CappnRob

Yes I have been following Maiden of Darkness for years and I am hyyyyyyyyyype. Sure it gets outright fanfictiony at times but FE6's narrative is so bare bones and nonexistant that its basically an improvement. Its basically what I'd want out of an FE6 remake - significantly stronger narrative ties and more involvement from side characters on the chance they're still alive. As for FE4 being remade, I wouldn't want it packaged with FE5. Those two games are just too fundamentally different to mash into one game ala FE6/7 could, though some of FE5's now standard modernizations could afford to be in 4: con/build dictating attack speed (or hell, I actually like FE9's model a lot more where it was character strength), rescue, and possibly useable inventory items like vulneraries and the like. Make pursuit universal, have the critical skill work like the Swordmaster/Berserker class crit boost in GBA+ games, stuff like that.

If you will permit an indulgence on my end.... HA HA HA HA I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS WAS POSTED HERE 6 YEARS AGO I MADE THIS BACK ON FESS LONG AGO, WOW ITS STILL AROUND I CAN'T FUCKING BELIEVE IT my legacy has survived me in this fandom lmao

FE4 could use a shiny new paintjob with some rebalancing. Don't change the core game mind, FE4 isn't FE4 without its fuckhuge maps and giant stat boosting weapons, but things like how all weapons of a certain class all weigh the same (all axes are 18, all swords are 3, etc) means weapon balance is fucking broken and needs fixing. There's never a reason not to use a higher tier weapon of a certain grade unless you DON'T want to kill something honestly. So introducing varying weapon weights/uses to the different weapons can be a way to balance that out some (but keep the repair system, tbh I wish the FE4 repair system was standard). Introduce expanded story elements because Judgral Saga has a fantastic story thats sadly obscured behind hard to get convos and hidden details in like, FE5. So having more story material, cutscenes, scripted moments, and support convos to enhance the lover system would be fantastic. FE6 I'd like to see in a double pack with FE7 with mild tweaks to them both. FE7's mechanics were fairly solid imo, but a few things are grating (such as how noone named Oswin, Wallace or Hector has a defense growth higher than 30% :V) but its on the whole very strong for me. FE6 however just feels lackluster in comparison to 7, in terms of storytelling, narrative, characterization, and really everything except difficulty (I actually prefer FE6's difficulty as the "FE normal-hard" standard). Combining the Elibe Saga into a single package and strengthening the ties between them narratively and possibly adding new crazy stuff (what if we could save and recruit Hector? ooooooooooooooooooooo) would be great.

Like I said, Finn in G1 alone is a 7/10 for me. Good but not great, definitely carries his weight but can be difficult to pair off and maintain his effectiveness. ALso, @Zeems, y u no pair Finn with Fury at least? Dat luck growth could've been hella useful... </3 WHY MUST FINN BE FOREVERALONE

Finn is an all around solid character. His growths are well balanced with some INSANE luck, he has two very good personal skills, gets a lot of beefing up from in-game convos, and makes a great parent for a lot of pairings, on top of which he can talk to his children and give THEM a boost as well (not that G2 kids need it). He does need to be used carefully in the early game as he can't take many hits and the axes aren't going to let him dodge that much, but his ability to double attack means he can at least pick off archers well plus he's a fine character to follow up on Cuan's single-attack pokes with. Brave Lance is a great item not just for Finn but for several lance using characters in both generations, too. Finn's main drawbacks are trying to pair him up and how G2 greatly overshadows him in the long run. Being on a horse and only available for 4 chapters out of 6, with his ideal romantic partners not showing up until chapter 2 and most of them on foot, Finn can be challenging to both father great children and still keep up with the pack. If he falls too far behind in G1, he'll only be a liability in G2, he really needs to be promoted or near promotion in G2 to hold his own. But since I'm assuming this is covering Finn in both generations combined, let's talk about G2 Finn. Like I said, he gives stat boosts to whoever his kids are, and that's great. Properly leveled, he is essential for keeping Leif and Nana's butts alive at the start of Chapter 7, too. However, Finn really is relegated to just a support role in G2 - results may vary depending on your kid combos, but generally he won't be wrecking face like any of they do. In a sub run he's far more valuable, being arguably better than some of the sub characters themselves to be honest. He can pack the silver lance for some MASSIVE poke damage, but G2's foes generally are too much for Finn to handle alone. He isn't bad, and he can keep up with the troops, but he's best kept to the side instead of charging in head first - the name of G2's game simply prevents from Finn being Cuan's successor. Still not a bad character though. Finn gets a 7.5 from me overall. If this is just G1 ranks, then he's a 7. Rounded character, great dad but difficult to pair, lasts both generations but doesn't quite carry his weight in G2 as he does in G1.

