Fire Emblem Fates Birthright Edition Is The Popular Choice In Japan

Well, that's good news, then. I had no idea Awakening was meant to be the last FE game, though.

I went for the Special Edition

Which one? Definitely both, eagerly awaiting the third path Bring it on! Anyways, FE not only surviving, but really taking off, is the best thing to happen during this whole Nintendo generation. I couldn't be happier about this, definitely going to be there for Fates Day1!

Will there be a special edition in the West? If so, I may go for that. Awakening is my favorite 3DS game, so I have high hopes.

I'll be getting both versions.

Are those numbers just physical? I was kind of surprised the easy path outsold the hard path by such a wide margin until I looked at the box art, the dark side is just so dark, I can easily imagine the people wanting the light side just for the box. And the special edition seems like it costs more than buying 1 and downloading the other so that's more of a collectors deal.

Good for the game though, nice numbers.

Not gonna get it. No weapon durability, awful character designs, superficial split-up - there's so much wrong with this, it's not even funny anymore.

I'm hoping for the special edition coming out over here. C'mon Shibata!
Day 1 for me, Awakening was great and I've enjoyed the other FE games I've played. Glad the series has its second wind after facing its doom before FE;A.

@CB85 I know it's crazy!Nintendo said if Awakening didn't sell 250,000 units it would be the last in the series.

@ricklongo We're not sure at the moment. Japan get a lot of these types of bundles, but so far the West hasn't. I know it will be expensive but I'd really love the special edition bundle.

This isn't surprising. Many new fans were introduced to the series thanks to Fire Emblem Awakening and its implemented signature "Casual Mode". I have reason to believe many of the players who went for the supposedly "easier" Birthright edition of Fire Emblem Fates are likely those that enjoyed the previous game in its "Casual Mode", having no issues or concerns in losing characters they grown attached to with the lack of permadeath.

I really hope they bring the special edition here.

I'm not that skilled at Fire Emblem (or at least I hate letting my characters die so I'd be constantly save scumming), so I don't feel like I have a choice if I do decide to pick up this game. Birthright is supposed to be the easier of the two right?

That said I haven't finished Awakening yet....

Conquest for the difficulty and also so I can marry my male avatar to a guy!!! but Birthright would be awesome too! and loving the box art! I've only played Awakening but it has single handedly fall in love with Fire Emblem can't wait!! So many exclamations!!!

@Kaze_Memaryu It's funny, your issues with it are selling points to me. I'm really glad they got rid of weapon durability, because in Awakening, you had infinite money and thus it was only a minor inconvenience sometimes during a stage. It wasn't like in 7 where they were only so many shops and you had to ration your weapon use. Character designs are subjective, but I happen to love them, and the split is just the way the story is, and we shouldn't judge it wholly from the trailers and stuff.

Now the things I'm afraid of are the dating sim, making your own town, taking people's clothes off, the bath house, and rubbing peoples faces while the say questionable things to you, such as "...What would mother say?"-your in game brother!

@rishisquid Right, they should stick to the compulsory casual slaughter of anyone and everyone who stands in your way, like a respectable game. Giving players the choice to engage in that touchy-feely stuff is CROSSING THE LINE.

@Fath The weapon system now isn't just the same weapons without the durability # on the side; now every weapon has its strengths and weaknesses. Wanna destroy someone with your silver sword? Well its powerful but it will lower your defense and leave you vulnerable. This new system adds a lot more strategy than having you weapon break from time to time. And yes, giving players the choice to f*ck their siblings is crossing the line.

Does anyone know the Us Price for the regular editions, and the special edition?

Two new fire emblem games comes and they have tons of differences between the games, everyone loses it saying that "IT SHOULD BE ONE GAME THIS IS A RIPOFF"
Super Luigi U happens, literally no one bats an eye
This is why I don't understand the Nintendo fan base at all

Awakening wasn't meant to be the last in the series, however it could have been if the sales weren't up to scratch as far as I recall

I'll be picking up both, but I'll do Nohr's path first. I'd love it if we happened to get the Special Edition, though. I'd be on the lookout not to miss my chance at grabbing one.

I'll be picking up both to get the full experience. Probably going to start Conquest first and Birthright second.

Okay, okay. Birthright = Hoshido, Conquest = Nohr. Got it.
I'm interested in all three paths, really, but I'll probably have to choose one for the time being. I'd like a challenging quest, but I'm more interested in Hoshido. Won't there still be some sort of difficulty choice?

After all the disgusting things that are included in this game I won't be buying either version. Hopefully it'll bust in the west so that the next fire emblem game will be better.

