Games Fire Emblem Discussion Thread

[Tranquil Rain]

Hello everyone,

I tried to find a discussion thread for the Fire Emblem series but it seems there isn't any thread created for it yet.

So, I thought that it would be nice to have a specific thread to discuss anything related to this great game series. ^_^

As a brief introduction, Fire Emblem is a tactical or strategy role-playing game, where you command a set of characters on a grid-like battle ground in a chess-like manner. Each character is specialised in something whether its archery, swordsmanship, magic, etc. To make the game-play further interesting, each game has its unique story, event, and characters, causing you to stay attached to the game until it ends.

First of all, I will be listing (chronologically) all the FE games produced to date:

Titles not released for the west:

1- Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light

Spoiler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Emblem:_Shadow_Dragon_and_the_Blade_of_Light


2- Fire Emblem Gaiden

Spoiler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Emblem_Gaiden


3- Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem

Spoiler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Emblem:_Mystery_of_the_Emblem


4- Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War

Spoiler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Emblem:_Genealogy_of_the_Holy_War


5- Fire Emblem: Thracia 776

Spoiler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Emblem:_Thracia_776


6- Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade

Spoiler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Emblem:_The_Binding_Blade


Titles released for the west:


7- Fire Emblem: The Sword of Flame

Spoiler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Emblem_(video_game)


8- Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

Spoiler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Emblem:_The_Sacred_Stones


9- Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Spoiler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Emblem:_Path_of_Radiance


10- Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Spoiler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Emblem:_Radiant_Dawn


11- Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon

Spoiler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Emblem:_Shadow_Dragon


12- Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem ~Heroes of Light and Shadow~ (this one was not released for the west)

Spoiler

http://fireemblem.wikia.com/wiki/Fire_Emblem:_Shin_Monshō_no_Nazo_~Hikari_to_Kage_no_Eiyū~


13- Fire Emblem: Awakening

Spoiler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Emblem_Awakening


14- Fire Emblem: Fates/ if

Spoiler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Emblem_Fates


I am not sure whether it is considered a FE game, but a crossover between FE and Shin Megami Tensei will be released in Japan by the end of the year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genei_Ibun_Roku_♯FE

I hope I have included all the titles.

So, feel free to discuss anything related to any of those games; the game-play, the storyline, characters, etc.

I will start the discussion by asking these questions:

What is your favourite FE game and why? If you have played several games in the series, how would you list the games from the most favourite to the least and why?

As for me, I only played Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn and I really really liked it for the following reasons:

1- Game-play: The game-play in RD is enjoyable and challenging that you never get bored of replaying the game. Because of the wide range of characters/units who have a wide variety of classes, each time you play the game you would use a different set of characters and work on developing their skills using certain strategies for each set of characters. You would even use a different strategy for the same group of characters each time you replay the game.
The characters/units in the game range in strength when you first recruit them from weak to strong to powerful. It is up to you whom you want to use. Trying to level up the weak units and making them powerful is as enjoyable as crushing the enemies using the powerful ones. However, the game actually induces you to level up some weak characters even if you plan to use the powerful ones.
My favorite type of units in the game is archers. Leveling them up is enjoyable and when they reach high levels, they become really strong and powerful.
To proceed through each chapter or stage, the player should fulfil specific goals set for the map of each stage, and throughout the game there is a variety of goals, adding to the overall enjoyment of the game.
As for the difficulty, I will be honest here, at first, it is definitely not easy; at least, that is how I felt about it when I first played it. Although the 'easy' stage is supposed to be easy, it is actually not easy at first, especially part one of the game. Maybe that is just me, but it took me some considerable time to get used to it. But believe me, as you get used to everything, you will be too attached to the game that you will replay it several times and become an expert.

