User Reviews (11 - 21 of 47)

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Wow. Wow. Wow. Phenominal.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: November 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I only got this game today, and I've only made it to chapter 4 or 5, but... I swear I could not stop playing this. One thing that has always irked me about games are the "lives" concept. Fire Emblem is truly unique in the concept of "he's gone, he's gone. Forever.". For once I have to really think about my actions in a game, and this pleases me since I prefer games where strategy is key. One thing, although this is pretty silly, that I like about this game is the character art. It BUGS ME big time when you have no good graphic pictures of the characters you talk to. I like to know what a person really looks like. Plus the art in this game is just plain amazing. Ever since I've started drawing anime, I appreciate this kind of thing more.
I have not much more to say other than this is a great game and should not be passed by. If you like playing direct combat, however, this is not for you, as (or as far as I've gotten) there's none of that in here. Otherwise, buy this game!

A game with brains

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: December 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Not only does this game challenge your brain in the gameplay, but in the story as well. Inbetween strategizing, there is a an awesome story about class and race; its political and social strife, rife with emotion. While the story is complex and convoluted, it never loses its logical train of thought.

I have but one gripe: the presentation is lacking. Though the character designs are top notch (the hawk king is awesome), the music is bland, and the gameplay and character interaction animation barely scratches what is possible on the Gamecube. I lived for the cutscenes, which were drop-dead gorgeous, but few and far between.

Overall, a good game. A must for starving Gamecube owners. So buy this game and then maybe the next home console iteration (Revolution, please?) of the game has a bigger budget that could improve the presentation.

Best fire emblem game ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: November 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Fe:por is the best gamecube game i've ever played.A very solid stratgey game,here are the goods and bads
The Good
*Excellent music,you'll have some songs stuck in your head for days or even months!
*Amazing writing,really brings the characters to life [how good you ask? Nintendo Power gave it the 2005 best story/writing award]
*3-d cutscenes,a first for the fire emblem series
*Tons of unlockables [A music player,Concpert art from the 3 fe games,and bonus maps]
*Over 40 playable characters
The bad
*the grahpics are not very good
*There are only 6 cutscenes,which is one every 4 hours!
*The final boss was wayyyyyyy to easy
A very good game,i can't wait for the sequal! [note:if someone dies in the game,there gone forever unless you restart the chapter.I beat the game with no one dying,so it is kind of easy]But this game is short,i wish nintendo would bring the other 6 to north america [there are only 3 in the U.S.]

Ridiculous replay value

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: February 25, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Path of Radiance is an incredible game that I've spent waaayyyy too much time on, simply because there are so many characters to choose from, and thus so many different tactics to use. It's an excellent turn based strategy game that requires much more planning and attention to enemy movement capabilities than other similar games (e.g. FF Tactics). The only real gripe I have with the game is the fact that you cannot revive characters once they die, so you may find yourself in the position of nearly complete with a stage when an enemy gets a lucky critical hit on one of your guys and destroys him, leading to you beating your controller against your head / swearing liberally as you reach for the reset button and prepare yourself for another hour of the same exact stage. Thus, I only gave it 4 "fun" stars, because having your characters die is definitely NOT fun. Otherwise, I love this game, and highly reccommend it.

Pure 'Fire Emblem'

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Having just finished this game about 10 minutes ago, and being a big "Fire Emblem" fan, I can conclude with absolute certainty that it's one of the best in the series and will be enjoyed by many for quite a long time to come. "Path of Radiance" (you'll get over the name soon enough) is a rich, engaging, downright fun tactical masterpiece.

Sure, the overall scenario is nothing terribly different, especially for the "Fire Emblem" series of late -- it's pretty much the usual tale of a mad idiot who throws kingdoms into conflict, prompting a noblewoman and a growing group of warriors to rise up and put a stop to it. However, this particular story -- the saga of Princess Elincia, her level-headed hero Ike, his band of mercenaries and family secrets, and the uneasy relationship between two races of people throughout the world -- is still well told and has many intricacies that keep things entertaining.

The gameplay is classic "Fire Emblem," and if you don't know what that means, it's time you learned (you can either just give the game a try or read the rest of this paragraph; I'd suggest the former). Generally, the player and computer take turns making a series of moves, during which two teams of characters are directed into positions on a playing field. Eventually these individuals come across one another and engage in brief one-on-one battles, each attacker usually (except when bows are in the equation) having one of three types of weapons. It's a paper-rock-scissors kind of thing, and an advantage is often created when one weapon has power over another. Also on the field sometimes are healers and others who help out. This whole process continues until the mission goal (usually beating the boss) has been met.

If you're already familiar with the series, then you can rest assured that this entry doesn't disappoint; there are even some things, both on the field and off, that have been nicely streamlined for convenience. Another nice gameplay element are the various personal skills that many characters can acquire, enabling various special abilities in battle, such as always attacking first (even when an enemy starts the fight), having a high chance of performing a critical when one's hit points are halved, etc.

On the aesthetic side of things, "Fire Emblem" has made a great transition to polygons, and the 3-D battles are looking great. Of course, the FMV cinema scenes are simply beautiful, and the voice acting is actually pretty good, particularly at the end. About the only glaring weak point overall is the music, though this is easily forgivable. The battle themes for about half the game are rather silly, but get better after a while, and there are indeed a few standout tunes that hold up well. An area in which the "FE" games tend to excel is the writing itself -- narrative and especially dialogue -- and while I wouldn't quite put this one on the same level as the previous game in this regard (that being number 8, dubbed "The Sacred Stones" in English), it still amounts to an up-to-standard, highly respectable script that's enjoyable to read through.

From start to finish, "Path of Radiance" is a great game -- a polished, well-presented entry that honors both this series and its fans.

