Thoughts on Ike, Chrom, and Awakening

[DraginHikari]

It was more or less just a design decision so that the playable characters faces could clearly be seen during battle. Hends why why the enemies and NPCs still have the helmets on.

 

[Unicorn]

Kind of disappointing to see this thread be full of mostly negative opinions. To those who were saying Marth is a poor character, we have to remember that he comes from 1990, a time when the standard for heroes was only the ability to respawn. Even the Final Fantasy series, known for its fantastic characters, starred the "Warrior of Light". We hadn't really reached a point where we were ready for a Radiant Dawn (especially since I wasn't even born yet ). Of course Ike is the better lord, he stars in the game that could be called the most complete evolution of the Fire Emblem series.
Comparing the two is like comparing Caterpie to Mewtwo; of course Marth isn't going to measure up. Unfortunately, I have no excuses for my boy Roy. I have played Sword of Seals. It was pretty laughable in most respects. Dieck helped... a little.

Luckily for me, I am not on Serenes Forest forums. I am on Smashboards! My main exposure to these characters hasn't been through Fire Emblem, though I love the series. It has been through Super Smash Bros. And in the context of SSB, Roy and Marth were way cooler than Ike to me until very recently. I hate sluggish fighting styles but with the viciously fast fighting style PM gave him Ike is one of my favorite characters to play now. Also those beautiful HD pictures of buff Ike...Embarrass


I don't have to care about the depth of the character in FE, because that depth won't translate over into SSB. "You'll get no sympathy from me" doesn't mean anything more than Mario shouting "Whaaaahooo!" All I really care about is whether or not the character is fun to play as, and aesthetically pleasing. That's why I can be happy about Ike and Marth being in SSB4. That's why I can count myself a supporter for Chrom in over many other deserving characters. And I can even hope for some HD ph1r3 from my boy.

Disjointed Hitboxes for SSB4.

 

[Kokusho]

In the end we're hoping for fighters in smash bros. Even if Chrom was the best character ever it's very hard to find a spot for him gameplay wise. Marth is the fast swordman, Ike is the powerfull one. In Smash it's hard to make something inbetween that really worth it. Even Project M's Roy isn't that interesting. It's nice he is there and that they tried to make it stand on it's own a bit but in the end it doesn't feel different enough to justify a spot in Smash. Lucina falls in the same categorie. A faster Chrom would basically be Marth.
As a Smash fighter, the best representant from FE:A we can have would be Robin, with a gender switch, because female characters plays a big roles in FE games and should have a least half a part in Smash.
A magic user with a sword can be very interesting and fun to play.

 

[Kokusho]

Well... I guess I was right on point, given that Sakurai seems to agree with me
Lucina, the faster Chrom, is basicaly Marth.
And Robin with a gender switch is the perfect addition.

 

[JaidynReiman]

Well... I guess I was right on point, given that Sakurai seems to agree with me
Lucina, the faster Chrom, is basicaly Marth.
And Robin with a gender switch is the perfect addition.

Well, your thoughts were my thoughts, too. Lucina wasn't even planned to be a full character at first, that happened later in development. Yeah, I'm happy about this. Robin was my #1 pick from FE, and I even wanted Lucina over Chrom. Kinda sad Chrom is the only Awakening main Lord not to be playable in any way, but at least he's represented somehow. Granted, I didn't want him, but the deconfirmation was a tad bit on the mean side.

 

[Walgen]

"Goes through thread."

"Sees posters pretending that Fire Emblem has never had fanservice, along with pretending that any of the games without Lunatic are harder than Awakening, etc."

Please.

 

[Hero_of_Time95]

First off, this is my first post on a SmashBoards forum ever so....woop! This has been a really interesting read from all, getting to know Fire Emblem a little better. Awakening was the first FE I've ever played, and I really enjoyed it! I've also never played an RTS game like it before, so there is that also. But on the subject of Ike and the Radiant Saga, all my friends who are big FE fans loved it and the character himself. The only thing that has held me back from playing it is finding a copy/ the apparent difficulty of the game. I've been thinking about watching a Lets Play of it, but not sure. Being a HUGE Zelda fan, I'd always recommend playing it before just watching a run of it online, because of well...the experience! But of course, LoZ and FE are totally different franchises.

So I guess from a FE newbie to the vets.....Why play it? Actually, more important to me...why did you all play it? What kind of experiences did you witness and feel because of the journey you took with Ike and such?
(Also can't wait to play as Ike in SSB4...Though he was rough in Brawl, was still fun to pummel with!)

