Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel (鋼の錬金術師 翔べない天使 Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: Tobenai Tenshi), is an action role-playing game developed by Racjin and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 2 console and is the first ever Fullmetal Alchemist video game released. The game features an original story by Hiromu Arakawa. The game was released in Japan on December 25th, 2003 and in North America on January 18, 2005.
Characters[]
Edward Elric: A 15-year-old prodigy, who at age 12, became the youngest State Alchemist in history. His alias, "Fullmetal," derives from the fact that his right arm and left leg are metallic, artificial limbs known as automail. "Fullmetal" is sometimes also used to describe a person who is stubborn. He and his younger brother Alphonse are on a journey to find the Philosopher's Stone, which may hold the power for them to regain their bodies.
Alphonse Elric: Inside a giant suit of armor is a soul of a fourteen-year-old boy with a gentle heart. He journeys with his older brother Edward in hope that both of them will regain their original bodies. Always calm and stable in character, Al is the one who chides Ed, who is quick to lose his cool. Al is Ed's perfect companion. Al is the younger brother of Edward Elric, but is often confused to be older than Ed because he is trapped in a suit of armor twice as large as he is.
Roy Mustang: A military colonel who goes by the nickname "The Flame Alchemist." His gloves are made of pyrotex, which he uses to create alchemy-controlled flames.
Riza Hawkeye: A military lieutenant, and a close aide to the Colonel. A woman highly capable in any assignment, she is secretly feared by her peers for her imperturbable manner. She assumed the identity of Margott Orange Peko to infiltrate the Eiselstein estate in order to gather info on Wilhelm's work.
Alex Louis Armstrong: A major in the military. He is capable of fancy footwork despite his burly physique. His giant knuckles enable him to perform powerful alchemy, for which this State Alchemist has been given the alias "The Strong-Arm Alchemist."
Armony Eiselstein: The daughter of Professor Eiselstein, she believes her father is cold to her because she is inept in the art of alchemy and has been forbidden to learn alchemy as a result. However, it is actually because of the Philosopher's Catalyst she contains in her own body. He is afraid that if she uses alchemy, it may have some effect on the alchemic amplifier, which she has no knowledge of having. She becomes Edward’s student in hopes of becoming proficient in the ancient science. She has a cheerful disposition and is a hard worker with a love for flowers, especially the Etherflower.
Professor Wilhelm Eiselstein: One of ten famous Alchemists and considered a world authority on catalytics – the study of making efficient alchemy. He was researching the “Philosopher’s Catalyst,” a legendary material that has powers comparable to the Philosopher’s Stone. When the town of Hiessgart (where he and his daughter resided) came under attack of chimeras, he brought the refugees to safety and led the efforts in building New Hiessgart.
Selene Eiselstein: The true daughter of Professor Eiselstein, she is no longer of this world. Selene used to help her father with his alchemic experiments as he tried to obtain the legendary amplifier: the Philosopher's Catalyst. However, she got caught in a rebound from one of his attempts to create a prototype of the Catalyst, and her body mutated. As a result, the Catalyst, taking the form of a glowing white wing, fused with her and she became the girl Wilhelm now calls Armony. Armony however, having memories of playing with Selene as a child, has no knowledge of the fact that she (in a sense) is Selene, and believes that Selene was her older sister who had died. There is a grave for Selene at the church near Hiessgart that Armony often visits and leaves behind an Etherflower for her, but Armony does not know that the grave holds no body of her "sister". Edward and Alphonse, when they had visited the Professor with their teacher in the past, hadn't gotten to see Selene before they had left. Before the Professor informs them of what had happened to Selene, Edward believes that she was just being cold,
Alphonse fighting a train robber.
but Al thinks that perhaps it was just too hard for her to say good-bye. Selene was always quiet, yet very intelligent and an alchemic prodigy.
