Fire Emblem

Overview

Gameplay

Many games in the series feature what has been called "the weapon triangle", a rock-paper-scissors like concept that has certain weapons prevail over others. A similar trinity of magic, that varies from game to game, has also existed. In the Game Boy Advance Fire Emblem games, light beats dark, dark beats anima, and anima beats light.In other games, fire beats wind, wind beats thunder, and thunder beats fire. Magic is also unique in that magical attacks can be used from either a distance or in melee range.

Unlike in most other games, most weapons in the Fire Emblem series have a finite number of uses and will eventually break. Therefore, the player must often buy replacement weapons or spend gold to have broken weapons repaired.Typically, weaker weapons allow more uses than more powerful ones.

A very distinct feature that has been a staple of the franchise is permanent death. In fact, characters that run out of hit points die and cannot be brought back to life in the game.This also affects recruitable NPC and enemy units. If a player wishes to continue using a character or to recruit a would-be playable unit that has been killed, then the player must restart that chapter from the beginning. In addition, a "Game Over" occurs whenever one of the main characters falls, or in other situations depending on a mission's requirements. Only under special circumstances, such as being significantly related to the story, will characters who have fallen in battle not actually die, though the player will still be unable to use them in further battles.