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FE Cipher is ending


SatsumaFSoysoy
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According to this tweet, FE Cipher is officially going to end with the 22nd edition releasing in October. There will be a livestream discussing this in detail in about three hours, but the outline on the site says that official support for the game will end in March 2021.

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I just got into the game on November of last year and this happens?!

Why end the production when the Fire Emblem series is doing so well these days with Three Houses? 

I just hope that this is just a joke or something similar that happened with Pokémon TCG in its time.

Edited by 1% Critical Hit
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I just play FE Cipher since june 2019, and I'm so sad to hear this..... 

That's so sad to stop this game, I never had the chance to play cause nobody is playing in my area, and I would like to but if it stop, it would loose it's popularity I guess, and would have less player than actually. That is so sad. I wish I had the almost complete collection of every Cipher cards but it seems it looks like a dream that cannot be accomplished. Anyway, I just hope this is a joke as 1% Critical Hit said, they also say the same for Pokémon TCG but it's still there so we could still hope, but sadly the live will be soon streamed so that's look official and that don't looks like a joke sadly.

Edited by FireFenrir
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Reason according to KawadeP on livestream: Too many to list out in detail, but essentially circumstances have changed. Cipher was designed and created to fill in the gaps between releases and let players experience characters from all across the series between game releases, but Fire Emblem Heroes largely fills in that role as well now, and also events like the concerts and Expos and the release of other goods.

Another reason is that the game was made so that fans had chances to meet each other and form communities via the game and official events for the TCG. With the increasing popularity of the series in general, essentially being another FE boom right now, things have changed and it's much easier to get to know other fans via other FE-related events. Of course, there are also other reasons, but KawadeP did not specify any further.

Essentially, FE Cipher's original role as a sort of crutch to hold over between games is at its end.

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There's been discussion on the reddit thread that they may follow this up with a digital CCG like Hearthstone. We won't know he details until they provide a more thorough explanation though.

It was also mentioned that card games as a whole are under threat from the COVID-19 pandemic since it prohibits big events. Not likely a factor given Intelligent Systems' timetable, but it could have spelled doom for the game one way or another. Better to lay it to rest peacefully than in a catastrophic meltdown.

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1 minute ago, X-Naut said:

There's been discussion on the reddit thread that they may follow this up with a digital CCG like Hearthstone. We won't know he details until they provide a more thorough explanation though.

It was also mentioned that card games as a whole are under threat from the COVID-19 pandemic since it prohibits big events. Not likely a factor given Intelligent Systems' timetable, but it could have spelled doom for the game one way or another. Better to lay it to rest peacefully than in a catastrophic meltdown.

I can't imagine what card makers are feeling right now, it must be terrible. At least IS wasn't a card game maker in the first place, and it was only a side thing.

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This is sad... I was supposed to study in Japan for some time soon as well, so I had been looking forward to catching their events at Comiket and such. It's also surprising, I had the impression it was relatively popular for a TCG. I'll be looking forward to that last set at least, let's hope they go out on a good note! 

I have seen some Cipher fans completely blaming Heroes for the game ending, but I didn't get the impression that was the biggest reason from the live stream. I'm a fan of both games, so I hope this doesn't mean Heroes will be hated in every community where Cipher is discussed in the future...

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This is really too bad. I was considering getting into this game sometime, or at least collect my favorite characters, but I never saw these cards where I live and was hoping it would spread to the US, or that I could pick it up if I ever managed to get to Japan. Well, I guess I won't get that chance... At least it was loved and had a fair run, and maybe I'll still be able to collect my favorites someday. Just, I probably won't be able to play...

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I'm not gonna blame Heroes, because even if it lost people thanks to the Feh Pass, it also created a lot of new fans since the start. But I bet that if Cipher was released in English this wouldn't be happening.

Will this mean that the cards will rise their price too btw?

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It’s a damn shame this is happening, but in retrospect I’m not surprised. 

I think the main issue is that Cipher is intended to be a TCG, but hardly anybody cares about that aspect and mostly focuses on the pretty art. It’s not like Pokémon where there’s national/international tournaments (actually are there national tournaments? Do correct me if I’m wrong), and it’s at a disadvantage with Feh which actually gets global recognition and revenue. 

Plus, since Ciphers inception, a lot of artists (including those who’ve worked on Cipher themselves) have come out of the woodwork and done their own freelance drawings on Twitter/Pixiv which makes a layer of redundancy. Why buy a steak dinner’s worth on a piece of paper when you download your desired work to your phone/computer? 

Hope the artists out there continue to do good work, and maybe we’ll see a new medium out there for them to invest into.

