Notes from my series replay:
- Super ambitious title, really feels like Kaga was hitting his stride here. I feel like this is the biggest departure from what they had up until this point and it pays off.
-Maps are much larger and generally get shafted in terms of tight gameplay design in favor of grand sweeping encounters between massive groups of forces. Shorter, sweeter maps are lost in favor of grand conflicts across entire nations, as a result the game feels MASSIVE.
- Another side-effect of the change in map design is the dominance of the mounted cavalry units. IntSys cut back on the fliers in this game, now only sporting one or two per generation, but gives the player at least 5-10 mounted units per generation. This was most likely for ease of map design for less potential cheese than FE1-3 had with fliers. Footlocked units often get left in the dust on the larger maps, so I found myself leaving them to defend the castle for game efficiency.
- Staves have found themselves massively nerfed in terms of freedom and jank. They sport a wider range of use at the cost of cheesing the game.
-The story revolves around a different world and lore than the first 3 titles, quite frankly jumping into a world with greater depth than the series had ever had before in terms of world and character building. Each map features individual character conversations beyond just recruitment purposes, and it feels like the distant predecessor to support conversations in later FE titles.
-The holy blood and inheritance system is super fascinating and makes every playthrough feel like a different game. Granted it can be a little tedious to keep the units close enough to pair them up in the first generation, the second gen has INSANE depth of gameplay and strategy for subsequent replays as a result. This feels like the most well thought out child system the series has had thus far, and it feels super well integrated into the story as well.
- Castle towns are a fascinating addition too, making each castle feel like a well earned checkpoint in the maps, granting units access to shops, the arena, and a strange step backwards from the trading system in the form of the pawnbroker.
-The game is designed around each map taking the player multiple play sessions to complete. There's an autosave feature, as well as the ability to drop a hard save at the top of every turn. The maps take upwards of an hour, but these features alleviate that aspect for players not wanting to sink hours into each play session, making the game far more accessible than most despite the daunting map size.
-Small annoyance, but they didn't give a fuck with status staves in the last couple maps because there are sleep and silence staff users EVERYWHERE. It was becoming a little tedious to deal with to some degree, but just having the knowledge to bring a restore staff makes it bearable.
Tl;dr the game has a lot of things that it improves, some awkward jank in a lot of places, and other minor annoyances with pairing and enemy placement, etc. That being said, the game has a lot of heart and a beautiful story with some great characters. I still feel confident ranking it among my favorite games of all time.
- Super ambitious title, really feels like Kaga was hitting his stride here. I feel like this is the biggest departure from what they had up until this point and it pays off.
-Maps are much larger and generally get shafted in terms of tight gameplay design in favor of grand sweeping encounters between massive groups of forces. Shorter, sweeter maps are lost in favor of grand conflicts across entire nations, as a result the game feels MASSIVE.
- Another side-effect of the change in map design is the dominance of the mounted cavalry units. IntSys cut back on the fliers in this game, now only sporting one or two per generation, but gives the player at least 5-10 mounted units per generation. This was most likely for ease of map design for less potential cheese than FE1-3 had with fliers. Footlocked units often get left in the dust on the larger maps, so I found myself leaving them to defend the castle for game efficiency.
- Staves have found themselves massively nerfed in terms of freedom and jank. They sport a wider range of use at the cost of cheesing the game.
-The story revolves around a different world and lore than the first 3 titles, quite frankly jumping into a world with greater depth than the series had ever had before in terms of world and character building. Each map features individual character conversations beyond just recruitment purposes, and it feels like the distant predecessor to support conversations in later FE titles.
-The holy blood and inheritance system is super fascinating and makes every playthrough feel like a different game. Granted it can be a little tedious to keep the units close enough to pair them up in the first generation, the second gen has INSANE depth of gameplay and strategy for subsequent replays as a result. This feels like the most well thought out child system the series has had thus far, and it feels super well integrated into the story as well.
- Castle towns are a fascinating addition too, making each castle feel like a well earned checkpoint in the maps, granting units access to shops, the arena, and a strange step backwards from the trading system in the form of the pawnbroker.
-The game is designed around each map taking the player multiple play sessions to complete. There's an autosave feature, as well as the ability to drop a hard save at the top of every turn. The maps take upwards of an hour, but these features alleviate that aspect for players not wanting to sink hours into each play session, making the game far more accessible than most despite the daunting map size.
-Small annoyance, but they didn't give a fuck with status staves in the last couple maps because there are sleep and silence staff users EVERYWHERE. It was becoming a little tedious to deal with to some degree, but just having the knowledge to bring a restore staff makes it bearable.
Tl;dr the game has a lot of things that it improves, some awkward jank in a lot of places, and other minor annoyances with pairing and enemy placement, etc. That being said, the game has a lot of heart and a beautiful story with some great characters. I still feel confident ranking it among my favorite games of all time.