❥ my beloved ✦
Forever favorites, slightly more extended version!
15 Games
It really is the best and most perfect game ever made, it was actually handcrafted by the three Golden Goddesses themselves.
What more can I say that hasn’t been said already? This game has carried me, comforted me, and unconditionally been there for me ever since I was a toddler sitting beside my brother as he beat the game, again and again, while I watched in awe. It remains one of the most precious, heartfelt and heartwarming memories I possess.
This game is quite literally everything to me.
What more can I say that hasn’t been said already? This game has carried me, comforted me, and unconditionally been there for me ever since I was a toddler sitting beside my brother as he beat the game, again and again, while I watched in awe. It remains one of the most precious, heartfelt and heartwarming memories I possess.
This game is quite literally everything to me.
“Majora’s Mask, as a sequel to Ocarina of Time, is like making a big Hollywood blockbuster and following it up with a low budget art house film.”
- MonsterMaze, The Return of Majora
—While having never physically owned it and it being newer in my repertoire, Majora’s Mask quickly made its way to the top. Obviously so, however. How could Ocarina of Time’s sequel not climb so high so fast?
Majora’s Mask is a masterpiece in its own right, somehow weaving characters, backstories, lore, and relationships together into a wonderful package, complete with gorgeous music and an incredibly iconic and gripping plot and gameplay. After all, who could ever forget the terrible fate that will befall Termina if you do not recover the namesake item of this entry? How can anyone forget about that falling moon?
But in the end, this is not about the moon falling, or about recovering the mask.
This game is about happiness, grief, love, friendship, healing.
This game is about Termina, its people: Romani, Cremia, Honey and Darling, Dampé, Pamela, her dad.
Sharp and Flat, Koume and Kotake, the Rosa sisters, Mutoh, Madame Aroma, the Mayor.
The Garo, Ikana kingdom.
Lulu, Anju, Kafei.
Darmani, Mikau, the Deku butler’s son.
Tatl, Tael, the Skull Kid, the Happy Mask Salesman.
Link.
Not the Hero of Time. Link.
Because this is Link’s most personal journey, yet.
No grand quest, no grand rewards.
Will you listen to Link’s sorrows?
- MonsterMaze, The Return of Majora
—While having never physically owned it and it being newer in my repertoire, Majora’s Mask quickly made its way to the top. Obviously so, however. How could Ocarina of Time’s sequel not climb so high so fast?
Majora’s Mask is a masterpiece in its own right, somehow weaving characters, backstories, lore, and relationships together into a wonderful package, complete with gorgeous music and an incredibly iconic and gripping plot and gameplay. After all, who could ever forget the terrible fate that will befall Termina if you do not recover the namesake item of this entry? How can anyone forget about that falling moon?
But in the end, this is not about the moon falling, or about recovering the mask.
This game is about happiness, grief, love, friendship, healing.
This game is about Termina, its people: Romani, Cremia, Honey and Darling, Dampé, Pamela, her dad.
Sharp and Flat, Koume and Kotake, the Rosa sisters, Mutoh, Madame Aroma, the Mayor.
The Garo, Ikana kingdom.
Lulu, Anju, Kafei.
Darmani, Mikau, the Deku butler’s son.
Tatl, Tael, the Skull Kid, the Happy Mask Salesman.
Link.
Not the Hero of Time. Link.
Because this is Link’s most personal journey, yet.
No grand quest, no grand rewards.
Will you listen to Link’s sorrows?
Much like the support system and overarching narrative themes, Fire Emblem: Awakening, to me, is the epitome of friendship.
I stumbled upon my very first entry into the Fire Emblem franchise, including its countless gimmicks(gimmicks I had not ever seen in any other video game ever, then) during a very lonely and fickle time of my youth. Awakening remained a crutch in the depths of my mind, one that would soothe me and keep me entertained when I felt most cornered or abandoned.
