No seriously, I’m ready to get to 2015. It’s been a long, long year.

In all seriousness, hi again. Let’s just say I expect things to go more…smoothly next year. For starters, work is stable…for now. Though I expect to be looking for another job soon, it is what it is. My blog out in the netherealms of the internet is currently working on a buffer, so I have some time.

The only thing is, Fire Emblem! I gotta play some FE games!

Well, expect to hear me say something about that as I’m currently replaying Fire Emblem…on the Wii U.

Yep, I call it double dipping. And for this franchise, why not? So my plan is to be immersed with that for the first half of 2015. After I didn’t expect much news on SMT x FE this year, I’m definitely looking out for it in 2015. And with the franchise’s 25th anniversary upcoming, you can bet I’ll keep in mind some sort of celebration for running so long.

Anyways, 2014 was forgettable. Time to look forward to 2015!

Well, aside from the Eastern style bent this particular edition of FE has, which only makes me more excited.

Fire Emblem Awakening System: YES
A familiar (as in, the samurai theme) yet new type of setting in the FE world: YES!
New storywriter: YES
The characters have feet: YES!!!

There’s a lot to get to, including how this could tie into SMT x FE (!!!) based on the Japanese title and Iwata mentioning making choices in this game, grabbin some screenshots, and some other stuff but I just got back from work and need to watch this trailer for the next hundred hours. Discuss anything you want about the 14th edition of the FE franchise, and any speculation.

Of course, aside from that one megaton news in the Nintendo Direct, there was another trailer involving Fire Emblem that involved another game.

And no, it wasn’t SMT x FE.

With Intelligent Systems doing work on Codename: S.T.E.A.M, it made logical sense for there to be some allusions to Fire Emblem in its game, even though it seems out of place when you have historical figures taking on zombies. Of course, we weren’t sure how, but with the ability to use Amiibo’s on the new 3DS forthcoming, now it makes sense to find value in buying all 4 of the Fire Emblem Amiibo’s instead of just using it for Smash Bros.

Of course, while retaining some weapons (Ike with Ragnell, Marth with Falchion, etc), and with permadeath also taking place in it (to an extent), there was one travesty. Fire Emblem fans all know what that is:

And thus, this once great franchise, this once JP sounding character, now has an English voice actor.

Let us weep. RIP Marth JP voice 2001 (Super Smash Bros. Melee)-2015.

(I’m kidding, but it definitely’s gonna take some adjustment to get used to.)

So I thought I would present to you guys a heavily researched, confident, and bold opinion on the Fire Emblem If trailer that came out in last week’s Nintendo Direct. But my time is still taken, so my thoughts are about as random and ill-presented as you’ve become accustomed to know.

So I’m just gonna roll with it. Oh well.

My First Thought Was…

This was definitely/has something to do with the Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem game.

For starters, play both trailers and you’ll notice the sounds are similar (until the FEif trailer goes on more):

It’s slight, but it’s there. Then of course, sure Intelligent Systems, Fire Emblem If sure wasn’t inspired by Shin Megami Tensei If eh?

The biggest thing then involves Satoru Iwata mentioning that you will be making greater choices in this version of FE than any other game in the series. Of course, making choices has always been a thing in FE, and they tried to actually incorporate this in Awakening, but it was done with little actual consequences.

…Sounds like a Shin Megami Tensei thing to me!

Now, the chances they are related is about 15%, but I feel that was the vibe it gave me as I watched the trailer.

The Second Thought Was…

…Are those lands/maps from other games in the series?!?

There’s one particular picture that made me think to look up Path of Radiance maps, but, as said earlier, time not on my side. But I don’t think this was merely just random maps or places tossed in the trailer — these may have been past areas from Fire Emblem history. Slight chance of Fire Emblem history in this game, but it could be a 3DS exclusive thing.

The Third Thought Was…

It sure felt fresh!

Eastern themes heavily incorporated in design and scope. The Mouth of Truth oddly placed in this game. It definitely feels like a new chapter in the Fire Emblem series that has gone places, but not here. It seems exciting for it to go this way.

