The Fire Emblem Grind - Was it a Mistake?

DLC Deja-vu? You've been here before.

Recent Fire Emblem games have been accused of becoming a "grind-fest," that harder difficulties practically require grinding and/or purchasing DLC to complete, and that the game requires you to either overpower everything or get destroyed.

Is this true? And if it is, is it any different to how Fire Emblem games used to be? Many people have complained about Fire Emblem relying too much on randomness, or that they never get to use certain units because they are just too weak. Grinding theoretically answers both of these issues, but is there a better way?

---Infinite Grinding - Checks and Balances---

"Not even an optimal Severa." Welcome to Awakening.

Gaiden, Sacred Stones, Awakening, Fates:Birthright, Fates:Revelations and Echoes have all had dedicated grinding maps, be they monsters roaming an overworld map, side-maps you can discover, castles of other players, or repeatable DLC maps. So how do they balance these out?

In Gaiden, the only limiting factor would be diminishing returns. Experience gain slowed to a crawl after many levels, and the stat boosts from leveling were so poor and inconsistent that generally it didn't matter how much you leveled up. Class-up bonuses were so good to almost negate the need for grinding for all but mage classes, who needed raw levels in order to learn spells. The only character class which was desperately in need of grinding was the cleric, who gained no experience from healing and therefore needed to be spoon-fed levels in order to learn key spells, like Warp, Physic or Illusion.
Echoes, a remake of Gaiden, follows this trend, though healers DO get experience for healing, and while level-up bonuses aren't *that* great, class change stat bonuses aren't quite as strong as they were in Gaiden.

For Sacred Stones, you had overworld monsters and caves, but your limit was class-up items and money. Class-up items were rare, and were specific to certain unit types instead of all being master seals. Weapons also wore out exceedingly quickly in Sacred Stones, and even iron weapons weren't terribly cheap. This was mitigated of course by Arena Abuse, which we will get to later, but provided for a decently fair balance of RoI for grinding.

Awakening has perhaps the most imbalanced grind benefit ever. In harder difficulties, grinding is made much harder by increasing the cost of grind-enabling items and making the roaming monsters almost impossible to kill (seriously, max stats already when I'm only on chapter 10?). However, in easier difficulties this cost is almost negligible, and the rewards are far and away better than any other game. Skills were incredibly strong in Awakening, and while re-classing required an item, it wasn't all that rare (you could find seals when grinding sometimes), and it reset your level to 1 without harming your base stats all that much, if at all. This allowed for stupidly fast grinding, reaching incredible stat levels and broken skill combos with only a bit of time and effort. This made the normal game laughably easy, but on harder difficulties the enemies were so inflated and strong that you practically needed to be able to 1-shot everyone else just to survive.

Last but not least in this set of games is the Fates trilogy. Birthright and Revelations had effectively free grinding, you would pay some gold to find more maps but would usually get that gold back and then some from enemy drops. Leveling wasn't quite as broken as it was in Awakening, though, and though skill combos existed they weren't as game-breaking as Awakening's. The real grind of Fates, however, came in the form of support grinding.
Which leads to the curious case of Conquest, wherein you don't gain experience for grinding castle maps, but you still gain support, meaning you are still grinding to get better bonuses and unlock new units, but you aren't also gaining experience alongside that grind, making it somehow feel even MORE tedious than Birthright or Revelations, where you at least got both experience and support from these side maps.


That is the legacy of grinding maps in Fire Emblem games, though there is one aspect that most other Fire Emblem games have, that is so well-used that it is one of the most well-known terms amongst Fire Emblem fans.

---ARENA ABUSE---

The only way to make money in Thracia. Trust me.

Granting free money, infinite experience, and plenty of game resets, arenas are both loved and hated by Fire Emblem players both casual and hardcore. Just stop a unit by on the battlefield, take a turn and wager some gold, and fight until you win, die or give up! What could possibly go wrong?

Well, the first issue with arena abuse is that die part of the clause. Since you never get to see what enemy you are going to be fighting before you enter the arena, you might get placed in an unwinnable situation. Worse still, combat has to go on for at least one round before you can flee. If you get crit, or just flat out fight someone with more strength than expected, you can lose a unit with literally no way to prevent it, often causing a reset.

