Fire Emblem Fates [Waifu Simulator 2k16]

[Guzam]

So I have finally beaten chapter 24 which has awesome music and a great map and a mechanic I love and hate at the same time.

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So for one, I freaking love Hinoka, Azama and Setsuna. They're all pretty cool to me. This doesn't mean I like fighting them tho >:V Setsuna is equipped with Pass and Swordbreaker which make her kind of annoying to deal with, but luckily Nina owned her after getting a rally speed and defense. Azama is the real kicker though. He's got Counter, a 1-2 lance and 2 hexing rods. Finally, Hinoka has Luna, and the skill that protects fliers from bonus damage. None of them are that tough to beat, they're just hard to approach. Onto the rest of the chapter.

This chapter is pretty cool. The music is good, the stakes are high and it isn't that hard either. My only real gripe with it is the same reason I didn't like chapter 20 that much. KINSHI KNIGHTS. I fucking hate how you can't attack fliers with fliers because said fliers have bows. wtf. Anyway, the best way to go about this chapter is to take your fliers and use them to beat the kinshi knights and then wait for the enemy to come to you. It doesn't take that long for the enemy to get to you either. Hinoka will use her dragon vein which gives the fliers an extra 4 movement while giving ground units -3 movement. This is actually a good thing. It makes it so your fliers can get to Azama and Hinoka easily, and keeps all ground units away from you. This is probably my favorite chapter so far. Here comes... sigh... chapter 25.

Also dat Hinoka cutscene.

FUCK THIS GAME I HATE IT SO MUCH RN

Edit: So... I beat chapter 25 and it lived up to the fucking hype and well... I actually would've beaten it first try had it not been for friGGIN BULLSHIT CRITICAL HITS AT THE END OF THE MAP. Some words of advice for Lunatic runs

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THIS CHAPTER IS HELL ON EARTH. I only won so "easily" because I had everything I needed. Rally Speed, Rally Defense and a Bow Knight with Shuriken Breaker alongside hard hitters like Keaton and Xander who helped OHKO some units or picked off stragglers. If you have all of these things and an avatar that can tank Ryoma's abuse, I guarantee with enough strategy you will beat this map. That said though, let me tell you why this map is absolute bullshit.

NINJAS! Fuckers will hit you with everything they've got, lowering your HP, Stacking Debuffs and then just when you think it's over, the arms master or swordsmaster will come in and try to end your run. You cannot split your army in two either, the enemies are just too powerful and broken for that. You have to send a large army up one side (preferably the left) of the map and then the other. Why do I say preferably the left? idk maybe it's because the right side is pure fucking horse shit. The left side is just ninjas and masters of arms and they aren't hard to take down with a bow knight and tanks. THE RIGHT SIDE HOWEVER!

The right side pits you up against, fast, hard-hitting swordmasters with brutal skills alongside ninjas with their already broken skills and the worst unit of all. THE AUTOMATONS. The automatons are equipped with sealing skills as well as Lunge. This wouldn't be a problem if not for the god damn moTHER FUCKING SPY YUMI'S THEY HAVE WHICH HAVE 3 RANGE AND GET YOU STUCK IN A NINJA+SWORDMASTER WOMBO COMBO. Your best bet is to have a rescue staff on hand as you pick off specific units and then retreat. Once that's done, you need to break the wall guarding them and just kill everything you can while avoiding the other two fuckers with spy yumis. This map is shit, and the people who made it are shit.

Ryoma is just the fucking worst too. He is equipped with Astra and Rend Heaven and has the highest fucking speed stat in the world alongside a huge crit rate that will demolish all of your shit if you let him. If your avatar is beefy enough, you can just end the chapter by killing him right away, but then you'll miss out on the treasure and maybe some much needed EXP. Plus it's just not as fun if you do it that way, not to mention Ryoma could at anytime, Rend Heaven crit you into an Astra Crit barrage. MVP is Nina for sure. She deserves a medal.

[Commander]

I'm going to be brutally honest, I have to put down revelation after what I saw chapter 14 was as it's the icing on the cake. I just can't do it. I'm sorry, but I was willing to tolerate it up until they just ruined one of my favorite maps. I honestly was excited to go into this path, but it's just birthright 2.0 but really, really butchered. I mean Birthright didn't have the best maps, but I wouldn't say any of them were terrible...except 23. Chapter 23 can go die in a hole. I enjoyed Birthright as a whole this though...I tried to force myself to like it, but wow, just wow. I'm going to put this in a spoiler but I really do suggest reading it before consider buying Revelations if you haven't already:

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I'll start with Chapter 6 as that's probably the only chapter I really really enjoyed. That chapter is hard, not because the enemies are super difficult, but because you have 4 Wyvern riders with Kamui...who can sweep the map, and two pretty darn frail units if you chose the male (for once, female is the better option). Chapter 7 is meh as again, you only have 3 units and by this point, Kamui will be past level 10...possibly 12 and way, way stronger than what should be your Jeigan. Gunter, I want to like you, but you make Arnold look good. You have to put up with him...because you don't get any Cavalier until after chapter 13 or 14.

Chapter 8 is just a rehash of Chapter 6 of Birthright except you're fighting to get into the castle...against enemies that don't move. I actually liked this chapter as Silas moved after a certain point, but this chapter is so ridiculously easy it isn't even funny. Chapter 9 is just Conquest chapter 21 except the winds are nerfed...but now at least you have what feels like underleveled Subaki and Kaze (don't bother with any of the other characters). It's not bad...but very disappointing after seeing how scary those winds could be and the gimmick was almost worthless...because your units are bad (minus 3 plus Azura).

Chapter 10 would've been a really cool fog of war since the boss in this one wasn't too strong (this is also one that doesn't have a promoted boss unit...who ironically doesn't move...or even have his Vengence skill). By the way, I hope you like attacking snow and moving slowly because this is a map where every enemy gives an item and many give stat boosts like Dracoshields. Seriously, this branch makes Birthright look like their sticking you by basically giving some really good items and even steel items and hand axes. This is an annoying slow area due to only having 6 units...and some kind of dangerous enemies. By the way, I hope you like Takumi as he's the only bow user you're going to get in a long while (I wish we could get Setsuna right now).

Chapter 11 is Birthright chapter 10...but you can remove the spikes and spikes damage the enemy. It'd be even easier if it weren't for those Master Ninjas who if you don't kill fast enough come to attack you. The only redeeming factor is the fact you can just use Saizo to kill the boss to have that epic line. Seriously though, you'll notice the level gap as almost all units join like 7 levels under your army...which is what most of the non promoted enemies are leveled.

Chapter 12 is actually pretty decent for a chapter. You pretty much has to defend until a certain point where you can move forward to take out the boss. My only gripe is that the boat Kamui is on can get overwhelmed if you don't do the pair up. Don't worry, the boss is surrounded by promo units which is more or less a free level up to any character. Takumi makes this chapter way too easy though. My only gripe is that you basically only have the Hoshido units...minus the good units.

Chapter 13...oh boy. This map would be easy if it weren't for those freaking Ninja Masters. Even conquest didn't throw these levels of BS at this point in the game. You can get haxed real hard...oh wait you can curbstomp this map with Camilla and Takumi if you really wanted to. I didn't really care for this map...other than the fact you can fight Xander and Ryoma. Xander can be beaten pretty easily, but don't fight Ryoma. No seriously, don't attempt it unless you have some promoted units who can take him on...which is possible. AI really has taken a back seat compared to the solid conquest AI. It's a new map, but not very memorable due to the lack of enemy variety and their levels.

Then I saw chapter 14 which just killed me. This is the same map as Conquest Chapter 10, yes, that freaking chapter, and that conquest chapter is one of my favorites. Then I saw Silas was the boss...and it was a route the enemy chapter...which a bunch of promo units on it. At least you get Elise, who you probably shouldn't use unless you really, really want to, and Effie. You can also get Benny on this chapter if you really want. They even kept the drain the lake dragon vein where Takumi freaking stood.

I mean the story isn't that bad, but my god is this the horrible gimmick path. I haven't managed to do any of the crossover supports, but a lot of the character just felt...a bit empty in the story. Like it's literally character joins you, end of their arc kind of bad. Even the royals joining feels a bit shallow so far. Maybe it's just me being spoiled by how well done the maps were in conquests...and walking into this mess.

[Guzam]

So after a couple attempts, some much needed support grinding, and finishing the last of the paralogues, I beat chapter 26, and let me tell you now, If anyone says lunatic chapter 25 is harder than lunatic chapter 26, THEY ARE LYING.

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I hate this map with a fierce passion. On one hand, it's actually pretty fun and it feels good to beat the shit out of Iago and Hans. On the other hand, the skills are bullshit. Every Maid is equipped with a skill that gives them infinite staff uses. This is a huge problem as all of them have physic staffs and either enfeeble or freeze. The main staff user though, is Iago, who is located in the very middle of the map and he's decked out with 4 different staffs and the Excaliber Tome. He has Freeze, Enfeeble, Physic and the worst of all, A Hexing Rod. The only fair point about him is that his stats are garbage. He cannot do anything to you if you have someone with a good speed and strength stat as you'll likely take him out before he can do mad damage on you. The only hard part about the map is actually reaching Iago.

As soon as you start the map, you are greeted with a room filled with 8 Heroes and a Maid. 4 of the Heroes have Counter, meaning you're going to have to kill them on a counter-attack and not your turn. However, this is annoying to do as these 4 counter guys are blocking you from the Maid, who just so happens to have a Hexing Rod. What I did was I bumrushed one of them with a Rally Speed Xander who promptly doubled him as he had the two range sword and then Percy was able to come in and kill the maid. All of these Heroes have Wyrmslayers too so your avatar and Camilla won't be doing much. After fighting off the hoard of enemies, you then have a huge decision to make. Right or Left.

