LogFAQs > #949675039

Never participated in this topic before, but I'm determined to play more games this year than I have been recently, so hopefully this'll be a little extra motivation boost.

Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade (GBA)
The Good:
The first half of this game has some really fantastic map design. Chapters 4, 7, and 11A are among the best in the series, and most of the others have at least some kind of interesting gimmick or layout. Enemies are just strong enough to make sure you generally have to think about what you're doing.

Really underrated cast. It's a shame supports are so obnoxious to get in the GBA FE games, because they hide some of the best in the series here.

Unit balance is, I think, pretty good. You've got your standard amount of useless characters, including maybe the worst one in the series in Wendy, but there's a pretty decent number of decent options without a whole lot of overpowered ones. Even Marcus and Jerrot fall off pretty early on. Roy not promoting until the very end is something everyone can agree sucks, but I do like that he doesn't just steamroll the game like some lords in the series do. It's good for some variety.

I generally like the narrative and lore, although there were definitely places it could've been more fleshed out, especially with some extra scenes from the actual perspective of the characters as opposed to that thing FE does where the map of the world gets shown and a faceless narrator just describes what's been happening.

The Bad:
Most of FE6's problems, I think, can be boiled down to calling it a Strategy Guide Game. Ambush reinforcements, annoying Gaiden requirements (that are needed to even experience the full game) and character recruitments, dumb route split mechanics. None of these are that troublesome to deal with if you know about them, but I'm not gonna sit here and claim that's good game design.

The map design gradually gets worse as the game goes on, too. All the interesting side objectives and strategic enemy placement kinda goes out the window in favor of siege tomes and status staves by the end. FE is at its best when it presents an effective puzzle to solve - things like that just make you feel like you're trying to put together a puzzle where every once in a while someone will just remove a few of the pieces you've placed and throw them across the room. It's also well known for having the lamest final chapter and final boss in the series, and that reputation is richly deserved.

Overall:
It's unfortunate how badly it fails to stick the landing, but I quite enjoyed this game overall. I'm in the process of finishing up Sacred Stones as well, and unless that game really just blows me away at the end, I think I'd be inclined to call Binding Blade my favorite GBA Fire Emblem. It doesn't touch the upper echelons of the series - there's too many early-franchise quality of life annoyances for that without many of the charming parts that let Genealogy make up for them - but it does slightly more right than wrong.

Endgame Team: Roy, Fae, Milady, Shin, Lilina, Geese, Perceval, Clarine (who unexpectedly became a dodgetank that ran over half the wyvern riders in Chapter 21 all by herself), Fir, and Lalum

Other notable contributors throughout the game: Deke, Rutger, Allen, Shanna, and Lance

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