Is the Fire Emblem Community Dying?
- Yes
- No
0 voters
I got bored, okay?
Doing this poll for fun.
I think you having an audience to ask this question to should already answer your question, lol.
Also considering how 3H is still going strong over 3.5 years later, and Engage bringing in even more new fans, I think this question is kind of a strange one to ask at this time.
9 Likes
Only time will tell.
10 Likes
Is the advance wars community dead?
- Yes
- No
0 voters
1 Like
Only time will tell.
8 Likes
I think it’s pretty stupid to think that the community is dying in any respect, Three Houses was the best selling game in the series and if Engage’s pre-orders we’re anything to go by Engage may even top Three Houses in sales. New games naturally means new members of the community and more people being introduced to the game, this game is no different.
Honestly the only people killing it are those who insist that there’s this schism within the community bc the series has gotten “more anime” when the only reason why it appears as such to you is because you personally dislike the style and criticize it while assuming that people who do like the style are doing the same with the other side of the coin, almost like an old newspaper comic strip writer scribbling a child holding a book asking where the power button is.
We need to learn to be accepting of what other people value in the series instead of moping around that the people who are now getting into the series came in liking the style. There is a line between criticism of a game you dislike and making so much noise voicing your disdain over it and calling it “the community dying” or something and I believe some people definitely have crossed that line.
The community and the series have only evolved with time, if you dislike it then that’s on you but saying that it “died” is more than just a tad bit of hyperbole.
10 Likes
Only time will tell.
8 Likes
if the community’s dead, that was unexpected news
14 Likes
Here lies the Fire Emblem Community.
9 Likes
How will time tell? By a phone call or by mail?
1 Like
We were zombies all along?
1 Like
Devastating 2700 car pileup at Fire Emblem Community Highway Vigil kills every remaining Fire Emblem fan. Witnesses say the only survivor was a Berwick fan, whose lazberian turn flow allowed him to escape the situation unharmed.
35 Likes
Only to get stuck for a decade at snow with a dragon hovering above him
I voted yes. While “dying” is definitely not the word, we are entering a rocky period. With Engage’s release, in the public eye FE is regressing back to being a “anime game” that you’d be embarrassed to talk about in public. Furthermore, there is a fresh schism in the community - though FEU thankfully stays out of such drama and is probably the closest thing to a “safe space” for FE fans of all types online.
Chapter 1 - Post-Fates
Before 3H, everyone was making fun of Fates. Game journos wrote about the scandalous petting feature and Soleil “conversion theraphy” that were cut in localization. Outsiders to the franchise would assume “Fire Emblem is messed up.” I would know, because I was an outsider at the time.
Chapter 2 - Post-Three Houses
With 3H’s massive success, the tone of the media turned to praise. There was a massive influx of new fans with 3H as their first and only FE. Unfortunately, the newbies drew the ire of gatekeeping elitists. There wasn’t a lot of harassment at first, but as the years dragged on without a proper new FE, it started to become cooler and cooler to trash on 3H and anyone who liked it. There started to be yet another divide in the community. 3H has a separate subreddit that has seen steady activity to this day.
Chapter 2x - A Stranger in my own Fandom
As one who got hooked on the franchise at this time, not with 3H but with FE1 on Switch, I’m in a unique position. Previously, I had tried FE7, and never finished Lyn mode, and played some of Heroes. Neither of those really left an impression on me and don’t count. It is said that their first FE game shapes an FE fan. With FE1 as my first game, I can see most so-called “elitists” are full of shit, and are big babies who refuse to play anything released before FE4. In other words…
You, Elitists. How much weight… can you handle? Can you withstand the essence of a game who’s time has passed? The weight of the burden of being twisted, remade and rarely having its original form acknowledged? Weak players succumb quickly to an NES game… pantsless Marth is like a toxin to those whose bodies and minds are unfamiliar with such overwhelming power… Kaga, just for a moment, grant me that power…!
