Fire Emblem is in a Golden Age

[sumerian99]

As I was listening to ''The Task At Hand'' from Fire Emblem : Radiant Dawn, I reflected upon the current situation of the Fire Emblem franchise and community.

After the Dark Ages of FE : 11 to FE : 12 (or some would say : FE : 9 to 12), Fire Emblem has been saved from extinction thanks to Awakening's intervention. Despite being a somewhat controversial game because of certain character designs and the marriage system (''Waifu Emblem''), none can deny Awakening effectively saved the franchise we all loved. It deserves respect, at least for that fact.

FE : 14 built upon FE : 13's systems, generally to the satisfaction of newcomers, and dismay of some purists (although, some veterans are very tolerant of the new designs/trends seen in FE: 13-14). FE : 13 and 14 brought a lot of new blood to the franchise, consolidating the financial support of the franchise.

On the other end, FE : 15 answered the preocupations of the purists by bringing a remake of a beloved past Fire Emblem in a masterful way. Not only are the new designs more conservative and aligned with designs from the pre-FE : 13 era, but the remastered story and gameplay brought satisfaction to many veterans of the franchise, also to the satisfaction of newcomers.

As for FE Warriors, it has expanded the reach of the franchise towards new genres, with respectable success.

On the very lucrative mobile front, there is Fire Emblem Heroes, which has built an extremely solid and devoted fanbase, full of memes, fun and amusement. Fire Emblem Heroes has received strong financial support and its handlers have been rather skilled at remaining attentive to the community's enthusiasm and requests. The game continues to receive extensive support and remains the the subject of many discussions.

The consecration for Fire Emblem's return will be FE : 16, also known as Fire Emblem Switch. It has been a long time since Fire Emblem has received a full fledged traditional game on a console (the last time being Radiant Dawn, which received a mixed reception, and lukewarm sales). With the Switch being a tremendous success, and Nintendo backing it fully, FE : 16 is set to quite possibly become the franchise's greatest success, as well as a major console seller.

Which is why I have reached the conclusion that we are in a Golden Age my friends. Fire Emblem is saved and prospering. The future seems more secure than ever and the community is growing. Our franchise is set for a bright and prosperous future, full of joy, amusement and fellowship.

In light of these facts, do you also share my optimism for the future of Fire Emblem?

Edited May 25, 2018 by sumerian99

[indigoasis]

3 minutes ago, sumerian99 said:

In light of these facts, do you also share my optimism for the future of Fire Emblem?

Absolutely. Granted I may not be able to play FE16 myself, but I'm alright with that.

Personally, I think all games in the series are great to some degree or another. Genealogy has an exceptional story (and one of my personal favorites), but gameplay can be frustrating at times with the large maps, and Fates has some of the best gameplay in the series, albeit a lackluster story.

Heroes is also really fun, too, although definitely frustrating at times. I was actually able to get one of my friends into the game, and then steered him toward playing FE7, which is his first main series title.

Overall, I can agree with your sentiments, and I'm content with the direction the series is going so far.

[Yang Kai]

I also do share your opinions, even though I've played only the Fire Emblem Games from the first to the 8th(on emulators) and after them I only played Awakening as 3ds games are rather expensive were I live and I had to but it online, but I also play Heroes casually and I really think Fire Emblem is becoming greater than ever nowadays. Back in 2011 was when I played my first fire emblem game(Genealogy of the Holy War) on a Playstation2 SNES emulator, I greatly enjoyed it(even though I had to redo the first level 4 times because on the first times only SIgurd would stay alive but yeah), later on I played the other games on my PC and on 2014 I got a 3ds and I bought Awakening. No matter where I would ask, but nobody ever heard of Fire Emblem, but nowadays thanks to Fates and Heroes, it's way easier to find other Fire Emblem players, even if most only plays Heroes and Shadows of valentia.

We are indeed on a golden age my friend. Just hope more fire emblem characters get into new smash though,  ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ ̶I̶ ̶w̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶y̶ ̶s̶i̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶I̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶w̶i̶t̶c̶h̶ >.>

[Shrimpica]

I think Gameplay wise, they are, especially if the continue to build upon Conquest.

 

They need to get their Stories in order however.

[Slumber]

I wish I could share the optimism. 

Until I see what FE16 is, I am pretty positive that the trajectory of the franchise is one that veers hard away from what got me hooked on the franchise to begin with. If the series is going somewhere where I can only bring myself to care about remakes, it'll effectively be dead to me. At that point, I don't care even in the slightest about Awakening and Fates "saving" the series. 

Edited May 25, 2018 by Slumber

[BrightBow]

I suppose if I were a shareholder of IS or Nintendo, the state of the franchise would be a cause of optimism and quite the golden age indeed.

