Notes for my series replay:
- I'm just going to get it out of the way in this bullet because we're all thinking it: the first ten chapters of this game are fucking unbearable. Most Fire Emblem newcomers won't play this game first, so the fucking TEN tutorial levels that the game forces down your throat is obnoxious. For western players in 2003, I'm sure this was a necessary evil but replaying it is a tough pill to swallow. The story is whatever and the maps are baby food. That's about it. You COULD circumvent these levels by downloading a save off of GameFAQs, but I'd rather just have the tutorial be toggle-able.
- Getting to the actual game, however, I found that the story was actually semi-interesting at the start. Eliwood's tale of searching out his missing father was a new-ish spin on the classic case of FE daddy issues. I also found Hector and Eliwood's dynamic pretty endearing, and Lyn was also solid, but I felt a little less developed in the story than the other two. The story actually builds on FE6's lore of the Eight Legends pretty well, too. It's not the most revolutionary FE story there is, but it's solid for what it's trying to do.
- This game plays like baby mode FE6. I found myself blazing through maps, as there are very few threatening obstacles, other than a slew of underwhelming and generally non-threatening enemies. I didn't grind or arena abuse at all (I haven't been for this replay in favor of playing the intended way) but I still found most of the tools the game gave me to be far more than adequate to handle the chapters. This game doesn't shower you with pre-promotes in the mid game like FE6, but it does give you plenty of promotion items to buff your party early.
- The map design in FE7 is not as frustrating as it was in FE6, but I found them to suffer from the same case of tedious walking simulator. There were less gaiden objectives, too, so I found myself playing with my brain off essentially. Fliers are easily abusable in this entry, as the number of ballistas is laughable compared to FE5/6. There is very few instances of thief utility outside of doors/chests once again, so planning is just outfitting weapons and staves onto your team for the most part.
- The soundtrack is solid, I would say so far middle of the pack, that will change based on the later entries to come, but I think that this game still has some bangers. I love that "Campaign of Fire" uses part of "The Last Dragon" from FE6, as well as some re-use of classic FE tracks like "Knight's Vow" and "Together We Ride."
There isn't much to say about FE7 that I didn't really say about FE6. It feels like a good enough prequel FE6 game, minus the difficulty and, for lack of a better word, bullshit. I will lend to its' credit that the game has both Eliwood/Hector stories to tackle, AND their hard modes to add to the replayability, but honestly I found myself satisfied with just the one run through I had. In terms of Fire Emblem games, this feels like fast food, as it's not super high quality, but it is a quick hit of Fire Emblem, as the chapters tend to be really quick due to the lack of overall difficulty and depth compared to previous entries.
- I'm just going to get it out of the way in this bullet because we're all thinking it: the first ten chapters of this game are fucking unbearable. Most Fire Emblem newcomers won't play this game first, so the fucking TEN tutorial levels that the game forces down your throat is obnoxious. For western players in 2003, I'm sure this was a necessary evil but replaying it is a tough pill to swallow. The story is whatever and the maps are baby food. That's about it. You COULD circumvent these levels by downloading a save off of GameFAQs, but I'd rather just have the tutorial be toggle-able.
- Getting to the actual game, however, I found that the story was actually semi-interesting at the start. Eliwood's tale of searching out his missing father was a new-ish spin on the classic case of FE daddy issues. I also found Hector and Eliwood's dynamic pretty endearing, and Lyn was also solid, but I felt a little less developed in the story than the other two. The story actually builds on FE6's lore of the Eight Legends pretty well, too. It's not the most revolutionary FE story there is, but it's solid for what it's trying to do.
- This game plays like baby mode FE6. I found myself blazing through maps, as there are very few threatening obstacles, other than a slew of underwhelming and generally non-threatening enemies. I didn't grind or arena abuse at all (I haven't been for this replay in favor of playing the intended way) but I still found most of the tools the game gave me to be far more than adequate to handle the chapters. This game doesn't shower you with pre-promotes in the mid game like FE6, but it does give you plenty of promotion items to buff your party early.
- The map design in FE7 is not as frustrating as it was in FE6, but I found them to suffer from the same case of tedious walking simulator. There were less gaiden objectives, too, so I found myself playing with my brain off essentially. Fliers are easily abusable in this entry, as the number of ballistas is laughable compared to FE5/6. There is very few instances of thief utility outside of doors/chests once again, so planning is just outfitting weapons and staves onto your team for the most part.
- The soundtrack is solid, I would say so far middle of the pack, that will change based on the later entries to come, but I think that this game still has some bangers. I love that "Campaign of Fire" uses part of "The Last Dragon" from FE6, as well as some re-use of classic FE tracks like "Knight's Vow" and "Together We Ride."
There isn't much to say about FE7 that I didn't really say about FE6. It feels like a good enough prequel FE6 game, minus the difficulty and, for lack of a better word, bullshit. I will lend to its' credit that the game has both Eliwood/Hector stories to tackle, AND their hard modes to add to the replayability, but honestly I found myself satisfied with just the one run through I had. In terms of Fire Emblem games, this feels like fast food, as it's not super high quality, but it is a quick hit of Fire Emblem, as the chapters tend to be really quick due to the lack of overall difficulty and depth compared to previous entries.