darkSpyro

1. How does the battle style play out?
2. What is the latest game(s) to come out for the franchise?
3. Any suggestions and tips I should know before starting?

Speaking as someone who started with Awakening:

1. Turn based RPG/strategy hybrid. You move to a space or toward an enemy and do that until you moved all your units. Then the enemy moves. Rinse repeat until over. In most games perma-death is a thing where if one of the supporting units dies they don't come back and you can't use them in battle ever again. However Awakening introduced a casual mode/difficulty that disabled perma-death.

2. Awakening is the latest game to have released in NA/Europe. However, FE Fates comes out this February in NA (it's been out for months in Japan already) and is split into two games with different storylines (with a third storyline coming soon after).

3. Maybe start with Awakening. It's still in print so not majorly expensive unlike older games, and its casual mode and entire gameplay is tweaked to appeal to new players.

That said, Awakening is the only game I've currently played and my information comes from research and what I've been told over time. Someone else here very likely knows more.

Quote: CAV

Speaking as someone who started with Awakening:

1. Turn based RPG/strategy hybrid. You move to a space or toward an enemy and do that until you moved all your units. Then the enemy moves. Rinse repeat until over. In most games perma-death is a thing where if one of the supporting units dies they don't come back and you can't use them in battle ever again. However Awakening introduced a casual mode/difficulty that disabled perma-death.

2. Awakening is the latest game to have released in NA/Europe. However, FE Fates comes out this February in NA (it's been out for months in Japan already) and is split into two games with different storylines (with a third storyline coming soon after).

3. Maybe start with Awakening. It's still in print so not majorly expensive unlike older games, and its casual mode and entire gameplay is tweaked to appeal to new players.

That said, Awakening is the only game I've currently played and my information comes from research and what I've been told over time. Someone else here very likely knows more.

1. Alright cool
2. Alright I guess I will wait for Fates (I remember seeing something about them in a Nintendo Direct)
3. The split storyline of Fates mostly drew me in

If you have a Wii U, start with The Sacred Stones. It's on the Wii U eShop and is only like $7 if I remember correctly. It also has a split storyline like Fates, and is one of the easier FE games.

Fates is not a good game to start the series with, mostly because it won't give you a good first impression of the series. I'd recommend not getting Fates at all, to be honest, but that's just me.

And just for information, I've completed Sacred Stones 4 times, Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn 7 times each, and Awakening 3 times.

Don't wait for Fates, do what CAV said and go get Awakening. Sacred Stone may be cheap and everything, but it's not a good jumping on point for beginners and will likely be very difficult to you because units have permanent death in that one, where as Awakening doesn't.

Alright I will try and get Awakening and if I don't then I will start with Fates

Quote: Spellslamzer75

If you have a Wii U, start with The Sacred Stones. It's on the Wii U eShop and is only like $7 if I remember correctly. It also has a split storyline like Fates, and is one of the easier FE games.

Agree with this part

Quote: StriderSwag

Don't wait for Fates, do what CAV said and go get Awakening. Sacred Stone may be cheap and everything, but it's not a good jumping on point for beginners and will likely be very difficult to you because units have permanent death in that one, where as Awakening doesn't.

However, Sacred Stones is also considered the easiest one (and was my first place so is a good place for beginners - I had no trouble with it). Permadeath is part of what makes Fire Emblem Fire Emblem, I wouldn't recommend getting rid of it.

Play the Awakening demo and then decide if you want to play it.

Alright downloading the Awakening Demo

Also is there any news on the Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem game? I really liked it's trailer and I might want to get it whenever it get's localized


Edit: finished the demo, I like the battle mechanics.
Also for Fates which side is everyone picking? Birthright (Hoshido) Conquest (Nohr) and/or Revelations?

I am likely going for Birthright

Birthright and Conquest have different play styles. Birthright has free battles (Awakening) that can help train your units while Conquest only has a limited amount of battles in the game (Older Fire Elblem games). I would recommend Birthright if you are new because it isn't as challenging as Conquest.

Oh alright, didn't know thanks SP

I'm getting both, I love Fire Emblem enough that it's warranted.

Quote: Windumup

Also for Fates which side is everyone picking? Birthright (Hoshido) Conquest (Nohr) and/or Revelations?

I'm not getting any version of Fates. Fates and SMT x FE ruined the series in my opinion.

But if I was getting Fates, I'd go with Conquest. More interesting characters in my opinion, though that's not saying much. Fates is the first FE that I don't like any characters in, and to me that's a major thing.

But maybe I'm speaking too soon. Maybe the localization will fix some of my problems with this game so it could at least be acceptable to me. I'm not expecting it though.

I'm going for Birthright because it's easier.
I think Conquest has better characters and storyline but I've never been very good at RPGs so I have to go with the easier one.

Quote: Sesshomaru75

And how the hell did SMT X FE ruin the series when it isn't even out yet? lol

This so much. It's not even remotely related to the FE series, other than it having the characters as Personas (they're essentially Personas). It's a whole new RPG that people still compare to SMT (which it isn't).