Camilla: A mysterious and beautiful woman dressed in black. Old records describe her as a legendary alchemist who disappeared several years ago. She is now a bounty hunter of sorts seeking out Professor Eiselstein's "Philosopher's Catalyst". Camilla helps the Professor create the true Catalyst by posing as a scientist named Greta Riddel, who he makes his assistant. She eventually reveals herself when she kidnaps Armony in an attempt to take the wing from her to become more powerful. However, Wilhelm interference with an Etherflower and the wing is destroyed as Camilla is presumed dead after attempting to kill the Elrics for her plans being ruined.
Senior Colonel Genz Bresslau: A military policeman who proclaims himself to be "The Armor-Piercing Alchemist" and the strongest in the military. He has no interest in rank or honor; his only pursuit is his own physical strength. He is quick to anger, and shows no mercy for subordinates who fail in their duty.
Brigadier General Mudi Nemda: Chief of the military police in the Hiessgart region. Tenacious in expanding his own power, he has almost completely privatized the army. His ambition is to build his own Nemda Kingdom.
Plot[]
Edward fighting thugs on the first stage of the game.
Taking place between episodes 6 and 7 of the anime (or the episodes 17 and 18 of the 2003 anime), the game begins with the Elric Brothers, currently being escorted by Major Alex Louis Armstrong, returning from Resembool and heading to Central City via train. While Ed moans, Al consoles and Armstrong flexes, the train is suddenly attacked by terrorists. After a quick hesitation, the three of them decide to get rid of the bad guys. After beating them up, Ed and Al discover that they are ex-state alchemists on the run from the military to the town of Hiessgart to find refuge. According to one of their leader, the town is establishing an autonomy of alchemists, lead by Wilhelm Eiselstein, a legend of the art, specialist in catalyst (a way to improve transmutation, something close of the Philosopher’s stone according to Alphonse). They’re explaining at this moment that they already met this man and his daughter Selene during their traineeship with Izumi Curtis. Ed seems to hold a childish grudge against Selene but they are both describing her as a young alchemist genius, on her long way to her genius father.
Eventually, Edward and Alphonse manage to escape the surveillance of Major Armstrong to run through the mountain, in order to get an another train to Central from the famous city of Hiessgart. On their way, they run into a red haired girl climbing on the mountain to pick some white flowers. This first meeting is not going so well with the girl falling on Edward from the cliff and then calling him short, but the girl flee from them smoothly. The rest of the journey is complicated with the brothers having to fight against wild chimeras while they progress to reach Hiessgart.
But to their horror, they found the city to be a ghost town full of another bunch of wild chimeras. While trying to get out of it, they run again in the red haired girl in a graveyard, placing white flower on a tomb. Out of curiosity, they read the name on it and discover that is the eternal rest of Selene Eiselstein, the girl they met in their childhood. She apparently died a few years ago, just after meeting them. Both Ed and Al seem quite shocked but they are interrupted in their discussion by the pastor of the church. He invites them in his temple and tells them that the city, while in peace before, is now infested by wild and violent chimeras, as they could witness. The local militaries did apparently nothing to solve the problem and the majority of the locals fled to a new city, called New Hiessgart, founded by the Professor Wilhelm Eiselstein. The two brothers promise to call on directly on the authorities of Central, even if it appears that the Colonel Mustang is already aware that there is some smoke in this area and had put a subordinate under cover in the city (which they ignore, at this point). While the pastor offers shelter to them, he reveals that the red haired girl’s name is Armony. The pastor notes that the girl walks around and is never attacked by the chimeras. She seems to regularly visit the tomb of Selene, even if the girl is not really buried here, as her dead body was never found after a mysterious accident that cause her death. But then, the church is attacked by a mysterious woman and her chimera. She calls herself Camilla and quickly get away from them after they beat up her monster.
