Interview with IS developers (by 4Gamer)

[ckc22]

No actual customer has been mislead, pre-orders for Fire Emblem If are not available for the west and people in Japan could only make pre-orders only after it had been revealed to be sold as two versions.

They didn't allow even the pre-order of a single copy to the game to some customer who thinks they're getting something else. If they were trying to mislead customers they'd do a Ubisoft, EA or Activision and open pre-orders right after the first trailer before anyone knows what they're getting, But they only opened pre-orders(Japan) after they informed customers how the game would be sold.

If they were trying to mislead customers in the west, we should have been able to pre-order a western version now, but we can't. We'll certainly learn how they'll sell it in the west before anyone can even become a customer and pre-order of the western version.

Anyway you slice the NA direct, if you end up releasing multiple versions it will have been misleading.

While it's heavily debatable now that we know how they're selling copies in Japan, especially with the DLC, it's been speculated that the reason why the NA direct didn't mention the dual versions is because the only version that's actually making it out of Japan is the special 3rd route edition anyway (meaning both nohr and hoshido as well as the third just to be clear). Japan seems to be far more amiable to the idea of different versions in general than the West is

It's too early to get worked up over having to purchase multiple versions if there's a good chance it might not even happen over here. (Unless you were planning on getting the Japanese versions - then by all means be upset, but realize that they are catering to an audience far more amiable to the idea)

Tbh I might get a Japanese Nohr copy if different versions aren't going to be a thing over here.

Fair enough. After their whole "we would have to sell this game for 80$ if both sides were in" comment I'm not sure we're getting a single version though.

You know, your previous quote...

...shows that you assume by default that those who prefer the classical style act on the "desire to force people to behave" like them. If you would be open for a different possibility instead of accusing a mere hypothetical opposition of ill intent, then you might notice that that's not were literally everyone is coming from. But let's get back to this:

It's just as important to decide what the player can't do as it is to decide what the player can do. Or at least to put some thought into how these options are implemented.

Like, it's satisfying making good investment decisions with a limited amount of money... but at the same time you also really want that expensive item in the shop. And all you would need to do to buy it is to grind for 5 minutes. Sure, you know that not grinding gives you greater satisfaction in the long run but it's difficult to resist the quick fix when it's dangling right in front of your nose. So not even wanting these kind of options is basically like not even buying sweets while you are on a diet because not having them in range makes it easier to stick to your diet until you earned the long-term benefits.

Alternatively you might want to ask yourself if Fire Emblem could simply remove HP bars and replace them with a HP counter. You could still play the game the exact same way. The players could simply decide when their characters are dead and manually remove them from the map. It would do nothing but add options to the player. But would a self-enforced challenge really carry the same punch as facing a possible punishment from a source outside of your control?

Of course, there are ways to have your cake and eat it too. Or different people can have their respective kind of cake, as the case may be. That's for example why Classic mode and Casual mode are a thing in the first place..

But either way, please don't assume that just because some people want to get their chocolate cake, that they also want to deny other people their cheesecake or whatever.

No I really don't. There are people who prefer classic who don't want casual removed, but you do see tons of people spouting that classic should be the only way to play. You don't see casual people saying they should remove classic mode from the game. Do you see the difference? One argument is additive/expansionary and the other is reductive/exclusionary. People who want casual removed and prefer classic are the people I'm talking about attempting to force their perspective onto everyone.

The two quotes you have of mine in particular say nothing about people who prefer classic in general. You're reading a lot into it that isn't there.

Edited April 30, 2015 by ckc22

[Eveangaline]

The third page discusses IF, and here are the some of the highlights (Google translate so take with a grain of salt)

• The developers wanted to make a game which took the Arran/Samson choice from FE1 to its extreme
• Nohr version has more mission types (defend, break through the enemy, etc)
• The two versions share about 1/6 of the story, the remaining 5/6 plays out differently depending on the version
• If you download the alternate route you can use a save copy at chapter 5 and choose the other route without replaying the opening chapters
• The third route has a difficulty level midway between Hoshido and Nohr

Why wouldn't you replay the first few chapters? Cuz I know when I go hoshido I'm gonna buff up my chars in the first 6 so we can stomp nohr fast, but when I go Nohr I will make sure to be an experience hog and leave the fools I will soon turn against as weak as possible.

[Hardin]

Why wouldn't you replay the first few chapters? Cuz I know when I go hoshido I'm gonna buff up my chars in the first 6 so we can stomp nohr fast, but when I go Nohr I will make sure to be an experience hog and leave the fools I will soon turn against as weak as possible.

Some people find those early chapters to be rather slow, so it's just letting people jump directly into the new story.

