Who to follow and who to cut. That is the question. Reviewing "Fire Emblem: Wind, Flower, Snow and Moon" (Part I)

Fire Emblem if" was released on Nintendo 3DS in 2015. Fire Emblem: Fuuka Yukigetsu" is the latest title in the series after a four-year absence. I have finally completed the first round of the game, and I will review the game, picking up the elements that impressed me the most. I have kept spoilers about the story as much as possible, so I hope this will help those who are considering purchasing the game.

The protagonist is in charge of one of three classes and leads the students.

The story takes place in a vast land called Fodra. Three major powers, the Empire of Adrastea, the Holy Kingdom of Fergus, and the League of Leicester, are vying for control of the land. Early in the story, the protagonist meets the three heads of the officer's school at the Abbey of Garg-Mak. For various reasons, he ends up teaching as a teacher at the officer's school.

The "Black Eagle Class" (Adlerklasse), led by Edelgard, the next emperor of the Adrastean Empire; the "Blue Lion Class" (Reuvenklasse), led by Dimitri, the next king of the Holy Kingdom of Fergus The player chooses one of the following: "The Class of the Golden Deer (Hirschklasse)", led by Claude, the next leader of the League of the Lords of Leicester.

First of all, it is important to remember that in the "Fire Emblem" series, lost comrades basically do not return. In addition, the player is a teacher. They are not leading an army, but students. You teach them combat techniques and classroom learning, and then you lead them in battle. If they should fall, it is entirely the player's responsibility. Moreover, the game is divided into two parts, with the second part, which takes place five years after the first part, pitting the classes against each other. This is tough. I pondered for a while what to do.

I chose the Blue Lion class. The main reason was that the female characters Annette, Ingrid, and Mercedes "stuck" with me, but I would also like to mention that the characters were mainly for the avant-garde.

The story progresses through a series of school life and battles.

The story of this work is told in two parts, school life and battles that occur at the end of each month, which are repeated at each section (like a month). The school life part focuses on teaching students. In the education at the beginning of the week, students choose which of the various skills (sword, spear, magic, etc.) they will learn and train in. When a student reaches a certain skill level, he or she can become a specific type of "soldier. This may sound complicated, but the students have their own goals, and they select and learn the skills that match those goals from the beginning. The player can customize the skills, but basically there is no need to change them. If you are particular, you can re-set the target skills for each student. The main character also has skills, which can be developed by inviting other teachers as instructors.

The monastery is a very spacious place, with a 3D representation of the monastery, and there are many things to do, such as fishing in the fishing pond, entering students in martial arts competitions, or inviting students and teachers to eat in the cafeteria. However, some of these facilities require "action" to use, so a certain amount of planning is required. As the story progresses, you can also invite characters to tea parties, so this is a problem for us.

As you interact with your friends, the support value of your friends will increase. When a certain level of support is reached, "support conversations" occur, allowing the player to learn about the other person's feelings, past, and other aspects that are not normally seen. The Academy enrolls students not only from the three major Fodra countries, but also from other countries, and the circumstances of each student's enrollment are very different. The history of Fodra, the customs of the nobility, and the conflicts among them are all part of the story. The amount of text for each character is very large, and the reading material in the monastery's library explains in detail the history before the main story, which impressed me with its well-developed worldview.

The solid system has the feel of a JRPG, and compared to the recently popular open-world games, there is a difference in the degree of freedom, not to mention a little bit of hassle. However, I felt that this made the game more laborious, and the labor made me feel more attached to the students.

New and Improved Battle Elements Allow for a More Tactical Approach to Battle

Fire Emblem" is all about battles. Under a turn-based battle system, characters of various soldier types move around a grid-like map and fight enemies. Although the basic system was completed in the first game, this game has many new elements and changes not found in the series.

The most distinctive feature is the existence of "knights. Each character can be assigned to a different knighthood, and each knighthood has its own set of parameters that can be adjusted. In addition to enhancing basic performance, the knights can also use "strategy". A ruse is a special action using the knight corps that prevents counterattacks from the opponent and, if successful, causes the target enemy to have all abilities reduced by 10%, be unable to move, have the knight corps' parameter corrections nullified, and be unable to activate the ruse. This is temporary, but it can greatly weaken the enemy, so it has been a great help when fighting powerful opponents such as enemy generals. The ability to slow down the enemy with the Pegasus Knight or Social Knight, which have superior mobility, is very attractive, and it is also very useful when defending your allies. While attacking the enemy is the basic strategy, there are also support types such as recovery for allies, and there are many variations depending on the type of knighthood. They are easy to use. Since there is a limit to the number of times a ruse can be used, the game of timing when to use it adds a sense of tension to the battle.

