The game received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the combination of Fire Emblem and Dynasty Warriors gameplay and drawing favorable comparisons to Hyrule Warriors, originally released in 2014 for the Wii U.
Fire Emblem Warriors is a hack-and-slashaction role-playing game similar to the Dynasty Warriors series in which players take the role of Rowan and Lianna, and characters from several Fire Emblem games. Games represented in Warriors include the Fire Emblem games Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, Gaiden, The Blazing Blade, Awakening, and Fates. The player defeats enemies with any character, accomplishing specific goals to beat maps. In addition to hack-and-slash combat, the game includes the ability to give tactical commands to units and the Weapon Triangle, which originated from the Fire Emblem series.
Weapons in the game include axes, lances, swords, bows, tomes, and dragonstones. When characters assist, heal, or fight alongside each other in battle, their bond strengthens. Like in Fire Emblem games, if two characters' bond increases enough, a support conversation will be unlocked. The game will also utilize all existing and future Fire EmblemAmiibo figurines, which give weapons related to the character represented by the Amiibo that is used.[2]
Synopsis
Setting and characters
Fire Emblem Warriors is set in a medieval fantasy world, and focuses on the neighbouring kingdoms of Aytolis and Gristonne.[3] The story's events are set off when a dark force uses a magical gate connecting to other worlds to summon monsters into Aytolis.[4][5] The series recurring "Fire Emblem" is featured as a powerful artifact dubbed the Shield of Flames, which is tied to the game's story.[4][6]
The main characters are Rowan and Lianna, twin heirs to the throne of Aytolis gifted the Shield of Flames by their mother Queen Yelena. An important secondary character is Darios, crown prince of Gristonne and a childhood friend of the twins.[4] A number of characters appear from other Fire Emblem titles, primarily from New Mystery of the Emblem (2010), Awakening (2012) and Fates (2015).[7] Additional characters are taken from Gaiden (1992),[8] and The Blazing Blade (2003).[9] Anna, a recurring merchant character across the series, also appears.[10]
Plot
When Rowan and Lianna are sparring with the visiting Darios one day, Aytolis is attacked by monsters summoned from the portal within the castle. Yelena is captured during the assault, but she successfully gives the twins the Shield of Flames, a sacred artifact which can repel darkness due to its blessing by a Divine Dragon. The group learn that Darios's father Oskar is in the process of reviving the Chaos Dragon Velezark, and to stop it the Shield of Flames must be empowered with Gleamstones, crystals created from the power of heroes from other realms. Rowan and Lianna travel across Aytolis, rallying support from the heroes of other worlds that have been brought to Aytolis. During an attack on a stronghold of Gristonne, Darios is possessed by Velezark, and steals the completed Shield of Flames
rallying support from heroes from the otherworldly nations of Ylisse, Hoshido, Nohr, and Altea. During an attack on a Gristonne fortress, Velezark successfully possesses Darios, who steals the Shield of Flames just after it is complete. Rowan and Lianna pursue him to Gristonne, where they discover Yelena has been captured to be used as a sacrifice to revive Velezark. Rowan and Lianna successfully rescue their mother, leading to Darios sacrificing Oskar to complete the ritual to revive Velezark. Now freed from the possession, Darios returns the Shield of Flames to the group before falling into a spatial void.[b] The twins, united with the heroes of other worlds, wield the Shield of Flames' power and defeat Velezark. With the threat ended, the heroes return to their own worlds and Yelena crowns Rowan and Lianna as twin monarchs of Aytolis.
Development
Following the release of Hyrule Warriors (2014) for the Wii U, fan demands increased for a Warriors interpretation of the Fire Emblem series.[12] While working on the expanded release Hyrule Warriors Legends, its producer Yosuke Hayashi wanted to work on this project, feeling the combat mechanics of the series would be a good fit with a Warriors title. Once work was completed on Hyrule Warriors Legends, Hayashi submitted his proposal to Nintendo and Fire Emblem developer Intelligent Systems on a Fire Emblem-based title, who both accepted.[13] He then talked to director Hiroya Usuda, who was also eager to work on the project.[12] Production was handled by established Dynasty Warrior developers Omega Force and Team Ninja studios, interior teams within Koei Tecmo.[14] While the core team members of Hyrule Warriors were carried over, most of the team were chosen by Hayashi based on a request sent through the company for staff who were fans of Fire Emblem.[12][15] Intelligent Systems acted as project supervisor for included characters.[2]
Nintendo was in the middle of production for the Nintendo Switch, and at their invitation the team made Fire Emblem Warriors a multiplatform title for both Switch and New Nintendo 3DS.[16] Usuda remembered the team being worried whether the Switch would be easy to develop for, but described it as "a very easy hardware to develop for."[13] When choosing gameplay features, the team went through the best-known features of both Fire Emblem and Warriors, choosing features that would best fit together.[7] Some features, such as the Weapons Triangle, were difficult to implement and needed adjustment for the action-based combat so players could both be strategic and enjoy the action combat.[13][17] Notable inclusions from Fire Emblem were character permadeath, and a "casual" mode which disabled the former feature; the team included both to cater for both casual players and chose seeking a mechanical challenge.[18] To rebalance the gameplay, some characters' weapons were changed such as Lissa from Awakening using an axe in combat rather than a cane, which was featured as a generic healing instrument.[19] Drawing on their experience designing the horse Epona for Hyrule Warriors, the team designed the horse-mounted characters to have dedicated combat and abilities.[12] The strategic elements were in part taken from a tactics management system included in Samurai Warriors: Chronicles and later Hyrule Warriors Legends; the system had partially inspired the team's wish to create a Fire Emblem crossover.[15]
