Playlog of an Awakening

[Integrity]

Except the chapter has walls that break and rejuvenate at intervals that you have to memorize if you want to be fast, but I wasn't.

There's nothing to memorize - the walls aren't on a timer, they just open and shut based on whether units are near them. One unit can ping between the breakable walls and the one nearest will keep fusing if it was open, so you have to trick them by approaching two breaches at once (or having huge MOV). Also, every wall on the row breaks when the door for that row is open.

EDIT: And Nah's room opens when you get close and closes when it's empty, and the south middle room opens (i think) when you get a unit into the first row of enemies and closes when it's empty.

EDIT2: Oh yeah, and the final row of walls only breaks when you open the door, then they all break. I think that's it for the walls.

I think there's also some douchey coding that involves walls breaking specifically if enemies can rush through them at you, but that's probably me imagining things.

Edited June 27, 2013 by Integrity

[Ike-Mike]

Infinite Regalia

Chrom and his crew find themselves in the world of the 36 Deadlords. They guard the Infinite Regalia and want to be challenged by those who are only worthy to them.

Considering how long this map has been out and that I'm only approaching it now they had to wait quite a long time. In any case, your people are cut off into basically three separate paths and you have to fight your way up to the three treasure chests that contain one Regalia each. It also becomes a race against a band of thieves who spawn at the very left and right edges of the map who want to steal the Regalia away from you.

My troops can hit hard. The Deadlords can hit hard too. So it becomes a battle of careful evaluation, one where I fight my way through one room at a time.

Nonetheless, I had to restart a lot. Lucky crits and quick bouts of carelessness galore, not to mention that one time where I can't read mission objectives and killed the boss off prematurely. I also realized that I'm not in that much of a hurry and I can easily pick off the thieves after they took the chests' contents and not let my own thief open it, so I replaced Palne and Nah with Geromy and Noire. That made things plenty easier for me.

And speaking of contents...

I shouldn't have created content previously.

The Deadlords are fallen warriors. The children characters keep alluding that they might in fact be the parent characters from their timeline. Personally, I think those are just baseless accusations.

10 turns taken.

I give this DLC a Battle Against Arvis/10.

After winning this battle, the Deadlords show their appreciation towards me by giving me a present.

I appreciate that ELDIGAN LÖWENHERZ can fight alongside me now, but my unit slots are kind of occupied at the moment.

They also give me the Silver Card. Now I can shop at my heart's leisure and ignore merchants a lot less. Thank you.

As Chrom decides to leave, the Deadlords beg him to stay a while longer. But alas, we have to go now. Sometimes all you need in life is a stable internet connection, a place where you can play your video games and a bit of attention, even when you're rid of most human emotions.

Maybe we'll see each other sometime later.

But wait! This isn't the only DLC chapter we're going to be approaching.

Lost Bloodlines 1

Chrom's army is transported to a chunk of FE4's prologue where an epic battle is fought between Einherjar. This time you aid the Akaneians as they wage war against the people of Jugdral.

Even though my army is split, I still have an easy time defeating them all. I rather feel pity for all the people of Akaneia falling so easily. The battle also drags on for a bit because ranged enemies are attacking my melee units.

This is just like my Japanese animes!

Etzel is also quickly turned into the humble.

I also have photographic proof that I faced Raquesis in battle.

6 turns taken.

I give this DLC a Thracia 776/10.

New forge!

Momo

Steel Sword +4 Mt +10 Hit +6 Crit

A sword without much bullshit inbetween, it only stabs where it hurts the most.

The Thracia music was pleasant to hear. I think I still have a soft spot for that game, as I noticed that I have been using Thracia units for Spotpass grinding almost exclusively.

In any case, we move on to the next map right away.

Lost Bloodlines 2

We return to the world of FE4 Prologue, except this time we side with Jugdral. Arvis is the leader of the group, which makes Chrom question why your ally is a villain. I feel like this is supposed ot question me and my stance on other morally vague allegiances in previous Fire Emblems. Personally, I think everything would be better if people would make a much bigger distinction between Evil and Misguided.

The enemies themselves aren't difficult still. You start out near Jungby and Evans this time though, which makes it more difficult to reach the two villages before everyone bites the ground.

The map itself is a snowy map in the evening this time? That's nice, originally I thought this was supposed to have a desert skin.

In this picture my daughter dodges a devastating dark magic attack!

Alm has been made the fucking humble.

I really like the battle theme in FE: Gaiden. The game's soundtrack itself has a certain oomph that the later games lack.

... maybe I should create content again sometime.

4 turns taken.

I give this chapter a Snoop Lion/10.

I get rewarded with Dread Scrolls easily. I use one to turn Brady into a Dread Fighter. It was dreadful.

Now that I'm done with those maps I decide to go on with a story map.

Chapter 17

Everyone storms Fort Steiger as it is the weakest link in Valm's troops. Chrom's army is supposed to seize the interior while the resistance members are supposed to keep everyone distracted on the outside.

The army is split into two groups, one to the left and one to the right. As there are chests to be unlocked, I have to separate Trickster Owain and Morgan from each other. Don't worry, you'll be together again eventually!

I fend off the enemies easily, but slowly and steadily. I also unassumingly block the stairs on the east-hand side. However, I killed off the thief so I waste a lot of turns making Owain walk from one part of the map to another. However, I trigger an event that wouldn't have happened otherwise.

We meet Exellus. Exellus is disguisting. Exellus also informs us that the resistance force has defected using questionable means, which disguists even the stage boss. In battle, Chrom and the stage boss argue whether Emmeryn or Walhart are more charismatic and whose idea of a united world is better. Chrom defeats her easily.

13 turns taken.

Lucina and Íñigo are the heroes of this chapter.

Chrom's army finds themselves in a pinch. I decide to me, except I don't and go for a two-way assault both on Yen'fay and Walhart himself, though Walhart is only supposed to be used as a distraction. Basilio and Flavia volunteer, although Lucina tries to stop them since Basilio that way in her future. Basilio decides to go anyway.

His men die like flies. Basilio assumes a back-up army has arrived, but the back-up army turns out to be only Walhart himself. The two battle and they both crit with a 0% chance? They sure must have learned a lot from Galuf!

Everything Lucina said has turned out to be true and Flavia flees with one of the Fire Emblem's gemstones in her grasp.

Instead of going on with more story missions and because I want to do a few more preparations I find out that Lost Bloodlines 3 has come out already.

Lost Bloodlines 3

We return once more to FE4 Prologue to bring back everlasting peace. This means everyone is now hostile towards us and we have to defeat all of them. I don't know how or why, but I've got to do it!

You start out surrounded in the middle of the map this time. I split them into two groups, each heading west and east, except for a paired up Noire and Geromy, who go visit the village in the middle and end up fending off most of the troops stationed at Jungby all by themselves.

