So yeah, I got the game. I will be attempting to blog about it because it’s not like I can stream it. The run is on Hard/Classic, but I’m still not sure which path to take just yet, but I’m leaning Conquest.

Prologue: Ties That Bind

You’re not going to believe me when I say this, but I was immediately confused when I started on the map where I will eventually choose my path, after we got mysterious blue haired singer Azura (name not given yet in the game) singing the song as she goes into the water. We got Xander and Ryoma kicking each other’s ass, someone on the Nohrian side saying kill them all, some usage of the Dragon Vein, lots going on…I dunno if it’s because I chose Hard, but it is what is.

Then I realized that it’s starting like Awakening: In Awakening, the prologue began with Chrom and Robin fighting Validar, only for the tragedy to happen there and, well, we are then shown to see Chrom and Lissa in the next chapter. That’s what happened here.

Whatever the case, you won’t be doing much other than attacking Nohr units. You get to team up with Takumi, your archer, for a bit. Then it eventually cuts to the “climatic” decision, or some of it.

I guess this is their way of foreshadowing, but in this case, it feels a bit much. Yes, it’s the prologue, so it’s ultimately nothing, but eh. Whatever the case, not much new to report, so let’s keep playing.

So yeah, I got the game. I will be attempting to blog about it because it’s not like I can stream it. The run is on Hard/Classic. I’m still not sure which path to take just yet, but I’m leaning Conquest.

So yep, still have the kid gloves on, as we learn a bit more about our avatar character (Walters of course) as he finds himself unable to leave his home. He’s lost his memory, but he has maids, brothers, and sisters tending to him as he tries to recover. We’ll finally get to see the guy in the image above, so that’ll be cool.

The chapter itself is merely defeating Xander. As far as I could tell, he’s like when you face off against Greil in Path of Radiance — he’s there for you to level up, train, etc. Also, we get to find out about Dragon Veins, though I assume they’ll be more of a hint as the game goes on. Otherwise, it seems he can kill you, but he doesn’t actually attack on his phase, so you basically take advantage of that to clear the chapter.

The one standout so far is definitely Lilith, but not surprisingly her moment was passed quickly, so A) I do hope she’s an actual character in this game B) That she can actually be romanced. I’mma assume so. Otherwise, Elise is…Elise, I dunno what to make of Camilla, Leo seems ok (and the joke actually made me chuckle), and the butler who said “stiff upper lip” annoyed the hell out of me. Good god, why?

Anyways, let’s keep it moving!

…and of course, I’ve fallen off the face of the Earth here. Whoops!

Anyways, FIRRREEEE EMMMMBLEMMM! has, uh, DEFINITELY seen a lull. Too long a lull actually. At the worst possible time! Between Fire Emblem Fates, the Fire Emblem Cipher card game (which is definitely taking off in JP, I wonder if it’ll come here?), Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, AND a mobile Fire Emblem game, there’s way too much Fire Emblem stuff, and I wanna talk about it!

…Shame I’ve been distracted by this though:

I will have to comment on these Ragefest submissions, as there are…crazy…yet only makes me want to play more Fire Emblem! Clearly I am the sadist you didn’t want to know.

Anyways, hopefully I can settle on a weekly schedule, though you may see some dumb, short stuff over the next month or so. I do have some stuff in my draft folders that I want to clear out. I will clean up the categories, as some things have changed in my off and on visits here.

…I’m pretty sure the big thing is yeah, I do plan on reviewing Fire Emblem Fates, in the order I’ve played them and how — so Conquest first, Birthright second, Revelations last. I’m sort of almost done with Revelations. I hope I can finish it before May’s over. Then I’ll be trying the maps…

I think you get the picture on how much FE content’s out there, so I’ll be working on it! Otherwise, enjoy watching this video and whining about how insane that map is…and there might even harder ones out there!

Image credit goes to Jadenkaiba (NSFW btw)

For the 14th installment of one of Nintendo’s best series, Fire Emblem, Fates made promises to the player on January 14, 2015. It kept some promises and broken others. Despite some questionable localization decisions, storytelling, and DLC transactions, there’s a ton of fun to be had with this game.

Or, to be more accurate, games as for the first time in franchise history there were two games we could choose: Conquest (Anya Oukoku) or Birthright (Byakuya Oukoku). Unlike the Pokemon series though, outside of the first 6 chapters, the content of each game is different, from maps, to weapons, and to its story, which revolves around you, the player.

Just like New Mystery of The Emblem and Awakening, you play as the avatar, default name Corrin, and can choose between male or female, but unlike those two games, you play someone who is of royalty — but who’s royalty? You’ve been raised as part of the Kingdom of Nohr, which is shrouded by night and by your siblings while being isolated from the real world. When it was time to branch out and explore what it’s like out there, you get captured by your enemies from the Kingdom of Hoshido. But instead of being executed, you learn that you’re actually related by blood to Hoshido’s royal family. Now what? Well, you have no time to actually think about which side you want to take — you have to choose between the family that raised you or the family that’s truly yours by birthright. And that decision ultimately shapes what happens to both kingdoms, for better or worse.

