FE9's Little Secret
Sep. 21st, 2012 01:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mark_asphodelNo, it doesn't involve skanky herons.
I don't think I've seen this pointed out... though I sure understand why it hasn't come up anywhere! Originally I was going to reference it in my forthcoming Love & Marriage, Tellius-style post, regarding what's actually new and different in those games and what people just seem to assume is new and different. Out of concern for tl;dr I'm deploying it here.
I can see making a big deal over Ike because he's Not Royalty (though, as some of y'all on the f-list have pointed out, the son of one of Daein's Four Riders and the Medallion Lady is hardly an ordinary person) and that makes him a great ambassador to the American fanbase and so on. And I get that it's easy to condense The Stereotypical Fire Emblem Plot into "prince (with blue hair) from small nation gets ass kicked by large empire and has to regain country and save various family members/love interests with the aid of lots of new friends and a magic sword and oh yeah, dragons," and FE9 isn't that and that makes it different and exciting and it breaks the mold.
Except that the setup for FE9 is this:
We have this happy little posse led by a charismatic figure who gets taken out of commission and must be avenged, and that loss hangs over the remainder of the game. And instead of leadership of the troop passing to some other adult who theoretically knows what they're doing, the torch goes to the teenaged son of the troop leader (because this is Fire Emblem and that's how we roll). The loss of his beloved parent serves as a catalyst that propels the boy from obscurity to his role as hero in a greater conflict that threatens to Destroy the World, and our hero manages not just to get his posse back together, but he ends up leading a large army of disparate elements, in true Fire Emblem-style.And the main villain actually kind of sucks.
Nope. That didn't happen by accident, any more than Soren using wind magic is something that Just Happened. Is it the same story? Of course not-- any more than FE6 really is just FE1 again or FE8 is only a reworking of FE2. They're not. But it's almost funny to see what gets dredged up and repurposed.
Like this. Thanks, Ammie... what is seen cannot be unseen.
And based on the relative sales of the various games, apparently Japanese fans would much rather have blue-haired princes and dragons than this mercenary/militia troop shenanigans. :/
What's left to plunder and repurpose for FE14, I wonder? Are they going to re-work FE7 this time around?
I don't think I've seen this pointed out... though I sure understand why it hasn't come up anywhere! Originally I was going to reference it in my forthcoming Love & Marriage, Tellius-style post, regarding what's actually new and different in those games and what people just seem to assume is new and different. Out of concern for tl;dr I'm deploying it here.
I can see making a big deal over Ike because he's Not Royalty (though, as some of y'all on the f-list have pointed out, the son of one of Daein's Four Riders and the Medallion Lady is hardly an ordinary person) and that makes him a great ambassador to the American fanbase and so on. And I get that it's easy to condense The Stereotypical Fire Emblem Plot into "prince (with blue hair) from small nation gets ass kicked by large empire and has to regain country and save various family members/love interests with the aid of lots of new friends and a magic sword and oh yeah, dragons," and FE9 isn't that and that makes it different and exciting and it breaks the mold.
Except that the setup for FE9 is this:
We have this happy little posse led by a charismatic figure who gets taken out of commission and must be avenged, and that loss hangs over the remainder of the game. And instead of leadership of the troop passing to some other adult who theoretically knows what they're doing, the torch goes to the teenaged son of the troop leader (because this is Fire Emblem and that's how we roll). The loss of his beloved parent serves as a catalyst that propels the boy from obscurity to his role as hero in a greater conflict that threatens to Destroy the World, and our hero manages not just to get his posse back together, but he ends up leading a large army of disparate elements, in true Fire Emblem-style.
Nope. That didn't happen by accident, any more than Soren using wind magic is something that Just Happened. Is it the same story? Of course not-- any more than FE6 really is just FE1 again or FE8 is only a reworking of FE2. They're not. But it's almost funny to see what gets dredged up and repurposed.
Like this. Thanks, Ammie... what is seen cannot be unseen.
And based on the relative sales of the various games, apparently Japanese fans would much rather have blue-haired princes and dragons than this mercenary/militia troop shenanigans. :/
What's left to plunder and repurpose for FE14, I wonder? Are they going to re-work FE7 this time around?
Some little details lost in translation
Date: 2012-09-22 12:45 am (UTC)FE5 WAS NEVER A FAILURE EVEN BY NINTENDO STANDARDS FOR THE FRANCHISE(Low, every game is successful, is at least outsold the original at 200.000 units sold) but FE5 was a 'download game'(ie for a Retailer purchase option, something very japanese thing) for the SNES and was pretty popular(the #2 in sales, only behind the relaunch of Mother 2(Earthbound)), and was so good that was give the honor of being the final official game for the SNES ever released and sell pretty well(1999 when the PS1 was the king), and manage six number figure(100.000+), that is something Radiant Dawn barely manage to do even with the second golden age of FE (who that game killed it),
But something sure... FE Tellius saga as a whole was a fucking failure as a whole and jeopardize the FE position as a whole(the FE1 remake was pretty bland mostly because the game was practically self-funded by Intelligent System, at least they have fund for FE3 Remake even if not for localization) that was very bad since the failure of FEN64(note the Kaga departure was more his own incompetence with 3D and fighting again no more no less... Miyamoto-Sama and later Pres.Iwata because he refuse help from EAD)
Some details i've manage to catch with some 'friends' from the japanese fandom
Re: Some little details lost in translation
Date: 2012-09-22 02:24 am (UTC)Re: Some little details lost in translation
Date: 2012-09-22 02:52 am (UTC)You're not for some yaoi fanfics?
