I have to come out and admit this to start, I was once scared of traditional JRPGs and used to be a Fire Emblem hater. While the announcement of Byleth in Smash Bros certainly did not infuriate me the way it did to others, I was not too happy about another generic anime swordsman. Fast forward a few months and my girlfriend tells me that I should pick up the game and it may be my thing. Needless to say, I positively love this game, but it has some flaws that really cause it to stumble in some areas.
I suppose I should levy my criticisms on the game to begin and then get to the positives. The biggest thing that bogs this game down is the main gameplay loop. Not the combat, but everything outside of the combat can be an absolute bore. Running around the monastery is fun at first but then you do it again and again which just makes you sick of it by the end. Even in the shortest possible route, you will have to run around the same location about 20 separate times to get information that could be explained to you elsewhere. I want to explore the great world established, visit the mountains and learn of the lore that way but instead, I am restricted to the same people I can talk to, in the same places I can talk to them. That weighs in a much smaller problem that is less a criticism and more so just an improvement that could have been made to the game; choice. The game gives you many dialogue options to choose from, but most of them just lead back into characters saying the same thing and it leaves some characters feeling more robotic than others, such as minor characters like Ann, the shopkeeper who really wants me to come back soon.
Voice lines like those lead me into the padding this game feels the need to put in. At so many points does the game feel the need to halt all story progression and send you through another month of training just so you can get on with the story. At the point where the game reaches its climax, it forces you to stop, go back through that main gameplay loop again, do another month of training, and then you get to proceed with the story which really slows story progression down. My final gripe with the game is a simple one and it's the graphics because this just does not look like a first-party Nintendo game. At some points, backgrounds look like a basic png was slapped on a sphere, trees are murky, and objects constantly clip through each other.
So obviously I hate this game, right? I just went on for two whole paragraphs about how awful this game is, and yet I still find myself loving it. Even if that main gameplay loop really deterred me from playing on some days, the combat is so enjoyable that it's hard to not love it. Fighting becomes so akin to war tactics, having to plan where you route each character so your weaker units will be shielded by your stronger ones. Each fighting style is unique and while some are better than others (ahem magic ahem) combining them all to make a well-balanced team became the most fun part of the game for me. The idea that you are a professor always comes back nicely into the progression because at every battle, as you always feel so proud of your students for getting the critical hit that wins the battle or avoiding the attack that could cost you the game.
On that note, I have to talk about the characters and worldbuilding. Despite my extended playtime with the game, I did only get through one route (I like to take my time, leave me alone), but I have to say that each character I ran into was positively beaming with charm. Each character interacts with another differently and their personalities change and grow as time goes on. So many nuances are written in that make you feel bad even for characters you hate. The death of a certain tyrant really hits hard as she speaks her last words to you, even if you do come to despise her for what she did to the world's people. That world becomes constructed around you along with the characters and it makes you yearn to see more of this world explored. Watching Prince Dimitri attempt to fight to reclaim his homeland or watching Commonwoman Dorothea attempt to find her place in the noble world makes you feel for these real people as they struggle with real lives in real places and watching that world come to a close brought tears to my eyes, knowing full well that my students would go on to lead their own lives.
In conclusion, how did I actually feel about Fire Emblem? I see it as a game with great potential. It was greatly held back by being a lower priority title in the Switch's library and while I hope that a sequel comes with a greatly expanded world and options, this game has so much good about it, it's hard not to love it. Would I recommend it to just about anyone? No, the typical RPG hater would see no merit in this game and hate everything about it. But to an average RPG fan, especially those who are a fan of war or grid-based strategy, then this is a must-play on the Switch. A sequel to this game could not come quick enough.
I suppose I should levy my criticisms on the game to begin and then get to the positives. The biggest thing that bogs this game down is the main gameplay loop. Not the combat, but everything outside of the combat can be an absolute bore. Running around the monastery is fun at first but then you do it again and again which just makes you sick of it by the end. Even in the shortest possible route, you will have to run around the same location about 20 separate times to get information that could be explained to you elsewhere. I want to explore the great world established, visit the mountains and learn of the lore that way but instead, I am restricted to the same people I can talk to, in the same places I can talk to them. That weighs in a much smaller problem that is less a criticism and more so just an improvement that could have been made to the game; choice. The game gives you many dialogue options to choose from, but most of them just lead back into characters saying the same thing and it leaves some characters feeling more robotic than others, such as minor characters like Ann, the shopkeeper who really wants me to come back soon.
Voice lines like those lead me into the padding this game feels the need to put in. At so many points does the game feel the need to halt all story progression and send you through another month of training just so you can get on with the story. At the point where the game reaches its climax, it forces you to stop, go back through that main gameplay loop again, do another month of training, and then you get to proceed with the story which really slows story progression down. My final gripe with the game is a simple one and it's the graphics because this just does not look like a first-party Nintendo game. At some points, backgrounds look like a basic png was slapped on a sphere, trees are murky, and objects constantly clip through each other.
So obviously I hate this game, right? I just went on for two whole paragraphs about how awful this game is, and yet I still find myself loving it. Even if that main gameplay loop really deterred me from playing on some days, the combat is so enjoyable that it's hard to not love it. Fighting becomes so akin to war tactics, having to plan where you route each character so your weaker units will be shielded by your stronger ones. Each fighting style is unique and while some are better than others (ahem magic ahem) combining them all to make a well-balanced team became the most fun part of the game for me. The idea that you are a professor always comes back nicely into the progression because at every battle, as you always feel so proud of your students for getting the critical hit that wins the battle or avoiding the attack that could cost you the game.
On that note, I have to talk about the characters and worldbuilding. Despite my extended playtime with the game, I did only get through one route (I like to take my time, leave me alone), but I have to say that each character I ran into was positively beaming with charm. Each character interacts with another differently and their personalities change and grow as time goes on. So many nuances are written in that make you feel bad even for characters you hate. The death of a certain tyrant really hits hard as she speaks her last words to you, even if you do come to despise her for what she did to the world's people. That world becomes constructed around you along with the characters and it makes you yearn to see more of this world explored. Watching Prince Dimitri attempt to fight to reclaim his homeland or watching Commonwoman Dorothea attempt to find her place in the noble world makes you feel for these real people as they struggle with real lives in real places and watching that world come to a close brought tears to my eyes, knowing full well that my students would go on to lead their own lives.
In conclusion, how did I actually feel about Fire Emblem? I see it as a game with great potential. It was greatly held back by being a lower priority title in the Switch's library and while I hope that a sequel comes with a greatly expanded world and options, this game has so much good about it, it's hard not to love it. Would I recommend it to just about anyone? No, the typical RPG hater would see no merit in this game and hate everything about it. But to an average RPG fan, especially those who are a fan of war or grid-based strategy, then this is a must-play on the Switch. A sequel to this game could not come quick enough.