Damned Archetypes
Oct. 7th, 2009 09:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mark_asphodel So, I'm browsing through a treasure-trove of Japanese FE fanarts here, and I'm plowing happily through the FE8 section for a Seima fix when I stumble across this picture of a blue-haired Peg Knight and this blond dude with scars on his face. And then it hits me.
Damn you, FE8. I've been ripping on you all week for being FE3-in-a-blender, but tempering that criticism with comments about how much I love your characters. And then it becomes apparent that the wonderfully sympathetic Cormag is, on some spiritual level, the second (or third, or fourth) coming of Ogma. And here I thought those archetypical boots were filled by Gerik.
See, I was looking over the FE3 script again for research (there's a lot in book 2 I'd just plain forgotten about, like how very much Xane despises humans), and reading about the five sacred ancient "jewels" that seal away the evils of the world got under my skin, not because I'd forgotten about that (it's the premise of a WIP crossover), but because of how... transparent... the FE8 rehash job is.
Friend of Protagonist suffers Terrible Loss and is seduced by a Dark Thingy that corrupts his mind and soul and leads him to launch Surprise Attack on the Beloved Homeland of the Protagonist leading to Exile and Continent-Spanning War and Cool New Friends and eventually the Corrupted Friend dies on the Blade of the Protagonist for yay, that is his only path to Redemption. And then everyone kicks the ass of the Pure Evil that lurks beneath the entire mess. And, oh yeah, Little Dragon Girl!
The main difference is that the Protagonist of FE8 has a bunch of peers as opposed to just minions and it seems like half the characters are getting laid. I think I can count the number of FE3 characters who are getting laid on the fingers of one hand. FE8 also has Lute, L'Arachel, and Innes/Vanessa in its favor.
[But wait, you say-- FE8 has two Protagonists. Surely that counts in the favor of FE8 when it comes to originality? No, friends, it does not. The Twins of Renais both show a clear line of descent back to a single source. So what if Eirika got the "OMG war is horrible and why would my dear friend DO this?" grief and Ephraim got the power trappings of the Peg Knight girlfriend and the Dragon Girl sidekick? Friends, it is not enough.]
Don't think I'm bashing FE8. As I said, I love the characters. I feel like mounting an Ephraim Defense League because the poor guy doesn't get enough credit or appreciation from the fandom. That doesn't mean I can't acknowledge that FE8 is large-scale rape of FE3, with more sex and humor (and the sword-wielding Protagonist really is a girl in a dress this time). And, it seems to me, without the same level of thought put into the backstory. But support conversations make everything automatically better, right?
But there are monsters and a World Map! That's original, you say. Dude, those came straight outta FE2. You can't win on this one, trust me.
[This is not bashing. You want bashing, and I can start on FE7, wherein half the characters annoy the hell out of me. Also, I hate Navarres. The first Navarre was OK, but as a class these brooding angsty loners who "disappear like the wind" bore me to tears. The love lives of Thieves also bore me to tears-- I'm looking at you, Julian-Colm-and-Matthew.]
Oh, yeah. Those interested, please to be looking through the entire fanarts archive, because you will find good stuff. The artist does appear to be a Cain/Catria fan, and Mark of the Asphodel is NOT down with the Cain/Catria. The artist gets bonus points for having what appears to be an icon of FE4's Finn at the bottom of her page, though, which redeems things. Because Finn is every bit as cute as Marth except without the mandate of heaven allowing the world to revolve around him and stuff.
Damn you, FE8. I've been ripping on you all week for being FE3-in-a-blender, but tempering that criticism with comments about how much I love your characters. And then it becomes apparent that the wonderfully sympathetic Cormag is, on some spiritual level, the second (or third, or fourth) coming of Ogma. And here I thought those archetypical boots were filled by Gerik.
