semolinaro

For my favourite, I’m tied between Edelgard and Dimitri’s route. My least favourite is probably the church route. It’s awfully generic and has a tendency for revelation dumping.

Edelgard is definitely a controversial character, and while a lot of players downright HATE her, I’ve seen some who believe she is one of the best written lords/antagonists in the series. It’s definitely hard to stomach her methods (she’s rather snakey and calculated), but her reasons for doing so are what interest me. The Church of Seiros certainly isn’t sunshine and rainbows and hides a dark past itself. I see her as a misguided youth who eagerly awaits the day she can use her power to rid the world of a broken system that has caused harm to herself and others. Ironically, these ambitions cause Fodlan even greater harm in the long run. What were your feelings towards Edie?

Yes and no. Edelgard's hatred for the Church of Seiros and her ambitions to topple the system led her to take some rather drastic measures. The only way she could reasonably see her goal through was to join forces with a group who also harboured ill will towards the church, AKA Though their morals are different, their goals were the same. An enemy of an enemy is a friend. I believe that Edelgard was involved, but not directly responsible. She acted as an enabler to a dangerous cult so she could orchestrate her plans of overthrowing the church and reforming Fodlan's broken class system.

Accurate. Usually I'm quite forgiving in overlooking something's flaws in favour of its strong points, but there's just too many things in Fates that make me cringe. Just reading everything you listed already made my eyes roll.

It seems that the general consensus in terms of FE's storytelling these days is that it could use some work. Awakening and Fates, while groundbreaking titles for the series, suffered from some very flawed writing, and I hope that IS takes more time into crafting a solid narrative complete with detailed worldbuilding, complex protagonists and a cast with characters that feel real and believable (I think it's time to tone it down on the tropes). With that said, what kind of thing would you like to see in terms of story on FE: Switch? Would you like to see a callback to a previous setting/continent (like Awakening to Archanea) or a completely new realm? What kind of aesthetic would you like to see, a continuation of the medieval/Roman/Renaissance feel or something new like we saw with the feudal Japan aesthetic in Birthright? Would you prefer a story functioning more on the notions of high fantasy (heavier on mythology, dragon-slaying and powerful forces of evil) or something a little more politically charged (misguided leaders, corrupt government, grey morality, etc.)? What about the lord/main character? Should they be royalty, or no? I thought about a FE nation that was more along the lines of a theocracy rather than a monarchy. They believe that the nation is built on the back of a massive sleeping dragon god, and that earthquakes and other disasters happen when the dragon entity is angered and begins to awaken. I think it would be interesting to have the church hold most of the country's wealth and power while also being terribly corrupt (nods to the Roman Catholic Church on that one). The church uses fear tactics to keep their power, and preach that if people aren't faithful to the teachings of the country's religion, they could awaken their great dragon god and bring an end to the world. This keeps the church well funded as people are afraid of being unfaithful. There could be an interesting social landscape involving the treatment of those believed to be 'infidels' and non-believers, as well as the activities of underground extremist cults. Instead of a royal family, there is a 'holy' family, and rather than a Prince, Princess, King or Queen, the country is ruled by a Hierarch and his bishops and priests. I'd like to see a story like this because I feel like it could make for a perfect blend of political tension, moral greyness and some new and interesting mythology. What kind of story do you want to see in FE: Switch?

I haven't played Fates in well over 8 months since I've been busy with university. Now that the school year is over I've been trying to pick up Fates again. But dear god I just can't seem to do it. I've had a lot of gripes with Fates. The story, for one, is an absolute royal abomination, but I won't go off ranting about that as it's beating a dead horse at this point. There's just something about Fates that is detterring for me and I don't understand why. Is it the story, the aesthetic, the tropey fanservice characters, the lackluster supports, or what? I really like Conquest's gameplay but other than playing through the maps, there's nothing else I enjoy. Birthright is horribly generic and I never feel good about siding with suetopia 'glorious hoshippon'. Revelation speaks for itself. I can't explain it, but every time I play Fates all I wanna do is go and play another game in the series, like Sacred Stones, Path of Radiance or even Awakening. People praise Fates, particularly Conquest, left and right but it's so hard for me to find enjoyment in the game. Even if I skip all the cutscenes and supports conversations and just play the maps, it feels like there's something missing, like charm or nostalgia. Fates lacks that FE aesthetic and doesn't feel like a FE game to me. This isn't intended to be a hate post, I'm just curious as to why I'm having such a hard time getting back into a game that's praised to highly and that boasts such good gameplay.

