History BrokenBase / FireEmblemFates

** Within the second camp, the primary divisors are whether or not the fundamental problem was having very high ambitions for fundamentally weak material or whether it was being too ''unambitious'' and just doing some of the same things ''Fire Emblem'' always does. A second major fault line also existed between those who [[HypeBacklash despise the 3DS era of the series]], tended to doomsay about the future of the franchise generally, and saw ''Fates'' as just the next step down into watered-down oblivion and those who just saw ''Fates'' as a blip on an otherwise steady or upward-trending series trajectory after the NewbieBoom.

** Within the first camp, there is further division regarding ''how'' flawed it is, with takes ranging from "only ''Conquest'' really has problems, and the problems are often overstated" to "none of them are without serious flaws." What these flaws are or who's responsible for them is also a common divisor; people have blamed every segment of the team between the writers and (outside of Japan itself) the localizers, and everything from [[FollowTheLeader trying to ape the success of]] [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening the previous title]] even though many of its story ideas were poor fits (the most commonly-cited example there is the Second Generation characters), to the OneGameForThePriceOfTwo story structure, to simply wavering on whether or not to commit to the GreyAndGrayMorality, ''especially'' when one of the two kingdoms in question was [[{{Wutai}} strongly Japan-themed]].

** Within the second camp, the primary divisors are whether or not the fundamental problem was having very high ambitions for fundamentally weak material or whether it was being too ''unambitious'' and just doing some of the same things ''Fire Emblem'' always does. A second major fault line also existed between those who [[HypeBacklash despise the 3DS era of the series generally]] and tended to doomsay about the future of the franchise generally and saw ''Fates'' as just the next step down into watered-down oblivion for the franchise and those who just saw ''Fates'' as a blip on an otherwise steady or upward-trending series trajectory after the NewbieBoom.

** Within the first camp, there is further division regarding ''how'' flawed it is, with takes ranging from "only ''Conquest'' really has problems, and the problems are often overstated" to "none of them are without serious flaws." What these flaws are or who's responsible for them is also a common divisor; people have blamed every segment of the team between the writers and (outside of Japan itself) the localizers, and everything from [[FollowTheLeader trying to ape the success of]] [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening the previous title]] even though many of its story ideas were poor fits (the big offender there is children), to the OneGameForThePriceOfTwo story structure, to simply wavering on whether or not to commit to the GreyAndGrayMorality, ''especially'' when one of the two kingdoms in question was [[{{Wutai}} strongly Japan-themed]].

* While a general consensus has emerged that the overall story is flawed, and most agree overall about what the flaws are (thinly-written and ObviouslyEvil antagonists, questionable character motivations and writing decisions, information clearly being deliberately hidden from some routes simply so that playing all three is necessary for a complete experience), the story nonetheless inspires a lot of conflict between those who like the fundamental ideas and feel that only the execution is questionable, and those who just dismiss the whole thing as overambitious trash. (The sizable minority who argue [[EnjoyTheGameSkipTheStory story doesn't matter anyway]] can be safely dismissed as part of a different, series-wide conversation, and the people who like the story unironically generally can't be bothered to fight about it.) It doesn't help that, as the existence of this page demonstrates, the fandom was in general multipolar civil war at the time, and the controversial nature of the story both exposed and deepened a lot of fault lines.

* '''The story''' is a truly bizarre case of this that has been the subject of extremes on both sides, not helped by the massive VocalMinority it caused. The question among fans therein was less whether or not it's good or bad (the consensus defaults to the latter; even fans of ''Fates'' fully admit that the story has fundamental flaws with the presentation of its information, even if they genuinely liked the story it was ''trying'' to tell), but the question is '''''how''''' bad; the source of the [[FlameWar flame wars]] that engulfed the fandom when discussing the story comes from [[HypeBacklash both the hype from the game not meeting up to expectations as well as split of each of the routes, hampering the ability to get the full picture because of it]]. This combined with the fact that the story has fundamental issues and comes off as highly disjointed in many of the ObviouslyEvil antagonists undermining the GreyAndGrayMorality it was setting for and using several AssPull plot devices to seemingly move on the story at its own pace, led it to being without a doubt the most contentious ''Fire Emblem'' story in modern-day history. This saw the rise of several camps; one of which thinks the story is inherently unsalvageable and can only be fixed by completely wiping the slate clean, these are the people who were most disappointed with the game and take issue with the variety of problems the game has in its presentation. However, the game's fans and defenders point out that the game's flawed execution doesn't dilute the plentitude of fan works and fandom that the game had spawned, and that the core of the work ultimately ''was'' worth something discussing and dissecting in a light even considering its flaws as a narrative. A recent sentiment, [[UrbanLegendOfZelda verifiable or not]], was that the script of the game was overwritten as three scripts in novel format and ultimately had to be heavily cut to fit the format of a [=3DS=] game. Many detractors argue the ideas of the work don't matter in the face of such roughshod execution, but many others would argue it's precisely ''for'' those reasons that there's discussion to be had on its merits as a work. The third camp, [[TakeAThirdOption meanwhile]], agrees the story is bad, but they still enjoy it largely for unintended reasons, be it [[NarmCharm positive]] or [[SoBadItsGood negative]]. [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory The fourth camp ultimately didn't care for the story and characters at all, and just enjoyed the game entirely for its gameplay merits]]. A fifth and final camp unironically loved the story in spite of its flaws, [[AluminumChristmasTrees but while there's quite a lot more of these people than one would assume in the wild]] (especially given while most of the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom was in outright civil war at the time of its release, [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity the publicity from the controversy]] ''[[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity drove up]]'' [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity sales]], [[CriticalDissonance nevermind the very high critical scores the games garnered from critics as well as the very positive sentiment shared by casual fans]]), [[FandomBerserkButton such a take was seen as outright heresy for a time]], and they were ''completely'' drowned out by the ''Fire Emblem'' hardcore fanbase's utter panning of the game's narrative. All of this combine meant the only thing the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom could agree on the story's flaws was that it irrevocably fractured the fandom until ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' [[WinBackTheCrowd helped glue the pieces back together]]. [[DorkAge It's worth noting that the fandom was seen as utterly toxic during this time]], with the game's more vitriolic hatedom was such a VocalMinority and was notorious for attacking anyone who praised the story to any degree because they feared the direction the series was heading in so greatly they felt ''Fates'' was the catalyst to [[FranchiseOriginalSin more games that copied its contentious aspects]] and so wished it to seem as unpopular as possible. [[VindicatedByHistory This didn't work]], but even beyond the toxic parts, it still doesn't alter the fact that virtually nobody in the fandom can agree on how bad this game's story is other than tacitly acknowledging that it failed to live up to many fans' expectations.

