While FE:Awakening is nothing new, it's so well done at what it does that it's a must-play for fantasy strategy gamers.
As a first time Fire Emblem player, I have to say that I was blown away. Everything was near perfect. A must own!
New mechanics and charming characters make Fire Emblem: Awakening a joy to play.
Fire Emblem is the game that essentially kick-started the strategy role-playing game genre in Japan more than 20 years ago, and it has since grown into a thriving and complex niche. While some pioneering games have a tough time evolving along with the genres they helped form, Fire Emblem: Awakening takes many of the best elements of modern strategy RPGs and implements them beautifully into its classic, time-tested formula. The result is a high watermark for the franchise and one of the most engaging and enjoyable experiences on the 3DS yet.
The story in Awakening opens with your player-created avatar waking up in the company of a roving band of soldiers called the Shepherds. The Shepherds protect the interests of the citizens of the kingdom of Ylisse, which has recently been targeted by bandits from the kingdom of Plegia. Plegia is looking to incite a war based on past transgressions of Ylisse's rulers, but there's more to the sinister goings-on: strange beings called Risen are attacking towns, and a mysterious masked warrior named Marth claims to see a future in which humankind has been destroyed. While the narrative is filled with interesting melodrama and political intrigue, the unwavering evilness of some of the villains is ridiculous and makes some parts of the story hard to take seriously.
Fortunately, Fire Emblem: Awakening is more than just talking heads spouting off about vengeance and crushing foes before them: it's a robust turn-based, grid-driven strategy game. Like in many strategy RPGs, you move individual units around a grid, attacking foes while using terrain and character placement to get the upper hand. Certain units and attack types have priority over others: the three main weapons (swords, lances, and axes) form a rock-paper-scissors-style relationship. Archers have attack boosts against airborne units, magic spells can crush the defense of heavily armored fighters, and a host of other factors come into play. Odds and percentages are a key part of formulating your strategy, since some units also have a higher potentiality to hit or miss than others.
However, positioning is more important now than ever: standing next to allies can grant stat boosts, additional attacks, and protection. Keeping two characters in close proximity to each other can allow you to increase their relationship status between battles. In some cases, they can even fall in love and further increase stat boons when they are next to each other in combat. Characters can sometimes help each other in more direct ways, such as following up an attack with an extra strike and shielding each other from damage by foes, and these actions are also affected by how strongly their interpersonal relationships have developed. The burgeoning friendships and affections between allies carry outside of battle, too: visit the barracks to get a glimpse of how characters interact with one another in their off-duty time (as well as potentially gain experience and items), which is a very charming touch.
Like previous Fire Emblem games, Awakening is divided into chapters consisting of story sequences and battles. Unlike those games, however, it's not a strictly linear progression: you have a world map that allows you to fight side battles and visit shops in-between story events, which makes managing your gear and leveling up some of the lagging characters much easier. You can also play optional side missions with unique objectives in order to recruit new members to your merry band or obtain rare items. The map is constantly changing, too: traveling merchants show up to peddle rare wares, enemy Risen outbreaks happen in random locales, and a StreetPassed team of another player's warriors might even appear to fight or trade with you.
The class system has also received some welcome changes. In most Fire Emblem games, class progression is fairly linear, requiring specific items to level up to particular classes once a unit reaches a certain rank. These items are more available in Awakening, making it much easier to promote units. This time around, however, units can also reclass entirely with a special item, sometimes to wildly different classes than what they previously held. Each class learns unique skills that grant special boons during combat, which are retained even after switching to a new class, so changing and leveling up classes can often create some very powerful units if you are willing to invest the time and effort.
Is it just me, or is Gamespot consistently biased against Nintendo games? For this game, Metacritic gave it a 92, but Gamespot gave it an 8.5. For Ocarina of Time 3D, Metacritic gave it a 94, but Gamespot gave it an 8.5. For Super Mario 3D Land, Metacritic gave a 90, but Gamespot gave it an 8.0. This trend is troubling, because now I can't tell whether a Gamespot criticism of a Nintendo game is honest or prejudiced.
I own Rekka no Ken, The Sacred Stones, and Shadow Dragon, but Awakening is far and away my personal favourite of the series that I've played so far. The world map makes unit management a lot easier, it's possible to grind if you need to level up weaker units, upgrading is 10x easier, and the support function has been expanded incredibly. I heartily recommend this game.
I ordered this, should be arriving soon. There needs to be more well designed games for the 3DS. At the moment I am somewhat disappointed by the serious lack of awesome games. Monster Hunter 3 I didn't buy because though it's playable without CPP, people complained about water areas being an annoyance without CPP - though obviously doable. Also, these games that don't need but play better with CPP is kind of admitting that Nintendo should of added another analogue stick - something it doesn't need and sets it apart from other hand-held devices.
However, polished, well designed titles like this really do make owning a 3DS a treat. That an gems such as Crimson Shroud which I got for £4.49 from Nintendo eShop. Should do me nicely until Fire Emblem arrives :)
I've only played the demo of FE:A, but what I did play of it is my kind of game (I suck at RTS, but turn based I love)
:)
Buy them both, just wait on a bogo 40 or 50 off deal. This game looks great. Surprised Gamespot didn't give it a 5 or 6 since its Nintendo.
1 Like According to the press, it's a great game, I played the episode " sacred stones " i have liked. I don't have this game, at least not yet. I still hesitate between this game and luigi's manson 2 dark moon, hard choice .
@craickdam78 I can tell you this game is far and away better than Luigi's mansion, and you won't be dissapointed if you still haven't bought it yet.
2 Like I am so glad this game has a casual difficulty. I don't have to restart an entire mission because I made a stupid mistake that cost me a unit. Makes it a lot more fun for me to know that I'll be able to use them again after the battle.
