I can already feel that this game will get the same amount of hate as Awakening did...

[Aestury]

Wait what!?!

RD's story was all over the place with changing antagonists, completely dumb plot devises (God damn blood pact) and some really out-there logic. Great game, shitty story.

[NekoKnight]

Lol, I glanced through this thread and was like, "yeah, I shouldn't comment here."

But I am very excited about the improved gameplay and diversified map objectives. The soundtrack is really good, even though I've yet to find ones that top my favorites from Awakening. Also, even though I was pretty salty about not having dual audio, the English dub will be a different kind of experience for me and I'm actually kinda looking forward to it.

Ah, how could I forget the music? They really went above and beyond there. I'll throw in the smooth map to battle music/visual transitions as positives for the game.

[Seifus]

I don't think the story is as bad as people are making it out to be, it's definitly a step up compared to Awakening's and no where near the levels of clusterf%ck that was Radiant Dawn's story.

Funny, I just got a used copy of Radiant Dawn from Gamestop in the mail on Saturday. Was kind of looking forward to playing it. Also got Shadow Dragon as well, but not feeling it right now.

[General Banzai]

This game is fantastic. Best gameplay in the series. A blast to play.

[Ciarre]

I really like all of the nuances to the gameplay that were added. Some of the localization choices made me cringe, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment. I REALLY like Birthright's story, haven't gone through Conquest yet.

[Jedi]

I'm quite enjoying my romp through Birthright, I got Conquest to do right after it too.

Everything just flows.

[Admiral "Bull" Halsey]

The worst thing about awakening... Was when someone pointed out the lack of feet. Couldn't NOTsee that and so disabled all battles -.-

Do people still complain about the lack of feet in Awakening...? -_- Seriously though, I find it kinda cute but thats beside the point. o3o

[FrostyFireMage]

has there ever been an instance where a new game didn't get more hate than its predecessors?

[Baldrick]

Tbh this just sound like whinging that people's favourite game isn't universally loved. The newer games have got a lot more reaction in general, both positive and negative, and most people who criticise the plot also praise the gameplay.

Edited February 23, 2016 by Baldrick

[SilverPants]

Everything else aside, the gameplay is absolutely top notch, dare I say even the best in the series.(don't kill me) It's fast and fluid and better than awakening in every regard. I'm over 120 hours in and I'm not bored of the game yet whereas with awakening, even though I enjoyed it overall, it was somewhat meh most of the way through. I really hope the mediocre story doesn't overshadow everything else when people think of this game

[Dark Sage]

Tbh this just sound like whinging that people's favourite game isn't universally loved. The newer games have got a lot more reaction in general, both positive and negative, and most people who criticise the plot also praise the gameplay.

Yeah this, and to be honest, I find this almost as bad, if not just as, the people who constantly complain about everything.

Just finished Conquest on Hard Classic. The gameplay's good and the maps are consistently good overall as well, though there are some that I really don't care for. I wouldn't say it's the best in the series though; FE5, FE6, and FE12 all surpass it in map design and I think their relative simplicity in mechanics can work to their advantage. Sometimes, it feels like Fates has too many skills, buffs, and debuffs for its own good.

Story is dire, though still better than Awakening's.

Edited February 23, 2016 by Dark Sage

[Katryn]

I'm enjoying Fates more than I enjoyed Awakening. I feel more connected to the characters, plain and simple. That's not me saying Awakening is a bad game, either, just to be clear. It's merely my preference at the moment.

As for whether I like it as much as PoR, I don't yet know. That was my first FE and I really loved it (I'd easily list it in my top 5 games) but I have not played it in years and do not own a gamecube / wii to do that so I can't really make a fair assessment.

I suppose one place I may be different than some is that I don't go into a new game in a series I like going "Well this version had this and that version had that..." unless something really drastic happens. (I'm lookin' right at you, Final Fantasy. What happened?!) When I hear people really get into how different FE games are from each other I kinda just smile because the core--that this is a strategy rpg--hasn't shifted in my time with the series. WHen IS announces something nuts like Fire Emblem the First Person Shooter *then* I'll be upset. *laughs*

[Nukemind]

Funny, I just got a used copy of Radiant Dawn from Gamestop in the mail on Saturday. Was kind of looking forward to playing it. Also got Shadow Dragon as well, but not feeling it right now.

It's a really fun game. Like, second favorite kind of fun. But I have to agree- it has some (a lot of) Deus ex Machina in it, and the story jumps perspectives a lot. Won't spoil anything, as you just got it. Enjoy it for what it is, and it's okay if you don't understand everything at first. I played it without having played PoR first and understood very little my first play through, besides "This isn't Magvel, this isn't Marth/Alm's world, those guys are red, let's kill them."

[The DanMan]

I think the game itself is great so far, just a bit imbalanced and very poorly localized. Better than Awakening for sure.