The game's scenario was co-written by Koei Tecmo's Yuki Ikeno, Ryohei Hayashi, Mari Okamoto and Masahiro Kato.[20][21] The main plot of gathering gems for the Shield of Flames was directly inspired by the game's theme of different Fire Emblem characters being drawn together, following series conventions as they had done with Hyrule Warriors. Some story scenes were decided so they would lead into homages to other Fire Emblem titles.[17] An early decision was to use young twin protagonists who would strengthen with the help of established characters, with their appearance and dialogue described as an important factor to make the game stand out.[16] Yelena and Darios were incorporated to add a backstory to the twins' narrative, as Usuda and Hayashi felt the twins alone would seem shallow.[15] The character writing was overseen by Intelligent Systems, ensuring that characters would talk to each other convincingly, and that those with intimate relationships would have different ways of speaking appropriate for their partner.[12]
When choosing Fire Emblem characters to feature in the story, the team decided to limit their picks to New Mystery of the Emblem, Awakening and Fates. This narrowed approach was so the team could get a balance of characters with multiple weapons, as choosing only series leads would result in a large number of sword users and unbalance the planned gameplay systems.[7] Character selection was also dictated by which Fire Emblem games were available worldwide.[12] When including Robin and Corrin, respecting protagonists of Awakening and Fates who had selectable genders, the team chose their more iconic or popular genders as their default appearence (male for Robin, female for Corrin). Their alternate genders were included as unlockables.[18] Popular characters Lyn from The Blazing Blade and Celica from Gaiden were included in other roles.[13] Lyn was the only character included from The Blazing Blade so the team could focus down onto specific character narratives.[17] Celica was chosen for inclusion over her counterpart Alm to avoid replicas of other Fire Emblem leads, and to have a magic-focused character.[8] The History Mode was included so more iconic scenes could be included outside the main story.[17] Voice recording for the whole game took three months.[16]
The game's art director was Yuta Matsunaga, who was selected by Hayashi from a number of volunteer candidates. The first character designed for both 2D and 3D was Awakening protagonist Chrome, with Matsunaga saying he needed to get Chrom's design right before the other characters could be designed. Matsunaga needed to strike a balance between the original character designs, the game's graphical design, and input from Intelligent Systems.[17] The twins Rowan and Lianna were designed to appear different from other Lord characters within the Fire Emblem series.[2] To keep the game's CERO rating low, some characters such as Camilla from Fates had small clothing redesigns to portray them as "cute" rather than suggestive.[17] Some idle animation poses, such as those of Chrome and Lucina, also needed changing to be more distinct from each other.[19] Lyn's character design was based on both the original character art and her character model from the Super Smash Bros. series. The original monsters were difficult to design, with early designs being compared negatively by Hayashi to plushies. To fix the issue, the team emphasised their crustacean-like armor and using colors inspired by poisonous animals.[17]
The game was announced in January 2017 as part of a Nintendo Direct broadcast dedicated to the Fire Emblem series,[22] although it had already been in development for around two years before this time.[2] It was released in Japan on September 28, 2017, and released in North America, Europe, and Australia on October 20, 2017.[23]
Downloadable content
Three packs of paid additional content were announced before the game's release.[24] Each pack added three new playable characters, new support conversations, and three new maps for History mode, in addition to new weapons, costumes, and other content.[25][unreliable source] Each of the DLC on a different Fire Emblem game: Fates, Shadow Dragon, and Awakening respectively. If all three packs were bought together in the season pass, an additional costume was unlocked.
Fire Emblem Warriors received mixed reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic, with the Nintendo Switch version holding a score of 74/100 based on 72 critic reviews and the New Nintendo 3DS version receiving a score of 69/100 based on 12 reviews.[26][27] The game received praise for bringing a more nuanced, textured experience to the musou genre,[34] but drew criticism for its shallow take on traditional Fire Emblem mechanics and roster choice.[35]
The Nintendo Switch version sold 41,491 copies within its first week on sale in Japan, while the New Nintendo 3DS version sold 18,357 copies.[36] In April 2018, Koei Tecmo revealed that the game sold 1 million copies worldwide.[37]
During the development of Fire Emblem Warriors, Intelligent Systems were working on the next mainline entry, Fire Emblem: Three Houses for the Switch. Wanting the game to release by 2019, Intelligent Systems contacted Hayashi about the possibility of Koei Tecmo assisting development. Hayashi agreed, and Three Houses was co-developed with Koei Tecmo's Kou Shibusawa division.[38][39]
After production finished on Three Houses, Koei Tecmo approached Nintendo and Intelligent Systems about developing a sequel to Fire Emblem Warriors; due to their earlier collaboration, it was decided to produce a follow-up based on the Three Houses setting. Hayashi returned as producer, while Hayato Iwata came on board as director and Intelligent Systems's Toshiyuki Kusakihara acted as character designer and project supervisor.[40][41] The game, titled Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, released worldwide on June 24, 2022 for the Switch.[42]
Notes
↑Known in Japan as Fire Emblem Musou (ファイアーエムブレム無双)
↑According to an interview, Darios's fate is left deliberately ambiguous.[11]
↑Jeremy Winslow (October 18, 2017). "Fire Emblem Warriors Review". CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
↑Meghan Sullivan (October 24, 2017). "Fire Emblem Warriors Review". IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on April 18, 2018. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
↑Janine Hawkins (November 20, 2017). "Fire Emblem Warriors review". Vox Media. Archived from the original on November 28, 2017. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
