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The Lowdown
Pros: More complex battles to endure with three difficulty levels to
conquer.
Cons: Plays a little too much like the GBA Fire Emblem games.
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at Lik-Sang
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After three
excellent GBA titles, Fire Emblem returns to the big TV screen with Fire
Emblem: Souen no Kiseki for the Gamecube. The return back to a console
is a big step forward (or backwards?) since it hasn't had a non portable
incarnation since the SNES days. This means the series has never tried
or tackled 3D graphics, full motion video or long lasting gameplay that
is expected from consoles. Hands down if you compare Fire Emblem: Souen
no Kiseki to another strategy RPG like Disgaea or Makai Kingdom it
appears superficially inferior to the untrained eye. While it may not
have as diverse character customization or innovations to drive the
genre forward, Fire Emblem is designed with its fans in mind.The
story starts out similarly to other Fire Emblem games. A ranger named
Ike, a mercenary under the command of his father. Through a chance
encounter with a princess of Crimea, Ike discovers that a nearby kingdom
is under attack. The princess pleads for Ike's help and of course the
blue haired warrior lends a hand. As he journeys forward Ike and his
band of mercenaries fall into a struggle to bring peace through war.
Like the GBA titles Fire Emblem's story pacing is similar. It's told
before battles with character overlays and in game text. After battles
it's more of the same 2D characters with text to follow them. While Fire
Emblem Souen no Kiseki has some voice acting there is the questionable
decision to remove it from all of main story sequences.
The story probably isn't the main reason why you're playing Fire
Emblem. It's really for the battles, which the game has plenty of. When
you start the game you can actually select the battle difficulty. A
feature rarely seen in strategy RPGs is a great addition. This allows
expert Fire Emblem players to jump right in the hardest difficulty and
novices to learn the basic system. Battles take place on 3D isometric
fields. Terrain ranges from towns and fields to the within castles and
dark caverns. While the settings are predictable for the fantasy genre,
terrain plays more of a role than being cosmetic. Different terrain
squares affect your characters ability to dodge attacks and deliver
them. Another major staple of Fire Emblem games is present. townspeople.
By spending a precious turn to drop by the house of a townsperson you
can gain valuable information or even better a rare weapon.
Compared to other strategy RPG titles Fire Emblem's options are
rather basic. For each turn you select a character move them around and
attack. Once an attack is initiated, the enemy will get a chance to
counterattack if they're in proper range. The battle system in Fire
Emblem really relies on the weapon and magic triangles. There are three
classes of weapons: swords, axes and lances. Swords can best axes, while
axes can deflect lances and as you guessed lances can break swords. The
weapon triangle needs to be utilized to ensure maximum damage and the
best chance to dodge a counterattack. Magic has a similar triangle to
balance different spell types, too. The system essentially works because
no one weapon or spell type is invincible. It also means a wide number
of classes, each with unique abilities are useful.
Instead of having a complex character development system where you
can switch classes, Fire Emblem Souen no Kiseki goes back to basics. You
have basic melee troops like swordsmen, brigadiers, armored generals
and cavalry. There are ranged troops like archers, elemental mages and
shamans. Some more of the unique classes include Pegasus Knights that
can fly over large amounts of terrain, but are usually physically weaker
than standard cavalry. Each character in game is already assigned a
class, which gets an upgrade when they reach level 21. The main pro of
the basic class system is that you're not stuck with a bunch of
mercenary troops that have no role in the story. Every character just
isn't a troop, but a key player in Ike's quest.
To balance unused characters out Fire Emblem Souen no Kiseki has an
interesting addition of bonus EXP. Bonus EXP can be distributed to any
characters you want after battle. It's a good idea to use it on lesser
used troops to power them up. Or if you're a power player you can spend
it on troops that participated in the battle.
Also new to the Fire Emblem series is the addition of beast troops.
Along side your Dragon Knights and Valkyries you can have a wolf,
panther and even a dragon. Beast troops operate a little differently
from your armored warrior. Namely, that they don't need equipment to
fight. Being low maintenance is a plus, but instead transform into
beasts to attack. Damaging attacks can be executed when they're in beast
form, the catch is it takes time for the transformation to occur.
While character customization isn't nearly as important as in most
strategy RPGs Fire Emblem for the Gamecube offers something new or old
if you've played the SNES games. The skill system from Fire Emblem
Seisen no Keifu has been brought back to full swing. The system allows
you to add in unique skills to each character. For instance "hard
strike" allows you to knock an enemy back a square. While "wrath"
increases the critical attack rate when your HP is low. Some other
skills like "elite" and "slow grower" alter the amount of experience you
receive. Since each skill has a different amount of assigned skill
points you can't have everything equipped. The whole system offers a
minor amount of customization, but it's better than none.
This is the first Fire Emblem to incorporate FMVs in it and after
watching the intro movie with Ike fans will be pleased. The movies are a
cross between cel-shading and a photorealistic style. The artistic blend
gives Fire Emblem Souen no Kiseki a unique cel-painting look. The in
game artwork is pretty good too, even though it's the same sprite based
style as the GBA titles. Where the game does fall a little is in the 3D
department. The battle animations aren't diverse and aren't as inspired
as the GBA games. In fact the 3D battlefields and character models don't
fare well with the FMV style. Jagged edges and awkward motion drops this
title a visual notch.
Fire Emblem Souen no Kiseki comes in with a tough decision. Does it
revolutionize the series for console gamers or does it give fans of the
series more of what they love on a grander scale. Souen no Kiseki
chooses the latter option, which will make the game a sure fire hit. As
a fan of the strategy genre Fire Emblem Souen no Kiseki is entertaining
and frustratingly challenging at the hard difficulty. Could Nintendo
have done more with the series? Absolutely. Is Fire Emblem a fun game?
Without question.
As most importers would imagine Fire Emblem Souen no Kiseki is
tremendously language heavy. The game has kanji menus and plenty of in
game text, also kanji heavy. If you're a Fire Emblem pro you can
probably play through the title since the menu interface is the same.
Make no mistake though, it's a daunting task.
US Bound?
Nintendo of America has announced Fire Emblem for a US release
sometime in 2005.
Overall
Fire Emblem Souen no Kiseki doesn't make any huge strides for the
series or strategy RPGs in general. It simply deals more Fire Emblem
action, just in 3D.
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