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Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. There is no GoD.

FrosteeyFrosteey Elaise1521-2945-8940Registered User regular
edited July 2009 in Games and Technology
Wii-November 5, 2007
-For NA

Fire_Emblem_Radiant_Dawn_Box_Art.jpg

A direct sequel to Path of Radiance (sporting the same core gameplay system, similar graphics, and beatiful cinematic scenes), Radiant Dawn takes place three years after the events of PoR.


From Wikipedia, since I don't remember anything about PoR's story-
Three years have passed since the Daein-Crimea war. Both Daein and Crimea are still stabilizing after that war. Daein is ruled by the Begnion occupation forces, after Crimea relinquished rule over their defeated country, and they are oppressed by the imperial soldiers. In the first of the game's four parts, a group of chivalrous thieves, which includes "the silver-haired maiden," Micaiah, fight Begnion's oppression and attempt to liberate Daein and bring back power to the royal family.

MicSothe.jpg

The game opens up the first of its four parts with a focus on Micaiah (a female, light magic using lord), and previously tremendously terrible unit Sothe (a bit too much midriff for my tastes, but anything's an improvement for him, right?).

ike.jpg

You can expect to see basically all of the familiar faces from Dawn's Gamecube predecessor, and have them all fight once again under your command. In fact, there are more returning characters in the game's cast than new members.

In addition to the PoR crew, Radiant Dawn carries on its weapon forging system, the bonus experience system, and expands on the game's skill system, with varying capabilities and capacities for all of your troops, even allowing skills to be passed around instead of outright deleted.

The Laguz return, with their ability to transform into powerful beasts, but are now capable of fighting in their human forms as well. They're really not very good in either capacity, for the most part.

Other new weapons in the game include staves, which allow your healers to counterattack when available, as well as dark magic and knives, which both also gain their own skill categories. The (re)introduction of dark magic allows for the (re)introduction of the secondary magic triangle of Light-Dark-Anima in addition to the Wind-Fire-Lightning triangle.

The support system has seen a small facelift as well, being split into buddy and bond type pairings. Buddies act in principle like those seen in PoR and the GBA games, giving characters small conversations, and stat boosts depending on their elemental alignments. This time there are no predefined limits on who can support with whom, but this comes at a cost. Characters may only have a buddy support with one other character at any given time, and the depth of the conversations is not up to par with previous iterations of the series (except Shadow Dragon's teehee).

Bond supports act like they did in PoR, which...I honestly don't remember anything about. Ike and Mist probably had one... (+5 or +10 bonus to dodge and critical rate, when close to each other)

There's now a third promotion available to Beorc chracters, using a special promotion item. NOTE-Promotion item made optional in US release (the method to obtain them was so dumb anyway. What a terrific change!).

While the core gameplay remains largely unchanged, altitude is said to now take on an important role in the outcome of battle (There are certain points in most maps where ranged units may take advantage of terrain which can be made inaccessible by their presence, basically).

Important!
For standard and lower difficulty levels, quicksaving is allowed during battle. As in an actual save, not just suspended game data which is erased upon continuation. Makes permanent deaths quite a bit less swear-inducing, so this might be an ideal entry point into the series. (Not really, because it's hard enough that you'll swear anyway)

montage.jpg

As far as the interconnectivity of the two games, having played PoR will obviously help with the enjoyment of Radiant Dawn, but is not a requirement. Dawn's story is largely straightforward enough to stand on its own, with Path of Radiance serving as a (heavy) backstory. But the lack of that backstory shouldn't lead to too much confusion.

There's also the possibility to transfer save data from PoR to get bonuses in Radiant Dawn, which provides additional bond supports, support archives, and stat bonuses. From my cursory glance, the stat and support bonuses are nice enough, but nothing game breaking, while the support archive is just a bonus.

NOTE: Having an 'easy' save from PoR causes some problems with the process. (If you have this problem, you can contact Nintendo and get a replacement disc, I believe)

Gameplay Video!

First battle (should just loop into class montage and a cinematic scene)-
http://media.wii.ign.com/media/826/826984/vid_2143873.html

Alternate youtube link-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eitWyG6ca_w


Ah, the preliminary random axe-wielding bandits throwing themselves all over your swords, just how every Fire Emblem should start out.