* '''The story''' is a truly bizarre case of this that has been the subject of extremes on both sides, not helped by the massive VocalMinority it caused. The question among fans therein was less whether or not it's good or bad (the consensus defaults to the latter; even fans of ''Fates'' fully acknowledge that the story has fundamental flaws with the presentation of its information, even if they genuinely liked the story it was ''trying'' to tell), but the question is '''''how''''' bad; the source of the [[FlameWar flame wars]] that engulfed the fandom when discussing the story comes from [[HypeBacklash both the hype from the game not meeting up to expectations as well as split of each of the routes, hampering the ability to get the full picture because of it]]. This combined with the fact that the story has fundamental issues and comes off as highly disjointed in many of the ObviouslyEvil antagonists undermining the GreyAndGrayMorality it was setting for and using several AssPull plot devices to seemingly move on the story at its own pace, led it to being without a doubt the most contentious ''Fire Emblem'' story in modern-day history. This saw the rise of several camps; one of which thinks the story is inherently unsalvageable and can only be fixed by completely wiping the slate clean, these are the people who were most disappointed with the game and take issue with the variety of problems the game has in its presentation. However, the game's fans and defenders point out that the game's flawed execution doesn't dilute the plentitude of fan works and fandom that the game had spawned, and that the core of the work ultimately ''was'' worth something discussing and dissecting in a light even considering its flaws as a narrative. A recent sentiment, [[UrbanLegendOfZelda verifiable or not]], was that the script of the game was overwritten as three scripts in novel format and ultimately had to be heavily cut to fit the format of a [=3DS=] game. Many detractors argue the ideas of the work don't matter in the face of such roughshod execution, but many others would argue it's precisely ''for'' those reasons that there's discussion to be had on its merits as a work. The third camp, [[TakeAThirdOption meanwhile]], agrees the story is bad, but they still enjoy it largely for unintended reasons, be it [[NarmCharm positive]] or [[SoBadItsGood negative]]. [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory The fourth camp ultimately didn't care for the story and characters at all, and just enjoyed the game entirely for its gameplay merits]]. A fifth and final camp unironically loved the story in spite of its flaws, [[AluminumChristmasTrees but while there's quite a lot more of these people than one would assume in the wild]] (especially given while most of the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom was in outright civil war at the time of its release, [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity the publicity from the controversy]] ''[[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity drove up]]'' [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity sales]], [[CriticalDissonance nevermind the very high critical scores the games garnered from critics as well as the very positive sentiment shared by casual fans]]), [[FandomBerserkButton such a take was seen as outright heresy for a time]], and they were ''completely'' drowned out by the ''Fire Emblem'' hardcore fanbase's utter panning of the game's narrative. All of this combine meant the only thing the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom could agree on the story's flaws was that it irrevocably fractured the fandom until ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' [[WinBackTheCrowd helped glue the pieces back together]]. [[DorkAge It's worth noting that the fandom was seen as utterly toxic during this time]], with the game's more vitriolic hatedom was such a VocalMinority and was notorious for attacking anyone who praised the story to any degree because they feared the direction the series was heading in so greatly they felt ''Fates'' was the catalyst to [[FranchiseOriginalSin more games that copied its contentious aspects]] and so wished it to seem as unpopular as possible. [[VindicatedByHistory This didn't work]], but even beyond the toxic parts, it still doesn't alter the fact that virtually nobody in the fandom can agree on how bad this game's story is other than tacitly acknowledging that it failed to live up to many fans' expectations.

