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.
+ 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.