Great game, I'd definitely recommend it.
Still out of stock at EB games. I got mine from Best Buy on the 2nd day after release. Their initial shipment was delayed.
too bad nintendo doesn't support my country
it will takes weeks until retailers will stock this game
unless...
oh that's right i could order from zavvi or blahdvd
@thequickshooter Even if it came to your country it would be near impossible to find. It was very hard to find here in the US, and you would think they make it more available. Maybe they weren't counting on it being in such high demand.
@tightwad34 @thequickshooter well i also forgot nintendo reign locked the 3DS meaning even if i buy the US it won't work since i have a european 3DS
well, i guess i'll have to wait for april 17 (possiably more since this game has high demand)
The game is on the Nintendo e shop as a downloadable game if you don't want to wait for retailer to restock the physical copy. I brought the digital copy myself.
@ux1077 I almost did that, but I don't like downloading if I don't have to. I just ordered it on Amazon and waited for them to ship. It took a couple of delays and a few weeks, but it finally got here.
@snake63 Just order off Amazon and wait for them to get it. May take a while, but it worked for me. That is, if you don't already have it.
It really sucks having to wait another month and a bit for this game. I've been eager to play it ever since it was released in Japan and can't wait much longer! It's clear that Nintendo wanted to sell it in the US first because of sales, but it's unfair making us Aussies and Euro's wait an extra 2 months.
thanks to developers who create this game like resident evil revelations..im fcking sick with the game nintendo like mario shit and donky and any other shitty crap games on nintendo..why ppl like mario that game is for gays and kids..i thnk so
9 Like @xtigrex I'm utterly speachless at just how bad that comment is, you sir, have hit rock bottom
@TheGreatPhoenix I like it how you were trying to be nice and still managed to insult them a bit, and you also were able to call them sir. LOL, good one.
You guys are seriously balling your eyes out about a 8.5 rated game. Go to IGN or something but keep your tears away from here
@Infinite_713 You would probably understand if you had played and loved some of the previous FE games hahaha. I got a massive goose bump just from listening to the familiar FE main theme song in the review video. Getting a 3DS for this game, in any case :)
7 Like oh for f**k sake another bullshit half assed Gamespot 3DS review, surely there is a game better than an 8.5 for the 3DS, sick of this 8.5 crap seriously show some damn variety you biased dicks
1 Like This game... is the best damn Fire emblem ever! I borrowed a 3DS just to play this game XD
1 Like My Gamestop doesn't even have it yet, only the pre-orders came. WHY DIDN'T I PREORDER??? :(
@KJsmashdude Yeah, I know how you feel. I didn't pre-order the new Fire Emblem at either one of the two local Gamestops where I live. The only way for me to get it is download it from the Nintendo eShop.
@KJsmashdudeI found it in a Kmart. they do not sell many games cause that are more expensive than in other stores. $46.99 :S
@KJsmashdude Amazon couldn't fulfill all their preorders, I don't think preordering would have helped.
@KJsmashdude Don't listen to them, they only tell you that only pre-orders came just so you pre-order in the future. They are technically able to sell it to you since 48 hours have passed the release date. Trust me, I used to work there and KNOW how they work.
I work for GameStop, and though the 48 hour rule is in place at GameStop, it's pretty indecent to sell a game that someone whose it preordered.
2 Like Glad to see Tom Mc Shea didn't review it. Finally a fair review that I felt justified the score it was given. The negatives listed at the top I felt were valid points though I don't think they significantly hinder the game as a whole. Too bad more gamespot reviewers aren't this professional.
5 Like I think they should have scored it higher since there seems to be no 'glaring flaws' with the game. Besides, who plays Fire Emblem for its multiplayer?
Wish they can make the graphic like on Wii or Gamecube and excellent gameplay like this one. :)
@Master_cheat001 I agree with Element Zero. This had far more advanced graphics then the Wii or GC.
1 Like Other than the retailers/Nintendo goofing up on the shipments the game is really really really good. I love it so far. Probably my favorite of the series.
1 Like Woohoo! Went to my local Meijer store yesterday (the 5th) and they had it! I can say so far that FE:Awakening is every bit as good as the positive reviews are suggesting. (Not to add insult to injury to anyone who hasn't found a retail copy yet, but seriously, if your Gamestop doesn't have it yet, you might consider checking out a Walmart or some other retail store if you haven't already.)
@Omnichrono I was lucky enough to find a copy of Fire Emblem: Awakening at one of the local Gamestops where I live yesterday. It was the only one I could find at either one.
1 Like thanks gamestop for messing up the order so now I have to wait an undisclosed amount of time since they wouldn't let me preorder 2 weeks before the game came out and gamespot continues to lose my faith by giving fire emblem an 8.5, isn't that what Call of Duty got? Only difference is the people who made Fire Emblem didn't spend 5 minutes updating the maps and actually put effort into it, I could tell from the Demo XD
1 Like @kurisu2233 Well actually the most recent Call of Duty received an 8.0, not an 8.5, but that's beside the point; you sound like you are saying the score of a Call of Duty game determines the quality of other games which receive the same score based on your personal opinion of Call of Duty games. That is not an ideal use of logic.
1 Like One of the best games of one of my favourite series getting released on my birthday...doesn't get much better than that!
Ahhh Fire Emblem, one of my top 3 favorite franchises of all time! I'm still heart broken that I was forced to sell my 3DS two weeks ago due to being unemployed for a long time. Not being able to play the game or even the demo is just excruciating. Sigh. Ahh well, on to the next job interview!
@sacatash Sorry about that, my man. I will pray that you find a suitable job soon. I know it's tough out there. Grace and peace. :)
