Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright Reviews
Fire Emblem: Fates offers new features and gameplay that weigh down the series' tried and true gameplay, rather than enhance it.
While not a bad game, Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright is one of the biggest disappointments in the series in years. It manages to have more map variety than the previous instalment, but it's pitifully lacking in every other regard. Even with better map design, it's so poorly balanced that the hardest difficulty feels less like a challenge of skill and more like an endurance match of how long certain units can go without being used before frustration kicks in. With an even worse story being fronted by one of the worst casts in the series, Birthright offers very little in terms of series progression, instead opting for an incredibly safe experience that, while not bad, doesn't push the series forward either. With context needed from Conquest, Revelation, and DLC content to fully flesh out and understand the story, Birthright, and by extension Fates, sets a bad precedent for not just the rest of the series, but for video games themselves.
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.
This strategy RPG sequel is simple and accessible, but will satisfy hardcore RPG fans less than the other Fire Emblem Fates releases.
Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright could very well be an outstanding chapter in a series that is cherished for its narratives and gameplay mechanics. Unfortunately Birthright falls down before it reaches its goal. Its very good production values and sharp combats openly clash with an uninspired and dull narrative, poorly implemented difficulty curve, generic and empty characters and the simple fact that it just doesn't work as a stand alone game in the first place.
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In that sense, as a stand-alone title Fire Emblem: Fates: Birthright is not a particularly good game, though it's not a bad one either. It's an above-average tactical RPG with excellent production value and moderately good gameplay scenarios, but it feels surprisingly one-note and dissatisfying if taken on its own merits as a self-contained game.
While the core gameplay of Fire Emblem: Fates remains intact and enjoyable, the poorly conceived release model, along with a predictable story that feels incomplete holds it back from true greatness.
Birthright is at its best when it's expanding on the ideas presented in Fire Emblem Awakening, not simply rehashing them. The strategy segments are some of the strongest in the series thanks to some welcome mechanical changes and do an decent job of compensating for the game's weak plot.
A tough, tactical adventure
By the end any notion of nature versus nurture is long forgotten. Tragedy falls on both sides of this war no matter what you or your hero do. Friends and family die or permanently retreat with regularity. Fire Emblem is both an adorable game about cute anime kids becoming friends and lovers, and also one of the cruelest and most unforgiving virtual death marches you'll ever play. Don't hold all that death against Fates: it's the game's birthright.
A lot of what's in Birthright may force a certain sense of deja vu, but if you're going to borrow from a game, you could do a lot worse than borrowing from Awakening. I may have done a lot of nitpicking, but Birthright is still undeniably a solid Fire Emblem entry. Let's just hope that when the next game in the series is released, there isn't a reality show star with terrible hair living in the White House.
Picking up the ball that Fire Emblem: Awakening passed to it, Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright is a second chance at jumping into an iconic franchise for the first time and getting lost in the magic of love on the battlefield.
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.
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 takes two steps forward and one step back for the series. It still retains and expands on many of the great Fire Emblem elements, but Fates slips on a few important aspects.
Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright polishes the series' time-tested strategy combat and adds intimate, exciting interpersonal relationships.
Fire Emblem Fates smartly revises a quarter-century old battle system and offers ever more reasons to care about your little chess pieces, but neither version does enough to welcome new players.
I have no complaints about the plot, but some of the game's dialogue is pretty bad.
In a series underwritten by amnesiac orphans, Fire Emblem Fates breaks away to tell a story about memory, family, and the self, meditating on the decisions that define us and how we regret them.
If you are a fan of Fire Emblem or tactical games in general, Fire Emblem Fates will not disappoint.