Worst Fire Emblem game?

[Nicolas]

So if we wouldn't care about story, then FE11 would be good?

[Robert Stewart]

How can you forget something like this:

Roger's recruitment is hilarious, yes, but it doesn't make up for characters like Macellan, Dolph, Tomas, the Wolfguard, Bord/Cord/Barst, etc.

In other words, the few memorable characters are outweighed heavily by the completely unmemorable ones.

Edited October 16, 2013 by shinpichu

[Just call me AL]

So if we wouldn't care about story, then FE11 would be good?

I wouldn't rate FE11 high, even if story is considered. But I would in no way call it the worst.

[dondon151]

My least favorite FE is Sword of Seals and I also consider it the most unbalanced game in the series. Sue me Dondon :P

I don't enjoy it: too much siege magic, status staves galore, terrible chars, huge maps, hitrates, etc just bring it down. I'm sure Gaiden would be my least favorite FE if I played it though...

well, i'm not going to stop you from expressing your opinion, but if you're going to make a relatively objective claim, i'd at least like for you to justify it with evidence. that way i can at least attempt to make a rational appeal. i can challenge you on all of your arguments but the last one:

- too much siege magic

this is simple enough to deal with. bait them, kill them with fliers, or use barrier and eat them. this is like complaining that FE12 has too many 1-2 range dragons.

- too many status staves

not quite as simple to deal with due to the staff accuracy formula, and instead of physic to heal off damage you have to use restore. i think there are a couple of places where status staves are just a bit much, but on they whole they're not terrible if you explore ways to deal with them.

- terrible characters

i debunked this in another thread by showing that FE6 has proportionately about the same number of terrible characters relative to the entire cast when compared to other FE games. but if you're going to use this as a metric, look no further than your personal favorite.

- huge maps

come on, dude, i'm pretty sure you saw chapter 13. chapter 13 is fucking huge and i did it in 5 turns. FE6 maps have to be big or they'd be too easy otherwise.

- low hit rates

this is the only grievance that i can 100% agree with. this can be alleviated by not relying as much on 1-2 range. boss avoid is terrible, though. if i could change one thing about FE6, it would be to reduce throne and gate avo bonuses to 10 instead of 30.

[Espinosa]

So if we wouldn't care about story, then FE11 would be good?

There are plenty more things that you could care about besides story. I've heard SD criticised for its graphics for instance.

That said, H5 is quite difficult to play, especially the early chapters. H5 Warpless LTC? Hmmm...

[RJWalker]

Roger's recruitment is hilarious, yes, but it doesn't make up for characters like Macellan, Dolph, Tomas, the Wolfguard, Bord/Cord/Barst, etc.

In other words, the few memorable characters are outweighed heavily by the completely unmemorable ones.

In the same way, a few good characters in Awakening, like Virion and Henr, don't outweigh the painfully bad characters that it's filled with, like Cordelia, Tharja, Kellam.

The few characters that do get characterization in FE11, like Marth, Cain, Nyna, etc are far better than the vast majority of FE13's characters. Even with that painfully, limited script, a few lines is all it took (Cain's recruitment and death quote, for example) to give better characterization than a large number of bad supports that are all about the same trope for each character.

I'm not saying FE11 has more characterization than FE13. I'm saying it has better characterization despite having far less of it.

[Robert Stewart]

I'm not saying FE11 has more characterization than FE13. I'm saying it has better characterization despite having far less of it.

[Espinosa]

I can see the point of that actually. For example, FF8 has incomparably better developed playable characters than the first Final Fantasy but all of them but one are really damn annoying, and if we're dealing with negatives, having more of the irritating is worse than having little.

[Jedi]

FE1 simply for being extremely outdated, the rest stand on their own pretty well.

[Knight]

FE11 is so underrated, playing through it again I found a lot of fun to have in it. Although the characters have little development, I just imagined the manga interpretations in place of them, and enjoyed it solely for the gameplay.

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

FE1 simply for being extremely outdated, the rest stand on their own pretty well.

I'm going to be lazy and copy this

And yes, I DO play FE1. Thrice. In fact, playing FE1 is what make me able to forgot my grudge to FE11 and FE12, alongside a personal nostalgic reasoning

Although the characters have little development, I just imagined the manga interpretations in place of them

Ignore Cain Ignore Cain Ignore Cain Ignore Cain Ignore Cain Ignore Cain Ignore Cain Ignore Cain Ignore Cain Ignore Cain Ignore Cain Ignore Cain Ignore Cain Ignore Cain Ignore Cain Ignore Cain Ignore Cain Ignore Cain Ignore Cain Ignore Cain

Edited October 16, 2013 by Choujin Sentai Chesnaught

[Thor Odinson]

I can't play anything prior to FE4 due to being too clunky

anything after I can at least stand to play

So I guess 1 takes the cake

[Airship Canon]

Gaiden not winning? Please tell me that's because "Haven't played it".