Big words coming from Lucina. Also how come there can be two Marths at the same time?

Astra bow shots are silly.

I love the way the localization team made Legion talk. Dear FE12 translation team, are you going to rewrite him to sound like this? Pretty please!

At long last, Seliph has been humbled by yours truly!

6 turns taken.

I give this DLC a FE4/10.

I pick up the Seliph Einherjar. He asks me if I'd ever remove my mark. I look at the mole on my left arm that I've had for years now and say no.

My Salem is pretty good... for Thracia. In fact, his Magic goes one point beyond what is legally allowed in that game.

New forge!
Manouleth

Finn's Lance +3 Mt +5 Hit +6 Crit

This lance is gay, it's okay to hug him.

[Ike-Mike]

First I do the silly thing and promote Chrom to a Sniper.

Then I proceed to beat a new set of DLC maps.

Smash Brethren 1

Old Hubba sends Chrom and his people through the dimensions once more, asking for help to end yet another war in a distant dimension.

This time we found ourselves in dark and deep catacombs. It's pretty obvious that the tileset is recycled from some other map in the game proper with a green tint. I'm also pretty sure the green circle in the middle is directly copypasted from the original GBA game.

Hubba and his silver tongue didn't get to be of much use this time, but I'm still aiding the forces of the GBA games to defeat the forces of the Tellius games. They are hiding in the rooms for the right time to attack. The doors open at the same turns and in the same order as they did in the original game. Now that's attention to detail!

Wolt can tell apart the normal from the wicked.

Zelgius, commander of this army.

My humbling of Ashnard is quick and clean.

7 turns taken.

I give this chapter a Pre-Baked Shadows/10.

Anyway, we defeat everyone and pick the Elincia card up. She asks me if I serve a flawless ruler. I then ponder about the political stir going on everywhere and reply with a no.

Smash Brethren 2

We return to the catacombs once more. This time we aid the Tellius forces in their fight against the army made from people in the GBA games. We find ourselves in the rooms now, except they're all open. Now it becomes a matter of who to bring outside and which enemy to draw to your range. I mean, my people are comparatively superpowered now anyway, except for Nah. She is still a frail mercenary, so I need to look out for her. The green units don't seem to be much of a match against the red ones either. The most I can do with them is use as a slight distraction.

4 turns taken.

I give this DLC a Elegant Dress Code/10.

We pick up the Eirika card. She complains that she wouldn't be in this dress if it wasn't for this stupid bouquet. A weird world we live in where everyone's dress code is determined by magical artifacts, even including a wedding bouquet. She then asks me if I trust people who'd changed. She says she's been betrayed many times before but I'm sorry, I still give people the benefit of doubt.

Smash Brethren 3

Chrom and everyone else comes back for one last time, this time a huge army that spans across five Fire Emblem games is out for their heads.

This time the enemies are back in the rooms. Except this time there is also a big mass of units in the top room. The dialogue also assures me that there won't be any reinforcements coming, so I don't have to worry about those. I have Owain with me who can still open doors, so I open it on the first turn. The people in that room then decide to rush me but get defeated with the combined powers of Owain, Linfan, me and Miriel.

The music in this chapter gives me good feelings. I also really liked the final chapter back in FE7 and I'd have liked to see the gameplay concept revisited in a future Fire Emblem. At least we revisit it in its original form in these DLC chapters. Now that I think about it, there has yet to be a final chapter in a Fire Emblem that disappoints me.

What makes me wonder too is that the doors open one at a time. Didn't two doors at a time open in the Japanese FE7? Maybe the stories that any gameplay changes during localization for Nintendo games turn it into the definitive version of the game for all regions are true.

9 turns taken.

I give this DLC a Dragon's Gate II/10.

Everyone is defeated. What I've been wondering is that Hubba or anyone else isn't coming over to congratulate us that peace has been restored. I mean the warring Einherjar must have been disturbing someone, haven't they? In any case, I pick up the Lyn card. She keeps pressuring me that I'm the same tactician she fought with back then. She even asks me if I remember fighting with her, Eliwood and the others. Then I remembered the good days back when I played FE7 for the very first time. So it turns out I am the very same tactician who was aiding Lyn back then, heh. Too bad I don't have the place in my roster for a grand reunion.

New forge!

Parrhesia

Innes' Bow Mt +3 Crit +6

The bow is made of a flametongue. Thought to be left for dead.

Now I'm going to beat up a few mummies until I get a few skills I've been desiring, clear the world map from any armies that aren't fully capped and limit broken and then proceed to actually finish the darn game!

Edited August 5, 2013 by Ike-Mike

[Junkhead]

wut when did this happen and I make a cameo...as a Bronze Axe

Seriously, I never saw this thang. I'll be reading it.

[Ike-Mike]

After all this time, I challenge a friend's endgame streetpass team.

I actually won, though it wasn't without a few lucky moments, like a dual guard being activated during a lethality and one or two lucky crits.

Here is my Cynthia indirectly defeating his Cynthia.

No one was harmed during the making of this post.

I have finished farming. Chrom is a Bow Knight and I am back to being a Sorceror.

Mai waifu is also a Valkyrie now.

Chapter 18

On the run from basically the entire continent of Valm, I decide to station Chrom's forces in a volcano. This will make everyone but only the toughest and most reckless enemies run away and we can focus on them.

Essentially, welcome to the obligatory volcano level. Remember when the lava level wasn't obligatory in Fire Emblem? Even in Shadow Dragon they slapped a volcano level as a side chapter so they could flaunt how it always was a part of the series.

In any case, everyone swallows their Cool Drinks and off we go fighting. The movement of my units is quick and splendid.

It is a massacre.

A real massacre.

Here Cynthia does her best Sonic the Hedgehog impression.

Look how far we've come already!

Sadly we will have to stay for the next few turns here, since Owain will be busy opening all the treasure chests once more. We speed things up by opening the upper right chest with the Allzwecks. previously found in Paralogue 10 and have Yarne escort Owain to the bottom right chest.

The map is split into several small squares, with one each breaking down every phase into the lava tiles we know and love. If I wasn't hurrying before, this would've told me to hurry up.

Yen'fay oddly enough stays unharmed. He probably has Felyne Firewalker as a food skill for this mission.

We continue with the chapter to the point where we defeat everyone, except for that Warrior on the right. I hope someone escorted him back to the village after all this was over! In any case, now it's time to face the boss himself...

IMPORTANT PLOT BOSS: YEN'FAY

Lucina attacks him. Yen'fay thinks he can counterattack with a flurry of Astra, but Íñigo blocks all five of them! That was great! Lucina attacks once more and Yen'fay is defeated.

4 turns taken.

