AmericanFox15

Hey everyone! I realize it's been quite some time since the last posts on this thread, but I've finally finished Conquest. Despite the fact that I didn't have the 'true' Conquest experience, I found the game and the story highly enjoyable. Weirdly, I had a lot more fun with Conquest than I did on Birthright, despite the fact that I played both on the same difficulty level. Anyway, I'm officially declaring an open discussion about Conquest. What was your favorite part about the game? Least favorite? Most-liked Character? Least-liked? Favorite level? Paralogue? What about least favorite? I look forward to hearing some of your replies!

Ladies and gents, I have taken the plunge. I've been playing Conquest for a few days now. So far I'm actually quite impressed with what the developers have done, though I'm not entirely sure if it's because Birthright lowered my expectations quite a lot. Thanks again for chiming in.

I agree with Yvette. I don't think I explained it very well, but my biggest issue with Birthright was the story. I felt that the game definitely could have explored a more 'shades of gray' approach. I wondered if a Hoshido noble bent on usurping the crown might have been a decent addition. Or fighting against Nohrian spies inside Hoshido. Inner power struggles, like Yvette said. The 'faith, trust, and pixie dust' dialogue throughout the game seemed out of place in a game that seemed like moral ambiguity might have been a better route to take. The events of the last several chapters, in particular, struck me as incredibly cheesy. I got the overall feeling like most of the development time was spent streamlining the gameplay and not on the story. That said, I don't like criticizing just to criticize. I admire the ambition of the developers. I like what they were trying to do. I enjoyed the gameplay. I even found myself starting to like some of Birthright's characters. I wouldn't say that I feel as if Birthright is worth the forty bucks I spent on it, but it has kept my interest long enough for you guys to help me with Conquest. Thanks again for all your input.

I really appreciate all of the continued advice you guys are giving. Thanks a ton!

Thanks a bunch, everyone! I'll be sure to comment again if I need help. I appreciate all the help that you gave!

Thanks for the advice! I really appreciate that you took the time to help. Besides what you've already posted, is there anything else I should try to do when I tackle Conquest?

Rezzy and Eclipse, thank you for the tips. Do you have any more for me before I take the plunge? What skills should I try to get early on? What classes work best for everyone?

Thanks for all the input you guys have given. I really do appreciate it and I think I know what step I would like to take next. I think I’ll give Conquest a try next. If I like it, great; if not, it’s only twenty bucks and I will have the benefit of warning others what they’re up against. Inference, your comments got me to thinking about why I had such a problem with Birthright vs. Awakening. I have come to two conclusions. The first is that I enjoy a solid story. I want to care about the characters, about the fate of this fictional world. I want to lose myself in the story. You’re right, I do want an immersive experience when I play a RPG. I can forgive a poor story so long as it doesn’t have any major plot holes which break that immersion. The second conclusion is that I think part of the problem was how I approached Birthright. I’m not sure if I said it before, but what I was hoping for from Birthright was almost an Awakening 2.0. I was hoping for a game which took the best of Awakening and made it better. In my ignorance, I thought that Awakening represented the pinnacle of the Fire Emblem series; the avatar of decades of attempts at gaming greatness. I approached Fates with that notion stuck in my head, which probably accounts for the majority of my disappointment. I think that I approached Awakening more as a puzzle than a strategy game, if that makes sense. I didn’t put a great deal of time or effort into trying to master certain mechanics of the game. The stats each character had, for example. Awakening didn’t punish me for this mindset. I feel that Birthright did, and I am certain that Conquest most definitely will. Let’s assume that my first playthrough of Conquest is in Normal Casual mode. What mindset would you recommend for me when I take a stab at Conquest? What approach should I take? What should I focus my efforts on in the early game? tl;dr: I approached Fates as a story game and got let down. How do I succeed at Fates when I approach it as an actual strategy game?

Once again, thanks for all of the comments. As I was reading what you guys posted, I realized something: I tend to like and keep games that cause me to feel as if my investment in them pays off. I have put $60 or so, hundreds of hours, and a fair amount of effort into Awakening. For me, the game was more than worth what I put into it. I feel the same about some of the other games that I have in my library. Unfortunately, this feeling does not extend to Birthright, whatever the reason may be. Do you feel as if Fates was worth the investment? Knowing what you know now, would you purchase the games/storylines again? Did you think that the time, money, and effort you put into the game was worth the investment?

Thanks again everybody for all your comments. They've been quite helpful. Eclipse, thank you for your difficulty scale. I think that answers the question which prompted the original post. On a side note, I wanted to ask what you guys felt was the best part out of each path. What did you like most besides the gameplay? Are all three paths worth the time and money? If you can share without spoiling, fantastic. If not, then please hint at it (so long as it doesn't give it away). As for the stories, what caused you to feel that they were subpar or outright bad? Everyone has different tastes. That's life. Keep it civil and spoiler-free if you can. Thanks.

I appreciate all the comments so far. Maybe I can help push this discussion towards my intended goal. What I meant by bringing up Birthright’s child recruitment levels is how they seem to be so much more difficult than the campaign levels. I have heard that they scale up depending on where you are in the story, which may be to blame. I simply bring it up because I can effectively steamroll through the campaign levels in Birthright, but consistently get my butt kicked in the paralogues. I wanted to try to get some frame of reference by having you compare the Conquest campaign levels to the Birthright paralogues, if that makes any sense. In a nutshell, I joined the Fire Emblem Fanbase thanks to Awakening. I am quite new to the franchise. I’m not sure what I was expecting from Fates, but what I got was not what I was hoping for. What I disliked about Birthright was some of the changes made to the seal system and what almost struck me as lazy story-writing. I suppose I can’t be too harsh on the developers, though. They basically made three different storylines and hundreds of character interactions, after all. I can forgive a cheesy story. Birthright's story struck me as a tale of war which saw the writers wearing the kid gloves.

Okay, cards on the table: I don’t like Birthright as much as I did Awakening. Unless you guys want to know, I won’t list all the issues I have with the game. The long and short of it is that while I am interested in the other storylines, I am not willing to spend another $40 to get the other DLC paths without knowing exactly what I’m getting into. I want your honest appraisal of the difficulty of Conquest and Revelations. I want to know how they stack up when compared to Birthright and Awakening. I’d appreciate a comparison to the Birthright paralogues, too. Those seem to be my main trouble-makers. I would also like it if you didn’t spoil the other storylines for me. Thanks for whatever help you can lend!

I currently have an 8GB SD card in my 3DS, but I've got enough DLC and game downloads to cause me to consider upgrading to a higher capacity card. Thanks for giving me those figures, bookofholsety.

I have found myself with a SD card that is entirely too small for Fire Emblem: Fates. I'm trying to find out the minimum size of microSD card I will need to get a full game digital download and will also have room for the DLC. Does anyone know how many 3DS blocks that Birthright will take up? In addition, how many blocks do the Conquest, Revelations, and Map Pack 1 DLC take up?

Thanks for taking the time to answer my question, Tsuky. Happy strategizing!