The good and bad of each FE

[_____]

I know. I just think old looks bad XD

Fair enough.

I guess. But at least the characters have personality.

I can see that.

The personalities are all so bland that it barely matters. I mean, the only good ones I can think of are Gonzales, Clarine, and I guess Garret, and even they are mediocre.

Edited July 24, 2009 by Ninji

[Colonel M]

Deak doesn't have the worst of personalities though. Well, in my opinion. Better than Garret's anyway. >.>;

[Ragnell]

FE1-6

Haven't played them. I could guess based on what I've heard, but... I'd rather not.

FE7

+ Good characters, three heroes, first NA title, fairly balanced, ok music

- I didn't like the story...

FE8

+ World map, trainees, good music

- Confusing and dumb story, low difficulty

FE9 (bias alert)

+ Great characters, interesting story, good support system, Bonus Experience, and good difficulty (at least I thought so), great music (best in the series if you ask me)

- Broken paladins, laguz suck (besides royals), no S-rank axe, lance, wind, fire, or light, and no dark magic :o

FE10

+ Unique support system, great story, 3 tier promotion

- Lame new characters, no support convos, characters that appear way over-leveled and then reappear right at the end WAY under-leveled (Tormod and Vika, I'm looking at you)

FE11

+ Good graphics (I loved 'em), reclass, Wi-Fi

- Horrible characters and story, too short, totally stupid gaiden requirements

Edited July 25, 2009 by Ragnell

[NinjaMonkey]

FE8 (Sacred Stones)

+: Seth can pretty much kill everyone.

-: Seth is so strong that he can't weaken enemies for anyone else to finish off, the shop is, for some reason, on the map (and I'm guessing that there's no base either), Eirika sucks as a unit.

FE9 (Path of Radiance)

+: Paladins are actually good in this game, Sothe isn't a forced unit, Dragon Laguz don't have 2 range, you have a base in this game, from which to purchase weapons/items and outfit your characters.

-: No battle saves, Enemies keep targeting Mist(who dies in one hit), Jill is somehow weak to bows and wind magic, there are a lot of long-range tome users, no enemy pegasus knights, Can't get S level axe, lance, Fire/Wind/Light magic, Astrid (for some reason) can't use the Double Bow, Supports for some characters suck, Have to use an Occult scroll (of which there are 4 in total) to learn a mastery skill (which aren't as good as in FE10).

FE10 (Radiant Dawn)

+: Battle saves, more laguz killing missions, a pegasus knight boss, base, Units can support with any other unit, 3 tier classes (and automatically recieve Mastery Skills on 3rd Tier promotion),

Get to play as the Black Knight for a couple of chapters.

-: Sothe is a forced unit for nearly all the DB missions, all paladins suck (ex Titania, Oscar), Oliver is still alive (somehow), Thunder Magic now sucks in comparison to FE9, Micaiah sucks as a unit, Vika is only playable for a paltry 4 maps before the Endgame, Aether now sucks.

Edited July 25, 2009 by NinjaMonkey

[Just call me AL]

FE4

Pros: Holy blood, weapons can be repaired, great soundtrack, story and characters.

Cons: Mounted units > grounded units a rough good percentage of the time, most subs suck.

FE6

Pros: Pretty basic, interesting villains (like Idun for example), introduction of the support system.

Cons: Every chapter excluding the last one has seize as the goal, anti-climactic finale, some characters have bland personalities.

FE7

Pros: Like a better FE6 despite being its prequel, interesting heroes and villains, introduction of the FE series all over the world, good difficulty (at least I thought so) a bit simple but great story.

Cons: Some characters either have slow supports (Serra, I'm looking at you! ) or don't have much supports to work with (like Rath), an anti-climactic finale.

FE8

Pros: A world map, trainee characters, monsters

Cons: Story is a bit bleh, not much difficulty.

Because of some limitations, I'm gonna have to put up the rest of this post later on.

