Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

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Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
Developer(s)	Intelligent Systems
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Series	Fire Emblem
Platform(s)	Wii
Release date	JP February 22, 2007[1] NA November 11, 2007 EU March 14, 2008[2] AUS April 10, 2008[3]
Genre(s)	Tactical role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	CERO: A (All Ages)[4] ESRB: E10+ (Everyone 10+) OFLC: M PEGI: 12+
Input methods	Wii Remote, Classic Controller, GameCube controller

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (ファイアーエムブレム　暁の女神, Faiā Emuburemu: Akatsuki no Megami^?, lit. "Fire Emblem: Goddess of Dawn"^[5]) is a tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. It is the tenth Fire Emblem series title and the first series title for the Wii. It was announced for the Wii on May 9, 2006 at the E3 convention,^[6] officially released on February 22, 2007 in Japan,^[1] and released in North America on November 5, 2007. The game is a direct sequel to the events of the Nintendo GameCube title Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, featuring the same style of cel-shaded FMV cutscenes and an upgraded game engine.

[edit] Plot

Radiant Dawn is divided into four parts. Each part is structured similarly, beginning with a prologue chapter that introduces the situation, followed by a series of chapters that is resolved with an "Endgame" chapter. The game begins three years after the Mad King's War, the events of Path of Radiance. Daein, the war's instigator and eventual loser, and the victorious nation Crimea are still in the process of rebuilding. Although Crimea is ruled by Queen Elincia Ridell Crimea, Daein lacks a proper successor and is instead ruled by the occupation forces of the Begnion Empire. The Daein people are oppressed by the corrupt senate and imperial soldiers.

Part 1 of the game focuses on the Dawn Brigade, a group of chivalrous thieves, as they attempt to liberate Daein from Begnion oppression. Their figurehead is Micaiah, the "silver-haired maiden". During their travels they discover the lost son of the late King Ashnard, who appoints Micaiah the leader of the Daein Liberation Army. They eventually drive out the occupying forces, and Daein's monarchy is restored.

Part 2 is the shortest of the game at a length of five chapters. The young and inexperienced Queen Elincia of Crimea faces a rebellion of nobles who wish to usurp her. With the help of her retainers and knights, Elincia manages to imprison the rebel leader only to discover that his men have captured her friend. At the last minute, the Greil Mercenaries arrive and rescue her, putting an end to the rebellion.

In Part 3, another war begins, and Ike and the Greil Mercenaries ally with the Laguz Alliance against Begnion. Ike eventually joins forces with Elincia and the empress of Begnion, while Micaiah and the Daein army are coerced into fighting for the Begnion Senate. During a battle, Ike's sister receives telepathic messages to awaken the dark god within Lehran's Medallion. When Micaiah does so, she is possessed by the dark god, revealed to be Yune, goddess of chaos. She is the counterpart to Ashera, goddess of order, who has also awakened. Ashera delivers her judgment and petrifies almost everyone on Tellius.

In the fourth and final part of the game, Yune's forces travel to the Tower of Guidance. Along the way, they battle the Begnion Senate and discover the true instigator of the recent wars. At the top of the tower, Ike defeats Ashera with Yune's power. Yune then restores all of the petrified people and departs from the world. The game ends as the characters leave to continue their lives. The specifics of the characters' fates can be altered by whether they survived to the end of the game and support levels shared with particular individuals.

[edit] Characters

Main article: List of characters in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Radiant Dawn features most of the Path of Radiance cast, including all of the previous game's playable characters (except for Largo), as well as a collection of figures new to the Tellius Fire Emblem universe. A total of 73 playable characters are available, with 44 returning from Path of Radiance.

[edit] Gameplay mechanics

Screenshot of the English-language version. Releases outside of Japan feature a new 16:9 screen ratio, a first for the series.

Radiant Dawn carries over the gameplay mechanics of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, with some changes. Additionally, see Fire Emblem gameplay for basic information.

