It basically gave you the option at Chapter 7 or 8 (can't remember) to follow either Eirika or Ephraim, which is where the path diverged, and you had individual chapters for either character. Then in chapter 16 or 17 (still don't remember), they reunite, and finish the game as one army. So although the final chapter was really chapter 21, which seems short, the game really had like 28-29 chapters total, on top of having a world map.

So although I'd be annoyed if Fates was set up that way, only with the paths on different versions, the length of either version of Fates seems comparable to the entirely of Sacred Stones. That, and it seems the stories of Fates follow different casts of characters; Sacred Stones really only had 3 unique characters for each path, so it seems to me it isn't really an apt comparison.

And yeah, Sacred Stones ranks near the bottom of my FE ranking too. Still a great game, but I prefer the linear paths of FE9 and FE7 more.

My cousin got me into FE. He's played all or almost all of the FE games (incl. the NES ones). I've played both Sacred Stones and FE 7 on GBA. IIRC, FE 7 also had alt paths. I don't think the console games have alt paths, but I've only played Path of Radiance on GCN  I think it alt paths might be a handheld only thing, but I'd have to ask him.

Sacred Stones did this already. The first six and the last five maps were the same, with the rest being quite different. It should be noted here that Fates has the first six maps shared between both versions as well.

I don't think this is true. The first six maps are the same, and after that the two seem to depart pretty radically. One of them doesn't permit any map grinding, a la the older FE games, while the other has an overworld with locations you can visit at will, like Sacred Stones and Awakening. The characters you get are also implied to not be identical either. And of course the maps are different too.

They're not completely unique, but "big portions" being the same seems to be exaggeration.

Siliconera releases list and video fo Fire Emblem Fates classes

For the most part a lot of mirror classes between the two. Nohr seems to house a lot of the more classic classes plus a number of mounted ones for better or worst, while Hoshido gets the swordmaster and peagsus knight/warrior classes and plus a few renamed classes that fans will recognize from previous games in terms of utility.

Hopefully they will call the Thief class Sniper in the US because they sound like they made them archers and made the Hoshido ninjas into the traditional theif class.

Still getting both of them. Awakening is my most favourite game on the 3DS, and i love all the new changes and addition things they made.

What makes Pokemon not horrible is that you don't need both versions. You have to buy both versions of Fire Embelm to get the full game.

But they are 2 full games, so...?

Both versions will likely cost less than Fire Emblem Awakening + DLC (the latter of which was mostly filler.) I'm expecting $60 max. For the amount of content that is stated to be in both games that seems worth it. It is probably at least 50% longer than FE:A, and it would make sense for it to be 50% greater in price ($40 vs. $60.) I can see it being less than $60 though, if the Japanese version is anything to go by. 

Apparently no, they are not 2 full games. If each game has really 26 chapters, that's 2 really shorts Fire Emblem....

Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one that sees the glaring flaw here.