 |
|
| Creator | PKLucky |
| Engine | Lex Talionis |
| Download | Here |
| Score | 58/80 |
| Rank | 4th |
| FEU Link | Here |
Reviews
Judge 1: Darrman
Gameplay: 7/10
As the title implies, the three princes are the three units you control. Each of them has a role to play: the armour knight takes hits, the thief steals things, and the mage hits the hardest. The three need to work together in order to succeed. Overall, the chapter was not especially difficult. Enemies are usually fairly weak and the thief can disarm everyone except for a few bosses. Save points are generously scattered throughout the map, though I did not need them aside from seeing all of the endings. Each unit has one skill, which helped define them as units: the armour has Galeforce with WTA and the mage got a cast of Heal for every kill. This helped give the chapter a bit more meat on its bones.
At the end there was an escape sequence: I thought I had to run away from the boss, but she proved to be surprisingly easy to take down. This was also the only time a unit of mine died, though I revived him immediately after.
Overall, The Three Princes is quite easy, but I did still enjoy myself.
Presentation: 4/5
The best part of the presentation in this entry is the usage of CGs at several points of the game. In addition to the title screen artwork of the three princes, a unique CG appears in each variant of the ending, which helps sell just how things are in these scenes. The music is also good, with each prince having a battle theme of his own.
There were a few rough spots, with the promotion screen looking the most off, but overall there is little to complain about in presentation.
Story: 4/5
The king has locked his daughter up at the top of the tallest tower of the kingdom, and whoever rescues her wins her hand in marriage. We meet three princes, all of whom have their own reasons to save the princess. As the trio navigate the tower, they explain their motivations to one another and become friends. When they reach the princess, it turns out not all is as it seemed.
A choice must be made: any of the three can be tied up with her forever with accompanying CG, or the three princes can stick together and make an escape. Overall, the plot is a simple one, but I think it’s executed well.
Total Score: 15/20
Judge 2: BandanaSplitzzz
Gameplay: 5/10
Three Princes is a slow-paced, meticulous dungeon crawl through a massive map. I couldn’t contain my grin when I realized my units could revive each other, even if it never came up in gameplay (only because a mage’s AI bugged and refused to kill Forrest). Trevor heals, Kai steals stuff, and Forrest tanks hits, while all of them can double-dip in roles with items, and of course, deal damage. While the Three Princes all have unique abilities that set them apart from each other in the dungeon, I don’t think they’re mechanically rich enough to carry the gameplay for as long as it did. The dungeon is filled with long corridors and low-density, low-strength enemies. A side-effect is that this game is pretty easy, with not many hard decisions to make on a moment-to-moment basis. It’s still Fire Emblem, and it’s still fun, but I see missed potential here.
What disappointed me most was actually the endgame chase scene. I wanted to get all the achievements, so I played the ending multiple times. In my first run, I anti-climaxed the boss with a killing edge. In my re-run, I tried escaping without ever touching them, and it was a great, frantic setpiece. When I reached the bottom of the map, I realised I couldn’t escape, and I still had to turn around to kill the boss. It left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.
Presentation: 4/5
Custom portraits, custom CGs, uncompressed .WAV music (oh man, it even has leitmotifs!) I can only nitpick for criticism. The enemy phase music during the chase scene felt way less intense than on the player phase, and the “other” phase music broke continuity every time it played, even if no units were moving. Forrest’s skill bugs out the battle forecast occasionally. The chase sequence broke in the final room, summoning some brambles that the boss couldn’t pass through. The General class (and I assume the other promoted player classes) lacks a class description.
Oh! And I liked the bad ending cgs :)
Story: 4/5
There’s a lot of character buildup throughout the campaign, a strength of not just having a small cast, but all the little bits of dialogue scattered throughout the dungeon. You really get to understand what makes all of these characters tick, and even a glimpse at what the wider world thinks of the setting. I love the almost “fairy tale” feeling this story has, with all its dramatic music and romantic royalty. It’s not unique or groundbreaking, but it is told thoughtfully and deliberately.
Total Score: 13/20
Judge 3: Fringus
Gameplay: 6/10
It’s about the titular three princes climbing a tower. The name of the game is largely inventory management, due to Kai’s ability to forcefully trade with enemies. Balancing out what you carry and what you drop as your trudge through. Alongside some helpful items strewn about to consider taking, as well. The game is at its best when you’re pushed to divide and conquer, best shown at the start and end sequences.