That's great and all and I'm looking forward to it....but where does it say that Birthright is the popular one?

@Mijzelffan For your information, this is being localized next year so we know for sure that NoA is changing its content .

Also what do you mean by disgusting? You're not seeing sex scenes or of kissing sort. Infact doing that would tarnish the brand.

@King_Johobo Same here! Love the way that Awakening proved me wrong about TRPG's.

LONG LIVE TRPG!

Awakening was my first Fire Emblem game. I conquered it on hard casual and absolutely loved it. Then i restarted on hard classic... It's so different (in terms of the tours if strategies I have to employ) that it feels like I am playing a different game. It was awesome. I'm very much looking forward to fates.

On another note I really hope they'll make advance wars next

@Artwark I find being able to have children with your siblings and spiking the drinks of girls in your team more disgusting than any kissing scenes would be

All this news of Fire Emblem is making me really anxious to play the game.

I wonder if they'll release a Limited Edition new3DS in the west,nif nothing else than maybe a new3DS XL like MH4U and MM...? I hope so.

In any case, I ordered the face plates from Japan just to hang on my wall lol

It looks so fun! I can't wait to get it! I hope it has more varied levels than Fire Emblem Awakening.

@Kaze_Memaryu
The infinite weapon durability is not a bad thing, providing that it makes players really consider strategy, concerning the various weapon triangles. I've not played the game so that remains to be seen.

@HopeNForever
Casual mode wasn't the reason why it was successful.
Heroes of Light and Shadow was the first to implement Casual mode and the Avatar system, yet it didn't sell as well nor was it as critically acclaimed.
With Awakening they made the general gameplay easier by replacing the Rescue command with Pair-up, among other changes, so that the game appeals much more to casuals and mobile gamers. They also went with a more anime route with the characters and story. It was made just for the mainstream crowd. Though, they DID revive and improve support conversations, which I'm thankful for.
With Fates, they took all that even further hence the sales numbers.

@ZenTurtle
Unless EVERY enemy in the game is AT LEAST as strong as the army of dragons in the final chapters of Radiant Dawn no matter what difficulty you're playing in, infinite weapons will not make me think towards strategy more. In fact, if the game isn't that hard by default, then I'll be using even less strategy than I did with Awakening.

I love Fire Emblem, but I'm not sure I like the direction the series is taking with Fates. Namely, the fact that there are two separate versions, each with their own storyline, and you have to pay for at least two of the storyline.

Sacred Stones did branching paths, and I never had to pay money or I would be locked out of Ephraim's path. Eirika and Ephraim had different maps, different characters to recruit, and a reason to play separate paths.

I know people are going to point out how Fates is doing it differently, but its the same basic concept in the end. Lock the player onto a path once they make their choice.

I know some people are going to bash me as a hater, but I love the Fire Emblem games. I would have loved to have seen this where all three kingdoms are in a single game, and the player is locked on a path on a save file until they beat the game.

I'm not sure if I feel good paying 40 bucks for an incomplete game. If all three storylines are linked, and required to fully understand the game, then I'm not sure I like having to choose one version, only to pay for another version later.

Just my two cents on the issue. I would have preferred if Fates was a single game, with all three paths open to the player on one game card.

I'm just not sure if I'll get this game. Maybe if they do a special edition that offers all three paths, I might get it. Because right now, I'm not even sure which version I would want.

Special to me!

Where IS is taking the series is scarring for my childhood game. Overly feminine males. Drugging has even been found in this game. Like, Awakening was meh in my view with good and bads, but this is just a mess.

@AVahne - Awakening was successful because advertising. Something IS never learn to do. They only did it with FE7, the first western release and that was it.

Just picked up Awakening a few days ago, I really like it! Considering how my Awakening playthrough is going, I think I'll buy Hoshido/Birthright.

No surprise here! People love to be given choices in games, especially me. It really makes me feel like I am part of a deep storyline, and I get attached to the characters more easily. I'll have to see which side I'll be joining when the agonizing wait for the game in North America ends.

@ARCHAZARD Glad you are enjoying the game! It's one of my favorite Nintendo 3DS games without a doubt, and there are so many funny support conversations! A real gem of a game.

Ah, had a feeling the "Light" would win out over the "Darkness" in Japan lol. I wonder if it'll be the same story in the West or the opposite?

@Fath Speaking of Western tastes, LOL. It never ceases to amaze me how people tend to demonize sex more than violence on our side of the pond.

