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What is your unpopular Fire Emblem opinion?


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18 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Maybe not outright suggest, but Marth was still in the island with the Archanean castle, so that island was still Archanean soil. So sending forces to attack him while he has yet to set foot on Pyrathi only makes Mannu look even more bad.

We don't know exactly where the border is. Could be that castle itself is the border post (and of course in Shadow Dragon March outright sails there). But even taking a geological assumption that you start the chapter outside the border of Pyrathi, Manny's own dialogue references the fact that they're physically trespassing on his holy ground (spell checker correct the dragon's name to Manny there, which I find funny so I'll leave it and may even intentionally call him by such from now on) So as far as his knowledge goes they have already trespassed.

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Leave where? Back to Archanea where the big Grustian Force was incoming at him? The whole point of fleeing to Pyrathi was to get away from them. If you're going to blame anyone, blame Malledus for having suggested they leave Warren and use the castle for a better defensive position. Since then it forced them to only have Pyrathi as their only venue of retreat.

Well Marth is the one in charge. He doesn't have to  heed Malledus's advice. So the blame is in him. And I'm only talking in terms of morals here, in terms of military strategy conquering Pyrathi probably was the best choice.

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It makes a difference in the sense that if Mannu was just another human, his army would not have much to fear to go against his orders to avoid get tangled with the war. Because again, it's much easier to throw Marth to the wolves by telling him they prefer to not have their neutrality violated and thus entry to Pyrathi is barred; than to use force thus forcing Marth to fight on self-defense since he is trying to avoid having his army wiped out by the main Grustian Force. Being a Manakete, however, his dragon form could easily intimidate them into submission. Gameplay aside, dragons are meant to be tough to kill. One could say that's how he became king of the island in the first place, but then there's the fact most of the people don't know he's a Manakete. Unless it happened long ago the people who saw him transform have mostly died so the newer generations only have the stories that he did, but no longer being clear enough to think of them as true.

Human dictators can intimidate just as easily as fictional dragon dictators. Every dictator we have in Earth history was a human.

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Ultimately, one shouldn't pass judgement on the chapter since we simply don't have the full picture.

 

Well we shouldn't...but we can, cause it's fun. It's clear that they never thought through the full consequences of this chapter in both the original and the remake. That's why it's a bit of a shame they anime only lasted two episodes. As a less minamilist story, it would have been interesting to see how they approached it. Course the anime was based on Mystery of the Emblem which removes the Pyrathi chapter so they might have just ignored it.

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The Tellius games deserve a remaster at best right now, not a remake. And rumors of them being remade (I've seen a couple but none that I believe) annoy me. I wouldn't mind a remaster releasing alongside a remake eventually, but there are older games that should be remade far before the Tellius ones. 

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I don't usually post here, but there's something I have been meaning to get off my chest for a while now. Its about the difficulty in the more recent titles. I hear a lot of people  here complain how the series has become too easy between casual mode, Divine Pulse, and simpler maps. Despite all that, I think its perfectly understandable and fair that the difficulty has generally become easier as a whole. 

I would like to start by saying that I believe that people on these forums seem to overestimate how big of a voice they have over the entire Fire Emblem fanbase. In truth, we are a very small minority of people compared to the millions of people who played the likes of Awakening, Fates, Echoes, and Three Houses. What we want in complex maps and higher difficulty is a very small request compared to the other millions of players who enjoy things like the Monastery and support conversations in contrast to people here who think those activities are a waste of time and much rather have a continuation of things like support conversations over complex maps.

As for why the series has become easier as a whole, a lot goes back to how shaky the series the history was, especially in the west. The first 4 games were not localized in the west, and while they finally started to get localized, the games were either not very popular, or just simply did not sell enough in the west. The decline in sales eventually led to a potential cancellation of the series, until Awakening saved the franchise and was critically acclaimed. Awakening in particular seems to be where the divide between the "new" and "old" fans. Before I go any further, a lot of my friends not part of these forums told me they could not play older titles like the Shadow Dragon simply because the maps were far too difficult and the character and story were so minimal. Derrick from GamExplain, before streaming his Radiant Dawn play through, admitted that he never finished the game prior to mishandling of the difficulty settings which caused him to quit prematurely. In a similar note, the remake of Mystery for the Emblem was never localized, probably due to the lack of sales for the remake of Shadow Dragon. The point that I try to make is that the extremely unforgiving and challenging nature as well as the lack of easier options made Fire Emblem  very difficult to pick up for newcomers, hence its decline and more casual design recently. 