The lead up to the decision works. Nohr is painted as pretty great but with one of the worst — I mean in actual concept — evil guys/fathers in Fire Emblem history in Garon, it’s just dark and they hate the Hoshidans. Then you end up getting attacked by your own people in Nohr — so that makes you wonder about what’s going on there. Hoshido’s real advantage is that there’s no darkness, just light, and that they don’t control monsters. That’s it. The obvious advantage, being blood related, I found to be irrelevant because what it really comes down to is you have siblings that love you but the ruler of Nohr hates you/doesn’t care for you/is something bad, and you’d have to prove something is off with him. After all, you don’t know anyone in Hoshido, and you already have one brother who hates you. So, in that department, I think Hoshido could have used an extra chapter to establish why Hoshido would be a better side to take than Nohr, rather than because you’ll have extra work to do in Nohr.

But ultimately, it still works. You still have to make the choice that’s best for you, and I do like that.

From this point forward, I will get into what I didn’t like about all 3 games (I haven’t mentioned Revelation, but I will explain the 3rd path later), then explain why this is still a worthy edition to the Fire Emblem line. While they are separate games, I will make clear distinctions on which path I’m talking about. So, let’s get into what I don’t like.

In Fire Emblem Fates, the biggest problem is the lack of player choices. Remember when Iwata (R.I.P) mentioned in the first trailer that there would be more player choices than in previous Fire Emblem games? This is simply not true. You only get to make one decision in each game. Now the game could have certainly changed from its announcement, but I would have loved to be able to make my own decisions for certain parts of the game. As I’m the avatar of the game and thrust into a leadership role, it would have been cool to decide whether or not to get rid of that imp Zola in Birthright or to go save a character, rather than it being story forced.  Not everything should be decided by the player, but considering you’re playing as a character who has been living in isolation, it would have been cool to make choices based on information gathered and the situation at hand.

Don’t worry…I haven’t forgotten this place…honest. No, seriously, I haven’t!

You mist…believe…me…

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Saying it now because I’m aiming to be back early 2017. I still very much desire to write about all things Fire Emblem.

For now, I’m letting you know I updated my email. I’ve been using Yahoo for a good few years. Well, let’s just say Yahoo has been awful. So I’ve moved to gmail. Hit me up at waltersfe20 at gmail dot com. I’ll try to be responsive as hell.

UPDATE: Side note: holy shit, WordPress is completely different now…

Happy New Year! Let’s begin 2017 by wishing for dreams to come true.

Not surprisingly, 2016 for Fire Emblem had its highs (Fates selling like crazy) and lows (the localization kerfuffle that you can’t escape from). 2017 seems to not promise too much craziness, but with what is now a major franchise like Fire Emblem, there definitely will be some news that will either be warm to our hearts or…just be simply disgusting.

With that in mind, let’s begin with 5 hopes involving Fire Emblem for 2017:

That Fire Emblem Mobile will not suck

Confession: I hate mobile games. Ok, hate is too strong, but I find no reason to waste my time downloading a game to play while I’m on the go…when I have a handheld. So you can assume I’ll be playing my first mobile game this year whenever Fire Emblem mobile comes out. I can only hope it doesn’t suck. From reading up on Super Mario Run, it seems like that game’s for the crowd that really doesn’t play Mario on the consoles, and it’s $10 to get everything. Maybe it’s worth a play, and I know I can’t expect a great FE on a mobile device — I just hope it’ll at least be interesting for a month. Then I can say it doesn’t suck.

The Tellius Series returns as an HD update

With Shadow Dragon of all Fire Emblem games getting a re-release on the Wii U virtual console, it’s almost a certainty that the two remaining series yet to get a re-release, Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, will find themselves on the eShop at some point. If the rumor of Gamecube games being on the Switch is true, then it makes sense to put those two games on the Switch. If not, they should be released on the eShop for the Wii U and be HD upgraded. Short of that, the better play would be to release the Tellius Series on the Nintendo Switch as an HD upgrade. It most likely won’t happen, but I would definitely welcome it.

That Fire Emblem gets involved in another crossover

Crossovers are all the rage nowadays, so if Fire Emblem happens to get involved in another crazy crossover, it should happen. Whether it’s a fighting game, a musou game, etc.

That the Cipher card game gets released here

Honestly, this is the least likely thing to happen, but from seeing some of the cards out there on the internet (at some point I do want to write something about them), maybe it’s time to have them released officially in the U.S. Yes, I will buy them with much regret.

The 15th Fire Emblem Title should be for the 3DS

I guess there’s going to be two hopes in one paragraph, but here goes: I hope the next Fire Emblem game in the series gets announced during E3 week. Just me, but I think it would be nice to showcase it there for no real reason, aside from anticipating it for an Early 2018 release (probably Spring 2018 because localization!). If they do announce it, then my hope is that it’s for the 3DS. Eventually it will (or should) get its next iteration for the Switch. But with an established 3DS base and appeal of FE on the go, and also because I kind of want to see the system get 3 Fire Emblems, I think it’d be best to continue with its success and not worry about a Switch edition yet.

