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[radiant-future]

Se'arah (GAMEPLAY)

Se'arah covers the shoto archetype, as one might expect given they're the main character. Se'arah's gender can be chosen by the player, but has no bearing on gameplay.

Se'arah's stated class is Wanderer, changing to Dark Hero after a certain point in the story, and he/she wields a sword in an improvised fighting style that incorporates street brawling. He/she has a Movement of 5 by default. His/her Map Action is Rally Spectrum, increasing the attack, defense, and in-battle ground speed of all allies within 3 spaces when used.

Se'arah's Creature is a Tiger, built into a shape resembling a four-wheeled buggy.

Se'arah's battle stance is a made-up one that is humanly possible but very impractical for fighting, with his/her sword raised in his/her left hand to be nearly even with his/her head, as if perpetually readying a stab forwards, while his/her right arm crosses over his/her body defensively.

For Se'arah's "entrance animation" in battle, he/she walks in while twirling his/her sword, stopping with it in his/her battle stance. His/her taunt is a fancy shuffle in place on his/her feet while saying a quip to his/her opponent.

Se'arah has four choices of weapon, like most characters, but a fifth one is obtained in the story and can be used in multiplayer upon completing the story.

Silver Sword: The basic all-rounder. Is Silver by default in PVP, but starts as an Iron Sword and can be upgraded to Silver in Story Mode.

Killing Edge: Overall less damage, but increases the Skill Gauge gain per hit. Can be upgraded to Slaying Edge in Story Mode, but remains a Killing Edge in PVP.

Brave Sword: A noob's weapon of choice, this weapon has mostly the same stats as the Silver Sword, but grants a few autocombos that deal less damage and grant less reward than performing the same combos manually would, like Dragon Ball FighterZ autocombos.

Firesweep Sword: A hyper risk/reward sword. The Firesweep Sword has the most damage of any sword and can break guards, but if a foe initiates combat, your own attacks are disabled for the first 10 seconds of the round, so you cannot fight back for a third of the engagement. As a saving grace, if you have a Turbo Mode effect active, it won't start depleting until you can attack again.

Alondite: Substantially slows down the frame data of all of Se'arah's sword attacks, but has comparable damage to the Firesweep Sword, doesn't lose any combos, and changes his/her Sword Wave from a grounded shockwave to a large multi-hit sword beam.

Now, on to Se'arah's actual moveset.

Universal Normals: 5L: A backfist with his/her right hand. 5M: A swipe of his/her sword across his/her shoulder. 5H: A meaty overhead sword swing. 5S: A forward-stepping stab.

2L: A swift crouching side kick. 2M: A crouching sweep kick. 2H: An overhead sword arc, think Ike up smash. 2S: A jumping uppercut that brings Se'arah into the air, allows him/her to combo into a jumping attack on hit.

j.L: A diagonal downwards elbow swing. j.M: A diagonal heel kick. j.H: An overhead sword swing that delivers a hard knockdown. j.S: A circular sword swing that covers a full 360º area. 6S (Advancing Overhead): A lunging bash with the hilt of his/her sword. 4S (Retreating Low): Se'arah drops on his/her back and thrusts both feet out before curling up his/her legs, rolling backwards, and rising to his/her feet. Sk (Throw): Se'arah swings his/her right arm up and out, then drives his/her hand forward to grab the foe. On success, he/she knees the foe away with a forward or up input, sweeps their legs out from under them with a backward or down input, or hurls them straight down if he/she is airborne.

Command Normals: 6M/Right Stick Forward: A hilt bash with Se'arah's sword in reverse grip. j.2L/Right Stick Down (stick input automatically shorthops): A divekick with substantial hitstun to lead into grounded combos.

Specials:

236L/M/H: Quick Draw - Se'arah dashes forward with a wide sword swing. Light is about the same distance as 5S, Medium is slow but travels further, and Heavy has him/her freeze in place for a bit before dashing the fastest and furthest.

236S: Sword Wave - Se'arah rakes his/her sword against the ground, slinging a shockwave as a standard Hadoken-esque projectile. In his/her Alondite variation, this attack is changed to a sword beam with slower startup but a faster and stronger projectile.

214L/M/H: Sol - Se'arah performs a leaping crescent slash, the archetypal Dragon Punch. Medium rises higher than Light, while Heavy has him/her arc backwards through the air once the attack is no longer active, letting him/her avoid an anti-air punish.

214S: Patience - A parry. Se'arah crosses his/her sword over his/her chest in a reverse grip, and if struck, he/she can immediately perform any move and it will start on its first frame with an active hitbox.

