Topic: Fire Emblem!

[GoldShadow1]

I noticed there was no GameCube Fire Emblem discussion (aside from a short-lived TalkBack one) so I started one.

Is everyone else as excited about this game as I am?  I haven't yet played the GBA version (although I definitely want to), but I've been wanting to play Fire Emblem for years.  It's a completely different side of Nintendo.  Check out the screenshots/artwork at IGN or wherever else:  It's amazing.  I made the city artwork by new background.

[Mario]

For a second i thought that was the GBA version... but yeah, it does look pretty cool. Not graphically overwhelming, but it's probably in early stages, and the gameplay is all i really care about in games like this. I've never played a Fire Emblem game before, perhaps i'll start with this one, if it's ever released here. Can't wait to see more of it at E3.

[akdaman1]

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Originally posted by: Mario
For a second i thought that was the GBA version... but yeah, it does look pretty cool. Not graphically overwhelming, but it's probably in early stages, and the gameplay is all i really care about in games like this. I've never played a Fire Emblem game before, perhaps i'll start with this one, if it's ever released here. Can't wait to see more of it at E3.

You have never played one? I know you well enough to know that you will love it. PLAY IT. Buy it.

I agree with graphics not being important. And I LOVE the graphics of this game. I love the style of graphics it has. Its nice and round and I love it.

[Ian Sane]

I find the characters look very blah though obviously those shots are early.  The background looks alright though.  It's not gorgeous but it's functional and that fits a strategy game better.  It should have a very square grid-like design in order to work with the gameplay.

If that's the best they can do graphically though I almost think it would be more worthwhile to make it 2D like the GBA games.  Sure it may not sell as well but it would look much better and it's not like jaggy low detail polygons will sell better, PS2 jokes aside.

I have yet to play Fire Emblem for the GBA though since I'm a little worried about how your characters stay dead.  When I play strategy games usually I'm sacrificing guys left and right for the greater good.  My strategy is win at all costs and casualties are just a part of the game and it normally makes no difference.  However with FE I have to completely change the way I play which probably would annoy me more than anything else.  I'll probably buy it used during a time when I'm in between games.

[akdaman1]

I hate ALL stragety games except for FE and Advance Ways.

Now if you liked Advanced Wars then you will LOVE FE.

[Bloodworth]

I would really prefer a 2D style that's at the same level as those Paper Mario screens -- imagine that level of detail and clarity with Fire Emblem artwork.

[Terranigma Freak]

I would like this game to be actually difficult for a change. No more dumbed down Fire Emblem anymore. We've had enough of FE6 and 7. Those games lack challenge even on hard mode. Can you believe they dumbed down FE7 for the US even though it was already the easiest Fire Emblem ever made? And people are having trouble getting past the tutorial!? Hell, if people suck that much then keep the series Japan Only. Been playing FE in japanese for so many years now so I'm used to it. Well if they must release it in the US, I'll still buy the Japanese version. No doubt Nintendo's heard of all the whinners complaining about getting a headache for having to actually think in a strategy RPG for a change.

BTW I heard the blue shield on the logo is a very important part of the story. There's gonna be 3 different race of beast people. The main character is blue again, thank god I might add. They'll have special skills, probably something similar to FE4 and 5. There had better be new gameplay ideas though. The magic system and arena is going to be tweaked.

[Bill Aurion]

Ike looks like Marth and Roy's love child...

[Ian Sane]

"Can you believe they dumbed down FE7 for the US even though it was already the easiest Fire Emblem ever made?"

Yes.  This is a game where characters stay dead for the rest of the game.  There's no way this game would be accepted in North America if it was even harder then it already is.  I understand being upset by the lower difficulty if you're a fan but if it's to be successful in North America I think Nintendo has to dumb it down a bit until it becomes more accepted.  Then they can raise the difficulty.  If you're annoyed by the lower difficulty then just buy the Japanese versions since you've been doing that the whole time anyway.

Keep in mind that most North American gamers are total beginners to Fire Emblem so it's kind of unfair to expect everyone to be as good as an expert.

[ruby_onix]

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I have yet to play Fire Emblem for the GBA though since I'm a little worried about how your characters stay dead. When I play strategy games usually I'm sacrificing guys left and right for the greater good. My strategy is win at all costs and casualties are just a part of the game and it normally makes no difference. However with FE I have to completely change the way I play which probably would annoy me more than anything else.

