Finished Birthright
The improvements to gameplay are pretty self evident, so I'll be talking about the story:
Hana is the best character
The improvements to gameplay are pretty self evident, so I'll be talking about the story:
For better or for worse, Birthright's story was pretty standard. The main character assembles an army to take down a corrupt foe in order to liberate the land/save the world. You've seen it a thousand times—it's present in more than half of Fire Emblem stories for god sakes—so no points for originality, but the execution was actually pretty good. Unlike Awakening's, which tried (and failed) to condense 3 seperate stories into one game, Corrin's conflict against Nohr spans the entire game, giving it the proper development it needed.
As far as lord's go, Corrin herself was a pretty good character. I don't think her personality is anything special, but it's her background, growth and relationship with her family members that make her compelling. It's her clashes with her former siblings that make up the emotional highs of the game. You aren't fighting against some random douche wearing an ascot, you're fighting against former family members. Above all else, your former family members are upset at your betrayal. It wasn't the various threats to kill me that unnerved me, but their immense sadness of their family being broken up. As a result, confrontations were appropriately emotional (with Leo's being the undisputed best by far) and arguably the best parts of the game. I can't even begin to imagine how it's like on Conquest, since Corrin doesn't have past ties with her Hoshidan siblings. The characters in general were pretty good. Between the Hoshidan and Nohrian families (the former of which I didn't expect to like at all), the villains (Hans and Iago are memorable and likeable), and the various side characters, there was plenty to love here.
What I didn't like was how the game handled story deaths. They were all pretty bad. From Flora's suicide, to Lilith's incredibly random death; I had problems with pretty much all of them. The player barely knows Flora, so you can't really connect to Corrin/Felicia's grief, and her own depression/guilt isn't properly conveyed, so it's hard to feel anything other than annoyance (like Jakob, lol). I think a flashback would have been appropriate. Lilith's was even worse. She stops being a character early on, and randomly reappears to die? What? Elise's death did make me sad, but it could have been even more poignant if she had joined up sooner. Sadly, her death was fairly cliched. Azura's similarly could have been done well had there was more nuance to her potential demise, but they beat it over your head constantly. When she sung that last song, you knew her time was up.
(gasps of increasing discomfort)
Ultimately, the problem with these deaths is that they're just here for the sake of being sad. There isn't enough proper build up. The exception to this was Xander's death (which actually had appropriate buildup) was still marred by Elise dying shortly before. I really wish it was its own thing, rather than a death that followed up a previous death. I think it would have been great to see the rest of the royal siblings react to that. As an aside, that duel between him and Corrin was straight up Star Wars. Even their weapons were basically compliments of each other!
The climax was good, albeit extremely anime. I won't lie, Corrin's "return" and the final boss music got me more excited than I liked to admit. It was standard, but goddamn it, it was just so satisfying. In the end, Garon was as hollow as I expected him to be, but at least it was satisfying to finally put that fucker in the ground. I'm sure he gets development on the other routes, but i'm not sure I want to hear them. I like the idea of him being diametrically opposed to peace, and I was hoping they'd chronicle his descent into madness (presumably after his wife died), but it's implied that he's possessed by his dragon blood or some shit. Oh well. I won't lie, I got misty eyed during the ending.
When all's said and done, I feel like Birthright's story was a good with a few hiccups. As far as FE goes, it's one of my more liked narratives, and I'm curious to see how Conquest approaches it.
As far as lord's go, Corrin herself was a pretty good character. I don't think her personality is anything special, but it's her background, growth and relationship with her family members that make her compelling. It's her clashes with her former siblings that make up the emotional highs of the game. You aren't fighting against some random douche wearing an ascot, you're fighting against former family members. Above all else, your former family members are upset at your betrayal. It wasn't the various threats to kill me that unnerved me, but their immense sadness of their family being broken up. As a result, confrontations were appropriately emotional (with Leo's being the undisputed best by far) and arguably the best parts of the game. I can't even begin to imagine how it's like on Conquest, since Corrin doesn't have past ties with her Hoshidan siblings. The characters in general were pretty good. Between the Hoshidan and Nohrian families (the former of which I didn't expect to like at all), the villains (Hans and Iago are memorable and likeable), and the various side characters, there was plenty to love here.
What I didn't like was how the game handled story deaths. They were all pretty bad. From Flora's suicide, to Lilith's incredibly random death; I had problems with pretty much all of them. The player barely knows Flora, so you can't really connect to Corrin/Felicia's grief, and her own depression/guilt isn't properly conveyed, so it's hard to feel anything other than annoyance (like Jakob, lol). I think a flashback would have been appropriate. Lilith's was even worse. She stops being a character early on, and randomly reappears to die? What? Elise's death did make me sad, but it could have been even more poignant if she had joined up sooner. Sadly, her death was fairly cliched. Azura's similarly could have been done well had there was more nuance to her potential demise, but they beat it over your head constantly. When she sung that last song, you knew her time was up.
(gasps of increasing discomfort)
Ultimately, the problem with these deaths is that they're just here for the sake of being sad. There isn't enough proper build up. The exception to this was Xander's death (which actually had appropriate buildup) was still marred by Elise dying shortly before. I really wish it was its own thing, rather than a death that followed up a previous death. I think it would have been great to see the rest of the royal siblings react to that. As an aside, that duel between him and Corrin was straight up Star Wars. Even their weapons were basically compliments of each other!
The climax was good, albeit extremely anime. I won't lie, Corrin's "return" and the final boss music got me more excited than I liked to admit. It was standard, but goddamn it, it was just so satisfying. In the end, Garon was as hollow as I expected him to be, but at least it was satisfying to finally put that fucker in the ground. I'm sure he gets development on the other routes, but i'm not sure I want to hear them. I like the idea of him being diametrically opposed to peace, and I was hoping they'd chronicle his descent into madness (presumably after his wife died), but it's implied that he's possessed by his dragon blood or some shit. Oh well. I won't lie, I got misty eyed during the ending.
When all's said and done, I feel like Birthright's story was a good with a few hiccups. As far as FE goes, it's one of my more liked narratives, and I'm curious to see how Conquest approaches it.
