Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
As I continue to plod through the campaign, having now passed the 20-hour mark, I am still learning more about how the game works in every battle. As I said in reference to the early game, it is fairly easy to "get in to," but the complexity and somewhat difficulty of later chapters requires of the player a much deeper understanding of Fire Emblem's inner workings. The game has a fairly high learning curve, and if you want to do well, fairly steep.
Doing well is one of the more critical elements of Path of Radiance since, as with the rest of the Fire Emblem series, mistakes can have grave and permanent consequences. I'm speaking of the series' most oft-criticized feature: that when a member of your troop dies, he or she will never fight again (mission-critical members will stay on in an advisory role, but the majority of your team will simply die, never to return). Especially in the early game as you want for a larger force, this is a significant problem. It is expected of the player to restart a battle if this happens, and since you cannot save midway through a battle, accidentally bringing a weaker unit within archer range as you near the battle's final objective can have frustrating results.
This emphasis on precision planning is not something my game playing habits are compatible with. Luckily for me, Easy Mode is pretty forgiving, and I've only suffered a couple of casualties in my campaign so far.
What I read of unlockables after completing the game (e.g. items that enhance certain characters' strengths) makes me think that subsequent playthroughs become easier, thus making higher difficulties more achievable. There is also a very Choose-Your-Own-Adventure aspect to Path of Radiance - the majority of the chapters contain recruitable extra units (many of whom have easily-missed requirements for recruiting), and some character-related decisions will actually affect story portions of the game. Thus the idea of playing through a second or even third time is fairly tempting, but I doubt I will have the time for it, considering I currently prospect the game to have a 30+ hour length.
Nonetheless, it is still very fun, and even considerably engaging in terms of plot.
Progress: Chapter 23