Fire Emblem series

[Kier]

I also think it ignores that IS has traditionally been bad at marketing and releases in general. Only three FE games have had major advertising campaigns in the West; Awakening, Fates and 3H (with Awakening and 3H enjoying very good release slots), and unsurprisingly those were the ones to have the largest impacts outside of the hardcore FE fanbase (contentious as it is I'd say Awakening's was also larger than 3H's).

I don't hear it talked about nearly enough, but that demo on the 3DS e-shop, which if I recall was very pushed through the spot pass notifications and even auto-downloading, really did so much for the series.

 

[Computer God Autism]

I don't hear it talked about nearly enough, but that demo on the 3DS e-shop, which if I recall was very pushed through the spot pass notifications and even auto-downloading, really did so much for the series.

The Awakening demo or a 3H 3DS demo that I never heard about?

 

[Berrakh]

They don't? In any route. In Blue Lions you coincidentally decapitate their leadership because they have so thoroughly infiltrated the command structure of the Empire that there ceases to be a meaningful difference between them by the late game, but unlike the Empire their base of operations remains untouched and undiscovered by the end of it and it outright states they'll be planning their next move. Silver Snow and Verdant Wind both feature deliberate strikes against that base to prevent that, while they magically get resolved offscreen, postgame in Crimson Flower.

Tbh if they’re fighting Dimitri and his posse like that I think they’ve become the servants. Either way I can’t pretend they were master schemers in the same way I can’t pretend Crests do a good job as a metaphor for biological inequality. We may have to agree to disagree.

My issue with Edelgard is my biggest issue with three houses in general, is that Crimson Flower is very unfinished.

My gripe is that we never get to see how she would have handled Agartha. I can accept and enjoy a 'the ends justify the means' protagonist, especially in my 'political intrigue' story. I'm fine that she had a alliance with the Agarthans, they could have used that for interesting dynamics or just to LARP USA and USSR if they wanted to be lame. There is a lot of narrative space between the family intrigue with her and TWSITD and political assassinations and such, if they wanted to explore that. There are the implications of having Fodlan Jesus and Dubstep Devil on sort of the same team at times, with TWSITD having killed Jeralt, Edelgard's actions as the Flame Emperor are hardly looked at with any scrutiny. I'm ok with that in my historical fiction, but i'm not ok with that in my character driven narrative.

Instead, what we get is that Jeritza just sorta.... cleans it up for free offscreen. This removes the agency of dealing with the consequences of her own revolution from her, and that really denies her the chance to shine. She makes a deal with The Dubstep Devil, who then uses fantasy approved nukes, and all consequences of this are completely hand waved away because she defeated mother eugenics. It's a downright crime that she gets more characterization in the routes where she is the antagonist than the route where she is the main lord. I'm not asking for Sans Undertale to come judge my actions or anything, but please, anything.

Matter of taste! But I agree. It did remind me that Hubert posthumously tells of their base’s location? Am I remembering that right? So clearly we’re meant to believe the Empire had it under control, but it is hamstrung by execution in the narrative.

I think IS assumed people would play Blue Lions first and the mysterious mages everywhere in the final map would spark curiosity in the player.

 

[Computer God Autism]

Tbh if they’re fighting Dimitri and his posse like that I think they’ve become the servants. Either way I can’t pretend they were master schemers in the same way I can’t pretend Crests do a good job as a metaphor for biological inequality. We may have to agree to disagree.

I don't actually disagree with this - the Agarthans are not particularly competent either. The story just pretends that Edelgard is beholden to them when they don't really press her to do much of anything.

I think IS assumed people would play Blue Lions first and the mysterious mages everywhere in the final map would spark curiosity in the player.

Blue Lions was the route that was designed last, actually. technically Verdant Wind was designed last but given it's mostly a reskin of Silver Snow with more brown people I don't really count it as a separate story

 

[Berrakh]

Blue Lions was the route that was designed last, actually.

