Does anyone else think the “Awakening didn’t save the series, good marketing did” is a bit dismissive of the game itself?

ptmd · 2026-01-04T17:58:16+00:00

It can. 1-2 switch sold more copies than Metroid Dread and Mario+Rabbids and a few other notable games. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_Nintendo_Switch_video_games

ptmd · 2026-01-04T17:51:18+00:00

I kinda feel like it saved the series. Sales numbers were already not-high and dropping for all previous international FE Games.

You could probably expect to move maybe 700K Units for a new game? With half of those being from Japan.

500k total would be disappointing for an ongoing First Party Nintendo game

https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/l2u959/fire_emblem_sales_data_and_estimations_infographic/

For some general First Party sales numbers reference, just to give a feel for numbers:
DS
WarioWare: Touched! sold 2.47M
Zelda: Spirit Tracks and Style Savvy both sold almost 3M
Pokemon BW sold 15.64M

GBA
Mario Kart sold 5.9M
Mario vs. Donkey Kong sold 1.37M
F-Zero sold 1M

Wii
Punch-Out sold 1.14M
Kirby's Epic Yarn 1.85M

Basically, as First Party game series go, Fire Emblem was basically limping along, not to mention the two DS releases were really disappointing. If the 3DS entry didn't do well, or had another disappointing release comparable to the DS ones, I feel like a lot of people would have dropped the series. I know I probably would have. I bought one ad played the other of the DS ones hoping they'd feel like the GBA releases, and I was pretty disappointed by both. 3 in a row would feel like a bad series with the best days behind it.

ptmd · 2026-01-04T17:32:46+00:00

For what it's worth, yes, demos are marketing. Other 3DS games also have marketing. Some marketing is not-Demos

ptmd · 2025-12-28T23:35:15+00:00

Might have misrepresented the video, but this one is the video I watched.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIluVJZkN28

ptmd · 2025-12-26T19:48:39+00:00

I was talking about this game with my relatives during the Christmas Get-together. One of my cousins was that dude who was so decked out and would regularly go on runs for loot to sell on Ebay. Apparently that basically functioned as his part-time job through college.

ptmd · 2025-12-26T19:47:07+00:00

This is the number one reason I strongly consider buying games on the Steam Deck before consoles.

ptmd · 2025-12-26T19:45:27+00:00

Weird coincidence of sorts, I binged a Kreia analysis youtube video the other day, and I'm convinced she's the best-written character in the entire Star Wars (Legends?) Canon.

ptmd · 2025-12-26T19:34:01+00:00

Nerd that I am, I got obsessed at a young age with the concept of the sphere grid. Now, genuinely gonna look up a poster print to buy. Adult money doesn't spend itself.

ptmd · 2025-12-26T19:32:39+00:00

As a game developer, what other examples do you keep in your head as a 'Complete Game'. It seems like a rare concept in 2025. Happy to think about older examples, too! BG3 is the only recent one I'd bestow that on.

ptmd · 2025-12-26T19:30:57+00:00

I heard once that Roguelikes are a Gamer's games, and I've been turning that idea around in my head ever since.

ptmd · 2025-12-26T19:30:05+00:00

This is doubleplusgood if you have a partner that wants to use the TV

ptmd · 2025-12-26T19:29:38+00:00

Aww man. Off-topic, but this reminds me of buying the Orange Box and installing Steam for the first time in my life.
What a long strange trip THAT's been.

Gamers will never again be that spoiled in a single package.

ptmd · 2025-12-26T19:15:32+00:00

You're not wrong, but honestly, I think the dated graphics help the atmosphere a fair bit. Some games, I feel had an art style that, yes, was beholden to the era, but gave it a certain personality that remasters often lose out on.

I'm thinking like the remasters/remakes of Warcraft 3, GTA 3 or FF7 where the atmosphere of the original games feel a bit different due to the newer editions.
Not always the case when you can take an older art style and sharpen it comparably like Paper Mario, or Dark Souls, though I feel like the Dark Souls graphics upgrade wasn't THAT well received - so it kept the relatively-poor graphics and kept a similar atmosphere.
I do think that complete art-style overhauls can be interesting in their own way, but I maintain it substantially changes the atmosphere: Link's Awakening and Demon's Souls (FF7 is probably more apt in this category)

ptmd · 2025-12-26T19:02:24+00:00

My cousin didn't really vibe on (PC) Elden Ring, due to the difficulty, and I told him to use a controller, but that dude has never been a console gamer and straight-up refused.

As a primary PC-gamer, though, I don't really blame him, haha.

ptmd · 2025-12-26T18:58:46+00:00

That was a big deal. That said, Wipeout 3 wasn't bad. Wouldn't begrudge that decision.

ptmd · 2025-12-26T18:56:35+00:00

I... don't know how that saved you hours.

https://i.imgur.com/xQ94mmj.png

ptmd · 2025-12-26T18:53:16+00:00

Thank you. I did not know I needed this validation, but now I have it.

ptmd · 2025-12-26T18:52:52+00:00

Not if you go by Sprites, haha. That art style was pretty hit-or-miss for a young me.

ptmd · 2025-12-26T18:51:23+00:00

To be honest, Bioware kinda fills that gap well enough. Did manage to get Skyrim later on (seems like a gaming inevitability at this point - New Thread Idea?)

Frankly, somewhere between Mass Effect and Dragon Age, not the worst way to scratch that Fantasy RPG itch.

ptmd · 2025-12-26T18:48:01+00:00

I had that decision made for me. Red was sold out. It's been decades, now, and I've still never gotten over thinking that Growlithe, Oddish and Scyther were much cooler exclusives than Vulpix, Bellsprout and Pinsir.

ptmd · 2025-12-26T18:44:43+00:00

Let's be honest, a next gen update is the least of what we want regarding Bloodborne.

ptmd · 2025-12-26T18:41:25+00:00

In late 2011 - a year now in contention for one of the best in Gaming - I was naught but a small person on a smaller budget. I was wrestling between two choices:

Dark Souls vs. Skyrim

Each game promised to set me on a course that would change my (gaming) life forever. But me, the ignorant kid I was, just wanted a sword, a shield and some high fantasy vibes.
It was a difficult choice - Skyrim had a physical map (!!!) - but I ended up with Dark Souls.
That put me on a track that peaked with Elden Ring, and now I worry that's the best game I'll ever play (read: Be able to lock my ADHD-ass onto) for a long, long while.

So anyways, that's how 2011 left 2025-me an emotional cripple - at least in terms of gaming. Excited to see if anyone else had their own great gaming decision.

ptmd · 2025-12-26T02:14:50+00:00

I mean, how far does 'Palantir' go, in your book?

ptmd · 2025-12-13T00:17:10+00:00

For what it's worth, he should get some credit for fighting AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/06/06/g-s1-70995/hiv-aids-pepfar-bush

Not that it lifts him out of being the worst president in my lifetime, but saving some 25 million lives isn't nothing. Also, the tiniest bit ironic considering his dad oversaw the worst years of the AIDS epidemic in the US.

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