Days spent: 6-7
Layers used: 28
References used: 10
Characters belong to: Nintendo and Intelligent Systems
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If you’ve been around long enough, you would immediately know that I’m a massive fan of JRPG games. Wether it’d be big titles from franchises like Pokémon, Shin Megami Tensei, and Kingdom Hearts, to more smaller and niche indie titles like The Witch’s House or Yume Nikki.
Depending on where you look at it, the amount of concepts people make for the genre in itself is very wide and expansive. Creators and dev teams working together to bring out an array of enrich storytelling epochs and tales, while putting together fun gameplay that lets you use your brain to come up with different approaches against certain enemies and bosses.
JRPGs can come in a variety of different forms. Outside the usual strategical turn based gameplay formula since the NES days, some would take it a step further into other genres like tactical boards, real time action-based combat, dungeon crawling rougelikes, even online multiplayer. The library of the genre has so much to choose from, for a wide demographic, each with their own story to tell.
I’ve played a lot of JRPG titles in my years, and there’s already a plethora of series I’ve yet to tackle at this point in time. In fact, today I’m gonna be talking about one particular JRPG franchise I’ve never thought about covering until now. One that has been around for quite some time. While still somewhat niche, it had eventually gained enough of a following to be up there with the likes of such franchises like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, and that series I’m talking about… is Fire Emblem.
Now I’ve actually known that this series existed for quite a while …and yes I was one of those normies that have heard of it via Super Smash Brothers, don’t @ me; but despite that however, it didn’t really struck me as interesting at first. Mainly because it was a series that was more popular in Japan at the time, so there weren’t a whole lot of english releases in the beginning. Sure there were english patches for those old games that got translated at some point, but that was WAY back before I figured out how emulating video games worked in the first place; and it was also due to the success of Smash Bros Melee that we’d eventually managed to get some releases here in the west.
Second was that it looked like a typical fantasy story about knights and conquests. I was rather young at the time Fire Emblem was getting its attraction in the west, and my interests was very limited at the time, with me sticking to a small handful of titles I was really into or got introduced to me by friends. Young me was very reluctant, if you couldn’t tell.
By the time I got into high school however, the series had pretty much kept popping up in my peripheral vision. It was showing up in different crossovers, my class mates where playing the 3Ds titles, and in the back of mind I couldn’t help but wonder: “What was the appeal of Fire Emblem? What was so intriguing about this fantasy game of knights that a lot of gamers wouldn’t stop talking about?”
Eventually at some point I got one of the 3DS Fates games, but I kept it in my backlog for a long time. It sat there among the stacks of various games I had in my shelves… just waiting… waiting to be picked up and played… After finishing my last review and going through a bunch of mixed feelings I had towards my play through of Pokémon Sword and Shield. I put together a poll on my Twitter to see what my audience would want me to play next. I just needed something to get away from all the bad thoughts in my head about Sword and Shield, so I randomly threw in a bunch of titles I’ve yet to try and somehow Fire Emblem Fates got the highest vote.
Before I could try it however, a little “snake from hell” informed me that I needed to experience a more “decent Fire Emblem title before going into Fates.” So they said they’d send me a quick package and the next thing I know… Awakening appeared on my door step, along with some minor flames on the welcome mat, but they were taken care of. From what I hear, this game is a good way for newcomers to start, so I figured, why not?
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So the history and development behind the Fire Emblem series is actually a rather interesting tale. The first FE game in particular, Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, was originally never intended to be a commercial success. The original creator and director of the series at the time, Shouzou Kaga, had defined the game as more of a döujin project that was made on a whim after moving away from war-based games he and his team at Intelligent Systems were creating at the time.
Kaga’s original concept was that he wanted to combine the strategic elements of the company’s past simulation projects, with a story full of characters, and have the world in a setting to that of a traditional role playing game. With having Kure Software’s First Queen series as the main influence, they originally wanted this game to look good, but unfortunately due to tech issues and the NES’s limitations, they had to make some compromises and changes. Resulting in limiting the graphics and having most of the storyline and set pieces being cut from the game entirely.
Despite those limitations, it somehow managed to receive critical attention, a column on Famitsu and word of mouth from players. Making it receiving a score of 23.48 out of 30 in a poll on the Famicom Magazine. It was due to these players finding and hearing about it, that it eventually reached more sales after its release in 1990, and would later be credited with popularizing the tactical RPG genre in general. Eventually by 2002, it sold to at around 329,087 units, making it the third best selling title of the series at that date.
Shadow Dragon had proved enough of a success that it sparked the start of the franchise’s humble beginnings, with a sequel being made 2 years later, a third installment that continued the original story and where it left off, and by the time the english releases started catching on, a full remake was made for the Nintendo DS in 2009, marking it the first official way english players would play an officially translated version of the game outside of Japan.
Since then, the series had become so prevalent that it became a massive influence onto other notable games within the tactical RPG sphere, including Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics, and even the Disgaea series. In addition to help popularizing the genre, it was also credited for pioneering multimedia advertising through the use of live action in their commercials and previews, which would later be used for series such as The Legend of Zelda.
Its gameplay and story elements would also inspire other RPGs like the Sakura Wars series, which I thought was ironically funny since that series was the first to introduced the concept of a dating sim mechanic, which would then become a feature that would be added in the later FE games. More on that later.
So it seemed like the series started off pretty well right? Well unfortunately this is where those good vibes start to dip a little… By 2010, the series at that time started to suffer a decline in sales; with Nintendo telling the devs at Intelligent Systems that if their next FE game failed to sell above 250,000 units, the series would eventually be cancelled. That’s where Awakening comes into play.
Genki Yokota, along with producers Houhei Maeda, Hitoshi Yamagami, and art director Toshiyuki Kusakihara, began to to discuss on ideas on what they could do to spice up what they thought was gonna be their last game. The team considered including a high number of new elements they could potentially add, while offering a fresh and new perspective. Among those concepts were that the story could take place in a modern day setting or taking place on the planet Mars… not sure how the latter one would work to be honest, but sounds cool on paper really.
Eventually, the team decided that those elements would more rather alienate than attract players and stuck with the medieval setting and style from the previous titles. As a compromise, they decided to make the project the “culmination” of all the FE games into one, while incorporating gameplay elements from multiple titles. After this approach was approved by the team, the proposal was completed within a month. Awakening was born with the concept of being the ultimate Fire Emblem game, and to what they felt would be a proper send off to the series.
As development progressed, the team continued to come up with ideas that increased the workload, but they were still able to stay positive during the production in spite of the pressure they were under.
It’s stuff like this that make you wanna really give credit to game developers and their craft. Even when they felt like they were on a damaging deadline, they were able to come up with something ambitious while being passionate about their projects. Nowadays, people that work for such companies are put under so much pressure that they’re forced to work overtime. So it was nice to know they were in high spirits and giving it their all during their limited production, and all the hard work really shows in the final product itself.
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So how exactly does Fire Emblem play out? The standard gameplay is as followed: in combat, you start with selecting a certain number of units in your party on a grid based environment. You can choose to control and move each unit and how far each character moves is usually based on their class and where they’re allowed to move to. Say for example, if one of your units is a pegasus knight, then they are able to traverse onto higher floors on the map; or say if your unit is a thief, then they automatically have the ability to unlock doors without needing to find a key. Simple stuff like that.
