Fire Emblem series

[NerdShamer]

They really were, tbh. May as well give up animating the actual characters if you want to pull that shit. Oh, and voice acting, too.

And the backgrounds that they used were kind of shit, along with the noticeable absence of props.

It's kind of funny to see two people standing their, pretending that they're sitting down to drink some fancy tea.

 

[Etched]

And the backgrounds that they used were kind of shit, along with the noticeable absence of props.

It's kind of funny to see two people standing their, pretending that they're sitting down to drink some fancy tea.

I still remember my pretty visceral disappointment at the state of 3H cutscenes compared to Awakening/Fates cutscenes. The way they all take place in some weird little arena with flat backgrounds as opposed to a real place, the maybe dozen or so of still and lifeless poses and gestures, the complete lack of any objects or any set pieces aside from the characters themselves; it's laughably bad. Awakening/Fates didn't have groundbreaking in-engine cutscenes, but they took place an real areas with changing camera angles, they actually interacted with props like weapons and the like, and they actually emoted more with poses and actions than the 3H characters. You don't see anything like Sumia smacking Chrom or Sully practicing with her weapon while Chom talks to Marth/Lucina in 3H cutscenes.

While I'm talking about them, the animated cutscenes are much shitter in 3H than they were in Awakening/Fates, or even the Tellius games for their time. They went for this shitty sub 30FPS framerate to save money, which makes all the characters jerk around unnaturally when they actually have to animate motion. That is when they actually animate motion; I still remember that awful cutscene of Byleth "walking" out to the Gaerreg Mach courtyard or whatever- the way they make Byleth sort of walk in place while the camera pans around and behind him is so sloppy. The colors are all sorta washed out and pale too in certain cutscenes as well, in my opinion. Compare all this to Awakening and Fates' cutscenes, which still hold up and look great now aside from the resolution crunch of the 3DS, and it's just sad.

To be fair to 3H, I guess, Echoes started the trend of the shitty cutscenes with the animation company they went to, but that doesn't really excuse it. It's odd actually, given how the newer cutscenes of Echoes and 3H reek of trying to cut costs despite Awakening and Fates selling so well. You can tell they went all out with making the Awakening/Fates cutscenes look great given how most of them (at least in Awakening) are frontloaded towards the beginning of the game to hook you in. I still remember playing the Awakening demo back in like 2013 and getting hooked into buying the game, and a lot of it were those cutscenes.

 

[Sergeant Major Buzzkill]

What kind of shit is this when a 3DS game does animating better than a Switch one? I was playing Fates: Birthright last evening and while it wasn’t groundbreaking, the shit just looks more natural than TH.

 

[NerdShamer]

the complete lack of any objects or any set pieces aside from the characters themselves

"We're too lazy to create an model of an teacup with some snacks, so here's an picture of them!"

What kind of shit is this when a 3DS game does animating better than a Switch one? I was playing Fates: Birthright last evening and while it wasn’t groundbreaking, the shit just looks more natural than TH.

I think it's because IntSys had the Sword of Damocles hanging over them back in those years, which is why they needed to make something worthwhile.

As for 3H, I know that the game was outsourced to Koei, who makes those Warriors games. But they, of all people should know how to animate stuff to the point where it wouldn't feel stilted.

 

[Trashfire Garbagefuck]

I remember being impressed when Lyn, Eliwood or Hector would look directly at me or change facial expressions, of which they had maybe three. Even someone bobbing up and down and blinking emphatically was enough for me. I liked all those still images they'd use for important parts too, I don't know why Sacred Stones cut all that. The credits showed a bunch of them but none feature in the game proper.

 

[marisa #]

I remember being impressed when Lyn, Eliwood or Hector would look directly at me or change facial expressions, of which they had maybe three. Even someone bobbing up and down and blinking emphatically was enough for me. I liked all those still images they'd use for important parts too, I don't know why Sacred Stones cut all that. The credits showed a bunch of them but none feature in the game proper.

Been a while since I touched FE8, but played it a lot as a kid. Thought I remembered there being several stills in the campaign, but for whatever reason they shoved them all in the 3rd act. They definitely should've spread them out more.

