Video Game / Fire Emblem: Code of the Black Knights

Fire Emblem: Code of the Black Knights is a ROM hack of Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones created by Mycahel, with various other sprites and animations made by various other users with a completely original story set in the continent of Lumae.

213 years before the the events of the game, the continent Lumae was created by Naga through pulling it from the oceans. Because of this unusual origin, Lumae lacked natural coasts and isolated the continent from the world because sea travel was impossible. Within the continent, there are four runes that which give its users incredible powers. Four kingdoms took those runes, and they became the most powerful nations in the continent.

During the events of the game, Zoyla, one of the aforementioned nations, hires mercenaries to attack its neighbor, Kalm. In the aftermath of one of those attacks, the main protagonists, Schwarze and Noir, investigate why would Zoyla attack a friendly nation via mercenaries. However, some truths were not meant to be discovered, and the catastrophic impact of the discovery would severely damage Lumae forever...

Not, under any circumstances, to be confused with Fire Emblem: Code of the Burger King.

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Tropes in Fire Emblem: Code of the Black Knights

• 11th-Hour Ranger: There are multiple latecomers that qualify for this, but it ultimately depends on whatever path The Black Knights took and if they met the conditions.
  • Kayleth joins you if you accept his proposal to recreate the Fire Emblem in the penultimate chapters of the game.
  • A pair of Rune Knights join you in the final battle against the Black Weapon, and can be instantly promoted, along with having unusual weapon types for their class.
  • Jaeger, if he was spared in Chapter 22, joins either in the second turn where he can be convinced to reconcile with the Black Knights or starts out recruited immediately.
  • Elias is a forced unit on Endgame A, and he can instantly hold out on his own due to his base stats.
• 11th-Hour Superpower: Schwarze and Noir don't receive their 3rd tier classes until around 2 chapters until the endgame. In case of Route D, their ultimate weapons are also supercharged to compensate for the lord having to do the final chapter on their own.
• Accidental Murder: Hermes' B-support with Schwarze reveals that he killed his father in a hunting accident, which caused him to hate spears and wield axes instead.
• Adaptational Curves: Inverted. The male Fighters are less muscular than their vanilla counterparts.
• Anti-Magic: Cideleth is noted to have magic sealing properties, and the weapons made from them deal effective damage against mages, and Magic Seals generate enough to the point where areas surrounding them can disable magic.
• Anti-Frustration Features: During Chapter 10: Endangered Council, if Jaeger kills Emilia (who has a droppable Hero Crest), he'll leave one behind to ensure that it isn't permanently lost, since he's an allied unit at that time.
• Anyone Can Die: Aside from being a usual Fire Emblem game where anyone who gets killed in battle stays dead, a few Plotline Deaths can occur to some units.
  • If Noir isn't sufficiently leveled when she tries to subdue Mercer, he gets up to take Oliver with him to the grave, but Cecil manages to perform a Heroic Sacrifice to save Oliver before that happens.
  • Either Jin or Rose will be executed by Jaeger if one or the other is rescued.
  • Artemisa gets shot by an Rune Knight Sniper to show how dangerous Vert is and how far he is willing to achieve his goals.
  • The Fourth General, either Sally or Hall, depending on which path the Black Knights took in Chapter 6, is a required target to defeat in Chapter 21: Lover's Folly.
  • Lauren gets killed by a hybrid bomb regardless if Schwarze is marrying someone else or not.
  • On Route D, either Schwarze or Noir die due to Layton's machinations.
• Asshole Victim: While most of the villains do have at least some sympathetic motivations, Baron Alliser is basically a child slaver who turns them into soldiers against their will. If Schwarze kills him, while the Council does exile the Black Knights for their actions, even they subtly agreed that Alliser was an monster who deserved to die. Even if he's not killed, the evidence stacked against him thanks to a memory crystal results in him being indefinitely sentenced to prison where no one can free him.
• A Taste of Power: The second half of the first chapter gives both Schwarze and Noir their ultimate weapons or rather, their supercharged versions from Endgame D, and the player is also joined by William, a pre-promoted Warrior wielding an S-Rank bow, Giantsfeller. Natually, all of this is taken away at the chapter's end, and the player will not see any of that again for twenty chapters at the least.