Awakening gave to me the closest friend I’ve ever had and my partner in crime in every aspect. Companionship and that very same allyship depicted in the game came to me in the form of Lon’quyes, my username! and Lissa’s S-Support, one of the pairings I consider most essential to understanding me. I could ramble on and on about how the information given to us about both characters make their chemistry and compatibility even higher, an amount that is already sky-high with just their raw Support exchanges. And then comes Owain, their son, literally a walking parallel and carbon copy to their narrative, appearance, et cetera.
At its core, Awakening might not be the best entry in the Fire Emblem franchise, but it does not have to be. Awakening is, much akin to the next generation portrayed in the game, a product of love and dedication; Awakening is the pride and joy of its developers. A bittersweet parting but a satisfying epilogue to what they believed would be their last game. It does not have to be the best. What a passionate (would-have-been) swan song!
I stumbled upon my very first entry into the Fire Emblem franchise, including its countless gimmicks
Awakening gave to me the closest friend I’ve ever had and my partner in crime in every aspect. Companionship and that very same allyship depicted in the game came to me in the form of Lon’qu
At its core, Awakening might not be the best entry in the Fire Emblem franchise, but it does not have to be. Awakening is, much akin to the next generation portrayed in the game, a product of love and dedication; Awakening is the pride and joy of its developers. A bittersweet parting but a satisfying epilogue to what they believed would be their last game. It does not have to be the best. What a passionate (would-have-been) swan song!
Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem is a buffet of colorful characters with a smorgasbord of personalities, backstories, and prior relationships. This hearty meal of a game is full of callbacks to previous iterations of itself, whether its remake older sister, Shadow Dragon, or its source material, Mystery of the Emblem.
There is a particularity in this entry that wiggled its way into my heart and compelled me to place it in my favorites ever since I beat it years ago. That little feature I love so much comes in the form of a pink-haired dancer girl that does not even have much lore or dialogue to begin with. That character’s name is Phina, and she might as well be my favorite Fire Emblem character to date.
Why?, you probably ask yourself. Why bother with a character that has no lore and only two support chains, one of which is with the avatars you claim to despise so much? Keen eye! I truly don’t know myself. One of the aspects that intrigues me about Phina is that she is open to interpretation without even being that much of an enigma in the game(s). We know she is a dancer, she is flirty, loves fashion, and was saved by Navarre, the latter being another particularity that makes me unable to forget this game. Their relationship has the foundation for chemistry but obviously leaves things vague when the game is done. Not so vague, however, as the remake implies of their new… um, partnership… via parallelism and connotation.
While my reasons for loving this game are not all Phina, she very well exemplifies what I love about vintage Fire Emblem games. More modern entries might love to spell it out for you, but older entries give you ample space for freedom and extrapolation, characterization depending on interpretation and steeped in implications without leaving things incredibly vague as to seem stalecough, cough, Shadow Dragon might have benefitted from this. It helps keep things interesting and juicy without overcooking.
The gameplay was incredibly fun, somewhat repetitive but not in the way Shadow Dragon played the same thirty second track every chapter. I actually felt the urge to come back and play, rather than forcing myself the way I did with Shadow Dragon the first time.
Narratively, New Mystery of the Emblem takes what Shadow Dragon made wrong and shapes it into the what if most people who played Shadow Dragon often think it could have been.
With all that said, I think Fire Emblem!Avatars should burn.
There is a particularity in this entry that wiggled its way into my heart and compelled me to place it in my favorites ever since I beat it years ago. That little feature I love so much comes in the form of a pink-haired dancer girl that does not even have much lore or dialogue to begin with. That character’s name is Phina, and she might as well be my favorite Fire Emblem character to date.
Why?, you probably ask yourself. Why bother with a character that has no lore and only two support chains, one of which is with the avatars you claim to despise so much? Keen eye! I truly don’t know myself. One of the aspects that intrigues me about Phina is that she is open to interpretation without even being that much of an enigma in the game(s). We know she is a dancer, she is flirty, loves fashion, and was saved by Navarre, the latter being another particularity that makes me unable to forget this game. Their relationship has the foundation for chemistry but obviously leaves things vague when the game is done. Not so vague, however, as the remake implies of their new… um, partnership… via parallelism and connotation.
