I played this because a friend said it was Hot Garbage™. Now, I wasn’t the biggest Fire Emblem fan at that point, since I had only played a few of the games. Just the prospect of Thracia 776 being difficult and controversial is what attracted me to play it. What I discovered instead was an incredibly well written story with characters and a plot that genuinely felt human, undaunting in its goal to depict the struggles of war and of Leif taking back his homeland. Don’t get me wrong… game’s still hard as hell. Why it is, though, is a more profound discussion.

It’s hard to choose a starting point when talking about this game since there’s so many unique quirks, both small and large. There are few other games I’ve experienced that have as many unique mechanics when compared to the other games in their series as this. Now, a good number of these don’t exactly seem enjoyable on paper when singled out, but they truly do come together to make for a challenging, gritty, and overall rewarding experience… once you look past the initial frustrations. Thracia drags you to the dirt and kicks your ribs in, but it’s genuinely so much fun trying to persevere and work things in your favor. Plus, it’s sorta the point, if you put yourself in Leif’s shoes.

Big thing here is that everything you’re capable of, the enemy is as well. Movement stars that randomly trigger, giving that unit an entire extra turn? Yep. Staves that totally disable a unit for the whole chapter? Sure thing - at least they can’t target Leif. Capturing units to steal all their stuff and remove them from the battlefield? You betcha. On that note, once I figured out capture-baiting, it’s like my mind expanded into infinitum. Not really, but the level of strategy possible with the mechanics is enjoyable to a large degree. It’s all so tight, and everything has a purpose. I feel it’s worth mentioning that you get so many busted-ass units and weapons, starting legitimately from the first chapter. What were they thinking when balancing Asbel? Or Osian? Or Fergus, or Deen? Or staff users in general? They’re needed too, since the enemy doesn’t play fair. You’re given so many tools to combat the enemies’, though stats cap early, so no one can became a true juggernaut through grinding with crusader scrolls and whatnot. Only thing the player isn’t capable of is same-turn reinforcements (very awesome and cool). Oh, and the infamous Thracia fog of war is a thing, as well. Christ. You’re boned in so many ways, it’s almost funny… in a sick, twisted kind of way.

Thracia’s gameplay and story combine to make it abundantly clear that Leif, the lord of this game, is the underdog. He is so unbelievably outmatched and inexperienced, and that doesn’t really ever stop being the case. It’s most apparent in the Manster arc (which is one of the most memorable sequences in any game I’ve played), where Leif is foolishly captured, totally removed from his pals and equipment, and the objective is to simply escape with those who helped break him out. In fact, Thracia has like, a dozen or so of these escape objectives. They’re usually accompanied by an extreme abundance of reinforcements, so it isn’t really worth sticking around. Also, anyone who doesn’t escape before Leif does is captured and removed from your army, and they can’t be saved ‘til waaay later. That didn’t need to be implemented at all, but the extra mile was gone to sell the narrative that Leif and his army are doing whatever it takes to keep their resistance going, even if it means fleeing. You as a player are made to feel weak, and it’s super neat to see it reflected in the actual gameplay. Is it fun? Heavily depends. Is it peak ludonarrative harmony? Hell yeah. Chapter 14 is also amazing since for once in this series a defense chapter is fun and tense. Only Conquest chapter 10 has gotten close to scratching that itch.

I won’t tarry on this long, but Thracia’s soundtrack is a worthy mention. It isn’t as grandeur as other games in the series, since it aims to be similarly grounded like its plot. There’s even music for when you’re close to losing, which is... fitting. The map themes, and especially the ones that typically play when villains talk amongst each other are among my favorites. Augustus' theme is high up there as well. Speaking of which...

It’s through the guidance of arguably the best written duo in the series, those being Dryas and Augustus, that Leif is able to grow both as a leader and as an individual. They are two tacticians that Leif enlists the aid of throughout his trials and, wouldn’t you know it, provide legitimate tactical advice. However, though their goals of helping Leif align, their methods and ideals clash. One is more chivalric, while the other is more pragmatic. This is often seen when leading up to battles, but it’s clear they also harbor respect for one another. It’s a very neat dynamic when you see it play out, and is both a prominent example of Thracia’s stellar writing and further proof that a Fire Emblem game doesn’t need hours and hours of conversations and dialogue checklists to be interesting.

Leif himself is a damn good lord. Like, really damn good. Not from a gameplay standpoint (thankfully), but through the writing. Very likely the most well-written lord in the series, and one of my favorite protagonists in gaming as a whole. Coming personally from Awakening and Genealogy, I was glad that Leif turned out to be a relatively humbling unit. What he lacks in the ability to solo the game he makes up for in fun-to-use utility. Unique 1-2 range magic sword that can also function as a worse vulnerary, leadership stars, tons of one-way supports, and the ability to never be fatigued make him a precious asset in every battle despite how middling his stats tend to be. Still, I usually dump stat boosters into him early on so he isn’t completely helpless. He’s the lose condition after all. Gameplay aside, and this might sound silly, but I’m actually a huge fan of Leif having normal, brown hair, especially in a series where all of its protagonists have some bright shade of blue, green, red, or white. Ironically makes him stand out more. The armor is a minor gripe though. Not the design, no, it looks great; you see, he’s on the run and it makes him really stand out. If Thracia were to be remade Echoes-style, outfitting him in some sort of mercenary apparel, at least for the start, would further bolster his believability as a character.