Fully fleshed thoughts on the trailer:

So yeah, I was hyped. For starters, Nintendo led off with FE as the main title to announce. That’s pretty cool. Then to see the battle system from Awakening return again only made me think about how much they can refine the system now that they know what to do. I was surprised to see some comments having little faith in the IS team improving the system, which is odd considering every iteration in the FE franchise that has had their particular system improved upon it in the next game:

FE1 < FE3

FE6 < FE7

FE9 < FE10

FE11 < FE12

I mean, it was admitted they weren’t sure about some aspects of the system (that’s why no feet), so combine that with the fact that Awakening came out three years ago in Japan, they’ve had plenty of time to refine the system to be something that’s not broken. The real question is whether or not they truly make it a FE6 < FE7 jump by adding way more variety in missions in this game.

Unlike a lot of people, I cared little about Awakening’s story. By that I mean I valued its gameplay and music over its story, but it did have shortcomings (but most FE games have them). But it seems pretty cool to get the guy who did Bloody Monday and Kindachi Case Files to write this story, which might imply some sleuthing and putting the pieces together. Needless to say, I think IS realized the story could be way better for a FE game, and I’d like to think that aspect will be fixed for this game.

Finally, still wondering if we’re gonna have another avatar player in this game. I guess we’ll have to see, but I’m mixed. We were introduced in the first FE game in the West to an avatar tactician, but never got to “play” as him/her. We then go nearly a decade until Fire Emblem 12, which never saw a release in the states, get an avatar character, and then FE13 has it come back again. Is this going to be the trend for future FE games? I don’t know about this…

Anyways, I probably would have had more thoughts (I did watch the trailer a million times) if I found time to jot down notes, but I don’t. Here’s more analysis from Vincent. Go stalk Serenes Forest like I do to pick up some more info. Otherwise, we’ll wait. Since the game’s coming out in Japan during the summer, we won’t have to wait long to find out what’s what. And that’ll get me excited.

So…what excites you guys about Fire Emblem If? Also, what are the other regions gonna name this FE? Will it be a worldwide release? Speculate on that and more in the comments!

This blog’s gonna be updated on a inconsistent basis. (In case you couldn’t tell already)

Quite simply, the other site I write for on the internets is taking off, and real life work has been crazy. With people getting hurt or simply going somewhere else, it’s left a lot of hours on the table, and I’ve had to fill them. So yeah, shifts have been long, I haven’t been able to game much…that means no FE updates at the moment, at least until something about FE If surfaces, or any other pertinent FE news.

It sucks, as there’s some features I wanted to do, but well, they’ll just be on hold for now until I learn how to manage my time better. And not be stuck with a lot of work.

I mean, two Fire Emblem inclusions in one direct?!? It’s definitely a FE day/banner moment for a franchise that’s run for so long, but now is starting to gain the awareness that possibly should have came earlier!

First, SMT x FE (which I’ll call for now until I get its real name, seen different translations of it) trailer:

Needless to say, I…was not impressed. It didn’t really seem too much FE or SMT inspired to me, though I did see Tiki in the trailer. Apparently characters like Marth and Caeda might’ve been in there, but I could barely tell, I was too overwhelmed at even dreaming of FE in its current setting. That and it looked more like the Persona series than anything else. Well, whatever the case, it’s slated to be released in the Winter time in Japan, so…we’ll get more information soonish. So I’ll reserve judgment for now.

As for the newest iteration of Fire Emblem…

Welp, it looks like this is the direction future FE’s gonna take: insert your own character and make them the story. It basically started with the best FE game in a long while that wasn’t released in the states (New Monshou no Nazo), and continued with Awakening. Now FE If.

Not that this is a bad thing, as the story and replay value can be tremendous. But I don’t know if I like this current trend.

All of that said, I am VERY excited at the two paths for this game. I am NOT excited about the 2016 release. It must be a hell of a story to translate if it’s gonna take that long.

Anyways, form your own thoughts and conjecture in the comments. I’m just gonna go disappear again.

So I managed to miss my second year anniversary.

Wow. This blog’s been around for two years!??

I do apologize for not having properly celebrated the anniversary. I’ll at least apologize for that. I’ll stop bringing up the fact that yeah, work is work and you know the rest. I’ve already explained that already.

