Fire Emblem's Casual Difficulty Nearly Didn't Make The Cut

[Saladfork]

my first run through fire emblem was on classic, but I didn't save scum if I got any of my guys killed. I managed to get ~ 2/3 through before I just had to give upon that file.

My next one was on casual and while I did like how permadeath gave me an incentive to be very careful with my units, I ended up having more fun without it.

 

[Dusty Fred]

Well, you could continue the game if a character died (unless it was a key character, in which case you'd need to change into your instant-game-over trousers). You had the choice of being a perfectionist; completing the game without losing anyone, or tolerating a few losses (some members of your party were pretty expendable, all told). So there was a little room to manoeuver within the if-they-die-they're-gone-forever system.

Now, having taken a moment to examine my feelings, I'm not against the inclusion of this mode in this FE installment or, indeed all that follow. It doesn't stop the game being awesome, since it's a feature you can completely ignore if you want. I agree that it might make FE an easier game to get into, which can't be a bad thing.

Personally, I wouldn't touch it. The tension of keeping everyone alive and all the precise, careful, considered tactical gameplay that follows from it is one of the series' greatest strengths, says I (a proud instant re-setter).

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

To bad. The game would have been better without it.

Oh please, tell me how an optional mode that does not affect you in any way decreases the quality of a game (what a load).

Well, I for one am just waiting for that bloody thing to finally release.

I have it on preorder, can't wait. 3DS games seem to have weird releases when it comes to US and Europe.

 

[Arina Love]

and i'm glad it did! playing on casual right now and absolutely love it, i just don't want to deal with people perma-dying on me. i bought 3ds just for this game without this mode i wouldn't have bought 3ds and this game so i guess it's a successful strategy to include option for people like me.

 

[AuronFtw]

snip

The fact you mention gargoyles shows you're referring to FE8, one of the most hilariously easy games ever made. Yet you couldn't even handle that it seems.

Your tears flow like a river, casual.

The funny part is it applies to several games, and that's just one example. I still beat every mission, got every character, and even grinded the sillyass Lagdou Ruins to unlock all the extra optionals out of boredom. The game's difficulty is not a problem - because the game isn't difficult. What I mentioned in my post was poor design - blindside instakills leading to soft resets. It's not skillful gameplay, nor does it promote skillful gameplay - it's an artificially difficult gimmick that detracts from the overall game experience without, and let me restate this because you missed the point something fierce, without actually making it any harder. It just made the game worse.

If it takes a "casual" to point out fucking shit game design, call me casual all day long. I'd rather play well-designed games that are legitimately difficult any day over the piece of shit blindside instakill soft-reset-inducing artificially-"difficult" Fire Emblem maps.

It's a fucking terrible mechanic, and like I said, is one of the worst in the series. It isn't the series' only fault - that list is really, really long and varies game to game - but it's a recurring theme that the company never seemed to rectify until now. The company fixed a mistake it made years ago and continued to make with every game until now, and some players who are incapable of seeing the difference between well-designed, tests-your-skills difficulty and artificial gimmick difficulty are mad that it's called "casual mode."

Again, a more apt name for it would be "play this mode to not have to deal with our shitty, outdated artificial difficulty system" - because that's precisely what it is. It's not skill-based, it's not tactics-driven, and it's not difficult - it's just pointless, annoying and dated. If it takes a casual to point this out, I'd rather be a casual than an idiot.

 

[Yopaz]

If he really wants the game to be tense, then the game should auto-save after every move. Shitty? Most definitely. But as long as manual saves/quick saves/save states exist, then casual mode is basically how most people played the game to begin with.

Well, the thing is with Fire Emblem is that you can't save before you do a move and go back if it goes bad. You only save before and after missions and you might save if you are going to quit the game, but you can only load once from that mid game savepoint. Basically, if one of your characters die and you reset you might lose an hour of progress.

So quick saves do not exist. Except in casual mode where you can do this.

Please learn how the game works before you criticize it because this has always been the case with Fire Emblem games.

