Fire Emblem Gaiden (1992)

Got to chapter 4. This game is a bit easier than Fire Emblem 1, and you can grind levels if you want. I haven't done much grinding, because it doesn't seem nearly as difficult as Fire Emblem 1 was, so there is pretty much no need with a well rounded group makeup and averagely leveled team. Speaking of strategy, the maps are a lot less creative than FE1's, so far. It feels like they didn't put as much thought into the strategic elements, as much as they decided to overload maps with enemies, which if you couldn't beat on the first try, a small trip to a grinding spot would put you over that hump. There are quite a few maps where it's just a blank canvas with tons of enemies that come at you at once. Strat just isn't nearly as important as level is, in those cases.

Loving the game so far though. The plot premise started off strong with two separate heroes journeys that would ultimately come together, but there hasn't really been enough exposition to flesh it out, not to mention the heroes in question are separated once again shortly after uniting. Maybe they will come together to fight in the last chapter. Maybe not. I guess this as much as you can expect from a NES game.

The gameplay is what's carrying the game for me right now, despite lacking the strategic creativity of later installments, it's still fun to beat enemies down, level up, learn new abilities, and promote. I'm thankful for the change of pace given how difficult FE1 was. I'm also impressed with how many available units there are for Alm's and Celica's parties. Characters both in number and diversity have always been the series strong suit.

Either way, trucking along... I hope to be done with this game in the next week or so, and to finish up my current games in progress so I can start some games I've been dying to play/replay.

Already on chapter 3. I like that you can grind a little bit unlike the original Fire Emblem. It seems ahead of its time in that it focuses on two separate heroes journeys instead of one, and their paths intersect until they ultimately(Im guessing) come together.

As for issues I have with the game, it seems that the miss rate is incredibly high. I've had characters miss with a full accuracy bar, miss 4/5 times with 75% accuracy and amost always miss with 50% accuracy. The bosses don't seem too difficult either, they're just very cheap in that most of your abilities hit them for one damage, so you have to trickle down their hp while keeping your tanks alive.

The summoning monsters are kind of obnoxious as well, as they can unleash a near unlimited amount of units on the map, so that some battles seem never-ending. I'm glad this mechanic doesn't make itself too prevalent in most of the series, besides this game and Sacred Stones, I believe. A map that should be done in an hour can stretch to 2 or 3. Oh god, yeah those animations are quite time consuming as well.

Other than that, it's been an enjoyable romp so far. I think the plot is great, the characters are cool and interesting, and there are some very welcomed mechanics found in this game, that aren't present in the rest of the series like unlimited use abilities/weapons, the ability to promote early without severe penalties, and being able to revive dead units, should you choose not to reset(but what true Fire Emblem fan doesn't reset). I'm loving it so far, but I'm expecting it to kick into another level of difficulty soon. Uh oh.

Surely, it'll seem like a cakewalk compared to Thracia 776. I keep hearing how that is the most punishing title in the series.