Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright Reviews
Beyond its impressive robustness, Fire Emblem Fates complements its size with substance. It's not quite the equivalent of getting three Fire Emblem Awakenings in a single release, but it's nonetheless an impressive follow-up.
Fire Emblem Fates builds on the strengths of Awakening by serving up three great games while presenting much improved storytelling that's backed by impressive production values. The piecemeal approach to enjoying the full Fates experience for those who miss out on the special edition is unfortunate as it unnecessarily punishes the most loyal fans. For gamers who want more Fire Emblem, however, having not one but three games to play in Birthright, Conquest and Revelation pretty much equates to gaming heaven.
Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright and Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest are two great tastes that taste great together. Provided you're willing to put up with the high cost of entry. Even if you only settled on one title you'd be getting an awesome game with plenty of content that will keep you busy.
For the foreseeable future, if I'm not reading something, I know what I'll be doing the next time I'm waiting in line.
Overall Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright is a great game. The main campaign took me just under 20 hours to complete and that was rushing it without taking the time to dabble in the challenges, fully upgrade my castle, and develop character relationships further. Add on the endless amount of battles you can have with your friends and you can get a lot of value from this game. The gameplay, presentation and soundtrack are excellent for the 3DS. While I wish the story had more twists and that the main character had more depth, Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright is fantastic package with a lot to offer.
I have no complaints about the plot, but some of the game's dialogue is pretty bad.
Fire Emblem Fates builds off the foundation set by Fire Emblem: Awakening and expands upon it to give players a more compelling and engaging narrative along with gameplay variety. By offering distinct storylines and game experiences, Fire Emblem Fates is able to appeal to both newcomers and longtime fans of the franchise. Those looking for a lengthy and epic adventure to play on their 3DS needn't look any further, because Fire Emblem Fates is all you need. Fire Emblem Fates is fated to be one of the 3DS' best games in 2016.
Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright does a great job of preserving and building on its predecessor's strengths as well as offering a solid standalone experience, and is a must-play for any 3DS owner looking for a quality RPG.
Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright is a sensible evolution of the series and a definite must-play for fans of the long-running franchise, especially those who enjoyed Awakening.
Fire Emblem Fates has all the plot elements you'd expect from an entry in Nintendo's fantasy warfare series. There's a chosen one, a war between two kingdoms that represent the light and dark, magic swords, prophecies, and dragons. But at the core is the profound dilemma of nature versus nurture: Will you define yourself by your biological family or the one that raised you?
Fire Emblem: Fates offers new features and gameplay that weigh down the series' tried and true gameplay, rather than enhance it.
With Fates, the series hasn't frayed under the pressure. Instead, Intelligent Systems has created one of the most narratively ambitious games to hit a Nintendo platform. Fire Emblem Fates lets you explore the value of familial love and friendship, then offers you the option to go back and kill everyone you love, while loving everyone you killed.
Whether new to the franchise or a long-time fan, there's something for everyone in Fire Emblem Fates' three games. Unfortunately, when you find what you're looking for in one, you might be disappointed when it's then not present in the other titles.
With every iteration Fire Emblem seems to add on just enough to make it feel fresh, and Fates certainly has a host of new features. Birthright may be the best place to start out of the two versions, as it's easily accessible to anyone regardless of their experience with the series.
Outside of those unfortunate problems, Fire Emblem Fates provides the memorable gameplay of the series and a formidable, entertaining challenge for any 3DS owner. The added stress of betraying characters you've come to admire elevates the narrative tension to a natural and organic height.
Fire Emblem Fates still approaches war from a largely idealistic standpoint, but it makes a quantum leap forward by representing a broader range viewpoints along the way. For a series that has changed incrementally over the last 25 years, this latest entry is a refreshing reinvention.
Ultimately, I was very pleased with my time in Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright. It provided a rousing, emotional 45 hour adventure full of combat, heartache and memorable characters. It mostly improved upon all the features found in Awakening, as well as introducing a few cool new mechanics of its own. Its only real missteps were the confusion regarding new items, and the unresolved plot points found at the end. Ultimately I feel this game was more than worth the $39.99 price tag, even though part of me wishes they just released one experience with multiple paths instead. I wouldn’t say that Fire Emblem Fates was better than Awakening, but it was just as good. I heartily recommend it to any fan of the series that enjoyed Awakening.
As a 3DS title and as a Fire Emblem title, Fates does not disappoint. It is everything you could expect from a good Fire Emblem game and a solid addition to the 3DS library. It's the first good 3DS game I've played in a long time, and it's one I'm still playing today. It's minor flaws are easily outshone by its major accomplishments, and localization issues slowly lose all meaning as the player is lost in the mountainous content and beauty of this game.
To say this game has significant issues is an understatement, and the blame can't be placed on one team. These issues range from simple gameplay mechanic choices that go against much of the internal logic the game was founded on, story issues that seem to have no place existing in the game in the first place, localization issues butchering the grammar and flow of many important points, and a business practice that uses and abuses its customers. While this isn't the worst Fire Emblem game I've played, I can't in good faith suggest people buy this game as it is.
Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright is an very good game that is held down by a mediocre story, a poorly implemented avatar, and uneven music. However, it is still an overall enjoyable experience, especially for fans of Strategy RPGs.