Topic: User Impressions/Reviews Thread

@colonelkilgore Thanks for reading! I can totally understand how a fan of the genre would absolutely fall in love with the game, and it was unquestionably a well-crafted, well-presented product (hallucination interruptions aside). Were I to judge it in isolation, I think it could be a personal GOTY contender and, given how tough it is to compete at a Triple-A level nowadays, maybe I should cut it some slack.

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@Th3solution I'll keep that in mind, thank you! Feudal Japan won't know what's hit it!

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@Ralizah Perhaps the script had to be straightforward and somewhat traditional, given the game's subject matter, so I won't hold its predictability against it too much, but it's still worth noting and, in an interactive experience dozens of hours long, you've got to be kept motivated. It's not like getting twenty minutes into a movie and thinking "well, it'll only cost me ninety more minutes to see if it picks up" or trying the first episode of a television show. There's a trick to telling a story via gaming.

To jump ahead and answer your question, I'm currently replaying Tomb Raider (2013) and, coming back to it straight after Ghost of Tsushima, it's really making me notice the importance of narrative pacing and providing a good balance of activity. And that's not necessarily because Tomb Raider gets either of those things right, either; it just has different priorities, s'all.

You're absolutely right, games in general aren't going anywhere, particularly not in this digital age (loss of licences and time-sensitive events notwithstanding). There'll always be a way to play. Having a preference for physical does make things slightly different, and pandemic-related supply and delivery issues have made a lot of folks understandably keen to "secure" something they want as quickly as possible, price be damned, but I'm sure it'll be a cold day in Satan's back yard when Sony allow a system-seller like Horizon: Forbidden West to disappear from stock entirely. And sure, there are those games that we really, really want to play at launch, but those generally work out to be the exceptions, not the rule.

Speaking of which, I'm sorry to hear that your copy of SMT V got delayed! Hope I didn't accidentally jinx it by wishing for its safe delivery so often! I don't blame you for grabbing that digital copy. I considered doing the same when Sonic Colours Ultimate got delayed, and literally had to sit on my hands at one point to stop myself. Sometimes, things are just that important. Will you now preserve your fancy physical edition, or can you continue a digital playthrough on a cartridge copy?

I wouldn't share your mother's look of extra-terrestrial suspicion, but I'm certainly in awe of those who can read subtitles without missing the action. Besides, after making it through The Americans (which, contrary to its title, is 50% a bunch of Russians speaking Russian) and struggling with its mis-aligned, error-laden subtitles, I didn't want to read my television unless it was absolutely necessary!

At least you've given an Assassin's Creed game a shot, no matter how briefly. I think I want to try one someday, but it's become a rather daunting series and I wouldn't know where to start. I'd probably just pick the Egyptian one, because Egypt, and then hate it because it's Part 24 of an ongoing saga.

Despite having never owned an Xbox myself, I can assure you that there are many, many better shooters than Halo out there. You've even reviewed some of them before!

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@mookysam Thank you, for reading both reviews and for being so generous about them!

Yeah, where did the rail shooter genre go? Seemed real popular back in the PSone and PS2 days, to the point where rail shooter levels would pop up in other games, mostly first-person shooters. Almost all of the EA Bond games have rail shooter levels, as did Killzone and many others. Along with that Rez demo, it meant that I got enough practice to be able to at least play them, if not well, but I still find it kinda odd that Rez Infinite remains the only dedicated rail shooter game in my collection.

Bingo, that's the phrase I was looking for! I was playing parts of Ghost of Tsushima on autopilot. I knew there was an apt description eluding me, thank you! And yes, I completely agree, clearing a nice map can be the ultimate way to relax and de-stress of an evening, and Ghost of Tsushima certainly has some tranquil busywork in that regard (composing haiku, for example) but when every single game offers you a similar experience, it stops being relaxing and starts becoming annoying. There just aren't enough hours (although such sentiment comes dangerously close to opening the whole "value for money" debate, which has ruined the reputation of many a great game in recent years, so I'll just hand this box back to Pandora and move rapidly on).

I really do think you'd enjoy Ghost of Tsushima but absolutely yes, if you're keen to play Forbidden West when it comes out, wait 'til the sales. I'd be interested in your thoughts, as and when, as you probably have a greater understanding of the history than I do.

@RogerRoger Open world games are interesting, because there's a sort of rhythm to the more formulaic ones, and people tend to either find it boring or soothing. I find, if I like the game, it's easy to enter a sort of zen state where you're barely even conscious of what you're doing for long stretches of time. It's the same sort of pleasure you might gain from casually and methodically cleaning up a garage, except the skinnerian game design supplements the checklists you're cleaning up with little rewards that keep you playing.

