NekoKnight's Review of the Story

[Jotari]

Having some themes about classism isn't bad per se but they really shouldn't have tried their hand at it in this particular remake. They knew going in about Alm's secret heritage and the whole spirit of Rigel leans much more towards a meritocracy. If they really wanted to show off classism (because I think it does work to a certain extent with Lukas, Fernand and Forysth) then they should have kept it exclusively as a Sofian thing and depicted a more utilitarian Rigel that has a higher level of relative equality even if it's objectively a worse place to live. There's already precedence for this in Gaiden with how ridiculously fast Zeke managed to establish himself as a general.

[Interdimensional Observer]

16 hours ago, Jotari said:

Having some themes about classism isn't bad per se but they really shouldn't have tried their hand at it in this particular remake. They knew going in about Alm's secret heritage and the whole spirit of Rigel leans much more towards a meritocracy. If they really wanted to show off classism (because I think it does work to a certain extent with Lukas, Fernand and Forysth) then they should have kept it exclusively as a Sofian thing and depicted a more utilitarian Rigel that has a higher level of relative equality even if it's objectively a worse place to live. There's already precedence for this in Gaiden with how ridiculously fast Zeke managed to establish himself as a general.

I actually tried my hand writing some Valentian history (I'm terrible at writing characters, so world building is it for me- though I need to read more history to be truly decent even here), and I decided to address this point by blaming it on Duma's decline. When Duma was healthy and watching over Rigel, Rigel had titles of royalty and nobility, but merit and contests of strength ensured that classism wouldn't set in. A son could not inherit their father's title without proving themselves worthy of it in their own right against others potentially worthy of the same position. Yet between the year 250 and 300, Duma's judgement hit a critical point of weakness and he began to shut himself inside his Tower and Temple, apart from day to day interaction with humanity. It is around this time that classism began to set in and titles became inheritable without conditions- though the meritocratic nature endured to some degree to the day of Alm and Celica.

Zofia by contrast was always classist, as Mila's bounty was abundant enough that the peasantry never had reason to complain about greedy nobles- everyone had their fill even when the nobles took more than they deserved. And Mila hated the idea of her children noble or common fighting and any of them getting hurt- she ended up enforcing the status quo as a result.

[Selena4Lyfe]

On 6/20/2017 at 10:03 AM, NekoKnight said:

I wouldn't say most Fire Emblem stories are bad. Flawed yes, but few are so flawed as say the likes of Fates and SoV. SoV is a lot better than Fates because it has many good things in addition to the bad (Fates is forgettable at the best of times and infuriating at its worst).

In regards to Celica, I could go along with her hiding her intention to sacrifice herself if it were only for Alm's sake. That would be disregarding the feelings of all her friends for one person. But if sacrificing herself could save Zofia? Well, that is something they'd all have to sit down to consider (and if they couldn't agree with it, Celica could leave for Duma tower without them).

I think there is greater ire reserved for avatars because of the misteps of past avatars. To give one example, people don't give Robin a hard time for being bland so much as being frequently praised and without flaws. Alm is equally guilty of being the nigh universally beloved and flawless hero.

The greatest double-standard I see is people saying Robin "stole" the spotlight of Chrom as if being a player avatar required he take a back seat to the blue-haired sword lord. No one would say that if Robin had a set appearance and name.

I understand what you mean by liking Alm for his personality, but if people who like Alm can forgive him for the things I mentioned, then they'll have to stop criticizing avatars for doing similar things.

I know I'm late, but I'm just now reading through this thread and the highlighted bit caught my eye and made me think a bit.  think that would've been easily doable from a gameplay perspective.  If they dropped the battle at Duma's Gate and had Celica have to handle Duma's Tower on her own - not necessarily having to deal with the Duma Faithful members but having to confront those penultimate-tier terrors - similar to Alm's gauntlet through the Rigelian treasure vault, then that might have closed up some plotholes.  Then have Celica's party either have to fight through Duma's Gate or bypass it and try to storm Duma Tower only to be "Sent [with Mila] Below."  Seems like an easy-enough work-around to the issues currently presented, and it wouldn't effect the story's progression from that point on.

Edited July 21, 2017 by Selena4Lyfe

[Jotari]

53 minutes ago, Selena4Lyfe said:

I know I'm late, but I'm just now reading through this thread and the highlighted bit caught my eye and made me think a bit.  think that would've been easily doable from a gameplay perspective.  If they dropped the battle at Duma's Gate and had Celica have to handle Duma's Tower on her own - not necessarily having to deal with the Duma Faithful members but having to confront those penultimate-tier terrors - similar to Alm's gauntlet through the Rigelian treasure vault, then that might have closed up some plotholes.  Then have Celica's party either have to fight through Duma's Gate or bypass it and try to storm Duma Tower only to be "Sent [with Mila] Below."  Seems like an easy-enough work-around to the issues currently presented, and it wouldn't effect the story's progression from that point on.

So...would that mean we'd be playing as lord Saber for those few maps without Celica...Because I could dig that.