 

[Rack]

Casual is the mode that might make me play this, though I'm still a little wary of the random level ups. There's no doubt it makes the game a LOT easier but permadeath was just too finicky for my tastes, if you made the slightest slip up (not to mention if an enemy attacked out of nowhere) you had to reload.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

There was a game for the DS that came before Awakening. It was the sequel to Shadow Dragon, (Hero's of Light and Shadow), which first introduced the casual mode, and it got a positive reception in Japan, but that particular game never made it overseas.

If he really wants the game to be tense, then the game should auto-save after every move. Shitty? Most definitely. But as long as manual saves/quick saves/save states exist, then casual mode is basically how most people played the game to begin with.

The first Fire Emblem game to be localized out of Japan (Blazing Sword) Did that with the battle saves. It would save right before every action, so if you messed up horribly, you'd have to either live with the mistake, or start the whole chapter over.

 

[Francis Racine]

How does this affect your game ?don't like casual mode ? don't play it. Problem solved

 

[VincentX3]

God dam... I still need to play a single Fire Emblem game D:
I've been interested in the series for long, but theres so many!

So any recommendations? Which Fire Emblems have the best story\characters?

 

[-Dragmire-]

God dam... I still need to play a single Fire Emblem game D:
I've been interested in the series for long, but theres so many!

So any recommendations? Which Fire Emblems have the best story\characters?

My personal favorite is FE: Path of Radiance on the gamecube. The story was good but classic and the difficulty on normal was challenging without over frustration. Then again, it was the only one I beat so there's that. More hardcore players of the series will probably say it was one of the easiest ones but I enjoyed it. It had a direct sequel on the wii but I stopped playing that one because the characters irritated me.

 

[Souplex]

As far as I've heard most people just reset when they lose someone anyway including the devs...so I don't see why this is a big deal.

Because then losing someone isn't a lose-condition, you just power through the battle anyway.

 

[Atmos Duality]

To think, we were so close to an uncompromising, classic Fire Emblem.

Casuals win again

To think, we were so close to going through this topic without empty pretense.

"Casuals win again"...pfft.
Pray tell what the "hardcore" fans lost?

Nothing? I thought so.

How does this affect your game ?don't like casual mode ? don't play it. Problem solved

Stop invoking logic! You might wake the angry snobs.

 

[Hjalmar Fryklund]

If he really wants the game to be tense, then the game should auto-save after every move. Shitty? Most definitely. But as long as manual saves/quick saves/save states exist, then casual mode is basically how most people played the game to begin with.

Well, the thing is with Fire Emblem is that you can't save before you do a move and go back if it goes bad. You only save before and after missions and you might save if you are going to quit the game, but you can only load once from that mid game savepoint. Basically, if one of your characters die and you reset you might lose an hour of progress.

So quick saves do not exist. Except in casual mode where you can do this.

Please learn how the game works before you criticize it because this has always been the case with Fire Emblem games.

Perhaps that was the case for most of the games, but not in Radiant Dawn or Shadow Dragon. Radiant Dawn allows you to save at any point during your turn, from which you can reload an unlimited amount of times from. Shadow Dragon has one or two save points placed out on each level from which you can load an unlimited amount of times from.

 

[Yopaz]

If he really wants the game to be tense, then the game should auto-save after every move. Shitty? Most definitely. But as long as manual saves/quick saves/save states exist, then casual mode is basically how most people played the game to begin with.

Well, the thing is with Fire Emblem is that you can't save before you do a move and go back if it goes bad. You only save before and after missions and you might save if you are going to quit the game, but you can only load once from that mid game savepoint. Basically, if one of your characters die and you reset you might lose an hour of progress.

So quick saves do not exist. Except in casual mode where you can do this.

Please learn how the game works before you criticize it because this has always been the case with Fire Emblem games.

Perhaps that was the case for most of the games, but not in Radiant Dawn or Shadow Dragon. Radiant Dawn allows you to save at any point during your turn, from which you can reload an unlimited amount of times from. Shadow Dragon has one or two save points placed out on each level from which you can load an unlimited amount of times from.

