The next Fire Emblem

[Pristine20]

Super_Boom said:

Pristine20 said:
This is the only nintendo series I like having played Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn on my brother's wii. My question would be: when is the next home console fire emblem? It seems that the series is historically more successful on handhelds so I'm not holding my breath. I wonder if that's a side effect of the handhelds just being more successful in general or the fans truly preferring handheld.

Historical sales for Fire Emblem are really hard to gauge, since the franchise's first five entries, all on consoles, never made it outside of Japan. Of the 7 console Fire Emblems, only 2 have made overseas, while 4 of the 6 handheld entries have made it. FE3 and FE4 are currently the best-selling entries in Japan, both on consoles.

But I would agree with your thinking, mostly due to how handheld-centric Japan is nowadays, and that FE is still a very Japanese-oriented franchise. I personally would put my bets on the next mainline game (excluding the SMT/FE crossover, which I'm super excited for) being on the 3DS and placed in Awakening's universe once again. With one exception, the games have always come in sets placed in the same universe. Whether it will be a prequel to Awakening, like FE7 was to FE6, or a direct sequel, like FE3 and FE10 were to FE1 and FE9 respectively, we'll have to wait and see.

Regarding your last comment, I don't have an exact idea how the Japanese fanbase thinks, but outside of Japan the Ike/Tellius games have a pretty strong following. Those two are actually my personal favorites in the franchise, so I'm also rooting for another mainline console entry. I think the notion that the franchise is better suited to handhelds is bogus. Awakening did a great job making the game easy to pick up and play in short spurts, but that's more the exception than the rule in the series. I don't recall any other FE title where my average play session would be under an hour.

On a side note, there was fun rumor on Serenesforest (online FE database/FC) a while back about Paris/Prium being included in Awakening as a hint that the next mainline title would return to the Tellius/Ike universe. *sighs* If only...

Yeah, I like the IKe story myself in the 2 games I've played. I'm not really a fan of handhelds though. If they keep releasing more for the 3DS, I guess I might cave in at some point if I have nothing else to play. IMO, SRPGs are better on consoles. They are typically long and complex games. I don't get why the genre has basically been relegated to handhelds these days. It may be the Japan preference again.