Nintendo Wii - Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn Highly recommended

Format
Nintendo Wii
Publisher
Nintendo
Developer
Intelligent Systems
Country of origin
Japan
Genre
Real time strategy

Fire Emblem : Radiant Dawn for the Wii

By David Rasmussen
27th Jan 08

People sure do like to complain about a lack of RPGs on the Wii!
If you can wait until March (or at least sometime in Spring 2008) word has it the first gen of RPGs that don’t have the words “Legend” and “Zelda” in the title are going to be releasing on the Wii (and by that I don’t just mean Final Fantasy : Crystal Chronicles as word has it SquareEnix bumped an extra RPG from their 2007 release schedule off the PS3 (Dragon Quest Sword I think, though I have to check on that again) and ported it to the Wii for a Spring 2008 release… lucky for us, not so lucky for PS3 owners).

But if you must play something now, how about the highly recommended Tactics style gaming of the latest Fire Emblem game!

Yes, Fire Emblem, one of the franchises that makes owning a GBA, a Nintendo DS, and a Nintendo GameCube worth it as all these systems have had the pleasure of hosting the franchise from it’s humble GBA beginnings to now. It is now coming to the Wii… or, to be more precise, it’s been bumped to the Wii if you consider it’s controller options.

Is it me or whenever I see a Wii game with the ability to use either the “retro” Wii controller (for downloadable “channels” of classic NES, SNES & N64 games from the WiiShop) or the GameCube controller (mostly the GameCube controller is a good indication of the game’s possible origins) then I automatically think the game once was slated for the GameCube? Seems to me since this game falls into that category (compatibility with the GameCube controller) then it must have started it’s life in Japan as a GameCube game… unless it was formerly meant for another system.

Think once that former PS3 game comes to the Wii it’ll have GameCube control compatibility (to replace the PS3’s controller)? I wonder.

Anyway in the meantime this game has ZERO Wiimote function. Throughout the game (even if you don’t use the classic Wii controller or GameCube controller) you’ll be flipping the Wiimote on it’s side and using it like an old NES controller… so, really, you might as well use the classic controller (for WiiShop games) for this game since there’s more to grip onto (and no need for the strap since I don’t think you’ll go wild playing this game).

A couple of years ago (and no doubt a GameCube game ago) the country you are now in once was the bad guys. The country they oppressed fought back and soon the evil was vanquished. Usually that is the end of the game and you never ever think of the country you just ransacked in the name of good… until now.

Now, suddenly, you are controlling the heroes/heroines of the country you once fought, and find that (in the aftermath of the battle against evil) the country is now itself oppressed by a neighboring country and it’s up to you to once again fight to free the people that you once fought against in a previous Fire Emblem.

In a Jeanne D’Arc twist (only hopefully without the burning at the stake martyr thing) your “Dawn Brigade” (rebels that start off small but soon build to a giant army… as long as you diligently play and don’t allow a single death to pass in your ranks) is led by a special woman named Micaiah, who has the power to heal the wounded without use of spell or potion (the exact nature of Micaiah is learned as you play). She starts off as a girl with a gift thrust into the battle to save her country, but as the army of the Dawn Brigade (and later the army of the heir of the throne of your kingdom, he whose father once ruled as a former madman dictator) grows so does Micaiah’s rep until she is the Priestess of Dawn, the last best hope for a nation under siege.

By the end of the first part of the story you’re retaking your nation… or are you?
From there you find yourself thrown into a seemingly impossible situation as you must fight battle after battle for… well… I won’t ruin the surprise. You’ll find out yourself as you play the game.

Then you move on to the second chapter, change locations (to neighboring Crimea, the place you fought in a previous Fire Emblem game), with a brand new set of heroes/heroines and a brand new story that ties into the events of the first chapter! Whee! It’s like a fresh game! And I’m sure subsequent chapters will have that fresh spin that will keep me going board after board after board with that addictive quality which makes this game worthy of it’s 5 out of 5 status!

Gameplay is classic Tactics, but with a rich degree of combat awaiting you.
The game has several classes of characters, and while you can’t job-swap like in Final Fantasy Tactics you find that a range of weapons, spells, gear and skills await your useage. Sadly each job type has a specific weapon of useage (and you can’t mix/match weapons for different results, you can’t even get spell books into the hands of anyone other than the specific job type that casts spells) but still there is enough wiggle room to give you some variety in your combat. (And let’s not forget that once you beat the first act you’ll get a brand new set of characters to play with in Act 2!! And note that each level has a meter as to how many times you beat each level, which means there‘s replay value here!)

Combat is quick to learn, mostly because this game has a host of “Tutorials” that teaches you the ins and outs of each and every new skill. You will find yourself ready for anything as the game will walk you step by step through each new skill, ability, and quirk of each new member of your army. Nothing will be left to chance, and nothing will be omitted as all skills (even down to talking to others, opening doors and the special abilities of your shape shifting allies the Laguz) is laid out before you in tutorial form (which you can skip once you went over the tutorial and got the gist of the tutorial in question).

When your not battling you are resting at your base camp.
You don’t have much options at the start sometimes (I just got into base camp in Act 2 and there’s no Store option yet) but once you have all the options down you can do anything from here… when you get one.

You don’t have one right away, it’ll take a few missions before you get it. But once you do you’ll be able to purchase gear, pass about equipment (or store it in your caravan for later use), upgrade your character’s skills (as you find them in battles or buy them), raise experience (after each mission you are alloited a pool of experience you can pass about to your team to upgrade experience levels as you see fit), and see scenes relating to what is coming next in the game (watch these as you not only get vital information but this is where allies join up and you get new gear to play around with from time to time).

Of course since this is Fire Emblem it goes without saying that the Golden Rule of the game still applies. Yes, there are no Phoenix Downs, Churches, Regeneration packs, or whatever it takes to bring a character back from Zero points. Once that happens and the character vanishes from the game? The character is gone for the rest of the game (only a new game will bring said character back). This harsh reality of the game makes strategy that much more important, as you’ll find yourself double checking all your positions and tactics during each conflict, as the slightest error in move will cost you a vital ally.

Thus, for me, it is important to save often (and replay missions where even one character falls). Sure, the game at times is a harsh mistress (certain characters fall or certain requirements are not met and the game ends) but once you master this and can keep your team going from mission to mission without error? Well, you’ll find the fact that you have to work triple hard on your gameplay (and not just treat your team like disposable assets) one of the many rewarding things about playing Fire Emblem.

With a large story mode, customizable tactics to suit any situation (aka the old adage that you should adapt or be forced to replay the level over), and a fun presentation that should keep you playing this one until the first batch of non Tactics inspired RPGs hit the shelves? Isn’t that enough of a reason to make Fire Emblem a game to own? No? Here’s a good reason then! Fire Emblem : Radiant Dawn gets 4 -- no, wait, 5! 5 Charges of the Dawn Brigade out of 5. Now fight on, oh Wii players! Fight on!

-- David Rasmussen 27th Jan 08

Nintendo Wii Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn Images