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What do you think of Fates 1 year later?


MorgueWolf
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I like Fates well enough overall. In terms of gameplay, it reigns supreme for me. The re-balanced Pair-Up system, lowered stat inflation, better maps (in Conquest's case); it makes playing the games a treat.

However, Birthright is too easy, Conquest has a royally bad story, and Revelation is so gimmicky it hurts, not to mention it has some scenes that outright piss me off. Additionally, Corrin is bad, and the whole children aspect is done so, so poorly. Saying that Fates is failed potential really does encapsulate my feelings well.

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Hey, I really want to thank everyone for replying. This is exactly the feedback I was hoping for. I think you all have definitely nailed what I like and don't like. I personally love the rebalancing of Awakening's gameplay systems and mechanics. And for me, something I don't think people said, was I loved the art style. The aesthetic of japan fighting against medieval europe was very very cool to me and gave the different sides tons of personalization. Especially with their weapons. And conquest was a blast to play through and felt very classic but yeah while the story was serviceable it wasn't compelling but it's not terrible so you end up feeling like it could have been so much more.

 

As for the flaws I think I finally understand why this game is so polarizing. Because it certainly has a lot of flaws and there was a lot of hype. And playing it is so great as far as gameplay I think it comes down to how much the bad story, and weak characters, in a story and character focused game, hurts your individual experience. Or how much weaker gameplay of certain stories puts you off. And if you spent money on all of them but only enjoyed a few it could definitely feel wasted.

Ertrick36 hit on what might be one of my biggest missing pieces of this game and that was world building. I was constantly asking things like "Where are we? What are the troop numbers?" And the writers seemingly didn't care to put a lot of effort in and would just plot write through any of that. Which was specifically disappointing because one thing awakening did really well was world building.

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On 13/03/2017 at 10:08 PM, Gruntagen said:

I...I don't have an argument. I just know that I can't see the "amazing gameplay" that everybody talks about from Conquest. All I see is characters that I hate.

To explain simply; Conquest has the best Balance to Difficulty ratio in the entire series. 

You have games like New Mystery and Thracia with high difficulty, but poor balance and/or mechanics. Or Blazing Blade, Sacred Stones and PoR with a balanced cast of units/mechanics but weak difficulty (HHM starts off fairly strong, but then falls off a cliff).

Conquest nails both, while having some of the highest depth in terms of mechanics, what with skills and stances. And despite it's difficulty, relies far less on cheap/unfair situations/mechanics compared to the other games in the series also considered very difficult. Map design and objectives are some of the best and most diverse in the series as well. And every single unit in Conquest is at least decent/okay with the possible exception of Odin, who's still only mediocre at worst (solid nosfertank and reclass possibilities). 

Edited by DLuna
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16 hours ago, Sword_of_Dusk said:

Exactly how familiar are you with Fire Emblem as a whole?

Less than I thought. I've never cared about gameplay, and the only insight I have on map design comes from Integrity yelling at FE4.

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I came back into the FE series through awakening, as i had fond memories playing the GBA ones as a child. Truth be told, awakening was a tad underwhelming gameplay wise, so when i played fates, i was expecting to be disappointed and find the gameplay to be easy. I was pleasantly surprised. As many people have said already, conquest had by and far the best gameplay the series has seen in a long time, if not ever. While i didn't care for the story, the gameplay was quite engaging and renewed my vigor for the series. I was also pretty excited about the PvP as well, but unfortunately found that it was being overrun with rocket tag and OTK strategies. Even limited mode had much of the same, and attempts at trying to establish a PvP ruleset mostly died out, which honestly disappointed me. Overall, it was more than i was expecting, and a game i still enjoy, but it felt like there was a lot of wasted potential with the installment (another point numerous people have made.)

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I found Fates as a whole to be really fun but heavily flawed.

I think the gameplay is fantastic and I really enjoy most of the characters in both Conquest and Birthright. (especially Conquest) The maps in Conquest are pretty great and interesting, while Birthright's are pretty boring and more or less like an Awakening 2.0. Revelations' maps were a mess with so many gimmicks that I really just didn't enjoy, which is a shame.

Conquest's story was just plain awful, in my opinion.  I won't really rant, but Corrin was such a wimpy idiot, and Azura was just as frustrating. The royals' actions could be infuriating sometimes too. I really haven't disliked a player-made main character in a game so much in a long time. Birthright's story was done with a more generic spin to it, but I'll take generic over Conquest's mess. Revelations was better than Conquest but worse than Birthright to me. It had the benefit of giving you the actual, complete (and more satisfying) ending to the story which was nice. And despite the horrible character balance with base stats and join levels, I did enjoy getting to use my favorites from both of the other paths together. Also kind of story-related; the children units were poorly shoved into the game, I think. I like them as characters/units themselves, but the explanation around them really weak and they were clearly trying to write something to justify bringing the children unit feature back from Awakening. At least Awakening integrated them pretty seamlessly into the main story. They're just really tacked on here and I wish they'd of done a better job with it.

