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Favorite GBA Fire Emblem game


OrangeCrush980
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  1. 1. What's your favorite GBA FE?

    • FE6 / Sword of Seals / Fuuin no Tsuruji
    • FE7 / Blazing Sword / (no subtitle)
    • FE8 / Sacred Stones


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FE6 and 7 are both fairly awful in most regards, while FESS has some of the best characters and writing in the series.

The only points I can even give FE7 are for trying, which is more than I can say about FE6. Its plot is a mess and thoroughly unnecessary in all regards, its characters are the least interesting and likable in the entire series, it reeks of JRPGiness more than any other game in the series, and its crammed full of filler to give it its supposedly great length. When I try to find things to like about it I can usually count them on one hand.

FE6 meanwhile is an extreme slap to the face, dumbing down the gameplay mechanics of its predecessor to an almost insulting degree. Meanwhile its plot is devoid of any life whatsoever and its art style is bleck. Easily my least favorite game in the series.

Meanwhile, FESS manages to be concise and well-placed. It's plot isn't anything particularly original but its presented excellently and it has a surprising amount of depth and subtlety. Its characters, especially its villains, are great and its the first game in the series that can give us lords with agency without devolving them into typical animu teenagers like FE7 does. One of my favorite things about FESS is how in the flashbacks Eirika and Ephraim often act similar to how the lords in FE7 act, but their behavior is then set in contrast to the serious, determined characters that they are in the present. FESS manages to convey a feeling of drama all while underpinned by a starkly Gothic tone.

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FE6 meanwhile is an extreme slap to the face, dumbing down the gameplay mechanics of its predecessor to an almost insulting degree. Meanwhile its plot is devoid of any life whatsoever and its art style is bleck. Easily my least favorite game in the series.

ok, but it has the most satisfying challenge, so that basically cancels everything out

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Tactics Universe ehehehehehehehehehe

And way more importantly I just can't get over the worship the Divine Generals get.

They committed genocide, for gods sake!

But the game treats the dragons are the bad guys because at the verge of extinction through a war the humans started, they brainwashed a divine dragon.

And the Divine Generals are good because they decided to spare that one single dragon.

They wiped out a whole sentient species but because they spared a single one, they are the good guys?

Are they nuts?

Well,

we know that some dragons escaped through dragons gate, and some were in Arcadia. Ninian and Nils's mother was in Ilia for a time.

Jahn (sp?) survived. Possibly others.

It is true that FE7 says that the scouring began with a sudden human onslaught, which ended a long age of human and dragon coexistence. Other than that I know of nothing in FE6-7 about who started The Scouring. On the flip side, Jahn considered the idea of human and dragon coexistence "foolish" when Roy mentioned Arcadia, suggesting muddled ideas on this issue (if anything, I would go with a faced character in fe6 over an opening narration in FE7). There's also

Athos: The dragons' libraries were a dream come true to us. We studied their language and history with unbridled passion. A century, then two… Time passed in an eye's blink. And yet, slowly, our thoughts turned down different paths.

If dragons and humans coexisted for a long period, then why would the dragons' libraries be such an amazing resource for Athos and Nergal? You'd think that the human civilizations would have some of the texts in common, honestly.

And finally, because of the "war dragon" thing, we really have no indication that, when at war with the dragons, the divine generals killed a single innocent. They did take advantage of the ending winter, but that was against dragons that had been trying to kill them. Even if I committed xenocide by killing another species, IF that species was unified in its attempts to kill my species, would that be a terrible thing?

I'm not saying that humans were the good guys, but depending on when the divine generals entered the war, and the composition of the manakete forces (it seems like all the dragons opposed to the war were divine dragons who fled, except Idoun who wasn't even killed), I don't think you can say that they are villains, and it seems safe to conclude they were heroes, too.

And I really think calling them genocidal is ridiculous.

Edited by Jet Black Gunner
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It's a tough pick between 7 and 8, but in the end 7 is the one that has me the most. It's the one I started with (got me into the series, even if 8 helped too), and it's the one I have the most fond memories of. 8 simply doesn't hold as many characters I care about, whereas 7 has many. Mechanically speaking (at least in some ways) I prefer 8 though. Branched promotion, postgame content, things like that really were nice. 6... well, holds nothing for me. I intend to beat it someday, but it's not a game that I can say I care about currently. It has some things I like, but many things about it are still... just really annoying. Gameplay seems to have lots of bad luck (which doesn't seem to be just me), I dislike Thieves being unable to promote, things like that. Small things, but they add up.

