a Fire Emblem game becomes fun when you can play as Rebecca

@silas3839

17 күн бұрын

Play FE Code of the Burger King

@shanegiorgio4713

17 күн бұрын

That's fair, but I'm more of a Wil person myself.

@Kakashi10ist

17 күн бұрын

@@silas3839 Sounds interesting

The fun thing is that I can pretend that I am a chess master, when in reality I'm just watching anime on my Gameboy.

@Speedwinghere

17 күн бұрын

So true

I’d say a big part of fun in FE is connection to characters. I mean this both in a writing sense, like you think they have fun dialogue (someone like Odin) or they hit the field and are immediately entertaining and unique to use amongst the cast (someone like Marcia), or maybe you just got very lucky with one specific character’s level ups and they became the star of the run. Little experiences really shape a game and it helps to make it fun. They give us characters rather than just generics so you can be like “god, Meg is awful, but she’s so funny to use!” Or “ohmigosh Kagetsu is a god out of nowhere” or “wow my dodge tank dancer Ferdinand build came together and saved my run!” You connect to them more than you would if they were just a generic unit sprite with a randomly chosen name. Oh also it’s fun to make anime boys kiss each other.

Gambling. Every attack, every level up depends on a rng role of the dice. I love the rush of betting a late game Ironman run on a 70% hit chance.

@Jyuratodus_Enjoyer

17 күн бұрын

To add to this: Good critical animations. Nothing says victory like a summoning circle, dragon spin tackle, or an unnecessary amount of flips of the weapon/person before DEATH

Honestly when the early game gives you enough characters and resources to figure out the puzzles for early maps that then teach you how to plan for the bigger an harder stuff. Marth in shadow dragon is probably the most tutorial like overall but that's also fun to learn

fun is never objective. I live for the turn to turn decision making, action economy management, planning builds, etc, but I have multiple friends who just want to see their favorite character's numbers go up.

you missed the "meme potential" category shm

@Speedwinghere

17 күн бұрын

All worldy possessions go to meme units

I love Engage as much as I love 3H as much as I love Awakening. All of them for different reasons (for the most part, anyways), and for all of them I could find elements from other games that I would have loved included there.

To me, much of the fun in Fire Emblem comes from taking a bunch of units that start off weak, and training them into powerful badasses by the end of the game. This is especially true in the earlier Fire Emblem games, where the strategy isn't that deep and most problems can be solved by having good stats. In some of the later games (Fates, Three Houses, Engage), there's more complex mechanics and the strategy becomes deeper. In those games, you're often presented with tricky situations. I like coming up with a clever sequence of moves and come out on top, and "feel smart" about it.

At least to me it ultimately comes down to the fact that FE is a strategy game, I'm having fun with this game when I feel like I was rewarded for my decision making skills. That's why mechanics like the weapon triangle and fates pair up are really fun to me, they make your life easier for properly understanding your suroundings and acting accordingly.

You say that fun is subjective, but I’d argue that difficulty and fairness are also subjective to some degree as well. Especially on a blind vs not blind playthrough. Some people might find certain mechanics really difficult to get a grasp on whereas others might find it really easy to understand, and if that mechanic is important to the overall gameplay that can affect how difficult and fair the game feels to them.

@Speedwinghere

17 күн бұрын

You're not completely wrong on that, when I made the fairness video I was talking about in terms of playing on the hardest difficulty though. So the assumption was at least a basic understanding of game mechanics.

@MormonDude

17 күн бұрын

@@Speedwinghere see I think Even that can change things. Normally I find FE7 a lot of fun to play but the hardest difficulty, Hector Hard Mode, I find to be real dumb because of the way it “increases” the difficulty, which is to say it lets you play less game. If adds fog of war to maps that didn’t otherwise have/need it, adds a bunch of status staves forcing you to slow down, and worst of all it reduces the max number of units you can have deployed at once. It’s why Hector Normal Mode is usually my favorite mode to play.

