Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
Encyclopedia
is a Japan
ese Super Famicom
tactical role-playing game
developed by Intelligent Systems
and published by Nintendo
. It was released on May 14, 1996 in Japan
. It is the fourth title in the Fire Emblem
series, the second Fire Emblem title for the Super Famicom and was the last game produced by Gunpei Yokoi. The game has received recognition outside Japan through imports and console emulation, including an unofficial emulation fan translation
into English. It was released on the Japanese Virtual Console
service on January 30, 2007, at the price of 900 Wii points.
At the start of each chapter, the player holds a castle that must not be conquered by the enemy. In allied castles, units can shop, store items, repair damaged items, and fight in the arena. Each individual unit has its own money; the only units who can give money to others are thieves and units who are in love. Units cannot trade weapons or items. The only way to "give" something to another unit is to sell the item at a pawn shop and have another unit buy it. By visiting repair shops, money can be spent to restore a used weapon before it breaks. In the starting castle, the player can also promote units to a more powerful class when they reach level 20. Rather than being reverted to level 1, the unit will remain at its current level. There are only seven arena opponents to fight for each unit per chapter, as opposed to infinite opponents in other Fire Emblem games. The arena opponents are predetermined for each chapter and are always the same. Units do not die when they have lost an arena battle; instead, they remain alive at 1 hit point.
The majority of gameplay takes place on the battlefield. Seisen no Keifu is the first installment of the Fire Emblem series to implement the weapon triangle, a rock-paper-scissors
-like system. In the weapon triangle, swords beat axes, axes beat lances, and lances beat swords. There is also a similar trinity of magic: fire beats wind, wind beats thunder and thunder beats fire. There are also Darkness and Light magic which beat all three of those, and are neutral against each other. Higher character level and statistics can still overcome a weapon triangle disadvantage. Among the features of the battlefield are differing terrains, which give defensive bonuses, gates which can only be opened by triggering a plot event, and villages, which can be attacked and destroyed by bandit enemies. Enemies can only destroy a portion of a village each turn; however, the more the player allows an enemy to tear down a village, the less gold will be rewarded for rescuing it. As opposed to other Fire Emblem games where capturing the enemy's castle ends the chapter, Seisen no Keifu features several enemy castles per chapter, all of which must be captured to proceed.
Seisen no Keifu is the first installment of the series to assign special skills to individual units. Units may also gain skills by belonging to a certain character class
. Personal skills may be activated by command on the field, activated automatically under certain conditions, or activated by chance. If units in the first half of the game fall in love, they will pass on their individual skills to their children in the second half. A similar skill system is used in Fire Emblem: Thracia 776
, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
, and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.
Seisen no Keifu introduces a romance-based game mechanic to the series. The units in the first half of the game can fall in love after accumulating a certain amount of "Lover points". Units will build Lover points automatically, but they will gain more if the player ends the turn with the units adjacent to one another, and certain pairs have unique conversations at set points in the game, which give a large amount of Lover points. If two units are paired, and the mother survives the first half, the two parents will pass their weapons and personal skills on to their children, who are the majority of playable units in the second half. Weapons will only be inherited if the child can use it in their first class, unless it is a Holy Weapon, which is always inherited. The parents also pass on their Holy Blood and their stat growths, giving the player some manner of control over their units' growth rates. If some of the female player units in the first half die or do not fall in love, substitute player units appear in their children's place. The children can also fall in love. Units in love in either generation may activate random critical hits when they stand next to their lover.
Jugdral is composed of eight countries which are the Kingdom of Grandbell, the Kingdom of Verdane, the Dominion of Agustria, the Republic of Manster, the Kingdom of Thracia, the Republic of Miletos, the Kingdom of Silesia, and the Kingdom of Isaac. They were founded by the Twelve Crusaders, who are Baldo, Tordo, Hezul, Noba, Neir, Noba, Heim, Fala, Ulir, Blagi, Sety, and Odo. Heim founded the central country Grandbell with the help of Fala, Baldo, Tordo, Ulir, Neir, and Blagi. Hezul helped found Agustria in the northwest. In the southeast, Noba founded Manster, and her brother Dain founded Thracia. Sety founded Silesia in the North, and Odo founded Isaac in the northeast. Between Grandbell and Isaac is Yied Desert, the home of the Loput Sect. Verdane, in the southwest, was founded by people outside Crusader lineage. At the end of the game, Leaf merges Manster and Thracia into New Thracia.
