What is My castle?

“My Castle” is a brand new area that players can visit in-between story missions. It is a castle town that serves as the player’s base of operations, as well as a central hub for character interactions.

Players can use My Castle in both the Hoshido and Nohr campaigns, but depending on the campaign, there are some minor differences, such as the castle being situated on bountiful (Hoshido) or desolate (Nohr) land.

Within My Castle, it is possible to freely roam around the map, like in a traditional RPG. While doing so, players may interact with their comrades, buildings and other objects that occupy the castle town.

Normally, the gameplay is viewed from the standard top-down (bird’s eye) perspective; however, players can switch to a behind-the-shoulder perspective to admire their surroundings from a fixed position.

Helper

Standing at the back of My Castle (towards the north) is the player’s ever-helpful… helper. If playing as a male Avatar, this helper is Felicia by default; otherwise it’s Jakob.

By speaking to the helper, players can construct or Level Up buildings, as well as change various My Castle settings, such as its terrain and exterior, music, name and even who the helper is.

Construction

At the beginning, My Castle is mostly empty–and it’s up to the player to decide how to develop it. Players can choose the types of structures (eg. buildings) they want to build and where to place them on the grid.

Structures can range from essentials of war (such as armouries and vendors) to curious odds and ends (such as a statue of the Avatar).

To  complete a structure, “Dragon Vein Points” are required (these can be acquired through battle). For example, 1 point is required to build a Level 1 Hoshidan Armoury or Vendor.

Dragon Vein Points can be used to upgrade certain structures too. For instance, after upgrading an armoury, there will be a wider variety of weapons and limited-purchase weapons may have more or infinite stock.

Resources

Players can obtain useful items known as “resources” while in My Castle. Resources are divided into two types: mineral (eg. Amethyst) and foodstuff (eg. Rice).

Minerals are used to forge weapons, while foodstuff are used to cook dishes; both are used to craft accessories. Altogether there are 12 types of minerals and 10 types of foodstuff.

Minerals

Name	Description
Coral	???
Lapis Lazuli	???
Amethyst	???
Jade	???
Amber	???
Pearl	???
Ruby	???
Crystal	???
Sapphire	???
Emerald	???
Onyx	???
???	???

Foodstuff

Name	Description
Meat	Found in Nohr; affects Strength
Milk	Found in Nohr; affects Speed
Green Vegetable	Found in Nohr; affects Resistance
Soybeans	Found in Hoshido; affects Strength
Fish	Found in Hoshido; affects Speed
Root Vegetable	Found in Hoshido; affects Resistance
Peach	???
Rice	???
Berry	???
Wheat	???

Note: Confusingly, Green Vegetables can apparently be gathered in Hoshido too.

To start with, each castle features two gathering spots–one for a specific type of mineral (eg. a Amethyst Spring yields Amethyst) and another for a specific type of foodstuff (eg. a Field yields Rice).

The exact types of gathering spots depend on the chosen campaign and the current playthrough. Because of this, resources gotten from these areas are known as “local specialties“.

Although local specialties are easy to obtain, non-local resources require some effort to obtain it seems.

At the least, minerals can be exchanged for different types in the Forge and presumably there’s something similar for foodstuffs. Then after obtaining some, players can gamble in the Arena for more of the same type.

Interactions

Characters can be interacted with in various ways, beginning with simple and brief conversations when speaking to them in town, reminiscent of Awakening’s Barracks feature.

Through these conversations, players can receive rare items from their comrades or trigger a temporary stat boost. If two characters are nearby, players can trigger a conversation between the two that may lead to improved relationships.

After constructing a Hot Spring, players can relax in an indoor hot spring, along with their friends. Here, they can observe their friends from various angles and experience unique conversations.

Players who are feeling particularly brave can “invite” characters to their personal quarters (My Room). Doing so leads to a mini-game that involves “touching” the character’s face with the stylus, in a bid to raise their affection.

