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(Tragically Heterosexual) Marriage System Announced For Fire Emblem Awakening

If the marriage system in any way relies on user input and isn't pre-scripted then there shouldn't be any issue in giving same-sex options. Not every game has to be like Bioware's more heavy-handed "everyone's bisexual" approach. I mean, it's not a lot to ask really.

Then again I've never really shown much interest in the Fire Emblem series, so this is another reason not to.
 
I really dont think anyone should use that as a reason to NOT buy the game. I mean it's Fire Emblem...and we hardly get enough good SRPGs that arent grindfests as it is.
 
Disappointed, but expected.
Always wanted to know how Nintendo would handle...that moment.

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Teknoman said:
I really dont think anyone should use that as a reason to NOT buy the game. I mean it's Fire Emblem...and we hardly get enough good SRPGs that arent grindfests as it is.
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I highly doubt anyone is serious unless it was literally the only thing about the game they were interested in.
 
I like the new art style, but the actual design--or rather, the costume design--of the characters themselves are very lacking. Or too flamboyant, rather. >.> Wish they toned some of that down, it's so . . . anime.
 
PKrockin said:
lol, this is amazing.

@ Thread title: Expected/10. This is a (likely to be) E-rated Nintendo game. Gay characters/relationships were mostly implied in earlier games.
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The very fact that an E-rated game cannot have gay characters is problematic. There is nothing offensive about being gay.
 
Guys. GUYS. There will probably still be gay relationships or gay people in this game. It'll probably just be implied, like people already assume almost every Male x Male A-support to be. Also characters like Heather, where she was pretty openly lesbian in Japan, and NoA just made it only a little more subtle.
 
lsslave said:
Well, they aren't really in a position due to audience (perceived or real) to bear this kind of criticism from the fundies
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Who exactly is they? Nintendo doesn't rate the games, and homosexual characters or relationships should not preclude a title from receiving an E rating.
 
It's weird that the only Fire Emblem that was rated T was Path of Radiance. Everything before it was E and everything after is E10+ (which didn't exist when PoR was rated).
 
Disappointing but not particularly surprising.

Should have expected a company a generation behind technologically to be a generation behind in terms of human relationships.
 
I am sure there will be plenty of implied homosexual leanings in the game (as there were in most of them~!).
They are just simplifying the "marriage" aspect so there can be breeding involved. I mean, there are still going to be A-supports and stuff between same-sex friends and stuff!

This is still such a mixed bag Fire Emblem though. I really am not taking this game very seriously because of all the bells and whistles being thrown in it.
And the character designs come off as too sleek and modern and sterile (colour palette combined with linework). :T
 
Prax said:
I am sure there will be plenty of implied homosexual leanings in the game (as there were in most of them~!).
They are just simplifying the "marriage" aspect so there can be breeding involved. I mean, there are still going to be A-supports and stuff between same-sex friends and stuff!

This is still such a mixed bag Fire Emblem though. I really am not taking this game very seriously because of all the bells and whistles being thrown in it.
And the character designs come off as too sleek and modern and sterile (colour palette combined with linework). :T
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Gotta agree, mostly. The game really is a weird pastiche, even by FE standards (which has had some pretty weird moments).
 
Oxx said:
Disappointing but not particularly surprising.

Should have expected a company a generation behind technologically to be a generation behind in terms of human relationships.
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Oh no, Nintendo purposely denied all the fans of their precious wish fulfillment of same-sex marriage. You're being oppressed and need an adult!
 
Oxx said:
Disappointing but not particularly surprising.

Should have expected a company a generation behind technologically to be a generation behind in terms of human relationships.
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But Fire Emblem has had gay characters in the past and it's possible this game will be the same, just because there's isn't an option for two guys to have a child doesn't make Nintendo anti-gay.
 
Showmeyamoves said:
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/3ds/afej/characters/chara9.html

Wait what... Mars/Marth whoever this person is.

Is a girl? My mind is blown.
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You've really never heard of Marth? No, he's a guy. Might be voiced by a female in the game (which I don't get because he's voiced by Midorikawa in everything else he appears in) but yeah, male.

