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How Fire Emblem Fates Brought Me Joy (and my time with the Fire Emblem community)


DarkSage861
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I honestly completely forgot that I still had an account here so I decided to catch up on what's been happening. Literally last night as I was sleeping, the thought of 2016 came into my head and I know a few people had a few opinions on that year but for me it was a very solid year for me and my family and friends. I reminisced about the MLG memes, funny YouTubers, the NBA Finals and the roster of WWE Smackdown Live that year, then suddenly my mind came to Fire Emblem Fates on how it...actually brought a lot of joy into that year like it was the biggest highlight of that year to mid 2017 and I know a lot of people have some really negative opinions of that game but for me, it was a game I needed to play and don't get it twisted I played many Fire Emblem games before this starting from FE7 back in the early 2000s, but this game made me had the most fun I'd ever did during the time from the Castle creation, gameplay, characters and the online PVP (which I wish more FE games after did this). But I want to make my point of why this game actually has a special place in my heart and why I have such a emotional tangent for it

 

 

 

Before it came out, I had a lot of issues in my life that was happening during this time. With that it made me sorta angsty and kinda edgy at times but not to a extent as someone crazy, this was also the time where I was a teenager in high school already so that mixed with puberty was a wild time. I've had a interest in video games for a long time and one of the games I played during that time was Super Smash Bros for 3Ds and Wii U, this was when Cloud was revealed in Smash and announced that a special broadcast was happening, after a reveal like that I didn't know who else would be in this game. I literally remember running back from school and head home and see what was going to go down and all I see is a opening cutscene of Ryoma saying "this way". That's when I knew it was going crazy, I was literally going hype mode when Corrin yelled "Join Smash!" because no one expected this at all, I see his moveset and how he works and it looked so different yet so fun from anyone else and I knew I needed him fast. As I check out and see everyone going as nuts as me, I also saw the Smash nerds getting so mad over him getting included in the game and that was the birth of the Corrin salt meme which is still by far the best Smash meme from that time. Now that I actually got to play him and knowing that he was in the game it gave me more reasons to get Fire Emblem Fates, I remember going to the store that day with my dad at launch and tried to get all 3 versions, I only got Conquest though and we were both dumb enough to realize that the cashier suggested a pack to get all 3 paths so we both knew we played ourselves, yet Conquest alone still made me happy for the time being before I got Birthrght as well. One of the things that I really liked was the setting of the game, compared to the other FE games, this one felt so different and it made sure it looked like a different dimension from the other games, whether it be Hoshido or Nohr or even your damn treehouse in the My Castle it looked so beautiful, and on the topic of My Castle, they aced it with the creativity and how open and how much freedom you can have with that game from how you can make it look to visiting other people online, throughout the entire lifespan of that game, I spent a lot trying to visit every castle I could with that. The gameplay while has Binding Blade levels of RNG it was a massive improvement from Awakening, now you don't even need to worry about weird broken stuff anymore because now you can handle stuff on your own and Pair Up didn't feel like two crackheads killing someone, it balanced the reward and the punish for using that tool and it was great. And lastly I want to talk about the characters, now I know there's that one redditor who will say "uH aLL cHaRaCtErs iN fAtEs iZ bAd" but I feel like always looking at the negatives will just ruin your fun, characters like Nina, Takumi, Saizo, Felica (she's a sweetheart), Camilla, Rhajat, Reina and so much more just made the game so fun and interesting to find out more about. When people say Fates cast is forgettable than Awakening I usually tell them give the cast a shot and pay attention to what they do and look at their supports, with such a big cast like that it also gave us some great memes from that entire time so no other fan felt left out and they were actually funny, I actually made a few memes and shitposts during that time too before my channel got bigger. One character specifically I want to talk about is Corrin because a lot of people really give him the cold shoulder for being "bland" or "boring" when it really isn't the case, he's one of the guys that really stand out in the game with such a creative background from being sheltered for most of his life and learning how to be a leader in war is really great, most people who don't like positive characters are usually miserable themselves, I think the kindness is something that was needed for a character like him, take it like this, if he always acted edgy despite not knowing anything about his previous life but also having people that care for you in the process, it would be kinda strange. But knowing all this is what makes Corrin the true underdog in my opinion, he was always the maker of salt lords back in smash 4 and he will always be the maker of salt lords for the FE community and he's still one of the most popular Fates characters in the poll for a reason. Even when people gave the character crap and told me that he was horrible, I played all 3 paths and couldn't find a single reason why he was bad and 5 years later as I replayed it I still don't.

