The Fire Emblem series is going back to its home console roots, and we couldn't be happier for it. The GameCube Fire Emblem game was on display, and not surprisingly at all, it was very much a product of its legacy. It looks great, and it has a host of cool little refinements and conveniences built into it, but if you've played the last two Fire Emblem games for GBA, then you'll be treading quite familiar ground.
Kind of like the Final Fantasy series, all of the Fire Emblem games -- from the old school Japan-only Super Famicom games, to the more recent GBA installments -- have been set in completely different settings. There's never been any real carry-over in terms of story or characters, and this GameCube version is no different. Much of the drama will revolve around a series of seven nations, three of which are inhabited by humans, and four by half-human, half-beast hybrids. A variety of different races comprise these beastmen: some resemble birds, others are more feline in appearance, and still seem to have some dragon in them. Much tension exists between the individual kingdoms, though don't expect something as cut-and-dried as an all-out conflict. If we've learned anything from previous Fire Emblem games, it's that political intrigue is the order of the day.
From a gameplay standpoint, things were pretty much recognizable off the bat. Rather than change the mechanics substantially, a lot of little refinements to the established formula have been worked in. For instance, whereas before you had to individually select an enemy unit to see how far it can travel on its turn, you can now toggle a setting that reveals the range of any enemy you highlight. This helps you keep fragile or wounded units out of the range of enemy attackers, which is key in the high-stakes battles of Fire Emblem -- if a unit dies, it's gone for good. Individual units will also evolve more over time, in regards to their skills and capabilities. When a Cavalier character levels high enough to become a Paladin, for instance, it may gain the ability to use a new type of weapon.
The game will also assign different characters biorhythm statistics, which dictates how their energies will flow in battle. More even-keeled characters will perform pretty consistently in combat, for instancewhile more temperamental ones will enjoy quick bursts of power when they're "up," but suffer noticeable penalties when they're "down." Finally, a new "shove" option allows you to push friendly units over a square on the battlefield. While the uses for this might not be immediately evident, myriad applications for this exist in battle. You could push a wounded units out of harm's way, for example, or shove a unit whose exhausted its move on a particular round just within range to reach an enemy on its next turn. The Nintendo reps present also hinted that it will be possible for certain characters to increase the distance that they can shove units.
So yeah, there was nothing too radical revealed, honestly speaking, but as far as we're concerned, a new Fire Emblem game is never a bad thing. We'll have more for you as soon as we get another go at it.