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Probably gonna get burned for saying this, but I liked FE7 'cos th levels were just more fun for me.

Never played FE6 (Inset link to music for born in the USA here)

FE8 was great too, I just didn't like how it seemed so much shorter, and even though I liked a lot more characters, I didn't love as many characters. (FE8 does get extra points for the tower. If FE7 had that, you'd be able to train Nino without babying her for the first ten levels.)

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  • 1 month later...

FE6 Because my tankiest unit is Lugh.

Really though, it's an easy choice for me. FE7 introduced me to the series. It's only natural I have a bit of bias for it. FE 8 was good too, but I never feel like playing it again for some reason. I guess I'm just more attached to FE7's world. Plus I can't stand the potentional level grinding available in 8. (I know its optional, but it just bugs me.) If there's anything I hate about 7, its that gosh darn tactics score that i can

never get more than one star in. dry.gif

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They're all pretty damn solid, but 7's the clear winner in my eyes. Despite being "streamlined," FE6 comes off as a little unpolished- maps that are too big, reinforcements all over the place, huge disparity in unit quality, rankings that are too loose to impact play- but it's still a good entry. FE8 lacks much appeal in terms of map design and story/characters, but a lengthy postgame is nice. FE7's just a nice mix of good story, great characters, tons of well-designed maps and varied mission objectives, a cool ranking system that's actually a challenge, and (relatively) good unit balance. I also happen to prefer the game's smaller scope, which channels FE5 in many ways.

FE13 is still the best though

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sword of Seals. I don't really know why, I mean it does have its issues, such as a very finicky RNG and only seize maps, but... there's just something, I dunno. I like the characters, and the soundtrack is the best of the GBA games imo. It has this charm about it that I can't put my finger on that makes me like it the most. It used to be Blazing Sword, but then I replayed SoS and was all "I love this"

But all 3 are fun anyway.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Even with all its faults, I still have to say FE6. It's the game that really got me into the Fire Emblem series, even though I played FE7 first. I enjoyed the challenge of the game and I enjoyed the map design. It was genuinely challenging, and it took me a long time to really become adept at the game, even if I don't play for rankings.

Now that I'm older I do see a lot more of its faults. The story is not brilliantly told and seems forced at times. Roy is a relatively bland character in the game itself, you can make a lot of assumptions after the events of the game (personal one is a thought for a later setting, another war started by Roy's infidelity) to make his character more human, but that doesn't give credit to the writing. The major villains were the best characters in the game. Zephidel's logic is that of a traumatized person who has given up on humanity and decided to take it down with him. Yuan shows how individuals go to drastic measures in despair to do unspeakable things to their own people. Even the Etrurian Villains weren't that terrible--cowards, yes, but understandable cowards. On the side of the heroes...Lilina could have used much more exploration and reaction to Hector's death, Roy could have used more of a personality, and maybe give more of the cast a larger role.

In that sense, FE7 did things right. There was more of the ensemble cast feel to the story and it worked because of it. Each of the lords had their own issues (Lyn's were resolved in her prologue, but still) and other members of the cast did feel alive and like real people. Most of them, others were just flanderized characters (Oh Serra you are so amusing yet insufferable). The story stayed small in scope and works because of its size. Yes, the enemies could be worldwide threats. Do the enemies act like you are the enemy just because you are an obstacle? No. There is a direct opposition between members of the Black Fang, Nergal's own ambitions, and the army led by Eliwood and Hector based on each other's actions and goals. Eliwood's is to rescue his father, who was drawn into Nergal's plot by Laus. This transitions to a drive to protect Ninian and Nils (most likely canon is the pairing between Eliwood and Ninian) which probably translates into a romantic attachment. When Nergal reveals his hand and Athos decides to break out the dragon slaying weapons, the story shifts to their tragedy and death. It stays personal even though the story starts to broaden in scope.

FE8's plot...I never really cared for. Lyon is a tragic figure, yes, but I never got drawn into the story. Even now, I don't have much fondness for the story because it never spoke to me in any way.

Gameplay wise... FE6 is weak. Yes, most of the cast is useless. Yes, you have a small group of effective units that you should level up. Yes, axes again are abysmal. Yes, light magic is useless. Swords and Lances are dominant in physical fights. Anima and Dark magic are both broken as hell. (Rizziah/Nosferatu tome with 7 weight? HELL YES. Aircalibur weighing 2? DEAR LORD WHAT IS THIS). I still have a fondness for the game even though it's really unbalanced. FE7 improves the unit quality somewhat, you still have some useless people, but you can use different teams effectively. I don't think there is one weapon type that is dominant over everything in the game either. FE8 just makes everyone good if leveled up and Seth breaks the game.

