What is your least favorite Fire Emblem game?

[Leif]

I played a few maps of FE1. It was torture since the pace was incredibly slow and some of the sounds were unpleasant; the game hasn't aged well.

However, Awakening has to be my true, least favorite FE. Though it made advancements in some ways, but it didn't in others. I was happy skills returned, however Pair Up was broken beyond all reason and there were no interesting map objectives. I have a bias against time-travel stories since it just opens an unpleasant can of worms and unnecessarily complicates the plot, kind of when Kingdom Hearts jumped the shark in DDD when it introduced time travel as a part of the plot.

I was hyped for the game at first, but playing the game again made me realize its flaws. Boring maps, poor art design, predictable plot, etc. It's not a bad game compared to other 3DS games, it just wasn't my favorite. I hope that I enjoy Fates better.

Though, we have to be thankful that Awakening saved the series.

Edited October 15, 2015 by Leif

[Lantairu]

I played a few maps of FE1. It was torture since the pace was incredibly slow and some of the sounds were unpleasant; the game hasn't aged well.

However, Awakening has to be my true, least favorite FE. Though it made advancements in some ways, but it didn't in others. I was happy skills returned, however Pair Up was broken beyond all reason and there were no interesting map objectives. I have a bias against time-travel stories since it just opens an unpleasant can of worms and unnecessarily complicates the plot, kid of when Kingdom Hearts jumped the shark in DDD when it introduced time travel as a part of the plot.

I was hyped for the game at first, but playing the game again made me realize its flaws. Boring maps, poor art design, predictable plot, etc. It's not a bad game compared to other 3DS games, it just wasn't my favorite. I hope that I enjoy Fates better.

Though, we have to be thankful that Awakening saved the series.

Funny, some of my favorite things ever in terms of entertainment involve time travel. Back to the Future is my favorite movie ever, and Chrono Trigger is my favorite game ever. Though I will agree that time travel can sometimes screw up a story completely. By the way, Awakening didn't really "save" the series. It had to reach a sales number every other Fire Emblem game had reached, but that's a debate for a whole other time.

Edited October 14, 2015 by Lantairu

[Irysa]

fe10 because no other game that I have (currently) played has as tedious of a first playthrough as it does. only fe10 has an excessive amount of neutral phase, where you have to sit watching loads of units you don't even care about wasting your time, getting in the way, or just being a nuisance. at least enemy phases allow you to see your own plans unfold, but there are a lot of rout maps with huge enemy phases with juggernaut units too, which I also find very boring. there's also the fact I dislike many of the things it did narratively, and it undermined a lot of what was great about path of radiance despite being a direct sequel. fe12 at least only really has narrative grievances and gameplay wise there aren't really standout problems besides player unit balance. also the removal of enemy range indicators on HM is a prime example of artificial difficulty, and one of the dumbest things this series has ever done mechanically.

fe1 has warp to end maps quickly. fe2 has warp and dear so the maps don't take forever. fe9 map animations are slow but it doesn't have swathes of neutral phase or nearly as many huge rout maps as 10, and 10 has pretty slow map animations too on your first playthrough. 13's failings are more fundamental but the game is very pleasant to interact with thanks to how fast things can move along.

I realise fe4 might surpass this given it has huge maps where you just run around a lot but I haven't played it yet so I won't comment.

Edited October 14, 2015 by Irysa

[Lantairu]

fe1 has warp to end maps quickly. fe2 has warp and dear so the maps don't take forever. fe9 map animations are slow but it doesn't have swathes of neutral phase or nearly as many huge rout maps as 10, and 10 has pretty slow map animations too on your first playthrough. 13's failings are more fundamental but the game is very pleasant to interact with thanks to how fast things can move along.

Yeah, the final chapter of FE1 was a complete joke, because all you had to do was only deploy one bishop, make it so that the bishop was i the same sector as Marth, then warp Marth in front of Medeus while occasionally healing him.

[Topazd]

I'm actually very fond of FE1, so that leaves FE2. It's not that I actively dislike it as a whole, summoners are just ass.

[Gradivus.]