2- The story and characters: The story in my opinion is really nice and compelling and there are some interesting twists as it progresses. I liked all the first three parts of the game, but the overall story of the fourth part, even though it had some nice moments, seemed weird to me. Several deep themes are addressed throughout the game as well. As for the characters, to be honest, while several of them are really interesting, the game did not put considerable effort in developing them. That is mainly due to the developers deciding to not include support conversations which were actually included in its prequel FE: Path of Radiance. As a result, further character development for some characters was removed. However, some characters, especially the main cast, did receive some significant character development and I got attached to several characters.
Another nice feature is during the second play-through on Normal difficulty new events would be unlocked.

3- Soundtrack: The OSTs for RD are great, epic, and well-composed and several of them are memorable. Two of the OSTs I really liked are The Devoted and Divine Tranquillity.

4- Cinematic cut-scenes: The cut-scenes in RD add extra enjoyment for the game and they are pretty well-done.

Well, all in all, RD is a really enjoyable game with high re-playability value and I would say it is my most favourite video game and it made me interested to play other titles of the series.

I would really like to know your opinions on the FE games you have played and what you liked most about them.

Thank you ^_^

 

[Jammin]

I'm a big fan of the Fire Emblem series and have played 5 of them over the years.

The first one I ever played was Sacred Stones on the Gameboy Advance. Fell in love with the series from then on and went back to play The Sword of Flame also on Gameboy Advance. Then Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn for the Gamecube and Wii respectively. Finally, Awakening on the 3DS.

There are things I like about each game but I like Awakening the most.

Sacred Stones had more of a flashy anime look for the combat, which I liked a lot. Since it's combat moved into 3D it's dropped a lot of that flashyness and I miss it. It also had a world map you could wander around on your way to complete objectives Final Fantasy Tactics style. Which is another thing I am a big fan of.

The Sword of Flame was fine but it wasn't what Sacred Stones was to me. It suffered a bit since I played Sacred Stones first, which had improved on a lot of it's original mechanics. The lack of a world map and a little less polish to the systems hurt it a bit for me.

Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn I thought had the best cast of characters of all of them but I wasn't a big fan of how you couldn't move around a world map. Which made them much less open compared to Sacred Stones or Awakening since they locked into the story with no opportunity for random encounters or anything.

Awakening, I thought, really learned and improved on everything the Fire Emblem games are. Lots of freedom with the world map. Combining time travel with the romance mechanic was impressive and worked great. And making it so any character could be a romance option for any other character was something the series had never done before. It also looked really great with it's new cell shaded art style. The inclusion of a custom main character was also cool; and something that hadn't been done since The Sword of Flame. It all came together and worked well. The only thing that didn't work was the 3D models not having feet for whatever reason (that was weird).

 

[Tranquil Rain]

Thank you for the mini reviews for each game.
Although I only got the opportunity to play Radiant Dawn, I did see the gameplay of the other Fire Emblem games, and Awakening seems the best in terms of gameplay animation as well as the blending of many features of the other FE games.

As for the 3D combat animation, I would say that RD's combat animation was better than that of Path of Radiance, but Awakening and Fates added more movement to the combating characters which is nice.

As for the 3D models not having feet, they fixed that in Fates. XD

Regarding characters, although they are definitely interesting in Radiant Dawn, I think there is much more potential in developing them. I read that the developers have removed most of the support conversations from the game .
Story-wise, which FE you think is the best in your opinion? Many praise Sacred Stones' story.

 

[Jammin]

Path of Radiance and Sacred Stones are kind of tied for me regarding best story. I thought they were both really good. Which is your favorite storywise?

I've got very high hopes for Fates. Awakening was so good and it seems like Fate is taking everything good about it and adding even more. So I can't wait. The character designs also look great to me. I know people have complained that some of them look too much like awakening's characters but that doesn't really bother me.

The only concern I have is the fear that it won't do well financially. The decision to split the game into 3 parts may backfire on them and I'd hate to see that. The overall price isn't too unreasonable. Since it will be $39.99 for the a game containing one of the main factions story, then $19.99 a piece for the other two. So about $80 for the whole package. That's a price I'm willing to pay but it's easy to see them losing some people because that's a lot to pay for a 3DS game.

