What do you like about Fates?

[tacticianwhite]

wrt skinship: ngl I lol'd when I read that Ryouma says "My hair is my pride"

I wonder if he only says it if you rub his hair or sth

I'm infinitely amused by that and, especially in conjunction with a line of his chapter 18 nohr dialogue where he tells Marx he's got a more handsome face than him

who knew the lobster was a little vain

oh gods, he actually says this? xD

...anyway, TC, thanks for this thread. I was waiting for something like this. All of the negativity going on was kinda bumming me out....

...but seeing as how I don't actually *have* the game, myself (waiting for NA release), it'll probably be kind of hard to say what I like about it. But from what I've seen:

-Hoshido--or at least its setting. I really like feudal Japan~

-My Castle. It'd give me something to do after battles. I can walk around and talk with the characters, try on accessories, take a relaxing bath, among other things.

-Game's difficulty. I'm going to be honest and say that I really don't consider myself to be all that amazing at SRPGs, but I still appreciate how they've made Fates to be more challenging after Awakening's lighter difficulty.

-Being able to marry same-sex characters. Sure, it's only one character for both Kamuis, but I think it's a good step forward~

-Three routes. It's pretty much three different games. I wonder just how many hours will I clock in altogether?

-Removal of weapon durability--even though this leads to other negatives to compensate.

-Skinship...? ...well, to be honest, I'm not sure if I *love* it, but it seems entertaining~

-The CG cutscenes. They're all very pretty~

-The music is pretty good, too (one of my favorites the one that plays during the My Castle fights, both versions~)

Edited August 7, 2015 by spiderbrush

[Thor Odinson]

oh gods, he actually says this? xD

http://prevolt.tumblr.com/post/123522691616/translation-fire-emblem-if-nohr-path

There's a translation of Nohr 18 pre-battle if you don't mind spoilers

http://aphonicdreams.tumblr.com/post/122371421332/nohr-is-on-a-roll-right-now-so-heres-an-attempt

Ryouma's amie lines, translated.

I find that while Ryouma might not be the most exciting character at first glance there's a lot of little things about him just lying around that's just hilarious.

I love lowkey hilarious characters.

[wponinw]

the music

[NinjaMonkey]

This game will mean that the FE amiibo will get a restock, so I can finally grab a Lucina one without having to pay extortionate prices to scalpers.

EDIT: And Camilla.

Edited August 8, 2015 by NinjaMonkey

[Folt]

Things I like, well:

Male pegs, female fighters, female berserkers, and male valks.

The fact that it has three routes which leads to three different outcomes and, alongside things that become exclusive for those routes, essentially becomes three different FE games altogether.

My Castle. I like having what's essentially my own little bastion. Also, I love how I can hang out with units in my army, have them cook food for me, dress them up in silly ways, and generally being able to take a breather.

Fire Emblem Amie is hilarious.

Leo and Takumi. They are the best characters and greatest foils. Everything about them makes me love them more and I love all the tiny differences between them.

Nishiki and Flannel and shapeshifters in general being more awesome in this game than they were in Awakening.

The music. It's awesome!

Gunther! The best Jagen and the best adoptive father! I also love how he essentially became a main character on the Invisible Kingdom route, as I think Jagens (not Oifeys; I mean Jagens) rarely get to have some form of a main role (unless they're unplayable).

The new seals! It leads to more, yet still restricted, unit customization, being able to device new builds to take advantage of classes you have for that playthrough and so on!

The design of the characters. Yusuke Kozaki is great!

Shigure, Foleo, and Ophelia. They are my three favorite child units, I like them as characters, and as child units, they are more customizable than their parents.

Though... on that note, the fact that first-gen units aren't strictly outclassed by the child characters is also something I like very much. Also dig the fact that Avatar-sexual characters get as many default classes as child characters get which helps keep them competitive.

The return of three of the Awakening characters. Especially Owain. Kinda hoping for him to show up in other games afterward as well. (With Missiletainn in some form. Tome or sword, it doesn't matter. Though I suppose some of this stem from my love for FFV's Gilgamesh, as well as him being my second favorite Awakening child.)

The Invisible Kingdom. I love it when fantasy goes... well... fantasy in terms of locations, having things like floating islands and strange physics and things that make no sense! I want something like that to show up again in a new FE!

Dragon's Vein! Oh God do I want that to be a mainstay of the series.

Nohr's story. Yes, I am the guy who actually think Nohr's story is the best of the three! Not to mention that it's essentially siding with Camus and that is cool!

[mimasho]

- The new seals are great; the child seals in particular are very useful when you're recruiting them late game ! You really don't have to do much grinding for them at all thanks to them ~ * U *

- The music is AMAZING !! I shamelessly have all the sound files downloaded and made a few of the music ringtones for my family w/o their permission lol

- I seriously adore the character designs. Though yes, there are some characters that are quite similar to the ones in Awakening, I love them nonetheless. If I don't like their design as much, their personalities and backstories more than make up for it. Yusuke please stay with FE forever and ever. （人´∀`*）

- Most of the VAs did a very good job as well; there are some that took a while to get used to, but overall I liked most of them !