[Fei Mao]

FE1-FE2 (Never played those)

FE3

Pros: Great game and had more inventory space

Cons: (probably just me) a lot of trail and error guesses on what turn reinforcements will appear.

FE4

Pros: Great story, Excellent soundtrack (probably the best) and skills for characters

Cons: Maps can be way too large and also a lot of Trial and Error events (like taking Macbeth's castle and if you don't have moved Levin away from the forest area)

FE5

Pros: Great AI, Great difficulty for FE fans, the ability to capture enemies, and an attempt by IS at realism (fatique)

Cons: Can be way too difficult, (Chapter 22), more trial and error on reinforcement appearance without a guide, and unfinished

FE6

Pros: Basic, had Sprites, decent difficulty, and had support conversation

Cons: No skills for characters

FE7

Pros: Balanced and easy game (considering it was the first game for FE in the USA)

Cons: Long turn waits for some characters support conversations and too easy for a FE fan that played all the other FE

FE8

Pros: World Map and branches of promotion for people

Cons: Way too easy and the story is not great for most of the people

FE9-FE10 (haven't played them only read or saw the cutscenes of them)

FEDS

Pros: Reclassing, Wifi, and H5 mode for the FE fans

Cons: No support conversation, since it's staying to the original means no rescue option and horrible prepromotes (Arran) and for most people the story is horrible.

[grandjackal]

FE1: +Well...It started the series. Either way, blazing a path through Archanea is always fun.

-Has not aged well. Skill and Luck are useless, some characters clearly suck, promotion ruins character uniqueness, INVENTORY...However, this was the start. It needed to get it's bearing so far, and was a good first go. Music is REPETITIVE

FE2: +Characters are a bit more unique, I actually LIKE this magic system, the map system was fantastic imo. Nice change of pace with a soundtrack that actualy has variety. Weapons not breaking would have been bad, but it was greatly implimented and worked out just fine.

-It was balanced in the same way FE4 was. Some people suck royally, but you can use them all anyways until lategame. Leveling way too damn slowly forced you to grind at times. Monsters are a nice idea, but were badly implimented. Some maps were repeated.

FE3: +Archanea is always fun. Music is excellent. More units are usable, though still a bit unbalanced. FE3 starts to show true challenge in book 2. An attempt at balance can be seen here, though it's far from perfect.

-At this point, a couple things start to show their age. Swords constantly being the most used weapon, 20 cap stats actually ruin some characters, dismounting was a nerf that backfired, star orbs...

FE4: +Jugdrall has a great story (as badly as the game gets it across), characters starting to get less faceless, skills are a nice addition to the series, the child system is a nice way to experiment. Music is AMAZING, some of the best in the series. *puts on enemy phase endgame music*. Oh, and possibly one of the greatest twists in a video game ;;>>

-Any attempt at balance is gone. Anyone with holy blood is particularly amazing, and once holy weapons are involved you might as well not exist if you don't have them, sometimes that difference can be made just by being mounted. Maps are huge to the point of tedium and leaves the game feeling vastly empty. Due to how the story is told, nothing really effects you strongly. The game is just cruel to some characters. Even though you can use everyone, it feels like a waste for some regardless.

FE5: +The greatest of challenges. The map design is stellar, and comes to life quite well. The story is better seen through Leaf's view, and some parts can actually effect you as the story writing doesn't blow here. Skills are almost to perfection, the weapon selection is excellent. All the characters might not be as depthful as some others in the series, but their functions feel quite a lot more unique. Promotion is almost perfected here. Knight's proof have to be my favorite method of promotion.

