Fire Emblem Fates: The Good and the Bad (spoilers)

[Alex95]

Eh, why not? I decided to make a list of things I've liked in the game and the things I don't/didn't like. Keep in mind that these are my opinions, so they may differ from those of you that read this. Also, there may be spoilers!

The Good:

• The characters. You can't have a Fire Emblem game without a good cast of characters and Fates certainly delivers. The characters are well written, I believe, and are quite strong as well if you can get them up high enough. My favorite probably has to be Felicia due to her strong will of never giving up, even if things are going south. (Never mind the fact that I married her :P)
• The music. It's awesome. While I don't feel that it's as catchy as a few of the other titles, it's still very good. "Road Taken" is my favorite and I listen to it every time I do a challenge battle.
• The settings. The peaceful kingdom of Hoshido and the war-torn kingdom of Nohr. Black and white, yin and yang, good and evil... It's a simple concept, but it works and the characters and music fit the settings, as well. Characters in Hoshido are more brightly colored, but in looks and personality, and those in Nohr are more darker colored and strict. The fact that Hoshido is based off of historic Japan just makes it better for me.
• The renamed mechanics, such as Swords being called Katanas, Pegasus Knight being called Sky Knight, etc. It shows that, no matter how solidified the mechanics are, they are flexible. I know these are only for Hoshido, though, as Nohr follows the basic naming system of past FEs. However, the fact that I can have a male Pegasus Knight and a female Fighter is awesome. Also ninjas.
• My Castle. I like that I have my own castle to build and expand upon. It's a great improvement over the "Barracks" option in Awakening and New Mystery of the Emblem, too.

The Bad:

• The pair up system. I think it's terrible, at least how they did it here. In Awakening, I think it worked perfectly, but it falls short of perfection here in Fates. Your partner unit will only Dual Strike if they are positioned next to your attacking unit and they will only Dual Guard if they are paired up with the unit. While this provides more of a challenge, I get that, is it some-what undependable. The Dual Guard doesn't work to well as they only protect against the partner enemy unit, and they only guard against the main enemy unit if the Guard Gauge is full.
• The children. In both Genology and Awakening, the children were essential, story-wise. Here, they feel like a forced, fanservice-y mechanic and, while the characters are still well-written, I feel like they didn't need to be there. Sure, they help improve your army, but other than that, they don't really have a reason to be there... While I'm on the topic of fanservice
• The fanservice. I understand IS just came from a tight spot with Awakening and they wanted to amaze more people with Fates, but the fanservice is everywhere. I guess this would be a good or a bad thing depending on what the people like, but still... Did we really need under-dressed characters, the gay marriage, and perverted touching (in Japan)? At some points, I found myself morally abused... Sometimes, I feel games are trying to be TOO realistic...
• The story. While I feel the setting is great, the story was predicable. The king of Nohr is evil and the peaceful queen of Hoshido dies. It's simple, I get that, but I felt it to be a somewhat lazy attempt at story writing.
• The difficulty spike. More accurately, the difficulty spike at the beginning of the game. I had such a hard time getting through the first five chapters of Birthright on Hard that it felt like I was playing on Lunatic. I could've lowered it to Normal, yes, but then I wouldn't have been able to increase the difficulty back to Hard once I'm able to actually start training my units.

The eh:

• The Pokemon-esque delivery. In other words, three games to play, each with their own story. I suppose this would be more accurate to the Oracle games in the Zelda series, actually. Fire Emblem is a long and expansive game and, while I think this certainly works great, I may not sit through three games. But I don't know yet.
• The DLC. For those of you that know me, I've never been a fan of paid DLC. I think that's once you buy a game, all the content should be on there, unlocked by skill rather than money. That said, the DLC is great and I get that the developers may have ideas too late, but I don't feel like spending the equivalent of a whole 'nother game (or more) on the DLC. I already did that with Awakening. Honestly, it just feels greedy to me...

And that'll do it. This is my list of opinions, so I know I'll make a few people mad (especially with the "fanservice" bit, I think...Don't hate me.), but I haven't seen a post like this yet. I guess you can count this as my personal review of the game, too.

By the way, I have only played Birthright so far, but I know and have seen enough of the other games to write about them. My brothers have Conquest, so I've added what I heard from them into this review as well.

Let's see how many arguments I start with this post...

Edited March 6, 2016 by eclipse
If you can't be arsed to use spoiler tags, put something about spoilers in the topic title.

[Jayvee94]

We can actually start a sin count like Cinemasins.

Play a chapter.