The left side is filled with faceless and stoneborn each with some monstrous stats and skills. There's also a Maid on that side with Entrap which warps you right next to her so I wouldn't recommend going on this side unless you want a Spy Yumi or have a really bulky and hard hitting tank who can double the faceless after some debuffs. The right side is the easier one to get past imo. It's filled with just Sorcerers and Maids, and the Maids don't have Entrap or Hexing Rods. The Sorcerers can do huge magic damage, but if you have someone with high resistance and rally resistance, you'll bust right through them. You have to be ready for the reinforcements though. The reinforcements on the right side are 4 Sorcerers on one turn, 3 Sorcerers and a Maid on another turn, and 3 Sorcerers and a Maid again of another turn. I'd assume it's the same on the left side, just with Faceless and Stoneborn instead.

The bottom middle part of the map is the real attraction here. It has two Maids both armed with Freeze and it's filled with 4 Generals, 4 Berserkers, 2 Tougher Generals and Hans. The Generals have Beast Killers so you can't fight them with Xander, and the Berserkers have Hammers so you can't use Great Knights. I used a Hero Percy and Hero Avatar to get through here as they tanked and healed off all damage they took. The two tougher generals are a pain. They both have counter-magic, inspiration and armored blow. Meanwhile, Hans has Counter, Counter-Magic, Armored Blow, Deathly Blow and some other Blow skill. He gets -10 damage on his attack, +40 hit on his attack and +20 crit on his attack with a 22 MT Axe, so it's honestly best to have your avatar fight him and kill him in one turn with the Grim Yato or with Xander's Siegfried. The tougher generals are also armed with Hammers, Beast Killer, Silver Lances and Spears. Finally the last reinforcements appear when Hans moves. They're two more tough Generals and two more buffed up Berserkers. If you beat the Berserkers and Generals already, this should not be a problem at all.

Finally the chests. The far right chest contains a Venge Naginata, which is an A rank staff that can Double its MT during counter attacks, giving it a huge 18 MT. The right chest in the middle of the map holds a Seraph Robe which is nice. The left chest in the middle of the map holds 20000 Gold which is amazing right before endgame and the far left chest holds a spy yumi, a 3 range bow which little MT. Finally, the BIG ONE. The chest that sits right next to Iago contains none other than the legendary staff, Bifrost which can revive an ally that has fallen in the most recent battle. So if you lost someone in chapter 26, it is possible to bring them back before you seize, but you can only use it once and it's an S rank staff, so you need someone with an S rank in those.

Overall, this map is really difficult, but fun in a way as you've really got to think carefully about who you put where and where reinforcements could come from. Now it's time for the big chapter 27.

[Ikaru]

this isn't much of a spoiler but i was watching the video again and felt compelled to do this

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if ryoma's portrait on the wiki was less shitty this would have been done in a heartbeat

Source:

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please watch this video if you haven't seen it already i love it

[Maelstrom]

[biboo195]

Our lobster lord is here to save the day. Not mine.

[Guzam]

WHEN YOU FINALLY BEAT CONQUEST ON LUNATIC MODE FULLY GG WP EXCEPT FUCK THE LAST MAP TO HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLL.

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THIS MAP IS BULLSHIT INCARNATE. YOU'VE GOT 5 ENFEEBLE STAFF USERS ON THE MAP STACKING DEBUFFS ON YOU PUTTING YOU AT -20 IN ALL STATS, NINJAS DEBUFFING YOU, OP PALADINS AND BOW KNIGHTS, FUCKING GENERALS, MALIG KNIGHTS AND WORST OF ALL. FUCKING. HEXING. ROD. GUY. HE WILL SNIPE YOU AS YOU HIT THE END STRETCH FIILLED WITH 12+ UNITS THAT ARE BEEFY AS HELL. THIS MAP IS GARBAGE. THE BOSS SUCKS TOO. THE AOE KNOCKS OUT HALF YOUR HEALTH, THE INFINITE FACELESS WOMBO COMBO YOU AND THE DEBUFFS GO OFF THE FUCKING CHARTS! UUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

K, so I've mostly got it out of my system. Let me tell you exactly what you need to beat this map. You will need: Rescue Staff. Don't have one? Fuck you. Three Silence staffs can help. Don't have three? Have fun getting through debuff hell alive. A Rally bot? Get as many fucking rally skills as you can and just try to get as many breaker skills on one unit as possible, buff them up, silence the debuffers and just have everything suicide on them. Don't have any of these things. You either need to suicide bomb your way to the boss or get lucky trying. If you can not do any of these things, this map is a bust, you're dead. Done for. No way to beat it, trust me, I tried 11 times.

DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE FACT YOU CAN'T SAVE. This means if you lose you have to play through chapter 27 again. Chapter 27 is easy as shit, but it takes much more time than it should. FUCK! THIS! MAP!

With all this said, I'll give the map this. It is the hardest fucking fire emblem map I've ever played and the only one ever where I've just accepted the death of not one, but three units. May God have mercy on their souls. Xander, Percy and Camilla, you all did so fucking good in this run and none of conquest lunatic would've been possible without you three. I'm actually crying now because these three were definitely the biggest MVPs of the whole team from chapters 20-Endgame.

Thoughts? Goopy Garon was kind of cool, and his special dialogue about Anankos while fighting Corrin leads me to believe this shit goes much much deeper in Revelations. Finally the big plot twist. There are huge huge spoilers below so read at your own risk.

This chapter did not make me hate Takumi. This chapter only further fueled my love for the amazing character he was. The cutscene even parallels the cutscene from chapter 10 and it's beautiful. The part where you, "nearly die" is great as well. and the music. OH MY GOD THE MUSIC. I Would not have been able to push through this map had it not been for the god-like music. End of All is a much better final battle theme then Id-Purpose by miles. The ending of the game is nice. I don't really have a lot of words on it tho except for rip Azura.

Finally, I'd like to dedicate the last part of this spoiler to chapter MVPS after 6 and my favorite characters. So lets get to it.

Chapter 7: Corrin and Felecia

Chapter 8: Felecia and Arthur

Chapter 9: Arthur and Effie

Chapter 10: Corrin and Felecia

Chapter 11: Niles and Camilla

Chapter 12: Arthur and Effie

Chapter 13: Corrin and Felecia

Chapter 14: Keaton and Charlotte

Chapter 15: Corrin and Gunter

Chapter 16: Elise and Odin

Chapter 17: Selena and Laslow

Chapter 18: Keaton and Charlotte

Chapter 19: Keaton and Charlotte

Chapter 20: Shigure and Sophie

Chapter 21: Corrin and Felecia

Chapter 22: Niles and Nina

Chapter 23: Peri and Xander

Chapter 24: Corrin and Felecia

Chapter 25: Camilla and Nina

Chapter 26: Percy and Midori

Chapter 27: Corrin and Azura

Endgame: Siegbert and Soleil

My favorite characters in Conquest have to be Niles, Odin, Selena, Laslow, Benny, Sophie, Midori, Percy, Ophelia, Ignatius, Arthur, Keaton, Velouria, Shura, Nina and omfl. Here are my two favorites. Soleil because she's just the most fucking adorable character in the game and I just can't get over how amazing she is as a character too. Her map is amazing as well. My other favorite? Takumi of course. Someone had to play the villain in this route and it was Takumi and holy shit what an amazing villain he was because in the end, he wasn't even a villain. He started for me as a character I loved to hate, then I played chapter 23 and oh my fucking god, his retainers and just him in general made me feel for his character. He is in my opinion, one of the best characters in this game. If I had to choose anymore as "favorites" it'd be Lilith and Iago. Iago is a fucker that I reallllllllly love hating and Lilith is best dragon and I'm really sad she had to die :[

That wraps it up for conquest lunatic mode. I'll get Birthright next and I'll be playing it on Lunatic mode as well. Maybe in the future I'll write up a full guide on Lunatic mode for this game. Until then, see you all around.

[Cobalt996]

  On 3/24/2016 at 6:18 AM, Pyrrhon said:

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[rage that is perfectly justified] (Would be easier without Artificial Difficulty 1.0 and 1.8 (Hexing Rod and IE + Enfeeble))

[more rage that is perfectly justified]

[just keep tacking it on like everything past C25]

[other stuff and spoilers] (Iago DLC route needs to happen, tbh. Can't always force anything resembling the correct direction on the morality compass.)

I'll get Birthright next and I'll be playing it on Lunatic mode as well.

If that ends up anything like Revelations-L has been compared to Conquest... well, looking forward to your analysis of Endgame pretty soon.

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...Except Revelations isn't easy af anymore, soooooooo.

Shame you don't get as solid of bulk in Birthrights, but at least you have Corrin... and... uh... (rip fixed growths)

Edited March 24, 2016 by Cobalt996

[krim]

  On 3/24/2016 at 6:18 AM, Pyrrhon said:

WHEN YOU FINALLY BEAT CONQUEST ON LUNATIC MODE FULLY GG WP EXCEPT FUCK THE LAST MAP TO HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLL.

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THIS MAP IS BULLSHIT INCARNATE. YOU'VE GOT 5 ENFEEBLE STAFF USERS ON THE MAP STACKING DEBUFFS ON YOU PUTTING YOU AT -20 IN ALL STATS, NINJAS DEBUFFING YOU, OP PALADINS AND BOW KNIGHTS, FUCKING GENERALS, MALIG KNIGHTS AND WORST OF ALL. FUCKING. HEXING. ROD. GUY. HE WILL SNIPE YOU AS YOU HIT THE END STRETCH FIILLED WITH 12+ UNITS THAT ARE BEEFY AS HELL. THIS MAP IS GARBAGE. THE BOSS SUCKS TOO. THE AOE KNOCKS OUT HALF YOUR HEALTH, THE INFINITE FACELESS WOMBO COMBO YOU AND THE DEBUFFS GO OFF THE FUCKING CHARTS! UUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

K, so I've mostly got it out of my system. Let me tell you exactly what you need to beat this map. You will need: Rescue Staff. Don't have one? Fuck you. Three Silence staffs can help. Don't have three? Have fun getting through debuff hell alive. A Rally bot? Get as many fucking rally skills as you can and just try to get as many breaker skills on one unit as possible, buff them up, silence the debuffers and just have everything suicide on them. Don't have any of these things. You either need to suicide bomb your way to the boss or get lucky trying. If you can not do any of these things, this map is a bust, you're dead. Done for. No way to beat it, trust me, I tried 11 times.

DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE FACT YOU CAN'T SAVE. This means if you lose you have to play through chapter 27 again. Chapter 27 is easy as shit, but it takes much more time than it should. FUCK! THIS! MAP!

With all this said, I'll give the map this. It is the hardest fucking fire emblem map I've ever played and the only one ever where I've just accepted the death of not one, but three units. May God have mercy on their souls. Xander, Percy and Camilla, you all did so fucking good in this run and none of conquest lunatic would've been possible without you three. I'm actually crying now because these three were definitely the biggest MVPs of the whole team from chapters 20-Endgame.

Thoughts? Goopy Garon was kind of cool, and his special dialogue about Anankos while fighting Corrin leads me to believe this shit goes much much deeper in Revelations. Finally the big plot twist. There are huge huge spoilers below so read at your own risk.

This chapter did not make me hate Takumi. This chapter only further fueled my love for the amazing character he was. The cutscene even parallels the cutscene from chapter 10 and it's beautiful. The part where you, "nearly die" is great as well. and the music. OH MY GOD THE MUSIC. I Would not have been able to push through this map had it not been for the god-like music. End of All is a much better final battle theme then Id-Purpose by miles. The ending of the game is nice. I don't really have a lot of words on it tho except for rip Azura.

Finally, I'd like to dedicate the last part of this spoiler to chapter MVPS after 6 and my favorite characters. So lets get to it.

Chapter 7: Corrin and Felecia

Chapter 8: Felecia and Arthur

Chapter 9: Arthur and Effie

Chapter 10: Corrin and Felecia

Chapter 11: Niles and Camilla

Chapter 12: Arthur and Effie

Chapter 13: Corrin and Felecia

Chapter 14: Keaton and Charlotte

Chapter 15: Corrin and Gunter

Chapter 16: Elise and Odin

Chapter 17: Selena and Laslow

Chapter 18: Keaton and Charlotte

Chapter 19: Keaton and Charlotte

Chapter 20: Shigure and Sophie

Chapter 21: Corrin and Felecia

Chapter 22: Niles and Nina

Chapter 23: Peri and Xander

Chapter 24: Corrin and Felecia

Chapter 25: Camilla and Nina

Chapter 26: Percy and Midori

Chapter 27: Corrin and Azura

Endgame: Siegbert and Soleil

My favorite characters in Conquest have to be Niles, Odin, Selena, Laslow, Benny, Sophie, Midori, Percy, Ophelia, Ignatius, Arthur, Keaton, Velouria, Shura, Nina and omfl. Here are my two favorites. Soleil because she's just the most fucking adorable character in the game and I just can't get over how amazing she is as a character too. Her map is amazing as well. My other favorite? Takumi of course. Someone had to play the villain in this route and it was Takumi and holy shit what an amazing villain he was because in the end, he wasn't even a villain. He started for me as a character I loved to hate, then I played chapter 23 and oh my fucking god, his retainers and just him in general made me feel for his character. He is in my opinion, one of the best characters in this game. If I had to choose anymore as "favorites" it'd be Lilith and Iago. Iago is a fucker that I reallllllllly love hating and Lilith is best dragon and I'm really sad she had to die :[

That wraps it up for conquest lunatic mode. I'll get Birthright next and I'll be playing it on Lunatic mode as well. Maybe in the future I'll write up a full guide on Lunatic mode for this game. Until then, see you all around.

Any specific tips you would recommend to beating it in general? Ill be doing Lunatic runs after I finish Hard Revelations, starting with Conquest.

Edited March 24, 2016 by DragonMasterKrim

[Commander]

So I just finished Hidden Truths (though I haven't finished Revelations...I did spoil a little bit of the plot, but seriously, this is such a good dlc). It honestly is one of the weirdest, but definitely one of the better ones. If you liked the Forgotten Future (or whatever that Awakening DLC is) you'll love this DLC. I beat both on one attempt, but I certainly wouldn't say the maps are a walk in the park. The two royale fights really aren't worth your time, but I'd say Ghostly Gold and these are definitely must buy for all paths (Boo Camp is worthless outside of Conquest).

[Guzam]

Boo Camp is useless in Conquest too as far as I can tell. If I can beat Lunatic without exp grinding, many people can too... If they save those fucking rescue and silence staffs

[Omega_Ra1der]

What dlcs anyone would recommend outside of the paths? (Need another one to get Revelations)

[Cobalt996]

Just going to put thoughts of Revelation Lunatic here, since that's done.

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So. Revelation-L. Uh.... Not sure what to say. Quite seriously, there isn't really anything to say about it. It's as hard as Path of Radiance on Hard if Ike was actually bad. A bit frustrating, but workable.

Let's start with perspective: 5 Master Seals. That's all I used, and one of those characters got discarded immediately thereafter. Furthermore, as you probably already know/think (and since this IS in spoilers) you get Ryoma, Xander, Leo, and Camilla all on the same side. IS doesn't really send anything special at you, though. No Inevitable End. No Staff Savant. No FREAKING HEXING RODS... or basically any siege staves, for that matter... or skills. In all seriousness, my 3 damage-dealing units all died to extreme RNG trolling (15% on a+b/2 system multiple times, pls) in C25... but everything is so weak that it didn't even matter. Hell, I entered the final fight paired up with A-Support Leo at Lv10 Nohr Noble with only Yato and Horse Spirit. The latter was the only weapon used, and the boss (and all reinforcements) all fell far faster than they should have. For that matter, after Conquest-L's Endgame, you'd think there'd be something remotely threatening, but the boss' stats are realistic, and most enemies lack capped stats. Oh, and don't forget; they don't really have skills, either.

Starting Chapter 18, you get hit by a barrage of maps with voids in them, and gimmicky movement for your land units... but you most likely have one or two fliers, so it doesn't even matter. They throw S-rank weapons at you as early as Ch20, but what do the chests on 26 have? Nosferatu, brave weapons... Only remotely good thing is the Beaststone+, since you either have enough of what you get, or it's useless as of now. But back to the maps. The gimmicky movement makes it so the AI can't really do anything about your attacks, since they obviously can't use the same paths you can (like stairs). This means you just move in, destroy a patch of enemies, and continue unopposed. Come to think of it, these chapter would be terrifying if the AI could actually use the map gimmicks themselves, but noooo. Pseudo-fixed position units are an added malus, since they just sit there until you get excruciatingly close (not moving despite being in attacking reach. With an unarmed healer.) After 26, the mecanics stop in favour of a more traditional final chapter layout, but... as mentioned earlier, the enemies, while they have relatively good stats, lack skills. Most units (PROMOTED UNITS FFS) have two skills, which correspond the their unpromoted class' skills. Well, except adventurers; they don't even get skills. Even the C27 boss only has two skills. Anyone remember what Conquest-L's had? Oh, yeah... FIVE.

Now to go a bit more in-depth on why this mode is literally not hard. but that's even more spoilers.

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6: 5 turns, defeat boss. And you have to cross a river, so mandatory split-up.

7: Annoying maze-like hallways. With 3 units.

8: Randomly strong enemies, but a "take-at-your-own-pace" mission, so it doesn't matter.

9: Wind is actually mean when you can't spam fliers. At least, I'd say that is there were more enemies.

10: Annoying hide-and-seek in ice. Be careful abotu splitting up, since you might take damage if you get ganged up on.

11: Reina and Takumi exist. Next.

12. Fliers obsolete map mechanic count (henceforth Flier): 1

13: Fliers: 2

14: It'd be difficult, but Dusk Armory L2 exists, and it brings beastkilling weapons.

15. Mechanic that nullifies AI (henceforth Stairs): 1 Why is Shura Lv10 promoted already? Why is Nyx Lv 9 Dark Mage?

16: Actually a nice map. Too bad you can literally just walk around the whole thing.

17. The last nice map in the whole game. Even so, the enemies are a tad low-leveled.

18. Fliers: 3

19: Oh look, every enemy drops something. Sure be nice if this became a trend.

20: Fliers: 4. Still, it's fun to teleport enemies around. Especially when Shelter exists. Great mission to level weak units up on.

21: Really fun mechanic, but the AI uses it as well as you avoid using Silence staves on Conquest-L. Yeeeeeah.

22. Fliers: 5. Stairs: 2

23. Fliers: 6. Roughly 33% of the mechanics die to fliers. Quality game design~

24. Is this..? CAN IT BE? PRISONER RELEASE CAME BACK FOR THIS GAME? Sneak around, open chests, fight boss, get bonus if not spotted.

(Just saying, it's harder than it initially looks, due to when sight is checked)

25. NO! NOT THE CHAINS! IT BURNS! Also, Stairs: 3

26: Weak enemies and based trash chests. NEXT.

27. Reminds me of Future Past 3 from Awakening's DLC. Like, a lot. Just... the enemies here are weaker... and they don't have skills... soooo....

Endgame: Well. 1/10 needs more... everything, I guess. It's bad enough that the boss has horrible defenses. At least the tiles look nice?

Endgame pt2: 0/10. Needs more existing.

Yeah. Good levels. Minimal difficulty. Not even a fake weapon (Nageyari anyone?)

