This is a message from Lord Nergal. I await you on Dread Isle.
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.
The most standard Fire Emblem game of all time, I mean that in a good way. This game kinda sets the standard for what Fire Emblem is for a lot of people, even if it's not a personal favorite of mine.
This is my favourite FE-Game because it was my first and the characters grew on me a lot. Eliwood, Hector and Lynn are such cool and different Lords. I kinda wish the Tutorial could be skipped on a fresh save file but nevertheless an amazing game I just keep returning to and challenging myself with Hector Hard Mode. But I have a big problem this is a GBA game, which the card ridge is not obtainable, since the shout down of the WiiU Shop you cannot buy this game, hope you are willing to pay a subscription fee because that what gaming and nintendo has become.
Loved the combat, checked out very early from the story
J'ai craqué docteur. Après avoir fait Fire Emblem : The Sacred Stones, me voilà à finir le deuxième jeu de la série sur GBA. J'y ai joué parce que un des personnages principaux était Lyn, présente dans Fire Emblem Engage. Jeu très agréable pour mon téléphone quand je n'ai pas de connexion. Les soutiens sont vraiment excellents, meilleurs que ceux de Sacred Stones selon moi. L'histoire est toutefois plus brouillonne, tire un peu en longueur et recycle très souvent les mêmes maps. Mais les personnages portent vraiment le jeu : Hector, Lyn, Canas et surtout ELIWOOD ET NINIAN. Le meilleur duo des jeux Fire Emblem qui m'ait été donné de tester. Très belle expérience. Mine de rien, je commence à avoir une bonne culture de la licence.
not my cup of tea
the story doesnt do much for me and the characters seem like the generic anime bunch you get in a video game
not a big fan of the gameplay as well as some classes seem really overpowered and wipe off my team mates in 5 seconds
probably wont come back to this franchise at all, but i gave it a try atleast
the story doesnt do much for me and the characters seem like the generic anime bunch you get in a video game
not a big fan of the gameplay as well as some classes seem really overpowered and wipe off my team mates in 5 seconds
probably wont come back to this franchise at all, but i gave it a try atleast
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)
If you've played a fire emblem game before, playing Lyn mode for the first time is complete poop. It feels like an endless tutorial that forces you into wasting a knight crest. I actually don't hate the characters in Lyn mode though, since they get (some) development outside of supports which 30 years to build in GBA FE.
As for Eliwood mode, the gameplay is better but I really didn't find the story interesting. I can't remember many things that happened even though I'm writing this review not too long after I finished the game. Still a decent enough game thanks to FE gameplay, but very far from my favorite.
As for Eliwood mode, the gameplay is better but I really didn't find the story interesting. I can't remember many things that happened even though I'm writing this review not too long after I finished the game. Still a decent enough game thanks to FE gameplay, but very far from my favorite.
Pretty good and solid Fire Emblem experience without too many crazy things to explain about it. I do love the main trio and there are some really great characters in the cast of units, but the story is mid. I appreciated some of the challenge that a lot of these maps brought but the final map was kinda cheapened by only really being able to use Athos and a couple other of the units that could use the legendary weapons. Ultimately this is a solid game with plenty of replay value but when set against the rest of this series it doesn't stand out much. Poor Eliwood gets the short end of the stick, his son owns him
Too bad there is no "Nintendo Switch" option because there is where I played this pretty neat strategy game. It's a fun game to play every once in a while, not a great game to binge, at least for me. Stil a pretty nice game, specially for 2003. Still not my favorite Fire Emblem game.
Played a decent amount, but never finished. Would like to though
Most boring game ever
There wasn't really anything special here, but eh, I still thought it was a solid time.
It does have a painfully slow start, but once it gets going it is decently interesting, if a bit out there at times, with overall better gameplay
It does have a painfully slow start, but once it gets going it is decently interesting, if a bit out there at times, with overall better gameplay
Great cast, memorable lords, fun gameplay and unit feel. The story's nothing to write home about, but it doesn't really need to be. The most replayable in the series and my favorite to Iron Man.
Excellent starting point and charming but it's not really Fire Emblem at its best.
Really addictive and satisfying gameplay, the animations are sooooo cool!
Definitely gonna pick this back up when I have the chance.
Definitely gonna pick this back up when I have the chance.
countless plays never finished
I find it funny that this is the fire emblem game I've played the most. Hector and Eliwood are BFFs 10/10 character dynamic.
my favorite fe bar none, 3 really good lords who are all written with each other in mind and cover the next one's weaknesses. dope conflict and antagonist, overall nothing comes close to this level of character writing in FE
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.
Cuando lo jugué por primera vez hará como 6 o 7 años era imposible mencionar las dos o tres quejas que tenía del juego porque se le trataba de juego perfecto y ahora por algún motivo todo el mundo actúa como si el juego hubiera matado a toda su familia.
