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Dec. 12th, 2025 12:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kradeelav(crossposted from tumblr, tags included.)
on the Fire Emblem series' general trend towards marrying as a gameplay gimmick, at least beyond the "yeay"/"nay" polarization.
* on average, i think i slightly prefer (older) games where there's no marriage gimmick since it feels at times a slight "hack" to get the player to be emotionally involved in the characters without necessarily having to have stronger writing. (this is coming from an ardent selfshipper. i get it, i get the appeal. but i don't trust corporations with not reaching for the easy money/engagement that comes with this gimmick, not these days. fanfic is where this shines because there's tremendous effort the writer has to make and it's through that love and effort that often makes a surprisingly good story/character study.)
* (i throw in both [player character] x general character and general character ships here in this definition). while older games like tellius did give you "proto" marriageable gameplay by allowing you to choose an A-support ending for certian characters or not, it was never emphasized as a feature and functionally did not change the writing.
* that said i do think there are exceptional times there's interesting and unique stories that have to have the romance factor. (the gothic horror of rev!gunter/corrin wouldn't be the same without the incest subtext), but i would argue with gunter's general importance in Rev and his plot-connection with corrin gave that the necessary writing arc foundation.
* there's a fascinating comparison to make about the marriage gimmick with characters who have a pretty "set" personality but customizable physical features (corrin) versus a "???"/vague personality but very set physical features (byleth). (imo - with corrin's very set past & personality, corrin should have just been a static character with no customization; felt like that brought nothing to the table and was left over from 'whatever worked in awakening for mad money'.)
* i think if a game were to have the marriage/interactive aspect, i prefer vagueness on both (personality & physical features) of the player character. it really wouldn't have been hard to commit with byleth by an overlarge robe, custom features, especially since their backstory's pretty separate from the rest of the cast. "blank slate" characters can work, but i personally feel there has to be thematic & plot & genre reasons attached. (this is very subjective but I played solely as a non-white character in ME2/3 which imo gave those runs a fascinating metatextual conversation with how sci-fi as a genre treats certian folks in general. knowing the context of sci-fi as a literary genre heightened the experience here with a blank slate character, where there were options to lean into unexpected topics corporations don't generally go.)
tl;dr - imo, marriage gimmick ages better when there's underlying genre, plot, and thematic intention and conflict somewhere versus a cash grab.
#not like. *actually* conflicted about this but i've been having complex feelings about this (especially with feh).#because i don't think the writing in the series is getting Better and i'm becoming more aware of the cash grab influences#('addiction by design' is a hell of a book fwiw)#but! man! when it works it works. but i also don't want to be like 'it works b/c it's my blorbos' hypocritical u know
on the Fire Emblem series' general trend towards marrying as a gameplay gimmick, at least beyond the "yeay"/"nay" polarization.
* on average, i think i slightly prefer (older) games where there's no marriage gimmick since it feels at times a slight "hack" to get the player to be emotionally involved in the characters without necessarily having to have stronger writing. (this is coming from an ardent selfshipper. i get it, i get the appeal. but i don't trust corporations with not reaching for the easy money/engagement that comes with this gimmick, not these days. fanfic is where this shines because there's tremendous effort the writer has to make and it's through that love and effort that often makes a surprisingly good story/character study.)
* (i throw in both [player character] x general character and general character ships here in this definition). while older games like tellius did give you "proto" marriageable gameplay by allowing you to choose an A-support ending for certian characters or not, it was never emphasized as a feature and functionally did not change the writing.
* that said i do think there are exceptional times there's interesting and unique stories that have to have the romance factor. (the gothic horror of rev!gunter/corrin wouldn't be the same without the incest subtext), but i would argue with gunter's general importance in Rev and his plot-connection with corrin gave that the necessary writing arc foundation.
* there's a fascinating comparison to make about the marriage gimmick with characters who have a pretty "set" personality but customizable physical features (corrin) versus a "???"/vague personality but very set physical features (byleth). (imo - with corrin's very set past & personality, corrin should have just been a static character with no customization; felt like that brought nothing to the table and was left over from 'whatever worked in awakening for mad money'.)
* i think if a game were to have the marriage/interactive aspect, i prefer vagueness on both (personality & physical features) of the player character. it really wouldn't have been hard to commit with byleth by an overlarge robe, custom features, especially since their backstory's pretty separate from the rest of the cast. "blank slate" characters can work, but i personally feel there has to be thematic & plot & genre reasons attached. (this is very subjective but I played solely as a non-white character in ME2/3 which imo gave those runs a fascinating metatextual conversation with how sci-fi as a genre treats certian folks in general. knowing the context of sci-fi as a literary genre heightened the experience here with a blank slate character, where there were options to lean into unexpected topics corporations don't generally go.)
tl;dr - imo, marriage gimmick ages better when there's underlying genre, plot, and thematic intention and conflict somewhere versus a cash grab.
#not like. *actually* conflicted about this but i've been having complex feelings about this (especially with feh).#because i don't think the writing in the series is getting Better and i'm becoming more aware of the cash grab influences#('addiction by design' is a hell of a book fwiw)#but! man! when it works it works. but i also don't want to be like 'it works b/c it's my blorbos' hypocritical u know