Since this is a tactical RPG, this game will require you to really think about where you should place your units, because if you’re not careful, then your units are gonna be dying… A LOT!!
One of the big notable aspects of the Fire Emblem series is that it was one of the firsts to introduce the permanent death mechanic, where if one of your units dies in combat, they are removed from the rest of the game and you cannot bring them back. When Intelligent Systems were working on the remake of the third FE game, they decided to balance it out for new players by introducing a casual mode. It had a pretty mixed reception, but it became a mainstay feature since then, as perma death had a limiting effect on those that didn’t want to see their favorite characters die so quickly.
I went for casual on my first play through and I was very smart in doing so. Unlike some of the other grid based JRPGs I’ve played in the past, Fire Emblem hits way different! I was witnessing SO MANY ways the enemy AI could potential screw you over, that I had to be really careful with not only keeping certain units in my party at a safe distance, but also making sure to find the appropriate times to strike without getting surrounded. Oh by the way this game has a lunatic mode, which I really don’t wanna know on how well I’d do on there!
Now it’s obvious Fire Emblem is not a game where you can breeze through each battle map and progress to the next one. This is a game that requires you to build your party from the ground up, and see how well they can handle each other. During combat, if you place two of your units next to each other, the one that attacks gains support from the other by granting them a buff to their stats, and even assisting in the fight such as attacking with or blocking the enemy for them. You can also pair them together into a single unit, to strengthen their bond faster. It’s also useful if you want to get them to a certain place on the map where they can’t reach.
All of these perks can depend on how well each unit interacts with each other, as the more time you pair one character with another, the stronger their relationship will be. You can also strengthen each unit’s bonds by listening in to their Support conversations in between chapters.
I really like this feature; not only is it beneficial into strengthening your army, but they give you an insight on how each character acts with the rest of the party. Some of these interactions can range from hilarious bantering, to sweet wholesome moments, and sometimes even delve deep into certain characters’ backstories. Each unit in your party, even the ones that are not as active in the story, feel like fully fleshed out characters with their own personalities, motivations, and flaws, and seeing how they clash with one another gives off more depth to the experience as your watching them grow with one another.
Each support conversation you take will rank up from C to A, with the highest giving those characters better perks when paired. There’s also an S rank that can be reached, but we’ll discuss on that much later…
Getting back to the building your party aspect; let’s talk about classes. Like any JRPG, this game features a wide variety of classes. There are a total of 40 in this game, some of which you get more access to as you max out one particular starting class or are limited to a certain character, except for the MC you play as. When you level up your units to the maximum class number, which is 20 in most cases, you can then choose to upgrade that unit to an improved version of their class using master seals, or you can have them switch to a different class using second seals.
By promoting or reclassing them, your unit’s level reverts back to one, but most of their stats and all of their abilities are retained. I think this feature alone made me start to understand part of the appeal of Fire Emblem. Seeing all the various classes I can shape my army into, made a whole lot of strategic thinking on how I can build up their stats, and giving them the right abilities that would benefit them on the field.
Point is, I felt so invested in something I usually find loathsome as grinding out levels for each class, that my army eventually had reached a point to where they were getting more critical hits than usual, counter attacking more often than not, one hit KO-ing enemies, and using their best equipment without having to waste usage limits. FE is a series that compels you to build your army, and while some may find it a tad bit tedious, the results of your labor are worth it. Kinda expected given Intelligent Systems’ repertoire with war building games in the past.
Outside of combat, every time you complete a mission, you are then taken to the world map. As you progress through the story, the map will extend and give you access to new areas. You are also allowed to go back to older areas if you wish to, wether it’s to buy items and weapons, or do some level grinding via enemy skirmishes. These guys tend to show up very randomly, but there is a certain item you can get from the shops that will make one of them instantly appear on your current location. Most areas on the map are directly correlated to the main story for most part, while others take you to small side stories in where you can recruit more members in your army.
In between missions you can enter your own customizable base called the Barracks, where you can watch little scenes of characters from your army interact and do random activities with each other. Also since this is 3DS title, I should probably mention the little features you can do in this game via the system’s hardware.
This game was one of the many to include features using the 3DS’s SpotPass and StreetPass, which for those that don’t know are functions exclusively inside the system; where in SpotPass, you get online updates from Nintendo about certain events that are happening, and in StreetPass you can passively communicate with other 3DS players in your area. Oh how I miss those times when I’d use the Mii Plaza and got to see all the players from the conventions I went to come up into my feed.
Anyway, during navigation on the map, you would encounter other players and interact with them via StreetPass. Why do they appear you ask? To test your skills of course! You choose on wether you’d want to battle your new StreetPass friend and if you win, you’d gain access to their party and choose to befriend them for extra help. I didn’t make any use of this feature during my play through, but I was able to get all the extra side missions via the SpotPass, so that way I’d have access to most of the characters that weren’t tied to DLC. Another cool little feature is that during combat, you can switch the perspective of the camera during the fight scenes using your stylus, just a little something to show off the 3DS’s revolutionary hardware at the time.
Overwhelmed yet? Well it’s a rather big game, not just with how many hours you choose to spend, but with how much you can work with and strategize too. So what’s the story like anyway? Does it hold this game together? Keep in mind, this next section will covering the entire story, which are bound to have major spoilers for those who have not played. If you’re planning to give Fire Emblem Awakening a shot at some point and don’t want to be spoiled, play first and come back to this review after you are done. With that out of the way… we now begin the epic tale of Awakening…
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Taking place 2,000 years after the events of Shadow Dragon. In the ancient times, the evil Fell Dragon Grima had attempted to destroy the entire world. The ruler or say, the First Exalt to the Halidom of the country Ylisse, was granted the ultimate power to stop Grima, by the blessing of the Divine Dragon Naga. That power came in the forms of two magical artifacts: the Falchion and the Fire Emblem, both forged by Naga’s fangs that hold the power to slay and repel the mightiest of dragons respectfully. By using these two artifacts, the Exalt had struck down Grima, sending the mighty beast into a deep slumber.
Years later to the present day, the land of Ylisse was dived into three. The Halidom of Ylisse, which continued to worship Naga, was now ruled by the lady exalt Emmeryn, under the protection of her brother Chrom, the leader of Ylisse’s militian force known as the Shepherds. The second half houses the kingdom of Regna Ferox, a country whose rulers periodically compete for dominance. And the third and last, holds the kingdom of Plegia, in where those which worship Grima, await for the Fell Dragon’s reawakening.
You now begin the story playing the role of Robin aka “The make your own self insert character”, as you pair up with Chrom to take on the Grima sect leader Validar. The two of you manage to take him down, but not long before Validar shoots one more spell at Chrom, which you manage to intercept and take the hit instead. Before it all seemed fine however, something takes control of you, as you begin to lose your senses. Chrom comes to try an aid you, only for you to suddenly stab him with a spear of electricity. As he starts to stumble and fall back from his wound, he pleads for you to make your escape, assuring you that it was not your fault. Then the screen fades to darkness with evil laughter in the air.
