The Nintendo GameCube brought about Fire Emblem’s return to home consoles in 2005’s Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. It was a relatively quiet release, but a well crafted entry into what is arguably Intelligent System’s grandest series. While satisfyingly lengthy and much more challenging than the easier handheld Fire Emblem titles, Path of Radiance still left much to be desired in terms of unanswered questions in the storyline and some key aspects of most Fire Emblem games. Nearly two years later, Ike and company have returned for Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn on the Wii. Is it worth your time?

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn completes yet another duology in the Fire Emblem franchise. Three years have passed since the events of the previous game, in which Commander Ike and the Greil Mercenaries helped to liberate the kingdom of Crimea from the occupying Daein forces and defeat the Mad King Ashnard. Since then, a group of Daein rebels known as the Dawn Brigade fight to restore power to Daein, now under the oppression of the Begnion Empire. Meanwhile, a group of Crimean nobles not yet convinced of Queen Elincia’s new ideals kidnap the queen’s right hand, Lucia, and plot to overthrow Elincia for control of the throne. Elsewhere, the laguz tribes have formed an alliance, as tensions mount between them and the Begnion Empire, now controlled by the senate as Apostle Sanaki has gone missing and Prime Minister Sephiran remains imprisoned. Of course, we can’t forget about the Greil Mercenaries led by Ike, who has learned that the Black Knight that killed his father is still very much alive.

Sound like a lot? It is. Radiant Dawn spans over 40 chapters, bringing back old characters and introducing new. You’re expected to resolve all those storylines listed above, which do in fact end up clashing and merging at various points. Recent Fire Emblem games have had you play through various storylines at separate times or picking one side and sticking with it. This is the first time in a Fire Emblem game (outside of Japan, at the very least) where you’re asked to play from multiple perspectives simultaneously, meaning you might be pitted against the very characters you just leveled up one chapter ago.

Radiant Dawn is rich in story, but is not dependent on its predecessor. That said, if you haven’t played through Path of Radiance on the GameCube, you’re going to want to at least try and get a hold of it to do so first, and for two reasons. The events in PoR are brought up enough in Radiant Dawn that newcomers can get an idea of what exactly happened, but there are enough gaps that could leave a player confused about the motivations and events in this game. Returning characters are reintroduced so quickly that new players won’t always understand why certain individuals are there in the first place, and the players won’t develop the emotional attachment to the characters that really brings out all the humor and dramatic plot twists in this game. The second reason to play through PoR is that if you’ve never played a Fire Emblem game before, this game will kick your ass.

Fire Emblem games are notorious for being difficult, although the series had been dumbed down a little bit since it was finally released outside of Japan. The difficulty level has been increasing since, but players were always eased into the games with less challenging chapters to start. In Radiant Dawn, you’re thrown right into some frustrating chapters at the beginning, mostly due to the first two parts of the game requiring you to helm either a weak team, or a team with no bona fide healers. The entire game is challenging, even for most Fire Emblem veterans out there, so this probably isn’t the game you want to start with. For the beginners, though, Intelligent Systems has introduced the “Battle Save” option for the first time in the series’ history, which allows you to save games mid-chapter. Generally, if one of your characters dies in battle, they’re dead for the game - prompting most people to restart entire chapters just to avoid this. The “Suspend” option, which allows you to save mid-chapter should you need to stop playing completely and erases itself once you resume, returns by replacing the “Battle Save” feature in hard mode.

The classic Fire Emblem gameplay remains true to the series for the most part, retaining the usual turn-based tactical strategy in games past. Features new to Path of Radiance, such as skills and supports, make their return, although the beloved support system has been revamped to allow each character only one support with potentially any other character, albeit with watered down support conversations. For battles, all the classic weapons return, along with some brand new types of weaponry for archers. You’ll want to keep your Pegasus flyers away from those bowguns, that’s for sure. The weapon triangle (Swords>Axes>Lances>Swords, etc.) returns as an integral part of your battle strategy when you play through the lower difficulty settings. The magic triangle is back, with some enemy units reintroducing dark magic into the series - but you won’t get your own dark mage until your second play-through.

The Laguz (animal tribes) are back, and can now be leveled up as high as level 60. Unfortunately, they’re still not as useful, gaining a handicapped amount of experience points while in their transformed states. Luckily, they can now defend themselves if attacked, so they’re not just sitting ducks half the time. For your Beorc (human) characters, a second promotion is now available to most of your characters, allowing for the equivalent of 60 levels. These third-tier units will also automatically receive a new skill exclusive to their class upon their second promotion, and it will allow some of your hits to deal a deadly blow and do triple the normal damage.

Characters are directed around each chapter on a gridded map, which I like to parallel to a complex game of chess. You’ll move them around and navigate through menus using either the Wii Remote held sideways or the Classic Controller. The standard or WaveBird GameCube controller can be used as well, but if you have a Classic, use it - you’ll have the button options of the GC controller and the Home button’s reset abilities for soft resets. For what Fire Emblem is, this control scheme works, although it’s a tad disappointing that the special features of the Wii remote aren’t used at all. Those menus where you navigate through your game saves and bonus features? D-pad or control stick, no pointer.

It becomes increasingly clear that Radiant Dawn entered production as a GameCube title when you notice the game’s visual and audio presentation. While battle animations and pre-rendered video cutscenes are noticeably (but only slightly) better than those in Path of Radiance, character models and maps look nearly identical in quality to how they did before. The game has updated to sport 16:9 widescreen during battle animations and when on the map, but cutscenes, pre-rendered videos, and dialogue sequences remain unchanged, with only a stylish background to border the sides of the screen. The game’s music is still mostly if not all MIDI and it’s still very much repetitive. The voice acting is pretty good in this game, and you’re going to hear a lot more characters talk in the cutscenes. Unfortunately, the pre-rendered videos are still highly underused, and the majority of the game still relies primarily on telling the story through text - a lot more text than we’ve ever had in a Fire Emblem game.

Minor matters aside, this is a Fire Emblem game from Intelligent Systems, so it easily excels in the gameplay and story department. It’s a long game, too, so it will definitely keep you busy, and the fact that certain parts of the storyline actually change upon additional play-throughs means you’ll probably consider playing it more than once without waiting. Radiant Dawn may not include any multiplayer options, online play, or downloadable maps, but its sheer length, difficulty, and changing storyline will allow you to get a ton of value from this $50 video game. Plus, if you do in fact have a copy of Path of Radiance, you can get more out of both games by inserting your GC memory card and uploading your game save when you start a new game in Radiant Dawn. Uploading will grant stat bonuses to any characters with maxed stats in PoR, as well as access all their support conversations.

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn isn’t the game with revolutionary controls you’ve come to expect for the Wii, but this wheel doesn’t need reinventing just yet. You’re getting a great sequel to Path of Radiance, and it’s not a rehash - you’ve got a whole new team of additional characters, a refreshing new story and set of themes, and heck you’ve even got a whole new region of Tellius to learn about. This particular Fire Emblem game may be a bit tough for players both familiar and new to the series, but in the end it’s really the game to help everyone realize why Fire Emblem is the pinnacle of strategy RPGs. Radiant Dawn has a deep, rich story filled with convincing personalities and a sense of adventure. The series’ signature gameplay continues to be top notch, is one of the best “traditional” games on the Wii, and leaves us waiting for the arrival of Fire Emblem DS.

The Tanooki Rating - 8.9

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