E. G. Nohrian scum "that's racist (ding)"

Ryoma ex machina (ding)

*RNG screwed (ding)

Awesome crit quote (-1 sin)

Etc.

You get the point

[Emblem Blade]

"The Bad:

• The pair up system. I think it's terrible, at least how they did it here. In Awakening, I think it worked perfectly, but it falls short of perfection here in Fates. Your partner unit will only Dual Strike if they are positioned next to your attacking unit and they will only Dual Guard if they are paired up with the unit. While this provides more of a challenge, I get that, is it some-what undependable. The Dual Guard doesn't work to well as they only protect against the partner enemy unit, and they only guard against the main enemy unit if the Guard Gauge is full.
  
• The children. In both Genology and Awakening, the children were essential, story-wise. Here, they feel like a forced, fanservice-y mechanic and, while the characters are still well-written, I feel like they didn't need to be there. Sure, they help improve your army, but other than that, they don't really have a reason to be there... While I'm on the topic of fanservice
  
• The fanservice. I understand IS just came from a tight spot with Awakening and they wanted to amaze more people with Fates, but the fanservice is everywhere. I guess this would be a good or a bad thing depending on what the people like, but still... Did we really need under-dressed characters, the gay marriage, and perverted touching (in Japan)? At some points, I found myself morally abused... Sometimes, I feel games are trying to be TOO realistic...
  
• The story. While I feel the setting is great, the story was predicable. The king of Nohr is evil and the peaceful queen of Hoshido dies. It's simple, I get that, but I felt it to be a somewhat lazy attempt at story writing.
  
• The difficulty spike. More accurately, the difficulty spike at the beginning of the game. I had such a hard time getting through the first five chapters of Birthright on Hard that it felt like I was playing on Lunatic. I could've lowered it to Normal, yes, but then I wouldn't have been able to increase the difficulty back to Hard once I'm able to actually start training my units."
  

Well, I can agree on mostly on all but points 1, 2 and 4.

*Point 1: Awakening, the Dual Strike System was absurdly broken, players could rally and item abuse to break through the story and any streetpass team (since Streetpass teams don't use the Dual System). Even with units with average skill stats, you could Dual Strike about 60% of the time. The Dual Guard System...yeah, that didn't need to be nerfed considering how bad most of the characters in Fates have regarding Defense and Resistance Growths. However, the Dual Guard System in Fates is tweaked, if the main attacker fills the Guard Gauge (by either actually hitting you or missing you), then your Guard ally will block the enemy's support attacker's attack if the enemy's support attacker attacks before your main unit can attack.

*Point 2: The only child that was essential to the story in Awakening was Lucina (due to game purposes which she would auto-join at a certain chapter), you didn't need to obtain the rest of them.

*Point 4: Actually, the real King Garon wasn't actually evil in the most common sense. The real King Garon was a loving and affectionate father to his children and concubines until they started to kill each other, at that point, the real King Garon literally lost most of his sanity but he still was caring to his children in a way. The real King Garon died early on, the 'Garon' that killed Sumeragi most likely wasn't the real King Garon. Queen Mikoto died saving her actual child, there were other ways that could be used to avoid her death as some people could debate about.

The eh:

• The Pokemon-esque delivery. In other words, three games to play, each with their own story. I suppose this would be more accurate to the Oracle games in the Zelda series, actually. Fire Emblem is a long and expansive game and, while I think this certainly works great, I may not sit through three games. But I don't know yet.
  
• The DLC. For those of you that know me, I've never been a fan of paid DLC. I think that's once you buy a game, all the content should be on there, unlocked by skill rather than money. That said, the DLC is great and I get that the developers may have ideas too late, but I don't feel like spending the equivalent of a whole 'nother game (or more) on the DLC. I already did that with Awakening. Honestly, it just feels greedy to me...
  

Don't ask about the Pokemon-word delivery, different games. Define 'obtain by skill' here, that is very funny the way how you said it. Normally, DLC is bonus material for players and is usually separate from the game's actual purpose.

[MCProductions]

I may as well list mine too, because why not

Good

Characters

New Weapon and Pair Up mechanics

Conquest's map design

Bad Don't hate me for having controversial opinions, please

Gay marriage options, I just don't feel they have a place in FE tbh, sorry.

The story not giving me enough reason imo to choose Hoshido

Azura, Sorry, I just don't like her

Ugly

The negativity towards the story

The fact this game is nearly 80% DLC.

