Poll of the Day > Why did Fire Emblem become so popular?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I mean, FE's 7-10 and the re-releases, while not selling terrible, weren't anywhere near as big as what happened with Awakening and the series has been pretty roaring ever since. What changed to make it jump up so much?

My theory is that the JRPG market has died down a lot resulting in a mini-drought that FE:A struck at just the right time to take advantage of. Plus the design made it perfect for portable gaming and it didn't need the complicated/lengthy story that something like FF typically brings. Modes like casual/phoenix made it so that you could put it down for a month and then pick it back up, make a mistake, and not have the game punish you for not playing it constantly making it further ideal for the market.
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A lot of people say because of Smash.
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Because of "waifus" whichever one started to add that. :/
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Awakening became the shipping sim that tue franchise is today and people love shipping
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LinkPizza posted...

A lot of people say because of Smash.

I doubt it considering Melee came out around the time of FE7 and Brawl didn't help 10 or the re-releases too much.

TallTamryu posted...

Because of "waifus" whichever one started to add that. :/

Oh please. 'waifu's' have been in the series ever since the start (just look at Lyn in the west) and there is no way that the marriage mechanic (which came before Awakening mind you) managed to save it THIS much. Not to mention plenty of other games offer 'waifu's' yet are nowhere near as roaring.
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Idk. I mean, I remember people starting to wonder who those characters in Smash were(the Fire Emblem ones). And probably wanted to pick up the game if they like them. Just what I've heard some people saying.
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Unbridled9 posted...

LinkPizza posted...

A lot of people say because of Smash.

I doubt it considering Melee came out around the time of FE7 and Brawl didn't help 10 or the re-releases too much.

TallTamryu posted...

Because of "waifus" whichever one started to add that. :/

Oh please. 'waifu's' have been in the series ever since the start (just look at Lyn in the west) and there is no way that the marriage mechanic (which came before Awakening mind you) managed to save it THIS much. Not to mention plenty of other games offer 'waifu's' yet are nowhere near as roaring.

Waifus were there but you could hard marry and conceive a child with one in game.
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Smash was responsible for piquing the West's interest in the series at all, and subsequently for FE7 being localized, but it was FE13 that revived the series when it was losing popularity (to the point where, if Awakening hadn't done well, the series would probably have been canned). That was for a number of reasons, including the addition of Casual/Phoenix modes to make the series more accessible, bringing back the marriage mechanic as more than just an S-rank support with a little blurb at the end, and allowing more flexible customization with the reclassing system and ability to grind. It was also the first one released in the west in the four years since FE11, which was itself not tremendously well received (apparently remaking a NES game with minimal changes in 2008 doesn't go over that well. Who knew?), and was a very solid game all around.
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EvilMegas posted...

Unbridled9 posted...

LinkPizza posted...

A lot of people say because of Smash.

I doubt it considering Melee came out around the time of FE7 and Brawl didn't help 10 or the re-releases too much.

TallTamryu posted...

Because of "waifus" whichever one started to add that. :/

Oh please. 'waifu's' have been in the series ever since the start (just look at Lyn in the west) and there is no way that the marriage mechanic (which came before Awakening mind you) managed to save it THIS much. Not to mention plenty of other games offer 'waifu's' yet are nowhere near as roaring.

Waifus were there but you could hard marry and conceive a child with one in game.

FE4 did allow such a thing, and pretty much every game with a support mechanic had at least a few support endings that indicate the pair got married (including Eirika and Ephraim, in the Japanese version of FE8 >.>). FE4 didn't have any sort of grinding mechanic, though, so it was notably less intuitive to get the kids you wanted. FE4 also never officially made it out of Japan, so most series fans haven't played it.
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Awakening allowed for self insert OC shipping, so it was that.
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adjl posted...

EvilMegas posted...

Unbridled9 posted...

LinkPizza posted...

A lot of people say because of Smash.

I doubt it considering Melee came out around the time of FE7 and Brawl didn't help 10 or the re-releases too much.

TallTamryu posted...

Because of "waifus" whichever one started to add that. :/

Oh please. 'waifu's' have been in the series ever since the start (just look at Lyn in the west) and there is no way that the marriage mechanic (which came before Awakening mind you) managed to save it THIS much. Not to mention plenty of other games offer 'waifu's' yet are nowhere near as roaring.

Waifus were there but you could hard marry and conceive a child with one in game.

FE4 did allow such a thing, and pretty much every game with a support mechanic had at least a few support endings that indicate the pair got married (including Eirika and Ephraim, in the Japanese version of FE8 >.>). FE4 didn't have any sort of grinding mechanic, though, so it was notably less intuitive to get the kids you wanted. FE4 also never officially made it out of Japan, so most series fans haven't played it.

I know the support system existed since then, it was never as prominent as awakening though. Because you had a self insert (basically) in the game and you could plow whoever as them
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Plowing your best friend's hot daughter is every beta male's fantasy honestly.
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I think the better question is, why do people think Fire Emblem is better than Shining Force?
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Unbridled9 posted...

