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Plot

Three years have passed since the Daein-Crimea war, where the mercenary Ike led the Crimean army to defeat Daein's Mad King Ashnard. Both Daein and Crimea are still stabilizing after that war. Daein is ruled by the Begnion garrison, after Crimea relinquished rule over their defeated country, and they are oppressed by the imperial soldiers. In the first of the game's four parts, a group of chivalrous thieves, which includes fortune-teller Micaiah, fight Begnion's oppression and attempt to liberate Daein and bring back power to the royal family.

The efforts of the Dawn Group are the beginning of a much larger conflict. In the next part, Crimea's Queen Elincia fights against conspiring nobles, who plot to overthrow her. The following part sees the Greil mercenaries assist the united Laguz army as they go to war with the Begnion Empire. The consequences of this war can be seen in the fourth and final part, where the Dawn Group and the Greil mercenaries join forces to defeat the Begnion senate and the goddess high above at the Guiding Tower.

Characters

Akatsuki no Megami features most of the Path of Radiance cast, including all of the previous game's playable characters (except for Largo), as well as a collection of figures new to the Tellius Fire Emblem universe.

Gameplay mechanics

Akatsuki no Megami carries over the gameplay mechanics of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, with some changes.

The game features 45 chapters, compared to Path of Radiance (30 chapters, prologue included), which are unequally divided into four parts. Each chapter features a "leader" character, comparable to the Lord characters in previous games. For example, the leader of Part 1 is Micaiah, and Ike is the leader of most of Parts 3 and 4. Other leaders, such as Elincia, Geoffrey and Tibarn, play minor roles.

The number of playable characters totals 72, with 42 returning characters from Path of Radiance and 30 new characters. If a Gamecube memory card with a cleared Path of Radiance save is inserted, data can be transferred from the save file. Characters who have reached close to their maximum power level will receive small statistics boosts in Akatsuki no Megami, and some other characters, like Calill and Sothe, receive additional boosts. Character weapon ranks will also be transferred if they are higher than the default levels in Akatsuki no Megami. The game also introduces the SS weapon rank, higher than the S of previous games. Coins collected from Path of Radiance will appear in Ike's merchant during Part 3.

Akatsuki no Megami features two types of supports: Buddy supports and Bond supports. Buddy supports (simply called "Supports" in previous games) increase their characters' battle stats dependent on the elemental affinity and support level of both Buddies. Characters can only have one Buddy at a time, although Buddy supports can be deleted. Characters in Buddy supports will have a short conversation at the beginning of each battle. Bond supports, which also appeared in Path of Radiance, are between two specific characters and are always present. They give bonuses to Critical and Dodge. A-level supports from a transferred Path of Radiance file become Bond supports in Akatsuki no Megami, and the support conversations unlocked can be read in a support library after the game is completed.

Beorc (human) units can now promote twice, resulting in three tiers of character classes. Most of the 1st and 2nd tier classes are Fire Emblem staples, such as Myrmidons and Swordmasters. 3rd Tier classes are the strongest of all classes; the character automatically learns their class's Occult (ultimate) skill upon promotion. To promote most characters from a 2nd to a 3rd tier class, a Master Crown item must be used. Main characters may sometimes promote during story events.

The laguz from Path of Radiance also return. They reach their maximum fighting potential when transformed into animals, but they can now fight when untransformed, though they are relatively weak in this state. Laguz cannot promote, but they can reach a maximum level of 40 (instead of 20). They learn their Occult skill by using an Enlightenment scroll at Level 30 or above.

The game adds a new magic class, Dark Magic, a new weapon, Strike (untransformed laguz attack), and several new skills and weapons. Knives, which were a Skill in Path of Radiance, now have weapon ranks. With the return of Dark Magic, a second trinity of magic from the GBA Fire Emblem games has been added, which is dark beats anima (wind, thunder, and fire), anima beats light, and light beats dark. Laguz can only wield one Strike weapon, but they can upgrade it by increasing their Strike weapon rank to SS. Skills can also be removed and transferred as Books (exceptions are locked skills). Skill capacities have been modified for beorc due to the new three-class system, and laguz have varying capacities depending on level, with some Laguz having 100 capacity at maximum.

When using Bonus Experience at the Base, the character is guaranteed to receive exactly three stat gains. This prevents players from reseting their game to get as many stat gains as possible. An advantage is that high-level characters with some statistics at maximum can get their weaker stats to rise.

Height now has a direct effect on gameplay. Characters can climb up to higher levels at certain points. If a character is higher than an enemy, they will have much higher accuracy and deal more damage. Conversely, if they are lower they will have much lower accuracy.