Best/Worst Fire Emblem Story (In concept)

[Ryo]

Conquest could have been the best FE story in existence.

I picked Awakening as worst (even worse than Revelation) because time traveling in a medieval/fantasy setting was something I never found appealing, however it turned out not as awful as one would expect.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Ambition/concept and execution alike matter.

Fates twas ambitious, but fans generally agree it failed. Radiant Dawn was also very ambitious. First, we get, as Bastian told Ike off screen, a mini PoR in Part 1. Part 2 is a splendid interlude that lets time pass for the events that cause Part 3. It also serves as an epilogue to Elincia's journey to reclaim her kingdom, a vital part of PoR. Part 3 is grandiose, and works out nicely until I'd argue 3-12, when the Blood Pact becomes known. With that, we have two groups of heroes fighting each other due to a simple magical hostage situation- not because each is fighting for their own noble and understandable but conflicting causes, which is what players wanted in RD and Fates alike. The clash of heroes concept also is what forces us to have to Part 1, as Micaiah got chosen as the leader of one of the two hero factions and needs some development and time with the player. Part 3 at the end is a mess, but that mess is almost intentional- as the mess is what leads to the conclusion of Part 3. Part 4 is all about revelations about Tellius and tying up all of the plot-lines by having the heroes work together. Part 4 is also necessary because PoR drops hints about things revealed in it.

Genealogy is of course magnificently ambitious too. Its epic plot being restricted by being a video game instead of a TV show or book. And by it also restricted by being an SNES video game in particular- not a time when games could go all out plot-wise. The plot also seems to let up on its ambitions after the 1st generation. I guess you could call it FFVI and Mystery of the Emblem FFIV.

Awakening- was it ambitious? I'd say so with its three plot arcs. However, if we regard the developers as having seen Awakening as "the series might end with this game- let's throw everything and the kitchen sink in it" then it is more... forgivable I guess? The taguel for instance were unnecessary and terrible gameplay-wise, but I think I can forgive IS for including them because they just wanted to reference the Laguz because they thought they might never have another chance to include shape-shifters of any kind (because the franchise would be dead).

Thracia 776 appears ambitious in gameplay, but plot-wise literally cannot be ambitious because it is just a small story in the world of Genealogy. That said, I like a good micro-history. And it contrasts so well with the idea I get of Genealogy- which is an army with a lot of blue-bloods (holy-bloods more like it) spanning the entire continent. The second generation with the proper assignment of fathers and arrangement of child marriages, can be overloaded with kids who are royalty/nobility in two or three places. Thracia 776 focuses on a much smaller area with hardly anyone of high noble stock in the roster of characters- the common soldier predominates. I haven't played either Jugdrali game or any non-US release mind you.

The Elibe games are sort of like the Jugdral games. Binding Blade leans towards Genealogy in scope, but is far simpler and thus less ambitious, which is somewhat matched in the gameplay changes. Because it'd be odd if never in Binding was a great war across the continent ~20 years prior mentioned, Eliwood and co. are forced to have a micro-historical story, albeit the stakes are higher than in Thracia. Execution is not quite as good in Blazing, but not too bad. Of course points for ambition (though maybe not plot-ambition) go to Blazing for being the first game to be released aboard.

Sacred Stones is definitely on the less ambitious side. Heroes of Light and Shadow seems to have some ambition, but is curtailed by being bound by the original plot of Mystery. Path of Radiance is not ambitious, but sticks the landing well enough.

Shadow Dragon was indeed as others have pointed out probably the least ambitious game, save maybe for the original Gaiden. 

[Extrasolar]

Gonna have to give weakest story to Awakening. The problem was it tried to do too much. It had something of a promising start, with gray morality considering Gangrel's (justified, but not excused) grudge against Ylisse after the actions of the royals' father, but as soon as Gangrel was pushed out of the picture, then came the downward spiral. A lot of the second act was particularly forgettable.

The third act was a badly written in general, just due to the rushed pacing. Walhart had the potential to be an interesting villain in the vein of sympathetic villains like the Black Knight, but was shoved out of the spotlight before he had a chance to develop. Validar is a completely one-note villain in the vein of Gharnef, without the excuse of being written in pre-1990 for the Famicom like the latter does. Grima himself is no better; he simply comes out of absolutely nowhere, with no explanation or relevance.

