New Fire Emblem Game Coming to 3DS

[Revnak_v1legacy]

Aside from Awakening, supports did not end in marriage scenes, romances often ended ambiguously, and the vast majority of supports were not romantic, with most characters maybe having one or two possible pairings among roughly 8 or so supports. Also the children thing. Without all of those elements, I cannot imagine the game being the waifu simulator that Awakening was.

I mean, let's be honest, who in their right mind would call path of radiance a waifu simulator?

And with the way Awakening did it, Supports were even more popular. Yeah, we're going to get multiple pairings, probably marriages, and unambiguous romances again. The omission of kids will probably mean they have to do something else to entice the player into hooking people up which could make for something interesting gameplay-wise.

Which has never stopped IS from dropping a mechanic before. This isn't Ubisoft, dropping mechanics when they aren't fitting the game's core too well is to be expected with IS. It's how they work. Awakening was a last ditch effort to shove in everything they ever dreamed of putting in a Fire Emblem, and that led to the generally scattered design of the game, but in general IS does not subscribe to the more is better philosophy of design.

Know what was a popular mechanic? Arenas. Which were dropped in PoR. And the game was better for it.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Which has never stopped IS from dropping a mechanic before. This isn't Ubisoft, dropping mechanics when they aren't fitting the game's core too well is to be expected with IS. It's how they work. Awakening was a last ditch effort to shove in everything they ever dreamed of putting in a Fire Emblem, and that led to the generally scattered design of the game, but in general IS does not subscribe to the more is better philosophy of design.

Know what was a popular mechanic? Arenas. Which were dropped in PoR. And the game was better for it.

Uh, which is why they would be dropping the kids. That's a mechanic that wouldn't fit the game's core due to the fact that depended on the time travel plot. Pair Up is clearly returning, so the chances of Supports in Awakening's fashion not returning is PREEEEEETTY slim. And again, considering how much it was praised, it would kinda be foolish for them not to bring it back.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

Which has never stopped IS from dropping a mechanic before. This isn't Ubisoft, dropping mechanics when they aren't fitting the game's core too well is to be expected with IS. It's how they work. Awakening was a last ditch effort to shove in everything they ever dreamed of putting in a Fire Emblem, and that led to the generally scattered design of the game, but in general IS does not subscribe to the more is better philosophy of design.

Know what was a popular mechanic? Arenas. Which were dropped in PoR. And the game was better for it.

Uh, which is why they would be dropping the kids. That's a mechanic that wouldn't fit the game's core due to the fact that depended on the time travel plot. Pair Up is clearly returning, so the chances of Supports in Awakening's fashion not returning is PREEEEEETTY slim. And again, considering how much it was praised, it would kinda be foolish for them not to bring it back.

Pair up would work just as well with traditional supports, so I'm not seeing your point. IS does not let popularity drive how they make games. They made paper Mario as a sequel to Mario RPG for fuck's sake.

 

[RaikuFA]

Coming up: whether it'll have amiibo support or if Marth and Ike will be reprinted.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Yeah, but remember the context. Fire Emblem was to be the last game in the series if it sold poorly. Awakening is one of the best selling, if not THE best selling, Fire Emblem games of all time. At the very least, the pair up system is back from Awakening given we see that it the gameplay. I think we will see quite a bit of carry-over from that game. That being said, I think this game will be the harder game as IS did talk about how they were unhappy with the lack of unique maps in Awakening.

It's the best-selling by FAR; we're basically up for FE: Awakening 2.0 it seems like. And one of those things that made that entry so loved was Pair Up, Dual, and Supports. Seriously, if there AREN'T supports done in Awakening's style there are going to be RIOTS from the fanbase.

 

[xaszatm]

Yeah, but remember the context. Fire Emblem was to be the last game in the series if it sold poorly. Awakening is one of the best selling, if not THE best selling, Fire Emblem games of all time. At the very least, the pair up system is back from Awakening given we see that it the gameplay. I think we will see quite a bit of carry-over from that game. That being said, I think this game will be the harder game as IS did talk about how they were unhappy with the lack of unique maps in Awakening.

It's the best-selling by FAR; we're basically up for FE: Awakening 2.0 it seems like. And one of those things that made that entry so loved was Pair Up, Dual, and Supports. Seriously, if there AREN'T supports done in Awakening's style there are going to be RIOTS from the fanbase.

