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[JackFrost2012]

Okay, so despite being an RPG nut I've managed to never play a Fire Emblem game; blame Usenet circa 1995 and the impossible assholes who would never, EVER shut up about how other SRPGs weren't "real games" and only Fire Emblem was a "real game" and if you derived any enjoyment at all from a non-Fire Emblem SRPG then you weren't a "real gamer" and blah blahdity blah blah blah and I'm starting to get 'Nam flashbacks so let's move on.

I want to play a Fire Emblem game! I've heard that Fire Emblem (FE7) and Sacred Stones (FE8) are mostly comparable, so I'm wondering if I should play FE7 first since it came out first, or skip to FE8 as it's slightly better, or it makes absolutely no difference, or what. Don't be smart and say "both" because I am only in the country for 3 more days, and am only going to buy ONE Fire Emblem game during those 3 days. If they really are totally interchangeable more-or-less and I'd do myself fine with either, then please at least try to explain a bit about either one so I can make an informed decision.

Thank you!

 

[Oogami]

I would say FE8. Just because it's the better game.

blame Usenet circa 1995 and the impossible assholes who would never, EVER shut up about how other SRPGs weren't "real games" and only Fire Emblem was a "real game" and if you derived any enjoyment at all from a non-Fire Emblem SRPG then you weren't a "real gamer" and blah blahdity blah blah blah and I'm starting to get 'Nam flashbacks so let's move on.

Huh?

 

[AniHawk]

FE VII:
+Much longer than TSS
+Much more optional sidequests
+More challenging
+Better characters/story
-Really linear, so make sure you get EVERYONE to level up and not always send your strongest out

The Sacred Stones:
+New world map allows for some dungeon crawling and easy levelling
+Far better character customization (you can decide what you want to make them into)
+A little more replayability due to about 5-6 chapters where two Lords split up.
-Far shorter than 7
-Characters/story pretty generic, not that interesting
-A lot easier

I would personally go with VII, though. TSS felt like Fire Emblem Lite, which is kinda sad, since FE VII is supposedly Fire Emblem Lite.

 

[JackFrost2012]

Huh?

This ... "fan" made me unable to even think about playing a Fire Emblem game for the better part of a decade. *shudder*

 

[john tv]

Start with "Fire Emblem" for GBA (Rekka no Ken in Japan), and then decide the next one when you're done with that. You MAY wanna go for Sacred Stones if you want to stay in English... but you may also want to go for the Japanese Fuuin no Tsurugi if you want to continue the story of Rekka no Ken.

Also, I think after GBA FE you'll probably want to play the GC version (and you should).

Enjoy!

 

[AniHawk]

This ... "fan" made me unable to even think about playing a Fire Emblem game for the better part of a decade. *shudder*

It was Desmond something! I saw it!

 

[Apenheul]

How about playing FE VII first and then VIII? You WILL be screaming for more

 

[JackFrost2012]

It was Desmond something! I saw it!

I would never say anything mean about my good friend Desmond!! Who, if he's reading this, I'm sure has totally mellowed since those Usenet days of long ago! As have I, my friend, as have I. Acceptance is the first step to overcoming emotional scarring.

In any case, less unearthing of deep psychological hurting, more Fire Emblem discussion!

 

[Kiriku]

I had never played a FE game either, and picked up Fire Emblem VII (I think? first FE game released for GBA in the US at least). Played like 5-6 hours, but I've yet to really fall for it. The game is kind of fun, but I was hoping for more in terms of character customization, and I also find it rather irritating to have your weapons break time and time again. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?
Also, the dialogues are really long-winded, probably because they come in big packages. They should've spaced them out more evenly.

 

[john tv]

I had never played a FE game either, and picked up Fire Emblem VII (I think? first FE game released for GBA in the US at least). Played like 5-6 hours, but I've yet to really fall for it. The game is kind of fun, but I was hoping for more in terms of character customization, and I also find it rather irritating to have your weapons break time and time again. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?
Also, the dialogues are really long-winded, probably because they come in big packages. They should've spaced them out more evenly.

It's a strategy game. Part of the strategy is managing your weapons.

I don't think I ever had a single weapon break on me in the 50+ hours I spent with that game. Unless I was in some kind of critical situation where that last shot might have won the fight, in which case I probably went ahead and broke it on purpose.

 

[Kiriku]

It's a strategy game. Part of the strategy is managing your weapons.

I don't think I ever had a single weapon break on me in the 50+ hours I spent with that game. Unless I was in some kind of critical situation where that last shot might have won the fight, in which case I probably went ahead and broke it on purpose.

Well, I can understand the argument with calling it strategy, but whether it's actually fun and contributes anything worthwhile to the gameplay or not is another thing.

