FEDA In the early 1990s, Sega had captivated many people with Shining Force for the Genesis due to their unique take of the Tactical RPG genre. However, there is one particular game that would be the answer to Shining Force. That game is FEDA: The Emblem of Justice for the SFC. It was developed by a small company called Max Entertainment and was published by Yanoman. At first glance, you would think this is a knock-off to Shining Force. That's because the artwork was created by the same character designer, Yoshitaka Tamaki. Although the flow of the game is identical to its Genesis counterpart, there are numerous aspects of the game that would set apart from Shining Force. After its inception in 1994, it had spawned a remake and a sequel a few years later. FEDA: The Emblem of Justice and the sequel have shared a recurring theme: getting through the flames of war. Massive conflicts constantly break out due to corruption from a prominent empire. With weapons of mass destruction being constantly seeked out, tensions and hostilities is a norm among other species. To many, peace is only a fleeting moment in Mildras Garz. The FEDA series emphasize the emblem system. In both games, they tell your overall performance in combat. For example, did you do your objectives accordingly or how well did you manage your allies in battle. This will give you extra bonuses if you succeed. Lastly, both games have distinct objectives at the start of the battle. It's up to you on how you approach it because your performance will change the battlefield. Although the first game and the sequel shared many similarites, they take on vastly different approaches on the FEDA formula. Unfortunately, the entire series had never seen the light of day outside of Japan. However, only FEDA: Emblem of Justice for the SFC had gotten the fan-translation treatment. Please note that some of the names below are based on the fan-translation. FEDA: The Emblem of Justice - SNES and Sega Saturn (1994) The planet Mildras Garz is dominated by the demi-humans in the previous wars. Because of the outcome, the demi-humans had created the Balformia Empire. With most of the land occupied by the empire, the leaders have suggested totalitarianism among the weaker nations. The story revolves around two Balformian soldiers: Brian Stelbart and his Wolfling ally Ain Macdougal. Suffering from war weariness, Brian cannot tolerate anymore massacre among innocent people. He decides to stand up against his superiors as a result of his frustration towards the Balformian army. Consequently, he is about to be executed for defecting the Balformian Empire. Fortunately, he was rescued by Ain Macdougal and Brian narrowly escapes from execution. As they run away from all the violence and oppression, the people of Skudelian Peninsula is planning to liberate themselves from the Balformian Empire. Characters: Brian Stelbart: A former Balformian soldier who seeks out isolation due to war weariness. Ain Macdougal: Brian's right-hand man. Though Ain is a very proficent fighter, he is very brash and he's not afraid to express it. Dora Systeel: A Foxling who helped out Brian and Ain during their escape. She wields a crossbow. Roiss Hegkmeyer: A female soldier who is constantly looking for a leader for the liberation army. Koumei: One of the tacticians of the Liberation Army. He is a major contributor of the guerrilla warfare throughout the peninsula. Tusk Breastlate: Once a war comrade to Brian, he became corrupted due do powerlust. Cobalt: A profound pope who is neutral towards the tensions between the empire and the liberation army. As the article stated earlier, FEDA borrows several elements from Shining Force. For example, you have the ability to freely explore the town and talk to people. Next, the flow of the battle follows a similar suit to Super Robot Wars; move to a gridline battlefield, select your target and a flashy animation will proceed. Although the turns are based on the person's speed, you can choose anyone to move around. Because of this, the overall flow of the battle tends to be very sluggish due to the fact that you cannot turn off the attack animations. As far as similarities go, this is where the two games diverge. FEDA: The Emblem of Justice emphasizes on the alignment system. It's not based on plot choices commonly seen in other RPGs. It leans more on the gameplay aspects of the game. For example, at the start of the battle, you are presented by the conditions seen on the screen. It is up to you to follow or defy orders. Whatever your decisions are, the pace of the battle varies. The battle could be over within a few turns or it could last for quite a long time. Focus on the objectives and you could be in for a challenge. Also, how well you manage your characters in battle also affects the outcome. For instance, you are in the frontlines and you let your allies take heavy damage. As a result, you heal your wounded allies. This could lead to a demotion due to your carelessness. At the end of the battle, if you follow orders, you will be handsomely rewarded with experience bonuses. If not, chances are, that your alignment will change to a more chaotic side and no experience bounses will be handed to you. For allies captured in battle, you will have to go to a rescue mission and save your allies. However, the rescue mission will cost you dearly. You'll fall a little closer to the chaos alignment. As for the protagonists, it's game over if one of them dies in battle. The actions of what you have done on the battlefield will be evaluated on the emblem system. Naturally, you start out as a Viper, a neutral alignment emblem. Follow orders and you are