Worth It for Those Who Need More Fates – Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation Review

For those who love Fire Emblem Fates enough to play through both the Birthright and Conquest story paths, consider getting this third story arc, Revelation. The Revelation path is perhaps the most story-driven and plot-heavy of all three lines, and centers around new locations not well-explored by Birthright and Conquest. Revelations completes the full picture of the causes of the war between Hoshido and Nohr, and combined with Fire Emblem gameplay, makes for a great Fire Emblem Fates experience for those looking for more.

One of Fire Emblem Fate’s largest focuses is on the story, something the franchise has never really excelled at. With Revelation, this third narrative path occurs when Corrin refuses to side with either Hoshido or Nohr. With logic having evaporated out of minds of the commanders of both armies during the battle, both Corrin’s blood and foster brothers decide that they still need to hate each other, fight, and label Corrin a traitor. Corrin really has no choice but to flee with his/her butler and fellow displaced royalty friend. The royalty friend, Azura, will lead the small group to a previously unknown land, Valla, where the Revelation path begins to reveal a lot of information as to why the war was caused, how King Garon became aggressive, and bridge everything together from the Conquest and Birthright story lines.

While Revelation seals all the remaining plot holes in the Fates world, it does not really help establish the series with a good story. The plot is not going to blow any minds despite holding the most secrets. Corrin maintains the naïve, friendly, idealistic methods that border silly, and most of the characters have personalities that do not really show except in the support conversations. Similar to Fire Emblem Awakening, the shining place where the characters are to joy to hear about are in these support conversations, where they continue the humorous, eventful, and engaging dialogue.

The gameplay is very much traditional bulletproof Fire Emblem turn-based tactical mechanics to the point where anybody who has played a previous game like Awakening can pick this one up and go. There are quite a number of noticeable changes, but the biggest addition is interacting with the battlefield. With use of the dragon veins and various field effects affecting the gameplay, the way the map is set up actually impacts how units are going to split up, attack, or survive the next turn. These changes and additions actually create more involvement in the gameplay as interacting with the map is now important to creating victories. It still has the very sturdy Fire Emblem gameplay, but with the depth increased. One major issue encountered is due to having storylines that last only about twenty hours with limited story scenarios, it is difficult to build most character weapon skills and support conversations without scouting enemies on the world map for the grind.

For those who struggle with tactical strategy games, there is not only “normal” difficulty, but “phoenix” difficulty, where fallen units return to the battle the next turn. This is about the easiest this game can get without making the enemy units have sickened stats. You can build your own base in this game! It is mainly for StreetPass purposes, where you can battle or visit other people’s bases.

The presentation in this game matches Fire Emblem standards perfectly; the CG cutscenes are beautiful with equally beautiful cheesy dialogue, the voice acting is average, the 2D art and tech is fantastic, the 3D fights are nifty, and the in-game 3D story cutscene modeling and animation is appalling. A lot of the game’s good music ties to the main theme, which is pretty, like the ocean’s grey waves, destined to seek life beyond the shore, but just out of reach of feeling memorable.

The game recommends that both Birthright and Conquest be completed before playing Revelation, because Revelation ties everything together for the story. That said, the whole Fire Emblem Fates storyline is not very stellar as one would hope. Conversely, you still get Fire Emblem Fates’ fantastic gameplay, but with new Valla locations and map challenges. As a $20 add-on, Revelations is a new twenty-hour adventure for Corrin and crew, which makes the journey worth it for fans. If you have finished Birthright and Conquest, and still need more Fire Emblem Fates, Revelations is highly recommended.

Final Score: 8.5/10