Shadow Dragon and Gaiden are simple (I daresay cliche) affairs. Hero saves the world from evil resurrected dragon/evil slime dragon god with magic weapon. Granted, sure, there are more twists and turns than that, but all in all, those two are fairly bog-standard fantasy stories, and I can't hold that against them, considering they were made for a system with a fraction's fraction's fraction worth of the memory we have access to today. What you see is what you get, and you can't expect much more from them.

A disappointingly large amount of Fates is wasted potential. The Conquest story was full of frustrating and/or nonsensical moments, and the fact that the main protagonists did terrible things (killing tons of innocent civilians, essentially toppling a country's way of life, etc.) while doing nothing but whining about it, when all the siblings could have stood up to Garon much earlier. Sure, he's their father, but there's a damn line, if they're meant to be decently moral people, or even upstanding people in Xander's case. It all ends up making them unsympathetic throughout the path, not to mention the mood whiplash of "chilling with the pals" one moment and forcing Ryoma to commit suicide the next. And then it all builds up to you fighting...a Garon slime monster... Just. Eugh.

Birthright and Revelation were better written, at the very least, though they had their problems as well.

Best story: Going to Path of Radiance. I wrote up an entire post on why back in the "best story?" thread. But TL;DR: For having great characterization, a believable, gray and deep world, and for the protagonist's journey being refreshing and well-done in comparison to the other games in the series, not to mention the pacing being tight and the reveal to the deeper/more mystical parts of the story being done gracefully. And Radiant Dawn, by extension, though that had a few issues of its own, including the mercenaries bulldozing the Dawn Brigade (granted, I never liked the latter, but it was still meant to be their story) out of the spotlight.

Edited February 24, 2017 by Extrasolar

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Extrasolar said:

Gonna have to give weakest story to Awakening. The problem was it tried to do too much. It had something of a promising start, with gray morality considering Gangrel's (justified, but not excused) grudge against Ylisse after the actions of the royals' father, but as soon as Gangrel was pushed out of the picture, then came the downward spiral. A lot of the second act was particularly forgettable.

The third act was a badly written in general, just due to the rushed pacing. Walhart had the potential to be an interesting villain in the vein of sympathetic villains like the Black Knight, but was shoved out of the spotlight before he had a chance to develop. Validar is a completely one-note villain in the vein of Gharnef, without the excuse of being written in pre-1990 for the Famicom like the latter does. Grima himself is no better; he simply comes out of absolutely nowhere, with no explanation or relevance.

Shadow Dragon and Gaiden are simple (I daresay cliche) affairs. Hero saves the world from evil resurrected dragon/evil slime dragon god with magic weapon. Granted, sure, there are more twists and turns than that, but all in all, those two are fairly bog-standard fantasy stories, and I can't hold that against them, considering they were made for a system with a fraction's fraction's fraction worth of the memory we have access to today. What you see is what you get, and you can't expect much more from them.

A disappointingly large amount of Fates is wasted potential. The Conquest story was full of frustrating and/or nonsensical moments, and the fact that the main protagonists did terrible things (killing tons of innocent civilians, essentially toppling a country's way of life, etc.) while doing nothing but whining about it, when all the siblings could have stood up to Garon much earlier. Sure, he's their father, but there's a damn line, if they're meant to be decently moral people, or even upstanding people in Xander's case. It all ends up making them unsympathetic throughout the path, not to mention the mood whiplash of "chilling with the pals" one moment and forcing Ryoma to commit suicide the next. And then it all builds up to you fighting...a Garon slime monster... Just. Eugh.

Birthright and Revelation were better written, at the very least, though they had their problems as well.

Best story: Going to Path of Radiance. I wrote up an entire post on why back in the "best story?" thread. But TL;DR: For having great characterization, a believable, gray and deep world, and for the protagonist's journey being refreshing and well-done in comparison to the other games in the series, not to mention the pacing being tight and the reveal to the deeper/more mystical parts of the story being done gracefully. And Radiant Dawn, by extension, though that had a few issues of its own, including the mercenaries bulldozing the Dawn Brigade (granted, I never liked the latter, but it was still meant to be their story) out of the spotlight.

I think you failed to realize what this thread is about. It's the best story concepts so far, not the best stories. You're talking about writing and characterisation which are things that don't fit into that scope.

[Extrasolar]

Just now, Jotari said:

I think you failed to realize what this thread is about. It's the best story concepts so far, not the best stories. You're talking about writing and characterisation which are things that don't fit into that scope.

