I can finally say I've played Fates. My thoughts on Conquest

[Baron the Shining Blade]

Took me long enough, huh?

I initially skipped out on Fates after all the flak it got plus Shadows of Valentia was around the corner and looked much more promising. But I recently got Conquest as a Christmas gift from my sister, and I'd never turn down a new Fire Emblem game regardless of how bad it may be. I finally got around to playing it the last few weeks. The result...?

I enjoyed it.

The gameplay of Conquest is as good as I'd heard. Very engaging, well-balanced, and fairly difficult enemies and enemy placement. I'm pretty good at keeping my units alive, but this game really kept me on my toes, even on Normal Classic. I had to restart a couple of chapters, though it was mainly towards the beginning or middle of the battle (but Kaze did proc Miraculous Save for my Mozu once). I made good use of the rebalanced Pair-up mechanic once I understood the changes. I found Dual Guarding and stat boosts much more useful than Dual Strikes. Overall, this was a nice change of pace compared to what I'm used to. I also really enjoyed the My Castle feature. I honestly wish it had been in Awakening first.

I know Fates' story is considered utter garbage, and though I can't vouch for the other two paths, Conquest's story did keep me engaged throughout. I did like the concept of undermining the true villain from the inside. Between this and Warriors, I got a pretty good impression of Xander. Or maybe I was just lucky...

SPOILERS FOR ALL PATHS (I THINK), IF ANYBODY CARES

Spoiler

From what I recall in various discussions 'round these parts, Birthright's story is straightforward like Awakening whilst Revelation is the true ending, kill the big bad god Anankos, hooray everybody lives, yada yada yada. I can see why the latter path is especially hated and why Conquest is considered the best path of the three since there's a surprising amount of major deaths wrought by this version of the war. I was honestly surprised when Ryoma commited Hara Kiri. However, prior to playing I had a certain Birthright cutscene spoiled, where Elise jumps in the way and is mortally wounded by Xander's attempted strike on Corrin. I don't know why I was expecting this to happen in Conquest, but once Ryoma kicked the bucket, it made much more sense to me that Elise would kick it in the other path. At the very least, both paths maintain the reality that people you care for can die in war no matter what choices you make, even in this series with its influential permadeath mechanic. I gotta hand it that much.

As for what units I used, besides Corrin. It was an...uncertain start, but in the long run I used Felicia, Silas, Kaze, Selena, Elise, Mozu, Kana, Xander, Sophie, Camilla, Azura, and Shura (Izana was briefly used for Rally Luck and extra healing). I also used Ike, a near-maxed guest Dread Fighter Avatar named Claire, and an einherjar of Anna (only for the final two maps though). I'm not at all ashamed for using these guest units or fighting other My Castle teams to get guest units and skills, because to be honest it's practically warranted for Conquest. Even with Claire, I still had to play carefully and strategically. And I still almost lost her a few times. But she still came in handy, no doubt (especially with a Pebble, believe it or not).

Quick thoughts on Conquest Corrin: I found him nowhere as jarring as other people do. As for how my unit turned out -- I picked +Str -Res, and I became quite the juggernaut. With an Inspiring Song buff and Swordfaire, I even one-rounded the final boss. 30x2, no joke. I surprised even myself.

My top five non-guest, non-Avatar units are:

• Kana -- No surprise there, and you know how much I liked the child mechanic in Awakening. Inherited Swordfaire and Aptitude as well as a +3 forged Iron Sword did wonders for her. It is also so endearing how she calls you Papa. I still like Morgan a little more, but Kana is up there, higher than I honestly expected her to be. (On the topic of child units, I will agree that the Deeprealm was simply a throwaway to justify recycling Awakening's child mechanic, but I honestly didn't mind it too much).

• Mozu -- My spouse for this playthrough (It was between her and Felicia. Also, I very much prefer this "watered down" version of the Private Quarters; I don't like any of the characters enough to want to stroke their faces with my stylus or my finger). I didn't expect Merchant to be so good for her, but she really got going when I taught her Certain Blow and Quick Draw.
• Selena and Silas -- I know I'm cheating with this one. Either Selena has a good speed growth or mine was just speed-blessed. And as a Hero, no less. I paired her with Silas (currently the only other pairing I've done) and he made a pretty decent Great Knight. While paired with his spouse he had enough defense and speed to easily deal with the endgame Faceless.
• and Xander -- Again, no shame. His strength, defense, and 1-2 ranged Siegfried w/o drawbacks was incredibly helpful. He really helped carry the team.

The soundtrack was good, though I'd still say Echoes has my favorite soundtrack. I must say, Lost in Thoughts All Alone might just be my favorite song in the series, if not all of gaming. Wonderful leitmotif too within tracks like End of All and Return to Elegance.

Overall, Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest was a fun experience. Of the two, it was the path I wanted to try because 1) It mainly has the traditional classes and weapons, and 2) The idea of treading a dark path and rooting out the evil from the inside sounding much more interesting than just retreading a straightforward Awakening-style plot. And so...I can finally say I've played Fates. Even if it was only one path of the story. Probably won't bother with the others.

Thanks for listening to me ramble. Here's my My Castle address (should I put it in my sig? Let me know): 16593-06984-78981-52169

Edited May 1, 2019 by Baron the Shining Blade
Whoops, forgot to add the difficulty I played on.

[Rose482]

I'm glad you enjoyed it ^_^ Yeah this...path gets a lot of crap thrown at it, and it for sure has problems, but It's still fun to go through regardless. 

 

Also I do hope you give the other paths a chance one day : P

[Hanes]

Well I just have one thing to say about buying the other paths, if you do you're supporting the business and the sales of the game now with CQ this is fine but for example if you don't like what you've seen of REV or BR then don't buy them, buying them and then complaining about them is dumb, it really doesn't do anything because you gave them your money.

As far as CQ goes it's ok. It's not for me but to each their own.

[Baron the Shining Blade]

Well yeah, of course. I know how business works. Bear in mind Conquest was given to me as a gift, so it's not like I spent money on it myself. If I were to get Birthright as a gift, I would still play it, but I don't care enough to spend money on it (or Revelation) myself. Besides, Three Houses is around the corner, and it looks promising. History repeats itself. ;)

Also, addendum: I wanted to mention Kaze as another of my top units. He had a rough start, but after promoting to a master ninja he really got going, ending up as a fantastic debuffing res tank. Proc'd Lethality a few times too, plus that one Miraculous Save. He also made the perfect pair-up partner for Ike, each boosting the stats they lacked.

Edited May 2, 2019 by Baron the Shining Blade

[Ertrick36]

Three of the units you mentioned (Kana, Mozu, and Kaze) are also units you get in Birthright and Revelation.  Just a little bit of trivia, I guess.

I've personally never been able to stomach the tonal whiplash of Conquest after beating the game, and the fact that I had to fight and kill some of my favorite characters in the game rubbed salt in the wound.  Revelation made Conquest all the more difficult to swallow.

[Azure the Scale Tipper]

22 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

Three of the units you mentioned (Kana, Mozu, and Kaze) are also units you get in Birthright and Revelation.  Just a little bit of trivia, I guess.

I've personally never been able to stomach the tonal whiplash of Conquest after beating the game, and the fact that I had to fight and kill some of my favorite characters in the game rubbed salt in the wound.  Revelation made Conquest all the more difficult to swallow.

Silas and Shura, too.

[Quiyonce]

Glad you enjoyed it! While I love having most of the units available in Rev, CQ is still my favorite Fates path due to gameplay. The story has potential too, just maybe needed better execution.