Another weak, another set of Famitsu details about Fire Emblem If!
In this week’s edition of the magazine we got the following details.
First, Famitsu introduces the game’s Class Change system, which is similar to the one in Awakening. Characters in an basic unpromoted class can use a Master Seal when they’re Level 10 or higher to promote into one of two advanced promoted classes.
The example that is given is about Hinata, a sword-wielding Samurai (a renamed Myrmidon), that can promote into a Trueblade (a renamed Swordmaster, which has superior speed and is adept at landing multiple hits) or a Weapon Master (a new foot-based class that can wield Swords, Lances and Axes).
Like in previous games, promoting still resets the character’s Level to 1, so they can continue to gain experience in their promoted class. However, this game introduces the Parallel Seal item, which we happened to see being used by Joker in a previous post.
As previously thought, the Parallel Seal acts like Awakening’s Second Seal, allowing characters to swap to an alternative class, with the selection of classes being determined by each specific character themselves.
Unlike the Second Seal however, Parallel Seals do not reset a character’s Level and they can only swap between classes from their current class “tier”. In other words, they can no longer change from a promoted class to an unpromoted class or vice versa.
Another example we’re given is that of Felicia using a Parallel Seal to swap from a Maid to a Brave Hero, Bow Knight or Strategist. This detail implies she must have access to the Mercenary (promotes into Brave Hero/Bow Knight) and Rod Knight (promotes into Strategist/Maid) class branches.
Next, they show us some new characters.
Starting from the left side and going from top to bottom, we have:
Cyrus (Cavalier) [Hoshido/Nohr]
A fledgling Nohrian knight. Has known the Avatar since childhood. Is an ally in both campaigns.
Elfie (Knight) [Nohr]
A knight who serves Nohr’s princess Elise. Contrary to her appearance, she possesses amazing strength. Never misses training.
Harold (Fighter) [Nohr] Elise’s subordinate. He fights with the belief that he’s a hero of justice. His one flaw is his exceptionally bad luck.
Hinata (Samurai) [Hoshido]
Hails from a family of samurais who have served Hoshido for generations. Hinata himself serves under Takumi. Quick to quarrel, but thoughtful of his friends.
Oboro (Lancer) [Hoshido]
Takumi’s subordinate, who harbours a small crush for her liege (Takumi). Because of her past experience, she possesses a stronger hatred for Nohr than most people.
Rinka (Oni) [Hoshido]
A fighter born into the “Fire Clan”. Following her father’s (the chieftain’s) orders, she fights to support Hoshido in their battle against Nohr.
Tsukuyomi (Spellcaster) [Hoshido]
Unlike Rinka, he was born into the “Wind Clan”. Despite his young age, he is a talented spellcaster. Hates dark places.
After that, in between the character profiles we can find details on the game’s new skills.
Just like in Awakening, characters can learn new skills as they Level Up in their various classes. Players can freely select 5 skills for each character, from all the skills that character has learned.
In one of the screenshots, we can see that Kazahana has Flowing Strike, Vantage and Strength Seal equipped and a fourth skill in her skill bank. The fourth skill, whose name is a little too blurry to read accurately, might be called “Deathmatch”, and boosts the unit’s damage by 10, but also their damage received by 10. Talk about a risky skill!
As well as class skills, characters now have a personal skill that is fixed and is independent of their class skills, so it cannot be removed. This is the first skill in a character’s list, the one in the top-left corner that is bigger than the rest.
Here’s a list of the showcased personal skills:
Mysterious Charisma [Avatar]
When acting as the support (back unit), if the front unit has a C or higher support, the front unit’s Accuracy is boosted by 10, damage by 2 and damage received reduced by 2.
Desperate Struggle [Hinata]
When at half HP or lower, damage received by swords, lances and axes is halved.
Superpower [Elfie]
When the user’s Strength is 5 or more points higher than the enemy’s, damage increases by 3.
Nohr-hater [Oboro]
When engaging a Nohr-related enemy, damage increases by 3
Unlucky Soul [Harold]
Enemies within a 2 tile radius have their Critical Evade reduced by 15, while the user’s Critical Evade is reduced by 5
Arrogance [Tsukuyomi]
When unit’s Level is lower than the enemy’s (promoted units count as Level +20), damage increases by 4
And finally, some brief examples of class skills:
Defence Seal [Lancer Class] After attacking an enemy, the enemy’s Defence is reduced by 6.
Substitute [Lancer Class] On the map, the user can select an adjacent target to “substitute”. This makes the user and the target swap positions on the map, which would be useful for keeping wounded allies out of harm’s way.
Here are the magazine scans:
Once again, special thanks to Serenes Forest for all the amazing info!
Fire Emblem If is set for release on June 25 in Japan and at later date in 2016 for the rest of the world.