Genre: Strategy Developer: Intelligent Systems System: 3DS
0000000 This is a long game, coming in at about 105 hours of gameplay (assuming you're playing on Lunatic and Classic mode).
Yes, it is hard, but it's supposed to be. Fire emblem games are known for both being fun, beautiful, and difficult, and this one is no different.
0000000 The game represents a marked improvement over Awakening, with some innovations-- you get your own castle this
time, which you can build buildings. Some of these buildings, such as your own private quarters, and the lottery shop are a lot of fun, while others I never
even got to use, such as the prison (maybe I am just dumb, but I missed it. It did seem strange though that there wasn't a clear way to use this building).
Finally, they did take the functionality of being able to "pet" your characters in the private quarters, which I think is sad that the US is behind Japan
in accepting our own human sexuality. Also, there wasn't any actual homosexuality in the game, which is another example of what I'd consider the US
being behind progressively, that Nintendo still felt it couldn't be safe introducing a homosexual element into the game. This is especially disappointing
because of the ad I had read saying there would be some homosexuality in the game.
0000000 The main story was solid, RPG fare. Early in the game you choose whether to side with your adopted family (whose King
seems a bit evil), or your birth family (The Birthright path). I do plan on playing Conquest later, however I will play Echoes first. Anyway, if you
look at other reviews of this game you'll surely see lots of criticism for Fates bad writing. This criticism isn't completely unwarranted--there were
entire characters whose dialog made me cringe (Mitama). And yes, some of the dialog in the character relationship conversations were just outright bad, I
think you have to be able to move past that and enjoy some of the story and dialog in the game that actually wasn't bad. So on the whole, I enjoyed
most of the story and dialog.
0000000 In conclusion, Fates is a really good game and if you enjoy turn-based strategy, this is one of the best. It offers
a really long enjoyable experience (105 hours, not counting all the times you have to restart a battle, if you're doing Lunatic). I was actually a little
disappointed that the endgame was still so simple and you couldn't buy things such as a Moon Festal at the shop. I think they could have had at least one
more upgrade to the shops and it would have made things more exciting.
~ Adam Henderson
Game Difficulty Rating:
7/10 DIFFICULT
85% Beautifully rendered cut-scenes, gameplay.
50% A little lackluster.
90% The Castle and Private Quarters were innovative.
90% A solidly fun experience.
75% 105 hours (at hardest difficulty).
75% A good story with some bad dialogue.
OVERALL SCORE = 81%
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