I'd never played a 3ds game before this, I'd been playing mostly regular DS games on my XL. I was a bit hesitant at first, when looking for games to purchase for my 3ds. I thought to myself "Maybe I should go with a classic, New Super Mario Bros 2, or maybe Donkey Kong Country?" I read some reviews for this game, but I'd never played Fire Emblem before so I wasn't sure if it was just nostalgia or if it was actually a good game.
I've now beaten the game and can now confirm that this is a great game for newplayers (And I'm assuming return-players as well)
Pros:
Good, long storyline: The story took me maybe 40 hours to complete, and none of it felt like a chore at all, I was deeply engrossed in the experience. I've never been so absorbed in a handheld game
Characters: Each character has a unique, well-detailed personality, and you really start to feel like they could all be real people, and like they're all really your friends. And with such a vast amount of characters, this couldn't have been easy. There are easily over 30 characters in the game, and throughout the game, you really start to understand each individual one. If you play it on the "Classic Mode" where if a unit falls in battle, they're gone for good (which I'd recommend trying) you really feel like your good friend has passed, urging you to restart and try the whole battle again to save your friends and see what you can do better.
Gameplay: The gameplay is a classic turn-based chessboard kind of game, with a lot of strategy, and a little luck, you move all your units, enemy moves theirs, and you get a little overview detailing your odds of winning or losing before striking the enemy. Once you strike, you go into an animation where your unit and the enemy fight. I never got sick of the animation, it was always so smooth. You also have actions you can do during the animation, you can pause, fast forward, and move the camera around. And for those that would get sick of the animation, you can skip it just as easily.
Another thing I loved was that you could pair units up, increasing your stats during battle, and after the battle, your units can develop a friendship, or even marriage! As their friendship grows, so do your bonuses, sometimes they will deflect hits for each other, and sometimes they will strike with their partner against the enemy. Each time their friendship grows, you get a unique cutscene and mini-storyline with the two units. I thought this was especially well-done, the mini-stories were all very unique and made you understand the characters more. Characters have multiple people they can marry, and the game does a really good job at making you feel like whoever you have them marry was the person they were supposed to marry all along, there are only two units that the game makes you feel like "These two have to be together"
Sound: The music always felt well-placed, intense scenes with intense music, sad parts with sad music and the voice actors and actresses did a really good job getting into character. Even now, it's been almost a month since I last played the game and I can still clearly remember all character's voices and the catchy melodies are still in my head.
Graphics: The graphics are as good as 3D character graphics are going to get, It's easy to forget you're playing a handheld game with graphics so rich and smooth
Cons: The only thing I really have to complain about is that once you beat it, there's not very much incentive to continue playing, there's a lot of free DLC you can do, but it doesn't really feel necessary to do it once you finish. Some others might find it more interesting than I did, you can keep getting new characters and developing friendships, but for me, it felt like i was done after the main story
Closing Thoughts:
I'm only upset that I'll never be able to play the game for the first time ever again, the 40 hour ride while playing was a blast, and this game has me a Fire Emblem fan, I only hope the next one is just as good as this one.
I'd say the game is a great purchase for anyone who has a 3DS, even if you've never played a Fire Emblem game before. There's a lot of customization, fun gameplay, and a great story that you'll definitely remember
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Amazing
This game is amazing. Simply amazing. My first experience with Fire Emblem was playing through the whole Fates series - which I loved - and one of my friends told me that Awakening is the better game. I was very skeptical because of how much I enjoyed the Fates games but once I sat down and played through Awakening, one thing became clear: he was right. The story is more focused than Fates, the difficulty feels more balanced the animations and overall aesthetic feel are on par with the Fates games as well. If you're a Fire Emblem fan, this is your game. If you're interested in trying a Fire Emblem game for the first time, this is the one I'd recommend starting with. I've played very few games that have such an entertaining and attention-keeping story while also supplying a unique and fun gameplay experience. My only regret when it comes to this game is that I can't play it for the first time again.
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2013
- Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2013
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FredoReviewed in Mexico on February 4, 2019
Excelente juego!!
Acabo de recibir el juego totalmente nuevo y en excelente estado (algo raro tomando en cuenta la antigüedad del título) y por poco me saco un susto cuando veo que en la caja se menciona que el cartucho del juego solo se puede jugar en sistemas provenientes de Singapur, Malasia y Emiratos Árabes (como se muestra en las fotos), pero después de investigar un poco y probarlo en mi consola, el juego funciona de forma perfecta. El juego lo compré a START GAMES y fue enviado por Amazon.FredoExcelente juego!!
Reviewed in Mexico on February 4, 2019
En cuanto al juego como tal, se ve que es una joya de la consola, con solo jugar el demo de la eshop me fue suficiente para convencerme a comprar el juego completo. Si tienes oportunidad de comprarlo y te gustan los RPGs tácticos, hazlo, no te vas arrepentir!
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- ArnoldReviewed in Australia on April 1, 2022
Collection-worthy
Purchased to shore up my 3DS collection. Confirmed working for a US-region unit. Excellent game.ArnoldCollection-worthy
Reviewed in Australia on April 1, 2022
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