61 Frames Per Second

Whatcha Playing: Fire Emblem is Pretty Hard

Posted by John Constantine

Introducing 61 Frames Per Second's latest blogger: Amber Ahlborn

I think I can hear the strategy role-playing veterans laughing at me, but cut me a little slack, I'm pretty new to the genre. Fire Emblem is a series with deep roots. I didn't become personally acquainted with the series until Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance hit the GameCube. The game absolutely captivated me.

Convinced that Fire Emblem is awesome, I snapped up Radiant Dawn the day it released for Wii. After playing both Path and Dawn on Normal Difficulty I can tell you, Path is a cakewalk compared to Dawn. For the uninitiated, Fire Emblem play consists of battles bookended by dialog, narrative and cutscenes. Each character has a distinct look and personality. It stinks if you make a stupid tactical error on the battle field and get one of them killed — no resurrection in this game. Since I like to keep everyone alive, I use the rest button liberally and Battle Save with great care. Combat is turn based. Each unit has limits on how far it can move. Different characters have different weapon/magic proficiencies and each weapon type has specific characteristics. All of this and more needs to be considered if you want to win, and win without casualties. It can get incredibly frustrating but I love it all the same and the final satisfaction factor is very high indeed.

Do you like games that make you think? Are you patient and unafraid of a serious challenge? Give Fire Emblem a look. Check out this YouTube footage to give you an idea what the game is like.

Don't spend too much time window shopping. Fire Emblems don't stay easily findable for long.

Oh! And a heads up, the very first game in the series is getting a remake on the DS. There's something worth watching.

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Posted May 30 2008, 01:00 PM

Filed under: whatcha playing, nintendo, nintendo ds, wii, gamecube, fire emblem, amber ahlborn

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about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.