I do just want to thank those that have still stuck around. I mean, none of you had to do any of that and you’re still around. I hope to owe to you at some point by blogging more consistently so you can have a better reason to stick around. Hope y’all have been doing great these past few months.

The other anniversary that I missed was the Fire Emblem Franchise’s 25th anniversary a few days ago. 25 years? That…that is hella impressive. Of course, us Western people have only experienced 12 years of FE, but so far that’s been good enough. And based on how Nintendo has backed it these past few years, that train won’t stop anytime soon it seems!

I don’t have any special idea of on how to celebrate it. I just know that this franchise has been pretty meaningful to me. And as much as I didn’t love a few games in the franchise, I have yet to find a FE I hate. And I think it’s a testament to its gameplay, variety of characters, and sometimes cool storylines.

But mostly the gameplay.

What has stood out to you guys about the Fire Emblem series? Could be a gameplay quirk, a scene in one of the series, whatever! Whatever the case, celebrate the series by playing your favorite FE game! Or if you don’t have a favorite, go have fun on youtube watching various FE videos, especially of Genealogy of the Holy War. For obvious reasons of course!

EDIT: Proceeded to listen to this, started bawling, send help

As in, at least a paragraph length. I don’t think I can do the whole lengthy feature at this time, though I’m slowly managing my time better, so I’m targeting the middle of June where I’ll be more consistent in Fire Emblem content.

On Phoenix Mode: Phoenix Mode is the exact play on trying to get more people into a franchise that previously seemed hard-pressed to get into Fire Emblem because of its notorious difficulty. But to be awfully fair, the fact that the weapons will no longer break is more of a big thing to me than having a mode for newcomers. I feel that has so far gotten overlooked while people whine about Phoenix mode. Unless that’s gonna be back in Lunatic+ (I’m expecting that will be back), it’s gonna feel weird to not have to worry about buying enough weapons to overcome how much we can use a sword or tome. I guess the actual content of the game will determine if that’s useful or not.

(Oh right, for those who don’t know: Phoenix mode is a new edition to Fire Emblem If where your characters cannot die and come back the next turn.)

On Shouzou Kaga returning to gaming: Well, somewhat. He’s following the vein of other developers and is working with a pre-made thing (SRPG Studio), and not too long ago he’s requested help on working on the project from some fans. I’m ultimately wondering if Nintendo had him on radio silence since that lawsuit since now of all these times he’s back to working on a new game, but I guess it’s neat to see him get back into it. My only question is how is he gonna make it Fire Emblem yet NOT make it Fire Emblem? I’m not even gonna get into how long it’s gonna take to make, much less how long it’ll take for it to be translated here. So for now, we wait and see what he does.

EDIT: Since VRS55 took some time to describe what’s going on with Kaga, I think you all deserve to get more insight from him/her:

Shouzou Kaga is apparently back on the video gaming scene with an announcement that he’s making a free doujin video game in SRPG Studio (developed by Sapphire Studio) with around 10 people. Kaga allegedly is in need of 2D assets and sound effects (can be free or acquired with the permission of the original authors of those assets) on the condition that the terms of service of Sapphire Soft should be followed. He apparently needs a sprite artist (though no nationality is mentioned), is currently negotiating with a ‘prominent’ character designer, and has a ‘prominent’ music credit in mind. (Source: zeeksweb.blog120.fc2.com, via translation by Serenes Forest)

Meanwhile, that Japanese blog has some interesting things that is attributed (?) to Kaga:
– He worked on the unreleased 2010 doujin game “Vestaria Chronicle 687-693″
– He had ideas about a remake of TearRing Saga with Berwick Saga’s engine title “Holmes Saga”, but never materialized
– He apparently developed a 1986 video game for the Sharp X1 Turbo computer named “Cosmic Fighter” (its existence cannot be verified at this point)

More tidbits from the “zeeksweb” blog:
– Some commentary about the blog’s author allegedly playing some online mahjong
– Some Fire Emblem fan art
– More information on Berwick Saga
– There are 24 posts in 2008 (the year that blog was established), one post in 2010, five posts in 2012, 14 posts (all in the same month) in 2014, and as of this writing nine posts in 2015.

