Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu

Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu (ファイアーエムブレム　聖戦の系譜) is a Japanese Super Famicom tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. It was released on May 14, 1996 in Japan. It is the fourth title in the Fire Emblem series, the second Fire Emblem title for the Super Famicom and was the last game produced by Gunpei Yokoi. The game has widely received recognition outside Japan through imports or console emulation. It was unofficially translated into English through emulation. It was released on the Japanese Virtual Console service on January 30, 2007.

Gameplay
Many of the gameplay mechanics in Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu differs from other Fire Emblem games in the series. The differences are:

Chapter format
Instead of conquering just one castle per chapter, the player must capture several. Also, the player must have a castle in their possession at the start of each chapter that must not be conquered by the enemy. In allied castles, the player can shop, fight in the arena, store items, and repair weapons (see below). The starting castle is the only place in which the player can promote characters.

There is no limit on how many player characters can be deployed; this is balanced by the player receiving fewer controllable units than in other games in the series. However, it should be noted that the Game Boy Advance installments allow fewer units to be deployed per chapter than the console installments.

Villages
Villages cannot be destroyed by enemy units in one turn. Enemies can only destroy a portion of a village each turn; however, the more the player allows an enemy to tear down a village, the less gold will be rewarded for rescuing it.

Arenas
Characters do not die when they have lost an arena battle; instead, they remain alive at 1 hit point. There are only seven arena opponents to fight for each character per chapter, as opposed to infinite opponents in other Fire Emblem games. Also, the arena opponents are predetermined for each level and are always the same. The exception is if the character is an archer.

Class change
Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu is the second Fire Emblem game where the player does not need items to promote a character. In Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu, the player character must reach Level 20 and then return to the home castle of the chapter in order to receive class promotion. Also, rather than being reverted to Level 1, the character will remain at his/her current level.

Death
It is possible to bring back dead units by using the Valkyrie Staff; however, it breaks after only one use, after which it must be repaired.

Money and items
Breaking a weapon by wearing out its durability is not an inevitability. By visiting repair shops in castles under the player's control, money can be spent to restore a used weapon before it breaks instead of having to keep a stockpile of spares.

Each individual character in this game has its own money. The only units who can give money to others are thieves and units who are in love (see below).

Characters cannot trade weapons and items or give them to each other. The only way to "give" something to another character is to sell the item or weapon and have another character buy it.

Relationship system
The characters in the first half of the game can fall in love. A pair of characters require a certain amount of Lover points to become Lovers. Characters will build Lover points automatically, but they will gain more if the player ends the turn with both characters adjacent to one another, and certain pairs have unique conversations at set points in the game, which give a large amount of Lover points. When two characters are paired, and if the mother survives until a point in Chapter 5, the two parents will pass their weapons and skills on to their children. However weapons will only be inherited if the child can use it in their first class, unless it is a Holy Weapon, which is always inherited, and only the parents' personal skills are inherited. The children then grow up to become playable units in the second half of the game. The parents also pass on their holy blood and their stat growths, giving the player some manner of control over their units' growth rates. If some of the female player characters in Sigurd's tale besides Ethlin or Diadora die or do not fall in love by the end of Chapter Five, substitute player characters appear in their children's place. The children can also fall in love, giving them random criticals when they stand next to their respective lovers (which is also possible in the first generation).

Weapon Triangle
Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu is the first installment of the Fire Emblem series to implement the weapon triangle, a rock-paper-scissors thing. The weapon triangle is that swords beat axes, axes beat lances, and lances beat swords.

Special skill system
Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu is the first installment of the Fire Emblem series to assign special skills to individual characters. Characters may also gain skills by belonging to a certain class. Skills may be activated by command on the field, activated automatically under certain conditions, or activated by chance. If characters in the first half of the game fall in love, they will pass on their individual skills to their children in the second half of Seisen no Keifu. This skill system is also used in Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. A limited version of this system, where skill are assigned only by unit class, is found in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.

Setting
Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu takes place in the continent of Jugdral (pronounced YOOG-drahl and based on the Norse mythological name Yggdrasil). It is composed of eight kingdoms: the Kingdom of Grandbell, the Kingdom of Verdane, Miletos District, the Manster District, the Kingdom of Thracia, the Lords' Dominion of Agustria, the Kingdom of Silesia, Yied Desert, and the Kingdom of Isaac. They were founded by the 12 crusaders: Baldo, Ulir, Tordo, Fala, Neir, Edda, Narga, Noba, Dain, Hezul, Sety, and Odo.


