Berwick Saga Review Part 1

 

So I just finished playing a magnificent SRPG. You may have seen me gushing about it. It's called Berwick Saga. Or, as I may or may not call it in the future: "My Berwick Bae." Here's a current tier list of my favorite Fire Emblem games:

Berwick Saga is easily in the top tier, and for good reason: This game is fantastic! Berwick Saga easily has some of the best gameplay of the Fire Emblem franchise. It shakes up the Fire Emblem formula in unique and interesting ways. In addition to that, there are several mechanics that Berwick Saga handles so well that I wish every Fire Emblem game moving forward handled things the way this game did. It probably won't happen, but a man can dream. 

Most of this review will focus on the gameplay, since it's the gameplay that blew me out of the water, but I'll make sure to leave a few non-spoiler thoughts about the story, since that was pretty good too. Alright, let's jump in.

Why Berwick Saga's Gameplay is so Legendary # 1: The Flow of Combat

• The Changed Combat Flow: One of the biggest changes that Berwick Saga makes to the normal Fire Emblem formula are the changes made to the flow of combat. I'd like to demonstrate this, by using an example. Let's pretend that in a regular Fire Emblem game there are two units fighting that are both using weapons with the same range (let's say they're both using Iron Lances). Here is how combat would go down:

Fire Emblem Combat Flow

Unit A attacks Unit B. Unit B counterattacks Unit A. If either unit has significantly higher Attack Speed, they get to double attack. 

Now, let's take these same combatants and apply the Berwick Saga combat flow:

Berwick Saga Combat Flow

Unit A attacks Unit B. If Unit A dealt damage, then combat ends. Unit B does not get to counterattack. Unit A does not get to double attack, even if their Attack Speed is significantly higher.

The basic rule of thumb when it comes to combat in Berwick Saga is that combat ends once damage has been dealt.

Now here's where things get a little more complicated: That basic rule of thumb has exceptions. There are plenty of skills and weapons in Berwick Saga that either let you attack multiple times or let you counterattack even if you've taken damage. This is something I'll talk more about later, but in this game weapons and skills make a much bigger difference in combat than stats do. If you want a more in-depth breakdown of how combat works in Berwick Saga, you can read this combat guide that goes more in-depth. 

Why Should We Care?

You're probably wondering why changing up the flow of combat matters. There are two major ways in which changing up the flow of combat makes a difference:

1) You can't send your most powerful character into a group of enemies and watch that character solo them. No matter how much more powerful your character's stats are than the enemy's, if they get hit they probably won't be able to counterattack. Only one character in your army has the skill "Counter" which lets you counterattack even if you've taken damage. This leads to the second major impact which is...

2) There's a bigger emphasis on the player taking the initiative: Since your characters aren't going to counterattack all that much, the onus is on the player to initiate combat and be proactive in defeating enemies. As many Fire Emblem veterans will tell you, Fire Emblem style gameplay always benefits whenever it incentivizes the player to be proactive. Berwick Saga accomplishes this just by taking away the likelihood of counterattacking.

Why Berwick Saga's Gameplay is so Legendary # 2: The Gold Standard of Unit Balance

One aspect of Berwick Saga's gameplay that's amazing is how the game approaches unit balance. In fact, Berwick Saga handles unit balance / unit differentiation so well that it's become the gold standard of how Fire Emblem games ought to handle unit balance in the future. So how does Berwick Saga handle unit balance?

Everyone in this game has a niche that only they can fulfill. Everyone in your army is capable of making some kind of meaningful contribution that will come in handy at least a few times throughout the game. It's pretty common to switch up your roster, and use a new set of characters because they have specific traits that are useful for a particular map. 