It's gotten to the point where different aspects of Fire Emblem will appeal to different people. Some prefer the challenge of the gameplay be it through resource management or map design while some prefer the power fantasy of just demolishing the enemy with their overpowering strategies. Others might prefer figuring out the optimization of unit balance while others prefer the customization like in Three Houses so they can comfortably use whatever character they want. There are some that really enjoy the story and worldbuilding lore while others enjoy the characters and their interactions with one another. It's tough to appeal to all of these attributes and make the majority of audiences satisfied, but I do believe there is a Fire Emblem game for each. It just takes little research.

map flow. this is adjacent to map design in that there's a lot of overlap, no empty turns of moving units, having more than 1 or 2 units, reasons to go fast and making it go fast be challenging yet fun, and not having anyone who can trivialize said map. most important of all is that it feels right. i also think it helps when the map design compliments the story, such as the escape chapters from thracia, and if it leads naturally into the next one.

For me it's the combination of writing, and gameplay, I have no idea how people can play this game for just gameplay when there's better game's, or just writing when there's much better stories, what FE does at its best is combine both of these traits into one experience that feels perfectly woven into itself, where the gameplay compliments the writing, and the writing compliments the gameplay. When people make a defense of "oh just ignore such and such and play the game how I want you to to like it" It's saying that you don't understand the core foundation of the series which in the words of Kaga "Play the game how you want to play it"

@juicyjuustar121

8 күн бұрын

I agree with this. Thing is, I don't think there are very many games in the series that have bad gameplay OR a bad story. The only games I've played where I personally feel one side or the other fails are FE1 (gameplay and story are both bad imo but it's the NES so I can't be too harsh on it), Fates (which has been beaten to death already I don't need to explain that), and 3H (I just don't like the gameplay, I'm not gonna act like it's inherently bad but I personally do not enjoy it). Every other game in the series has had at the very least a pretty decent story and pretty decent gameplay if you ask me, BUT I know that "good gameplay" and "good story" are very subjective so I know many will disagree

As an awakening babby for me what makes an FE game fun is a cross between exploring a certain units quirks (either their in game personality through supports or leveling them with different builds) and map design (Conquest really makes me approach japanese turn based strategy games differently since before this im used to the age old strategy of throwing 1-2 OP units into the thick of the battle and see them kill every baddie in enemy phase from playing unhealthy amounts of Super Robot Wars)

I’m definitely one of the people who needs good writing to have fun! I need to fall in love with the characters, want to spend hours of my life with them and be devastated when I lose them (world lore doesn’t matter to me as much). Idk why I’m like this, maybe because I’m a big reader?

WHERE IS THE CHART SPEEDWINGS?

@Speedwinghere

17 күн бұрын

Scammed

Hmm, in terms fun”ness” (is that even a word), I say that everything explain from the video radiate some merit to having fun. I mean for me, what make FE fun is how different player have use different solutions in map design where(for example) some will use any available armor knights to tank choke point defensively while other will gorilla welfare the enemy aggressive toward the goal. It’s all depends of different solution that the player can come up with in peak map designs.

@Speedwinghere

17 күн бұрын

True! The more options there are to approach what the game throws at you the better

You have to try Berwick Saga. All you said in this video points to you propably enjoying playing it.

@Speedwinghere

17 күн бұрын

I've had it recommended to me multiple times. One day I will conquer my fear of hexagons

@Kryptnyt

17 күн бұрын

@@Speedwinghere I conquered my fear of hexagons only to be subjected to my new fear of Kaga murdering my horses with special arrows

My most important metric of whether the game is fun is how much effort I have to put in to succeed. If I just walk forward and mow down the enemies without much trouble I have less fun than if I have to put thought into things like attacking order, nearby enemies that could reach me on enemy phase, and so on. I also don't care much about map objective variance - seize-only games are great because seize is the objective I like the most by a long shot since, usually, seizing requires a more "focused" strategy than rout or defense. One of my favorite things in FE is leaving a bunch of enemy reinforcements behind as I seize the gate/throne in the nick of time, and you just don't get that feeling in non-seize maps.

My fun with Fire Emblem really stems from being creative. I like being creative with my gameplay. Keeps things interesting and engaging. Awakening, Sacred Stones, Engage, even all Fates games (including Rev) did this well. And while I haven't finished Conquest or Revelation the premise is the exact same as Birthright. Thats my personal opinion. I think Fire Emblem is better if you can make some super crazy builds.

