General opinions on fates and how it ranks compared to the series

[Sunwoo]

The only FE game that I've played where I didn't enjoy the gameplay was FE11, so Fates ranks equally with the other non-FE11 games in terms of gameplay.

In terms of story, I liked Fates' story the least. Conquest sucked, Revelation wasn't great, and Birthright was about on par with Awakening for me ... which isn't helping because Awakening is my second least favorite story in the FE game.

Overall, I just don't like Fates. Which is why I haven't really played it or talked about it properly in a really long time. It's all about Pokemon now.

[Thane]

Overall, I just don't like Fates. Which is why I haven't really played it or talked about it properly in a really long time. It's all about Pokemon birds now.

Fixed that for you.

[Sunwoo]

Fixed that for you.

I made my friend salty with an Aegislash today. Also, I'm trying to find a shiny Swablu right now. I've managed to find two shiny Spindas instead.

So, uh, birds. Fire Emblem. Kinshi warriors. Yeah.

[Fyras4]

I'll say its an okay game...not perfect in the story department as many people like to point out but it is an enjoyable game.

Since Conquest is still my only experience with Fates, I say it gets a passing grade from me...better than Blazing Sword and Sword of Seals in the case of game play and some story elements.

One thing that really, really bugs me about Fates is how some characters just...react to things; the attack on the plaza in the Mother Chapter and the appearances of the Invaders or something (forgot what they're called) and dragon Corrin and it just...I can totally understand the whole "Nohr is basically knocking on their door" and they don't question it, but after the whole "hey guys, Corrin's gonna betray us!" scene they just drop out existence until we run into Gunther and Azura gets her crystal ball to begin the seance and find out about Garon's real form. That part was really the most disappointing part...at least from a story perspective...not game play, the game play is enjoyable and I have more fun (and suffering) playing Conquest, even if its harder than hard on some occasions.

The other part in the story department is how Corrin is portrayed in Conquest; Corrin still thinking as Garon as their Father is understandable is some sense. They spent like what...a week in Hoshido and suddenly betraying them to the people, not country, the people that love him/her makes sense...at first. Its selfish, yes, but not everything clings on that single decision and the game just...explodes because of it. Takumi gets possessed by a freaking purple Lakitu cloud and everyone goes crazy here and there. I would have enjoyed more decisions in the games like the part with Shura...as someone suggested in a post (not sure if it was in this thread or another), to decide the fates of your siblings when defeated. And a more antagonistic Corrin...less 'Dad' and more "King Garon", less letting Hanz get away with his crap and more "I will actually kill you if you raise that axe, you berserking jerk!" kind of attitude. Corrin was almost killed by the King, not once, but twice and the writers couldn't even make them go like: "Maybe this man inst as trustworthy as he seems and I'm tired of the ********!"

And the possession part...it just...bugs me.

If I already didn't like Takumi before due to his attitude when we first met in the game (understandable, but come on, dude, hold the hate for a second) getting him possessed was just like kicking a freaking puppy for the sake of creating 'emotion' and 'feeling sorry' for Takumi because he couldn't let go of his hate but I mean, come on...the guy suffers a little more than necessary in the game...why? I sympathized with him the first fight...the second time, not so much, mostly because I was more interested in Scarlet's part of the story and we all know how that went and after that is just a freaking revenge quest, like, I get it...he doesn't like me game, I get it. (On a side note, I really don't hate Takumi...I just dislike his attitude...his personal issues don't give him an excuse to act like a jerk most of the time.) A choice to let him live or die would have soften things a little better than the whole possession business.

And those are my major complaints about Conquest, in general, but an overall better experience than the last threw games (Blazing Sword, Sacred Stones and Awakening) I have played. I had fun in the My Castle business...at first, building and organizing stuff, unlocking upgrades and statues and breaking my head wondering where to put this Camilla or Niles statue I just unlocked.

The whole petting business and inviting people to the tree house...meh, stopped doing it after like five or ten times but that's because I wanted to marry Silas and unlock Sophie's paralogue to level up my units.