This is addicting, but can also make you feel weirdly unfulfilled after your mammoth play sessions. It's sort of like gorging on fast food.

I actually had no idea Tomb Raider featured Japan as a location at all. I've owned it on PC for years and never played it, and also bought it for cheaps on PS4 earlier this year (less than $4 in a digital sale seemed worth it). Maybe at some point I'll actually play it.

Yeah, I think my approach to buying games is going to change going forward, considering the size of my backlog and just how damn long it takes to play most of these things. I felt a little bad when I preloaded SMT V, since I already have an expensive physical version coming and it seemed like it was probably a bit of a waste of money. But then I realized that, despite my extravagance with this release, I was chomping at the bit to play it. That $150 or so I'm spending on the game is still going to one hell of a fun time (hopefully!), and I also get a fancy collector's item that'll probably fetch me double what I initially paid for it if I ever decide to sell it. Whereas how much money have I wasted now buying games on sale that I don't get to for years, or ever? 99.9% of these games aren't going to go away or stop going on sale any time in the near future. Going forward, purchases are reserved exclusively for games I'm actively super excited for. Everything else can wait however many years it takes me to get to them.

I think I'll just leave my collector's edition as a nice showpiece and play my digital version. It's objectively more convenient for someone like me with multiple Switch consoles. No need to juggle cartridges or even worry about backing up save data manually, because digital games can be configured so that, the moment you close out of them, the data backs up to the cloud and auto uploads itself to your other Switch consoles. It'll make going back and forth between my launch model and the Lite painless.

Growing up as a snooty teenage weeb helped train me to read subtitles like a champ, since so much stuff was Japanese-only, and the stuff that was dubbed in english was almost unlistenable half the time. The skill is probably harder to pick up if you don't cook it into your still developing brain at a young age.

Yeah, like, some of the AC games look interesting. Like, with the Egypt one, it apparently has some sort of educational mode where you learn about the history of the culture, and I actually really like that, but... y'know, I could probably watch some youtube videos on it for free and not have to deal with the janky gameplay and bizarre sci-fi metastory that connects the series together. It's like the Saw movies: the series kept just... chugging along with the same serialized narrative thread like some ultra-gory soap opera, and if you missed a movie you had no idea what the hell was going on in the newest entry.

I'm not especially miffed about missing out on Halo. It just struck me as funny. Like owning Nintendo consoles but never playing Mario games. Some game series are simply synonymous with their associated console brands.

@Ralizah Funnily enough, your first paragraph up there is an example of how I think achievements and / or trophies have helped modern gaming. Instead of standing back from your tidy garage to gain satisfaction, you get to look at your profile and see platinums, high percentages and increased levels as markers of your in-game accomplishments. I don't think trophies are necessary to enjoy a game (far from it) but, when it comes to these big Triple-A console exclusives and their dozens of hours of busywork, I often find myself drawing a line in the sand(box) between "yeah, I can spend time on this for a trophy" and "no, I don't think the trophy is worth the effort" and then each game's subsequent trophy completion percentage becomes a handy marker for its ability (or inability) to keep me invested.

It's still all just digital information at the end of the day, though, and I agree with your fast food metaphor which, you're right, is sometimes a necessary comfort but is also rarely nourishing.

Well, because I'm me, there'll probably be a Tomb Raider (2013) review coming to this topic soon, so I'll try and keep it relatively spoiler-free for you. Lara's been to Japan twice, but the first time was a visit to Tokyo in Legend, so it was an urban level. The country has such a rich mythology and beautiful ancient history, so I'm surprised more "rooms full of old things" adventures don't go there.

Your planned approach to making new purchases is very wise, I'd say. There are always exceptions to any rule, and it's clear you've been real excited for SMT V for many, many months now, so whilst I understand your conflict I do wholeheartedly agree with your choice to double-dip and download it. Especially since, as you say, you spend most of your time playing (and really enjoying) older games that you've found cheaper elsewhere, so it's not like you're pre-ordering three games a month at top dollar. It's definitely where I've ended up with my backlog, which is a healthy mix of older games I've always wanted to play, favourites that I want to replay, and upcoming releases I'll either pre-order because I'm a massive fan, or consider closer to the time. I currently only have one live pre-order, for LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. In previous years, I've had five or six stacked up and, in hindsight, it was never necessary.

That's a superb system for save management on Switch, and sounds very handy! Does it do that by default, without a subscription to Nintendo's online service?

Ah, so being able to read subtitles is like riding a bike, driving a car, learning a musical instrument or, indeed, a new language; it's easier to do when you're younger! Well, there's no hope for me, then. My brain reached capacity years ago. At least dubs are generally better quality nowadays!

