Nickname: Fire Emblem Path of Awesome
Ah Path of Radiance. My first Fire Emblem game. This game brings back a lot of happy memories for me. Like many other people I first heard about Fire Emblem through Super Smash Bros. Melee. I mained Marth and did pretty good with him back in the day. Naturally I was intrigued about Fire Emblem. I liked the description in Marth and Roy’s trophies and I had to see for myself what this Fire Emblem was all about. Toward the end of 2005 I stumbled across Path of Radiance in the video game aisle in Target. I didn’t care about the fact that the blue haired guy wasn’t Marth, I just wanted to play it because it had the title of “Fire Emblem” on it. Little did I know that this would be the beginning of something special. Path of Radiance holds a special place in my heart and even 11 years later I am still very attached to it.
Plot: In my opinion this game has a wonderful plot and tells its story in a refined way. The game does a good job of introducing the Greil Mercenaries first before the plot kicks in. That way you can’t help but care about what happens to these characters when the crap hits the fan. The progression of events is well done and each part of the journey is memorable. By the end of the story you feel like you’ve progressed with Ike the whole way through which gives the story a satisfactory and triumphant feeling. The game knows how to do revelations right. Think of when Volke tells Ike about Greil’s history. It’s not only tragic but it also tells us a great about Greil and it tells us more about the Fire Emblem and why it’s important that the good guys hold onto it. Greil’s death is handled really well too. It gives Ike a personal stake in the fight against Daein and it makes the Black Knight all the more menacing. It helps to make the fight against the Black Knight at the end of the game all the more exhilarating and emotionally charged which is why its so satisfying to beat him.
Something I have to praise Path of Radiance for is its world-building. This game has phenomenal world building. The countries and locations that the player visits come across as memorable, unique and distinctive. How these countries interact with each other and what kind of history some of the characters have really adds to the overall experience in a meaningful way. The laguz do a wonderful job of adding to the world building and they’re not just there to be some cool gimmick. The laguz help to add to the themes of racial tension that Path of Radiance does a good job of exploring.
Something else that I noticed is the fact that Tellius is the most female friendly Fire Emblem world to date. By the end of Radiant Dawn all the beorc nations are ruled by women (Crimea is ruled by Elincia, Daein is ruled by Micaiah and Begnion is ruled by Sanaki) and then there’s also Nailah, who is the queen of Hatari. Then we get multiple kick butt female characters like Titania, Jill, Lethe, Marcia, Mia, etc.
Overall Summation: Path of Radiance has a fantastic story. Everything from the progression of events to the world building to its revelations really adds to story making it unique, memorable and easy to get attached to.
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