[Orion5487]

I disagree with your opinion about the pair-up system. The pair-up system in awakening was extremely powerful and practically broke the game, making too easy (unless you were playing Lunatic/Lunatic+ with no grinding, then it was necessary). I think the pair-up system in Fates was an improvement, and a step in the right direction, but not quite perfect. I also think the new system is MORE dependable because you know exactly when you'll be able to dual guard and/or dual attack. You can more reliably plan your strategies around it. I still think it's a little too strong of a mechanic, and I don't like how guard stance is usually the better option as opposed to attack stance. I'd like to see it more balanced in the next game.

[Emblem Blade]

I disagree with your opinion about the pair-up system. The pair-up system in awakening was extremely powerful and practically broke the game, making too easy (unless you were playing Lunatic/Lunatic+ with no grinding, then it was necessary). I think the pair-up system in Fates was an improvement, and a step in the right direction, but not quite perfect. I also think the new system is MORE dependable because you know exactly when you'll be able to dual guard and/or dual attack. You can more reliably plan your strategies around it. I still think it's a little too strong of a mechanic, and I don't like how guard stance is usually the better option as opposed to attack stance. I'd like to see it more balanced in the next game.

The Dual System is better as it is in Fates than Awakening as Fates allows enemies to abuse the system as well since there is no 70%+ chance of auto-attacking when supported. The Dual Guard System refinement is also nice since characters who have naturally high Speed, Luck, Defense and Resistance (all which in Awakening contributed to the trigger rate of Dual Guards) no longer give a 50%+ chance of blocking you or your support attacker's attacks making fights become useless.

[Alex95]

Yeah, I was bit off with the pair up in Awakening. It was broken, yes, but I think it worked better than it does here in Fates. I like that the enemy can use it too, but if that's the case, I don't think there was a need to edit it.

*Point 2: The only child that was essential to the story in Awakening was Lucina (due to game purposes which she would auto-join at a certain chapter), you didn't need to obtain the rest of them.

Whoops, that's right! I meant that they made sense as to their inclusion.

One "eh" I forgot to mention:

• The lack of weapon uses. I now don't have to worry about my weapon breaking (aside from staves/rods), but I feel that some of the strategy revolving around it is lost. I honestly don't know how I feel about this.

Edited March 6, 2016 by Power Master

[Jayvee94]

Yeah, I was bit off with the pair up in Awakening. It was broken, yes, but I think it worked better than it does here in Fates. I like that the enemy can use it too, but if that's the case, I don't think there was a need to edit it.

Whoops, that's right! I meant that they made sense as to their inclusion.

One "eh" I forgot to mention:

• The lack of weapon uses. I now don't have to worry about my weapon breaking (aside from staves/rods), but I feel that some of the strategy revolving around it is lost. I honestly don't know how I feel about this.

Either you've been ignoring your weapon's drawbacks or the drawbacks are never too big for you.

[Emblem Blade]

Yeah, I was bit off with the pair up in Awakening. It was broken, yes, but I think it worked better than it does here in Fates. I like that the enemy can use it too, but if that's the case, I don't think there was a need to edit it.

Whoops, that's right! I meant that they made sense as to their inclusion.

One "eh" I forgot to mention:

• The lack of weapon uses. I now don't have to worry about my weapon breaking (aside from staves/rods), but I feel that some of the strategy revolving around it is lost. I honestly don't know how I feel about this.

If the Dual Strike System of the Dual System wasn't refined...imagine Streetpass Teams who have taken the extreme of maxing every stat and Dual Striking every turn of action... Actual boss fights and random encounters would have some enemies constantly Dual Strike you and that would be bad news for beginners to Fates if they haven't even played Awakening first. If by Weapon/Staff/Rod/Stone durability you mean, only weapons or items that can inflict damage have infinite use but not staves/rods is bad thing (as only Enemies can abuse infinite Staves/Rod durability and those enemies are usually bosses), then yes, I can agree. Either have every staff/rod and anything that does damage have finite uses or infinite uses. Or at least have that apply accordingly to difficulty settings for players (Enemies are exempt). Normal/Easy has infinite use on weapons/rods/staves/stones, Hard you can choose up to one of them should have infinite uses (either Staves/Rods or Weapons/Stones). Lunatic, all weapons/stones/rods/staves have finite uses.

[Emblem Blade]

Either you've been ignoring your weapon's drawbacks or the drawbacks are never too big for you.

Most likely it's been both for him and I, the drawbacks aren't as severe or they don't even cause any harm to your units.

[Camilla]

The Bad: Bringing back characters from Awakening, especially the reincarnation ones in Hoshido.