No, these are not your newscasters. The teddy bear’s up for consideration however. 

Based entirely off the NYT, The Fire Emblem Times is either a weekly or semi-weekly series that rounds up any news or reviews involving all things Fire Emblem. Chances are you’ll see old news mixed in for a while, but that should change as the year goes on.

Rumor: Koei Tecmo working on new Nintendo themed warriors game for Switch

As you’ll note in the comments of the above article, if Koei Tecmo’s working on another game, it has to be a Fire Emblem game. It makes all the sense. Another suggestion is also a Super Smash themed musou game. I dunno about that. But it’s all rumor, so take it with a grain of salt for now.

Nintendo Switch Presentation

It’s scheduled for Thursday Jan 12 at 11PM EST. Obviously, we could get some FE news, though I’m not expecting it just yet. Guess we will see.

Fire Emblem Fates Manga Suspended

As I’m not the biggest manga reader, is this a rare thing to just suspend a manga like this? Seems a bit odd, but I guess SOMETHING happened. And it’s a bad something too.

Fire Emblem Fates Leo gets Manga adaptation

Maybe this had something to do with it? Probably not, but whatever the case, I don’t think I’m that interested in Leo though…

Fire Emblem Music Collection: Piano ~Faith & Engagement~ CD and Concerts

Because it’s always a good thing to have more FE music, he’s more FE music coming in 2017!

Fire Emblem Fates Corrin Inspires Figma and Nendoroid Figures

Because we can always use more things to eat up our room space.

Fire Emblem Cipher 8 Series Intro

And finally, here’s a look at the FE card game in Japan that should come over here but won’t. Buncha nice cards..

The newest year of gaming for Fire Emblem kicks off with what is a surprise in timing, not that it happened: Fire Emblem Warriors for Nintendo Switch. No release date yet, and it’s a teaser, but oh man was I hyped.

From what I could tell from the orbs I immediately recognized both Falchions (Awakening and Shadow Dragon), and the Yato. Will have to watch it again to see what the other two were (update, watched it again, definitely Ryoma and Xander’s swords) but if so, then it’s confirmed:

Marth
Chrom
Lucina
Corrin (both genders)
Ryoma
Xander

Now the question is…who will join them!?? Will hope to make a list of characters from each continent that should be in this game over the next couple of weeks. It will probably be from the more famous titles, but still too early to say right now. We’ll have to see more.

But I’m excited, as this has been requested for a long time now. What do you guys think about this news?

In 2007 at this time, Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn would be released in Japan a month later, and would go on to be the worst selling Fire Emblem in the franchise there and worldwide.

In 2017, on this day, we got the announcement that Fire Emblem Warriors will be a game, and Fire Emblem would be getting a Nintendo Direct.

Seriously, there’s no way any die-hard FE fan could’ve expected the limelight to be this bright back then, and no chance once the second DS iteration of the game was passed over for localization in 2010-2012.

Now, look where we’re at now.

Anyways, will attempt to make a prediction soon, but it’s clear the Fire Emblem mobile and Warriors will be a thing. What else will be in direct? How long is it? Whatever the case is, I’m super excited.

The Fire Emblem Direct will take place on Wednesday, 5PM EST

The Fire Emblem Direct is tomorrow. At 5PM EST. Focused on upcoming Fire Emblem titles.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEee

Ok, shrieking aside, this is a pretty important direct, since it’s expected to showcase some stuff for the future. I can’t exactly know what they will share with the public, but I can guess.

But I’m actually saving my hopes for the end. Now think of this post like the Kickstarter model, but convert the money into time. That’s what I’m doing — however lengthy the direct is, that’s what will be revealed. The shortest direct of an individual game is 6 minutes (The Pokemon Sun and Moon reveal direct), the absolute longest is 39 minutes (Super Smash Bros direct April 2014). Ignoring that Smash is a crossover though, the longest non-crossover was Bayonetta 2 at 30 minutes.

So ascribing to this model, what could possibly be announced in this span of time?

The 10 minute Direct

Rewards: Information on Fire Emblem mobile, trailer of Fire Emblem Warriors.

Nintendo has confirmed that Fire Emblem mobile will be part of the presentation, and we all suspected that. This would basically take about 7-8 minutes to show off the trailer, explain its core mechanics, appeal, etc, then it’s release date. My guess would be either late February or sometime in March.

Then the end would be a conclusion of the trailer shown at the Switch Presentation, which showed Chrom. Who will he be fighting? Who will he be fighting with?

I do hope the trailer will show a few more characters. And maybe also showcase supporting characters from the Fire Emblem games.

