This review contains spoilers
I liked this game a lot, but it falls in the lower half of my Fire Emblem game ranking for a multitude of reasons.
Let me get it out of the way that nearly everything Alm's path is phenomenal.
- The unit variety with stat builds and classes make it very fun to play through, and each unit can fill a specific niche that others can't. Having access to up to four villagers right out the gate allows you to fill specific roles that you feel your army is lacking in at the start, and each of them can become incredibly powerful in their respective roles (namely Gray, that man is busted as hell).
- The cast is very enjoyable and memorable as well, both among your own ranks and the enemy's. Delthea, Clive, Berkut and Alm were the standouts for me.
- Alm's story in and of itself was also very enjoyable, with the stakes growing higher and higher as the story progressed, making it feel like I was actually making change for the continent.
- The map design does fall a bit on the boring side, though, especially with maps like the infamous "literally just four cavaliers in a giant field of nothing" map being all too common, especially early game. Nuibaba's Abode was also an infuriating map to play, but it got better as I replayed the game and learned how to deal with the map's dumb bullshit.
That being said, Celica's path is a near polar opposite, and is the main reason why this game falls short for me in comparison to every other 3DS Fire Emblem.
- Every chapter in Celica's path always has some really boring or downright awful map design choice on nearly every single map. Chapter 2 has the boat maps (i.e. stalling the enemy while you camp on the bridges, making for very uninteresting gameplay); chapter 3 has desert maps galore, slowing down nearly half your amry to a screeching halt while your mages and Whitewings steal all the EXP; and chapter 4 has pretty much all swamp maps, which slows everyone down except for the Whitewings. These three are the unholy trinity of horrible Fire Emblem map design, and Celica's path checks all three boxes.
- Celica's story felt a lot less impactful than Alm's did as well. Conrad felt like a bit of a rehash of Lucina from Awakening, but a lot less memorable than Lucina because he's just like "sup, I'm actually your brother" in the middle of chapter 4 after trying to be super mysterious throughout the earlier chapters, and the twist itself being kinda predictable, if I'm being honest. It didn't really feel like Conrad had much of a reason to hide his identity from Celica, unlike Lucina did from Chrom. Lucina had every reason to hide her identity; she is literally Chrom's daughter from a future where everyone fucking died at the hands of Grima. If that secret got out and spread to, say, the Plegians or the Grimleal, she'd be pretty much screwed. Conrad, on the other hand, just hid his identity because...honestly, I have no idea. Jedah was a lot less memorable than Slayde, Berkut and Rudolf were, and isn't comically evil to a hilarious degree like Fates' Iago and Hans, which is what made those two so satisfying to take down; he's just "I shall serve my lord Duma" and...pretty much nothing else.
- The unit variety in Celica's path is a lot worse than Alm's, too. You start with literally 4 mages, and it gets better once Valbar's gang and Saber join, but after Palla and Catria join, man, it only gets worse. Atlas is nice, having access to a villager to fill whatever role you may be lacking (such as a cavalier or archer, because her path is severely lacking in those departments), but everyone else fills a role you already have in spades. Jesse is yet another mercenary, and the choice between Deen and Sonya adds either another mercenary or another mage, meaning that your army is going to be extremely bloated among one type of unit. In a game like Fates or Three Houses, this generally isn't an issue due to personal skills, an army of up to twice the size and the army having diverse growth rates and base stats, but in a game like Echoes, where each army totals to around 15-20 at the end of their respective paths, it's a pretty big issue. The lack of class variety can be slightly mitigated if you choose to recruit Kliff and Faye in Celica's path instead, but if you do, they'll be severely underleveled and they'll miss out on having meaningful support bonuses, as Celica is their only passive support partner in her route. On top of that, you'll miss out on having two extra units in Alm's path, which is needed, as otherwise, he would have three less units in his army than Celica's if you were to recruit every optional character in both paths.
- Celica's path also has an extreme overabundance of enemy Dread Fighters, which is arguably the strongest class in the game, halving all incoming magic damage as a passive. Given that Celica's army has a very high amount of mages among its ranks...you can probably see the issue.
Outside of that, the game is solid. The general gameplay is a bit on the simplistic side, especially compared to its older 3DS siblings, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The UI looks great, but I personally prefer the UI of Fates. I'm not a sucker for graphics, never have been; graphics are a very low concern for me. However, the 3D models look significantly worse than Awakening and Fates', and the CG cutscenes feel a lot choppier than the aformentioned pair.
Overall, this game is amazing in one half, but borderline awful on the other. If this game consisted of just Alm's path, I would have no problem putting this game in my top 5 Fire Emblems, hell, even as high as my top 3. Unfortunately, because literally near half the game is unbearable to replay and is central to the plot for the story to even function, it drops down several pegs in my eyes.
