Fire Emblem: Awakening/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Americans Hate Tingle:
    • Nowi is much less popular out of Japan, mostly because of the connotations associated with a prepubescent-looking and -acting girl as a potential bride.
    • Severa, due to Tsundere being a Discredited Trope outside of Japan. Not helping is that the localization makes her lean much more heavily on the tsun tsun side, making her come across as less of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold and more of a plain ol' Jerk with a Heart of Jerk.
    • Olivia's Japanese voice. Most Westerners find Rei Matsuzaki's performance to be overly high-pitched and annoying, while Japanese players find it cute.
  • And the Fandom Rejoiced: European release has been confirmed. Please tell us America can't be far behind.
    • Nintendo of America recently got a domain name for the game, and Fire Emblem 13 is being featured in new Nintendo Powers... things are looking up!
    • There are also those who reacted similarly upon learning that Yusuke Kozaki, the artist of No More Heroes, would be designing the characters.
    • While it is a base breaking issue (well, the paid part is) the fact that Nintendo has announced use of the DLC to bring back old characters and maps has been met positively... some just hope the maps and characters will have story importance rather being totally random (which is fair).
    • The news that the Cleric class could promote into NUNSWITHAXES was greeted with immense enthusiasm, likely as a result of the series' history of giving female units limited access to axes (the only real examples being Titania, Ekhidna and Minerva).
      • Based on the recent trailer, the Battle Cleric could be a female variation of the Fighter class. Fans rejoiced further at the thought.
      • Nope, they're the male equivalent through the Priest promotion tree. Still, fans seem to like Libra pretty well.
    • Dating Sim elements have been brought to the support system, and pairing some characters allow them to have children.
    • Emmeryn and Walhart will become playable characters via Spotpass.
    • Roy is in this game! ...as a DLC character.
    • Female Mercenaries and Heroes make appearances. This is the first time they've been seen since the Binding Blade. Celebrations were had.
    • After a disappointing E3 conference that didn't include Fire Emblem, tweets from Nintendo officials confirm that it is coming to America. Should have been at the conference, but still deserves rejoicing!
      • Our bodies weren't ready.
  • And You Thought It Would Fail: The sales of the franchise had been in a downward spiral for years, so Intelligent Systems thought there was a fair chance that this would be the last Fire Emblem game ever. The result was the most successful game in the entire franchise (at the time), both critically and financially.
  • Award Snub: Almost universally praised by critics, manages to Win Back the Crowd for a series that was on the brink of being abandoned, and one of the main reasons why the 3DS started to improve its sales. Too bad that it had to be released in Western territories the same year as The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, thus becoming unable to win any "(3DS) Game of the Year" awards.
  • Awesome Music: From what little they've heard, fans are already calling it the best soundtrack in the series.
  • Base Breaking Character:
    • Avatar. Whether or not the Avatar negatively affects the story is a much-debated issue.
    • Nowi. Some fans hate her for the (pseudo) lolicon implications, but some fans don't care about that, and are just happy Manakete's are useful the whole game thru.
  • Breather Boss: Validar of Chapter 23. He has the exact same stats as he had in the interlude. Borders on Anticlimax Boss...
  • Broken Base: It's not so terrible, but the news that My Unit would be returning (and, from photos, possibly removing Jase caused a small rift, and My Unit broke the base from Fire Emblem 12 because of how big a Game Breaker they (could) be.
    • There are people complaining about how the My Unit's customization has been neutered (can't choose background, and instead of being able to choose which weapons can be used, they can only use swords and magic, but currently unknown what type they can use). This has been somewhat mitigated by the revelation that My Unit can use a Change Seal to change into almost any class.
    • The base breaks further. News has come out that an option to turn off permanent death will be present along with classic mode(ie, deaths are permanent when you play in this mode). On one side, a base that is happy for a means for new people to get into the game without all the frustration. On the other, long-time fans who think it's all being dumbed down.