It all turns out to be but a dream though, as you are then awoken next to a tree by Chrom, along side his little sister Lissa, and their retainer Frederick. The strangest thing however is that Chrom doesn’t seem to recognize you, even though you already know of his name.
You can’t seem to recall why you know of him, nor have any memories of your origins, or what you were doing beforehand. Frederick begins to doubt your intentions at first, but before the three would start to question you any further, you all turn to find the nearest town being attacked by bandits. You help the three into quelling the attack, using your surprisingly expert tactical knowledge and guide them throughout the fight. After things settle down, Frederick continues to doubt you with suspicions, but Chrom thinks the differ, seeing you a potential ally and asks of you to join the Shepherds.
After agreeing to join, the four of you start making your way to the capital city of Ylisstol. Along the way, you stop to make camp for the night. Suddenly an earthquake begins to form and a giant portal appears in the sky, as a bunch of zombie-like soldiers begin to fall to the earth and attack you.
Lissa gets surrounded by them, but before the soldiers could get to her, another figure comes out of the portal and shields her from the attack, a mysterious person in a mask, with a sword just like Chrom’s. This rescue was just enough to have Chrom and others catch up and deal with the rest of the zombie soldiers.
When the dust finally settles, everyone makes it unharmed, and the mysterious masked figure introduces their self as “Marth”. After the same Marth from 2,000 years ago. Before Chrom could ask more about them, “Marth” warns the party about a great danger that is bound to happen, and that the zombies from before were just a prelude of what’s to come, and then leaves…
The next day, everyone arrives at Ylisstol, and you’re properly introduced to Emmeryn, and find out that both Chrom and Lissa are royalty. You also get introduced with most of the other Shepherds. Such as Sully, a tomboy cavalier who helped you out in the zombie fight from earlier. Maribelle, a young noblewoman who is rather possessive of Lissa and her safety. Vaike, an axe wielding fighter with a boisterous personality and who likes to claim Chrom as his equal. Sumia, a klutzy pegasus knight, who may or may not be Chrom’s potential love interest. Wink wink. Stahl, the second cavalier in the party with chill mellow vibes and a heart of gold. And lastly Miriel, an intellectual mage who likes doing research.
After getting aquatinted with everyone, Emmeryn has been informed of the zombie soldiers that attacked us last night, which now the council has dubbed them, “the Risen”. The worst thing on top of that, is Plegia’s continuous attacks on Ylisse had been spurring her to seek aid from the neighboring country Ferox. Chrom volunteers to take the Shepards to Ferox in hopes to seek assistance needed for the fight.
After a couple of antics along the way, such as misplacing Vaike’s axe, and finding and taming a feral pegasus, the Shepherds make their way to the border gate. A small fight breaks loose from a slight misunderstanding from the guards, due to the numerous attacks by Plegian bandits claiming to be Chrom, we prove to them we are the real deal, and they allows us inside.
In Regna Ferox, there are two khans; and since there can’t be two rulers of one country; every few years, the two khans would host a tournament with their finest warriors to decide who takes full authority and total sovereignty over the entire country. We meet with the East-Khan Flavia, who regretfully could not help us, since she lost the last tournament. Fortunately, the latest tournament is nigh approaching, so she asks of Chrom in representing her side against the West-Khan and his own selected champion.
At the tournament, the rivaling champion Chrom would end up facing is none other than “Marth”. Using our best strategies and tactics, we manage to sweep through the tough battle and win. Earning Flavia her rule over Ferox and the country’s full aid in the fight against Plegia. The West-Khan, Basilio, comes and praises Chrom for his skills. He tells us that “Marth” joined his cause after they defeated the previous champion, describing them as some “sell-sword with delusions of grandeur”. Unfortunately, “Marth” have already left us as soon as the tournament ended, so we’re unable to ask for further details.
After gaining what we came for, we prepare to head back home with the good news. Basilio even offers us a new friend to the party, the former tournament champion Lon’qu. A man who’s not much for talking, but is peerless with the way of the sword. We also quickly learn that he has innate fear of women, after Lissa tries to approach and converse with him.
We make it back to Ylisstol to bring Emmeryn the good news, but not long to where we hear that the Plegeian soldiers have attacked and have kidnapped Maribelle. Making our way to the south-west border, we confront the ruler of Plegia himself, the mad-king Gangrel along with his advisor Aversa. They start claiming that Maribelle was invading Plegia without their consent and attacked their soldiers, but Maribelle objects saying it was them that attacked Ylisse instead, and they took her as a hostage after she intervened.
Emmeryn attempts to parley Gangrel in letting Maribelle go, but backfires after he demands to be given the Fire Emblem in exchange. One of the Shepards’ and the youngest mage of the group Ricken, comes in and manages to rescue Maribelle;
despite that along with Chrom’s protective yet rash nature, Gangrel uses the incident to formally declare war against Ylisse, prompting Emmeryn to take precautionary action and the Shepards to discuss our next strategy.
Later that night, you have a small heart-to-heart with Chrom about the events that are happening and learn some history on the previous exalt. Fifteen years prior to the start of this tale, the last Exalt of Ylisse, Emmeryn’s father, waged a religious war against Plegia, which had greatly damaged both countries and have suffered casualties and bitterness from both sides. Since then Ylisse had recovered most of what was lost from the many casualties due to Emmeryn’s peaceful actions, while Plegia kept their suffering in silence.
Then wouldn’t you know it, “Marth” appears to us yet again out of nowhere, and they warning us that an assassination attempt against Emmeryn is about to happen tonight. They also tell us why they know that is because they claim to have “seen the future~” To prove it, they’ve struck down an attempted ambush from a hidden assassin in the brushes, saving Chrom’s life. Suddenly, another hidden assassin appears from a tree and “Marth” narrowly avoids the strike. Destroying the mask instead and reveals that “Marth” is actually… a women?
Before Chrom could get any time to process this revelation however, a rumble is felt within the castle, as a small Plegian force led by Validar, has put their assassination plan into action. During the battle, Validar takes notice of you, claiming that he was searching for you and that “fate truly piles the gifts at his feet”. You manage to convince one of the assassins to join you, who originally got hired by Validar thinking he was just stealing treasure, and you end up bribing him with sweets in return. You also receive aid from an ally warrior named Panne, a sole survivor of a race of species known as the Taguel. Which are basically shapeshifting werebunnies. Cute.
After saving Emmeryn, “Marth” attempts to leave again, but Chrom manages to confront her this time, asking if there was any way he can repay her for all the things she’s done for us. In which she replies saying that she already got what she came for with history being rewritten. She tells Chrom that if Emmeryn were to have died, the Fire Emblem would’ve been stolen, which would have led to a great war and the end of mankind itself. Chrom gives her a final thank you in hope that he’ll repay her next time, and she leaves once more.
Meanwhile, we see Validar in a dark abyss. Having to have died in the battle against us and is approached by a dark figure calling theirselves “Grima”. Though close to death, Validar still clings to life as his purpose is too significant to be thwarted, and is then resurrected by Grima’s power to try again.