one step closer to the FEDA Emblem; the highest order of the law alignment. Act rebellious and you will gradually earn the Genocide Emblem; the most chaotic alignment in the game. With those rankings in mind, this will determine what characters you will recruit for the rest of the game. There are characters who are neutral while the others are based on your current alignment. Unfortunately, it's difficult to maintain allies who are on the opposite alignments. For example, if you are currently on the law alignment and you suddenly feel chaotic, you will run to a risk of party members permanently leave your party. Even if you try to stay neutral, some of the alignment-sensitive characters will leave your party before you even hit Viper. Like in many RPGs, your ranking determines the ending; about four endings total. With those in mind, you have to decide early on which path to take. Although it sounds a bit daunting, this allows some replay value. The music in FEDA is mediocre overall. For the first few chapters, you are going to hear the same tune numerous times. When they actually do change up their music, they only played it a few times. Tactical wise, you might exploit many tricks due to the inept AI. Regardless of the presence of other characters, the enemies are likely to target the main characters. For example, if you put a critically wounded character and Brian is standing right next to the critically wounded, sometimes the enemy will go after Brian instead. This can lead to many dumbfounded moments. Even though the rankings can sound stressful, with the right exploits, you can clear the game with no problem. But be careful though, there are some moments of the game where design flaws can occur. There will be times that you are forced to disobey orders. Because of your actions, you will be guaranteed a demotion in your rankings. This can be very problematic for those who are trying to go for the FEDA Emblem. Fortunately, some of the problems presented on the SFC version were addressed in the remake. In 1996, the Max Entertainment had decided to remake FEDA: The Emblem of Justice for the Sega Saturn. This time around, the remake boasts on many enhancements in almost every aspect of the game. The graphics are much more vibrant than their SFC counterpart. Many of the important scenes found throughout the game now had in-game cutscene with voice-acting on it. Also, there are some scenes in the game that had anime FMVs. Many of the soundtracks are remixed along with several original tracks thrown in the mix. Finally, two new characters are added in the remake; each of them are from both ends of the alignment system. Next, minor gameplay tweaks are added. For example, there are some characters in the SNES/SFC version who do not have any special attacks. Well, most of them now have a special attack. Even the main characters gain additional attacks alongside with their existing attacks. Finally, the emblem system is rebalanced so that getting the FEDA or the Genocide ranking is not as easily obtainable as the SFC version. This could be a double-edge sword for some people. On one hand, now it's easier to get some characters from opposite ends of the alignment to fight alongside. As a result, some of the forced decisions are not as severe as before. On the other hand, it's much harder to get closer to one of the extreme ends of the alignment. The only way to make a significant shift is doing the alignment sensitive missions. While it sounds like a definitive version, there are glaring flaws involved. The Saturn version retains the dumb AI. The enemies primarily attack the protagonists over the other characters within the vincinity. Despite the fact it had a significant overhaul, the in-game cutscenes looked like it came out from a low budget Sega-CD games. Some of the voices are not in-sync with the mouth movement; to a point that the characters are talking off-screen. It's disappointing because the voiceovers and the FMVs were actually well-presented for its time. Despite the fact that the presentation looks identical to Shining Force, FEDA: The Emblem of Justice does have enough features that deviates itself from their sister game. Even if you are an old-school Shining Force fan, you should still check out this game because deep down inside, you want to find a game similar to Shining Force. Screenshot Comparisons FEDA - (SNES) 01a SFC FEDA - (SAT) 01b Sega Saturn FEDA - (SNES) 02a SFC FEDA - (SAT) 02b Sega Saturn FEDA - (SNES) 03a SFC FEDA - (SAT) 03b Sega Saturn FEDA - (SNES) 04a SFC FEDA - (SAT) 04b Sega Saturn FEDA - (SNES) 05a SFC FEDA - (SAT) 05b Sega Saturn FEDA - (SNES) 06a SFC FEDA - (SAT) 06b Sega Saturn FEDA - (SNES) 07a SFC FEDA - (SAT) 07b Sega Saturn FEDA - (SNES) 08a SFC FEDA - (SAT) 08b Sega Saturn FEDA - (SNES) 09a SFC FEDA - (SAT) 09b Sega Saturn MP3 -Allegro- Justice Counter-Attack Tomboy Break-through FEDA 2: White Surge the Platoon - PS1 (1997) In 1997, Max Entertainment decided to develop a sequel at the eve of the RPG craze. FEDA 2: White Surge the Platoon is set eight years after the events of FEDA: The Emblem of Justice. With the Skudelian Peninsula declared independence from the Empire, the mainland is beginning to show its cracks. The western and eastern regions of the mainland is currently going through a civil war fighting for independence. Meanwhile, there's also racial tensions between the Dragonewt race and the minorities living in the mainland. The story follows Harvey Winston, a young soldier who is part of the "White Surge" with his fellow allies. They move around the mainland to quell the conflict. Characters: Harvey Winston: Coming from a family of elite