 

Huh? How can you talk about the story concept without talking about writing? Unless you mean being so general that you literally are reduced to the general concept of all of FE: "Army battles across continent to accomplish goal."

Like...every FE has the same concept then, if you can't talk about writing and characterization.

[Jotari]

6 minutes ago, Extrasolar said:

Huh? How can you talk about the story concept without talking about writing? Unless you mean being so general that you literally are reduced to the general concept of all of FE: "Army battles across continent to accomplish goal."

Like...every FE has the same concept then, if you can't talk about writing and characterization.

The concept is "A villian wants to resurrect dragons because he hates humanity after his father's failed assassination on him." The writing is how that idea is actually expressed as a story. Which could be great or terrible depending on the quality of said writing. What do you think is meant by Concept? Because your posts seems to be talking about the overall quality of the games and your enjoyment of them.

Edited February 24, 2017 by Jotari

[Extrasolar]

Just now, Jotari said:

The concept is "A villian wants to resurrect dragons because he hates humanity after his father's failed assassination on him." The writing is how that idea is actually expressed as a story. Which could be great or terrible depending on the quality of said writing.

 

Well, it still doesn't change my answer. I still think POR's concept is the best, and Awakening's is the worst. Partially because Awakening just had so many concepts jumbling into one another that they couldn't decide what they wanted to do.

[Jotari]

1 minute ago, Extrasolar said:

Well, it still doesn't change my answer. I still think POR's concept is the best, and Awakening's is the worst. Partially because Awakening just had so many concepts jumbling into one another that they couldn't decide what they wanted to do.

Well then couldn't you say Awakening has the best concept because if it had more writing, effort and length into it then it could have been a much better story. Like in theory, what plot points of Awakening are actually weak aside from post game enemy recruitments?

[Extrasolar]

10 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Well then couldn't you say Awakening has the best concept because if it had more writing, effort and length into it then it could have been a much better story. Like in theory, what plot points of Awakening are actually weak aside from post game enemy recruitments?

 

 

Nope. Awakening has the worst concept(s) imo. First it was "Guy wants revenge because he believes he was wronged by parents of enemy country's royals while amnesiac guy/girl is along for the ride," then it's "evil cult wants to revive evil apocalypse dragon because villain hates humanity or whatever and amnesiac guy/girl is actually gonna bring the apocalypse," and then it's "kids from bad future come back to save the world and maybe kill amnesiac guy/girl," all crashing and stumbling over one another like people in a dark room. Pick one, develop it and stick with it, please.

POR was "average kid gets catapulted into responsibility after his father falls to a mysterious enemy; he seeks revenge while also attempting to free home country from enemy country's invasion." Simple, interesting, to the point.



 

Edited February 24, 2017 by Extrasolar

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Extrasolar said:

Nope. Awakening has the worst concept(s) imo. First it was "Guy wants revenge because he believes he was wronged by parents of enemy country's royals while amnesiac guy/girl is along for the ride," then it's "evil cult wants to revive evil apocalypse dragon because villain hates humanity or whatever and amnesiac guy/girl is actually gonna bring the apocalypse," and then it's "kids from bad future come back to save the world and maybe kill amnesiac guy/girl," all crashing and stumbling over one another like people in a dark room. Pick one, develop it and stick with it, please.

POR was "average kid gets catapulted into responsibility after his father falls to a mysterious enemy; he seeks revenge while also attempting to free home country from enemy country's invasion." Simple, interesting, to the point.



 

Well I don't see what's particularly wrong with those ideas but opinions are opinions. Just try to keep in mind that you're discontent with how Awakening did turn out might be clouding your judgement.

Edited February 24, 2017 by Jotari

[Extrasolar]

5 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Well I don't see what's particularly wrong with those ideas but opinions are opinions. Just try to keep in mind that you're discontent without Awakening did turn out might be clouding your judgement.

 

The first one is...okay, I guess. Nothing really noteworthy about it. Second one is cliche, and I've seen it many times before, and only done well one time. Third one is just convoluted, as most plots with time travel tend to be.

