I highly recommend the first game (released in America) for GBA. It's totally awesome.
OMG, what he said. No, what he said times a hundred and dipped in honey sauce. Awesome honey sauce.
I actually just started playing FE GBA again. I'm about half way through and I'm falling in love with it all over again. The characters and the story are the best of all of the versions I have played (which is all of them released in the US). The GC and Wii FE's definitely improved the combat and overall system of the game, but the characters are just barely edged out by the original GBA ones.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem DS
Post by: Bill Aurion on July 10, 2008, 05:14:28 PM
More details... (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3168637)
Title: Re: Fire Emblem DS
Post by: bosshogx on July 10, 2008, 09:41:08 PM
I really, really need this game. Hopefully E3 will give us a release date that is sooner rather than later.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem DS
Post by: bosshogx on July 11, 2008, 08:12:10 AM
The first video is kind of a Fire Emblem tutorial, mainly stuff regular players would already know. The second video is played out in a board game style. A FE board game would totally rock.
The game releases in two weeks in Japan. It hasn't been mentioned for a US release, so I'm betting around Feb or March of next year. I hate waiting.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: Flames_of_chaos on December 09, 2008, 10:11:11 PM
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: KDR_11k on December 10, 2008, 03:10:30 AM
Came out last week or so here.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: vudu on December 10, 2008, 01:46:06 PM
Rumored to come out at the end of February in America.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: bosshogx on December 10, 2008, 04:48:40 PM
Looks like I'll be playing the European version sometime next week! Woo-Hoo!!
A friend of mine decided to import it and picked up one for me as well. It's like a Christmas miracle. Perfect timing too, I just finished up playing Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones on the GBA (Ephraim's hard route). I'll update everyone as I go. :)
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: decoyman on December 12, 2008, 03:04:13 PM
I love me some Fire Emblem... I used to especially like it in school when I had large hoilday breaks w/ no class/work/etc. and I could just sink deep, deep into a game and just play for hours a day. Can't do that anymore, really, but when I think of doing this, Fire Emblem is a perfect choice.
Never did play Sacred Stones... guess I have a chance now, considering this new one doesn't come out till February here!
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: bosshogx on December 23, 2008, 12:31:46 PM
So I just got my copy today. w00t!
I've decided to go ahead and play on normal on my first go around. I know that I'll end up playing through on harder difficulties in follow up play sessions. I'm only on the third prologue mission right now, but I've like what I've seen thus far. Here are a few highlights:
-Cavaliers can no longer move after making a non-attacking option. There movement is basically like everyone else at this point. -When attacking an enemy, you can use the X or Y button to cycle through a characters different weapons. This saves a ton of time. -Pressing the A button on an enemy will keep their attack range on the screen. Pressing the X button anywhere on the map will give the attack range of every enemy on the map. -Leaving the curser on any unit, hero or enemy, will show his/her attack and movement range. -When moving a unit, you can highlight an enemy to see battle stats instead of moving next to them first. This is identical to the attacking system in Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. -When attacking an enemy, all the animations happen on the top screen. Some characters have a second attack animation if they get to attack twice in a row. Basically it's the same as how the characters attack in the GC & Wii versions. -The old mission statistics from the GBA versions of FE are displayed on the top screen. This page will change if you highlight a hero/enemy and press the R button. -All of a characters stats, weapon levels, equipment, portrait, equipped weapon, and current terrain are all displayed on one page. It's clean, easy to understand, and saves a ton of time flipping through pages. -It doesn't look as though there are supports in the game, which is a bit disappointing. -According to the instruction manual, you will be able to forge weapons ala the GC/Wii version during the deployment phase of a map.
Honestly, the game just feels a lot faster and more streamlined than any other prior Fire Emblem. This mostly has to do with the 2nd screen of the DS. I haven't tried out the Wi-Fi yet, but will do so in the coming weeks. Apparently, you can do a 5v5 battle with an friend (with optional voice chat), a random opponent (no voice chat), shop online, upload units to a server for random people to use, or download units units from the server to use in the single player. Loaning is a bit tricky, but goes something like this:
-You can "borrow" up to 10 units. -You can only loan out characters in your current save file. -You can only use one borrowed unit at a time. -You can borrow any unit you like, but can only use that unit if you've recruited them in the single player already. -A borrowed unit will co-exist with your version of the unit, but both units cannot be deployed at the same time. -Any stat gains of a loaned unit will not be carried over to your version of the unit. -If the borrowed unit dies in combat, your version of the character dies too. Be careful! -Any units that you "lend" to another player are not lost and can still be used like normal. It's more like you are "copying" them and then "pasting" them onto a server or another players copy of the game.
