This review contains spoilers
IDK why this game was the one that got Nintendo to consider killing off the Fire Emblem series. Like…. Y’all made this a JP exclusive that actually sold and reviewed well there but the low sale numbers compared to previous games got them bothered. You never bothered to release it worldwide of course you got low sales numbers.
That aside, much like Shadow Dragon’s pros. This game’s customizable features offer a lot of options and the story writing is vastly improved, even adding a bit of dark elements with the story in the Gaiden chapters. It even surpasses Shadow Dragon in its own pros, the soundtrack also is improved in my opinion.
But otherwise, the Avatar character really does take a big role in the story as many say…. Too much of a big role in the story. The second they show up every character (Especially Marth…. The Main character) immediately drops everything and praises them to no end you’d think Marth married him and not Princess Caeda or at the very least keeps him as a consort after the war.
That aside, much like Shadow Dragon’s pros. This game’s customizable features offer a lot of options and the story writing is vastly improved, even adding a bit of dark elements with the story in the Gaiden chapters. It even surpasses Shadow Dragon in its own pros, the soundtrack also is improved in my opinion.
But otherwise, the Avatar character really does take a big role in the story as many say…. Too much of a big role in the story. The second they show up every character (Especially Marth…. The Main character) immediately drops everything and praises them to no end you’d think Marth married him and not Princess Caeda or at the very least keeps him as a consort after the war.
The prologue for this game is a huge improvement alongside the gaiden chapters over the original game! The introduction of a playable avatar is done ok, but the fact that a majority of the supports are tied to them when we had such a good support system in Path of Radiance is a shame. The side plot doesn't really add much to the story compared to the original. The portraits are much cleaner but aside from that, this game doesn't really feel like it's a big improvement to Shadow Dragon. I can tell the developers tried but overall I still feel the mechanics make this game feel too different and the supports add good characterization to some units but it's not enough. We needed more supports that aren't locked to Kris. I appreciate this game for what it does but would likely not play again!
Pretty much identical to Shadow Dragon for DS when it comes to UI and gameplay. This game however adds a created player character as the secondary protagnist alongside Marth and also has a more robust support conversation mechanic for bonding with your troops. Story is sort of a retread of Shadow Dragon but about as engaging as that game’s story - which is to say good enough. Play this game for the characters and gameplay not the main story.
A remake of Fire Emblem 3. People don't like the story in this one, but like its immediate predecessor, Shadow Dragon, the gameplay is great. It's a pretty cool port too. They reintroduce all the characters the SNES original had to cut for space, they adapted the Satellaview Broadcast Fire Emblem maps, and they added a couple stand-alone story maps to flesh out some of the more plot important characters.
Some complaints though. The new maps for the original characters are a little annoying, and the final chapter has four (sort of) forced deployment slots in addition to Marth, which restricts the potential team you can take to the final chapter. The second issue is present in the SNES original though.
Some complaints though. The new maps for the original characters are a little annoying, and the final chapter has four (sort of) forced deployment slots in addition to Marth, which restricts the potential team you can take to the final chapter. The second issue is present in the SNES original though.
This is probably the hardest Fire emblem experience you can get in vanilla games that isn't bullshit (looking at awakening lunatic+).
Lunatic reverse is such a satisfying challenge to face. The game always puts you in a difficult spot and it just makes you feel good when you're done dealing with its bullshit. Managing to get every side objective and keeping every character alive makes you feel like you completely dominated the game and I love it.
Overall solid but I don't think I'd replay it on lunatic reverse if I had to ever revisit.
Lunatic reverse is such a satisfying challenge to face. The game always puts you in a difficult spot and it just makes you feel good when you're done dealing with its bullshit. Managing to get every side objective and keeping every character alive makes you feel like you completely dominated the game and I love it.
Overall solid but I don't think I'd replay it on lunatic reverse if I had to ever revisit.
In my personal opinion, this is Fire Emblem at its peak, wonderful story (thanks to FE3 Book 2), amazing new cast of characters, units are actually good to use and the avatar contrary to what many say, is actually good that doesn't apply to Kris, they take some lines of Jaegen of the original but other than that isn't something as intrusive to the story as Robin, Corrin, Byleth and Alear are due to his sub story being told on the Gaiden chapters.
Some things such as the Drill Grounds, talking to your characters for random items or buffs and the readable lore you can watch any time are things that aren't present at all in other games when they should, the Forge is a good one and not the batshit insane stuff you have on Fates (+15 Iron sword goes brrrr) that requires actual brain and strategy.
Even tho the visuals aren't that good compared to what we had on the WII/GCN, GBA and the SNES but they are fine, at least they got better compared to what we have on Shadow Dragon.