I guess I think it tops over the three I have played, in terms of game play, anyway ( I don't count Shadow Dragon...I'm still stuck on it, but I don't enjoy it as much as the GBA games); enjoy the gameplay, and I tolerate the story. Not the worst story I have read, its certainly has its strong parts...very few times, but its better than a few others. I can think of a game that is actually worse, but this is not the place for it. But yeah, Fates: Conquest would rank a second in my book, after Sacred Stones (that game holds a special place in my heart...and a painful reminder of the days were many resets were made...in Chapter Five). Would probably play Revelations next...not Birthright though...unless there's a sale.

Edited September 5, 2016 by Fyras4

[nhaer042]

I didn't bother reading most of the comments so I'll very likely end up repeating what others have said but here goes:

I really like this game a lot. No exaggeration or joking.

Is it my favorite game? No. It's not really my favorite in the series (it's Path of Radiance if you were wondering). However, I think it does a lot right. In terms of graphics and gameplay mechanics it's one of the best in the series. It tweaked a lot of irritating ticks the previous games had like weapon durability (good riddance I say) and the Pair Up system. I also think it's one of the better looking games in the series. Kozaki's character designs are mostly very good and I find the general art style to be very appealing. The music is good too.

My opinion has fluxed in regard to stories and characters. I've admittedly jumped on the hate bandwagon at times but I'm going to try to give my true honest opinion. Story felt ultimately like wasted potential if you ask me. There was a lot that could have been done better. I also feel characters are a little more bland than in Awakening. BUT! There were some cool ideas and even some very touching moments. I love Chapter 6 (the one where you make the big choice) for example. I also really like some of the characters. Arthur, Niles, and Setsuna to name a few.

The backlash to this game was crazy. I think some of the basic criticisms were justified and worth discussing but the attitude in which both critics and even fans approached it was crazy. If you loved this game, more power to you. It's a good game. At times it can even be great. It's good to keep an objective viewpoint but when all is said and done, a game should be fun. If you're having fun with this game, then who cares what some faceless internet geeks think?

As for exploring the rest of the series, having started with Awakening and then going from there, the other games are great. Path of Radiance is definitely worth playing (although it can get expensive). I implore you to don't let the haters get you down and keep falling in love with this franchise.

Anyway, that's my two cents on the matter. Sorry if it got long winded. Keep playing and have fun, my friend!

[ckc22]

I'm not a fan.

It's worse than Awakening in almost every way that is important to me - the cast is boring and unlikeable, the story shits the bed, and there is nothing interesting to do in the game long term except play it over and over (which who wants to if the story/characters are bad?). They casualized the inheritance and army building aspects of Awakening that gave it such a long life to the point of irrelevance.

If I had to sum it up in one word: it's overextended. Instead of delivering an amazing tight experience, they tried to get greedy and everything about all 3 versions feels half baked.

Edited September 5, 2016 by ckc22

[SalShich10N]

My big problem with this game is not the story, but rather everything else surrounding it.

The game is literally DLC: the game. Almost everything single scummy modern gaming practice in the game: The true ending is DLC, amiibo-locked characters (12-15 dollars a piece, at that), DLC classes, you name it and this game has it. They try to sell this as if each route was their own separate game, but in fact a single game split into several parts to justify having the buyer pay over 100 dollars for the full thing. Hell, the biggest problems with the plot are born from the fact that each route is actively trying to sell you the other two routes. "You can't save both countries and families on this path, Corrin, but for $20 USD you can!"

Then there is Revelations which, if it is considered a standalone Fire Emblem game, is easily the worst game in the series to date. The game completely gives you garbage units left and right and completely hinges on the fact that the player will grind like a madman. Every single map is a boring "red light/green light" gimmick that does nothing but waste the player's time. The stats are so inflated on the enemies and most of your units are actively weaker than they were in their original routes so you really can't use much more than the designated few or children characters.

And then it had the gall to get hit by modern Treehouse turning every other unit into a reason to play with the volume all the way down.

