Douglas's game of the week-No wait, year: Fire Emblem

I'm not very familliar about the Fire Emblem series-Until last year, I knew absolutley nothing about Fire Emblem. I played Super Smash Brothers Melee and found Marth and Roy. Shortly after that, I begun looking for Fire Emblem. I downloaded a ROM of the first one. Though I must admit: It was VERY badly translated (As in Metal Gear quality) and had alot of characters be unusable-Even Marth. (And I really wish Marth wore pants. He looks like a girl in a dress in the first game)

Well, I heard news of a game called "Fire Emblem, the Sealed Sword" being released out here, but I never really found it and I think it was a false rumor, but I saw screenshots of it. Maybe it was just another Japan only game for them to taunt us with Roy?

The graphics of Fire Emblem (GBA) are pretty good-The battle motions are very lifelike (Like in Prince of Persia) and I really like the portraits of the characters in the cutscenes. Though I still wonder if Eliwood and Roy are related to eachother...

Fire Emblem would be better if you could revive your dead troops-This would prevent you from restarting every few seconds whenever you lose a key member of your party (Like Florina or Kent or Sain) and you kinda grow attatched to them. That pretty much adds to the strategy, because if you send a character like Eliwood, Hector or Lyn ahead to attack an enemy, they might get surrounded and get killed. Be prepared to cry like a person who just played Final Fantasy 2j and to reset whenever you lose a party member. You can continue on, but I think it's easier to restart whenever somebody dies so you know not to make that mistake or to take a specific unit into battle.

The storyline is quite original-You first start as Lyn who wants to find her grandfather and then you play as Eliwood who wants to find his father. Eventually, he meets up with his friend Hector and eventually Lyn. I could explain more, but I'll most likely spoil major parts of it.

Another thing that got kind of annoying about Fire Emblem is the Tutorials-Sure, some of us are new to the Fire Emblem series and this is the first Fire Emblem some of us have played, but we're not 3 year olds you know-Example is "Wil is an archer-He uses a Bow to fight". No **** Sherlock-And he's weilding the bow right there. Some newbies to strategy gaming might need to know that, but for some people who have played Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics and Disgaea the hour of Darkness, it's annoying. You can skip through the tutorials, but you'll miss some key element to the story.

Overall, I think Fire Emblem is the best handheld game of 2003...Okay, some (Especially the Final Fantasy hippies over at Gamefaqs) may not agree with me and think that Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is better, but this is my opinion. Fire Emblem is highly addictive and is overall one of the best choices to add to your collection. 9.50/10

Pros:
Great storyline
Great graphics
Cool Music and sounds
Highly addictive
First Fire Emblem game we get out here

Cons:
Characters don't come back if they die
Somewhat annoying tutorials

I heard somewhere that Eliwood is Roy's father.

The tutorials might also be for people who grew up with Shining Force and would throw the game out the window because of its complicity if the game didn't lead them around by the nose at the beginning.


Where are these lemmings going? The Super Nintendo Super Shire! Hop in line and follow them there!

^That would have been in the Square-Enix Forum.

[Octopus Fred Has No Arms]

Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga. *Insert Thumbs Up Icon Here*

And I really wish Marth wore pants. He looks like a girl in a dress in the first game

If he wore a codpiece, then that would be really disturbing.

Characters don't come back if they die

FE4 allows you to repair items and one of the items is the Blagi/Valkerie staff that can revive units(which costs a hellofalot to repair, that's where thiefs like Deu and Patty are useful)

[ January 03, 2004, 12:11 AM: Message edited by: Banned from VGF ]

I'm going to support Douglas and say that FE was the best handheld game of 2003. Sure, the restarting is annoying (I have to redo the one where you Legault, I forgot to steal the Member Card) but Final Fantasy Tactic Advance was painful. It was kind of like a drug or something, it was addicting and painful at the same time. No understandable plot, stupid motives ("I don't want to have to die my hair!"), and endless repetition makes Fire Emblem much better in my quite unhumble opinion.

Most of the 10 chapter tutorial had to do with building up your characters and advancing towards Lundgren.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance was phenomenal until the final boss though. Even a 5 year old could beat it if it's not being dumb. Otherwise, it's cheaper than a christmas ornament in June.

Fire Emblem is better. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is Mind control.

[A Genius]

I want to get this game. Specifically, to see if it's any better than FFTA, which was too tedious.

-A Genius (When I say tedious, I mean that it has really easy, but really long, and really repetetive battles.)

[Pentagon]

I got Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for Christmas. My mom took it away after I was on that Materia mission after the 5th Totema because I played it too much.

Fire Emblem I haven't gotten yet, I can't find it anywhere and when I do find it, It's when I don't have my Wallet with me.

Originally posted by CodieKitty:
I heard somewhere that Eliwood is Roy's father.

He is. You find out at the end of game, in the epilogue after the final chapter.