mark_asphodel (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mark_asphodel) wrote2013-02-19 07:12 pm
mark_asphodel) wrote2013-02-19 07:12 pm
Entry tags:
FE13: Characterization Impressions
Welp. Not getting any fanfiction urges out of this game, yet. We'll see how I feel when I digest the entire plot. Right now I think the plot is A-S-S, but we still have a few chapters to go.
In terms of characterization, I don't really know what to say about this game.
There is so much goddamned text-- as bad or likely worse than FE12-- to process, and so many jarring things in the support conversations that it's possible to have an impression formed and then overturned within the same battle prep menu.
[Also, the plot appears to hinge on people being stupid. And time travel. Neither of these tend to be good for characterization.]
One thing weird about this, to me, is that key character impressions are formed by watching the way they move in 3D and listening to their actual vocal inflections, and that's something that FE has never really excelled at... or even attempted much. Let's be blunt, the battle animations in FE9 are best turned OFF. But FE13 presents a different way of processing the characters than just reading text-boxes and forming impressions based on how well or poorly someone performs in battle (x-ref my fondness for Barst vs the entire Loser!Azel concept).
Frex... I like Virion. I fully expected to hate his damn guts, but I actually like him. Part of it is he's being a good unit for me. Part of it is that his supports do give him some shrewd intelligence to accompany the bluster and philandering. Part of it is... I don't know. Same with Inigo-- watching him fight and hearing his voice give him an appeal that transcends the actual text of his interactions. Same with Lon'qu; I've never gravitated to the myrmidon-types the way some fans do, but Lon'qu's performed nicely and I like his voice and so my overall impression is positive. Even Gaius wasn't intolerable in the chapters I used him, and his particular quirk irritates the hell out of me.
[I found Miriel intolerable pretty much from the get-go, just so you know. Read a few of her kid's supports and I don't care for him either, but maybe he'll have a nice voice and appealing mannerisms.]
So I don't know. I don't LOVE anybody-- I come closest to loving Lucina, I think, but almost every other character has little spiky problems that, like shards of glass, prevent me from embracing them 100%... and the more supports I unlock the more little moments of WTF I discover. I'm not compelled yet to explore anybody in-depth, and probably won't until I know how everyone stands in light of the time-paradox fuckery. It seems to me that the kids don't just come from the future, they seem to come from alternate futures from one another. Or maybe it's just Morgan who doesn't quite fit. IDK, little things in the Paralogues aren't adding up to a coherent whole. So there's no point in me getting all wrapped up in a Lucina/Inigo romance when, it's entirely possible that I'm rewriting things to erase the Lucina and Inigo presented onscreen right outta the timeline.
Basically, my main takeaway from this so far is that the original timeline (I agree with Ammie-- let's call it the alpha universe) was a mess of unfit or absent parents and their disturbed progeny. At this point I'm genuinely starting to resent that the "Future of Despair" type stuff is mostly relegated to DLC, because unless something truly amazing happens in the next few chapters, as a two-act generational drama, FE4 with its narrative flaws and script omissions beats the hell out of FE13.
In terms of characterization, I don't really know what to say about this game.
There is so much goddamned text-- as bad or likely worse than FE12-- to process, and so many jarring things in the support conversations that it's possible to have an impression formed and then overturned within the same battle prep menu.
[Also, the plot appears to hinge on people being stupid. And time travel. Neither of these tend to be good for characterization.]
One thing weird about this, to me, is that key character impressions are formed by watching the way they move in 3D and listening to their actual vocal inflections, and that's something that FE has never really excelled at... or even attempted much. Let's be blunt, the battle animations in FE9 are best turned OFF. But FE13 presents a different way of processing the characters than just reading text-boxes and forming impressions based on how well or poorly someone performs in battle (x-ref my fondness for Barst vs the entire Loser!Azel concept).
Frex... I like Virion. I fully expected to hate his damn guts, but I actually like him. Part of it is he's being a good unit for me. Part of it is that his supports do give him some shrewd intelligence to accompany the bluster and philandering. Part of it is... I don't know. Same with Inigo-- watching him fight and hearing his voice give him an appeal that transcends the actual text of his interactions. Same with Lon'qu; I've never gravitated to the myrmidon-types the way some fans do, but Lon'qu's performed nicely and I like his voice and so my overall impression is positive. Even Gaius wasn't intolerable in the chapters I used him, and his particular quirk irritates the hell out of me.
[I found Miriel intolerable pretty much from the get-go, just so you know. Read a few of her kid's supports and I don't care for him either, but maybe he'll have a nice voice and appealing mannerisms.]
So I don't know. I don't LOVE anybody-- I come closest to loving Lucina, I think, but almost every other character has little spiky problems that, like shards of glass, prevent me from embracing them 100%... and the more supports I unlock the more little moments of WTF I discover. I'm not compelled yet to explore anybody in-depth, and probably won't until I know how everyone stands in light of the time-paradox fuckery. It seems to me that the kids don't just come from the future, they seem to come from alternate futures from one another. Or maybe it's just Morgan who doesn't quite fit. IDK, little things in the Paralogues aren't adding up to a coherent whole. So there's no point in me getting all wrapped up in a Lucina/Inigo romance when, it's entirely possible that I'm rewriting things to erase the Lucina and Inigo presented onscreen right outta the timeline.
Basically, my main takeaway from this so far is that the original timeline (I agree with Ammie-- let's call it the alpha universe) was a mess of unfit or absent parents and their disturbed progeny. At this point I'm genuinely starting to resent that the "Future of Despair" type stuff is mostly relegated to DLC, because unless something truly amazing happens in the next few chapters, as a two-act generational drama, FE4 with its narrative flaws and script omissions beats the hell out of FE13.