Things to note

The facilities in town are all managed by playable characters. If it’s a shop, any weapons the character is proficient in will be on sale. Eg. if Kazahana is managing the armoury, all Katanas will be slashed in price.

In a similar manner to the Barracks, My Castle is subject to a Morning, Day, Evening and Night cycle. It’s unknown whether this has any purpose or it’s simply for aesthetics, but at the least conversations will likely change with the time.

Other Attractions

Besides the above, there are many things to do in My Castle. Some things may have benefits for battle, while others are simply for fun.

Place	Description
My Room	Change your Avatar’s hairstyle or invite a character over to share a private moment together.
Archives	Test the compatibility of two units, look up characters’ profiles, re-watch animated cutscenes, listen to music, view unlocked support conversations and more!
Canteen	Use Foodstuff to create dishes that boost the stats of multiple characters at once. Depending on who’s on cooking duty, the dishes may have slightly different effects.
Accessory Shop	Outfit characters with head, face, hand and body accessories. These may be come in useful during StreetPass battles.
Lilith’s Shrine	Feed Lilith the azure dragon to increase its Level and improve its stats. The resulting stat increases differ according to the Foodstuff given (eg. Fish boosts Speed).
Arena	Pit your comrades against a selection of opponents, in a traditional Fire Emblem arena. This time, resources are used for gambling, rather than gold.
Lottery Shop	Try your luck with the lottery wheel once per afternoon. This could be a good way to obtain rare weapons and resources.
Einherjar House	Purchase Einherjar cards–mystical cards infused with the spirit of a hero. These are likely guest units that can be sent into battle, but have limited character interactions.
Prison	Generic enemies are sent here if captured by Orochi or Zero. Players can then bribe the prisoners with resources or attempt to convince them to join their side.

Visitors

After activating StreetPass, other Fire Emblem Fates players may appear in the player’s castle as visitors. It’s suggested that visitors can be obtained from the Internet too.

Visitors will be found in a designated plaza; there are two main ways to interact with them.

A friendly visit

One, players can opt to “visit” their visitor, which instantly transports the player to the other player’s castle. Here, they can interact with the other player’s characters and peruse their facilities or gathering spots.

Since the weapons and resources available differ depending on the campaign (and players can interact with each other regardless of campaign), this is a fantastic way of speeding up getting those otherwise rare items.

Duking it out

Two, players can battle their visitor, either in their own castle or the visitor’s castle. Within My Castle, players can assign a “Defence team“, consisting of 10 units, which is used for such battles.

During battles , the opposing team is controlled by the AI and not the other player themselves. However, to make sure battles aren’t completely one-sided, there are additional settings compared to Awakening.

This time, players can choose the position of their units on the map (for cases where the opposing player seeks a battle in your castle), whether they’re in Guard Stance or not, as well as give them simple AI commands or squad allocations.

Before the battle begins, players can apply a handicap (for their units presumably) or stat restriction (possibly for their opponents), so both teams can fight on fairer grounds.

During the actual battles, enemies are able to attack and destroy the player’s buildings, although any damage done is reverted when the battle ends. Perhaps having buildings in a certain arrangement may be helpful for stalling…

Should the player emerge victorious, they will be able to recruit any 1 of the 10 characters from the opposing team into their Avatar Logbook. Like in Awakening, characters recruited this way likely have limited character interactions (eg. cannot support).

Amiibo

It’s difficult to find a Nintendo-developed title that doesn’t take advantage of Amiibo (Nintendo’s NFC figures) these days and Fire Emblem if does not buck that trend.

Players who are fortunate enough to own the four Fire Emblem Amiibos (Marth, Ike, Robin and Lucina) can add that character to their castle by scanning their Amiibo (with a new 3DS or 3DS Amiibo adapter).

So far, there are limited details about the Amiibo functionality. However, we do know that upon defeating the heroic character in battle, players can proudly add them to their ranks. Additionally, there is the opportunity to obtain rare items, such as Marth’s Tiara.