The main way that Berwick Saga accomplishes this is by giving everyone has a unique combination of skills. Skills and equipment are the main way that characters are kept different from each other. One Berwick Saga review that I've read does a good job at explaining this:

"So, how does Berwick Saga handle these three elements? The classes determine what equipment a unit can use and whether it can use a horse. So, if you look at 2 mounted units the only actual difference between them is stats... But only at a first glance. If we take a look at Leon and Adel, the first 2 units we get in the same class in the very first chapter:

Name	Class	Lvl	HP	Str	Def	Spd	Skills
Leon	Spear Knight	1	28	6	4	7	Deathmatch, Robust, Supporter
Adel	Spear Knight	1	29	4	3	8	Vantage, Throw, Fork, Supporter

So, if we only compared their stats, there wouldn't be that much of a difference between these 2, Leon is just a bit bulkier and deals higher damage. However, the skills they posses put them in completely different niches in Berwick.

From the very first chapter Leon is able to ORKO some enemies thanks to his deathmatch skill, which is a command skill that you have to use on your turn and it triggers 5 rounds of combat that are much more akin to the usual FE battle flow with guaranteed counterattacks and doubling if any of the units has higher Attack Speed. Of course, 5 rounds of combat can be extremely dangerous against stronger enemies, so this skill is not even close to a delete button against anything.

Adel, on the other hand, has the unique (or at least innate) access to Vantage, which is a passive skill more akin to the Tracia version of the skill, except it also requires Adel's AS to be higher than the enemy's. But remember, in a normal round of combat in Berwick, if your unit damages an enemy, that enemy can't counterattack at all and that means the end of their turn. So, Adel has a niche completely different from that of Leon's, which is to aggro slow enemies that he can damage, weakening the enemy and also completely robbing them of their turn. And again, Vantage isn't a magic pill to trivialize all the enemies in the game, since enemies will often have higher AS than Adel or defense that he can't get through (Not to mention his spear growth is so low he'll have trouble hitting anything when he's outside of Leon's support range)."

(Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/ffii8e/i_beat_berwick_saga_final_team_and_thoughts_also/) 

This post is getting so I'll end the fan gushing here and come back to it later. Berwick Saga's gameplay is just so good that there's a lot to talk about and praise. In this post, I've covered how Berwick Saga's changes to the flow of combat are enough to incentivize the player taking the initiative and how it prevents soloing. I've also covered Berwick Saga's top notch unit balance too. 

In the next post I'll be going over the following:

• Berwick Saga's expert resource management system and it's base menu.

• The top notch map design

• The well handled difficulty.

• The switch up to how recruitment is handled.

Top 10 Underrated Musical Tracks in Fire Emblem Part 2

 # 6 - Roar of Dominion (Three Houses) - Blaine's Pick

The first thing I have to say about this track is "HOLY SHIT!" This theme plays at the end of Part 1 right on the heels of Edelgard declaring war on the Church of Seiros. Roar of Dominion is a powerful track that is dangerous, tragic, and epic in every regard. It's the perfect musical track that tells you everything you need to know about the battle of Garreg Mach. 

This battle will be painful. Students fight against students, and the ultimate clash of ideologies rages on. Will Edelgard be able to overthrow the corrupt Church of Seiros? Will Byleth, Dimitri, or Claude be able to bring peace to Fódlan? Find out next time on Three Houses Z.  This theme represents the ending of a happy era. Edelgard's attack on the Church of Seiros permanently changes the story of Three Houses. There's no going back after this, and this theme perfectly represents that change.

# 5 - When the Rush Comes (Holy War) - Gregory's Pick

Speaking of musical tracks that happen after massive plot twists, "When the Rush Comes" happens on the heels of the Massacre of Belhalla. Chapter 5 of Holy War is a gigantic gut punch that permanently changes the story. It's both shocking and heartbreaking....but the game's not over. In fact, we're only halfway through the story. Then this theme kicks in. All of a sudden, there's a feeling of hope. Arvis may have stabbed you in the back, but now it's payback time. Arvis may have created an empire, but now it's your turn to tear down. This theme represents hope and inspires the player to keep playing Holy War, and to right the wrongs caused by the bad guys. 

# 4 - What Lies at the End (Echoes) - My Pick

Whenever people talk about the soundtrack of Echoes there are two tracks that get brought up: Twilight of the Gods and Mila's Divine Protection. Both tracks are awesome, but their constant exposure often means that other awesome tracks get left behind. What Lies At the End has always been one of my favorite tracks in Echoes and I never see anyone talk about it. I've always loved this track. It's hopeful, heroic, triumphant, and it's a genuine feel-good track that inspires you to move on. Normally I keep the battle animations on for Echoes (at least when it's my turn) because I love the battle animations in this game. That all changes when this song plays, because I just want to experience this wonderful song while I'm wrecking face.

# 3 - Rally the Spirit (Path of Radiance) - Matthew's Pick

Rally the Spirit is the name of the track in Path of Radiance that plays during Ike's iconic speech, and after Ashnard's been defeated. I love how Ike's caught off guard when asked to give a speech, and when he gives his speech, it's blunt, to the point, and it's still epic.

 This theme will play again after you've beaten the game and retaken Crimea. It's the ultimate celebratory track. It plays as Ike and co. celebrate all the trials and hard fought struggles during the past events. You now get to sit back and watch everyone in the cast come up to Ike and say something. I think my favorite line goes to Kieran when he says, "Huzzah, nay a thousand huzzahs!" That line is so good.

Since Path of Radiance was my first Fire Emblem game, I can't help but remember the first time I beat this game in what feels like a different lifetime ago. I remember how triumphant and joyful I felt beating this new and exciting game. This theme definitely played a role in that feeling of triumph at beating this game.

Men of Crimea... Laguz of Tellius…Greil Mercenaries MOVE OUT!!!    

# 2 - Birth of a Holy Knight (Holy War) - Luna's Pick [and mine]

Why does this theme never get talked about? I'm serious. Even among people who enjoy Holy War's soundtrack, this theme never gets brought up. Why? It's so awesome! Birth of a Holy Knight is the track that does an amazing job at portraying knighthood, honor, and adventure. The feeling I get every time I hear this track is that I want to step outside my front door, and scream, 

It's the perfect theme to start this masterpiece of a game. It also reflects Sigurd's mindset: Adventure, honor, rescuing a damsel in distress. It's the ultimate knightly tale! 

This theme IS Sigurd's theme song. Even the title is a reference to Sigurd himself. According to Fire Emblem wiki, this is also Sigurd's epithet in Heroes. "Holy Knight" is also the term used for the paladin class. 

So yeah. Sigurd's theme is awesome.

The Most Underrated Track in the Franchise: Chasing Daybreak (Three Houses) - My Pick

Three Houses has a wonderful soundtrack. The positive to this is that you get to listen to a lot of great music. The flipside is that some tracks don't get as much attention as they deserve. Enter "Chasing Daybreak". I loved this track since the first moment that I heard it. This track screams epic! Whenever this song hits, you know that war is coming. This track is frequently associated with post-time skip Dimitri, and the association is warranted. This song channels his rage like no other. This song also does a great job of showing you just how bad things are for the Blue Lions...and also just how hard they need to fight to protect their homeland. This song gets me pumped for anything I'm about to do, and it deserves far more love than it gets. 

Top 10 Underrated Musical Tracks in Fire Emblem Part 1

 Fire Emblem is a series well known for it's awesome music. When you have as many games as Fire Emblem does, it's inevitable that some tracks will get more attention than others. This list is about honoring the musical tracks that deserve more attention than they get.

 Before I begin, I should point out that a good chunk of this list came from people whose opinions I asked for when it came to the topic of "underrated musical tracks". This is why you might see someone's name listed next to a choice on this list.

Honorable Mention # 1 - Return of the Demon King (Sacred Stones) - Hamza's Pick

In general, I don't find the soundtrack of the GBA games to be that good. After Hamza picked this one, I listened to it and I thought it was pretty decent. This musical piece underlies the main fight against the Demon King himself. There's a small build-up, and then bam! The main score begins. At about this point in the piece the music feels more chaotic, like everything's gone to shit. That's kind of how you expect a fight against the Demon King to work. If you haven't checked it out, the link to the video is right there.