Yeah but Patty doesn't take long to catch up with the right dad. Sleep sword aboos in arenas give her guaranteed wins at least, so she can catch up decently that way. And a leveled Patty does her job better and safer than a weak one!

Honestly, I think they can afford to suck it up a little bit :Y I played Fire Emblem first when I was 13, and I sucked hard at it, but I endured and made it through to the end with only one casualty (RIP Florina, it was past midnight, and I couldn't bare to restart Noble Lady of Caelin again when I was so close to the end ;_; ) and beat the game. Yeah, that's just my experience, but I don't claim to be a great gamer (I never did an S rank run or Ironman runs or anything like that). If my dweeby 13 year old self could do it, I think most anyone can with some application of themselves. Easier modes are fine when they don't dilute the experience too much. Yeah I've thrown that around a lot, but there's a difference between say, reducing the overall stats of enemies in a game to make the challenge easier, and what casual mode does (that being reducing a core mechanic to a nuisance). I really don't know how else to word or phrase it - easier modes are fine when they don't alter or remove core mechanics of something. The spirit of Fire Emblem is as I said before, tactical role playing where mistakes have consequences and assets must be utilized effectively to succeed. Death being permanent with no or little means of reversing it is a part of that. Managing characters of different classes is part of that. Managing limited items and resources among your army is part of that. Fire Emblem is not meant to be flexible on these matters, imo: you git gud or people die, and if the wrong people die too much and you go on without them, you only have yourself to blame. Yeah, there can be some RNG screwage in there (lord knows I've had my bouts with the RNG in my 13 year long career with the franchise), and yeah, shit like that can be afforded to be tweaked (although I personally rather liked the single RN system because I'm a tryhard), and has been tweaked (aforementioned single RN turning into the double RN true hit system), but that never got in the way of the core foundations. Hell, FE4 got rid of random crits (sort of anyway. you needed the critical skill for it), and I love FE4.

You're certainly free to challenge my viewpoint, but I'm under no obligation to accept your challenge, I guess is how I'd put it. But that's beside us now :) I do, because if the spirit is changed too much, is it even the series I used to love anymore? It's happened to plenty of games in the past, I wouldn't want it to happen to Fire Emblem too. That may be selfish, but I do ultimately care about my enjoyment with the series over anyone else's. Well, Dark Souls doesn't have an easy mode, so eh, lol. TBH I wouldn't mind an Easy Mode in Dark Souls if it wasn't.... well, TOO easy. Like instead of getting killed by a boss with 2 hits, you can take 3 or 4, hurr hurr. Either way, I'm of the opinion that people that want to experience the lore and atmosphere of Dark Souls without the challenging gameplay are missing the point and are out of luck. There's no obligation to make the game accessible, especially when again, the difficulty is part of the whole allure of the series. But we're getting off topic, lol, this is about Fire Emblem, not Dark Souls. A "wounded" system would be pretty awesome tbh. If a character falls, they get a stat reduction for X chapters and if they die again while wounded, they stay dead. Along with aforementioned limited "lives", or bringing back a useable but limited resurrection system - these are all far better ways to soften Fire Emblem's hardball permadeath system without invalidating it. Actually, my first post in the thread was a giant wall of text explaining why I dislike Avatars, Waifu Wars, Reclassing, special skill creep, and how the series doesn't take itself as seriously as it used to. Also, despite the fact I never intended to argue my points so hard with people, I've been rather civil with discussing things with other people and they've been chill in turn. So it seems to me you moreso just wanted to be a dirt-slinger with nothing of value to contribute to the topic. Take your hate and anger somewhere else, punk. Let the moderators decide if someone is being obstructive to the conversation or not, yeah?

