Combat
Both Awakening and Fates feature tactical gameplay that revolves around one core mechanic: the weapon triangle. It’s a rock-paper-scissors type of system involving lances, swords, and axes. You’ve also got magic users (who will always be OP as all hell), flying units, and archers. It’s a relatively simplistic system that makes more sense as you spend more hours with the game. Your units can also level up and get a class promotion after hitting level 20.
Shadows of Valentia is a lot more old-school, and its combat system is all about stats. The amount of damage you deal is determined by your unit’s attack stat and the enemy’s defense stat. Take the difference between those values, and you’ll have your net amount of damage. Archers also work a bit differently in this one. Instead of attacking from one diagonal space away like in Awakening and Fates, archers are now able to hit their targets from a much larger distance. The same goes for magic-users as well. Shadows of Valentia also features class promotion, except Villagers are now able to promote to any base class once they’ve hit level three.
The game also has a rather harsh fatigue feature that punishes your characters’ stats if you push them into battle after they’re exhausted. It’s a brutal mechanic, but it definitely keeps you on your toes. The best part of Shadows of Valentia’s combat system is the introduction of Mila’s Turnwheel, which lets you reset a couple of turns if you make a bad move. It’s a bit of a crutch, but it’s a nice compromise for players who want to experience the thrill of permadeath on Classic Mode, but can’t stop themselves from reloading a save every time they lose a unit.
A big difference between the two styles of games is that Awakening and Fates allow you to pair up your units for enhanced stats. By pairing up units, they can support each other in combat, and deal more damage. Shadows of Valentia doesn’t allow you to actually pair them up, but you can still place units close to each other for stat bonuses (if they have a support relationship), and they’ll continue to act independently.
Winner: Shadows of Valentia’s combat system may be a lot more simplistic, but it also makes a hell of a lot more sense than the weapon triangle. Keeping everything strictly tied to a unit’s statistics makes it easier to get a sense of how powerful it is, and where you should place them on the field.