The 15 minute direct

Rewards: A new FE game, + the stuff above

So the first two will happen, but then we’ll get a reveal of the latest FE title in the series. While it seems likely to be a Switch title, I do hope it’s a 3DS title, for dubious reasons (a send off to what brought FE back, which was the 3DS).

The 20 minute direct

Rewards: Announcing the return of the Tellius games, + Fates DLC + Corrin Amiibo + the stuff above

So far, every Fire Emblem game that’s been released in the West has been placed on the eShop….except one, and that would be the games on Nintendo home consoles. There could be a number of reasons for that, but the fact that Shadow Dragon skipped over the console games could be a sign…that this is getting an HD remake. Or a compilation. It would be the 10th anniversary of Radiant Dawn’s release in JP and North America, so it finally being brought back would be long overdue, but expected. The question is would it be updated to fill any plot holes, add some content considering you have Fire Emblem Amiibos, and also if they change the translations to reflect the original.

Oh, and also if this is going to be a Switch title. It’s 80% certain that it is, but Nintendo would be the one company to mess up and put it on the Wii U.

Other than those two, there’s still some Fates DLC that has not been announced, and there’s of course the Corrin Amiibo that has no official date yet. Would be good to announce it now.

The 25-27 minute direct

Rewards: The cipher card game + everything else

So I called the crossover. Now will one of the unlikeliest scenarios take place? The Cipher trading game’s been out in Japan for a while. But if FE is growing in popularity, wouldn’t it make sense to bring that over here as well? Even though I’m not a card playing guy, I’d totally buy it. So if this direct manages to be this long, it has to be for this, no?

The 35-40 minute direct

Rewards: An anime adaptation + Fire Emblem manga + everything above

1. The last Fire Emblem anime was in 1996, in OVA format
2. Nintendo’s new President, Tatsumi Kimishima, has mentioned before Nintendo’s looking to expand into other ventures, which includes anime.

It would be a nice kickoff to that plan if they begin with Fire Emblem, specifically since it’s hella rooted in that right now. Oh, and also video games being turned into anime is still a thing.

But at least the West even got an anime of Fire Emblem — there’s never been a manga release here. Maybe this direct will change that.

My Hopes/Guesses

Now that my insane predictions depending on length has been shared, my hopes/probable guesses:

+ The new FE game will either be a remake of FE6/FE7, or a remake of FE4/FE5. If it’s FE6, it will complete the cycle where we finally get to play the main character of a Fire Emblem game from Smash Bros. We got Marth’s adventure, let’s finally get Roy’s story. Also this would provide some closure for those (like me) who played FE7 but only got the tease that a larger darkness would take over Elibe.

If it’s FE4/FE5, then two things: one, we’ll finally get to play what some have considered the best FE game, with updated graphics, styles, etc. Two, this would mean FE Warriors will get some Judgral characters.

+ The mobile game will not suck dammit. It will look really good. But that said, my guess is that it will take some elements of Awakening and Fates’s online components and call it a new entry for mobile fans. As I’ve learned with Pokemon Go and Super Mario Run (or at least seeing the responses), it can only do so much on those platforms. So expecting anything crazy would be, well…crazy.

+ While I suggested all those other times, a satisfying length for me would be 25 minutes. Not too short, not too long either. Anything more would be a major bonus.

+ Also I saw this in the Serenes Forest forums — Anna has to be the one hosting this Nintendo Direct, no? Who says no? Why would you say no to Anna?

So, what do you guys hope happens in this direct? Make your predictions! Make your wild guesses!

(Ok, it’s called Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, but why)

Out of all the remakes to be announced in the Fire Emblem Direct, Fire Emblem Gaiden was the one I believed had no chance to come back, mostly because of its status as the black sheep of the series.

So I was flipping the fuck out immediately when I saw the two kids talking about Duma and Mila and was like, “Gaiden remake?!?”

So yeah, more thoughts on this soon, but this was one of the newest announcements of the Fire Emblem direct. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia will be released on the 3DS May 19.

Update: Added some screenshots, and the JP trailer of Fire Emblem Echoes:

Update 2: Official artwork, and the Amiibo of Alm and Celica.

So when it was revealed last week that Fire Emblem Warriors was a thing, we got a very small teaser. This was a bit more than that, as it showed Chrom fighting off enemies and man does it feel weird for FE to be this type of 3D.

But anyways, the two biggest surprises is that it’s gonna be coming out sometime in the Fall, and there’s gonna be a New 3Ds version of this. I dunno about the 3Ds version, but I guess it makes sense. People still have that, no?

Look out for some roster predictions in the near future.

Considering I wasn’t quite so hyped about a smartphone version of Fire Emblem, what was shown in the trailer was certainly…interesting.

Coming to Google Play and Android February 2, Fire Emblem Heroes is definitely out for all the moneysss! Highlights:

• Story: “A world with two kingdoms: the Emblian Empire, which wishes to rule all worlds, and the Askran Kingdom, which stands in its way. You are a summoner with the special ability to call upon legendary Heroes from different Fire Emblem worlds. In order to save the Kingdom of Askr from destruction, join the Order of Heroes and face a never-ending challenge.”

