Reviews VideoGame / FireEmblemGaiden

VideoGame Great Story, Hit or Miss Gameplay

As a remake of the second Fire Emblem game, Shadows of Valentia obviously does many things differently from Awakening or Fates. The only question is whether that's a good or bad thing.

The story is the game's strongest point, featuring two childhood friends, Alm and Celica, as they set out on separate but connected quests. Alm seeks to save his homeland, the Kingdom of Zofia, by defeating the Empire of Rigel, while Celica seeks to regain the goddess Mila's blessing for Zofia.It's a compelling story that's written well and features excellent voice acting.

Speaking of the characters, while the main characters are generally interesting and well-written, some of the minor characters, such as Alm's fellow villagers, are fairly forgettable. While the support system returns, it isn't used quite as well in this game as it was in the last two, since many characters have only one or two support partners, and thus few opportunities to develop or let us learn more about them.

The combat system features some nice improvements, such as Mila's Turnwheel, an option to turn back time and undo your mistakes. However, some things may seem fairly jarring to those who played the most recent titles. Units can only hold one item, usually a weapon that augments their power or a consumable that heals them, which removes the strategic element of choosing the best weapon for the situation. Other examples include the lack of a Weapon Triangle (rock paper scissors featuring swords, lances and axes), weapons not breaking, magic costing HP and archers being able to attack adjacent units.

The level design is somewhat lackluster. There's little real variety in the maps, and you'll see many wide open fields, ship-to-ship battles, and castles with large choke points (which results in your army being funneled into the gate while the enemy waits on the other side. Some of them can be downright frustrating, such as a desert that non-fliers can't cross easily surrounding a fortress full of archers. The ability to explore RPG-style dungeons with various paths and optional treasures to find is a good concept, but in practice, you end up facing many small skirmishes that end up becoming tedious. To make matters worse, the endgame is one long dungeon crawl leading up to the Final Boss, making for a Disappointing Last Level.

All in all, Echoes isn't a bad game, even if it can be somewhat frustrating at times, and the story is superior to the gameplay. probably would have benefited from an Easy mode and/or the option to choose Phoenix difficulty. I recommend Shadows of Valentia if you're a fan of old-school Fire Emblem games, and/or care more about story than gameplay. If not, you may still enjoy it if you're patient and have an open mind.

VideoGame Echoes: the Good, the Bad, and the YMMV

Good:

• I am immensely thankful for Mila's Turnwheel. One thing that always bugged me about older Fire Emblem games was that if I wanted a No Casualties Run, I had to reset if I ever lost someone, which was tedious in later missions. Mila's Turnwheel allows me to turn back time to any prior point in the battle, but only a limited number of times per battle. I hope they use a similar mechanic in future games.
• I very much liked the game's story. I was able to see some of its plot twists coming, but they were all handled in a way that didn't bother me.
• I love the game's characters. The villains were all people I felt for and/or very much wanted to defeat while the protagonists, including the supporting cast, were all people I liked and wanted to be happy. It helps that just about every scene was fully voiced, making it much easier for me to perceive the characters' emotions.
• A lot of the music in Echoes is taken from Gaiden and arranged for a more advanced sound system, and save for a few songs, I absolutely love it (not that I've played Gaiden). I'm a sucker for the old "orchestra and chorus" approach to story-significant battles, and boy does Echoes deliver in that department.

• I found the Witches to be very vexing, and it would have been quite easy to keep them from being that way. Just make it so that they can't move after teleporting, just as is the case with the Rewarp spell, and the problem is solved. If you see any Witches on the map, you have to pray to the Random Number God that they don't swarm one of your more vulnerable units. Simply put, there is no counter play when it comes to dealing with Witches. Thankfully, they operate on an A.I. Roulette, so cheap shots are the exception, not the rule.
• I found a fair number of the maps to be overly simple, giving me little room to maneuver when it came to tactics. Oftentimes, the only reasonable choice was for me to form a wall around my weaker units, let the numerically superior enemy encircle me, and hope that my forces can hold out and ultimately counterattack.
• I was quite frustrated by how Echoes handles experience gain. At higher levels, even in bottom-tier classes, units have a much harder time gaining experience. As a result, I had to either promote early or do far more grinding than I prefer to do.

• People used to Awakening and Fates will almost certainly be caught off-guard by how different many of the mechanics are in Echoes. As such, tactics that worked in Awakening and/or Fates may not be as effective in Echoes. It's still a Fire Emblem game at its core, though.
• People who like to pair off every possible couple will likely be disappointed by the game not necessarily allowing them to pair up the people they want to go together. There are several canon pairings, but that's all.

• I love this game. If you like Fire Emblem, I strongly recommend buying it.