What is it that you dislike about Fire Emblem?

[IfAwakened]

Awakening was my first game; I beat Blazing Sword and am currently playing Sacred Stones and plan to play my brother's Radiant Dawn and Path of Radiance. I know that I may not be a true Fire Emblem fan, but I love the series, and even though I've been a fan for maybe less than a year, it's probably taken top spot for my favourite Nintendo series, as crazy as that sounds. I like the strategy to it, and the characters. I kind of like the stories as well, but in my opinion the story of the first three games I've played are moderate. They're nothing ground breakingly special, but they're still awesome. I have no idea what to expect for the GameCube and Wii games other than Ike. But there are some things that I don't exactly like in the series. So my question that I ask you all is What do you dislike in the series?

I don't suspect that any of the answers will come to extrene spoilers, but just in case, please warn us.

And yes, these will be my opinions, and will potentionally be gameplay related.

First off, just because I like Awakening and played it first doesn't mean I don't know the older games don't exist. And I have to say, even though the whole "Waifu" thing that Awakening did potentionally saved the series, for which I'm thankful for, I don't like the direction the series is going right now. The whole "touching and prodding siblings" thing is a bit too strange for my taste. And I know it's optional (or should be) but the glaring question is "Whhyyyyyy?" and I also know the obvious answer is "Fan-service" but still--

Completely gameplay-related, is the fact that classes with staves cannot use their staves on themselves. This is a bit nit-picky, but an annoyance I have nonetheless. I say staves because it's not restricted to healing.

Ballistas, long ranged weapons and Fog of War are stuff I mutually dislike. I know it's meant to make the game harder, but we all have those things about our games that we're okay with but we just don't like, if you get my drift. I don't like FOW in any game and to see it in Fire Emblem isn't a big downer, it's just that it hides an enemy unit in one tile that you don't see until it's too late, and wham, it just might critical hit. Ballistas and long ranged weapons are kind of the exact same thing--you never know when the enemy will strike with it even if you're in range. Sometimes it's in the middle of the red tiles, sometimes it's just everyone, or what, but I had a lot of trouble with Battle before Dawn in Blazing Sword because of that Bolting...

Thieves. Rogues. I don't use 'em at all. Yeah, they're helpful with finding items and stealing and seeing in FOW, but I just can't get used to them. Sorry Matthew, Legault and Colm, but...

Yeah. That's about it. I hope you guys don't think I'm hating on this series, since I really love it, these are just some minor gripes I have that I wish weren't in the series, but at the same time I'm glad for making it difficult.

[Anacybele]

I dislike that the series is focusing more on fanservice now than on what always made FE FE: story, characters, turn-based RPG gameplay. I hope many fans and the developers come to see how ridiculous the fanservice is getting and cut back on it. I'm not against fanservice as a whole, just the way it's being done right now.

I also never liked survive/defend maps, but that's more because I always have a hard time with them than because they're bad ideas or anything. xP

Edited September 6, 2015 by Anacybele

[twice]

Can't say I really dislike anything about it (as of right now)

[Radiant head]

• Too many characters, and 90% of them don't have any real characterization beyond a gimmick or quirk. And then the guys who get focus are just two dimensional as opposed to one-dimensional, and the lords tend to be bland.

Otaku pandering of recent games. I liked Awakening despite this, but with the new game it seems like it's gone too far for my taste.

Mechanics moving too far away from Radiant Dawn, which IMO perfected FE mechanics.

Portions of the fanbase that insist their ideology of playing the game is the "best" or "correct" way to play it.

Edited September 6, 2015 by Radiant head

[Lantairu]

I dislike that the series is focusing more on fanservice now than on what always made FE FE: story, characters, turn-based RPG gameplay. I hope many fans and the developers come to see how ridiculous the fanservice is getting and cut back on it. I'm not against fanservice as a whole, just the way it's being done right now.

I also never liked survive/defend maps, but that's more because I always have a hard time with them than because they're bad ideas or anything. xP

Totally agree with you. It's a shame the series is starting to be called "Waifu Emblem" by some. Also, bullshit RNG. I know it's part of the gameplay, and yes it can be manipulated, but that doesn't make it any less annoying.

Edited September 6, 2015 by Lantairu

[Bman]

I guess most of the stuff I dislike is more specific for one game rather then the whole franchise, but some stuff that personally annoys me is:

- A units death doesn't really matter storywise, for example Lucius and Priscilla can die and Raven does not comment on the fact that the people who are most important to him are gone.

