commander218

While I played the Hyperdimension games and greatly enjoy them, the feeling is nothing compared to this game which I greatly enjoyed. I wish I could give it a ten, it's more of an 8.5, but there are faults which I really can't ignore. I can pretty much recommend this to any JRPG fan as you'll have a good time playing. The story isn't anything special at first glance but it's pretty well written. I'll try to avoid many spoilers but it's really more or less about altering fate. Funny thing is that I'm coming in from FE Fates and this game does branching paths so much better...even if it gets a little weird. The story goes through the original Fairy Fencer F path (the goddess path) and then you can choose which path to take. The characters are also rather simple, but they're really fun to the point I can't really hate them. I hated how Harley looked, but then it kind of explains itself to the point I can't knock it down (fanservice is fanservice I suppose). One character felt a little bit forced in the main story, but seeing as what happened if I didn't recruit him, I'd rather have that. The other paths fix and expand on other characters so if they feel jarring here, they're probably implemented better in another path. The main protagonist, Fang, might come off as someone you're going to despise due to his lazy and obsession with food habits (he's also an idiot). He grew on me over time and he really does develop as a character. So I wouldn't put down the game right away just because Fang aggravates you at the start since he does get better. I like him a lot better than most main protags surprisingly. Now let's talk about the gameplay. The maps are not quite as bland as Hyperdimension games, but I haven't played VII so I can't tell. You will be going through these maps a lot so if you despise repeating stuff, I'd stay back, but outside of quest and enemies, you can clear a dungeon in usually 1 minute to reach the boss. It really helps with New Game+ stuff. A few enemies are also recycled from HD but they will feel different due to the combat which I'll get to. Then there's quests. Most of them are pretty fast paced and I recommend doing them your first go around since you'll be hurting for money in hard mode (you'll need those items especially in some battles). You also get quests that'll unlock the next rank of quests. Let's just say the D rank and especially the B rank quests are the most tedious thing in the game you'll never want to do again. Mostly the B rank one. Thankfully you only have to do those quests once and it'll carry over in New Game+. After that, I'd just go after quests with good rewards since they're simple and quick generally. Then there's combat. I played this game on Hard and boy can I tell you it's not an easy game at all. While you can use up to six characters and switch at any time to move around the battlefield more, it can get chaotic. It does so many wonders to this game as I usually ended up using all 8 of my character in the goddess path. Each one is also very unique so they'll be playing different roles in each fight. My only complaint is that the tanky character doesn't feel so tanky but man did he put in work for that final boss in the goddess path. Now for the soundtrack. I love this soundtrack so much especially the farize theme (the first version). They're really catchy though there are a few forgettable one. Still, you won't hear too much of the battle themes since normal fights will end pretty quickly. So glad that there's a sound room to hear some of the easy to miss themes in the chaotic combat. There are still some other flaws I'll briefly mention. Leveling is going to feel a little weird since you won't go up too many levels. Like level 20 is what you should be around for the story branch moment (I was like 16), but thankfully grinding isn't too tedious if you're skilled. Solo bosses can also be too brutal, but with a little thinking I could overcome a certain demon one (again, this is on hard). Oh, I forgot about the fanservice. If you played HD games, this game is really, really tame compared to those, but for those who haven't, there's going to be a couple of those scenes few and far between though thankfully they're followed by something either really good or really cool part of the story. Overall, this game has been a very enjoyable experience and I'm about halfway on the second path, but there's so many little things that make this game worth replaying. If you're an avid JRPG fan who doesn't mind a bit of that tediousness, pick this game up. As for everyone else, it's going to grind down to whether or not you can overlook a game's faults if you'll enjoy it.

First off, I want to start out by saying I'm a big Fire Emblem fan and that I enjoyed Birthright, Conquest, and awakening and would easily consider playing them again. In fact, the whole localization didn't bother me that much and I feel like they did a pretty decent job. Before you write me off or hate me, I have a very good reason behind the score I gave it. In a nutshell, Fire Emblem Fates: Revelations is a very boring game. I'll admit that I stopped playing after chapter 19, but even getting through half the game and it being that much of a struggle is something in and of itself was pretty difficult to do after chapter 14, which is a middle finger for Conquest fans. Anyways, I'll give you my review on why I just couldn't finish this game and why it's almost not worth your 20 dollars. [Warning this part of the review contains spoiler] I'll start off with the story. The premise of the story is actually pretty good in chapter 7 since it decides to explain what's going on and kind of gives you a better idea of the main villain aka Anakos. It's weaker storywise than hidden truths, but it had potential. The deaths are just really stupid in this one, like really, really stupid (Conquest did two of the three deaths better) and it's just very poorly written. Before you point your finger to the treehouse, this is Intelligent Systems. It basically is just chapter 7 then filler to get all the characters...then chapter 7's exact story again in case you forgot it. Most of the Royals are 1-dimensional and they're really the only characters you see. And I'm pretty sure everyone in their right mind can openly admit Izana's **** death can summarize the **** chapter. That reminds me that most of the plot twists are mind-numbingly obvious and that every boss pre chapter 24 is either a boss we fought before or just a generic enemy. I did skim for what happens after I stop and I will say that it looked cool and really good. [End of Spoiler here] Let's talk about the maps now. Fire Emblem was never really big on the main story so I often will forgive a bad plot for really cool and fun maps. Conquest and Birthright did have fun and enjoyable maps with the former having maps up to par with the Fire Emblem franchise. Conquest's maps aren't "hard" but they require more strategy to beat which is why I enjoyed that game. If you though anything Birthright threw at you was bad, Revelation somehow figured out a way to be worse than Birthright. Skirmish battles are more enjoyable. I know one part of this hate for Revelation's maps is because I jumped out of Conquest which had excellent AI...like really, really good AI that I'd be excited to see in future installments. The AI in Revelations in the first half will suicide attack one of your units even if they only do no damage (Conquest enemies were smart and knew when to attack and even used skills to be cheap). Btw, you'll be lucky if an enemy even has a skill at all. The IS staff though it'd be super challenging if they used Promoted enemies instead. Other than a 1% crit, these tougher enemies are a complete joke. Now you're looking at me and probably going "So what, Birthright did a lot of that stuff too." Well Birthright didn't reuse good maps and make them bad (which is another thing I'm bothered about). Birthright did however allow for a variety of characters to be used without the use of grinding. You could use almost any character and they'd be useful the whole game (bar a few exceptions) which made replayability a lot better. In revelations, 80% of the cast is just bad and shouldn't even be waster on experience for...including Effie and Niles. Revelation was designed for all the Royals to be used, and Royals are OP which makes the game ridiculously easy. The fact that if your unit isn't promoted by 19 and doesn't have an attack over 32, you may as well pitch them as you can only bring 12 units, 10 of which will be royals. It's just a large barrier to use a character who's only half as good since almost all characters come in severely underleveled. That's enough bashing on this path I'm not going to bother finishing. People who are into my castle and all that wireless stuff will definitely want to pick this one up due to having the full cast and giving children new skills. There are also some interesting support convos that can only be done in this poorly designed path. There's a few cool things in the campaign, but honestly I'd say save your money for any other FE game like Sacred Stones which has a much better plot. And if you still think this is a 9 out of 10 game, there's a chapter where you have to slowly break ice blocks to reach the boss who doesn't move. Did I mention enemies drop stat boosting items like dracoshields?