Could still be the route they expected to be taken first since it’s Blue and has the more typical Lord or something.

But this is also a game where the character with the most dismissive view of the elites more or less proves the importance of genetics (better than the Crests do). So who knows. I think a lot was changed and revised so chronology isn’t totally helpful.

 

[George Lucas]

Silver Snow seems to be the canonical default route, IMO.

 

[Computer God Autism]

Silver Snow seems to be the canonical default route, IMO.

It was the first one made, yes.

 

[George Lucas]

It was the first one made, yes.

That and it punishes you the most (losing characters), has the easiest maps, and you side with the most neutral party who also has the sole filial tie to the main character. I believe Edelgard is the first option on the faction selection screen in the prologue but I don't remember.

 

[George Lucas]

I also think it ignores that IS has traditionally been bad at marketing and releases in general. Only three FE games have had major advertising campaigns in the West; Awakening, Fates and 3H (with Awakening and 3H enjoying very good release slots), and unsurprisingly those were the ones to have the largest impacts outside of the hardcore FE fanbase (contentious as it is I'd say Awakening's was also larger than 3H's).

This is just wrong on multiple levels. One is that IS doesn't do the marketing. The publisher (Nintendo) does that. They get the same marketing as anyone else based on the violability of the title: games closer to the beginning of the release systems' ages get more marketing. This has been consistent for the entire life of the series in both Japan and America, with exception of the very first game as the Famicom was still super popular and getting lots of new games. Blazing Blade had a large marketing campaign, Sacred Stones and Path of Radiance had modest ones. Radiant Dawn had a big marketing push, Shadow Dragon did not. It very clearly correlates with the life of the release platform. You'll notice the Warriors games got good advertising as well except for the 3DS one which was barely mentioned and remembered.

 

[The Great Ape Escape]

Hapi's ending w/Dimitri waves off the mole men from being a threat in the future. I actually dislike Cindered Shadow's "additions" like that.

Anyway Edelgard's whole faux Senator Armstrong stance about how the only way to clear the rot is tear out it by the roots is disproven by Sylvain ending crest discrimination in a single generation by himself. The game does a really good job at making her look really retarded, intentionally or not.

 

[Computer God Autism]

Blazing Blade had a large marketing campaign, Sacred Stones and Path of Radiance had modest ones. Radiant Dawn had a big marketing push, Shadow Dragon did not.

Sure, Nintendo is financially responsible for the marketing, people at IS still have to make suggestions and requests regarding their products on how and where they are marketed and create the materials to be marketed. Fiduciary responsibility is not sole discretion.

Blazing Blade had a single fifteen second-long commercial that told you nothing about FE aside from it being in a medieval setting and involving building an army. Sacred Stones had virtually no marketing and the biggest marketing either Tellius games got was Ike being put into Brawl. Blazing Blade was not close to the release date of the GBA, coming two years after launch, and both Tellius games relied almost entirely on the ingame cutscenes for their trailers, which was a horrible decision for the Wii with its casual audience thinking they were getting another motion-control game.

Big marketing from Nintendo in the aughts looked like the sort of treatment Pokemon, Mario, Zelda, Kirby, Animal Crossing and SSB got. FE did not get that, and it did not need it; but it did need competent marketing, which it did not get.

You'll notice the Warriors games got good advertising as well except for the 3DS one which was barely mentioned and remembered.

There have only been two warriors games, so you're basically saying only half of them have gotten good advertising. Three Hopes came five years after the Switch launched and three years after 3Hs, which again contradicts the idea that marketing investment correlates to lifespan. Nevermind that the original Warriors game still had more advertising than most historic FE titles, which makes sense given by that point FE had established itself as one of Nintendo's major IPs with Awakening and Fates' success and Nintendo was willing to actually finance major advertising campaigns for it.