>finds an old tumblr post of mine >uses it as evidence I'm being confrontational >despite the fact not a single post of mine in this thread has been typed anything like said tumblr post >memearrows really guy? you're going to go there? I've been hella civil all through this thread and you're gonna dig up some dirt and throw shade at a dude? My angry rants about there being too many Fire Emblem characters in Smash Bros on tumblr a year ago hold no bearing on this topic at hand.

This was my first post in the topic about casual mode, and I really don't think it was defensive at all. In fact I was originally talking about Reclassing and just threw in a mention of Casual/Phoenix mode on the side, and it snowballed because everyone got mad at me for being "judgmental" and "elitist" :V So if anything, I've been hella chill, its everyone else who wanted to get mad at me. So why don't you chill out instead, dude? Again, I didn't come here to argue, I came here to express my opinion. Which I guess maybe I was low-key soapboxing, heh. But really, I've said that it goes against the spirit of the series. I've said how it reduces consequences to a slap on the wrist. It enforces bad habits if noobies ever upgrade to classic mode. Casual mode is at a best training wheels, training wheels that provide no incentive to take off. I'd rather casual mode have some sort of drawback to encourage players to get the "full, true" experience. A lot of games with an easy mode don't let you get the best endings if you play easy mode, why not do that? Or hell, someone mentioned casual mode having a catch, like people can only get KO'd so many times before dying for real. Personally, I'd love to bring back the Valkyrie staff, because it gave players a form of control over characters dying but had to be managed responsibly. See above. I'm not even against making Fire Emblem more accessible, but again, reducing death to a slap on the wrist is not one of them. In Dark Souls' case, the challenge is literally the point of the game. You die, a lot. That's intended design, so making the game easier kind of goes directly against that. It isn't supposed to be easy, it's very much a game that hinges itself on "git gud or go home". The game is elitist by design, though it does have plenty of built in methods to help people progress (multiplayer coop and all that). Making this into a point about Fire Emblem, Fire Emblem is about careful use of your army. They only live once and when they're gone, that's it. Casual mode goes directly against this - yeah, there's more to Fire Emblem than just this, but I certainly believe this careful management of your resources is certainly the crux of Fire Emblem's core, the foundation by which the games are built upon. I do think Casual mode should be removed or at least modified, but I mean, I don't work at Intelligent Systems or anything, my opinions hold no danger of actually taking or changing anything in Fire Emblem :Y If you see it as No Fun Allowed, well, maybe you're right. I don't see it that way, but we all have different ways at looking at something.

Honestly, Finn only coming with an iron lance in G2 isn't -that- bad. He has pursuit, if you leveled him enough he should be a duke knight in G2 or at least a high level lancer, so he could be focused on poking the sword armors so Lief can zap them with his light sword for kills and ez xp.

