Why did the series need to be saved?

[vonretic]

No need to sound all condescending and stuff, I can read just fine. What was the point of your post other than repeating things I either know about or can figure out logically in a really "high-and-mighty" manner?

Clearly the heavier advertising for Awakening and Fates make a difference. But I still see people arguing as if "fanservice-y newer game elements vs older game elements" were the only factors without even looking into things like advertising or different times.

OK. Then define for me how you see "fanservice game elements" and "older game elements". Especially in FE games.

[Shrouded In Myth]

Any advertisements I saw of previous FE games were all in Game Informer, Game Stop's gaming magazine. I remember Sacred Stones winning Game of the Month, a good review of Path of Radiance, a two-page advertisement of Radiant Dawn (although a later issue reviewed the game and had a bad score).

When Awakening was advertised I saw it on Adult Swim and in class when my teacher went on YouTube to play a video for class and an Awakening ad played before the video, I remember geeking out because of that. I think it's obvious that Awakening had more presence in mainstream media, which contributed to sales.

Edited October 18, 2015 by Shrouded In Myth

[eclipse]

I wonder how well the Tellius games would've sold if everyone back then had the same amount of 'net exposure as we do now?

Ahem. . .but that's not why I came in here.

PLAY NICELY. Thanks.

Edited October 18, 2015 by eclipse

[YoshiYogurt]

I wonder how well the Tellius games would've sold if everyone back then had the same amount of 'net exposure as we do now?

Ahem. . .but that's not why I came in here.

PLAY NICELY. Thanks.

I'm thinking they would be a lot more popular. No idea why they sold so poorly, shit marketing?. PoR is fantastic

[CyborgZeta]

It'd be nice if they took advantage of the newfound popularity and awareness to translate and release the JP-only Fire Emblems on the Virtual Console.

Hey, I can dream, right?

[Espinosa]

I still honestly think advertising was the key to keeping the FE franchise well known.

I mean, at the most, I saw an FE7 commercial, but saw like zero advertisement for any FE entry that wasn't Awakening. Shadow Dragon had a minor amount of exposure in the form of a website but that was about it, from what I've seen.

WHAT HAPPEN TO DORCAS helped keep FE alive.

[The Geek]

I'm thinking they would be a lot more popular. No idea why they sold so poorly, shit marketing?. PoR is fantastic

I've heard from some people that a popular theory is that PoR sold poorly because it was released near the end of the GameCube's lifetime, though I don't know how that would affect it that much as the Wii was backwards compatible with GameCube games.

It'd be nice if they took advantage of the newfound popularity and awareness to translate and release the JP-only Fire Emblems on the Virtual Console.

Hey, I can dream, right?

It is a beautiful dream.

[ruadath]

WHAT HAPPEN TO DORCAS helped keep FE alive.

Really though, wtf was that? I watched that and was left severely confused about the intention of the developers.

[Lord Raven]

I've heard from some people that a popular theory is that PoR sold poorly because it was released near the end of the GameCube's lifetime, though I don't know how that would affect it that much as the Wii was backwards compatible with GameCube games.

It happened with FE12. All of the advertising went towards the Wii/3DS instead of some previous generation game.

[Titamon]

Honestly, I think TV ads help. If it weren't for the commercial back in 2003, I would've never picked up FE7.

[Paper Jam]

The highest selling games are all Mario, the Wii series (Sports, Play, Fit) and Brawl

If the presence of Marth and Roy in Melee generated interest in Fire Emblem outside of Japan, why didn't the presence of Marth and Ike in Brawl do the same?

Radiant Dawn only came out a few months before Brawl did, and Brawl wasn't exactly shy about the fact that Ike had featured in Radiant Dawn (although his Brawl appearance was modeled after his Path of Radiance appearance, and Path of Radiance was out of print by then; did that have something to do with it?)

Then Shadow Dragon came out about a year after Brawl did; did people really not know that that was Marth's game? Or did they simply not care about Marth?

