IS AWAKENING THE BEST FIRE EMBLEM GAME???
- Thread starter Datgamer456
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Yeah i guess that is true but i still stay with my opinion
Well, trying to be as objective as possible, it is probably up there. It feels like it offers more freedom for customizing your characters than any other game, except maybe Radiant Dawn. Though, that in itself kind of creates some problems.
Even though I've never played it myself, I think Radiant Dawn might still be the big contender for "best" FE game. Awakening is probably a close second.
Even though I've never played it myself, I think Radiant Dawn might still be the big contender for "best" FE game. Awakening is probably a close second.
I think "some problems" is a rather severe understatement. The level of "customization" on characters was too extreme, to the point where they were all virtual clones. Maybe I'm in the minority here, but one of the main draws of the series for me was character development. Having them form relationships and reveal details about themselves and their past slowly through support conversations. Which is why perma-death is so critical to the series, losing a character that you're ideally supposed to be attached to on a personal level. And somewhere around a third of the way through my first playthrough, I lost that feeling. The characters felt so interchangeable that they lost their identity, and felt like they should just be called meatbags 1 through xx.
But that's just complaint one on my list as someone who has been a fan of this series for almost 2 decades now. And I honestly feel like this is my least favorite game in the series. Which worries me as they are likely to continue down this path in further removing the franchise from what people fell in love with it for. The harsh difficulty, the rich character design, the well made(albeit somewhat generic) storylines.
Awakening failed on all these accounts having things like:
Infinite levels through reclassing
Massive stat caps
Overpowered units
Free grind maps
Boring mission diversity
Unmemorable story
Unmemorable characters
etc.
And I know why they did all these things. They want to make the game 'easier and most accessible' which is Nintendo's motto these days. Because by opening the game up to 'Everyone' who wants a shallow experience they will sell far more games than making a deep game for their core audience(which was steadily growing anyways). Not even mentioning the perils of DLC "buy these super exp and super gold maps to grind faster" and what that means for game balance and grind focus.
Sadly though, this probably means the death of my favorite franchise. As once Nintendo decides to "kid-friendly"(aka. braindead-friendly) a series, it's doomed to be an exercise in monotony forever. And without the difficulty the series once had, its just not Fire Emblem anymore.
While I agree with most of your points (seriously, read my post history, we have similar views), I've come to respect Awakening more recently. I reflected on how I was playing the game, and I came to the conclusion that Awakening feels faithful to the Fire Emblem formula if you cut out all of the extra stuff that disrupts balance like skirmishes and DLC.
I'm currently running a no frills Hard-Classic playthrough with no grinding until post game. I'm limiting myself to just the story missions, with non-children paralogues being treated like gaiden chapters from 6/7 that I do immediately as they show up on the map. I'm also not skipping dialogue, which means I get the full story instead of what I remember from the first time I finished the game. So far it feels like Sacred Stones 2, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
I think one of the major reasons I don't feel like the story and characters are interesting has to do with how the dialogue is presented. Using the battle scene graphics as the backdrop for dialogue really disconnected Awakening's storytelling from the series norm. I'm used to FE9/10's full body portraits lined across the screen instead of slightly goofy looking battle models and a portrait covering half the screen being used to tell the story. FE10 in particular had amazing art direction that kept everything looking unified. 2D art made text dumps look pretty, and whenever the scene shifted to polygons, either the battle is about to start or Zelgius is about to kick the shit out of someone. Awakening felt less unified, perhaps as a result of trying to add layers to every scene to make use of the 3D slider.
I'll wrap this up by saying I'm much less critical about Awakening now. It humbled me when I learned it was going to be the last game in the series if it didn't sell well enough. Honestly, I'm just glad we didn't get another remake. The only reason I praise Heroes of Light and Shadow is because the gameplay is so much better than Shadow Dragon, but that's really just a step up from being dog shit.
I'm currently running a no frills Hard-Classic playthrough with no grinding until post game. I'm limiting myself to just the story missions, with non-children paralogues being treated like gaiden chapters from 6/7 that I do immediately as they show up on the map. I'm also not skipping dialogue, which means I get the full story instead of what I remember from the first time I finished the game. So far it feels like Sacred Stones 2, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
I think one of the major reasons I don't feel like the story and characters are interesting has to do with how the dialogue is presented. Using the battle scene graphics as the backdrop for dialogue really disconnected Awakening's storytelling from the series norm. I'm used to FE9/10's full body portraits lined across the screen instead of slightly goofy looking battle models and a portrait covering half the screen being used to tell the story. FE10 in particular had amazing art direction that kept everything looking unified. 2D art made text dumps look pretty, and whenever the scene shifted to polygons, either the battle is about to start or Zelgius is about to kick the shit out of someone. Awakening felt less unified, perhaps as a result of trying to add layers to every scene to make use of the 3D slider.