 

[TeaTwoTime]

Awakening was my first FE game too and I personally love the game, shortcomings and all. Some of Chrom's dialogue was brilliant despite his personality being flat - actually, I'd say that pretty much every character in the game had some really good dialogue in their support conversations (possibly my favourite part of the game). Whether they were well written or not, I grew very attached to all of the playable characters (well, almost all; looking at you, Say'ri) and became fond of their quirks and personalities.
The fanservice does indeed suck; I'd been told previously that Fire Emblem was a series that generally avoided rampant sexualisation, so I was bothered by that. It's the part of the game I dislike most... and yet it's something that is still relatively tame compared to the fanservice in other games. I guess the best I can do is try to overlook it. At least Lucina managed to avoid it.

 

[Aninymouse]

Yeah, since writing this, I've played Awakening a lot more, and my views on it have softened somewhat. I've also warmed up to Chrom a bit more, despite his insistence that Robin forsake the world to save him/herself.

I still don't care for the fanservice, but as long as it doesn't get worse, it should be fine. If they want to put another loli bait character, though, please, for the love of all that is minty fresh, put some damn clothes on her. The people ******** about Nowi on GameFAQs are at epidemic levels, and I think they do it now more than ever just to get under my skin, honestly.

Ike's games have a lot more quality in the maps, and more variety of maps/objectives. Awakening cuts out some of the more tedious parts, though. I do miss the skill allocation/reassignment of Dawn, but I don't miss the weapon weight/constitution. I miss Light Magic and amazing Sniper class, but I don't miss the totally linear game (the world map is so nice). I miss Halberdiers and Sentinels and crossbows and the Laguz royals, but Panne and the dragons of Awakening are better than most of the other Laguz from FE9&10, in that they can use human classes and skills. The Laguz were definitely well-developed in Dawn, but a lot of them were still weak or limited. Path of Radiance is probably better than both, but the in-battle graphics aren't that great. The music is a bit repetitive, too, though there are some good moments. Awakening probably has better quality in the actual music tracks. Ike's theme a best, though.

I think the characters in Awakening have better-written personalities, by and large, even though most of them are very stereotypical. Ike is still perhaps the best character, but damn if Awakening doesn't have a lot of great personalities, too. Lucina is one classy dame, Vaike and Owain are hilarious, Miriel and Laurent are fun, and a bunch more are great, too. but i just don't feel like listing them

Path of Radiance had Shinon, Titania, Ranulf, Oscar, Tibarn, Naesala, Haar, Black Knight, Soren, Mordecai, Lethe, Devdan, Reyson, Calil, Shiharam, Bastion and Nephenee for my picks as well-written, with others being fine but not sticking out in my mind as much.

 

[Nat Perry]

Also, Priam's theme kicks аss.

 

[Hero_of_Time95]

Awakening was my first FE game too and I personally love the game, shortcomings and all. Some of Chrom's dialogue was brilliant despite his personality being flat - actually, I'd say that pretty much every character in the game had some really good dialogue in their support conversations (possibly my favourite part of the game). Whether they were well written or not, I grew very attached to all of the playable characters (well, almost all; looking at you, Say'ri) and became fond of their quirks and personalities.
The fanservice does indeed suck; I'd been told previously that Fire Emblem was a series that generally avoided rampant sexualisation, so I was bothered by that. It's the part of the game I dislike most... and yet it's something that is still relatively tame compared to the fanservice in other games. I guess the best I can do is try to overlook it. At least Lucina managed to avoid it.

Thanks for the response! The support dialogues in Awakening was my absolute favorite part of the game. The irony of my style of gaming is that I am all about story, characters and MUSIC! I'll admit, I am definitely not too good in terms of being an ultimate strategist or fully understanding how stats and children work in the game....I kinda went with the flow on that one... But I did what I had do to keep the story moving! That soundtrack though!!!! The first time I heard that main theme......I was like...... Game music is da best!

Yeah, since writing this, I've played Awakening a lot more, and my views on it have softened somewhat. I've also warmed up to Chrom a bit more, despite his insistence that Robin forsake the world to save him/herself.

I still don't care for the fanservice, but as long as it doesn't get worse, it should be fine. If they want to put another loli bait character, though, please, for the love of all that is minty fresh, put some damn clothes on her. The people *****ing about Nowi on GameFAQs are at epidemic levels, and I think they do it now more than ever just to get under my skin, honestly.