Edited October 23, 2015 by Paper Jam

[Anacybele]

I'm thinking they would be a lot more popular. No idea why they sold so poorly, shit marketing?. PoR is fantastic

They got good reviews on top of that. PoR was rated 8.5/10 roughly, and RD was a 7.5/10, roughly. On average, that is. I believe it to be shit marketing and always will. These games deserve another chance to sell well, which is why I've been hoping for a re-release, whether it's a remake or eShop download.

Edited October 23, 2015 by Anacybele

[Lord Raven]

Their ratings at the time weren't that high. Radiant Dawn got like a 5/10 on IGN upon release.

[ruadath]

Honestly, I think TV ads help. If it weren't for the commercial back in 2003, I would've never picked up FE7.

I never saw the ad on TV (maybe because I was ~7, and didn't really watch TV besides like Nickolodeon?); honestly, I'm not sure that watching that would have piqued my interest in the game lol.

[YoshiYogurt]

Their ratings at the time weren't that high. Radiant Dawn got like a 5/10 on IGN upon release.

IGN gave it an 8, Gamespot gave it a 6 (in one of the most laughable reviews ever written)

[Lord Raven]

Yeah that review was bad but it showed how little people really cared

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

Yeah that review was bad but it showed how little people really cared

exactly, i can say without a doubt if that game was released in a time where mainstream cared about fire emblem, the review would've been written with a lot more care

[arvilino]

The series needed to be changed and made more marketable so that the series doesn't become unsustainable. When Nintendo's next handheld or console releases the expectations for graphics,etc. will be even higher so sales targets would become higher. It was revealed by IS to justify a WiiU Fire Emblem it would require 700,000 sales which is quite a jump from Awakening needing 250,000 and before Awakening(and inevitably Fates) the last time the series sold over 700,000 was Sacred Stones which was 10 years ago. If the continued to fail to adapt to the changing market the only way Fire Emblem's sales would have increased without Awakening is if the 3DS had sold better than the DS or the WiiU better than the Wii.

To add to this advertising alone wouldn't have been effective and wouldn't have saved games like Radiant Dawn as it would have not brought in many new players(that's not to say none, just very few), I've posted this on gamefaqs today in a similar topic:

Fire Emblem: Awakening is reaching Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Advance Sales and is currently #3 best selling SRPG of all time having sold atleast 1.69 million. Advertising alone doesn't make a game sell as well as games that also had advertising attached to the most popular JRPG series at its height of popularity the time(with Tactics Advance 2 after FF's decline selling much less, though still more than the DS Fire Emblems). If we take the last original Fire Emblem before Awakening which is, Radiant Dawn which was revealed at E3 alongside the Wii. Despite revealing alongside Nintendo's biggest revealed console there was no excitement for the game outside the fansites and it managed to sell the least the series ever had since it came to the west despite being revealed in the most prominent event for Nintendo(before Directs) because there was nothing appealing to new players. They actually did advertise it on TV in Japan for it still be the lowest selling entry in the series there, but just look at it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFDIq893Ozs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRJu-1ngEkg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ0--0ZsSFk

If you didn't already like Fire Emblem would this sell you the concept? This is basically like saying "Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn...it exists" but you can't blame them because the game doesn't have anything exciting to show. In fact I think even with all the cuts the gameplay never actually looked exciting and the cutscenes just shows two random armies fighting without any build up or explanation, contrast that to how Fates is set up and informs you of the Hoshido and the Nohr:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeImoyW9-Zs

The game has to have marketable features for advertising to actually raise interest in people who see the advert so they check it out afterwards, when you watch TV you don't instantly look up everything that's advertised do you? It's only the products that intrigue or interest you. When people saw Awakening's trailers, cutscenes, characters fighting alongside each other in battle, news of casual mode. These were all features that would appeal to those unfamiliar with the series, or people who previous tried the games but where turned away by perma-death. Awakening actually had fewer TV adverts than Radiant Dawn did but the better animated cutscenes, some voice acting during lines instead of blips and beeps(see Zihark's death line on that 1st advert) and more dynamic battles with multiple characters, voice acting during battle and better animation during battle(all on a system weaker than the Wii) likely make it a desirable product(Due to word of mouth Awakening was still selling very well long after launch and after all the advertising stopped):

