I know, talking about Fire Emblem, the new upcoming game isn’t number 13. Fire Emblem Fates will be number 14 in the series, so why the title of this article? Because game number 13 was the one that got my attention, the first one I played and the one that got me loving the Fire Emblem series. Have you ever played one of the installments? If you haven’t, let me tell you what you can expect.
The games are what they call tactical role playing games, so if you expect real time action like a shooter game or a fighting game, think again. Fire Emblem games are played on a grid, for you to deploy your forces in the grid when a battle starts. Everyone in your army of characters has their own specialities, they can reach very far in one turn because they are seated on a Pegasus. Or they can only reach a couple of spaces in the grid, but they are very well equipped wizards that can use magic over distances. Or you have a fighter in your team who can heal others. Well, you get the idea. Sometimes you just make defensive moves waiting for the enemy to come to you. Sometimes you are on the offensive, taking the enemy out as quick as you can.
Now I do realize this might all sound a bit dull. You have to think over your moves, and a battle can easily take half an hour to complete. I like that however. Â I decided to give Fire Emblem Awakening a try, and got to love it straight away. Because of the battles, but mostly because of the cut scenes in the battles, beautiful moves being portrayed. Because of the story, and the interaction between your characters. Because you can help romances along, and even deploy their offspring in your army.
 So why did it take me until the 13 th game to play it? Because this game-series was notorious for its difficulty, it was pretty niche for die-hard fans only. The fact that once one of your carefully cultivated character died, you would lose him forever. Awakening was the first title where you could modify the difficulty, so that you didn’t have to lose your favorites. The first one too to add the romance, which is a big plus for me. And now the next game is close, Fire Emblem Fates will consist of two separate games, each from their unique point of view. No good or evil, you look at the war from both sides. They are called Conquest and Birthright.
This is from the website:
Two kingdoms are on the brink of war. Whose side will you choose? Torn between two families, you’re an heir of Hoshido, raised by Nohrian royals. If you choose the path of Birthright, you’ll battle the corrupted king of Nohr beside a family of strangers. If you walk the path of Conquest, you must fight to change your misguided kingdom from within.
Interesting choices! You can use your Marth or Robyn Amiibo to get those characters in your game. And if you’ve played them both, you can even expect more background info in the third game, Revelations! Come February I’ll be ready. How about you, and which one will you choose?
Awakening made me fall in love with Fire Emblem too! I played 7 briefly and liked it enough to grab the shiny new 3DS addition to the franchise. Best decision ever (not really, but I’m really happy with it). Think I’ve clocked over 500 hours into that game. No shame. Not sure if I’ll get FE14; Awakening was perfect enough.
I even played Awakening entirely, and half way through it in difficult mode. That is rare for me, to stay with a game for so long and replaying it immediately. The only other game I did that for was Okamiden. Nice to see it made you a fan too!
I have played all the FE games that have been localized. FE7 was my fave, but Awakening has overtaken it because not having to stress over dying characters was a nice feature. I’m a bit disappointed that the new game will be split into three parts. One moment they were planning to kill off the series and now because of one hit they feel they can cash in.
No doubt they felt they could follow Pokemon’s example and release three games instead of one. But still, it might be well worth it because they do know how to build a compelling story!