- My Castle: collecting resources, forging with gems and whatnot, it's a more unique take on things and I like it ! It's also fun visiting your friends' castles and seeing what pairs they're doing, fighting them and whatnot. I definitely use the wifi functions on If more so than in Awakening.

- PvP has the potential to be very fun, if they could fix up their anticheat system. Out of the few battles I've had with normal players, it's been incredibly fun ! * U *

- I like the idea of personalized skills, though some of them are not so useful haha (I'm looking at you Mitama)

- The maps are pretty and unique. It's not just all terrain and bridges and whatnot.

- The DLC maps are fun and I love how maps in general are scaled to the levels of your units ??

- Scenery and storyline. I shamelessly cried very hard when I was playing the last few chapters of Hoshido ~ ; u ;

- The different exclusive classes. Lancers and Outlaws are some of my new favorite lines. The outfit designs are amazing as well !

There's probably some more, but these are the ones I can think of at the top of my head ~ * U *

[wvype]

I can't say anything about gameplay yet but here's some stuff I like from what I know:

I adore the characters. They've got some more diversity in personality compared to Awakening. Also a lot of their designs are nice. Some can be rather weird, but I like them.

Have to put in more votes for the music. It's great. I've been on YT listening to all of the Ablaze map themes nonstop. (A4 and B4 are the absolute best, Hitori Omou is amazing, and the boss themes are awesome.)

And My Castle too. I'm a sucker for slice of life and it's really cute (and I get way too absorbed into Animal Crossing so this is ideal). Plus the idea of an accessory shop is too tempting for me. And the resource harvesting for cooking/forging/other stuff is nice. Lilith is also interesting.

The Avatar class system is way better now! I'll probably miss not having access to all classes, but that was way too broken, and anyway it's not practical now that infinite leveling isn't normally available. Marriage/buddy seals sound fun, and makes it more important to plan out who's going to be supporting with who. I like it.

[Ryo]

Fanboy gushing time!

Well, haven't played the game yet, so all of these are based on my initial impressions:

1. The fact that some of the new classes I want (manakete lord, magic wyvern, flying bow unit, ninja etc.) actually came true! I love how bows and archers have been buffed to make them more useful (though I think Takumi and his bow are too OP XD). And finally, we have non-dragon transformers that don't suck!

2. Parallel Seal is a better version of Second Seal.

3. The new weapon triangle.

4. Most non-DLC classes are gender-neutral.

5. Each weapon has its own unique properties, though I can't comment on the specific effects yet since I haven't played the game.

6. The map design in the Nohr path, even Hoshido is also a slightly better version of Awakening. Also, the sadistic/masochistic side of me always love how trolly some of the maps and enemies can be. Nothing is more fun than watching a playthrough when something like this (spoiler) happens and imagining the player's reaction at that moment!

7. Platonic supports at least have a more major impact on the gameplay, though the quantity still leaves much to be desired....

8. The musics are awesome. My most favorite track is map A3 (both versions), I can listen to it all day!

9. Attack Stance & Guard Stance, and the fact that the enemies can also use them. Though I hope that the enemies are smart enough to actually pair themselves up when situation calls, instead of always relying on pre-set GS, but oh well...

10. I like the "fancy" names for some of the classes and items. I just love how every translator had to raise their eyebrows at things like 禍事罪穢 or 七難即滅.

11. I like the concept behind My Castle, with how you can freely travel around your hometown and interact with people. I DO NOT like some of its implementations, however, but let's not talk about those here...

12. Probably just my personal bias, but I like many of the first-gen characters in this game, which I think is a step-up from Awakening. Of course, some characters are still inevitably more shallow and underdeveloped than others, but I still like them. My most favorite is Suzukaze. I also like many characters' designs.

13. The fact that many maps' difficulties scale with the progression of the story or how strong your units are at the time.

14. The graphic, cutscenes and artworks look beautiful in general.

15. Each character has their own personal skill. This is something I've always wanted.

Edited August 8, 2015 by Ryo

[Mighty Kamina]

1: The gameplay in Nohr has been a massive step-up from Awakening.

2: Same for the map design!

3: I like most of the characters. Some are misses, but some particular favorites are Arthur, Suzukaze, Xander, Leo, Takumi (I really like him as an enemy, he's probably my favorite Hoshidan sibling on the Nohr route), Effie, Elise, Azura, Ryoma, Lazward, Zero, Luna, Odin, Charlotte, Benoit, Flannel, and Saizou. I've read some of the Gen 2 supports, and Lutz sort of sticks out to me as well. (I refuse to use the kids because they have absolutely no bearing on the story, and in my mind are non-cannon.)

