-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Is Fire Emblem Fates worth it?
- Thread starter TheXbox
- Start date
Fates isn't as bad as everyone here is making it out to be.
Birthright is basically Awakening with better combat but a slightly more boring story.
Conquest has excellent gameplay but the story is the worst of the bunch.
Revelation is somewhere in the middle. The story isn't great, but the gameplay isn't as good as Conquest.
I still enjoy playing them though. I would start with Birthright, and if you don't like it then you can stop there, but if you enjoy it, then the other routes will be worth it. Most Fire Emblems have just a passable story anyway, so gameplay wise you'll enjoy these game quite a bit. The kids stuff can be ignored entirely without missing anything substantial.
Birthright is basically Awakening with better combat but a slightly more boring story.
Conquest has excellent gameplay but the story is the worst of the bunch.
Revelation is somewhere in the middle. The story isn't great, but the gameplay isn't as good as Conquest.
I still enjoy playing them though. I would start with Birthright, and if you don't like it then you can stop there, but if you enjoy it, then the other routes will be worth it. Most Fire Emblems have just a passable story anyway, so gameplay wise you'll enjoy these game quite a bit. The kids stuff can be ignored entirely without missing anything substantial.
Fates' story is irredeemably bad. It's amazing to me how bad it is. Like, not sure I've experienced a worst story/writing/pacing in my life than conquest's, that's how bad it is. That said, I enjoyed the supports well enough, and the gameplay/music/style is amazing (especially conquest). So...I still recommend it...? I had a blast, personally.
I think I like Valentia more, because the story is functional and I like the maps just fine, but many people hate the maps. Oh, and it has voice acting like Three Houses, which I love.
The older FEs are great but you'll miss all the quality of life stuff of newer games. FE6-7 have ridiculous sidequest requirements with zero in-game hint and no explanation of what you did right/wrong. You'll need a guide open at all times and you'll need to read ahead to get everything. You can only buy weapons if there's a store in the chapter you're on. Inventory management is a pain. No rewinds. Raising support levels suck and there's a frustrating 5 support level limit per character, which means you can only max one person per character per playthrough. And the supports are much shorter.
I think old FEs all need remakes.
I think I like Valentia more, because the story is functional and I like the maps just fine, but many people hate the maps. Oh, and it has voice acting like Three Houses, which I love.
The older FEs are great but you'll miss all the quality of life stuff of newer games. FE6-7 have ridiculous sidequest requirements with zero in-game hint and no explanation of what you did right/wrong. You'll need a guide open at all times and you'll need to read ahead to get everything. You can only buy weapons if there's a store in the chapter you're on. Inventory management is a pain. No rewinds. Raising support levels suck and there's a frustrating 5 support level limit per character, which means you can only max one person per character per playthrough. And the supports are much shorter.
I think old FEs all need remakes.
If you found Three Houses' writing to be questionable, then absolutely not. Fates is legitimately one of the worst games I've ever played.
Let me put it this way - the reason why there are no constant Hoshido vs. Nohr debates in a similar vein to the Edelgard vs. Rhea debates isn't because Fates' story is particularly different to that of Three Houses conceptually, it's because every single storytelling decision in Fates was executed in the worst possible manner.
Gameplay wise, whilst people will cite Conquest as having good map design (which I don't disagree with), I'd argue that overall, Three Houses has better map design than Fates - Birthright and Revelation are just that bad in this regard.
Whilst I do feel that Echoes is slightly weaker than Three Houses in every major aspect, it is still a great game that's very much worth playing (and its map design has been overexaggerated by the FE community).
Let me put it this way - the reason why there are no constant Hoshido vs. Nohr debates in a similar vein to the Edelgard vs. Rhea debates isn't because Fates' story is particularly different to that of Three Houses conceptually, it's because every single storytelling decision in Fates was executed in the worst possible manner.
Gameplay wise, whilst people will cite Conquest as having good map design (which I don't disagree with), I'd argue that overall, Three Houses has better map design than Fates - Birthright and Revelation are just that bad in this regard.
