Thoughts on Fates: Birthright

Entry posted by Akano March 18, 2016

884 views

I've been playing Fire Emblem Fates for the last couple weeks on Hard, Classic mode. I'm currently on Chapter 15: Wolfskin of Birthright (got the Conquest cartridge, bought the other two as DLC). My thoughts so far:

Story: Eh. It should be good; it has all the prerequisites to be good. You make a choice between two warring families (which puts tension on everything and everyone), the history between Nohr and Hoshido seems complex and long-standing, the circumstances of your upbringing are frustrating/unfair, but all in all the story just seems to happen. It has so many things ready to set itself in motion, but instead is very stilted and lacks flow.
Characters: Hit and miss for me. Some characters are phenomenal (like Kaden, he's fantastic. Also, Jakob is so wonderfully British. I mean, Nohrian.), while others are just sorta meh. Also, Azura's A support with the female Avatar is the least satisfying support ever. They could have made it a lot more interesting/developing. This and the previous category have made me think to myself, "Man, I just want to play Awakening/Blazing Sword," which doesn't reflect well on this game.
Classes: Interesting/why? There are some new Hoshido classes that I think are cool (Kinshi knight!) and others that I prefer the classic classes to (Diviner << Mage; I really don't like Orochi and her horoscope nonsense. Mages at least learn their magic from study, not dubious astrology pseudoscience...). I think I'll enjoy playing Conquest a bit more for this reason, among others.

Also, I lost it when Garon says "Do it!" in the Opera House chapter. He looks a bit like Palpatine anyway, but it reminded me of the Game Grumps "Do it!" impressions from their Mario Party playthrough.