Just how Good is Awakening?

[Czar_Yoshi]

However, if you are looking for a gateway into the Fire Emblem series, this is not a very good choice.

How isn't it? Awakening is all about first impressions, easy to get into, and has a ton of throwbacks that are practically begging new fans to play the other games. Not to mention that all the other games (bar Sacred Stones) are very hard to get your hands on, or require incomplete translation patches, or are Shadow Dragon. It almost feels like being a gateway was the game's entire purpose.

-snip-

TC specifically asked for no Spoilers. You might want to go back and edit out the names and goals of every single villain in the game, and the bit about the Spotpass Paralogues.

[Emerald Ink]

I also don't get the hate for the story. Is it the best story of a game ever? Of course not (I think for me that honor goes to Persona 4). Every plot has holes if you drill hard enough. But is it enjoyable?

Fuck yes.

Awakening was my gateway into Fire Emblem, and I took to it like a fish to water. The gameplay is exceptionally solid, the characters are a lot of fun and all very memorable, and supporting them all with each other is a lot of fun (and also provides a ton of replay value). Combat is simple, but still not without challenge, especially on higher difficulties. Lunatic+ is basically "the computer is a cheating bastard: the game." There's even a casual mode if you're the kind of person who cares more about the characters and story than having to deal with combat. It's also boasts what's probably the best system for DLC I've ever come across - the DLC adds to the game without ever making you feel like you're missing out on anything if you don't get it.

To put it in some context, my boyfriend and I are playing through Blazing Sword at the moment, and while I'm enjoying it, I'm not nearly as engrossed as I was my first time through Awakening. I like the characters well enough, but none of them really stand out to me, and the pacing drags a lot compared to Awakening. Also, I really miss the pair up system and the ability to see the enemy's threatened zone all the time.

It's worth it to get a 3DS no matter what, though. It's got a pretty impressive library of games, many of which are just as enjoyable as Fire Emblem and have already been listed here.

[ClassyWolf]

I also don't get the hate for the story.

This was your first fe so I don't blame you, but fe usally have a lot better villains, Validar is just bland, he is evil because evil, when I look at the other fe villans like Nergal, Lyon, Ashnard, Arvis, even Gharnef, they were just more belivable and interresting with their individual backstories and motivations, and a lot more text when it comes to the story and an overworld narrator.

And fe:s usually follow the normal 3 ax structure (hopefully I put that right?), but awakening, which is technically in 3 arcs, the plot is just all over the place.

And a lot of the plot holes are just so unnecesary, it would have requirred so little to fix them (Chrom finding a person with grimeal clothes and still trusts him? all needed is to remove the grimeal marks, Lucina wearing a mask to conceal the mark on her eye, yet the plot forgets about that untill it Lucina wants them to see it, how to fix it? after the mask is removed Lucina could cover the eye with something as simple as a rag and pretend that the sword hit to conceal the mark)

To put it in some context, my boyfriend and I are playing through Blazing Sword at the moment, and while I'm enjoying it, I'm not nearly as engrossed as I was my first time through Awakening. I like the characters well enough, but none of them really stand out to me, and the pacing drags a lot compared to Awakening. Also, I really miss the pair up system and the ability to see the enemy's threatened zone all the time.

2 things 1. how far are you in?

2. if you have gotten past the tutorial, you don't find the story at all more interresting as awkening?

And it is a gba tittle, while it was the one I started with, I didn't go into the snes and nes games expexting as much since the hardware isn't a strong.

Also about the characters, yes, they aren't nearly as gimmicky as the awakening characters, but they have they have their own charms, so i suggest reading as many supports as you can (in game or look them up here on serenses)

And the pacing, yes, the older fire emblem had a lot more text, but that gave the player more insight into things like the world, and thats another thing I've seen the older fans disslike about awakening accually, that it's world building is non existant.

But oh well, I hope you at least play it trough once and then make up your final verdict.

