What "makes" the series for you?

[Neofox]

For the most part, I think it's safe to say we're here because we enjoy the series. However, Fire Emblem is by far not the only strategy RPG out there. With competition like the original FFT, Tactics Ogre, and etc., what makes the series stand out for you?

Is it the fact each character is an individual? After all, every game has such a wide cast that it's hard to not find at least one character you like, and the recent games have had support or info conversations as a way to expand on this. The fact there's so many also affects the replay value, since you have the option to play again using different units. What about the way the weapon and battle system works? A major part of the strategy is to be sure you have enough weapons to last you the mission, and the triangles make you put some thought into who goes up against who. In fact, for the most part, you even have to ration use of the strongest of weapons since they only have so many uses before they break like everything else. Perhaps the storylines? If you cut FE to the quick almost all the games are "an exiled royal earning back their country", but as they say, presentation is everything, and they tend to present it fairly well. Games like FE4 and 5 are fairly complex (sometimes needlessly so) in the details of events that go on, while ones like FE7 and 8 have storylines that read from a child's fantasy storybook, and the Tellius saga have some depth in their storylines for you to mull over, even once you beat the game. Perhaps none are all that groundbreaking, but they do offer a good amount of variety. And what about the music? About 12 songs made it into Brawl, all from the various games in the series but the Jugdral saga, all of which are particularly nice pieces and show how much variety is in the games. Perhaps I am alone on this, but music is fairly important to me, as it could easily make or break the atmosphere, and Fire Emblem has generally always used it effectively.

As for my own opinion? Well, I'm going to go ahead and say all of the above I mentioned.

[Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad]

 

For me, in the first FE game to hit the U.S. (FE7), the big draw was the diverse cast of interesting, well-realized characters and the in-depth, somewhat customizable degree of interaction among them, up to and including special endings for certain 'A' Supports.  For me, this was still true for FE8, but ... for FE9 and what I've seen of FE10, not so much.  Without a good cast, even a Fire Emblem game can be reduced to 'just another tactical JRPG'.

[burning_phoneix]

What makes it for me is the seamless, efficient battle system.

While other RPGs are loading their systems with more and more fluff, slowing the game down and making it needlessly complex, Fire Emblem has more or less stuck with the same stats and experience system, making estimating the threat caused by every enemy within hit distance easier for a the player.


Watching a veteran FE player turn animations off and set map movements to the highest speed and keeping up with all the stuff happening is pretty impressive.


That and that all the characters are unique.

[theshim is the shimiest shim of all the shims that ever shim]

For me, it's primarily the characters.  The fact that each character is unique; that they all have their own personality and are given time (at least from 6-9) through supports to develop is, to me, zetta awesome.  That and the fact that if they die, they're gone.  Attachment to characters is great.  (Though I agree with all of the other things you posted, AJ.)

[Lord Fuckboy]

For me it's the fact that I can have fun playing it consistently, even if the battle system hasn't changed that much since the original.

[arashisama without the decorative symbols. RANDOM ENOUGH?!]

Music tends to make up a good chunk of why I enjoy a game. Of course, they varied choices in the characters you can use is a huge plus. "I don't like this char... but who cares? There's thirty more to choose from!" With supports you can choose to unlock character backgrounds that perhaps would not be crucial to the story, but is a little bonus. Also, character death. Minus in Lyn's tutorial in FE7, when they die, they die.

I was a complete noob when I first played a few minutes of FE5, so I suppose it's more FE6 that hooked me. I think it must be Clarine's supports with Rutger and Klein, and Fa's support with Sofiya that I really liked, and kept me interested for FE7 (which in turn hooked me with its pegasi sisters and the Black Fang).

So it looks like primarily the characters, though with bits and pieces of everything else.

[Celice]

Watching a veteran FE player turn animations off and set map movements to the highest speed and keeping up with all the stuff happening is pretty impressive.

Especially when the player realizes it, like I do every so often~_~



For me, the series is remembered due to its drama, as well as gameplay.  Its art styles, music, and stories aren't half bad, and work well for the situation, usually.  But the inner part is the gameplay--it's short and sweet, yet still deep at some times.  It has more than enough characters to use, which gives me replay value, as I can use characters I didn't the next time through.

[Swordsalmon]

For me it's the fact that I can have fun playing it consistently, even if the battle system hasn't changed that much since the original.

This.

Other than that, I do enjoy the smaller tweaks, while other games tend to revamp their changes and become way too different. I really enjoy the music and difficulty of the games, especially late-game music. *Adores Inescapable Fate* Also, the character endings. <3

I must say though, the basic gameplay style of Fire Emblem is considerably less original and entertaining then say, Ogre Battle and Langrisser brought to SRPGs. So a couple tweaks to any of the new games would be really neat, but as long as they don't ruin the basics.

[Sothe]

Well it's the first tactic rpg I play and since I like it I don't see why to move to something else.

[Levin]

1. No generic characters, every character is unique with their own manner of speaking, personality, stat gains, look, and in some installments unique skill sets.

2. It just seems to move or go faster than SRPGs like tactics ogre and FFT (both of which I still enjoy). I don't know even in the really big battles that can take hours the pace never slows down or slogs.

3. I like the art style, and critical animations

4. Story is almost always strong, compelling, and thoroughly enjoyable. Supports deepen the experience.

5. Music is good...though I admit other series may have it beat on this

6. Characters die...I mean die permanently. I love this, because it changes the way you play...each character is precious and I mean it feels more realistic.