Just putting it here, though. Don't look in there if you don't want spoilers. I didn't say a thing about the plot, but... the maps

EDIT:

Also putting in Birthrights:

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Accidentally defeated Garon and Xander on Ch12, then just decided to solo the game.

ENEMIES DON'T GET SKILLS WHYYYYYYYYY aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAa

Edited April 1, 2016 by Cobalt996

[RedKessel]

I am playing birthright first than conquest and then the 3rd path, i play Fire Emblem for the strategy and story. Even though the story in fire emblem usually stays the same throughout all the games with only slight changes and the plot twists of the game can usually be predicted. But i still enjoy playing fire emblem.

[Personthing]

Beat Revelation Lunatic again, and holy crap I'd forgotten just how much of a mess it can be. (I remembered it had a lot of stupid stuff, but it's worse than I remembered.)

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The game basically forces a Corrin snowball as any early game unit not named Corrin or Gunter (Gunter gets doubled and 3HKO'd by most things so he can't survive two round of combat usually) are lucky to do more than four damage to enemies. Like why would they nerf Hana's base strength on Revelation when the early game enemies are stupidly bulky? Things don't exactly hit as hard as other Lunatic modes in the series, but Revelation's enemies get really bulky unlike other games which usually opt to make enemies faster and hit harder but aside from bosses retain similar amounts of bulk to keep things from becoming a slog.

Character balance somehow manages to be worse than Radiant Dawn's, and rivals New Mystery's in just how awful it is. For example Odin and Niles join nine chapters after they would in Conquest. Nine. And what do they get for this? A mere few level ups. They don't even come promoted, they come level 12 un-promoted with terrible base stats for their level, on top of this being the point in the game where more and more enemies start promoting. Odin even gets killed in one hit by all of the Paladins in his join chapter. What a joke.

The map gimmicks are hit and miss. Some are super tedious like the ice maze, but I kind of had fun with the stealth level.

I'm not super fond of Revelation or Birthright, but I still had some fun with them despite my grievances. I'll definitely play them any day of the week over Path of Radiance, Genealogy of the Holy War, Shadow Dragon (both the original and remake), Mystery of the Emblem (original and remake), Binding Blade, Awakening, and Sacred stones.

Edited April 2, 2016 by Personthing

[Commander]

Well, now that it’s been a while, I think we can all agree Fates is pretty much the weakest story rivaled with Fire Emblem Awakening. I feel like there are like five things that just weren’t handled properly and everything but Hoshido’s story was extremely rushed (especially conquest):

1. Children in this game (they were riding on Awakening when they should’ve made Gaiden chapters imo to give more backstory)
2. Kamui is a self-insert, which IS tries to play off as perfect despite some terrible choices
3. Everything just feels too safe (Safe writing is usually boring since you should always take risks)
4. Most of the Royals lack character IN THE MAIN STORY to the point they aren’t even there (remember all those big moments of Elise in the endgame of conquest. I sure don’t).
5. The events in the story just don’t connect at all (some feel completely random and filler).
6. (Not really one but I feel like adding it) Stop treating pre-promoted units like complete crap. Give them actual supports with characters other than the Avatar.

Remember, I’m just a writer with a few years of experience vs a guy, likely with more years of experience, who would be getting paid and should’ve noticed a lot of these when going over the story. So I just thought about it for 20 minutes and somehow salvaged the mess of Conquest just by making a few changes (literally I made sure to keep most of the plot flow and maps untouched). I’m not making an award winning plot here, just something a bit more enjoyable. I’ll put it in spoilers so that people who haven’t played Conquest won’t get spoiled as I’m going through the whole plot here. Just note I’m going to glaze through the first part since not much changes.

Prologue - Chapter 7:

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Just an FYI, the prologue doesn’t exist because 20 bucks that it was part of the original plot, kind of like Scarlet. Somebody must’ve really butchered it up and made it a bit kid friendly which gets very apparent.

I’ll begin with a little pre-start of the story. Garon basically sold his soul to Anakos due to that fact he was dying (he’s a really old guy) due to a disease he caught. He was worried about leaving his kids fatherless and orphaned, but this is minor stuff for Gaiden chapters. Basically, Anakos made Garon an immortal god by giving him a huge amount of dragon vein (Anakos’s blood more or less). Unlike from before, Anakos’s blood slowly corrupts Garon into a mad king who just wants to watch the world burn. This part really isn’t that important, but it’s just to give you an idea beforehand.

Skipping the prologue, we see Kamui waking up and seeing Flora and Felicia, but after a quick blink, only Felicia is present. Kamui then looks over to where Flora was and Jakob questions what he’s looking at. Felicia then does her ice power and then we basically keep the plot up until Chapter 5. Still the same stuff except Ryoma is heavily beaten by that fight which is more important for birthright, but enough of the pre-conquest stuff. I just needed some stuff to explain what’s going on.

Chapter 6 actually starts off with Corrin running away from Hoshido and is stopped by Takumi who has his bow drawn ready to kill him. Takumi pretty much says that Kamui killed his mother, along with countless lives. Kamui, still being naïve as hell, says he doesn’t have time for this and has to stop the fighting and runs off. After he leaves, Takumi mumbles that even after all that, he still can’t kill Kamui.

Kamui then runs off and meets up with Xander which surprised him since he thought Kamui was dead. He says there’s no time and to pick up a sword and fight (cuing chapter 6’s battle). After the battle, Xander orders Kamui and the other siblings back to father notifying him that the war has begun and Kamui’s return. (Yeah, Xander is going to be in Hoshido for a long while).

So they Nohrian family returns back to Nohr, which Garon is very surprised to see Kamui alive. Garon is a little hesistant asking where he found that blade (Yato). Iago then suggests that Kamui be tested in some way which Garon agrees, ordering Kamui to stop a rebellion in the Ice Village. The royals are about to with Corrin when Garon stops them saying that he needs to prove himself without their help and guidance (and allows for Felicia to go).

Chapter 7 is the same so skipping that. When Corrin arrives in the Ice Village, he gets separated from the group with Silas and passes out. Silas then takes him to the Mayor’s home. Same conversation happens until Elise shows up and reveals Corrin’s name. The Mayor then recalls the name and how Corrin killed his daughter. He then orders for the villagers to attack. Corrin then orders his men (and then to Odin and Niles) to do what they can to not kill anyone.

After the Kilma’s defeat, Corrin point his blade at him when Kilma pretty much says that Corrin has already taken both his daughters in which he has no other reason to live. Felicia says to Corrin to please not do this. He tells the others to aid and heal the villagers while he deals with this (in which the whole party leaves the screen). Corrin then thrust his sword into the ground. He claims that while he may not know anything about war and politics, he understands one thing: family.

Corrin tells Kilma that the life living in that castle was never, but it was his family (Gunter, Jakob, Felicia, Royals, etc) that are what made it an enjoyable one. It’s also one of his worst memories. The day Flora died made him feel hallow and empty. Even now, he still blames himself believe there was another way. That’s why he made a promise never to take anyone’s life ever again.

If you’re wondering how Flora died, it’s actually Felicia’s story but with a tragic ending. Corrin got sick, the same disease as Garon (I would probably make a paralogue about this disease honestly), and was going to die. Flora knew her powers could save him, but it would cost her life in return. She did this day after day until Corrin finally recovered (even watching Flora’s last breath).

Corrin didn’t come here to talk about family problems though. He’s here to stop the Ice Tribe’s rebellion. If doing so would ease tension between Kilma and Nohr, Corrin was willing for Kilma to strike him down, since he was the one responsible for Flora’s death. Kilma tells Corrin he’s a fool if he thinks he’ll live long in this kill or be killed world. Out of curiousity, Kilma asks how Corrin plans on ending the war.

Corrin doesn’t know yet, but he says “I’ll find a way.” Kilma then says he must be a bigger fool for believing in him. Kilma says that Corrin won’t have to worry any more about the Ice Tribe’s rebellion as he’ll do what he can to put an end to it. There’s also a council meeting with all the other city mayor’s coming up in which hopefully he’ll be able to convince everybody to stick with Nohr instead of rebelling. Corrin asks why the change of heart, but Kilma simply responds with, “You already know the answer.”

Before Corrin leaves, Kilma asks for one thing. He requests that Corrin takes good care of Felicia as that’s the only thing he has left in this world.

(I’m going to stop here since this is getting really, really long. This is just a lot of setting up to take care of the elephants in the next few chapters which is very important. If you guys want me to continue, I definitely will, but otherwise I’ll probably stop since this is really, really long to write).

Chapter 8-12

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So now Corrin returns back to Nohr to report to Garon. Garon already knows Elise had traveled with Corrin and will deal with her punishment later. He is proud that Corrin was able to stop the rebellion with so few (or no) casualties. He’s about to praise him some more when Iago steps in. He tell Garon that Corrin did not kill a single man in the Ice Tribe which shocks Garon. He asks Corrin if this is true and Corrin confirms it. Garon then asks everyone to step outside while he talks to Corrin alone and the others do.

Garon tells Corrin that he is a mere child and is unaware of the consequences of his actions. Corrin says that it isn’t right to kill people who are innocent. Garon explains that life isn’t so simple. Nohr has many enemies besides the Hoshido such as the rebels who disagree with the Royal family ruling the kingdom. Corrin still doesn’t get what Garon is saying. Garon then uses the analogy that rebels are like seeds and must be uprooted before they can start to grow.

Corrin still doesn’t understand which really tics Garon off. He tells Corrin that if he doesn’t brutally murder people against the kingdom, they’ll just grow until they overthrow the kingdom themselves including Corrin, the royal family, and Garon himself. It’s a simple kill or be killed world. Corrin seems to understand it this time which Garon responds with good and tells Corrin that there is an invading Hoshido Army heading towards whatever that port town’s name is and wants Corrin to lead the assault against them. He’s also sending Iago as an advisor to help Corrin learn the ways of war. Corrin is honored and will set off first thing in the morning. Garon stops Corrin for a moment and tells him to take Elise with him. Experiencing War first hand is better than any punishment he could think of.