Honorable Mention # 2 - Liberation (FE 3) - Cloudman's Pick

Now here's a theme that gives the feeling of heroism. This song plays around the time where Marth and his allies are retaking Altea from the Archanean Empire. It's a fun theme that's short, sweet, and to the point. This theme got a remake in Fire Emblem 12:

I find myself gravitating toward the remake's version a little bit, but both versions of the theme are worth listening to. 

# 10 - Melancholy. Brunnya's Theme (Binding Blade) - Zak's Pick

Here we have a theme that accurately conveys a sense of melancholy. You can tell just by listening to this theme that Brunnya is a tragic character. If you've played Binding Blade you'll know that Brunnya is one of Zephiel's most loyal generals. We also know that she's in love with him. When you know these facts about Brunnya, her theme feels that much more impactful to the player. In a way, this piece reflects Brunnya's narrative role: melancholic, somber, and is forced to march onward in the background. It's a good example of a musical piece that accurately describes what the character is like.

# 9 - A Funeral of Flowers (Three Houses) - Carlos's Pick

The first of many picks from Three Houses that will make it onto this list. If my memory's right, this theme plays at the end of the Silver Snow route when you're fighting Rhea. Like virtually any major fight in Three Houses, the music here makes it pretty clear that this isn't a fight for heroism. This is a tragedy that should not have happened at all. Even after defeating Edelgard and Those Who Slither in the Dark, you still have to defeat Rhea. You can even hear Rhea's theme mixed into the music. It's the perfect theme for fighting Rhea. 

# 8 - Corridors of the Tempest (Three Houses) - Marmotte's Pick

This is the auxiliary map theme in Three Houses. It sounds so hopeful and triumphant. It's almost like the game is saying "if you push through and grind your units up, they're gonna wreck face!" Not much else to say, but this theme is great and definitely deserves a mention.

# 7 - The Shackled Wolves (Three Houses) - Luna's Pick

A stellar DLC theme that perfectly encapsulates the Ashen Wolves house. Fun fact: According to one Youtube comment on the video, "The main melody at 2:17 is actually Edge of Dawn played on a piano in reverse". It was also confirmed on reddit. This map screams adventure, a little bit of mystery, and a sense that something great is looming on the horizon. That's a good way to describe the Ashen Wolves DLC.

Berwick Saga Update: Chapter 9 Gaidens - 12 -1

 

Here are my thoughts on Berwick Saga from the Chapter 9 sidequests to Chapter 12-1.

The Mostly Excellent Map Design

I've been impressed with what I've seen of the map design in Berwick Saga! This game knows how to effectively utilize side objectives, put pressure on the player, and each map is so different that you actively have to take a step back and think about which characters you're going to use. That's pretty incredible! I've been taking notes on the map design, and I think that Berwick Saga will end up beating Thracia 776 for the title of "Best Map Design in the Series". (Yes I know that Berwick Saga isn't an official FE title, but still) The maps in this part of the game that really stand out to me are:

Chapter 10

This map involves numerous hidden enemies with powerful crossbows and bows. The enemy cavaliers at the beginning of the map are really tough too. There are NPCs on the opposite side of the map. One NPC named Vester is trying to talk to the boss. The objective for this map is to make sure that Vester talks to the boss.

 Arrowbane is love, arrowbane is life. For those of you who don't know, Arrowbane is a skill where if your unit gets attacked by an enemy bow user, the RNG resets their accuracy and their highest accuracy is 33 %. It basically lets your characters dodge tank powerful enemy bow users. Given how powerful ballistae and crossbows are in this part of the game, Arrowbane will save your life.

Chapter 11

This is a fairly chill "Defend and then Escape chapter". You're essentially defending the map for 20 turns, but then you have 4 turns for everyone to escape. My biggest criticism of this map is that the escape point is right next to your group, so there isn't as much pressure as there should be. There's a group of powerful wyvern riders present that you should actively try to avoid. Other than that, it's a fairly decent level. 

