To say that I am actually insane about this franchise is an understatement. When I heard about this game being added to NSO I actually finished the whole thing in 3 days after it dropped because I was having so much fun. At the time of this review I still haven't started Hector mode, only finished Eliwood mode.
I do have to admit my opinion on this game has gone down quite a bit since my original playthrough, but there's still a lot I have to like about it. The characters are still great, (most of) the maps are fun, and it's as speedy to play as ever. The game also just looks fantastic on a switch screen, especially with the "classic" filter you can toggle. The pure fun of replay value from a Fire Emblem game was showcased for me here, as this time I decided to train Rebecca, a low tier unit, into one of my strongest characters who was capable of killing MULTIPLE endgame bosses, it was actually so fun. She literally even outpaced Louise, it was SO hilarious.
FE7 is still a fun time, even if weaker than many of the other games in the series I've played. If you have NSO I find really no reason to not at least try this. Even if you DON'T have NSO, GBA emulation is so accessible on so many devices that it's really no problem in getting to try it yourself. It's beginner friendly, its fun, and it's a bit overhated these days despite of what it does so great.
I do have to admit my opinion on this game has gone down quite a bit since my original playthrough, but there's still a lot I have to like about it. The characters are still great, (most of) the maps are fun, and it's as speedy to play as ever. The game also just looks fantastic on a switch screen, especially with the "classic" filter you can toggle. The pure fun of replay value from a Fire Emblem game was showcased for me here, as this time I decided to train Rebecca, a low tier unit, into one of my strongest characters who was capable of killing MULTIPLE endgame bosses, it was actually so fun. She literally even outpaced Louise, it was SO hilarious.
FE7 is still a fun time, even if weaker than many of the other games in the series I've played. If you have NSO I find really no reason to not at least try this. Even if you DON'T have NSO, GBA emulation is so accessible on so many devices that it's really no problem in getting to try it yourself. It's beginner friendly, its fun, and it's a bit overhated these days despite of what it does so great.
This review contains spoilers
both times i've played this game, my combat decisions allowed me to form really cool narrative headcanons. as i've just beat my second run, i'd like to share those with you :)
first run:
(for context, florina had a support with fiora and b with lyn. she died in the prologue and then came back in eliwood's story. she dealt the final blow on nergal)
florina is a child fighting in a war to save the world. in support conversations with lyn, it is revealed that she has been a pegasus knight since she was a little girl. even during this war, she can't be more than a teenager. and this shows in her character. a support conversation with lyn reveals that they met when she was scared off her pegasus by a swarm of bees. she is a self-described "crybaby." her relationships with both lyn and her sister fiora have more mother-daughter vibes to them than that of equals, siblings, or friends. she relies heavily on these two, and they fill the rolls exceptionally.
however, florina's over-reliance on lyn to survive backfired; because, naturally, lyn can only fight so many battles at once. and when her head was turned, florina was gravely injured in the prologue. she was left unable to fight, and had to abandon lyn's journey to save her father while she healed.
much time passed. florina's injuries healed. but lyn's resolve to protect florina grew even stronger. she became very worried about florina's well being.
"Are you well? ... I was worried... Don't go out alone if you can. You never know where archers might be lurking. Are you carrying enough healing salve? Your weapons—are they all in order? ... Take your time. I'm here should anything happen."
florina's injuries seemed to even further infantilize her in lyn's eyes. and when fiora joined the party, it became clear that their relationship was just as codependent.
throughout early support conversations, it is clear that fiora wants florina by her side in ilia. two traveling mercenary sisters. and this, much like lyn's motherliness, is based much more in her desire to protect her sister. "Then I’ll be able to help you anytime you need it. I would feel much better that way."
both of these relationships, while well-meaning, weigh heavily on florina. she doesn't want to need to be protected. she wants to be the one doing the protecting. she takes her training seriously. she takes on enemies that earlier would have been nightmares for her. and all this time, she thinks on these invitations - to work with her sister, to travel with her friend. and neither of them sit quite right.
so, towards the end of the journey, she sits fiora down. and she explains to her:
"Well, you see. I really love you, Fiora. And it would be great to be with you, to have you to protect me always... But... But... That wouldn’t be good for me... You’re so kind, you would probably protect me for the rest of my life... That’s the problem... If I rely on you forever, I’ll never become my own person. So...I’ve decided not to return to Ilia yet. It’s because I do love you... You see, I don’t want to always be the crybaby Florina who needs you to protect her... I want to be more like my sister, a fine pegasus knight."
and she keeps training. and she keeps improving. and in the final confrontation, standing beside lyn and fiora this time as equals, she knows she made the right choice.
second run:
(this one's a lot less involved. though it is still fresh as i just finished it today, so i will probably develop on it as time goes on. not much context here. all you need to know is that heath romanced priscilla and died in the final battle against the dragon)
"I'm a soldier, but... I'm trying to be human, too."
heath is similar in a lot of ways to eliwood. his sense of justice is clear from the very first conversation he has. he seeks to do good above all else. what becomes evident later is his equally undying sense of honor. the interesting thing about this is, where these traits in eliwood are beloved by all, these traits in heath are the main source of his conflict. and ultimately, these attributes are what make me view his story as one of extreme sacrifice.
see, heath is born in bern, a country with a corrupt ruler. this ruler demanded he slaughter unarmed people thought to be behind an uprising. and when he refused to do so, he was labeled a traitor and sentenced to death. he was forced to flee the country he loves for refusing to murder innocent people.
knowing this backstory, reading through his support conversations with priscilla show us a massive contrast in tone that i really appreciate.
heath is immediately very open, informal and friendly with priscilla. "You! You our medic? ... Name’s Heath. I’m a wyvern knight, as you can see. My wyvern is Hyperion. He may look scary, but he’s all right. I trust you’ll be there if any of us get hurt." he wastes no time in treating her like a true friend. he wastes no time with formalities. he is in touch with people's feelings, humanizing his wyvern with a name to priscilla to dissuade any potential fear the animal might bring her.
this relationship is immediately refreshing to priscilla too. considering that priscilla is a princess hiding as a commoner, it is interesting that heath is the only one to talk so informally to her. there's immediately a really warm feeling between the two.
this relationship grows even more friendly as the two begin to rely on each other in their own ways. where she was at first timid around him, she opens up. she initiates their b support by asking if he's injured. she learns more of heath's upbringing, how his military captain used to say "If you can feel the pain, you’re not badly wounded.” She makes him promise to visit her, "even if [his] wounds are slight."
and then, sometime between b and a supports, he learns of her royalty...
priscilla, now very open with heath, immediately notices something is off. he is avoiding her. she begins to talk to him about it, but the openness in the conversation is gone now. he responds slowly and vaguely. in his head, he is retroactively trying to "correct" his behavior toward her. he apologizes for having "spoken too frankly." and it is everything priscilla feared would happen.
because, again, heath is a very honorable person. and, even if he acted out of justice, refusing to kill innocents, the country he loves views him as a criminal. and criminals aren't supposed to talk to princesses.
in the final battle against nergal, heath is going to sacrifice himself. heath will always choose to sacrifice everything to do good. he did it in bern, and he will do it again to save priscilla and all the friends he's made. in death, he tells himself, he will find redemption. "I fought with honor... I can ask nothing more..."
but for the moment, he is face to face with a now crying priscilla, realizing all at once that their relationship will never be the same again.
" Priscilla... I... can call you that, can’t I? If it’s so much that you are moved to tears, I will stay by your side. Even...for just this battle... I’ll be here."
"Heath... If only... If only... time... could stop."
"... Yes... If only..."
---
i would not call the story of the blazing blade good. i doubt anyone plays the game for its plot, myself included. both of these stories, while backed up from support dialogue in the game, were made into what they were through the actions i made in combat. these characters do not have any lines pertaining to the main story of this game.
and yet, this game allowed me to make these stories. i will always remember florina and heath and priscilla. i'll always remember my sweet sweet rath who i didn't even get to talk about, and the sweet, healing romance he and lyn shared in my game. i will always remember eliwood and hector, and the sad gay forbidden love story i made about them in my head ("You know, back then, I’m proud I took your hand." "Heh, I’ve got no plans to break my oath. Not now, not ever").
it is so cool how people personalize the stories they consume. how we're able to relate to them in a way the writers never intended us to.
i am really thankful to have art in my life
first run:
(for context, florina had a support with fiora and b with lyn. she died in the prologue and then came back in eliwood's story. she dealt the final blow on nergal)
florina is a child fighting in a war to save the world. in support conversations with lyn, it is revealed that she has been a pegasus knight since she was a little girl. even during this war, she can't be more than a teenager. and this shows in her character. a support conversation with lyn reveals that they met when she was scared off her pegasus by a swarm of bees. she is a self-described "crybaby." her relationships with both lyn and her sister fiora have more mother-daughter vibes to them than that of equals, siblings, or friends. she relies heavily on these two, and they fill the rolls exceptionally.
however, florina's over-reliance on lyn to survive backfired; because, naturally, lyn can only fight so many battles at once. and when her head was turned, florina was gravely injured in the prologue. she was left unable to fight, and had to abandon lyn's journey to save her father while she healed.
much time passed. florina's injuries healed. but lyn's resolve to protect florina grew even stronger. she became very worried about florina's well being.
