Fire Emblem Warriors

Fire Emblem Warriors (ファイアーエムブレム無双, Faiā Emuburemu Musō, Fire Emblem Musou) is a hack and slash game for the Nintendo Switch and the New Nintendo 3DS. This collaboration between Intelligent Systems and the Koei Tecmo studios Omega Force and Team Ninja is a crossover between the Fire Emblem series and Koei Tecmo's Warriors franchise.

Release
Fire Emblem Warriors marks the second time a Nintendo IP has received a Koei Tecmo Warriors styled game, the first being Hyrule Warriors. It also marks the third time Nintendo characters have appeared in a Warriors game: the first was Takamaru from The Mysterious Murasame Castle, who appeared as a guest character in the Wii version of Samurai Warriors 3.

Fire Emblem Warriors was briefly showcased during the Nintendo Switch Presentation on January 12, 2017. The trailer briefly teased Chrom from Fire Emblem Awakening. During a Fire Emblem Nintendo Direct, gameplay was shown of Chrom in battle. The trailer concluded with a slated release of Fall 2017 and a version developed specifically for the New Nintendo 3DS was also announced for a Fall 2017 release.

The bulk of the game's roster is comprised of characters from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, Awakening, and Fates, in addition to original characters created for the game. The game launched with a total of twenty-five playable characters, with nine more scheduled to release as downloadable content.

Plot
That day, the country of Aytolis was covered in uttermost darkness. There was no warning when the Gates of the Other World suddenly appeared in the royal castle. Then, powerful monsters gushed out one after the other, trampling the castle garrison.

—The royal castle quickly fell. And slowly but surely, darkness ate into the country.

However, there is still hope. The two shadows who escaped the royal castle covered in flames were Rowan and Lianna, the children of the late king. And then, the thread of fate spun by the legendary heroes began to spin…

Carrying the Shield of Flames given to them by their mother, the two heroes’ journey to confront the powerful darkness begins here.

Combat
As a part of Koei Tecmo's larger Warriors franchise, Fire Emblem Warriors is a hack-and-slash action game in which the player fights in battlefields populated with hundreds of enemies. The player can execute combos to cut through enemies while working toward completing a series of stage objectives. Each playable character also has a unique Warrior Special attack (called a Musou attack in other Warriors titles) that can be executed when the special attack gauge is filled.

A special stun gauge appears for enemy officers, in addition to their health gauge. When the stun gauge is depleted, the player character can unleash a critical strike, which is accompanied by a flourish similar to the critical attack flourish in titles like Fire Emblem Awakening. Players can switch between control of multiple playable characters on a battlefield, and can control up to a maximum of four characters in a given battle. Any player character not under the player's direct control will act as an AI character and can be given directions on the map screen.

The game also features a pair-up mechanic inspired by the pairing mechanic seen in Awakening and Fates. When approaching another playable character on the battlefield, the player has the option to pair up with that character. This action will remove the second playable character from the battlefield, but will boost the stats of the character under the player's control. When paired-up, characters can perform a dual special attack. The player can also ask the other unit to attack the enemies, or this unit can automatically shield the player from taking a hit, with a gauge system that seems similar to the paired-up defense mechanic featured in Fates. The player may also swap back and forth between control of each unit in the pair. Additionally, the player may pair a playable unit with an allied unit that is not controllable. This allied NPC unit becomes a Vanguard and will aid the defense of the playable unit, but cannot be controlled directly.

The weapon triangle is featured in Fire Emblem Warriors. Characters that face off against units using an opposing weapon type will gain a slight advantage or receive a penalty based on what weapons are employed. Outside of the swords, axes, and lances in the triangle, the game also features units that use bows, tomes, and dragonstones. Certain characters can also use staves as a secondary ability to heal allies.

After filling the Awakening Gauge, the player character can trigger the Awakening state. In this state, the character receives a temporary parameter boost and weapon triangle weaknesses are nullified. When the gauge depletes, the Awakening state will end, and the character will finish up with a special attack. It is not possible to switch control to another character while Awakening is active.

Mounted units such as Cavaliers and Pegasus Knights are playable, with the character remaining on their mount at all times. Flying units can traverse special aerial routes that act as shortcuts inaccessible to other units, but such other units can cross these gaps by pairing with a flying unit. As a counter to this, however, flying units retain their traditional weakness to archers.

Leveling Up
When the player character levels up, the action pauses to display a Fire Emblem-style Level Up screen. This can be toggled off in the menu if players don't wish the action to be interrupted. When a character levels up, they receive a boost to their HP and other statistics. A character does not have to be under the player's direct control to earn experience or level up.

At the end of battle, the character declared MVP will receive an extra experience point boost.

Technique and Skill Progression
New attacks, skills, and defensive parameters for characters can be unlocked on each character's skill tree. Unlocking a node on the skill tree requires specific materials that can be farmed in battle. To access a character's full skill tree, they must be promoted to a new class. Characters that are at least Level 15 of their base class can promote through the use of a Master Seal.

Weapons and Forging
A weapon forging system appears in Fire Emblem Warriors. If a weapon has an empty skill slot, the player can upgrade it by transferring an attribute from another weapon to it in exchange for the destruction of the weapon from which the attribute is transferred. Attributes can also be removed from weapons to make space for other attributes. However, the number of slots on a give weapon varies, and some weapons have no slots at all.

