All things Fire Emblem

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Flabyo
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Re: All things Fire Emblem

Post by Flabyo »

Because I think it's sometimes useful to have a counterpoint... this is in reference to how Nintendo have used Metroid lately, but it applies to fire emblem too:

http://askagamedev.tumblr.com/post/1499 ... tion-force
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KSubzero1000
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Re: All things Fire Emblem

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Yes, Flabyo. I understand very well that it all comes down to calculated financial risk and that Nintendo aren't just trolling and spiting their fans for kicks. Money's everything. The point about constitutive elements still apply, however. And it's only natural that those who have kept any given series afloat in its darkest hour would feel protective of it. There is such a thing as integrity even within a capitalistic system, no?
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Flabyo
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Re: All things Fire Emblem

Post by Flabyo »

KSubzero1000 wrote: June 8th, 2017, 10:16 amAnd it's only natural that those who have kept any given series afloat in its darkest hour would feel protective of it.
I think that's a somewhat over dramatic assessment of the situation.

I get that people can become deeply invested in something, but those most deeply invested are a fraction of the number of people who actually buy any given game, so the idea that a small core of fans can keep any franchise alive is simply not true. If it was, we'd have more Metroid games by now.

Hell, we'd probably have a Fable 4 and a Beyond Good and Evil 2 and an EU release of the third Valkyrie Chronicles game and...
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raisinbman
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Re: All things Fire Emblem

Post by raisinbman »

I went over Three Houses on that specific thread, so I'll leave that for people to see there. But otherwise:

Blazing Blade(First US game)



I started with blazing blade, the first game those of us in the west got without importing. It wasn’t actually the introduction to FE, as many will note they appeared in Melee first. The subtitle for this game is actually blazing blade, and it’s a prequel to to the previous game, the binding blade. I don’t know how much stock people put into reading my confessional-esque walls of text, but I’ve went over before how I had A LOT of time for my game boy advance in my younger years, so games like this were played like crazy. I can’t remember much substantive, but the music, animations, and Lyn were awesome. I know it’s a meme to be tired of fire emblem in smash, but 2 of the 3 lords here would make great reps, and I might actually be willing to pick up the game again even. We can’t just settle for an assist trophy. It was hard, and I definitely wasn’t min-maxing. Thinking back though, this game had 3 storylines, which makes it even more strange with future entries(fates) people saying they’re confused by having multiple versions when it goes back this far. But being able to escape into a world as such was much more engaging than staring out of a car window or my bedroom ceiling. But ultimately, with this under my belt, when I saw the series name again, I knew I could have hundreds of hours of fun with whatever came next.



It's pretty strange we’ve seen 2 remakes after this game, and neither of them give us the prequel to this game. But much like Metroid, Mother, or some other vaulted Nintendo franchises, who can really tell when, IF we’ll ever get back to these. Especially considering Awakening and Three Houses’ success, I can only imagine they’ll go forward instead of backwards.



Sacred stones



Again, it’s probably been too long for me to speak definitively on, but we have another excellent entry. I believe you could change classes, or at least had a choice of promotion classes, with one of my favorites, the summoner! This also had an open map and I think and endless dungeon that I tried time and again to max out all my characters in, but permadeath is a real piece of work. Again, you’ve got multiple storylines with bro and sis. Story was tropey but made me go ‘d’awwww’ at the time.



Path of radiance



I’m not sure how far I got into this one, but this and it’s sequel, though good games that kept the spirit of fire emblem, were pretty ugly. My Nintendo library has always been pretty anemic, and I think what I did play I either borrowed or rented. I GUESS you can give them a break in that they were transitioning to console, but I remember battalion wars(also Intelligent systems? Maybe?) being pretty ugly too.



Radiant dawn



You can pretty much copy and paste what I said for the previous game to this one. I didn’t spend a ton of time with this one, but should be pointed out it was unique in that there was a magic-based lord. Normally we get a weapon-based lord, and a sword one at that.



Shadow dragon



I got this one, and although I remember it reviewed well, I didn’t enjoy it much. Instead of trying to keep my units alive or have nuance in combat, I’m fairly sure you were supposed to treat your units as expendable, especially since there’s no support conversations. I also remember not liking the visuals – not the crisp 2D sprites of the GBA games, and not the more refined 3d we end up with after this entry. I don’t even remember if I finished this one.



