Fire Emblem: Conquest

Rating: 8.0

Happy Price: 34.99 - Since that's the only price you'll find it at

Gameplay

Fire Emblem Fates has two versions of itself, Conquest and Birthright. Conquest deals with the bad guys, the imperialistic kingdom that has goals of taking over all the kingdoms of the world. It builds off of the success of each Fire Emblem iteration released in the past, but this one in particular is aimed at veterans of the series and it is definitely more difficult than any other Fire Emblem game. 

Tactics

Conquest will test your ability to strategize and push you to your limits in terms of frustration goes. Unlike previous versions of Fire Emblem, you can't purchase reek boxes to level up weaker members of your army. This means the only time your units will gain experience is during campaign missions or if you've unlocked prologue mission. Prologue missions are very rare because they occur when two units of opposite sex reach full bonding, because they have a child you have to rescue. Once a character has died, they are gone forever. This is how these games are traditionally played, but Conquest allows for this option to be turned off. I would not recommend this as it takes weight away from moment to moment decisions. At the same time, this penalty limits your freedom in risk taking, risk taking that is essential to developing the weaker members of your army.

The AI is terribly unforgiving. The AI's mentality is pretty much that of a suicide bomber and will sacrifice everything to kill one of your units, even if it means sure death. One example is leaving a healer unprotected, but surrounded by a bunch of allies. The enemy will rush in the middle of everyone just to kill a unit that can't defend itself. In return, your allies will demolish each unit that tried to take out one. To me, in a game that prides itself on good decisions it feels unfair that the AI has no regard for its own life, while you the player have to cherish each and every move. There are also units that will deal 7 damage after their turn, no matter how much damage they cause a player during their turn. For example, one of these AI units won't do any damage with their attack, but have an ability that causes 7 damage after the turn is over. Not only that, but it will affect adjacent units. When put in these situations, it is very frustrating because only your strongest units are eligible to fight at that point. 7 damage is a ton in Fire Emblem, which means you have to use someone from your party that will take no damage during the main turns.

Building Your Army

The best part about party based games building your party in the image you see fit. Conquest makes this very difficult to do since it offers no way to grind. The later an ally joins your party, the harder it is to develop them. I had about 6 units that were pretty much useless because I had no opportunity to develop them. Each campaign mission gets harder and harder, and more enemies get thrown your way as the game goes on. The combination of higher levels, volume, and devastating abilities creates situations where you're relying on about eight or so unites the entire game. In other Fire Emblem games, there are opportunities to recruit people during battle which is one of the most rewarding things that can happen. In Conquest, this is non existent. Recruiting party members is built into the story and requires no work from the player, except for a villager in the beginning of the game.

There are new items like Heart Seals and Friendship Seals. A Heart seal for example can turn any unit into a different type based on its personality. If their skill levels make sense, you can turn a paladin into a mage if you need balance in that area. Of course, that unit would then have to learn magic attacks and build up its skill. It's nice to have this option, but at the same time useless. The only time I used this item was on a villager very early in the game. That villager ended up turning into a Sniper, and would grow into the most powerful unit in my army. Friendship seals are similar, but they allow you to change someone into the same unit they have full companionship with. 

One of the better improvements is the PP of weapons is no longer existent. That means you can purchase a Silver Lance and it will never break. This takes an element of stress out of the game that was once there previous. You no longer have to equip three different lance types depending on how much hp the enemy has so you can preserver your gold stash which is nice and makes sense. You will also have the opportunity to spend money on more exotic weapons like Brave Bow's and Killer Lances. 

Narrative

The narrative structure is quite odd, up until Chapter 8 the story is the same for both Conquest and Birthright. Once you get to that fork in the road, you have to make a decision. However, you can only make one decision based on what game was purchased. If you decide, "hm I think I want to do that instead" you will get a message "you don't have the version of the game to support this choice, go to the Nintendo store and purchase for 39.99". Why even offer the choice to the player when I already made the choice when I bought the game? The reasons for going down the path you go down in conquest are really shallow and don't carry any real emotion to you as a player. So the whole game from that point on is set on a very weak emotional foundation since you made the wrong purchase. Every one of your family members is borderline insane, and your father is even worse. It would have been nice if your reasons for choosing the "bad" side had some actual substance you could empathize with, but there isn't of that. Your reasons for conquering a peaceful kingdom is based off of greed and power. 

Even though they are short, the cinematics are done really well. They are well done anime sequences that have tons of actions and really cool particle effects. The art style is 3D as well, so the 3D anime brings everything to life very well. I was actually pretty excited when I would cause them to happen, I would just sit back and relax while I watched a really cool anime sequence with party members from my army. This allows personality and depth to be added to characters inside the army you manage.