Just a quick update. Was hoping to get myself out of the woods with work, but that’s not happened.

So, have some quick hopes on what I expect to happen for Nintendo Tuesday:

Fire Emblem If: An announcement on whether they’re going to separate the versions in the game or make it one super game in 2016. I could also expect a title, but I guess we’ll see.

Illusory Revelations FE: More footage of this game, might even be a playable demo, though doubtful.

A new FE game!??: Well, not really, but on the heels of Nintendo of America bringing back the original Mother game (named Earthbound Beginnings here), maybe Binding Blade is in the works to be translated? That might just get me hyped as hell.

Anyways, congrats to Roy for somehow returning to Smash again. I really don’t think you needed to come back, but eh, I guess enough people wanted ya.

It’s nearly impossible to do so, unless your landlord sucks, you got scandalous pictures, or you’re all chubby chubby. That last one’s hard to do.

Still, I’ve been reading as much about FE Fates without getting spoiled much on a lot of things, and based on what I hear, sounds about as ambitious an effort that IS has put forth since FE4 or FE10. Reading this Iwata Asks is really, really fascinating stuff too.

So, aside from the skinship stuff I’ve heard so far, I’m hyped for this addition to the Fire Emblem franchise. Maybe if we’re lucky they can sneak this in at the end of 2015, or before Christmas or something.

(Oh, and please, for those who have played the game in JP, no spoilers!)

“To succeed in your mission, you must have single-minded devotion to your goal.” – A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

When growing up, thinking about stuff like being the best, surpassing your father in a craft like fishing or butchering, or attaining the highest grades in order to impress schools like Harvard, or impress places like Google, is funny since you’re a kid. Kids don’t think of that stuff. For starters, they can’t process that much information. They need to gain life experience.

Sometimes it’s through normally, like if your family has decent rent and stability, then you have a chance to grow and start seeing what you want to do with your life. Sometimes it’s abnormally, and by that it’s through two ways: being rich and being poor. Being rich affords you a lot of leeway to discover what you want to do; it also means there’s more pressure to live up to family expectations, or even be pressured to take over the family business, even if you don’t want to. Being poor means nobody expects anything of you until you prove them wrong — that means overcoming challenges to reach the top of the goal.

What does that have to do with the hero of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance?

Well, for someone like him, his goal WAS simple: to surpass his dad, Greil. It seemed easy enough, as long as Ike kept his goal of getting stronger every day. So when he did lose his goal right in front of his eyes, he had to learn how to find a new one. It’s not really how you want to find a goal — to lose the one that raised you, that you loved, just like that. But just like that, life happens. Things change. Mentalities need to either evolve or be stuck in the past.

I’ve been playing Path of Radiance all week. This is an obvious theme to explore in the game, but in Ike’s case, a lot of things happen that changes what his reasons for fighting are. The only thing he knows is that he has to fight though, not merely to help his employer, Elincia, but for himself. It doesn’t all get solved in this game — that’s what Radiant Dawn’s for — but goals evolve constantly.

For me, I’m still searching for that one goal myself to obtain: do any of you have goals you want to reach in life? No, it doesn’t have to be super crazy though. Just curious if you have any.

(NOTE: BTW yes I’m back, sorry for being away so long. Just had to write something FE related since I’ve been playing it)

You know, my FE work isn’t exactly the cleanest. And it probably still won’t be, but I’ll do what I can to point out any news involving the series on the site. Gonna put it out there that if you like to write some FE pieces on the site, just email me (Waltersfe at yahoo dot com). It’ll help if you show me you can write so don’t just send me an invitation. Otherwise once I can see that you can, you can write without me looking over your shoulder; just with the knowledge that if it’s something bad, I’ll delete it :D

Anyways, onto some news…

Fire Emblem 6, or officially named Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, or the game that we should’ve gotten since Roy made his debut in Smash Bros Melee eons ago instead of the game starting his father, his hot best friend, and his hot Sacaen friend, will be released on the eShop on September 2. The JP eShop of course. Tomorrow. While JP players can relive playing as Roy in the game he’s actually in, we’ll be playing the game us Westerners came to know him as.