Let me get it out of the way that nearly everything Alm's path is phenomenal.
- The unit variety with stat builds and classes make it very fun to play through, and each unit can fill a specific niche that others can't. Having access to up to four villagers right out the gate allows you to fill specific roles that you feel your army is lacking in at the start, and each of them can become incredibly powerful in their respective roles (namely Gray, that man is busted as hell).
- The cast is very enjoyable and memorable as well, both among your own ranks and the enemy's. Delthea, Clive, Berkut and Alm were the standouts for me.
- Alm's story in and of itself was also very enjoyable, with the stakes growing higher and higher as the story progressed, making it feel like I was actually making change for the continent.
- The map design does fall a bit on the boring side, though, especially with maps like the infamous "literally just four cavaliers in a giant field of nothing" map being all too common, especially early game. Nuibaba's Abode was also an infuriating map to play, but it got better as I replayed the game and learned how to deal with the map's dumb bullshit.
That being said, Celica's path is a near polar opposite, and is the main reason why this game falls short for me in comparison to every other 3DS Fire Emblem.
- Every chapter in Celica's path always has some really boring or downright awful map design choice on nearly every single map. Chapter 2 has the boat maps (i.e. stalling the enemy while you camp on the bridges, making for very uninteresting gameplay); chapter 3 has desert maps galore, slowing down nearly half your amry to a screeching halt while your mages and Whitewings steal all the EXP; and chapter 4 has pretty much all swamp maps, which slows everyone down except for the Whitewings. These three are the unholy trinity of horrible Fire Emblem map design, and Celica's path checks all three boxes.
- Celica's story felt a lot less impactful than Alm's did as well. Conrad felt like a bit of a rehash of Lucina from Awakening, but a lot less memorable than Lucina because he's just like "sup, I'm actually your brother" in the middle of chapter 4 after trying to be super mysterious throughout the earlier chapters, and the twist itself being kinda predictable, if I'm being honest. It didn't really feel like Conrad had much of a reason to hide his identity from Celica, unlike Lucina did from Chrom. Lucina had every reason to hide her identity; she is literally Chrom's daughter from a future where everyone fucking died at the hands of Grima. If that secret got out and spread to, say, the Plegians or the Grimleal, she'd be pretty much screwed. Conrad, on the other hand, just hid his identity because...honestly, I have no idea. Jedah was a lot less memorable than Slayde, Berkut and Rudolf were, and isn't comically evil to a hilarious degree like Fates' Iago and Hans, which is what made those two so satisfying to take down; he's just "I shall serve my lord Duma" and...pretty much nothing else.
- The unit variety in Celica's path is a lot worse than Alm's, too. You start with literally 4 mages, and it gets better once Valbar's gang and Saber join, but after Palla and Catria join, man, it only gets worse. Atlas is nice, having access to a villager to fill whatever role you may be lacking (such as a cavalier or archer, because her path is severely lacking in those departments), but everyone else fills a role you already have in spades. Jesse is yet another mercenary, and the choice between Deen and Sonya adds either another mercenary or another mage, meaning that your army is going to be extremely bloated among one type of unit. In a game like Fates or Three Houses, this generally isn't an issue due to personal skills, an army of up to twice the size and the army having diverse growth rates and base stats, but in a game like Echoes, where each army totals to around 15-20 at the end of their respective paths, it's a pretty big issue. The lack of class variety can be slightly mitigated if you choose to recruit Kliff and Faye in Celica's path instead, but if you do, they'll be severely underleveled and they'll miss out on having meaningful support bonuses, as Celica is their only passive support partner in her route. On top of that, you'll miss out on having two extra units in Alm's path, which is needed, as otherwise, he would have three less units in his army than Celica's if you were to recruit every optional character in both paths.
- Celica's path also has an extreme overabundance of enemy Dread Fighters, which is arguably the strongest class in the game, halving all incoming magic damage as a passive. Given that Celica's army has a very high amount of mages among its ranks...you can probably see the issue.
Outside of that, the game is solid. The general gameplay is a bit on the simplistic side, especially compared to its older 3DS siblings, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The UI looks great, but I personally prefer the UI of Fates. I'm not a sucker for graphics, never have been; graphics are a very low concern for me. However, the 3D models look significantly worse than Awakening and Fates', and the CG cutscenes feel a lot choppier than the aformentioned pair.
Overall, this game is amazing in one half, but borderline awful on the other. If this game consisted of just Alm's path, I would have no problem putting this game in my top 5 Fire Emblems, hell, even as high as my top 3. Unfortunately, because literally near half the game is unbearable to replay and is central to the plot for the story to even function, it drops down several pegs in my eyes.