Brady and Cynthia are the heroes of this chapter.

Excellus warps in and gives his first formal introduction. He says that Yen'fay was a great actor and the survival of Say'ri was instrumental for making him work for the Empire. This makes Say'ri very sad.

Back in base camp Flavia returns and reports that Basilio has fallen in battle. Having failed twice before, this makes Lucina very sad.

We get the third gemstone for the Fire Emblem.

Linfan's contribution to this battle was so great, I decide to upgrade her magic book.

New forge!

Levity

Celica's Gale Mt +4 Crit +3

The fanfiction of ther lifetime, now an offensive weapon.

[Ike-Mike]

Paralogue 17

Sshhh, Tiki is asleep!

In this chapter, you must protect a defenseless and immovable unit in a wave defense. Risen are coming at you from three straight lanes. I remember playing wave defense maps in Warcraft 3 that were better designed than this.

I mean, look at this!

Say'ri is trying to give me tactical advice. I ignore her and split everyone up and rush for all three sides.

Instead of attacking me, the Risen are flying straight for Tiki. This surprises me. I still manage to beat everyone up within one turn after reaching them, though.

Oh Risen Chief, how I missed you and your eloquency.

And you kept your eloquency until your dying breath.

2 turns taken.

Owain and Linfan are the heroes of this chapter.

Thanks to us, Tiki could sleep in and pump herself up with the power of dragons. Now it's her turn to join us in the cause for freedom.

Chapter 19

Walhart is mobilizing his troops near Valm Castle to decimate Chrom once and for all.

Meanwhile Chrom and his troops are near Valm Castle too and decide to storm it themselves.

Cervantes and Excellus are also back in action.

Walhart himself is the stage boss this time. He even has Sol equipped on him.

And I've got to admit that sword is aesthetically fitting with his design.

I really like the battle background in this chapter. Very remniscient of FE4.

Nonetheless, I keep making a bloody mess out of everything.

This chapter is pretty open, since it's a castle court. It has a construct in the middle of the map for better flanking and manoeuvring. Still, I split up my units and send them into all three directions.

Walhart calls for reinforcements this early? With so many fortresses? The gall of him.

Walhart likes to break the rules of Fire Emblem. He ignores all extra damage from being mounted and armoured. He also ignores gradually sending out weaker subordinates and faces you in battle himself.

IMPORTANT PLOT BOSS: WALHART

Linfan attacks him, only to find out that he has Pavise equipped. However, her second attack is a critical which puts down Walhart once and for all. Or so I thought...

2 turns taken.

Brady and Cynthia are the heroes of this chapter.

Walhart even breaks the rule of death. He escapes to Valm Castle proper to mobilize his last forces.

Hundreds of green units start to appear behind me. What could this mean... ?

Chapter 20

Whoa, nice throne room there, Walhart.

The forces of Southern Valm caught wind of the death of Yen'fay and his cause and are no longer afraid of the Empire. All plans of Excellus are falling apart, which makes him very nervous.

Walhart keeps him around because he's amusing when he doesn't want to, while others don't want to keep me around when I want to amuse them? What a strange world we live in!

Fighting my way through smartly laid out formations on relatively big and open spaces? This is what a FE4-style indoor chapter would be, alright.

I attack Excellus to see if he might have a special conversation with me. Sadly, he doesn't.

Walhart once again breaks the rules and doesn't wait on his throne to get beaten up, but actively seeks out to kill you. Even without the throne, his stats are so great that he can do significiant damage to my overpowered and overleveled units.

On the left side Owain goes for the treasure chests. On the right side I wait for the thief to open them and then kill him. I think I could bait Walhart early and then end the chapter, but then the thief starts to run away. Even lowly thieves are afraid of the Emperor!

Farewell, most right treasure chest. We may never know what contents you have had.

IMPORTANT PLOT BOSS: WALHART

I fight him with Chrom to trigger a special conversation. Walhart breaks some more rules by having more than one conversation box open at once during a battle.

He calls Emmeryn weak? That's a low blow.

Good thing Lucina was right next to him, so they could both finish him off within one round with a dual strike.

6 turns taken.

Severa and Yarne are the heroes of this chapter.

Walhart has fallen and Chrom can return victorious in Ylisstol. Back there, he discusses with me that his intentions and Emmeryn's were not so different. That's what I like about Awakening's writing. It doesn't need to paint everyone in deep shades of grey to represent different perspectives on the same matter.

Lucina was listening to us all along? Chrom doesn't think it's creepy to barge into a conversation like that and actually lets her participate? The gall of him!

Chrom is invited by Valldar to retrieve their gemstone for the Fire Emblem. Chrom immediately thinks it's suspicious and decides to go there heavily armed...

New forge!
Esme

Short Spear +3 Mt +10 Hit +3 Crit

Easily amused, taken from a gunshow.

[Ike-Mike]

New forge!

Dandragon

Wyrmslayer +2 Mt +20 Hit +3 Crit

This sword was won in a game of Card Czar.

New forge!
Rei Rei

Hector's Axe +3 Mt +10 Hit +6 Crit

A real man's axe. The Jungle King's proof.

Chapter 21

Chrom's army finds themselves in Plegia Castle. As expected, Merasmus immediately demands the Fire Emblem to be handed over. Chrom orders everyone to reach for their weapons and flee.

There are plenty of treasure chests hidden in treasure rooms. You need to take some pretty twisted paths to get to them. Thanks to Rescue staves, Galeforce and a few of the enemies dropping an Allzwecks. I can cut down my time considerably.

There are Mire sorcerors everywhere, with even more spawning on every turn? If I wasn't in a hurry already I would be now.

Algol moves prematurely and gets himself killed. I restart the chapter as otherwise I would've missed out on a precious Bullion (L).

5 turns taken.

Brady and Cynthia are the heroes of this chapter.

Chrom almost escapes, but then Merasmus shows up out of nowhere. He tells us that defeating Gangrel and Walhart were meant to happen no matter what.

What? This can't be true! We will fight destiny!

Merasmus then proceeds to somehow brainwash me to steal the Fire Emblem away from Chrom.

Compromised by my own father to the point where my free will is suppressed? Sounds like a fitting allegory for my familial situation.

The Emblem is now complete and Merasmus can use it to resurrect Grima. He gets away scot-free.

That brainwashing makes me really worried. I even let Lucina finish me off because things might go even more horribly wrong, but then Chrom intervenes.

Nonetheless, now is the time to follow Merasmus and stop him dead on his tracks once and for all!

Chapter 22

Chrom and his people run to the Dragon's Table to stop Merasmus on his tracks from reviving Grima.

I really like the eerieness of this CG. It reminds me of Shin Megami Tensei in a way. Maybe that's why Fire Emblem is getting a cross over with it?

