True, the diverse and often interesting design of maps in recent games is in short supply here and unfortunately one of Echoes’ most obvious criticisms to take note of - the most blatant of environmental and terrain changes, be they vegetation, hills or fortifications of sorts, rarely altering what eventually turns into a common rhythm defining most missions. To call Fire Emblem Echoes’ gameplay simplified or perhaps stripped back - many taking note of the absence of the weapon triangle, not to mention the strength of an attack but a simple calculation of attack power minus an opponent’s defence/resistance - would be to undermine just how well the game takes into account the need to flesh out everything else outside of the fundamental components of skirmishes and story-based missions alike. While not all of the voice-work is delivered with the same level of conviction or believability - with most support conversations, bafflingly, coming off as dead air with little-to-no warranted reason at being - the on-going banter and very many exchanges between characters, keeps the light-hearted folly seldom far from the all-round tale’s somewhat darker focus on the perils of conflict, creating an interesting juxtapose that further hits home Fire Emblem’s core themes surrounding war, faith, trust and of course, victory. This is largely down to the game’s fully-voiced script and the fact that secondary characters - outside of dual protagonists Alm & Celica - are given a lot more time to develop and thus feel fleshed out beyond their meagre sprites and on-screen profiles may conjure. ![]() One that doesn’t necessarily ditch or otherwise dissect its own standards in some vague attempt to find fault, but instead, graciously, calls back to a period of time wherein the series struck a fair balance between provocative gameplay and entertaining characters alike.Ĭharacters whom, outside of the ocassional RPG trope or stock template, don’t appear as dispensable or as passive as we’ve come to expect from not one, but two entire armies worth of fighters. Or at least that’s the presumption what Shadows of Valentia represents instead, after a full twenty-or-so hours of exploring both its major overhauls and subtle differences in presentation, is perhaps the series’ most interesting and potentially divisive wake-up call of sorts. A game that is essentially that: a detour meant to appease and ultimately have little, if any, sway on the series’ inevitable future course. Whether or not Fire Emblem Echoes is some manner of response - be it from Intelligent Systems or Nintendo themselves - to those eager for a return to the pre-Awakening (pre- Path of Radiance even) experience and/or unsettled by these recent changes, it’s clear just from the cover art alone that Shadows of Valentia is an intended deviation from the recent formula, mechanically and aesthetically more so.Ī deviation that chooses instead to return to Gaiden, second entry in the series and a Japan-only release that on the surface may seem like an odd choice the game’s notably dry, minimalistic approach to strategy perhaps best suited to the experimental, side-project litter of series entrants. ![]() The changes made and the revisions undertook, for better or worse, altering its underlying identity. ![]() Be it 2013’s Awakening or last year’s triad of separate, cut-off releases under the Fates banner, the real catalyst for the series’ almighty upturn in success can no doubt be found in the shift these titles took, confining earlier iterations to the shadows of its handheld releases’ monolithic commercial dominance. Melee as the turning point for the series going forward, there’s little to argue against Fire Emblem attaining most of its now A-listed success through its most recent 3DS outings. While many may point to its appearance in Super Smash Bros.
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