More Unpopular Fire Emblem Opinions

[blah the Prussian]

Didn't mean to take this long to reply. Anyway...

You definitely have a point, that the Black Fang, as a prominent league of assassins, probably were not "perfect" in choice of target. That is, they may have had the wrong information about some of their victims, leading them to kill someone who actually wasn't that big a jerk. And it's possible (even probable) that some of their assassinations included killing bodyguards or servants, whose only crimes were defending a corrupt master. So even if one particular killing was morally justified, I agree that the same does not necessarily hold for all the murders they committed, even pre-Nergal.

Wait, Haiti was the only successful slave revolt, and it ended in a genocide of whites? *Turns to Wikipedia* Shoot, you're right. And here I thought it just ended with Toussaint L'Ouverture being a pretty cool guy, and then everything was chill - clearly I need to listen to history lessons to the end. While you're right about slave revolts in particular, there certainly have been other successful violent revolutions - Algeria in 1962, Russia in 1917, and the United States in 1781, to name but a few. I would agree that trying to change the law peacefully is morally better than doing so violently, but I also believe that just isn't always possible. It's great that slavery ended in the British colonies peacefully, through proclamation. But for the same to occur in the United States, the Civil War was basically necessary. Power seeks to perpetuate power, and the Southern planting class wasn't about to sacrifice their way of life without it being taken from them.

How does this relate to Bern? Well, I'll admit it's possible that the legal system in Bern could be changed through nonviolent action. But, what happens when the peasants refuse to pay tribute to their corrupt noble? He likely has goons to send to collect taxes through threat-of-force. And, barring a government that is accountable to the will of the common folk (for instance, through voting), the state will probably side with the landed and influential noble over the relatively powerless peasant, and defend his actions. The one exceptional case I can think of is if the noble is seen as a threat to the state's power - in which case, he'll just be replaced by another possibly-corrupt, possibly-cruel person of power and connections. Of course, all of this is assuming a monarchical feudal-esque system of government, which isn't explicitly stated.

In a sense, then, the Fang create in themselves another authority, attempting to enact justice where the state's system of law allows for injustice. Perhaps their actions go beyond those they kill, too - by assassinating those who abuse their power, the Fang can prevent similar abuses by other rulers. In that way, their actions may not only establish justice through punishing wrongdoing, but also justice through deterring people from wrongdoing. Of course, even the pre-Nergal Fang probably had its flaws, and the events of FE7 shows how such a system can be abused and brought to evil.

So, I agree with you in theory - that it would be morally preferable to change the legal system to one in which the common folk have influence and abuses of power are prevented and/or punished. However, I guess I'm viewing the situation from the angle of practicality, and I question whether the Black Fang, or the commoners of Bern, could have improved their situation short of violent means.

Just my thoughts, thanks for reading!

First off, terribly sorry for the replying delay. I was in Dubrovnik. I generally agree with this, although I don't think using Russia or France as examples of successful revolutions really works, given one produced horrific mob rule and the other produced STALIN, but America works. My problem with what the Black Fang are doing fundamentally, however, is that what they are doing will never solve the problem. There will always be corrupt nobles, and killing one or two won't change anything, and will make the situation worse. What is needed is a King who is willing to reform the system. I'd like the Black Fang if they concentrated on getting Zephiel on the throne, but they don't.

[henrymidfields]

Thinking about it now, FE6 may have one of the worse gameplay balances (including units), but it also feels much better in the feeling that I get as a war-themed turn-based strategy. Controlling the units in FE6 really felt like genuine teamwork (which I'm pretty sure is Truth In Television in any war situations), and I'd very much prefer that over Robin/Ryoma(/maybe Ike too?) Emblem. Lords shouldn't be overpowered - otherwise what's the point in creating the rest of the units with names, portraits, and appearances? I also like how it sometimes discourages turtling with both formal and informal turn limits.

Speaking of which, I would like to see fixed promotions for Lords, with a caveat. Lords should have one combined level cap, such as 40 as opposed to 20 + 20 as with most units. That way, all Roy lack between the mid-chapters until Chapter 21 is the added stat bonuses - and that at least can be worked around by feeding him extra levels.

I feel that Defense is the closest to being the Dump Stat in Binding Blade - it alone does not help when you are getting doubled from a lack of Speed or critted from a lack of Luck. (The former obviously applies to Bors/Barth/Wendy, and I found Perceval and Milady in Normal Mode to be surprisingly bad with the latter.) On the other hand, you practically don't need it if you can avoid tank, which is easy done with high Speed (and maybe Luck) in FE6. Luck doesn't feel like a Dump Stat as much, considering some of the ridiculously high levels of critical hits, and also considering +1 Luck is +1% avoid, which is double the boost in other FE games.