I think the My Castle feature is really cool, even if it's heavily (and poorly) shoehorned into the story just like the children. All the little interactions you can do and buildings you can use are really nice, and I like the online features of My Castle too. I just wish skill buying didn't sit there and tempt you to buy skills and cheese your first playthrough.(but it's a great and fun feature aside from that) I hope future games have something similar. It was a big step up from Awakening's barracks and attempt at online features through the world map.

And just to not forget it, I didn't do much with the pvp but it pretty much became a mess of cheesy/meme builds right away. That's no doubt fun for some, but I personally wanted to play with more "normal" units instead. Unfortunately my only friend playing the game is in a different region, so we got region locked from each other.

So basically like the opening statement, I really enjoyed the games and put a lot of time into them, despite the flaws, but the flaws are really glaring. It's mainly the story that drags it down a few notches. Conquest is still my favorite FE so far if I just try to tune out the stupidity of the story. There's so many characters in Fates I really enjoy playing with, and the mechanics and maps are just a blast to play with besides a couple of frustrating chapters/moments. If the next new FE game manages to have gameplay and characters as good as Conquest, while making an actually well-written story on top of it, I'll be very, very happy.

Edited by Alkaid
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On 13/3/2017 at 0:34 AM, DLuna said:

Revelations mostly failed on its gimmicks and is horribly balanced. It's one of the worst games the series has had so far, if not the worst. I don't think it'll be remembered fondly as far as the community goes -- it's just DLC technically.

 

On 13/3/2017 at 6:36 AM, Ertrick36 said:

Lastly, Revelation has, without a doubt, the worst gameplay.  It's drawn out as hell, it's gimmicky without bringing challenge, and it's mindless.  It just feels like it all was cobbled together at the last moment.  BR at least feels like it had a bit of thought put into it; every facet of Revelation feels like it's just there to prolong gameplay.  The sole reason I even choose to play it anymore is to get all the supports.  But that's only fun on occasion.

 

I still don't understand: of course the Revelations path is Gimmicky. It is a DLC, it HAS to be gimmicky. Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation is more the game where you can build your dream team for competitive MyCastle battles instead of being focused on a plot, that, it's... empty? If you take the Revelation path you will discover not only that the game has a weak plot. In a sense, it does not have a plot and it's more a way of covering the narrative wholes of the first games rather than having a purely political story. In a sense, it's closer to Awakening. But if i have to be honest, Revelation offers a couple of interesting maps, not hard to cover, but interesting in the way you'll play them. To me none of the three is the best nor the worst FE. Because of the sperimental vain of the game, there is no BEST Fire Emblem, there's just your favorite. Plus, this chapter has clearly the most complicated yet awesome weapon triangle, with unbreakable but full of specs weapons: for most of them, it's not a matter of how many damages, it's more a matter of what the consequence of having this weapon will benefit or damage me, and it's amazing. To me, the biggest flaw of this game is the cutscene world, which aren't touchy as the one in Awakening and are a big stepback.

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I still like Fates, but can understand how flawed the game is in story and in certain gameplay elements. I heard the story was actually rushed however, so I'm hoping Switch does well in that department.

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Fates: They've done well for the combat.

Otherwise, I miss awakening for:

-story handling (this includes the avatar's role)

-unit aesthetic (armor design, and animations. Swordmasters, Heroes, and Chrom as a Lord most of all. I'd prefer a classic Mage over the Diviner/Onmyoji. I woulda've loved to see Spear Fighter/Spearmaster in nohrian/awakening/tellius style)

-supports (More that felt meaningful. Less Avatar-exclusive supports. Far better S rank conversations that usually seemed alot more natural. Also, I really do miss the voiced lines during the conversations)

-unit UI window

-weapon Icons

-the homage it paid to the whole franchise

Edited by maninbluejumpsuit
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  • 2 months later...

After a year, I can still say that gameplay wise, Fates offers the best. Even as a casual gamer myself, Conquest is the best out of them all. The only downside to this is that the stories in which ever path you choose is underwhelming and the same goes for the music with a few exceptions.

 

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My opinion in short:

BR: I didn't bother trying it as it seemed too easy

CQ: Story: Godafwul, Chapters:Challenging, fun for the most part, too gimmicky for my taste at some points

REV: Horrible story, mediocre gameplay at best, way too gimmicky and not too challenging, in my eyes it was a waste of money

I don't think I'll ever replay any one of them (maybe CQ, probably not), whilst with other entries (e.g. Blazing Sword, Genealogy, Echoes) I immediately felt like replaying them with extra challenges (draft, LTC, iron man etc.)  after finishing them, so yeah, that's a bad sign.

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after playing it for a year I have never been able to muster up the motivation to finish it ever after I've beaten it once. I'd start a new save, get too, I'd like to say around chapter 21 for all the games, and just not be having fun enough to finish it. This goes for all of them, Conquest, Birthright, and Revelation.

