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[Hyperactivity]

It was word of mouth for me

Waifus, sadly. They turned the anime knob up to 11.

Huh? The game is so anime it hurts at times.

Eh, plot could be described as that, and some characters, but taking your time to unlock as many supports as you can will have you end up with at least a fe characters you really like

Personal favorite is Henry

 

[Metroidvania]

I feel like they went overboard on the one-dimensionality of some of the characters. The avatar's daughter being a tsundere made me roll my eyes. She's the standout one that I remember but there were others that were really bad. And while FE may have always had characters like that, it felt like this one had an obnoxious amount of them with zero depth.

But lest I get taken the wrong way, I think that the tropey waifu stuff was minor in the grand scheme of things.

I thought the map/objective design was really poor (too many "kill all enemies" with no thought needed as unit placement), the balance was off (particularly due to unlimited grinding and the pairing mechanic), and the story was fairly weak.

Morgan isn't a Tsundere, Severa is. Morgan is awesome (if even more hilariously amnesiac than you, given her potential to be either 2nd or 3rd gen).

Also, I can't remember a whole lot of characters in previous FE's getting much more fleshed out except the lords and the relevant nobles. Granted, in previous games, it felt less like support conversations were about some cliched series of romantic encounters.

Agreed on the dopeyness of the story, though.

 

[LiK]

I liked her married off to other characters, the vignettes were great. With the way she was written it seemed like it wouldn't be nearly as fun for the PC to go for her.

I had her marry Libra. Oh man, it was comedy gold.

 

[Tookay]

Morgan isn't a Tsundere, Severa is. Morgan is awesome (if even more hilariously amnesiac than you, given her potential to be either 2nd or 3rd gen).

Also, I can't remember a whole lot of characters in previous FE's getting much more fleshed out except the lords and the relevant nobles. Granted, in previous games, not every single support convo was about some cliched series of romantic encounters.

Agreed on the dopeyness of the story, though.

Oh right. Forgot who was who.

 

[GamerSoul]

Oh right. Forgot who was who.

If you married Cordelia she could have been your second daughter. Severa was probably the only character that annoyed me at all.

 

[Vylash]

I had her marry Libra. Oh man, it was comedy gold.

Now that's just cruel

 

[theprodigy]

I feel like they went overboard on the one-dimensionality of some of the characters. The avatar's daughter being a tsundere made me roll my eyes.

She's the standout one that I remember but there were others that were really bad. And while FE may have always had characters like that, it felt like this one had an obnoxious amount of them with zero depth.

But lest I get taken the wrong way, I think that the tropey waifu stuff was minor in the grand scheme of things.

I thought the map/objective design was really poor (too many "kill all enemies" maps with no thought needed as unit placement), the balance was off (particularly due to unlimited grinding and the pairing mechanic), and the story was fairly weak.

eh what
you mean Severa right?

Spoiler

well we know you married Cordelia on your file Kappa

 

[Tookay]

If you married Cordelia she could have been your second daughter.

That explains it.

Severa was probably the only character that annoyed me at all.

I know this is blasphemy around here but....

Tharja kind of annoyed me too.

 

[Draxal]

I feel like they went overboard on the one-dimensionality of some of the characters. The avatar's daughter being a tsundere made me roll my eyes.

She's the standout one that I remember but there were others that were really bad. And while FE may have always had characters like that, it felt like this one had an obnoxious amount of them with zero depth.

But lest I get taken the wrong way, I think that the tropey waifu stuff was minor in the grand scheme of things.

I thought the map/objective design was really poor (too many "kill all enemies" maps with no thought needed as unit placement), the balance was off (particularly due to unlimited grinding and the pairing mechanic), and the story was fairly weak.

I consider nothing to be more tropey than the Laguz (there's nothing more animu than furries). Actually I take that back, I hate the loli dragon kid that they have had in EVERY fire emblem even more.

I thought the story was weak overall but it was quick and painless and served its point. I think a traditional trap of japanese srpgs is that they get lost in the plot which slows the pace of a game to a crawl.

