Team Up Characters By Using the Link System
Fire Emblem Warriors is certainly the most different a Fire Emblem game has ever been, but it still retains some classic elements from the tactical franchise. Of course, the focus is on action-packed combat, but we managed to get our hands on the game at E3 and find out just how the game weaves in a bit of strategy.
Fire Emblem Awakening introduced a revolutionary new link system to the series that let you team up two units into one pair that works together in order to increase their attack and defense power. Fire Emblem Warriors has the exact same feature surprisingly, letting you team up your player character with a nearby ally into one powerful pair with significantly boosted attack power. This changes the combos and special moves you’re able to use, and you can even swap between the two paired units in the middle of a combo. It’s honestly incredibly simple to pair units as well, as once you’re in the vicinity of an ally simply hit the right trigger and then the Y button to pair them up.
Teaming up with allies in Fire Emblem Warriors is certainly what you want to do, as it completely powers up your units and gives you even more ridiculous combos to destroy your enemies with.
Different Unit Types and Weapon Triangle
The tried-and-true weapon triangle has been an integral piece of Fire Emblem games for years, and that feature makes the cut for Fire Emblem Warriors. Now, the weapon triangle won’t be nearly as influential in Warriors as in the tactical series, but the rock-paper-scissors concept still applies. Units that use swords have the advantage over axes, axes have the advantage over spears, and spears over swords. Additionally, different unit types and classes like Cavaliers, Fighters, and Myrmidons make it in as well along with their corresponding weapons on the triangle.
Now where Fire Emblem Warriors puts a new action-oriented twist on the system, is by giving you a team of three characters to control in battle. You can switch between these characters on the fly, putting them into battle when they’ll have the advantage. Unfortunately, during our time with the game we only had sword-wielding characters, but the battle threw hordes of units at as and commanders of different weapon types. Hopefully, this level of light strategy will require you to keep on your toes more.
You Can Issue Orders to Units in Battle
While you won’t get total control over your army like you would in a normal Fire Emblem game, you will still have a degree of control over what they do. You do have the option of issuing strategic commands during the middle of battle to your allies, which will direct a portion of your army along with them. The map that we played on during our demo time was pretty large, with multiple tiers and routes mixing together. It easily would have taken a minute or two to run from one side to the other.
Like most Warriors games, there are a number of keeps and strongholds that you can capture by wearing down enemy forces and defeating the captain. This will cut off the flow of enemy reinforcements and strengthen your own army. You’ll need to shuffle your units around and direct them to key points on the battlefield, adapting with the flow of the battle. Hopefully, these elements can be implemented well to give Fire Emblem Warriors a bit of a tactical flair.
Characters Level Up
Just like in the main Fire Emblem games, characters in Warriors have a leveling system that’s pretty much exactly the same. Once your character has accrued enough experience they’ll achieve a new level along with the fanfare and stat screen that’s ripped right out of a Fire Emblem game. Other Warriors games have featured level systems of course, but this is distinctly Fire Emblem and flashy to boot.
Your characters leveling up, of course, means that enemies will level and get more power right along with you. It’s clear though that Koei Tecmo is taking steps to satisfy fans of both series, and provide plenty of Fire Emblem nods along the way.
Fire Emblem Warriors if currently scheduled for a release this Fall on Nintendo Switch. Make sure to check back with Twinfinite for more on the title.
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