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Little things Awakening did right


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This is a topic that's been flitting around in my mind for some time-- despite Awakening being probably the single most controversial game in the series and least popular title among veteran fans (heck, it's my personal least favorite), to say it's all bad is simply hyperbole. So, I raise the question: what are the little things you like about Awakening, even if you don't like it overall?

To me, the cut-ins are at their best here. Quick and smooth-- lightning-bolt effect with the character's eyes, a cool one-liner, then the animation. Fates' and SoV's prolonged cut-ins just feel a lot less clean, and it feels like there's fewer quotable lines. Fates still has quite a few good ones-- Leo's "I will erase you!" and Shigure's "An encore? If you insist!" spring immediately to mind, but I'm hard-pressed to remember a single line from SoV.

And secondly, the FMV cutscenes-- they're the best in the series. The thicker lines and more detailed models (you can actually see some moles/pimples on Chrom's and Lucina's faces during close-ups) as well as the general cinematography make them just stick out to me. Fates' felt too clean and sterile, with the quasi-first person angles severely limiting what they could do with shots and especially action, on top of everything having an overall "softer" look to it. And SoV's... the less said about the flatly lit, 5FPs crappy emulation of 2D animation the better.

Edited by The DanMan
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I really like the (sort of) infinite convoy.  Like, for some reason I've never been fond of the limited convoy space of the other games.

The convoy technically is not infinite, but for practical gameplay (read: not grinding) it is and I appreciate that.

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the music was good......

I didn't like much of awakening at all, it was fun not having any real limits on levels, but I don't really love games that don't chalange me as a player

Edited by Captain Karnage
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36 minutes ago, Glaceon Sage said:

I really like the (sort of) infinite convoy.  Like, for some reason I've never been fond of the limited convoy space of the other games.

The convoy technically is not infinite, but for practical gameplay (read: not grinding) it is and I appreciate that.

What is the limit?

I certainly haven't hit it yet, and I have a file with a lot (and I mean a lot) of items (Even have too many silvers: it went over 99 for a long while and I had to constantly use them to drop below that))

I like that Awakening still had more than one spell mattered for Dark magic: At least you had non-Nosferatu spells to use (in before everyone says you only need Nosferatu: I argue Aversa's Night ends up better with Armsthrift. :P)

I also like that the support system actually involves units fighting together: the GBA system has the issue of just leaving units sit off, potentially doing nothing during a map or leaving the game run far longer than otherwise warrented: certainly a peeve of mine with that era, while the DS system can feel more cryptic as you don't have much of an idea who can support with one another (e.g. No Cain/Abel convo), much as they only need to be in the same map (and could be on other ends of that map. :P).

(And I confess to liking quite a few of these convos, despite the usual "Awakening's characters were all cliche" that so many longer in the tooth fans bring up)

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10 minutes ago, Dayni said:

What is the limit?

I certainly haven't hit it yet, and I have a file with a lot (and I mean a lot) of items (Even have too many silvers: it went over 99 for a long while and I had to constantly use them to drop below that))

I'm not entirely sure due to the way it displays being bugged if it surpasses 99 (it'll still store the items, but it won't display a number above 99), but it's probably something like 255 (for one item).

Making it completely bottomless is impossible to my knowledge, but the upper limit is so high that it pretty much doesn't matter unless you grind a lot.

Edited by Glaceon Sage
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The Calm / Ablaze BGM format is a welcome change to the original overworld / battle track formula that doesn't disturb the flow as much.

Also obligatory marketing strategy mention. If there's one key improvement, it's that the series has better and more visible advertising than ever before.

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What I love about Awakening the most is the quality of life improvements. Huge storage (I have almost every purchasable item at 98); easy money (with DLC); you have the option to make it as difficult or easy as you want; Japanese audio; etc. The game does not feel like a pain to play, but if you like it that way, the game does not stop you from that either with Lunatic or Lunatic+. The game is just fun.

Fates took a few steps forward while taking many backward.

Echoes looks amazing but lacks many modern quality of life improvements.

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I think Awakening did DLC better than Fates.  I haven't played the Echoes DLC yet, so I can't compare to that.  But I do like that the DLC gave challenging maps that you could put your post-game team against.  Fates mostly had you using set units and not the ones you raised, which just robs me wrong in a game like FE where building up your units is the majority of the fun for me.  I don't mind a map or two like that, but when it's nothing but that, those maps have zero replay value for me.

