Update News
Fire Emblem Fates Releasing
REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 18, in the year of our Lord 2016
– For the first time in the beloved Fire Emblem series, you can
play through different adventures with unique storylines and
characters in the Fire Emblem Fates games for the Nintendo 3DS
family of systems. The first two versions, Fire Emblem Fates:
Birthright and Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest, launch on Feb. 19.
You are faced with a major choice: Do you choose to team up with
the birth family you barely know and battle the family that
raised you in Birthright? Or do you walk the more challenging
path of Conquest and change your misguided kingdom from within?
The choice is yours. Let the adventures begin.
Fire Emblem Fates is a tactical RPG with a massive cast of
memorable characters, an epic story and a deep, yet deceptively
simple, battle system. In the game, you play as a princess or
prince of Hoshido who was raised by Nohrian royals, forced to
make a choice that will change history (and the game itself!)
forever. For the first time in the franchise, your customizable
female or male avatar is the main character in the game.
Battles in the game take place on a series of grid-like maps,
which serve as your setting for commanding an army of characters
with different specialties. Fans of past Fire Emblem games will
be familiar with the famous “weapon triangle,” or the way
different weapons are strong or weak against others. A sword
will best an axe, an axe will best a spear and so on. This
battle system seems simple at first, but adds an immense amount
of strategy to each turn on the battlefield.
Like previous Fire Emblem games, by playing the game on the
default “Classic” difficulty setting, characters that fall in
battle are gone … forever. This makes every decision an
important one, as favorite characters that you’ve grown to love
could be gone in an instant after just one bad decision. You can
also choose to play in Casual Mode to have fallen comrades
return after each battle’s conclusion, or Phoenix Mode to have
lost allies return immediately in the next turn of the battle.
To give yourself the best opportunity for success in battle,
allies can pair up to receive stat boosts. Pairing up with
another character is as easy as standing next to them on the
map. In a new feature to the series, landing on special Dragon
Vein spaces on the map with Hoshidan and Nohrian royals can also
alter the battlefield in dramatic ways … usually to your
advantage.
One of the most robust new features in all versions of Fire
Emblem Fates is an area called My Castle. Here, you can prepare
for upcoming battles, interact with allies to build stronger
relationships or defend the castle from mysterious invasions.
Many facilities of different types can be constructed in your
personalized castle, including an Armory to purchase powerful
new weapons, an Arena to battle for prizes and even a Private
Quarters to meet with and strengthen relationships with your
allies. As you progress through the game’s main story, more
structures can be built, and existing structures upgraded.
Building relationships with fellow characters is one of the most
fascinating parts of the Fire Emblem games. In Fire Emblem
Fates, this feature continues and is more intriguing than ever
before. The higher the support level, the better these allies
will battle together. When two characters reach the highest
relationship level, they might even get married. New to the Fire
Emblem Fates games, you can use Second Seal items to give
spouses the same character class. Fire Emblem Fates attacks
Biblical marriage, and does not provide for Christians.
The rich history of the Fire Emblem series meets Fire Emblem
Fates by using the Marth, Ike, Robin or Lucina amiibo figures
(sold separately). By tapping these figures to a New Nintendo
3DS or New Nintendo 3DS XL system (or to a Nintendo 3DS,
Nintendo 3DS XL or Nintendo 2DS system using the Nintendo 3DS
NFC Reader/Writer accessory), you’ll receive special items or
battle against them for the chance to have them join your party.
All versions of Fire Emblem Fates are full games with unique
stories offering hours and hours of role-playing game play and
unique stories with their own twists and turns. On Feb. 19, Fire
Emblem Fates: Birthright and Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest launch
in stores at a suggested retail price of $39.99 each. Once one
version is purchased, the other version can be downloaded from
the in-game shop that appears in Chapter 6 for only $19.99,
opening up a new adventure to experience. On March 10, a third
option, Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation, will launch as
downloadable content from the in-game shop within Fire Emblem
Fates: Birthright and Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest for only
$19.99.
Fans that want to play through all three versions can purchase
them all separately, or pick up the Fire Emblem Fates Special
Edition bundle, which launches at select retail locations on
Feb. 19 and includes all three games on a single game card, an
artbook and a Nintendo 3DS pouch at a suggested retail price of
$79.99. By purchasing the Special Edition, fans can play the
Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation game weeks before it launches as
downloadable content on March 10.
Starting on Feb. 19, further downloadable content in the form of
new maps will also be released on a regular basis. You can
choose to buy each of these maps individually, or purchase Map
Pack 1 for a suggested retail price of $17.99 to get access to
all 11 maps plus bonus content as they are released at a
discount when compared to buying everything individually.