Wake up! It's Fire Emblem Awakening - Reel Fast Game Review

“If I give you a cookie, can we team up during the coming battle?” – Gaius

Not only is Awakening a brilliant addition to the series, it works as a great entry point for those unfamiliar with the strategy game genre or Fire Emblem series. You might want to bring a friend or an army of them for this review.

Fire Emblem Awakening is an epic tactical RPG on the 3DS. Your main in-game objective is to defeat your opponent on a gridded battlefield. Like chess, each character class has different roles to play with its own strengths and weaknesses. You can choose whichever unit to bring into battles and equip them accordingly. The choices include: knights, archers, thieves, mages, Pegasus-riders and more, the combos are limitless.There are several difficulties for those who want to play casually up to those who want to play like a lunatic.

The artwork is even more beautiful than other games in the series. Each character feels unique with my favorite being Gaius, “a little sugar in my tank and watch out!” It’s actually funny how he joins your team but I don’t want to spoil it for you because it’s too sweet…hehe.

The customization of the main character allows you to choose his/her strongest and weakest stat, voice, hair color, and hairstyles. Also as you level up you can evolve your units into stronger classes as well as change into completely different ones.The conversations are well written, I especially like the voice-acting of the characters when they're in a battle. I often randomly quote them but that might just be me and not a normal human thing to…“my sword hand twitches.”

The game also has a marriage feature which allows units that have bonded and supported each other to tie the knot. This also increases their stats when paired or next to each other in battle. No I’m not kidding about this, you can actually experience the joy of sending your future child into battles that may decide the fate of the world.

Awakening's soundtrack is compelling playing the right piece for its specific situation, my favorite song being, And what if I can’t? What if I’m unworthy of her ideals? Intriguing title isn’t it? You can check out the song here.

The battle animations can be viewed in third-person or first-person or skipped entirely. I have to admit watching your unit cast a fireball in first-person is a great addition. The variety of options let you play the game any way you want. The story is enough to keep you going and the support conversations for pairs range from quirky to dramatic and everything in between. The game also has side missions which you can choose to participate in, rewarding you if you do so.

Where I feel Awakening shines the most is in its characters, you cannot help but get attached to them. Each character has a different personality and they get along with each other differently. For me, leading my band of close-knit companions into battle after battle lands Fire Emblem on my list of favorite games.

In the face of adversity, the bonds of friendship are forged. Although defeat and loss in war are inevitable, it is no excuse to give up. As a leader, you must persevere through pain regardless of how the odds are stacked against you. Whether you’re an Ylisean soldier or an “average” high school student, it’s not the about the challenge but the outcome and how you deal with it.

Keep it Reel!

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Sources:

http://fireemblemawakening.com/

http://fireemblem.nintendo.com/

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Weaving the Tapestry - The Banner Saga- Reel Fast Game Review

“Never break the peace which good men and true make between thee and others.” -Saga of Njal, chapter 55.

Enter the land of the frozen; The Banner Saga is a Viking-themed tactical RPG game with loss around every corner making this game anything but sunshine and rainbows. Test your leadership. What are you willing to do for those you command?

The game starts off with enemies called Dredge invading your village forcing you to flee their fury. You control two caravans of characters trying to survive in a merciless world making decisions that will affect their lives and those they interact with. The game requires you to manage supplies and morale sometimes with little to no reknown, reknown is the currency. It is used to level up characters and purchase items and supplies. Failure to keep morale up will make fights harder as you will have less willpower, a crucial in-game mechanic, and running out of supplies for the caravans will result in deaths. Although the game may seem confusing at times as little besides combat is explained, you won’t want to put it down.

The variety of character classes keep you from getting bored, ranging from archers who pick off their targets from afar to Varls, giants who make up the front-line. Clever tactics are needed to win battles in turn-based combat which takes place on gridded maps. Characters have the ability to level up and increase their skill after eliminating enemies as well as the choice of which attributes to increase; this keeps the same classes from being too similar.

The art is beautifully done making each and every character memorable. I have to say I’m a big fan of the beards…anyway the soundtrack, composed by Austin Wintory, truly is brilliant, each song pulling on a heart string as you journey through this bleak world. The atmosphere really immerses you into the game which couldn’t be possible without the beautiful art and songs. Stoic, the game's developer, does a great job immersing you in a fictional Scandinavian world.

Choices play an integral role in this game. You never know how others will react to what you characters decide on. These choices intensify the further you progress in your game. Although the game can be harsh at times, The Banner Saga delivers a nice blend of combat, choices, and characters making it one of my favorite tactical RPGs proving why simple can be just as effective as the most high-budgeted games out there.

I also feel like this game ties in really well with the theme of this season which is dealing with loss and trying to overcome it. Banner Saga teaches a valuable lesson: loss is inevitable but trekking on despite it is absolutely essential in order to survive if not for yourself then at least for others. There may be no hope for miles but sheer willpower is the difference between victory and failure.

Be sure to check out The Banner Saga here. Have you played the game before or now want to try it? Comment below and let us know!

Need to warm up from this frigid review?

Fret not, check out our short film about bologna here!

Stay frosty and Keep it Reel!

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If you want more content like this from us, please support us by following our social media pages and subscribing to our YouTube Channel. Expect amazing things to happen in 2017.

If you’d like to throw us a tip, you can use the donation button at the bottom of the article. Anything helps us as we are a tiny team working endless hours, but happily devoted to the mission: To unite virtuous, sincere artists and audiences to inspire truth, understanding, hope, and reform, within themselves and the world, in a beautiful, powerful, and enjoyable journey through the media arts.

Sources:

http://stoicstudio.com/gallery/

#BannerSaga #ReelFastGameReview #rpg #viking #Scandinavian #tacticalrpg #BolognaDrop #PC #fantasy