Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War: Difference between revisions

| title= Seisen no Keifu

| image= [[File:Ba_japan_fe04.png]]

| caption=Japanese boxart of ''Seisen no Keifu''.

| developer= [[Intelligent Systems]]

| publisher= [[Nintendo]]

| designer= [[Shouzou Kaga]]<br>[[Gunpei Yokoi]]

| released= '''Super Famicom'''<br>{{JP}}May 14th, 1996<ref>GameFAQs: [http://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/564404-fire-emblem-seisen-no-keifu/data Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu Release Data for SNES]</ref><br>'''Wii Virtual Console'''<br>{{JP}}January 30th, 2007<br>'''Wii U Virtual Console'''<br>{{JP}}April 27th 2013

| ratings=  

| platforms=*[[Super Famicom]]

| predecessor= {{FE3}}

| successor= {{FE5}}

'''''Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu''''' ({{hover|ファイアーエムブレム　聖戦の系譜|ファイアーエムブレム　聖戦の系譜}} ''Fire Emblem: Genealogy of Holy-War'') is a [[Super Famicom]] game released in 1996. It is the fourth game installment in the {{FES}}, and the second for Super Famicom.  The game is set in the same universe as its predecessors, {{title|Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Tsurugi}} and {{title|Monshou no Nazo}}, but over a thousand years in the past and in a different part of the world; contemporaneous events and civilizations from [[Archanea (nation)|Archanea]] are referenced in the game<ref>''[http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%82%A4%E3%82%A2%E3%83%BC%E3%82%A8%E3%83%A0%E3%83%96%E3%83%AC%E3%83%A0-%E8%81%96%E6%88%A6%E3%81%AE%E7%B3%BB%E8%AD%9C%E3%82%92%E9%81%8A%E3%81%B3%E3%81%A4%E3%81%8F%E3%81%99%E6%9C%AC-%E3%83%9D%E3%82%B1%E3%83%83%E3%83%88%E3%83%96%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9-%E3%82%AD%E3%83%AB%E3%82%BF%E3%82%A4%E3%83%A0%E3%82%B3%E3%83%9F%E3%83%A5%E3%83%8B%E3%82%B1%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3/dp/4944000448 Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu Player's Guidebook]''; notes translated by [http://www.serenesforest.net/general/designer4_2.html Serenes Forest]</ref>.

''Seisen no Keifu'' is set in [[Jugdral]], a land whose rulers bear the holy bloodlines of the [[Twelve Crusaders]]. The game is split up into two halves, separated by the timespan of a generation. In the first generation, while most of his nation's army is off to war in the eastern nation of [[Isaach]], Lord [[Sigurd]] defends the duchies of [[Grannvale]] from a sudden invasion by the neighbouring Kingdom of [[Verdane]], but is rapidly embroiled in a conspiracy against his father, [[Vylon]], in the events which ultimately lead to the birth of the Grannvale Empire, and in the machinations of the [[Loptyrians]] to create a human vessel for their dark god [[Loptyr (dragon)|Loptyr]] - the same tyranny fought by his son, [[Seliph]], seventeen years later in the second generation.

In the year Grann 757, war was beginning, with the bulk of Grannvale's army deployed to Isaach in retaliation for what they perceived to be an unprovoked strike against Darna.  With no perceived opposition, King [[Batou]] of neighbouring [[Verdane]] took the opportunity to launch an invasion of Grannvale at the behest of [[Sandima]] of the Loptyrians, and his son [[Gandolf]] conquering [[Jungby]] Castle and abducting its Lady [[Adean]].  In response, Sigurd of [[Chalphy]] led his limited forces in defense of Grannvale and pursuit of Adean, later joined by [[Quan]] of [[Leonster]] and his wife [[Ethlyn]], Sigurd's sister, and by [[Lex]] of [[Dozel]] and [[Azel]] of [[Velthomer]].  After reclaiming Jungby and realising that Adean had been captured, Sigurd was visited by Velthomer's Lord [[Arvis]], who passed on the well-wishes of King [[Azmur]] and a [[Silver Sword]].

After seizing the bordering Evans Castle, Sigurd received a royal messenger informing him of his elevation to the status of "Holy Knight" of Grannvale, and then led the group in a direct foray into Verdane itself.  On the way, he encountered the errant Princess [[Ayra]] of Isaach, forced to serve Verdane while her nephew [[Shanan]] was held hostage.  Sigurd liberated Shanan and convinced Ayra to defect to his army.  Meanwhile, Prince [[Jamke]] released Adean and [[Dew]] from their imprisonment, then left to confront his father about his misgivings over the invasion.  Batou continued to parrot Sandima's claims and defenses and ordered Jamke to launch a full offensive against the invaders, but after Jamke left, Sandima attacked Batou for asking questions about his claims.  After conquering Marpha Castle, Sigurd encountered [[Deirdre]]; the two instantly became enamoured with each other, but Deirdre nonetheless fled.  They met again as his forces passed through the [[Verdane#Spirit Forest|Spirit Forest]], and Deirdre offered to assist in combating Sandima and confessed her newfound love for Sigurd.   