I'll wrap this up by saying I'm much less critical about Awakening now. It humbled me when I learned it was going to be the last game in the series if it didn't sell well enough. Honestly, I'm just glad we didn't get another remake. The only reason I praise Heroes of Light and Shadow is because the gameplay is so much better than Shadow Dragon, but that's really just a step up from being dog shit.
If you say this is the best on question how many of you have played genealogy of the holy war and thracia 776?
I've read all the points above. Now, I don't have quite as much experience with Fire Emblem as some of you do (played FE7 2 or 3 times, Sacred Stones once through), but I really do love this game so much that it might just be my favorite of the three.
Look, there may be an issue with how intense character customization is. There may also be a problem with having those skirmishes and random encounters. Hell, reclassing is pretty cool, but it might also make characters virtual clones, as you say. There is a grind too, let's not deny it.
Do I think these features are hard to avoid? Yes. Do I think these features in the end had more benefits than drawbacks? Indeed. Do I see why the developers put them in there? Yep. Do I think the game is more accessible to new players? Yes. Does it hurt the gameplay? No--I think they did it in a way so that hardcore fans of the franchise can still enjoy it a hell of a lot.
I actually liked the character customization a lot. Sure, it made commitments get lost a bit, but it made my experience on Hard-classic completely different from my friend's who played on Normal-classic. We saw the same main story, the same characters, but the interactions with each other and how we ended up purposing different characters were completely different. It gave me a sense that I can get a completely different experience on my next playthrough (problem is, I haven't gotten to that second playthrough which shall be on Lunatic because I'm too busy now reaping everything from my Hard-classic playthrough...which is a ton of fun by the way--I currently have 120 hours clocked on it).
Maybe it leads to characters combat-wise being replaceable, but honestly, I think the characters in Awakening were some of the best in the series. I don't recall a single character feeling cliche, and not a single encounter reminded me of a previous one in a previous game (whereas Sacred Stones had several that reminded me of a few characters from FE7, and FE7 had several predictable characters). Take Gaius, for example: a low-life thief with a kind heart? Yeah, we've seen that in several of the FE games before. But then the sweet tooth catches you way off guard, and then what catches you even more off guard is when this sweet tooth isn't just a gimmick--it leads to some really great interactions with other characters! The uniqueness and originality of so many of the characters in Awakening, and all the possible dialogue options (they are all so different too...it's overwhelming so that I can't help but try to unlock as many as I possibly can), it made them feel indispensable to me--I just didn't want to lose any of them, because of the crazy unique experiences they gave me. Also, at least they limit reclassing so that a character that starts out as a certain class can't switch to something that would be so beyond their personality.
Yes, skirmishes and random encounters can unbalance the game. It could make it more forgiving, and can make you get overpowered characters in the end. However, this is just an option available--a hardcore character can choose to ignore them just about as often as he wants. I did a skirmish once in a while, and I did all the children chapters I had available to me (along with the "Gaiden" chapters, which were also a lot of fun), and the main story was STILL really hard for me (partially because I don't like anybody dying--I'll replay the mission if anybody dies). Different players can play in the different styles they want, and that I think led to a better experience overall.
But then let's say it leads to a grind. For me, Fire Emblem Awakening proved two things about games to me recently: (1) DLC is not beyond redemption (FEA, I believe, did DLC very much right, aside from the Golden Pack, which they should've advertised as only for inexperienced characters), and (2) Grind in an RPG is not always bad. I actually found the grind quite fun so as I would do it voluntarily. Random encounters in FE are actually quite fun, and then bonus teams are even more exciting. No battle really ever ends out the same way, after all. Some I choose to do, some I don't. At least they were more fun than in Sacred Stones, when the classes you could fight against were limited. So yeah, there's a grind, but it's optional, and it's not as boring or repetitive as it is in something like Diablo 3 or in several MMOs.
