Although I imagine the frequent talk around here about FE:A is the culprit, I'm becoming very interested in checking this out. I don't have a 3DS at the moment, nor do I have anything I'd like to trade towards one. Which means I'm looking at a $250 game, that seems steep for a late entry in a series I've never played. That having been said, I adored the original tactics when it was first released and have spent a lovely couple of months with the new XCOM. I'd love to hear what you lot think, especially if anyone was in a similar position and bought a 3DS just for this.

Thanks for chiming in guys.

P.S. Is Lon'qu as much of a badass as I think he is?

Already saving up Well you can get the bundle for 200.

I bought a 3DS for this game. I also will get Pokemon X/Y as well, but Fire Emblem was the main reason why I got the system.

I bought a 3DS primarily to play Virtue's Last Reward, but there are certainly other great games for the system. That's basically my advice: buy it for Fire Emblem if other games appeal to you (Mario 3D Land is a fantastic Mario game and there's the lure of Animal Crossing or its Level 5Fantasy Life ilk; also Pokemon!). I'd also suggest Virtue's Last Reward!

I don't think any one game should sell you on a hardware commitment otherwise. Example: otherwise I'd have bought a Vita just for Persona 4 Golden.

I've never played a Fire Emblem except for some GBA one but I didn't see the appeal. That aside I don't know what makes the 3DS iteration so special. I was not aware that Fire Emblem was a system selling franchise.

It's less Lon'qu and more the weapon he comes with.

@JZ said:

Already saving up Well you can get the bundle for 200.

I was looking at that, I figure after tax it's going be ~ $215 anyway so I figured if I'm going to do it, I may as well go big and get an XL.

@egg said:

I've never played a Fire Emblem except for some GBA one but I didn't see the appeal. That aside I don't know what makes the 3DS iteration so special. I was not aware that Fire Emblem was a system selling franchise.

I had no idea I would be interested in Fire emblem at all, the first thing I did after realising I wanted to check it out was see what FE games were available for the consoles I do have. For some reason though things like Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn just aren't capturing my attention the way this has. The only thing I thought would sell me a 3DS was a polygonal Pokemon game but now here I am after the announcement of X/Y more interested in bloody Fire Emblem.

@Reisz: I'm about 10 minutes in and ready to say that this could be a system seller to people like me who love tactical RPGs, so take that for what it is.

Even the 3D effect is pretty excellent~!

I still feel like you should have other reasons for purchasing a piece of hardware other than one game, though.

If you take the plunge, I will take the plunge with you. But in all seriousness, I'm right there with you. I'm really considering it. Mostly for this and Mario 3D Land.

Technically I already did, but I upgraded from a 3DS to an XL. A whole other matter entirely.

To answer your other question, hell yes he is. All the Myrmidons in Fire Emblem are automatically badass.

I am going to get the bundle I had a 3ds but my Mom got hooked on Pokemon and I never saw it again so might as well.

@Cerberus3Dog said:

If you take the plunge, I will take the plunge with you. But in all seriousness, I'm right there with you. I'm really considering it. Mostly for this and Mario 3D Land.

both are phenomenal so far. i don't remember too much of it except for some overt themes on racism but i remember path of radiance's story gripping me more. that said the gameplay is hitting all the right spots, even if it's frustrating to a possible fault (playing on hard difficulty and have already lost about 5 party members, and that's with some "occasional" save scumming lol). think i'm getting into my groove and starting to really dominate the maps, but we'll see how it goes.

SM3DL is pretty much everything you'd want from a new mario game, even if it doesn't get particularly interesting (and slightly obnoxious) until the secret worlds. best use of 3D too.

I would if I had the money to buy a 3DS. I'm all about tactical RPGs and I own a few on my DS. I only have two games for my PSP (P3P and KH:BBS), but I believe that I should probably look into Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. I hear it's basically FFT.

I have a 3DS. Haven't used it since March 2012...

@Reisz: I did buy a 3DS for this.

Dude, do it. I have been playing it non stop since it came out. Not only is it the best Fire Emblem game ever made, its also the best 3DS game ever made. Seriously, its fucking brilliant.

Also, ya Lon'qu is pretty great. I just played a mission where he murdered a quarter of the guys essentially by himself. But its all about who you pair him with and what you do with him. Thats part of what makes Awakening so great. Also, the story may not be as good as something like Path of Radiance, but the writing of the dialogue is so much better.

I'm seriously thinking about it. And there's a bunch of other good games that are also alluring.