  This is probably the best way to integrate Fire Emblem onto mobile: be able to summon different types of characters from different FE games and fight on pretty simple maps. Not a surprise.

• There’s a lot to digest, which includes understanding the “Weapons Triangle”, “Summoning Heroes”, Skills, etc. My guess is it’ll be way easier to understand when we can actually play it.
• I was wondering how we would be able to interact with others, and having arena battles is definitely it. Definitely something to prep for.
• February 2 seems super early, until you realize this was already delayed. So they might have had time to refine things and do additional artwork for the characters. It’s pretty cool to see.

What do you guys think of this mobile iteration of Fire Emblem? Does this just make you want to play FE all over again until its release next month?

I was gonna use an Awakening and Fates picture but this artwork by this women was boss, so I used this instead

How did it feel to learn about a franchise from a 4 player free for all for friends?

How does it feel to support a franchise that managed to get progressively under the skin of its newcomers?

How did it feel when Awakening was intended to be the last in the series?

How does it feel today, January 19, 2017?

Well, let’s answer the questions.

How did it feel to learn about a franchise from a 4 player free for all for friends?

Super Smash Bros Melee has been the title to introduce me to a number of Nintendo’s best or hidden franchises, whether it’s through fighting or their large trophy collection. It’s where I learned about F-Zero, Metroid, and Fire Emblem.

Fire Emblem, of course, was never released in the West.

5 games had come by and gone in Japan (the 6th would soon follow), and considering I kind of liked the characters in Smash (Roy was my main), I thought it would’ve been nice to play it at some point.

It took two years after Smash, but it finally happened. We got the 7th game in the series. I had no idea what to expect, even though it got one of the highest reviews (and is still pretty high today) at the time.

I played the sh*t out of that GBA game. Still mad I’m stuck at 88% support for all the characters.

So this basically makes me think — why did it take so long for a series like this to be released here? Was it really difficulty concerns? Story concerns? Or was it they didn’t have the resources to translate it (or they didn’t want to translate it?)

How does it feel to support a franchise that managed to get progressively under the skin of its newcomers?

Nintendo missed its chance to evolve the franchise when it never released Fire Emblem 6 (Binding Blade) I think. With Blazing Sword selling well, it would have looked like a sequel and finished the story of Elibe. Instead, we go two years until the next Fire Emblem game, The Sacred Stones, which had nothing to do with Fire Emblem 7.

That was the first missed opportunity.

Then came, in some aspects, stubbornness. Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn hit the consoles. Radiant Dawn is the game I’ve played the most, despite some story issues and lack of supports. Both managed to be the worst selling games in the series. For context, Thracia 776 sold more than those two.

Thracia 776 came out on the Super Famicom in 1999, and it didn’t even release normally.

The one thing that stood out for me at the time was Path of Radiance’s kinda blandness (I only beat it once, then only played it more after playing Radiant Dawn), and Radiant Dawn’s punishing difficulty. Combine all of that and lack of marketing (though it’s hard to market something like Radiant Dawn), you don’t lose your fanbase, you end up not having it grow. You search the internet long enough or talk to people, they tell you Fire Emblem 7 is the one they’ve played the most.

They basically failed to get newcomers to stick to each game.

Then Shadow Dragon happened, and, well, I’ve now gotten used to it. it took a while though. But for others, it’s hard to go back when you don’t update things, and Shadow Dragon showcased a lack of adjusting to 2008-2009’s standards.

How did it feel when Awakening was intended to be the last in the series?

Unlike a lot of people, I understood why Nintendo didn’t localize New Mystery of the Emblem. It probably did have to do with sales. But I also believe a factor was the phasing out of the DS. With the 3DS coming up, and considering how long it took for Nintendo to translate Fire Emblem games, it was a development crunch.

I was still in despair though, since I really wanted to play it.

Then of course, Awakening was announced. It definitely looked different from its predecessors, and with the pair-up mechanic, it was certainly interesting.

The more info that came out about this game however, the more you realized that this was essentially it. This was going to be the last game. And I would’ve been super sad. It’s not a case where, hey, it might just be time. I felt like it was something it could’ve been more, and it was dying prematurely due to bad decisions.

Well, I knew one thing: it was definitely being marketed harder than other Fire Emblem games. That’s definitely because it finally relented and let other people join in the fun. Would it prove to be a success?

It proved to be a worthwhile success. This then led to Fire Emblem Fates, which has a bad but crazy story, and one of the best gameplay systems in the franchise. It fixed whatever ailed Awakening (it even gave characters feet), and boy did I have fun with it.

I (so far) have only played it once. I want to play it again at some point.

How did you feel about January 18, 2017?

Yesterday felt like the culmination of years of frustration and effort with this franchise, and it was all resolved in 19 minutes.

Here’s the release schedule for Fire Emblem:

+ Fire Emblem Heroes is coming Feb 2.
+ Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is coming May 19.
+ Fire Emblem Warriors is coming in the Fall
+ Fire Emblem for the Switch is coming in 2018.