Armony Eiselstein, fierce but impolite
They finally arrive at New Hiessgart determined to catch their train. After a few brawls against the local thugs, they witness Armony in a fight against some lowlife alchemists, who just scam her of her money under the false promise that they were going to learn her alchemy. As they’re about to be violent with such a young girl, Edward can’t help himself and interfere, beating them up straight. Immediately, Armony jumps to them and asks them to learn her Alchemy. They refuse, explaining that they have to catch the first train to Central but Armony tells them that all the trains to Central has been cancel, because of the derailment that leads the brothers here in the first place. With her ingenuousness confidence, she invites them to her house.
As they arrived, Armony goes straight to reach for her father, who is no one else that Wilhelm Eiselstein himself, the founder of New Hiessgart and living legend of Alchemy. As the Professor recognize Ed as a disciple of Izumi, we discover that Wilhelm is forbidding his daughter to learn about alchemy. He scolds her to her room and talk with the brothers, asking them to respect his order. They assure that they didn’t care much about it and show some surprise, as they didn’t get the last time that the professor has two daughters, Selene and Armony. The professor shuts down their curiosity by making clear that he understood their secret, that they attempted human transmutation. He confirms that he actually did found the city of New Hiessgart but deny he made a call for gathering raw alchemists in his town and swear that he doesn’t know why the area is swamped by chimeras.
As he invites them to stay at his home, the Professor calls his assistant Greta and his secretary Margot, who is clearly Riza Hawkeye in disguise. She leads the brothers to their room and escape when they start asking questions, sure that they met before. The two boys discuss and find that the situation is quite mysterious indeed, justifying some investigations of their own in the next few days. In the mean time, the assistant Greta persuades her boss to involve the Elric brothers to their « experiment », which seems to sadden the Professor.
Wilhelm Eiselstein, a wise and severe man
Regardless of his reluctance, Wilhelm still asks a favor to the brothers, which is collect white flowers - etherflowers - as much as they can. He explains that etherflower is the best catalyst in nature, helping improving transmutation speed and efficiency, even the risk of rebound is not to ignore. Accepting the mission, Ed and Al go searching for the flowers until Armony catches them up. She asks again for Edward’s knowledges and the Fullmetal accepts to let her observe him in his art. While they progress, Alphonse asks Armony about her father. She confesses that she wants nothing else than help him in his researches. She remembers that he was not so hard on her before, actually teaching her some alchemy until she felt sick with a fever, that she has regularly since then. From this moment, her father became severe and scolding her often. Her willing of learning alchemy grown stronger, as she wants to prove her father she is not as helpless as he seems to think. The search for the etherflowers leads them to the old town.
On their way, they make a detour to the old house of the Eiselstein family, to the joy of Armony. While she seems to remembering old memory, she has a short black out. Then, they all get to the lake, searching for the flowers. After some struggles with chimeras, the brother are desperate in front of their failure. From nowhere, Armony shows them that she managed to found five etherflowers to bring her father. Ed and Al thank her and offer her whatever she wants. She asks Edward again to teach her some alchemy, which he finally accepts.
Edward takes the time to learn a few things to Armony. But, as they’re discussing, the girl faints in front of them. As she lie to the ground, the two brothers watch one brilliant wing appears on her back. Out of panic, they bring Armony back to her father’s place. But when they arrive, they find the place attacked by flying chimeras and the professor probably in danger in his lab. As Armony is begging for help, the brothers go down in Eiselstein’s lab after putting her in a safe place. While exploring the lab, they discover strange transmutation circles on the floor and a hundred of chimera incubators. They finally find the professor, injured. Eiselstein admits that he is the one who created all the chimeras that infest the area, claiming that he did all of that for the sake of Armony, before collapsing out of the pain.
Outside, they find the Brigadier Nemda, bragging about his combat chimera just before one of them go berserk and try to attack Armony. Edward and Alphonse run to the battle, defatting the monster just before it kills their friend and apprentice. The Brigadier Nemda, in rage that some brat took away his precious chimera, tries to put Edward and Alphonse into custody. But then, the Colonel Mustang and the Major Armstrong break into the place. Nemda complains about Edward and Alphonse, and Mustang advices him to put them in jail until martial court, to the outrage of Edward.
