After a bit of meandering, my gaming instinct's verdict is now clear: I'm done with FEE for the time being. I might have forged on if Berkut were the final boss; but given that he's not and that there's still another — short, but still — whole act after him, I'm throwing in the towel. When I play FEE again (because indeed, I'll definitely replay that hidden gem of a game), I'll make sure to grind early on; and since I know now what to expect, that second run will undoubtedly be much more streamlined and satisfying.
Not that my first run wasn't satisfying already, mind you; in fact, I daresay that Echoes is my favourite FE entry so far. Apart from all the goodness I mentioned in my first post, I'm extremely fond of a number of playthrough-altering features. Those include the absence of offspring units, which is a blessing in disguise as far as I'm concerned because it spares me the cumbersome task of playing matchmaker on the battlefield. They also include the wonderful possibility to play with all units at all times, sparing me the heartbreak of ditching some promising characters along the way — and the hassle of replaying the game just to cruise with them. And how could I not mention the deeply and wonderfully strategic battles, which forced me to get out of my comfort 'charging like a bull' zone and rack my brain in earnest to make it out alive?
On the 'room for improvement' side, I would have liked an exhaustive quest log to save me from all the blind backtracking I had to endure to fulfill sidequests, as well as the possibility to hold more than one item per unit. More subtle and developed storytelling would also have been a must, especially during segments such as (SPOILERS!) Alm's and Celica's conflictual second parting, which loses all its emotional impact because of how shockingly rushed it is, or Alm's discovery of his lineage, which is digested way too fast and smoothly. (END of SPOILERS) Well, at least I cannot complain about cutscenes overstaying their welcome, now can I?
Of course, a FE wrap-up post wouldn't be complete without a list of my favourite units. I'll keep the finer details for my next run reports; for the time being, suffice it to say that Alm, Celica, Lukas, Clair, Python, Mathilda, Clive, Tatiana, Zeke, Leon and Sonya were absolute little darlings of mine for reasons both futile and profound, ranging from their looks to their battle prowess.
FEE contains little romance, and certainly no active wooing the player can perform; however, that didn't prevent me from indulging in a darling little FE habit of mine, i.e. spotting a couple with potential and rooting for them. And so, my own Best Couple Award for Echoes goes to Tatiana and Zeke, a pair that's both sweetly endearing and hot as heck. We'll see if Celica and Alm, another couple I really fancy, end up stealing the top spot once I'm done with the story. I also kinda ship Clair and Lukas, despite them not being a canon pairing; and Mathilda and Clive manage the tour de force to be classy and hilarious at once, which earns them an honourable mention in my FEE couple ranking.
Long story short: I love that game, I'll certainly replay it again, and I'll finish is while I'm at it. For now, new gaming shores are beckoning — or maybe not so new indeed, if I obey my gaming instinct that currently presses me to play Three Houses. See ya soon with more gaming goodness, dear fellow gamers!
Haha, despite the complaints, you are a shipper at heart! No shame, so am I...unless say, you have to pair certain couples to get optimal offspring stats, which takes away all the fun of matchmaking in the first place *cough**cough*
ReplyDeleteThe two characters screened do looks aesthetically pleasing together I must say! To be honest, the character designs here look much better than in Three Houses, not that that games let's you play matchmaker for anyone but yourself anyways, and even then, only at the very end. Good luck with that game BTW! Maybe if your tidings are good, I'll work back the energy to play it myself...after I finish Rune Factory 4 Special. Should only take 150 hours or so.
Oh, I most definitely am a shipper at heart indeed :P One just has to remember how hard I rooted for Cecilia and Rafael in Hexyz Force, or Estelle and Joshua in Trails in the Sky... A total sucker for RPG couples, that's what I am! And since FE prides itself on its 'love can bloom even on a battlefield' romance, I'd be dumb not to enjoy it to the fullest.
DeleteWhat I don't quite fancy, on the other hand, is the romancing process itself in FE: having to make prospective couples fight next to each other adds yet another factor to a strategic equation that's already complex enough for little me. And if the prospective couples in question have vastly different moving ranges, then it becomes mission impossible allright! Oh, well. If Three houses keeps the wooing for the very end, then that's all fine by me. Makes me want to play it even more, it does! :D
A lot of people complain a lot how tedious three houses is, and how it takes out the fun, and i totally get it. On my first playthrough, to requit the most units etc i talked to EVERY single student, foinh EVERY little task taking about 30 minutes, to an hour, but got burned out, needing to take week or months breaks, but when playing another playthrough, i skipped most of these processes and to my suprise, it didn't hinder the experience much at all！ You may feel guilty at first, but the game gives you a TON of time to grinf, raise support levels etc mind if your not trying to requit every single character. My advice is 1 do the out battle stuff until youre bored. The game and the people kind of trick you into thinking the school stuff is the cake, but its still a fire emblem game. Just with a lot of decorations. Maybe decorations is not the best word because the game suprisingly doesnt shove those elements down your throut. 2 Dont rush the game. The game is large. Maybe not in the way other rpg or open worlds are but still large. You probably will get burned out and the game needs a long time to digest. 3 Do yout research. Please. You may refuse to, which i totally understand, but somethings that you may miss, may discourage you. 4 Dont feel bad to drop the game. The game is hyped, and for good reason, but that doesnt mean you will like it. Now im listening to you, im thinking you may actually not like it. But threre thousands of games you haven't played, and there has to be another gem, even though that gem might not be fire emblem.
DeleteSorry, made a lot of typos. Rushed the review in the train. Hope you can keep a blind eye.
DeleteDon't worry about the typos, dear; I understood you just fine. ^^
DeleteThanks for your advice; I'll definitely heed it when I play Three Houses. Especially number 3 — all the more so as I recently warmed up to the idea of using internet wisdom to ease my way through RPGs. I used to think it was cheating; until I realized that it's all between me and the game, that no one is gonna call me on it anyway, that I still tackle most of the work by actually playing the game and that all that matters is my fun. Not to mention that I have a great many games to play yet, and too little playing time to waste it on in-game meanderings.
Whether or not I'll like Three Houses is still unsure indeed; I may drop it after three hours, or it may become my new RPG obsession for the next three months. :P We'll see! At any rate, my gaming instinct is super-eager to play that game, and I see that avidity as a good omen. The last time my gaming instinct was so hell-bent on tackling a game, I ended up playing that game for 50 hours, and I'd have played more if not for the final boss demise's. (For the record, it was Atelier Sophie.)
At any rate, I already did enough research to know which MC I'll cruise with first. There is that one MC that seems to be widely deemed the best for beginners by internet wisdom; and it's actually the one I'd have chosen instinctively without knowing anything about the game, so that's mighty fine. ^^
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