Why is your favorite fire emblem story your favorite and your least favorite fire emblem story your least favorite

[Thane]

I wonder what this thread would've looked like if Fates had been out for a few weeks. How many here who have answered the question has played it?

[Knight]

I despise the neutering of Marth in FE12 and the insertion of a bland avatar more than anything else bad in any other Fire Emblem game. At least it's based on a story that's pretty decent though.

I think I like FE9 the best, though I'm unsure because I'm going through a "Sacred Stones is underrated" phase right now that's clouding my judgement, though I think I like FE9.

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

I wonder what this thread would've looked like if Fates had been out for a few weeks. How many here who have answered the question has played it?

give it a month or so and chances are it'll happen.

i haven't played it just yet so for me its...hmmm

FE8 for best story, and FE13 for worst story.

[Michelaar]

I like Awakening... because Virion.... Sorry, The story was really good, I loved the gameplay, and the characters were just Amazing, with my favorites being Virion, Gaius and Cordelia

[CrimeanRoyalKnight]

Fave: PoR + RD. Although if it really wanted to have more fans, it should've been longer, and but it's already extremely long as it is... so... yeah. Ambition, I like ambitious games.

Least fave: Awakening for reasons I explained multiple times. I don't want to start sounding like a broken record.

[Tryhard]

I wonder what this thread would've looked like if Fates had been out for a few weeks. How many here who have answered the question has played it?

I'm going to imagine that my opinion will stay the same, because at least some of the characters seem fun, which is more than I can say about FE6. Even if the plot resembles Swiss cheese.

At least you can poke fun at a bad plot. Boring is just worse for a piece of entertainment.

Edited January 17, 2016 by Tryhard

[Duff Ostrich]

is treck only there because of the treck x gonzales support

Treck x Noah is great too. Ilian mercenaries are the best.

[Nobody]

Treck x Yuno is also really great

[Locke087]

I wonder what this thread would've looked like if Fates had been out for a few weeks. How many here who have answered the question has played it?

I think the people that's least favorite is awakening will change to fates, but for me (and mabye others) it will still be Randiant Dawn because the story had so much potential, it may not have the worst story in the series, but is it definitely the most disappointing.

I'm going to imagine that my opinion will stay the same, because at least some of the characters seem fun, which is more than I can say about FE6. Even if the plot resembles Swiss cheese.At least you can poke fun at a bad plot. Boring is just worse for a piece of entertainment.

I didn't put 6 or 11 because they don't really have a plot to begin with. Well not much more plot then your average Mario game. So you could say they cunning avoided having a bad story by not having one to begin with. Though that is not to say am not sad they decided not to include a story, just to say I find a bad story more insulting then the lack thereof.

In the end I think saying you enjoy/hate FE 6 or 1/11 for its story is like saying you enjoy/hate a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich for the pickle. That is to say there is none unless you put it in there. Unless the lack of a story is that disappointing to you at which point hate away. (Also liking them for there world building and characters is fine, but from just a pure story standpoint their really is none.)

[Knight Falchion]

I can't really decide on a favorite since I like Mystery, Genealogy, and Thracia's plots evenly, but my least favorite is Binding Blade for reasons already stated. Can't speak for Fates, of course, so I don't know if my opinion will change.

e: for the above, the games do have a plot. It's a simple one that works well enough the first time you see it but is less entertaining when it gets repeated. That's how I feel about FE6, at any rate.

Edited January 17, 2016 by Ambling Falchion

[CrimeanRoyalKnight]

I wonder what this thread would've looked like if Fates had been out for a few weeks. How many here who have answered the question has played it?

I doubt it. Fates seems hilariously bad, and it does not seem to have the useless three split of Awakening.

I've read the summaries and while I found them bad, they were nowhere near Awakening. Plus, if I must add, I found Invisible Kingdom' story to be okay, but a certain curse could've been handled better.

[Cymbalina's Revenge]

Thracia 776 effectively conveys the desperation of Leaf and his allies through clever new mechanical additions (resource management, stamina management) and a set of scenarios that has the son of Cuan repeatedly running from place to place just out of reach of the empire. I probably have a bit more fun playing Binding Blade, but the story for Thracia is just really well done. August and Dorias are great characters.

Awakening has the worst story on account of a generational system that exists seemingly for its own sake, among other things. The use of time travel was profoundly disappointing, and neatly dodges the issue of having to deal with having any characters over the age of 25.

I'd vote for Thracia 776 except that I do think the actual story suffers from a lack of resolution. The final villain is a joke and the story doesn't really end. I might go with FE8 even though it shares a lot under the skin with FE3 just because it's self-contained and doesn't depend on other entries in the franchise to explain or resolve anything. (I quite like the baseline story of FE3.)

FE13 is the worst I've experienced to date. Overwrought, undercooked, unwilling to deal with actual consequences, and so bad it detracted from replay value.

[Loki Laufeyson]

I wonder what this thread would've looked like if Fates had been out for a few weeks. How many here who have answered the question has played it?