"Are you well? ... I was worried... Don't go out alone if you can. You never know where archers might be lurking. Are you carrying enough healing salve? Your weapons—are they all in order? ... Take your time. I'm here should anything happen."
florina's injuries seemed to even further infantilize her in lyn's eyes. and when fiora joined the party, it became clear that their relationship was just as codependent.
throughout early support conversations, it is clear that fiora wants florina by her side in ilia. two traveling mercenary sisters. and this, much like lyn's motherliness, is based much more in her desire to protect her sister. "Then I’ll be able to help you anytime you need it. I would feel much better that way."
both of these relationships, while well-meaning, weigh heavily on florina. she doesn't want to need to be protected. she wants to be the one doing the protecting. she takes her training seriously. she takes on enemies that earlier would have been nightmares for her. and all this time, she thinks on these invitations - to work with her sister, to travel with her friend. and neither of them sit quite right.
so, towards the end of the journey, she sits fiora down. and she explains to her:
"Well, you see. I really love you, Fiora. And it would be great to be with you, to have you to protect me always... But... But... That wouldn’t be good for me... You’re so kind, you would probably protect me for the rest of my life... That’s the problem... If I rely on you forever, I’ll never become my own person. So...I’ve decided not to return to Ilia yet. It’s because I do love you... You see, I don’t want to always be the crybaby Florina who needs you to protect her... I want to be more like my sister, a fine pegasus knight."
and she keeps training. and she keeps improving. and in the final confrontation, standing beside lyn and fiora this time as equals, she knows she made the right choice.
second run:
(this one's a lot less involved. though it is still fresh as i just finished it today, so i will probably develop on it as time goes on. not much context here. all you need to know is that heath romanced priscilla and died in the final battle against the dragon)
"I'm a soldier, but... I'm trying to be human, too."
heath is similar in a lot of ways to eliwood. his sense of justice is clear from the very first conversation he has. he seeks to do good above all else. what becomes evident later is his equally undying sense of honor. the interesting thing about this is, where these traits in eliwood are beloved by all, these traits in heath are the main source of his conflict. and ultimately, these attributes are what make me view his story as one of extreme sacrifice.
see, heath is born in bern, a country with a corrupt ruler. this ruler demanded he slaughter unarmed people thought to be behind an uprising. and when he refused to do so, he was labeled a traitor and sentenced to death. he was forced to flee the country he loves for refusing to murder innocent people.
knowing this backstory, reading through his support conversations with priscilla show us a massive contrast in tone that i really appreciate.
heath is immediately very open, informal and friendly with priscilla. "You! You our medic? ... Name’s Heath. I’m a wyvern knight, as you can see. My wyvern is Hyperion. He may look scary, but he’s all right. I trust you’ll be there if any of us get hurt." he wastes no time in treating her like a true friend. he wastes no time with formalities. he is in touch with people's feelings, humanizing his wyvern with a name to priscilla to dissuade any potential fear the animal might bring her.
this relationship is immediately refreshing to priscilla too. considering that priscilla is a princess hiding as a commoner, it is interesting that heath is the only one to talk so informally to her. there's immediately a really warm feeling between the two.
this relationship grows even more friendly as the two begin to rely on each other in their own ways. where she was at first timid around him, she opens up. she initiates their b support by asking if he's injured. she learns more of heath's upbringing, how his military captain used to say "If you can feel the pain, you’re not badly wounded.” She makes him promise to visit her, "even if [his] wounds are slight."
and then, sometime between b and a supports, he learns of her royalty...
priscilla, now very open with heath, immediately notices something is off. he is avoiding her. she begins to talk to him about it, but the openness in the conversation is gone now. he responds slowly and vaguely. in his head, he is retroactively trying to "correct" his behavior toward her. he apologizes for having "spoken too frankly." and it is everything priscilla feared would happen.
because, again, heath is a very honorable person. and, even if he acted out of justice, refusing to kill innocents, the country he loves views him as a criminal. and criminals aren't supposed to talk to princesses.
in the final battle against nergal, heath is going to sacrifice himself. heath will always choose to sacrifice everything to do good. he did it in bern, and he will do it again to save priscilla and all the friends he's made. in death, he tells himself, he will find redemption. "I fought with honor... I can ask nothing more..."
but for the moment, he is face to face with a now crying priscilla, realizing all at once that their relationship will never be the same again.
" Priscilla... I... can call you that, can’t I? If it’s so much that you are moved to tears, I will stay by your side. Even...for just this battle... I’ll be here."
"Heath... If only... If only... time... could stop."
"... Yes... If only..."
---
i would not call the story of the blazing blade good. i doubt anyone plays the game for its plot, myself included. both of these stories, while backed up from support dialogue in the game, were made into what they were through the actions i made in combat. these characters do not have any lines pertaining to the main story of this game.
and yet, this game allowed me to make these stories. i will always remember florina and heath and priscilla. i'll always remember my sweet sweet rath who i didn't even get to talk about, and the sweet, healing romance he and lyn shared in my game. i will always remember eliwood and hector, and the sad gay forbidden love story i made about them in my head ("You know, back then, I’m proud I took your hand." "Heh, I’ve got no plans to break my oath. Not now, not ever").
it is so cool how people personalize the stories they consume. how we're able to relate to them in a way the writers never intended us to.
i am really thankful to have art in my life
After Fire Emblem: Three Houses I was left craving more of that TRPG goodness so I went back to the game many consider to be the quintessential (heh) Fire Emblem™ experience.
It sure is a classic. A fair bit simplistic but great nonetheless. The story is tropey as heck, full of gallant, honourable knights and evil wizards who want to take over the world, but it does a good enough job to give each battle context. On the gameplay front I can't say I have any real complaints, besides, it's been too long since I've played SoV and Three Houses is too different to make and real comparisons. The only thing that I'm really pissed about is how the support system in GBA games works. I don't want my character interactions to be gated by parking my units for turns upon turns on every sieze map. I've made my piece with it as I start Sacred Stones and from what I understand it doesn't get worse than this.
P.S RIP Dorcas, my strongest silliest goober. Died at a hand of a certain horse-riding witch right at the end of the game. Damn you, 6% crits.
It sure is a classic. A fair bit simplistic but great nonetheless. The story is tropey as heck, full of gallant, honourable knights and evil wizards who want to take over the world, but it does a good enough job to give each battle context. On the gameplay front I can't say I have any real complaints, besides, it's been too long since I've played SoV and Three Houses is too different to make and real comparisons. The only thing that I'm really pissed about is how the support system in GBA games works. I don't want my character interactions to be gated by parking my units for turns upon turns on every sieze map. I've made my piece with it as I start Sacred Stones and from what I understand it doesn't get worse than this.
P.S RIP Dorcas, my strongest silliest goober. Died at a hand of a certain horse-riding witch right at the end of the game. Damn you, 6% crits.
I was always a huge Fire Emblem hater despite never having played a game, because the gameplay looked boring as shit and, above all else, for the petty reason that it started getting way too much representation on Smash Bros. with all those generic anime-looking swordsmen. I never EVER imagined I would give this franchise a try, but one day I was bored on the voice chat with some friends and decided to open the GBA app on NSO to play something. Then I saw Fire Emblem there. Decided to open it just for shits and giggles, to see how boring the gameplay would be. What happened next? I kept playing for 2-3 hours.
I got HOOKED! The first campaign of the game is basically just one massive tutorial, which I know is a bit divisive among the Fire Emblem community, but for someone like me who had no idea how to play the game and how its many mechanics worked, it was very welcome and it didn’t bother me one bit. It speaks to the quality of the game that even its tutorial had me engaged!
Once the game lets go of your hand is when the real fun begins and fun I sure had. Strategizing my way across maps and enemies that kept getting increasingly more difficult as I tried to keep all my units alive was some of the most invested I got into a game in 2023. Few things felt as satisfying as landing critical hits, getting a good level up, and beating a tough enemy unit by the skin of your teeth, especially during longer skirmishes that I REALLY didn’t want to reset in case a unit died (yes, I did end up resetting quite a few times when a unit I really cared for died, but sometimes I’d just let go).
I just couldn’t put that game down. I got so invested I started reading a lot of info online about the game and its inner mechanics that aren’t properly explained due to the limitations of it being a GBA game, such as its many classes, hidden battle stats and the support system. I always kept a sheet open while playing it to see the units I should try pairing together at the end of each turn to get extra support buffs and some endearing dialogue between them. While the story is your standard medieval fare, revolving around politics and dragons, the characters are what keep you interested in it, because this game has such a charming cast. Most of them have a great dynamic, especially the main trio, Eliwood, Lyn and Hector. I actively wanted to make them support each other to see what their interactions would be about, and they’d always put a smile on my face.
That’s why the permadeath mechanic is so devastating, because you start caring so much about some characters you don’t want to see them gone forever. They’re not just disposable units anymore, they’re people you want to protect as hard as you can. That’s why it’s so satisfying to see a character you love getting great level ups and upgrading to a new class and starting wrecking every enemy on their way. That’s what happened with my favorite unit, Florina. She became a goddess of destruction, raining despair over her opponents atop her white pegasus.
And I’d be remiss to not talk about the visuals of the game. Good lord, this game might just have one of the best sprite work of any GBA game. The battle animations are always a treat to watch, ESPECIALLY the critical hits. Their over-the-top animation is smooth and dynamic and packs such a punch, along with the crunchy sound effects that accompany it. It’s so goddamn satisfying. But yeah, that’s the story of how I went from being a pathetic hater of a franchise I had never even played a game of to someone who became invested enough to want to play every single Fire Emblem game.
I got HOOKED! The first campaign of the game is basically just one massive tutorial, which I know is a bit divisive among the Fire Emblem community, but for someone like me who had no idea how to play the game and how its many mechanics worked, it was very welcome and it didn’t bother me one bit. It speaks to the quality of the game that even its tutorial had me engaged!
Once the game lets go of your hand is when the real fun begins and fun I sure had. Strategizing my way across maps and enemies that kept getting increasingly more difficult as I tried to keep all my units alive was some of the most invested I got into a game in 2023. Few things felt as satisfying as landing critical hits, getting a good level up, and beating a tough enemy unit by the skin of your teeth, especially during longer skirmishes that I REALLY didn’t want to reset in case a unit died (yes, I did end up resetting quite a few times when a unit I really cared for died, but sometimes I’d just let go).
I just couldn’t put that game down. I got so invested I started reading a lot of info online about the game and its inner mechanics that aren’t properly explained due to the limitations of it being a GBA game, such as its many classes, hidden battle stats and the support system. I always kept a sheet open while playing it to see the units I should try pairing together at the end of each turn to get extra support buffs and some endearing dialogue between them. While the story is your standard medieval fare, revolving around politics and dragons, the characters are what keep you interested in it, because this game has such a charming cast. Most of them have a great dynamic, especially the main trio, Eliwood, Lyn and Hector. I actively wanted to make them support each other to see what their interactions would be about, and they’d always put a smile on my face.
