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[LizardKing]

Welp. Spent 2 hours on the final battle to only have Duma left with 10hp remaining. Sure enough on Duma's final turn he takes out Alm who had 80% HP remaining. Instant game over. Done. Replay entire battle necessary. Gonna watch the ending on youtube. No excuse for that type of game design in this day in age.

I liked the story/presentation/characters but the gameplay leaves a lot to be desired in this game. It's way too grindy. There's nothing fun about hordes of enemies spawning after you turn after turn, map after map. Just tedious. (I've played all English Fire Emblems)

Overall I enjoyed it more than Fates but less than Awakening.

 

[tanasten]

Yesterday I finished the game, and I loved every bit of it. Went straight for the Season Pass.

I love that this game is classic in the way that the focus is on the main storyline. I liked Awakening and Fates, but I though that all the marriages, children and all the layers over the classic gameplay did disturb me more than powered the classic experience.

So I'm completely in for the old formula. Hopping to get it back in the future!

BTW, I think that the Shadows of Valentia story is absolutelly well written and interesting even by being a bit classic. Unfortunately in terms of gameplay I don't like it as much as the classic formula, but I think there are some very interesting twist like the magic and habilities using heal points. Really like that!

 

[Golnei]

Am I the only one who doesn't like the dungeon crawling? It feels a little too tedious, especially the battles which take way too long.

The dungeons were short enough for it to not really be an issue for me - if they were all the length of Duma's Temple, I could see the barebones mechanics and repeated enemy setups getting annoying. I kind of liked having one real dungeon at the very end of the (main) game after the mechanics only being used for one or two rooms previously.

Also, Fear Mountain Shrine had a pretty nice accompanying theme - I wish it'd been used more often, it's so much better than the Lost Treescape and regular dungeon music.

Once they develop the engine for Fire Emblem 16, they won't have much an issue when it comes to development costs interfering with, say, a B team remaking the third through sixth entries or even the previously localized fare like Rekka No Ken and Path of Radiance. If anything, Echoes shows Intelligent Systems cutting corners like limiting the amount of in-game cutscenes and reducing the amount of time taken to render the cutscenes (admittedly this last part is an assumption since the CG certainly looks like a step down from Awakening & Fates with the uncanny movement and lack of dynamic lighting) as a means of reducing the cost of an entry that likely won't sell as well as a brand new entry would. The question isn't so much if they'll pass an opportunity to do so but rather which entry they would remake next. Fuuin No Tsurugi would make the most sense given the developer's comment and people's familiarity with Roy in Super Smash Bros. not to mention that it would mean the nearly 15 year old cliffhanger in the very first localized entry would finally be resolved.

I think the cutscenes were mainly a stylistic choice to match the game's differing art direction to the other 3DS titles - it's a different studio responsible, as well.

While FE Switch will provide an asset base to work off, the resultant production would still necessarily be more expensive than Echoes. And as I said earlier, they won't be put in a situation where they can release a 3DS game making use of their established asset pipeline on the platform (and vastly lower production values), since a Switch title will either be directly playable on the platform's successor, or at the very least be comparable in overall asset quality.

I believe that in the leadup to Fates' release, there was an interview stating that they initially intended to produce a remake using Awakening as a base, but reconsidered in favour of a new mainline installment. For the Switch and beyond, without the pressure of a concurrent mainline title in development on more powerful hardware, I think that any potential remakes will face the same situation to a degree - if they're going to be similarly expensive to develop, it makes sense to prioritise new games.

 

[GeekyDad]

You don't quite appreciate Mila's Turnwheel to its fullest until a Witch teleports in and 1% Crits your Sniper to death after forty minutes into one map.

Just peeking my head in and haven't read much about the game since its release. Is that kinda like the Chariot Wheel in Tactics Ogre?

 

[Golnei]

Just peeking my head in and haven't read much about the game since its release. Is that kinda like the Chariot Wheel in Tactics Ogre?

It's almost exactly the same thing - you can rewind every action taken in battle, unless either main character dies. The amount of resets per map are limited by in-game items.

 

[Nachtfalke]

Doing the Villager loop is so much fun for creating power houses and stat maxing. I kept Saber and Atlas as Dread Fighters and made Kamui a Bow Knight with a Killer Bow and Jesse a Sage with Excalibur. They are unstoppable.

I also love teleporting my MVPs near to bosses in and out. It's fun, but some skills made the game way to easy. Played 5-6 Fire Emblems before and this one here is by far the easiest.

 

[Weebos]

Is any of the DLC good for postgame EXP grinding, or am I better off just running through dungeons?

 

[Aveyn Knight]

Is any of the DLC good for postgame EXP grinding, or am I better off just running through dungeons?

I just ran through the Secret Shrine multiple times. There's a bunch of Entombed that give a lot of/decent exp.

Theoretically, Band of Bandages and Lords of the Grave should be good options, but I never felt like I needed them.

 

[Blackquill]

Just finished the game.