I used to have very little regard to the "life" of my characters in videogames, but then in a couple of SNES RPGs they came up with the secret "game stats" rooms, and told me how many times I was letting my people get killed. I was like "What? You saw that? You were counting? Stupid game! Don't do that!"

Since then I've been rather concerned about the health and welfare of my electro-imaginary pawns. I haven't played Fire Emblem for the GBA yet, but I bought it (along with the strategy guide, which I got "just in case"), and it's pretty high on my mental "to play next" list.

[mouse_clicker]

I love how Fire Emblem (and a ton of other strategic RPG's) don't let you revive characters- it really teaches you to respect the importance of each and every character, which most other RPG's don't stress since after that one fight your characters will be alive and well within a matter of minutes. I guarantee you a profficient strategic RPG player knows how to handle his characters much better in traditional RPG's than those who never get into strategic RPG's at all, and that's because they know the strengths and weaknesses of every single one of their characters and know how to best use them to your advantage as well as keep them safe. Every time I lose a character in Fire Emblem, I turn off my GBA and start the chapter over from the very beginning so I can better utilize that character and keep them safe. Getting to know your party is invaluable, and strategic RPG's teach that better than any other type of game.  

[KDR_11k]

Ian: In Bioware RPGs (pretty popular in the west) your characters can die permanently and it's not like they're that easy.

[Terranigma Freak]

Another problem is the people here aren't used to real strategy rpgs. Most of the strategy rpgs released here requires very little strategy to beat. Even the mighty FFT on the PSX can be easily beaten without any real strategy. The problem with most of these games is that the strategy is focused on customizing and making your characters as strong as possible. Once you get the right class and skills in FFT, the game's challenge just goes down to 0. When you have these skills, you're unbeatable on the battlefield. Fire Emblem does everything it can to prevent players from becoming over powered. While there are glicthes and what not that can ruin that, the game still requires more strategy during battle than FFT or most SRPGs that I've played. It keeps a better balance of power and brute strength.

The character deaths just makes this game all the more fun. Tell me, did you ever care when Mary Sue died in FFT? Did you get pissed off when Joe Schmoe got killed in Ogre Battle?

[Ymeegod]

" revive characters"  LOL--they weren't dead just hurt.

My biggest gripe is there's not much in varitey in FE so far (I'm on mission 16) compared to say AW.  To win (since you can't mass-produce units) all you have to sit back and wait for the advancing attackers, after dealing with them, heal and then go on the offence (some guys don't advance)--raise and repeat.

[Terranigma Freak]

Congrats, you've just got past the tutorial. Now prepare to be creamed in 16x... that is if you figure out how to open 16x.

[CHEN]

It's because you're special, TF.

I thought the hard mode of FE6 was maddening myself. Still haven't beaten it. Well, that's because it deletes everything when I turn it off. Guess I'll have to buy a new one.

[Gremio]

I can't wait for FE Gamecube. Good graphics or no,  I hope the gameplay remains consistant with the rest of the series.

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Originally posted by: Terranigma Freak
Congrats, you've just got past the tutorial. Now prepare to be creamed in 16x... that is if you figure out how to open 16x.

Was 16x the one with the pirates?

It's been so long since I played Fire Emblem that I don't remember too much. I really need to buy that game. I'm a strategy game nut and had a lot of fun with it. All I have for GBA is Advance Wars and Tactics Ogre right now. I found the regular difficulty of FE rather easy (tutorial was blah for me, I was glad to get it over with) but hopefully my view on the matter will change after I get the game and play the harder difficulty. I really wanted to play Hector's quest, which I heard is even harder than Eliwood's.

[Ymeegod]

Actually I beat 16x rather easy, but I missed a couple of characters, which were all mages so now I'm on level 20 with zero mages (unless you count one healer), and so far I only official lost one map (gameover) since Lyn died.  Other than that I restarted a couple of missions due to losing a support member but that's about it.

The AI is very laughable at best.  But I'm not sure if my strategy will hold but right now I have basically one attacker (level 20 Paladin) who does 75% of the killing :0.  Also "Guy" is quite high but my main characters levels are still in the single digits.  That might bite me in the end but so far I'm still slapping around the AI with ease.