Fire Emblem Seisen no Keifu
May 14, 1996, being developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. It is the fourth of the Fire Emblem series. According to the official English site for Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken, it is said to be the most successful Fire Emblem game in Japan. It widely received life outside Japan through imports or console emulation, especially in the United States and Europe. It came out late in the life of the Super Famicom. Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu was the last game produced by Gunpei Yokoi. It has the largest soundtrack of any Fire Emblem game. It has been considered Yuka Tsujiyoko's best work.
Gameplay
Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu quite differs from the standard Fire Emblem gameplay mechanisms. Its castle system is unique, having multiple castles to be conquered in each chapter. Unlike other Fire Emblem games, the player character does not die when losing an arena battle but instead remain alive with 1 HP. There are only seven arena opponents to fight for each character per chapter, as opposed to infinite opponents in other Fire Emblem games. When it comes to weapons, weapons can be repaired when visiting a castle that the player's army controls, going to a repair shop, instead of having to buy the same weapon over again as in other Fire Emblem games. When it comes to class promotion, instead of using class-changing items, the player character must reach level 20 and then return to the home castle of the chapter in order to receive class promotion. Also, the characters in the first half (six chapters each half) fall in love, and pass their weapons and skills on to their children, who are characters of the second half.
Special Skill System
Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu is the first installment of the Fire Emblem series to have different types of special skills for every character. These skills are used both in battle and in the field. They usually occur at random. They get later passed down to the characters of the second half of Seisen no Keifu.
List of Special Skills in Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu'
- Shield: This skill causes the character to block an enemy attack at random, even Holy Weapon attacks. It is restricted to promoted heavy-armored characters.
- Wrath: The character's attacks are always critical when he or she is low on HP.
- Pursuit: This skill lets the character attack twice, or four times if he or she has a Heroes weapon.
- Consecutive Attack: This skill lets the character to attack twice if he or she is faster than the enemy. Those of the Myrmidon class get this skill after promoted to a Swordmaster.
- Steal: This skill lets the character steal money after attacking the enemy. This skill is restricted to the Thief and ThiefFighter classes. Dew and Patty have this skill.
- Charisma: The characters surrounding a character with this skill earn an extra 10% hit accuracy increase.
- Awareness: This skill nullifies enemy critical attacks. It also nullifies sword-related skills, which are Meteor Hit, Moonlight Hit, and Sun Strike. Diadora and Ayra have this skill, and the former passes this skill to Celice, while the latter passes it to Lakche and Skasaher. Enemies with this skill occur in Chapter 9 and Final Chapter.
- Prayer: The character's chances of evading an enemy attack greatly increases if he or she is critically low on HP. Fin of Lenster has this skill.
- Critical Attack: This skill randomly lets a character perform a critical attack. This skill does not work if the enemy has Awareness skill.
- Ambush: The character gets to attack first if he or she is low on HP. Lex of Dozel has this skill.
- Duel: The battle lasts longer than normal. You must beware that enemy gets to attack as well.
- Meteor Hit: This skill random lets a character attack five times in a row, or ten times with a Heroes Sword. The higher the skill the higher the chance this skill works. This skill does not work against an enemy with the Awareness skill. Ayra, Shanan, Lakche, and Skasaher have this skill.
- Moonlight Hit: If this skill works, it will penetrate all the enemy's defense. This skill does not work if the enemy has Awareness skill. Holyn has this skill.
- Sun Strike: If this skill works, it recovers the character's HP when hitting the enemy. This skill does not work if the enemy has Awareness skill. Dew from the first half has this skill.
- Life: It recovers HP at the beginning of every turn. Only enemies in Final Chapter have this skill.
- Elite: This skill doubles the experience points the character receives. Lex of Dozel and Linda of Freege have this skill.
- Bargain: This skill grants the character a 50% discount in the shops. Dew has this skill.
Storyline
Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.
Jugdral Chronology
- Gran Year 001: Gran Kingdom formed west of Yun River.
- Gran Year 230: Shift to republican government.
- Gran Year 310: Territory expansion: Era of prosperity.
- Gran Year 440: Dark Lord descends to Archbishop Galle; Loput Sect religious order is formed.
- Gran Year 447: War of the 12 Dark Lords; fall of the Gran republic.
- Gran Year 448: Archbishop Galle takes the throne, and the Loput Empire is formed.
- Gran Year 449: The Great Purge: Casualites exceed 100,000.
- Gran Year 452: Sorrow of Miletos: Numerous children are burned to death in sacrifice to the Dark Lord Loputousu.
- Gran Year 453: Atrocity at Edda: Casualties are in tens of thousands.
- Gran Year 535: Mutiny of Maira Imperial family.
- Gran Year 611: Liberation army disseminates across the Jugdral continent.
- Gran Year 632: Miracle at Darna Fortress: Gods descend to liberation army, and the 12 Crusaders emerge.
- Gran Year 633: Beginning of Holy War.
- Gran Year 648: Fall of the Loput Empire: The 12 Crusaders establish seven dukedoms in Grandbell and five regional kingdoms
- Gran Year 649: Kingdom of Grandbell formed.
- Gran Year 757: Grandbell invades Isaac.
