Trailer Impressions: Fire Emblem Choose Your Path Trailer

Being a huge fan of the Fire Emblem franchise, I fell in love with this trailer. The differences in story and the world are a lot of what differentiates the titles in the series. With the game being split into two, we can only decide upon one path in the playthrough making a very distinct choice on where the story falls. Who means more to you? Blood or forged bonds? This is the main question this trailer presents us with as the main deciding factor for the games. The Hoshido have a certain Eastern aesthetic, while the Nohr seem more European and classes will most likely reflect these cultures in the units and settings surrounding them. For that alone, this has to be one of the more unique additions to the franchise. That being said, the trailer wasn’t all cutscenes from the game.

The gameplay elements show new units; one looking like it’s of a dragon like nature much like the Manaketes or the Laguz dragon variant in past Fire emblem games, but this time with its own stylistic spin. There also seems to be a new class that seems similar to a ninja, meaning there may be culture specific classes or culture specific looks to said classes, but only time will tell. You can also somehow shape the battlefield differently as we can see a bridge being created out of nowhere. There are so many variables in this trailer just making any fan of Fire Emblem or of strategy RPGs that much more excited to see what they can do. Let’s hope we see more at E3.

As someone who has only scratched the surface of a Fire Emblem game (Fire Emblem: Awakening), I can’t pickup on some of the tiny details. The idea of choosing a path does sound very interesting, but I am always weary when it comes to promises of “choices” due to potential ‘illusion of choice.’ If the choices are different enough that the game experience can be substantially different depending on choices, then that deserves a ton of praise. Although I have plenty of confidence that this will be a good RPG experience with or without choices, but when promises of choice impact are made at a grandiose scale like this, they need to deliver.