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3DS

Fire Emblem Fates to Release in Two Versions in North America

by Donald Theriault - June 16, 2015, 1:43 pm EDT
Total comments: 32 Source: Game Informer

A big risk for the 2016 3DS RPG

Fire Emblem Fates will release in two versions outside of Japan as well, as reported by Game Informer.

The dual release was confirmed to Game Informer today in their E3 writeup of the 2016 RPG, who also confirmed that the 3rd campaign as a downloadable content offer.

As of yet, we don't have details about the pricing or if a combined limited edition will be available. Live reaction to Fire Emblem Fates was a part of today's episode of Nintendo News Report.

Talkback

OedoJune 16, 2015

Oh boy. If there's an appropriately priced limited edition bundle that'll be up for pre-order for more than 9 seconds, I'll be alright with this. I'd imagine I'm very much in the minority though. They're going to catch quite a bit of flak for this.

steveyJune 16, 2015

BOYCOTT

Mop it upJune 16, 2015

Bummer.

Quote from: stevey

BOYCOTT

I don't agree, but this thing is f-ing up the comment section of the site so I'm curious to see what happens when I quote it

SyrenneMcNSyrenne McNulty, Contributing WriterJune 16, 2015

Quote from: Crimm

Quote from: stevey

BOYCOTT

I don't agree, but this thing is f-ing up the comment section of the site so I'm curious to see what happens when I quote it

Adding this to my comment. No opinion on the news itself.

fred13June 16, 2015

I know this makes you all mad, but I couldn't care less. I LOVED Awakening and now I get more Fire Emblem and if I understand correctly this game is big enough to justify the 2 SKUs so I'll be happy to buy BOTH versions plus the DLC. I played through Awakening twice first in hard casual and then in hard classic (I tried the super hard mode, but I couldn't beat the 3rd level). I will probably pre-order this game and I'll be excited to own all of it.


If it's really the size of 2 separate games why does it bother people to buy them as separate games?

AqueousJune 16, 2015

NOHR! So then dlc the other story?

Sorry to ruin everybody's fun, but the giant text was screwing with the comment view on the front page.

broodwarsJune 16, 2015

Well, I guess this is the end of the Fire Emblem franchise in North America, then. The series is niche enough as it is that I can't really see splitting the fanbase working out well in the long term.

Zvarri!June 16, 2015

Why is everyone freaking out about this? There is enough content in each path to constitute two versions. There is no reason to complain about getting extra content, and it is petty to complain about paying for content. 

leahsdadJune 16, 2015

Quote from: Oedo

Oh boy. If there's an appropriately priced limited edition bundle that'll be up for pre-order for more than 9 seconds, I'll be alright with this.

Well, if we look to Pokemon for precedent, there was that AlphaSapphire/OmegaRuby bundle that was...78.99 or something like that?  Basically, saving you a dollar?  Well there you go.  Thanks, Nintendo.

OedoJune 16, 2015

Quote from: broodwars

Well, I guess this is the end of the Fire Emblem franchise in North America, then. The series is niche enough as it is that I can't really see splitting the fanbase working out well in the long term.

To be fair, I think it broke through that niche label with Awakening selling over a million copies in the West. They got a ton of people into the series for the first time with that game and even if you lose some of them now, I can't see sales dropping so low that they can't justify further localizations. This is probably going to end like Splatoon where a lot of people complain before its release, but end up getting it anyway. We saw how strong the holdouts were for that in the face of good reviews/hype. 

Zvarri!June 16, 2015

The versions of the game will be called Birthright & Conquest.


https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/E3/Nintendo-E3-2015-1022866.html
It's in the captions of the Fates trailer.

OedoJune 16, 2015

Quote from: leahsdad

Quote from: Oedo

Oh boy. If there's an appropriately priced limited edition bundle that'll be up for pre-order for more than 9 seconds, I'll be alright with this.

Well, if we look to Pokemon for precedent, there was that AlphaSapphire/OmegaRuby bundle that was...78.99 or something like that?  Basically, saving you a dollar?  Well there you go.  Thanks, Nintendo.