Whilst I do feel that Echoes is slightly weaker than Three Houses in every major aspect, it is still a great game that's very much worth playing (and its map design has been overexaggerated by the FE community).
Last edited:
Pretty much echoing most of the posts, the story and most characters are a disaster in the three versions. However, the Conquest version has excellent map design and mechanics and, I would argue, is worth playing for that reason (it has the stupidest story of all three though). Music is excellent though.
Honestly, I would much more recommend you play Shadows of Valentia, its really an excellent remake with a very robust, even if its pretty formulaic, story and fantastic music. The map design is not great but the gameplay mechanic is pretty unique and fun. It was also the first time that a Fire Emblem game was fully voice acted and its was done shockingly well. And its the best looking 3DS Fire Emblem.
Honestly, I would much more recommend you play Shadows of Valentia, its really an excellent remake with a very robust, even if its pretty formulaic, story and fantastic music. The map design is not great but the gameplay mechanic is pretty unique and fun. It was also the first time that a Fire Emblem game was fully voice acted and its was done shockingly well. And its the best looking 3DS Fire Emblem.
I personally can't recommend the game to anyone, after being a fan of the series since I played my very first Fire Emblem game in the early 2000's as a kid it's the game that nearly made me quit the series. Between the story, the writing (much, much worse than Three Houses which I personally found fairly good but you mentioned not caring for it's writing), the characters, the character designs (ugh), the "petting" minigame, the lack of variety in battle map objectives (most are simply route all enemies or reach spot x) and more. I was a little down on awakening especially after the long wait between it and Radiant Dawn but it was still a much better game than the Fates games. Bought the special edition of Fates with all 3 routes in 1 cartridge and was very excited but there's just very little positive things I can say about the game.
If you want to play another 3DS Fire Emblem game I highly suggest Shadows of Valencia. It's writing, story and more feel like a massive calling back to older games in the series, especially writing wise but with modern improvements and enhancements.
If you want to play another 3DS Fire Emblem game I highly suggest Shadows of Valencia. It's writing, story and more feel like a massive calling back to older games in the series, especially writing wise but with modern improvements and enhancements.
If you want satisfying and addictive combat Fates is your game.
It's got the most interesting implementation of the weapon triangle, and has tons of truly amazing and interesting maps.
If you are going to play just one, go with conquest. But if you do play them all, I'd start with Birthright. Unlike Three Houses where there is a great deal of overlap between the maps in each route, the each path in Fates has its own flavour.
As a side note regarding difficulty, challenge, hard mode (in conquest especially) is more difficult than Awakening's, and much more difficult than that of Three Houses. It's a blast though, and can really get you thinking on some maps.
It's got the most interesting implementation of the weapon triangle, and has tons of truly amazing and interesting maps.
If you are going to play just one, go with conquest. But if you do play them all, I'd start with Birthright. Unlike Three Houses where there is a great deal of overlap between the maps in each route, the each path in Fates has its own flavour.
As a side note regarding difficulty, challenge, hard mode (in conquest especially) is more difficult than Awakening's, and much more difficult than that of Three Houses. It's a blast though, and can really get you thinking on some maps.
I enjoyed Fates well enough
the story was a total mess but the map design in Conquest was pretty fun and that's really what I mostly care about in these
Valentia had some pretty lame maps so I wasn't really a fan of that one
been a long time since i've played the GBA games so not sure how they hold up but I remember them being pretty good(less so Sacred Stones but still)
the story was a total mess but the map design in Conquest was pretty fun and that's really what I mostly care about in these
Valentia had some pretty lame maps so I wasn't really a fan of that one
been a long time since i've played the GBA games so not sure how they hold up but I remember them being pretty good(less so Sacred Stones but still)
Story is bad :
Birthright is the most straightforward but is pretty meh, even more than Awakening. Barely half-decent.
Conquest tries some stuff, but ends up being a gigantic load of wtf.
Revelations is all fanservice.