Re: Some little details lost in translation
Date: 2012-09-22 04:43 am (UTC)What's this about yaoi?
Re: Some little details lost in translation
Date: 2012-09-22 04:44 am (UTC)Re: Some little details lost in translation
Date: 2012-09-22 05:31 am (UTC)See, the sales figures I've seen for FE5 were closer to 75K, which even with the factors against it-- starting off as a download game, being the swan song for the SNES-- seemed disappointing. I'm happy to hear it did better than that, as it seemed like IS put a great deal of love into it, what with the Deluxe box set and all.
FE Tellius saga as a whole was a fucking failure as a whole and jeopardize the FE position as a whole
Now, this is certainly the impression I have (I really should've saved the news articles I found wherein Nintendo discussed their disappointment with the Radiant Dawn sales). Many, many, many US fans would not agree with me there, but I think that's the reasonable conclusion for the data. FE9 and FE10 put the franchise into a bind, and while FE11 wasn't the most ambitious game, it was enough of a money-spinner to fund future ventures. That's been my feeling on the matter for years.
note the Kaga departure was more his own incompetence with 3D and fighting again no more no less...
Hadn't heard that one.
Re: Some little details lost in translation
Date: 2012-09-22 07:26 pm (UTC)Yes FE1DS was simple working with shoe-string budget and only with some support from international refund(was OK in USA... Killed by Piracy and lack of interest in Europe.... the one who translate it first... ouch) but give enough money for FE3DS who thanks to the Mary su.. My Unit generate Interest for the franchise in japan
The thing with Kaga as mention before was some mention made for Miyamoto for Nintendo power and Club Nintendo in 1998 Spaceworld about future N64 games(when Mother 3 was strugling, Paper Mario was in beta and FEN64 was in Development Hell too) about unify support for some 'special' N64 game of Nintendo for the N64DD(who was cancelled at the END)
In general i loved the new path the franchise have take, i would have like the 'FE Persona' who was the 'concept' of FE13(ie in 'future' or modern times and the time travel was to marth time) but the new way was pretty good, Tooru Nahru was finally serious with the franchise again
Re: Some little details lost in translation
Date: 2012-09-23 04:13 pm (UTC)We'll have to just disagree on that one. I didn't like MyUnit in FE12 and really, really dislike the direction it's taken in FE13. It's just not what I'm into the series for. I think I'd prefer that "Fire Emblem on Mars" that we heard rumors about to another old-timey game with a self-insert character.
Re: Some little details lost in translation
Date: 2012-09-23 04:28 pm (UTC)The fire emblem on mars(the pun, of IS) was mostly doing a more futuristic aproach, for make the time travel to Akaenia, aka the old theory of multiple timeline(Nintendo have a lot for those one,XD)
and I like the MU concept, well implemented can give a new breath to the franchise i think was stagnant thanks to own IS fault(even with little International Support, IS have full creative control in Fire Emblem, nobody can ask to change their work, only suggest what to do, at the end they were of the Idea of the DLC, with Mixed result as always)
Re: Some little details lost in translation
Date: 2012-09-23 04:39 pm (UTC)I agree IS got stagnant, but the laguz business in Tellius was not a good way of changing things up, and the MyUnit business may be good at the cash register but simply repels me as a player. I'm with old Kaga on this one-- the player is not the hero. No thanks. I don't have delusions of being a legendary hero that need to be propped up by the pre-programmed chatter of my supporting cast, and that's what the MyUnit implementation feels like to me.
Re: Some little details lost in translation
Date: 2012-09-23 09:34 pm (UTC)The Laguz were pretty Interesting Concept and were given pro and cons in the original game... but were use as game breaker in the second, The MU... don't doubt the power of those, looks figure of Persona, Mass Effect and even Fucking Elder Scrols, the most slow game ever.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-22 02:23 am (UTC)Leaf may have led a more ragtag existence in his game, but his destiny as prince has led his entire life along. It's quite a different vibe from Ike's position, even after you consider what he's "inherited". Leaf's inheritance gains him his allies and enemies. Ike's really doesn't.
(Unrelatedly, I also think FE9 rolls with FE7's "dragons are people too!" vibe rather than the "dragons are gods!" thing. I suspect FE9 has a small devoted cult partly because it's easy to love FE9 after FE7. I'd say that of the games released here, those two are the most similar.)
no subject
Date: 2012-09-22 05:05 am (UTC)Not talking about Cuan. Talking about Evayle.
but his drive to do so was fed to him by someone else blabbing history at him all the time
Yes, and the connection to Cuan and Ethlin is often noxious to him, like when random villagers taunt him for not being able to use the Gae Bolg. But the quest to redeem Evayle is absolutely personal to Leaf.
Leaf's inheritance gains him his allies and enemies. Ike's really doesn't.
This is true. Leaf has got the whole FE-standard Prince of Lost County mess going on in addition to his personal beef with the dude who turned his mama-figure into a statue.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-22 05:09 am (UTC)I should really attempt to play Thracia again.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-22 05:11 am (UTC)But yes-- I was making a comparison between the Fiana Militia and everyone's favorite mercenary troop.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-23 03:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-23 04:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-24 04:15 am (UTC)Heck some japanese comment with humor that when Nintendo make his partnership with Camelot(Shining Force) they think that Camelot will make his version of Fire Emblem(and some rumors are now with Tecmo-Koei Making a Nintendo Musou with FE characthers as the Starts=