It's really tempting but seeing as it doesn't come out in Australia until April, my interest will most likely fade/financial common sense will kick in.

Also I doubt it will be the last game i'm interested in for platform that wont take an excruciatingly long amount of time to get released here. SMT IV i'm looking at you.

Yes I would. Im contemplating buying an XL to replace my regular one in fact, because of this game.(although it's not out in Europe until 30th of April)

No.

But if I was going to buy one for any game this would probably be the one.

My money saving thriftiness is making me choose between the Vita and the 3ds xl, and with this, pokemon x/y, kid icarus, zelda, mario land and quite a few other games the 3DS has just about stole it. I am waiting on the 20th feb. as I was hoping that would be the date they would share the Vita pricedrop but im guessing not anymore. Still, I can handle the wait.

I picked up the FE bundle and dug into it this afternoon. It's still early on, but I have no regrets. The 3DS is a super solid, well-supported little piece of hardware, and Fire Emblem: Awakening is saying all of the right things to me so far. I guess it's just a matter of which release is your breaking point. For me this one was it. For somebody else it might be Pokemon XY or Animal Crossing.

I already kind of did.

except I haven't actually been able to get a copy yet ;____;

No I bought it the day the price drop happened along with Ocarina of Time. However, this, along with 3D Land, is a game worth buying the 3DS for.

No, but it definitely pushed me over the edge.

I just did. And now I'm waiting for it to be back in stock at Amazon.

I usually have a "three games rule" before I buy a new console. Fire Emblem Awakening, Super Mario 3D Land, and Crimson Shroud pushed me over the edge. And now I get to look forward to Bravely Default (still a terrible name).

I'm in this spot right now. I'm sure I could enjoy some other 3DS games but this is the only one I really want. And I know that when Animal Crossing comes out I'll also want that. But it's an expensive game right now.

Ugh.

I wasn't going to buy a 3DS until a Fire Emblem, FFTA, or Advanced Wars game was announced. Then it was. I bought a 3DS XL in August and have been waiting since. Played Mario 3D Land which was fun, but a drag until the back 8 worlds and even then it still kind of felt like more Mario but still better than SMG so there's that. Much like LoZ I guess I don't care about Mario too much until it becomes consistently fun again. Once you go R&C and J&D you never go back, I guess. Will definitely pick up Pokemon X or Y (don't know which yet, whichever seems less popular I reckon, make myself a trade commodity or something), but outside of that and FE I'm not super excited for much on the 3DS until I get a demo or a few reviews of the new Luigi's Mansion. Some cool e-Shop stuff though (Pushmo never hooked me though, and I haven't picked up Crashmo. None of these scratch the same itch that Picross DS and Picross 3D did, but I'm hoping a Picross game comes eventually so there's that too), and I imagine successful DS and GBA franchises will eventually make their way to the 3DS. It's a quality system. The Vita, as a piece of hardware and a longterm investment, has it outclassed in all aspects except, possibly, portability if you don't buy a case or something. I may just be afraid of breaking it though and don't travel too much anyway.

Thinking about it, the DS was kind of a let down after the GBA, huh? There were some great games on it, but hardly anything compared to the GBA. The top down Zeldas on GBA were better, the tactics games were mostly better on GBA (though Advanced Wars was better on DS and DS has Picross DS), and there was not 2-D Metroid entry which was a huge bummer. Weaker RPG selection as well, by a pretty wide margin. Nintendo needs to step its shit up.

@AndrewB: Heh, I actually bought my Vita just for P4G (I don't know what it is, but I have trouble sitting down and playing JRPGs on a console anymore, but love playing them on handhelds. Handhelds are the perfect JRPG platform, I think, actually. Haven't played P4 since it first released on PS2 either, so it was cool to see all that again). Figured I would get VLR on my 3DS since that's where I played 999, but then heard about the save bug that was fucking up people's 3DS saves and figured I would just pick it up on Vita. Still need to do that, but from what I hear the Vita is the superior version anyhow. Can't wait to finally play it though.

Memory on the Vita is atrocious though. Sony really screwed up there.

Yeah...I think I will. I mean, I'll play Pokemon X and Y and I'd like to have a better device for playing my old DS games, but as a long time Fire Emblem fan, Awakening is my main motivation.

Nope... but the game looks awesome I just don't think its worth getting something that I will never use after this game.

i refuse to purchase anything nintendo-related out of principle, but even if that was not the case... no. seems kind of not terrible from the QL and other stuff i've read about it, but it is nowhere near a system-seller for me.