[Emerald Ink]

This was your first fe so I don't blame you, but fe usally have a lot better villains, Validar is just bland, he is evil because evil, when I look at the other fe villans like Nergal, Lyon, Ashnard, Arvis, even Gharnef, they were just more belivable and interresting with their individual backstories and motivations, and a lot more text when it comes to the story and an overworld narrator.

And fe:s usually follow the normal 3 ax structure (hopefully I put that right?), but awakening, which is technically in 3 arcs, the plot is just all over the place.

And a lot of the plot holes are just so unnecesary, it would have requirred so little to fix them (Chrom finding a person with grimeal clothes and still trusts him? all needed is to remove the grimeal marks, Lucina wearing a mask to conceal the mark on her eye, yet the plot forgets about that untill it Lucina wants them to see it, how to fix it? after the mask is removed Lucina could cover the eye with something as simple as a rag and pretend that the sword hit to conceal the mark)

2 things 1. how far are you in?

2. if you have gotten past the tutorial, you don't find the story at all more interresting as awkening?

And it is a gba tittle, while it was the one I started with, I didn't go into the snes and nes games expexting as much since the hardware isn't a strong.

Also about the characters, yes, they aren't nearly as gimmicky as the awakening characters, but they have they have their own charms, so i suggest reading as many supports as you can (in game or look them up here on serenses)

And the pacing, yes, the older fire emblem had a lot more text, but that gave the player more insight into things like the world, and thats another thing I've seen the older fans disslike about awakening accually, that it's world building is non existant.

But oh well, I hope you at least play it trough once and then make up your final verdict.

Did you miss the rest of that first paragraph? I admitted it wasn't the best plot a game has ever given me. My point was that the story, despite it's faults, was still enjoyable. No, it's not exactly Dostoyevsky, but it doesn't need to be. It takes a simple story and tells it fairly well, with memorable characters that I personally think are a lot less "gimmicky" than most people around here seem to give them credit for. Some of them may be a few notes short of a symphony, but they're all at least a full chord. A story isn't bad because it's simple - it's bad if it's told badly and if the other person doesn't enjoy listening to it. Awakening may stutter here and there, but overall, I definitely don't think it's a "pile of heated, wet shit" (to quote someone from earlier).

I'm no stranger to lots of text in games, or loads of exposition in general. RPGs (video game and tabletop) are my bread and butter, and I love the Ace Attorney series as well, which is pretty much nothing but text. Hell, I have a freaking degree in creative writing, and that required reading more unpleasantly bloated "literary" books than I care to remember. But that's just it - if a story's pacing is off, it doesn't matter how much or how little exposition it has, it's going to feel awkward. Awakening does a brilliant job of letting you hit the ground running and setting up a mystery (your amnesia, the meaning of the opening cutscene, and your presence in Ylisse) without feeling like it's deliberately trying make it frustrating to solve.

We're still on Lyn's portion of the game, and I'm told it gets better during Eliwood/Hector's bits, but as of right now, I'm simply not as engrossed as I was with Awakening at a similarly early stage (mainly because right now it's bandit fight after bandit fight after goddamn bandit fight and oh look here's a mage or two and the green guy is hitting on another girl and the red guy is mad at him for it hahaha can we just get to the goddamn castle already and advance the plot instead of going two steps and WHOOPS here's some more fucking bandits under the command of our eeeeeevil uncle?)

That's another thing I think I already mentioned - I am absolutely spoiled on the fact that Awakening allows (mostly) everyone to support with (mostly) everyone else. I don't have to go and look up any support conversations (except the proposals I didn't do) in order to completely get to know all of the characters - I can get a complete experience within the game itself.

I will play the game all the way through, and my boyfriend wants to take me through 8 as well, so it's not like I won't be able to give a better comparison between the older games and Awakening in the future, but yeah, as of right now, I still much prefer Awakening.