That pretty much sums up what I've gleaned thus far from my limited play time. Ask any questions you like and I'll answer them post haste.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: DAaaMan64 on December 23, 2008, 01:23:48 PM
I'm excited for this and didn't know there was an NA release already.
I see boss has impressions nailed, thanks.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: vudu on December 23, 2008, 01:32:45 PM
Boo! I'm not happy about this. It eliminates a layer of strategy.
Can you explain the save/temp. save system? I was confused about initial reports, but it has me a bit worried that the difficulty has been toned down.
I always thought that mounted units were too powerful in the GC/Wii version being able to move/attack/move in one turn. I agree though that the move/non-attack action/move should have been left in. It's still early in the tutorial, so maybe this will surface once they talk about rescuing.
Again, it's still early, but the save system seems to be identical to the GBA versions. You can save mid level, but it's only a suspend and not a restarting point like in the Wii version.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: bosshogx on December 24, 2008, 05:03:59 PM
Alright, update time.
I've gotten to a part in the game where they've introduced save points. Imagine a white circle tile that is placed on the map. If any unit stops on it, you can create a mid-map save. Anything you've done to that point will be saved and you can restart from that point. You can have a total of two mid-map saves on your cart, in addition to the normal three game save files. I have seen maps with more than one mid-map save point on it. Once you use the mid-map save, it will vanish.
I'm starting to get a feel for how the game plays now and I'm almost certain that there is no rescuing to be had, unless it shows up later. Characters don't have a rescue or a weight stat, which just makes me think I'm even safer in this assumption. Now you have to be extra careful now when moving and placing weaker units since you can't rescue them.
The game is also showering me with units, but most of them seem practically nameless. I started mission two and received a mercenary and three axe fighters. The problem is that only the Mercenary actually spoke with Marth, while the others just hit the field. You can tell how the game was designed back then with more focus on certain units and the others acting as fodder. By the time the map was over, I recruited a second archer and a pirate. 14 units by the end of map 2? Crazy.
Finally, only Marth can enter villages to get items/have conversations. Any unit can enter houses for information or armories to buy items. So much for Pegasus Knights swooping in, gathering loot, and high tailing it out. :(
That's it for now, ask me any other questions if ya' want.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: BeautifulShy on February 05, 2009, 09:33:57 PM
All the info you could want (http://Http://gonintendo.com/?p=71773)
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: Stratos on February 08, 2009, 01:51:56 AM
So is anyone else hoping that the other Japan-only Fire Emblems get remade/re-released now either on VC or as DS/DSiWare remakes?
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: decoyman on February 08, 2009, 09:40:20 PM
So is anyone else hoping that the other Japan-only Fire Emblems get remade/re-released now either on VC or as DS/DSiWare remakes?
VC would be WIN!
The Japanese Wii VC has several FEs already. Those and the N64 Custom Robo are JP VC games I wish would come to the West.
Oh man, I'd absolutely love to see the N64 Custom Robo come here, the DS game is one of my favorite DS games.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: Stratos on February 10, 2009, 09:32:39 PM
I've actually been meaning to get the DS one for a while but it always falls at the wayside at the hands of bigger games... someday. Last I saw it was only $15 on Amazon. Maybe when I order Tenchu, Deadly Creatures or Fire Emblem.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: bosshogx on February 13, 2009, 11:16:18 AM
**Warning: Long post to follow**
Well, I finally finished the game a couple of days ago. I'll go ahead and write up a review for anyone who is interested.
As most of you are aware, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is a remake of the original Fire Emblem for the NES. The main character is Marth, who was recently made popular from the Smash Brothers series. If you've never played a FE game before, then this is a good starting point. If you've played a FE game before on the GBA, GC, or Wii, then you should be prepared for some big differences. The differences are numerous, some good, some bad, some major, some minor. These differences are only in comparison to the more current FE that have been released.
