A review of Fire Emblem Fates Conquest as well as an oppinion on what makes a good Fire Emblem title

I had thought about posting about Fire Emblem Fates a lot, and in a way this is my post about Fates but it is more than that, it is a post about Fire Emblem in general and about what I want from Fire Emblem titles. I am going to start exploring this by talking about Fates. I kind of always knew I was going to get the game even when I found out it was split into basically 3 games I knew I would get them, then life got in the way and I forgot all about it and it got very close to the games release. It was at this point that the big all 3 games in one edition was tottally sold out so I orderd Birthright and Conquest for the best price I could find £29.99 each and figured I would download the third one when I needed to as well I know Nintendo they never produce enough of anything so the above all in one set would become scalpers fodder being sold for ridiculous prices online that I simply wouldnt pay. I couldnt get as mad as I would like as I have to admit I did drop the ball and not pay proper attention to when it was coming out but that still doesnt stop me feeling annoyed about the way Nintendo handles things once again. (I have also missed the boat on the new Fire Emblem's limited edition but as I am not really into having too many art books etc this doesnt bother me too much).


Conquest Arrived 2 days before the game was due to be released so I opend it and began to play the game, by the time Birthright arrived on the day of release I was already about 6 stages into Conquest and so far I havent even undone Birthright.

Part of what has spurned me into commenting on Fates now is having read the brilliant blog post by DS90Gamer which I will give you the link for before I continue http://ds90gamer.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/why-i-didnt-enjoy-and-sold-fire-emblem.html. This wasnt the only article I had read about the game(s) though I had read an article about Fates being a Waifu simulator a term I will explain latter as well as various reviews, criticisms and all kinds of bits and pieces on why this is the best or worst entry of Fire Emblem to date as well as articles on why the next entry in the series Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia would be better or worse than Fates.

Something I need to talk about now is the fact that in a way the Fire Emblem fan base seems to have pretty much split in two to some degree, there are those who want to play Fire Emblem for the tactical gameplay, who see it as a chance to stretch there grey matter, they kind of see it as a mix between risk and chess, where they can pit there wits against those of a computer controlled enemy and those who are in it for the characters to see there development, to see there growing relationships and to well I guess to have a hand in deciding which warriors will team togther and be best friends, and who will marry who. I am not saying that you cant fit in to both of these camps, heck I do, I love both the tactical side of things and all of the relationships, I think the two go hand in handto other an experiance which is multilayerd and more than the sum of its parts when put togther. Fire Emblem Awakening deliverd in both of these areas and was seriously one of my favourate games of all time so its possible to offer both.

 Ok so I guess its time to take a break and say what a Waifu is... Now there are a lot of slightly diffrent explanations but here goes, oh actually wait first I am going to start by saying what a Weeaboo is. In basic a Weeaboo is someone who is obsessed with Japan/Japanese Culture (Usually used in terms of Anime obsessives) someone who attempts to act as if they are actually Japanese, through doing things such as learning Japanese words by listening to Anime's and trying to use the subtitles to know what they mean usually resultiung in them either pronouncing them wrong or using them out of context and generally just coming across as stupid, if I make this sound bad its because the term is essentially used as an insult. Now I feel I need to make it clear that there is nothing wrong with enjoying other cultures or trying to adapt some of there ideas however I think some of the stigma around this comes from how some people do it and to what degree. I adore a lot of Japense games, cartoons, food and elements of there culture but I know I am really just an outsider looking in.  Ok so now thats out of the way a Waifu is a term as far as I know that was coined by obsessives to basically refer to a fictional Anime or Video game character that they have a crush on, who if real they would happily pursue and try to make there wife. There is a certain element in the Fire Emblem fandom who see it as a Waifu simulator they basically like to make there avatar and then ship themselves with the female who they are most attracted to either due to there looks, personality or elements of both. A lot of people will make jokes about Weeaboo's being obbsessed with there Waifu's and being either unable to or simply not wanting to go out and get a real relationship instead investing all of there time and effort in to fantasy. Now why do I bring this up, well its because of the fact that sometimes if people claim that they really like one of the modern Fire Emblems for the relationships/drama side of it then they get accused of being Weaboo's who want there Waifu's and I want to say that as far as I am concerned there is nothing wrong with people enjoying the relationship component of this game or any other, just because you like the characters and like seeing how diffrent couplings come togther it doesnt make you a sicko or a weirdo (sure some people might take this too far but there are always those crazy few).

Its also important to note that I also have no issue with people who want a game of tactics which is free from friendship and dating marlkey, I can understand why some people would want to keep things pure and focused. I guess all that is left to do now is to talk about what I want from a game like this I am one of those people who actually likes both sides of the coin, I like the tactics and the relationships and find that they work hand in hand to offer a deeper more involved product overall. I am a little sad to hear that Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is going to be relationship free, I like to see who is going to end up beings whoise buddy, to read the support conversations which are sometimes funny and other times quiet touching but I enjoy the raw stratergy of these games enough that this wont put me off, hopefully it will stand on its own two feet but I would sooner have something more like Awakening which offers the best of both worlds.

So back to Conquest well I played and completed Conquest, I found that there were characters I liked a lot and some who I could easily have not botherd with and at first I was quiet in to the story but without any way to grind my characters I started to really struggle with latter levels more than I have in prevuious Fire Emblem games, and this was to the point that it actually started to make playing it a drag, I would go so far as to say I limped through the last 6 stages having to play them again and again really not enjoying them very much in order to just finish the game. Part of me says that I would have enjoyed the product and given it a more favourable review if I had simple stopped playing once it began to piss me off. I finished the game and have no desire to ever play it again I would proberbly give it a 7 out of 10 and in all honesty for the time being it has put me off playing Birthright and therfore my copy is still sealed and on the shelf (Although I am thinking about buying Revelations on my daughters advice). Since finishing Conquest I returned to Awakening and replayed it enjoying every single second, the missions were better , I found the difficulty better and I found the characters and relationships in general better. Conquest was a let down but it was only a let down because Awakening had set a very high bar for its successor to try and reach