[Jedi]

Gaiden not winning? Please tell me that's because "Haven't played it".

Gaiden has quite a few interesting concepts I want to see revisited in a future FE honestly.

They did somewhat in FE8, FE10 and FE13 but I'm curious to see if they try the towns or spell list stuff again.

[PKL]

Concepts don't make a game good...FE2's gameplay is as clunky if not more than FE1's.

Edited October 16, 2013 by PKL

[Jedi]

Concepts don't make a game good...FE2's gameplay is as clunky if not more than FE1's.

Do you spend an hour moving items between your units in FE2?

Didn't think so.

[Dr. Tarrasque]

I wonder if people are placing their votes on just character development and story. Characterization doesn't really seem to be a strong suit for the series as it tosses you so many that a majority of the cast end up becoming a name, stats and 1 or 2 traits worth of personality. dondon's literally the only one that's said a more than 1 word on maps and magic.

Concepts don't make a game good...FE2's gameplay is as clunky if not more than FE1's.

Elaborate.

Edited October 16, 2013 by Sirius

[Knight]

I wonder if people are placing their votes on just character development and story. Characterization doesn't really seem to be a strong suit for the series as it tosses you so many that a majority of the cast end up becoming a name, stats and 1 or 2 traits worth of personality. dondon's literally the only one that's said a more than 1 word on maps and magic.

This is the reason I think FE11 is underrated as gameplay wise, FE1's clunky controls or FE4's balance issues are quite heavy weights on those of the games that make FE11 not look so bad. FE9 and 7 are my favourites because of the map and gameplay design as well as story and characterization, but more for the former. Edited October 16, 2013 by Knight

[Shadow Mir]

Least favorite FE? That'd be FE4, with FE6 not very far behind. To elaborate; The former has maps that are far too big, and the convoluted mechanics kill my interest in it. The latter just feels unrefined relative to the other GBA entries, and the hit rates don't help, particularly because they tend to make boss killing far more luck based than it has any right to be.

Edited October 16, 2013 by Levant Fortner

[Redwall]

A lot of people are conflating "worst" with "least favorite." The latter is a bit more subjective than the former (which is also pretty subjective).

My least favorite that I've played is probably Shadow Dragon, though I can see it being interesting for LTCs once you look past the terrible hit rates near the beginning of the game. Furthermore, you could argue that its H5 paved the way for the Lunatic difficulties in the subsequent games. I wouldn't consider Shadow Dragon the worst FE by any stretch (I haven't played Gaiden, but from what I've seen of it, it certainly seems like a contender for worst FE since it doesn't seem to have many thought-provoking maps or some sort of meaningful influence on subsequent entries).

Edited October 16, 2013 by Nessie

[Shadow Mir]

A lot of people are conflating "worst" with "least favorite." The latter is a bit more subjective than the former.

Indeed. My least favorite FE might not necessarily be the one I look down on as the worst.

Edited October 16, 2013 by Levant Fortner

[Jedi]

A lot of people are conflating "worst" with "least favorite." The latter is a bit more subjective than the former (which is also pretty subjective).

My least favorite that I've played is probably Shadow Dragon, though I can see it being interesting for LTCs once you look past the terrible hit rates near the beginning of the game. Furthermore, you could argue that its H5 paved the way for the Lunatic difficulties in the subsequent games. I wouldn't consider Shadow Dragon the worst FE by any stretch (I haven't played Gaiden, but from what I've seen of it, it certainly seems like a contender for worst FE since it doesn't seem to have many thought-provoking maps or some sort of meaningful influence on subsequent entries).

FE2 had [what has been reused in later FE's]

Multiple Teams

Choice of what class to promote to

The World Map

Monsters

Alot of its various features were also used in Tear Ring Saga

[Robert Stewart]

A lot of people are conflating "worst" with "least favorite." The latter is a bit more subjective than the former (which is also pretty subjective).

I disagree. I'd say a game that's flawed but enjoyable is better than a game that's "objectively" good but dull and uninteresting, and what makes a game entertaining is always going to vary from person to person.

[Integrity]

a game that's "objectively" good but dull and uninteresting

Out of curiosity, how do you reconcile those two things? A game being dull and uninteresting would seem to get in the way of being "objectively good".

[-Cynthia-]

Hmm initially I would have said FE11 but I managed to get through that game after beating FE12. I tried FE4 after all the hype and was just...bored. The maps are really large and the old school graphics just kinda kill the game for me for some reason.