In February of 2016, Nintendo released its latest game in the Fire Emblem series: Fire Emblem Fates. There are three games within Fire Emblem fates, but we will only be looking at the first two games, Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest and Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright. Conquest follows the story of when the main character chooses to side with the kingdom of Nohr, and Birthright follows the story of when the main character chooses to side with the kingdom of Hoshido. I will be comparing different aspects of the games to see how they hold up against each other. This comparison will contain spoilers.

Kingdoms

The two kingdoms, Nohr and Hoshido, are vastly different from each other. Nohr is a kingdom shrouded in darkness, whose leader is strict and rules with an iron fist. Hoshido is a kingdom of light, whose leader is kind and caring. Now, this doesn't mean Nohrians are villains and Hoshidians are the heroes by any means. It's more atmospheric than anything else. It's also how the kingdoms are run. The question is, which kingdom is better?

Let's start by analyzing Nohr. Nohrians live in a harsher environment than the Hoshidians. As stated by Silas, a Nohrian Cavalier, in Chapter 22 of Birthright, "Food, resources, and even light are limited. That's why our kingdom learned to fight and conquer other countries to prosper." People rarely even walk on the surface and in the streets for fear of pirates taking their stuff and their lives. That's why the Nohrian people created an underground village underneath the capital where they live, sell and buy their essentials and live their lives. The King doesn't even know about it. Though, because of how the country is run, there is a lot of poverty.

As for Hoshido, their kingdom is very lively and open. Unlike in Nohr, the people walk freely on the surface, they have a big open market, the sun is always shining, it's really very pleasant. Hoshidians have many allies, such as the Ice Tribe, and live in excess, as stated by Ryoma in Chapter 22 of Birthright. The Hoshidians also have no real record of conquering of countries and are big on sharing. Ryoma even states in Chapter 22 of Birthright that when the war ends, he wishes to share resources with the Nohrians.

Now, as for which kingdom is better, I'm going to have to say Hoshido. While Nohr is very interesting and there is a lot of detail in it, Hoshido is the more pleasant kingdom. It's a model Kingdom. That's why this win goes to Birthright.

Siblings

In Conquest, the main character fights alongside their Nohrian siblings, Xander, Camilla, Leo and Elise. They are not the main character's blood related siblings, but they were the only family that main character knew for most of their life. In Birthright, the main character fights alongside their Hoshidian siblings, Ryoma, Hinoka, Takumi and Sakura. They are the main character's blood related siblings that they were separated from as a child.

I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm giving this point to Conquest. My reason for that being that the Nohrian siblings are so much more interesting than the Hoshidians. Sakura is a really boring, shy little sister, while Elise is always super happy, loud and does whatever she can to help the main character. Takumi is obnoxious, acts like he hates the main character and gets his mind taken over multiple times, while Leo is a cocky, level-headed brother who often accidentally wears his clothes inside-out. Hinoka is a stubborn tomboy who I will admit is pretty decent, but Camilla is a doting older sister who sweetly threatens anyone who dares to hurt the main character. She's a unique character, while Hinoka is an archetype seen a lot of times before. Now, as for Ryoma and Xander, I would rate them equally. They are both stern, but fair princes who care about their siblings and their kingdom more than anything in the world. The main character even compares the two of them in Conquest, much to their dismay.

As units, the Nohrian siblings are also better for the most part. In Birthright, Takumi and Ryoma are the only two who stay super useful throughout the entire game, but in Conquest they all stay useful throughout the entire game, aside from Elise.

The Nohrian siblings left a bigger impact on me. I cried so much over Elise and Xander's deaths in Birthright, but I was only a little Sad at Ryoma's death in Conquest and even less so with Takumi's death. That's why I say Conquest as the better siblings.

Supporting Cast

For the most part, all of the supporting cast, which I am including the children in, are fantastic. They're interesting, many are incredibly useful and they all have their own little quirks to make them stand out. The characters that really stand out are the characters that come from Fire Emblem Awakening. In Conquest, we get to see three of the actually characters from Awakening that are given a backstory as to why they are in Nohr in the first place. It's very interesting and fleshed out, but in Hoshido we get three kids who are just carbon copies of three awakening characters. As far as the fandom is concerned, they are not confirmed to be the canon characters from Awakening. It would also be kind of impossible considering that the three characters who did come from the Awakening universe can be their parents in Fates.

Even disregarding the Awakening characters, I would say that the Conquest retainers are the reason that Conquest takes the win on this one. There are more obnoxious retainers in Birthright, such as Hana and Setsuna, but there are so many fun retainers in Conquest, such as Effie and Niles, to name a few who aren't from awakening. That's why Conquest takes the win on this one.

Story

I'll say ahead of time that I choose Conquest hands down. However, I would first like to say that both games are fantastic. They are creative, fun, different and a great time. I love both of them. Birthright still holds up extremely well. When playing Birthright, I felt like there was a lot more to lose than picking Conquest. You lose two great siblings, one of which jumps in front of you to save your life and gets cut down by her own brother, your family that you grew up with is trying to kill you, you feel like you have a lot to lose. In Conquest, you don't get to learn too much about the Hoshido siblings before having to pick a side, so you aren't as close with them. The connection is not there, so playing against them doesn't really make you feel as bad, which is the point of having to pick a side.

All that being said, I still choose Conquest as the better game. The reason has to do with all of the other categories. It has a great cast of characters that make the story super interesting, it has to do with taking down your own leader while also fighting against your birth siblings, your siblings are fantastic, there is much more deceit, betrayal and lies, I just can't get enough of it. That is why the winner of story and the better game of the two is Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest.