This 3/10 Gamefaqs review for FE13 actually made some valid points.

[Generic General]

You can read the full review here: http://www.gamefaqs.com/3ds/643003-fire-emblem-awakening/reviews/review-154430

This might seem like a troll review at first, but after reading, the reviewer actually pointed out most of Awakening's faults that I have to agree with.

From the knights with armor shaped like toilet bowls to the generals who have quite possibly the most nonsensical design I have ever seen.

Yup, the knight and general models are pretty terrible.

The story and setting are both very bland and uninteresting.

I agree, the story for this game is lacking compared to previous FEs.

The core gameplay is still the same tried and true Fire Emblem formula with a few new additions, but also removes some elements such as weapon weight and status effects.

Weapon weight was pretty crucial before, removing it just kind of weakened the strategy factor of this game.

The most notable gameplay addition is the brand new pair-up mechanic, unfortunately, it's horrendously broken.

Pair up is indeed blatantly OP, there is absolutely no reason not to use it.

The vast majority of the maps in Awakening are flat, barren fields with little to no interesting architecture and boring terrain.

This is one of my main criticisms. Hordes of enemy riders rushing you in turn one doesn't feel good. At all. *cough*chapter19*cough*

Victory conditions are limited only to rout the enemy and defeat the boss. There are no seize or defend missions in the entire game.

I miss the defend objectives as well.

The paralougues do not scale to you current level. By the time you've grinded enough supports to unlock most of these maps, your army will be significantly overpowered compared to the enemy units you will be facing, thus rendering their quality designs pointless as you can steamroll them almost immediately.

Most of the children sidequests are really easy, except for Gerome's map of course.

Thoughts on this review?

[ZemZem]

Most of the children sidequests are really easy, except for Gerome's map of course.

Gerome's map is also pretty easy.

I wish FE13 had defend maps, as well. This guy made some valid points, he just went about it in a pretty stupid way.

[shadykid]

I'm glad weapon weight is gone, and some of the children paralogues actually have interesting side objectives

also, last few maps=/=the whole game, there's some interesting terrain (although some defend/kill x enemies/escape or whatever would have been interesting should've had a burn 6 ships mission like FE10's crates)

Edited June 9, 2013 by shadykid

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

The 4/10 and 6/10 review is better because its Poor. Unremarkable and Flawed as an Irrelevant Dissent

[Constable Reggie]

Yup, the knight and general models are pretty terrible.

This (and all the artistic gripes the reviewer is complaing about) is extremely subjective. I personally love the weird designs in the game, the only exception being that some female models don't wear pants (jaw dropped when I realized what female great knights really look like)

Pair up is indeed blatantly OP, there is absolutely no reason not to use it.

The game is designed with you using pairup in mind. Enemy stats are comparatively much higher than they are in other Fe games, and usually the game has no problem swarming you with them.

The rest I somewhat agree with, especially the level design in comparison to past Fe games, but all of it combined is not indicative of an awful game. A disappointment for hardcore FE fans? Maybe. A bad game in general? Absolutely not.

Edited June 9, 2013 by Constable Reggie

[Jedi]

It's a gamefaq's review. Which is as credible as me being a rocket scientist.

[shadykid]

It's a gamefaq's review. Which is as credible as me being a rocket scientist.

what, I'd believe that first

[Faye]

No defend maps? Bullshit, look no further than

Paralogue 3: A Strangled Peace.

I never attempt that shit UNTIL Endgame. Stupid villagers, yes, please, run RIGHT TOWARDS THE FUCKING RISEN, you're sure to be safe and sound there.

[Da Bear]

It's a gamefaq's review. Which is as credible as me being a rocket scientist.

This can be true but some people make good reviews... it's the scores that are messed up.

No defend maps? Bullshit, look no further than

Paralogue 3: A Strangled Peace.

I never attempt that shit UNTIL Endgame. Stupid villagers, yes, please, run RIGHT TOWARDS THE FUCKING RISEN, you're sure to be safe and sound there.

What the..? I blow through that map without fliers, use the rescue staff and kill of the pegasi. All there is to it.

The 4/10 and 6/10 review is better because its Poor. Unremarkable and Flawed as an Irrelevant Dissent

I'd rather sacrifice the game to Grima than talk about how flawed it is tbqh.

Also the guy ignored the amazingness of waifus. We all know that that's why the game is so good overrated.

[shadykid]

all in favor of sacrificing bearclaw to Grima, say aye

[Faye]

I always forget the existence of Rescue Staves. OTL Sigh. I just have bad memories of my bad first two disastrous attempts at it. I don't even want to waste Rescue Staves on those morons, I just send fliers in every direction now.

[Da Bear]

all in favor of sacrificing bearclaw to Grima, say aye

We all know that the vast majority of the RTU "debaters" (I've come to the conclusion that the art of actual debating has been lost to this site) will support this.

The game isn't that good anyway, too easy/10.

[shadykid]

We all know that the vast majority of the RTU "debaters" (I've come to the conclusion that the art of actual debating has been lost to this site) will support this.

The game isn't that good anyway, too easy/10.

if we want a unanimous decision, it'll be Chiki instead

[Airship Canon]

You can read the full review here: http://www.gamefaqs.com/3ds/643003-fire-emblem-awakening/reviews/review-154430

This might seem like a troll review at first, but after reading, the reviewer actually pointed out most of Awakening's faults that I have to agree with.