And then the curtain of upheaval rises once again.
Prologue: Coming of the Holy Knights
The prologue of Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu starts off with Prince Kult, the son of King Azmur of Barhara Castle, making the decision for the Grandbellian army to subdue the Kingdom of Isaac, in response to an invasion against Darna by barbarians of Rivough, Isaac. This was an unforeseen occurrence because the kingdoms of Grandbell and Isaac were peacefully getting along with each other many, many years. Lord Sigurd (or Siglud) of Chalphy remains in Chalphy castle while his father Byron (or Vylon) was away. However, he has nothing to fear, because there were no invasions or threats from the other countries in the continent of Jugdral. Unfortunately, Sigurd's assumption has been proven incorrect. As Sigurd does not expect it, Prince Gandolf of Marpha, Verdane, and his army invade Grandbell, seizing Jungby Castle, which is the closest to the Grandbell-Verdane boundary. At Jungby Castle, there was noblewoman Edin (Adean), alongside a only few knights that stayed at the castle to protect her. The Jungby knights were crushingly defeated by Gandolf and his army, except for Mideel (Midayle), who is the strongest of all Jungby archers. He is good at fighting, but he ends up defeated by Gandolf. Shortly thereafter, Gandolf leaves Grandbell and takes Edin as his slave.
Sigurd is informed about what has just happened at Jungby and decides to gather the remaining Chalphy knights, who are Noish, Alec, and Arden, to travel to the Kingdom of Verdane to rescue Edin. While on the road to Jungby Castle, Sigurd is joined by his sister Ethlin and her husband and Sigurd's brother-in-law and best friend Cuan from Lenster, and their loyal and most valuable knight, Fin. Azel of Velthomer and Lex of Dozel join Sigurd's army just before Cuan, Ethlin, and Fin did. Sigurd first met Cuan at the Royal Academy of Barhara, alongside Eltshan. Noish and Alec go to were Azel and Lex are and help them save the villages north of Jungby. All together, they battle Demagio, who was left by Gandolf and was guarding Jungby Castle, and easily retake Jungby Castle.
In Jungby Castle, Sigurd finds Mideel alive and recuperating. He tries to make Mideel rest, but instead, Mideel joins Sigurd's conquest to rescue Edin. Alvis of Velthomer walks over to Sigurd, who is now on the road to Evans Castle, which is located in the Kingdom of Verdane, and gives him the Silver Sword from Prince Kult. He also tells Sigurd to look after his halfbrother Azel (Alvis and Azel have different mothers). In Evans Castle, Mideel defeats Gerald with his arrows, but no trace of Edin was ever found in the castle. Lord Filat, Prince Kult's messenger, arrives to Evans Castle to inform that Sigurd has been entitled "Holy Knight of Grandbell." With this kind of pride and uplift of honor, Sigurd goes deeper into the Kingdom of Verdane.
Chapter 1: Seirei no Mori no Shoujo (Maiden of the Spirit Forest)
Chapter 2: Agusutoria no Douchi (Disturbance in Agustria)
Chapter 3: Shishi O Erutoshan (Lion King Eltshan)
Chapter 4: Sora ni Buu (Take to the Sky)
Chapter 5: Unmei no Hi (Door of Fate)
Chapter 6: Hikari wo Tsugimono (Successor of Light)
Chapter 7: Sabaku wo Otsuete (Dessert Passage)
Chapter 8: Torakia no Ryuukishi (Dragon Knights of Thracia)
Chapter 9: Sui ga Tame Ni (For Whom ...)
Chapter 10: Hikari to Yami to (Light and Dark)
Final Chapter: Saigo no Seisen (The Final Holy War)
Cast
Countries and their castles
- Kingdom of Grandbell
- Chalphy
- Jungby
- Freege
- Dozel
- Edda
- Velthomer
- Barhara
- Kingdom of Verdane
- Evans
- Genoa
- Marpha
- Verdane
- Lords' Dominion of Agustria
- Nodion
- Heirhein
- Anphony
- Mackilly
- Madino
- Silvail
- Orgahill
- Agusty
- Yied Desert
- Manster District
- Melgen
- Lenster
- Alster
- Conote
- Manster
- Kingdom of Thracia
- Mease
- Kapathogia
- Luthecia
- Grunia
- Thracia
- Miletos District
- Peruluke
- Chronos
- Rados
- Miletos
- Kingdom of Silesia
- Sailane
- Thove
- Zaxon
- Lubeck
- Silesia
- Kingdom of Isaac
- Tilnanogue
- Ganeishire
- Sophara
- Rivough
- Isaac
Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu was marketed exclusively in Japan during the 32-bit era, because Nintendo was not kind enough to localize a Fire Emblem to North America until Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken. However, since the 128-bit era, this Super Famicom game got a chance at overseas life though console emulation, mostly using ZSNES, in the United States and Europe, and it was successful in overseas emulation just as it was in the Japanese Super Famicom systems. In 2001, J2E Translations started an unofficial English translation project on Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu. J2E Translations fizzled and failed, just like with Rudora no Hihou. The translation project was dormant until 2003. The dialogue is already fully translated. Since the 128-bit era, Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu has been considered an import classic in the United States and Europe.
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