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Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance: Review; Score: 8/10
Topic Started: Feb 24 2008, 04:34 PM (531 Views)
Fayt
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Easy wins have never been my style
Full name: Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Genre: Strategy RPG
Developer/Publisher: Intelligent Systems/Nintendo
Platform: GameCube
Players: 1
Release Dates: JP - 4 April 2005 | US - 17 October 2005 | EU - 15 November 2005
Official Sites: Japan | English

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance is the very first Fire Emblem title to be released on a home console, where all 8 installments prior this were on the various GameBoy iterations of the past. It is also the third consecutive title to get a full international release. The move to a console has allowed the Fire Emblem series to launch onto a bigger and better platform for its genius gameplay, which now some with excellent graphics, ability to present excellent musical scores and even some beautiful FMVs attached. The genius Fire Emblem gameplay has added another few strings to its bow!

Proceedings takes place on the continent of Tellius, where you play as a young man by the name of Ike. Ike is the newest member of his fathers group, the Greil Mercenaries. The mercenary group will take on almost any task, providing there is a reward for doing so of course. The company operates within the borders of Crimea, a human, or Beorc nation. Who share its border with Gallia, a nation of Laguz, whom are humans capable of transforming into powerful animals. To most groups around Tellius however the Laguz are looked down upon and are known as “Sub-humans”, whom are often a target of racism and for many years have fought with Beorc for these very reasons.

The Greil mercenaries will also be put against one known as Mad King Ashnard of Daian, and his loyal and extremely powerful ally known as The Black Knight. Daian and the Mad King are also making a move for power and will be one of many obstacles Ike and the Greil Mercenaries will face on their journey. In one of Ike’s early missions you will discover the Crimean princess, Elinicia unconscious in a nearby forest. Before long the Greil Mercenaries agree to be hired to act as protection for Elinicia, but this very mission will thrust them into a large political struggle for power. Settings up countless war like battles perfectly suited to typical Fire Emblem gameplay!

For those unaware Fire Emblem is typically a large scale tactical fighting game that takes place in ‘phases’ where all of your party moves, then all the enemy move, something similar to the older Shining Force titles in fact. During your phase you can command each of your units individually, here you must strategically place and move our units based on their strengths, and weaknesses. Some characters, such as Paladins are suited for close range combat, and are best to take the front lines to stand before any whom attack. Careful and planned movements are the key to your success where you must avoid having your allies be defeated at all costs. Why? Because if one of your allies are defeated in battle they will be gone, forever, no fancy resurrection items in this one; adding to the strategy and difficultly of battles. But worry not, the game is filled with an abundance of tutorials to help teach you along the way, all which can be replayed at your request.

Now clearly moving to a console opens the door for greater graphics and music, but other additions to the Fire Emblem series include the following. While shopping you will have a customise weapon option, here you can refine standard weapons into something simply amazing, of course it comes at a high cost. Not only that, the game will allow you only one weapon creation per chapter, I guess to stop you abusing the option.

Also changed are the removal or Arena’s for cheap Exp, oh and no more free exp like with Sacred Stones either –mind you, is a very good thing, experience is not supposed to grow on trees in Fire Emblem for crying out loud! Experience is precious and if you battle carefully you will be able to distribute it more evenly, those with higher levels tend to attract lesser experience, meaning if you can get the finishing blow with a lower level character you are going to maximize your experience growth. The usages of items to promote at level 20 are also gone, now you will automatically promote to a new level at 21, well in most cases you do anyway.

Other additions include the ability to simply click on your enemies and you can view their movement/attack range without needing to work it out yourself. This allows you to plan your future moves far more carefully and safely. And another thing, support conversations now take place during battle preparations, not on the battle field. This can allow you to save time having conversations in the middle of battle and allowing you more time to read and enjoy the conversations available.

Path of Radiance provides a sound combination of new and old Fire Emblem elements to give yet another excellent gaming experience.

Breakdown

Story: Overall the story is fairly simple and certainly not going to get any RPG story of the year awards for it or anything like that. But having said that it’s still interesting enough, learning about the Mad King, Princess Elincia and the treatment of the Laguz offer enough to chain the various battles of the story quite well. 6.5/10

Gameplay: As always this is by far the strongest point of a Fire Emblem game, and there is no exception in Path of Radiance. Again the large tactical battle fields are on offer as you make your parties move, and the enemy follows with theirs. Careful placement of your own and allied forces is imperative to victory. Protect your characters from their weaknesses and try train everyone equally is yet again one of the many factors to face in battle. Taking your time and planning ahead in a must, thankfully the game has added a few new handy features to make going a little easier, if used well. Simply put Path of Radiance contains excellent tactical style movement in battle, which can be very addictive. 9.5/10

Graphics/Sounds: For Fire Emblem standards this is by far the best of those created before it thanks to the powers of the GameCube. Although admittedly it has fallen short of the GameCubes’ full potential, although if you are a true Fire Emblem fan you will see it’s a massive improvement just making a great game in the series even better. Sound effects in the game are simple but rather nice, it’s not perfect but it’s more then acceptable for that the game is designed for. 7.5/10

Replay Factor: Fire Emblem as always is not a game you replay for the story, but for the challenge and the option to do it all over again using different characters and increasing the difficulty. There is also the possibility of recruiting different characters and finding things you did not do so on a prior playthrough. 8/10

Final Thoughts: All the additions to this new Fire Emblem installment are outstanding, while the GBA games were great, the great really has just got better. If you a Fire Emblem fan you will definitely not be disappointed, and if you are yet to play a Fire Emblem this would be a great place to start for any strategy/RPG fan. The in game tutorials are very user friendly and tell you all the basics you need to know in order to process further into the game. For a pure tactical RPG gaming experience this is a must.

Rating: 8/10
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