* '''The story''' is a truly bizarre case of this that has been the subject of extremes on both sides, not helped by the massive VocalMinority it caused. The question among fans therein was less whether or not it's good or bad (the consensus defaults to the latter; even fans of ''Fates'' fully admit that the story has fundamental flaws with the presentation of its information, even if they genuinely liked the story it was ''trying'' to tell), but the question is '''''how''''' bad; the source of the [[FlameWar flame wars]] that engulfed the fandom when discussing the story comes from [[HypeBacklash both the hype from the game not meeting up to expectations as well as split of each of the routes, hampering the ability to get the full picture because of it]]. This combined with the fact that the story has fundamental issues and comes off as highly disjointed in many of the ObviouslyEvil antagonists undermining the GreyAndGrayMorality it was setting for and using several AssPull plot devices to seemingly move on the story at its own pace, led it to being without a doubt the most contentious ''Fire Emblem'' story in modern-day history. This saw the rise of several camps; one of which thinks the story is inherently unsalvageable and can only be fixed by completely wiping the slate clean, these are the people who were most disappointed with the game and take issue with the variety of problems the game has in its presentation. However, the game's fans and defenders point out that the game's flawed execution doesn't dilute the plentitude of fan works and fandom that the game had spawned, and that the core of the work ultimately ''was'' worth something discussing and dissecting in a light even considering its flaws as a narrative. A recent sentiment, [[UrbanLegendOfZelda verifiable or not]], was that the script of the game was overwritten as three scripts in novel format and ultimately had to be heavily cut to fit the format of a [=3DS=] game. Many detractors argue the ideas of the work don't matter in the face of such roughshod execution, but many others would argue it's precisely ''for'' those reasons that there's discussion to be had on its merits as a work. The third camp, [[TakeAThirdOption meanwhile]], agrees the story is bad, but they still enjoy it largely for unintended reasons, be it [[NarmCharm positive]] or [[SoBadItsGood negative]]. [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory The fourth camp ultimately didn't care for the story and characters at all, and just enjoyed the game entirely for its gameplay merits]]. A fifth and final camp unironically loved the story in spite of its flaws, [[AluminumChristmasTrees but while there's quite a lot more of these people than one would assume in the wild]] (especially given while most of the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom was in outright civil war at the time of its release, [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity the publicity from the controversy]] ''[[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity drove up]]'' [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity sales]], [[CriticalDissonance nevermind the very high critical scores the games garnered from critics as well as the very positive sentiment shared by casual fans]]), [[FandomBerserkButton such a take was seen as outright heresy for a time]], and they were ''completely'' drowned out by the ''Fire Emblem'' hardcore fanbase's utter panning of the game's narrative. All of this combine meant the only thing the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom could agree on the story's flaws was that it irrevocably fractured the fandom until ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' [[WinBackTheCrowd helped glue the pieces back together]]. [[DorkAge It's worth noting that the fandom was seen as utterly toxic during this time]], with the game's more vitriolic hatedom was such a VocalMinority and was notorious for attacking anyone who praised the story to any degree because they feared the direction the series was heading in so greatly they felt ''Fates'' was the catalyst to [[FranchiseOriginalSin more games that copied its contentious aspects]] and so wished it to seem as unpopular as possible. [[VindicatedByHistory This didn't work]], but even beyond the toxic parts, it still doesn't alter the fact that virtually nobody in the fandom can agree on how bad this game's story is other than tacitly acknowledging that it failed to live up to many fans' expectations.

* '''[[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment The story]]''' is a truly bizarre case of this that has been the subject of extremes on both sides, not helped by the massive VocalMinority it caused. The question among fans therein was less whether or not it's good or bad (the consensus defaults to the latter; even fans of ''Fates'' fully admit that the story has fundamental flaws with the presentation of its information, even if they genuinely liked the story it was ''trying'' to tell), but the question is '''''how''''' bad; the source of the [[FlameWar flame wars]] that engulfed the fandom when discussing the story comes from [[HypeBacklash both the hype from the game not meeting up to expectations as well as split of each of the routes, hampering the ability to get the full picture because of it]]. This combined with the fact that the story has fundamental issues and comes off as highly disjointed in many of the ObviouslyEvil antagonists undermining the GreyAndGrayMorality it was setting for and using several AssPull plot devices to seemingly move on the story at its own pace, led it to being without a doubt the most contentious ''Fire Emblem'' story in modern-day history. This saw the rise of several camps; one of which thinks the story is inherently unsalvageable and can only be fixed by completely wiping the slate clean, these are the people who were most disappointed with the game and take issue with the variety of problems the game has in its presentation. However, the game's fans and defenders point out that the game's flawed execution doesn't dilute the plentitude of fan works and fandom that the game had spawned, and that the core of the work ultimately ''was'' worth something discussing and dissecting in a light even considering its flaws as a narrative. A recent sentiment, [[UrbanLegendOfZelda verifiable or not]], was that the script of the game was overwritten as three scripts in novel format and ultimately had to be heavily cut to fit the format of a [=3DS=] game. Many detractors argue the ideas of the work don't matter in the face of such roughshod execution, but many others would argue it's precisely ''for'' those reasons that there's discussion to be had on its merits as a work. The third camp, [[TakeAThirdOption meanwhile]], agrees the story is bad, but they still enjoy it largely for unintended reasons, be it [[NarmCharm positive]] or [[SoBadItsGood negative]]. [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory The fourth camp ultimately didn't care for the story and characters at all, and just enjoyed the game entirely for its gameplay merits]]. A fifth and final camp unironically loved the story in spite of its flaws, [[AluminumChristmasTrees but while there's quite a lot more of these people than one would assume in the wild]] (especially given while most of the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom was in outright civil war at the time of its release, [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity the publicity from the controversy]] ''[[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity drove up]]'' [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity sales]], [[CriticalDissonance nevermind the very high critical scores the games garnered from critics as well as the very positive sentiment shared by casual fans]]), [[FandomBerserkButton such a take was seen as outright heresy for a time]], and they were ''completely'' drowned out by the ''Fire Emblem'' hardcore fanbase's utter panning of the game's narrative. All of this combine meant the only thing the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom could agree on the story's flaws was that it irrevocably fractured the fandom until ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' [[WinBackTheCrowd helped glue the pieces back together]]. [[DorkAge It's worth noting that the fandom was seen as utterly toxic during this time]], with the game's more vitriolic hatedom was such a VocalMinority and was notorious for attacking anyone who praised the story to any degree because they feared the direction the series was heading in so greatly they felt ''Fates'' was the catalyst to [[FranchiseOriginalSin more games that copied its contentious aspects]] and so wished it to seem as unpopular as possible. [[VindicatedByHistory This didn't work]], but even beyond the toxic parts, it still doesn't alter the fact that virtually nobody in the fandom can agree on how bad this game's story is other than tacitly acknowledging that it failed to live up to many fans' expectations.