But since I'm not, I think a more fitting descriptor is "corpse desecration". But I'm going to spare you and me the long list of ways in which the franchise makes a mockery of it's legacy, so let's just talk about what it adds in exchange: 8/15 otaku wank material. And that would be fine in theory, but this stuff is everywhere these days. The only thing that makes Fire Emblem special in that regard is a level of cynicism and shamelessness that I still can't wrap my head around. So forgive me that I couldn't care less about what happens to this franchise now that it has become utterly generic and mediocre.

Quite frankly, at this point I would respect the franchise a lot more if it would just commit towards doing porn as supposed to the pretentiousness, halfbaked junk that we are getting these days. At least show some freaking commitment, for Christ's sake. And it's not like there are a lot of good porn games out there, despite that sacred "Sex Sells" mantra. So that would actually make the franchise fairly unique.

Edited May 25, 2018 by BrightBow

[sumerian99]

18 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

I suppose if I were a shareholder of IS or Nintendo, the state of the franchise would be a cause of optimism and quite the golden age indeed.

But since I'm not, I think a more fitting descriptor is "corpse desecration". But I'm going to spare you and me the long list of ways in which the franchise makes a mockery of it's legacy, so let's just talk about what it adds in exchange: 8/15 otaku wank material. And that would be fine in theory, but this stuff is everywhere these days. The only thing that makes Fire Emblem special in that regard is a level of cynicism and shamelessness that I still can't wrap my head around. So forgive me that I couldn't care less about what happens to this franchise now that it has become utterly generic and mediocre.

Quite frankly, at this point I would respect the franchise a lot more if it would just commit towards doing porn as supposed to the pretentiousness, halfbaked junk that we are getting these days. At least show some freaking commitment, for Christ's sake. And it's not like there are a lot of good porn games out there, despite that sacred "Sex Sells" mantra. So that would actually make the franchise fairly unique.

What about Shadows of Valentia? Isn't it a much more conservative Fire Emblem when it comes to character designs and sexualization? In my head, that game is IS's answer to the purist fanbase's preocupations.

Edited May 25, 2018 by sumerian99

[Ertrick36]

2 hours ago, indigospace said:

Personally, I think all games in the series are great to some degree or another.

I think so as well.  They're not perfect, but they all got some good to them.  And I think every game has likable characters.

I'm generally looking forward to seeing what the next FE game will be like.

1 hour ago, BrightBow said:

Quite frankly, at this point I would respect the franchise a lot more if it would just commit towards doing porn as supposed to the pretentiousness, halfbaked junk that we are getting these days. At least show some freaking commitment, for Christ's sake. And it's not like there are a lot of good porn games out there, despite that sacred "Sex Sells" mantra. So that would actually make the franchise fairly unique.

What a load of pretentious garbage.  There's more to modern FE than otaku wanking material.  I say this as someone who could give less of a crap about that and who actually gravitates more to characters who aren't super sexualized like Camilla and some of the skimpy lolis we've seen.  I like characters such as Oboro, Takumi, Lucina, and Laurent because I think there's some excellent writing to them, not because I think they're goofy or sexy.  And I highly doubt I'm an exception in this.

FE may have more fanservice than before, but it's still a long ways out from being a goddamn hentai.  Going the porn route would actually kill the series, and if that's what you want, then I feel sorry you've become such a bitter, spiteful person just because these games don't appeal to you anymore.

I know what it's like to see a series go in a direction I don't like, but I just let it go rather than antagonize the game and its fans.  It's not worth the time and effort; you'll just look back and think "why the hell did I waste my time spewing this crap".  I know this because that's what I did as a teenager who loved retro games and failed niche titles too much.  Now they're just additions to my list of regrets in life.

[NinjaMonkey]

2 hours ago, sumerian99 said:

On the other end, FE : 15 answered the preocupations of the purists by bringing a remake of a beloved past Fire Emblem in a masterful way.

Gaiden is beloved? Since when?

2 hours ago, Yang Kai said:

Just hope more fire emblem characters get into new smash though

We have enough as it is.

[bethany81707]

Honestly, at this point, I feel like I'm no different from Ishtar, with the Fire Emblem franchise as my Julius. Sure, Loptyr is a hell of a lot more successful than Julius, but I can't stand the things he's doing... and I still kinda believe, very deep down, that we can go back to the way Julius was.

[Slumber]

32 minutes ago, bethany81707 said:

Honestly, at this point, I feel like I'm no different from Ishtar, with the Fire Emblem franchise as my Julius. Sure, Loptyr is a hell of a lot more successful than Julius, but I can't stand the things he's doing... and I still kinda believe, very deep down, that we can go back to the way Julius was.

