In all my years of being a FE Fan, never have I been this disappointed. This does not live up to the praise it gets!
As many Nintendo fans or even just Nintendo Gamecube or GBA owners know, the First Fire Emblem to be released outside of Japan (just titled Fire Emblem in America) was actually Fire Emblem 7, otherwise known as Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken, which translates to Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword in English. This game was actually a prequel to Fire Emblem 6's story, and focused mostly on FE6 protagonist, Roy's father, Eliwood and his journey to stop and the Evil Dark Lord, Nergal, and his followers from destroying the world somehow (I won't get into spoilers because nobody likes those, right xD). So, of course, because it's prequel to FE 6, the very ending to FE7 (it's after the credits I believe and after you see the happy ending, but I will try to say this without getting into super detail for spoiler reasoning) ends on a HUGE cliff hanger, which unless you played the FE6, will never know what happens in the land of Bern (this is where FE6 and 7 take place). So, aside from that reason alone, their are 2 other MAJOR reasons people want to play this game so badly. The first and easily one of the biggest reasons why is because Roy (FE6 Main Character, if you remember me saying earlier) is a playable character in Nintedo's Smash Hit, Super Smash Brothers: Melee. He was a clone character of Marth, and unfortunately, didn't make the cut in Smash Brothers sequel, Brawl, in which he was replaced with another and more popular Fire Emblem Main Character, Ike from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, known by fans as FE9 and FE10, but that is besides the point (You can also expect reviews of all 4 other Fire Emblem Titles and Both Super Smash Melee and Brawl coming in the near future, for those who are curious about that). The second major reason is because the game is considered to be one of the best Fire Emblem games in the entire series of games. Now, I guess I will jump in how I got the game and why I started playing it.
Let's start with a little fun fact about myself: for those of you who don't know me, read my blog, or just are to lazy to do either of those, I am HUGE Fire Emblem. I have always been a fan of the series ever since getting FE7 when it came out on the GBA in 2004! The game still stand as my favorite GBA game and Favorite Portable Game of All Time, also being on my, "Best of the Best" list (sorry for basically spoiling the review of the game xD, but it had to be said). I have always been a big fan of FE's strategic elements, it's art style, it's renowned and famous level of challenge, it's compelling stories (easily some of the best Nintendo has ever written) and thousands of characters to either like or hate, and it's great gameplay. So yah, as you can see, I am quite a fan of the series and I have always said it's completely under-rated by not only other gamers, but Nintendo as well. I mean, we haven't seen a FE game in almost 2-3 years, and that was a lousy REMAKE of the first game released on the NES! So, originality wise, the last Original Fire Emblem game to come out was Radiant Dawn for Wii, and that has been about 3-4 years! But, I am rambling now, so let's get back to how I got the game. Well, of course hearing that this game was not only the prequel to one of my favorite games of all time, but also a one of the most popular FE games in the series, I have always been hoping it would be released outside of Japan. But it has nearly been almost 6 years since FE7 came out, and it's obviously not on Nintendo's mind right now to please there fans, so my hopes for them releasing the game outside of Japan have been shot. So, I did some research about how I could play the game over winter break (so it was about 3 months ago for those of you who are bad with dates), and I came up with two ways to play it: 1. I buy a Japanese GBA and order a copy of the game from Ebay, then play it that way, but I really didn't feel like buying a Japanese GBA just to play one game and I don't know Japanese, so I through that out the window. The second option was to play it on a Emulator, but the thing with me, is I don't like playing games on a Emu unless I have already boughten them. I guess you could say, I feel guilty xD. So, I decided to compromise and do the fallowing: I ordered just the game on Ebay, that way I could say I owned the game, then I downloaded the ROM for the game to play it. There, problem solved :). Plus, I am on of the fortunate ones to find the Rare English Patched Versions of the game THAT WORKS, so I could read and understand the story, weapons, and all that good stuff, so I was really excited to start my journey. Now that you know that, we can start the review:
Because I don't have some epic story this time to go alongside the review of this game like I did with my Final Fantasy 1 review for the iPhone, I am just going to talk about things in order really (sorry for doing in the boring way, but I will try to make it as exciting as possible xD). So we will start off with the first thing I guess, Graphics, Visuals, and Art Style. For this, it's hard for me to really grade. Why, because aside from the Art Style (which is just a little older and out-dated version of FE7's art style), the Graphic and Visuals look EXACTLY the same as FE7 did! Granted, the game came out 2 years earlier then FE7 and it's graphics a little inferior to FE7, they all basically look the same to me and that's a good thing, because I have always liked FE graphics for the GBA, so I really don't have problems there and like I said in my Final Fantasy 1 review, I really judge a game on it's story and how fun it is, not really on how nice the game looks. So with that said, let's move onto story, characters, and plot.