 

[Peru oso donas]

This is why i hope Koei never makes a new FE (at least one that isn't 3H or musou related)

 

[Basic Blonde Boy]

While I'm talking about them, the animated cutscenes are much shitter in 3H than they were in Awakening/Fates, or even the Tellius games for their time. They went for this shitty sub 30FPS framerate to save money, which makes all the characters jerk around unnaturally when they actually have to animate motion. That is when they actually animate motion; I still remember that awful cutscene of Byleth "walking" out to the Gaerreg Mach courtyard or whatever- the way they make Byleth sort of walk in place while the camera pans around and behind him is so sloppy. The colors are all sorta washed out and pale too in certain cutscenes as well, in my opinion. Compare all this to Awakening and Fates' cutscenes, which still hold up and look great now aside from the resolution crunch of the 3DS, and it's just sad.

The game was rushed and overly ambitious. I love 3H, but even I could tell plenty of corners were cut. This becomes very evident in Edelgard's route. I am guessing many of the game's faults are due to over-ambition, the jump to new hardware/HD, and probably a deadline set by Nintendo that was far too early, but FE isn't Zelda so not much leeway.

From what it seems, and granite I am basing this off just common knowledge things, the team likely had like 2, maybe 3 years of development going off the fact that Echoes released in 2017, and so did Warriors. Paper Mario also released in 2016, and Fates in 2015/2016. There was also another Paper Mario in 2020. Taking all this in, There was only a brief little over 1 1/2 year gap between releases Intelligent Systems had from Warriors to 3H. Seeing as Warriors was the basis of 3H, not much could have been done prior I would assume. To me, this seems like 3H was a title with little time and probably split teams what with Paper Mario, FE Echoes, and Warriors around it. Add in that they wanted 4 routes, and it was probably too much to handle.

Maybe the team should have stuck to one route instead of trying to 1 up Fates. Who know?

 

[Chiri]

The game was rushed and overly ambitious. I love 3H, but even I could tell plenty of corners were cut. This becomes very evident in Edelgard's route. I am guessing many of the game's faults are due to over-ambition, the jump to new hardware/HD, and probably a deadline set by Nintendo that was far too early, but FE isn't Zelda so not much leeway.

From what it seems, and granite I am basing this off just common knowledge things, the team likely had like 2, maybe 3 years of development going off the fact that Echoes released in 2017, and so did Warriors. Paper Mario also released in 2016, and Fates in 2015/2016. There was also another Paper Mario in 2020. Taking all this in, There was only a brief little over 1 1/2 year gap between releases Intelligent Systems had from Warriors to 3H. Seeing as Warriors was the basis of 3H, not much could have been done prior I would assume. To me, this seems like 3H was a title with little time and probably split teams what with Paper Mario, FE Echoes, and Warriors around it. Add in that they wanted 4 routes, and it was probably too much to handle.

Maybe the team should have stuck to one route instead of trying to 1 up Fates. Who know?

I read somewhere that it was originally just Silver Snow and Azure Moon. And then the same ISys exec who decided it would be a good idea to bloat Fates even further decided that 3H should have three campaigns, with Crimson Flower being added real late in development as a "what if..." scenario. The future quality of the series will depend on somebody, anybody, being able to to say no to his demand that there be like three full-fledged routes.

 

[NerdShamer]

New trailer just got released.

The map might be Fort Merceus or something, but the redesigns for the GD are more or less the same ones that we've already seen.

 

[woowie queen]

New trailer just got released.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=LNllTZWziQc
The map might be Fort Merceus or something, but the redesigns for the GD are more or less the same ones that we've already seen.

how come golden deer has got the best redesigns? both black eagles and blue lions had some duds here and there, i can say i love all from golden deer. i was scared to see lorenz and ignatz, considering how bad were their academy phase hairstyles, and they got very good looks.

 

[Flaming Insignias]

how come golden deer has got the best redesigns? both black eagles and blue lions had some duds here and there, i can say i love all from golden deer. i was scared to see lorenz and ignatz, considering how bad were their academy phase hairstyles, and they got very good looks.