RD. I enjoyed like the first half of part 1 at best, and I think that's the only somewhat well-designed part of the game, except perhaps 3-13. The second half of it consists of spending my time guessing which enemies are stationary and using OP units to stomp. Part 2's maps are either very straightforward or easy to roflstomp. Part 3 is just hyperoffensive EP action, except for 3-12 (Tauroneo cheeses it), 3-9 (same issues as part 2) and 3-13 (decent map). Part 4 is the same, just put units into the middle of the enemies and watch them steamroll everything with each EP taking 2 minutes or (sometimes much) worse. It takes zero effort and a lot of time to get through, which is the very definition of tedium. There also are some very obnoxious components, like 3-11's pitfalls, Sephiran's skill (or w/e sort of thing it is) that distracts killing blows to adjacent enemies and Ashera's auras where you don't get the slightest hint about what aura type will attack you.

I don't particularly like or dislike its story, and I don't find Ike overly uninteresting even though I agree there's little characterization to him in FE10. In fact I don't recall him getting any character development in FE10, but I blame FE10 since FE9 has a good story and Ike is no exception there in my view

Edited October 14, 2015 by Gradivus.

[Shin]

Radiant Dawn. I played through Part 1 and about half of Part 2. The plot was kinda lame and the gameplay wasn't exactly that much fun. FE12 and 13 are a close second.

[Anacybele]

The hate for RD saddens me. :( I thought it had a good story and the best gameplay in the series. I do agree with those that say some of the writing was bad and that some characters lacked development or anything, though. I also thought that RD was the most liked game in the series... Last I saw, it won a bunch of favorite FE polls.

[Thor Odinson]

Tellius because of how fucking slow it is

okay granted it's also because dolphin doesn't implement turbo and for what GC/Wii games are it's understandable, but like, FE4's enemy phase? Snes9x 16x speedup, no problem. I have no such options in PoR/RD and between map animations being too fucking long and enemy/neutral phases being too fucking long, I can go heat up some food between phases and that's just too fucking slow for me

For all of FE11's flaws, it's the first to implement enemy phase skip, even if it's imperfect in it.

(realtalk though I don't dislike any FE's gameplay by itself enough except maybe the first like, 2 chapters of H5 also due to enemies taking too fucking long to die so I pretty much have to go by how fast I can play it, if I can turbo through PoR/RD's NP/EP I'd prolly love it tbh, but as is it has the least replayability for me because i really can't sit through long periods of time where I don't have control over anything)

Edited October 14, 2015 by Thor Odinson

[Anacybele]

I didn't find Tellius slow at all... But maybe I just have a lot more patience than others with some games. I will admit that a couple chapters or so did have annoyingly slow enemy phases though, namely the ones that had a lot of enemy units and JUST HAD to move just about every single freaking enemy every turn... Like Part 2 Endgame in RD or Gebal Castle in PoR.

Edited October 14, 2015 by Anacybele

[Shadow Mir]

Tellius because of how fucking slow it is

okay granted it's also because dolphin doesn't implement turbo and for what GC/Wii games are it's understandable, but like, FE4's enemy phase? Snes9x 16x speedup, no problem. I have no such options in PoR/RD and between map animations being too fucking long and enemy/neutral phases being too fucking long, I can go heat up some food between phases and that's just too fucking slow for me

For all of FE11's flaws, it's the first to implement enemy phase skip, even if it's imperfect in it.

(realtalk though I don't dislike any FE's gameplay by itself enough except maybe the first like, 2 chapters of H5 also due to enemies taking too fucking long to die so I pretty much have to go by how fast I can play it, if I can turbo through PoR/RD's NP/EP I'd prolly love it tbh, but as is it has the least replayability for me because i really can't sit through long periods of time where I don't have control over anything)

Well, I agree that Tellius EPs were slow sometimes. Though I'd rather have that over FE4's always slow enemy phase, which isn't helped by each enemy army having its own turn (yeah, I know emulators have speedup, but I'd rather not feel like I need to use it because something's just that slow).

[Thor Odinson]

I don't really care, if I can speed it up it's better than if I can't speed it up, I don't care how it gets sped up all I need it is speeding up because lbr I can't even sit through gba with animations off without skipping everything anyway and that's a lot faster than both Tellius and FE4

You're free to have your opinions about what you like better, this is what I like better, you don't have to comment on every little bit that differs from yours for fuck's sake

the fact of the matter is, FE4 I still have that option to. Tellius games, I don't. That ultimately affected MY experience.

Edited October 14, 2015 by Thor Odinson

[Lantairu]

I really hope that this doesn't just turn into an RD hate thread like the "What do you dislike about Fire Emblem" thread basically becoming an Awakening hate thread.

