Then and now...Binding Blade

[Harvey]

So I've beated Binding Blade again after playing it once. And most of you are all going to think that I'm going to bash at this game like always but surprisingly I'm quite fond of it.

I've come to appreciate the map design of this game. Some of these maps are pretty creative and some are quite memorable for good and wrong reasons. Good as in chapters that let you go to different chapters, chapters that have various paths to choose your strategies and chapters that allow you to make use of your saved items.

Only bad as in some chapters that are quite long and force you to do things that are a bit annoying. I don't mind the chapters but the conditions such as some fetch quests that are tedious to do in some cases and the process of completing specific chapters with so little time(I'm looking at you chapter 14!), Other than that, no real issues here.

Infact looking at this and comparing to Blazing Blade, this game has more strategy compared to Blazing Blade. Limited resources that make you think hard and save resources for later use, support conversations benefiting characters that can do better or that they need it to fix their issues while at the same time the conversations being limited so you have to choose units that you want to have supports to get those bonuses. Some people complain that you have a lot of weak units here and I bashed on it earlier but that's not really the case, while the growth rates for many units are low, the game gives your a good chunk of decent/good units that you can rely on. But yes, some units you like can't be used/ don't give the potential needed such as Wade for example.

Of course this means nothing if you are someone who's going to arena abuse so you get all the money needed(Hurts your rank by doing so.)

However...promoting your units can be a problem here so you're forced to use only the ones who you think can make promise for you not who you like to use. Some units have stiff competition for getting promoted items and Ogier is one of them. Which is good because it helps in that tactical decisions and that it helps to let players think a lot. Bad as it limits using units that you like to use. 

The only thing that I hate or that I find annoying about this game is its Lord. Had he gotten an earlier promotion, it could have fixed a lot of my issues playing the game and character wise, I find him boring simply because he is nearly flawless and has no backstories except his relationship with Wolt and even that is also not that good to me atleast. 

I like some of the game's challenges its not that bad compared to my previous playthrough but that's only because I know what to do to get those gaiden chapters.  

I feel strange about this games difficulty curve. The game randomly has chapters that skyrocket as tough and then making a lot of others a joke such as chapter 15 and then from mid chapter till 21 and after 21, the rest of the chapters are a cakewalk. The final boss is easy which is odd, Even Blazing Blade has a fairly difficult final boss assuming you don't use Luna!Athos.

I still am not a big fan of the overall support conversations because to me, many of them are boring and just weak. The only ones that stand out to me is Ogier X Lillina, and pretty much all the supports from Bartre cause some are funny and his support with Karel is heartwarming at best.

I still love the game's music. Beneath a new world is my now favourite song. The only odd thing is that it doesn't feel natural to listen to within the magnificent nature in the Sacea route.

While the visuals and animations are breadthtaking, some sprites are awkward such as Geese not looking like his portrait.

The story is still good. Zephiel perhaps being the best villain in the whole series. Its just a shame that the overall cast of characters don't have the same charm as Blazing Blade imo. 

I found the game quite enjoyable honestly and someday I might play this again on hard mode. Had the annoying things of this game been tweaked out, I wouldn't have much issues with it.

 

[Irysa]

I'm pretty surprised you changed your mind that drastically after a replay but good to hear I guess? Many more people just continue to hold the same biases you did against FE6 basically because its not FE7.

[Harvey]

4 minutes ago, Irysa said:

I'm pretty surprised you changed your mind that drastically after a replay but good to hear I guess? Many more people just continue to hold the same biases you did against FE6 basically because its not FE7.

I know right? Its kinda weird in a way. On my first playthrough, I found the overall experience frustrating but on my second playthrough, I quite like it... perhaps one of the reasons for that is the world of this game. Its very deep especially the western isles part.

I guess this game isn't newcomer friendly nor does it help players on how to master it unless you know what you're doing. I never thought of using the warp staff on my first playthrough unitl now. I just discovered a trick in chapter 21 that allowed me to complete that chapter faster than before. And the berserk staff was so useful in chapter 22 and 23 that it made those chapters a cakewalk.

I guess that some people will bash at its RNG because they think that that is the main problem the game has. I didn't mind it too much personally since you get paladins with good skills as well as swordmasters. Its only axes that are a bit unfair. I didn't even bother using silver axes lol.

Though despite this, I still like FE7 more than FE6 mainly because of characters and how FE7 has maps that are more situational and have variety in objectives.