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Q) What should I know about this
game?
A) Fire Emblem: Awakening
is a brand new Fire Emblem
game for the Nintendo 3DS. It begins a completely new story, set on
the continents of Ylisse and Valm, thousands of years after Marth's
adventures. Awakening is
the first game in the series to feature paid downloadable content
(DLC) and offer characters from previous games in the series for
free via SpotPass and through the paid DLC. The game is out now in
Japan, North America and Europe.
Q) Is this game available in
English?
A) Yes, the game was released in North America on 4th February 2013
and in Europe on 19th April 2013.
Q) I want to import the game: is
there anything I should know?
A) The Nintendo 3DS system is region-locked, so if you want to play
the North American version of Awakening,
for example, you'll need a North American Nintendo 3DS console.
Q) Do I need to play any other
games in the series to understand the story?
A) No, not at all. This game begins a new storyline, independent of
the other games in the series. Generally speaking, Fire Emblem stories are usually
told in pairs and beyond this, they have no direct connections to
other games in the series.
Awakening is slightly
different from the norm, because it takes place thousands of years
after Shadow Dragon and Mystery of the Emblem. However
due to the long passage of time, a lot of things have changed and Awakening does not reference
these two games in ways that could confuse you.
(Marth in Awakening)
Q) Wait a second, did I just see
Marth? How is that possible?
A) Yeah, that's Marth, or at least somebody claiming to him. As for
how it's possible... you'll have to play the game to find out.
Q) What (new) features are there
compared to other games in the series?
A) First of all, I should mention that Awakening is a huge compilation of all the best
elements throughout the Fire
Emblem series. You've got stuff like the traversable world
map and branched promotions from The
Sacred Stones, the Marriage and Skills systems from Genealogy of the Holy War and
the support conversations from Binding
Blade, amongst many others.
As well as all this, Awakening introduces
the Dual and Pair Up
systems, which greatly improve the strategic aspect of the game and
make the relationships between characters more prominent. The game
also makes great use of the 3DS's communication functions, using SpotPass to deliver free, new content
(such as characters from previous games in the series and new
sidequests) and paid DLC to further
prolong an already lengthy game.
Q) Can I make my own character in
this game?
A) Yes you can. The Avatar feature
returns from Heroes of Light and Shadow, allowing you to
create your very own Fire Emblem
hero.
Q) Do characters still permanently
die in battle?
A) Yes and no. When you begin the game, you can choose to play in
Classic or Casual mode. In Classic mode, characters do not come back
after reaching 0 HP, while in Casual mode, fallen allies will return
in time for the next chapter, with no penalties.
Furthermore, your choice of Classic or Casual mode doesn't restrict
your choice of difficulty level. So you could play on Casual mode
and Lunatic difficulty if you so desire, for instance.
(Walking across the world map of Awakening)
Q) Is there a traversable world map
in this game?
A) Why, yes there is, Mister (or Miss) The Sacred Stones fan.
Q) What is the class-change system
like?
A) This game features branched promotions, just like The Sacred Stones, where
characters can upgrade to one of two promoted classes by using a
Master Seal item. Additionally, characters can reclass to a
completely different class by using a Second Seal item--unlike in
earlier games, the classes a character can reclass to vary according
to character. For more details on both forms of class-changing,
please check the Class-change page.
Q) Are there support conversations
in this game (and proper ones too)?
A) Yep! This game probably features the largest number of support
conversations, partially thanks to the Marriage system.
Some fans might be relieved to know that the support conversations
in this game are full length, unlike Radiant Dawn's bare-bones conversations.
Q) How do the supports and support
conversations work in this game?
A) Support relationships can be built by making characters fight
adjacent to their comrades through the Dual
system or together with the Pair Up
system. Characters can form an unrestricted number of support
relationships with their available support partners, but they can
only form an S support level (the highest level of support
available) with one character. As usual, support conversations are
unlocked upon reaching a C, B, A or S support level, and these can
be viewed when outside of battle. For further details, including a
support compatibility list, please check out the support page.
(Sumia confessing to you)
Q) How does the Marriage system
work?