The hyper focused plot of Thracia makes it hit harder than its predecessor, which was an all-too-encompassing tale that left a lot to be desired in terms of narrative intricacies. Granted, they could only fit so much on an SNES cartridge, and with how huge those maps were it makes it hard to believe otherwise. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that they would’ve done so if they could and had more time. On the other hand, Thracia takes its time to show the impact of the war in each location you visit, but it also isn’t afraid to flesh out its most important characters. Granted, many of them hardly get more than a handful of lines of dialogue… but it kind of doesn’t matter? Leif and several other characters receive so much development and are so dynamic that it rectifies any lack of drastic evolution that random-axe-user gets.

Speaking of the units recruited, they very much reflect the overall smaller and individualized scope of the game. Your army starts from literal scraps, and only diverts from that later on when Leif’s accomplishments become more attractive to warriors of higher caliber. Nearly everyone you recruit is from a different background: people from Tahra, knights from Friege, an ex-Thracian knight, four random schmucks in a mansion you raid in a gaiden chapter, a couple of which turn out to be super damn good, and so on. Compare that to, for instance, Seliph’s starting army in Genealogy. Chock full of super strong and noteworthy units, provided you cared to pair people together in the first generation. The whole damn country is backing Seliph as well. The way Thracia handles it is much more grounded. Maybe I just prefer grassroots foundations in stories, I’m not sure. The narrative sure as hell backs it up at least.

Oh, and we don’t talk about Xavier.

Anyway, I need to talk about Leif in further detail. Yeah, ain’t done with this guy. I adore how well his development throughout the game was dealt. His backstory, shown through Genealogy, is tragic, but in the context of Fire Emblem, having an orphan protagonist isn’t exactly unique. However, you can feel the consequences of Finn raising him during the time between Genealogy’s first generation and Thracia firsthand; that’s what matters. Because he was on the run and sheltered for basically his whole life, Leif is incredibly naive and knows very little of the world outside of where he was hidden. He’s aware of his own shortcomings, and has somewhat of an inferiority complex in regards to his cousin Seliph, which is made apparent when the two meet later down the line, yet at the same time Leif admires him. As opposed to his sister, Leif didn’t inherit the major Nova blood (allowing her to wield Gae Bolg), further compounding this complex. When Leif is suddenly pulled into a war, he’s forced to not only learn how to lead, but also cope with the knowledge of how the nation he’s fighting for even works.

There’s so many great cases of Leif’s naivety clouding his decision making, such as dismissing the very real child hunts as fairy tales parents would tell their kids to behave; Augustus was swift in correcting him on this. When Leif has to deal with bandits for the first time, he’s ignorant to the reasons they resorted to banditry in the first place - that being the Thracian soil is unfit for crops - since he quite literally never had to worry about being hungry. His insensitivity is appalling to his allies, but realistic, considering his upbringing. I won’t spoil much, but there’s a point later in the game where Leif actively overrides the better judgment of his advisors and suffers a massive loss because of it. You can see him come to terms with how screwed everything is, find new motivations to continue leading and fighting, and mess up in actual meaningful ways. Compare Leif in chapter 1 to Leif at the end of the game and it’s obvious how much he’s grown and learned from his faults. Leif is flawed, and hits home the fact that you don’t need to be special or gifted to do great things; that’s precisely what makes him so great.

Don’t be afraid of Thracia’s obtuse nature. Don’t take others’ surface level knowledge and observations to heart. My biggest tips? Get Safi to A rank in staves so she can use Warp as soon as possible. In fact, staves in general are stupid broken. Abuse them, because the enemy sure will. Stamina drinks are expensive but valuable AF since they allow you to abuse your best units in more chapters (for instance, staff users). Also, use a wiki or guide if it’s frustrating. The game does very little to teach its mechanics; a consequence of its time. Things were likely explained in the manual, y’know. As for the map design, brutal curveballs are thrown constantly, so while alleviating some of that pressure may potentially cheapen the satisfaction of a blind playthrough, if it makes it a lot easier to play, absolutely go for it.

Experience this work of art for yourself if you haven’t already. Thracia 776 is a masterpiece in nearly every sense of the word, and deserves to be heralded as such. The gameplay is extremely tight and well-constructed, with the narrative and characters perfectly complimenting every action taken. Leif as a protagonist is a profound and stunning case of how good Fire Emblem’s writing can be if it tries hard enough. I can’t see the series releasing another game this good ever again; lightning in a bottle would be a good descriptor. I’m so confident in this, that I feel a remake would sour the original intent of the game, and makes me hesitant to even want one. Unless we get more art from Hidari. Then it’ll all be worth it.

super predatory store and battlepass funded by fomo and is essentially only popular because it jumped on the battle royale bandwagon at the right time on top of becoming the crossover video game, but it's at least fun 50% of the time which is 50% more than most games that make it this big. lore is pretty insane and I wish pack leader highwire was real but it just feels super souless and intentionally marketable outside of there being probably like 2-4 guys on the whole dev team working on the story who're having the time of their lives. unreal tournament probably died for this but I'll take it over most viral game slop