Normally, I would've given this game a nine, but due to the way people are "bashing" and giving it low scores, I may as well do what I can to help raise that score. I've been a Fire Emblem fan for quite a while now and can honestly say that it's still as enjoyable as ever and the "censorship" in this game has very little impact and is still worth your money. In fact, there are some changes that I really liked. I pre-ordered the special edition knowing that my 3DS was out of room, but I really feel that splitting the game up in three was in a way, hurtful to the experience. The three games do link up from the records hall and even give out some special bonuses, but it's that huge support log (even though you could download the other two to have the same experience). It honestly feels like FE: Fates should be on a single cartridge, but each path is a full fledged game...though I'd say it's a bit smaller than awakening (like 2 or 3 maps smaller per path). I'd rather it have been a 60 or 80 dollar game than three different games. I've completed the Birthright Path and the story is solid, despite the occasional bad voice acting moment. Though it is nothing compared to Path of Radiance bad. The maps are way better than awakening, but I felt that the lack of units with good defense combined with the blown out maps/very few enemy reinforcements over a long period of time, just added up to be a tiny bit tedious. There are a lot of fun maps though so I'd recommend giving this path a shot before turning your back on it. As for conquest, I'm up to chapter 15 and can I just say that these maps are amazing. I've heard the story goes downhill from here, but it's not that bad from where I am now. The maps though. Holy cow! People who played older games will really enjoy this as the multiple objectives and the pressure to always keep moving. The maps feel the right size and the units work well with it. Even on hard-classic, I never felt overwhelmed by the difficulty so far. If you could only pick one path to pick, this is the path to go as the maps are worth it. I haven't played Revelations so I can't judge it, but it seems like it'd be the perfect medium of the two. Anyways, I feel they improved on the Fire Emblem combat in general. Yeah, it feels like that same of fighting system except the position of your characters is much more important due to the pair up system. Adjacent characters can attack together with the partner doing only half a normal attack, or they can be "rescued" or combined with another character to have a gauge that blocks attacks when full as well as blocking a partner attack as well. What's more important is that enemies can do this as well which is where strategy comes into play. (If you play the game, this'll make more sense). Weapons are also much better in this game. They are pricier to make up for the lack of durability, but speed is a key factor into which weapon to use. Steel and dual ranged weapons like Javelins have speed reductions while Silver weapons lower your stats. So you won't simply be buying and using just a single weapon for each character which again, I feel is better than the durability system. As for the story and localization, I feel they're just fine. To be honest, I probably wouldn't have taken notice in any of the changes they did if it weren't for all the comments on it. I've played through one story branch completely and done plenty of supports, all of which were pretty well done. There's only been one support that I agree was done poorly, but hopefully a patch will change that one (yes, I'm talking about "..."). I can also say I feel like this game took a more mature route in doing characters than awakening...which might be hard to believe. Sure there's the lol moments such as Nile's "secret lair" but this definitely feels much deeper than awakening. (WARNING! THIS PART OF THE REVIEW CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS): I will says that Fire Emblem Fates does have its faults. I mentioned before that the branches do hurt it a bit. I like the idea, but I'd rather them consider making a much longer game and possibly more of a Radiant Dawn design if they attempt this again. What they do have works, but each path has it's own faults such as Birthright's lack of engaging maps at points. My biggest gripe is actually the children units. It worked in Awakening and was cool, but...they're reasoning in fates reaches almost idiotic. Apparently you can have a baby that grows into a **** to a time paradox. The maps themselves are cool, but I'd rather of just had paralogues or gaiden chapters unlocked by meeting certain requirements **** paradox children. [Spoilers End here] I suppose I'll end on the DLC. The gold and exp ones are a bit of a disappointment compared to how simple and easy awakening's were, but they work better for conquest (Birthright has scouting to solve this problem...which is better than the DLC). They aren't bad but not worth your money as of right now.