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Fire Emblem vs. Advance Wars

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CajoleJuice

Member
Seeing the thread on Fire Emblem made me post this thread yet again. I'm sure it's been done before.

I haven't beat Fire Emblem yet (I'm up to Mission 20), so my opinion I guess doesn't mean shit, but I found I just had more fun with Advance Wars. The weird thing is that I really think Fire Emblem is the better and deeper game, but I'm too obsessive with keeping people alive, and I've done missions over and over again to accomplish my goal of not letting anyone die. I really don't mind all that much though. Advance Wars 1 and 2 were both just unbelievably fun. I can't even explain why I enjoyed AW1 and 2 more, but I did. Maybe once I beat Fire Emblem, my opinion will change. What do you guys think?
 
Fire Emblem is probably more enjoyable as a standard game that you play through (certainly the story, music, and characters), but Advance Wars is probably more addictive and a bit more "open ended" in the strategies you can use.
 
I prefer AW.

More strategic depth to that game, especially in 2P mode. Massive replayability in multiplay.

FE is more about building characters and exploiting the game mechanics viciously in order to get through some pretty nicely scripted stages. Story is also better.
 
advance wars by miles and miles. that you can sacrifice units allows for actual on-the-fly strategy rather than fire emblem's pure anality/trial-and-error. and of course advance wars allows for perfectionism too, if you want to go that way.

i'm not opposed to strategy games with permanent character death...tactics ogre is my all-time genre favorite, and it's at least as harsh as fire emblem. but there i felt like i had more control over a battle's outcome, and something about fire emblem's combination of simplicity and rigor didn't sit well with me.
 
I prefer FE to AW, but both are awesome games. I'm feeling a little more excited about FE these days, though, because the GC version is out here in two weeks... :)
 
I'm on like chapter 3 of Fire Emblem, but I'm a sporadic person, I play one game, play another, play another, play another, go back to that game, play another, play another....etc

Cool game though, I like these type of games.

Advance Wars, I never did finish any of them. I lost my AW2 cart :(
 
FE is great --- but I'm not one for story-modes/campaigns --- a lot of us buy a portable game to play some quick sorties.

And FE doesn't even offer --- when you start you start, when you're done you're done...

Both are insanely awesome, but AW nurtures creativity --- it lasts long long after its campaign from building maps, 6 hour battles, quick 30min sorties, and unlocking characters ... It's a permanent cartridge in a lot of poeples DS's and SP's because it has so much to offer and is always ready for a go.
 
AW smashes FE in terms of an actual strategic experience. I don't even really feel like its debatable. I do prefer FE's Swords 'n sorcery theme, but that doesn't count for a whole lot in the face of AW's sheer flawless awesomeness.
 
I like sending units to their death and constricting my enemies with superior $ so I like AW better plus there's the fun multiplayer
 
I prefer AW because it was a much, much deeper game. FE was very enjoyable, if too easy, and there wasn't anything to keep me coming back after I finished it.
 
Fire Emblem for ultimate win. The fact that each character is "unique" and can permanately die adds weight to each decision you make, allowing your experience to be both more intense and strategically important.
 
Maybe I don't have an attention span, but the story in Fire Emblem is tough to follow. All I know is that some of the guys in my party are a little jauntier than the others.
 
Overall I like the Fire Emblem games better than the Wars series, but both Advance Wars and Advance Wars 2 were better than Fire Emblem Rekka no Ken. Putting it in another way, although Rekka no Ken is still a very good game (best SRPG released to date on the GBA, in the US), excluding the first two FE games because they're really too old to be accurately judged, it's the weakest of the modern FE games (including being compared against Seima, the most recent FE title), while both Advance Wars games were the best of the Wars series. So in that regard, it's not really surprising which one is better if you're just comparing Advance Wars to Fire Emblem Rekka no Ken (the one released in the US).

If you didn't like Rekka no Ken because you thought it was either too easy, or too simple, I would recommend at least experimenting with the Fire Emblem Thracia 776 ROM. It's a SNES game, with pretty good graphics for its time, and the scenarios are extremely in-depth. The game manages to pull off puzzle-like methods for conquering each scenario, and it's really brilliant to witness. In Rekka, you can pick up allies and transport them around. In Thracia, you can do that, but you can also capture enemies and take their weapons. That one facet (which would have increased the strategy in the GBA FE games by tenfold) offers so much in the way of strategy and figuring out a solution to the scenario that it's unbelievable.