Armony, in despair, finds her father and collapse in his arms. He understands straight away that she has practice alchemy and hold her under the curious eyes of his assistant Greta, that he scolds away. The woman finds there a bright feather and seems to understand everything, which leads her to a mischievous laugh.
Riza Hawkeye rejoins Mustang and make her report to him. She confirms the link between the Professor Eiselstein and the Brigadier Nemda, informing him that the Professor is actually making chimeras for the military man, in exchange for ignoring the illicit activities of the professor. Mustang dismisses the acts of Nemda, more worried about the Professor, the true identity of his assistant Greta and their ultimate goals. Mustang reveals that he purposely let Edward rot in jail, in hope that his disruptive subordinate will make a mess that will be a perfect diversion.
As Edward and Alphonse (as expected) making some noise while escaping prison, Greta meets with Nemda. She affirms that she can get the Philosopher catalyst (and allowing Nemda to make more and more of chimeras, allowing him to become king of the world) only if she can get her hand on Armony Eiselstein. She manipulates easily Nemda against Wilhelm and the Brigadier orders his arrest and the capture of Armony. Edward and Alphonse hear two soldiers discussing that fact while they’re reaching to the fortress to recover Edward’s silver watch. They escape the prison, thanks to a transmuted big kite, in front of the hateful eyes of Nemda.
They manage to get to the church, where Armony waits for them with the pastor. She learn them that her father kicked her out of her house after learning that she’s been practicing alchemy. Ed and Al pass through the sewers to reach the Professor’s house, to warn him that is going to be arrested and to ask him some questions. Armony follows them in secret. While they progress, Greta reveals herself as being the mysterious Camila from the beginning, manipulate everyone as her ultimate goal is to find the Philosopher’s Catalyst.
After battling against water chimeras, Ed and Al, quickly followed by Armony and the pastor, climb back to the Eiselstein house. After warning the professor of his upcoming arrest, they tell him it’s time for some explanations. Wilhelm agrees to it but ask his daughter to get back to her room, promising her he will listen and talk to her later, but have to tell some truths she can’t ear to the boys. Reluctantly, the girl accepts her father’s demand.
In the dining room, Wilhelm asks the brother how much they could understand so far. Edward says he knows that Armony is not his real daughter and asks about her. Wilhelm admits that the wing they saw growing on the back of Armony was the essence of his research : the Philosopher’s catalyst. He claims it’s just a prototype that he wanted to experiment, some years ago. But the experimentation went wrong and rebound on his daughter Selene, who was serving as an assistant. Wilhelm describes how he witnessed his daughter’s body deformed as she was screaming with pain because of the rebound. Wilhelm tried to use the Philosopher’s catalyst to stop the rebound but can’t help Selene to transmute into another aspect and became Armony, a chimera made of Selene and the Philosopher’s catalyst. Hiding behind the doors, Armony is listening to her father and run away in disbelief. Ignoring that, Wilhelm and the Elrics continue to talk. Wilhelm explains that he forbid Armony to practice alchemy in fear that she may use and consume the catalyst inside of her, which will cause her death, as she depends on the catalyst to remain alive. The professor explains that he is still trying to finish the catalyst, hoping that he could save Armony by getting it out of her, as the energy of the catalyst will eventually fade away with time if nothing is made.
As the conversation reaches to an end, the military break into the castle. The brothers urge the professor and the pastor to take Armony and hide while they deal with Nemda and his troops.
While they are battling, Armony writes a letter for Edward and starts crying when Camila finds her and force the girl to come with her.
Struggling with Nemda’s force, Ed and Al are finally getting some help from Mustang, Armstrong and Hawkeye. She informs them that Armony has been kidnapped and urge them to go save her while they deal with the raw military themselves.
