I had been a Fire Emblem fans for years before this game came out, and I was very excited for it. The game did not disappoint.
From a gameplay perspective, this is a blending of the best gameplay features from previous titles- equitable skills, re-classing, marriage and children, and the overworld map- and generally improved on them, giving the game an unprecedented level of character customization. While it was interesting in previous games to plan out which character to use and which of their supports you wanted to do, I find it more enjoyable to consider and experiment with different builds with characters.
The overall gameplay still feels familiar. The biggest change to the overall gameplay was the Pair Up and Dual Strike/Dual Guard mechanics. Here, a unit may be crucial to taking down an enemy, even on another unit's turn. Or, they may be vital to another unit's survival. It not only opens up new possibilities, but it makes a character's supports, and working with a character they are close to, important to a degree they weren't before. It also makes for a wonderful marriage of gameplay and story themes, which is always a plus. I found myself using Pair Up much less on higher difficulties, where I realized that having multiple units of moderate power, able to attack more units per turn, was sometimes better than having a handful of very strong units.
I think that the best difficulty to play the game on is Lunatic. While Hard isn't so easy that it's boring, Lunatic does make for a challenge that's very mentally stimulating. Lunatic+ isn't bad, per se, but the randomization factor means that the player can't do as much to refine their strategy over multiple attempts at a battle.
The game's writing is generally good. The overall story is fairly straightforward, but it's still exciting and emotionally effective. It brings up a number of plot points from previous games, especially Holy War, in ways that are still interesting a distinctive. The player's avatar, despite being customizable, still has a fixed, if subdued, personality and role in the story. The Avatar is shown, repeatedly, to be able to bring down enemies with military advantages through the use of clever tactics, in ways that are often very satisfying to watch.
This game has more supports than any before it. This is both good from a gameplay perspective, since it give you far more flexibility on who to use with who, but also lets the characters be fleshed out to an even greater degree than before. Each character has some obvious traits, and some that are not as readily apparent. For example, Maribelle seems like a very uptight woman... but she also has self-esteem issues, a strong sense of justice and fairness, a lot of drive when it comes to tackling problems, and an impish sense of humor. I went from being ambivalent, at best to her her character to thinking of her as one of my favorites.
Fire Emblem's Greatest Hits
I had been a Fire Emblem fans for years before this game came out, and I was very excited for it. The game did not disappoint.
From a gameplay perspective, this is a blending of the best gameplay features from previous titles- equitable skills, re-classing, marriage and children, and the overworld map- and generally improved on them, giving the game an unprecedented level of character customization. While it was interesting in previous games to plan out which character to use and which of their supports you wanted to do, I find it more enjoyable to consider and experiment with different builds with characters.
The overall gameplay still feels familiar. The biggest change to the overall gameplay was the Pair Up and Dual Strike/Dual Guard mechanics. Here, a unit may be crucial to taking down an enemy, even on another unit's turn. Or, they may be vital to another unit's survival. It not only opens up new possibilities, but it makes a character's supports, and working with a character they are close to, important to a degree they weren't before. It also makes for a wonderful marriage of gameplay and story themes, which is always a plus. I found myself using Pair Up much less on higher difficulties, where I realized that having multiple units of moderate power, able to attack more units per turn, was sometimes better than having a handful of very strong units.
I think that the best difficulty to play the game on is Lunatic. While Hard isn't so easy that it's boring, Lunatic does make for a challenge that's very mentally stimulating. Lunatic+ isn't bad, per se, but the randomization factor means that the player can't do as much to refine their strategy over multiple attempts at a battle.
The game's writing is generally good. The overall story is fairly straightforward, but it's still exciting and emotionally effective. It brings up a number of plot points from previous games, especially Holy War, in ways that are still interesting a distinctive. The player's avatar, despite being customizable, still has a fixed, if subdued, personality and role in the story. The Avatar is shown, repeatedly, to be able to bring down enemies with military advantages through the use of clever tactics, in ways that are often very satisfying to watch.
This game has more supports than any before it. This is both good from a gameplay perspective, since it give you far more flexibility on who to use with who, but also lets the characters be fleshed out to an even greater degree than before. Each character has some obvious traits, and some that are not as readily apparent. For example, Maribelle seems like a very uptight woman... but she also has self-esteem issues, a strong sense of justice and fairness, a lot of drive when it comes to tackling problems, and an impish sense of humor. I went from being ambivalent, at best to her her character to thinking of her as one of my favorites.
I highly recommend it.