Personally for me, I couldn't stand Path of Radiance because the gameplay was way to slow (gameplay engine was the main culprit) and I think it's understated how well the Awakening engine contributed to the game performing well.

 

[Deleted member 74300]

Good word of mouth, a good demo, and good reviews.

Spoiler

But secretly Tharja.

 

[Kriken]

Marketed better than previous Fire Emblems in the West at least, plus good press and word of mouth made it a must own game for a popular handheld

 

[Toxi]

Don't worry, Nowi just looks 10 years old. She's actually a 1000 year old dragon.

Spoiler

Oh God I'm going to jail.

 

[guek]

This was my favorite game of 2013. I don't get the complaints about the story. It's no Bill Shakespeare but I enjoyed it thoroughly

 

[theprodigy]

I consider nothing to be more tropey than the Laguz (there's nothing more animu than furries). Actually I take that back, I hate the loli dragon kid that they have had in EVERY fire emblem even more.

I thought the story was weak overall but it was quick and painless and served its point. I think a traditional trap of japanese srpgs is that they get lost in the plot which slows the pace of a game to a crawl.

Personally for me, I couldn't stand Path of Radiance because the gameplay was way to slow (gameplay engine was the main culprit) and I think it's understated how well the Awakening engine contributed to the game performing well.

no loli dragons in Tellius, success!

Spoiler

or Jugdral, but Jugdral has other...questionable elements *cough*

also yes, PoR somehow not having a real off option for battle animations was absurd

 

[Despera]

The $30 eshop money promotion probably also helped, that's one of the reason why I picked up SMTIV and FE: Awakening earlier than expected. I still haven't played them yet lol...... X(.

Probably the 2 best games on the system right there. That $30 deal was the cherry on top.

This was my favorite game of 2013. I don't get the complaints about the story. It's no Bill Shakespeare but I enjoyed it thoroughly

I believe that we should never stop complaining about videogame storytelling until we achieve an acceptable standard.

 

[Bleep]

Shadow Dragon was so clearly positioned as a remake without many of the mechanical improvements in the titles previously localized for a west that even new FE enthusiasts who had played FE7 through 10 didn't jump on it.

Shadow Dragon had a number of improvements over the original and SNES versions, but without having played those games players wouldn't notice. It's a shame they didn't take it a bit further, but they did rehaul the UI, add the weapon triangle and put in the strange subquest system that was designed to give players who lose party members more units. I thought it was a serviceable remake for people who wanted to experience the original game officially in English, but they should have gone way further considering the progression the series had gone through by that point. I still haven't played FE12, which apparently was a much better remake.

 

[foxuzamaki]

urgh

 

[Massive Duck. C.M.]

It always seems strange to me when people complain about a Japanese game series developed in Japan by Japanese people and with mostly the Japanese market in mind complain about it being too Japanese

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

I'm hoping for a console Fire Emblem on the Wii U some day.

 

[Bleep]

It always seems strange to me when people complain about a Japanese game series developed in Japan by Japanese people and with mostly the Japanese market in mind complain about it being too Japanese

Before Awakening, Fire Emblem had very subdued art style with less over the top characters and more intricate stories. The tone in Awakening was changed pretty drastically in a number of ways, so it's not surprising that there would be a backlash from fans.

 

[Giolon]

It's not just waifus. It has husbandos too! Even that beach DLC featured the top 3 male AND female characters for fanservice (as voted by Japanese gamers). People tend to forget that it was fairly egalitarian when going on about loli dragon princesses, yet nobody even mentions Ricken. He actually IS a kid you can marry - he even writes letters home to his mom.

Seriously, though I connected with the characters of this FE more than any other I've played. The new art style was nice.

Beyond all of that though, I think the main factor in its popularity was the new accessibility features. FE opus known as a very hardcore series where death is permanent. Being able to turn that aspect off, while seen as blasphemy for the devout, is likely one of the biggest factors in getting new people to give it a try. Never before have I seen the gaming press gush so much over a FE game, and it a lot of it was over the ability to make permadeath optional.

