What is your unpopular Fire Emblem opinion?

[Slumber]

I'll concede with Tharja's garb, but I still don't have to like it or Tharja. Regardless of how practical or "accurate"(There's a reason why a lot of desert civilizations in the real world, Egypt included, stopped wearing sheer and undies a long time ago) it is, I still think her outfit, and every other Plegian outfit, is bad and tasteless.

33 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Maybe the later games and stuff made Cloud emo.

Oh boy, you have no idea. Kingdom Hearts was the start of Cloud's "I'm a troubled soldier who has to fight with the darkness." thing where he's LITERALLY fighting for Hades for... reasons. And then they amped it up to 100 in Advent Children, where Cloud's a loner again, hanging out by himself in the middle of nowhere until bad shit happens, even though he's basically married to Tifa and taking care of a bunch of orphans, for no reason. He mopes, and talks softly to himself for the whole movie, and really only actively decides to show up and help at the end.

It's funny. Most of Cloud's character in FF7 was him mentally struggling to handle that Zack's personality and memories was basically forced onto him. And once he sorts out his history and personality from Zack's, and his true personality comes out, he becomes super determined to launch a potential suicide mission to stop Sephiroth and save the world. For the first time in the game, he willingly steps into a leadership position without a joke or complaint.

I don't even know if Cloud's personality in KH and AC is only weird because we got a weird translation or anything, but his portrayal in the KH games and in AC is a complete 180 from how he is at the end of FF7. When they were making KH, they remembered that Squall stopped being a loner asshole and became a cool-headed leader. They forgot with Cloud, though. And then they forgot in everything else Cloud has been in since FF7.

Edited September 20, 2017 by Slumber

[Emperor Hardin]

35 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

On the Divine Dragons. Duma doesn't get the best of portrayals, though I don't think we ever see him healthy, and degeneration is not willful evil. Also, IS did Evil Light and Good Dark with RD, and even two big black enemies- Dheg and the BK, fight with light's blessings, only big Ashy and little Izuka are dark. But they very clearly didn't want to do that again with 13-15.

As for Medeus and the Scouring, they're both lore only. While I want deluges upon deluges of lore in FE, I don't think the nuance of these conflicts is ever felt or explored. Does the game do a good job of mustering empathy (not necessarily sympathy) towards Medeus, the lone Earth Dragon who stood by Naga, only to have reason to think his trust in humanity was misplaced? Are we ever asked to critically question whether Harmut and co. were in the wrong? (Of course not, we only learn the truth in the penultimate chapter! For the rest of the game, they're unabashed heroes.) Does Marth or Roy, the princely princes of royal mannerisms they are, ever issue PoR-17 Sanaki-like apologies for humanity's sins?

Duma is not only a retcon, as he doesn't look or act like a Divine Dragon, but as you said he's degenerated and its made clear this is the reason for his actions. Plus, IS making both Divine when other Dragon tribes could've sufficed seems to indicate they're very reluctant to depict the other tribes as friendly to humanity.

And RD is one of my favorite games which more should take from. Also not all Divine Dragons need to be evil, but the whole "X Dragon is X, so he's good" gets boring.

And of course, Naga allowing him and Mila to settle on the human filled Valentia with no issue while forbidding Forseti from helping the humans of Jugdral is glossed over.

Marth does express empathy upon hearing about their history from a third party, but not really a full blown apology.

Xane empathizes with Medeus, but again its not delved in as much as it could be.

Roy does say Jahn's mistrust of humanity isn't unwarranted, but also says he'll spare Idenn like Hartmut. So not a Sanaki type apology. Closest is Eliwood telling Ninian humanity must bare some responsibility for the scouring.

14 minutes ago, NekoKnight said:

I don't know the exact words they used in Japanese but I wouldn't be surprised if they used imprecise terminology that the fan translators decided to state bluntly. It's not that implications of someone meaning to rape or sell a woman into sexual slavery are rare (Valter makes his intentions pretty clear) but the exact wording that someone will be raped has never been said in an official English release, and I have my doubts about the japanese version.

