The Fire Emblem Thread

[Amn Nom]

Referring to Disgaea?

More like any Nippon Ichi game, Rainbow Moon, and Agarest for recent games.

 

[Vagiel]

Like I said, Awakening serves as a giant tutorial level for wusses/weebs who're scared of Fire Emblem in it's purest form. Which includes good writing.

Odd that FE:A would've been the series' swan song. I guess it was :incloosive: enough to sell, though.

So no reason at all then. Thanks for saving me the money and time.

 

[Avellion]

More like any Nippon Ichi game, Rainbow Moon, and Agarest for recent games.

How could I forget about Rainbow Moon and Argarest? Seems like a good thing I am only aware of the Disgaea Nippon Ichi games, because if they make more equally horrible games, it might be for the better I dont know of them.

So no reason at all then. Thanks for saving me the money and time.

The good thing about the codex: You will save a lot of money.
The bad thing about the codex: You may find yourself only buying 1-3 games per year.

 

[Chateaubryan]

If they fix the AI and add a little more variety in tactical options, it may be good. But since everybody was gushing about FE:A despite its unchallenging AI ("attack the weakest unit in range/maximize damage"), I don't hold my hopes too high.

 

[TheGreatOne]

Which is the best localized FE game?

Like I said, Awakening serves as a giant tutorial level for wusses/weebs who're scared of Fire Emblem in it's purest form. Which includes good writing.

Odd that FE:A would've been the series' swan song. I guess it was :incloosive: enough to sell, though.

It was in top 10 of neogaf's list Sadly I've seen a lot of casuals praising Awakening

 

[Vagiel]

I would say either the first one on the game boy or path of radiance on gc, which ever is available to you. I really like the sprites on the game boy plus the story is inoffensive enough to let you enjoy the nice pace of the game that gets progressively harder without getting complex. That's what I like about FE actually, it has very simple rules, little to no customization and that allows it to be very fine tuned in terms of balance.

Anyway there is a number of fan translated ones but I leave them out for now.

 

[Keldryn]

I don't know, just the addition of grinding ruins it for me (not like there are not so many other reasons to dislike it). Being able to grind means there is no proper balance in the game because there is no expected level of the party to base the enemies around. Add the fact of forced deployment of certain units for the support conversation and not because the tactical situation demands it plus unlimited reclassing taking away any uniqueness from the characters plus monotonous objectives plus bare terrain leaves the gameplay woefully inadequate for me.

Especially if you get the Xenologue: EXPonential Growth DLC. This seriously breaks the game. And when it's available, it's extremely difficult to not make use of it. I over-leveled my characters to such a ridiculous degree that the game offered absolutely no challenge after a certain point. I just couldn't help myself. Kind of like The Forge of Virtue actually...

It was fun, in a certain way, to absolutely stomp everything with superheroic "Robin," Lucina, Morgan, etc. I made sure that every one of my 2nd generation characters got the Galeforce ability, which pretty much made everyone who couldn't get the ability obsolete.

Still one of my favorite games on the system though; I sunk a good 110 hours or so into it.

The only Fire Emblem game that I've played previously is Path of Radiance, and I only got about halfway into it before hitting a brick wall. I didn't really grasp all of the nuances of the game system and I over-used Titania at the start, depriving everyone else of necessary XP. Without any ability to grind XP, I had a bunch of under-leveled characters that were getting slaughtered. I'll go back to it one day and start again from the beginning (it's been a good 6+ years since I played it), and then move on to Radiant Dawn (which I have, but haven't played).

Is there any reason to play awakening really? Honest question to any fans.

It's still a fun game, it might be fun to try out different parents for the 2nd generation, and it's playable on a portable system. I'd love to give Path of Radiance another shot, but I don't have a lot of time for playing games at home and it's not the kind of game that anybody else in the room enjoys watching.

 

[Avellion]

When I played Awakening I made sure not to marry anyone. And for a good reason

Assuming the new Fire Emblem has fixed its shit and is now a decent game. I will stay single in that game too. On the bright side, NPCs dont hit on oyu in every conversation. Maybe BioWare could learn a thing or two.

 

[Morality Games]

I'm too much of a completionist to resist romances in the games where they are present (need that achievement son). Usually I just go with the canon option because I rarely prefer one choice to the other. In the last game that seemed to be Lucina.