 

[Glittering Crux]

If I recall correctly, Fire Emblem: Awakening was the first new Fire Emblem title on handhelds since the GBA (I think both DS games were remakes but may be wrong) so a lot of people who don't play on consoles were looking forward to it. It was a lot more accessible than previous titles: a combination of more-welcoming anime art style, shipping, and reduced difficulty. The harder difficulties are still challenging though. The only thing missing was more unique objectives. Me and my coworkers would spend lunch talking about our favorite unit pairings. The campaign was linear but the support system allowed for a lot of player expression.

The support conversations and children made it one of those games where the more you put the more you get out of it. I played through it once (not getting and children), liked it, then played a second time 10 months later (getting all children) and loved it. It felt like a totally different game.

The story is simple but perfectly serviceable. Most characters are well-written too. They may seem simple at first glance but when, like Lissa, but their support conversations with yeti children and other units do a really good job of fleshing them out. It has an anime feel but doesn't feel like it's pandering to otaku aside from the beach DLC.

Also that $30 promotion with SMT4.

 

[Busaiku]

It is a much simpler game than other Fire Emblems.

 

[StreetsAhead]

I'm hoping for a console Fire Emblem on the Wii U some day.

Red's got to be doing something

Spoiler

Fire Emblem: The Re:Awakening of the Holy Tharja Who Can't Be This Cute But Ore-sama Will Save The Kingdom 324=2 for Nintendo 3DS

 

[Otakumegane]

I think Lucina was one of my reasons why.

"Hold on tiny wooden mother, I'm coming!" She's really funny.

 

[WrenchNinja]

They casualised it and made it into even more of a dating sim.

 

[PRjumpman124]

I think the addition of "casual" mode was pretty important in making the game more popular. That and the standard difficulty being much more forgiving than in other FE games.

 

[Tommy DJ]

Shadow Dragon had a number of improvements over the original and SNES versions, but without having played those games players wouldn't notice. It's a shame they didn't take it a bit further, but they did rehaul the UI, add the weapon triangle and put in the strange subquest system that was designed to give players who lose party members more units. I thought it was a serviceable remake for people who wanted to experience the original game officially in English, but they should have gone way further considering the progression the series had gone through by that point. I still haven't played FE12, which apparently was a much better remake.

FE12 is indeed a much better remake, partly because FE3 is a much better game than FE1. What FE12 has over FE11:
- Support conversations (if you care about it)
- There's extra maps with some really neat conditions and approaches.
- Mystery of the Emblem in general has way better map design than Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.
- The character portraits got cleaned up and aren't as heavily aliased.
- The Training Grounds mechanic is honestly pretty cool.

The story is still kind of dopey but its simplicity works to its benefit.

 

[GamerSoul]

I know this is blasphemy around here but....

Tharja kind of annoyed me too.

lol she was alright but i honestly did not use her much.

 

[Pitch Black Flint]

I can't say for sure what made Awakening so successful, but here's my story:

Before Awakening, Fire Emblem was always a series that I wanted to get into, but never could for a lot of reasons. I loved Advance Wars since the GBA days and when I found out that Intelligent Systems made Fire Emblem too it seemed like a sure bet I'd enjoy that series as well. So I tried a couple of FE games, like Path of Radiance and the GBA Fire Emblem, but it never enthralled me the same way Advance Wars did. The pacing was too slow and the battles seemed to take forever due to the poorly executed and unnecessary battle scenes. The story at times seemed to take itself too seriously for my taste, and the characters were boring and lacked personality. I found it hard to believe that Fire Emblem and Advance Wars could be made by the same developer. Their approach to strategy games was just too different.

Then Awakening came along and changed everything. Of course, the first thing that caught my attention was the art. I am a big fan of Yusuke Kozaki's work, and I found Awakening to be some of his best. Once the demo was released, I decided to give it a shot, because, why not? To my surprise, it seemed like every complaint I'd had about the series before had been addressed. The combat was quick and smooth. The battle scenes allowed us to control the camera, adding just enough interactivity to keep them from becoming obnoxious and repetitive. Even the area where I had no complaint before had been improved: the music. I loved the soundtrack. And then the characters. Expressive portraits accompanied the dialogue, which was funny and always amusing for its playfulness and ability to catch you off guard. And that's what really left a lasting impression on me. After all, they'd just be pawns on a chessboard if not for their interesting back stories and personalities.

