Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, known in Japan as Fire Emblem: Akatsuki no Megami (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"), 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, officially released on February 22, 2007 in Japan, and released in North America on November 5, 2007, in Europe on March 14, 2008, and in Australia in April 10, 2008. 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 full motion video cutscenes and an upgraded game engine.

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 Prince Pelleas, the son of the late King Ashnard. Micaiah leads the newly-formed Daein Liberation Army to many victories over Begnion and eventually drives out the occupying forces. Pelleas is crowned the new king of Daein.

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, Ludveck, only to discover that his men have captured her foster sister Lucia. At the last minute, the Greil Mercenaries arrive and rescue Lucia, 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 Apostle Sanaki, the Empress of Begnion, while Micaiah and the Daein army are coerced into fighting for the Begnion Senate. During a battle, Ike's sister Mist 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 as well. The game ends as everyone leaves to continue their lives. The specifics of most of the characters' fates depends on whether they survived to the end of the game and support levels shared with particular individuals.

Part I
Part I is an 8 chapter story about Micaiah and the Dawn Brigade's involvement with the liberation of Daein from Begnion occupation. The Dawn Brigade partisan activity eventually gives Micaiah the reputation as the Silver Haired Maiden and becomes the focal point of the entire liberation movement. Joined with Prince Pelleas, she leads the Daein Liberation Army to victory, where in turn the prince is crowned king.

Part II
Part II is a five chapter story about the current state of Queen Elincia three year rule over Crimea. After some discontent, the queen finds her country in a state of revolution led by Ludveck.

At five chapters in length, Part II is the shortest of the game and begins not long after Pelleas's coronation. , only three years into her reign, is struggling to find her way while some Crimean nobles plot rebellion against her; with Ashnard's son crowned the new king of Daein, they fear another war on the horizon and desire a more capable leader. The rebellion starts in a small country village, but is quelled by two peasants who fought in the Mad King's War, Brom and Nephenee. They learn that Ludveck, Duke of Felirae, has plotted to overthrow Elincia and take the crown for himself, and travel to Crimea's capital to warn Elincia of the new threat. Elincia's friend Lucia leads an investigation to Ludveck's estate and finds proof of his treachery. After escaping Ludveck's men, she reports her discoveries to Elincia and then leaves to meet with an agent. Elincia sends a group of royal knights led by Geoffrey to Felirae to seize, only to find that he has escaped and captured Lucia. Elincia's forces prepare for a final battle against Ludveck at Fort Alpea, but lack numbers until Geoffrey's forces arrive, drive Ludveck's forces back and imprison him. Ludveck's remaining forces threaten Elincia with the prospect of Lucia's execution if she doesn't give up her crown, but this last ditch effort is thwarted by the arrival of the Greil Mercenaries, who had been alerted to the plot by Elincia's ally Count Bastian.

Part III
The third part of the game follows Ike and the Greil Mercenaries. After shattering the rebellion, they receive an unexpected visit from Ranulf, retainer to the beast king of Gallia. He warns that a war between the newly formed Laguz Alliance and Begnion is about to spark following Begnion's execution of Gallian messengers. Ike and the mercenaries pledge their support to the Laguz Alliance; however, they also fear that Lehran's Medallion, which was currently radiating with a blue flame of choas, will release the dark god with the choas of this war. Three years ago, Ashnard attempted to ignite a continent-wide war to create an overflow of chaos great enough to free the dark god imprisoned in the medallion. The Alliance rapidly advances through Begnion until Skrimir, the hot-headed successor to the Gallian throne, challenges and loses to Begnion's most powerful general, General Zelgius. As the Alliance retreats back to Gallia, King Pelleas sends the Daein army into the war on Begnion's side.

