Best version of FE1?

[Lantairu]

So, I just finished FE3 Book 1 (started on Book 2) and that got me thinking, what is the definitive version of FE1? Famicom, FE3, or Shadow Dragon? Considering I haven't played Shadow Dragon and have yet to revisit the Famicom game as it's pretty dated, I don't really have an opinion.

[Knight Falchion]

My vote would be for Shadow Dragon considering it has the best script of the three and the least dated gameplay. I think FE3 Book 1 captures it well enough though and I personally didn't miss any of the cut content barring Wrys, so there isn't too much of a reason to play either FE1 or Shadow Dragon once you've already experienced it. Well, unless you want to mess around with reclassing, challenge yourself with the H5 difficulty setting, or enjoy the updated script. FE1 is, as you said, pretty dated, so unless you want to play every single FE game or are curious as to what the very first one was like, there is no reason to choose to play it over FE3 Book 1 or Shadow Dragon. That's how I see it.

Edited August 19, 2015 by Ambling Falchion

[Shadow Mir]

I'd say FE3 Book 1. FE1 is poorly designed to the point of being unplayable, and I honestly don't think much higher of Shadow Dragon.

[Julius Nepos]

If I had to make a decision, I would say FE11.

FE1 itself, though fine otherwise, has a very dated UI that can make it quite hard to play.

FE3 book 1 has a much better UI - one that actually makes it not hard to play. The cut content isn't a huge loss, but it's still a loss.

FE11 adds a few more UI conveniences, more characters, more chapters (prologue and gaiden), changeable difficulty settings, more elaborate combat preparations (including reclassing) and a bigger script.

All three versions have their redeeming qualities though, and I like them all. There's plenty of notable differences between them too - FE11, where almost every class has a promotion and a full reclass set, plays very differently from FE1, where most classes don't even have a promotion.

[Baldrick]

FE3 Book 1 is right out, a remake that cuts characters and chapters can't be definitive.

IMO, the original is the most... consistent? To me, the DS UI kind of clashes with the NES gameplay.

But if anyone was interested in Marth's adventures, I would definitely recommend playing Shadow Dragon.

[Shadow Mir]

FE3 Book 1 is right out, a remake that cuts characters and chapters can't be definitive.

IMO, the original is the most... consistent? To me, the DS UI kind of clashes with the NES gameplay.

But if anyone was interested in Marth's adventures, I would definitely recommend playing Shadow Dragon.

Bold: Funny you say that, since while I might be tempted to agree, the original is unplayable on account of godawful game design, and Shadow Dragon isn't much better in the game design department (IMHO, anyway).

[Topazd]

FE11 delivers the most complete package and is by far the most accessible of the three. That's certainly the definitive version to play, though all of them have their distinctive advantages.

However, the reasons to recommend 1/3 over 11 to your average player are somewhat scarce. I kind of prefer some of their aspects pertaining to flavour (NES/SNES spritework, weapon weight, less dynamic exp formula, etc.) but if you want the game with the most competent script, polished UI, adjustable difficulty settings and largest amount of characters, FE11 is the way to go.

@Levant I still don't get what Book 1 allegedly does better in terms of design over the other two.

[feplus]

@Levant I still don't get what Book 1 allegedly does better in terms of design over the other two.

Dismount nerfs otherwise dominant characters, the cut content is mostly bad content and improves the overall experience by subtraction, UI is much improved over the original, some nice balance changes (eg. javelins crippling AS).

Shadow Dragon is probably better, but there are good reasons for preferring Book 1. In addition to the above, some players dislike reclassing and SD's art style. The original is borderline unplayable and greatly inferior to its remakes.

[Topazd]

Oh, I don't think there aren't reasons to prefer 3, I had it listed as my favourite for quite a bit of time.

I guess the whether the cut content was bad is somewhat subjective. But perhaps that was too hasty of a comment nonetheless, knights/generals (the most prominent benefit of dismounting, in my eyes) are genuinely better in 3 than anywhere else.

