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fireemblemtcg · 3 years

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Cipher By The Numbers: A Statistical Look Back at the Game That Was

Eight months have now passed since the final Fire Emblem Cipher card series was released. Out of interest, let us quickly analyse the complete game and see how it breaks down. Who made it in? Who is still missing? Who got the most? Who got the least? Who drew the most? How does it stack up to the various other spinoffs and crossover events that Fire Emblem has been involved in in terms of sheer coverage? And other bits of mostly meaningless trivia.

This post is adapted from a twitter thread published in October 2020. Some of the presented numbers slightly differ compared to it, as I’ve since refined my methods somewhat.

More Fire Emblem Cipher translations!

Part 1: The Standings by Symbol

The Most Common Symbol(s)

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that generally speaking, the more Fire Emblem games a symbol affiliation needed to represent, the more cards there are in that symbol. The most common symbol is Purple (Legendary Weapons), which covers three games and a smattering of manga characters; Red (Blade of Light), covering the casts of Archanea and Valentia plus a handful of Tokyo Mirage Sessions characters, is the runner-up.

One thing stands out, though. Unlike other Fire Emblem games, which each get just one symbol that is usually shared with another game, Fates is in the unique position of having three different, closely related symbol configurations dedicated exclusively to that single game: White (Hoshido), Black (Nohr), and the dual White/Black configuration. Individually these three are nothing to write home about in terms of frequency, but if taken together...

...Then they immediately become the most common by a very substantial margin. This is a major recurring trend with Fates content in Cipher: through a combination of Cipher effectively debuting as part of a merchandising blitz around the time of Fates’ release, and Fates’ status as the only mainline game to have a) more than one symbol to itself, b) an entire booster series to itself, and c) multiple starter decks to itself, Fates casts a massive shadow over the card game that will come up again and again in this analysis.

The Least Common Symbol(s)

The least common single “symbol”, appropriately enough, is the absence thereof: No Symbol. Despite seeing dedicated use for multiple games (Heroes and Warriors), plus various other occasional uses (Tokyo Mirage Sessions, the Cipher mascots, various Series 17 and 22 cards), it’s a substantial way behind the next least common symbol, Brown (Crest of the Goddess).

However, the least common symbol configuration of any kind is dual Red/Blue, which is limited to appearing on only two Tokyo Mirage Sessions cards in Series 22.

Part 2: The Standings by Game

The Game with the Most Cards

It’s not even a contest: once again, Fates is overwhelmingly the most represented single game, beating the closest competition (Awakening) by a factor of 200+. Both Three Houses (4th) and Genealogy of the Holy War (3rd) put up surprisingly good showings, too; you can probably attribute Genealogy's high position to it constantly stealing Thracia 776's lunch money in Yellow waves, as these two games have by far the most uneven skew of mainline game representation within the same symbol.

Even if you merge games with heavily overlapping casts (see appendix) together, Fates is still handily the winner, although the Tellius games now beat Awakening for second place.

(For details on how cards for characters who appear in multiple games have been counted as belonging to one over the other, see the appendix.)

The Game with the Fewest Cards

Another no-brainer: it’s BS Fire Emblem: Archanea Saga, which never received any active, proclaimed representation in any Cipher series and therefore has zero dedicated cards. Only one character who originated in BSFE, Malice, ever received a card, and even then that one card instead belonged to a New Mystery of the Emblem set. (Things get a bit less awful for the game if your standard is “any cards belonging to anyone present in that game, regardless of what game they were originally billed for”, but that’s another can of worms.)

That said, the game that was explicitly stated as being subject to representation in Cipher that received the fewest dedicated cards was Gaiden. While its remake, Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, received a very healthy number of cards, Gaiden itself only received three: cards for Mycen, Celica, and Silque depicting them in outfits/art styles from the original. The only series which claim to represent Gaiden are Series 17 and 22, as part of their push to feature every game, “featuring” it alongside Shadows of Valentia.

(By contrast, the original two Archanea games and their two remakes each received one billed, dedicated wave: Series 1 for Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light, Series 4 for Mystery of the Emblem, Series 13 for Shadow Dragon, and Series 15 for New Mystery of the Emblem. Granted, while Series 1 and 4 are billed as targeting the original games, the art style and character models are very much rooted in the remakes.)

If the Gaiden/Shadows of Valentia distinction is too hair-splitty for your tastes and you think the Gaiden cards should just count as Shadows of Valentia, the next lowest are:

Overall: Sword of the Champion (17)

Game: Warriors (28)

Mainline game: Mystery of the Emblem (35)

Mainline game with a distinct cast: Thracia 776 (70)

Part 3: The Standings by Characters and Cards

How Many Cards Are There?

2586 distinct cards were produced, across a total of 3177 card printings (as reported by the Cipher official site's card database). See the appendix for details on what was and wasn't counted as a "distinct card" for the purposes of the former figure.

The Most Cards

Marth is the most frequently appearing unit name, boasting a respectable 29 unique cards; the runners-up are Chrom, Lucina, and female Corrin, with 26 each. The rest of the top 20(ish) is as follows:

However, if characters who appear in multiple incarnations/genders under different unit names are taken together, Corrin dethrones Marth and takes the top spot by an absolutely massive margin, at 51 unique cards across three different unit names (male, female, Kingdom of Valla). The rest of the top 20(ish) standings are somewhat impacted by this modification, looking like this:

The top lists, especially the combined one, are noticeably dominated by Fates and Three Houses. Once again, the impact of the immense amount of focus that Fates received in Cipher is made evident; and the rapid rise of Three Houses’ protagonists in the standings is especially remarkable, given how late in Cipher’s life cycle the game came along.

Conversely, Jugdral characters don’t even figure into the top ~20 standings; the character with the most Yellow cards, Sigurd, is tied for 27th (uncombined)/28th (combined) with Caeda, Hinoka, the combined Kanas, Shade, and Yuzu.

