Fire Emblem: Awakening Welcomes Wonderful StreetPass and Easy Mode

When Fire Emblem: Awakening was first announced (unofficially) by Reggie Fils-Aime at E3 2012. I was both surprised and happy. Come on, this is a Fire Emblem game. The grandfather of all strategy RPGs, it has 2 entries in the Nintendo DS, but the 2nd one did not materialize. So when Awakening was announced, it was like a moment-come-true because I thought Nintendo will never published it outside Japan anymore.

Streetpass Done Right

Nintendo even previewed the game to the press last week. Of course, I would love to come but I am just a fan and I can only rely on whatever the journalists write. Kat Bailey over at Joystiq put emphasis on the Streetpass functions of the game. When luckily, you come across someone with Awakening. his team will materialize in your copy, and you can call them to fight with you. I agree with her that this put Streetpass as an important functionality. But of course, if you are in a place where few people have the Nintendo 3DS, you will be extremely fortunate if you can find someone playing Fire Emblem: Awakening with you.

What can be done? Organized events. We have the Internet. Create a post at Reddit or Google+, call everyone in your area (Heck, in your entire city or county) and plan a Streetpass event. I know it can happen since I have read a lot about people organizing Streetpass events across countries and states. Very cool.

You Can Now Leave Your Pegasus Knights to Die, They'll Come Back in the Next Chapter

Let's go back to the journalists. Audrey over at IGN writes more about the story and the features that will make Fire Emblem more open to people who are not familiar with the game. One of them is that you can choose a mode wherein, when a character dies in a campaign, he will go back on the next. In classic Fire Emblem, a character who dies will no longer return. This is critical because it makes you plan well your strategies all throughout the game. There will always be a healer. You will never leave your Pegasus Knights near an enemy archer.

[On a side note, it is interesting to tell you that this feature (at least in all portable Fire Emblem games) has been around since Fire Emblem: Heroes of Light and Shadow (DS,) which of course never make it out of Japan.]

But this also puts a strain to people who would want to try the game and just breeze through it. I can't blame you guys. I do it with other games as well. Do it with Fire Emblem: Awakening because I am sure you will like its grand story.

So, are you excited for Fire Emblem? if you still (omg) doesn't have a Nintendo 3DS, you have the option to buy this special Fire Emblem: Awakening-themed Nintendo 3DS with the game pre-installed.