This is in some ways more frustrating than a normal reset, because arena abuse often happens at the very end of a map, after all the strategic difficulty of the level has been overcome. To reset here would mean not just doing your grinding over, but redoing the ENTIRE LEVEL. Such is the pain of this possibility that many players reject the arena until they are in dire need, or at least call it quits when they are only content with their haul, but not satisfied.

 Smart money says Sain dies if you don't withdraw.

This risk-reward mechanic is oftentimes enough to warrant the Arena's existence as a grinding option whilst also encouraging players not to use it. On harder difficulties in games like Blazing Blade or Shadow Dragon, arena abuse seems almost necessary, though there are usually ways to complete the game without completely abusing the arena.

Notable is the Drill Grounds in New Mystery of the Emblem, providing a safer arena-type experience because you can see your opponent before committing to the fight. This is balanced out almost too severely, though, as the gold you spend here is not refunded to you, and you also have to bring your own weapons, costing even more money overall. Your stat growths are also affected in ways that can wreck certain units endgame viability.

---Fire Emblem Games Without Grinding---

Bonus Exp was the best system.

There are really only three (arguably four) Fire Emblem games without any potential for infinite experience gain - Genealogy of the Holy War, Path of Radiance, and Radiant Dawn, with Fates:Conquest an honorable mention as DLC exists for it, and support grinding is still very much a thing.

These games are all quite difficult, especially on harder difficulties, but are usually not seen as "unfair" by hardcore fans of the series. While it is sometimes possible to "Zork" yourself into a seemingly unwinnable situation through consistent bad level-ups, losing key party members or just wasting experience on dead weight characters, this type of thing is relatively rare, and can usually be avoided if you plan your turns with experience and money on your mind.

These games also still have ways of gaining extra experience, though it isn't unlimited. Genealogy has an arena system, wherein every unit can complete up to seven fights each chapter for a good amount of gold and experience. They use their own weapons for durability, but if they lose they only lose the durability they had used, and are reduced to 1 hp. But they don't even lose their turn and can continue to try again, and if they win they will be restored to full hp! This provides opportunities to use arenas as potential full-heals throughout the course of the map, as well as an opportunity for money and experience.

As far as Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn are concerned, they have bonus objectives that give "Bonus Experience" in base, for you to give to any unit you see fit to level. Generally you gain more bonus experience for completing missions in fewer turns, but you also gain experience for such side objectives as saving burning houses, sneaking through the jail undetected, or not killing certain enemies who wouldn't normally give much experience anyway.

This bonus experience system is my personal favorite. While it messes with your level-ups in Radiant Dawn (making it best for units with poor growths but screwing over units with good growths), it provides the game with more ways to encourage specific actions, setting up unique scenarios that don't simply boil down to "get extra items" or "fight fewer enemies" for doing things a certain way. Which I find very cool.

---Closing Thoughts---

Takes some work, but Donnel breaks the game.

So is grinding inherently bad? I don't believe so. Sacred Stones, Gaiden and Echoes are some of my favorite Fire Emblem games, and you will often find me abusing arenas in most other games as well. The problem comes in when grinding is required to progress, most notably in higher difficulties of Awakening and Fates.

I also don't believe that grinding is necessary, however. Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn and Genealogy of the Holy War are at the top of my list of favorite Fire Emblem games, and one key reason for that is because they provide compelling and challenging experiences, without having to resort to cheap difficulty where grinding is required to overcome.

The Fire Emblem Anthology: My History

Oh, Fire Emblem, you wonderful series you. In just a few years, you will be celebrating your thirtieth birthday (amazing), and almost your fifteenth worldwide, with Fire Emblem 7; the Blazing Blade, your first international release.

I recently completed my quest of playing every single main-series Fire Emblem game to be released, and I loved all of them (though some more than others). I figured that this gives me a perfect excuse to share my history with Fire Emblem, my feelings about the series, and where I hope it goes in the future.