The Fewest Cards

A total of 171 unit names only ever appeared on one card; taking into account characters who appear under multiple unit names, 159 characters have only a single card to any of their names. Such one-hit wonders most commonly occur in Purple (48) and Red (41), while Blue had the fewest such characters at just 3 (Naga, Validar, and Excellus).

Of particular interest is the small club of seven characters who never appeared in any of the retail starter decks or booster packs, instead receiving their one and only card in the Promotional Card Packs: Matthis (Red), Bantu (Red), Shannam (Yellow), Merlinus (Purple), Athos (Purple), Gromell (Green), and the gatekeeper (Brown). As you can see, the overall trend with these characters (only Athos and Bantu fall outside of it) leans toward the somewhat... comical.

Additionally, there is one character whose one and only card was a starter deck exclusive: Erk (Purple).

Also of note are the small selection of characters who have only one card, but whose only card is of a high rarity.

Three characters have the... well, super rare distinction of having their one and only Cipher card be a Super Rare: Nyna (Red), Nils (Purple), and Seteth (Brown). If you count distinct unit names, this number expands to five to include Camus (Red) and the gender-neutral-ish “Kingdom of Valla” version of Corrin (White/Black; unlike the others, the latter also has an SR+ alternate print), but both of these characters have other cards under multiple other unit names (respectively Sirius and Ezekiel, and the male and female versions of Corrin).

There is only one distinct unit name whose sole card is a Hero Rare: Seiros (Brown). However, the character as a whole does have other cards under multiple other unit names (Rhea, Immaculate One).

There are six characters whose only card is a Rare, but said card has an R+ alternative printing: Michalis (Red), Mila (Red), Eyvel (Yellow, although she has four more cards under her Brigid identity, including another Rare), Idunn (Purple), the Medallion (Green, although there are two more cards featuring the released Yune), and Naga (Blue).

Characters whose only card is a Rare without having an R+ variant include Phina (Red), Medeus (Red), Silvia (Yellow), Lene (Yellow), Saias (Yellow), Lara (Yellow), Larum (Purple), Ursula (Purple), Sonia (Purple), Tethys (Purple), Valter (Purple), Caineghis (Green), Validar (Blue), Jeralt (Brown), and Kronya (Brown). This “category” is heavily populated by dancers, who frequently received only one card.

The Most Higher-Rarity Cards

Of the 171 unit names who received Super Rare (SR) cards, Ike tops the list as the single unit name with the most, at 6, with runner-ups Chrom, Marth and male Corrin close behind at 5. Once again, though, if one were to tally all the different unit names covering the same character together, Corrin leapfrogs ahead by a massive margin, clocking in at 10 across their three unit names, while Robin now also ties with Chrom and Marth at 5.

Similarly, there were 136 SR+ alternate prints of SR cards spread across 91 unit names, and of these, Marth received the most, at 5, followed by Ike and Azura. While Corrin, among others, does once again leap significantly up the rankings if one combines different unit names for the same character, for once they don’t outright win, but instead tie with Marth.

Part 4: Character Representation

How Many Characters Are In Cipher?

A grand total of 651 characters, spread across 674 distinct unit names (alternate identities, gender variants, etc.) were featured in Cipher.

The Most Complete Games

Five games comprise the “perfect attendance” crew, wherein every single one of their playable characters has at least one card: the mainline games Awakening, Fates, Echoes: Shadows of Valentia and Three Houses, as well as the spinoff Tokyo Mirage Sessions. Naturally, all of these games were released in the 2010s. Granted, Tokyo Mirage Sessions only has a principal playable cast of fourteen, so that one is less of an achievement.

That said, their inroads into their non-playable casts are generally less comprehensive. Awakening and Fates more or less hit all their major ones, with the most “important” missing characters from each respectively being Phila and Anthony, while Shadows of Valentia and Three Houses are far more spotty. Tokyo Mirage Sessions also has only three members of its supporting cast covered.

The Most Incomplete Games

The game with the most missing playable characters is, predictably, the perennially neglected Thracia 776. 20 of its playable characters are missing: Dagdar, Marty, Callion, Glade, Keane, Alba, Robert, Xavier, Conomor, Brighton, Hicks, Dahlson, Amalda (the only missing playable woman from the game), Ilios, Schroff, Troude, Salem, Homeros, Ralph and Galzus.

Thracia 776 also has the most incomplete selection of non-playable characters, as only one villain (Reinhardt, again predictably) and one NPC (August) ever received cards. This also makes Thracia 776 one of only two games to be missing their main antagonist, Raydrik (the other is arguably Shadows of Valentia, depending on how one views it: Jedah is in, but Duma and Rudolf are not).

The next least complete is more of a surprise. The Archanea games (taken together) are missing 17 playable characters. This breaks down into 9 who originated in Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light (Boah, Dolph, Macellan, Tomas, Beck, Lorenz, Roger, Caesar and Radd), two from Mystery of the Emblem (Cecil and Warren), one from Shadow Dragon (Ymir), and all of the BS Fire Emblem originals except Malice. The absence of Cecil also makes Mystery of the Emblem Book 2 and New Mystery of the Emblem the only mainline games who are missing any members of their starting party in Cipher.

For the record, the remaining games’ playable character absence break down as follows:

Genealogy of the Holy War: 5 (Creidne, Rodrubán, Deimne, Mana, Hawke) All of Genealogy's absences are just substitute units, so one could argue that Genealogy is technically complete depending on how one feels about the substitutes.

The Binding Blade: 5 (Treck, Yoder, Garret, Geese, Zeiss)

The Blazing Blade: 4 (Isadora, Harken, Dart, Geitz)

The Sacred Stones: 2 (Moulder, Duessel)

Path of Radiance: 1 (Giffca)

Radiant Dawn: 3 (Renning*, Giffca, Nealuchi) Renning has one card as his Bertram identity from Path of Radiance, but not as himself; whether you want to count him is a matter of opinion.