Even the fan translations just say stuff like "so and so's army took away all the young girls, keeping the best for himself."

Edited September 20, 2017 by Emperor Hardin

[Ae†her]

Idk, but I've been reading a lot of background stories and characters for Genealogy, and it seems like Genealogy has the most interesting characters out of the whole series, espcially Ishtar and Arvis.

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 minute ago, Emperor Hardin said:

And of course, Naga allowing him and Mila to settle on the human filled Valentia with no issue while forbidding Forseti from helping the humans of Jugdral is glossed over.

That is going to be such a retcon issue when they get to it! Particularly since Forseti had a greater right to involve himself in Jugdral than Mila and Duma ever did in Valentia. Forseti was just trying to stop the horrors inflicted on Jugdral by one of their own species. It's partly the Divine Dragons' fault for not stopping Loptyr and not seeing what he was doing in Jugdral for centuries.

If they try to retcon Naga's objection, I'm afraid of what that will be- nobody died at Belhalla? Sigurd comes back to life? Lewyn can lead a normal life after Forseti is done possessing him?

7 minutes ago, Emperor Hardin said:

Duma is not only a retcon, as he doesn't look or act like a Divine Dragon, but as you said he's degenerated and its made clear this is the reason for his actions. Plus, IS making both Divine when other Dragon tribes could've sufficed seems to indicate they're very reluctant to depict the other tribes as friendly to humanity.

Ties in with what we exchanged in messages about Dark Magic in 13. Dark Magic is totally evil, the old GBA-Tellius conception of "Elder Magic" which though dangerous is not inherently evil if you take the time to learn it, was practically thrown out the window. Instead, we got Tharja and her petty vengeful hexing and Henry and his sadism (I like him though). Fates lightened things up a bit thanks to Nohr being playable, but then SoV, which to be fair was only being faithful to the original, made it pure evil again.

 

13 minutes ago, Slumber said:

Regardless of how practical or "accurate"(There's a reason why a lot of desert civilizations in the real world, Egypt included, stopped wearing sheer and undies a long time ago) it is, I still think her outfit, and every other Plegian outfit, is bad and tasteless.

Good counterpoint! I might have gone a bit too reconciliatory, probably because I wanted to liberate myself from having to argue against Tharja all the time.

I do think the outfit is still rather unappealing, and Henry, another Plegian, doesn't dress that way at all. Nor does Gangrel King of Plegia, and Validar, leader of the Grimleal (his official artwork- those arms! Like I couldn't loathe his inhuman design any more!) isn't anywhere near as revealing as Tharja's. So I think the clothing argument has few holes in it- but to be fair, Awakening doesn't know how to build a world, or consistent cultures.

Also, thanks Slumber for the Cloud explanation! I'm guessing the prospects of FF7 Remake being a return to his true self is very doubtable? And on Squall, I don't recall any particular moment where he changed over, unfortunately, all I can remember of him beyond his loner side is the stupid post-final-battle decision I frequently compare with Chrom's, and his forced romance with Rinoa. 

[Slumber]

10 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Also, thanks Slumber for the Cloud explanation! I'm guessing the prospects of FF7 Remake being a return to his true self is very doubtable? And on Squall, I don't recall any particular moment where he changed over, unfortunately, all I can remember of him beyond his loner side is the stupid post-final-battle decision I frequently compare with Chrom's, and his forced romance with Rinoa. 

Squall's development is a lot more gradual, since it's not tied to a semi-physical/mental block that could actually be reomved like Cloud's issues.

Squall first starts taking charge during the assassination mission at the end of disc 1, where after Irvine fails to kill Edea, Squall tells him he did his part just fine, and to let Squall handle it. Then, when they're all imprisoned, Squall starts getting somewhat concerned over his allies(Like Zell) being in danger. Then, when Galbadia Galbadia attacks Balamb Garden, he's freaking out over Rinoa dangling off the edge of the Garden, and he's worried about whoever gets put in charge of the counter attack. He also fully takes over leadership of the Garden during this attack from Cid and gives a speech to reassure everyone in the Garden that Balamb will be alright.