    • The art direction alone has created a few rifts. Some fans like the more over-the-top anime-stylized character designs and visuals, but others prefer the simpler outfits and gravity-obeying hair that was present in past games.
    • The paid DLC alone is being met with some reception and some resistance, with this being the first Nintendo game to ever utilize it.
      • This has been somewhat nullified, as Marth's DLC is going to be free for a limited time after the Japanese launch.
    • Everything regarding Eirika's DLC has triggered massive bouts of flame on many a forum. Given her redesign from a frontline fighter to a Staff Chick and accusations of sexism over the "Bride" Class...
      • Semi-nullifed: Brides are surprisingly... Badass frontline fighters.
    • The Dating Sim elements are a source of flames on a few forums, but they're an equal source of praise... if that isn't Broken Base, I don't know what is.
  • Cliché Storm: While the characters themselves mostly avert this (although you need to see many Supports to notice it), the main story can easily fall into this in places where its overall Black and White Morality really comes out.
  • Crack Pairing: Completley, utterly Averted. Every possible pairing has a unique set of supports building up to it, and everyone seems to have a legitimate reason for falling in love with anyone else.
  • Discredited Meme: The "Kellam? Who's that?" meme has fast become this. Mostly due to overuse and people missing the point about Kellam's quirk.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse:
    • Of the currently announced characters, fans have already picked out their favorites: Lon'qu the Myrmidon, Donnel/"Donny" the Villager, Tharja the Dark Mage, and Virion the Archer seem to be at the top of fans lists.
    • Gaius the thief (because he haz teh lolli's!), Cherche the Dragon Rider, and Basilio and Flavia are also getting really popular.
    • Lucina is already becoming possibly the favorite female!Lord in the series.
    • Inigo, Olivia's son, has more fans asking for info on him than other kids.
    • Over at Serenes Forest, fans totally ate up Henry (the Dark Mage) like he was going out of style.
  • Epileptic Trees: The Marthlike individual and the Shield of Seals seen in the February 2012 trailer and pictures of the world map have ignited speculation that there is some sort of connection to the Akaneia universe present, either through being set in the future, an alternate timeline, or a mere crossover.
  • Evil Is Sexy: Aversa.
  • Fan-Preferred Couple: Since there is no definite canon regarding any of the possible pairings in the game, this is more a case of popular pairings that are not possible in-game and are more popular than their possible hook-ups:
    • Pairing Basilio and Flavia together is much more popular than their only possible in-game pairings with the Female and Male Avatar respectively. Their Like an Old Married Couple interactions throughout the entire game made pretty much everyone who played the games to scratch their heads when they saw their supports can only go up to the A Rank.
    • When it comes to Ho Yay, there's plenty of Maribelle/Lissa, Gerome/Inigo, Owain/Inigo, Kjelle/Severa, Henry/Ricken, and a lot of same-sex Avatar pairings, most notably Chrom/Male Avatar and Lucina/Female Avatar.
    • Olivia/Henry is getting very, very popular with the fanbase, mostly due to their supports.
    • The Ur Example of this game is Virion/Libra, who got immensely popular before the game was released since Virion considered Libra attractive (and still does). Many were disappointed by the games lack of a Gay Option.
    • Most couples in this game work just fine, so it's not really a "Fan-Preferred Couple"; however, there is... the sad tale of Cordelia/Chrom...
  • Fan Yay: As if the gay fans weren't prominent enough (just check out the amount of Tellius, particularly laguz art out there), the male and female cast is bringing the community out in full force. Granted, it's not just gay and lesbian fans falling for same-sex characters.
  • Game Breaker: If you decide to go ahead and and alter Tharja into Knight and Archer (her two alternate class trees), she'll gain massive boosts to defense and skill. Change her back to Sorcerer, slap a Ruin tome on her, and watch everything get criticaled to death.
    • My Unit is this to a ridiculous degree, with his easy access to almost every class in the game allowing him to collect a ludicrously powerful selection of skills.
    • My Unit's child Morgan can easily become one as well, especially if you pair My Unit with a second gen character who already received boosts from their parents.