That’s why the permadeath mechanic is so devastating, because you start caring so much about some characters you don’t want to see them gone forever. They’re not just disposable units anymore, they’re people you want to protect as hard as you can. That’s why it’s so satisfying to see a character you love getting great level ups and upgrading to a new class and starting wrecking every enemy on their way. That’s what happened with my favorite unit, Florina. She became a goddess of destruction, raining despair over her opponents atop her white pegasus.
And I’d be remiss to not talk about the visuals of the game. Good lord, this game might just have one of the best sprite work of any GBA game. The battle animations are always a treat to watch, ESPECIALLY the critical hits. Their over-the-top animation is smooth and dynamic and packs such a punch, along with the crunchy sound effects that accompany it. It’s so goddamn satisfying. But yeah, that’s the story of how I went from being a pathetic hater of a franchise I had never even played a game of to someone who became invested enough to want to play every single Fire Emblem game.
its that time of the year when i remember fire emblem exists and i play a new installment so im gonna be real with you binding blade left me with a sour taste in my mouth and i ended up dropping the series marathon for the time being that could actually give you a clue to what i generally think about fe6 without reading my review
since i actually am a madman and actually wanted to explore some more of the gba titles i ended up booting blazing blade and while it could be argued that this is by no means a masterpiece in the series (ive only played a few games so i cant really say much about this) its pretty interesting to see that they managed to fix some of the issues i had with binding blade
in the great scope of things this is a prequel to fe6 it takes place in the same land and stars most of the parents youre gonna see during your time in elibe and a new entry in the whole franchise and also ready to become the favorite girl of a lot of guys in the entire series lyn
i definitely enjoyed the characters in this one way more than the other game since they actually feel more fleshed out with some more understandable motives diving the game setting into 2 completely different campaigns where in the first one youre gonna play as fan favorite lyndis trying to save his grandfather which is actually a general tutorial to the entire game and fire emblem as a whole and the second part of the campaign stars eliwood whos the father of the other fan favorite roy from fe6 and hector whos the father of MY FAVORITE SWEET LITTLE CHILD lilina
this rooster of character is probably one of the strongest ive seen in the entire franchise till now lyn is as determined as she is brave but her story shines the light on a scarred and emotional woman who found in her independence a way to work through life
while i definitely think lyns story is the weakest one of the 2 this doesnt mean it didnt touch some high highs here and even though it just acts as a tutorial for the entire game that doesnt mean its gonna be devoid of any challenge or fun to play through and the idea of dividing the actual game into different parts made both of the stories more digestible since i usually just play one chapter of fire emblem then get stuck and replay it after like 3 months this is the usual praxis
so all in all lyns side of the story is pretty great if you ask me but the real meat of the game is eliwoods part of the story (i have no idea if hector hard mode is actually just the same story beats or an entire new storyline maybe with hectors POV because i havents played it since “hard mode” made me shit my pants as soon as i read it) and this is actually where the game stops handholding you and gets into unknown territory and a real trial to see if you actually learnt some shit from the tutorial
eliwoods tale sees him going in a search for his father but as youre gonna guess in fire emblems usual flair the plotline is gonna escalate into the whole dragon lore and shit like that but im not gonna say anything here because im not the most competent guy to actually talk about fire emblems story and in general the best stuff always comes at the end so youre advised what im gonna say though is that compared to fe6 both lyns side and this one actually have some tighter pacing and characters are usually more fleshed out than its sequels counterparts and eliwood and hector make for an intoxicatingly good pair and also as incredible lords for the entire party eliwood is more on the usual “shonen ish protagonist with a lot of empathy love for his land and people and a pacifist and charismatic leader” or some shit like that but its pretty evident that they gave him a lot more nuance compared to his son maybe also for his age and for how hot he is sorry uwu what REALLY makes it worth is though are his interactions with hector which not so different from him but definitely on the more aggressive and belligerent side of things (hot) hes more of an act first think later type of guy (hot) with some beefy arms and an axe bigger than a tree (hot) and the friendly rivalry they create (or better the homoerotic tension they create) actually steals the spotlight for any other character to actually shine i love these two with all my essence and being while i do agree that eliwood is the bestes boy hector is in the archetype of my fictional boyfriend type so im always gonna take his side and take his mmmmm i cant say this here moving on
this game continues the tradition of the other gba title to actually throw at you countless and countless playable characters so of course some of them are gonna shine above the others and it is no surprise that i fell in love at first sight with ninian and shes definitely one of the highlight of the games beside being an incredibly effective plot point throughout she has a design beaten for the gods and while she doesnt end up fucking XXX i can definitely be his husband i cook i clean i pay the taxes and watch the kids and before you say it no unfortunately i dont like nils i prefer his hot sister teehee sooooooorry yall
if you know me you know i had no other choice but love jaffar and what i was definitely not expecting is the fact that i would end up loving him not only because hes hot but also due to the fact that he has some of the thickest character development in the entire game compared to the other guys in the circus and also his relationship with nino made me absolutely tear my hair off i love those two like my own babies but unfortunately i wanted jaffar all by myself so i need nino to step right off right about NOW
you can also see that the quality of the character design actually made a huge jump because the usual green and red knight actually have some nuance to them in particular im in love with sain who acts as the usual womanizer type of guy and somehow always manage to get zero pussy in the process which makes kent even more endearing because being an asexual virgin completes the duo and makes for a great chemistry (read: theyre gay and have a lot of sex)
some other highlight are florina my sweet little baby with fear of men (shes right to do so) matthew is a conniving bitch and im gonna bet my life he makes for an endearing power bottom marcus is still a bull even in this game rebecca is ,,, CUTE ! i like her i think and raven is a damn good hunk of a man older brother type of character with a lot of meat in his part and i love those overprotective bro figure because i always wanted one im so sorry yall fiora and isadora are my lesbian mothers and i want them to walk me with a leash hawkeye has big tits heath has big hair harken has a big fucking cock no half words i can feel his might through the screen love that guy im free on saturday
so theres that also honorable mention lloyd is probably one of the hottest guy in all fire emblem i was DROOLING dont get me started
as i was saying in general this is probably the tightest narrative in the gba trilogy (havent played sacred stones i dont know if i actually want to rn because im growing tired of these games) and i can see a lot more care being put in the story and character side of things that i unfortunately didnt see when playing fe6 not that its a bad game but i can say that blazing blade pisses in his mouth ong
cant really add anything more in the art direction and music department because its basically the same as fe6 and i already praised it at that time but TLDR the sprite works and animations are probably my favorite in the entire franchise the pixelated artworks and oversaturated art style really add a lot to the general sense of style and makes for an unforgettable view the music is pretty much usual fire emblem fanfares or world themes which are by no means bad but definitely dont reach the highs or tracks found in awakening or echoes (and they dont even have to because this is neither awakening nor echoes)
if i gotta be nitpicking i also think the character portraits have something more compared to the ones in fe6 but i cant go on and hate on binding blade or else fans of the saga will come here and bust my ass open one time and for all
so what else to say if it wasnt clear enough this is my favorite one of the gba bunch till now and probably one of the favorite of some people out there maybe im playing this series wrong because after awakening and echoes everything here sucks because OF COURSE it would but im still pretty curious to see what else this series have to offer at this point i got so many different games to branch off now i dont have a clue what im gonna play next stay tuned so that you can listen to me complaining about fe6 some more and saying how much i want to fuck the characters in this series byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee have fun segues a message just for lloyd hi babe im douching my ass come over at 9 pm i will be waiting xoxo
since i actually am a madman and actually wanted to explore some more of the gba titles i ended up booting blazing blade and while it could be argued that this is by no means a masterpiece in the series (ive only played a few games so i cant really say much about this) its pretty interesting to see that they managed to fix some of the issues i had with binding blade
in the great scope of things this is a prequel to fe6 it takes place in the same land and stars most of the parents youre gonna see during your time in elibe and a new entry in the whole franchise and also ready to become the favorite girl of a lot of guys in the entire series lyn
i definitely enjoyed the characters in this one way more than the other game since they actually feel more fleshed out with some more understandable motives diving the game setting into 2 completely different campaigns where in the first one youre gonna play as fan favorite lyndis trying to save his grandfather which is actually a general tutorial to the entire game and fire emblem as a whole and the second part of the campaign stars eliwood whos the father of the other fan favorite roy from fe6 and hector whos the father of MY FAVORITE SWEET LITTLE CHILD lilina
this rooster of character is probably one of the strongest ive seen in the entire franchise till now lyn is as determined as she is brave but her story shines the light on a scarred and emotional woman who found in her independence a way to work through life
while i definitely think lyns story is the weakest one of the 2 this doesnt mean it didnt touch some high highs here and even though it just acts as a tutorial for the entire game that doesnt mean its gonna be devoid of any challenge or fun to play through and the idea of dividing the actual game into different parts made both of the stories more digestible since i usually just play one chapter of fire emblem then get stuck and replay it after like 3 months this is the usual praxis
so all in all lyns side of the story is pretty great if you ask me but the real meat of the game is eliwoods part of the story (i have no idea if hector hard mode is actually just the same story beats or an entire new storyline maybe with hectors POV because i havents played it since “hard mode” made me shit my pants as soon as i read it) and this is actually where the game stops handholding you and gets into unknown territory and a real trial to see if you actually learnt some shit from the tutorial
eliwoods tale sees him going in a search for his father but as youre gonna guess in fire emblems usual flair the plotline is gonna escalate into the whole dragon lore and shit like that but im not gonna say anything here because im not the most competent guy to actually talk about fire emblems story and in general the best stuff always comes at the end so youre advised what im gonna say though is that compared to fe6 both lyns side and this one actually have some tighter pacing and characters are usually more fleshed out than its sequels counterparts and eliwood and hector make for an intoxicatingly good pair and also as incredible lords for the entire party eliwood is more on the usual “shonen ish protagonist with a lot of empathy love for his land and people and a pacifist and charismatic leader” or some shit like that but its pretty evident that they gave him a lot more nuance compared to his son maybe also for his age and for how hot he is sorry uwu what REALLY makes it worth is though are his interactions with hector which not so different from him but definitely on the more aggressive and belligerent side of things (hot) hes more of an act first think later type of guy (hot) with some beefy arms and an axe bigger than a tree (hot) and the friendly rivalry they create (or better the homoerotic tension they create) actually steals the spotlight for any other character to actually shine i love these two with all my essence and being while i do agree that eliwood is the bestes boy hector is in the archetype of my fictional boyfriend type so im always gonna take his side and take his mmmmm i cant say this here moving on