The story here is quit simple really: You, Roy, must lead your little army try to make a BIG army and try to stop the EVIL King Zephiel (he's the guy you have to defend in chapter 26 in Eliwood's Story in FE7 for those who where as shocked as I was xD) from taking over the entire kingdom of Bern and eventually, destroying the world somehow (again, trying to avoid spoilers here, so that's why there is no details really xD). The story, for me at least, is very similar to that of Ike's tail told in FE9, except not as engaging. Sure, Roy is a Prince and he must "Save his Kingdom", but that story getting so old, it's in almost every Fire Emblem game, except a few. This plot is also found in Fire Emblem: Sealed Swords, otherwise known as FE8 by fans, but Nintendo is the KING of using the slogan, "If it ain't broken, why fix it?", so I guess this is nothing to expect from them. Maybe the story would of been more appealing to me if I would of played the game earlier, but the basic story is pretty predicable in the sense that you know what is going to happen. At least with 7, you didn't know WHAT was going to happen, and you where sent all over the place to not only save your kingdom, but save the world. The whole, "Save the World", aspect of the story is just thrown in at the last minute, so really, it's not that special as it was in FE7. Also, the plot twists aren't as powerful in this game as they where in FE7, there where hundreds of times I was jaw dropped by what happened in the story, where as this, I just kind of said, "Saw it coming...". Really, the best part about the story and plot is seeing the older characters from FE7 come back some how, or have relatives/sons/daughters that make appearances, reminding you of how AWESOME they where, compared to this cast of characters.
Really, the Main Character was a lot of miss here, and not a lot of hits. Really, Roy is nothing special and to be honest, his father was more interesting and Roy's growth as a Leader/Prince isn't as strong as what happens to Eliwood. Plus, Eliwood had more drive at the end of the story to "save the world" and really, FE7 story is A LOT more tragic then this one. Again, this might be because I played other FE games before this one, but really, I don't find the Roy that strong of a Main Character when as a Fire Emblem standard. A lot of people compare Roy to Ike, saying Roy was better then Ike, but I would say that Ike is actually the successor to Roy! My reasoning for this is although the 2 are similar in the idea that they need to raise an Army, Roy is already a prince and his character is just kind of given everything without ever really earning it. Ike on the other hand, has to earn his place and goes from lone mercenary to commander of an entire army, not to mention he is fighting for more then just his nation, but also for revenge, his family's protection, and the because he was "forced" into a position he didn't want to be in, but he learns to except it and becomes a great warrior and memorable character out of it. I mean, regardless of what I say about the main characters or the fact you aren't in it, the story is still pretty good, don't get me wrong on that, but it's like Naruto really. A lot a good potential, just not as good as it could of been. For me, story was in the 3 way tie of the weakest parts of the game, but I will save that for later.