• Big Bad: Layton, while only fought in Routes B, C, D and E, is responsible for most of the events in the game, such as the assassination of the previous Kalmite king and the continued war between Kalm and Weissholdt.
• Bilingual Bonus: A man in Chapter 13: Renewed Strength speaks entirely in Spanish, but when translated, contains a reference to Fight Club and also hints of an Arena in Albertheim alongside him complaining how people are unable to understand him and how he is unable to buy chicken where he resides.
• Cerebus Syndrome: While the game is not at all light, at least it had some comedic moments. This all gets tossed out of the window post-timeskip, as the bleakness of the situation has gone so far that even characters who served as Plucky Comic Relief or breathers become much more serious later on, such as Kayleth, who once offered some help to the Holy Knights via supplying them with Vulneraries and Elixirs and even served as a distraction against Lazarus and his troops, thanks to the death of his wife Annabel, later becomes a leader of a cult that wishes to stop a Vicious Cycle through unsavory means, and if the Black Knights refuse his proposal, may become the penultimate threat towards them.
• Competitive Balance: Most of the 3rd tier classes have their own strengths and weaknesses.
  • Schwarze's Promotions:
    • The Exalted Knight is a well balanced unit with good all-around stats that enable it to become a Magic Knight, with mobile Staff usage and Light Magic, though the Knight part is emphasized, as it has a higher Strength cap than Magic. This class is weak to Anti-Cavalry weapons.
    • The Lord Regent eschews the ability to wield Tomes and Staves and some movement in exchanges for more Strength, Speed and Defensive stats, alongside using Aether to not just recover from wounds, but also deal a second attack that pierces Defense, with Rightful King increasing the chances of Aether happening. The class also gains access to lances, making Schwarze a true Multi-Melee Master.
  • Noir's Promotions:
    • Naga's Fang allows her to become a Magic Knight, having both equally good Strength and Magic she can use against her enemies, with Ignis combining both her Strength and Magic to deal an devastating blow to her enemies. This class is weak to Anti-Air, Anti-Armor, Dragon-slaying weapons, and Anti-Magic weapons.
    • The Queen exchanges Noir's offensive capabilities for both equal offense and support capabilities. While she does not have Ignis even though she has a higher strength stat than Naga's Fang, she instead has a variety of support abilities, such as Rally Spectrum, Drive Defense, and White Pool. This class is weak to Anti-Armor, Dragon-slaying weapons, and Anti-Magic weapons.
  • Other 3rd Tier Classes:
    • Silver Knights have well-balanced stats all around, and have access to all physical weapons and are unaffected by terrain. They also have Aegis for a chance to nullify magic damage, and are weak against Anti-Cavalry weapons.
    • Barons have the best Defense in the entire game, being living stone walls of steel that also have access to Wary Fighter, which prevents the user from doubling in exchange for preventing the opponent from doubling either unless they wield Brave Weapons, and also have access to all weapon types in the game, including Magic, though their resistance is still low (though Aegis does make up for it by having a chance to No-Sell the entire magic attack) and are vulnerable to Anti-Armor weapons.
    • Vanguards and Duellistes have well balanced stats with an emphasis on Strength and Skill, though Vanguards get access to Luna and Duellistes get access to Astra. Due to preferring swords for weapons even though they also have access to axes, they are weak against Swordslayers.
    • Trueblade, which is only accessible by Walker, not only has Astra, but also exchanges Crit+15 for Killing Machine, which doubles the critical hit rate, ensuring that with enough skill and high enough crit, almost all of his attacks will be critical hits. He is weak to Swordslayers.
    • Dread Fighter, similar to Trueblade and only accessible by Rose if she promotes into Swordmaster, exchanges some strength caps for better magic caps, and also exchanges Crit+15 for Killing Machine, which ensures that Rose will almost have every attack deal critical hits. She is weak to Swordslayers.
    • Whispers have low Strength and Magic caps in exchange for the best Skill caps, which not only allows them to deal critical hits easily, but also have increased chances of Lethality proccing. They also have access to Dark Tomes, and Lifetaker to drain the health of their killed victims, which when combined with Nosferatu, can allow for an nigh-immortal tool of assassination.
    • Apollos and Deadeyes are masters of the bow, with Sure Shot not only ensuring that their attacks will hit, but also deal additional damage.