Advertising helped but it was because they were advertising something that could actually sell people on the product(Awakening) the same is true with Fates managing to outsell Awakening in Japan features like My Castle and the concept for the campaigns are interesting. I like Radiant Dawn(and don't think its a bad game) but no one in the right mind who didn't already know what Fire Emblem was and understood the appeal would have bought Radiant Dawn on those adverts unless they bought a Wii to play something that would be unimpressive on the Gamecube. Edited October 24, 2015 by arvilino

[Titamon]

I never saw the ad on TV (maybe because I was ~7, and didn't really watch TV besides like Nickolodeon?); honestly, I'm not sure that watching that would have piqued my interest in the game lol.

I saw it on Cartoon Network if I recall.

And I'm not saying it was a good comericial per say, but it did let me know that the game existed. "Oh hey, isn't that series I saw mentioned in Smash Bros.?"

[Anacybele]

Well geez, no wonder those commercials didn't work. You're right, they had no build up or anything, just that "hey, this game exists!" Awakening and Fates ads actually did build some stuff up.

[Hardin]

I honestly don't think that any commercial would have changed the fate of PoR or RD in any significant manner. Fire Emblem wasn't perceived as cool or sexy by consumers, it was just seen as an old fashioned game that nerds played. Changing that perception is a big part of why Higuchi gave the keys to Kusakihara with Awakening's development.

[Anacybele]

Well, now things are different, and that means PoR and RD have a good shot to sell better now than they did before. FE is more wide-spread, has more fans, Ike is more well-known than he was before, etc. etc. He's pretty popular too, and I'm certain that a portion of his fans haven't touched his games yet because they aren't able to! :(

[Roflolxp54]

I'd have to say that advertising is what made Awakening's sales so strong. Even when I watched a lot of TV back in the day, I don't recall watching even a single Fire Emblem commercial (even if the TV channels I had watched were Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and occasionally, Fox). Heck, I know nothing of Fire Emblem from Smash Bros. until Super Smash Bros. Brawl as I wasn't really even aware of Super Smash Bros. 64/Melee even existing, though I have visited a few of my parents' friends' whose kids do own Smash Bros. though I don't know it by name, plus, at the time, Pokemon was the only Nintendo franchise I even know of.

The only video game commercials I remember from those days were video games based off of movies and TV shows, Pokemon, and Kingdom Hearts.

Nowadays, I don't watch TV anymore and spend a lot more time on the Internet and on my 3DS which allowed me to have greater exposure to Fire Emblem Awakening before its American release, even after I got turned off from trying FE8 on the 3DS Virtual Console (at the time, I knew nothing of Fire Emblem's gameplay and found it rather boring and slow).

Edited October 25, 2015 by Roflolxp54

[CrimeanRoyalKnight]

I can confirm here in Italy the old FEs got commercials only in the Official Nintendo Magazine (Nintendo la Rivista Ufficiale).

Awakening however, got a TV commercial (with no gameplay footage lol) that appeared on various channels and YouTube a lot, and it was sold out from day one.

I don't want to say the commercials were the only thing that helped Awakening sell (first and foremost it's its amazing accessibility, then there's good reviews, then there's word of mouth, then there's fanservice like marriage and easy characters, plus it's also a good game), but they did give it a lot of attention.

[Troykv]

... Ugh... I have a horrible feeling anytime that I remember the bad advertising (and the absurd critics... jo... this people is really obsessed with Miis) that Radiant Dawn get... Oh come on! Really are they expecting sold only because Ike appears in Brawl?... This could work better if IS release Radiant Dawn AFTER than Brawl.

And.. the Wii fanbase already was really poor for the people interested in Radiant Dawn... Wii was a freaking console mainly focused in the Casual Market... Oh come on... The "Hardcore" fandom only really started to arrive with the Brawl's release.

(Oh... so many injusticies... my mind can't stand).

Edited October 29, 2015 by Troykv