I just can't get back into it

[semolinaro]

I haven't played Fates in well over 8 months since I've been busy with university. Now that the school year is over I've been trying to pick up Fates again. But dear god I just can't seem to do it.

I've had a lot of gripes with Fates. The story, for one, is an absolute royal abomination, but I won't go off ranting about that as it's beating a dead horse at this point. There's just something about Fates that is detterring for me and I don't understand why. Is it the story, the aesthetic, the tropey fanservice characters, the lackluster supports, or what? I really like Conquest's gameplay but other than playing through the maps, there's nothing else I enjoy. Birthright is horribly generic and I never feel good about siding with suetopia 'glorious hoshippon'. Revelation speaks for itself.

I can't explain it, but every time I play Fates all I wanna do is go and play another game in the series, like Sacred Stones, Path of Radiance or even Awakening. People praise Fates, particularly Conquest, left and right but it's so hard for me to find enjoyment in the game. Even if I skip all the cutscenes and supports conversations and just play the maps, it feels like there's something missing, like charm or nostalgia. Fates lacks that FE aesthetic and doesn't feel like a FE game to me.

This isn't intended to be a hate post, I'm just curious as to why I'm having such a hard time getting back into a game that's praised to highly and that boasts such good gameplay.

[Dandragon]

I think it's a pretty simple explanation: even after 8 months, you're burnt out from Fates. And that's understandable, considering it is 3 games worth of playing to get the full experience. I'm the same way, at the moment. Play enough of one game, and you will get burnt out.

Besides, praise doesn't mean anything if you personally don't enjoy it. It's why it's called 'an opinion' after all.

[carefreejules]

Well, uhh...based on all the things you don't like about it, I think you answered your own question. 

[GrimmLow]

Like Dandragon says. You got burnt out. I play Birthright and finished the game. Now I'm bored as heck of it. Maybe it's because of the sheer scope of the fact that I have to pay another $39 for another path. I'm going to save for echoes in the end. 

[Guardian]

On 4/24/2017 at 11:33 AM, GrimmLow said:

 Maybe it's because of the sheer scope of the fact that I have to pay another $39 for another path. I'm going to save for echoes in the end. 

Forgive me, but you could just download the other paths via dlc, making it about $21 for 1 path instead.

 

[VaikeTheBest]

Same, I've been really getting into Pokemon lately, and Mario, but I can't seem to find Fates that interesting, help!!!! When I went back, I was interested for five seconds then I got bored. Probably because I've maxed out literally every single damn character. What will I do now? Wireless battles are cancer cause they keep hacking. Also like the person who started the thread, I'm not hating, I love fates because of the characters, but there just isn't enough end game content for me to keep going back to it D:

Friend Code - 1822-1369-3085

[property of nuvelle]

I definitely see where you're coming from. I do that all the time with anime instead.

I really liked Fates because it was announced while I was playing Awakening. I enjoyed playing it because it implemented cool new things that I didn't like about Awakening, such as a polished pair up system. While I can't compare Fates to other past games well besides Awakening because they're the only two I've actually finished, I learned quickly while playing it that Fates lacked a LOT of things. I never understood the whole Takumi darkness thing, I liked the children characters but the way they implemented back in was pretty bad, Corrin was a pretty weird protagonist, like you said, many characters were based on tropes than actually a good character, many S-supports felt VERY forced just so you can have babies (Sakura and Azama was shit). A lot of things that you don't want to re-experience. That's just how I feel.

[semolinaro]

15 hours ago, KongDude88 said:

I definitely see where you're coming from. I do that all the time with anime instead.

I really liked Fates because it was announced while I was playing Awakening. I enjoyed playing it because it implemented cool new things that I didn't like about Awakening, such as a polished pair up system. While I can't compare Fates to other past games well besides Awakening because they're the only two I've actually finished, I learned quickly while playing it that Fates lacked a LOT of things. I never understood the whole Takumi darkness thing, I liked the children characters but the way they implemented back in was pretty bad, Corrin was a pretty weird protagonist, like you said, many characters were based on tropes than actually a good character, many S-supports felt VERY forced just so you can have babies (Sakura and Azama was shit). A lot of things that you don't want to re-experience. That's just how I feel.

Accurate.

Usually I'm quite forgiving in overlooking something's flaws in favour of its strong points, but there's just too many things in Fates that make me cringe. Just reading everything you listed already made my eyes roll. 

[Lanko]

For me it was the opposite. The lackluster story on both BR/CQ (still haven't gotten REV) didn't do a lot of good for replayability as it really felt like wasted potential and I was mostly ranting about it.

About 6 months - 1 year later, I just finished a BR run and am finishing CQ again, and I gotta say that I quite warmed up to the games. Now that I'm not so upset about the story anymore I quite enjoy playing it simply because of the gameplay and that I like the characters. The reclass system with Friends and spouses allows for so much combinations that you can always play something new or curious.

In BR, even in Hard, it's true the maps are routs or kill boss but at the same time it's the route I can most experiment with things and that I don't need to be in 100% full concentration mode while playing.

CQ Hard is really enjoyable and challenging but also really stressful, specially if you're experimenting with non-canon classes for a lot of people. Though it's rewarding when you finally beat a map with the team you have.

Polished pair up, dual attack/guard, nicer graphics, fully rendered battle maps, more reasonable stats and caps, good reclassing system, getting new skills by changing class also isn't ridiculously grindy as in Awakening, deep weapon system (Bronze gives Dodge, Steel reduces SPD, Silver debuffs you), auras and other passive skills that effect combat and while I initially frowned, I now discovered that I like not bothering with weapon durability. Castle battles are also fun and challenging when you beat Endgame and have nothing else to do.

I just wished for a better forging system, that weapons had unique icons instead of all weapon types sharing the same icon, the Lunge bullshit in CQ, better enemies at midgame in BR and I wished to save before Endgame and that it wasn't endless enemies spam. Felt pretty cheap even in Awakening, I wanted it to be more memorable, like FE7 gauntlet, FE9 mad Ashnard, FE12, etc.

Fates has flaws, specially in the story and presentation, but overall, it also has a ton of good things that get overlooked because of the problems in the stories. I even suspended my disbelief at the children system, as eugenics is fun and they're good characters. 

[maninbluejumpsuit]

If I were you, I'd probably play awakening again to pass the time til Echos.

Or emulate sacred stones, which I really should finish.

Epharim so stronk. Erika so... dumb...

Edited April 29, 2017 by maninbluejumpsuit