Edited July 20, 2014 by Emerald Ink

[CrimeanRoyalKnight]

And the pacing, yes, the older fire emblem had a lot more text, but that gave the player more insight into things like the world, and thats another thing I've seen the older fans disslike about awakening accually, that it's world building is non existant.

This is a good point.

Awakening has so few world building that you almost have no idea how its people live in it.

@Emerald_Ink: to get most out of the characters, you have to read the supports, I highly recommend to you to read them! Canas is amazing, Legault is awesome, etc...

[That Person's Name]

Well I just use my sister's 3DS so I got away without having to buy the console itself but I did buy Awakening having planned on playing it through and maybe be done with it after a month but I can say that it's been well over a month and I still love playing it. So while I would suggest borrowing a 3DS from someone you know who has one if you can and playing through it as that would be the best option to save money, I've come to really enjoy the system and it really does have some other great games too which I've tried and really liked such as Bravely Default and Kid Icarus (and even Snake Eater!), as well as Smash coming out not long from now. So I think the system is worth the money and I'd buy another one if I had to and didn't hog my little sister's so much lol. I do hope more games come out for it though, it is a really nice and convenient portable with potential for more great games. That's really the only thing I'd consider about it, you have to think about how many other games that you'd really enjoy playing on it too. Sorry for poorly edited wall.

[Emerald Ink]

@Emerald_Ink: to get most out of the characters, you have to read the supports, I highly recommend to you to read them! Canas is amazing, Legault is awesome, etc...

I definitely will read them! I've heard very good things about the characters from this game, but that's just it - I infinitely prefer the fact that Awakening gives me all those supports in the actual game rather than making me pick and choose whose I want to see because the total support pool is so limited. In Awakening, the only supports I miss out on during any given playthrough are marriage proposals for couples I didn't pair up, and I can also get to know the characters via their battle quotes, which 7 doesn't have. In 7...well, if I don't want to use one of those limited support conversations, then I'm stuck with what the game gives me in the "overworld," which so far really hasn't given me enough to really endear me to anyone except maybe Lyn. I haven't met Legault yet, though seeing as how he's my boyfriend's favorite character in the game, I am looking forward to it.

[ClassyWolf]

lots of stuff

Now I gettcha, yeah just my missunderstanding, yeah it gets better after Lyns part, it's made as a tutorial so it does feel slow if it isn't ones first fire emblem. And it does get better.

And the story, by nintendo standards its not bad, but when put up against the story of a game in the same series its crap, and yes, even through my dislike for the game I must admit that people can use pretty strong words about the story when describing it to someone, well at least it's not like som reviewers who have put up the story as something incredible, neither extreme is really that good.

[Red Falcon]

If you checked the spoiler...

[spoiler=that one person quote]

This was your first fe so I don't blame you, but fe usally have a lot better villains, Validar is just bland, he is evil because evil, when I look at the other fe villans like Nergal, Lyon, Ashnard, Arvis, even Gharnef, they were just more belivable and interresting with their individual backstories and motivations, and a lot more text when it comes to the story and an overworld narrator.

And fe:s usually follow the normal 3 ax structure (hopefully I put that right?), but awakening, which is technically in 3 arcs, the plot is just all over the place.

And a lot of the plot holes are just so unnecesary, it would have requirred so little to fix them (Chrom finding a person with grimeal clothes and still trusts him? all needed is to remove the grimeal marks, Lucina wearing a mask to conceal the mark on her eye, yet the plot forgets about that untill it Lucina wants them to see it, how to fix it? after the mask is removed Lucina could cover the eye with something as simple as a rag and pretend that the sword hit to conceal the mark)

this is my counter to some "plot holes"...

[spoiler=my counters]Having not played the other games, I can't and won't comment greatly about the villainy. I'll just say that Grima being evil for the sake of being evil was enough for me. Sometimes you just have absolute evils in fiction, and if it doesn't happen every time, then that's okay in my eyes.