Yup, the knight and general models are pretty terrible.

I agree, the story for this game is lacking compared to previous FEs.

Weapon weight was pretty crucial before, removing it just kind of weakened the strategy factor of this game.

Pair up is indeed blatantly OP, there is absolutely no reason not to use it.

This is one of my main criticisms. Hordes of enemy riders rushing you in turn one doesn't feel good. At all. *cough*chapter19*cough*

I miss the defend objectives as well.

Most of the children sidequests are really easy, except for Gerome's map of course.

Thoughts on this review?

Subjective

Main plotline, yes. Characters, oh hell no. The Setting is about the same as always.

Weapon Weight is flawed and counterproductive. Do I need to point out why... again? It's a good thing that it's gone.

The game is balanced around it, and the only real problem for Pair Up is that the enemy doesn't have it.

Subjective

Defend NPC(s) While Routing (Like Tiki's Paralogue, for example) is better than straight Defend- also it makes more sense than "OH NO ONE GUY TOOK OUR IMPORTANT CHAIR! WHATEVER WILL WE DO?". Sieze is pointless if the boss ain't movin', and if he is, then stealth cap- otherwise "OH NO ONE GUY TOOK OUR IMPORTANT CHAIR! WHATEVER WILL WE DO?". Escape might have some merit, but arrive is dumb; Kill X is merely an inferior Rout.

Play Lunatic/Lunatic+ and try 'em at Ch13 then talk.

The review is Unremarkable and Flawed.

[Da Bear]

if we want a unanimous decision, it'll be Chiki instead

I would vote against. I may not agree with Chiki but no one should be sacrificed to Grima.

Also I've found that the guy who made this review legitimately hates this game. I've seen him post in topics and the like and he literally hates the game. Like more than Westbrick

[Comet]

Most of the children sidequests are really easy, except for Gerome's map of course.

Inigo's is pretty hard too.

[shadykid]

I would vote against. I may not agree with Chiki but no one should be sacrificed to Grima.

Also I've found that the guy who made this review legitimately hates this game. I've seen him post in topics and the like and he literally hates the game. Like more than Westbrick

hey now, Avatar "sacrificed" him/herself and lived

[Rewjeo]

The point wasn't that the review was good, but that it made some good points. Personally, I'm inclined to agree. For all the things this game did right, I don't find it aesthetically pleasing, the villains are quite possibly the worst in the series, the characters are painfully one-dimensional, the map design is atrocious at times (let's just put a spattering of enemies over there, maybe another clump here), the plot in general is uninteresting and the main characters are bland, and pair-up (at least below Lunatic) does kind of break the game. I wouldn't give it a 3/10 - it's not bad, but I would say it's pretty much in the middle of the pack as far as FE games go.

[1% critted]

No amount of low score reviews are going to undermine my enjoyment of this game. I recognize the flaws this game has, but for me always in a game it's about the positive stuff it has. I mostly ignore the flaws of almost any game when I'm having such a great time with it.

In my experience the game that had me feel this way the most was FF12: The characters were bad, the story was boring but the gameplay for me was so good that I didn't even care. Of course on time my opinion of the game has changed, but I tend to appreciate more the good things that life gives, rather than focus on the bad.

But with all that said: 4/10: Game is Unremarkable and Flawed. Someone should make this a meme.

Edited June 9, 2013 by 1% critted

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

But this game allowed dodging! Unlike FE12!

4/10. Game is unremarkable and flawed

But seriously, this is one awkward thing that happened everytime I played this game esp after playing 12

Edited June 9, 2013 by JSND

[Nobody]

The funny thing about awakening is that playing it for the first time, I never noticed it flaws, it was the perfect game. As I played it more and more, along with other fire emblem games (awakening was my first) I realized how many flaws it does have. Pair up is far from being as strategic as rescue, same turn reinforcements are also pretty bad (earlier FE games also have that) and the map design is very flawed compared to other FE games. Still, awakening is a very enjoyable game despite those flaws and I've already beaten it over 20 times. The problem with that review is that the flaws he listed are not enough to give the game such a low score. The 6/10 review is a a lot better because it also recognize the game positive points, and 6/10 is not a terrible grade. 3/10 means the game is almost unplayable and I don't think anyone would call awakening unplayable. Well, except lunatic+...

Edited June 9, 2013 by Nobody

[Vorena]

Its still primed to become the best selling FE game since FE4. Despite what the ratings say or the common appearance of dislike for it people are still buying it. I think sales tends to be the best indicator of what people really think of a video game.

Edited June 9, 2013 by Vorena

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

Since FE3 AKA "The Best In the Series" >_>

Edited June 9, 2013 by JSND

[Vashiane]

I think it's been well-established on this forum that the game's not perfect... no game is perfect. Every game will probably have a mechanic that bugs someone, or some sort of flaw. Most games have several, some have a LOT. This review did a decent job pointing out the game's flaws, but it didn't seem to notice anything else beyond that. Despite the fact that it's far from perfect (plot, you make me so scubby it's not funny), Awakening is still a good game.

[Loki Laufeyson]

People played this game for plot? :B