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I love them, your honor!

Hector and Lyn have a very special place in my heart as they were the lords of my first FE!

(We don't talk about Roy's game)

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Could Fire Emblem Benefit From Smaller Scale Conflicts? A Discussion

So in the last few days I've been doing plenty of Tellius gushing. Reliving how good Path of Radiance is, but it has also reminded why what follows it is so good. Radiant Dawn is a scale of Fire Emblem so massive I think it's only ever truly been rivaled by Genealogy of the Holy War when it comes to macro conflict. And I think that something that has always sold me on that is this isn't merely the fact that it's a continent spanning war, that's something most FE stories do. No, it's the fact that we see how large the conflict between the Laguz Alliance against the Begnion Empire is compared to what came before it.

If I had to be brutally honest, the first two acts of Radiant Dawn could've been games all on their own. With the Daein Liberation war already doing something radical of showing us how the people of a nation that for a game we primarily saw as antagonists with very little wiggle room for positive depictions of its soldiers and government, is still made up of people and we then see those people suffer under the boot of occupational oppression by a force that we in the previous game were allied with. And I want to put this in comparison-Micaiah's story, part one of Radiant Dawn, the number of recruits you can get under her (including Micaiah) is 20. For Sacred Stones playable characters in its whole cast is 34. And all of this is just the tip of the iceberg. Topped only by how damn good the Crimean Civil War act is.

Once again, already audacious to take a kingdom who while we saw some of the flaws with the people who hated Laguz and seemed pretty passive to the take over of Ashnard because they weren't fighting the war or fearing their taxes, the game does routinely take the time to present Crimea's royal family and other noble houses as pretty good and enlightened rulers who have yet to fully succeed in bridging their two races. But in Radiant Dawn we see with Ludveck just how wrong that is. The fact Ludveck and other members of the noble class would rather project and image of strength after occupation themselves is somewhat understandable, but they see Elincia who lived on the ground of war before she ever held a position of power instead choosing to put her efforts in pushing for peace, the Ludveck faction decide it's time to get rid of their Queen failing their nation.

And how they do such a thing is tell the people she's a threat, that she's weak, but she's as bad as Ashnard, and that the people of Crimea should take up arms and free their country just like the great hero of Crimea, Ike.

Yeah the great hero Ike. Y'know, the guy who was born in Gallia and descendant of Daeins, was close friends with the Queen they want to usurp, and very much did not care for the noble class that people like Ludveck and his cronies are a part of.

In a single act of one game, we see a nation that for the longest time we saw as either a victim or in the mostly moral positive light, being torn apart and seeing (I do not use this term lightly especially when talking about Fire Emblem because boy do some fans really like to throw this term around a lot when disagreeing with people) a rise of fascism. And I mean it. We see regular people falling for propaganda around a hero narrative that is being co-opted by people already with substantial power and social status, a rejection of peace and the previous model of the government IE the House of Crimea's longtime rule, rallying behind a strongman as their replacement leader, the othering of Laguz to stoking fear and conflict, and the Queen both being weak and ineffective, but also a threat.

It is a type of narrative that we honestly have never really gotten in Fire Emblem, especially due to the fact that Fire Emblem often favors external country vs country narratives that fall more in line with invasion and imperialism. Whereas both Act 1 and Act 2 of RD seek to focus on the internal and civil conflicts of their nations, before transitioning into a continent spanning war. That's right these two stories are in the grand scheme of things small compared to the central war of the back half of the game, only topped by a conflict against the Goddess herself at the end of the game. But it left me wondering, could Fire Emblem benefit from making smaller scale games that focused on a mere conflict in one country? Could Act 1 and Act 2 of Radiant Dawn truly be games on their own?

Well in terms of length? No. There are only about 10 chapters in Act 1 and only 5 chapters in Act 2. It's unfortunate because there are many ways I could see these stories and conflicts expanded. Because its not like FE has never done a smaller scale game before.

The two that come to mind immediately is Thracia 776 and Blazing Blade. Thracia 776 is so unlike any FE game, what with the fact it narrows in on the conflict of the Thracian peninsula which is merely in the middle of FE4's monstrously huge campaign and story, its also an FE where in the grand scheme of things our hero Leif almost loses. Sure he ultimately stages a rebellion in the Munster District and does kill a high ranking member of the Loptyr Cult. But in the end, he doesn't kill or even fight Travant the man who killed his parents, they have struck a blow against House Friege, but many of their family heads are still in power, and Leif ultimately needs to be in a position where he is aided by Seliph so that Book 2 of FE4 can be as it was in its game. That may sound like a downer or even incomplete, but I would argue it really fleshes out and defines both the characters of Thracia, but also Munster and Thracia as a whole.