Restarted from branch of fate on normal and have all units intact, currently working through chapter 8 and it's going really well. It's pretty easy right now but that's probably because I've played it on normal so many times. But hard was brutal, those faceless with grisly wound were absolutely deadly.

So I just finished chapter 7 and only lost Jakob which is pretty good, but I felt I didn't use any special strategy and only won based on luck since one of the faceless missed a fatal blow that would have killed Arthur and Effie got a crit on the paired up ones. I think you're right Avalanche, I'm gonna take it down to normal but I wanna start learning how to enjoy Fire Emblem in classic mode as well. It's an entirely different feeling to play and I even like it, I just wish I wasn't so bad at it haha.

When it comes to fire emblem, I would say I'm a devoted casual fan. I love the series but don't consider myself experienced enough to do well in classic mode on the 3DS games (PoR wasn't so bad since the difficulty wasn't that high). I've played and beaten conquest several times since it came out, and all of them have been on normal/casual mode since my last run, which I completed on hard. I want to get the experience that people play conquest for and play on hard/classic. But I'm only on chapter seven and I'm ready to rip my hair out. This must be my fourteenth reset, but I can't seem to prevent my important guys from dying (I don't care much for Jakob since you'll get lots of healers down the road but when Silas and Elise kick the bucket that early I gotta reset). I'm getting really frustrated but I don't wanna give up because I believe I'm capable of completing a hard/classic Conquest run. Does practice really make perfect and I just gotta work through it until I get the hang of it?

I just finished it an hour ago, and I honestly enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. Made me appreciate the children more as I wasn't as fond of them this time around (Forrest and Velouria being the exception). What did you think of the DLC?

I still think Awakening had decent worldbuilding. We get to know the history of the conflict between Plegia and Ylisse, it makes some great references to FE3, and the continent has a name. Fates doesn't have a single ounce of that (we don't even really get to know the true reason of Hoshido and Nohr's conflict unless you play Revelation and have it explained in an exposition dump). In comparison, Awakening had far superior worldbuilding, even if it wasn't on a grand or detailed scale. Fate's setting is about as interesting as a cardboard box.

Right? I wish I could be one of the people who could overlook it and enjoy it from a gameplay perspective, but when the aesthetics of the levels are bland and the worldbuilding isn't there, it makes playing through each chapter much more uninteresting. Awakening's story is definitely not perfect but for a video game story it's pretty damn good and I enjoy the hell out of it every time. Yes it has flaws, but they're nothing catastrophic and can be overlooked and the gaps are so small that they can easily be filled in. Half the time when people viciously rip apart Awakening's story, it begins to sound like nitpicking. Awakening's plot is nowhere near the fatal car crash that Fates is. Also, this was another thing I wanted to bring up, but I absolutely can't stand the fanservice in Fates. Not so much in terms of skimpy outfits and boobs (which is there too) but more so with how it tried so hard to please everybody by including the Awakening kids as well as their reincarnations. I adored Severa, Owain and Inigo in Awakening, but I can't stand them in Fates. I used to find Owain's theatrical antics charming in Awakening, but Odin's made me want to tear my hair out. Severa, while she was a brat, had some funny dialogue and was true to her character. Selena is whiny and standoffish and lacks the complexity and depth that she had in Awakening. Laslow is an exact, unchanged clone of Inigo from Awakening who underwent no development and that bothers me. You know, this would be been absolutely fine, awesome even, if FE14 was a direct sequel to Awakening. But given that the Fates universe is practically another dimension away from Akaneia, the inclusion of the Awakening kids makes absolutely no sense, and not even Fates' ass-pull writing could make their presence in Nohr a believable scenario. I pretend that their cameo in Fates is non-canon, because it's just so ridiculous.

