FIRE EMBLEM 2: Gaiden Retrospective - ShaneBrained

[@ericbot924]

One thing to note about Gaiden's legacy is that a lot of it's mechanics did return in later games such as: the world map (FE8,FE13,FE14), multiple lords(FE7,FE8,FE10) ,3rd tier promotions(FE10) , and the removal of weapon durability(FE14)

[@rei1556]

the return of the removal of weapon durability is short lived, also i do not think that you can count FE14 as having a world map, it does have grinding but a world map that can be traversed on like FE2/15 or FE8 and FE13, it's not the same as FE14

[@isaac3000]

@@rei1556 WIth world map in Fire Emblem we mean when you are able to do free/extra battles, don't necessary traverse the world map. So Three Houses has a world map too (albeit restricted one in higher difficulties).

[@berserkerciaran]

Not to mention monster units

[@Mangs1337]

Solid video, solid channel.

[@GamesBrained]

Why thank you :)

[@ChillstoneBlakeBlast]

The egg will give you good luck at the cost of making you Lose Skill

[@Facesforce]

The best part of Gaiden is if you take the story out of context, Alm is literally a monster, an Avatar of his patron god. Think about it, he goes from villager to rushing to the front lines and cutting down all in his path. His goal is not peace by power of friendship, but through raw steel and conquest. Never knows a single loss, never retreats. Every single time, Alms solution is violence, or justifications for that violence. And ultimately, is that not what Doma was advocating after all? In the end, Alm is a Megaten protagonist hamstrung by fire emblem's moral posturing. Literally the most metal Fire Emblem Lord.

[@SHR7778]

I mean that explains Walhart from awakening’s character a lot when you realize he admired alm so much

[@eyn85]

Yeah and thanks to Alm we couldn't have faced all the monsters in Valm because Duma was sealed...all those battles in the name of uniting the continent and bringing peace for what?? Walhart ended up following his path... I think someday someone will try to follow Jedah path and unseal Duma again if Valm comes back

[@yosoyunapina]

These Fire Emblem retrospective videos are delightful and I am horribly impatient for more

[@GamesBrained]

Good news, I'm busting my butt to bring out #3 this weekend. Might have to go into the weekdays or possibly next weekend, but it's coming.

[@solidskullz5736]

I don't know why im binge watching fire emblem videos at 2 am but you're giving me a lot to watch here so thanks for that

[@kirindas4691]

Great retrospective! I learned a lot of things that I didn’t know from only playing Shadows of Valentia.

[@minuterice19540]

This was an extremely fair discussion on Gaiden, looking at what it did both right and wrong. I'm honestly a little surprised how much you went on about the game's issues, but the complaints were totally fair and justified. Great work once again, and I look forward to the FE3 review. Especially since it's the one I am the least familiar with out of the entire series.

[@henrygutierrez3243]

Are you willing to watch an FE4 playthrough on Twitch? Shane said that once he completes FE3, he's willing to stream FE4 on Twitch if there are enough people interested.

[@minuterice19540]

@@henrygutierrez3243 That'd be interesting.

[@StevenUlyssesPerhero]

@@henrygutierrez3243 Honestly, I would advise against doing that for a first playthrough. For the purposes of this retrospective, the blind experience adds a lot, and I know there's bound to be at least one person who can't help blurting out advice/spoilers/etc.

[@henrygutierrez3243]

@@StevenUlyssesPerhero Most of the viewers on this channel that also watch streams haven't played FE4. Not only that, but most of us are also very good with spoilers and don't spoil blind playthroughs. If someone does spoil the game, they won't be from this community (probably).

[@StevenUlyssesPerhero]

@@henrygutierrez3243 And that's the thing. Someone who's a big fan of FE4 will see that someone on Twitch is playing it, sit in on the stream, and reveal too much, without even really meaning to. It would be safer for Shane to just do his first playthrough on his own time. Maybe stream the second run and cut those streams into the Let's Play series.

[@qazentro4444]

Man, if I remember correctly, aren't you the guy that did those pretty in-depth videos on FE Warriors? I'm excited to see what you think of each installment, being a huge fan of the series who's played almost every single game!

[@GamesBrained]

thaaat's me yes

[@MonadoJoJo]

This was an amazing video and i loved how deep in detail you went on the Great New changes and unfortunate shortcomings of Gaiden. Regardless it still is a great game and i respect it for that. Great hearing your perspective!

[@paulovianna7435]

This series is incredibly underrated in my eyes. I love that you're playing every game in order and blindly, then reviewing each and every aspect in an unbiased matter. I found your channel today, and only watched this and your Dark Dragon video, but I'm loving it so far!

