Right. Let's do this.
Before we begin, a little note.
Normal text is game text like dialog and the like.
Italic text is the Tactician's thoughts/words. Also, dialog that I added.
Bold text is me, DC, talking about game mechanics
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Oh, really? This isn't going to end well.
"They shared a peace forged in wisdom, a peace that lasted many generations..."
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"...this balance with a sudden onslaught."
Hoo, boy.
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"Man fought Dragon in savage war that shook the foundations of their world."
"This War was called the Scouring."
"Defeated and humbled, dragons vanished from the realm."
"In time, man rebuilt and spread....."
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"...and onto the islands beyond."
Man WON?! That's different.
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And Title screen!
So. Fire Emblem: The Blazing Sword (GBA 2003), is the seventh game in the Fire Emblem series and the first one released in the west, where the subtitle was dropped.
It's notably easier than the Japanese games before it, because Americans are morons.
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So! Onward!
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So, as voted our character shall be a slightly ditzy, crazy awesome girl. (Hachi voted girl via PM).
Also, hell no I'm using the male default name. So, female counterpart name it is!
Lucina's Tactical Journal: Entry One: March 4, 979 AS
I have to write my "tactical experiences" in this journal. I think it's a waste of time since I'll probably just ramble on or just forget to write stuff altogether, but hey, I need this to graduate.
Hi. My name is Lucina, age 17, a native of Bern. I've always wanted to be a tactician, ever since I was little. While other little girls were playing dolls and pining for princes, I was kicking my dad's butt in chess. And when I did play with dolls I'd pretend they were my troops, being led into battle. My mom didn't appreciate that. Probably because I kept throwing the dolls at her face. (She was the "enemy".)
So, it was no surprise that my parents let me attend the Royal Military Academy as a tactician-in-training. Truth be told, I think Mom was glad to be rid of me. Figures.
So. After you've finished laughing at my life story, let's move on.
Yes, I did in fact model Lucina slightly after Spazz. Let's face it, she defines Crazy Awesome.
So. This Tactical journal is part of my final test. I have to get some firsthand experience, so tomorrow it's off to the big wide world! And I have to record stuff in here. I can't wait~! I may not like writing but I'm excited about Walking the Earth, honing my skills. This is going to be awesome!
Entry Two: March 6, 979 AS.
This is so NOT awesome.
Things started out well enough. I left the Academy early in the morning, and arrived at Sacae by noon.
The plains of Sacae are HUGE. I mean, HUGE! I think I can understand why those nomadic tribes traveled so much! I'd want to see everything too. Wait. I'm rambling. Sorry.
Anyway, as I was looking for a town to rest for the day, some very nice people offered to give me a guided tour. Those idiots were so obviously bandits that it hurt.
I mean what kind of tour guides carried axes?! So, I hit one in the face with my pack and ran like hell.
And I ran, and ran, and ran.....and then I passed out from exhaustion. Yeesh.
And that's when I met....
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Obvious question is obvious. Well, I am NOW.
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I felt like hell. I really did. But I manged to say "Unm?". I impress myself with my oratory skills.
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"Unm?!"
Lyn: "Look, can you say something other than Umn?"
Lyn: Who are you? Can you remember your name?
I opened my mouth. Coughed. Then spoke. "Unm...It's Lucina."
Lyn: Your name is Lucina? What an odd sounding name....
"Hey, it's Bernese. I'm from Bern!"
Lyn: But pay me no mind! It's a good name.
"Unm."
Lyn: I see by your attire that you are a traveler. What brings you to the Sacae plains? Would you share your story with me?
"Unm...."
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"What noise?"
Lyn: I'll go see what's happening. Lucina, wait here for me.
"Unm....Okay."
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First look at the battle map!
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Welp. That's not good. I wonder if it's those same bandits?
Lyn: They must be planning on raiding the local villages! I....I have to stop them!
"By yourself?!"
Lyn: If that's all of them, I think I can handle them on my own.
Lyn: You'll be safe in here, Lucina.
"The girl did save my life. So there was only one thing to do. "I'm going with you!"
Lyn: What? You want to help? Well, can you use a weapon?
I most certainly can NOT use a weapon. "Unm...I'm a,er, tactician. I..can help with my brain!"
In hindsight, that was a very stupid thing to say. I mean, there's only one of her! Why would she need a tactician?"
Lyn: Ah, I see. So you're a strategist by trade? An odd profession...but...
Lyn: Very well, we'll go together!