New Mystery of the Emblem(japan only)



Why are there still Japan only games? Minus points Nintendo!



Awakening



Famously, this was supposed to be the last game for Fire Emblem as Nintendo saw the series underperforming. But of course, it sold well and they really put their final fantasy-esque all into it, and the rest is history. I enjoyed this game greatly, but hardcore players(as has been mentioned earlier in the thread) were partly disappointed. It is a bit of a damning situation that one of the most loved entries in the series has forsaken some of who’ve followed it. But me? I loved Fire Emblem, and I didn’t even realize there was Pokemon-like breeding/raising system which allows you to make a time-travelling kid who can solo an entire map. The story is a bit silly, but it’s very Fire Emblem. Can’t remember if this one started the series having DLC or not. I will also say I enjoyed having an MC who isn’t a sword user. Also, what’s the deal with Tharja? I know yandere simulator was getting popular around this time, and when I played, I had no idea she was popular because she doesn’t even do anything in the story. I guess this archetype of woman is ultimately expressing herself in a way that’s ‘acceptable’/relatable to women, while not prescribing to a dainty outlook?



Fates



Unlike awkening, this one seemed to rub people the wrong way, with pundits seemingly most confused by there being multiple versions. I’ll never understand why Pokemon can get away with people paying double for two ‘versions’ meanwhile the three games(two, really) have a distinct playstyle and suit different players, giving different perspectives/alternate timelines on the same story which I assume scared people off. This was definitely expiremental, and I don’t know, definitively, if Nintendo can being credited for trying to do right by OG FE fans with conquest. I do give credit for having an interesting story(but the game gets a bit silly in part 3 and near the end) with good characters on both sides, and IIRC this is the first game where the ‘bad guys’ aren’t just all faceless goons you don’t think twice about when attacking. If you can’t handle imperfections, a lot of what goes wrong and is played with here is polished and done WAYYYY better in 3 houses, so you might want to skip to that. The music is also GREAT. I can’t remember if it’s in awakening too, but the music will transition to a slower, more grand ‘overworld/battlefield’ piece, but when you engage in combat, instead of completely stopping, it’ll go into a ‘battle’ mode of that same piece, like SFII famously. Though completionists will want to, I would say you can skip the third and final story as it’s very silly and lots of fanservice. Of course, if you like that sort of thing, there ya go.



Echoes: Shadow of Valentia



This is a strange one, but I think it’s worth a play. I do remember part of the story being not explained but other than that, great. You also get to see where that one song from Smash Bros comes from! It is a little odd in that its skill system makes you use HP instead of say, ‘weapon’ endurance, which can work to your advantage since it’s the same for your enemies. Those deep enough in the RPG genre will be fine with this, but considering is rarely present in modern day FE, it may take some adjusting on player’s parts. It is a bit ‘dry’ if you’re a modern FE player, but it wasn’t as dry as Shadow Dragon and I actually played through this one. Another plus for this entry is the story, because this is a remake, is set – in modern FE, there’s a ton of possibility based on who the kids are, who the MC marries, etc. Here, its Alm and Celica – and the paths are set. With them only having to focus on that narrative, instead of characters being whatever you want them to be, you get a real sense of who they are and how their story will go. I did find it hard to fight in this one because you’ll face enemies that can teleport(which isn’t the end of the world) but I wasn’t sure how to really protect my cadre against that.
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raisinbman
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Re: All things Fire Emblem

Post by raisinbman »

https://www.gameinformer.com/2020/10/22 ... r-nintendo

On one hand, the shadow dragon remake was bleh, on another...collector's swag
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Re: All things Fire Emblem

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Yeah, even the full remake hadn't aged well 11 years ago, I suspect this will be pretty tough to play, but it's super cool, and hopefully a sign of more to come?
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raisinbman
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Re: All things Fire Emblem

Post by raisinbman »

Oh, I have no doubt Fire Emblem has a bright future ahead - people bemoan their representation in Smash, and seem to ignore how successful the mobile game is when mario & co. basically flopped. Three Houses did gangbusters and such.

