| Wright said: I'm not sure Fire Emblem's choice can be seen as the attempt to revolutionize the choice system in videogame narrative, but more like a really good way to capitalize onto two (three?) different game versions; hence the flaws that are underlying become the product of a monetary -not narrative- focus. I sure get your point as to why it could be disappointing, but really, you should have seen this coming from the start, as I'm not sure at any point the developer was trying to really make you feel a meaningful plot point rather than the justification to chop the game in three different parts. Mind you, I haven't played the games, though, so my opinion here might not really reflect how truly goes within it, but that's the impression I've always had and your critique kinda confirms it. |
| JWeinCom said: The choice was made more of a way to alter difficulty than anything. To give Awakening fans something like Awakening while giving old school fans something more old school. Considering that the choice had to be made fairly early in the game (otherwise there would have been no point), I think they did a fairly good job establishing the relationships. It just seems like you were expecting something that wasn't really realistic or promised. |
Going to refer back to my third to last paragraph in the OP, which was written largely to counter the line of thinking that it was either never intended or never promised. Along with the fact that every single trailer focuses on choosing between two families, as opposed to two different gameplay systems, as well as the fact that the game forces you to make the choice with all of your siblings surrounding you and then immediately follows whatever choice you make with either Ryoma or Xander (depending on your choice) calling you a traitor (with the game's saddest track playing in the background, no less). I think the game does plenty to suggest that, at least initially, it was trying to make the choice about story more than anything else. Add that to the fact that we knew about the diverging story paths well before we even knew that they would be sold as separate games altogether, and I don't think my expectation is particularly unreasonable at all.
I will say, though, that I did anticipate a not so difficult choice when I picked up the game; just from the trailers themselves, I had a hard time picturing myself choosing Nohr. I certainly saw it coming, at least before launch date, so it's not that I'm disappointed that I bought something expecting a much deeper story. It's more of I saw something with the potential for a unique take on storytelling, and I'm disappointed that it didn't deliver. Even if you don't think that was ever the intention of the developers, I'd still argue it's disappointing that a golden opportunity to do something new with player choice wasn't capitalized on.
