Why Was Fire Emblem Fates So Controversial

Why Was Fire Emblem Fates So Controversial?

Fire Emblem Fates could have been the perfect follow-up to Awakening’s success. Instead, it’s an infamous successor that divides fans to this day.

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Why Was Fire Emblem Fates So Controversial

Fire Emblem Awakening marked a new beginning for Intelligent Systems’ classic tactical fantasy franchise. Not only was the game itself a remarkable celebration of the series’ mechanics and mythology, it revitalized global interest in the property and brought it to new heights of popularity. With Fire Emblem suddenly more successful than ever before, it was inevitable that the series would continue.

Unfortunately, while not necessarily a bad game, Fire Emblem Fates proved to be more controversial than Awakening. While its predecessor had some detractors, it was generally regarded as a strong addition to the franchise. By contrast, Fates enjoyed critical acclaim upon release, but it didn’t take long for fans to become divided. From its confused writing to awkward mechanics and over-sexualized designs, Fates remains a classic example of a follow-up that is both close and far from perfection.

Why Was Fire Emblem Fates So Controversial

From a narrative standpoint, Fire Emblem Fates’ problems begin almost as soon as the game itself does. Part of the problem is that it’s a story in three parts. Two titles were sold at retail: Birthright, which sees players defending their birth home, and Conquest, in which they side with the family they grew up with. Later, a third path called Revelation was released as downloadable content. What this meant was that, to get the full picture, players would have to buy three whole games. Worse still, the picture didn’t make much sense.

Fire Emblem is known for its interesting worlds and well-developed conflicts, so it’s strange that Fates’ world-building is lacking. The story revolves around a conflict between the kingdoms of Nohr and Hoshido, respectively modeled after European and Japanese culture. However, their goals are poorly-explained and contradictory. Nohr’s motive for invading is paradoxically only explained in Hoshido’s campaign, in which it’s explained that she conquers other nations only for the resources to feed her starving people.

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This motivation could have allowed for plenty of interesting moral dilemmas, but such opportunities are frequently squandered. Instead of exploring the ethics of necessary evils, Nohr’s story is a one-dimensional invasion where the player must stand back and let cartoonish super-villains decimate innocents for arbitrary reasons. Revelation isn’t much better, throwing all pretense of logic out the window to introduce an army of invisible zombies that were secretly behind everything.

Why Was Fire Emblem Fates So Controversial

The writing gets even worse when examining Fates as a complete trinity. In Birthright, the Hoshidans express surprise that their enemies were starving and insist they would have shared their resources had they known. Despite this supposed ignorance, Conquest’s support conversations depict Hoshidan assassins as skilled enough to infiltrate the player’s inter-dimensional castle. It is, to put it mildly, somewhat unbelievable that an entire country can’t figure out out why their neighbors are attacking, but a few of its grunts can break into alternate universes.

Outside of its story, Fates has other issues, mainly how objectifying it was. While Awakening certainly had some fan-service, Fates took it to an extreme. Between the ridiculous outfits for female characters (such as armored thongs on Nohr’s knights), to the way cutscenes frequently sexualize Camilla — the player character’s sister — many fans found the games uncomfortable. Further problems, like questionable supports, a bizarre face-touching minigame and needing to marry off young characters to unlock all the characters didn’t help, either.

All of this is made worse by Fates’ needlessly grim tone. While Fire Emblem has never shied away from depicting the brutality of war, it typically has enough moments of levity that the darkness doesn’t become all-encompassing. With some exceptions, like the adorable Elise, Fates’ protagonists are cynical, and its irredeemable villains make for one of the series’ darkest games yet. However, whereas titles like Genealogy of the Holy War are dark because they explore difficult themes, Fates indulged misery for its own sake, forcing players to permit war crimes or commit genocide just to move the plot along.

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Frustratingly, none of this had to be the case. If Fates had taken itself less-seriously and was less objectifying towards women (or at least gave the male cast the same treatment), it might have been celebrated as light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek steamy fun. Alternatively, if the developers had wanted to tell a more adult story about politics and sexuality, they should have focused more on the writing and less on trivial distractions. Fates tries to be both at once, and the specter of compromise predictably haunts every one of its design decisions.

Fates’ greatest victim, however, might be its gameplay. All three versions are full of great maps, and the new balances to weapons helps even basic equipment stay relevant for most of the campaigns. The rebalanced Pair-Up system is superior to its predecessor’s in almost every way, and many of the new skills and classes are fantastic additions. When it all comes together, Fates can feel like a definitive upgrade over Awakening. It’s just a shame, then, that its weaknesses overshadow its clear strengths.

Fire Emblem Fates isn’t a bad strategy game, but it’s a game that’s unlikely to ever escape its controversial legacy. Its questionable content, problematic tone and confusing writing make it less fun to play than other games in the long-running franchise, regardless of its mechanical advancements. Perhaps, some day, Intelligent Systems will go back and remake Fates with a clearer vision, but until then, players looking for a darker Fire Emblem experience should stick with Three Houses.

Link Source : https://www.cbr.com/fire-emblem-fates-controversial/

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