Chapter 12 

Chapter 12 is awesome! The map pulls the player in multiple directions and even has a neat boss at the end. The main objective is to get that Vester guy from Chapter 10 to seize the fort. In order to do that, you have to get this paladin named Alvina over to a village to talk to a bishop, then you have to get her to the opposite side of the map in order to get her to talk to Vester. After that, you have to storm the castle.

Did I mention that the boss has a berserk orb? That's scary. In Berserk Saga, enemies with status orbs are rare, but when they show up they will make life miserable for you. Status orbs pretty much always hit their target, and the resources available to cure them are limited. So you have to make good use of them while pressing forward. Meanwhile, armored enemies will appear from the gate to slow your advance. 

Bytheway, you have 24 turns to complete all of this so no turtling for you. 24 turns may sound lenient, but considering the fact that you have to traverse all over the map that time can go by quickly. Playing slowly on this map is a bad idea. Oh, and there's an island in the middle of the map where three ballistae will fire on you. Ballistae in this game are scary! They're accurate, so you most likely will get hit, and they can 2 shot most of your group. The extra fragile characters get killed in one hit. I don't think ballistae have ever been this powerful in Fire Emblem before. All-in-all, this map is excellently designed!

Chapter 12-1

^ Remember when I posted this picture? 12-1 is the chapter where this came into place. Thankfully, there's a map event that happens that results in silencing this dude. When that happens, you don't have to worry about the boss using that weapon on you. Instead you just have to worry about him one hit KO'ing all of your guys with Hellfire. Fortunately, there is a strategy on how to deal with that that involves a thief called Sedy. Sedy can steal Hellfire before the boss gets silenced. When that happens, the boss becomes incapable of doing anything. This is easier said than done. Sedy has to be one space away from the boss in order to accomplish this, and I should inform you that the boss is surrounded by other dark mages that all have status orbs. Sleep and Berserk can make your life miserable.

The main objective for this map is to rescue all the NPCs that are being captured by enemy dark mages. These NPCs are spread all over the map, which once again pulls the player in different directions. Another nifty feature of this map is that it's a fog of war map. Wait, don't you hate fog of war? Normally yes, but in Berwick Saga enemies don't attack you in fog of war unless they see you. Enemies and players are put on the same playing field in this game. So fog of war ends up being tolerable. It's super helpful in this map because that enemy boss and his minions can't use status staves on you unless you're super close. So you're basically hiding under the cover of night in order to rescue damsels in distress. It's a pretty cool scenario.

For some reason, this doesn't apply to the dark mage with the infinite range ballistic siege tome. That douchebag can see you from anywhere on the map. That being said, this is definitely my favorite fog of war map in a Fire Emblem(ish) title. It's challenging, but fun.

____________________________________________________

I've now added two extra members to my team: Percival and Owen. 

Percival is a mage that has access to that Arrowbane skill that I mentioned earlier. He also is your main Dire Thunder user too. He also has Adept, which is helpful for double attacking. A major reason why I wanted him on my team is that armored enemies in this game have such ridiculously high defense that one of the best strategies to beating them is with magic. This is where Percival comes in handy since he's one of the few magic users in this game.

The other character that I added on is Owen. Owen is a bishop with exclusive access to Pacify, an orb that cures the Berserk status. He can pretty much use any healing orb that you want him to, which is helpful. He also has an Escape orb that causes allies to permanently leave a map for good. That may not sound all that useful, but there are a lot of escape maps in this game, so the escape orb comes in clutch when you want certain characters to escape. Owen can also cause himself to permanently leave a map, which makes him a must have in escape maps.

There is a drawback to using this guy: If Owen hasn't left a map by Turn 20, he becomes a bad guy. Strange mechanic for a character, but thankfully after Chapter 12-1 that will no longer be the case. He's worth using because of how helpful he can be in escape maps, but you do need to be at least a little bit careful with him. Overall, I'd say that he's definitely worth using so long as you're aware about his little drawback.

