head to head

Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line cover artvsFire Emblem: Awakening cover art

Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary LinevsFire Emblem: Awakening

Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Fire Emblem: Awakening leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).

EXECUTION1 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE5 /10OPTIMIZATION8 /10
Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary LineFire Emblem: Awakening

Axis by axis

Execution1 vs 2

Fire Emblem: Awakening leans harder on execution: No twitch elements; pair-up placement is the only spatial decision under time

Reads0 vs 1

Fire Emblem: Awakening leans harder on reads: Enemies follow simple aggro patterns on fixed maps

Variance5 vs 5

Even - both lean on variance about the same.

Optimization8 vs 8

Even - both lean on optimization about the same.

Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.

full breakdown

Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line

full breakdown

Fire Emblem: Awakening