Birthright is an incredibly inoffensive game. I'd be lying if I said that any aspect of this game were bad but it would also be a lie to say any aspect is especially good.
I'm gonna talk about the first 5 chapters before getting into the BR specific story. I feel one of Fates' biggest problems is the complete lack of gray morality. Hoshido is obviously the right decision which makes the choice this entire trilogy is based around feel trivial. Also, Mikoto's death is probably the most pathetic story beat in this series. We have known this woman for less than an hour but we're meant to feel sad at her death? Further, Mikoto is a stranger to Corrin yet her death impacted them enough to push them into dragon mode? It's honestly more impressive than anything that they managed to make a death that was less impactful than REDACTED from Awakening.
Past that the story is almost entirely filler. There are really only 2 things that happen in this story. The first is reuniting with your brothers and the second is invading Nohr but those only make up a few chapters of this 28 chapter long game. This story definitely isn't bad but that's not exactly impressive when the story plays it this safe. There are some parts that I like. That is to say I like Leo. He's cool. The fact that Garon was just an evil dragon in the end rather than having a shred of interesting motivation was a bit of a letdown. That's pretty much all I have to say about the story, it sure does exist.
The supports are excruciatingly boring. They're so long-winded and have absolutely no substance to them. This is by far the most lifeless cast I've ever bore witness to, it's amazing that this game has so many supports but the cast still has no depth. Oh, also, you find out that the Hoshido family isn't really your family. This was obviously only done to allow the player to marry whoever they want without having outright incest (I belive we get to talk more about that in Rev, oh boy). Gotta love how the developers were less focused on telling a good story and more focused on making sure the player didn't feel too weird for wanting to marry and impregnate their 13 year old sister
The best part of BR is the new mechanics. Hidden weapons are a ton of fun to make use of and the ninjas are easily my favorite new class. The reclass system has been massively improved from Awakening and actually requires some thought this time. This game really isn't difficult enough to warrant diving into these systems but the systems themselves are so fun that I find myself wanting to explore them anyways.
The map design is probably the weakest part of the gameplay. It's very much a sequel to Awakening with large open maps and enemies thoughtlessly dispersed throughout. It got rid of the absurd ambush spawns though which is a huge plus.
I think the biggest improvement BR (and the other routes as well) made compared to Awakening is making it significantly harder to juggernaut with a single unit. Corrin is obviously strong but not nearly enough to solo the game with ease like Robin could and the presence of debuffing weapons makes that style of play even less feasible. This makes training up a group of units actually worthwhile which in turn gives you more opportunities to engage with Fates' unique systems.
Even though I enjoyed my time with BR overall, I still can't bring myself to recommend it. This game doesn't have anything that makes me think it would be worth someone's time. Most people who I've met enjoy FE for either the story or gameplay and regardless of which side of the fence you're on, there are most definitely games you would enjoy more than BR.
Edit: oh mein gott I forgot to mention the weird baby dimensions. They make no sense but did you really need me to tell you that. At least the kids can be fun as units but story wise it's an absolute nightmare.
I'm gonna talk about the first 5 chapters before getting into the BR specific story. I feel one of Fates' biggest problems is the complete lack of gray morality. Hoshido is obviously the right decision which makes the choice this entire trilogy is based around feel trivial. Also, Mikoto's death is probably the most pathetic story beat in this series. We have known this woman for less than an hour but we're meant to feel sad at her death? Further, Mikoto is a stranger to Corrin yet her death impacted them enough to push them into dragon mode? It's honestly more impressive than anything that they managed to make a death that was less impactful than REDACTED from Awakening.
Past that the story is almost entirely filler. There are really only 2 things that happen in this story. The first is reuniting with your brothers and the second is invading Nohr but those only make up a few chapters of this 28 chapter long game. This story definitely isn't bad but that's not exactly impressive when the story plays it this safe. There are some parts that I like. That is to say I like Leo. He's cool. The fact that Garon was just an evil dragon in the end rather than having a shred of interesting motivation was a bit of a letdown. That's pretty much all I have to say about the story, it sure does exist.
The supports are excruciatingly boring. They're so long-winded and have absolutely no substance to them. This is by far the most lifeless cast I've ever bore witness to, it's amazing that this game has so many supports but the cast still has no depth. Oh, also, you find out that the Hoshido family isn't really your family. This was obviously only done to allow the player to marry whoever they want without having outright incest (I belive we get to talk more about that in Rev, oh boy). Gotta love how the developers were less focused on telling a good story and more focused on making sure the player didn't feel too weird for wanting to marry and impregnate their 13 year old sister
The best part of BR is the new mechanics. Hidden weapons are a ton of fun to make use of and the ninjas are easily my favorite new class. The reclass system has been massively improved from Awakening and actually requires some thought this time. This game really isn't difficult enough to warrant diving into these systems but the systems themselves are so fun that I find myself wanting to explore them anyways.
The map design is probably the weakest part of the gameplay. It's very much a sequel to Awakening with large open maps and enemies thoughtlessly dispersed throughout. It got rid of the absurd ambush spawns though which is a huge plus.
I think the biggest improvement BR (and the other routes as well) made compared to Awakening is making it significantly harder to juggernaut with a single unit. Corrin is obviously strong but not nearly enough to solo the game with ease like Robin could and the presence of debuffing weapons makes that style of play even less feasible. This makes training up a group of units actually worthwhile which in turn gives you more opportunities to engage with Fates' unique systems.
Even though I enjoyed my time with BR overall, I still can't bring myself to recommend it. This game doesn't have anything that makes me think it would be worth someone's time. Most people who I've met enjoy FE for either the story or gameplay and regardless of which side of the fence you're on, there are most definitely games you would enjoy more than BR.
Edit: oh mein gott I forgot to mention the weird baby dimensions. They make no sense but did you really need me to tell you that. At least the kids can be fun as units but story wise it's an absolute nightmare.