Gameplay is good :
Birthright is "vanilla", as in "is like Awakening". Generally seen as a bit "bland".
Conquest is much more "old school". Generally seen as great.
Revelations is gimmicky. I like it. Others don't.
Birthright is the most straightforward but is pretty meh, even more than Awakening. Barely half-decent.
Conquest tries some stuff, but ends up being a gigantic load of wtf.
Revelations is all fanservice.
Gameplay is good :
Birthright is "vanilla", as in "is like Awakening". Generally seen as a bit "bland".
Conquest is much more "old school". Generally seen as great.
Revelations is gimmicky. I like it. Others don't.
Play Conquest, it's the best of the bunch: best gameplay of the recent FE, I loved it. The plot is really really bad, so go all in only for gameplay.
I liked the entirety of Fates a lot, but I can't say is a game that I can recommend.
Also, play Echoes, it's a remake of a mainline game
I liked the entirety of Fates a lot, but I can't say is a game that I can recommend.
Also, play Echoes, it's a remake of a mainline game
The base concept was actually decent.
Three-act story, one per "game" :
1 / Introduction / Play as the "good guys" / Discover the game world/setting.
2 / Development / Play as the "bad guys" / Add a whole load of complexity/morally grey areas to that setting.
3 / Denouement / "Avengers assemble!" / Resolve the whole thing with a "golden ending".
It just failed miserably as ... well ... poor writing and all that.
Three-act story, one per "game" :
1 / Introduction / Play as the "good guys" / Discover the game world/setting.
2 / Development / Play as the "bad guys" / Add a whole load of complexity/morally grey areas to that setting.
3 / Denouement / "Avengers assemble!" / Resolve the whole thing with a "golden ending".
It just failed miserably as ... well ... poor writing and all that.
I bought these for next to nothing in a sale years ago, and never played them. Thought I should check out this thread to see if I should give them a chance despite the fact that a lot of people seems to dislike them.
No. I think I might burn them instead.
No. I think I might burn them instead.
Fire Emblem Fates is a mixed bag honestly, one of the weaker Fire Emblems. The story is fucking awful no question, in all three games, but the gameplay is solid. Overall it's definitely a good game but does not live up to the legacy of Fire Emblems greatness.
If you loved Awakening you will absolutely love Shadows of Valentia which is a fantastic game (I find it better than 3 Houses which I found great as well).
You should also play the GBA games on the Wii U as Fire Emblem 7 is one of the GOAT games in existence. Sacred Stones is also great but not as solid.
Fire Emblem (7) > Awakening > Shadows of Valentia > 3 Houses > Sacred Stones > Fates.
If you loved Awakening you will absolutely love Shadows of Valentia which is a fantastic game (I find it better than 3 Houses which I found great as well).
You should also play the GBA games on the Wii U as Fire Emblem 7 is one of the GOAT games in existence. Sacred Stones is also great but not as solid.
Fire Emblem (7) > Awakening > Shadows of Valentia > 3 Houses > Sacred Stones > Fates.
Cut out a paper and play Fates. Every time Corrin says something, mute the sound and put the paper on the upper screen. That way, your sanity is safe.
But honestly, the first time I played Fates I just breezed through and didn`t pay attention too much. I played Birthright which was okay to good. Battles are interesting. Conquest is harder, but I found most battles too gimmicky. Revelations battles are stupid. Except if you enjoy battles centered around melting ice or lighting caves.
If you REALLY need another Awakening-like game, play Fates. Just remember that
- The weapon "triangle" was forced into some kind of wierd octagon or something with additional weapon types. Really made me so happy they dropped it in Three Houses.
- Many weapons give stupid penalties either if you carry them or you use them on the enemy or both. Welcome to math.
- Corrin is the single most stupid person on earth.
- Everybody is ready to die for you because your eyes look honest.
- They went 1000% on the stupid archetype character meter.
- Many character archetypes are offensive.
- You can fuck and marry most of your siblings or their kids or the kids of your army members.