 * Grandbell was founded by Saint Heim. Its royal family resides in Barhara castle. In addition to Barhara castle, Grandbell has six dukedoms: Chalphy, Jungby, Velthomer, Freege, Dozel, and Edda. This country also has the highest number of descendants of the crusaders, contributing to over half of the crusaders(Heim, Fala, Baldo, Blagi, Tordo, Ulir and Neir). The Fire Emblem does not appear in Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu, but it is mentioned as the family crest of the Velthomer house by the person succeeding it.


 * Verdane is the southwesternmost country in Jugdral. It is Jugdral's land of forests and wildlife. It has absolutely no ties with Grandbell. It is ruled by kings without Holy Crusader heritage. Before Gran 757, when Sandima took over, it was ruled by King Bantou. Jamka, a recruitable archer character in Sigurd's tale, is from Verdane. Edin is taken by Gandolf to Marpha Castle, Verdane, in the Prologue. Princess Ayra of Isaac fled with her nephew Shanan to Verdane to escape the Isaacian-Grandbellian war. She then had no choice but to work as a mercenary for Genoa Castle. Chapter 1 takes place here.


 * Miletos is the southernmost country of Jugdral. It is the country where trade routes to Jugdral meet. Chapter 10 takes place here. Chalphy dukedom of Grandbell is located near Miletos.


 * Occupying the northern half of the Thracian Peninsula, the Manster District is a confederation of several small holdings to withstand Thracia's invasions. It was founded by holy crusader Noba, the younger sister of Dain. Traditionally, most of the Manster District's military power has come from Lenster's lance knight brigade (Lanzenritter), though the other holdings have separate militaries. The Manster District consists of Melgen, Lenster, Alster, Conote, and Manster. At the onset of the game, the king of Lenster is Prince Cuan's father King Calf.


 * Thracia is a mountainous nation occupying the southern half of the Thracian Peninsula, south of the Manster District. It was founded by holy crusader Dain, the older brother of Noba. Because of the region's rocky soil and hilly terrain, food is scarce and the people are often hungry. However, Thracia is the nation that ridable-sized dragons are native to. Thracian knights who ride the dragons are famous as mercenaries throughout Jugdral, and contribute substantially to the country's income. Thracians have tried many times over Jugdral's history to conquer the fertile Manster District in order to provide food for their families, but all of the major assaults have been repelled by Lenster's lance knight brigade, colloquially known as the "Wall of Manster", especially by the Thracians. At the onset of the game, Trabant is king of Thracia.


 * Agustria is the home of Eltshan's family. Crusader Hezul helped found Agustria. Agustria is located in the west side of Jugdral and north of Verdane. It is the largest country in Jugdral. Chapters 2 and 3 of the game take place here. Celice was born here between these chapters.


 * Silesia is located north of Yied Desert and west of Isaac. It is the home of Levin and Fury. It was founded by Sety the Wind Crusader. It is the coldest country in Jugdral. Throughout Jugdral history, it has often been a neutral country.  It has five castles: Silesia, Sailane, Thove, Zaxon, and Lubeck. Chapter 4 and part of Chapter 5 take place here.


 * Yied Desert is the land of outcasts in Jugdral. It is also the center of the Loput sect. The heat in Yied Desert is dangerous, and the Dark Mages have unusual techniques to distract everyone trying to cross the desert. After the Isaacian-Grandbellian war, Isaac's Balmunk was taken to Yied Shrine. During Chapter 5, Cuan and Ethlin are killed by Trabant when marching across Yied Desert. Part of Chapter 5 and most of Chapter 7 take place here. During Chapter 7, Patty sneaks into Yied Shrine, snatches the Balmunk, and gives it to Shanan.