[@Lessembarrassingman]

Ask not for who the notification bell tolls, it tolls for thee

[@KCooley99]

I've absolutely loved this series so far Shane. It's easy to see the work and passion that went into it. I'm very interested to see what you think of the remake once you get to it down the road. Keep up the good work!

[@ScottE-2]

Great video, I just noticed something... with the outline of both Marth and Alm/Celica's progression in game, they look like a Ducks. Marth's one being a Duck in action while the other a Duck walking gracefully.

[@GamesBrained]

What are they trying to tell us?!

[@ScottE-2]

@@GamesBrained I swear, with the next game you're going to cover also has a duck or bird related progression. We can firmly say, the games evolves by the shape of their ducks/birds.

[@m2orourke]

I just happened to play through the FEW Princess Minerva history mode map after watching your last video. I appreciated it so much more knowing what you explained. I'm excited to watch this one and again relate it back to FEW all the while building hype for Three Houses! Thank you, these are greatly appreciated!

[@darkadvent610]

This is an amazing video, and your way of reviewing games is extremely pleasing and grounded. Also, I know you're barely going through FE3, but I wanted to give you a word of advice: After you finish tackling FE4, I would suggest you wait for the FE5 'Project Exile' translation patch if you want to get both the complete story (without YGOA references as well) and readable menus. It's almost done as at the time of me typing this they're done through Chapter 21x out of 25.

[@BHox01]

Glad you enjoyed yourself. Echoes is one of my favorite video games of all time, and so much of it is copied almost exactly from Gaiden (for better or for worse in some cases). It's sad to me that a lot of these systems are likely to never come back to the series, as this was only their first shot at it, and despite the game's many flaws, they're really enjoyable.

[@noneofyourbusiness1998]

Echoes was a remake of this game.

[@gerking195]

@@noneofyourbusiness1998 yes I think they know

[@MrMarinus18]

Mine as well. When I was 20 I got it into my head I was now an 'adult' and so couldn't play games anymore. Echoes is largely responsible for reawakening my love for gaming.

[@Drachenhannes]

Took me some time but at one point i realized black wool is just as comfy as white wool. Sometimes even better. I do enjoy most of the second game entries you mentioned. With FF2 i had my party ignore enemies and punch themselves in the face to level up. In Castlevania 2 (Simons redaction patch) i did enjoy the grind and visiting towns. Zelda II had a refreshing challenge. I'd go as far as to say, Fire Emblem 2 is my favorite entry in the series. The branching paths with each hero facing different challenges, to meet up in the end. It is what i enjoy about the Arthur legend. There are very few knights of the round table who all take off into different directions working towards a common goal. If they ever meet up again it's a really big deal. I felt a bit of that in here and appreciated it.

[@theholyalex4806]

I'm seriously enjoying these videos. Keep up the good work!

[@skinnermclane4467]

This was great. I really appreciate this video. I had meant to watch these when they came out, but didn't find the time. When I saw your were going to stop, I felt terrible and became a patron. I was right to do so - these are my kind of videos and you're a good content creator. Can't wait to follow you on this journey. Especially as Three Houses is proving to be one of my favorite games of all time at this point.

[@henrygutierrez3243]

I didn't make it to the premiere :'(. It's unfortunate too because after playing Echoes, I wanted to see just how you treated Gaiden. I'd say your review was fair overall. Most people either disregard Gaiden/Echoes or hold it so highly that they sweep its flaws under the rug. I hope this video does well, and that KZbin's algorithm doesn't screw you this time around.

[@jakyomiinuyama8351]

I LOVED this series so much that I Liked the video before it even started hahaha. GREAT WORK! Keep it up.

[@Roge9]

FE2, Mario 2 and Zelda 2 are apart of a time when many NES sequels completely changed the formula. They get called the black sheep of their games but they are all solid games.

[@jamesroddy]

You did a great job with all of these, I hope they get more views!

[@RyanMichero]

Yay, I just finished Episode 1 last night!

[@blueknight8657]

Ok so in the premiere we said staves miss in FE 4 but I just looked it up and it's in Thracia 776 aka FE 5 that they miss. my bad

[@JaDX243]

As a general rule, if a mechanic seems convoluted and weird it's probably fe2, and if it seems REALLY convoluted and weird, it's probably fe5

[@hinodedl]

Fun fact: FE2 and FE5 are the only games in the series where healing magic/staves can randomly double heal.

[@blueknight8657]

@@hinodedl yea I read about that too. weird

[@ghostninja5035]

You know a video is good when you subscribed to the channel before you finished it.