This Game Is Awesome!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 29, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I've always been a big fan of the Fire Emblem series, and this is not a disappointment. I picked out the first Fire Emblem to go english at a local video game place. But that's besides the point.

The point is, this game is INCREDIBLY engaging. And I mean that in the sense that you actually have to think to play it. No offense to people who like games like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, but in that game someone can lose all their life and it doesn't really affect all that much of the game. All you have to say is "D'oh, Benkman died. I guess I'll keep playing." However, in the Fire Emblem games, if someone dies, they are GONE! And that means that you can never use that character again on that playthrough, unless you restart the level. Some people think I'm retarded for liking that, but that element of the game really makes you plan out a strategy instead of just using the full-forward blitzkrieg strategy (unless you are doing it with Titania in the first few chapters ^_^).

Also, another aspect of the game is skills. They can make a severely underleveled specimen of mage -cough-Soren-cough- into your best character (that's what happened in my case, anyway). Skills can't be called on to activate right when you need them to, though. However, a few of them such as vantage and parity activate in every battle.

Something else new to the Fire Emblem series is animated cutscenes. I admit that these aren't as good as the rest of the game, considering that a grand total of five people actually appear in them and one of them is actually a whole three seconds long. Other than that, they're ok.

I know I keep going on about new stuff, but the Laguz are AWESOME! The only downside to them is about two fifths of the time they can't fight. Another note on the units, they introduced the first soldiers in an English Fire Emblem, and they aren't horrible like the enemy ones have been in the past two games.

The base is one concept you have to enjoy. You get to purchase items, award bonus experience, (I honestly don't see how anyone can possibly complain about the bonus exp. because you can hand it to people and give them free levels!) assign skills, have support converstions, and get information from several different people. The only downside to information is that it always has to have Ike (the main character) somehow involved in it. One star conversations always are desired for solely humorous effect, two star conversations usually have tips for the next battle, and three star conversations always get you something. Also, a new feature is the forging items. You can create more powerful than normal weapons, but it's incredibly expensive. I like the base more because you can do pretty much what you did in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones only you get a whopping thirty chapters (I think)instead of twenty-one like in Sacred Stones (in Sacred Stones they give you the incredibly monotonous tower of valni to get extra training in). In the original Fire Emblem, (please note that I am only reffering to those currently released into English) you had to do ALL your shopping and selling in the middle of battles, which I found to be difficult because I didn't want to separate an important fighter from the fray to head off to a shop or armory.

A lot of people complain about how much talking there is before and after the fighting, but if you hit this wonderful invention called the start button you can skip all the dialogue in the game. I, however, do not advise skipping large quantities of dialogue. Most people I know that own this game really like the storyline so if you are one of the unfortunate few who hates it too bad.

All in all, this game is definitely worth buying and deserves to be called a sequel to all of its predeccesors.

An Amazingly New, Yet Classic Title

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

i've played different Fire Emblem games on my Game Boy consoles, but this one tops them all. this game is the epitome of sticking to what works, yet adding great detail and advancements within it at the same time. i've been playing this game for about a week now, and i've yet to grow tired of it.

i've read some of the other posts, and i think others have said things like "it's dull" or "the characters are faceless." but i disagree with these other opinions. i've enjoyed the course taken thus far by Ike and his companions. this story teachers a valuable lesson, as well. any parent ought to be proud that their child is playing this game for the story.

other rpgs are just filled with the typical "well there's an evil guy out there and i must defeat him." although much to the degree that this Fire Emblem is to that concept, it goes much deeper in the retrospect of understanding a community. the relationship between the Laguz and the Beorc is quite similar to that of our own racial relationships. so, assuming you're an open-minded and thoughtful person who happens to enjoy the course of a Strategy-RPG, you'll probably have fun with this game.

fire emblem for game cube

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: December 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

this fire emblem is one of my favorite games you can get many different things like get new characters for your army you have many different types of warriors which is cool the higher the level warrior the stronger he is this is a good game to think about what you will plan up next make sure your warriors dont die you also have different modes you can play like easy normal and hard the characters you start off is titania ryes soren oscar boyd you will have to find out who the other people you will meet yourself (smile) this game gets harder as u go on remember plan your moves carefully

Best Fire Emblem Yet

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: November 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is awesome! I got it and couldn't stop playing! The graphics are awesome! I played the two english fire emblems before it, but this one beats them all. The story line is pretty good,the graphics are awesome, cool new 'abilities' or 'skills', and able to choose weapon after class change. The only con for this game is that if you've ever played Fire Emblem Sacred Stones, you will find out that this game loses the choices of classes to change into. Multiple chapters or 'levels' to play through, many recruitable characters, new types of magic, and a bunch of new weapons. There are also new classes, including beasts and ravens. I hope you buy this game and that this guide has been helpful to you.

I'll simply add this

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: January 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I won't re-hash what others are saying but I'll weigh in on the perma-death issue.

This game is in fact loads of fun if you are a fan of the genre but the perma-death issue can be maddeningly frustrating. To sum it up if your characters run out of HP in battle they are gone for good. You lose them for the rest of the game because there is no way to revive them after the stage is over.

While this adds to the tactics and prohibits kamikaze runs it can royally tick you off while playing. To play a single stage for nearly an hour while advancing carefully and thinking tactfully etc only to have a character die because for one turn you made a mistake and left a weak spot in your unit's formation or some enemy got in a lucky critical that literally drains your characters entire life bar in one hit can drive you mad. I understand realism and all but this is a video game and video games are supposed to be fun and that is NOT fun.

Again I did give the game high rankings and this game is a total blast to play but I'll caution you now. The perma-death feature literally has the potential to have you throwing your controller across the room in anger and frustration.

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