LogFAQs > #932402647

#62





Years of release: 2012 (3DS, Japan), 2013 (3DS, NA/EU/AU)
Beaten?: Yes

Even since this game came out, and maybe even a bit before that, I've spited Fire Emblem. You see, I'm a huge Advance Wars fan, have been since 2001 when the first one for GBA came out. For me, but not for most people (especially not in Japan, good gracious), Fire Emblem has been the second fiddle to Advance Wars. I played the first Fire Emblem - sorry, the seventh Fire Emblem, whatever, and I found it to be pretty fun, but I found the tactics less engaging - always felt like I could just send in a super powered up unit to mow things down, and the game was always balanced around not losing any units - and I found the increased focus on luck frustrating. The ability for units to come out of nowhere and just instantly ruin your day because you didn't know there was a dragon-killing weapon-wielding unit in the fog and making you have to restart is irritating, too. Playing Fire Emblem games have always felt more like a negotiation with frustrating game design. than an exercise in strategy or tactics. I don't know. There are things I liked about it, so if Fire Emblem is your jam, I totally get it.

I remember this was back when Fire Emblem was a niche series though. It received enough support in the west to get released here, but didn't really fully catch on. That is, of course, until Fire Emblem: Awakening, at which point the series has basically become second only to Mario, Pokemon, and Zelda in the ranks of Nintendo's prestige franchises. Thanks, FE:A. But, despite the fact that I have some disdain for the series, I'll give it a pass, because this game is great and actually made me like the series.

I think what this game gave me was a focus on grinding and building a team. I always found it frustrating in Fire Emblem 7 that there was no way to grind, each mission was on a completely linear path and that was all you got. That really put a huge emphasis on planning your experience routing super precisely, even in a casual run, which is another aspect of the game that just felt like a frustrating negotiation to me. Even in victory I can fuck up by giving all my experience to Marcus! Instead of being able to flex my might all the time, I have to slowplay and try to get all my weak units level up, and for what? By the time I've got a kickass army, there's only like 4 chapters left anyway and it somehow feels like it was all a waste. Well, no more of that! Awakening has a more robust campaign with sidequests and repeatable fights and all that jazz, so I no longer have to be persistently paranoid that I'm setting myself up for failure in the future. No longer do I have to stick to only using Iron Swords, knowing that I might really need those super-powerful Killing Edges one day (and then never using them anyway). It lifts such a burden off of my shoulders. (By the way, Sacred Stones was always my favorite Fire Emblem before this because of the ability to do repeatable fights. I really liked Sacred Stones.)

The whole waifu simulator thing added even more to the game though. As shameful as it is, I have to admit that it is really kind of fun playing matchmaker and pairing off all of your units. The characters in this game are really fun and their interactions have surprisingly well-written dialog, and all of that makes up for an otherwise lackluster plot. I feel happy for these people when they all get married off to each other and have kids! And then, of course, there's the whole element of breeding these people like they're Pokemon to get the most maximized possible children, which is also really fun to figure out. I like the skills in this game as well - feels like something that's always been missing from the series, which makes each character feel a little bit more unique than simply being a unit of whatever class they are, and the skills add a much-needed way to tinker, to customize and try out different builds, which is something I always need in an RPG to keep me engaged. Another thing the series had lacked.

I gave Awakening well over 100 hours - I believe it's my third-most played 3DS game ever, which is saying something. (StreetPass Mii Plaza was #2. #1 is later on this list.) Even though some of my previous frustrations with Fire Emblem still exist - I too often feel like units coming out of nowhere can just fuck me up without warning and force me to restart msisions, and when I'm doing WELL in a mission it can sometimes just feel like a boring grindfest as my overpowered fighters murder the hapless opposing army. It's still one of the best longform RPG experiences I've had in a while though. Sometimes I love having an RPG where I just get to look at a lot of numbers and watch the numbers go up and kick the ass of those other numbers, and give my brain lots of stupid dopamine hits, even if it isn't quite the tactically engaging experience I'd hope for.

I did play Fates, by the way, and I think I got kind of burnt out on it. I'm not sure why it was worse than Awakening - I'm not even sure if it WAS worse than Awakening, I think I just got tired of it at some point and didn't finish it. Maybe I'll go back when I'm having a hankering for Fire Emblem again but I do genuinely feel kind of burnt out on the series - Awakening was really the only dose I needed. I do have to give a shoutout to Fates for still being pretty fun though - as well as a shoutout to Fates for letting me marry a cute fox boy, which is something that Awakening is sorely lacking. A 1000-year-old dragon loli is not a suitable replacement! If Three Houses has a handsome fox boy I can get married to I might play it but otherwise I'll probably pass so let me know.