I really wouldnt expect everyone to share your opinion, if i were you. Because honestly? I know a great deal about the plot of that game, and it really doesnt look like its as big of a shoddy mess as fe13. Theres only one thing really holding Fates' story back, and thats how characters respond to the main character. They at least, did us the favor of splitting the plot into three separate games (more or less) to help tell the story with a little more care than Awakening did. Fates has problems, no doubt. but i do not think people will vehemently abhor its plot. There are other things that arent plot related for them to abhor. Besides, it seems only one of the three routes is really bad. While the other two seem passable to decent.

[Jotari]

FE13 is the worst I've experienced to date. Overwrought, undercooked, unwilling to deal with actual consequences, and so bad it detracted from replay value.

Hey, that start button skips right over all cutscenes. Awakening's plot might not be up to much but it's UI is super streamlined. Almost too much so.

[Loki Laufeyson]

Hey, that start button skips right over all cutscenes. Awakening's plot might not be up to much but it's UI is super streamlined. Almost too much so.

Thats one of the reasons why i still enjoy playing it. Because the gameplay is so fun and good, i can just skip all the lamesauce nonsense.

[Jave]

I really wouldnt expect everyone to share your opinion, if i were you. Because honestly? I know a great deal about the plot of that game, and it really doesnt look like its as big of a shoddy mess as fe13. Theres only one thing really holding Fates' story back, and thats how characters respond to the main character. They at least, did us the favor of splitting the plot into three separate games (more or less) to help tell the story with a little more care than Awakening did. Fates has problems, no doubt. but i do not think people will vehemently abhor its plot. There are other things that arent plot related for them to abhor. Besides, it seems only one of the three routes is really bad. While the other two seem passable to decent.

I also think FE14 is getting a lot of shit right now because it's the most recent and people are being very critical in their reviews of it. Same thing happened with FE13, and while people still hate certain aspects of that game, things aren't nearly as acidic as they were back during the game's first months (Back then we couldn't even discuss Tharja without a bunch of people bringing in the whole "She abuses her child!" thing)

Edited January 17, 2016 by Jave

[CrimeanRoyalKnight]

I guess a reason for FE14's hype backlash would be that IS promised a good story this time around, but many (including JP players) thought it was bad.

[Thane]

I really wouldnt expect everyone to share your opinion, if i were you. Because honestly? I know a great deal about the plot of that game, and it really doesnt look like its as big of a shoddy mess as fe13. Theres only one thing really holding Fates' story back, and thats how characters respond to the main character. They at least, did us the favor of splitting the plot into three separate games (more or less) to help tell the story with a little more care than Awakening did. Fates has problems, no doubt. but i do not think people will vehemently abhor its plot. There are other things that arent plot related for them to abhor. Besides, it seems only one of the three routes is really bad. While the other two seem passable to decent.

It was never my intention to come across as a sourpuss with that message; I just genuinely want to know where people will place it because I definitely don't expect everyone to dislike it as much as I do, that'd just be silly. Besides, there are already plenty of people on that subforum who like the story, although the majority don't seem to have actually played the game yet.

May I inquire just how much you know though?

[Loki Laufeyson]

It was never my intention to come across as a sourpuss with that message; I just genuinely want to know where people will place it because I definitely don't expect everyone to dislike it as much as I do, that'd just be silly. Besides, there are already plenty of people on that subforum who like the story, although the majority don't seem to have actually played the game yet.

May I inquire just how much you know though?

I know the general gist of all three plots. Hoshido is a little foggier though. I know why Nohr is considered terribly bad (and im not in disagreement with it) and i know the basic plot of Revelations. I know a bunch of spoilery junk like:

[spoiler=Oi, there be Fates spoilas in here]

Nohr route's general reason with Garon being the slime monster and how its the plan to put him on Hoshidan magic throne to reveal the truth. And all about Takumi's whole thing there.

I know all about the big bad, Hydra and the relationship between him and Mikoto. And how theres that curse that stops someone from telling others about Touma and Shenmei's whole thing. I even know about the asspull that is Shenmei and Mikoto being sisters.

I know who dies in which route and more or less, the reasons why. And yet, none of them seem as offensive as Emmeryn.

Junk like that. Pretty glad i spoiled myself tbh, because i had all these hella expectations. So had i got the game without spoilers, i think i would have been very upset. I had a lot of time to mull that junk over and get over being really salty about it lmao.

[NekoKnight]

Favorite: Blazing Sword. I loved all the characters, particularly the chemistry between the main characters. The politics, world building and villains were interesting as well. Honorable mention to Path of Radiance for its world-building and cast as well.

Least favorite: Fates (particularly Conquest), the most disappointing train-wreck of a story ever. Radiant Dawn gets a dishonorable mention for part 3 plot elements (you know the ones) and gutting the support system.

[spoiler=Fates spoilers]

I could write an essay on why the story fails its premise in every way (and going by the number of posts on the subject I've made, I already have) but its most critical failures are: Cartoon villains, shoddy world building, obsessive player worship, stupid protagonists, the family theme undermined by sibling S ranks, plot contrivances/plot holes plus a 3rd route that completely invalidates its first two routes.