Official site-

http://www.fire-emblem.com/


Personal impression-

Bringing back the entire cast of PoR isn't something I'm completely infatuated with. I mean, I like returning characters (loved Suikoden 2), and love pairs of interrelated Fire Emblem games, but having the old cast outnumber the new roster for a new game is a bit offputting. PoR had a decently strong cast, but I'm not sure that strong (Who am I kidding...so much hearts for Ilyana).

From what I've seen of the characters, the redesigns are a mixed bag. I love some of them (Ike), but hate some others (a number of the females...).

Aside from that, I'm liking everything. The battles and graphics look improved (the cutting away to the experience bar before enemies die adds a type of cinematic flare that's impressing me way more than it should), and the animations are more pleasing to the eye than it's immediate predecessor, though still trailing behind the series' SNES and GBA iterations. That 'player phase' music is probably the best the series has ever seen, and the music overall is definitely easy to listen to. There's even an all-aerial battle.

I really hope there's an option to turn off the damage and 'miss' overlays for battle, though... [There isn't...boooo]

Frosteey on
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Posts

  • Mace1370Mace1370 Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    I am psyched for this game, but probably won't be able to pick it up till around Christmas. I loved FE for the GBA and it's been a while since I've played a good SRPG.

    Mace1370 on
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    edited November 2007
    A game I would buy the Wii for.

    Sadly, I'll have to wait.

    Path of Radiance ending:
    Am I wrong for hoping that Ike and Elincia* are married?
    (The princess, I think that was her name)

    cj iwakura on
    wVEsyIc.png
  • Clint EastwoodClint Eastwood My baby's in there someplace She crawled right inRegistered User regular
    edited November 2007
    cj iwakura wrote: »
    A game I would buy the Wii for.

    Sadly, I'll have to wait.

    Path of Radiance ending:
    Am I wrong for hoping that Ike and Elincia* are married?
    (The princess, I think that was her name)
    They aren't

    Clint Eastwood on
  • FrosteeyFrosteey Elaise 1521-2945-8940Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Cloudman wrote: »
    cj iwakura wrote: »
    A game I would buy the Wii for.

    Sadly, I'll have to wait.

    Path of Radiance ending:
    Am I wrong for hoping that Ike and Elincia* are married?
    (The princess, I think that was her name)
    They aren't
    Ike+Mist is the only option. I dunno, Ike+Soren maybe? Were there any shades of man love there?
    On a related note, I read a female character joins your army because of its large number of pretty girls.

    And one of the canon pairings for the PoR characters made me let out a smile.

    Frosteey on
  • Clint EastwoodClint Eastwood My baby's in there someplace She crawled right inRegistered User regular
    edited November 2007
    I'm so excited that this game is out on Tuesday. I loved the last one, and the fact that
    Ike is back

    really sold me on it.

    Clint Eastwood on
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Frosteey wrote: »
    Cloudman wrote: »
    cj iwakura wrote: »
    A game I would buy the Wii for.

    Sadly, I'll have to wait.

    Path of Radiance ending:
    Am I wrong for hoping that Ike and Elincia* are married?
    (The princess, I think that was her name)
    They aren't
    Ike+Mist is the only option. I dunno, Ike+Soren maybe? Were there any shades of man love there?
    On a related note, I read a female character joins your army because of its large number of pretty girls.

    And one of the canon pairings for the PoR characters made me let out a smile.

    Which?
    And I'm pretty sure Ike+Elincia felt like canon, judging by that ending, even if it wasn't really possible.

    Maybe a secret relationship. Actually, that'd be interesting.

    It's only rated E+10? And I thought T was the tradition.

    cj iwakura on
    wVEsyIc.png
  • RamiRami Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    I hope Nephenee is in it.

    Rami on
    Steam / Xbox Live: WSDX NNID: W-S-D-X 3DS FC: 2637-9461-8549
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  • Clint EastwoodClint Eastwood My baby's in there someplace She crawled right inRegistered User regular
    edited November 2007
    cj iwakura wrote: »
    Frosteey wrote: »
    Cloudman wrote: »
    cj iwakura wrote: »
    A game I would buy the Wii for.

    Sadly, I'll have to wait.