Despite the advantages of knightly orders, the characters naturally wear out in battle. Each time they do, they need to be replenished, which costs money, but this is inexpensive. I never spent more than 1000G for a single replenishment until I cleared the game. As the story progresses, enemies with knight corps will naturally appear, so this is probably an adjustment based on that. The deployment of knight corps involves one of the skills, "command," but there are knight corps that can be deployed even with the lowest rank of E, so there was no way to avoid using it.

Another important change, although not new, is the restriction on class change between the different types of soldiers. In previous titles in the series, there were some restrictions on the types of military service that each character could take, but in this title, as mentioned above, skills have been introduced. While there are exceptions, such as the female-only "Pegasus Knight" and the male-only "Fist Fighter," as long as certain skills are developed, basically anyone can become the corresponding type of soldier. For example, in the Blue Lion class, there is a man named Dudu who is a vanguard soldier, but it is possible to turn him from an "armor knight," a super close combat type soldier, into a "warlock," a long-range magic type soldier. It is even possible to turn him from an "Armor Knight" to a "Warlock". You can even create a heavily armored unit with everyone as an armor knight, or a magic unit composed entirely of warlocks. Everything is at the player's disposal. However, since each character has a certain amount of skills that they are good at, it is best to choose the type of troops that best match the skills that each character is good at.

Perhaps due to the change in class change specifications, the weapon system has also changed drastically. With a few exceptions, physical weapons such as swords, spears, axes, and bows can now be used by all types of soldiers. Magical weapons such as black magic and white magic can only be used by certain types of soldiers, but even so, the tactical possibilities are greatly expanded by the changes in class changes and weapon specifications. With the restriction on the use of weapon types virtually gone, the series' traditional three-pronged strategy is also gone. The "post-playing rock-paper-scissors" system, in which the player must use a weapon that is compatible with the one equipped by the opponent, has been eliminated, making combat simpler, but the simulation element has been enhanced by the addition of easy-to-understand and profound elements such as knight corps and strategy.

What was a little disappointing was that the enemy flying units did not seem to be much of a threat due to these factors. If all of the players had access to bows, they would be able to easily defeat flying units, which have excellent mobility and can close the gap in an instant. In the "Fire Emblem" series, there is a system called "special effects," in which attacking a certain type of unit with a specific type of weapon will deal three times the normal damage. Bows have a special effect against flying units, so even if an ally's strength parameters are low, the damage will be compensated and the lack of power will be resolved. In addition, bow specialists have a skill that increases their range by +1 to +2, and they can also increase their range by using "Kyokusho," a "war technique" (a special technique for each weapon that consumes a large amount of durability value). The bow in this work has a longer range than other weapons. The bow in this work is so much stronger than other weapons that I even thought, "Let's just give him a bow for the time being.

I was also a little concerned that the advantage of being able to use a wide range of weapons was only applied to allies. With the exception of a few special enemies, most of the opponents have weapons that are appropriate for their own types of troops. It would have been more exciting if, taking advantage of the specifications of this title, there were magical enemies with axes sneaking in and knocking players to despair as they approached to defeat them with their archers (I have not yet tried the hard difficulty or other classes, so I may be jumping the gun on this one).

On the other hand, the relief for those unfamiliar with simulation games is generous. As mentioned earlier, the game features a "Classic" mode that follows the traditional system, and a "Casual" mode in which a fallen character can be revived in the next battle. In addition, a "casual" mode is also available, in which a fallen character can be revived in the next battle. In addition, the "Heavenly Pulse," which can be used from the beginning of the story, can be used a limited number of times, but it can be used to go back as far as you want in one-move increments, making it easy to avoid a deadlock situation. In addition, a red line is used to visualize which side the enemy is targeting during the battle. Even those who are not good at fighting but want to enjoy the story can proceed with ease.

In my opinion, the combat in this work is not that difficult. As mentioned above, there are many elements for beginners, and in the school life part, it is easy to level up, as you can perform battles with enemies if you choose. I attempted the game on the classic difficulty level of Normal, and I used the heavenly beat twice before clearing the game.

That's all for this time. In the second half of the review, I will focus on the second part after clearing the stories of the Black Eagle Class and the Golden Deer Class. Please wait for a while.

（I hope you will wait a little longer for the second part.)

Product Information
Fire Emblem: Fuuka Yukigetsu
Release date: July 26, 2019 (Friday)
Price: 6980 yen (excluding tax) *for both packaged and downloadable versions
Genre: Simulation RPG
Platform: Nintendo Switch(TM)
Players: 1 player
CERO: B

(C) 2019 Nintendo / INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS Co-developed by KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD.