Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade

Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade is a tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. It was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. It was the first Fire Emblem game released outside of Japan and the seventh overall. It's a sequel to Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, released in 2002, though it's chronologically set before the latter.

Plot
The game takes place in the continent of Elibe. Prior to the events of the game, humans and dragons have co-existed peacefully. However, this peace was broken after they began to war with each other, in an epoch known as The Scouring. The dragons were defeated and thus vanished from the world.

The first 11 chapters (12 counting the optional chapter 7x) focus on Lyn, the heir of a throne in Caelin (one of the many independent territories of the Lycian League) as she sets out to prevent her granduncle, Lundgren, from conquering Caelin.

The second and main part of the game is protagonized by Lyn's friend and the future father of Roy from The Binding Blade, Eliwood. A year passes and Eliwood's father, Elbert, disappears. Eliwood embarks on a journey to find him, joining up with his childhood friend Hector, Lyn and many other characters.

Eliwood finds his father, but the latter is tragically killed by a group known as the Black Fang, who want to resurrect the dragons from The Scouring. The protagonists' ambition now is to stop the Black Fang and their plans.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) This was the first Fire Emblem game to be released outside of Japan, thus marking the beginning of a new era in the franchise's history.
 * 2) Unlike most games, when a unit dies, they are lost forever, meaning that the player must plan every single move carefully in order to achieve the best results and adapt to a series of variables like terrain conditions, unit level and strength, weapons, enemy numbers and strength, etcetera.
 * 3) * Every single unit is named and has a portrait and a backstory revealed in Support conversations, which helps the setting feel more immersive and also incentivizes the player to feel for the characters and keep them alive.
 * 4) Unlike many RPGs, where stat growths are fixed or decided by the player, in Fire Emblem, each unit has growth rates for their stats: upon leveling up, each stat has a set chance of increasing, which is expressed through a percentage value. Thanks to this mechanic, the player must know well the potential of each unit and create an army of people whose strengths compensate each other's weaknesses.
 * 5) Weapons also have a limited amount of uses and are expensive or difficult to replace, meaning that item management also plays a pivotal role in the equation. Many items are unique or rare and are best saved for the right occasions, and their cheaper, more common variants also remain valid alternatives throughout the game by virtue of being easier to find and replace.
 * 6) The game also has a class system, where each character is assigned a class with different strengths, weaknesses and weapon proficiencies. All classes can be promoted with specific items, which will reset the character's level to 1, while keeping the stats they had when they promoted and granting them some bonuses, both in stats and general utility (for example, mages, which can use Anima magic, can become Sages by promoting with a Guiding Ring item and gain the ability to use healing staves).
 * 7) The game also has a weakness system called the Weapon Triangle (sword beats axe, axe beats lance, lance beats sword), which increases the attacker's hit rate while decreasing the defender's chance to avoid the attack, meaning that choosing the right weapon for all occasions is necessary. Magic spells also have their own version of the system, the Trinity of Magic (Anima beats light, light beats dark, dark beats Anima), which works the same as the Weapon Triangle.
 * 8) Characters can also attack twice in a row if they have more speed than the enemy. This is not as easy as it seems, because weapons also have a weight, which, if higher than the unit's Constitution stat, will slow them down and reduce their hit rates.
 * 9) The game is filled to the brim with content, between Lyn, Eliwood and Hector's tales, Hard modes for each of them, support conversations and the Link Arena (where you can have your units compete with a friend's).
 * 10) Very good story, which is told in cutscenes reminiscent of a manga or visual novel. The characters, both the heroes and villains, are also very memorable.
 * 11) The game fixes its predecessor's notoriously problematic RNG system (which caused hit rates to be different from what was displayed on the battle screen), so that the values shown on the screen actually reflect the values generated by the RNG. Weapon hit rates were also raised, so as to make the game less biased towards units with high Skill.
 * 12) Also, unlike Fire Emblem 6, you have more freedom in which units to choose, and the units you get as the game goes on can be just as good as the ones you trained from the start. Conversely, several units you get from the start can be weaker than their late-game counterparts, which gives the player the opportunity to experiment with different team compositions.
 * 13) The maps are very well-designed, and have a variety of objectives to complete, both mandatory (defending a space, defeating a boss, surviving for a set number of turns, to even protecting a character) and optional (visiting villages, recruiting characters, opening chests to find items, support conversations, the list goes on).
 * 14) * At some points, you can unlock an alternate version of the same chapter, and several features like the items you can find or characters you can recruit will change depending on which version you get. This helps increase replay value, too.
 * 15) * In some chapters, you can unlock a side-quest, featuring a completely new chapter with its own story and map. Most of them are written into the story and the cutscene for the next story chapter will change accordingly. Some items and characters are also available only in bonus chapters.
 * 16) The music is very good.
 * 17) The game lets you revisit the world of Fire Emblem 6 in the past, and some areas from the latter game are visited. Many characters are also the parents of your units in Fire Emblem 6, just like in Genealogy of the Holy War.
 * 18) At the end of the game, you are given a rank based on how well you performed, which not only alters the ending of the game, but also incentivizes you to replay the game and improve your rank.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Some characters and items are exclusive to or very hard to find outside of Hector's Tale (such as the only Runesword in the game, which can only be found in the last bonus chapter of Hector's Tale).
 * 2) The game is pretty easy when you get the hang of it, since enemies are very weak compared to other entries in the series, and most of the challenge comes from the bosses, map layouts and objectives.
 * 3) The requirements for some bonus chapters are really difficult to figure out. The biggest offender is Chapter 19xx: A Glimpse in Time, which can only be unlocked by leveling Nils up to Level 7 in Lyn's Tale (itself a very difficult and time-consuming task, since Nils can't fight) and defeating bonus boss Kishuna in Chapter 19x: Imprisoner of Magic (another difficult task, owing to Kishuna's extremely high stats, which allow him to tank or outright avoid most hits, and due to the fact that he leaves if you don't kill him in a single turn). It's worsened by the chapter also revealing a major element of Nergal (the main villain)'s backstory, which otherwise remains completely obscure for the rest of the game.
 * 4) The Fog levels are very notorious for being unfair. What apparently is intended is that the map view is obscured so that characters cannot view the enemies or venture carelessly in which they forcefully stop if they bump into each other. However, the enemy for some reason can see through this fog and attack even if they shouldn't have that unit in their sights, which can mean that stronger enemies or ones with high mobility can surprise attack your characters for no fair reason and attack without consequence, and that tactics such as hiding important units won't work. This feature unfortunately has not remained fixed to the sequels and prequels from this game.