[Baldrick]

Bold: Funny you say that, since while I might be tempted to agree, the original is unplayable on account of godawful game design, and Shadow Dragon isn't much better in the game design department (IMHO, anyway).

Some people would say FE3 is unplayable.

Everyone has a different threshold for what constitutes unplayable.

[Shadow Mir]

FE11 delivers the most complete package and is by far the most accessible of the three. That's certainly the definitive version to play, though all of them have their distinctive advantages.

However, the reasons to recommend 1/3 over 11 to your average player are somewhat scarce. I kind of prefer some of their aspects pertaining to flavour (NES/SNES spritework, weapon weight, less dynamic exp formula, etc.) but if you want the game with the most competent script, polished UI, adjustable difficulty settings and largest amount of characters, FE11 is the way to go.

@Levant I still don't get what Book 1 allegedly does better in terms of design over the other two.

Ehhh, while I do not dislike Shadow Dragon's art style or reclassing, I DO dislike the fact that for being a remake of a game that was almost 2 decades old (relative to Shadow Dragon's release date), it felt more like FE1 2.0. The fact that some of the extra content seemed to have been thrown in without any thought (ESPECIALLY the extra characters and chapters) doesn't help. And FE1, as stated earlier, is just virtually unplayable and flat-out inferior.

Edited August 29, 2015 by Levant Colthearts

[maybe]

Ehhh, while I do not dislike Shadow Dragon's art style or reclassing, I DO dislike the fact that for being a remake of a game that was almost 2 decades old (relative to Shadow Dragon's release date), it felt more like FE1 2.0. The fact that some of the extra content seemed to have been thrown in without any thought (ESPECIALLY the extra characters and chapters) doesn't help. And FE1, as stated earlier, is just virtually unplayable and flat-out inferior.

Still, if it's a better experience then it should be recommended over the others. Whether or not the game is lazily made shouldn't affect someone's enjoyment of it compared to an inferior game. If it's more fun, then it's more worth playing.

Edited August 29, 2015 by maybe

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

FE3 has dismounting

FE11 has prologue, sidequests, more difficulties, different exp. system (like FE13), weapon triangle, weapon weight system of the Tellius series, reclassing and ballistician class.

[Shadow Mir]

Still, if it's a better experience then it should be recommended over the others. Whether or not the game is lazily made shouldn't affect someone's enjoyment of it compared to an inferior game. If it's more fun, then it's more worth playing.

The problem with that is that what's a better experience is subjective. As is what's more fun.

Edited August 29, 2015 by Levant Colthearts

[dondon151]

The problem with that is that what's a better experience is subjective. As is what's more fun.

this is a cop-out that people use when they don't want to admit that not all experiences are equal in terms of fun

it's selectively applied when it serves the user's purpose and ignored when it would do otherwise

Edited August 29, 2015 by dondon151

[Baldrick]

Case in point; if it's all subjective, how can you call one version "flat-out inferior"?

Edited August 29, 2015 by Baldrick

[Topazd]

Eh, the way I've seen it is that FE11's gaidens were a means to encouraging playing less conservatively wrt unit lives along with the generics you get after enough of your units have died, not to mention how vigorously the prologue tries to hammer in the concept of unavoidable sacrifices.

I'm fully aware most people don't like that direction and I'm not going to tell them that they're wrong for doing so, but I wouldn't label the gaidens a thoughtless implementation on IS' part.

[Lantairu]

this is a cop-out that people use when they don't want to admit that not all experiences are equal in terms of fun

it's selectively applied when it serves the user's purpose and ignored when it would do otherwise

Definitely agree with that, especially when it comes to games that are exactly the same with some variants in design, art style, etc. For instance, it's almost universally agreed on that Metroid: Zero Mission is better than the original because it's simply better designed whichever way you look at it.

[Shadow Mir]

Definitely agree with that, especially when it comes to games that are exactly the same with some variants in design, art style, etc. For instance, it's almost universally agreed on that Metroid: Zero Mission is better than the original because it's simply better designed whichever way you look at it.