Why is it your posts are constantly targeting ME and not what I'm talking about? Honestly, if I'm coming off as defensive to you, its because you're putting me on the defensive - saying I'm soapboxing, asking why I'm even posting here for, accusing my posts of being angry rambling when they've been anything but. Yeah, I think Casual Mode is scrub mode. I've laid out why I think that. You (and others) disagree, and I disagree with why you disagree,, and I've explained WHY I disagree. The points are made, and it seems neither of us are going to budge on the matter - not that I ever intended to budge or be budged. The topic is about what we dislike about modern Fire Emblem, I never intended my posts to be a moving motivational essay on why you should all agree with me about why Casual Mode blows and it being an option is a detriment to the game. Its just how I feel, and that is that. You and others are ones that have made arguments out of it, not me. Now, have you anything else to add to this, or are you going to keep bothering me about me? It reduces one of the defining consequences of the franchise's legacy to a slap on the wrist and I don't really like that. I really can't put it any simpler than that. This is how I feel. This is my personal standard, based on what previous games did and established. If all you get from my mountains of text from previous pages about how why I think Casual mode is bad is "lol its scrub mode" then honestly I'm done arguing with you, because I'm tired of you reducing my points to something they are not. There is a difference between a limited, strategic game mechanic that requires careful planning and use and a mode that effectively makes death meaningless. Resurrection items are DELIBERATE mechanics with limited utility designed to let a player reverse a single death that can not be easily abused. It is designed to work WITH the permadeath system because even with their presence you can't just let people die willy-nilly because you only get one chance at bringing someone back. Even FE4, which I went into detail about, which let you repair their resurrection item for repeated use, couldn't be easily abused due to its high maintenance cost. Be that as it may, Fire Emblem is decidedly not a visual novel. It is a strategy based role playing game. There's an expected amount of player agency and interaction needed to experience the game as intended.

Ethlyn! I adore her. However, she has some big flaws I think a lot of people are overlooking. Yeah, she's your first healer, and she's on a horse, so she reaches the front lines quickly and can retreat without issue. Her magic however is pretty bad and she comes with a weak live staff, though for some reason Relive is also C rank so she can trade with Adean for a much better performance boost. She has the critical skill but doesn't reaaaally get much use out of it due to average fighting skills, but because she's a healer she can spam some staffs for exp boosts. She's a great contender for the Pursuit Ring imo because it'll let her double and passing it down to Lief is nice. However, I do think Ethlyn eventually gets outshone by other characters. Adean is just a better healer all around, but she lacks a mount. Claude also lacks a mount, but when he comes onto the scene Ethlyn is already gone, so not much to compare there, but Claude's healing is some of the best G1 has. However, Lachesis and Fury can both use staves when promoted (hell Lachesis can use them before it but you knooow) - and both outclass cute Ethlyn by a longshot. Fury can fly, and is with you the whole of G1 once she joins, meaning she at least replaces Ethlyn once she departs the story in Chapter 4. Lachesis once promoted is the all might Master Knight, and thus can use ANY A rank item, including staffs - which simply means whatever Ethlyn brought to the table is now totally out played. This doesn't mean Ethlyn is bad though - she's your best healer for the whole early game and holds strong through the middle, but once other healers and characters with healing potential catch up, she loses some luster. And then she leaves and dies and breaks my friggen heart :'| 7/10 for me, great early game unit that slows down a bit before being prematurely removed from your party.