Good changes
-In game saves locations. There are now spots on the map (usually two), that allow you to save your progress and reload it should a character die. This helps players recover a lot of time for a minor mistake (say not checking that an enemy is carrying a horse slaying and kills your cavalier). Because the player must choose to use them, save circles are a perfect way to make the game easier on a new comer while they can be completely ignored by a FE "purist".
-Direct attacking and weapon cycling. Direct attacking is a feature that was first seen in Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. Basically, when moving a unit, you can plot out your movement and end up on an enemy. The game will then automatically take you to the attack information box instead of making the player choose the attack option. This works the same for healing. Once the attack information box is displayed, pressing the "X" button will cycle through all of the characters weapons to get different results. This saves a lot of time and is one of my favorite editions.
-New animations. Whether or not you like the rendered look of the units is a matter of personal preference, but the animations nicely done. While I do prefer the older sprite based look of the GBA FE, the animations of the characters and the magic are quite easy on the eye.
-Online play. Being an import copy of the game, I didn't have anyone to try this feature out with. You create teams of five units and go at it against another player's five units. I can't imagine that this feature would be as robust or balanced as Advance Wars, but at least the option is there.
-Online store. Feel free to buy weapons, armor, items, and upgrades via a WiFi store. Every day the inventory changes. All purchases are made from gold earned in the single player game. Certain rare items are only available on certain days (ie. days ending with a 5 like the 5th, 15th, 25th.)
-Online unit sharing. Place a unit into an online store that friends can use. It's basically a copy/paste scenario. Say I choose to place my axe user Barst into the store. An exact copy of the character is placed online for anyone else to download. I continue to use my Barst and play like normal. If anyone downloads my copy of Barst, they can use him in place of their version of Barst. If either version of Barst is killed, both characters are removed from the roster.
-Class swapping. You can take any character and change them from one class to another. Need an extra Mage? No problem, take one of those excessive Cavaliers and turn them into a Mage. There are caps on the total number of any one type of unit so that you don't field thirty Mages.
-Merging. During the setup phase before battle, the player can combine like weapons to restore weapon uses. Say you have a pair of Iron Swords, one with twelve uses and the other with twentieth uses. Merging them together will give you one Iron Sword with thirty five uses. This saves the player from equipping a unit with two swords of the same type for when the first one breaks.
-Forging. This is a carried over ability from the GC and Wii versions. During the setup phase, a player my spend money to create a more powerful version of almost any weapon in their inventory. You can even name the weapon. This will help weaker characters hang with stronger enemies.
Bad changes
-No rescuing. Units go no longer pick each other up to get them out of a difficult situation. This was a very big strategic aspect of all prior FE games and doesn't seem to make sense in it's exclusion. It was probably left out because it wasn't a feature in the original game.
-Mounted units get no second action. In the GBA versions of FE, mounted units could move, perform any non-attack option, and finish their move. In the GC and Wii versions, they could attack then move which made them IMHO far too powerful. In the DS version, they have no options at all, simply making them units with a lot of movement range.
-Only Marth can enter villages. You can no longer use any unit to enter a village and get an item. Marth has to be the one that does it, unlike prior FE titles. Any unit can still enter a house to gather information though.
-No more "R" button information. In all prior versions of FE, the player could highlight an ally or enemy and press the "R" button to gain more detailed information. In the DS version, moving the cursor over any unit causes it's stats and equipment to appear on the top screen. This is usually fine, but there is no way to highlight an enemies weapons to check it's stats or abilities. This is especially frustrating if they have a unique weapon that you cannot check special attack bonuses or weight. I also used the "R" button to quickly cycle through enemies at the map set up screen to see what items they might be carrying that can be stolen or acquired through defeating them. It was also extremely useful for seeing if any enemies had a portrait, which usually indicates a boss or a recruitable character.
-All maps are "Seize" only. There are no variety of map objectives. There will be no survival modes, kill all the enemies modes, or rescue modes. This makes the gameplay a bit stale.
-Unlocking extra maps. To unlike the side missions, you must kill off existing characters. For some reason, you have to have less than fifteen characters to unlock the extra maps. This typically means choosing a group of fifteen and killing off the rest. This was never an issue in any other FE, so I don't understand why it was added to this one.