* '''[[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment The story]]''' is a truly bizarre case of this that has been the subject of extremes on both sides, not helped by the massive VocalMinority it caused. The question among fans therein was less whether or not it's good or bad (the consensus defaults to the latter; even fans of ''Fates'' fully admit that the story has fundamental flaws with the presentation of its information, even if they genuinely liked the story it was ''trying'' to tell), but the question is '''''how''''' bad; the source of the [[FlameWar flame wars]] that engulfed the fandom when discussing the story comes from [[HypeBacklash both the hype from the game not meeting up to expectations as well as split of each of the routes, hampering the ability to get the full picture because of it]]. This combined with the fact that the story has fundamental issues and comes off as highly disjointed in many of the ObviouslyEvil antagonists undermining the GreyAndGrayMorality it was setting for and using several AssPull plot devices to seemingly move on the story at its own pace, led it to being without a doubt the most contentious ''Fire Emblem'' story in modern-day history. This saw the rise of several camps; one of which thinks the story is inherently unsalvageable and can only be fixed by completely wiping the slate clean, these are the people who were most disappointed with the game and take issue with the variety of problems the game has in its presentation. However, the game's fans and defenders point out that the game's flawed execution doesn't dilute the plentitude of fan works and fandom that the game had spawned, and that the core of the work ultimately ''was'' worth something discussing and dissecting in a light even considering its flaws as a narrative. A recent sentiment, [[UrbanLegendOfZelda verifiable or not]], was that the script of the game was overwritten as three scripts in novel format and ultimately had to be heavily cut to fit the format of a [=3DS=] game. Many detractors argue the ideas of the work don't matter in the face of such roughshod execution, but many others would argue it's precisely ''for'' those reasons that there's discussion to be had on its merits as a work. The third camp, [[TakeAThirdOption meanwhile]], agrees the story is bad, but they still enjoy it largely for unintended reasons, be it [[NarmCharm positive]] or [[SoBadItsGood negative]]. [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory The fourth camp ultimately didn't care for the story and characters at all, and just enjoyed the game entirely for its gameplay merits]]. A fifth and final camp unironically loved the story in spite of its flaws, [[AluminumChristmasTrees but while there's quite a lot more of these people than one would assume in the wild]] (especially given while most of the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom was in outright civil war at the time of its release, [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity the publicity from the controversy]] ''[[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity drove up]]'' [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity sales]], [[CriticalDissonance nevermind the very high critical scores the games garnered from critics as well as the very positive sentiment shared by casual fans]]), [[FandomBerserkButton such a take was seen as outright heresy for a time]], and they were ''completely'' drowned out by the ''Fire Emblem'' hardcore fanbase's utter panning of the game's narrative. All of this combine meant the only thing the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom could agree on the story's flaws was that it irrevocably fractured the fandom until ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' [[WinBackTheCrowd helped glue the pieces together]]. [[DorkAge It's worth noting that the fandom became seen as utterly toxic during this time]], with the game's more vitriolic hatedom was such a VocalMinority and was notorious for attacking anyone who praised the story to any degree because they feared the direction the series was heading in so greatly they felt ''Fates'' was the catalyst to [[FranchiseOriginalSin more games that copied its contentious aspects]] and so wished it to seem as unpopular as possible. [[VindicatedByHistory This didn't work]], but even beyond the toxic parts, it still doesn't alter the fact that virtually nobody in the fandom can agree on how bad this game's story is other than tacitly acknowledging that it failed to live up to many fans' expectations.

* '''[[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment The story]]''' is a truly bizarre case of this that has been the subject of extremes on both sides, not helped by the massive VocalMinority it caused. The question among fans therein was less whether or not it's good or bad (the consensus defaults to the latter; even fans of ''Fates'' fully admit that the story has fundamental flaws with the presentation of its information, even if they genuinely liked the story it was ''trying'' to tell), but the question is '''''how''''' bad; the source of the [[FlameWar flame wars]] that engulfed the fandom when discussing the story comes from [[HypeBacklash both the hype from the game not meeting up to expectations as well as split of each of the routes, hampering the ability to get the full picture because of it]]. This combined with the fact that the story has fundamental issues and comes off as highly disjointed in many of the ObviouslyEvil antagonists undermining the GreyAndGrayMorality it was setting for and using several AssPull plot devices to seemingly move on the story at its own pace, led it to being without a doubt the most contentious ''Fire Emblem'' story in modern-day history. This saw the rise of several camps; one of which thinks the story is inherently unsalvageable and can only be fixed by completely wiping the slate clean, these are the people who were most disappointed with the game and take issue with the variety of problems the game has in its presentation. However, the game's fans and defenders point out that the game's flawed execution doesn't dilute the plentitude of fan works and fandom that the game had spawned, and that the core of the work ultimately ''was'' worth something discussing and dissecting in a light even considering its flaws as a narrative. A recent sentiment, [[UrbanLegendOfZelda verifiable or not]], was that the script of the game was overwritten as three scripts in novel format and ultimately had to be heavily cut to fit the format of a [=3DS=] game. Many detractors argue the ideas of the work don't matter in the face of such roughshod execution, but many others would argue it's precisely ''for'' those reasons that there's discussion to be had on its merits as a work. The third camp, [[TakeAThirdOption meanwhile]], agrees the story is bad, but they still enjoy it largely for unintended reasons, be it [[NarmCharm positive]] or [[SoBadItsGood negative]]. [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory The fourth camp ultimately didn't care for the story and characters at all, and just enjoyed the game entirely for its gameplay merits]]. A fifth and final camp unironically loved the story in spite of its flaws, [[AluminumChristmasTrees but while there's quite a lot more of these people than one would assume in the wild]] (especially given while most of the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom was in outright civil war at the time of its release, [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity the publicity from the controversy]] ''[[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity drove up]]'' [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity sales]], [[CriticalDissonance nevermind the very high critical scores the games garnered from critics as well as the very positive sentiment shared by casual fans]]), [[FandomBerserkButton such a take was seen as outright heresy for a time]], and they were ''completely'' drowned out by the ''Fire Emblem'' internet fanbase's utter panning of the game's narrative. All of this combine meant the only thing the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom could agree on the story's flaws was that it irrevocably fractured the fandom until ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' [[WinBackTheCrowd helped glue the pieces together]]. [[DorkAge It's worth noting that the fandom became seen as utterly toxic during this time]], with the game's more vitriolic hatedom was such a VocalMinority and was notorious for attacking anyone who praised the story to any degree because they feared the direction the series was heading in so greatly they felt ''Fates'' was the catalyst to [[FranchiseOriginalSin more games that copied its contentious aspects]] and so wished it to seem as unpopular as possible. [[VindicatedByHistory This didn't work]], but even beyond the toxic parts, it still doesn't alter the fact that virtually nobody in the fandom can agree on how bad this game's story is other than tacitly acknowledging that it failed to live up to many fans' expectations.