    • Dragonhearts have access to all physical weapons, which when combined with their flying utility, can make them a force to be reckoned with, and the only thing capable of even having a chance against them are Anti-Air weapons.
    • Apocalypse Riders, in exchange for some strength, have access to Luna, and not only do they deal additional damage to mounted units, they exchange Canto for Galeforce, which allows them to take an Extra Turn if they kill someone. They are weak against Anti-Air weapons.
    • Archmages/Archsages have access to Tomefaire, alongside access to every Tome, allowing them to deal a lot of magic damage, though in exchange for these, have some of the worst Defense and Resistance caps. Sally, the only playable Archmage, is more focused on Player Phase-attacks, due to having Death Blow to increase her damage, while Jin and later Isaac are more of mixed-phase characters who can use Ignis to combine both Strength and Magic into a deadly blow. All of them are weak against Anti-Magic weapons.
    • Master Knights have access to every weapon type in the game, including Staves, though in exchange, while they don't have any weaknesses, they don't have any particular strengths either. They are weak to Anti-Cavalry weapons.
    • Messiah/Matriarchs have somewhat low Magic caps in exchange for a higher Resistance cap and guaranteed effective damage against Monsters. They also have Miracle to survive an attack when they have more than 50% HP, which is useful against Anti-Magic weapons that have a good chance of killing them. Their access to Powerstaff allows them to move again after using a Staff, which makes them the best Staff users, rivaled only by Dark Druids.
    • Dark Druids have surprisingly good defensive bulk for a magic user, and specialize in Dark Tomes, though they do have access to other types of Tomes as well. Their high Magic cap allows them to use Staves pretty well. They are weak to Anti-Magic weapons
    • Necromancers don't have the absurd Magic cap that Dark Druids have, instead exchanging that for the ability to summon minions, which can serve as distractions from the enemy. They are weak to Anti-Magic weapons.
    • Red Wizard is one of the fastest classes in the game, accessible only by Hazel. Furthermore, with Lucky Seven, she gains +10 Hit/Avo buff for 7 turns while also gaining Locktouch, which allows her to open everything without needing a lockpick.
    • Gold Knights are slower than Silver Knights, but have better Strength to compensate. Outrider also allows them to gain additional Damage Reduction and crit based on how many tiles they move, and is recommended to pair with Armor March for additional movement. They are weak against Anti-Armor and Anti-Cavalry weapons.
    • Reavers, while slower than Ashura, exchange that for having the highest Strength cap in the game, which when combined with Colossus, ensures that they will have the most damage per hit.
    • Seraph Knights are in-between Dragonhearts and Apocalypse Riders for speed, but also have good enough Resistance. They wield Swords, Lances, Anima, and Staves. They are weak against Anti-Air weapons.
    • Enchantress, which is exclusive to Angel, is a dancer who has earned the ability to not just cast magic from above, but also has the ability to refresh allies as well. She also has Re-Move, which allows a chance for her to take an additional Extra Turn. She is weak against Anti-Air weapons.
    • Sonneteer, which is exclusive to Liam, while not as mobile as Enchantress, exchanges that for additional Hit/Crit bonuses. Much like her, the Sonneteer has access to Re-Move, which allows a chance for him to take an additional Extra Turn. The Sonneteer is weak against Anti-Cavalry weapons.
    • Ashura, which was exclusive to Tolkien until Version 1.1 added Cyan, a playable Pirate, allows them to attack with blistering Speed and Strength, and with Crit+15, they can easily double and kill most enemies in their way.
    • Sentinel, which is exclusive to Lowell, is a Multi-Melee Master with balanced stats all around, though it has Crit+15 to turn it into his favor in a pinch.
• Crutch Character:
  • Artemisa is a prepromoted Halberdier whose innate critical bonus allows her to hold on her own against anyone that isn't an axe user or magic user. However, her growths are below average, though thankfully not terrible enough to the point where she can at least become still viable around the mid-game. Unlike Cecil, however, there is no way to prevent her Character Death, thus the player will have to juggle between her leadership star and her base stats while keeping her exp absorption to a mimimum, and make sure that she's unequipped before the end of Chapter 16.