I agree with everything you stated here, and I also liked Awakening far more than Fates. In fact, I just finished an Awakening file a few weeks ago and am now on chapter 22 of Conquest, and I can confidently say that Awakening was a more fulfilling experience. Fates (oddly enough) felt much more limited than Awakening. I felt more restricted in how I could level up and reclass my characters, despite there being more seals available. I just wasn’t having as much fun playing around with my unit’s classes and stats, and wasn’t all that eager to see them grow in their new classes either. Overall, I don’t like the characters in Fates nearly as much as Awakening. Sure, Awakening has a fair share of tropey characters, but they at least have motivations, internal conflicts and actual reasons to fight for you. In Fates, your army consists of people who fight for you because of their obligatory loyalty to their masters, or for literally no reason at all (Keaton and Kaden, don’t you guys have a tribe to lead or something? Why do you suddenly want to get involved in a war that literally has nothing to do with you?) In Fates, the cast felt so uninspired. I feel like I was the only one who really enjoyed Awakening’s story. Sure, it’s not The Last of Us or Bioshock level storytelling, but it was very enjoyable for a Fire Emblem game. There wasn’t a time where I questioned a character’s actions, and I felt their goals and motivations were believable. Fates story is just absolutely abysmal and probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever slogged through. It desperately tries to make sense of three incomplete storylines that are so dumb I have to skip all the cutscenes whenever I play. I was so beyond excited for Fates’ story too, because the choice was such an interesting concept. But by making the choice so black and white with one being the obviously good side and one being the blatantly bad side, they ended up failing so hard at an A+ concept that could have been presented with complex political tension and grey morality. You can’t give players a choice when one is wrong and the other is right, that defeats the entire purpose of having a choice in the first place. Instead, what we get is brick-for-brains Corrin who would rather sacrifice an entire innocent nation under the heel of his (obviously) evil adoptive father because he’s too much of a coward to stand up to him. It makes playing the game so difficult sometimes. I also was interested in the idea of contrasting classes between Hoshido and Nohr, but I don’t really like Hoshido’s classes. I didn’t enjoy fighting them, nor did I enjoy playing as them. I don’t know, it just felt kinda random to me, the eastern aesthetic doesn’t really fit into a Fire Emblem game IMO. Actually, Fates doesn’t even really feel like a Fire Emblem game to me, but more like a spinoff. There is no world building to be had, and the aesthetics of Nohr and Hoshido, while they can be perceived as refreshing, don’t feel very Fire Emblem-ey. It was made too contrived and complicated to have all of Hoshido’s classes added, as I felt they were exactly the same as previous classes in the franchise but reskinned with a Japanese theme. I also hate how the Japanese inspired nation is pure and innocent while the Western nation is aggressive and belligerent. I just can’t get over that. Also, Corrin’s dragon is the ugliest Arceus I have ever seen. Ah yes, the weapon system. Another thing I totally agree with you on. Though nobody else seems to agree, I really can’t stand the weapon system. Weapons have so many complicated stat detriments and boosts that I can’t keep track. I’m already trying to organize my units on the map, I don’t need more complications with my weapons. I miss the more simple and straightforward weapon system of Awakening and previous titles, as this new feature was trying way too hard. (Also, magic users in Fates are worthless. They hit heavy, but are way too fragile. Mages are some of my favourite units, but I could barely use them in Fates). Oh god, the kids. The deeprealms are so beyond stupid; I couldn’t believe how little time and thought went into the kids mechanic. Honestly, one of the biggest problems with Fates is that it wants to be different from Awakening, but it’s also afraid to let it go. The children were so poorly implemented in this game that I would have been completely fine if they didn’t include them. Either that, or have a big generational timeskip, with the parent characters aging during a ‘peace era’ between Hoshido and Nohr and having the children grow up then. It might even help the children get involved in the story. Marriage was also kinda pointless as the pair up system was tweaked with Attack Stance and Guard Stance, so you can control when your ally will attack the enemy or shield you. While I liked being in control, it really made marriage seem like it only existed for the children. The kids in Awakening were also far better developed, while the kids in Fates were as shallow as a puddle in July. The world map also really bugged me. It took me ages to actually figure out where Nohr and Hoshido were on the map, and the menu navigation system made it feel so restrictive. I loved the world map in Awakening because you had free reign to traverse an open world, it made the continent feel large and grand. The lack of worldbuilding in Fates also doesn’t help this fact, as I think the Fates universe has one of the most uninspiring settings in the entire franchise. The soundtrack of Fates is phenomenal. I don’t think there’s a track I don’t like in this game. Oddly enough, though, I find the maps, while challenging, lack soul and visual detail. A lot of the environments and textures are bland and don’t feel as immersive as Awakening’s levels, and there were far more memorable maps in Awakening compared to Fates (for example, Chapters 9, 10, 16, and 23 in Awakening were far more memorable than anything I played in Fates). I have a feeling that the uninspired setting and plot had something to do with my enjoyment of the level design, since I'm the kind of person who can play a game with meh gameplay but a stellar story and love it (PMD Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky comes to mind).

