Overall 9.5 Graphics 8.3 Sound 9.4 Addictive 9.7 Story 8.7 Depth 7.7 Difficulty 7.4
9.2
Fire Emblem: Sword of Seals Deadman9001
Fire Emblem, a fabled series of medieval turn-based strategy games finally hits the mobile market with the game Fire Emblem: Sword of Seals. This game would be the last Japan only release of a Fire Emblem game as its canonical prequel (known today in Western Markets as
Fire Emblem, or
Fire Emblem: The Sword of Flame) would be the first of the series to flood Europe and North America. The game features class advancements, a story arch that leads the player on a journey, as well as the Perma-Death mechanic that gives the series its uniqueness. Turn-based play, grid path movements, weapon damage as well as RPG elements advance the battles along. Cutscenes and music are the driving force behind this historic game despite a lack of voice acting.
Story: 7
As an avid Fire Emblem fan of the games released to North America, it took me many tries to find any games made prior to Sword of Flames. After finding Sword of Seals on an emulator with English translation (not Vizzed at the time) it was time to dive into the game. Sword of Seals takes place on Elibe, the same continent as its canonical prequel known today in short as FE7 years after the events of FE7. Eliwood, Hector and their children have grown older having you play as the main protagonist Roy, son of Eliwood during a time of war. Bern the kingdom of the east has invaded neighboring countries for an unknown reason, it is up to you to stop the war and bring peace back to the land.
For a game that canonically follows FE7, Sword of Seals story line felt rather poor. Characters didn't have a lot of detail, and the dialogue feels a little rushed. This game could Easily be the best Fire Emblem on hand held device, even topping Awakening, despite lacking all the features. However Dialogue and the overall story was lacking in this game, compared to the games that followed. Whether this is due to poor translation between the Official Japanese title and the English version that found its way on Vizzed, or the entire title failing to provide the epic tale, I could not rate the game any higher. There seem to be a few plot holes that are able to rear their ugly heads in a game that should only receive a 9.9 or 10 rating.
Depth: 8
Lacking the features that would come in later games like
Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones, this games depth still did well. The game has a nice amount of chapters to keep the player hooked for hours, despite the lower quality of the story. The player still has the ability to level characters to 10-20 and use class changing items to advance the rank of their troops to newer heights, as well as grind away in the arena to gain gold and valuable experience. Without an overworld map to freely travel on, this game and its prequel were not as in depth with gameplay as Sacred Stones, however this in itself provided added challenge to the game. If you have played
Fire Emblem: The Sword of Flame The battlegrounds will look familiar as well as the backstory to the main characters who return here.
Difficulty: 9
While this game isn't nearly as difficult to play through as the two world wide releases of the game, trying to keep your characters alive is still a difficult challenge. A missed swing, an unexpected Critical Hit or a troublesome priest healing the boss from afar could ruin your adventure and goal to keep everyone alive. However this is what makes the Fire Emblem series so great, that you have to develop characters to survive, and you generally get attached to them.
Graphics: 9
Sword of Seals was released one year after the Game Boy Advanced came to Japan, as such the graphics to this game were already starting to push the boundaries of the system, as only a few years before gamers saw far less color on the handhelds. Most handhelds had the top down style with sprites represented on the screen, but unlike games such as Pokemon, this game switched easily between the overview map and the fight screen with animated cutscenes showing the results of the attacks. Not even Pokemon's graphics showed an attack actually land on the opponent or the opponent actually dodging the attack. it was cutting edge, which is even shown off more with the unique critical hit attacks per class.
Sound: 10
The music of this game really trumps the handheld games that followed it on Game Boy Advanced. Not a single track is any less exciting to listen to than the rest. Music was what really made this game shine, and players remember the soundtracks of the series very well. With a soundtrack of over 80+ clips to chose from this games audio was not very repetitive, but very catchy.
Addictiveness: 10
Fire Emblem is the one series that I can never put down, regardless of the title or what features are included. These games have been very exciting and demanding with the perma-death mechanic driving players to play complete games without losing a character. The Strategy involved in completing the game demands your full attention, as there is never really a dull moment despite the lower quality of the story.
Overall: 9.2
After everything, this game really wants to be the perfect game for you. It does everything and more than what you'd expect from a title from early 2002 on a handheld console. If it wasn't for the strange lapses in the dialogue and story department this game would easily be the best Fire Emblem title on GBA, and be a top choice for best game ever on any console for the series. Fire Emblem is my favorite series of games, but having played Sword of Flames prior to playing this Japanese exclusive, I have to say that Fire Emblem #7 is a better game overall than Fire Emblem #6. This title should be the best of the three games released on GBA, but sadly it is the worst of the bunch. In saying that though, this game still rivals some of the better titles of any other game out there today. Pick this game up on Vizzed and give it a go! If you need to follow canon (you gotta play Fable 2 before Fable 3) finish up Fire Emblem #7 before you try this game out.