I am mostly happy, and I really like long-haired Mary, but I am a little bummed about Leonie's hair. Still better than Ingrid's, and I only hope for the best from my redhead tomboy waifu.

 

[Basic Blonde Boy]

I really hope Warriors includes the original time-skip designs. Feels wrong to have a massive hack and slash based on FE3H without punished Dimitri going feral.

I read somewhere that it was originally just Silver Snow and Azure Moon. And then the same ISys exec who decided it would be a good idea to bloat Fates even further decided that 3H should have three campaigns, with Crimson Flower being added real late in development as a "what if..." scenario. The future quality of the series will depend on somebody, anybody, being able to to say no to his demand that there be like three full-fledged routes.

So, how the hell did Verdant Wind happen then?
I like Claude, but he always came off the most out of place of the houses, like they forced him in with the Slither shit. He is a complete outsider both in-character and in-story. Having it be a Dimitri vs Edelgard narrative would have made the game much more complete as most of the interesting writing came from those two houses.

 

[NerdShamer]

So, how the hell did Verdant Wind happen then?

I'm assuming that someone wanted an fight with Nemesis or with Team Slither, both of which are largely out of place with the setting. I still think that VW is an cop-out with Claude playing medieval detective.

 

[Basic Blonde Boy]

I'm assuming that someone wanted an fight with Nemesis or with Team Slither, both of which are largely out of place with the setting. I still think that VW is an cop-out with Claude playing medieval detective.

Agree.
3H has a lot of potential and great characters, but a lot of stuff just feels added for padding, while not given enough time to develop anything. I hate the idea of cutting out the Golden Deer entirely as it had some strong cast members in Marianne, Lysthia, Lorenz (surprisingly), etc., but is it wrong to feel like characters are more interesting with other houses? Maybe they could have split the deer between the two. Have Edelgard take on Lorenz, Lysthia given their story relevancy to her, and Dimitri definitely takes Marianne and Raphael. The difficult part would just be splitting up the other 4. If I had to guess, Ignatz and Hilda seem like better fits for the Blue Lions, while Leonnie and Claude seem better for Black Eagles. IDK?

 

[Flaming Insignias]

I'm assuming that someone wanted an fight with Nemesis or with Team Slither, both of which are largely out of place with the setting. I still think that VW is an cop-out with Claude playing medieval detective.

I still feel that SS would have been better for that, with Rhea coming to terms with her past and then burying Nemesis once and for all. Hell, throw in unique classes for the Saints, maybe even throw in Indech and Macuil, and it'd be great

 

[Etched]

The game was rushed and overly ambitious. I love 3H, but even I could tell plenty of corners were cut. This becomes very evident in Edelgard's route. I am guessing many of the game's faults are due to over-ambition, the jump to new hardware/HD, and probably a deadline set by Nintendo that was far too early, but FE isn't Zelda so not much leeway.

The game was actually delayed twice. First it had a 2018 release date, than an early 2019 release date, and then they delayed it even further to July of 2019. And then the game released and it was still very obviously in an unfinished state.

The game had plenty of time in the oven if they just kept the scope reasonable. They even had Koei Techmo helping to develop it. I think the real blame lies on IS for falling into feature creep bloat, as well as most likely incompetent developers. The game has a definite "mile wide inch deep" feeling with how many mechanics are shoehorned in. It reeks of people going "hey wouldn't it be cool if..." and then there's nobody there to reel things back to reality. I have a feeling a lot of new "talent" hired during the Awakening boom for the company were totally out of their element developing 3H for the Switch, and there weren't enough old guard left to reel things in. I've seen PS2 games look better graphically than 3H.

So, how the hell did Verdant Wind happen then?