Thanks! Only problem is that I have my seraph robe to Ophelia, and no longer have one. Can't find it at the staff store either.

I'm short on healers and Felicia is an important part of my party, but her HP growth is terrible. She's at level 26 and only has 25 HP. What should I reclass her as to give her an boost to her HP growth before I reclass her to a maid?

One of the things people complain the most about Awakening (along with its unbalanced gameplay) is its story. I'm just really curious to know why so many people rip it apart, because I personally really enjoyed the story. It was epic, had a charming cast, made great references to FE3 and was built on some great Shakespearian-style moments (Emmeryn's death, battle against Gangrel, Grima's resurrection, Lucina's reunion with Chrom, etc.) Plus I really appreciated the creativity with the children, as they were implemented into the story and had some great backstories, as well as working as a game mechanic. I read tons of fantasy novels and even write a few myself, and I took much inspiration from Awakening. The only part of the plot that could have been a little more polished was the Walhart and Valm arc, but it still ended up relating to the main conflict in the end. People also say it lacks worldbuilding, but I felt so eager to explore the entire continent after every chapter because the narrative (at least I thought so) threw in little tidbits of history here and there. What is that people don't like? Especially after playing Fates, which has a story that is just downright stupid at some points, I just don't understand why people hate on Awakening.

Charlotte is a beast, her strength is killer and her crit is insane. But she never lands a hit, it's always at 65% at most when engaging a promoted enemy unit. I've removed her Gamble skill but it didn't seem to make a difference, and I've read some people on the forum who have gotten Charlotte's hit up to 80% on average. How'd you guys do that? She's a heavy hitter and now that I'm getting into latter portion of Conquest, I could really use her to carry me through.

Gameplay wise, Conquest is my favourite path, and it also has some of my favourite characters in it as well. However, the story really did ruin a lot of the experience for me since it is a very story driven game. When I play Conquest, I usually skip all the cutscenes and dialogue at the beginning of the chapters because they can be cringeworthy sometimes. Alastor15243 is right, the story is really dumb. I had a hard time overlooking it myself, but if that doesn't bother you, it's definitely worth picking up. Some of the chapters are cutthroat at some points (Chapter 20 is the absolute bane of my existence) but the challenge is super rewarding. If you're having trouble at any point and prefer more grindy gameplay, play the Boo Camp or Ghostly Gold DLC. If you don't want to pay for them, you can always grind supports with the free Awakening map and unlock the children's paralogues for experience (it's a nice little easter egg, if you're an Awakening fan you'll definitely appreciate it). Storywise, you won't find anything special in Conquest—I'd say it has the weakest plot out of all three paths. Gameplay-wise, however, it wins. Definitely worth picking up.

