@Tandem_Toad: Pretty clear you have little experience in the field. There's a place for "avatar" characters and there's times where you should avoid them. Games like Mass Effect and other BioWare RPGs work great in this format because it's about deciding what happens during your adventure, and it makes sense to have a character that physically reflects you making those decisions. But take a game like the original Xenoblade Chronicles and try to add an avatar system, and... it just doesn't work. Xenoblade was way too character-driven to have a "floating" character in the midst that only ever really talks when you command him to. The main character, Shulk, was just too integral to the plot to be just some blank slate you can smear some hair dye on and feel good about.

As for Link, you'd *think* it makes sense to make him more of an avatar character due to his nature of being a silent protagonist, but here's why that's wrong: Link has been an established character for 30 years now. Whether you want to accept it or not, he is his own entity. I mean, where does it end? Should we take the next Mario game and make his gender optional? Super Maria Siblings? Donkey Kong doesn't really talk, either, we could make his gender optional, too. Hell, from what I recall, Samus doesn't really talk very often, either (she spoke occasionally in a few games and was completely silent in the Prime trilogy). Can we have the option to make her a male?

It just doesn't work. Avatars have their place. Static characters have their place, too. It's like aiming down sights in an FPS. It's a tool. You don't just slap it on everything and assume it's an improvement. You have to assess on a case-by-case basis and figure out if it really is the best course of action, because it isn't always so.

If Kojima really does get his job offered back to him, I really hope he doesn't take it. Konami's greedy nonsense butchered an almost flawless game and they should be made to pay for that, not profit from it.

"We had a full year of expansions to the game that have been very well received and sold quite well."

TDB and HOW sold well, yes (mostly on pre-orders), but "very well-received"? Destiny fan here, and I'm just gonna say, no, they weren't. I don't mean me, I mean the community as a whole said they were massively overpriced for how much content they gave.

It's one thing to dodge the truth, it's another thing to lie about it.

"I regret to say that, up to now, we had few plans for the full-scale implementation of DLC," he said. "From here on out, we need to focus on the long-term provision of content starting at the earliest stages of development."

Translation: "Right from the very start of production, we're gonna start planning on just what we can add to the game LATER and still charge lots of money for."

Wow, and to think this was my first Fire Emblem, and by buying this (I almost didn't, because Amazon sold out Day One, and I had doubts about getting the Digital version instead) I actually participated in saving the series.

... I'm a good person. And this is a good series. Glad to know I'll see more!