Fire Emblem If: Weapon Triangle A Mix of Old and New

Fire Emblem If will be introducing new elements to the Weapon Triangle system: magic, bows, and dark weapons. The system that has been in effect for previous Fire Emblem games stays the same, but with the addition of the new elements: swords and magic beat axes and bows, axes and bows beat lances and dark weapons, while lances and dark weapons beat swords and magic.

There will be no limit on weapon usage, but to balance things out, stronger weapons will have downgraded abilities. For example, the Bronze Sword won’t be able to use special attacks, but it will add +10 to evasion of special attacks. The Iron Sword remains as is, but the Steel Sword loses out a bit on evasion and chances of a follow-up attack. Using the Silver Sword will reduce your critical evasion by 5, while your power and skill go down by 2 during your next turn. The Brave Sword attacks twice, but will lower both your defense and magic defense. All these factors coming into play should make for some very interesting decisions.

We’ll also meet some new characters in Fire Emblem If: the Maid, Felicia; the Butler, Joker; the Great Butler, Gunther; and the Ninjas Suzukaze, Saizou, and Kagerou. Saizou and Kagerou will appear as allies exclusively in White Kingdom, while Suzukaze, Gunther, Joker, and Felicia will appear in both White and Black Kingdom. All of these characters use dark weapons, which have the ability to lower the enemy’s stats, and there will be different weapons in both versions of the game.

Those in Japan can look forward to the June 25 release of Fire Emblem If. Still no news on when it will be released everywhere else.