 

The easier game design is not just a Fire Emblem thing though. Lot of other games I've played recently like Xenoblade Chronicles, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, Smash Ultimate, Kingdom Hearts: Memory of Melody, have options that allow you to "choose your own difficulty ". In the case of Xenoblade Chronicles, the switch version introduces a new mode called casual mode that reduces damage taken and increases damage dealt, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair has tonics that allow you to create challenges or make the game easier for yourself, Smash Ultimate has four different difficulty settings that can be swapped at any points at the cost of rewards, and KH: Melody of Memory you can choose between three difficulties and doesn't matter what difficulty the challenge is when you complete it unless it explicitly says so. Even Persona 5 is credited for being easier than other installments, and is widely criticized for that from its Forums ( Doesn't that sound familiar? ) The primary reason why these games have difficulty settings so loose is because they want the games to be accessible to everyone. They don't want players quitting just because they found the level too difficult, hence why the more forgiving more design choices in recent titles. In an era where everyone has a busy life and a lot of other games, they don't want players just quitting and abandoning the series just because it was too difficult. I can relate to this a lot. I'm a college student with a pet mouse and is applying to internships. I don't have time to spend an excessive amount trying to beat a super difficult level. The dedicated, hardcore gamer has significantly dropped over the years. I had an unpleasant experience with Cuphead. The first level took me a more than a dozen times to beat, and I still haven't beat the second level. I have little interest after finding it far too and requiring too much time to beat a single level. There are much more fair and difficult games that I could play instead. 

On the topic of Three Houses's difficulty, the people on the forums always state that Three Houses is too easy because you can break with flying units, stride, gambits etc. According to them, anyone, regardless of whether they are a newcomer or not,  should be able to steamroll this game easily. Well, I gave this game to my brother since I had an extra copy and he still found it difficult. He had troubles with Chapter 17 of AM and VW as well as 12, 13 and 14 and finally Chapter 22 of AM. For AM in particular, he finds the assault of all the long range attacks incredibly difficult. He's currently stuck on that chapter. The point that I am trying to make is that despite " Three Houses " being the most easiest Fire Emblem ever.

This post was really long. I think what I'm trying to say is that people on here on Serenes constantly wish for changes to resemble older titles without actually understanding why those changes have happened- and the fact that we are a small minority here. We should not pretend that we represent the majority of the fanbase's opinions and should call for IS to make changes based on what we believe is right without understanding why those changes are made in the first place. 

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1 hour ago, ZeManaphy said:

I don't usually post here, but there's something I have been meaning to get off my chest for a while now. Its about the difficulty in the more recent titles. I hear a lot of people  here complain how the series has become too easy between casual mode, Divine Pulse, and simpler maps. Despite all that, I think its perfectly understandable and fair that the difficulty has generally become easier as a whole. 

I would like to start by saying that I believe that people on these forums seem to overestimate how big of a voice they have over the entire Fire Emblem fanbase. In truth, we are a very small minority of people compared to the millions of people who played the likes of Awakening, Fates, Echoes, and Three Houses. What we want in complex maps and higher difficulty is a very small request compared to the other millions of players who enjoy things like the Monastery and support conversations in contrast to people here who think those activities are a waste of time and much rather have a continuation of things like support conversations over complex maps.

As for why the series has become easier as a whole, a lot goes back to how shaky the series the history was, especially in the west. The first 4 games were not localized in the west, and while they finally started to get localized, the games were either not very popular, or just simply did not sell enough in the west. The decline in sales eventually led to a potential cancellation of the series, until Awakening saved the franchise and was critically acclaimed. Awakening in particular seems to be where the divide between the "new" and "old" fans. Before I go any further, a lot of my friends not part of these forums told me they could not play older titles like the Shadow Dragon simply because the maps were far too difficult and the character and story were so minimal. Derrick from GamExplain, before streaming his Radiant Dawn play through, admitted that he never finished the game prior to mishandling of the difficulty settings which caused him to quit prematurely. In a similar note, the remake of Mystery for the Emblem was never localized, probably due to the lack of sales for the remake of Shadow Dragon. The point that I try to make is that the extremely unforgiving and challenging nature as well as the lack of easier options made Fire Emblem  very difficult to pick up for newcomers, hence its decline and more casual design recently. 