The assassination attempt last night raises concern on everyone for Emmeryn’s safety, prompting Chrom, Frederick, and the other knights to recommend that she be moved away from the capital for her own well-being. While barely making our way out due to some bandits blocking the path, news arrives from the pegasus knight Cordelia that Ylisstol has been attacked by Plegian forces and that more are on the way towards us. Emmeryn, realizing how dire the situation is, decides to return to the capitol, much to everyone’s dismay. For she fears that if she would leave, more Ylisseans would end up dead. She then entrusts Chrom the Fire Emblem and orders him to take it to Ferox for safety, before heading back to Ylisstol for one last attempt at parleying with Gangrel.
The Shepherds are then forced to retreat. The Feroxi army has been mobilized for the upcoming fight. Before we could advance however, we immediately hear the report that Ylisstol has fallen to the Plegian empire, and that Gangrel has captured Emmeryn and plans to publicly execute her in a few days. No rest for the weak apparently. With no time to waste, we quickly head to Plegia, befriending a russian mercenary (Gregor) and loli dragon (Nowi) along the way, and eventually make it to the castle.
With our smart tactician strategies our plan sets in motion. Flavia takes out the executor, and we clear the way for the pegasus knights as we nearly succeed in rescuing Emmeryn. However, the effort is immediately halted when Aversa summons a bunch of Risen archers, striking each of them down, one by one. Gangrel offers one last ultimatum to relinquish the Fire Emblem, or watch Emmeryn die. Refusing to do so, he gives us one final warning. Before Chrom could surrender, Emmeryn intervenes. She tells the Plegian army that the war will win them nothing but sadness and pain, both in and out the borders, and that they should free theirselves from this cycle of pain and vengeance. And then… as a last effort to keep the Fire Emblem safe… she flings herself over the cliff…
Her sacrifice causes great despair amongst the Shepherds, who are then forced to retreat. Behind the scenes, “Marth” laments that despite her efforts, history is still proceeding in a similar fashion. Despite their loss, Chrom and rest retain the resolve to continue fighting on. Emmeryn’s sacrifice begins to affect the Plegians, causing mass desertions of soldiers who have lost the will to fight after hearing Emmeryn’s words. With the Plegian army severely weakened, Chrom fights Gangrel one last time at the border wastelands. Using all of our support, Chrom puts an end to the Mad-King’s tyranny, killing him in battle.
And thus, the Ylisse-Plegian war comes to an end, with the remaining forces surrendering. The halidom gets fully restored, Chrom ascends to the throne and becomes the new Exalt. Gets married to whoever you paired him with the most in your party, which in my case I went with Sumia, and becomes the father of his newborn daughter Lucina, who bears the Brand of the Exalt in her left eye as a birthmark. It seemed that the last bit of Ylisse’s dark history has been healed.
Two years later, Chrom receives a request to speak with Flavia in person. The neighboring continent of Valm has launched an invasion against Regna Ferox, and the khans are in need of the Shepherds’ aid once more.
While preparing for the expedition, we find out that Virion, the mysterious archer who happened to join us from the first Risen fight in the beginning, is actually the duke of a country called Rosanne in the continent of Valm. He along with his servant Cherche informs us that the country of Valm, sharing same name as the continent, had been led by a mighty conqueror named Walhart, who unified the entire land under his rule. Walhart now sets his sights onto Ylisse, and his soldiers would soon start to reach the port in the western region.
The Valmese captain at the ship demands nothing but complete surrender from Ylisse, and makes an example of anyone who says otherwise, by killing an innocent civilian that tried to reason with them. We managed to defeat them with ease, but it would remind us that this fight was only but a vanguard, as many more forces would arrive soon.
Being forced into another war against a powerful empire, Basilio suggests that they should receive aid from Plegia, who would have enough warships and gold to utilize and allow Chrom and the others to take the fight to sea and reach their lands to try and stop them. Despite being hesitant at first for not liking the idea, Chrom tries to negotiate with the new king of Plegia, who happens to be none other than Validar, who by all means should’ve been killed in the failed assassination attempt against Emmeryn in the last war.
Despite the suspicious confusion, Validar was surprisingly generous with Chrom, as he provides 800 warships and 200 transports, and was willing to fully fund the campaign against Valm, but no soldiers after everything that happened in the last war. Regardless, Chrom receives the much needed help and accepts the offer. Validar then introduces us to the hierophant of Plegia, a person who reveals themselves to be… you. Not just in appearances alone, but also sharing the name as you. Before we could get any answers however, we are forced to leave and prepare for the long journey that’s afoot.
Later that night, you’ve been having trouble sleeping and then encounter Validar, who projects himself into your mind, revealing the shocking twist: You… are Validar’s child. He at first tries to convince you in leaving the others and return to him, but stops as soon as Chrom arrives, forcing Validar to leave your mind. You speak to Chrom about what Validar has told you from his telepathic message. At first he’s terrified of the idea that you might be Validar’s child, and is suspicious that the hierophant might be your twin. However, the both of you are then ambushed by Risen, whom you’ve suspect was sent by Validar himself. After making through the ambush, Chrom gets nearly killed by a Risen that appears out of nowhere, only for “Marth” to arrive at the scene, calling Chrom “father”, before striking the Risen down.
Confused by what she said, Chrom wishes for answers. “Marth” shows him by making him see into her eyes, where in her left eye, he sees the Brand of the Exalt, similar to his newborn daughter’s. Finally realizing that “Marth”, as actually an older version of Lucina, which would explain the parallel Falchion as well. She reveals that she is a version of Lucina from a ruined future, where the Fell Dragon Grima has been resurrected and brought destruction to the world. Lucina, along with her own companions, children of the other Shepherds, have all journeyed to the past to try and put a stop to Grima’s return, by any means necessary, only to end up being separated from each other. After hearing everything she went through, she gets a hug from both her father and mother, both of whom she missed so dearly…
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I guess now is a good time to take a break from the story and discuss a bit more on the gameplay again. As I’ve mentioned before, there is a potential S rank in the support conversations that can be reached if you pair a certain unit with someone. When those two characters interact with this rank in mind, not only do they become more close to each other, but there’s a definite possibility those two characters will get hitched together. Despite this feature sounding like every fan fiction writer’s dream machine, bear in mind that who ever you pair with who greatly determines this next bit.
Throughout this review, I’ve been avoiding on bringing up these side missions that you can do, which are the paralogue chapters. These are extra battle maps that you can choose to take at any moment, each with a new character that you can recruit to your party. With that in mind, I introduce you the second gen units. All of the Shepherds’ children from the future that you can recruit at any time, and how well they do in battle, depends on the stats and abilities they inherent from their parents, and how they would grow.
As soon as I got to this part of the game, I instantly loved it. All the hard work I put into building each unit and figuring who I paired who with, really came into play in terms of strategy. I had to put in a lot of thought into how each child unit would benefit on who their parents were and what kind of special perks they would get before I decide on recruiting them.
To give a good example, if you were to pair Chrom with Robin together, Lucina would inherit the growth rate off of your stats and class, plus Chrom’s, plus her own. Take them all together and divided them by 3, and that would be her growth rate for the rest of the game. Since Robin can be shaped into whatever class you want, because main character material, you can choose to shape Lucina with having perks of say that of a Great Knight, a Swordmaster, a Hero, or even your ultimate class, the Grandmaster.
