Thoughts on Ike, Chrom, and Awakening

[gsninja]

Who are your least favourite FE lords?

Probably Roy, Lyn, and, if she counts, Micaiah.

 

[Blade Knight]

Who are your least favourite FE lords?

Marth is my least favorite.

 

[NineWholeGrains]

Probably Roy, Lyn, and, if she counts, Micaiah.

My man.

I'll toss Marth in there as well, but those 3 really stand out to me as the worst.

Surprisingly, even though 8 is one of my least favorite FE's, I actually liked Eirika/Ephraim.

 

[Unicorn]

You know who's my least favorite?
Roy

Lord forgive this poor soul, he/she knows not what they have done. Please watch over them, and place your hand on them, so they are not consumed by t3h ph1r3 of vengeance.
Amen.

 

[gsninja]

I thought I'd dislike Eirika at first, but she probably ended up being my favorite Lord of the game.

My man.

I'll toss Marth in there as well, but those 3 really stand out to me as the worst.

Surprisingly, even though 8 is one of my least favorite FE's, I actually liked Eirika/Ephraim.

I totally loved Eirika, not even sure why (No, not waifu).

 

[Racquets]

Awakening has great improvements to the series's mechanics, despite a lack of variety in map goals. The mere fact that you can select between Classic and Casual (permanent death or not) is great because even though I will always pick Classic (as a long-time Fire Emblem player, having no permanent death just doesn't feel right), those who feel intimidated by the feature are able to avoid it entirely, making the series more open to newcomers. But I feel as though the Radiant Saga has a stronger story, and more interesting characters. I would also argue the character designs are stronger in the Radiant Saga due to them being very unique, appealing, and memorable while having (little to) no sexual fanservice. I'd love it if future games would feature Awakening's gameplay mechanics with characters written and designed in the vein of the Radiant Saga (that's not to say that Awakening has no good characters; quite the opposite, actually, as it features many great characters who I love--I also like the characters of other sub-series of Fire Emblem games). Even remakes of past games (Radiant Saga included) with the mechanics of Awakening would be amazing to have.

In terms of Smash, I'm really pleased with how things turned out. I always felt that Ike wouldn't leave; I understand that Fire Emblem is very niche (even Awakening isn't in the top 25 best-selling 3DS games, despite its popularity), but it's still a series of 13 games, each with many playable characters of different classes and personalities. It seemed unlikely, but Fire Emblem having three reps just made sense to me--keep our two older reps, as they represent different games, and add one from the new and successful Awakening. I'm very glad it turned out that way.

Chrom could have definitely been made unique, especially as a Great Lord, but ultimately, going with Robin works extremely well. I have nothing against sword-users in Smash, but Fire Emblem offers so much more than that, so having the (main) Awakening rep focus on magic and even the durability mechanic was very welcome to me.

I do hope that fans of Awakening will try out the older games (even if they are a bit difficult to obtain--or at least join me in hoping for Virtual Console releases): I hope they learn about Ike and Marth and even Lyn and Roy, even if they aren't the best of characters. I hope they look into Genealogy of the Holy War and Thracia 776, and even The Sacred Stones, because they all have something fun to bring to the Fire Emblem table. And I hope that Smash continues to introduce people to Fire Emblem, and that people enjoy playing as the Fire Emblem characters.