Chapter 1
Common Characteristics
- Both maps feature a village that if visited will recruit Mallesia
- If Marth talks to Lorenz he will die, making the throne easy to seize.
- Both maps will feature a thief appearing from the cave who will try to threaten said village.
Which Version Designed This Map Better: The Remake
The biggest difference between the two versions is the road taken toward the boss. In the original only Marth and Arran could move through that road which made the map incredibly tedious. The remake doesn’t have this problem, which makes the map go a lot smoother. The thieves near the cave end up turning into free experience for the rest of the team while Marth semi-solos the map.
That being said we must also remember that this is the first map of the SNES version. Why does this matter? It matters because I rate the first map of a Fire Emblem game differently than other maps. In most Fire Emblem games the first map will be ridiculously simple to the point where it “talks down” to the player. The number of units the player can use will be less than 5 and the number of enemies will be about as small too. This tends to make the map terribly designed, unfun to play on subsequent playthroughs and strategically uninteresting. This map, while flawed, is a major improvement in design from those kind of oversimplified maps and I think it deserves to be recognized for that.
Remake Rating: Pretty Good
Original Rating: Decent
Maps the Remake Did Better: 1
Maps the Original Did Better: 0
_________________________________________________
Chapter 2
Common Characteristics
- Both maps feature a thief that will drop a Lady Sword if killed. A Lady Sword is basically a silver sword with a lower weapon rank requirement that can only be used by women. In other words, it’s really good and actually worth going through the effort to get.
- Both maps feature a Wyvern Knight boss equipped with a Knight Killer that will move away from the throne.
- Warren can be recruited here and Catria joins automatically.
Which Version Did It Better: The Original
The remake’s version of this map is bigger, which in this case de-emphasizes the importance of unit positioning. In the original the thief’s movement overlaps with the boss’s, his wyvern henchmen’s and Warren’s which made catching him more difficult since any unit that could reach him in time would also be threatened by either the boss, another wyvern or an enemy hunter. In the remake the boss’s movement doesn’t have that tight overlap so there’s significantly less pressure. This lack of overlap also means that the player can kill all the other enemies without having to worry about being in the boss’s range, which makes the map significantly easier to deal with.
Original Rating: Excellent
Remake Rating: Meh
Maps the Remake Did Better: 1
Maps the Original Did Better: 1
______________________________________
Chapter 3
Common Characteristics
- Both versions of this map feature an enemy named Matthis who can only be recruited with Julian. In order to get Julian Marth has to move all the way toward the other end of the map and visit the village.
- Meanwhile Palla is on the edge of the map with two armies of wyvern knights blocking her way, a thief trying to destroy the village and ambush spawn cavaliers that will try to kill her.
- The left-hand side of the map is wasted, empty space that’s irrelevant to how the map’s played.
- Both maps feature a ballista near a broken bridge that can be repaired with a bridge key.
Which Version Did It Better: The Original
Both versions of this map suck! Matthis is not worth the effort required to recruit him which sucks because it’s pretty difficult to recruit him so naturally one has to wonder what ultimate purpose he serves. The left hand side of the map is pointless considering how easy it is in both versions to get the bridge key and charge through the path closest to the enemies. The remake decided to add an extra village that was right in front of the player that hands out the bridge key rather than put it on Warren and make it droppable. Why did it do this? This doesn’t add anything to the overall strategy of the map. It was just fine the way it was in the original.
The reason why the original’s version is better has to do with the AI change in the remake. In the remake it’s possible to trigger the wyvern knights in the middle of the mountain range by going one square or more too far. If this happens the wyvern knights will kill Palla. This means that the map becomes a frustrating example of trial and error as the player has to figure out which squares lead to death and which ones don’t. Like I said, this is frustrating. Then again, I’m not a fan of how those wyvern knights do nothing in the original, even when the player’s in their range.
Rating for Both Versions: Fail!
Maps the Original Did Better: 2
Maps Remake Did Better: 1
______________________________________
Chapter 4
Common Characteristics
- Both maps feature Ogma on the other side of the map who has to face down pirates while a thief threatens the village on the other side.
- Yumina has a Rescue staff in both versions. Camus Sirius is only a few squares away from Ogma in both versions and can only be recruited by Ogma.
- There’s another village to the south of Marth that will give the Shaver tome if visited.
- Both versions feature fighters that get in the player’s way. The forts also spawn enemy reinforcements.
Which Version Did It Better: Neither.
The only major difference here is the enemy unit strength. Even on Maniac Mode the enemies are way stronger than their SNES counterparts which means that Ogma and Sirius are in more danger. That being said I still had to restart (if you can call it that when you’re playing on an emulator) a few times on the SNES version so Ogma and Sirius are still in danger of dying. Rescue makes the map more interesting as it gives the player the choice of whether they want to reinforce Ogma and Sirius or not. In the end though the map isn’t all that interesting and the method of approaching it is pretty straightforward.
Overall Rating for Both Versions: Meh
Maps the Original Did Better: 2
Maps the Remake Did Better: 1
Equally Designed Maps: 1
______________________________________
Chapter 5
Common Characteristics
- Both versions feature Rickard (who carries a Member Card), who can be recruited by Julian in the first turn. There’s also another thief that’s slightly harder to reach that will drop either a Knight Crest or a Master Seal depending on which version the player is playing.