There are multiple ways to build these characters up and each one can work well depending how you plan to use them. I’ve paired Chrom with Sumia in my play through, not only because it’s canon in the 3D opening, but it also gave Lucina a bonus in her luck, skill, and speed stats, and if I would’ve made Sumia a Dark Flier before getting to this chapter, I would’ve given her the ability Galeforce.
By the way, if you wanna beast through each battle map and not give the enemy AI any retaliation, Galeforce is the best ability to give to the child units. It’s an ability exclusive to the Dark Flier class, which can be learned from most of the female units, and its effect is that it allows the user to make another action after they defeat an enemy once per turn. This ability is so busted, it made level grinding less of a chore, as most of my units kept gaining extra turns after one shot-ing weaker enemies. In fact this ability was so overpowered, that Intelligent Systems had to nerf it in Fates to where it only activates if the user defeats an enemy without any assistance from pairs. Until they eventually decided to remove it from Three Houses entirely.
You can also choose to pair the child units with one another, but you only get more stat perks from doing so, but that fact alone wasn’t enough me to let me mess around and play cupid. All these S rank conversations are so warming to see, as you watch your favorite pairing learn more about each other and getting closer, hell even the ones I paired on accident or thought I wouldn’t like ended up being some of my favorites near the end.
One of my biggest favorites would have to be when I paired Vaike with the dancer Olivia. Like, you have this prideful oath of a man try to interact with a girl who is super shy about her talent, and he tries to help her out by building her confidence and be more assertive with herself. I just love seeing these types of parings in fiction, where you get to see two polar opposites working with one another and it’s honestly adorable. On a lesser note, you’d also get a cute little first person confession from who you pair Robin with as a bonus. Yeah, they knew what they were catering to.
Anyway, back to the story.
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After having Lucina and the other Shepherd children joining the group, we begin to start our voyage to Valm, as we learn more about the ruined future. Lucina explains that she believed that in stopping the assassination attempt from the last war it would be enough to advert the crisis, but time simply found another way to make Emmeryn’s death happen. She also explains that while she never witnessed her father’s death, she had learned from rumors that Chrom was in fact killed and betrayed by one of his closest friends. You begin to feel a mild headache, before Lucina continues on with why she chose the name “Marth”, and the reason being was that she desired to hold a piece of the strength that the Hero-King once had, but after uniting with her parents again, she’s resolved to stick with her original name instead. With new found confidence.
Frederick informs everyone of a Valmese fleet approaching us, with them having equal the amount of ships we have, but with also a vastly superior number of soldiers. However, thanks to our quick thinking and wits, we’ve managed to decimate them without suffering any casualties, save for losing half of our own ships in a blazing fire.
By the time we’ve reached Valm, we then run into our next supporting character Say’ri, a swordswoman that was being chased by Valm soldiers. After saving her, we learn that she had been trying to form a resistance against the Valmese Empire, but she can’t unify them due to the dynasts overseeing their own agendas. That, and the fact the Empire has over a million soldiers on their side at this point.
However, Say’ri states that the fiery achievement we did to the fleet from earlier had spread a great inspiration among the masses. She also brings up the idea that would involve saving a very special person. The manakete dragon woman Tiki, who played an important role in the hero-exalt’s story in the past, and is worshiped as the Divine Dragon Naga’s oracle.
We then make our way over to the Mila Tree, swatting away Valm soldiers in our path, and eventually get to the shrine at the top where Tiki sleeps. We wake her and see that she’s unharmed, and at first mistook Lucina for Marth due to her appearance, but reminded herself that he’s actually gone. “Lost during her endless sleep…” Wow, that’s just sad and dark.
Tiki then informs us that Grima has been slowly getting stronger, awaiting for their resurrection. She then tells us specific details about a ritual that can be used to stop Grima. The Awakening ritual, which was the same technique used to seal the Fell Dragon away all those many years ago. To prepare it, Chrom would need to place five special gemstones on the Fire Emblem shield, which were originally scattered during the Schism 1,000 years prior. Thankfully both Chrom and Tiki were in possession of two of these stones already, leaving only the other three stones needed to be found.
We learn that the third gemstone is kept in Say’ri’s homeland, Chon’sin. Which had recently been taken over by Walhart’s rule with the gemstone being stolen. We also find out Basilio has the fourth gemstone. Leaving the last and fifth gemestone still unknown with its whereabouts.
With this new mission in mind, we now make our way to confront Walhart’s forces. We decide to sneak in the middle land’s division against the small elite squad in Fort Steiger, while the rest of our forces take on the northern and southern areas of Valm, in hopes of making a distraction. We manage to infiltrate the fort, until surprise! Our resistance allies show up and end up siding with Walhart’s forces, after the enemy tactician, Excellus, scares them with supposed underhand tactics such as threatening them and their families.
Despite us managing to take the Steiger, it was enough to break our cover. As both divisions of Walhart’s army in the north and south, haven already taken down most of our army, along with most of the resistance switching sides, are now making their way towards us. With no other options, we discuss on making an immediate retreat, while the turncloaks that surround us would not put much effort to stop us.
While doing so, we’d have to take out Walhart himself, or the other leader of the forces, Say’ri’s older brother and the king of Chon’sin, Yen’fay. In order to succeed in this retreat, we would have to strike both, where one leader would take a small force to face Walhart’s side to bide time, while Chrom would try and attack Yen’fay’s side. Basilio volunteers to be the one leading the small group, until Lucina buts in and proclaims that he will die out there, like he did in the ruined future. Despite her protests however, Basilio still chooses to go, with Flavia by his side.
In the battle against Walhart’s forces, Basilio confronts the conquerer himself, and immediately with two strikes, he is knocked prone, barely hanging by a thread. Walhart praises him for his endurance, and just as he’s about to give the final blow, Flavia jumps in and blocks, giving Basilio an opening. Only for Walhart to strike back with even greater force and defeat him. Now on the brink of death, Basilio quickly gives Flavia the gemstone and tells her to escape with it and give it to Chrom. Despite not wanting to leave him, Basilio manages to get Flavia to obey and flee the battle.
Meanwhile, we devise a strategy on facing Yen’fay while preventing the Resistance from attacking us, and what better way to keep them at bay than to have the battle take place on an active volcano? With nature on our side, we make our stand against Yen’fay and defeat him. However, Excellus shows up again, and reveals the reason why Yen’fay had sided with Walhart’s empire in the first place. To protect his younger sister, whom Excellus would’ve killed at any given notice if not for Yen’fay’s allegiance. This fact devastates Say’ri and though she may have lost hope, we convince her that the fight was not over yet.
Taking a moment to rest, we find out the Basilio has been killed, just as Lucina stated. Flavia gives the details on what happened and gives Chrom the gemstone for the Fire Emblem. Now in the possession of three out of five, We make our way to face Walhart in the capital.
The southern dynasts after Yen’fay’s death, now begin to rally under Chrom’s position, in a manner similar to Emmeryn’s sacrifice. With the advantages in our favor, Walhart is then forced to retreat into his palace. With the final stand taking place inside the palace walls, we press on. Chrom tried to convince Walhart that there were other ways to negotiate besides force, but Walhart would not be deterred, thus forcing Chrom to battle and defeat him. With the conquerer now slain, we’ve obtained the gemstone he possessed, leaving only one more stone remaining.