Chapter 9 remains the exact same, except “People die when they are killed.” Other than how it starts and ends. Fort Dragonfall has been seized by Hoshidians. Iago then here’s word from a messenger that a rebellion in a nearby city is overtaking the patrol. Iago, seeing no other options, regrets leaving Corrin so soon, but this is urgent and he’ll rejoin him as soon as he can. After the battle, Elise is questioning if the Hoshidian’s really had to die here. Corrin tries to explain to her, but he struggles until Silas decides to step. He says that it’s a knight’s honor to defend the kingdom from invaders and that they’re willing to sacrifice everything for their kingdom. The same goes for the Hoshidian’s. It’s an ugly part of war, but killilng people is something that they’ll just have to accept before heading off to scout ahead.

Corrin still doubts murdering people is the only option and that there has to be another way. Azura then interrupts asking if Corrin is alright. He’s about to say something when Elise interrupts asking who this pretty lady is (somebody’s jealous). Corrin explains who Azura is in which the whole big sister conversation happens in which Elise bombards Azura with questions ending the chapter.

Chapter 10 remains the exact same other than “people die when they are killed.” Takumi then calls his men to grab any wounded and retreat seeing as they have no other option. Only other thing is that Camilla says she just happened to be nearby and decided to give Corrin some aid. When the chapter is over Camilla says that she wishes she could stay, but there are other duties she must attend to. However, she asks her retainers to take good care of Corrin. Azura also says she must part ways as there’s something she needs to check on. Corrin worries about her, but Azura says she’ll be fine.

The start of chapter 11 is a bunch of filler about climbing stairs so let’s skip that. Only other thing that happens is that Corrin worries about Takumi and how he felt so cold in that battle. When they reach the top, a soldier attacks them, in which a unit, probably Silas, attacks and kills them. His last words mention Princess Hinoka. This makes Corrin finally snap, ordering his men not to kill anyone. Silas stand up to him asking if he’s gone made. Corrin says that he can reason with Hinoka and to trust in him. Silas grumbles what he’s going to do with Corrin before reiterating what Corrin said to the army.

After the battle, Hinoka is surprised the Nohrians spared all of her men and asks why. Corrin simply says that there has to be a better way to end this war than killing someone (or some cliché line) and Hinoka thanks him before escaping. Corrin is about to reach the rainbow sage when Iago stops him. He says that he knew better than to trust Corrin. Seeing him let all those Hoshidians escape. He then attacks Corrin ready to kill him.

Suddenly, Kaze runs into the room, followed by Silas, saying that this is a complete misunderstanding. Iago asks why he should believe anything a Hoshidian says. Silas merely asks for Iago to listen to his story. Kaze explained that he is a spy working under Corrin to keep track of Hoshido’s movements in exchange for refugee under Nohr when he would need it after the war. He tricked Hinoka into going after the Rainbow Sage, knowing the climb, something hoshidians aren’t used to, would severely weaken her army. Iago says that’s nice and all, but it still doesn’t explain why Corrin let all those Hoshidians get away.

Kaze says that those Hoshidians didn’t get away. Corrin let them escape so that it would be easy to track an army heavily injured men instead of a few to find out where they’re hiding at. It’d be easy to pick them off with a surprise attack. Iago is about to say something, when Silas interrupts that Camilla is tracking them down as they speak. Iago still has his doubts, but given Nohr is losing the war right now, he has no choice but to hope they’re telling as he flees in order to report to the king. He warns Corrin to keep that Hoshidian away from the king just to be safe though. When he leaves, Corrin thanks Kaze for saving his butt with that lie, but Kaze says part of it is true as Camilla is following them so that they can kill those Hoshidian soldiers. Corrin wants to order Camilla to lose sight of them, but even Kaze says he should lay low for the time being given he was almost labled a traitor. Elise suggests they visit the sage and leave before anything else happens.

Then comes that whole Rainbow Sage stuff except it’s more like Birthright where he dies some point after Corrin visited him. I’m sorry for these cuts, but I’d have to add 10 or so pages to explain every part that happens in the story which most of you already know. Anyways, onto chapter 12. It’s pretty much the exact same story other than Xander is fighting in Hoshido and sent Peri and Laslow from all the way there. Ryoma is also suffering from his injury in Chapter 5 (which is why he’s weaker in this chapter), but says he can still fight. The only thing added to his dialogue is that Corrin would rather side with these merciless killers to slaughter a nation striving for peace. It’s a bit ironic given he doesn’t want to kill anyone.

(This is a good point to stop right now next part will be everything up until Corrin leaves on a Conquest)

Chapter 13-16

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With Elise better, Corrin is about to head back to the castle when Iago appears to give word to Corrin to head toward Cheve. Iago explains that the blasted ninja was right and that Hans and his men are already in battle and for Corrin to back him up. Corrin agrees and heads to Cheve (the again, this might make more sense in chapter 12…doesn’t really matter though)

Before Corrin arrives in Cheve, Scarlett and her group are seen fighting against the Hoshidians with Takumi as the lead. Suddenly, Hans and Camilla come in and attack some of the Cheve “rebels”. Scarlett is surprised saying there must be a misunderstanding, but Hans interrupts calling them traitorous scum. Takumi uses this opportunity to order Oboro and Hinata to go on ahead and clear a path. He’ll stay back to keep the Nohrian forces occupied. They worry about him, but Takumi says this is the only way they’ll survive.

Once Corrin arrives, Camilla flies over telling him he made it just in time. Takumi then orders his remaining men to ignore the Cheve Rebels and focus on attacking the Nohrian army. During the battle, Takumi has a battle quote that sounds like he’s dying, but after the battle, his body is nowhere to be seen (he faked dying to make an escape).

After the battle, Scarlett is seen being held down by two Nohrian soldiers just a few feet away from Corrin. She yells at him calling Corrin a traitor. Corrin is confused saying that Cheve was the ones who betrayed Nohr. She says they were, until Kilma told us of a hero who’d do whatever he could to not take lives. She believed this man could change Nohr forever which is why…she even turned down Ryoma’s marriage proposal (cough*birthright storyline*cough). But she regrets believing him as he’s just like the rest of the royals: A spineless monster willing to kill anything that moves. Corrin is about to say something, but Camilla stops saying that Corrin shouldn’t be believing in such little lies playing with his heart before beheading Scarlett off screen.

A fighter then appears reporting that a small force of Hoshidians escaped their grasp. Among them were two of the royal family. Corrin looks around wondering what happened to Takumi, but then sees Hans murdering the innocent Villagers cueing the Hans discussion like what happened in the original. He’s about to put a stop to it by attacking Hans, but Kaze warns him that he’s still on thin ice after what happened in the Rainbow Sage’s tower.

And now we get onto chapter 14. It all starts out the same with Corrin meeting with Leo. The only thing that really changes is Camillia still being in Cheve with Hans finishing off the rest of the Hoshidian and Cheve rebels. When they enter the opera house, Garon is waiting on the balcony which he greet Corrin and Leo. Garon starts off by saying he heard news that not only did Corrin’s brilliant plan work, but the fact he was able to wipe all the Cheve traitors as well has been a great feet. Due to his work, Hoshido had no choice but to completely withdraw from Nohr in which they can send a second force into Hoshido to aid Xander and his men. He then says that the honor should go to Corrin.

Corrin responds that he can’t accept and won’t accept. He says he witnessed Hans and the others brutally murdering Chevians who were allies as well as all those innocent bystanders not harming anyone. He says that this isn’t right and he wasn’t going to lead and army willing to do all these things. King Garon is about to explode when Leo interrupts saying that Corrin is stressed out and not thinking straight and that he should get some rest and time to think it over.

King Garon takes a deep breath saying Leo is probably right as he recalls his first campaign. He asks Iago if he ever told him that story, in which Iago responds saying he’s never told him anything about his younger days. Garon says that it was quite an adventure and by the end of it, he became so drunk 3 men had to carry him home. Iago asks if he’s all right seeing this sudden change in character, but Garon simply replies he’s just happy he raised such a fine, bloodthirsty son.

While Garon is a bit distracted, Leo pulls away asking what the hell is going through his mind. Corrin simply responds that none of this is right. Leo says that he should keep it locked up inside because Garon was just about to kill him. Corrin is about to ask Leo how he’s able to just take this when the performance is about to begin. The performance is the exact same, but afterwards, Iago orders for everyone to go after the dancer. Corrin is in disbelief realizing exactly who that dancer was (Azura) which leaves him completely puzzled. The Hoshidians come in, a suicide squad planning to assassinate Garon, and the whole find all the dancers and kill them craziness happens. Leo says he’ll try to save all the dancers he can and for Corrin try not to do anything stupid.

Corrin heads out into the forest and sees Azura, back in the white dress, walking into the lake. He reaches out for her which makes him get sucked into the vortex as well ending up in Valla. Azura is shocked saying Corrin needs to leave as soon as possible, but it’s too late. Corrin and Azura are surrounded by invisible soldiers in which Gunter appears in front of them killing soldiers to make an opening telling them to run. Corrin is about to ask something, but Gunter says he’ll explain later. After the fight, they jump off a cliff and Gunter explains his story before saying he wants to take a minute to look around.

Corrin has so many questions, but Azura says that she can’t tell him anything due to the curse and that it’s better this way since it’s her problem, not his. Corrin asks why, but she doesn’t respond. He then asks if there’s anything she can tell him. Azura hesitates for a moment saying he’s not going to like hearing this, but Corrin persists for her to tell him. Azura tells Corrin Garon isn’t the man who he thinks he is. Garon had received a great power from the dragon god, Anakanos, making him an immortal god. This power drove into madness, corrupting his soul now which he want to destroy both Hoshido and Nohr. She tried to cleanse his soul and bring him back, but Garon is far too gone at this point.