Graphics 9 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 7 Depth 8 Difficulty 9
Review Rating: 5/5
Submitted: 02-20-14
Review Replies: 1
9.2
The Strongest GBA Fire Emblem Kirbybanjo
Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, this is my review for the Fire Emblem Game, also known as FE6. FE6 was originally released only in Japan, and via the wonderful technologies of Translating and Rom hacking is now available on this site. With this review, I hope you can understand whether or not this game if for you
Overall:
9.2,
This game is the best Fire Emblem in the series for the Game Boy/Game Boy advanced, but lacks some of the basic mechanics that make what we would expect out of a Fire Emblem game. The presence of useless Jagen type characters, in addition to a vast majority of the characters not having promotions and or being viable (I'm looking at you chapter 3 recruits, all of you), makes this game difficult to stomach, and some of your early characters feel like they should be discarded after picking them up, as opposed to most FE games, where the starter characters with the exception of the paladin are always useful to the late game (herein referenced as Jagen's). At the same time, the transition to the mid game characters is the strength of the game, as many of these characters break the standard troupes that we see in the lame story writing of the early to mid Fire Emblems. The good aspects of this game, however, are the strategy, and immense story/support conversations with about a dozen different character endings, and very good conversations, while mixing useful unit decisions into this game that aren't there in other games. This is not a sacred stones where you can just face roll with your Lords + Seth and just win the game, but at the same time isn't as stupidly hard as the Thracia 766, wherein a bad RNG level can really screw you over. The game gives you enough play that if you have a series of bad level ups you wont be handicapped in the late game, and at the same time will still be competent throughout the mid game without feeling punished for bad luck. Additionally, the massive cast of characters, and the unusually large maps (15-16 is the average) really sets the bar high for tactics, and healing in this game is actually useful and necessary. The biggest drawbacks of this game are the loss of your early characters who don't scale well, and the mediocre graphics.
TLDR: Long story with lots of interactions, high replay value, and reasonable difficulty, with awful sprite based graphics
Graphics : 5
First off the maps and characters are rendered very much in the 8 bit style on a 32 bit system. The maps and characters appear needlessly dated, and it doesn't serve to add much to the character of the game. The generic looking battle animations are a weak point of the series, and continue to be in this Fire Emblem Title. The GBA has far more potential than this looking at its Sonic games for the system, and the use of poorly animated colors and sprites gets annoying fast, it is a major weak point of the game. The character portraits and screen-backgrounds when the game chooses to use them (the mini cut scenes if you will), look fantastic however, and it really shows the engine and platform the game is wasting this time around, it is very unfortunate and one of the biggest reasons this game isn't rated as highly as it deserves to be (9.9)
Sound : 10.
While the sound will sound familiar to many players, the crescendos and diminuendos of the game serve well with the tides of battle, and many weapons/bosses have their own unique themes. These themes especially the riders of Bern theme sounds incredibly good, and the sound assets for the weapons sound as they would be expected to which is semi-cartoony, but they still sound ok. The wide arrays of themes and music are very rewarding, including the "victory" theme at the end of each level. It is a lot of fun to listen to the soundtrack, and it sounds appropriately epic, especially when using the legendary weapons/fighting crucial bosses. The Bad guy theme is still also pretty awesome in the miniature cut scenes
Addictiveness: 10
there is a lot to do in this game world and it really shows. There are multiple unlocks, and it just feels fun. This may be subjective, but if you like the command and conquer aspects of this game, the maps don't get old, and there is always a reason to play it again (3rd or 4th play through at the time of this review). Again this may be biased as I loved all of the FE games with the exception of the god awful sacred stones. Upon completion I believe this version of the Rom has the maniac mode, but I'm not sure, and in that mode bosses are harder, and min/maxing/supporting are far more important than in earlier titles.
Story: 10
Fire Emblem is known for its immerse story and this is no different. Most people who rate this about a 7-8 have not seen the support conversations or read them, to understand the massive amount of depth in between characters. For example, Roy can have over 20 support conversations (I think its 25), with a maximum of 5 each play through, and they affect multiple aspects of the final story readings for the characters. Most importantly you feel attached to the characters in this game, they all seem human, and this game tries to avoid the many troupes that the game itself established. While at its core its the story of a young prince saving the kingdom there are many twists and turns, and not all characters are as good/evil as they may seem.
Depth: 9
Not as much to this one as the last FE titles, since you cannot control promotes, they don't happen automatically, and there are many units that don't promote at all rather annoyingly. Still it has a lot of solid depth with min maxing, and stat bonuses. There should be enough here for a deep game. Also it is insanely long, most plays clock in at about probably 40 minutes a chapter, so just on your first clear (assuming you don't wipe or lose a character), which you will trust me, there's about 12 hours of solid game time. If you are looking for a perfect clear ie no units lost than it will take longer, although the space bar speed up function does cut the game play drastically.
