I'm not someone who thinks romance is the main factor in why the games were successful, but if story was part of what made Awakening successful, holy hell is the industry in a bad place.
My problem with relationship systems is that they fundamentally suck in nearly every game. And then of course as people have mentioned, you have the issue of the waifu/shipping discussion having taken over discussion in FE:A's case.
I dunno, I just don't see why they can't end the series and then start a new one with the new gameplay. At least that way fans don't see their series change into something they hate and fans of the newer games would still have gotten the games they love.
I can understand that to some people the genre was not casual friendly, but "cold and business-like"? Holy hell. Final Fantasy Tactics? Tactics Ogre? Jeanne d'Arc?
I dunno, I just don't see why they can't end the series and then start a new one with the new gameplay. At least that way fans don't see their series change into something they hate and fans of the newer games would still have gotten the games they love.
Congrats on Awakening for selling so well. Loved the game in all honesty, and can't wait for IF (the return to more complicated strategies, etc. in Nohr look interesting).
So you wanted Fire Emblem to end and then have them release Awakening as the next Codename Steam? It's a waste of time and energy. People just have to realize things change and franchises evolve. Resident Evil changed, GTA changed, Fallout changed, etc. You just have to deal with it. If you don't like the new style, find games that are more to your taste rather than wishing death on the franchise whose direction has changed. It's just very immature behavior in general.
Also Awakening isn't an example that the series changed to become "Sonic Boom" quality or something. It was reinvention of sorts that managed to save the franchise as a whole. And in all honesty it kept the spirit much more than the franchises than some of the franchises I mentioned above. Still I feel like the Fire Emblem developers are plenty aware of that and are trying to make Nohr more like the traditional games while changing some things up a bit.
Also, for all the "dating-sim" comments. The internet discussions about a game represent a small fraction of the userbase actually playing the game. That's all.
The majority of people that played Awakening never played a FE before. It would have sold well regardless of whether or not the FE name was slapped on it. There are no other games with the same setting and gameplay as the FE games I like. It's not like you've got a whole lot of choice in this genre.
The changes they've made to Nohr from Awakening aren't enough based on what they've said and shown.
A small part of the userbase that IS are clearly trying to pander to.
I find that highly unlikely. The majority probably played FE7, let alone any of the other western releases.
The western part of Fire Emblem Awakening sales probably equals the western sales of all other Fire Emblem games combined. Those games likely DO have a huge overlap since Fire Emblem was a total niche series before the release of Awakening, if it were otherwise the NDS entries would have sold much better. Taking all that into consideration I wouldn't be suprised if 70% - 80% of all people who bought Awakening in the west never had played a previous Fire Emblem before.
You guys keep moving the goalpost. First it's: "majority never played anothe FE game" now it's: "Majority in the west". As if new player bases are a bad thing, Awakening helped the franchise by keeping it alive. Sounds like some of you would prefer to see it die off. Awakening is not a perfect game, but it adds a lot of options that were not there in the previous games that allow other players to access it. I don't know what is so difficult about changing some settings to have it the way you like it. But whatever, the whining entitlement a lot of posters here are displaying is just sad. I could never bring myself to decry any game selling well, even if I don't like it.
You guys keep moving the goalpost. First it's: "majority never played anothe FE game" now it's: "Majority in the west". As if new player bases are a bad thing, Awakening helped the franchise by keeping it alive. Sounds like some of you would prefer to see it die off. Awakening is not a perfect game, but it adds a lot of options that were not there in the previous games that allow other players to access it. I don't know what is so difficult about changing some settings to have it the way you like it. But whatever, the whining entitlement a lot of posters here are displaying is just sad. I could never bring myself to decry any game selling well, even if I don't like it.
I just don't see the problem with critiquing the game. People seem to be unwilling to see critiques of the tactics/strategy, characters, romance and story. Any critique of those is seen as an attack on the game that "saved the series." So how dare we critique it! I can think of pretty in-depth critiques of all of those. I enjoyed the game. But like any game, it's not above reproach.I don't see the problem with wanting a series name not to be tarnished while still having the game others love made but under a different name. It would have still had the same word of mouth + release drought combo that led to Awakening's massive sales anyways.
Do you feel the same way about people that think things like the last Metroid game should have been Prime 3 and the last Paper Mario should have been thousand Year Door?
The western part of Fire Emblem Awakening sales probably equals the western sales of all other Fire Emblem games combined. Those games likely DO have a huge overlap since Fire Emblem was a total niche series before the release of Awakening, if it were otherwise the NDS entries would have sold much better. Taking all that into consideration I wouldn't be suprised if 70% - 80% of all people who bought Awakening in the west never had played a previous Fire Emblem before.
From what I remember, I don't remember those DLC being shockingly cheap or something. It would definitely be hard to think that new fans were buying those en masse. Either old fans were still heavily involved or FE:A made some amazing convert fans.It's hard to know in the West, but, at least in Japan, the first season of Awakening DLC was reported as selling very well back then, and it was mostly based on low budget fanservice for the previous FE games. It's hard to believe that it was people who knew nothing about the previous FE games buying those.