2020 was a strange year for many reasons. With this being a transition year between current and next generation consoles, the slate of games we got was on the lighter side. Furthermore, with a pandemic raging across the world, many game developers were forced to work from home, forcing delays for many upcoming releases.
Of the games I did play this year, very few were actually published in 2020. Nevertheless, there were some serious contenders for the crown. My 2020 game of the year is…
Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a fantastic game that’s a billion hours on its own and has DLC to lengthen the experience even more. But what do you play if you’ve done it all within Three Houses and still have the urge for more turn-based strategy action? Try out these other titles on the Nintendo Switch!
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For the better half of 2019, the internal debate of what my game of the year would be raged on. It came down to two titles. One was a game that made some bold moves but didn’t quite stick the landing on everything it had to offer. The other was a tighter package overall, but was far less ambitious.
How do I rationalize between the two? There’s no right answer, as both games are fantastic. In this case, I looked past that conflict and dug deep into my soul for an answer. When I was in the thick of it, which game drew the largest emotional response from me? And when I look back at 2019, what’s the game that I’ll remember the most fondly?
Going through this process gave the slight edge to one of the two. My 2019 game of the year is…
Flayn has gone missing! Our search for her leads us to the creepy underbelly of Garreg Mach, along with a potentially-deadly encounter with the Death Knight! While we search for our missing student, we discuss the Nintendo Direct in great detail, reminisce about the days of video game magazines, and ponder what our game of this decade could be!
Paralogue – The Forgotten
Paralogue – Land of the Golden Deer
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Riding a wave of critical acclaim and positive word-of-mouth, Fire Emblem: Three Houses is shattering franchise sales records all over the world. Becoming the best-selling game in the series is an inevitability at this point. But does that make it the best?
It might be when it’s all said and done. However, I’m reluctant to give it the crown just yet. As much as I love it, here are some factors that could prevent it from being the undisputed best in the series.
Fire Emblem may be a modern phenomenon to many, but the franchise’s history goes way back. Even excluding the Japan-only releases that make up roughly half of the catalogue, you’re still left with 10 mainline games and multiple spin-offs. Those alone might make Fire Emblem one of Nintendo’s deepest franchises in terms of quality and volume.
Though I don’t think there’s a bad game in the series per se, there are certainly titles that stand out from the rest. It’s always been a goal of mine to rank them, but it’s been a long time since I’ve played some of these games, and I don’t want to do the legwork required to confidently place them on a numerical list.
Instead, I’m going with a tier list. Unless stated otherwise, there’s no particular rankings within each tier. As of right now, here’s how I’d rank the mainline games in the Fire Emblem series!
Flayn has gone missing! Our search for her leads us to the creepy underbelly of Garreg Mach, along with a potentially-deadly encounter with the Death Knight! While we search for our missing student, we discuss the Nintendo Direct in great detail, reminisce about the days of video game magazines, and ponder what our game of this decade could be!
Chapter 6 – Rumors of a Reaper
Discussing the 9.4.2019 Nintendo Direct
Reminiscing on Video Game Magazines
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The Lance of Ruin has been stolen! We’ve got to get it back from Miklan, but he’s willing to give it all up to keep it! As we work our way through to House Gautier, I share some of my hands-on impressions with the Link’s Awakening remake, Luigi’s Mansion 3, buying tickets for Overwatch League, and discuss some news for upcoming Switch games!
Chapter 5 – Tower of Black Winds (The Gautier Inheritance)
Hands-on Impressions of Link’s Awakening
Hands-on Impressions of Luigi’s Mansion 3
I Saw the Nintendo Switch Lite IRL
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We have our sneaking suspicions that a plot to assassinate Rhea is actually a decoy for something else! Jetta, Claude, and the Golden Deer are ready to stop the perpetrators as they try to commit their actual crime! Also…the Church of Seiros may not be as on the up-and-up as we once thought.
Chapter 4: Assault at the Rite of Rebirth
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The most obvious change that Fire Emblem: Three Houses has brought to the series is the more involved way in which you manage your life off of the battlefield. Instead of restocking your items and triggering support conversations from menus, you’re character is controlled in a fully-rendered hub-world. This system gives everything a much stronger sense of place, while the additional activities you have give you a means of making even deeper connections with the cast. I had so much written on this topic that it ended up forming the basis for my review.
That doesn’t mean the combat has been left alone. Under the hood, there are some sizable changes that make it differ from other Fire Emblem games in recent years. Not sure whether the changes came about because of the story, or the story changed to reflect the mechanical differences. Nevertheless, I thought it would be cool to highlight how they feed off each other to create a unique battle experience.
In Third Person 