Well. That worked.
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Notice Lucina's sprite in the corner?
Lyn: If you want to help, Lucina, I could use your advice.
I gulped. Okaaay. First real battle. We could get killed. No pressure. I nodded at Lyn.
Lyn: I'll protect you, so stay close to me.
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Game tutorial time!
Game: Lucina, you are green.
Game: Essentially, battle consists of blue (allied) and red (enemy) units taking turns moving on the field.
So, yeah. Fire Emblem is a Strategy RPG. Unlike most SRPGS, where speed/agility decides who moves first, FE's gameplay is handily divided into "Player Phase" and "Enemy Phase".
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Our first Player Phase! Let's discuss the stuff onscreen! That's the cursor on Lyn. You select your units by placing the cursor on them and pressing "A"!
On the upper left is Lyn's mini-portrait, complete with HP bar. Also upper left are the two enemy units! (The Boss is being covered by Lyn's Mini-portrait). On the upper right is the chapter objective. As you can see, it's "seize gate". We'll get to that later. On the lower left is the terrain bonus! We'll get to that later as well.
Now, for the lifeblood of any RPG! STATS!! Put the cursor above a unit, press "R" and voila! Status screen!
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Like so! Let's look at page one!
Over there, that's Lyn's portrait, class, level and EXP.
As we can see, she's of the Lord class, is Level 1 and has no EXP.
.....Alright, before we go further, let's talk about one of the things that FE is infamous for. Final Death. Which means, if one of your units reach zero HP, they're gone FOR GOOD. No resurrections, no phoenix downs, THEY ARE DEAD AND GONE.
In this game, people die when they are killed.
Which is why most FE players would rather restart a whole chapter rather than go on with even a SINGLE casualty. We're OCD that way.
If a Lord, like Lyn, dies, it's Game Over right there and then. Remember that.
Okay. Now the stats.
Strength (STR) determines how much damage you do. It's replaced by Magic (MAG) if the character is a magic user.
Skill determines your accuracy. The higher the Skill the easier to hit with.
Speed (SPD) determines both your dodge rate, and your attack speed. We'll talk about attack speed later.
Luck affects many minor things, but the most useful is that it determines your Critical Avoid. The more Luck you have, the less likely you'll eat a critical hit. And the more likely you'll Cri yourself.
Defense (Def) lowers the physical damage taken. As we can see, Lyn has crap defense. Yeesh.
Resistance (Res) lowers damage taken from magical attacks. And yes, Lyn has 0 Res. YEEEEESH.
Move is how many squares a unit can move per turn.
Constitution (Con) is a unit's body build. Every weapon has a weight. If the weapon's weight is higher than a unit's Con, they eat a speed penalty. Yeah.
Aid will be discussed later, and so will Traveler (TRV)
Lyn has a Wind affinity. We'll also talk about this later. Suffice to say that this functions much like the Zodiac signs in Final Fantasy Tactics. (Lucina has a Light affinity, by the way.)
Condition (Cond) tells if the unit is poisoned, asleep, silenced, berserk etc.
Page two!
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The Inventory!
The Vulnerary will be explained later, so let's look at the sword!
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The sword here is Ranked E. That means anyone with a sword rank of E or higher can wield this sword. We can't see it yet, but Lyns has a D-rank in swords. So, yay.
Might (MT) is the weapon's attack. Damage is calculated thus: Unit's STR/MAG + Weapon's MT - enemy's DEF.
Range (RNG) is self-explanatory. It's the weapon's range. The sword can only be used to attack if the enemy is right next to the unit. Hence the Range' of 1.
Hit is the accuracy of the weapon. Hit percentage is calculated thus: Unit's Skill + Weapon's Hit - enemy's Speed.
Weight (WT). We've already talked about this. Lyn has a CON of 5, and the sword has a WT of 5, so no speed penalty.
Crit is the weapon's bonus to critical hit rate.
On to page three!
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This is the Weapon and Support Ranks page.
Supports will be covered MUCH later, so let's take a look at the Weapon rank.
As we can see, Lyn has a D-rank in swords, which means she can use any swords of E or D rank.
We can also see that she cannot use Lances, Axes, or Bows.
How do you increase your Weapon Rank? Why, just keep using that weapon type!
Okay, that's all for today's tutorial!
Will Lucina and Lyn survive this?! Will Lucina finally stop saying UNM?! Find out next time!
NEXT TIME: The Actual Battle.
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