GOTD – Gemfire
Gemfire – Strategy (SNES / NES / GEN)
Koei (Kou Shibusawa)
Perhaps the only time that I can say I felt there was a “golden age” for Strategy games was Koei’s incredible set of variations on the SNES. Although not all of them were made by Romance of the Three Kingdoms / Nobunaga’s Ambition mastermind Kou Shibusawa, they represent a very large variation in themes and make me wonder why nobody’s made an officer-based strategy game kit yet.
Gemfire is an excellent example of one of these variations, one which perhaps should’ve been taken further. The concept is simple enough – an original fantasy world (somewhat resembling England), complete with monsters and magicians, is created.
With 30 provinces, and at least 50 different officers (apparently most of them have backstory in Japanese versions), it’s a decent strategy game.
There are a total of 10 families to choose from, from the powerful Blanche and Lyle families to the considerably weaker Coryll and Chrysalis families. Two of them do not even start with a gem, making for a potentially rough start.
Where the game sadly breaks down is difficulty. The computer opponent is astonishingly stupid, to the point where I was able to win with Chrysalis (the third hardest family to play as) in around 6 years.
All in all, it’s a great concept, and the game is surprisingly fun to play, but unless you have a human opponent, it is too easy. Koei consistently crafts worlds with a great attention to detail, which is pretty rare.
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