The closest point to an actual "turn" Squall would have is when he has a major crisis over Rinoa being in a coma, where he walks her all the way to Esthar(He even tries to calm himself down by talking to her unconscious body, saying stuff like "Man, what would everyone think of the hardass Squall if they saw me doing this?")

Another one would probably be him on the Ragnarok and him going to free Rinoa from stasis, where he starts opening up to her(When she isn't in a coma) and he finally comes to the conclusion that he likes having Rinoa around, likes having his friends around, and would rather deal with having to fight off sorceresses or whoever would come for Rinoa than not have her and his friends. His crew feels the same.

Ending cop-out aside, I'd actually say Squall has one of the best character arcs of any FF protagonist. The game flat out says that all of his issues stem from his abandonment at the orphanage, where he was the last one to get adopted, giving him a complex, and losing Ellone, who was his last support there. So basically he forced himself to grow up to deal with being alone, and his 17 year old-self is stuck with the mentality that a 7 year old came up with to deal with being alone(Him being eventually picked up by a mercenary academy didn't help, and him losing his memories kept him from ever even realizing this). And the whole game is him letting people in and learning what being an adult is really like, vs. what he's spent his entire life thinking an adult is like. Rinoa's the one who works her way in the most, and gets him to come out the most. The fault is more on Rinoa for a lot of the stumbling for the romance, due to he basically just being stubborn and not listening to people for a lot of the game, and apparently her character in the western translations is way different than in the original Japanese.

I've always felt that his character and development was... I guess more "realistic", since it's a fairly plausible situation in his childhood that led to his personality as a young adult/teenager. And it's not some extreme personality as an adult. He just kind of wanted to be left alone.

Edited September 20, 2017 by Slumber

[Mackc2]

3 hours ago, Slumber said:

I'll concede with Tharja's garb, but I still don't have to like it or Tharja. Regardless of how practical or "accurate"(There's a reason why a lot of desert civilizations in the real world, Egypt included, stopped wearing sheer and undies a long time ago) it is, I still think her outfit, and every other Plegian outfit, is bad and tasteless.

I mean at least IS is pretty consistent about most of there desert dwellers not wearing much (hawkeye keeps coming to my mind)
Actually I take that back I just remembered henry and gangrel  

Edited September 20, 2017 by Mackc2

[Slumber]

1 hour ago, Mackc2 said:

I mean at least IS is pretty consistent about most of there desert dwellers not wearing much (hawkeye keeps coming to my mind)
Actually I take that back I just remembered henry and gangrel  

Actually, Hawkeye's kind of an odd one out. Igrene even wears more than him. Most desert dwellers in the franchise are either myrmidons/swordmasters, or dark magic users. Both typically wear robes or loose, but fully concealing clothing.

The deserts of Archanea are pretty much just inhabited by bandits. Jugdral has Yied as the primary source of operation for the Lopto Sect prior to them taking over Grandbell, and it's still a hangout for them once that happens, and the Lopto Sect is ALL robed dark mages. Nabata has Hawkeye, who wears no shirt, and Igrene, who dresses kind of normal. Jehenna is a kingdom of myrmidons/swordmasters. FE9 has pretty much just Stefan living in a small settlement with other Branded that we never see. FE10 introduces the wolf laguz, who do basically wear nothing, but it's hard to say much about them because, you know. They can transform into animals. Considering it's just Branded and Laguz living in the desert, it might be that they're just better suited for it.

So prior to Awakening, FE characters who lived in the desert and wore skimpy clothes: Hawkeye, Volug and Nailah.

Edited September 20, 2017 by Slumber

[Emperor Hardin]

1 hour ago, Slumber said:

Actually, Hawkeye's kind of an odd one out. Igrene even wears more than him. Most desert dwellers in the franchise are either myrmidons/swordmasters, or dark magic users. Both typically wear robes or loose, but fully concealing clothing.

