My First Time Playing Fire Emblem Genealogy of the Holy War

[SavageVolug]

I have recently finished playing Fire Emblem Genealogy of the Holy War for the first time, I enjoyed this game a LOT, I can see why it's as highly aclaimed as it is. I will probably play it again in the years to come, Mageknight404's videos on this game were extremely helpful I would not have known of things like Lex's Brave Axe without them. Now before I talk about what I DID like about this game which is a lot let me get out of the way the things I disliked about this game.

While Armor Knights are not my favorite class I do like them and for whatever reason I took a likeing to Arden even though the game basically tells you "just leave Arden at the Castle" and I wish Arden was more viable than he is. The next thing I disliked was no changeup in the maps, there were no indoor maps, urban settings, cavern maps etc. No trade mechanic, now most of the time I really didn't mind but when I want to give the Paragon band to say one of the healers that's when I ran into an issue. As buying the Paragon band costs 40,000 gold and the healers rarely have anywhere close to that amount. When Alteana recruits Arion at the end he remains unplayable. Why?

Things that I missed from other games were primarily the Rescue function that cavaliers can do in most FE games thus allowing for the Rescue-Carry strategy, the other thing I missed is the Shove mechanic from FE Radiant Dawn. The ability to forge weapons like in Radiant Dawn though this probably would have been game breaking, still I did miss being able to forge weapons.

Onto the good stuff now, what did I like about FE4? A lot. I liked the big maps as it amplified the fact that this is a large world and each of the duchies has a large territory under their domain. I really liked how Legendary Weapons actually felt like legendary weapons part of it was the animation for when such a weapon was used but it was also the stats of these weapons. Legendary weapons SHOULD be superior to all other weapon not just have a bonus to them like a magical ranged attack for swords. I absolutely LOVED how all weapons and even staves could be repaired, EVEN WHEN BROKEN! Why has this feature not made a return already? This is something that should have been a staple ever since it's introduction. I also liked how the more kills a weapon got the better crit bonus it aquired. I thought it was cool that there was a magical sword for every element something no other game has done.  The Arena, oh boy the Arena! FE4's Arena is hands down the best application of the arena in the series. Finally on units that can wield more than one weapon I can choose which weapon they use instead of the arena automatically choosing for me. Some of the classes that are unique to FE4 and I'm assuming FE5 as well that I enjoyed are Master Knight, I would like to see this class make a return, Barons even though they're enemy only I would like to see them again, I would also like to see the return of certain skills like Great Shield especially. I liked the lore surrounding the Holy Weapons and the lineage of certain characters, the story as a whole I liked a lot it felt like the developers had taken an epic saga like Beowulf as an example and used it as the basis for their game's story, I really liked this feeling that it gave me. I liked how a lot of the places and castles had an Irish sound to their names, Like Chalphy Castle, Raquesis, Ulster etc. Dancers are the best in FE4, I wish they would return to this way of doing it where they can refresh up to 4 units at a time. I used dancers more in this game than in any other FE game, including Radiant Dawn which has the 2nd best dancers. Characters I liked are Sigurd, Lex oh boy Lex he is probably my favourite character for gen 1. I also liked Ayra, Culain, Alec has hysterical lines, Raquesis among others. For Gen 2 I liked Seliph, Leif, Ulster, Ares, Alteana who's probably my favorite girl character in the entire game, I enjoyed some of the RPG aspects like the rings it was like they took the rings that Echoes/Gaiden introduced and improved upon. Namely in that you can hold more than one, I put most of the rings that I got on Lex. Favortism much? I really liked the character portraits in this game a lot of the cast look like they are sharp dressers, probably my favorite enemy portrait is Lex's father Lombard.

Overall Fire Emblem Genealogy of the Holy War is a great game in the series and I intend to play it again, but right now I'm thinking of playing Thraccia 776 so I will probably play that first before I return to FE4. I will say I have not had so much fun and enjoyment from a Fire Emblem game since I put Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn which was my first Fire Emblem game into the wii for the first time.

 

[Yexin]

glad you liked it!

also

8 minutes ago, SavageVolug said:

Lex oh boy Lex he is probably my favourite character for gen 1

what a strange way to spell "Levin" :D

[Morswo]

49 minutes ago, SavageVolug said:

A lot. I liked the big maps

I loved this maps and I am very happy that you liked them too.

 

52 minutes ago, SavageVolug said:

the story as a whole I liked a lot it felt like the developers had taken an epic saga like Beowulf as an example and used it as the basis for their game's story, I really liked this feeling that it gave me. I liked how a lot of the places and castles had an Irish sound to their names, Like Chalphy Castle, Raquesis, Ulster etc.

The story of FE4 was in my opinion the best of all FE's, I hope that we get one day again such a good story.

[SavageVolug]

2 hours ago, Morswo said:

The story of FE4 was in my opinion the best of all FE's, I hope that we get one day again such a good story.

Agreed. Especially when you consider the technoligy they were restricted to at the time both the story and gameplay of FE4 is even more impressive. If they could have had today's technoligy back then who knows what they could have pulled off.

By the way, great Sigurd picture for your profile.

[Shadow Mir]

I'm glad you liked it... Personally, I would struggle to get into it.

2 hours ago, SavageVolug said:

Agreed. Especially when you consider the technoligy they were restricted to at the time both the story and gameplay of FE4 is even more impressive. If they could have had today's technoligy back then who knows what they could have pulled off

The story, maybe (I've seen tell that the second generation's story isn't as good as that of the first generation). The gameplay... Not so much (I've seen the gameplay draw a lot of criticism).

[SavageVolug]

2 hours ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

The story, maybe (I've seen tell that the second generation's story isn't as good as that of the first generation). 

I think this is mainly due to that part 1 is more original in it's story for a Fire Emblem game whereas part 2 is similar to a lot of other Fire Emblem games such as Shadow Dragon for instance, even Blazing Sword for that matter. Granted there may be other reasons beyond that, but that's what seems to be the reason.