[@berserkerciaran]

I don't even know why, but Gaiden is one of my favourite games

[@Sampson-9091]

As someone who's about to go into Engage mostly blind, only knowing Three Houses and then *kinda* knowing some of the past heroes by name only because of Smash Bros, these videos are amazing for catching up with the older titles I missed out on! Thank you for your work, and very well done!

[@liamfitzgerald1400]

Really enjoying this series so far!

[@RyanMichero]

Another great video! Gaiden actually sounds like a much better game than its reputation suggests. And I got a kick out of the Tingle brother quad attack.

[@Nesguy92]

I was four days old when this game was originally released.

[@stevesamuals2651]

Finally able to watch this, thanks morning shift.

[@solarcubing7677]

Thank you KZbin recommended, very cool! Edit: Damn this video was amazing

[@balaceanubogdan2231]

I can't wait for you to play Echoes, to see how the remake improved on it. Echoes is my favorite game from the 3DS era, I still think believe Awakening is better overall, but Echoes story was better for me and the presentation is superb.

[@justapickedminfan]

My first Fire Emblem game! It's a bit of a strange one, but I love it.

[@marlenapowers478]

Only 8k views.. such a shame. These videos are amazing

[@El_Surge]

I really hope you go on to play all the fore emblem games. The gameplay only gets better and less unfair, less cluncky and more smooth and fun to plau

[@UltraPaperGamer]

I'm Soo Happy that Echoes fyx a lot of the problems of Gaiden

[@MegaPokefan97]

Umm... The only one I can think of is Graphics and Sound.

[@UltraPaperGamer]

@@MegaPokefan97 They fyx the Avoid %, and they also add Mila's Wheel, so the game is already 300% Better.

[@hashbrownslinging-slasher872]

Sasquatch Studios They made it much faster and fixed the presentation. Only things it absolutely needed, honestly. The map design isn’t inherently negative, because it is a lot more free form and less corridor based or objective based.

[@sorryyourenotawinner2506]

@@MegaPokefan97 Troll

[@sorryyourenotawinner2506]

@@hashbrownslinging-slasher872 MAP DESIGN IS FINE.

[@inconemay1441]

What hurt Gaiden's legacy, especially in the SNES era was that it was completely forgotten and not getting represented at all in the old TCG, while FE1/3, 4 and 5 did and have their character designs set in stone for future appearances. To think that the later games slowly bringing back its features and story elements is really bizarre.

[@luizgabrielhehe]

Finished this game today. Simply amazing. Much better than the first.

[@JonJohJameson]

14:13 to quote Bismix, "Woah Rudolph is Alm's dad that really-" _Gasp_

[@davidgeorge1943]

Funny to think that before the remake, the only legitimate taste western audiences got of this game was that one oddly Spanish remix in Brawl.

[@dhisufiroafrozenseraphimdragon]

I laughed when you said some of those enemies looked really ugly when standing on top of graves or healing squares.

[@windmage01]

3:07 Now I know who to thank for the Player Phase Map Theme of FE1, the Chapter 1 Map Theme of FE2, the Chapter 2 Map Theme of FE2, the Final Map Theme of FE2, the "Recruitment" Theme of FE1 and FE2, and the Boss theme of FE2.

[@jedgrahek1426]

I tried playing both this and the original long ago when translation patches were a novelty, and even back then I remember the translation of this one was so much better, to the point that I remember actually coming close to finishing it despite only playing a few missions of the original. I don't know, something about it, the music, atmosphere, weird systems... it drew me in. I should really play the remake I bet it would be a blast for me...

[@El_Surge]

Yea so KZbin never notified me of your last 3 uploads so that's cool

[@ziggymcdougal]

Just a couple things about Gaiden I haven't played FE1, but I have played Gaiden with and without growths. So I speak from experience that Gaiden's rudimentary inventory management is still haphazard even on easy mode with shared convoys solely because of how under-equipped your units generally are. You hardly get any weapons worth a damn until about C4 and by then both routes just turn into warpskip fests. This results in damage level dichotomy that's almost as bad as enemy speed stratification in act 4 celica in SoV. The pace of the maps somehow trumps even FE1 in tedium (at least from what i've seen of Topaz's FE1 0% run). This wouldn't be so bad if accuracy levels weren't down the pooper. And where that didn't hurt a game like Berwick Saga since the game provided quick fixes to increase reliability, there's no counter to 20 avoid floor tiles or a 61 magic avoid Rudolf. Of course then there's the importance Gaiden places on positioning and to be quite frank, I feel it's overstated as a result of magic. While not as easy in Gaiden, Act 2 is a complete cheese-fest with proper well configuration. You usually either invest into either Mae or Boey but I will use boey for this example because it makes my point clearer. With 2 speed wells and 1 atk well, all Boey needs is one more atk proc and he's killing most every enemy in the first boat map in a single round. Furthermore, once he gets the leather shield he usually only loses 3 HP per encounter (1 from the attack 2 from casting fire). The early parts of act 2 eventually turn into a mage juggernaut fest since enemies don't do nearly enough damage to warrant a cautious approach to maps. Still, great video and hope to see more!

