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Best story?


MaskedAmpharos
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(Sorry if this has been done before)

I know Fire Emblem as a whole isn't really known for its story so much as the gameplay and characters (though I admit I'm relatively new to the franchise and really only have Awakening and Fates to go off of. That said I do intend to delve into the older games eventually). But I was wondering which Fire Emblem games have had the most engaging story and why you thought so?

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General consensus seems to be Fire Emblem 4(Genealogy of the Holy War), with Fire Emblem 5(Thracia 776) as an extension.

Main reasons being, it's a story that spans nearly 20 years, with by far the heaviest subject matter in the franchise, and very personal motivations for each of the heroes. It's not the tightest story ever written, and there are some pretty dumb moments(Everything Eldigan does, for example), but it's a lot more consistent, and the stakes are at a pretty constant high after a certain point.

A lot of FE stories can get pretty muddled narratives, or just not super well fleshed out, or lack punch, or some combination of these. FE4 and 5 remain pretty focused, are actually fleshed out by the series' standards, and are just a series of punch after punch.

I'd give honorable mention to FE7(Blazing Sword/Just Fire Emblem) for not really doing anything wrong, but not being exceptional in any of these ways.

Edited by Slumber
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I'm gonna say Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (and to a lesser extent, its sequel Radiant Dawn). For me, it was the change in the point of view from other games in the series: You weren't worried about the rightful heir to the throne, or international politics, or any of that. You were a group of ragtag mercenaries in the countryside, just trying to scrape together enough money for their next meal. And the main character wasn't descended from the gods or heroes, he didn't have the benefit of a grand name behind him or what-have-you, he was just an average kid trying to learn the ropes of being a mercenary, who got embroiled in a conflict much larger than himself, and had to deal with tragedy and his world being torn upside down at the same time he's trying to become an adult.

A lot of the charm and appeal of the story is watching this nobody rise to prominence and become one of the most important men on the continent (if not the most important, by the end of Radiant Dawn), even when there are people scoffing at him for who he is.

The world of Tellius also feels much more fleshed-out, realistic, and with many more shades of gray than the worlds of Elibe, Magvel or Archanea felt (part of it is due to the format, I know, considering they had the space of a console to work with unlike the other games). Daein was the aggressor and the opponent in the first game, but in a lot of ways it was more progressive than the "good" country Crimea - there was a social mobility in Daein that just didn't exist in Crimea or Begnion; if you were ambitious enough, you could rise up and become someone important, noble or not. Granted, Ashnard (the main villain of Path of Radiance) was a crazy person who took it too far, but still. It was a thing.

And then you had Begnion as this vaguely powerful force, playing and profiting from both sides. You never know exactly what they want. The Senators' slimy ways really are great.

Plus, there's the fact that the story adds layers the more you know about it. Once you learn the truth about Mist's mysterious medallion, the Four Heroes of the past, and the goddess, the story becomes far deeper.

The Black Knight is an amazing villain, if not one of the best in the series. He's complex and interesting in his backstory and motives, and yet you can sympathize with him when you learn his identity and what he's been through.
 

Edited by Extrasolar
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I'll give it to The Sacred Stones, myself.  

Sure, it's not exactly complicated, but FE8 doesn't really do anything wrong with what it tries to do, and what it does well, it does REALLY well.  Lyon is hands down the best written villain in the series, the protagonists clearly struggle with the idea of fighting him (especially Eirika), which I like.  The relationship between the three is really well done, and I really appreciate that about FE8's storyline.

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I'll have to give it to Genealogy. Just finished the game for the first time earlier this week and I thought the story was fantastic. There is a certain aura that I feel with the Jugdral games that isn't really replicated in the other games. But it's not perfect and could probably get fleshed out more in a future remake.

Edited by TaeTae
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I find it hilarious that this meme of "Fire Emblem isn't known for having a good story" has shown up all of a sudden, because when FE8/9/10 were coming out, Fire Emblem was specifically known for having good stories (and permadeath).