This is one of my most anticipated games of next year. I got into the series with Awakening and it instantly became one of my favourite games. I've been going back to play a lot of the previous titles in the franchise. I hope we get a special edition in NA as well.

@KO-Cub

Not that I disagree with you, but feminine and androgynous male characters are not new in FE at all. Look at the main character of the very first FE game, for one. Also, there was this guy:

http://fireemblem.wikia.com/wiki/File:FE10_Makalov_Artwork.png
http://fireemblem.wikia.com/wiki/File:Makalovpath.jpg

If I pick one up, it'll be Birthright. I'm bad at Fire Emblem, so the easier one will be better for me. Plus I usually choose the 'good' options whenever there's a choice.

Great to hear it's doing well!

I'll get special if it comes here, otherwise, will pick Birthright and get Conquest as DLC.

@Mijzelffan When were those confirmed?!

*EDIT: I've just been reading up on it. Definitely requires some thought.

I'm gonna buy both versions！
but can someone tell me in which path you marry a girl and a man？So I can get my avatar gender right even though gay marriage is allowed

@Mijzelffan Keep hoping that it does terribly in EU/US, but don't complain after if they don't localize FE again. If a game does terribly, the company doesn´t have any logical reason to bring the next entry to the place it didn't sell. It's business logic, after all.

Personally, if we get a special edition in the west I'll get that one. If not, I'll play Conquest first and maybe get Birthright down the road.

@Mikes There will be the typical Easy/Normal/Hard/Lunatic and Classic/Casual/Phoenix in both versions.

I want a special edition over here, but if we don't get it I will just get both versions of the game.

Birthright for me thanks (I'll get the special edition when it comes stateside) but I'm hearing some grumbling about the story in conquest.

Interesting, most of the people I've meet (In America) are more interested in the Conquest edition.

@ZenTurtle I can't say I see that coming. Unless you play on Lunatic right away (if that's even possible), most FE games are very easy, and removing weapon durability would only give me more confidence in bum-rushing through everything with the strongest available weapons. It also alienates the war setting to have literally unbreakable weapons sold for petty change.

I would get the special edition, because (SPOILER) both the Birthright and Conquest paths are false stories leading to dead ends, you just warp back to the beginning of the story in an endless loop at the conclusion of both paths; thus, only the 3rd path / Neutral path has the true canon story and ending, as well as the most gameplay variety, even though it's locked behind an extra paywall. Nintendo got greedy this time, and it's paying off well. I would have been fine paying $50 for all 3 paths on an 8GB game card. I might be willing to shell out for a special edition, but if they don't release one, I'll buy Conquest path used and DL the other two through unofficial means, instead of rewarding this shady business decision.

Advance War is still their best. If I am marooned on an island with only 1 game to play, I will choose Advance War. It's like chess, you will never exhaust the number of strategy to use in this game.

Im getting this game day one when get released in the americas, Im extremely exited about the idea of marrying a male character as a gay guy that Im., never liked the idea to be forced to marry a female character!! thanks nintendo!!

@Nintendian Right on Man!!! That game is the t*ts, it´s simply awesome, especially part 2.

I'll be getting EVERY edition... Fire Emblem is life 😀

@LztheQuack Ah, good to know. Thanks for telling me!

@Artwark Hooray for TRPG's! my first TRPG was FF Tactics. friggin loved that game!

Once they started including "Casual Mode" as an option, I think they really opened up the series beyond the hardcore strategy fans (I probably wouldn't have gotten "Awakening" without it), and the higher sales for the Birthright version seem to further confirm that. While the fact that your characters can die permanently is a trademark of the series and something the hardcore fans still swear by, I think it's limited the sales potential of the previous titles to a very niche audience.

@urfriendktt The gay guy is the Conquest version, while the lesbian is the Birthright version. I was already planning to get the Birthright version, but this just cements it for me. While I'm a straight man, I do enjoy some yuri stories on occasion.

I'm trying to talk myself out of getting both versions but I think if I enjoy one I'll be getting the other.

well for one, fire emblem the sacred stones only split for about six chapters, and fates splits for about 22. Not to mention how each game is completely different other than those first six, each containing different maps, different characters, different bosses, and different supports. So don't get pissy because you think two separate games shouldn't be sold separately. I don't hear you complain over the Pokemon games even though they are exactly the same with only a few differences mainly relating to the actual Pokemon with the exception of ruby and sapphire and their remakes@Caryslan

the only issue i have concerning the gay marriages is that you the only characters in which you can marry are both psychos.

@CB85 Yeah, that's why it had so many features. They had to sell a certain amount of units or it would have been the last one.