The first Fire Emblem to ever be localised for the West and my gosh did they hit the ground running with this one.
I decided to revisit this immediately after playing FE6 to see what kind of improvements the series made with it's 7th entry and I was surprised by how much they built off from FE6.
FE6 was Int Sys finding their feet after losing a huge influence in Kaga. You can see that with how limited the scope of the game is and how basic it feels in aspects. That game was mostly just getting something up and running on the GBA so they could build off that foundation and my gosh did they do that with FE7.
For the first time in the series we're following 3 Lords and each one has their own "mode" to play, unlocked in order when you first play the game.
Lyn mode is essentially a tutorial for all the newcomers to the series with it being the first worldwide FE. Each map introduces a mechanic and holds the players hand while they get used to everything. For newcomers this is perfect. At this point there was 7 games worth of mechanics to learn so dropping the West in blind would've been very off putting for a lot of people. I know that it's not the most fun thing to play through (though it is skippable after clearing it) but it is a very important introduction to the series.
The story itself for Lyn mode is only 10 chapters long but it's a really nice and personal story and one that I honestly have a lot of love for, so much so that I can't bring myself to skip Lyn mode on repeat playthroughs.
Her story also shows aspects improved upon over FE6. We have different map objectives return with defend and rout maps on top of seize ones. The characters are more fleshed out with a lot more personality over what we got in FE6. Kent and Sain alone are so much fun here but we also get Florina who has a nice relationship with Lyn too. There's also a new weather mechanic where rain or snow will pop up every few turns and limit units movement until it stops. It's an interesting idea but it's execution just makes a couple of turns slower and it becomes annoying. It only appears a handful of times throughout but yeah, not that fun.
The meat of the game follows in Eliwood mode which is the immediate story unlocked after beating Lyn's one. This is more of the standard FE campaign, with 20+ chapters and more in depth maps and gameplay on offer. Here we get a much more interesting narrative that is pretty ambitious for a GBA game as well as a good look at some stuff briefly spoken about in FE6 as this is a prequel. Seeing Zephiel and his abusive parents hits so much harder when you've seen what he's like in FE6.
It's a very solid affair, Eliwood himself is very much a typical FE lord but Lyn and Hector help bring an interesting dynamic and characters like Ninian and Nino play really good roles in the story. The Black Fang are also very interesting as antagonists and Sonia makes for a memorable villain (more so than Nergal himself unfortunately)
But yeah Eliwood mode is very solid and a nice step up from what came before.
After beating Eliwood mode, you unlock Hector mode which is essentially the same but from Hector's pov and more challenging. There's also a few exclusive maps and characters to help make the mode more enticing because it is a second playthrough thing.
Hector makes for a more interesting Lord character as well, so seeing his reactions and hearing more of his thoughts makes this mode a more interesting experience imo.
The cool thing about beating Eliwood mode is that you're free to pick Lyn/Eliwood/Hector mode when you start a new game which means you don't need to bother with the tutorial stuff if you don't want to.
Ultimately, I think FE7 is one of the best games in the series. It does everything it can to be the best possible FE experience on GBA, with a memorable cast and well varied map objectives as well as a decent amount of replay incentive without holding too much from those only wanting to play once
I decided to revisit this immediately after playing FE6 to see what kind of improvements the series made with it's 7th entry and I was surprised by how much they built off from FE6.
FE6 was Int Sys finding their feet after losing a huge influence in Kaga. You can see that with how limited the scope of the game is and how basic it feels in aspects. That game was mostly just getting something up and running on the GBA so they could build off that foundation and my gosh did they do that with FE7.
For the first time in the series we're following 3 Lords and each one has their own "mode" to play, unlocked in order when you first play the game.
Lyn mode is essentially a tutorial for all the newcomers to the series with it being the first worldwide FE. Each map introduces a mechanic and holds the players hand while they get used to everything. For newcomers this is perfect. At this point there was 7 games worth of mechanics to learn so dropping the West in blind would've been very off putting for a lot of people. I know that it's not the most fun thing to play through (though it is skippable after clearing it) but it is a very important introduction to the series.
The story itself for Lyn mode is only 10 chapters long but it's a really nice and personal story and one that I honestly have a lot of love for, so much so that I can't bring myself to skip Lyn mode on repeat playthroughs.
