Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade is a game released on the GBA. I first played this game out of curiosity. Upon playing it and completing the game. It became one of my favorites. Between the characters, the story, and the gameplay there is a lot to like about this game. Before I go into the review. I would to give a little background information about this games unique place in the Fire Emblem franchise.
image from https://fireemblem.fandom.com/wiki/Fire_Emblem:_The_Binding_Blade
Fire Emblem is a franchise that started around 1990 in Japan. Most of the early games in the franchise were never released outside of Japan. One of them being Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. This game is different from the other Japan exclusives because it is a part of the story of the first Fire Emblem game that was localized. Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade or just Fire Emblem in the west is a prequel to Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. It was the first Fire Emblem game released to the west and officially translated to English. It too was also a GBA title.
Images from https://goombastomp.com/fire-emblem-7-blazing-blade-retrospective/
See the problem here, We got a prequel to a Japan exclusive game leaving the story lacking to those not knowing anything about the prior game. Now while it is not necessary to play Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade to enjoy Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, playing it does enhance the story in my opinion. The only way to experience the japan exclusive game is to play a fan-translated rom. The fan-translated version gives an opportunity for fans outside of Japan to enjoy the game and its story.
Anyway on to the review. FE: Binding Blade like many games in the series is a Turn-Based Tactical RPG. It has a Grid-based map where the player and enemy units traverse the map by moving a certain amount of spaces depending on the unit. Horse-mounted units can move more spaces than a unit on foot. Heavily armored units can move fewer spaces than other units but their defenses make up for limited movement.
Screenshot of a units area of movement from my gameplay
Movement and other factors like the weapon triangle or some units being very effective against others are things you need to consider to keep your units alive. For example, units that use magic do a lot of damage against heavily armored units. Also the weapon triangle consists of swords, axes, and spears. Swords are effective against units that use axes. Axes are effective against spears. Spears are effective against swords. You have to take these things into account, manage your units and move them into positions that give you the advantage.
Screenshot of an exchange between units with different weapons from my gameplay
There are many different classes of units you could control. To name a few Archers, cavaliers, heavy armored knights, mages that use magic, and others. Your units gain experience based on the enemies they defeat and eventually level up and are able to get promoted to stronger classes. You can also gain more units as you progress and can also recruit some enemy units with specific characters. You're going to need to be strategic with the units you get because if they fall in battle they don't come back.
Screenshot of a unit's death quote from my gameplay
This game is difficult, to say the least. It can be unfair and sometimes things are just out of your control. That's why I recommend playing on an emulator and using save states. In case you don't know what save states are, they allow you to save your place at any time and reload that saved place if you want. This is useful because it allows you to make moves and make some mistakes. You can save on your turn and move your units. If one dies or gets in a bad position in the enemy turn you can just reload your save and move them to different positions. Some may think this is cheating but it saves you from restarting the whole battle because one of your units died and sometimes the battles are long. I think it's fine because the more recent games have a game mechanic that allows you to rewind time so you can go back a couple turns to redo what moves you've made.
I think the difficulty is part of the Charm of most retro games. I like feeling accomplished for beating them and overcoming the challenge. Now I know it's not for everyone since there are so many games to choose from nowadays. But I still like to look back and enjoy games like this from time to time.
Now on to the story and character part of the review. I'm not gonna get to in-depth in the story due to it being a lot to cover but I will give some examples of what you can expect. Also I want to avoid spoilers since I want to allow those of you who are interested in the game to try it and experience it without being spoiled. FE: Binding Blade is about a young lord Roy taking his father's place and leading his forces to support his neighboring allies against an invasion. Due to his father being ill he can't lead his men and has to task his son Roy with the responsibility. Roy will go on to recruit more people to his cause along the way. He saves villages and others from attacking bandits. Meets dragon people and even fights some dragons. It wouldn't be a Fire Emblem game without dragons. There are many characters to get to know.
Screenshot of the level up screen from my gameplay
FE: Binding Blade has very lovable characters such as Roy and Lilina. Roy is very noble and grows into a reliable leader. You see him gain confidence in leading his troops as you progress through the story. Lilina starts as a somewhat childish sweet girl who eventually grows into a powerful magic user. Alen and Lance are the two cavaliers that are friends, Alen being eager to charge straight into enemies while lance is more calm and collected. Fae a cute girl that can turn into a dragon. Shanna a cheerful pegasus knight that can fly across the map. There are many more characters you can recruit, this game has a good amount of replayablity since you can't get every unit in one play through. You could replay the story with different units and see some of the different endings to the story.
In conclusion Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade is a game not too many have played. Sure it might not have aged the best and it has it's flaws. But I think it is a great title in the Fire Emblem franchise. If you like GBA games or even older games, or maybe just a fan of rpgs I think this game is worth a shot. If any of the older Fire Emblem games gets a remake, it better be this one. This was my first game review and I hope you all liked it. Next post will be an anime review so I hope you look forward to it.