Fire Emblem Fates 3DS | Hype Thread | Reviews Out: Birthright 8/10; Conquest 7/10; Revelation 9/10

Your battle. Your future. Your fate.

Two kingdoms are on the brink of war. Whose side will you choose? Torn between two families, you’re an heir of Hoshido, raised by Nohrian royals. If you choose the path of Birthright, you’ll battle the corrupted king of Nohr beside a family of strangers. If you walk the path of Conquest, you must fight to change your misguided kingdom from within. Command warriors with expert precision and forge deep relationships to master this turn-based strategy game.

In the third Revelation route, the Avatar rejects both sides and is denounced as a traitor to both.

Features

• For the first time in the Fire Emblem™ series, your customized avatar is the main character.
• Epic storyline centered on your avatar, forced to choose between bloodline and family who raised you.
• New “My Castle” area allows you to interact with your allies and build stronger relationships.
• Tap in corresponding compatible Fire Emblem amiibo™ figures and Marth, Ike, Lucina, and Robin will appear in your game, ready for you to battle and recruit.
• A third story path will be available for owners of Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright or Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest to buy digitally in-game, called Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation.
• Downloadable content (DLC) will be available, including one free map and six additional maps for purchase.

Release Date:

June 25, 2015 Japan

February 19, 2016 North America

AUS/EU 2016

Players:

1-2 players

Genre:

Strategy, Role-Playing

Developer:

Intelligent Systems

Editions/SKUs: (Buying a one of the two main path will allow you to get the other two for $20 each/$80 for all three.

• Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest $39.99 digital/physical
• Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright $39.99 digital/physical
• Fire Emblem Fates Revelation $19.99 digital (must own one of two main paths)
• Fire Emblem Fates Special Edition $79.99 physical (Birthright/Conquest/Revelation)
• Fire Emblem Fates n3DS XL console $199.99 (no game)

Reviews

Conquest: Metacritic

IGN Conquest 9.5

GameXplain Loved It (Conquest)

Destructoid 9.5

Conquest - 9.25

USGamer Conquest 4.5/5

Gamerant 8

GameSpot 7/10

Birthright: Metacritic

IGN Birthright 9.4

Birthright - 9.25

USGamer Birthright 4.5/5

Destructoid 8.5

GameSpot 8/10 Birthright

Revelation:

GameSpot 9/10 Revelation

Destructoid 9.0

Credits to: Nintendo(Game), Wiki(info) and ME!

The hell kinda setup is that?

@freedomfreak: I'm unconventional.

@Legend002: Nah, the OP is fine. Just all those versions.

There's really only two with the third path being a huge DLC. Yeah, they split the game in half and yet there's still a game worth of dlc....

Thankfully I'm in no rush to play Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, though I haven't written it off and want to. Want to finish Dream Team first anyways.

I think I might skip just to see what people say about Conquest and Birthright and see which one will suit me more. If I see any Special Editions around then I'll jump all over it but if not then I'll just get one of the copies, get the other two main campaigns through DLC.

I think instead I'll get Project X Zone 2, I loved the last game. That releases on 23rd while FE:F on 19th. Besides something tells me Fire Emblem Fates won't be short of praise, while Project X Zone 2 can probably use all the attention it can muster.

Nintendo doesn't want me to get the Special Edition.

It's shit like this that pushes me towards the edge of account-suicide

Goodbye, Gamespot, I won't miss you.

Sweet thread bro. Got to be AAA all the way.

@freedomfreak: It's not THAT serious. Now looking at EA with Battlefront and the $49.99 season pass prior to release of the already low content $69.99 game.....

Thankfully Nintendo made the choice really easy to make.

Birthright is Awakening 2.0 with equally terrible mission design and overall gameplay, and will thus be a weaksauce game, whereas Conquest has some of the best gameplay in the entire franchise since Thracia 776. I dont like to see things in Black and White, but goddamn Nintendo did a good job here making one version better than the other one in nearly every way. The only advantage Birthright has is a less terrible story (though they are both really bad).

Potential to be the best game of the year. So hyped for this. Hyping it AAA for sure.