 

[George Lucas]

Blazing Blade had a single fifteen second-long commercial that told you nothing about FE aside from it being in a medieval setting and involving building an army. Sacred Stones had virtually no marketing and the biggest marketing either Tellius games got was Ike being put into Brawl. Blazing Blade was not close to the release date of the GBA, coming two years after launch, and both Tellius games relied almost entirely on the ingame cutscenes for their trailers, which was a horrible decision for the Wii with its casual audience thinking they were getting another motion-control game.

Big marketing from Nintendo in the aughts looked like the sort of treatment Pokemon, Mario, Zelda, Kirby, Animal Crossing and SSB got. FE did not get that, and it did not need it; but it did need competent marketing, which it did not get.

Your subjective opinion about the quality of the campaigns is just that, but you can’t deny that more than just three FE games have had major marketing campaigns for them. That’s revisionist history. I don’t know if you were around back then but the series was getting highlighted in many different spaces. I particularly remember some giant Radiant Dawn ads slowing my DSL to a crawl when it came out. Blazing Blade got a now infamous Nintendo Power guide. You are either forgetting those existed or you just weren’t aware of them in the first place.

 

[Computer God Autism]

Your subjective opinion about the quality of the campaigns is just that, but you can’t deny that more than just three FE games have had major marketing campaigns for them.

I literally just did and the burden of proof on demonstrating any pre-Awakening marketing campaign was major is on you. I have never heard anyone in the FE fandom refer to them as 'major' before this, and if your qualifier for major is the occasional spotlight in Nintendo Power and online advertisements on late-aughts DS online connectivity that most kids didn't even use, then it's an effectively worthless term.

 

[George Lucas]

I literally just did and the burden of proof on demonstrating any pre-Awakening marketing campaign was major is on you. I have never heard anyone in the FE fandom refer to them as 'major' before this, and if your qualifier for major is the occasional spotlight in Nintendo Power and online advertisements on late-aughts DS online connectivity that most kids didn't even use, then it's an effectively worthless term.

Lol whatever dude. I won’t be able to find the old ads and I’m not going to hunt down old Nintendo Power issues. We can have semantic arguments about what constitutes as ‘major’ but by your own words what Nintendo did for Awakening, Fates, and 3H is major and I stand by that Blazing Blade and RD got similar treatment as at least Fates and 3H. For Blazing Blade it’s not about how old the GBA was. It was about how relevant the GBA was and at the time it was a premier system getting tons of new games. If you can’t see how Nintendo gives advertising based on how relevant the platform is market-wise, you’re just being obtuse.

 

[Lone MacReady II]

The only Fire Emblem commercial I ever saw was one for Awakening back in the day. I saw it when I was at dental on base, thought it was pretty cool looking, only knew about FE via Marth from smash. I was immediately taken by the 3DS visuals, combining the 3D buildings with 2D sprites really charmed me.

 

[A Very Big Fish]

The only ads I remember were from Nintendo Power.

I at least remember seeing TV ads for other Nintendo franchise's commercials back in the day.

 

[The Great Ape Escape]

I can't even find an English commercial for Radiant Dawn on youtube. Best I got is this

But the description says it MIGHT be a commercial, and it's longer than other Fire Emblem commercials I've looked at.

 

[Berrakh]

Anyway Edelgard's whole faux Senator Armstrong stance about how the only way to clear the rot is tear out it by the roots is disproven by Sylvain ending crest discrimination in a single generation by himself.

He clearly doesn’t do this actually. It doesn’t even make sense how he would do it and is only believed because some endings don’t stipulate an exact dimension to his influence (while others do). He’s also a supremely overrated character in general so people buy it for that reason.

 

[The Great Ape Escape]

He clearly doesn’t do this actually.

"Under his leadership, nobles were persuaded that Relics and Crests were not necessary as they previously thought."
Your disdain for the character does not change reality.

 

[NerdShamer]

My only exposure to FE was an preview that Game Informer did. Mario and Sonic managed to eat up all of the televised advertisements and a lot of old third party gems was just sitting on the shelves at Game Stop