 

The easier game design is not just a Fire Emblem thing though. Lot of other games I've played recently like Xenoblade Chronicles, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, Smash Ultimate, Kingdom Hearts: Memory of Melody, have options that allow you to "choose your own difficulty ". In the case of Xenoblade Chronicles, the switch version introduces a new mode called casual mode that reduces damage taken and increases damage dealt, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair has tonics that allow you to create challenges or make the game easier for yourself, Smash Ultimate has four different difficulty settings that can be swapped at any points at the cost of rewards, and KH: Melody of Memory you can choose between three difficulties and doesn't matter what difficulty the challenge is when you complete it unless it explicitly says so. Even Persona 5 is credited for being easier than other installments, and is widely criticized for that from its Forums ( Doesn't that sound familiar? ) The primary reason why these games have difficulty settings so loose is because they want the games to be accessible to everyone. They don't want players quitting just because they found the level too difficult, hence why the more forgiving more design choices in recent titles. In an era where everyone has a busy life and a lot of other games, they don't want players just quitting and abandoning the series just because it was too difficult. I can relate to this a lot. I'm a college student with a pet mouse and is applying to internships. I don't have time to spend an excessive amount trying to beat a super difficult level. The dedicated, hardcore gamer has significantly dropped over the years. I had an unpleasant experience with Cuphead. The first level took me a more than a dozen times to beat, and I still haven't beat the second level. I have little interest after finding it far too and requiring too much time to beat a single level. There are much more fair and difficult games that I could play instead. 

On the topic of Three Houses's difficulty, the people on the forums always state that Three Houses is too easy because you can break with flying units, stride, gambits etc. According to them, anyone, regardless of whether they are a newcomer or not,  should be able to steamroll this game easily. Well, I gave this game to my brother since I had an extra copy and he still found it difficult. He had troubles with Chapter 17 of AM and VW as well as 12, 13 and 14 and finally Chapter 22 of AM. For AM in particular, he finds the assault of all the long range attacks incredibly difficult. He's currently stuck on that chapter. The point that I am trying to make is that despite " Three Houses " being the most easiest Fire Emblem ever.

This post was really long. I think what I'm trying to say is that people on here on Serenes constantly wish for changes to resemble older titles without actually understanding why those changes have happened- and the fact that we are a small minority here. We should not pretend that we represent the majority of the fanbase's opinions and should call for IS to make changes based on what we believe is right without understanding why those changes are made in the first place. 

The first six games weren't localized (well except the first one recently, there's also Archanea Sag and New Mystery too), not four. And I'd dispute the idea that the series has become easier. I wouldn't say Maddening is easier than a lot of the older games. We've had easier games peppered throughout the series. In fact the first four games you mentioned are pretty easy. Thracia and Binding Blade were the first ones to really up the challenge for an experienced player. Meanwhile you have Lunatic+ and the much praised (though I dont personally like) Conquest in the post casual mode era, so it's less about difficulty changing and more about design philosophy changing.

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Yeah I feel like Fire Emblem has only gotten easier in the sense that the games have been made to be less frustrating and punishing towards new players. I think the old Fire Emblem games were easier than the newer ones overall but they didn't seem that way since you had limited options and permadeath meant you either restart the whole chapter or you move on. 

Harder to finish without losing anyone? Probably. Harder to finish in general? Debatable. I thought Three Houses had some pretty hard bits that would have been very frustrating if it weren't for divine pulse. 

I do think it's fair to say that the easier difficulties of the newer games are pretty much way easier than the old games where you didn't have difficulty options. But even then each game since Radiant Dawn has essentially racked up the difficulty with new insane hard modes. 

If you look at the games from the easiest difficulty available they've gotten easier over time. But from the hardest difficulty avaible the recent games are much much harder than the old ones. However you slice it they have just given more options to play the games however you want. 

 

 

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21 minutes ago, Jotari said:

In fact the first four games you mentioned are pretty easy. Thracia and Binding Blade were the first ones to really up the challenge for an experienced player. Meanwhile you have Lunatic+ and the much praised (though I dont personally like) Conquest in the post casual mode era, so it's less about difficulty changing and more about design philosophy changing.

Lot of my friends and reviewers have stated that Shadow Dragon was really difficult. I just feel like complain too much on how the series has gotten easier without proper thought on why. 

