I adore Thracia 776. Never in my life have I been so positively passionate about such a frustrating, punishing, but mechanically complex and rewarding video game than this one. Each chapter was some form of struggle, but I eventually would understand how everything worked, and after executing long thought out strategies for several chapters, I had done it. I had beaten one of the most infamous Fire Emblem games ever made. I have a lot of things to say, and I probably won’t be able to word them all out here, but please read the rest if you can.
Chances are if you’ve been a fan of Fire Emblem for a decent time, you’ve more than likely heard of the infamous Thracia 776, a sidequel to 1996’s Genealogy Of The Holy War. The game’s reputation has been so widespread, however, very few people have seemed to actually play it. It’s very easy to be intimidated by Thracia because of what you may have heard online, but the truth is, the game really isn’t that unfair as fans online make it out to be. Not to say the game doesn’t have its moments, or that it’s an easy game (believe me, it most certainly is NOT) but Shouzo Kaga and his team put their best efforts to create a very tough, but totally learnable game that would reward players who can wrap their head around its mechanics.
I think what will doom you most about going into Thracia is trying to approach it like most other Fire Emblem games, because this entry is almost a polar opposite in some regards. An oversimplification of Fire Emblem gameplay is “position all the blue guys to kill the red guys until they’re all gone and then seize the throne”, which is honestly mostly true, and I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. It’s just that this one is less about the combat of Fire Emblem and focused on pure strategy.
A good example I think is Thracia’s emphasis on staves. Without a doubt, this is the Fire Emblem with THE most heavy stave usage in the series, with entries like The Binding Blade getting sort of close. The amount of warp and rescue staves you’re gonna be finding while also dealing with is crazy, and you’re going to want to train up your staff users as much as possible. A pretty frowned upon strategy in Fire Emblem games is the act of “warp skipping”, which is effectively warping a strong player unit to immediately kill the boss then sending your lord over to seize the throne. It’s viewed as “cheap”, and while I can understand that sentiment, it fits the tone of Thracia 776 like a glove. Absolutely EVERYTHING is stacked against you in the enemies’ favor if you try and approach each chapter like a normal Fire Emblem game, chances are the struggle will be unreal. The appeal of warp skipping and other “cheap” tactics is what makes the game so damn fun. Seeing how you can easily clear a chapter by outsmarting enemies with the tools given to you is never not going to be satisfying. Like as one instance, chapter 22 has the probably the hardest boss in the game, but if you’re a creative player there’s plenty of ways that you can cheese him. Maybe cast sleep on him, which permanently renders him useless for the rest of the chapter (since status ailments last forever until a chapter is over). Or if you think even HARDER you can steal a berserk staff from another boss, then use it on the other guy which will make him more than likely kill every single unit on the right side of the map, which I’ve seen in action through YouTube clips and it’s amazing. There’s huge potential that players who invest enough time into the game can tap into, and it is absolutely fascinating.
Tonally the game is literally perfect. The constant reinforcements and extremely tight chapter design makes Thracia a game about how it feels to be the underdogs of a war, but ultimately still shine through with enough wit and perseverance. I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t so heavily touched by the narrative, as it can be so bleak and depressing, and yet there’s always that feint light of hope that kept me going. The further I got, the more it felt that I was seeing the light at the end of this long, long tunnel. Actively seizing the throne in the final chapter was like a thousand tons being thrown off my shoulders at once, the feeling was absolutely AMAZING.
Story wise I’m not sure if I like this one more than Genealogy, but what I AM sure of is that Leif is my favorite Fire Emblem protagonist. It’s not even a contest. If anything, Leif feels like a reflection of the average player. He’s young and inexperienced, and he loses many battles, but he NEVER gives up. Even after all he’s suffered, he has something to live for, and grows as a person. He grows with the player. I’ve seen arguments online that Leif is a weak lord, but that’s just flat out not true, both narratively and gameplay wise. He’s no Seliph in terms of sheer power, but he has good growths and his light brand is a really handy weapon especially early game. But once again, I think that ties back to the core problem….
Thracia 776 is misunderstood. Horribly. Now, I’m not saying that if you dislike the game, your opinion is invalid, or that you got “filtered” or whatever. I’m more so talking about the regurgitated opinions I hear about this game online that convinces me that most of these people have never even played the game. The constant reminder of the same few points such as “did you know staves can miss?” or “the status effects are terrible”. Now I will admit that some aspects of Thracia’s design can be unfair, mainly fog of war chapters with enemy staves or ambush spawns, that is absolutely not fair. But conversely, about 90% of the game’s unique quirks either don’t matter that much or are just actively great mechanics.. Like I never see anyone mention the genius of the capture system, or being able to trade items multiple times in a turn, or in the case of things like status ailments, can use them in YOUR favor. Or how about how basically every single unit in this game is viable and has valid usage? You can’t say that about really any other FE game. What I’m getting at is that the same misconceptions that Thracia being “too unfair” are more than likely from people who never even experienced the game firsthand.
And I completely understand that is the thing. I’m not faulting ANYONE for saying things like that, because I doubt it has any harmful intention. I was scared of playing the game myself, and look where I am now! I took the time to understand, analyze, and absorb myself in it, and now it’s something I consider an all time classic. Is Thracia a game for everyone? No, absolutely not. It will test you in a lot of ways. Your good items will break, some units may die, you’ll have to reset a lot, failure is inevitable. But the best part is, these hardships were made to be overcome. Just like Leif, you must press on, and never give up to prove your worth. I implore you give this a shot, especially if you love Fire Emblem, or unique SNES games, or Tactical games, or just good ass video games as a whole. Maybe you won’t like it, or maybe you will. But I think if I could do it, then hey, maybe so can you.