  • Lewis is another prepromote, though he is much more mobile than Artemisa and doesn't suffer a Plotline Death, but his mediocre growths will catch up to him. By the endgame, Subaru performs his status as a rallybot much better than him, and Zero alongside other bow users and mounted units will likely surpass him.
  • Mercenary Units by default fall into this, but Taurus is a straighter example. He can handle the Ballistae in Chapter 8: Trial By Fire, in particular the Killer Ballista very well thanks to having Galeforce as a personal skill. However, he is only playable in that chapter only, and he can only temporarily be re-recruited by hiring him for the Al-Hadar expeditions.
  • On Route D, certain lords become this. For example, going down the Holy Knights path will result in Noir dying in Route D, while going down the Black Knights path will mean that Schwarze will die as a result. To compensate, Schwarze's or Noir's Infinity +1 Sword will get a massive upgrade.
• Demonic Possession:
  • Should the Black Knights kill too many units in Chapter 14: Judgement, Noir goes insane from her powers, and gets a +10 buff to her stats while the objective is changed from stopping Blaise to killing everybody. Judging from the fact that it shares the same objective text with The Lost Chapter, it heavily implies that Layton is possessing her.
  • Implied to happen to either Schwarze or Noir in Route D, and this time they have no opportunity to escape it. In order to prevent the possession, the affected character forces the other to kill them.
• Developer's Foresight:
  • Much like Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, there are multiple instances of altered dialogue depending on which units died. The creator also encourages ironman playthroughs to see those scenes.
  • It's possible to defeat Grey at Chapter 16 Part 2: Tower of Glass 2. Fortunately, this is a Non-Lethal K.O. for him, and he retreats instead.
  • If Umbra was somehow defeated during Chapter 19: The High Priestess, he'll have a fourth-wall breaking quote regarding this, and tells the player to report this bug to the forum.
    Umbra: Excuse me, what the fuck? How did this even happen? Could you report this to the forum or something? I wasn't supposed to die this early in the game! Oh well. RIP me I guess...
  • The wedding in Chapter 24 takes different turns depending on whether Schwarze has A-supported any potential wives. Normally, Lauren will cry tears over Schwarze remembering his past life, and the fact that he promised her that he'll still be happy. However, if he doesn't have any A-supports and subsequently doesn't have any potential wives, he will instead marry Lauren, with the dialogue instead being about how churches protect the people inside with a priest's contact with it, and her warning Schwarze about a potential fire in the church they are in. Consequently, since the end of the chapter involves' Lauren's death, Schwarze would normally be composing his rage at Elias and later Layton if he was not married to her, but if he was, then he explodes with rage at them, with him yelling at Elias for not just killing off innocent bystanders in the process, but also for the wanton murder of Lauren, and declaring Layton to be unforgivable for killing not just his best friend, but also Lauren. The latter can also happen if Noir was married to him and dies in Chapter EX1.
• Earn Your Bad Ending: Ending F: Final Despair. This ending is significantly harder to get than Ending A, and for good reason: You have to lose Final Chapter: Reaching The Stars, which is hard to do unless your deliberately suicide your Lords or screw up badly.
• "Everybody Dies" Ending: Ending E: Enemy of Mankind. Almost the entirety of the Black Knights are killed including Noir and Schwarze due to Weissholdt discovering the truth behind the botched attempt to resurrect the Black Weapon and immediately killing it to undo the damage, and the fates of the remaining survivors are unknown.
• Gameplay Grading: Starting from Version 1.2, there exists a ranking system that grades how fast and well you play a chapter, with the minimum rank being a C-rank, and the maximum rank being an S-rank, which is achieved by not taking too long and accomplishing the side-objectives.
• Guide Dang It!:
  • Sometimes, there are certain mechanics that require explaining from certain characters. Those info are color-coded in red, and can be easily missed if the player skips the conversation.
  • Getting the S-rank for Chapter 4: The King's Tears is much harder than it sounds. You have to get Oliver to talk to his father Helman- good luck trying to do that while under attack from Zoylan troops or Mercer! Thankfully, Helman will be temporarily stunned after he talks to him. The game does actually hint at this if you listen to Noir and Schwarze's conversation for a minute, along with Oliver being the son of Helman, but never tells you that having him talk to Helman is a requirement for getting the S-rank for that chapter.