Thinking about it, I could agree. The thing is, while I would say it's better than the original, it's still no secret that I hate Shadow Dragon and consider it one of the worst games I ever played. Do you know very many people who would actually recommend a game they not only hate, but also consider among the worst games they've played?

[Lantairu]

Thinking about it, I could agree. The thing is, while I would say it's better than the original, it's still no secret that I hate Shadow Dragon and consider it one of the worst games I ever played. Do you know very many people who would actually recommend a game they not only hate, but also consider among the worst games they've played?

I don't know. I probably won't play Shadow Dragon for awhile considering I just finished FE3 Book1, But eventually I should give it a shot.

[Nobody]

I'd definitely play Shadow Dragon, TC. I find it a great game. I know i'm not in the majority, but still, you might really enjoy it as well

[Gomez_Addams]

Shadow Dragon gets a bad rep, for some reason. Personally, I thought it was pretty good.

[Robert Stewart]

Dismount nerfs otherwise dominant characters, the cut content is mostly bad content and improves the overall experience by subtraction, UI is much improved over the original, some nice balance changes (eg. javelins crippling AS).

Also worth noting that several maps in FE3 were heavily changed. Most notably whichever one happens in Knorda and the Gharnef chapter near the end.

Staves are also not repairable so I'd imagine this makes warp less dominant. Though I don't think I'm in a position judge.

Edited September 1, 2015 by shinpichu

[Kiddo]

As someone who's tried all three versions of Shadow Dragon at some point, I'm kind of in a toss-up between classic Monshou book 1 and DS. All three of them have a degree of merit that makes it tough to say which one is definitive.

Monshou no Nazo, I feel, has the best art style between the versions. On top of that, it also is the best overall in paying attention to small details in the animations. This is the only version where weapons have different sprites when equipped to Marth, including Marth having unique animations for using the Rapier and Falchion. It also has those REALLY good "animation off" battle animations for the small icon sprites, which even have animations adjusted for facing left or right when games normally just flip these. The only animation I miss from the Famicom version is the finishing animation Marth does to Medeus only in that version (which was likely omitted because, in light of how important the Fire Emblem is in Book 2, an animation involving him tossing it to the ground looks like a mess of continuity error.)

On the other hand, I like Shadow Dragon's writing a good bit more, I didn't exactly see what was "wrong" with the maps that were omitted in Monshou, coming into this version, since none of them were as bad as anything in Monshou book 2 (Although perhaps most of their flaws were undermined by gameplay mechanic tweaks). Also, I love having ballistae units of my own to counter an enemy's ballistae units, which is something I SORELY wanted in Monshou. The hell with enemy ballistae! (Also reclass is fun, and the new music compostions blended in well with the original pieces.)

Edited September 12, 2015 by Kiddo

[MCProductions]

I'd say Shadow Dragon, since I have more fun with it than I do NES FE1 and FE3.

My apologies to people who enjoy FE3, but I didn't care for it that much. While I do miss Dismount and how Dragonstones work in FE 3 when playing Shadow Dragon, these two things I'll sacrifice anyday for all extra goodies thrown into Shadow Dragon that both make it more accessible and more enjoyable imo.

I find Shadow Dragon to be my 5th favorite title in the series, and I truly believe that it proves the elegance of simplicity.

Also, for people who say the Gaidens are stupid because of their admittedly ridiculous requirements, the reason they are there is to convince people to play Shadow Dragon the way FE1,2, and 3 were intended to be played. It wasn't originally expected for players to reset upon a non Lord character's death, which is why the first 3 games give you SO MANY units to compensate. Upon reaching FE4, the devs realized all the resetting that was going on, and started giving less characters that were better units overall in order to show they knew what was going on. Shadow Dragon's Gaidens exist for the sole reason to get people to play the game the right way. Do I play it this way, nope, but that is their intended purpose.