Fire Emblem: Awakening

I have to say this is the first Fire Emblem game I have ever played. For those of you complaining about the developers daring to have an easier mode where fallen units return, this change is what got me to play. I was interested in Shadow Dragon (the previous DS installment) but stayed away from it because I thought it would be too frustrating for me to permanently lose units. Now that I have played FE Awakening, I definitely want to play it again on the more difficult setting and see how I progress. I was even able to find a pre-owned Shadow Dragon so I can try that as well. I have been playing video games for many years (I'm a mom to 4 kids and have played on Atari, NES, SNES, Wii, and DS systems) and FE Awakening is the best game I have ever played on any system. I found the story very compelling and it just had me hooked from the beginning. My other likes include: customizing my character, the support system and pairing units together (some units work better together than others), the depth and uniqueness of the characters, class changes and upgrades. I have played through to the end of the game, and even though I was really upset that it was over, I want to dive right back in again. THis is unusual for me because once I finish a game I need to put it away for quite awhile, and even when I play it again there is so much that I remember it just isn't the same. It is hard for me to enjoy it again because I don't have that sense of discovery and surprise. However I can keep playing with my current file (as I have only played about half the DLC maps I purchased, and can summon lots of bonus teams to the map with higher difficulties). My only disappointment was with some of the dialogue toward the end of the game. There is a spoiler alert so I will put the detail of this point down below. My complaint though was not enough to take anything away from my rating, because there was so much more of the game that I loved. Spoiler Alert********** So here is my one tiny complaint. Since I can customize my character, she is a female. And I chose to have her marry Chrom (the main character). As a result, I felt some of the crucial points of the game (especially toward the end when you have to decide wether to sacrifice yourself) take on a different significance than if she was marrired to someone else (or was a male character). I just felt that, even though they took great care to make the dialogue at other points in the game spot on for my situation, at the final chapter or two it just seemed to be very generic (not what I would expect for a man about to lose his wife/mother of his children). Even though he pleges to find my character (because they don't believe she is truly gone), when I viewed the cut scene at the very end it was a little disappointing. It doesn't tell you how long he was searching, but they chose to mimic the scene in the beginning of the game where you are found in the field. I can understand that to a point, but the dialogue didn't have to be word for word the same as the beginning of the game. And again, being that my character was married to Chrom, I would think he could have something more to say than just "Welcome Back". I was thinking later that it would have been cool to have a post game chapter (similar to those where you find Emmeryn, Walhart, etc.) where they would find my character. But I suppose the developers leave it up to the game player to use their imagination at that point. It just bothered me at first because I spent so many hours (over 70 so far) to get to that point,so much energy and emotion--that it just seemed to be too abrupt an ending for me. As I said above, this was not enough to affect my rating of the game.

Fire Emblem Awakening is what Dragon Quest IX could have been had it featured a stronger story. It's an excellent entry to a classic series that sticks true to it's core appeal while becoming more accessible to a broader audience. There is plenty here for Fire Emblem diehards and for players who have never picked up an SRPG before. Part of it's charm for diehards is the mountain of references and nods to older games in the series, including many that were never officially released internationally like Fire Emblem Gaiden and Thracia 776. To date I've completed two playthroughs of Awakening (Normal Classic, Hard Causal) and am about 75% of the way through a third playthrough (Lunatic Classic). I've also played every previous title in the Fire Emblem series except for #12 and have completed about half of them. o Story: I thought it was solid and interesting. It had logical reasons for tying into older entries in the series - especially the Marth titles and Fire Emblem Gaiden - and didn't stretch things too far into the realm of disbelief. Most of the twists in the story are predicable but still done very well and lots of fun. The attention to detail is, as usual, wonderful - example; there's are several scenes that are different if you are a certain characters' mother, lover, or just companion in the army. It's brilliant. o Gameplay: Vast improvements all around. The ability to customize the tactician is a brilliant addition that I've been hoping for since Fire Emblem #7 (which featured a tactician who sometimes showed up on the map but who never fought). There are, as usual, some broken combinations and the ability to easily power level makes this worse but the game still manages to challenge you even if you're using Vantage, Armsthrift, and a special weapon that's been forged to high heaven. - o Challenge: Casual mode, even on higher difficulties, makes Awakening ridiculously easy. I think diehard Fire Emblem fans will stick with Classic, it adds an element of risk and challenge that really makes it feel like each battle counts and really pushes the player to think strategically. The DLC maps, especially those included in the Golden pack, combined with the 'Second Seal' makes power leveling easier than ever before in Fire Emblem - this balances out harder difficulties once it becomes available but eventually Lunatic, at least, starts to catch up. - o DLC: This really changes the game. The Paralogues are free one-shot maps that, after the first three, become available either through choices the players makes or activation through spotpass and appear on the world map; these tie into main plot and world. The Xenologues are off in the 'Outrealms', usually make little sense, and can be repeated ad naseum; these are the DLC that make power leveling easier than ever before. - o Multiplayer: Can't comment as I haven't tried. I don't know anyone near me who owes a 3DS much less this game. o Graphics: Brilliant. As often mentioned, the only odd thing is the decision to leave off everyone's feet. Otherwise this is one of the best looking Fire Emblems to date. Some have complained that the battle map is too bland but I think it works great. o Sound: A wonderful combination of traditional and new scores. The old sound effects are still here but cleaned up a bit. o Replayability: Excellent. Fire Emblem titles have always been ones that I replayed again and again - inheritance and accessibility makes this one even more appealing in this regard. I'll be doing playthroughs of this for a long time, seeing how children come out with different parents (other than their hair colors) and how different relationships change scenes in subtle ways. As of playing it for upwards of 120 hours, Awakening ranks in at #3 on my list of favorite Fire Emblem titles. Genealogy of the Holy War and Fire Emblem 7 still come out ahead because of their excellent story arcs but this one is fun and I can't wait to try the multiplayer. Finally, I would recommend a physical copy until Nintendo changes it's stance on linking digital copies to devices rather than accounts.

