Walkthroughs & Tips

Review by: Jake Delfeir

Reviewers Score: 9 / 10

Posted: November 14, 2005

Fire Emblem 4 - Genealogy of the Holy War
System: SNES
Genre: Strategy/RPG
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
Score: 9/10

Most Western people have heard about Fire Emblem at long last, now that the series has finally set foot in English-speaking territories. The only problem is that some of the better games are ones that we've never been able to play... until recently, when translations began across the board. Now some of the better Fire Emblem games are here to be played by all, and I'm here to review one of the better ones: Fire Emblem 4 - Seisen no Keifu.

Graphics (9/10)

The graphics here aren't brilliant, but they're good. As opposed to the newer Fire Emblem games, these look somewhat more realistic. The colours are more sombre and less bright and vibrant than most of the newer graphics, though this isn't bad. For a game with a somewhat serious feel and background to it, it works well. The main map is okay, though sometimes (only sometimes) it can be a little bit difficult to tell apart one character from another. In battles, the attacks are smooth and the characters look good, so all in all they serve the purpose.

Sound (8/10)

I won't lie - I tend to mute the sounds on my games and listen to my own music over the top. That doesn't mean I haven't sampled some of the music in this one, however. The music is quite nice, though somewhat limited - the various songs only show up in occasional places, or else they're constantly playing during a certain group's turn. You'll like them at first, usually, but considering how long the chapters in this game stretch on for, they can start to get tiresome. The other sounds are alright and generally match the action they're marked for, which is good. So no major complaints, but odds are that you'll have the volume switched off by the end of the game.

Story (8/10)

Typically Fire Emblem, which isn't all that bad. You are presented with a fictitious world and a number of different countries, regions and factions within that. Then all hell breaks loose, and a war starts out between one of them. In short order the war ends up escalating, and that's where you start - you're thrust directly into the conflict as the lord of one of the countries. This year's model is Sigurd, Lord of Chalphy - a much, much more awesome of what Eliwood would ultimately be. As usual, you're dragged into the war for whatever reason, and you have to play it out. Along the way you get a bunch of characters, all with a different style and backstory of sorts. Accompanied by a series of plot twists about halfway through concerning the second generation of characters, this makes for a reasonable story, but nothing too spectacular.

Gameplay (10/10)

This is where the Fire Emblem games tend to shine. These games are very fun - the combination of turn-based medieval strategy with RPG-style characters is a very good blend and works well. The game is fun on pretty much all levels to those who like those two styles - thankfully, those are my favourites, so this game is right up my alley. Nonetheless, it still appeals to the vast majority of real gamers on the planet. Anyway, the game is divided into 12 chapters, during which you have to control the individual characters in an army against their enemies to capture castles and generally take control of the map. Each chapter typically has you facing at least two castles that you must capture, along with a slew of hidden features and side quests of sorts that can be quite difficult to find, but well worth it.

Unlike the newer games, there are actually a variety of features that weren't even included in the later incarnations. The primary focus of this is skills - every character has a number of skills which affect their combat in some way. These vary from experience boosters to additional attacks depending on the circumstances. Each castle also acts like a miniature town - there are shops for which you can buy a few weapons, or repair your damaged weapons for a price. There is also the arena, where each character goes through a few opponents who increase in difficulty each time. A couple of characters can even be acquired this way, so it's well worth a look at the very least. And unlike the newer Fire Emblem games, the arena is not lethal, so your characters won't die completely.

The key feature of this game, though, is the fact that the storyline carries on over two generations of characters. Halfway through the game, a series of plot twists occur, leaving the world in a pretty interesting state. A while later, the game kicks off once again with a new retinue of characters - most descended from the previous cast. The interesting thing about this is that if you make the characters fall in love in the earlier generation, then the characters in the second generation will be affected as such! For example, the father will eventually give all of his weapons, skills, stat growths and possible holy blood to the child. Depending on the characters used, this can create a whole bunch of possibilities to make your characters awesomely powerful. The love system works in the same way as supports do - the more the characters are together, then the closer they'll become. Sadly, however, there aren't any indicators as to how this is developing. Whereas in the later games, there are various levels of Support, there is only one level here. Plus there are no notifying features - one turn, your characters will suddenly have the name of their lover written in their stats, but that's it. Nothing else. This can be annoying to keep track of, since you have to check them every single turn to see if they've finally reached it.

That covers the key features of the game, so feel free to make up your own mind. It makes for a fun game that can be relatively simple at first, but deceptively tricky for those willing to scour the depths.

Replayability (5/10)

There's only one path you can take, storywise, so that limits this section considerably. However, there are a bunch of secrets in this game, and a whole lot of different character combinations you can make by pairing off certain characters. So for those of you who like that kind of thing, this might appeal to you in some way. For most people, though, you won't be playing this one through too many times.

Overall (9/10)

Fire Emblem has a knack for having a series of good Strategy/RPGs. The problem is that they're not really perfect in all aspects, but the gameplay is always spot-on. This game is great fun, but there are just a few niggling points that detract from the overall perfection of the game. Nonetheless, it WILL keep you occupied, if not for the gameplay than the sheer length of each chapter. Highly recommended for any gamer worth their salt - download it immediately!