Basic plot of FE games

[Paper Jam]

There is certainly a pattern to FE games' plots. Nearly all of them include an enemy kingdom invading the protagonist's home kingdom, and the protagonist fleeing to an allied kingdom for help, and their combined armies reclaiming the home kingdom and defeating the enemy kingdom.

This is by no means a new observation, but I thought I'd share my thoughts on how this basic formula plays out in each of the games that I'm familiar with (i.e. 6-11 and 13).

Game: Home kingdom, Enemy kingdom, Allied kingdom. (Notes)

FE6: Lycia, Bern, Etruria. (Pretty standard, except that Bern doesn't actually succeed in conquering Lycia; the Lycians appeal to Etruria before Bern can establish a foothold there.)

FE7: Caelin, Laus, Ostia/Pherae. (The closest equivalent in FE7 to Bern attacking Lycia in FE6 would be Laus attacking Caelin. And that attack is repelled very quickly by the combined forces of Pherae, Ostia, and Caelin. What makes this game unusual [and may call into question whether it fits the usual FE plot formula at all] is that Pherae and Ostia had already invaded Laus before Laus invaded Caelin.)

FE8: Renais, Grado, Frelia. (Even more standard than FE6, since Renais is firmly under Grado's control for most of the game. Renais and Frelia also defeat Grado before reclaiming Renais' former territory. However, only Ephraim's route is about the counterattack against Grado; Eirika's route is more concerned with the neutral countries.)

FE9: Crimea, Daein, Begnion. (Other than a bit of bait-and-switch near the beginning of the game, when it looks like Gallia is going to be the allied kingdom, this game is fairly formulaic in terms of plot. It does take longer than usual to gain the favor of the allied kingdom, though.)

FE10: Daein, Begnion, Hatari. (The first part of FE10 fits the mold better than anything else in the game, and even so it has differences, such as the fact that Begnion's invasion of Daein had already happened by the time FE10 began, or the fact that, after repelling Begnion's forces, Daein spends more time allied with Begnion than attacking them.)

FE11: Altea, Dolhr, Talys/Archanea. (As a remake of the game that started it all, it's pretty much a given that this game would follow FE's standard formula, albeit in a more complicated way than this summary implies; Dolhr has plenty of allies, and by the middle of the game, so does Altea.)

FE13: Ylisse, Plegia, Ferox. (Like FE6, Plegia doesn't really manage to take over Ylisse in FE13 either; and like FE10, this formula only really applies to the first ten chapters of the game.)

So in some games, the invasion, retreat and counterattack are pretty much the entire game (e.g. 6, 8, 9, 11) while in others they're fairly brief footnotes in the larger story (e.g. 7, 10, 13). Of course I have omitted FE2-5 and FE12 (because I know much less about their plots than I know about 6-11 and 13) and assumed that FE1 is pretty much the same as FE11. What I take from writing this summary is that for all of their similarities, none of the FE games have the exact same plot.

Well, thanks for your patience.

[momogeek2141]

FE5: Leaf flees Lenster to North Thracia to do his thing.

FE4 was actually pretty different, as the protagonist is part of the invading army, but he gets betrayed.

[Shrouded In Myth]

With Awakening the Valm arc actually fits the standard formula quite well if you take from the perspective of Virion and Say'ri. Those two really should've been lords.

[Gradivus.]

FE12, Marth liberates Grust and Macedon in the first bunch of chapters (from Archanea) and is invaded by Archanea aswell.

[BlueLore]

I think it is a bit of a stretch to say that daein got help from the Hatari kingdom to defend against Begnion,I mean they got like 3 people from there and never visited said kingdom.

With Awakening the Valm arc actually fits the standard formula quite well if you take from the perspective of Virion and Say'ri. Those two really should've been lords.

It actually fits to some extent even if you don't see it from their perspective,as Ylisse still gets help from ferox and plegia(its just that there is no big story part about how they unite their forces)to strike back at the invading valm empire.

[Jotari]

Pretty recently everyone lived together in harmony, then everything changed when that one nation attacked.

I've noticed this trend a bit in Fire Emblem games too and it is honestly starting to annoy me slightly. A simple change I'd like to see would be the protagonist getting involved in the war a long time after the initial invasion, like in Thracia or Radiant Dawn except with an actual inter continental war and actually seeing what made the hero get in on the action. Wars tend to last a long time, sometimes even generations, yet Fire Emblem Wars without fail tend to get wrapped up within a year or two tops. Even in Genealogy of Holy War and it's time skip the two wars only last about a year or two each with minor fighting for survival happening in between.

