So now that this is out in English I'm looking to import a copy (I live in Korea). My big question is: what the hell do I buy? I've gone on a self-imposed black out on coverage of this game as I knew I was going to buy it and didn't want to spoil anything. So what are my options for getting the whole package? If I buy Birthright, and I can Conquest as DLC to still play with one cart? Or do I have to buy both carts? Can I get the third path with either option? Thanks for any help you can provide!

It depends on what you are looking for. Birthright is more Awakening style in that you can move around the map grinding for XP and gold while Conquest is more classic Fire Emblem style in that you are going from chapter to chapter without being able to grind. I personally went with Conquest and I am really enjoying it. I like the classic FE style and I like the characters of Nhor better.

Well ideally I'd like both. I was just wondering if there is an option to have them both on 1 cart besides the special edition, as I don't have enough room in my tiny apartment for artbooks and the like.

Don't buy more than one cart unless you don't want to download anything. Buy either birthright or conquest and then it'll let you buy the opposite for a discounted price as dlc. You then can access both through the same game. Later you can get revelations in the same way. Alternatively, you can also buy one as digital and download the other as dlc which will let you remove the need for the cart altogether if you don't mind being all digital.

Basically, it doesn't matter which you buy first if you're getting all three. Once you have one, you can buy the other two through the in-game menu.

@mazik765: So in the U.S. at least, if you buy the cart, you can buy Conquest/Birthright and Revelations for $19.99 a pop (basically half of what you pay for the cart). I believe that same option is available in other regions. I'm not sure what the Korean eShop's pricing looks like, though.

But yeah, the Special Edition is the only way to get the three games on a single cart. Yep, Nintendo really dropped the ball on that one given the extremely limited run they did on that Special Edition.

You can buy one of the carts and download the other two campaigns as DLC. Not exactly on the same cart, but you will only have one cart this way and won't have to switch them around.

Their are several articles covering this. One article that helped me choose is this one from Kotaku. It's pretty straight-forward with its reasoning.

Thanks for the responses guys! I look forward to playing this ^^