Three years after the release of the excellent Awakening (also for the Nintendo 3DS), Fire Emblem is back, and it’s deeper, more diverse, and more streamlined than ever before.
Fire Emblem Fates, which saw a Japanese release around six months ago, is the first game in the series to be split not into two games, but three. Although the start of each game is the same (specifically, the first six missions and the story surrounding them), at that point, the “branch of fate” occurs, and the main character (Corrin is his default name) must choose a side: either the kingdom of Nohr or the kingdom of Hoshido.
In case the weight of the decision isn’t evident, this isn’t merely a passing choice. The backstory goes something like this (ever so slight spoilers): Corrin, previously a Hoshidan, was abducted by the Kingdom of Nohr at a very young age—unbeknownst to him, as he has completely forgotten this part of his life—and he was raised with a completely different Nohrian family. That family just so happens to be the royal Nohrian family, just as his real family was a royal Hoshidan family. The countries of Nohr and Hoshido are locked in a terrible war that seems to have been instigated by the deadful Nohrian King Garon.
Do this, and you embark upon Birthright’s path.
At the start of the game, the player begins fighting battles on behalf of Nohr before Hoshido recaptures him, at which point the truth of his past is revealed to him. Soon after, you cross paths with your Nohrian family once more, who expects you to rejoin them. Needless to say, at this point, both sides express extreme shock that you would even consider joining the other, and you are forced to make a choice.
In fact, there is even a third choice: to join neither side, at which point you embark upon a third path, the details of which I will intentionally leave out of this review to prevent you from having to spoil it for yourself as I had to in order to prepare for this review. The game telling the story of this path, subtitled Revelation, is yet another completely separate game.
Normally, the two primary paths—Nohr and Hoshido—are to be sold retail for $40 apiece. However, after purchasing one of the games, the other one can be downloaded for $20 extra once Chapter 6 (the “branch of fate”) is reached. Similarly, starting March 10, the third game (Revelation) can be purchased as an add-on for either of the main games for another $20. That makes the total cost to own all three games $80—but there is little doubt that there is in fact $80 worth of content to be had here. Each game alone is as lengthy as previous entries in the franchise, and the story really is quite interesting. Not to mention that the evolution from previous Fire Emblem entries is evident in Fates’ improvements to the formula.
King Garon isn’t the most pleasant ruler around.
The particular version we received for review is the Special Edition, which includes all three of the games on a single cartridge. The path chosen during Chapter 6 determines the subtitle of the game, and players can at any point easily jump back to this moment to embark on one of the other paths. The Special Edition also comes with an 82 page hardcover art book and a collectible Fire Emblem Nintendo 3DS carrying pouch.
Each game is also different in terms of its pacing, difficulty, and general design. Even the soundtracks and musical styles are unique to the games, which is a truly impressive touch. The Hoshidan path (subtitled Birthright) is the logical first step as it is not only the easiest (allowing the most EXP gathering and character development) but also the most familiar, as it’s most similar to the design of Awakening. By contrast, the Nohrian path (Conquest) is the toughest of all three, with funds and experience less abundant and more complex mission designs and objectives. Finally, Revelation is more of a mixture of both, and the difficulty rests someplace in between. So each game not only has a completely separate storyline, but it also feels completely different. It’s really a unique approach to a Fire Emblem story.
Speaking of difficulty, I found the game tougher than many previous entries, but then again, I’m not the expert that some hardcore fans on the internet would likely consider themselves. Still, the difficulty can be adjusted on the fly between missions—downward, that is, as you can’t ever go tougher without starting over again. Even on the harder difficulties, you can still choose between Casual and Classic rules; in the former, slain characters reappear in the next chapter, and in the latter, they’re gone forever. On the lowest difficulty, you can also choose a third option: Phoenix, where characters who die quickly return the same battle (easy)!
So difficulty really isn’t an issue with all of these options… but having said that, I found Hard and Lunatic both quite challenging, so I have no shame in admitting that—at least for the purposes of this review—I played on Normal Classic difficulty.
Azura is the love interest I chose during my playthrough.
While I’m on the subject of review strategies, I might as well be completely transparent and explain that I (perhaps unsurprisingly) only had time to complete the Hoshidan path (Birthright)—so my assessments of the other two paths are based on necessarily truncated impressions of the full story they tell.
Beyond the basics of the design, there’s a ton of content and design to cover, but most of it will be immediately familiar to veterans of the series. Awakening’s enhancements to the formula persist in Fates, with nearly all of the new features present, from Dual Stances to Skills, and extending all the way to the lack of weapon durability (apart from staves).