The deserts of Archanea are pretty much just inhabited by bandits. Jugdral has Yied as the primary source of operation for the Lopto Sect prior to them taking over Grandbell, and it's still a hangout for them once that happens, and the Lopto Sect is ALL robed dark mages. Nabata has Hawkeye, who wears no shirt, and Igrene, who dresses kind of normal. Jehenna is a kingdom of myrmidons/swordmasters. FE9 has pretty much just Stefan living in a small settlement with other Branded that we never see. FE10 introduces the wolf laguz, who do basically wear nothing, but it's hard to say much about them because, you know. They can transform into animals. Considering it's just Branded and Laguz living in the desert, it might be that they're just better suited for it.

So prior to Awakening, FE characters who lived in the desert and wore skimpy clothes: Hawkeye, Volug and Nailah.

The deserts in Archanea are inhabited by the mages of Khadein too, who wear baggy robes.

[Tolvir]

11 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

A very well written and argued argument. It actually answers some of my (discarded) hypotheses from before. Not to mention I did admit to Volug and Nailah having appropriate outfits earlier as well. And always knew there was some Egyptian in Tharja's design, but I guess I never expanded on its implications fully. You include history with some detailed analysis, which I like. I'll accept it on verity!

Plus, I don't want to be bitter about Tharja and hate. No matter how much people like being bitter and hating, they shouldn't, because it ultimately makes you feel bad. Unless they're talking bitter food or very clearly bad things, like murder, and suffering, and slavery, and illness, and poverty, and injustice in general, then you have the right to hate and like bitterness. Your argument lets me cut down on my unnecessary hating and bitterness, so I'll pragmatically accept it too.

 

On the characters getting wrongly portrayed thing- I can understand this very clearly. When I played FFVII as a grown individual, I thought Cloud would be all emo from what the fanbase would have you believe, but he wasn't. Cloud was actually pretty likable, cool, talented, a tad stoic/silent and bland I'll admit, but he was very good. He did have a psyche issue- but it was sad and not emo, not as nuanced as Fei Fong Wong's issues, but thats beyond the comprehension of most mortal ken, Cloud is more digestible for the masses. Maybe the later games and stuff made Cloud emo, but I don't care about Advent Children and Kingdom Hearts, only FFVII (and I guess I'd like to try Crisis Core too). Tharja, Cloud, Lucina (I heard some good arguments the wifeypon thing is not inherent to her) should form an alliance "Video Game Characters Against Being Ruined by Fanbases".

 

On the child abuse, well it is comedic, it isn't treated like Hilda's niece abuse, that is certain. So I guess it's worth taking with a grain of salt. However, I don't want to get into a Serious Discussion argument, but I think to some extent, one might be able to argue that portrayals, even if comedic in intention, may influence how people view serious events (or their perspectives on peoples and their practices) that don't happen to them. But again, I don't want to start a argument here.

 

And while these are rather irrelevant, I just want to add that: One, the Dark Mage outfit isn't appropriate to Fates since Nohr lacks a desert (Odin joins in the Ice Tribe chapter of all things), and Ophelia just shouldn't be wearing it. And two, the outfit would be better in Awakening if we saw normal Plegians in similar clothes, and not just evil people.

The dark mage outfit for Fates was definitely bad. It continued Awakening's design without a reason to do so. If they wanted to go with a more period accurate garb for them, something like a plague doctor design or a traditional robed wizard style would of worked just fine.

And I definitely agree with the cloud example. Cloud has definitely turned into a character he wasnt over time. I never really saw him as an emo whiny, or edgy. He was stand offish, he was definitely a bit brash in discussions with people, and he was quiet, but that wasnt exactly him being emo or edgy. Its unfortunate, because he was a really good character. I dont have high hopes that the remake will fix this issue, but who knows.