- Soldiers are no playable units except in PoR/RD.

- Why are rescue and shove not in every game?

- Good armor designs that are butchered for the sake of fanservice.

[Anacybele]

Totally agree with you. It's a shame the series is starting to be called "Waifu Emblem" by some. Also, bullshit RNG. I know it's part of the gameplay, and yes it can be manipulated, but that doesn't make it any less annoying.

Yeah, exactly! And what Bman said about armor designs as well.

Mechanics moving too far away from Radiant Dawn, which IMO perfected FE mechanics.

I also totally agree with this. RD had the best gameplay and mechanics. I loved having my units climb ledges and smash enemies from atop them and the skill system is great too. My only beef with it is why the hell Shove takes up skill space instead of being a simple menu command like it was in PoR...

Portions of the fanbase that insist their ideology of playing the game is the "best" or "correct" way to play it.

I agree with this too, but this isn't really the series' or developers' fault...

Edited September 6, 2015 by Anacybele

[Icarusu]

Just the fact it turned into boobs emblem like this forum now..

I would prefer it being more like arslan senki like the good ol days than bikini warriors

Edited September 6, 2015 by Icarusu

[Jave]

The only thing I really don't like about the franchise is what the fanbase became post-Awakening. And I'm not talking about those who joined the fanbase with Awakening.

[Jedi]

The fanbase.

[Lantairu]

The fanbase.

The people here are fine, but yeah, anyone on GameFaqs or anywhere else are a bunch of elitists. Either that or they're a bunch of Otaku who only care about who the "best waifu" is. This leads to the annoying elitists getting all cocky and ridiculing anyone who joined with Awakening (like me). It's all a cycle of shut the fuck up and nobody cares.

[Jedi]

The people here are fine, but yeah, anyone on GameFaqs or anywhere else are a bunch of elitists. Either that or they're a bunch of Otaku who only care about who the "best waifu" is. This leads to the annoying elitists getting all cocky and ridiculing anyone who joined with Awakening (like me). It's all a cycle of shut the fuck up and nobody cares.

I have to partly disagree and even say its apparent on here sometimes, with how heated and stupid some discussions get.

[Shahrivar]

Also, bullshit RNG. I know it's part of the gameplay, and yes it can be manipulated, but that doesn't make it any less annoying.

Mostly this. Critical strikes/miss not so much, but the stat increase on level-up for sure (+ time travel stories like Awakening).

[IfAwakened]

The people here are fine, but yeah, anyone on GameFaqs or anywhere else are a bunch of elitists. Either that or they're a bunch of Otaku who only care about who the "best waifu" is. This leads to the annoying elitists getting all cocky and ridiculing anyone who joined with Awakening (like me). It's all a cycle of shut the fuck up and nobody cares.

Yeah.

They should be happy that people like you and me joined with Awakening and saved the series by buying the game.

But no, because most people in the world are never thankful for things. :/

I have to partly disagree and even say its apparent on here sometimes, with how heated and stupid some discussions get.

I haven't seen it on here at all, but that's because I've been hiding from spoilers for the new games. If I stick around I'll probably find some heated discussions.

[Zerosabers]

80% of what I've heard about fates.

Siege tomes.

Animations in some games.

How slow PoR is.

The huge split in the fanbase when Awakening came out.

- Why are rescue and shove not in every game?

- Good armor designs that are butchered for the sake of fanservice.

These, shoving is the best thing from PoR and it got removed.

They should be happy that people like you and me joined with Awakening and saved the series by buying the game.

But no, because most people in the world are never thankful for things. :/

Why would they be thankful? Lots of people bought the game including older players.

[Anacybele]

I'm fine with Awakening fans that simply like the game and want to play other FEs and like the games for good reasons.

But I'm not fine with Awakening fans that act like Awakening is all FE is really about and even refuse to play or acknowledge the existence of older games and what they brought/did for the series. People like those who said Chrom and Lucina should replace Marth and Ike in Smash fall in this category.

[Lantairu]

I have to partly disagree and even say its apparent on here sometimes, with how heated and stupid some discussions get.

Well, you have been around here way longer than I have, so I should consider myself lucky to only have come across one asshole.

[Jedi]

I haven't seen it on here at all, but that's because I've been hiding from spoilers for the new games. If I stick around I'll probably find some heated discussions.