It also kills me a little bit to see it released on the 3DS. It's such a great game but so many of the hardcore RPG gamers are on the PS4 now. Can you even imagine how many copies this would sell on PS4 with those kind of graphics? It would be game of the year.

 

[SirSamuel016]

I've only played Fire Emblem: Awakening, but I must say I absolutely love it. I've given it close to 15 replays by now, and I enjoy it more and more each time. I really liked the story, and its gameplay was extremely good as well. The 3D sprites not having feet didn't bother me as there was so much else in the game that had my attention.

I've pre-ordered the Fire Emblem Fates: Special Edition so I have all three versions of Fates, and I must say I haven't spoiled the game for myself yet, but hopefully a release date for Australia is released soon as I NEED TO PLAY IT (Even though its listed as costing $200 AUS). Its definitely one of the games I'm most looking forward to in 2016.

 

[Tranquil Rain]

Path of Radiance and Sacred Stones are kind of tied for me regarding best story. I thought they were both really good. Which is your favorite storywise?

I liked Path of Radiance the most. As I played Radiant Dawn, I wanted to know about the background stories of the plot and the characters so I watched a play-through of Path of Radiance, and it turned out that the story of PoR is even better than that of Radiant Dawn. RD's story is still really interesting and very good in my opinion, but the plot in part 4 of the game was weird for me and it was not that well-written in my opinion compared to the other three parts.
As for Sacred Stones' story, it is a close second to PoR. Similar to PoR, I watched a play-through for Sacred Stones and really enjoyed the story.
Overall, I think Fire Emblem games excel in many aspects including plot and characters.

I've got very high hopes for Fates. Awakening was so good and it seems like Fate is taking everything good about it and adding even more. So I can't wait. The character designs also look great to me. I know people have complained that some of them look too much like awakening's characters but that doesn't really bother me.

Spoiler

​

I agree. Fates looks really amazing and I am looking forward to it. Everything about it seems so interesting. I liked the fact that the story is told from three different perspectives. Also, I think this is the first FE game which features a setting based on Medieval Japan (one side of the story is based on such) because all previous titles were based mainly on Medieval Europe, so this is a nice change. In addition, there are new types of units and new features as well. And I agree, the character designs are really nice and well-done.

The only concern I have is the fear that it won't do well financially. The decision to split the game into 3 parts may backfire on them and I'd hate to see that. The overall price isn't too unreasonable. Since it will be $39.99 for the a game containing one of the main factions story, then $19.99 a piece for the other two. So about $80 for the whole package. That's a price I'm willing to pay but it's easy to see them losing some people because that's a lot to pay for a 3DS game.

I understand the situation, but from what I read, the sales were really good in Japan, so, there is hope it will do very well world wide as much as Awakening did. Also, I think such price is worth it for a Fire Emblem game in my opinion and Fates in itself seems great, but anyway, I hope things will turn out well for Fates.

It also kills me a little bit to see it released on the 3DS. It's such a great game but so many of the hardcore RPG gamers are on the PS4 now. Can you even imagine how many copies this would sell on PS4 with those kind of graphics? It would be game of the year.

I agree. Apparently, consoles released from Sony are much more popular compared to those released from Nintendo, unfortunately (although there are many interesting games released for Nintendo consoles). The problem is, Fire Emblem is exclusively made for Nintendo, just like Mario and Zelda games. It would be great if Intelligent Systems decided to release a FE game for PS4 or a future Sony console as this will boost the popularity of the series, but I am not sure if something like this will ever happen.

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 1, 2016, Original Post Date: Jan 1, 2016 ---

I've only played Fire Emblem: Awakening, but I must say I absolutely love it. I've given it close to 15 replays by now, and I enjoy it more and more each time. I really liked the story, and its gameplay was extremely good as well. The 3D sprites not having feet didn't bother me as there was so much else in the game that had my attention.