So Fates has been out for about four months now. As hard as I try and as much as I want to, I’m having a real hard time finishing it again after my first run-through back in February. I’ve been wanting to share my problems with the game for a while and thought since the honeymoon phase is over, this would be a good time to discuss it. I want to emphasize that I’m not trying to put down anyone who likes the game, but rather, I’d like to start a discussion about what people's overall thoughts on the game are and whether or not they agree/disagree with my points below. There are spoilers below for those who haven’t played, just a warning! ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The three game split is a marketing gimmick I’ve seen people fight this claiming that each version of Fates is it’s own game, but after playing all three paths, it was not hard to see that this was a way to rake more cash from fans. We all know that Awakening was a breakout success IS, but don’t take your fame for granted. I paid a total of $100 to have the full Fates experience, which wasn’t even that satisfying to begin with. This is something that can work for games like Pokemon, where each version is the same with only slight differences regarding available Pokemon and legendaries. In a story driven strategy game like Fire Emblem, there’s absolutely no need. The portrayal of Nohr and Hoshido Looking at the pre-release trailers for Fates, I was a little put off with how Hoshido was the ‘good light side’ while Nohr was the ‘bad dark side’. Not only is this one of the most overused fantasy cliches in the book, but it was just so poorly handled. I was hoping that despite Hoshido being the light side, they would have some of their own skeletons in the closet. Literally none. Everyone is a goody goody who does no wrong and wants purity and happiness, and throughout Conquest the game constantly reminds you that you chose the wrong side. In a game where you have two paths to choose from, one should not be right while the other is wrong, that takes away the entire purpose of having a choice in the first place. Even on the bottom screen map, it says that the Hoshido army ‘seeks peace and tranquility’ while the Nohr army is ‘aggressive and belligerent’. There is nothing I hate more than black and white morality in storytelling. And what makes this so much worse is that Hoshido is a Japanese inspired kingdom while Nohr is a Roman/Renaissance style kingdom. I can assure you that if this game had the exact same script but was made in the West with the kingdoms flipped, there would be public outcry for racism and stereotyping. Filler filler filler I still find it unbelievable that IS hired screenwriter and manga author Shin Kibayashi to write the script for Fates, because you sure could have fooled me that a professional writer actually worked on this game. The first half of Birthright is a moronic search quest for your missing bros, while the latter portion of Conquest is a sibling murder spree through Hoshido with no turning point in ANY of the chapters until the last two. Once again, this feels like it was done intentionally so IS could justify passing these as ‘full games’, but the amount of filler makes it so obvious that they were struggling to find any material to begin with. Loss of weapon durability When I heard about the loss of weapon durability, I wasn’t bothered in the slightest. But playing through the game, I realized just how much I missed it. I know this was done so that players could invest more time into forging weapons in My Castle, but unless you’re always playing online, collecting the resources you need can be a pain. As well, I feel it takes a huge element of strategy away when you can hack away at enemies without worrying about the frailty of your weapon. Having the same unbreakable weapons in my inventory wasn’t very exciting and made the gameplay surprisingly dull, much more than I expected it to. I hope this is something IS doesn’t continue with in future games. The plot (or lack thereof) Oh man, and we laughed at Awakening’s plot? Awakening, while it didn’t have the most spectacular of stories, was well written, charming, and built on great moments. I can’t tell if this is because of poor localization or a bad script or a combination of the two, but Fates story was borderline abysmal. So bad at some points, that I skipped nearly all of the cutscenes (a shame, because some are beautifully animated) to save myself the strife. The story isn’t really that good in any of the paths, but the worst offender is Conquest. Absolutely nothing you do makes any sense, and the characters are strung along by a purely idiotic objective that nobody questions. I also felt that my army was terribly uninspiring. I have no idea why any of my units are fighting for me other than being a royal retainer—everyone kinda just joins because ‘master is fighting so I fight too!’. Chrom’s Shepherds in Awakening had one of my favourite character dynamics in the entire franchise, because they all had their own compelling individual reasons for fighting with you (Cordelia, Vaike and Panne come to mind). In Fates, it’s just a mess of random characters with no real reason to fight for you other than obedience to one of your royal siblings. It’s also easy to see (and this relates to my filler point) that a lot of story content was purposely cut from both paths so you would buy Revelation. By the time I finished each path, I was left feeling empty, confused, and unsatisfied. That’s not how you should feel upon completing a game. Also, did I mention the complete lack of worldbuilding? The freaking continent we’re on doesn’t even have a name, and after playing all three paths I still don’t really understand why the hell Nohr and Hoshido are fighting. But what really, really bothers me is that IS locked vital story details behind a wall of paid DLC (the Hidden Truths map). As if the three game split wasn’t already enough of a cash grab, that was just insulting. I have to pay out my ass to get a full story experience that could have easily been told in one game? That seems perfectly reasonable. Fanservice that breaks suspension of disbelief I’ve never really been bothered by fanservice. But with fanservice, there’s a time and a place—and this game definitely did not need this much. Battle panties, characters