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1 hour ago, X-Naut said:

The Calm / Ablaze BGM format is a welcome change to the original overworld / battle track formula that doesn't disturb the flow as much.

This. I feel that battle themes, even the best ones, are jarring when they suddenly interrupt the flow of the map theme and repeat the same notes over and over again, Gaiden and Shadows of Valentia being the worst offenders.

The cutscenes look and sound great for the 3DS, with solid voice acting throughout - the grunts after every new line during supports are frustrating, but at least the combat dialogue is acted out very well too.

Awakening also has insane replay value and longevity, which I think is something often overlooked. Not only with different pairings and children, but also because of actual good DLC - I know there's a lot of it and that it together costs just as much if not more than SoV, but there's no comparing the quality provided here. While Shadows of Valentia offers a very well-written subplot in its DLC, it had no business being outside of the base game in the first place (and even then, three out of four maps are reused, with the non-reused one being complete filler). Not only that, but it also offers nothing that lengthens the game or gives incentives to replay the game; Awakening also has a well-written DLC story, but one that takes place outside of the base game and is meant for the post game. It also offers special challenge maps and fan service maps with some of the best character interactions in the game, and there are lines for every single party member, fleshing out many of them more than their supports did.

Edited by Thane
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13 minutes ago, Thane said:

the grunts after every new line during supports are frustrating

I actually missed that in Fates. I didn't like how quiet the support conversations were without the hilarious and sometimes unfitting one-liners.

Anyways, this topic is perfect for me as someone who adores this game. The soundtrack is fantastic and visuals are beautiful. The chapter immediately after Emmeryn's where you face off with "Don't Speak Her Name" playing with the rain pouring was brilliant and brought me to tears! The characters are very likable with plenty of charm and are very quotable too. There's countless numbers of scale tipping and down sword hands to go around for FE memes lol. Only some maps were large open fields while there were some very interesting maps like the giant tree, volcano and the shore where you recruit Say'ri. I loved the open customization of characters where you could endlessly reclass and obtain great skills. Fates felt very limiting in that regard and I wasn't too crazy about it tbh. Oh and that scene where Id (Purpose) comes into play where Robin comes back was also well executed.

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38 minutes ago, Thane said:

Awakening also has insane replay value and longevity, which I think is something often overlooked.

I think it's quite obvious why-- many of us just aren't attached to the base game. There's no real incentive to re-play the game if you didn't like it the first time through.
Heck, even with pairings people are quick to develop favorites. In my two playthroughs of Awakening, I changed exactly two pairings (Cherche/Gregor becamse Cherche/Lon'qu and Lissa/Lon'qu becamse Lissa/Ricken).

I will say: the only piece of DLC I've purchased in the series is Awakening's Challenge Pack (Fates' routes don't count as I got the LE). It wasn't bad.

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1 minute ago, The DanMan said:

I think it's quite obvious why-- many of us just aren't attached to the base game. There's no real incentive to re-play the game if you didn't like it the first time through.

It's still a strength I feel like doesn't get the recognition it deserves and something that I believe contributed to the word of mouth that made Awakening sell so well.

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I'll echo the replay value and DLC - I'm still working on building a team of Avatars so I can beat Apotheosis(a truly challenging map even with maxed stats due to infinite level grinding) and finishing up my 100% Support Log Completion. Fates' Support Log wasn't worth the effort since I'd have to replay all three paths at least once each and I'm not interested in replaying through Xander and Ryoma's chapters ever again not to mention the Supports were less enjoyable for me personally, and I completed Echoes' Log in one playthrough so that was disappointing, plus neither game has an Apotheosis equivalent and I was looking forward to another Apotheosis to try and beat so I wasn't all that happy.

I also loved the relative freshness of the idea behind half of Awakening - Fire Emblem doesn't do time travel normally of course, but the game managed to pull it off fairly well considering. The concept of how each of the children characters would handle being able to see their parents again and how they would interact was also very interesting, with such a wide variety of ideas that were fitted into the same "Oh my gosh, it's mom and dad, I have to keep them safe until this is over and then leave because I don't want to steal baby me's time with parents" thing, from Severa's moody teenagerness to Owain's attempts to make Lissa understand why her weapon needs a name to Yarne being worried about the only logical inconsistency about going back in time ever brought up in the game.

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Being able to buy almost any weapon in infinite quantities was nice, if broken when tackling the ultimate stuff due to Braves being all too good (and nobody sells Shocksticks despite Bolt Axes and Levin Swords being buyable- why?). Even the legendaries are available in infinite quantities with DLC (but no legendary Dark tomes is a shame).

The Einherjar were a good feature and a brilliant way of including all the prior FEs. And I wouldn't mind having the EInherjar concept return in the plot, with more nuance than what Heroes offers. In particular I'm drawn to the Libra-Lewyn conversation of Lost Bloodlines 2. The Einherjar have some sense of self based on a false information implanted in them, and they can tell something is off about it, but their memory is basically short-term and their will is ultimately pliable. Having one Einherjar, a "defective" one, struggle to establish an independent self and understand what it is would be interesting. Cliched yes, but it could work out well.

Edit: The NPC Einherjar conversations were generally quite good from what I remember, and some of the battle convos were okay too. Vaike-Quan, Marth-Tiki, Priam-Lyon, and Eirika-Cordelia I all still remember.

 

While I've replayed Awakening several times, my problem is that things generally devolve into low-man snowballing outside of the nastiness of Lunatic. And taking your sweet time grinding everyone to build supports and make children will pretty much destroy the difficulty below Lunatic.

Edited by Interdimensional Observer
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Personally I just enjoy Awakening for the experience that it has given me.  Up until Awakening I had never played Fire Emblem.  To me Awakening was amazing and an experience.  Then when I picked up Fates with the hope of getting that same awesome experience it just never happened, the characters were flatter and seemed...rushed.  And Corrin/Kamui was the worst part of it.  Awakening is something that I just can't put a finger on as to why it is so much fun.

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20 hours ago, Ronnie said:

Oh and that scene where Id (Purpose) comes into play where Robin comes back was also well executed.

That is probably one of my favorite scenes in gaming. I also loved when Basilio came back as I genuinely was not expecting it.

19 hours ago, SoulWeaver said:

I'll echo the replay value and DLC - I'm still working on building a team of Avatars so I can beat Apotheosis.

I never did beat Apotheosis or Five Anna Firefight (since I refuse to let any of them die.

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Awakening had my favourite DLC out of all the FE games - I thought it was really fun battling past characters in different scenarios, as well as recruiting old characters (even if they were a little cheaply done). I love the replayability of the DLC as well as interacting with the old characters.

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  • Kids inheriting their non-attached parents' hair colors was really cool and a lovely touch! Although, I do think Chrom should've been flagged so that his wife passed down her hair color to her attached kid for equity's sake, since Lucina always has Chrom's.
  • Mercenaries finally were solidified as a unisex class and we were given the... fifth and sixth female characters in the series to be part of that class line.
  • The UI and general speed and feel of the gameplay from a control standpoint is amazing. So amazing, in fact, that many elements of it were carried over to both of Awakening's successors, and the three of those games together have, incontestably, the best user interface and control feel and programming in the series.
  • A lot of the characters were actually pretty fun and likable! My big overarching complaint is really that the lack of much worldbuilding kinda keeps the vast majority of them from feeling like inhabitants of the setting as opposed to just Designated Party Member Characters.
  • Getting to recruit your friends' MUs as bonus characters from StreetPassing was a super fun and lovely little addition, and, in my opinion, should be a mainstay in any Fire Emblem games that have MUs as a mechanic.
  • I also really liked the randomly-generated characters from getting only StreetPasses with 3DSes that don't have Fire Emblem Awakening StreetPass data on them. It's fun to see the wacky units and teams the generator spews out!
  • All those bonus legacy characters may have been kinda pointless in the long run, but darned if they weren't a fun and endearing addition to the game, too.
  • I feel like Gangrel actually doesn't get enough credit as a Fire Emblem villain. In my opinion, he's the best of Awakening's three/four central antagonists, and he also has the distinction of not really fitting into any of Fire Emblem's established "main antagonist" archetypes, class- or character-wise. Despite their shared title (at least in English), he's actually not even much like Ashnard at all aside from simply being a villainous male monarch.
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Music and art style was really great in this game, I love the Kozaki sprites and their expressions. The Ablaze transitions into the battle themes really enhanced the combat experience, especially with high contrasting music in tracks like Divine Decree and Chaos.

