[Updated] Fire Emblem if: revamped Weapon Triangle, new characters, more

Update

We updated the post with various details: two new characters and some miscellaneous details.

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This week, Famitsu features an article about the latest entry in the Fire Emblem series: Fire Emblem if. In fact, the magazine will have new information about the game every week until its release, on June 25th in Japan.

Thanks to leaks, we already have quite a lot of details from this week’s issue of Famitsu, starting with a major change regarding the Weapon Triangle. If you’ve played at least one game in the Fire Emblem series, you obviously know about it, as it’s been in most of the games since 1996.

In previous games, the Weapon Triangle was as follows:

– swords are strong over axes;
– axes are strong against lances;
– lances are strong against swords.

But in Fire Emblem if, the Weapon Triangle has been revamped, and is as follows:

– swords and magic are stronger than axes and bows;
– axes and bows are stronger than lances and dark/hidden weapons (such as knives and shuriken);
– lances and dark/hidden weapons (such as knives and shuriken) are stronger than swords and magic.

Famitsu magazine also gives some additional details about weapons. As announced last week, weapon durability has been removed, but obviously, there’s a catch. In fact, the stronger a weapon is, the more disadvantages a unit will have with abilities. Here’s two examples:

• Bronze Sword: Not critical hits, but Critical Evade +10
• Iron Sword: nothing special
• Steel Sword: Avoid -5, double attack threshold -3
• Silver Sword: Critical Evade -5 (after using it: Strength and Skill -2 until next turn)
• Brave Sword: allows you to launch 2 consecutive attacks, Defense and Resistance -4

In other words: weapon durability may have been removed, but that doesn’t mean you will be able to arm your units with overpowered gear:  you will still have to abide to certain restrictions. What’s more, healing staves still have a limited number of uses. One last tidbit: weapons can now grant Avoid.

Next, we have some new characters:

Allies in both games

• Felicia (voiced by Nozomi Sasaki): A Maid;
• Joker (voiced by Junichi Suwabe): A Butler;
• Gunther (voiced by Rokuro Naya): A Great Knight;
• Suzukaze (voiced by Daisuke Ono).

Allies in White Knight Kingdom

• Saizou (voiced by Tarusuke Shingaki);
• Kagerou (voiced by Rie Murakawa): a shinobi.
• Oboro: a Lancer, use an Iron Naginata with Defence and Resistance +1

Allies in Dark Knight Kingdom

• Cyrus: Cavalier

Apparently, the Maid, Butler and Shinobi classes all use dark/hidden weapons, which are said to have weakening effects on enemy abilities when they attack them (which compensate their relative weakness). Finally, Famitsu confirms what was already mentionned last week: there will be weapons that can only be found in one version of the game.

Here’s the Famitsu preview:

Fire Emblem if (3DS) comes out on June 25th in Japan, and next year in Europe and North America.

Source: Famitsu
Via: Hachima / Gematsu / Serenes Forest