Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia Reviews
Fire Emblem Gaiden is full of great ideas, but they don't make up for the huge amount of boring or tedious maps.
Overall, Shadows of Valentia delivers a new personal favorite Fire Emblem game. There are a lot of additions I would love to see return in the Nintendo Switch entry, and there was never a time I found myself frustrated, and wanting to put the game down. This game is an excellent last hoorah for the series on 3DS. The future looks even brighter for this franchise.
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is an interesting throwback title, because it reminds me of what made Fire Emblem such an enduring video game series with many traits that have trickled down through the years. However, there are some unique aspects to the game as well, that also shows me how much the series has grown as well.
As inviting to new players as it is familiar to old, Echoes is far more than a Shadow of Gaiden.
Fire Emblem has come to be one of Nintendo's premier franchises, with Shadows of Valentia further cementing the series' sterling reputation.
While it's definitely atypical for the series, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is a polished masterpiece, and an absolute joy. Not only do I hope to see other earlier Fire Emblem titles given the same loving remake treatment, but I'd love to see some of the fine-tuning carry over into the next brand new title too.
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A decent Fire Emblem game with a good story but overall not as good as the other 3DS Fire Emblem games.
Fire Emblem Echoes feels like it was rushed out of the gate as an afterthought for the final days of the Nintendo 3DS.
Shadows of Valentia is more Fire Emblem but also a change of pace. More recent fans might not like the missing romance options, weapon triangle, and battlefield changes. These are sometimes dramatic differences, but those looking for a compelling strategy game with the series' staple excellent characters, will be pleased by what's included as well as the new features this remake has up its sleeve. Just be ready for some enemy AI shenanigans along the way.
Shadows of Valentia helps Gaiden gain relevance in this day and age by infusing it with some of the best parts of recent Fire Emblem games, even if some of Gaiden's outdated elements bring the game down.
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia launched on 3DS here in America back on May 19th. The latest entry into the Fire Emblem Series is actually a full remake / re-imagining (whatever you prefer to call it) of Fire Emblem Gaiden. Gaiden was released back in 1992 on the Famicom (Japanese NES) and the game was only available in Japan until 2009 when the game was released on the Wii Virtual console albeit still only in Japan.
A great swan song game for Fire Emblem on the 3DS
Combat is interesting and challenging to a point, character interactions are charming, and dungeons do help break up the monotony, but it isn’t fulfilling overall. FE: SOV is nothing special, but it is a perfectly serviceable title good enough to act as a gateway into the rest of the Fire Emblem series.
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is an excellent strategy role-playing game with thrilling tactical turn-based combat with some gameplay omissions which may split the existing fanbase.
"Echoes from the past."
Review in Finnish | Read full review
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia suffers from an identity crisis in almost everything it does. For example, one early dialogue exchange sees an enemy drop a surprisingly crude word apropos of nothing, and then the game subsequently wastes ~25 hours holding your hand through a comically absurd story driven entirely by the brain damaged stupidity of both lead characters. Fire Emblem Gaiden’s story has been fleshed out to a certain degree for this remake, but only the inconsequential bits seem to have received this treatment, leaving the lore at roughly the same level as the original. The end result is that the bare-bones prophecies and plot developments force relatively complex characters to act in incredibly simple-minded ways at times, flitting between being legitimate leading characters and idiots so infuriatingly dull and shortsighted that it’s a wonder they can remember to breathe.
Fire Emblem Echoes is a sparkling remake without much variety or strategy to scratch beneath the surface. Try it.
All in all, I quite enjoyed how Echoes brought Fire Emblem back to its roots. While I have enjoyed recent forays in the series, this felt more like the Fire Emblem I grew up playing. For $39.99, you get a ton of content, and that’s not even taking into account the DLC, which I didn’t sample in order to keep my experience more pristine. There’s a lot of replay value as well, with optional quests aplenty and many hidden memory prisms which unlock more lore. It’s also a long adventure, as my final playtime with the game was just short of 40 hours, longer individually than either Awakening or Fates. While not everyone will appreciate the hardcore emphasis of the game, I feel it’s a great sendoff for the Nintendo 3DS, which has done so much for the series. Now I just have to patiently await the next great adventure in Intelligent System’s fantastic tactical RPG saga.
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is an interesting, experimental and awkward game. When it shines, it really shines, but moments of iffy design both leftover from the NES era and baked into the new gameplay changes drag it down a little. It's a fun game if you're willing to look past some rough spots. It's different enough from other Fire Emblem titles that longtime fans are not necessarily going to love it, but it's also good enough that those who don't normally like Fire Emblem may enjoy it. It's a welcome breath of fresh air for the franchise, and it's a solid send-off to the 3DS for the Fire Emblem franchise.