And in the meanwhile, Firaxis will release NuXCOM 2 with a boatload of quality optional features.

Not to sound like a negative nancy here, but what Nintendo did with the 3 campaigns is some serious StarCraft 2 levels of nonsense going on here. It is wierd, Nintendo is such a mixed bag with DLC. Their main studios seem very reasonable form ost of the part (12 dollars for 50% more content for Mario Kart, free DLC, exceptional support for splatoon), but then there is the Fire Emblem studio which defies this otherwise exceptional dlc policy Nintendo has.

I totally want a new FE, but I have no idea which version to get. I really hate that they do this shit with different versions. Not gonna be fooled to buy the same game twice, that's for damn sure.

Anyone knows if they will be completely different? As in different characters and different missions? Or will it be basically the same game, but with a story that differ a little from eachother? Are both versions half a game? In that case, I wouldn't get any of them.

The games are only the same till Chapter 5, after which they split into completely different paths. Both are totally different games after that, so essentially only the introductory chapters will be the same. And both are self-sufficient games. Birthright provides a more easygoing Awakening style campaign, while Conquest is going to be more typical, brutal Fire Emblem.

Revelation, the DLC, is also going to be completely different after chapter 5.

This is basically why I do not have a problem with this model. Because for the price of $60 ($40 for the game and $20 for the version you did not buy, plus $20 for the DLC if you want that), you're getting two full fledged games.

Ok, thanks. Sounds like a pretty good deal, but I don't really want 2 full fledged games though. I want 1 new good Fire Emblem. And I really liked Awakening, so choosing between those 2 will still be really hard. Fucking hate this. I hope this model isn't going to be standard for FE in the future..

Yeah, seems like it'll only be good if it's kept as a novelty. There's a very real possibility that if they keep this model for the series, it might just drive people away.

Still, I'm spending $60 and getting two full fledged Fire Emblem games, so as far as Fates is concerned, I'm pretty happy with the deal.

AAA. It's gonna be another AAAE for the 3DS. Vita am cry.

Yeah, the business model here is pretty questionable.

At least it isnt like StarCraft 2 which charges you 60 dollars for each campaign. At least its only 40 for the first and 20 for the rest.

Either way, the best way to know what game to buy is.

What is your favorite Fire Emblem game? If its awakening, then get Birthright, else get Conquest.

My favourite is probably Fire Emblem for the GBA. I've only played that one, Sacred Stones, Shadow Dragon (ew) and Awakening. Awakening is my second favourite. Even though I liked Awakening, I'm still not sure if I want more of that or something new..

Well, mission design is much more varied in Conquest as opposed to Birthright, which features more of Awakening's "kill all the enemies" style missions. In Conquest you get more of "defend the area" or "kill the enemy commander" and the like.

3/10

Looks like more generic Japanese garbage

u look like generic japanese garbage >:-[

@khoofia_pika: nah, I'm a guy that actually looks like a guy

Pretty sure mems actually really likes Fire Emblem lol.

For anyone interested, here's a Kotaku import preview of Fire Emblem: Fates- Conquest. The first few paragraphs also summarise the three-version model pretty well:

Fire Emblem Fates is three games, not one—though each has the same set up. Kidnapped as a baby from the kingdom of Hoshido, your player character is raised as a member of rival nation Nohr’s royal family.

All three versions are identical until the game’s sixth chapter where you must choose to side with your birth family (Birthright), the only family you’ve ever known (Conquest), or neither (Invisible Kingdom). The remaining 22 chapters are completely different from one another in both gameplay and story.

The choice really is one of nature versus nurture. Do you side with strangers who share the same blood, or the brothers and sisters who you know and love—even though your “father” kidnapped you as a baby?

Some more info on gameplay and structure differences between the versions:

Conquest plays like a mixture between Fire Emblem Awakeningand old school Fire Emblem titles. On one hand, the game comes with the option of having dead characters return to life at the end of a chapter—as well as a new mode that returns them to life at the end of the turn.

