Triangle Strategyhas been in the works for some time now. First announced at aNintendo Directin February 2021, the game received a release date of March 4 at this year’s Direct. The gameplay largely resembles that of theFire EmblemandFinal Fantasy Tacticsseries, but with a more unique “HD-2D” visual style and the unmistakable artwork of Naoki Ikushima. In the game, even more similarities toFire Emblem: Three Housesare apparent. Most notably, a branching storyline where players choose to side with one of three political powers contending for control over a continent. There are many areas in whichTriangle Strategycan lean into and learn from its similarities withThree Houses.
Fire Emblem: Three Housesis arguably Nintendo’s biggestFire Emblemto date, both in its scale and its commercial success. It isn’t just because of Nintendo’s marketing push for the game, either.Three Housesfine-tuned the things thatFire Emblemfans love and added world building and a sense of lore. Its unique turn-by-turn gameplay saw new options for exploration, a dynamic unit class system, and in-depth romance options.Triangle Strategy, even with all the anticipation of its release, has much to learn fromThree Houses’triumphs.
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Three Houses' Varied Cast of Characters
Triangle Strategyshould aim to develop its characters meaningfully. Arguably the backbone of the series, there are almost always darker backgrounds behind the bubbly anime appearances of characters inFire Emblem. Given a video game where most of the player’s time is spent reading the dialogue between characters, it’s essential forTriangle Strategy(or any RPG, for that matter) to make sure that dialogue is worth reading.Three Housesaccomplishes in part by incorporating character changes into gameplay. As the situations of characters change, so do their presentations and stats in gameplay. If developer Artdink can manage similar harmony between characters and gameplay, then Triangle Strategy will be all the better for it.
Fire Emblem’s Chance of Critical Hits
Fans ofFire Emblemare no doubt familiar with the satisfaction that comes from a character landing a critical hit on an enemy. One of the reasons criticals are so satisfying is because of the flashy animations that accompany them. In a game focused on thinking over acting, these fancy moves can improve each level’s pacing, a bit like howShin Megami Tensei 5handles it.Triangle Strategywould be wise to incorporate more chance-based attacks like these. Various attack animations can be seen inTriangle Strategytrailers, which is encouraging, but it’s not enough to capture the excitement ofThree Houses’critical hits. To truly excite the player, Triangle Strategy should add some degree of chance to these flashy moves.
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Strategy in Fire Emblem Games
Fire Emblem’spunishing gameplay is another fitting element forTriangle Strategy. InFire Emblem, once a unit is lost in battle, it’s unplayable for the rest of the game. This sort of punishment for mistakes encourages more thoughtful gameplay.Triangle Strategyseems to be using more vertical gameplay (like that ofFinal Fantasy Tactics) which opens the door for more complex strategizing. This “strategizing”, however, doesn’t carry the same weight unless the stakes are kept high. Rather than tanking through levels with overpowered units,Triangle Strategyshould punish players for sloppy resource and map management—something that evenThree Housesmisses the mark with.
The parallels betweenFire Emblem: Three HousesandTriangle Strategyare numerous: tactical RPG gameplay, levels divvied up into a grid, three branching story paths, the list goes on. There are many opportunities for the latter to outshine its Nintendo Switch twin, and incorporating more of what makesFire Emblemgreat would helpTriangle Strategystand out.Square Enix’slast entry into theFinal Fantasy Tacticsseries wasFinal Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Riftin 2007, soTriangle Strategyis well positioned to be Square’s primary tactical RPG for the foreseeable future. To make that future a bright one, it’s important for the team at Artdink to innovate and reinventTriangle Strategy’sgameplay.
Triangle Strategyis scheduled to release on March 4 for Switch.
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