Boy, if only this story had a happy ending. 

But I imagine it will play out in a very similar fashion. 

Edited May 26, 2018 by Slumber

[bethany81707]

7 minutes ago, Slumber said:

Boy, if only this story had a happy ending. 

But I imagine it will play out in a very similar fashion. 

I'd rather not actually die defending FE.

...So who's the Seliph in this metaphor?

[Ertrick36]

3 minutes ago, bethany81707 said:

I'd rather not actually die defending FE.

...So who's the Seliph in this metaphor?

Either the people making the fun gameplay in Conquest or writing the actually good characters who aren't just gimmicky for laughs or sexualized.  Though that'd be the way I look at it.

I'm just wondering who is supposed to be Arvis in this situation.

[Cornguy]

6 hours ago, bethany81707 said:

I'd rather not actually die defending FE.

...So who's the Seliph in this metaphor?

Kaga, his mobile game is the light to defeat the dark.

But no, I have high hopes still. I hate Awakening's gameplay, and am lukewarm towards it's story and writing. I hate Fates' story and writing, and enjoy it's gameplay. There's enough right between these two games that I feel they can make something enjoyable again. I enjoyed Echoes, but I wouldn't want to count on a remake being indicative to the mainline series. However, I think that all of the extra plot and characters, both new and the recently fleshed out, were very good, and I take it as a little glimmer of evidence that IS still has some people on board who can write decent characters.

[Etrurian emperor]

It probably really is in its golden age, especially when compared to the days that one failure would have doomed the series. The series certainly more successful than it has ever been. 

There are definitely some low points in the current state of FE like the villains, stories and the overblown fanservice but there are also highpoints. Pretty much everyone agrees the gameplay from conquest is really, really good and the series has gotten so successful that IS felt confidant enough to get really experimental with a remake of a game no one saw coming. Echoes successfully brought back a lot of cool forgotten mechanics and introduced several new ones that can be put to use in the new Fire emblem. 

[Cysx]

As far as profit goes, yes, as has been said above, absolutely. I'll be a little less cynical though and just say that if FE16 delivers, which it can if they learned anything from Fates... us FE lovers may bask in the light as well. Hopefully we stay as far from controversy as possible this time around, but, and that's the big problem, if Heroes is anything to go by, things might actually get even worse than before.

'tis all in the hands of IS, as always.

[Jotari]

Was that not kind of obvious? The sales of the recent games and level of advertising has dwarfed everything that came before. I thought  it kind of went without saying. Six characters in Smash Bros. says it all.

[Strullemia]

I'm not as optimistic as you are.

The only thing I liked a lot from the 3DS era is CQ's gameplay and Echoes (and Echoes is a remake so eh).

Just...make a game that has gameplay as fun as CQ with a story that's at least alright.

[Interdimensional Observer]

On 5/25/2018 at 11:07 PM, Ertrick36 said:

I'm just wondering who is supposed to be Arvis in this situation.

Probably the conservative faction from Awakening's development who, hesitantly allowed the Loptyrian modernists get their way, not realizing the full consequences of doing so. Then again, maybe it'd be better to call said faction reformists with the irreconciliables King Azmure, Byron and Ring, Awakening the first ten years of Arvis's rule, and Fates the period post-Deidre murder. Not sure what to call SoV then.

 

On 5/26/2018 at 5:32 AM, Cornguy said:

Kaga, his mobile game is the light to defeat the dark.

It's PC, not mobile! One has class, the other tends to be freemium Merlinus's wagon-puller.

I'm interested in seeing how much rhetoric is going to flying around on SF when Vestaria comes aboard. How much people will be saying "Look at this IS! Draw inspiration from Kaga/VS!".

 

I no longer pay any attention to the characters or plot whatsoever in FE (I just mash skip), and I can still enjoy it enough that I'll keep coming back to it no matter what.

 

Edit: Have the mods not noticed this belongs in General FE despite at least one having visited since it was made? I remember reading a post by Eclipse saying alerts were for more than just seriously problematic posts, so I hope my use of one to relocate is okay. If not, my apologies.

And do I just report a single post? Because I don't readily see a way to report the entire topic

Edited May 27, 2018 by Interdimensional Observer

[indigoasis]

On 5/26/2018 at 2:12 PM, Interdimensional Observer said:

Probably the conservative faction from Awakening's development who, hesitantly allowed the Loptyrian modernists get their way, not realizing the full consequences of doing so. Then again, maybe it'd be better to call said faction reformists with the irreconciliables King Azmure, Byron and Ring, Awakening the first ten years of Arvis's rule, and Fates the period post-Deidre murder. Not sure what to call SoV then.

I think SoV would be the Chapter 6 in this case.