Chapter 3 - Post-Engage
With the release of Engage, like with Fates, there was yet another localization change to remove Alear’s scandalous ability to wed minors. Though I argue it’s far less creepy for Alear to marry another 17 year old than for Byleth to “groom” underage students in the first part of the game and later marry them when they come of age, Three Houses had so many other talking points that it slipped under the radar. If the games media had called 3H a “grooming simulator” it would have hurt the game, and people would think “FE is a creepy franchise I don’t wanna touch.” But with the localized censorship very much being discussed, the franchise’s reputation may be yet again damaged. Casual fans who played 3H will look back, discover the creepy track record with Fates, and leave the fandom. The public will see FE as slipping back into old bad habits that they though it had left behind.
Furthermore, within the fandom, elitists had their chance. They now rally behind Engage and treat it as sacred, dismissing any criticism and using it to bully the remaining 3H fans:
This has 2,300 upvotes, what the hell?!
The elitists would have totally trashed Engage had it come after Fates, but they are embracing Engage because they know it will bring in less new fans than 3H and can weaponize it to be contrarian against the larger 3H noob demographic. This mirrors what the alt-right did with Pepe the Frog: Engage’s characters and aesthetic are a big meme with designs that most found ugly, but came to be “ironically” liked and memed by a certain demographic, and eventually weaponize. These trolls will do what they can to hurt the largest amount of people, because at the core they are hypocrites who don’t really care about “hardcore strategy gameplay” (as illustrated by the FE1 thing) but dominating their fandom and wanting all FE fans to share their “values” but since they have no real “values”, it means “suck up, shut up or leave.”
4 Likes
Fire Emblem died with New Mystery and revived with Awakening… but like a thing that is wearing the corpse as a suit.
Sure, the gameplay improved a lot, and Engage has the best gameplay so far, but the story just get dumber and dumber with each new entry.
3H was a breath of fresh air in terms of story, it was a lot better than Awakening and Fates aimed to be, Engage can’t even surpass that, but the main flaw with 3H is its repetitiveness and lack of good map design.
As for the art and character design after New Mystery… this is not for me.
I only exclude SoV because it was a remake and the redesign was on par with the narrative and general aesthetic.
I no longer expect a Fire Emblem with a good story, that clearly is an afterthought for IS at this point. At least they’re giving us good gameplay, but in the long run I don’t think that can keep the old fanbase.
And you might call me elitist or whatever that floats your boat, but for me the series as we knew it died long ago and what we have now is a totally different franchise with the same name.
3 Likes
This is coming from a person doesn’t consider myself a member of community, but just a observer. The community isn’t dying but just more spread out then it once was. Back then, I used to think of Serenes Forest as the fandom’s central hub, but since the time of Fates’s release alternative communities began to overtake it(like the FE Reddit, FEU(for Rom Hacking specifically)). To me, the FE community doesn’t feel a single community, but a collection of communities with the same name.
In my own opinion, the negative attitude around the transition from Three Houses to Engage is over-hyped.The series has never been that consistent with itself and each game has its own identity. Being a Fire Emblem fan, is just finding out what flavor of Fire Emblem you want more of.
4 Likes
The Video Game Fandom of Theseus
2 Likes
ENGAGE SPOILER WARNING:
So you mean that Corrupted Alear was like…a metaphor for the series as a whole???
4 Likes
I will never not find it funny to see people praising and talking crap about 3H side by side haha.
I enjoy seeing the discourse about Engage because I thought it was mid, and so far I’ve enjoyed it, so seeing people love and hate it means there’s room for growth with this formula, but 3H was such a departure that it made people’s sentiments stronger than usual. I also liked it, but when comparing it to FE9 or FE12 they feel like completely different franchises.
I don’t think that’s a bad thing; and I’m betting on FE7’s appearance on Nintendo Switch Online to introduce new people to the old formula.
1 Like
I haven’t really played any of the latest games and the only thing “new” for me, are the rom hacks and revamp attempts made by the community. After 2 years of being on a work-at-home setting for probably a majority of us here, any and all released work or progress might be slower at best.
So, atleast for me, I don’t think it’s dying in a sense.
1 Like