To me, this made me think back to one of the reasons why I supported Awakening and Fates, and kind of why I started this site. There’s still games in the series the West has never gotten, and considering we live in the remake/reboot era, eventually Fire Emblem would have to go through that well. If it dies though, how else will I feel when all the units I carefully trained get boiled alive (if the wikis are accurate, maybe some of them). Or how busted the Sword of Seals really is (I hear it’s really busted). The fact that it has grown into a major IP is, for me, long overdue.

I’m super glad that Fire Emblem has hit its stride. And I hope this will eventually lead to Genealogy of The Holy War getting released in the West soon enough.

Last week, I came up with a list of predictions and then my hopes for the Fire Emblem direct. Let’s review said predictions shall we?

The length

The Fire Emblem direct ran for 19 minutes, so close enough for 20 minutes. That means based on that, the following were likely to happen:

+ Announcing the return of of the Tellius Games
+ Fates DLC
+ Corrin Amiibo
+ A new FE game
+ Information on FE Mobile, trailer of Fire Emblem Warriors.

My guesses

While I had some models to reflect on, my guesses were as followed:

+ It would be a 25 minute direct
+ The new FE game would be a remake of either FE6/7 or FE4/5
+ The mobile game would not suck, but it’d take some elements of Awakening/Fates’s online set up, and since it’s on mobile, it wouldn’t be that great.
+ Anna would have hosted the FE Direct.

What Actually Happened

1) The Direct was 19 minutes.

2) Fire Emblem got a remake, and for the 3DS. I go back to my hopes for 2017, and I was dead on right with this. I felt it would have been great to send off the 3DS with one more FE game, so putting the 15th one there makes sense. Someone at Intelligent Systems thought the same thing.

Little did anyone expect it would be a remake…of the weirdest Fire Emblem game in the series.

If there was going to be a 15th Fire Emblem game, chances are if it would come out before the year is over, it’d have to be something old, so, a remake. But Gaiden seemed the least likely. FE2 is on the same level as Zelda 2. Have you seen Zelda 2 brought back in any conceivable form? Nope, which is why expecting this FE to get brought back is pretty nuts.

This could easily be a success or backfire spectacularly for IS. The more you think about, it makes sense to follow up Fates with a Gaiden remake. Some of Fates concepts — maps, unbreakable weapons, the branching story paths — were all prominent in Gaiden, so you pair Gaiden up with one of the best gameplay systems in the franchises, that should do.

But now its gonna be subject to far more scrutiny than any other FE game, simply because it is different, it’s an old game that they have to make current, and from reading more about it from those that played it, it’s actually worse in some aspects than Fates. The big advantage is IS knows they need to fix some things, so hopefully it’ll be much improved and also make Gaiden less of an “experimental” game and more of a “refined, great” game.

2) We got ANOTHER FE game, this time for the Switch. I can’t really comment much on this one, simply because there’s little to go on. I don’t think they’ll remake a game for this, so I’m expecting it to be brand new. Will this be the game to break its medieval ties? Will it have an avatar? Will it be M for mature?

I dunno, but it’s coming in 2018. Based on their workload (they’re technically only working on one game), my guess is this will be something for Fall 2018.

3) Fire Emblem Warriors gameplay trailer. We got a trailer, but more of a trailer that I wish was shown at the Switch presentation. The only big thing was that it’s also coming to the New 3DS. I dunno how to feel about that honestly. The second is that it’s slated for a Fall 2017 release. Thought it might be a Christmas release. This may suggest they’ll have a low amount of characters (20-25? Is that a lot for a Musou?), but DLC will keep that thing going.

4) The Fire Emblem mobile LOOKS like it doesn’t suck. Completely. I’m still skeptical of playing this game on a 8×6 map, but I have to say, they went all out to make it look really polished. From the number of art in the game to the voice acting, it’s really well done. I wonder if the delay allowed this to happen, since it was supposed to come out last year. Either way, I can’t wait to play it, and then forget it exists a month or two later.

What didn’t happen

• You do have to start wondering if the Corrin Amiibo is ever going to come out. My guess is they’re saving it for something this year, most likely Warriors. But it may be more realistic to think news on it will come either in March or April.
• Same with the Fates DLC. There’s still some content left for that game to pump out, so them not bringing it over is kinda disappointing.

To wrap up, I look back at my hopes for 2017, and, dare I say, I may have been too conservative in my guesses? I got 3 of the 5 right. This is shaping up to be a fantastic year for FE.

Now, I’ll work on some choices for Fire Emblem Warriors! I’ll break it down by game, and then we’ll go from there.

As an aside, I inherently have a problem with reviewing a game that’s essentially free. Yes, you can purchase a number of things to improve the experience, but it’s essentially DLC, an add on. So actually rating it feels weird to me.

That said, I can give my initial impressions of it. It…just makes me long to play other Fire Emblem games.

