I guess the ending felt somewhat satisfying on the Nohrian part, but Hinoka apparently wasn't ready to be queen because she banked too much on Ryoma becoming the next king of Hoshido, and if Ryoma died, she would've given the throne to Takumi, but he's dead too (if I was younger sibling in the time before Ryoma's death, I would've been trying to prepare for the scenario I became the next ruler just in case). They didn't seem to emphasize that with Leo in Birthright. In that route, Leo surprisingly looked pretty content with becoming king compared to Hinoka here, but fan art of King Leo suggest otherwise (and for good reason).
The ending cutscene was pretty nice too, particularly hearing Xander's speech. My only complaint is that once again they had to make Camilla's moment total fanservice just like her cutscene in Birthright by having you accidentally bump into her boobs. Was that really necessary?
Overall, Conquest was an enjoyable game. The maps and the gameplay were definitely a lot more enjoyable than Birthright. Then again, it was old-school Fire Emblem they were going for here, and getting to experience it first hand since Awakening was my first game in the series, it was quite fun.
The story though? Now that I've finished the game, I have to admit that I liked Birthright's story
a lot more. When I played through Birthright, I felt satisfied with the way the story developed. When I played through Conquest, I ended up feeling really conflicted about its story.
The primary issues that I can think off the top of my head are:
- Chapter 13: I feel like Corrin should have expected Hans would go on a killing spree after what he did to him in Chapter 3 and Xander telling him, "I don't trust Hans."
- Chapter 14: How the heck does Corrin not figure out that the mysterious dancer is Azura? If I saw someone with long blue hair with similar dance moves and the same singing voice that I've seen and heard over the course of five chapters, I would've figured it was Azura easily.
- Chapter 15: As cool as it was to find out Gunter was alive and playing through a fun map, I don't think visiting Valla was really necessary, let alone bringing back Gunter (he ends up having no impact on Conquest's story). That felt more like a reveal that should be saved just for Revelation. If I had to rewrite this chapter so that it flows better with the story, this is what I would do: We try to find Azura since she's missing, but on the way, we run into an army of invisible soldiers. We take them out, and afterwards, we find Azura, who wants to see me alone. She shows me what she found: a crystal ball. Speaking of which...
- The Crystal Ball: Yep, I can agree that this is where Conquest's story took a downright plunge. She uses it show us Garon's true form. The crystal breaks, and then she tells us how to expose Garon to take him out: by successfully conquering Hoshido so that Garon can sit on the throne that is meant to show a person's "truth." MANY problems here.
- The crystal just suddenly breaks for no reason whatsoever? Why? I don't think a crystal like that would be that easy to break. She could have easily brought it over to the Nohrian siblings to show them it. Leo apparently succeeding in bringing over a "dark crystal" from the Bottomless Canyon in Birthright, at least to the point his retainers knew about it because it was gone by then.
- I understand "invading Hoshido" is exactly why this route is called "Conquest" for a reason, but Corrin just agrees with it without thinking there is another way. He doesn't realize that invasion is going to require killing people, something that completely contradicts his philosophy about "not wanting anyone dead as I complete the mission." He doesn't even realize that by invading Hoshido, Garon, Iago, and Hanz, will join along, and we know how they are when it comes to killing people.
- Couldn't they just tell that Nohrian royal siblings after learning the truth about Garon? I still don't think the crystal would've been destroyed that easily. I would've talked to my siblings afterward and tell them something's wrong with Garon and show them the truth. Perhaps then we could try to find a way to take out Garon without resorting to mass bloodshed, but nope, we need to do an invasion. "But the siblings might not believe you," you might reply. We'll address that later.
- Chapter 18: Why did we need to have a banquet with the Hoshidan royal family right in the smack-dab middle of the war? That doesn't flow with the story at all; even if it was funny, it was so random. I get it that this chapter was meant to highlight how the Nohrian siblings are not like Garon or Zola in that they don't want to kill people, but I feel like they could've had Zola do something other than capture the Hoshidan royal siblings if they really wanted to give him spotlight.
- Chapter 21: So Iago wants you dead by summoning a mass army of Faceless against you as you climb the Eternal Stairway. Does he not realize that by summoning a massive army of Faceless, he also wants the Nohrian royal siblings dead, as well as anyone else with them? That's hindering the invasion if you ask me.
- Chapter 26: If Corrin engages with Iago during battle, Iago reveals, "[It was] I who told the enemy about your journey to Macarath." So let me get this straight, Iago. You told the Hoshidan forces that I was heading to Macareth to fetch the medicine needed to save Elise's life, and that they need to prevent me from getting it? You basically wanted Elise dead! Sure, you wanted me to suffer out of grief over her loss, but you do realize that you are committing an act of treason by communicating with the enemy like that? Again, I feel like Iago wants to make me suffer with plans that are counter-productive to Nohr's position in the war.
