VideoGame 80% of an Epic
One of the things that defines a lot of my reviews is treating the story and gameplay separately, and treating one as a separate or ignorable entity to the other. Some people see the story as something that connects the dots between gameplay, others see it as the other way round. But in Genealogy's case, the story is the gameplay. Genealogy is a game whose systems are designed not to be balanced or deep (though they can get pretty intricate), but to further the game's story and themes. Every chapter isn't so much a tactical challenge as it is a tale to be experienced.
And it is a pretty grand tale. The large maps, each of which represent whole nations, give the whole conflict a sense of scale and scope. The legendary weapons fully live up to their reputation, wiping out whole armies. The world itself feels rich and interesting; there's a Tangled Family Tree stretching back decades and dozens of little conflicts and nuances and alliances. And the story of Sigurd's rise and fall feels like a true adventure. Unfortunately, it's also where things start to crumble.
It's no secret that Genealogy's ambitions overstepped the limits of its tech, and this is nowhere more apparent than in the second generation. Most of the second generation feels empty; the characters feel shallower, the world feels less interesting, and there isn't really an arc besides Seliph stomping everything. It was one of the reasons I was happy for Thracia, since it provided some much-needed texture to the whole thing. And it's in the second generation that the many flaws of Genealogy's game design become more apparent: at a certain point, the best strategy for any situation is an overpowered mounted unit with a critical weapon standing around while a hundred enemies kill themselves, or having your Lord rush the boss. And some chapters just feel empty of stuff to do at times.
That said, many of the systems in Genealogy give you room to mess around and experiment. I really enjoy how powerful skills are in this game; they truly help units stand out while they could be incidental elsewhere. The way it toys with traditional things like the arena and inventory is interesting. And that's not even mentioning the pairing system, which is incredibly robust. It's a game with a lot of depth, despite its primitiveness.
Genealogy is a game of many spectacular moments, surrounded by many moments of slowly moving troops around. It's an experience unlike most, but I wouldn't recommend it as a first FE game.
VideoGame On some of the Genealogy's mechanisms
Fire Emblem : Genealogy of the Holy War, also referred to as Fire Emblem : Seisen no Keifu (its Japanese title) or Fire Emblem 4 in short, is not as well-known as other titles in the Fire Emblem franchise, but it definitely deserves more interest. Though it shares its basic mechanisms with the other games, it also differs from them in many ways, which I will try to present.
Firstly, the maps are huge. That is something you can see as early as in the Prologue : the map for this is probably bigger than any map in the other games. And they get bigger as the game progresses, it seems. Thus, mounted units have a clear advantage over the infantry ; good thing that Sigurd is a mounted unit... Yes, this game is probably the only one in the series (barring Radiant Dawn that features a pre-promoted Lord.
But for all of Sigurd's (and Celice's) awesomeness, there is something I cannot forgive IS for implementing : the trading system. Here is my biggest complaint about the game : to trade an item between two units, you have to sell it, then have the other unit buy it for twice as much money. True, it forces you to think more carefully when managing items, adding to the strategic challenge (as if the game couldn't be challenging enough)... But honestly, it will get on the nerves of anyone who is used to the extremely simple trading system in subsequent games.
On the other hand, Skills and Love system, the game's biggest innovations, do not disappoint. Skills are what makes the difference between each of your units, and are one of the main things you have to take into account when pairing your units. As for the Love system, that is the reason the game is called Genealogy in the first place : the game takes place during two distinct generations, and the couples you create in the first one are the parents of most of your units in the second one. This adds a whole new depth to the game, since you have a huge freedom to create your second generation characters – and that explains the huge Shipping Wars every FE 4 forum is bound to have.
Overall, Fire Emblem : Genealogy of the Holy War has some very interesting mechanics, which are its strong point. Of course, it also has the advantage of a great plot, good musics and likeable characters, but its gameplay alone is enough to make it worth playing.
VideoGame Great movie, trash game
Genealogy's story is usually praised, and with good reason. It's a complex tale spanning two generations with deep worldbuilding, political schemes, and dark themes.
One of Shouzo Kaga's core philosophies is gameplay and story integration. This is at its peak in this game, and I must commend the man for proving that this integration isn't always a good thing. The game is full of noob traps and bullshit moments that exist exclusively to screw a first-time player over. A veteran wouldn't fall for these. You could argue this establishes a connection of despair with the characters, but it tramples on player's rights and is a disrespect to our time and patience. At several times I was considering dropping the game for its twisted sense of humor, along with awful pacing and clunky mechanics.
One of the most famous complaints about this game are the gigantic maps. Everyone says it because it's goddamn true. While they do bring up a sense of grand scale to the war, the gameplay is slow and tedious. These are basically three or four maps taped end to end, with the enemies of the next map popping up and rushing you on enemy phase just after you seize a castle. We know how horrible ambush spawns are, but these are even worse because your lord is out of position and your infantry is probably miles behind. Mounted units are usually quite good in Fire Emblem, but this takes it to a whole new level. The difference in move bewteen infantry and horses is exacerbated because of the massive distances you have to traverse and the roads, which benefit the horses even more.
Trading in this game is asinine. You have to sell the item and then buy it with the receiver for double the price. It's tedious, it's inconvenient, and it doesn't even make sense from a story perspective. If you received a magic ring in a village with a non-magic unit, tough luck! Whoever needs it will have to pay thousands of gold to get it! People retort that normal trading would break the game because these items are very strong, but just nerf the items. It's not worth it to not have trading. And besides, the game can be broken in half as it is with its mega units with mega weapons.
Romance is dumb, too. Characters get married without your consent and this can screw up the Gen 2 children so badly and so easily. Without you realizing it, you can prevent yourself from getting a holy weapon or two later on. And if a woman doesn't pair up, you get substitute characters that are just worse than the real deal. Yet the game doesn't inform you of any of this. It's extremely obscure and can make Gen 2 ridiculously hard or ridiclously easy if you happened to get the correct pairings.
And what's with siege weapons and status staves having infinite uses but only for the enemy? Why are there dozens of them in the final map? And why is there like one or two restore staves in the entire game? This BS is fake difficulty at its finest.
I'm sorry to say you're better off watching a let's play.