Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright
Fire Emblem: Birthright is the game recommended for players new to strategy games or for those that liked Awakening, the previous game. What is on surface the same, such as pair-ups, marriage and children, the updates to the gameplay has vastly improved the flaws of Awakening to a great degree.
The story takes place in a war between Hoshido and Nohr. The first 5 chapters and the story in general tends to guide you in the Birthright path, since the story is about Corrin (Your avatar) being kidnapped by Nohr and raised as their own. The majority of the time, you are with Hoshido units up until The Decision and then immediately begin the path to peace.
The major gameplay changes will be appreciated by even veterans of the series.
Weapon durability is no longer existent, instead replaced by a stats system that makes interesting decisions on whether to bring a stronger statted weapon over a weaker one with a stronger effect. Silver weapons for example are unfortunately nearly useless now, thanks to a heavy penalty of stat losses after each use. Former 1-2 range weapons such as Javelins, Hand Axes, and Nosferatu are also nerfed with abilities that prevent them from attacking twice.
The new weapon category, Hidden Weapons, bring a great dynamic to how battles are fought as tanky units crumble under a mob more easily. The other addition is that a new weapon triangle is created, allowing previously ignored weapons like bows to have fantastic uses thanks to having an advantage over Lances and the new Hidden Weapons.
Pair-ups have been changed drastically to incorporate actual strategy instead of mashing together high-rank support units for overpowered units. The mechanic has now been split into Attack Stance and Guard Stance.
Attack Stance is when two adjacent units, with the attack initiator not paired up, assault an enemy with both characters. The support character only does half damage and only attacks once now, the price for having a guaranteed support attack when previously it was random.
Guard Stance is what pair-up used to be in Awakening, with two characters joining to form a single powerful unit. However, they only get stat boosts (which was lessened from Awakening) and a meter that fills whenever you are attacked or attack. At full meter, you automatically block the next attack and you cannot be Attack Stanced. That last part is very important to note as the enemies can also use both stances, bringing a new scope of strategy of the enemy being on the same playing field.
Personal Skills have finally mechanically made characters unique as they've been. Now characters stick out more beyond their support conversations, as "lance girl with good speed" can be differentiated from "other lance girl with good speed." Hinoka, the warrior princess, loves to help her allies get the hurt on as she gives +2 damage to allies around her. Meanwhile, her peaceful sister Sakura gives an aura that reduces 2 damage from those that protect her.
The MyCastle mechanic is a great break in between playing story chapters and/or paralogues. With the ability to make your own stores, grow your own dinners, or even boost up support points for your loved ones, it's a great balance over traveling all over the map in Awakening to just get that one Thunder Tome.
In Awakening, a major problem kid units had was always being stuck at level 10 unpromoted. Now, they scale depending on the story progression which makes them instantly usable to join your army without any training needed. A small tip, getting kids after chapter 18 will give them an item to promote them and gain levels for free.
The biggest boon Birthright has is the ability to do Challenge and Scouting missions to allow your lesser parties to gain levels without too much fuss. If you like a certain character, feel free to train that person to wreck face on the Nohrian scum!
For those that found Fire Emblem: Awakening daunting, the new addition Phoenix Mode (only available on Normal) will revive characters every turn. Don't be ashamed to use it if you're feeling frustrated by the game's difficulty.
A thing to note: Enemy Reinforcements no longer attack on the enemy's turn.
The map design, while still in many ways the same as Awakening, added sprinkles to make it challenging.
A major flaw of Awakening was having a lot of wide-open map. I'm going to lie and say Birthright didn't also do this, but the few that are just open-field combat have added variety to the objectives by enemy placement, terrain chokepoints, and good use of the Dragon Veins. Some examples include using a Dragon Vein to clear patches of a desert to be grass. It makes it easier for your own troops to move, but so does the enemy and that might make your army more vulnerable. It is sometimes good to not use the tools that could benefit you.
However, the objectives in Birthright are very simple. Rout all enemies, Kill Boss, or Seize. There's very little variety in terms of actually doing something besides slaying the dozens of enemies every mission.
The real story of the Fire Emblem, the characters, still bring the variety and quirks a FE army usually contain.
Birthright certainly has more "good guy" characters, being the path of goodness and literally called the light side of the war. That's not to say they're not all for justice and joy 24/7. You have Oboro, the fashion designer with a blood vengeance on Nohr. Azama, the nihilist monk who's blunt with everyone. Reina, the insane guardian that relishes in making enemies squeal in pain. And the honorable Ryouma who makes fun of his sister Hinoka from time to time.
The story itself falls a little too thin and predictable and downright hammy in most cases. You have to fight the big, bad evil King Garon and his kingdom of Nohr. They do dirty tricks to turn allies against you, and then do evil stuff cause they're evil! They call themselves the dark side, really!
Overall, Fire Emblem: Birthright is a sequel that moves the franchise in a better direction gameplay-wise.
With the return of Casual Mode and the addition of Phoenix Mode, the developers have answered feedback on the gameplay complaints that Awakening had while still keeping itself easily playable by all audiences. The story is unfortunately standard Fire Emblem quality, but the characters and gameplay certainly haven't dipped and make for an enjoyable experience. Improvements and changes to the mechanics from combat to marriage makes me excited for what awaits the next game.