(FESS has the best story by the way)

Edited by General Banzai
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I've little experience with 1-5 and the Tellius games aren't fresh enough in my mind to really rank. I'll go with Sacred Stones. My biggest gripe with its storytelling is how apparently small Magvel is and how cartoonish the Grado generals can be. In the first scene of Chapter 9, Caellach is given orders to travel to Jehanna along with Riev, and at the start of chapter 12, he's hanging out along Ephraim's route on the other side of the continent. Then he's back in Jehanna in time for the final scene of Eirika's chapter 13. But small plot contrivances can be forgiven.

1 hour ago, General Banzai said:

I find it hilarious that this meme of "Fire Emblem isn't known for having a good story" has shown up all of a sudden, because when FE8/9/10 were coming out, Fire Emblem was specifically known for having good stories (and permadeath).

(FESS has the best story by the way)

It's no meme that the best Fire Emblem story we've gotten in 9 years is Awakening. And that's assuming you put RD in the good camp despite the trainwreck of a final act. The only meme is how Fire Emblem has been approaching permadeath. Shadow Dragon leaves out entire pieces of original content for those resetting after every death to keep units alive. Since the characters aren't given screen time outside their recruitment, it's like the designers making a cruel test of just how much you care for these portraits. Awakening's spotpass chapters need no comment. And Fates continually asserts that the majority of its characters only retire from battle, regardless of casual or classic mode. 

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I've always been of the mind that Tellius had the best story (though to be fair I haven't played GotHW). RD did the whole 'you're torn between these two armies' thing leeeeeeeagues better than Fates did with the whole Micaiah VS Ike arc, and the level of worldbuilding, subplots, political intrigue, etc. is the best I've seen in the western-released games, at least.

Sacred Stones is also pretty good.

Personally I'd rank them Tellius > SS > BB > BS = Awakening > Fates. Awakening's isn't that great, but I like the grandeur of the scale and the idea enough to give it a little extra. Fates is basically Metroid Other M levels of 'this didn't have to be as terrible as it was'.

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20 minutes ago, BANRYU said:

I've always been of the mind that Tellius had the best story (though to be fair I haven't played GotHW). RD did the whole 'you're torn between these two armies' thing leeeeeeeagues better than Fates did with the whole Micaiah VS Ike arc, and the level of worldbuilding, subplots, political intrigue, etc. is the best I've seen in the western-released games, at least.

Sacred Stones is also pretty good.

Personally I'd rank them Tellius > SS > BB > BS = Awakening > Fates. Awakening's isn't that great, but I like the grandeur of the scale and the idea enough to give it a little extra. Fates is basically Metroid Other M levels of 'this didn't have to be as terrible as it was'.

I'll definitely agree in saying that Fates has the worst story in the series but I definitely wasn't torn between Ike or Micaiah. Dawn Brigade were definitely in the wrong despite the circumstances and I always felt that the developers favoured the Greil Mercenaries. But yes, the word building and political intrigue makes it one of the more interesting stories in the series.

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I've never played the Jugdral games, but I'd say PoR. FE8/9/10 all have good stories, but I think PoR has the fewest plot twists/surprises that felt random or like an ex machina. For the most part, the events of PoR were logical and somewhat foreseeable without references to mysterious demons/legends/gods/whatever that the player has no idea about.

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7 hours ago, Fly_or_Die said:

I've never played the Jugdral games, but I'd say PoR. FE8/9/10 all have good stories, but I think PoR has the fewest plot twists/surprises that felt random or like an ex machina. For the most part, the events of PoR were logical and somewhat foreseeable without references to mysterious demons/legends/gods/whatever that the player has no idea about.

 

Welllll that last part isn't entirely true. We hear about the "dark god Yune" and Ashera a few times as a reference for why certain things are the way they are, like the ban on dark magic and such, and we get hints that the mysterious powers of Lehran's Medallion (though we don't know its name yet) is going to be important. But we don't get the lowdown on everything till RD.