11 hours ago, NekoKnight said:

I don't know the exact words they used in Japanese but I wouldn't be surprised if they used imprecise terminology that the fan translators decided to state bluntly. It's not that implications of someone meaning to rape or sell a woman into sexual slavery are rare (Valter makes his intentions pretty clear) but the exact wording that someone will be raped has never been said in an official English release, and I have my doubts about the japanese version.

Her roster description in the Japanese version states that she "has the best body in the army" and her Harvest Scramble conversation with Nowi has the latter talking about her "boingy bits". I think they knew the appeal of Tharja's design. She follows the appeal of Camilla, that of a busty woman with revealing clothes and an unhealthy attachment to the player.

Awakening is definitely takes a "gag anime" approach to some of its characters, and while I recognize the comedic intent, there are also serious elements to her character which blur the line. Why should we take some parts seriously and dismiss others as "it's just a dumb anime thing"? Peri is another such character where you're simultaneously being asked to treat her psychosis as a joke but also accept that the ever serious Xander saw nothing wrong with her.

That is definitely true about the "best body in the army". As far as the Harvest Scramble goes, as I already said the DLC started going a lot stronger with the fan service in general with Tharja. Making points to have lines like you pointed out, or even have her in a bikini. The sun lotion scene with Robin is another example. They really started pushing her as a fan service icon in DLC. Sure there was the line about "best body in the army", but outside of that one line there really wasnt much else. I wont argue her design definitely was a little fanservicey, while see through clothing was a thing in Egypt, see through body stocking was not. But I dont think that angle was as heavily pushed, at least early on, as Camilla for example.

There is a difference between Peri and Tharja. One character is killing innocent people without remorse and its played with comedic effect and a "Oh you silly Peri, you shouldnt be killing people", the other gave her daughter a runny nose for a few days in one single support. Those can hardly be compared to each other in terms of what was ridiculously played up for comedic effect, and what wasnt. Unfortunately due to the nature of Awakening's supports not building off of each other, you end up with a situation that makes little sense if you look at Noire's father support, and Noire's Tharja support. Tharja at the end of the support makes a point to not teach Noire hexes. She knows that her daughter has great potential in using hexes, and is a strong conduit for dark magic, but knows how it has effected her. So she makes a point to no longer do it. Then you get to her father support where all of a sudden she is giving Noire a runny nose for a few days. It doesnt really make a whole lot of sense given how one ends and the other starts. That was one of the big issues with Awakening supports as a whole though, for example Cordelia.

And here is what I mean by overstating how "abusive" she is. In Tharja's supports, Tharja in the main timeline of Awakening, she curses Noire once. The entire runny nose gag, which both made no sense in context with other supports, and was obviously played up with comedic effect. Everyone mixes up what is Noire's version of Tharja, who was the abusive parent. That Tharja is the reason Noire is so emotionally screwed up and has that weird split personality. The Tharja from the main timeline did not do any of that, and made a point to not be like that in her A Support with Noire.

Future Past Tharja is the one everyone should have an issue with, and the game doesnt try to hide that fact. Main timeline Tharja is not.

 

Edited September 20, 2017 by Tolvir

[NekoKnight]

1 hour ago, Tolvir said:

That is definitely true about the "best body in the army". As far as the Harvest Scramble goes, as I already said the DLC started going a lot stronger with the fan service in general with Tharja. Making points to have lines like you pointed out, or even have her in a bikini. The sun lotion scene with Robin is another example. They really started pushing her as a fan service icon in DLC. Sure there was the line about "best body in the army", but outside of that one line there really wasnt much else. I wont argue her design definitely was a little fanservicey, while see through clothing was a thing in Egypt, see through body stocking was not. But I dont think that angle was as heavily pushed, at least early on, as Camilla for example.

Camilla is definitely a more exagerated example than Tharja but I don't think IS said "Huh? You guys think a woman in her underwear and see-through body stockings is sexy? Well... If that's what you're into...". Tharja being sexy isn't some meme that distorts reality. Her in game model and official art give enough to promote her visual appeal, and her attraction to the Avatar all but guaranteed that her sexuality would be discussed. It was not an accident.