For me personally, I think map design, varied phase focus, and class variety are my main draws. An ideal Fire Emblem game for me would have BOTH Player Phase and Enemy Phase focus in the same game, depending on the situation. Some maps could have strong enemies to force the player to act, while others could have droves of weak enemies; hell, you could even fit both into the same map! Have some sections of the map be filled with armies of weak enemies, but toss in some really strong enemies here or there to keep the player on their toes. Also, in terms of story, I do want the story to be good. Thing is, I don't think I've played a single FE game with a bad story (other than FE1 and Fates, but it's been so long since I've played Fates I don't even remember how bad the story was), so unlike most Fire Emblem fans, I don't feel too bad one way or the other if the story isn't perfect. I like that IntSys experiments with storytelling and tries out different things, I think Engage's story is just as good as 3H's, albeit for very different reasons. Additionally, I want the game to LOOK good. The games that hit that mark perfectly in my opinion are the GBA games, SoV, and Engage. The art styles are beautiful, the animations are peak, and generally speaking the presentation of each is near-perfect.

Probably breaking the game is the most fun on second playthroughs. Shadow dragon archer leveling up and arena. Gba arena grind up. Fates azura spam in early fates for all routes to have a op dancer Awakening robin solo 3 houses teleport and rescue comps to have a bunch of powerful warpers to break maps. Engage crit dodge thieves That's really fun.

The most fun thing for me is raising the latecoming underleveled unit to greatness.

@Speedwinghere

17 күн бұрын

I probably should have put zero to hero in here true!

@lsrrr3857

16 күн бұрын

You can't spell best without est

Fire emblem 3 book 1 (haven't played book 2) is the most fun I had with FE in while.

It's fun when the shit unit gets a perfect level up or when you dodge a fatal hit or get a lucky crit But aside from the randomness you nailed the points really well in the video

If the game tricks me into thinking I've done something smart, then it's fun! If the game makes me feel stupid... its... also fun? In a way?

Here’s one that’s impossible to quantify: personal connection. For some games in the series, I immediately felt drawn into the gameplay from the first map. Gaiden, fe4, Shadows of Valentia, Path of Radiance, Conquest for example. In other games, it felt more like I was just playing “another” fe game: Radiant Dawn, Shadow Dragon, Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, Mystery of the Emblem, New Mystery. Basically there’s a charm to some games that I felt drawn to that made me want to come back while others felt like an obligation.

What's this gameplay and where can I see more

@Speedwinghere

17 күн бұрын

Its an engage randomizer

@indulgent_pooch

17 күн бұрын

@@Speedwinghere I figured but I want more of this specific playthrough. Is there more?

@Speedwinghere

17 күн бұрын

@@indulgent_pooch sorry I only recorded this chapter just for background footage for this video

@indulgent_pooch

17 күн бұрын

Valid. I'd love to see a full playthrough here some day regardless

Fun is definitely variable on the game. Thracia is fun for feeling like an underdog in a world constantly trying to put you back in your place, relying on you being able to use the same underhanded tactics against your enemy better than they can use them against you. Fates is fun for the sheer amount of creativity and customizability it enables for the player with the best reclassing system in the entire series Three Houses is fun for the feeling of developing a group of weak, completely-inexperienced scrubs into battle-hardened warriors, and seeing them come to full-bloom in the five years you're gone. Engage... ... And the GBA titles have some of the most crisp, distinctly "Fire Emblem" gameplay in the series, pioneering much of the mechanics that would become series staples, with each providing their own distinct flair that is both easy to get into and hard to master.

I’m definitely one of those in the story/characters camp. Part of it is that I don’t replay Fire Emblem games that often (too many good titles out there to play the same game 3+ times) so it’s rare for me to experience the gameplay without also doing optional supports and sitting through the cutscenes.

I definitely have play styles I gravitate towards, but I wouldn’t refuse to play a well designed game with mechanics I don’t typically like! I don’t love resource management but I respect it’s implementation

What makes Fire Emblem fun is complaining about it.

@Speedwinghere

17 күн бұрын

Lots of people have fun then!

