In ages past, the Fell Dragon sought to bring ruin upon the world.
Wielding the Falchion sword, gifted to him by the Divine Dragon, man
vanquished and sealed away the Fell Dragon. In the present era, the
kingdoms of Ylisse and Plegia, who worship the Divine Dragon and
Fell Dragon respectively, have a strained relationship, which could
shatter at any moment. Fearing his nation's safety, Chrom, the
prince of Ylisse, leads the Shepherds to keep his nation at peace.
Soon, Chrom crosses paths with a mysterious stranger--a fated
meeting that is only the beginning of a spiral of events that will
lead to the Fell Dragon's awakening.
About the game
After two remakes in a row, a brand new Fire Emblem makes its appearance on the Nintendo
3DS. Described by its developers to be a "greatest hits" of past Fire Emblem ideas, Awakening borrows many popular
gameplay elements from previous titles, such as special Skills, a
traversable world map and marriage. Also, despite being a handheld
title, the game's production values are through the roof, with
wonderfully crafted 3D graphics and CGI videos, as well as tons of
game content, including downloadable content.
In typical Fire Emblem
fashion, Awakening starts
a new story, this time spanning two continents--Ylisse and Valm.
Eagle-eyed fans may notice elements and returning characters from
previous titles, such as Marth and Tiki. In fact, Awakening takes place in the
same world as Shadow Dragon,
Gaiden and Mystery of the Emblem, but
thousands of years later. Following the passage of time, much has
changed and the connections to previous titles are vague at best, so
don't fret if you haven't played any of the aforementioned titles!
Customisable Avatar
Returning from Heroes of Light and Shadow,
players can create their own character--an Avatar--who
serves as one of the game's main characters alongside Chrom.
Players can customise their Avatar's gender, physical appearance and
profile. The choices made by the player will be reflected in the
Avatar's 2D portrait, map sprite and 3D battle model. Unlike
previously, players can't choose their Avatar's class at the very
start; Avatars always begin life as a "Tactician", a class that is
capable of using both swords and magic tomes. However, by using a Second Seal item, they are able
to switch to nearly any regular class.
Players can travel to specific locations on the world map, where
they can enter story or optional battles or purchase supplies at
their leisure. During any time on the map, players can manage their
characters, adjusting their inventories and Skills, as well as
managing support relationships. From time to time, enemy squads and
friendly merchants will pop up on the world map and you may even
encounter mysterious guests from other worlds too...
"Dual"
System
A new battle mechanic that allows characters to borrow help from
a friendly unit.
When a character enters battle with a friendly unit next to them,
the friendly unit will appear besides them as a "Support unit". As
well as boosting the Lead unit's combat stats, the Support unit
offers a chance of providing offensive and defensive aid--all
elements of the Dual system.
After the Lead unit strikes the enemy, a "Dual Strike" may occur,
where the Support unit launches a follow-up attack on the
unsuspecting enemy. When the Lead unit is attacked by the enemy, a
"Dual Guard" may trigger, where the Support unit completely
shields them from damage. The stronger the bond between
characters, the higher the chance of a Dual Strike or Dual Guard
activating.
"Pair
Up" System
This new battle mechanics allows two characters to combine together
and act as one stronger unit.
It works in a similar manner to the Rescue feature in previous
games; when two characters Pair Up, only
one character will face the enemy, with the other remaining in
standby. You can Pair Up to swiftly transport low movement units
across the map or pull out characters from dangerous situations.
Unlike the traditional Rescue command, the Pair Up command is
triggered by the character wishing to standby and not the character
who will be fighting.
Pair Up has additional benefits, as the Lead unit will gain stat
bonuses when paired; the bonus depends on the type of unit they're
paired with (e.g. pairing with a Mage mainly raises Magic) and the
support level between the characters. The standby character in the
pair will also act as a Support unit, allowing them to dish out Dual
Strikes or Dual Guards. Furthermore, the Lead and Support units can
switch roles on command.
Bonds & Marriage
The return of the support system from previous games.