I don't think we should rule out Fog of War entirely. The problem is the enemy troops not playing with the same rules as the player - which is something enemies in Advanced Wars already do so. I think that the below would make Fog chapters actually fun:

• Apply the same AI and rules to the enemy as with the player. Always. If the player units vanishes from the enemy's sights, then it's back to square one in searching out the player again.
• Have variable sight clearances depending on terrain. Units on top of mountains gets an extra tile of visibility, while surrounding forests reduce line of sight.
• Any torches or light sources are visible by both sides. So it can be a trade-off: shall I giving the front lines further line of sight to avoid ambushes? Or shall I not risk giving away my position to an enemy ballista?

Edited July 1, 2016 by henrymidfields

[Augestein]

- I like fog of war.

- I don't particularly like Ike. The writers so don't know how to write a character like him effectively in the story-- which is weird, because they kind of got it right with Hector...

- Conquest is the best story of the three paths of Fates (seriously, nothing happens in Hoshido and Revelations story has super pacing issues. )

- I don't particularly care for the Binding Blade.

- I like Reclass and wish they'd continue to build off of the concept like they have.

- I don't mind the avatar system.

Those are mine so far...

[Neptune11111]

Making the levels go from beyond 20/20 in FE13/FE14 was a horrible idea
Fates' Story is worse then Awakening's

The idea of Book 1/Book 2 like in FE3/FE4 was really cool honestly as if it were 2 games in one.

[Mrguy_123]

I think shadow dragon is actually a really good game

I really don't like most of the children in fates

I don't like Oboro (come at me fanboys)

I think ephraim is good character-wise

I like the wind map in fates conquest

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

First off, terribly sorry for the replying delay. I was in Dubrovnik. I generally agree with this, although I don't think using Russia or France as examples of successful revolutions really works, given one produced horrific mob rule and the other produced STALIN, but America works. My problem with what the Black Fang are doing fundamentally, however, is that what they are doing will never solve the problem. There will always be corrupt nobles, and killing one or two won't change anything, and will make the situation worse. What is needed is a King who is willing to reform the system. I'd like the Black Fang if they concentrated on getting Zephiel on the throne, but they don't.

I, too, shall have to apologize for a drastic delay in responding! Ooh, that sounds very neat - I've never been to Croatia!

You have a good point - I suppose I was using "successful revolution" in the very generous sense of "displaces the existing government", whereas perhaps a better (albeit more restrictive) definition for a successful revolution would include "and sets up something viable in its place". In which case, it seems a good revolution is hard to find...

I don't know that I'd necessarily agree that what the Black Fang is doing will make things worse, at least in the short-term. If killing corrupt nobles results in said nobles waging war with the Fang and increasing surveillance or restrictions on the local peasantry, then I guess the Fang's actions would indirectly make things worse. If, on the other hand, it results in such a noble reforming their actions out of fear for their life, then the Fang could indirectly make things a little bit better.

I would agree more that it's not a long-term solution. If the legal system is allowing this corruption to take place, then you'd want to pressure to reform it in such a way that the nobles are at least held accountable for the well-being of those people in their purview, and unable to excessively tax or oppress their citizenry. The Zephiel of FE7 may have been such a leader, but if FE6 teaches us anything, it's that Zephiel is all messed up inside (owing, in large part, to having the World's Best Father*). Which, come to think of it, makes the end of Zephiel's arc in FE7 super dissonant - his last scene with Hellene suggests that everything is going to get better, while The Struggles of Roy strongly suggest that things got even worse. So I agree reform is needed to make things better in Bern, I just wonder if Zephiel is up to the task.

Regardless, I've really enjoyed discussing this, and thank you for the many civil and well-thought-out posts!

[Glitchy]

I much prefer FE6 to FE7. It had better difficulty, map design, story, soundtrack and an underrated cast.

[Sunwoo]

- I disliked Birthright mainly because of the Japanese-inspired sittings and classes and I hope they don't add these stuff in the next game.

Why are you consuming a Japanese product, then?

--

Another opinion of mine that seems to be somewhat unpopular: I don't agree with people who say, "despite its shortcomings, Conquest deserves credit for doing something different". That's what you say to kindergarteners, not professionals whose job is to make products they're trying to market to consumers, and especially when they raved about how they put so much effort into the story.

I like Tormod, and I like Sanaki. But I don't like Tormod/Sanaki.

[Glitchy]

I find it quite interesting that FE3 forcing you to play almost the entire first game again to get what you payed for isn't recognized as the horrible idea that it is more.