[Lewyn]

I think the golden age as far as innovation, design, ambition was the Shouzou Kaga era.  So many ideas, so much investment in story and willing to tackle many things and try many mechanics.  He is one of those great genius visionaries.  Certainly there are flaws in the games, but doing a complex tactical game was much harder back then than now.  Just fitting all the data and characters and such was difficult.  

Right now Fire Emblem is in a golden age of financial success.  Heroes made something like 300 million dollars last year.  The last couple releases (Echoes, Fates, Awakening) have been successful as well.  Cipher game is doing well, Warriors was a success.  Even got a spin off with SMT.  

With so much money they have the freedom and power to be as ambitious as they want with FE16, I am hoping we get something that shakes the world.  

[thecrimsonflash]

for me personally, I don't think that I would call it a golden age, more gilded than anything, it is making money and has more fans than ever, yet it feels hollow as though half of these fans are interchangeable with any modern anime fan, I at times see some fans talking about the series and watch videos where people explain the series and all their words make me think is that I am deeply ashamed to call myself a fire emblem fan. So I guess that I agree with @Lewyn in regards to how I feel about innovation.

I have realized that I almost don't want FE16 to happen because I think that it may be the one to break me and any love for the series that I may have, I really think that FE16 is going to be one of the most significant entries since awakening.

[Strullemia]

On 28-5-2018 at 12:54 AM, Lewyn said:

I think the golden age as far as innovation, design, ambition was the Shouzou Kaga era.  So many ideas, so much investment in story and willing to tackle many things and try many mechanics.  He is one of those great genius visionaries.  Certainly there are flaws in the games, but doing a complex tactical game was much harder back then than now.  Just fitting all the data and characters and such was difficult.  

Right now Fire Emblem is in a golden age of financial success.  Heroes made something like 300 million dollars last year.  The last couple releases (Echoes, Fates, Awakening) have been successful as well.  Cipher game is doing well, Warriors was a success.  Even got a spin off with SMT.  

With so much money they have the freedom and power to be as ambitious as they want with FE16, I am hoping we get something that shakes the world.  

Yeah when it comes to innovation the only FE game I feel really made me 'wow' that was made after Kaga's departure was Radiant Dawn.

Thing is though, I recently learned that Kaga's PS2 game Berwick Saga and RD are crazy similar to each other which makes the theory that Tellius was made by stuff left behind from Kaga very believable.

[Lewyn]

38 minutes ago, Hekselka said:

Yeah when it comes to innovation the only FE game I feel really made me 'wow' that was made after Kaga's departure was Radiant Dawn.

Thing is though, I recently learned that Kaga's PS2 game Berwick Saga and RD are crazy similar to each other which makes the theory that Tellius was made by stuff left behind from Kaga very believable.

I have also read about these things that later Fire Emblem borrowed/took from Tear Ring Saga/Berwick Saga which is quite a lot stuff that would show up in Tellius games and even the 3ds games.  I do think the Tellius games really felt ambitious in the world it was trying to create and trying different things, they are the most enjoyable post Kaga games for me.  

 

19 hours ago, thecrimsonflash said:

for me personally, I don't think that I would call it a golden age, more gilded than anything, it is making money and has more fans than ever, yet it feels hollow as though half of these fans are interchangeable with any modern anime fan, I at times see some fans talking about the series and watch videos where people explain the series and all their words make me think is that I am deeply ashamed to call myself a fire emblem fan. So I guess that I agree with @Lewyn in regards to how I feel about innovation.

I have realized that I almost don't want FE16 to happen because I think that it may be the one to break me and any love for the series that I may have, I really think that FE16 is going to be one of the most significant entries since awakening.

I think FE16 is going to be a landmark game in terms of ambition.  Its first console game since Radiant Dawn, so much larger budget, and FE is at an all time high in terms of profits.  If they have a good team in place, everything is set to make an incredible game.  Echoes is a remake, but as far as taste and character design I hope that is something they go more towards and less the otaku culture stuff.  

[Cute Chao]

Honestly, I've enjoyed all the games so far, although some of the fanservice gets a bit much. Some of my favourite game levels of all time have been in Fates (I absolutely loved Shigure's introduction map with the moving boats. That was really good). My least favourite games tend to be the ones people have described as more innovative on this thread - I hated the HW large maps and the constant jumping around in RD between armies, characters and maps... although I will admit the stories were great. If we could get the great maps we have received in Fates with the complex story of those two... we might be on to a winner.

I fully disagree with anyone who wishes it to have died before Awakening, though. If you don't like the game series any more... just stop playing it. You can say it's not that simple but it really is. Or just play the remakes. Wait for the reviews of the new games and see if they are more to your taste.

Edited May 31, 2018 by Cute Chao