This review contains spoilers
Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade is the seventh entry into the franchise developed by Intelligent Systems. It is the first in the franchise to receive an international localization with the name just being “Fire Emblem.” It is the second title to be released for the Game Boy Advance system. Many modern Fire Emblem games are known for the innovative changes to the Tactical RPG format. Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade stands as a perfect example of what defines Fire Emblem. It nails exactly what the Fire Emblem experience should be. It’s well balanced, it has a good story, and a nice variety of characters each with their own unique class.
The game starts off with a mandatory tutorial section that spans a prologue and 10 chapters. The tutorial takes you through the story of one of the three Lord units, Lyn, and how she claims her grandfather’s throne from her scheming uncle. The game inserts you, the player, into the narrative by giving you a character that is mostly unseen. Every once in a while you’ll see a character on screen but for the most part, the game just addresses you via the fourth wall. The tutorial is a bit lengthy but does a good job showing and explaining the game’s mechanics. It does leave out some mechanical details but those details don’t really come up until later into the proper narrative. Fire Emblem, as a series, has a long standing tradition of permadeath. During the tutorial section, however, any character that is defeated will return later during the proper narrative. Afterwards, any units that fall in battle are dead and will be gone for the remainder of the game.
Once you’ve completed Lyn’s story, your perspective is changed to that of a young Lord named Eliwood. Eliwood’s father, the Marquess of Pherae, has gone missing and Eliwood intends to go searching for him. During his search he is reunited with his best friend Hector, the prince of Ostia, and Lyn. The three Lords set out together to search for Eliwood’s father. During their search they uncover a plot being conducted by a man named Nergal to obtain ultimate power. The story is well put together, each plot point is strung together in a cohesive story that comes to a satisfying conclusion. Throughout the story the character development is mostly found on our main character, Eliwood. He starts off as an idealistic, if not a bit generic, young lord who learns what it means to be a leader. Certain events put his ideals to the test and we get to see him grow into a more confident leader. Although the game doesn’t put its focus on Eliwood’s character growth, they do a good job making you connect with him as a character and appreciate his struggles. You feel for him when his father dies in his arms. You believe in him when he returns home at journey’s end to take over for his father as Marquess of Pherae. You do get to know the other two lords and see them grow closer to each other but it feels like their personal growth has already been had. This is especially apparent with Lyn because we get to witness her growth during the tutorial chapters. We get to learn more about the characters though. Hector is a brash fighter who has a clearly defined vision of right and wrong. He questions Eliwood’s willingness to forgive characters and welcome them to the team, but ultimately he trust’s in Eliwood’s judgment. Lyn is a proud warrior from the plains. She has a high sense of morality and isn’t afraid to stand up to Eliwood or Hector for what she believes in.
Upon your first completion of Eliwood’s campaign, if you go back in to start a new game you’ll be greeted with a character select screen. You can choose to skip Lyn’s story and go straight to Eliwood’s story again with hard mode now available for both characters. Or you can play the game from Hector’s perspective. This gives you a few extra chapters and also grants you access to a couple of units that aren’t available in Eliwood’s story. Overall the added story content doesn’t really impact the narrative as a whole, but the extra chapters and units do give you some added flavor to the story. You also gain an advantage going into the final battle which you’ll certainly appreciate by then. If I were introducing someone to this game that has never played a Fire Emblem I’d encourage them to just play the regular story. For veterans of the series, Hector Mode offers a bit more of a challenge by being a bit more restrictive to how many units you’re allowed to bring to a battle and some of the character behaviors are different.
The map designs in this entry are interesting. We have a variety of locations ranging from towns, to deserts, to enemy ships pulling alongside the ship you’re taking passage on. Each map is well designed and suited for the mechanics that are present in the game and/or unique to the map itself. Fog of War maps limit your view of enemy units. In most maps you can see the placement of every enemy unit but in Fog of War maps you are only able to see as far as your units can see. This makes for a unique challenge that requires you to either take safer risks or play in a more defensive manner. There are a few of these maps throughout the story and they all make for an interesting challenge. The other interesting map based challenge takes place in the few maps that have precipitation as a factor. In these maps the movements of all units on the field are severely limited while the rain is pouring or the snow is falling. This can serve as a major impediment to momentum but it can also serve as a good breather where you can give healing to certain units that have taken a lot of damage. Personally I believe the precipitation effects lasted too long on the maps but I appreciate Intelligent Systems trying to implement a weather based mechanic.