This is an older post, but this is not actually true. Upon starting FE3, it gives you a choice between playing Book 1 or Book 2.

[Lord Tullus]

To be fair, Marisa wasn't never really called a bad character.

She was called a bad unit.

I apologize for the late reply/notice.

Well, I've always heard people say how bland she was. And all she cared about was fighting. And, as I've found, She's not a TERRIBLE unit, as the amount of training to get her up to par with everyone is moderate compared to others in the game. (Looking at you, Ewan)

[NekoKnight]

Another opinion of mine that seems to be somewhat unpopular: I don't agree with people who say, "despite its shortcomings, Conquest deserves credit for doing something different". That's what you say to kindergarteners, not professionals whose job is to make products they're trying to market to consumers, and especially when they raved about how they put so much effort into the story.

I had been thinking about this just recently, actually.

Had they made a moderately entertaining but flawed narrative, I would have given them the "At least you tried" gold star, but they did everything so poorly that I can't even praise them for that. Besides, I wouldn't even call it "something different" considering Micaiah's story arc was a much more competent telling of what they were trying to do in Conquest.

[Gradivus.]

Why are you consuming a Japanese product, then?

This doesn't make sense because they said they don't like the Japanese-inspired setting, which isn't present in the English versions of other titles (and in fact isn't present in the Japanese ones either because it's not a matter of language).

Edited July 11, 2016 by Gradivus.

[BeMine96]

Why are you consuming a Japanese product, then?

What does this have anything to do with the game? I liked the western settings in the FE games. I personally don't think the Japanese settings/classes were a good addition to the series. It was a Japanese product since the beginning.

[Michelaar]

I actually think it fits really good into the fire emblem series. They did something new in addition to the same old thing

[Azure Sen]

I much prefer FE6 to FE7. It had better difficulty, map design, story, soundtrack and an underrated cast.

On top of all of those things, FE6 achieved the grander scale FE4 was going for but without the long, boring slogs that FE4 called maps.

Another opinion of mine that seems to be somewhat unpopular: I don't agree with people who say, "despite its shortcomings, Conquest deserves credit for doing something different". That's what you say to kindergarteners, not professionals whose job is to make products they're trying to market to consumers, and especially when they raved about how they put so much effort into the story.

Yeah, doing something different deserves credit only if they actually manage to do it competently, which Conquest completely failed at. Honestly, I'd rather have a competent but cliche story over a story that's awful but tried something different.

-Here's a big one: I don't think Conquest's map/level design is all that good. I wouldn't call it bad, but a few gems aside (mostly Chapter 10) I also wouldn't call it good. It's competent at best and mediocre at worst. Too many of the maps rely on gimmicks for their difficulty, especially 12, 15, 19, and 21, and there are way too many gimmick maps in general. The difficulty is inconsistent across the entire campaign (and by that I mean it swerves sharply from "your average Awakening map" to "Across the River" on the difficulty scale and back between some chapters).

-The Nohr siblings aren't that interesting or sympathetic.

-Shadow Dragon is a good game.

-Isadora is the best cavalier/paladin in FE7.

-Conversely, Sain and Kent aren't that good.

-I think availability is one of the least important factors into whether a unit is good or not. The only game where this is an exception is Radiant Dawn, since there are long stretches of game where certain characters who have previously joined aren't available to use.

-Tokyo Mirage Sessions was a better game than Fates.

[blah the Prussian]

This is an older post, but this is not actually true. Upon starting FE3, it gives you a choice between playing Book 1 or Book 2.

Well, the Fire Emblem Wiki lied to me. Ah well.

[Sunwoo]

What does this have anything to do with the game? I liked the western settings in the FE games. I personally don't think the Japanese settings/classes were a good addition to the series. It was a Japanese product since the beginning.

I'm sorry, but if you dislike Birthright solely or primarily because of the Japanese settings and classes, there's really only one word that comes to mind for that. Dislike it for other reasons, I'm completely fine with that. Dislike it for the Japanese aesthetics? Well, not only does it feel disrespectful to the people that made the game in the first place but it also makes me think of unfortunate implications.

[twistedxgrace]

• I love the reclassing system because some units are just better fit for other classes than their starting class.

I love problematic characters like Tharja and Peri.

I loved Conquest chapter 10.

I highly prefer Saizo over Kaze.

I love Chrom and Sumia as a romantic couple and hate Chrom and Robin as one. The maiden is a better wife for Chrom than Robin.

Sakura and Takumi are the only Hoshidan royal siblings I actually like. Ryoma and Hinoka are amazing units, but their personalities are just very uninteresting to me.

I love all the Nohrian royal siblings, but feel they were better-written in Birthright.

