Is Fire Emblem Dead?

[TrenchcoatPixie]

The thing that gets me is why are people trying to drive people away from a series so badly with these troll reviews?

Jeez, I wasn't TRYING to troll. People kept saying "I don't understand why people don't like RD!" "Maybe these guys just hated it 'cause they couldn't use the Wiimote!" Sorry if I didn't treat it as ENTIRELY rhetorical.

I'd actually like to hear more detailed reasons why more FE fans LIKED Radiant Dawn. 'Cause I've gotta be missing something, right? And it's all apropos since the mixed reaction from RD is going to have an impact on FE's future, which I think was the original point of the thread but it's wicked hard to remember that far back.

Sorry, new member who barely qualifies for a 'people' will crawl back under rock now.

[Clonez]

Nintendo sells out.

What a surprise.

[Gemini-Saga]

The series are not dead... RD become the second FE in Sells http://vgchartz.com/games/game.php?id=12971&region=All

I Realy hope this series can continue I love it. I'm waiting for FE12 :D (I'm hopping it is for Wii)

[Ϲharlie]

What? Radiant Dawn had the WORST sales in both Japan and North America. The only reason it seems so high is because the VGChartz page includes sales from both Japan and North America, unlike the others which only include Japanese sales.

Frankly, the Wii is probably the worst place to put the next installment.

[Knife]

I'm not a graphic whore, but I do think the best area the franchise could improve on is animation graphics. The battle animations for RD were sort of stale. While some classes have great animations (Swordsmasters, Mounted units, magic users), some had horribly redundant animations (Generals, Laguz, and GENERALS). They also needed to improve the speed of the battles (RD battles usually have a 3 second battle introductory time). Seeing someone lift their axe up is a waste of time, especially since this game has a HUGE abundance of enemies compared to most SRPGs. I just ended up putting on no animations. My second complaint is that you can just finish off the rest of the game with a group of overpowered units that you didn't have to do anything to get. Even though it's only an option, it pisses me off that a team I've been putting a lot of work into gets outclassed by units that show up late (usually pre-promotes and such suck compared to trained units). Other than that, it doesn't really hurt the core of the game.

Edited January 18, 2009 by Holyn

[Florete]

The changes in the game are what really bothers me. It is a sequel but your characters have changed a lot, Jill is demoted to dracoknight, Mist's pony is gone, Soren can't use staves any longer, and a lot of other classes are changed. I haven't beaten the game yet, still it was because of this changes that discouraged me to play it. (and ironically it was the non-covered spoilers in these boards that encouraged me to play it again... and Im liking it now.)

To be fair, they only "lost" those if you used those characters in PoR. The only characters who truly lost anything are Ilyana (Wind and Fire), Geoffrey (Bows), Titania (Lances), Brom (Lances), Tauroneo (Swords), and Jill (lances) because of how they came in PoR compared to how they came in RD. There may be a few I missed. Except in Titania's case, they all get those back eventually anyway.

EDIT: On the subject of Radiant Dawn, I liked it for a lot of the reasons others didn't. I loved the team switching because it allowed me to use more characters and made me really choose who to use, like "Will this unit be worth it later on?" as well as giving the game a nice change of pace. The higher difficulty was a nice change of pace and made it so that you can't just use overpowered units forever and breeze through the game (At least until part 3, that is. Even then, it was harder than any FE I've played). All the extra options, like transfers, skills, BEXP, etc. really added a sense of customization that no other FE had seen. It has, in my opinion, the most epic endgame in the series, spanning five whole maps, as well as a final boss that can actually be fairly tough to beat until you know exactly how to do it. It had flaws, but so does every other video game.

Edited January 18, 2009 by Red Fox of Fire

[Loki Laufeyson]

To be fair, they only "lost" those if you used those characters in PoR. The only characters who truly lost anything are Ilyana (Wind and Fire), Geoffrey (Bows), Titania (Lances), Brom (Lances), Tauroneo (Swords), and Jill (lances) because of how they came in PoR compared to how they came in RD. There may be a few I missed. Except in Titania's case, they all get those back eventually anyway.