 

 

The last big thing of why Fates brought me a lot of joy is the people who also liked the game as well, during this time Discord was introduced and before it became where weirdos dmed their e girls every second, it was just a cool site with gamers who wanted to talk about video games. How I found out about it was through a Fates PVP tournament and was immediately welcomed by the coolest people there, from that moment I had even more fun than I was already having and each time I picked up my 3DS I began exploring the game with the most optimism, from doing crazy stupid PVP battles to making memes I had a blast with all the cool people who were passionate about the game like me, I even met a guy who's favorite character was Peri (who was considered the worst Fates character) and he didn't give a single damn if people clowned on him as well, and I did the same for the game in general because it came at a time where I needed joy the most and I was the happiest I've ever been n my life. And then...I met the elitists...and they had a lot to say about the game...

 

It's no secret that the elitists really go ham on the newer titles and even the people who enjoyed them, I was no stranger to this and I played Fire Emblem way before this but yet they went for me when I was so positive about the game, somewhere along the line in 2017 a trailer for a remake of Gaiden was showcased and of course the elitists went their way to attack anyone who was neutral or wasn't interested, it was basically a moment for them and said "yeah we get good games! fuck fates and fuck the people who liked it". Even people who I thought were cool and played the game as long as me became snakes and harassed any person who enjoyed the game on sight, so bad that a lot of them left and went away from the internet like Discord, YouTube and even this site. Even as I was staying positive through the road, I also became very irritated of these people attacking others for no reason to a point during when I got Echoes and I felt soulless with that game...they attacked me more, at that point I was ready to just give up on it so when Heroes had the summer banner in 2017, I left completely from the community and wanted nothing to do with Fire Emblem ever again. I basically became anti-fire emblem at that point and was pissed off if i saw any fan of it, with a community like that I wanted no part in it.

 

 

 

In June of 2019 we lost a very kind soul on the Earth, Desmond Amofah (aka Etika) committed suicide due to the pressure of facing lots of demons and what may have been years of pent up aggression, It was one of the most unexpected and sad times we had to deal with and no one could believe somehow as positive and happy as him would do something like this, the human brain really works in many ways. I was a fan of Etika all the way back when he was still doing Pokemon videos and dancing to random anime music so this gave me a lot of weird emotions and yet I never met the man...but it felt like I knew him all along, the reason I say this because I remember watching his most funny and best moments playing 3DS Fire Emblem. A year after that moment I decided to rewatch some Etika clips and stream during lockdown back in June and found his Fire Emblem videos on that and saw how passionate he was about a game as I was, at one point I remembered all the fun times playing Fates from all of 2016 to mid 2017 and recalled how happy I was having that whole experience...but then I remembered the awful times when the elitists came to ruin our fun and recalled all the nice and cool people I met were gone from the internet, I still talk to a few but almost all of them are gone and it makes me really sad and angry how people like these redditors and elitists cut ties from my time of fun. I see these geeks on YouTube and these other sites crying about Fates and saying how it ruined Fire Emblem and after a while it became WAY too much and I thought in my head "that's what made me lose interest in this series" and it clicked on me and i just thought these people are fucking losers, I had a moment of clarity where I don't need to play a game while associating with people who complain every single day because the same people who hated Fates, hated everything else, it was all negativity and I just thought that I love Fates and I'm proud of that and I don't want to end up like them and be negative every day, I wasn't going to take it from people who made me hate a series for 3 years. So in August I replayed Fates and all the happy thoughts from 2016 came back once again. Everyone has their favorite game that made them happy and didn't even notice the negative people, for me it was this game because as I said before it came during a time when I need happiness the most and I love how in spinoff games, they try to bring some characters from that game in there because it's smart and it's still the second best selling Fire Emblem game for a reason. I even found out that there's still dedicated Fates servers as well as PVP ones and the people are so cool and chill like it was back then.  For those who are afraid to admit that they like Fates, don't be because I can say proudly that this game holds a special place in my heart always and it brought me so much joy

Edited by DarkSage861
typo and adding into the post
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It's always so nice to see someone share positive thoughts on a game. Fates, while controversial, is one of my favorites in the series. There's something about it that keeps my coming back to it. The characters, customizability, music, gameplay, it's all so good. I know it has it's fair share of problems, namely the story, but if you can look past the no so great stuff, it's probably one of the cleanest Fire Emblem experiences you can have.