Here's my rundown of pairings I like: Adean: Midayle of Jamuka. Midayle gives a more well-rounded Lester, with pursuit. Jamuka results in a stronger but less accurate Lester, without pursuit. Pursuit ring can cover this, but you might wanna have someone else use it instead. Brave Bow and Killer Bow are a must for either pairing, I personally favor Midayle though. Ayra: Ayra's kids are virtually idiot-proof so you can basically pair her with anyone, but the best choices imo are Lex, Noish, or Finn. Lex gives Neir blood which results in tanky speedy little swordfighters that level fast and tear through anything. Noish gives critical which puts that Odo blood to use in getting crit hits, and Finn just results in possibly the most well rounded G2 characters in the game growths-wise. Lesser but still interesting pairs are Jamuka (this will give both kids Continue from the gate, so Larcei doesn't have to promote to get it and Ulster doesn't miss out on it period), and Holy (who gives the kids Major Odo blood due to inbreeding, which through an exploit can let you give the Balmung to Ayra's kids if you like being a memelord like that :V) Lachesis: Finn, Beowulf, or maybe Azel. Finn and Beowulf are both "canon" pairings (as Finn is Nana's father and Beowulf is clearly Delmud's due to him being able to use the Beosword in FE5), and both are essentially interchangable for one another: Beowulf makes the kids slightly stronger all around but less dodgy; Finn again provides excellent balanced growths and the Prayer skill to help in emergency pinches. Azel is the wild card, Vala blood means Nana will be a great healer, Delmud's strength won't suffer because of Hezul blood and the Vala blood will make him great with magic swords too, which Azel can pass down if you promote him. Sylvia: You already said you're set on Claude, and that's arguably her best choice. Alec is fun for story purposes (and awareness is a good skill to have on anyone), but that's really it. Levin can be fun for keks because Forsetti Corpul is hilarious. Fury: Levin is hands down the best for her, but you want to pair him with Tiltyu. That said, Levin is still the best, his holy blood results in mad speed growths which is essential for flyers, and Sety comes out being a goddamn beast of a man. Other good pairs though are Alec or Noish, Alec gives Awareness which makes Fee immune to arrow crits; Noish is good for his critical skill. Sety gets low magic with either pair though, but the dude is basically RNG proof so it doesn't much matter. Maybe consider Azel for A rank fire magic, but skills on both kids will be lacking. Claude gives Sety the Valkyrie staff and makes Fee a super healer on wings. Tiltyu: You're set on Levin here and that's not bad, it means Arthur comes in at the start of G2 with Forsetti already in his hands basically making him a Disc 1 Nuke for G2, and Tinny can use Tornado as well. I however prefer Azel which results in a more balanced squad all around (so Levin can go with Fury) as his Vala with Tiltyu's Tordo results in A rank fire and Lightning magic for both kids plus they get pursuit. Lex is well liked for the hilarious Elite+Ambush+Wrath combo, but you won't be doubling and without those wrath crits your magic attacks will be subpar. Briggid: Holyn is imo the best pair here, held back only because it has no story material in game. Odo blood gives MAD SKILL to both kids, making Faval a peerless sharpshooter, and Patty gets B rank swords out the gate so she can use the hero's sword and actually double hit things. Dew is also good because Bargain helps Faval with Ichival maintenance and Patty spends less on stuff making her a good pawn trader and gold lender. Jamuka is alright but he has poor skill growth which is bad for Faval and honestly Continue+Duel are overkill on Faval because the Ichival packs so much of a punch as it is. Noish gives critical, which is again nice but kind of wasted over kill because he Ichival is a goddamn missile launcher.

Yes, and while I'm glad Awakening saved the series, I'm not so sure I'm happy with the changes it brought with it. Not to say Fire Emblem would've been better off canceled (though it would've had a good run and while I'd have been sad I wouldn't be disappointed), but yeah. Awakening changed the field, the series, and the fandom, for better and worse.