I don't understand how the plot could be all over the place when it's in three clear arcs. You have the war with Plegia, which results in Emmeryn's sacrifice. You then have a gap of two years before the war with Valm, the second act. Finally you have the third act with Grima. It's not overly complicated, just a lot of warring.

As for the Grimleal markings, I'm not sure that the insignia is that common, or recognisable for the Ylissians. The Grimleal after all is a cult. The symbols may have a greater association to Plegia in general, who were either neutral, neighbours and allies for the most part of the game. Not to mention that the eyes are also more individually represented on the avatar's clothing, rather than presenting the symbol as a whole. So what are they? Just some eyes. Henry also has the eyes on his attire, so I really don't think Chrom knows about the Grimleal symbol. As I said, it is a cult. And they were more concerned with the Plegians, Valmese, etc.

As for Lucina and the mark of the exalt. Why would she need an injury? There's absolutely no reason for Chrom to recognise it any sooner than when he was face to face with Lucina and looked closely into her eyes. Because the mark is so subtle, it's very hard to notice it. Especially if you were caught up in the events of, someone just saving your life, or the assassination attempt of your sister. Chrom was probably still distracted by the fact that there were two Falchions. Here's a real world example. Some fans complained about the lack of the mark of the exalt on Lucina's model after her Super Smash Bros. character reveal. The apparent lack of the mark anyway. They couldn't notice it from the distance. The same distance Chrom was dealing with. And the distractions of the combat. The same distractions Chrom was dealing with. But a screenshot, up close and personal, revealled that she does in fact have the mark hehe.

As for Chrom being an idiot as someone else said, he's just bold and a risk taker. I'd like to counter things more specifically if anyone would like to present some compelling debates for idiocy.

[CrimeanRoyalKnight]

In reply to Red Falcon

Having not played the other games, I can't and won't comment greatly about the villainy. I'll just say that Grima being evil for the sake of being evil was enough for me. Sometimes you just have absolute evils in fiction, and if it doesn't happen every time, then that's okay in my eyes.

The series has always had villains with reasons, I think it's okay for fans to expect them or be disappointed in Grima. I think Grima is a horrible villain and its only good thing is screaming ONOREEE in the Japanese dub while throwing breath spikes. There is nothing interesting to come out from its story and arc, also if it or the people who worship it are just as flat as it if not worse. Grima doesn't take the cake for worst villain, Valldar does: he literally has no reason to resurrect his God.

Not that I dislike absolute evils, but Grima and Valldar are bad ones, they only are a source of evil that needs to be hated by the player to be emotionally invested in the story.

I wish Grima was handled better, I wish Grima was actually the Avatar changing ideals and sides; that would've made things much more interesting.

I don't understand how the plot could be all over the place when it's in three clear arcs. You have the war with Plegia, which results in Emmeryn's sacrifice. You then have a gap of two years before the war with Valm, the second act. Finally you have the third act with Grima. It's not overly complicated, just a lot of warring.

I ask you two questions then, what's the point of this division?
Is Walhart really necessary?? Some players didn't get invested in the story due to how it was handled with these three arcs. Couldn't the third act be divided in two parts, so we could see more from Plegia, its cult, its people and problems?

As for the Grimleal markings, I'm not sure that the insignia is that common, or recognisable for the Ylissians. The Grimleal after all is a cult. The symbols may have a greater association to Plegia in general, who were either neutral, neighbours and allies for the most part of the game. Not to mention that the eyes are also more individually represented on the avatar's clothing, rather than presenting the symbol as a whole. So what are they? Just some eyes. Henry also has the eyes on his attire, so I really don't think Chrom knows about the Grimleal symbol. As I said, it is a cult. And they were more concerned with the Plegians, Valmese, etc.

You have a point about the Grimleal, only Frederick knows a little about them.
But the Avatar still has clearly Plegian clothing. Chrom trusts people too much, period. He picked up a random Plegian (aka dude/lady from the enemy nation) sleeping on the ground and after some show of skill from their part he was all like "Will u becum muh tactishun?? lel bffs" instead of being even more cautious and dubious.