* '''[[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment The story]]''' is a truly bizarre case of this that has been the subject of extremes on both sides, not helped by the massive VocalMinority it caused. The question among fans therein was less whether or not it's good or bad (the consensus defaults to the latter; even fans of ''Fates'' fully admit that the story has fundamental flaws with the presentation of its information, even if they genuinely liked the story it was ''trying'' to tell), but the question is '''''how''''' bad; the source of the [[FlameWar flame wars]] that engulfed the fandom when discussing the story comes from [[HypeBacklash both the hype from the game not meeting up to expectations as well as split of each of the routes, hampering the ability to get the full picture because of it]]. This combined with the fact that the story has fundamental issues and comes off as highly disjointed in many of the ObviouslyEvil antagonists undermining the GreyAndGrayMorality it was setting for and using several AssPull plot devices to seemingly move on the story at its own pace, led it to being without a doubt the most contentious ''Fire Emblem'' story in modern-day history. This saw the rise of several camps; one of which thinks the story is inherently unsalvageable and can only be fixed by completely wiping the slate clean, these are the people who were most disappointed with the game and take issue with the variety of problems the game has in its presentation. However, the game's fans and defenders point out that the game's flawed execution doesn't dilute the plentitude of fan works and fandom that the game had spawned, and that the core of the work ultimately ''was'' worth something discussing and dissecting in a light even considering its flaws as a narrative. A recent sentiment, [[UrbanLegendOfZelda verifiable or not]], was that the script of the game was overwritten as three scripts in novel format and ultimately had to be heavily cut to fit the format of a [=3DS=] game. Many detractors argue the ideas of the work don't matter in the face of such roughshod execution, but many others would argue it's precisely ''for'' those reasons that there's discussion to be had on its merits as a work. The third camp, [[TakeAThirdOption meanwhile]], agrees the story is bad, but they still enjoy it largely for unintended reasons, be it [[NarmCharm positive]] or [[SoBadItsGood negative]]. [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory The fourth camp ultimately didn't care for the story and characters at all, and just enjoyed the game entirely for its gameplay merits]]. A fifth and final camp unironically loved the story in spite of its flaws, [[AluminumChristmasTrees but while there's quite a lot more of these people than one would assume in the wild]] (especially given while most of the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom was in outright civil war at the time of its release, [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity the publicity from the controversy]] ''[[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity drove up]]'' [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity sales]], [[CriticalDissonance nevermind the very high critical scores the games garnered from critics as well as the very positive sentiment shared by casual fans]]), [[FandomBerserkButton such a take was seen as outright heresy for a time]], and they were ''completely'' drowned out by the ''Fire Emblem'' internet fanbase's utter panning of the game's narrative. All of this combine meant the only thing the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom could agree on the story's flaws was that it irrevocably fractured the fandom until ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' [[WinBackTheCrowd helped glue the pieces together]]. [[DorkAge It's worth noting that the fandom became seen as utterly toxic during this time]], with the game's more vitriolic hatedom was such a VocalMinority and was notorious for attacking anyone who praised the story to any degree because they feared the direction the series was heading in so greatly they felt ''Fates'' was the catalyst to [[FranchiseOriginalSin more games that copied its contentious aspects]] and so wished it to seem as unpopular as possible. [[VindicatedByHistory This didn't work]], but even beyond the toxic parts, it still doesn't alter the fact that virtually nobody in the fandom can agree on how bad this game's story is other than tacitly acknowledging it failed to live up to many fans' expectations.