Up to Chapter 9 - Berwick Saga

 

When I finished my last post, I was on Chapter 5. Now, I'm starting on Chapter 9 (and I've done the sidequests too btw). Here's an update of my team:

• I permanently recruited Dean, Volo, Sherpa, and Arthur. Izerna and Dean got promoted! 

• Right now, I'm trying to get Sherlock promoted. His bow skill rank is high enough, but he's about 2 levels shy of promotion.

I came across enemies with a skill called "Overwatch". Overwatch is a skill where the first time someone enters the bow user's range, they get to attack that enemy before that enemy completes their move. If their hit succeeds, the enemy stops in their tracks. It's extremely annoying since your only recourse is to get lucky and dodge the hit. Thankfully it only happens once, so even if your first unit gets hit, you can attack those annoying archers with a different unit.

There are a lot of enemy armored units who can be straight up scary. They're accurate, they're durable, and they hit like a truck. Thank goodness for Aegina and magic. It feels like mages like her get that special niche of undermining armored enemies. This is how armored enemies should feel like when it comes to fighting. I wish other Fire Emblem games designed their armored enemies like this. Wyverns are also tough enemies since this game doesn't give you access to tons of weapons that deal effective damage to them.

I didn't actually kill the wyvern on this level. I basically used Elbert's Provoke skill and had him soak the damage. 

Escape Maps

There are a lot of escape maps in this part of the game. There are also a lot of "defend NPCs and let them escape" maps here too. They often start out tame, where you don't have many enemies to fight, if you even fight any. Sometimes the map will begin with no enemies whatsoever. Then, each turn the pressure increases where more and more enemies show up and start charging at you. I really appreciate this approach. These chapters put the player on the ropes and force them to escape. 

Alternatively, there are escape maps that are designed like defense chapters. The best example of this is chapter 6 where you have to use this lady named Enid to talk to numerous different villagers before letting them escape. It's a fun twist on the defense map, because you have to sit there and defend NPCs while the enemies pour in and try to kill them. 

In a lot of cases you have to wait until the NPCs make it to the escape tile on the map, which means that they set the pace and tempo of that map. Thankfully, I've managed to rescue all the NPCs on each of these maps. Chapters 8 & 8-1 spice things up a bit by giving you NPC ballistae that defend your base for you. It's actually pretty fun watching allies either snipe enemies or weaken them up so you can deliver the finishing blow. I think this game reinforced my love of escape chapters, and is proof of why the escape objective is my favorite in the series.

Question: How does "weapon failure" work? There have been several instances where I try to attack with a member of my team and it doesn't work. "Weapon failure" is brought up as the reason why. It's pretty annoying, and it's giving me "missing staves" from Thracia vibes. 

Another thing I've noticed is that not only does this game give you multiple ways to spend your money, it also gives you multiple ways to earn it too. Capturing enemies not only nets you extra stuff, but it also can earn you some money since enemies will pay for their captured comrades. Killing certain enemies can net you money if they're on the wanted list. Getting rare items for that item collector is also another way. It really adds to the resource management aspect of this game, which is pretty incredible. 

Another Question: Are there any ways to improve your chances of capturing enemies? As of right now, it seems random / luck based if you can capture enemies. I think it'd be fun to be able to capture more enemies. 

More Berwick Saga Fan Gushing

 

As you could tell from reading the title, I really like this game a lot! I just completed Chapter 5, and it's been roughly 2 months since my last Berwick Saga post. So here I go.

The Map Design

I admit that I have a relatively long way to go, but I've been impressed with how consistently good Berwick Saga's map design is. I've yet to come across a map that I thought was genuinely bad, or unfun to play. I'm including the side quest maps in that too. That's an impressive track record. Right now, the maps that stand out to me are:

• Chapter 3

 Chapter 3 is my favorite map in the game that I've played. The NPC priests force the player to move fast, and they also force the player to move in different directions. These priests move pretty far, so you have to maintain a fast pace throughout the level. There are also plenty of side objectives for the player, which means that there's never a dull moment. 