So now, back to the characters, the second weakest part of the game for me. Like I said before, A LOT of miss and not a lot of hits. Sure, it's a lot of personal tastes, but a lot of the characters, I really didn't care for all that much. A few that come in mind that I liked, and that was Ellen, Dieck, Chad, Clarine, Sue, Fir, Lalam, Cath (only cause she was a pain to get xD), and of course, Karel, but that really doesn't count considering he is in FE7 as a playable character as well. Everyone else, I either didn't care at all for, or I just though where ok. I can't even think of a boss/villain I liked either, with the exception of Idenn, Brunya, and Zephiel, but that is about it. In FE7, I loved SO many of the characters, I can't even list them all, especially the villains in the game, a lot of them joining your team, with one of them actually being one of Negel's elite warriors (of course I am talking about one of the strongest and most bad @ss characters in any Fire Emblem game, Jaffar the Assassin). I mean, the few I can think of on the top of my head from FE7 are Lyn, Hector, Eliwood, Serra, Erk, Rebecca, Guy, Pricilla (she is a BEAST if you train her!), Ravan, Canas, Dart, Hawkeye, Karel, Harken, Farina, Nino, Jaffar, Karla, Vaida, and Athos, and that isn't even including the villains I love in the game, like Sonia, Limstella, Ephidel, Llyod and Linus, and Ursula. You see what I mean. I just listed a my favorite characters off the top of my head from FE7, I can't even do that with FE6's characters aside from the mains like Roy and Lilina, but I don't even like those two main characters. IDK why, they just don't appeal to me as the trio lords of Lyn, Eliwood, and Hector from FE7, along with the rest of the cast. Plus, unlike the FE7, we only get to hear from Roy's perspective, not branching out and fallowing three of them. Also, this may be a personal grip, but YOU aren't in the game. Yah, if any remember, YOU where the strategist of the group in FE7, and at the end, you became known as the Legendary Strategist who helped him defeat the last boss and save the land of Bern. In this game, they don't even exist in this game, as if you didn't do anything. True, this could of been because they never intended it to be in FE7 originally, but at least the strategist should be mentioned. Plus, it takes you out of the experience and doesn't make draw you in as much. As I said before, it's a personal grip, but it sucks that YOU aren't even in that game regardless. Again, maybe it's cause I played the sequel first, but the characters here aren't as impressive as say FE7 or FE10. Also, on a positive note before I move on, the script, as always, is written very well, but that's Fire Emblem staple, so that really doesn't surprise me xD
So, now that I am done talking about the story aspect of the game, let's move onto the gameplay and difficulty. Really, this is where the game shines in my opinion. Any Fire Emblem fan will tell you one of the most attractive things about these games is it's addicting and unique gameplay, and this entry is NO exception. Like other Fire Emblems before it, the game is a Turn-Based Strategy game, with on over-top view of the playing field (like a board). Really, the best way to put it, this game is a BIG, more complicated game of chess, except with more pieces and more things to think about. A lot of the time, you are OVERWHELMED with enemies and although the battles in this game are not as big as say FE7 or some of the ridiculously HUGE levels found in FE10, they are still pretty big battles and considering how old it is, its a good scale for the game. This leads us to the battle system. Well, with the battle system, there are 2 types of units: Physical Attackers and Magical Attackers, which each having it's own classes within the attackers. The Physical Attackers focus on physical attacks, using Swords, Lances, Axes, and Bows. The Magical Attackers us magic spell books that include Anima, Dark, Light, and Healing Staffs. Each unit types have classes, like I said before, each with it's own special abilities, with most classes having a "Promotional" class above the basic one, with either an increase in the special ability and adding new skills such as more weapons or increase in a certain stat. Along side the complexity of each units class and stats, there is also a weapons triangle (Sword beats Axe, Axe beats Lance, and Lance Beats Sword) and magic triangle (Anima beats Light, Light Beats Dark, and Dark beast Anima), with the only 2 not affecting the triangle being the bow and staff. Bows are distant only attacks and bow-users CAN'T attack at close range, with staffs being used for healers only being, being able to only heal characters and nothing else combat wise. So you see, it's pretty complex, not to mention special situations like weapon types, weapons specializing in certain class types, critical hit ratios, terrain effects, and so on. So you see, there is A LOT to think about strategy wise, of course some things not being added until FE7 and so one. Aside from a majority of similarities in gameplay, but others thing don't make it in. One of those is a missing class, The Assassin Class. Being the promotion of a Thief, the Assassin wasn't introduced until FE7 and although I personally was disappointed, I can't really count it against the game.