My first exposure to Fire Emblem was Path of Radiance, something like twelve years ago. I don't remember how we found it, but my brother got it for either Christmas or his birthday, and I was fascinated by it. A fantasy turn-based strategy game? No, a turn-based strategy RPG? With permanent unit death? I practically begged my brother to let me play it, and eventually he let me. It was incredible. I wasn't very good, but eventually even I was able to beat the game... On easy. Since then I've gone back and played it on normal and I *think* on hard, though it's been several years since I've touched Path of Radiance. It still is tied with Radiant Dawn as my favorite game though.

Soon after, I got Sacred Stones, and I loved that game. Still do, it's one of my favorite games of the series and, in my opinion, a wonderful "first game" to get someone into Fire Emblem proper. I played that game, beat it, then immediately played it again to see what I missed down Eirika's path (Ephraim's route is still my favorite by far). I was floored by the difficulty of Lagdou Ruins, and it wasn't until about five years ago that I finally beat all 10 floors on Hard.

Path of Radiance came out ten years ago, and I knew I wanted it. I put it #1 on my wish list for Christmas (being only 12 at the time), and sure enough I had it and was playing it all through the break. I got a little exhausted and distracted by other games around act 2 and 3, but I pushed on. I think I actually *zorked* myself into a corner my first playthrough, between forgetting what units I had trained, sending some units to Ike's team who were vital for Micaiah's, and then getting an armory glitch where none of my coins ever landed on anything good (Seriously, ten coins in a row and still no beneficial card). I was on easy, and I just couldn't seem to beat Daein's levels in Act 3. I restarted, played again, and this time I beat the game. I would go through the game at least twice more, once on Normal and once on Hard, and to this day the only reason I haven't played it more is because of its 80+ hour play time, as well as being on the Wii, when I haven't always had access to a wii and a tv to play.

I got Shadow Dragon very soon after it released, and... Well, I had an interesting experience with it. The online shop that changed with the day made me wait until certain days to play, so I could get the items I felt I needed. I was ticked off from the very beginning that the game forced me to sacrifice units (I still believe that somewhere out there there's a way to beat the final prologue map without losing anyone, though I have yet to find it), and the way they locked every bonus chapter behind a hard cap on max number of units in your party? That combined with my initial distaste about the free ability to switch unit classes made this game my least favorite Fire Emblem game, and it still is to this day. So much of the game cannot even be accessed anymore because they closed down the DS internet services several years ago.

I do, however, remember playing through the game at least twice. On my first run, I kept everyone alive, beat the game, and then realized - hey, they have online vs matches! Only to suddenly be destroyed by blatant hackers (seriously who has a Marth with 30 magic? What's the point??). So my second run, I limited my party to only the best soldiers (sorry Gordin - I will always hate you for what you did to my sanity. Five level-ups without a single stat gain?). I played every bonus chapter - including the final bonus, after which I resurrected Tiki and reclaimed Falchion thanks to an interaction with how dead comrades' weapons work, and beat the game. I also visited every secret shop along the way, saving every stat-boosting item, and then post-game created the best, non-hacked multiplayer team I could. I was even able to beat blatant hackers! Nothing felt quite as good as filling out my entire set of wifi battle cards... Though I realized my mages were next to useless because I never got Gotoh, and as such never got the only Swarm tome in the game.

It was after I played Shadow Dragon that I truly became interested in what I was missing. I tracked down Blazing Blade, and played that to completion, including Hector Hard Mode. While I didn't fill out the support log or max out my strategist stars, I did beat the game several times through all these different paths, and enjoyed it quite a bit. I need to go back and play the game again, now that I think about it. It's been over five years since I played it.

After I finished Blazing Blade, I decided to track down a translated emulator for Binding Blade. When I did finally do so and play the game... I had mixed feelings. After a few chapters in, the death of certain characters from Blazing Blade really struck me. I had spent so much time with them... was this truly their fate? I suppose it was prophesied in FE7, but it was still saddening. I beat the game, though, accessing all bonus chapters and going through. I missed a few characters because of the frustrating nature of their recruitments, but I still enjoyed the game. If I went back to play it now, I would probably do several things differently.

