My thoughts on Birthright and Conquest after initially beating them

[Ronnie]

So I made 2 threads on GameFAQs talking about my thoughts on Birthright and Conquest immediately after beating each of them. I figured it'd make more sense to post them here in a forum dedicated to Fire Emblem. Now keep in mind that I wrote these right after clearing Endgame and the credits rolled so my thoughts may ramble and be disjointed.

My thoughts on Birthright after beating it on May 1st 2017

Spoiler

Planning to play Conquest later this week but I just finished the Endgame for Birthright on Hard/Classic and honestly it wasn't as bad as people made it out to be. It was challenging enough where I needed to reset a couple times like Ch10 and Ch25. Though some chapters were very easy if played patiently. I did end up spoiling the major deaths like Elise, Xander, Lilith and Azura all because I was curious about how Kaze could die in Ch15 so it really put a dent in my overall experience. I think I would've enjoyed the story more had I been ignorant to those deaths.

Anyways, I guess people had different tastes but I didn't think the story was a hot pile of garbage like some folks summarized it. It had plot holes and the Corrin death/revival scene was too similar to Robin's Id (Purpose) moment but I still enjoyed the story. I guess I'm just indifferent and don't really hold any strong opinions towards that stuff. Idk why some fans feel the need to sound snarky over their negative opinions on the story because I've honestly seen much worse. It was pretty good at least. Then again I never played older FE games so maybe they have every right to feel disappointed. But for a newcomer, I think I got my money's worth. Now off to pull some hairs in Conquest!

tl;dr Game was challenging enough, spoilers kinda hindered my story experience but still enjoyed, snarky fan opinions, etc. etc.

My thoughts on Conquest after beating it on August 12th 2017

Spoiler

The game was okay. I started with Hard/Classic on Conquest but after 2-3 chapters I realized that I just wasn't ready for its difficulty so I bumped it down to Normal/Classic. Some chapters that people found difficult were easy for me (like Chapter 10). Then there were some chapters that people found fun that I absolutely hated and struggled with (like Chapter 24). Conquest showed me that my mileage may seriously vary compared to other people's experiences. The gimmicks for each chapter were pretty interesting but I honestly just felt so nerve-wracked playing the game and it got to a point (Chapter 18) where I just became exhausted and basically forced myself to beat the game. Chapter 27 was a breeze but on Endgame, I felt myself getting careless as 7 of my units "retired" just so I could get to Takumi and beat him. Birthright had its difficulties and Ryoma wasn't all that invincible yet I still found more enjoyment playing that game even if I hated some chapters there too.

Conquest's story was a mess I agree. Especially the cutscene after the Izumo chapter like really? How can those two families be having dinner together? Corrin was a lot more indecisive and whiny in CQ. I felt like a s***ty person playing through the Nohr route but the Iago fight felt so satisfying even if beating the s*** out of him and Hans was short lived. Idk I guess I just have very odd opinions as a FE fan. I still consider Awakening my favorite FE game and Birthright was pretty fun while Conquest was just meh/exhausting. Now I just need to take a FE break before I even consider buying Echoes cause I'm burnt out.

One thing I can say with confidence is the soundtrack was fantastic. A Dark Fall was such a brilliant map theme.

Edited August 15, 2017 by Ronnie

[Jedi]

Might want to change the formatting on your text so people don't have to highlight it just to read it.

[Etrurian emperor]

I think something may be wrong with your spoiler tags. The text inside is very light, so light that its a bit hard to read. 

I can get finding Conquest a bit to nerve wrecking and I can totally understand  throwing units to Takumi just to reach him. 

I think the problem people have with Birthright's story isn't that its bad per se but that it doesn't give the player anything. It does nothing wrong but only because it barely does anything at all. 

[Ronnie]

1 minute ago, Jedi said:

Might want to change the formatting on your text so people don't have to highlight it just to read it.

 

Just now, Etrurian emperor said:

I think something may be wrong with your spoiler tags. The text inside is very light, so light that its a bit hard to read. 

Sorry about that. SF likes to copy the format when I copy-paste from GameFAQs. Fixed!

Edited August 15, 2017 by Ronnie

[Nanima]

Glad to see someone else enjoying Birthright more than Conquest. I can definitly see why people enjoy a good challenge, but personally it just feels very frustrating a lot of the time. Birthright is the game I play when I just want to have a good time after a stressful day. Conquest is like visting the dentist.