Meanwhile, Valtome, a narcissistic member of the Begnion Senate, demands safe passage to Gallia through Crimea. Although Crimea and Gallia have an alliance, Elincia wishes to remain neutral, and regretfully allows Valtome's passage. The Laguz Alliance encounters the passing army and prepares for battle; however, Elincia rushes into the battlefield, lays down her weapon to show Crimea is neutral, and demands that fighting be taken outside the borders. Valtome calls her a traitor and commands his army to kill her, but she is rescued by the Greil Mercenaries and the Crimean Army. Afterwards, Valtome attempts to execute Zelgius for not aiding in the previous battle. However, the Apostle Sanaki, Empress of Begnion, stops the execution. The senate had imprisoned her and Prime Minister Sephiran in an attempt to usurp the throne. Ike is once again put in charge of the army still loyal to the Apostle, much to his disliking.

In Daein, Micaiah and party learn why Pelleas ordered them to aid Begnion. Izuka, who was secretly aligned with the Begnion Senate, had tricked Pelleas into signing a Blood Pact with Vice-Minister Lekain, which Pelleas mistook as a treaty. If Pelleas opposes the senate, the pact will activate a curse, killing citizens of Daein each day. Micaiah's army returns to the battlefield to prevent the senate from invoking the pact, while Ike's army marches through Daein to reach Begnion. Pelleas discovers that the only way to destroy the pact is to murder the pact-maker, and asks Micaiah to kill him. In the second playthrough, the player can spare Pelleas; otherwise, he is killed. Queen Almedha then reveals that Pelleas is still bound to the pact, but the curse can be lifted by destroying the pact itself, which is in Lekain's possession.

During a battle, Ike's sister Mist receives telepathic messages to use the Galdr of Release to awaken the dark god within the medallion. When Sanaki sings the galdr, nothing happens, but when Micaiah sings, she releases Yune, the dark god. Yune possesses Micaiah's body and tells the party the truth about her and Ashera. The term dark god is a misnomer. Yune is a goddess of freedom and chaos, and Ashera is her counterpart, order and restriction. Yune was sealed away because Ashera thought of her as an imperfection. Because they are linked, if Yune is awake, Ashera also awakens. If they were awakened by the galdr, Yune and Ashera would meet to judge the world and decide its fate; if they were awakened by the spirit of chaos, the world would be destroyed. However, Ashera has already given her judgment and petrified everyone on Tellius, though everyone with a strong spirit was kept safe. This revelation sparks the fourth and final part of the game.

Part IV
With all sides on equal terms, Yune organizes three armies to travel to the Tower of Guidance, where Ashera has slumbered these past years. Lekain has survived the petrification and restored many of the petrified soldiers to their normal states, forming them into the Disciples of Order to fight against Yune's forces. Sanaki confronts Lekain, who reveals that she did not inherit the ability to hear the voice of the goddess, a trait only given to the first-born children of the first apostle's lineage.

The armies reach the tower and begin the ascent. They first kill Lekain and tear up the blood pact. In the second battle, Ike faces the Black Knight, who is revealed to be Zelgius, and kills him. Next, they confront the Dragon King Deghinsea, who has decided to accept the goddess's judgment, and defeat him after Yune grants her blessing to the party. Outside Ashera's chamber, they meet Sephiran, who reveals that he caused all of the recent wars. Sephiran is revealed to be Lehran, who aided Ashera and the Three Heroes: Saul of the Beast Tribe, Deghinsea of the Dragon Tribe and Altina of the Beorc, in sealing Yune. They made a covenant promising Ashera that no war would be waged for 1000 years, and she would reunite with Yune to become Ashunera, the Goddess of Dawn. Due to the Serenes Massacre, Sephiran decided men could never live peacefully and wanted Ashera to destroy them all. In the first playthrough, Sephiran is defeated and willingly dies in Sanaki's arms, but in the second playthrough, he can be allowed to live and will join Yune's side. After Sephiran's defeat, the party enters Ashera's chambers. Micaiah gives Ike the remainder of Yune's power for one last strike. After Ashera is defeated, Yune saves all the petrified people and leaves as well.

The game ends as everyone leaves to continue their lives, which is told through a lengthy epilogue. Micaiah becomes the Queen of Daein. If Pelleas is still alive, he reveals he is not Almedha's son and stays with Micaiah as a member of the royal court. If certain conditions are met, it is revealed that Soren is Almedha's son. Sanaki realizes Micaiah is her older sister, and they agree to make peace between their countries. Ike leaves the continent forever to explore a distant land, with Soren by his side. If certain support conversations are attained, characters may get married or have other changes to their endings.