And the most painful part of these is that some fans actively say these aren't problems and doesn't foresee how the new FE Mobile game will try to drain you from your money, as FE fans seem to be the biggest whales in the market. _{Worst part is that I am guilty of a lot of these issues, I do have a Special Edition, I did bought most of Awakening DLC and I do collect Cipher cards too. It's my fault too, goddamn it.}

[Dark Holy Elf]

Gameplay wise? Easily my favorite (or tied with Radiant Dawn). Story wise? Well... Umm... There are a good amount of supports I like. I play FE for gameplay first, Supports second, Overall story fairly distant third, so I guess that's why I'm still pretty into Fates even after putting about 200 hours into it.

This is probably about my opinion. I do like some things about the story (enough to bring it about even with the best the series has put forward outside of FE8-10 where they actually seemed to find some semblance of writing chops) but yeah it has some deep flaws. Otherwise I'm happy. It has outstanding gameplay, good music, and a decent cast. I'm extremely impressed by Conquest and it's certainly one of my top two games in the series; the other two routes were decent FEs to me, maybe slightly better than Awakening.

They try to sell this as if each route was their own separate game, but in fact a single game split into several parts to justify having the buyer pay over 100 dollars for the full thing.

It's $80 USD, and if it still qualifies as a single game then it's one with what, 90 chapters? There are certainly reasons to take issue with the way the routes where structured (particularly Revelation) but the price is perfectly fair.

Edited September 6, 2016 by Dark Holy Elf

[NekoKnight]

Then there is Revelations which, if it is considered a standalone Fire Emblem game, is easily the worst game in the series to date. The game completely gives you garbage units left and right and completely hinges on the fact that the player will grind like a madman. Every single map is a boring "red light/green light" gimmick that does nothing but waste the player's time. The stats are so inflated on the enemies and most of your units are actively weaker than they were in their original routes so you really can't use much more than the designated few or children characters.

I remember discussing the game before it came out "Wait, so Conquest gets the better gameplay AND better story? What's the incentive to play Birthright?" and "Revelation gets all the shops and characters... I guess I don't have a reason to play the other routes." And lo and behold, Conquest has the worst story in Fire Emblem and Revelations has some of the worst gameplay.

It's $80 USD, and if it still qualifies as a single game then it's one with what, 90 chapters? There are certainly reasons to take issue with the way the routes where structured (particularly Revelation) but the price is perfectly fair.

Agreed here. And even for DLC, they are fairly generous. There are 3 free DLC and you can get the class items for Dark Flier and Dread Fighter just for buying the other routes. The only thing (besides Anna) that I think we were 'exploited' by was important story details only being told in DLC (Revelations as a whole and then the Invisible History maps).

[SalShich10N]

There are certainly reasons to take issue with the way the routes where structured (particularly Revelation) but the price is perfectly fair.

About half of the maps are literally the same as in the other route except with a gimmick or two added in/taken out. That's not a "different game" that's repacking the same game and selling it to you again sugarcoated. The whole thing, all three versions is worth about $60, I'd say. They didn't even bothered to re-number the paralogues on different routes, just to make sure you understood that you should have played Birthright before Conquest.

Half of Conquest and Birthright are the same maps played in reverse order with different starting points and one or two gimmicks changed.

[Alastor15243]

About half of the maps are literally the same as in the other route except with a gimmick or two added in/taken out.

I haven't played Revelation, maybe some other maps are copied there, but "about half" is quite the stretch. Here's a list of the maps that are used on both Birthright and Conquest:

-Cheve

-Opera House

-Fort Dragonfall (technically; there are significant layout changes)

-The ship

-Castle Izumo

-Ice tribe village

-Sevenfold Sanctuary

That's seven maps out of 22 per route, which is less than a third. And even then each one plays significantly differently between routes, with different enemies, starting positions, objectives and gimmicks, to the point of being a sufficiently worthwhile new experience. I don't see how the fact that these maps are in a technical sense shared devalues each individual product.

