Do you like the Avatar as a character?

[UnknownUber]

I personally feel he/she's a Mary-Sue and that his character just feels stupidly overpowered. As bland as people said Kris was, I actually prefer Kris over Robin...

[Anacybele]

There are a few Mary-Sue traits, but I feel they're mostly justified because of the customization stuff. And I find the Avatar to be an interesting character nonetheless, with the whole amnesia thing and the backstory of having been bred as a vessel for Grima.

I also like how I've characterized my own Avatar, Kelli, in writing. lol

Edited July 27, 2014 by Anacybele

[Skynstein]

This thread makes me drowsy...

[Czar_Yoshi]

This should probably be a poll?

Anyway, no. I don't like how everyone either bends over backwards to be nice to Avatar, "comes around" to see how awesome he/she is, or gets pounded into the ground in a boss fight, gets recruited, and then "comes around". It's really annoying and leads to generic conversations, robbing some characters of their traits (though in some cases, this is a good thing).

[Sunwoo]

I like my avatar(s) as characterized the way I wrote him/her/them. I don't like the avatar as portrayed in the actual game.

[Czar_Yoshi]

That's a good way to put it.

[CrimeanRoyalKnight]

Story wise, I tend to like the Avatar in the first arc, where they act as a support for Chrom (instead of full time second protagonist). They are also praised much less (I could remember this in a wrong way though) and mainly by Chrom, who seems like he's infatuated with them pretty badly.

However, in the other arcs, everyone praises him to a point where it's unbearable to read! The ending where he dies is a party of "Oh Avatar you were so cool I'll miss you so much!" and that dragged for so long... it was the opposite of memorable. So yeah, I dislike the Avatar plenty, here.

Support wise, I liked what I saw of the Male Avatar from the what I've read (the ones that differ from the female ones, or the special DLC conversations, etc): he seems both gentle and interested in studying, and thus he comes off to me as another studious mage character, and I've got no problem with those. He's a bit on the bland side and that's a good thing in Awakening.
The Female Avatar seems so prissy and snobby instead... so I hardly play as her anymore. I still liked some of her supports and marriages, and her support with Priam is better than the Male Avatar's.

Edited July 27, 2014 by CrimeanRoyalKnight

[Ownagepuffs]

I like my avatar(s) as characterized the way I wrote him/her/them. I don't like the avatar as portrayed in the actual game.

Shouldn't this go without saying? I don't think I have ever seen someone hate their own avatar.

[Roflolxp54]

While I don't mind Robin as a character -- heck, I plan on maining him/her along with a few others on Smash Bros -- he/she is pretty much a Canon Sue. However, this is justified given how Robin/Avatar is essentially a self-insert character. That much can easily be seen in how he/she can be customized to the player's tastes, is a main character (insta-game over if defeated just like Chrom [and Lucina in Classic mode]), is able to support every story character in the game, has massive class freedom and the fact that he/she can become OP very quickly (why is there the Veteran skill on him/her when he/she still has amnesia?).

Also, protagonists that have a LOT of love interests are usually practically Sues. Not really helping Robin's/Avatar's case is that the whole Support system is similar to a dating sim.

Edited July 28, 2014 by Roflolxp54

[shadowofchaos]

Shouldn't this go without saying? I don't think I have ever seen someone hate their own avatar.

My MU is a fucking waifu lord weeaboo.

I hate them.

Edited July 28, 2014 by shadowofchaos

[Loki Laufeyson]

I dont like Avatar cuz his dialogue doesnt match what i want him to say. He cant be my self insert Mary Sue if his dialogue doesnt match what i want him to say or think. This is why im peeved as all hell we didnt get Silent Avatar Option in international release.

[shadowofchaos]

It would honestly be better if we were forced to use the Japanese Silent MU option.

I mean sure people would still write their crappy self-insert fanfiction... but it would be more isolated.

[mercilesscharizard]

I never bothered with the Avatar's personality too much.

[Jester Capri]

I like/hate him. He may be altruistic, reliable, as well as selfless, but his personality is sort of boring (typical talk about tactics, interest is reading books etc.). But him being boring and super smart doesn't make him all douchey and stuff.

I guess him/her being a sue kinda makes sense since one of the definitions of it is "an idealized character". And if he wasn't, you're probably just playing Fire Emblem with like three lords or something like that.

[lazydoggamer]

I actually think the avatar's personality is fine. The issues I have with the avatar is how everyone else is constantly praising them and their role in the last arc.

[BrightBow]

I think Robin's role as a character and as a player avatar need to be looked at seperatly.

As a character, the Avatar is completely pointless for the large majority of the game,

She lacks any real personality and has no particular outlook and no interesting views on life, the universe and everything. So she has nothing that she could contribute. It doesn't help that this is already how Lords are usually characterized and Chrom is no exception. But then they also add Lucina and Say'ri, so we end up with no less then four interchangeable main characters.

Now during the final part of the game, it's all about Avatar. Grima is completely obsessed with him, seemingly incapable to understand why she would not join up with her. Exploring what circumstances might lead the same person on different paths might make for an interesting story but this isn't what happens here.

The game fails to provide an answer for Grima's confusion. Alternate Robin teamed up with Grima while Normal Robin simply doesn't. There is no deeper reason given, so the whole thing was just a complete waste of time and seems to serve no purpose other then to provide everyone an opportunity to kiss her ass.