this game continues the tradition of the other gba title to actually throw at you countless and countless playable characters so of course some of them are gonna shine above the others and it is no surprise that i fell in love at first sight with ninian and shes definitely one of the highlight of the games beside being an incredibly effective plot point throughout she has a design beaten for the gods and while she doesnt end up fucking XXX i can definitely be his husband i cook i clean i pay the taxes and watch the kids and before you say it no unfortunately i dont like nils i prefer his hot sister teehee sooooooorry yall
if you know me you know i had no other choice but love jaffar and what i was definitely not expecting is the fact that i would end up loving him not only because hes hot but also due to the fact that he has some of the thickest character development in the entire game compared to the other guys in the circus and also his relationship with nino made me absolutely tear my hair off i love those two like my own babies but unfortunately i wanted jaffar all by myself so i need nino to step right off right about NOW
you can also see that the quality of the character design actually made a huge jump because the usual green and red knight actually have some nuance to them in particular im in love with sain who acts as the usual womanizer type of guy and somehow always manage to get zero pussy in the process which makes kent even more endearing because being an asexual virgin completes the duo and makes for a great chemistry (read: theyre gay and have a lot of sex)
some other highlight are florina my sweet little baby with fear of men (shes right to do so) matthew is a conniving bitch and im gonna bet my life he makes for an endearing power bottom marcus is still a bull even in this game rebecca is ,,, CUTE ! i like her i think and raven is a damn good hunk of a man older brother type of character with a lot of meat in his part and i love those overprotective bro figure because i always wanted one im so sorry yall fiora and isadora are my lesbian mothers and i want them to walk me with a leash hawkeye has big tits heath has big hair harken has a big fucking cock no half words i can feel his might through the screen love that guy im free on saturday
so theres that also honorable mention lloyd is probably one of the hottest guy in all fire emblem i was DROOLING dont get me started
as i was saying in general this is probably the tightest narrative in the gba trilogy (havent played sacred stones i dont know if i actually want to rn because im growing tired of these games) and i can see a lot more care being put in the story and character side of things that i unfortunately didnt see when playing fe6 not that its a bad game but i can say that blazing blade pisses in his mouth ong
cant really add anything more in the art direction and music department because its basically the same as fe6 and i already praised it at that time but TLDR the sprite works and animations are probably my favorite in the entire franchise the pixelated artworks and oversaturated art style really add a lot to the general sense of style and makes for an unforgettable view the music is pretty much usual fire emblem fanfares or world themes which are by no means bad but definitely dont reach the highs or tracks found in awakening or echoes (and they dont even have to because this is neither awakening nor echoes)
if i gotta be nitpicking i also think the character portraits have something more compared to the ones in fe6 but i cant go on and hate on binding blade or else fans of the saga will come here and bust my ass open one time and for all
so what else to say if it wasnt clear enough this is my favorite one of the gba bunch till now and probably one of the favorite of some people out there maybe im playing this series wrong because after awakening and echoes everything here sucks because OF COURSE it would but im still pretty curious to see what else this series have to offer at this point i got so many different games to branch off now i dont have a clue what im gonna play next stay tuned so that you can listen to me complaining about fe6 some more and saying how much i want to fuck the characters in this series byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee have fun segues a message just for lloyd hi babe im douching my ass come over at 9 pm i will be waiting xoxo
Fun fact about this game; play it
A melting pot of mechanics and ideas that start sweet and end sour. Chapters 25, 26, and 26x present some of the worst problems of the game up close, with shitty gimmicks (weather, anyone?) and awful, awful map design. The storytelling is repetitive beyond belief, with almost every map in the first half being predicated on the same few lines of dialogue:
"We gotta get to Lord Dumbass' house! He'll help us!"
"Okay Eliwood, let's go!"
Then the lord they go to fucking dies, and 13 bandits spawn in from different directions. Queue action. The second half is no better, as searching for a MacGuffin becomes the primary task. Go here! Okay, we're here! Whoops, Black Fang spawned in/were here when we arrived! There's just no soul, reading the plot is a bore. So what about the characters?
Well, they're pretty endearing, and there's a support system to flesh them out. But hold on! The support system is a moot point, because it's based on sitting around and doing nothing! This wouldn't be a problem if most of the maps WEREN'T about running from the bottom end to the top, stopping thieves from ransacking castles or recruiting randos who've had next to no buildup whatsoever. It's a goddamn rat race, and the support system is just not reasonable for the player. And be honest: how are you supposed to know how to recruit most of these people without looking up a guide? I used Eliwood for everyone who looked unique, and I barely grabbed half of them. So yeah, the characters are two steps forward one step back.
The presentation is good, I'll say that. Crit animations, good music, awesome sound effects, it's pretty great for a GBA title. The weapon triangle is a solid system and easy to understand. It's just that on the whole, FE7 is not steady, and that's a deal breaker for me.
"We gotta get to Lord Dumbass' house! He'll help us!"
"Okay Eliwood, let's go!"
Then the lord they go to fucking dies, and 13 bandits spawn in from different directions. Queue action. The second half is no better, as searching for a MacGuffin becomes the primary task. Go here! Okay, we're here! Whoops, Black Fang spawned in/were here when we arrived! There's just no soul, reading the plot is a bore. So what about the characters?
Well, they're pretty endearing, and there's a support system to flesh them out. But hold on! The support system is a moot point, because it's based on sitting around and doing nothing! This wouldn't be a problem if most of the maps WEREN'T about running from the bottom end to the top, stopping thieves from ransacking castles or recruiting randos who've had next to no buildup whatsoever. It's a goddamn rat race, and the support system is just not reasonable for the player. And be honest: how are you supposed to know how to recruit most of these people without looking up a guide? I used Eliwood for everyone who looked unique, and I barely grabbed half of them. So yeah, the characters are two steps forward one step back.
The presentation is good, I'll say that. Crit animations, good music, awesome sound effects, it's pretty great for a GBA title. The weapon triangle is a solid system and easy to understand. It's just that on the whole, FE7 is not steady, and that's a deal breaker for me.
I really wanted to finish this, but honestly, after 24 chapters, I just stopped having fun. This was my first attempt at the Fire Emblem game, and I can't say I'm particularly impressed.
It definitely looks great. The animations are cool and the pixel art is well done. The music isn't bad, but it didn't really do much for me either. Storywise, what I read was pretty blah. Very generic stuff that felt really unengaging. I'm genuinely surprised that there are people who feel even remotely strongly, positive or negative, about this game's story because there's like very little to nothing here.
In terms of gameplay, I don't really think I can say much in terms of actual criticism because I absolutely suck at this game. This is apparently one of the easiest FE games, and yet I found it obnoxiously frustrating at times. Granted, most of those times were on the godawful fog of war maps that just felt annoyingly unfair. Let's just say I got tired of resetting the entire battle and save states were used frequently.
I will say though, balance is a major problem with this game. You have characters like Marcus and Oswin who are tanks that can take a shit ton of damage or just straight up negate it. Then you have little shit support characters that can barely take a hit who barely ever seem worth taking into battle outside of extremely situational things. Oh oops, I didn't check the attack range on all 20 enemies on the screen including the two that just popped out of nowhere last turn, and this one dude was in range of their attack. Time to reset! Yeah sorry no thanks. I think playing this really set in stone that if I'm going to play a strategy game, I'm much more suited to real time instead of turn based. At least I can somewhat improvise depending on the situation.
Despite all that, I hesitate to call this bad. Just not really my thing. I was enjoying it at first until around the halfway point. If it had a more interesting story to pull me along, maybe I would have finished it, but I can't get myself to care about what's going on. Way too dull and I have too many other games on my plate that I'd rather put effort into at the moment.
It definitely looks great. The animations are cool and the pixel art is well done. The music isn't bad, but it didn't really do much for me either. Storywise, what I read was pretty blah. Very generic stuff that felt really unengaging. I'm genuinely surprised that there are people who feel even remotely strongly, positive or negative, about this game's story because there's like very little to nothing here.
In terms of gameplay, I don't really think I can say much in terms of actual criticism because I absolutely suck at this game. This is apparently one of the easiest FE games, and yet I found it obnoxiously frustrating at times. Granted, most of those times were on the godawful fog of war maps that just felt annoyingly unfair. Let's just say I got tired of resetting the entire battle and save states were used frequently.
I will say though, balance is a major problem with this game. You have characters like Marcus and Oswin who are tanks that can take a shit ton of damage or just straight up negate it. Then you have little shit support characters that can barely take a hit who barely ever seem worth taking into battle outside of extremely situational things. Oh oops, I didn't check the attack range on all 20 enemies on the screen including the two that just popped out of nowhere last turn, and this one dude was in range of their attack. Time to reset! Yeah sorry no thanks. I think playing this really set in stone that if I'm going to play a strategy game, I'm much more suited to real time instead of turn based. At least I can somewhat improvise depending on the situation.
Despite all that, I hesitate to call this bad. Just not really my thing. I was enjoying it at first until around the halfway point. If it had a more interesting story to pull me along, maybe I would have finished it, but I can't get myself to care about what's going on. Way too dull and I have too many other games on my plate that I'd rather put effort into at the moment.
A simple, safe, and enjoyable fire emblem game.
This is my most replayed Fire Emblem game and it's still so great. The only issue I have is the plot holes that are kinda noticeable in the story but other than that, I generally love everything. The cast of characters, the maps, the mechanics, the music. This is a perfect game to get into the series!
My first fire emblem game but still a timeless experience.
This review contains spoilers
Honestly, this game had the potential to be one of the best Fire Emblems ever made. The main cast was quite interesting, and the story, while seemingly simple and classic at the beginning, had twists that were executed remarkably well. Not to mention, there was an improvement in gameplay compared to the previous Fire Emblem. The music in this game includes some bangers, but the majority are just mid, which leads me to say that this game didn't quite hit the mark.