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1 hour ago, ZeManaphy said:

In truth, we are a very small minority of people compared to the millions of people who played the likes of Awakening, Fates, Echoes, and Three Houses.

the truth has been spoken! i know that too well, but after blending in for a while its easy to forgot it!

im not shocked at all tho. i mean, majority here wants challenging FE, but somehow the same majority gets turned off by ambush because its punishing since you cant see way ahead in the planning screen those ambush, its disrupting gameplay flow, etc etc.

or like someone already complaint in other thread: "why the heck higher difficulty become the benchmark and the default way to play FE in every discussion here"

17 minutes ago, scigeek101 said:

If you look at the games from the easiest difficulty available they've gotten easier over time. But from the hardest difficulty avaible the recent games are much much harder than the old ones. However you slice it they have just given more options to play the games however you want. 

its a good progress i would say. having broader range of difficulty while giving more tools to mitigate those difficulty. only its become unclear which is the intended, middle or normal mode anymore

Edited by joevar
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31 minutes ago, ZeManaphy said:

Lot of my friends and reviewers have stated that Shadow Dragon was really difficult. I just feel like complain too much on how the series has gotten easier without proper thought on why. 

You mean Shadow Dragon for NES, or Shadow Dragon for the DS? Because Shadow Dragon for the NES is piss easy, I literally did a Marth solo with it last week and at no point did it feel like he was ever under any threat of death. If you mean Shadow Dragon for DS, well that's the game that has gone most heavy with select your difficulty in the series by having six different difficulty modes, a tutorial to fully explain the mechanics to new players, replacement units to ensure you'll never run out of units and extra gaiden chapters to give rewards to players who are struggling and mid map point saves to break chapters up. New players shouldn't really have any trouble with Shadow Dragon at all. In fact it'd probably provide more trouble to people who have played a few games in the series and want to use rescue and skills and stuff and have a hard time readjusting their thinking to a game without it (all that is to say somewhat experienced but not hardcore players would struggle with it more than complete noobs more for what it doesn't do than what it does). It wasn't the game that introduced Casual Mode, but Shadow Dragon is very obviously where they started considering the casual fanbase in its game design. And generally the difficulty of Shadow Dragon is highly praised. This is the first time I've ever seen anyone complain about it in that regards. A minmailist story and lack of supports, sure, but it's difficulty is very well made.

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57 minutes ago, joevar said:

its a good progress i would say. having broader range of difficulty while giving more tools to mitigate those difficulty. only its become unclear which is the intended, middle or normal mode anymore

I'd argue that in general. The middle difficulty is usually the "intended" difficulty regardless of what it's called. But really I don't think there is a real "default" difficulty. 

The easiest difficulty is there and intended for new players to the series or people not confident in their skills yet. The next one up from that is for veterans or SRPG fans that will get bored on an easier difficulty. 

The harder difficulties are for people who want to replay the game and want extra challenge. I don't think they are at all intended for blind runs. You have to know what you are doing or you'll screw yourself.

Weird difficulty naming decisions aside. They don't want to call easy mode easy anymore because people have too much pride and will play on Normal instead and then complain about it being way to hard like what happened with Radiant Dawn (that and the difficulty names were translated wrong)

I think it's the same for any long running series like this, if you are good at games and familiar with the mechanics the easiest difficulty should be a bore to you and something harder needs to be provided. Alternatively having the easy difficulties is great to ease new players into learning the game. I think it's much better than stuff like the casual modes which start to mess with the core game mechanics of Fire Emblem. 

Regardless. As long as the games difficulties aren't being balanced assumptions that people are playing on casual, I'm fine with the options being there. Casual in Lunatic difficulties for example can be a nice change up from normal since the game is how hard enough that casual mode doesn't completely trivialize it but does make bad RNG a bit more palatable if you don't want to do a really serious playthrough. In general I feel the more options given the better off we are. 

 

I do think though that various challenge modes should be added. A no pair up mode in Awakening for example would have made the game more interesting. And I think going forward an ironman option in addition to casual and classic could go a long way to making the developers be concious of balancing the game around the various play styles. 

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11 minutes ago, scigeek101 said:

. In general I feel the more options given the better off we are. 

thats exactly what i just said

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another unpopular (maybe controversial) : dedicated FEtubers didnt really help spread FE fandom. the more mainstream streamers with broad range of genre playing is the biggest contributor in 3H case specifically.

