Why, of course it's love. There's no way I couldn't love a Fire Emblem entry that's delighfully simple, straightforward and streamlined, and as mercifully light on story as it's deliciously heavy on combat. There's no way I wouldn't love a FE entry that's said to be one of the shortest in the series, yet still offers plenty of strategic nuance by boasting two different sets of units — and letting me switch at will between them. And there's just no way in heck I won't adore a FE entry that lets me slash my way through dungeons.
That last point requires further development, because it's so impossibly awesome that I have to rave copiously about it. Long story short, FEE offers complimentary dungeons to crawl, in which you can farm stuff and swing your sword at things — think slash grass à la Zelda, or strike foes first to get an edge in battle à la Atelier. Not even in my wildest dreams would I have dared imagine a FE instalment with an A-RPG fighting system — let alone a stellar A-RPG fighting system. Because indeed, real-time combat in FEE is irresistibly satisfying: not only are the physics amazing and a feast for the fingers, but the animations are gorgeous and a feast for the eyes. The whole thing is just so darn perfect that I seriously wish there were more of it — like, the whole game. Nah, just kidding; regular battles are excellent too, so I wouldn't want to miss on them. On the other hand, this makes me reassess my purchase of Fire Emblem Warriors. I bought that game a couple of years ago on a whim, and always kinda regretted that purchase; but after experiencing FEE's thrilling real-time combat segments, I find myself eager to play that unlikely crossover after all.
Slashing and hacking is not all there is to FEE's dungeons, though. You can also farm stuff there, either by destroying pots and crates conveniently lying around or by looking for items thanks to a point-and-clicky sight. And you'd better farm dutifully indeed, because this is the only way to get your paws on replenishing items and new gear, as well as the most efficient way to get forging currency and items for side quests. Because indeed, there are side quests in FEE! Have I ever played an FE game with side quests — beyond the usual 'go there and recruit that extra unit' thing, that is? I don't think so, and I relish that novelty — even though a quest journal would have been much appreciated.
With all that, you'd nearly forget that we're dealing with an SRPG there. But don't worry, dear fellow gamers: I love the strategy side of FEE just as much as its ARPG side. It's a real pleasure to be immersed in the series' unique atmosphere again, and to savour its distinctive brand of combat without a care in the world thanks to the forgiving 'no permadeath' setting. I tackled Celica's path first, until I was blocked at the sluice gate and had to progress things on Alm's side; and with hindsight, I kinda regret not having cleared one battle at a time on each side. The map on Alm's side is now teeming with strong extra brigades that make my progression much harder — heck, I'm lucky if I manage to escape those battles with more than a quarter of my force still standing. Things are so tedious that I'm seriously thinking of promoting my eligible units right now — all the more so as hitting the lv. 20 cap before changing class supposedly matters less in FEE than in your regular FE entry. Let's get to it, shall we? Until I see you again with a fresh run report, take care and keep gaming!
I enjoyed Echoes, but IMO it was way too short. The dungeon roaming part didn't really stick in my mind, though.
ReplyDelete"Way too short": now that's music to my ears! I've been looking for a super-short SRPG for years — a bit of a lost cause, given that the genre tends to promote super-long runs; but maybe my endless search will finally come to an (fruitful) end with FEE. 😀
DeleteI LOVE fire emblem but haven't had a chance to pick up the game but since I found it on sale, I'm gonna pick it up soon. No matter the answer, I'm probably gonna pick up the game, and I know you probably aren't finished quite yet, but was wondering about the story and replayability. How do you think these two aspects hold up?
ReplyDeleteWelcome again! :) I'm not done yet indeed (although not too far from it), but I can already answer your question:
Delete— The story: it's quite shallow, especially compared to late FE entries such as Awakening or Fates. The game's humble origin as a Famicom title reveals itself here... That being said, the characters are really loveable, and probably my favourite FE crew so far; so there's that.
— The replayability: There's not much, since the game has no branching paths and lets you play with all the recruitable units all the way to the end. The best replayability potential I can see is the fact that FEE can be polished off in less than 20 hours, which makes it the perfect game for a quick SRPG/FE fix. That, and trying to clear challenge runs with less units.
I see. I know you've made some reviews(reports?) about fates and awakening, but haven't seen you talk much about those games story. I hear a lot of people talk about how trash those games (story's) are. Personally, besides some cheesey eye rolling moments, I thought the story wasn't bad at all.(maybe not the best though) Most of those people think echoes has a stronger story, the opposite of what you think so was wondering about your thoughts on the story of the other games P.S do you plan on giving three houses a go?
DeleteWhen I say that the story is shallow, I'm referring to the way it's presented in-game rather than to its content per se. Echoes' storyline is very good indeed, better than Fates' or Awakening's; unfortunately, it doesn't get to live to its full potential, mostly because it unfolds way too fast. Developments that would call for meaty cutscenes, or at least a bit of time to breathe, are rushed beyond belief and lose a lot of their potential emotional impact because of it. It's really a pity because, as I said, Echoes' story has a lot of potential indeed.
DeleteIt's true that I didn't mention the story much in my reviews of Fates and Awakening; and that's mostly because I don't really care about stories in RPGs. A stellar story is always a bonus, but it can never be the main reason I play an RPG: I'm here for the grinding first and last! And since I spend copious amounts of time fighting and crawling, I usually lose track of the story along the way. SRPGs are no exception despite their increased focus on narrative; however, I manage to keep track of Echoes' story because I really like it, and I can safely claim that I prefer it to Awakening's and Fates' stories by a long shot.
Not only do I own Three Houses and definitely plan to give it a go, but I already know which character I'll pick up! :D I'm actually really eager to play that game, so I'm gonna try my best to tackle it before the end of the summer. ^^
Oh, I see. Sorry for the misunderstanding. I agree (feel the same) that RPGs are gameplay first, story after. This is my opinion on three houses, don't know if you want to hear it or not but here it is. Three houses gameplay wise doesn't change much, giving you a little more variety in combat arts etc but nothing to major. The biggest change in my opinion is the class system. Each class has one mastery skill, giving you the option to take that skill over to different classes. This gives you a little more options do to all the characters having access to most classes, but at the same time is kinda my problem. The game in my opinion isn't to hard overall. Maddening is frustrating more then difficult in my opinion leading to the fact that you can really do anything you want in the game. This is a pro in the way that you can do really anything you want due to the fact that the game is a sandbox, but doesn't really make you think in the way that some other fire emblem games did, trying to find the correct builds strategy's etc. Also how the game works leads to the fact you really can't let a unit die because you really need to invest in a unit to make them viable. Fire emblem games story overall in my opinion isn't really the best due to the fact that the games pacing is kinda weird, because the story is progresed in between every battle but this entry is among the best of the modern fire emblem games in my opinion. I think the character's is one of the high points of the game. The cast itself is large, but that's because there three routes meaning each character gets a good chunk of spotlight. I kinda sounded negative, but I played this game non stop for about a month, completing two routes. Just kinda burned our. Still highly recommend the game and thanks for all the replys!
DeleteWell, I wasn't too clear either, so it's understandable; don't worry ^^
DeleteEverything you say about Three Houses sounds really good. The game not being too hard and not requiring too much strategic thinking is especially appealing to me, because I don't like too much strategy in my SRPGs. Having to redo a battle a thousand times until I hit just the right configuration really puts me off; so if Three Houses spares me that and lets me charge like a bull as usual, that's all fine by me. Now I'm even more eager to play it; I'll take a small SRPG break once I'm done with Echoes, and then I'll dive full force into Three Houses. :D