Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright - Nintendo 3DS Birthright Edition

I'm not a hardcore Fire Emblem fan, but I've played a few of the Fire Emblem games over the past decade or so, starting with the GBA release (just "Fire Emblem" in the US), though never finishing either that or its immediate successor, Sacred Stones. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance was the most recent Fire Emblem that I truly got into, and even though I tried Awakening out, it just didn't do it for me for some reason.(minor spoilers that are mostly described in this product's description are in this paragraph) Enter Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright. Fire Emblem Fates is actually a trilogy of games—Birthright, Conquest and Revelation—all set in the same world, featuring the same characters; at Chapter 6 (which happens quite early on) of Birthright or Conquest, you "pick" one of two kingdoms to side with: either the medieval-themed Kingdom of Nohr, where you've been raised for most of your life; or the Japanese-themed Kingdom of Hoshido, where you have royal bloodline and your family wants your safe return. I say "pick" because the decision is based on which game you have, though, if you get either of the other two games via DLC (you can buy them directly from the game as opposed to the eShop or a physical release, which is STRONGLY recommended), the other options will unlock, with Revelations (the "third" game) as a download-only (or with the special edition) exclusive.It's a little hard to explain how this all works; at first glance, I thought it would be like, say, Pokémon, where the games are mostly the same plot-wise but have a few little differences here and there. That's NOT at all the case! Not only are Birthright (the one that I played) and Conquest (the other main version) extremely different plot-wise, their GAMEPLAY is also very different, with Birthright being more like the recent Fire Emblem: Awakening where you can visit bonus areas and can do more grinding at your leisure, while Conquest defines itself as the harder of the two and gives you virtually no opportunities to gain extra EXP at your leisure, playing more like Fire Emblem for the GBA where you have to be a lot more strategic in how you train.One big departure from previous Fire Emblem games was the removal of most weapon durability. In the past, every weapon you used in combat had limited durability, meaning you had to replace broken weapons often and save rarer ones for the most opportune moments. For me, that meant stashing everything and then forgetting about it rather than using the really cool stuff. At first, when I heard that Fates was dropping durability, I thought they were nuts! But after playing it, I found myself enjoying this style a lot, because the weaker weapons were substantially more accurate, while stronger weapons would not just be less accurate (common in older Fire Emblem games), but they'd also lower your stats, or have other effects. There were some positive effects, too, and a lot of shenanigans with the stable weapon triangle. Most weapons felt unique, which was cool. One thing to note, though: in Birthright (more specifically, in Hoshido), the weapons are entirely different from your usual Swords, Axes, and Spears; instead, you have Katana (Swords), Clubs (Axes), and Naginata (Spears). It can be a little confusing if you're familiar with the traditional weapons, especially since your enemies often use them (since they're used in Nohr), but you get used to it after awhile and it's actually a neat touch. The spell triangle was changed as well.Story-wise, I enjoyed the story quite a lot. I was compelled to keep playing chapter after chapter, and I haven't felt that way about a Fire Emblem game since Path of Radiance, so it was refreshing to be sucked into the game again. I won't say any spoilers relating to the story, but I'll just say that there were some good twists and it had a reasonable conclusion at the end. It was challenging, but not too brutal—though you can adjust this to your liking by setting the difficulty and also which mode to play. I played on Normal, which was enjoyable for me, and using the Classic mode, meaning when units die in battle, they're gone for good; there's also Casual for less-experienced players that care more about the story, where fallen units are healed after the battle and it's just game over if everyone dies in a single battle, and there's also the newly introduced Phoenix mode, which is even easier than Casual, where units are revived in battle after a few turns. That makes the game incredibly easy, but it's nice to have as an option for very casual players who are looking for a good story and want to get into the Fire Emblem series (but are maybe too inexperienced with tactical RPGs).Overall, I really enjoyed Birthright. It was a lot of fun and, while it did change a lot in the Fire Emblem formula, I felt the changes made it worth playing.