So with the basics of the gameplay discussed, I will talk about the difficulty and replay value of the game, before I finally discuss my final thoughts about the game. Difficulty wise, I am going to simply say this: THE GAME IS HARD! Simple as that, but the game isn't just hard. It's REALLY REALLY HARD! This game is not for new comers of the series. In fact, some Fire Emblem Fans might be turned off by the ridiculously brutal difficulty. Now, I have played and beat other hard games like Dante Must Die Mode on both DMC and DMC3, along with Hard mode of Ninja Gaiden Black, and Hard Mode on FE7, along with some others I can't think on the top of my head. This game on the other hand, is no where near the challenge I had with the other two games. I mean, it's not strategically hard like FE7, most of your losing being because YOU didn't think something through, but the sometime, the game just decides to kill you and make you lose for no reason what so ever! I mean, the game is never in your favor at all, even with a character with high defense or high luck. If it isn't 0, then the enemy has the possibility to hit you, literally. I mean, I have had enemy's kill me with 5% chance of hitting me! WHAT! I mean, I would hate to say it, but this game is almost broken, rather then just mentally challenging. I mean, if I can't really on my characters dodging an attack that has a 5% chance of hitting me or feel safe even though the enemy on has a 1% chance of getting a critical hit and lands one anyways (Yes, I have had that happen before!). I mean, I love a good challenge, but this is almost like Ninja Gaiden 2 hard! I just isn't fare! It doesn't help that once your character's die, they stay dead the entire game (there is no such thing as a Phenix Down in this game), thus making it more challenging because you strongest character will die because even though every enemy has about a 10-20% hit rate, they still ALL manage to hit you, then you have to restart the chapter because you lost your strongest guy! Usually, I praise FE games for it's difficulty, but if I can't trust anything unless it's under 5%, then it's more stressful, especially with a game with characters that really heavily on chance (like the thief or swordmaster class)! I mean, if a game gives you unit with high luck, then that should apply to your hit/miss and critial hit ratios, shouldn't it? In this game, the only thing that helps you in that category is staying on the trees, and sitting a throne apparently makes you go up 30% in evasion? I don't get it either, but that doesn't help with the super difficult bosses. I guess, I just feel the game is against you all the time, never giving you a break and taking every opportunity to make you lose and then laugh in your face because it made you lose to a stupid game of chance. I mean, in FE7, characters with high luck usually dodge anything that is 50% or lower, in this game, characters with that SAME stat of chance, can only 25% or lower! I mean, I guess would love to say that FE6 normal is FE7 hard mode, but really, there is NO Fire Emblem game with that kind of difficulty curve, and this sucks for someone like me who like to beat the game without letting characters guy, while I get them all, and when character that rely on luck and they die, I might as well go with characters with high defense and just get hit, but the enemy's crowd around characters like that, and gang up and kill them anyways... I mean, I guess I am saying that it always seems the AI has EVERYTHING that can kill you. It knows your every play and ALWAYS has better equipment then you, even if you just went to the shop, the enemy will have some super weapon you can't even buy yet, then kill you with it, and unless you have basic FE knowledge and know how to beat the enemies, then you are screwed. There is no tutorial here, so if you haven't played a FE game, this game is NOT for you, because the game does not explain at all how to play. Sure, their is a tutorial in the extra options, but that is just text and doesn't even show you how to play, like FE7 did, plus once you beat the game, you can turn off tutors in the second playthrough. I mean, call me a Noob or whatever, but this game's difficulty is unfair and broken, but if you can get passed that, I guess you can enjoy this. Again, maybe it is because I have played past FE games, but this games difficulty is far from perfect and luckily, they perfected its difficulty in FE7! In FE7, everything is far: everyone has the same stuff, they don't show stuff unless you can get it, and the difficulty goes from easy to hard (unless you are playing hard mode), where this game comes out swinging to kill you, even at the first level! I would rather have difficulty that ascends up and becomes hard as the game progresses and is skill-wise difficult (meaning YOU are the problem, like you didn't dodge roll in time, you got hit to much, or you didn't think everything through), not difficult from the start just to be difficult. Really, it's like Ninja Gaiden 2: the difficulty is just broken and the game finds new ways that unless you know, you are going to die, A LOT! I mean, it's not I WANT TO BE THE GUY impossible hard (Yes, I do know about that unbearably difficult game), but it's just unfair really and doesn't ever give the player a chance. Is it satisfying when you beat a level, yah, it is, but really, it's not as satisfying when you beat it with skill like in DMC or FE7. This is just either luck or mastering the level, or being cheap somehow. It's just not as satisfying as beating a level in FE7 really...