A) The Marriage system is directly linked to the support system. Characters of different
genders (excluding siblings) who reach an S support level will
automatically marry. Your Avatar is a special case, as he/she can
marry any playable character (gender permitting) and they
have an unique, short "love confession" scene with each of their
marriage partners.
Q) How do the children work? Is
there a 2nd Generation?
A) In a similar fashion to Genealogy
of the Holy War, almost every female character has a
corresponding child character. When a female character is paired up
via the Marriage system, you will be able to recruit their child in
later chapters. Please check the children
page for further details on this subject.
As for the 2nd question... No,
there isn't a 2nd Generation and instead the children fight
together with their parents. If you're confused, there's a
story-line reason for this.
Q) How do the team-up attacks work?
A) Whenever a character
begins a battle with a friendly unit adjacent to them (or paired up
with them), amongst other things, there is a percentage chance of
the friendly unit dishing out a follow-up attack (known as a Dual
Strike) each time the lead unit attacks. For more details, please
direct your attention to the Dual system
page.
Q) Are Marth and Roy in this game?
A) They are actually, although Roy is relegated to SpotPass and DLC.
Q) Are there multiplayer battles in
this game?
A) Not in the traditional sense. You can challenge other players' Awakening teams via StreetPass, but you won't be directly
facing other players and instead the computer. You can play with
real players, but only co-operatively in the Double
Duel mode.
Q) SpotPass, StreetPass, what's the
difference?
A) SpotPass and StreetPass are two different yet similar methods of
communication native to the 3DS system.
SpotPassinvolves your 3DS connecting wirelessly to the
internet to retrieve data that is used to access additional content
within your game. Via SpotPass, you can recruit up to 120 characters
from previous games in the series, obtain rare items and unlock new
sidequests, which allow you to recruit elusive characters.
StreetPass refers to communication between two 3DS systems,
each with a copy of Awakening. Players can create a "StreetPass
Team", consisting of characters they've trained in the main story,
which they can use to challenge players via StreetPass. After
passing another Awakening
player, each player's StreetPass Team will appear on the other
player's world map and they can challenge that team in their own
time and obtain the other player's Avatar.
Q) Wait, the DLC in this game
requires you to pay for it? How does that work?
A) There are two forms of DLC (downloadable content) in this game--SpotPass content, which is free, and the
actual paid DLC--both of which are
released periodically. The paid DLC focuses on Chrom's adventures in
other worlds and contains new data--usually a legacy character with
a new design and sometimes new items or unit classes. You can pay
for the DLC by adding funds through the Nintendo eShop, either with
your credit card or with a Nintendo pre-paid points card.
(The Dread Fighter class is available exclusively as DLC)
Q) Is there a difference between
legacy characters obtained from SpotPass or the paid DLC?
A) The SpotPass characters always use their original artwork for
their portrait (e.g. Innes uses his The Sacred Stones artwork), while the DLC
characters have brand new artwork, drawn by various guest artists.
The SpotPass and DLC characters also have different stats and
Skills, but this is rarely important. Otherwise, the SpotPass and
DLC characters function exactly the same, and they even share the
same pool of characters, but there are much more (free) SpotPass
characters compared to (paid) DLC characters.
Q) After purchasing and
completing a DLC episode, can I replay it later?
A) Of course you can! It would be criminal if you couldn't. You can
replay DLC episodes an unlimited number of times, even on the same
game file, which may be useful for grinding on higher
difficulties...
Q) Are the DLC rewards one-time or can you obtain them again and
again?
A) You can obtain the rewards each time you complete the episode.
Q) I received a paralogue from SpotPass, but how do I reach
it?
A) You need to complete the second-to-last chapter, Chapter 25 first.
Q) Oh no, I missed a SpotPass
content or DLC! What do I do now?
A) You can't actually miss SpotPass content or DLC. Whenever new
SpotPass content or DLC is released, it will be available forever
(or at least until Nintendo shuts down their internet servers).
Q) Can the legacy characters from
SpotPass or DLC support? I want to marry Lyn!
A) I'm afraid not. In fairness, there are over 120 of these
characters and there are a ton of support conversations between the
story characters anyway. Note that characters recruited from
SpotPass paralogues are treated as normal story characters and can
support.
