Fire Emblem's Avatar Problem

Maybe the real Fire Emblem was the friends we made along the way

#fireemblem #fireemblemengage

[chickennugget]

Honourable mention to Shez from Three Hopes for basically just being a renameable character, and also making Byleth not be silent

[PregnantAdamSandler]

The moment you couldn't customize the physical appearance of your character like in Awakening and Fates was the moment trying to have an avatar character didn't make sense anymore

[someguycj]

One of the most disappointing aspects of Three Houses is that Byleth could’ve been a great secondary protagonist if he was allowed to speak. The idea of an emotionless and coldblooded mercenary being thrust into a mentor position, needing to guide young minds along the right path, slowly becoming attached to them over the course of the year could’ve been powerful. It would’ve made even the darkest and most impactful moments in Three House so much better, and it would’ve cemented him as truly irreplaceable in the game.

[vincentcircharo]

the god shattering star incest bit for fates had me actually cackling

[guccimasterd]

I am Mark. You are Mark. We are all Mark. Mark is love.

[andrewnicholas]

I think I just found a hidden gem YouTuber.

[eduardoaltr]

5:45 "awakening was the first game to introduce marriage as a mechanic"
FE4 fans: 💀

[rhettmitchell]

I like the idea of Byleth, bc being a professor would naturally entail that you’d need an avatar character to teach all the students, but them being silent (even though they talk CONSTANTLY in canon) among a fully-voiced cast, yet still having a personality under there that you have to dig for, is kinda wacko. And I do love the explanation for why they’re silent, but that could’ve just been an explanation for why they’re so stoic. Oh WAIT, but it is!! The game says Byleth is outwardly emotionless bc of the heart transplant thing. The devs could’ve just stopped there and made Byleth voiced, but just *not* have them be very excitable in the delivery of the lines. Three Hopes makes Byleth SUCH a better character

[typicalgalaxy]

One other thing that I dislike about Fire Emblem avatars is that they’re all so tame. They can’t have a whole lot going on personality-wise to not risk having the player hate the avatar, which would defeat the entire purpose of them.

Meanwhile the writers have a lot more freedom when writing the side characters, who can be much more fun and relatable to specific people, because not everyone needs to not hate them.

[EraSunrise]

the Mark clip from invincible was so random, it made me laugh LMAO

[kikofernandez]

oh yeah marriage in 3h where you can marry your grandmother, who is, tecnically your mother and part your father, who is part your grandmother who is part yourself.

[Enavian]

Honestly, I like the Mark/Robin (and to a lesser extent Byleth) approach. In FE, you're making a lot of decisions. It's just that practically all of them are tactical decisions in battle. So having a self-insert character who is responsible for the tactical decisions in battle, and NOT the inflexible decisions of the plot, makes sense to me. Whereas a character like Corrin/Alear feels wierd, cuz their role as protagonist in a fixed-plot story fights with their role as a self-insert: Corrin listens to the player on the battlefield, and ignores their desires everywhere else.

[SpeedStar]

Robin is definitely the best one since they have their own identity without feeling like they are stepping too much into the self-insert role.

[neckapples]

Funny how you get to the same conclussion that I got way back but for different reasons, for me the actual straw that broke the camel's back was Byleth. As I can still name Mark, Robin, and Corrin with those names and convince myself that is isn't supposed to be me. But then Byleth being a Silent protagonist on a game whose one of its strongest perks is that it's fully voice acted just makes me not stand him. Even if I name him Byleth, I can't escape the fact that they are trying to push the "Hey that's you" move for how bland he is.

[jinxtheunluckypony]

The idea of forcing an Avatar into Genealogy is legitimately hilarious to me considering the actual plot of that game. It would be an absolutely awful inclusion but a part of me really wants to see them try to do it anyway.

[technicallythecenteroftheu]

Good vid overall, but I would like to put in a small addendum that Bopper pointed out. Corrin isn't poorly written because they're naive and make bad decisions. Character flaws are necessary to good writing. That's why I think you went too easy on Robin, he's actually flawless in the context of the game, just a pure beacon of virtue and good. Corrin is poorly written because they're never punished.for it. No matter what route you take, every sympathetic character takes time to assure you that you're completely right and perfect.

[ianmckee]

I like th3 way Mark works. I always liked it when i got one of those little asides ftom specific characters on esch map. Felt like they were reacting to what was going on.

[projectmessiah]

I actually like Kris for how funny his whole existence kinda is. He's also a fun unit. Then Robin was relatively well handled but then all the avatars since have really jumped the shark although i do like Byleths backstory and design at least. I admittedly enough enjoy self inserting as avatars but i would really love the next non remake to have a legit main character.

[infinitezion]

Whats really funny about Alear is throughout the game every single time someone worships her she gets increasingly uncomfortable, since from her point of view she just woke up and got placed in a position of power. The problem i have is the game presents two aspects of Alear that they never fully push, the first being fell dragon Alear who's whole demeanor is extremely different to the Alear we've come to know as their more violent and unhinged pre Lumera. And then Alear the coward who's afraid to fight but is constantly forced into situations because her believers need her to step into her mothers shoes.

Wish they expanded on her character much more.

[Henrink]

You are the type of channel that I love to share around. Good delivery, fun, seems well informed (I really don't know about FE) and captivating in a topic I shouldn't care