The Game with the Most Enemies

Cipher always heavily prioritized playable characters and generally chose to keep enemies to an occasional dripfeed. One major exception arose halfway through its lifespan, and appropriately enough, it was Genealogy of the Holy War, a game which already boasts one of the largest casts of major antagonists in the entire series. A record thirteen of its non-playable bosses/villains/enemies received cards: Arvis, Travant, Lombard, Eldigan, Díthorba, Pamela, Manfroy, Julius, Arion, Ishtar, Banba, Fótla, and Ériu. It also has the highest number of such enemies who received Super Rare cards, with four (Arvis, Eldigan, Julius, and Ishtar).

Admittedly, this figure is somewhat padded out by the rather unusual decision to include the Díthorba/Pamela pair and the Banba/Fótla/Ériu trio despite them all being relatively unimportant palette swaps of each other.

It also says a lot that despite all of this, there were still many major Genealogy villains who never made it into Cipher! Among the most noticeable absences are Reptor, Blume, Chagall, Hilda, and Jamke’s two brothers.

The Game with the Most Cutscene-only Non-Playable Characters

Likewise, the Tellius games have an above average number of cards featuring NPCs who are never encountered as units in gameplay, with a total of eight: Elena, Rajaion, Almedha, Altina, Soan, Ashunera, Yune, and - most uniquely - Lehran’s Medallion, which received the only card in all of Cipher whose subject is an inanimate object and (technically) not a character. Notably, a substantial proportion of these characters are historical figures who are long dead by the time of the games’ events, another occurrence that is virtually unique to Cipher’s coverage of Tellius.

Given that the Tellius games also have a very healthy selection of general non-playable units (bosses and NPCs alike) who got cards (Greil/Gawain, Ashnard, Petrine, Bryce, Gromell, Izuka, Dheginsea, Ashera, and the Disciple of Order), they also overall have the highest number of non-playable characters, clocking in at 18 (this figure can expand to 19 if you’re willing to count Zelgius as non-playable). Adding bosses puts them well ahead of Genealogy, which only gains two additional NPCs (Annand and young Aoife - as with Zelgius, your mileage may vary on whether the latter should count) on top of all of the bosses with cards.

Major absences

Four final bosses, hailing from five games, are absent from Cipher: Duma (Gaiden/Shadows of Valentia), Veld (Thracia 776), the fire dragon (The Blazing Blade), and Aelfric/the Umbral Beast (Three Houses’ Cindered Shadows story). Naturally, no justification for their absence has ever emerged, but the fire dragon, at least, is understandable; however, Duma and Aelfric are very strange given the intense amounts of Shadows of Valentia and Three Houses content in Cipher.

Comparisons to other crossovers

By its nature, Cipher has by a massive margin more characters present than any other Fire Emblem crossover work, and this record is not likely to be beaten unless Intelligent Systems decides to produce another card game. Even so, its coverage was not comprehensive, and indeed, sometimes there are characters featured in other crossovers but not in Cipher, and vice versa. There is something to be said for comparing each game’s character selections, and considering their different priorities.

At the time that Cipher ended, there were eight crossover characters who were present in Heroes but who had never been featured in Cipher: Eremiya, Rudolf, Duma, Kempf, Geese (the only one of these characters who was playable in his game of origin), Bramimond, Jorge, and Mustafa. If you count OCs, the total figure expands to 17 with Gustav, Henriette, Gunnthrá, Laegjarn, Helbindi, Hríd, Ylgr, Hel, and Freyja. Naturally, this number has since increased and will only continue to do so as time goes on; notable subsequent crossover inclusions who never saw the light of day in Cipher include Duessel, Caellach, Veld, and Solon.

There are 60 characters who received cards in the original Fire Emblem Trading Card Game from the early 2000s, but not Cipher: 13 from Mystery, 23 from Genealogy, and 24 from Thracia 776. This is due to the former game’s decision to feature the complete playable casts (and in the case of Genealogy, virtually all villains of importance) of the few games which it featured. As a consequence, every playable Jugdrali and Archanean character (except Ymir, who didn’t exist at the time, and the remaining five BSFE originals) has at least one card of some kind, even if it’s not Cipher.

There are four characters who were present in Awakening’s Spotpass material but not Cipher: Dagdar, Salem, Raydrik, and Moulder. As you can see, that figure is weighted quite heavily toward Thracia 776; notably, despite his critical importance as the game’s primary villain, Awakening is the only crossover since the original TCG to include Raydrik at all!

Surprisingly, given its narrow scope, there are six characters who made it into Tokyo Mirage Sessions in some form who are not present in Cipher: Lorenz (Archanea), Dolph, Macellan, Garrick, Pheros, and Cervantes. The Archanean characters in question are all playable units (and armored!) in their original game, while the Awakening ones are all bosses. For most of them, it’s understandable why Cipher skipped them (although it seems reasonable that had Cipher continued, the Awakening ones might have made it in for the sake of new blood, given that Awakening already had all of its major characters in). However, Lorenz is arguably one of the most important characters left to have never been featured in Cipher, given his significance to the first act of Mystery of the Emblem.

Understandably, given its focus on superpopular characters, there are no characters who were featured in Warriors but not Cipher. Of Warriors’ cast of original characters, only Velezark, Yelena and Oskar never received cards in Cipher.

Part 5: Artists and Autographs

The single most prolific artist in Cipher was Mayo (@mayomoyo). A total of 126 cards feature distinct art from her! The character that she drew the most frequently was Randal, with 6 cards, followed by Caeda and Delthea (5 apiece).

In Cipher’s lifetime, there were 115 alternate prints of cards that featured autographs, usually from that character’s voice actor. The voice actors who signed the most cards were Yū Kobayashi and Satomi Satō, who signed four cards each - the former solely for Lucina cards, and the latter for cards for both female Corrin and female Kana. The runner-up is Nobunaga Shimazaki, who autographed three cards for male Corrin and male Kana.