Oh hey, it's that music. That means we should be reaching the Premonition anytime soon.

This map is a gauntlet against the twelve Deadlords, strong and fearsome warriors lead by the maybe similiarly fearsome Aversa. The Deadlords aren't pretty talkative this time. Good thing we good some good characterization for them in Infinite Regalia. Considering they are equipped with and drop regalia here too, maybe this chapter should alternatively be called "Finite Regalia."

This map is large and open so there is enough room for manouevring through enemies so strong even one or two of them could break down your entire army. Thankfully my army was so strong they could move along and defeat them freely.

IMPORTANT PLOT BOSS: AVERSA

I fight her to trigger a special conversation. She tells me that Excellus was sent by her to destroy Valm inside out in case Chrom failed. She says that men will do everything if you... and then she backs off... in any case, Aversa is a meaner snake than Excellus could've ever been now.

3 turns taken.

Owain and Linfan are the heroes of this chapter.

New forge!

DLV

Brave Lance +2 Mt +10 Hit +6 Crit

A lance forged from a Youtube Poop.

New forge!
Emeraldfox

Ephraim's Lance +3 Mt +10 Hit +3 Crit

A carefree lance. Makes the wielder instantly grow an afro.

New forge!
NoNameAtAll

Glass Sword +5 Mt +15 Hit

NoDescriptionAtAll

New forge!

AstraLunaSol

Bolt Axe +2 Mt +10 Hit +6 Crit

A magic axe which spirit has vanquished the dark souls.

Aversa escapes. This can only mean that preparations for the resurrection are now complete. It's time to hurry up and stop all this before it really is too late!

But not before fighting a tough Streetpass team.

An Assassin now graces my unit roster.

Edited August 18, 2013 by Ike-Mike

[Ike-Mike]

Chapter 23

We have reached the point of the Premonition finally. Even the dialogue is the exact same.

But what's this? A whole new section of the map has opened under the barrier for my other units to fight in. It looks like the developers really liked Endgame-2 of Radiant Dawn a lot. But that's okay, I really liked it too.

I move my units forward catiously and with regards to the enemy unit classes and weapons, even if they can afford slipping up. It takes two turns for me and Chrom to reach the end boss.

IMPORTANT PLOT BOSS: MERASMUS THE MAGICIAN

Chrom promptly activates Aether. The second hit even crits! Merasmus is promptly defeated.

But then the Premonition still happens. But the future refused to change?

And then Basilio appears. We did manage to change fate after all! He says he actually escaped in the last minute when he was fighting Walhart and spent all this time in hiding thwarting everyone's plans and replacing the Fire Emblem's gemstones with fakes. Chrom faked his death too. He's still alive and well.

Basilio mentions this all was averted because the Premonition was actually a dream I saw long ago. Wow, dreams really do come true!

This angers Merasmus and he promptly teleports to the far right side of the map with new and improved stats. The magic barrier also breaks down, which means I and Chrom can catch up with everyone else. Flavia and Basilio also join my party. They can hold up pretty well on their own. I still pair them up and let Flavia to the front, since she has Sol just in case. I'm still worried about the two, so I let my other units quickly catch up.

IMPORTANT PLOT BOSS: MERASMUS THE MAGICIAN

It's time to end the generational feud and attack with Lucina. Merasmus taunts her that she didn't change fate after all, but it's true! We did change fate!

I equipped a paired up Íñigo with a Brave Sword just in case. He then finished him off.

3 turns taken.

Brady and Cynthia are the heroes of this chapter.

Merasmus the Magician is done for at last! Crisis has been averted and peace has been restored...

But then my evil twin appears! He reveals that he is actually my evil time clone who followed Lucina when she jumped through time.

I have always theorized that you fuse together with whatever version of you there is out there on your current timeline. Maybe that's why I never had any gripes with time travel in this game, since it adheres to my time travel rules.

We changed fate, but we couldn't change nonetheless that Grima has been reawakened and it's time for Chrom and his people to go and do the Awakening ritual themselves.

New forge!

ChaosNinji

Micaiah's Pyre +2 Mt +5 Hit +6 Crit

A spellbook from times long past. Its spirit is still around through other means.

Chapter 24

Some people might scoff at this chapter and say "bluh suddenly Risen out of nowhere" but it's supposed to show that Grima is back, his power is growing and the number of Risen will continue to grow quickly and even in the safest of places unless you do something about it.

I like how the last set of maps is becoming more wide and open, in contrast to the small and tricky maps in the beginning. The map is littered with Paladins and Great Knights and Wyvern Lords, but it's also littered with forests so the former can't move a lot.

Why must the trees be around the forest tile and not a little more inwards? I can't tell which tile is a forest tile sometimes. I mean, it would look a bit silly if the units were staying on top of trees, but at least in the 2D Fire Emblems I always knew when someone was standing on a forest tile.

I rush to the boss fairly quickly and attack him with Yarne and Severa. I want to save up their weapon uses and raise their weapon levels, so I attack the boss with a Bronze Lance and Bow, thinking that a critial or Astra or something is going to finish him off nonetheless. It doesn't. Reinforcements pop up, but they get taken care of quickly and the boss is defeated the next turn, but it's still one turn more than I'd anticipated.

4 turns taken.

Severa and Yarne are the heroes of this chapter.

This is the first time in the series where we see the Goddess Naga in person. She says all we can do to Grima is seal him off until another idiot decides to revive him again. The only way to truly kill Grima off is with himself, which is to say, me. But then I'd also cease to exist. She says there is a very small possibility that I might survive. This is more foreshadowing than the situation behind Ashera and Yune ever had.

She powers the Falchion back up to its original strength and Chrom obtains the Exatled Falchion.

New forge!

Hanbei

Katarina's Bolt +2 Mit +5 Hit +9 Crit

Has its own cut-in. Effective against Nesshelper.

Chapter 25

Oh, how I like the penultimate chapters in Fire Emblem a lot. They are usually massive maps with varied terrain, one split path or two and enemy classes of all kinds to test your tactical skills if you're ready to take on the final mission and this map is not different.

I split my army up into two. The right side makes very quick progress. The left side lacks Galeforce for the most part, so they aren't as quick, but still quick enough to clear one third of the map within one turn.

My priority targets are Mire sorcerors. The enemies don't do much damage, except there was this one General with a Beastkiller who actually hit and pulled away more than half of Lucina's total HP.

IMPORTANT PLOT BOSS: AVERSA

I fight against her once more. This time there is no special conversation. She is mad at you for killing off Merasmus and she attacks with the A rank dark magic tome, Goetia. I one-round her.

3 turns taken.

Lucina and Íñigo are the heroes of this chapter.

