Soundtrack: In my opinion Fire Emblem 12’s soundtrack is a HUGE improvement over the original’s. It improved on all the tracks that were in the original and it added a few tracks of it’s own that I believe are worthy of praise. For example, the first track you hear in the game is a unique to 12 track that in my opinion is pretty good:
Here are a few examples of music that were in the original that I feel like Fire Emblem 12 improved upon:
“Advance” (the Fire Emblem 12 version):
“Advance” (the Fire Emblem 3 Book 2 version):
“Liberation” (the Fire Emblem 12 version):
“Liberation” (the Fire Emblem 3 Book 2 version):
“Victory is Ours” (the Fire Emblem 3 Book 2 version):
“Victory is Ours” (the Fire Emblem 12 version):
Now I imagine that some of you will still say that you like the original’s soundtrack either more or as much and that’s fine, but again I still think that 12’s soundtrack was a huge improvement upon the original’s. If I had to pick a favorite track of Fire Emblem 12’s it would be this:
^ AH HECK YEAH! FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT! Seriously this music gets me pumped up and ready for a fight. It’s gotta be my favorite generic boss theme of the series and it’s epic as all heck. I can listen to that boss battle theme all day long and it would never get old.
Overall Summation: This game has a criminally underrated soundtrack that’s awesome! I love it and I think it deserves more praise and attention than it gets. I just can’t listen to the original’s soundtrack when this one exists and does it better.
Plot: If you already read my Fire Emblem 3 Book 2 review then you already know the plot for this game. The major difference here is that 12 added a side plot involving assassins that’s ultimate fluff. Fire Emblem 3 Book 2 didn’t have this side plot and frankly didn’t need it so that should tell you all you need to know.
Another element of this game’s plot has to do with the title ‘Heroes of Light and Shadow’. The idea is that Fire Emblem 3 Book 2 is considered the ‘official’ plot while Fire Emblem 12 is the ‘actual’ plot. The idea is that Kris (the My Unit of FE 12) accomplished a lot of things and then erased his / her name from history and gave all the credit to Marth. This really upset a lot people who liked the plot of Fire Emblem 3 Book 2 (I didn’t know these people even existed). I used to think the hate was undeserved, but after someone showed me the full extent of 12's changes I have to agree that it does read like a self-insert fanfiction. However, this doesn't upset me as much as other people because I was never a fan of Fire Emblem 3 Book 2's story to begin with.
Overall Summation: This game’s plot does read like a self-insert fan-fiction. However, I never much cared for the story of the original so it doesn't bother me as much as it does other people.
Characters: This game has the same cast as both the original and Shadow Dragon. While it did bring support conversations back, they’re not up to par with the supports of Path of Radiance or the GBA games so don’t hold your breath. There still isn’t much to these characters so there isn’t much to talk about. However, I would like to talk about Kris, the My Unit of this game.
What I find interesting about Kris is the variety of opinions that the fanbase has about him or her. For example, the people on Facebook seem to view Kris in a positive light. A lot of people here like the fact that Kris doesn’t play very much of a role in the story. Now compare and contrast that to the serenesforest.net forums where people HATE Kris with a burning passion. The argument over there is that Kris is the literal definition of a self-insert character that is awkwardly placed in a story that didn’t need him / her.
There is one criticism that I do agree with though. The criticism is that Marth’s character regressed from the development he got in Shadow Dragon. I never considered Shadow Dragon Marth to be a compelling character in the first place but even I have to admit that he at least got some character development. FE 12 Marth goes back to being really naive and it shows. This doesn’t bother me like it does with some people and frankly I don’t think it’s a big deal.
Overall Summation: The characterization isn’t the best thing about FE 12 either. Kris has to be one of the most controversial characters in the series and opinions about him / her are going to be different and varied. Marth’s character isn’t done very well either. As for the rest of the cast….they’re really not that special. Characterization is not a strong point for Heroes of Light and Shadow.
I think Model Omega summed this game up for me the best: “MY problem is the same I have with Metroid Prime, they're both well made and enjoyable, but don't really take a huge amount of risks or new angles like (in this case) the SNES games, I just prefer a flawed game that takes chances over an overall better executed one that plays it safe”
(Keep in mind that I’ve never played Metroid Prime so I cannot agree or disagree with him since I’ve never played the game to begin with)
That’s the thing about Blazing Sword: It doesn’t do anything bad, but it’s not spectacular. The worst I could give any of its categories is a “meh, not my cup of tea” which speaks the overall quality of the game. However, when thinking of all the different categories I can name other Fire Emblem games that do something better.
For instance, the gameplay of Blazing Sword on its own is fine, but FE 5 and FE 12 blow this game out of the water. The story of this game is the third best in the series, but take a guess at who # 1 & # 2 are? Holy War and Path of Radiance. I can also think of a long slew of games with soundtracks that I prefer too (heck I think Awakening and Fates have better soundtracks than this game).