After getting back to the castle, the brothers start to search for Armony and her kidnapper. The pastor, panicking, informs them that Wilhelm, Armony and Greta are probably in the top of the main tower.
While progressing in the castle, Edward and Alphonse are asking themself several questions : why the professor kept working on chimeras this all time ? Why did he asked a bunch of raw state alchemists to gathered at New Hiessgart ? They fear that Camila may hurt Armony by ripping of the wing out of her and Edward enrages, promising that he will not allow that woman to hurt his apprentice.
Camilla finally reveals her true identity to Wilhelm and the brothers, before ordering her chimeras to attack them. The professor does not defend himself but the brothers fight. Eventually, they succeed to beat them. At this moment, the Professor admits that the chimeras were crafted to fed the Catalyst, as for the alchemists invited were to fed the chimeras. The goal was to made an another Catalyst to save Armony. Horrified, Edward and Alphonse scream while Camilla, gloating, affirm that she doesn’t need to follow that plan anymore, as she has access to the original catalyst. She approaches Armony and Wilhelm begs the brothers to stop her. Injured, they try to stop her but Camilla places her circle tattooed hand on the face of Armony, starting the transmutation that will rip off the Catalyst out of her. The young girl starts to scream out of her lungs and, in a last struggle, Wilhelm gets back to his feet and throws an etherflower to his ex-assistant. Camilla starts to scream as much as Armony, as her transmutation rebounds on herself. Wilhelm asserts that she should has known about the catalytic energy of the flower. Out of rage, Camilla transmutes a gigantic chimera, using the power that she has the time to steal from Armony’s wing. The brothers get up on their feet to battle one more time against this final boss and get to beat her. Camilla, stumbling and out of energy, falls from the top of the tower. Wilhelm urges his way to the body of his daughter. Edward and Alphonse realize, dismayed, that her wing is gone. The Professor asks them to collect as many glowing feathers as they can, telling that the remaining energy in them could be useful to save his daughter. As they run to obey the old master, Wilhelm breaks down, apologizing to the boys while they can’t hear him. He affirms that is too late for Armony and that’s all because of him. But he swears that he is going to clean up his own mess. And while he swears to his late daughter than he never has anything else than her happiness in mind, he asks her to forbid him on more time, as it’s the only way to save both of them. We understand there that Wilhelm intend to sacrifice himself to destroy the Catalyst before it goes out of control and finally put an end to the suffering of his daughter.
During their last quest, Edward realize than something is wrong, as he doesn’t feel any energy or pulse from the feathers. Understanding that something is wrong, the brothers run to the lab. And as they’re arriving, they’re stopped in the entrance by Mustang, Armstrong and Hawkeye, forbidding them to enter. While Edward starts to scream, Riza tells him to think about Armony’s feelings, as her life will never be the life of a normal girl at this point. But Edward claims he has a responsibility over her, as she is his apprentice and so, he has to try something. They throw themself into the battle against the two state alchemists and, before anything can come to any result, the roof of the lab starts to glow and the lab blows as Wilhelm transmute one last time with his daughter. Just before doing so, he reassures Armony, telling her that she’s always been his child and Armony reassures her dad, telling him that she always knew that he loved her, as children always feel this kind of thing.
Realizing that it’s too late, Edward breaks down to the ground in tears, holding the single feather that he found on the ruins. We learn at this moment that Nemda has been arrested and that the influence of the brothers on this case will be erased by Mustang, who giving Armony’s last letter to Edward.
On the train to Central, Alphonse reads the letter out loud. Armony, wrote to Edward her thanks and even if she had the feelings that there were never going to see each other again, he shouldn’t resent anyone. She affirmed that, even if she understood the principle of equivalent exchange, she though that principle doesn’t apply to people as she receive so much in her life and had to sacrifice so little. She affirmed that her time in learning with him and his brother was a peak of joy in her life, that she is grateful for.