In my personal opinion, one of the last parts of the game where Eliwood kills Ninian, who was in dragon form, only to have her brought back to life, felt like some BS that they pulled out of nowhere. But at the same time, I didn't want Ninian to die either, so I wasn't exactly upset. It's a good game, honestly, nothing extraordinary. If you're a fan of the franchise, it's definitely worth playing. Lyn best girl."
In my personal opinion, one of the last parts of the game where Eliwood kills Ninian, who was in dragon form, only to have her brought back to life, felt like some BS that they pulled out of nowhere. But at the same time, I didn't want Ninian to die either, so I wasn't exactly upset. It's a good game, honestly, nothing extraordinary. If you're a fan of the franchise, it's definitely worth playing. Lyn best girl."
hector my goat FUCK LYN fans they ain't even play this game
nintendo putting this gem on their crappy online service like dawg we've been emulating this for years and it's much better because we don't have to pay for a subscription for a small supply of games
I like this Fire Emblem a fair bit, despite some rough spots that didn't land for me.
The Blazing Blade looks amazing, with super expressive, smooth animations and lots of unique flourishes for each unit type depending on weapon use, hitting a critical, dodging, etc... The character designs are reminiscent of 90s high fantasy anime, like Record of Lodoss War, rather than the more extreme modern anime style of recent Fire Emblems. I like this approach better -- I can take the characters and events a bit more seriously.
Narratively, the game is fairly generic, but works well enough. The main plot is predictable, made more interesting (and a bit cheesy) by how far they are going to set up relationships and characters that appear in the game Blazing Blade serves as a prequel for, The Binding Blade. The majority of it is simple though overlong. There is a lot we are doing that feels like busywork, rather than something that makes sense in the story. It simply goes on for too long without enough motivation.
Additionally, the first third of the game is a sort of tutorial, where you play as a different character, which I think is a cool narrative device to introduce some major players, but it doesn't really have enough relevance to the main story.
The gameplay is, of course, the driver here. Map designs are mostly interesting, with a mix of small-scale castle assaults and broader field-based battles that are very different, but all feel tactical. Choke points, interesting terrain, and enemy troop placements reward forethought and planning. The weapon triangle is in full effect here, with the addition of a magic triangle that also works pretty well. Advancing your characters feels great because they gain access to new weapons, which lets them cover weaknesses or exploit enemy weaknesses.
Units have linear upgrade paths (cavaliers will always become paladins, warriors will always become knights), but it works fairly well because of the scarcity of upgrade resources. You don't diversify your army by choosing different specializations, but by choosing which specific units you want to advance and when. It really feels like there are a lot of viable units (even the pre-promoted paladin is viable until the end here!) so your army feels like it is truly yours.
Blazing Blade unfortunately does the Fire Emblem thing where the leader of every army has incredible stats and usually doesn't move, so you just have to get your most leveled character up there and hope you can kill them before they kill you. I don't find this to be particularly engaging or challenging and this game in particular ramps it up in the extreme in the last few chapters. It absolutely marred what was otherwise an enjoyable and challenging playthrough.
Blazing Blade holds up super well and is one of the better Fire Emblem games I have tried. It is a stripped down game in comparison to modern entries and lacks some quality of life features, but it is still a solid tactics game that is worth playing.
The Blazing Blade looks amazing, with super expressive, smooth animations and lots of unique flourishes for each unit type depending on weapon use, hitting a critical, dodging, etc... The character designs are reminiscent of 90s high fantasy anime, like Record of Lodoss War, rather than the more extreme modern anime style of recent Fire Emblems. I like this approach better -- I can take the characters and events a bit more seriously.
Narratively, the game is fairly generic, but works well enough. The main plot is predictable, made more interesting (and a bit cheesy) by how far they are going to set up relationships and characters that appear in the game Blazing Blade serves as a prequel for, The Binding Blade. The majority of it is simple though overlong. There is a lot we are doing that feels like busywork, rather than something that makes sense in the story. It simply goes on for too long without enough motivation.
Additionally, the first third of the game is a sort of tutorial, where you play as a different character, which I think is a cool narrative device to introduce some major players, but it doesn't really have enough relevance to the main story.
The gameplay is, of course, the driver here. Map designs are mostly interesting, with a mix of small-scale castle assaults and broader field-based battles that are very different, but all feel tactical. Choke points, interesting terrain, and enemy troop placements reward forethought and planning. The weapon triangle is in full effect here, with the addition of a magic triangle that also works pretty well. Advancing your characters feels great because they gain access to new weapons, which lets them cover weaknesses or exploit enemy weaknesses.
Units have linear upgrade paths (cavaliers will always become paladins, warriors will always become knights), but it works fairly well because of the scarcity of upgrade resources. You don't diversify your army by choosing different specializations, but by choosing which specific units you want to advance and when. It really feels like there are a lot of viable units (even the pre-promoted paladin is viable until the end here!) so your army feels like it is truly yours.
Blazing Blade unfortunately does the Fire Emblem thing where the leader of every army has incredible stats and usually doesn't move, so you just have to get your most leveled character up there and hope you can kill them before they kill you. I don't find this to be particularly engaging or challenging and this game in particular ramps it up in the extreme in the last few chapters. It absolutely marred what was otherwise an enjoyable and challenging playthrough.
Blazing Blade holds up super well and is one of the better Fire Emblem games I have tried. It is a stripped down game in comparison to modern entries and lacks some quality of life features, but it is still a solid tactics game that is worth playing.
This review contains spoilers
Is this the meanest Fire Emblem?? I've played 4 others, and this one seems a bit more aggressive in its dialogue. Children get called worthless offal and have parents straight up tell them they don't love them and want them dead, love interests are held dead in characters' arms, and the general prejudice and racism found in other FE games seems even more egregious here.
But! It's entirely likely that this is due to bad localization. This was the first time NOA translated a Fire Emblem title, and it is roouuuugh. It had been a while since I played through a game that felt like a fan translation. It's kind of charming though! Similar to the wonky dialogue you'd find in western releases of Japanese arcade games in the 80s, there were multiple times when I laughed out loud at the goofy text. The story itself is fine, it's just put into words poorly. So who knows, maybe the original Japanese isn't quite this barbaric!
Mechanics-wise, it's a standard Fire Emblem. Nothing really stands out here. I liked it enough to finish it, but likely won't come back for a second go round.
But! It's entirely likely that this is due to bad localization. This was the first time NOA translated a Fire Emblem title, and it is roouuuugh. It had been a while since I played through a game that felt like a fan translation. It's kind of charming though! Similar to the wonky dialogue you'd find in western releases of Japanese arcade games in the 80s, there were multiple times when I laughed out loud at the goofy text. The story itself is fine, it's just put into words poorly. So who knows, maybe the original Japanese isn't quite this barbaric!
Mechanics-wise, it's a standard Fire Emblem. Nothing really stands out here. I liked it enough to finish it, but likely won't come back for a second go round.
i've owned and adored this game for years, but i had never bothered with the ranking system. in the past, i had always regarded it as a largely irrelevant feature to how i wanted to play and basically ignored it. however, something crawled up my ass last year, and i decided to do a ranked run of HHM. as preparation, i did a ranked run of HNM to get an idea of what it would be like and how to adopt the mindset. and while some things are actually more strict in HNM ranked (for whatever reason, night of farewells has a way tighter turn count), it was an educational experience that steeled me for my real goal: S rank HHM.
i now talk to you as someone who has scaled the mountain that is S ranking HHM. after several months of meticulous planning and arduous resetting, i got my S rank. and while it was extremely shitty to do for a myriad of reasons, this experience has not only deepened my appreciation of the game, but it has reminded me of how constraints make for better design. let's be clear, FE7's ranking system is fucked and its refusal to be transparent with not only its set goals but also how to achieve them is bad. i do not think this game does ranking very well (chapter requirements are literally being broken on hector mode chapters like talons alight and the berserker such that they're considered chapters you should beat in 0 turns to avoid penalization). add all this together, and i understand why casuals are so offput by it.
but, i do mourn it retroactively now, as i think we lost something significant when IS decided to ditch it instead of improve and refine it. ranked runs require a different mindset and encourage you to think of the game as purely tactical as you can. turtle and grind strategies suddenly become inoptimal and the last thing you want to do. meanwhile, the experience rank obligates you to use units that you would otherwise almost certainly have not touched, forcing you to use basically everyone in at least some capacity. the strangest thing is that they already revamped how the game would judge the player via a ranking system in going from 6 to 7, so it adds on to the disappointment that they abandoned it in sacred stones. hell, sacred stones could've been like 20x better if there was anything resembling a challenge in it. the closest thing we've gotten since then was the bonus experience system in the tellius games, and while that is good, something all-encompassing like elibe's rankings is preferable to me. i've realized that i'm a huge sucker for when a game assesses and grades your progress, whether it be on micro scales like in MMBN and FFXIII, or on a playthrough-wide scale like Resident Evil and this game. it was a flawed system and needed polish, but, fuck, i kinda miss it now.
that said, i love this game, but, i confess, this ranked run did inspire great amounts of anger and hate out of me. on top of S ranking HHM being one of the hardest things i've ever had to do in a video game, i think i can confidently say that fire emblem is one of the most infuriating games on earth. with how pivotal RNG is to not only character progression but even just basic offensive interactions, it is the perfect simulator of "i made no mistakes and still lost" in video game format. i get that RNG is invariably going to affect personal experience in both extremely positive and extremely negative ways, i just deeply wish there was some way to curb it a bit. for instance, all three of my lords were complete dogshit this run, and i had to use boosters on all three at some point just to get them to their average stats. granted, you don't have to use lyn and eliwood, but see me after class if you think i'm doing lloyd's FFO. plus, they're mandatory deployments on certain chapters (including but not limited to the final one), so it's frustrating when diceroll level ups turn against your favor and give you completely trash units. it's still a wonder to me that a fixed stats mode was only ever used in path of radiance and it's never been used ever again. it's truly baffling considering how convenient and consistent it would make replays of any of the games. in that sense, the most appealing method of ever playing this game again is on emulator with tony's mod, a player-made fixed stats mode.