@lsrrr3857

17 күн бұрын

The most fun thing is to make a tierlist and starting a flame war with it

For me, it's how immersive the game is. > "Customization" and "freedom of choice" are important components of a great game. Resource management is a part of that. Deep story if done right (unintrusive) and meaning full relationship between characters add true value to the game. In the end, it come back to how "free" and immersive the game is. "Replayability" is just a by product of that. > Appropriate difficulty for the style of the game. I always play FE at highest difficulty, blind run & before any DLC is out. Including conquest, getting screwed by that swap-shuriken-poison stacking BS. The struggle was unique, adding value (including the fck it, i am done moments) to the playthrough. But I also find a lot of fun playing casual & beat 'em up game. As long as the difficulty is believable within the genre & the world-building, that's the right difficulty. Elden ring should stay dark & difficult, and pokemon should be lighthearted & easy as it always is. For FE & tactics games in general, I expect some challenges.

Personally one of my favorite is making strategies that work even if they are stupid like getting to fort turn one in fe6 chapter 2 feels so nice for none stupid one but for stupid strategy that's fun is abusing the layout of chapter 3 in fe8 to get ross to level ten with relative ease with basically no cost to your other units because it chapter 3 in sacred stones.

I like the struggles, the puzzles. The real rough situations they get you into. To me, most likely the biggest issue is over-customization of units. It can be fun to create one-man armies, but at this point you're not in a strategy game any longer, you've trivialized the game for yourself and it becomes a matter of sending a unit in the middle of the enemies without a real thought. Also this is just a thought, but having to think about team composition from map to map instead of trying to train units into juggernauts is a surprising amount of fun, and swapping units in and out is something that should be rewarded more often.

It is true that fun is subjective. I believe difficulty levels are a key to having fun. In one playthrough, you can wreck the entire enemy teams and treat the game like a visual novel. In another, you challenge yourself to make the correct moves to survive relentless enemies.

I almost want to say "the fact that this fandom do not play any other strategy RPG other than Unicorn Overlord".

@Speedwinghere

17 күн бұрын

Lmao, I actually play a lot of other ones! But yes I do get that impression from people

I love ALL Speedwinghere videos!!!! ❤

To me the importance of story depends of my expectations although I do tend to gravitate to rpgs so they have some focus on stories most time. But in games like MH or eventually engage wich I took as a anniversary game I overlook it in favor of gameplay, even if some parts of engage still hurt me a little for how bad it went.

There's no need for a video, the thumbnail perfectly answers the question.........

For me, one of the biggest things is the ability to f around. If a unit is bad, I want to try them. General Tharja sounds stupid. I'll try it. Giving Mae all of the stat boosters in Echoes because she's my favorite was enjoyable and surprisingly viable on Hard Mode. Making Veyle the strongest puncher on earth was hilarious. This is why I play Fire Emblem.

I find a lot of enjoyment from the support system. FE 3 houses did it best imo. Loved seeing why or who would hook up with who. Or who I thought should be together. And then the characters themselves they have to be interesting and down to earth and not give the player character or avatar a blow job everytime they see them. The story doesn’t need to be perfect but it needs to be not as fantastical. FE 1,2,36,7,8,9 3 houses are examples of this where it feels like a lord of the rings esc adventure. Fun but grounded in its world. Last two things that I find the most fun are build variety, and training scrubs or bad characters into hero’s. I find babying units to be fun especially if I have an end goal in mind for them. And having a diverse build variety for all or most characters is great and makes repeat playthroughs enjoyable. I’ve played through 3 houses multiple times doing this. Only using woman, only using teachers, only using the dlc characters, just the characters I believe would hate the church of serous. It goes on and on, and there’s a reason why I have 400 hrs into that game

I pretty much agree with basically everything you have said in this video on what makes a fun FE game especially the story/lore segments. Mega hot take incoming but It kinda always annoyed me how some players will straight up ignore bad game design in these games all because the pixels on the screen said something sad. Not saying you cant love a game because you love the plot and characters, but when the game objectively has pretty piss poor gameplay and then defending it all because you like the cast is imo not really healthy or productive for criticizing these titles. Because at the end of the day, these are VIDEO GAMES! Gameplay>>>>Plot in this media for me. Im sorry but the 2 minute sad cutscene did not make the goofy ass 30+ minute map fun or enjoyable to go through, ESPECIALLY if its an enemy phase game.

