How do you prefer referring to the games?

[Revier]

This came up while debating how they should be ordered in a randomizer list. I'm curious as to how this community(and possibly the FE community at large) chooses to refer to them. So I made this. 😄

Edited July 23 by Revier

[Polinym]

I usually use some abbreviated variation of the official names, except sometimes FE3 and FE1 for convenience.

FE1: Blade of light
FE2: Gaiden
FE3: Monshou
FE4: Geneaology
FE5: Thracia
FE6: Binding Blade
FE7: Fire emblem 7.
FE8: Sacred Stones
I usually forget the numbers for the next and just use Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn, Shadow Dragon, Awakening, Fates, Three Houses, and Engage the Toothpaste Game.

[Revier]

LOL Toothpaste Game. Guessing that's a mild mockery of Alear's weird hairstyle.

[Acacia Sgt]

By their titles. I'm willing to be flexible here. So Binding Blade I can use that, use Binding, or just BB.

That said, never numbers. Never numbers...

[Zapp Branniglenn]

When speaking out loud? Their full title. Especially since I can't get enough of saying Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. Sacred Stones, Radiant Dawn, these are good names. Although I think I can honestly say I've never said Fire Emblem Engage out loud. It was always "the new one", and I have nothing to say on account of not having played it.

Here on SF? Probably Numbers. Especially if it's a long post talking about multiple games in succession. This is the only space where someone would know which game I'm talking about based on a number.

[indigoasis]

I kinda do a bunch of different things depending on the game. For FE7 and earlier, I typically just use a number. For Sacred Stones up to Shadow Dragon, I just type out the title or abbreviate it (so PoR for Path of Radiance, for instance). For New Mystery, I just say New Mystery. For Awakening and beyond, the numbers start getting too big, so I again just use the title (except for Echoes, I just use SoV).

If anyone every abbreviates Genealogy of the Holy War to GotHW, don't trust them. Same goes with SDatBoL.

[lenticular]

Full titles where it's practical. Abbreviated titles if space is limited or if I'm mentioning the same game multiple times. So, if I'm discussing the differences between the two Tellius games, then I'll usually write out Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn  the first time I mention them, but then just use PoR and RD thereafter. Though there are a few exceptions to this rule. Blazing Blade is always some variant of Blazing Blade and never just "Fire Emblem" because that would just be confusing. And I generally refer to the two Shadow Dragon games as Shadow Dragon (DS) and Shadow Dragon (Famicom), because "Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light" is a pain to type and just "Shadow Dragon" on its own is potentially ambiguous.

I have a pretty strong dislike of using just numbers to refer to the games, because I think it can be pretty elitist and gatekeeping. I don't think it's generally intended that way (though it probably is at least some of the time), but I think that's how it comes across. I remember when I was first getting into the fandom, I hated when people would talk in numbers. Like, how was I supposed to know what FE8 was? I'd either have to go and look up all the games in release order and count out which one was eighth, or else I'd just zone out of the conversation. I have generally learnt most of the numbers by this point (though I still need to pause and think for some of them), but we're hardly a big fandom, and we don't want to exclude or alienate potential newcomers by speaking in jargon.

As a secondary issue, I also don't really like numbering the games because it's somewhat ambiguous. Which games are we actually including in our count? Does Archanea Saga Count? How about Heroes? Other spin-offs? Do remakes count separately from their originals? I know what convention is used and you probably know what convention is used, but it's not the only possible convention, and there's no reason why a newcomer to the fandom would inherently know what we'd decided.

[AzureEmperor]

Super weird, but I do it numerically for the first 12 FEs and then use the official title for Awakening onwards. I do this because I don't really like counting Fates as one game and for some reason people I talk to about the series count both Warriors games numerically.

[Jotari]

I probably do trend towards full titles more often than not, but I feel most of them you can just write out one word and it's clear and easy. Eg Genealogy, Mystery. You get a little upset in the middle era where Blazing or Blinding by themselves aren't really nouns and the Tellius games can't really be referred comfortably to as Path or Dawn. Fodlan is in a funny situation where 3H is a perfectly acceptable and recognizable short hand, but it applies to both games, so 3H naturally becomes Three Houses while Three Hopes becomes just Hopes.

So, yeah, a mix of em all.

Edited July 23 by Jotari

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

I prefer using the FE names abbreviated, with the exception of Sacred Stones and Silver Snow, for that is an abbreviation I´ll never use.

Other than that, I think numbers are just as fine, I don´t think it´s particularly difficult to understand what they refer to, are in my opinion more clear in regard to Binding and Blazing Blade and frankly, if you have an interest in a fandom it´s not demanding too much as well as just being a sign of interest to know them.

Only thing I don´t like is using abbreviations like BinBla, BlaBla and whatever else someone may use - may as well write the full thing.

I also think BS Emblem is too obscure to be counted (and devoid of actual playable content, like, 4 maps?), Heroes is too different and Tokyo Mirage and Three Hopes don´t belong in the FE-verse for differing-gameplay-reasons and they´re only really sharing the names of characters.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

It's a mixed bag, but I would say I'm more likely to use the ordinal abbreviations for FE12 and earlier. When it comes to the 3DS onwards, I generally use the full subtitle (Awakening), a partial subtitle (Echoes), or a clear abbreviation (3H).