Since Fire Emblem: Awakening is one of my favorite games ever, I tried to keep my expectations for this game realistic. Nevertheless, I was so excited that I counted the days until my copy arrived. I haven't done this since I was a kid. So far, I've played halfway through the Birthright path, and I'm happy to report that this game exceeded my expectations. I'm enjoying the characters, especially the Avatar's siblings. I expected the branching gimmick to annoy me, but I'm eager to finish the Birthright route so I can do Conquest. Somehow, this game has managed to make me care about the siblings I didn't even choose.But ultimately, this is a game, and no amount of enjoyable characters would mean a thing if the gameplay wasn't up to snuff. I'm thrilled that so far, it's great. Even though I'm playing casual mode in the "easy" route, I still have to pause and manage my units if I want to win. In a few chapters, the enemies give me a run for my money (I'm not really taking advantage of all the grinding Birthright offers). Many of the features that made Awakening a breeze after chapter ten or so have been nerfed for this game (for example, support bonuses are now minimal and paired up characters can either defend the primary or follow up with a second attack, not both). I've also noticed that leveling up gives less HP, which makes the game more challenging. The difficulty curve is definitely where this game outshines Awakening.The maps are also more interactive than Awakening's. There's a Dragon Vein skill that royal characters can use in certain tiles, which gives the army boosts, heals the army, or damages/lower stats of enemies. The catch is that the royal siblings from the kingdom you didn't choose also have this Dragon Vein skills, and they're not shy about using them to attack your army.The game's art is interesting, though I'm not sure I would call it "unique". It feels very much like a FE game, which I'm obviously a fan of. Hoshido characters have a more "Japanese" feel, which is fairly cute and has a different feel than earlier games. I'm also loving the game's music, which is soothing and almost always fits the mood of maps/scenes. As a matter of fact, I hadn't thought of the game's music at all before sitting down for this review, which is a testament to how well it sets the mood.Still, I have a few complaints, though none of them were so aggravating that I felt the need to lower my star rating. For completion's sake, I added them here:1) The older sister from the Nohr is dressed in the most absurd outfit, and her intro scene right before the first chapter where she's a boss might as well be titled "boobs + butt + pantie". Considering she's a pretty compelling character and it's actually an emotionally charged scene, this feels as out of place as a real nun at a strip club.2) While I like the marriage options in the supports, the addition of children characters this time around felt utterly asinine. I won't spoil how it happens, just know that it's incredibly dumb and obviously only there because the fans expected it post-Awakening. Thankfully, you can easily play the game pretending the children don't exist and lose nothing from the main story. Unit-wise, the children characters aren't necessarily stronger than their parents, especially the royal siblings.3) I don't like the world map this time around. This is a petty complaint and I hoped I'd get used to it, but I haven't.4) I could do without the MyCastle aspect of the game, though I do enjoy the cooking . . . I hesitate to call it a "minigame". I suspect the cooking boost will be much more helpful in Conquest route.To summarize, I thoroughly recommend this game if you're a Fire Emblem fan. If you're new to the series, I still recommend it, though I think Fire Emblem: Awakening would be a better title to ease into the series.

Game is great for newcomers to the series like me. It’s challenging but never too hard. There’s also different difficulty options, which is a huge positive point.

Lo que se esperaba de un gran juego como fire emblem complementado junto con conquest y revelation los juegos son los mejores (junto con awakening) que he jugado en el 3ds.-Excelente personajes-Historias divididas en 3 juegos pero increibles y cada una con un punto de vista distino-La dificultad varia dependiendo el juego pero el gameplay es muy buenoEn resumen si no han jugado este juego les recomiendo al 100% que lo hagan pueden comprar una version y las otras dos estan en la tienda a 246 pesos mexicanos al momento y es un gran ahorro por las tres historias.En definitivamente nintendo se rifo con este juego.

I was surprised that the game was really disappointing. The story was really, really boring. Fire Emblem Awakening was a bit better in my opinion.

Very Good game. I love Fire emblem series and this game is so good. I prefer Nohr but Hoshido is cool

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