Blaze Union: Story to Reach the Future is a tactical role-playing game for the PlayStation Portable, developed by Sting Entertainment and published by Atlus, with its scenario written by R-Force Entertainment. It is currently only available in Japanese.
Blaze Union serves as the prequel to Yggdra Union, and shares the same systems with a few minor changes to gameplay. The most notable change is the addition of a mission selection system during two points of the game, which leads up to separate story branches much like a visual novel.
A remaster was released in April 2023 for Nintendo Switch. Mobile versions of the game was also announced and it was set to release for IOS and Android.
Story Blaze Union takes place three years before Yggdra Union, in the year 1487 M.D., an era that was considered a golden age to the rest of the continent but was a dark age for the empire of Bronquia. Thortie, the current Emperor, was an incompetent ruler who taxed the people heavily to support the army he was attempting to build; the majority of the nobility was corrupt, and bandits plagued the land, preying on the weak and innocent.
In the trade city of Tiera, the youth Garlot had grown up being crushed under the heel of various forms of oppression, from the unfairness of the rich and the nobility to his own father's brutal abuse; he and his friends Siskier and Jenon decided to do what they could to change the ugly reality surrounding them and formed a band of noble thieves in order to protect their fellow poor.
The game begins as Garlot and his band close in on a noble named Norn and the mercenaries he has hired, defeat him with the help of the traveler Medoute, and catch the eye of Landgrave Velleman. The landgrave asks for their help in creating order in Bronquia so that it can be stabilized before it destroys itself, and they join forces; Velleman renames their force Gram Blaze.
From this point on, the story focuses on Gram Blaze's progress in restoring public order, gathering new allies, and gaining notoriety in Bronquia as the protectors of the people. As much as the plot is a medieval fantasy and adventure tale, it is also a slice of life story chronicling the strengthening of the bonds between Gram Blaze's members and providing a portrait of Garlot, the people surrounding him, and the world they live in.
Depending on the choices of the player, the plot can progress in one of three directions, with four possible conclusions. Important themes include comradeship, racism, revenge, and mental-emotional stress and trauma.
Characters
Allies
The protagonist of the main story and the leader of Gram Blaze. Garlot is a seventeen-year-oldBlaze Union Setting Book. Softbank Creative. 2010. pp. 38-61 () young man born and raised in the slums of Tiera. He desires to become stronger because he has lived all his life faced with everyday injustices resulting from the Emperor's poor government. Garlot was abused by his father when he was a young boy and abandoned by his mother, and he still suffers from the emotional and mental aftereffects.In-game event from . Sting Entertainment. Blaze Union. PlayStation Portable. (2010-05-27) He is notoriously bad-tempered, to the point of forgetting his objectives once angered, but despite this he has a gentle and caring personality that makes him popular amongst his allies. Garlot is extremely protective of his friends and flies into a rage if they are threatened or hurt, particularly Siskier.
Although he himself is not aware of it, "Garlot" is not his real name; it is a false name that his mother gave him in order to seal his demon blood. Over the course of the A path, it is revealed that Garlot is the first pureblooded descendant of the demon god Brongaa to be born in centuries, and his birth name is . In this route of the game, he works to unseal his blood after Siskier's death, and overthrows the government to become the new Emperor, leading to the events of Yggdra Union.
Garlot refuses to eat dairy products, and is also depicted as having trouble eating particularly sweet things, such as strawberries.Retrieved Game Dialogue: (as Garlot:) 甘酸っぱいが……どうも味が口にいつまでも残る。あまり好きじゃないな。 (as Gulcasa:) 小粒なくせに、甘みが強いな… Sting Entertainment. Blaze Union. PlayStation Portable. (2010-05-27) His allies often call him . Two of the game's possible endings result in his suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder.
Garlot's childhood friend, and the lead scout of Gram Blaze. The same age as Garlot, she acted as a surrogate mother or older sister to him during their childhood, and encouraged him to play with her and Jenon often so that he would have a place of refuge from his father. It is heavily implied that she has romantic feelings for him, although she is never able to tell him so to his face. Siskier is also implied to be an orphan,Dialogue: "I see... So that's what a mom is like.", . Sting Entertainment. Blaze Union. PlayStation Portable. (2010-05-27) and as a fellow resident of Tiera's slums, she has a strong dislike for all nobles and tends to act prejudiced towards them before getting to know them personally.
Possessed of a very cheerful personality, Siskier insists upon wearing tight-fitting clothing that covers little skin because she claims it allows her to move more easily,Gram Blaze Twitter account, posted 21 May 2010 and retrieved 23 September 2010 but makes an exception for scarves, which she loves and will buy whenever she has the chance.In-game event from . Sting Entertainment. Blaze Union. PlayStation Portable. (2010-05-27)In-game event from . Sting Entertainment. Blaze Union. PlayStation Portable. (2010-05-27) She does complain of cold at various points of the game and acknowledges that her attire is not practical protection from the elements.
Siskier has no lead role in any of the paths, but her death in the A route provides the impetus for Garlot to unseal his demon blood.