* '''[[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment The story]]''' is a truly bizarre case of this that has been the subject of extremes on both sides, not helped by the massive VocalMinority it caused. The question among fans therein was less whether or not it's good or bad (the consensus defaults to the latter; even fans of ''Fates'' fully admit that the story has fundamental flaws with the presentation of its information, even if they genuinely liked the story it was ''trying'' to tell), but the question is '''''how''''' bad; the source of the [[FlameWar flame wars]] that engulfed the fandom when discussing the story comes from [[HypeBacklash both the hype from the game not meeting up to expectations as well as split of each of the routes, hampering the ability to get the full picture because of it]]. This combined with the fact that the story has fundamental issues and comes off as highly disjointed in many of the ObviouslyEvil antagonists undermining the GreyAndGrayMorality it was setting for and using several AssPull plot devices to seemingly move on the story at its own pace, led it to being without a doubt the most contentious ''Fire Emblem'' story in modern-day history. This saw the rise of several camps; one of which thinks the story is inherently unsalvageable and can only be fixed by completely wiping the slate clean, these are the people who were most disappointed with the game and take issue with the variety of problems the game has in its presentation. However, the game's fans and defenders point out that the game's flawed execution doesn't dilute the plentitude of fan works and fandom that the game had spawned, and that the core of the work ultimately ''was'' worth something discussing and dissecting in a light even considering its flaws as a narrative. A recent sentiment, [[UrbanLegendOfZelda verifiable or not]], was that the script of the game was overwritten as three scripts in novel format and ultimately had to be heavily cut to fit the format of a [=3DS=] game. Many detractors argue the ideas of the work don't matter in the face of such roughshod execution, but many others would argue it's precisely ''for'' those reasons that there's discussion to be had on its merits as a work. The third camp, [[TakeAThirdOption meanwhile]], agrees the story is bad, but they still enjoy it largely for unintended reasons, be it [[NarmCharm positive]] or [[SoBadItsGood negative]]. [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory The fourth camp ultimately didn't care for the story and characters at all, and just enjoyed the game entirely for its gameplay merits]]. A fifth and final camp unironically loved the story in spite of its flaws, [[AluminumChristmasTrees but while there's quite a lot more of these people than one would assume in the wild]] (especially given while most of the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom was in outright civil war at the time of its release, [[CriticalDissonance the publicity from the controversy]] ''[[CriticalDissonance drove up]]'' [[CriticalDissonance sales, nevermind the very high critical scores the games garnered from critics as well as the very positive sentiment shared by casual fans]]), [[FandomBerserkButton such a take was seen as outright heresy for a time]], and they were ''completely'' drowned out by the ''Fire Emblem'' internet fanbase's utter panning of the game's narrative. All of this combine meant the only thing the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom could agree on the story's flaws was that it irrevocably fractured the fandom until ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' [[WinBackTheCrowd helped glue the pieces together]]. [[DorkAge It's worth noting that the fandom became seen as utterly toxic during this time]], with the game's more vitriolic hatedom was such a VocalMinority and was notorious for attacking anyone who praised the story to any degree because they feared the direction the series was heading in so greatly they felt ''Fates'' was the catalyst to [[FranchiseOriginalSin more games that copied its contentious aspects]] and so wished it to seem as unpopular as possible. [[VindicatedByHistory This didn't work]], but even beyond the toxic parts, it still doesn't alter the fact that virtually nobody in the fandom can agree on how bad this game's story is other than tacitly acknowledging it failed to live up to many fans' expectations.

* Of all gameplay features, none is more divisive than the big one: '''''The [[FanNickname Face-Rubbing]]'''''. When the player visits their room in My Castle, they can invite a member of their army to their room to spend some time together. This takes the form of a minigame similar to [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY Pokémon Amie]], where the player character can use the 3DS's touch screen to pet/touch/rub the character's face. The character then talks to you during the game, and their responses depend on their support level with the Avatar. At lower levels, the characters react pretty much how you would expect: a mixture of confusion ("I thought you summoned me to give me orders?") and a general [[WhatTheHellPlayer what-the-hell-are-you-doing? attitude]]. While weird, most fans don't really have a problem with it until you get an S-rank support with that particular character (i.e. get married). At ''that'' point, the game pretty much turns into foreplay, complete with a shot of the character kissing you and giving you several innuendo-laden comments. Whether this, in addition to the HotterAndSexier upgrade in the game, has [[DarthWiki/RuinedForever ruined the series forever]] or not is a matter of [[FlameWar raging debate]]. This feature being DummiedOut in international versions has only put things into overdrive. Many detractors of the feature are relieved it was gone and find it being only dummied out a fair compromise for people who really wanted it, while others think that censoring/cutting it is simply pandering to PC MoralGuardians and {{Media Watchdog}}s (especially in light of two [[VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX controversial]] [[VideoGame/FatalFrame changes]]). That the feature is even in the game at all, and to the extent it was, was [[https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/3wu9x3/on_facerubbing_in_fates_interview_from_the/ a source of internal debate]] that divided the staff similarly.

* '''[[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment The story]]''' is a truly bizarre case of this that has been the subject of extremes on both sides, not helped by the massive VocalMinority it caused. The question among fans therein was less whether or not it's good or bad (the consensus defaults to the latter; even fans of ''Fates'' fully admit that the story has fundamental flaws with the presentation of its information, even if they genuinely liked the story it was ''trying'' to tell), but the question is '''''how''''' bad; the source of the [[FlameWar flame wars]] that engulfed the fandom when discussing the story comes from [[HypeBacklash both the hype from the game not meeting up to expectations as well as split of each of the routes, hampering the ability to get the full picture because of it]]. This combined with the fact that the story has fundamental issues and comes off as highly disjointed in many of the ObviouslyEvil antagonists undermining the GreyAndGrayMorality it was setting for and using several AssPull plot devices to seemingly move on the story at its own pace, led it to being without a doubt the most contentious ''Fire Emblem'' story in modern-day history. This saw the rise of several camps; one of which thinks the story is inherently unsalvageable and can only be fixed by completely wiping the slate clean, these are the people who were most disappointed with the game and take issue with the variety of problems the game has in its presentation. However, the game's fans and defenders point out that the game's flawed execution doesn't dilute the plentitude of fan works and fandom that the game had spawned, and that the core of the work ultimately ''was'' worth something discussing and dissecting in a light even considering its flaws as a narrative. A recent sentiment, [[UrbanLegendOfZelda verifiable or not]], was that the script of the game was overwritten as three scripts in novel format and ultimately had to be heavily cut to fit the format of a [=3DS=] game. Many detractors argue the ideas of the work don't matter in the face of such roughshod execution, but many others would argue it's precisely ''for'' those reasons that there's discussion to be had on its merits as a work. The third camp, [[TakeAThirdOption meanwhile]], agrees the story is bad, but they still enjoy it largely for unintended reasons, be it [[NarmCharm positive]] or [[SoBadItsGood negative]]. [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory The fourth camp ultimately didn't care for the story and characters at all, and just enjoyed the game entirely for its gameplay merits]]. A fifth and final camp unironically loved the story in spite of its flaws, [[AluminumChristmasTrees but while there's quite a lot more of these people than one would assume in the wild]] (especially given while most of the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom was in outright civil war at the time of its release, [[CriticalDissonance the publicity from the controversy]] ''[[CriticalDissonance drove up]]'' [[CriticalDissonance sales, nevermind the very high critical scores the games garnered from critics as well as the very positive sentiment shared by casual fans]]), [[FandomBerserkButton such a take was seen as outright heresy for a time]], and they were ''completely'' drowned out by the ''Fire Emblem'' internet fanbase's utter panning of the game's narrative. All of this combine meant the only thing the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom could agree on the story's flaws was that it irrevocably fractured the fandom until ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' [[WinBackTheCrowd helped glue the pieces together]]. [[DorkAge It's worth noting that the fandom became seen as utterly toxic during this time]], with the game's more vitriolic hatedom was such a VocalMinority and was notorious for attacking anyone who praised the story to any drgree because they feared the direction the series was heading in so greatly they felt ''Fates'' was the catalyst to [[FranchiseOriginalSin more games that copied its contentious aspects]] and so wished it to seem as unpopular as possible. [[VindicatedByHistory This didn't work]], but even beyond the toxic parts, it still doesn't alter the fact that virtually nobody in the fandom can agree on how bad this game's story is other than tacitly acknowledging it failed to live up to many fans' expectations.

