SF's opinion on the most recent FEs (11-13)

[Loki Laufeyson]

Shadow Dragon was ass. Ive seen worse games, so its not like horrifyingly terribad, but its Bad. Theres nothing there to get me to root for these characters aside that they are protagonists and one of them is Marth. The maps are meh, the battles clunky, and ugly as Fenris' backside. Oi those battle graphics. *heaves* Yikes. I also dont dig the whole "Kill off these guys in order to get all these other chapters that are optional." Umm..ok? But death is still perma here. And eventually, you might run out of dudes to sacrifice. I dunno, i hated that mechanic. I also found the reclassing here to be shitty.

FE12? Whats that? Lawl.

FE13/Awakening was fun as all fuck. The story...wait, why do i even care about the story? Oh right, i actually dont. I can say that i at least felt something for a lot of these guys and kinda wanted them to win the fight. I enjoyed the hell out of the game's actual gameplay and extras. I liked how it handled the reclassing. That was nice. I also enjoyed the bonus stuff, DLC, and goodies. The cossacks, may they copulate with swineherds. Translation: Fuck the police

[Sasori]

Fe11: Gameplay wise it was a little outdated, but still fun enough, however pretty much every character in your army had the personality of a brick which made me fairly uninterested about any of them.

Fe12: One of my favourites fixing most of my problems with shadow dragon. It strikes a good balance with the difficulty, being pretty hard without being unfair, unless you play on Lunatic. Map design was pretty good and the cast is finally flashed out a little. My unit wasn't terribly interesting, but he did't hog enough spotlight to become a problem in my opinion.

Fe13: I enjoyed this game a lot even though it has quite some flaws. The story could be better, the pair up system brings some balance issues and the game can be a little too over the top at some times.

I think most of the problems come from over ambition though with IS having to give attention to 4 different villains, implementing a new battle mechanic and bringing back the generation system. I think IS just decided to throw every idea they had at the game since they thought it would likely be their final one and that made all those aspects not getting the fully attention they deserved.

Edited March 2, 2014 by Sasori

[Shin]

FE11 was simple and perhaps a little crude. Still, it's a fair remake for a game from the 90's and limited reclass was cool to some extent. Still, not a fan of the writing and the fact 80% of the cast have no lines is a bit of a bummer.

FE12 suffers because FE3 was my first FE, nostalgia powers go! Half the cast is unusable at higher difficulties and growths are far too high for my liking. The lack of weapon weight is also a no-no for me. I hate MU with a passion, I felt their subplot and unexplained amazingness detracted away from Marth's quest to stop Hardin. However, making Biraku recruitable pleased me.

FE13 felt far too anime-ish, I wasn't a fan of the characters or the plot. Again, the self-insert thing bothered me, as well as the mass pairing thing - I'd have forgiven it if it hadn't done a weird 2-gens at the same time thing. Still, a few interesting mechanics, although infinite reclass and pair up were pretty broken.

[metalsnowman3]

FE 11: I put bad because that is the one FE game that I never cared to even finish. The plot was meh and I love developing low lvl units into powerhouses and SD with its horrible growth rates made it not fun for me. Also, I always have loved the 2D portraits ever since my first game in FE7 and the CGI 3D portraits were bad.

FE12: So I'm on chapter 16 right now in hard mode and this one is much more fun, and growth rates don't suck. The CGI portraits are still bad but I can live with it with my super awesome units. Apparently they made the girls really good cause my team is Marth, My Unit, and a lot of (9) chicas (harem comedy LP lol).

FE13: I put great, I get the story flaws and what not (but I don't see any other FE stories as flat out masterpieces anyways) but I like the characters, the inheritance system, and I liked pair up as well (though if they changed it to where support lvl didn't affect the stat boosts, it would probably be better). It helps that I knew absolutely nothing about this game before I played it because after SD I pretty much stopped playing all FEs, but I am sure glad I got this one.

