Here’s my rebuttal: FE is rarely unfair.

Yeah, I feel you.

You would think FE fans would be happy to see the franchise finally being recognized after a decade of relative obscurity in the West, and having more and more people joining the fun. But instead, some people would have rather see it “die with dignity” (mind the quote marks) than to see it thrive…

What you describe in the first paragraph is a staple of the series. Basically, you need to learn how to keep your healers out of enemy reach. Use the X button for that. Once your healers promote and are capable of attacking (usually with magic), things get much simpler.

And as for the weaker units finishing off…

I haven’t seen .hack, but from what I heard, the only thing they have in common is the “trapped in a virtual MMO” premise. Other than that, they’re very different. SAO is more action oriented, with a heavy dose of romance and some (pointless) harem tropes.

As if it’s better... SAO is a HUGE “love it or hate it” show…

I was always aware of it since the series first came to the West in 2004. Although, to be fair, that’s because people who already knew the series from playing import copies warned me about it before hand.

[Insert “Why are they doing it with SAO instead of .hack or Log Horizon” comment here]

Also...

[Insert “I hope we don’t play as Kirito” comment here]

Each side has exactly the same number of characters (seriously, see the roster and count). So take your pick.

Why do I have the feeling even “Conquest” will be considered easy by the hardcore fan base?

“even without permadeath, you always run the risk of leveling your characters wrong and putting yourself in an unwinnable situation”

“The more you know...” :)

Of course, that doesn’t take away any merit from Bethesda regarding “Fallout 4" itself. Sure, it has a devoted Japanese fanbase, but it’s still a pretty niche franchise there compared to other genres (again, a bit like the “Tales of” series in the West). So they must have done a good marketing…

It’s not THAT surprising. The “Fallout” series has always had a devoted fan base in Japan (a little bit like JRPG series such as “Tales of” have a devoted fan base in the West), and Bethesda pulls off decent marketing campaigns over there.

I visited Japan in 2008, and I remember clearly there were tons of ads of…

These numbers are incredibly depressing... It keeps showing how badly home consoles do in Japan these days.

OK, now I’m hungry...

Only one supermarket?

[Insert salty “FE is supposed to be a strategy game for hardcore gamers, not a waifu/hasubando simulator for weeabos” comment here]

It wouldn’t be the first time.

They should bring Jim Sterling along, then.

Wrong. Provided that a) the singer is good, and b) the lyrics are well adapted, Japanese style music sounds in any language just as good/bad as it sounds in Japanese. There are plenty of good covers in YouTube to prove it.

If you find a well-adapted, well-sung Japanese song cringe worthy in English, most probably is…

Microsoft has NEVER sold well outside of the US and UK. Japan is only the highlight example.

The fact that he is also supposed to be a “blank slate” will most probably get him a lot of flak.