Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

Voices of: Kyle McCarley, Erica Lindbeck, Keith Silverstein, Alexis Tipton, Amber Connor, Bonnie Gordon, Brian Beacock, Caitlin Glass, Cherami Leigh, Chris Cason, Chris Hackney, Chris Patton, Christine Marie Cabanos, Cristina Valenzuela, Dorothy Elias-Fahn, Doug Erholtz, Doug Stone, Eden Riegel, Grant George, Greg Chun, Ian Sinclair, Lucien Dodge, Marc Diraison, Max Mittelman, Mick Wingert, Monica Rial, Patrick Seitz, Ray Chase, Richard Epcar, Robbie Daymond, Tara Sands, Natsuki Hanae, Nao Toyama
Developer: Intelligent Systems
Publisher: Nintendo
Directed by: Toshiyuki Kusakihara, Kenta Nakanishi, Genki Yokota
Rating: T
Genre: Tactical Role-Playing
System: Nintendo 3DS
2017

Times Completed:
Tim: 1

Summary: Childhood friends Alm and Celica begin separate world-changing journeys as they become involved with a continent-spanning war and religious battle.

Review:
Tim: Fire Emblem has long been one of Nintendo's most unsung, yet brilliant franchises. This is the fourth game in the franchise that I've played, the second one chronologically (technically), since it is a remake of the Japanese only Gaiden. This remake is stunning, pushing the limits of the Nintendo 3DS with stunning graphics, expansive voice acting, and one of the most memorable, entertaining stories I've played. In short, I loved this game.

The narrative is exceptional. I love that this game felt different because you are controlling two different armies- one led by Alm, one by his childhood friend Celica. Their armies are different, their paths are different. As you play, you toggle between the two. They eventually come together in a wonderful story that has some (expected) twists, and touches on politics, warfare, religion, and more. This is a game that has some level of depth beyond beating levels and bosses. I really enjoyed both Alm and Celica as characters- I became invested in them, invested in their story. That made everything that happened in this game feel heightened in importance.

One of the key strengths of the Fire Emblem series is that you play these games with well-developed characters and they all become so meaningful to you. You go into war with these characters, and their personalities emerge, their strengths and weaknesses become apparent to you. To be good at these games, you have to understand your army, comprehend how to strategically put them in the right positions to defeat the enemy and avoid the notorious permanent death that characters suffer. It was a nice change to have two protagonists in this game, and Alm and Celica are wonderful. They hold their own against characters like Marth, Ike, and Byleth.

The supporting characters are tremendous as well. It's always so fun to see who your favorites are, as the game progresses. For me, Sabre was an absolute rock. He became a Dread fighter relatively early and absolutely mowed down enemies. For Celica's army, he was undoubtedly the MVP. Alm's army balanced better, but Clive and Lukas were great characters that I relied upon heavily for victory. Mae and Boey served as great friends to Celica and I fully leveraged their magical capabilities. I never really connected with Gray and Tobin as Alm's best buddies, but they both saw me through numerous scrapes. I relied a lot on Kliff (I used him as an archer and eventual bow knight). Archers are some of my favorite soldiers, and Python and Leon both did well in those roles. The flying pegasus knights always worry me, their lower defense makes them a liability. Clair did some good work, and out of the three sisters, Catria emerged as my best fighter. Silque saved me through her healing numerous times. There's one moment where Celica can choose which army to defeat, and you open the other character up for recruitment. I recruited Sonya, who was a solid, if unremarkable choice. There's many, many other characters. As the game progressed, I did feel a close kinship with most of them. This is helped immensely by the large voice cast, who all did solid work bringing these characters to life and giving them some level of personality.

The game does have some downsides, specifically in regards to the connection back to the original game. Remember, most of the stylish trappings are new because of the remake. Gaiden must have been a tough game to play. Most frustrating is that the battle maps become so repetitive and tedious. I felt like I fought so many battles and as the game progressed, they became to feel like a chore. In this game, I absolutely despised the enemies that would routinely spawn witches or flying eyes, or whatever else. They weren't necessarily "hard", but they were infinitely annoying, as their spawns prolonged battles that I was never really in danger of losing. The game relies on this heavily for the more challenging maps and it wasn't my favorite part. There were also a host of side quests that were added, but I only completed a few of them. When you continually backtrack to the towns, additional enemy armies spawn, which was annoying because they were fairly weak and you still had to go through the process to defeat them. So, I mostly skipped those side quests. I was much more interested in Alm and Celica's narrative anyway.

I did find the game challenging at times- I had to use the turnwheel to save several people's lives. I rarely lost Alm, though, so it was a pretty straightforward shot. It took me just under 37 hours to beat the game. My final army rating was 3,387. Alm fought 291 battles and got 146 Victories. Celica had 166 battles and 99 Victories (I did play one other battle after completing the game, so she technically got to 100). Sabre was a workhorse, with 251 battles and 130 Victories, and Clive had 191 battles and 87 Victories. Alm ended as a Level 15 Hero, with the following stats- 46 HP, Attack 23+10, Skill 21, Speed 19-1, Luck 16, Defense 17, Res 5, Movement 5. Equipped Falchion. Rating 147. Celica was a Level 10 Princess. She had 36 HP, Attack 24+6, Skill 22, Speed 17-1, Luck 19, Def 11, Res 8, Movement 4. Equipped Ladyblade. Rating 137. I admit I'm not the greatest at these games, I had no desire to push these statistics to the max.

The final battle proved more challenging than I expected. The first time I attempted it, I fought really hard and eventually got (SPOILER) into a 1 v 1 fight with Alma and Duma. I didn't have enough healers, though, and Alm went down. I recognized I needed to reconfigure my team- Jesse and Kamui were basically worthless in the battle, so I switched them out with Tatiana and Luthier to up my healing. That first attempt wasted over 90 minutes. My second attempt was clumsy- there were so many more spawns, and I stupidly let Alm get exposed in the top of the map. The spawns overwhelmed him, and I likely wasted another 80 minutes there. My third attempt took a long time- this time, the spawns were insane. I don't know why so many more spawned this time, but it took my all to defeat them. Sadly, Valbar got exposed and I lost him. I didn't turn back time, so he permanently died. Then, (in the most heartbreaking moment), I had to ask Leon to sacrifice himself. There's several magic users that just hang out at the top of the map, surrounding Duma. Anyone who goes into the killzone is likely coming out maimed if they come out at all. I sadly sent Python, Kliff, and Leon in to take out the magic users, realizing they could all have died. They took out one, and then skirted out to the edges, very hurt, but alive. I recognized it was time for the final push, and Leon was in the right position. He was absolutely going to be killed by Duma, but I needed him to take out that Medusa-chanting fool. He bravely went back into the killzone, defeated the mage, and then, yes, succumbed to permanent death. I lamented Leon's loss, but his brave sacrifice allowed my army to surround Duma and Alm could go to work. In the final battle, I only lost those two soldiers.

I write that to remember the battle, but also to give an impression of how this game impacts you. You learn to love these characters, and knowing that they will die within the confines of the game, you do everything you can not to lose a single soldier. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is an amazing game. It's one of the best Nintendo 3DS games, an example of Intelligent System's brilliance. I loved Alm and Celica and I had so much fun exploring their world and advancing their story. This game is excellent.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Game, We Recommend: Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Fire Emblem: Three Houses