konflakes
Well-Known Member
About 2 months ago, I bought a Nintendo 3DS XL for the game Fire Emblem Awakening which was released sometime in mid February. But I underestimated the game's popularity and was unable to acquire the game even after 1 month because it was backordered and because I had bad timing and it was sold out at the stores I went to. Eventually, however, I was able to get a copy of the game and as expected of someone who spent close to 2 months waiting for the game, I immediately played it. I've been playing it for about a month now and I've decided to write this review on the game.
Please bear in mind that I've spent a good amount of time deciding what information to keep in this review and what to leave out of it as I felt that going too deep into the game mechanics might make things boring and confusing.
This is also only the 3rd Fire Emblem game I've played, although I am a huge fan of the series. The first 2 games being Fire Emblem and Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones on the Gameboy Advanced. I have yet to play the older Fire Emblem games which I believe were on older systems like the Super Famicom and Family Computer. Also, the fact that I have yet to play the older games are not helped by the fact that they were released exclusively in Japan.
Here is a convenient link to the Official Site
and a Wikipedia link
For those of you who don't know what Fire Emblem is, its a turn based strategy game that involves the movement and actions of units on a grid based terrain. In Awakening, your characters are each given a set class with different skills and perks to them and are limited to wielding specific weapons. For example, a unit with the class "Fighter" can only use axes. There are also a lot of other things to take into consideration regarding each specific unit as they each have their own table of stats such as Strength, Skill, Speed, Resistance, Defence etc etc. I shall not go into the specifics and bore everyone but suffice to say that these stats will affect combat.
The basic gameplay involves the following:
Selection of units for battle (Number of units are limited based on the map that you are playing on)
Organization of items (Weapons have durability and the amount of times it can be used is limited)
Organization of skills (Characters are given a skill based on their class at level 5 and 15)
Positioning of units on the map (This is limited by highlighted portions on the grid map)
Movement of units during the actual game (This part gets a little wordy; You have to take into consideration each of your individual units' maximum move distance, weapons they are wielding, weaknesses and strengths, in relation to the enemies'.)
Fulfillment of win condition (Usually either a "Kill everything" or "Kill the boss" scenario)
To end this more technical part of the review, I would just like to say that this game is by no means as complicated as I am making it sound lol.
As for what I felt about this game? Impressed. Very, very impressed. This was one of the best games I've ever played on a handheld console. What I felt was really interesting about this game was the ability to erm, "breed" your characters. As your characters spent more time next to each other and pairing up in combat, their relationship can improve to the point that they get married. Their children, which I will refer to as 2nd Gen, are usually really powerful and inherit 1 skill from each of their parents. This makes you think and plan more not just during combat but outside of combat as well, as you need to consider your units placements to ensure optimum relationship building.(lol Fire Emblem: Mating Simulator)
The animations were very well done and really far from the old fire emblems. The little sprites had smooth frame transitions and the combat animation was well made. Although I did feel that the older fire emblems combat animation were more flashy and... exciting. Characters used to perform crazy moves during crits such as tossing a shield really high up, catching it and crashing down on the enemy with an axe. Now, however, the moves are only marked as a critical by a bright flash of light, the character saying something and the attack animation is played as per normal.
Oh and I also love the theme song for the game that has had the same melody carried over.
The 1:00 to 1:15 mark. That part. So much nostalgia and feels 
All in all, I give this game a solid 9.5/10, with the 0.5 taken only because I thought they could do better with the animation for combat. If you've been a fan of the Fire Emblem series or you've got a 3DS lying around and you're a turn based strategy kinda gamer then give this game a go, you won't be disappointed. I certainly wasn't.
Please bear in mind that I've spent a good amount of time deciding what information to keep in this review and what to leave out of it as I felt that going too deep into the game mechanics might make things boring and confusing.
This is also only the 3rd Fire Emblem game I've played, although I am a huge fan of the series. The first 2 games being Fire Emblem and Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones on the Gameboy Advanced. I have yet to play the older Fire Emblem games which I believe were on older systems like the Super Famicom and Family Computer. Also, the fact that I have yet to play the older games are not helped by the fact that they were released exclusively in Japan.
Here is a convenient link to the Official Site
and a Wikipedia link
Review
For those of you who don't know what Fire Emblem is, its a turn based strategy game that involves the movement and actions of units on a grid based terrain. In Awakening, your characters are each given a set class with different skills and perks to them and are limited to wielding specific weapons. For example, a unit with the class "Fighter" can only use axes. There are also a lot of other things to take into consideration regarding each specific unit as they each have their own table of stats such as Strength, Skill, Speed, Resistance, Defence etc etc. I shall not go into the specifics and bore everyone but suffice to say that these stats will affect combat.
The basic gameplay involves the following:
Selection of units for battle (Number of units are limited based on the map that you are playing on)
Organization of items (Weapons have durability and the amount of times it can be used is limited)
Organization of skills (Characters are given a skill based on their class at level 5 and 15)
Positioning of units on the map (This is limited by highlighted portions on the grid map)
Movement of units during the actual game (This part gets a little wordy; You have to take into consideration each of your individual units' maximum move distance, weapons they are wielding, weaknesses and strengths, in relation to the enemies'.)
Fulfillment of win condition (Usually either a "Kill everything" or "Kill the boss" scenario)
To end this more technical part of the review, I would just like to say that this game is by no means as complicated as I am making it sound lol.
As for what I felt about this game? Impressed. Very, very impressed. This was one of the best games I've ever played on a handheld console. What I felt was really interesting about this game was the ability to erm, "breed" your characters. As your characters spent more time next to each other and pairing up in combat, their relationship can improve to the point that they get married. Their children, which I will refer to as 2nd Gen, are usually really powerful and inherit 1 skill from each of their parents. This makes you think and plan more not just during combat but outside of combat as well, as you need to consider your units placements to ensure optimum relationship building.(lol Fire Emblem: Mating Simulator)
The animations were very well done and really far from the old fire emblems. The little sprites had smooth frame transitions and the combat animation was well made. Although I did feel that the older fire emblems combat animation were more flashy and... exciting. Characters used to perform crazy moves during crits such as tossing a shield really high up, catching it and crashing down on the enemy with an axe. Now, however, the moves are only marked as a critical by a bright flash of light, the character saying something and the attack animation is played as per normal.
Oh and I also love the theme song for the game that has had the same melody carried over.
All in all, I give this game a solid 9.5/10, with the 0.5 taken only because I thought they could do better with the animation for combat. If you've been a fan of the Fire Emblem series or you've got a 3DS lying around and you're a turn based strategy kinda gamer then give this game a go, you won't be disappointed. I certainly wasn't.
