A unique and excellent approach to the long running series
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is a tactical/strategy role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems in 2017 for the 3DS and serves as a remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden originally released for the Famicom in 1992. Shadows of Valentia manages to do things a bit more differently to the other contemporary titles like Awakening, Fates and Three Houses but manages to shine in a variety of aspects that make a JRPG great but possibly its biggest flaw is sticking too close to the original in a sense.
One of the biggest strengths this game has is the overall story with characters that are extremely well voice acted for a 3DS game to the point I feel that the console itself doesn't do the game justice sometimes. A simple story synopsis is that you plays as two protagonists with their own objectives and armies trying to defeat the evil kingdom. There are some characters that are one note but there are also some that have a lot of depth and motivations that also manages to give out some impressive vocal emotional performances that yet immerses you more into the story and world you're in. The gameplay is a bit different in that from the other 3DS games, there is no weapon triangle and spells are learned via leveling up and use your own health instead of it being a finite resource. I personally didn't mind this and felt like it made the game easier to swallow as someone that doesn't have much experience playing an FE game with also there just being one equipment slot so you can just equip the best item for a member and moving on. The soundtrack here is phenomenal with certain tracks you hear a lot gradually feeling more frantic and desperate with some having a more militaristic focus in certain times. The motif used in most of the soundtrack is synonymous and fitting for the game as a whole with a final map theme that does not disappoint at all and further elevates the final battle as the games does its final hours. Art design here is amazing with Hidari bringing the classic NES designs to life in a clean and faithful way and is my favorite overall art in a Fire Emblem game. Even then the smallest things can also make a game great, the title screen gives you a snapshot of the experience you're about to enter or even continue and returning to it after all is said and done was a closing experience with the soundtrack of the choirs singing in a solemn tone which feels like a calm before the storm.
As much as this game is a solid JRPG experience all around, the weakest aspect of it has to be the maps themselves. Most of them are very simple open fields that leave little to strategy and some maps have some awful terrain that makes it not very fun to go through. The dungeons themselves are a 50/50 thing for me, it's something different and you get mini encounters akin to a normal JRPG battle via the Fire Emblem flavor but much more condensed and shorter than a regular FE battle would take. I think I just didn't like that I was limited to only 10 people considering I was mostly used to having my entire army with me. The game does also expect you to go through some battles so if you play how you want to play, you might eventually run into a roadblock especially when you want more story and want to know what happens next.
I didn't think I would ever like a 3DS Fire Emblem game again after Awakening but this game completely proved me wrong. The facets of a good JRPGs: story, characters, soundtrack, gameplay (to an extent) and Shadows of Valentia has them. A surprisingly heartfelt solemn tale of two warriors destined by fate ever hoping to return to the fields where they first met.
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is a tactical/strategy role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems in 2017 for the 3DS and serves as a remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden originally released for the Famicom in 1992. Shadows of Valentia manages to do things a bit more differently to the other contemporary titles like Awakening, Fates and Three Houses but manages to shine in a variety of aspects that make a JRPG great but possibly its biggest flaw is sticking too close to the original in a sense.
One of the biggest strengths this game has is the overall story with characters that are extremely well voice acted for a 3DS game to the point I feel that the console itself doesn't do the game justice sometimes. A simple story synopsis is that you plays as two protagonists with their own objectives and armies trying to defeat the evil kingdom. There are some characters that are one note but there are also some that have a lot of depth and motivations that also manages to give out some impressive vocal emotional performances that yet immerses you more into the story and world you're in. The gameplay is a bit different in that from the other 3DS games, there is no weapon triangle and spells are learned via leveling up and use your own health instead of it being a finite resource. I personally didn't mind this and felt like it made the game easier to swallow as someone that doesn't have much experience playing an FE game with also there just being one equipment slot so you can just equip the best item for a member and moving on. The soundtrack here is phenomenal with certain tracks you hear a lot gradually feeling more frantic and desperate with some having a more militaristic focus in certain times. The motif used in most of the soundtrack is synonymous and fitting for the game as a whole with a final map theme that does not disappoint at all and further elevates the final battle as the games does its final hours. Art design here is amazing with Hidari bringing the classic NES designs to life in a clean and faithful way and is my favorite overall art in a Fire Emblem game. Even then the smallest things can also make a game great, the title screen gives you a snapshot of the experience you're about to enter or even continue and returning to it after all is said and done was a closing experience with the soundtrack of the choirs singing in a solemn tone which feels like a calm before the storm.
As much as this game is a solid JRPG experience all around, the weakest aspect of it has to be the maps themselves. Most of them are very simple open fields that leave little to strategy and some maps have some awful terrain that makes it not very fun to go through. The dungeons themselves are a 50/50 thing for me, it's something different and you get mini encounters akin to a normal JRPG battle via the Fire Emblem flavor but much more condensed and shorter than a regular FE battle would take. I think I just didn't like that I was limited to only 10 people considering I was mostly used to having my entire army with me. The game does also expect you to go through some battles so if you play how you want to play, you might eventually run into a roadblock especially when you want more story and want to know what happens next.
I didn't think I would ever like a 3DS Fire Emblem game again after Awakening but this game completely proved me wrong. The facets of a good JRPGs: story, characters, soundtrack, gameplay (to an extent) and Shadows of Valentia has them. A surprisingly heartfelt solemn tale of two warriors destined by fate ever hoping to return to the fields where they first met.
TheRealBigC
2 years ago