Advance Wars

[lordseth]

Has anyone played Advance Wars or Advance Wars 2 for the GBA? They're probably the best turn-based strategy games I've ever played.

Oh yeah, and I wrote some really funny fanfiction based off of them...you can find them on my site:
www.geocities.com/lseths/index.html

The characters often act out of character in the story, but a lot of fans of AW2 have read it and liked it, and it's all in the interest of humor, so...

[kevin009]

Yeah I play it like every day!!! It's the best GBA game I have!!! (Don't have the second one though. It seemed very similar to the first one except a different plot, new characters, and a new tank.)

There's gonna be a GC game coming out next year, but it's not turn based and it's not from an above view. Hang on...I'll get a link to a site with it...There ya go:

www.gcadvanced.com/article.php?artid=2012

[juigikario]

I played both of them. Pretty darn good multiplayer. And I even played Super Famicom Wars, which has some neat stuff that was never in the 2 AW games. These are the battle differences between SFW and the 2 AW games:

*Graphics are cuter. Watch the Intro for some amusement, although it will come at Red Star's expense.
*Music changes when city Capturing is attempted and when attacks take place.
*Troops on both sides attack each other at the same time. This means that Infantry attacking Infantry will take the full 5-6 HPs of damage even if they initiate the attack.
*Several types of terrain: Train Station (used to deploy Train Guns and have them deploy and unload units they carry), Train Rails (allows Train Guns to move any further than Train Stations AT ALL, also slows down non-foot soldier ground units who cross), Radar Station (turns the first Infantry or Mech to capture it into a Giga Tank under the same player's control), Lake (only air units can cross at all), and Fort (same Movement Costs as Roads, in addition to providing 5 Star defense to ground units sitting on it).
*Terrain that didn't exist yet: Reefs, anything that was new in AW2, and that's it.
*Several units: AA Artillery (same range as regular Artillery, can only target air units), Pickup Truck (just carries Foot troops, but also has Machine guns, albeit weak ones, to fight back with), Supply Truck (just supplies other units, has 8 Movement Power), the REAL Medium Tank (since the Large Tank (the "Medium Tank") has a Movement Power of 4), New Model Tank (a Neo Tank-like unit obtained only by Capturing a Radar Station to limit the New Model Tank numbers severely; repairs are 2000 Credits per HP if you're curious), Train Gun (a rail riding unit with the power and attack range of a Battleship, the abilities of a Lander (except loading and unloading the units has to be done on Rail Stations), and 15 Movement Power, thankfully restricted *HEAVILY* by its Movement Type), and the Assault Fighter (a really expensive plane that has the second best defense of the planes and can attack ANY enemy units but not do as much damage as the Bomber or Fighter would).
*Units that didn't exist yet: APC, and that's it. (Neo Tank doesn't count because of its similarity to the New Model Tank.)
*An internal leveling up system. Basically, if your units fight long enough and well enough, they level up and become stronger. Level 5 is the limit. Since the battles are independant of each other, level ups obtained are only useful during the battle they're gained in. If you don't like this, you can always turn it off.
*There is no Mech Movement Type. Mechs have simple Infantry Movement Type, so they need both of their Movement Power points to get on a Mountain. That sucks. At least foot soldiers keep their Vision abilities though.
*Subs are treated as submerged in terms of defense. They cannot hide at all when there's no fog, but if Fog of War is active, then opponents would need units adjacent to the Subs to see them. (And no, fuel won't EVER be a major issue for them.)
*Units have various changes, like changed price tags (6000 for a Small Tank, etc.), addition of Machine Guns (applies to Fighters and Battleships), and higher or lower strength (AA Tanks now have problems causing serious damage to Planes without assistance).
*Some terrain has changes. The most noteable one outside of being unable to hide in Forests in Fog of War is that wheeled vehicles can't enter Forests, period.


