“Show don’t tell” is lesson one in any good screenwriting class.
Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave is a great game, but it could have been incredible if it sat down and listened.
Nintendo’s latest entry in its famous strategy franchise is addicted to exposition, bloating an otherwise excellent campaign into a 100+ hour effort.
Don’t get me wrong, there are gorgeous pre-rendered cutscenes in Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave but they are few and far between; with the bulk of the game’s story told through slow and dialogue heavy group conversations.
Bafflingly, there are major story events that happen entirely off-screen which would have been excellent cutscenes. For example, the conclusion of the Heroic Games and the resurrection of the villain who drives the second act of the story are both resigned to a Star Wars style text crawl. It’s a bizarre and disappointing choice, because it lets down the best story and some of the best characters in Fire Emblem’s history.
I spent most of my preview raving about the game’s endearing albeit overwhelming cast of characters, combat systems, music and environments. If I was grading the game on those points alone, it’d be a 10/10.
But after 70+ hours with Fortune’s Weave, I started taking issue with the way the game is structured, how that affected the story and the first of four main characters I decided to play as.
Not all heroes are created equal
Fortune’s Weave tells one story through the eyes of four different protagonists:
- Cai, a boy trying to free his imprisoned father with special powers.
- Dietrich, a mysterious swordsman with a hunger for the toughest battles.
- Theodora, a new queen who lost her right arm during the assassination of her father.
- Leda, a first class musician with an enchanting smile and a thirst for revenge.
The problem is, none of them is the game’s “true” protagonist.
Imagine if The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild played like this: you start as Link and complete the Great Plateau, then bounce between the stories of the four champions with their different abilities and regions, before regaining control of Link for the final boss fight.
That would feel weird right? Well that’s exactly what happens in Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave.
You create the real hero, Eshmel, at the beginning of the game. He features in the opening tutorial and in the game’s final chapter, relegating the much more charming heroes you’ve been leveling up for the better part of 60 hours to sidekicks for the story’s climax.
In Nintendo’s most recent Ask the Developer, the game’s creators admit they were struggling to weave four storylines into a satisfying conclusion so, halfway through development, they came up with the idea for Eshmel overseeing everything from the future to glue it all together.
This is a very long winded way of saying the game’s story works but feels like a clunky work around; especially when we already had such a captivating group of characters to play as.
Days of Our Lives: God Edition
Fortune’s Weave is a tale of gods and demons. The family dynamics are complicated and it takes a while to realise that the motivations of the characters you get to play as — and the gladiator contest at the heart of the game’s marketing — are barely a footnote in the game’s grander story.
I chose to play as Leda who, despite a compelling first chapter fuelled by revenge, spends the second act of the game as a member of another character’s army. I understand the heroes’ stories are intertwined, but it’s still jarring when the character you chose isn’t driving any story beats.
Ultimately, your job is simply to keep each hero alive so, when the time comes, they can support Eshmel in his final battles against the underworld.
There’s plenty to like about Fire Emblem’s combat scenarios. Not only are the environments more varied and impactful, but the objectives and puzzles leading to them can dramatically affect your strategy. Tackling enemies head on is rarely the right move, and I had to restart one scenario from scratch after realising the best way to win was to avoid the inexplicably tough troops in the centre of the map entirely.
Keeping every unit alive isn’t easy but a new mechanic, Fortuna’s Blessing, allows you to freely rewind to any point in a battle if you need to fix mistakes. I used this a lot and while it definitely made me a little more reckless, it never felt like cheating.
Fortuna’s Blessing is one of seven skills offered by the gods which you can call upon during battles. Each is unique and there’s a limit to how many times you can use them. Some make your attacks stronger, others reduce the damage you take. Choosing when and how to employ them can be the difference between victory and death.
Of all the new mechanics, I loved Blessings the most. The special attacks unique to each of the four protagonists are all fun to play with but part of me misses the old weapon triangle (sword beats axe, axe beats spear, spear beats sword).
Recruiting new allies, exploring the world map and sharing meals, spas or theatre shows with members of your team is all front loaded in chapter one. Honestly, these take a long time and in my experience, didn’t have enough of an effect on the outcome of battles in subsequent chapters. If I ever return to play Theodora or Dietrich’s storylines, I’d probably skip them entirely, which is an option at the inn or at the colosseum.
Same goes for the new third-person battles which take place in the game’s dungeons. I never really understood the key to victory in these battles, other than to save your more powerful ‘link’ attacks for tougher encounters. I like that Fire Emblem is trying something different but when that system feels like a side dish, I’d rather spend more time on the main course.
Should you play Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave?
Classic battles are better than ever. Combat animations are truly excellent and with the exception of the more battles you grind on the world map, no two encounters are the same.
Overall, it’s easy to recommend Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave to fans of the series.
Newcomers will be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of systems and mechanics there is to learn. For that reason, I’d still recommend playing the excellent Fire Emblem Three Houses first.
Quest Daily scores Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave:
8/10
Early access to the game was provided by the publisher.