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On 2/18/2017 at 6:14 PM, Extrasolar said:

I'm gonna say Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (and to a lesser extent, its sequel Radiant Dawn). For me, it was the change in the point of view from other games in the series: You weren't worried about the rightful heir to the throne, or international politics, or any of that. You were a group of ragtag mercenaries in the countryside, just trying to scrape together enough money for their next meal. And the main character wasn't descended from the gods or heroes, he didn't have the benefit of a grand name behind him or what-have-you, he was just an average kid trying to learn the ropes of being a mercenary, who got embroiled in a conflict much larger than himself, and had to deal with tragedy and his world being torn upside down at the same time he's trying to become an adult.

A lot of the charm and appeal of the story is watching this nobody rise to prominence and become one of the most important men on the continent (if not the most important, by the end of Radiant Dawn), even when there are people scoffing at him for who he is.

The world of Tellius also feels much more fleshed-out, realistic, and with many more shades of gray than the worlds of Elibe, Magvel or Archanea felt (part of it is due to the format, I know, considering they had the space of a console to work with unlike the other games). Daein was the aggressor and the opponent in the first game, but in a lot of ways it was more progressive than the "good" country Crimea - there was a social mobility in Daein that just didn't exist in Crimea or Begnion; if you were ambitious enough, you could rise up and become someone important, noble or not. Granted, Ashnard (the main villain of Path of Radiance) was a crazy person who took it too far, but still. It was a thing.

And then you had Begnion as this vaguely powerful force, playing and profiting from both sides. You never know exactly what they want. The Senators' slimy ways really are great.

Plus, there's the fact that the story adds layers the more you know about it. Once you learn the truth about Mist's mysterious medallion, the Four Heroes of the past, and the goddess, the story becomes far deeper.

The Black Knight is an amazing villain, if not one of the best in the series. He's complex and interesting in his backstory and motives, and yet you can sympathize with him when you learn his identity and what he's been through.
 

This whole post right here. There are reasons Tellius and Ike are my favorite games and character ever (besides Luigi, that is. :P). <3

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FE4/FE5 story is really darn good.

 

I like RD story since it gives perspective from each little army.

I like Sacred Stones too... simple with your main character development (and villain)

Fates story isnt bad at all maybe just predictable... But so far it seems to be Birthright > Revelation > Conquest

I like Awakening .... until Walhart defeat... Then the ending seems rush af.

 

My overall favourite has to be TearRing Saga - Utna Heroes Saga

 

Utna Heroes > FE4 > FE8 > RD > FE5 > FE13 > Birthright > Revelation > Conquest > FE12(FE3) > FE6 = PoR = FE11(FE1) > FE2 > FE7 (I love the villain... the dude... that plot... I dont even want to spoil it... if you want to spoil yourself.. watch ghast video... it literally explains what's happening for half the game)

Edited by Ryuke
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Dude, I know opinions are a thing, but...how can you say Awakening has a better story than PoR? Awakening's plot is full of holes and has cliche time travel nonsense and is rushed and all kinds of other shit. In fact, it also literally ripped off PoR with the bare-bones taguel backstory and failed miserably at that as well.

Edited by Anacybele
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10 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Dude, I know opinions are a thing, but...how can you say Awakening has a better story than PoR? Awakening's plot is full of holes and has cliche time travel nonsense and is rushed and all kinds of other shit. In fact, it also literally ripped off PoR with the bare-bones taguel backstory and failed miserably at that as well.

It also basically retconned all of the seemingly major moments in the last chunk of the game and didn't have the balls to stick with any of the emotional moments of the game.

"Hey guys, Emmeryn is still alive!"

"Oh wow, Aversa's joining because she realized she loved her sibling more than her asshole dad!"

"Cool! Gangrel's here and he's really, really, really sorry about making Emmeryn jump off a cliff!"

"Walhart, what are you doing here? You're just a misunderstood ruler who really cares for his country? Awwww, welcome to the team, buddy!"

It got to the point where I was expecting Validar to join the team and play that game of catch with Robin that he always promised him/her.

Edited by Slumber
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4 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Dude, I know opinions are a thing, but...how can you say Awakening has a better story than PoR? Awakening's plot is full of holes and has cliche time travel nonsense and is rushed and all kinds of other shit. In fact, it also literally ripped off PoR with the bare-bones taguel backstory and failed miserably at that as well.

You kind of answered your own question there, just saying.

