A Triumphant End to a Tank-Battling Trilogy?
The original Fuga: Melodies of Steel emerged rather quietly in 2021, despite being developed by the reliable veterans at CyberConnect2. It soon gathered attention with great tactical battles complemented by a brutally unique selling point. Skip ahead a few years and due to its success, we’re about to embark upon the third, perhaps final chapter, in Fuga: Melodies of Steel 3.
The thing with trilogies though, is that the third instalment is often the worst, so let’s see whether Fuga: Melodies of Steel 3 can buck the trend and deliver a befitting finale.
The Narrative Hook
If you haven’t played the previous outings, there are two fairly decent recaps in-game to get you up to speed. That said, while it really isn’t compulsory, I’d personally still recommend playing through them first to become familiar and connect with the characters.
Anyway, Fuga: Melodies of Steel 3 continues straight on from one of the many endings of the second game, where Malt Marzipan ends up being lured into the cave. The Taranis tank is in there, but so are the Crimson Knights and they whisk Malt away against his will after an ambush. Upon realising his disappearance, the other children, including Mei, Socks, Chick and Hack, make it their mission to save Malt; even if it means fighting the entire Berman Empire and their associates.
Boarding the tank, they set off, but can they overcome such powerful enemies without their inspirational leader?
Emotional Resonance and Engaging Characters
The instant peril is exactly what’s needed to draw you back in – or for the first time – to the war-torn country Gasco. Soon enough, you’re gripped further by intense life or death moments, mysterious goings on, and even heartwarming reunions between characters. A fair few plot lines appear to run concurrently here, meaning every cutscene is bound to provide insight into one of the arcs during this latest struggle against the Berman Empire and its cronies. You can expect a few narrative curveballs along the way too.
The intriguing cast of children are a delightfully varied bunch and a great job is done to ensure you care about their well-being amidst the carnage. While there are familiar Caninu and Felineko adults as well, the addition of the Crimson Knights is an excellent and important inclusion. Not only are the individual members stylishly designed, they’ve got fascinating supernatural abilities and pilot awesome machines throughout.
Tactical Tank Battles
When it comes down to gameplay, there’s a sense of CyberConnect2 sticking to what they know works already. The core experience still revolves mainly around turn-based battles on a pathway that’s spread across twelve chapters, featuring both aerial and ground-based enemies. To combat these threats, players must assign children to three available weapon slots, as well as support roles.
Choosing who to deploy depends on the type of enemy you encounter and you can swap the kids out if necessary..The drone-like foes are best handled by precise machine-gunners, while cannon specialists often excel at dealing heavy damage to grounded targets. Grenade launcher operators offer a sort of middle ground, balancing accuracy with firepower. Each child also has special skills to take into account, which could circumvent armour, inflict status effects, restore health and such. There’s seldom a boring moment in battle as you’re constantly adapting to what’s before you and figuring out the best pairs for synergy as you’re pushed to your tactical limits.
Refined Combat and Powerful Abilities
The battles have always been exciting though, but in Fuga 3 it’s helped further by a handful of changes brought in.
The Managarm super weapon is no more and not many people will lose sleep over that because the risk versus reward was unbalanced in favour of the reward, which seemed out of place. Especially in comparison to the massively devastating Soul Cannon, allowing you to sacrifice a child to claim victory in a tough situation. Thankfully, that remains, although now the choice of who bites the dust is taken from you, which is a blessing really.
Furthermore, the useful link attacks between pairs of characters occur more frequently, as it automatically performs upon building up the associated meter. And if that’s not enough, there are also leader skills to bear in mind, triggering mostly without reason, but often aiding to the task at hand. Even the kids on the sidelines can perform them, offering extra turns, SP boosts, the ability to immediately defeat an enemy that’s below a certain amount of health, and more.
Those aforementioned changes are to existing mechanics, but prepare to be dazzled by new ideas too. By targeting the enemy weaknesses to specific weaponry, you can now build combos and deal up to 200% damage from attacks. And then there’s an assist meter, allowing other non-playable characters to unleash attacks on the battlefield for you. Not only do they deal great damage, they also help with things like removing armour and improving accuracy. Recruiting folks offering assistance is just one of the many things taking place outside of battle.
Intermissions and Archives
The pathways you follow in each chapter have different events that occur along the way towards a boss fight, including health and skill point replenishment, expeditions, material rewards, and battles. While there are a couple of additions such as the conversational transmission nodes and the Power Spots, where bombs can be bought and alternative routes could be explored, it’s nothing overly interesting.
The majority of downtime occurs during Intermissions, where you are able to make decisions that could help prepare for what’s to come. Once more, a set number of action points (AP) are given and it’s your call as to how they’re spent. Let the kids talk to each other to create greater affinity, cook meals that provide boosts, nurse the injured back to good health, or upgrade the Taranis. All the usual activities are present, albeit with the addition of the Taranis Memory Archives. A new aspect is introduced here, Paws and Pickaxes, which passively earns currency for you to spend on items and a cool selection of upgrades.
Fast Mode: A Divisive Option for Pacing
There’s one rather important new feature that will almost certainly split opinion and that’s the Fast Mode. Essentially, upon switching to this mode, you’ll steamroll regular enemies and be able to one-shot bosses. Having tried it, I understand why it might be useful for those wanting to just enjoy the story and speedrun different endings. However, the entertainment garnered through battling is worth embracing and so I can’t really recommend Fast Mode.
Visually, you can expect Fuga: Melodies of Steel 3 to deliver more of the same as seen in the previous instalments of the series. The excellent cutscenes are full of cool looking machinery, while the character designs are always on-point and often rather cute. As usual though, the background environments during battles are fairly drab and boring, with very little to catch the eye within them.
A Fitting Finale
Overall then, Fuga: Melodies of Steel 3 does a great job of seeing out the trilogy with another fascinating narrative and an exciting tactical battle system to complement it. There aren’t wholesale changes from Fuga 2, but the combo meter and assist elements certainly enhance the experience. Sure, not every idea hits the mark, but the majority do and so it’s well worth investing your time in.
Important Links
Critically Acclaimed RPG Returns – Fuga: Melodies of Steel 3 is Now Available – https://www.thexboxhub.com/critically-acclaimed-rpg-returns-fuga-melodies-of-steel-3-is-now-available/
Buy Fuga: Melodies of 3 on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/fuga-melodies-of-steel-3/9P8N8GD48WM4/0010
Take home the Deluxe Edition – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/fuga-melodies-of-steel-3-deluxe-edition/9NWFRR5N94PS/0010
Or go bid with the Ultimate Edition – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/fuga-melodies-of-steel-3-ultimate-edition/9P132HB4JJZJ/0010
