39| Fire Emblem Awakening

Released: February 04th, 2013

Available On: Nintendo 3DS

For the longest time, Fire Emblem joined the ranks of Advanced Wars and Mother as one of Nintendo's most underappreciated franchises. The series were solid strategy RPGs that never seemed to have found much love outside of Japan. And even there the series didn't perform too stellar. Seeing the writing on the wall, Nintendo decided to give Intelligent Systems one more chance with the franchise. They gave them an ultimatum, either the next entry sells well and the franchise continues or it doesn't meet expectations and dies. Originally planned to be a new take in the series with a science fiction tone and the focus of a Mars colony, Intelligent Systems later decided to go the other way with it. Instead of breaking new grounds, the next Fire Emblem would be just like the previous ones with only one real big difference. That difference is that it would be extremely well polished. The game was released and not only did it meet expectations, it soared passed them and single handedly made Fire Emblem a noteworthy franchise for the western marketplace.

Fire Emblem Awakening is your typical Japanese strategy RPG. You move units in a grid, each with their own specific moves, weapons, and classes. Each time a unit beats an enemy they get experience points to level up and possibly learn new skills or equip better weapons. The objective of the game usually boils down to either wiping out all enemies on screen or taking out the commander. In truth it is very simple, but nevertheless is still very addicting.What makes Fire Emblem standout from other games is the fact that when a unit dies in battle...they die. You will never be able to use a comrade again if they fall in combat. That was at least the case for the longest time in the series. Fire Emblem Awakening however adds two modes to the game "Classic" and "Casual". Classic mode upholds this tradition, while casual mode discards it. I can see why Intelligent Systems would do this. Losing your characters in battle adds a lot more challenge in the game and makes some stages take an absurdly long time if you don't want to lose anyone. However, it is that challenge that truly defines the series, and without that penalty it makes the game a bit too easy.

Being completely honest, I stretched the truth a bit when saying that Fire Emblem Awakening only had one big difference from the previous games. Over the years, dating simulators have become quite popular in Japan. The genre really began to seep into the RPG genre with the hit title Persona 3. Fire Emblem Awakening takes cues from this and takes things even further relationship wise. During the game the two protagonists can marry characters of the opposite sex and thus procreate children. These children then become soldiers that can be used on unit. It is very exciting and entertaining mixing and matching characters to see just what kind of child will come out of the gene pool. This also contributes a lot to replayablity as the player can "fuse" together a different character each game.

Presentation wise the game is great. It is a very high budget given the genre it is in. The game features 3D cel-shaded cutscenes that look fantastic and tell the story exceptionally well. In-game, the game jumps between 2D sprites on top of 3D backgrounds for the field view, and fully 3D models for the combat view. This all works very well, especially with the Nintendo 3DS's 3D effect. The only thing that is really bothersome is that the characters don't have feet. It is something that is really distracting during the first few initial playthroughs.

The game also has quite the bombastic soundtrack. It fits the medieval tone of the game very well, yet strangely gives the game its own unique flavor. It isn't the most memorable soundtrack, and it isn't something you will be listening to on YouTube while engaging your hobbies, but it is very good. Thinking of it, this is surprisingly a bit Un-Nintendo, as the company tends to be very conservative in certain aspects of their games. One aspect is that games often have midi (or at least midi-like) soundtracks. While this works well in some games, it doesn't so much in others. So it is good that Nintendo made the right call with this title.

Obviously, there still is the story to talk about, but really there isn't much to say about it. The plot of the game revolves around a royal group discovering a young man with amnesia. Seeing that he is in a bit of delirious state, they transport him to safety. The group discovers that the young man is an exceptional fighter, so much so that they ask him to join their army. The young man agrees. I don't want to go too much into spoiler territory, but let's just say the game involves an empire trying to take over the world and use an ancient evil to do so. Being honest, it is all very clichè, which is by far the biggest problem with the plot. That said the story is still enjoyable, and it really is more about the characters you meet than the overall arching plot.

With Fire Emblem Awakening, Nintendo's goal was to have the series stay alive. Instead the series began thrive with six figure sales. What was once a franchise so niche people were concerned that the latest entries wouldn't even come Stateside, is now one that charts on the NPD list. Fire Emblem Awakening was a game that came out at the right place on the right time. It came out right as the Nintendo 3DS's steam was slowing down after the holidays and was in a genre that people were hungry for. Nintendo's gamble with the franchise paid off, and hopefully that paves the way for the company to take more risks with their other franchises.