Fire Emblem: Awakening is a truly amazing 3DS title, packing hours of compelling tactical action into one of the most entertaining games we've played all year. However, thanks to a growing selection of downloadable maps, the battle doesn't have to end when the credits roll.
Before moving on, it's worth noting that we're using the European version of the game for this feature, and therefore don't have access to the full suite of released DLC. There's more content available in the North American version of Fire Emblem: Awakening, but Euro players should see the same maps in the fullness of time.
Accessed via the Outrealm Gate, Fire Emblem: Awakening's DLC comes in both individual map form and as a selection of packs sold at a slight discount. The cost of each map varies, with some retailing for as little as £1.79 (on the UK 3DS eShop, we should add) and others setting you back £2.29. The compendium packs therefore represent excellent value for money, selling for around £5.39 each.
At the time of writing, there's the Champions Pack (Champions of Yore 1-3), Golden Pack (Golden Gaffe, EXPonential Growth and Infinite Regalia) and Scramble Pack (Harvest Scramble, Summer Scramble and Hot Springs Scramble).
In the case of the latter pack, it's worth noting that Harvest Scramble is the only map currently available to European players - Summer Scramble, which features the now-infamous censorship of Tharja's bottom, has only just been released in North America. Purchasing a pack before all of its content is available simply means that you'll be able to download the unreleased chapters at no additional cost when they are eventually launched.
The Champions Pack is as good a place as any to start — especially as Champions of Yore 1 is free to download until May 22nd — and features some neat fan-service for long-time supporters of the series. After finishing each of the three available maps, you'll be rewarded with a classic Fire Emblem character who will join your ever-growing ranks.
The Golden Pack is a little more interesting. The Golden Gaffe is all about money — performing well in this mission grants massive amounts of gold which can then be used in the main game to purchase items and upgrades. The same deal applies to EXPonential Growth, but this time with experience points — this is a handy map to use if you're struggling in the main campaign and need to boost the power of some of your units. Infinite Regalia showcases a selection of rare items not obtainable elsewhere in the game.
As with most DLC these days, the additional maps aren't a requirement to finish the main game, and many of you may wish to focus on the initial quest before distracting yourself with what are essentially "side story" maps that have no real impact on the main narrative.
However, maps like Golden Gaffe and EXPonential Growth are incredibly handy when it comes to making your way through the game itself; the additional gold and experience points are hard-won, but can make a massive difference to the strength of your army.
Have you sampled any of the game's DLC yet, and if so, what are your thoughts? Would you like to see more of this kind of thing in future Nintendo titles? Post a comment to share your opinions with us.
Comments 41
I have all the packs. EXPonential Growth is amazing for reclassifying and grinding skills. Harvest scramble is useful if you want to improve the relationship class of certain units. Plus you get a free Master Seal every time you beat the boss.
I have every map so far. What can I say? I'm addicted.
The DLC prices seem a tad deep for being only one map, though they come with the benefit of being replayable unlike other chapters of the game (not counting occasional Risen encounters).
Even the free Champions of Yore 1 map has been helpful in levelling up a few of my weaker units, Donnel can better look after himself now.
Money is indeed a scarce thing in the game so far, so that Golden Gaffe pack is very tempting, it would afford me the right to buy luxuries and forge weapons, making those near-kills into sure fire OHKOs.
At such a point though it would be like ponying up some change so I can forgo strategy in favour of brute strength, and I am already doing quite well at the game without it, even if I am playing on the newcomer mode.
It would be really nice to be able to play this game!
I bought the Fire Emblem 3DS XL but it had a faulty upper screen. I sent it to be repaired and it came back yesterday with exactly the same fault.
Now I'm told I have to send it back again.
Nintendo customer support do not respond to emails and the service is very poor in my opinion.
I had a problem with my Wii U which took 4 months to resolve.
The DLC is great, I played Champions of Yore I (bought the discounted pack too) and enjoyed the music and some of the dialog too! the only negative I can find is that the DLC characters are just carbon copy bodies with a different face and or cloloured hair.
They had some special guest artists to draw some of the characters and most of them look amazing, I would've liked it better if they had more 'personality'.
I'm going to download the DLC when I finish the main story or when I come across some limited time offers for certain packs etc.
NA here. The exp and gold maps have made lunatic much more possible. Getting to chapter 5 was something else though.
I have the Golden Pack and I must say I feel a little cheap using those maps to grind my characters and/or buy more crap. With the Golden Gaffe, you get a TON of gold! And since they're replayable as many times as you want, you can spam the levels. I know I've done that with the EXP one when I'm wanting to reclass a particular character.