However, there are a lot of new refinements too, not least of which include new weapons and character classes (nearly all of which can be either gender), revisions to the weapon triangle, and requisite amiibo support for the classic Fire Emblem characters. But a number of other nifty gameplay additions also exist, such as Dragon Veins in the environments which can be activated by anyone of royal blood to fundamentally alter the environment in some way (raising/lowering hills, freezing lakes to make them passable, etc.), and secondary weapon attributes (such as weapon triangle or stat modifications unique to that weapon).
All of the gameplay-centric evolutions feel appropriate and deliberately crafted. But even some subtler touches have been applied, such as the revamped battle scenes which zoom directly into the environments and dynamically take place within the proper surroundings and terrain—a really nice touch that helps to make the entire experience just a bit more seamless and polished. Options exist for everything under the sun, too, which is fortunate considering the vast amount of time you’re likely to sink into this title.
You can be my sister any day of the week.
On that note, another new addition which really helps to break up the action is the castle building mechanic, in which you can customize a rather spacious plot of personal real estate using a variety of buildings, most of which serve an actual purpose. These include weapon, rod, and accessory shops (the latter of which can be equipped to chance a character’s appearance, and which also helps when fighting castle battles—more on that in a moment). There’s also an Arena (where you can wager on battles), a Prison (to recruit war captives), a Smithy (to modify/enhance weapons), a Mess Hall (to cook for and hopefully temporarily boost your army’s stats), a Records Hall (to view records and listen to music), Hot Springs (to hang out and bathe with comrades), resource structures (such as bean fields, sapphire mines, and tons of others)… and plenty of others that would take forever to list. That’s not all, either; these structures can also be upgraded to higher levels to improve their functionality, which just adds further complexity to the equation. It’s a mini-game, for sure, but it’s no afterthought.
Your castle, should you choose, can be publicly searchable via the game community, and you can be visited by strangers or friends if you choose. They’ll leave feedback for you and improve your Visit and Battle Rankings, which are used to promote your castle for other visitors. Plus, interacting with others will earn you progressively more of the Visit and Battle Bonuses, which are items and weapons that can be immediately extracted and used in the game. You’ll be happy to know that locating a friend’s castle or searching for a random one to visit is quick and painless: there are a number of methods to choose from, including directly entering an ID to even just viewing a list of castles sorted by name or ranking.
Both screens are leveraged well.
Speaking of castle battles, that’s the other half of the castle building mechanic. Upon visiting another person’s castle, you can not only gather materials unique to their lands for use in your own to purchase accessories, modify weapons at the smithy, or feed to your Lilith dragon, but you can also scope out their army and elect to battle them—either in their castle or your own. Regardless of the outcome, you’ll gain rewards for participating, which makes it a fun extracurricular activity. Even if you don’t bother with other humans, the game will occasionally present you with optional Invasion Battles that can benefit you greatly if you’re victorious.
Other optional activities exist as well, such as Challenge Battles, and you can pay money to Scout for experience as well—at least, in Birthright and Revelation. There really is quite a lot to do, and the pacing is such that the game can be enjoyed for lengthy play sessions without too much tedium.
Fire Emblem Fates’ presentation is as inspiring as ever, with terrific character art, rich environments, and a great use of the 3D effects that really does add to the experience. I briefly touched on the soundtrack earlier, too, but it’s typical Fire Emblem material—which is to say it’s superior, and this one is among the most dynamic of any game in the franchise to date, thanks in large part to the three-faction division of games that Fates leverages. Many of the songs which could have just as easily been 60 seconds or fewer in length wind up being 3 to 5 minutes long, which is really just going the extra mile. It’s top-notch presentation and fans are going to eat it up.
Having said that, some will lament the removal of a few items from the Japanese game, including the original voice tracks (only the translated, English versions remain) and a few interactive game elements that were probably deemed to be a bit over the line suggestively for an American audience (think back to Feel the Magic: XY/XX… how’s that for an obscure reference?). Some will also (as always) criticize a subset of the voice acting performances, but overall, the localization effort was a solid one by NOA. The translated dialogue and the unorthodox personalities of some of the game’s characters (such as the Archduke Izana, who is not only the leader of a kingdom but also a stoner-like hipster with a “pretty sweet deal” as a fortune-teller too) really color the experience.
Choose wisely.
Overall, this is a massive and highly enjoyable addition to the epic franchise that really does stand as one of the most prolific and memorable amongst its contemporaries.
