10 Games to Play if You Like Fire Emblem
The Fire Emblem series has become a name of some note in the west. This is rather interesting because it was once considered to be a poor fit for said markets, so much so that Fire Emblem characters made their official North American debut in Super Smash Bros. Melee rather than their own games. Regardless, people who like the Fire Emblem series should know that there are a lot of similar games out there. Sometimes, this is because of shared connections. Other times, this is because games that have both tactical and RPG elements are by no means rare.
1. Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp
The Advance Wars series is an excellent example of a series that is connected to the Fire Emblem series in some way. For starters, it was made by Intelligent Systems as well. Furthermore, the success of the first Advance Wars in western markets played an important role in convincing Nintendo to bring over the Fire Emblem series starting with the seventh installment. Having said that, it is important to note that the Advance Wars series is quite different. In particular, it is a strategy game in a much more modern setting, meaning that interested individuals should expect a colorful cast of commanders overseeing faceless soldiers with guns as well as motorized vehicles. Currently, both the first Advance Wars and the second Advance Wars are available to interested individuals as a combined game on the Wii U Virtual Console.
2. Banner Saga
Moving on, the Banner Saga trilogy might be a better choice for a people with a taste for more tactical RPGs. In that respect, it has a very solid set of mechanics, which are enough to make it enjoyable but not particularly memorable. In short, the Banner Saga trilogy is set in a Viking Age-inspired world that has entered into a very tumultuous time for a couple of reasons. One, the world is now stuck in a state of perpetual twilight because the sun has stopped moving. Two, the humans and their giant-sized allies called the Varl are being hard-pressed by the sudden re-emergence of ancient enemies called the Dredge. Much of the Banner Saga trilogy is focused on characters trying to find safety at what seems to be the end of the world. Something that eventually leads to them finding out the cause behind everything, which provides them with a chance but no more than a chance to save the world. Failure is very much a possibility at the end of the third game. Furthermore, there are a lot of characters that can die over the course of the games for one reason or another. In fact, neither one of the two characters who come closest to being the protagonists are guaranteed to make it to the very end of the game. Combined, this means that the Banner Saga trilogy possesses a lot of replayability for people who enjoy seeing everything that games have to offer.
3. Dark Deity
The Fire Emblem series has been around for a long time. As a result, it is old enough to have inspired other games made by other people. Moreover, it is old enough to have inspired other games by other people that are actually quite different from its modern releases because of how it has changed over time. To name an example, Dark Deity is a recent tactical RPG that took heavy inspiration from the first Fire Emblem games to be released for western markets. It has the grid-based battlefields; it has the weapons that are stronger against some weapons while being weaker against other weapons; it even has the central cast of young characters who are suddenly thrust into a war with ancient magic involved in the background. Still, Dark Deity is made well-enough that it can stand out on its own to some extent, thus making it worth checking out rather than dismissing as just an inadequate copy.
4. Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy has been around since the late 1980s. New games have been released on a constant basis ever since that time, which include a fair number of spin-offs. One of the best-known spin-offs remains Final Fantasy Tactics, which was one of the most iconic tactical RPGs released in the 32-bit era. Something that becomes much more impressive when one remembers the sheer number of formidable competitors that came out in those times. In any case, while interested individuals can still get their hands on Final Fantasy Tactics, they would do better to get Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, which is the remade version that was released for the PSP and then mobile platforms. Suffice to say that it has better mechanics, better translation, and other upsides when compared with its predecessor, all of which combined to make it a best-seller when it came out for the first time.
5. Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous comes from a very different lineage than the Fire Emblem series. This is because it can trace its roots to the classic Dungeons & Dragons RPGs of the late 1990s and early 2000s, which is actually true in not one but two ways. After all, the Pathfinder tabletop RPG was based on Dungeons & Dragons’s revised 3rd edition. Regardless, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous can still be enjoyable for Fire Emblem fans who like solving combat scenarios using the toolset that they have put together for themselves. Story-wise, it is set in a land facing an endless deluge of demons because of an extradimensional gate to the demonic realm called the Abyss. The player-character starts out as one of the numerous people who have gathered together for the purpose of pushing back that deluge, though their eventual acquisition of extraordinary powers put them at the center of those efforts. Despite the name, players are by no means bound to play nice in Wrath of the Righteous. Indeed, there are paths that make their player-character as bad or even worse than their demonic enemies, thus adding that much more replayability.
