Fire Emblem Warriors introduces key Awakening & Fates characters and Bond Level

After previously revealing Marth and Chrom, as well as original characters in the first batch, Koei Tecmo Games have posted a new information batch for Fire Emblem Warriors in today's Weekly Famitsu magazine. This batch introduces the key Fire Emblem Awakening characters shown in the Japan Expo trailer, and also the main Fire Emblem Fates characters introduced at E3. It also explains a bit of the Bond Level system, which is analogous to the Support Level system in mainline Fire Emblem games.

Characters

From Fire Emblem Awakening:

• Robin: A mysterious person who was rescued by Chrom when he collapsed on the wayside. When he woke up, he already lost his memory. He has a natural talent in tactics, and he has been assisting Chrom in various strategies as his strategist. His class is Tactician, which is his first class in the original game. He will fight by using a magic book.
• Lissa: Chrom's sister, and also the princess of the halidom of Ylisse. She has a bright and innocent personality suitable for her age, and she always encourages her friends. Her first class in the original game was a Cleric which could heal allies' HP, but in this game, she wields an axe and fights on the frontlines by herself. Just like War Clerics in FE Awakening, she also excels in close-range combat while being a healer.
• Lucina: Chrom's daughter who comes from the future world. In the early parts of the story, she claimed to be the legendary hero Marth. Since [the real] Marth from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon also appears in this game, we are wondering on whether she'll have conversations with him.
• Frederick: Chrom's retainer, and the vice-captain of the Shepherds. He's a wise man with a humble way of speaking, but he also has a flaw in being too serious. In FE Awakening he could use various weapons, but in this game, he will fight with an axe.

From Fire Emblem Fates:

• Corrin: The protagonist of Fire Emblem Fates. In the original game the gender could be chosen between male or female, but in this game, she will appear as a female. Her fighting style is using the Yato blade, and she can also transform into a dragon.
• Ryoma: The high prince of the kingdom of Hoshido, and Corrin's elder brother. He is the only Swordmaster who can use the high-powered sword Raijinto, and he fights against the kingdom of Nohr with his siblings.
• Xander: The high prince of the kingdom of Nohr, who was raised together with Corrin in their childhood. He is a Paladin who wields an exclusive weapon, the Siegfried.

Gameplay

You may have noticed that although Robin and Frederick's classes allowed usage of multiple weapon types in the original FE Awakening game, in Fire Emblem Warriors they will only use Magic and Axe respectively. According to Famitsu, characters in this game will get to use one weapon type from Sword, Axe, Spear et cetera.

We also learned about the Bond Level in this article. When a character fights together with another character in the battlefield, the bonds with each other will gradually deepen, which is visible with a heart mark popping up above the character. When enough bonds have been accumulated, the Bond Level will increase after the battle has ended. Once the Bond Level has been maxed, a special Bond Conversation between the two characters will occur.

This week's batch also explained a part of a storyline event. In the Japan Expo trailer, you may have noticed that Chrom's body suddenly glows and releases blue lights. These lights would afterward gather to form a blue orb which is then placed on the kingdom of Aytolis' Shield of Flames.

Fire Emblem Warriors will be released for Nintendo Switch and New Nintendo 3DS on September 28th in Japan, and later this fall in North America and Europe.