- They stopped pretending that the multi-dimension-kids-grow-up-quickly thing makes sense in the slightest. Just don`t think about it.
- One of your three maids turns into a fish riding a ball. You have to feed her after each battle.
- Import a japanese copy if you want to rub the faces of your soldiers.
If you are able to play a strategy game without thinking too much about it, do it and buy Fates. Just don`t come up with drinking games like "I drink a shot each time Corrin says he has to attack his family in order to ensure peace" or you`ll die.
But honestly, the first time I played Fates I just breezed through and didn`t pay attention too much. I played Birthright which was okay to good. Battles are interesting. Conquest is harder, but I found most battles too gimmicky. Revelations battles are stupid. Except if you enjoy battles centered around melting ice or lighting caves.
If you REALLY need another Awakening-like game, play Fates. Just remember that
- The weapon "triangle" was forced into some kind of wierd octagon or something with additional weapon types. Really made me so happy they dropped it in Three Houses.
- Many weapons give stupid penalties either if you carry them or you use them on the enemy or both. Welcome to math.
- Corrin is the single most stupid person on earth.
- Everybody is ready to die for you because your eyes look honest.
- They went 1000% on the stupid archetype character meter.
- Many character archetypes are offensive.
- You can fuck and marry most of your siblings or their kids or the kids of your army members.
- They stopped pretending that the multi-dimension-kids-grow-up-quickly thing makes sense in the slightest. Just don`t think about it.
- One of your three maids turns into a fish riding a ball. You have to feed her after each battle.
- Import a japanese copy if you want to rub the faces of your soldiers.
If you are able to play a strategy game without thinking too much about it, do it and buy Fates. Just don`t come up with drinking games like "I drink a shot each time Corrin says he has to attack his family in order to ensure peace" or you`ll die.
I think Fates just needs a couple of minor ROM hacks. You know, change some dialogue. It`s possible because no voice acting. That would fix a lot. For instance.
I found Fates fairly enjoyable, especially Conquest, but I had to actively ignore the story and some characters. I don't think it's some absolute bottom of the barrel illogical animu shit... but boy does it get close. If you can look past that, it's worth getting but I don't feel any desire to go back to it. Echoes despite its shortcomings in map-design is a more well-rounded experience, imo. Also has the best character art in the series.
No, it isn't, unless you somehow ignore all characters and story. Gameplay may be good in conquest but it doesn't make up for wanting your characters to drop dead every single time they open their mouths. I regret getting the special edition so fucking much.
Forget Fates exists and go for Valentia.
Forget Fates exists and go for Valentia.
Wouldn't say it's worth it specially after playing the newer games no. If you like the battling check the tellius games or gba ones. It's not worth digging through the pile of mess Fates is to find the small nuggets of good map design here and there
Fates is not good. Im so thankful Three Houses came out cause I couldnt take another year of spinoffs pushing all these terrible characters.
Honestly...I still recommend playing Fates despite the atrocious story. The theme, soundtrack, atmosphere and gameplay is really worth it. It is still this day the best FE game in series in terms of gameplay, specifically Conquest. The map designs, objectives, unique conditions and rules make extremely fun, intense and ever so satisfying. Chapter 10 in conquest was sublime, every choice counts, one mistake could easily make you fail.
You can easily skip the story but I highly recommend to play Fates.
Also, get FE Echoes. Fantastic game with amazing story, 10/10 voice acting and unique gameplay features. Unfortunately the gameplay is held back to the archaic map design...
You can easily skip the story but I highly recommend to play Fates.
Also, get FE Echoes. Fantastic game with amazing story, 10/10 voice acting and unique gameplay features. Unfortunately the gameplay is held back to the archaic map design...
Absolutely horrendous story/characters/writing aside, Fire Emblem Fates is still an enjoyable game to play if you like Fire Emblem.
Just don't expect Three Houses level of great characters and competent story. And if you want to play the best Fire Emblem game on 3DS, then Shadows of Valentia is a no-brainer.