Fetubers only benefit die hard fans. both in making them even more diehard and also widen the gap between old-new casual-experienced player

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7 hours ago, joevar said:

im not shocked at all tho. i mean, majority here wants challenging FE, but somehow the same majority gets turned off by ambush because its punishing since you cant see way ahead in the planning screen those ambush, its disrupting gameplay flow, etc etc.

ohhhhh you went 99% of way there of something i have always thought lmao. this part of the fandom wants difficulty and also wants to play as quickly as possible and talk about their LTCs, but the moment the former makes the latter actually harder for them, it becomes a negative. binding blade is the biggest example of intended difficulty features being criticised because... they are making the game hard. it's not fake difficulty and most of the time not even unfair either - for example, i never had a problem with the light arrows in 16x because you know where they come from. you just have to go... a bit more slowly GASP. maybe that's the point!

but back on topic, making difficulty as customisable as possible is obviously the way to go. to me, the ideal difficulty settings are:

- an easy mode, a normal mode, and at least two options above normal

- casual (has both turnwheel/pulse and no permadeath), rewind (has permadeath but keeps turnwheel/pulse) and classic (has permadeath and no turnwheel) mode

- scout (allows for exp grinding outside main chapters) and conquest (no grinding) mode

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4 hours ago, Axie said:

a bit more slowly GASP. maybe that's the point!

seems everyone who beat any FE titles more than twice will start losing their hair if they cant beat maps with full speed, or if they cant get S rank in Turns Evaluation :LOL

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hiding information is BS, but inflated stat and skills is not apparently?

ambush spawn & hiding information is not even exclusive to FE but never get this much treatment outside. also the one who keep complaining is usually the one who already beat FE game dozen of time they can spit out character growth rate and stat/skill 😕

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Bad balance is bs, but not even 10% as bs as hiding information and ambush spawns. Atleast with bad balance the player can still see whats coming and somehow deal with it.

17 minutes ago, joevar said:

ambush spawn & hiding information is not even exclusive to FE but never get this much treatment outside.

Perma death.

Not many have an irreversible mechanic like that, or implement it differently.

Let's take a look at Valkyria Chronicles. This Series also uses ambush spawns a bit, but the player has 3 turns to rescue fallen units before they die.

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8 hours ago, Shrimperor said:

Let's take a look at Valkyria Chronicles. This Series also uses ambush spawns a bit, but the player has 3 turns to rescue fallen units before they die.

irreversible? casual mode and divine pulse say hello

also, VC should have generate more hate too toward ambush spawn since how fast you clear a map directly contribute to chapter rewards (someone getting downed disrupt the turn speed) , while FE rarely the case about turn count usually its pride.

i've had restart a chapter in VC because 1 or 2 char incapacitated similar to losing unit in FE. sure its perma death, but the result is same, i restart (or load save) again

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10 minutes ago, joevar said:

also, VC should have generate more hate too toward ambush spawn since how fast you clear a map directly contribute to chapter rewards (someone getting downed disrupt the turn speed) , while FE rarely the case about turn count usually its pride.

i've had restart a chapter in VC because 1 or 2 char incapacitated similar to losing unit in FE. sure its perma death, but the result is same, i restart (or load save) again

VC4 lets you replay a chapter as many times as you want, so if you fail the A rank the first time, come right back and do it again. More money and EXP too, but that shouldn't break the game if all you're taking is two tries.

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5 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

VC4 lets you replay a chapter as many times as you want, so if you fail the A rank the first time, come right back and do it again. More money and EXP too, but that shouldn't break the game if all you're taking is two tries.

see, more option. just like casual and turnwheel. since you cant do that in previous VC titles unless you beat the game first

casual be casual, can pick casual mode to enjoy the story and only play and beat the game once.

while other than casual can choose casual or classic first time around, and take whatever challenge they want and beat the game perfectly while already know the hidden information the second time around

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7 hours ago, Deirdre an Bhróin said:

Seeing how FE, no matter if you fall on the "casual" side of the fandom, where you are assumed to be there for the JRPG aspects, or a "veteran" who comes for gameplay alone, FE is a game which exist as a SJRPG. If it wasn't a SRPG, it's not Fire Emblem. All games with the exceptions of Heroes and spin-offs like GI#FE are all SRPG. The gameplay as a SRPG has always been at the forefront. If individuals play FE for gameplay, I find it quite odd to assume that higher difficulty on modes intended to be for experiences players, as stated when you select the mode, would understandably become easier for the wider audience. "Experiences players" doesn't mean the crowd who played through every FE title and is looking to play ironman LTC with 0% growths. This includes anyone who played the games on its normal and hard modes, looking for a harder experience.

 

I think you underestimate the sentiment of the FE fandom as a whole. It's true Serenesforest doesn't cover nearly half the fanbase, but the Eng speaking audience has a pretty big presence here. Even if they are not vocal, a crapton of English players choose to use the site not only for reading forums but to receive information/content of the games. This has no impact on the content being presented in the games.