In the end there was this other army that was fighting for their freedom completely independent of Seliph, and we get to see both the victories and failures they made a long the way. While FE4 put an emphasis on multiple bosses being the heads of Royal Houses, Thracia allows us to instead have a conflict against one House's military. These aren't just nameless goons that on any map you mow down as you are approaching Bloom to finish him off. No, the Friege forces are people: Reinhardt, Olwen, Kampf, several of your own playable units are deserters or have some connection to them. While it is satisfying to kill people like Raydrick for what he did an assisted in the conquest of Munster as a lord, he's ultimately just a tool. He's a lower lord compared to Travant and Bloom, and even smaller compared to Arvis.

The other smaller scale game I mentioned was Blazing Blade and I think some people may disagree with me on that. Afterall, Blazing Blade spans the continent and the final battle with Nergal is one that basically would determine the fate of the world. And while I understand that, I do need to reiterate this is smaller scale in relation to other conflicts. While you do journey all across Elibe, this is not Zephiel raising the full force of Bern to invade multiple countries and bring forth the revival of the dragon rule over the planet with his wyvern riding generals and the help of a Mage Dragon that will create a dragon army. Blazing Blade is a conflict started by a mere dark mage who has gone mad through his powers and grief whose greatest power is making artificial life. He uses his morphs to use subterfuge and manipulate multiple parties to get what he wants. From merely convincing a collection of Dukes to do a coup to having a morph marry and manipulate the Black Fang mercenary company into becoming his personal army.

And that's another thing, the Black Fang are not a kingdom or an empire with loads of generals holding rank you stomp, no. They're mercenaries. They are people who got out of the mud and organized to dispense justice their own way. We see how diverse their company is, with Plains people members like Uhai to members of the Ilian Pegasus Knights like Sigune to even Nino. And perhaps in another lifetime, in another game, the Black Fang were our heroes. Maybe Linus was the protagonist alongside his brother Llyod, his father Brendan, and adopted sister Nino as they raised their flag to bring down an evil lord or king just like Ike and the Greil Mercenaries.

A lot of fights in FE7 are often covert, a fellowship of minor lords and other assorted fighters who may be trying to do the best they can. Eliwood and Hector and Lyn are not kings and queens, they're marquis. They are to inherit a small bit of land that is part of a much larger coalition of lands that we see are dwarfed in the face of Bern. And not all of the characters get a good ending. With characters like Canas. Who we know their child, Hugh, would end up suffering a strict upbring under their grandmother.

Now why did all of this happen? If these stories are so good, why doesn't Fire EMblem do more of them? Well as you can see, something at all these games have in common is that they are spin offs/follow ups to an already existing traditionally sized Fire Emblem game. Act 1 and Act 2 of Radiant Dawn are as effective as they are because we had a whole game of Path of Radiance to establish this world and play with our expectations of these countries. Thracia is a midquel of a game defined by being massive, narrowing the focus for one mere conflict could've honestly been done for multiple kingdoms in Genealogy of the Holy War. And Blazing Blade is ultimately a prequel to Binding Blade, the conflict needs to be small enough that it doesn't introduce anything that could upset what Elibe is like when Roy goes on his journey.

But I would argue that even then, these stories could have still bend told without relation to previous games. It would take more effort, but that is what the benefit of expanding the game could look like. Instead of only 5 chapters, Act 2 of RD could be made into its own game with 20 chapters? It would need to give us more time with the characters and establish the world, but it is possible.

And I do think there is a desire from FE fans to have that sort of smaller scale FE. I tell you what, if you remember the hype around Fire Emblem Three Houses before the first "Kill every last one of them trailer" many people were excited to have a mere school Fire Emblem. Instead of pulling a Fates where you wander around the continent going from set piece to set piece, you instead have a school life built around war games. Maybe perhaps throw in a small bit of mystery like with these pale skin black armored characters that are showing up in some promo art. Maybe this could be like a Harry Potter style adventure where the school itself and its secrets are what makes the maps and conflicts of the game?

Of course, none of that came to be. The Academy phase was merely a phase as 3H wanted to tell a much bigger scale narrative than that. And that's fine. But its impossible to ignore the appeal that people felt for an FE that was just a school-based Fire Emblem. People love Fire Emblem, but they would love to see Fire Emblem tell different types of stories.

Personally speaking, I believe that FE can absolutely benefit from a smaller scale conflict. Not only does it allow them to tell stories that often we don't get in Fire Emblem as they often stick to their large scale war tropes, but it can push writers and creators at InSys to lock in on things that make FE great. It isn't merely the story or the maps, its the characters. And when you make a scope narrower, you can flesh out and make the characters even more three dimensional and make their world and the people in it more alive. I am genuinely hoping that as I write this, Fortune's Weave is just a tournament story. Maybe some interplay and conspiracy, but this isn't going to be four kingdoms going to war after a time jump.

Perhaps the gaming industry just needs to go big to justify their prices or maybe InSys and the FE team like their current bread and butter, but I hope we find ways to have a balance of the two scales at least.