General observations
-Tons of characters quickly. By the time you reach the fourth mission, you will probably have over twenty characters. You also get way too many Cavaliers, like six or seven by mission five.
-Little to no character development. In all prior FE titles, the characters usually had at least one thing that made them unique or interesting to the story. Sometimes it tied into the story other times it was a neat personality quirk. In the DS version, some characters are just added without saying a word. One map had my party receiving help from another nation. A Mercenary character spoke with Marth and then three axe wielders hoped in behind him. No back story, just three extra guys with axes. Weird.
-Recruiting is limited. Almost every character in the game is recruited by either Marth or Shiida (the main love interest). Their are a few other characters that can be recruited by other characters, but it's never apparent who that is supposed to be. It usually boils down to trail and error to figure it out.
-No conversations before maps. After a mission starts, you go right to base camp. There is no conversation with the characters before hand. It seems a bit out of place compared to prior titles.
-No fleshed out base camps. All of the neat options from the GC and Wii versions were removed. No more Bonus Experience, supports, or side conversations. These were very small additions that really helped fleshed out the characters without drastically changing the gameplay.
-No support system. No more building up "A", "B", and "C" supports with other characters. This means no more slightly boosted stats, interesting back stories or conversations, and different endings depending on support levels.
In conclusion
All in all, the game is still good, but a big let down for long time FE fans. The game just seems very basic when compared to the others in the series. I can understand not having certain gameplay features such as rescuing and mounted unit movement, but not having storyline aspects is just bizarre. Adding rescuing and other abilities would require maps to be rebalanced, but adding conversations wouldn't hinder gameplay at all.
I guess my biggest overall complaint is that Intelligent Systems appeared to want to update the gameplay to more current FE fair, but seemed to stop short somewhere in the middle. Why not recreate the original game with graphical overhauls and then include a "remixed" mode with all of the innovations from the rest of the series added? It's really the best of both worlds. Maybe it was too much extra work, for not enough return. Who knows?
In the end, I would say this was my least favorite FE I ever played. Had there been a remixed mode with more character interactions and personality I would probably rank it higher. Of course, everything above is just my opinion and you know what they say about opinions.
Hope you enjoyed the read and feel free to ask any questions about the game.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: vudu on February 13, 2009, 03:06:23 PM
What difficulty levels are available from the start? I've heard that Normal is a little easy for veterans, so I'll probably jump in at a harder difficulty. Than again, past FE games have completely changed the difficulty settings during localization, so it might completely change for the American version.
I hadn't heard about a lot of your gripes with the game. It kind of sucks that only Marth can enter villages. I generally send out an over-powered character to out-of-the-way villages so the rest of my party can stick together. Sine the main character generally isn't that unit this will present a problem to my current play style. It especially sucks since Marth is the character that does the most recruiting. How am I supposed to visit a village on the south-west side of the map while simultaneously recruit a character on the north-east end of the map? I hate when recruit-able characters die from a counterattack because they foolishly decide to attack my strongest character before I can get to them. Are there any timed events such as I need to visit such-and-such village within the first 10 turns or it is burned to the ground or I need to recruit someone before they leave the map?
No R button information sucks. I do the same thing you do (especially to find steal-able treasures and recruit-able characters). I think I'm going to have to resort to using a FAQ a lot more than I usually do just so I don't miss things like this.
Is it possible to dismiss characters from your party without killing them? If I have to waste a character slot on my map just to get rid of someone it's going to be annoying.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: bosshogx on February 14, 2009, 12:57:16 AM
What difficulty levels are available from the start? I've heard that Normal is a little easy for veterans, so I'll probably jump in at a harder difficulty. Than again, past FE games have completely changed the difficulty settings during localization, so it might completely change for the American version.
IIRC, the difficulties were "Normal" and "Hard". I chose Normal figuring that I would play through it again on hard. Oops.