[Etria]

Shadow Dragon.

I tried to play it four times or so and never managed to get pass chapter 7 or 8, because it was so fucking boring. And ugly as sin. It's also one of the few games that I sold! I have a few other mis-buys, but I still didn't sell them. Shadow Dragon was just that bad.

[Glitchy]

Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light is outdated and unplayable, in my opinion. At least Shadow Dragon isn't quite as ugly to look at. And since people are saying not to vote games you haven't played, I will add that I have played FE1 on an emulator and nearly cried of boredom.

Also I find it interesting that the Mystery of the Emblem games are some of the only to have 0 votes (aside from fates and path of radiance).

Edited October 14, 2015 by Glitchy

[Thor Odinson]

yeah ngl if I actually played fe3 past the first 2 turns of chapter 1 I'd prolly vote for it

I just can't stomach the interface/controls/graphics to play it beyond 2 turns

likely that extends to 2 and 1 unless 2 is miraculous better graphically or something

4 is as bad as I'll go as far as bad FE graphics go, at least I don't feel like I'm wrestling every time I use the controlls

Edited October 14, 2015 by Thor Odinson

[Lantairu]

yeah ngl if I actually played fe3 past the first 2 turns of chapter 1 I'd prolly vote for it

I just can't stomach the interface/controls/graphics to play it beyond 2 turns

likely that extends to 2 and 1 unless 2 is miraculous better graphically or something

4 is as bad as I'll go as far as bad FE graphics go, at least I don't feel like I'm wrestling every time I use the controlls

4 had bad graphics? I think they're pretty good for SNES.

[Thor Odinson]

4 had bad graphics? I think they're pretty good for SNES.

Mainly the mugs, considering FE5's mugs are gorgeous (and on the same system) and FE5 Female Hero is one of my favorite map sprites. FE4's mug style is pretty ugly.

Hell, I personally find fe5's mugs more aesthetically pleasing than GBA, and I'm a GBA style spriter.

Edited October 14, 2015 by Thor Odinson

[Lantairu]

Mainly the mugs, considering FE5's mugs are gorgeous (and on the same system) and FE5 Female Hero is one of my favorite map sprites. FE4's mug style is pretty ugly.

Hell, I personally find fe5's mugs more aesthetically pleasing than GBA, and I'm a GBA style spriter.

I like FE4's mugs. Personally, I think FE5's map sprites are really ugly. I think overall Thracia has better graphics, but those overworld sprites are just so terrible for me.

[Thor Odinson]

To each their own, then.

FE4's mug style is just very unpalatable to my tastes.

[Shadow Mir]

I don't really care, if I can speed it up it's better than if I can't speed it up, I don't care how it gets sped up all I need it is speeding up because lbr I can't even sit through gba with animations off without skipping everything anyway and that's a lot faster than both Tellius and FE4

You're free to have your opinions about what you like better, this is what I like better, you don't have to comment on every little bit that differs from yours for fuck's sake

the fact of the matter is, FE4 I still have that option to. Tellius games, I don't. That ultimately affected MY experience.

I was merely stating my opinion. I can't stand slow enemy phases either, but I feel it's easier to deal with when it doesn't happen nearly all the time.

[Thor Odinson]

Did you really have to quote me for it then

[JeffasaurusRex]

I don't really care what the games look like as long as they have a good story and/or are really fun. I feel like everyone hating on Awakening are the genwunners of the Fire Emblem community. Everyone has their opinion, but I love every Fire Emblem game.

[NinjaMonkey]

For me, it would have to be Shadow Dragon. It's so horrendously bad, nothing I say about it could do it justice.

[Loki Laufeyson]

I agree and stand by this as well.

I personally found Sacred Stones overall reallllllllllly dull and not intuitive, I know people highly disagree with that stance though.

WHY YOU MAKEA ME SAD, JEDI!

Seriously though, poll question, i voted FE11. I did not have fun with that game in any capacity. I feel like its pretty hard to fuck up FE, and this series is blessed with a lot of hella good titles. Its hard to choose one that i didnt like too much. FE11 isnt even that bad of a game, just not fun for me. (i didnt play the pre-FE6 games that much to really form an opinion on them) FE11 had a lot of the specific whistles and bells of FE that i was used to, removed. No rescue? No supports? No real character? What? Oh well.