I could keep going, but you get the point. I do think this game deserves the love and praise that it gets and I totally understand its appeal. It does a lot of things right and a lot of people have nostalgia for this game which is totally understandable given the fact that its the first game in the series to be officially released to Western audiences. It’s already proven to be a fantastic entry point for newcomers and I would recommend this game as a starter for people looking to get into the series.
On a personal note, I want my Fire Emblem games to be more ambitious. I want them to do something spectacular, which for me is what the Top 5 all end up doing. Like Model Omega said before “I just prefer a flawed game that takes chances over an overall better executed one that plays it safe”.
Gameplay: The main reason why I gave Blazing Sword the nickname of “Polished Emblem” is because the one observation that EVERYONE makes about this game is that it “polished” Binding Blade’s mechanics. I agree with this assessment. The hit rates aren’t wonky here like they are in FE 6 which is nice.
I really appreciate how Blazing Sword decided to bring back multiple map objectives instead of going the Binding Blade route with having seize being the only map objective. It's also nice that Merlinus gets his own spot, as opposed to having to take an actual slot in your army. Before I forget, it's nice to see the support conversations take a massive upgrade from the ones in Binding Blade. Also being able to promote before starting a mission is really cool and convenient.
However, I do think that this game took three steps backward from Binding Blade when it comes to gameplay. The first is the map design. Don’t get me wrong, this game’s map design is solid on its own merits but I do think that its not quite as good as Binding Blade’s. The other step backward is its difficulty. I used to think that Hector Hard mode was “unfair” which I don’t know why I thought that because during my last playthrough of Blazing Sword I played on Hector Hard mode and I enjoyed it. In fact I might go back and replay it again. Going back on topic, Blazing Sword isn’t all that difficult (even Hector Hard Mode) especially in comparison to Binding Blade’s well done Hard mode. Binding Blade also had more reasonable gaiden requirements than Blazing Sword.
The only really inventive things I can think that Blazing Sword does comes from the “tactician”. I used to like this concept and I felt immersed in the game’s story the first time I played this, but the magic and appeal has worn off as time has gone by. The tactician rating and augury are pretty neat though.
Overall Summation: Blazing Sword is basic Fire Emblem GBA gameplay. Depending on who you’re talking to this is either a good thing or a bad thing. Nothing about this game’s gameplay stands out as particularly memorable. Blazing Sword plays it safe and for me it’s a little too simplistic. I’ll come back to this point when finishing the review.
Soundtrack: Okay, I’ll admit it. This game’s got a good soundtrack. It’s the best of the GBA soundtracks and there’s a lot of memorable stuff in here. My favorite track from Blazing Sword would have to be “Softly with Grace”.
This track just sounds so cool and you really feel like you’re fighting a legit battle. I also like how “Together We Ride” is used as the recruitment theme here. I know some people are sick of it, but I still love it so I’m giving Blazing Sword props for using it. The player attacks theme called “Strike” is also fairly neat. Nergal’s theme also works and the theme that plays whenever Nils dances for someone is upbeat and perky. Requiem also works as a sad theme too.
Overall Summation: While this isn’t my personal favorite soundtrack, I do think it is quite good for a GBA OST. I certainly think it’s better than Binding Blade and Sacred Stones’ OSTs. It’s memorable and does a decent enough job at capturing the emotions of whatever’s going on in the game.
The Characters: In addition to having a great plot it also has one of the best casts in the series.
For example this game has Pent. There is no such thing as too much Pent. It’s cool how he’s nobility and not a corrupt douche-bag. He gets to do whatever he wants and he ends up with a hot wife. Legault also has a great backstory. I remember saying that I thought he was forgettable and I regret ever saying that. Legault’s backstory is actually pretty cool and his supports are fun to read.
Some of these characters have been the subject of “Character Spotlight” videos that Mangs has produced over the years. If you haven’t seen them then I suggest that you check them out. For example, Mangs did a great video on Renault that you can see here:
Another example of an interesting character is Harken. Harken is a nice departure from the usual mercenary character that the series loves to throw at the player and I appreciate that. While I’m not a particular fan of characters like Canas and Matthew I do see why other people would appreciate them. Then there’s Nino, that little woobie that’s stolen the hearts of so many fans and has started far too many controversial topics about her combat abilities. Nino works as a sympathetic character and the game does a good job of making you root for her (even if one hates her lack of combat efficiency which I’ll get back to in a bit).
