To preface, I've played nearly every warriors game there is, including all the mainline titles and some of the more obscure ones like Dynasty Warriors Advance and Dynasty Warriors: Online so I have a lot of experience with the series. The TL;DR is that this game stands among the higher tier of Warriors games and shares a lot of features with Hyrule Warriors, one of the most successful in the series, because they were developed near the same time. Not only that, the addition of Fire Emblem elements such as the weapon triangle and direct command of all your named units on the map really makes this game unique, and I would like to see them in other Warriors titles.
GRAPHICS
Warriors games are not known as much for fidelity as they are for sheer volume of characters on screen. The game is in a 3D anime style which may or may not be to your taste. The terrain and world itself server their purpose but you'll notice poor quality if you stare at something for too long but this is normal for Warriors and Switch titles. The character models are quite well done though, the unique characters all have identifiable silhouettes and colors making them easy to recognize in a moment. The unimportant guys you'll be mowing through by the thousand even look good, the generic officers have a few different looks based on their class and their henchmen will use the same weapon as them. The special effects are pretty good and about what you can expect from Warriors with some fancy cut-ins to characters faces when you use special attacks. When it comes to the volume mentioned before, you can have about 50-90 or so models on the screen at a time. If the amount of units actually present is more they will be invisible until you chop some of the existing ones down where the extras will pop into place. Overall the game isn't a visual feast but it's not at all hard to look at. Again, this is usual for a Warriors game.
STORY
Typically, these games aren't played for the story. It's fine, with a twist or two, and has elements of a fire emblem story with the focus on nobles and a chaos dragon but it's more like other crossover warriors stories. "Find new allies, team up, fight the bad guys who are trying to summon a big bad guy who you end up fighting anyway." The length is about 20 battles or so with cutscenes before and after each so it will last you a good bit. Like the graphics, the story isn't especially good or bad it simply serves its purpose for linking characters together and showing their interactions.
GAMEPLAY
The core gameplay is your usual Warriors style, normal attacks that combo into charge attacks and killing enemies fills special gauges you can use for even bigger attacks. This part of the game Koei Tecmo has had years to practice and it shows, the attacks themselves are flashy and functional and most characters have some different strategy you can use. For example, some characters are good at juggling or stun locking officers by virtue of their charged attack knock ups and others are good at revealing and exploiting the stun gauge. Yes, the stun gauge returns from Hyrule Warriors and some other Warriors titles, and is still used to this day in the most recent Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. The stun gauge appears after using certain charge attacks or after the enemy uses a charge attack and when you deplete it by attacking them you will perform a critical hit that does a lot of damage to that enemy and any enemies surrounding it. Though it has some unique properties due to the addition of Fire Emblem's Weapon triangle. Basically, each weapon type has advantage to another weapon and disadvantage to yet another weapon. So attacking a sword user with a spear is more effective and will deal more damage and drain the stun gauge faster. Conversely, attacking an axe user will deal less damage and they will block more often and they deal more damage to you. Killing enemies you have advantage against will fill an awakening gauge that when used will buff your character for a time granting them advantage against all enemies.
The weapon triangle is not the be all end all though, you can still defeat enemies that you are disadvantaged against but it will take longer and be much more dangerous. There are also units outside of the triangle like magic users and bow users that can engage any enemy but will not benefit or suffer from the triangle system unless you can build up their awakening gauge. Though magic is more effective against heavily armored units and bows will pose danger to flying units, often killing them in just one or two hits. You can also apply anti-mounted/armored/dragon/monster to most weapons through forging to gain that kind of effectiveness against other units at the cost of base damage. Even with those extras the triangle is your most common obstacle, and how you will typically plan your approach to a stage. Usually before a level begins you can deploy two to four playable characters and sometimes choose some non playable characters to be on the battlefield too. When you select them on the map it shows who they have advantage or disadvantage against. Usually one section of a map will be occupied mostly by say spearmen so you will position an axe user near them at the start, then during the battle you can either control that unit directly or use the map to order them to specific targets or even just let them run loose where they will usually attack whatever is closest or objectives.
Many people laud the ally AI as some of the smartest in the warriors series and I agree to an extent. Leaving your characters to act autonomously can be effective - they'll capture forts and kill officers without you ever having to touch them. Certainly, they are the most *useful* allies to ever grace the series, actively progressing the battle rather than standing around as something you simply have to protect. Though they definitely have dumb elements, as they seem totally unaware of the weapon triangle. They still are affected by it, but I couldn't tell you how many times my flying units would suicide-ally fly right up to archers. So, you're always watching to make sure they don't go somewhere super dangerous but most of the time they will just go for the next closest target... expect flying units which will cross the entire map to go straight for the boss. Thankfully, some units are able to heal others and you can equip units with potions to heal themselves with. You can modify their battle behavior to either attack, do nothing, or defend bases which can alleviate this or my personal favorite is to either order a unit to defend a base or another unit then order them to specific points as needed. You can also pair up with allies to keep them close or order two AI units to pair up. Pairing up buffs the primary unit that remains on the field while the other disappears. The main unit gets a lot of benefits, you can press two buttons to summon the other unit to attack briefly and they will sometimes block attacks for you. Additionally, they can do combination special attacks that do absurd damage or a huge area. Though the meta benefit of pairing up is making it easier for two characters to gain bond.
