This Christmas, Nintendo of Europe has a special treat for owners of Fire Emblem Fates. From 22nd December 2016 to 5th January 2017, all DLC for Fates is 30% off the usual price.
If you’re getting the game for Christmas or you’ve been considering getting the DLC, this is a great opportunity. As for those of us who got the DLC beforehand, well, at least we got to play it earlier!
The best bit is that all DLC is included, which means the Conquest, Birthright and Revelation story paths and both of the Map Packs are all eligible–a double bargain considering they’re already discounted.
Below, we have a helpful chart of all the discount DLC and some quick thoughts about each, in case you’re wondering which ones to go for.
Story Paths
If you’ve only played one of the story paths (Birthright or Conquest) and want to explore more of the Fates world, the other story paths are easily the best DLC choices, regardless of what you may think of the pricing model.
| Name | New Price | Description/Thoughts |
|---|---|---|
| Birthright | €13.99 / £12.59 | The Birthright story path for owners of Conquest or the digital version. Worth considering if you seek an easy-going Fire Emblem adventure and/or you feel bad about mowing down Hoshidans in Conquest. |
| Conquest | €13.99 / £12.59 | The Conquest story path for owners of Birthright or the digital version. A must if you like the idea of a challenging Fire Emblem and/or you’re tempted by the dark side. Just try not to take the story too seriously… |
| Revelation | €13.99 / £12.59 | The Revelation story path for owners of Birthright, Conquest or the digital version. If you loved Birthright and Conquest, you pretty much need to get this. Although clichéd, this is essentially the “true” path of Fates, meant as a reward after playing the others. |
Map Packs
If you’re looking to indulge in some additional maps, you can save a lot of money by buying the packs. As a matter of fact, the Map Packs originally discounted all maps by around 30%, so now they’re closer to 50% off.
| Name | New Price | Description/Thoughts |
|---|---|---|
| Map Pack 1 | €12.59 / £11.30 | A collection of all 12 pieces of DLC from the first season (two of them are free). Plus 10,000G to use in-game. A fairly solid line up of maps (which we’ll discuss in more detail in a moment). Worth investing if you’ve beaten at least one story path and want some more toys to play with. |
| Map Pack 2 | €5.59 / £5.03 | A collection of all 7 pieces of DLC from the second season (one of them is free). A good choice if you like the 2nd generation characters or want to learn more about them. |
Individual Maps
Or if you’re on a budget (admittedly it’s not cheap to buy all the story paths and all the additional maps), you can always grab a couple of the maps, especially the ones that best suit your needs.
Overall, the DLC maps in Fates are more polished than the ones in Awakening, although they’re not without their flaws. Namely, some maps give you fixed units to use, which is fun the first time, but gets a bit repetitive on subsequent runs.
Season 1
| Name | New Price | Description/Thoughts |
|---|---|---|
| Boo Camp | €1.74 / £1.60 | A map that allows you to grind on powerful Faceless. You can earn experience points even if playing Conquest. Not essential, unless you’re on Conquest and finding it too difficult. The map itself isn’t completely brainless, as the non-golden Faceless will attack you, while the golden Faceless try to run away. |
| Beach Brawl | €1.74 / £1.60 | A map that features the 8 royals and their 2 retainers. You pick one of the royal teams and must face off against the other 7. If successful, you can view a special illustration. You can get a fair amount of play-time from this map, since there are 8 teams that you can use. It’s mostly just silly fun. |
| Ghostly Gold | €1.74 / £1.60 | A map that allows you to loot gold from fleeing ghosts. Not essential, unless you want to grind Eternal Seals or other expensive items. The map itself requires some thought, as non-boss enemies will attack you, while boss enemies (usually the ones with gold) ignore you. |
| Museum Melee | €1.74 / £1.60 | A map where you can get rare items from treasure chests and assorted items from enemies. Not essential unless you love forging super-powerful weapons. In this map, there’s a boss Kinshi Knight who goes around looting the five treasure chests before fleeing the map. Inside the chests are two rare Rank A weapons. If you can kill the boss before she leaves, you’ll get all of her loot. At the same time, a bunch of random enemies will spawn over several turns, some of them carrying all sorts of weird and wonderful items. |
