Its is the year 757 on the Grann calendar. The continent of Jugdral has been thrown into unrest as an incident has ignited the flames of war between the Kingdoms of Grannvale and Isaach. The noble houses of Grannvale are forced to turn their attention towards this growing conflict, leaving their own homeland weaker for it. Although there are parties within its borders looking to seize power, there is a more immediate problem: brigands invading from Grannvale’s neighbor, Verdane. This is the story of the son of one of Grannvale’s house Chalphy, Sigurd, standing up to this threat when no one else was around to do so. And, of course, the march of incidents following that will change his life and the course of Jugdral’s history.
Genealogy of the Holy War is not the first game of the series that came to the Super Famicom. No, that would be Mystery of the Emblem, and while I didn’t LP that game, I did cover the remake of it. So while Fire Emblem started on SFC by telling the second story of Marth, I think the series’ presence on the console is defined by the Jugdral duology. Holy War is probably the most unique game in the series, both in terms of presentation and definitely in gameplay. It is simultaneously a set of ideas that I’m almost certain Intelligent Systems will never touch again, and also several mechanics that would live on through the rest of the series. But if you want a basic idea of how this plays, it’s your typical loadout of units in a Fire Emblem game. Only you get to deploy everybody, and you’ll be gallivanting across the continent to take on each and every squadron that’s thrown against you. There are quite a few more mechanics at play, but I’m not going to bog down the intro paragraph with them. Needless to say, though, this is a very dense game. Both in terms of gameplay, and in story. It’s been a while since I’ve had to add this, but please don’t spoil anything that hasn’t happened in the thread. Because a lot happens, and it’s cool to watch it play out over the course of the game.
Prince Gandolf of Verdane has led his forces to lay waste to one of Grannvale’s territories, Jungby. And in his attack, he has kidnapped Lady Aideen. With most of Grannvale’s army currently engaged against an entirely different country, it’s up to Sigurd of Chalphy to pursue the Verdane army and rescue Aideen! Of course, he’s not alone in his endeavor, (although in terms of gameplay he could be,) because he has his knights with him. As well as his friend and brother-in-law. Also two guys he sort of knows who are only here because one of them has a crush on Aideen. So you know, he’s got a pretty sizable force, actually.
I just played through the entirety of Engage and am trying to do at least one run of Three Houses before Fortune’s Weave comes out. Really excited to see where Sigurd comes from.
Good luck getting through a route in Three Houses, that game can be pretty dense when it comes to the between-chapter stuff. It’s also weird that they made the Black Eagles route the best one by a mile but ah well I won’t argue with IntSys on that. Although if you enjoy 3H, it does actually take quite a few ques from this game. The Crests and Holy Blood aspects are an obvious similarity, but I think they also put similar care into their worldbuilding as well.
DiMaggio is down and Jungby has been liberated. But Verdane isn’t done yet, as they still have Aideen and control of Evans. Sigurd’s forces prepare for one last push to take back territory from Gerrard, and luckily for them there’s one more figure here to give Sigurd an edge that, let’s be real, he didn’t exactly need. But I won’t look a gift sword in the blade so yeah, sure, give him a strong weapon.
Sigurd has been named a Paladin and tasked with pursuing Verdane’s forces back into their country. Today we’ll learn the ropes of our home castle before heading out to clash with Gandolf’s forces. Unfortunately, today’s also the day we need to navigate a hostage situation if we want a good woman coming out of this battle alive. Or Finn. We also prefer when he isn’t cut open like a tin can.
The situation with Ayra’s been diffused, but unfortunately the brigands are still a problem. We march on Marpha with a new ally in tow, but we’ll need to do it quickly if we want to save that one village from being burnt to the ground. In less distressing news, today’s the day Sigurd sees a woman for five seconds and falls head-over-heels for her.
Sigurd has taken most of Verdane. While the threat of pillaging and most of the Princes have been taken care of, the battle isn’t over yet. Jamke finally takes the field in hopes of repelling the invaders, but in his absence the new advisor of the country makes his move.
Verdane has been conquered, and eyes are falling on Sigurd, the man who saved the day/took over an entire country. And unfortunately, he’s about to be thrust into another situation that could be terribly misconstrued. Augustria is in an uproar over Grannvale’s accidental power grab, and their animosity towards outside influence is only growing. This doesn’t help the fact that the king was recently murdered, and everyone’s pretty sure the job was done by the king’s son, Chagall. But no matter what the case is, Chagall isn’t friendly towards us or Eldigan. He’s thrown Augustria’s greatest knight in prison, and he’s allowing Heirhein to do as it pleases to Nordion in his absence. This war in Augustria may have started civil, but if Sigurd wants to save his friend Eldigan and his sister, he’s going to have to get himself involved in this altercation.
While Nordion has been saved, Sigurd can’t ignore the fact that one of Augustria’s lords is pillaging his own villages in the confusion. And to make matters worse, that lord has decided to get a mercenary squad to move in and take out the Grannvale invaders. But while Sigurd’s army takes on those mercenaries, time is running short for the villages Macbeth is stripping down for parts. Thankfully, it seems there’s a pair in town that can handle those bandits themselves.
Chagall has tricked a squad of Pegasus Knights into fighting against Grannvale’s knights. And considering they just have winged horses, they’re in a pretty good position to just fly over to our castle and take it over. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that our main forces are trying to approach Mackily. They’ve deployed ballistae, but the more concerning thing is the guy with the magic staff that makes you go to bed immediately.
