After playing OT2, I had to come back to a game with characters I actually care about.
In my opinion, Fire Emblem: Awakening is one of the best gateways into getting into JRPGs. While there's a pretty cliche storyline, it more than makes up for it with character interactions and dialogue that keep making you want to play throughout the game. Furthermore, being able to choose which characters bond through gameplay is an amazing idea and is something that keeps people playing all the way until the end and maybe even into a NG+.
The gameplay is nothing to scoff at either. The classic JRPG strategy gameplay is in full force here, even with the somewhat annoying resource management mechanic. It's not really changed up from any of the other FE games, but it's still satisfying as ever and can cater to both casuals and tryhards. If anything, some of the map designs are flawed and the graphics have become a bit dated but they still hold up extremely well today considering this was made for the 3DS.
I just like this game a lot because every character is oozing personality, and if you wanted to go further and explore the backstory of each character you can. Even the less interesting characters like Anna and Gaius clear like 80% of JRPG casts nowadays. You can feel the writers personally developing each character rather than grabbing a cookie-cutter personality, slapping it on an anime character and calling it good. My favorite part of the game, grinding support bonds, definitely shows this. The writing isn't perfect or amazing, but it's 100% GENUINE. They're not saying stuff for the sake of it, but you can tell the writers cared about having conversations between characters feel real, or at least have some sort of substance. There's actual dialogue that's worth reading and listening to outside the main story that add so much to characters.
It's no surprise that FE games are carried by their characters, and this game displays that beautifully. While dated by the presence of Three Houses, Awakening will remain a FE classic from now until the end of time.
In my opinion, Fire Emblem: Awakening is one of the best gateways into getting into JRPGs. While there's a pretty cliche storyline, it more than makes up for it with character interactions and dialogue that keep making you want to play throughout the game. Furthermore, being able to choose which characters bond through gameplay is an amazing idea and is something that keeps people playing all the way until the end and maybe even into a NG+.
The gameplay is nothing to scoff at either. The classic JRPG strategy gameplay is in full force here, even with the somewhat annoying resource management mechanic. It's not really changed up from any of the other FE games, but it's still satisfying as ever and can cater to both casuals and tryhards. If anything, some of the map designs are flawed and the graphics have become a bit dated but they still hold up extremely well today considering this was made for the 3DS.
I just like this game a lot because every character is oozing personality, and if you wanted to go further and explore the backstory of each character you can. Even the less interesting characters like Anna and Gaius clear like 80% of JRPG casts nowadays. You can feel the writers personally developing each character rather than grabbing a cookie-cutter personality, slapping it on an anime character and calling it good. My favorite part of the game, grinding support bonds, definitely shows this. The writing isn't perfect or amazing, but it's 100% GENUINE. They're not saying stuff for the sake of it, but you can tell the writers cared about having conversations between characters feel real, or at least have some sort of substance. There's actual dialogue that's worth reading and listening to outside the main story that add so much to characters.
It's no surprise that FE games are carried by their characters, and this game displays that beautifully. While dated by the presence of Three Houses, Awakening will remain a FE classic from now until the end of time.