As for Chrom being an idiot as someone else said, he's just bold and a risk taker. I'd like to counter things more specifically if anyone would like to present some compelling debates for idiocy.

He's bold to the point he leaves his country and baby aside after 2 years of war to go fight another one.

He's dependant to the point that he could ask the Avatar to see if he could breathe.

He trusts people too much and only paid for his flaws in the Premonition chapter.

A certain character in the series who had too much faith and good intentions ended up getting turned into stone...

On a side note, this is getting too offtopic.

OP, I still recommend you to try the game.

[ClassyWolf]

this is my counter to some "plot holes"...

[spoiler=my counters]Having not played the other games, I can't and won't comment greatly about the villainy. I'll just say that Grima being evil for the sake of being evil was enough for me. Sometimes you just have absolute evils in fiction, and if it doesn't happen every time, then that's okay in my eyes.

I don't understand how the plot could be all over the place when it's in three clear arcs. You have the war with Plegia, which results in Emmeryn's sacrifice. You then have a gap of two years before the war with Valm, the second act. Finally you have the third act with Grima. It's not overly complicated, just a lot of warring.

As for the Grimleal markings, I'm not sure that the insignia is that common, or recognisable for the Ylissians. The Grimleal after all is a cult. The symbols may have a greater association to Plegia in general, who were either neutral, neighbours and allies for the most part of the game. Not to mention that the eyes are also more individually represented on the avatar's clothing, rather than presenting the symbol as a whole. So what are they? Just some eyes. Henry also has the eyes on his attire, so I really don't think Chrom knows about the Grimleal symbol. As I said, it is a cult. And they were more concerned with the Plegians, Valmese, etc.

As for Lucina and the mark of the exalt. Why would she need an injury? There's absolutely no reason for Chrom to recognise it any sooner than when he was face to face with Lucina and looked closely into her eyes. Because the mark is so subtle, it's very hard to notice it. Especially if you were caught up in the events of, someone just saving your life, or the assassination attempt of your sister. Chrom was probably still distracted by the fact that there were two Falchions. Here's a real world example. Some fans complained about the lack of the mark of the exalt on Lucina's model after her Super Smash Bros. character reveal. The apparent lack of the mark anyway. They couldn't notice it from the distance. The same distance Chrom was dealing with. And the distractions of the combat. The same distractions Chrom was dealing with. But a screenshot, up close and personal, revealled that she does in fact have the mark hehe.

As for Chrom being an idiot as someone else said, he's just bold and a risk taker. I'd like to counter things more specifically if anyone would like to present some compelling debates for idiocy.

The thing with Grima just beeing an evil ashole is not my main problem, most final bosses have been fairly uninteresting, with exeptions of course, like Ashnard and Medeus, my problem is the main antagonist, the villain who is supposed to be intimidating as who the protagonists fight against, and that is in awakening Validar, he is present in all arcs and gives that precence, but is completely unintresting with no motivations for what he is doing or backstory, unlike villains like Nergal, Lyon, Arvis, Gharnef.

And for that matter, when we know the writters can do better, they have no excuse to writte a villain this boring when the series generally has well written villains.

And yes, I did mention that there is 3 arcs, but during those arcs we establish very little, we learn virtually noting about the countries or the continent or really anything. I think I worded it badly last time so it might be that? And for that matterdoes it need theese arcs, heck, the Valm arc could have been expanded on and made into it's own game rather than shohorn it into a story where it serves no purpos other than introduce Tiki (whos role also in the context of how she was in Marths games makes no sense to me), and why is she even on Valm when she is from Akaneia, when Valm has their own gods, well again, none of this is explaied in the game.

I might missremember, but isn't it brought up in chapter 8 that they recognise the enemys the grimeal from their marks?