Just don't expect Three Houses level of great characters and competent story. And if you want to play the best Fire Emblem game on 3DS, then Shadows of Valentia is a no-brainer.
No, so much so that I recently sold my collector's edition. No use keeping that thing around when there are far better Fire Emblem games to play/replay.
fates is a uneven mess of bad characters, busy map objectives and despite how overloaded and busy everything is it's intensely forgettable. just skip to three houses.
the only thing i remember is that i'm the ocean's grey waves
the only thing i remember is that i'm the ocean's grey waves
Apparently the author wrote something around 20k+ words for each route and went overboard to the point where IS had to cut down so much story to fit in the game hence why there is so much pacing issues, lack of lore and an overall terrible story.
If you're primarily attracted to the mechanical stuff, I'd skip the series entirely and try some of the better tactics games out there.
If you're attracted to the gameplay of the series, then skip the series entirely?
Huh.
Personally, I think you don't play the 3ds games for story awakening while average is the best story of the bunch, and the gameplay is very vanilla
Valentina while having a somewhat decent story until the final act which legitimately made me actively hate the protagonists with how stupid and illogical they were acting, it probably has the worst gameplay out of all 3 you will get bored playing it because it suffers from turns where you do nothing but move to get to the enemy, it suffer from maps that are big for the sake of being big
Fates has the worst story of the bunch, but it has the best gameplay while it may have big maps like valentia at points there isn't a lot of empty space in those maps, you have less chance of getting bored with that gameplay instead of spending 10 turns moving you party across an empty field or desert
Valentina while having a somewhat decent story until the final act which legitimately made me actively hate the protagonists with how stupid and illogical they were acting, it probably has the worst gameplay out of all 3 you will get bored playing it because it suffers from turns where you do nothing but move to get to the enemy, it suffer from maps that are big for the sake of being big
Fates has the worst story of the bunch, but it has the best gameplay while it may have big maps like valentia at points there isn't a lot of empty space in those maps, you have less chance of getting bored with that gameplay instead of spending 10 turns moving you party across an empty field or desert
Conquest has the best gameplay in the series, and even Birthright is still superior to Awakening, so I'd say yes. Especially if you liked Awakening, since these games really improve upon its core concepts.
The story is admittedly terrible, but I found some of the side characters to be better than the ones in Awakening at least.
The story is admittedly terrible, but I found some of the side characters to be better than the ones in Awakening at least.
Valentia is soooo grindy, enemies constantly spawining on the overworld map were so tiresome, It's a great game for the artstyle, the characters and the Dungeons twist, but it's clearly a remake of a very old title.
As opposed to the story and aesthetic, which the OP seemed less enthusiastic about? Yeah.
But they didn't mention anything about the aesthetic (visuals), and said they liked the characters despite the "anime bullshit".
Eh, whatever.
The writing is horrendous no matter which version of it you play, so if that's what your looking for I would ignore Fates entirely.
If you want good gameplay however, you should buy Conquest. Easily the best game in the series in terms of gameplay and challenge, which makes the terrible writing all the more disappointing. Birthright and Revelation are mediocre, obviously the base gameplay is the same as Conquest, but it isn't utilized anywhere near as well as Conquest. Revelation also has some truly awful maps. Conquest and Birthright do too, but shitty map design is the rule in Revelation, not the exception. Don't even get me started on the piss poor unit balance in Revelation as well.
As for Valentia, I don't get the love for it. The gameplay is terrible, as very little was done to modernize the mechanics and map design of an NES game, and I wasn't a fan of the story. The positive perception people have of it seems to come entirely from it's aesthetics, which fine, people are entitled to there opinion; but I don't see how it makes it worth it to slog through it. It's the only game in the series that I've played once and never wanted to play again, which I can't even say about Revelation.
If you want good gameplay however, you should buy Conquest. Easily the best game in the series in terms of gameplay and challenge, which makes the terrible writing all the more disappointing. Birthright and Revelation are mediocre, obviously the base gameplay is the same as Conquest, but it isn't utilized anywhere near as well as Conquest. Revelation also has some truly awful maps. Conquest and Birthright do too, but shitty map design is the rule in Revelation, not the exception. Don't even get me started on the piss poor unit balance in Revelation as well.