So, now that I am done ranting about the games difficulty, let's talk about one of the best things about Fire Emblem games: Replay Value, otherwise the 3rd weakest part of the game. FE always has great ways to add replay value to the game, weather it's extra stages, stage grading, game ratings to see your scores, support conversation trees, music to collect, extra stages when certain conditions in a level are met, new characters, new difficulties, and all sorts of other stuff. With this game, the Replay Value of the game is very weak on a Fire Emblem standard. I mean, sure, you have to standard like Gaiden Chapter (extra chapters for doing certain requirements in a level. Think Bonus Missions that sometimes, hold extra characters), Hard Mode, and Sound Room with all the music, but here's what else it has: You can unlock certain character for multiplayer after you beat the game a certain amount of times, with the final character unlocked at 10 times! Look, I could barely get through the first playthrough, but 10 times! I mean, yah, this comes in later games like FE10, but guess what: I can see myself playing that game 10 times in a row and you unlock them as playable characters in the campaign, not just multiplayer maps! Multiplayer isn't even that fun anyways, considering it's just a stadium with units to attack. You don't even move, you just fight other peoples units, which takes out all the strategic value it. Now granted, this was in FE7, but FE7 didn't focus on it! It was just an added bonus to pass the time really, plus with FE7's, you can fight CPU, with this, it's a real person or no one, which means you don't even get to fight the characters you unlocked anyways, and aside from Eliwood, Hector, and Zephiel, none of the characters are worth unlocking! Also, there is no way to view the Support conversations you had throughout the game, which sucks cause those are some of the best parts of the game and it makes you want to play again and again to collect them all and get all the conversations! And again, because there is no multiple character in FE6, there is no added story arcs like what was in FE7! Only good thing here for replay value is the trial maps you unlock, which are extra challenge stages, that where found in FE9 and 10 as well. They are cool, but they are even harder then the main game, so I didn't really play them all the much, and really, FE9 and 10's are just more interesting then these ones. So, I guess what I am trying to say is, the replay value is good and if you want everything in the game or if you try doing a speed run, I am sure you will be happy with the replay value here, but for me, the Replay Value isn't as strong as say FE7's or FE10's.
So, now we are down to final thoughts about the game. So, I guess I will start with this: Do I think this game is horrible? No, I don't. Do I think it's perfect? No, at least not as perfect as FE7 was. Do I think it's a good FE game? Yes and No. Really, what happened is what happens with Naruto and FF7: OVER HYPE! People told me, "this game is the best in the series" and "Your not a true Fire Emblem Fan unless you played FE6 and liked it!" and granted, yes, there where some aspects I like about the game, like the Sealed Sword is cool, the Dragon-Girl Class is awesome, and some of the characters I really liked, but aside from little things, the game either does some SAME things FE7 did, or FE7 has better or does something better then FE6 did and granted, it's a earlier game before that and maybe I would think differently if I played this game before FE7, but here's a thought: I don't think I would be such FE fan if I played this game first! I mean, I probably would of given up on the series after getting my @ss handed to me so much with it's unfair difficulty and think to myself, "these games aren't worth the effort.". Usually, I don't give a game lower grades for difficulty, but this game is so unbalanced and so broken with difficulty, I feel bad if I don't give it a lower grade. Aside from that, a predicable and disappointing story, poor and overall none appealing characters, and lack of replay value really hold this back. Don't get me wrong, it's really solid game, with great gameplay mechanics, well written script, and cool references to FE7, but aside from that, this game can't be saved by just those 3 factors. Really, would consider this the "FF7" or the "Naruto" of Fire Emblem games. The hype and fanbase is just so over-the-top and give it so much credit, that it ends up disappointing you in the very end because you find out its' nothing to what people made it out to be. Really, as much as I hate doing this, I find this to be the weakest of all 5 of the FE games I have played, right under Fire Emblem 8. I give the over-rated Fire Emblem 6 a generous 7.5 out of 10, mostly saved by gameplay and the fact it continues the story of FE7, even if it's inferior to FE7's story. As much as I wanted to think and hope this game would be great, it's just more disappointing and doesn't live up to the expectations it presented. If you want to play a Fire Emblem game, play FE7 for the GBA. It's a much better game and just fixes everything found in this game. Unless you REALLY want to find out what happens in the Land of Bern after FE7, if you are a HUGE fan of Roy, or you are trying to complete your collection and play all the FE games, then that would be the only reason I would recommend this to you. Other then that, this game is just average in my eyes and in Fire Emblem standard, but is only worse because it doesn't live up to the hype or appeal people say it has (Again, just like Naruto and FF7). It still pretty solid, but it would of been better if I would of went in blind I guess. Really, as a Fire Emblem Fan, I am more disappointed this game isn't as good as my fanbase says it is, but I will say without this game, there would be NO FE7, and that I can always thank it for :)
I am sora_heart and I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this. Be sure to check out my other reviews and expect more reviews in the near future! I will see you all in my next review, whenever and whatever that is :)