Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is a step in the right remaking direction

If Nintendo and Intelligent Systems want to keep remaking classic Fire Emblem games, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia shows that it can be worth it.

Even though the first Fire Emblem game released in the West simply has the title Fire Emblem, it’s actually the seventh game in the series. It’s something I’ve mentioned before, but it bears repeating when talking about Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. After all, Fire Emblem Gaiden, the original game here, didn’t see a Western release, because it’s the second game in the series. (The game we call Fire Emblem is the seventh.)

So, Shadows of Valentia has a 20-something year old game as its source material. In some respects, it shows. In others, Nintendo and Intelligent Systems have really done well here.

Gameplay-wise, the basics of Fire Emblem are still mostly there. Things like the weapon triangle are missing here. However, the turn-based back-and-forth has been there since the series began, and Nintendo keeps it here. While playing on Hard mode, though, it’s not as though I found myself throwing my New 3DS XL at the wall.

That’s partly due to the fact that Nintendo and IS have incorporated a mechanic called Mila’s Turnwheel. It allows you to rewind time as far back as you like during any battle, though it has limited uses. This helps remove a lot of the frustration for players of Classic Mode, where permanent death is a factor. Getting a character killed usually means a restart and possibly a lot of time wasted. (You can, however, play on Casual Mode, where killed characters can come back. Call me a purist, but I prefer playing on Classic.)

It’s a better mechanic than the second generation mechanic that has made a reappearance in games like Fire Emblem Awakening and Fates. If it could actually keep showing up, it might actually pull more gamers into Fire Emblem as a franchise, because this game is tough enough that it probably shouldn’t be a newcomer’s first try at the series due to how different it really is on the whole.

Nintendo has retained the Gaiden idea of magic taking hit points to cast. In other games in the series, this isn’t a feature. Here, though, it means that you need to take a little extra care with your magic users. It’s a small but very real extra degree of difficulty that I appreciate. That’s one of the reasons it doesn’t feel as welcoming to a newer player.

Some other things were curiously left retro to the detriment of the gaming experience. For instance, the game doesn’t really clarify the benefits and drawbacks of class changing beyond the stats you add. In other games, it’s very important to level up characters as much as possible before changing their class. Here, though, it isn’t. I know this because I had to look at Serenes Forest, a fansite. (Beware some spoilers on that page if you scroll down too far.) I looked at the in-game guide and still didn’t understand.

Secondly, Echoes defaults to a more complex stat screen. You have your attack stat and the defense stat of the enemy. Granted, it’s some basic arithmetic, but when previous games in the series already displayed net damage in the combat screen as a default, it feels like a step back where there doesn’t need to be one. This is a setting that can be changed, but the fact that it doesn’t start the other way does irk.

Finally, the pace of the combat animations is way too slow by default. Granted, this has been a slight problem for previous iterations of the series. You can hold down the A button to speed them up or turn them off entirely. However, they are cool to watch, which means that fans might want to leave them on even though they do stretch out playing time. It seems like Nintendo and IS have again improved what they can pull out of the 3DS as a system.

Additionally, as SF also mentions in its FAQ, there’s a certain degree of non-linear linearity in Echoes. Because there are dual parties, if you find yourself running into a strategic wall, you can flip to the other protagonist’s party and give their missions a try. You’ll still end up completing everything you need to complete, but you can do what you like — and even go back and explore dungeons. Although the dungeons themselves are pretty basic, they do offer a slight change of pace from battles (though you’ll still encounter grid-based battles inside dungeons). It’s not necessarily something that should continue and be pulled back in to the franchise as a whole, but as a mechanic, it helps add in even more playing time.

But at the same time, overall, this is a really good remake. Having played Shadow Dragon, I know what happens when effort doesn’t go into something. Indeed, Echoes shows the effort that the team behind it put in. The translation feels balanced between humor and more standard fantasy-esque dialogue. Characters have different voices, and the game is actually fully voiced. Alm and Celica themselves actually have interesting stories — and Alm, in particular, isn’t as bland as Fire Emblem protagonists can be. It’s probably because he doesn’t have blue hair. (Sorry, Marth, but your successors are more interesting.) Celica, too, has her interesting features and moments.

After the tangle of the story of Fire Emblem Fates, Echoes feels refreshing. It’s a bit more standard in terms of Fire Emblem tropes, but that’s okay. It ably handles its dual protagonists in a way that a game like Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn didn’t.

If Nintendo and Intelligent Systems want to keep remaking the older Fire Emblem games in between releases of new titles, Echoes shows that it’s possible, with a few more tweaks going forward. In fact, the game’s director has already expressed interest in remaking The Binding Blade.

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Yours truly would probably like to see Genealogy of the Holy War first, but either way, hopefully Nintendo keeps this trend up.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is on the Nintendo 3DS.