[edit] Modes

At the start the original Japanese version of the game provides "Normal" and "Hard" modes, with the third mode, "Maniac", being unlocked after completing the Hard mode. In English-language releases the three modes were renamed to "Easy", "Normal", and "Hard". The easiest of the modes assumes the player has never played a Fire Emblem game before and includes in-depth in-game tutorials, whereas the other modes only include them as a reference. In the hardest mode, enemies are stronger and more numerous, and certain features like saving during battle and the weapon triangle have been disabled.

[edit] Game structure

Unlike previous Fire Emblem games, the story does not center around one or two characters. Rather, each chapter features a "leader" character, comparable to the Lord characters in previous games. For example, the leader of Part 1 is Micaiah, and Ike is the leader of most of Parts 3 and 4. Other leaders play minor roles. Teams of characters following different leaders are generally unable to share items or Bonus Experience with each other.

Radiant Dawn is the first game in the series in which the player switches perspectives to play on two sides of the same conflict. In the latter half of Part 3, the player frequently switches between control of the Greil Mercenaries and the Daein army. The game will also pit the player against otherwise playable characters as enemies (ex: Ike being an enemy boss in one chapter). Standing as a significant exception to the series's concept of permanent character death, player characters defeated as enemies are not killed and will be playable when the player returns to the opposing group's perspective.

[edit] Support system

Radiant Dawn features two types of supports: Buddy supports and Bond supports. Buddy supports (simply called "Supports" in previous games) increase their characters' battle stats dependent on the elemental affinity and support level of both Buddies. Unlike in previous games, characters can be Buddies with any other character, but can only have one Buddy at a time. Bond supports, which also appeared in Path of Radiance, are between two specific characters and are always present.

Because any character can form a support relationship with any other character, the conversations themselves have been simplified and are based on templates, in which the initiating character makes a stock statement while inserting the recipient's name, and the recipient will respond with a general acknowledgment. The more colorful dialogue that typified the support conversations in previous installments has been for the most part transferred to the Info conversations that take place between battles.

[edit] Path of Radiance data upload

If a GameCube memory card with a cleared Path of Radiance save is inserted, data can be transferred from the save file. Path of Radiance characters who have attained high statistics or weapon levels will receive corresponding boosts to their Radiant Dawn counterparts. Transferred A-level supports become Bond supports in Radiant Dawn, and the support conversations unlocked can be read in a support library after the game is completed.

However, a bug present in early production runs of the game causes the Wii to freeze when any Easy Mode data is present in the Gamecube memory card. Previously the only way to use this feature was to delete any Easy Mode save data and use the save data of a completed Normal or Hard Mode game. In January 2008, Nintendo announced a solution which "will require sending in your Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn game disc in for repair. Once the disc is returned to you, you may then transfer the Path of Radiance save file information into a new Radiant Dawn save file."^[7] The issue was resolved in time for the game's release in Europe and Australia.

[edit] New unit features

Beorc (human) units can now promote twice, resulting in three tiers of character classes. Most first and second-tier classes are Fire Emblem staples, while third-tier classes are the strongest of all classes. For example, Myrmidons, which promote to Swordmasters, can now promote to a new class called Trueblade. To promote most characters from a second to a third-tier class, a Master Crown must be used after level 10 or they must be raised to level 21 of their second-tier class (the second option was added in localization, and is not present in the Japanese release). The character automatically learns their class's Mastery skill upon promotion.

The laguz from Path of Radiance also return. They can now fight when untransformed, though they are relatively weak in this state. Laguz can only wield one weapon, within a weapon class called "Strike", but they can upgrade it by increasing its weapon level. Laguz cannot promote, but they can reach a maximum level of 40 (instead of 20). They learn their Mastery skill by using a Satori Sign at level 30 or above. A new laguz species, the wolves of Hatari, have been added to the beast tribe and share similarities to the cats and tigers.