soldiers, he enlists himself to the army because he is concerned of the destitute state of humankind. Tom Woodland: A minor character from FEDA 1 now takes a role of second-in-command. Because he was involved with the liberation of Skudelian Peninsula, he has volunteered to become part of White Surge. Still retaining his optimism, he plans follow his sister's anti-war philosophy. Marcia Barnwood: She was once part a group of elite soldiers. However, a political scandal occured which demoted her to a low ranking postion. Minerva Lilac: She is part of a calvary unit along with her two-headed dragon, Shellfer. Her family was part of a prominent defense force that served the Hegkmeyer family. Device: A veteran soldier from the Millennial war. He has extensive knowledge of explosive firearms. Despite of his intelligence, he is a heavy drinker. Often times, he would present himself in the battlefield drunk. FEDA 2: White Surge the Platoon is a huge departure from its predecessor. It takes away the Shining Force feel and follows the conventional tactical RPG route. You no longer have the freedom to walk around anywhere and you are pretty much stuck inside your base until you start the battle. What's even more shocking is that many of the gameplay aspects that was established in FEDA: The Emblem of Justice was no longer applicable in FEDA 2. The alignment system that was once highly emphasized in the previous installment does not exist in the sequel. Because they do not implement the alignment system, the amount of recruitable characters was drastically reduced. You can actually can get all of the characters in a single playthrough as long as you follow directions accordingly. The battle flow in FEDA 2 has some alterations. When you engage your opponent, you'll not be presented with flashy animations found in FEDA: The Emblem of Justice. Instead, you'll see an animation similar to Fire Emblem. You'll see two opponents fight against each other in one screen. Even though it's not the most fluidly animated sprites of all time, the pacing is actually much quicker. The fundemental concept of the Ranking System is still retained; but there significant changes for the formula. Each of the missions still have numerous objectives. It's up to you to follow orders or not. If you decide to defy orders, be prepared to suffer the consequences. The battlefield will change drastically according to the situation. For example, suppose there's a mission that tells you to sneak in and kill the leader without being detected by other enemy units. If you decide to rush in, the enemy units will call in reinforcements and the enemy leader will protect himself. As a result, the duration of the battle could last much longer than usual. Depending on what you do in battle, you'll be rewarded with experience bonuses. Alongside with experience bonuses, if you managed your allies properly, there's a good chance that you'll impress some the NPCs and they will join you in battle. At the end of the battle, you'll be presented with ranking system. It follows the same order: FEDA is the highest rank while Genocide is on the opposite end. The rankings determine the amount of OPM you will recieve. OPM is basically an evaluation on how much supply and goods will be sent in for your base. Obviously, if you perform well, more goods will ship in. Even if you perform poorly, supplies will still be sent in, but in lower quantities. Despite the fact there are less characters to recruit, many of the characters can change classes. For example, Minerva Lilac can battle without her mount. As a result, her moveset drastically changes. There are some characters who can specialize on certain elements. Tom Woodland's initial class can use fire-elemental magic; while his second class specialize on Ice-elemental magic. FEDA 2 has many returning characters from the first game; some of which make a surprising return. With all of the changes, the overall difficulty is much more challenging than FEDA 1. You really need to manage your characters carefully because many of the missions require you to keep all of your allies alive throughout the the fight. FEDA 2 encourages you to follow directions rather than disobeying them. Other than gameplay aspects, the graphics aged quite poorly. Many of the animations are very stiff and lack detail. 1997 is also the year where live-action sequences in video games were all the rage. So, you'll question the developer's decisions with their ten minute opening intro. Majority of their soundtracks are mainly remixes from the first game with a couple of orginal soundtrack thrown in. Overall, many people might get turned off by FEDA 2 due to the drastic departure of the first game. The story of this game certainly keeps its ties with FEDA 1. With that in mind, the interactions from the returning characters will flesh their backstory much further. Finally, if you find that FEDA: The Emblem of Justice is a complete pushover, you'll think otherwise once you play FEDA 2: White Surge of the Platoon. MP3 Battle Theme Character Select Pre-Emptive Attack After FEDA 2's release, RPGs on the PS1 have certainly set itself off worldwide. Many Japanese companies tried to differentiate itself from Squaresoft's works. While that's happening, the Tactical RPG known as FEDA has faded into obscurity. FEDA 2: White Surge the Platoon's story and characters had set itself open for another sequel. But they couldn't do it since the developer has decided to stop making the series. Though we will never see another game like FEDA ever again, their legacy can quench the thirst of those who are dying to find a game similar to the old-school Shining Force.