Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi (for GBA)

[FelixNgamer]

Name:  Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi
Platform:  Game Boy Advance
Publisher:  Nintendo
Developer:  Intelligent Systems
Genre:  Tactical RPG
Mode(s):  1-player (up to four via link)
Release Date(s):  JP March 29, 2002



Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi is the sixth installment of the Fire Emblem tactical RPG series, the first to be placed on the GBA, and the last FE game to be released only in Japan.  It is also the sequel to the next game in the series, Fire Emlem:  Rekka no Ken or "Fire Emblem."



Story:  The King of Bern, Zephiel, has invaded the nations Ilia and Sacae in the continent of Elibe and shows signs of invading the neighbor of Bern, the League of Lycia.  The main protagonist of this game, a youth named Roy, was studying in Ostia when he was suddenly called to Pharae by Eliwood, his father and the Marquess of Pharae, to lead the Lycia Alliance Army as Eliwood had fallen ill.  Throughout the game as Roy gains many allies, he comes closer to discovering Zephiel's plan of handing over the continent over to the dragons whom had been defeated in a war between humans and dragons 1000 years ago called the Scouring.  Further in the game, Roy wields a legendary sword that Hartmut, one of the eight generals who fought in the Scouring, used to slay dragons--the Sword of Seals.  In an effort to stop Zephiels plans, Roy uses his divine weapon in an effort to stop Zephiel' in his tracks.

For this wondrous story, I give this section a perfect 10.  It's a story I'll never forget.


Gameplay:  Like many other Fire Emblem games, this one tests your sense of judgment very much as a character is no longer playable if they die.  Of course, if your lord dies, that would be Roy, you have to start the chapter over.  Compared to other Fire Emblem titles, Fūin no Tsurugi features three different story endings.  This first ending, which people call the worst, ends the game at Chapter 22 where the other two end the game on the Final Chapter which would literally be Chapter 25.  If you get all of the Divine Weapons in the game through gaiden chapters, you will be able to play the game to the end.  The number of gaiden chapters and chapters where you can go on different routes makes this game big and complete.  I certainly thought that it was.



Let's just say that there are many playable characters in this game.  Compared to other Fire Emblem games, this one has over 50 playable characters.  This certainly gives you a variety to choose from when it comes to who you want to use.  In addition, you can even unlock characters to play as in the extra features of the game.  These extra features would be the Link Arena (A place where you can build teams to battle your friends' teams by linking GBA systems) and a Trial Map which is similar to the trial map in Fire Emblem:  Path of Radiance.  In the Trial Map, you select a team from a saved game data and try to complete the mission requirements for the Map.  Afterwards, you get a ranking judged on how well you did which really doesn't matter at all though but you can brag about it if you want.  You can also unlock more characters and new maps for the Trial Maps by beating the game with or without required conditions.

The Sword of Seals is the best weapon in the game.  It has high might, low weight, high hit rate, decent critical rate, and can attack with a 1-2 range, and also heal Roy for 30 HP.  In addition, it gives +5 to defense and resistance which really is good since Roy's growth rates for defense and resistance aren't the greatest.  Unfortunately though it only has 20 durability which is really frightening to look at.  However, you can counter this by using your Hammerne to repair it up to three times.

One drawback to the game is that Roy's promotion, unlike other lords from other Fire Emblem games, comes really late in the game.  That would be after Chapter 21 or Chapter 21x to be exact.  However, if you train Roy a lot after he is promoted and you are able to play the last chapters, you should be able to get him up to level 20/20.

This game truly is a hardcore Fire Emblem game.  And so I give the gameplay of Fūin no Tsurugi a 9.5.  Incredible.   


Sound and Music:  The music compositions in this game are spectacular for a GBA system.  Two songs are brought back from Fire Emblem:  Seisen no Keifu to this game which are the ally recruitment theme and the ally battle theme which is played when a player enters a battle in an arena.  I personally like the character theme songs in the game such as Zephiel's theme and Narshen's theme as well as some of the boss battle songs.  Not to mention that the sounds, themselves are good in the game such as the explosion of fire caused by the Sword of Seals.  For this excellent music, I give it a 10.  Truly worthy of praise.

Graphics:  The art.  Oh yes, the art.  The pixels.  Such a game like this constructed a new style for Fire Emblem games.  The overworld sprites are decent.  Just what you'd expect from overworld sprites.  The battle graphics are very well done.  Especially the animations with Roy with his Sword of Seals.  And that may sound biased, but I like the look of those animations as they are one of the best I've seen on the Fire Emblem GBA games.  In addition, the recolors of the game are very well done.  They're about as good as the recolors I've done in the past.  You can ask me about that later.  There are really no flaws with the pixels of the game.



I did however notice there are not fullscreen images of the concept art for the game viewable in the Sound Room.  It's not that big of a deal though since Fire Emblem:  The Sacred Stones didn't have them at all.

For this section, I give a very good score of 9.5.

Overall, this is one of the best Fire Emblem games ever made, one of the best GBA games ever made, and in my opinion, one of the best games ever made.  This game gets a legendary final score of 9.75 from me.  Truly amazing.

9.75/10

[Steal]

So did you emulate it and apply the translation patch too?

Also, I feel as if you were too forgiving, the game's not that great. And the music mostly sucked compared to all the other games in the series (I've played 4 through 10).

[Magnum]

Link? Do you have a Link so I may play?