Visual novels still require player input in the form of choices and a lot of them have branching pathways? There's player agency involved. Not the same thing as letting a strategy RPG play itself with characters that can't die. 1: I haven't been soapboxing? Yeah, I think casual mode is doing it wrong. I've laid out, several times, why I feel this way. Is that soapboxing? It isn't arbitrary metrics, I've posted big fat paragraphs about what the core concepts I think Fire Emblem is about, what makes it stand out as a game, what its built on, and how Casual Mode and Reclassing go against those concepts. You just seem to be coming off as someone who is mad that I said something you disagree with, even though I never even voiced nor targeted my opinions as an attack on you or anyone else. At this point I'm just repeating myself, and its tiresome, so I'm leaving it at that. 2: I'm here to post what I don't like about modern Fire Emblem. Kinda the point of the thread. Again, if you don't like that, it really isn't my concern. I've laid out my points in several posts past, and if you disagree with them, well, you disagree with them. I can't make you change your mind. 3: What was angry about any of my posts? I've been calm, I've been cool, I've been collected, and I've been concise. Yes, I've used some mildly strong sentiments, but never expressed these sentiments hostilely. If anything, you and others have been hostile to me for disagreeing with my opinion, as if my belief that casual mode is a bad idea is an affront to your very existence. 4: What am I trying to say? I've already said it several times - casual mode and reclassing dilute and cheapen the core strategy elements of Fire Emblem and detract from the intended experience the franchise is built upon. I've been saying that since my first post in this thread (along with some other stuff noone seems to have been upset about). Yes, actually, I think in this specific case, this isn't a choice players should have. Fire Emblem isn't a game that's supposed to hold your hand and tell you it'll be ok if you make a mistake. Its a game where choices have consequences, and those consequences can not be easily rectified without giving something up. I've made the Dark Souls comparison before, and that's how I feel about it. No, gaming is not a hobby that needs to contort to my standards, not as a whole, but I'd rather like it if games with established reputations didn't lower their standards either. You mean that single use staff that only a specific character can use in a single specific chapter at the very end of the game whose most practical application is at best to revive someone who got killed in said chapter? A more practical comparison would be the Valkyrie staff in FE4. I actually -like- that, because the staff implements the ressurection into the mechanics of the game: you can revive anyone, but only one at a time. The staff breaks, but can be repaired, but this repair costs a substantial amount of gold. Said staff comes late, but not TOO late in the game to have impractical use. It's meant to break you out of a bind, but it can not be easily abused either. Spamming the Valk Staff requires large amounts of gold which means either some serious Arena power on the user's end (which isn't likely because they'll be Claude or Claude's child and Claude has no skills for fighting with), a lover with serious arena power, pre-planning village visits, or making good use of your thief, or some combination thereof all this. It isn't just a handicap - its part of the strategy, part of the game. You can use it to undo a mistake, but you better be ready to pay the price for it. That is good game design. That is implementing a safeguard crutch as a MECHANIC. That is giving both incentive and consequence to your actions. That is what casual mode lacks, and is why I dislike it.

Regardless of all that's been said, I am staying firm in my position that casual mode (and reclassing) are bad ideas that cheapen the experience about what I feel Fire Emblem is all about. You can disagree with me all you want, but that's my take on things. I believe that when one plays a game there are expectations to be met, just like any hobby, and if you find those expectations too overbearing then maybe that game or hobby just isn't for you. If you don't like it, well, that really isn't my concern, this thread isn't about making people agree with one's contrarian POV on what they dislike about Fire Emblem, its simply about expressing it, and I have more than expressed it enough. ... I'm sorry, but what? Why even buy a VIDEO GAME, an INTERACTIVE MEDIUM, if you're going to let it PLAY ITSELF. Watch a freakin' Let's Play if losing scares you so much. Video games aren't movies and they aren't books, they're not meant to be passive passtimes. This is the most baffling thing I've ever seen anyone say about Fire Emblem. Yeah sure the games have decent enough stories most of the time, but its still a VIDEO GAME in the end and the main appeal is TOUGH TACTICS SIMULATION (or so the cheesy theme song opera would say anyway).

Because I believe it is playing the game wrong. It is my subjective truth. I'm full aware I can't "prove" it with objective, empirical evidence, but this thread isn't about objectively proving what is wrong with Fire Emblem: it's what we FEEL is wrong with Fire Emblem. I casual mode is doing it wrong. It's like playing an adventure game that solves the puzzles for you. Eating a steak well done. It defeats the purpose of a core game aspect of the franchise. As for this... I already addressed the difference between your strawman and adding variety to the game. Adding things to the formula is not bad. But these additions did not change the CORE of Fire Emblem. It was still turn based strategy role playing with permanent death if you misused your characters or made bad choices, and you had to either deal with that or restart. FE1's arenas, FE2's unlimited weapons, FE4's generation system, FE8s monster hunting, FE9s battle experience did nothing to alter that. They gave options for players to empower their characters within the bounds of the game's architecture. No matter how much Bexp you pumped into someone, if you left them alone near the Black Knight, they died, end of story. (Furthermore because FE9 removed promotion items save for a rare few master seals, Bexp is necessitated further by needing it to promote). No matter how OP your G2 kids were, if you let Isthar crawl all over them, they died, end of story. Mistakes had consequences, these changes throughout the Fire Emblem series' meta were simply tools to assist in overcoming adversity. Casual mode is not a tool, it is a cheat.

