By KlegsArt

Boy, it’s been a good couple of months since Fire Emblem Heroes has been released this year. So, what’s been the biggest change in the free gacha mobile game?

1) INFERNAL

Team C at Intelligent Systems/DeNA convinced themselves that this game was too easy. Lunatic was too easy. And with dancer combos it was definitely easy. Welp, no more! They came up with Infernal, which is so absurdly difficult that I’m not sure the rewards are enough to make you feel that it’s worth it. That said, this totally reflects Fire Emblem in that you’ll need to find a combo or two that works in order to win. Now it’s done in mobage form!

2) STAMINA

It feels like it’s been a while, but remember, stamina in this game was 50 (if I’m not mistaken), which meant, and especially with the higher difficulty levels, you’d be wasting your energy really fast since there were maps that had 9 or more stamina costs. So what happens when you introduce Lunatic and its prohibitive costs? You increase the stamina by 99! Yet, when you add new modes like Tempest Trials, Chain Challenge, etc, and those cost around 20-23 stamina, I wonder if that’s them cheating, in a way…

3) ARENA

Think the Arena could have used an upgrade. Yet the way it’s done now actually has made the Arena easier for me. I used to have some clean runs but there was definitely some challenges along the way that made it tough but fun. Now I’ll probably have one or two issues during an Arena run. This could be a case where I’ve gotten better units (thanks Reinhardt), or I just faced a good team controlled by computer AI (they can only do so much). But meh, the new rewards don’t seem all that great to me. Think it could be a bit more.

Despite all my snark, there has been a number of updates to Fire Emblem Heroes that are great actually. I still play it so they’re doing something right. Though if you summon bad units that also sucks. Anyways, the only other thing I hate is stat inflation, though it’s always fun to laugh at the game when you figure out a way to OHKO them anyways.

Anyways, who’s still playing the game? Who’s your best units? Recently got a Celica so I’m gonna train her up, then make my busted mage team that’s totally missing Julia…

(Also for personal reasons can’t share my ID, so don’t ask. Sorry!)

A.K.A my strategy on beating Berkut in the Grand Hero Battle. Also cheating of course.

Second infernal I cleared, though this time I got an extra unit though instead of feathers.

Keys To Beating Berkut’s Map

• Important thing is to have a dancer. Any dancer will do. So if you grabbed that 3* Olivia, make sure she’s at a good level so she can at least take a hit and not get doubled, and you’ll be good to go.
• Wings of Mercy is super useful on this map. Think Escape Route can also be used, but just remember it works the reverse way.
• Of course, you see above the team I used to clear it. The big thing for Infernal is to make sure you separate your units (hence why Palla’s useful for this map. Stahl could be as well). Also be mindful of where you place your units so you can manipulate the A.I.
• The Red Horse Mage on this map is the one unit that was a challenge to me due to his buffs and his tome (ends cavalry units). Tried to run Horse Emblem for this, but just didn’t work for me.
• Berkut fighting wise was disappointing. Get an axe on him and he can’t do much. His resistance being buffed (alongside his lance) makes him harder to kill with Mages but in the end his low speed is a big detriment. Still looks like a cool unit though.
• …Starting to realize that all these GHB may not need an appropriate color distinction (Red, Green, Blue)

Anyways, what were your super strats/units for this one? Feel free to let me know while I celebrate actually clearing Infernal for a second time…

At 11:30PM EST, we are finally gonna get some news on Fire Emblem Heroes. Aside from CYL and future Grand Hero Battles, what do you expect from tonight’s stream? What do you hope? Also, after the stream is over, feel free to use this as a thread to discuss the game and what’s been added.

UPDATE: (SPOILERS) LILITH, NOOOOOOOOOO! YOU DIDN’T DIE TO COME BACK FOR THIS!!!!

Hi, name’s Walters…it’s been a while hasn’t it?

Not going to BS you guys or anything: I just haven’t made time to write about Fire Emblem. Like, at all. I’m sincerely hoping that changes next year. My plan is to resume this blog sometime in early January (think like January 8 or 9th). After all, next year is when we’ll get that brand new Fire Emblem for the Switch. Will definitely look to play that.

I also want to do a project involving all the Fire Emblems I’ve played. When I will do that, I have no idea.

Until then, I wish all of you a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year.

“I’ll be back!!!” drawn by a cool person not named me. I hope she is well.

So on Thursday November 8, the Nintendo Direct happened. A bunch of stuff was talked about, and the end PROBABLY made people happy. Lots of people:

However, one title was mysteriously missing from the showing: That’d be Fire Emblem for the Switch.

To recap: In the Fire Emblem direct January 18, 2017, it was mentioned it was planned for a 2018 release. Normally most would complain that’s a long time to go before any relevant info would be mentioned. And well, probably some did. However, with Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Echoes, and Fire Emblem Warriors coming out in 2017, it was fair to not hear anything about.