6. Shadowrun: Hong Kong
Like Dungeons & Dragons, Shadowrun is another tabletop RPG popular enough to inspire video games. In recent times, there were the three games made by Harebrained Schemes. Out of those three, Shadowrun: Hong Kong was the last, which in turn, meant that it was the most polished as well. It is similar to the Fire Emblem series by being a tactical-based RPG. However, Shadowrun: Hong Kong puts more of an emphasis on non-combat elements, which makes sense because the titular characters are supposed to be troubleshooters for hire in a broader sense rather than troubleshooters for hire in the most literal sense possible. Having said that, it has plenty of combat as well, which is a mix of guns, melee, and magic because the source material was a mix of cyberpunk and magic. As such, it isn’t unusual to see one Shadowrun character tossing fireballs while another Shadowrun character runs in with cybernetic claws because they are count on their built-in armor to survive incoming fire. Suffice to say that can be a lot of fun, particularly since Shadowrun: Hong Kong comes with a very decent story that is more focused on the personal level than on the global level.
7. Super Robot Wars 30
The Super Robot Wars series is pretty much crossover fanfiction. For those who are unfamiliar, each of the games in the long-running series is situated in a setting that combines multiple mecha anime. As a result, interested individuals can expect to take on a wide range of enemies using a wide range of mecha hailing from all of those series. To name an example, the latest release Super Robot Wars 30 makes it possible to fight Dr. Hell and his Mechanical Beasts from Mazinkaiser using everything from Gundams from the Universal Century to Gridman from the SSSS. Gridman anime and Ultramen from the new Ultraman ONA on Netflix. That can be a lot of fun, particularly for people who enjoy seeing just how powerful they can make a particular unit in such games. However, the Super Robot Wars series is also well-known for its storytelling. It won’t be winning literary prizes anytime soon. Even so, it can be a lot of fun for people who want to see their favorite characters interacting with one another. For that matter, the Super Robot Wars series also has a reputation for correcting poor storytelling from its component series while working to ensure happier outcomes for more characters in the process. To be fair, the latter actually makes a fair amount of sense considering that these games are all about bringing together a world-shaking team of powerful mecha before throwing down with world-shaking threats. As such, something that might have been overwhelming for one mecha protagonist in their own series becomes much more manageable when it is getting ganged up on by a dozen or more mecha protagonists working closely together.
8. Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
People who have played the original Final Fantasy Tactics should have no problem recognizing its similarities to the original Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. After all, the original Final Fantasy Tactics was made by Matsuno Yasumi and other ex-Quest staff members, who had moved on after making the original Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. Unsurprisingly, the latter received a fair amount of praise in its time as well, not least because of its dark but not excessively dark storyline that took inspiration from the ethnicity-driven conflicts in the Balkans of the 1990s. Getting one’s hands on the original is complicated and time-consuming. Moreover, it isn’t worthwhile when compared to the PSP remake of the same name, which boasts more content, better mechanics, and better translation. In particular, it is interesting to note that the PSP remake comes with both what it calls a Chariot system and what it calls a World system, both of which are meant to make play-throughs more convenient for players. The first enables them to return to as far back as 50 moves ago in the current battle, thus enabling them to correct their mistakes if they wish to do so. Meanwhile, the second lets them take alternate routes by visiting various points in the narrative without having to start over. The World system is actually integrated into the narrative itself through extra end-game content, which can be very satisfying. In particular, there is one stage that enables the player to take down the enemies who burned down the protagonist’s hometown in the opening, thus preventing every tragedy that came to pass because of it. It makes for a bittersweet moment, particularly since the narrative points out that the change happens in a different timeline than his own.
9. Vestaria Saga I: War of the Scions
The Fire Emblem series was created by a man named Kaga Shouzou, who played a huge role in the making of the games until the GBA games. Since Nintendo didn’t start bringing over the GBA games until the second one, this means that most Fire Emblem players in the west won’t be very familiar with his work. Still, if they are looking for something that is like those early Fire Emblem games without actually playing those early Fire Emblem games, they should know that Kaga has overseen the making of a number of Fire Emblem-like games since he parted ways with Nintendo. The latest would be Vestaria Saga I: War of the Scions, which is very much meant for diehard Fire Emblem fans from an older era. One of the most notable points of departure in that the individual characters can’t be customized much. Instead, there is much more emphasis on getting the right units to the right places, which is necessary because the game has huge, sprawling maps that can be rightfully compared to puzzles for the player to solve.
10. XCOM 2
Technically speaking, the XCOM series is a reboot of the old X-COM series from the 1990s. In it, interested individuals have to lead small teams of soldiers to victory against invading aliens. The early game is notoriously difficult because the player has limited units as well as limited technology. However, the XCOM series puts a strong emphasis on recovering aliens and alien equipment for study, thus enabling the player to use the fruits of their research to improve their own forces. Something that can enable a well-trained, well-equipped team to tear through wave after wave of alien reinforcements. XCOM 2 has a somewhat unusual premise. In it, the player-character lost the initial war years ago. As a result, they are now responsible for putting together a guerilla force that can uncover the truth of everything that is going on before using that to overthrow humanity’s oppressors. Due to this, it is very common for XCOM 2 missions to start out with their forces in stealth, thus enabling them to sneak their forces into better positions before engaging when they are ready. Of course, even small mistakes can rob them of such opportunities, though that can be plenty of fun in its own right.
