Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Greetings all gamers!
The newest Nintendo title that has come into my hands, is the Fire Emblem game called Path of Radiance. Path of Radiance is the third installment in the America released game (for Japan, this would be the fifth or sixth installment).

This game starts out with our hero, Ike, and his father, the captain of the Crimea (Crime-E-a, I think) Mercenaries. Now, since this is a GCN title instead of a GBA title, the guys at Nintendo, Intelligent Systems, and somewhere else, decided to take advantage of the GCN power to produce 3-D graphics. This means, that some of the storyline takes place in 3-D! With this being said, the first bit of game you see, is a 3-D battle between Ike and Greil (his dad). Now of course, Greil whips him. They are using Wooden Training swords to fight, but the Dad still knocks Ike silly, and is knocked out for quite some time. Now, right as you (Ike) get knocked out, your sister comes up and sees you on the ground. You wake up with a rag on your head, and the sister (Mist) says, "It's about time!" When you wake up totally, one of the guys from the Mercenary group comes out to the training field to see what is taking you so long. Since your a trainee, and no match for Griel, Griel says, "Good timing Boyd! (Thats the guy who just came up) You have now been elected Ike's sparring partner, because your closer to his skill." Boyd reluctantly agrees, picks up a training axe, and fights you. Now of course, this is a training axe, you can't be killed. The battle is made to where Boyd does not move, and you win no matter what happens. Boyd goes away, and your father comes back up to fight ya. You beat him (surprisingly) and he says that you get to be part of the Crimean Mercenaries. Now, that's just how it starts, there's plenty more I've played through, but I don't want to spoil it for you.

Now, I know what some of you guys are thinking. "That was way too easy! Aren't there difficulty settings that are Easy, Normal, and Hard? This must be on Easy!" Uh, no. This I actually did on two difficulty settings (long story) and they both were the same. Now, since I did this, I found out that the strategy involved in the two, is no different! Instead of the two having different strategy difficulty, the difference is, in easy, it is much easier to level up!
Leveling up is how your characters get stronger. This means that a level 4 character is probably much stronger than a level 2 character. Now, there are some exceptions. Some of the characters are all out good, and just start at level one. Like the senior deputy of the Crimean Mercenaries, Titania. She is, of course, one of the better characters. However, the game did not say that she starts at level 7 or something. Nope! It starts her out at level 1! However, she can beat most level 6s just being level 1, now that's skill and power!

Even though Titania is an amazing character, you have to take a few other things into account. The fact that I have to relate to Poke'mon, is wimpy, but its a good example. In the game Poke'mon, you have a rock, paper, scissors scenario when fighting. Water beats Fire, Fire beats Grass, and Grass beats Water. In Fire Emblem, you have the same basic thing. Axes and hammers beat Lances. Lances and Javelins beat Swords. And to complete the circle, the Swords beat the axes and the hammers.

With this being said, I can now tell you that it is a little bit easier to beat the first bosses with Ike sometimes because the first ones ALL had axes. Kind of sad that they make the game that easy, but it gives you time to make Ike a little bit stronger character. But in Easy mode, HOLY COW can you hurt those guys! With one teensy strike you have them dead! Well, after you've killed about 3 guys, your about 2 levels higher than you were, so I say, HOLY COW!! (Now I understand why Easy is for novices who know almost nothing about strategy).

There is one bad thing though. I could tell you a lot more about the game and the controls, but unfortunately I am renting this title and they did not let me have an instruction booklet. The display case didn't even have the instruction book in it! Well, there are a few ways to play.

After a few scenes, you will always have two characters that need some protecting. Soren, a wind magician sorcerer guy, and Rhys, a priest who can heal other players without an item. These two players have absolutely NO protection. So you need to keep Rhys farther back so he can come up and heal, and Soren you need to put closer but still a little farther away so he can work the wind magic from a distance (or just put him around a corner where an unsuspecting enemy will come!) (By the way, long range characters shoot diagonally a space, or two spaces in front of them). So, just keep Soren long range, Rhys just behind him, and you should be in good shape.

Another playing capability that you will have to do, is Defend. This means you can not let the enemy get to a certain space and seize what you are defending, like the Mercenary fort. The simplest thing to do, is keep one character and Rhys in the back, put Ike and Shinon ( a Bow guy) and Soren at one intrance, and Gatrie ( a lance guy) and Titania at the entrance where the bulk of soldiers are coming in. Its not always that easy, but all you have to do, is defend for a set amount of turns, then the story line kicks in and something happens to end the scene.

This amazing game, or as I call it, Chess on Steroids, is an incredible title. Now I have to warn you, I have read reviews from my favorite reviewers and my least favorite reviewers, and both have said that the new Fire Emblem for the Wii, is not something Fire Emblem fans deserve. As in, if you have Radiant Dawn, don't like it very much, just sell it and get Path of Radiance for the Gamcube off of eBay somewhere! Your friend in gaming,
CPU12 The Nintendo Freak
Good Luck.