either way, this is still one of my favorite games of all time, in spite of the colossal deep fissures of flaws i have with fire emblem as a series and even this individual game (seriously, why doesn't eliwood use lances?). i can rest easy now and say it's going to be a looooooong time before i do another playthrough of this beast. yet, tellingly, when i do get that urge, i've already got a plan of what i want to do next. imagine if i used these autistic impulses to do something of value. what if.
i now talk to you as someone who has scaled the mountain that is S ranking HHM. after several months of meticulous planning and arduous resetting, i got my S rank. and while it was extremely shitty to do for a myriad of reasons, this experience has not only deepened my appreciation of the game, but it has reminded me of how constraints make for better design. let's be clear, FE7's ranking system is fucked and its refusal to be transparent with not only its set goals but also how to achieve them is bad. i do not think this game does ranking very well (chapter requirements are literally being broken on hector mode chapters like talons alight and the berserker such that they're considered chapters you should beat in 0 turns to avoid penalization). add all this together, and i understand why casuals are so offput by it.
but, i do mourn it retroactively now, as i think we lost something significant when IS decided to ditch it instead of improve and refine it. ranked runs require a different mindset and encourage you to think of the game as purely tactical as you can. turtle and grind strategies suddenly become inoptimal and the last thing you want to do. meanwhile, the experience rank obligates you to use units that you would otherwise almost certainly have not touched, forcing you to use basically everyone in at least some capacity. the strangest thing is that they already revamped how the game would judge the player via a ranking system in going from 6 to 7, so it adds on to the disappointment that they abandoned it in sacred stones. hell, sacred stones could've been like 20x better if there was anything resembling a challenge in it. the closest thing we've gotten since then was the bonus experience system in the tellius games, and while that is good, something all-encompassing like elibe's rankings is preferable to me. i've realized that i'm a huge sucker for when a game assesses and grades your progress, whether it be on micro scales like in MMBN and FFXIII, or on a playthrough-wide scale like Resident Evil and this game. it was a flawed system and needed polish, but, fuck, i kinda miss it now.
that said, i love this game, but, i confess, this ranked run did inspire great amounts of anger and hate out of me. on top of S ranking HHM being one of the hardest things i've ever had to do in a video game, i think i can confidently say that fire emblem is one of the most infuriating games on earth. with how pivotal RNG is to not only character progression but even just basic offensive interactions, it is the perfect simulator of "i made no mistakes and still lost" in video game format. i get that RNG is invariably going to affect personal experience in both extremely positive and extremely negative ways, i just deeply wish there was some way to curb it a bit. for instance, all three of my lords were complete dogshit this run, and i had to use boosters on all three at some point just to get them to their average stats. granted, you don't have to use lyn and eliwood, but see me after class if you think i'm doing lloyd's FFO. plus, they're mandatory deployments on certain chapters (including but not limited to the final one), so it's frustrating when diceroll level ups turn against your favor and give you completely trash units. it's still a wonder to me that a fixed stats mode was only ever used in path of radiance and it's never been used ever again. it's truly baffling considering how convenient and consistent it would make replays of any of the games. in that sense, the most appealing method of ever playing this game again is on emulator with tony's mod, a player-made fixed stats mode.
either way, this is still one of my favorite games of all time, in spite of the colossal deep fissures of flaws i have with fire emblem as a series and even this individual game (seriously, why doesn't eliwood use lances?). i can rest easy now and say it's going to be a looooooong time before i do another playthrough of this beast. yet, tellingly, when i do get that urge, i've already got a plan of what i want to do next. imagine if i used these autistic impulses to do something of value. what if.
This feels like easily the most no-nonsense version of Fire Emblem as we know it today. There's no skills. The weapon triangle is there. All the basic classes we all know and love are there. Hell, there's no hub. It feels like Fire Emblem at its most basic, in a good way of course. It's good, nothing mindblowing, but good.
I don't really have that much interesting to say about this one to be honest so I'll just dump my thoughts lol. It's not really surprising to me that the gameplay wasn't as interesting to me as it was in Thracia though it's perfectly fine still. I probably enjoyed all of the unit variety the most, though it was a real shame that there weren't that many early units that were fun to build up over time. A lot of my army ended up being the endgame pre-promotes they hand you which is fine but not super interesting. I actually think this game is a bit more difficult than people give it credit for but I think the way it does gamefeel makes it not really matter. Handing you OP pre-promotes is a good example of this effect, since it doesn't really feel earned at all, and also the way they start shoving good weapons and items on you towards the end. I guess it doesn't help that 2 of the 3 lords aren't good units either.
I also thought this game was fine story-wise but pretty dumb. Like the gameplay, there was nothing I particularly hated but nothing I was a big fan of either. Hate to make another comparison but going from the Jugdral games to this felt like a pretty noticeable step down. Like a large portion of the story being dedicated to this generic magical essence just gets really old fast, and they add some really funny story diversions to try and stretch out such generic ideas. At least 40% of the cutscenes in this game have to be the one note villains talking about the magical essence and how they will harvest more of it and it's just like... goddamn I get it lol. The best part of the story is probably just Hector. Hector is awesome.
Anyways the more I write this the more I think I might not have liked this game so much but it was fine overall I guess. I spent my playthrough thinking "Yup, this is a Fire Emblem game alright. It sure does those Fire Emblem things that are neat" and that's the most praise I can give it for now.
I also thought this game was fine story-wise but pretty dumb. Like the gameplay, there was nothing I particularly hated but nothing I was a big fan of either. Hate to make another comparison but going from the Jugdral games to this felt like a pretty noticeable step down. Like a large portion of the story being dedicated to this generic magical essence just gets really old fast, and they add some really funny story diversions to try and stretch out such generic ideas. At least 40% of the cutscenes in this game have to be the one note villains talking about the magical essence and how they will harvest more of it and it's just like... goddamn I get it lol. The best part of the story is probably just Hector. Hector is awesome.
Anyways the more I write this the more I think I might not have liked this game so much but it was fine overall I guess. I spent my playthrough thinking "Yup, this is a Fire Emblem game alright. It sure does those Fire Emblem things that are neat" and that's the most praise I can give it for now.
This review contains spoilers
I replayed this game for the sake of an argument and I stand corrected, Lyn mode is FINE.
Jokes aside, Blazing Blade stands as the most "fair" Fire Emblem, where difficulty doesn't lie with enemies but rather with the map design, which by the way I appreciated more this time around. The story is fine guys, it just sucks the most important aspects are locked behind support conversations (Renault comes in the second to the last chapter and his conversations are incredible) and a Hector mode only map locked behind Nils achieving lvl 7 in Lyn Mode. 70 turns of Nils playing his flute just to give some exposure to Nergal.
Still, fair game, not its fault some are better. Lowen also exists.
Jokes aside, Blazing Blade stands as the most "fair" Fire Emblem, where difficulty doesn't lie with enemies but rather with the map design, which by the way I appreciated more this time around. The story is fine guys, it just sucks the most important aspects are locked behind support conversations (Renault comes in the second to the last chapter and his conversations are incredible) and a Hector mode only map locked behind Nils achieving lvl 7 in Lyn Mode. 70 turns of Nils playing his flute just to give some exposure to Nergal.
Still, fair game, not its fault some are better. Lowen also exists.
So I played this on the Switch Emulator thingy (it came with NSO). And to be honest, it's what got me into Fire Emblem as a whole. I honestly came out of it having a hard time picking a favorite character. Also try to get Ninian and Eliwood A Support or you'll feel bad, like I did.
This is my second ever Fire Emblem game and I think it might be the last. There isn't anything particularly wrong with this game, but at this point I feel I have enough evidence that I simply don't jibe with SRPGs. My first foray into permadeath with these games certainly didn't help, as it more than activated my mind goblins and prevented me from making real progress into the later campaign, lest I make a mistake and not finish a map flawlessly. Abusing the NSO rewind function only goes so far until you question why you're still playing.
I'm sorry Lyn Fire Emblem, I have failed you.
I'm sorry Lyn Fire Emblem, I have failed you.
When ever I thought about using one of my units to kill something, that thought in the back of my mind said:
"Let's throw my Paladin in there with Javelins and Hand Axe's and see them die!"
WELL TOO BAD THOUGHTS LOWEN'S OFFENSIVE STATS WERE ALL BELOW TEN AT PROMOTION AND MARCUS HAD DOUBLING ISSUES AT THE POINT I DROPPED LOWEN SO SUCK IT, I'LL USE MY TRAINNED REBECCA, GUY AND MY BEST BOY ELIWOOD TO MURDER EVERY FOE THEY SAW!!!
....Even though they didn't do that often, because I had Florina and Heath who could double and one round kill most of the enemy roster....
Also, anyone's Lyn's have less than 15 speed before promotion, because mine did!
(NOTE: Only have played Lyn Normal and Eliwood Normal)
"Let's throw my Paladin in there with Javelins and Hand Axe's and see them die!"
WELL TOO BAD THOUGHTS LOWEN'S OFFENSIVE STATS WERE ALL BELOW TEN AT PROMOTION AND MARCUS HAD DOUBLING ISSUES AT THE POINT I DROPPED LOWEN SO SUCK IT, I'LL USE MY TRAINNED REBECCA, GUY AND MY BEST BOY ELIWOOD TO MURDER EVERY FOE THEY SAW!!!
....Even though they didn't do that often, because I had Florina and Heath who could double and one round kill most of the enemy roster....
Also, anyone's Lyn's have less than 15 speed before promotion, because mine did!
(NOTE: Only have played Lyn Normal and Eliwood Normal)
Most of my general reference for Fire Emblem comes from the current era of the games. My first game was Awakening, and I've played every game since. Fire Emblem was the series that helped me get out of my Pokemon shell, as before I got Fire Emblem Awakening, I religiously only played Pokemon games. This is to point and laugh at my past self here, as I really don't know why it took me this long to play the older Fire Emblem games. And I only started FE7 cause it was on NSO, and I was like "sure, why not?". It's a bit comedic to me how the first classic Fire Emblem game I played was the first one released in the west. And I do really think playing this game was worth it.