Yeah, the gameplay is certainly great that you would never get bored of it.
And it is great that Awakening made you like the series. ^_^
Intelligent systems did a really great job with Awakening. I am grateful for this game because it literally saved this great series from disappearing forever.

 

[riki]

There is a Fire Emblem Fates Edition 3DS XL coming out. It looks gorgeous, but I already got a Hyrule Edition.

 

[BluePegasus]

Do you guys know if there is already a release date for Fire Emblem: Fates in Europe? I've never played a Fire Emblem game before, but I want Fates to be my first!

 

[riki]

No release date has been determined for Europe as of yet.

 

[Tranquil Rain]

A new trailer for Fire Emblem: Fates has been released by Nintendo:

 

[Kaoz]

We conducted an interview with Serenes Forest News Editor Elieson to talk about Fire Emblem Fates, which will be released in the USA on the 19th. You can find the first part of the interview here. There will be three parts in total.

 

[Jammin]

On some of the videogame podcasts I listen to they are starting to talk about pre-review details for Fates. It's getting me pretty hyped. The game not only sounds awesome but I guess it's legitimately plays like three separate games.

Turns out they feature not only different stories but different gameplay too. The aren't just playing different sides through the same series of stages but instead playing through three mostly unique sets of stages; and on top of that each route plays very differently. The basic breakdown is...

Fates: Birthright
- The consensus is that beginners or people looking to play all three should start with this one.
- It's by far the easiest of the three.
- Grinding for levels relationships is possible
- Is the most similar to Awakening

Fates: Conquest
- Very hardcore and unforgiving in the way classic Fire Emblem games were
- It's very hard
- No opportunity for level or relationship grinding.
- More complex mission types featuring lots of stage specific effects.

Fates: Revelation
- Is a blending of Birthright and Conquest in terms of gameplay
- It's also very hard
- You start out vastly outnumbered
- Grinding for levels and relationships is possible
- More complex mission types featuring lots of stage specific effects

So basically Birthright is the normal game. Conquest is the hardcore one. Revelation is the endgame route that blends both and ups the difficulty even more. The actual game difficulty is apparently much harder than Awakenings on all routes but not unfairly so. But they also said that playing on the hardest modes is going to be for masochists only on the Conquest route.

Was also hearing a lot of good things about the characters and story. The only disappointing thing is that there won't be a Japanese voice option like Awakening had. But that's a minor thing.

So I'm pretty excited.

 

[Kaoz]

Part 2 is up.

--- Double Post Merged, Feb 14, 2016, Original Post Date: Feb 13, 2016 ---

And we're finishing up with part 3.

 

[Jammin]

The review embargo for Fire Emblem Fates got lifted this morning.

Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright (Metacritic link)
Basically, it's great and a pretty much the perfect sequel to Awakening. Though in terms of story and mission variety it's a little simplistic compared to the other two. But if your looking for a sequel to Awakening or a good starter point. This is it.

Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest (Metacritic link)
Basically, more complex in both story and gameplay. And the inability to run side missions is something of double edged sword for some. It adds a greater sense of strategic challenge but it created frustration for some at not being able to fine tune their parties they way they want. This seems to be the consensus hardest version.

Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation (Metacritic link)
This supposedly has the best story and the best gameplay along with the biggest cast. It also has some story mechanics that make things pretty unique on that front. This is the "best version" but in order to get the most out of it you need to complete Birthright or Conquest first as this game serves as something like "True End" for Fates.

---------------------------------------------

Which versions does everybody plan to play?

Personally, I'm definitely going Birthright and Revelation. Conquest is a maybe. I really like being able to fight side battles. Though I like western Noir kingdom aesthetic better. So, if the characters are good enough in Birthright, I could totally see myself playing Conquest while I wait for Revelation just to get a feel for that cast too.

