Wednesday, February 6, 2013

My First Crusade in Fire Emblem


The turn-based strategy genre is one that I've always avoided. I remember attempting to play games like Shining Force and Advance Wars in the past and having trouble grasping the gameplay. The hex-based grids that the player navigates in order to defeat their enemies always felt overly complicated to me. I remember feeling the same way about turn-based RPGs as well until Final Fantasy VII tore down that wall for me and I ended up loving the genre. With the release of X-COM: Enemy Unknown, which ended up being one of my favorite games of 2012 thanks to the fantastic tutorial included, I wanted to delve deeper into this genre. Is there a game that could help me through that hurdle in the strategy genre like Final Fantasy VII did for me? Well I am now attempting to to find out if Fire Emblem: Awakening is that game.

Controversy around Fire Emblem: Awakening struck this week due to shipping errors on Nintendo's part. The game was scheduled to release on Sunday, February 3rd and retailers never received their copies of the game; however, the Nintendo e-Shop digital download version popped up as scheduled Sunday. Gamers were in a frenzy this week trying to find the game and preorders at many Gamestop stores could not get enough copies to cover their preorder numbers. The whole fiasco was quite a mess, where gamers ran to the message boards sharing stories of their struggles to obtain a physical copy. Many gamers gave up and simply bought the digital version, but at no price reduction and the game filling up half of the included 2GB SD card, the digital version seems like a bum deal. Lucky for me I was able to snag a copy Monday night at a Target store.


Currently I have logged about two hours into the game and I am happy to say that I am actually enjoying it. The game does indeed include a well-made tutorial that helps the player ease into it's mechanics. The core battle system is pretty easy to understand but hard to master, since the right unit placement, the right weapons, and the right items are needed to be successful. Thankfully, Nintendo included many difficulty levels to help tailor the experience to a wider audience. I decided to play the game on the easy difficulty, yet still keeping the perma-death feature enabled that will result in a permanent loss to the unit if they fall in battle.  I like the fact that my fallen comrades will be lost forever since it makes me care more about them and want to play the game smarter, but I do find myself restarting each mission if I lose one of them or fail to recruit a new member. I've already lost the starter healer character, which I'm bummed about since she was very useful.

Like X-COM, I really enjoy the customization found in Awakening. Recruiting new members, leveling them up when they survive battles, equipping them with gear and abilities, and pairing them with other characters to enhance relationships are all really enjoyable elements to the game. From what I've played so far, it seems that there isn't any actual role-playing elements like exploring towns, overworlds, or talking to NPCs like some of the games in this genre has, but the game does include a pretty good story with a lot of cutscenes and dialog in between skirmishes. The game will at times let you break off and pick up side-quests or visit shops to pick up new gear, allowing the player to deviate from the game's set path.

I can see myself putting a lot of time into Fire Emblem: Awakening. I've been looking for a new 3DS game to pick up that offers a deeper experience than most games found on the handheld. Awakening's reviews have been stellar so far; many claiming that the game is the first killer app for the 3DS. The fact that the game is flying off of store shelves will hopefully make Nintendo think twice before they screw North American gamers out of Japanese RPGs. I will report back once I progress further into the game and see if I become an official Fire Emblem fan.




No comments:

Post a Comment