Edited by Tuvy
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Story wise yeah all paths are pretty generic with Conquests being particularly flawed and problematic and I'll flat out admit the child units make zero sense whatso ever.  Call me weird but I actually liked the whole time travel thing Awakening had going for it. However, gameplay wise in my mind at least Fates fixed alot of things from great things Awakening introduced such as a pair up.  Pair up is balanced and honestly works great in fates, I actually prefer the way they handled weapon durability and the bonuses they either give or take away depending on what kind of weapon it is.

 

Music was great too especially on the Nohr side oh and they have feet now too so thats a plus.

Edited by LordOTaco
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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, Fates was my first FE game. I started with Birthright and fell in love with it. I loved Conquest and Revelation even more. I played through each pathway multiple times. When I finished each pathway on Lunatic/Classic with minimal or no grinding, it was one of the happiest achievements I've had with gaming. I loved the story but then...I read all the criticisms...and I can't defend them.

I'm in an awkward place. I've only played two Fire Emblem games, Fates and Echoes, never actually played Awakening yet. Fates was my first FE game. I love it greatly as I do Echoes...and to see them so widely panned and not being able to defend them because of the legitimate points made...it's a bit sad.

Perhaps, I should keep my distance from these forums. Yes, the stories have flaws and in some ways as nonsensical like a cartoon, but I greatly like them. I've spent so much time invested in the two games. Thankfully, this thread has expressed appreciation.

Perhaps, for the most part, I'll just keep watching youtube videos (like Abduallah. Yes, he takes overgrinding to an extreme, but he's a great youtuber.), where the criticism over story and all is less intense.

Out of curiosity, what does this community consider to be a good FE story?

Edited by DarkDefeater
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After playing Echoes, it only made me like this game more. Because all Echoes is, something pretty to look at and as fun as writing an exam at 9:00 am on a Saturday or a cyst between your ass in the upper area. Fates is fun to play and that's the main purpose of a video game.

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On 6/23/2017 at 7:21 PM, DarkDefeater said:

Well, Fates was my first FE game. I started with Birthright and fell in love with it. I loved Conquest and Revelation even more. I played through each pathway multiple times. When I finished each pathway on Lunatic/Classic with minimal or no grinding, it was one of the happiest achievements I've had with gaming. I loved the story but then...I read all the criticisms...and I can't defend them.

I'm in an awkward place. I've only played two Fire Emblem games, Fates and Echoes, never actually played Awakening yet. Fates was my first FE game. I love it greatly as I do Echoes...and to see them so widely panned and not being able to defend them because of the legitimate points made...it's a bit sad.

Perhaps, I should keep my distance from these forums. Yes, the stories have flaws and in some ways as nonsensical like a cartoon, but I greatly like them. I've spent so much time invested in the two games. Thankfully, this thread has expressed appreciation.

Perhaps, for the most part, I'll just keep watching youtube videos (like Abduallah. Yes, he takes overgrinding to an extreme, but he's a great youtuber.), where the criticism over story and all is less intense.

Out of curiosity, what does this community consider to be a good FE story?

You can recognize a story has flaws and still enjoy or appreciate it, and it doesn't sound like you got into any fights with forum members.  You just keep doing you; no one's here to force you to hate the game.

Though on the topic of story, I personally feel that what really carries a story in a FE game is the characters, at least in the later games.  It's what I find draws me back to some of the games.  And this game has some of my favorites from the series.

And I think most here have criticisms for every game's story, but other than some LPs, I haven't seen much mud slung at Genealogy of the Holy War.  I personally like Mystery's story because of its antagonist and the fact that Marth's essentially forced to do f*** all for a year as the enemy screws everyone over.  Though I've only beaten the last five games, so my experience is limited...

Edited by Ertrick36
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I really think Fates hits mostly a homerun in the gameplay department, in Conquest (Somewhat in Birthright) and thats its major strength overall. 

I like some of the characters but there is a bit of annoying baggage if you're not just in for the gameplay like I mostly am with FE.

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Hey, Fates was released exactly two years ago in Japan. This was the day I started playing it all that time ago. Man, feels like an eternity ago. Too bad it wasn't the game I was hoping it would be, to express myself mildly.

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To this day, I still haven't beat Revelations, but its mostly because I burnt myself out trying to grind out all the supports.

As for what I think about the games themselves? Eh, I'm... mostly indifferent. I love the vast majority of the characters, I love the aesthetics and character designs of.... most of the cast, I love the music and I love the gameplay improvements it introduced. Hell, I even love Birthright and Conquest equally.

But its just not a very memorable games. The story and world make no sense and though I like the characters they're also not very memorable either.

Its a nice game, but its not my favorite. I would certainly not go back to replay it any time soon.

I liked Awakening far more even if it was simple and easy.

That's how I feel.

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What I think is that its among the worst games in the franchise. It has my 2nd least favorite cast in FE. I don't like the English VA's. Some stand out but most I don't like. I didn't like pair up or the way weapons worked. Despite me saying all those bad things about it its still FE and I don't mind playing it once in a while.

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After my first playthroughs I thought the games were just merely fine, but then after doing a Pick My Unit playthrough I got hooked on them and now I can't get enough of this game (more specifically, Conquest over the other games).

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