Artist's Note:
As someone who doesn't tend to do "romance" in video games, I'm going to be quite iffy about who I want my character to "woo."
Upon reaching "S" class in a relationship w/ someone, you automatically will marry, have a kid, and well... it only progresses the story...right?
In the meanwhile, I'm enjoying Birthright. I'm hoping that I'll be able to handle Conquest when the time is right. >_<
Writer's Note:
This really isn't such a strange idea - when you think about it, even Pokemon, when played at the competitive level, is really a game about breeding as opposed to fighting.
I don't know who came up with the idea for the marriage and kids mechanics introduced in Awakening, but whoever they are, I'm sure they got a big pay raise courtesy of the positive fan reception (though I'm less sure if the person who came.up with the idea for "poking" and "blowing" on characters will be getting one...).
The only problem I have with the marriage-kid mechanic is how it can produce some weird plot points as it forces the Fire Emblem writing staff to include time-bending features into the world of the game in order to provide a means to acceler-age the children characters up to adolescence. In Awakenings they resorted to plain old time travel; in Fates, they use a strange "pocket dimension" gimmick. The latter instance feels particularly heavy-handed, but while I can bitch and moan about clunky plot devices, I'm sure the popularity of the mechanic will be enough to prevent too many raised eyebrows, at least in time for the next main installment of the series - Fire Emblem: OTP