In the end, I think what really keeps FEA being such a loved game to me is that malleability of playstyle, of that near infinite replayability, of all the free DLC and the paid DLC that Nintendo handled so well. The story was actually really strong and memorable to me--it was original, and took on a very different path than the other two FE games I played (which had cool stories but they didn't feel so different from each other). Sure, as YourVeryOwnGeek mentioned, there was a bit of a disconnect in some cutscenes, but I thought the cinematic scenes made up for most of them. Also, the character portraits were still pretty great. The characters were some of the strongest to me, which made up for the fact that combat-wise, many were replaceable. The grind was fun, the skirmishes avoidable, and the difficulty still pretty damn high, especially in Gaiden chapters (I still haven't finished all of them because they're so freakin' hard).
I guess that's the other side of the argument. The game really did strike a really nice chord in my mind. It was VERY different in many ways to other Fire Emblem games, but I was really happy with the change of pace and how it turned this game into something I can go back to over and over again without feeling repetitive.
Look, there may be an issue with how intense character customization is. There may also be a problem with having those skirmishes and random encounters. Hell, reclassing is pretty cool, but it might also make characters virtual clones, as you say. There is a grind too, let's not deny it.
Do I think these features are hard to avoid? Yes. Do I think these features in the end had more benefits than drawbacks? Indeed. Do I see why the developers put them in there? Yep. Do I think the game is more accessible to new players? Yes. Does it hurt the gameplay? No--I think they did it in a way so that hardcore fans of the franchise can still enjoy it a hell of a lot.
I actually liked the character customization a lot. Sure, it made commitments get lost a bit, but it made my experience on Hard-classic completely different from my friend's who played on Normal-classic. We saw the same main story, the same characters, but the interactions with each other and how we ended up purposing different characters were completely different. It gave me a sense that I can get a completely different experience on my next playthrough (problem is, I haven't gotten to that second playthrough which shall be on Lunatic because I'm too busy now reaping everything from my Hard-classic playthrough...which is a ton of fun by the way--I currently have 120 hours clocked on it).
Maybe it leads to characters combat-wise being replaceable, but honestly, I think the characters in Awakening were some of the best in the series. I don't recall a single character feeling cliche, and not a single encounter reminded me of a previous one in a previous game (whereas Sacred Stones had several that reminded me of a few characters from FE7, and FE7 had several predictable characters). Take Gaius, for example: a low-life thief with a kind heart? Yeah, we've seen that in several of the FE games before. But then the sweet tooth catches you way off guard, and then what catches you even more off guard is when this sweet tooth isn't just a gimmick--it leads to some really great interactions with other characters! The uniqueness and originality of so many of the characters in Awakening, and all the possible dialogue options (they are all so different too...it's overwhelming so that I can't help but try to unlock as many as I possibly can), it made them feel indispensable to me--I just didn't want to lose any of them, because of the crazy unique experiences they gave me. Also, at least they limit reclassing so that a character that starts out as a certain class can't switch to something that would be so beyond their personality.
Yes, skirmishes and random encounters can unbalance the game. It could make it more forgiving, and can make you get overpowered characters in the end. However, this is just an option available--a hardcore character can choose to ignore them just about as often as he wants. I did a skirmish once in a while, and I did all the children chapters I had available to me (along with the "Gaiden" chapters, which were also a lot of fun), and the main story was STILL really hard for me (partially because I don't like anybody dying--I'll replay the mission if anybody dies). Different players can play in the different styles they want, and that I think led to a better experience overall.
But then let's say it leads to a grind. For me, Fire Emblem Awakening proved two things about games to me recently: (1) DLC is not beyond redemption (FEA, I believe, did DLC very much right, aside from the Golden Pack, which they should've advertised as only for inexperienced characters), and (2) Grind in an RPG is not always bad. I actually found the grind quite fun so as I would do it voluntarily. Random encounters in FE are actually quite fun, and then bonus teams are even more exciting. No battle really ever ends out the same way, after all. Some I choose to do, some I don't. At least they were more fun than in Sacred Stones, when the classes you could fight against were limited. So yeah, there's a grind, but it's optional, and it's not as boring or repetitive as it is in something like Diablo 3 or in several MMOs.
In the end, I think what really keeps FEA being such a loved game to me is that malleability of playstyle, of that near infinite replayability, of all the free DLC and the paid DLC that Nintendo handled so well. The story was actually really strong and memorable to me--it was original, and took on a very different path than the other two FE games I played (which had cool stories but they didn't feel so different from each other). Sure, as YourVeryOwnGeek mentioned, there was a bit of a disconnect in some cutscenes, but I thought the cinematic scenes made up for most of them. Also, the character portraits were still pretty great. The characters were some of the strongest to me, which made up for the fact that combat-wise, many were replaceable. The grind was fun, the skirmishes avoidable, and the difficulty still pretty damn high, especially in Gaiden chapters (I still haven't finished all of them because they're so freakin' hard).