-The music however, has a tendency to ruin it as it's...Bland. The game can also be unfair at times due to the RNG and the map situations. While balance is improving, we went back to the 20 stat caps. Some characters are noticeably stronger than others. Thsi game

FE6: +The system is perfected here. Only thing not balanced are classes, which helps to balance the playable characters. This in turn makes some enemies more dangerous than others, which is actually GREAT in a tactics game, as it makes VIP enemies, another obstacle to take down rather than just bullet sponge enemies. Just about every character is vastly usable on a grand scale. Weapon Selection is of perfection. Supports add depth to the game's characters, making them feel quite a bit more 3-D. Ranks that are resembling fairness are introduced for another level of challenge. FoW is for once implimented greatly. This game has the greatest customization of any game in the series in terms of character-enemy power/utility ratio. Best of all, class unique caps are shown to stay. Overall, this game deserved better.

-The skills system is removed (a good thing imo, at least for this game anyways). We reverted to class specific promotion items, which can be rather annoying. Elibe support affinities tend to be a tad too potent, as it makes lategame a joke when they're built up. Map scenarios and story run a tad bland.

FE7: +Great introduction to the outside world. Easily some of the best writing (though not necessarily the best story) in the series. It brings back yummy mission variance.

-However, it's got flaws. Ranks are relatively unfair (FUNDS), the game is only balanced in PCs due to how bad the enemy sucks, map situations are just about as bland. Basically all the problems FE6 had, then added some.

FE8: +It brought in a more RPG feel to the game. Characters are just as deep, and the writing is still pretty great. If you get screwed even, it gives you thinks like the tower and the ruins to help you out. Music adds a nice touch to the atmosphere. This game actually would be amazingly balanced...

-...If the enemies didn't suck royally. It's way too easy. The game doesn't really challenge you. The map system is back, however it's actually a DOWNGRADE of FE2's. FE2 had it perfect, why downgrade? These two negatives alone make the game feel quite bland. A tragedy...This game had such potential. Also, the writing might be good, but the story as is rather sucks. So animuu...

FE9: +Tellius kicks ASS! Favorite realm in the series. The characters are amazing and can actually get you attached to some (Lethe~<3). This game has the greatest amount of personality ever, and the story is actually pretty awesome. Addition of new classes went well (Laguz, Halberdiers). Mages are no longer god-modders, affinity system is quite a bit more balanced.

-Balance is not quite perfect though, as class balance gets in the way for once. Paladins are WAY too strong and given too much freedom. BEXP system could have been better thought over. Some characters get a major shaft (Archers, Hawks...). Music is perhaps a bit too ambient as none of the tracks are really memorable outside of Black Knight and Ashnard battle themes. Otherwise...Pretty spot on. Would have been nice to see Maniac Mode though. Earth affinity in "Hard" mode is a tad too strong. Skills also did not get a great re-intro to the series here.

FE10: +Music is a bit ambient, but even considering some tracks stick out once again which makes some of the music quite awesome on a gand scale (Sorrowful Prince Pelleas, The Strong, BOSS THEME FUCK YEAH!). Support system is perfected and no longer wtf powerful. Skills are best implimented here and is a great system to tinker around with. Laguz system a bit closer to perfection. New map ideas make the maps quite a bit more unique.

-Everything else that would have made this otherwise a flawless game are not just not there, they're thrown out the window. Character balance is TERRIBLE. While some tracks of music are impressive, some are so ear grating that it makes the game annoying at times (Greil Merc battle theme, fucking music that plays Endgame). Story took everything good about FE9 and absolutely ruined whatever tension it had built to the point where it felt like a cop-out. New ideas implimented where not neccesarily done so correctly (Ledges were abused part 1, are barely played outside of that). The parts system also sucked royal balls and contributed to ruining the character balance that could have existed. Game tends to just throw god modders at you. Masteries are badly implimented. Character depth is gone and some even ruined (Astrid being the proof). New characters tend to have little depth and weirdly enough seem to suck anwyays. It feels so rushed. There is a game here, but it's all shattered and in pieces.

FEDS: +Class Swap makes every character usable on a grand scale and causes what could be the best character balance in the series. Support system completely revamped and overall quite well implimented. Difficulty settings also help to comform to the player and give a challenge to ayone who picks it up. Writing is so well done, it makes the very basic skeleton story of FE1 seem rather epic in telling. Knight Proof system returns to perfection. At core, this game is perfect. Hell, even the music is a perfected reamp of FE1, turning repetitive into beauty.