Difficulty : 6
Not terribly hard, but not a cakewalk, if you played the sequel (prequel) to this game, than you wont have many problems with it, but its not terribly hard nor is it incredibly easy. The one time this game becomes nightmarishly hard, is if you use units with poor growths which can be looked up online. Pro-Tip: don't use anyone you get in chapter 2 they scale terribly
Graphics 5 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 10 Depth 9 Difficulty 6
Review Rating: 4.1/5
Submitted: 02-21-13
Updated: 03-25-13
Review Replies: 0
10
Great game! DiegoLicea21
The game are so cool, I love to play it. When I am irritate, I play this game and when I'm pass a chapter (without one of my units died) I got relaxed :) it's a great game. When you complete the chapter, the following chapter are more big and with more enemies. Ah its great. I simply Love's this game, and the FE7 its before this one, and when you take a look are some characters in this FE you gonna look for some similar aspects between characters. Like Roy and Eliwood, and Hector and Lilina. I LOVE THIS GAME
Graphics 10 Sound 9 Addictive 10 Story 10 Depth 10 Difficulty 9
Review Rating: 4/5
Submitted: 06-23-13
Review Replies: 1
9.8
A Good Return of a Classic Game macman3
Having played all other Fire Emblems released in America, I was a fan, I loved the story of them, the sound is catchy and fun to listen to while killing enemy troops, and it was all in all a very fun experience.
This game follows this, the story is phenomenal, no spoilers but it plays with the players emotions. A good story is a story that you never want to put down, it encompasses you into wasting 7-8 hours just playing to know what happens, and what the end of the game is like, and this game (in personal opinion) accomplishes that better than any other fire emblem.
The sound is very catchy, once the player listens to it for a couple minutes, they can start humming it to themselves, which is exactly what a games soundtrack needs to do to be good.
The difficulty is hard to rate, the better you are at strategy, the easier it is, and (for those who have yet to play) once the main character dies, its game over, but if someone other than him dies, you never get to use them again, which makes the game much harder if you make a mistake, such as taking a risk and getting burned for it.
This game may be great, but it does have some flaws, such as the fact that its such a small game, compared to others in the series.
The graphics themselves are really generic, however, they get a high score because of all of the animation which for 2003 standards were amazing, and even more with the restrictions of the GBA.
Now, this game is addictive, if you re-play it, you notice things you didn't notice when you first play through, and you there are some characters who you can only recruit during battles, as an enemy. The problem with this is that you have to have a specific person talk to them, without killing them, which is risky because unless you look it up, you don't know who you need to talk to them with, so you can sometimes sit there and play through the mission 10-20 times to get that one character.
This game requires dedication to complete, if you don't have time to complete it, is not the game for you, but to someone who likes a good story, can make good decisions, and has some free time, this is the game for you.
Graphics 8 Sound 9 Addictive 10 Story 10 Depth 6 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 4/5
Submitted: 01-20-16
Review Replies: 3
9.4
Fire Emblem: ProtectiveDragon
The sequel to the international seller, Fire Emblem: the Blazing Sword, this story follows on as an epic finale to the title.
Following the son of Eliwood, {protagonist of the prequel game} Roy is confronted with the Prince of Bern, Zephiel who seems to either be possessed by the spirit of a dragon/ demon or has the blood of either, the cliffhanger from the previous title showed an end scene with Zephiel in black armour on the throne as Bern is soon attacking Lycia the home
UNION of countries created by the 8 heroes of the dragon wars nearly a millenium ago.
Graphics 8 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 7 Depth 7 Difficulty 6
Review Rating: 3.6/5
Submitted: 06-07-12
Review Replies: 9
9.9
Fire Emblem Sword of Seals - Seal of Sowds redanato
The Seaqual to Blazing blade but with one problem
it came before blazing blade
this story follows the young to be marquess of pharee roy who is training to be the marquess
but that is inturupted becuase bern is attacking lycia and roys father (main char of blanzing blade ) elliwood
is sick. along the way to help the lycian army roy gains help from a mymeridon named rutger (who many find to be one of the best charactars to have including myself
a mercinary named diek (anouther one of the best even withought a class upgrade)
some nomadic hourse archers
a group of sister pegusus knights
a thief named cath
some mages and thief friends/brothers
A rufian(that one is acualy suprising for a fire emblem game)
and a whole buch moe plus one of roys friends from ostia lillina a mage
and not to forget some of roys loyal knights lance alan marcus and wolt
pus your convoy merlinous who is pretty much one of those guys who boss strangers around because he thinks they are wierd
all these facts make this game one of my top favs
Graphics 9 Sound 8 Addictive 10 Story 10 Depth 7 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 3.3/5
Submitted: 12-31-12
Review Replies: 2