Notes for my series replay:
-I'm going to get mention this right off the bat, I think this is the ugliest Fire Emblem game. I know graphics aren't what makes a good game, but they aren't completely irrelevant either. This game and its sequel are ranking among my least favorite FE titles in terms of presentation, granted the NES games look worse, but are a product of their time. There's no excuse for how muddy Shadow Dragon looks.
-Getting past that, the gameplay is pretty much what I wrote about FE1, save for enemies being a little more competent this time around, as I was playing on Hard 1 for time's sake. Marth, however, has become a bit of a liability compared to his NES self. His aggro quirk is now gone with this remake, nor is he quite as good as he was on the NES. He's still a solid unit worth training due to being a force deploy for every map, but he's just not quite as good as the NES version.
-Every map is a seize map. I respect the faithfulness to the original game but this game feels like a step back in many ways from the diverse gameplay of FE10.
-The one thing I will give this game credit for, is the modern reclass system. This is the first game in the series to allow a unit to change their class into an entirely different one. For instance, Wyvern Knight Jagen. Or Myrmidon Caeda, or Mage Draug. This adds a lot of depth to how the player can approach maps in SD, as you can go all out mounted units, or you could choose to build a brick wall of armored knights (don't do that). This feels like the blueprint for Awakening onwards, as nothing was quite like this up until now in terms of class changes.
-The soundtrack is super solid. Nice remakes of beloved FE tracks, but also THERE IS MORE THAN 2 FUCKING MAP THEMES!!!! I love the first map theme, don't get me wrong. But I was ready to pull my hair out after FE1 and FE3 book 1.
- The prologue was... interesting? I played it just to see what it was like on a separate save, and it serves as a solid tutorial. At least it's not as egregious as Lyn's tutorials were, where they would often choose your actions for you. Relatively unoffensive and just kinda there.
Not going to write a whole lot about Shadow Dragon, as it's a VERY faithful remake to FE1. I think that the gameplay is a fucking mile better than the original, but in terms of story or characters, it's barely better than the source material, which is a little disappointing. First NA release of Marth, though. So that's neat.
-I'm going to get mention this right off the bat, I think this is the ugliest Fire Emblem game. I know graphics aren't what makes a good game, but they aren't completely irrelevant either. This game and its sequel are ranking among my least favorite FE titles in terms of presentation, granted the NES games look worse, but are a product of their time. There's no excuse for how muddy Shadow Dragon looks.
-Getting past that, the gameplay is pretty much what I wrote about FE1, save for enemies being a little more competent this time around, as I was playing on Hard 1 for time's sake. Marth, however, has become a bit of a liability compared to his NES self. His aggro quirk is now gone with this remake, nor is he quite as good as he was on the NES. He's still a solid unit worth training due to being a force deploy for every map, but he's just not quite as good as the NES version.
-Every map is a seize map. I respect the faithfulness to the original game but this game feels like a step back in many ways from the diverse gameplay of FE10.
-The one thing I will give this game credit for, is the modern reclass system. This is the first game in the series to allow a unit to change their class into an entirely different one. For instance, Wyvern Knight Jagen. Or Myrmidon Caeda, or Mage Draug. This adds a lot of depth to how the player can approach maps in SD, as you can go all out mounted units, or you could choose to build a brick wall of armored knights (don't do that). This feels like the blueprint for Awakening onwards, as nothing was quite like this up until now in terms of class changes.
-The soundtrack is super solid. Nice remakes of beloved FE tracks, but also THERE IS MORE THAN 2 FUCKING MAP THEMES!!!! I love the first map theme, don't get me wrong. But I was ready to pull my hair out after FE1 and FE3 book 1.
- The prologue was... interesting? I played it just to see what it was like on a separate save, and it serves as a solid tutorial. At least it's not as egregious as Lyn's tutorials were, where they would often choose your actions for you. Relatively unoffensive and just kinda there.
Not going to write a whole lot about Shadow Dragon, as it's a VERY faithful remake to FE1. I think that the gameplay is a fucking mile better than the original, but in terms of story or characters, it's barely better than the source material, which is a little disappointing. First NA release of Marth, though. So that's neat.