There are three cards that were autographed by individuals who are not voice actors:

B04-018SR+ Marth: Hero-King of Light was autographed by Maki Hakoda, the card’s artist, instead of voice actor Hikaru Midorikawa (who had previously autographed a Marth card in Series 1, and would do so again in Series 17).

B05-048SR+ Narcian: Cunning Wyvern General was autographed by Kōtarō Yamada, the card’s artist. As this card predated Heroes, Narcian did not have a voice actor at the time.

B09-051SR+ Al: Blue Champion was autographed by both Hiroshi Izawa and Kōtarō Yamada, the author and illustrator of the Sword of the Champion manga; Yamada also illustrated this card. This card is the only card to have been autographed by more than one person. Al does not have a voice actor.

Despite everything, despite there being a total of 115 autographed cards, there are four main protagonists who never received autographed cards at all: Sigurd, Seliph, Leif, and male Byleth. There are two likely reasons why the former three never got them:

At the time that their first cards were produced, none of them had voice actors. (Seliph debuted in Heroes with a voice actor, Yūma Uchida, a month before the launch of his first appearance in Cipher, Series 8, but Series 8 would have been in production well before that point.)

Cipher generally favored giving Jugdral characters alternate art that formed joined panoramas for their + card variants, something that (with the sole exception of Series 5) is mutually exclusive with having autographs.

Ultimately, the Yellow symbol and the Jugdral setting have the fewest autographed cards by far, only getting two - Deirdre and Lachesis (both released long after their respective Heroes debuts) - and is also the only setting/symbol to have absolutely none of its protagonists ever get an autographed card (although they each got their fair share of alternate art + cards).

The absence of an autographed male Byleth, however, is rather inexplicable; although he did get an un-autographed SR+ card, he is the only Brown/Three Houses protagonist not to receive an autographed one. Indeed, female Byleth received multiple autographed cards! (Even if one was from a starter deck rather than being a rare or super rare card.)

Appendix

This is the spreadsheet that was used in the writing of this article. It includes details on which games were attributed to which cards, an appendix laying out the criteria by which attribution was made, sorted lists of characters by card count (including the SR-specific lists), and the original versions of the article’s charts.

This spreadsheet that tracks appearances in Fire Emblem spinoffs and crossovers was also used to compare and contrast character representation across each. It has a series of filters that you can use to highlight which characters appear in which combinations of games (e.g. "Who appeared in the 2000s TCG, but not Cipher?")

The total number of cards identified for the "distinct cards" figure was the basis for all of the other statistical analyses (character card counts, symbol card counts). The standard for inclusion in this figure is having a unique card ID, and hence this figure takes the following cards into account:

Promotional cards that are reprints of starter or booster cards with alternate art are counted, as they have unique card IDs.

Alternate reprint variants of cards where the ID is not unique beyond an added or changed rarity suffix are not counted. This affects + and X higher-rarity prints, ST reprints of booster pack cards, and PRr reprints of promotional cards. An exception is made for B11-101+X(S04-003ST) Camilla: Bewitching Malig Knight, given its unique card ID and unusual circumstances of release: unlike other +X cards, it was produced long after the original card and features even more significant changes than usual for +X cards circa Series 9-12.

The five April Fools cards (prefix "USO-") are not counted, since they were never physically released and are not included in the official website's card database. (Previous versions of this analysis inadvertently included them in the statistics; the data has since been updated to remove them.)

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fireemblemtcg · 3 years

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A final message from Cipher producer Ryota Kawade

Ryota Kawade on the fecipher twitter, 31-3-2021:

[Kawade] Today marks the termination of official support for Fire Emblem Cipher. Ever since Cipher launched, we have provided support to many people. It was the grace of all of you that kept us going to this day. For that, all of us on the development team are truly grateful.

We held many Cipher events and live broadcasts, but in every single one of them, we always felt the sheer passion of all of you Fire Emblem and Cipher fans. For me, they were an absolute delight to stage.

Cipher may have come to an end, but Fire Emblem still continues! I hope that you continue to look forward to new Fire Emblem releases. Thank you all, really and truly!

(Original tweets: 1, 2, 3)

More Fire Emblem Cipher translations!

#fire emblem #announcement

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fireemblemtcg · 3 years

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“The Cipher Frontier!” Issue 58: “Cipher Will Never Die!”

"The Cipher Frontier! With Emma, Shade, Yuzu, Randal, Alice, Val, Niamh & Poe" was a regular column on the Fire Emblem Cipher website which summarized upcoming news concerning Cipher and other Fire Emblem materials. It was presented by the eight mascot characters. The following is a full translation of the 58th and final issue of the column, which was originally published on 31 March 2021.

More Fire Emblem Cipher translations!

Hello, everybody!!!!!!!!

It's been over five years since Cipher launched - and, for that matter, The Cipher Frontier! itself...

And today... we bring you the last one!

Sniff... So this is really it...

Aye, it certainly is a bitter occasion.

With the moment upon us, I find myself overcome with emotion. Yet at the same time, I cannot help but sorely wish that this day had never come at all.

Well, it... It doesn't bother m-m-me... Not... one...

BWAAAAAAAAAAAH! I C-C-CAN'T TAKE THIS!

E-easy, milady! You swore before we began that you would not cry!

I, too, owe very, very much to all of you, so... I am very sad.

Where there is a beginning, so too shall there be an end... It is an inevitability.

Still, one might argue that as long as there are still decks to play with and opponents to challenge... Cipher may be played for eternity. So think not on this as the end, for this is but a milestone of life.

Sniff... So this isn't farewell?

Not in the least! All of our players can still continue to get together to play Cipher. So as sad as you might be now to see the game end, the feeling won't last! And I, for one, would like to close out our final day with a smile.

To that end, I propose that we all share some parting words. You first, Emma!