Childhood friend to Garlot and Siskier, and the primary tactician for Gram Blaze. He is the same age as Garlot and Siskier. Jenon has a flair for the dramatic and flirts with every woman he sees, although certain routes reveal that he actually only has feelings for Siskier (a fact of which Garlot is aware, but Siskier herself is not).Blaze Union Setting Book. Softbank Creative. 2010. p.44 () Jenon is more pessimistic than either Garlot or Siskier and presents himself as far more of a skeptic, and is also more well-read; he is the only one of the three of them who is aware that the world is round, for instance.
Optional events reveal that Jenon is a noble, although he conceals this fact from his friends, and that he ran away from home to join Garlot's battle against class discrimination and the oppression of the weak.In-game event from . Sting Entertainment. Blaze Union. PlayStation Portable. (2010-05-27) His father supports Pandra's rebellion,In-game event from . Sting Entertainment. Blaze Union. PlayStation Portable. (2010-05-27) and so Jenon's parents flee Tiera at the end of chapter 5, after it is attacked.In-game event from . Sting Entertainment. Blaze Union. PlayStation Portable. (2010-05-27) While Jenon is not a lead character, he still has an important role; during the A path, he conspires with Medoute to betray Gulcasa, and during the C path, he sacrifices himself to protect Siskier and Ordene and chooses to die without confessing to Siskier when he realizes that she loves Garlot.
An itinerant traveler who first appears following Garlot's band out of curiosity. She aids them in battle against the mercenary David, but then thoroughly criticizes their reckless methods, insisting that Garlot is not powerful enough or wise enough to enforce his ideals as he is now. When she realizes how much of an impact her words had on him, Medoute decides to join up with Gram Blaze as a way of taking responsibility, and acts as an older sister and mentor to the rest of the group. During chapter 3, she spends many missions impressing her view of morality onto the others.
In every route, it is revealed that Medoute is a descendant of Dragonslayer Gill, the hero who defeated Brongaa in ancient times. She was raised as a dragonslayer, but because she doesn't believe in destiny, she ran away from home and began to travel the world as a way to rebel against her heritage. She mentions that the hermit seen in Yggdra Union's Battlefield 25 is her grandfather, and that she is a resident of Lost Aries, current homeland for exiled Vanir Tribe that was mentioned by Kylier in Yggdra Union.In-game event from . Sting Entertainment. Blaze Union. PlayStation Portable. (2010-05-27) Despite her resentment toward the way she was raised, she still becomes suspicious of Gulcasa and Emilia after discovering their heritage; she betrays Gulcasa in the A path, and if Emilia loses her mind during the B path, she explains that Emilia must now be killed. Her attitude can be viewed as racism against demons, although it is never defined in as many words.
Medoute is twenty-one years old.
A fifteen-year-old noble girl who is being pursued by an organization of assassins called the Blessed Papal Army. After she is rescued by Gram Blaze, Aegina and her twin sister Luciana join up with the army for protection, although only Aegina is able to perform in battle due to Luciana having a leg injury. Aegina is extremely polite and has a subdued, serious personality, in contrast to her cheerful and prank-loving older sister; however, she has an intense hatred of the Kingdom of Fantasinia, and becomes vehemently angry whenever it is spoken of.
Aegina is the central character of the B route, which explores her and Luciana's background. The two of them were born as the princesses of Fantasinia, but right after they were born, someone attempted to assassinate them. They were rescued by a soldier and brought to Bronquia, where they were adopted by a Bronquian noble; although they do not know exactly why this happened, Aegina says that it is probably because of the Fantasinian superstition that twins are unlucky. During the B route, Luciana is killed by assassins, and Aegina leads an attack on Fantasinia with the support of Gram Blaze in order to smoke out the culprit. After learning the circumstances of her exile, Aegina is able to kill the one responsible and lay her grudge to rest, choosing to remain in Fantasinia with her family.
A mysterious and strange blind man who lives deep in the forest as a hermit and is rumored to be a prophet. Velleman sends Gram Blaze to recruit him as a strategist, and Nessiah consents on the condition that they be able to defeat him in battle. Nessiah is polite and very knowledgeable; he is able to sense Garlot's latent power, but other members of the party are disturbed by Nessiah's talent at necromancy, and Jenon sees him as a rival due to their similar positions. Despite his power and his infamy (Medoute mentions that he had even foretold the death of Ike, the previous emperorDialogue: "I've heard that story. He foresaw the last emperor's death, didn't he?" from . Sting Entertainment. Blaze Union. PlayStation Portable. (2010-05-27)), Nessiah has the appearance of a teenage boy.Yggdra Union official site, character section; Nessiah is listed as 19 years old While it is not addressed in this game, Nessiah is a fallen Grim Angel born under the name Aries, and has lived in the world of Ancardia for about a thousand years. He is attempting to perpetuate human wars in order to give power to his artifact the Gran Centurio, which he intends to use to break the shackles binding him and revenge himself upon the gods.