Hey Krash,
I was able to give 4 Kings a try over the weekend. I played the first 2 chapters and stopped because I want to share some feedback.
Overall, I found that the game was a bit too inflexible and punishing for my taste. In the first two chapters, I felt like there was a specific way I needed to position my units to win, and an attempt to deviate from this intention would be met with a game over. For example, it’s pretty clear that you’re supposed to take Lionel and his sword-effective sabre, wait on the forest to the left, and one shot the two mercs on EP, while using Zach and Walter to lure in the other enemies they specifically can handle. The first few times I played, I tried moving units in other formations, but did not find success. Maybe I am bad or not thinking hard enough, but it felt off to me that I essentially had to play in a very specific way to not lose.
Similarly, the low HP and high damage output made it so that most of my units were getting two shot. Even with WTA, units were facing coinflip hit rates that would put them in danger if they connected. While I am a fan of scary, hard-hitting enemies, the HP values being in line with vanilla made me feel like I needed to wait at the end of ranges to pull one enemy at a time, since taking on two meant I had a decent chance of dying, even with the advantage.
I do think the game could be more accessible if you beefed up player HP so that they can take 3 hits on average instead of two. This would open up creativity in strategy and encourage the player to attack on player phase more since they could afford to take a counter. I felt compelled to take advantage of stationary enemies and peel them one by one, while healing from near death to full each time I got hit. Additionally, I would improve weapon hit rates (or increase the impact of the triangle) so that the player can plan more reliably without having major swings because of the hit rates and getting into near death after a single encounter.
Narratively, I had a few issues with the portrayal of Walter and Ava. In a hack that I presume is intended to be at least somewhat serious, I thought it was odd how the first chapter focuses on Walter and Lionel killing their own people, seemingly with little remorse or consequence (“This is a monarchy, get used to it”). While I have only played through Ch2, this event, which I would assume would be a big deal or a source of outcry, is met with more of a shrug. Lionel chides Walter, but nothing seems to really come of it, nor is it depicted as anything serious or unusual.
In a comedic hack, I would probably brush it off and chalk it up to the absurdity of the tone. Given that the project seems to take itself seriously, I want to call that out as it felt a bit off to me. I would’ve either made the situation more dire in some way, or changed it to be bandits or a group that the player can beat up with less remorse. Maybe because I wrote a hack about a group being oppressed by their government, I felt like I was playing as a villain by putting them down without much remorse.
My other issue narratively is with regards to Ava. I found it off putting that the first female character featured in the hack is basically only characterized by her looks. I also dislike that she gets kidnapped by Walter and called a ‘pet’ by Lionel, while everyone else comments on how she is “beautiful”. Some of the implications of a woman being captured by a group of men who are talking about when they can let her out to use the bathroom was off-putting, and I did not want to continue playing after that. It didn’t sit right with me, so I thought I would share that.
I may chalk this all up as 4 Kings is not a game that gels with my Fire Emblem sensibilities, and does things in ways that I don’t find enjoyable. It’s clear there was effort put in and the concepts for the PRFs and their uses are novel.
Playing 4 Kings reminds me of playing challenges in old Tony Hawk games where I’d need to try over and over again until I won, and while I’m cool with that in the context of that series, it felt a bit too limiting in an FE context to play that way. Again, perhaps I am just not playing up to the difficulty that’s intended, or not getting into the gameplay concept you’ve laid out, and would’ve preferred something a bit easier (if there was an option to scale down). I know I am being nitpicky but wanted to share my experience so far and am curious if others have had similar experiences.