I think the people that's least favorite is awakening will change to fates, but for me (and mabye others) it will still be Randiant Dawn because the story had so much potential, it may not have the worst story in the series, but is it definitely the most disappointing.

Fates is the very definition of disappointing, especially considering how ambitious they were by splitting the story into 3 games.

Edited January 18, 2016 by NekoKnight

[Cymbalina's Revenge]

Hey, that start button skips right over all cutscenes.

Awakening's maps were not fun enough in that regard. 3/10 would rather play Shadow Dragon again.

[Etrurian emperor]

My favorite stories would be Genealogy and Blazing sword. I feel the latter is in more need of someone sticking up for it so I'l focus on that one.

Firstly the story of Blazing sword, while generic actually does stand out when compared to the other Fire emblems. Its a smaller, more personal journey which takes place largely in the shadows. Rather than a prince fighting countries and evil emperors its a conflict between a fairly minor noble and his friends against a ''mere'' mercenary guild and the sorcerer pulling their strings. I think the smaller scale lends itself to some good world building. The story takes place mostly in Lycia and Bern and as a result those countries get more developed than usual.

I might be alone in thinking this but I also think Nergal really works as a villain. No, the insane dark mage isn't all that unique but he does not need to be. The way Nergal gets hyped up and his frequent interactions with the heroes give him more presence than any enemy besides the Black Knight. Nergal works for the same reason Ghirahim does, he's a very personal villain. Throughout the story he speaks with the heroes, causes misery for them and their friends and at one times probably just appears so he can mock them. Nergal knows the heroes and they know him...and hate him very much.

Compared to the villains who just stay in their castle until the last chapter Nergal actually works to earn the hatred of the heroes.

I would also argue his backstory is at least unique in how its handled. You can go multiple games without ever finding out about it and what's interesting about it is that actually nobody finds out about it. Not the lords, not the dragon kids, not Athos and not even Nergal himself. Japanese games tend to remind you a lot when villains have a sad backstory.

Lastly its just a competent escalation of events from fighting bandits to corrupt nobles, to a secret assasin guild and then all the way up to a dark sorcerer and his army of magical creatures.

My least favorite story would probably be Awakening.

With three villains all fighting for screentime we just get a big mess without any villain that last long enough to actually be an impressive enemy. Every villain being cartoonishly evil does not help their case either.

The problem of the Valm arc is well known. You can cut it out of the story and nothing would change. Place Lucina's reveal a bit earlier and be able to go to Plegia castle right after defeating Gangrel and I don't think a lot would change. Valm is also very rushed. This can be best seen in Yenfray who they TRY to hype up as this big threat only for him to appear and die immediately.

I think one of the more damming thing for Awakening's story is its lack of worldbuilding. Ylisse never grows to become more than ''the good guys'', Plegia never becomes more than ''the bad guys'' and Ferox never becomes more than ''Unruly allies guys''. Despite borrowing from Akenaia they do a very poor job of making the stories tie in to each other. Why is Altea a desert now? What happened to all the countries and so on.

I view Awakenings story more harshly because it really doesn't have an excuse to be so lacking. Shadow dragon did little to excite me for its story but it can be justified for being the first Fire emblem ever. Awakening on the other hand has the experience from the entire series to draw from. So why does it end having the worst story and the dullest setting of them all?

I actually like Awakening more than most people seem to do so I think it deserved a better story.

[Axie]

I didn't play Awakening yet and only read about it, but it does look like the worst plot. Time travel is so incredibly hard to get right and a plot done right clearly wasn't their priority for the game. Not to mention making Ylisse the future Archanea with no care for any plot holes they caused with it (taguels are unexplainable in this context). None of the other games have it so openly problematic, though Radiant Dawn and Blazing Sword have some noteworthy issues.

The best story is Path of Radiance. It has good writing and the events in it are also pretty interesting and consistent with the narrative. The Laguz added so much to the story and the worldbuilding of Tellius without becoming overbearing or outlandish that it was doubly disappointing that their gameplay was so clunky.

[Shadow Mir]

Least favorite is Sacred Stones, which I'd also consider for worst plot on account of laughable writing, as well as the plot itself generally being one-dimensional. The game's lack of length does the plot no favors, too.

Favorite would have to be Path of Radiance, though I can't think of why I like it atm.

[Camus The Dark Knight]

Favorite: Genealogy of the Holy War

Very deep with interesting characters (At least a fair amount, some are still boring) with lots of "Behind the scenes" happenings. The ending changing based on lovers or parents was cool to (Like Faval ruling Verdane if Jamka was his father, or Larcei becoming queen of Dozel for being Johan/Johalva's lover.)

Least Favorite: Sacred Stones

Just seemed really lame to me, the monsters and Demon King were supposed to be huge bad guys but they fell flat and came across as silly. Most of the characters were uninteresting (Though one of my favorite characters in the whole series, Lute, comes from the game.) as well to me.