I hadn't heard about a lot of your gripes with the game. It kind of sucks that only Marth can enter villages. I generally send out an over-powered character to out-of-the-way villages so the rest of my party can stick together. Sine the main character generally isn't that unit this will present a problem to my current play style. It especially sucks since Marth is the character that does the most recruiting. How am I supposed to visit a village on the south-west side of the map while simultaneously recruit a character on the north-east end of the map? I hate when recruit-able characters die from a counterattack because they foolishly decide to attack my strongest character before I can get to them. Are there any timed events such as I need to visit such-and-such village within the first 10 turns or it is burned to the ground or I need to recruit someone before they leave the map?
Only enemy thieves are the only ones that can destroy villages. Unlike most FE's, thieves usually don't appear as reinforcements in this game. Most maps have the thieves already located somewhere and that's all you have to deal with. There was one map I can think of that had multiple thief reinforcements, but by the time they appeared, you were already finished grabbing the chests. One nice thing is that when you kill a thief, you get all of the items he stole. Very nice.
I only recall needing to have Marth at two places at a time maybe once or twice. It's not really that big of an issue. What really sucks is having to move Marth to a village to get an item, then trudge him all the way back across the map to capture the castle that the boss was standing on.
Is it possible to dismiss characters from your party without killing them? If I have to waste a character slot on my map just to get rid of someone it's going to be annoying.
Nope, you can't dismiss anyone. You only need to slaughter your characters if you are trying for the side chapters. Apparently, once you recruit a certain number of characters, the game will stop giving you characters to recruit until you lose someone. How stupid is that?
Even weirder than that is if you start killing off people left and right, the game will provide you with filler units to get you back to 15. They are supposedly units without a picture, kinda like enemy units. Bizarre.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: vudu on February 14, 2009, 10:29:36 AM
In past FE games the units you get early on tend to be far superior to the ones you get later in the game.
For example, in Path of Radiance, Gatrie (ch. 3) has higher average stats than Brom (ch. 10) or Tauroneo (ch. 21). These weaker characters only serve a real purpose if you were foolish and let your Gatrie die and thus need to replace him.
As long as it's the same setup I suppose I won't really mind missing out on characters later in the game. But if there are fantastic characters that appear late in the game it's going to be annoying killing off units in order to get them.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: Luigi Dude on February 15, 2009, 04:10:17 AM
For anyone that's interested, here's the Ask Iwata interview of the game. As always, lots of great comments.
Of course the big surprise is Sakurai is doing the interview instead of Iwata. Looks like Sakurai is still willing to do whatever Iwata asks him. Hey, maybe if we're lucky, Iwata will have Sakurai go back to HAL to help them finally finish that Kirby game they've spent the last 40 years on. :P
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: Ymeegod on March 03, 2009, 02:06:28 PM
Nice review bosshogx, I agree with everything you say. I just finished myself and found it a bit disappointing. The remake didn't add the gameplay improvements from the lastest FF games so it was 100% ole-school with a fresh coat of paint.
I love plots and this one was quite disappointing. The characters really don't have more than a "few sentences" worth of dialog if that at all. You don't unlock their pasts or have much interaction with other characters like in the GBA FF game. Sure when a new character joins you might be able to talk with them though another character but that will be the end of it.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: vudu on March 09, 2009, 04:02:18 PM
I'm five missions into the game and feeling a bit overwhelmed by a few of the new options.
Is this the first Fire Emblem game that's allowed you to change your character class at any time? It's a bit daunting. The feature wasn't explained at all and I'm not sure if this is an integral feature or if I only need to worry about it if I start losing characters and need to replace them. Do I get any benefit by changing the character's default class? I would think that they're best suited for their original class, but since there's zero mention of this in the tutorial I don't really know for sure. Any advice?
I've never used the forge ability in past games, but I'm considering it this game. I'd like to give Caeda a stronger lance while keeping the weight down so she can still attack twice per turn. However, I'm cheap and I like to horde, so even though I have like 25,000 gold pieces I don't want to spend the cash. Anyone else use this feature?
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: Stratos on March 09, 2009, 11:24:43 PM
I'm five missions into the game and feeling a bit overwhelmed by a few of the new options.
Is this the first Fire Emblem game that's allowed you to change your character class at any time? It's a bit daunting. The feature wasn't explained at all and I'm not sure if this is an integral feature or if I only need to worry about it if I start losing characters and need to replace them. Do I get any benefit by changing the character's default class? I would think that they're best suited for their original class, but since there's zero mention of this in the tutorial I don't really know for sure. Any advice?