Mechanics that aren’t unique to maps are the traditional rock-paper-scissors style weapon triangle and the magic triangle that seems to go away after entries. As is Fire Emblem tradition, your weapon triangle grants higher accuracy when using a certain type of weapon against another. Sword units have advantage against axe units, axe units have advantage against lance units, and lance units have advtage against sword units. The advantage is a gain of accuracy when attacking the enemy unit. The opposite is also true going the against the triangle. Attacking a unit that has a weapon with the advantage yields a lower chance of landing that hit. We have the same effect for magic. Elemental magic does better against Light magic, Light magic does better against Dark magic, and Dark magic does better against Elemental magic. This prompts the player to consider these weapon type advantages when preparing for battle. Players are encouraged to look at the battlefield and select their units based on what the enemy is carrying. The other point of note is that archers have a distinct advantage against flying units and although it’s not explicitly stated, mages typically do more damage to armored units.
Other mechanics here are the ability to rescue and transport friendly units, supports that increase combat related mechanics like accuracy when the characters are close to each other, and the occasional enemy unit that can be recruited to your side of the battlefield should you talk to them with the correct character. There are a variety of ways in which you gain units to join your army but it’s up to you to decide what units you want to use whether it be for tactical use, personal affection, or (because despite the low odds) they just keep landing critical hits. With so many different units and types of units that you obtain, no single play through the game is likely to be the same. Even if you roll with the same units every time, there’s no guarantee that those units will level up the same or score the same critical hits. It’s also possible that an enemy unit will score an unfortunate critical hit and kill your favorite character. With the game encouraging you to beat it at least four times it is important to give the player options so that the game doesn’t feel monotonous.
Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade offers players a fun and unique adventure that is appealing to new players, and veterans alike. Intelligent Systems stuck the landing with their first entry to the international stage as the game was well received and highly rated among fans and journalists alike. The success of this game goes on to spur another 10 games and multiple spin off titles and remakes. After playing some of these more mechanically intense games, it was refreshing to go back to a more basic and classic experience. The battles were fun, the story was gripping, and the music accompanied it well. Overall this is the Fire Emblem that I would recommend to a new player and I believe that the game deserves the praise that it receives.
The game starts off with a mandatory tutorial section that spans a prologue and 10 chapters. The tutorial takes you through the story of one of the three Lord units, Lyn, and how she claims her grandfather’s throne from her scheming uncle. The game inserts you, the player, into the narrative by giving you a character that is mostly unseen. Every once in a while you’ll see a character on screen but for the most part, the game just addresses you via the fourth wall. The tutorial is a bit lengthy but does a good job showing and explaining the game’s mechanics. It does leave out some mechanical details but those details don’t really come up until later into the proper narrative. Fire Emblem, as a series, has a long standing tradition of permadeath. During the tutorial section, however, any character that is defeated will return later during the proper narrative. Afterwards, any units that fall in battle are dead and will be gone for the remainder of the game.
Once you’ve completed Lyn’s story, your perspective is changed to that of a young Lord named Eliwood. Eliwood’s father, the Marquess of Pherae, has gone missing and Eliwood intends to go searching for him. During his search he is reunited with his best friend Hector, the prince of Ostia, and Lyn. The three Lords set out together to search for Eliwood’s father. During their search they uncover a plot being conducted by a man named Nergal to obtain ultimate power. The story is well put together, each plot point is strung together in a cohesive story that comes to a satisfying conclusion. Throughout the story the character development is mostly found on our main character, Eliwood. He starts off as an idealistic, if not a bit generic, young lord who learns what it means to be a leader. Certain events put his ideals to the test and we get to see him grow into a more confident leader. Although the game doesn’t put its focus on Eliwood’s character growth, they do a good job making you connect with him as a character and appreciate his struggles. You feel for him when his father dies in his arms. You believe in him when he returns home at journey’s end to take over for his father as Marquess of Pherae. You do get to know the other two lords and see them grow closer to each other but it feels like their personal growth has already been had. This is especially apparent with Lyn because we get to witness her growth during the tutorial chapters. We get to learn more about the characters though. Hector is a brash fighter who has a clearly defined vision of right and wrong. He questions Eliwood’s willingness to forgive characters and welcome them to the team, but ultimately he trust’s in Eliwood’s judgment. Lyn is a proud warrior from the plains. She has a high sense of morality and isn’t afraid to stand up to Eliwood or Hector for what she believes in.
Upon your first completion of Eliwood’s campaign, if you go back in to start a new game you’ll be greeted with a character select screen. You can choose to skip Lyn’s story and go straight to Eliwood’s story again with hard mode now available for both characters. Or you can play the game from Hector’s perspective. This gives you a few extra chapters and also grants you access to a couple of units that aren’t available in Eliwood’s story. Overall the added story content doesn’t really impact the narrative as a whole, but the extra chapters and units do give you some added flavor to the story. You also gain an advantage going into the final battle which you’ll certainly appreciate by then. If I were introducing someone to this game that has never played a Fire Emblem I’d encourage them to just play the regular story. For veterans of the series, Hector Mode offers a bit more of a challenge by being a bit more restrictive to how many units you’re allowed to bring to a battle and some of the character behaviors are different.