Skills:

236Sk: Luna - Se'arah raises his/her sword high before swinging it in a crescent arc. If this attack hits a blocking foe, it breaks their guard, staggering them. If used in the air, Se'arah plummets toward the ground with a sword hitbox all the way down. Sol can combo into Luna even if it misses, which grants no special properties but creates a sequence of movements near-identical to the iconic Aether.

214Sk: Eruption - Se'arah throws his/her sword, which flies toward the foe's current position, then rushes to catch it and makes an omnidirectional blast of wind (fire in Alondite variation) upon reaching it.

Critical Strike: 41236Sk: Renegade Aether - Se'arah pulls his/her sword all the way back and lifts his/her front leg, shouts:

"I'm done with you!"

"It's OVER!"

"Your life is mine!"

"Underestimated me!"

He/she then lunges with a slight jump to stab it forward. On hit, he/she impales the foe and swings them over his/her own shoulder, then back around in circles like a windmill, scraping them against the ground repeatedly, before flinging them into the air and bringing them back down in a plummeting slash. In his/her Alondite variation, the final impact makes a fiery explosion.

[radiant-future]

Reblogging with controller inputs because I did forget those, as well as the "Creature Mode" mechanic. I’ll be using general controller terms as well as the buttons on a Nintendo Switch controller.

Left face button/Y: Light attack in battle/quick-select for Attack on map

Top face button/X: Medium attack in battle/quick-select for Items on map

Right face button/A: Heavy attack in battle/Select on map

Bottom face button/B: Signature attack in battle/Cancel on map

Both bumpers/L and R: Skill in battle/quick-switch between highlighted units or selected unit’s sub-menus on map

Left trigger/LR: Assist in battle/change to Creature Mode if applicable on map

Right trigger/ZR: Assist in battle/quick-select for Map Action on map

Left stick and D-pad: Movement (character in battle; cursor, menus and units on map)/directional input in battle; click stick in battle to taunt

Right stick: quick input for command normals in battle/move camera on map; click stick in battle to taunt

Creature Mode expends a portion of the Skill Gauge to change a selected unit on the map to be riding their Creature or in their Laguz transformation, if applicable. Creature Mode doubles the unit's Movement and stuns a foe for the first five seconds of combat if the unit initiates, but will end once the stun has been used (not if a foe initiates).

THE GAME

Radiant Future's gameplay takes place on a traditional Fire Emblem map with your usual assortment of units, terrain types, obstacles, et cetera laid out on a grid. The player and enemy take turns moving all their units, choosing what to do with them, yadda yadda yadda.

HOWEVER. The roster of playable characters is quite small compared to the average Fire Emblem game, and furthermore each character has only a small number of different weapons they can use (usually 4). Inventory management only matters for consumable items, as weapons do not break, and when a weapon is purchased for a character it becomes permanently added to a special inventory slot. When I start talking about individual characters I'll include the weapons available to them.

Each character has a Map Action - an active ability they can spend their turn on, like Rally Spectrum or Dance.

A form of Biorhythm exists as a double-edged snowball effect. Instead of fluctuating based on the individual character as a chapter progresses, your Biorhythm improves every time you pull off a combo of 10 hits or more, and worsens when you whiff 10 moves in a row in a single engagement, representing the character's confidence and doubt. Since Hit and Avoid are gone, Biorhythm affects Attack and Defense.

Stats and levels still exist. As mentioned, Hit and Avoid are done away with. The Dexterity/Crit stat determines the rate at which the Skill Gauge fills relative to damage dealt, the Speed stat shaves frames off the startup of a character's moves, the Luck stat extends the character's window for a successful perfect block, and the Movement stat has the same effects on the map as always, but also determines in-battle walking and jumping speed. Range still affects how far away you can initiate combat from, but there is no instance where one unit can fight and the other can't, unless there's an item or Map Action that can force a unit to start combat in a stunned state.

Promotions and class changes are done away with entirely, even for the Avatar, as this is a fighting game and it wouldn't be as fun if you could deal with every single enemy by throwing a General with super armor and a guard crush super at them. However, characters do still have stated class names, which can give you some idea of what they're about.

Oh, right, the actual fighting game side of things. Should probably get into that. THAT begins when you use the Attack command - at the same point where a real, official FE game switches into an automated sequence that plays out entirely by comparing stats and calling RNG. Instead of that happening, the unit you use to attack and the unit you attacked are thrust into a 2D plane with health bars at the top of the screen, three-segmented Skill Gauges (super meters) at the bottom, and a 30-second timer in the middle. The fighting units do entrance animations, pausing for dialogue if they have a special interaction, and then the fight begins.