[Vaximillian]

Concept, you say?

http://shadowofchaos725.tumblr.com/post/142656938680/fire-emblem-in-a-nutshell 

Fire Emblem in a Nutshell

• Fire Emblem 1/11: A pissed-off dragon tries to take over the world, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 2: A ruthless teenager ends a war by murdering his father and killing god. His girlfriend is the real hero.
• Fire Emblem 3/12: The same pissed-off dragon tries to take over the world, and is defeated by the same group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 4: A dragon god tries to use incest and demonic possession to take over the world, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 5: A cinnamon roll leads a group of teenagers to defeat the followers of the aforementioned dragon god.
• Fire Emblem 6: A maniac with daddy issues tries to destroy humanity with dragons, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 7: A disfigured widower tries to destroy humanity with dragons and zombies, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 8: A demon possesses a teenage prince to start a war using war criminals, actual monsters, and a pile of rocks, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 9: A group of teenagers does battle with a madman and his army of racists.
• Fire Emblem 10: The aforementioned group of teenagers does battle with a racist empire and their insane god.
• Fire Emblem 13: A group of teenagers travel back to the past to team up with their teenage parents in order stop a different dragon god from destroying the world with zombies.
• Fire Emblem 14: Teenagers from two opposing nations kill each other as yet another dragon god sits back and laughs. They eventually decide to do something about it.

Spoiler

(I hope Rey is fine with me reposting this here)

[Tolvir]

28 minutes ago, Vaximillian said:

Concept, you say?

http://shadowofchaos725.tumblr.com/post/142656938680/fire-emblem-in-a-nutshell 

Fire Emblem in a Nutshell

• Fire Emblem 1/11: A pissed-off dragon tries to take over the world, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 2: A ruthless teenager ends a war by murdering his father and killing god. His girlfriend is the real hero.
• Fire Emblem 3/12: The same pissed-off dragon tries to take over the world, and is defeated by the same group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 4: A dragon god tries to use incest and demonic possession to take over the world, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 5: A cinnamon roll leads a group of teenagers to defeat the followers of the aforementioned dragon god.
• Fire Emblem 6: A maniac with daddy issues tries to destroy humanity with dragons, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 7: A disfigured widower tries to destroy humanity with dragons and zombies, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 8: A demon possesses a teenage prince to start a war using war criminals, actual monsters, and a pile of rocks, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 9: A group of teenagers does battle with a madman and his army of racists.
• Fire Emblem 10: The aforementioned group of teenagers does battle with a racist empire and their insane god.
• Fire Emblem 13: A group of teenagers travel back to the past to team up with their teenage parents in order stop a different dragon god from destroying the world with zombies.
• Fire Emblem 14: Teenagers from two opposing nations kill each other as yet another dragon god sits back and laughs. They eventually decide to do something about it.

  Reveal hidden contents

(I hope Rey is fine with me reposting this here)

Same can be done with just about every story if you break it down that much.

Lord of the Rings. Two midgets bring a ring to a mountain to stop an eye on top of a tower.

Warcraft III, spoiled prince tries to stop evil, becomes evil in the process.

Fallout 4. 1950s style middle class family hide in vaults, emerges hundreds of years later to find out his son is stolen. Proceeds to rule the entire wasteland with an iron fist.

Harry Potter: Young kid is told he is the chosen one, proceeds to kill an evil guy with no nose 7 years later.

Ever heard of the explain a film plot badly meme? Yeah, what you posted is essentially the same thing. Is it funny? Yes, but is it actually relevant to the topic and discussing the actual concepts behind these stories? No.  Every story can sound silly or stupid if you break it down enough.

 

 

Edited February 24, 2017 by Tolvir

[Vaximillian]

1 minute ago, Tolvir said:

Ever heard of the explain a film plot badly meme? Yeah, what you posted is essentially the same thing. Every story can sound silly if you break it down enough.

That's the joke. I was referring to Jotari and Extrasolar's debate on the definition of concept, and according to that, concept is the barebones idea broken down that much.