Anyway, ever heard of Fire Emblem? It has quite a few similarities to the Wars series, but there are several differences too (watch out for any possible spoilers):

*Obviously, there's a medieval theme, rather than a modern one.
*RPG elements are involved. Fortunately, most of the battle formulas involve simple math.
*Rather than damage varying with unit class vs. unit class scenarios, there are generally two Attack types to worry about: Physical and Magic. The former is involving lance attacks and the like, and is blocked by Physical Defense. The latter is any spell, coming from either a Wand or a Tome (the latter in the case of normal attacks), and deals less damage to an enemy with a high Magic Defense rating than an enemy with a low one.
*Any unit can attack another if they're wielding a weapon they may use, and because of the system, there's always more of a chance of upset scenarios (like a Warrior with an Iron Axe and an always activating version of FE4's Duel skill defeating a *FULL HP* Swordsmaster) happening too. That doesn't mean that it's smart to rely on having such things happen to help you out considerably, but nevertheless, it IS smart to know such things can happen to help the AI a/o hinder you.
*Character stats besides Current HP are carried through the Chapters. Be aware that if ANYBODY dies, they stay DEAD for an indefinite period of time, and would need to be revived if you want to avoid replaying the chapter, but that's impossible in the later FEs. In the FEs where revival is allowed AT ALL, well, let's just say it's like the "Yes Dear 5000" from "Operation: L.I.Z.Z.I.E." In other words, "it ain't cheap." Not only that, but I believe you can revive characters only in later chapters too. Basically, you will NEVER, EVER, EVER want somebody to die through your campaign, which involves your army fighting its way through probably 1000+ enemies, considering the highest number of troops you can obtain in ANY FE is in the late 40s to early 50s.
*Units use items to fight with. If ANYTHING INCLUDING WEAPONS is used too much, then they'll break. In FE3 through FE5, the case is that they turn into suck weapons, while in FE1, FE6, and FE7, they'll disappear from your invetory. Clearing the Chapter will NOT automatically have your weapons repaired, so you'll have to find a way to repair or replace them yourself.
*Units can move and attack from a distance on the same turn. However, beware that if the two units fighting each other can attack at the same Range the person attacks from and the attacker is NOT using a Catapault (outside of FE1, where their Range was 2) OR a long-range Tome, then the unit may counterattack if they survive the first hit. This means that magic users and Javelin/Hand Axe wielders are handy in guaranteeing your troops' safety, while Archers who attack fellow Archers will basically be dueling each other.
*The battles aren't completely simple. Clerics can be on the battlefield, assisting your army by using Wands for support magic. The most noteable of the support magic would be HP-restoring spells like Live, but remember to have spells like Barrier and Rest ready too, because they can help keep your troops' necks safe enough to accomplish objectives more easily.
*Terrain plays a more important role in battle, especially when you fight indoors. Doors will be blocking your way unless you have a Thief or some keys along for the ride, while walls will keep Pegasus and Dragon Knights from dominating (especially when there are Archers involved).
*Weapons can be wielded by any characters of various classes, providing they meet rank requirements. For example, a Hero, who is a gifted Mercenary and thus has become capable of using Axes, may use a Silver Axe if they get enough training with Axes, even though that's an A Rank Axe, meant for Warriors and Berserkers, while Druids, who are very adept Shamans, despite having their primary weapon as Dark Magic, may also use Wands (as can almost any other promoted magic using class), including the Reserve Wand (THE strongest non-legendary healing Wand, restores HPs of all allies in the area of the user, clearly meant for the best of Clerics) if they train themself heavily with Wands.
*Also be aware that weapons have special qualities in addition to high durability, high power, high HR, low weight, or high CH rating. Bows have their Sharpness increase if used against flyers, for example. Social Knights should also stay away from Knight Killers unless they have high enough HP and Physical Defense ratings. Also watch out for the Buster weapons if you're not using mages, because Buster weapons reverse the Weapon Triangle, which will mean that the Axe Buster, even though it is a Lance, has the edge over an Axe (but this also means it gets disadvantaged over Swords). There's also magic swords, which can be used to use certain attack spells and thus change Attack Type from Physical to Magic. And the list goes on. I should also warn you that Legendary Weapons or anything that is just as powerful will also typically have special traits.
*The only multiplayer is in FE6 and FE7, and the FE6 and FE7 multiplayer pales in comparison to FAMICOM WARS's multiplayer.
*I think there are more differences. But the list is long enough as it is anyway.

[lordseth]

When I first played Fire Emblem, I did notice it was very similar to Advance Wars. Then again, they were made by the same people. I can sum up the differences pretty much like this: Fire Emblem is Advance Wars done RPG-style. Rather than having "generic" units, you have individual specific characters. And the characters level up when they kill/fight things. So basically Fire Emblem is Advance Wars done RPG-style.