* '''[[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment The story]]''' is a truly bizarre case of this that has been the subject of extremes on both sides, not helped by the massive VocalMinority it caused. The question among fans therein was less whether or not it's good or bad (the consensus defaults to the latter; even fans of ''Fates'' fully admit that the story has fundamental flaws with the presentation of its information, even if they genuinely liked the story it was ''trying'' to tell), but the question is '''''how''''' bad; the source of the [[FlameWar flame wars]] that engulfed the fandom when discussing the story comes from [[HypeBacklash both the hype from the game not meeting up to expectations as well as split of each of the routes, hampering the ability to get the full picture because of it]]. This combined with the fact that the story has fundamental issues and comes off as highly disjointed in many of the ObviouslyEvil antagonists undermining the GreyAndGrayMorality it was setting for and using several AssPull plot devices to seemingly move on the story at its own pace, led it to being without a doubt the most contentious ''Fire Emblem'' story in modern-day history. This saw the rise of several camps; one of which thinks the story is inherently unsalvageable and can only be fixed by completely wiping the slate clean, these are the people who were most disappointed with the game and take issue with the variety of problems the game has in its presentation. However, the game's fans and defenders point out that the game's flawed execution doesn't dilute the plentitude of fan works and fandom that the game had spawned, and that the core of the work ultimately ''was'' worth something discussing and dissecting in a light even considering its flaws as a narrative. A recent sentiment, [[UrbanLegendOfZelda verifiable or not]], was that the script of the game was overwritten as three scripts in novel format and ultimately had to be heavily cut to fit the format of a [=3DS=] game. Many detractors argue the ideas of the work don't matter in the face of such roughshod execution, but many others would argue it's precisely ''for'' those reasons that there's discussion to be had on its merits as a work. The third camp, [[TakeAThirdOption meanwhile]], agrees the story is bad, but they still enjoy it largely for unintended reasons, be it [[NarmCharm positive]] or [[SoBadItsGood negative]]. [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory The fourth camp ultimately didn't care for the story and characters at all, and just enjoyed the game entirely for its gameplay merits]]. A fifth and final camp unironically loved the story in spite of its flaws, [[AluminumChristmasTrees but while there's quite a lot more of these people than one would assume in the wild]] (especially given while most of the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom was in outright civil war at the time of its release, [[CriticalDissonance the publicity from the controversy]] ''[[CriticalDissonance drove up]]'' [[CriticalDissonance sales, nevermind the very high critical scores the games garnered from critics as well as the very positive sentiment shared by casual fans]]), [[FandomBerserkButton such a take was seen as outright heresy for a time]], and they were ''completely'' drowned out by the ''Fire Emblem'' internet fanbase's utter panning of the game's narrative. All of this combine meant the only thing the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom could agree on the story's flaws was that it irrevocably fractured the fandom until ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' [[WinBackTheCrowd helped glue the pieces together]]. [[DorkAge It's worth noting the Fire Emblem became seen as utterly toxic during this time]], the game's more vitriolic hatedom was such a VocalMinority and was notorious for attacking anyone who praised the story to any drgree because they feared the direction the series was heading in so greatly they felt ''Fates'' was the catalyst to [[FranchiseOriginalSin more games that copied its contentious aspects]] and so wished it to seem as unpopular as possible. [[VindicatedByHistory This didn't work]], but even beyond the toxic parts, it still doesn't alter the fact that virtually nobody in the fandom can agree on how bad this game's story is other than tacitly acknowledging it failed to live up to many fans' expectations.