It was there. Watch the trailer again. It shows two people in the same battle where one blocked an attack and another showed the guy in the background come forward to swing at the enemy.

I'm glad we're getting more of Awakening's system, but I do hope there is some more variety in the maps then "kill the leader" or "kill everyone" Like defense missions where you have to protect a fortress or a treasure box or survival missions where you have endless waves of enemies. Or have missions involve the Fog of War again.

I do think the supports are going to stay given how that was one of the main reasons for Awakening's success.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

I'm glad we're getting more of Awakening's system, but I do hope there is some more variety in the maps then "kill the leader" or "kill everyone" Like defense missions where you have to protect a fortress or a treasure box or survival missions where you have endless waves of enemies. Or have missions involve the Fog of War again.

I do think the supports are going to stay given how that was one of the main reasons for Awakening's success.

Except there was one problem with most of the variety maps historically: they were IRRITATING. They weren't fun; I don't know HOW many times I just wanted to break my foot off in the designers' asses whenever endless waves of baddies came up or when a damned escort quest came up. Paring it down to "kill everything that isn't you" was just cutting down on the pointless shenanigans when you get down to it. The fog of war was much the same way; I'm already having to deal with the terrain in one way or another, no need to put in something else in order to artificially add variety when in fact they're just cluttering it.

 

[(name here)]

I liked most of the variety missions, although admittedly IntSys Fog Of War is sadistic madness. I'd really like the alternate mission types back.

I feel like they're going to find some way of fitting in child characters again. Probably not going to recycle the time travel shenanigans, but Geneology Of The Holy War didn't have any time travel. There could just be a ~15 year timeskip.

 

[MCerberus]

Devs: "Well the series has seen better days it seems like the US audience... ... could buy us swimming pools full of gold"

Meanwhile, I think I speak for everyone who played Awakening when I say

 

[Atmos Duality]

Maybe this time they'll program in some actual strategic gamepla- HAHAHAHA! Sorry. Couldn't resist.
Intelligent Systems has yet to even attempt making a Fire Emblem game where the AI isn't braindead and predictable as hell.

(which is utterly baffling, considering they also made Advance Wars; which was also prone to manipulation, but at least the enemy AI improved to the point where figuring out how to approach missions took more thought than "Level only a few awesome guys/gals up, watch them counter-kill everything; maybe snipe boss")

A shame too, because character planning feels all the more rewarding when it isn't all just about stat ricing.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Devs: "Well the series has seen better days it seems like the US audience... ... could buy us swimming pools full of gold"

Meanwhile, I think I speak for everyone who played Awakening when I say

Yes, embrace the Waifu Wars, MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I don't expect kids to return, but there's no way they're dropping the marriages considering how popular they were. In fact, that just makes me wonder what they could do with Supports to keep them relevant.

Serenes Forest also did a dissection about the trailer noticing some odd things:

http://serenesforest.net/fire-emblem-if/january-analysis/

Some things they missed were during a fight, a mace-wielding character clearly has their strike coated in fire, in the same fight when someone casts an ice spell, there's a silhouette of a rat, and a certain sword shown has its hilt based on a Vajra, a holy implement in Buddhism and Shinto. It's the Japanese thing that gets me about this entry; the trailer threw me for a loop because FE has characters based on Japan or Asia, but they've never done something like this. You can do some interesting parallels with Japanese-Western international relations. It seems to me that the Japanese side is seen as the heroic one while the Western side is clearly the aggressor. Maybe a commentary on the West's historical infamy of being pushy and domineering to outside cultures? Still, interesting stuff to say the least.

 

[Zechs]

I really hope they don't keep going with terrible fan service and pandering to this "shipping" culture. The marriage system is awful forcing characters to pair up in order to get a child with better stats that's just sick.

 

[vagabondwillsmile]

Man, my 3DS just keeps on justifying its purchase. Looking forward to another round of FE. Awakening was pretty damn good and I'm definitely keen for more.

