Fire Emblem Series! - Remember your spoiler tags!

[Prelude]

Myrth is the only one I remember. I never played FE6. And she was ridiculously good. I used codes just so I could get infinite stones for her.

When the **** is that FEDS2 going to get translated, it's been over a year.

 

[Sonic Boom]

Shadow Dragon received very lackluster sales and attention when it was localized. There's little sense to localize FEDS2 when the same is bound to happen, similar to the Xenoblade and Pandora's Tower hubbub.

 

[sceptile33]

Shadow Dragon was the worst Fire Emblem game I've played, and I've played 4 of them.
It received generally terrible reviews.

I've heard that it's sequel fixed most of it's problems, and that it's a great game, however, which is the reason it should be localized. If Nintendo doesn't do it, there's always the fan translation.

 

[Auraninja]

PoR

Blue= Hard
Green = Normal
Red= Easy

RD:
Color side from PoR moves down by one level to make the RD difficulty decoder colors:
Red=Hard
Blue=Normal
Green=Easy

^ Answered your question?

Sorry for the late response, but yes, that answers my question.

If I may ask, what was bad in Shadow Dragon, I know that the some of the characters are only obtained through practical suicide missions, but what else would have made it less that satisfactory?

Also, how would you rate the game (not compared to other Fire Emblem games, but by the common game's standards)?

 

[sceptile33]

Something about Shadow Dragon that really bothered me was that there are like 10 characters who only speak when they die, and never say anything else. There are also no support conversations, so there's barely any interaction between characters.

There's also some extra chapters, and the only way to access them is to have 15 or less characters alive in your army, encouraging you to not recruit characters or to kill them off.

I can't explain this, but I find the actual gameplay to be boring as well. Maybe it's because it's missing many features that the other Fire Emblem games had.

I would rate it 6/10, but I think I'm being lenient with that rating.

 

[Peter Quill]

Shadow Dragon really was just a huge step back for me.

I mean, when you've built up the entire series with rather colourful portraits and animations, making it so dark and rather gloomy wasn't the best step. I mean, the portraits and sprites in the game were just so drab and boring when compared to the other localized ones. And yes, the support conversations were not a smart thing to remove. Generally it was just awful decisions with that game :/

 

[sceptile33]

To be completely fair though, Shadow Dragon was the remake of the first FE game released on the Fanicom (NES). Still, they should have added more things if they wanted better reviews.

 

[ArcanineShrine014029]

I definitely know not to buy it now. Especially since the series kept improving and evolving over time, yet was the same stuff we loved. Though critics never raved on PoR's or Radiant Dawn's sound/graphics, no FE fan cared.

 

[sceptile33]

Graphics don't usually matter to me, especially in games like FE, but RD has animations that are very easy on the eyes, and the cutscenes are well done. You should definitely get PoR and RD if you haven't yet.

 

[ArcanineShrine014029]

I'm considering Path of Radiance after I finish Blazing Sword and Sacred Stones.
Oh, and my Eliwood's stats are, (at level 19);

HP: 29
Strength: 17
Skill: 10
Speed: 15
Luck: 15
Defense: 12
Resistance: 8

I'd just like to to note them because he's actually been really useful to me throughout this playthrough of the game.

 

[Sonic Boom]

Shadow Dragon was just a step backward after PoR and RD accomplished so much. Shadow Dragon uses generic sprites for every character except for Marth and Medeus and Tiki, and eliminated support conversations, effectively making all the other members of Marth's army just another face in the crowd; PoR and RD made sure to make individual character sprites with little similarities for every playable character and major antagonist, except for Tormod, who had the Fire Sage model.

PoR and RD had multiple scenarios and objectives for the cast to accomplish, like Ike and the mercenaries crossing a bridge and distracting the Daein troops while Mist and Rolf took Elincia across another, far away bridge, or Ike and his growing Crimean army assigned to do tasks for the Begnion senate, include relentlessly chasing a corrupt senator through a dead forest until he was struck down, or burning the rations at an enemy base camp so Begnion would be forced to call back General Zelgius, allowing the Gallians to seize an advantageous piece of the terrain in the war.

All Shadow Dragon did was place Marth and his merry band in a new location, and have Marth seize the fort or city, and rinse and repeat, and told the story in between the chapters. Very little sidequests in the chapters that would also push the story along like the Begnion missions did. There was no variety in the game chapters aside from the mission to talk with the Manekete Princess.


Really, I think if PoR and RD had not existed, Shadow Dragon would have seen more favorable criticism. PoR and RD expanded a lot of things in the FE style of gameplay; Shadow Dragon effectively took a few steps backward, and having PoR and RD to compare it to makes the negatives stand out more, remake or not.

 

[Auraninja]

Interestingly enough, I sort of had a set of definitions for these Fire Emblem games. I came up with this and told Blazios in a visitor message (almost said support conversation).