You can see Grima looming behind Origin Peak. Naga says her power is only enough to teleport Chrom's army to his back and it's up to us to take care of things from then on.

New forge!
NTG

Silver Bow +5 Mt +5 Hit +6 Crit

The greatest bow that once belonged to someone you've liked to annoy for almost a decade.

New forge!
Specta

Silver Lance +5 Mt +5 Hit +6 Crit

The greatest lance that once belonged to a good friend.

New forge!

Dio

Silver Axe +5 Mt +10 Hit +3 Crit

The greatest axe that once belonged to a good friend.

New forge!

Nightmar

Silver Sword +5 Mt +5 Hit +6 Crit

The greatest sword that once belonged to a good friend.

The map is branching off for the Spotpass maps. Next time I tackle those on before slaying Grima.

Edited August 18, 2013 by Ike-Mike

[Integrity]

[11:03:54] Raquesis: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[11:03:59] Raquesis: I'M A FORGE I'M A FROGEI I 'M FA FORGE

[11:04:00] Ike: mike told me he was saving the best for last

[11:04:02] Ike: i didn't tell you

[11:04:10] Ike: because i didn't want to spoil his surprise

[11:04:13] Raquesis: AAAAAAAAAAAAAH

[11:04:17] Raquesis: I AM THE DREAG HTYRGN I

[11:04:18] Raquesis: I AM THE GREATEST

[11:04:20] Raquesis: I AM SO TOUCHED

[11:04:21] Raquesis: DEEP IN MY HEART

[11:04:23] Raquesis: SO HAPPY

[Ike-Mike]

Paralogue 18

A massive and powerful pirate crew has total control over the Southern Seas. Chrom has localized their base of operations and it's up to his army to stop them.

That base of operations just happens to be in Grust. This chapter map is a reference to FE3, an old and popular game that has also been recently remade, so it's a reference to people who have been playing Fire Emblem recently too.

The way you proceed in this chapter is the same way too. Even choking the narrow way with the fortresses has been kept intact. There even is an event tile where the hidden treasure used to be in the original game!

The only real difference is that the more empty parts of the map are now occupied by Wyvern Lords. The houses seem to be gone, too. Man, Grust must have fallen into some dark times.

And then there is Gangrel. Thankfully he tries to kill your melee units at range, so he doesn't accidentally off himself. He laments that he lost his pride forever and is nothing but a measly worm now, and it takes Chrom three turns to snap him out of it. If not for this, I would've finished this chapter long ago. It goes to show that even if the villains were left alive, their confidence has been reduced to the point where they can't do any villainy anymore.

Gangrel is impressed by Chrom's development and joins him because he wants to see if he really can bring everything back to peace and prosperity.

5 turns taken.

Yarne and Severa are the heroes of this chapter.

Paralogue 19

Chrom and his people find themselves in a graveyard of great fallen soldiers. Risen emerged from their graves and it's time to slay them for good once more.

Among the Risen is also Walhart. He was breaking so many rules and he still keeps breaking them. Now he even broke the rule of staying permanently dead. His willpower is just that strong!

He confronts Chrom in battle once more and gets defeated once more. Good thing Lucina was standing right next to him so they could dual strike.

Lord Chrom and Emperor Walhart are mutually impressed by the character strengths that the other one doesn't have, so they both decide to form an alliance and slay Grima together.

4 turns taken.

Brady and Cynthia are the heroes of this chapter.

Paralogue 21

Chrom and everyone else find themselves in the Warrior's Tomb, paying respect for the fallen and giving praise to the great blades. Still, not even hallowed tombs are safe from Risen anymore and we are obligated to take them down.

Clever, the map layout looks like a keyhole.

This part of the map also reminds me of the cavern where you get the Wing Cap in Mario 64 for some reason.

To recruit Yen'fay, you have to talk to him with Say'ri and only Say'ri. This means I had to ditch Miriel. Me and Chrom are paired up once again.

He doesn't seem to be as eloquent as the others. He was probably the shy guy back in Risen Chief class.

Yen'fay confesses that he is also from a different timeline, one where he didn't protect his sister. It shows that even if he followed the pleas of Say'ri and let her go things would've turned out badly either way.

4 turns taken.

Brady and Cynthia are the heroes of this chapter.

Paralogue 20

The Grimleal are stealing women from nearby villages to use them for dark rituals. One of those women happens to be...

Ouch! Right into my feels again!

I must admit, I still have trouble with disabled people. Seeing Emmeryn in that state is just heart-wrenching. Woe to those who intend to marry her, I hope you know what you're in for.

Intelligent Systems deserves credit though for showing that amnesia, real amnesia induced by hitting your head really hard and not through time-travel shenanigans, isn't just temporary memory loss of your background information.

This chapter has turned into a rescue mission? Since when?

I split up my troops into two. The fliers already cross the mountains northwards and take care of things from there.

Meanwhile my remaining troops have some trouble reaching Emmeryn in time.

Through careful positioning and smart use of Galeforce the enemies in Emmeryn's range can be defeated. The boss gets taken down next turn too.

Now that Emmeryn turns out to be alive, Lucina did manage to change fate. The circumstances around it are upsetting for everyone, but after she manages to utter "Don't cry" she's taken into our army.

3 turns taken.

Owain and Linfan are the heroes of this chapter.

Paralogue 22

The Wellspring of Truth is supposed to show everyone who nears it their true nature. Aversa is there too and taunts Chrom and his people to take a peek.

It turns into a mirror match!

I could've cheesed through this chapter and deployed my weakest units and one or two strong ones, but I decided to take on the challenge. I faced several of my best people... with Hard Mode bonuses.

It turns out I have trained my people very well. Especially Yarne who has capped stats and a powerful skillset that includes Counter and Brady who can nuke even my most resistant mages. I play very defensively and even in the end I'm afraid of the only unit left, Miriel, because she has vengeance.

It turns out Aversa was manipulated by Merasmus to become the villainess she is. She joins us to redeem herself. This reminds me of another femme fatale..

3 turns taken.

Owain and Linfan are the heroes of this chapter.

Paralogue 23

Chrom's army finds a hidden island village where the descendant of Ike resides. He doesn't stay back and challenges you to a duel if you want to help him fight Grima.

In this chapter I can deploy how many?

That's right, 30 of your best units face off against 50 of Priam's units! I don't think I even have that many. I deploy most of my Spotpass units, my strongest Streetpass avatars and King Marth.

After pairing up everyone is good to go.

The map is huge and wide open so you can safely maneouvre around so many units. It might also be a reference to the huge and open maps of Priam's ancestor's games. A new piece of music also remniscient of those games plays exclusively in this chapter.

The right hand side of the map gets taken care of fluidly.

Priam even gets defeated quickly.

During those battles Chrom gains a point in Magic. As if he needed that.

