Although strategic conflicts and grandiose tales of retribution may be entertaining, can they truly rival a date with your virtual partner? didn’t believe that. The upcoming game from 13 Sentinels developer Vanillaware, Unicorn Overlord, has already demonstrated its fascinating strategic side. A recent update exposes the more romantic cues it is stealing from a titan of the strategy RPG genre.
Though it’s not the only game in the series, Fire Emblem’s blend of turn-based combat and character development is one of its most distinctive features. A few of the series’ games have allowed characters to get married, have kids, and go on adorable lunch dates. These exchanges are among the main attractions of Fire Emblem, along with its captivating cast of characters.
It appears that Unicorn Overlord is currently attempting to use the same tried-and-true winning strategy. According to a press release from Vanillaware, Unicorn Overlord will have a relationship system that will let your main character marry a teammate and boost characters who fight together.
The rapport mechanic includes all of these new characteristics. Characters’ rapport stat rises when they engage in combat in the same unit. When their level of rapport is high enough, they will both receive bonuses in combat. But relationships are much more than just killing foes together.
You can even have two characters sit down for a beautiful lunch together to see if you can persuade them to without having them fight. That’s undoubtedly a safer approach, and it’s also probably less messy. This is where the Fire Emblem analogy truly comes to life.
Depending on the calibre of your conversations and how well you catered the dishes to each person’s specific preferences, you can cook with your friends in Fire Emblem: Three Houses or host tea parties for them. Similarly, Unicorn Overlord invites you to select dishes according to the tastes of your friends—or possible love interests.
The team-building dinners are reminiscent of Dragon’s Crown, an earlier Vanillaware game. Your group would occasionally be dispatched to camp for a mini-game about quickly preparing and shoving food onto everyone’s plates in between sidescrolling beat-em-up levels. If Unicorn Overlord has a comparable mini-game, Vanillaware hasn’t yet shown it. The delectably beautiful pictures of the food, created in the developer’s distinctive manner, are undoubtedly coming back.
Your main character can even propose marriage once they’ve eaten enough food and fought enough fights (which is also pretty sure how marriage proposals happen in real life). When the main character Alain and his buddy have attained the highest degree of rapport, He can carry out the rite of the covenant and present them with the maiden’s ring.
To be clear, this marriage isn’t precisely being called by Vanillaware. The official party line is that the two characters “pledge fealty to each other forever,” which isn’t the most romantic description I’ve ever heard, even though it makes perfect sense. There hasn’t really been any discussion on the true meaning of the ceremony, therefore I’d love to see alternatives to determine whether the rite of the covenant has platonic or romantic overtones.
For me, at least, that’s the one place where the otherwise intriguing rapport mechanism might break down. One of my main grievances with Fire Emblem Engage, which I played earlier this year, was its rushed romance.
It was far less enjoyable to get to know party members because its social aspect was significantly reduced in comparison to Three Houses. Many of the relationships in the game concluded with ambiguous promises that the characters will always be by each other’s side or protect one another, even after reaching maximum support and participating in the marriage ceremony. It seemed as though the protagonists were permanently trapped in a virtual, less-than-ideal situationship because there was no obvious indication of how they were feeling.
I like how Unicorn Overlord treats its characters more than just chess pieces to move across its battlefields, regardless of the final form its rapport system takes. In the game and in real life, I’d want to marry a buff, sword-wielding woman, but I’m also looking forward to just sitting down to dinners with them.