stripped after taking hits in battle, and ridiculously sexualized armour (I’m looking at you, Camilla), make me question what was going through the game designers’ heads. Fire Emblem is a cutthroat game, some even compare its difficulty to Dark Souls, so when I see all this ridiculous nudity, I lose that feeling of depth and immersion. This is also a game set in a medieval-fantasy type setting, so it’s rather jarring to have my units swinging swords and lances in their underwear while their breasts threaten to knock out the enemy. Most of the offenders are the Nohrian units. Charlotte has one of the most impractical and skimpiest battle outfits I have ever seen, and when I promoted Effie to a general, she wasn’t wearing any pants and her underwear were showing, even though she was decked out in a full suit of armour. Again, I’m not against fanservice, but this is a case where it was excessive and unnecessary. Moustache-twirling villains It was pretty obvious even before playing Fates that King Garon isn’t a good guy, but damn, bad guys don’t have to be cardboard either. I was really hoping based on Conquest’s descriptions that Garon would be a misguided king who committed morally questionable acts against Hoshido for the sake of his suffering kingdom (Nohr is short on resources and fertile land while Hoshido is brimming with sunlight and crops, something plot-vital but barely elaborated on). Instead, we get an insane, dragon-possessed madman who only wants Corrin’s suffering and Hoshido’s grisly end for literally no reason. I’m not kidding. Leaders can also be ruthless to the enemy while also a loving father to their children, but Garon has absolutely no redeeming qualities. He threatens his family with death if they don’t follow his orders and wants to invade an innocent nation just for the sake of boasting his blade. And if Garon wasn’t already bad enough, his two henchmen Iago and Hans are the absolute worst and most cringeworthy villains ever written. I have no idea what they want or why they’re so kill-happy other than for the sake of being evil. This proves that a good plot really does need a good villain, but there isn’t one to be found in the world of Fates. A plethora of tropey characters In Fates, nearly every single character has a distinct trope, but that’s it. There is hardly any depth to any of the characters, and reading their (extremely short) support conversations can be such a bore that I just skip them. The only character who I absolutely adore is Niles, all of his supports are rich in development, and his wit and charms are irresistible. I feel like IS bit off more than they could chew when making this game, as they had a huge cast of characters to deal with, and therefore couldn’t take the time to give them the development they needed. Effie is one of the worst offenders—she’s nothing but a ‘do you even lift bro’ meathead who only talks about eating and exercise. Yawn. So much potential for great characters as they’re designed beautifully by Kozaki, but their writing could definitely use some work. Corrin And finally, a huge reason I don’t like Fire Emblem Fates circles around its main hero or heroine… Corrin. Never has a video game protagonist been more whiny, helpless and passive, and playing through the game as them was so beyond frustrating that I couldn't help but roll my eyes every time they opened their mouth. I played Conquest first, so I have a really bad taste in my mouth already when it comes to Corrin. In Conquest, Corrin sides with Nohr out of loyalty to his Nohrian family, who have raised him for most of his life after he was kidnapped from Hoshido. To me, it always made sense to stay with the family who raised you as opposed to complete strangers, even if they were blood related (which they’re actually not LOL). This was even one of the driving forces for me to pick up Conquest in the first place. But had I known how the beginning of the game unfolds, I probably would have chosen differently. The opening chapters are set up in such a way that Corrin’s reasons for siding with Nohr are incredibly weak and unconvincing. Corrin knows that Garon is evil and that he wants him dead, yet he still decides to side with Nohr out of loyalty to his siblings (who kept secrets from him, never stood up for him when he was locked in a fortress for most of his life, and commit acts of violence unquestioningly in the name of their mad king of a father. Nice family). And it gets worse from there. After you run off to Nohr, Corrin turns into a murderous errand boy for King Garon who cries and complains about having to kill so many people, yet he does absolutely nothing to stand up to Garon and try to organize an uprising or revolution (like I thought would happen based on Conquest’s descriptions). The narrative tries to emphasize that Corrin hates killing the innocent and has a heart of gold, yet they make him violently invade an innocent nation just because he doesn’t have the guts to stand up to bad king dad (when he knows he’s an impostor). Conquest Corrin is the weakest, most pathetic video game character I have ever played as—never have I felt less empowered as I did when I played through Conquest. Next is Hoshido Corrin, who I must admit, is miles above Conquest Corrin, but he’s still nothing special. Corrin sides with Hoshido after witnessing Garon’s evils, and vows to take him down and bring peace to both warring nations. But once Corrin gets to Hoshido, it’s like he completely forgot his family back in Nohr. While I understand he’s probably on bitter terms with Nohr after learning of his past, they’re still his adoptive family. Not once does Corrin have a moment to think and reflect that he misses them. In fact, he has more of those moments about his Hoshido family in Conquest, who he literally met for less than 24 hours. It would have added to Corrin’s character if he actually showed that he missed his family back in Nohr. While Hoshido Corrin isn’t an idiot like he is in Conquest, he’s a rather cardboard character. I won’t bother talking about Revelation Corrin, he’s nothing special there either, but at least he has some reasonable drive. Fates isn't terrible by any means—the gameplay is solid, the soundtrack is beautiful, and the art direction is on point. I guess it just wasn't the game I thought it was going to be in the end.

