FE4 is too outdated to be any fun

[Radiant Dragon]

It sucks if the emphasis is on the smaller, character-oriented scale. Which neither generation really is. It's focused more on what's happening globally.

I disagree with this statement. First off, generation 2 is not focused more globally rather than character-oriented. It's focus is indisputably on the bland children characters. Second, just because the focus of generation 1 is on a global scale, that doesn't excuse the lack of characterization among the cast.

Honestly though, FE4's story is the least of it's troubles. It's just an all around dull and poorly balanced game, albeit with a good soundtrack (except chapter 4).

[rigadoog]

I'd just like to chime in and let you all know that I started playing Fire Emblem less than a year ago. I've played all the way through FE 7-10, and I've played about half of both FE6 and FE11, and I'm currently on Chapter 10 of FE4 in my first playthrough. And I love it. I decided to start playing FE4 as my first SNES era FE due to hearing about how a few people here have considered it their favorite FE.

I had the same problems that the topic creator had when I first started, and I didn't feel motivated to play it. I was bored by the plot at first, and I kind of skimmed through the story. For some reason though, I decided to keep trying to play and get used to it, and once I started to adjust to the mechanics (damage not shown in combat window, individual funds, etc.), I realized that I was really enjoying it. I even started to get into the plot - I felt like the game didn't expect me to pay any attention to the plot until I got used to the mechanics and wanted to pay attention.

I've come to like the unique things about this game more than any other FE game. I actually prefer the individual units' money supply - it adds a different type of difficulty that I haven't dealt with before, and you have to pay more attention rather than just giving everyone the best weapons available and using them all up. I think that this is the only mechanic that makes it possible for the game to give you legendary weapons like Holsety, while still actually enjoying the game since you have to preserve its uses. I also found the ability to repair your weapons very interesting.

The most unique thing about this game in my opinion is inheritance, it's what makes it so epic. There are so many factors you have to consider: Can this parent pass down weapons to the child? Do they pass down any useful skills? What about growth rates? How about Holy Blood? I feel like inheritance alone encourages multiple replays so that you can try different pairings (instead of just looking up what the best ones are online and raping the whole 2nd gen ).

Well, getting back to the original point made by the OP, I wouldn't say that this game is "leaps and bounds better than the newer games", but it's my favorite due to how unique it is.

And as my final comment, I would just like to say that I don't think the plot twist at the end of the 1st gen was a huge deal, was anybody here really shocked by that? It still was a pretty cool way to end the 1st gen and set up the plot for Celice to reclaim his family's honor.

TL;DR: FE4 became my favorite once I got used to it because of inheritance and the added elements of individual funds, but the end of 1st gen didn't surprise me.

Edited August 3, 2011 by rigadoog

[NinjaMonkey]

TL;DR: FE4 became my favorite once I got used to it because of inheritance and the added elements of individual funds, but the end of 1st gen didn't surprise me.

Which is why you've listed your favourite FE game to be Path of Radiance...

Edited August 3, 2011 by NinjaMonkey

[Anouleth]

If you pull apart the game from how it's supposed to be then you're probably not going to enjoy it. If you play it for what it is, it's not that bad.

Most people who compare elements out of context to elements not even contextually similar are going to find disjunction because--dundundun--you're comparing two entirely, broken things.

Or, "I like oranges and because this has no element of an orange, it is therefore inferior, you fucking twit of an apple. Tosser."

I don't really get this. Are you saying that you can't compare the story of FE4 because it's somehow inherently completely different to other Fire Emblems? When really, it's no different. You have a bunch of chapters, the chapters start with some expository narration, followed by some dialogue. Then the battle starts and you have various conversations between characters mid-battle. Then the battle ends and you have a little more conversation. Sounds like every recent Fire Emblem to me.

It sucks if the emphasis is on the smaller, character-oriented scale. Which neither generation really is. It's focused more on what's happening globally.

You know, you can say that the focus in Gen 1 is on the politics in Grandbell, but that doesn't make it true. A handful of lines of exposition about the politics in Grandbell does not make it the central focus. I might as well claim that FE10 is focused on the internal politics of Begnion.

[Aizenberg]

The only complaint ive got for fe 4 is that some of the characters r quite unbalanced. Throughout most of the second generation, u rely mostly on characters like sety, shannan, aless to deal with the harder enemies. Other than that, best fire emblem game. Fuck the haters!!!!

[General Banzai]

Well I just finished Gen 1 for the first time and I can't say I'm too impressed either. The plot, which I've heard heralded as the end-all plot of end-all plots, is quite lackluster. I realize there's more too it in the second gen, but the first gen basically boils down to "do random things the king orders you to do for three chapters, then get betrayed by some of your countrymen and fight them for a bit". Reptar and Langobalt are jokes as villains, what with their two appearances in the story and the fact that their entire motivation for doing what they're doing is dropped in the map into to the prologue.

Sigurd and Dierdre's romance was unbelievable beyond degree. Nowhere else in the Fire Emblem series is there a romance this unrealistic; that it's a key plot point is even worse. The characters in general have not impressed me at all. Manfloy seems to make all tension evaporate whenever he shows his face.