[PKL]

[spoiler=Vote stuff]

FE1:

Great 0
Good 5
Mediocre 25
Bad 12
Terrible 1

Positive: 5
Meh: 25
Negative 13

FE2:

Great 4
Good 18
Mediocre 18
Bad 1
Terrible 4

Positive: 22
Meh: 18
Negative: 5

FE3:

Great 8
Good 20
Mediocre 14
Bad 1
Terrible 0

Positive: 28
Meh: 14
Negative: 1

FE4:

Great 18
Good 19
Mediocre 2
Bad 1
Terrible 3

Positive: 37
Meh: 2
Negative: 4

FE5:

Great 27
Good 12
Mediocre 3
Bad 1
Terrible 0

Positive: 39
Meh: 3
Negative: 1

FE6:

Great 8
Good 33
Mediocre 26
Bad 7
Terrible 1

Positive: 41
Meh: 26
Negative: 8

FE7:

Great 33
Good 39
Mediocre 6
Bad 3
Terrible 0

Positive: 72
Meh: 6
Negative: 3

FE8:

Great 26
Good 43
Mediocre 9
Bad 3
Terrible 0

Positive: 69
Meh: 9
Negative: 3

FE9:

Great 42
Good 26
Mediocre 2
Bad 1
Terrible 0

Positive: 68
Meh: 2
Negative: 1

FE10:

Great 30
Good 28
Mediocre 5
Bad 1
Terrible 2

Positive: 58
Meh: 5
Negative: 3

FE11:

Great 8
Good 25
Mediocre 25
Bad 10
Terrible 4

Positive: 33
Meh: 25
Negative: 14

FE12:

Great 18
Good 23
Mediocre 7
Bad 2
Terrible 3
Haven't played 26

Positive: 41
Meh: 7
Negative: 5

FE13:

Great 18
Good 39
Mediocre 7
Bad 7
Terrible 3

Positive: 57
Meh: 7
Negative: 10

ITT:

*All the FEs are good except FE1.

*A lot of people haven't played FE1-5 probably because theyre Japan only. It's evident even without the havent played option, as there are considerably less voters.

*A lot of people also haven't played FE12.

*FE11 is the game with the most negative and meh votes (a whopping 39 ouch) with FE6 FE2 and FE13 I think, following it.

*The most well-received is Path of Radiance it seems, with FE7 FE4 FE5 and FE8 being close.

*Now shut it and enjoy every FE :P. If someone wants to calc the percents for positive, meh and negative. Feel free to do so, I'm too lazy for that though.

Edited March 3, 2014 by PKL

[Florete]

Shadow Dragon: Mediocre. They really should have updated more than they did. The game always felt too dated even though I got it on release day.

New Mystery: Mediocre. Better than Shadow Dragon, but sort of in the same vein. I did enjoy it, but I never actually finished it.

Awakening: I struggled between good and great on this one. It's got its flaws for sure, but it hits a lot of the right marks and I played through it more times than any other FE since FE7. In the end I voted great because it was, in a way, just what the series needed.

[Robert Stewart]

*All the FEs are good except FE1.

Does this honestly surprise anybody.

[Rewjeo]

FE11 gets a good rating. I've replayed it several times, and while it's pretty barebones, what it has is good.

FE12 is mediocre. I can't really say what it is about it that doesn't click with me, but I never cared about this game. It's in a similar boat to FE7 for me in that sense. I feel like it should be good, and I try to enjoy it every now and then, and it's just sort of blah for me.

FE13 is bad. I completed it, but I basically gave up on the story and ended up blitzing with MU/Morgan for completion's sake. I mean, this game has a pretty solid interface, but I don't know that there's anything else in this I would place above "mediocre" relative to the rest of the series.

[Chiki]

you're not forced to sacrifice units. at all. the game does not say "you will not pass!" if you don't sacrifice unit(s) on modes above NM.

You're not limited to one definition of force. There's a weaker sense of "force" in which you're "forced," in the weaker sense, to kill units off to get more stuff. I'm not a fan of it at all either, because I feel bad about killing units, which in some sense "forces" me to not play Shadow Dragon because it's trash.

[RJWalker]

You're forced to kill of Johan/Johalva to get the other. You're forced to kill Deen/Sonia to get the other. You're forced to kill of Olwen to get Eyrios.

This is nothing new.

[Icon of Sin]

You don't have to do mass sacrifices, only killing one unit.

You also don't miss entire maps worth of experience and loot. The axebros have the same weapons, Eyrios can be captured with some tricks and I'm not sure on Deen/Sonia.

Edited March 4, 2014 by Woodshooter

[Robert Stewart]

You're forced to kill of Johan/Johalva to get the other. You're forced to kill Deen/Sonia to get the other. You're forced to kill of Olwen to get Eyrios.

This is nothing new.

Just because other FE games did it does not make it good.

Although technically, you can recruit one of Johan/Johalva without recruiting them. It's just that you can't recruit the other afterwards. :p

[RJWalker]

Just because other FE games did it does not make it good.

