An Interview with Mr. Toshiyuki Toyonaga about Fire Emblem (Claude‘s Japanese VA), Pg. 8
Looking Back On Our Memories of FE And Its 30 Year History
During the “Fire Emblem Live Broadcast Round Table Discussion” we hosted and planned especially for the series’ thirty year anniversary, Toyonaga-san appeared as one of our guests. In this section, we asked him about his memories of previous titles in the series in more depth, all while looking through an illustration collection included in a previous issue of Nintendo Dream.
Everyone looks back on the past 30 years together
Fire Emblem Live Broadcast Round Table Discussion
(left) During the broad cast, Mr. Toyonaga explained to us that when he was wondering how to act out the support conversations that can be viewed during both the Academy Phase and the War Phase, he was told, "Just imagine it's three years after the time skip!"
T/N: The word on the screenshot reads "generic."
You want to play Castor from Mystery of the Emblem!?
During the live broadcast, you said that you think the first FE game you really played on your own was Genealogy of the Holy War on the Super Famicom. Did your aunt also let you play Mystery of the Emblem?
Toyonaga She did let me play Mystery of the Emblem. I just think that I played Genealogy first. The games belonged to her, so I’m pretty sure I played Genealogy first, then Mystery of the Emblem second. The first game I bought on my own was… The Binding Blade, I believe.
Did you use the characters that you said you wanted to voice, Ryan and Castor, in your playthroughs?
Toyonaga I did level up Ryan. Castor, on the other hand… no comment. Laughs.
Laughs. Were there any characters that you used because they were in a similar position as Arden, and you felt bad for them?
Toyonaga Castor and Matthis.፠ But I used them during different playthroughs.
You may have used them during different playthroughs, but it’s amazing that you even remember a detail like that!
Toyonaga It is. As a person who has always needed money, Castor left a really strong impression. The inclusion of conversations like that one made the games really fun to play.
(above) Using a video we recorded for the live broadcast, Mr. Toyonaga did a live recording of both Ryan and Castor!
Talking more about Genealogy of the Holy War, one of the great definitive titles of the series
How many times have you played through Genealogy of the Holy War?
Toyonaga Three times, I think? I know I played it normally the first time. I applaud the game for it’s pairing and child system, and how you can pair characters together to raise their affection and marry them, then pass skills on to their children. So during my second playthrough, I planned out who should marry who for the children to inherit certain skills, and kept putting the couples in forests next to each other. ...I mean, they fought together and talked to each other! Laughs. I remember my third playthrough was an Arden challenge run.
That’s the challenge you talked about during the live broadcast, right? As an armor knight, Arden moves slowly, and doesn’t get much use in the game, so you only had him progress through the maps…
Toyonaga Yes. During the prologue, I had him guard Chalphy Castle, used Sigurd to lure in the enemies, then had Sigurd enter the castle while Arden defeated all of them. After Arvis appeared, he defeated the boss, and after that I captured the castle. That’s how that map progressed. In the next chapter, I didn’t recruit Ayra, and she killed Arden. No matter what I did, he couldn’t win against Ayra. Laughs. I felt totally stuck, so I gave up.
(above) “Chief Feh” (voiced by Takehito Koyasu) lead the live discussion, and sparked a nostalgic conversation about memories of previous games.
So it sounds like you did your best to utilize the marriage system on your second playthrough.
Toyonaga That’s correct. I wasn’t aware of it during my first playthrough, and there were a lot of characters that didn't inherit anything.
Were there any skills or weapons that you were particular about being passed down?
Toyonaga Ayra’s Astra and Chulainn’s Luna. I wanted to make a character who could attack five times in succession while also making the enemy’s defense zero. Aside from that, I couldn’t decide if I should pair Edain with Jamke or Midir, so I went with the most common choice. I also thought about things like how strong Noishe’s skills are, and what would happen if they were passed down to the second generation; as well as how to combine Pursuit and Adept.
When you’ve played every game in the series until that point, you want to counterattack.
