Fire Emblem: Awakening (DELETED TITLE) /3DS

my first nintendo game ever for my first 3ds (technically 2ds xl) and what a first impression, just wow. the tactical combat system, where you plan every move and try to win the battle, i really like the story, characters and the bonds that bind them are amazing, it really touch my heart, i also care for all the characters (especially, chrom, lucina and my mc robin and the bonds between them). you can romance characters as well, in my case it was lucina for my mc and got a cute and funny daughter who is like a combination of robin and lucina.it is a difficult game if your new to the series like i was, but once your used to it the game is really fun and enjoyable.there are 2 mode, classic where if a character falls in battle they can't be used again ever, but will still appear in dialogueand casual, where they can be re used after the battle and will fight againi played on casual, but i like the characters so much that if they fell, i would restart the fight and try a different strategy, usually successful.i absolutely adore and love this game, one of the reasons why i brought the 2DS XL and will be getting FE Fates as wellif you like S-RPGS then this is a must buy, you'll be doing yourself a favour

I'm not a Fire Emblem fan- this was my first FE game and the one recommended to me to play first as FE: Fates was already out at the time I recieved this. I would definitely recommend it to fans of games like X-COM, Final Fantasy or any other turn based strategy game.There is a little bit of a learning curve and you might want to play the first few chapters, read up on a few mechanics that aren't fully explained (marriage and children mainly) in the tutorials, and then restart on a higher difficulty on the classic setting for a more proper experience of how the game is meant to be played because when the battle scenarios started to feel too easy on my first play through on easy difficulty, my compulsion to play dwindled and I did end up doing that myself.The characters are all fairly charming with the usual selection of various character tropes to pick from, and they can build relationships with each other and the dialogues they have can be quite entertaining.The story is a little bland with a few nice twists that weren't obvious and an equal amount that were glaringly so, but it's still pretty enjoyable and compelling enough to complete the game for.Gameplay is pretty fun with equal amounts of frustrating, in some instances your characters dying can feel really underhanded and dirty, but that's part of the charm and makes the game more entertaining - once they die they won't come back (assuming you're playing classic mode) and you'll want to avenge them. Or reset to the last savepoint, grind their levels up and then go back to the chapter and blitz everyone - which is what I found myself doing a lot. It's nice that you can play it however you want - playing with your own rules can make the game a lot more entertaining.Overall I'd definitely recommend this game to beginners first and say it's worth playing through a couple of times, which is quite a lot of gameplay.

I had mixed feelings when I pre ordered my copy. While I loved The Sacred Stones and enjoyed Radiant Dawn, I did not like Shadow Dragon at all. Whatever doubts I had soon fled when I started playing.The Gameplay follows the traditional Fire Emblem formula, with some new tweaks and changes. Swords, Axes and Lances work in a Rock Paper Scissors kind of way, meaning you have to balance your party. Bows can attack from a distance, but not up close. Magic (as well as Javelins and Hand Axes) can strike from a distance or up close. Joy of joys, they bought back the Support system from Sacred Stones, and gave it a buff too. In Radiant Dawn, they just used to exchange a few generic lines. Here, you find out a lot about the character's pasts through support conversations, and it makes a gameplay difference too. When you put 2 units side by side normally, the one attacking or being attacked gets a small boost (10% + hit for example) - if they support they get more boosts. Sometimes both characters attack an enemy too. And if 2 opposite gendered units build enough support together, they can get married and have a child, who will eventually join you.You can also reclass your units, although it's much more restricted than Shadow Dragon. This actually isn't a bad thing - it makes them feel a lot less disposable. You can also promote them once they hit level 10 (although I'd recommend waiting until they hit level 20) and they bought the branching system from The Sacred Stones back. That means no 2 playthroughs have to be the same.That brings me onto the Avatar you create at the start of your adventure. They can be whatever class you want once you get a Second Seal, although some classes are exclusive to set genders. So your avatar could be a Dark Knight, while your friend could have a War Cleric. This is one of the deepest RPGs this side of Pokémon.But don't think it's inaccessible. The tutorials explain everything very well, and they're so unobtrusive. Game Freak, watch and learn - the Pokémon series could do with some tutorials like this. It's highly customisable too, although I wish there'd been more options for what I could do with my avatar. To give you an idea of how customisable this game is, you can even leave the original Japanese voice acting in (don't worry you still get subtitles). For the first time, you can even turn permanent death off, although I don't recommend doing that. The game feels better when you know anyone could die at any time.A death sentence for any RPG is a poor story (apart from Dark Souls). Luckily, that's not the case here. I groaned when I found out my avatar had amnesia, but the story's anything but cliche. The characters are all memorable too, from the tomboyish Sully to the vain Virion. Chrom is one of the most fleshed out heroes of the series so far, and you really feel for him during some of the sadder moments. That's all I'll say about the story. I know this will probably fall on deaf ears, but please don't read the plot on wikipedia.As for the graphics...as someone who grew up with Pokémon Red on the GameBoy, I didn't know handheld games could look this good. The hand drawn characters, the weapons that carry over into the battle, and the battles themselves all look great. You can also play the battle with a cinematic camera, a 1st person view or the traditional side on angle. You can also fast forward, slow down and pause the battles, which is a nice feature. Maybe the spells were a bit bland, and Panne looks like a mutant kangaroo in her animal form.The music and voice acting are good too. The characters speak in battle, cheering when they win or crying out in pain when hit (although luckily they don't always cheer, since that would get boring). All the characters have good voice actors that match them, and you can tell they were really trying to make something amazing here. And they succeeded. This is, for me, the best game on the 3DS right now. It's reason no. 1 to own one. Worry not though: when you've finished this, you've got Luigi's Mansion 2, Super Mario 3D Land, Ocarina of Time 3DS, Kid Icarus Uprising, Monster Hunter 3, Mario Kart 7 and later this year Pokémon X/Y and the sequel to A Link To The Past.To sum up, this game's absolutely brilliant. There are a few nitpicks I have, but this is one of the few games that I can put my hand on my heart and honestly say that there wasn't one thing that really annoyed me. If you're a fan of strategy games, this is a must buy.10/10