I can put up with Inigo, Owain, and Bratface coming over from Awakening for some kind of reason, but the reincarnation children were just stupid.

The children system in this game in general is bad. 12 year old girls like Elise can have sex and give birth. That's really disturbing. I would have been alright with it if it was another "from the future" sort of thing, but not as a present day happening. Also, how does 9 months just magically go by so fast? And the kids magically age to maturity so that the avatar can marry them! The whole thing is ridiculous.

Hoshido's gameplay was really bad too. "Rout the enemy! Rout the enemy! Rout the enemy!" It was getting really boring.

The Good: Nohr's characters. I think that the cast of characters in Nohr really manage to stand out, unlike most of the characters in Hoshido. I'm also happy with the pair-up system and the marriage system (it is fun to have your avatar husbando someone). I like the classes and the weapons too.

The Meh: Hoshido's characters. While there are a couple of good characters in Hoshido, the majority of them are very bland and forgettable.

I'm not a huge fan of the seal system in this game either. I preferred Awakening's seal system.

Edited March 6, 2016 by Camilla

[Fruity Insanity]

I dunno what you're on, but pair up is so much better in this game. More reliable. Less flat-out broken. Way better balanced, since enemies pair up/dual attack, too.

[Emblem Blade]

The Bad: Bringing back characters from Awakening, especially the reincarnation ones in Hoshido.

I can put up with Inigo, Owain, and Bratface coming over from Awakening for some kind of reason, but the reincarnation children were just stupid.

The children system in this game in general is bad. 12 year old girls like Elise can have sex and give birth. That's really disturbing. I would have been alright with it if it was another "from the future" sort of thing, but not as a present day happening. Also, how does 9 months just magically go by so fast? And the kids magically age to maturity so that the avatar can marry them! The whole thing is ridiculous.

Hoshido's gameplay was really bad too. "Rout the enemy! Rout the enemy! Rout the enemy!" It was getting really boring.

The Good: Nohr's characters. I think that the cast of characters in Nohr really manage to stand out, unlike most of the characters in Hoshido. I'm also happy with the pair-up system and the marriage system (it is fun to have your avatar husbando someone). I like the classes and the weapons too.

The Meh: Hoshido's characters. While there are a couple of good characters in Hoshido, the majority of them are very bland and forgettable.

I'm not a huge fan of the seal system in this game either. I preferred Awakening's seal system.

'The Bad' section isn't really needed...because most of the time in any Fire Emblem Game is, Route the Enemy to win.

'The Good' section doesn't really show much emphasis on what. Keep in mind that Xander and Ryoma are just about as similar to each other as Elise is to Sakura bar some personality differences. Takumi is slightly different than Leo but that's barely enough. The only major difference outside of retainers is between Camille and Hinoka. Really, their personalities shouldn't factor into how the game is described. Dual System in Fates is better somewhat than Awakening's. Don't know what to say regarding the marriage system really, lost at words for that part. Reclass System got nerfed for good reasons, infinite weapon durability for non-special weapons is a tad much.

'The Meh' section...see 'The Good' section for my reasons.

[Thane]

I've made a lot of my opinions thoroughly known, so I'll speak of a single "meh"/negative: My Castle.

What's the point? Why is the gaming industry so damn obsessed with building bases all of a sudden? What does this add to anything? It just negatively affects the flow of the story in exchange for fan service.

[Orion5487]

The Dual System is better as it is in Fates than Awakening as Fates allows enemies to abuse the system as well since there is no 70%+ chance of auto-attacking when supported. The Dual Guard System refinement is also nice since characters who have naturally high Speed, Luck, Defense and Resistance (all which in Awakening contributed to the trigger rate of Dual Guards) no longer give a 50%+ chance of blocking you or your support attacker's attacks making fights become useless.

I agree with you that it is better in Fates than Awakening... my original comment was targeted at the topic creator and their original post.

[Alex95]

Either you've been ignoring your weapon's drawbacks or the drawbacks are never too big for you.

I'm aware of the weapon drawbacks and game balances and have used them to as great of an extant as I can. Like I sad, I honestly don't know how I feel about this.

I've made a lot of my opinions thoroughly known, so I'll speak of a single "meh"/negative: My Castle.

What's the point? Why is the gaming industry so damn obsessed with building bases all of a sudden? What does this add to anything? It just negatively affects the flow of the story in exchange for fan service.

I see it as more of a fun, extra thing. Just something to do in FE if you don't feel like battling random enemies or move on through the story.

