Fire Emblem, or “Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade” to give it its actual title, was the first of the series to see a release in Western territories and I remember being interested thanks to Roy being my most-played character in Smash Melee, but as I often did at that time I assumed I’d be crap at tactical RPGs and the idea of permanently losing party members really didn’t appeal due to that assumption. Fast forward a decade or two and this game ended up on the Switch Online app and with renewed self-confidence and interest in JRPGs of all kinds I decided to give it a go, and you know what? I really enjoyed myself. I’ll admit I used save states at the start of each map for quicker restarts should I lose someone I don’t want to, which isn’t in the spirit of things, but beyond that I played legit and eventually got the hang of it and had fun. Want to know more? Read on!
Background:
Jeez, yeah, I think he’s dead there alright…
“Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade” released in Japan on April 25th 2003 and is a prequel to the previous game, “Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade”, which actually featured Roy from Smash and what I’d really like to play due to that, but sadly it was never localised, so I’ll have to settle for playing as his dad instead. Thanks in part to Marth and Roy’s popularity in Smash Melee the game was localised in the west as simply “Fire Emblem” on November 3rd 2003 in the US and us here in Europe had to wait all the way until July 16th 2004… stupid multiple languages!
The game was the first Fire Emblem to feature an optional tutorial mode after testing proved some found it too difficult and Nintendo wanted to open the series up to a wider audience. It’s also the first game to have you, the player, act as an in-game strategist giving “legitimacy” to your commanding of the troops during the game. It would return in Fire Emblem: Awakening”, and has pretty much stuck around in some shape or other since I believe.
Gameplay:
Not the most exciting screenshot, but I do have to show the main map screen at some point!
The game, and indeed Fire Emblem as a whole, is a turn-based tactical RPG where you move your troops on gridded stages and fight the enemy officers until either they’re all dead or you’ve reached a certain goal, like defeated the enemy general or guiding one of your characters to a specific square on the map. Every character has a Class and a bunch of stats that go up (randomly!) after gaining EXP, and after 20 or so levels (or by using a special item) they can get Promoted to an advanced form of their Class for a bigger stat boost, and that Class can then be levelled up too. Every class specialises in either a weapon or magic type, with their ability with those weapons also levelling up, and each weapon type is strong against another: axes are stronger against lances, lances are stronger against swords and swords are stronger against axes, while bows are strong against airborne units (who otherwise have advantages in movement) and elemental magic is strong against light magic, light magic is strong against dark magic, and dark magic is strong against elemental magic. Feels like a lot to remember but thankfully when you got to fight one unit with one of yours you can see how much damage you’ll do, how much you’ll take, the chances of each one hitting (as well as the chance to get a critical hit) and next to each weapon icon is an arrow either showing if you have an advantage or disadvantage, so even if you forget the weapons triangle you’ll be pre-warned before making a mistake!
What’s that old adage about an irresistible force and an immovable object again?
There are other factors in play during combat as well, like the terrain you and your opponent is on can effect hit chance, if it rains or if you’re in the desert you might have your movement restricted, and there are also levels with a “fog of war” where you can only see a few squares around your units. If you are injured there are unit types that can heal with staffs but they have no way to attack back, meaning you really have to make sure to check how far nearby enemy units can move if you don’t want them to get offed (which thankfully you can do before making your move) Similarly there are dancer characters who can allow people to move for a second time in one turn if they’re near enough, though again these characters have no method of attacking back. You can also equip characters with stronger weapons and healing items that you can either buy or find in chests around the levels. Two specific soldiers can have “Support” conversations with each other if they’re next to each other on the map enough, something I was actually unaware of until quite late in the game, so there went any chance of me to get the good ending. It gives the “Supported” characters a boost when they’re next to each other, anyway. Also of note: perma-death! If one of your characters is defeated they give a little speech and then die, never to be able to be selected again for the rest of the playthrough, unless they’re a main character, then it’s just game over. Scary! … although unless I really didn’t care about them it really just meant restarting the level, and I imagine that’s the case for a lot of players (at least I hope so make myself feel better)
That’s the gist. Pre-battle you can move characters around so you can better plan your start, and you can decide whether to have the merchant on the map or not (if he’s on the map and you collect an item that you don’t have room to hold you can send the item to him, but if he’s attacked and defeated during the map he does gain any EXP and therefore get more items, or something like that. I always deployed him anyway, only lost him… twice, I think? One might have been a level I reset anyway…) It’s great fun, if not a little frustrating when just one slight oversight or lack of attention leads to a whole level reset, but hey-ho, most games lead to a level reset when you make a mistake anyway, though they often don’t take as long to complete to be fair…
Graphics and Sound:
I mean… this isn’t the best example of “good graphics”, but this is the GBA and all…
Graphics are fine, it’s the GBA so you’re not going to be blown away but the simplistic map sprites and the little-bit-more-detailed combat sprites all do the trick well enough.