@MormonDude

17 күн бұрын

That is my main gripe with Three Houses. The map design in that game is dogwater and a lot of the mechanics I didn’t really care for.

@xiphiasace117

17 күн бұрын

@@MormonDude exactly! That game is genuinely so awful and boring to play. When ever i see someone say its “peak” i immediately role my eyes.

@OnlyTAS

17 күн бұрын

I remember writing this on reddit, and 3H fans came for me like rabid dogs. Naga forbid I dislike that shitty excuse of FE mechanics

@xiphiasace117

17 күн бұрын

@@OnlyTAS The FE subreddit is the definition of brainrot. im sorry you had to go through that

We seem to feel similarly about the narrative elements of these games, so i'll throw this out there. I like fire emblem's "dumb" stories more than fire emblem's "good" stories (i think they're all dumb and you don't need to think about any of them very hard for them to start having major problems, but i digress). Nami Komuro's stuff is more fun to me. People will say that's because i played her work first but i've been playing these since the gamefaqs "why are they saying that Roy is named Eliwood, where is Marth" discourse. I've tried several times to really absorb the stories and characters and worlds of the Good Story games but i just. don't. care. I've tried, but it's just generally not a draw of the series to me, and they have never made me as interested as in Conquest when you're running up the stairs and your goldfish sister landlord gets punched in the head and dies, or, like, the entire last 1/4 of Engage. There was a point in time where that wasn't a controversial place to be as a fan, so it's weird to see the increasingly-common perspective that people like me didn't exist until Conquest. Especially that my idea of fun is lesser somehow, but that's just internet

@Speedwinghere

17 күн бұрын

It is pretty funny to me that it seems like elitism has been slowly replaced by story elitism

What makes Fire Emblem fun for me is first of all the characters, I am very picky about this criteria, no matter how legendary the first Fire Emblem was on the NES, I was never interested in trying it because the character art style was ugly and very outdated (yes, that's understandable considering the first FE was a 30+ year old game at this point). And the second is the attack animation, not many games in the SRPG genre have attack animations as flashy and cool as Fire Emblem. Attack Animation in Engage is PEAK and sets a new standard for future FE attack animations!

Major considerations: No particular order Multiple solutions: To prevent soft-locking. Overall unit and team build is based on story details rather than spreadsheets and datamined growths. Ideally the first playthrough is done without guides. Logical consistency- The frail, magic healer class should have access to S-rank staves. Heavy hitter physical classes should not have high resistance or countermagic. Engaging Story- I could just play chess if I wanted strategy without story. It doesn't need to be a masterpiece, but I need a reason to care about the mission objective. A reason to continue the storyline without pulling out my hair. More Unhappy Reunion less Ninja Hell and Kitsune Lair. Return on investment- Putting exp into a unit only for them to whiff, do single digit damage, or die to a stiff breeze makes me want to drop the game. (Side eyes Arthur, Odin, Nyx, Framme, Felicia, Rev Scarlet, Brom) Minor considerations: Unit Viability- every unit should have a niche rather than one class being superior, *cough* *cough* Wyvern Lord. Story gameplay integration- Unique recruitments based off of who you rescue, and different endings based on who survives to the end. Cool animations- The crit animations in Sacred Stone were enough to hook me. As opposed to FE3H combat arts. Sorry if I seem fixated on FE Fates.

@Speedwinghere

9 күн бұрын

I really like your logical consistency point, it's something which the series does struggle with at points and that's how we end up with the mega units

4:17 FE4 would be your game to go. In another point I truly like the way FE new mystery #12 had with weapons. You could add two of the same weapon. Iron sword had 4 uses more and another Iron sword had 10 uses more. Combine them and you have now an Iron sword with 14 uses left. Another way to manage weapons.