This is definitely the best Fire Emblem game I've played yet! To fans of the series, I can't recommend it enough; to newcomers, I'd encourage you to check out some of the previous games, but story-wise this is a perfectly reasonable place to start to get your strategy/RPG fix. Pros: - Excellent story and rich characterization, the likes of which I've come to expect from FE. Like in the first English-language FE, you get to name a "tactician" character/avatar, but this time you get to actively participate in battles and the plot, which is neat. There's some weird time travel stuff that doesn't make a lot of sense, but the game mechanic it justifies later on makes it worth it. - Customizable difficulty settings, including a "casual" mode (characters who fall in battle are out just for the chapter) and "classic" (characters who die stay dead forever). - Support conversations have been revamped for the better. For the first time in the series (as far as I know), characters can build up support as many times as you want, instead of being limited to five conversations--how was this not a feature before? - The combat and general gameplay are mostly the same as before (if it ain't broke...), though some key features have been added to shake things up, including optional random battles (brought back from FE: Sacred Stones) and the ability to pair up characters to use a powerful "dual strike" on an enemy. - The graphics are amazing, and the extensive use of voice acting lends a lot of personality to the characters. Cons: - The game can definitely be frustrating, sometimes for reasons beyond the player's control. Few things are as irritating as losing a beloved character in battle because a powerful enemy reinforcement suddenly popped up and attacked immediately--or perhaps because the ally next to him kept dual-striking enemies to death, allowing a mob of them to overwhelm your defender when he could have held the spot against one or two just fine. Still, more often than not, failure comes from player error or a risky move gone wrong, which is a strong motivator to do better on the next try. - I'm unhappy to see so much in the way of DLC/microtransactions in a first-party Nintendo game, but to be fair, it's all standalone, gameplay-oriented content (no alternate outfits or other fluff here).

I have the digital copy on my older sister's 3DS and I'm getting a preordered physical copy from Amazon. I absolutely love the series and I think this is a huge step up from the originals. The game's story expands a multitude of chapters with many amazing characters from different backgrounds. Each of the characters develops and can become romantically involved with another character, granting them bonuses in battle and later on, kids! The 3D effect is just plain awesome. At first I thought there was dust flying around or something but then I realized it was actually the smoke from the game and every once in a while, bats would fly out! I also love the first person view point in 3D battle. Makes for a trippy experience when using flying units. Superbly done. Fire Emblem is notable for its strategic, tactical game play. Over the past 12 games, the gameplay was the same and a little stale. However in this new edition, they introduced many interesting and unique additions including "Pair up" and the getting bonuses from adjacent characters! Pairing up beefs up a unit in multiple areas and allows for a chance of dual attacking or blocking (and negating all damage!) of a hit. It also increases support levels and such. Supports are also returning in this game along with the marriage system. Supports are essentially characters getting closer together the more time they are with other characters. For example having the Main Lord (Chrom) with another female (non relative hopefully) character pairing up or being adjacent for many battles will increase their support levels. As this level increases, eventually the characters will fall in love and get married. There is DLC in this game but don't get too worked up about it. The game itself is completely finished so it isn't an on-disc dlc but rather bonus content for those who want extra challenge. DLC includes maps, characters, and monster attacks which also includes weapons and such. However the characters can be gotten for free (and there are more free characters than DLC characters) through spotpass. Simply leaving your 3DS in sleep mode will allow you to download the characters and maps. The characters are not related to the main game but rather come from other Fire Emblem games including Marth, Roy, Ike, the Smash Bros. favorites. During the first month or so, there is a free DLC including a very special character. Be sure to pick up the game so you can pick him up also! There is a bundle 3DS with this game but I wouldn't recommend it as it is not a 3DS XL. I greatly prefer the XL over the regular 3DS but if you're not picky about the size then go ahead and pick up the bundle instead. Aside from that, I would rather recommend getting a 3DS XL blue (MK7 bundle if possible) and then adding the decal if you really want it.