After returning to Ylisse, Chrom was then given a message by Validar that the last gemstone is in Plegia, and that he’s willing to give it to us if we visited them. Chrom however finds this offer rather sus, but opts to keep the Fire Emblem with him as it would be safer with him than anywhere else.
As we enter the Plegian Castle, our suspicions were rectified, as we immediately get ambushed and find out Validar’s true intentions as he demands Chrom to hand over the Fire Emblem. We manage to help Chrom and Lucina to leave via an escape route, but as soon as they reached the exits, Validar intercepts and injures Chrom. Validar then uses his magic to take control of you and despite trying to resist, he forces you to take the Fire Emblem away from Chrom. Now with the Emblem in his hands, Validar places the final gemstone, completing its final look, before making his way to the Dragon’s Table.
Being ashamed and horrified over what happened with us, Chrom tries to assure you that you can resist Validar’s mind control. You’re left unsure and you begin to wonder if you really trust in your ability to do so.
Later on, Lucina decides to speak with you alone and talks to you about her past with Chrom and how she would do anything to keep her safe. You agree with her, until she suddenly points her Falchion at you. She declares that you have to die… she claims that it was you… who had killed Chrom in the future.
Lucina admits that while she was wary of you from the beginning, she realized that you would never truly mean any harm towards Chrom due to the bond you both shared, but after witnessing Validar’s power over you gave a clear idea that it was his control over you to kill Chrom. Thus, to protect the future and ensure that the tragedy of hers was averted, she’d have to kill you.
At this moment, you are given the option to let her pass her judgement. If during your play through, you choose to be Lucina’s mother or her husband, regardless of the decision, she’s unable to pull it through out of deep love for you. If you were neither of those, then Chrom rushes in to stop it, having been listening in on the conversation. Chrom then assures Lucina that the bond he shares with you is unbreakable, like two halves of one whole, and that we could overcome our destinies and anything can change by pure will alone, to which Lucina believes to be true and asks you for forgiveness.
Making our way to the Dragon’s Table, we see a bunch of people looking to be in a trance, before we confront both Validar and Aversa. The two then explain that everything that we’ve done up to this point were destined to occur: from defeating Gangrel, to defeating Walhart. Even stopping Emmeryn’s assassination was nothing but delaying the inevitable. Not only that, but Walhart was also aware of Grima’s return and he intended to stop it, so Validar and Aversa schemed from both sides by allying with Ylisse to defeat him, and baited Excellus to destroy the Valmese Empire from the inside should Ylisse have failed. All those feats to build what was needed… to reawaken Grima once again…
Aversa then summons a bunch of dead lords to delay us as Validar starts to prepare the ritual. After breaking through her forces, and nothing left to fight back, she makes her escape as you and Chrom then confront Validar. This is the point where he tells the truth, your real purpose, and exactly what you were meant to be from the start…
You, as Robin, were born as Validar’s child and the only one to have had the purest Fell Blood to possess the Heart of Grima. You would serve as Grima’s vessel with some of the Fell Dragon’s power sleeping inside you. However, you were saved by your mother one night, while still a newborn and she took you away to safety. Validar had been unsuccessful in finding you since then, until now…
Despite the fear and doubt, Chrom inspires us with words of hope as we face our last foe. Similar to the dream we had from the beginning, we put a stop towards Validar’s plan. Everything begins to play out exactly as before, with you striking down Chrom while under Validar’s control. Just when Lucina thought that everything she did up to this point had been for naught… We hear a voice… Basilio is alive!
After hearing Lucina’s warning, he made the plan to fake his death after his defeat against Walhart, rather than fight and have his pride get the best of him. He then tells Validar that he has been tricked. He tells him that we had forewarned Basilio about these events in a dream, and when Flavia gave Chrom one of the gemstones earlier, we knew the Fire Emblem shouldn’t be completed by the time we reached Plegia. Validar claims that is impossible, as he says he had been keeping tabs on Chrom and his army since Carrion Isle, but Basilio reveals that Validar’s spies have only been keeping track of the ones who where living and not dead. Thus the Fire Emblem in Validar’s hands was never complete, as it turns out one of the gemstones had been switched with a fake one.
Validar argues that destiny was still set and stone with Chrom being dead. Just as he turns… BOOM Turns out Chrom had managed to survive after we had used enough willpower outside of Validar’s control to weaken the impact of the lightning bolt.
Furious by these sudden turn of events, Validar makes his final stand against the Shepherds, only to finally be defeated and killed for good.
Until, the Robin-lookalike emerges before us. They reveal that they are the same Robin as you, but specifically, they are the Robin from Lucina’s future, the same one that had murdered Chrom under Grima’s possession. They explain that after they found out Lucina and her companions went back in time, they also went back with them too. Realizing that if they stopped Grima from being resurrected in the past, they would cease to exist. After they arrive back in time, they tried to pour their memories onto you in the present, but your Heart of Grima was too weak at the time to contain it, resulting in you losing your memories. The headaches and voices you had been hearing throughout this journey, were actually their influence on you.
Disappointed by your choice in not becoming the dragon’s vessel, the pseudo-Robin decides to resurrect the present Grima, by using the life forces of all the human sacrifices ready for him at the Dragon’s Table. A giant pillar of energy bursts into the sky, and a giant shadow begins to loom over us… Grima has been awakened once more…
At this point, all hope seemed to have been lost. The only chance we had left was to perform the Awakening ritual, but we had lost the Fire Emblem when the Dragon’s Table fell. Until, you reveal that you’ve managed to steal it back from Validar’s clutches, just in time, with all of the real gemstones in their place.
With the Emblem fully completed, we make our way to Mount Prism, where the Awakening ritual is to take place. Though Grima had sent some Risen on the way to stop us, they were quickly dispatched of. Chrom enters the ruins to where the ritual would be performed. There, he initiates the ritual as he bathed in Naga’s holy flames. Chrom’s resolve and convictions proved himself to be stronger, as he manages to survive, completing the ritual.
Naga then emerges before us, and blesses the Falchion to its ultimate potential. She tells us that while having this power, it wouldn’t be enough to kill Grima, as neither she nor Grima were gods, possessing neither the power to make or undo, and that neither can destroy the other. The best the Falchion could do, is to put Grima into another 1,000 year sleep like before. Chrom begins to wonder if there was a way to kill Grima for good, worrying for the future generation to deal with the next reawakening, but Naga explains that the only power that could preform such a feat would be Grima’s own, which was clearly impossible. Naga then tells us to go to the Origin Peak, where Grima will be waiting.