[Emblem Blade]

I agree with you that it is better in Fates than Awakening... my original comment was targeted at the topic creator and their original post.

If the designers could refine the Dual System and Reclass System, at least they could make the Story longer than 27-28 chapters. Path of Radiance had nearly 49-50 Chapters before Bonus Content and some of the earlier installments had much harder (or somewhat harder) quests and slightly longer chapters that exceed 30 chapters at the least.

[Thane]

I see it as more of a fun, extra thing. Just something to do in FE if you don't feel like battling random enemies or move on through the story.

I don't see the fun in moving blocks around and farming resources - that sounds like one of the reasons why I quit World of Warcraft.

[Emblem Blade]

I'm aware of the weapon drawbacks and game balances and have used them to as great of an extant as I can. Like I sad, I honestly don't know how I feel about this.

I see it as more of a fun, extra thing. Just something to do in FE if you don't feel like battling random enemies or move on through the story.

Extra non-payable content to do when you don't have access to wi-fi and you don't want to do more random challenges...can't argue much there. Then again, it isn't much to amuse players.

[Camilla]

'The Bad' section isn't really needed...because most of the time in any Fire Emblem Game is, Route the Enemy to win.

'The Good' section doesn't really show much emphasis on what. Keep in mind that Xander and Ryoma are just about as similar to each other as Elise is to Sakura bar some personality differences. Takumi is slightly different than Leo but that's barely enough. The only major difference outside of retainers is between Camille and Hinoka. Really, their personalities shouldn't factor into how the game is described. Dual System in Fates is better somewhat than Awakening's. Don't know what to say regarding the marriage system really, lost at words for that part. Reclass System got nerfed for good reasons, infinite weapon durability for non-special weapons is a tad much.

'The Meh' section...see 'The Good' section for my reasons.

You sound like you either think that you're a professor grading someone's paper, the authority figure on Fire Emblem, or a mixture of both.

1. The bad section is needed because people are free to express their opinions on what they like and dislike about a game. Also what you said is just false. Fire Emblem 4, 5, 6 only had seize maps, 7, 8, 9, and 10 were mixes, and 11 only had seize maps. Rout the enemy was pretty much all you did in Hoshido, and my opinion is that a game full of rout the enemy maps is boring. Seize maps are much more fun.

2. The royal siblings aren't the only Nohr characters. Nearly the entire cast of characters stand out more because they have more personality and characteristics. I would also disagree about Elise and Sakura or Leo and Takumi being alike.

3. Okay Professor Fire Emblem. Next time I'll make sure to write a full essay on my opinions while shoving my lunch down my throat.

[Roflolxp54]

@Thread creator

No durability stat (which is a thing in Fire Emblem Gaiden so it's not a new mechanic in Fates) in non-staff weapons is balanced out by:

-various debuffs present on non-iron or similar weapons

-higher weapon costs and limited supplies of weapons that aren't bronze, iron, and similar stuff.

-very high forging costs if you plan on forging a weapon all the way to +7

Gay marriage and finding yourself "morally abused" ... Oh boy, welcome to the Internet.

In any case, you can just ignore the fanservice and skinship is largely removed from the localized versions of the game (and stuff done in Private Quarters can be ignored anyways as you can always gain support points on the battlefield). Children characters can be skipped over as none of them are required to be recruited to finish the story.

The attack and guard stances aren't as RNG-based as compared to Awakening's pair-up, not to mention how broken Awakening's pair up system is.

[Emblem Blade]

You sound like you either think that you're a professor grading someone's paper, the authority figure on Fire Emblem, or a mixture of both.

1. The bad section is needed because people are free to express their opinions on what they like and dislike about a game. Also what you said is just false. Fire Emblem 4, 5, 6 only had seize maps, 7, 8, 9, and 10 were mixes, and 11 only had seize maps. Rout the enemy was pretty much all you did in Hoshido, and my opinion is that a game full of rout the enemy maps is boring. Seize maps are much more fun.

2. The royal siblings aren't the only Nohr characters. Nearly the entire cast of characters stand out more because they have more personality and characteristics. I would also disagree about Elise and Sakura or Leo and Takumi being alike.

3. Okay Professor Fire Emblem. Next time I'll make sure to write a full essay on my opinions while shoving my lunch down my throat.