That educational mode you mention is a big part of why I'd pick the Egyptian one (although I gather there was some controversy surrounding its predilection for historical revisionism, albeit flagged) but I completely agree, having to experience a chunk of the ongoing Assassin's Creed saga to get to it makes the idea less appealing. And then I'd have to look up primers, and suddenly I'm on YouTube anyway, so... yeah. I had no idea the Saw movies were written like that, but it's the same kind of problem a lot of these interconnected, serialised franchises have nowadays; to enjoy the bit that interests you, whether it be a show or a movie or even a book, you have to do your homework. It's kinda exhausting.

Ah, I see! My apologies; perhaps I didn't laugh at your lack of Halo because I own a Nintendo DS, and yet only have half a Mario game for it, so I don't find such apparent oversights all that unusual. In fact, out of my twenty-two DS games, only one is a Nintendo exclusive! What's wrong with us?!

Anyway, it's Friday now, so I'll stop bugging you with walls of text; really hope you enjoy (or are already enjoying) SMT V and that it lives up to the hype! Have fun!

@RogerRoger

That's a good approach to trophies. It's weird, because I both like and dislike trophies. There are definitely some games I've 100%ed on Switch and older platforms where I thought to myself: "Gee, it would've been nice to have something to commemorate this occasion." Sometimes, the trophy just feels like a part of the experience, and it's just slightly lesser without that meaningless digital badge to add to your collection. And there are plenty of games where the promise of a trophy motivated me to experience them more fully, which, on the whole, I feel is a good thing.

On the other hand, trophies can also undermine a sense of completion I have with a game. There are plenty of times I've beaten a game to my satisfaction but was a bit miffed to notice a low-to-mid trophy clear percentage. People can also become addicted to trophies to the degree that they refuse to even play on older, trophy-less platforms. And, of course, there's an entire cottage industry of rubbish games designed to give people "easy platinums."

For my part, I use complete trophy sets to commemorate games that really gripped me. Although I have my limits: as much as I loved (and played the hell out of) Rayman Legends, that trophy that requires grinding online challenges for months on end will never not be ridiculous.

That's an issue with Western adventure narratives in general. So many of them fixate on a few cultures and ignore vast swaths of largely buried history.

It's weird with Japan. So overrepresented in gaming media in general, yet aspects of its history and mythology are barely explored.

Replaying favorites is definitely something I need to do more of. Get off the treadmill of unplayed backlog and new games a bit, and revisit something I love. I've wanted to replay the Lunar games for years, for example, so I really should just make time for them soon. What's the point of keeping games if I never replay them, after all?

Didn't the Skywalker Saga LEGO games release on seventh gen consoles? Or is this a remaster?

Yeah, cloud saves are locked behind an NSO subscription. But it's worth it for me. Although it still annoys me that a number of first-party releases don't support the cloud saving feature.

Ah, so your brain works according to sitcom logic, then!

Infinitely better. Which, I suppose, is a natural result of the medium becoming more popular worldwide.

What sort of unfortunate event has to occur to own half a Mario game? Be careful around those buzzsaws!

I have around four hours or so recorded on my save file (closer to five, in reality, because I've died a lot thanks to my insistence on playing on the hardest difficulty), and I still feel like I've spent barely any time with the game today.

@RogerRoger

Rail shooters and tube shooters are a little self-limiting. Most modern ones seem to experiment with different trippy visuals and music, so lots of colours and house music, but I don't really see what else can be done!

I will gladly open the "value for money" Pandora's Box and say that a game being long doesn't necessarily make it a good use of a player's time, particularly if it outstays its welcome. Some of the most impactful experiences have been considerably shorter. It's funny, because back in the day a game being long was a genuine selling point, given how expensive games were and how cash-starved many youths tend to be. Now Ubisoft is releasing open-world everything, zipping from from 100-hour Assassin Creeds to Far Cry to Watch Dogs, with perhaps a side of Immortals: Fenyx Rising, and good lord it is just too much. And that's before we even get to Sony's heavyweight titles and the many, many other open-worlders on the market. The funny thing is I actually like these types of games, but it can't be all I play. And a much shorter game has considerably more replay value. I've replayed Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy IV many times because they're a nice, snappy 20 hours, where as I doubt I will ever replay Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

Tomb Raider 2013 is probably a great counter-balance to Ghost of Tsushima, given it's essentially linear. Maybe a few more shorter games will rid you of the open-world fatigue in time for Aloy's adventures in the west.

The only acceptable answer is Half Life 2, obviously.

@Ralizah Eek, I think I'd rather play Assassin's Creed Odyssey forever than deal with a garage! My family named our garage's resident arachnid Gigantor.