Cast is way better than Fates or Awakening but sometimes a chore to play. Hopefully, the next remakes will be based on better games.

 

[Gai Murakumo]

Just finished the game.

Cast is way better than Fates or Awakening but sometimes a chore to play. Hopefully, the next remakes will be based on better games.

A Genealogy remake would be the best ever at least plot wise, as long as it is not butchered by localization.

 

[ryseing]

Awakening is that story. (There's a reason the land is called "Valm" in Awakening BTW)

And the man himself shows up to correct me. Props to y'all and IS for that lore deep cut.

 

[Okamid3n]

A Thracia 776 remake would have really fun gameplay, imo. I enjoyed my time with it a lot.

Of course, Genealogy of the holy war would have to come first.

Anyway, I beat the postgame dungeon on hard. Guess there's nothing else to do now if none of the DLC interests me. The dungeon was quite easy, I never needed to grind. Thank god it was easy too, since they don't let you save anywhere...

I'd rather have something much harder that lets you save every floor.

 

[commish]

Just finished the game.

Cast is way better than Fates or Awakening but sometimes a chore to play. Hopefully, the next remakes will be based on better games.

A chore to play is the best way to put it. Honestly, most of the time, it's just not fun.

 

[Lynx_7]

I'm excited by the idea of a Genealogy remake just for the chance that they might flesh out the cast with lots more interactions like they did here. They might be more hesitant on messing around with 4's script, though. But if they approach it with the same amount of tact and respect as they did here, it could be one of the greats.

Also, I saw the characters talking about a pirate king named Barth and got excited for a second thinking they were talking about (shadow dragon epilogue spoilers)

Spoiler

Barst since he becomes a pirate by the end of the game

, and was sorely disappointed when I realized the name was off by a letter. What a missed opportunity

 

[Blackquill]

A Genealogy remake would be the best ever at least plot wise, as long as it is not butchered by localization.

Localization in this game was great, as long as Treehouse don't touch the next games it will be great

And yeah Geneaology would be great, if they fix some things like giving a way to move your army way faster during some turns with no enemy and giving you hints on how to get some items (like Lex's Brave Axe) it would be great.

Thracia 776 would be really amazing since the vanilla game feels like a beta

 

[DecoReturns]

After spending so many hours on Fates. I miss the 9 save slots.

Kinda want to mess around and make little dumb challenges, wish I had a couple more slots.

 

[Gai Murakumo]

Localization in this game was great, as long as Treehouse don't touch the next games it will be great

Exactly Treehouse better stay the hell away from it, Fates localization was terrible.

 

[Lunar15]

Fates localization was great? I actually preferred chunks of it to 8-4's translation of Awakening. That's not to take away from 8-4, I genuinely love their stuff.

I just really don't get the "fates localization was terrible" nonsense, just because some people saw the infamous "..." picture and ran with it. The problem with fates is that the original script was pretty trash to begin with.

 

[clay_ghost]

Exactly Treehouse better stay the hell away from it, Fates localization was terrible.

I really love Treehouse localization on paper Mario too, did staff changed there?

 

[Lynx_7]

Man, this narrative that Fates got an awful localization is so weird. It's not like Treehouse had a great source material to work with anyway. The rawr dragon thing never really bothered me. Though they did drop the ball on that one Beruka-Saizo support.

 

[Blackquill]

Fates localization was great? I actually preferred chunks of it to 8-4's translation of Awakening. That's not to take away from 8-4, I genuinely love their stuff.

I just really don't get the "fates localization was terrible" nonsense, just because some people saw the infamous "..." picture and ran with it. The problem with fates is that the original script was pretty trash to begin with.

Awakening script was trash too, but 8-4 managed to do better things with it.

Cast felt way better than Fates too. Also the voiced were way better IMO

 

[DecoReturns]

Blame IS for having such a bad script for fates instead of Treehouse.

Treehouse didn't do a bad job at all. Just like instead of giving so much praise to 8-4 for the localization, give IS some credit for writing a better game this time around.

Awakening script was trash too, but 8-4 managed to do better things with it.

Cast felt way better than Fates too.

Awakening script wasn't trash. it was much easier to work with then Fates. The script was actually good for about half the game, before it felt generic.

 

[Lorcain]

Just jumping in to say that I'm liking this more than Awakening and Fates, and Awakening is one of my favorite 3ds games.

I think Echoes is actually a great place to jump in as a newcomer because it's more streamlined with less systems to worry about. I also really like the characters and story.

The production quality is top tier for the series too. Thumbs up.

 

[jungomitis]

Marriages gave me too much of an optimization internal struggle (too many option syndrome?) - so on that degree I'm enjoying this game more

 

[Draxal]

Just jumping in to say that I'm liking this more than Awakening and Fates, and Awakening is one of my favorite 3ds games.

I think Echoes is actually a great place to jump in as a newcomer because it's more streamlined with less systems to worry about. I also really like the characters and story.

The production quality is top tier for the series too. Thumbs up.

I wouldn't say Echoes is a good place to jump in either. The map design is the poorest in the series, and thus is a poor representation.