I bought FE on release, but want to hold off playing it. I was surprised you had to get so far before being able to buy DLC, so reluctantly I played the first 4 chapters and I'm going to consider them an extended demo, and start again in a few months when I have more free time. I do have some questions.
Is £5.39 the standard price or is that an early bird discount? I bought the champions pack as I know that's discounted for a month, but I'm not going to buy everything else incase I lose my 3DS before I even start the game. I will buy stuff now if it's a temporary discount though.
Does the extra xp or gold make things too easy?
And finally, is the spot pass/bonus box stuff time limited too? Can I just ignore it for now and have it still available in 2 months when I start for real?
Thanks!
@JohnG that's too bad. I had a problem with my Wii and they fixed it really fast and better than they told me it'd get.
@Peach64 You don't have to play the game at all to download any of the DLC. You can get it straight from the eShop but you can only play the DLC quests after completing Chapter 4.
I don't think the bonus box weekly downloads are for a limited time. I say this because my sister has missed the last two but was able to get them today. All you have to do is select the 'Update Now' button and anything you didn't have before will be added. So I think you're safe on that front unless Nintendo says otherwise.
I will probably get some of the dlc map packs when I finally pick this game up later in the year.
This is the type of DLC I like, and I don't mind paying for. Props to them. They seem reasonably priced too.
I wrote this article for Nintendo Scene a while ago about DLC coming to Nintendo consoles. In my opinion, DLC can be terrible or amazing depending on what it is they're offering. I'm strongly against some forms of DLC.
http://nintendoscene.com/2011/08/18/nintendo-will-welcome-dlc-in-the-future-should-they/
@JohnG I once had a disc-drive problem with my Wii, sent it in, and when got it back, it just didn't work at all. Didn't even get the home screen, music or anything. You might want to consider phoning them, that's what I did when I got my Wii back broken. They can't really ignore direct contact. In the end I got both fixes for free, which was nice considering I was past my warranty.
Plus, the hold music is the Kokiri Forest theme
Yeah, I haven't seen anything to suggest Spotpass content is time limited. You're going to get lots of goodies!
Just bought Rogues & Redeemers 3. I can say, supports really help with this, as Priam learned the hard way.
Don't buy the DLC, people! you won't be able to live with yourself LOL.
Seriously though, most of the DLC doesn't look all that worth it to me. After playing the first, free map i immediately felt that it was kinda pointless and only serves to make the game too easy.
I think it's kind of unfair that you can overpower your army by paying for a few quick maps.
You don't have to do it, besides if you're playing on the higher difficulties I doubt it will make things much easier. Especially after Chapter 13, those side stories (depending on how many S class relationships you have) are definitely challenging to say the least.
i am geting the game soon so i will get dlc for it
I love the game and have bought all the DLC. I do think the maps are a touch over-priced for the rewards you get out of them, but I've still enjoyed them all. I'm glad they've included how many turns it has taken you to beat the map--that adds replay value trying to beat it faster.
I do wish I could replay some of the in-game maps though, with enemies in their original places. I thought Reeking Box did that, but all it does is throw some Risen on a map.
Is any of the Dlc fun or challenging for a team that has already beaten the game? I am worried I would buy this and have to start the game over to enjoy it at the proper level, but I didn't notice a suggested level.
The gold pack really feel like a cheat, but it all depends by the player's style.
Personally I spent HOURS grinding and doing extra battles for the pure love of it (I played 60 hours so far and still didn't complete the main story XD) and by playing like me you end soon with all the weapons falling apart and a couple of characters you just don't want to grind after how long you trained the others >O>;
Thanks to the gold pack I was able to fix the few "matters" and keep enjoying the game with my ultra-slow style X3
The other packs are okays; the extra dialogues in the scramble pack are funny (even if it's a shame to know about all this censorship around...) and fight against the legends in the champion pack can only be cool!
Althought... seriously, aren't the "legendary" heroes' models terribly bad designed? It's just combinations of the same few models with different colors and a pic with a name guarantee you that it's "Marth" or "Roy", I was expecting some more care since we are talking of the legends @.@;
The only thing no doubtly good about the champion pack are the amazing retro music, I just love to fight with them ^O^
Anyway I personally found this extra contenets just "nice", all the main elements in the game are way way better, but I guess I can't complain, a "nice" extra is always better than "no" extra at all ^_^
"Fire Emblem: Awakening is a truly amazing 3DS title"
No. It's not. Awakening is a OVERRATED game.