When I received my copy of this around late January I wasn't expecting much. I mean, I've heard great things about it and a majority of the Fire Emblem franchise, but I didn't think the characters/plots would be this fleshed out. As soon as I finished part of the main story and learned of the side missions and relationship mechanics, however, I knew my life would be taken over by this glorious game. The game just branch out in so many directions depending upon the characters you use in battle-- the pairs of chars. which hook up-- as well as the choices you make in DLC (I don't care if it's considered fan-service, it's very touching/rewarding). I'd happily give this 5 stars because of these reasons, and dozens of others which I couldn't even begin to list. If I had to give any advice to players that wish to play this game numerous times, it would be to try your best to use a good majority of the units, and marry different units every time. I remember pairing M.U (my unit) with Lucina in two playthroughs, because honestly, she's one of the cutest and one of the most fleshed out units there in my opinion. You'll undoubtably also find a unit you'll want to pair with your M.U, whether it be for stat reasons or if you're anything like me: a simple reminder of why you're single. I've played through this game three times and still haven't tired of it because there's just so much to do. I wouldn't be surprised if this game will be considered better than the newly announced 2015 Fire Emblem (even though I'd hope Intelligent Systems would be able to make the next game even better than the last). Sorry if this review seems jambled and incoherent, but I can't express how much I love this game, it's well worth the $40. So take your time and enjoy the main story, its DLC, the beautiful cinematics, and the relationships at your own pace. Don't feel obligated to grind for hours, or even to play the story for hours on end. Take your time and enjoy what many, including myself, consider to be the best strategy game for the 3DS.

Great game they don’t make games like this anymore 🥲

EDIT: I decided to change it to 4 stars. Not because of the replies I got, but because I thought it over. I still stand for what I say. Also, I have over 90 hours in because I mostly play it as I do my daily exercise on my stationary bike. I hate exercising, but playing keeps my mind entertained and really helps make time go real fast. Fire Emblem games are great when it comes to saving/bookmarking right away. ------- It actually pains me to give it 3 stars instead of 5. I've been a Fire Emblem fan since FE6 (the first FE for us outside of Japan). There's way too much fan service for me to fully enjoy the game. Not to mention, grinding. So much grinding. Fire Emblem didn't used to include these things (or at least not heavily). For fan service, there's coupling. I was never interested in lovey-dovey stuff. Though it is pretty cool that you recruit new characters by marrying couples, it really doesn't add much to the story. In fact, the dialogues from the characters interacting from the support feature are rather dull. On past Fire Emblem games, I used to love the interaction. The characters had richer personalities. On this game, the reason their personalities aren't as rich is because the player has the choice of marrying any man to any woman. This creates a more generic feel to them. It sure adds more replay value, but affects the feel of the story in a bad way. Speaking of dialogue, there's a lot of cussing this time. I'm actually very surprised since this is a Nintendo series. Not only does it bother me but it also makes me miss the creativity used in the past games. The past games were very creative in the dialogues to make the characters not sound cheesy when in despair or in anger. Very clever wording was used instead of the typical, "Damn it all to hell!" kind of dialogue. Now it's all the typical kind of language you see everywhere in other games and movies. Quality went real down on writing style. Real down. Then we have grinding. Wow. Lots and lots of grinding. I'm down to 90-something hours and I feel as though I'm not even halfway in the game. Heck, I don't even remember in what part of the story I'm in. I'm spending most of my time grinding and building character stats and relations to recruit more characters that in turn make do more of the same thing all over again. In past games, recruiting was much more simpler. Sure, I could skip doing all of this, but then I wouldn't be "enjoying" all the features of the game. The game is ridiculously hard. FE has always been an insanely hard game (especially because of permanent deaths) but now it's even worse. It's cool that you can turn perma-deaths off but veterans like myself like to turn it on. However, I'm actually regretting it. I had to pay for DLC to get a map that helps gain EXP very, very easily. But even with this map, the game just keeps getting way too hard after each map in the story (did they make this on purpose so we'd pay extra?). Enemy units love to concentrate on either Chrom or the weakest character that you have at the moment. Also, when enemy units appear out of nowhere, you don't have a turn to organize your units to counter attack accordingly. Because once they pop up, they attack right away. This wasn't the case in past FE games. Anyway, this whole review seems like I'm whining, but the game is not that bad. It's just pretty disappointing. I really loved the Fire Emblem series for what it was. However, I guess all these changes had to happen in order for the series to survive. Fire Emblem Awakening was going to be the last game in the series, but since the sales went off the charts because of all the fan service, the series will keep on going. If fan service is the only way to keep it alive, then so be it. I still want FE to live. It won't ever be the same anymore but it's better than no FE at all.