If one does not notice the mark unless you are extremly close, why did she wear the mask to begin with? then it does nothing but narrows her sight while wearing the mask, and the only thing she then needed to change was her name, and this is supposed to be in a (somewhat) european setting, here where when you talk to someone, you look in their eyes, and theway it curves around the pupil, it looks fairly noticable, ingame I understand you don't see because of the models they were working with, and the brand in ssb4 I would say is too faint when you look at the awakeing look.

CG:http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130120153920/fireemblem/images/5/5e/LucinaEye.jpg

Model:http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120520051202/fireemblem/images/4/46/Lucina_-_Mark_of_Naga.png

And as for Chrom beeing stupid, he helps up an armed stranger with grimeal marks dissregarding the advice of his guardian, Fredrick, and leveas Plegia, chrushed and leaderless to it's own fate with no thought for consequese.

Edit: I'll just put it here, that I still would recomend to try out the game.

Edited July 20, 2014 by that one person

[Red Falcon]

Sorry for more black ink. I think I'll make this my last spoiler response hehe. On topic, despite what others have said, I found this to be a great gateway into the series as my first Fire Emblem.

The thing with Grima just beeing an evil ashole is not my main problem, most final bosses have been fairly uninteresting, with exeptions of course, like Ashnard and Medeus, my problem is the main antagonist, the villain who is supposed to be intimidating as who the protagonists fight against, and that is in awakening Validar, he is present in all arcs and gives that precence, but is completely unintresting with no motivations for what he is doing or backstory, unlike villains like Nergal, Lyon, Arvis, Gharnef.

And for that matter, when we know the writters can do better, they have no excuse to writte a villain this boring when the series generally has well written villains.

And yes, I did mention that there is 3 arcs, but during those arcs we establish very little, we learn virtually noting about the countries or the continent or really anything. I think I worded it badly last time so it might be that? And for that matterdoes it need theese arcs, heck, the Valm arc could have been expanded on and made into it's own game rather than shohorn it into a story where it serves no purpos other than introduce Tiki (whos role also in the context of how she was in Marths games makes no sense to me), and why is she even on Valm when she is from Akaneia, when Valm has their own gods, well again, none of this is explaied in the game.

I might missremember, but isn't it brought up in chapter 8 that they recognise the enemys the grimeal from their marks?

If one does not notice the mark unless you are extremly close, why did she wear the mask to begin with? then it does nothing but narrows her sight while wearing the mask, and the only thing she then needed to change was her name, and this is supposed to be in a (somewhat) european setting, here where when you talk to someone, you look in their eyes, and theway it curves around the pupil, it looks fairly noticable, ingame I understand you don't see because of the models they were working with, and the brand in ssb4 I would say is too faint when you look at the awakeing look.

CG:http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130120153920/fireemblem/images/5/5e/LucinaEye.jpg

Model:http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120520051202/fireemblem/images/4/46/Lucina_-_Mark_of_Naga.png

And as for Chrom beeing stupid, he helps up an armed stranger with grimeal marks dissregarding the advice of his guardian, Fredrick, and leveas Plegia, chrushed and leaderless to it's own fate with no thought for consequese.

Why wear the mask to begin with? Because Lucina was being cautious. I expect her original intention was to alter history while remaining anonymous, as the mask allowed her to be. If I can't notice the brand at the distance which Lucina is presented in the cutscenes, then I won't expect Chrom to either. ESPECIALLY considering the distractions I mentioned before. His life just being saved. The assassination attempt on his sister. The two Falchions. He's way too overwhelmed by his circumstances to notice the subtle mark. Which you do have to get close to, to notice, as evidenced by the in-game cutscene when Lucina reveals her true identity to Chrom and his wife.