    • Certain Spotpass Units, such as Sigurd or Arvis are easy to obtain (oh, look 17000 in game gold) L20 Promoted units with a bunch of skills and very high stats, not unlike The Black Knight in Radiant Dawn... except they can be reclassed to lower levels, and don't leave your party. Oh you can get one as early as Chapter 6.
  • Good Bad Bugs: By abusing the way skills get passed down, it's possible to get males with "Secluded Lady". And yes, it still gives bonuses to nearby male allies.
  • Inferred Holocaust: There's speculation that various nations which have become deserts, and the disappearance of the Manakete tribes is due to some sort of world disaster or genocide.
  • Iron Woobie: Cordelia. Not only was she forced to escape a brutal ambush while the rest of her squad stayed behind and were slaughtered (and she says she can still hear their screams), but the game makes it impossible to pair her with the man she loves! And yet she still remains calm and stoic in spite of all this, and does her best not to bring up her romantic and/or non-romantic woes.
  • Love to Hate: Gangrel and Excellus get a sizable amount of this.
  • Memetic Mutation: NUNSWITHAXES.
  • Moe: Lucina in all of her supports. ALL of them.
  • The Scrappy: Unfortunately, Sully seems to be getting a lot of hate for being a female cavalier and looking more gonkish the other female characters.
  • Ship-to-Ship Combat: With matchmaking being a central game mechanic, this was pretty much inevitable. Take a pair, any pair, and you're bound to find a group of people who will engage with you and anyone who agrees with you in endless Flame War. Bonus points if it's a pair involving any of the three main characters.
  • Superlative Dubbing: Similar to Kid Icarus: Uprising, Nintendo opted to use more well known voice actors for the English version. Naturally, this is getting high praise.
  • Tastes Like Diabetes: Emmeryn's supports with My Unit.
  • Theiss Titillation Theory: Some have remarked that the censorship given to Tharja's Summer Scramble Fanservice actually makes it look sexier than it was originally, since the curtain gives the impression she is about to pull off her panties.
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks: You have seen the Broken Base section, right?
  • Tier-Induced Scrappy: Unfortunately, Donnel/"Donny" isn't well liked in gameplay. His villager class gains exp at the same rate as a tier one class but has pathetic max stats, he requires a change seal to promote, has less class options then any other character, and has no Lance using promotions when he'll have an A Rank in Lances by the time he's a level 30 villager. Really, Donny's main use just seems to be passing on the Good growths skill to a second generation character.
    • Subverted for two characters. Maribelle and Brady both have pretty decent growth rates (though for Brady it's dependent on his father) but many have complained about how they got screwed by the RNG.
  • The Unexpected:
    • Spotpass allows you to recruit Gangrel. Yes, THAT Gangrel. Almost no one expected that The Caligula and early game Climax Boss would be an unlockable character through SpotPass, and be the first one to potentially join your army to boot.
    • The DLC Bride class. Let's just say no-one saw that coming and leave it at that.
  • Unfortunate Implications: Much to the chagrin of the series Yaoi and Yuri fans (not to mention its gay fans), the Gay Option doesn't technically exist. Sure, there's Ho Yay/Les Yay here and there, but you still cannot pair any same-sex characters together, and as one Serenes Forest poster put it: "Marrying kids? Ok. Marrying your best friends kids? Ok. Marrying same-sex allies of the same age? AW HELL NAW!".
  • Westerners Want More Fire Emblem: Petitions have gone up to bring it to American shores. Justified, as Intelligent Systems and Nintendo apparently thought not releasing New Mystery would be a good idea. Though the game did recently get announced for Europe, fans aren't put at ease when they remember Nintendo of America's track record when it comes to localizing RPGs.
  • What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?: The Fourtune Telling option. Then again, the DLC reveals that the fortune teller himself is a major Cloudcuckoolander, so it's probably to be expected.
  • Win Back the Crowd: The game saved the series from cancellation after declining sales from earlier Fire Emblem titles.
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