Awakening came out early on the 3ds, but I didn't get one then. It wasn't until summer of 2013 that I got myself a 3ds, but oh boy when I did I knew Awakening was the first game I'd get. And it was really fun. I played on normal, got absorbed in the story, and seriously binged the game for hours on end. It took me far too long to perfect my team, grinding infinitely, maxing out characters like Donnel and Severa, until eventually I finally beat it. And that's about where my enjoyment peaked. I played through again on Lunatic, and found myself getting frustrated more often than not. I finally hit a wall around chapter 20, wherein most of the child chapters were nearly impossible, I had to purchase DLC to get enough money and exp to even hope to afford everything I needed to kit out my characters, and I truly felt the cheap difficulty of the game. Awakening is an incredible experience and a great game... on normal or hard. This set the standard for Lunatic being an unfair grind-fest challenge, that continued with Fates.

The next game I played was Fire Emblem Gaiden, the second in the series and my first introduction to the Famicom Fire Emblems. It was weird, it was strange, it was hard to wrap my head around at first... And I loved it. In fact, it was finishing this game that made me start this blog, and you can check out my Original blog post on the game still.

I took a bit of time away from Fire Emblem around this time. Life carried me away to other places, and I didn't have access to the games that helped define me. But eventually I returned, and what awaited my return but another new release? Fire Emblem Fates, a trilogy of sorts. I personally wanted to return to the more classic Fire Emblem style, and bought Conquest first, though I played through Birthright first on recommendation from my friends as well as a desire to learn the mechanics and units of the game before jumping into a more difficult challenge. I had learned from my Hard playthrough of Radiant Dawn how important it was to understand the specific mechanics of the game, and oh boy was I right.

I enjoyed Birthright. I played through it swiftly on Hard difficulty, and though I got stuck a few times, I still pushed through and ended up really enjoying my time with it. I eventually turned my head toward Conquest, and for some reason believed I had what it took to play Lunatic, even though it was my first time with the Conquest story, and I had still yet to finish my Awakening Lunatic run. Lunatic Conquest was the game that stopped me in my tracks for months on end. I took a break, came back later, and played until I got stuck again. I had a desire to finish the game, but so many other things were happening in my life that I just didn't want to sit down and dedicate myself to it.

What caused me to come back was the announcement of Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. A Gaiden remake? Could it be? And it looked so wonderful, so true to the original game, that I knew I had to play it. But I couldn't bring myself to play it until I had finished what I originally set out to do - beat Conquest on Lunatic.
I eventually gritted my teeth and pushed through the game, relying on castles to skill out my units, and even a few cap-exceeding einherjars recruited from other players to help me out. Even with these units I ran into walls at Ryoma, but I still continued through and eventually beat the game, though I lost most of my army on the final mission.

Having a good week or two between beating Conquest and the release of Echoes, I decided to get Revelations and play through it. I was smarter this time, playing through on Hard instead of Lunatic, and I didn't force myself to grind out every child unit, either, as I had gotten bored of them by that point and I didn't feel like raiding castle after castle just for support points. I still did a lot of that, by the way, I just didn't do it for every single unit.

Out of all the versions of Fates, though, I probably enjoyed Revelations the most. Which might be surprising, because most people I see claim it is their least favorite. The map gimmicks didn't bother me that much - in fact it kept things fresh and interesting after having played the game two other times through - and the difficulty of it was nothing compared to the insanity of Lunatic Conquest. I mostly just used the royal families through the game, and though I never felt like I was altogether too powerful for the game (as can happen with some games), I never felt weak enough that I was forced to grind. All in all it was my favorite experience of Fates yet.

So, Echoes came out and I played it... and played it... and honestly really loved it. I loved the sheer amount of choice you could have on your army, since half of it was villagers. I ADORED Mila's Turnwheel, and found it to be the perfect stand-in for someone who still wanted the experience of Classic permadeath whilst also not wanting to replay every chapter or dungeon from the very beginning whenever they lost a unit. It was almost like using save states on an emulator, except the RNG changed every time, and I never was trapped into a bad state because of where the state was. The ability to go back and re-do ANY turn in the map, from ANY MOVE in the map, was something I adored, and something I hope they bring into future games - at least in part. It's possible Mila's Turnwheel is too strong, but like I said, I greatly appreciated it for what it was.