@Speedwinghere

17 күн бұрын

There are aspects of fe4 that I really like, but the actual core gameplay itself is some of the most boring in the series imo

My favorite thing to do in this series is take what both the games and community discourage and make it not only work, but the beating heart of my team or simply doing stupid shit What's that game? You're giving Bernadetta banes in axes and armor? I found my Great Knight What's that community? You're telling me that I shouldn't make my villagers soldiers? Cool, lemme solo act 3, 4 and Thabes with Baron Kliff then we can talk later Takumi is a pretty proud guy, wouldn't it be funny if I made his rival Leo a Swordmaster with a Levin Sword? I bet he would rage a lot about Nohrian Scum stealing Ryoma's fighting style

"Fun" is too shallow a word. "Fun" is for action games. Want fun, play FE Warriors (or Heroes maybe, I don't know enough about that to say). What turn-based tactics/strategy in general (using one's smarts), and FE games in particular need to be is satisfying and enjoyable. There is so much more to that than mere fun. From your criteria, I think that's what you want too. And when FE is entertaining as well, so much the better.

For me, i need the story writing level of 3 houses, the support system of 3 houses, the combat of engage and more grounded setting with some fantasy elements (not having too many fairytale creatures but a few is ok)

Simple answer: not playing it

@Speedwinghere

17 күн бұрын

Words of a true fire emblem fan

@AzumarillConGafasBv

17 күн бұрын

@@crimson1million based

@emils1615

17 күн бұрын

I understand now. True fire emblem fans don't just hate fire emblem but don't play it in the first place.

@Abundy

17 күн бұрын

@@Speedwinghere Three Houses*

@MormonDude

17 күн бұрын

@@Abundydon’t go starting that again. We’ve already had arguments in the comments section of one of speedwing’s videos.

I want to use all the units, so strict resource management, bad unit balance or bad writing undermines it. Shadow Dragon H5 or Rev basically solve themselves, because 80% of the cast is completely worthless, and I don't like using the same units every time. Map design is something FE struggled for a long time, but it didn't bother me that much in Echoes, the story going downhill from act 4 onwards was more of an issue for me. Replayability from gameplay perspective is well and good, but FE it's missing any narrative replayability. The routes in Fates for example are very railroady and nothing you do on any of them matters in the slightest - you'll always play the same set of maps and get the same set of dialogues no matter what you do. New Mystery has more replayability in that aspect, despite lacking any route splits. I like when enemies are a challenge, but not when they have ridiculous setups like in Conquest (lunging over the walls, double poison etc), because instead of making the game more challenging, it encourages making one busted unit that can destroy everything and thus suck all the fun out of the game. Player vs Enemy phase gameplay can be dictated by difficulty, it's just games that are enemy phase focused lack any challenging one. What I want is unit identity back - narrow set of reclass options, rather everyone being able to do everything. Have the cast being more involved in the main story, rather than being relegated exclusively to supports. To require some effort in getting new units, rather than being handed them left and right like candies. And for the love of Naga - can we get a game where the main antagonist is just "the guy", not some evil dragon or godlike deity? When Engage's story trailer dropped, I lost all hope for this game - it could have the greatest gameplay in the world and I wouldn't find it fun.

@Speedwinghere

17 күн бұрын

I mean evil dragons are a staple of the series, it would be strange for the anniversary title to not have one really. I agree with unit identity though, I still want reclass but limited like in fates so that each unit does still have something of distinct value over others

@Xertaron.

16 күн бұрын

@@Speedwinghere Staples aren't always good, avatars became a staple in more recent games, and every attempt feels worse than the last. The evil dragon and Camus archetypes are also great examples, they peaked in the first game and only got worse since. Medeus's hatred for humanity and desire to seek revenge for what was done to his people is a more prominent part of his character than being an evil dragon. I suppose that begs the follow-up question to the one presented in the video - what does define Fire Emblem? Not evil dragons, that's for sure.

Healers on a horse make fire emblem fun, regular bishops/ priests dont do it for me

Speedwing videos

It must be not playing the game and instead planning out a playthrough to minimise the turncount, while making arbitrary concessions to the turncount because beating it 1 turn earlier would not be reliable, which is completely subjective, defeats the point and probably only exists to avoid the logical conclusion of low testosterone counting which would be just rescue boosting / moving units forward on a grid and crit killing everything with no danger, turning it into a move units towards the objective simulator.

@Speedwinghere

17 күн бұрын

Warp staff

@pivotkid908

17 күн бұрын

@@Speedwinghere I could actually play the game... or I could use the warp staff!