I've never used the forge ability in past games, but I'm considering it this game. I'd like to give Caeda a stronger lance while keeping the weight down so she can still attack twice per turn. However, I'm cheap and I like to horde, so even though I have like 25,000 gold pieces I don't want to spend the cash. Anyone else use this feature?
I won't use the class change system yet. Maybe on my second run through.
Don't bother with a special spear for Caeda. The Wing Spear she has is great against calvary and some other unit I forgot about. If you already used that up then hold on for mission seven (I think it's seven...or eight) where you can buy another one for a nice price. You can also buy another rapier for Marth.
On a completely different thought. Does anyone else hope the next FE game has a different type of lead than the sword-only wielding lord? The only hero with a different weapon type was Ephraim from Sacred Stones. I loved having a lord with a spear. By lord I also mean the lead character. Marth, Roy, Eliwood, Erika and Ike all used swords, typically of the rapier variety.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: decoyman on March 10, 2009, 12:02:08 PM
How about Sothe? He's a thief, who used daggers! (so... little swords... never mind)
Reading through this thread made me remember that I'd never finished Radiant Dawn. So, I'm getting my Fire Emblem fix that way instead (though it's a bit daunting starting fresh when you were already about 30-some hours in the first time).
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: vudu on March 10, 2009, 02:22:40 PM
On a completely different thought. Does anyone else hope the next FE game has a different type of lead than the sword-only wielding lord? The only hero with a different weapon type was Ephraim from Sacred Stones. I loved having a lord with a spear. By lord I also mean the lead character. Marth, Roy, Eliwood, Erika and Ike all used swords, typically of the rapier variety.
Hector uses axes. He's the best lord ever. ;D
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: Stratos on March 10, 2009, 07:35:45 PM
On a completely different thought. Does anyone else hope the next FE game has a different type of lead than the sword-only wielding lord? The only hero with a different weapon type was Ephraim from Sacred Stones. I loved having a lord with a spear. By lord I also mean the lead character. Marth, Roy, Eliwood, Erika and Ike all used swords, typically of the rapier variety.
Hector uses axes. He's the best lord ever. ;D
But he's not the lead. Well, I guess he counts since it's game over if he dies. So I guess there are a number of alternate weapon lords. I just wish there were more where the story revolved around them more. Sothe can count as well. I finished PoR after RD released so my Sothe was maxed out. He is killer in RD. I just wish they didn't gimp the veteran units when they gain exp.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: decoyman on March 11, 2009, 11:35:23 AM
Has there ever been an archer lord? It seems like a royal-ish weapon to take up...
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: vudu on March 11, 2009, 02:03:43 PM
But he's not the lead. Well, I guess he counts since it's game over if he dies. So I guess there are a number of alternate weapon lords. I just wish there were more where the story revolved around them more.
Did you beat the first GBA Fire Emblem? You can play it again and get a slightly different story (and some new chapters) where Hector is the main lord. You haven't really played Fire Emblem until you've played Hector Hard Mode. ;D
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: Stratos on March 11, 2009, 06:35:28 PM
But he's not the lead. Well, I guess he counts since it's game over if he dies. So I guess there are a number of alternate weapon lords. I just wish there were more where the story revolved around them more.
Did you beat the first GBA Fire Emblem? You can play it again and get a slightly different story (and some new chapters) where Hector is the main lord. You haven't really played Fire Emblem until you've played Hector Hard Mode. ;D
I actually haven't ever beaten any FE's until last Fall when I beat PoR finally because I wanted to move on to RD. I am a perfectionist in the game and usually start over if I feel I could have raised my characters better. I have even gotten to the last level multiple times in the first GBA one. I've restarted it at least a good 12 times when I was over 3/4ths of the way to the end. I also won't let anyone die ever.
Maybe I should go back and actually finish it? I love the games, I apparently just hate to finish them. ;D
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: decoyman on March 12, 2009, 12:58:53 AM
I let that little punk Edward die in Radiant Dawn.