But now we’re onto 2018, so now we should expect to hear about this title. What is it? What’s it about? The Nintendo Direct would be a grand opportunity to tease it. But we got…nothing. Now, it did say it was planned for a 2018 release. Maybe it’s been pushed into 2019. It could be a reasonable assumption. Or the title’s being saved for a later announcement, either around E3 or close to it.

However, my theory is there’s going to be another Fire Emblem Direct.

Devoting a direct to a franchise has been done before.

I mean, Nintendo has done individual directs to specific titles before. And of course they already did one for FE. It wouldn’t be surprising to dedicate it to the Switch version of the title.

This is going to be very similar to Echoes.

What I mean by that is by release date. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is the earliest the West has ever gotten a Fire Emblem (Echoes came out April 20th in Japan, May 19 in the US). I imagine Nintendo is attempting to coordinate the same with the Switch version so the wait is not that long. So it could be close enough to completion now, but at this point it’s getting localized, and if the Echoes iteration (or really, even the FE’s on the 3DS) is a sign, it’s also getting dubbed as well.

Fire Emblem is worth it.

Have you seen the money Heroes is making? And well, how well the last three FEs have sold? Yeah, Fire Emblem is close to an A list title for Nintendo, so it’s worth the treatment.

Smash Bros already revealed a new character from the Switch game–

Ok hell if I can tell who’s in the background in that trailer aside from Mario and BOTW Link, but I’m already guessing there’s a new FE character in there.

So anyways, that’s my theory. If a Direct does happen, then they’ll definitely talk not only about the Switch version, but other stuff as well (like Heroes…some ports…or maybe another 3DS entry since it just won’t die). Let me know if you feel this is the direction Intelligent Systems and Nintendo will go, or ARE you worried it’s gonna slip to 2019.

For now at least I’m aiming to post about Fire Emblem once a week, every Wednesday, at 10AM EST. Feel free to make suggestions on topics I should cover. Like Fire Emblem Cipher…or…something as I get my bearings again.

I’m going to tell you a true story, one that’s shocking and going to terrify you:

The past three new Fire Emblem games have made the final map theme the theme you hear while facing the final boss/enemies.

Let me emphasize it a bit more.

Past. Three. New. Fire Emblem games. The final map theme plays instead of an individual theme

Ok, ok, I’m gonna stop playing around!

So, Fire Emblem games, starting from the very first one to Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, have had the standard boss theme or final boss theme around on the final map. You get to the final map, you move your units around, and enjoy the theme of that map. Then it changes to the battle themes once you engage with a unit. However, that process for some reason has changed over the past couple years!

“Walters, Echoes had individual themes play in the final map. Shadow Dragon and New Mystery had the same. WTF are you talking about?”

Well, I DID say new Fire Emblem games.

It’s actually fair to not realize this because I actually forgot. You think this started with Awakening, where ID: Purpose plays as the overall theme, and Fates ended up doing the same.

…Radiant Dawn, however, started it first!

(and I should add, it is a glorious theme)

Radiant Dawn, the sequel to Path of Radiance, came out in 2007. Since then, the order of Fire Emblem game:

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (Remake)
Fire Emblem: New Mystery of The Emblem (Remake)
Fire Emblem: Awakening (Not a Remake)
Fire Emblem: Fates (Not a Remake)
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (Remake)
Fire Emblem for the Switch (100% not gonna be a remake since they said NEW)

So, we can presume the Switch version is gonna make the Final Map theme the overall theme. And…and…I’d like it to stay that way. This isn’t to say having those boss themes and such are bad since FE music is awesome. But when listening to that Final Map theme in Echoes…it was awesome. And then I go and face Jedah. Or Duma. I think it’s just smart honestly. I dunno who made that change, but I think making the Final Map themes the overall song for the last chapter is a good decision, and I hope it sticks around, personally.

But, have any of you been a fan of that? Please let me know!

Yes it’s not 2020 at all, and there could be a new Fire Emblem game or spinoff announced for 2020. BUT with Three Houses’ release and DLC coming down the line for it, I feel it’s safe to say this decade of Fire Emblem has wrapped up. Guess that means it’s time to take a look back at one of the most harrowing but most successful decade for the tactical RPG franchise.

