Really loved playing Shadow Dragon, my second FE after Blazing Blade. Some random thoughts I had about it:

+ The game actually rewards you for growing early units instead of giving you prepromotes that are strictly better like in FE7. And having units die means you're forced to use worse units with lesser growths, which is a great way to make playthroughs feel unique.

+ Shadow Dragon's large cast is meant to be played with permadeath and a "next man up" mentality, so I stopped myself from resetting if I was too far from my last save. This endears you to the characters that stay alive, and it's a good way to make your playthrough feel individualized rather than the same optimal load out everyone else has. You don't need the best units in this game to win, and you'll feel different about the suboptimal nobodies in the cast when you're forced to make do with them. Also, resetting 30 minutes of a map over and over is an easy way to make a beginner drop Fire Emblem. Despite all that, I'd never let Caeda die, so :shrug:

+ People complain about the lack of supports and I get it, but finding out two units you previously thought were unrelated have a "Talk" option when you sit them next to each other is awesome. And the lack of support levels means conversations between units are short, sweet, and to the point.

- Why. does. this. game. use. the same map theme for the first 12 chapters?? It's horrifically grating. At least the second map theme is great, but I really question the decision to stay faithful to the NES original here instead of making new compositions for some of these chapters. We have a weapon triangle, reclassing, and forging. Let's not kid ourselves about how faithful this remake is.

Sim, eu sou o emblema de fogo..

Po achei o jogo maneiro e é o primeiro que jogo desse gênero de estratégia por turno assim, e sinceramente não foi uma experiência ruim, claro que não foi aquilo de marcante teve momentos ali que eu fiquei com um certo tédio em continuar a história do jogo (que por sinal não achei lá tão legal), os conflitos e as conversas que rolam com os personagens é uma parada bem legalzinha de ver, principalmente quando tu mata algum inimigo e ai o outro da equipe reage de alguma forma, achei isso bala e deu bastante vida pro jogo, mas a história em si.. não consegui me apegar tanto.

Mas eu gostei do gênero e espero jogar mais vezes jogos desse estilo, Fire Emblem me divertiu na maior parte do tempo e colocou minha cabeça pra pensar antes de fazer qualquer cagada.

This was not the first FE game I played, but it's a remake of one of the first ones so I'll start here.

I was already familiar with the gameplay and mechanics so this experience felt like something I could comfortably run through. One thing I enjoyed is being able to customize anyone into any class. It certainly made the run more interesting. And there was a fair level of challenge even with a large roster of units.

While I enjoyed it, the game felt like a passive experience. The map design wasent anything special, and I didn't care about the story at all.

The biggest issue with this game is how ugly it is. Probably the worst looking Fire Emblem game ever. And on Wii U these bloated visuals are now expanded and stretched out to look worse. The GBA games looked way better.

Good for one playthrough, but nothing more.

Shadow Dragon is a great SPRG with tight, focused design trapped inside such a swagless, unappealing shell that it turned a game that should have reinvigorated interest of the series into one that almost killed it outright.

The turn to turn gameplay of Shadow Dragon holds up great. If you're in the mood for a "vanilla" Fire Emblem game, despite reclassing and reforging, this scratches that itch more than most other entries in the series. Maps are designed with the limitations of your party in mind, with a clear flow that still allows for creativity in how you clear them. The new mid-map save points mitigate some of the more frustrating and antiquated aspects of FE1. The game gives you a ton of cool tools to play with, and begs you to break them further with the reforging system It's a game that I've went from not getting past the few extra chapters, to one where if I have to kill an afternoon or a long bus ride, much like Final Fantasy 1, I can breeze through in about six hours and have a great time. I don't usually enjoy challenge runs in the Fire Emblem series, and I'll abuse save states/resets if my favorite units chip a nail, but Shadow Dragon's just built in such a way where death feels bad, but not something to avoid at all costs. While much of this praise can be levied towards the original, the remake doesn't get in the way.

I didn't know this until close to ten years after the game came out, because it looks and sounds like a Jagex game. This game's sound font sucks shit, if I could have an option to listen to the original NES version, it would stay on at all times. The concept art on the cover for this game (on this website) looks nice, but that's probably the only audio or visual element of the game I don't think fails. The art style's probably my least favorite in the series, including the Grannvale's yaoi chin epidemic. The color pallet is drab, to such an extent where I'll look at my individual units on screen and everything will just blend together until I focus my eyes. The battle animations are the nadir. Under no circumstances did they have to resort to these animations. There were no expectations for this pseudo-3D presentation. Final Fantasy Tactics A2 was a year old at this point with minor improvements to the artystyle, mostly consisting of putting the added screen real estate to use. Front Mission 1's remake was older, they ripped most of the assets straight from the original, and it was the best way to play that game until the recent remakes. This isn't a SPRG studio release done on $500, Marth was in Super Smash Brothers. What's the excuse?

The presentation of Shadow Dragon is something I harp on because it really did kill a lot of the causal interest in the series stateside till Awakening, and it didn't have to be this way. They put so much effort into the feel of the game, and assumed that people would understand how self evidently good the game is (or they'd see a portable Fire Emblem and gobble that shit up) and get on board. Shadow Dragon's reputation among the community, myself included, has improved considerably since the game's release, but it's really hard not to be frustrated with just how hard they dropped the ball. It's a lot of fun reforging a Wing Spear and tearing shit up across the countryside. Unfortunately, that fun is tempered by my functioning eyes and ears.