Awakening had a lot of flaws but was a great experience overall, and I really loved it.

I think the hate Awakening gets is greatly exaggerated.

I feel like labeling it as "very poor" because of half a dozen changes you don't agree with is really stretching things.

To me, it's not great, it's not terrible. It improved on some things, it changed some other things for the worse. It's a better localization than Awakening, that's for sure (seriously, I've seen estimates saying every 3rd line in Awakening was completely re-written). People are on red-alert after Awakening and thus are quickly nitpicking every single localization change in Fates; it took much longer for things to start turning up about Awakening.

Anyway, in regards to the OP:

Let it be said that I have seen nobody criticize the main gameplay. The problems are that half of IS are otakus who put their heads together and wanted to make characters for fetishes over characters for characters, and that the writers have proven incapable of recognizing a decent story if it showed up at their doorstep gift wrapped.

[Tolvir]

I think Corrin in Conquest gets too much hate as well. All I see is people talking about how horrible he is, and all the things that are his fault. The thing is as I am playing, I am not seeing this. Most of the stuff that happens is out of his control due to the people involved, like Hans and Iago.

Overall the thing I learned is often times you have to take forum hate with a grain of salt, because no matter what forum I am on, people bitch and whine like there is no tomorrow about everything. They never want to focus on the good things in games. They only focus on wat they consider annoying, bad, or stupid. Just look at the Zelda community and the stupid things they get upset over, or the Smash community and their complaint over new fighters. In this case, its Serenes Forest and their hate of the last two games. I have yet to see a Thread about "What Fates does right" or anything positive regarding the latest entry at all.

Edited February 23, 2016 by Tolvir

[PrincessAlyson]

*sigh* It's the hate cycle all over again... I'm a Legend of Zelda fan, so I'm used to it, unfortunately. But I love Fates. The gameplay is excellent, the characters are cool. The story could use work, I think we all agree on that, but still better than other games. Especially in other series. I liked awakening, too. It was my fist game and got me hooked on Fire Emblem.

[NekoKnight]

I think Corrin in Conquest gets too much hate as well. All I see is people talking about how horrible he is, and all the things that are his fault. The thing is as I am playing, I am not seeing this. Most of the stuff that happens is out of his control due to the people involved, like Hans and Iago.

Overall the thing I learned is often times you have to take forum hate with a grain of salt, because no matter what forum I am on, people bitch and whine like there is no tomorrow about everything. They never want to focus on the good things in games. They only focus on wat they consider annoying, bad, or stupid. Just look at the Zelda community and the stupid things they get upset over, or the Smash community and their complaint over new fighters. In this case, its Serenes Forest and their hate of the last two games. I have yet to see a Thread about "What Fates does right" or anything positive regarding the latest entry at all.

For positive reactions to the game, you aren't looking in the right threads if you haven't seen any. Fates gameplay is overwhelmingly praised and certain characters and routes as a whole have their passionate fans. Story (and certain characters) is the only thing heavily criticized around here and people have in-depth discussions as to why they think it's bad. As for the "people hate new things" theory, Radiant Dawn and Shadow Dragon are still often brought up as weak stories (or just bad design in general for SD), long after their release. Some people like the Kaga games, some people prefer the GBA era and others like the 3DS titles. We can be critical of the things we love, can't we?

[Thane]

For positive reactions to the game, you aren't looking in the right threads if you haven't seen any. Fates gameplay is overwhelmingly praised and certain characters and routes as a whole have their passionate fans. Story (and certain characters) is the only thing heavily criticized around here and people have in-depth discussions as to why they think it's bad. As for the "people hate new things" theory, Radiant Dawn and Shadow Dragon are still often brought up as weak stories (or just bad design in general for SD), long after their release. Some people like the Kaga games, some people prefer the GBA era and others like the 3DS titles. We can be critical of the things we love, can't we?

This. I'm one of the most vocal people when it comes to the horrible plot of Fates, but I've always praised the gameplay aside from certain maps and the imbalance of certain units, and I also love the music and certain characters. However, in spite of all that, I simply can't stand the story and a lot of the characters; it's absolutely jarring to me how something can fail on this level, but this is not the thread for that and as NekoKnight said, there are literally thousands of long posts explaining in detail what the problems with the story are and why people feel the way they do about it.

If there's one thing I wish people complaining about us "haters" would admit it's that we at least try to explain our point of view in excruciating detail; we're not a hipster hivemind that lash out in an attempt to defend any supposed glory days of the series.

[Book Bro]

Funny, I just got a used copy of Radiant Dawn from Gamestop in the mail on Saturday. Was kind of looking forward to playing it. Also got Shadow Dragon as well, but not feeling it right now.

On this forum, every game will get called out for having a shit story. It's best to play the games yourself and make up your own mind. Radiant Dawn's plot stumbles in the last third but it's still a good story, IMO.