[@mr79843]

I actually like this game. I've only played it once however and didn't quite make it to the end. It was on an emulator on my old smart phone and my save games got erased when my phone took a shit one day. I'm planning on playing through the whole series again as soon as I complete the 3d Final Fantasy IV that I'm currently playing through for the first time. (1st time for the 3d remake, not ff4 as a whole.) I like a lot of the games from the NES era that people call the "black sheep" though.

[@Mysticblade-n5o]

I’m ready for a three houses review

[@maziio646]

That ending theme song from echoes tho

[@Joseph-li3df]

I've been really enjoying these videos a lot! If I may critique your critique, I think you focus too much on the story of each game. I come to these videos to here a critical analysis. Giving a play-by-play of the story makes for a long segment with no analysis whatsoever. I'd be more interested in your thoughts on the story as a whole, using specific examples from it to back up your points. You can still summarize the story, but I don't think you should make it as much of a focus as you have here. I'd personally spend about half as much time on story. But that's just my preference. Feel free to make your videos the way you want. I'll keep watching either way!

[@GamesBrained]

The story explanation sections are intentionally synopsis by design. See the introduction video for the reason. They are then followed by the story analysis section, which is exactly what you just described. Perhaps this issue can be resolved simply by adding chapter timestamps into the descriptions.

[@luthierisbestboy8177]

Though I haven't played the original Gaiden (though I have the ROM and a proper emulator on my computer), I like its soundtrack, especially the final map enemy phase theme, the theme that plays when you battle against Duma (not the final map theme), and Celica's second map theme.

[@MegaCygnusX1]

The plot is basically A New Hope.

[@kingofmonsters14]

since they remade this, you think they'll remake Genealogy of the Holy War? and if they do, think they'll include Thracia 776?

[@Shadefinder1]

Hi I just found your channel a few days ago. Are you still making content I noticed that you haven't put anything out in a while. I really like your run down in your videos. Super thorough

[@Flareboxx]

I love this series and have really enjoyed your videos on the first 2 fire emblem games! Is this video series continuing? It took less than 2 weeks between the first 2 videos, and I'm concerned you may have moved onto other projects now that it's been over a month now for the 3rd.

[@GamesBrained]

I had already finished FE1 and FE2 so I could have a good start on the series. The other videos will take much longer to come out, but I am working on them.

[@connormclernon26]

I really wish that they would release all the unlocalized Fire Emblem games in the West.

[@brandonmatys]

Even this one? and don’t tell me to “just play the remake instead” fire emblem 1 had a remake on the ds and the original version came west for a limited time in 2020. Call me crazy but I wish fire emblem 1 on the nes came to switch online in the west what a waste of a translation.

[@Ephraim225]

2:52 What's a Famicom Wars lol

[@protopotato6549]

I'm rewatching all these retrospectives in order to prepare for the Echoes retrospective. Is there a chance you made an April fools retrospective? I recall watching it once but can't find it anywhere.

[@spitfire5502]

For me, Fe gaiden still the best. Getting the dragon shield from dozer in early game is fantastic.

[@rei1556]

if only the map designs was great overall and not hit or miss because of being too far on either spectrum, only map that struck out to me or became memorable was zofia's castle because of the presence of dracoshield, taking out desaix while trying to prevent slayde from dying/suiciding against your units was fun at least for me imo

[@AlejandroRodolfoMendez]

I hope you can play the recent remake.

[@Godikiki]

yo shane nice vids keep it up! (im waiting for the sacred stones one) btw im not sure if you are done with warriors games but i would really like to know your opinion on one piece pirate warriors 3

[@dashannsche8460]

Are those game scenes played in double speed !?

[@leemeyer9395]

Don't forget the witch bosses summon teleporting witches

[@OroborOSX11]

Can you list the name of the epic Fire Emblem main theme orchestrated version you play at the end?