Ike's games have a lot more quality in the maps, and more variety of maps/objectives. Awakening cuts out some of the more tedious parts, though. I do miss the skill allocation/reassignment of Dawn, but I don't miss the weapon weight/constitution. I miss Light Magic and amazing Sniper class, but I don't miss the totally linear game (the world map is so nice). I miss Halberdiers and Sentinels and crossbows and the Laguz royals, but Panne and the dragons of Awakening are better than most of the other Laguz from FE9&10, in that they can use human classes and skills. The Laguz were definitely well-developed in Dawn, but a lot of them were still weak or limited. Path of Radiance is probably better than both, but the in-battle graphics aren't that great. The music is a bit repetitive, too, though there are some good moments. Awakening probably has better quality in the actual music tracks. Ike's theme a best, though.

I think the characters in Awakening have better-written personalities, by and large, even though most of them are very stereotypical. Ike is still perhaps the best character, but damn if Awakening doesn't have a lot of great personalities, too. Lucina is one classy dame, Vaike and Owain are hilarious, Miriel and Laurent are fun, and a bunch more are great, too. but i just don't feel like listing them

Path of Radiance had Shinon, Titania, Ranulf, Oscar, Tibarn, Naesala, Haar, Black Knight, Soren, Mordecai, Lethe, Devdan, Reyson, Calil, Shiharam, Bastion and Nephenee for my picks as well-written, with others being fine but not sticking out in my mind as much.

Thank you for an awesome look on the older games Mouse! annndddd im not sure on how to add multiple responses on one reply...hows that done?

 

[Hong]

Hey there @ Hero_of_Time95 , and welcome to SmashBoards. :D

If you can, try to avoid double posting, and use the edit feature instead. It is advised that you check out the SmashBoards terms of service for further guidelines. Thanks. ^~^

For reference sake, when you want to add another post to respond to, when you click "Reply", it will quote the post wherever your cursor was in the text field.

 

[Hero_of_Time95]

Of course! sorry about that, I felt bad when I left it like that Appreciate the feedback/fix!

 

[True Blue Warrior]

Yeah, since writing this, I've played Awakening a lot more, and my views on it have softened somewhat. I've also warmed up to Chrom a bit more, despite his insistence that Robin forsake the world to save him/herself.

I still don't care for the fanservice, but as long as it doesn't get worse, it should be fine. If they want to put another loli bait character, though, please, for the love of all that is minty fresh, put some damn clothes on her. The people *****ing about Nowi on GameFAQs are at epidemic levels, and I think they do it now more than ever just to get under my skin, honestly.

This I agree with.

 

[☆Jazz☆]

Awakening was my first FE game too and I personally love the game, shortcomings and all. Some of Chrom's dialogue was brilliant despite his personality being flat - actually, I'd say that pretty much every character in the game had some really good dialogue in their support conversations (possibly my favourite part of the game). Whether they were well written or not, I grew very attached to all of the playable characters (well, almost all; looking at you, Say'ri) and became fond of their quirks and personalities.
The fanservice does indeed suck; I'd been told previously that Fire Emblem was a series that generally avoided rampant sexualisation, so I was bothered by that. It's the part of the game I dislike most... and yet it's something that is still relatively tame compared to the fanservice in other games. I guess the best I can do is try to overlook it. At least Lucina managed to avoid it.

This ^. Awakening was my first FE game also, and now i'm hooked.

 

[Robertman2]

Awakening was my first FE game too and I personally love the game, shortcomings and all. Some of Chrom's dialogue was brilliant despite his personality being flat - actually, I'd say that pretty much every character in the game had some really good dialogue in their support conversations (possibly my favourite part of the game). Whether they were well written or not, I grew very attached to all of the playable characters (well, almost all; looking at you, Say'ri) and became fond of their quirks and personalities.
The fanservice does indeed suck; I'd been told previously that Fire Emblem was a series that generally avoided rampant sexualisation, so I was bothered by that. It's the part of the game I dislike most... and yet it's something that is still relatively tame compared to the fanservice in other games. I guess the best I can do is try to overlook it. At least Lucina managed to avoid it.

Same.

 

[Tino]

Awakening is such a phenomenal game and I enjoyed every single minute of it. As it is the first Fire Emblem game I've played, it has made me a fan of the series; in fact, I'm still playing it now. The soundtrack to the game sounds really amazing and breathtaking too.

As a result of this, it made me wanna try out all the other Fire Emblem games I've missed out, such as the ones with Ike in it.

 

[Robertman2]

Awakening is such a phenomenal game and I enjoyed every single minute of it. As it is the first Fire Emblem game I've played, it has made me a fan of the series; in fact, I'm still playing it now. The soundtrack to the game sounds really amazing and breathtaking too.