Individually foes are weak, and it encourages you to spread out and break through as many as possible in the area. It’s not hard, but the simple systems make killing as quickly as possible feel fun and rewarding. Though after that point, most of the time gets spent in fairly cramped, dense hallways with fairly smaller rooms. These areas often worked against the strengths of the trio’s gameplay and gave all around a bit too much downtime between moments. Though the escape sequence is a treat as it gets back into that swing right at the end (if, unlike me the first time around, you didn’t just nuke the boss with a killing edge turn one).
Presentation: 5/5
Everything lands well, the CGs look great, mugs are much on point. It’s a delight to see and every track used properly fits the mood it wants to sell. Map wise, it does really make you feel like you’re in a death-filled tower. Though there are a few text errors here and there, most easily noticeable being the lack of text on any of the promoted classes, beyond that, no issues to really note.
Story: 4/5
The stories of these three work well, and it does well to showcase how effectively these three do work together in both gameplay and narrative. Each one gets a good emotional scene all to themselves, and it’s nice seeing them mutually agree on who really deserves this marriage the most once backstories begin getting revealed. With the final reveal having some clear foreshadowing throughout, and all around landing at what it sets out to do. Though, it felt like they could’ve had a little bit more between the start and end of their journey here together.
I can’t much comment on the bad endings, though, as I stumbled into the good one and didn’t look back. But all the same, it was a very sweet conclusion for this cast.
Total Score: 15/20
Judge 4: Electric Serge
Gameplay: 7/10
You control the titular three princes as you scale your way up a tower in order to reach the princess at the very top, with the tower being segmented into several smaller rooms where you navigate from one point to the other in order to proceed to the next area. The map is a bit on the easy end in a blind setting, with individual enemies are fairly weak relative to your trio and generally being somewhat passive, but they will still whittle you down enough to where you’ll want to be cognizant of keeping your units topped up. There’s also a plethora of save points to backtrack to if you’ve made a mistake, which is helpful as the journey up the tower is fairly long.
The most fun part of the experience for me was managing inventories; since there’s no convoy, and various items and statboosters are available as well as a thief who can steal items and weapons, making sure you readily make room in your inventory by sending the statboosters where you think they’ll be best while also holding on to the items you think you’ll need keeps things interesting. This is coupled with the game’s final sequence; the chapter has multiple endings, and the best ending requires you to face a rather challenging boss with only two of the three princes (you can choose which ones), so making the most use of the items and experience you get to prepare for that encounter adds a dimension to the map that makes up for it otherwise not being super difficult.
Presentation: 4/5
The game is very polished and features a bevy of custom assets, with a fair few custom map sprites, animations and music, as well as unique interactable tiles to facilitate the map. Of note, I quite enjoy that each of the princes has their own unique battle theme that matches up with their respective personalities. The most standout pieces of the presentation are the game CGs used on the title screen and placed for each of the game’s endings, which feature a simple and charming art style.
That said, I’d be remiss to mention that the content depicted in the CGs for each of the bad endings is very… bold, for lack of a better term. The author does include a warning for mildly dark themes, and it mainly comes up here where you see whichever prince you left behind being tied up by the princess as she… entertains herself with them. Honestly, I kind of respect having the guts to put these CGs in your entry, and if the intended purpose was to make you feel uncomfortable, they do that quite well. Alas, I can’t fully dismiss the likelihood of that discomfort souring some people on the experience.
Story: 4/5
Three princes arrive at a tower where a princess is being held, hoping to scale to the top to ask for her hand in marriage. Each of them has a different motivation for seeking out the princess, with a common theme among all of them being how they’re adversely affected by either their station or their families, and they seek this challenge of freeing the princess as a way to escape those situations. Of note, one of the princes is a trans man whose family refuses to accept his new identity, and despite not being trans myself, I found myself sympathizing with his struggles, as well as those of the other two princes, which is quite admirable given each only gets one talk conversation to flesh them out.
As the princes work together and reach the top, they come to realize the princess isn’t as benevolent as they were led to believe. She demands one of the princes surrender themselves to be her partner for life in exchange for the other two being let go. The two that are set free can choose to escape, or to instead turn their blades upon their friend’s captor and flee together. The ending to the latter sequence is quite heartwarming, with the trio being able to help each other resolve their dilemmas and establishing a lasting camaraderie. The story is simple, but still very emotionally resonant, and I’d dare to say it’s the most valuable aspect of the game altogether.
Total Score: 15/20
Results
| Category | Darrman | Bandana | Fringus | Serge | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gameplay | 7 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 25 |
| Presentation | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 17 |
| Story | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 16 |
| Total | 15 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 58 |