IMO, the best story is Sacred Stones definitely. While it's not as ambitious as say Genealogy or RD, but it doesn't flop anywhere either. Also it has some of the best villains in the series like Lyon, Valter and Orson.

While Genealogy is up there, but IMO the 2nd Gen is a bit cliche and that kind of takes away from it. Blazing Blade is decent too, but is meh at some points.

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Just now, Azz said:

You kind of answered your own question there, just saying.

I was actually looking for that person's reasons for liking Awakening's story more, but whatever...

1 minute ago, Slumber said:

It also basically retconned all of the seemingly major moments in the last chunk of the game and didn't have the balls to stick with any of the emotional moments of the game.

"Hey guys, Emmeryn is still alive!"

"Oh wow, Aversa's joining because she realized she loved her sibling more than her asshole dad!"

"Cool! Gangrel's here and he's really, really, really sorry about making Emmeryn jump off a cliff!"

"Walhart, what are you doing here? You're just a misunderstood ruler? Welcome to the team, buddy!"

It got to the point where I was expecting Validar to join the team and play that game of catch with Robin that he always promised him/her.

Yeah, this too.

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Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn as a collective is the best. Both stand on their own well enough, but together there's not really any competition. And I don't think this is unfair considering RD is a direct continuation.

Genealogy's first half is up there (though I have some gripes with it), but the second half is pretty stale and forgettable. Blazing Blade gets honorable mention.

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15 minutes ago, Slumber said:

It also basically retconned all of the seemingly major moments in the last chunk of the game and didn't have the balls to stick with any of the emotional moments of the game.

"Hey guys, Emmeryn is still alive!"

"Oh wow, Aversa's joining because she realized she loved her sibling more than her asshole dad!"

"Cool! Gangrel's here and he's really, really, really sorry about making Emmeryn jump off a cliff!"

"Walhart, what are you doing here? You're just a misunderstood ruler who really cares for his country? Awwww, welcome to the team, buddy!"

It got to the point where I was expecting Validar to join the team and play that game of catch with Robin that he always promised him/her.

I like to pretend those gaidens don't exist. Casual character resurrections and character alignment changes are terrible writing.  If they want to make those characters playable, they should just make give them to you without any pretense of a story.

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45 minutes ago, Azz said:

IMO, the best story is Sacred Stones definitely. While it's not as ambitious as say Genealogy or RD, but it doesn't flop anywhere either. Also it has some of the best villains in the series like Lyon, Valter and Orson.

I'm gonna disagree with this.

I mentioned in another thread, but Sacred Stones' story really just stands on the back of the Eirika/Ephraim and Lyon story, which makes up a very, very small portion of the game. Outside of it, it's set in a really boring, poorly fleshed out world. Not much is explained, and it's not really ever hinted that there's some deep, rich history to Magvel, or super dark underbellies. There is basically a Satan and monsters that serve him, but outside of possessing Lyon, it's never really expanded on.

And IMO, the villains aren't super noterworthy. Valter's fine, but outside of his weird... rapey comments, he's not particularly unique, even for Fire Emblem. Caellach is pretty stock, and while Orson's story is tragic, there's 0 build up or real payoff to it. One minute he's looking to be your Oifey, the next he's feeling up his living corpse wife and ready to kill you, and we never see or get an idea of who/what/when/where/why this turn happens(Well, we get a who and a why, but everything else is just a big question mark).

And that's not to mention(Somebody mentioned this yesterday and it reminded me how much this bothered me 12 years ago) that the big villains like Caellach, Riev and Valter seemingly just teleport all over the map, showing up all the way across the country just moments after they showed up briefly in a chapter, with no explanation. The Lopto Sect had Warp Staves out the ass, and this was shown in both gameplay and the story, and it gives some justification that they can just move all over Jugdral, and even they don't move around the world map as quickly and frequently as the SS villains do.