The worst in the series.
I'm wishing I had got Fire Emblem instead of Soul Hackers. I have just not been happy playing Soul Hackers and feel now I would have been happier getting Fire Emblem. Im 4 hours into soul hackers and have been continuing with the game to try to force myself liking it. Well it was the chance I took when choosing
@R-Moss I wouldn't go that far... but i don't think it's a great FE when compared to the best of the series (FE GBA and PoR imo). It's still good but, certain mechanics/elements in the game make it really feel toned down. Stuff like; being able to travel the map freely, pairing up (AND dual striking), shops availability, random weapon pick-ups etc. It's making this game a lot easier than it should be.
I'm up to chapter 8 so far, on classic/hard and it doesn't seem to actually be that challenging at all thanks to those combined features. Story wise it hasn't been that impressive either, but i'll wait and see before i judge that.
will never pay 3 bucks for a single map
2 maps = FULL ps1 game on psn
I got exponential growth and Golden Gaffe. Very fun, I have seperate playthroughs for with and without them.
@R-Moss False Dat. Thats your opinion. I love Fire Emblem: Awakening and do not think its "overrated."
Anyways,
I like DLC, but I really hate the 3D animation bodies of them. Marth has all his original gear and stuff, while Roy has mercenary clothing and looks like an Avatar. ._.
@R-Moss no, shadow dragon is the worst.
@ngamer155 Marth has all his gear because he's on the cover of the box.
Love the DLC! Nintendo did it right with FE, by releasing quality DLC only after a very lengthy, top notch campaign. They didn't dissect the main game and sell it off piece by piece as some other publishers have done.
@JohnG Not sure why you've had such a bad experience. I just sent my gamepad in (which I dropped and was MY fault), and Nintendo sent me free shipping label. Sent it in, got it repaired for free, and it just arrived back here today. Free repair, there and back in 8 days total.
just mad that to buy all of the DLC it actually costs more than the retail price of the actual game itself.... that doesnt sit quite right with me. DLC should be additional right? which just doesnt seem like its something that shoudl be expensive.
sure you dont have to buy them all, but duh, if theres extra stuff, im going to want all of it.
I do want to get this game im just neck deep in monster hunter still.
I had this game for good little while now and I enjoy it a lot. I have not downloaded any DLC for it though. I should get on that. I noticed there are quite a few maps on there. Not sure which one to start of with.
@Damo
However, thanks to a growing selection of downloadable maps, the battle doesn't have to end when the credits roll.
What? There's a way to play the game after the credit rolls? Please tell me the step-by-step because when the credit rolled, the game just ends without any chance to save! I finished the game in 38 hours, and currently stuck at next-to-last mission because of it.
@shonenjump86
The Golden Pack is very useful. I use EXPonential Growth all the time. It saves time in grinding since you can just Auto-Play the level and get level up every single time!
DLC is optional. I love Fire Emblem games, and I'm always really sad when they are over, and want to replay them. Dlc for FE:A means that if I WANT a fix, I can get it easily! And the fact that it's not essential to get the most from the game actually suits me and most people - If you don't want it, don't get it! But I have it, and I don't regret it!
I've got the Champions Pack and love it, but I'll wait until the rest are discounted at some point to invest in the others - the prices are a bit too high for the content available.
@ramstrong
Sounds good, thanks
Ive got all the packs so far and have three saves on the go... one where im playing without DLC, hard and classic etc. The other two im using the DLC to grind etc, but with one of them is purely for the purpose of raising the offspring what I want with the right abilities etc. Overall im having a blast ith the game and I dont feel like a cheat as such because im still slowly working my way through the game in the way its ment to play (albiet resetting the game when a character dies ;D )
The Champions pack is a bit dull and easy so far, but the Golden Pack is good for grinding and the Scramble Pack seems to be the best of the bunch so far with plenty of events and conversations etc and a decent bit of difficulty when playing at the lower levels and your trying to build relationships. Im really looking forward to the other two Scramble maps.
The DLC in this game is really fleshed out with a new story and more maps, and ghost characters from FE games past. However, I don't like the character models for the legacy characters. I don't use the legacy characters because they only use generic character models, not individual ones. A letdown but DLC still great. Better than Monster Hunter DLC which is just same monsters, different challenge (no DLC-specific monsters OR areas).
I own all the DLC to date. I paid over 50 dollars for all of it, making it worth more than the base game. Is it worth it? Hell yes it is.
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