This Heroes business has led me to realize something…
Playing 3 mobages at once is impossible, how do the Japanese manage it!?
But beyond my addictions, it led me to question myself what really was my stance in regards to the Fire Emblem Saga,
and that's why it's time to return to Tellius, with that hero everybody knows and yet doesn't, to that world where Fire Emblem isn't exactly the same.
Today in the origin of species, the ninth entry of the saga, the path of the blue flame, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.
And no, it's not the game of Marth or Roy.
But Ike's in there!
It was the year 1988, back then Intelligent Systems was a small studio collaborating with Nintendo, while they were involved with the development of Metroid, one of the most iconic brands of the plumber's company,
their first foray into the spotlight came from their next game, a game that defined and introduced the mechanics of turn based strategy not only to Nintendo, but eventually occident as a whole.
That game.
Wasn't Fire Emblem.
It was Famicom Wars, the first entry in the series the western world would know as Advance Wars, the game let you choose between two armies, and in each map you had to finish the enemy army or take control of their base.
The game garnered praise from the critics, and even got a prize or two, and while it was a success with the players, there was an undeniably barrier between famicom wars and the Japanese public.
Wars had an ideology and aesthetic that belonged more in America, it was in a way, a foreign product.
IS decided to change their focus for the next title, here comes Shozou Kaga, presenting the initial idea, besides being the writer and designer.
That new game, would be Fire Emblem.
Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.
The game told the story of Prince Marth, descendant of the hero who in the past defeated the shadow dragon Medeus,
and after his kingdom is put at risk by the ambitions of the sorcerer Gharnef, Marth shall assemble a team of warriors to restore peace to the continent, and face Medeus again.
For the time the level of story in Fire Emblem was amazing, and that focus also reached the cast, unlike Famicom Wars where you controlled units divided amongst classes,
but with no real personalization, each unit in Fire Emblem was an unique character, with it's own strengths.
But this still was a war, and any character to fall in combat won't rise again.
The Japanese public loved Fire Emblem, between the challenge, the extensive story, and the unit individualization, Fire Emblem simply was a new experience.
Kaga continued on the saga until it's fifth entry, delving deeper on the support mechanics, the character interactions, inventing the weapon triangle, and basically, giving Fire Emblem it's unmistakable identity.
Kaga's departure from IS resulted in the cancellation of the Nintendo 54 project, Fire Emblem's next jump would be towards the Gameboy Advance,
in 2002, Fuin no Tsurugi, the Sword of Seals, it'd be the first Fire Emblem Entry on a portable console.
While Fire Emblem was so far a japan exclusive brand, Marth's and Roys' games would accidentally bring the brand to international markets.
Both of them were chosen as fighters for Super Smash Bros Melee, and when the game was released in the rest of the world, the duo received both confusion and adoration from the players,
Roy in particular was one of the most beloved new additions.
And yet, the final push came from it's older sibling, Famicom Wars, while their newest entry, Game Boy Wars Advance was meant to be another Japan exclusive release,
the team at Nintendo America loved the game, and it was released as Advance Wars.
Advance Wars was a complete success, obtaining almost perfect scores on all magazines, and that change Nintendo's belief that strategy games had no place in the western market.
On 2004, Rekka no Ken, the blazing blade, was released in the west simply as Fire Emblem, a prequel that told the story of Eliwood, Roy's father, form that day on, all the titles on the series have been released out of Japan,
with the exception of New Mystery, however, only two of these games would come back to home consoles, those that saw the birth of the brand.
And the first of those two is Soen no Kiseki, the path of the blue flame, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.
It's the year 195 of the After Colony.
Wrong narration.
Are you for real!?
I can work with that.
It's the year 626 in the continent of Tellius, a plague hits the territory of Daein, one of it's generals mysteriously disappears.
Year 627, Ashnard, the only survivor of the tragedy becomes the 13th king of Daein and…
You know how all Fire Emblem seem to start with a narration that tries to explain everything at once, but since the universe is completely new to you, you don't get anything?
Path of Radiance is not that kind of game, the story is set in the new continent of Tellius, and focuses on Ike, the son of Grel, leader of the Greil mercenaries,
a group of swords for hire that defend the people in the borders of Crimea.
When Ike is adapting to his new position inside the group, Greil finds out that the kingdom of Crimea was invaded by the neighboring Daein, under the orders of King Ashnard, despite the complaints of Soren, the group's tactician,
the mercenaries decide to recon the area, to find out more about the conflict, treated immediately as enemies of Daein, the group is attacked, and after the skirmish they find Elincia, the secret daughter of Crimea's king, and only heir to the throne.
Despite the suspicious nature of the situation, Daein's desperation to recover Elincia confirms her story, Ike and the Greil mercenaries will be hired to protect the princess, the last hope to rebuild Crimea.
The journey will take them though all of tellius., saying goodbye to Crimea, visiting Begnion, from where all of Tellius originates, crossing Gallia, Kilvas, Goldoa and Phoenicis, the lands of the Laguz,
a humanoid species who can take animal forms, and who share a deep grudge towards the beorc, Ike's species.
The trip will even take them to the heart of Daein, where Ike and company will find out that their intervention in the conflict is not a mere coincidence.
If you've played a Fire Emblem you've played them all, Path of Radiance is a turn based strategy game,
each map has an objective, ranging from defeating all enemies, to surviving a set amount of turns, or capturing the enemy base.
At first glance the main difference are the units, each unit is a character of it's own, with strengths and disadvantages, and if they fall in combat, they won't rise back, giving a sudden end to their story.