 

[Tehdagah]

Like I said, Awakening serves as a giant tutorial level for wusses/weebs who're scared of Fire Emblem in it's purest form. Which includes good writing.

Lol.

 

[sser]

I actually enjoyed the 'romance' part of the game. It wasn't overwrought by any means. Just a few sentences here and there, some of which could be amusing. Also, it actually fucking mattered as far as gameplay was concerned. So that's cool. You know, romance and gameplay hand and hand. Looking at you, BioWare.

 

[Elthosian]

I'll go back to it one day and start again from the beginning (it's been a good 6+ years since I played it), and then move on to Radiant Dawn (which I have, but haven't played).

You won't regret it, RD has some of the most varied level designs in japanese SRPG, I've replayed the whole game just to get to 3-13 with all the ballistaes, catapults, allies and op enemies, shame the plot suffers of yet another strong case of Tactics Ogre/Final Fantasy Tactics syndrome

 

[Siveon]

Lol.

Relatively speaking. Most Fire Emblem games have sparse writing to be honest, and it isn't anything that we haven't seen before - but it's not without any sort of thought or coherency. Fire Emblem: Awakening however, kind of peeters off and dies, with the high point being in the beginning and then taking a nose-dive.

 

[Vagiel]

You won't regret it, RD has some of the most varied level designs in japanese SRPG, I've replayed the whole game just to get to 3-13 with all the ballistaes, catapults, allies and op enemies, shame the plot suffers of yet another strong case of Tactics Ogre/Final Fantasy Tactics syndrome

The point is the plot was not anything special but it was inoffensive. It was there in the background to give some reason from going from map to map and that is enough. I don't expect anything more from any game really. Most of the time is spent in battle and that's what should be good or at least varied enough not to bore you.

Anyway path of radiance was a good time and I should move on to radiant dawn when I have a chance.

 

[Keldryn]

You won't regret it, RD has some of the most varied level designs in japanese SRPG, I've replayed the whole game just to get to 3-13 with all the ballistaes, catapults, allies and op enemies, shame the plot suffers of yet another strong case of Tactics Ogre/Final Fantasy Tactics syndrome

Which would you say is the better game overall, Path of Radiance or Radiant Dawn? (I'm still going to play them in order, as I absolutely have to transfer my save data over.) I think I picked up RD for $20 in a clearance bin somewhere.

I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't played any Tactics Ogre games, nor I have actually played that much of FFT (I have it for the PSX, but I never got that far into it). So if the plot is a retread, I won't notice...

 

[Elthosian]

I would say Radiant Dawn is the better game because it implements terrain heights, three tiered units, better plot prior to the FFT moment, longer campaign (40+ levels) and is overall much more difficult, specially due to the fact PoR difficulty was toned down from jap version, making most dorito reviewers rage about how unforgivingly hard (for dorito standards I mean) RD could become playing normal.

Path of Radiance however is a pretty nice game with its own dose of varied levels and, unlike RD, it has full support convos in case you like to get extra background info from your chars.

 

[Vagiel]

Ok this is gold. I present you a quote from a post in neogaf...

"I'm torn on the marriage stuff. I liked it in Awakening but it'd feel odd for me to "marry" another girl and to have different children than the 2 I already have. IF there is marriage again, I won't make the MU to resemble me."

I just have no words...

 

[Avellion]

I would say Radiant Dawn is the better game because it implements terrain heights, three tiered units, better plot prior to the FFT moment, longer campaign (40+ levels) and is overall much more difficult, specially due to the fact PoR difficulty was toned down from jap version, making most dorito reviewers rage about how unforgivingly hard (for dorito standards I mean) RD could become playing normal.

Path of Radiance however is a pretty nice game with its own dose of varied levels and, unlike RD, it has full support convos in case you like to get extra background info from your chars.

So that is why PoR was piss easy, even on hard.

Ok this is gold. I present you a quote from a post in neogaf...

"I'm torn on the marriage stuff. I liked it in Awakening but it'd feel odd for me to "marry" another girl and to have different children than the 2 I already have. IF there is marriage again, I won't make the MU to resemble me."

I just have no words...

I have one word.

NeoGAF

 

[Avellion]

The mary sue is the lord this time it seems like.

http://serenesforest.net/fire-emblem-if/january-analysis/

Shame he seems to be using a sword. The series need another Hector

Or sister fucker ephraim

Never been a fan of swords in RPGs, at all. Spears are good, and so are axes, and maces. Andt hey seem to be adding maces for this game.