Even with all its flaws, I still feel more attachment to FE6. FE7 is definitely the better game, but I guess nostalgia taints my favorite list.

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Enjoyable read and good analysis, tenki. Quick question to throw your way: I've read before that FE6/7 are in many respects mirror images of FE4/5: the former in each pair is defined by huge maps, dramatic character imbalance (not always a bad thing), an epic scope, and more straightforward objectives, while the latter is characterized by smaller maps, relatively decent character balance, an intimate plot scale, and more varied mission objectives. Do you see this as a fitting parallel? And if so, do you have a strong preference between 4 and 5?

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Enjoyable read and good analysis, tenki. Quick question to throw your way: I've read before that FE6/7 are in many respects mirror images of FE4/5: the former in each pair is defined by huge maps, dramatic character imbalance (not always a bad thing), an epic scope, and more straightforward objectives, while the latter is characterized by smaller maps, relatively decent character balance, an intimate plot scale, and more varied mission objectives. Do you see this as a fitting parallel? And if so, do you have a strong preference between 4 and 5?

I see where you are coming from, and I do understand the points. It's possible that there were some comments from testers on FE4 about the story, scale, and the constant siege victory made IS decide to add more variety. If you are going to go that route, it's not a drastic argument to make that many of the mechanics introduced in FE5 (except the hilariously trolling RNG) were cut out of FE6 because they worried about fitting everything onto the GBA cartridge. After FE6, they figured out what they could streamline and make smaller to allow a larger variety of character designs, map completion requirements, and additional mechanics like they did with FE4 and FE5.

That's just a theory though. My guess is that IS realized they could do more with the console and figured out ways to push the limitations of the SNES and the GBA.

Serenes Forest translates his name as Zephiel. I'd always read it as Zephidel for some reason...huh. Learn something new. *pulls out copy with trial maps* Zefiieru. Yeah, I've been misreading it. 0_o;

As for my preference between FE4 and FE5, I cannot say that the larger scope for FE4 harms it. FE6's biggest problems were uninteresting protagonists. You can have a cliche main story, but if your characters are brilliantly written it does not matter. See Cowboy Bebop. The main story arc of that series is a standard mobster flick about someone leaving the mafia. The characters of Spike, Jet, and Faye are so well-written that even a basic story takes on a new meaning. FE4 manages to pull something like this off, at least in Gen 1. I think they ran out of ideas for Gen 2 and decided to focus on the villains. Sigurd is a pretty unfortunate character. I don't know if I can call him a tragic character or not, I think he is just a victim of tremendous misfortune. If you attribute it to his character and ideas of knighthood and friendship drawing him into Agustria, then he's a tragic figure for that event. In every other point, events spiral out of control and Sigurd can't do anything to stop them until warfare is the only option. The way he is portrayed in Ch. 4, or at least in Oosawa's manga adaptation is someone who really doesn't want to get involved in the civil war, but his hand is forced. Sigurd does everything he thinks is right, and it leads him to his death. Maybe you could call his figure tragic, but I'm hesitant knowing the misuse of the word.

Gen 2 focuses on the villains and their stories. Trabant gets fleshed out so he's not a baby-eating monster like initially presented. Alvis is shown to have been liked by the population until he was pushed aside by the Lopt Sect, and he realizes that he was the channel that allows Loptous to be revived. Arione is also a good figure, genuinely worried about his country but unwilling to cross the "moral event horizon" (loltvtropes) like Trabant. Ishtar is also well-written, opposing the practices of the Lopt Sect but without a way to protest it. The major villains get a good deal of development, while Celice and the protagonists are kind of ignored. My best guess is that the writers decided that the villains were easier to write so they put their efforts there. It shows quite a bit.

FE5, or how Leaf is written, is similar to Sigurd. Leaf is untrained, not always in the best position to make drastic choices, and his advisers are always arguing with each other. Few people can make great decisions in that situation, and Leaf is not one of them. Either due to his youth or inexperience, he makes many mistakes. He acts on impulse or emotionally, and his actions get him and his allies thrown in jail or killed. He is actually pretty well-written. The story stays small because that is its intent. FE5 is basically a sidestory to FE4. It doesn't suffer for its smaller scope, but it left me with less of an emotional impact. I guess I just felt that FE4 was more rewarding story-wise. Part of it is that Leidrick is flat out destroyed by the Blaggi Sword and is a bit of a coward. Berdo is... ... Berdo... ... moving on. I don't know exactly why I'm not as much a fan of FE5's story and characters as FE4. I guess I just like villains as characters, and seeing rather pathetic villains erks me a bit.