Kid was such a jerk, always getting himself into trouble. >:(
*grumblegrumble*
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: Stratos on March 17, 2009, 04:46:20 AM
This may be a bit of a spoiler if answered but I am curious, does Marth ever class up like Ike, Ephraim and other lords? Which battle does this occur on? I'm pretty far in the game and haven't given him as much experience as I usually give lords and am wondering if I should push him on my current mission to max. I'm prepping for mission 17.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: bosshogx on March 19, 2009, 06:25:39 PM
This may be a bit of a spoiler if answered but I am curious, does Marth ever class up like Ike, Ephraim and other lords? Which battle does this occur on? I'm pretty far in the game and haven't given him as much experience as I usually give lords and am wondering if I should push him on my current mission to max. I'm prepping for mission 17.
Spoilered just in case: Lords, thieves, and dragons do not level up, but they do get a higher level cap of 30.
Personally, I only used the class change option on one character, because I didn't want her to be a healer. Outside of that, I don't think it's necessary unless you lose units like crazy.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: Stratos on March 19, 2009, 06:47:37 PM
Thanks for the response bosshogx, I just passed level 20 last night and was wondering if he auto classed like in the Gamecube/Wii games of if it was a higher level cap. Is it worth much to level up thieves, I gave up leveling mine up since I am trying to have five falco/draco knights on my final team. That's a lot of leveling.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: vudu on March 19, 2009, 09:47:15 PM
I always level up my thieves, but that's just because I love the class. However, I also love Myrmidons, which just proves I'm an idiot. ;)
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: Stratos on March 20, 2009, 01:47:51 AM
I always level up my thieves, but that's just because I love the class. However, I also love Myrmidons, which just proves I'm an idiot. ;)
How is that being an idiot?
I powered up the thief from Sacred Stones and turned him into an assassin and Sothe in PoR, but Sothe I did mostly because I knew he was a key started character in RD and that I could carry stats over.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: vudu on March 20, 2009, 02:09:43 PM
Myrmidons generally suck because they're weak and have low health. They generally have good luck which helps with avoiding hits and landing criticals. They're uneven, which makes them hard to play with and are usually more trouble than they're worth. But they're so awesome I can't resist using at least one or two of them every time I play.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: Stratos on March 20, 2009, 03:29:41 PM
They just need a little babying and a stat boost or two. In fact the first myrmidon you get in Shadow Dragon has turned out to be pretty sweet for me. Maybe it's just luck but he maxed out two stats before I raised his class and I haven't given him any stat boosts yet. Jonathan from Sacred Stones turned out well for me too. Now, Edward from Radiant Dawn, I struggle to boost him and no amount of babying has worked so far in making him better. :-\
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: vudu on March 20, 2009, 03:36:07 PM
I'm not saying they're horrible, but if you want a good sword user the Mercenary class is better in just about every way. But as I already said, I love Myrmidons and use them even though they're not the "best" class.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: Stratos on March 20, 2009, 03:54:52 PM
That's funny because I've never kept a mercenary around for long and I almost always have a myrmidon in my core party. I never had a knight either until Shadow Dragon because I had grown so fond of the halberds from PoR/RD that I needed a spear unit. So I gave Draug two speed boosts and the 2+ movement bonus so now he is a lot faster.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: bosshogx on March 20, 2009, 04:43:48 PM
Raven, the Mercenary unit from the GBA Fire Emblem, may have been one of the single greatest non-lord units in that game.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: Stratos on March 20, 2009, 04:55:46 PM
Raven, the Mercenary unit from the GBA Fire Emblem, may have been one of the single greatest non-lord units in that game.
Really? I never used him. I'll have to try him out next time I play that one.
Oh yeah. He has enough speed to double up most attacks, hits for large chunks of damage, rarely actually gets hit (even against spears), can rescue a large amount of the other characters, gets the use of axes at class change, and has a healthy amount of hit points.
His weaknesses? He takes a good amount of damage from magic...but he never actually gets hit by it. Especially if he has any kind of support with another character in effect.
Straight sick.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: vudu on March 20, 2009, 05:31:18 PM
Yeah, Raven broke the game. He was awesome. ;D
I have a feeling Ogma might do the same for this game.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: bosshogx on March 21, 2009, 12:36:43 AM
I have a feeling Ogma might do the same for this game.