While my reasons for loving this game are not all Phina, she very well exemplifies what I love about vintage Fire Emblem games. More modern entries might love to spell it out for you, but older entries give you ample space for freedom and extrapolation, characterization depending on interpretation and steeped in implications without leaving things incredibly vague as to seem stale
The gameplay was incredibly fun, somewhat repetitive but not in the way Shadow Dragon played the same thirty second track every chapter. I actually felt the urge to come back and play, rather than forcing myself the way I did with Shadow Dragon the first time.
Narratively, New Mystery of the Emblem takes what Shadow Dragon made wrong and shapes it into the what if most people who played Shadow Dragon often think it could have been.
With all that said, I think Fire Emblem!Avatars should burn.
The soundtrack. The soundtrack. I also hope that by now, whoever is reading this has noticed I have a shrine built and solely devoted to the
Jugdral ⇾ Archanea/Valentia ⇾ Ylisse/Valm continuity.
Gaiden gets the upper hand in this one, not only because of the incredible thing it is that Berkut AND Conrad are nonexistent(thank the Lord), but because despite being a 29-year-old game at the time of writing this, Celica has much more agency in the bare bones, original version of the game.
However, with all the former having been said, Shadows of Valentia gets its spot on the list here, not only because the redesigns and glow-ups are amazing, but because the atmosphere and narrative despite its perchances, are both truly incredible. Paired with the readily accessibility of this game in its remake, its polished gameplay allows for both senior players to experience the fresh air breathed into this story they know and newcomers to enjoy it for the very first time.
Jugdral ⇾ Archanea/Valentia ⇾ Ylisse/Valm continuity.
Gaiden gets the upper hand in this one, not only because of the incredible thing it is that Berkut AND Conrad are nonexistent
However, with all the former having been said, Shadows of Valentia gets its spot on the list here, not only because the redesigns and glow-ups are amazing, but because the atmosphere and narrative despite its perchances, are both truly incredible. Paired with the readily accessibility of this game in its remake, its polished gameplay allows for both senior players to experience the fresh air breathed into this story they know and newcomers to enjoy it for the very first time.
I’ve yet got to beat it myself, but I know the story, the lore, quite well…
The experience is so haunting yet hauntingly beautiful, all characters being a ghost of themselves and a mold, one that their children must fit themselves into in yearning, if the heart aches for those memories, or as a rite of passage, a barrier to overcome, a past to leave behind if the heart aches because of those memories.
The characters are gorgeous, in terms of appearance and characterization, and so incredibly thought-provoking. The soundtrack is immaculate, and the gameplay, which is something that is never my forte in terms of executing or reviewing, is incredibly fun, probably the title requiring most thought and strategy, barring its midquel sister, Thracia 776.
An amazing title, I hope Nintendo manages to someday craft something as lovely as Genealogy of the Holy War again, even if Kaga Shōzō is not there as part of the staff.
The experience is so haunting yet hauntingly beautiful, all characters being a ghost of themselves and a mold, one that their children must fit themselves into in yearning, if the heart aches for those memories, or as a rite of passage, a barrier to overcome, a past to leave behind if the heart aches because of those memories.
The characters are gorgeous, in terms of appearance and characterization, and so incredibly thought-provoking. The soundtrack is immaculate, and the gameplay, which is something that is never my forte in terms of executing or reviewing, is incredibly fun, probably the title requiring most thought and strategy, barring its midquel sister, Thracia 776.
An amazing title, I hope Nintendo manages to someday craft something as lovely as Genealogy of the Holy War again, even if Kaga Shōzō is not there as part of the staff.
Dialogue is incredibly stale, and the background music might get repetitive, but the characters will be themselves, regardless of what aspect of the game is tweaked or changed. I play for the characters, so while this might not be one of my top 5 games overall, the trials and tribulations my favorite characters face here remain iconic and awestrucking to me. I would replay it again in a heartbeat!
