Fire Emblem Heroes

I stopped playing Fire Emblem Heroes around the same time I stopped participating in the Microsoft Rewards program. Those two things were starting to take over all of my free time, and I needed some reprieve. While I have a history of gacha-style games latching themselves to my daily routines, I foolishly didn't expect this one to manage that. I've never been able to get into tactics games before, and I assumed the same would apply here. In fact, the only reason I started playing it was for the My Nintendo rewards points! However, the game's story and the greater Fire Emblem lore that it draws upon started drawing me in, and before I knew it, I was hooked. Now, while I'm shelving Heroes, I have a new, genuine interest in trying out some of the mainline games.

For an aggressively monetized mobile game to be the thing that finally helped me enjoy the tactics genre, it must be doing something very right. Part of that may be its simplicity. In other tactics games that I've tried to play, stages tend to be pretty long and require a good deal of planning. While planning is still necessary in Fire Emblem Heroes, the stages are always short, the maps are small, and the objectives are clear. The only real complication can be building a team of heroes that can both counter the opponents and complement each other's abilities. Thankfully, I found that in most cases, I could just brute force it with an all-star team of special heroes. While I only started playing to earn My Nintendo points, the ease of completing stages, especially with the help of my favorite gacha game staple, the "auto" button, made me just curious enough to see how I could fare in the event stages.

That was my downfall. As soon as I started earning the sweet sweet rewards from the limited-time events, I couldn't stop. As soon as an event began, I'd work tirelessly to squeeze it of everything I could before it disappeared. This tactic proved to be very fruitful, and generally pretty fun, helping me to earn hundreds of new characters and teaching me a lot about the Fire Emblem series. While my disgusting attachment to fully completing these event stages is what eventually caused me to step away from the game, I give it credit for getting me genuinely curious about the real games, especially those of my favorite characters (looking at you, FE Fates), and with some real tactic game experience under my belt now, I might actually be able to play all the way through one of them sometime! It must be said though, this is not the best representation of the franchise.

It is incredible how many different characters they have squeezed in and how many stories they've written to show these characters interacting, but it's also clear that the developers know how to get their audience to spend money. I'll preface by confirming that I never spent a cent on the game, but I did interact with the premium systems using currency I earned in-game. Summoning is a central mechanic to Fire Emblem Heroes, as it is the primary way to get new characters. To summon, you must select one of the time-limited summoning "banners" that feature a selection of special characters. Then, by spending premium currency, you have the chance to get random characters out of the pool you selected. Some of these characters can be very powerful, but they are generally very rare and you'll usually just be getting many repeats of the same weaker characters that are available under every banner.

Every summon is a gamble, and the painful blow of failure is softened by a slight improvement to the odds of pulling a featured hero every few times you pull a weak, generic hero, encouraging you to invest more and more. With this being Nintendo's most lucrative mobile game by a country mile, it's clear that the tactics are working. It's just a shame that they are so predatory. If you have a gambling addiction or are liable to cave when faced with this kind of system, please stay away from this game. It just isn't worth it. However, if you're cheap like me and won't crack under the pressure, the rest of the game generally makes up for the frustrating summons system.

Even now that I've had some time away to ruminate on my experience with Fire Emblem Heroes, I still feel pretty positive about it. I've been wanting to wade into the tactics genre waters for a long time, but all of my previous attempts had ended almost as soon as they started, so I'm very grateful that I've finally found something to help me get my foot in the door. I don't approve of the monetization techniques being employed, but the game is just generous enough to be fully playable without spending any money, so a little self-control can make for a great experience. I don't think Fire Emblem Heroes is for everyone, but I'm glad I decided to try it out for real, and I'm excited to see what else Fire Emblem has in store for me in the future.

The game is available for Android here (as of 1/20/24): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nintendo.zaba&hl=en&gl=US
The game is available for iOS here (as of 1/20/24): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fire-emblem-heroes/id1181774280

Popular posts from this blog

Meow Tower: Nonogram Pictogram

Image
I seem to have a thing for mobile games about cats, and I am a huge fan of Nintendo 's Picross series. Normally those two interests don't overlap, but Meow Tower changed that. Combining the fun of befriending cute cartoon cats and solving intricate number puzzles hooked me immediately. While it's technically not a Picross game, seeing as that is a Nintendo trademark, the nonogram puzzles are still the same, and I loved being able to play them on my phone. Granted, there have been plenty of options to play these kinds of puzzles on the phone for years, but Meow Tower  sets itself apart from the rabble thanks to its stellar aesthetic. The developers behind this game are true artists. While it's a solid, straightforward nonogram game at its core, Meow Tower just looks so much better to play than any of the numerous generic options that crowd the app stores. The bubbly sticker-book style used for the art and menus gives Meow Tower a lot of charm and personality from t
Read more

Space Lich Omega

Image
Inspired by the ever popular Candy Box and Candy Box 2 , Space Lich Omega is an browser-based RPG adventure with an almost entirely ASCII display. However, it chose to step away from the established fantasy style of it's inspiration for a more science-fantasy theme. I ended up having a fun time with this game, despite its need for a little polish, thanks to the unique story and hilarious pop-culture Easter eggs that can be discovered throughout the different explorable locations. Despite the crude-ish interface, I never had any trouble navigating throughout the game. I actually ended up beating it in a relatively short time, especially when I had my gunk production going all out, allowing me to jump my health up enormously. Although I did need to do a little grinding every now and then for an item that I missed, that didn't interfere with my enjoyment too much. Ultimately, this is no Candy Box , but it still has its merits and is worth playing if you ever find yourself in
Read more

The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes

Image
Reusing game engines has proven to be pretty popular in the Zelda series. It offers developers a chance to craft more experimental and risky games, as the initial investment on the engine was covered by the previous, more traditional release. As a huge fan of A Link Between Worlds , I was ecstatic to learn it was getting a pseudo-follow-up. My excitement only grew when Nintendo sent me an early-access demo, and I somehow had no concerns that this was another multiplayer-focused game, despite my preference for solo play. Since the previous multiplayer Zelda games had pretty functional single-player modes, I anticipated that I could expect the same here. Unfortunately, that wasn't an entirely accurate assumption. Like its predecessors , Tri Force Heroes is level-based in order to accommodate its multiplayer focus. All of the stages are designed like dungeons, so they hold up really well for puzzle-solving challenges, but they lack a lot of the same charm you can find in Four Swor
Read more