EDIT: Unless of course this person isn't the actual Marth and is claiming to be him, then it could be anyone really.
 
The heterosexual marriage system is no shock whatsoever and no one really should be all that disappointed in its limited scope. It's important to remember that a large (and I mean LARGE) portion of the gay male community of Japan is in a committed marriage with a woman, because of not-so-publicized cultural factors (that I may or may not have misinterpreted):


1) extra-marital sex is a MUCH more common practice in Japan, for BOTH spouses, and isn't considered quite the marriage-destroyer it is in the west, as sex and love are very often considered in many ways to still be 2 very VERY separate things

2) gays are pressured by their parents to conceive children in a "traditional" family environment and have their "fun on the side", thus basically CONDONING #1

3) many Japanese women will marry a man knowing full well that he's gay and engage in a (mostly) sexless marriage, allowing a win-win situation for her to make a family and dodge the bullet of an arranged marriage or being labeled a spinster and the man dodging suspicion from parents about alternate sexuality by basically having a cover.



I kept my talking points to gay men because this is where I hear this information from, but I imagine that gay women in Japan have similar pressures and safe-guards.

Gay marriage isn't even considered part of Japan's political dialogue and is SO far off the radar as to make it completely impossible for the developers to consider it an option based on their own cultural understanding. Heck, we give people in the US a lot of shit for being backwards in their thinking on the subject of gay rights, but at least it's CONSIDERED and DISCUSSED in North America.
 
I definitely prefer the older art over this one. The only design I like is Mars.
 
I'd be ok with a straight-only marriage system if the execution was different.

Considering the huge cast of playable characters that these games have, there are bound to be men and women who hate each other, or are simply incompatible. In addition, are those who would have simply no interest in marriage (priests etc.), are too young for it or homosexual.

Being able to marry any man with any woman may be nice from a gameplay point-of-view, but it's bound to create a disconnect between the character/story and the gameplay system itself. Either that, or Intelligent Systems will make all the characters bland enough that they really would marry absolutely anyone.

I hope they drop this system with the next game. Breeding people is a pretty creepy concept anyway.
 
I think My Unit can marry anyone, and the other characthers can marry people they have support conversations. Do you think it would be ok like this Neon_Icarus?
 
Neon_Icarus said:
I'd be ok with a straight-only marriage system if the execution was different.

Considering the huge cast of playable characters that these games have, there are bound to be men and women who hate each other, or are simply incompatible. In addition, are those who would have simply no interest in marriage (priests etc.), are too young for it or homosexual.

Being able to marry any man with any woman may be nice from a gameplay point-of-view, but it's bound to create a disconnect between the character/story and the gameplay system itself. Either that, or Intelligent Systems will make all the characters bland enough that they really would marry absolutely anyone.

I hope they drop this system with the next game. Breeding people is a pretty creepy concept anyway.
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Only the My Unit character can marry anyone; everyone else is limited in who they can marry.

EDIT: Beaten, but true. The Iwata Asks stated specifically that the main points in creating the system were increasing options (who can marry who) and letting the My Unit marry anyone.
 
I find it interesting that, while checking the PEGI website, The Sims 3 having same-sex relationships and suggestive encounters didn't bump the rating any higher than 12, which is probably what it would have got anyway due to the level of STRAIGHT "sexual" content and of course mild violence. Comparing it to other games, like Bioware's more same-sex romance inclusive Dragon Age games, and they only get 18 ratings because of the extreme violence; the sex, especially same-sex stuff, is barely even mentioned. Mass Effect 3 is the same sort of deal; violence and language are highlighted and any sex doesn't seem to apply to the rating.

The problem is most games that contain gay characters typically need to highlight the sex part which is a major factor in bumping up the rating. It would be interesting if we could have a character who is scripted to be gay, but keeping it more subtle so that sex isn't needed. It's a shame that same-sex romance tends to go hand in hand with games that typically deserve higher ratings anyway because it makes it difficult to judge how an openly gay protagonist in a lower-rated game would be viewed.
 
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