LinkPizza posted...

A lot of people say because of Smash.

I doubt it considering Melee came out around the time of FE7 and Brawl didn't help 10 or the re-releases too much.

TallTamryu posted...

Because of "waifus" whichever one started to add that. :/

Oh please. 'waifu's' have been in the series ever since the start (just look at Lyn in the west) and there is no way that the marriage mechanic (which came before Awakening mind you) managed to save it THIS much. Not to mention plenty of other games offer 'waifu's' yet are nowhere near as roaring.

Awakening however was the first game to truly embrace this sick and dark segment of humanity.

It also dumbed down the game mechanics considerably, casual mode and other cancer for the series were added.

Fire Emblem got popular because the series "sold it soul to the devil" it's merely a hollow shell now.
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The games became more accessible gameplay-wise, therefore unlocking a massive weeaboo audience. That's my on-the-fly theory!
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More advertising
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A combination of things.

-More accessible for newer fans to get into the series.
-Embracing the love of "waifu"
-Greatly changing up things gameplay wise(classes, chances for grinding)
-Heavy-duty advertising(mainly because the franchise was on its last legs and Awakening was a "make or break" game)
-"Avatar" units being revamped for a new degree of gameplay.
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_PandaMaster_ posted...

A combination of things.

-More accessible for newer fans to get into the series.
-Embracing the love of "waifu"
-Greatly changing up things gameplay wise(classes, chances for grinding)
-Heavy-duty advertising(mainly because the franchise was on its last legs and Awakening was a "make or break" game)
-"Avatar" units being revamped for a new degree of gameplay.

This, and some popular youtuber (idk who) did a vid on FE
Honestly whoever the top youtuber right now is could complement anything and it would become popular
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Waifus.
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Is it really that popular, though? But yeah, any interest was probably Smash-related.
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Blighboy posted...

Awakening allowed for self insert OC shipping, so it was that.

p much this, can't fathom why sim dates are so scarce on 3ds and such. plus Awakening did have a demo around the time smash was happening, that's how I got into it :P

that reminds me I gotta play through Awakening again before the Switch version comes out
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Zeus posted...

Is it really that popular, though? But yeah, any interest was probably Smash-related.

More so than it was before. A while ago, I could ask a bunch of people about Fire Emblem. Only a small portion would know what I'm talking about. But if I ask now, probably most, if not all of them, know.
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Awakening added casual mode, waifu sim, and endless grinding. and now that's all anyone does in FE. simple as that
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People forget they advertised Awakening a whole lot more,i didnt even know what Fire Emblem was before Awakening
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Fire Emblem was always a pretty unforgiving series, where one mistake would cause deaths in a game where there is no way to revive killed soldiers. Also, the characters were pretty much predefined in their relationships with others. Some characters had alternate ending where they got married to another, but it was pretty limited, and couldn't really be forced.

That all changed when the series was marketed toward weebs, and causals, starting with Awakening. In Awakening, almost any male can marry almost any female. There is an avatar character who basically functions as a self insert, and that avatar character can marry literally anyone you recruit.

Apparently, the incel market is a big one.
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Hmm. These Fire Emblem games are starting to sound more and more appealing.
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One of the few games that had solid titles on Gameboy advance AND Gamecube, follow that up with awakening on 3ds and it was a done deal.

Smash probably helped but then Awakening came out and was an accessible, in-depth strategy game with a lot of replay value and that appealed to a lot of people.
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kislev posted...

People forget they advertised Awakening a whole lot more,i didnt even know what Fire Emblem was before Awakening

I knew since I played Melee. saw FE7 at the store and I was like "OMG it's Roy!" Took me until the end of Lyn Mode to figure out that it wasn't Roy.
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Never played a FE game and I love SRPGs
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acesxhigh posted...

kislev posted...

People forget they advertised Awakening a whole lot more,i didnt even know what Fire Emblem was before Awakening

I knew since I played Melee. saw FE7 at the store and I was like "OMG it's Roy!" Took me until the end of Lyn Mode to figure out that it wasn't Roy.

Is it weird then that I knew it wasn't Roy despite having only known about the series from Smash prior to picking it up as well?

Also, I really hate Lyn. The character herself isn't too bad but her fanboy cult is irritating as heck. Especially since they're the same people who gladly accuse me of being a waifu-lover for liking Awakening/Fates before demanding, like, six different versions of her in FEHeroes. Brave Lyn hasn't helped either.
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No clue, played all of them except for the 3ds titles. And from what I've seen those have lost a lot compared to the games that came before it.
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I have only play the 3DS. I love Awakening, I don't mind the shipping, I like most of the characters, experimenting changing classes, etc. Fates was kind of a let down. Most of the characters are not memorable. The kids mechanic was really bad, at least in Awakening made senses why they were there. SoV was really entertaining, I missed the freedom of changing classes, but the villagers made up for that.