Fire Emblem Discussion

[The Shoemaker]

It seems like we do better with general franchise discussions rather than game specific discussions, and Fire Emblem seems to be getting a lot of love lately. Just today we heard about Fire Emblem Echoes - a remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden for 3DS, a new Fire Emblem game for Nintendo Switch, an expanded trailer for Fire Emblem Warriors now coming to both Switch and new 3DS, as well as Fire Emblem Hereos - a mobile title released February 2nd.

Lots to talk about here! I don't know much about Fire Emblem Gaiden, but it's cool to see 3DS getting one last Emblem game. I like the new design for Alm. I always thought the old FE characters (pre Path of Radiance) looked a little dated so it's nice to see the art and characters updated. I'm sure some might disagree! I also think FE needs to make use of its already large cast of characters, and this is a good way to bring some old characters to the forefront.

I'm pretty excited for FE Warriors, Hyrule Warriors Legends was great. My main concern is we'll see a huge bias to Awakening and Fates characters, hopefully there's a large cast to balance it out. It's pretty much gaurenteed to have Marth, Xander, Ryoma and Corrin as all of their swords are shown, and Chrom is obviously in. I suspect Lucina, Robin, Ike, Roy and Alm are a given just due to having Amiibo. So that's 10 characters right there. Hard to say who else is likely, but I would love to see some Laguz represented, probably one of the Royals.

[Jordan]

thoughts

Fire Emblem Gaiden: I'm most excited about this because it's coming out soon and it looks lovely. I'm generally not a fan of free roaming FE games, but Gaiden seems like it's designed around the principle. Stuff like dungeon crawling might end up being interesting. Since I never played Gaiden, it will be nice to experience a new story.

This remake also gives me hope for Genealogy and Thracia remakes.

FE Switch: Was there ever any doubt that FE was going to appear on the Switch? The Switch will presumably replace the 3DS at some juncture. Some people think that Nintendo is going to keep supporting the 3DS forever or will make some new handheld. I personally doubt it. I think Gaiden will be the platform's swan song. At the most, I think by 2018 the Switch will be both the console and handheld of choice for Nintendo.

FE Warriors: I'm really apathetic about Warriors games. The gameplay they showed definitely did not impress me. I would consider giving this a try purely because I love Fire Emblem THAT much. By contrast, I am much more ambivalent about Zelda.

Character wise I frankly don't even care about balance. I really just selfishly want my favorites. A lot of my favorites happen to be in Fates anyways so I'm more than happy if the cast is recent game heavy.

I don't think they should add anybody from FE1 other than Marth and maybe Tiki. If they're looking at a global audience, I would expect a few choice additions from FE7, particularly Hector. I also wouldn't be surprised to see Ephraim, Ike, the Black Knight, Lyndis and Micaiah. Give me a few oddball favorites like L'Arachel, Owain, Anna and Haar and I'm sated.

I'm not yet sure if they plan on reusing villains or creating their own OC donut steels.

FE Mobile: Frankly, it looks like babby's first FE game. It's dumbed down to an almost embarrassing degree, but it looks mildly fun for what it is. It would probably be more fun just collecting characters than actually playing the game, which I guess is not uncommon in this market.

I can't say I really care about FE Mobile. I also felt like they spent a disproportionate amount of time covering the game. The one thing I can praise it for is they really went out of their way to include a massive number of FE characters throughout the franchise.

[Kong Wen]

Of these announcements, the one that makes me happiest is the Gaiden remake. Even if it's a wonky entry in the series, it'll be nice to play it. It would have been cool if they had included an "original version" of sorts on the cart. NES graphics with the new translation slapped on top.

I agree with Jordan re: Warriors. I like the Warriors series, but they're not exactly the most inspired or inspiring.

The mobile game looks like trash.

It'll be nice to see more about this fully-fledged home console entry coming in 2018.

[The Shoemaker]

Wii U never received a Fire Emblem, and Radiant Dawn was technically a Gamecube game, so it's nice to hear FE will be on the big screen again. Based on the series popularity now, I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that Switch is getting one. Hopefully they go all out with production values, now that the series is at an all time high. I'm guessing we'll see this game at E3 this year.