Alrighty! Well, I've been here since the beginning, but... Back then, I was an absolute noob, wasn't I? I didn't have the faintest idea what a "Tea See Gee" even was!

But then I learned so much from Shade, and I presented news, participated in Tryout and Gathering events, and watched Live Broadcasts - and all of that gave me the chance to grow so much.

And then as the days went by, we got to meet Yuzu and Randal, Alice and Valjean, and Niamh and Poe, and we all always had a riot of a time playing Cipher together... It's all been like something out of a dream!

Lastly, I just want to say thank you...

To all of you who've been reading our column to date, thank you tho thuch!

Ha! Is that a slip of the tongue I hear?

Why, I do believe it was... And of all the words to flub, at that.

H-heh heh heh! I guess I am still just a kid after all... But mark my words, I'll be working even harder to become a mature, full-fledged knight! Okay, let's try this again... Thank you all!

Well, I'm next! I was primarily tasked with hosting this column and presenting news.

But the work introduced me to more and more friends, and to a constant stream of announcements that were news to me myself... To lose it is like I've also lost my reason to exist, but at least I am left with fond memories of it all.

My desire to convey the appeal of Cipher to others hasn't wavered in the slightest, but... this is the last time it will ever happen here. Alas. Still, I will always be rooting for all of you, even if we don't see each other.

There will always be a bond between us - always. Remember that whenever you play Cipher and see our cards. On this, you have my word! This has been Shade, shepherd of wayward lambs, saying farewell!

Alright, then. You're next, Yuzu!

...

Huh? Yuzu! What's gotten into you? Would you just get out here?

Er, forgive me. When everybody's gaze turned upon me, I could not help but immediately seek shelter...

Oh, yeah. You never did like public speaking, did you, Yuzu?

Of course! We had a devil of a time convincing you to come out at all for your very first column.

E-enough! That was many years ago: a d-d-difficulty that I have long since moved past!

Hrr-hrr-hrr... heh-HEM! L-l-let us, er, begin anew.

I am Yuzu. My contribution to this column was to introduce cards that afforded new styles of play... only to let a haze of utter passion promptly consume me and hence spend my every waking hour crafting decks from them and trialling them in matches.

You always were one to cry, "I must test these cards at once!" and throw yourself into obsessive research.

As such, I have acquired an eye for strategy, forged in the fires of Cipher, to incorporate into my prior mastery of the martial arts - and with that, at long last, I have come to an understanding of the very heart of warcraft.

Further, as a consequence I may declare with confidence that, should I ever find my brother, I shall be able to hold my head high for all that I have grown in his absence. For that, you have my most heartfelt gratitude. So end my parting words!

Thank you, Yuzu. Right, it's your turn, Randal!

Huh? Oh, right then!

I've got a motto: always take your games deathly serious, and always make your own fun on the job… And, well, this has been my chance to prove those words true.

I mean yeah, I'm a wanderer at heart; I might've stuck around a bit too long... but that's just because this was all a hell of a lot of fun.

Oh, I agree... It was a HELL of a lot of fun!

GAH! It's... It's you!

Well, well. We have a stranger among us!

Pah! "Stranger," indeed. This hair, this face, this ribbon... None of this ring a bell?

Eh? Do you... do you mean Randal?

Indeed! I am...

...His son, no? It is nice to meet you!

OI!

What are you on about?! I AM Randal, just from the past - younger than the one you know!

It's happening again! The exact same argument!

This really must be the end, if HE'S here...

This is how you treat me? I have to hear that the last column is happening at the eleventh hour and make a mad dash to make it in time?! Bloody hell...

What is this? A being under the thrall of the Boundless Chaos? How intriguing. I must conduct a thorough examination at once...

H-hey! What are you doing, Niamh?! You look deathly serious... Oi, that's enough! Stay back! I... I've got a sword!

Well, er, I'm just about all out of time, but I just want to say it was a hoot being on the Frontier. Hope I see you all again someday. Adios!

He vanished?! Still more intriguing...

Sigh... What a pain in the arse, if I do say so myself. Although... I must admit, we do agree on one thing: I'd also be glad to see you all again.

This might be one farewell, but here's hoping we cross paths once more! And if we do, hey, why not play a match with this old fart? And that's all she wrote from ol' Randal!

Thank you. Next, let's hear from Alice and Valjean!

Heh heh! At last! Shall we, Val?

Yes, milady.

The two of us made our debut circa Series 10, and ever since that day, the Frontier never failed to be a most thrilling time. Would you agree, Val?

Yes, milady.

My objective in making this journey was simple: to experience much in my travels, such that I might someday return home and become a great ruler indeed. But instead, I first became a most superior, most brilliant Cipher player! Utterly invincible! Favored by fortune! And whatnot. Didn't I, Val?

Yes, milady.

I remember... that every time a Cipher release day came, I would be up all night from their eve, crafting decks and playing matches with the others. Oh, it was such fun! Wasn't it, Val?

...Yes, mi... mi... milady! Sniff...

V-Val?! What is the matter with you?

I am most moved. That my most capricious liegelady could at last find in Cipher such an engaging hobby, such good company, and such a source of training - and that she could grow so greatly as a woman.

Val...

We have been truly blessed to have had all of this: all of you, who welcomed us so warmly into the Frontier fold, and all of the Cipher players out in the world. I wish to offer you my gratitude for everything.

To be honest... I have something to say on that matter myself. Thank you, truly, for everything. I will never, ever, ever, EVER forget even a single day that we spent here together!

Nor shall I!

...Having said that, milady, I fear that you are still yet unready for the throne! From today onward, we must redouble your original leadership training efforts! I fully intend to prepare for you an intensive study regimen.

I-I-I beg your pardon?! You will not speak to me so! If I see even a single incorrect mark, you would do well to prepare yourself, for I will work you to the very bone for the rest of your days!

By all means, do it. But be prepared, for I have a lifetime's worth of admonishments at the ready.