The villains in this game are also fairly solid. Nergal is one of the best Gharnef characters in the series. His backstory is tragic, even if it’s told in a subtle way. In fact speaking of that the localization goofed up here. I highly encourage you to read this article which goes into the nitty gritty details about the translation error and its impact on the plot:
What I find interesting here is that nobody but the player knows about it at the end of the game. The heroes never learn about it, Athos doesn’t know (from what I remember) and his kids never find out either. That makes it all the more tragic because most people (including some fans of the series) just write him off as a crazy dark mage when the reason WHY he’s so power hungry is tragic. For me, it’s his backstory that sets him apart from characters like Manfroy or Gharnef. In addition to that, Nergal is also different from Manfroy and Gharnef because unlike them he’s not resurrecting an empire, he’s the one who wants to take control for himself.
We also have Lloyd, who’s a pretty cool villain. We also have the evil Sonia that I’m sure most players felt satisfied in killing considering all the crap she did to Nino. Let’s not forget about Marquess Laus, the extremely selfish lout. What is it with the lousy noblemen coming from Laus?
For all the things this game did right, I have to admit that from a biased perspective I’m not the biggest fan of some of these characters. I think it has to do with the fact that many of their fan bases have turned me away from liking them (i.e. Hector, Canas and Matthew). The worst of this comes from all the ridiculous “Is Nino good?” threads that erupted into so many toxic arguments. It also doesn’t help that there are some characters here that I genuinely do not like.
Raven’s a total edgelord and what’s worse is that we’re never really told what the specifics behind his backstory are. Considering how important the fall of House Cornwall is you’d think that his supports would go into greater detail about this, but nope it’s never fleshed out. It hurts when he’s got his undeserving fan club of characters (Priscilla with her brother fetish, Lucius and Rebecca, etc.). Bartre is a total Neanderthal and Karla comes off as pretentious.
It also hurts that I’m not the biggest fan of the three lords either. Lyn could have been cut out of the game altogether and the plot wouldn’t have suffered for it. Eliwood is a little too polite and “noble” to be considered interesting for me. I will say though that I’m glad that he got localized the way that he did. For those who you who don’t know what I’m talking about read this: https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/3bx6a0/on_the_topic_of_censorship_in_fire_emblem_fates/
After reading that link I started to appreciate the Western Eliwood a bit more. Then there’s Hector. I think I would’ve liked him more if his fans weren’t constantly acting is if he’s the single best unit in the series. Unlike Lyn I totally get the appeal behind Hector’s character. I like the fact that he’s brash, tough and unmannered. It makes him more relatable to me and I appreciate how un-Eliwood like he is. I want to like Hector more than I currently do, but I have so many bad memories with crap like “Hector the Rektor” that I just bring myself to call myself a Hector fan.
Overall Summation: Objectively speaking this is one of the best written casts in the game. Subjectively speaking, I like more Awakening characters than Blazing Sword ones. I think it’s because a lot of the characters in Blazing Sword have some annoying fandoms that have turned me away from characters that under normal circumstances I would of been a fan of too (like Hector for instance).
Still, these characters are better written than the majority of the other characters in the series and the well written supports really go a long way in fleshing them out. I can understand why some of these characters have the appeal that they do, even if I personally can’t call myself a fan.
Plot: Blazing Sword has one of the best plots in the entire Fire Emblem series. The Eliwood and Hector arcs are very unique in that instead of trying to overthrow an Empire your quest is a lot more personal. It’s rare for a Fire Emblem game to go this route but in my opinion it works really well here. As one Fire Emblem fan put it:
“The story of Blazing sword.... Rather than a prince fighting countries and evil emperors its a conflict between a fairly minor noble and his friends against a ''mere'' mercenary guild and the sorcerer pulling their strings. I think the smaller scale lends itself to some good world building. The story takes place mostly in Lycia and Bern and as a result those countries get more developed than usual.”
As he said, the smaller scale of the story lends itself to better world building and in my opinion it also lets the characters interact off each other more. The story takes it’s time to introduce these characters to us and gives enough time to actually let us get to know who these characters are. It’s a good fit for the game. You get to learn more about the politics of Elibe and the characters motivations since there isn’t as much time spent on conquering different countries.
The same guy I just quoted also said this:
“Lastly its just a competent escalation of events from fighting bandits to corrupt nobles, to a secret assassin guild and then all the way up to a dark sorcerer and his army of magical creatures.”
This story has a few gut-wrenching moments that I would be remiss to not talk about. For example, there’s the death of Eliwood’s father. It’s a genuinely tragic moment and coming from a guy who doesn’t even care much about Eliwood I have to admit that that scene hit me in the feels. There’s also the part where Eliwood accidentally kills Ninian, the Nino / Sonia scenes and most people tell me that Leila’s death hit them pretty hard. If I’m missing something feel free to say something but I think you get the point here. The fact that there are different scenes that impacted a lot of people is evidence that this story did something well. Only a small number of Fire Emblem games have been able to do this and I think that says great things about how this game handled its character writing.
