Several months after most of the rest of the world, Europe has finally received Fire Emblem Fates, the latest instalment in one of Nintendo’s major franchises. Needless to say, this has been a day long awaited by myself since it was originally announced in January of 2015.
What makes Fire Emblem Fates unique to the franchise is the existence of multiple storylines, and thus, multiple games. All three storylines contain the same first 6 chapters, as a sort of build up before your “choice” is made (that choice already dictated by which version of the game you are playing).
It is these six chapters that therefore make up this review, as the currently available Birthright and Conquest games do have some minor differences in style, with Birthright being more ‘traditional fire emblem’, and Conquest taking an apparently different, and thus more complex and challenging stance. The third instalment, Revelations, is not to be released in Europe until the 9th of June, and only as additional content to either of the other two games.
I went into the game assuming that these initial 6 shared chapters would act as a tutorial, and nothing more. I was pleasantly surprised.
The chapters are evenly split between the two factions of the game. You spend the first 3 with the Nohr, and the latter three with the Hoshido. Both of these factions have very distinct flavours to them. Nohr is more reminiscent of old Fire Emblem games, with a heavy western or Roman influence. The Hoshido, however, have a culture more influenced by Japan. This is made incredibly apparent, from the names of the characters from either side, right down to the music being played. This is likely something to become more noticeable further into the game/s, wherein which your own team, and the classes available to you, will vary.
As for the tutorial part of these chapters, it was incredibly well integrated into the story. As someone who has played various Fire Emblem games before, I am rather comfortable with the controls, most of which being near exactly the same as they were in Awakening (and a very good thing that is too). However, as the instructions and various details were interspersed alongside gameplay and the story, it was not dull or repetitive.
What was especially nice about these tutorials was the integration of the new features. Fire Emblem Fates has obviously added new techniques to fights, as well as altered some small details. For one, I am somewhat glad to not have to worry about weapons breaking constantly. Another is the added details to the match-ups just before you attack. If your troops are next to another, then that second unit will aid in attacking, and the amount of damage they will do is given. This makes your troupe placement more planned, as you can reliably tell how much damage you are doing, rather than leaving it to luck whether the second unit will attack also. Lastly, is the use of Dragon Veins. These are ways in which certain characters are able to modify the terrain. It is introduced as both a way to access new areas, but also done to demonstrate how drastically it can change the movements of the enemies too.
So far, I am incredibly pleased with this latest instalment. I am thoroughly intrigued as to where the story will go from here, and equally, once I have completed my first game (Birthright), I look forward to playing through the other two instalments.
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