I had this theory about two different kinds of Fire Emblem games. There are the "Stringent Tactics Type", which stresses good tactics and encourages character survival, and then there is the "Fight Hard and Die Type", which seems to prefer non resets and gives you a multitude of characters but less consequences from dying.

I think it more or less hits the nail on the head.

Although it would seem to be fairly fun to try to get all of the gaiden chapter character. I was thinking about building up a team, replace the occasional death, ignore chances to get extra characters that don't come trough default, and see how far I would go.

 

[Sonic Boom]

Last I played Shadow Dragon, I went through every Gaiden chapter. Aside from Norne thanks to unique-like stat spread, every character you can grab in those chapters is inferior to any other characters of the same class that you can get regularly, if you disregard the class change system (which itself was one of the few highlights SD had over the other FE games. Shame the idea wasn't stressed enough ingame to make me care about it). Etzel and Ymir are the only ones that stand out, and that's only because they are the only Sorcerer and Berserker you can get in the game without class changing. Even when I grabbed the Gaiden characters, I blazed through the game with Tiki, Marth, Merric, and Roger mostly.

 

[lindsy95]

Shadow dragon sucked. From the little bit I've played of New mystery is is better.

Now just to wait for the translated script...

 

[sceptile33]

One good thing I can say about Shadow Dragon, though, is that that the hard modes are indeed hard. When it comes to difficulty, it makes Path of Radiance look like a joke.

 

[lindsy95]

I admit, I'm not good at hard modes.

Radiant dawn normal gives me trouble ;_;

Granted English normal used to be Japanese hard in RD...

 

[Auraninja]

I really hate to admit it, but I think the castigating opinions do have some truth to them.

From what I am getting, just looking at statements about the games content, the characters are mostly forgettable, the story is bland, and the "fight hard and die" type of fighting game doesn't quite compare to a game that focuses on survival and plot development.

If I may say, it seems that Fire Emblem has taken many routes.

First, the 4th and 5th games had cheap elements (or so I heard) that would really complicate the game, so luck would dictate the battlefield.

The 6th and 7th focused on stringent tactics. Where every move counts to a record of how well you were judged. Someone correct me if that is not true for 6th, but I believe it is.

The 8th was a breeze for many fans, and it is the only standalone title in the series. It had some good features, but many people were disappointed on its easiness by its self.

The 9th and 10th were really a step up for the series. You had good difficulty, good characters, and it had quite a pallet of elements.

And the 11th was discussed. The 12th was supposed to be better, but didn't make it to western markets.

Now, if you would like to nitpick about something I said inaccurately, then feel free to do so. However, I believe my statement about the different routes is correct.

 

[sceptile33]

If by the routes you mean what you said about character survival, then the only FE game that I think really encourages not reseting for characters dying is Shadow Dragon.

 

[lindsy95]

I agree with most things, although 6 and 7 hardly focused on them, they're just ranks that you get a the end of the game and have no other purpose.

No clue about 4 and 5 having cheap elements. (Unless they mean the RNG...? lol) Well, Thracia (5) was stupidly hard. But I can't think Of anything that stands out as 'cheap', any specifics? Unless you mean the money system in 4, which wasn't that bad considering how weapons worked in that game. Maaaybe the arena, that allowed units to be pretty hax, but that goes for any FE. And maybe the capture system for thracia? But you really need it. I got into a pretty much unwinnable situation since I neglected captures.

Unless you're talking about FE4's legendary weapons (notably Narga) Those are cheap.

 

[Auraninja]

If by the routes you mean what you said about character survival, then the only FE game that I think really encourages not reseting for characters dying is Shadow Dragon.

That wouldn't be the only element. It is really how you play the game. For example. Shadow Dragon encourages very few resets. Blazing Sword wants you to do the level well, with few turns, and slick movements. Path of Radiance wants you to beat the levels thoroughly, while getting everything you can get.

I agree with most things, although 6 and 7 hardly focused on them, they're just ranks that you get a the end of the game and have no other purpose.

No clue about 4 and 5 having cheap elements. (Unless they mean the RNG...? lol) Well, Thracia (5) was stupidly hard. But I can't think Of anything that stands out as 'cheap', any specifics? Unless you mean the money system in 4, which wasn't that bad considering how weapons worked in that game. Maaaybe the arena, that allowed units to be pretty hax, but that goes for any FE. And maybe the capture system for thracia? But you really need it. I got into a pretty much unwinnable situation since I neglected captures.

Unless you're talking about FE4's legendary weapons (notably Narga) Those are cheap.

It was basically a word of mouth from my friend. I believe I heard something about a sleep spell that has far reaching distances. I really can't say much for those games. TBH, I was going by assumption that I thought could have been true.