My understanding is that you have the impression what is presented in the games is loved overall due to its high sales. To my knowledge, even on the JP side and engaging with casual players who started post-Awakening, not every aspect present in the games is loved. The Monastery is still criticized, Fates story is still criticized...I don't know how if our impression of the fandom overall is different, however, it is very apparent to me that these high sales don't mean people are here for the "new changes" alone. 

People didn't flock to Fates/Awakening for the "Marry whatever character you want!" or "JRPG Hub World!" alone. Awakening's marriage function wasn't marketed much, and 3H Monastery marketing was done by TreeHouse when the release date approached. Just because Echoes yielded lesser sales didn't mean the audience automatically turned away from the game because of no marriage options or child units. Keep in mind, Echoes marketing was limited and was done so purely as a love-letter to fans in a direct. Not to mention, 2017 was the year the Switch dropped, with 3ds titles across the bored yielding lower sales. Not to mention, the same mistakes with Radiant Dawn was done, where a big name Nintendo product/game dropped right before which is terrible marketing practice in general. 

I'm not saying "casual players hate this and that", I'm simply saying the topic is much more nuance then what I perceive your understanding as. 

 

The first 6 games were not released to the west. I find it quite odd that you use this as the opener, because it's already been shown Nintendo in the west views FE as a very large worldwide IP of there's, so much so the old games are being brought to the west, and done in a fashion which relies on high sales in a short time period. Nintendo recognizes older fans are going back, be it desperation for more FE content, or being intrigued by Heroes, and capitalizes off of it by providing the older content with emulator features so players don't emulate something they can buy. 

I think you heavily misunderstand the sales history of FE. The games actually did quite well. Dark Dragon and the Blade of Light, along with Gaiden became staple NES titles. Where famcon wars fell to a niche audience, there was FE on the famicon that brought it to the larger audience. Mystery of the Emblem also did insanely well. It didn't reach the million sales of Awakening, Fates, and 3 Houses, but it was certainly popular and fell under just 1 million, which is quite well for any game series, especially a SRPG. FE4 didn't sell as many as FE3, but sold damn well at half a million. Thracia 776 was the black sheep. I don't know how else to explain it, however back then we didn't have forums of elitist going "Thracia's to hard for you, don't bother playing!" especially within a JP fanbase. Thracia 776 was banked on the fact that minimal physical copies were sold, and it was marketed on the basis of the Nintendo Power flash cartridge the following year. FE 6 released, and was met with much praise from critics, more so than any other FE title. It didn't perform nearly as well as the FE3 (received the same sales as 1 and 2)  but was praised across the bored, even more so for being a great start for anyone who hadn't picked up FE before and/or shyed away from it. Quite funny to note that FE6 is regarded as a harder title here in the west. 

When the games came to the west, FE7 and 8 literally sold just under 1 million. As in 900, 000 copies in the west. That is not "niche" or unsuccessful in the least. Sure, it didn't perform as well as other Nintendo IP's but sold damn well for any games that wasn't. The "low sales" is often blown out of proportion because of the fact these are Nintendo titles alone. The sales only began to decline at this time. FE9 only sold 150,000, however reached the top of sales charts in Europe/UK. Radiant Dawn sold only slightly more, and Shadow Dragon for the DS sold at 250,000 both individually in the US and JP. Though the games performed terribly compared to the other titles, it toped the charts worldwide and was met with high scores by critics. Not to mention, these games were released competing with the likes of games like Super Mario Galaxy of all things, one of the better performing games worldwide for Wii. New Mystery: Hero of Light and Shadow wasn't released overseas for the reason that Marth wasn't popular overseas. It's noted IS stated they were satisfied with Japanese sales, with no mention of US performance. Despite Smash and Roy's fame, Marth didn't receive the same treatment and the game was kept in Japan. Like FE6 and 7, New Mystery was made with the intention to get new fans in Japan, however performed worse than its predecessor, with only 275 hundred sales. New Mysety was also made at the end of the 3Ds life cycle, a problem we'll see repeated with Echoes. 

Overall, the games weren't poorly received, with the exception of Thracia which didn't receive many sales or media coverage. The problem stemed from these games being Nintendo IP's. If games with titles with niche gameplay were receiving sales in the millions just by having "Nintendo" on the package, why wasn't FE? The series received an ultimatum because they were Nintendo titles with the sales of "every other game" if not mediocre. FE was always critically acclaimed, and anyone who reads Nintendo Power, Famistu, etc would know. The sales is where things fell short. Essentially, it had nothing to do with gameplay, as those who played always gave it high scores and ratings. 

