Final Fantasy Tactics and Fire Emblem Comparison

[Demona]

I think the thread title sort of gives an idea of what I want to know. I've run into a lot of Fire Emblem players and a lot of Tactics players, but I don't think I've yet encountered anyone who has played both.

How do the two compare? I've played FE: Path of Radiance and FE: Sacred Stones, and I intend to play Tactics as soon as I'm done FF7, but in the meantime, I'm curious. I love the Fire Emblem game mechanics and the Tactics ones sound similar, with the exception of weapon uses and breaking in Fire Emblem and Tactics respectively.

 

[Flintlock]

I've run into a lot of Fire Emblem players and a lot of Tactics players, but I don't think I've yet encountered anyone who has played both.

I guess you're not expecting this thread to get a lot of activity then. Unfortunately, I haven't played Fire Emblem, so I can't make a comparison.

 

[Demona]

I think it may be a console thing--Gamecube and Nintendo versus the Playstation and Enix franchises. Sorta hard to reconcile.

But I've noticed that games like Megami Tensei share a similar game mechanic. Turn-based strategy and all that. But Fire Emblem has permanent character deaths, weapons that have a certain number of uses before they break, and all dat fun stuff that Tactics appears to boast. I dunno.

I shall just have to play Tactics and talk to myself on this thread then.

 

[Madame Mayor]

I've played the Tactics games, and my boyfriend is currently going through Sacred Stones. I find Sacred Stones stresses me out a bit too much for the characters dying.

tbh I hated the original Tactics but I'm normally alone in that thinking. Most people loved it. I prefer the GBA/DS versions. DS though way over the GBA because they improved so much.

I would recommend giving the Tactics series a shot. You'll find it very different but the overall style is still similar.

 

[HylianMogget]

I've played some of both (FFT, FFTA, and some of Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, which is sort of like proto-FFT in terms of gameplay; The first GBA Fire Emblem, Sacred Stones, and some of Path of Radiance) but it's been a while and I'm actually really awful at strategy games, so I dunno how much help my opinion will be.

I think if you like strategy games in general you should definitely play FFT (and probably Tactics Ogre - I've heard nothing but good things about the PSP remake). I think FE places a lot more emphasis on its weapons and magic triangles and such, whereas in FFT you get way more freedom in terms of customization and messing around with abilities and classes to get your units how you want them. Turn order + casting time and area of effect, from what I remember, also make magic in FFT pretty different from FE - since FFT's got an isometric grid and the turn order of each unit depends on stats so there's no general enemy turn/player turn.

 

[Cthulhu]

I played both (don't recall finishing either though), . Fire Emblem was, at least to me, Advance Wars with RPG elements and a much, much better story. Basically, what was listed here. FFT is... well, more FF-like, I dunno . The game mechanics are similar, yet different; FFT is 2D / flat, for example, while FFT takes height into consideration. Fire Emblem feels more mechanical, if that makes sense, more rules-bound, etc. But it's been forever since I played FFT, so I may not remember properly.

 

[Drax]

(Whoa, thread is old, but I just now spotted it. You've probably already played through both series now, but I'll post anyway.)

God I love the Fire Emblem series. It's my favorite SRPG series, and has so many characters that I main.

I guess the main difference between them is that, except for a few characters like Cid and Cloud, Tactics characters are pretty much blank pawns with interchangeable classes.

You will be resetting levels all over the place in Fire Emblem because the characters have their own contributions to the main story, and if they die it's forever.

I wish they'd bring the old battle animations back. The later games seem to be getting pretty bland in that regard.

 

[TillSparks]

Lol not many people have played both? I sure have. Final Fantasy Tactics and Fire Emblem Awakening are pretty much the 2 best games in the genre (although I haven't tried Tactics Ogre yet).

I'd say Fire Emblem (Awakening) wins in gameplay, FFT wins in story, characters and and world design. I love all of the Matsuno worlds (even though they're all supposed to be Ivalice, which is nonsense)