Corrin is still in disbelief in which Azura pulls out a crystal saying for him to see for himself. Corrin touches the crystal and sees a picture of Garon which turns into a black monster causing him to drop the crystal in shock. He says he’s sorry, but Azura says it’s okay as the crystal only works once anyways. Corrin, now believing her, asks what could possibly be done. Azura says that the only way to stop him is to kill him, but that isn’t possible so long as he stays in human form. She then says that perhaps it could be possible to win if he sits on Hoshido’s throne. Corrin remembers that it revealed all truths (or something like that) and given Garon is no longer a true human, it could force him into his true form.

Corrin says that Ryoma or Takumi need to hear this so that they can put an end to the war, but Azura says that she can’t say anything seeing as she’s branded as a traitor. He then suggests Xander or Leo, but Azura says they’ll try to kill her seeing as she put a “curse” on Garon. Corrin is about to suggest someone else, when Azura says that there’s only one person who can stop Garon: him. Corrin says that there has to be some mistake given he’s nothing more than a cowardly monster responsible for so many innocent lives being taken. Azura then asks the name of the sword by Corrin’s side in which he answers the Yato. She says the Yato chose him for a reason and she believes that he can do it. Unfortunately, Azura says she has to leave seeing as time was running up. Corrin is confused at what she meant, but didn’t even get a chance to ask before she runs off. Gunter appears teasing a bit about Corrin and Azura are two great lovebirds, in which Corrin says he’s not in the mood and they need to get back to the others as soon as possible.

Chapter 16 starts out with Corrin meeting up with Garon, Iago, and most of the Royal family. Garon is happy to see Gunter return after his presumed death at Bottomless Peak. The others are glad to see him and Elise says she was so worried about him when he just suddenly disappeared for a few days. Corrin says that he just needed some time to think about Garon’s offer. He then faces Garon saying that he is honored to be leading the Nohrian army and is ready to depart at any time. Garon is quite pleased, but Iago is very suspicious at the sudden change of heart. Gunter says that he knocked some sense into little Corrin in which Garon accepts as a good reason for such a change. He then orders Camilla, Leo, and Elise to go with Corrin seeing as Xander may need all the help he can get to bring Hoshido to a swift end.

The next scene is of the port (minus the whole Xander join thing) in which Iago hands Corrin some war funds before taking off. During the ride, Corrin asks Camilla, seeing that she’s the oldest, what Garon was like seeing as he never really got to know him. Camilla explains that he was a lot different when she was really young and the death of her mother seemed to really change him…even to the point he got really sick in which everyone believed he would die. After that point, he seemed to be a bit more cruel kind of what he was like today. Corrin then realizes that Azura’s story is true and that Garon really is a demon. Leo then says they have trouble as some of the war funds are missing just as the ship is being attacked by pirates. Y’all know the rest of the story, except Shura doesn’t talk about Azura and Yukimara when he joins.

(And we’re at another good stopping point. I know I didn’t really explain the whole, why doesn’t Corrin tell the royal family what’s going on which is better explained next chapter. I love this next chapter too).

[Chase]

I was about to worry about necroposting - but then I realized that you European folks don't have the game released yet, so I'm going to proudly say I'm not a "late adapter" or a dirty necroposter. Take that, auth! Don't worry over across the pond though. It's around the corner for you guys.

Also - I'm going to refer to the game as 'Fates' and as a singular edition of the story - with 'Birthright', 'Conquest', and 'Revelation' indicating the different routes of the game. Why? - because I'm directly appealing to the complete and utter novices to the franchise like myself who may be considering jumping into the pool on this one.

So.

I am probably the last person on the planet that would have even considered purchasing a Fire Emblem game. When it comes to games that involve combat, I prefer to control the individual in the fight as opposed to directing the entire battle from a bird's eye view. I don't like having to do math as I play games (or in general), and I don't like looking at 400 something HUDs in order to get a reading as to what course of action I should take next.

I also don't normally bite on the whole "waifu sim" business because I don't have a penchant for Japanese animation like a lot of the community does - meaning that both the gameplay -and- the characters should be duds if I were to judge Fates by it's cover.

Thankfully - there's one redeeming quality about this Fire Emblem installment that goes to show Intelligent Systems and Nintendo can make an appeal to gamers outside of the target demographic - and that's the illusion of choice. Fates' story is very much written by the player and not so much by the developer - and as a player who likes to feel in control that was enough to be able to reel me in.

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The player - controlling the kidnapped prince(ss) Corrin - is the ultimate driver of the events littered throughout the conflict between the peaceful eastern territory of Hoshido, inspired by Asian historical merit from weapons to culture to architecture, and the imperial kingdom of Nohr - a Western European inspired region that depends on war in order to generate it's economy, but mostly in order to satisfy the wishes of a corrupt monarch. Depending on the choice made, the story changes about a sixth of the way into the game from an inflection point. This is why 'Fates' is simply one game - along with the manner of which hardware/software is to be discussed later on. There is also a third option - the option of neutrality, which unfortunately doesn't pan out initially.

The 'choice' may seem genuine, but for a novice, the gameplay mechanics vary depending on the route - encouraging players to identify their strengths and buy the 'Fates' game cartridge most accommodating to them.

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Birthright is the game's best route to take as a beginner because it's very friendly towards the player in terms of mechanics. Most of the missions (if not all) are simply 'Rout the Enemy' or 'Defeat the Boss'. It also returns 'Awakening's ability to initiate skirmishes and farm gold and experience - along with developing character relationships at an easy rate the player can control. If you are one who - like me - doesn't know their way around a tactical role player when they think about buying one - then bite the bullet and steel yourself to defend Hoshido.

Conquest is the game's love letter to the FE fandom - mirroring older titles in the franchise as opposed to 'Awakening' in gameplay. Missions have a bunch of interesting win conditions - and your resources are limited with no ability to grind whatsoever. If you are a novice like me - get this route as DLC after playing Birthright long enough to feel better acquainted. - It still will be a challenge and you are rewarded with the ability to serve as a double agent within Nohr - fighting off Hoshido while working on the inside to overthrow Nohr's malevolent crown. If you side with Nohr, it means you have a whole new set of characters to fight and gain support levels with. If you've played older Fire Emblem titles and feel up for a scrap - then you may get away with buying this route at the store as your first foray into 'Fates'.

Revelation is the...uh.....ideally Switzerland route where Corrin puts his/her foot down and declines fighting for either faction. Intelligent Systems also boldly mashes the cast of characters -and- the mechanics of Birthright and Conquest into it's own beautiful love child - complete with a third angle on the Hoshidan-Nohrian conflict that holds several new plot points. Birthright retains it's player-friendly farming traits while Conquest offers up it's unique win conditions to make a middle-of-the-road difficulty - but as far as story is concerned alone - this route should be bought as DLC by EVERYONE and -not- be the first way anyone plays 'Fates'.

After I was hooked by the "decision-making" of my own character - I quickly reflected as to what I liked about 'Fates' and decided that YES - if you're on the fence about buying this one - do it.

Themes:

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Imperfection - Both warring kingdoms have signs of fault within them. Nohr's is very much plain to the eye. It's a kingdom that is ruled by a power-hungry leader and is aggressively pressing it's neighbor by sending evil beings conjured by dark mages across the border. It's a state under nearly total darkness with scarce plant-life and treacherous terrain. The Nohrian royal family is wrought by the whims of the patriarch and thus there is social outcasting or at least frayed strings within it. The concepts of killing and murder seem to be trivial to many of the state's major characters.

Hoshido however - has it's ulcers beneath the skin. As a decentralized kingdom - not all of it's inhabitants are loyal to the royal family enough to prevent insurgency, which is a major problem with Nohr attempting to breach the border from all sides. While on the surface looking morally justified, Hoshido seems to suffer from pride of it's own - kidnapping a character (Azura) from Nohr in response to Corrin's kidnapping in order to try and forcibly offer a ransom. the Hoshidan royal family tends to hold trust issues.

Lineage or Experience - Corrin - for those of you that want a little bit of background - is a character that has some serious parentage issues. They are the offspring of a dragon and a Hoshidan princess and therefore spent their infancy in Hoshido. They are then taken by King Garon as the spoils of regicide after the Hoshidan king is killed.

This means that Corrin has ties to both kingdoms. What you pick up on in Chapter 1 (aptly entitled Nohr) is that while the character is born in Hoshido their upbringing (and therefore most of their memories) are wrought in Nohr. The Nohrians and the Hoshidans are referred to as 'brother and sister' regardless of which route you play. This means - the choice that is ultimately made based on where the player's values lie (or dependent on the game cartridge if you haven't purchased all routes) regarding bloodline and being raised by a particular group of people. This is incredibly effective with Fire Emblem because you genuinely feel hurt having to pick a side. Thankfully, Corrin is a kindred spirit.

Historical Reliability - One of the hallmarks of European civilization is an era referred to as the 'Dark Ages' - or the Medieval period. Nohr - the western Europe clone in the game - is constantly under a shroud of apparent darkness and is ruled by a malevolent ruler. The era on Earth featured a ton of wars of feudalism and annexation of territory, which again - is Nohr's specialty. Finally, the living conditions during the time period were very porous, considered an actual "step back" from the classical era of history in that area of the globe. Through Corrin's dialogue and the apparent contrast in prosperity between both kingdoms, Nohr seems to be literally "roughing it."