    Path of Radiance ending:
    Am I wrong for hoping that Ike and Elincia* are married?
    (The princess, I think that was her name)
    They aren't
    Ike+Mist is the only option. I dunno, Ike+Soren maybe? Were there any shades of man love there?
    On a related note, I read a female character joins your army because of its large number of pretty girls.

    And one of the canon pairings for the PoR characters made me let out a smile.

    Which?
    And I'm pretty sure Ike+Elincia felt like canon, judging by that ending, even if it wasn't really possible.

    Maybe a secret relationship. Actually, that'd be interesting.

    It's only rated E+10? And I thought T was the tradition.
    Radiant Dawn spoilers
    If you get Elincia and Geoffrey to an S support level or something like that, they get married. So it's possible that they could be secret lovers, but...eh.

    Clint Eastwood on
  • FrosteeyFrosteey Elaise 1521-2945-8940Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Cloudman wrote: »
    I'm so excited that this game is out on Tuesday. I loved the last one, and the fact that
    Ike is back

    really sold me on it.

    He's actually probably my least favorite lord in the series, aside from Roy. I really should like him, with the cape and headband and all...I think it's just the name.

    The canon pairing I like-
    Astrid+Makalov
    Though the woman's one of the redesigns I'm not a big fan of. She hasn't even changed much, but it's a terrible pose.
    I hope Nephenee is in it.
    Very much so, and she's not one of the characters I think looks worse now, thankfully.

    Frosteey on
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Astrid was my favorite character. :| Why do they have to redesign the ones I like.

    cj iwakura on
    wVEsyIc.png
  • elevatureelevature Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    I want this so bad. Sadly, my copy of PoR is scratched up and keeps freezing at the same spot, so I will never be able to finish it.

    elevature on
  • Glenn565Glenn565 Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Rami wrote: »
    I hope Nephenee is in it.

    She is, and she kicks just as much ass. Seriously, the only reason she wasn't the best character in PoR is because she never got a holy weapon.

    Also, with data from PoR, all returning characters keep their weapon levels unless it is lower than the default in Radiant Dawn. The max weapon level has also been increased to SS.

    Glenn565 on
    3DS code:4511-0654-1976
    NNID: Glenn565
  • FrosteeyFrosteey Elaise 1521-2945-8940Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    cj iwakura wrote: »
    Astrid was my favorite character. :| Why do they have to redesign the ones I like.
    Like I said, she hasn't actually changed, really. It's just the new art style...

    Comparison-
    Comp.jpg
    She's gone from a sort of naive cuteness to chubby cheeked and kind've creepy.


    Nephenee, for those interested-
    Neph.jpg

    Frosteey on
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    edited November 2007
    She doesn't look that bad... just more mature.
    I guess being married does that.

    cj iwakura on
    wVEsyIc.png
  • DarlanDarlan Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    IGN review for those interested. I find myself interested in picking up the Gamecube Fire Emblem, but I feel no urge to get this anytime soon since they're apparently so similar.

    Darlan on
  • JavenJaven Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    As long as Ike is still the main, main character, it will be good. Focusing on other, more stupid characters is fine for a while, but Ike is far too badass to long keep the limelight for one game

    Javen on
  • No Great NameNo Great Name FRAUD DETECTED Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Nice Op. I'll be picking this up asap.

    Oh and Javen, there are 4 story arcs to the game, 3 separate with seperate characters, and then the 4th is all joined together.

    No Great Name on
    PSN: NoGreatName Steam:SirToons Twitch: SirToons
    sirtoons.png
  • FrosteeyFrosteey Elaise 1521-2945-8940Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Darlan wrote: »
    IGN review for those interested. I find myself interested in picking up the Gamecube Fire Emblem, but I feel no urge to get this anytime soon since they're apparently so similar.

    Man, that is a hell of a lot of bad grammar. As far as Wii-ifying the experience, well, I would've been fine with it if they didn't list Mii integration. Do they just put that in every review? "RE4 could've been better with some Mii integration."