As we make our way to the peak, Naga again reminds us that the Falchion could only seal Grima away. She’s also confirms to be aware of your origins, referring to you as “Fellblood”. You then realize that since you and Grima are the same, and that you would be the one to take on Grima, then it would be the very thing to stop and kill them once and for all. Naga warns us however that this act will have dire consequences as well, since both you and Grima are linked to such a degree, killing Grima would likely kill you as well. Though she adds that the bonds you’ve forged along your journey can possibly bring you back to the mortal plane, the odds are so little that there’s a slight chance you’ll cease to exist. Whatever choice you make at this point, is entirely up to you now…
Aversa appears before us again, making her last stand to delay us, as revenge for killing Validar. As she confronts us one last time, she too is then defeated and killed for good. The Fell Dragon then emerges before us, despite its monumental size, Naga tells Chrom that the weak point is at the nape of its neck, but Grima will have many Risen forces protecting it. She then offers to use her power to teleport everyone onto the Dragon’s back, as we are sent to our final battle…
Just as we arrive on top of the dragon, Grima instantly uses their power to critically wound the entire party. Grima then begins to speak to you by creating a physical manifestation of your form. Grima offers you a chance to spare your friends, by asking you to become one with Dragon once again. Regardless of what you choose however, Grima had no intention of sparing to begin with, as Grima the drags you into a void to absorb you.
Despite trying to resist, you slowly start to get consumed by the darkness. Everything has been lost, until you start to hear the voice of your friends, inspiring you fight back. With the powerful bonds of your friends, you gathered enough energy to free yourself from the void and rejoin the others. Naga uses her powers to restore everyone’s wounds, as we face Grima and the army of Risen before us.
With Grima finally weakened, how you go about this fight is entirely up to you. If you let Chrom finish Grima off, with the Exalted Falchion, then the events from 2,000 years ago repeat themself, as Grima returns to sleep for another 1,000 years. Despite regretting the decision, Chrom vows that we’ll continue to work together to preserve peace across the world, and that when Grima reawakens, another army will be ready.
If you yourself decide to finish Grima instead, you’d get the better outcome. As Grima starts to question your actions, but you make it perfectly clear to them of what you’re doing, as this decision gives you the means to end the Fell Dragon’s reign of terror. Grima then screams in agony after you fire a dark energy sphere at the manifestation, killing the dragon alongside the vessel once and for all…
With the Fell Dragon defeated, you see yourself starting to fade as your turn towards Chrom. You thank him and the rest of the Shepherds for the times you’ve all spent together, and that we’ll all meet again in a better life, before vanishing completely.
With the war finally over, the army mourns over losing you, but Chrom reminds everyone that we’re not gone completely. Remembering what Naga said, that the power of our bonds will bring you back. Each member of The Shepherds share their vows that you will return, as they head home to their respective countries and rebuild what was loss, while they wait with new found hope.
Time passes as Chrom and Lissa have been journeying the world searching for you. Then… you start to wake up, and see them as your lying in a field, similar to how you first met. This time when Chrom pick you up, the Grimleal mark on your hand has completely disappeared. Chrom welcomes you back, telling you that its all over…
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Well I gotta say, I actually enjoyed this story more than I thought I would. Sure it may seem like a typical fantasy war story, with the standard good vs evil plot, but the rich lore within the setting and how the world is set up, adds a bit more personality to make it stand out. I also love the fact that all of it is taking place many years after the first game, making it almost seem like its a spiritual successor, yet it’s not. It also gives that sorta familiarity Fire Emblem players had before with the previous titles, and shaping them in a way to where it brings in new players, without them having to miss out on any important plot elements.
Sure a couple of the plot twists can be quite expectant to some people, but if your someone who isn’t like me and have a keen eye for noticing certain aspects, wether in writing or character design, or have not seen much of this game out of context; it can actually impact you when playing it blind. Speaking of which, now’s the segment where we actually get to talk a bit about the characters.
This game has quite the cast. If it was evident enough in the first half of the story, I ended up giving short summaries on a handful of the Shepherds and people you can recruit. Each one felt so unique from the other, and they all add their own diverse flare with how they were written. The main cast in of themselves feel like fleshed people with their own flaws and strengths, and seeing them overcome their struggles wether in the story, or support convos, you can’t help but really root for them to win this struggling war.
Starting with the character you play as from the beginning, Robin. Despite being the playable protagonist you can project yourself onto, there were moments in the story that made them stand out as their own. I like how in first couple of chapters, they were entirely perceived to be this rather odd and mysterious person with a quick mind and good heart, and its because of their strategic mindset, they were able to come up with not only crazy tactics on the fly, but also to connect with those around them.
They’re an avid reader of books, modest yet charismatic, there were points where they’d even felt self conscious about themselves, wether it comes to cooking, comparing love interests, or reflecting on their strategic ability after countless battles.
The part where they found out they were actually the child of Validar reflects that on that too, as they then start to worry on wether or not they would end up betraying Chrom and the others, fearing that Grima’s power would take a hold of them. I also like how they subtlety hint on this with their design as well. If you look at both Robin’s tactician and grandmaster outfits, they both have eye patterns that resemble the Mark of Grima, the same patterns can also be found on Validar’s pants. A minor detail some would not notice at first, but when you do, it’s awesome.
Now let’s talk about Chrom. I think he definitely fits the mold of a strong leader character. He can be slightly impulsive with his actions, but what he does is all for what he thinks is right. He’s also very committed to his role with the Shepherds army; while he may lack the strategic and negotiation skills, he’s still holds charisma and skills of a warrior to support others. He deeply cares for those around him, especially towards his sisters and Lucina. He also doesn’t consider himself to be superior to anyone despite his royalty, as he much prefers to lead battles than doing formal duties.
In fact, when he takes on Emmeryn’s role of Exalt after her death, he was afraid on wether he’d commit the same mistakes his father made years ago, and that he wouldn’t live up to his sister’s ideals. He eventually assumes a more serious posture, aspiring to follow her legacy, but not as far as she does. Believing that in the end, force will be necessary to counteract those that would endanger a peaceful world, and is willing to fight to defend that peace.
He’s absolutely selfless when it comes to his allies and people, he would attempt to aid anyone, while aware of the risky consequences he’s willing to make in the process. He always seeks to forge new bonds of friendship and that doing so improves himself, his army, and the people of the world. He believes in the power of unity so greatly, it would make characters like Tea Gardner feel proud.
Then there’s Lucina. Needless to say, she instantly became one of my top favorite characters, and with a lot of good reasons. She’s strong willed, pragmatic, and super determined in her goal to change the future. Everything about her just screams main character material. Her design really plays in the aspect on how she admires historical figures and her ancestors, wearing Marth’s legacy as a badge of courage and honor during the start of the adventure. Just like her father, she also cares deeply for her comrades while having a strong sense of justice.
She isn’t always serious and stoic to a fault though, as there were also moments that’d show a more lighter approach, whenever she’s around her parents. Due to her troubled childhood. In her support conversations, she would try to spend much time with them as possible, sharing little moments she never got to do before in her timeline. It’s honestly bittersweet to see how she wishes to not get in both her parents’ ways to tending baby Lucina in the present, yet they still treat her like she is their daughter and love her equally.
All of the other Shepherds would get their little bits of character development as well. I’d highly recommend looking up all of the support convos, as some of these interactions really give you a deeper look in how they all behave with one another. Some of them would even go into bits of character lore. Remember when Lon’qu was shown to have a fear of women? It is revealed later on that this fear was developed after an event during his childhood, where a female friend of his got killed bandits when they were living in the slums, and he worries that any girl he becomes close to him would end up being killed out of fear.