Meanwhile, from a gameplay standpoint, it's actually quite boring, with large chunks of time dedicated to running over flat ground while no enemies oppose you, and then backtracking back the way you came because a new path opened up. There's almost no variety in what you're doing; it's always "charge castle x" or "charge castle y" or "save villages x, y, and z". There are literally random villages which must be saved from random bandits in every single chapter so far, and they serve no purpose but to make you move faster, furthering the unit unbalance as it makes your already broken mounted units like Sigurd and Lex even more necessary. The lack of any indoors maps is also a hamper to map and objective variety. I'm actually quite disappointed that there aren't more places where you actually have to defend your base, considering that seems like it would be an excellent thing to have a lot of in this game.

Meanwhile when your characters get holy weapons they're basically unstoppable, and the game turns into the 4-F of FERD where your characters just roflstomp whatever wanders into their path. That most melee enemies only do minuscule amounts of damage to anyone even halfway tanky is also laughable.

So I'm not impressed with Gen 1 at all. Hopefully Gen 2 will change my mind.

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

to be honest as much as i love every FE game.

i still love FE4, but its not in my top 10 FE games.

[Guy Starwind]

I have to agree pretty much with everything rigadoog said. I couldn't have said it better myself.

Once again people need to give this game some slack it's an snes game and was made in the mid 90's.

[Paperblade]

FE3 and 5's gameplay were nowhere near this bad, and there are plenty of other SNES games with great gameplay that still hold up today.

[Guy Starwind]

Bad is a matter of opinion. Moreover, I would say FE4 still holds up today.

[Integrity]

Once again people need to give this game some slack it's an snes game and was made in the mid 90's.

So was Link to the Past.

So was Final Fantasy 6.

So was Super Mario World.

So was Donkey Kong Country.

I could go on and on, but I don't feel like it right now. Those are just the ones on my desk in the form of GBA remakes.

Edited August 3, 2011 by Integrity

[Balcerzak]

I would appreciate it if the game played in 150-200% speed.

I have no complaints about the combat preview window, I always use Detailed anyway, and was annoyed in Shadow Dragon when it was removed.

I have no complaints with enemies being clumped up in formations. It required a different set of strategizing and wall-making than when you could pull in much smaller groups of enemies to deal with or when you could just toss a unit in a pile an expect them to survive (which won't happen here until and unless Holsety, in all likelihood).

I DO have complaints about the low low enemy density. Trekking from point A to point B would be more exciting if there was more than just the one lump of enemies you plowed through easily in the first few turns.

I have no complaints with Sigurd being a powerful character. So is Cuan. It's up to the player to distribute kills how they like.

I have no complaints with the plot. Well, except for what appears to be a complete lack of motivation on Julius's part in Generation 2, but the liberation plot is still fairly solid.

I DO think Sigurd x Dierdre was rushed, and could have been handled better.

I have no complaints with hidden items like Hero Axe, Pursuit Ring, etc. It would have been nice if villages would have hinted to them, but you never get hints for Secret Shop locations later either...

I have no complaints about the personal money supply, or the personal items. I really thought that making is so that you couldn't just spam a Javelin (or other 1-2 range) weapon on every character due to limited supply really changed the playing style. The ability to repair the unique weapons kept things possible, and the Arena as a way to increase your XP and gold was fantastically executed.

[Paperblade]

1-2 range was terrible in FE4 anyway due to horrid might and horrid weight.

[Anouleth]

The ability to repair the unique weapons kept things possible, and the Arena as a way to increase your XP and gold was fantastically executed.

I didn't like how the Arena meant that strong characters would get even stronger and richer while weak characters like Arden/Azel/Dew would struggle to gain any significant experience or money and just fall further behind.

[General Banzai]

I didn't like how the Arena meant that strong characters would get even stronger and richer while weak characters like Arden/Azel/Dew would struggle to gain any significant experience or money and just fall further behind.

Arden's actually a monster in the arena but I agree with your point. Gen 1 has almost no replay value as you only have a handful of characters and only an even smaller portion of them are any good. It got to the point where Sigurd/Levin/Ayra would have a perpetual 50k gold and then everyone else would struggle to afford weapon repairs.

I thought the arena was boring anyways; you just start a chapter and want to be all "go go go" but then you remember arena and fffff as you try to get Azel to beat the first opponent.

[Florete]

I actually liked using FE4's arena, but I agree with the noted flaws.

[NinjaMonkey]

The only complaint ive got for fe 4 is that some of the characters r quite unbalanced.

And there aren't unbalanced characters in the other FE games?

[Mekkah]

FE4 really takes it one step further with the holy weapons and enormous differences between being mounted and not being mounted.

[Guy Starwind]

So was Link to the Past.

So was Final Fantasy 6.

So was Super Mario World.

So was Donkey Kong Country.

I could go on and on, but I don't feel like it right now. Those are just the ones on my desk in the form of GBA remakes.

Yes they were and? I wrote that post due to the people who kept saying the story needs more. I understand not liking the story but it's getting annoying when I keep seeing they should have explored more with so & so. In truth I think everyone would want more but that's what we got. According to the Pre-release changes for the game it was to have a third part. However, due to time they only went with two. Who knows maybe more was in it but they couldn't fit it in due to time? Maybe that's why FE4 has like three different mangas and we have the designer's notes page to explore the areas they couldn't fit in.

[Cesternino53]

I can appreciate the game for what it is, though I don't particularly care for a lot of the mechanics. One thing that bothers me about this game (and to a lesser extent FE 5) is that there are too many mounted units. I prefer variety, and I don't get that when most of my army looks so similar.