As a result of this, it made me wanna try out all the other Fire Emblem games I've missed out, such as the ones with Ike in it.

Too bad Path of Radience is $200 on Amazon.

 

[Tino]

Too bad Path of Radience is $200 on Amazon.

For a new one or used one?

 

[Robertman2]

For a new one or used one?

Used, I think.

 

[Tino]

Used, I think.

Man, that's just crazy. I can't afford that...

What about Radiant Dawn?

 

[Robertman2]

Man, that's just crazy. I can't afford that...

What about Radiant Dawn?

No clue.

 

[Tino]

No clue.

Oh well, but maybe one of these days I'm gonna try those out

 

[dezeray112]

I've been playing the Fire Emblem series since 2004 (after Marth and Roy's introduction in Melee.)

Out of the series that I've played, Awakening is my personal favorite so far.

 

[GunGunW]

Kind of disappointing to see this thread be full of mostly negative opinions. To those who were saying Marth is a poor character, we have to remember that he comes from 1990, a time when the standard for heroes was only the ability to respawn. Even the Final Fantasy series, known for its fantastic characters, starred the "Warrior of Light". We hadn't really reached a point where we were ready for a Radiant Dawn (especially since I wasn't even born yet ). Of course Ike is the better lord, he stars in the game that could be called the most complete evolution of the Fire Emblem series.
Comparing the two is like comparing Caterpie to Mewtwo; of course Marth isn't going to measure up. Unfortunately, I have no excuses for my boy Roy. I have played Sword of Seals. It was pretty laughable in most respects. Dieck helped... a little.

Luckily for me, I am not on Serenes Forest forums. I am on Smashboards! My main exposure to these characters hasn't been through Fire Emblem, though I love the series. It has been through Super Smash Bros. And in the context of SSB, Roy and Marth were way cooler than Ike to me until very recently. I hate sluggish fighting styles but with the viciously fast fighting style PM gave him Ike is one of my favorite characters to play now. Also those beautiful HD pictures of buff Ike...Embarrass


I don't have to care about the depth of the character in FE, because that depth won't translate over into SSB. "You'll get no sympathy from me" doesn't mean anything more than Mario shouting "Whaaaahooo!" All I really care about is whether or not the character is fun to play as, and aesthetically pleasing. That's why I can be happy about Ike and Marth being in SSB4. That's why I can count myself a supporter for Chrom in over many other deserving characters. And I can even hope for some HD ph1r3 from my boy.

Disjointed Hitboxes for SSB4.

Um... I like Marth more than Ike.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Marth isn't a poor character at all, play Fire Emblem 12.

He's not as well written as Ike sure, but definitely not the blandest Lord ever. In fact, I like FE12 Marth so much that Marth actually IS my favorite Lord after Ike.

 

[AidanTheGreat]

I loved awakening, bought it a couple days after release and loved it a ton. First fire emblem game ive ever played and loved it. Before than, it's kind of interesting how I always played as fire emblem characters in smash. Ike is one of my favorites.

 

[guedes the brawler]

Marth, Ike, Chrom. perfect Fe representation. damn you, sakurai.

 

[JaidynReiman]

Marth, Ike, Chrom. perfect Fe representation. damn you, sakurai.

Yup. Perfect. Three blue-haired sword wielders in leadership roles to represent a full history of characters with a large variety of weapons, appearances, classes, roles, and fighting styles. Excellent way to represent such a diverse cast of characters and gameplay; pick three characters extremely similar to one another and call it a day.

 

[Carrill]

In defense of Tharja, the male Dark Mages actually wear less clothing.

I actually enjoy her character, despite the sexualization. She's like the Shepherds' answer to Raven from the Teen Titans. She's incredibly gloomy and sour, yet she's extremely sharp and sarcastic. Surprisingly, most of the humor I find in the game comes from her. I remember one fight where she happened to be paired with her daughter, and her battle dialogue was literally an apathetic "I guess I help..."

Honestly, I don't really care about any of the fanservice centering around her. I think she's a badass and I really enjoyed her throughout the game. Her support with Noire ended on a touching not, I thought.

 

[guedes the brawler]

Yup. Perfect. Three blue-haired sword wielders in leadership roles to represent a full history of characters with a large variety of weapons, appearances, classes, roles, and fighting styles. Excellent way to represent such a diverse cast of characters and gameplay; pick three characters extremely similar to one another and call it a day.

pick the 3 most important protagonist of the series. perfect.

yes, fE has a lot of stuff. but 95% of that stuff is completely unviable in smash due to being locked to nobodies as of now.

you might think "wow, Robin magic" but Chrom could've brought Lances and Axes too; not to mention Skills (which could be magic in a way).