As for Grimleal markings, I'll certainly have to look out for that on a replay. :)

Edited July 20, 2014 by Red Falcon

[ClassyWolf]

Why wear the mask to begin with? Because Lucina was being cautious. I expect her original intention was to alter history while remaining anonymous, as the mask allowed her to be. If I can't notice the brand at the distance which Lucina is presented in the cutscenes, then I won't expect Chrom to either. ESPECIALLY considering the distractions I mentioned before. His life just being saved. The assassination attempt on his sister. The two Falchions. He's way too overwhelmed by his circumstances to notice the subtle mark. Which you do have to get close to, to notice, as evidenced by the in-game cutscene when Lucina reveals her true identity to Chrom and his wife.

As for Grimleal markings, I'll certainly have to look out for that on a replay. :)

First, noone knows Lucina yet, and if she wanted to be cautious about not revealing her identity, she would have covered her eye again once the mask was cut in half to make sure that noone would see it, after all, she countinues to travel during all this time untill she joins Chrom and Robin buit noone during this time would have noiticed the brand? and again, I don't blame the developers not wanting to put such a small detail into every cutscene with Lucina, and the fact that the 3ds still has a fairly small screen, and I hope you looked at the pictures I linked where they show how obviouis the brand is on the eye.

And the 2 falchions thing, I wonder why it suprises Chrom, because in that universe there exists 2 falchions canonically, one in Akaneia, Marths (Chroms & lucinas) falchion, and one in Valm, Alms falchion (which is shown in gaiden), which they somehow forgot about.

I found this to be a great gateway into the series as my first Fire Emblem.

This is true, Awakening is one of the better fire emblems to start of with.

[RJWalker]

Why does Lucina even dress like Marth? One could say that she does it so she can use Falchion and claim to be THE Marth but no one ever assumes that. They comment on the name but leave it at that. Seems little more than trailer bait.

[Refa]

She's a cosplayer, it's what they do.

[Anacybele]

TC specifically asked for no Spoilers. You might want to go back and edit out the names and goals of every single villain in the game, and the bit about the Spotpass Paralogues.

Oh, I had read the post, but I guess I missed that part. My bad. >_<

[Dark Sage]

Why does Lucina even dress like Marth? One could say that she does it so she can use Falchion and claim to be THE Marth but no one ever assumes that. They comment on the name but leave it at that. Seems little more than trailer bait.

She's a corporate whore, duh

[Czar_Yoshi]

This is absurd. If you guys need to hijack a topic to complain about the story, why not do it to the Emmeryn topic that's currently floating around? At least you wouldn't have to post in all spoilers there (which doesn't help TC decide whether or not to get the game).

Anyway, I'll say this (borrowed from CrimeanRoyalKnight): Awakening is a game that wants you to think with your heart instead of your head. If you let yourself get emotionally invested in the plot, if you get mad at the scumbags and cry when something bad happens, if you pretend to be the Avatar on a quest to forge bonds and save the world, you'll like it. For the first playthrough, anyway. If you try to think about what's happening, question why the bad guy actually wants those MacGuffins, wonder if there was a slightly smarter course of action for the Heroes, or ask what happened to that slightly-interesting-but-never-elaborated-on thing from a while back, you'll be very disappointed.

I realized that halfway through my first playthrough, and was still able to fully enjoy the game in spite of it (and even forget that it was a problem at times). The gameplay is also a far more important characteristic of Awakening, so even if you do get disenchanted with the story early on and it fails to regain your attention, everything else is still there (Awakening is also very good about letting you skip cutscenes, no matter how minor. You can even skip the animation of watching an enemy's HP go down if you want to). Finally, this game is very conducive to headcanons, so if you don't like the story but do like the characters, you can just make your own.

Oh... And while it's true that the 3ds has a very strong library of other games, I actually didn't buy anything except Awakening and it's merchandise for all of 2013. True story. And the only other game I already had that I put in more than 10 hours on during that time was SSBM, and even though I've gotten some more stuff now that it's 2014, the only thing there I've put in more than 10 hours on is Tropical Freeze. I've actually got unopened games sitting on my shelf right now.

Edited July 20, 2014 by Czar_Yoshi

[Aurath8]

I'm unsure whether Awakening is worth buying a 3DS for if you're a new fan. If you played other FEs before I see no reason why you shouldn't get this one at some point though.

