Fire Emblem 2 is a totally different game than any other FE, and has an incredible amount of unrealized ambition that is fascinating to play through. In many ways it's like they just created a standard JRPG first and overlayed FE characters and rules on top of it.

Sometimes a game thoroughly engrosses you and pushes you to a limit, and the last several nights I've been staying up late, addicted to pushing through as far as I could. At 300% speed and with most maps taking less than 10 minutes, I was on the climb and constantly optimizing my strategy. The game benefits by fast forwarding in long sittings, and I think if I took my time with it more I would not have as good of a time.

The game is repetitive and the maps aren't very thoughtfully designed (most are open battlefields), but I felt like it forced me to really understand my team's strengths and weaknesses. Even though accuracy/dodge felt punishing at times, the lack of vulneraries and inventory, surprising difficulty spikes, and not being able to see where you're deploying units, this game really spoke to me.

I love the magic system of this game, every spell costs your healers and sages EXP, but it also costs the enemies EXP so sometimes they will dig their own grave for you. Getting to customize your team felt really good, and every time you gain a promotion it feels significant. The stat growths in general are pretty small though, and I did have some early game stars fall behind later on. Having the option to return to a shrine or cave to grind did help, as there were a few times I was close to promotion with a key player and decided to just stick around until they earned it.

The game's story is great, and I love just hanging out in the different towns. Some of the storylines, such as Zeke and Tatiana said a lot very succinctly. As with any fire emblem game, much of the storytelling happens on a personal level with your units. I lost a few members of my team in dramatic fashion. Mathilda started great but couldn't keep up, and fell to the zombie dragon swarm. Atlus was ambushed by summons and I lost him in act 4. Even up to the last battle, I lost my dependable scout Robin in a very heartbreaking but attempt to move quickly to the final boss.

But I also had some characters really surprise me. My sniper Python was pretty useless most of the game until promoting to Bow Knight, and saved us in countless scraps. I was having a hard time feeding Est enough EXP to promote her, but once I did, the whitewing sisters made Celica's route a snap. Jennie and May also ruled. While Alm was stuck in the volcano, Clair almost solo killed 20 dragons.

Once Tatiana gained Fortify, the most broken healing spell in the game, I had mathematically won by teaming her with Silk. From there I just enjoyed melting away any enemies that got in my way like butter. The final showdown was truly fantastic. This game gave me a high in a way that I haven't felt in a long time.