What Awakening's Story Did Right

[Alisa180]

All the salt around Fates and the accusations around 'Awakening pandering' is discouraging. Awakening was my first Fire Emblem game (as a side note, I've read the story script for Blazing Sword and Lyn is right up there with Lucina in terms of favorite FE characters so I'm not completely ignorant) and I LIKED the plot. Sure, it has its weak points, like the Valm arc could have been better. But it struck some very good notes.

For example:

-I've stated this on multiple occasions in many other places, but its worth repeating: If F!Robin doesn't marry Chrom, the two become one of the best examples of the opposing gender equivalent of bromance I've EVER seen. I like stories where a guy and a girl are close friends, and yet they aren't romantically involved. Sadly, such stories are painfully hard to find. Awakening's plot scratches that itch in a wonderful way with an unmarried F!Robin and Chrom. That's a not-insignificant part of why I like Awakening's story so much. Needless to say, I almost never pair F!Robin with Chrom. (And also because them not marrying allows me to have M!MorganxLucina, one of my favorite parings.)

-The children characters are generally very well written, with Lucina being one of my favorite characters. Besides Lucina, I'd have to say the Morgans are my favorite children characters. I've always had a soft spot for peppy, spacey types. Maybe 'cause I'm one myself.

-Grima is a wonderfully sardonic snarker, and F!Robin, from her unique supports, is apparently a playful troll (See: Her supports with Lon'qu and Yarne. I've called F!Robin a more mature and grounded version version of F!Morgan on several occasions for a good reason). Really, the characters in general are well-done, and I hardly find them 'cliches' as some like to say.

I'm going to think of more, but this is generally an 'optimism' thread. This isn't what Awakening did wrong. We hear plenty about that. This is about what Awakening's writing and story did *right.* What did you all like about Awakening's story?

[Sentacotus]

I'm kinda a black sheep on this subject as well. Was Awakening's story the best. Hell no. Was it entertaining and kept me interested until the end? Yeah. The best part about it really lies in the characters in my mind. Sure I'll admit I don't play a whole lot of JRPGs and hardley watch any anime at all so I'm fairly unfamiliar with the tropes but I found the characters unique quirks to be entertaining and cool to see each one had something different to bring to the table. Also I'am a sucker for time travel so the idea of a future totally destroyed and in trying to fix it actually causing it to happen somewhat appealed to me. The biggest thing that hurts Awakening's story is kinda how disjointed the arcs are with little world building in between and some would say the self insert avatar was too much a Mary Sue even though they were effectively Dragon Satan reborn.

Edited June 18, 2015 by LordTaco42

[fengaridotdll]

It would have been interesting if it wasn't so formulaic and predictable no wonder IGN praised it

[Magical Glace]

My comments are overall the same as Shezzy.

FE13's story's best aspect, imo, was the Future of Despair DLC. Heck, if that was expanded and shipped as its own game starring Lucina, I dare say I might have liked it if the maps were as good as the GBA series and FE10. But, sadly, that is not the case, and it's stuck as tacked on DLC.

I also, in general, liked the children, plus Henry, Nowi, and Ricken.

Aside from FoD, FE13's plot and characters were too black and white for their own good. The villains had practically no redemption or motivation, they were just there for the sake of having a villain.

[Alisa180]

My comments are overall the same as Shezzy.

FE13's story's best aspect, imo, was the Future of Despair DLC. Heck, if that was expanded and shipped as its own game starring Lucina, I dare say I might have liked it if the maps were as good as the GBA series and FE10. But, sadly, that is not the case, and it's stuck as tacked on DLC.

Aside from FoD, FE13's plot and characters were too black and white for their own good. The villains had practically no redemption or motivation, they were just there for the sake of having a villain.

I agree, Future of Despair was brilliant.

But what's so wrong with having black and white villains? The problem with deep stories is that they are often as difficult for the readers to digest as it is for a writer to create. A study done shows that, in the short-term, when given the choice between 'fun and forgettable' and 'memorable but harder to digest' people tend to chose the 'fun and forgettable' story first. Not to say Awakening's story is forgettable, but its up there. This, of course, implies 'trashier' work is inevitably more popular then 'highbrow' work.

And what's do wrong with that? As LordTaco42 said, Awakening's plot isn't the best, but it was *fun*, and keeps people hooked until the end. I've seen my fair share of hackneyed plots, and Awakening isn't one. Its engaging and has memorable enough characters to get the job done. I enjoyed it, like it, and I think there's no shame in that.

[Ambulz]

Awakening's plot, as far as Fire Emblem goes, is very simple and easy to get behind. There's nothing inherently wrong with this. In contrast, Radiant's Dawn's plot, which is my favorite, is rather complex and harder to follow. I can see why some frown upon it, but I love it. I can see why others frown on Awakening's story. I love it. It's just a different flavor to swallow, and some people, unfortunately, are allergic.