On the other hand, it does not allow for leveling up on the world map by replaying old missions (while Birthright and Invisible Kingdom do). This, more than any other difference, makes Conquest the most difficult of the three versions of Fire Emblem Fates.

The other big difference among the versions is the battles themselves. While the battles in Birthright are straightforward—i.e., kill the general/kill everyone—Conquest has more varied objectives like catch enemies, win within a time limit, defend a location, or break through enemy lines.

You have been found out, mems:

obvious trolling is obvious >:-[

@charizard1605: damn man, why you gotta blow up my spot like that? I have a reputation to maintain around here

I wish one of these days you surprise us by telling us that you actually really like TW3.

... not likely, though ;__;

The big choice in the game was terribly executed. 2 Major things cheapen the choice as far as I am concerned, the first has to do with the split campaign things, I am not making a moral choice here like I did at the end of Tactics Ogre's first chapter, I am making choosing what game to buy. The second reason is in the spoiler below.

Your Hoshido siblings aren't your real siblings anyways, the only one in Hoshido you are blood related to is your mother (and Aqua who is your cousin), and she dies in chapter 5 anyways. Your actual father (a big bad dragon) is the villain and you get 2 choices: Killing him or nuking the kingdom of Touma is how Fire Emblem Fates: Invisible Kingdom ends.

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease be better than the last piece of shit, Awakening was just atrocious.

It is quite interesting that the European-like Nohr is depicted as war-mongering, while the Japanese-like Hoshido is depicted as peace-loving. If this looks like "black and white," look at the clothes of the characters representing their kingdoms.

Has anyone noticed these things?

i'll rate this 9/10

It's only the Nohr emperor, the main character's adoptive father, that is portrayed as a war-monger. In fact, that's what the conflict in Conquest is, that you and your adoptive brothers and sisters are being made to do shit you know is straight up bad and you're having to deal with it.

Conversely, the conflict in Birthright is that you basically have to fight against your adoptive brothers and sisters, the people you grew up with, who you know are being made to do things they know are bad. Both these scenarios make things pretty interesting. Doesn't LOOK like it'll be black and white.

Im looking forward to it as i recently got the Gamecube and Wii Fire Emblem games on a really good deal. Still upset at Gamestop saying my SE preorder was cancelled. Not my fault they werent supposed to take more preorders because of a 'system bug' :/

I'll hype it with a score of 8/10.

Would it make sense to not hype my personal GOTY 2015 AAAAE? No, it would not.

Anyways, since I imported Conquest, I'll be happy to answer any questions about it or general questions about Fates.

How did we come to calling Birthright Awakening 2.0 when Conquest is Awakening 2.0? >.> The whole "more like classic FE because there's no grinding" sentiment focuses way too much on structure and doesn't pay attention to the fact that classic FE was horrendously flawed design-wise.

Far as encounter design goes, Conquest is the one that builds off Awakening's new emphasis on skills over stats (Am I the only one that ran into -Breaker enemies in Awakening here?) not to mention being less chokepoint-y to take advantage of a much more aggressive AI. Meanwhile, the older FEs typically had 1-unit-wide chokepoints -on top- of having MMORPG-tier mob AI, not to mention having no skills that would completely change how you'd approach an encounter.

-

Being a new direction for the series, Awakening couldn't get everything right nor could it go hard on its philosophy -- That's what sequels are for. Birthright fixes up a few things, Conquest takes cranks it up to 11.

For the moment, the split can stay. The fanbase itself is split between veterans, newcomers, people who are good at SRPGs, people who aren't...

From where I'm standing, trying to cater to everyone in a single game won't help anyone.

1. Awakening's fine.
2. It's indeed better than Awakening.

I'm ready for it.

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeese be a better liar. Seriously, FE:A was amazing. Story sucked but it's no lesser than great.

@Technoweirdo: 1. Highly disagree

2. Thank the lord

Amazing as in an insult to FE.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

im thinking AA, I dont know if it can make AAA without the petting :P

Potential to be better than any VIta game this year, at least.

Well, he's right.

What Vita game?

Ok?

Exactly.

:3

@93BlackHawk93: also, no, Zero Time Dilemma will be out on Vita.