I Am A Lazy Arse

Please forgive me, Internet, for I have been playing Fire Emblem: Awakening until my fingers bled. On that note, I will now morph this blog into a handheld gaming blog for one post to rant.
FE:A is still FE. That, of course, means that it is made of pure genius. Okay, okay, it's still a heroic-fantasy cheesefest, but no one plays FE for the moral conflicts. It's a solidly built, engaging game with pleasing graphics, a smooth flow, great characterization, challenging gameplay and huge amounts of gameplay. Everything is close to perfect, and the multitude of nods and outright jokes about the older games warms this old cheetobeard's shrunken, bitter little heart. It doesn't hurt that NoE has seemingly loosened up on its censorship policies (no, shut up about the Tharja/Nowi debacle - the line was blatant and misplaced fanservice in the first place) and now actually refers to sex, alcohol and homosexuality.
Well, back to the nostalgia issue. Sure, we old players are being drowned in nostalgic content, with the characters from older games being obtainable through DLC and SpotPass, but the general dilution of the difficulty for the normalfags still rubs me the wrong way. Fire Emblem has always been a demanding and often straight-out sadistic series, and the permadeath element has always been essential for the games. Now, though, Nintendo seems intent on rebranding it for the wider riajuu audience, and it's hurting the game. It doesn't make much of a difference in the final product, as it's sturdy enough to take a few flaws, but I sense a disturbance in the Ripple when it comes to future installments. Nintendo is opening up the game to Facebook and letting the pampered normies into the decision progress with popularity polls and other despicable tools of mass marketing. These are the people who've never played a game on Hard or higher, who have never played a game with permadeath, who desire instant gratification and blatant pandering, and who are going to wreck the series if taken further. These people are weeaboos and gaming hipsters who have no respect for the traditions of a long-standing game series and are letting Nintendo whore out characters like Cordelia and Tharja to their immature crotch areas.
FE:A is a great game, but the pandering to newer players dilutes the challenge of the game, and the "reboot" of the series lets Facebook normalfags in on the decision progress. In the long term, this will harm everyone involved - the pandering will dilute the series and turn long-term fans off it, and normie attention spans last for about two weeks past the latest flashing ads and reveal videos. They will always want something new and sparkly, and it's impossible to hold their attention for longer than a few months at most. The ones who tend to keep awareness of an upcoming game up to date are the devoted fans - and guess what, if Nintendo keeps on whoring out the game like this, they'll disappear. I'll be the first to ditch the sinking ship if this continues, and I will be very angry when I do so - I've been on said vessel for half of my life and an engaged part of the fandom for years and years, and I'll be sad to see it go.
Also, just because I'd hate to waste the opportunity, let me emit the sacred call of the old crew of 5143, just to see if any of you are still out there.
Franzerk.
May the Erkfranz be with you all.