- Jeorge’s squad in both versions has a squad of powerful snipers that will shoot down the player if they come into his range.
- Both versions have a ballista boss who is guarded by armored knights and is next to at least one other ballista. Behind said boss is a few cavaliers.
- Both maps are hurt by having an out of the way village on the top left-hand corner of the map that carries a Hammerne staff. Since the staff is super valuable it’s in the player’s best interest to get it, but doing so makes the map drag out longer than it normally would need to.
Which Version Did It Better: The Remake
Repositioning units in the original version is tedious and more of a hassle than it needs to be. The remake doesn’t have this problem. There’s also the difference between droppable crests. A Knight Crest is only useful if the player is planning on promoting a Cavalier or an Armored Knight. A Master Seal is always useful at this point in the game since it’s guaranteed that the player will be trying to promote somebody.
Then there’s the difference in enemy unit quality. The remake has one less ballista than the original, but the remake’s ballista has a bigger impact on how the player would approach that map. This is partly due to the fact that the player cannot obtain the Iote's Shield in Chapter 3, meaning that the strategy of charging down the ballista with a Pegasus Knight is way riskier. There’s also the fact that the remake’s ballista deals more damage and is more accurate.
Last, but not least, there’s the cavalier squad near the boss. They’re positioned better in the remake so they’re guaranteed to attack any player that doesn’t immediately seize after killing the boss. This is more thought provoking than what the original does.
Overall Rating for the Remake: Decent
Overall Rating for the Original: Meh
Maps the Original Did Better: 2
Maps the Remake Did Better: 2
Equally Designed Maps: 1
___________________________________
Chapter 6
Common Characteristics
- Both maps have two routes to approach the boss with. The left route leads to Samto and has Armor Knights blocking the way. The right route has a magic user that wields a ballistic siege tome.
- Both versions of the map have enemy reinforcements that show up behind the player
- Both maps feature the Libra orb as a treasure. Also, if Rickard wasn’t recruited during the previous chapter, but was still alive, he’ll show up down below.
Which Version Did It Better: Neither.
This is another case where the similarities vastly outweigh the differences. I guess you could point to the indoor map element of the original, but I found that it didn’t matter all that much in the grand scheme of things. Both maps get far more right than wrong and the only reason why they’re not getting a “pass” rating is that the reinforcements can be blocked off and there’s a bigger incentive to go to the left than the right.
Overall Rating for Both Versions: Pretty Good
Maps the Original Did Better: 2
Maps the Remake Did Better: 2
Equally Designed Maps: 2
_______________________________________
Chapter 7
- Both versions have Navarre and Feena surrounded by thieves trying to escape. Most of these thieves drop really valuable stuff which makes the effort to kill them worth it.
- Both versions feature Astram and his mercenary force, who will go after the player if they make one wrong step.
- Other enemy reinforcements will show up in the forts near Astram’s force after a certain period of time.
Which Version Did It Better: The Remake
This is a map that benefitted tremendously from the increase in enemy unit quality. In the original Navarre was capable of single-handedly destroying the thieves himself, which watered down the threat caused by their potential escape off the map. In the remake Navarre could easily be killed by these thieves, which means that if he’s going to live the player has to be more careful about where he’s positioned. This means that the player has to speed up if they want to reach the thieves in time. So basically, the thieves are more potent turtle disincentives in the remake than in the original.
Another advantage that the remake has over the original is the addition of archers near the thieves. Despite what the suggestion in WoD the archers do show up in Maniac Mode and their presence causes the player to be more careful with their fliers. It’s as if the designers knew that the player would reclass to as many fliers as they could and made a meaningful response to that. If the player tries to rush down the thieves with fliers they have to be careful about their fliers positioning.
Overall Rating for the Remake: Excellent
Overall Rating for the Original: Pretty Good
Maps the Original Did Better: 2
Maps the Remake Did Better: 3
Equally Designed Maps: 2
_________________________________________
Chapter 8
Common Characteristics
- Both maps have Astram and his mercenary force at the bottom of the bridge. If the player makes the wrong move they will attack.
- Both maps have a thief trying to run away with a droppable star sphere.
- Both maps have a village where Bantu is recruitable, but off to the side
- Both maps feature reinforcements that will show up in forts near Astram’s force down below
Which Version Did It Better: Neither
This is where the difficulty setting affects the rating. I didn’t notice a significant difference between the enemy unit quality in Maniac Mode and the enemy unit quality in the original. These means that charging ahead forward is fairly easy in both versions. The reinforcements near Astram’s force are cool in theory but leave something to be desired in their execution. What I mean specifically is that they don’t show up soon enough which means that they’re not as compelling a turtle disincentive as they could be. I know that this isn’t the case in Lunatic Mode in 12 where Astram’s force will charge at the player and that reinforcements show up sooner.
The remake thinks that Roger’s inclusion will make a meaningful difference in how the map is played, but due to how much of a scrub he is it’s not really worth the effort to recruit him. Jeorge as a boss is rather meh. He’s a stationary sniper which eliminates any potential threat he could be to the player.
Overall Rating for Both Maps: Decent
Maps the Original Did Better: 2
Maps the Remake Did Better: 3
Equally Designed Maps: 3
No comments:
Post a Comment