My biggest complaint about Blazing Sword’s story is that both Lyn and Lyn mode are completely irrelevant to it. You could cut both out without there being any impact to the plot at all. I understand that Lyn mode is a tutorial for new players and while it succeeds at doing this I still think there could be a better way of incorporating this into Eliwood and Hector’s arcs.
Overall Summation: Still, with all that being said, Blazing Sword is a well written story and the third best one in the series. Its small scale approach is a nice and unique fit that helps to distinguish it from the other games. The world building is solid and the way it escalates the events in its narrative work. It does a very good job of executing its premise in an engaging way which lends itself to multiple playthroughs.
Nickname: Boring Kids / Not-As-Good-As-Their-Parents-Emblem (if you have an idea for a better nickname I’d love to hear it)
Binding Blade is one of those games where people usually seem to like it but it’s usually not somebody’s favorite. I’m generally of that same mindset, although I don’t like it AS much as other people do. I still can’t deny that I had fun beating this game multiple times so clearly it did something very well. Let’s take a look at that something shall we?
Plot & Characters: Okay…not the the best categories for this game. The plot, I’ll admit is rather bland and forgettable.
Quick Plot Summary: “Bern has declared war on Elibe. Prior to the start of the game they have already conquered Ilia and Sacae. Our main hero, Roy, has to lead the fight against Bern after the former leader of Lycia, Hector, dies. From here Roy and company gallivant across the continent wrecking Bern scrubs as they go until they eventually kill King Zephiel and the incredibly underwhelming Idoun.”
Yeah even RPGamer wasn’t thrilled with this story either: “most of the plot is a fairly standard slew of locations with bad guys who must be shown the sharp end of a blade before they get the point.” (Source: https://www.rpgamer.com/games/fe/fe6/reviews/fe6strev1.html)
There really isn’t much to say about this game’s plot other than the fact that it’s bland and forgettable. Unfortunately it’s cast isn’t all that great either. Despite being the first game to have actual support conversations most of these characters have shallow personalities. The support conversations were written poorly and the only reason why we tend to remember these characters is because of either their connection to the characters in Blazing Sword or because of their battlefield performance, not because of their backstories, motivations or personalities. This cast is pretty underwhelming.
Soundtrack: In my opinion this game’s soundtrack is the worst of the three GBA games and doesn’t hold up very well in comparison to the other games in the series.
Gameplay: The reason why people like this game is because of how good it’s gameplay is. To be fair, Binding Blade does a lot of things well which earns it its positive reputation.
For starters the map design of this game is pretty good. In fact, I’d say it’s arguably in the “Top 5 Best Map Designs in the Entire Series”. The first map doesn’t treat the player like an idiot, which I always appreciate, and most levels make a fine use of terrain and chokepoints to make the game fun.I also agree with RJWalker’s opinion of this game’s map design:
“I've come to appreciate the excellent map design that rewards quick thinking and decisive actions rather than turtling in your spawn point. Turtling is a worse idea than charging forward in almost every map, even putting aside the turn limits required to get the bonus chapters. The maps are designed so that if you move forward at a brisk pace, you'll have a much easier time. If you charge without thinking, you'll get destroyed but if you play too cautiously, you'll find yourself faced with too many enemy units for you to handle. This is especially prominent in the early to mid game. I'd say it has much better map design than even FE7 and FE8, the latter of which is one my favourites in the series.” (Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/2ecc0n/what_are_your_opinions_on_binding_blade/)
This game also got difficulty done right. It can be a challenge that actually requires the player to think while still being fair. The secret shop towards the end of the game is also extremely fun to abuse too. Buying crap tons of boots and other stat-boosters makes the endgame a total joke and I love it.
That being said I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about some of the game’s flaws. This game has ambush spawns and those are pretty lame and take away from the strategy of the game. This game suffers from having a huge cast, meaning that there will be a lot of meh to crappy units that aren’t worth putting any effort into at all. The hit rates for certain weapons in this game aren’t very good which makes getting RNG screwed more feasible here than in other games. I personally haven’t gotten RNG screwed that much in this game (that’s what Gaiden, Thracia 776 and all 3 Fates games are for) so I can’t complain much about this game, but the fact that lots of other people do whenever this game is mentioned tells me that something seriously wrong happened. Still, I think the map design and the difficulty outweigh the negatives of this game’s overall design.
Overall Thoughts: Despite the fact that my opinion of this game has changed for the better I still stand behind an initial statement that I made when I reviewed this game 2 years ago: “I still think this game represents a step backward from Thracia 776 (the game that came before this one)”. Binding Blade may be a little too simplistic for my tastes but it does enough right for me to ignore its flaws. The wonderful map design and difficulty are enough for me to like this game as much as I do. However, there are six other games in this series that I like far more than this one.