Heh... Best of luck to the two of you!

Your turn, Niamh!

I was present from the 37th column onward... To be precise, it was in the "Love and Bonds Special Talk CD" audio drama that came as a set with an artbook, sold at Comiket 93.

My inquiry and research into the miscellaneous phenomena of this world, and the Boundless Chaos in particular, shall continue, but...

...

Well?! Don't tell me that's all you have to say!

...No. To me, my inquiry into Cipher represented the introducton of a new, major challenge into my life. Cipher decks... Gameplay... Which solution is correct, and which is optimal... As yet, I still have found no answers. As such, it is vital that going forward, I collaborate with a broad sample of Cipher players and find an answer...

So what you're saying is, you enjoyed playing Cipher with everyone, and you're gonna keep playing forever!

That, er... Ahem! That's pretty much it.

Cryptic remarks if I ever heard them, but certainly Niamh-ish.

Right, let's keep this going with Poe!

Only a year and a half has passed since I was welcomed to this column, and sadly, in the end our association has been brief. But I was able to have a very fulfilling time with you.

Attending that Winter Comiket thing with all of you, playing the "Recite and Play: Heroes Iroha" card game being sold there... They were very happy days.

And in all of that, I have always been monitoring Niamh...

...

Hee hee... You have been a good girl here, have you not? I do nothing to good girls.

If one of you becomes wicked, at that time I shall... Heh... Heh heh heh heh heh...

So, I pray that we never have an unpleasant reunion, and end my speech. Thank you. This has been Poe!

Heh... Let's keep that warning in mind.

...With that, have all of us spoken?

Tsk tsk... We aren't actually finished just yet! Since this is our last column, allow me to call upon a special guest!

...A guest? Wait, you don't mean...

Ta-daaaaa! Here he is!

Hello, everyone! I am Kawade, the producer of Fire Emblem Cipher.

K-K-KawadeP!

My, what a surprise!

The publication of the final Frontier coincides with, at last, the end-of-March termination of event support for Cipher. So I thought I would share a message for all of our readers and Cipher players.

If you count from when Cipher was first announced, roughly six years have passed. That's a long time, yet it's just flown by... These have been very busy years, but also wonderful ones, absolutely full of memories and events.

In that time we've constantly taken on new challenges - not just the production of Cipher itself, but Twitter content, live broadcasts, and staging events all around Japan.

And through all of that, we've had the chance to meet so many fans of Fire Emblem and Cipher... That was not only the most fun part of all, but a part that made us happy.

Although, we were unfortunately unable to hold any of our planned events for our final year, and for that I am truly sorry to all of you.

Still, we staff stuck with it to the very end, and as a result were able to complete Cipher as a fantastic game that can be played for years and years to come. For that, we are proud of ourselves.

It was thanks to all of you, who kept on supporting us, that we could continue our work to this standard all the way to the final series. I am overcome with gratitude to you all!

Production might have come to an end, but Fire Emblem Cipher will never die! It would make me happy if, every now and then, you might bring your cards out and play with them. Thank you all, truly, for everything!

And that concludes KawadeP's remarks!

Whew!

That, I believe, is everything that we wished to share.

Aye, I've got nothing to add.

So I suppose this is it: the end of the Cipher Frontier's long run.

Er... Shade? Can I say one last thing?

Hm? What is it, Emma?

Thank you for taking the lead in hosting this last one... And thank you so much for all the things you've taught me!

(Emma...)

H-hey! That's enough of that! You're about to make me cry, and that wouldn't be ending this day with a smile, would it?

Heh. I guess not!

So hey, let's give them one last, enthusiastic That Thing before Shade bursts into tears!

Very well, then. That Thing it is! This has been The Cipher Frontier!

With Emma...

Shade...

Yuzu...

Randal...

Alice...

Val...

Niamh...

...and Poe.

Now, then...

Let's do it, everyone!

One...

Two...

CIPHER!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING, EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!

...

FIRE EMBLEM CIPHER The Cipher Frontier! With Emma, Shade, Yuzu, Randal, Alice, Val, Niamh & Poe

Emma Emma continues to train in order to become a full-fledged pegasus knight. Her tireless Cipher training also continues, but she has yet to show much improvement at the game.

Shade Veteran mage that she is, Shade continues to teach the next generation. Many seeking to become almighty Cipher players have come to her, only to struggle bitterly under her tutelage - yet at the same time, to Emma and the others, she remains a nurturing guiding hand.

Yuzu Yuzu embarked on a journey of martial training, all the while following whispers of her brother's whereabouts... although evidently, she does return from her travels from time to time, bearing souvenirs, to partake in Cipher matches with all of her friends.

Randal Randal made a truly once-in-a-lifetime wager, only to go into hiding thereafter. Some rumors attest that he won, and that with that windfall he secured for himself a carefree life of quiet leisure in some southern land - others, that he met with a catastrophic loss, and was hence forced into labor in someplace.

Alice Alice's travels continue, as she seeks all the experience that she needs to become a true leader. Although at first she struggled, she grew to thoroughly enjoy it, and so she will persist in her journey without ever taking a break to return home... Or so she tells herself, at least.

Valjean Valjean continues to travel all across the land with his liegelady. Witnessing Alice grow ever stronger and wiser by the day, he cannot help but feel conflicting feelings of joy and loneliness beneath the privacy of his helm.

Niamh Even as she continues in her pursuit of wisdom, Niamh silently carries out research into Cipher. Her seminal monograph, "A Compendium of Cipher Decks," is over 100 volumes in length, and by all accounts is still in print to this day.

Poe Poe vanished in her hunt for evil, and her whereabouts remain unknown. However, according to the afterword of "A Compendium of Cipher Decks," she and Niamh have since fought to the death on many an occasion.

The End...???

#fire emblem #the cipher frontier!

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fireemblemtcg · 3 years

Text

"The Cipher Frontier!" Issue 56: "Special Feature! A Surprise Interview with KawadeP!"