Supports
A support system is also included in the game. As player characters fight in battle together, their bonds will grow. Characters can engage in bond conversations similar to the support conversations seen in the primary Fire Emblem series titles.

Permadeath
The permadeath mechanic is represented in the game's Classic Mode. Characters lost during the course of the story do not die, but as with story-important characters in traditional Fire Emblem titles, they sustain injuries that prevent them from rejoining the battle. There also exists a Casual Mode that turns permadeath off. If a player starts Story Mode in Classic, it is possible to switch to Casual, and any lost units will be returned to the active roster. It is not possible to switch from Casual Mode to Classic.

Losing a character in Story Mode prevents the player from using that character in other modes.

amiibo
The game, like Hyrule Warriors, has compatibility with amiibo. By scanning an amiibo, the player will receive a random weapon or amount of gold, and up to five amiibo can be scanned each day. Two new amiibo released in conjunction with the game based on Chrom and the younger version of Tiki unlock weapons with specific attributes.

Story
An original narrative in which the prince and princess of Aytolis search for heroes from other worlds in order to save their kingdom. The story progresses with each battle completed.

History
A mode that reviews battles from across the history of the series. The game mode is divided into maps based on select battles from the games represented in Fire Emblem Warriors. Additional maps are unlocked by collecting illustration pieces from Anna, who will set up shop when specific conditions are met during battle. Enemy units on these maps represent different sorts of challenges, such as rescuing an ally, defeating a particular enemy, or simply defeating as many enemies as possible within a time limit. The player's performance is ranked upon completion.

Coliseum
A challenge mode in which the player faces off against a series of Fire Emblem characters.

Characters

 * See main article: List of characters in Fire Emblem Warriors

The game mostly features the casts from Shadow Dragon, Awakening, and Fates, who are primarily important to the game's main storyline.

Chapters
See main article: List of chapters in Fire Emblem Warriors

Voice cast
See main article: List of Voice Actors in Fire Emblem Warriors

Music
See main article: List of Music in Fire Emblem Warriors

Classes
See main article: List of Classes in Fire Emblem Warriors

Weapons
See main article: List of weapons in Fire Emblem Warriors
 * Enliron
 * Facinna
 * Falchion (Archanea version)
 * Falchion (Both Awakening versions)
 * Yato
 * Raijinto
 * Siegfried
 * Shield of Seals
 * Battle Axe
 * Spellbook
 * Levin Sword
 * Camilla's Axe
 * Hinoka's Spear
 * Brynhildr
 * Leo's Iceblade
 * Fujin Yumi
 * Moonlight
 * Spellbane Yumi
 * Mani Katti
 * Sol Katti
 * Ladyblade
 * Dragonstone
 * Heal
 * Freeze
 * Rescue

Downloadable Content
Following the release of Fire Emblem Warriors, three DLC Packs will release under a season pass. They include the Shadow Dragon Pack, the Awakening Pack, and the Fates Pack. They are a series of paid expansions that includes numerous additions. Each pack will contain three new characters from the pack's namesake core game, three additional History Maps, additional weapons and costumes, and new support conversations. Purchasing the Season pass for $19.99 USD ($25.79 CA) rewards the player with a Bride costume for Lucina. Packs can be bought separately for $8.99 US ($11.59 CA) each. Koei Tecmo producer Yosuke Hayashi stated at TGS 2017 that future DLC beyond these packs are a possibility and will depend upon fan feedback.

Outside of the season pass content, western territories also received the Japanese voice audio for the game as a free downloadable extra.

Fates
Estimated release in December 2017. Contains Azura, Niles and Oboro, five new costumes, 13 new Broken-Armor Models and 3 new History Maps.

Shadow Dragon
Estimated release in February 2018. Contains Navarre, Minerva and Linde, four new costumes, six new Weapons, nine new Broken-Armor Models and three new History Maps.

Awakening
Estimated release in March 2018. Contains Owain, Tharja and Olivia, three new costumes, Seven new Weapons, ten new Broken-Armor Models and three new History Maps.

Trivia

 * Koei Tecmo began development of Fire Emblem Warriors without knowledge of Fire Emblem Heroes, which was in development at the same time. When they presented their original concepts for the siblings Rowan and Lianna to Nintendo, they learned that the designs were coincidentally very similar to the sibling protagonists of Heroes, Alfonse and Sharena. As a result, both Rowan and Lianna had their designs adjusted to differentiate them.
 * Similarly, there is a History Mode map in the game based on Fire Emblem Gaiden rather than its remake due to the fact that the development team was not initially aware that Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia was in development. However, Celica was planned for inclusion in the game before the development team learned of the existence of Echoes.
 * Fire Emblem Warriors is the first Fire Emblem or related game, including Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE and TearRing Saga: Berwick Saga, to have neither lance using cavalry or playable Armored Knights.
 * Despite all enemy Cavaliers and Paladins using swords due to reusing Xander's moveset, their map sprites, taken from Awakening, still depict them brandishing Lances.
 * Fire Emblem Warriors is the first Fire Emblem spin-off to have full English voice acting, as Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE only had Japanese voice acting with English subtitles.