My shoddy attempt at reviews

I'm making this just as a means of expression because I feel like

so many people are dishonest or just trying to make a quick buck, so maybe this will help someone.

Fire Emblem Fates starts off with the player character (Default name "Byleth") leaving a small village with their mercenary father Jeralt, only to meet up with 3 noble lords who are being pursued by bandits in the area. Knowing that the nearby village and innocents will be in danger, Jeralt decides to take you into battle and aid the 3 travelers. As the battle unfolds, gameplay begins in the usual Fire Emblem series fashion. Units take their turns one by one, moved on a grid engaging in one on one combat with their opponents. While previous games relied heavily on the weapon triangle system of sword users being effective against axes, axes against lances, and lances against swords, this entry doesn't make much of a big deal out of it. While there does seem advantage/disadvantage, most users can still generally do fine against their counters thanks to the new combat arts.

So combat arts are new skills that are tied to the weapon the character uses, and are generally acquired by training with that particular weapon or are exclusive to certain characters. They generally do things like increase the HIT, or CRIT rate of that attack, or have unique properties like extra damage to fliers, knights, etc. That's not to say direct combat is all they're good for though, there are also supportive arts that can allow one unit to push or pull another out of harm's way, or provide supportive buffs and stat increases. There are many to try out, and at more than 100 hours played I still haven't experienced them all. Combat arts use weapon durability as a resource, so as such most weapons have much more durability than previous Fire Emblem games, so don't be afraid to use them a lot.

So after making quick work of the Bandits through the combined efforts of the 3 Lords, everyone takes a moment of respite, only to find that the Bandit leader jumps back on his feet and throws himself at the female Lord to deal a deathblow. You, Byleth throw yourself in the way of his axe defender her and suffer a mortal blow dying almost immediately. Pretty bizarre opening huh? As you slump to the ground, you open your eyes again in a dark space with a large stone throne. A small green haired girl sits upon it and chastises you for dying so carelessly. she reveals that the two of you are connected, and that in order to proceed she can turn back the hands of time to give you a second chance to right your wrong. In a flash of light, time is rewound to when the Bandit leader gets back on his feet, but this time you are waiting and prepared to deflect his attack and cut him down before any harm comes to you. Impressed by skill and talent in combat, and the fact you saved their lives, the 3 lords introduce themselves as Claude of the Leicester Alliance, Edelgard of the Adrestian Empire, and Dmitri of the Holy Kingdom of Farghus. These 3 lords are on their way to study at the prestigious officers academy at the grand Monastary called Garreg Mach, both the center of spiritual guidance and training for aspiring knights and soldiers in the land. They invite you and your father Jeralt to come along with them so they can give proper thanks.

Upon arriving at the Monastary, you are introduced to the Arch Bishop Lady Rhea. A beautiful green haired woman who thanks you for protecting the Monastary's new arrivals and has heard much of your exploits and skill in combat. It seems that your father has been previously acquainted and once served the monastary 20 years prior as the captain of the Knights of Seiros. Jeralt informs you that the two of you will be staying awhile as hes been roped into his old job again as the old captain has retired. The Archbishop Rhea, having only just met you sees great promise in the skills your father taught you, and offers you a position of work at the Monastary teaching the young students as a professor. With no other choice but to remain, you accept your new position and walk around the sprawling building to meet everyone.

At this point you are free to explore the Monastary, and boy is it massive. For the first time in awhile, you can freely walk around the city your staying in and interact with other characters. The Monastary has a huge dining hall, a grand cathedral, shops and gardens. It's all really pleasant to look at, and I really enjoyed the art direction despite having low expectations going in. At this point you get to meet and greet all of your potential students to teach, as well as the house leaders they're associated with. Depending on whether you choose Claude, Edelgard, or Dmitri, you will get a different set of students with different dialog, support links, skills and abilities. In that sense there may be incentive to play the whole game 3 times if you want to see it all like I do. In my case, I chose Claude of the Golden Deer house since I liked his voice actor and dialog and a couple of his associated students, Lorenz and Lysithea. It took awhile to decide and I was iffy at first, but after a few hours I don't regret it one bit. I suspect all 3 houses are very likeable since the others seem to be quite popular amongst other players too.

So at this point, the regular gameplay begins. Every month you have 3 weeks of teaching your students and exploring the Monastary. Teaching is done in sessions where you can pick and choose which skills to train them in. Though each student has their natural affinity or starting weapons, you can always choose to deviate and push them in any direction you want, both to compensate for their weaknesses or to fill out the party of your choice. Want a whole team of Pegasus knights or mages? you can do that. The customization in this game is fantastic and gives you full free to experiment. Ignatz one of my students is probably canonically an archer who's family really wants him to be a knight, so in an effort to bully him I decided to make him the strongest, beefiest heavy knight with a giant shield to contrast with his skinny nerd body and glasses. He turned out great by the way, probably my second strongest party member and an asset in every battle. While each character can be customized, they also have some stats they may be naturally stronger in or are likely to roll more often on levelups. For Ignatz that seemed to be strength and dexterity, while Lorenz had very low strength and high dexterity. As a result, Lorenz ended up being a weaker knight, but still had his advantages through some abilities unique to him, so battles required a lot more thinking and finesse. I chose to pursue his goals since he comes from a Noble House and wanted to be beacon of hope for the common folk.

So throughout the month, you have multiple chances to bond with and talk to your students or students from other classes through various activities around the Monastary, like eating meals together, singing choir, having tea parties or just having conversations. Raising your support level with, or between your students lets you watch cutscene interactions between them and learn more about them. If you've played the Fire Emblem series before, you know all about them and its half the fun. Everyone seemed really generic in the beginning, but quickly all became very interesting as I got to know them and dictated who I would try to level up and use the most. Hopefully you'll find some characters you really like too. At the end of the month, you'll be doing a story mission, I'm not going to go into that part since I don't want to ruin any of the fun and mystery for you, but suffice to say it kept me hooked for many hours and is probably my favorite Fire Emblem story to date. You'll have to spend your time well every month to prepare for each upcoming battle, with opportunities to do side missions in between to level up and change your students into various character classes.

All in all the game has been super interesting and I'm really happy I gave it a chance and bought it. I'm still not done and I still have lots of questions, and will probably be doing another playthrough to see how certain choices may change the game's story or events. I'd heavily recommend this to any fans of the Fire Emblem series, or those who have yet to get their feet wet and aren't afraid of strategy RPGs. There is an easy and hard setting if you're mostly interested in the story, or if you're like me and really wanted a good challenge. If this sounds like it's up your alley, go give it a try. You won't be disappointed.