Fire Emblem: Awakening



"Two sleeping dragons--one a sacred ally of mankind, the other its sworn destroyer. Two heroes marked with the symbols of the dragons. Their meeting heralds the dragons' awakening--and the world's ending."

- Japanese logo (completely untranslated)

The thirteenth Fire Emblem game, the first original title (as in, not a remake) since Radiant Dawn in 2007, and set nearly 2000 years after the third game and its remake. It stars Krom, yet another blue haired swordsman and the prince of the Iris Kingdom who leads a vigilante force, and a player-created custom character who acts as both a strategist and part of his force; accompanying them is Liz, Krom's younger sister and a Cleric, who appears in the official site's banner opposite from him.

The game brings back the world map system of Gaiden and The Sacred Stones, and reintroduces the Skills system in a form reminiscent of its Tellius incarnation, allowing you to freely swap skills between characters. It sports a graphical style reminiscent of the Tellius games with a more cartoonish bent, sporting a Two Point Five D map and 3D fights. The character design and portrait art style - the work of Yusuke Kozaki - looks like it belongs in a Seinen anime, which is a fresh departure from the overly-realistic art style from the DS games. A new feature introduced allows units to gang up on enemies when next to an attacking ally (The exact mechanics of this are unknown). It will be the first first-party Nintendo title to feature paid Downloadable Content, here coming in the form of "episodes" comprising map packs telling side-stories, not unlike BS Fire Emblem: Akaneia War Chronicles.

After New Mystery of the Emblem failed to make the translation leap, some fans initially feared the possibility of No Export for You; a European release was confirmed in the February 2012 instalment of Nintendo Direct and as of E3, a North American localization has been confirmed by Reggie Fils-Aime after the Nintendo 3DS Software Showcase event, with no release date given. No translated title has yet been confirmed, it's universally known by a straight translation of its Japanese name, Fire Emblem: Kakusei (though given this series' history, that's really nothing new), which Nintendo of America has registered a domain for (though currently it just redirects to NOA's main Web site).

This game has examples of:

 * Accidental Pervert: In their B support, Krom walks in on a female MU naked, and she returns the favor in their A support.
 * Adorkable / Moe: Enforced with the "Confessions" scenes the MU gets with his/her spouse.
 * Ambidextrous Sprite: Averted with Krom, who has two different portraits for when he faces left or right.
 * Anime Hair: Present, but nowhere near the level of what was previously feared by some. Out of all the characters revealed so far, only Liz's hairstyle is truly implausible; and, even then, it's not that bad to begin with.
 * Art Shift: The series as a whole seems to have shifted its art style towards more of a Seinen look and feel.
 * Ascended Extra: Anna, the plucky mascot of Fire Emblem who has only made walk-on appearances in every game so far, is finally recruitable.
 * Ascended Meme: Ayra/Ira's description for her guest appearance claims she is "mad strong", referring to her infamous abilities.
 * Why yes, Marth and Roy are in this game!
 * Awesome but Impractical: Expect Battle Clerics to be this. Considering Liz's Strength is only 2 upon promotion, it's unlikely that this class would the most practical outside fighting mages.
 * Sariya's promotion line are Sorcerer and Dark Knight. While the Dark Knight has better Defense, it lacks the ability to use Dark Magic....considering how Sariya is the first natural dark magic user, and how popular Dark Mages are in the fandom, expect nobody to make her a Dark Knight.
 * Badass Family: Due to the second generation, you can have one.
 * Black and White Morality: Seemingly, the issue between Iris and Perezia. Iris worships the benevolent Divine Dragon Naga, ruled by the kind and just Emelina, and minus the Vigilance Force, is mainly peaceful. Perezia, on the other hand, worships the monstrous Dark Dragon Gimle, ruled by the cruel Gangrel, and at least a portion of it's people are Barbarians who like to Rape, Pillage and Burn. Even the Token Heroic Orcs, Sariya and Henry, don't even seem to be that heroic.
 * Bucket Helmet: Villager class is badly equipped, and wears these.
 * The Cameo: Characters from past Fire Emblem games will show up in some downloadable chapters. So far, Claire from Gaiden, Ira from Genealogy of the Holy War, and Innes from The Sacred Stones have been announced.
 * Marth Debuted in Smash Bros: Likely going to be the case, seeing as half the games weren't released outside of Japan
 * Canon Welding:
 * According to chapter locations here:
 * The Holy Weapons from the Jugdral games make an appearence (and anyone with the appropriate weapon rank can use them now) as do
 * Donny and Olivia's supports !
 * The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: From Serenes Forest's page on forging: "There is an overall limit of 8 intervals that can be raised per weapon. For example, you can raise Might by 5 intervals and Critical by 3 intervals, but no more than that. [...] Enemies on higher difficulties can have weapons that exceed the 8 interval limit." That should tell you enough. And then there's the enemy-exclusive Skills for Lunatic Mode, which include one that always makes them hit, regardless of stats and a Luna that ALWAYS activates.
 * Cult: The entire nation of Perezia is a theocracy dedicated to the worship of the Evil Dragon Gimle.
 * Religion of Evil
 * Dangerously Genre Savvy: The Developers themselves, when designing the "Entombed Heaven" DLC chapter. Its very existance shows they know full well that players love to exploit Entombed for easy EXP, but made sure if you just blindly rush in and started beating them up, you'll be met with a nasty surprise...
 * Darker and Edgier: Looks like it'll be the darkest Emblem yet. The Seinen-esque art style indicates a shift towards a more mature tone, promotional cutscenes are not afraid of showing how many people are going to die in the upcoming invasions, "Marth" seems to have become an Anti-Hero at best... Oh, and the second dragon? The one that'll cause the world's destruction? Yeah, turns out that's not so much a dragon as it is a borderline Eldritch Abomination. Whatever happened to the world after Marth was crowned, it was bad.
 * The Dev Team Thinks of Everything: Every possible pairing has a totally unique set of supports justifying it, and every pair of children who could potentially end up as siblings have unique supports if they do.
 * Dropped a Bridget On Him: Libera on Viole.
 * Downloadable Content: Marth (without the mask) is officially announced as Nintendo's first DLC. Roy, Leaf, Alm, Micaiah, Elincia, Ephraim, Eirika, and Celice have also been announced.
 * Evil Sorcerer: Fauder, the leader of the Gimle Cult.
 * Exactly What It Says On the Tin: DLC Eirika's Class, "Bride"... guess what that looks like?
 * Giant Flyer: The dark dragon Gimle.
 * Impossibly Cool Clothes: Whereas the entire franchise so far has generally maintained a (relatively) realistic and practical bent in its character design, what's been seen of character designs of this game so far leans much more in the direction of this trope. The best examples by far are the knight characters.
