In between battles, characters engage in conversations with each other in cutscenes, which advances the story. Battles are turn-based and take place on grid-based maps. Victory is achieved when an enemy base is captured or all enemies are defeated. Each character holds four weapons and four items, and each has an assigned character class, which affects their movement range, damage and what weapons can be used. Mounted units also have the option to dismount, which changes their abilities and stats while reducing movement range. When combat is initiated, a separate screen shows the battle play out: attack power is based on the strength of weapons and their units, while damage is calculated based on both the type of attack used and the opposing unit's physical and magical defense. Critical hits triple the damage of normal attacks. Each battle awards experience points, which raise a unit's experience level: their level and statistics cap at 20. When a character changes class, their experience level returns to 1 while their stats increase slightly. Unit abilities can be influenced through a Support system: when two characters have a story-based relationship such as being lovers or friends, they boost stats such as attack power or dodging ability. Synopsis Mystery of the Emblem is set on the continent of Archanea, and is split into two halves dubbed "Books". "Book 1" is a retelling of the events of Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light: Marth, the prince of Altea, is forced into exile when his homeland is attacked by the neighboring kingdom of Gra. With his father killed and his sister Elice captive, Marth must muster a force to defeat the will driving the invasion: the dark dragon Medeus and his ally Gharnef. Marth's allies include the princess and Pegasus knight Caeda, Marth's mentor Jagen, Prince Hardin of Aurelis, kindly Princess Nyna of Archanea's Royal Family, and the Archsage Gotoh. His quest leads him to recovering Falchion, a magical sword which can defeat Medeus and which only Marth can wield due to his ancient heritage as a descendant of Anri, the warrior who defeated Medeus. Having recovered both Falchion and the magical Fire Emblem shield, Marth confronts Gharnef and Medeus, the latter of whom is leader of the last surviving tribe of Manakete, an ancient tribe which could shapeshift into dragons. In the end, Marth defeats Medeus and restores peace, surrendering the Fire Emblem to Archanea