LogFAQs > #968627787

Admittedly, the series had moved on by FE11, so instead of understanding that it's just pity units/EXP for bad players, people thought it was like. The game incentivizing intentional unit death.

FE11 is clearly intended to challenge the "reset whenever anyone dies" mindset common within the FE fandom (and encouraged by the ranking systems of FE4-FE7), thus the forced sacrifice in the prologue. Given that, I do not believe it is unintentional that veteran players (many of whom would have played not only this game, but also its previous remake) have to subject their own army to a deliberate bloodbath in order to access some of the new content. They're an incentive to play differently.

And, for what it's worth, this is a way in which Shadow Dragon is not just "Generic Fire Emblem, But Blander". I don't think it worked out, but I can respect the attempt.

Story? Eh I guess 5/10. One of those points is for writing/localization, which does a solid job of spicing up the bland story, and one of those is for Gharnef's implicit plan. Gharnef and Medeus cannot directly harm one another. Obviously, keeping Falchion around means that Gharnef can empower Marth against Medeus if he so chooses. Less obviously, holding Elice captive means that even if Medeus kills Marth, Gharnef can have have him brought back!