[Alisa180]

You're right, there is no shame in it.

It all comes down to opinions in the end.

I myself thought the story could have been passable, if they did some more with Future Pass, but hey, if you like it, and some of the characters quirks, who's to say what's wrong.

Another question-have you tried playing through other Fire Emblems noted for their stories? Try perhaps FE4 or FE9/10, their stories both get a lot of praise. Compare a little, you know.

No, but to be fair, I already have a 'Need to Play' list a mile long. I've played other JRPGs noted for their stories, like Final Fantasy 9, and I know FE:A plot isn't the best for plot or characters. But I enjoy it, and its characters are good enough. Really, though, 'best' is subjective. As a writer myself, if a story is enjoyable, then I consider it a good one, depth or not.

[eclipse]

What Awakening did right? Hmmm. . .

- Frederick was an amazing crutch unit, who had the utility necessary to become an endgame one (on stuff that didn't contain the word "Lunatic")

- Streetpass cut down on the randomness of certain items, so I didn't have to rely on a sparkly tile for Celica's Gale

- Free reclassing for legacy units! And some had unobtainable skills! Like Seliph~!

- The DLC had a TON of extra bits and pieces, even in stuff like Lost Bloodlines

- Several of the characters had actual personality, once you went support-diving

- Lunatic grinding. Or lack thereof without DLC.

[Nym]

I like Awakening too but the game is far for being perfect. The story was kinda... meh (I like the childrens too but they should have done a time skip instead of a ''gate to the past'').

But at least all the characters have all great personnalities.

Edited June 19, 2015 by Nym

[Magical Glace]

I agree, Future of Despair was brilliant.

But what's so wrong with having black and white villains? The problem with deep stories is that they are often as difficult for the readers to digest as it is for a writer to create. A study done shows that, in the short-term, when given the choice between 'fun and forgettable' and 'memorable but harder to digest' people tend to chose the 'fun and forgettable' story first. Not to say Awakening's story is forgettable, but its up there. This, of course, implies 'trashier' work is inevitably more popular then 'highbrow' work.

And what's do wrong with that? As LordTaco42 said, Awakening's plot isn't the best, but it was *fun*, and keeps people hooked until the end. I've seen my fair share of hackneyed plots, and Awakening isn't one. Its engaging and has memorable enough characters to get the job done. I enjoyed it, like it, and I think there's no shame in that.

Having black and white villains in a series known for having well done villains like Lyon or Arvis really hurt the game.

But like Shezzy said, it's a matter of opinion. Personally, I prefer the plots of 4, 7, and 10 simply because they are a bit more complicated than an average FE plot.

[BrightBow]

I agree, Future of Despair was brilliant.

But what's so wrong with having black and white villains? The problem with deep stories is that they are often as difficult for the readers to digest as it is for a writer to create. A study done shows that, in the short-term, when given the choice between 'fun and forgettable' and 'memorable but harder to digest' people tend to chose the 'fun and forgettable' story first. Not to say Awakening's story is forgettable, but its up there. This, of course, implies 'trashier' work is inevitably more popular then 'highbrow' work.

And what's do wrong with that? As LordTaco42 said, Awakening's plot isn't the best, but it was *fun*, and keeps people hooked until the end. I've seen my fair share of hackneyed plots, and Awakening isn't one. Its engaging and has memorable enough characters to get the job done. I enjoyed it, like it, and I think there's no shame in that.

I am most certainly not a person who can't enjoy stories which are "fun". "Doctor Wily has build 8 Robot Masters to conquer the world. Help Mega Man to defeat the 8 Robot Masters and put an end of the vicious plans of Doctor Wily, for great Justice." I'm cool with that.

Unfortunately Awakening is not a fun and exiting journey. If it's just going to be "fun", why give the Plegian people such a good motivation for desiring revenge, when you have no intention to play the entire nation as anything but a bunch of cartoonish villains? To the point were even the recruitables are just evil comic relief that do nothing to give those people some depth. Why keep repeating the point that Valm is ruled by greedy, self-serving nobles if you don't want to deal with the power vacuum left behind by Wallhart? Why have the heroes commit such ridiculous atrocities as killing thousands of people in what has to be one of the cruellest ways imaginable, burning to death surrounded by water far out on the open sea with absolutely zero chance of survival, if you are not interested to acknowledge the consequences?

Genocide motivated by racism, the grief and anger of a wounded nation, heroes who are forced by the merciless nature of war to burn hundredths of thousands of people to death... If a story touches heavy subjects like that, then it can't simply justify itself saying "We were not trying to tell a serious story here, it's just meant to be fun".