Certain pairs of characters (such as your Avatar and Chrom, shown
above) can develop "bonds" by fighting
together. Once a bond has reached a suitable strength, a detailed
support conversation can be viewed outside of battle, cementing the
characters' bond. The strength of the bond is physically categorised
as a support level of C (lowest), B, A or S (highest). The higher
the support level, the greater the effectiveness of Dual and Pair Up
and the higher the chance of performing a Dual Strike or Dual Guard.
Two characters of different genders have the ability to form the
strongest bond possible--marriage--by obtaining an "S" level
support. The player's Avatar has the privilege of being able to
marry any playable character, while the rest of the cast get an
impressive wide range of choice. The results of marriage involve love
confessions (in the case of your Avatar) and children (for any couple). Children
characters will join up as the story progresses and they can fight
on your team.
Changing
Classes
There are two methods of changing a character's class.
Master
Seal
When a character is Level 10 or over in their non-promoted class,
they may use a Master Seal item to promote to one of two promoted
classes, like in The Sacred Stones. Cavaliers
can promote to the mobile and magic-resistant Paladin or the
axe-wielding and sturdy Great Knight, like Frederick. Meanwhile,
Clerics, such as Lissa, can promote to the axe-wielding War Cleric
or the offensive magic-wielding Sage.
Second
Seal
When a character is Level 10 or over in their non-promoted class (or
any Level in a promoted class), they may use a Second Seal to
reclass to one of three non-promoted classes, like in Shadow Dragon. If the character is Level 10 or
over in their promoted class, in addition to the non-promoted
classes, they can also reclass to the matching promoted classes. The
classes a character can reclass to are restricted by the character's
personality and upbringing.
The Avatar is a special case: they can also use the Second Seal to
reclass to almost any other class, barring special classes like the
Taguel.
Either way, after a character has changed classes, their Level will
be reset to 1, but they will keep all of their learned Skills. By
changing class multiple times, characters can gain higher stats and
have more Skills at their disposal.
In Kellam's case, he starts off as a Knight, so he can promote to a
General or Great Knight by using a Master Seal, when he's Level 10
or higher. When he's a Level 10+ Knight or a Level 1+ General or
Great Knight, he can use a Second Seal to reclass to a Thief or a
Priest or even a Knight again (and therefore access their
corresponding promoted classes by using a Master Seal at the
appropriate Level). Finally, when he reaches Level 10 or higher in
any promoted class, he can use the Second Seal to reclass to any of
the non-promoted or promoted classes available to him.
Special Skills
Last seen in Radiant Dawn, characters can
obtain Skills, which provide various
benefits in and outside of battle.
Characters may start off with certain Skills from the onset and new
Skills can be learned upon levelling up. The Skills that a character
can learn depend solely on their class, so characters can learn more
Skills by levelling up in different classes, eg. through multiple
uses of Master Seals and Second Seals. As the above image
illustrates, each character can hold a maximum of 5 active Skills at
once and players can freely change a character's active (left) and
inactive Skills (right) when outside of battle.
Modes for Everyone
Just like in Heroes of Light and Shadow,
players can choose to begin the game in Classic or Casual mode. In
Classic, characters who are defeated in battle are lost forever,
just like the other games in the series. However in Casual, fallen
characters will return in the next map and, in addition, players can
save their progress at any time during battles. Three difficulty
settings can be chosen at the beginning: Normal, for new players or
fans out of the loop, Hard for experienced players and Lunatic for
true masters of strategy. For real loonies, there might even be a
difficulty above Lunatic...
The "Barracks" feature lets players
visit their characters outside of the battlefield, to see how
they're faring; the rewards for doing so include experience points,
items (such as Eliwood's Blade) and improved relationships.
Communications
Awakening supports all of
the 3DS's communication features.
In the "Double Duel" mode, two Awakening players can team up
via Local Play to fight 2 on 1 battles against the computer. Passing
other players via StreetPass makes
other players' teams show up on your world map: you can recruit
other players' Avatars and battle their teams in your own time.
Additional content will be distributed for free via SpotPass, such as characters from
previous Fire Emblem
titles and new sidequest chapters. Finally, when connected via the
internet, players can access the paid downloadable
content, which includes new maps and missions, featuring
characters from previous games.