    As for the similarity to the previous game, and the basic dialogue presentation, I'd say it's pretty much in the same boat as the Phoenix Wright games-doesn't really need to change the formula any more than it does, added flare in the presentation would be nice, sure, but is an afterthought. That and it's pretty much standard for the genre. Regardless, the games are generally so good that I'm fine just playing new content using the same system.
    Javen wrote: »
    As long as Ike is still the main, main character, it will be good. Focusing on other, more stupid characters is fine for a while, but Ike is far too badass to long keep the limelight for one game

    I prefer Micaiah, actually. She's unique for a lord, and Ike never won me over. Hell, I liked Titania a lot more than Ike. When I like a member of the lord's starting entourage better than the lord, especially the Jeigan, that's never a good sign.

    Frosteey on
  • Tw4winTw4win Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Darlan wrote: »
    IGN review for those interested. I find myself interested in picking up the Gamecube Fire Emblem, but I feel no urge to get this anytime soon since they're apparently so similar.

    I'm in the same boat. I actually have the GC Fire Emblem but I haven't finished it yet. With everything else coming out in November it's going to be at least Dec. before I pick this up, if not later.

    Tw4win on
    steam_sig.png
  • KelorKelor Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    I'm running the last few chapters of my last playthrough of PoR at the moment so I've got a save all ready to go when I get my copy of Radiant Dawn.

    Seriously though....
    Astrid and Makalov? Theres a pairing made for disaster.

    The new art of Ike and Nephenee makes them look fucking badass compared to the old. Ike looks way more like Greil this time round. Does Zihark look as awesome as he should be as well?
    Cloudman wrote:
    If you get Elincia and Geoffrey to an S support level or something like that, they get married. So it's possible that they could be secret lovers, but...eh.
    Geoffrey and Elincia? The ending of Path of Radiance pretty much implied Elincia was into Ike from Gallia onwards, seems odd they'd through that out of the way.

    Kelor on
  • FrosteeyFrosteey Elaise 1521-2945-8940Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Point of moderate interest I glossed over-
    Radiant Dawn introduces a "battle save" option that lets you save your progress at any point during a battle.

    Mid-battle saving for easy and normal difficulty. And it looks like hard mode has to be unlocked first, so it'll be available to everyone the first time through.

    Frosteey on
  • MumblyfishMumblyfish Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Frosteey wrote: »
    And it looks like hard mode has to be unlocked first[...]
    Well, that has killed all interest I had in picking the game up immediately. I suppose some save files with hard mode unlocked will circulate in short order.

    Mumblyfish on
  • Dareth RamDareth Ram regular
    edited November 2007
    IGN bashed the hell out of the game, and then gave it an 8!


    I loved PoR, so I'm really excited for a continuation of Radiant Dawn.

    Also, it uses your PoR Gamecube save to up certain character growths and give them weapon masteries they may not have had before! Makes me happy, as I have a maxed out more then a few characters.

    Dareth Ram on
  • ChenChen Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    ikeqp9.jpg

    HAWT

    Chen on
    V0Gug2h.png
  • FrosteeyFrosteey Elaise 1521-2945-8940Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Mumblyfish wrote: »
    Frosteey wrote: »
    And it looks like hard mode has to be unlocked first[...]
    Well, that has killed all interest I had in picking the game up immediately. I suppose some save files with hard mode unlocked will circulate in short order.

    Actually, scratch that. Looks like regular 'hard' is available from the start, but a Maniac type mode needs to be unlocked (The type that even the Japanese thought was too hard? Not sure...)

    Frosteey on
  • ChenChen Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Well, they omitted Maniac Mode in the US version of PoR, so I wouldn't hold my breath for one. I think normal was easy and hard was normal, I'm not sure.

    Chen on
    V0Gug2h.png
  • MumblyfishMumblyfish Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Frosteey wrote: »
    Actually, scratch that. Looks like regular 'hard' is available from the start, but a Maniac type mode needs to be unlocked (The type that even the Japanese thought was too hard? Not sure...)
    This calls for extra research. That is, I'll be whining until the game is released and someone has unlocked all the content, so that I know whether I'll have access to "Maybe Someone Will Die This Time" Mode out of the box.

    Is the transfer of Path of Radiance savefiles limited to minor bonuses for maxed-out characters and support conversations? Both nice additions, but if that's all I must admit that I'm disappointed. My favourite save file has Sothe and Ike both maxed out, as the only live characters (everybody else died a childishly amusing unarmed death, bar Elincia). It's a shame that Goddess of Dawn won't open with Sothe talking to himself, and come to a thrilling climax when Ike cries about how lonely he is.

