Just dipped my feet into the
Fire Emblem franchise, starting with
Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones.
I love it!
The characters generally bond IN the battlefield, rather than outside of it (well, they bond outside too based on scripted narrative, but still).
Man, every minor character is sufficiently developed since the first time you meet them that it really fucking pains you when they die and it's your fault that they died, not the story's.
Yeah, your fault. The story doesn't decide which character lives or dies, your own competence does. And when they die, it fills you with grief that, despite being their leader, you failed to protect them.
No other game has made me feel this way before!
Joshua, from Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones, might just end up being one of my most favorite characters in fiction. He reminds me a lot of Setzer Gabianni from Final Fantasy 6, and yet being unique enough to make him stand out.
What I also love about this game is the fact that characters come in "pairs", not necessarily romantically (well, sometimes), and often with platonic relationships -- such as father and son, princess and bodyguard, knight and squire, brother and sister, etc. which makes for some really interesting character development for a large cast of characters that FE usually has.
Not only that, but those characters can also find themselves paired with OTHER characters outside the pair to have some really unique interactions.
What's interesting is that, for some reason, I'm getting into a lot of war-themed stories lately, whether it's futuristic Gundam, or medieval-like Fire Emblem. I'm really loving this phase of interest!
And the best part?!It's up to you, not the story, to recruit some pretty cool additions to your army! Because some of the potential recruits can actually start off as enemies trying to kill you, and unless you pay attention to the story and strategize accordingly, they might not even join you, and instead either kill you or die trying!
Man, I love love LOVE this game!