[@marks3684]

Fun fact about this game: In one of the battles, an lper took about 5-20 minutes (forgot how many turns, but it was a lot of turns) trying to kill one weak as hell wizard with his entire team and got very frustrated by being unable to kill him since the pink tile gave that wizard way too much avoid bonus. Btw, yes that was the last enemy he had to deal with. But yeah.......in all honestly, the massive amount of luck that came from the terribly thought out terrain bonuses coupled with 1 RN completely turn me off from playing this game whatsoever considering it dragged the game down way too much. That and I don't find stuff like that any enjoyable whatsoever, regardless of whether I have played any other FE games (which I have played a couple of them already) or not.

[@GamesBrained]

Was I that LP'er?

[@marks3684]

@@GamesBrained No, it was years ago, from a FE and Mario fan, Mageknight404. He got very frustrated with the wizard constantly dodging all of his units' attacks, especially from his Demon Slayers and Falco Knights.

[@deathcon6261]

You gonna do the Gaiden remake too?

[@powerpc127]

Wait, gaiden just means sidestory? So Ninja Gaiden is just one of Ryu's little side adventures?... It seemed so epic back in the day.

[@arciks11]

33:45 Couldn't you have baited that unit to a Plains Square? Instead of engaging in RNGfest of hitrates.

[@deoxysoverlord8710]

Funny how a lot of second games on the NES either utilized towns and exploration, rather than just level to level based gameplay, or changed the formula entirely. What was it with Nintendo and that kind of thing? In Zelda II, the formula was changed, and towns were added, in Castlevania II, the formula was a bit similar, but again, towns were added, and it was no longer a level to level based game, but rather, an explorable world, in Fire Emblem II the formula was similar, but they put towns and exploration AGAIN, and finally, in Super Mario Bros II, the formula was changed drastically. I know it was their first time making the game of each respective series, but how didn't they know they their games were fine just the way they were!? After all, the new games of each mentioned franchise nowadays borrow heavily from the original source material, and disregard the second games completely. So what gives with these second game elephants that are always just sitting there in the rooms of Nintendo's history? EVEN SONIC 2 AND POKEMON GOT THEIR SEQUELS RIGHT!!! Both games came out way later, sure, but they still knew that their games were fine just the way they were, and just needed a new world to explore, while maintaining the same formula. Sequels done right, in my opinion. 😌👌

[@Arisatominatokotone]

The 1st time i played this was a fan remake on the gba 😅

[@mr.shroomyshroom]

"DOME-A"

[@StevenUlyssesPerhero]

That's what he was called. I believe "Duma" was a product of the localization.

[@mr.shroomyshroom]

@@StevenUlyssesPerhero Probably, though it sounds better then DOME-A. Whatever, I just found it amusing.

[@CidAghast]

*tsk tsk tsk* Well youtube, I dont understand why this video dosnt have like 100k views

[@Langas_Konoe]

I know that this game slow af, but turning animations off could have helped

[@tahamohammad8842]

I’m pretty sure you can’t on the NES games

[@jesfest]

The evade tiles really don't bug me that much; magic completely ignored terrain bonuses in this game, making it ideal for that particular use. So for shamans that summon things, have your melee units deal with summons while your mages dispatch the root problem.

[@rpg_haven]

Idk how you suffered through this slog twice, but props to you.

[@tinchosabala]

You know....I actually like Gaiden’s map design. And also the boat maps. I just do, don’t ask me why.

[@theholyalex4806]

I ADORE the boat maps-

[@tinchosabala]

The Holy Alex, well, I personally like the castles, ESPECIALLY Sofia Castle or however it’s called. You have a load of ways to do it, it was too fun. But I like most maps in Gaiden, not just the boat maps

[@theholyalex4806]

@@tinchosabala I love the castle maps too, absolutely.

[@MegaPokefan97]

Boat maps, Damage over time terrains, Decision making that makes Zoro from One Piece look like an expert Pathfinder, and trying to reason with pirates who want to either kill, fuck, it make a boat out of her... Why do people like her?

[@nngnnadas]

whoever think that metroid II is the black sheep rather than the original is wrong.

[@nngnnadas]

Good for past me to be so confident without having a working defenition of what a black sheep is.

[@Mayahiime]

@@nngnnadas lmao

[@kingcrimson4504]

I Absolutely hate this game and it’s the worst fire emblem ever for 1 reason, why is the sword not centered to the shield in the title screen?

[@sorryyourenotawinner2506]

you stupid right?

[@kingcrimson4504]

@@sorryyourenotawinner2506 tsk tsk YES! I AM!

[@TMX1138]

It was later remade as Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, which was released in the West, unlike the original.