This was the weirdest release Nintendo has ever done. Why did they go back to localize this game, only to sell it for 4 months? Why did they create a new emulation UI that is legitimately worse than the NES online UI. The ONLY way to save is by using a bookmark. Several times while playing, I accidentally ‘load bookmark’ instead of ‘save bookmark’ and lost literal hours of progress. They also went so far as to let you roll back turn by turn, but only give you one save state. They added a very nice sound test but did not include any instruction manual stuff that is actually necessary to understand what you’re doing.
I've tried to play FE1 a couple times in the past but just kind of got bored and annoyed by having so much critical information only accessible outside of the game (like weapon might or weight) or is just super tedious to do (like counting movement or calculating how much damage you’re going to do or moving items around). But going in not taking it seriously and instead just picking up on the vibes makes it very fun. You can have fun with the game by just getting a general feeling of whether you will double an enemy or withstand an enemy phase. I think trying to play the game too fast can take the fun out of it since a lot of the challenge comes from the way this game handled reinforcements, and I think it's a mistake to try to play this too efficiently.
Not seeing enemy movement or a battle preview got really annoying in some of the late game maps which did get a lot more tedious but aside from Chapter 24 I made a point not to warp-skip anything so I could get the full experience, and I’m glad I did. The reinforcements made me actually try to beat maps quickly, though many of them I have 15-20 turns in just because of the rotten inventory management. I don’t think I even used all my talisman and speed rings because I just didn’t want to deal with convoy management and trading stuff off of characters a certain point. This kind of stuff feels hostile to the player in 2023, but I don’t think it really weighs the game down that much. The core of the game is almost everything you expect from Fire Emblem even if the execution is held back by the technology limitations.
I played pretty loose with my characters. Both Christmas Cavaliers died in the endgame chapters, Wendell valiantly sacrificed himself for the Falchion, and I killed Tiki on the map because I couldn’t recruit her without Bonthu lol. Hardin is amazing in this game and Midia was an MVP. But I think Best girl was Maria, the damsel who is the most thirsty for Marth. Her good ending was just "her enthusiasm for Marth has not diminished".
The game isn’t some hidden masterpiece (but Gaiden is, check that one out). It's worth playing from a historical perspective, and one that every FE fan should beat at least once.
I've tried to play FE1 a couple times in the past but just kind of got bored and annoyed by having so much critical information only accessible outside of the game (like weapon might or weight) or is just super tedious to do (like counting movement or calculating how much damage you’re going to do or moving items around). But going in not taking it seriously and instead just picking up on the vibes makes it very fun. You can have fun with the game by just getting a general feeling of whether you will double an enemy or withstand an enemy phase. I think trying to play the game too fast can take the fun out of it since a lot of the challenge comes from the way this game handled reinforcements, and I think it's a mistake to try to play this too efficiently.
Not seeing enemy movement or a battle preview got really annoying in some of the late game maps which did get a lot more tedious but aside from Chapter 24 I made a point not to warp-skip anything so I could get the full experience, and I’m glad I did. The reinforcements made me actually try to beat maps quickly, though many of them I have 15-20 turns in just because of the rotten inventory management. I don’t think I even used all my talisman and speed rings because I just didn’t want to deal with convoy management and trading stuff off of characters a certain point. This kind of stuff feels hostile to the player in 2023, but I don’t think it really weighs the game down that much. The core of the game is almost everything you expect from Fire Emblem even if the execution is held back by the technology limitations.
I played pretty loose with my characters. Both Christmas Cavaliers died in the endgame chapters, Wendell valiantly sacrificed himself for the Falchion, and I killed Tiki on the map because I couldn’t recruit her without Bonthu lol. Hardin is amazing in this game and Midia was an MVP. But I think Best girl was Maria, the damsel who is the most thirsty for Marth. Her good ending was just "her enthusiasm for Marth has not diminished".
The game isn’t some hidden masterpiece (but Gaiden is, check that one out). It's worth playing from a historical perspective, and one that every FE fan should beat at least once.