After killing Sandima and conquering Verdane Castle, Sigurd found the dying Batou, who passed on to him the news of the machinations of the Loptyrians, their efforts to revive their "dark god" and how they had infested much of the world.  Some time afterward, Sigurd and Deirdre married.

''Seisen no Keifu'' is an unusual beast among the series.  Its general gameplay is rather different, and it boasts a large number of unique systems and features alongside introducing several gameplay points which would go on to become series staples.

This is one of the main factors in ''Seisen no Keifu'''s replayability; since the women can be paired with almost any men, who heavily influence the children, units in the second generation are quite variable. A child's stats, growths and skills are determined by those of their parents, so different fathers will yield different combinations and accordingly different results.  Additionally, a child's starting inventory is mostly comprised of the inventory of their same-gender parent as of the end of the first generation, though they will only inherit weapons if they are capable of using them by default with a few exceptions.

''Seisen no Keifu'' was the debut of the [[skills]] system, abilities possessed by individual units designed that can change the course of a battle. Here, skills are classified into two groups, albeit some of them, such as [[Pursuit]], can be in both.  

Unlike other games where weapon [[durability]] is more variable and limited, most weapons in ''Seisen no Keifu'' have a durability of fifty uses. After that they break, as normal, but the remnants do not disappear as in other games. In allied [[castle]]s, weapons can be taken to a weapon repair shop to be restored to full uses, for a fee equivalent to a portion of their [[worth]] depending on how many uses need to be restored. On the other hand, their availability is very limited; there are not many of each type, and only some bosses give one when defeated.  

Also unique to ''Seisen'' is its '''weapon kills''' stat, which corresponds to the amount of enemies defeated with an individual weapon. Once it reaches 50, the weapon gains the [[Critical (skill)|Critical]] skill. For each killing after the fiftieth, the bonus increases{{hover|*|The maximum bonus is 50, obtained after killing 100 enemies with the same weapon}}.  Conversely, the standard [[crit]] stat normally possessed by weapons does not exist in lieu of this system; the few killer weapons which exist in the game instead give the Critical skill by default.

''Seisen no Keifu'' marked the debut implementation of another series staple: the [[weapon triangle]]. In its incarnation in this game, whenever a unit attacks, they receive a 20% bonus to their [[hit rate]] if their weapon bests the enemy's choice according to the weapon triangle; should the opposite situation be true, though, the unit receives a penalty of 20% to their hit rate.<br>There are two weapon triangles, one concerned with physical weapons and one wtih tomes:  

{{Main|List of characters in Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu}}

{{FE4}}'s cast is divided roughly equally by generation. 24 units are playable in the first generation, while 25 are playable in the second generation, counting child units and their equivalent substitutes as one unit per pair; however, in the second generation, only 24 are playable in a given playthrough, as the player must choose between recruiting [[Johan]] and [[Johalva]].  [[Finn]] is the only character to be playable in both generations.  The game's total playable cast - first generation, second generation, both children and substitutes - consists of 62 characters.

{{main|List of chapters in Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu}}

At twelve chapters, ''Seisen no Keifu'' is ostensibly the second-shortest game in the series, behind {{title|Gaiden}}; however, each chapter is more comparable to numerous individual chapters contained within one, being enormous and requiring the seizing of multiple castles per chapter.  It is also the only game in the series where the entirety of gameplay takes place on exterior siege maps, with none of its action occurring inside cities, villages, castles, fortresses, ships or anything similar.

* Along with {{title|Thracia 776}}, ''Seisen no Keifu'' is the only game in the series which existed as of 2008 to not be referenced at all in {{SSBB}}; every other game in the series which existed at the time has some degree of representation, whereas ''Seisen'' and ''Thracia'' do not.

A fan translation patch was completed as late as 2007, by ''Twilkitri'' and ''j2e'' of the board Fire Emblem Sanctuary of Strategy<ref>Fire Emblem: Sanctuary of Strategy: [http://forums.grandbell.net/index.php/topic,147.html FE4 Translation]</ref>. The main story of the patch is largely complete, but there are points such as couple coversations at the main castle and the opening demo where the text remains untranslated, and as a result of the means by which English text was implemented is rendered as an assortment of gibberish; furthermore, attempting to view the ending simply crashes the game.  As of April 2012, an effort is currently underway to improve the patch<ref>Serenes Forest: [http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=31680 Improving the Genealogy Translation Patch]</ref>.

File:Ba japan fe04.png|Japanese boxart

File:Ba japan fe04 back.png|Japanese boxart inverse

|jap-name={{hover|ファイアーエムブレム　聖戦の系譜|Faiā emuburemu seisen no keifu}}

|jap-mean=Officially Romanized as '''''Fire Emblem: Genealogy of Holy War'''''.<br>The title refers to the [[Holy Blood]] and children mechanics of the game.

[[Category:Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu]]