Fullmetal Alchemist 3: Kami o Tsugu Shōjo explained

Fullmetal Alchemist 3: Kami o Tsugu Shōjo
Developer:Racjin
Publisher:Square Enix
Series:Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre:Role-playing video game
Modes:Single-player, two-player cooperative
Platforms:PlayStation 2

is the third Fullmetal Alchemist video game for the PlayStation 2 and a role-playing video game continuation of the series of Square Enix games. The first two games in the series are Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel and .

Characters

See also: List of Fullmetal Alchemist characters.

Story

is a large city completely surrounded by snow-capped mountains. Edward, Alphonse, and Winry meet Sophie Bergmann, a fourteen-year-old girl with silver hair and light blue eyes who has been cornered by Leonid, the guardian of ice. When Edward's attempt to save her from him fails, she uses a strange power causing a blinding golden light to light up the entire sky.

Afterward, Leonid retreats, and Sophie passes out. The trio run to her aid. Soon after they've learned each other's names, Sophie takes Edward and Alphonse and presses her seal (a transmutation circle shaped like a flower) onto Edward's right hand, and Alphonse's shoulder, increasing their alchemic abilities.

They sought out the Guardians of Ice, Wind, Earth, and Fire to get closer to solving the mystery of Verda. During this time, they progress through an ancient castle, where on the balcony, Sophie experiences strange pulsations accompanied with voices that make her scream. A strange transmutation circle is inscribed in the ground right by a rock-like platform that has handcuffs hanging down from chains to suspend someone.

Ahead, the balcony overlooks the mountains. Sophie and the Elric brothers are surprised by Romeo Craigin, who are then taken into Custody by Venus Rosemaria and her subordinates Izzy Trigger and Boris Hammer. Edward yells for Sophie to escape. Alphonse is strapped to an Electrical machine for testing, and Edward stripped and locked in a cold jail cell with nothing but his boxers to stay warm, but Edward finds a way out and they escape the military base together.

Upon fighting and defeating three of the four guardians twice, the brothers discover that they lose their power, and wither away into dust. Sophie saves Leonid who has been lifted from his curse, but is only shot and killed by Romeo Craigin moments after the trio leave the area. The brothers' journey finally comes to a close after reaching the highest level in the Shrine of Verda, where they find Sophie who has been possessed by Verda because of the red rock that Zelgius placed in her chest, and break her out of the trance.

They fight Verda as a hideous, enormous monster with a skull for a face. Upon defeating Verda, she gets sucked into the ground but re-emerges again in a human form with glowing eyes and covered with blood, creating a massive vortex of wind and red light in her rage. Sophie approaches her, and despite the fact that Verda attacks her twice, she still survives almost unharmed (except for some bleeding on her forehead). Sophie then wraps her arms around the angry Verda, crying, and her words cause Verda to calm down, and she hugs her in return. Her eyes are shadowed out, but a tear falls and lands on Sophie's face where she begins to wither to dust. Her gentle eyes are revealed for a split second, and her last word being a "thank you" before vanishing for good.

Afterwards, all of the monsters that were summoned when Zelgius initially placed the red stone in Sophie's chest, vanished as well, leaving citizens and military soldiers alike thankful and relieved that the terror was finally over. Zelgius, who is standing on the balcony with Roy Mustang notices that everything's vanished, and after saying his final farewell, he sets himself on fire and disappears into the air. They return to the Church to find Winry and Sophie's white cat, Norn, and decide to report to Mustang together.

On the way through the empty streets, Edward is pushed back from Sophie by Winry, who is talking with their friend, which causes him to fall behind the other three. In a shadowed alley, Trigger stands with a knife, his head covered with a blanket while he mutters to himself. He has gone insane from his friends' death by the flying monsters. The moment Edward reaches the alley, and his friends are far ahead, Trigger lunges out and stabs him in the chest, then walks away, causing Ed to collapse.

Alphonse, Sophie, and Winry turn around after hearing a thump from behind them and run to his side, crying in shock. Sophie then after seeing him lying there motionless, decides to use her power to heal him. She places her hands over the wound in his chest and a light starts glowing. She meets Edward (who is strangely floating upside down) in a beautiful looking place with a sunset on one side and the daylight on the other and converses with him. Edward screams her name out before she vanishes, and realizes that he has been healed.

When he turns, he sees Sophie sitting with a blank and vacant expression, and Winry sobbing uncontrollably by her side. He then suddenly realizes that something is wrong. Afterwards, Edward and Alphonse meet Führer Bradley at the Headquarters which turns into a fight, where winning or losing will not change the ending.

Upon losing the battle, Edward is knocked unconscious by Major Alex Louis Armstrong where he and Mustang speak with the Führer, who then enters the HQ and kills Romeo Craigin. Winry and the Elric brothers try to speak to Sophie who is vacantly staring out the window not even aware of their existence. They leave Valdora in grief and sorrow.

Mustang and Hawkeye are treated for injuries at the Hospital. At the very end, Norn continually meows trying to get Sophie to come back to reality, and just when hope seems lost, Sophie stresses out the words "Norn" and "Ed" with a smile.

Should the player have given Sophie enough items during the game, a different ending takes place. Norn, as in the bad ending, will meow for Sophie, only this time Sophie comes to her senses. As Ed, Al, and Winry board the train home, Sophie runs to the station with Norn to try and say goodbye to them, only to see that their train has left. In spite of this, Sophie shouts out to the train, thanking them for everything – until it is seen that Ed, Al, and Winry never even got on the train. Upon seeing each other, the four friends embrace in happiness.

Features

This game features Tag Battle Mode, unlocking characters such as Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye, and Alex Louis Armstrong. In this mode, players can play alone, or with a partner and defeat all of the opponents to gain a record.

Gallery has about 96 unlockable images, and 10 movie clips, three of which are the opening, a music video of Nana Kitade's song and a commercial for the game. To unlock them, the player must give items to Sophie when she is standing in the vacant church. To further experience, upon completing a game, save, and it will be listed as cleared one time. The 10th movie clip is only achievable upon defeating Führer King Bradley.

Unlike the previous two installations, Fullmetal Alchemist 3 features a two player game. The player can switch between Edward and Alphonse and play either one of them at any point in the game. In tag battle mode, the same applies to all characters.

As said before, giving items to Sophie will sometimes unlock pictures with small cutscene like dialogue, as well as characters available for tag battle mode, along with the fact that she will sometimes give an item back in return.

Reception

The game sold 46,954 copies by the end of July 2005.[1]

References

  1. Web site: ゲームソフト販売本数 TOP30(集計期間:2005年7月25日〜2005年7月31日 ) / ファミ通.com . Famitsu.com . 2012-12-18.

External links