There are five main button inputs: Light, Medium, Heavy, Signature, and Skill. Skill is used sparingly, primarily for supers, while Signature can be compared to the Slash input from Guilty Gear, in that you tend to get a 100% character-specific move out of it.

Your objective in combat is not necessarily to defeat your opponent. Your average unit can take substantially more of a beating than even some bosses in official FE. When the 30-second timer runs out, the game returns to the map screen and each unit's HP is set to what it was at the end of the engagement. This also applies if you KO the opponent before time runs out—the engagement immediately ends, the victor's HP is adjusted if applicable, and the loser disappears from the map. It may be worth it not to overcommit to defeating an opponent in one round, and to instead deal risk-free chip damage to soften them up for later. All units have their own separate HP meter, but the Skill Gauge is shared between everyone on the same side.

The Weapon Triangle exists in a form. Instead of hard number superiority, lances have the longest reach, axe-wielding units tend to have a lot of armored moves that let them push through lance disjoints, and swords have a way to beat super armor, whether with counters, command grabs, or just hitboxes that ignore armor. The Anima Magic triangle does not share this property.

Weapon types are not as strict as in real FE games—the Avatar's fighting style is best described as "sword with some unarmed street brawling thrown in"—but represented weapons include the core weapon triangle; bows; knives; at least two spells from each of the Fire, Wind, Thunder, Dark, and Light groups; staffs; gauntlets/martial arts; Laguz transformations and weaponized Creatures mimicking them; and guns that shoot non-elemental magic bolts instead of bullets.

Last thing for now: If you start combat while adjacent to an ally, you can make use of a sixth in-battle input: Assist, which is shared with a quick-select for your Map Action on the map screen. The Assist input summons the adjacent ally into battle to perform one of their special moves, just like in a tag-team fighting game sans most of the tag mechanics. If you start combat while adjacent to multiple allies, you can only choose one to be your Assist for the engagement.

[radiant-future]

Se'arah (STORY)

Our protagonist with the player's choice of gender is Se'arah (pronounced like "Sarah" but with a pause to make the S its own syllable, derived from the Hebrew word for "storm"), a Branded of tiger Laguz heritage. Se'arah is a polar opposite of the typical Fire Emblem main character in a lot of ways.

His/her hair is black, a color that is uncommon but still "normal" compared to most Lords and Avatars having various technicolor shades. The most standout thing about Se'arah is that he/she is a Branded, but as mentioned in the main Story post, Branded aren't considered particularly special anymore.

He/she is not of noble birth; in fact, basically the polar opposite. His/her parents were executed war criminals, and Se'arah is an outlaw who starts the story getting imprisoned for crimes he/she and his/her friends 100% did, in fact, commit.

He/she is not a natural leader, nor naturally kind, nor particularly wise or clever. He/she is rude, impulsive, and pretty much only the face of the party because he/she always takes point.

Se'arah is the "leader" of a group of street rats living in Sienne, capital of Begnion, in an abandoned building that used to be a government office. He/she starts the story with three friends - Tremont the white dragon Laguz who dabbles in science and mad conspiracies, Leah the Branded witch who channels her magic into devices to cast spells remotely, and Brendan, a Berserker from another world who abandoned his home reality to seek a challenging adventure in this one.

As they win battles and get dragged into new conflicts, the group expands, making allies of both fellow criminals and folk of higher status. They even earn the favor of Sienne's governor Uighur, a descendant of Oliver, allowing them to receive a full pardon as they earn the title of "heroes" the hard way, as well as stay at his place when they inevitably end up with too many members for the hideout to accommodate.

[radiant-future]

THE GAME

Radiant Future's gameplay takes place on a traditional Fire Emblem map with your usual assortment of units, terrain types, obstacles, et cetera laid out on a grid. The player and enemy take turns moving all their units, choosing what to do with them, yadda yadda yadda.

HOWEVER. The roster of playable characters is quite small compared to the average Fire Emblem game, and furthermore each character has only a small number of different weapons they can use (usually 4). Inventory management only matters for consumable items, as weapons do not break, and when a weapon is purchased for a character it becomes permanently added to a special inventory slot. When I start talking about individual characters I'll include the weapons available to them.

Each character has a Map Action - an active ability they can spend their turn on, like Rally Spectrum or Dance.

A form of Biorhythm exists as a double-edged snowball effect. Instead of fluctuating based on the individual character as a chapter progresses, your Biorhythm improves every time you pull off a combo of 10 hits or more, and worsens when you whiff 10 moves in a row in a single engagement, representing the character's confidence and doubt. Since Hit and Avoid are gone, Biorhythm affects Attack and Defense.