​My retort is that it is an incomplete, inferior experience. It IS abstract, yes, but I never claimed to be preaching empirical truth, only my feelings on the matter. What is childish about that? I haven't insulted anyone for it. I can think you're doing something I feel is wrong without thinking you're dumb/stupid/wrong etc. What I believe the superior experience is rooted in the entire history of the FE franchise. It worked for a very long time and as other people have said, adding casual mode, even as an option, merely dissuades people from playing the game as intended. Is anyone made? Noone here has expressed anger. I think its wrong, but I'm not mad about it.

Except that's not what I'm saying at all. I certainly DO care about how people play Fire Emblem. I'm simply questioning why, if someone wonders why I care about this, why do they care that I care about this? Clearly if they question why I care, then they do not think it is important or really my business about how other people play the game. Henceforth, if they think I shouldn't care, why do THEY care? Seems to be a bit of backwards logic to me. Make no mistake, if you eat your gelato wrong, I will surely tell you why its wrong and how you are missing the point :P

No keep it as Cuan. Idk why NoA or whatever spelled it with a Q, it looks so bad. :'| #oldpatchbias Also, don't feel bad for Azel, I rated him highly and so did a few others. He's clearly a very polarizing character!

I think he might do that once everyone is covered, lol. For now its chronological, isn't too hard to just read the score besides people's names.

Conversely, I don't understand why you seem to care what other people think about how other people play the game? To each their own, right, why do you care if I'm an elitist prick who thinks Casual Mode and Reclassing are counter-intuitive design choices that run against the grain of the series' roots and enable people to play the game cheesy? Yes, I would say permadeath is a selling point. Or at least a trademark standard of the series - it was a huge part of what made FE1 stand out at the time, and it persisted unchallenged until what, Awakening? Casual cheapens the experience. If people play Casual and still restart when someone gets taken down, what's even the point of Casual? People either defy it - thereby invalidating its existence, or they don't - thereby playing a diluted, watered down experience. Neither of these are preferable. Yes, variety is good, when it doesn't conflict with what the game's core is about. FE3 changed a LOT from FE1. FE4 didn't have promotion items and weapons/items were basically unlimited provided you had the dosh to upkeep them, and huge maps. FE5 practically reinvented Fire Emblem for the time. FE6 introduced support conversations, FE7 had a tutorial campaign and 2 branching alternations of the main story. FE8 had a traversable overworld and branching promotions and monster hunting. FE9 also changed promotion. The series has gone through a LOT of changes, giving plenty of variety along the way. I'm not saying every game needs to play the same - I'm saying that changes should gel with the game's core design philosophy, that philosophy being "you have a limited amount of characters, each that fit a certain specific role, sometimes some do better than others, and if any of them die they're gone forever". Manage your assets well, and you succeed to victory. Screw up, and you have to start over. Unless of course, its casual mode or the game lets you reclass. The strategy is cheapened, and in a game BUILT around strategy, that's no good.