Gameplay wise, I do prefer FE4 somewhat. I am aware the game can be hilariously broken, believe me, but it does provide a decent challenge early on. I would go on record as saying that Chapters 2, 3, and 4 are probably the most difficult in FE4 because you don't have the weapons of game break or the children to run around slaying everything in sight. Part of this is due to skill mechanics (still don't get over their double attack system... it was a bad idea) but the other is that growths are generally low for Gen 1. FE5 allows you to use the scrolls to vary growths, and if you level a character with the scrolls about 75% of the cast can be made useful. They fixed the skill system so that it's useful but not essential (pursuitlol) and added mechanics that I wish were in more games (CAPTURING. CAPTURING. CAPTURING.). It also evens things out for the player and the CPU, adding the stamina system. Axes and lances are also useful, and dismounting returns from FE3, which I understand but it gets annoying when you can't use lances at all unless you leveled Dalsin to promotion or recruit Xavier. And weapon ranks grow pretty slowly. The main thing is that staffs are GOD, bow down and worship them because they are absurdly broken. Magic and hero/brave weapons flat out break most of the combat. Except for the RNG deciding to screw with the player, which it does, a lot.

Honestly, I think the quality difference between the games is pretty small. FE5 suffers in terms of reputation partly because of the RNG but also it came out as one of the last SNES games. It's the only post famicom-era game I don't own, because I don't have the money to spend on it. I have played the ROM though. I would put FE4 a bit higher, just because I have more fun playing FE4 than FE5. The lower difficulty helps a bit, and the story helps me get immersed in the game. It's not to the same extent in FE5 for me. Is the quality difference smaller than the GBA games? YES, by a wide margin. FE4 and FE5 are pretty dang close in quality, I think it's just up to the individual.

Dear lord everything I type becomes a wall of text...

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FE6 is much more like FE1 than FE4.

Also walls of text are the best thing (although probably tl,dr for some haha).

Edited by Refa
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Serenes Forest translates his name as Zephiel.

FE7 translates his name as Zephiel!

FE7 also translates that manakete's name as Fae, but that never seems to catch on...

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hm... My favorite of the GBA games is FE7. I liked the characters, and after playing more of the series, I appreciate the story's aforementioned personal scale. Of course, the fact that it was my introduction to Fire Emblem doesn't hurt, either. I don't see any way in which it's a terribly flawed game; even though its gameplay is simpler than that of its predecessors, apparently, I don't think that simpleness is such a bad thing; that is to say, it doesn't impede my enjoyment of the game at all. My least favorite thing about it is probably the fact that there's no way to deactivate tutorials until you've already cleared the whole game once; if not from the get-go, Lyn's Hard mode could have been unlocked after, I don't know, completing Lyn's Story?

Sacred Stones... Hm, I liked the branching promotions, and while I respect what they were trying to do with the world map system, I feel it could have been executed better. Actually, that applies to my opinion of many aspects of this game; it has a lot of cool concepts, but many of them could have been executed a lot better than they were. Also, I miss my proper sidequests. Oh, and really specific and partially off-topic but the fact that Ross' promotion choice is between Fighter and Pirate instead of Fighter and Brigand just irks me. Because of course, the kid from a mountain village wouldn't learn to traverse the mountains at all. No, he'd learn how to swim instead. Also, I feel it could've been longer. Even if this just meant adding proper sidequests, I'd be happy.

Sword of Seals (NoA: Binding Blade, to whomsoever may care) is pretty fun. It has some characters in it I like, like Nino's kids, Miledy, Gonzales, Echidna, and a few others. After playing Shadow Dragon, I realize it's a pretty blatant throwback to FE1, but I still find the gameplay enjoyable, although the RNG almost seems skewed against me sometimes. Yeah, Roy is fairly weak, but luckily you have fifty-someodd other units to pick up the slack. As a bizarre fan of both Archers and Fighters, I found this game's distinct lack of good members of either of these classes a bit disappointing, (well, I guess there is Klein,) but since I don't care about ranks or turncounts, and will willingly use lackluster units, I made do with Wolt, Dorothy and Lott. Also, bizarre support pairs are fun.

Please keep in mind that these are just my opinions and are in no way objective in nature.

Edited by Starlight36
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