At this point, were arguing anecdotes. I was introduced to FE at a very young age by someone who started on the GBA and went back. Everyone I know who plays FE with the exception of some odd balls that I will not go into (just note they didn't play FE because they really "wanted to", they did so for validation/grooming), started at a game and made their way forward and back. I don't trust game journalist now to even play the first hour of a game in this decade, be it a difficult one or not lmao. Even then, that was a fault of localization. Why couldn't he just go back and play the western "easy" as every other game journalist did? To help his pride? If he was reviewing the game, or playing it because he wanted to, he could've. If the difficulty was truly a turn off, there was an option to alleviate it. He chose not to take it, and I don't think that sentiment is shared across the bored with even casual players. It's funny that you note lack of easier options was the death of the series, because the games were still praised by critics and not bashed for being "too hard". 

This impression that FE is "too hard" for the public stems from Nintendo believing Americans are too stupid to "click button" as well as the thoughts perpetuated by the fanbase. No one knew back then that Thracia was "too hard" because the critics labeled it a great predecessor to the good performing Genealogy of the Holy War. People shy way from the game NOW because we have big name YT's and fans alike gatekeeping new players out by saying its "too hard". Recently, Youtuber ShanBrained reached Thracia 776 in his Retrospective Series of FE, playing the games in order, therefore having only 4 titles, even now considered to be the easier of FE titles, under his belt. He stated Thracia 776 is not as hard as fans make it out to be, and I agree with that sentiment. Off topic, but seeing how FE fans like flocking to anyone with a decent following to construct opinons on how they perceive the series, I hope his opinion is one of them that reaches that status.

It is obvious that these changes to create more casual gameplay options is a QoL change for newer players, however it is no way happening "overall". Lunatic+ and Conquest/Revelations Lunatic and Hard still exist. Gaiden was always an easy title, the turnwheel was made to be a feature to separate the new game from the old. 3H is the only title that even on Maddening is "causal overall".  

FE has always had an option to chose your difficulty began all the way in FE6. It's not a new thing at all. No one in the fandom who has played an older game is arguing that difficulty settings are bad, because it has existed for so long. I feel its a strawman, because its a sentiment so small, even on these forums, that I don't think it receives any attention to be addressed. FE has these settings for players like you, therefore you can use them and no one is stopping you from doing so. There are a few voices who gatekeep in the "you can't play on casual", however they have been berated time and time again in the community as a whole. 

Your point is that, despite 3H being the easiest game in the series, causal players can still get stuck with difficult parts? It's almost like...IS is aware...that's it audience...are playing a SJRPG? That's just counterproductive to your initial point. If the series was becoming easier, and for a good reason, it wouldn't have these chapters like Reunion at Dawn which is literally the only chapter in FE history that can softlock you. 

I don't understand this "Gatekeeping the Gatekeeper" thing your doing here. We on Serenes are not the whole community, in fact I've just joined Serenes with an account. It seems you made an arguing pertaining to a strawman of "difficulty settings shouldn't exist" and "QoL options shouldn't be made options." The only thing I can think of that has a "voice" in the fandom is that people don't want the turnwheel to return, be it the plot device behind it is dogshit or it makes gameplay trivial. That's not a difficulty setting, therefore something which can't be tunred off. I am part of the crowd which thinks turnwheel should be toggled, or made perhaps an item. I don't know how this is calling for IS to not make options for an audience. It's a bit funny to assume the entire casual fanbase of FE is composed of people who hate playing FE. My sister, who was beat into the ground by FE Birthright on Classic of all things, played 3H and still cleared the game on normal classic Blue Lions. She didn't hate Birthright either, she went back and changed to casual and played on. Once again, anecdotes..

Having experience in the English speaking and Japanese speaking sides of the fandom, it's a bit humorous to me that you assume a casual fanbase of FE players do not align with that of experiences players. There are discrepancy, but we're all here to play FE. Asking IS for anything is the first mistake, but I don't see anything wrong with "hey maybe the tunrwheel should be toggled" or "I hope OP avatars don't return" is against the sentiment of the causal fanbase. Just because a feature exist within a game doesn't mean that's the sole purpose of it's audience. It's really nuanced. In fact, Byleth has been criticized for being a blank slate with no customization, while Corrin and Robbin had a lot of options with established personalities by newer players. Once again, I think you'll have to reiterate your point because I don't understand what exactly is being argued here or even what the "unpopular opinion" is, even from the other responces here. 