@Ralizah Same here. I initially hated trophies, and then I ended up liking them a bit too much, and placing too much importance on them, to the point where I wasn't enjoying my gaming. I can totally see all the arguments for and against, but the more they've become entrenched, the more I've come to accept them as yet another part of an ever-evolving art form (because you're right, some games integrate them beautifully) and find a personal use for them. I still hate how an odd-numbered percentage can trigger my OCD, though, especially since, like you say, it's not always possible to platinum a game, even if we really, really want to. I've never been able to earn a Bond platinum, for example. Got at least one from every other major series I like, but never Bond. It shouldn't matter, and it doesn't, but still.

Yeah, you think of Japan in gaming and you immediately think of near-future RPGs or contemporary stuff like Shenmue, Sleeping Dogs and the Yakuza series. That being said, I'd hate for the culture's history to be strip-mined, misrepresented and oversaturated (like so many others have been) so maybe it's for the best that it remains an occasional surprise.

Which reminds me, I've always wanted to play Ōkami. Must track down a copy.

I know, right?! Especially since so much of my collection has been with me since childhood, and has therefore been battered by many a move, so it's not like I shouldn't be replaying my copies to preserve them or anything. I hope you can find the time for the Lunar series, and other replays, soon. I find the nostalgia attached to certain games can get pretty intoxicating. Certain experiences can take me right back, and it makes them all the more enjoyable to rediscover.

No, that was The Complete Saga, which was pre-Disney. The Skywalker Saga is a brand new game featuring all-new levels from all nine numbered movies. It's been heavily delayed, probably because it's gonna end up being one of the largest LEGO games ever made, but it's a safe enough bet that I'm gonna adore it, hence the pre-order. And there's a limited edition which I wanted to secure.

Given how you play games across multiple Switch consoles, and how many Switch games you play, you're absolutely the kinda person who should have an NSO subscription, for sure. Shame the cloud save system isn't more ubiquitous, but at least SMT V has it!

[watches video] Wait, what's a YouTube?

Why, the 2010 Winter Olympics, of course!

Here's hoping you've been able to make a bigger dent in SMT V today (and apologies for distracting you with another lengthy reply)! It's always the way with new games, particularly those you're really hyped for. You wanna consume it all right away, and there just aren't enough hours in the day! Best of luck with that tough difficulty level (you utter madperson!!) and enjoy!

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@mookysam Yeah, I can't exactly see a standard rail shooter featuring a rich, cinematic storyline or infinite replayability or anything, so I suppose there are only so many possible variations. I'm sure the genre will see a resurgence someday, probably when the next big gimmick hits. Rez got on the VR bandwagon pretty early, but it would've also worked well with a Wiimote.

We are of the same mind, so thanks for bravely opening that box! I've just noticed it being a bit of a hot button issue in some comment sections, with some folks getting real angry if they finish something "too quickly" regardless of the quality of the experience. I suppose, if you've only got enough money for one game per year, and you finish said game in a weekend, then even the most mind-blowing, life-changing revelation is gonna leave you feeling a little short-changed on some level. Isn't that why older games tend to be harder, as well? Because they needed people to stick with them for longer (either to keep the rental market afloat, or to hide the fact that games couldn't be hugely detailed or diverse, regardless of actual completion time, thanks to technological constraints)? Although I have to chuckle at you calling a twenty-hour game "snappy" because, in my book, twenty hours is pretty hefty. I guess it really does come down to player preference, regarding what we each consider substantial, and therefore worthwhile.

Also, I love that you've used Pikachu, one of Nintendo's many mascots, to react to my comment against Halo, a Microsoft exclusive. The ironing is delicious!

I've never played Half Life 2. I tried playing the first game, and fell off it real quick. Wasn't for me.

@mookysam We had some gigantic spider that hung out in our window for a long time. Looking her up, though, she was totally harmless. Freaked out my nephew something fierce, but it wound up being a comforting sort of presence in the mornings for me.

@RogerRoger Can't snag the Bond trophies because of online integration, I'm guessing? When there are online trophies, I almost never even bother, since they're so time-limited and involve engaging with other humans, which I generally detest when I want to play a game at my own pace. At least Rayman's online challenges are against ghost data from other players. Asynchronous online multiplayer is generally the only sort I can stomach.

I played Okami a few years ago when the HD version released on Switch. I... wasn't a huge fan. Maybe you'll enjoy it more, but, given your lack of regard for traditional Zelda game design, I have my doubts about that. If absolutely nothing else, though, it is a very pretty game.

Ah, so it's all of the movies, and an entirely new game. I could see why you'd be excited for that. Hopefully it doesn't disappoint!

Pretty much every third party game supports the cloud saving feature. It's only Nintendo's developers who seem to look for reasons why they can't support a basic feature of NSO. Animal Crossing actually has some sort of cloud backup feature now, but it's a different system than the one used in NSO.