EDIT: On the subject of Radiant Dawn, I liked it for a lot of the reasons others didn't. I loved the team switching because it allowed me to use more characters and made me really choose who to use, like "Will this unit be worth it later on?" as well as giving the game a nice change of pace. The higher difficulty was a nice change of pace and made it so that you can't just use overpowered units forever and breeze through the game (At least until part 3, that is. Even then, it was harder than any FE I've played). All the extra options, like transfers, skills, BEXP, etc. really added a sense of customization that no other FE had seen. It has, in my opinion, the most epic endgame in the series, spanning five whole maps, as well as a final boss that can actually be fairly tough to beat until you know exactly how to do it. It had flaws, but so does every other video game.

this..

I enjoyed the hell out of the chapter team switching! it was cool! and i loved the skill transfer..

the only gripe i had was the support system but i understand why they did it that way what with all the team switching around

[Killer Poleax]

To be fair, they only "lost" those if you used those characters in PoR. The only characters who truly lost anything are Ilyana (Wind and Fire), Geoffrey (Bows), Titania (Lances), Brom (Lances), Tauroneo (Swords), and Jill (lances) because of how they came in PoR compared to how they came in RD. There may be a few I missed. Except in Titania's case, they all get those back eventually anyway.

EDIT: On the subject of Radiant Dawn, I liked it for a lot of the reasons others didn't. I loved the team switching because it allowed me to use more characters and made me really choose who to use, like "Will this unit be worth it later on?" as well as giving the game a nice change of pace. The higher difficulty was a nice change of pace and made it so that you can't just use overpowered units forever and breeze through the game (At least until part 3, that is. Even then, it was harder than any FE I've played). All the extra options, like transfers, skills, BEXP, etc. really added a sense of customization that no other FE had seen. It has, in my opinion, the most epic endgame in the series, spanning five whole maps, as well as a final boss that can actually be fairly tough to beat until you know exactly how to do it. It had flaws, but so does every other video game.

That's pretty much what I loved about RD. The gameplay was awesome, almost perfect. Sometimes, I can't go back to previous FEs cause they don't have as many options and customizations as RD.

[Swordsalmon]

On the subject of difficulty, FEDS has six difficulty modes, ranging from "you have no reason to complain about the game being too hard" to "you have absolutely no reason to complain about the game being too easy". This is an awesome decision on IS' part, because they can just cater to both sides complaining instead of making the wrong choice.

Also, the FEDS boards on GameFAQs got trolled hard.

I must disagree a little. While the six difficulties was probably the single best idea since supports (Not just 6-9, but starting from Book 2), the characters weren't balanced enough for all the difficulties. Especially in HM5, where all the Akaean Knights were basically useless due to being killed by everything. If stats were better balanced, then it'd be that much better. ^_^

[Liz]

I must disagree a little. While the six difficulties was probably the single best idea since supports (Not just 6-9, but starting from Book 2), the characters weren't balanced enough for all the difficulties. Especially in HM5, where all the Akaean Knights were basically useless due to being killed by everything. If stats were better balanced, then it'd be that much better. ^_^

at least it's a step in the right direction.

its a new system, and as such there will definitely be some things that need to be worked on. but it's showing us that IS is trying to solve that problem of too easy/too hard.

hopefully, by the next installment they will fully work to improve this 6 difficulties system.

[Rodykitty]

I must disagree a little. While the six difficulties was probably the single best idea since supports (Not just 6-9, but starting from Book 2), the characters weren't balanced enough for all the difficulties. Especially in HM5, where all the Akaean Knights were basically useless due to being killed by everything. If stats were better balanced, then it'd be that much better.

You must suck then. It's totally possible to complete the first chapters game without getting your Akanaeian Knights killed.