I do like her hair and Egyptian inspired direction, but I find it disingenuous to suggest the developers didn't knowingly design her to be fanservice in addition to everything else she is.

Edited September 20, 2017 by NekoKnight

[Tolvir]

9 minutes ago, NekoKnight said:

Her in game model and official art give enough to promote her visual appeal, and her attraction to the Avatar all but guaranteed that her sexuality would be discussed. It was not an accident.

I do like her hair and Egyptian inspired direction, but I find it disingenuous to suggest the developers didn't knowingly design her to be fanservice in addition to everything else she is.

Sure I wont argue that she was designed with that in mind, but I do not think that was at the forefront of the character. Look at her supports, look at her character portrait, her personality. Not a single bit of it exudes the same amount of "fan service" oriented design as a character like Camilla does. Everything Camilla does is for fan service. Every cutscene focuses on her tits, her ass, and her crotch. Most of her supports has her focused on Corrin and Corrin alone. Most of her personality is based around being this slightly incestuous relationship with Corrin. Camilla's design put fan service in the forefront. With Tharja, it is only a part of her design.

Therefore my comment of saying that Tharja is wrongly accused of being only a fan service character. She isnt. Unlike Camilla she has depth, she has aspects to her that are not fan service oriented. Unlike Camilla, her design does take inspiration elsewhere other than just "lets make this character hot as hell". Was it a part of the decision making process? Sure it was, I will never argue that. But I do not think it was in the forefront in the design of Tharja. On top of that I think the fan service parts of the character only grew more important over time because people put more emphasis on it.

[Skyla]

22 hours ago, Lau said:

Liking Ike is definitely a popular opinion, number one in CYL, a large majority of the community worships the damn ground he walks on, and people just freaking love him. I don't understand why, but hey, I'm in the minority who hates his guts, so I don't really care, you like who you like.

The Tellius games are indeed good, but I prefer several games over them such as SoV, Awakening and Blazing Blade. I won't lie, I'd love to see them in HD.

I completely agree with you on Roy and Eliwood! Argh, I could hug you! I love Lucina, but the father and son duo just have a certain charm.

I'm not too keen on Fates, but I adore Awakening, but you do you, friend.

It really is nice seeing some of these opinions.

Hahah! Thankyouuu!

The hate he is getting though is intense though XD Poor thing.

Oh, I'm so glad somebody else, besides me, likes Eliwood as well. He's so underrated, he deserves so much more recognition. He's my second favourite Lord after Ike.

[Troykv]

3 hours ago, Tolvir said:

And I definitely agree with the cloud example. Cloud has definitely turned into a character he wasnt over time. I never really saw him as an emo whiny, or edgy. He was stand offish, he was definitely a bit brash in discussions with people, and he was quiet, but that wasnt exactly him being emo or edgy. Its unfortunate, because he was a really good character. I dont have high hopes that the remake will fix this issue, but who knows.

It's a bit sad that Smash's Cloud is the closest to a recent representation of Cloud's actual personality (quiet, but snarky).

Edited September 20, 2017 by Troykv

[Tolvir]

18 minutes ago, Troykv said:

It's a bit sad that Smash's Cloud is the closest to a recent representation of Cloud's actual personality (quiet, but snarky).

I never looked up the translated version of his lines, but that is definitely true. And as you said, sad. I don't have much hope that the remake will change things either.

[familyplayer]

2 hours ago, Tolvir said:

Unlike Camilla she has depth

Camilla kinda does though. It's just that everything you talked about get in the way of an interesting backstory and feel like a bad excuse as to why one would have such a, to be completely honest, kinky and fan servicey personality.

[FRZNHeir]

My unpopular opinion- I prefer Sacred Stones over the Tellius games.
Actually, i prefer SS over all the games.

[Tolvir]

44 minutes ago, familyplayer said:

Camilla kinda does though. It's just that everything you talked about get in the way of an interesting backstory and feel like a bad excuse as to why one would have such a, to be completely honest, kinky and fan servicey personality.