Her story also shows aspects improved upon over FE6. We have different map objectives return with defend and rout maps on top of seize ones. The characters are more fleshed out with a lot more personality over what we got in FE6. Kent and Sain alone are so much fun here but we also get Florina who has a nice relationship with Lyn too. There's also a new weather mechanic where rain or snow will pop up every few turns and limit units movement until it stops. It's an interesting idea but it's execution just makes a couple of turns slower and it becomes annoying. It only appears a handful of times throughout but yeah, not that fun.
The meat of the game follows in Eliwood mode which is the immediate story unlocked after beating Lyn's one. This is more of the standard FE campaign, with 20+ chapters and more in depth maps and gameplay on offer. Here we get a much more interesting narrative that is pretty ambitious for a GBA game as well as a good look at some stuff briefly spoken about in FE6 as this is a prequel. Seeing Zephiel and his abusive parents hits so much harder when you've seen what he's like in FE6.
It's a very solid affair, Eliwood himself is very much a typical FE lord but Lyn and Hector help bring an interesting dynamic and characters like Ninian and Nino play really good roles in the story. The Black Fang are also very interesting as antagonists and Sonia makes for a memorable villain (more so than Nergal himself unfortunately)
But yeah Eliwood mode is very solid and a nice step up from what came before.
After beating Eliwood mode, you unlock Hector mode which is essentially the same but from Hector's pov and more challenging. There's also a few exclusive maps and characters to help make the mode more enticing because it is a second playthrough thing.
Hector makes for a more interesting Lord character as well, so seeing his reactions and hearing more of his thoughts makes this mode a more interesting experience imo.
The cool thing about beating Eliwood mode is that you're free to pick Lyn/Eliwood/Hector mode when you start a new game which means you don't need to bother with the tutorial stuff if you don't want to.
Ultimately, I think FE7 is one of the best games in the series. It does everything it can to be the best possible FE experience on GBA, with a memorable cast and well varied map objectives as well as a decent amount of replay incentive without holding too much from those only wanting to play once
2 Comments
Nice review! I would have agreed with Nergal not being a deep villain himself, but there is a chapter that changes everything you think you know about him and makes him actually a very sad character. It's chapter 19xx in Hector Mode called 'a glimpse in time' ( i don't know why they did hide such a important story aspect you have to have Nils at level 7 in chapter 19x and defeat that magic nullifier guy in 1 turn).
You know that the dark druid legendary hero Braimmond lost his complete personally, because you will forget who you are the stronger with dark magic you become. Nergal was a good guy who married a dragon (nils and ninian are his biological children). Humans attacked his dragon in the human dragon war wife and he needed power to save her (he failed). The children fled through the Dragon's Gate. The dark magic corrupted Nergal's mind. He forgot he left his children and said to them he would be back when he got mommy. After he got corrupted he only remembered that he wants to open the dragon gate and needs more power, there rest is actually lost to him (bit like dementia). You should really look at the cutscenes for the chapter, it explains it a lot better than i could. If you did that secret chapter then after the final battle against Nergal, Nils says something like " Weird, why am i crying?" :/. He forgot that Nergal was his dad (because the traveled through the gate) but he felt something was wrong. Anyway i'm curious if you think differently about Nergal after you see that chapter!
You know that the dark druid legendary hero Braimmond lost his complete personally, because you will forget who you are the stronger with dark magic you become. Nergal was a good guy who married a dragon (nils and ninian are his biological children). Humans attacked his dragon in the human dragon war wife and he needed power to save her (he failed). The children fled through the Dragon's Gate. The dark magic corrupted Nergal's mind. He forgot he left his children and said to them he would be back when he got mommy. After he got corrupted he only remembered that he wants to open the dragon gate and needs more power, there rest is actually lost to him (bit like dementia). You should really look at the cutscenes for the chapter, it explains it a lot better than i could. If you did that secret chapter then after the final battle against Nergal, Nils says something like " Weird, why am i crying?" :/. He forgot that Nergal was his dad (because the traveled through the gate) but he felt something was wrong. Anyway i'm curious if you think differently about Nergal after you see that chapter!
Oops i mistyped i meant in the Scouring humans attacked and abducted his wife because they thought all dragons were enemies. And i meant Nils has to be level 7 in Lyn's story and then you have to defeat that guy in 19x in 1 turn (impossible to find out without a guide and this chapter is so important it should be in the mandatory parts). Anyway it also explained why he was so interested in the village were humans and dragons lived together when he met Athos and was still somewhat sane. Really nice subtle storytelling.
Rensie
2 years ago