When it comes to difficulty in Fire Emblem, Fates: Conquest rests in a category all on its own. While there are other annoying difficulties like Lunatic in Fire Emblem Awakening or Lunatic reverse in New Mystery of the Emblem, Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest's difficulty is unique. The maps in the game are often hard not because of the enemies but because of the map mechanics.

Conquest introduced Dragon Veins -- spaces on the map that Corrin (or another noble) can activate to change the landscape of the map. Often, using the Dragon Veins can give the player a positional advantage, but there are other instances where the Dragon Vein will either do nothing or put the player in a bad position. Aside from the Dragon Veins, there are other gimmicks in almost every map that give the player a lot to think about on top of how they can beat the inflated enemies in Conquest.

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Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest Takes 'Cognitive Load' to the Next Level

Fire Emblem Corrin Smash

A concept that applies to every Fire Emblem game is "cognitive load," which refers to the number of things players need to keep track of as they play. For most games in the series, players only really need to be aware of where enemies are. Some maps have siege tomes or ballistae that players need to be aware of, which increase the player's cognitive load.

Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest takes this concept to a whole other level. Maps in the game are full of Dragon Veins to activate, walls to break down, rivers to fly over and other hazards to look out for. The Den of Thieves is a perfect example of this. This chapter has a reputation for being a headache because there are so many doors and caverns that players need to watch. To make matters worse, most of the enemies on the map are Master Ninjas who can debuff the player's stats when they attack.

There are loads of Dragon Veins all across this map. Activating a Dragon Vein causes all the open doors to close and vice versa. That means that, aside from watching the door directly in front of them, players need to watch what will happen all around the map. Opening an unexpected door could give some of the ninjas a pathway to sneak from behind and take out a team member or two.

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This map usually takes a long time to complete because of this huge cognitive load. Most players try to split up their army and use the Dragon Veins to block off the ninjas as they approach. This is a situation where the Dragon Veins actually hurt, though. The best strategy to beat the map is to only activate one Dragon Vein, group the army together and defeat the ninjas as soon as they come.

Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest's Maps Force Players to Plan

A section of the Winds of Change map from Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest.

This is just one of many situations in Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest where players can get overwhelmed just making simple moves. Chapter 20, Winds of Change, is another great example. This map features several lanes of wind that can blow the player or the enemy five spaces in either direction. Players have to keep track of which way the wind is blowing because far-away enemies could be within range to attack if the wind blows them forward.

Needless to say, the cognitive load on this map is huge. Players can activate Dragon Veins to prematurely blow the wind, but it's not always in the player's best interest to do so. The quickest way to beat the map is to send Wyverns and Pegasus Knights to the right side and have them rush the boss. To do this well, though, players need to plan out at which turns they want to be taken by the wind and what enemies they need to prepare for blowing forward.

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Conquest Is a Great Challenge for New & Old Fire Emblem Fans

Fire Emblem Fates Xander Character Poster Close Up

Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest was designed to be the more difficult brother to Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright, and a lot of the differences between the games come with these unique map mechanics. While on higher difficulties the enemies certainly get much bulkier and faster, most of them fortunately still die to the likes of Camilla, Xander and Corrin, especially if players reclass Corrin into something like a Wyvern Lord. The same can be said about the powerful children that players can obtain through the game.

Players, especially newer players, should probably see Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest as a challenge run. Even Hard mode will be difficult to beat, let alone Lunatic. The game's unique mechanics are what make it so special, though. Without them, players wouldn't get to experience things like defending Chapter 10 for the first time or killing Ryoma early in Chapter 12. They make Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest a game worth playing -- it's just something players should take it easy with at first.