Fire Emblem Immortal Sword, is a Fan Prequel of Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, taking place roughly 15-20 years prior. Unlike its contemporaries like Elibian Nights and Midnight Sun, it is not a ROM hack, despite using a lot of textures and styles from the GBA games - rather, it is a standalone executable built using the FEXNA framework. This approach has allowed it to implement features new features and features only seen in non-GBA games, such as a chapter select option, base camp and Skills.
The story follows three Lords:
- Uther, Baron of Redgrove, Heir to Ostia - the older brother of Hector, who is forced to wage a guerilla war to stop a rogue Etrurian military company from invading Lycia.
- Dara d'Tristan - the son of a chieftain from the Western Isles, who is journeying east to deliver a dire prophecy and runs afoul of a Etrurian conspiracy to subjugate the Isles and their resources.
- Eliza of Beggar's Valley - an Ilian mercenary commander and Consummate Professional, struggling to balance the reputation and resources of her company with the moral reality of their dealings.
The game is currently in development by project leads Bwdyeti and Michael "Myke" Cameron. It can be found here.
Immortal Sword contains examples of:
- Alcohol-Induced Idiocy:
- There is a new status effect built around this: Drunk, which halves Skill and Speed. It cannot (yet) be inflicted, but since Act 1-1 is basically a large-scale bar brawl against some rowdy Bernite soldiers, every enemy is Drunk.
- This gets turned on the player in Act 3-2, where a group of assassins ambushes a village at night, seeking Uther. Unfortunately Uther and his new friend Fargus have been drinking all night...
- Ascended Extra:
- Characters with only minor roles in the official games are greatly expanded upon here. Perhaps the biggest examples are the resident Jeigans. Eagler, Trapped in Villainy in Lyn's tale and fondly remembered by Sain and Kent, is one of Uther's main allies here. The role in Eliza's role is taken by Brendan Reed, who would go on to found the Black Fang and be The Unfought in Blazing Blade.
- Similarly, Isadora and Harken play a much larger role here, being 2 of only 3 units to be with Uther from the start.
- Badass Adorable: Harken and especially Isadora - in-story too, based on several characters' reactions to her. For their badass credentials, despite being barely teenagers, their bases/growths are impressive for Trainees. Harken can easily cap Strength and his HP will be godly, whereas Isadora will generally have incredible Speed and good Resistance for a melee unit.
- Country Matters: Although the dialogue stays true to the original for the most part, the more... lower-class characters can have quite the colourful vocabulary. Cybil and Melanie are the biggest examples. The lead writer Myke is Australian -
Word of God admits to it being Truth in Television. - Darker and Edgier: The language is stronger, there is visible blood (we see exactly how Uther got that scar across his face), Eliza and Uther end up doing some decidedly un-heroic things...
- Deliberate Values Dissonance:
- Although it doesn't come up in the main plot, Leonard and Augustus are a secret couple. Augustus laments in their Supports about how he needs to keep his true nature a secret if he wants any sort of military career.
- Abelia is the daughter of a noble house, but was forcibly sent to a convent upon discovering she was infertile. According to her childhood friend Chester, the experience... changed her. In fact, she forgot that they were ever friends.
- Dueling Player Characters: Similarly to Radiant Dawn, Tristan's and Eliza's groups will clash at least once. Since the player controls Eliza's group and they are essentially hunting political refugees, coupled with the fact that even her allies (except Melanie) are deeply unsettled by this, the events behind this will trigger Eliza's Heel Realization.
- Femme Fatale: Eiry, although her enthusiasm in battle dilutes this a bit. Her interactions with Uther, including their entire Support line, mostly involve a cat-and-mouse game of seduction. Most blatantly, her base conversation with Madelyn about her work sounds less spy and more dominatrix.
- Fragile Speedster: Thieves are still squarely a Utility Party Member - high Speed and Skill, poor Strength and bulk. This game lets them attack at 1-2 range with throwing knives, though, which makes their squishiness a bit less damning.
