Fire Emblem 6: Binding Blade
Finally got around to playing this again. This time, I aimed to play more efficiently and tried to avoid excessive turtling because I ain't about that life anymore.
I'll be going over what FE6 gets right, what it gets wrong, and Rutger.
1) The tone
There is nothing special about FE6's tone in and of itself, but when FE7 is taken into account, it becomes fantastic. FE7 is your classic fantasy tale about a hero and his friends triumphing over evil, no matter what the odds. FE6 is similar, but with a crueler twist. The heroes you've followed from the previous game have succumbed to various circumstances. Some are sick. Some are dead. Some have mysteriously vanished, some don't exist and so on. The world of Elibe feels a lot harsher than it used to, and it's better for it. There's this inherit sadness when playing FE6 that really adds to the experience. "Why did this have to happen to Hector and Eliwood? Where's Lyn? What happened to Pent and Louise?" This is even (unintentionally) reflected in the gameplay. FE6 (on hard) is significantly more difficult and restrictive than FE7. Your army is largely comprised of
incompetent units inexperienced youth or old people who are tasked with fighting off against
enemies with ludicrous stats the mighty bern empire.
Even the enemy counterattack theme sounds imposing and anxiety inducing. It's rare for a sequel and a prequel to flow so well in both directions, but FE6 is incredibly good about this.
2) Roy
Roy is a...divisive character, but if i'm being honest, he gets more way hate than he deserves. Unlike many of the other FE lords, Roy is an expert tactician. While other lords lead their army, Roy is explicitly shown devising strategies. He's smart enough to make important decisions without being told to do so, can trick his adversaries all the while being ridiculously young at that. Unfortunately, Roy is very bland. The wiki describes him as such
"Roy is an upstanding, thoughtful, and idealistic young man who repeatedly shows a desire to help and support others"
Which more or less describes nearly every single FE lord (and JRPG protagonist for that matter). There is nothing about Roy that makes him stand out. Eliwood was similarly bland, but at least his relationship with his father and Hector made me feel
something towards him. I don't really feel anything with Roy. Even his supports are incredibly dry (with the exception of Lilina's support with Cecilia, which reveals a surprisingly sad aspect of Roy's character) But the most damning thing about Roy is that the game barely references his age. Sure, it's brought up a few times but it just feels like lip service. Roy
doesn't feel like a kid with the weight of the world on his shoulders. He feels like another FE lord. I think if FE6 were to be remade, they should really try to make this point more prominent because I think it's the key to making Roy a compelling character. Gameplay wise, he suffers from some obviously bad decisions. The lord class is incredibly underwhelming due to its sword lock, and Roy's got awful bases as well. He's pretty much contributing for 4-5 chapters tops while waiting on the sidelines until he promotes. I personally think the late promotion concept was extremely flawed, since it's predicated on the assumption that the promoted Lord class ends up being an asskicker (they usually don't) and i'm glad they got rid of it. Still, Roy has his appeal as a unit due to seizing (more on that later)
3) Hard Mode
Oh boy. I used to think this mode was complete garbage, but now I realize that it does have its appeal. I cheesed my way through it the first time by hard turtling, but it's so much more challenging when you move at a faster pace. You have to get pretty creative if you want to clear it at a reasonable time, since the majority of your team is complete garbage. There's almost a unity to your team, since everyone has to contribute (even if it's just a little). Even Roy serves a purpose, as your King, he can seize and end maps instantly with the right strategy. Unfortunately, as the game progresses it encourages low manning since it's pretty much impossible for your lesser units to contribute. The devs tried their hardest to make the enemies super powerful, but didn't compensate by making the playable characters better. Most of them were pretty underwhelming even on Normal (
Bors is an armor knight but he starts out in a map filled with axe users...?), but it's borderline ridiculous just how outclassed they are on Hard. You're forced rely on characters like Marcus, Rutger, Shin and Milady, the later 3 of were originally (surprise, surprise) enemy units. Still, I definitely underrated Hard Mode. It has its faults, but it's completely unique from the other Hard Modes found in other FE games and definitely appealing in its own way.
4) Rutger
Is a God, best Myrmidon, best guy, best design, best personality, best "makes the class look godlike", etc