Ah, you're not keeping me from anything! Putting aside normal responsibilities, I have to take breaks occasionally, because if I play for too many hours at a time my eyes hurt and I get the beginnings of a headache. I have no idea how people who play games for 10+ hours at a time do it. I'd be a zombie by that point.

@Ralizah It's mostly that, yeah. Some of them also have a couple of difficulty-related, near-impossible single player trophies, as well. Blood Stone is the closest I've gotten; none of its single player trophies were too tricky, and it kept the online ones to a minimum, but nobody ever cared enough to keep a server consistently full. I gave a platinum run the ol' college try, but still came up short, and then Activision [spits] lost the licence and were forced to deactivate all of their Bond games' multiplayer modes anyway. It's part of the reason I'm with you, and usually ignore online multiplayer trophies, unless they're painfully easy to grab one evening, or just naturally attainable over time. I don't like being reliant upon, or measured against, others. I like the sound of those Rayman challenges! That kinda mode would certainly provide a different, more enjoyable kind of pressure!

Thanks for the heads-up regarding Ōkami there. Were you disappointed by its design, then? Was it that you found it a shallow imitation of better games, or was it something else? Let it be known that I'm not dead against games designed in the Zelda template, nor Zelda games themselves, so you never know. Still, I'll tread carefully, and look to fold it into my schedule when the time is right.

Better still, you can apparently approach all nine movies with complete freedom, so I can hungrily devour the prequels, get around to the originals in slow time, and ignore the sequels! Yippee!!

Good grief, that's so Nintendo! No offence, of course!

Ah, phew! Just didn't want you being unnecessarily polite when the last thing I'd wanna do is keep you from your shiny new game! Yeah, I'm the same. Three hours is usually my limit, maybe four if I'm utterly besotted with something, but I can definitely feel the moment when my body crosses a line and I start to get uncomfortable, and all I wanna do is walk somewhere for coffee.

@RogerRoger The Rayman online challenges are actually quite fun. It's one of my favorite platformers from last gen. I just hate that you have to grind them every day for months to get a particular trophy. I would have had the platinum trophy years ago otherwise, because I 100%ed the game.

OK, so Okami is styled after classic Zelda games, but, in general, in every way they're comparable, it's inferior. For example, the dungeon design in the game is just awful, and is lacking the strong theming and unique puzzles that make those locations so memorable in Nintendo's series. In place of the sometimes unintuitive overworld puzzles in Zelda games, you have even more unintuitive overworld puzzles that require you to make strokes with a celestial paint brush that's difficult to control. The only consistently easy way I found to control it was playing the game in handheld mode on the Switch and using the touch screen to make the brush strokes. Either way, it's finicky, and, even worse, integrated into combat, so you'll frequently have to slow combat to a crawl to awkwardly make paintbrush strokes to help defeat certain enemies. And the game frequently doesn't recognize the pattern you're trying to make (at least, in my experience), so you'll sometimes have to repeat some of the more complex patterns multiple times before they'll register.

Also, on a more subjective note, Amaterasu's traveling companion, Issun, is one of the most obnoxiously misogynistic characters I've ever met in a video game. Imagine if you were playing a Zelda game and your fairy companion spent most of it making gross comments about women's bodies.

IMO, it's a game whose strong reputation relies almost entirely on the gorgeously stylized presentation.

Maybe the sequels will be better in Lego form? I have to admit, the thought of the Holdo maneuver causing Star Destroyers to explode into millions of lego pegs makes me chuckle.

Oh yeah, that's definitely classic Nintendo. Third parties also made the best overall use of the Wii U GamePad. Nintendo likes to make stuff and then pretend it doesn't exist afterward. Granted, MOST Nintendo games also use the cloud save system, but some of the biggest titles that it would make the most sense for don't: stuff like Animal Crossing, Pokemon, Splatoon, etc.

I've definitely had a couple of 5 - 6 hour play sessions so far. Not usually my style, since I'm not one for doing the same activities for long periods of time, but it's hard to tear myself away. Actually, I've been fighting a boss as I type this.

@Ralizah Yeah, I did really enjoy Rayman (it was Legends I played, I believe) but not to that degree of commitment. That kinda mechanic just reminds me of some awful free-to-play mobile game, using a daily log-in bonus to try and secure more clicks, and therefore more ad revenue. Which wasn't what Rayman was up to, of course, so it's even more of a bizarre requirement...?!

You know, I might owe you an apology, because your paragraph about Ōkami (which I'm real grateful for) reads very familiar, to the point where I'm now convinced that I've asked you the same question at some point over the years, and you've given the same answer. If that is the case, then I regret causing you any repetition! Or it might've been a conversation you were having with somebody else, that I read in passing without getting involved. My sitcom brain must've deleted the necessary information to make room for Ghost of Tsushima sword stances or something. Sorry!

That is very interesting, though. I've always been curious about how it integrates the painting mechanic into its gameplay, and it sounds like the answer is "awkwardly", even with a touchscreen. Which is a shame, perhaps even moreso than Issun, who sounds like somebody I wouldn't be surprised to encounter in a Japanese product, however unfortunate that realisation may be. Hmm. I do remember magazine reviews for its PS2 launch focusing on the visuals, so I think you're right about its reputation.

With that trademark LEGO brick sound effect, yes!

Yeah, I try not to make unnecessary criticism, but Nintendo are a law unto themselves at times, and the fact that a system-seller like Animal Crossing has had to go and integrate its own, separate cloud save mechanic is a textbook example of that. I've always wished Nintendo all the success in the world, I think gaming would be in a terrible state without them, but they're so very baffling at times.

And wow, that's a level of multitasking I could never manage, right there! Sometimes I even struggle with having lyric-free music on whilst I type, so colour me impressed! Here's hoping you won!

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones Review – An incredibly engaging and addicting Japanese tactical RPG

Fire Emblem is a Nintendo franchise that has been around since the early 1990s but it didn’t arrive here in the West until 2003 with the game “Fire Emblem” on GBA. That game is the seventh entry in this long-running series and it introduced a lot of people to this franchise. Before this game, people had only known about Fire Emblem through characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee such as Marth and Roy. Because the series was getting more traction in the West, Nintendo decided to keep releasing the games here and the next one to come out was Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones on GBA in 2004.

The Sacred Stones takes place on the fictional continent of Magvel, which consists of six nations. It tells the story of two siblings, Ephraim and Eirika, who are the prince and princess respectively of the country Renais. The nations have experienced peace for a long time until one day Renais’ neighbouring country Grado decided to invade Renais and murder its king. There was no explanation for why as both nations have had a good relationship. This event forced the siblings to set out on a journey and investigate the cause behind all of this in order to prevent the world from falling into chaos.

As a whole, I thought the story did a good job of motivating you to keep playing. I was always looking forward to the next chapter as you travel from place to place and eventually reach the other countries. Because you’re traveling across the entire continent, it always felt like you were making a lot of progress and that’s a great way of encouraging the player to keep pushing forward.

It also opens up to a wide array of different maps and environments. One map could have you battle on a mountain range where having flying units and climbers are useful. Another could have you battle in the fog and you wouldn’t be able to see where the enemies are in order to plan your attack, but you could always use your mage’s limited torch to light the way. Other map environments include castles, beaches, volcanic places, rivers, deserts and many more. The environments aren’t just for show, they will actually affect how you’ll tackle each fight. For example, most maps work great for cavaliers but once you get to the desert, you’ll realise that their movement is severely impeded by the sand and have to use flying units or foot soldiers instead.

During the way, you meet tons of characters that you’ll be able to recruit to your team. At the end of the game, you could end up having access to dozens of units to use in battle. The point of this is to constantly provide new units to you as the game has perma-death, so if one unit falls in battle it’s lost forever. As a result, you’ll develop deep attachments to a lot of these characters over the span of the game. This encourages you to always think things through before making a move as it can cost that character’s life. Oftentimes you just restart the game when that happens but that means having to start a map over from the beginning and these maps can be incredibly long, taking at least an hour each to finish. In other words, you will want to make your moves as carefully as you can.

While the story was decent enough, it is the gameplay that truly shines and is the primary reason for playing this game. Fire Emblem is a tactical RPG where you move units from an overhead view on a grid-based area. The battles are turn-based so when you have moved all your units, it is the enemy’s turn to move theirs. Think of it like chess; each unit can move a certain amount of spaces and is able to deal different amount of damage depending on its class and weapons. The main system in place is called “the weapon triangle” where swords beat axes, axes beat lances and lances beat swords. There are other systems as well, such as flying units being weak to arrows or armoured units being weak to magic.

As each map gets progressively more difficult, you will have to really think about where to send your units as one place on the map could have units with all the weapon types. One typical strategy could then be to send your most defensive unit in order to draw them to you on the next turn and then you rush them with the rest of your units. Another is to attack from a distance with archers, flying units and so on while the enemies can’t reach you. There’s just so much depth to this game that each and every battle feels unique and will require different strategies on top of the different environments affecting the flow of the battle.

In contrast to its predecessor, The Sacred Stones has a world map where you can save your game, manage the items of your team, buy more items and grind if you feel like the game is becoming a bit too challenging. The last part is a very welcoming addition but it has also been criticised by Fire Emblem fans for making the game too easy. My experience has been that you really need to grind every now and then as there just aren’t enough chapters in the story to help you level up a lot naturally and the maps will keep becoming more and more difficult. But you also can’t grind too much because you gain less EXP from the same enemies the higher your level is. In other words, once your unit reaches a certain point, it’s really not worth levelling it up anymore as it just takes way too long. Not to mention that you have dozens of units, you can’t level them up equally as much and you will constantly recruit new units. It really is necessary to have an area to grind and it honestly makes for a more satisfying experience as you train units, promote them into better classes and then watch as they wreak havoc in the story chapters.

