Jugdral Wibbles

[mark_asphodel]

 I'm attempting to fill one of the one-word prompts per day, preferably in order of request.  If you want to request anything, the post is here.

I didn't volunteer to write for Jugdral on this one, even though I cop to being one of the people who complains that there's not enough Jugdral 'fic out there.  I seem to have a mental block on writing anything for it, outside of making Leaf "the squishy one" in various mash-ups.  And I tell myself that it's because the game scripts are too involved to grasp without actually playing through them, that playing them will take up too much time, that if I really want to write Jugdral with the depth that kittykatloren  and sarajayechan  bring to it then I really ought to read the mangas... all of them.  And I tell myself that the people who love Jugdral really love it and I need to do it justice if I ever to take a stab at it.

Basically, I tell myself that the canon is too intimidating and I'm not ready for it.

I think I'm lying to myself.  It's because I don't like most of the characters.  I don't want to write them.

The situations that these characters are in, particularly with the generational themes playing out, made the characters initially seem awesome to me.  You don't have to manufacture darkness, or invent parental losses or sibling separation or any other plot points o'drama.  It's there.  The parent-child relationships have a built-in resonance that you have to kind of work at for most second-gen Elibe characters, IMO.  And the happy endings and the reunions and such are there, too, especially if you decide to run with some of the more cracked-out things that the designers came up with, like resurrecting Tiltyu after keeping her on ice for a while.  Great material.

I still don't like most of these characters.  I want to kick a lot of them, including Tiltyu.  And Sylvia.  And others, like Claude and Eltoshan, really... don't interest me on anything beyond an abstract level.  My single favorite first-gen character in FE4 is probably Levin, and I like him best as Tactician!Levin... who isn't really Levin.  But he's cool.  I think the Thracia/Lenster gang and the Silesians are the only characters I actually like.

Basically, if these characters weren't in such complex and "dramatic" situations, I think I'd like them even less than I do.  Like some of the FE7 characters I don't care for, it's the existence of a canonical destiny for them that gives them the apparent weight they have.  Out of context, they just don't do it for me.

Argue away, 'cause I want to like them and write for them.  I'm just... so not feeling the love for these people.

Comments

[amielleon]

Lack of instantly appreciable canonical depth is what keeps me from engaging fully with Jugdral. It has one amazing overarching plot -- well, more precisely, it has one damn awesome twist -- but I don't really care for its players, with the exception of Levin and Alvis, and maybe Altenna and/or Arion.

I've been meaning to do something with Alvis for awhile, but I haven't figured out what.

[sarajayechan.livejournal.com]

Eh, sometimes it happens. You wanna like something, but you just...can't really make it work. It was like that for me with A Song of Ice and Fire, I wanted to like it cause I'd heard nothing but good things about it, but...well, it was too hard to keep up and the characters didn't really move me as much as I thought, with the exception of Jon and Arya and Sansa in a few places.

Personally I've ended up liking all the FE4 playable characters (even Beowulf, who I wanted to slap for the longest time), both in and out of the context of FE4's canon.

You mentioned Eltoshan above...what are your thoughts on him remaining loyal to King Shagall even knowing the man's a prick? TVTropes actually listed him as lawful stupid for that one, so apparently a lot of people think he's an idiot.

[raphiael]

I have a similar problem with Jugdral, myself. I'm very character-oriented, I guess. If there isn't a character right away who I really like, I can't get invested at all.

I really did like Azel, and his situation with Alvis is fascinating. Actually I was talking with Sara Jaye about expanding a 1-sentence thing I did for them on the anon meme, just yesterday.

But. . . that was about it, for me. Everyone else was like, "meh", so it was hard for me to get into the vast world and story going on there.

[sailorvfan10.livejournal.com]

I've never really cared much for Jugdral myself, despite trying to like it. I could never get into the game and there's too much canon to go through and look at (scripts, manga volumes, etc.) and aside from a couple of characters, I really don't care about Jugdral.

Which sucks because I want to like it. :/ But I just don't see the love for these characters.

[shimizu-hitomi.livejournal.com]

Can't help much because despite my overall fondness of the cast, the characters I'm really interested in are pretty much the same characters you like. That said, I'm not very fond of the fan translation of FE4, or at least one of the earlier translations (there are so many versions floating around, I can't keep track) -- that one took a lot of liberties and did a SERIOUS disservice to a lot of characters. Sylvia especially. (There is one script particularly invested in making Sylvia come off as the bitchiest, flakiest character in the game for some reason, I swear.) I mean, despite the awkwardness of the FE3 translation, at least it made an effort to remain faithful to the text instead of making really bizarre "localization" choices. /rant rant rant

Despite everything, I do like the Elto/Cuan/Sigurd friendship though because that hits a lot of my friendship kinks (I just wish it had been elaborated on more in game). And Lachesis and all her weird relationships. And Brigid, but I'm influenced by FE5 in that regard. I think Ayra is cool, but she doesn't interest me much... Shanan actually does interest me (and I like his friendship with Oifaye as an adult), but he's one of the characters who needs to be approached from a very specific angle I suspect. Isaac is one of those kingdoms where there is so much unmined potential imo.

ANyway, I actually like FE5 more than I like FE4 because I think where FE4 is broad, FE5 is deeper and more intimate in some ways. A lot of the worldbuilding is expounded on in FE5 and it's pretty fascinating (to me). Not to mention Thracia is filled with some of my favorite character archetypes. :P

FE4's one biggest weakness imo is that the Sigurd/Deirdre relationship is a MAJOR foundation of the entire game.... but it is one hell of a weak foundation. And all the relationships/characters that spiral out from that base point end up kind of iffy as a result as well.

[samuraiter.livejournal.com]

FE4 is the most lauded game in the series, as far as the oldsters are concerned, but, every time I think about it, a little voice in the back of my head says, "What about all the underappreciated JRPGs you play that have been translated and released in the U.S.?" I've no doubt that I'd enjoy the heck out of it if I played it at length, but I just don't feel the drive, you know?