I'm hoping the GC title can capture some of that magic. It has brought back the skills and offers a pushing ability. Very promising so far. :)
 
I prefer FE as far as story, character design, and continuity.

I think AW trumps FE in terms of strategy and replayability(due to the multiplayer + map maker).

But the real answer is both are awesome and are better than any other SRPG/SWS.
 
I think I probably had more fun with Fire Emblem. Advance Wars had me being too meticulous. I stressed over every decision. Fire Emblem was much the same way, but not quite as much.
 
FE > AW because of the feudal japanese fantasy setting. I didn't like Advance wars too much because of the militarisitic setting (FE also has greater depth in terms of story)
 
My vote for Fire Emblem. That does not mean that Advance Wars is, to put simply, not an incredibly awesome and addictive game in itself.
 
Advance Wars for me, all the way.

FE is good...but i find some aspects to be more frustrating than tactical....the whole weapon thing and the fact that you can only ever visit a shop during a battle. Seriously, would it be that hard for them to go buy stuff between battles?
 
john tv said:
I prefer FE to AW, but both are awesome games. I'm feeling a little more excited about FE these days, though, because the GC version is out here in two weeks... :)
Click to expand...

GRRRRRR.....

NOA better get on the ball with this one my Gamecube is screamin for a game worth my time.
 
I prefer FE. FE is a much better story driven game, better cutscenes (better story in them), etc.

Advance Wars though IMHO is a better strategy game. More units, resource management, generally much tighter and more intense maps.

Both games have a place and I usually anticipate releases from both series, but because of FE's stories I usually enjoy that series more.
 
I love them both. Advance Wars is a much better strategy game, though. Between the completely different styles of play you use depending on the CO you choose, the timing involved with using and countering CO powers, the additional elements to the core gameplay (missiles, fog of war), and of course the core gameplay itself (forces offense in battle and advancement, the importance of supply lines, the use of factories to build to units that allows a more flexible strategy, multiple ways to beat most scenarios) it's a deep little game.

FE is weak in comparison. It practically forces a defensive game that doesn't take any risks (well, you can take risks at the beginning of a battle). It's still incredibly fun, but I always end up deciding on a basic strategy at the beginning of a battle and hoping I don't fuck it up by moving one of my characters one space too far. If I do mess up, I end up making a small variation whereas I might attack a map with a completely different strategy in AW.
 
Advance Wars by a mile. Not only does it have better gameplay, but it's not shackled to a weak fantasy narrative. Which is why FE is so popular here :lol Seriously, I think it's one of the more overrated games on GAF. There's nothing really bad about it, but it's pretty boring.

That said, I look forward to seeing the console iteration on GC. Not so much another GBA title, though I bet it's well done and popular again.
 
Musashi Wins! said:
That said, I look forward to seeing the console iteration on GC. Not so much another GBA title, though I bet it's well done and popular again.
Click to expand...
To be honest, I'm more excited about the new GBA title given it's map based movement. I always stressed too much about leveling up my party evenly in FE.
 
This thread makes me want that FE Gamecube one pretty bad. Damn, I can't wait.



But anyways. Advanced Wars is fun from the very first mission until the very end. It's well balanced, and has a ton of replayabilty.

FE took awhile to get going, and once I finished it, I had no reason to play again.
 
I haven't finished FE, but I can already say I prefer AW (the first game, didn't care so much for the second). FE is great, though.
 
To be honest, I'm more excited about the new GBA title given it's map based movement. I always stressed too much about leveling up my party evenly in FE.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Seima is an "RPG-like" SRPG in the sense that instead of emphasizing strategy and beating scenarios in as few turns as possible, it emphasizes powering your troops up and enjoying the building of an army. It brings back the feel of Fire Emblem Gaiden, which did the same thing.

The only shitty thing about Seima is that instead of controlling both lords, you have to pick one and stick with them for the duration of the game (except the first part, where you control Eirik no matter what). In Gaiden and TearRing Saga, which both use the "leveling up freedom map movement" system, you have two lords that you can switch between at a certain point in the game, making for an amazing experience.

I think Seima was rushed, and the dual lord system dropped. It's too bad, but for a GBA game, it's awesome regardless.
 
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