 * The Kingdom of Isaac is the northeasternmost country in Jugdral and was founded by Odo in Gran 648. It is the home of Ayra, Shanan, Lakche, and Skasaher. Grandbell invades Isaac around the beginning of the game. Isaac is known for being the land of Swordmasters. In Isaac, women are treated differently from other countries in Jugdral. Isaac is second to Manster in fertility, having many flowers and bushes and some animals. It has five castles: Isaac, Sophara, Tilnagogue, Ganeishire, and Rivough. At the onset of the game, Grandbell invades Isaac, blaming Isaacian royalty, who is not actually responsible, for the siege on Darna castle in Yied Desert. Mariccle is the king of Isaac. Mariccle dies at the time of Chapter 2 of the game. In the meantime of Chapter 5, after the Isaacian-Grandbellian war, Isaac is taken over by Dozel nobility. With the exception of Rivough Castle, Isaac is the only country in Jugdral that did not participate in child hunts in the days of Alvis's Grandbellian Empire. Chapter 6 takes place here. Celice was raised here. According to Celice, the Isaacians suffered under Dozel nobility rule.  The Isaacians detest the Grandbellian Empire for meddling in the affairs of Isaacian royalty and for having extreme political and military power.

Jugdral chronology

 * Gran Year 001: Gran Kingdom formed west of Yun River.
 * Gran Year 230: Shift to republican government.
 * Gran Year 310: Territory expansion: Era of prosperity.
 * Gran Year 440: Dark Lord descends to Archbishop Galle; Loput Sect religious order is formed.
 * Gran Year 447: War of the Twelve Dark Lords; fall of the Gran republic.
 * Gran Year 448: Archbishop Galle takes the throne, and the Loput Empire is formed.
 * Gran Year 449: The Great Purge: Casualties exceed one hundred thousand.
 * Gran Year 452: Sorrow of Miletos: Numerous human young are burned to death in sacrifice to the Dark Lord Loputousu.
 * Gran Year 453: Atrocity at Edda: Casualties are in tens of thousands.
 * Gran Year 535: Mutiny of Maira Imperial family.
 * Gran Year 611: Liberation army disseminates across the Jugdral continent.
 * Gran Year 632: Miracle at Darna Fortress: Gods descend to liberation army, and the Twelve Crusaders emerge.
 * Gran Year 633: Beginning of Holy War.
 * Gran Year 648: Fall of the Loput Empire: The Twelve Crusaders establish seven dukedoms in Grandbell and five regional kingdoms
 * Gran Year 649: Kingdom of Grandbell formed.
 * Gran Year 757: Grandbell invades Isaac.

Development
Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu was the first Fire Emblem game to be featured in the Fire Emblem Trading Card Game. Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu has the largest sound-track ever composed by Yuka Tsujiyoko, composed of one hundred and fourteen tracks. Some songs from the game were reused in the Game Boy Advance Fire Emblem games. Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu deviates from traditional Fire Emblem gameplay in some ways. Norse and Irish mythology are the main contributors to names in Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu. The battle animations in this game inspired those in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu was discussed in Nintendo Power: Volume eighty-seven, published around the time of the game's release.

Non-Japanese versions
Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu was marketed exclusively in Japan during the early thirty-two-bit era, because Nintendo did not localize any games in the Fire Emblem series to North America or Europe until the sixth generation console era, beginning with Fire Emblem (known in Japan as Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken). It is considered the "holy grail" among Japan-only Fire Emblem games.

Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu came out late in the life of the Super Famicom, being released on May 14, 1996. It has received recognition outside Japan since the 128-bit era, when Marth and Roy were introduced to foreign gamers as playable characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee. The exposure of Marth and Roy to foreign gamers indirectly led the Fire Emblem series as a whole to gain more attention.

Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu has had a significant following in North America and Europe through emulation. In the year 2000, J2E Translations started an unofficial English translation project on the game, although the project was discontinued before a patch was release. . The translation project was dormant until 2003, when it was picked up by the Fire Emblem forums staff. There are many versions of the fan' translation patch circulating across the Internet. The more recent versions of the patch have the main dialogue fully translated into English, and also the battle and death scripts translated, but the game's ending dialogue remains untranslated along with certain castle conversations. The versions of the patch since July 2006 use the dialogue font used in the Game Boy Advance Fire Emblem games.

Since the release of Super Smash Bros. Melee, being influenced by the appearance of Marth and Roy as playable characters during the sixth generation era, Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu has received international recognition and a very positive reception by non-Japanese gamers and has been receiving a growing following in North America and Europe.