The new-addons are neat that are not intrusive and are totally 100% optional, unlike Shadow Dragon they actually did new content that wasn't hidden by literally having to do a rampage with your own units, the DLC is fine and not as the shit we have with either Awakening and Fates that is just fanservice or a grind fest.
Overall is one of the best games if not the best of the series, you can also play with Wrys 10/10.
Some things such as the Drill Grounds, talking to your characters for random items or buffs and the readable lore you can watch any time are things that aren't present at all in other games when they should, the Forge is a good one and not the batshit insane stuff you have on Fates (+15 Iron sword goes brrrr) that requires actual brain and strategy.
Even tho the visuals aren't that good compared to what we had on the WII/GCN, GBA and the SNES but they are fine, at least they got better compared to what we have on Shadow Dragon.
The new-addons are neat that are not intrusive and are totally 100% optional, unlike Shadow Dragon they actually did new content that wasn't hidden by literally having to do a rampage with your own units, the DLC is fine and not as the shit we have with either Awakening and Fates that is just fanservice or a grind fest.
Overall is one of the best games if not the best of the series, you can also play with Wrys 10/10.
This review contains spoilers
I feel like a broken record, but another Fire Emblem, another good game. I don't think there is a single bad Fire Emblem game.
This one is of course very similar to Shadow Dragon for obvious reasons, for good or worse at times.
Some general thoughts below:
1. It feels to me that defense and resistance matters less in this one, and HP matters the most. About every enemy does a lot of damage. That's a general feeling I got from this game gameplay-wise.
2. Every chapter, especially the side-chapters, are incredibly short and not long. The main chapters feel very balanced and fun, but the side-chapters feel shoehorned in and not of the same quality.
3. The Kris Katarina Eremiya side story should not even be a thing. I think it detracts from the game's main story at times.
4. I am glad I can choose not to use Kris in most chapters, but it sucks that Marth talks to him like Kris is his older, wiser brother and second guesses himself at every turn.
5. Sucks they decided to take playable ballisticians out of this game while still including the previous game playable ballisticians as different classes. There is even a weapon that counters player ballisticians in one chapter I noticed that is pointless to even exist because of me not being able to use any.
6. This game is definitely made to iron man because you get way too many characters in the story. I felt bad having to sideline like 90% of the cast because of the ones I had in the early game just out-levelling the ones that join later.
7. The whole binding shield stuff with the spheres is really cool. I wish the binding shield was stronger ability-wise. When it fuses with the 5 spheres it only retains the +2 to all points part of one sphere, and the other 4 sphere abilities are lost. Makes me wonder why Marth does not use this shield in Smash Bros in his move set or in his final smash. Bit weird.
8. The story I feel is actually pretty good, especially for a Fire Emblem game where the emphasis will always be on gameplay and story second. I suppose it's not as good as FE4 or the Tellius games, but I think it has the potential if rewritten to be up there.
9. The graphics are ugly, same as Shadow Dragon. You just get used to it eventually after looking at it for long enough.
This one is of course very similar to Shadow Dragon for obvious reasons, for good or worse at times.
Some general thoughts below:
1. It feels to me that defense and resistance matters less in this one, and HP matters the most. About every enemy does a lot of damage. That's a general feeling I got from this game gameplay-wise.
2. Every chapter, especially the side-chapters, are incredibly short and not long. The main chapters feel very balanced and fun, but the side-chapters feel shoehorned in and not of the same quality.
3. The Kris Katarina Eremiya side story should not even be a thing. I think it detracts from the game's main story at times.
4. I am glad I can choose not to use Kris in most chapters, but it sucks that Marth talks to him like Kris is his older, wiser brother and second guesses himself at every turn.
5. Sucks they decided to take playable ballisticians out of this game while still including the previous game playable ballisticians as different classes. There is even a weapon that counters player ballisticians in one chapter I noticed that is pointless to even exist because of me not being able to use any.
6. This game is definitely made to iron man because you get way too many characters in the story. I felt bad having to sideline like 90% of the cast because of the ones I had in the early game just out-levelling the ones that join later.
7. The whole binding shield stuff with the spheres is really cool. I wish the binding shield was stronger ability-wise. When it fuses with the 5 spheres it only retains the +2 to all points part of one sphere, and the other 4 sphere abilities are lost. Makes me wonder why Marth does not use this shield in Smash Bros in his move set or in his final smash. Bit weird.
8. The story I feel is actually pretty good, especially for a Fire Emblem game where the emphasis will always be on gameplay and story second. I suppose it's not as good as FE4 or the Tellius games, but I think it has the potential if rewritten to be up there.
9. The graphics are ugly, same as Shadow Dragon. You just get used to it eventually after looking at it for long enough.