Developed by a combination of DeNA, Nintendo, and Intelligent Systems, Fire Emblem Heroes is the first mobile foray for Fire Emblem, where players can acquire a cast of characters from Fire Emblem history. So far the Shadow Dragon/Mystery of the Emblem games (Fire Emblem 1 & 3),  Elibe games (Fire Emblem 6 & 7), Awakening (Fire Emblem 13), and Fates (Fire Emblem 15) have representation in the initial rollout of the app, with more coming down the line, not only from these games, but from other games in the series.

You can sort of see that this feels far more polished than most mobile games. This might be due to the delay — it was slated to come out last year, but was pushed back by Super Mario Run. From the amount of artwork, the voice work, to some of the music, the effort is definitely there.

Whether the concept is acceptable, your mileage may vary. As it’s a popular type of game in Japan, you can see all of the concepts in this one — from stamina to getting a few amount of orbs, to having to need some luck to not only get the character you want, but at a high level, it’s almost a nuisance, but only if you choose to fall prey to what the developers want. And that’s up to you.

The big issue with Fire Emblem Heroes is the gameplay. It’s a bite sized version of console Fire Emblem. With a 8×6 grid, no dodging, or permadeath, it’s definitely a light affair. This doesn’t mean it’s not engaging, and the absurd difficulty is there. But while I was moving along the story, I became unsatisfied.

Well, in general the story is unsatisfying but for a mobile game it’s fine. But the faster I completed the maps, the more I longed to actually sit down and play a console Fire Emblem game. I think that’s going to be the draw — people who feel like there’s more to this franchise can purchase the games on various consoles. Otherwise, this is something to spend maybe 30 minutes to an hour on throughout a day.

Maybe that’s going to be enough for some.

1. Saying that the roster had to be locked to mostly characters from the most popular games of their respective times (Shadow Dragon, Awakening, and Fates) because Fire Emblem could potentially have “Too many sword users” or something to that effect, then revealing already seven sword wielders in the main cast you play as (the original characters, Chrom, Xander, Ryoma, Marth, and Corrin) is extremely hypocritical at the moment. This is simply careless to say when you decide to make that type of reveal that most figured out when the Switch Presentation took place in January.

   Ok, I’m mixing a bit of sarcasm and some seriousness into that diatribe. While I do think it’s much to make that type of statement, the reveal of the characters from FE are not a surprise. When E3 rolled around, I might have liked a surprise or two, but ultimately Koei Tecmo’s had to reveal how those characters you hinted at look in HD.

2. So I’m admittedly baffled at the dismay from people in the community. Disappointment is perfectly fine, and there can be critique of the game itself and whether or not it’s being handled well. But comments like, “This game sucks” “It only uses the three worst games in the franchise” or “Not buying this game because Fates and Awakening are cancer” and many more out there a lot worse than this is pretty pathetic. There are only 7 characters revealed in this game right now.
3. I can only think it’s just my age showing here, but, isn’t patience a good thing now? The last thing I want to do is criticize a game where we’ve seen maybe 30-40% of the build (might even be less than that), then when more information slowly tricks out it actually looks like the FE Warriors game I wanted.
4. Anyways, it sucks that there’s this type of aggressive anger over this. How can anyone get into this franchise with this type of policing? Well, I’ll tell you this — chill out with that. I need my Genealogy of the Holy War remake damnit, and I refuse to let gatekeepers gatekeep!

…speaking of remakes I have been playing Fire Emblem Echoes. (In case the backgrounds hasn’t informed you). This is the first FE game where I’ve essentially taken my time beating the game (Normal/Classic). Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I’ll have to get back to you on that.

Anyways, are you still looking forward to FE Warriors? For those who do have some issues with it, can you share why?

From being weary of using Mages to missing characters, I’ve seen a number of people playing Fire Emblem Echoes and making a few mistakes! Let’s fix that problem by sharing some advice based on what I’ve picked up throughout the game.

1) Promote ASAP

Unlike most Fire Emblem games, Fire Emblem Echoes’ growth rates in either Normal or Hard (probably a bit worse in Hard) is not very good. The times where you saw characters get four or more stat increases needs to be celebrated here since it doesn’t always happen. At best you only get two stat increases a good portion of the time.

So, knowing that, make sure that when the game tells you your character can promote, or you see a Mila Statue next to your character in the menu screen, promote them. The standard convention in Fire Emblem is you promote your characters when they get to 15-20. Unless you love to grind, just do yourself a favor and upgrade your units early!

2) Hide Alm or Celica on Dungeons or Villages on the World Map

Once you get to Act 3 you can take control of Alm and Celica on the World Map. More often depending on how you’re pacing yourself enemy reinforcements spawn and they’ll be the one to engage with you…even if you’re advancing on someone else’s map. There are at least two ways to avoid them: you engage an enemy on your side, or you place one of your characters at a Village or a Dungeon. There seems to be a set amount of reinforcements that can spawn on the map, so if you don’t want to engage a foe while you’re playing Celica’s side, you can plop Alm at a Village or Dungeon and complete Celica’s side without worries.