See, I was looking over the FE3 script again for research (there's a lot in book 2 I'd just plain forgotten about, like how very much Xane despises humans), and reading about the five sacred ancient "jewels" that seal away the evils of the world got under my skin, not because I'd forgotten about that (it's the premise of a WIP crossover), but because of how... transparent... the FE8 rehash job is.
Friend of Protagonist suffers Terrible Loss and is seduced by a Dark Thingy that corrupts his mind and soul and leads him to launch Surprise Attack on the Beloved Homeland of the Protagonist leading to Exile and Continent-Spanning War and Cool New Friends and eventually the Corrupted Friend dies on the Blade of the Protagonist for yay, that is his only path to Redemption. And then everyone kicks the ass of the Pure Evil that lurks beneath the entire mess. And, oh yeah, Little Dragon Girl!
The main difference is that the Protagonist of FE8 has a bunch of peers as opposed to just minions and it seems like half the characters are getting laid. I think I can count the number of FE3 characters who are getting laid on the fingers of one hand. FE8 also has Lute, L'Arachel, and Innes/Vanessa in its favor.
[But wait, you say-- FE8 has two Protagonists. Surely that counts in the favor of FE8 when it comes to originality? No, friends, it does not. The Twins of Renais both show a clear line of descent back to a single source. So what if Eirika got the "OMG war is horrible and why would my dear friend DO this?" grief and Ephraim got the power trappings of the Peg Knight girlfriend and the Dragon Girl sidekick? Friends, it is not enough.]
Don't think I'm bashing FE8. As I said, I love the characters. I feel like mounting an Ephraim Defense League because the poor guy doesn't get enough credit or appreciation from the fandom. That doesn't mean I can't acknowledge that FE8 is large-scale rape of FE3, with more sex and humor (and the sword-wielding Protagonist really is a girl in a dress this time). And, it seems to me, without the same level of thought put into the backstory. But support conversations make everything automatically better, right?
But there are monsters and a World Map! That's original, you say. Dude, those came straight outta FE2. You can't win on this one, trust me.
[This is not bashing. You want bashing, and I can start on FE7, wherein half the characters annoy the hell out of me. Also, I hate Navarres. The first Navarre was OK, but as a class these brooding angsty loners who "disappear like the wind" bore me to tears. The love lives of Thieves also bore me to tears-- I'm looking at you, Julian-Colm-and-Matthew.]
Oh, yeah. Those interested, please to be looking through the entire fanarts archive, because you will find good stuff. The artist does appear to be a Cain/Catria fan, and Mark of the Asphodel is NOT down with the Cain/Catria. The artist gets bonus points for having what appears to be an icon of FE4's Finn at the bottom of her page, though, which redeems things. Because Finn is every bit as cute as Marth except without the mandate of heaven allowing the world to revolve around him and stuff.
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Date: 2009-10-11 12:43 pm (UTC)[Her instincts for that challenge were spot-on. That was the most satisfying parade of FE100 images I've seen to date.]
I didn't realize that latter-day FE games had negative/hateful supports until this week, when someone pointed out to me that Matthew can support with Jaffar (wtf?), so I guess in that light, Innes/Ephraim is a terrible omission. Up to now I wasn't bothered by it, because I couldn't imagine how being in proximity would emotionally benefit either of them. I kind of like the apparent original conception of supports wherein the sibling, lover, BBF, or superior lends strength or inspiration, so having Innes giving anything to Ephraim other than negative vibes just seemed weird.
Re: Tear Ring Saga-- all I know about it is one vaguely trollish guy over at GameFaqs who whined about the number of character names it "stole" from FE games. The only one I can think of ATM being "Roger," which to me is a very standard heroic name with roots going back to Beowulf saga and all.
Re: Julian/Lena-- huh. I wonder what else came off odd in the current translation. Mind you, I still am not bowled over by them conceptually, but if she's not being a spoiled brat then it's already substantially better.
FE3: In which we are given a world of wise, strong, and powerful female characters, and then sit back and watch as they are systematically broken, humiliated, and scorned.