The difficulty curve is quite manageable with the addition of a grinding area. You start the game with a unit called Seth who’s more powerful than everyone else in order to help ease you into the game’s mechanics. Then once you reach the halfway point in terms of chapters, you’ll unlock the grinding area. This makes it easier to promote units into stronger ones that you absolutely need in the latter half of the story. Some have said that you can get through the entire game with only Seth and that’s why it’s so easy. In my experience though, Seth actually becomes less useful the further you get into the game. He just doesn’t get a lot of stat boosts when leveling up after a certain point. This means that you really need to experiment and level up all kinds of units in order to discover which ones are really good.

I ended the game with a good amount of units who are much better than Seth. One unit called Ross is a Berserker who has a high critical hit rate and with the combination of a Killer Axe (Killer weapons increase critical hit rate), he became an absolutely unstoppable beast. He would constantly have over 50% chance of getting a critical hit. Another unit called Gerik is a Hero who specialises in swords and axes and had such great stats that he dealt a lot of damage and never taking any himself. Gilliam is a Great Knight with high defence, high mobility and access to the entire weapon triangle. One final mention is Cormag who rides a wyvern, has incredibly high strength and mobility, and because he’s a flying unit he’s useful in a lot of situations. I found all of these units more useful than Seth and that was only possible with the help of the grinding area. They were incredibly useful in the latter half of the game when the maps became very difficult.

Simply put, I think the gameplay is incredibly satisfying and it never felt too difficult or too easy. Even if you grind a lot, you will still need to think strategically as bosses can be quite difficult to defeat without the right units and reinforcements on the enemy side will appear midway through maps. This means that even if you have powerful units, if you can’t utilise them properly then you won’t stand a chance in the latter levels.

When it comes to the music, the soundtrack did the trick but I didn’t find any particular song that stood out to me. Here are some tracks that you hear quite often in the game that I enjoyed listening to:

In conclusion, I highly enjoyed my time with this game and I found it to be the best Fire Emblem game that I’ve played thus far (my previous experiences include Fire Emblem (2003) and Shadows of Valentia). It is a great starting point if you’re new to the franchise as it delivers the classic Fire Emblem experience while also having modern features like a world map, item management and an area to grind. It took me roughly 40 hours to finish it but it only took me around one week to get through it as it was such an addicting game to play. Even when I was done playing it, I couldn’t stop thinking about it afterwards. It truly is one of the best experiences I’ve had this year.

@LtSarge Wow, if you enjoyed Sacred Stones that much, you’ll love Awakening as it probably takes more inspiration from that game more than the others! Great review, it’s not one of my favourites in the series but it seems to be a pretty good entry level game to get you going for people who aren’t as familiar with the series. Now play more games in the series so that I can recommend you Genealogy of the Holy War without you hating it for the obtuse glorious mess it is 😂

@nessisonett Thanks man and yeah, I'm really looking forward to playing other FE titles now. I don't know why, but Sacred Stones just really clicked with me. Could be the fact that you have the option to grind and make your units more powerful, which was so satisfying. Or that I just stopped using save states since I was playing the game on the 3DS, which doesn't have an option for save states at all. Either way, I'm finally starting to love this series now compared to before thanks to Sacred Stones.

I think the next FE game I'll play will either be Shadow Dragon or Awakening. The reason for Shadow Dragon is because I want to play more of the older FE titles before moving on to the newer ones. I also really hope that they'll remake Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn on Switch as I'd love to play those games as well. I just want to see more classic FE titles being re-released in general as this is such a brilliant franchise.

@LtSarge Great review! I played through and enjoyed FE7 years ago, but, for whatever reason, I've just never gotten around to Sacred Stones. The way you describe it definitely highlights its role as a sort of predecessor to Fire Emblem Awakening, though, which definitely doubled down on the casual-friendly design choices (which subsequenly carried over into follow-up games like Fates and Three Houses).

In my experience, most of the FE games have an initially overly powerful character, although it ends up being a trap relying on them because, as you pointed out, their growth as a unit is subpar and they often end up underpowered by the end of the game. I imagine many people have made the mistake of allowing one of these overpowered units to soak up a lot of the critical early xp gains from enemy kills in the first few maps, although it sounds like Sacred Stones at least tempers this by allowing players to grind outside of story missions.