 

[Unicorn]

Please don't try to make the argument that Chrom would be a better choice for Smash then Robin. I'm pretty much a Chrom fanboy and even I can see that Robin's diversity and likelihood of being a repeat character in FE completely trump anything Chrom can bring to the table.

Also, Raven>>>>>Tharja.

 

[PSIGuy]

Yup. Perfect. Three blue-haired sword wielders in leadership roles to represent a full history of characters with a large variety of weapons, appearances, classes, roles, and fighting styles. Excellent way to represent such a diverse cast of characters and gameplay; pick three characters extremely similar to one another and call it a day.

Apparently the best way to represent Metroid games which feature isolated areas and a single lonesome protagonist was having the same character be two fighters, so it's not like what you're suggesting is all that nuts in comparison.

I think it's pretty funny how both Marth and Ike returned despite so many people assuming they'd be cut. I'm glad they stayed, and I can easily see them staying for Smash 5; FE14/15/etc will have a new My Unit who can get promoted and Lucina will be old-and-busted by the next FE game. Meanwhile, Marth is FE's face and Ike is insanely popular despite his games selling poorly and being a gen old.

 

[True Blue Warrior]

Yup. Perfect. Three blue-haired sword wielders in leadership roles to represent a full history of characters with a large variety of weapons, appearances, classes, roles, and fighting styles. Excellent way to represent such a diverse cast of characters and gameplay; pick three characters extremely similar to one another and call it a day.

But we already have three blue haired sword-wielders!

 

[Aninymouse]

I'm quite content with how everything turned out, in the end.

...Especially since my thread survived the Great Ike Forum Purge of 2014! Wow. I am thankful for that.

 

[NineWholeGrains]

I'll fully admit to being filled with rage at the prospect of Ike being replaced by Chrom. I just couldn't stomach replacing (IMO, of course) the series' best Lord with a Lord that wasn't even the main character in his own game. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed a lot of things Awakening did, and acknowledge it was the direction the series needed to go. There were definitely characters who made my favorites list, particularly Henry and Severa. But the game just didn't deliver in the same areas as previous Fire Emblems. I yearned for the story/characters of the Radiant Saga, the scale of the Judgral wars, and the difficulty of Hector Hard Mode.

All that said, I too am satisfied with the way things turned out. Marth's obvious inclusion, Ike's triumphant (and muscular return), and the surprise additions of both Robin and Lucina left me very positive for the future of FE. Now here's hoping for a third game in the Tellius series on Wii U with 30+ chapters of FE4 scale.

 

[guedes the brawler]

Please don't try to make the argument that Chrom would be a better choice for Smash then Robin. I'm pretty much a Chrom fanboy and even I can see that Robin's diversity and likelihood of being a repeat character in FE completely trump anything Chrom can bring to the table.

Also, Raven>>>>>Tharja.

Robin only has 2,5 weapon types, only has 2 swords, has 0 skills, and 0 items.

There is far too much room for a Chrom moveset that is better than what we got.

 

[gsninja]

"Goes through thread."

"Sees posters pretending that Fire Emblem has never had fanservice, along with pretending that any of the games without Lunatic are harder than Awakening, etc."

Please.

Lol this.

Like a lot of other people, Melee introduced me to Fire Emblem and therefore got me started on FE7 as my first game. My current favorite FEs stand as FE4 and FE10, and Ike as my favorite Lord, so I can't really understate how much I love that Ike got a roster spot in both Brawl AND Sm4sh.

As for Awakening, it was a good game, but it suffered from a really choppy plot, horrid map design, no objectives outside of routs, and really noticeable unit imbalance; on Hard mode, I could mostly steamroll everything without even having to necessitate pairing up (No grinding), but in Lunatic(+), pairing up was required if you didn't want to get blasted just by the common foot soldiers. Lunatic+ was just stupid on every possible level. The map design problems were mainly in the second half of the game, when basically every map was open and degraded every battle to the objective of "I hope my units are sturdy enough to tank 50+ enemies that all have the potential to kill."

Lastly, as for Chrom, he's hardly the worst FE character, but I'm really happy Robin made it instead.

 

[True Blue Warrior]

Lol this.

Lastly, as for Chrom, he's hardly the worst FE character, but I'm really happy Robin made it instead.

Who are your least favourite FE lords?

 

[Sol0ke]

You know who's my least favorite?
Roy