Mosikiiton Wa Mou Kikoenai (Day 322)

I've been playing Fire Emblem: Shin Monshou no Nazo very infrequently on lunch breaks at work so I only just today got through all of the prologue missions and finally got to play the first real mission of the game. I'm playing it on hard mode and the training wheels are now off--any characters who die in battle will die permanently. I hadn't let anyone die in the prologue missions either because I thought it might be important for some reason. I made my "main" character a myrmidon and her Speed and Skill are progressing about as well as I'd expect for the class. Unfortunately, her Strength hasn't gone up at all. If that trend continues, I'm hoping I'll be able to get my hands on some stat increasing items so she can become more of a legitimate threat.

The gameplay of Shin Monshou no Nazo is pretty much identical to Shadow Dragon, which is probably a big part of the reason it never received an official localization. That is not to say that the gameplay, art, or storyline is bad, but it's certainly not as eminently playable as Fire Emblem: Awakening or even the three Fire Emblem titles on Game Boy Advance. I really miss the slick animations from the GBA iterations of these games, but it's looking like at this point, they're not coming back. Awakening was an improvement on the DS Fire Emblem remakes in just about every respect, but Intelligent Systems chose again not to return to that stylish 2D art style for reasons that are completely unknown to me.

On the Android DraStic emulator

Still, Shin Monshou no Nazo is a Fire Emblem game, and for that reason, I feel obligated to play it. To be fair, it does seem like it's pretty fun, but only time will tell if it improves on Shadow Dragon in any significant aspect. It was a decent game, but definitely my least favorite of the series that I've played. (I haven't played Seisen no Keifu or Thracia 776 enough to make a fair judgment.) The mechanics are obviously identical, so the burden lies primarily on the story and characters--and admittedly, this is a big aspect of the series that pulls me in. Many of the newer Fire Emblem titles feature huge casts of fun characters that interact with each other in interesting ways. Couple that with traditional (but well-polished) gameplay and you have some pretty addictive games.

I felt Shadow Dragon was significantly lacking in the plot and character development departments. Beyond that, the graphics lacked the stylistic flair of the GBA iterations without the polished art present in the GameCube and Wii titles to make up for it. As a package, it was mediocre--especially when considered as part of a really solid series. Despite all this, I still consider it a solid title, and I'm sure the same will be true for Shin Monshou no Nazo.