I think non-story maps are a good idea, personally, since it makes it where you can't trap yourself into not being able to beat the game by having suboptimal character builds going into the final levels of the game. I almost couldn't beat FE7 because of some choices I made, which led to me having to replay the final map in that game more times than I would have liked.

Did you happen to buy the localized Switch port of Fire Emblem on NES when it was available? I'll probably never play Shadow Dragon, but I almost can't resist trying out the original version of the game soon.

@Ralizah Thanks mate! Yeah, that's one of the reasons why I'm really looking forward to playing Awakening, Birthright and Three Houses. Although they will have to do a very good job of impressing me as Sacred Stones has simply set the bar very high and it's going to be interesting to see if any of those games will be able to top it. I've read for example that Birthright and Three Houses don't have good maps and that alone might make me dislike the games as the map design as well as variety in Sacred Stones were just incredible.

Exactly, although in the case of Sacred Stones I think it's okay to initially rely on the overly powerful character for the bosses. Some bosses just seemed very strong and I doubt my other units would've made a dent on them. I mentioned this in another thread, but I was playing the game by allocating EXP to all my units instead of focusing on the strongest ones. That led to the weaker ones dying and me resetting the game. You just have to incorporate a different mindset when playing the FE games compared to other RPGs.

I agree and the thing is that grinding is obviously completely optional. If you find the game too easy then you don't need to grind. You can make that argument for basically any RPG really; if you grind too much then the game will be too easy. So it's up to you to decide how much is enough and for me, I basically leveled up 2-3 units every couple of chapters during the second half of the game (there are only 20 chapters in the game). The reason being that I had acquired promotion items and wanted the units to reach level 20 before promoting them. I think it made for a good balance. But yeah, that's one of the reasons why I didn't like FE7 that much because you had less freedom in training your units and the last couple of levels were an absolute pain.

I actually did buy the first FE game on Switch and played it for a while. It was quite fun, but I don't know if I want to play through that version of the game because I recently realised that there's a remake of it on the DS, which is also available on the Wii U. So I might just play that one instead. If you do decide to play through the original version then I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!

@LtSarge Awakening's maps are probably worse than the ones in Birthright or Three Houses. They're not actually terrible or anything, there's just an excess of open maps and "rout the enemy" goals in place of more creative ones. Pretty standard SRPG design. It's less of a big deal as the series goes on, as tactical battles are becoming less and less the central focus of the series. The big shift, IMO, was in Three Houses, which is just as much a social simulation game as it was an SRPG. I'd be shocked if you didn't end up loving that game, knowing some of the other games you've taken to over the years, like Persona 4 and Trails of Cold Steel.

Conquest has really creative maps and a variety of unique mission goals throughout, but the writing is so bad that I'll never recommend it to anyone.

Yeah, you kinda have to balance having a core group of people you focus on in these games while also slowly developing your weaker characters, given the permadeath mechanics. You need heavy hitters.

The bosses are actually my biggest issue with these games. The games feel balanced around tactical battles with normal units. The bosses usually having insane range and high critical rates in the late game means constant re-setting in some of the older games if you don't want to lose people.

Yeah, I'll definitely post my thoughts when I get to it. Still bizarre that was a limited time thing. Hopefully this doesn't become a trend with Nintendo.

@Ralizah Yeah I'm really looking forward to Three Houses for that reason, but at the same time I'm kinda skeptical that I'll like it because I've noticed with Sacred Stones that I sometimes wanted to skip past the story and get to the gameplay as quickly as possible. I think this is one of the rare cases for me where gameplay triumphs over story and that might make me dislike Three Houses. That's also why I want to give Conquest a shot because I don't really factor in stuff like the writing in a FE game as long as the gameplay is solid. But who knows, maybe I'll find both the story and the gameplay in these games to be equally appealing!

@LtSarge It was mostly the story that put me off Three Houses to be fair. Bizarre tonal shifts. The gameplay’s decent though and being able to undo moves is a godsend.

@RogerRoger I’m extremely late to the party here and loads of nice things have already been said but I just wanted to express how much I enjoyed reading your Ghost of Tsushima review. Though I don’t share your thoughts, it is an exceptionally well written piece. I recall reading somewhere on here recently (or not recently, my perception of time doesn’t seem to align with reality these days) that you are an aspiring writer, but lacking confidence. For what it’s worth, I strongly encourage you to continue honing your craft. You brought joy to a lot of people here through your words, and that’s pretty darn cool, man. Cheers.
Edit: also, “fresh fiends to fillet” is an alliteration I won’t soon forget, so thanks for that!

@Jimmer-jammer Thank you, that's real kind of you to say! And generous! I'm real glad you enjoyed reading my scattered thoughts, and particularly that alliteration!

[This is usually where I'd write a whole paragraph in reply, but I'm actually a little speechless!]