Fire Emblem Warriors - Nintendo Switch [Digital]

What can I say a new Fire Emblem game that is a great addition to the series, I am really glad I picked this up. The fusion of playstyles is a lot of fun, and you have a great cast of characters to use. This game is an absolute must for anyone who is a fire emblem fan.

Hooo this game is a mixed bag... It's your typical Warriors/Muso game, you hack and slash your way through tons and tons of dudes while trying to take/rescue forts or handle other objectives. This game obviously revolves around the fanservice of Fire Emblem, something I'll get into when I talk about the story which ...is a massive negative to me. The combat is fairly shallow, you have a heavy attack + strong attack, special attack and a super mode. You can change characters on the fly and use items to heal as well as manage some gear. Don't expect Devil May Cry 3 level combat, enemies mostly horde around you and stare you down while side stepping left and right and rarely attack. The generals and such are the ones to watch out for, but even then, on hard mode I was finding myself failing only because of map restrictions. I'm making the game sound bad but, with the huge hordes and large war scaled combat the real focus is running around the map completing objectives WHILE killing tons of dudes. Think of it as a beat 'em up but on a massive scale. There's a good variety of characters but they seem to share the same moves depending on the class they are. There is the weapon triangle where some characters weapons best enemies better or worse depending on what/who you're using. Even on hard it's not that impactful I don't feel, especially if you switch characters on the fly. I'll start with the negatives: The 'story' mode is fine enough for gameplay but the actual story connecting all the events together is so comically bad it's like your average or lower fighting game. Characters breaking out into fights for the dumbest reasons only to join up as allies right after. I mean really dumb reasons. You find one character, help them out then their sibling thinks you kidnapped them and now it's a fight to the death. You win the battle and everything is peachy! ....Minus the fact you cut down 1000+ of their army because of this brain dead misunderstanding. Characters that fans probably really like are reduced to one dimensional characters who can't wrap their head around basic situations. Yes, I know it's supposed to be a big fanservice free for all but it's ....paaainful. The english voice acting is pretty bad, some voices are alright and I think I know some of them from the Tales games, Xillia & Berseria and those voices are fine but for the most part voices are either bad to just alright...There is Japanese voices but you have to download them because ...more cartridge space=more money for the dev. So it's a hefty download if you want the Japanese voices and I didn't like much of the voices either. Most of the girls sounded like a cliche desu girl. Lyn being HIGHLY surprising on how they made her sound. I'm not against the girly desu girl voices ...when there's some variety, which I don't feel there is here. The real issue with the voices is they do not, ever, shut up. Every menu action, every upgrade you buy, every item you sell , every menu selection is followed by repeated dialog over and over, and over, and over. I don't care if you like the voices or not, this will grate very fast. I do not know what they were thinking. Anyway, on to the positives. The game has 2 modes for gameplay performance: graphics & performance modes. Graphics is 1080p/30~fps vs 720p 60~fps, being this is an action game the performance mode is the only right way to go. It runs much better than Hyrule Warriors on WiiU because of Switch's superior hardware and these options. This is especially apparent in 2player mode which I HIGHLY recommend you play on performance mode, the framerate stays above 30 this way and honestly with the split screen I don't think you'll notice the visual downgrade on performance mode. There's also more enemies on screen in 2player mode vs Hyrule Warriors which seemed to struggle to get the bare minimum amount on screen to complete the challenge quests. That is not to say that the enemy count/pop in/etc is GOOD in 2player mode, it's good enough to have some fun with a friend. Honestly they should have had a local multiplayer mode at the very least but they didn't go for that. I played a few hours co-op and had a much better time than Hyrule Warriors in co-op at the very least. Honestly, it's probably the best way to play the game. You can cover a lot of ground and enjoy some fairly mindless combat with a friend. There's some good post game stuff here that I think is done WAY better than Hyrule Warriors. The game is pretty good, but do not buy this for the story, do not buy this because you think your character is going to be super cool in the game (they'll likely shock you with how dumb the story makes them act). You get this for hack and slash fun. And its' a good time for that.

Fire Emblem Warriors is a wonderful game for both long time Fire Emblem fans and beginners to the franchise. Despite being a spin off title, Fire Emblem Warriors seems to capture the basic strategy elements from the main series and weaves them quite well into the real time ‘hack and slash’ combat that the Warriors games are known for. There’s plenty of thrilling action to be found here but some of the later battles get pretty hard in the story mode, so be prepared to think on your feet and think through your ally placement and commands. It’s also great to just unwind and battle lots of enemies to pass some free time, too. If you are a Fire Emblem fan, and don’t mind the heavy focus on more recent characters, then I highly recommend it. The fusion of the gameplay styles is a great amount of fun on its own despite which character you end up playing as. Be warned though. This game uses quite a bit of my Nintendo Switch’s battery life when played in portable mode, and much of the gameplay incorporates some important audio cues. I’d say be prepared to bring a portable charger and headphones with you if you plan on playing this game on the go.

The Dynasty Warriors franchise didn't interest me for a number of years, but the Fire Emblem flavoring made it a must-buy for me. This game features the classic combo-based hack-and-slash combat of Dynasty Warriors combined with strategy elements from Fire Emblem that will have you capturing bases, defeating enemy commanders, and issuing orders to your party members in glorious fashion. Featuring 23 playable characters wielding six weapon types, the weapon triangle strength/weakness system from Fire Emblem makes the transition to real-time combat with fast-paced, addictive action that has kept me playing for over 130 hours so far, and with DLC in the game's future, I don't see myself putting it down any time soon. Truly an epic entry in the Switch library.

The reviews have been generally positive, if not thrilled, about this follow-up to the Wii U's Hyrule Warriors (featuring Fire Emblem characters rather than those from the Legend of Zelda franchise). That said, my experience has been universally praiseworthy. The game includes, from the start, at least a hundred hours worth of content. Some of this could be considered 'grinding,' but the moment to moment gameplay is consistently engaging due to the great performance and strategic twists. Unlike virtually any other Musou/Warriors game, your allies in this one can actually be effective on the battlefield as you direct them to secure key points on a map or defeat specific opponents who are weak to their weaponry. For better or for worse, ignoring your allies and objectives will often result in a lost battle; this does lead to more compelling play, but prevents the kind of mindless battling that the series is known for - adjust your expectations accordingly. Perhaps the most surprising fact is that Fire Emblem fans will find much to recognize in this game despite it more generally resembling standard Musou/Warriors mechanics. Immediately recognizable are the characters - though the roster can reasonably be criticized for focusing on three core games (Fire Emblem Awakening, Fates, and Shadow Dragon) - but small touches resemble Fire Emblem as well. Maps resemble those in the classic strategy games, characters are represented in menu screens by pixel art from the respective titles, and level up moments or special attacks feature sound effects and a pop-up image of the character like one would find in the Fire Emblem series. The most important element is the strategic depth, though, which becomes critical enough in the postgame that the player feels he or she is actually playing a Fire Emblem strategy game in which he or she gets to complete the skirmishes manually. If you can't tell, I love this game. One final detail that reveals the developers' respect for their audience is the inclusion of a choice between playing in Performance or Quality modes when docked; Performance mode presents the game in a 720p resolution at 60 frames per second, while Quality mode presents the game in a 1080p resolution at 30 frames per second. I prefer the former, and don't find that it contrasts poorly with the game's established 30 frames per second in portable mode. Those with a bigger television, less sensitive to frame rates, or more sensitive to resolutions, will likely choose Quality mode. The availability of the choice is a very nice one, though!