* '''[[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment The story]]''' is a truly bizarre case of this that has been the subject of extremes on both sides, not helped by the massive VocalMinority it caused. The question among fans therein was less whether or not it's good or bad (the consensus defaults to the latter; even fans of ''Fates'' fully admit that the story has fundamental flaws with the presentation of its information, even if they genuinely liked the story it was ''trying'' to tell), but the question is '''''how''''' bad; the source of the [[FlameWar flame wars]] that engulfed the fandom when discussing the story comes from [[HypeBacklash both the hype from the game not meeting up to expectations as well as split of each of the routes, hampering the ability to get the full picture because of it]]. This combined with the fact that the story has fundamental issues and comes off as highly disjointed in many of the ObviouslyEvil antagonists undermining the GreyAndGrayMorality it was setting for and using several AssPull plot devices to seemingly move on the story at its own pace, led it to being without a doubt the most contentious ''Fire Emblem'' story in modern-day history. This saw the rise of several camps; one of which thinks the story is inherently unsalvageable and can only be fixed by completely wiping the slate clean, these are the people who were most disappointed with the game and take issue with the variety of problems the game has in its presentation. However, the game's fans and defenders point out that the game's flawed execution doesn't dilute the plentitude of fan works and fandom that the game had spawned, and that the core of the work ultimately ''was'' worth something discussing and dissecting in a light even considering its flaws as a narrative. A recent sentiment, [[UrbanLegendOfZelda verifiable or not]], was that the script of the game was overwritten as a novel and ultimately had to be heavily cut to fit the format of a [=3DS=] game. Many detractors argue the ideas of the work don't matter in the face of such roughshod execution, but many others would argue it's precisely ''for'' those reasons that there's discussion to be had on its merits as a work. The third camp, [[TakeAThirdOption meanwhile]], agrees the story is bad, but they still enjoy it largely for unintended reasons, be it [[NarmCharm positive]] or [[SoBadItsGood negative]]. [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory The fourth camp ultimately didn't care for the story and characters at all, and just enjoyed the game entirely for its gameplay merits]]. A fifth and final camp unironically loved the story in spite of its flaws, [[AluminumChristmasTrees but while there's quite a lot more of these people than one would assume in the wild]] (especially given while most of the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom was in outright civil war at the time of its release, [[CriticalDissonance the publicity from the controversy]] ''[[CriticalDissonance drove up]]'' [[CriticalDissonance sales, nevermind the very high critical scores the games garnered from critics as well as the very positive sentiment shared by casual fans]]), [[FandomBerserkButton such a take was seen as outright heresy for a time]], and they were ''completely'' drowned out by the ''Fire Emblem'' internet fanbase's utter panning of the game's narrative. All of this combine meant the only thing the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom could agree on the story's flaws was that it irrevocably fractured the fandom until ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' [[WinBackTheCrowd helped glue the pieces together]]. [[DorkAge It's worth noting the Fire Emblem became seen as utterly toxic during this time]], the game's more vitriolic hatedom was such a VocalMinority and was notorious for attacking anyone who praised the story to any drgree because they feared the direction the series was heading in so greatly they felt ''Fates'' was the catalyst to [[FranchiseOriginalSin more games that copied its contentious aspects]] and so wished it to seem as unpopular as possible. [[VindicatedByHistory This didn't work]], but even beyond the toxic parts, it still doesn't alter the fact that virtually nobody in the fandom can agree on how bad this game's story is other than tacitly acknowledging it failed to live up to many fans' expectations.

* '''[[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment The story]]''' is a truly bizarre case of this that has been the subject of extremes on both sides, not helped by the massive VocalMinority it caused. The question therein is less whether or not it's good or bad (even fans of ''Fates'' fully admit that the story has fundamental flaws with the presentation of its information, even if they liked the story it was trying to tell), but the question is '''''how''''' bad; the source of the [[FlameWar flame wars]] that engulfed the fandom when discussing the story comes from [[HypeBacklash both the hype from the game not meeting up to expectations as well as split of each of the routes, hampering the ability to get the full picture because of it]]. This combined with the fact that the story has fundamental issues and comes off as highly disjointed in many of the ObviouslyEvil antagonists undermining the GreyAndGrayMorality it was setting for and using several AssPull plot devices to seemingly move on the story at its own pace, led it to being without a doubt the most contentious ''Fire Emblem'' story in modern-day history. This saw the rise of several camps; one of which thinks the story is inherently unsalvageable and can only be fixed by completely wiping the slate clean, these are the people who were most disappointed with the game and take issue with the variety of problems the game has in its presentation. However, the game's fans and defenders point out that the game's flawed execution doesn't dilute the plentitude of fan works and fandom that the game had spawned, and that the core of the work ultimately ''was'' worth something discussing and dissecting in a light even considering its flaws as a narrative. A recent sentiment, [[UrbanLegendOfZelda verifiable or not]], was that the script of the game was overwritten as a novel and ultimately had to be heavily cut to fit the format of a [=3DS=] game. Many detractors argue the ideas of the work don't matter in the face of such roughshod execution, but many others would argue it's precisely ''for'' those reasons that there's discussion to be had on its merits as a work. The third camp, [[TakeAThirdOption meanwhile]], agrees the story is bad, but they still enjoy it largely for unintended reasons, be it [[NarmCharm positive]] or [[SoBadItsGood negative]]. [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory The fourth camp ultimately didn't care for the story and characters at all, and just enjoyed the game entirely for its gameplay merits]]. A fifth and final camp unironically loved the story in spite of its flaws, [[AluminumChristmasTrees but while there's quite a lot more of these people than one would assume in the wild]] (especially given while most of the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom was in outright civil war at the time of its release, [[CriticalDissonance the publicity from the controversy]] ''[[CriticalDissonance drove up]]'' [[CriticalDissonance sales, nevermind the very high critical scores the games garnered from critics as well as the very positive sentiment shared by casual fans]]), [[FandomBerserkButton such a take was seen as outright heresy for a time]], and they were ''completely'' drowned out by the ''Fire Emblem'' internet fanbase's utter panning of the game's narrative. All of this combine meant the only thing the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom could agree on the story's flaws was that it irrevocably fractured the fandom until ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' [[WinBackTheCrowd helped glue the pieces together]]. [[DorkAge It's worth noting the Fire Emblem became seen as utterly toxic during this time]], the game's more vitriolic hatedom was such a VocalMinority and was notorious for attacking anyone who praised the story to any drgree because they feared the direction the series was heading in so greatly they felt ''Fates'' was the catalyst to [[FranchiseOriginalSin more games that copied its contentious aspects]] and so wished it to seem as unpopular as possible. [[VindicatedByHistory This didn't work]], but even beyond the toxic parts, it still doesn't alter the fact that virtually nobody in the fandom can agree on how bad this game's story is other than tacitly acknowledging it failed to live up to many fans' expectations.