![]() In Birthright, the player sides with Hoshido in Conquest, the hero fights for Nohr. The overarching plot of Fire Emblem Fates is that there's a war going on between two sides, Hoshido and Nohr. NATURE OR NURTURE?īirthright and Conquest most obviously differ on the story level the retail versions of these games lock you into that story, while the Special Edition lets you decide which you follow first. We've got the answers you're looking for in the quest to decide which game you'll check out first. It's just a shame, then, that its weaknesses overshadow its clear strengths.Follow along with our series of questions for you, the conflicted Fire Emblem fan. When it all comes together, Fates can feel like a definitive upgrade over Awakening. The rebalanced Pair-Up system is superior to its predecessor's in almost every way, and many of the new skills and classes are fantastic additions. All three versions are full of great maps, and the new balances to weapons helps even basic equipment stay relevant for most of the campaigns. Fates tries to be both at once, and the specter of compromise predictably haunts every one of its design decisions.įates' greatest victim, however, might be its gameplay. Alternatively, if the developers had wanted to tell a more adult story about politics and sexuality, they should have focused more on the writing and less on trivial distractions. If Fates had taken itself less-seriously and was less objectifying towards women (or at least gave the male cast the same treatment), it might have been celebrated as light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek steamy fun. However, whereas titles like Genealogy of the Holy War are dark because they explore difficult themes, Fates indulged misery for its own sake, forcing players to permit war crimes or commit genocide just to move the plot along.įrustratingly, none of this had to be the case. With some exceptions, like the adorable Elise, Fates' protagonists are cynical, and its irredeemable villains make for one of the series' darkest games yet. While Fire Emblem has never shied away from depicting the brutality of war, it typically has enough moments of levity that the darkness doesn't become all-encompassing. Further problems, like questionable supports, a bizarre face-touching minigame and needing to marry off young characters to unlock all the characters didn't help, either.Īll of this is made worse by Fates' needlessly grim tone. Between the ridiculous outfits for female characters (such as armored thongs on Nohr's knights), to the way cutscenes frequently sexualize Camilla - the player character's sister - many fans found the games uncomfortable. Outside of its story, Fates has other issues, mainly how objectifying it was. While Awakening certainly had some fan-service, Fates took it to an extreme. Nohr's motive for invading is paradoxically only explained in Hoshido's campaign, in which it's explained that she conquers other nations only for the resources to feed her starving people. However, their goals are poorly-explained and contradictory. The story revolves around a conflict between the kingdoms of Nohr and Hoshido, respectively modeled after European and Japanese culture. Worse still, the picture didn't make much sense.įire Emblem is known for its interesting worlds and well-developed conflicts, so it's strange that Fates' world-building is lacking. What this meant was that, to get the full picture, players would have to buy three whole games. Later, a third path called Revelation was released as downloadable content. Two titles were sold at retail: Birthright, which sees players defending their birth home, and Conquest, in which they side with the family they grew up with. From a narrative standpoint, Fire Emblem Fates' problems begin almost as soon as the game itself does. Part of the problem is that it's a story in three parts.
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