I was excited about Pokémon Conquest from the moment I heard of it, and pre-ordered it as soon as I could, picking it up as soon as GameStop would let me. (Of course, my username and avatar should've made my love for this game obvious!)
It took me a few days before I finally started playing the game, but now that I have started playing it I love it. The turn-based strategy aspect was not a turnoff for me, because I had encountered the genre before with Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (the first GBA game I ever bought) years ago. I like the historical aspects of the game as well; I'm a big history buff. And of course the fact that the player character's partner is Eevee was a big draw for me, because Eevee is my favorite Pokémon.
My progress in this game has been slow, however; I have had to spend so much time training and such that I have just now entered Year 3 and am STILL trying to defeat Pugilis, after taking them on I don't know how many times and losing EVERY SINGLE FREAKING TIME. Chrysalia and Violight were pushovers compared to this Fighting-type kingdom with its aggravating "hold banners for 5 turns" challenge. It's driving me crazy!!
Still, I haven't given up on this game and am hoping that things continue to remain fun and interesting. I admit, I was a little disappointed by the Eevee "swarm event" (the only one I've done so far). I expected there to be a ton of Eevees there, but no, there were only FOUR, and I accidentally K/O'd one of them to boot, because it had been put to sleep by Jigglypuff's Lullaby ability and I couldn't link with it as long as it was asleep, so I attacked it to make it wake up.
I've also stationed Warriors in all my castles with the intent of improving and training my armies as well as recruiting new Warriors and Pokémon. I do sometimes go on training things myself with whoever's in my army and have found various Warriors and Pokémon this way. Only mistake I think I made doing this was recruiting a Warrior with a Magikarp. Like in the main games, Magikarp in Conquest is absolutely useless, its only attack being Splash (which of course does nothing). The only benefit of this Magikarp is its "Gulp" ability, which allows it to regain a tiny bit of HP each turn if it's in water.
Hoping I can meet someone to do local wireless battle with in this game. Haven't had that chance yet.
In short, I love this game and look forward to seeing how it goes from here on out!
Oh and SnowpointQuincy, I am working on a walkthrough of this game for PokéSideGames. I'm writing it as I play the game, however, so it's not complete yet, and as I've never written a game walkthrough before I don't know if it's any good. I think I may go ahead and start posting it to the site soon.