At the beginning of the game, the Grandbell Empire is at war with the kingdom of Isaac in response to Rivough barbarians besieging Darna Castle. When bandits from the country of Verdane attack the relatively defenseless Empire, Sigurd of Chalphy arms himself to battle them while rescuing Aideen. In the course of fighting, he gathers many allies, several of whom are descendants of the Twelve Crusaders. While invading Verdane and after running into Isaacians Ayra and Shanan, he meets a mysterious girl named Diadora. She is revealed to be of Narga blood, a long-lost member of the Grandbellian royal family and the descendant of the Crusader with the power to defeat Loputosu. Sigurd and Diadora fall in love and marry, and Celice is born in Agustria. However, scheming Grandbellian dukes, in a bid for the throne, murder the Grandbellian king and prince and frame Sigurd for their deaths. The Archbishop Manfloy of the Loput Sect, conspiring with Duke Alvis, also kidnaps Diadora and erases her memories in order to revive the dark dragon lord Loputousu. Sigurd, forced to flee into exile to Silesia, returns to Grandbell some time later and defeats the treasonous dukes; however, he is betrayed by Alvis, who has married Diadora and is now the Emperor of Grandbell. After Trabant ambushes Cuan and Ethlin, Alvis lures Sigurd's army into a trap and decimates them.
The second half of the game resumes seventeen years later in Isaac, where Sigurd and Diadora's son Celice has formed a liberation army against the harsh rule of the Grandbellian Empire. Celice joins up with surviving family members of Sigurd's allies and travels around the continent, freeing countries from Grandbellian rule. His final destination is Grandbell, where he must confront the forces of Emperor Alvis, his son Julius, the twelve Dark Warlords, and the Loput Sect.
According to Shouzou Kaga, it was originally planned that in Celice's tale, only one child would be born per parent with the gender being randomly selected, with the exception of Celice, Yuria, Leaf, and Altenna. The third part was going to be a story of members of Celice's party reuniting with remnants of Sigurd's army, and those who were not Sigurd's servants would be subjugated.
Fire Emblem games. It was unofficially translated into English through emulation.
Since the release of Super Smash Bros. Melee
, which includes Marth and Roy as playable characters, Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu has received positive reviews by non-Japanese gamers.
of Japan
. Official Fire Emblem website at Nintendo
of Japan
. Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu website at Nintendo
of Japan
. VC Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu website at Nintendo
of Japan
. Fire Emblem Museum - Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu at Nintendo
of Japan
.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese Super Famicom
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
tactical role-playing game
Tactical role-playing game
A tactical role-playing game is a type of video game which incorporates elements of traditional role-playing video games and strategy games. In Japan these games are known as , a designation which might seem peculiar to native English speakers...
developed by Intelligent Systems
Intelligent Systems
is a Japanese first-party video game developer and internal team of Nintendo Co., Ltd. It has its headquarters in the Nintendo Kyoto Research Center in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture....
and published by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
. It was released on May 14, 1996 in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. It is the fourth title in the Fire Emblem
Fire Emblem
is a fantasy tactical role-playing video game franchise developed by Intelligent Systems , the maker of Advance Wars , and published by Nintendo...
series, the second Fire Emblem title for the Super Famicom and was the last game produced by Gunpei Yokoi. The game has received recognition outside Japan through imports and console emulation, including an unofficial emulation fan translation
Fan translation
A fan translation, in video gaming, refers to an unofficial translation of a computer game or video game.The fan translation practice grew with the rise of video game console emulation in the late 1990s. A community of people developed that were interested in replaying and modifying the games they...
into English. It was released on the Japanese Virtual Console
Virtual console
A virtual console – also known as a virtual terminal – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as UnixWare, Linux, and BSD, in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between...
service on January 30, 2007, at the price of 900 Wii points.