Characters
See the 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.

Chapters
See the main article, List of chapters in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.

Gameplay mechanics
Radiant Dawn carries over the gameplay mechanics of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, with some changes.

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 Normal 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, have been disabled.

Game structure
The game's 45 chapters are unequally divided into four parts. 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. Tibarn is one of the main leaders of Part 4, along with Ike and Micaiah. Other leaders, such as Elincia, Lucia, Nephenee, and Geoffrey, play minor roles. A total of 72 playable characters are available, with 42 returning from Path of Radiance.

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. Also, Buddy supports can be deleted. Characters in Buddy supports can have a short conversation during each battle. 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.

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. Coins collected are transferred to Ike in Part 3, where they can be used in the game's weapon forging system.

However, there is a bug with this feature that causes the Wii to freeze when any Easy Mode data is present in the Gamecube memory card. Currently the only solution to this problem besides not using this feature is to delete any Easy Mode save data and use the save data of a completed Normal or Hard Mode game. In e-mails, Nintendo has announced a fix planned to be ready in mid-December. They have said the "solution 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." This bug isn't active in the European and Australian version.

New beorc 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, such as Myrmidons and Swordmasters. Third-tier classes are the strongest of all classes; the character automatically learns their class's Occult (ultimate) skill upon promotion. To promote most characters from a second to a third-tier class, they must be raised to level 21 of their second-tier class or a Master Crown must be used after level 10.

New laguz features
The laguz from Path of Radiance also return. They can now fight when untransformed, using a new weapon called "Strike," though they are relatively weak in this state (when they transform, all of their stats double except for HP and Luck). Laguz can only wield one Strike weapon, but they can upgrade it by increasing its weapon level to SS. Laguz cannot promote, but they can reach a maximum level of 40 (instead of 20). They learn their Occult 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 similar weaknesses to the cats and tigers. Both have a weakness for fire. Also, a new type of dragon(though not a new tribe) has also been added, black dragons (like Kurthnaga,) who have the ability to fly and are only in the royal family.

Magic and skill system
The game also adds a new magic class, Dark Magic, 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. 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.

Weapons
For a list of weapons from the game see: List of weapons in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.

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. Knives, which required a special skill to use in Path of Radiance, are now classified as a full weapon category with levels matching swords, axes, bows, and lances. The SS weapon level, higher than the S of previous games, has been added. The new low-tier bronze weapons do the least amount of damage of all the weapons in the game and prevent the character wielding the weapon from performing a critical attack, but are also the least expensive and allow the most uses. Additionally, Snipers/Marksmen and Warriors/Reavers have access to crossbows and bowguns that allow the equipped unit to attack and counter-attack from melee range.

Terrain and 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 an enemy on a higher or lower plain. Also, while most units can climb up ledges, knights and paladins units must use a ramp or stairway to reach higher elevations.

Reception
The game has received generally positive reception from gaming critics. It has an average ranking of 80% on Game Rankings. 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 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 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.

1UP.com gave it a 9.0 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."

IGN writer Mark Bozon gave the game an 8 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.

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.

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

GameSpot only gave the game a 6.0 out of 10, complaining about the "laughable enemies" and the punishing difficulty, which would alienate newcomers to the series. Furthermore, the game had little to no improvement graphically over the GameCube and it didn't make use of the Wii controller.

Trivia

 * As the player advances in the game, the Intro movie expands itself.
 * The storyline of the game will change if you spare Pelleas from a file's second playthrough onward.
 * Every character from Path of Radiance appears again. Even though Largo makes an appearance, he is not playable.
 * This is the second Fire Emblem game to have a third promotion class (such as Marksmen and Trueblades).
 * The Japanese version of the game had a glitch, it was done by giving the skill Celerity to Tibarn, along with Boots.
 * By completing multiple playthroughs, the class roll will start increasing to show more classes.