And while the Major Armstrong fabulously tears up, Alphonse finds a flower seed in the envelope, as Armony trained so hard to make a flower bloom through alchemy and never has a chance to succeed. But while Edward is observing the seed, it starts to glow and an glowing etherflower appears in the hand of the Fullmetal Alchemist.
Development[]
Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel was developed by the Japanese company Racjin and initially produced by Enix, before their merger with Square in April 2003. Development for the game began before that of the Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 anime series. Hiromu Arakawa, the author of the original manga, oversaw the story of the game and designed its characters, while Bones, the studio which would be responsible for the anime series, produced 30 minutes of animation. Themes emphasized during the creation of the game include the bond between Alphonse and Edward, as well as the series' basic concept of Equivalent Exchange, which states that "man cannot gain without sacrifice". The developers looked at other titles for inspiration, particularly Square's action role-playing game Kingdom Hearts, in addition to other games based on manga series, such as Dragon Ball, Naruto or One Piece games. The biggest challenge they had to overcome was to try to make the title a "full-fledged" game rather than a simple "character-based" game. Tomoya Asano, the assistant producer for the game, noted that development spanned more than a year, unlike most character-based games.
In Japan, the game was showcased at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2003, the first time that Square and Enix had appeared at the show as a single company. In the United States, the game was showcased at the Electronic Entertainment Expo of Los Angeles in May 2004, with the presence of Asano. For the North American version of the game, the developers made the difficulty level more challenging and aggressive.
Light-Novel (Game-Novel)[]
The cover of the Game Novel.
On July 20th, 2004, a Game-Novel (a Light Novel based on a game) was published with the same name (Hagane No Renkinjutsushi: Tobenai Tenshi) to go along with the game. It was written by Makoto Inoue with Arakawa providing illustrations, but it was only released in Japan, making it the second Light-Novel in the franchise to remain untranslated, the other one being A New Beginning, the sixth volume of the Light-Novel series.[1][2]
Music[]
The score for the game was composed by Tomohiko Sato, Makoto Suehiro, Isao Kasai and Kenji Tani. It includes three vocal songs: "Flowers of the Hearts" sung by voice actress Motoko Kumai, "Emotionally" sung by Saori Yamada, and "The Enduring Crime" sung by J-pop singer Nana Kitade. The soundtrack was published in Japan as a copy-protected album by Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment.
Reception[]
In Japan, the game had sold 250,000 copies as of 2004.
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 59% |
| Metacritic | 56 out of 100 |
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Publication | Score |
| 1UP.com | C- |
| Allgame | [9] |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 5.83 out of 10 |
| Famitsu | 30 out of 40 |
| Game Informer | 4.75 out of 10 |
| GameSpot | 6.2 out of 10 |
| GameSpy | [11] |
| GameZone | 7.1 out of 10 |
| IGN | 6.4 out of 10 |
| Official PlayStation Magazine (US) | 3 out of 5 |
| Play Magazine | 3 out of 4 |
| PSM | 5 out of 10 |
| X-Play | 2 out of 5 |
References[]
External Links[]
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| Fullmetal Alchemist | |
|---|---|
| Manga | Fullmetal Alchemist: The Prototype | Fullmetal Alchemist | Chapters |
| Anime | Fullmetal Alchemist | Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood |Episodes | OVAs |
| Movies | Conqueror of Shamballa | The Sacred Star of Milos | Fullmetal Alchemist (2017) |
| Games (2003 timeline) | Broken Angel | Stray Rondo | Sonata of Memories | Dream Carnival | Curse of the Crimson Elixir | The Girl Who Surpasses God | Dual Sympathy | Trading Card Game (Nintendo DS) | |
| Games (2009 timeline) | Prince of the Dawn | Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (game) | Daughter of Dusk | To the Promised Day | Fullmetal Alchemist Mobile |