You’d also get some really deep interactions, such as Gregor contacting Tharja in hopes that she would use her dark magic to commune with his dead brother, or when Tiki interacts with Nah (Nowi’s daughter), and how she teaches her to cherish those dear and near to her, even when she’ll vastly outlive them one day. You can easily tell the devs really put in the time and effort into the bonding element in not just the gameplay, but how they’re all played within the story setting. The snippets of voice acting for each character during these segments also add to the experience too. Even with just them saying a few minor lines during combat, you’d easily get a feel on how they’re suppose to be portrayed.
Masahiro Higuchi said in a magazine interview that one of the hardest parts during development was making these characters. Quoting: “We needed to make it so that people would be interested in marrying each of the characters. So we worked hard to make it so each of them has a different appeal.” As someone who makes original characters myself, I completely get this. Needless to say, they really did their best, not just with the main characters and villains, but the side characters too.
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At a certain point in the game, you would unlock a special area on the map called the Outrealm Gate. This is the gate that causes the streetpass and spotpass features to be made, and is also the place where you’d be able to purchase downloadable content. Some of this content would include special chapters called Xenologues, each of them with varying levels of difficulty, and they can be replayed any number of times for more experience and rewards.
Upon completion or fulfilling extra criteria in these chapters, you are then given what is an Einherjar card. These cards contain spirits of some of the most prominent characters from the previous FE games, which you can recruit to your army as a bonus unit. It’s not just limited to character units though, as these chapters would also gift you special skills and weapons, as well as access two extra classes. Some of these chapter would even give you explosive amounts of experience and gold too, making them an easy way to grind for more materials and supplies.
Most of these chapters would usually involve either Chrom and the rest of the Shepherds aiding other fighters against the Risen, things getting stolen, free time interruptions, there’s even a few chapters where you go and help Lucina in her timeline and aid her in saving the other future children from Grima.
Sadly I was not able to make the best with all these features, as by the time of me writing this review: Nintendo had stated that they’ll be shutting down all purchasing and access to the eshop on both the 3DS and Wii U. That and with me not having enough money at the time to even afford all these chapters before it was too late. Which lead to only now, where the servers for the 3DS and Wii U systems will be shutting down indefinitely by April of this year, giving us no way to access this extra content without the use of hacking. Thanks Nintendo…
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So now… after everything we went over, we now come to the big question of this review… Did they reached their goal? …If you haven’t guessed already, this game ended up doing more than just that. Upon its release, Awakening would receive a widespread of critical acclaim from various outlets and journal sites. Many of them praising the new features that they added, while claiming it to be friendly towards hardcore and new Fire Emblem fans alike. Of course there were some minor complaints around the enemy AI and its difficulty; along with the interface and multiplayer elements, but other than that, it receive massive amount of praise for its engaging story and gameplay.
Awakening ended up getting nominated for multiple rewards, with Famitsu giving it the magazine’s Excellence Award in 2012. In the west, it was nominated for the “Best RPG” category at the 2013 Spike Video Game Awards. Destructoid ended up giving it multiple category awards that same year, including Game of the Year, Best Role-Playing Game, Best Story, and Best Soundtrack. It was also nominated for GameSpot’s 3DS Game of the Year, IGN’s Best 3DS Strategy Game and 3DS Story, and also the Best Handheld/Mobile Game category at the Game Developers Choice Awards in 2014.
The games original launch in Japan actually saw incredible sales, being one of the fastest-selling entry in the series. During its opening week, the game managed to sell over 242,600 units, reaching the top of the sales charts and beating the debut sales of both the DS titles of Shadow Dragon and Mystery of the Emblem. It sold through 81.63% of its initial shipment, which caused many copies to actually be sold out in some stores. Eventually by the beginning of 2013, they’ve eventually reached their goal and sold over 455,268 units, placing it among one of the top 30 highest selling titles of 2012. With 1.2 million units worth from the DLC in the mix, bring an additional 380 million yen to their bank.
Sales within the West were equally as strong, with the first month on its sale selling over 180,000 units, with 63,000 units of those sales being eShop downloads alone. Their sales continued to rise within the coming months. In the UK, Awakening eventually debuted in third place on the highest grossing game charts behind Injustice: Gods Among US and Bioshock Infinite. As by March of 2017 years later, it had sold through 1.9 million copies worldwide, with 500,000 being sold in Japan, and 1.4 million everywhere else. Needless to say, this was definitely enough to save the franchise.
The success of the game was enough to ensure its stay, that the team would then later on go and make Fates and an enhanced remake of Gaiden, which eventually ended up being named Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.
Awakening had became so popular within the JRPG spectrum, it would also result in some of the characters making cameo appearances in other Nintendo titles. One of the most notorious being Robin, Lucina, and Chrom to be featured in the roster of Super Smash Bros. Another would be a bunch of the characters being featured in the Shin Megami Tensei crossover, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, which is… a thing.
Some of the characters would also become playable units within the other future 3DS titles, like Code Name: S.T.E.A.M, Project X Zone 2, a guest appearance in the mobile game Dragalia Lost, and a cross-promotion in Capcom’s Monster Hunter: Frontier G with special costumes. You could even play as both Robin and Lucina in both Fates and Echoes if you got their amiibos beforehand. Now that’s a lot of promotion material.
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After going through the history of the series itself and learning more about what made it so special, I’ve come to have a newfound appreciation for it. Granted there was moment where I ended up taking a break from playing to catch up on important things, which led me to restart everything to remember where I left off in the story, but once I got into the groove and eventually understood the mechanics better, I ended up enjoying it a lot more.
I especially loved how I got to learn more about the members of my party as a progressed, as well as witnessing little easter eggs like whenever a character’s birthday was happening, references to the other previous titles in Owain’s dialogue, and even reading the after stories of all the people I paired who with at the end credits. Everything within the game itself had been filled to the brim with so much heart and soul, it makes me happy knowing the devs had made their goal in keeping this series alive.
This game has been a fun ride with its memorable characters and army building, it’s probably now considered to be one of my closest favorites next to Valkyria Chronicles. Which is kinda funny since both games are ironically almost the same but with entirely different settings. I’ve really missed out on the hype train when this game was at its peak, but as of right now with how it just reached its 12th anniversary this year in the west, I couldn’t have picked a better time to wrote this. Let’s hope that Fates would live up to higher expectations and see how the series progressed afterwards. Will I make it into a long essay like this? Who knows? You’ll just have to wait and hear what I think… Spoiler warning, it’s probably not that great.
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If you’ve actually made it this far in the post, thanks for reading until the end!
I wanna say that I’m sorry that this review took a long time to come, and I’m also extremely sorry for the barrage of text. This all could’ve been a lot better in a video format, but given my work schedule as of lately, this is all the best you’ll get out of me for now.
I’ve been holding off on doing more reviews like this but I really wanted to get my thoughts out like I promised. Thank you for you kind patience though. I’ll start getting into the Fates trilogy after finishing up the last of my leisurely play through of Devil Survivor Overclocked. I will be posting a mini review of that game when that gets done.
Until then hope you all have a fantastic Valentine’s Day, wether it’d be with someone you love or with yourself. Stay humble and kind, and have a pleasant time terabytes.
Days spent: 3
Layers used: 20
References used: 9
Characters belong to: Nintendo and The Pokémon Company
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