I've had Fire Emblem: Awakening in my possession for a while - since about the first week after it came out due to Amazon shipping me my preorder ridiculously late. Initially (like all new games I've been getting lately) I completely failed to play it, though I finally convinced myself to pick it up again about three weeks ago and, for the most part, have NOT been able to put it down! Me! In a Fire Emblem game! Yeah, that's right - Tormod the badass fire elementalist/tactician in a game where I'm a mysterious protagonist who even has a cloak very similar to the one I imagine myself wearing as a tactician! Immediately drawn in by the masterful cutscenes, I set out to understand the story, considering I was given amnesia by the wonderful tropalicious game devs, only to be ENTIRELY ENRAPTURED BY THE BEAUTY OF THIS GAME. For serious: amazing cutscenes, great use of spoken dialogue, gorgeous visuals, entertaining 3D (YES - the 3D is actually cool in this title and not sickness-inducing!), and fantastic music - enough so that I preordred the OST from Japan and had it shipped internationally post haste (see what I did thar?)! I write this post listening to tracks from the game, and honestly, it invigorates me like few other soundtracks right now.
Back to the point, though: like the recent Fire Emblem titles, this game is split into multiple sections spanning a few years, though considering the game uses time travel as a plot mechanism, it can be argued that it spans an indefinite amount of years, considering multiple timelines and whatnot. Honestly, they did a good job using this mechanism well, as I still haven't been annoyed with the execution - in fact, it allows for a very interesting new feature: making babies! In the game, support levels are gained by fighting next to allies AND by pairing with them, which is a new feature in and of itself! Pairing with characters gives you the benefits of their support level with you as well as them blocking/attacking with you with greater frequency. When two characters of opposite gender (grumble), for the most part, attain support level S, they'll get married, which causes them to have a kid in the future, who 'mysteriously' appears in a new map during the game's current time for you to go rescue! The mechanic is brilliant, and it's made me actually diversify my teams!
The game also allows players to challenge teams from older games or recruit their leaders by paying large amounts of in-game money, though if you challenge their team and win, you can choose to recruit their leader for free! Initially, I went through slaughtering old teams and recruiting their leaders, but I quickly learned that that was a crutch and decided to bring back the characters from Awakening proper and get their support levels up so I could add MORE this-game characters to my roster. You can also team up with other players via SpotPass, though I haven't used this functionality much. One piece I DID use, however, was the Renown Awards: for each Renown slaughtered in the game, a point is added to that counter, with various awards being given at particular counts. It's a fun means of prodding characters to keep playing and using the game's new features!
I could keep rambling on and on, but I'm not even done with the game yet... in fact... I'm gonna go play it. But that said, this game is AMAZING and the music is fantastic - go buy it and the soundtrack and listen with me!
Love and lava cookies,
Tormod (Grandmaster Tactician Fire Elementalist Wolf Ninja Pirate)