Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (DS)

[The REAL Joey]

After having this lie about in my collection since it's release last year I thought i'd have a go at completing it as I was in the mood for some SRPG hijinks. I've played it for about two nights on the trot now and while it's definitely Fire Emblem, make no mistakes about that, it feels like one step forward and five steps back in many cases.

The first thing I noticed is how dull and soulless the game feels. The character themselves all seem very lifeless and the in battle animations are so pathetic it's hard to believe it's the FE i've grown to love. Where's all the individuality the sprites offered?! Everything looks similar aside from hair and even then that's typically hidden under armour.

Lack of support links really irks me too. It was a funny little distraction and added a nice boost to units. Not to mention you could get attached to the characters a little bit more.

The class swap option seems a bit odd at first... Although it did come in handy when I swapped Castor as a Horseman to a Warrior. Just looked better on him.

All in all, it's a meh effort so far but I still love the base Fire Emblem gameplay formula so i'll enjoy it all the same.

[Richard]

I really agree with you there. It just felt so dead and ... not the FE I grew to love.

Also, I REALLY disliked the class swapping thing. It just felt kind of wrong to me. Made it seem a little too easy to get exactly what you wanted without much effort. I never used it.

I hope they go back to GBA style sprite based stuff with the next game, or maybe even try to make it like the GC and Wii titles.

[The REAL Joey]

I'm beginning to wonder if this 'dull' feeling that is experienced within the game is a result of it being a major overhaul of the original NES title. However, to pin all the responsibility on that is pointless as surely Nintendo and Intelligent could have put a bit more effort into fleshing things out.

The class swapping does feel extremely wrong having played it some more. I don't think i'll even dare using it for the rest of the game unless I suddenly catch a huge temptation to command a legion of Dracoknights. ;D

At this moment in time i'm led to believe there won't be another DS FE so whatever they do next... I hope, like you Rich, they'll give it some more flair. The old 2D anime sprites had such charm in then.