Game Tips

 * 1) Using the Devil Axe as Hector is extremely risky, as its users can be damaged by a backfire.
 * 2) For a reliable database site of the game (and the franchise as a whole), visit Fire Emblem Wiki and Serenes Forest.
 * 3) You can find the Delphi Shield in a chest in Chapter 26: Battle Before Dawn, which can be useful, as it makes fliers immune to extra damage from bows and spells.
 * 4) As stated in Bad Qualities #2, Canas is the only recruitable dark magic user, and can be only obtained in Chapter 16x (the second bonus chapter in Eliwood's tale and the third overall), which requires you to keep one of the Caelin soldiers in Chapter 16 alive until its conclusion. To do so, you can simply dispose of the Dark Mages in the room next to the room the soldiers are held in, then use the Rescue function on one of the soldiers to carry him to the boss room safely. After defeating the boss, drop him nearby and have Eliwood seize the throne to proceed to the following chapter.
 * 5) When the fortune teller in the Preparations menu tells you to bring a certain character (it's easy to figure out who by the description) it's wise to do so, as that specific character is required to recruit another character. If the fortune teller doesn't give any indications about who is needed for recruitment, then you need to use the main lords.
 * 6) In case you don't have enough promotion items, there is a secret shop in Chapter 30: Victory or Death that sells them (albeit for a high price). You can access it with the Member Card, which can be stolen in Chapter 19: The Dragon's Gate from an enemy Thief.
 * 7) Here are the requirements to unlock the side chapters:
 * 8) *7x: Clear Chapter 7 in 15 turns or less;
 * 9) *13x: Visit the village on the northwest corner of the map and speak with Merlinus;
 * 10) *16x: Keep at least one of the Caelin soldiers alive until the end of the chapter;
 * 11) *18x (19x in Hector Mode): Complete chapter 18 in 15 turns or less;
 * 12) *19xx (Hector Mode only): Level Nils up to level 7 in Lyn Mode and defeat Kishuna in chapter 19x;
 * 13) *22x: Obtain 700 EXP or more during Chapter 22;
 * 14) *26x (29x in Hector Mode): Have Nino speak with Jaffar in Chapter 26 and keep them alive until the end of the chapter;
 * 15) *29x: Unlocked automatically upon completion of Chapter 29;
 * 16) *32x (Hector Mode only): Clear chapter 32 within 20 turns
 * 17) Some chapters change if you fulfill certain requirements:
 * 18) *Chapter 23 (24 in Hector Mode): Four-Fanged offense changes layout, boss and recruitable character depending on whether Lyn, Eliwood and Hector's combined level is higher than, or at most 50. If their combined level is lower than 50, then they will fight Lloyd and Wallace will be a recruitable character, and the chapter will have Fog Of War. On the other hand, if their level is at least 50, they will fight Lloyd's brother Linus and will be able to recruit Geitz.
 * 19) *Chapter 25: Pale Flower of Darkness changes based on whether your physical fighters' (Dorcas, Bartre, Raven, and Guy, excluding Lords and mounted units) levels is equal or higher than your non-mounted magic users (Lucius, Serra, Erk and Canas). In the first case, Karel will be a recruitable character and the player will fight Kenneth. On the other hand, if your mages' level is higher, Harken becomes recruitable and you will fight Jerme.
 * 20) Bring Canas, Legault, and/or Matthew to Chapter 22: Living Legend, since there are several good items hidden in the desert that only they can find, including a Hero Crest (required to promote Raven, Dorcas, Guy, and Bartre) and the only Ocean Seal in the game (required to promote Dart, as Pirates can't promote with an Earth Seal, only with an Ocean Seal) excluding secret shops.
 * 21) *If you want to unlock the bonus chapter, it's strongly advised to rescue Pent and carry him away from the enemies to avoid him getting too many kills and leaving you without the experience required to access the bonus chapter. In the meantime, have your main Lord go to the south of the map to speak with Hawkeye and recruit him as soon as he becomes available. Doing so can also give you enough time to find the hidden items.
 * 22) *The two bosses, Paul and Jasmine, can be easily defeated with strong and promoted sword users like Guy and Raven after luring them far enough for their chapter to not trigger their A Support. Take into account that Paul has a Guiding Ring that you can steal with Matthew or Legault, though.