Fire Emblem Future

[wilsonbr224]

Hey guys!!!

Lately I've been playing some X-Com: Enemy Unknown, and man i couldn't help but think of Fire Emblem and its future.

I would like to know what you guys think of the direction X-com is going in terms of the strategy genre, and if its a good thing for future Fire Emblem games in the big console (wiiU)

[Onestep]

Hey guys!!!

Lately I've been playing some X-Com: Enemy Unknown, and man i couldn't help but think of Fire Emblem and its future.

I would like to know what you guys think of the direction X-com is going in terms of the strategy genre, and if its a good thing for future Fire Emblem games in the big console (wiiU)

I liked X-Com: Enemy Unknown, but I felt it wasn't very true to it's roots in the way it played.

But that's beside the point. This thread doesn't belong in this part of the forum. Please use the general forums or the General Fire Emblem forum for this sort of post.

Edited October 30, 2012 by Onestep

[VincentASM]

Moved!

I dunno where FE's going, but I think FE's got a bright future.

I think the GBA games' sales really helped to make Intelligent Systems push the series. FE9 and FE10 were probably the direction IS wanted to go with the series, but I have a feeling the sales weren't really what they wanted, especially with the rising development costs. Meanwhile, the two remakes seemed to be retreading the GBA games' "safe" territory.

Awakening was IS's trump card--allowing them to create a console-like FE with a relatively lower budget. They also played all their fan-service cards, drawing from all the best parts of previous games and adding in some "trendy" anime-esque features. And it seemed to work because it sold better than every game in the series sans FE3.

Still, I bet IS won't be complacent and is secretly planning a Wii U FE that will push the series in the vein of FE9/10.

Edited October 30, 2012 by VincentASM

[wilsonbr224]

I liked X-Com: Enemy Unknown, but I felt it wasn't very true to it's roots in the way it played.

But that's beside the point. This thread doesn't belong in this part of the forum. Please use the general forums or the General Fire Emblem forum for this sort of post.

Sorry about that this is my first post, i had little idea of what i was doing!!

[Rehab]

I like X-Com EU a lot too, but man, was it buggy as hell (on [and after] release). Fire Emblem has harsh consequences for failure, but it basically wants you to win. Usually. X-Com on "shit gets real" difficulty wants your blood, tears, and save states.

I actually think X-Com could stand to borrow some things from fire emblem. Namely being able to move your dudes again, if you don't like where you put them, until their final action. I.. guess I prefer unseeded RNG rolls? Bah nvm that's a nitpick for me. Oh and MORE PLOT I LIKE THE THINGS YOU ALREADY GAVE ME SIR PLEASE MAY I HAVE SOME MORE

Seeing archers use X-Com:EU shooting mechanics would be totally rad/funny, if at most parts unlikely. "Have my dudes shoot from across the map at a low enough percentage that it's a statistical throwaway? Why not, they don't have anything else to do this turn." => It hits => It crits => The collective FE playerbase simultaneously cheers and groans

Overwatch would be totally pro as all-heck though nevermind that's basically what I want for archers anyway

And I guess I'd like to be able to switch weapons after my unit moves but before my turn ends, but compared to muhfunkin overwatch I can wait

edit: I'd say more about the idea of fire emblem's future etc, but this post is probably rambling enough already as it is

Edited October 31, 2012 by Rehab

[wilsonbr224]

I like X-Com EU a lot too, but man, was it buggy as hell (on [and after] release). Fire Emblem has harsh consequences for failure, but it basically wants you to win. Usually. X-Com on "shit gets real" difficulty wants your blood, tears, and save states.

I actually think X-Com could stand to borrow some things from fire emblem. Namely being able to move your dudes again, if you don't like where you put them, until their final action. I.. guess I prefer unseeded RNG rolls? Bah nvm that's a nitpick for me. Oh and MORE PLOT I LIKE THE THINGS YOU ALREADY GAVE ME SIR PLEASE MAY I HAVE SOME MORE

Seeing archers use X-Com:EU shooting mechanics would be totally rad/funny, if at most parts unlikely. "Have my dudes shoot from across the map at a low enough percentage that it's a statistical throwaway? Why not, they don't have anything else to do this turn." => It hits => It crits => The collective FE playerbase simultaneously cheers and groans

Overwatch would be totally pro as all-heck though nevermind that's basically what I want for archers anyway

And I guess I'd like to be able to switch weapons after my unit moves but before my turn ends, but compared to muhfunkin overwatch I can wait

edit: I'd say more about the idea of fire emblem's future etc, but this post is probably rambling enough already as it is

Rehab ur absolutely right man...xcom is a fun game no doubt, and as you mentioned both games could maybe use some of each others mechanics (or not), then again xcom's mechanics apply more towards ranged attacks

[Snowy_One]

Does Fire Emblem have a future? Yes. The game has more than shown that it can hold its own (or else they wouldn't be at something like 13 installments). It will have a future for sure.

Is that future bright? That... Is a much harder question. First off Fire Emblem has an uphill battle ahead of it. On the international market the American gamers tend to desire faster games on the whole. There was a reason why Final Fantasy turned and stuck to the ATB battle system and why there are very few TB strategy games in America. To make it harder, Fire Emblem is a game where its value is derived through replay, something American gamers seem to dislike. There is little to no multiplayer, and the story, while great the first time through, is not enough to make multiple playthroughs desirable to the casual gamer.

What does this mean for the future? FE is going to have to work to define itself bigtime to stop itself from becoming a niche game and become a true Nintendo second-tier franchise. It's going to need to find a way to hold gamers for longer times without making them replay levels. I can see three ways this can be accomplished.

1) Branching paths. Think the branching paths in FE8, but with more of them and each one having a big impact on the ending. I'm not saying it needs to be Chrono-Trigger level by any means, but something to make the multiple replays distinctly different from each other so that people who aren't support-completionists will want to replay.

2) Post-game content/New Game+. The idea here is to boost the value of each individual PT. Adding something like the ruins/tower from FE8 would allow people to focus more on fun and continue using their favored team while a NG+ would offer some way to help lower the tedium of a replay.

3) Define itself. In my eyes, the thing that separated FE from Advance Wars, FFT, or Civilization is the characters. FE needs to focus on its cast and their own side-stories in order to help solidify it's own unique separation from other TBS. As I recall, many of the prior games simply had the main character, a few supporting characters, than a lot of characters who, aside from their supports, were meatbags in the greater story. This needs to change in my eyes and greater focus needs to be put on the cast as a whole. Laura ended up having almost as much personality as a FFT healer you just recruited, which was a big letdown, both for her and the game as a whole.

IMO, the game that *could* appeal to American Audiences the best would be a game where the player runs a merc camp that gets hired by a king. They receive a series of main-line missions, but also secondary and side-quests which have varying degrees of impact on the story and every character ends up with one side-quest focused on them. Easy mode will be balanced for players focusing on the main story alone, Normal for people completing secondary and a few sides, and Hard for people doing NG+ modes with a fully leveled team.