Sound is good, the effects are fine and the soundtrack is mostly serviceable with some standouts.
Story:
Stop looking directly at me! It’s weird!
The prologue has the unnamed strategist meet up with a girl from “the plains” called Lyn and together they meet two knights in Sain and Kent who tell her she is the estranged daughter of the Marquess of Caelin who seeks to reconcile with his daughter. The quartet meet up with others on the road to Caelin, including a bard called Nils whose sister Ninian had been kidnapped by a group called “the Black Fang” but she’s rescued off-screen by Eliwood, the son of the Marquess of Pherae. Eventually Lynn and co. defeat Lundgren, who had usurped Lynn’s ancestral home, and united with her grandfather. Everyone then parts ways…
One year later the nameless strategist meets up with Eliwood and his friend Hector (who is the younger brother of the Marquess of Ostia) as the former’s father Elbert had mysteriously vanished. Together the trio meet back up with Lynn, Nils and Ninian plus many more warriors, mages and knights as they try to stop the plans of the Black Fang led by the dark mage Nergal, who wishes to access the hidden world of Dragons to steal their “Quintessence” and gain unlimited power. He has lived a long time and gained the power he has due to taking the Quintessence of people, enough power to create life-like dolls called “Morphs” to run his army. Eventually the group find Elbert and confront Nergal and while the latter is wounded he escapes while the former is killed. Swearing revenge Eliwood and co. head back out into the world to find magical weapons and artefacts that can stop the now extremely powerful mage…
*Spoilers from here until the next bolded sentence!*
I’ve only had one eye on the series over the years but even I know this is far from a spoiler…
As the party finds an equally old and powerful light-magic-using mage called Bramimond they also find out that Nils and Ninian are actually Dragons from the same dimension Nergal wishes to access and that the reason why he has tried to kidnap the latter on several occasions is because the duo are the only method to open the gate (also they’re his children, which isn’t really revealed in the core playthrough, oddly…) Sadly Ninian is kidnaped and forced to transform into her true form and attacks the party, leading to Eliwood cutting the Dragon down, not knowing who he was killing. Around this time Hector finds out his older brother had died on illness and he was now the Marquess of Ostia, but regardless he pushes on alongside Eliwood, Lynn and the rest until the final confrontation with Nergal, where the dark mage is struck down. In his last moments though he uses Nils to open the gate and call forth three Dragons to attack everyone, but Bramimond arrives with a resurrected Ninian, who pushes two of the Dragons back, leaving Eliwood and co. to slay the last remaining one. With peace restored everyone settles into their respective roles, including Eliwood and Hector now being their lands’ respective Marquess. We fast-forward 15 years to see Eliwood and Hector reunite with their children, Roy and Lilina respectively, and discuss events that will directly impact the story of the … previous game, because this is a prequel and all that.
*Spoilers end here!*
It’s a simple but effective story that holds your interest across the maps, but won’t win any awards for dialogue or story twists…
Thoughts Now:
Lucius about to one-hit KO someone again, probably. He was definitely my MVP!
I really enjoyed my time with Fire Emblem, as I hoped I would. Sure I dipped in and out instead of playing it solidly and reset instead of accepting perma-death, but I had fun, so who cares? I will definitely be playing more Fire Emblem games going forward (either Awakening or Three Houses, as the lack of perma-death appeals…) although it will be a little while… my list of RPGs I’ve always wanted to play is getting longer and longer…
Hogan Reviews 