OK, I stand corrected. Still not being able to reload is true for most Fire Emblem games. Even this new one (with the exception of casual mode).

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

Hey they earned at least one new customer (me) specifically because of the Casual difficulty. I love tactical RPG's but I've never been very good at them, hence the perma-death component of Fire Emblem (and rumors of insane difficulty on top of that) always put me off and prevented me from trying it.

Thank you game creators for finally enabling me to try (and enjoy) this series.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Does casual mode actually make the game easier at all though? Or is it just the death reversal?

Uhm, I am not sure what you're saying here. Casual is a lot easier because of the death reversal. It removes the possibility of losing important units and lowers the risk of sending units to fight. Death reversal is the only thing that makes casual less difficult, but it makes it a lot less difficult.

As for the next part, people ***** about casual mode because it changes what was the point of Fire Emblem. Adding a unit that could revive units would displease both the people who want the classic experience and those who are currently enjoying the casual mode. The addition of the casual mode doesn't change the core gameplay and that is still the subject of a lot of hate. Adding a unit to change the gameplay would change the gameplay and would definitely get a lot of hate and honestly, that hate would be reasonable rather than the hate for some added option.

I mean, easier BEYOND how lack of permanent death makes it easier.

Like, AI is dumber, foes have less HP, they hit you for less, you get a stat buff, the game is dumbed down for causal players so there's not as deep strategy for achieving victory, etc.

 

[Yopaz]

Does casual mode actually make the game easier at all though? Or is it just the death reversal?

Uhm, I am not sure what you're saying here. Casual is a lot easier because of the death reversal. It removes the possibility of losing important units and lowers the risk of sending units to fight. Death reversal is the only thing that makes casual less difficult, but it makes it a lot less difficult.

As for the next part, people ***** about casual mode because it changes what was the point of Fire Emblem. Adding a unit that could revive units would displease both the people who want the classic experience and those who are currently enjoying the casual mode. The addition of the casual mode doesn't change the core gameplay and that is still the subject of a lot of hate. Adding a unit to change the gameplay would change the gameplay and would definitely get a lot of hate and honestly, that hate would be reasonable rather than the hate for some added option.

I mean, easier BEYOND how lack of permanent death makes it easier.

Like, AI is dumber, foes have less HP, they hit you for less, you get a stat buff, the game is dumbed down for causal players so there's not as deep strategy for achieving victory, etc.

Difficulty settings are still there regardless of casual or classic mode. I haven't played it myself since it hasn't been released in Europe, but I think there are options of easy, normal, hard and very hard.

However you asked if it was easier or if it was just the permadeath thing which made it seem like lack of permadeath wouldn't make it easier. My point here is that permanent death is what makes those games difficult. Enemies might kill valuable units in one hit on harder settings, but that doesn't make the game any more difficult if they are revived after the battle. The MAIN difficulty is permanent death and that is why this:

Does casual mode actually make the game easier at all though? Or is it just the death reversal?

statement seems silly. They removed the main source of difficulty from a game. Does that make the game any easier?

 

[Epona]

Some games are defined by their crushing difficulty. Dark Souls, for example

Why do people act like Dark Souls is a stand alone game without a prequel? You know, Demons Souls came out first.

 

[Giyguy]

Casual mode was a solid move, it took nothing from the game and introduced plenty of people to the series that were intimidated by the permadeath mechanic.

if any of you fuckers start ragging on the game for including it, i will reiterate the argument related to the gays.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO FUCK THEM, STOP RAGGING ON THEM BECAUSE THEY EXIST.

now replace "fuck" with "play" and "them" with "casual mode" and "they" with "it" and add an "s" to "exist"

that turns it into this:

YOU DON'T HAVE TO PLAY CASUAL MODE, STOP RAGGING ON CASUAL MODE BECAUSE IT EXISTS.

that's right, if you hate casual mode, you're a casualphobe.