Langrisser M-A Fire Emblem Heroes Killer?

[Jordan]

While I think most mobile games are kinda trash, there are a few standout gacha games with interesting gameplay and just the right amount of grind. Fire Emblem Heroes for me was one such game. Unfortunately, due to Nintendo's obnoxious stance against emulators, I'm no longer able to play it (despite spending probably $200.00 or so on the game over the period of time I played; Nintendo's policies can be really grating at times).

However, Langrisser has arisen from the videogame graveyard like a phoenix. With Langrisser M coming to mobile, I may be able to scratch that casual SRPG itch. Most impressions indicate that this game could be competitive with FE Heroes. It's never going to reach the popularity or sales of FE Heroes, but beta testers have suggested that it has just as much depth, if not more, and a worthwhile story to boot. Maps look a little bit more polished and larger than FE Heroes too. This might push the limits of Android gaming a bit; as for me I'll be playing on Bluestacks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKLzThfcwow

Similar to FE Heroes, you have a weapon triangle and various tiers of units you can roll. To set itself apart, however, each character also can field troops. The unit of troops they bring with them is customizable. There is a class system at play which allows players to tailor each character and their unit to their liking. Similar to FE Heroes, each character also has various unique skills. Like other mobile games, to the best of my knowledge it will be free to play with a premium system enabling you to spend money to increase your odds at obtaining the highest tier of characters.

Overall, it looks like it has a lot of similarities to FE Heroes while also adding in some of its own improvements. I think this could end up being a niche hit for mobile gaming.

[Kiwi the Tortoise]

Kinda funny, but this actually kinda looks better than the Langrisser 1 & 2 remakes on Switch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j39M_0UbI6I

[Jordan]

I think so too. I can't really pass judgment on the remakes though. I never played the original games and I don't know that much about them. The closest I've come to Langrisser in my life is playing some of the Growlanser games, which I heard are vastly different but something of a spiritual successor.

The mobile game actually unironically looks more ambitious than the remakes thus far, but maybe all of this is leading to a surprise comeback for the Langrisser series. If nothing else, the people currently handling it seem to be pretty ambitious.

[Kiwi the Tortoise]

I've played Langrisser/Warsong 1 & 2 and only one Growlanser game (on PSP).
Can tell you that the Langrissers are vastly different games compared to Growlanser (which I didn't like at all)

[Kiwi the Tortoise]

In this regard, there was another (new) Langrisser game on the 3ds eShop a while ago which was abolutely terrible....
So I'm kinda a biased as far as expectations in regards to the current situation/direction of the series go.

[Jordan]

That is fair. For the record though, Langrisser M has been in beta for awhile. There are several videos of people posting impressions or reviews. Everything I've seen has been positive thus far, with most reviewers heaping praise on the game. My best guess is that it will have some of the pitfalls of other mobile gacha games. It's probably going to be grindy and have erratic difficulty curves, as well as a few imbalanced units that break the game.

With all that said, I am pretty optimistic about what I've heard. I can't speak for the 3DS game or the remakes, but impressions about the mobile game appear to be enthusiastic about both the current state of the game and its future potential.

[Kong Wen]

I played Warsong when it first came out on Genesis, and then I played the various versions of the sequel as soon as they became available to me on emulators years later. Huge fan. People tend to forget that Warsong came out only a year after Fire Emblem did (they tend to write it off as a wholesale Fire Emblem ripoff that came out years later). It's good, and Jordan, you should make an effort to play at least the first game if you get a chance. It has branching promotions, each general can hire units of troops depending on what class they are.

Anyway, I've been following this Langrisser mobile game for a while and I'm excited for it. Unfortunately, like you said, Langrisser doesn't have the same exposure in the West as something like Fire Emblem (it feels weird now to talk about Fire Emblem having any level of fandom in the West, but here we are). I'm looking forward to the open release. I hope it's decently balanced for free-to-play players.

EDIT: This is apparently coming out on 22 January (uh, tomorrow), and I was "registered" in the Google store already (whatever that means).

[Kong Wen]

It's not off to a good start.

Requires manual Facebook login every time you start the game (couldn't just use Google authentication?), requires audio recording permissions, presumably for in-game voice chat (wtf?), and has a huge chat textbox across the screen that you can't hide or turn off so you're constantly looking at some internet losers' messages while playing.

Apparently the gacha rates are atrocious, too.

[Jordan]

You can hide the chat text by clicking the banter button on the bottom.

I have no disagreement regarding the Facebook login. That shit is stupid. Other gacha games allow you to link your account with other kinds of social media such as Twitter, which is far more convenient. The audio recording permission baffled me as well. When I got that option, I clicked no at first, only to be told the game would not run if I clicked that. I still have no idea why the game needs audio recording.

Adding to the complaints, I also dislike the tutorial.

I think with all that said, though, the game looks really good graphically for a mobile game. I also like that it has bigger maps than FE Heroes. There seem to be quests that allow you to pick up a free SSR character, but I don't really have the time to complete them within 15 days. I'm probably just going to play this casually here and there.

[Kong Wen]

You can hide the chat text by clicking the banter button on the bottom.

I have no disagreement regarding the Facebook login. That shit is stupid. Other gacha games allow you to link your account with other kinds of social media such as Twitter, which is far more convenient. The audio recording permission baffled me as well. When I got that option, I clicked no at first, only to be told the game would not run if I clicked that. I still have no idea why the game needs audio recording.

Adding to the complaints, I also dislike the tutorial.

I think with all that said, though, the game looks really good graphically for a mobile game. I also like that it has bigger maps than FE Heroes. There seem to be quests that allow you to pick up a free SSR character, but I don't really have the time to complete them within 15 days. I'm probably just going to play this casually here and there.

OK, it wasn't letting me hide the banter because I was still in the tutorial. It should be off by default, since kids have to play like 5 battles while watching the N word scroll across their screen and there's nothing they can do about it. They also patched the chat box so it can be closed, so that's an improvement.

I think I'm on chapter 4 now and the gameplay itself is OK. I'm not far enough in to be able to speak for the economy or any of the endgame activities.

They're giving an SSR character away without having to do anything, right in your mail box, as long as you play at all within the first three days, to make up for their bungled pre-registration campaign.