    Mumblyfish on
  • GumpyGumpy There is always a greater powerRegistered User regular
    edited November 2007
    I cannot find any news of this in Europe.

    Does anyone know when this is out in Europe? This is what I'm waiting to get a Wii for.

    Gumpy on
  • ElendilElendil Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Chen wrote: »
    ikeqp9.jpg

    HAWT
    Whoa

    Elendil on
  • FrosteeyFrosteey Elaise 1521-2945-8940Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Gumpy wrote: »
    I cannot find any news of this in Europe.

    Does anyone know when this is out in Europe? This is what I'm waiting to get a Wii for.

    No released information for anywhere outside of NA. Hell, even in NA it's pretty damn hush-hush. The lack of info on the difficulties, and the official site has nothing on it.

    Frosteey on
  • ChenChen Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Seriously, is he born from Hector's awesomeseed or what?

    Chen on
    V0Gug2h.png
  • Dareth RamDareth Ram regular
    edited November 2007
    Chen wrote: »
    Well, they omitted Maniac Mode in the US version of PoR, so I wouldn't hold my breath for one. I think normal was easy and hard was normal, I'm not sure.

    Someone will have to find out which mode is which before I play. I'm good for the Japanese level normal mode, but anything more killed my enthusiasm.

    Dareth Ram on
  • ElendilElendil Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Chen wrote: »
    Seriously, is he born from Hector's awesomeseed or what?
    That is some kind of sexy right there.

    Elendil on
  • MiserableMirthMiserableMirth Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    PoR was the first and only FE game I have played. I loved it. I'm going to set this baby on hard and never look back.

    I just hope there are more full cinema movies in this one.

    MiserableMirth on
  • FrosteeyFrosteey Elaise 1521-2945-8940Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    PoR was the first and only FE game I have played. I loved it. I'm going to set this baby on hard and never look back.

    I just hope there are more full cinema movies in this one.
    Signs point to yes.

    Frosteey on
  • VaregaVarega Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Ike will destroy entire armies, skin some laguz, stab some bitches. All before breakfast.

    Bought'd.

    Varega on
    League of Legends:Varega
  • JavenJaven Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    PoR was the first and only FE game I have played. I loved it. I'm going to set this baby on hard and never look back.

    I just hope there are more full cinema movies in this one.

    In the developer interview they said exactly this. They wanted to put more in the gamecube version but storage constaints pretty much barred this from happening. They said they were able to put a lot more cinematic content this time around since they largely kept the engine the same, so they have a lot more elbow room when it comes to cutscenes and such.

    Javen on
  • KelorKelor Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Frosteey wrote: »
    Point of moderate interest I glossed over-
    Radiant Dawn introduces a "battle save" option that lets you save your progress at any point during a battle.

    Mid-battle saving for easy and normal difficulty. And it looks like hard mode has to be unlocked first, so it'll be available to everyone the first time through.

    I'm assuming this is for those who were brought in from the whole blue ocean thing and haven't played Fire Emblem before. Because I can't think of anything more off putting to someone who hasn't played a game like this before than the realization that most of their characters are not actually coming back once dead.

    And yes, Ike looks like he is going to ruin some peoples shit.

    Its interesting that Brawl's Ike is the younger version, rather than use older Ike for it when he looks more suited to that slower more powerful style they made him use in Brawl.

    Kelor on
  • mtsmts Dr. Robot King Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    So anyone want to comment on Kierens effectiveness or suckabilty factor in PoR? He died because of a stupid move i made without checking his HP, and i don't really feel like repeating the level again as it was a long one. But i have the save and can do it.
    i probably will repeat it as i am a sucker for keeping units alive

    mts on
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  • MumblyfishMumblyfish Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    He's a cavalier, which means he's of the best promoted character class in the game (with the exception of Ike's Lord, if you give him the cavalier band). However, there are many more cavaliers available, and they're all pretty much the same. Of all the games in the series, Path of Radiance is the one you really have no reason to restart over deaths for. Ike and the Paladins are so far ahead of everyone else, once you get a few Occult skill scrolls for them any other characters are simply stealing experience. Ike can't die and the game throws six good Paladins at you.

    Mumblyfish on
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