The Numbers (13)

Remakes: New Mystery of the Emblem, Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Mainline Games: Awakening, Fates, Three Houses
Spinoffs: Tokyo Mirage Sessions, Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Warriors
Misc: Super Smash Bros (Wii U, Ultimate), Fire Emblem: Cipher, Code Name: S.T.E.A.M, Project X Zone 2

2010: Mystery of the Emblem and the dwindling franchise

Couldn’t have kicked off this decade of Fire Emblem without its past creeping up. With poor sales from Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn, and Shadow Dragon, and with the 3DS on the horizon, Nintendo made the decision to pass on localizing New Mystery of the Emblem. This remains, after Fire Emblem: Blazing Blade made its Western debut, the only Fire Emblem game to remain Japan only. A shame since it vastly improved upon Shadow Dragon, but no matter. It didn’t come over here, and that left the franchise in limbo. Enough google searches regarding Fire Emblem, sales and cancellation will inform you that the series was on its last legs.

But of course, the one thing (well one of the big things) Mystery of the Emblem introduced was the avatar. It sorta existed in Blazing Blade, but in New Mystery you could choose your gender and be more of a part of the story than any other Fire Emblem at the time. Don’t kid yourself, it was totally shoehorned in, but this laid the seeds for what would happen next:

2012: The “Awakening” has come

Now, the avatar was a key factor due to making it feel you’re more involved in the story. But changes from Classic to having Classic and Casual, where permadeath wasn’t a thing, return of more detailed supports, a gameplay change that mixed past Fire Emblem gameplay elements with pair up, and more marketing brought forth Awakening, which does get praised for being the one to save the series…but it’s true. It did.

2015: New paths emerge

It’s because of Awakening that new possibilities emerged. Could we have seen outside of Smash Bros (which got some characters) any Fire Emblem character appearing in other series? Or a card game emerging? Or a massive spinoff mashing two completely different franchises together? Definitely not, but with Project x Zone, Fire Emblem Cipher, and to an extent some Fire Emblem characters appearing as skins in Monster Hunter, it signaled a turn for Fire Emblem. Tokyo Mirage Sessions probably did itself no favors by having a short trailer teasing a Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem mashup and reverting to idol stuff later on, but it still borrows elements from the Fire Emblem series, and that was not something any FE fan could’ve seen coming.

Of course, those are spinoffs — the next Fire Emblem, Fates, would greatly fix what was wrong in Awakening’s gameplay and also force the players to pick a side even more deeply than before — as the Avatar, Corrin, you would get to decide the fates of Hoshido and Nohr…or save them both somehow. Feels like the choosing your paths theme will come back to play later on this decade.

2017: The “Black Sheep” returns in HD

Soon enough, the franchise was popular enough that it was chosen to become one of Nintendo’s initial forays into mobile gaming. Fire Emblem Heroes was the game, and it has changed a LOT since 2017. If you can find some of the old YouTube videos of how it used it to be, you could even convince yourself it’s a brand new game. Or at least try to. Then Fire Emblem finally got a Warriors entry for both the Switch and the New Nintendo 3DS. It’s fairly apparent that what was a very solid franchise finally stopped being slept on.

Then the return of that one title remarkably different from every other entry of Fire Emblem returned. Very good decision to pick Gaiden to be remade, not only as a surprise factor, but it also laid some hints regarding how the latest entry into the series would be. But after only understanding the series through Mila’s Divine Protection and Wikipedia, playing Shadows of Valentia was better, to say the least.

2019: Choose your students and guide them through their path

And now we get to Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Never would’ve thought I’d know people at work who talk about a Fire Emblem game, and yet, there have been people at work talking about it. It’s still just getting into the hands of people who have to decide which noble they’ll choose to let them rule Fodlan (or something), and with more content on the way, it’s clear this version of FE is a bit different in some ways from prior ones. Outside of the usual staples we’ve seen this decade: The Avatar, lots of conversions, tea time, and sticking them close to each other for stats, and you breaking your brain in figuring out how to avoid getting wrecked by [Spoiler] while trying to lead [Spoiler] to victory.

To Sum It All Up

There’s no getting around that this decade has also been a source of adjustment not just for the fans, but to those who have created each entry, as it’s made such massive departures from all the other franchises. Permadeath is a Fire Emblem staple, there’s no way they can add a casual mode! Well, they did. Good thing they won’t add Phoenix Mode for future entries hopefully. But you have to have your weapons break! That’s been the case for most of the games in the series!…Well not anymore necessarily!

The tried and true strategy aspect has not changed though. Some have worked more than others (A break the ice map? Really Intelligent Systems???), but the essence of FE still exists, and doesn’t actually have to change. It’s clear that with each entry the staff at IS and Nintendo has figured out what works, looks at what doesn’t work, and they try to improve upon it with any new mainline entry. And that has brought in new fans, maintained its hardcore fans, while working hard to bring back the fans who just didn’t see it as Fire Emblem anymore. Doesn’t mean they got them all back. But they’re at least gonna try, as a new period of FE will emerge but in a state of, “How can we push the series to new heights now?

So what do you all think about this decade of Fire Emblem? What have you liked or not liked so far? Did you play any of the games involving the franchise in this decade? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.