I'm of the opinion that if you can find and get personal enjoyment out of something, as long as it isn't actively harming another person in some way, then that's all that should matter to you.

Thank you for sharing!

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Oh, I'm not afraid to admit I love Fates. In fact, I'm rather vocal about how I consider Fates to be better than Three Houses in almost every way, which certainly can get...responses.

Regardless of whatever happened along the way, it's good to see that you came out better on the other side.

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1 hour ago, Alfred15 said:

I like Fates as well, I just wish people would stop saying ''I know the story sucks but the gameplay is good." You don't need to justify  why you like a videogame, also Kinshi Knights should be brought back in future FE games.

Yeah the amount of those people really shove that point to others who would rather not listen to that, and I agree with Kinshi Knights, they're a amazing class that deserves more than one game appearance 

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14 minutes ago, indigoasis said:

It's always so nice to see someone share positive thoughts on a game. Fates, while controversial, is one of my favorites in the series. There's something about it that keeps my coming back to it. The characters, customizability, music, gameplay, it's all so good. I know it has it's fair share of problems, namely the story, but if you can look past the no so great stuff, it's probably one of the cleanest Fire Emblem experiences you can have.

I'm of the opinion that if you can find and get personal enjoyment out of something, as long as it isn't actively harming another person in some way, then that's all that should matter to you.

Thank you for sharing!

To be honest, I was hesitant of even sharing this story due to the FE fandom's nature of dealing with people who like that game but I let that aside and shared it through. I do believe that game has a lot more good than bad and I wish people saw that more. 

 

You're welcome, I'm just doing my part 

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15 minutes ago, Florete said:

Oh, I'm not afraid to admit I love Fates. In fact, I'm rather vocal about how I consider Fates to be better than Three Houses in almost every way, which certainly can get...responses.

Regardless of whatever happened along the way, it's good to see that you came out better on the other side.

I'm glad to hear that you're not afraid to say that, I have not played Three Houses yet (and to be honest I really don't want to) but I can't really feel anything seeing that game compared to Fates. Don't worry about those responses, as I said before those people hate everything else. 

 

Thank you, if I didn't remember those good times from back then and rewatching Etika's Fire Emblem videos, I wouldn't be back here right now

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I'm not really a fan of Fates. There are some things that I like about it, but for the most part, the things that it does well are not things that I care about, the things it does less well are things I do care about, and its overall design principles and sensibilities are not alligned with my personal preferences. And that is fine. The world is a big place and it has room for some people who like Fire Emblem: Fates and some people who don't. Ditto some people who like Three Houses and some who don't. And so on.

I don't think it's particularly helpful to try to argue that people really ought to like a specific game or that they would like it if they would just give it a chance or that everyone who dislikes it is just an excessively negative person who hates on everything. Doubtless it's true in some cases, but for the most part, it's just that people have different tastes. Which is good. the world would be boring if everyone liked the same things. For the most part, I find that "you must like exactly the same things that I like" sorts of people are very easy to ignore, because they so seldom bring anything constructive to any conversation anyway.

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I'm what you could describe as a FE elitist. I enjoy the older titles more than the modern ones (for the most part), I'm the guy who will come screaming "ackshually, KagaSaga did this and that FE mechanic first and better" all the time, and I'm very vocal about the FEs that I dislike. I'll admit, oftentimes I worry that I'm part of the problem you describe. The line between "I hate this game, it's fine if you like it, but here's why I personally don't" and "everyone who likes this game is an idiot and the reason the series is dead" is quite thin, and sometimes it's difficult not to cross it.

What I'm trying to say is, I completely understand what you're saying. Constantly being told that your favorite games are shit and ruined the franchise sucks. I think I've a right to express my distaste for the FEs I don't like, but well... If others can see things in those games that I cannot, that's perfectly fine. More people need to keep in mind that they're speaking from their own personal perspective. Diss the games, not the people.

