strategy

Fire Emblem: Three Houses Live Stream – Part 1 of ?

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Not sure if I’m going to follow through on streaming Fire Emblem: Three Houses in its entirety, but our adventure at least starts here! Our hero Jetta gets entangled with three student leaders from Officer’s Academy and is not long after assigned to teach at the school! What house will she choose? Along the way, we also talk about potential romance partners, ConBravo 2019, other great strategy games, and…crests.

Shout-outs!

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An Overwhelming First Day at School with Fire Emblem: Three Houses

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The opening moments of Fire Emblem: Three Houses start out as you’d expect if you’ve had any experience with the franchise. Dropping into a small-scale conflict, the battle is used to introduce you to your own player character and the main protagonists. From there, your party would gradually grow as you ran into new heroes throughout your journey.

This latest entry in the franchise doesn’t do that at all. In fact, it’s essentially the opposite. While this isn’t necessarily a surprise, it did make the onboarding process a bit bumpier than I’m used to.

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The Great Fire Emblem Debate: Classic or Casual?

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For decades, the Fire Emblem franchise’s most unique feature was its inclusion of perma-death. Should a character fall in battle, they’re gone for the rest of the campaign. In a game where characters can develop into fighting machines while also going through their own mini story arc alongside of the main campaign, any loss of life is devastating. Though I’ve gotten pretty good at protecting my heroes throughout, I will unashamedly save scum or redo levels entirely if it means I can save lives and keep my options open.

Starting with Fire Emblem: Awakening, players got an alternative. Prior to the start of a campaign, one can choose to play in Classic mode with perma-death on. Or, you could choose a new Casual mode, where fallen heroes simply retreat for the remainder of a level. In this case, these fallen heroes can return  at the start of the next mission.

This split has created quite the discussion amongst fans of the series. With Fire Emblem: Three Houses out now, it’s bound to heat up again. Which do you prefer? Is there a “right” way to play? Take it for what you will, but this is my approach to Classic vs. Casual in modern Fire Emblem games.

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Nintendo Switch Online Subscribers Can Now Save on Purchases with Game Vouchers

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Introduced at the end of the Super Mario Maker 2 Direct, Nintendo Switch Game Vouchers give Nintendo Switch Online subscribers the ability to save on select games. Sold as a pair for $99.99, you can redeem them for two $60 games and save $20. You can buy multiple sets of vouchers at a time and vouchers are good for a year after purchase. However, it looks like vouchers will only be sold until July 31st.

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Wargroove Impressions

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[NOTE: Based on backlog and life circumstances, I don’t think I’m going to finish the Wargroove campaign any time soon. As such, this is an impressions piece based on my time with it instead of a formal review.]

“If you want a new Advance Wars so much, why don’t you make it yourself?”
– Nintendo, probably

With Nintendo’s military strategy game still on ice a decade after we last saw it, Chucklefish steps up to this hypothetical challenge with Wargroove. Take the Advance Wars gameplay, set it in a Fire Emblem like medieval setting, and watch the profits roll in. But does it offer anything more than just a repackaging of tried-and-true ideas?

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Advance Wars Live Stream

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Long before war got its “groove” back, Nintendo paved the way for turn-based strategy games with mainstream appeal with Advance Wars! You won’t need a time machine to relive the fight. Just watch the VOD as we play through the first few levels and have a great chat about the Nintendo Direct that hadn’t happened just yet at the time of recording, games that expanded our horizons, our favourite tactics games and more!

Highlights

We got our Extra Life 2018 Medal!

Why I trade in and sell old games

How I fell in love with Advance Wars

My wife’s bougie Chess origin story

My Gameboy Advance SP NES Classic Edition

Playing Gameboy Advance during class

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How Wargroove Addresses My Biggest Issue with the Advance Wars Series

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The Advance Wars series is one that I remember fondly for introducing me to the world of strategy games. When Nintendo first iced the franchise, I was deeply disappointed. But the more I thought about it over the years, the more I was okay with letting it go.

I think the fundamental reason why its sibling franchise Fire Emblem took off but Advance Wars didn’t was that the former was built around characters with names, faces, and a progression from beginning-to-end (assuming they didn’t die). The latter used nameless soldiers and disposable units. After a few iterations, Nintendo hit a wall with what they could do in digital version of Chess, ultimately pushing forward with a gritty tonal shift that failed to appease existing or new players while adding little to the tired tactics that had worn out its welcome.

With time and advents of game design on its side, the creators of Wargroove leveraged the modern design trope of hero units as a means of adding personality and emotional weight to the moment-to-moment tactics without going full-RPG. It may not seem like much, but it makes a tangible difference towards my enjoyment of the game.

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Into the Breach Review

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As much as I love Advance Wars, I understand why the series has laid dormant for over a decade. At a root level, the franchise’s game mechanics simply weren’t built for the long haul. Fighting with replenishable nameless and faceless units led to levels that could drag while also lacking emotional weight.

Advance Wars and Fire Emblem are both turn-based strategy games made by the same company, but the latter’s focus on individual characters with names, faces, skills that develop over time, and the threat of a shortened lifespan makes for an easier-to-renew franchise with each set of fresh faces to care about. Eventually, fighting with the same tanks and planes got stale, to the point where Nintendo disastrously attempted to resuscitate Advance Wars with a gritty reboot that sank the whole franchise to this day.

When I first saw Into the Breach, I came into it with expectations of it playing like Nintendo’s wartime strategy franchise. Even with the latter’s design faults, it’s been so long that I’d be okay with it as long as I got to manage units on a battlefield again. What it ends up being is a really clever twist on the formula that breathes new live into a formerly-stale concept.

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Welcome to Earf! Jett Plays Into the Breach!

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I’ve watched Independence Day too many times! I’m not giving up our planet this easily! We start our fight against the Vek in Into the Breach!

The Horrific Pikmin 3 Massacre of 2018

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Tune in to watch a rusty Pikmin 3 player inadvertently sabotage his crew to the point where they have no food left and almost all of their Pikmin are dead. I will be better next time.

Stick around for the great conversation between everyone that joined the stream though!

And yes, I totally talked about Taylor Swift again and nobody can stop me!