Part of me wants to grab the collector's set and is motivated by fire emblem almost dying with awakening, as strange as nintendo's limited time releases are going and shouldn't be awarded...

doesn't seem to be available anywhere besides Nintendo proper(which is only digital), I guess retailers were as unaware as we are.
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Michiel K
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Re: All things Fire Emblem

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I really have no issues with Shadow Dragon other than that they didn't use full on pixel art for the battle scenes. It's FE at its barest, but I'd rather have that than a bunch of extra mechanics that completely undermine the core dynamics (see: Awakening). Cool announcement, in any case!

EDIT: Ah, I see I more or less already voiced this opinion back in 2017 in this very thread. :P
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Re: All things Fire Emblem

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Is this re-release of the first NES game worth playing? I tried it a while back when it came on the Japanese NES library on Switch, and didn't think much of it, but then again I don't speak or read Japanese...
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Re: All things Fire Emblem

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Alex79uk wrote: October 23rd, 2020, 7:53 pm Is this re-release of the first NES game worth playing? I tried it a while back when it came on the Japanese NES library on Switch, and didn't think much of it, but then again I don't speak or read Japanese...
well, the remake is out there if you'd like to see, otherwise I think it depends on how okay you are with traveling back to the past. As its the first, alot of 'old game jank' is present which turns me off(I quickly glanced at this https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/com ... n_some_of/). I admit it's been (nearly?) a decade since i played the remake, but yeah.

Ultimately, this new rerelease is pretty cheap if you're even halfway curious
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raisinbman
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Re: All things Fire Emblem

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so the collector's edition hasn't been available to preorder until today(yesterday?). It's already being scalped on, so FYI. But doesn't seem to be available anywhere....?

Well, I didn't want it that badly but stores wouldn't let me preorder it and apparently don't have an option to alert me to when its in stock? You'd think these features would be omnipresent with having to compete with amazon, but alas.
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raisinbman
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Re: All things Fire Emblem

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Okay, I guess the scalpers and people who empty-preordered have let their foot off the gas - managed to snag a copy at a best buy. Hopefully all my blathering is helpful to others lol.
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Michiel K
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Re: All things Fire Emblem

Post by Michiel K »

Good stuff raisinbman. It's interesting how limited availability makes us go after things we otherwise might not have given a second look. There's no real reason for me to want a localised version of the original Fire Emblem, considering how I already have Shadow Dragon on the DS, but this whole thing had me stop to consider it.

That's how they got me on pursuing a copy of Super Mario 3D All-Stars, even though I already have direct access to all the games on there. Though a legit way to play Super Mario 64 in 60Hz with good emulation was the real selling point for me there, other than my kids wanting to play all 3 games on Switch.
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raisinbman
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Re: All things Fire Emblem

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Well, my curiosity was piqued with the scalpers in the mix and the pre-order not being available for the longest time, and it had an art book. I'm totally with you in the mindset of "I've already got this" but I originally was gonna do it just because I had some amazon credit. I've only glanced at the art book but it would probably be worth it alone. Also seemed like nothing exciting was coming out immediately, so could be considered a holiday gift to myself heh.
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raisinbman
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Re: All things Fire Emblem

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So I tried my best to get thru OG FE1 thru the switch edition, but i think i've hit a wall because i was playing "wrong". I've been able to BS around it some by using warp staves(move to the last boss and instantly win the map!), but as I like to go in pretty blind, I've been making mistakes left and right. This is the second time I've dropped off of FE1(I also have the remake on the DS), and I dunno. Maybe I'll come back to it with this knowledge in tow, but having a guide be mandatory is a bit of a turnoff, plus this is like the 3rd game recently i've bounced off of, and not by my choice. I'll probably have more to say and final thoughts whether I finish it or not, but I probably need to mull over it...
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raisinbman
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Re: All things Fire Emblem

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So Fire Emblem Engage has popped up, you may or may not have heard the rumors of Nintendo being fussy about the pandemic, or maybe the Ukraine war, or maybe the Queen's death....but we're finally here.

