Best Decade of FE

[MasterJP28]

My favorite FE being Genealogy, I was thinking of picking the 90s, but I gave it some thought and went with the 00s. I got into FE back in 2005 with Sacred Stones, worked my way in Blazing Sword, and PoR. So for me, the 00s is the best decade.

[Use the Falchion]

Personally the 00's probably, but that may be nostalgia speaking. Financially and as a company and franchise? '10's easily. FE went from being a pretty niche Nintendo property to one of their main franchises. (Not necessarily tentpole but as close as it may ever get.) In that single decade we saw the franchise almost die, revive itself, and bloom into what it is today. We got some innovative and enjoyable new games, a few solid remakes (YMMV), and a mobile game that made a billion dollars (over its 5 year and going lifespan). Sure the GBA games and the Tellius games are classic, but in terms of sheer prowess, it's the 3DS games and Three Houses that made FE as popular and successful as it is now. (Of course they couldn't have done that without standing on the shoulders of giants.)

[vanguard333]

00's, as that was the decade in which I became a Fire Emblem fan.

In all seriousness, it all depends on what you mean by the best: the decade that produced the best FE games, or the best in terms of the series' popularity/financial success. If the latter, the answer is obviously the 10s, as that saw the series' revival and rise to mainstream success. One could make a case for the 00's, as the 00's saw the series become international, but it also saw the series hit a sharp sales decline that led to the near-death of the franchise. 

For the former, that would all depend on each person's opinion. In my case, my favourite FE games are the Tellius games: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, so I would say that that the 00's were the best decade for FE's overall quality. Meanwhile, while the 10s did provide decent games like Awakening and really good games like Three Houses, it also provided real disappointments in the form of Fates and Shadows of Valentia.

Edited September 28, 2022 by vanguard333

[AnonymousSpeed]

Gonna vote the 2010s on account of liking Fates a lot.

[Shaky Jones]

2010s does have Fates, yes. But it also has New Mystery. That's 2 points. 10s it is.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Shaky Jones

[MasterJP28]

1 hour ago, Shaky Jones said:

2010s does have Fates, yes. But it also has New Mystery. That's 2 points. 10s it is.

00s has SD with its online battle which I played a whole lot of it... good times

 

I wonder who picked the 90s.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

The GBA trilogy, the Tellius duology, and a pretty solid DS remake? I have to go with the 2000s.

[Eltosian Kadath]

5 minutes ago, MasterJP28 said:

 

I wonder who picked the 90s.

As far a I know, I was the first. With Genealogy of the Holy War, and Thracia 776 (just barely), it has two of my top 3, which is good enough for me to pick it. Plus the first two games were very innovative, and ahead of their time in a way I can't say for any of the other Fire Emblem games...

[Dark Holy Elf]

10s for Fates and Three Houses. 00s are outstanding too, though.

[Shadow Mir]

It's the 2010s for me, and it ain't even close. I do like Blazing Blade and the Tellius saga too, but the same decade with those also gave us the likes of Shadow Dragon and Binding Blade. As for the 90s.... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

NOPE.

[MasterJP28]

7 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

As far a I know, I was the first. With Genealogy of the Holy War, and Thracia 776 (just barely), it has two of my top 3, which is good enough for me to pick it. Plus the first two games were very innovative, and ahead of their time in a way I can't say for any of the other Fire Emblem games...

Thracia is a game I want to like so much, but just can't. It feels too much like FE3, as in a step backwards rather than forward, to me. Capturing is a blast! But I would kill for some unique stat caps for promoted units and more skills availability. And characters like Marty, Ronan, and Lifis are so quirky and fun for me to use.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

00s for me since I like all of those games except for the last one. And oof if we're counting Fire Emblem spinoffs, 2010s are bogged down by average-at-best releases. My top 3 of that decade are Echoes, Three Houses, and TMS in that order. Most Fire Emblems are better than TMS.

If I pivoted to what are "objectively the best" (a metric I don't really believe in), then I think the 90s have a noticeabe edge over the 00s. FE1 and 2 are two of the most impressive Famicom games ever made in terms of graphics, sound, replayability. You can tell they were made by the chief engineers of the hardware at Nintendo. Ditto for FE4 and FE5. Heck, if FE4 were localized, I guarantee you it would be up there among Chrono Trigger and FF6 as the keystone SNES RPGs that everybody won't shut up about.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Zapp Branniglenn

[Shaky Jones]

35 minutes ago, MasterJP28 said:

00s has SD with its online battle which I played a whole lot of it... good times

Top 3 for me are New Mystery, Conquest, and Shadow Dragon. 2 outta 3 gave the W to 10s, but I appreciate 00's for SD. I can't speak for online, but I woulda loved to fight with Cord, Roger, Caesar, Bord, and the almighty Parthia Darros.