Gaiden Remake seems to have two subtitles, I wonder if the "Echoes" Subtitle indicates that this is a series of remakes. I would expect them to continue on Switch though.

I think FE Hereos will likely have more fan service than FE Warriors, interestingly They can easily put plenty of characters into the mobile game. If they are advertising an actual story for the mobile game I hope you can realistically reach the story's end without paying and without spending months grinding. I imagine they will have other features beyond the story mode to keep people engaged. I actually think it looks not bad, but between me playing Conquest right now, and Echoes coming out in May, I might be a little Fire Emblemed out.

In regards to Conquest, I've been slowly inching my way through. Just completed chapter 20 - the map where wind gusts blow your units across the stage every turn. Really interesting map, had to plan it through quite a bit. I got Camillia killed a few chapters back, so I brought Beruka back into my party which took a lot of leveling up, but now she's one of my best units, well worth it.

[Kong Wen]

Wii U never received a Fire Emblem, and Radiant Dawn was technically a Gamecube game

Radiant Dawn was not technically a GameCube game. Although it was a direct sequel to a GameCube game, it was developed exclusively for the Wii.

[The Shoemaker]

Wii U never received a Fire Emblem, and Radiant Dawn was technically a Gamecube game

Radiant Dawn was not technically a GameCube game. Although it was a direct sequel to a GameCube game, it was developed exclusively for the Wii.

Whoops, always thought it was made for the GameCube in Japan and released on Wii elsewhere.

[Jordan]

I think the mobile game literally has every single major playable character from the series. Correct me if I'm wrong. On the character polls where you can vote for special edition versions of characters, they show pretty much everybody. Even some villains like Black Knight are included, though I suppose the Black Knight was sorta playable in RD.

I'm usually a babby and reset if somebody dies. I've only done a few runs where I did no resets. IIRC my first playthrough of PoR I did no resets and lost Zihark and Marcia (insert meme about Black Knight opening the door at Toba Port; that's literally how Marcia died for me) and maybe somebody else, but definitely those two. I did Awakening hard mode with no resets too and lost Miriam and Cynthia (noooooooooo). Can't remember if there were other examples. I did a no reset run of Fates Conquest on normal and lost nobody. Hard mode trained me well.

[Jordan]

I've been playing Lunatic Birthright. I am not doing the extra levels for grinding, but I did grind supports for some characters which I don't use (Kaze, Hana and Hayato). I grinded support levels in low level castle battles. I wanted to get certain kids so I could see their support convos.

My party at the moment: Azama (Dread Knight/Living God), Hinoka, Takumi, Sakura, Saizo, Oboro, Kaden, Rinkah, Asugi (dark flyer mage/transporter), Sophia, Rhajat (witch)

There were some characters who I legitimately used throughout most of the game but who later got benched. Silas, Orochi, Kagero and Hinata were fairly reliable until I decided to replace them recently. Subaki and Felicia were useful for the first few levels but then had to go. I acquired Midori but have no real use for her on my team unfortunately.

Some characters have surprised me a lot. I never gave Rinkah the light of day before, but on Lunatic she is a fantastic unit. I would go so far as to say that if you're not a true lunatic going for a low turn count or something, she is one of the best. Saizo is also much better than I expected. While his bases are low, he becomes an oddly tanky ninja with balanced strength and speed. Kaden seemed terrible at first, but once he got a beastrune and promoted, he became massively more powerful. The same goes with Oboro with a guard naginata.

The hardest levels were the level where Benny and Charlotte guard a fortress and the level where you have to fight a billion flier enemies. Both of them involve highly mobile, tanky and powerful enemies which move in massive packs. The wolf level also took me several tries. When I finally beat it, though, my party was much more powerful as many of them promoted mid-stage.

Lunatic has been a nice challenge. I feel that it definitely redeems the mostly lackluster difficulty of Birthright.

[The Shoemaker]

I think the mobile game literally has every single major playable character from the series. Correct me if I'm wrong. On the character polls where you can vote for special edition versions of characters, they show pretty much everybody. Even some villains like Black Knight are included, though I suppose the Black Knight was sorta playable in RD.