Regarding Fates in particular, I have only played Conquest, and I enjoyed it. It wasn't my favorite FE, largely because of the lategame difficulty spike, but it was up there. I'm someone who values gameplay above all else when it comes to Fire Emblem, so while I did find Fates's story to be really bad, frankly, I couldn't care less. I doubt I will bother playing the other routes, as I've heard their gameplay isn't as solid, but Conquest is good.

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6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I'm what you could describe as a FE elitist. I enjoy the older titles more than the modern ones (for the most part), I'm the guy who will come screaming "ackshually, KagaSaga did this and that FE mechanic first and better" all the time, and I'm very vocal about the FEs that I dislike. I'll admit, oftentimes I worry that I'm part of the problem you describe. The line between "I hate this game, it's fine if you like it, but here's why I personally don't" and "everyone who likes this game is an idiot and the reason the series is dead" is quite thin, and sometimes it's difficult not to cross it.

What I'm trying to say is, I completely understand what you're saying. Constantly being told that your favorite games are shit and ruined the franchise sucks. I think I've a right to express my distaste for the FEs I don't like, but well... If others can see things in those games that I cannot, that's perfectly fine. More people need to keep in mind that they're speaking from their own personal perspective. Diss the games, not the people.

Regarding Fates in particular, I have only played Conquest, and I enjoyed it. It wasn't my favorite FE, largely because of the lategame difficulty spike, but it was up there. I'm someone who values gameplay above all else when it comes to Fire Emblem, so while I did find Fates's story to be really bad, frankly, I couldn't care less. I doubt I will bother playing the other routes, as I've heard their gameplay isn't as solid, but Conquest is good.

Due to the community's nature of expressing dislikes, it does feel like there's a lot of people who will do that. But as you said, it's all in preference which is something I wish more people took more consideration of that. 

 

I will say Conquest is my favorite out of the three as well, Birthright while easy has some variety into it somehow and Revelations gives you more freedom because you can get literally everyone

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Hi, I like Shadow Dragon, ask me how many people enjoy playing it.  😛

People will have their likes/dislikes, and that's okay.  Some might be bitter enough to be extremely vocal about those dislikes.  I'm not the world's biggest fan of Fates, but if people enjoy it, more power to them.

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  • 1 month later...
On 3/31/2021 at 7:27 PM, Josh776 said:

I like Fates as well, I just wish people would stop saying ''I know the story sucks but the gameplay is good." You don't need to justify  why you like a videogame, also Kinshi Knights should be brought back in future FE games.

Kinshi Knight, Adventurer, Butler and Maid are four of my all-time favorite FE classes. I hope they return in a future game. At least the latter three would be easy to fit into a typical FE setting.

To TC, I completely agree with you about Corrin. She (I especially like female Corrin, though I’m very fond of both) is in my top 5 favorite FE characters, along with Camilla, Jakob and Azura. Camilla and Jakob are my all time favorites. 

“It’s Popular, so it Sucks” is a TV Tropes trope that sums up the attitude of certain segments of the fandom after Awakening popularized (and arguably saved) the series. Fates helped bridge the “hardcore” fans and the newer casual fans, but there will always be those types. The FE fandom certainly attracts a lot of them.

Oh, and I enjoy Shadow Dragon, too.

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  • 10 months later...

My personal story with this game was that my cousin played the game when i was next to her (in game she went by Mipmop so i will be referring to her as such) Mipmop bought birthright (witch is the one i bought but ill get to that later) from what i remember she married jakob, but for some reason i always wanted to see keaden witch is kinda weird. time jump, its been about 3 years now and i went to a used game store with my grandma. i see it on a shelf and all the memory's came back. so i bought it and i have played it for 302 hours in 3 years. also i bought the rest of the routes and i regret nothing. (also Mipmop was like level 99 and i agreed to fight her when i reach level 99 so stay tuned)

Edited by Just a Salvager
i forgot a detail
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Fates is actually one of my favorite games in series, if not period. I just love a lot of the characters, like Xander, Leo, Takumi, Oboro, Orochi, Niles, Elise, Sakura and ODIN DARK to name several, and the Gameplay (Which is the thing I care about the most) is what I'd say is top tier, though some map gimmicks just suck. But I love all three routes regardless. And Originally I intended to pass up this entry, but I'm glad I didn't.

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