Released in the US on February 4th, 2013, Fire Emblem Awakening was developed during a time where the series looked to be at an end, unable to make the desired worldwide sales. So as to have no regrets, this last effort with Awakening sought to culminate the best features of the all the series into one game with a fresh new look to go with it. It was either to be a glorious swan song or the start of something beautiful. Turns out to be the latter as the Fire Emblem series has since exploded in popularity thanks to the tremendous success and appeal of Awakening. I'll admit to joining that bandwagon of Fire Emblem fandom upon playing Awakening as well. In fact, this game is one of the rare instances where a game demo actually swayed me to purchase this game I otherwise had not considered picking up. I was blown away by the attractive art style, striking cut scenes for a handheld, the rich soundtrack that beautifully blended between tactics and battle, the fun nods to the pixel-based characters for map view, and the intriguing plot. I knew this was a game I would need to dive deeper into, and it ended up becoming my favorite game on the Nintendo 3DS and a cherished experience in all of gaming.
The adventure begins with players being able to create a custom avatar, so there's already a personal investment into your character and their soon to be developing skills and character bonds. With a strange and ominous vision of you cutting down you partner in arms to set the stage, your tactician awakens in the middle of a field to be greeted by the same friendly face who met his grisly fate only moments ago. From here, you are strewn about an adventure of barbaric brigands, unholy demons, warring kingdoms and more as you strategically plot out every combative strike, defensive positioning, and relationships to build. With multiple difficulty settings and a new casual mode in which there is no perma-death in the game (a first for the series), this is a game that is widely accessible to all skill ranges and newcomers alike. My first play-through took place at Normal difficulty on Classic (perma-death enabled), which I have to say added a considerable amount of weight and consideration into every nuanced choice made in the game, making this journey feel all the more of grand significance.
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| Art of some of the many great, varied characters to be found in Fire Emblem Awakening. |
Aside from the stylish new art direction, one of the most notable new elements in this Fire Emblem game is the added significance of character proximity and relationship building. My having characters battle next to each other on the battle field, they offer offensive and defensive bonuses, sometimes granting extra strikes or blocking incoming attacks. On top of that, the bonds between characters grow with every interaction shared in battle, which in turn raise relationship levels, improve cooperative battle bonuses, and unlock new conversations that offer unique and deeper insights into each character. With a plethora of colorful and fun characters to be found in this game, there are even more so an abundance of pairings in which to uncover so many fascinating stories, all of which add such a level of depth and realism to this fantastical world. As amazing as this is, the game takes it one step further even still with the inclusion of a matchmaking system. For those pairings of characters which reach an S rank relationship together, they enter a romantic relationship, of which you can then unlock and add their offspring to your roster later in the campaign. Each child also has a distinct hair color and skills based off their parents, so there is considerable potential for so many a creative option in crafting such a unique cast of additional (optional) characters. And the way these extra characters are incorporated into the main narrative is such a unique and wholly awesome plot device that I won't spoil here, but I absolutely loved how such was worked in.
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| A humorous bit of writing highlighting the oblivious nature of master swordsman, Lon'qu. |
Another fantastic addition and unique feature in Awakening was the incorporation of the Nintendo 3DS's Streetpass, which allowed players to exchange data in which to trade avatars, items, or battle each other's armies. Because of the many distinct ways one can have every character change roles and learn new skills, there was such a wide assortment of interesting custom armies to be faced and/or proudly send off. In fact, upon beating the game on Normal for the first time, I felt so compelled to play again on Hard, carefully considering new relationship pairings for new bits of story as well to craft my ideal army of hand-picked assassins (because their lethality animation was just too darn cool). I also tried the game on Lunatic difficulty, but as the name suggests, you'd have to be rather lunatic to enjoy such a cruel difficulty.
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| Concept art of assassin class in Fire Emblem Awakening; The building block to my perfect Streetpass army. |
Since Fire Emblem Awakening, there have been two more Fire Emblem games released for the 3DS, those being Fire Emblem Fates, a game that was split into 3 versions (Birthright, Conquest, and Revelation) based off whose side you took part in between two warring kingdoms, and Fire Emblem Echoes, a modernized remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden (the 2nd installment in the series back on the NES). I wasn't particularly enthralled by Fates, if only due to what I felt was contrived writing and a distaste for the Hoshidan aesthetics. However, Echoes turned out to be a surprisingly fun game, with interesting new ideas and a engaging story line bouncing between the two protagonists. My impressions of the upcoming Fire Emblem Three Houses for Nintendo Switch are a bit reserved at the moment, but I'm hopeful the series will be able to capture the magic that was Awakening again; When all the chips were on the table and the developers dared to go all in.
Before I end this endearing reminisce of this beloved game, I'd be amiss if not to highlight some of the incredible musical scores that accompany this thrilling adventure. Enjoy a listen below!
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