The skill system is largely the same as in Path of Radiance. Skills, except locked skills, can now be removed and transferred as Scrolls. Skill capacities have been modified for beorc due to the new three-class system, and laguz have varying capacities depending on level.

[edit] Weapons

The weapon forging system introduced in Path of Radiance also makes a return with some modifications. Unlike in the previous game, which only allowed the creation of one special weapon prior to each battle, the player can now use the forge as often as desired so long as the forge is available for use and there is enough gold in reserve to pay for the weapons. Furthermore, rare coins found during battle can be traded in during the forging process to further enhance the created weapon's stats.

The breadth and variety of weapons and weapon classes has also increased. The SS weapon level, higher than the S of previous games, has been added. Knives, which required a special skill to use in Path of Radiance, are now classified as a full weapon category. The game brings back Dark Magic, omitted in Path of Radiance, and a second trinity of magic originally from the GBA Fire Emblem games: dark beats anima (wind, thunder, and fire), anima beats light, and light beats dark. Certain units have access to crossbows and bowguns that, unlike other bows, can attack and counter-attack from melee range.

[edit] Elevation

The height of the landscape now has a direct effect on gameplay. Characters can climb up to higher levels at certain points. If a character is higher than an enemy, they will have much higher accuracy and deal more damage; conversely, if they are lower they will have much lower accuracy. However, only units equipped with ranged weapons, such as bows and magic tomes, can attack a higher or lower enemy. Also, while most units can climb up ledges, horse-mounted units must use a ramp or stairway to reach higher elevations.

[edit] Reception

The game has received generally positive reception from gaming critics. It has an average ranking of 78% on Game Rankings. ^[8] The general consensus is that the game is extremely difficult, with solid gameplay, but the graphics are too reminiscent of its GameCube predecessor.

Game Informer gave the game a 7 and a 5.5 out of 10, due to its staggering difficulty. The reviews emphasized that its difficulty would alienate new players to the franchise and that only diehards would have the resolution to finish. The lack of a compelling story compared to previous installments was also criticized.

Nintendo Power gave the game a 9.5 out of 10. Scott Pelland, though calling the missions "fiendishly difficult," felt that it was a good thing, stating that the player must then utilize his resources fully to claim victory. He also compared it to its contemporary, the Advance Wars series, and a few older games like Final Fantasy Tactics and Ogre Battle. In the 2007 Nintendo Power Awards, the game was voted Best RPG/Strategy Game.

1UP.com gave it a 9.0 out of 10. Reviewer Michael Donohoe approved of the designer's addition of a mid-battle save option to slacken frustration. He also praised the gameplay, though largely unchanged from previous installments, as being "crazily addictive". However, he had "teensy problems" with the graphics, the changed support conversations, and the Laguz characters, which "still aren't very useful."^[9]

IGN writer Mark Bozon gave the game an 8 out of 10. Though a generally favorable review, he complained of its likeness to its GameCube predecessor, the lacking overall presentation and graphics, and the absence of Wii-specific features. He did, however, give the game credit for being "a great tactical experience" with "well over 50 hours" of gameplay.^[10]

GameSpy awarded the game a 4.5 out of 5 and its Editor's Choice award. GameSpy praised the deep gameplay and story and even gave a nod to the "pleasant" graphics.^[11]

Electronic Gaming Monthly awarded the game surprisingly positive 9.0, 9.0 and 8.5 scores from its three reviewers, as well as a silver medal. The reviewers praised the deep, strategic gameplay and the gorgeous FMV cutscenes.

GameSpot gave the game a 6 out of 10, criticizing the "laughable plot" and "one-dimensional" villains. It also commented on the frustrating difficulty, saying it would alienate newcomers.^[12]

[edit] See also

• List of Wii games

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• "Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn" official website
• (Japanese) Fire Emblem: Akatsuki no Megami at Nintendo of Japan.
• (Japanese) Fire Emblem: Akatsuki no Megami Background
• Serenes Forest — Data and information for Radiant Dawn