(You can't marry bonus characters, but I suppose Brides are the
next best thing for male players)
Q) What happens if,
for example, I obtain Roy from the DLC and then try to obtain his
SpotPass version (or vice versa)?
A) You'll end up having two Roys in your army, as SpotPass and DLC
characters don't overlap with each other.
Q) Whoops, I let one of my DLC or
SpotPass characters get killed... Is there, um, a way to get them
back?
A) You can re-obtain DLC characters by replaying their DLC episode
and SpotPass characters by re-summoning their group via the Bonus
Box, but bear in mind that they'll be treated as new units and thus
won't carry over their old stats.
You can also re-summon characters registered in the Avatar Logbook
for a price and they will keep the stats they had when you last
registered them (although, the higher their stats are, the more gold
you'll need to re-summon them).
Q) Is there a limit to how many
SpotPass or DLC characters you can obtain?
A) Unfortunately there is--your army can contain a maximum of 20
bonus characters (SpotPass, DLC characters or guest Avatars). If you
recruit any more bonus characters, you will be asked to remove an
existing bonus character to make space. Note that characters
recruited through SpotPass-exclusive paralogues count as regular
characters and not bonus characters, so they don't count towards the
maximum.
If you're intending on collecting bonus characters, don't fret
because you can use the Avatar Logbook, which exists across all game
files, to store a maximum of 99 bonus characters. Still, there's
around 120 SpotPass characters and over 10 DLC characters, so you
won't be able to save every bonus character in the Logbook, but I
guess you could spread the surplus characters across different game
files.
Q) What's this about guest Avatars?
A) Guest Avatars are Avatars not native to your current game file,
which can be obtained by StreetPassing other Awakening players or by
registering Avatars from your other game files in the Avatar Logbook
and then summoning them to your current game file. Guest Avatars are
treated as bonus characters, in the same vein as SpotPass and DLC
characters, so you can train them, but you can't support with them.
(I don't know about you, but my StreetPass Team is going to be
full of mage girls)
Q) Can I include guest Avatars,
SpotPass or DLC characters in my StreetPass Team?
A) You can, but there's a caveat: in the North American and European
versions, placing legacy characters from SpotPass or DLC in your
team causes a glitch that prevents your team from showing up on
other players' games. In all versions of the game, guest Avatars can
used without any problems.
Q) What happens if I use a DLC
exclusive character (etc.) in my StreetPass Team and StreetPass a
player who hasn't bought the DLC?
A) The player who doesn't have the DLC installed will see a
"mystery" portrait for your character and place-holder "Outrealm"
classes, items and Skills (which, except for the items, have the
same properties as the full versions).
Q) Wait a second, how do I choose
my Avatar's class at the very beginning?
A) You can't. However, during the course of the game, you may use a
Second Seal at any time to
change their class to any class, gender permitting, and excluding
special classes like Taguel or Dancer.
Q) What are those sparkly tiles on
the battle map?
A) Those are Event tiles, which grant a
variety of random bonuses when a character waits on them. Every map
has these tiles and usually exactly two of them.
Q) Why don't I see the Pair Up
command anywhere?
A) If you're playing on Normal mode, you need to disable the Slide
Guides or wait until Chapter 3.
Q) Do you have to do the paralogues
in a particular order?
A) Nope, not at all. This is important for children characters who
are recruited in later paralogues. Also, completing Paralogue 4
before Paralogue 2 leads to a slightly amusing result...
Q) How do you promote Donnel?
VIllager is rubbish!
A) Villagers don't promote, but you can reclass Donnel using a
Second Seal when he's Level 10 or above. You might want to wait
until Level 15, so he can learn the Underdog Skill.
(Gregor promotes to a Bow Knight)
Q) Is there a limit to how many
times you can change class?
A) Not all all. Although, naturally, you're limited by the amount of
gold you've got to buy class-changing items.
Q) When do Chrom and your Avatar
promote?
A) At any time when you have access to a Master Seal. Unlike most
games in the series, Chrom's promotion is not tied to the
advancement of the storyline.
Q) Can Dark Knights use Dark magic?