It's definitely a bit odd going from the more streamlined gameplay of the modern Fire Emblem games, to the more complex gameplay in the classic games, but I really loved it. Definitely one of the biggest things that I needed to get accustomed to was the lack of grinding options. I'm used to being able to grind enemies that spawn in the overworld like in Awakening or Shadows of Valentia, but the lack of those options here makes things really interesting. There's a really interesting level of strategy when you have to think "oh, which unit deserves the XP from this battle the most?". Experience being a resource you need to manage on top of everything else is such an interesting thing to me, and by the end of the game, I really appreciated it.
And in a similar vein to XP management, another resource that needs to be managed are the weapons. Each weapon has its own durability, and though some modern Fire Emblem games also had weapon durability, they also had reliable ways of re-obtaining lost weapons. And of course, The Blazing Blade doesn't do that. Managing your inventory, and the durability of your weapons continues to strategize which characters you should use, and I really love it. The game definitely allows you to prepare for certain difficult challenges, but obviously not all of them.
Now to the actual characters themselves, I really like the classes of the characters you can obtain through the game. Ultimately I think the class I used the lease was the Knights, but aside from them, I used a lot of the other ones. I really like how there's different types of magic users, each having a unique type of magic. In fact, there being a magic weapon triangle is super refreshing, especially since most magic in the modern Fire Emblem games are quite simple in comparison. I definitely found Canas, who was my Druid one of the absolute best units in the entire game, he was able to destroy some of the endgame bosses and it was so worth it. Archers were also just surprisingly good for me, and though obtaining early in the game, I brought Rebecca all the way to the final chapter and she was always useful. Though I may be biased, I overall found Lyn the best of the 3 lords to use, her crit chance was absurd.
I love how classes promote in Fire Emblem games, getting special items in order to promote a character's class is really fun, especially with the upgrades that the character gets. What I didn't know going in was that there were unique promotion items for different classes, and yet again, that makes management much more interesting. For example, one of the rank up items is the Guiding Ring, which can promote Clerics, Troubadours, Mages, Monks, and Shamans. I could have promoted any of my offensive magic users at the time, but promotion items are rare, and so I saved my Guiding Ring so I could upgrade my Troubadour, Priscilla, so that she can be a better healer, while also gaining offensive magic options. And, I dont know, I think that sort of strategy is really interesting.
Now, to the actual maps and levels of The Blazing Blade, I'm a bit uncertain about how I feel on them. They're not bad by any means, and when they're good, god are they good. I definitely was shaped by my experience playing the game. I was an extreme perfectionist, and I didn't want any of my units dying. That means constantly redoing things in order to get the outcome that would keep everyone alive. It made a lot of the strategy really interesting, trying to find the best possible outcome, but I definitely feel like I was cheesing it at times. The Fog of War I'm not certain I like, though I think if the visibility changed before your unit ends it action, I would've been fine with it. But I really love how the maps in The Blazing Blade have varying goals to them. A lot of modern Fire Emblem I found was either "beat ALL the enemies" or "beat this one guy". And of course while The Blazing Blade has those wind conditions, there's more as well. Seizing a specific location, talking to a guy, and absolutely my favorite one, the survive levels. Surviving for a set number of turns entirely puts things on its head, and provides for some really interesting strategy that other levels don't have to me. And they ultimately were my favorite chapters whenever one appeared.
The one thing I feel mixed on, I would say are the Bosses in The Blazing Blade. Though I'll say at the same time, I feel like I might've just not have understood things. Bosses in The Blazing Blade definitely fluctuate in difficulty throughout the game. Some bosses are really tough, and you have to whittle them down while they nearly kill a unit every turn, while some are super easy to beat. One example being that the boss in Chapter 27 was way harder for me than the bosses in Chapters 29 and 30. I have to ask, did I miss something, or does the difficulty just fluctuate like that?
The Blazing Blade has a great story I feel. It's definitely not complex by any means, but through that lesser complexity, the story itself is far more polished and the world of Elibe feels far more alive. A lot of the modern Fire Emblem games have serious issues with their stories and their worlds, so going to this one feels far more refreshing to me. Elibe feels lived in, and stuff is able to occur without the hands of the main cast, though the main cast does witness some of it. I also really love the main trio of Lords, I find that they're able to play off each other really well. I wasn't able to see many of the supports, due to not knowing how to get them, but I really got attached to the allies I gained throughout the game. Some of my favorites were definitely Canas, Rebecca, Jaffar, and Erk. I really loved the Black Fang as a set of villains, and having them be major players throughout the entire game is so nice. I love villains who have a presence.
I'm just really glad I was able to finally play a classic Fire Emblem game. I've been meaning to for a long time now, and thanks to a impulse decision, I did exactly that. While I don't want to play another Fire Emblem game immediately, I really do want to play more of the classic games, as I think I'm starting to understand them. I'm debating between Sacred Stones and Path of Radiance at the moment. That aside though, I'm not 100% certain if The Blazing Blade was the best to introduce me to the classic Fire Emblem games, but hey, it's too late to change that. I really did love it though.
It's definitely a bit odd going from the more streamlined gameplay of the modern Fire Emblem games, to the more complex gameplay in the classic games, but I really loved it. Definitely one of the biggest things that I needed to get accustomed to was the lack of grinding options. I'm used to being able to grind enemies that spawn in the overworld like in Awakening or Shadows of Valentia, but the lack of those options here makes things really interesting. There's a really interesting level of strategy when you have to think "oh, which unit deserves the XP from this battle the most?". Experience being a resource you need to manage on top of everything else is such an interesting thing to me, and by the end of the game, I really appreciated it.
And in a similar vein to XP management, another resource that needs to be managed are the weapons. Each weapon has its own durability, and though some modern Fire Emblem games also had weapon durability, they also had reliable ways of re-obtaining lost weapons. And of course, The Blazing Blade doesn't do that. Managing your inventory, and the durability of your weapons continues to strategize which characters you should use, and I really love it. The game definitely allows you to prepare for certain difficult challenges, but obviously not all of them.
Now to the actual characters themselves, I really like the classes of the characters you can obtain through the game. Ultimately I think the class I used the lease was the Knights, but aside from them, I used a lot of the other ones. I really like how there's different types of magic users, each having a unique type of magic. In fact, there being a magic weapon triangle is super refreshing, especially since most magic in the modern Fire Emblem games are quite simple in comparison. I definitely found Canas, who was my Druid one of the absolute best units in the entire game, he was able to destroy some of the endgame bosses and it was so worth it. Archers were also just surprisingly good for me, and though obtaining early in the game, I brought Rebecca all the way to the final chapter and she was always useful. Though I may be biased, I overall found Lyn the best of the 3 lords to use, her crit chance was absurd.
I love how classes promote in Fire Emblem games, getting special items in order to promote a character's class is really fun, especially with the upgrades that the character gets. What I didn't know going in was that there were unique promotion items for different classes, and yet again, that makes management much more interesting. For example, one of the rank up items is the Guiding Ring, which can promote Clerics, Troubadours, Mages, Monks, and Shamans. I could have promoted any of my offensive magic users at the time, but promotion items are rare, and so I saved my Guiding Ring so I could upgrade my Troubadour, Priscilla, so that she can be a better healer, while also gaining offensive magic options. And, I dont know, I think that sort of strategy is really interesting.
Now, to the actual maps and levels of The Blazing Blade, I'm a bit uncertain about how I feel on them. They're not bad by any means, and when they're good, god are they good. I definitely was shaped by my experience playing the game. I was an extreme perfectionist, and I didn't want any of my units dying. That means constantly redoing things in order to get the outcome that would keep everyone alive. It made a lot of the strategy really interesting, trying to find the best possible outcome, but I definitely feel like I was cheesing it at times. The Fog of War I'm not certain I like, though I think if the visibility changed before your unit ends it action, I would've been fine with it. But I really love how the maps in The Blazing Blade have varying goals to them. A lot of modern Fire Emblem I found was either "beat ALL the enemies" or "beat this one guy". And of course while The Blazing Blade has those wind conditions, there's more as well. Seizing a specific location, talking to a guy, and absolutely my favorite one, the survive levels. Surviving for a set number of turns entirely puts things on its head, and provides for some really interesting strategy that other levels don't have to me. And they ultimately were my favorite chapters whenever one appeared.
The one thing I feel mixed on, I would say are the Bosses in The Blazing Blade. Though I'll say at the same time, I feel like I might've just not have understood things. Bosses in The Blazing Blade definitely fluctuate in difficulty throughout the game. Some bosses are really tough, and you have to whittle them down while they nearly kill a unit every turn, while some are super easy to beat. One example being that the boss in Chapter 27 was way harder for me than the bosses in Chapters 29 and 30. I have to ask, did I miss something, or does the difficulty just fluctuate like that?
The Blazing Blade has a great story I feel. It's definitely not complex by any means, but through that lesser complexity, the story itself is far more polished and the world of Elibe feels far more alive. A lot of the modern Fire Emblem games have serious issues with their stories and their worlds, so going to this one feels far more refreshing to me. Elibe feels lived in, and stuff is able to occur without the hands of the main cast, though the main cast does witness some of it. I also really love the main trio of Lords, I find that they're able to play off each other really well. I wasn't able to see many of the supports, due to not knowing how to get them, but I really got attached to the allies I gained throughout the game. Some of my favorites were definitely Canas, Rebecca, Jaffar, and Erk. I really loved the Black Fang as a set of villains, and having them be major players throughout the entire game is so nice. I love villains who have a presence.
I'm just really glad I was able to finally play a classic Fire Emblem game. I've been meaning to for a long time now, and thanks to a impulse decision, I did exactly that. While I don't want to play another Fire Emblem game immediately, I really do want to play more of the classic games, as I think I'm starting to understand them. I'm debating between Sacred Stones and Path of Radiance at the moment. That aside though, I'm not 100% certain if The Blazing Blade was the best to introduce me to the classic Fire Emblem games, but hey, it's too late to change that. I really did love it though.
My first Fire Emblem game, and I think I liked it? It's very, very long but perma death makes the stakes much higher, and makes you care about becoming a better strategist so your warriors won't literally die. I might finish it up later some day or try out a different Fire Emblem.