Toyonaga Yeah. Yeah, that’s true. Laughs.
There are some children who don’t come from bloodlines with Pursuit, so…
Toyonaga Huh? Oh yeah, yeah, that’s right! That’s why I remember it being hard to make any marriage decisions. If I can buy a strategy guide then I will, but I was the type not to look at it until I finished the game myself. I remember playing the entire game, then once I had a good understanding of it, I looked at how the strategy guide did things, and enjoyed thinking things like, “You could move the characters around like that?!” and “So I could have utilized that sort of combination, huh?” There were a lot of people like that in our generation, I think. Laughs. As the internet grew in popularity, and strategy guide-type websites started to appear, things that I used to mull over for several days and nights were now all written out in the open! I thought “Whoa!” when I saw them, and also thought that we really are in an age of convenience now. But the present is the present, and when I look back on that time I spent lost over what to do, I remember it was also a lot of fun. So even now, I often play games on my own and I don’t look at strategy sites very much.
You said that you're hoping for a Geneaology remake. What aspects of the game do you want modernized?
Toyonaga First and foremost, I’d look forward to the graphics. Of course I would also enjoy the event scenes, but, just like in Three Houses, when you see the zoomed in map, I’d like to be able to see not only the character being focused on, but also all of the other soldiers. Although instead, I’d rather they not seem like they are all fighting together, but something more realistic. That’s the kind of experience I’d like to have while playing Genealogy.
Seeing various types of battalions make an appearance seems like it would fit in Genealogy.
Toyonaga I want a class change system with full customization like Awakening has, too, where characters other than priests can class change into priests, and things like that. I think that kind of class change system with a lot of personalization is fun. Also, in Genealogy, I remember really enjoying the very spacious maps where you conquer castles within them one by one. So if the game is remade, I’d like the maps to unfold in a way where once you conquer the first castle, that castle becomes the base, then the map shifts and expands in order to make it to the next castle. …Something like that to make the map unfold seamlessly. Then, in a fashion similar to an open world game, you would make your preparations at that base castle, then attack from there. If I could plan my strategies like that, then I might play the game forever, I think!
That way of expanding the image of what you can see feels very fitting for a next generation Fire Emblem.
Toyonaga I agree. It’s something I’m personally looking forward to. Laughs.
፠ Castor: A hunter from Talys who was hired by pirates in order to save up money for his mother’s medication. In his recruitment conversation, he becomes your ally when you give him money, earning him the nickname “Talys’ Swindler.”
፠ Matthis: Lena’s older brother. He is a member of the enemy army when he finds Lena on the battlefield, but will even attack Lena for some reason, earning him the nickname, “Lena’s Idiot Brother.”
፠ A bloodline without Pursuit: One of the basic features in Fire Emblem is the ability to counterattack if one character’s speed is a set value higher than their opponents. However, in Genealogy, if a character does not have “Pursuit” as either a class skill or a personal skill, then they cannot counterattack, no matter their speed value.
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The final thing I'll say on Echoes gameplay, the FE4 comparison doesn't work as Arden is a comic relief & Hannibal isn't a main character. Similar applies to people Alec, Noish & Neir bros, they're not that great, but they were never intended to be important in the first place. Imagine if Finn was an Armor in FE4, it'd made him stink because he's a main character. Lukas & Valbar in Echoes are both main character & they shouldn't be that weak.
Valbar is not a main character. He and his squad are optional recruits, and if we’re going by who gets to appear consistently in cutscenes alongside the lords (and therefore who gets plot armor even in Classic) the only main characters on Celica’s side are Boey, Mae, Saber, and Conrad. Lukas is a main character, but from what I remember reading he’s also a top tier Pitchfork candidate because he comes so early, is the only member of Alm’s initial party who can use it at all/isn’t already a villager, and has the largest effect on him to get him out of a bad class line and into something better. Anyway, it’s not as though no one in FE’s main casts has ever sucked. Leif, Roy, and Micaiah are all statistically lackluster lords, and then there’s people like Elincia and her retainers in FE9. In FE4 itself Deirdre is one of the most crucial characters to the plot and yet she’s pretty much the worst unit in the game, and would be awful even if she had more than 1.5 chapters of availability.
