It's kinda long, and I haven't finished the last battle yet, but here it. :) Enjoy.
Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn Review
The Good- Keeps the same great gameplay from other Fire Emblems
- Transferring character bonuses can lessen the difficulty
The Bad-
- Keeps the same gameplay from other Fire Emblems
- Graphics could have been better
- The game would have been better left on the Gamecube
- Does not make use of Wii functionalities
Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn is a direct sequel to 2004's Fire Emblem Path of Radiance. The game picks up 3 years after Path of Radiance left off. The story is divided into four Parts, each occurring directly after the next. Each part will take place in a different territory in Tellius and for the most part will have different characters available to the character. Like in Path of Radiance, you will have a base you visit before each chapter where you can manage items, bonus experience, and support bonds between characters. Support conversations have now been shortened to one line, and hardly make you want to read them, unlike in other Fire Emblem games where support conversations would reveal info about characters. Characters also have Bonds now, but they are preset between characters, and the two characters bonded together must be adjacent to receive the benefits of a bond.
Each battle is played out in a chapter and each will have their own specific objective to complete a battle. The amount of variety between chapters is rather impressive, especially considering the length of the game. Its not just the amount of variety in the missions, but the maps themselves that have variety as well. Some maps will be the standard flat map with a few shrubs and maybe some mountains or something on the outside; nothing really special there. Other maps will have elevation, which adds an enormous amount of depth to battles. Characters higher on the stage gain an extra 50 hit and avoidance when engaging in battle with an enemy. Characters can also climb ledges, which as little as that sounds, can be a boon, or curse, to the player. One map that really stood out was entirely in the air. The level itself was a perfect square with nothing but clouds, which provided defense and avoidance, as map characteristics. The interesting thing about the stage was that the clouds would actually move, which just amazed me for some reason.
Since I am on the topic of variety, there is no shortage of weapons in Radiant Dawn. In terms of magic spells, there are not too many additions, but magic has been improved from Path of Radiance, and the addition of Dark Magic adds more depth to the magic system. Not only has Wind, Fire, and Thunder magic been kept, but they have all be grouped together as Anima when so that magic triangle can remain between Light, Anima, and Dark. As for physical weapons, knives have been a Weapon level now and they remain neutral as to avoid messing with the weapons triangle. Added to weapons are Bronze rank weapons, which are weaker than iron, heavy weapons for Lances and Axes (higher power but lower accuracy), crossbows which have their own Might (so they are not based off of strength) and can be used by certain infantry units without the ability to use regular bows and can attack directly and indirectly, and finally throwing knives. Many of these weapons help to add more depth to battles, mainly the crossbow and throwing knives, and can add to strategy.
There are many new skills in Radiant Dawn as well. Some can be quite helpful on certain enemies, such as Birdfoe which increases damage done to bird tribe laguz. Others, such as Mercy, which always leaves an enemy with 1 HP, are absolutely useless in most occasions, and will hinder you more than help. As for advanced skills, characters automatically receive advanced skills when they are promoted to their 3rd tier ranks. The advanced skills are incredibly powerful, almost unfair. However you'll find that you will rely on these skills later in the game.
Laguz are not left out of the battle improvements. Laguz now have a transformation bar of 30, instead of 20 allowing them to stay transformed longer. Laguz are now capped at level 40 instead of 20, allowing much more stat growth. Laguz can counter attack when they are not transformed, but these attacks are still too weak to do much, and they cannot perform a regular attack for some reason. Laguz also receive specific skills. These skills can be used by all the tribes, or maybe only certain tribes. Advanced skills are acquired by an item called a Latori sign, which grants a Laguz an advanced skill if they are at level 30 or above. Finally, a new laguz tribe is introduced in Radiant Dawn, even though they are not incredibly important to the plot. Oh yeah, and dragons are actually useful now when you get them.
As for the story, the player will start off with Micaiah of the Dawn Bridage. The Dawn Bridage is based in town of Nevassa in Daein, a country devastated by the Mad King's War from Path fo Radiance. Begnion now rules over Daein and treats its people as peasants. The Dawn Bridage fights against Begnion's oppression and attempts to free Daein. Part 2 takes place in Crimea where a civil war due to Queen Elencia's "poor" ruling skills. Certain nobles attempt to overthrow Elencia and take command of Crimea to themselves. Part 3 invloves the Griel's Mercenaries, lead by Ike, and the Laguz nations, except for Goldoa, who form the Laguz Alliance and Begnion. The Laguz Alliance and Begnion constantly battle each other throughout part 3. Part 4 is too crucial to the plot, so I cannot discuss it without spoiling the story. Part 1 is a rather poor addition to the game, and might have been better off left out of the game. In fact, Part 1 is actually hard to play through, and you may not even want to finish Part 1 due to its difficulty and overall feeling of boredom in it. Part 2 progresses the plot amazingly well, and player will immediately forget about the disappointment of Part 1. Part 3 is the bulk of the game, and is probably the best part. The end of Part 3 is such an amazing plot twist, nobody can be disappointed by it. Other than Part 1, the only negative is that you must play Path of Radiance, otherwise you will be confused at many plot points.
One complaint some people might have is that the game doesn't use the Wiimote for motion sensing. Now as a Wii game, Radiant Dawn should at least have the option to use the pointer or tilt controls. Personally, I find that they are unneeded, but the option to use them would not hurt. Online functionality could have been useful for additional maps or chapters. As for other. The lack of graphical improvement is disappointing. The graphics are not bad and they have been improved to a noticeable extent, but they are not anything above Gamecube level.
Overall, Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn is a great successor to Path of Radiance and improves on mostly all aspects of Path of Radiance. The story is poor at the beginning, but quickly picks up later in the game, however, if you have not played Path of Radiance, yo should stay away from this game until you have completed it. The game is incredibly difficult; so much that Normal mode can send veterans home crying, not that the difficulty is a bad thing, but it could alienate newcomers or less experienced gamers from the game. The gameplay is as tight as ever, and minor improvements to the maps and battles can drastically change the outcome of battles. Fans of the series will undoubtedly love Radiant Dawn, while newcomers will find themselves wondering why they bought the title in the first place. The game is outstanding for what it is, and what it is a true successor to Path of Radiance.
9.0 
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