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darconi said:
ZenfoldorVGI said:
@Kasz216

You make me ponder an interesting theory.

Fire Emblem is great, but a subgenre, and much less RPG based than most SRPG's, because of this simple fact:

Finite experience points. There is no grinding, you have to make use of the one life of each character(sometimes sacraficing them in desperate 1 hour battles) and you never can just make one character extremely powerful, because of RNG.

I think there is a synergy between the RNG stats, the finite experience, and the perma death, that make each movment of the game more thought out and intricate in design, rather than overpowering your opponents, it turns into an eloquent chess game, and imo, I feel that is what makes people love FE who ordinarily don't bother with JRPG's or anime.

There is importance to each decision and real strategy is employeed, and I feel that in the end, those should be the overall goals of the genre.

Some people would view RNG as prehistoric, however, but looking at it from that point of view it seems very valid and makes much more sense to me as to why FE is designed as it is. It is the opposite of a "casual" game in every sense, but somehow manages to stay simplistic and deep at the same time. I expect nothing less from a franchise with roots in Nintendo.

Do you get my meaning there? What do you think?

There's a valid reason why you feel that way. Fire Emblem is actually more of a Tactical RPG rather than a strategy RPG. It focuses a lot less on the overall world and much more on the actions during battle. Things like movement choices, etc make a huge difference. The AI will absolutely punish you if you leave a hole in your defense.

It definitely is extremely unforgiving between all the RNG screw, perma death restarts, limited experience (bonus exp doesn't do much IMO) but thats what makes it all that more satisfying I think.


Oh if your a fan of Tactical games you might be interested in "Battle for Wesnoth" if you haven't played it.  It's a free Tactical War type game set in fantasy times.  It has some Fire Emblem like campaign settings but along with named guys you get generic troops, who you develop from level 1 to 3.  Not for people who feel attached to every generic grunt they recruit though.

Lot of fun, though a bit different then SRPGs since it's less complex in levels and more complex in strategy.

PC game, will probably run on almost anything, free.  Worth a shot if your bored.