Hoshido checks out too. One of the things that comes to mind when addressing Asian history is the word "dynasty" - which often differs from the Western civilization of the time period because a particular trait of dynastys was that they were much longer in lifespan than kingdoms of the West. This is because Dynastys were more insular than western kingdoms and had a high emphasis on innovation and defense when it came to warfare. Hoshido is very clearly starting off on the defensive side of the war effort in 'Fates' - and it's architecture and weaponry is unique and considerably more diverse than the armory Nohr offers. Finally, the Light contrasts with Nohr's dark in that Asian culture has a high emphasis on truths and honor -a character will literally commit seppuku in the game if you defeat them!

and so much more...

[Cepheus]

Ok, I can finally write in here, since it has finally arrived in EU and I've played Birthrights now up to Chapter 12 - so I've still got way to go but there is something I wanted to get of:

if FE:Fates Birthright and Conquest would be on the same cartridge - as in, you actually would have to choose ingame which path you take, instead of in the store, and would have no idea that you even have to choose...

WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND would side with Nohr?

I mean - the King kidnapped you, put you in isolation, and generally treated you like he would have any other "Hoshido-scum", except killing you right away. Your Nohrian 'siblings' KNEW about that, and blatantly lied to you your whole life.

Then when you show mercy to the Hoshido prisoners (well because you are a good guy and don't actually like killing, because you are Hoshido, and not a Nohrian-brute) - he punishes you and sends you on a suicide mission, with a cursed sword.

And your Nohrian siblings (at least the older ones) seem to know what was going on, because of their reaction when they saw the sword he gave to you.

and then you get captured by Hoshido, and the people there (except Takumi) treat you like an actual PERSON.

You meet Azura, the Nohrian Princess, who got kidnapped as revenge - but seemingly Nohr didn't care at all!

(since there was no talk about there being any attempts to rescue her, and Leo didn't seem to even recognize her when he came to kill Zola in Izumo, because he failed - but this is comes later and you wouldn't know by now - I really hope there is something about rescuing attempts for Azura in the Nohrian-story... or else I loose my last bit of respect for them)

and even she said that Nohr is a terrible place, and would rather live in Hoshido, where she is free to do what she wants and actually live in peace, instead of constant war-training and war-mongering!

and the argument that Corrin brings - "I've lived there my whole live, and I liked it there..." doesn't really count... ALL s/he ever saw was the Fortress he was isolated in, and a bit of the Castle. - s/he knows NOTHING about Nohr.

and then the cursed blade takes action and destroys the entire marketplace, and kills everyone in it's wake - and would have even killed you, if your mother wouldn't have protected you.

Then you come to the fields and the conflict of choosing your side - and here Xander even ackknowledges that he knew that the King killed the Hoshido-King/your father and kidnapped you - therefore that he and everyone else was lying to you your whole life.

So, who in their right mind would IGNORE all those horrible facts about them and join them in their war against that peace-loving country, who treated you like a person and abondon the last bit of humanity you have left. - you'd need to be a huge delusional ... ... (from the perspective of Corrin)

I know that I WILL play the Nohrian side when I'm finished with Birthright... but I know already that I won't like making that choice at that point of the game. Maybe their story has more details... but seriously, all those horrible things are just in the prologue-chapters.

[TheMadDoktor]

  On 3/24/2016 at 6:18 AM, Pyrrhon said:

WHEN YOU FINALLY BEAT CONQUEST ON LUNATIC MODE FULLY GG WP EXCEPT FUCK THE LAST MAP TO HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLL.

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THIS MAP IS BULLSHIT INCARNATE. YOU'VE GOT 5 ENFEEBLE STAFF USERS ON THE MAP STACKING DEBUFFS ON YOU PUTTING YOU AT -20 IN ALL STATS, NINJAS DEBUFFING YOU, OP PALADINS AND BOW KNIGHTS, FUCKING GENERALS, MALIG KNIGHTS AND WORST OF ALL. FUCKING. HEXING. ROD. GUY. HE WILL SNIPE YOU AS YOU HIT THE END STRETCH FIILLED WITH 12+ UNITS THAT ARE BEEFY AS HELL. THIS MAP IS GARBAGE. THE BOSS SUCKS TOO. THE AOE KNOCKS OUT HALF YOUR HEALTH, THE INFINITE FACELESS WOMBO COMBO YOU AND THE DEBUFFS GO OFF THE FUCKING CHARTS! UUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

K, so I've mostly got it out of my system. Let me tell you exactly what you need to beat this map. You will need: Rescue Staff. Don't have one? Fuck you. Three Silence staffs can help. Don't have three? Have fun getting through debuff hell alive. A Rally bot? Get as many fucking rally skills as you can and just try to get as many breaker skills on one unit as possible, buff them up, silence the debuffers and just have everything suicide on them. Don't have any of these things. You either need to suicide bomb your way to the boss or get lucky trying. If you can not do any of these things, this map is a bust, you're dead. Done for. No way to beat it, trust me, I tried 11 times.

DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE FACT YOU CAN'T SAVE. This means if you lose you have to play through chapter 27 again. Chapter 27 is easy as shit, but it takes much more time than it should. FUCK! THIS! MAP!

With all this said, I'll give the map this. It is the hardest fucking fire emblem map I've ever played and the only one ever where I've just accepted the death of not one, but three units. May God have mercy on their souls. Xander, Percy and Camilla, you all did so fucking good in this run and none of conquest lunatic would've been possible without you three. I'm actually crying now because these three were definitely the biggest MVPs of the whole team from chapters 20-Endgame.

Thoughts? Goopy Garon was kind of cool, and his special dialogue about Anankos while fighting Corrin leads me to believe this shit goes much much deeper in Revelations. Finally the big plot twist. There are huge huge spoilers below so read at your own risk.

This chapter did not make me hate Takumi. This chapter only further fueled my love for the amazing character he was. The cutscene even parallels the cutscene from chapter 10 and it's beautiful. The part where you, "nearly die" is great as well. and the music. OH MY GOD THE MUSIC. I Would not have been able to push through this map had it not been for the god-like music. End of All is a much better final battle theme then Id-Purpose by miles. The ending of the game is nice. I don't really have a lot of words on it tho except for rip Azura.

Finally, I'd like to dedicate the last part of this spoiler to chapter MVPS after 6 and my favorite characters. So lets get to it.

Chapter 7: Corrin and Felecia

Chapter 8: Felecia and Arthur

Chapter 9: Arthur and Effie

Chapter 10: Corrin and Felecia

Chapter 11: Niles and Camilla

Chapter 12: Arthur and Effie

Chapter 13: Corrin and Felecia

Chapter 14: Keaton and Charlotte

Chapter 15: Corrin and Gunter

Chapter 16: Elise and Odin

Chapter 17: Selena and Laslow

Chapter 18: Keaton and Charlotte

Chapter 19: Keaton and Charlotte

Chapter 20: Shigure and Sophie

Chapter 21: Corrin and Felecia

Chapter 22: Niles and Nina

Chapter 23: Peri and Xander

Chapter 24: Corrin and Felecia

Chapter 25: Camilla and Nina

Chapter 26: Percy and Midori

Chapter 27: Corrin and Azura

Endgame: Siegbert and Soleil

My favorite characters in Conquest have to be Niles, Odin, Selena, Laslow, Benny, Sophie, Midori, Percy, Ophelia, Ignatius, Arthur, Keaton, Velouria, Shura, Nina and omfl. Here are my two favorites. Soleil because she's just the most fucking adorable character in the game and I just can't get over how amazing she is as a character too. Her map is amazing as well. My other favorite? Takumi of course. Someone had to play the villain in this route and it was Takumi and holy shit what an amazing villain he was because in the end, he wasn't even a villain. He started for me as a character I loved to hate, then I played chapter 23 and oh my fucking god, his retainers and just him in general made me feel for his character. He is in my opinion, one of the best characters in this game. If I had to choose anymore as "favorites" it'd be Lilith and Iago. Iago is a fucker that I reallllllllly love hating and Lilith is best dragon and I'm really sad she had to die :[

That wraps it up for conquest lunatic mode. I'll get Birthright next and I'll be playing it on Lunatic mode as well. Maybe in the future I'll write up a full guide on Lunatic mode for this game. Until then, see you all around.

Done it. Won't do it again. GGNORE.

[Chase]

  On 5/22/2016 at 8:08 AM, Cepheus said:

Ok, I can finally write in here, since it has finally arrived in EU and I've played Birthrights now up to Chapter 12 - so I've still got way to go but there is something I wanted to get of:

if FE:Fates Birthright and Conquest would be on the same cartridge - as in, you actually would have to choose ingame which path you take, instead of in the store, and would have no idea that you even have to choose...

WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND would side with Nohr?

I mean - the King kidnapped you, put you in isolation, and generally treated you like he would have any other "Hoshido-scum", except killing you right away. Your Nohrian 'siblings' KNEW about that, and blatantly lied to you your whole life.

Then when you show mercy to the Hoshido prisoners (well because you are a good guy and don't actually like killing, because you are Hoshido, and not a Nohrian-brute) - he punishes you and sends you on a suicide mission, with a cursed sword.

And your Nohrian siblings (at least the older ones) seem to know what was going on, because of their reaction when they saw the sword he gave to you.

and then you get captured by Hoshido, and the people there (except Takumi) treat you like an actual PERSON.

You meet Azura, the Nohrian Princess, who got kidnapped as revenge - but seemingly Nohr didn't care at all!

(since there was no talk about there being any attempts to rescue her, and Leo didn't seem to even recognize her when he came to kill Zola in Izumo, because he failed - but this is comes later and you wouldn't know by now - I really hope there is something about rescuing attempts for Azura in the Nohrian-story... or else I loose my last bit of respect for them)

and even she said that Nohr is a terrible place, and would rather live in Hoshido, where she is free to do what she wants and actually live in peace, instead of constant war-training and war-mongering!

and the argument that Corrin brings - "I've lived there my whole live, and I liked it there..." doesn't really count... ALL s/he ever saw was the Fortress he was isolated in, and a bit of the Castle. - s/he knows NOTHING about Nohr.

and then the cursed blade takes action and destroys the entire marketplace, and kills everyone in it's wake - and would have even killed you, if your mother wouldn't have protected you.

