Across theFire Emblem series, there are a number of alternate modes of gameplay. While the most common are difficulty modes, allowing an adjustable challenge for players, other games feature their own types of modes varying the general flow of gameplay or the story, to either the benefit or detriment of the player.

Difficulty modes

Main article:Difficulty

The first game to feature different formal modes of difficulty wasFire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. Since then, almost every game has featured at least two different difficulty modes, chosen by the player at the beginning of a new game. Between games, there is considerable variation in the difficulty of seemingly the same levels. Each difficulty level can change many aspects of gameplay, such as enemy stats, enemy equipment and skills, the number of enemies present, reinforcement timing, artificial intelligence, and much more.

Paragon Mode

Main article:Paragon

This gameplay mode appears only inThracia 776.

InThracia 776,Paragon Mode (Japanese:エリートモードElite Mode) is a secret gameplay mode, unlocked by inputting a button combination at the "New Game" menu. In this mode, every playable character has theParagon skill applied to them, doubling theirexperience gain; characters who already have Paragon in normal gameplay or are currently wielding theParagon Sword have the effect doubled, gaining quadruple the experience.

Fire Emblem Gaiden has an identical mode which comprises itsEasy mode.

Eliwood's, Hector's, and Lyn's tales

These gameplay modes appear only inFire Emblem: The Blazing Blade.

Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade is divided into three "tales", each focused around one of the threeLords.Lyn's tale (Prologue toChapter 10) andEliwood's tale (Chapter 11E toFinal) comprise the initial "main story"; on an initial playthrough, the player plays through both of them back-to-back. Upon completion of the game for the first time, the player gains the option to choose either game mode upon starting a new game, as well as the option to choose Hector's tale (Chapter 11H to Final). Hector's tale is a retelling of Eliwood's tale from the perspective ofHector; it differs in that it features six unique chapters (Another Journey,Talons Alight,A Glimpse in Time,Crazed Beast,The Berserker, andThe Value of Life), two unique recruitable characters (Farina andKarla), a number of potential ending variations based on gameplay performance, minor rewrites introducing new subplots and sequences, and a generally higher difficulty.

Additionally, all three tales have a matching Hard Mode, with "Hector Hard Mode" being the most difficult mode inThe Blazing Blade; "Lyn Hard Mode" and "Eliwood Hard Mode" are unlocked upon completing the game once, while "Hector Hard Mode" is unlocked by completing "Hector Normal Mode" once.

Each tale is associated with one save file color, regardless of difficulty setting. Lyn's tale saves are colored teal, Eliwood's tale files are a bright blue, while Hector's tale uses a darker steel-blue.

World map

Main article:World map

While manyFire Emblem series games use the world map simply for narration, several games have an explorable world map where the player characters may move to and from locations chosen by the player.

Creature Campaign

Main article:Creature Campaign

This gameplay mode appears only inThe Sacred Stones.

InFire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, after completing theFinal Chapter, the player may choose to continue the save file in Creature Campaign mode. It is an endless post-game mode where the player can fight inskirmishes, accumulate experience, and seek higher records in theTower of Valni andLagdou Ruins. By meeting certain criteria in the Tower and Ruins, the player is rewarded with various important characters and antagonists from the main story to use as playable units.

Random and Fixed Modes

Main articles:Growth rate andGrowth point

These gameplay modes appear only inPath of Radiance andEngage.

Upon completingPath of Radiance for the first time, the player receives the option to choose betweenRandom Mode andFixed Mode upon starting a new game. These modes are concerned with variances in thestatistical growth of playable units. Random Mode is merely the standard way growth rates work throughout the series, whereas Fixed Mode implements a new system revolving aroundgrowth points. Using the growth rates of characters as their base growth point values, further growth points in stats are accumulated through defeating enemies and vary depending on the weapons and items equipped by the unit, and higher growth points in stats result in greater increases in the stats in question.

This option returned inFire Emblem Engage. By default, Normal and Hard mode use random growths, while Maddening uses fixed growth. Switching modes can only be done after having beaten the game on that difficulty; e.g. beating Hard does not allow choosing Maddening random growths. InEngage's fixed growths mode, each character has a hidden decimal number for each stat. At level up, the character's growths are added to each stat and they gain 1 point if their hidden stat value passes a new whole number.

Classic and Casual Mode

These gameplay modes appear only inNew Mystery of the Emblem and later games.

One of the most well-known caveats of theFire Emblem series is its use ofpermanent character deaths. InNew Mystery of the Emblem,Casual Mode was introduced, an effort to soften the blow for players new to the series by disabling permanent death for the course of a playthrough. Instead, characters who are defeated in battle merely retreat, and return in the next chapter as if nothing ever happened.Classic Mode is the other option, enabling the standard permanent-death setup of the series. Both of these options are separate from the difficulty modes and are chosen separately, allowing the player to, for example, enable Casual Mode on a Reverse Lunatic playthrough. The Classic/Casual Mode options returned inAwakening, working the same way; Casual Mode is renamedNewcomer Mode in the European English release of the game.

InNew Mystery of the Emblem,Awakening,Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, andEngage, the defeat of the main characters still gives a game over, while inFates andThree Houses the main characters retreat like other units.

Phoenix Mode

This gameplay mode appears only inFates.

Fates introducedPhoenix Mode,^[1] a mode wherein fallen characters are resurrected the turn after they are defeated in battle. In this mode characters do not say anything when defeated. Unlike Casual and Classic, Phoenix Mode can only be played in Normal Mode.

Exploration

In someFire Emblem series games there are segments of gameplay where the player has direct control of the main character and are not under the restrictions of the grid ormovement values.Gaiden andEchoes: Shadows of Valentia have these invillages anddungeons,Fates has this whenCorrin is managingMy Castle,Three Houses has this whenByleth is teaching atGarreg Mach Monastery, andEngage has this whenAlear is exploring theSomniel. During these segments the player controls the main character and are able to interact with other characters and other things depending on the game.

Etymology and other languages

Lyn's Tale

Eliwood's Tale

Hector's Tale

Classic

Casual

Phoenix

Gallery

References