| Royal Royale | €1.74 / £1.60 | A tougher version of Beach Brawl, once again pitting your chosen royal team against the other 7 teams. If successful, you’ll earn a stat-booster (for your first team victory) and a rare promotion item (Dread Scroll for Hoshidans and Ebon Wing for Nohrians). Like Beach Brawl, this map offers a lot of replayability. However it’s also incredibly tough; you’ll need excellent strategy and good timing of the Dragon Veins to secure victory. |
| Hidden Truths | €3.14 / £2.86 | A two parter that follows Odin, Selena and Laslow before they entered the world of Fates. If successful, you can earn a Fell Brand in Part 1 and a First Blood in Part 2. Best played after Revelation; likewise, it answers a lot of questions, but also throws a couple of spanners into the works. The maps themselves are somewhat challenging as you only have three units against a few dozen enemies, but no problem after some initial trial and error. |
| Vanguard Dawn | €1.39 / £1.25 | A map based on Elincia’s Gambit from Radiant Dawn. You can earn the Vanguard Brand and skill scrolls for the Vanguard class. This map lets you use your characters for once. Depending on your characters’ levels, this is a fun survival mission or blitz mission. |
| Anna on the Run | €1.39 / £1.25 | A map based on Anna the Merchant from Awakening. You can recruit Anna herself during your first successful clear. Nice if you like Anna or you’re a completionist. The map has a bunch of strong axe users dotted around, all of whom look strangely alike… |
| Ballistician Blitz | €1.39 / £1.25 | A map based on the Wooden Cavalry from Shadow Dragon. You can earn the Sighting Lens, which changes male characters to the tank-like Ballistician class. The map pits you against a whole load of Ballisticians, so you’ll understand their strengths before long. Cool if you like the Ballistician class–and why wouldn’t you? |
| Witches’ Trial | €1.39 / £1.25 | A map based on Fear Mountain from Gaiden. You can earn the Witch’s Mark, which changes female characters to the spellbinding Witch class, plus the Warp scroll for other characters. The map features a few Witches who can use Warp to teleport next to any of their allies and perform a second action straight afterwards. Fun if you like the Witch class and/or breaking the game with Warp. |
Season 2
| Name | New Price | Description/Thoughts |
|---|---|---|
| I: In Endless Dreams | €0.34 / £0.34 | The first of a six-part arc, “Heirs of Fate”, which follows the 2nd generation characters in an alternate storyline where their parents have gone missing. As such, after playing the first (which is heavily discounted, wink wink), you’ll know what to expect. The first part focuses on female Kana’s team. It’s not too difficult and basically explains the premise of the overarching storyline. The map is based on Xander from the Birthright path. |
| II: Realms Collide | €1.39 / £1.25 | Part 2 of the Heirs of Fate arc. You follow male Kana’s team in a map based on Ryoma from the Conquest path. This one is somewhat tricky as you need to run from a tough boss (or try to fight him off), but doable if you keep your head. |
| III: The Changing Tide | €1.39 / £1.25 | Part 3 of the Heirs of Fate arc. It’s Shiro’s turn to shine in a map based on Leo from the Birthright path. You need to defeat 3 bosses in a fairly small map with multiple reinforcements. A tough cookie to crack whether you decide to rush the bosses or stand your ground. |
| IV: Light’s Sacrifice | €1.39 / £1.25 | Part 4 of the Heirs of Fate arc. This time, Siegbert’s team must wipe out the enemies in a map based on Possessed from the Conquest path. The map is big so you can take your time, but one of the bosses is notorious for being speedy and hard-hitting. |
| V: Endless Dawn | €1.39 / £1.25 | Part 5 of the Heirs of Fate arc. The threads are starting to come together. In this penultimate chapter, you lead Shigure in a battle against the revealed enemy. This map starts off pretty easy, but can get intense later on, especially as reinforcements slowly swarm from below. |
| End: Lost in the Waves | €1.39 / £1.25 | The final part of the Heirs of Fate arc. A fantastic final chapter that requires you to use all the tools available to you. To be honest, this is what the final chapter of Revelation should have been. Bonus: You get to hear Matthew Mercer singing! |
While we’re here, unfortunately there’s still no sign of the two remaining Japanese exclusive maps (Hoshidan and Nohrian Festival of Bonds). Each map has a behemoth amount of dialogue, but the prolonged wait is awfully worrying…