The difference is Camilla only has that depth shown in maybe a handful of supports. Most of her supports are based around her being that same fanservicy character all the time. Tharja on the otherhand has plenty of supports that show different sides of her, and depict her outside of being just a pure fan service character. Donnel, Libra, Lon'qu, Nowi, Kellam, Stahl, even Noire. All of those supports, and others, show different aspects of Tharja, who she is, and her backstory. Camilla on the hand only has Niles that goes into her backstory and who she is.

[Lau]

So I've finally gotten around to playing Shadow Dragon myself after watching a LP of it, and it's much better than what everyone says. I'm on chapter 10, and damn, it actually makes me use my brain.

[Etrurian emperor]

1 hour ago, Lau said:

So I've finally gotten around to playing Shadow Dragon myself after watching a LP of it, and it's much better than what everyone says. I'm on chapter 10, and damn, it actually makes me use my brain.

To be fair the gameplay has rarely been the prime complaint about Shadow dragon. Its not things like map design or enemy placement that's held against the game but it lack of supports, story and characterization. 

To me Shadow dragon is defined by all the things which aren't there but the things that are present have always been adequate or even good. Well, everything except the gaiden requirements. 

[Slumber]

3 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

but the things that are present have always been adequate or even good. Well, everything except the gaiden requirements. 

And the art/art direction.

[Florina's #1 Fan]

47 minutes ago, Slumber said:

And the art/art direction.

I know most people dislike Genealogy and Gaiden's artwork the most (I get Gaiden, but I actually really like Genealogy's art), but Shadow Dragon just takes the cake for me. Their battle sprites kind of look like a weird mix of abstract, smudgy finger-paintings and clay dolls. The portraits just look so... odd to me, and the map sprites, I just really don't like them.

I'm talking about the DS version, btw, if we're talking about Blade of Light, that game is really dated, so the art is unappealing for a totally different reason.

[Slumber]

Just now, Florina's #1 Fan said:

I know most people dislike Genealogy and Gaiden's artwork the most (I get Gaiden, but I actually really like Genealogy's art), but Shadow Dragon just takes the cake for me. Their battle sprites kind of look like a weird mix of abstract, smudgy finger-paintings and clay dolls. The portraits just look so... odd to me, and the map sprites, I just really don't like them.

I'm talking about the DS version, btw, if we're talking about Blade of Light, that game is really dated, so the art is unappealing for a totally different reason.

The battle sprites definitely look like featureless homunculi. The portrait artwork is also really off. Like, they tried to make a less anime/more realistic style? But somehow everyone looks even more the same? Nearly everyone has a very round, puffy face. Darros is supposed to be a gruff pirate, but he looks like an elderly woman going through chemo treatment.

[Thinks Their Own Way]

I've started playing Genealogy of the Holy War a bit, the size of the maps doesn't bother me in slightest, I have some admiration for it (granted I'm on Chapter 1 still, but it's long). 

[Florina's #1 Fan]

2 minutes ago, Slumber said:

The battle sprites definitely look like featureless homunculi. The portrait artwork is also really off. Like, they tried to make a less anime/more realistic style? But somehow everyone looks even more the same? Nearly everyone has a very round, puffy face.

You're totally right about the puffy faces. I couldn't put my finger on what was bothering me about the portraits, but that is definitely it.

15 minutes ago, Slumber said:

Darros is supposed to be a gruff pirate, but he looks like an elderly woman going through chemo treatment.

I don't want to laugh at this, but it's just so accurate XD

[Slumber]

Just now, I'm a Spheal said:

I've started playing Genealogy of the Holy War a bit, the size of the maps doesn't bother me in slightest, I have some admiration for it (granted I'm on Chapter 1 still, but it's long). 

I'd say you'll decide if you love or hate it by chapter 2. Chapter 1 has you at least progressing linearly through the map. Chapter 2 is where you'll start backtracking and tackling castles that aren't in a row.