*sigh*

…I don’t think this was much of a news post was it? I’ll do my best to not be so biased next time. It just still depresses me, probably.

Let’s just say I took a tour through the sounds of the very first Fire Emblem game. For me, with game music, I admire the classics. There’s something about them that makes it work, and soothes me.

There’s not a lot that stands out to me when it comes to listening to this one.

In it’s defense, it is a Famicom game. 8-bit games have their unique sounds, and some are exceptionally well orchestrated, while others are not. I listened to this Saturday, and days later, I forgot about most of them. That’s probably a bad thing. Maybe if I play the game, I’ll find some good sounds, but I don’t expect to play this game at any point in my life time unless Nintendo suddenly thinks it’s a good idea to translate an old Famicom game. I doubt they want to lose money, those greedy bastards…

Anyways, I did find some that I thought are still good and memorable. Just 3 through:

3

When you defeat all the enemies and this song pops up…yeah, you know you done a good job.

2

Still despite time passing it by, the theme still manages to feel fresh in all of its 8-bit glory. It may just be because it is the standard FE theme that you’ve heard in every game of the series. But it’s still a good listen today, I think.

1

Oh hey, this sounds quite familiar…like I may have heard this when learning of the FE world back when I was a dumb kid still in middle school…just a feeling.

Honorable Mention: Boss Battle.

Anyways, maybe you guys thought there were some really good sounds in there. You can link them in the comments if you find any good ones.

Literally the Judgral chronology slayed me!

I knew for years that, based on how I generally play Fire Emblem, and what has changed since FE4 came out, I was going to be EXTREMELY intimated by playing Genealogy of The Holy War, or Seisen no Keifu. And when I read the chronology, my first thought was, “I know it gets dark, but holy crap, this dark??!?” Then the prologue began with a longgggg story that I didn’t register because I knew from the get go I was not ready to play the game. I was just gonna go check it out, play with it a bit, and call it a day. Once actual action happened, I was scared to bring Sigurd into attacking anyone. It’s only the prologue!

But yeah, the biggest reason for the intimidation, aside from it being Super Famicom graphics and limitations, is the controls actually. Using a computer is gonna take a while to get comfortable with. It was the same for Shin Monshou No Nazo, but you factor in the difficulty level (and that I can’t do math), and the size of the map, I was done.

So Fe4 boys and girls. I will take the challenge again…but I’ve been playing through the Tellius Saga, so I want to focus on that first. I beat Path of Radiance, so expect some articles on that before I get a chance to talk about its sequel, Radiant Dawn.

Well, just when we thought we were done with all the Fire Emblem news this year.

Now I have yet another game to look out for, and I didn’t want to do that. As much as I might like crossovers, I heard Project x Zone was not so good. I can only hope they learned from the first one and will fix everything, but now that we have Chrom and Lucina joining the game, I’ll have to keep an eye out for it.

What are your thoughts on FE continuing to reach new heights? Can’t imagine you thought this was possible 5, 10 years ago!

Source: RPG Site.

Chrom

Lucina

Images

Update: Trailer now included!

I’ve watched the American and Japanese versions of this video so many times I’ve lost count. I probably should’ve been doing something more important, but I ended up watching this video of a character in a game that’s not even out yet in the West.

I still love Fire Emblem after all.

I still remember when no one talked about this series because it was too hard, tactics heavy, etc (also wasn’t marketed well). And remember it as a second tier (maybe third tier) franchise. It certainly is not third tier anymore. And while it’s popularity in Japan is a factor, it’s starting to become THAT series that people need to get invested in. It doesn’t have to be Fates — just from talking to people or surfing the next, it just gets people to look deeper into the franchise. And while I have no idea if Fates is any good (literally tried so hard to avoid spoilers, but thanks to closet FE fan Sakurai I guess not!), I’ll enjoy the ride that I never thought would happen in any lifetime.

From potentially getting phased out (like F-Zero) to being a prominent fixture for Nintendo. Beautiful.

This better get me that FE4 or Judgral remake though

February 19 is when Fire Emblem: Fates will be making its debut to North America. Obviously a lot has happened since it came out in June for Japan, but once again, I expect to be adding another FE game to my collection.