-Only complaints I can find in this is perhaps the game basically gets ruined by it's forging system, and that an experiment with two certain prepromotes went completely wrong. Wi-Fi blows. However, the biggest complaints are the gaidens. You can only get to them with a certain amount of people dead/certain people dead. It feels more coddling than rewarding. Not only that, but having your people die is rather tedious. Would have been better if you could just choose to kick people out of the army instead. Replacement units also are a weird idea, and think it should be better thought ot if it's to be used another time.

My opinions of course. God I can't shut up x.x

[Rehab]

FE4

- no Fire Emblem to speak of (unless one of the Velthomer's are carrying it with them at all times)

I consider that a plus

[Just call me AL]

FE9

Pros: A good story, a good support system, BEXP, great characters, magic has more variety.

Cons: Has FE4 syndrome as far as units are concerned (mounted units > grounded units) to a certain extent, no endings.

FE10

Pros: Three tiers, support with anyone, good story.

Cons: Much of the game feels tacked on, horrible balancing, most laguz units suck (the royals are the only surefire best and greatest laguz units)

FEDS

Pros: Reclass, better balancing, Wi-Fi.

Cons: Horrible characters, less character uniqueness, the fact that you have to kill off a few guys to get to the gaidens, no supports, remake of a game that previously had a nitpick on a mary sue personality and unfortunately that doesn't change here.

Edited September 7, 2009 by Idun and Sephiroth fan

[Swordsalmon]

+Pretty much invented SRPGs

Masaya and it's Elthlead games would like a word with you. >__<

FE1:

+Excellent chapters, arguably the best of the series.

-Characters and mechanics are unbalanced and rather broken, rather tedious to play now.

-Gordon, his one recolour, and his eight-billion clones. ;)

FE2:

+Great implementation of class system.

+Nice change of pace to more RPG mechanics.

-Aged gameplay mechanics; can be tedious to play.

FE3:

Book 1:

+Far better balance.

+Roshe

-Less chapters.

Book 2:

+Storyline is implemented very well; first game in series with real feelings towards characters. Also, with allies turned enemies makes the game much more sad, but interesting.

-Balance, though a massive improvement, still has some problems. Paola and Katua, for example, are completely overpowered.

-Lack of Axe-users.

FE4:

+Harold

+Long-spanning and interesting story.

-Balance sucks. Characters without ponies are far weaker, and some characters are almost completely unusable.

-Map design isn't great. While the first generation doesn't suffer much from this, most maps in the second generation aren't engaging and are rather uninteresting.

FE5:

++++++Hicks

+Return of the 20 cap system, which makes most characters more usable.

+The best storyline of the series. This game makes much more use of the Manster-Thracia conflicts, and everything is far more in-depth. The smaller scale of the story is in this game's enormous benefit.

-Can get a bit difficult at times.

FE6:

+Best map design. Though each map is a seize, they are almost all completely engaging and don't get boring.

+Characters are considerably more in-depth, and supports makes its best appearance to date.

+Game balance is very fine-tuned, even by later standards. Every character can be used to effect, and difficulty is challenging but usually not stressful.

-Storyline is rather boring for much the game. At times, the story feels rather rushed.

FE7:

+Character personalities are even further improved.

-Storyline is boring.

-Gameplay is toned-down severely, and considerably less entertaining than before.

-Map design isn't very engaging.

FE8:

+Binks

-That stinkin' Pablo.

FE9:

+Best personalities in the series. No character is forgettable. With this, the storyline is also very well-done.

+Character balance is well done. Every character is usable.

-Rofl

-Character classes are done poorly. Paladins and Wyvern Lords are too powerful, while magic and healing are too weak. Many other classes are too weak.

-Rofl

-Rofl

-Rofl

FEDS:

+/-Class Swap is a fairly good addition. However, it's still doesn't give many balanced options; characters being reliant on class growths is a noticible weakness.