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You may have seen this “Ridiculously Gay Emblem” and wondering what the hell. So, let me write up a little trip report of the experience thus far.
Okay, so what I’m doing is playing FE:4 and making every character gay. Yes, I am doing this through cheat codes (there is no gay hack that I know of. Yet.) The FAQ I’m using is here, but be warned it gets some things wrong. (I didn’t keep notes though, and I lost the old cheat list I was using. Sorry.)
Also, I’m using the Project Naga fan translation. In case you’re confused about names used.
In case you’re curious, the couples I put together are:
Sigurd and Noish
Alec and Arden
Quan and Finn
Lex and Azel
Dew and Midir
Deirdre and Ethlyn
Ayra and Raquesis
Aideen and Bridget (oh don’t look at me like that. It’s FE4. Gotta put incest in there somewhere)
Jamke and Beowulf (yes I fixed his narcissism sorry)
Sylvia and Erin
Holyn and Claude
Lewyn and Tailte remained unpaired because I ran out of characters to pair them with. I could pair them with each other, I guess, but this isn’t Selectively Straight Emblem damnit.
Anywho, the First Gen... went without any real issue. The lovers more or less functioned exactly as they should. They could get lover’s criticals and trade money with each other, and Sigurd, Deirdre, Ethlyn and Quan could NOT get lover’s criticals or trade money with their canon spouses.
There were a few small problems, though. The story’s text remains unaltered, so as far as the text was concerned Sigurd and Deirdre as well as Quan and Ethlyn are still couples.
And the little lover conversation’s that Sigurd, Quan, Deirdre, and Ethlyn have still reference their canon lover’s names.
The others couples do call each other by the right name, though.
And Arden’s special event in chapter 5 worked perfectly fine! Although I don’t think Alec would appreciate being called a wife. And I guess they adopted, but we’ll never know who these kids are.
The weird thing, though, is the Augury.
This is what all the male lovers would see, even Sigurd and Quan. But even still, all the events (such as conversations that only trigger if so and so doesn’t have a lover) treated them as having lovers.
However, the augury would recognize the female lovers, even Deirdre and Ethlyn, but would never declare them as married, only as in love with each other. Again, the events treated them as having lovers.
Oh, and if you’re curious, Deirdre recruitment DIDN’T have them fall in love afterwards. Next turn, Sigurd was still in love with Noish, and Deirdre didn’t have a lover. (I soon fixed that.)
The really interesting thing, though, is Gen 2. But this is getting a bit long, so I’ll put that in another post.
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2. FE4,7,13; 4. Top three, FE any; 17. FE Any, if fandom actually necessary
2. Is there a ship you didn’t like at first but ultimately started shipping?FE4: Alec/Sylvia. I wasn’t really sold ont he possibility of it until a friend whispered “Noish/Alec/Sylvia OT3”FE7: Serra/Oswin. I used to not want to subject O to her, but I’ve seen a lot of cute fan speculations that could work with them (too bad Wendy can’t be their canon daughter).FE13: Virion/Sully. With how you recruit them I didn’t want V to constantly get kicked in the face- but it was actually YOUR thoughtful posts on the ship that turned me around (though I’m still in love with how Donnel!Kjelle turns out)
4. Name a popular ship you don’t get the appeal of.In all of FE: Leo/Takumi, Camilla/Hinoka, Chrom/M!Robin. Just not for me.
17. Is there a type of ship you always go for?Honestly my tastes tend to bounce around a lot, and if there’s a well-written enough fic/nice enough art I’ll likely give it the time of day. However in stories with love triangles I’ve noticed I tend to like Love Interest B more than A (despite knowing he’ll never get the girl). I also have a crackshipping habit.
for the meme
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