Today’s game is Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave. I picked up a physical copy used from my local area and have been playing it all day. Especially handy because I went to a Party and while everyone else was passed out I got to sit by myself and play.
Fire Emblem has kind of always been a special franchise for me. Winter of 2021 I was in a rough spot and bought my 3DS and modded it. At that time Fire Emblem was that weird franchise in Smash with all the sword guys. I had decided to try Fire Emblem Fates, it resonated with me in a way that I don’t think many games have since.
Anyways. I was surprised when I found out they were already making a DLC. It kind of has my hopes high this game will hit the same for me as Fates once did. The soundtrack alone is already really good and I like it. That’s pretty standard for Fire Emblem for me though.
So far I’ve found the gameplay to be really enjoyable. I decided to play in Hard Mode for a challenge. I’m thinking of lowering it though because I’ve gotten stuck on this bit with the braziers. I know the logic behind it. But I just can’t seem to get it right. I’m 4 attempts in so maybe attempt 5 will be the go.
So far Leda has been my favorite character. I find her story interesting and the whole musician thing is cool. I like these support classes, though I am used to them just giving other units another turn.
Tomorrow I’ll give it another go. I don’t want to lower the difficulty but I may have too just to pass this roadblock.
Be ready for loooong bullshit. I’m more than one hundred hours in and only ending the second “part one” (there are 4, then a common part two as far as I understand).
This game has good moments, but it doesn’t respect the player’s time. Leda’s part in particular felt like it took hours to let me do something.
If the writing was good, that might be less of a problem, but, it mostly isn’t. Awkward and very stilted at times.
Dietrich’s part does drop some major and rather crazy lore about “those who slither in the dark” from three houses and about ancient human history though. From what I’ve seen in Leda’s path and the impressions I got from meeting the other two sets of characters, it feels like Dietrich’s is the one part that has a lot of ties to the other game.
That’s really long, I’m used to Persona 5 Royal and Persona 3 Reload. Persona 5 took me 124 hours to finish.
That’s a bit worrisome, I usually have about 1-1.5 hour game time. Might be even less soon because of new work, lol. Would you recommend the game (despite I have not played any other Fire Emblem)?
I really don’t think I would. If you want one that at least gives you stuff to do from the beginning and is easier to fast-track (but still fairly long if you want to do everything and talk to everyone) I’d say go for Three Houses first. I liked it.
I didn’t play Engage, its presentation and character design made me nope the hell away, so I have no opinion.
If you want to experience some good Fire Emblem that are just a cool, simple fantasy story and focus on the core tactic battle gameplay, my favorite ones would be Fire Emblem GBA (that’s its western title, it’s actually FE7), Sacred Stones also on the GBA, Path of Radiance on Gamecube (Radiant Dawn on the Wii is its direct sequel, wouldn’t recommend starting with that one).
Special mention for Fire Emblem Echoes - Shadows of Valentia on the 3DS. It’s a remake of a very old game (Gaiden, FE2 on the famicom) which means it has kind of very basic battle rules compared to all the others I listed. However the presentation is incredible, and I really liked what they did to the dialogue and music. Very enjoyable for its characters IMO.
Awakening and Fates on the 3DS have their fans. I’m not one. I think they make all characters one-dimensional and unbearable, they suffer from terminal anime-tropeness and their focus on breeding just makes everything weird. Yeah. Really.