-Everything else.

[Reikken]

just covering FE6 because I don't feel like taking the time to do others

-FE6-

good:

SUPPORTS

2 RN system, and a general minimization of luck factor (other examples are FE5's random move again system)

balance in general, including stuff like the removal of random overpowered weapons that plagued FE4/5

cool attack animations

two difficulty modes

bad:

I don't have much to complain about. Removal of skills isn't necessarily bad, but it may have been better if they had fixed/improved them instead.

[Scarlet]

Hey, at least it gives Est, Gordin, Arran and other crappy characters a use!

And goes against the very spirit of each FE game out there, which is to keep your units alive as best as you can.

[Defeatist Elitist]

FE4

Good: Interesting mechanics, generations is sweet, etc

Bad: Frankly, it just has a kind of air about it

FE5

Good: Again, interesting mechanics, etc

Bad: A bit unrefined maybe? I dunno, similar to my beef with FE4.

FE6

Good: Simple and fun enough

Bad: Slightly too simplistic

FE7

Good: Simple and fun

Bad: Slightly too simplistic

FE8

Good: Adds more interesting bits like Branched Promotions, etc.

Bad: Easy to an obscene degree.

FE9

Good: Nice additions with feeling too backwards

Bad: Nothing in particular, easy, and it just isn't quite as good as some others, like:

FE10

Good: Length, characters, difficulty, interestingness, mechanical additions, on and on. It doesn't have crazy shit like Fatigue System and movement growth, but it's pretty cool regardless.

Bad: Uh, I guess it is a bit brutally unkind to some characters.

FE11

Good: Solid advancement over the previous handhelds, Class Swap is sweet as shit, nice additions to FE1, difficulty choice is GREAT etc

Bad: Didn't offer much beyond the gameplay, although I don't really mind that much

[Vykan12]

FE4

Good: Generation system, arena, infinitely repairable weapons, infinite deployment

Bad: Balance (!!!)

FE5

Good: Capturing, lots of prf weapons, h4x staves, fatigue, scrolls, etc

Bad: Same turn reinforcements, overpowered ballistae, lack of a formation option

FE7

Good: Balanced cast

Bad: support system, low item slots, weapons only buyable in-chapter, huge difficulty drop as the game goes on

FE8

Good: Promotion paths, overworld map

Bad: support system, lack of difficulty

FE9

Good: Skills, forging, BEXP, laguz, support system

Bad: Overpowered paladin class

FE10

Good: Similar mechanics to FE9 but improved for the most part (eg/ removable skills)

Bad: Balance, lack of availability for many units

[Ϲharlie]

FE2

Good: Unique mechanics, slightly improved storytelling over its predecessor, lots of class options for several characters

Bad: Map design is horrible in every sense of the word

FE3

Good: Two games in one, improved interface, good gameplay, has a good story with a few interesting characters for its age, Orb shards

Bad: Somewhat primitive by today's standards, Easy, book 1 is was watered down, no axemen in book 2

FE4

Good: Introduced some new mechanics, generation system, has a good story concept

Bad: Bloated maps, balance is shit, has random overpowered weapons, story is badly written

That's it for now.

[BrightBow]

FE4

Good: repairable weapons, everyone can be deployed, arena, the entire secound generation thing, canto, skills in general

Bad: armors and mages are too slow and along with thiefes are a bitch to train, Holsety and Balmunk are broken, overall too easy.

FE5

Good: Intense atmosphaere, capturing, canto, simple weapons can be bought in the preparations menu

Bad: No funds, statts cap at 20, Enemys carry mostly weapons that have way less worth then the ones you have to buy in a shop, Ballista!!!, Infinite long statuseffects, lack of spells, captured units can't be recruited, campturing in the same game with the PCC, Plot Armor for certain bosses, Lord promotes late, Ronan

FE6

Good: Supports and affinity(Yes!), Hard Mode, caps are higher then 20, Trial Maps

Bad: Yuno, no canto, support can't be viewed again, good luck trying to get a S rank for light magic.