lol wow I went from everyone agreeing with me to everyone going against me #thuglife More seriously though... yes, the nature of games can change. However, when I feel that nature has fundamentally drifted away from what I enjoyed about the game, I do feel I have the right to complain about it. This IS the "What doesn't satisfy you about the new direction of Fire Emblem" thread after all, and things like Casual Mode and Reclassing are a part of I greatly dislike about Fire Emblem's current direction. There's a reason why games like Dark Souls have a vocal fanbase against having an easy mode - because the difficulty is a core part of the game experience, and making Dark Souls easier would rob people of that experience. I feel the same way about these things in Fire Emblem: when you reclass Hadrian into an archer, or Doga into a swordfighter, or class change Robin 20 times in Awakening to max out every stat they have and give them a full selection of OP skills, you are robbing yourself of the true Fire Emblem experience. The game is ENABLING this, and I don't like it. So, like I said, for lack of a gracious, more better way to do it: you're playing the game wrong. Yes, the developers put it in. But honestly, developers can get it wrong sometimes. A lot of times, honestly. New features can distract from the core spirit of a game. MORE features is not always BETTER features. Call it pretentious if you want, but there's a reason why the first 10 games of the series needed none of the things I listed in my original post that bothered me, and that's because they're all poorly implemented concepts. Reclass dumbs down the strategy. Now you don't need to carefully manage your units and have a balanced army of classes, you can just make anyone into anything. Casual mode literally defies what has been the series SELLING POINT: permadeath. Phoenix mode just takes that to a whole another level. And yeah, I said before I haven't PLAYED the more recent games (rather, owned. I did take a swing a friend of mine's copy of FE11 a few years ago because he asked for help and I figured my rudimentary knowledge of FE1/3 Book 1 might help there), but I don't have to play a game to criticize a concept, if the concept is off putting to me. Of course its judgmental - I'm making a judgement call! I'm judging a concept, and sure, maybe one day I'll own and play these newer FEs and eat my own damn words about Reclassing - but until then, I still have the right to judge based on what I feel is appropriate or not. This isn't a sweeping generalized damnation, my criticisms are rooted in what I believe Fire Emblem is supposed to be, and what I've enjoyed about Fire Emblem for the 13 years I've been playing it. So maybe it is elitist. I don't particularly care, or have the inclination to care. I hold Fire Emblem to high standards of conceptual integrity, and seeing that integrity violated upsets me. I'm elitist because I love Fire Emblem, and I'm critical because the series has done things over the last half decade that's put me off, things I feel are wrong. If you don't like it, well, that's your disposition. I'm sorry you can't see it the way I do, but I'm not budging on the issue, even if my analogies were probably half baked and not terribly well thought out. And yes, a far better "ez mode" would be to just reduce enemy stats. It worked for Blazing Sword when it came Stateside - in fact I'd consider Blazing Sword's Lyn/Eliwood normal mode to be the bar standard for how "easy" Fire Emblem should be, and that's preeeeetty damn easy in my opinion. Lowering stats works because it doesn't alter the core of the game: people still die if you screw up, and they stay dead, so you learn to be careful and plotting. The only thing that's made easier is the degree to which you can engage the enemy. Casual mode by comparison totally defies the point of Fire Emblem and renders death and poor mistakes meaningless. What's the point of caring for your party if they're never in any real danger? There is none.

Cuan is my homie. He really isn't a typical "prepromote", at least no more than Sigurd is, given he 1: doesn't suck up EXP due to the fact he still comes at a low level, and 2: has FANTASTIC growths for the most part. He comes in beefy, and between his amazing strength and the steel lance he starts with, really packs a punch. He can take down a tough enemy or soften them up for a weaker character to score a kill on easily. He gives Finn the awesome Hero's Lance, and even gets to swing the Gae Bolg around a little bit before leaving early. Really, that is Cuan's only big drawback for me: you only have him for 3/5 of the story, which really blows. He's a taste of power that's swiftly taken away from you. That aside though, he's a cool character that's basically RNG proof and is very useful in both offensive and defensive roles. Despite coming promoted, he absolutely defies the Jeigan trope in every regard, and hell given G1's significantly lower stat creep than G2's, doesn't even really fit the Oifaye trope of "good but overshadowed". Cuan is Cuan, and there's no one else quite like him. 8/10, only reason he isn't a 10 is no pursuit and leaves the story midway through. Actually, make that an 8.5, because he managed to marry Ethlyn, and Ethlyn is a cute.