Edited June 19, 2015 by BrightBow

[eclipse]

Wow. . .I suck at reading topic titles. Ahem.

I think the first arc did a decent-enough job of setting up an external force that needed to be managed. Unfortunately, it takes an optional support to fully explain what was going on in Plegia, and why. Lastly, there was opportunity for Ylisse's history to be expanded on. . .and it was never touched again. WHAT was so bad about the previous Exalt?

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

Wow. . .I suck at reading topic titles. Ahem.

I think the first arc did a decent-enough job of setting up an external force that needed to be managed. Unfortunately, it takes an optional support to fully explain what was going on in Plegia, and why. Lastly, there was opportunity for Ylisse's history to be expanded on. . .and it was never touched again. WHAT was so bad about the previous Exalt?

my understanding is that he wanted to wipe out an entire group of people who worship an evil dragon god that'll destroy the world if he gets revived (which is something that nearly happens in the game due to these people not being wiped out)

...when i put it like that tho, it seems entirely justified.

Edited June 19, 2015 by HF Makalov Fanboy Kai

[BrightBow]

Wow. . .I suck at reading topic titles. Ahem.

I think the first arc did a decent-enough job of setting up an external force that needed to be managed. Unfortunately, it takes an optional support to fully explain what was going on in Plegia, and why. Lastly, there was opportunity for Ylisse's history to be expanded on. . .and it was never touched again. WHAT was so bad about the previous Exalt?

That's kinda important. We only know that there was a "crusade" in a country housing evil cultists. It is never specified who was targeted and who ended up in the cross fire. Chrom simply says that "Plegia rightfully remembers their suffering" and that's it. Then Emmeryn gets treated like a Saint for performing an act simply for it being technically selfess (like if I would shot myself in the foot) and that Plegia should just "free themselves of their hatred" because war is bad.

Plegia is almost entirely represented by Gangrel (and Mustafa but I come back to him later). And he is so dastardly evil that not only does he fail to represent the feelings of the Plegians but more importantly he paints Chrom and Emmeryn in a way that makes them look to kindhearted for their own good (with some help from Chrom who says that some people would take advantage of Emmeryn's nature and he might have to do what she can't do) by laughing about how "disgustingly noble" she is and coming across like he is lacking any sincerity in his accusations and only mentions those events because of how it would hurt a kind person like her. The problem here is that that the judgement of the story that Chrom's father did bad things is entirely dependent on the personal judgement of Emmeryn and Chrom since we don't get any context beyond their flat exclamation that bad things happened. So if you put their judgement in doubt, we are left with absolutely nothing. We are only left with the feeling that we should respond to Gangrel's cruelty with cruelty of out our own.

Then this nation whose pain the game refuses to explore is simply being told by the local saint to stop being so damn butthurt. With Emmeryn not admitting Ylisse's guilt and asking in it's name for forgiveness, this puts the entire responsibility of the war on the shoulders of the Plegian people when the audience is not even given the means to emphasize with the their situation. That's kinda unfair.

Considering that Emmeryn didn't really say anything outstanding and Mustafa, the token good enemy, started praising her like she was the second coming of Anri without actually giving a reason why he thinks she is so amazing or showing any signs of the "hatred" of the Plegians, the implication is that "letting go of your hatred" is the easiest thing in the world and every Plegian who doesn't just immediately forget about their dead family and friends or whatever actually happened, and joins the Emmeryn fanclub, is not one of the "good" Plegian and therefore deserving of death.

And as someone who became a fan of the series through Path of Radiance, which took the issue of Genocide very seriously and illustrated that for the survivors to forget about those crimes is not easy and overcoming that desire for retribution is extremely difficult, painful and actually requires something from the party who committed the crimes in the first place to do something beyond telling their victims to simply forget about it (Like for example asking for forgiveness), I do not like that implication one bit.

The saddest thing about this is that Emmeryn did give apologies for mass murder and an admission that something valuable was forever lost without feeling the need to lecture the survivors about their feelings. And it was done in a way that was very reminiscent of what Sanaki said to Reyson... but that was about the genocide of the Taguel, which isn't important to the plot at all and is forgotten immediately afterwards. Those words should have been spoken to the Plegians. Instead they only fill the "Emmeryn is too kindhearted" implication since Philia tells her she has no fault and we were shown that she genuinely didn't know what Panne was talking about and is therefore so quick to ask for forgiveness that she will do it even when she doesn't know if her country carries any responsibility for it.

Edited June 19, 2015 by BrightBow

[Czar_Yoshi]

The story did well up until the point when one would normally start adding more exposition and advanced motives. Then it got distracted and instead went to go do something else. Too bad.