So, how am I preparing for Fates? Well…

Fire Emblem 7

I’m playing the first game released in the West, Fire Emblem 7. Believe it or not, I actually double dipped for this game. I still have the one for GBA, but now I have it for my Wii U (because you know, I need something for that system), and I’ve been replaying it on and off, but recently finished up Lyn’s storyline, and now I’m at Eliwood’s. Just getting back into the tactics, like sending only Marcus off to get the torch from Merlinus and unlock the side quest chapter while everyone else attempts to deal with Guy and hopes not getting critical’d, is neat. No skills, no pair ups, just good old strategy. It’s very bare-bones! But still addicting. I’m still not sure who I seriously want to train the most (aside from the main lords), but Rebecca’s one I’m getting most of the kills for so far. Will have to see who else to level up…

Smash Bros For Wii U

Yes, not FE, but I did use Ike to beat All-Star Mode on Hard to get the Black Knight trophy. And hey, Corrin debuts tomorrow! So I’ll probably be checking them and Bayonetta out. From what I can tell based on vids, both will not be easy to use, but Corrin might have to take some getting used to because of their lunge, smash and the one that sticks to the ground.

Fire Emblem Awakening

Yeah, back on the grind with the supposed savior of the FE series, Awakening. I started this over, and got to Chapter 4. Still not sure where to go with everyone yet, but now I’m playing as Female Robin, so it’s actually a different experience, mainly since I now get to do supports from her perspective. Oh, and I’m playing Hard Classic. Dunno if I’ll ever dare to do Lunatic at this point.

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

While I’ve put the most hours in Awakening, I’m gonna guess I’ve played Radiant Dawn the most. The sequel to Path of Radiance, I’m actually playing this on my Wii U, which means no transferred files and whatnot. It…actually looks interesting in HD. It’s clear it’s not optimized for that. But in places it does look nice. Whatever the case, the game’s already hard enough so I’m playing this on Normal. Maybe one day I’ll play it on Hard. But that’d require me to play everything else on Hard…

So, how are all of you preparing for Fates? Let me know somehow! You don’t have to be playing any FE to prep for it!

If you’re a long time Fire Emblem player, or even a new Fire Emblem player, lots of things are kept in your mind and are iconic.

The game over of Fire Emblem is one of them, and for those who have played it, you know how horrible you feel for letting an important character die. Let’s determine which one’s the best. Though I have my own rankings!

UPDATE: So, I had this post in drafts since Sept of last year. I thought it was instead just best to just have a list that organizes it. Maybe I’ll offer opinions on this later…

Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Tsurugi

Fire Emblem: Gaiden

Fire Emblem: Mystery of The Emblem

Fire Emblem: Genealogy of The Holy War

Fire Emblem: Thracia 776

Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade

Fire Emblem 7

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, Mystery of The Emblem

Fire Emblem: Awakening

Fire Emblem If (Fates)

So next week’s gonna be the debut of Fire Emblem Fates in North America. I’m excited. Some of you are excited. How are we celebrating that excitement? Well, here’s how I’M celebrating that excitement…

Smash Bros

Ok, I did intend to play some FE, but things cropped up and I had to punt on that. That said, I did play smash with a FE character — That’d be Corrin, or Kamui, who you’ll get to know way more in their own game series I reckon. But so far the character’s fun, though getting used to the back air is tough.

Anyways, I attempted to beat Classic at 9.0 with Corrin. It has so far failed miserably, as it usually ends poorly when I face the sword part of Master Core. But I’ll get it done one day…I hope…

Watching some FE: Fates videos

As you probably realized, this game is coming out next week! So that means game sites are covering it. It has only led to more confusion, since some stuff that was localized ranges from ok to weird, and then there’s actual game content. It’s getting to the point where I just need it in my hands honestly.

But I haven’t watched everything, I’m trying not to spoil myself so easily. I did see Revelations before getting out of there. Was…something that’s for sure.

Anyways, hopefully I can play some more FE games this week, and a bit next week, leading up to FE: Fates, which I expect to play all day Friday…

So, how’s your preparations going?

Man, this flowchart is cold-blooded. I guess I have to play Conquest first because I like hanging with friends more than my family, and I’m not amused at having a puppy kiss me…