FE7

Good: Supports and affinity, Lots of modes, caps are higher then 20, Supports can be viewed again

Bad: the tactican

Localisation: reduced difficulty lots of translation errors and lots of pointless changes in general

FE8

Good: Shops can be revisited, different paths for the story

Bad: Secret charaters can't be used in the Link-Arena, the monsters are getting anoying over time

FE9

Good: 200 items storage, Base, no ranks ^^, the new way supports get raised, lots of battle convos, skills are back, Trial maps, awesome atmosphare, gallery

Bad: Occults are mostly pointless, supports can't be viewed again, missing S-Rank weapons, Sages with knifes, some trail maps require a connection with the GBA games, 15 runs to unlock Ashnard for trial maps?!, unused Bright Bow

Localisation: The names Mia and Titania already appeared in FE8... what was NoA thinking reusing names like that? Oh and the missing Maniac Mode of course and missing Sword of Seals gallery and the Black Knight sounds like Darth Vader... they probably thought he sounds cool that way... I guess...

FE10

Good: Parts, Crossovers, Good story ideas, Most Pal languages have their own voice actors this time.

Bad: Balancing... just balancing, Good story ideas were poorly executed, the game was hijacked by the Greil Mercenaries, ridicolus requirements to unlock Lehran, No Trial Maps, No support Convos, Balancing, Balancing, Balancing, Balancing

Localisation:

-The english voice actors are only speaking when they have actual lines but when the characters make any noises you still hear the japanese voices... thats annoying with characters like Rolf whose japanese voice is way deeper then his english one. And all the Pal languages have that problem as well.

-Whose Idea was it to have a extended and a shortened Dialoge anyway? And whose idea was it not to include them in the versions outside of Japan?

-Why were the forging points dropped? The forging system is broken without them.

-Lots of translation erros, name inconsistences and facepalm name changes aswell as changes just for the hell of it, like changing the reason why Ike was able to beat the BK in PoR desbite the possible malfunctions of the warp powder were already hinted in PoR.

+Well they added the gallery at last.

Edited July 25, 2009 by BrightBow-User

[DragonBladeSniper]

FE6

Good: Supports and affinity(Yes!), Hard Mode, caps are higher then 20, Trial Maps

Bad: Yuno, no canto, support can't be viewed again, good luck trying to get a S rank for light magic.

FE7

Good: Supports and affinity, Lots of modes, caps are higher then 20, Supports can be viewed again

Bad: the tactican

FE8

Good: Shops can be revisited, different paths for the story

Bad: Secret charaters can't be used in the Link-Arena, the monsters are getting anoying over time

FE9

Good: 200 items storage, Base, no ranks ^^, the new way supports get raised, lots of battle convos, skills are back, Trial maps, awesome atmosphare, gallery

Bad: Occults are mostly pointless, supports can't be viewed again, missing S-Rank weapons, Sages with knifes, some trail maps require a connection with the GBA games, 15 runs to unlock Ashnard for trial maps?!, unused Bright Bow

FE10

Good: Parts, Crossovers, Good story ideas, Most Pal languages have their own voice actors this time.

Bad: Balancing... just balancing, Good story ideas were poorly executed, the game was hijacked by the Greil Mercenaries, ridicolus requirements to unlock Lehran, No Trial Maps, No support Convos, Balancing, Balancing, Balancing, Balancing

I agree with most of this but FE7's tactitian wasn't bad, there wasn't canto in most games (FE6) and the occults ARE pointless in FE9 (besides Aether).

[Jaybee]

FE8

The good: Easy, arenas, trial characters and a world map.

The bad: Lyon & Selena take too damn long to recruit. Abuse gets boring after a while.

FE10

The good: Nice storyline, hard as fuck, great game to debate and flame people over.

The bad: Hard as fuck. No trial characters. No world map.