Then you come to the fields and the conflict of choosing your side - and here Xander even ackknowledges that he knew that the King killed the Hoshido-King/your father and kidnapped you - therefore that he and everyone else was lying to you your whole life.

So, who in their right mind would IGNORE all those horrible facts about them and join them in their war against that peace-loving country, who treated you like a person and abondon the last bit of humanity you have left. - you'd need to be a huge delusional ... ... (from the perspective of Corrin)

I know that I WILL play the Nohrian side when I'm finished with Birthright... but I know already that I won't like making that choice at that point of the game. Maybe their story has more details... but seriously, all those horrible things are just in the prologue-chapters.

Hoshido isn't exactly filled with sunshine and rainbows either (Azura being kidnapped at all in retaliation doesn't exactly show that Hoshido is treating this in the best faith possible.) - that being said, those that side with Nohr usually don't grip their moral compass as tightly as those in Hoshido do.

• Starting with the most obvious of reasons people go Conquest - it's a higher stakes, strict return to previous titles in the franchise pre-Awakening. People enjoy the challenge, and to be quite frank, the many various objectives the Conquest route offers as opposed to 'Rout the Enemy' or 'Defeat the Boss' all the time is more engaging to some players. For people that dislike grinding - Conquest is a game that punishes you for doing so much in the same way Reborn does.
• You can S-Support Camilla in this route, and you can't in Birthright (having to actually defeat her - twice - instead.)
• Apart from Camilla, the rest of the Nohrian roster is as a much deeper in contrast to your Hoshidan army in terms of options and character depth.

Finally, I will say this.

You're judging Conquest based on the characterization of the Nohrian royal family as your enemy (or the 'Birthright' interpretation) - Without revealing the skinny - Conquest's storyline will explain Conquest Corrin's value and likewise those of your adoptive family and nation.

TL:DR - Birthright and Conquest are very much arguably "different games" within the same cartridge - with differing mechanics -and- rosters -and- a story that even those that side with the Light over the Dark can appreciate.

However, both of us should probably kill Garon with our Hoshidan pals first. ^^

[Cobalt996]

  On 5/22/2016 at 8:08 AM, Cepheus said:

Ok, I can finally write in here, since it has finally arrived in EU and I've played Birthrights now up to Chapter 12 - so I've still got way to go but there is something I wanted to get of:

if FE:Fates Birthright and Conquest would be on the same cartridge - as in, you actually would have to choose ingame which path you take, instead of in the store, and would have no idea that you even have to choose...

WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND would side with Nohr?

[Lot 'o text]

In truth, I'd have sided with Hoshido only because my favorite characters (Seen in Prologue, since I had no exposure to the prerelease info of Fates) were on Hoshido's side. Since that was a flimsy reason at best, I sided with Nohr. I'd defend my reasoning (or even state it) but I have no wish to start any arguing war.

[Chase]

@ Cephus - Once you pay for a game cartridge, you can get the other routes at a cheaper price as DLC from the game itself.

So, if you bought Birthright - you would select 'Branch of Fate' in the opening menu and from there you can purchase Conquest and Revelation - saving you a few bucks and completing 'Fates' as a whole if you want - or just pay for the other two routes as you complete the previous one.

@ Cobalt -

A little argument is healthy. I don't think Cephus would take offense to dialogue that merely disagrees with them. Just be mindful to avoid spoiling the route for him in the process!

[Ikaru]

Without spoiling anything I will tell you that siding with Nohr is not as terrible a choice as it seems.

[Cepheus]

  On 5/22/2016 at 5:38 PM, Chase said:

Hoshido isn't exactly filled with sunshine and rainbows either (Azura being kidnapped at all in retaliation doesn't exactly show that Hoshido is treating this in the best faith possible.) - that being said, those that side with Nohr usually don't grip their moral compass as tightly as those in Hoshido do.

• Starting with the most obvious of reasons people go Conquest - it's a higher stakes, strict return to previous titles in the franchise pre-Awakening. People enjoy the challenge, and to be quite frank, the many various objectives the Conquest route offers as opposed to 'Rout the Enemy' or 'Defeat the Boss' all the time is more engaging to some players. For people that dislike grinding - Conquest is a game that punishes you for doing so much in the same way Reborn does.
• You can S-Support Camilla in this route, and you can't in Birthright (having to actually defeat her - twice - instead.)
• Apart from Camilla, the rest of the Nohrian roster is as a much deeper in contrast to your Hoshidan army in terms of options and character depth.

Finally, I will say this.

You're judging Conquest based on the characterization of the Nohrian royal family as your enemy (or the 'Birthright' interpretation) - Without revealing the skinny - Conquest's storyline will explain Conquest Corrin's value and likewise those of your adoptive family and nation.

TL:DR - Birthright and Conquest are very much arguably "different games" within the same cartridge - with differing mechanics -and- rosters -and- a story that even those that side with the Light over the Dark can appreciate.

However, both of us should probably kill Garon with our Hoshidan pals first. ^^

those are all Gameplay reasons why someone would play Conquest/Nohr

I chose Birthright first, because I liked Awakening and like the possibility of grinding up - and I hated it in earlier FEs when some character would fall way behind and get one-shotted later (the higher stakes you mentioned) - yeah Gameplay-reason why I initially chose Birthright, but full knowing I would play Conquest and Revelation after that.

But if those gameplay differences wouldn't be there? like both would be straight forward or be able to grind (let's say you would be able to choose that mode, unrelated to the path you take) - how would you decide if you were in Corrins place?

on that Decision moment, if I had both games initially (and wouldn't have chosen to play Birthright first), I would have been overwhelmed by how evil Nohr is (AT THAT POINT OF THE GAME), and would have chosen Hoshido, even if I hadn't made up my mind at the store...

I mean - be Corrin for a moment - You've been essentially THREATENED WITH DEATH by your FATHER! - for showing mercy to some prisoners.

You've been send on a scouting, mission by your father, who send a bloodlusty murderer with you, whom he gave the mission start essentially start the war, who then tried to kill you when you are trying to retreat from the mess he created! (second death-threat) - which results in becoming a suicide mission with a Weapon of Mass-destruction into the heart of the opposing Capital! (third potential death!)

You learn that you've been lied to your whole live, which is confirmed by the person you saw as your Big Brother - and even worse, right now he is threatening you with death, if you don't come back to him. - FOURTH DEATH THREAT!

up until that point, you've been threatened with/by death FOUR-FREAKIN'-TIMES by Nohrians - 3 times by family!!! (that explosion was the cursed sword given to you by the king... so that counts towards him)

Hell they even, somehow, blocked your memory from everything before you got to Nohr. (Azura can remember anything! - you can't even remember your best childhood friend...)

would YOU(!) go back to that family if you were in that situation??

Up to that decision point, all of Nohrs actions had been REJECTING the player ("I would have you killed, if you weren't my son..." - upon showing mercy in Chapt.2)

while Hoshidos actions were WELCOMING the player (except Takumi) - and yeah, as I said even Azura doesn't really want to go back to Nohr, and rather live in Hoshido.

(yeah they kidnapped her in retaliation, but Hoshido was desperate and wanted something to negotiate over! but they still let her roam rather free after Nohr didn't seem to care)

and until now - this is ALL just from the prologue which is supposed to be identical in all versions!

Now I only know about Birthright by now... but currently Nohr is warmongering to its fullest... and even at the Operahouse where Azura sings for the Nohrian Royal family (even though under a spell... that spy TOLD THEM IT WAS AZURA!) - They don't seem to care about her... it might be different in Conquest... but I want to see that for myself.

and really?

S-ranking Camilla as a reason to play Conquest... *sigh*... "oh this one has the biggest rack - I have to romance her" (totally ignoring that she *is* your [adoptive-]SISTER)

it is creepy enough that you can S-Rank your blood-relative sisters in Birthright... (although Sakura is a cutie) - I'd rather not go there... but... different times, I guess...

If I would play a femal-Avatar I would romance Silas... yeah... childhood-friend cliche but whatever, at least they would have some kind of backstory together

[Marcello]

  On 5/22/2016 at 8:08 AM, Cepheus said:

if FE:Fates Birthright and Conquest would be on the same cartridge - as in, you actually would have to choose ingame which path you take, instead of in the store, and would have no idea that you even have to choose...

WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND would side with Nohr?

It's funny, I'm a fair ways through my playthrough, and when I got to the split way back when my first thought was pretty much exactly the opposite of you. 'If I was in this situation I wouldn't even FLINCH about choosing Nohr, who in their right mind would choose Hoshido?'

I mean... The Nohr siblings are your FAMILY. Sure, there's no blood there, but family is really nothing to do with blood. These are the family you grew up with. Sure, it's really very apparent from the first few chapters that Garon is a massive arsehole. But the Nohr siblings aren't. Nohr as a nation isn't. Just it's ruler (Which admittedly does reflect really badly on Nohr as a nation). I'd take loving family over loving (and somewhat overbearing) strangers any day, even if Garon seems like a pretty bad egg, I found I had no real motivation to stay with Hoshido. The only people there that endeared themselves to me where the Queen and Takumi (The Queen for obvious reasons, Takumi because he had the most 'normal' reaction out of everyone.)

I admit, I was intending to play Conquest from the get go anyway, because long-time series fan and stuff, but I actually wanted to make the choice by the time the split came, too (And I got a bundle thing on it so I actually DID have the choice). Honestly, for a kingdom with a nasty king, you probably want as many nice princes & princesses as you can get your hands on, anyway. Many chapters in, I'd say I'm very happy with the siding with Nohr. (apart from the occasional really frustrating chapter).