EDIT: If FEDS H5' balance is skewed, it's for completely different reasons. Hopefully, though, IS will continue with difficulty modes such as this for more complex FE games.

Edited January 19, 2009 by FE3 Player

[Dr. Tarrasque]

I must disagree a little. While the six difficulties was probably the single best idea since supports (Not just 6-9, but starting from Book 2), the characters weren't balanced enough for all the difficulties. Especially in HM5, where all the Akaean Knights were basically useless due to being killed by everything. If stats were better balanced, then it'd be that much better. ^_^

Umm... Akanaeian or Altean?

[Starwolf_UK]

Superstar Saga (Mario and Luigi) did something like that - pushing A at the right time meant more damage.

It would've been stupid though.

The only SRPG I can think of that did that was Lucusarts Gladius a gladiator-esque game surprisingly enough...

The only problem was some felt it made the game too easy (and also favored using heavy weapons since their combo timing was easier...and their damage greater :( ) and turning them off made the game too boring

The thing that gets me is why are people trying to drive people away from a series so badly with these troll reviews? Are they training to be movie critics or something? Isee if you don't like the game, but it doesn't give you the right to totally slander the fans or the series just because you can. Come on, find something better to do than to attack people for liking a series you don't.

If we believe the drabble they come out with thier reason is along the line that the since they've stopped enjoying the series so they will help quicken its enetable death so they are doing us a favor despite the fact according to them we are "idiots who will buy any shit with Marth on the box"...

I admit it was a bit stupid of IS to release a Fire Emblem game all but lacking in staple features (barrels of character background in suuport convos, its a big motivator for me to replay through using characters I wouldn't normally) and not offer much in return (can anyone justify the lack of book 2 given the low production values) and I'm not sure it justifies how the mob got their pitch-forks ready and the defence force their flame shields.

My thoughts. Fire Emblem is going through an experimentation stage, we'll see some fantastic ideas and some "what were they thinking" ideas. They are trying to work out how to keep their core happy while getting new fans. To be honest I think the silent majority of core fans are happy but I can't see how they are getting any new fans with no marketing or demos to speak of (journalists got to play the prologue down at the Nintendo conferance late last year...quite a few were sold to Fire Emblem based off of that) and not even fucking Marth on the box...come to think of it I should have mentioned some of that in my post-play survey answer :(

If all of this doesn't produce a profit or NCL decide IS time is better spent on more profitable ventures don't be surprised if Fire Emblem takes a short break and frankly we could do with it...same goes for Zelda as well we're getting too many of these games in too short a time, though I don't know how much pulling power Nintendo has over them or how the staff would feel.

[VincentASM]

Which reminds me, I'm starting to get worried that Fire Emblem is dead in Europe (or at least in the UK). It's not so problematic with FE DS, because you can easily import it, but if the next FE were on the Wii and wasn't released here then uh-oh...

Slightly more on subject, I'm not at all worried about the series in general. IS has already kind of hinted about a sequel and possibly more remakes, the latter of which they've sort-of-promised to be more substantially "new" than what FE DS did.

[Penitent]

EDIT: On the subject of Radiant Dawn, I liked it for a lot of the reasons others didn't. I loved the team switching because it allowed me to use more characters and made me really choose who to use, like "Will this unit be worth it later on?" as well as giving the game a nice change of pace. The higher difficulty was a nice change of pace and made it so that you can't just use overpowered units forever and breeze through the game (At least until part 3, that is. Even then, it was harder than any FE I've played). All the extra options, like transfers, skills, BEXP, etc. really added a sense of customization that no other FE had seen. It has, in my opinion, the most epic endgame in the series, spanning five whole maps, as well as a final boss that can actually be fairly tough to beat until you know exactly how to do it. It had flaws, but so does every other video game.

Thank you for saying this, I agree wholeheartedly.

Especially on the endgame. On the whole, that beauty of a beast was just the perfect ending it could have gotten (even if the epilogue was disappointing in contrast).

