Fire Emblem: Awakening (Nintendo 3DS)

As a newcomer to the Fire Emblem series, I have to confess I do not think I am the target demographic. I am a JRPG fan, for sure, but I’ve generally avoided these ‘tactial’ RPGs because they feature a few characteristics that I have always found more frustrating than enjoyable, and more restrictive than liberating. Namely: the need to constantly restart (re-roll) in order to get optimal results, and the fortune of RNG (‘random number generation).

On the plus side, Fire Emblem Awakening features a compelling story, a huge cast and is utterly engrossing, for the most part. I can’t fault the effort that has been put in to this. If you enjoyed previous Fire Emblem games, or other tactical RPGs such as Final Fantasy Tactics, or Disgaea, you probably already know and love the series and own the game. If not, I would say there’s still plenty to enjoy here and if you can find it at a reasonable price (no longer so easy) it is well worth the investment. The game also features an ‘easy’ mode for newcomers which removes the game’s usual permadeath function and provides additional information during combat to help you make informed combat decisions.

So what am I griping about? Well, its the same problem I have had with other heavily scripted tactical RPGs, that is to say those tactical RPGs which do not feature randomised battles. I have already moaned about this with Valkyria Chronicles (which also suffered from this problem) and that is, the game does not reward improvisation, and it utterly punishes any error. The gameplay loop seems to consist of constantly restarting a battle in order to fathom (or obtain through the mercies of RNG) the ‘optimal’ approach to each scenario. If you fail to follow the ‘optimal’ path, you will be punished (in Fire Emblem you will be punished by the permanent loss of a character!) At times, you can feel as if you are fighting against the very game you are trying to play.

For example, in one early mission you are tasked with saving a villager who takes 2-3 turns to reach. The trouble is, she starts the level surrounded by archers who, in the first turn, will shoot at her. If these archers hit, or if even one of them causes critical damage, it is entirely possible she will die in the first turn thanks to RNG. That’s it – she’s dead, she’s gone utterly from your campaign and erased from the game. After this happened, I was a little gob-smacked and assumed I had done something wrong. After much searching on the internet, the answers were all the same: if you want her to survive (and why wouldn’t you?) you must keep restarting until you get an outcome favourable to this. In other words: there is an optimal way for this level to unfold, and you are going to have to keep restarting until you get it.

Ultimately, this type of game has its fans – and I cannot fault the quality of the presentation, but it is going right next to Animal Crossing on my shelf of ‘I just don’t get it’.