3) Sometimes, it can be worth it to go back to a village.

In addition to making sure you talk to all the villagers when you reach a village or town, make sure you go back after completing a battle. One example is making sure you can recruit the Whitewings Catria and Palla — after you battle with them on a map, make sure you go back to the town you saw them in to recruit them! The last thing you want to do is go on without recruiting units you’re gonna need for those Terrors.

4) Remember, a good strategy to deal with a spellcaster is to deplete their HP so they can’t use it.

Mages (and also Clerics) in Echoes are probably more significant than any of the other FEs games combined — that’s only because mages are super needed, from being able to damage a lot of low-resistance foes to being able to ignore terrain, to having magic to decimate Terrors. It might be safe to say it’ll be a challenge beating this game without them. That said, they’re still like most mages in FE in that their defense sucks, and they’re not aided by the hit rate in this game either. Then you get to how much HP magic will cost, and that’s when you have to truly be careful about what to use and when to use it.

But there’s a few things to keep in mind — if you are timely with your magic, then the HP cost isn’t an issue. In addition, the characters will learn an ability to recover HP, and rings that you find will give you 5 HP on every turn. So the onus is on how to make the enemy pay for that, since they won’t have that advantage. Making sure you do that will greatly help you save Delthea by the way!

5) Attack with a 50% or less hit rate anyways. 

I’ve already had a situation where a 95% attack missed, so i.e, the hit rates in Echoes are just as bad as Fates (I had a 98% miss in Fates). Generally speaking the higher the better, but more often than not, if you want to beat this game you’ll have to attack with the % against you. One big example is Silque and Genny, where Nosferatu’s hit rate is locked at 60% (sometimes depending on matches it can go up but the highest I’ve had was 65%). But then there are others, where you could attack an enemy that’s using terrain. And the hit rate is 40% or less.

My advice? Attack anyways. Sometimes you should consider if it’s worth it, but you might get lucky and thus pull off a lucky hit. Or two.

What other advice would you share on how to deal with Fire Emblem Echoes? Feel free to explain a few in the comments below.

(Included the Japanese Trailer because I’m nice)

Guess I’m back with some thoughts on Fire Emblem Warriors! Specifically, the trailer they released for Japan Expo in France over the weekend.

• I know even when Fire Emblem Awakening came out the Lucina is Masked Marth connection was prevalent, but the past few games — Fates, Heroes, and Smash — REALLY let it be known who’s beneath the mask. I shouldn’t be surprised Warriors is doing the same thing. And Awakening did, in fact, come out in 2013. Still, think just Masked Marth’s appearance would’ve been enough to signify that, as expected, Lucina is also in this game. Maybe I should just accept this is like all the superhero/heroine comics, basically.
• I think the dub for this game will be fine. Of course, two trailers haven’t exactly been a great showcase, but to me it looks like the cutscenes are taken out of context, though it does sounds better in Japanese. You can also see that the lips are moving in the JP trailer as well, so personally I think it’s a case where for these story trailers they thought it would look cool this way. When the game comes out sometime this year it should be much better.
• I think graphically this is step up from the E3 trailer, or is it just me?
• As for the characters chosen, none of this is surprising. The only surprises you could say is for Lissa, but understanding the backstory of Dynasty Warriors games and the fact that Lissa does wield an axe in Awakening when she reaches her second class, it would’ve been perfectly acceptable to riot at Koei Tecmo’s building and maybe consider burning down the office if she didn’t. After, you know, they finish the game. The other surprise is which Robin were they gonna go with, and my first thought was, “They’re gonna go with the one that has an Amiibo.” So, I can’t get upset at this. Honest.
• It probably helps that the presentation was solid as well. It also brings up more questions — wait a minute, did the Shephards meet the Twins before meeting Robin? Masked Marth’s gonna be a boss again? Between that and seeing places like Arena Ferox get a graphical upgrade really made me enjoy the trailer.
• Also, can’t beat that Fire Emblem Theme~
• Think the only thing I wonder is how weapons are gonna be used — since there’s a weapons triangle exactly how big will the difference be? Can you switch weapons? How many weapons can a unit have?
• Now we’re gonna get into real predictions territory — as it stands, the roster sits at 11 (for now not sure if Darius is confirmed playable). Who else is gonna come from the Fates’ side? The Awakening side? Though next should be Shadow Dragon. I would think if so, Caeda, Draug, Tiki, and maybe Jagen from Marth’s side? While I’m debating whether the original red and green cavs (Cain and Abel) will make it, I’d like to think Koei wouldn’t miss the opportunity to pit an old man crushing units left and right.
• Or maybe they’ll surprise us and showcase Alm and Celica since that’s been getting some play this month…

What are your thoughts on the Awakening Warriors trailer? Let me know! I’m gonna go think long and hard on how much I’ve been playing Heroes after beating Echoes…