Like Chiri said, Verdant Wind being a route most likely came about from someone with enough sway at IS going "well, they liked it when we did multiple routes in Fates, so let's it again!" and so then they took Claude and made a whole route with him. I think Claude always existed in development, as a sort of unplayable third party character like Eldigan from FE4 that you would interact with throughout the game, but he wasn't meant to be a main character or have too much focus on him. So when they decided they wanted another route and picked him, there either wasn't enough time left or they didn't know what to do with a character that wasn't meant to be a big part of the overall story. As a result Claude's whole route gameplay-wise ended up being a sort of copy of Silver Snow except for the last chapter (which I believe was probably Silver Snow's last chapter anyways considering how much of an ass pull Silver Snow's chapter is), and he ended up having no personal stake in the main plot or real connection to Dimitri and Edelgard. The game would've been better off if the development time spent fleshing out Claude and Verdant Wind was instead spent on Silver Snow and Azure Moon, and Claude remained a third party character that you could interact with throughout the story.

 

[Basic Blonde Boy]

The game has a definite "mile wide inch deep" feeling with how many mechanics are shoehorned in. It reeks of people going "hey wouldn't it be cool if..." and then there's nobody there to reel things back to reality. I have a feeling a lot of new "talent" hired during the Awakening boom for the company were totally out of their element developing 3H for the Switch, and there weren't enough old guard left to reel things in. I've seen PS2 games look better graphically than 3H.

I am not sure this is entirely true. During the 7th gen, it was pretty common for Japanese companies to struggle going HD, which is why western devs were so prominent. Nintendo entered the sphere in the 8th gen, and most of the studios that did really didn’t make use of the tech at first. Look at Mario’s first entries and they were the most bland looking things possible. Zelda took an eternity for its first HD game, and really, so many of Nintendo’s titles had this poor/bland look be it Kirby or Smash, etc..

3H was the first HD FE title, so it probably suffered heavily for it. I don’t think even the old dogs could have lead them through it smoothly.

Like Chiri said, Verdant Wind being a route most likely came about from someone with enough sway at IS going "well, they liked it when we did multiple routes in Fates, so let's it again!" and so then they took Claude and made a whole route with him. I think Claude always existed in development, as a sort of unplayable third party character like Eldigan from FE4 that you would interact with throughout the game, but he wasn't meant to be a main character or have too much focus on him. So when they decided they wanted another route and picked him, there either wasn't enough time left or they didn't know what to do with a character that wasn't meant to be a big part of the overall story. As a result Claude's whole route gameplay-wise ended up being a sort of copy of Silver Snow except for the last chapter (which I believe was probably Silver Snow's last chapter anyways considering how much of an ass pull Silver Snow's chapter is), and he ended up having no personal stake in the main plot or real connection to Dimitri and Edelgard. The game would've been better off if the development time spent fleshing out Claude and Verdant Wind was instead spent on Silver Snow and Azure Moon, and Claude remained a third party character that you could interact with throughout the story.

I feel like the Golden Deer were always meant to be playable as their supports are pretty strong, with other houses? The Golden Deer is weird in that they feel like a comedy show together, which clashes hard with the mentally ill Blue Lions house, and the very politically divided Black Eagles. Except, when Deer are with other houses, a bit more of the seriousness kicks in, along with a few interactions between each other. I wonder if the Deer were attached to other houses prior? Though, a weird thing I recall that kills this theory is some info about Ashe initially being a Deer.

 

[Scarlett Johansson]

I really hope Warriors includes the original time-skip designs. Feels wrong to have a massive hack and slash based on FE3H without punished Dimitri going feral.


So, how the hell did Verdant Wind happen then?
I like Claude, but he always came off the most out of place of the houses, like they forced him in with the Slither shit. He is a complete outsider both in-character and in-story. Having it be a Dimitri vs Edelgard narrative would have made the game much more complete as most of the interesting writing came from those two houses.

Slither you say

This plays when Golden Deer walks in..

Hilda and Bernadetta definitely have the worst hairstyles by far. Marianne has a great hairstyle. Lythisea looks so good!

God now I'm upset because I just remembered about what Billy Kametz is going through.

Am I the only one who wishes Anna, Heinemann, Manuela, and Flayn get new looks as well?

 

[HIVidaBoheme]

"Compelling" storylines from the NOA Website for Three Hopes, absolute yawnfest:



Basically taking the TWSITD bits from Verdant Wind/Silver Snow to slap in on Black Eagles, Blue Lions stays the same and now Golden Deer will deal with niggers no one cared about.