The map designs in this entry are interesting. We have a variety of locations ranging from towns, to deserts, to enemy ships pulling alongside the ship you’re taking passage on. Each map is well designed and suited for the mechanics that are present in the game and/or unique to the map itself. Fog of War maps limit your view of enemy units. In most maps you can see the placement of every enemy unit but in Fog of War maps you are only able to see as far as your units can see. This makes for a unique challenge that requires you to either take safer risks or play in a more defensive manner. There are a few of these maps throughout the story and they all make for an interesting challenge. The other interesting map based challenge takes place in the few maps that have precipitation as a factor. In these maps the movements of all units on the field are severely limited while the rain is pouring or the snow is falling. This can serve as a major impediment to momentum but it can also serve as a good breather where you can give healing to certain units that have taken a lot of damage. Personally I believe the precipitation effects lasted too long on the maps but I appreciate Intelligent Systems trying to implement a weather based mechanic.
Mechanics that aren’t unique to maps are the traditional rock-paper-scissors style weapon triangle and the magic triangle that seems to go away after entries. As is Fire Emblem tradition, your weapon triangle grants higher accuracy when using a certain type of weapon against another. Sword units have advantage against axe units, axe units have advantage against lance units, and lance units have advtage against sword units. The advantage is a gain of accuracy when attacking the enemy unit. The opposite is also true going the against the triangle. Attacking a unit that has a weapon with the advantage yields a lower chance of landing that hit. We have the same effect for magic. Elemental magic does better against Light magic, Light magic does better against Dark magic, and Dark magic does better against Elemental magic. This prompts the player to consider these weapon type advantages when preparing for battle. Players are encouraged to look at the battlefield and select their units based on what the enemy is carrying. The other point of note is that archers have a distinct advantage against flying units and although it’s not explicitly stated, mages typically do more damage to armored units.
Other mechanics here are the ability to rescue and transport friendly units, supports that increase combat related mechanics like accuracy when the characters are close to each other, and the occasional enemy unit that can be recruited to your side of the battlefield should you talk to them with the correct character. There are a variety of ways in which you gain units to join your army but it’s up to you to decide what units you want to use whether it be for tactical use, personal affection, or (because despite the low odds) they just keep landing critical hits. With so many different units and types of units that you obtain, no single play through the game is likely to be the same. Even if you roll with the same units every time, there’s no guarantee that those units will level up the same or score the same critical hits. It’s also possible that an enemy unit will score an unfortunate critical hit and kill your favorite character. With the game encouraging you to beat it at least four times it is important to give the player options so that the game doesn’t feel monotonous.
Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade offers players a fun and unique adventure that is appealing to new players, and veterans alike. Intelligent Systems stuck the landing with their first entry to the international stage as the game was well received and highly rated among fans and journalists alike. The success of this game goes on to spur another 10 games and multiple spin off titles and remakes. After playing some of these more mechanically intense games, it was refreshing to go back to a more basic and classic experience. The battles were fun, the story was gripping, and the music accompanied it well. Overall this is the Fire Emblem that I would recommend to a new player and I believe that the game deserves the praise that it receives.
I've been a known Fire Emblem hater, but was willing to give it a try once it hit NSO. Ended up having a great time with this wacky little game. The story is kind of whatever, there's just a generic bad guy who never really changes, but it is surprisingly dark and I liked the fantasy politics of it all.
Lyn's opening quest offered a sufficient tutorial, but for how blatant it was, still obscured certain mechanics like rescue ferrying, support convos in general, etc.
Glad I got an opportunity to enjoy the series before it went terminally anime. What a treat!
Lyn's opening quest offered a sufficient tutorial, but for how blatant it was, still obscured certain mechanics like rescue ferrying, support convos in general, etc.
Glad I got an opportunity to enjoy the series before it went terminally anime. What a treat!
An amazing game and a step up from Binding Blade in terms of story and characters. I like how each of your units have some role in the story and it makes them feel like actual characters, much like in Genealogy, Echoes, and Three Houses. This game's story is a great extension to Binding Blade's story and I think both are incomplete without the other. For the gameplay, it's the same as in Binding Blade but I like that each map has different objectives to keep things fresh. The only negative thing that I have for this game is Lyn's slow tutorial chapters. I know why they did that and it's great for newcomers to the series, but for veteran players, it can feel restrictive at times for your first playthrough.
A simple, safe, and enjoyable fire emblem game.
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.
What happend to Dorcas!?
As the first Fire Emblem game we got in America, I think it does a great job of getting you into the series. It can be tough but the characters are great and the story is well done. It's a fun one to revisit
I love this game way too much too.