I'm kinda on board with what most people have been saying. Children need to make sense in the story. Fates wrote them into the plot so badly that I was absolutely baffled when I married my first couple off. To add to that, the children in this game are really... meh. They just aren't interesting and are built almost solely around gimmicks and fetishes (I'm especially looking at you, Selkie). I mean, growing up in an isolated babyrealm until adulthood probably doesn't make for very much character development. Meanwhile, I loved the Awakening kids. They came from a ruined future and had to live with the pain of their parents' death, and have different goals and reasons for trying to save the world. Their supports with one another also feel more organic, and you can really feel like they might have grown up together. One of the problems with Fates is that it's afraid to be like Awakening, but also doesn't want to let it go. I feel like the children are an example of this. On all my run-throughs, the only kid I ever use is Velouria. The game would have been perfectly fine without children. Though it's a fun mechanic, the execution was so poorly done that it feels like a terrible gimmick. Unless it makes sense story wise, which I don't see happening for future instalments, kids can stay out.

I actually really like Kozaki's art style and thought he nailed the Awakening art direction. What I don't like about Fates is that a lot of the character designs lacked that rustic subtly and became over-the-top anime style with wild hair and outlandish armor, not to mention blatant fanservice galore (seriously Camilla??) As much as I love Senri's style, I think the new generation of FE is better off with Kozaki, I just hope he tones it down a bit for the next game.

