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Is it any good?


KusanagiShiro
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TearRing Saga is basically a Fire Emblem game. It's kind of like FE2+FE5 gameplay-wise and FE7+KAGA storywise. It tries to marriage some of features and mechanics Kaga experimented with in Gaiden (route splits, summoning, monster enemies, differentiated magic users with personal spells, etc.) with updated strategic gameplay ideas, a lot of which featured in Thracia (varied objectives, multiple inventory slots, skill system, tactical depth beyond mere series of combat). Think of it as what Sacred Stones would have been if Kaga instead stayed with IS. The map design on its own isn't particularly fantastic but it's the mechanics and the amount of (broken) tools that the game hands to the player to utilise that makes it really fun. The story is probably one of its greatest charms, the extent in which it goes to flesh out the characters, the world and the lore is quite ambitious. Also the similarity of the narrative to Blazing Blade's is quite striking, but technically TearRing Saga came first.

Berwick Saga is large departure from traditional Fire Emblem mechanics and it is special precisely because of it. This is the game where Kaga felt free to implement gameplay ideas he wanted to try out after leaving IS. Kaga once gave the ambitious, if presumptuous, description that he intended the game to be a strategy title beyond the standards of commercial works. Berwick Saga's notable differences from FE features include the following and a lot more:

  • hexagonal tiles
  • simultaneous turn system (turn slots alternate between different sides via unit ratio instead of having split phases)
  • reworked combat flow (no counterattacking upon taking damage)
  • very deflated stats (growths on the whole are lower than FE2)
  • a very diverse and impactful skill system (many of which allows different units to do qualitatively different things instead of being littered with procs or damage/stat modifiers).

It's difficult to give an FE analogy for this game; the best I can come up with is that it's like an alter ego of Thracia but more combat oriented and with mechanics even jankier but somehow manages to be very tightly balanced. It's a game that really rewards the player for understanding the nuances of its mechanics; the difficulty largely depends on how quickly one gets used to them, though I'd say it's a decently challenging title nonetheless. The sheer scope of things that can be done given the new turn system and the skill system are quite flexible and impressive. Units are well balanced but feel distinct with their qualitatively different skillsets.  No one really gets to juggernauting level as in FE, since weaponry and skills matter just as much as, if not more than, stats alone. There's a good mix of strategy both in and outside the maps. My few complaints of it involve irksome randomness in weird places, the marked difference in quality between main and side missions, and the overuse of the Defend objective (and variants thereof) but otherwise it does a lot of things right with its cool ideas, the mechanics really make this title shine. Probably the game with the most tactical depth out of the three. Story-wise it's much more small-scaled, sombre and subtle than TearRing's but that too is its charm IMO. Also FE14 CQ stole a lot of ideas from Berwick Saga in both story and gameplay but executes them a lot worse

Vestaria Saga I is Kaga's more recent low-budget indie game that returns to familiar FE-like mechanics. It borrows quite a few gameplay ideas from his previous games, a lot of balancing ideas are taken from Berwick but the game generally playing easier. One might say it's not as ambitious as his commercial works but the Kaga charm is still there, in terms of its distinctiveness of gameplay (some of the maps are notably more puzzle-like than any other of his games) and the characteristic flair in writing. The game is fairly easy if you know what you're doing, but a lot of gameplay-related information lies behind narrative text or dialogue, so the player is asking for trouble if one doesn't understand Japanese. It does feature fairly large maps and there are potentially cryptic parts that make it play like a retro game but I think the game is charming enough to be worth a shot nonetheless.

Edited by Aggro Incarnate
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