 

[Siveon]

Oh and Pair Up is back

Boo, boo I say. It's the "win button" in SRPG form. Just put together everyone and now suddenly the game is twice as easy! Oh, and the Lord being the Mary Sue. Boo.

In the grand scheme of things it could just be minor complaints though, hopefully the setting and the speculation over branching paths (!!!) could mean some serious improvement. Hopefully pairing up could be nerfed/turned off for the good 'ol rescue function? ...It's fun to be in denial.

 

[Press X for Feels]

Awakening fucking sucked, pretty disappointing that they're taking lessons from it. Oh well, Awakening sold more than most of the rest of the series combined so I guess it's to be expected.

For the best Fire Emblem tactical experience try Thracia 776, probably the closest thing to simulating an actual rebellion in a video game. Weapons are ludicrously expensive and thus you must capture enemies for theirs, you're almost always outnumbered and outclassed, and most of the early game is spent running away. Quite frustrating (especially if you want to be a tryhard and keep everyone alive which the game is pretty much explicitly designed to prevent, its definitely possible though) but fascinating.

 

[Avellion]

For the best Fire Emblem tactical experience try Thracia 776, probably the closest thing to simulating an actual rebellion in a video game. Weapons are ludicrously expensive and thus you must capture enemies for theirs, you're almost always outnumbered and outclassed, and most of the early game is spent running away. Quite frustrating (especially if you want to be a tryhard and keep everyone alive which the game is pretty much explicitly designed to prevent, its definitely possible though) but fascinating.

I loved that outmanned, outgunned feel of Fire Emblem 5. Personally I feel that this was the perfection of the Fire Emblem Formula. In awakening, I never had issues with money, seeing as it figuratively speaking, grew on trees. That just trying to survive feel of FE5 is missed. Now, screwing up for future missions is borderline impossible to do.

It is sad we barely see these games nowadays. Games seem to be designred around everything being easily tackled no matter what you do. Especially now that everything scales to your level.

 

[Whisky]

Awakening fucking sucked, pretty disappointing that they're taking lessons from it. Oh well, Awakening sold more than most of the rest of the series combined so I guess it's to be expected.

For the best Fire Emblem tactical experience try Thracia 776, probably the closest thing to simulating an actual rebellion in a video game. Weapons are ludicrously expensive and thus you must capture enemies for theirs, you're almost always outnumbered and outclassed, and most of the early game is spent running away. Quite frustrating (especially if you want to be a tryhard and keep everyone alive which the game is pretty much explicitly designed to prevent, its definitely possible though) but fascinating.

Fire Emblem 4 and 5 were the best in the series. 4 was stupidly easy, but the whole large scale battle thing they tried was new for the series and was a breath of fresh air. The waifu pairing thing was there, but it felt like about waifuing and more about breeding a master race of children, what with the whole bloodline system.

5 was also full of creative scenarios that they never returned to. Capturing enemies to steal their stuff was never used again and some maps were so different from other games in the series, like the jailbreak map where all your units are in jail except for one thief; it was a stealth mission (For three turns) in a Strategy RPG and it was actually good! The only issue I had was the fatigue system, it never really made the game better and just served to make a hard game much harder.

 

[Delterius]

If they fix the AI and add a little more variety in tactical options, it may be good. But since everybody was gushing about FE:A despite its unchallenging AI ("attack the weakest unit in range/maximize damage"), I don't hold my hopes too high.

I don't think the AI is the biggest problem, really. As always, it is map and encounter design that became too straightforward.

This isn't the first 'casual' Fire Emblem, every one of those which enabled grinding tended to break the rules system and remove any character from each unit. If someone starts with high Def and low Res - like many protagonists do - odds are they can become invincible after 40 level ups. Second Seals make things even worse. To try and keep things interesting, they have to resort to these weird open maps full of super flying units that you must kill in droves.

I still have hopes for the future though.

 

[Elthosian]

IMO FE4 is only really good during the first half, sure you can play with the pairing system but the game's mechanics are too shallow to keep playing yet another six levels, and let's not even talk about the narrative quality going down the drain.

FE5 however is truly best game of the series material, would kill to see a new Fire Emblem combining Radiant's Dawn scale and mechanical depth with Thracia's unique systems and tone, but it's clear we are only going to get waifu simulators from now on :/