r/gaming • u/SaveADay89 • 10h ago

How is the new Fire Emblem?

I'm a big fan of the fire emblem games, but I will admit that I didn't like engage. I found the combat to be as engaging as ever, but the anime tropes and characters were really annoying. I liked 3H, though. My issues is that I heard the new one is heavily skewed towards the out of combat activities, particularly the social features. Is this true?

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u/MyUsernameIsAwful 9h ago

Yeah, I miss how Fire Emblem was before the dating game stuff. But I guess it is what saved the series.

2

u/Bribz 2h ago

I sincerely loved the series prior to the 'waifu-petting' era of FE, but I largely attribute the social dynamics for my enjoyment of 3h too.

The game is better with the extra added character-driven stories, but I do miss the vibes and combat focus of the older games.

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u/Amonyi7 8h ago

Why did that save it? Good story with good battles did well when they made those games.

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u/MesaCityRansom 7h ago

I liked Three Houses the best out of all the games I've played in the series and it was largely because of the social stuff. I would assume I am not alone in that.

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u/yuriaoflondor 7h ago

You’re definitely not. You’re in the majority. 3 Houses was by far the biggest hit, and there’s a reason they went back to the same style for Fortune’s Weave. And it’ll likely be the template for the series going forward.

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u/Jediverrilli 7h ago

Awakening was a make or break moment for the series. The social aspects actually did save the series as much as don’t care for them.

It’s why Engage while being far superior in gameplay was lambasted compared to 3 Houses. The social aspects are what most people come to the series for now for better or worse.

1

u/Ha_eflolli Android 6h ago

The social aspects are what most people come to the series for now for better or worse.

I will never not forget back before FE Warriors came out and the Devs literally had to pre-empt "No there WON'T be any Romance in this" when they announced it would have the Support System, because the Shipping was just THAT synonymous with the Series by that Point.

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u/thesaurusr3x 6h ago

But it wasn’t the lack of social aspects that got Engage lambasted. It was the comically bad story and how even the main cast of characters stopped getting any development outside of the region they were introduced in. The villains got more character development than anyone not running around with Colgate hair.

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u/MyUsernameIsAwful 8h ago edited 8h ago

🤷‍♂️ It just did. The games weren’t selling well and the devs were told if Awakening wasn’t a success, that was going to be the end of the series. And that was the game that introduced romance. And it was a success.

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u/Ha_eflolli Android 6h ago

And that was the game that introduced romance. And it was a success.

It wasn't, Genealogy of the Holy War did that all the way back on the SNES. Infact that's literally the reason WHY Awakening had it in the first place, because that Game was meant to be a Celebration of the entire Series to have it go out with a bang if it hadn't sold as well as it did.

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u/MyUsernameIsAwful 6h ago

Interesting.

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u/WeebWoobler 6h ago

No, what made Awakening sell well was that they finally advertised it. If you put the same gameplay systems into a previous game, it wouldn't have changed anything.

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u/MyUsernameIsAwful 6h ago

Well, tell that to Intelligent Systems. They seem to think every game since then needs this stuff, lol

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u/BarbarousJudge 7h ago

While partly true... Well to a large degeee really. Awakening also had the benefit of being heavily advertised while being on a handheld with a large RPG playerbase. Shadow Dragon DS and New Mistery were remakes with one of them not even leaving Japan. And the Radiant duology was on the GameCube and Wii (bad RPG consoles) and surrounded by system sellers (Mario Galaxy in the case of Radiant Dawn).

So while Awakening definitely succeeded because of the social elements and romance... It was also the first time someone understood how to actually market and release these games

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u/Amonyi7 7h ago

I think making games that missed the mark on good stories and engaging gameplay is what was dooming the series.

If they had started making games with good stories and engaging gameplay it would have done well again, like it had when it was doing that

Three houses doing the dating stuff might have been popular, but that doesn't mean it was the only way to save it is what I mean.

Plus it being a long time since the last release, being the first to release on the switch, being the first to release on the switch at the height of covid, and being a well polished game all contributed a lot to its success too.

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u/MyUsernameIsAwful 7h ago

The games that immediately preceded Awakening (not counting remakes) were Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. So idk what you mean about missing the mark on good stories and engaging gameplay, those are fan favorites.

And I don’t know why you’re talking about Three Houses.

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u/Amonyi7 7h ago

The games that immediately preceded Awakening (not counting remakes) were Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. So idk what you mean about missing the mark on good stories and engaging gameplay, those are fan favorites.

Let me quote wikipedia:

Although no exact sales figures have been published, Nintendo identified the game as being among its successful GameCube titles for 2005.\44]) According to the developers, the fact that it was released near the end of the GameCube's lifespan affected sales, but it still managed to help sell the hardware and convinced Nintendo that the Fire Emblem series had selling power on home consoles

I was saying that if they just made good games with good stories and engaging gameplay, that the franchise would be "saved". That adding dating is not the only way to save the franchise

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u/MyUsernameIsAwful 7h ago edited 4h ago

Let me quote wikipedia:

Although no exact sales figures have been published, Nintendo identified the game as being among its successful GameCube titles for 2005. [44] According to the developers, the fact that it was released near the end of the GameCube's lifespan affected sales, but it still managed to help sell the hardware and convinced Nintendo that the  Fire Emblem series had selling power on home consoles

Evidently Nintendo wasn’t so confident by 2010. Because they told Intelligent Systems their next game had to sell at least 250,000 copies or Fire Emblem was kaput.

I was saying that if they just made good games with good stories and engaging gameplay, that the franchise would be "saved".

Meaning they weren’t doing that before. No? I don’t know what else you could mean by that. If all they had to do was make games with good stories and engaging gameplay, then they should have been riding high with the Tellius games.

Earlier you said:

I think making games that missed the mark on good stories and engaging gameplay is what was dooming the series.

Which games did you mean?

That adding dating is not the only way to save the franchise

Who am I to say it was the only way? All I know is it was the way they chose.