Someone took what I said way too seriously. I'm not a professor, I'm only 21 years old irl. And again, forums results with debates, opinions which can both lead to arguments. You spoke about how boring 'Route the Enemy' missions become, hey, I'm not against that view, it does get very repetitive and lame after a certain point in the game especially if it's the only mission (or most o the time) to completing the chapter. If it helps you out, it would be better for us to have a topic saying, what the designers could add to the game and how they should try to improvise on it to make it better rather than saying what is already bad. Character preference is common among fans, so I'll avoid giving character bias for as long as possible since it will only make things worse as it is.

[Alertcircuit]

Good:

• The Avatar: Robin and Kris were fan-ficy cardboard cutouts, Corrin is at least a real character..
• Pair-Up: Was overpowered in Awakening, works better here. Enemies can pair-up too.
• Story: More well-written than Awakening's, characters actually die, choices matter.
• Weapon Durability Removal: Not sure what this entails on harder difficulties, but on normal it makes the game significantly less tedious.
• 3 Campaigns: This game does multiple versions without seeming like a cashgrab. (Shoutout to Pokemon) One game is harder than the other, which is also cool because there's more options and different experiences. Buy one, get the second for $20 is pretty awesome too.
• My Castle: Nice little side-thing to do if you're bored with the main game.

Meh:

• Children: The deeprealm explanation was thrown in and weird, throwing them in some other universe where they age super fast is probably less safe than just keeping them at camp. Also some of the children are just reskinned Awakening characters.
• Phoenix Mode: Did anyone want this?

Bad:

• Incest: You can marry your brothers and sisters. Not much more to say there.
• Skinship: Is this a Japanese thing that I don't understand? Not sure what the appeal is, just seems creepy.
• The original Soleil/MCorrin support: This deserves its own list item.
• Diversity (or lack thereof): There's literally more people that can turn into animals than there are people with a darker skintone.

[Qilin]

I actually have an easier time with the first 5 lunatic chapters of Fates than Awakening. I find that with Fates the difficulty ramps up while with Awakening it gets progressively easy thanks to more accessible grinding and the inability for the enemy to pair up. In Fates the enemies can pretty much do everything you can do, so while a new mechanic is introduced and you are still learning it, the enemies are already using it right away.

I have mixed feelings with the loss of durability at first but I find it more acceptable as I played more of the game. In Awakening, you would have been wise enough to carry an extra weapon anyway if you see one running low, and could just grind for more, rendering the desperation moot. In contrast it's extremely unrealistic that a legendary sword will last 15 or so hits.

But yeah, I don't like the game being split into 3 versions. I think it is a low brow cash grab, and worse than Pokemon. You could get the most important missing content in your version by trading Pokemon. In Fates you must pay $80 for the "complete" game. I am not sold on their claim that the 3 routes warrant 3 games. A great number of games in the past have offered diverse routes and options. Look at Fallout New Vegas, where most missions alone have multiple sides to choose, and you can even play the entire game by killing everyone. They still just sold it as one game. Star Fox is another example, you get different levels depending on which route you discover, but yet it is just one game. Nintendo can claim that, but put it in perspective, in comparison to these and other similar games already on the market, Fates is in no way worth $80 from having different routes alone. I have Conquest, I'll be buying Revelations and not Birthright.

Edited March 6, 2016 by Qilin

[Alex95]

@Thread creator

No durability stat (which is a thing in Fire Emblem Gaiden so it's not a new mechanic in Fates) in non-staff weapons is balanced out by:

-various debuffs present on non-iron or similar weapons

-higher weapon costs and limited supplies of weapons that aren't bronze, iron, and similar stuff.

-very high forging costs if you plan on forging a weapon all the way to +7

Gay marriage and finding yourself "morally abused" ... Oh boy, welcome to the Internet.

In any case, you can just ignore the fanservice and skinship is largely removed from the localized versions of the game (and stuff done in Private Quarters can be ignored anyways as you can always gain support points on the battlefield). Children characters can be skipped over as none of them are required to be recruited to finish the story.

The attack and guard stances aren't as RNG-based as compared to Awakening's pair-up, not to mention how broken Awakening's pair up system is.

I know the no durability weapons aren't a new thing, but it's new to me, so I'm trying to work with it. And, yeah, I just ignore what I don't want/like, but it's still there, and I can't do anything about that.

Incest: You can marry your brothers and sisters. Not much more to say there.

Oh, yeah, completely forgot about this creepy thing!

Since I'm kinda regarding this as a review, I might as well give it a score:

9.0 out of 10

While it (like pretty much any game ever) has it's flaws, I still find it to be a very enjoyable and amusing game. There are things that need improvements or things it didn't need, but I'm having a lot of fun with this game and it would please any Fire Emblem fan, both new and old.