How Many Chapters of Fire Emblem Would You Be Willing To Play

[Jotari]

In a single game. Something that kind of came up on the Wii U discussion thread but I'd like to see more in depth opinions here. Was Radiant Dawn's 40 too much? Could you go 50? Would you be willing through a 200 chapter campaign? Bear in mind the number of chapters not only link directly to how long the game would be but also the rate in which EXP is acquired and the number of class tiers.

[NinjaMonkey]

The same number of chapters that Radiant Dawn has is fine.

[Slyfox]

As much as possible. If we get a complex story and all the characters are fleshed out, I'll be happy. More chapters could make that happen. Nintendo usually makes short games, so it would be nice to have a very long game for a change.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

FE10 is different compared to other parts because of three different parties and third tier class. So you need all the chapters to bring on your units.

The 42 maps in FE10 aren't too much, because the chapters are varied and creative except for the boring rout missions in 4-P - 4-4.

In my opinion for all the maps has to apply:

Quality > Quantity

It should be a good mix of different mission types (long and challenging defense missions, simply seize missions etc.).

25 maps/chapters or even less could be enough, if these maps are creative and have a balanced length.

Edited November 22, 2014 by The Taninator

[Etria]

Radiant Dawn was definitely too long for me. Awakening actually as well, though being bored of it worked against it as well. I like the length of FE 7 or 8 the best. 9 was okay as well.

Quality above quantity definitely applies here as well.

[BrightBow]

I didn't manage to pass the halfway point of FE13 without getting bored. The number of maps doesn't matter, at least not directly. It all depends of the effectiveness of the map design or the strength of the writing.

[bookofholsety]

sheer chapter quantity sounds good on paper, and in practice it's certainly worked out pretty well (iirc fe10 only ever really dragged in part 4), but that's predicated on the contents of the quantity actually being, well, quality. most fe games have fared pretty well no matter how many maps they choose to do, coming out the other side feeling substantial and satisfying whether they're as long as fe10 or as short as fe8. so long as this trend of quality map design continues, i'd certainly have no objection to another game as long as fe10, if not longer

only problem is, said trend is well and truly bucked thanks to fe13 and its bland, unengaging maps. that's not a trend we want to continue under any circumstances, let alone in the form of a hypothetical fe10-length game with maps as awful as 13's

[Shadow Mir]

i dunno... I'd like it to be a fair bit longer than Sacred Stones' 22 maps, at the least, and not to have maps as bland as Genealogy's either.

[Axie]

Storyline-wise I just don't want the games to feel too short. However, as FE4 showed us, a game with 12 chapters can feel pretty damn long, so it's up to gameplay. I think a game with 30-40 FE7/8-sized maps (and the occasional huge map) would be great.

[Jotari]

If FE4 was to be broken down into normal chapters then it's probably almost as long as Radiant Dawn. I think it's fair to say that on average, the maps in Radiant Dawn are three times longer than the maps of other games. Maybe even four times longer, they're certainly four times bigger than a large number of maps.

[Emeraldfox]

I'd be willing to play as many chapters as the game has.

The only time I felt a game drag on was every map after Cog of Destiny in FE7.

[Ein]

Radiant Dawn had so many long chapters it was insane.

In terms of amount of levels 20-30 is fine depending on their relevance.

[Knight]

As long as the chapters are varied and interesting and the story justifies the length, I'd be willing to play up to 50 chapters.

[Garnef]

I think 40 is especially perfect for a Fire Emblem game. Kinda disappointed that like, only one game in the series did so.

[Knight]

I think 40 is especially perfect for a Fire Emblem game. Kinda disappointed that like, only one game in the series did so.

With all the side quests, FE7 Hector mode is about the same.

EDIT: FE7 Lyn+Hector+all side quests= 43 chapters, 42 not counting the shopping spree.

Edited November 21, 2014 by Knight

[Klokinator]

FE7 Hector mode, excluding Lyn mode. This is why I cut out Lyn's chapters in FE7CM, it bloated the game too much and was super boring.

[Anacybele]

My main FE fic is set to end at 50-55 chapters, so that range is fine with me. :)

[Magical Glace]

Eh, I guess whatever is fine so long as it's pulled off well.

[Vorena]

Do not care too much about number of chapters. If you think about it FE4 has the fewest chapters of any fire emblem game, but its duration changed compared to pretty much any other FE chapter. I am in the chapter quality crowd. I do want a game of decent length.

[Garnef]

FE7 Hector mode, excluding Lyn mode. This is why I cut out Lyn's chapters in FE7CM, it bloated the game too much and was super boring.

Agreed. What I didn't like about Lyn's mode is because it just felt like preparation for Eliwood Mode, unlike FE4, where both generations were essentially 2 games in one.

EDIT: A good example of an entry with 2 halves that didn't feel like preparation for the other half was Awakening, actually. Both halves of Awakening felt like different FE games due to how it was structured, as in, it felt like the entire war with Gangrel could've been a standalone entry, if it got extended, and so could the second half, due to how the split between the 2 halves of the game was structured.

Edited November 21, 2014 by Nexas

[Sentacotus]

As far as chapters go I think the perfect amount sits in right around 30-37ish with a Radiant Dawn style endgame (4-5 parts). As long as they are well fleshed out as long As Radiant Dawn was I appreciated the variety of missions it gave you along with having to split your army three ways toward the end.

[Perfect Infinitive Exitus]

there should not be less then 30 chapters and you should be able to promote at least two times and looooooooots of sidequests for the best weapons over 9000!!!

[Topaz Light]

Actually, Gaiden has the smallest number of technical "Chapters", clocking in at 5. Since they're more akin to Radiant Dawn's "Parts", though, they may not count.

I'm sure Genealogy has the smallest map count, though, although the maps being huge kinda makes up for that.

Anyway, I'd be game for whatever number of chapters, as long as they fit the game well enough. Generally anything in the range of 25~50, or an equivalent amount of content, is cool with me.

[Kirie]

Quality over quantity. I'd love a long game with tonnes of chapters (I really liked RD for this, and the 3rd tiers and all, too), but overall I'd prefer to play a game with fewer, more interesting maps than a game with more boring chapters.

[Rehab]

I could do over 200 maps if I knew ahead of time that the game was going to be that huge, and if they were split into distinct acts. Bring on the century-spanning, cross-generational story of a continent or even world-changing war from its beginning to its aftermath, the epic saga that Fire Emblem has always had the potential to tell.

I think I'd prefer such a game not have as linear a chapter-based structure as even what the less-linear Fire Emblems have had, to be sure. If the game progressed like, every chapter leading into the next (not that this is the case for every single chapter transition in the history of the series, but the majority of them I should think), yeah, that could be horrendously tedious to do for seven times the length as it was for FE7/9. Though I'm not sure exactly what I'd have replace it, if I'm honest. I've probably been playing too many regular strategy games.

I guess what I'm saying is I want FE4 2, times ten. Again. Destroy all english majors, crown all history majors