Also Shadow Dragon, as in 1, 3 and 11 are considered easy games. Even with those who played FE1 for the first time this December consider it quite easy. Once again, someone who hasn't played the games but hears around things in the fandom would get that impression. Shadow Dragon on the DS is considered one of the hardest titles because of its difficulty options. It's hardest difficulty is downright BS, that even Marth with maxed stats gets KO'd by the final boss apparently. 

I think you misunderstand me. I’m not saying that I do not want difficulty settings, I feel as if people on Serenes want super complex maps and higher difficulty general without really understanding why the games have become more casual as a whole. I read complaints all over the newer games in the series are bad because of simpler map design and other things like MyCastle and mini games in Three Houses also being a waste. Minigames and the customization options are really popular in Japan, as a result, many other RPGs tend to have some kind of mini game as a way to pass time and grind. I’m simply saying that it would be unreasonable to go back to the old days of just battle after battle, with just a preparation screen between each. 
 

I’m not saying that the older games sold terribly, they just sold poorly compared to other sellers like Super Mario Galaxy  and Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Back then, most people wouldn’t know the name of Radiant Dawn compared to Galaxy and Skyward Sword. Anyway, there’s no denying that decking sales almost led to cancellation of the series. They said Awakening was the last one if it did not sell a million copies worldwide thanks to the series declining sales. 
 

And I’m talking about all the fans in general, not just the English ones. It would be foolish to say that Serenes has the majority of fans on this site and our voice is the right way to go forward. 

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3 minutes ago, Sooks said:

Echoes maps all being almost entirely open and all rout maps makes the game a boring slog to play, because the gameplay ends up just that dull.

I don’t think this is an unpopular opinion. What is an unpopular opinion is that I actually kind of like SoV’s map design. I dunno, I actually do have fun playing through SoV. 

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Following along with the post above me, I like most Three Houses maps, on hard mode anyway. I haven’t heard good things about maddening, but I have yet to play past chapter one.

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Thracia 776 was the black sheep. I don't know how else to explain it, however back then we didn't have forums of elitist going "Thracia's to hard for you, don't bother playing!" especially within a JP fanbase. Thracia 776 was banked on the fact that minimal physical copies were sold, and it was marketed on the basis of the Nintendo Power flash cartridge the following year. FE 6 released, and was met with much praise from critics, more so than any other FE title. It didn't perform nearly as well as the FE3 (received the same sales as 1 and 2)  but was praised across the bored, even more so for being a great start for anyone who hadn't picked up FE before and/or shyed away from it. Quite funny to note that FE6 is regarded as a harder title here in the west. 

Thracia was also in 19goddamn99. It's a SNES game that lay closer to the release of the gamecube than the Nintendo 64. It was obviously never going to be a top seller.

1 hour ago, ZeManaphy said:

I think you misunderstand me. I’m not saying that I do not want difficulty settings, I feel as if people on Serenes want super complex maps and higher difficulty general without really understanding why the games have become more casual as a whole. I read complaints all over the newer games in the series are bad because of simpler map design and other things like MyCastle and mini games in Three Houses also being a waste. Minigames and the customization options are really popular in Japan, as a result, many other RPGs tend to have some kind of mini game as a way to pass time and grind. I’m simply saying that it would be unreasonable to go back to the old days of just battle after battle, with just a preparation screen between each. 
 

I’m not saying that the older games sold terribly, they just sold poorly compared to other sellers like Super Mario Galaxy  and Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Back then, most people wouldn’t know the name of Radiant Dawn compared to Galaxy and Skyward Sword. Anyway, there’s no denying that decking sales almost led to cancellation of the series. They said Awakening was the last one if it did not sell a million copies worldwide thanks to the series declining sales. 
 

And I’m talking about all the fans in general, not just the English ones. It would be foolish to say that Serenes has the majority of fans on this site and our voice is the right way to go forward. 

But broadly speaking the older games didn't have super complex maps and higher difficulties...All they had was a lack of casual mode and rewind mechanic. If people are saying they want more challenging games and more involved maps then it's because that's what they want from a strategy game in general, not because Fire Emblem has ever been hardcore on that front. Like I said before, the kind of complaints your suggesting aren't about difficulty, it's about design philosophy.

Edited by Jotari
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