Edited June 11, 2015 by Jotari

[Magical CC]

Fe17: home town, enemy towns, innocent towns, faraway towns. You take the role of an ambitious son of a chief, you kill your father before the enemy has a chance, take control of your home town instead of liberate it, destroy enemy towns, conquer innocent towns and then on your way to conquer faraway towns, you die because of old age if you take to long to do the previous things. You also invite women (sometimes, men) to your tent and touch their face Persona style (the screen becomes black and it is said that you spent a long time with them). You get money by looting villages, not by saving them. You capture prisoners and force them to serve you, not talk to them about how beautiful the weather is. Your men are savage warrior, serial murderers, masterful liars or fanatic shamans, not some innocent princesses. You kill your brothers, not taking their side.

Do you think it's still Fe game? No!

Edited June 11, 2015 by Magical CC

[Crimson Mors]

I've also noticed said trend as a Fire Emblem story element. If you think of it in terms of Naga being light and stability, then really the only things to combat that would be stuff that brings upheaval. The fastest way to f*ck up a nation's stability is to attack it out of no where.

A simple change I'd like to see would be the protagonist getting involved in the war a long time after the initial invasion, like in Thracia or Radiant Dawn except with an actual inter continental war and actually seeing what made the hero get in on the action. Wars tend to last a long time...

That said: Jotari here makes a great suggestion. I'd really like to see a full fledged war. Some of the battles I personally enjoy most are the ones that take place on the sea. Intelligent Systems has already shown they can actively manipulate sea chapters what with new ships arriving -- they could have a chapter where you fight across the decks of several ships and as you advance the chapter map shifts to a new perspective of the fight. And to make it more epic you could have ramming boats that destroy ships as you go. (And if you wanted to be REALLY interesting, if any Blue units are left on ships that are destroyed they're "lost" for the battle but will turn up in a later chapter "washed ashore" as you will) I dunno. Maybe i'm getting carried away haha.

[Lain]

Fe17: home town, enemy towns, innocent towns, faraway towns. You take the role of an ambitious son of a chief, you kill your father before the enemy has a chance, take control of your home town instead of liberate it, destroy enemy towns, conquer innocent towns and then on your way to conquer faraway towns, you die because of old age if you take to long to do the previous things. You also invite women (sometimes, men) to your tent and touch their face Persona style (the screen becomes black and it is said that you spent a long time with them). You get money by looting villages, not by saving them. You capture prisoners and force them to serve you, not talk to them about how beautiful the weather is. Your men are savage warrior, serial murderers, masterful liars or fanatic shamans, not some innocent princesses. You kill your brothers, not taking their side.

Do you think it's still Fe game? No!

I'd say yes, so long as the battle mechanics are left in tact. I'm bored of the typical black & white approach to good and evil in FE, I'd gladly accept an entry that shook up the notion that the side you're on is the very definition of saintly.

But it doesn't look like that'll happen anytime real soon, so I'm gonna take matters into my own hands.

[Jotari]

I'd say yes, so long as the battle mechanics are left in tact. I'm bored of the typical black & white approach to good and evil in FE, I'd gladly accept an entry that shook up the notion that the side you're on is the very definition of saintly.

But it doesn't look like that'll happen anytime real soon, so I'm gonna take matters into my own hands.

Have you played Holy War? Your still undoubtedly the good guys fighting the bad guys in that but there are many villains in that game who are acting good (or some that are acting bad but are still depicted as sympathetic and doing it for the greater good) and could just as easily have a plot made about them. In the last chapter many of the enemies you face are children who want revenge against your army for killing their parents. Of course your still the good guy facing the bad guy, I don't think any Fire Emblem has had a group of villains as evil as the ones in charge of Jugdral, but it does show that intentions are a large part of determining morality alongside actions. By the end of our story are hero has done the exact same thing one of the villains did half way through the game.

[NinjaMonkey]

There is certainly a pattern to FE games' plots. Nearly all of them include an enemy kingdom invading the protagonist's home kingdom, and the protagonist fleeing to an allied kingdom for help, and their combined armies reclaiming the home kingdom and defeating the enemy kingdom.

You've forgotten something, namely that dragons are somehow involved in all of this.

Edited June 27, 2015 by NinjaMonkey