A) You might think so at first, since they promote form the Dark
magic-wielding Dark Mages, but I'm afraid they don't. The only
classes with the innate ability to wield Dark magic are Dark Mages
and Sorcerers.
Q) What happens if you "demote" a
character using a Second Seal?
A) Nothing special, besides the character's stats decreasing
slightly. If the character has very high stats in their promoted
class, they may receive a large reduction in stats, due to the
non-promoted class's lower maximum stats. However, don't fret,
because the game will remember the actual, higher stats when you
reclass them back to a promoted class again.
Q) Can you get more Beaststones and
Dragonstones?
A) Yep, you can buy them from certain armouries on the world map.
Just keep your eyes peeled.
Q) Do certain Skills only work when
you're a particular class or require a certain weapon type
equipped?
A) Nope. Once you've learned a Skill, you can use it in any class
(well, Special Dance is useless when you're not a Dancer). This even
applies for "Mastery" Skills like Lethality, which can be activated
in any class and with any weapon type.
(Lon'qu activates the Astra Skill)
Q) Is there a limit to how many
Skills a character can learn?
A) Well, characters can only equip a maximum of 5 active Skills, but
they can have any number of inactive Skills (which is important for
your Avatar who can potentially learn toooons of Skills).
Q) Can you swap Skills between
characters?
A) No, each character has their own pool of Skills.
Q) Can you save Emmeryn in Chapter 9?
A) No, but you can recruit that character in a paralogue obtained
via SpotPass.
Q) What happens if Chrom isn't
married by the end of Chapter 11?
A) Due to plot reasons, if Chrom isn't married by the end of Chapter
11, he will automatically marry the female whom he shares the
highest support level with. If Chrom hasn't gained enough support
points with any of his marriage candidates or if all of his marriage
candidates are already married, he will marry a generic village
maiden. For more details, please go here.
Q) Wait, how is it possible to pair
Chrom with Olivia when they can't even raise their support level?
A) As long as Chrom and Olivia have accumulated a significant amount
of support points during Chapter 11 (and more than Chrom's other
marriage candidates naturally), Chrom can still marry Olivia. If
Chrom has support levels with his other candidates, you'll need to
marry them off before starting Chapter 11.
Q) Do I need to make characters
marry to complete the game?
A) Nope, marriage is completely optional. However the children
characters obtained via marriage can be useful.
(Note: In case you thought I
completely ruined the game for you, the above image appears in the
first chapter of the
game.)
Q) What does the final choice do?
A) It determines which ending you get--Chrom's ending or Avatar's
ending.
Q) I've finished the game, but who
are those silhouettes in the support library?
A) They're most likely children characters you haven't recruited
yet, or characters recruited from the SpotPass-exclusive paralogues.
You may also be seeing the Avatar or Morgan of a different gender
than yours.
Q) Is there a post-game or new game
plus?
A) I'm afraid not, but after completing the game, you will be able
to continue your game file as it was before attempting the final
chapter. Paralogues obtained via SpotPass can only be accessed after
clearing the penultimate chapter and the higher difficulty DLC
episodes can only be realistically tackled by an end-game party.
Q) Does anything transfer over to a
new game?
A) You can transfer your Renown from a completed file (if you have
multiple completed files, the game will choose the highest Renown),
as well as your Avatar Logbook (which exists globally between all
game files anyway). Note that if you gain Renown in a file that's
been completed, the game doesn't count your new Renown for transfers
unless you complete that file again.
(Credits to Japanese fans for piecing together this impossible
image)
Q) Why can't Chrom support
Cordelia?
A) While Cordelia certainly has feelings from Chrom, she was
designed as a "Catria" character in mind--the original Catria held
hidden feelings for Marth--so she cannot begin a relationship with
him.
Q) What's up with the Deadlords
in Chapter 22?
A) These fellows are a right mystery, but there origins are cleared
up very slightly in the DLC episode "Infinite Regalia". It seems the Deadlords
are heroes who fell in a battle to save the world and may
include Chrom and his companions from the Grima-invaded world
and possibly fallen heroes from other worlds (explaining the
Deadlords possessing the holy weapons of Jugdral in Chapter 22).