[eclipse]

For Revelations:

- Fort Jinya

- That one stupid ninja map with spikes in Birthright which is the most unfun thing ever

- A ship with a worse gimmick

- The Wind Tribe (Conquest version)

- The Opera House

- That One Defend Map in Conquest

- The Sevenfold Sanctuary one last time

Still seven maps, which is still pretty good IMO. I don't remember if That One Valla Map in Conquest was used.

EDIT: Right, and of the maps, the ship and "defend map" play very differently. About the only one that is almost exactly the same is Map Of Spikes.

Edited September 6, 2016 by eggclipse

[Alastor15243]

For Revelations:

- Fort Jinya

- That one stupid ninja map with spikes in Birthright which is the most unfun thing ever

- A ship with a worse gimmick

- The Wind Tribe (Conquest version)

- The Opera House

- That One Defend Map in Conquest

- The Sevenfold Sanctuary one last time

Still seven maps, which is still pretty good IMO. I don't remember if That One Valla Map in Conquest was used.

EDIT: Right, and of the maps, the ship and "defend map" play very differently. About the only one that is almost exactly the same is Map Of Spikes.

Which fort Jinya? Conquest or Birthright?

[Slyfox]

Still seven maps, which is still pretty good IMO. I don't remember if That One Valla Map in Conquest was used.

It was. So, eight maps?

[The Geek]

Which fort Jinya? Conquest or Birthright?

Birthright.

[eclipse]

It was. So, eight maps?

Yep. Eight maps. Still, not bad for a game that's technically supposed to take a bit from both sides.

[DragonFlames]

My big problem with this game is not the story, but rather everything else surrounding it.

The game is literally DLC: the game. Almost everything single scummy modern gaming practice in the game: The true ending is DLC, amiibo-locked characters (12-15 dollars a piece, at that), DLC classes, you name it and this game has it. They try to sell this as if each route was their own separate game, but in fact a single game split into several parts to justify having the buyer pay over 100 dollars for the full thing. Hell, the biggest problems with the plot are born from the fact that each route is actively trying to sell you the other two routes. "You can't save both countries and families on this path, Corrin, but for $20 USD you can!"

Then there is Revelations which, if it is considered a standalone Fire Emblem game, is easily the worst game in the series to date. The game completely gives you garbage units left and right and completely hinges on the fact that the player will grind like a madman. Every single map is a boring "red light/green light" gimmick that does nothing but waste the player's time. The stats are so inflated on the enemies and most of your units are actively weaker than they were in their original routes so you really can't use much more than the designated few or children characters.

And then it had the gall to get hit by modern Treehouse turning every other unit into a reason to play with the volume all the way down.

And the most painful part of these is that some fans actively say these aren't problems and doesn't foresee how the new FE Mobile game will try to drain you from your money, as FE fans seem to be the biggest whales in the market. _{Worst part is that I am guilty of a lot of these issues, I do have a Special Edition, I did bought most of Awakening DLC and I do collect Cipher cards too. It's my fault too, goddamn it.}

I think the bolded part, which I can completely agree with, is one of the main reasons the story suffered so much.

Edited September 6, 2016 by DragonFlames

[Thane]

Yep. Eight maps. Still, not bad for a game that's technically supposed to take a bit from both sides.

Hell, I'd even go so far as to say that's expected and even encouraged in a game like this, as we should get to see how our actions affect the world around us. Different choices leading to different results and fates (zing!) for different people and places is a great concept.

Naturally, I think Fates implemented this horribly and we don't get to see anything worthwhile of the world in which the events take place, but I can't fault them for trying.

What does piss me off is that Revelation is is behind a paywall. They knew that if people started with that part of the story, they'd be less inclined to choose others, and so they made sure it couldn't be purchased as a standalone game.

[DragonFlames]

Hell, I'd even go so far as to say that's expected and even encouraged in a game like this, as we should get to see how our actions affect the world around us. Different choices leading to different results and fates (zing!) for different people and places is a great concept.