“The Cipher Frontier! With Emma, Shade, Yuzu, Randal, Alice, Val, Niamh & Poe” was a regular column on the Fire Emblem Cipher website which summarized upcoming news concerning Cipher and other Fire Emblem materials. It was presented by the eight mascot characters. The following is a full translation of the 56th issue of the column, which was originally published on 3 September 2020.

This issue features an interview with Ryota Kawade, the producer of Cipher throughout its lifetime, in which he gives insight into the game’s inception and the philosophy behind its events and publicity.

More Fire Emblem Cipher translations!

Keep reading

#fire emblem #the cipher frontier!

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fireemblemtcg · 3 years

Text

A message from Cipher producer Ryota Kawade

Ryota Kawade on the fecipher twitter, 1-1-2021:

[Kawade] Happy New Year! This is Cipher's sixth New Year. The state of the world continues to be grim, but it'd bring a smile to my face if even amidst all of this, you have a good time playing Cipher in safety.

The game's production concluded with Series 22, but shop tournaments and user-sponsored events are still ongoing. A new Emma card will also be available from January onward. I hope you continue to have lots of fun with Cipher until the termination of support in March (and even past that point, if you can).

I want to do my utmost, without letting up, to ensure that 2021 is the culmination of Cipher. May 2021 be an absolutely fantastic year for you all.

(Original tweets: 1, 2, 3)

More Fire Emblem Cipher translations!

#fire emblem #announcement

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fireemblemtcg · 3 years

Text

"The Cipher Frontier!" Issue 56: "Special Feature! A Surprise Interview with KawadeP!"

"The Cipher Frontier! With Emma, Shade, Yuzu, Randal, Alice, Val, Niamh & Poe" was a regular column on the Fire Emblem Cipher website which summarized upcoming news concerning Cipher and other Fire Emblem materials. It was presented by the eight mascot characters. The following is a full translation of the 56th issue of the column, which was originally published on 3 September 2020.

This issue features an interview with Ryota Kawade, the producer of Cipher throughout its lifetime, in which he gives insight into the game's inception and the philosophy behind its events and publicity.

More Fire Emblem Cipher translations!

Hello, everybody!!!!!!!!

We're just a month away now from the release of Cipher Series 22, "The Heroes' Paean"!

A series that features characters from every Fire Emblem game*? A fitting farewell indeed.

T/N: This statement is factually incorrect; BS Fire Emblem: Archanea War Chronicles is not included in Series 22, nor in any Cipher series.

Even what's been announced so far alone is already a damned fine collection of cards as-is, innit?

Val! Have you placed my order and set aside the funds?

But of course, milady. Now, you need only wait patiently till the release date.

Now, since we're coming up on the last-ever Cipher series launch...

Today we'll be bringing you a special feature: an interview with the producer, Kawade!

Ooh!

A developer sharing behind-the-scenes information, hitherto known only to the staff...

Heh heh. I look forward to what he might have to say.

Let's bring him in, then. We're ready for you, KawadeP!

Hello, everyone. I am Kawade, the producer of Fire Emblem Cipher.

It's been a while. Now, shall we get right to it?

Five years have passed since Cipher first launched... To begin, I'd like to hear your thoughts looking back on these years.

Between game development, events and such, I've been so constantly on the go with it that I feel like the time has just flown by. Still, I can't help but be acutely aware that we've been working on it for so long that players who were in grade school when we began are now in high school, and those in high school are now adults with careers...

Including pre-production, does Cipher's beginning go even further back than the five years?

If I remember correctly, work on the project began about half a year after "Awakening" shipped.

Ah, so all told, you have been involved with Cipher for over seven years?

After the launch of "Awakening", we began talking in-house about developing new projects to further foster buzz around Fire Emblem. And when I raised the idea of producing a trading card game at a meeting, they said "Right, you can take charge there", and that was the birth of the project. (Laughs)

T/N: The way that Japanese grammar works, pronouns are often omitted to leave the subject implied entirely by context; the original text here does this, not explicitly clarifying who raised the suggestion. In context, Kawade is by far the likeliest option to have done so, but please be aware that this could have been intended as a generic "when the suggestion was raised".

Huh, it was that sudden? So was that the point where development began?

First of all, we started by exploring whether we could justify having a TCG as a new product. The rest fell into place once we'd drafted the rules of the game and whatnot.

...Whether you could justify it as a new product? So there were considerations that you needed to make? It does sound like quite a tall ask...

If I may, were there obstacles?

There were. Above all else, it's a problem if there is nobody around who is acquainted with the game. A TCG takes more than just designing the game itself: it's vital that you establish management that incorporates events, promotions and the like, and we had no employees at hand with experience producing giveaway merchandise for such purposes.

A TCG takes more than designing the game... Management is essential...

While I myself did have a history playing TCGs, that was a fairly long time ago... First things first, I sought out first-hand accounts of the state of current TCGs and how to manage them from all sorts of people.

Hard work indeed. If I had been there, I might have helped with my Warp magic...

It was tough, but the input of all those people provided a reference point. Then, as luck would have it, there were people at Nintendo who liked TCGs, who were a great help. With all of their assistance, we were able to make inroads on planning Cipher.

So with all of that, you were able to establish Cipher!

That's right! Well, I wish I could say that, but... We did have difficulty settling on the all-important matter of how the gameplay would work. Trialling and rejecting all sorts of rule concepts was a lengthy and repetitive process.

Ah, the hardships of creation... What sort of concepts met with rejection?

Things like one ruleset based around variable skills that could be used depending on adjacent allies; one consisting of one-at-a-time one-on-one matches between characters from each team, a bit like team competitions for kendo or judo; and one in which each player would have an encampment that characters would invade.

Oho! Those do sound pretty interesting!

There was also a ruleset in which you would play cards representing acquaintance, friendship and whatnot between characters to increase their stats, and further develop the relationships between them into love and even marriage. (Laughs)

And through all of that, you arrived at the final rule set.

