Review SIGINT 4/5 · Jan 1, 2021
Appropriate amount of houses
Over the years, I tried 5 different Fire Emblems across 4 different consoles, hoping to get into the series and always bouncing off them for various reasons. With this latest installment, I finally found the one to grab me.
This is not a 10/10 game, but nonetheless I had a great experience playing it. A few reasons why:
- The gameplay …
Over the years, I tried 5 different Fire Emblems across 4 different consoles, hoping to get into the series and always bouncing off them for various reasons. With this latest installment, I finally found the one to grab me.
This is not a 10/10 game, but nonetheless I had a great experience playing it. A few reasons why:
- The gameplay on Normal with permadeath turned off was a challenge, yet felt extremely accessible and never too punishing. By far the most approachable any strategy game has felt to me.
- Characters are really entertaining, with standout designs and personal stories that, while cliché at times, mostly ended up worthwhile. I grew quite attached to some characters through their personal and gameplay development.
- The game’s pace is excellent, always allowing you to choose what you want to do and leaving long breaks between tough encounters. The month-by-month structure makes the game impossible to put down.
- The job system and progression of characters are handled really well, just flexible enough to let you shape your party how you want it. I loved tinkering with it.
A few things I’m mixed on:
- Presentation can be hit-or-miss, with lots of awkward animations and cutscenes, as well as jarring sound effects and things that can derail serious moments.
- Voice acting can occasionally be kinda cringe in that anime type of way where they don’t talk like real people. I think I would have preferred a slightly more grounded direction for a story that gets so serious.
- Some of the systems driving interpersonal relationships are kind of ridiculous, especially the tea party minigame. Recruiting of other houses’ students being gated behind Byleth’s stats feels pretty dumb.
- Choosing how you spend each day is great, yet a bit too restrictive. I should be able to do, say, just one battle then various social activities, but I have to pick one or the other even when I have enough Activity points.
The main theme of the game, to