As much as I enjoy a player-like character who can get married, I think Fates would've been a better game if Corrin wasn't in it at all and there were just two/three different campaigns in which the country you play as wins. Corrin was just such a disappointing "character" that the story probably should not have revolved around.

If any female character would've been the bi option instead of Rhajat, I'd've picked Scarlet, not Soleil. Rhajat herself I think is still a good option, though, and is a better character than Tharja.

Fates is NOT Awakening 2. They just took concepts introduced in Awakening and actually improved them greatly.

I can't ship Laslow with Azura or Odin with Elise. I also don't care about stats when it comes to ships.

Fates' female outfit designs get a lot of well-deserved flack, but I personally hate the female Nohr Noble outfit so fucking much. It's basically a swimsuit with armor, which does NOT look flattering to me. And don't you dare give me the "Nohr's the more sexualized country" excuse.

I will never like Gunter for being a pure Jagen and for what he does in Revelation.

I can't ship any of the Awakening trio with each other in Awakening or Fates, especially after reading Laslow and Selena's B support. Ugh.

The Fates localization is not that bad, in fact, I'd say for what it is, it's pretty damn good. Aside from removing stuff like petting and swimsuits (that honestly should not have been in the Japanese game in the first place), the changes made are not much different from other FE games' localization changes. There is no reason for it to get so much hate.

[Topazd]

I'm sorry, but if you dislike Birthright solely or primarily because of the Japanese settings and classes, there's really only one word that comes to mind for that. Dislike it for other reasons, I'm completely fine with that. Dislike it for the Japanese aesthetics? Well, not only does it feel disrespectful to the people that made the game in the first place but it also makes me think of unfortunate implications.

Come now, I'm sure you're quite capable of holding a dislike towards a product based on its setting or aesthetics without any racial connotations taking place.

[MCProductions]

I like Corrin, hell, I'd go as far as to name him my third favorite Lord character and fourth favorite FE character

Growth Rates DO NOT MATTER

The newer FE's protagonist centered morality is more in line with FE storytelling should in theory work than Tellius' grey morality. FE plots try to showcase themselves as historical events more than something presently happening, and since history is written by the victors, morality being completely centered on the protagonist makes sense, as they wrote the history books and are obviously biased as no one lacks bias.

I love FE3/5's all 20 Stat caps

[Sunwoo]

Come now, I'm sure you're quite capable of holding a dislike towards a product based on its setting or aesthetics without any racial connotations taking place.

Something like "I don't like the Japanese setting because it wasn't well done, it felt like cultural posturing, they integrated it poorly into the rest of the world, or they make too big of an unnecessary deal out of it" is fine because those are issues that have more to do with how it was executed. But to have a problem with the mere concept of it, without any other explanatory factors, and just "I hate that it's based on Japanese culture"? Then nope, there really is no other way around it.

And considering people both on and off SF have stated before that Hoshido is only for weebs and other derogatory things like that, there certainly is some of that going on.

[Thinks Their Own Way]

I think Cordelia's obsession over Chrom is pretty pathetic.

And Sumia is an idiot.

[BeMine96]

I'm sorry, but if you dislike Birthright solely or primarily because of the Japanese settings and classes, there's really only one word that comes to mind for that. Dislike it for other reasons, I'm completely fine with that. Dislike it for the Japanese aesthetics? Well, not only does it feel disrespectful to the people that made the game in the first place but it also makes me think of unfortunate implications.

I have no idea where this is going and I don't wanna argue with ya because it's gonna be pointless.

[secondworld]

Something like "I don't like the Japanese setting because it wasn't well done, it felt like cultural posturing, they integrated it poorly into the rest of the world, or they make too big of an unnecessary deal out of it" is fine because those are issues that have more to do with how it was executed. But to have a problem with the mere concept of it, without any other explanatory factors, and just "I hate that it's based on Japanese culture"? Then nope, there really is no other way around it.

And considering people both on and off SF have stated before that Hoshido is only for weebs and other derogatory things like that, there certainly is some of that going on.

I don't see how preference for or against a certain aesthetic equals racial connotations either.

There have been many things that have turned me off because the style didn't particularly appeal to me, and vice versa.

There isn't always any deeper explanation, and it doesn't instantly equate to any sort of racial connotations. Tbh it seems like you're unfairly jumping to conclusions.

[UNLEASH IT]

And considering people both on and off SF have stated before that Hoshido is only for weebs and other derogatory things like that, there certainly is some of that going on.

Every Fire Emblem game is kinda weeb. Not nearly as weeb as games like Persona or Danganronpa, but as far as Nintendo IP's go, Fire Emblem on a whole is pretty weeb. And there isn't really anything wrong with that.