Gameplay
Seisen no Keifu, like all Fire Emblem games, is a turn-based tactical role-playing game. The player controls a small army of units (characters) as they travel across the land, fighting enemies and liberating castles. For basic gameplay information, see the gameplay basics. There is no limit on how many player units can be deployed; this is balanced by the player receiving fewer controllable units than in other games in the series.At the start of each chapter, the player holds a castle that must not be conquered by the enemy. In allied castles, units can shop, store items, repair damaged items, and fight in the arena. Each individual unit has its own money; the only units who can give money to others are thieves and units who are in love. Units cannot trade weapons or items. The only way to "give" something to another unit is to sell the item at a pawn shop and have another unit buy it. By visiting repair shops, money can be spent to restore a used weapon before it breaks. In the starting castle, the player can also promote units to a more powerful class when they reach level 20. Rather than being reverted to level 1, the unit will remain at its current level. There are only seven arena opponents to fight for each unit per chapter, as opposed to infinite opponents in other Fire Emblem games. The arena opponents are predetermined for each chapter and are always the same. Units do not die when they have lost an arena battle; instead, they remain alive at 1 hit point.
The majority of gameplay takes place on the battlefield. Seisen no Keifu is the first installment of the Fire Emblem series to implement the weapon triangle, a rock-paper-scissors
Rock-paper-scissors
Rock-paper-scissors is a hand game played by two people. The game is also known as roshambo, or another ordering of the three items ....
-like system. In the weapon triangle, swords beat axes, axes beat lances, and lances beat swords. There is also a similar trinity of magic: fire beats wind, wind beats thunder and thunder beats fire. There are also Darkness and Light magic which beat all three of those, and are neutral against each other. Higher character level and statistics can still overcome a weapon triangle disadvantage. Among the features of the battlefield are differing terrains, which give defensive bonuses, gates which can only be opened by triggering a plot event, and villages, which can be attacked and destroyed by bandit enemies. Enemies can only destroy a portion of a village each turn; however, the more the player allows an enemy to tear down a village, the less gold will be rewarded for rescuing it. As opposed to other Fire Emblem games where capturing the enemy's castle ends the chapter, Seisen no Keifu features several enemy castles per chapter, all of which must be captured to proceed.
Seisen no Keifu is the first installment of the series to assign special skills to individual units. Units may also gain skills by belonging to a certain character class
Character class
In role-playing games, a common method of arbitrating the capabilities of different game characters is to assign each one to a character class. A character class aggregates several abilities and aptitudes, and may also sometimes detail aspects of background and social standing or impose behaviour...
. Personal skills may be activated by command on the field, activated automatically under certain conditions, or activated by chance. If units in the first half of the game fall in love, they will pass on their individual skills to their children in the second half. A similar skill system is used in Fire Emblem: Thracia 776
Fire Emblem: Thracia 776
is a Japanese tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo, and the fifth installment in the Fire Emblem series. It is also the third and final Fire Emblem series title to be released on the Super Famicom. It was originally released through Nintendo Power...
, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, known in Japan as is a tactical role-playing video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube video game console. The game was released on April 20, 2005 in Japan, October 17, 2005 in North America, November 4, 2005 in...
, and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.
Seisen no Keifu introduces a romance-based game mechanic to the series. The units in the first half of the game can fall in love after accumulating a certain amount of "Lover points". Units will build Lover points automatically, but they will gain more if the player ends the turn with the units adjacent to one another, and certain pairs have unique conversations at set points in the game, which give a large amount of Lover points. If two units are paired, and the mother survives the first half, the two parents will pass their weapons and personal skills on to their children, who are the majority of playable units in the second half. Weapons will only be inherited if the child can use it in their first class, unless it is a Holy Weapon, which is always inherited. The parents also pass on their Holy Blood and their stat growths, giving the player some manner of control over their units' growth rates. If some of the female player units in the first half die or do not fall in love, substitute player units appear in their children's place. The children can also fall in love. Units in love in either generation may activate random critical hits when they stand next to their lover.
Setting
Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu takes place in the continent of Jugdral .Jugdral is composed of eight countries which are the Kingdom of Grandbell, the Kingdom of Verdane, the Dominion of Agustria, the Republic of Manster, the Kingdom of Thracia, the Republic of Miletos, the Kingdom of Silesia, and the Kingdom of Isaac. They were founded by the Twelve Crusaders, who are Baldo, Tordo, Hezul, Noba, Neir, Noba, Heim, Fala, Ulir, Blagi, Sety, and Odo. Heim founded the central country Grandbell with the help of Fala, Baldo, Tordo, Ulir, Neir, and Blagi. Hezul helped found Agustria in the northwest. In the southeast, Noba founded Manster, and her brother Dain founded Thracia. Sety founded Silesia in the North, and Odo founded Isaac in the northeast. Between Grandbell and Isaac is Yied Desert, the home of the Loput Sect. Verdane, in the southwest, was founded by people outside Crusader lineage. At the end of the game, Leaf merges Manster and Thracia into New Thracia.