Yeah, Awakening was pretty much the video game that saved video games for me. I hadn't played anything for over two years. But I overheard a random conversation about it, picked up a 3ds and took a chance on the game. I liked the interesting mechanics, I liked the nessecary strategy (until I built up an unbeatable crew heh heh), and the story got me all emotional and such. After this little bit of news, I'm far more excited for this than any other upcoming release.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

-Writing. Seriously, do any of you people picture Tharja as someone who could exist in real life? As a character you've seen and said "you know what, she really does seem to have a background that rationalizes why she has her attitude, personal tendencies, and decisions she's made in her life?" Because I sure as fuck didn't. She sucks, not because she's grimdark, but because she's grimdark without any kind of humanity that would explain WHY she's grimdark.

Uh, because she was raised in a household of dark mages. A house that had a LONG history of practicing that. Heck, she details to her daughter that her umbilical cord was cut with a hex when she was born. Plus her disposition isn't "grimdark", she's mostly just a cynical smartass. She's also something of a first for the series; most dark mages in FE were jovial or at worst slightly eccentric. Tharja is the first to go "Yeah, I deal with curses, hexes, and communing with chaotic entities. What the HELL did you expect?" But considering she has a surprisingly friendly relationship with Nowi, tries to help Lon'qu get over his gynophobia, reveals to Kellam that she does care about her family, is actually sympathetic towards Libra's traumatic childhood, and does admit she loves her daughter Noire (she just doesn't say anything because it's so awkward for her) she obviously has some bloody depth.

In fact, do we get a backstory as to why Olivia is shy to dance around people, and why she decides to do it, despite?

Because she loves dancing, it's what she's good at. She just has stage fright. One of my favorite comedians, the late Mitch Hedberg, had TERRIBLE stage fright to the point where he would keep his eyes closed during gigs.

Do we get a reason as to why Cordelia doesn't just fucking talk to Chrom? Do we know why Gaius likes candy? Do we know why Virion likes to flirt with women? Do we have any real reason WHY Anna likes money? Of course we don't. Because they're poorly written. They're not written as people so much as trope-ridden icons rife with character traits, but no humanity or depth underneath. If Pegasus Knight Hinoka is going to be a tomboy, explain through the support conversations WHY she's a tomboy, and with NUANCE, and how her interactions with other units makes her not only learn something about the other unit, but herself as well. Give her, give the whole damn cast a piece of heartfelt humanity that we, the players, can personally connect and relate to. Don't write characters, write PEOPLE.

Maybe because she just LIKES being a tomboy because she's inclined towards it? Why does that need an explanation? What, can't a girl just BE tomboyish? They need a REASON to? Is it that odd? Not EVERYTHING needs a damn explanation. For instance, I'm like Gaius in that I have a sweet tooth. Why? Dunno, but I've always like sugary things. Now, because I have a sweet tooth I got interested in baking, confectioneries, and got an ice cream maker for Christmas. Why is Virion a man slut? I dunno, maybe he was always like that, and he's not exactly lacking in the jovial department with men either. Why does Anna (or maybe I should say the Anna's) like money? Dunno, but again, why does that need explaining (unless we go into meta territory in which it's clearly a case of Anna frequently being a merchant in her appearances from previous entries, thus why she's gold-crazy)?

Oh, and everyone who relates Fire Emblem to the word "waifu" not only is part of the problem of <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch_Dogs>overhyping games when we know we should have known better by now, but also the drastic problems of poorly-written women in JRPGs.[footnote 1]Which is basically developers not having the courage to not write characters that pander to the NEET-otaku demographic filled with people that don't have actual balls to talk to[footnote 2]and consequentially, risk being rejected by[/footnote] real people.[/footnote] So thanks, guys: you're perpetuating a stereotype about a demographic that I'm finding harder and harder to want to associate myself with as a result, one "OMG WAIFU SO KAWAIIII" at a time!
Whoops, was that too offensive[footnote]Read: harsh of a truth[/footnote] for some of you? Don't worry, look! Here's that figurine of that one character people inexplicably like despite the fact that she'd be viewed IRL as a psychopath!
http://img.amiami.jp/images/product/main/132//FIGURE-000673.jpg[/quote]

I have that statue. It's sitting behind me right now. And if I ever see Tharja's voice actress again I'm going to get her to sign it.