Chapter 4

Chapter 4 is another fun map where you're defending a group of NPCs that are traveling south. Enemies will approach you from the left, and there are also enemies on the "Wanted List" that you can kill to get more money. This chapter struck me as flexible in its design. You could choose to play it somewhat slow, or you could choose to go after all the juicy enemies with a bounty. You also got to choose how many NPCs could escape to the tiles at the bottom of the map. I managed to get every NPC to escape, and it was fun. 

• Chapter 4-1

Wow! Those enemies on the opposite side of the bridge are really, really, strong! Like...I feel like a genuine idiot for wanting to pick a fight with them. I managed to kill most of them before calling it quits and escaping. Still, it's a cool concept for what appears to be a stealth map. 

Chapter 5

• This is a defense map with the side option of being able to kill or capture the boss if you're feeling more aggressive. It also hands you Marcel, a recruitable ally with the super useful Guard and Shieldfaire skills. In order to recruit him to your side permanently, you have to make sure the villagers are all alive by the end of the chapter. The map is pretty good. You still have to move more aggressively, but it still has the feeling from a good siege map. Goebbels is a scary boss, but you at least don't have to face him if you don't want to. The real threat in this map are all the enemy cavaliers. Not only do they have high movement, they can dish out some nasty damage. Oh, and they all have Canto for some fun hit and run tactics. Lovely.

Fog of War

Something else that I'd like to comment on is how Berwick Saga handles fog of war. In traditional Fire Emblem games, fog of war is a mechanic that makes it so that the player can't see where enemies are, but the enemies can see you. This is an unfair disadvantage to the player, and most fog of war maps aren't fun to play. 

Berwick Saga makes it so that enemies can't see you when fog of war is out either. This levels the playing field and makes fog of war maps tolerable at worst. The map where you get Sherpa was actually fun to play. Coming from someone who dislikes fog of war, that's pretty high praise. Also, is it just me or does Sherpa look like a happy, non-edgy Guts?

Balanced Difficulty

Another impressive feature that I really like about Berwick Saga is that it's managed to remain just tough enough to make me think, while still being fair. When a character of mine dies, I know it's because I made a tactical error. I never felt like the game threw some unfair nonsense at me. I made a mistake and got punished for it. The enemy stats so far are tough enough to be threatening, but they're not anything that my army can't handle.

Bosses can be legit scary, which is what they should be. Goebbels in Chapter 5 can practically kill most of my troops in 1 - 2 hits while his defense is pretty high. This is what an Armor Knight boss should be. That's a tricky balance to maintain, especially when you consider the fact that difficulty is something that the Fire Emblem franchise doesn't always design well. 

Minor Quibbles 

• Weapons breaking based off RNG doesn't sit well with me. You can't tell when your character's weapon is going to break other than getting a vague feeling that you've used it a lot. 

• I went back and re-read what I wrote about the changed turn order mechanic in my previous Berwick Saga post, and I still stand by it. I am not a fan of this different style of turn order.

Overall: This game is living up to its reputation of being really fun to play. If the game keeps this up, Berwick Saga will be up there with Thracia 776 for its top-tier gameplay.

Initial Thoughts of Berwick Saga

 

So I started playing Berwick Saga. I'm only a few chapters in, but I wanted to share my thoughts so far:

The Good

• The Base Menu: 
  
  
  

I'm only a few chapters in and I already love this base menu so much! It feels like a perfect middle ground between the exploration of the monastery in Three Houses versus the bare bones simplicity of the older titles. There's plenty to do, and there's story events that happen in a good number of the chapters. Each section gives a compelling reason to visit it, and helps the city you live in to feel like an actual place to live in. 