I've never really been sure of adding the eastern aesthetic into Fire Emblem. It was a cool concept that was rather refreshing to see, but it feels kind of shoehorned into the series, and it made me forget I was playing Fire Emblem because it was just so different. (I also wasn't really a fan of how glorious Hoshido does absolutely nothing wrong while evil western Nohr burns babies at the stake.) Another thing I thought about was language barrier. Nohr and Hoshido are different in every possible way, it's east vs. west after all. So why isn't there a language barrier? Characters between the two countries talk to each other like they share a common language, and it just feels weird. I know this game doesn't get any medals for worldbuilding, and this is likely nitpicking (the characters do need to communicate after all), but it just crossed my mind. I honestly wish that Fates either stuck with a purely east asian aesthetic (two kingdoms are at war but are Japanese themed) or vice versa with the western aesthetic. The clash of cultures was poorly handled and I feel I wouldn't resent the eastern theme as much if A) they weren't portrayed so goody-goody or B) the entire kingdom was Japanese themed or Western themed, not both.

I honestly think the biggest mistake Fates made was splitting it into three games. Trying to write three compelling stories under serious time constraints is a recipe for disaster. It feels like we're playing through whatever ideas IS barfed out of their brains without any proofing. All three routes lack any compelling moments of foreshadowing, believable character development, and most of all, worldbuilding. If you asked me to explain the history behind Nohr and Hoshido's conflict, I honestly couldn't tell you. Are they at war because Garon needed Hoshido's resources, or because he was possessed by Anankos? I don't know, because it's barely explained. In addition, Valla is the most bland kingdom in all of Fire Emblem. It's written to be some formerly-prosperous holy land ruled by a kind King, but then fell at the hands of Anankos. What happened to the people? Why is it empty? Even after Grima laid waste to the land in Awakening, the people still existed, living in his shadow of terror. For the longest time I thought Valla was an alternate dimension where no life could exist. That's how epically they failed to convince me that Valla was a kingdom. And the greatest insult of all... the Hidden Truths DLC. I'm not against DLC, in fact, I enjoyed the Beach Brawl and Royal Royale DLC immensely. But you do NOT lock away key story points in a DLC, especially after we just drained our wallets on Revelation, the path that was SUPPOSED to give us all the answers. Honestly, when I finished Hidden Truths, I was so peeved. Is it really that hard to make a complete story, IS? Fates is one of the greatest gimmicks of the gaming world, yet I still love it unconditionally.

Interesting how people don't like the Nine-Tails design because of the tail. I think it's kinda awesome because in Japanese folklore, Kitsune who become old and wissened grow nine tails as a sign of their longevity and become demi gods, so the tails don't bother me. I also think it's kinda cool how when in Kitsune form, you can see little sprouts coming off their tail, which will soon grow into the Nine-Tail's tail.

Just wondering, which beast race do you prefer? Gameplay wise, I much prefer the Wolfskin. They are absolute tanks and are nearly indestructable. I used Velouria at the end of Conquest and she practically carried me through the rest of the game. Their strength can't be beat. Design wise, I prefer the Kitsune. They look like regal, slender foxes, I especially like the Nine-Tails design, whereas the Wolfskin look kinda... oddly bulky? I know they're supposed to be werewolves, but their face and body could use some work. Also, the Wolfssenger's red unicorn horn looks weird as hell, not sure if they're based on some mytholigical creature, but they're just strange looking things. Character wise, Wolfskin. I do like Kaden a lot but Selkie is a pretty shallow character who feels like fetish fuel, all she wants to do is play, that's it. Keaton is just as good as Kaden in a different kind of way, but Velouria is a a really solid, quirky character whose standoffish independance and strange habit for collecting odd things can be quite amusing. I also think the 'little red riding hood as the wolf' is a fresh take on character design. So for me... Wolfskin wins!