The biggest gripe I had with Fire Emblem has to do with the gameplay. It told the story from too many viewpoints. You would be going along and leveling up your character and then in the following map, everyone is gone and so are all your items. You would be given a group of new characters only to have them disappear in another 2 maps or so. This is a big disappointment when you just want to keep going with the group you have. Why bother with gaining experience, assigning items, or building bonds when in the back of your mind you know they might be gone in the next chapter. I like finishing the game with the group I started. Main characters should be there till the end. Tell the other characters stories in cutscenes or something.

Also the game has some serious balancing issues. Main characters can die in like one or two hits. It's not that the game is hard, it's that hit points are not properly assigned, making some fights just too easy and some fights frustrating. It's pretty much whoever gets the first hit wins. I mean why has my healing mage only gained like 1 hp in 7 levels. Whoever directed this game should be fired. I could direct a better game than this. You need to have players connect with their characters.

I got the game this week also and I noticed the balance issues with HP also. I like the combat system, skill system, and even the level system. But I really think their HP and damage scales are messed up.

For the record, the reason I purchased the game was because I love the idea that when someone dies they are dead. So I have no problem with that part of it, its just a bit too hard to improve characters meaningfully during the short time you have with them.

I have this game but have yet to open it. However my friend just beat the whole game with 50+ hours clocked in. He said its very time consuming and thought provoking. I look forward to trying it out. Granted, I never had the chance to play the Gamecube FE.

I haven't played this yet but from what I've read, your groups will merge along the story. So, those items and xp that you gain aren't lost.

Also, the perma death thing is double-edge. Those that are so used to "easy" games will find it extremely annoying. I find perma death fun 'cause you just can't send your char in blindly.

Usually, these perma deaths are taken out when you play on easy mode. (At least the ones I've played)

The problem is that there is no main character. I don't know what they were thinking. Some of the characters are really cool, but it's so frustrating when they leave you in the next map. Also part way through the game you get some really strong characters called Laguz that are in animal form. These guys are so strong that they kill most bad guys in one hit. They don't get much exp and don't need to level much. You don't want to use them cause they take away exp from another guy.

I'm okay with perma death, but some of your guys start with really low hp and even after leveling up over 10 times they get only an increase of like 1 hp. Also some goon comes out of nowhere and kills them in one hit. The game becomes a process of restart and memorize what the enemy's next action is because it will kill you in one hit.

The softies are meant to never be in danger of being hit. In Path of Radiance you can select an enemy to see their movement and attack ranges. I assume RD works the same. Don't put casters in harm's way.

There's a pretty obvious solution to characters with low HP/defence that die in one hit - don't let them get hit! Your mages, priests, archers, and the like should *not* be exposed to the enemy, and you shouldn't expect swordies or pegasus knights to act as tanks, either. That's not a balance issue at all (though perhaps you got RNG screwed), that's you trying to make units do what they shouldn't. The game gives you high HP, high def units - use them.

The multiple storyline thing is something that hasn't really been done in Fire Emblem before, at least not this extensively. It's an interesting experiment at the very least.

There are parts of the game where fog blocks your view. You don't know enemies are there until after you've moved.

And it's not just mages that can die in one or two hits. Your swordsman can get ambushed and die after 2 attacks. The fog levels are garbage. If you've played this game then you will get tired of resetting.