Tag Archives: Fire Emblem: Awakening

What I’m playing right now: Swords, Courts, and Karts

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My father-in-law’s now recuperating in the comfort of his own home and bed, which is great, but my wife came down with a pretty bad case of food poisoning last night. Long story short, we were up until dawn, and didn’t get to sleep until about 6 this morning. As they say, when it rains, it pours. Yin and yang, or something like that.

Anyway, after such a stressful week, I’m looking forward to some quality game time this weekend. Here’s what I’ll be playing:

 

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A couple weeks ago, I started Fire Emblem: Awakening on the 3DS, even though I’m not a big fan of strategy games. I just finished The Exalt and the King (Chapter 5), so I have a long, long way to go, but I’m enjoying it so far. I’m playing it on Casual, even though I’m sure this irks Fire Emblem purists to no end. The game is still pretty tough, however, and vital units can get wiped out in a single turn if you’re not careful.

The amount of content in Awakening is impressive. In addition to the main quest, there are a number of sidequests to complete as well, so this game will be keeping me busy for quite some time. I’m extremely impressed by the game’s production value. The animated cutscenes by Madhouse are gorgeous, and put a lot of regular console games to shame. The soundtrack is equally impressive, providing great drama and tension to story and battle scenes alike.

About the only thing I don’t care for is the sporadic voice-over. It’s distracting, and tarnishes the shine of what is an otherwise superlative game. I’m also feeling slightly overwhelmed by the already high number of units I have at my disposal, but I’d rather have more to deal with than too little.

 

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I played and finished the first Phoenix Wright game back in 2012. While I really liked it initially, it became tediously long and definitely wore out its welcome by the time it was over. This could be due to the DS version’s extra content, but whatever the case, I was relieved when it ended, only giving it a C+.

Now that a couple years have passed, I felt ready to jump back into the series. It’s very familiar so far, and I’m liking that. The mildly remixed music is nostalgic, and it’s great to see old friends and colleagues return. I’m enjoying the story so far, and the new cast has been quite eccentric. I wouldn’t expect anything less after the crew from first game.

I’ve only completed the first case, and that trial had a good flow with testimony and cross-examination that made sense. Some of them were so vaguely indeterminate to me in the first game that I had to resort to using a guide on more than one occasion. I’m hopeful that I won’t have to do the same here. So far, though, I’m digging this.

 

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Finally, my copy of Mario Kart 8 should be arriving at some point today, and I’m very excited to start playing it! I’m not really the target Mario Kart player, though, since I like to play solo most of the time. I suppose that’s why most games in the series haven’t really done much for me. I’d rather have a goal/adventure-based format like Diddy Kong Racing instead of straight classes and groups of tracks. Seriously, why haven’t they made more games like that Rare classic?

In any case, I’m hopeful that MK8 rekindles my love for the series. I was addicted to Super Mario Kart on the SNES, and I haven’t liked any of the subsequent entries nearly as much. Maybe this will be the one that breaks that cycle. By all accounts and reviews, it looks like an undeniable gem of a racer. As a Wii U owner, that’s very, very good news.

Have a great weekend, and thanks for your continued support and readership here at GHG.

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Strategy games: I want a rematch

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20140512_adeptEver since I was in grade school, I’ve been rather terrible at strategy games. Don’t get me wrong, I loved playing them. Archon and Archon II: Adept are bona fide classics, but to say I was any good at them? That’s a stretch. Sure, maybe I would do well against the computer from time to time (and I stress the word ‘maybe’) with the difficulty settings in my favor, but I would regularly get crushed by my best friend back in 6th grade. He was a natural, understanding unit attributes, terrain variables, light/dark cycles, and long-term strategy. Me? I just wanted to get to the one-on-one arcade-style fighting bits. I was much better at those than I was at moving pieces around the board, but that more traditional strategy element is a specter that would follow me constantly.

20140512_bc2Chess is another highly strategic game that I happen to enjoy, but again, when it comes to playing it, I’m pretty bad. It’s not uncommon for me to lose my queen early, or find myself in a very premature check scenario because I wasn’t thinking ahead or couldn’t see what my opponent was setting up. I’d gravitate towards variants like Battle Chess or Battle Chess II: Chinese Chess (pictured) instead for the graphics and humorous animation.

In conversation, I’ll tell people that I prefer turn-based strategy over real-time strategy games because I can “take my time”, but in reality, they both can frustrate me. I’m not sure what it is that sends my anxiety through the roof when I play them, but I can usually hear myself saying, “You could have done X, Y, or Z, and that would have been better than the move you just made.”

Perhaps it’s because I’m horrible with statistics. It was my least favorite course in college, after all. Anyway, these thoughts ring true particularly for turn-based games where I have time to reflect on the decision made. This has been a major hindrance to my enjoyment of renowned series like Advance Wars, XCOM, Fire Emblem, Civilization, and many others, and frankly, I’m sick of it.

20140512_fea3So today, I’ve decided to start and take on Fire Emblem: Awakening on the Nintendo 3DS. I know that it’s not the hardest one, and I’m going to be playing it on the Normal/Casual settings, but I think this is the best chance I have of cracking into a genre that has caused me more grief than joy throughout my life.

I also have to come clean and say that apart from the first Sakura Taisen on the Sega Saturn and Herzog Zwei on the Sega Genesis, I have never fully beaten another strategy game that I didn’t have to test as part of my job. At least, none that I can think of. I’ve played many of them, but rarely have I completed one. If I think of any more, I’ll revise this, but for all intents and purposes, that’s it.

I’m looking forward to this journey, and hope that when I reemerge, I will emerge enlightened. In the eternal words of Yoda, “You must unlearn what you have learned.”  Wish me luck.

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