Story
Hundreds of years prior to the game's present, the Gran Kingdom was founded, and decades later, it became Gran Republic. The Dark Lord Loputosu conquered the continent. Hundreds of thousands were massacred and sacrificed to the Dark God. However, the gods descended and blessed the Twelve Crusaders, who defeated the Lopt Empire. The Twelve Crusaders subsequently established seven dukedoms in Grandbell and five regional kingdoms.At the beginning of the game, the Grandbell Empire is at war with the kingdom of Isaac in response to Rivough barbarians besieging Darna Castle. When bandits from the country of Verdane attack the relatively defenseless Empire, Sigurd of Chalphy arms himself to battle them while rescuing Aideen. In the course of fighting, he gathers many allies, several of whom are descendants of the Twelve Crusaders. While invading Verdane and after running into Isaacians Ayra and Shanan, he meets a mysterious girl named Diadora. She is revealed to be of Narga blood, a long-lost member of the Grandbellian royal family and the descendant of the Crusader with the power to defeat Loputosu. Sigurd and Diadora fall in love and marry, and Celice is born in Agustria. However, scheming Grandbellian dukes, in a bid for the throne, murder the Grandbellian king and prince and frame Sigurd for their deaths. The Archbishop Manfloy of the Loput Sect, conspiring with Duke Alvis, also kidnaps Diadora and erases her memories in order to revive the dark dragon lord Loputousu. Sigurd, forced to flee into exile to Silesia, returns to Grandbell some time later and defeats the treasonous dukes; however, he is betrayed by Alvis, who has married Diadora and is now the Emperor of Grandbell. After Trabant ambushes Cuan and Ethlin, Alvis lures Sigurd's army into a trap and decimates them.
The second half of the game resumes seventeen years later in Isaac, where Sigurd and Diadora's son Celice has formed a liberation army against the harsh rule of the Grandbellian Empire. Celice joins up with surviving family members of Sigurd's allies and travels around the continent, freeing countries from Grandbellian rule. His final destination is Grandbell, where he must confront the forces of Emperor Alvis, his son Julius, the twelve Dark Warlords, and the Loput Sect.
The Fire Emblem
The Fire Emblem does not actually appear in this game, but it is mentioned as the family crest of Velthomer nobility.Development
The game title was originally going to be entitled as translated Fire Emblem: Light Inheritors. The same title was used as the title of chapter 6, and a similar title was used in the manga adaptations. Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu was originally going to be divided into three parts, with Celice's tale being the second part. The canceled third part was going to reveal the killings of some of Sigurd's generation and other issues. However, because of time constraints, it was shortened to two parts.According to Shouzou Kaga, it was originally planned that in Celice's tale, only one child would be born per parent with the gender being randomly selected, with the exception of Celice, Yuria, Leaf, and Altenna. The third part was going to be a story of members of Celice's party reuniting with remnants of Sigurd's army, and those who were not Sigurd's servants would be subjugated.
Legacy
Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu was the first Fire Emblem game to be featured in the Fire Emblem Trading Card Game. It was discussed in Nintendo Power Volume 87. Some songs from the game were reused in the Game Boy AdvanceGame Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
Fire Emblem games. It was unofficially translated into English through emulation.
Since the release of Super Smash Bros. Melee
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Super Smash Bros. Melee, known in Japan as , often abbreviated as SSBM or simply as Melee, is a crossover fighting game released for the Nintendo GameCube shortly after its launch in . It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 game Super Smash Bros., and the predecessor to the Wii game Super Smash...
, which includes Marth and Roy as playable characters, Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu has received positive reviews by non-Japanese gamers.
In other media
Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu comics have been featured in the magazines Monthly Gangan Wing and Monthly GFantasy. There is also the Oosawa Mitsuki manga adaptation.External links
Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu website website at Intelligent SystemsIntelligent Systems
is a Japanese first-party video game developer and internal team of Nintendo Co., Ltd. It has its headquarters in the Nintendo Kyoto Research Center in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture....
of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Official Fire Emblem website at Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu website at Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. VC Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu website at Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Fire Emblem Museum - Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu at Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
- GameSpy summary
- Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu at SerenesForest.net
- Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu at Fire Emblem Wikia