Many enemies also get punished by Íñigo and a Ragnell of his own.

The left-hand side had some trouble but through careful repositioning that could be solved.

Because he's the descendant of Ike he can bring people of various races and nationalities together by sheer virtue of being there. After one last fight with his men he decides to venture outside once more and fight for you.

5 turns taken.

Owain and Linfan are the heroes of this chapter.

Before heading for the real end, I still have a few rogues to redeem...

Edited August 30, 2013 by Ike-Mike

[Ike-Mike]

Rogues and Redeemers 1

Chrom and his people must help the biggest heroes of Fire Emblem fight the biggest villains.

I never really liked the chapter this map comes from overly much. This is the map that immediately happens after Greil died and Shinon and Gatrie left, even when it's out in the open there aren't many defensive tiles to take advantage of, and the layout makes it that some points can only be held by one of your weaker guys and that point of defense will be crumbling soon.

This time around it's not much different. Or wasn't. Or still is? Well, I tried this map several times before, once when it came out and once when I had everyone ready to continue the main campaign after chapter 17. Needless to say, I failed every time. This time I am actually beating it without many hardships. It's astounding how a few more levels and better equipment can turn the tide like that.

4 turns taken.

I give this DLC a Greil's Fall/10.

I pick up the Ephraim card. I don't remember him being this hot-blooded and striving to better himself in combat at every possibility, but oh well, Intelligent Systems probably knows their characterizations better than I do.

He asks me if I sometimes fight for the sake of fighting. Considering that the later stages of my passionate Radiant Dawn hatred were like that and what I have prepared concerning my other passion for the final chapter I'm inclined to answer "yes."

I think I like Ephraim's artwork the most out of all the DLC characters not because of the outfit choices, but because it's technically the most well done, so I recruit him.

Rogues and Redeemers 2

We find ourselves back in the same map, except this time we're helping the villains defeat the heroes.

The opposing side even comments on every occasion why we chose to side with them, but I see it as the DLC for those crooks who actually wanted to side with the villains for once.

This map BGM along with that battle music... I've stated previously that I might probably still have a soft spot for FE5, but I will definitely forever have a soft spot for FE4.

We start outside of the fortress, so careful positioning is key this time. Me, Chrom, Linfan and Owain take the lower path, Lucina and Íñigo ambush from the left, while Yarne and Severa come from the top. Brady and Cynthia are separated. While Cynthia is on the top rallying the others up, Brady is conversing with Hardin on the left. He asks why he's siding with a bunch of lunatics? Hah, just look what a colourful bunch your army is!

Owain reaches level 15 and quickly becomes an Assassin.

After many hardships Brady and Cynthia are together once more.

One of the biggest threats is Sephiran. His entire lower half of stats is capped and he possesses Vengeance. Thankfully he gets thrown down quickly this time because of a lucky Luna.

The whole squad is slowly forming back together.

Marth is made the humble and the chapter is over.

5 turns taken.

I give this DLC a Lion King Eldigan/10.

I pick up the Celica card. She asks me if I'd ever like to bring someone back to life. I don't have anyone in particular in mind at the moment, but it still sounds neat, so I pick "yes." I would like to rewind time back to how things once were, though.

Rogues and Redeemers 3

This is it, the final battle! The biggest legends of Fire Emblem have assembled together into one place and it's up to Chrom's army to defeat them all!

Old Hubba even warns us beforehand...

Romantic? I-I guess!

The people of Fire Emblem know of Eldritch? Honestly, colour me surprised.

Yes, it's true, 20 of your best people face against 50 of the greatest legends that Fire Emblem has to offer.

The map is laden with the soothing background music Eternal Bond, also known to Super Smash Bros. Brawl affictionados as Ike's Theme. The battle music is The Devoted.

He proves to be a formidable foe once again, but is defeated quickly too.

Hardin gets aethered so hard...

... that he dies.

Of course I am the one who faces Ike in battle.

All the fliers entrenched themselves into the bottom left corner.

Maybe if I move into their range they'll attack me.

They didn't? What if I actively start attacking them, maybe then they'll attack me.

Yep, that oughta do it.

Those four or so remaining units are swiftly defeated too and this chapter is over.

5 turns taken.

I give this DLC a Legendary/10.

I pick up the Ike card. He thanks me for the battle and is impressed, considering what strong foes he has slain. He then asks me if the key to my victory was through invisible bonds between my units. Considering how those bonds are visibly shown through the support and pair up system I chose "yes."

Now we have to bid farewell to Hubba. It might even be that we're going to miss him dearly. But Hubba is savvy and knows that we'll see each other again.

Chrom ponders that the Einherjar felt less like cards and more like actual people. Hubba interprets it as each wanting to show us a small glimpse into their lifetimes.

This chapter leaves a manual for Limit Breaker behind. Now I won't be grinding those manuals, but I know just the right person to give it to.

Doesn't it look snazzy?

However, what Hubba said is true. We all got a glimpse of every person, of every Fire Emblem, of them and the entire series' legacy.

Now it is time to leave our legacy! It is time to slay Grima!

Edited August 30, 2013 by Ike-Mike

[Ike-Mike]

Final forge!

Kasu

Aversa's Night +5 Mt + 5 Hit +6 Crit

The greatest tome that once belonged to the coolest.

[Ike-Mike]

While I might have made a few off-hand mentions about this game's soundtrack a few times before, I never got around to talk about it in full. Or, more specifically, the background music used for the final battle, “Id (Purpose)”.

This song is absolutely stunning and for all the good reasons.

For one how the song is introduced. Your friends calling out for you in your darkest hour has been used for a very long time to the point where it might be clichéd. People even have pointed out that the final battle seems very heavily inspired by the last two Persona games. Even then, it's still one of my favourite storytelling devices and it always gets me. Besides, clichés are only as bad as their execution and Fire Emblem: Awakening executes this one masterfully. It also helps that I have been enjoying the adventure until now a lot and that feeling of everyone cheering you on is emphasized with all the forges named after my friends and even a friend's avatar deployed into battle.

On the other hand, I love this song for its splendid use of leitmotif. The entire “Id” series of songs is amazing, but this one wraps it all up. The song already basically begins with “Id (Darkness)”, since it uses the same drum line. The effect is only exacerbated when in-game it turns into a full song after you finally escape Grima's clutches and are ready to kick ass.

While it doesn't have an “Ablaze” arrangement, you could argue that “Id (Purpose)” is the “Ablaze” version to “Id (Darkness)”. Even then, it's a pleasing contrast from two different arrangements for the map and battles with every other map theme to one powerful song that captures the essence of both. While “A Grasping Truth” also was one final map theme for the entire battle and did its job well and is also a good song to listen to on its own, “Id (Purpose)” does it to perfection. That I have been listening to it once almost every day since the pre-release soundtrack came out in Japan perfectly exemplifies how well it stands up on its own.