• Hidden Wire: A variant of this- Memory Crystal have the ability to record everything, and are nigh-impossible to tamper with, which Noir exploits if Schwarze chose to spare Alliser to have the Council decide his fate- namely, by seemly falling down, only to discreetly activate the crystal, which record Alliser's admission of child slavery, among other criminal actions.
• Jump Scare: The appearance of the boss of Chapter 11: The Cost of Freedom. It's basically Noir, but has black eyes. To add to the tension, the room in which the "Noir" appears is initially covered to add to the tension, which increases rapidly when the music suddenly halts
• Late Character Syndrome: Due to being disposable soldiers, the reinforcements at Chapter 29 are meant to be this, because even with investment, they're not as strong as your other playable units. The only notable about them is their equipment but that's it. The Kalmite soldiers are even worse, as they don't even have a Leadership Star. Granted, this is due to the map gimmick of leaving behind certain units, but their flaws are clearly glaring.
• Lethal Joke Item: The Aum Staff. It can't revive party members unlike its vanilla counterpart, but it does grant Inspiration to its wielder, allowing them to function as an Support Party Member. It also has the fortunate side-effect of nullifying critical hits, meaning that every enemy that relies on critical hits, such as Swordmasters, have a much harder time dealing with them.
• Mercenary Units: This game has a total of 4 units who are able to be hired, provided you managed to get the gold required to purchase them. However, they only exist for a certain amount of chapters before they eventually abandon you for good. Mercenaries include:
  • Taurus, a Sniper with standard equipment who previously served you as the Crutch Character for Chapter 8: Trial By Fire, who is working to make demands need for his family. His hire duration lasts until Chapter 12: Justice and Hatred.
  • Nikolai Krauser, a Wyvern Lord who was an ex-Kalmite soldier who provides mediocre equipment in exchange for better stats and skills overall. His hire duration lasts until the Time Skip.
  • Bonnie and Clyde, a duo of criminals who may or may not be cannibals that provide the best equipment around, with a hefty price tag to boot. Their hire duration lasts until Chapter 23: The Magician's Gambit.
• Multiple Endings: The game has 6 endings, and most of them are with their ups and downs.
  • Ending A: ~A New Tomorrow~: the White Weapon is completely destroyed, and Elias dies after the battle. However, even though Lumae can start rebuilding, it is heavily implied that Layton is still out there, making new plans for his ambitions.
  • Ending B: ~Beyond Peaceful Seas~: With the help of Kayleth and the Order of Ouroboros, not only is Layton completely killed, the Black Weapon is destroyed thanks to their efforts, and a new Lumite Federation can be built with them. However, in exchange for this, they have to cover up a tragedy that the Black Knight and the Order of Ouroboros made that resulted in the deaths of 50,000 people, Schwarze's father Elliot included.
  • Ending C: ~Code of the Black Knights~: While there were mishaps in their plans, including the execution of multiple of their members especially Iris, ultimately, they managed to completely kill Layton, resulting in Weissholdt surrendering inconditionally. Both Schwarze and Noir eventually depart to reunite the Fire Emblem and return the runes to Naga.
  • Ending D: ~Do not look upon my grave and cry~: Even though either Schwarze or Noir dies thanks to Layton's machinations, with their friend's soul powering their weapon enough to finish off Layton, they managed to prevent massive untold casualties that would have caused massive tragedy, at the expense receiving on themselves, and Gabriel becoming a smoldering wreak thanks to the awakening of the Black Weapon. Eventually, the surviving Lord departs to destroy Layton's research and plans to prevent an incident like this from ever happening again.
  • Ending E: ~Enemy of Mankind~: Same as Ending B, but the truth behind the Tragedy of Fifteen Thousand leaks out, depending on whether Weissholdt learned about it if Schwarze tried to reassure Elias without support from the Council or if Schwarze stayed silent while Rose was around, resulting in her leaking the information to them. Regardless, the Lumite Federation is created albeit with them united against the Black Knights, and in a Last Stand, the Black Knights manage to take down a untold number of Weissholdt troops, and can potentially take down Layton for real with them, but eventually fall to their numbers.