I'm usually a babby and reset if somebody dies. I've only done a few runs where I did no resets. IIRC my first playthrough of PoR I did no resets and lost Zihark and Marcia (insert meme about Black Knight opening the door at Toba Port; that's literally how Marcia died for me) and maybe somebody else, but definitely those two. I did Awakening hard mode with no resets too and lost Miriam and Cynthia (noooooooooo). Can't remember if there were other examples. I did a no reset run of Fates Conquest on normal and lost nobody. Hard mode trained me well.

At the very least, yeah it looks to have every major character, sort of like Awakening how it had the free DLC characters from all the games. A very cost effective way to appeal to the fanbase.

95% of the time I reset when a character dies. But there are a few occasions where in the right circumstances, I'll just let it happen. Usually it's a character I don't care for or is easily replaceable. The main determining factor is how close to the end of the chapter I am and my level of apathy I like to pretend I'm playing the game for realz when I make the decision to move on, but it mostly stems from me not wanting to redo the chapter.

I've actually never completed a FE without anyone dying. I've started playthrough's intending to keep everyone alive, but usually half way through I'll take a break from the game, come back and then stop caring if one unit dies. I don't think I've ever finished a no reset run though, those are depressing.

I've been playing Lunatic Birthright. I am not doing the extra levels for grinding, but I did grind supports for some characters which I don't use (Kaze, Hana and Hayato). I grinded support levels in low level castle battles. I wanted to get certain kids so I could see their support convos.

My party at the moment: Azama (Dread Knight/Living God), Hinoka, Takumi, Sakura, Saizo, Oboro, Kaden, Rinkah, Asugi (dark flyer mage/transporter), Sophia, Rhajat (witch)

There were some characters who I legitimately used throughout most of the game but who later got benched. Silas, Orochi, Kagero and Hinata were fairly reliable until I decided to replace them recently. Subaki and Felicia were useful for the first few levels but then had to go. I acquired Midori but have no real use for her on my team unfortunately.

Some characters have surprised me a lot. I never gave Rinkah the light of day before, but on Lunatic she is a fantastic unit. I would go so far as to say that if you're not a true lunatic going for a low turn count or something, she is one of the best. Saizo is also much better than I expected. While his bases are low, he becomes an oddly tanky ninja with balanced strength and speed. Kaden seemed terrible at first, but once he got a beastrune and promoted, he became massively more powerful. The same goes with Oboro with a guard naginata.

That was pretty much my team in Birthright. Except I let Asugi, Azama, and Rhajat die, despite liking them all and putting a lot of resources into them. Rinkah I used a lot as well, once she has some time to grow she becomes one of the hardest hitters. She can get screwed with poor growths though. Oboro is a beast with an upgraded Guard Naginata.

I like how the three main Ninja's all have their own strengths and weaknesses. I used Saizo a lot in Birthright, and am getting a surprising amount of use out of Kaze in Conquest. His defense is awful, but his Resistance and speed means he can kill any mage without taking any damage, surprisingly high strength too (but I did give him the trample skill that adds 5 strength against non-mounted units).

I'm coming near the end of my Conquest run, on Chapter 23 now. I'm starting to think I won't get any use out of my Witch Scrolls. None of my female units have great Magic other than Elise, who would only suffer as a unit if she lost the ability to heal. Maybe I'll switch her just to get the Warp skill and then heart seal back. Dread Fighter I'm also iffy on, maybe Kaze once he gets his final Ninja skill.

[Jordan]

Dread Fighter is an incredible class.

If you're nearing the end of your Conquest playthrough, I'm not sure who would be ideal to promote. Kaze kinda benefits from it but you would be losing weapon ratings in shuriken and you should at least try to get some promoted ninja skills on him first.

Odin benefits the most from dread fighter. At the start of Conquest, promoting Odin to a dread knight makes him a much better unit. He's iffy as a mage and actually has higher natural strength growths than magic growths.

The best Witch in Conquest, imo, is Ophelia. But this is only so long as Odin marries a wife with reasonable magic growths (Nyx, Felicia, Elise and sorta Camilla). If he marries somebody like Charlotte his daughter probably isn't going to be the greatest mage.

With the right wife though, his kid is an absolute monster and is easily much better as a mage than Odin himself, Nyx or Camilla, and probably on par with Elise and Leo.

Felicia also makes a decent witch if promoted early.