Naw, Ogma isn't anywhere near pimp enough. In fact, most characters in this game are not overpowered like they are in other FE titles. Marth gets really strong and most of your other characters can hold their own, but no one is over-the-top powerful like they are in GBA and GC/Wii FE's.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: Stratos on March 21, 2009, 02:02:58 AM
I just broke level 20 with Marth. I'm trying to have a wing of flying units for my final team including all the Pegasus and Draco Knights. Cadea is maxed at 20 and I'm waiting for the Elysian Whip to appear in the online store (tomorrow I think?) so I can make her a Falco Knight.
Does anyone know if there is a way to not kill Camus? I converted Lorenz and am on the next level but I still have a save on Camus' level and am wondering if you can save him.
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: bosshogx on March 21, 2009, 09:43:12 AM
Does anyone know if there is a way to not kill Camus? I converted Lorenz and am on the next level but I still have a save on Camus' level and am wondering if you can save him.
Wall o' black boxes: Nope, you are forced to kill him or capture the capital without killing him. Capturing the capital is just about impossible due to his large movement range and his distance to you. Just slaughter him because let's me honest, you weren't going to use him anyway. :P
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: decoyman on March 21, 2009, 11:55:43 AM
Does anyone know if there is a way to not kill Camus? I converted Lorenz and am on the next level but I still have a save on Camus' level and am wondering if you can save him.
Wall o' black boxes: Nope, you are forced to kill him or capture the capital without killing him. Capturing the capital is just about impossible due to his large movement range and his distance to you. Just slaughter him because let's me honest, you weren't going to use him anyway. :P
Ok, I've never played the game and have no idea if I'm about to not make any sense in the specifics of THIS situation, but...
Can you set up a trap for him? I mean, either use environmental barricades, or your own people (strong ones w/ weapons unequipped) to keep him from getting to you and letting you capture the capital? I used a similar tactic in FE:RD to keep a wyvern boss from dying and ending the level (until I was ready to kill him – that was the win condition of the map), thus letting me kill all the rest of the regular baddies for their experience, and steal their stuff at my leisure. It was tricky to set up, don't get me wrong... but it worked for me.
Just an idea...
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: Stratos on March 21, 2009, 09:59:12 PM
Does anyone know if there is a way to not kill Camus? I converted Lorenz and am on the next level but I still have a save on Camus' level and am wondering if you can save him.
Wall o' black boxes: Nope, you are forced to kill him or capture the capital without killing him. Capturing the capital is just about impossible due to his large movement range and his distance to you. Just slaughter him because let's me honest, you weren't going to use him anyway. :P
Ok, I've never played the game and have no idea if I'm about to not make any sense in the specifics of THIS situation, but...
Can you set up a trap for him? I mean, either use environmental barricades, or your own people (strong ones w/ weapons unequipped) to keep him from getting to you and letting you capture the capital? I used a similar tactic in FE:RD to keep a wyvern boss from dying and ending the level (until I was ready to kill him – that was the win condition of the map), thus letting me kill all the rest of the regular baddies for their experience, and steal their stuff at my leisure. It was tricky to set up, don't get me wrong... but it worked for me.
Just an idea...
Just go around the West side. You can convert the boss general with Cadea then just move him off the castle and move Marth onto it. But I just went ahead and killed him for EXP. And your right, I wasn't going to use him. I just didn't want Nyna to be sad. Though now that he's out of the way I can hook her up with Marth if they include the relationship system (though probably not since she doesn't appear to be a playable character)
LOL and the Wall-O-Black :)
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: bosshogx on March 22, 2009, 12:20:54 PM
He's worth good experience and has an awesome weapon, so it's a good idea to off him. That's another big thing that bugs me about this game; no support system. I understand that it wasn't introduced until later, but come on just add it and make me happy. :)
Title: Re: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Post by: Stratos on March 23, 2009, 02:44:27 AM
He's worth good experience and has an awesome weapon, so it's a good idea to off him. That's another big thing that bugs me about this game; no support system. I understand that it wasn't introduced until later, but come on just add it and make me happy. :)
They added a lot of other things like the weapons triangle. I am wondering about the sequel though. Wasn't there a feature to pair up the characters and determine who their children were in it? I wonder if this could be the possible sequel where the story continues.
I really want to play all the old ones in any form whether it is a remake like Shadow Dragon or a translated VC release.