 * Intercontinuity Crossover: 120 Characters from all past Fire Emblems return here, through a dimensional portal that exists in the land. The player can face them, hire them to join his army or buy items from them. And this is mostly unrelated to the game's main story. However, aside from their portraits, they just use generic classes and models colored like their original designs. Only a few characters, who are paid DLC content, actually get their own models and personal classes. The story of the paid DLC does involve many past characters though, including the ones that use generic models.
 * Hot Dad / Hot Mom: Parents apparently don't age a day  meaning potentially all couples will continue to be gorgeous even after having children.
 * Hotter and Sexier: Compare Divine Dragon child Tiki's appearance in Awakening with her appearance in Shadow Dragon and see that the proof is in the pudding.
 * Again, compare Micaiah's DLC artwork with her original art.
 * Also, Radiant Dawn Elincia versus her DLC Artwork. Hot Damn.
 * Kissing Cousins: It seems being cousins does not prevent children from reaching an S Support with eachother.
 * Lady of War:
 * Launcher of a Thousand Ships: My Unit in-universe. This is completely intended.
 * Magic Knight: The second protagonist's main class; the "Strategist". It functions the same as Jugdral's Mage Fighter, wielding both magic and swords.
 * NUNSWITHAXES
 * Which later proved to also be MONKSWITHAXES
 * Tricksters and Falcoknights also qualify, since they use staves as well as weapons. So do Dark Knights and Dark Pegasi, which are closer to the traditional Magic Knight class from FE 4&5.
 * DLC Class "Demon Fighter": Swords, Axes, Tomes.
 * As well as it's followup, the "Bride" class: Bows, Staffs, and Lances.
 * Mark of Naga: As proof of their Heroic Lineage, Emelina has this on her forehead, Krom on his shoulder . We have no clue where Liz's is.
 * Mastery Skill Portrait Attack: The cut-in also occurs on critical hits.
 * Mythology Gag: Serge's wyvern is named Minerva.
 * Nerf: The forging system seems to have had one, compared to how utterly broken it was in the preveous two games. You can now only give a limited number of 'buffs' to a single weapon, meaning you can no longer forge both Might and Critical up to max. You'll need to choose between a weapon that hits really hard all the time, or one that's slightly weaker but criticals more often.
 * The Holy Weapons, such as Tyrfing, Holsety, and Narga used to have 30 MT and ludicrous bonuses. Now they've got Between 14 and 20 MT, and those bonuses are down from 30/40/80 Stat points to 5/10. Nerfed indeed.
 * Pimped-Out Dress: Eirika's new DLC costume. Complete with Giant Poofy Sleeves, Frills of Justice, and what appears to be sheer Fluffy Fashion Feathers. May double as a Battle Ballgown.
 * Player Character: My Unit, you get to select your gender, name him or her, select a character portrait and model, and select his or her voice. You're locked in with the The Strategist class though.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: The Corpse Soldiers, in both their portraits and battle animations.
 * Relationship Values: The relationship system from Fire Emblem Jugdral returns, only this time allowing (almost) any two units of the opposite sex to tie the knot. Even My Unit can get in on the action.
 * It may also apply to same-sex characters, as we see Viole hitting on Libera...mind you, Viole appears to think Libera's a chick.
 * Certain characters who obtain an 'S' rating with each other will also have children. These children are dependent on the mother, except for Krom who always has  after chapter 12 no matter who he's supported with, and My Unit, who has
 * Spell My Name With an "S": Nono's daughter is named ンン, roughly pronounched un-un or nn-nn. How are you supposed to spell that??
 * Spoiler Opening
 * Stock Subtitle: "Awakening"
 * The Reveal:.
 * This Loser Is You: Completely inverted. Not only does MU have a special class and is the first true Magic Knight since Judgral, but he/she can also get paired with Krom and Sumia, and even have kids. Way to go, stud!
 * The Unexpected: Spotpass allows you to recruit
 * The DLC Bride class. Let's just say no-one saw that coming and leave it at that.
 * Time Skip: With the presence of "Marth" and, it seems, in this game, it's all but a certainty that Awakening is a direct sequel to the Archanea series.
 * Variable Mix: The battle music on most maps is a variation of the map's theme, shifting into the arrangement as the scene changes.
 * Yandere:
 * You Don't Look Like You: Ike and Micaiah's appearances in Marth's DLC. Their battle models are, well...
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Thus far, the biggest examples are males, in the form of Krom and Marth, who score a grade-A!
 * Zombie Apocalypse: Like Sacred Stones, one's getting underway with the mass appearance of "Corpse Soldiers"...
 * Yandere:
 * You Don't Look Like You: Ike and Micaiah's appearances in Marth's DLC. Their battle models are, well...
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Thus far, the biggest examples are males, in the form of Krom and Marth, who score a grade-A!
 * Zombie Apocalypse: Like Sacred Stones, one's getting underway with the mass appearance of "Corpse Soldiers"...