7. I like the triangle system, weapons wearing out, terrain bonuses and other things in place

8. Peg knights are the bomb

[Celice]

I must say though, the basic gameplay style of Fire Emblem is considerably less original and entertaining then say, Ogre Battle and Langrisser brought to SRPGs.

I find it hard to conceive Fire Emblem as being anything less than original, considering it is the game that created the Strategy RPG genre  Repetitive, but original.

[Ice Dragon]

Characters and gameplay, mostly.

For characters, I like how each one is an irreplaceable unit. Unlike in Advance Wars, for example, I can't just send a mass army out and assume my casualties are less than the opponent's. That, and some of the characters have utterly amazing designs; the official arts are almost always amazing.

In gameplay, I like how simple it is. The absolutely most complex thing you ever have to worry about are your and your opponent's skills. Unit effectiveness (weapon triangles, Armorkiller, etc.) is easy to remember and changes very little between games (i.e. Rapier has always been effective against knights and armors) so you don't have to relearn things for each new game.

Oh, and the graphics are quite awesome. They might not be the best out there, but they're usually quite stunning (hence why I'm a spriter).

[Kahane]

BoNam'oLafs

I have to agree with burning_phoneix.
Also randomness is one of Fire Emblem's biggest features. Some people even refuse to call Fire Emblem a real strategy game because it depends so much on luck. But the fact that randomness is a much bigger factor than in other games (just think about growth rates) makes every time you play very different. This IMHO increases replayability the most.
And it's not just macroscopic replayability: Let's not forget that you'll often have to restart missions.
In a nutshell you always have to adjust to any unpredictable situation that may occur. That's the Fire Emblem philosophy.

[Ayanami]

(Levin)6. Characters die...I mean die permanently. I love this, because it changes the way you play...each character is precious and I mean it feels more realistic.

Also, by letting certain characters go, that is if you don't care much about the character or don't want to start over may change the outcome of the story.

-----

What I like most about Fire Emblem is.....their battle sprites fighting as you can possibly create beautiful animations out of them. Also, adding the challenge over FFT is that Fire Emblem unlike FFT almost doesn't have any way to revive characters as starting the mission over is the only way to get them back.

[YokaiKnight]

I guess the best way to put things would be to say I enjoy the progressive development in the FE games I've played. Characters develop personality, especially with supports; they develop strength and skills as you use them in battle; and the story develops complexity and depth as time goes along. This is not unique among RPGs, but I feel that Fire Emblem does this very, very well.

As a strategy RPG, its battles can also have a much more grandiose feel, as armies face off in chapters like Cog of Destiny (FE7), as opposed to most battles involving, for example, five or six characters in other RPGs.

To speak of FE7 specifically, the music was better than that of any other game I had played at the time...maybe still.

[Swordsalmon]

I find it hard to conceive Fire Emblem as being anything less than original, considering it is the game that created the Strategy RPG genre  Repetitive, but original.

I think the first SRPG was actually Elthlead or its sequel Crest of Gaia, the former which was released sometime in the 1980s and the latter in 1987. So actually, that would technically make Fire Emblem more unique than Langrisser, considering Langrisser is a sequel-series to Elthlead.

[Kick@55_3000]

I've always liked fantasy games. I've always like RPGs. When I got my hands on a Fire Emblem game (FE7) and popped it into my Gameboy, I got hooked onto it.

More specifically, I like the fact that you control many units to do different things (you do this in every strategy RPG, but oh well) and the characters' personalities. I also like how they level up in different stats randomly, so no two playthroughs are exactly the same.

[caleb723]

The way they engineered the level-up system and the class is one of my favorite parts about it.  Due to the fact that not only is every playthrough different, it allows you to dicuss/debate about the characters and their individual work.  Some people may not particularly enjoy this aspect, but I find it to be pretty fun.  I'm not that great at debating, but reading other peoples' debates is a fun thing IMO, if you have the time to read everything.

Also, I have always considered music a big factor when valuing a game's worth, and this is a strong point for the series.  The theme remixes are always enjoyable, and the boss music can always get your blood pumping.

[Cooked Mongoose]

me and a group of friends were talkin video games, and one of them said something akin to: "have you ever played that game where you get a whole bunch of characters, and if you kill them they're dead forever?"

back then, the only other games i'd ever played, characters never did that. they just got revived or whatever. so it sounded interesting and challenging. that's STILL something i really enjoy about FE. it's a challenge for me because if any character dies, no matter who it is, i'll always end up pressing the reset button. by now i'm sure lots of other games do something similar, but FE has sentimental value.

[SlippyToasterTrooper_UK]

The gameplay is really what keeps me. A few main fronts.

Playable in Japanese without knowing the language. Due to an interface that makes use of graphics for most things you need to know, weapons and items are icons and so are skills so you can tell whats what. Others, like Super Robot Taisen you're either going to have to enjoy mess-ups like using beam based weapons against beam absorbers and hoping you use the right skill unless you consoult your hyroglyphs table each time you want to do something (as you play more you'll need to consoult it less but unless you practice every day it'll come back to haunt you).

Also the easy to pick up, but hard to master gameplay kind of helps with this point. Its easy to understand what is going on. How likely you are to dodge and how much damage you take is clearly presented in-game. While other SRPGs have you with arbitary measurements to work with and sometimes seem to pluck numbers out of thin air.

Gameplay has fast pace to it. Battle animations have good pace though are sometimes lacking epic. But even if they are a problem off they got. I'll say it now. There are so few SRPGs that have fast gameplay to them. Though its not just animations which make the gameplay fast its the fact you counterattack in the enemy phase (think about how much longer it would take to kill all those enemies if they didn't run into their death on the enemy phase).