As for Valentia, I don't get the love for it. The gameplay is terrible, as very little was done to modernize the mechanics and map design of an NES game, and I wasn't a fan of the story. The positive perception people have of it seems to come entirely from it's aesthetics, which fine, people are entitled to there opinion; but I don't see how it makes it worth it to slog through it. It's the only game in the series that I've played once and never wanted to play again, which I can't even say about Revelation.
If you want good FE gameplay, Conquest is worth your time. If you are mostly in it for the story and characters, skip them all.
We don't know the story was actually cut down, just that they hired Shin Kibayashi for outlines, but then he came back with full scripts. What we actually know is that they still added some stuff like creating Hinoka to have an equal number of siblings for both sides and the text related to gameplay mechanics since his script was written without any gameplay guidance aside from the game's basic chapter structure (which is why Fates suffers more than usual from introducing elements that then go on to be ignored, since the game itself was developed very separately from the plot).
The story is missing basic elements you'd see in other games like a continent's name and clear political structure because it was written by someone who never wrote any other FE story and only checked FE right before writing for this game. Although the final script and supports were by a bunch of other writers they clearly didn't want to fill in those holes since it could clash with the main writer's work (Shin Kibayashi was originally supposed to write a Fates manga too before the entire project disappeared. It wasn't supposed to be a one and done project).
Last edited:
There are some hints that may have been outlined to be fleshed out at least in conquest considering
Camilla's backstory, a legitimately tragic backstory concept for her, but they then turned her into yandere doting big sister character whose entire character revolves around Corrin turning that tragic backstory to an excuse on why she dotes on Corrin so hard.
I liked it a lot. The story starts strong (the first chapters before "the choice" are great imo) but then it becomes some sort of Anime bullshit festival. I didn't hate it but I have a high tolerance for cheesy/corny stuff with a super dumb main protagonist I guess lol. I liked some of the characters though.
The gameplay is where the game really shines though, especially Conquest. In that regard, I found it better than Awakening or Valentia
The gameplay is where the game really shines though, especially Conquest. In that regard, I found it better than Awakening or Valentia
This thread is bringing up so many awful memories of the writing lol. Remember when Xander
Pretends to be righteous and disapproves of Garon hiring literal murderers as lackeys but directly employs Peri as his personal retainer and then goes on to claim justice is an illusion because killing defenseless peasants for a guy who won't stop cackling and twirling his evil moustache is just protecting your country? He really is the worst and I hated how much they tried pushing him as some tragic Camus. That doesn't work when the thing you're conflicted about is whether aiding a literal goo monster's invasion of a peaceful country for no reason other than "me want throne" is the right thing to do.
i just think it's sooooo funny how
Garon is never portrayed as anything but laughably, cartoonishly evil, and the siblings have to intercede on Corrin's behalf multiple times to stop Garon from executing them, and they're all completely aware that Garon would happily execute any of them, and yet the entire invasion of Hoshido. Towards the end they sort of float the idea that the siblings think Iago is the bad influence, and yet they've seen multiple instances of Garon specifically being horrid and it's just... girl.
Right, and to shit on Xander specifically a bit more bc he deserves it
How in Birthright Leo and Elise and even Camilla to an extent are all trying to undermine Garon discreetly because they know he's unstable at best or evil at worst, but their biggest obstacle is fucking Xander, who won't stop working for this evil dude to the point where he stabs his own sister and then makes a speech about how he's the real victim because he had no choice but to support Garon as the heir to the throne?? Because apparently taking out your evil dad when you and everyone else knows he is off the deep end quickly and efficiently instead of allowing an invasion is worse for the country and common folk.
Very late into Conquest they kind of excuse that by saying that
there would be a civil war, since half of the army would stand with Iago. That should have come up much earlier though.