Fire Emblem Warriors, A Nostalgic View

This year was the fifth anniversary ofFire Emblem Warriors’ release. Over the years, Musou games have been a great addition to established series. They promise hack-and-slash adventures, and a way to just embrace unbridled chaos.

I’ll always have a bias towards Musou games, as they’re essentially how I relax. The gameplay is always simple, and you always know what to expect. You explore a map, you battle enemies, and you don’t have to learn any complicated moves to succeed.

Omega Force have their own successful series with Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors under their belt, eventually crossing them over to create the Warriors Orochi series. But over the years, they found that there was a new level of success when they mixed the gameplay with popular series.

Before Fire Emblem Warriors was even conceived, Omega Force had regular collaborations with series that were licensed by Bandai Namco Entertainment. They had several Dynasty Warriors: Gundam titles, and had already started working on two Fist of the North Star games and the One Piece Pirate Warriors series. Seeing the success of these crossovers, Nintendo wanted to collaborate with Omega Force on Hyrule Warriors. Seeing how successful it was, they would work on Fire Emblem. Fire Emblem Warriors would essentially be a gift to the fans. There were numerous characters available, from Fates, Awakening, Blazing Blade, Gaiden, and Shadow Dragon .

Taking the support elements from the Fire Emblem series, Warriors offered a less tactical edge compared to the mainline series. It was essentially a crossover that allowed more depth in the Musou genre than with others.

It focuses on an original story that focuses on the twins: Rowan and Lianna, neither of whom want the throne to their kingdom. After an attack on their kingdom, they go on a journey with Prince Darios, where they meet other Heroes from the franchise.

However, for a Fire Emblem game, it felt much more shallow than any other entry in the series. Previous games had huge rosters to choose from, while for the most part, it felt like Warriors was a way to try to include the most popular characters. There were 23 characters to choose from, and you can decide whether you want to play as Rowan or Lianna as your main protagonist. But, this decision won’t particularly impact you either way, as all characters are recruitable once you reach Chapter 5 anyway.

Like most modern Fire Emblem games, you’ll find that you can choose a mode where your characters don’t die. However, when compared to Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, it does appear lacklustre.

In truth, this is a game meant to tug at the strings of nostalgia. Even with its standalone story, it focuses more on travelling the different countries. Most fans will want to unlock their favourite characters, while Three Hopes, as a spiritual successor to Warriors, is more of a spin-off/what-if scenario for Fire Emblem Three Houses.

However, without the success of Fire Emblem Warriors, we wouldn’t have seen Three Hopes. As the original Fire Emblem Warriors game, I can appreciate Warriors as a nostalgic view of previous games, and a great way to bring newer entrants into the series. Prior knowledge might be nice, but as someone who hasn’t played every single game, I wasn’t too lost.

Besides, who am I to say no to some good ol’ nostalgia?