Zevox
2016-06-26, 02:06 PM
So, remember the Shin Megami Tensei/Fire Emblem crossover that got announced a while back? Well, it's out, and this wacky game is the end result.
It'd be an understatement to say that this isn't what I was expecting when the announcement was made, but eh, so far, I'm enjoying it a fair bit. It definitely bears more resemblance to the Persona side of SMT than the mainline SMT titles though, with the main characters being teenagers who are technically still in High School (though as near as I can tell there's no time spent on them actually doing anything school-related), and the Fire Emblem characters being "Mirages," which basically take the roles of Shadows and Personas. Instead, aside from obviously the fighting of the game's supernatural menace, it focuses on them being "Idols" - basically pop stars.
Yeah, remember how despite Persona having its silly moments and characters, you could generally take the stories in it seriously? This is the reverse: there's serious characters and story elements here and there, but by and large it is goofy as all hell and you should just enjoy the crazy ride.
Having played it now though, you can definitely tell it has elements of both series - just probably not the ones you imagined when you first heard about it. The main character, Itsuke, gets Chrom as his "Mirage," and his design when fused with him (which is how the costume transformation in combat is explained) is clearly based on Marth. Tsubasa, the secondary protagonist, gets Caeda - the Pegasus Knight girl who marries Marth in his games. The third character to join you, Toma, gets Cain, who apparently was one of the many unremarkable characters from Shadow Dragon, a Cavalier. I'm kind of hoping that the game doesn't just draw on Marth's series, but have yet to see how that shakes out. Gameplay-wise, it's very Persona: dungeon maps where you see enemies pop up and can attack them before engaging them, though in this case the attack stuns them, and you can opt to just avoid them while stunned instead of engaging them if you want. Combat is turn-based, spells, abilities, and items all have names that will be familiar to SMT fans, and as usual you get a big reward for striking enemies' weak points. This time it's what's called a "session" - characters learn special attacks that let them automatically follow-up on their allies' attacks when they strike a weakness, doing a lot of extra damage at no extra cost. And those session attacks can activate even more session attacks in a big chain reaction, which can rack up damage fast. However, normal attacks don't trigger sessions, so in this game normal attacks that strike weaknesses are just doing a little extra damage, nothing more.
For other Fire Emblem elements, the characters' stats are all straight out of that series, rather than the usual SMT array, and level-ups are definitely using FE's sound effects and may be randomized like in FE (hard to be sure about that). And at least some weapons are straight from FE as well - your first two for Itsuke are Falchion and an Iron Sword. Although not all I think - Tsubasa's second weapon is a "Wicked Lance," which I don't think I recall from any Fire Emblem title. I'll be curious to see how they explain exactly what Mirages are - all of them in the beginning have lost their memories and don't know - to see if and how they might tie into Fire Emblem, rather than just coincidentally being based on FE characters.
So, anyway, basically while its not at all what I pictured when it was announced, I'm enjoying it. Anyone else picked it up?
It'd be an understatement to say that this isn't what I was expecting when the announcement was made, but eh, so far, I'm enjoying it a fair bit. It definitely bears more resemblance to the Persona side of SMT than the mainline SMT titles though, with the main characters being teenagers who are technically still in High School (though as near as I can tell there's no time spent on them actually doing anything school-related), and the Fire Emblem characters being "Mirages," which basically take the roles of Shadows and Personas. Instead, aside from obviously the fighting of the game's supernatural menace, it focuses on them being "Idols" - basically pop stars.
Yeah, remember how despite Persona having its silly moments and characters, you could generally take the stories in it seriously? This is the reverse: there's serious characters and story elements here and there, but by and large it is goofy as all hell and you should just enjoy the crazy ride.
Having played it now though, you can definitely tell it has elements of both series - just probably not the ones you imagined when you first heard about it. The main character, Itsuke, gets Chrom as his "Mirage," and his design when fused with him (which is how the costume transformation in combat is explained) is clearly based on Marth. Tsubasa, the secondary protagonist, gets Caeda - the Pegasus Knight girl who marries Marth in his games. The third character to join you, Toma, gets Cain, who apparently was one of the many unremarkable characters from Shadow Dragon, a Cavalier. I'm kind of hoping that the game doesn't just draw on Marth's series, but have yet to see how that shakes out. Gameplay-wise, it's very Persona: dungeon maps where you see enemies pop up and can attack them before engaging them, though in this case the attack stuns them, and you can opt to just avoid them while stunned instead of engaging them if you want. Combat is turn-based, spells, abilities, and items all have names that will be familiar to SMT fans, and as usual you get a big reward for striking enemies' weak points. This time it's what's called a "session" - characters learn special attacks that let them automatically follow-up on their allies' attacks when they strike a weakness, doing a lot of extra damage at no extra cost. And those session attacks can activate even more session attacks in a big chain reaction, which can rack up damage fast. However, normal attacks don't trigger sessions, so in this game normal attacks that strike weaknesses are just doing a little extra damage, nothing more.
For other Fire Emblem elements, the characters' stats are all straight out of that series, rather than the usual SMT array, and level-ups are definitely using FE's sound effects and may be randomized like in FE (hard to be sure about that). And at least some weapons are straight from FE as well - your first two for Itsuke are Falchion and an Iron Sword. Although not all I think - Tsubasa's second weapon is a "Wicked Lance," which I don't think I recall from any Fire Emblem title. I'll be curious to see how they explain exactly what Mirages are - all of them in the beginning have lost their memories and don't know - to see if and how they might tie into Fire Emblem, rather than just coincidentally being based on FE characters.
So, anyway, basically while its not at all what I pictured when it was announced, I'm enjoying it. Anyone else picked it up?