I do certainly believe that the 3DS has more than enough great games under its belt to justify a purchase. There's 3 years of great games already released, like Oot3D, Mario Kart 7, Pokemon XY, Luigi's Mansion 2, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Link Between Worlds and I'm sure I could go on for a entire paragraph simply listing good games. At 3 years old the 3DS is about halfway through its life and it is in its heyday. There are few better times to buy the console.

[Moira]

This is absurd. If you guys need to hijack a topic to complain about the story, why not do it to the Emmeryn topic that's currently floating around? At least you wouldn't have to post in all spoilers there (which doesn't help TC decide whether or not to get the game).

That topic's already deviated from specifically Emmeryn's sacrifice to something else entirely so I guess people could go post the same stuff that's been posted 1000 times there.

Take the plot at face value, and don't question/think about it too much and it should be a fine enough plot. If you enjoy the gameplay of Fire Emblems you should enjoy this game. Yes, it is breakable but I doubt you'll accidentally/intentionally break it on your first playthrough. The mains selling point is, once again, the game play, so thats what you should consider when deciding to buy it.

[shadowofchaos]

Take the plot at face value, and don't question/think about it too much and it should be a fine enough plot. If you enjoy the gameplay of Fire Emblems you should enjoy this game. Yes, it is breakable but I doubt you'll accidentally/intentionally break it on your first playthrough. The mains selling point is, once again, the game play, so thats what you should consider when deciding to buy it.

Honestly, it felt like "vanilla" FE in regards to classes and difficulty on Normal and Hard.

Like I played it like FE8 and didn't reclass until postgame. Kept them at Level 20 promoted and that was it.

[Integrity]

i will daringly bring it back to the topic question

awakening is very very good

[Ownagepuffs]

How isn't it? Awakening is all about first impressions, easy to get into, and has a ton of throwbacks that are practically begging new fans to play the other games. Not to mention that all the other games (bar Sacred Stones) are very hard to get your hands on, or require incomplete translation patches, or are Shadow Dragon. It almost feels like being a gateway was the game's entire purpose.

Awakening did away with some pretty cool mechanics and has underwhelming map design. The throwbacks are more for pleasing current fans than making a new player want to dig in to the series. Something like LB3 would be hella strange to a new player, don't you think?

This is how I picture a newcomer playing some of the fanservice DLC:

It's a gr9mazing game if you are looking just for a new fun strategy game to play. But if you are specifically trying to get into Fire Emblem, then I wouldn't recommend it. I'd probably recommend FE7/8 for that, since they have comparable difficulty to Awakening while still being truer to the series.

I do understand that the older ones can be a pain to get a hold of, though. But fuck it that's what emulation if for YOLO

[Czar_Yoshi]

Awakening did away with some pretty cool mechanics and has underwhelming map design. The throwbacks are more for pleasing current fans than making a new player want to dig in to the series. Something like LB3 would be hella strange to a new player, don't you think?

I'm not sure what percentage of Awakening's fanbase, prior to playing the DLC, was familiar with every single character in it (especially Gaiden). However, I'd hazard a guess that their reaction to the other characters (most likely as a tease for the other games- that's what mine was) could just as easily expand to every character if they didn't know who any of them are. If you hadn't played any other FEs you wouldn't have a reference point for map design, and more mechanics isn't always a good thing (especially if you're a beginner and have no clue how any of them work).

Awakening even has the biggest job of a gateway game- drawing attention to itself- taken off its shoulders by SSB4. Sure, everybody knows Marth and Roy and Ike, but Avatar and Lucina are new, flashy and draw lots of attention to Awakening (which is probably why we're having this discussion in the first place).

[CrimeanRoyalKnight]

drawing attention to itself

Awakening plays a lot with first impressions; that's why I've seen many (especially FE fans who were FE fans before it) who first praised it as the best in the series, but then changed their mind completely.