I tried playing this a few years back on the DS but found it horribly boring. Decided to try it out on the SNES, which remade the first game as part of Mystery of the Emblem. I figured a trimmed down version of the game might be more satisfying, and it was, though it still has quite a bit of issues. The UI is one of the bigger gripes. Everything feels terribly clunky and there's a bit too much going on in the menus. This is likely a translation issue from the fans to some extent, though it was still awfully cluttered regardless. The big claim to fame for the franchise is permadeath, which is a bit of a double-edged sword. On one hand, it adds a layer of depth to the strategy elements in that you could forever lose access to a valued unit if you make an error. It's kind of cool to think about, but in practice it's actually incredibly annoying. That's permanent progress you've just lost and have no way to get back, and this is a long ass game to be pulling those kinds of strings. The process of resetting each time a unit of yours dies is certainly allowed and encouraged by most of the people I see talk about these games, but I suppose I'm not into the genre enough to warrant such resetting. Saving at the beginning of every turn seemed like the least pathetic way to curb this annoyance, but even then, you actively make the game a relative cakewalk. Around chapter 7 I began to allow whatever happened to happen and rolling with it, and it was more engaging and less stressful. It helps that these characters have absolutely no engaging qualities, so parting with them is little more than a tactical disadvantage. I had about 4 units left that did the fighting toward the end and it carried me pretty heavily until chapter 15, where I died a few times and recognized I was satisfied with the experience at this point. It's a neat game, though horribly dated and a bit unrefined. 3/6

Reviewed on Nov 16, 2021


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