Appropriately, you'll start off with a manageable handful of soldiers. They
belong to general classes such as horse-mounted cavaliers or ax-wielding fighters,
but you'll come to know each one personally by a distinct portrait and dialog.
You'll even take instruction from them. You learn the rock-paper-scissors relationship
of the sword, ax, and spear from an overzealous ladies' man, for instance. Through
the first 10 chapters or so you'll learn the ins and outs of battle, see your
ranks swell with new recruits, and fell no small number of brigands and bad
guys. Any defeated allies will simply bow out. As you near your first major
goal you'll realize you've just been forged, emblematically, in the fire of
battle through an extensive tutorial. From then on the game offers you no quarter.

Die by the sword

The fight scenes use cartoonish graphics and don't see any blood spilled, but
fans of the harsher elements of battle are met halfway with detailed animation
and meaty sounds that create a real sense of impact when characters strike each
other. Consider the following scenario: An enemy leader screams something equivalent
to "You can't touch me!" just before your valiant cavalier gives a few flashy
spins of his lance and summarily fells him with a single critical blow. It's
truly satisfying to behold, but should the soft white belly of a flying Pegasus
knight meet a particularly pointy arrow, you'll be screaming out loud. If an
ally is defeated during the tutorial, you won't have their aid until they rejoin
at a set point later in the game. In the latter half of the game fallen characters
leave the game permanently, and may they rest in peace. "Fire Emblem" saves
itself after every turn, so if you don't like the way a battle went, you'll
have to start the whole thing from the beginning.