Naturally, I think Fates implemented this horribly and we don't get to see anything worthwhile of the world in which the events take place, but I can't fault them for trying.

What does piss me off is that Revelation is is behind a paywall. They knew that if people started with that part of the story, they'd be less inclined to choose others, and so they made sure it couldn't be purchased as a standalone game.

And that is how IntSys stooped as low as the scumbags of EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Square Enix and Konami.

Well done, IntSys. Well done. *sarcastic slow clap*

[Alastor15243]

And that is how IntSys stooped as low as the scumbags of EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Square Enix and Konami.

Well done, IntSys. Well done. *sarcastic slow clap*

I... really don't think this is even close. You can only say it's a malicious business practice if what we get isn't worth what we paid, and even discounting the story altogether as pointless garbage, you're paying 20 bucks for a gargantuan map pack. That is inherently less shady and dishonest than like half of the DLC in the industry, that's huge!

[DragonFlames]

I... really don't think this is even close. You can only say it's a malicious business practice if what we get isn't worth what we paid, and even discounting the story altogether as pointless garbage, you're paying 20 bucks for a gargantuan map pack. That is inherently less shady and dishonest than like half of the DLC in the industry, that's huge!

While you may have a point, it sadly doesn't change the fact that we might see more of that in the future. When I said that IntSys have stooped as low as all of the other corporations, I meant the tendency in their practices. Just you wait, Fates was just easing us in with the whole 'buy the third route for extra bucks' business, so that we can accept what comes next. It is only a matter of time until we get overpriced Season Passes and other shady, dishonest stuff.

I fell for it, too, this time, so it's not exactly my privilege to call anyone out on it, but it still needs to be addressed.

[Res]

I'm one of the awful people whose first experience with Fire Emblem was Awakening, and, full disclosure, I've only completed Awakening and Fates thus far (I'm working my way through the rest of the series, but I rarely have the opportunity to play non-mobile games). So I can't very well rank it compared to the rest of the series, but by itself, I really enjoyed Fates and it probably ranks in my top ten games.

The plot's complete bunk, but I play more for the gameplay + character development, anyway. There are some fantastic supports and Fates delivers more depth to many of its characters than I feel most games manage. It actually includes my most favourite character from any medium (games/TV/books).

[ckc22]

I'm one of the awful people whose first experience with Fire Emblem was Awakening, and, full disclosure, I've only completed Awakening and Fates thus far (I'm working my way through the rest of the series, but I rarely have the opportunity to play non-mobile games). So I can't very well rank it compared to the rest of the series, but by itself, I really enjoyed Fates and it probably ranks in my top ten games.

The plot's complete bunk, but I play more for the gameplay + character development, anyway. There are some fantastic supports and Fates delivers more depth to many of its characters than I feel most games manage. It actually includes my most favourite character from any medium (games/TV/books).

Except outside of map design/goal the gameplay is worse in almost every way.

[Emerson]

Except outside of map design/goal the gameplay is worse in almost every way.

Not really. All of Awakening's broken aspects were toned down to a better level, namely Pair-Up.

Plus Fates has the neato unbreakable weapons, which makes them much more evened out with their effects, and you don't have to keep buying weapons for everyone.

Also bringing back S rank weapons was cool I guess.

Am I forgetting anything?

Edited September 6, 2016 by TrueEm

[Dark Holy Elf]

I'm honestly not sure what ways Awakening's gameplay was better. Whereas I can name many ways that Fates' gameplay was better: map design including both objectives and enemy placements, lack of ninja reinforcements, better reclass system which makes skill acquisition reasonable in no-grind situations, pair up and dual strike revamps, child PCs being balanced with first gen instead of either hideously overpowered/underpowered depending on playstyle, better weapon balance (even if you don't see tossing weapon durability as a net positive, there are still things like the changes to Hand Axes/Javelins/Nosferatu/Bronze weapons which are welcome) etc.

I perfectly understand preferring Awakening for writing-related reasons (I don't agree, but I can certainly see it) but saying its gameplay is better strikes me as a much harder sell.