Fire Emblem Awakening DLC details emerge

Nintendo revealed today how it intends to handle DLC for Fire Emblem and it’s an opinion splitter…

Call me, maybe?

 

The fact that Nintendo intends to offer DLC for the new 3DS iteration of Fire Emblem is well known; they’ve been doing it for months in Japan already, but Nintendo has announced today exactly how they intend to distribute the downloadable content and it’s left some fans decidedly disappointed.

First the details directly from Nintendo:

 

• The first DLC map will be free  for a limited time and will introduce players to the whole DLC maps scenario
• New maps will be made available weekly
• Maps will be offered at varying price points – presumably you’ll get better rewards the more difficult and expensive the map
• The maps will contain new characters and new storylines
• We’ll also see new classes and skills
• Special maps will be made available that give more XP, gold or rare items

So when Nintendo says maps, it sounds like mini-adventures in their own right but whether each map comes in a pack of other maps or Nintendo will string the player out on a mission taking place over a few weeks is yet to be seen.

But wait there’s more! SpotPass:

• Only available in launch time frame
• New maps with new stories, items and characters
• Completely free

So SpotPass sounds amazing, but hang on, a wild Fire Emblem approaches! StreetPass:

• Players can form a team of ten from the story mode, edit their team name and include messages
• StreetPass characters appear randomly on the world map
• Recruit the team leader with gold
• Buy items and weapons the team is carrying
• Battle the team to recruit the leader for free

Quite a hefty chunk of extra and additional content to the main game, I think you’ll agree? However, I did mention that fan opinion is divided and it’s over Nintendo’s approach to the DLC. The fact is both the game and DLC have been available in Japan since April 2012 and as such fans feel that Nintendo should have just bundled the DLC with the Western retail game.

The problem with this argument is that whilst the content is old to Japan, it’s still new content created around new characters with additional stories. To surmise: it’s all new. Now if Nintendo had developed this content and not announced it, holding it back from Japan, nobody would have taken issue, so why the problem now? When people feel that they’re not getting a full product they will be naturally put off and this appears to be happening here, but ask yourself: if you bought a game months after release that already had DLC, would you still be annoyed?