Topic: Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon - is there jeopardy?

I'm interested in this game, but I want to make sure you can still lose characters permanently. Having jeopardy attached to your decisions really makes Fire Emblem work for me on the Wii (feels like X-COM/UFO); RPGs where nobody dies unless it's scripted lose something for me. Just looking for confirmation; I know this is a remake of the original NES game, but I don't know if that was a feature of the series from the very beginning or not.

Yes, it's always been a series staple. There's a revival item, but you only ever get one of them, it only works once, only works if used by a specific character, and only if you're standing on a specific spot only found in the second-to-last mission.

...oh, and that one character has horrible stats, and you get her the mission before, so you don't get the chance to build them up. Also, said mission where you have to switch out one of your good characters for her if you want to revive someone is also the hardest mission in the game.

I can attest to losing characters permanently. I am playing it now (on Chapter 17) and have lost several characters that I sorely miss.

I was thinking of buying this game and was just wondering, do you need their friend code to play online?

You can play online without a friend code.
But the online game is a joke anyway. You use your ingame team, so you need to beat the game while building your team, stats and weapons specifically towards playing online if you want to succeed. Had they let you simply pick and choose premade characters and classes and choose their weapons and items from a menu, the game could've focused on strategy, but here it's focused on whether you're willing to spend 20 hours playing through the game to get the team you want.

Awesome, definitely going to keep a lookout for it then next time I'm in a GAME as I've got some credit to burn.

I thought this game sucked in comparison to other FE games like Path of Radiance and Sacred Stones. Ima sell it the next time I go to GameStop.

This was my first FE game, and I like it. Probably because I haven't played the newer ones.

It's 13+ years older than them, you know. You obviously didn't know what you were going to.

Well, yah, but its a REMAKE. So, naturally, I thought that they'd at least revamp the story a bit. Turns out I was completely wrong. The story and especially dialogue are absolutely TERRIBLE in this game.

They did revamp it. Of course the basic plot is still going to be the same. What did you expect from it, anyway?

Really, if you're that opposed to a remake staying true to the original, you might want to research your remakes a bit better before buying them.

This is the best Fire Emblem game I have ever played. I think that all DS owners should try it if they're 12+ years old (not that they shouldn't if they're not). My only criticism is that some characters have absolutely no backstory whatsoever. Heck, some never even speak (unless they die). Still, I think you should pick it up ASAP, Sean.

Don't worry it's on the list! Will probably be a good thing to have on my holiday Stateside.

The two GBA Fire Emblems (Fire Emblem and Fire Emblem: the Sacred Stones) are much much much better than Shadow Dragon.
Yes, there is permanent death in Shadow Dragon, but nearly all the characters are lifeless so losing them doesn't feel bad at all. It's a real shame that they didn't add extra dialog to give everyone some backstory. The gameplay itself is still good, although more basic than the recent Fire Emblem games. (there's no "rescue" or "shove" command, and there's only one type of mission, "seize", so there's no defence, protect or escape levels to add some variety)

Don't bother, get the GBA ones.

Well, I've got a DSi, so sadly GBA is not an option. Hopefully they'll do the treatment to other old games in the series.

Or hopefully there will one day be a Virtual Handheld!

Aw I was afraid of that, they really are so much better. Though if it's an option, there are cheap GBAs to snag, preferably the SP. I guess just for Fire Emblem is probably silly but the GBA do have a good library of games to try out to make the purchase justifiable.

I have a Micro, but after playing the DSi LL, I cannot imagine going back to the small screen again. I'll review my remaining GBA games and sell it on. As it was I think I turned it on once a year to play with on the plane. I have so many more games in DSiWare that there's nothing outside of Activision Anthology that's making me want to hang onto it.

I guess you'd be getting it cheap, rather than the grossly overpriced launch price.

They didn't really do much with the original other than make the graphics ugly, and translate it.

It was already remade on the Super Famicom, but they added a whole extra part that the DS version lacks.