I guess that's the other side of the argument. The game really did strike a really nice chord in my mind. It was VERY different in many ways to other Fire Emblem games, but I was really happy with the change of pace and how it turned this game into something I can go back to over and over again without feeling repetitive.
GENEALOGY MASTER RACE.
Ahem. Sorry. Allow me to just state my opinions on the FE franchise as a whole: Each of the different games prior to Awakening had their own 'best' title.
Let's skip 1 and 2, because 1 got a remake and 2 I haven't played because the fan translation's not that great and the NES really didn't lend itself well to what it was trying to do.
Let's skip 3 because it was parts of 1 and then the rest was put in New Mystery, with many improvements.
Genealogy had, by far, the best story. Don't even try to argue this if you haven't played it, it's phenomenal. The Generation mechanic also allowed for a great deal of replayability, due to the customization available that doesn't come up in most of the other games.
Thracia was the most difficult, and introduced a lot of fun concepts. It's also what gave us the 'traditional' FE gameplay of different objectives per map and so on.
Sword of Seals gave us the Support Conversations and branching paths that came up again in Sacred Stones, with Rekka no Ken/Fire Emblem refining all the rough edges that Sword had.
Sacred Stones is basically a playable Gaiden, doing much of the same things.
Path of Radiance is, to me, the most intuitive of the franchise. Everything's made clear, the story progresses well, and the maps are all well designed. As it is though, it changed nothing, but is probably the best complete experience in the franchise.
Radiant Dawn threw out characterisation and plot in exchange for the best missions in the series, as well as new terrain types that completely overhauled how the maps worked. Ledges, flying levels and temporary restriction on the available pool of characters were all awesome. Shame the support conversations left.
Shadow Dragon...eh, it's not that great. FE1 hadn't aged very well.
New Mystery introduced the My Unit concept, and proceeded to completely overpower him, rendering the game pathetically easy. I mean, you think Awakening's avatar is OP, holy SHIT. The main reason I do like it, though, is that it brought back the support conversations and for the first time we could actually learn stuff about the minor characters beyond their death quotes.
Awakening is basically all of the best bits of all the games - Sacred Stones/Gaiden's map, the multiplayer from Shadow Dragon (To an extent), the generations from Genealogy, the supports from the GBA games, the My Uni from New Mystery, etc., all wrapped up in a solid story and featuring some of my favorite characters in the franchise (I actually think Lucina might be the best female protagonist in a videogame ever, I mean there's just so much depth to her it's amazing), but all of it seems a little...weaker than the rest. As it goes, Awakening is a great entry to the franchise, and the DLC (Especially the bonds pack, do not dismiss this as fanservice, there are some great conversations in there) means that it arguably has the best developed characters in the series if you shelve out some more cash, but it isn't the best. That all goes to if you prefer challenge/gameplay (Thracia/Radiant Dawn, probably Thracia), story (Genealogy) or overall experience (Path). Personally, I'm a story nut, so I'm going with Genealogy because of Chapter Five Oh My God Battle of Belhalla but I can see solid arguments being made for the others, especially Path which I will rabidly defend as the second-best in the series.
Ahem. Sorry. Allow me to just state my opinions on the FE franchise as a whole: Each of the different games prior to Awakening had their own 'best' title.
Let's skip 1 and 2, because 1 got a remake and 2 I haven't played because the fan translation's not that great and the NES really didn't lend itself well to what it was trying to do.
Let's skip 3 because it was parts of 1 and then the rest was put in New Mystery, with many improvements.
Genealogy had, by far, the best story. Don't even try to argue this if you haven't played it, it's phenomenal. The Generation mechanic also allowed for a great deal of replayability, due to the customization available that doesn't come up in most of the other games.
Thracia was the most difficult, and introduced a lot of fun concepts. It's also what gave us the 'traditional' FE gameplay of different objectives per map and so on.
Sword of Seals gave us the Support Conversations and branching paths that came up again in Sacred Stones, with Rekka no Ken/Fire Emblem refining all the rough edges that Sword had.
Sacred Stones is basically a playable Gaiden, doing much of the same things.
Path of Radiance is, to me, the most intuitive of the franchise. Everything's made clear, the story progresses well, and the maps are all well designed. As it is though, it changed nothing, but is probably the best complete experience in the franchise.
Radiant Dawn threw out characterisation and plot in exchange for the best missions in the series, as well as new terrain types that completely overhauled how the maps worked. Ledges, flying levels and temporary restriction on the available pool of characters were all awesome. Shame the support conversations left.