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I really hope that FE Cipher ending means that FEH would become a better game, especially since FEH is free-to-start and has an international audience. Right now, FEH feels like it's stagnating or on a decline. With Cipher no longer being an FE-related activity for in-between main series releases, FEH better step up its game, especially since it now has the Feh Pass subscription service.

Regardless, it's so sad to see FE Cipher ending -- while in the midst of the 30th anniversary of the franchise, no less! There is so much great artwork that I wish I could see in full outside of an artbook and there are a few Lyn cards I'm missing and wish I could have if they weren't so expensive. On top of that, what would become of the Cipher OCs, especially Alice, Valjean, Poe, and Niamh?

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Sad to see it go, I really enjoyed getting all that cool art over the years

I watch a lot of Alpha Investments on YouTube, and for a game to have lasted as long as Cipher, especially since it's not a digital game, since most tcgs don't last 5 years. It looks like it lived a pretty fair life. Honestly behind the scenes sales were probably lagging behind and wasn't bringing in enough cash, they probably planned on ending the game late last year.

I wonder what they're going to do with all the OCs they've made over the years

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I'm still finding it hard to put to words how I feel about all this, even after a whole day of processing. On the one hand, we got so much good art, and it's true that TCG don't last forever, so at least they're going out on a bang with B22. But on the other, I only just started getting into Cipher, and I think I took it for granted that it would still be around for many years to come. It still doesn't feel real that it'll be ending so soon already...

Regardless of how sad and unexpected this was, I'm still in love with the game to the point I'll continue to play and deck build even after I'm done collecting. Not to mention use Lackey for all the creative or SR-heavy decks. So I guess I'm mainly just grateful that Cipher happened, with its gorgeous art, love for even the most minor of characters, and really fun gameplay!

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20 hours ago, SatsumaFSoysoy said:

I've been asking for a banner in Heroes for them...

Same - if Heroes is playing a role in Cipher's death, I think this is the least both development teams(FEH and Cipher) could do for the Cipher fans. That's one day of every week now less meaningful for me, discussing what new cards might be coming out was really interesting plus it meant I could consider potential new combos, now...my meta's going to stagnate, and fast.

Really I'm mostly mad they couldn't pick a better Set number to end on - 20 or 24 would have been good as it would have been exactly 5/6 years, 23 would have ended on the December Set, that would have been the end of the calendar year...22 is just an awful number to call it quits for. Plus Warriors never got their second set, Sacred Stones still has a grand total of TWO cards with the game's gimmick, Twin Skills, a good number of Heroes characters are still missing cards(Laegjarn, Surtr, Hel, Gustav, Henriette, probably some Book IV OCs), Shade and Emma never got SRs...so much this game only has one catch-all set to try and finish up.

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I know I haven't really responded to this topic til today - I was going to originally but I was uh, coming to terms with the ending of Cipher I suppose.

I must say it has been a fantastic ride to collect cards and the amount of effort they put into Cipher is amazing.
We all sort of expected to end around Series 24 when they showed us cards being put out of rotation for the official format, but now that it is ending I suppose it does not matter anymore.
As all great things come to an end, I'd say it should go out with a bang - keep collecting / playing the game you know and love and such.
I'll still be working on the Wiki for the time being before Cipher ends, and it has been a fantastic time working and talking with others about Fire Emblem / FE Cipher.

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2 hours ago, TheVinceKnight said:

As all great things come to an end, I'd say it should go out with a bang - keep collecting / playing the game you know and love and such.
I'll still be working on the Wiki for the time being before Cipher ends, and it has been a fantastic time working and talking with others about Fire Emblem / FE Cipher.

I strongly agree with this sentiment and would also like to take a moment to thank you for all of your involvement! I'm so grateful for your diligent work in maintaining the wiki and patiently helping newbies like me figure out the rules of this amazing game. You've been a big part of what made this community so great to experience, even though I've only been here a short time.

Thank you so much!

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That's depressing, I've been buying the cards since they've come out. At least it lived long enough to just produce a Trueblade Edward. This seriously makes me really sad though. Not that'll I'll quit my collection, but I've been living for new Cipher cards these last few years. 

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I have been playing this game since set 3, upgrading my Ike deck with each green set, creating an additional deck every few sets,  and most importantly, creating a cipher community in my area, it's been so much fun. My biggest fear right now is the community shrinking over time from now on. I really hope my friends will want to continue playing now that the options will stagnate.

Saddest thing is, I finally have a steady income and set 20 was the start for me to buy more boxes per set, guess I'll go big on the last 2 sets. Also started organizing a draft with set 20 (which has sadly been postponed due to covid), was planning on making that a regular thing too. No chance I'm pouring any money into FEH though, that will never be worth it to me.

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