Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn discussion thread: stats, characters etc.

[Sullla]

ZenfoldorVGI said:

That means, with the random crits, quick death, and RNG stats, you're playing an old school game with a new school feel. Not old school, N64, old school Famicom, difficult and unfair.

That's a great line, Zenfoldor, and I think it captures the spirit of Fire Emblem really well. Do not play this game if you are looking for the typical modern-day "let's make the game pathetically easy so that everyone can follow the story" experience. Fire Emblem is, frankly, cheap and unfair much of the time. It definitely reminds me of the old NES RPGs filled with one-hit kill monsters and other cheese situations.

With that said, this game frankly turns way, WAY too much on luck factors, much more so than it needs to. Sometimes I almost feel like I'm just tossing dice and hoping that I won't get snake eyes, rather than playing a strategy game. Here are some of the worst culprits that I really, really would like to see improved upon in future titles.

• Random stat level ups. I know many people love this, but it's really one of the worst parts of the series. There needs to be more consistency. It's enormously NOT fun to have units that you're pouring time and energy into getting sucky levelups and failing to improve. Furthermore, the system practically invites abuse (especially with Battle Saving). Bad level up? Hit reset, refight the battle, get a better result. This can and should be better.
• Battle Saves. This should not be in the game! Suspend Mode, absolutely, Battle Saves no. It essentially lets you cheat your way through the game and eliminate mistakes. Call me old school, but I detest this feature.
• Biorhythms. Umm, who decided it was cool to have your to-hit chance fluctuating up and down constantly throughout the game? If you're at low biorhythm (-20%) and the enemy is at high biorhythm (+20%), you're really leaving things up to dice rolls in terms of getting a hit. Early on with Micaiah's team, I've had situations where every unit was at low biorhythm, and no one could get better than 50-60% to hit. That really turns the game into crossing your fingers and hoping to get lucky. It would be one thing if there were items that upped biorhythm, but there's NOTHING you can do to fix the situation (until you get high-level herons late in the game). The one solution? Battle save and cheat your way out of it. Wonderful.
• Enemy reinforcements. Another needless frustration factor. You get no warning, enemy units just appear on the map out of nowhere between turns. Oftentimes this can ruin a hour's worth of playtime, as you're flanked through no fault of your own. The only way to combat the reinforcements is to play the levels over and over again, until you've memorized their appearances (or cheat and use a guide that tells you ahead of time). That's not strategy, folks. If only the game would have one of the characters say "Hey, looks like there are reinforcements coming from the north!" and give you even ONE turn of warning, it would be fine. Instead, the game gives you the finger and says "Suprise! Deal with THAT!" Argh.
• Critical hits. I'm not going to lie: I don't like the critical hit factor in these games. Critical hits deal triple damage, so any unit that takes one usually dies. Now it's one thing when you've got an enemy with a Killer Edge running around; you can see that unit, and gameplan around it. My problem is with the random enemy that has a 1% or 2% chance of doing a critical hit. You usually have to fight a dozen such battles on each map, and if you get unlucky... well, you're screwed. And then you have to play the whole map again. Anyone who has played any Fire Emblem game has run into this many, many times. I don't mind replaying maps when my strategy is bad. I DO mind when a ridiculous dice roll at less than 5% kills a unit through NO fault of my own. Blah.
• Night maps. You can't see the enemies, but they sure can see you! These maps usually break down into replaying them over and over again until you memorize where the enemy locations are out in the darkness. Again, that's not "strategy", it's rote memorization. This was garbage back in Advance Wars, and it's still garbage now.

Now I love Fire Emblem, it's one of my favorite current series. It's just that these frustration factors do NOT have to be there! Some simple design tweaks could vastly improve the gameplay, while keeping the level of challenge that the series is known for. I absolutely understand why a non-fan of the series could give Radiant Dawn a low score (it's extremely daunting for newcomers, and those not used to strategy RPGs). Personally, I also am not a fan of this game's multiple party system (give me ONE group of characters to control!), but your milage may vary. I know a lot of you really seemed to enjoy that.