Fire Emblem Fates

      This was one hellova week for gamers. We got Street Fighter V, Fire Emblem Fates, and lots of games like the Division going online in beta for all users. I've certainly been enjoying Street Fighter V. Its become one of my favorite games and I actually get the combos and play-style of the game, a first for me in playing Street Fighter or any fighting games other than smash. It's so fun when you finally figure a game out. It's like taking an electronic apart, and messing around with all the parts, and crews and bolts, then you put it back together again.
      Now onto Fire Emblem. FE Fates just came out and there's two different versions; Conquest and Birthright. Conquest is about going with your adopted family and Birthright is about fighting with your real family. Both family's royals all have blood of dragons but you (Corrin, who's also in smash 4) can actually turn into a dragon and fuck shit up. Both families are at war. The real family are cool samurai type warriors and people who have tribes. The adopted family is more of a rich, evil, and war mongering than the other side. I gotta say that upon playing the game for like two hours that its an amazing game. I bought Conquest with a digital download for Birthright half off. So I only spend like $60 for both games, not too shabby. It was interesting because I couldn't just use the digital download code on the eShop. Instead I had to get past Chapter 6 and then go to this area where you can download dlc. I had to put the code in there. Very odd. That means that in order to play Birthright I would have to create a new file and then get past Chapter 6 again and then choose the option to go with my real family. Then the system will recognize that I have Birthright data installed and let me choose that option. Before that option would've been grayed out for me. A little weird that Nintendo's doing it like that but hey it makes you have to play the beginning of the game before you make a decision to play the other side.
      Games like this just aren't made that much anymore. By that I mean great rpg's on handheld devices. This is the first Fire Emblem game that I've ever played so I was new to the whole combat experience. However, I did remember that Fire Emblem on Super Nintendo had this same fighting style mechanic with a square grid and turn-based combat. Basically Nintendo never changed Fire Emblem and its always been a beloved series. I've always liked Fire Emblem as a kid because of Marth and Roy in Melee. Plus I swear that my brother and I had a Fire Emblem game on the Gamecube at one point. This game is like XCOM if it was more like Game of Thrones. The game-play is super tight and the fighting animations look polished on the 3DS. This is probably one of the best looking games on the 3DS. There are a lot of cut scenes in between chapters and you can really see the beauty of the game in those animations. I'm definitely happy with this game and I know I'll be playing it a lot. This might actually get me back into playing my 3DS. Ever since I got my Wii U I've just been playing on that and my PC. It would be cool to get back into playing the 3DS and finishing Xenoblade Chronicles and learning how to play better in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate.If you have a 3DS do yourself a favor and buy this game!