Although technically, you can recruit one of Johan/Johalva without recruiting them. It's just that you can't recruit the other afterwards. :p

Oh definitely. It's not a good idea but SD is not the only game to have it and it's unfair to criticize it as it was the only one with that .feature.

[Icon of Sin]

Then what about my point. Etzel's and Ymir's chapters especially have quite a few nice goodies to have, which you have to sacrifice enough units to only have less than fifteen overall to get there.

Is killing one unit to get another worse than killing more than half the cast to access to entire chapters? Does it even make sense that pirates raid a village only when you have fifteen characters or less? What happens otherwise? You just forget their existence? Or the "volunteers" that would've joined you take care of them?

Edited March 4, 2014 by Woodshooter

[Anacybele]

What I meant was that in the beginning of the game, I had to choose a unit to sacrifice so the others could get away. I didn't like that, because I didn't want to find out later that I dumped a unit that could've been awesome.

[Chiki]

Oh definitely. It's not a good idea but SD is not the only game to have it and it's unfair to criticize it as it was the only one with that .feature.

Yes, it was. It was the only game which required you to kill 9164849163 characters.

[RJWalker]

Yes, it was. It was the only game which required you to kill 9164849163 characters.

No it wasn't. Now stop exaggerating like a child.

[Icon of Sin]

The game still amplifies the concept of making a choice by killing a character, this time a good portion of the cast, most of the time for no valid reason, to access entire maps and storylines that would somehow not happen in the first place if your army conveniently had sixteen characters or more.

Edited March 4, 2014 by Woodshooter

[dondon151]

i don't know about the rest of you, but i was perfectly fine not accessing those storylines.

[Baldrick]

You're forced to kill of Johan/Johalva to get the other.

Incorrect, you can choose to ignore the other after you recruit the one.

You're forced to kill of Olwen to get Eyrios.

Incorrect, you can skip 11x or choose not to recruit Olwen.

The Deen/Sonia situation is indeed unavoidable, but at least you're killing an enemy commander, rather than your own loyal men.

[metalsnowman3]

Some people, like me, like to recruit everyone and keep everyone alive, and in SD they made that impossible. I wanted to play with Athena but then I would have had to sacrifice a ton of people which is stupid, in my opinion, and it is the only FE I have played (I have played FE4 and FE6-13) that has done that mechanic. At least in FE4 with Johalva and Johan they at least explain why you cannot get both. The reason why FE is so cool is that there are multiple ways to play it, like LTC and sacrificing characters if you want to so SD can appeal to you, but to me I just do not like that.

[Chiki]

No it wasn't. Now stop exaggerating like a child.

Lol, it's funny how you have to attack someone and ignore all the other people making reasonable points. I wonder who is the more mature one here.

Some people, like me, like to recruit everyone and keep everyone alive, and in SD they made that impossible.

This is the thing that's exactly on my mind. Everyone else made points I would have made myself.

[LeaderR Elliot]

I enjoy playing through these three games everytime

[Ronman5]

Shadow dragon is one of the most brutal hard modes (most people haven't beat h5 first chapter Jesus) but in story it lacks and although many units can be good most units received are either crap (vyland) or mediocre(minevra)

Now FE13 combines a shitload if like able and lovable chars and has brought in mechanics from nearly every game (except bexp from tellius) and although its great it pretty much becomes a grinder half way through when u get the surperior children units which all of them are pratcally game breakers this is the most impressive game to come out and boosted 3ds sales

[Ein]

Shadow Dragon was a really odd game especially after playing 7-10. No characterization to speak of save for like 3-5 characters. Lack of supports was really jarring and having to kill off your units to get some units did not sit well with me since I like being able to get everyone or mostly everyone. Lack of certain mechanics too like Rescue. Although Reclassing was a good idea so there's that. Still didn't stop the game from being a complete bore so much so I resorted to using AR codes just to get to the end as soon as possible and be done with it.

Never played New Mystery and never will due to the lack of localization.

Awakening is an odd one. Although my issues stem from the menu navigation which seemed really clunky and awkward. Characterization and story/plot have been talked about to death and I would have to say that the MU/Avatar's excessive importance simply because they are the player's self insert wore thin rapidly. The fact that the story is another you are the good guys and can do no wrong so you have to stop the bad guys who are nothing but evil and save the world again. The extra content and nod to the old games is a nice touch. At least they acknowledge them and such.

The whole marriage thing is a nice touch even if it just there for waifu/husbando stuff at this point in time though I do like that the characters seem genuinely in love with one another for the S supports even if it is incredibly cheesy.