Stats and levels still exist. As mentioned, Hit and Avoid are done away with. The Dexterity/Crit stat determines the rate at which the Skill Gauge fills relative to damage dealt, the Speed stat shaves frames off the startup of a character's moves, the Luck stat extends the character's window for a successful perfect block, and the Movement stat has the same effects on the map as always, but also determines in-battle walking and jumping speed. Range still affects how far away you can initiate combat from, but there is no instance where one unit can fight and the other can't, unless there's an item or Map Action that can force a unit to start combat in a stunned state.

Promotions and class changes are done away with entirely, even for the Avatar, as this is a fighting game and it wouldn't be as fun if you could deal with every single enemy by throwing a General with super armor and a guard crush super at them. However, characters do still have stated class names, which can give you some idea of what they're about.

Oh, right, the actual fighting game side of things. Should probably get into that. THAT begins when you use the Attack command - at the same point where a real, official FE game switches into an automated sequence that plays out entirely by comparing stats and calling RNG. Instead of that happening, the unit you use to attack and the unit you attacked are thrust into a 2D plane with health bars at the top of the screen, three-segmented Skill Gauges (super meters) at the bottom, and a 30-second timer in the middle. The fighting units do entrance animations, pausing for dialogue if they have a special interaction, and then the fight begins.

There are five main button inputs: Light, Medium, Heavy, Signature, and Skill. Skill is used sparingly, primarily for supers, while Signature can be compared to the Slash input from Guilty Gear, in that you tend to get a 100% character-specific move out of it.

Your objective in combat is not necessarily to defeat your opponent. Your average unit can take substantially more of a beating than even some bosses in official FE. When the 30-second timer runs out, the game returns to the map screen and each unit's HP is set to what it was at the end of the engagement. This also applies if you KO the opponent before time runs out—the engagement immediately ends, the victor's HP is adjusted if applicable, and the loser disappears from the map. It may be worth it not to overcommit to defeating an opponent in one round, and to instead deal risk-free chip damage to soften them up for later. All units have their own separate HP meter, but the Skill Gauge is shared between everyone on the same side.

The Weapon Triangle exists in a form. Instead of hard number superiority, lances have the longest reach, axe-wielding units tend to have a lot of armored moves that let them push through lance disjoints, and swords have a way to beat super armor, whether with counters, command grabs, or just hitboxes that ignore armor. The Anima Magic triangle does not share this property.

Weapon types are not as strict as in real FE games—the Avatar's fighting style is best described as "sword with some unarmed street brawling thrown in"—but represented weapons include the core weapon triangle; bows; knives; at least two spells from each of the Fire, Wind, Thunder, Dark, and Light groups; staffs; gauntlets/martial arts; Laguz transformations and weaponized Creatures mimicking them; and guns that shoot non-elemental magic bolts instead of bullets.

Last thing for now: If you start combat while adjacent to an ally, you can make use of a sixth in-battle input: Assist, which is shared with a quick-select for your Map Action on the map screen. The Assist input summons the adjacent ally into battle to perform one of their special moves, just like in a tag-team fighting game sans most of the tag mechanics. If you start combat while adjacent to multiple allies, you can only choose one to be your Assist for the engagement.

[radiant-future]

THE SETTING

The year is 1650, and the sun dawns on a new Tellius. The continent has developed and expanded into a high-tech civilization, yet for the most part, the individual nations remain similar to how they were over a thousand years ago.

Many laguz imbue their power to transform within vehicles called Creatures, either riding these machines as mounts to be both human and animal at once, or selling them to beorc. Creatures are the way of transportation of the future, to the point that horses are becoming increasingly close to an antique pet for the wealthy rather than a staple steed.

As for the Branded, the ways once solely of the kingdom of Hatari are now common conduct throughout the land. Branded are no longer regarded as freaks and their parents as outcasts, letting them properly integrate into society as normal people.

Those born in this era are blessed, for it is predicted that this very year, the goddess Ashunera will return to the world.

But this era has also been one of strife. The scars of the Revelation War burn fresh; an event less than 15 years prior in which a group of "revolutionaries" unleashed a titanic mobile fortress of a Creature, a three-headed mechanical monster aptly called Apocalypsis. Apocalypsis was destroyed and every last one of its creators put to death, but the legacy of those days lives on in the present. A new threat has risen, calling themselves the Agents of the End Times, and their mission is to "carry out judgement on humanity," just as Ashera had threatened to do a millennium ago...