It happens from time to time. Although the fanbase has always been a bit hit & miss.

Yeah.

They should be happy that people like you and me joined with Awakening and saved the series by buying the game.

But no, because most people in the world are never thankful for things. :/

Yeah Awakening "saved" the series by passing a sales number that almost every other FE managed, its overstated. Awakening made FE mainstream. It didn't save it.

Not that its a bad thing, but I get tired of "Oh Awakening did this well, everyone has to like it". I mean I like it, but there are valid reasons to not like it too.

[S_Cero]

How some maps are just complete fucking slogs to play through. And how skip enemy phase hasn't been implemented well till the 3ds games.

[Lantairu]

It happens from time to time. Although the fanbase has always been a bit hit & miss.

Yeah Awakening "saved" the series by passing a sales number that almost every other FE managed, its overstated. Awakening made FE mainstream. It didn't save it.

Not that its a bad thing, but I get tired of "Oh Awakening did this well, everyone has to like it". I mean I like it, but there are valid reasons to not like it too.

Honestly, every fanbase is hit and miss. Except the Final Fantasy fanbase. That's all miss. And yeah, the fact that Awakening saved the series is way overstated. Nowadays, 250k units is nothing to an AAA developer, especially Nintendo/ IntSys.

[Anacybele]

It's not overstated at all. Awakening DID save the series because the series was going to end if it didn't sell well enough, remember? I just hope that the fanservice and marriage and avatars weren't the biggest factor in that. I like to think that the marketing and casual mode were the biggest...

[Thor Odinson]

not enough pants

[Lantairu]

How some maps are just complete fucking slogs to play through. And how skip enemy phase hasn't been implemented well till the 3ds games.

COUGHCHAPTER7INFE4COUGH

[Zosha]

I can't believe that I made an account just to reply to like, two threads. Hahaha.

*I agree with everyone that said that the series became too much fanservice happy in recent games. It reminds me of my extreme Weaaboo days that I had until 2011-2012, and I would REALLY like to forget about that. (I'm probably going to unironically enjoy the skinship thing though. The thought of treating your human friends the same way you treat your supernatural pets from an alternative universe is just too funny.)

*Talking about fanservice, I really hope that making Original Character Do Not Steal of the three most popular characters from the previous game isn't going to be a thing. It just felt really lazy, you know?

*Please don't add the marriage system again (Unless it's a Genealogy remake). the marriage system in Fates actually sounds even lazier then the clone characters. How do you even manage to do that? Hahaha.

*Also, Please please PLEASE don't put plot points and entire stories behind DLCs. There's no reason why Invisible Kingdom couldn't be an extra story after beating the main story of the version you choose and there's no reason why Invisible History couldn't be Gaiden chapters / Paralogues / Whatever they call it this time. Not everyone have a visa to buy them, you know.

*This is probably just me, but I really wish the Avatar was optional. I usually really like self inserts but in Fire Emblem they just feel really... forced, You know? All the characters agree with your Avatar's actions, they all love your Avatar (And probably fall in love with them) and if they don't love the Avatar they're probably evil. The Avatar also can't make bad decisions because they're supposed to be you and it's just.. like... no. I didn't read Fates spoilers in a long time but I think Black Kingdom and White Kingdom suffered the most from this. If Black Kingdom was about Xander, White Kingdom about Ryoma and only Invisible Kingdom being about the Avatar maybe it could've been better.

*The grinding in Gaiden is the only thing that stops me from unironically loving it. It's a good thing that grinding in later games that have world maps isn't as annoying. Hahaha.

Anyway, right now that's really about it. Sorry for writing too much. (Especially about the Avatar)

[Dengres]

How slow PoR is.

Totally agree.

I'm fine with Awakening fans that simply like the game and want to play other FEs and like the games for good reasons.

But I'm not fine with Awakening fans that act like Awakening is all FE is really about and even refuse to play or acknowledge the existence of older games and what they brought/did for the series. People like those who said Chrom and Lucina should replace Marth and Ike in Smash fall in this category.

can agree again.

The whole "Waifu" thing got way out of hand. I don't mind the concept of it, I actually enjoyed it in Awakening , but when it's all is talked about, when FE is mentioned, I find it rather irritating.

Rabid Fans don't help much of course.

The Elitist Veteran fans can get quite annoying too. Claiming FE should have rather died, than continue with this "anime bullshit" is commonly heared, especially on FE14 videos, threads etc., and that's VERY annoying.