How did you ultimately reach that point?

We focused on being Fire Emblem-ish and easy to play, and from that, the game as we know it now took shape.

Fire Emblem-ish... Easy to play... Such abstract notions...

While it is natural to compare a card game to a video game, there is only so far that one can take the resemblance. Still, we distilled elements that would elicit that "I'm playing Fire Emblem!" feeling even when playing a card game - things like "I'll formulate my tactics taking range into account" or "I thought I could defeat it, but the attack missed" - and incorporated as much of that gameplay as we could.

Moreover, while in a video game the computer performs the calculations, in a card game that's something that the players must handle themselves. So it was also vital that we pared down how many the game required. For instance, we omitted the weapon triangle element that's so characteristic of the video games because we found we just couldn't keep the pace of the gameplay smooth whenever it came time to calculate it.

Time that is spent on complexity, no matter how interesting, is time that is not spent playing.

Precisely. That balance was critical.

So once you solved all of those problems, you were ready to launch, no?

And all the trouble you went to paid off! That must've been a relief!

Even once it was on shelves, after a period of three months passed, it was time to launch the next series and to do this all over again, so we had no time to rest...

It... was endless...

Not to mention, even beyond the actual product, there were tournaments to be supported, an official site and Twitter to update, events like the Tryouts to run, live broadcasts to air, merchandise to manufacture, and more. In short, with Cipher, there was always a mountain of work to do.

But the team worked themselves to the absolute bone, and somehow, we were able to keep this pace of production without relent to the very end with Series 22.

Speaking of the Tryouts, as I understand it, there were many such events held in the early days of the game's debut, no?

For word to spread among consumers that there's a fun game called Cipher, the most important element was a chance to try it for real, so we staged Tryout events nationwide. In the first six months in particular, we were traveling to retailers all across the country and holding events in two to three shops per day, including most Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

Oho... The sheer distances that you must have traveled!

Indeed, and also, we ran "Play For Fun Practice" sessions in the development office, to help me enjoy the game when I played matches with customers in the Tryouts and other events. (Laughs)

Good on you! After all, how can you understand the appeal of Cipher without playing for fun yourself?

It was a lot of work, but having the chance to speak directly with the player base about Fire Emblem and Cipher was not only a valuable experience, but above all else, a pleasure. My encounters with players at events like the Tryouts made many a memory of my time with Cipher.

I would be curious to know, did anything happen to leave an impression upon you at events other than the Tryouts?

Milady is fond above all else of the Cipher Fests, I believe.

Well, they were good fun, weren't they? Since the Cipher team were initially only video game development staff, mounting events in such large venues by ourselves was a totally new experience. Not to mention, we wanted it to be more than just a place to play Cipher matches, but something that all FE fans could enjoy.

Talk shows at mini-concerts... Coloring-in books... Tap-Tap Sumo... FE merchandise at Cipher Fest quests... A great many fun attractions...

Once, when I went on a summer event tour all around the country from Hokkaido to Kyushu, I was amazed to see that there were people who were attending every single one of those events.

There are many Fire Emblem fans with deep, deep love for the series.

It's because we have such passionate fans that Cipher came to be and Fire Emblem has lasted for thirty years. I'm truly grateful for them.

Personally, I loved the Cipher live broadcasts! I'd love to hear about them, too!

Live broadcasts are another thing that we were trying our hand at for the first time, and it was a process of trial and error. We had all sorts of mishaps that never made it to air... They provided valuable experience. (Laughs)

I'm curious, was there anything that you were particularly picky about when producing the programs?

It's quite the challenge to get people who don't live in the area to come and attend Cipher Fests, Tours and other events, isn't it? That's why I planned the live broadcasts with the intention of basically being events brought to you via the Internet, which anyone could participate in freely regardless of where they live, with the aim of being a "FE Time", so to speak, to spend with other fans.

Indeed, there was an certain air about them as if the audience, too, was partaking of the fun of the program together with the hosts. One might speak of it as a foundation common to events and broadcasts alike.

It would mean a lot to me if that's how viewers felt about them.

Hearing stories from the voice actors and artists who've worked on Fire Emblem was a valuable opportunity, too.

It's not often that you get to hear from the voice actors or artists directly, so perhaps the programs provided an opportunity to feel more familiar with them.

It's all so clear to me! In other words, Cipher was not merely a card game, but rather with the inclusion of the events and live broadcast, an all-encompassing form of entertainment!

Most aptly put, milady. I would expect no less of you.

Indeed. From the very outset of Cipher's development, we had hoped to create not just a card game, but a product that would bring Fire Emblem fans together.

Up to that point, there had never been all that many opportunities for Fire Emblem fans to socialize. Through Cipher, a vast spectrum of people - from fans of the old games to fans of the new - had the chance to come together, and new fans were made, all heightening the buzz around Fire Emblem. It was with an eye toward that very goal that we set to work on merchandise, events, and the live broadcasts.

That... was why you did all of this?

Through Cipher, we have managed to help people discover the appeal of Fire Emblem all over again and, through their interactions with others, provide them with a new way to have fun... Or at least, I'd like to think so.

Such endeavors will come to an end with the conclusion of Cipher, but it's my hope that these friendships will last to the very end.

Heh heh... And it is my hope, too, that I will keep having a good time with all of you all the way to the finale.

And that brings us to the end of the interview. Do you have anything that you'd like to say to readers of "The Cipher Frontier"?

While the coming series marks the end of Cipher's product development, I am confident that there's more still to come from the Fire Emblem series. It'd make me truly happy if Cipher has given people a chance to enjoy those future installments all the more. Series 22 will be full of interesting cards and support for tournaments will continue as usual until next March, so I hope that you keep enjoying the card game right to the end! Thank you all!

Thank you all!!!!!!!!

#fire emblem #the cipher frontier!

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