[Alisa180]

So, basically, very few on this forum has anything good to say about Awakening's plot. The entire point was to be positive, but instead, it attracted more critism. That's kinda depressing, honestly.

Please don't post more critism. We have enough of that. Post what we liked, if anything, about the story.

[BrightBow]

Lucina's proper introduction in Chapter 12 was very engaging. Here, she comes across like a very human character. You really do feel like she is carrying an entire world on her shoulder and is trying her hardest not to break down. Her reunion with her parents who couldn't aid her in her time of need but seem to instinctively understand how much they were needed, really goes under your skin. It was a good move to add an animated cutscene for this, so that the actors could actually do their thing to probably frame the scene.

And in Chapter 20, Chrom actually gives a decent explanation for why he takes the Emblem with him, especially considering that Validar already proved that he can get into the palace without trouble.

Edited June 22, 2015 by BrightBow

[Czar_Yoshi]

I feel like Morgan's explanation for existence was fairly solid and hole-free, especially for something pieced together from optional convos in DLC maps.

[eclipse]

Had the game ended after the Plegia section, I would've been perfectly happy. Yes, it had problems, but it was the best out of the three arcs.

I'd say The World Through Lucina's Eyes was the second-best thing about the game. The future she paints is grim, indeed, and the short clip where Ylisse is burning is something that I always take the time to watch.

[The Geek]

For me the strongest part of Awakening's story will always be its characters. Even if you think the characters are just one note (which IMO they aren't) you can't say that they were forgettable.

I honestly think the major problem that Awakening's plot had was less being a poor story on its own but more the fact that everything it did had been done in previous games in the series.

I think Awakening's story is kind of the anti-thesis to Genealogy's. Awakening had strong characters and a poor narrative while Genealogy had a strong narrative but mostly forgettable characters.

[Sentacotus]

I feel like Morgan's explanation for existence was fairly solid and hole-free, especially for something pieced together from optional convos in DLC maps.

Gonna have to admit that always confused me I get that the Morgan's from Future Past DLC are supposed to be Robin/Avatar's kid and that the Future Past is from an entirely different future than the kids come from but if you pair Avatar up with a gen 2 kid (Avatar x Lucina for example) then it kinda hits a snag because its implied in the text that Morgan was brainwashed to go up against her friends.

Regardless its not really important but it did always perplex me.

Edited June 28, 2015 by LordTaco42

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Well, if you consider that the Future Past AU is accelerated, just like the original timeline of prime!Robin's dimension, it doesn't really leave room to romance the kids, since neither of those timelines have the kids going back in time to make that possible. So maybe in that particular AU, since the kids weren't any option, Robin ended up hooking up with an unspecified first gen? I do find it a bit weird that we face off against the Morgans against both genders in that AU, but I guess that could be explained by that particular Robin and husband/wife just getting a little busier? >.>

[Sentacotus]

Yeah its still a headscrater for me cuz then the Morgans that you recruit have the skills and classes from the parents which includes lord exclusive skills if MU marries Chrom or Lucina. Could just be gameplay though.

Edited June 29, 2015 by LordTaco42

[Phoenix_Kensai]

Personally, I think...

...I think I might be the only person who thinks this, so bear with me while I try to explain myself here. I'm not good at that.

I think that what Awakening's story did right was being exciting and engaging. It had holes and issues with pacing and whatnot, yes, but from my experience playing and watching others... it's very good at getting people so invested in it that they hardly notice. Not until they're thinking back on it some time after they're done, anyway.

Someone said something similar about Chrono Trigger, I think, on another forum. That game doesn't do a good job of handling time travel realistically or consistently, even by its own rules. But it's good at keeping players from caring.

Awakening's story might not be perfect, not by a longshot. But it is fun. And that counts for a lot.

At least... that's how I see it.

[Shengar]

Story-wise, I tend to split Awakening's into two: the plot and the character. For the former, I always thought it was bad. The first-half is actually serviceable, not special, but not bad either. It is the second-half that dragged the overall quality down due to how rushed it is. Not to mention that the plot have some sort of identity crisis which one is the main character and should get the focus: Robin or Chrom? The game have big scales of what was going on, but it doesn't have adequate room to present it in satisfying way.

Now for the latter, you see this is where Awakening shine the brightest and perhaps what sold people on the game. Most of the support conversations aren't realistic but damn, they're very entertaining. But even then there are still support convos that managed to show you the other side of the involved character like NowixKellam, NowixLibra, or TharjaxGregor. It saddens me very greatly when people dismiss characters based on their appearance and their surface 'gimmick' when some of those character have different side as well. Only a very few characters that I thought poorly done or could be better, but overall, Awakening's character side of the story is good.