• Mutually Exclusive Party Members:
  • Both Sally and Hall cannot be recruited in the same playthrough, and it depends on whether Schwarze chose to obey Vert's orders or not. The one that isn't recruited becomes the Fourth General of Kalm, and while they are temporarily playable in Chapter 18x: Sin, you will have to fight them in Chapter 21: Lovers' Folly.
  • Jin and Rose are mutually exclusive with each other; If the cell containing one of them is open, one of them will be freed and instantly recruited, but the other will be executed by Jaeger.
  • While both are playable in Chapter 18, Abraham and Issac are mutually exclusive with each other after clearing the chapter; they also don't give back their inventory, so trade them out to the supply unless you lose them forever.
  • All of the endgame recruits are these. Elias is only playable in Route A, Kayleth (and by extension Annabel) are only playable in Route B, Kelly and Celia are only playable in Endgame C at the expense of Iris, and none of them are playable in Route D.
  • On Route D, either Schwarze or Noir will force the other to kill them, depending on the player's choice in chapter 7.
• Mythology Gag:
  • This wasn't the first time a Helman served as a Sacrificial Lamb.
  • In the aftermath of Chapter 5, Zero mentions that Katarce was Sigurd'ed by a unknown mage, referencing Sigurd of Chalphy's death via Valflame. For extra points, he dies in the same chapter number as Sigurd.
  • Black Flare's animations bear a striking resemblance to the Loptous Tome, in which the tome summons the titular Dark Dragon to annihilate the enemy.
  • The Aum Staff is mentioned in a conversation where it is said to resurrect anyone. Unlike the original Aum Staff, here it's mostly a staff.
  • One that happened to be quite coincidental: The Caduceus Staff makes an appearance here, as an S-Ranked staff capable of healing everyone to max health at range and recovers status effects.
• Nerf:
  • Compared to the insane stat boosts that Master Knight got in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, in contrast, the only significant stat boosts upon promotion are Strength, which was likely to compensate for the fact that they're instead a 3rd tier class. Their stat caps are also middling, having no particular standout trait, though thankfully, with the exception of certain bosses, no 3rd tier classes are ever fought in the game, and can even take on the Final Bosses with the exception of White Weapon without getting doubled, at, of course, the expense of being unable to double as well.
  • In a more straight example, effective damage was scaled back from x3 damage to x2 damage, making weapons such as bows less viable to compensate for either their very solid users or insane range and damage.
• Nintendo Hard: While the game has a decent challenge overall, Route D, also known as the route where you surrender to Weissholdt is considered to be the hardest route in the game, and for good reasons: Aside from permanently losing one of your lords, if either Schwarze or Noir happened to be rng-screwed in stats, the Final Boss Layton may be downright impossible to win against. Even the creator recommends you create a separate save file in the event the game gets too hard and you can at least go to an easier route.
• Non-Standard Game Over: Multiple "bad endings" exist, but they're mostly there because they serve as game overs as the player either has to have to perform some really dumb decisions. The most blatant case is attempting to kill Vert on Chapter 16, which will most likely result in Schwarze's death.
• Obvious Rule Patch: To prevent an easily stealable Hoplon Shield from a Champion in Chapter 12: Justice and Hatred, they are classified as swords, meaning that Hazel cannot afford to steal one even when promoted.
• Permanently Missable Content: With the exception of Diraigeki, Avalon, and Knell, almost all of the S-ranked weapons can be rendered unobtainable through various means:
  • If Mercer doesn't survive Chapters 4 and 8, he will not be the boss of Chapter 16: Tower of Glass and thus Quetzal is rendered unobtainable. For compensation, a Brave Lance is obtainable from Sylvan's corpse.
  • Hades is unobtainable if Charon is betrayed by his own troops and thus, killed by them if the player takes too long.
  • Using Chaos Counter to disable Luxterra and thus, weakening Lillia, obviously renders it unobtainable. Though you do have a second chance at getting it by stealing Luxterra from King Adam, provided Hiryu was faster than him and used a Body Ring.
  • Tizona is rendered unobtainable if Z.D. was not fought in Chapter 20: The Hermit Town.
  • At the same location mentioned above, if the Devil Axe was broken/sold or if a unit with it doesn't visit the Goddess Lake, then it can't be purified into the Goddess Axe.
  • If the Rune Knight with Giantsfeller in Chapter 22: Lovers' Folly isn't killed, don't expect a second chance at it.