19 minutes ago, MasterJP28 said:

Thracia is a game I want to like so much, but just can't. It feels too much like FE3, as in a step backwards rather than forward, to me. Capturing is a blast! But I would kill for some unique stat caps for promoted units and more skills availability. And characters like Marty, Ronan, and Lifis are so quirky and fun for me to use.

I do love me fe3 and fe5, so I saw 90s as a fair contender, but fe3 did get sad at times when my crippling addiction to star shards made every cap 20 and feel like the same unit, especially when most units are swordies indoors and there's no easy way to distinguish units without manually checking each profile. Capturing is great though. Also Ronan.

[Eltosian Kadath]

14 minutes ago, MasterJP28 said:

It feels too much like FE3, as in a step backwards rather than forward, to me.

Odd, as I see as a massive step forward for the franchise, as Thracia 776 innovated with its map objectives, which have a massive impact on how these games play. It introduced the defend, escape, and the arrive objectives to the series, and the creative way escape was used to tell many different stories with the gameplay was stellar. It was also the first to more notably mix objective over the course of the game, whereas the ones before are either all seize (FE1,3,4), or all rout (FE2) with a boss kill map for the (potentially) final chapter.

[MasterJP28]

38 minutes ago, Shaky Jones said:

Top 3 for me are New Mystery, Conquest, and Shadow Dragon. 2 outta 3 gave the W to 10s, but I appreciate 00's for SD. I can't speak for online, but I woulda loved to fight with Cord, Roger, Caesar, Bord, and the almighty Parthia Darros.

I do love me fe3 and fe5, so I saw 90s as a fair contender, but fe3 did get sad at times when my crippling addiction to star shards made every cap 20 and feel like the same unit, especially when most units are swordies indoors and there's no easy way to distinguish units without manually checking each profile. Capturing is great though. Also Ronan.

Parthia Darros was banned online but interestingly enough, RNG abused-forged brave weapon-triangle attacking whitewings were not banned.

90s I am one of the few that actually liked FE2, grindfest and all. FE3 was a nice sit-through game that gives you two stories (I wonder if that's where FE4 decided to take two books and turn it into a full on time skip story, almost like they experimented with the proven formula of FE1).

 

26 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Odd, as I see as a massive step forward for the franchise, as Thracia 776 innovated with its map objectives, which have a massive impact on how these games play. It introduced the defend, escape, and the arrive objectives to the series, and the creative way escape was used to tell many different stories with the gameplay was stellar. It was also the first to more notably mix objective over the course of the game, whereas the ones before are either all seize (FE1,3,4), or all rout (FE2) with a boss kill map for the (potentially) final chapter.

FE5 took so many steps forward but limited certain class individuality. I'm one of those numbers people who loved FE4s introduction to class specific stat caps. I don't understand why a General and Swordmaster have the same speed stat potential. Escape was not well implemented in FE5, basically losing those who didn't leave before Leif made it feel like a chore at times, plain old seize is better in that regard, a similar take on arrive too, Conquest perfected it by combining those objectives into an any unit can seize objective. I loved Fatigue! I thought it was a neat way to be responsible with unit development and management. Indoors dismount from FE3 that was brought back, perfected in Three Houses. Staves were broken once you had access to them. Let's not forget what game introduced us to Fog of War. I could go on forever and back and forth on FE5. It has all the makings of a great Fire Emblem but I get worn out by the time you fight Kempf. 

[𝐍𝐲𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐥]

Easy pick, the 2010s for Fates, Three Houses and Awakening. The 2000's are a close second though.

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

10s because Fates exists.

SoV/TH would be a counterargument... but 8 and 9 can be rounded up so still 10.

[Samz707]

2000's for me.

FE7 is pretty good, FE6 is alright and FE8 is good so far.

Only 90's game I've played is SD NES.

And 2010's is a very mixed bag. (3H and Echoes good, Fates and Awakening were outright terrible and some of the worst games I've played and Engage seems to be going to be terrible again.)

Edited September 28, 2022 by Samz707

[Deathcon]

Even if Engage was bad it would be a part of a new decade.

For me it is the 2010s.

[Shadow Mir]

13 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

00s for me since I like all of those games except for the last one. And oof if we're counting Fire Emblem spinoffs, 2010s are bogged down by average-at-best releases. My top 3 of that decade are Echoes, Three Houses, and TMS in that order. Most Fire Emblems are better than TMS.

If I pivoted to what are "objectively the best" (a metric I don't really believe in), then I think the 90s have a noticeabe edge over the 00s. FE1 and 2 are two of the most impressive Famicom games ever made in terms of graphics, sound, replayability. You can tell they were made by the chief engineers of the hardware at Nintendo. Ditto for FE4 and FE5. Heck, if FE4 were localized, I guarantee you it would be up there among Chrono Trigger and FF6 as the keystone SNES RPGs that everybody won't shut up about.