After Echoes, there was a fire-emblem shaped void in my life. I had no new games to play, no opportunities to experience new things... At least, that's what I thought. There were still three other games I hadn't experienced - Genealogy, Thracia 776, and Mystery of the Emblem. After reading around, I felt like I had no reason to play the first game, as I had already played Shadow Dragon, and New Mystery of the Emblem was apparently a far better version of FE3 than the original, since I had already played Shadow Dragon and had no need to replay "Book 1."

In all honesty, of these three games, I would have played Thracia 776 first, had it not been for the near impossibility of finding a working translation of it. Then in my search, I discovered that it was made to be deliberately played after Genealogy of Holy War, so I decided to start with that game instead. I played it, I was confused by it, but sure enough I loved it. I admittedly used a wiki to find all the secrets, because seriously there are some hidden things I never would have considered to try without knowing about them beforehand, but it swiftly charmed me. I loved the game, and I loved almost more its music. I downloaded the soundtrack to FE4 and have probably listened to it more than almost any other game soundtrack to this day, and I only downloaded it a few months ago!

After finishing Genealogy, it was a little while before I got into Thracia. I still was looking for a translation patch that didn't crash the game, but eventually I decided to just deal with what I had working. The story was (mostly) fine, it was just the menu info text that was messed up. Again, I used a wiki to help me play the game, because the obtuse mechanics and incredibly difficult recruitments would have gone way over my head if not for that research. Altogether, though, if you can get past the mechanics of it, the game isn't as difficult as people say. Doing a perfect run, however, where you recruit every possible character and keep everyone alive, is nearly impossible without an insane amount of luck, and I wouldn't recommend it unless you are certain you want a frustrating challenge. To see what I mean, just look at Xavier's recruitment. Yeah. It gets pretty bad.

Finally, I decided there was no reason to leave the series unfinished, and played New Mystery of the Emblem. I decided to play on Maniac, as I knew to avoid Lunatic but wanted a harder challenge than normal. And I loved it. Maniac was perfect - it was incredibly difficult, and sure it required some luck at times, but I never felt like it was hopeless. I was able to recruit everyone, get every bonus chapter, and even had to pull out a few stops like using the armory to buff a specific weapon like a hammer to help me through a level here and there. One-man armies were necessary by the end, but Ogma and Navarre weren't invincible. I actually greatly appreciated the free switching of unit classes, but never felt like it made any unit useless, like I felt with Shadow Dragon. All in all it was SO MUCH BETTER than Shadow Dragon that I was amazed it never made it to the States. I suppose the mediocre reception of Shadow Dragon (which was mediocre as far as Fire Emblem is concerned) turned Intelligent Systems off of the path of localizing it?

So that is where my Fire Emblem journey ends. Sort of. I'm still greatly enjoying Fire Emblem Heroes, and crave new content to this day. It's enough to get my fix in while I wait for another main series game, but it will never fully replace the series in my heart.

I love Fire Emblem. I still hold the Radiant games as my favorites, but Sacred Stones, Genealogy, Gaiden/Echoes and New Mystery are close behind. Shadow Dragon is at the bottom, with Binding Blade just above that, but I still enjoy those games as well. Just above that is Awakening, whose Lunatic difficulty turned me off of the game almost entirely, and above that is Thracia 776, which was fun but clunky and in dire need of a tune-up, or at least an accurate translation. Then is the fates trifecta, which is really enjoyable, but really suffered from becoming a grind-fest when trying to unlock every character in the game.
Which leaves Blazing Blade in the middle. It's a solid Fire Emblem game, but maybe it's been too long since I've played it, since I don't really remember more than a few notable stages and characters from it. Yeah. Maybe it's time I bring my old friend Hector into the field once more.

Anyway, that's my history with the Fire Emblem franchise. I'm so glad it isn't dead, and I'm eagerly awaiting any future releases it may have.