Bond is a mechanic that Warriors has used before notable in Orochi 3 but this game takes more after the Fire Emblem version. You gain bond by killing officers while paired up or completing sub-missions that appear during battles. The benefits of bond are support conversations between the characters once you max it out, and character specific materials that you are given for each rank. These materials are used to upgrade those units and even other units. You also need the max-rank bond material for a unit to learn another units skill (skills are basically equippable buffs like faster attack speed or +10 strength).
Upgrading units is most like Hyrule Warriors. You collect most materials from killing enemies or raising the bond level. For each unit you spend materials to buy crests with various effects such as giving them more combo options, equipping higher tier weapons, and increasing their defense against specific weapon types. Additionally, you can give them a surge crest which upgrades their class, changing their look and gives a massive stat boost - a requirement for units in late game history mode.
History mode is basically a smaller, simpler version of adventure maps from Hyrule Warriors. There are multiple levels and each one has to do with a battle from a Fire Emblem game. You progress by approaching enemies on the map which represent battles. These battles can have special conditions such as "mounted units only" or "weapon triangle amplification" which makes you have to adjust your strategy sometimes and keeps things interesting. As you clear the battles more enemies will show up representing more battles though you don't have to clear every battle to finish a map. The rewards are really in the battles themselves, difficult ones giving rare and valuable materials and there are two characters that are only unlockable in history mode. As far as post-game content goes, it's pretty good and I didn't really get bored playing it, but it's clear they didn't have the time with it like they did for Hyrule Warriors.
Speaking of characters, the cast is small for a Warriors game, is was the smallest until Age of Calamity came out. Just 33 if you include the DLC characters. For Reference, Age of Calamity has only 18 without DLC, 20 if you count link having 3 different weapons as two extra. Though Age of Calamity has no clones, this game unfortunately does. You don't really feel it while you're playing because typically you only want one of each weapon type on your team at a time, so it's not much of an issue. The on foot units mostly play different with some clones like the two versions of the starting character or chrom and lucina which at least make sense. Though all three archers are clones. The mounted characters are all really different, and this being the only time they've done characters that come with mounts I have to say they're really fun and I hope they do it again in the future. Unfortunately, the 3 pegasus knights all play the exact same and while the wyvern lords are significantly different from pegasus knights the two that are there play the same as each other. Though even the cloned playstyles are still fun, and all the unique movesets are good too. However, don't expect the depth of mechanics that you would get from Age of Calamity. The characters themselves are pretty much just from Awakening, Shadow Dragon, and Fates/Conquest so if you like characters from those games you'll be happy. The only Fire Emblem I've played at this point is Three Houses so I didn't know any of these characters really when I started but I still ended up with some favorites by the end. The personality types and appearances are diverse enough that I think everyone will find characters they like.
IS IT FUN? Yeah, it's easily one of my favorite Warriors games because of the added difficulty and thought of actually needing your own strategy with moving your units rather than blindly following objectives around the map. Veteran Warriors players will find an game that will test you when you play on the hardest difficulty, and a post game progression that will keep you busy for awhile. For those who have only played Fire Emblem you'll have fun seeing perhaps some of your favorite characters wreak havoc in the flashy way that only Warriors delivers, and while the strategy elements are light you can't just ignore them. For those unfamiliar with either series... if you're interested in Warriors, I would recommend Warriors Orochi 3 or Hyrule Warriors to start with. If you're more interested in Fire Emblem but find the strategy element intimidating play Three Houses, having only played a few strategy games myself it was the right balance for me. The way this game blends the two games is fun, but may be hard to fully appreciate if you're unfamiliar with either series.
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From the manufacturer
Fire Emblem Warriors - Nintendo Switch
Heroes From Across The Fire Emblem Universe Collide!
Clash with legions of soldiers and fierce monsters as Marth, Xander, Corrin, and other Fire Emblem heroes unleashing over-the-top-powerful Dynasty Warriors-style moves.Take direct control of known and original Fire Emblem characters, issue them strategic commands in the midst of battle, pair up heroes to unleash stunning attacks, and more. Unlock new playable heroes, each with their own unique moves, special attacks, weapon types, and voiced dialogue in this large-scale action game from the Hyrule Warriors team.
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Gift For Grandson
Purchased this game for my Grandson, who is 19. He enjoys playing his old Fire Emblem game and thought this would be a good game.. At first he didn't really like it, but the more he plays the more he likes... He would give a 2 thumbs up...
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2021
Platform For Display: Nintendo SwitchEdition: StandardVerified Purchase
Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2017
Platform For Display: Nintendo SwitchEdition: StandardVerified Purchase
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2017
Platform For Display: Nintendo SwitchEdition: StandardVerified Purchase
Top reviews from other countries
Yoongi
Excelente juego!!
Reviewed in Mexico on November 29, 2023Platform For Display: Nintendo SwitchEdition: StandardVerified Purchase
Derick BearChief
A great Warriors x Fire Emblem marriage!
Reviewed in Canada on November 3, 2021Platform For Display: Nintendo SwitchEdition: StandardVerified Purchase
Hiram S.
Buen juego para fanáticos de Fire Emblem o Warriors
Reviewed in Mexico on September 22, 2021Platform For Display: Nintendo SwitchEdition: StandardVerified Purchase
James M.
Awesome game
Reviewed in Canada on October 4, 2019Platform For Display: Nintendo SwitchEdition: StandardVerified Purchase
Javier
Muy padre
Reviewed in Mexico on February 2, 2024Platform For Display: Nintendo SwitchEdition: StandardVerified Purchase