  • The S-ranked Staff Caduceus and Grey's third prf weapon, the Diabolus are found exclusively in chests in Chapter 23: The Magician's Gambit, and if you don't have any Lockpicks or Chest Keys, they are unobtainable.
  • The Lucifer Comet is unavailable if Schwarze kills Alliser and you refuse to abandon Mithra for it, though you get a Naga Effigy for compensation. Consequently, abandoning Mithra for the tome in this case will lead to her being removed from the party, and in extreme cases, renders the Master Knight class unplayable.
  • The Vahalla tome is wielded by Kayleth, so if you refused to side with him, it's obviously rendered unobtainable.
• Script Breaking:
  • It's entirely possible to defeat Vert on Chapter 17. Unlike Lillia, he doesn't have any dialogue regarding this, and will not respawn near the area where Blaise's troops hold him off, resulting in them standing around to hilarious effect.
  • Normally, the civilians in Chapter 27B: Shooting Star are supposed to die in a massive Hope Spot, but it's possible to save them by rescuing them with units and then dropping them off right near the escape point. Also doubles as Video Game Caring Potential, as there isn't exactly a reward for doing this.
  • The ROM Hack's page notes that you probably should not try to A-support almost anyone until Chapter 18. This is because most of them occur after the Time Skip, and can result in pre-timeskip characters having their post-timeskip character portraits, along with referencing certain spoilers way too early.
• Shout-Out:
  • The guy who speaks entirely in Spanish in Chapter 13: Renewed Strength talks about not mentioning the Fight Club.
  • Should Lillia get KO'd in Chapter 17 before defeating Gilbert, she comes back, saying "Good thing I always carry two staves.".
• Time Skip:
  • A 3-month time skip occurs during the Black Knights' stay at Al-Hadar.
  • A 3-year and 6 month time skip occurs between Chapter 17 and 18. Because of the major leap in time compared to the previous one, various character portraits are changed to accommodate this.
• Violation of Common Sense: In spite of all things pointing it towards being the right option, killing Alliser is NOT the correct option. Should Schwarze spare Alliser, he'll avoid having to abandon Mithra for the Lucifer Comet, and vice-versa.
• We Named the Monkey "Jack": According to Word of God, a Dragonheart Lowell would probably name his Wyvern Artemisa after his dead mother.
• Wham Episode: The Lost Chapter, which is only accessed by clearing the final chapter of Route A or spotting Layton during Route C, and for good reasons: It was revealed that Layton, formerly known as Talion had murdered Kalm in a fit of panic over the weapon Knell, which was the only weapon that could permanently kill him, and had cover it up as an assassination by an unknown force. When he tried to reach to Naga to revive his friend, he was told that it was impossible and Naga reminded him of Lumae's purpose: an experiment to prove whether humanity can coexist with dragons. After that, Talion reached the conclusion that Naga would get rid of Lumae once the experiment succeeded, so the only way to prevent that was by creating a state of perpetual war until Naga could be killed and replaced safely.Which led him to masterminding the events of the entire game, up to and including murdering all of Kalm's royal family and usurping the Prime Minister.
• Wham Line:
  • In Chapter 20: The Hermit Town, should Sei recruit the Shade, the Shade is surprised that she can see and understand him. In response, she drops a massive bombshell regarding the Shade's identity...
    Sei: I can. I know to whom you belong, shade of Kalm.
  • In Chapter 25: Midnight Sun, the leader of Ouroboros has this combined with Wham Shot, as anyone who has a decent memory of the prologue chapter and Chapter 8 will be surprised...
    My name is Kayleth. (Cue Kayleth, albeit with a somewhat darker skin tone, appearing)
• Worthless Treasure Twist: The Aum Staff, said to revive anyone from the dead... is actually a simple staff. Even when it was made usable with the update that added the ranking system, it cannot even be used at all (though it does grant Inspiration at least).
• You ALL Look Familiar: Meta-example. Some of the portraits used in this game are used from FEUniverse's Mugging Blitz.
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: During Chapter 10: The Cost Of Freedom, a mercenary who arrives at the prison informs them that Baron Allister, the person the Black Knights seek was taken to the Grelke desert. Zero even lampshades this trope.