After spending over a hundred hours playing Awakening and still not seeing all there is to see, I can easily say that it has outranked the original Advance Wars as my favorite Intelligent Systems strategy game. I only hope they can revitalize the Advance Wars series in the same way in time for its next release.

 

[Shengar]

Characters.

I'd say Fire Emblem's way of handling the characters and the plot has been excellent in the same veins as Persona and Valkyria Chronicles did it. It's undeniably Japanese, but it manages to escape the immediate label and stigma of being 'too Japanese' by virtue of the way it presents those characters in the vein of its game setting.

I agree with the character, but plot? Excellent, really? If anything, the plot is one of the point that drag the game down. If its not because some gold here and there in the support conversation I wouldn't played it more than one playthrough.

I'd like to think it's because of how streamlined the game is compared to the rest of the series while still remaining challenging for those that want it to be.

Or it could be the waifus :/

It's actually a very positive things to me since the game difficulty design is good despite the shitty map design and mission objective. Of course, this not applied to Lunatic+.

Sumia's great...as filler until you get Cordelia

Sumia stat growth stomped Cordelia any day just like her love with Chrom.

They are crazy then.

Sad to see that Kozaki's character design getting a lot of hate :/
I'm not denying that his character design is more anime in style than any other FE previous artist, but it could be worse. And his coloring is also great.

Don't worry, Nowi just looks 10 years old. She's actually a 1000 year old dragon.

Spoiler

Oh God I'm going to jail.

Her support with Libra is surprisingly good. I just wished that Nowi didn't have stupid costume or she might be more perceived as a decent character (like she actually is).

 

[Neiteio]

Awakening was the first Fire Emblem I played. It's so good!

What made me finally give the series a try is the option to play without permadeath. And what sealed the deal was how slick and streamlined the demo was. I don't normally play SRPGs, but everything was so quick and snappy -- each mechanic was succinctly explained in three lines or less, and they spread information evenly between the two screens so that neither became cluttered or overwhelming.

Also, the artwork (by the fellow who illustrated No More Heroes, iirc) is gorgeous. I love every one of the character designs. They just look so "cool." The other production values, like the cel-shaded CGI cutscenes and orchestral music, also enhanced the experience.

And yeah, I think the matchmaking aspect was great. As I continued with the game, the soap opera-esque appeal of seeing how the different relationships would pan out was real incentive to play each mission a certain way, making sure each pair stuck together and did well in battle. Seeing the characters bond with each other between missions really drew me into the characters' world.

Such a great game. I really hope they make another one just like it.

 

[Hyperactivity]

I had her marry Libra. Oh man, it was comedy gold.

Same here

Tharja as a character is really meh

Spoiler

Can't remember off the top of my head, butLibra was the one who let her do anything to his body, experiment with spells on him, etc. right?

 

[TheRedSnifit]

Before Awakening, Fire Emblem had very subdued art style with less over the top characters and more intricate stories. The tone in Awakening was changed pretty drastically in a number of ways, so it's not surprising that there would be a backlash from fans.

Very subdued.

I think the addition of "casual" mode was pretty important in making the game more popular. That and the standard difficulty being much more forgiving than in other FE games.

I still contest that Path of Radiance and Sacred Stones are easier.

 

[Sylverstone14]

Sumia's great...as filler until you get Cordelia

How dare you.

 

[ithebigc]

Marketing, I think it was the first Fire Emblem game they actually marketed well and didn't send out to die like Radiant Dawn.

Also, as people said, word of mouth. It's not like the mechanics were all all that different from past entries, but the great reviews, characters and marriage system had people talking about it long pass release in the media.

Character art was quite solid this time around too, and all and all it added up to a really nice package

 

[Amazeballs]

Very subdued.

