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“Fire Emblem Fates Birthright and Conquest” will be released on February 19th, next week (at the moment of writing this article). And despite the negativity going on, I’m still looking forward to playing FEF. I will also review the game as soon as possible. However, I’m sure that’ll leave the question of why I’m writing the review when Robin did an article on its censorship. I’ll be getting the game (Conquest) and download it the moment it hits the eShop, so I’ll be playing it beforehand. As far as my opinion about the censorship goes, I’ll cover that in the review after I’ve played it. For this article, I would like to give an opinion about features that are in the game before it is released.

Combat

There are plenty of battles to be fought in FEF.

The Weapon Triangle returns with a slight adjustment to accommodate hidden weapons. So now the strength and weakness of the weapons goes as Sword and Magic to axe and bow to lance and hidden weapons. While I like that they kept it simple (though different effects with certain weapons change it up), there was another triangle that I liked before Fates and Awakening: the Trinity of Magic. Remembering from the first Fire Emblem that came to the States the Trinity went as Anima (elemental) to Light to Dark. This system even had to keep magic in check in that GBA game, by furthering it with a triangle for Anima (Wind to Thunder to Fire.). It made it challenging to use magic users. However, since it wasn’t in Awakening I don’t really expect it to come back anytime soon. Which is a real pity since it could keep players on edge.

Equipment Durability Removal

The Weapon Triangle is simple but there are weapons with special properties to keep in mind.

Durability has been removed from all the weapons, but the staves still have a limited use. I can understand that the staves need a nerf, but durability could have been reserved to the Class A ones with long-range. However, in general, I think this is great. I’m actually one of those people who stockpile weapons for my army (even going past 99.). Even so, the actual reason why I’m glad this is implemented in Fate comes out of my playthrough on Awakening. I never used the fabled weapons in battles. I may have a ton of Hammerne (one time stavest that repair weapons to full durability) but I have yet to use a special weapon. Usually, I just keep on units I assign to my Street pass team. Nevertheless, with the durability removed I can use any of the best equipment I have and simply focus on skirmishes.

Game Modes

Choose the game mode that’s right for you.

The option of having either classic mode (permadeath) or Casual (units come back after the battle) is back. I will admit that classic is not the mode for me. On Awakening whenever a character dies, I just reboot the game (I’m sure I’m not the only one that does this, and regrets choosing this mode.). The mode is still there for those who either wants to have a challenge or keep it as traditional as they can. Again Casual mode makes a return, and I think this is what I’m going to pick when I boot up Fates (on Hard difficulty). I honestly don’t think it should be called “Causal” since it only disables permadeath (and there are a number of strategy RPGs that don’t have permadeath.).

You still need to come up with a strategy to win and the units only come back after the battle. Phoenix Mode, on the other hand, allows the units to make their return during the next turn. Not too keen on using that mode even for the Hard difficulty, but I can see some applications if you were doing a play through on Lunatic+. However, if the player picked a difficulty that was a bit over their head. Even so, the players still have the ability to change the difficulty setting during the game.

My Castle

Hail to the king, kneel to the crown.

Not only do you get to make your own main character with a star role, but you get to build a village from the ground up. It’s your base of operations, and you can run things your way. You´re even allowed to assign your characters to certain shops. Not only that but you can walk around your kingdom and interact with it from overhead or from a shoulder point-of-view. I find that this would immerse you as well as make you feel more of a lord.

Dragon Vein

Use Dragon Vein to your advantage but make it count.

With this power, you can manipulate the map from changing the landscape to setting off traps. This definitely adds to the gameplay as well as strategy. Not only will this give the player an advantage, but it’ll have them pick the best moment to use it.

Multiplayer

Battle with friends or random players Online.

Like in Awakening the Streetpass feature has been added to Fates. In Awakening, I found it fun to pick up a Streetpass team and battle them with my units (with some proving to be real challengers). What I didn’t expect to appear in this game was an Online Vs. mode. Honestly, I wouldn’t have mind that they left it at Streetpass. However, I think it’s a good way to get an Intelligent Systems Vs. fix with Online battling.

I’ll be looking forward to playing this game when it comes out. Again, I will be getting the Conquest version of the game. I’ve saved the world in the last one I might as well conquer it here. In any case Birthright and Revelation can be purchased for a discounted price so all the routes can be played on one game. Stay tuned for the review.