And I wouldn't be too worried about Fire Emblem dying out. The Advance Wars community - developed by the same people behind Fire Emblem - were afraid that the series had been abandoned entirely, but a sequel eventually came. Another Fire Emblem game may take time, seeing as how they may want to expand on a few things, throw in new factors, and change certain parts of the design.

Edited January 19, 2009 by Penitent

[Swordsalmon]

Umm... Akanaeian or Altean?

Akaenean knights. Those failures and Mishelean in Chapter 12.

[Rodykitty]

Akaenean knights. Those failures and Mishelean in Chapter 12.

Oh, them.

Use a Warp Staff to bring a good unit to unlock the door, trade weapons to the other units, then start working to kill the two archers. You can probably avoid both the Mage and the Armor Knight range to minimize damage.

[Not Changed by VASM :(]

Anyone who believes anything said by American critics is complete and utter fail.

[Rodykitty]

Anyone who believes anything said by American critics is complete and utter fail.

Or critics in general, really.

[Dr. Tarrasque]

Oh, them.

Use a Warp Staff to bring a good unit to unlock the door, trade weapons to the other units, then start working to kill the two archers. You can probably avoid both the Mage and the Armor Knight range to minimize damage.

Isn't it easier to just kill the 2 archers on the first turn and then nuke the mage in the next turn?

[Rodykitty]

Didn't think of that, or at least kill one archer.

But yeah, you should be able to save them all with one warp staff use.

[Judge Judy]

Which reminds me, I'm starting to get worried that Fire Emblem is dead in Europe (or at least in the UK). It's not so problematic with FE DS, because you can easily import it, but if the next FE were on the Wii and wasn't released here then uh-oh...

Slightly more on subject, I'm not at all worried about the series in general. IS has already kind of hinted about a sequel and possibly more remakes, the latter of which they've sort-of-promised to be more substantially "new" than what FE DS did.

I am worried about the series that there never seems to be a major improvement in the quality of the game.

Edited January 20, 2009 by Judge Judy

[Gemini-Saga]

What? Radiant Dawn had the WORST sales in both Japan and North America. The only reason it seems so high is because the VGChartz page includes sales from both Japan and North America, unlike the others which only include Japanese sales.

Frankly, the Wii is probably the worst place to put the next installment.

I think you're overreacting but...

http://images.redial.net/fireemblem-LTD-90.png

I found the Jp FE sales(Famitsu data) till 08/20/08 if put with US numbers RD is not so bad, the situation is not so bad that you make it seems (Well without EU numbers... because I didn't find the numbers :\)

________________________________________________________________________________

Since FE6 the FE series has highs and Downs, I don't know why, they try so many different things (witch is good) but the take others that were Great...

I hope they Notice that RD was a good Build and try to make it better, and not try to get back to the Beginning. ( I forgive FE11 because is a Remake but I'll be truly upset... if the series get back in time again :\)

[Swordsalmon]

Oh, them.

Use a Warp Staff to bring a good unit to unlock the door, trade weapons to the other units, then start working to kill the two archers. You can probably avoid both the Mage and the Armor Knight range to minimize damage.

I know how to save them, but thanks. ^_^ The problem is actually trying to use them in combat, where all but Boah and to an extent Medea are one-rounding by just about everything. <_<

[Father Wood]

(I loved RD....don't know why so many hated it)

People probably gave it bad reviews because of the transition from Part 3 to 4, what with Ranulf spoiling everything for you. And from that moment on, there's nothing left for you to want to know, the next six chapters feel like you're being dragged to the end for nothing.

The biggest reason gameplay wise would probably be its lopsided difficulty.

As for FE's decline though, I'd have to say that it's because no one likes hardcore games as much as they used to, and that RD is a hardcore game for a mostly casual system.

Not to mention the boxart for it probably drove interested people away from it. Let's face it, the boxart was animeish; it took me off guard for a moment. Now know that I'm not an anime fan in any way and can totally see many who are also not into anime, but are interested in FE to be turned off just by looking at the boxart.