It doesn't seem to be a sequel to 3 houses(haven't picked up 3 hopes but i believe that's an alternate reality thing), but a "Fire Emblem All-stars" which we just had not too long ago in both Fire Emblem Warriors 1 and Tokyo Mirage. Something we didn't have in 3 houses was 'combo moves' but the game seems to take things a step further with Dragon Ball style fusions, even. It does release fairly shortly, so keep that in mind if you're one to go for collector's editions(granted, i've been able to grab fire emblem collector's editions on release i guess becuase ppl aren't paying their preorder fee or cancelling?).

Obviously, can't comment too much on how 'good' it is or looks, but it definitely seems to be the return to form to being a top down turn based strategy game

EDIT: collector's edition doesn't seem to be anywhere? Oh well, i'll start monitoring it....
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Re: All things Fire Emblem

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Preorders are up on certain storefronts, frustratingly enough, not amazon. Really don't understand with companies complaining, they're not on the ball for stuff like this...
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Re: All things Fire Emblem

Post by raisinbman »

*Together we Ride* plays

So, if you haven't heard, Engage was technically supposed to be the (30th?) FE Anniversary game, and is more power rangers than the nuance of three houses. The opening song should prepare you for this, if not the actual intro itself.

Those of you who're REALLY into the gameplay should rejoice, as that's front and center here, as opposed to 3 houses' immaculate story.

I haven't finished it but it's pretty good, and the art style has evolved a bit. I'm playing on Hard but am a little concerned knife throwing classes are overpowered.

It's a bit funny they crossed over with Persona not too long ago, because like with 3 houses, this game once again seems to pull from that series. In 3 houses, the intricate story could've been inspired by Persona, whereas here, the new 'break' mechanic seems to be inspired by the 'weakness/tag' system of Persona. While there are exceptions, weapon advantage plays an even bigger part in this one because if you get advantage you can "break" your opponent, meaning they cannot respond with a counterattack for 2 combats(the current combat and the next). While this is great for protecting your squishier units, the enemy can do the same to you. I think this also gave them license to increase how hard your opponents are, with nominal bosses very early on in the game having multiple health bars(something you'd really only see much much later in a fire emblem if not at the absolute end of it). This also ties back into me thinking knife-wielding units are overpowered, because they just dish out so much damage no matter what, and have poison as well, so I can really only send units after them that can negate their damage completely or have an ability that gets around them. Also, and yes I recognize the gameplay of this one(and AI in higher difficulties) is front and center, SO MANY ENEMIES HAVE RANGED WEAPONS. Normally you can poke or prod at certain units to wear them down and keep your ranged units safe, but that's hard to impossible here. The break system doesn't even really support this, as you need a fistfighter to break certain units, but for some reason they decided healers were fistifighters(uh.....). This led to my casters being underpowered.

I do REALLY like the break mechanic, and hope it continues in Fire Emblem. So often you'll end up at the last enemy of the map, but because their stats are so pumped, any character you send will get killed. With breaking, as long as your following the game's rules, you should have a much fairer chance of getting through the encounter with no casualties. This also makes it so that you should seriously consider breaking your enemy versus just sending in your strongest, overleveled unit to mow through everything.

Also, minor spoiler, but they take away your rings(which is probably the smartest move a fire emblem villain has ever made) pretty early into the game, just as you're getting used to them. You do get others, but the ones you initially have were INSTRUMENTAL, so readjusting to that felt like crap.

This isn't a full review, I've got plenty of game to go through still, but it seems many of the talking heads like this better than 3 houses. I will say map design is much more interesting, and I'm sure the min-maxers are looking at ways to make as broken a character as possible. I am a bit confused on people saying the gameplay is better, when it seems like the solution to many problems you'll encounter is 'engage your character and use their OP engage move', as opposed to some of the previous games' use of positioning abilities, rescuing, dancers, etc etc.

Also, I know there are some players out there who are gluttons for punishment, but in one of the chapters I just got through, they introduce a terrain effect called miasma I SERIOUSLY hope they don't rely on(your units are 20% less effective and enemy units are 20% more effective).

Music is worse than 3 houses, it isn't bad, but I've been listening to the same track for like, 5 maps now. And for some reason they jumped back into dubstep(a track you might've missed in 3 houses).
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Re: All things Fire Emblem

Post by raisinbman »

Just a heads up, if you get the Fell Xenologue DLC - it's HORRIBLY unbalanced. Some of you said you wanted the old Fire Emblem? You definitely get at least, the difficulty of it there, jeez.

