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I'm coming out of Hiatus to make sure you guys are aware that a 3DS Fire Emblem game was announced yesterday. I haven't been around lately and I didn't see any threads regarding it, so if they do exist, feel free to kill this thread.

If not, Enjoy some links, and talk about your first impressions.

It certainly looks like a good game, but I can already tell that I do not like those portraits. They're certainly stylish, and attractive, but I've always liked Fire Emblem's art style. I can no longer say this, after seeing some of the new portraits. I can already see, some of the character designs are extravagant and silly to my tastes... FE10's portraits are 100x better.

Also, what is with IS and their blue haired lord fetish...

But anyway, this better be localized and somebody better make a ROM for it or something, because there's no way I'm going to be able to get a 3DS.

I had a similar reaction to the portraits. They reminded me of the works of Akihiko Yoshida (Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy XII concepts, Final Fantasy 3 DS, ect) who I don't hate, but rather just don't feel anything for. Though this style seems to at least have more than one freaking face.

But back on topic, I've really liked the recent FE portrait art (aside from Shadow Dragon which we all know hurr hurr hurr), and while I don't hate this style... I don't really like it either, and feel like it is a step down. For one, while it might be stylized, it's not COLORFUL! The backgrounds in that trailer looked colorful, but the portraits are so... bland. Wasn't the whole reason why manga characters had funky colored hair in the first place to distinguish them on covers to contrast with the black and white pictures? So why does our blue-haired FE hero have such a dull design? Flying lines, silly hairstyles, and speed lines can only do so much without color contrast on its side.What happened to all of the bright colors?

Though on a side note, I love the variation on the FE theme used in the trailer.

If I were to be shown any of these images from these games, I, honest to goodness, would not be able to tell it was a Fire Emblem game.
I have to agree with Rath on the fact that the art is quite different from most games.
It looks really...anime! Like the art for the other games look rather serious, and I know it's Japanese and all of the art is pretty much anime-styled, but it looks very different and it's really throwing me off track!
Actually all of this game is really...interesting!

Will I buy it?
Of course I will, is what I would say if I had a 3DS! I shan't judge the game solely on it's art (and in my opinion slightly confusing game play additions) but on it's actual playability.

One question though? Will it be coming out in English? ._.

True. Be SD, a remake of FE1 was released. ._. And something very well done, like the remake of FE3 wasn't. But you do have a point. And as do I. I sure hope as sunshine it comes out in english. smile

Looking at the links and videos...I actually like the art. I'll agree, it doesn't look very Fire Emblem at all. Some of the designs are...interesting, but I kind of like it. I wouldn't have guessed this was FE either if I hadn't known what I was looking at. It'll be different, but I think I'll like it in its own right. And having 2 characters able to attack at once will be interesting from a strategic point of view, especially if enemies are able to do the same. I actually like the way the 3D looks, a lot more compared to how Shadow Dragon looked. Now, I could go on for quite a while about how much I hated Shadow Dragon, but I won't, lol.

Oh, and yes, this better come out in English, or someone should translate it. Most importantly though, no matter how they look and stuff, I hope the characters are interesting. I hope the writing is good and the story is good. That's what got me hooked on FE in the first place. Anyway, I'll probably keep it in the back of my mind. I'm not buying a 3DS for it though...as much as I want to play it and a shitton of other 3DS games, I'm not buying the thing. I'm kind of rebelling against this whole 3D revolution thing. I hate it, but I'm getting off topic again... ><

Hmm... I would say I'm feeling kind of 'meh' about the art as well. I don't hate it but its not my favorite either, I'm not sure if its the colors or what, but it just isn't. What really bugs me is the treatment of what appears to be the main character (guy with the sword). I've always liked the fact that FE paid attention to the little details with characters and made them appropriate to what they were doing. Knights, who are meant to be on the front lines (armor wise), wear heavy armor. Lords, while looking different because they were main characters, still wore what seemed appropriate for their class, a decent bit of armor etc. Yet I saw this guy and he immediately struck me as almost cliche. The way he stood, the fact that the one shoulder piece looks cool while the rest of him is blatantly exposed... Now, I might be able to see that if he is a Sword Master or similar style class, but the guy tosses his sword into the ground for crying out loud. It's like Hollywood movies making swords have a scrapping sound as they come out of the sheath. I know FE's aren't meant to be very realistic, but the past ones I played seemed to always note little details like that, and I deeply respected that as a fan.

Now, other than that little mini-rant I have to say I am interested in the game despite not owning a 3DS, and am almost convinced this is Nintendo's way of trying to push its sales on top of the lowered price. Nevertheless, I hope it gets back ported, in which case I'm sure it will have a good story and character development, and I think the tactical side of multiple units in one battle could be very interesting.