Interesting perspective. However, your last statement is a very, VERY bold one to make, if I may be frank. And even putting aside my enmity for the Jugdral games, I cannot see Genealogy anywhere near being that good when its gameplay is some of the worst in the series, and it has NOT aged well.

[Shrimpica]

Easy 10s for Fates and 3H

Yeah Awakening and SoV are a thing, but eh, every era also has FEs i don't like

[Zapp Branniglenn]

1 hour ago, Shadow Mir said:

However, your last statement is a very, VERY bold one to make, if I may be frank. And even putting aside my enmity for the Jugdral games, I cannot see Genealogy anywhere near being that good when its gameplay is some of the worst in the series, and it has NOT aged well.

I don't have anything to say regarding your opinion that the gameplay hasn't aged well other than I think it has aged great. If it hasn't, why is Modern Fire Emblem still going back to the FE4 Mines for ideas? Games with a second generation of children units, mounted units with Canto, personal skills and class skills, Holy Blood, a home base with shops and an arena. The Weapon Triangle, battle forecast, and (debatably) the concept of Building Supports between units were also born here. Not every new idea in FE4 became standard for the series, but literally no FE game can claim otherwise, not even the first one. Especially with the massive strip down of mechanics we saw in FE6 and Kaga's departure.

In a direct comparison against FF6 and Chrono Trigger, FE4 has more mechanical depth, which is another way of saying it's less casual friendly. But it's also got the most generous save system in the series to keep the action moving, and games of this era WERE still critically praised on offering a challenge. Plus, in this alternate dimension where Nintendo of America released the game in 1996, the full marketing you could expect of a first party title. Nintendo Power would eat this game up - would run tips and tricks articles all year on the game. And yes, the game would have a Players Manual to explain everything like it did in Japan. I also just think the narrative is stronger and more memorable than that of those other two games. The Twist at the halfway point of FE4 would be 'Sephiroth Kills Aerith' levels of ubiquitous spoiler for RPG fans. It's hard to say how financially successful Genealogy would be, but if Earthbound can endure this long with even more things working against it, then FE4 can too. 

Edited September 28, 2022 by Zapp Branniglenn

[Hrothgar777]

2010s.

Awakening, Fates, Shadows of Valentia, 3H, and Heroes. Enough said.

But frankly, if Three Houses was the only single FE game to be released in that decade, I would still make this assertion. All FE before 3H was, frankly speaking, "hollow". You had these heroic and attractive anime-style characters who go onto battlefields and fight. But you saw virtually much nothing of their existences outside of this. The games always tried to put up a facade of depth that was never actually present.

And then, the summer of 2019. Now you had a cast who were like real people. You got to see every angle of them in war and peace. An enormous cast of people who lived their lives every day. There is no possible comparison between what came before and what came after. What separated Fates and 3H was a measly three years yet an eternity at the same time.

 

Of course, that's just my perspective. But from Nintendo's?

They would give much the same answer. In terms of sales, 3H alone sold as well as all Fire Emblem titles from Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light to Blazing Blade combined. Fates and Awakening both did very well too, and if you look at the numbers it's obvious why Fire Emblem was on the verge of cancellation prior to Awakening and why Awakening singlehandedly saved it. It literally sold 5x as well as the Wii's big budget production.

 

In the last 9-10 years, Fire Emblem absolutely exploded in popularity and went from a relatively obscure franchise, most famous for its Smash characters (the Ice Climbers are in Smash too, just saying), to the company's latest cash cow.

At this point, Engage could flop and I would still rest 100% confident that Nintendo will eventually try again with another title.

Edited September 29, 2022 by Hrothgar777

[lenticular]

For me, the single biggest factor that I care about is that the game is released in the west with an English language localisation. The second most important thing is that the game is on a home console and I don't have to suffer through handhelds in order to play it. Therefore, the 2000s beat the 2010s 2-1, so that's where my vote goes.

[MasterJP28]

11 hours ago, lenticular said:

For me, the single biggest factor that I care about is that the game is released in the west with an English language localisation. The second most important thing is that the game is on a home console and I don't have to suffer through handhelds in order to play it. Therefore, the 2000s beat the 2010s 2-1, so that's where my vote goes.

Interesting. 00s had the GBA Trio, Tellius Duology, and SD. 10s had the 3DS Trio, Heroes, Spin-offs/collabs, and one console game. I personally prefer the handhelds since I can play anywhere with little to no set up needed. I still picked 00s. I'm glad I bought PoR and RD when they came out. Only things that suck is that my RD is an early copy so I can't transfer over an easy mode save file from PoR and I let a friend borrow a game and lost the game manual.