Let's Talk About Fire Emblem

Do you have that game that you just always seem to go back to when you're stressed or having a bad time? Like comfort food, but a game. A comfort game. It can be a little different for everyone. I know people who like to play Minecraft and Stardew Valley for the bright colors and relative freedom. I also know people who like to play games like Dark Souls or Elden Ring and I couldn't tell you why. Those people are a different breed. For me, that franchise is Fire Emblem.

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I started on the games like any kid started on a series that grew into an adulthood obsession - my mom handed me Awakening because she was about half certain it worked on my DSi. Luckily, she was right. I remembered playing that game for hours on end. The characters were interesting and the plot was beautiful. It was twisted and turned in just the right way that my little brain could grasp what was happening while still keeping it well-told. Later I learned that the reason Awakening was such a phenomenal game was because the company was on the verge or collapse and it was supposed to be a fond farewell to their longtime fans. In the end, the game managed to bring Intelligent Systems back from the end. It wouldn't be completely off base to say that Fire Emblem also became the foundation for many tactical role-playing games. It also became the foundation for my own obsession with the genre.

From there, we got Fire Emblem Fates to... mixed reviews. Not to say the game itself wasn't good. It took it's fantastic storytelling from Awakening, along with a few well written characters, and even gave

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players the option for branching paths. Depending on which game you bought, you would side with a Awakening that gives the character a little more background, but it was mostly made for the joy and satisfaction of the player. Not bad. It was that the game allowed you to romance your sibling - blood related or not. That was... not okay. It was a not okay thing that Intelligent Systems did. Still, if you completely avoided that, which you had the option of, the gameplay was rather fun which you can see from the upsetting 4/5 on Eurogamer. (I, personally, think there are a few things that should put it lower. You know what I'm talking about.)

After that we got Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, a cute remake that did okay, and Fire Emblem Heroes. Heroes was an app, and my pre-Pokémon Go high school obsession. For the older fans, it let you take characters from different games, make a team, and fight through different levels and with other players. (My team was composed almost entirely of dragons.)

Then... there was Warriors. It's a solid game. It performed fairly well, getting a 7.5/10 on Polygon. But it was a hack-and-slash. When I saw there was a new Fire Emblem Game coming out, I was thrilled. So thrilled that I did just about no research. I knew, on a base level that it was a hack-and-slash and not the tactical rpg that I loved, but I still bought it. To say I was disappointed was an understatement. Granted it was mostly my own fault.

Moving on from there, we got the best selling game in the franchise - Three Houses. I preorder this game and grabbed it the day it came out. Within the first two days or owning it, I put forty hours on the game and beat my first playthrough and I still wasn't done. Three Houses was the game that learned from it's predecessors, and when I talk about my comfort game, this is the one I mean. It gives the

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characters freedom of choice, you can choose which of four paths you want to take and none of them are inherently wrong. Being primarily character driven, each path you choose to follow is based on what someone believes and your job is to help guide them. It also opened a new mechanic where you could move your unites into any class you wanted. Where older games limited most character to a few primary ones, Three Houses let you choose. It also kept the support mechanic, but instead of random topics of discussion, the characters talked about their past and experiences. Even with over two hundred hours on the game, I still haven't unlocked all the lore because all of the characters haven't interreacted. Holding a solid 9.5/10 on IGN, no one can deny that it's inherently a good and well made game.

Now, in 2022, after waiting a long three years, we're finally getting a new game. And... it's another hack-and slash and I'm going to buy it. The new game, supposedly focuses on the key branching paths that was introduced in Three Houses and is, I can say with some confidence, going to be a huge lore drop for a lot of players. It does, however, seem to implement the free-time mechanic that was introduced in the previous game, giving the players a little bit more freedom for what they want to do and freeing it from the repetitive nature of Warriors. Hopefully.

We don't have to talk about the fact that my favorite game is a wartime role-playing game. The franchise itself is amazing and makes good games with deeply flushed out stories and characters that are just enjoyable. As they proved with Awakening and Echoes, Intelligent Systems is a company that makes games for the fans. Each game learns from the last. Hack-and-slash or not, I'm actually a little excited to play Three Hopes. With rumors of new games on the distant horizon, I can't wait to see what the future of Fire Emblem has in store.