The song starts out with a faster version of “Id (Serenity)”, the very song that plays when you were first picked up by Chrom. It's also the same song to which everyone bids you farewell. This all already makes it fine and dandy, but after the first verse an entire choir starts singing along to it, cheering for you and your units as your fight the way through Grima's infinitely increasing number of minions in the hopes of slaying Grima himself. As if that wasn't enough, after the choir a reprise starts. Each verse goes a key higher and animates you to press on and ends with the same choir singing their previous verse with a higher key. However, the enemy can still turn the battle in their favour, in this one especially. This is portrayed with the next part of the song, as the accordion is silently playing along. However, it can still be turned back to your favour, as the song is slowly building up again...

I am more of a fan of fast powerful final boss themes like “Last Springsteen” and “Under My Control,” however “Id (Purpose)” has that special something that still makes it stand out in spite of its relative slowness.

And that something is its powerful arrangement of the Fire Emblem theme. Not only does it wrap up the entire song, but also the struggles I had to go through as the player avatar and bookends the entire game. Even then that's and understatement. You could say that “Don't speak her name!” wraps up all the events that happened until then. “Id (Purpose)” wraps up the Fire Emblem series in all its entirety.

The map itself also distillates Fire Emblem into its very core; a wide open plain map with your units in the middle of it surrounded by enemies of all types on all sides.

The other reason why I love this song is that it also wraps up one of the game's themes that I don't see talked about often. That theme is “Be Yourself.” The theme that no matter what fate dictates you, no matter how much development and progress you'll be going through your life, your real purpose is to stay yourself no matter what.

Look at me, for example. I was supposed to become the vessel of Grima and doom the entire world, but I fought fate and came out victorious. Meanwhile my true personality started to shine through. I was the master tactician, the one who could get along with everyone and who always had a winning strategy in hand. This extends to my real life self. No matter how much I'll keep improving myself, no matter how many successes and failures I'm going to have in life, I will stay crazy, like and play the video games, cling to some people more than others and be passionate about my passions.

This theme is also found throughout the whole cast. No matter how many developments they will be going through, no matter how many hidden strengths they will be showing, Chrom will always feel obligated to help everyone in need, Frederick will always feel obligated to help Chrom in his needs, Cordelia will always harbour deep feelings for Chrom, Tharja will always curse others and cling onto me, Nowi will always be childish and cheerful, Lucina will always be determined about changing fate, Íñigo will always be the shy womanizer, Owain will always be hammy and treat everything as the stuff of legends, and so on.

The Japanese title of the song, “I ~ Because,” only brings it even more into the foreground. Why are people the way they are?

Because that's how I am! That is my purpose!

tl;dr “Id (Purpose)” is my most favourite song out of anything, ever.

[Ike-Mike]

I have to say, I was trying to hold back in excitement when Fire Emblem: Awakening was originally announced. I was once very hyped about an upcoming Fire Emblem before, only to be left with a taste of disappointment. The game sure looked ambitious, but the last time Intelligent Systems wanted to be ambitious with Fire Emblem I didn't like it.

I was trying to be cautiously optimistic when speculations around “Marth” were going around since the first day. I was excited when branched promotions returned along with re-classing, an all grown up Tiki would be featured in the game and especially when Anna was announced to be playable for the very first time. Even then I kept telling myself to keep my expectations low. I was even trying to undermine its success back when the first sales numbers were revealed.

But the truth is, as time went on, people from other parts of the world were discussing about the game and I finally got the chance to play myself it grew on me very quickly. For the first time in many, many years I was once more in love with Fire Emblem.

The game is extremely well thought out, it oozes polish in a lot of places, even ones where I wouldn't look for at first glance and it's filled to the brim with actual meaningful content.

The graphics are superb. For the first time since possibly Thracia 776 Fire Emblem works with warm and saturated colours again. Since I'm someone who greatly prefers saturated colours, this pleases me greatly.

While the menus are modernized and somewhat sterile looking and the familiar blue background is gone from most options, the cleanliness is pleasing to the eye and every option, every interface element can be quickly understood just at a first glance. Every graphical aspect of the game is meticulously designed that you're never lost.

I also have to emphasize that using the touch screen for the status window was a grand idea and I can't go back to the touch screen used to control your units in the DS games. Every information you ever need is quickly available at the press of a screen. The options are not too small and not too big. Most of them are smartly as high as your fingertips. And seriously, what was up with Select of all buttons as the only one to check weapon stats in the DS Fire Emblems?

It's evident that the interface designers did a lot of research with the previous Fire Emblem games and modern video games in general. It might have as many interface elements as your typical modern game, but they aren't nearly as in-your-face as others.

Speaking of research, the art design is also well researched. The art designers actually noticed that Armourknights were based on Greek soldiers but with even bigger and thicker armour in the original games and even added breast plates based on Roman soldiers, which were made to look like a thin and muscled torso, and did so for both genders. Dark Mages actually look like shamans.

To sum it up and speaking of making everything understood at a first glance, many visual elements were redone so you can see each class and character role right away. Sometimes it's even changes that are actually practical when you further think about it, like cavalier neck-pieces protecting their throats from infantry attacks. The illustrator stated in an interview before that he did a lot of research on previous official and fan art work and it shows.

The designs were also 'modernized' by adding elements from post-medieval times, sometimes even contemporary ones. This makes sense, since the game takes place thousands of years after every previous Fire Emblem. Also personally speaking, that's the sort of artistic direction I'd have taken for a 'modernized' Fire Emblem. Nothing like what you'd actually see today or even science-fiction-y, but not the same old that shows no sign of progress either.

And speaking of seeing every class role right away, even with the obvious unbalance the early parts of the game are actually noticably exceptionally well balanced. Every class stricly adheres to their role. Archers can actually pick down fliers, cavaliers are actually the mobile units slightly stronger than everyone else, mages are the special class that target a different set of stats, there is a class for every weapon type and every possible combination of two of them is present and they all do their role as they should.

Skills are also mostly evenly laid out between all classes. The absence of Nihil also means it doesn't turn into a battle of who can cancel each other's skills out and with each increasing difficulty the enemies also get increasingly more devastating skills at their disposal.

The map design is also great. The maps are small at first, but they ease you into the game neatly. But the layout is still labyrinthine and good positioning is key throughout the entire game. The maps become increasingly bigger, but there are enough walls and obstacles for you to manoeuvre through. It's even more amazing because the maps were also designed for skirmishes in mind. And throughout all this the maps don't feel like maps for the sake of maps, but also like actual locations. The DLC also has a few nostalgic maps.

