Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia Review

Grid Based Greatness:

It’s crazy to think that only a few short years ago Fire Emblem was on the brink of extinction. After 2012’s planned swan song – Fire Emblem Awakening – blew up and reignited everyones interest in the series again, we’re positively swimming in new titles on a multitude of devices – and I couldn’t be happier. It’s strangely brave then that Nintendo and Intelligent Systems are willing to look back and remake a game from before the series saving relationships and marriages, but Fire Emblem Echoes defiantly proves that the series’ new fans should have been paying attention all along.

Story:

Fire Emblem Echoes is a remake of the 1992 NES game Fire Emblem Gaiden, and curiously it’s in its story that it sees the most striking changes and updates. The bigger picture stuff remains the same: dual protagonists Alm and Celica battling in a war that has consumed Valentia. But Echoes adds in extra characters, loads of narrative wrinkles and entirely new chapters that add some emotional clout to the civil war and tie the game into other titles in the series (no doubt in preperation for the exciting Fire Emblem Warriors musou game that’s coming soon.)

Whilst the original game was focused on battles and dungeoneering, Echoes never forgets to make the most of its powerful story. There are plenty of twists and turns in the campaign, a thirty-odd hour experience that sees you playing as and getting to know both Alm and Celica’s band of warriors. I’ve found dual narratives a tricky thing to wrangle – especially in videogames – but Echoes does so confidently. I cared about nearly every character I came across, and whilst Echoes doesn’t try to shoehorn in the relationships system that made newer games such a success, it doesn’t mean the characters don’t have room to breathe and grow organically both in and out of battle.

The absence of the always insistent relationships system – that saw you maxing friendships and marrying off characters to improve battle prowess – was a freeing one. Not having to make sure certain people were standing next to each other to get bonuses meant that my tactics were a lot more versatile and my battles less repetetive. When the characters did talk to each other, it happened in battle and it was always brief and fun – and felt a lot more natural as a result. I doubt this system will carry on to future games, but I hope that those installments will take note of how well this new/old, less restrictive, more organic friendship system works.

Gameplay:

Echoes predictably reverts back to simpler times in other areas as well: the series’ now characteristic ‘weapon triangle’ – a rock-paper-scissors set up that gave each unit a predetermined strength and weakness – is gone, replaced instead with stat studying and planning ahead, rewarding mental fortitude over knowing that sword arbitrarily beats axe. It’s strange that in these areas, where Echoes reverts to the series’ past, that it trumps a lot of bugbears I have with the series’ present. Another example is how the game removes big inventories and the need to keep stocks of weapons thanks to each character coming pre-equipped.

Any cool weapons you do find can be used straight away as well, and with no annoying weapon durability you can use them straight away on anything you want, instead of saving them for bosses. In every area Echoes seems to streamline the experience and prioritise gameplay over extraneous faff, and the battles sing because of it.

It’s telling that Intelligent Systems have opted to put the most work into the game’s story, evolving it into something almost unrecognizable from the original, rather than adding newer mechanics to the battles. These are tight, enjoyable and fast experiences that shift and evolve thanks to demanding enemies. Levels play a less important role – which is lucky because almost all of my stat gains were garbage – and the timing on when to class up is less strict. You won’t see huge benefits from waiting ‘til level 20 anymore, making the process the exciting moment it should be rather than a chore.

After playing through five hours or so of Echoes campaign I became curious: just how much liberty had they taken with this game? The 3DS version comes replete with features that belong in a sequel, rather than a remake, such as full on dungeon exploring, extra, optional battles to grind a bit of bonus EXP (something that seemed relegated to DLC packs in recent titles) and a streamlined focus. So I went back and played Fire Emblem Gaiden, the original NES game, and what do you know – it’s all there. Echoes is a suprisingly faithful vision that proves Fire Emblem has had the goods all along.