And she is an awful, awful, awful Mary Sue at the end of the game. She sacrifices herself and everyone talks about her like she was the most important person in their life even if they never talked to each other and despite that signs of affection of certain characters isn't something to be proud of. Chrom also states his special gratitude of her in front of everyone, as if she was the only person who ever died during the war. And if she doesn't sacrifice herself, she exposes the lack of character of everyone else as they all have the same answer to the whole "the needs of the many vs the needs of the few" dilemma and are all completely fine with risking the life of their children for the sake of Robin. Including the freaking children themselves who experienced firsthand what Grima can do.

As a person, I find her to be absolutely contemptible. Yeah, she is not much of a character but the problem is that a lack of reaction to certain things is also in-itself a character trait. Robin plotting the unambiguous death of hundredth thousands of people without showing the slightest hint of awareness of the weight of such an act makes her look like a psychopath. She is loyal to Chrom but she fails to provide any reason to believe that she has any sort of morals that would prevent her from being just as loyal to Gangrel, Wallhart or any other asshole if they were the ones who would have found her.

Also, arrogantly claiming towards Vallidar that she changed the world for the better really doesn't make her score any points in my book. She left one country in the hands of evil cultists who went on to sacrifice the population and left an entire continent at the mercy of a bunch of greedy, self-serving and feuding nobles. So at this point this was a highly arguable claim and shows that she is so self-centric that she doesn't see anything but the country she lives in or maybe doesn't even give a shit about anyone other then herself and her friends.

As a player avatar she is just as much of a failure.

There is no freedom in how to express yourself or the character you had in mind and the way the game keeps kissing the player's ass is just embarrassing. Especially since it's not even for stuff the player did but for Robin solving off-screen problems. So there is no way for the players to feel like they actually deserve the credit.

The sacrificing stuff at the end could have been interesting but the game has to spoil in advance how they are going to keep her alive. And naturally this decision doesn't impact your relationship with the other characters either. So there is no way to be affected by that decision as you stay the most important person in their life either way.

Edited July 28, 2014 by BrightBow

[bookofholsety]

that implies the avatar has any actual character of their own

(seriously though, i concur with most of what brightbow said)

[CrimeanRoyalKnight]

One thing I dislike a lot about the Avatar in the story(again, sorry), is that they never learn anything from their mistakes/events. They never seem to grow an actual opinion, they just seem to state things suddenly; for example, whenever they talk about the invisible threads of destiny, what exactly brought them to have such an opinion?? We never see the Avatar contemplate it or think about it, we never see them question the badguys, they just state the most truthful truth and everyone loves them for it. This is very bad for someone with amnesia, too; you'd expect them to be very confused and weirded out, instead, but that stops after the Feroxi part of the beginning of the story, you'd expect them to develop their thoughts but it never happens.

[Logience]

They'd be fine as an everyman if

1: Stahl didn't already work tons better, and

2: S/he wasn't having sex with every member of the army behind the scenes

For all of how stupid Kris was with his/her stupid "I value my lord above my own life" gimmick attached to a goddamn audience surrogate, at least they didn't have anyone other than Marth act in the same role. Plus it kept the waifufaggotry to a minimum, in which the girl didn't get any love interests, and the guy only got about seven (Katarina, Catria, maybe Yumina, Norne, Maris(*headdesk*), Athena (joke), and maybe Cecille). I'm grateful they didn't try and pair him with something like Minerva or Sheema, or even Malicia.

Also, question: are there any dynamic changes to FE12's supports if MU's gender is female? I'm pretty sure that Katarina's is exactly the same, last I checked.

[Topazd]

I feel that BrightBow has said everything and more than I could have about Robin.

Kris wasn't much better to be fair, but at the very least Jagen of all people would blatantly state it if his stats were inadequate. But as a character he is just as bland of self-insert as Robin is. (though I really liked some of his supports, like Palla/Arran)

Edited July 28, 2014 by Topazd255

[Logience]

But as a character he is just as bland of self-insert as Robin is. (though I really liked some of his supports, like Palla/Arran)

With Arran's supports, I liked how it actually gave him depth for why he would want to die in battle beyond "less painful than sickness", even if it's recycled from Heath and Vaida. With Palla, it's simply a character check for Palla's role as the wife of the Whitewings, and I'm really relieved they didn't do anything stupid with her like making them romantic options. Plus the ending of the Palla/Est supports....And here I thought IS had forgot how to write a complex character, especially with her follow-ups being Mahnya 2.shit and the ara ara checklist that is Cherche.

[Ownagepuffs]

My MU is a fucking waifu lord weeaboo.

I hate them.

Rey's "confession" to Olivia was amazing tho.

Also Brightbow summed it up perfectly.

[Chloe Neo]

Brilliant all rounded stat unit and a somewhat kind personality.

Edited July 28, 2014 by Serah Farron

[Roflolxp54]

It's as if Awakening's the new Radiant Dawn. (Oh, the name puns.) There's great gameplay, but fans do not like Mary Sue-esque protagonists and the characterization of several supporting characters.

[Vitezen]

They're bland, I don't particularly like or dislike them. Any argument about the Avatar being able to support with anyone can apply to most other characters. I do believe it's a little silly that the Avatar can reclass into every single other class. I think that could've been handled better by just letting you pick your weapon preferences at the start, and keeping it limited to one "tactician" class.