Simply put, I can't put this game down. I've never played a Fire Emblem game before, nor have I played a strategy game beyond the mere basics of Pokemon, and while my skills are dismal in chess, I'm not terribly bad at this. Playing on Normal Mode in Classic (once characters die they stay dead - and I'd definitely recommend using this feature, even if you're a newbie like me) isn't the most challenging, I agree, but it's an easy enough starting point for someone who has no idea what they're doing; hence, me.It did take me a couple of chapters to get used to the battling process - the biggest problem, I found, was that in the first few battles you only have a handful of characters, but by chapter two you're abruptly thrown about ten characters and keeping track of them all was difficult for someone who was still trying to remember the game controls. I ended up repeating the beginning battles quite a few times because I kept forgetting that Archers fight from a distance, Lissa can't fight, Miriel's not the strongest etc etc. But if you persevere you should get into the swing of it pretty quickly.Now I haven't completed the story, but I'm on chapter fourteen and I am a little disappointed at how easy Normal Mode becomes. Once I unlocked challenges (battles on the map that don't contribute to the plot line) I started to level up rather fast - I'm the type of person who spends hours grinding her characters to increase their stats, and Normal Mode has become, well, easy (on that note, there is a huge amount of game play hours in this, so don't worry about it ended as quickly as games like Zelda: A Link Between The Worlds). The battles may become increasingly more challenging as I continue, but while the plot continues I'm going to progressively level my characters, so I'm sceptical. That aside, it is still a fantastically fun game.(Also, I created another account on Hard Mode to see what that was like. It's not exaggerating - it's difficult. I'm really struggling to get past chapter two - it's great fun).Aesthetically, the game graphics are top-notch and everything's such a marvel to look at on 3D. The characters are hugely varied in personality - which I adore - and playing in Classic only makes this more valuable. Some characters I don't mind sacrificing or never using; others are immediate favourites and I couldn't imagine playing the game without them. Plus, the relationship system? It's a delight! The girly, manic part of me cackles at pairing off certain characters; it's a wonderful contribution. (In saying that, some relationships still came as a bit of a shock for me! I just went with it).Oh, the plot! Like I said, I haven't finished it, but it's developing slowly. I did groan at the typical amnesia cliche - but I love it now. Hanging on the edge of my seat for new revelations spurs me to finish the game - the only problem I have is pacing myself! I truly want this game to last forever, but unfortunately there's only twenty five chapters (and a heap of side stories).I would definitely recommend this game. The number of five stars says it all, really - this is a must buy.

The graphics are seriously good, and make this game so immersive-combined with the player centered storyline. To be honest, this is a game worth buying the 3DS for! The characters are likeable, and I especially like the ability to play extra levels (from the outrealm gate- some of which require you to purchase but there is a free one available-see the nintendo website) and battle other 'risen' (enemies) to help you level up. My only criticisms would be how quickly you can progress through the game; -I'm wondering how long I have left before the game is over[-therefore leaving you to only play extra levels and battle random enemies? or are there more stories?] and also the graphics during battle movements and foreign* avatars which are just a 'card' which are a little lacking compared to the rest of the game and the cutscenes. It also would have been better if the characters actually spoke rather than muttered an 'English' word or sound as the text comes up (which gets a bit repetitive).*bonus characters bought/won with in game currency and/or through spotpass, streetpass etc.