Apologies if something like this has been asked before, but what would you say are your favorite things about Fates? I’m curious because I actually like the games quite a bit, and I also enjoy hearing what other people like about them.

No worries, anon!

1-The Characters

Fates, imo, has a very stellar cast. Characters like Corrin, Xander and Takumi I've gone over already in how much I adore them, but honestly the vast majority of the cast is great! There's a few I'm only neutral towards, and only one I actively really dislike, the rest I'm at least pretty fond of. The first gen cast in particular I think does a good job at having strong character interactions, especially cross kingdom supports; the big differences between how citizens of Nohr and Hoshido respectively go about their lives is crafted with a very deliberate dichotomy that is initially platformed as something forever incompatible, but is then subverted in various points in all three routes.

2-The Gameplay and Content

The mechanics and game flow introduced in Awakening I think was finely tuned in Fates. Pair up being more player controlled leads to satisfying strategies, and reclassing and skills are less centered around grinding. I like how the cast more often than not have min-maxed stat lines with clear strengths and weaknesses, as to me, that supplements an already important aspect of how FE plays regarding it's classes. That being said, classes like bow users and Armor Knights got very good niches that were very needed to not be completely outclassed. Class sets being varied by supports not just for the children but also the first gen cast was a fantastic choice as well, as it encourages other combinations beyond just getting extra stats in pair up. Dragon Veins were an amazing interactive gameplay element, and added an extra way to interact with the maps beyond navigating around terrain. Lastly, each route has a bevy of unique content, mostly maps, but Revelation has lots of exclusive supports as well!

3 The Music

The game's ost is phenomenal. An underrated aspect of the FE series is how its music is used to convey the games' stories through sound. With map themes alone, there's progression and intent. Birthright, for example starts with the light and spirited "Past Light" track, before shifting to "Justice RIP" and "No Justice", both signifying that things are getting more serious and dangerous, the latter being notable in that it's a Nohrian track to go along with how you're now in Nohrian territory. Then the triumphic "Alight" only starts when you're in the homestretch, facing familiar enemies whom were beaten before and can be beaten again. And, again, that's just four tracks! The entire ost paints a picture, be it in gameplay, story, or supports. There's even an entire track that only plays when a character's about to die in gameplay, and only gets brought in cutscenes to show how dangerous a particular foe has gotten! It's immaculate. And of course, Lost in Thoughts All Alone is an amazing lyrical track.

4 The Art style and Designs

People can rag on how certain characters or classes are designed in this game, but one thing that I think can't-or shouldn't-be denied is that the cast and setting have presence; they're recognizeable and give a taste of what's what. Besides Hoshido and Nohr being the typical "white" and "black" kingdoms, Hoshido has more spiritual or outside the box classes; they have the resources to experiment and hyper-specialize in certain crafts, even having religious classes, merchants, and blacksmiths available for options. Nohr, meanwhile, has more armor and mounts; it's a kingdom trained to be effective at competition and warfare in order to survive, and must forgo experimentation for practicality. The game is also just very pleasing to look at, where the muted but varied color palette makes characters and locales visually distinct without being too loud. There's also a lot of neat animations that characters do in battle, many that lots probably didn't notice or haven't even seen, which to me showcases a deep care and passion put into the little things.

5 The Story

While of course, not everyon'e cup of tea, I'm extremely fond of Fates' narrative. Mostly because, in storytelling media, there's always more than just words to convey a story. It's why I listed the other points before this one, because they all contribute to Fates' narrative construction. Pull from map music to hear what the story wants you to take from it from that point in the campaign, pull from character designs and portraits to see what to expect from a character's personality at a glance, see stats, classes, and personal skills to see and put into action how that unit plays and interacts with the map they join in, take a moment to really examine the terrain of maps both for strategy and to take in the kinds of environments in the game's world. Fates has a lot to say-probably too much for its own good-and so efforts were made to say things without words being necessary.

Beyond that, I think the story itself is gripping and involves themes and symbolism very easy to get lost in though (tee-hee) about. Individuality and authenticity, rejecting status quo, pacifism, the cycle of hatred/vengeance, commonality and understanding amongst opposites, etc. Hell, I tend to get into my own head about how characters are written or how moments are utilized in the story to tie back into a theme of some kind, because there's just that much to unpack.

So yeah. That's that.