I wouldn't look at Pokemon as a precedent for anything. That franchise is in its own category entirely as far crap they can get away with.

Zvarri!June 16, 2015

Quote from: leahsdad

Quote from: Oedo

Oh boy. If there's an appropriately priced limited edition bundle that'll be up for pre-order for more than 9 seconds, I'll be alright with this.

Well, if we look to Pokemon for precedent, there was that AlphaSapphire/OmegaRuby bundle that was...78.99 or something like that?  Basically, saving you a dollar?  Well there you go.  Thanks, Nintendo.

Why are you looking at Pokemon for this? Look at how this is being handled in Japan. When you buy one game, you are able to buy the other game for about $15. Imo, this is very fair. $15 for for another complete Fire Emblem game? Sweet.

TOPHATANT123June 16, 2015

Fire Emblem is up on the treehouse

WahJune 16, 2015

does that mean oz as well?

azekeJune 16, 2015

Quote from: TOPHATANT123

Fire Emblem is up on the treehouse

It's kinda impressive technically that game doesn't have generic backgrounds for types terrains for battle animations.

It just zooms right in on the map and you will see exactly the same location you are on the bigger map, only zoomed in.

ejamerJune 16, 2015

I hate the way the SKU is split and DLC is required (?) if you want the full story. I buy retail games as a choice, but this and Splatoon feel like I'm being pushed to digital regardless of my preference.

Looks awesome, but I'm probably going to pass because of the way it's being handled.

Zvarri!June 16, 2015

Quote from: ejamer

I hate the way the SKU is split and DLC is required (?) if you want the full story. I buy retail games as a choice, but this and Splatoon feel like I'm being pushed to digital regardless of my preference.

Looks awesome, but I'm probably going to pass because of the way it's being handled.

Would it actually be any different if it was one game that cost $55? I don't see the difference.

WahJune 16, 2015

I really like the way the spilt story's going anyway.

hhgjfJune 16, 2015

I still don't get why people are so upset about the 2-version thingy. If I'm paying $40 for a game (the black version in this case), what I should be concerned with is whether it has $40 worth of content; it does not matter to me whether there's another white version, or grey version, or whatever color versions. Does one version justifies a $40 purchase? Do two versions justifies somewhere between $52-55 (presumably one path on retail and the other on DLC)? We DO NOT know yet, so why are we so eager to start complaining ahead of time? The Japanese release is in just a few days' time, why not wait until we have a better idea of the amount of content then start judging?

For me personally, I'm buying the black version and I'm perfectly fine with the fact that there exists another "white" version to serve whomever prefers that, as long as my black version has enough content. I'm likely going to spend 40-50 hours for one game, and that is a huge amount of my time so I'm not sure I wanna throw in another 30ish for another path which features similar (or exactly the same?) mechanism. Why is being offered options a bad thing?

The 3rd path DLC on the other hand, is what I'm actually concerned with from the beginning until now. If it is what I think it is, the supposedly best path, like the "Woohoo you know what, you didn't save the world, you screwed it up. You killed all these awesome characters that could have been saved and joined your cause" kind of best path? Then I could be legitimately pissed, but until we know that for sure (I hope I guess wrongly of course), I will refrain from complaining just out of my baseless assumptions.

If they do it right it's basically a Zelda Oracle situation, where they're two full games with some interaction that launch simultaneously.

ejamerJune 17, 2015

Quote from: NWR_insanolord

If they do it right it's basically a Zelda Oracle situation, where they're two full games with some interaction that launch simultaneously.

Agreed, but my confidence that Nintendo will "do it right" is pretty low at the moment.


So far everything I've heard/read about the Japanese release suggests that Nintendo want people to buy half a game and then download the other half to complete the experience. I hate that model because I want to buy physical and not rely on downloaded content to get a full experience. 