More subdued than toilet armors. But yes, those armors are as subdued as you can get in anime. They're very appropriate for the setting. Celice's outfit in particular is colored blue and red to signify is nobility (blues and reds were expensive back in the middle ages). Most other characters wear very plain looking and practical outfits.

 

[Draxal]

More subdued than toilet armors. But yes, those armors are as subdued as you can get in anime. They're very appropriate for the setting. Celice's outfit in particular is colored blue to signify is nobility. Most other characters wear very plain looking and practical outfits.

Nothing more subdued than an army of 15 year old girls in miniskirts riding pegasi.

 

[Nightengale]

I agree with the character, but plot? Excellent, really? If anything, the plot is one of the point that drag the game down. If its not because some gold here and there in the support conversation I wouldn't played it more than one playthrough.

Perception management.

If I were to make a comparison, I'll use Final Fantasy XIII. Everytime FF tried to sell it's story in marketing, it always came across as being very cheesy, with all the dramatic character moments like Hope angst and Snow's struggle. Any game can unempathically break down its product identity by focusing on different aspects of the game.

I remember back when FFX was being marketed,there was a cheese as well,but the largest focus was on the journey and then they let the cinematography sell the imagination like Yuna's dance, etc.

 

[Amazeballs]

Nothing more subdued than an army of 15 year old girls in miniskirts riding pegasi.

Why would fliers want to weigh themselves down with leg armor when most enemies can't even reach them? A simple breastplate and leather leather leggings should suffice.

 

[Hyperactivity]

Her support with Libra is surprisingly good. I just wished that Nowi didn't have stupid costume or she might be more perceived as a decent character (like she actually is).

Thank god that in-game, given a lack for the full artwork, you can fool yourself into thinking most of that is clothes (screw you GAF for making me see the full artwork)
And that you can settle for marrying her to Ricken, her sort of male counterpart

Spoiler

Their supports were actually pretty freaking great

Tharja, Severa were the main characters that I disliked
Some others actively lacked personality for me, or had a few supports where they themselves were pretty freaking awesome

I can imagine art style complaints, given the drastic change in style, but how do you complain against awesome ones like Roy and Lyn, just from the old characters

 

[TheRedSnifit]

More subdued than toilet armors. But yes, those armors are as subdued as you can get in anime. They're very appropriate for the setting. Celice's outfit in particular is colored blue and red to signify is nobility (blues and reds were expensive back in the middle ages). Most other characters wear very plain looking and practical outfits.

C'mon, man. You can't think of a single anime-styled game that's more "subdued" then this?

 

[zero shift]

I like this one better.

#TeamXL

I hate that one, its so half asses. Just the blue XL with a logo on it. And WTF at "adapter not included"!

 

[Iamwolfthing]

I know the reason why I bought it, and that's because I needed some shit to play on my 3DS. Hadn't played a Fire Emblem game up until Awakening.

 

[foxuzamaki]

Fire emblem before the GC era had a very 80's/90's anime look to it look to it which at the time was the 'in' style for anime.

 

[Nightengale]

More subdued than toilet armors. But yes, those armors are as subdued as you can get in anime. They're very appropriate for the setting. Celice's outfit in particular is colored blue and red to signify is nobility (blues and reds were expensive back in the middle ages). Most other characters wear very plain looking and practical outfits.

That's nothing but generalisation of a genre.

The standard of armor in anime doesn't somehow become Queen's Blade just because there's some anime that does stuff like that. For every crap like that, there's Berserk,Saiunkoku and Kingdom.

 

[Tookay]

C'mon, man. You can't think of a single anime-styled game that's more "subdued" then this?

I can. Fire Emblems 6-10.

 

[TheRedSnifit]

I can. Fire Emblems 6-10.

There ya go.

 

[Little Old Man]

The demo certainly sold me on the game. Although from the looks of things it's now out of stock at every UK online retailer I can think of, with only Amazon seemingly expecting stock soon :/

 

[Sakura]

I know people joke but anime and waifu sells. As rubbish as the romance elements were, people still like it. Add on to that solid gameplay, music, marketing, etc and of course the game will be the most successful in a while.