There’s a simple joy to the cerebral gymnastics involved in intensely studying an opponent’s stats and movements.
There’s no rock-paper-scissors weapons mechanic to help dictate which units counter which, adjacent allies don’t doubleteam enemies or shield each other from attack, enemies and maps offer very little variation, and my dreams of hooking up devil-may-care mercenary Saber with pious priestess Celica were dashed because there’s no marriage system.Īs time went on, however, I came to fully embrace the more straightforward style. At first I was disappointed by the lack of features. That means that combat -even with a few modern tweaks-isn’t nearly as deep or nuanced as it is in modern Fire Emblems. There's a cerebral joy to studying an opponent's movementsĪlthough Echoes is a fully tinseled remake of a 25-year-old game, its roots are still firmly grounded in the past. On the other hand, I liked the addition of the Convoy, an inventory management system that allowed each of my two armies to visit travelling merchants in towns and send supplies to the other team, a convenient feature for when arms reserves got low or my mages needed an extra wine break between casting spells. I'm aware it's meant to add a strategic element to enemy encounters, but swapping tired units for fresh ones or wasting a turn in combat so a Paladin can use a sack of flour as a feedbag grew tiresome. I’m not crazy about being tethered to this “glass cannon” mechanic, where you can dish out damage but you can't really take it. Since doing just about anything related to special abilities – from drawing a bow to throwing a fireball – drains HP and increases fatigue (a sort of inverted stamina bar), I had to keep an eye on both armies’ limited inventory as they quaffed nourishing wines and nibbled cheeses to replenish themselves. Fights with enemy soldiers and their monstrous minions, known as Terrors, broke out everywhere and often. The teens have two different missions on opposite sides of Valentia, which meant I spent most of the 30ish-hour adventure shuffling their respective armies between battlefields on the world map. The ensuing drama is even better when fortified by the addition of well-made animated cutscenes and strong voice acting. A hackneyed premise? Yup, but it still makes for a good soap opera, one that wildly oscillates between joy and sorrow as the heroes slowly unspool the truth behind the unending war.
War and tactics are the backbone of any Fire Emblem, and – surprise! – the story is all about guiding not one but two armies led by a pair star-crossed teens named Alm and Celica against an evil empire attempting to conquer the continent of Valentia (because there is always an evil empire).
0 kommentar(er)