To go along with this, there were some fun mechanics that I saw here that I'm a fan of. Take the Kingfisher Pavilion for example: 

This mechanic reminds me of the Mess Hall in Fates where food gives stat bonuses for a chapter. I think I like this version of that concept more than the Fates version since the Kingfisher Pavilion requires money to use, which means that there's more resource management involved. Plus I also like that the player at least has a little more control over who gets what food. There's a wide variety of dishes to select and you need to know which characters like which foods. 

• Mercenaries & Recruitment: 

Another neat feature of this game that I really like is that you can recruit characters with money to join your army. These recruits don't stay in your army for forever unless you complete certain requirements. I like this approach to recruitment the most since it feels like you need to be deliberate and thoughtful with who you recruit, and how many that you need. Recruitment becomes more thoughtful and deliberate, and if you know what you need to do in order to permanently recruit them, then you need to factor that into your strategy. This approach makes recruitment more thought provoking and strategic and I love it!

The Stables

I like the fact that you can purchases horses, that they have HP, and that horses are just another resource that you have to manage. Horses having HP also means that they can die. So you have to be more careful with them, and charging headlong into an enemy army can be bad news for your mounted character. 

Wtf? x 10? Is that I what I get to look forward to?

Resource Management
All of this is a roundabout way of saying that Berwick Saga absolutely nails resource management! You have enough gold to do what you want, and you have a lot of places to spend it. Food, recruitment, weapons, horses, etc. There's a lot of places where you can spend your money. It makes purchasing stuff a strategic choice with trade-offs and opportunity costs. You're always wondering if you should have spent your money on something else, which makes shopping more strategic overall. 

Unit Balance
I'm not very far into the game, but so far I feel like I can use whoever I want and there's a valid reason to use that someone. Each unit also feels unique and serves a purpose. Everyone I've seen seems to be saying that same thing. Well done Kaga! 

Skills

I'm a fan of how this game handles skills based off what I've seen. While there are some skills that are RNG based, there are also plenty of skills that are passive commands (although admittedly it doesn't always seem like you can activate them?) that can be consistently activated. Skills like Desperation and Deathmatch are awesome because they provide powerful bonuses in the form of extra attacks, but they have enough drawbacks that prevent them from always being used. It feels like there's a trade-off as you have to consider whether you want to use the skill now, or wait later. 

Units Don't Counterattack If They're Dealt Damage

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but based on what I've seen and heard, it seems to me that if a unit takes damage in battle, they do not get to counterattack unless there's a skill involved. I actually like this change. It makes the game more player phase oriented, and prevents the game from being soloed from massive juggernauts. It's another nifty change that works really well.

A Healthy Amount of Sidequests

I'm a fan of having sidequests and other things to do. I like the idea of there being citizen requests, and opportunities to find items that you can give to certain npcs in exchange for stuff. 

The Bad

Holy Hit Rates Batman!

My least favorite part of the game so far is the absurdly low hit rates for this game. It feels like most of my army is averaging between 5- 60 %. I thought the hit rates in Binding Blade were bad enough, but this game makes FE 6 look like freaking Bullseye from the comics:

It makes the game very RNG reliant and I can't say that I'm a fan. In some cases the game slows down because trying to hit your target can take a while. Thankfully this game provides ways to increase the accuracy of your army, so I expect this issue to go away in time. 

 The Tweaked Turn Order

Another major change to this game is that instead of having one phase for the player, and one phase for the enemy, this game alternates between player units and enemies getting a turn. The best way I can describe it is that it feels kind of like Turn Order and Priority in D&D. I'm not a fan of this change. 

For starters, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason between who gets to go, and how often different units go before the player / enemy gets to react. As a result, it's perfectly possible for your healer to get ganged up on and beaten before you get a chance to react (that's happened to me a couple times). It also means that if you have a character on the verge of death you have to prioritize getting that unit away from combat asap. 

Tl;dr version - I like this game a lot already! The gameplay has me hooked, and there are several things about this game that I wish other Fire Emblem titles tried to do.