Anyway...um, do I repair my weapons? I can't recall if that's possible or not, it's been some time since I played the game. Or do I simply switch to another weapon when one is about to break? I didn't even know that weapons COULD break when I started playing, and suddenly one of my characters ended up without weapons for like 2-3 maps. I didn't find any new weapons either, not even a store selling one.

 

[djtiesto]

I just bought Sacred Stones yesterday to have something to do on my Alabama trip... never really spent much time with the Fire Emblem series in the past, aside from playing a few battles in FE5 for SFC on an emu. We'll see how I like it...

 

[Erdrick]

Well, I can understand the argument with calling it strategy, but whether it's actually fun and contributes anything worthwhile to the gameplay or not is another thing.

Anyway...um, do I repair my weapons? I can't recall if that's possible or not, it's been some time since I played the game. Or do I simply switch to another weapon when one is about to break? I didn't even know that weapons COULD break when I started playing, and suddenly one of my characters ended up without weapons for like 2-3 maps. I didn't find any new weapons either, not even a store selling one.

I'm playing through FE7 again and I have some staff that can repair weapons or whatnot. It only lasts a few times, or maybe once, I forget...

Point is, there definately is a way to repair weapons, however rare.

I never found the breaking weapons that much of a problem anyway, it's not like it approached the stupidity of the FFL/Saga games anyway in terms of harshness.

Vestal: Go for "Fire Emblem" first. I have the sequel and from what I have played, it's more of the same. The first North American one seemed to have a better fleshed-out story, however so far.

I had a lot of fun with FE last year or so. I'm glad that at least we have gotten another GBA one, and that the GC has one coming too. The first GBA one is one of the best GBA games made. A shame about the prequel not coming here. For a time I thought the Sacred Stones FE game WAS FE6...

Having played some, well, obviously not.

You really can't go wrong with either GBA FE game in English, but go for the first release for the sake of, well, it's an older game now, and more difficult to find. (Maybe?)

 

[AniHawk]

Well, I can understand the argument with calling it strategy, but whether it's actually fun and contributes anything worthwhile to the gameplay or not is another thing.

There are different weapons you can equip and use. Iron weapons against generic enemies is a good choice while the character-specific ones like the Rapier and the Manni Kati (think that's it) are best used on bosses or tough enemies.

Anyway...um, do I repair my weapons? I can't recall if that's possible or not, it's been some time since I played the game. Or do I simply switch to another weapon when one is about to break? I didn't even know that weapons COULD break when I started playing, and suddenly one of my characters ended up without weapons for like 2-3 maps. I didn't find any new weapons either, not even a store selling one.

There is a spell that you can perform (at least in TSS) called Hammerne that will repair items, but you can only use it 3 times.

 

[AniHawk]

I had a lot of fun with FE last year or so. I'm glad that at least we have gotten another GBA one, and that the GC has one coming too. The first GBA one is one of the best GBA games made. A shame about the prequel not coming here. For a time I thought the Sacred Stones FE game WAS FE6...

FE VII is the prequel. It's the story of

Spoiler

Roy's father and his friends.

 

[Erdrick]

FE VII is the prequel. It's the story of

Spoiler

Roy's father and his friends.

Yeah, the ending of VII pretty much set up VI. My friend just recently beat VII too, so I saw the end again.

You know what would be cool, kinda unrelated to FE but...

Say for the Revolution, Nintendo could release translations and such of games that they would not release otherwise. Sure, charge some money for it, but let us DL a translation of say... FEVI on a variant of the GBA player for the Revolution?

It would be less of a risk, since no packaging or shipping or anything would be needed. Just the translation, and as I said, if they charge a fee or something, it could be worthwhile for them too.

It's probably been posted before anyway, or something akin to that. It's just a thought.

 

[iapetus]

I don't think I ever had a single weapon break on me in the 50+ hours I spent with that game.

Strange. I normally broke mine - might as well get full use out of them, after all.

 

[Parallax Scroll]

I love the fact that weapons can break. Each time you attack, you've got to think about whether it's worth wasting a few durability points on your magic sword, or if a normal weapon will do.

Some of my characters have different weapons in all 5 inventory slots, so they'll always have something appropriate for the situation.

 

[Socreges]

Strange. I normally broke mine - might as well get full use out of them, after all.

It isn't because john [and myself + others] don't want to get the most out of a weapon, but that you can only exchange them every so often and there are limited slots.

I love the fact that weapons can break. Each time you attack, you've got to think about whether it's worth wasting a few durability points on your magic sword, or if a normal weapon will do.

Yeah, exactly.

 

[Swordian]

This ... "fan" made me unable to even think about playing a Fire Emblem game for the better part of a decade. *shudder*

Ha, as soon as I read your first post I thought of Desmond Gaban. "Diedrupo" was the name he was using at the time, I think. This was way back in the days of Nintendo's Loudhouse chat.