- Foregone Conclusion: A lot of characters will survive this game only to meet unfortunate fates in the later games. Eagler, Brendan, Uther, Elbert and more will die, Harken will become an extreme Broken Ace Death Seeker...
- Healer Signs On Early: Played straight with both Uther's and Eliza's (where the player can get a healer in their second chapter) teams, but brutally Inverted with Tristan's - while you do get a staff user, you never get healing staves aside from a single Renewal staff (though you do get a variety of utility staves at least).
- Hold the Line:
- A traditional example occurs in Act 3-1, where Uther's group needs to hold back the rogue Etrurians on the Lycian border. True to form, the player can either hold out for the turn limit or take out their commander to finish the chapter quickly.
- A more unusual example appears in Act 4-1. Here Tristan's group needs to protect their teacher's hut in the desert. However, the area to protect takes up almost half of the map. Rather than keeping enemies out at all costs, the player needs to get them out and KEEP them out for a few turns.
- I Was Quite a Looker: Turns out Niime wasn't lying - she catches (a drunken) Uther's eye.
- Incoming Ham: Wallace, true to form. His pre-battle speech in Blazing Sword is practically restrained compared to here.Wallace: "Do you hear that thunder booming? Is it a storm? Is it a quake? Nay, I fear it is something far more dreadful coming down, something that even the gods shake in fear of. It is I! Sir Wallace the Iron Bull! The greatest knight in all these lands, and so too those heathen lands across the seas! See his stature! Like a mountain made flesh! See his burning glare! Like the searing light of a judgemental god! Hear his mighty bellow, and cower! SIR WALLACE! THE UNDEFEATED! THE FIST THAT BREAKS THE WORLD!!!!"
- Nerf:
- Cavaliers are now split into the sword-locked Gendarme and the lance-locked Vanguard. They both still promote to Paladin, which can use both.
- Inverted with Sages. Initially they can only use Anima magic and not staves - until they reach level 5, at which point they gain the Academic skill, which lets them use ALL magic... at E rank.
- No Indoor Voice: Wallace, who is so loud that he apparently deafened poor Chester when they traveled north to collect Madelyn.
- Running Gag: Once again, the player needs to travel through Laus and the ruler decides to be difficult about it, prompting a battle. Darin treats the event as a life-and-death struggle for autonomy and honour. Uther's group... doesn't.
- Squishy Wizard: Reno and Madelyn mix this with Fragile Speedster. Roeis is a variation, with passable bulk but incredibly low Speed - he is almost guaranteed to be doubled.
- Stone Wall:
- For physical/armoured classes, the Lieutenant (formerly Knight), Phalanx, and Zweihander classes tend towards this. There are also 3 magic-using classes designed around bulk: Diviner, Sorcerer (Shaman in the official games) and Shaman.
- Magnus is probably the crowning mage for this. His HP, Defense and Resistance will almost inevitability surpass his Magic and Speed - with a little luck, he can defend well against almost anything.
- The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Compared to the official games, averted! Enemies are just as affected by Fog of War as the player - they will sometimes even try to move through unseen units, with the same result. They tend to generously use their Torches and Flare staves though, so this might not be as obvious.
- The One Guy: Brendan (and optionally William) are the only characters stopping Eliza's group from being a full Amazon Brigade.
- Video Game Stealing: As part of an overall buff to Thieves, they can now filch any enemy's unequipped weapon - assuming they are fast enough and the weapon is not too heavy. Useful when removing that pesky Horseslayer from enemy hands, downright cheeky when taking a boss's long-range weapon, or bow-locking a Warrior by stealing his axe.
- Warrior Poet:
- Chester. He indulges shamelessly in Purple Prose and certainly appreciates beauty. He makes a decent replacement Gendarme if Isadora turned out badly.
- Deacon as well, sort of. He earned a knighthood through his art and, though he doesn't fight directly, he serves as the resident Bard/Dancer.