Also, I'm basically never gonna use the full titles of FE1 (too long, and too close to FE11's), FE6 (too similar to FE7's), FE7 (too similar to FE6's), and FE12 (gee I sure love Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem: Heroes of Light and Shadow). My weirdest tendency has been calling FE6 "Roy's Emblem" and FE7 "Eliwood's Emblem". Because, let's be real, people distinguish these two by which red-headed Lord they follow. I also love to call FE3 "Old Mystery", to make the distinction from FE12 clear.

[Integrity]

i go all over the place. up through fates i'll flip between numbers, an acronym, and a one-word title (e.g. "genealogy", "radiance") with the proportions dependent on the game. post-fates, i don't think i've ever called the games anything except "heroes", "echoes", "feth", and "engage".

[Eltosian Kadath]

I will use all three depending on the situation and my whim, although I don't usually shorten names to the extreme point of your example, more things like Genealogy, New Mystery (and to be fair nobody bothers with the full name Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem ~ Heroes of Light and Shadow ~, and New Mystery of the Emblem is as close as I get), or Echoes, etc.. There are certainly trends, I almost always prefer FE7 over Fire Emblem, or Blazing Blade, and I am more likely to use numbers for Japanese only games, and less likely to use numbers for games after Fates (in part thanks to the weird situation of Fates arguably being any of 1-3 different games makes), but I really don't think I am consistent enough to have a real answer to the poll.

[ping]

• FE1
• Gaiden
• FE3 / Old Mystery / Book 1/2
• Genealogy
• Thracia / T776
• BinBla, BlaBla, SacSto
• PoR, RD (PoR is distinct enough that I assume that people will recognise it; I might spell out Radiant Dawn, though)
• Shadow Dragon (SD only if it comes up repeatedly)
• New Mystery / NMotE
• Awakening
• Fates / BR / CQ / Rev
• Echoes
• 3H
• Engage

I specifically use the abbreviations for GBAFE because BlaBla is a silly name for a silly game. But also because there's no good alternative other than the full names: BB because it could refer to either BinBla or BlaBla, and SS because I don't like using that abbreviation in general. I used to use numbers for all games up to New Mystery, but I have to agree with lenticular that this must be really annoying for people who haven't spent the past decade yapping about anime chess.

[Baron the Shining Blade]

In text, numerical for the first 12 games though I occasionally use PoR and RD instead of their numbers, titles out loud especially when talking to non-fans. Practically no one these days uses numbers for Awakening onwards (really, I've never heard anyone refer to 3H as FE16 or Engage as FE17), and I've adapted to this. I alternate between Echoes and SoV, and I hope we get another Echoes so I can stop doing that.

[Florete]

A mix of the title and the abbreviation. If the title is short or has no easy abbreviation I use the title (eg Awakening). Longer titles I'll abbreviate (PoR).

I also think people should stop using numbers in general. I don't know of any other fandom where the games don't have numbers in the title, yet the fans insist on numbering them anyway. I make two exceptions to this rule: FE1, because its title is annoyingly long and referring to the first entry in a series as "Thing 1" is pretty common regardless, and FE7, because it wasn't subtitled in English but we need a way to distinguish it from others. Yeah, it's since been given the subtitle Blazing Blade, and I do sometimes use that, but the game was never released with that title, so I don't mind continuing to use FE7. And there's also the issue of it having the same abbreviation as Binding Blade.

It also doesn't help that the internal numbering of the games doesn't follow the fandom's, and after a certain point fans tend to stop using numbers anyway. No one refers to Engage as FE18 (or whatever it's supposed to be). Sometimes I'll even see people listing the games that go FE1, FE2, FE3, etc. until the later games where you suddenly see Awakening, Fates, etc. It's really awkward.

[Acacia Sgt]

1 hour ago, Florete said:

It also doesn't help that the internal numbering of the games doesn't follow the fandom's, and after a certain point fans tend to stop using numbers anyway. No one refers to Engage as FE18 (or whatever it's supposed to be). Sometimes I'll even see people listing the games that go FE1, FE2, FE3, etc. until the later games where you suddenly see Awakening, Fates, etc. It's really awkward.

Gonna say, this is basically the only time I accept using numbers for FE. For the internal numbers. Also, fun fact, Engage is FE19. Three Houses is FE17. No one knows what happened to FE18.

[Jotari]

4 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Gonna say, this is basically the only time I accept using numbers for FE. For the internal numbers. Also, fun fact, Engage is FE19. Three Houses is FE17. No one knows what happened to FE18.

Three Hopes maybe?

[Florete]

8 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Three Hopes maybe?

No, the Warriors games are numbered differently. The missing FE18 is basically the only tangible thing keeping hope of a Holy War remake alive.

[Acacia Sgt]

11 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Three Hopes maybe?

2 minutes ago, Florete said:

No, the Warriors games are numbered differently. The missing FE18 is basically the only tangible thing keeping hope of a Holy War remake alive.

Assuming it's not a game that got cancelled altogether. That's what happened to the planned second Wii game, which is most definitely the missing FE13 (as New Mystery is FE12 and Awakening FE14).

According to this:

https://serenesforest.net/engage/general/unused-content/

There is a single mention of FE18 (well, Iron18) in Engage's data, but there's no way to figure out why it's there. The article proposes two theories (Engage got relabeled, or that it was built off the other game's data), but again, nothing certain.

Edited July 24 by Acacia Sgt