I'm hoping I'll find Fates acceptable as well. But some of the criticisms paired with spoilers I've unfortunately seen are slightly worrying. I should have it in a few days so I'm excited to see.

[Tolvir]

I will admit, my post was a little unreasonable. I get annoyed seeing the amount of hate Fates gets, and think it gets some really unneeded hate for some of its content. I believe that while the story has its plot holes and consistency problems, it is by far not the worst in the series, and concept wise, probably has one of the best in the series. I think IS felt as if they needed to rush the story, and that because of that, it caused all of these problems. If they actually sat down, and really worked on the story, fleshed it out, and put a good amount of detail into it, Fates could of had one of the best stories in the Fire Emblem series, and even one of the best in the RPG genre itself. Which is probably where a lot of the frustrations are coming from is more the untapped potential that was Fire Emblem Fates.

Edited February 23, 2016 by Tolvir

[Volke29]

I find the game a lot more challenging than Awakening.

Playing Hard/Classic and having a blast ... the game has bested me a few times where I've had to restart a map.

Started with Birthright because I heard Conquest was the harder of the two ... I'm basically saving what I think is the best for last.

[Espinosa]

The reaction Fire Emblem fans have to other games in the series being criticised by other fellow fans is a very strange display of fanboyism. It's especially worrying when the game defended in this unhealthy way is the much-flawed Awakening.

It's hard to blame people who wanted a more coherent storyline out of Conquest and didn't get it, but I absolutely cannot identify with anyone whining about censorship and the removal of face-rubbing. That doesn't resonate with me at all. Gameplaywise, Fates delivered everything I sought and more and gameplay is all I really give a damn about in FE (a series with skippable cutscenes), so I am most definitely pleased.

Edited February 23, 2016 by Espinosa

[TheCaptain]

I'd really say they did more right than wrong while making Fates.

Like everyone says, gameplay is top notch, plus there are a multitude of options for all skill levels, and the harder options are more than just "There are more enemies and they are tougher".

Character wise, I am of the opinion that they are better than Awakening overall. The biggest issue with Awakening's characters for me was that every one of them was pretty much a living gimmick most of the time. They had some moments, but with Fates, there are some gimmick characters and some that feel a bit more real. Better balance IMO.

Plot wise, I'm just about done with Conquest and just a bit into Birthright, and while there are some moments that make me question things, I like the overall plot. It's pretty consistent too, unlike Awakening's multiple story arcs.

I feel like most of the hate is just people overreacting. Like the whole face petting thing, where it stirred up so much controversy for them cutting a "major feature" when in reality, even if it wasn't changed, takes up such a small part of the game that it doesn't matter too much. Hopefully people will come around

[Tolvir]

I'd really say they did more right than wrong while making Fates.

Like everyone says, gameplay is top notch, plus there are a multitude of options for all skill levels, and the harder options are more than just "There are more enemies and they are tougher".

Character wise, I am of the opinion that they are better than Awakening overall. The biggest issue with Awakening's characters for me was that every one of them was pretty much a living gimmick most of the time. They had some moments, but with Fates, there are some gimmick characters and some that feel a bit more real. Better balance IMO.

Plot wise, I'm just about done with Conquest and just a bit into Birthright, and while there are some moments that make me question things, I like the overall plot. It's pretty consistent too, unlike Awakening's multiple story arcs.

I feel like most of the hate is just people overreacting. Like the whole face petting thing, where it stirred up so much controversy for them cutting a "major feature" when in reality, even if it wasn't changed, takes up such a small part of the game that it doesn't matter too much. Hopefully people will come around

Character wise, even some of the gimmick based characters have some shining supports or moments that make them more enjoyable. For example Peri is the typical crazy chick in Anime, but her support with Laslow was really cool, and shows a lot of character growth for her. That and as a whole the S Support between Laslow and Peri didn't feel rushed, it felt more natural between them. Its the same with a few other supports two. I think they did a much better job with S supports as a whole making some of them feel more natural or not as rushed. Another example being the S support between Camila and Kaze. Throughout their support you could tell they were growing feelings for each other, so with the end coming to marriage, it felt much more natural between them as opposed to say, Chrom and Sumia.

[Shadow Knight]

Playing conquest right now. My favorite game is Awakening but in terms of gameplay Conquest is easily better. I hate how it restricts you in terms of class switching, forging, etc but it does make victory all that much sweeter. Map wise its a lot better than Awakening's constant rout the enemy, rout the enemy, rout the enemy. One of my saves is before chapter 10, that last stand chapter is tons of fun. Though the only issue I do think can be a problem is if someone has displeased the RNG gods to the point where they have gotten a string of bad rolls on level ups, also Conquest has a lack of front line units in the beginning, but these can be mitigated with good strategy of course. Storywise I think Awakening had the better story imo. It was simple but it got the job done. Conquest's story so far has been a bit of a letdown in its execution. Corrin especially is pretty dull.