I wouldn't just because I know I will stop using the 3DS once I finish FE.

@Reisz said:

Although I imagine the frequent talk around here about FE:A is the culprit, I'm becoming very interested in checking this out. I don't have a 3DS at the moment, nor do I have anything I'd like to trade towards one. Which means I'm looking at a $250 game, that seems steep for a late entry in a series I've never played. That having been said, I adored the original tactics when it was first released and have spent a lovely couple of months with the new XCOM. I'd love to hear what you lot think, especially if anyone was in a similar position and bought a 3DS just for this.

Thanks for chiming in guys.

P.S. Is Lon'qu as much of a badass as I think he is?

Buy the Special edition 3ds that comes with it pre-loaded for 200$. This is the reason I am going to throw the money away for another gameboy finally. I couldnt see myself getting a regular one and finding out there was a better looking version later so i waited and Am I happy I did. Getting the Fire emblem ds as soon as it launches.

Sure, because I'm an idiot. Fortunately I'm not well-off at all, so I won't.

Yes. Now all I need is money.

Would I buy a 3DS game for just this game? No. The thing that made me buy the 3DS was Mario 3D land, The next Shin Megami Tensei game, and Pokemon.

That being said, this is a really good game and I can see this actually being a system seller on quality alone if you want a strategy JRPG.

I got the bundle, how that?

nope, most likely buying a vita when it gets a price drop later this year,

there's literally nothing interesting going on with 3ds and a 3d gimmick doesnt appeal to me

I'm buying my second 3DS (sold the first) in the future for Pokemon and indeed this game. Luigi's Mansion 2 looks good too.

The XL helps as well, the design is much better. Matte > glossy shit.

@videogamesarenotart said:

nope, most likely buying a vita when it gets a price drop later this year,

there's literally nothing interesting going on with 3ds and a 3d gimmick doesnt appeal to me

The 3D really doesn't matter in the long run, but the games that use it the best validate the feature's inclusion. Further, the 3DS has plenty of games that are worthy owning the handheld for (you just posted in a forum dedicated to one of them). Whether or not they're of interest to you is one thing, but to say that there's "nothing going on" with the 3DS implies you haven't been paying attention.

And I'll believe that the Vita is getting a price drop this year when I see it.

Aaaanndddd... now I just bought a 3DS for this game. So my answer is still yes, and I have backed it up in practice.

I'd have to say no because I bought a 3DS in July of 2011, one month before the big price drop. ( -_-) 
 
But it isn't a bad game based off the demo. The dialogue was kind of shitty but it's a Nintendo game and it's fun so whatever. If you do get a 3DS be sure to pick up Mario 3D Land with it. Easily the best original 3DS game out right now (imo) and my favorite Mario game in quite a while.

I am definitely getting one specifically for this. I would get the Fire Emblem package, but I don't like the fact that it is pre-installed. I prefer a tangible copy just in case something happened to the installed copy. That is unless I could redownload the game from the eshop again free of charge.

This is more the straw that broke the camels back sort of scenario. I think there a few games on the 3ds that I think will make it worth it. This being one of them. Sort of the same thing that happened to me with the Vita and Persona 4 Golden (not to mention that PS+ deal).

i bought a 3ds the other day actually, the flame red one with supario 3d land pre loaded on it, and i decided to return it the next day. never opened it. ill probably just grab one either when they do a revision on teh hardware like they did with the ds lite, or when pokemon x and y comes out and ill just get fire emblem with it. the last one i played was fire emblem for game boy advance

I actually just got my 3ds that I order specifically for this game. Downloaded it as soon as I got it, and I'm completely loving the system so far. Now I just have to pick up Mario 3D Land and OoT and I'm all set.

Of all places, K-Mart was having a sale on all their 3DS units, so I bought a red one. And they even had a physical copy of the game to boot. 200 bones all told. Worth it. Even if it's probably the only game I'm remotely interested in on the 3DS. Maybe not worth it cause I had to go to K-Mart. Probably also has something to do with how I am magically sick all of a sudden.

@reisz: I bought a 3DS XL just for this (although I am also looking forward to other games in the near future like Luigi's Mansion, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Animal Crossing, etc.). I don't regret the decision at all. It's an amazing game.

Just reiterating what many others have said, I bought a 3DS because of this and the free game deal. Holy cow has it been worth it.