And all of us who ARE using "waifu" are doing so with a layer of facetiousness so thick you could use it as a blanket. Yes, we are aware how silly it is. We are aware of how overblown the pairing wars can get (which was nothing new when Awakening showed up). But we are not going to be ashamed of it. I DO like pairing people together because it's fun to see their chemistry and personalities, including how they work off each other as husband and wife. If anything that needs an expansion so we can get stuff AFTER they've gotten married instead of just what was leading up to it.

Oh, and the word you're looking for is "sociopath." Tharja's completely sane, she just has a serious case of DGAF. Even then saying she's a sociopath is stretching it. SHe's probably the most straight character in the game besides Robin.

 

[Nixou]

Maybe this time they'll program in some actual strategic gamepla- HAHAHAHA! Sorry. Couldn't resist.
Intelligent Systems has yet to even attempt making a Fire Emblem game where the AI isn't braindead and predictable as hell.

Every time they tried to make the games more demanding strategically, like in FE5 and Radiant Dawn, people complained about the "unfair" difficulty.

***

A good 2-gen system or none at all. Look guys, can we all agree that Seisen no Keifu is the obvious superior of the games when it came to generations because the story demanded you use them?

Yes we should


A story with focus: Awakening had it rough being the tentative "final" Fire Emblem: the developers must have felt that it had to be a grand epic: about the story of how a woman's sacrifice changed the tide of a country's conflict, it wanted to be about taking down an empire hell-bent on taking over the world, and it wanted to be about defeating an ancient evil bent on destroying it. It's the Spiderman 3 syndrome: it tries to be everything, and either stumbles or outright fails at each thing

Agreed: Fire Emblems traditionally come in Duologies, and Awakening always felt it had originally been written that way as well: the Valm war should have been its own game instead of a rushed third of Awakening's main quest.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

I'm glad we're getting more of Awakening's system, but I do hope there is some more variety in the maps then "kill the leader" or "kill everyone" Like defense missions where you have to protect a fortress or a treasure box or survival missions where you have endless waves of enemies. Or have missions involve the Fog of War again.

I do think the supports are going to stay given how that was one of the main reasons for Awakening's success.

Except there was one problem with most of the variety maps historically: they were IRRITATING. They weren't fun; I don't know HOW many times I just wanted to break my foot off in the designers' asses whenever endless waves of baddies came up or when a damned escort quest came up. Paring it down to "kill everything that isn't you" was just cutting down on the pointless shenanigans when you get down to it. The fog of war was much the same way; I'm already having to deal with the terrain in one way or another, no need to put in something else in order to artificially add variety when in fact they're just cluttering it.

"Survive for X turns" and fog of war probably wouldn't be so bad with perma-death optional. Perma-death really compounded the annoyance factor on those types of missions. The enemy units will always go after the weaker units and in fog of war missions, it was extremely easy for them to swoop in out of nowhere with some ranged attack (example an archer going after a Pegasus) and kill your unit, despite your efforts to cover all the bases.

The enemy units, unless it's specific to the mission[footnote]or they're trying to screw you out of exp and item bonuses, or they're thieves, annoying annoying thieves...[/footnote], also don't care for their own preservation and tend to do stupid things like running their archers forward to capitalize on your Pegasus even though it means certain death for the archer [footnote]because the Pegasus was next to a dragon rider who is now going to ax the shit out of the archer.[/footnote]

Castle defense I would prefer not to have because of my personal preference (it has it's own genre, if I really want to defend some castles, I'll play those games, as it stands, I find the mandatory protection of anything, be it characters or castles, irritating and I don't want it shoehorned into my games)

Escort missions can disappear from all video games and the industry wouldn't lose anything of importance.

----------------
I think missions like, get X player on Y square would be fine though. There was one map in PoR where you're playing the mission and all of a sudden, the Black Knight shows up and it completely forces you to change your strategy. Instances like that may be fun without permadeath.

 

[Rozalia1]

I'm hoping there are "different factions" so I can pick (even if the story doesn't allow you to pick directly) the weakest to beat the game with. Dawn Brigade > All as Ike found out when Edward dropped him like he was nothing.
If Ike didn't come in and make everyone else irrelevant it would have been good to either play as Daein for the rest of the game, or have to destroy Daein which going by that one mission seems to have become fanatics for Micaiah.

Anyway, looking forward to it.