The children were great, I love how they explored different dynamics with their parents, especially with the personalised conversations in the Future Past DLC. 

I also loved the Aversa Spotpass map where you had to do a mirror match with yourself. I like to challenge myself by putting my best units against myself.

Reclassing, even if making the game a bit unbalanced, was also a bit fun. It was fun seeing oddball choices for characters, like Thief Kellam or Knight Tharja. Sometimes it was fun turning units into something different, like War Cleric Gerome or Dark Knight Gerome, when not caring about stats.

This game was my first FE, so the character customisation was really special to me since I didn't really have that experience with other games I played. 

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Many of the things have already been said, so sorry for repetition:

-Critical cut-ins and the quotable lines they come with.
-The Calm/Ablaze is by far the best way of doing battle music in Fire Emblem. It doesn't hurt that Awakening has good music in general.
-A lot of love is put into the game's characters. Some people criticise them as too gimmicky and that's fair, but coming into this game after the sea of blandness that was the DS remakes, I really appreciated how easy character had been given their own traits, which manifested not only in the plentiful supports, but also in things like the critical cut-ins and levelup quotes. The cast is just -fun-.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

-Awakening has the prettiest maps in all of FE. They all look like places you'd want to visit. I feel like the Awakening maps have the most detail in them as well. Birds, fruit, even the ice growing on the edges of the platforms in the Ruins of Time!

Everything else has already been mentioned.

Edited by Slyfox
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Well, in my opinion:

  • Critical cut-ins, along with the characters saying (cheesy) one-liners.
  • The calm music segueing into a bombastic version when battling enemies is honestly the best thing, and I think it's better than the old FEs' schtick of having the map and battle musics separate from one another.
  • A very colorful cast
  • It has tons of replayability, whether you want to do a No-grind run or a run where your aim is to beat Apotheosis to something else. This is helped along by the marriage and child mechanic
  • Gangrel is actually kind of a cool villain, though he is an example of the Michalis archetype. His characterization when he's the Mad King really makes you as the player enjoy hating on him and doing your best to take him down (especially after Emmeryn sacrifices herself). By the time you can recruit him, he has had over two years to think back on his actions, accepting that while he may have had good reasons when he started out, the end result absolutely did not justify the means, and neither others or himself can forgive what he has done in his tenure as king, which give him moments that round him out in a similiar vein to how Michalis is more than a power-hungry schemer. Other than that, I do like how he's the first villain we go up against, yet is of the Trickster class instead of the General class that the major earlygame FE villains tend to have.
  • The game's Gharnef is nowhere as clever or as successful as he thinks he is, which actually makes him somewhat unique among the Gharnef archetype characters.
  • The variety of classes and their roles is just about perfect. Almost every class has something that makes them stand out compared to the others. It's also helped along by the fact that branching promotions schews the variety towards the higher end instead of split classes at the beginning whose only difference is their starting weapons.
  • The DLC was at it's best in this game. Whether it was taking on known faces (and conversing with them), or doing challenges coined at postgame teams, to hilarious grinding DLC and bonding DLC, it set a very high standard for FE DLC which Fates and Echoes have, not come close to matching.
  • There's also all the shout-outs and mythology gags to the older Fire Emblems, helped by the game having a very back-to-basics kind of feel in some of it's gameplay mechanics. One example is having the game's Hardin's unique class be a reflavored Great Knight, a class you could promote to from Cavalier or Knight which brings to mind how Gaiden's Rudolf and Mystery of the Emblem's Book 2!Hardin helped establish that particular archetype.
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In my opinion, Awakening has the most fleshed out characters. In the previous games there always seemed to be at least a few forgettable characters and Fates just went maybe a bit too far with the archetypes in some cases. I also really liked the dlc. It made me get interested in some of the older games I had not played previously. And the music is of course amazing.

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As someone who pick characters I like than actually usefullness, within Awakening I believe only two child units I don't like use while Fates I like only two child units. Most of fates children don't convince me to use them instead of their parent.

Yup awakening have better characters and supports.

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