Gaming I Don't Pick Fights I Can't Win: The Fire Emblem Series

Not only is it the "real" route, but various occurrences retroactively imply that you 100% ****ed up if you were on the other routes, basically like getting a true ending in a multi-ending JRPG. It's... gross, considering it's DLC only (and bracketing how the original two game model was already a bit malarky). Coupled with the fact that it's one of the weaker games in the franchise anyway, plus the fact that mechanics from Awakening that don't make sense anymore wound up shoehorned in, and there's a reason Fates isn't looked upon kindly these days.

Edit: And, yes, you'd better believe I'm worried about that DLC house in Three Houses for similar reasons. They seem to have learned all of their lessons? Maybe?

 

Which mostly just emphasizes how cynical the entire pricing model was, yes.

 

Three Houses gave you four routes for the price of one. So far I am liking Fates though.

 

You'll know. The music is a hell of a giveaway.

God I love that song. It's exactly what you want to happen when you tell the composer "This may be the last final battle theme we ever get. Make it count."

 

I always used Frederick. Love me some Frederick.

I am on Chapter 19 of Fates: Birthright. Definitely not as good as Awakening but I am still enjoying it.

 

No, you'd have to load an old save. You should do them first anyway or you'll miss out on those characters' epilogues.

 

So I finished Fates: Birthright. Not as good as Awakening, but still very fun. I have started Fates: Conquest and the difficulty spike was immediately noticable. I am on Normal Casual for now, but I am not above switching to Normal Phoenix later on if I have trouble.

Oh also, I got Echoes for Christmas... And I had already bought Fates: Revelations. Soooo yeah, I still have a lot to go

I also got my brother Three Houses for Christmas, since it was on his list and was my game of this year. The only TRPG he has played so far is Mario Rabbids, which is where I was when I played Three Houses. I hope he likes it as much as I did

Any opinions on order to play the routes in? I wasn't sure what to recommend to him.

 

I think #DeerSquad gives the most balanced overview of what the game, and really the entire franchise, is about, so it might be the best starter. Strong personalities, decent distribution of default units, broad overview of events. They’re the most “Fire Emblem” option. I like where they go with the other three routes but I think they’re more experimental, and by the time he gets to those he’ll probably have opinions on what to play next anyway.

 

I started with Golden Deer and was tempted to tell him to do that as well. Partly because I think having ranged units helps.

 

So Heroes counts? Whatever, Sakurai.

 

Actually I apparently had Heroes mixed up with Warriors. Carry on.

 

So it looks like the DLC quest is a lore dump side campaign with new recruitable students for all routes. Neat.

 

Yeah I went ahead and purchased the season pass. I think I will play this new side story and then replay Golden Deer. My brother started the game yesterday and chose DeerSquad for his first playthrough, partly at my suggestion and partly because he liked Claude best. Duh.

 

Me: "I'm tired of FE main characters."
Also me in this hypothetical: "I main Siegfried now and if he's ever not in future SSB games I will riot."

 

So my brother finally started Three Houses. Luckily I was there for his first several hours of his playthrough to help kinda walk him through all the many systems and emphasize what's very important (like don't forget to watch your Support cutscenes when they come up! The game never actually tells you to do this, it just assumes you know how important supports are).

Well today he told me that he started playing 3H last night at 7:30, and suddenly looked up at the clock and it was 11:30.

Got'em, boys.

 

Since I finished Ocarina of Time, and since the Three Houses expansion isn't out quite yet, I started Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. Was pleasantly surprised to find it's fully voiced unlike the earlier games.

 

I remember some of the missions becoming something of a slog. The enemy would spam adds from the back of the map, I’d spam my own adds with Genny, just a tedious mess of units that didn’t matter dying all over the place.

 

So you're saying it's faithful to the NES Fire Emblem experience?