[badatfireemblem]

It's nice to hear people enjoying the games rather than just slating the story. I played Conquest first, starting on the day of release, and I actually really liked the gameplay and storyline, even if it doesn't match other FE games in quality.

7 minutes ago, Nanima said:

Conquest is like visting the dentist.

Ugh that first blind Conquest playthrough.

[Ertrick36]

40 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

  Hide contents

Conquest's story was a mess I agree. Especially the cutscene after the Izumo chapter like really? How can those two families be having dinner together? Corrin was a lot more indecisive and whiny in CQ. I felt like a s***ty person playing through the Nohr route but the Iago fight felt so satisfying even if beating the s*** out of him and Hans was short lived. Idk I guess I just have very odd opinions as a FE fan. I still consider Awakening my favorite FE game and Birthright was pretty fun while Conquest was just meh/exhausting. Now I just need to take a FE break before I even consider buying Echoes cause I'm burnt out.

 

Spoiler

That is one big reason I didn't like it as much.  I mean, I can play the bad guy in a game (or even a morally ambiguous character), but I can't do that if I'm actually supposed to be a good guy and the game outright acknowledges that what I'm doing is objectively terrible.  CQ promised me a game that would have a morally ambiguous story, but I wound up with a story that didn't challenge my actions in any way.  At no point did I think that there was a good reason to be fighting anyone once I crossed out of Mokushu, though it also never made me question my own morals.  It didn't help that I had pretty much no choice.

I also couldn't bear fighting the likes of Hinoka, Sakura, Takumi, Kaden, and Oboro due to having bonded with them in BR previously, and the fact that there wasn't even a good reason to fight them just compounded my reluctance.

Of course, BR also has some pointless deaths, but these deaths weren't brought about by my characters' fears of challenging their asshole father.  Azura sacrificed herself to defeat the enemy, Lilith and Elise died to protect Corn, Xander... well, he got hit in the head with the bad writing stick.  My point is, none of these deaths are directly Corrin's fault in BR, while everyone who dies in CQ is dead because apparently Garon's being evil isn't enough to spur anyone in his own family (most of whom pretty much hate his guts) to challenge him.

Regarding actual gameplay challenges...  Maybe it's just that I've been playing FE for a bit, maybe it's that I played on Normal, or maybe it's that I used grinding DLC near the end, but the challenges in CQ weren't too bad for me.  Granted, I've been reluctant to play through it all the way again...  Though I can't overstate how much the story sours the experience for me.

Spoiler

Or the fact that the game makes me kill Takumi, and implies that Oboro gets killed or probably becomes tormented by the loss of her prince.

I don't know if I prefer BR over Awakening...  From a gameplay standpoint, definitely.  But beyond that...  There are a few characters I like so much more than anything Awakening gave me, but beyond that, they're fairly even for me.  I'm more willing to come back to them than CQ, though.

 

[Ronnie]

19 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

  Reveal hidden contents

That is one big reason I didn't like it as much.  I mean, I can play the bad guy in a game (or even a morally ambiguous character), but I can't do that if I'm actually supposed to be a good guy and the game outright acknowledges that what I'm doing is objectively terrible.  CQ promised me a game that would have a morally ambiguous story, but I wound up with a story that didn't challenge my actions in any way.  At no point did I think that there was a good reason to be fighting anyone once I crossed out of Mokushu, though it also never made me question my own morals.  It didn't help that I had pretty much no choice.

I also couldn't bear fighting the likes of Hinoka, Sakura, Takumi, Kaden, and Oboro due to having bonded with them in BR previously, and the fact that there wasn't even a good reason to fight them just compounded my reluctance.

Of course, BR also has some pointless deaths, but these deaths weren't brought about by my characters' fears of challenging their asshole father.  Azura sacrificed herself to defeat the enemy, Lilith and Elise died to protect Corn, Xander... well, he got hit in the head with the bad writing stick.  My point is, none of these deaths are directly Corrin's fault in BR, while everyone who dies in CQ is dead because apparently Garon's being evil isn't enough to spur anyone in his own family (most of whom pretty much hate his guts) to challenge him.

Regarding actual gameplay challenges...  Maybe it's just that I've been playing FE for a bit, maybe it's that I played on Normal, or maybe it's that I used grinding DLC near the end, but the challenges in CQ weren't too bad for me.  Granted, I've been reluctant to play through it all the way again...  Though I can't overstate how much the story sours the experience for me.

I did some grinding in Boo Camp as well. I just suck at tactical RPGs lmao.