Fire Emblem games took me a long time to get into and eventually enjoy. I love fantasy and RPGs and when you put those things together in a game then you've already got me roped in. I remember watching a friend in school playing one of the games in its long series (the game he was playing escapes me). He after getting invested in his play and getting hyped when he cut it close to dying and overcoming enemies he told me to try out Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones for myself and I did. The one thing that always held me back from Fire Emblem was its very popular aspect of permanent character deaths. When someone dies in a battle, they CANNOT by brought back by any means and are lost forever. I didn't like the idea of losing a character forever since I got so attached to them during play time. I stuck with it though and forged onward. (RIP Tana). I got into it ever since then and tried to play as many as I could.
Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright and Conquest came out last year but I missed out on the chance of getting them. I picked up both copies fairly recently and started out with Birthright because I love samurai. I also started my game on Normal/Casual mode because as stated earlier, I don't really like the permanent deaths. You go through the motions of making your avatar unit whether they are male or female and jump into the story. You assume the role of Corrin, the child stolen from the Hoshido nation after your father is killed by King Garon of Nohr during a fake peace treaty talk between both nations. King Garon takes Corrin and raises them to suit his needs and when you finally come of age, he tests you by tasking you to execute Hoshido prisoners. Corrin refuses and Garon gives them a chance at redemption by checking out an outpost on the border of Nohr and Hoshido. After getting into a skirmish with Hoshido forces one of your party members betrays Corrin and the anger awakens a portion of their draconic abilities and the sword given to them, Ganglari hurls them into the canyon below. Corrin is rescued by Lilith and brought to the Astral Realm and shortly brought back to the real world only to be captured by Hoshido forces. Corrin is reunited with their long lost siblings and mother, Mikoto, who is the Queen of Hoshido. Happy to announce the return of her lost child, she gathers the people in the center of town but a hooded figure takes the Ganglari sword and causes a magical explosion and Mikoto shields Corrin from the blast taking the lives of everyone around including Mikoto's. The Hoshidan army marches into battle as do the Nohr and now you must pick. Will you fight for your long lost siblings and home? Or the ones whom with you grew up with in Nohr? Or an entirely different path altogether?
Fire Emblem Fates is unique in which there are two games that each have their own unique story and gameplay. I'll cover Conquest in another review when I play it. Both games have their own sets of classes and characters to use in battles. Birthright has been fairly easy, there are tons of enemies for me to face in order to grind levels and get gold and resources for your growing army. A lot of mechanics return from Awakening such as Pair Up but now also enemies can do this, making them harder to engage since they can enjoy the same benefits as you. One thing I noticed is that weapon durability is nothing to worry about in the game so you can spam using character's special weapons all you want. Phoenix Mode returns as well so for anyone wanting to take it easier than I am can enjoy the game as well. Fire Emblem Fates might be my favorite entry in the franchise because of its uniqueness of having two sides of one story and also a 3rd path called Revelations which is available. I'm eager to finish Conquest and eventually get to Revelations and figure out what's what with that game. Definitely play Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright and eventually get Conquest and Revelations to experience the full story.