Shadow Dragon...eh, it's not that great. FE1 hadn't aged very well.
New Mystery introduced the My Unit concept, and proceeded to completely overpower him, rendering the game pathetically easy. I mean, you think Awakening's avatar is OP, holy SHIT. The main reason I do like it, though, is that it brought back the support conversations and for the first time we could actually learn stuff about the minor characters beyond their death quotes.
Awakening is basically all of the best bits of all the games - Sacred Stones/Gaiden's map, the multiplayer from Shadow Dragon (To an extent), the generations from Genealogy, the supports from the GBA games, the My Uni from New Mystery, etc., all wrapped up in a solid story and featuring some of my favorite characters in the franchise (I actually think Lucina might be the best female protagonist in a videogame ever, I mean there's just so much depth to her it's amazing), but all of it seems a little...weaker than the rest. As it goes, Awakening is a great entry to the franchise, and the DLC (Especially the bonds pack, do not dismiss this as fanservice, there are some great conversations in there) means that it arguably has the best developed characters in the series if you shelve out some more cash, but it isn't the best. That all goes to if you prefer challenge/gameplay (Thracia/Radiant Dawn, probably Thracia), story (Genealogy) or overall experience (Path). Personally, I'm a story nut, so I'm going with Genealogy because of Chapter Five Oh My God Battle of Belhalla but I can see solid arguments being made for the others, especially Path which I will rabidly defend as the second-best in the series.
I liked the geneaology of the holy war because it was so damn big,on average you would have like 5 bosses in one map and marriages had much much more depth (holy blood system)
spotpass renown system and dlc ruin awakening Mostly because in newgane+ when renown carries over and you have everything makes it kinda unfair,Yhen once you get to chapter 5 you have access dlc (Golden Pack) Making breezing through enemies alot simpler.
Yes yes a million times yes! Awakening is unquestionably the best Fire Emblem game EVER!
Usually when an established niche game like Fire Emblem is made accessible to more people it loses some of what made it popular to begin with. I didn't find this to be the case with this game, and was pleasantly surprised from start to finish. Granted there were some things that are staples of Fire Emblem that I did expect, that were missing like the famous Triangle Attack, or the HIdden/Secret items/shops in the Desert levels and other various places, Arena(but with the DLC, you don't really need it I guess, still was expected it), Fog of War protect this unit for x turns chapters. There are a few other minor things missing but in the grand scheme, the game ends up being to me a lighthearted and enjoyable Fire Emblem experience that has a TON of content. Replay and production value is incredibly high and that validates my purchase still and will for the next few years until a new game is made. Short answer, even though it lacks much I feel this game is third behind Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. Sacred Stones is my honorable mention.
Radiant Dawn rocks! My second-favorite FE game...
You guys that are saying the game's too easy are only realising HALF of why there is as much customization as there is. As was stated before, the developers wanted to appeal to a broader audience with this game; thus is why the customization is there. They gave YOU the freedom to decide how you want your game to go, such as what classes you want there to be. It ALSO means that you can make the game virtually as hard or as easy as you'd like it to be. They gave you the freedom and you guys are dropping the ball. Common people, experiment! Have some fun!
Most peoples issues with the game i find to be valid, however the game is still solid at its core, which is all i really care about anyways. I still play all my old FEs on emulator/DS/Wii from time to time, so to me its a shiny new volume of the same series intended to garner widespread attention, with slightly less of what made you love the series to begin with but not by a huge margin. Trust me, no balls dropping here, bought every single DLC and if they release more i'll buy that too and I hate DLC most of the time.
I say nay as I'm still attached to the older GBA ones which I believe are the best though Fire Emblem Awakening is an amazing game, one of the best SRPGs of this generation.
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Nope.
Awakening is the first I played. Loved the gameplay, in comparison to other SRPGs. The story was just generic meaningless fantasy though.
Which of the others in the series had a better story?
Which of the others in the series had a better story?
I would say so, though I tend to change my mind a lot. I should get around to replaying a couple of the older titles. ![[face_tongue]](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.ignboards.com/styles/ign/ign/smilies/classic/stickouttongue.gif "Stick Out Tongue [face_tongue]")
I enjoyed Awakening and Graphically and variety wise it is the best but over grinding and lame story hinder it from being the best. Personally I love the Radiant games (plural) because they offer good story and challenging game play (radiant dawn get too hard though) plus they have frekin Ike. I have to say both because each one has its problems that the other fixes.
Nah