People hyped this game as one of, if not the best FE game.
This is mid.
Map design for the first half of Eliwood / Hector mode is not good at all, and Lyn mode being unskippable tutorial as ass garbage, the characters are charming, and the story works well enough, but GOOD LUCK GETTING THOSE CHARACTER INTERACTIONS ON THE GBA SUPPORT SYSTEM, 3 convos per map if you UBER turtle, did not get fixed from Binding Blade, so on a game with worse map design you need better writing to make up for it, but its gotta be hidden, also 5 convos per character lol, lmao.
This is one of those cases of hype backfiring, and its not the worst one for me, but still, it has great maps after CH 21 or so, and and the like, so its not bad, just medriocre.
This is mid.
Map design for the first half of Eliwood / Hector mode is not good at all, and Lyn mode being unskippable tutorial as ass garbage, the characters are charming, and the story works well enough, but GOOD LUCK GETTING THOSE CHARACTER INTERACTIONS ON THE GBA SUPPORT SYSTEM, 3 convos per map if you UBER turtle, did not get fixed from Binding Blade, so on a game with worse map design you need better writing to make up for it, but its gotta be hidden, also 5 convos per character lol, lmao.
This is one of those cases of hype backfiring, and its not the worst one for me, but still, it has great maps after CH 21 or so, and and the like, so its not bad, just medriocre.
I can really appreciate a game series as dense as Fire Emblem finding a comfortable home on Nintendo’s premiere handheld platform, giving players an opportunity for more intensive experiences between the more bite-sized games most conducive to portable play. There was actually a number of RPGs which flourished on the Gameboy Advance, so it seems only natural now that Fire Emblem would see similar success, despite not yet having been tested in the west. Hindsight has demonstrated now that the series has actually performed best on handheld systems over here, between the still-treasured reputations of the two localized GBA titles, the series’ resurrection from imminent death in Awakening, and now two smash hits on the Switch. But Fire Emblem 7 (or, the Blazing Blade) really started it all, in the west anyway. The earlier entry on the system remains a Japan exclusive title, but it may have been for the best that way, as it left room for Intelligent Systems to learn first how to make the series work on a handheld platform, which then allowed for refinement and a more structured introduction to the series to be produced with a follow up prequel title consciously geared towards introducing new players to the series.
FE 7 is especially strong in this way, without hampering the experience for veteran players in the process. All the mechanical developments and evolutions the series has thus far introduced remain here, and are methodically tutorialized through a prologue section of the game (which can be skipped in subsequent playthroughs on harder difficulties). There isn’t a great deal of challenge in these early chapters, and it comes with a distinct lack of consequence for shoddy positioning as the permanent death feature the series is known for doesn’t occur in earnest until after these initial ten chapters have been completed. For new players this is a great way to slowly learn the mechanics and stakes of the series without getting overwhelmed or overly punished out the gate, and for experienced players it’s a mostly harmless easy mode to start with. This lengthy segment of the game might have ended up feeling tedious if the story and characters weren’t strong enough to compensate for the very basic gameplay and difficulty early on, but thankfully FE7 grabs you quickly with an eclectic cast of endearing character archetypes and stunning design work radiating with personality. The animation and character portrait work are perhaps FE7’s most astonishing feature. Battle animations especially stand out as dynamically exciting and impactful expressions of the skirmishes playing out on the battlefield. When they’re not shaking the screen to simulate an earth-shattering blow they’re often humorous and cheeky, building off a character’s established personality and further distinguishing them from other tactics games’ generic infantry analogue.
Where FE7 falls short is less in its overt flaws and more in its lack of outstanding strengths measured against its peers. Solely from a gameplay perspective, FE7 doesn’t bring anything especially of note that other entries in the series had not already or did not go on to provide in equal measure. The main element that sets it apart from other Fire Emblem games is its role as an introductory game for the franchise, which it accomplishes quite admirably. It never sacrifices vital components of the series’ identity in doing this, including the famed difficulty often associated with the games. After the cakewalk tutorial section the gloves come off and the player is forced to be a lot more methodical in their unit deployment and placement. There’s a touch of mechanical difficulty for players used to later titles in which enemy ranges can be turned on and off to view throughout the battle, as that particularly useful function has yet to be implemented here. It’s advised, then, to be extra cautious in one’s consideration of enemy movements, as it’s much easier here to make a tragic mistake, and without the rewind features of more recent entries, these costly errors can be especially devastating. Although the difficulty of the series remains a fixture of FE7, it is disseminated rather sporadically. There’s a pretty natural spike in challenge about five or six chapters before the endgame, but then the difficulty mellows out again right up until the last chapter, where the game ratchets up to an astronomical degree. It’s not so imposing as to be insurmountable, however, and in a way it felt properly epic to have my strategic skills tested to the limit as the ultimate obstacle to completing the game.
Much like the refined, exemplary, yet undistinguished gameplay, the story of FE7 is servicably terrific. One of the foundational appeals of the series since its inception has always been the medieval setting and design of its world and characters, with just a sprinkling of fantasy elements thrown in for a sense of spectacle. FE7 executes this philosophy flawlessly, presenting a cast and conflict that is distinctly appealing but which falls short of being especially memorable. The continent of Elibe isn’t sketched in quite enough detail for me to properly envision it as an interconnected world with a rich history as other Fire Emblem games have achieved, but the primary characters of the narrative and their complementary dynamics fill in some of the blanks left by the bigger picture storytelling going on in the grand scheme. The central villains of the game being a dark cult seeking to harness an all-powerful magic is a nice, relatively grounded conflict compared to where the series has gone since this entry, and a reminder of how a simple story can remain engaging by means of deft execution and strong presentation. Those dual facets are ultimately the indefatigable ethos of FE7: a strong iteration of the iconic and unparalleled tactical RPG franchise that makes up for its lack of innovation through sleek refinement and winning personality. It’s easy to see how it became a fan favorite, as even beyond being the first game for many in the western hemisphere, its qualities have stood the test of time and revealed but a few flaws the series has continued to refine away since this quintessential title was first placed into our hands.
FE 7 is especially strong in this way, without hampering the experience for veteran players in the process. All the mechanical developments and evolutions the series has thus far introduced remain here, and are methodically tutorialized through a prologue section of the game (which can be skipped in subsequent playthroughs on harder difficulties). There isn’t a great deal of challenge in these early chapters, and it comes with a distinct lack of consequence for shoddy positioning as the permanent death feature the series is known for doesn’t occur in earnest until after these initial ten chapters have been completed. For new players this is a great way to slowly learn the mechanics and stakes of the series without getting overwhelmed or overly punished out the gate, and for experienced players it’s a mostly harmless easy mode to start with. This lengthy segment of the game might have ended up feeling tedious if the story and characters weren’t strong enough to compensate for the very basic gameplay and difficulty early on, but thankfully FE7 grabs you quickly with an eclectic cast of endearing character archetypes and stunning design work radiating with personality. The animation and character portrait work are perhaps FE7’s most astonishing feature. Battle animations especially stand out as dynamically exciting and impactful expressions of the skirmishes playing out on the battlefield. When they’re not shaking the screen to simulate an earth-shattering blow they’re often humorous and cheeky, building off a character’s established personality and further distinguishing them from other tactics games’ generic infantry analogue.
Where FE7 falls short is less in its overt flaws and more in its lack of outstanding strengths measured against its peers. Solely from a gameplay perspective, FE7 doesn’t bring anything especially of note that other entries in the series had not already or did not go on to provide in equal measure. The main element that sets it apart from other Fire Emblem games is its role as an introductory game for the franchise, which it accomplishes quite admirably. It never sacrifices vital components of the series’ identity in doing this, including the famed difficulty often associated with the games. After the cakewalk tutorial section the gloves come off and the player is forced to be a lot more methodical in their unit deployment and placement. There’s a touch of mechanical difficulty for players used to later titles in which enemy ranges can be turned on and off to view throughout the battle, as that particularly useful function has yet to be implemented here. It’s advised, then, to be extra cautious in one’s consideration of enemy movements, as it’s much easier here to make a tragic mistake, and without the rewind features of more recent entries, these costly errors can be especially devastating. Although the difficulty of the series remains a fixture of FE7, it is disseminated rather sporadically. There’s a pretty natural spike in challenge about five or six chapters before the endgame, but then the difficulty mellows out again right up until the last chapter, where the game ratchets up to an astronomical degree. It’s not so imposing as to be insurmountable, however, and in a way it felt properly epic to have my strategic skills tested to the limit as the ultimate obstacle to completing the game.
Much like the refined, exemplary, yet undistinguished gameplay, the story of FE7 is servicably terrific. One of the foundational appeals of the series since its inception has always been the medieval setting and design of its world and characters, with just a sprinkling of fantasy elements thrown in for a sense of spectacle. FE7 executes this philosophy flawlessly, presenting a cast and conflict that is distinctly appealing but which falls short of being especially memorable. The continent of Elibe isn’t sketched in quite enough detail for me to properly envision it as an interconnected world with a rich history as other Fire Emblem games have achieved, but the primary characters of the narrative and their complementary dynamics fill in some of the blanks left by the bigger picture storytelling going on in the grand scheme. The central villains of the game being a dark cult seeking to harness an all-powerful magic is a nice, relatively grounded conflict compared to where the series has gone since this entry, and a reminder of how a simple story can remain engaging by means of deft execution and strong presentation. Those dual facets are ultimately the indefatigable ethos of FE7: a strong iteration of the iconic and unparalleled tactical RPG franchise that makes up for its lack of innovation through sleek refinement and winning personality. It’s easy to see how it became a fan favorite, as even beyond being the first game for many in the western hemisphere, its qualities have stood the test of time and revealed but a few flaws the series has continued to refine away since this quintessential title was first placed into our hands.
mid emblem
It's Binding Blade but with a much more interesting set of characters. And actually useful lords. And a 6 hour tutorial. And Nino.
So yeah, for better or worse, this is the one GBA Emblem that I remember the best.
So yeah, for better or worse, this is the one GBA Emblem that I remember the best.
Green units ending my iron man sucks and the story doesn't make much sense....... but man it is fun to crush with Oswin.