This game fucking slaps
I absolutely love it, for different reasons than Three Houses really. I'm a long time FE fan and while I was enjoying FE's foray back into more mature storytelling... the story in this game is a very well-told Shonen-esque narrative that will probably hit home with long-time fans of the series. The characters are just as fun as any other Fire Emblem game! Reminds me of Awakening where the cast is just a bunch of loveable goofballs.
But what really shines here is the gameplay, the map design, the music, the characters, everything else you truly care about in a strategy RPG. The new break mechanics are rewarding and punishing, Smash is a nice addition to the series, and the maps, for the most part very thoughtfully designed, which was something I was missing from Three Houses, which only had a few standout maps.
This game does an amazing job at being an anniversary game while also telling it's own story. It really feels like a celebration of Fire Emblem in general, and I wish that Nintendo was more willing to make something like this for some of it's other big series.
Overall, I liked this game a hell of a lot more than I thought. I can't say it's perfect though.
Downsides are mostly nitpicks but I do feel like some parts of this game are designed around you abusing the rewind button, especially certain paralogues. The game gives you so many rewinds. Infinite on normal, 10 on hard, and idk how many on maddening but it's probably less.
I played on Hard Classic. At first I thought the amount of rewinds was too much, then I started to see why you need a few. The RNG calculations feel a little... screwed and make me barely trust anything that isn't near 100%, or 0% for the enemy phases.
Also yeah, the story has a few moments of cheese. I liked it more than I thought but it's not free from criticism. Villains are very one note and cartoony, even moreso than some GBA Fire Emblem villains and just won't die.
But overall, a fantastic anniversary game in every sense of the word.
I absolutely love it, for different reasons than Three Houses really. I'm a long time FE fan and while I was enjoying FE's foray back into more mature storytelling... the story in this game is a very well-told Shonen-esque narrative that will probably hit home with long-time fans of the series. The characters are just as fun as any other Fire Emblem game! Reminds me of Awakening where the cast is just a bunch of loveable goofballs.
But what really shines here is the gameplay, the map design, the music, the characters, everything else you truly care about in a strategy RPG. The new break mechanics are rewarding and punishing, Smash is a nice addition to the series, and the maps, for the most part very thoughtfully designed, which was something I was missing from Three Houses, which only had a few standout maps.
This game does an amazing job at being an anniversary game while also telling it's own story. It really feels like a celebration of Fire Emblem in general, and I wish that Nintendo was more willing to make something like this for some of it's other big series.
Overall, I liked this game a hell of a lot more than I thought. I can't say it's perfect though.
Downsides are mostly nitpicks but I do feel like some parts of this game are designed around you abusing the rewind button, especially certain paralogues. The game gives you so many rewinds. Infinite on normal, 10 on hard, and idk how many on maddening but it's probably less.
I played on Hard Classic. At first I thought the amount of rewinds was too much, then I started to see why you need a few. The RNG calculations feel a little... screwed and make me barely trust anything that isn't near 100%, or 0% for the enemy phases.
Also yeah, the story has a few moments of cheese. I liked it more than I thought but it's not free from criticism. Villains are very one note and cartoony, even moreso than some GBA Fire Emblem villains and just won't die.
But overall, a fantastic anniversary game in every sense of the word.