4: Music. I adore the soundtrack!

5: Aside from a few problem designs (which are mostly not Kozaki's fault, he doesn't design the armor), I love the art style! I hope Kozaki stays next game, and that we get a new Art Designer so that Kozaki does better Armor.

6: I enjoyed the story. I'm just starting the Third Path, and I read a synopsis of Hoshido's plot. I actually had a lot of fun with the Nohr story, a few issues aside.

7: Some of "My Castle". I'm a bit mixed on the new forging, it's less broken but a lot less convenient, but it's more balanced. Ignoring the skinship, I like the rest of "My Castle." It felt jarring in the plot though, and I'm surprised that it was Shin Kibayashi was the one who suggested it. (Or at least that's what I've heard)

8: Supports are generally better, or at least the ones I've read have been, but the bad ones are baaaaaaaaaaaaddd. The good outweigh and are more common than the bad though, at least for the Gen 1 characters IMO.

9: Personal skills are really fun. One of my favorites is Arthur's, and it's even better if you throw him all of the goddess icons.

10: The new weapon system. I was quite worried but optimistic when the new weapons system was announced. I love it. There's so much more to then just choosing the weapon with the highest might, which I was worried this system would bring.

11: The new dual system. Much more balanced than in Awakening, and promotes thought. You can't just throw two powerful units into a heap of enemies and call it a map.

12: The lack of HP in general. I feel like I'm more engaged in the game when most of my units can't just soak hits. Helps that most of the tanks get wrecked by Mages and Ninja's, so even with them I have to be careful.

While this has yet to be seen if it lasts, Fates is right now one of my top 3 FE games.

Edited August 8, 2015 by Monado Boy

[Ryo]

Oh, I also like Dragon Vein and the idea of altering terrains in general, though I think they need better implementation in Hoshido and IK.

[XeKr]

Best gameplay. Addressing variants of the following complaints from Awakening and the series in general.

“Pair up is broken” = separated Attack/Guard stance, reasons to not always be paired. Reduced RNG and stat boosts. Enemy also pairs up.

“Lowmanning is too strong” = Exp formula prevents overleveling. Poison skills, half max HP staff, debuffs. Attack stance increasingly strong with more units.

“too much enemy phase steamroll” = Lots of skills and effects that only trigger on user’s phase. Low Hp lowers durability all around.

“boring maps” = objectives and Dragon’s Vein. Smart aggro patterns and weapon/skill combinations. Status staves. AI using Rally at the appropriate time.

"wt/con unbalanced or nonexistent" = weapon differences and decision-making matters

“easy infinite leveling” = gated behind very expensive item.

“terrible difficulty curve” = Norma/Hard/Lunatic seem appropriately distanced, especially if considering Hoshido/Nohr/IK. Also doesn’t fall off after earlygame like many other games. Really the lategame chapters are probably the hardest, as they should be.

“suicidal enemy AI” = not (always) in Nohr

"ambush spawns are unfair" = doesn't happen here

“lolSeth/Haar” = Certain units are good, but not quite that good. Even Mozume/Tsukuyomi have niches if you invest in them, which is rewarding for those players/playstyles.

More if I think of them. Still, it’s impressive they tried for nearly everything (and did well imo).

Best soundtrack. There’s maybe 2 songs from the rest of the series I like better than the best here, but overall this wins by a fair margin.

Best interface/”quality of life” stuff. Simple and clean. Also small things like the expressions on the portraits.

Edited August 8, 2015 by XeKr

[Thor Odinson]

"ambush spawns are unfair" = doesn't happen here

Wait they got rid of that?

While I can deal with most cases ambush spawn existing except FE12 L chapter...19?...'s one with the dracos

damn nice, praise. Thank.

[RidellCrimea]

I can't really comment on the gameplay or the story of each game because I don't have them yet. But here are the things I really like about the game so far:

The OST. I think it might have surpassed FE10 as my favorite OST in the whole series.

Also, I really love some of the characters. And the supports are quite well written (though admittedly I've only read a limited amount of support convos).

[Thor Odinson]

Oh yeah, forgot to mention.

Hero armor.

[CrimeanRoyalKnight]

I haven't played the game, so I won't comment on the maps/gameplay/story:

- I like the removal of genderlocked classes, so now I don't have to spend hours grinding for Gale Force if I want to use Inigo early.

- The music is very good.

- Some of the guys are very hot.

- Ah, I forgot: the removal of weapon uses is a good idea after seeing how annoying it was in Awakening when grinding.

Edited August 8, 2015 by CrimeanRoyalKnight

[nordopolica]

Only finished Nohr so that's what I'm basing this off, but I like:

- Nohr characters

- Nohr map design + balance

- Rework of reclassing and seals

- I could listen to the OST all day

- Attack stance / Guard stance balance

[HeoandReo]

• Hoshido has a solid story and cool classes.