The story is your typical fare. You start fighting a few bandits, but as the plot goes on twists and intrigues happen and everything is increasingly stacked against you until it becomes a quest to save the world. The story follows the arc of suspense very closely. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

What I noticed right away is how little filler there is between chapters. Every motivation, every small event is swiftly and clearly explained. Whenever something major happens, whenever someone has to be avenged, whenever a villain has crossed the line, the reactions to these events happen right away and isn't drawn out for several chapters. This wanes out a bit in the Paralogues, but I think they can be excused since they're side chapters.

I also welcome the time travel element, since the Back to the Future trilogy are still my most favourite films. And, just like with those films, there are still people discussing about how time travel works in either while everything feels concise to me. Lucina is there to show that time travel is possible while Linfan is there to show that multiple time-lines exist.

Even as much as I like Kid Icarus: Uprising, it irks me somewhat how during the latter half of the game the story keeps jumping around between places just to keep it going. I like the clear and linear story progression in Awakening a lot more.

Speaking of linear story, Fire Emblem: Awakening has a very interesting concept of linearity vs non-linearity. The story is entirely linear and the story chapters will always have the same enemy load-out depending on the difficulty. However, you are given almost complete freedom and control how you can approach them and what you can do besides.

You can re-class your units as you see fit and as long as it's within their class sets. The world map actually updates, so you can go on skirmishes regularly, you can barter with wandering merchants, forge, pick up hidden treasures, partake in Streetpass battles, play around with Spotpass content, play the DLC maps over and over, and so on. They give you so much at your disposal and you can either use it all up or restrict yourself in whichever way you want. You can go through the story right away, or use some of the skirmishes to catch up a bit or train a lot to overpower your units, like I did. You can support with everyone, or not at all, or mostly build supports for the pairings, like I did. You have the option not to get the DLC, or you can get a few, or you can play all the DLC maps or you can save the really difficult ones for later, like I did. Even without the DLC and Spotpass, the game feels very content-heavy. You can pick up specific children, or none at all, or all of them, like I did.

Even in the options, the game gives you a wide breadth of customization. Skipping enemy phase actually works this time. There are traditional and simplified options for both the normal status window and battle predictions. You can change the game speed both on map and in battles. You can change camera angles in battle at every moment. There are customization options for pretty much everything, except the inventory system.

The characters are well defined and their roles and personalities are clear the first time you meet them. Even when their personalities seem to be one-note on the outside, they still feel like actual people. The people behind the game explained before that they were trying to make a cast that you'd be happy to hang around with and they did. I would go to parties with a Henry, hold conversations with a Owain or go help a Vaike out.

While the chapter dialogues might be short most of the time, Fire Emblem: Awakening is a character-based game and it shows with the huge availability of extensive support conversations.

Here the characters really shine. As they slowly gain trust between each other, they begin to show their hidden strengths, their motives as to why they are the way they are, begin to work on their flaws for the sake of someone else or gain the trust of someone else because of both their strength and weaknesses. It's almost like they're actual people, who you recognize by a few characteristics but as you learn to know them you find out how they really are and where their characteristics actually come from. War doesn't always have to be brooding and serious.

Many of the conversations are also quite humorous to offset the mostly serious main storyline. To me, neither the story nor the conversations swerved too much into being too serious or too comical.

Huge props also go to the writers for making all these pairings possible. It goes to show that love can happen anywhere between anyone for a huge multitude of reasons.

Speaking of pairings, and also the people from the Spotpass Paralogues to some extent, I'm still perplexed why people are still arguing about what's canon and what isn't.

The options the game gives to you means everything is canon whatever you want it to be. You like a specific pairing more than others? Fine, be that way. You don't like most of the Spotpass people only pretending to be dead? Then don't visit their Paralogues. You think the game should end after chapter 11? Then don't play past that. With the existence of multiple time-lines and the Outrealm Gate it's official that whatever save game you have, it is your game! It is your canon!

Pair up works and allows for more strategic options than ever before. The status buffs emphasize a unit's strengths even more at best or balance out their flaws at worst. The buffs are not in and of itself completely game breaking. In any case, the status buffs mean that I can put a unit out a bit more into the front and not rely on conservative choking tactics all the time. Besides, pair up bonuses are more than needed for the highest difficulties.

Remember when I said that I don't like Radiant Dawn very much? Awakening actually fixes most of my complaints about that game. Instead of trying to balance the game out and creating even more imbalances during the process, Intelligent Systems finally realized that you can't balance Fire Emblem and made everyone and everything as broken as possible. It created some unbalanced options on its own, but that's what always happens with the “everything is broken” approach, like in Marvel vs Capcom 2. Instead of trying to break story conventions the story is your standard FE story but with subtle twists and even a bit of self-referential humour. Instead of actively denying the series roots, Awakening actively celbrates them. Instead of wasting lots of time on story cut-scenes the story cut-scenes are short and most of the lengthy text is in the support conversations. The units are represented with sprites again and the maps are scaled back. They actually even made fortresses work in 3D this time! Instead of a third promotion tier there are two tiers with heightened class caps. So you can either play through the game normally and have stats you're usually used to in Fire Emblem or level up so much that you basically have third tier classes. Actually, the increased stats in Awakening made me less afraid of the increased stats in Radiant Dawn. Instead of the later skills being a different variation of a devastating hit the skills in Awakening are more varied. Instead of making what would be their dream Fire Emblem they made a game that would be everyone else's dream Fire Emblem.

Of course, after all this gushing I have to mention Awakening also has its drawbacks. For one, the inventory system introduced in Thracia and used in every game since is tried and ture and there was no need to switch it up like that. I guess they wanted to make it even quicker and more efficient, but the previous inventory system was quick and efficient enough. And speaking of inventory, instead of trudging through shops on the world map they should've reintroduced the base shop from the Tellius games. More and stronger weapons would be unlocked as you progress with the game. And lastly, as the game was very character-focused they left the world-building behind. I guess you could say the Akaneia games serves as its world-building already. Still, in Awakening only the country names and a few other places are mentioned, no cities, no towns, barely any provinces... You know this game lacks world-building when even Shadow Dragon beats it in that department!

For Fire Emblem: Awakening Intelligent Systems deliberately threw in the best elements from every past Fire Emblem. It could've turned into a meaningless nostalgia trip, but they actually did what a good video game sequel should do. It has all the best elements of the entire series while throwing in plenty of new things that make the game feel fresh and stand out on its own. In that way it also reminds me of one of my other favourites, Kirby's Adventure Wii. And just like Kirby, Fire Emblem: Awakening has quickly found its way as my most favourite game in the entire series.

tl;dr Fire Emblem: Awakening is by far the best game in the series. Agree or go fuck yourself.

Edited December 16, 2013 by Ike-Mike

[Integrity]

gg