Amazing game with a lot of combat depth. On lower difficulties, the game doesn't really force you to go TOO in-depth, but even on the standard difficulty the game definitely slowed down a LOT for me once I got past the first 3 areas just because there was so much to do with my units to organize and customize them as they got more skills and more AP/PP to use them. Unfortunately, you can kinda tell where they ran out of money (because Vanillaware) starting in the last main area, and the unfortunate lack of post-game shows it. But, at least there's some online PvP, even if you can only fight so many times per day.
That said, 2 legit flaws
1. While the character-writing is solid and way-less obnoxiously trope-y than Fire Emblem, especially the modern FE, the main character and his closest friends are utter cardboard. You can kinda forget how boring they are and get absorbed in the game, but come endgame the story sequences drag, being generic and predictable as possible.
2. Cavaliers not being the leaders of most of your units is almost always a mistake. Even when facing units that counter Cavs, they're still strong characters, and as leaders they're just twice as fast as any other unit. Which you can make up for with a skill that boosts movement speed, that makes the Cavs even just that much faster than the units that are on-foot. You don't really need to do this, but it's such a stupid advantage (especially with how it removes the time limit from ever being something you have to consider) and navigating the battle maps ends up feeling so slow without them. This removes a lot of the interesting decision-making around which character leads your units.
That said, 2 legit flaws
1. While the character-writing is solid and way-less obnoxiously trope-y than Fire Emblem, especially the modern FE, the main character and his closest friends are utter cardboard. You can kinda forget how boring they are and get absorbed in the game, but come endgame the story sequences drag, being generic and predictable as possible.
2. Cavaliers not being the leaders of most of your units is almost always a mistake. Even when facing units that counter Cavs, they're still strong characters, and as leaders they're just twice as fast as any other unit. Which you can make up for with a skill that boosts movement speed, that makes the Cavs even just that much faster than the units that are on-foot. You don't really need to do this, but it's such a stupid advantage (especially with how it removes the time limit from ever being something you have to consider) and navigating the battle maps ends up feeling so slow without them. This removes a lot of the interesting decision-making around which character leads your units.
game of the year 2024 contender so far for me personally
The game is fun; however, there is a big problem, the difficulty. The beginning up till the middle was amazing. It gave new classes that had new synergistic skills working with each other unit to make your own customizable kill squad, but eventually you lose interest altogether as you steam roll mobs and bosses with little effort.
The story was enjoyable but suffered from too many differing characters from each continent, that it made it more of an episodic game rather than an overall cohesive narrative.
The story was enjoyable but suffered from too many differing characters from each continent, that it made it more of an episodic game rather than an overall cohesive narrative.
Excelente en casi todos sus aspectos. Sobresaliente en la gestión de personajes/escuadrones, música y arte.
Por ponerle una pega, quizás el juego sea un pelín largo para mi gusto. Aunque me encantó, la zona final se me hizo larga y repetitiva.
Por ponerle una pega, quizás el juego sea un pelín largo para mi gusto. Aunque me encantó, la zona final se me hizo larga y repetitiva.
Great game but not the deepest game on some levels but amazing on so many levels, recommended for strategy rpg enjoyers
A beautiful RTS game, It feels like a game with a story similar to Fire Emblem but with a different concept. I really loved the world they built, and the map is wonderful. OST was great, the combat is predetermined so, sometimes, I found myself skipping battles instead of watching the amazing animations. I enjoyed the large amount of characters and their own stories, tough the main story is lacking until the end imho.
I kinda wished this game had a meatier story to it, but even with the tiny bit of story this actually has it took me over 70 hours to beat so maybe this was for the best. I suppose the team spent all of their energy working on the gameplay and didn't concern themselves with the story too much.
The gameplay is actually really good. It can be very satisfying and fun trying to figure out team compositions that won't end up with your guys just getting slaughtered. Figuring it out can be pretty difficult at times, but once you have some good teams the battles become very entertaining.
I did feel the game was getting to be a little too long at around the 60hr mark, and with the way every section of the game more or less feels like going through several "villains of the week" so to speak, in that you just go to a place, beat up bad guy and recruit more people, and not much else, well it was getting a little repetitive. But I thought it was all worth it because the last few battles of the game are some of the most entertaining ones.
Also gay marriage.
The gameplay is actually really good. It can be very satisfying and fun trying to figure out team compositions that won't end up with your guys just getting slaughtered. Figuring it out can be pretty difficult at times, but once you have some good teams the battles become very entertaining.
I did feel the game was getting to be a little too long at around the 60hr mark, and with the way every section of the game more or less feels like going through several "villains of the week" so to speak, in that you just go to a place, beat up bad guy and recruit more people, and not much else, well it was getting a little repetitive. But I thought it was all worth it because the last few battles of the game are some of the most entertaining ones.
Also gay marriage.
It's peak. The story doesn't do anything transformative for the genre, but it is still incredibly fun and enticing and just enough Vanillaware twist to keep me going. The gameplay is where this game really shines.
Best way to describe this game is a Real-Time Fire Emblem with little armies instead of individual units. The game has a gorgeous art style (Common Vanillaware W), and the cast of characters is expansive. However, once I tinkered with my unit composition I rarely changed it up, as it usually proved to be extremely effective. On that point, the game can be pretty easy, especially once you figure out how to pair different characters together for maximum efficiency. Still kinda annoyed that this game didn't really show the MC marrying the Maiden (In this case it was Morard for me), but I can just keep that as a little head-cannon for myself.
I had a lot of fun tweaking the unit compositions, gambits, and equipment. I love that hit of dopamine when you discover some surprise synergy with party members.
Common Vanillaware kino
A good alternative to Fire Emblem, and adds the Vanillaware delightful 2D art
Great visual style and voice acting are par for the course for Vanillaware, so what else is there? An (almost) real-time strategy with plot that would not look out of place in a Fire Emblem (in other words, rather generic).
It’s a shame, because with some extra budget this game would’ve been absolutely stellar. So you have the well-designed stages and deeply enjoyable battle system, but then you step out on the world map. What awaits you there is extremely basic side quests, unit conversations which weren’t even drawn or voiced for whatever reason and…that’s it, really. There’s a mining mini game too, which is fun until you realize how many times you need to do it to get all treasure maps.
So, worth a playthrough? Absolutely. Worth sinking hundreds of hours into? Probably not. Here’s to hoping Vanillaware spread their resources a bit better next time.
It’s a shame, because with some extra budget this game would’ve been absolutely stellar. So you have the well-designed stages and deeply enjoyable battle system, but then you step out on the world map. What awaits you there is extremely basic side quests, unit conversations which weren’t even drawn or voiced for whatever reason and…that’s it, really. There’s a mining mini game too, which is fun until you realize how many times you need to do it to get all treasure maps.
So, worth a playthrough? Absolutely. Worth sinking hundreds of hours into? Probably not. Here’s to hoping Vanillaware spread their resources a bit better next time.