[Slumber]

30 minutes ago, Vaximillian said:

Concept, you say?

http://shadowofchaos725.tumblr.com/post/142656938680/fire-emblem-in-a-nutshell 

Fire Emblem in a Nutshell

• Fire Emblem 1/11: A pissed-off dragon tries to take over the world, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 2: A ruthless teenager ends a war by murdering his father and killing god. His girlfriend is the real hero.
• Fire Emblem 3/12: The same pissed-off dragon tries to take over the world, and is defeated by the same group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 4: A dragon god tries to use incest and demonic possession to take over the world, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 5: A cinnamon roll leads a group of teenagers to defeat the followers of the aforementioned dragon god.
• Fire Emblem 6: A maniac with daddy issues tries to destroy humanity with dragons, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 7: A disfigured widower tries to destroy humanity with dragons and zombies, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 8: A demon possesses a teenage prince to start a war using war criminals, actual monsters, and a pile of rocks, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 9: A group of teenagers does battle with a madman and his army of racists.
• Fire Emblem 10: The aforementioned group of teenagers does battle with a racist empire and their insane god.
• Fire Emblem 13: A group of teenagers travel back to the past to team up with their teenage parents in order stop a different dragon god from destroying the world with zombies.
• Fire Emblem 14: Teenagers from two opposing nations kill each other as yet another dragon god sits back and laughs. They eventually decide to do something about it.

  Reveal hidden contents

(I hope Rey is fine with me reposting this here)

This list makes Gaiden sound like an SMT game.

Which couldn't be further from the truth.

Edited February 24, 2017 by Slumber

[Tolvir]

Just now, Vaximillian said:

That's the joke. I was referring to Jotari and Extrasolar's debate on the definition of concept, and according to that, concept is the barebones idea broken down that much.

Ok, misunderstanding on my part then. My bad.

[Extrasolar]

59 minutes ago, Vaximillian said:

Concept, you say?

http://shadowofchaos725.tumblr.com/post/142656938680/fire-emblem-in-a-nutshell 

Fire Emblem in a Nutshell

• Fire Emblem 1/11: A pissed-off dragon tries to take over the world, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 2: A ruthless teenager ends a war by murdering his father and killing god. His girlfriend is the real hero.
• Fire Emblem 3/12: The same pissed-off dragon tries to take over the world, and is defeated by the same group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 4: A dragon god tries to use incest and demonic possession to take over the world, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 5: A cinnamon roll leads a group of teenagers to defeat the followers of the aforementioned dragon god.
• Fire Emblem 6: A maniac with daddy issues tries to destroy humanity with dragons, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 7: A disfigured widower tries to destroy humanity with dragons and zombies, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 8: A demon possesses a teenage prince to start a war using war criminals, actual monsters, and a pile of rocks, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 9: A group of teenagers does battle with a madman and his army of racists.
• Fire Emblem 10: The aforementioned group of teenagers does battle with a racist empire and their insane god.
• Fire Emblem 13: A group of teenagers travel back to the past to team up with their teenage parents in order stop a different dragon god from destroying the world with zombies.
• Fire Emblem 14: Teenagers from two opposing nations kill each other as yet another dragon god sits back and laughs. They eventually decide to do something about it.

  Reveal hidden contents

(I hope Rey is fine with me reposting this here)

 

This is beautiful. Perfect.

[SpearOfLies]

11 hours ago, Vaximillian said:

Concept, you say?

http://shadowofchaos725.tumblr.com/post/142656938680/fire-emblem-in-a-nutshell 

Fire Emblem in a Nutshell

• Fire Emblem 1/11: A pissed-off dragon tries to take over the world, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 2: A ruthless teenager ends a war by murdering his father and killing god. His girlfriend is the real hero.
• Fire Emblem 3/12: The same pissed-off dragon tries to take over the world, and is defeated by the same group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 4: A dragon god tries to use incest and demonic possession to take over the world, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 5: A cinnamon roll leads a group of teenagers to defeat the followers of the aforementioned dragon god.
• Fire Emblem 6: A maniac with daddy issues tries to destroy humanity with dragons, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 7: A disfigured widower tries to destroy humanity with dragons and zombies, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 8: A demon possesses a teenage prince to start a war using war criminals, actual monsters, and a pile of rocks, and is defeated by a group of teenagers.
• Fire Emblem 9: A group of teenagers does battle with a madman and his army of racists.
• Fire Emblem 10: The aforementioned group of teenagers does battle with a racist empire and their insane god.
• Fire Emblem 13: A group of teenagers travel back to the past to team up with their teenage parents in order stop a different dragon god from destroying the world with zombies.
• Fire Emblem 14: Teenagers from two opposing nations kill each other as yet another dragon god sits back and laughs. They eventually decide to do something about it.