I never played a single Fire Emblem game before and the last tactical RPG I played was Pokemon Conquest which I found AWFUL. Since Shin Megumi Tensei is planning a crossover with Fire Emblem, I decided to give the Fire Emblem franchise a try. Fire Emblem: Awakening satisfied my tactical RPG itch. I love how the gameplay kept my attention. I felt I was being rewarded for any efforts I made on level-grinding, weapon upgrading, and actually stopping to THINK before heading into battle. Almost all the battles didn't seem outright unfair and you can win them all if you're prepared. Any losses that occurred I can blame only myself rather than the game. The DLC and bonus contents are worthwhile and gives ample opportunities to hone your skills. Especially since you can recruit characters from past games to fight alongside you. (Having Sigrun in my ranks saved me SO many times!!) The art style is beautiful and this is so far the only game I want to play in 3D the whole time. I wish however more attention was given to the hair on some of the 3D models. I personally don't think hair going thru clothes and people is acceptable anymore considering the budget this game must have had. I do have two somewhat petty reasons I don't like about this game: the story and the use of voice actors. The main story while a 1000% better than Pokemon Conquest which had nothing...the story in Awakening is kinda generic and predictable. Typical RPG plot points with no real surprises to speak of. They make up for a little bit with the relationship conversations where a character's motives and backgrounds are fleshed out and with that, the story writers have the ability to inject a lot more humor. However at the end of the day...the main story is still weak and lackluster. Not awful but not great. As for the second reason, the voice actors for the game are very good but their talents are wasted on cliche grunts and catchphrases. It's understandable during combat since you can it turn off...but why? Why are they making those noises in the cut scenes and conversations as well instead having the voice actor speaking what is on the text bubble? Don't tell me there is no room on the game for that. If Shin Megumi Tensei can add voice acting to every line in their game, so can Fire Emblem. Overall, this is still a must have in your 3DS library. The gameplay mechanics alone is enough of a reason to play this game. BUY IT!

O si simplemente te gustan los RPG, también lo es. Es cuestión de gustos, pero debo decir que el "opening" del juego me atrapa cada vez que lo juego, es sin duda uno de los mejores. El juego en sí es bastante bueno también, y de los mejores de FE, sino es que el mejor. Es recomendable tanto para principiantes como para aquellos que ya estén familiarizados con la estrategia y dificultad que ofrece esta saga; si eres nuevo, puedes probar este juego en su nivel normal para darte una idea de cómo se lleva a cabo la jugabilidad, ya después de terminar el juego puedes volver a jugarlo en la siguiente dificultad si gustas. Y claro, existen otros niveles de dificultad para expertos, o si quieres realmente un desafío y estresarte con las estrategias. Lo mejor de esto es que puedes personalizar a tu personaje; y la historia, aunque es la misma, varia dependiendo de las decisiones que tomes, por lo que cada que reinicies la partida puedes ser alguien diferente y tomar otras decisiones para no sentir que repites lo mismo un y otra vez (técnicamente lo harás porque la manera de jugar, sólo la dificultad). En sí, un juego que debes tener sí o sí. Buena historia, buenos personajes, magnífica música y horas de entretenimiento aseguradas... o de estrés si te complicas con el nivel experto. ¡Recomendable!

In response to the question above, the cartridge I received was marked for the regions of U.A.E, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Singapore and it worked for my North American (NTSC) 3DS system, so it may not be compatible with PAL. It also did not contain any Club Nintendo codes, perhaps because of the regions it is marked for. As far as the review is concerned, Fire Emblem: Awakening has great gameplay with an interesting storyline and characters, which will keep you occupied for hours on end without making it boring, and it is definitely worth a purchase. Looking forward to future games in this series.

Eine sehr fesselnde Story zum Mitfühlen und einigen spannenden Intrigen , mit einer schönen ansprechenden Comic Grafik, das ist ein spiel was einfach jeder mal gespielt haben muss

Purchased to shore up my 3DS collection. Confirmed working for a US-region unit. Excellent game.

I was quite surprised when I played the game. I thought it would be an easy tactics game. No. It isn't. The difficulty settings is fantastic! Lunatic mode is impossible for me. The classic mode was brutal. But this game is fantastic for people who are looking for a challenge. It's like a game of chess! Once I finished this game, I woukd love to buy more of this series.