Nohr has aggressively interesting characters and I like the aesthetic.

Supports are, uh, slightly improved from Awakening. Some stinkers in there, yes, but whatcha gonna do.

I like the battle music for bosses and for the endgame map.

Creative rebalancing of Pair Up.

Rebalancing of the child system so that parents remain relevant.

The Seal system, while very complicated, also helps for the first generation to be good.

Removal of genderlock for classes. (Finally have that female Fighter)

The return of Capture.

The Personal Skill system.

Arthur and Charlotte are the best characters.

Xander and Ryoma's designs.

Velour and Ophelia are very easy on the eyes.

Shigure is literally a male Disney Princess™.

Edited August 8, 2015 by HeoandReo

[Peppy]

- How Nohr handles gameplay difficulty:
Clever enemy skill distribution (The Expert Shruiken Ninjas with Four Fangs & Snake Venom in Ch. 25 come to mind)
Good use of enemies with Guard Stance (Those two Guard Stance Peg Knights near the end of Ch. 10)
Well designed enemy formations (The entire group is bated and there are times where i had to figure out how to bate them in without anybody dying)
How Nohr handled it's Endgame (They made getting to the final boss quite challenging)
The difficulty progression is formed properly (Earlygame chapters aren't too bad but the lategame chapters took some time to complete)
I feel that even though the more powerful weapons give the wielder some debuffs, they still felt necessary to use (particulary in a player phase where your party will die if you don't get rid of most of these enemies)
(This is for the game in general, but...) Enemies don't rely on forged weaponry to be a threat on harder difficulties

- How Attack Stance and Guard Stance were handled. It's nice to know that i can fully rely on blocking an attack when the moment is right.
- Endgame Map Theme (Hell, a lot of the music in this game had a lasting effect on me)
- Balanced children paralogues. Both the map difficulty and the child being accommodated to your party's current level makes things much more fair to deal with.
- The bow units were pretty useful in this game
- How you can buy Weapons and Items in this game (I just like that most weapons of each type can be bought anytime and that the weapons/items being sold depends on how far you are into the game. Also, no random skirmishes to block a shop that contains a weapon that you need)

Edited August 8, 2015 by Peppy

[Othin]

Regarding ambush spawns, they're GENERALLY not a thing which is really nice, but there can be some exceptions with enemies appearing under weird circumstances, particularly the middle of the player phase. This is the entire reason I consider Nohr 16 one of the two non-great Nohr chapters. Both 16 and 19 have some fun elements, but chapters where you can get forced to reset based on a character death you don't have a sufficient chance to prevent are just bad design.

Edited August 8, 2015 by Othin

[Aleqious]

Everything.

fight me

[The DanMan]

What's this? Oh boy! Positivity time!

Considering I haven't played the games, this is mostly going off of vids and other peoples' word:

Nohr map design

Much better game balance

Tweaked XP formula effectively neutering low-manning

Toned down growth rates

(Slightly) better supports than Awakening

Most of the 1st generation is at least likeable (Favorites are Takumi and, of course, Leon)

Reduced prevalence of grinding

Re-classing being toned down

The new seals

The Celtic, folksy sound of Nohr's soundtrack (STRM_BOSS_B2, while repetitive, is a perfect example of this)

[Carter]

- Removal of weapon durability

- Female Fighters / Male Pegasus Knights

While I admit I kinda did like gender-locked classes, I want to point these two classes out specifically because I really like Charlotte and Subaki.

- Nohr characters (and Hana, Crimson, and Subaki's kid)

- New attack stance and guard stance

- Sorcerer has different critical animation depending on whether they equip spells or tomes

- Trueblades dual wields vegetables

- Addition of marriage seals and buddy seals

[Taka-kun]

Now I really have to go ask: What in the supports of Fates makes them better than the ones in Awakening?

[carefreejules]

Now I really have to go ask: What in the supports of Fates makes them better than the ones in Awakening?

Well, for me, since I like the characters a lot more than the characters in Awakening, I find myself enjoying and being excited for everyone's support conversations a lot more :>

Edited August 8, 2015 by carefreejules

[Thane]

Now I really have to go ask: What in the supports of Fates makes them better than the ones in Awakening?

It's really subjective, but the good ones feel a bit more natural and less gimmicky than Awakening's, and the same-sex ones tend to have pretty good chemistry. That said, there are still a lot of really average and bad ones in the game, and the bad ones tend to be far worse than the ones in Awakening.

But since this is a positive thread, I'll end on a more positive note: it also helps that a lot of characters really surprise in terms of depth. Oboro and Charlotte are prime examples of characters I personally didn't expect much from, but who turned out to have a really balanced array of different supports.