 

[SirSamuel016]

I had the thought to preorder Special Edition so I'd have all three versions without having to get a new sd card to download all of the other content later on. What I'll start with is still up in the air for me, but I think I'll start off with Conquest as I've always favoured the Nohrian side a little more. And the wait for Australia to get a release date continues xD

 

[Jammin]

Today is the day!

I had the thought to preorder Special Edition so I'd have all three versions without having to get a new sd card to download all of the other content later on. What I'll start with is still up in the air for me, but I think I'll start off with Conquest as I've always favoured the Nohrian side a little more. And the wait for Australia to get a release date continues xD

So I take it in Australia the release date is later than the US? Bummer, your'd think it would be about the same since they would both be in English and everything. Wonder why that is? Does Australia have tighter rating restrictions or something like that?

I'm also slightly jealous that you got a special edition one. I wanted to get one but by the time the Fallout 4 tunnel vision wore off and I realized they were on sale it was the the first week of December. By then it was sold out virtually everywhere. I'm sure the artbook is going to be awesome too.

--- Double Post Merged, Feb 19, 2016, Original Post Date: Feb 19, 2016 ---

And my copy of Birthright is in my hands. Time to get down to business.

 

[SirSamuel016]

Today is the day!

So I take it in Australia the release date is later than the US? Bummer, your'd think it would be about the same since they would both be in English and everything. Wonder why that is? Does Australia have tighter rating restrictions or something like that?

I'm also slightly jealous that you got a special edition one. I wanted to get one but by the time the Fallout 4 tunnel vision wore off and I realized they were on sale it was the the first week of December. By then it was sold out virtually everywhere. I'm sure the artbook is going to be awesome too.

--- Double Post Merged, Feb 19, 2016, Original Post Date: Feb 19, 2016 ---

And my copy of Birthright is in my hands. Time to get down to business.

Both Australasia and Europe are yet to even get a release date (we still only know we get it in 2016). It does give me time to get more money together to pay it off, however (its listed at $200 Australian dollars, which is extremely expensive. If we take the price the US pays for Special Edition ($80) and then convert that to Australian currency it should be ~$110 here, but then again Australia is one of those places where we have to pay more than other places. (We often have to pay ~150% of what the US has to pay). But yeah, I'm still looking forward to it. I've seen a bit of the artbook online and it looks fantastic, so that will be really nice to have. And I hope you enjoy birthright!

 

[Jammin]

Both Australasia and Europe are yet to even get a release date (we still only know we get it in 2016). It does give me time to get more money together to pay it off, however (its listed at $200 Australian dollars, which is extremely expensive. If we take the price the US pays for Special Edition ($80) and then convert that to Australian currency it should be ~$110 here, but then again Australia is one of those places where we have to pay more than other places. (We often have to pay ~150% of what the US has to pay). But yeah, I'm still looking forward to it. I've seen a bit of the artbook online and it looks fantastic, so that will be really nice to have. And I hope you enjoy birthright!

Man that sucks. Well, the EU release date is in 3 weeks on March 10th so hopefully Australia won't be too far behind. Nintendo just loves creating artificial supply problems..

I haven't played much yet but I feel comfortable saying this is the prettiest 3DS game I've ever seen.

 

[SirSamuel016]

Man that sucks. Well, the EU release date is in 3 weeks on March 10th so hopefully Australia won't be too far behind. Nintendo just loves creating artificial supply problems..

I haven't played much yet but I feel comfortable saying this is the prettiest 3DS game I've ever seen.

I didn't hear that Europe now has a release date, nohr can I find anything on it :/
But going from awakening's release, there's probably going to be a 2.5 month delay on it I've managed to avoid any spoilers thus far which is a huge effort on my part xD But it will get harder and harder to avoid them from now on, so I guess I have to lie very low regarding anything fates related for a few months :P

 

[Jammin]

Never mind, I misread it. That's actually Revelation's North American release date. My bad.