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 11:33 pm (UTC)"Well, I guess they uh. . . get married and. . . stuff?"
Well, here's the other thing. Unless you're using the sub kids or some truly weird pairings, nearly every single Gen 2 character is of exalted status and is likely to inherit or marry a big chunk of land. All the riff-raff got exterminated with Gen 1; the only two "normals" left are Hannibal and Finn... neither of whom have anything resembling a personal life. So I don't think there ARE any FE4 characters who kick back and settle down for a life of pleasant mediocrity, or decide to ditch a respectable career and go be a pirate, or go off on freelance adventures, or "vanish like the wind" in time-hallowed FE style.
Except Levin. And he's cheating.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 11:40 pm (UTC)The ones I do are either dead or, well, cheating. :P
no subject
Date: 2012-06-02 12:12 am (UTC)I think this is a big part of why I prefer contemplating FE5 (though the more I see of that game the more I think it was designed to troll the player). It has all the little unexpected bits of characterization, like Karin going back to Silesia to be nothing special, or Eyrios trying to be a nobleman and failing so miserably he's sent to the boonies. Or Olwen marrying Fred to spite the memory of her brother. Yeah, you get those bits in the ending, but the same goes for Shadow Dragon and many of those endings were sufficient to charm me (Barst, Beck, Norne).
Plus it takes Briggid and gives her a new persona I like loads better than her original one, and scrubs out the straight-arrow dutiful trajectory of Finn's life in favor of this bizarre question mark that just hangs there, unanswered.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-02 11:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-03 03:48 am (UTC)I agree with the sentiment, in this case. Hell, the actual crusaders made a mess of things in their own lifetimes (Dain, Noba, looking at you two).