While most classes are not exclusive to the character itself, their weapon affinities and stats are, and to that PoR adds the idea of Bioryhthm, which shows when a character is at their best or worst.
Each unit has it's own movement range, and each weapon it's attack range, so a sword won't be able to hit someone 3 squares away, but a bow might, and to that we add the weapon triangle,
all weapons, both physical and magical are in a rock paper system, and following it gives bonus damage both to players and enemies.
Returning form past console games, PoR brings back skills to the forefront, certain characters come with skills by default, which can vary from dealing extra damage, healing or even modifying the way they obtain experience,
but instead of being hereditary like they were in genealogy, skills are tied to scrolls, one use items that confer their respective skill.
Give Ike the occult scroll, don't ask me why, just do it.
Beyond that, the biggest change Tellius offers is the separation between Laguz and Beorc,
Beorc are essentially humans, and follow the classic rules, but Laguz become some sort of Manakete replacement, with new mechanics.
The Laguz are defined by their ability to change into an animal form, but they can't remain in that state forever,
all laguz have an unique bar, that fills with combat and the passing of turns when they are in human form, but diminishes with each action in their animal form.
As a result you'll need to handle their bars to get the most out of them, because a transformed laguz is a very strong unit, but an untransformed one is unable to attack, making it an easy target.
It's a mechanic that balances itself, and also applies to enemies, allowing you to exploit it.
PoR also brings with itself the simplification of various mechanics, arenas from past entries are gone, changing it for bonus exp,
experience points that can be granted at will on your base, and you get from clearing levels in an specific manner.
Any Beorc who reaches level 20 will automatically promote, without the need of an item.
And supports don't require units to stand alongside each other, just to be on a same mission, allowing you to build the relationships of the team without sacrificing combat efficiency.
Though, it's not like combat is a huge challenge, PoR is the kind of game where any unit has the potential to become a one man army, Bonus EXP means nobody really is dead weight, and the maps aren't anything special.
The fun mostly comes from the established and improved mechanics, over the level design, because most of the maps are forgettable, and those that do pose a challenge mostly rely on cheap gimmicks that aren't repeated.
PoR is the kind of Fire Emblem where the focus is on killing efficiently, over surviving.
That said, PoR's strength is not it's mechanics
like I said at the start, this time the story is not told through exposition, we discover the world first hand through Ike, and on one hand that does make him look dangerously naïve, as he seems to know next to nothing about his own world.
But at the end of the day it works very well, because you get to understand and know each part of the continent on your own,
the relationships between the areas are complex, but you won't have any problem accepting them because you are living them through the game.
That and the differences not only between Laguz and beorc, but also the tribes of Laguz, makes Tellius feel like a living continent, and each region like a truly different kingdom.
The cast is also an improvement, Supports are special conversations between units that reach you more about the character, and simplifying their process lets you see many more of them, giving life to your army.
Besides that, the game contains the so called base Conversations, which show Ike interacting with his army or NPCs
and those give tons of characterization to the group in comparison to past entries, some characters have complete arcs in there.
Even the towns feel genuine, one of Kaga's ideas was to show that war wasn't a black and white deal, but while it was an idea that Fire Emblem had toyed with in the past, PoR was where it finally settled down,
all the kingdoms have both respectable and despicable characters, ranging from the big names to the simple NPCs, in particular I love the way villagers react when you visit their houses.
In games like Genealogy or Rekka no Ken, even if you were on theory invading a town, it's residents would shower you with praise, because they hated their tyrannical leader, here, Daein hates you,
even if you are only recovering what belonged to Crimea, the people despise you, because you are bringing war to their doors, and that gives the people of Daein an amazing level of personality for the enemy faction.
On the other hand, Ashnard and his lackeys are nothing to write home about, and it's weird, because the mini-bosses, so to say,
have always been one of the most memorable parts of the franchise, whether it's due to their devotion, honor or insanity.
Ashnard and his gang are nothing, only one is relatively memorable.
Not everybody can be Ishtar, I get that, but give me something better than petrine, I beg ya.
And that has to do with it's final arc, its short and strangely abrupt, PoR spends too much time setting up it's world to have such a short ending,
IS once said that PoR was something like 75% of a game, and once you reach the final run, you understand that.
The final map is nice and all, but it's like PoR was taking a pause instead of ending.
PoR is an odd title, because it didn't reach the level of optimization Awakening or even it's Wii successor had, and the repetitive maps will disappear from your head in time.
But the simplification and it's difficulty level let you get used to the saga, and its story being new and so well told, makes it a great entry point.
More than a recommendation to strategy games fans, it's a recommendation for RPG fans, or simply those than enjoy a good story about kingdoms at war and noble heroes.
Because while PoR is an enjoyable adventure, and a very polished game, it's not really a turn based challenge, it's more of a power fantasy, where you'll eradicate armies n your own.
While that unusual end should make me harsher to the game, nothing changes that it is the best told Fire Emblem I've played, the presence of the Laguz gives it a completely new identity, and Tellius itself is memorable.
It's weird to say this about a game of the series, but this Fire Emblem is about the story, the characters, the crusade of Ike and Elincia, rather than about virtual units in a chess table.
That said, the reason I can end this on high note despite it's shortcomings is clear, PoR is simply a first part, it makes sense that it focuses on establishing it's world, because it's conclusion has not been reached.
The blue flame gives room to the goddess of dawn, next on the origin of species, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.
No seriously, I played it again and everything.
I wrote the script.
There's going to be a sequel video. Do panic.
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