[Ryo]

Why wouldn't you replay the first few chapters? Cuz I know when I go hoshido I'm gonna buff up my chars in the first 6 so we can stomp nohr fast, but when I go Nohr I will make sure to be an experience hog and leave the fools I will soon turn against as weak as possible.

I'm sure their stats when last playable will have little to no bearing on their enemy stats later should we really encounter them as boss/enemy, they'll just get buffed up.

[eclipse]

Funneling experience into the guys you want is a valid reason, though.

[TheCaptain]

Anyway you slice the NA direct, if you end up releasing multiple versions it will have been misleading.

It wouldn't be misleading if they haven't led us in any direction at all yet. They haven't touched on the marketing/sales aspect at all here, so any assumptions based on the vague info of the two trailers we have so far is purely the consumer misleading themselves.

[NekoKnight]

It says in the English trailer that "you can only choose one path" so they might be able to get away with saying "we technically hinted at only one path being available per retail version".

[ckc22]

It says in the English trailer that "you can only choose one path" so they might be able to get away with saying "we technically hinted at only one path being available per retail version".

Find me anyone who watched the trailer and thought there were going to be two games before seeing/hearing about how different the JP direct was.

Any time the argument veers down the "Technically..." road the legitimacy plummets.

[Book of Ereshkigal]

Why wouldn't you replay the first few chapters? Cuz I know when I go hoshido I'm gonna buff up my chars in the first 6 so we can stomp nohr fast, but when I go Nohr I will make sure to be an experience hog and leave the fools I will soon turn against as weak as possible.

I don't play through Lyn mode every time I go through FE7

[Philranger]

Why wouldn't you replay the first few chapters? Cuz I know when I go hoshido I'm gonna buff up my chars in the first 6 so we can stomp nohr fast, but when I go Nohr I will make sure to be an experience hog and leave the fools I will soon turn against as weak as possible.

I'm guessing the first 6 chapters will offer no chance to grind. Similar to Awakening. You get access to the world map after the prologue but you can't do anything on it besides move to the next chapter until after Chapter 4/5. You can't even visit the armories. The outland realm doesn't open until then either.

[VincentASM]

Find me anyone who watched the trailer and thought there were going to be two games before seeing/hearing about how different the JP direct was.

Any time the argument veers down the "Technically..." road the legitimacy plummets.

Pretty sure I posted this somewhere else, but I watched the JP first and up until the very end, when they specifically talk about the separate versions, there is practically no difference between the JP and NA Directs.

So the Direct flow goes like this:

Host introduces Avatar -> Trailer -> (If you are in Japan: explanation about the versions) -> Explanation of how the routes work

I am going from my memory though, so slap me if I'm wrong.

Probably not what you wanted, but whatever : P

[NekoKnight]

Find me anyone who watched the trailer and thought there were going to be two games before seeing/hearing about how different the JP direct was.

Any time the argument veers down the "Technically..." road the legitimacy plummets.

I'm not saying I'd like it, just that it seems plausible that they would say "Oh yeah, we totally inferred that there would be a version split!"

Naturally, if someone advertises a game, the default understanding of said game (unless it's Pokemon) would be that there is a single version of the game. It's still too much to say "They heavily implied it would be one game but lied, because it's actually two."

(just from a story standpoint, I do believe a 'choice' of who you side with is undermined by having two separate versions)

[Baldrick]

Wait, did the IS developers confirm in the interview how the localised version will be handled? Because if not, I don't know why we're talking about the NA direct again.

[arvilino]

Find me anyone who watched the trailer and thought there were going to be two games before seeing/hearing about how different the JP direct was.

Any time the argument veers down the "Technically..." road the legitimacy plummets.

I thought they'd might be separate when I saw the "You can only choose one path" in the direct then the whole "Path of the Hoshido", "Path of the Nohr" followed by the words "Fire Emblem" splitting into this:

I thought this suggested two versions called:

Fire Emblem: Hoshido

Fire Emblem: Nohr

Edited May 1, 2015 by arvilino

[VincentASM]

I don't think there's been any direct confirmation or there would be a topic about it ^^

I thought they'd might be separate when I saw the "You can only choose one path" in the direct then the whole "Path of the Hoshido", "Path of the Nohr" followed by the words "Fire Emblem" splitting into this:

I thought this suggested two versions called:

Fire Emblem: Hoshido

Fire Emblem: Nohr

IIRC, that was only in the European Direct. I'm lazy to check, but I vaguely remember the NA one just having "Hoshido" and "Nohr" and no "Fire Emblem".

[Jagged Jagen]

IIRC, that was only in the European Direct. I'm lazy to check, but I vaguely remember the NA one just having "Hoshido" and "Nohr" and no "Fire Emblem".

You are correct, my friend. So for NA, nothing is confirmed. For Europe, things are vague. For Japan, 2 titles are confirmed.