AND THEN there are these seemingly major events that, again, just like the Orson deal, get 0 build up and aren't satisfying as they happen. Like Carlyle betraying Ismaire and basically letting Caellach kill her. Yeah, it's a nice bit of character development for Joshua, and it's REALLY rare to see secondary characters like him ever get that much attention in the main plot, but all of this shit happens in the span of about one chapter. You find out Carlyle was Joshua's teacher and loved Ismaire. But since he can't stand that he can't have her, he lets Grado take over so he can take over and make her be his. But he can't tell Caellach is a creepy asshole just by looking at him(Seriously, Valter, Riev and Caellach are three of the most obviously evil people to ever show up in FE), and basically lets him kill Ismaire. That's a lot to digest, and it just falls flat because it all happens so goddamn fast.

This could have been completely fine if it got any build up and time to develop, which is really SS' other big story flaw outside of the relatively poor world-building. But Sacred Stones has really, really bad pacing, where you'll spend chapters at a time killing faceless monsters in nondescript locations that really do nothing to serve the plot, and then when seemingly major plot points actually happen, the game doesn't seem to want to spend any time on it.

Sorry if this came off as a little rant-y or if I seem like I'm trying to invalidate your opinion(I really didn't intend to type this much when I started this post). If you think the Eirika/Ephraim and Lyon story elevates SS' story to greater highs than other FE stories, fine. I won't argue against that. That's completely valid, and it's really just a matter of differing priorities when it comes to what we like out of stories. But outside of the Lyon story, I find a LOT of flaws in SS' story compared to other games in the series.

Edited by Slumber
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On February 19, 2017 at 7:13 AM, Slumber said:

General consensus seems to be Fire Emblem 4(Genealogy of the Holy War), with Fire Emblem 5(Thracia 776) as an extension.

Main reasons being, it's a story that spans nearly 20 years, with by far the heaviest subject matter in the franchise, and very personal motivations for each of the heroes. It's not the tightest story ever written, and there are some pretty dumb moments(Everything Eldigan does, for example), but it's a lot more consistent, and the stakes are at a pretty constant high after a certain point.

A lot of FE stories can get pretty muddled narratives, or just not super well fleshed out, or lack punch, or some combination of these. FE4 and 5 remain pretty focused, are actually fleshed out by the series' standards, and are just a series of punch after punch.

I'd give honorable mention to FE7(Blazing Sword/Just Fire Emblem) for not really doing anything wrong, but not being exceptional in any of these ways.

Well, nothing wrong aside from half the issues brought up here.

Also going to throw my agreement with you about your Sacred Stones post. I feel a lot of people ignore the rest of the game in favour of raising Lyon (and even then I think the pacing there is rather rushed). I think Calleach's ambitious and cavalier personality elevates him more than you give credit though.

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I don't know if it's necessarily the "best" story, but I think PoR and RD combined had the most interesting overall arc. It covers a lot of topics that are pretty deep (while admittedly not in the best way they still made an effort to treat it with respect), such as racism and idealism vs. realism, pacifism, and how history is often written by the winners. PoR and RD did a good job of showing that "good" does not mean "nice", that good intentions are not enough to be an effective ruler, and had two of the best rulers in FE. As a whole, Tellius was great in my opinion.

(Also, I didn't play FE 1-5, 12 so I have nothing to say on those.)

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9 hours ago, Slumber said:

It also basically retconned all of the seemingly major moments in the last chunk of the game and didn't have the balls to stick with any of the emotional moments of the game.

"Hey guys, Emmeryn is still alive!"

"Oh wow, Aversa's joining because she realized she loved her sibling more than her asshole dad!"

"Cool! Gangrel's here and he's really, really, really sorry about making Emmeryn jump off a cliff!"

"Walhart, what are you doing here? You're just a misunderstood ruler who really cares for his country? Awwww, welcome to the team, buddy!"

It got to the point where I was expecting Validar to join the team and play that game of catch with Robin that he always promised him/her.

To be fair on Emm, she barely counts as Emm anymore since she has no recollection of her life as Exalt with Chrom and Lissa, and can barely speak, so falling clearly did something, and Chrom and Lissa find what's basically just her shell.

Honestly the implications of Emm's state feel worse than her actually being dead imo, it's like showing Chrom and Lissa a glimmer of hope only to immediately shatter it into tiny pieces while still holding it in front of them.  

Aversa/Gangrel/Walhart are stupid though, yeah.

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