Not done yet, but had to switch to easy mode, which you can do separately from the main campaign. Also since it's actual money you might be paying, wanted to put that out there.
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raisinbman
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Re: All things Fire Emblem

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So, I've finished up Engage. I'm not 100% done with it, but being an adult and hating my job, as well as SF6 being around the corner, I'm going to be wrapping it up for my own sake.

Some talking heads posited this game as better than 3 houses, because the combat was more involved. But here I am, having turned down the difficulty to fight the final boss, which has no battlefield or terrain bonuses.

In the harder difficulty, supposedly the AI changes, and certain characters get extra lives. You'll have to get the full lowdown from someone more adept at this sort of thing.

I'll admit I didn't thoroughly go through all the side activities and wasn't min-maxing, but it just seems like they REALLY shouldn't take your emblems away from you. Fire Emblem fans will be familiar with inherited moves, but if you're not, it's almost like what pokemon has through breeding or EVs - an extra layer. But the reason I say they shouldn't take your emblems from you, is that's how you get through a majority of jams you might be in. At the endgame, I did have a number of units that really could get it done, but the majority of my units(I'm guessing because they needed a higher bond with their emblem, hence my point) struggled to kill other units. This wasn't helped by the sheer amount of reinforcements which is another aspect I didn't like. It's almost like we're going back in time and having monster closets again, but these closets aren't marked on the map or even controllable, but something I guess you either look up or just ultimately memorize? Not my thing at all.

Reading a bit on the internet, there isn't much in the way of training your emblem abilities either, which really would be the thing that would help me have at least been more comfortable if not conquered the hard difficulty.

Also, I ran out of money in trying to promote my units, which is unheard of. There were random mobs that you could grind for money, but....no. Again, I don't know if I missed out on some 'daily activity' which would've given me money, but I didn't even have enough for basic weapons alot of the time - thank goodness only healing staves only degrade!

But just to illustrate my point, here's an old fire emblem map: Image

As you can see, there are bridges. Most likely, the player should be using those bridges to create a chokepoint and limit their exposure to fatal damage. You...can't really do that in this game. In the last game, that was less of a problem because your units were so powerful. Here, it's like they took the same idea(enemy units with too much range and that are too powerful, too many flying enemies), but you can't really use strategy or the environment. Oh also, there's emblem energy on the map that BLOCKS you from doing environmental changes - talk about sending a conflicting message to the player!

There are weird little changes that I THINK were supposed to help in this area - a DLC only character that you get by chance can block entry to adjacent tiles, and temporarily at that, terrain morphing(that only has 1 hp and last a turn, so basically useless), a DLC character that can mark a unit as a 'tank unit' who is more likely to be attacked. Some engage abilities have an AOE effect, but not nearly enough of them.

This game sorely needed the rescue ability, or team up ability(awakening i think), or battalions(which it kinda-sorta has through DLC) if it was going to happen as is. There's not enough crowd control.

I still think the knife-throwers are overpowered, and "smash" weapons don't cut the mustard - while the idea of displacing a unit is nice, opening yourself up to TWO attacks isn't the way to do it, and it's only one space. If it moved a unit multiple spaces, or disrupted a formation, that would be primo. But as it, it's a good way to get a unit killed.

One aspect I did enjoy and think should continue in fire emblem games is the 'break' system, but I already talked about that earlier.

The story, despite being pretty rote and more or less ripped from power rangers is actually really really well done.
Spoiler: show
Fire Emblem is probably going to need to move on from "Are you REALLY a good guy!?!?!?"
and hasn't given us a proper dragon unit in the main game for a bit. But back to the story(and the DLC story), though you've probably figured it out, it actually gives motivations to it's characters and leaves room for a sequel or more stories. For instance, there's a very sickly character who you wouldn't know about without snooping around, and in doing support conversations, you find out they're VERY sick, which is followed through in the ending. There's lots of little tidbits like that that help the story go from vanilla to having just a bit more spice. I will say fire emblem's always been pretty good about it's villains not going 'hahaha nice try, I'll get you next time' and that happens quite a bit here. normally, much like Inuyasha, when a fight happens, that's the end for that villain, which definitely plays out worse since it doesn't happen that way.
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