[Nintendo 3DS] Fire Emblem: Awakening ROM Download

Fire Emblem: Awakening ROM Description

You know, it seems like every generation has one or two games that make a profound impression on you, and I don’t just mean being impressed by the game but also by the powerful conflicting emotions it leaves you with—the sadness when the adventure ends, mixed with the absolute satisfaction of how the story is concluded.

• [Chrono Trigger on the SNES]
• [Ocarina of Time on the N64]
• [Final Fantasy 7 on the PS1]
• [Shadow of the Colossus on the PS2]
• [The Mass Effect trilogy in the previous generation]

And now, on the 3DS, Fire Emblem Awakening has left me with similar feelings. To me, this game embodies everything that made Japan the champion of developing games in my childhood, and it seems to evoke all of the wonderful things about those classic RPGs while also innovating and modernizing masterfully.

[Impressive gameplay and characters]

I think the most impressive aspect of Fire Emblem Awakening, and the Fire Emblem series in general, is that while still maintaining a strong Japanese influence in its artistic style and core storyline, it still keeps its feet on the ground without losing itself and the audience in convoluted plots and illogical characters.

It seems like in the last 10 years, Japanese and Western games have grown further apart due to cultural differences, with the Japanese market dominated by anime culture considered eccentric in the West, while the West favors hyper-realistic military shooters, almost expected in every game. So it’s no surprise when games like Radiant Historia have a very hard time finding an audience in the West, while Halo and Gears of War can’t take root in Japan.

As the cultural gap widens, localization efforts for Japanese games also seem more lackadaisical, with translators doing literal translations that lose meaning for Western audiences. However, Fire Emblem Awakening is an example of how Western localization should be done well. The content is written to be intelligent and suitable to the game’s context without sacrificing the source culture’s inherent quirky and bizarre elements.

The game also looks gorgeous and is certainly the best-looking 3D game on the 3DS. The animation style looks stylish without being flashy; the 3D models and battles look amazing and are animated very smoothly. Even the sprites on the map are great, not to mention the beautiful combat effects and cutscenes when viewing in 3D.

The music is also amazing, with each melody perfectly suited to the situation it’s used in. Fire Emblem music has always been great, but this is the first OST in the series that can stand with the great Final Fantasy film scores. This soundtrack can certainly compete with the best scores, and some melodies will stick with you even when not playing the game.

[Refined gameplay mechanics]

In most respects, Fire Emblem Awakening plays like previous installments, and that’s not a bad thing at all.

On the contrary, the combat mechanics of Fire Emblem have been refined over many years and are only getting better.

Specifically, the gameplay can be divided into two stages: preparation and combat.

In the preparation stage, the player has to decide which units to deploy and how to equip them, making unit management and inventory very important to strategy.

Weapons come in many shapes and sizes, containing many different abilities and stats. The common thing is that they have a finite number of uses before breaking, so having a well-stocked armory and strategically using special weapons on the battlefield is very necessary to avoid waste.

The battles in Fire Emblem Awakening are varied and extremely challenging. Each map is carefully designed to combine strategies you’ve been taught before with new, unexpected challenges.

The classic rock-paper-scissors mechanism returns, swords beat axes, axes beat lances, lances beat swords. This makes your unit positioning extremely important; you would never want to place a lance wielder between a group of axe units if you want him to survive.

Permadeath, a hallmark of the Fire Emblem series, also plays a central role in strategy. Once your units die, they stay dead forever. If you’ve developed a character for a long time, it will never feel good.

For the first time in the series, the game offers the option to turn off permadeath by playing in casual mode, which is great for newcomers who don’t want the hassle of losing favorite units while getting acquainted.

The most impressive addition to Fire Emblem Awakening is the new class system. It works similarly to previous installments but with major refinements and improvements.

As before, most characters start in basic classes and have the chance to advance to advanced classes at level 10 with a Master Seal item. Then, the character progresses to the maximum level of 20 in the advanced class. But in Awakening, with the addition of the Second Seal, units can now reclass and focus on stats and abilities that were overlooked or underdeveloped in the previous class.

This means there is effectively no level cap in the game; you can always reclass units to refine abilities and raise new stats.

Combined with the support system above, marriages can also be arranged, and parents can pass down stats and abilities to children, helping the second generation become much more powerful than the first. When playing with higher difficulties, you need all the help you can get. Ultimately, the strategic possibilities are endless, and the tactics you can employ are extremely diverse.

[Conclusion]

Fire Emblem Awakening is about as close to perfect as it gets. It’s a game that engages you not just with its excellent story, presentation, and characters, but also with its open-ended gameplay and strategy.

The game delivers heavy doses of both story content and gameplay but also eases off the tension with cute characters and just the right amount of humor. It’s as deep, diverse, and playable as it can be on any 3DS.

In short, if you have a 3DS, there is no reason not to get this game. It’s the best title in the system right now. If you don’t have a 3DS yet, try playing it on a 3DS emulator with the ROM we provide below.