Alas, video games. This isn’t the first time I’ve picked on you and it won’t be the last. And let me make one thing perfectly clear: I love video games. I even like their stories; there are games I’ve played and replayed just for the story, like Planescape: Torment, and games where I think the story could gracefully make the transition to screen in some form, like Iji. Even when a game doesn’t reach the highest heights, it can have a good and memorable story with good and memorable characters. JRPGs like Skies of Arcadia are great at this – and, for all its stereotypical fantasy cheese, so is the Fire Emblem series.
For those who aren’t familiar, Fire Emblem is a series of tactical RPGs or Turn-based strategy games (depending on how you want to look at them) united by being set in fantasy worlds where a lot of familiar tropes tend to repeat themselves. Warring kingdoms, divine dragons, nobles, and retainers are the order of the day. Sometimes the setting can be a little tired, and sometimes the characters (who only have a few quotes to distinct themselves, unless you follow their support stories) can be a little basic, but by in large it tends to turn out moderately decent stuff.
Why do I bring that up? Because, at first, Shironeko Project Zero Chronicle feels like an off-brand Fire Emblem setup. It’s got noble pretense, clear fantasy tropes for everyone, sworn retainers with different character classes, and so on. They worship a shiny rock instead of a dragon, but that’s neither here nor there. What it turns into is an insult to storytelling and makes me feel kind of bad for ever thinking of this mess in terms of Fire Emblem. So let’s dive in.
Read More…Read More…