Yo, we’re about to dive into some major late game conversation. So if you have yet to play all three paths of Fire Emblem Fates, including Revelations, turn back now. If you want a spoiler free review of the game’s Conquest path, head here!
To be unequivocally clear, I have been a long time fan of the Fire Emblem games dating back to my young teen years. Sacred Stones always held a special place in my heart, and I loved Fire Emblem Blazing Sword and Awakening. So any critiques I have for Fates only come from a place of love for the series. To be blunt, I loved Fire Emblem Fates, but I absolutely hated the story. Characters felt very singular in their execution. Events were often unexplained or hidden behind unnecessary pay walls. If you wanted to experience Fire Emblem Fates in its entirety, at least from a narrative perspective, you’d have to pay something close to $105. Thankfully, I got my hands on the special edition early on, so I got to experience all of Fates as intended.
Last spoiler warning. We’re getting into the nitty gritty here! Spoilers for Fates and Awakening ahead.
The cast of Fire Emblem Fates Conquest (Left) faces the cast of Birthright (Right).
Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright opens a lot of doors. It shows you a lot of possibilities, and gives you glimpses of what could have been, should you have chosen the other route. It was no doubt the most “vanilla” of the paths. It was weak willed in execution, without really allowing the same level of emotional string tugging that Awakening had.
The best thing that was done in Fire Emblem Awakening was the death of Emmeryn. Being Chrom and Lissa’s sister made it sad enough, but the level of helplessness that the situation showed was incredible. But it wasn’t abrupt. It had build up. Three chapters of a wild goose chase trying to protect Emmeryn, only to find that she was set to be executed. Then, when you confront and defeat Gangrel’s army, he does his last ditch villainous deed to try and steal the Fire Emblem from Chrom. Then there was a whole chapter dedicated to grieving Emm. She was a voice of reason for several chapters. The pacing set events in motion at the right time.
Almost every event in Fates was abrupt, without reason, and without a chance to truly process it. You meet the mother character, Mikoto, and within mere minutes of gameplay, she’s gone. We don’t get to see the Hoshido siblings grieve, and that’s probably the worst part. Nothing tells you more about a person than their grieving process. A lot goes on during the processing of grief, including, arguably the most charming trait about Fire Emblem characters, the setting of goals. Grief causes you to make plans and follow dreams. Emmeryn’s death made Chrom want to be a king. It turned vassals into soldiers. It shook the political world, and it strengthened the loyalty between Chrom and Robin.
Mikoto’s death made no impact. All it did was further instigate a war with some of the arguably most dispensable casualties in this entire series. I don’t want to continue going on for too long, so I’m going to segment this off into various parts. But this was a big complaint I had with this game.
Fire Emblem Fates is mechanically strong, but the narrative falls very short in my book. For more on Fates and other cool strategy gems, come back soon for more from the GAME ROOM!!!
Mustapha’s Game Room and MMOExaminer are teaming up to provide you with the best and most thorough E3 coverage you can find. From constant articles and live-tweets to a full stream covering the press conferences and some of the show floor content. While we won’t be at E3, we will be paying close attention to every broadcast and covering news in an effective and concise way with the charm of myself, Jeremy and James, the likes of which you wouldn’t get anywhere else.
This is my most anticipated game this summer. The genius developers at Atlas are making an RPG themed around the cast of Fire Emblem. While it’s a Shin Megami Tensei crossover, a lot of those elements are a little bit harder to find. With a theme on pop and style, this is definitely a weird one, but all the same, I expect it will have the charm that has drawn players to both series’ for all of these years. I expect this to be a day one purchase for me. If you’re interested in trying something weird and new, check this one out on June 24.
I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t put in a plug for Xenoblade Chronicles X. While I much prefer the first of the series, and it’s cheaper to get your hands on, X is a very large and expansive game. For someone interested in exploring a vast world and watching it unfold before your eyes as you traverse varying terrain and overcome large enemies and obstacles. While the main story is simple, and can be completed in a twenty or thirty hour span, the amount of side content is incredibly large. There’s a lot you can do to benefit yourself as the game goes on. Things like, building new skells, or fighting tyrants, or doing squad quests all make you stronger. The stronger you get, the more you can take on, and the more the game grows. You truly are building the world as you go, rather than discovering it like you would have in the original.
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The game follows a group of teenagers who are locked in a high school with no memories. They are tormented by a black and white bear, named Monokuma, who tells them that in order to get out they must murder each other. The catch, however, is that there is a trial held after each murder. If the murderer is rightly accused then they will die. If the group guesses the wrong person as the murderer, they all die and the murderer is set free. You play as Makoto and must solve the murders of the people around you. The objective is to find out who is behind all this while trying to not be murdered.
experience and play in a way that is thoroughly true to your own style.