Maybe the games released here will be full stand-alone experiences, maybe not. My choice certainly may change if the retail games are complete and DLC isn't required to complete the full story. But if I can't buy a full experience from retail then I'm not interested - end of story.




Protip: when spending my money, I don't care about your opinion.  You are expected to feel the same way.

SorenJune 17, 2015

Gamers are great at voting with their wallets.

ejamerJune 17, 2015

Quote from: Soren

Gamers are great at voting with their wallets.

Nope, but why should they?  There is no clear message sent about why they don't want a game in that case (or why they bought despite questions/concerns).


But I don't know what else to call it.  I don't buy games that don't appeal to me, whether that's because of gameplay or graphics or story... or even delivery method. End of story.

Ian SaneJune 17, 2015

Quote from: Soren

Gamers are great at voting with their wallets.

I think DLC and microtransactions have taught publishers that they just have to make something we MOSTLY like.  As long as we generally still have a good time we'll put up with a lot of bullshit.  It's not good that they know this but it applies to a lot of things in life.  For example would you go without owning a car because there wasn't a model available that perfectly fit your needs?  No, you'll put up with compromises.  You'll vote for the lesser of two evils in an election, put up with crappy service if the alternative is going without any service at all, pay a little more if a price goes up.

You like Fire Emblem, right?  Can you go without it or is this worth getting jerked around a bit on because the resulting game will probably still be quite fun?  That's what Nintendo is thinking.

ejamerJune 17, 2015

Questions I have about this game:
* there is a choice that determines which path you follow; is that choice only open in the downloadable version, since it appears the two different retail versions have your choice already locked in unless you buy the DLC? And how does the downloadable version keep track of your choice - if you delete the game and redownload can you just go the other way?
* no matter which path you choose, there is a third option that is only available as DLC. So do people who want to go retail need to buy 2 retail copies of the game and then download the extra DLC content at least once to get access to everything? Or can they buy one copy of the game, get the other campaign as a DLC unlock, and then the bonus campaign as another piece of DLC?
* apparently Japan is getting a special edition retail release that has all three campaigns on one card. Will this come to North America?

TOPHATANT123June 17, 2015

For the digital version you play till chapter 6 at which point
you will choose which side you want to be on. After that point I assume it downloads a key which locks you out of the other side stopping you from deleting it and starting again. The other side will be available at give or take 2/5 the price of the base, same for the third side but that will not be available until it has finished development. The same also applies for the physical version so you can download the discounted paths as if you got it digitally. The special edition comes with an artbook, trading cards, access to both sides and a download code for the 3rd when it comes out costing 9/5 the price of the main game. So the special edition is a good deal if you intend to buy everything.

Conclusion
Physical + Digital = 5/5 + 2/5 + 2/5
Physical x 2 + Digital = 5/5 + 5/5 + 2/5
Digital = 5/5 + 2/5 + 2/5
Special = 9/5 + Artbook and cards.

ejamerJune 17, 2015

Quote from: TOPHATANT123

... After that point I assume it downloads a key which locks you out of the other side stopping you from deleting it and starting again. ...

For people asking why some are upset, this (if accurate) is it.


The retail game will all be there when you buy, but players are artificially limited in what can be accessed unless buying DLC content.  It's not about cost or amount of content provided, but how they are forcing DLC into a medium where it doesn't really belong or make sense.  (I also hate games that don't allow you to delete saved data in general, and tend not to buy them - Resident Evil: Mercenaries on 3DS comes to mind although it certainly isn't the only offender.)


If you don't care about the lines between physical and digital then this probably doesn't matter... or at least matters less.

AdrockJune 17, 2015

If the special edition is brought over, I'd probably buy it. I don't even really like Fire Emblem, but that would be one hell of a collector's item.

TOPHATANT123June 17, 2015

Oh you can delete your profile, they have even talked about how they upped the number of files to 9 and will let you save to the sd card rather than the cartridge now that the story isn't as linear. But after a chapter 6 I suppose it puts something onto your account that stops you from finishing the game, deleting it, and then redownloading it to play the other side.

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