  Reveal hidden contents

(I hope Rey is fine with me reposting this here)

You make them appeal more that one they really is, you know.(I mean concept, not the actual story)

[Augestein]

Honestly, I'd say Geneology is the best concept, as it leaves much room for political intrigue, as well as a grand war that's happening. The entire concept is pretty people driven and grounded from the concept. 

Awakening is the worst in concept in my opinion. And it clearly shows as the writers apparently thought that Awakening needed not 1, not 2, but 3 concepts to be jammed into one narrative. 

[JJ48]

Wow.  Looking at this list is making me realize just how many FEs I haven't played through!

Personally, I've always loved FE7.  I like the idea that the dragons don't really have any active role in the plan, and are as much the victims as anyone else.  I also liked that the game seemed very interested in making most of the villains somewhat sympathetic characters, even Nergal (though I don't seem to recall Zephiel's dad having any redeeming qualities).

[NinjaMonkey]

Best: Radiant Dawn

Worst: Sacred Stones. You literally get half a story every time you play the game. Why they couldn't alternate between Eirika's and Ephraim's chapters to get the full story of what happens beggars belief. FE7's story is also garbage, but General Banzai already covered that.

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

24 minutes ago, NinjaMonkey said:

Worst: Sacred Stones. You literally get half a story every time you play the game. Why they couldn't alternate between Eirika's and Ephraim's chapters to get the full story of what happens beggars belief. FE7's story is also garbage, but General Banzai already covered that.

 

I'm in agreement that FE7's story isn't magnificent, Lyn Mode (which to be fair is just a tutorial) is horribly unrealistic- it seems to assume Lyn's little playable group actually managed to beat Caelin's forces without any other help. But at the least, the Bern chapters complement FE6 well through its brief exploration of Zephiel's childhood (but I feel this little prince might be a little too idealized by Vaida and Murdock for it to be realistic).

For Sacred Stones, there are things that don't work between the different routes. Glen's death for instance. Also, Lyon's portrayals are totally distinct, it'd be impossible to reconcile them (at the very end at least).

Plus, SS would have to give you a larger cast if you could play both at once, there aren't simply enough characters to give both of the Renais royals a decent-sized army.

[JJ48]

1 hour ago, NinjaMonkey said:

Best: Radiant Dawn

Worst: Sacred Stones. You literally get half a story every time you play the game. Why they couldn't alternate between Eirika's and Ephraim's chapters to get the full story of what happens beggars belief. FE7's story is also garbage, but General Banzai already covered that.

 

FE7's story may not have been perfect, but your General Banzai seems to twist quite a few bits of the story and take others out of context in order to make his point.  It's an entertaining take on it, to be sure, but it's clear he hasn't even tried to understand what's going on.  "This is geared towards a younger audience and it isn't FE4 or FE5, so it must be garbage!" is pretty much the takeaway there.

[Etrurian emperor]

6 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I'm in agreement that FE7's story isn't magnificent, Lyn Mode (which to be fair is just a tutorial) is horribly unrealistic- it seems to assume Lyn's little playable group actually managed to beat Caelin's forces without any other help. 

I don't think that is too much of a stretch actually. The implication is always there that the Lycian realms aren't all that big on their own. In both 6 and 7 you have mere bandits taking over a Lycian castle. Its possible that a Lycian Marques only rules his castle and the surounding area rather than a sizable force.

7 also works on a smaller scale. The enemies you see on the map are likely to really be the extend of what the opponent can muster, seeing as they are almost all nobles, mercenaries or mutants created by a mad mage. With this in mind its not that weird that Lyn and Eliwood can take over a castle.

Edited March 9, 2017 by Etrurian emperor

[Interdimensional Observer]

I know that FE7 operates on a smaller scale, but it still seems like a bit much that literally 13 units could overcome an entire Marquess's forces. 

Well all games require some suspension of disbelief, maybe I'm just being a little too wanting of realism in that particular case. I have no problems with Ephraim taking Renvall in 5x (though in that case you have to imagine him having a least a couple dozen soldiers, enough for swift guerrilla hit and runs and such, but less than a full army).

If Marquesses have such small domains, then I'd imagine there has to be plenty of nobles beneath them in rank with even smaller fiefdoms. Plus, thinking on how Ostia absorbs Caelin at the end of FE7 (was it actually on the world map in FE6?), it is possible that like with the German states prior to the 1800s, that the landholdings of the Marquesses include far flung possessions not at all connected to their primary lands. 

There is fanfiction material in Lycia, that's for sure.