- Your family's reaction when they learn about True Garon: Aside from Xander's reaction, I'm still shocked everyone was all like, "No way, this can't be father. We can't attack him since he's still the man we all know and love." They knew something wrong was with father! I remember in Leo and Elise's supports, Leo knows the current King Garon isn't the same as he was in the past. He would probably join Xander right away with, "This monster is not our father at all. No wonder something was wrong all these years." And thanks to Leo, Elise should be aware about that too. Remember how I said we could've talked to all the siblings about Garon's true form before the invasion even began? I'm sure they'd all believe me. Xander realized Garon wanted me dead going into the battle in Chapter 7, so I'm sure Xander would hear me out too.
Birthright's story was more straightfoward IMO. Yes, it didn't have the perfect plot either, since it was your good ol "Stop the enemy forces from invading" FE plot, but at least it wasn't too complex to the point they started getting into way too many inconsistencies. I ended up having so many qualms with Conquest's story compared to Birthright's that I didn't feel too compelled with proceeding into the game. For me, the primary reason I kept playing it was to experience the gameplay and see what exciting new map awaited me.
Conquest's story also felt too dependent on Revelation's reveals. Birthright also had those unanswered questions left to be answered for the third route, but those questions felt more subtle compared to Conquest's.
As for the characters? I can understand why Conquest's characters are more enjoyable, though I don't have too many that are my favorite. The ones that I really liked were Laslow (he's easily my favorite of the three Awakening children; I was never into Odin and Selena that much), Niles, Arthur, and Charlotte. Peri was pretty enjoyable too, probably one of the few yanderes that I actually liked. Keaton was cool, but I didn't seem to enjoy him that much as a character compared to Kaden. As a fighting unit, though, Keaton is a blast to use because of he's such a good hard-hitting tank (and was one of my MVPs in this play through). Children wise, my favorite Nohrian child unit probably has to be Ophelia. Not only does she make a broken mage, but I feel like her character was more enjoyable than Odin's. She has the same theatrical attitude, but her playful personality and similar lighthearted voice like her grandmother made her feel more enjoyable for me, like it was the right mix. Nina is also up there, as I find her "daydreaming" personality rather amusing. Siegbert was an enjoyable character too since I'm a huge Xander fan. Velouria was similar to Keaton: made a great unit fighting unit, but character wasn't something I remember the most for. I like Selkie just a tad bit more when it comes to the Beastkin children. Overall, it's hard for me to pick which overall cast of characters were better between the two versions. I think both have their fair share of enjoyable and enjoyable characters.
Now onto the royal siblings: again, I can understand why Nohrian siblings are generally more preferred than the Hoshidan ones, but I guess I'm one of the few that likes most of the Hoshidan siblings more.
- Xander: Definitely my favorite of all the Nohrian siblings. He has a great personality and a lot of memorable dialoguse, and I like how he interacts with Corrin, not to mention Xander saved me in so many chapters with his signature sword combined with his really good Strength and Defense stats. I'd say Xander is either a bit higher or tied with Ryoma for my favorite oldest sibling.
- Camilla: I guess her backstory was fairly interesting (and she knows how to be cold and brutal at the right times), but I found it hard for her to take her seriously thanks to how they emphasize "fan-service" out of her. Her cutscene in Birthright wasn't some epic introduction with her flying from her dragon as she points her axe at you or uses a tome. It was just her doing a sexy walk zooming in on parts of her body, then switching into a POV perspective as she grabs your head. Then there's the final cutscene in Conquest where you bump into her boobs and fall to the ground while you were being dragged by Elise. Again, why was this necessary? Not to mention she has some... favoritism issues toward Corrin. I know she cares about her siblings, but I found her attachment to Corrin a little... cringeworthy at times (heck, in Arthur and Camilla's supports, Camilla tells Arthur to tell Corrin how much she loves him, and Corrin and Camilla's supports feel a bit disturbing since the way Camilla approaches him is like she views Corrin more than a sibling to care for). I found Hinoka's devotion to Corrin more appealing to be honest, as well as having a more enjoyable character.
- Leo: He's cool and has a neat design (his B support with Corrin was awesome too since he knows how to critique battle strategies), but I feel like Takumi's character was way more interesting, not to mention Takumi was more relatable and was more reliable in my Birthright playthrough then Leo was in my Conquest play through.
- Elise: It's cute how she loves Corrin, all her monstrous hugs, but she felt a little... too energetic for my tastes. There were moments in Conquest that didn't give me particularly fond opinion of her, particularly Chapter 8 when she's the reason you end up having to fight the Ice Tribe in the first place (how can anyone make such a big mistake like that) and when she rudely snapped out at Sakura in Chapter 18. I was glad to see she underwent character development and learned to bond with Sakura in the end though. Elise was also my best magic-user too. In all, I like Elise, but I prefer Sakura more due to personality.
In the end, even though Conquest had its issues, it was still a fun experience. Gameplay and characters were fun, but the story could've been written a lot better.
a lightweight not a heavy" and then realized that this image was probably in relation to Mario Kart and not Smash
