Basic Terms for Fire Emblem
This is a list of terms that I might have used for my reviews of fire emblem for people that have not played the game or gone to a fire emblem fan site like the emblem wikia, or Serenes Forest. I thank those sites for this information, and unless noted so, I claim nothing to be my own.
- Jeigan (FE1/ 11): a veteran pre-promoted unit that joins early in the game with high damage output, but in most cases would end up being weaker than the other units that the player has given that he/ she takes the time to train them. These are known as “Pure Jeigans” whereas units like FE7 Marcus fall under the subtype of Jeigans called “Oifeys”. Oifeys start out more mediocre than Jeigans, but they have more potential. Think of these units as a crutch for just in case of that boss who is too powerful (which in harder modes is not that impossible). They are, however, EXP hogs because another unit might get a better level up from the enemy that the Jeigen took down. Most Jeigen units are horseback units, usually Paladins. This term was coined from Jeigen, an elderly veteran knight in the service of the main characters kingdom in FE1 and the remake Shadow Dragon for DS. Right now, more of the Jeigens are Oifey type at this point.
- Est (FE1/ 10): an unpromoted unit that comes very late in the game at a low level, but has very high potential. Units under this archetype have a tenancy to be young and come off as inexperienced, but that’s part of it. again, this archetype comes from the last of the white wing sisters in FE1/ 10, Est comes in at Chapter 18, about ¾ into the game as a Level 5 Pegasus Knight, low since most characters at this point are either promoted or close to promoting, but with the ability to max every stat she had. These units are hard to train, but EXTREMELY worth it in the end as they surpass even your best units.
- Fa (FE 6)/ Tiki (Chiki FE1/10): a subtype of Est archetypes, this refers to units, usually mamkutes or manaketes, that do not promote, but have even better growths than Est’s. These units will grow at least one point for each stat in every level up, and sometimes two or three points for some stats. Their Achilles heel is their weapon, dragonstones, giving them additional stat boosts, but being the only one in the game, makes them useless without, as they cannot hold weapons, limiting their use. It’s definitely a fair trade, even higher potential than Ests in exchange for limited attacking ability. This archetype’s two creators was Fa, a character in Sealed Sword, is a legendary divine dragon, one of the last of her kind, and Tiki is the same case in Shadow Dragon. Fa joins at Chapter 16 out of 22 (24 for final ending), as a level 1 divine dragon with very weak stats, even with her dragon stone boosting her, but as she level up, her stats start to catch up to the other units, especially her Luck with a 255% growth rate for it, meaning that she will always gain 2 points of Luck and sometimes 3. Tiki is the same case, joining 2/3 through the game with similar gains. This is more commonly put under Tiki’s name, but for me, Fa came first since I never played the original Fire Emblem.
- Merric (FE1/10): This archetype refers to a young male magic user who studies under a master of magic who will usually join the party later, and will usually end up surpassing him. The character, Merric, from Shadow Dragon, is a young mage, studying under the Bishop Wendell character. Usually the unit will come with some form of wind spell if available. They usually will produce good results if trained, in some cases focusing more on Skill, but most focus on Speed. Another similar archetype that stems from this is the Elleren archetype, a fellow student and rival of this archetype. This type sacrifices some Skill or Speed for Magic or Strength if they are physical units.
- Wendell (FE1/10): A Bishop, or in later games a Sage, who is the main teacher of the Merric Archetype character, just as Wendell was the Teacher of Merric in the original Fire Emblem. They have balanced gains compared to both the Merric type and the Elleren types, but will always be surpassed because of them being prepromoted.
- “Tis better to miss twice than to hit once”*: this comes from what is the most important stat, and the answer usually comes out speed because of the ability to double attack. Most cases, it’s better to have two chances to hit rather than one guaranteed hit, especially because you have a chance as well to hit twice, whereas hitting only once might not be enough to KO the enemy, but if you had that one extra hit, he would have been dead. Furthermore, if the opponent gets the chance after surviving your turn, they hit first and might end up killing your unit if given the chance. Speed also helps in avoid rates, so the higher a units speed stat is, the less chance they have for getting hit.
- Bord and Cord: This archetype comes from two Fighter class characters of the same name who’s stats mirror each other, and by that I mean that one will focus on Skill in exchange for Speed and the other will do the exact opposite but aside from that, they will end up with similar HP and Strength with minor differences in Defense and Resistance.