Knights of Pen and Paper 2 was the last gasp of shorter indie games I was playing in June but I didn't finish it until the very beginning of July. It was in many ways a more fleshed-out version of its predecessor, featuring a whole slew of new classes and archetypes. The gameplay is largely identical in that it primarily consists of traveling from place to place doing mundane quests and fighting wave after wave of enemies in turn-based encounters. I would say it succeeds more as a game than the first in the series and I really enjoy the concept of playing out a D&D campaign as both the players and the characters they portray.
The itch that Knights of Pen and Paper 2 really scratches for me at the end of the day is the same one that a series like Etrian Odyssey does. I really enjoy having the freedom to put together a customized party of adventurers. The customization in this game in particular is not overly robust, but it has just enough to keep me interested and the overall structure of it is casual enough that it doesn't need much more in the way of depth for the type of game it is.
What I spent most of July playing was Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, a surprise Nintendo 3DS remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden, the second entry in the series originally for the NES. I had expected never to have the resources to play this game since it was only ever available in Japanese. Its infamously strange structure seemed to discourage the fan-translation community from touching it, which is really the only way I'd ever anticipated having the opportunity to play it.
Just for some context, Fire Emblem as is a series of turn-based strategy RPGs that typically take place on a top-down map. Units can be moved on the field of battle and attack each other in encounters that play out in fully-animated scenes. What's interesting about Fire Emblem in general is that each of the units players take control of is a unique character. In series like Advance Wars, Tactics Ogre, or Final Fantasy Tactics, many of the controllable units are generic and are recruited or created by the player. Characters in Fire Emblem are recruited due to events in the storyline or join the army of their own volition. Although their backgrounds and motivations aren't always as clear or as well-written as one might like, it's still clear that each of these units is a named character with an allegiance, motivation, or individual investment in the story. I really like this about the series.
The other side of the coin with Fire Emblem is that because each unit is an individual character, it matters much more when they fall in combat. Death in Fire Emblem is permanent. If a particular character is important, that might mean game over in the event of their death. In many cases though, it's possible to move on after a character dies, which means that character will no longer be available for the rest of the game. This creates a very interesting sense of tension in the series. Every decision matters intensely because if you make the wrong move, it might mean one character's story is over.
Fire Emblem Echoes in particular is an odd duck in the lineup of Fire Emblem games because unlike just about any other title in the series, it features some maps that can be explored at will. Other entries are mission-based, but Echoes does feature a fair amount of exploration, treasure-seeking, and enemies that be encountered in dungeons. This means it is possible to grind for experience, whereas it is rigorously limited in certain other titles in the series in which it is only possible to get experience from the story missions. I'm not sure it's a game I'd recommend to someone new to the series because of how different it is, but the classic strategy gameplay is solid and the exploratory bits are at the very least an interesting change of pace.
I finished nine games in June but only two in July! Looking forward, this trend continues for a little while. More on that next time, when I play through a game I'd been anticipating revisiting for awhile!
No comments:
Post a Comment