Summary

Even though I did not like the game, It does many things very well and it's still a deep RPG. I wouldn't recommend it over Birthright however.  I easily spent 40 hours playing this game, even though only 26 hours are included in my saves. I spent many hours dying therefore shutting the game off without saving so my characters wouldn't die off. You'll be tested from a strategic sense if you decide to pick this game up, and will have to invest a lot of time into it. 

Farcry 4

Happy Price: 39.99

Rating: 9.4

Gameplay

Farcry 4 expands on everything that was built in Farcry 3, but adds tons of polish and features that distinguish it as a separate title rather than a perceived DLC. Taking place in the Himalaya Mountains, verticality plays a role but doesn't define gameplay in any hindering fashion. The storyline has much improved writing which supplements the gameplay experience and takes it to another level that is generally unexpected. 

Combat Mechanics

Farcry is a FPS at it's core, and despite having tons of other gameplay elements, keeps to its core very well. There are a variety of weapons to choose from ranging from the compound bow to a light machine gun. Farcry allows the player to select a stealthy or guns blazing strategy whenever they may choose. This gives the player a ton of freedom and meaningful choice on a minute to minute basis since you're in constant conflict for most of the game. As you progress, better weapons become available such as the Silenced Sniper Rifle which is a very powerful weapon, but an unaccurate shooter will alert enemies at the sound of bullets ricocheting off the ground or buildings. Also, if you decide to shoot someone and another comrade sees a body drop dead, they know what is happening and your cover will be blown. These are the reasons I love Farcry 4. Even when you have such power, you still have to be smart. 

Vehicles

New vehicles are introduced that really change the gameplay of Farcry 4 compared to previous iterations in the series. The gyrocopter, which is a helicopter made of steel pipes and duct tape, enables you to fly around the mountains and traverse from one side to another much quicker than a car. A sidearm can be equipped while driving it, so there is great opportunity to blow up convoys when driving around with a grenade launcher (sidearm grenade launcher, yes). You can also use this vehicle if you plan to hunt, as you can wield a sawed of shotgun as a sidearm. Like a real hunter, you can just fly around and kill animals, all the while skinning them to upgrade your accessories like wallet or ammo bags. This may sound cowardly, but Rhino's do not go down without a fight, and if you don't prepare against one of those things they can make quick work out of you.

Elephants are the other notable new vehicle you can use. With the option to charge or ram, watch enemy camps run around scared as you ride around an Elephant and firing at enemies with your sidearm. It's one of the most fun things to do is run around with a 5 ton flesh shield of controllable fury. I found it humorous to ram my enemies and watch them fly what seemed to be 50 feet each time as they rag dolled across the terrain. Of course it's not easy to obtain an elephant, since they don't travel very fast it's much more convenient to find one near the encampment you will try to "liberate". 

Story

I can usually snooze through the narrative of a video game, but this one has a decent amount of depth and fantastic writing. You find yourself in this situation because your mother dies and request her ashes are spread in a certain place in Kyrat. Turns out, that area is occupied by an insane Dictator, and in order to spread the ashes you have to liberate the area. At first it seems dry and pointless, but as the story unfolds it begins to get much more interesting. The main villain is not pure evil as you'd expect, he believes he's on the right side of the war and is compassionate yet ruthless. He's unpredictable and it adds great flare to the story. Many of the side characters also shine, like the radio host that commentates on your arrival and your progression. One of the notable lines I remember is when he talks about how you "suddenly become good at killing with no prior training" then goes into a discussion on hidden talents, and that your character is likely a serial killer whom has harnessed their long suppressed talent of killing people. I thought it was brilliant since you the gamer are wondering the same thing.

Environment/Art

It feels very good as you navigate through the Himalayan mountainside because the environment is beautiful. There are annoying eagles that will attack if you decide to take in the scenery, which makes the moments you get so much more valuable. As you approach an unsuspecting enemy with your bow and are crouching in the tall grass, it rustles beautifully against your face. And then chaos ensues. You get spotted and have to switch to an explosive arrow, blow up a car that sets a shed on fire, and now you're running around an encampment full of fire, explosions, blood, and flying enemies who have just exploded because of your grenade that was frantically thrown. Everything is beautiful, and the frame rates stay consistent no matter what is happening. I played on an Xbox and didn't try to break it, but playing the game naturally allowed it to hold up. You'll be stunned when on the top of a mountain look around at the scenery. 

Summary

It's a must play. This review is nearly two years late so the game is only $20. It's worth more than that, and you'd be crazy not to play this game!