I think the GBA games would be a better starting off point to be honest if the other 3DS games were not too count.

SNES games has Kaga's esoteric stuff.
Tellius has 3D which is only 2 games of the series of 16 games.
Shadow Dragon is the biggest disappointment of the series.
Awakening and Fates has pair up which is fairly unique.

Shadow Dragon should have been the perfect game, but there was so much wrong with that game (to be honest since it was the first time since the new devlopment team started after the RD team got fired, I can excuse it a little bit).

 

[Lynx_7]

Shadow Dragon should have been the perfect game, but there was so much wrong with that game (to be honest since it was the first time since the new devlopment team started after the RD team got fired, I can excuse it a little bit).

Wait, what? Did they really get fired because of the game's poor performance or something?

 

[Draxal]

Wait, what? Did they really get fired because of the game's poor performance or something?

TBH, I recall in the 25th anniv book that they got reassigned after the game. But i'm trying to source it and pulling a blank so I'm not 100% sure now.

I wish I could summon Aveyn now.

I know it was Taeko Kaneda's last game for Intelligent Systems at least (she was the game director for RD).

 

[L95]

TBH, I recall in the 25th anniv book that they got reassigned after the game. But i'm trying to source it and pulling a blank so I'm not 100% sure now.

I wish I could summon Aveyn now.

There was a summoning accident and you summoned me instead.

But, luckily, I have what you are looking for. ... I think/hope so, anyway.

https://kantopia.wordpress.com/2015...blem-for-wii-translation-fe-25th-anniversary/

Narihiro: Yeah. The FE team was big, but after Radiant Dawn, the director did a staff reset, back to the beginning.

That's no surprise by now. (Laughs)

Narihiro: (Laughs). So, shortly after that came the time where we wondered just what we would do next. We got a little anxious as Nintendo's big hits [DS and Wii] were still going strong. (Laughs). We felt Nintendo supported us by giving us something to study.

 

[Draxal]

There was a summoning accident and you summoned me instead.

But, luckily, I have what you are looking for. ... I think/hope so, anyway.

https://kantopia.wordpress.com/2015...blem-for-wii-translation-fe-25th-anniversary/

That was perfect thanks. As gafs resident Gaiden fanclub president how are you enjoying the changes?

 

[psychowave]

I feel like the lack of marriage did wonders for this game's cast. In Awakening/Fates it feels like the characters are too tailored to please the player, whereas the characters in Echoes feel more flawed, and thus, more human.

The Rise of the Deliverance DLC support conversations convinced me even more of this.

Spoiler

Lukas seems to be asexual, and Clive, while more kind to commoners than other nobles, is still stuck on the idea that there has to be a king and nobles that rule over commoners in the first place, and isn't open to the idea of changing this

. I feel like if there was a marriage system these very interesting character traits wouldn't exist or would be solved by the magic of S supports in order to make for more "appealing" characters. Ironically, the most attractive, interesting characters (to me, at least) are the ones that weren't made for marriage.

Treehouse didn't do a bad job at all. Just like instead of giving so much praise to 8-4 for the localization, give IS some credit for writing a better game this time around.

I agree that the script is much, much better this time around, but I think 8-4 still deserves some praise. The original Japanese script is fine, but the localization (along with the fantastic voice acting) makes it truly special.

 

[L95]

That was perfect thanks. As gafs resident Gaiden fanclub president how are you enjoying the changes?

I'm pretty happy with the remake! I like all the redesigns except Deen, I think most of the story fleshing out is nice. Though I agree Celica chapter 4 fumbled. (

Spoiler

Also, I understand gameplaywise why they removed it, but I miss the urgency of Alm getting trapped at the dragon's maw

) Though at the same time I wasn't really expecting them to not make that bit sound stupid so I kinda saw the act 4 issues coming.

I guess the one thing I was hoping on that they didn't deliver on was new boss convos... Did they really only add

Spoiler

one

? Did I somehow miss some?

Spoiler

Sonya

vs

Spoiler

Jedah

was a good choice if they could have added only one for some reason, but I'm still a little sad about it. Like,

Spoiler

Zeke

vs

Spoiler

Rudolf

was one I was hoping for. Though some of the topics I was hoping for in boss convos were covered some in the little base monologues characters get, so... yeah!

It also really annoys me Marla and Hestia don't even have custom heads for their battle models. Come on, even the bosses

Spoiler

in the final chapter with no dialogue

got custom heads >:c

PS: I will forever be baffled they didn't fix up the maps, and even removed some of the unique forced encounter maps from the

Spoiler

Tower of Duma and Duma's altar

. I actually really wanted to see the return of the button but alas.

PPS: I LOVE Memory Prisms, I hope we see them/something similar in other FEs.

 

[PK Gaming]

The Fates Localization was phenomenal, given the source material

Treehouse made so many behind-the-scene changes that most people won't appreciate

 

[SolVanderlyn]

The Rise of Deliverance DLCs were great! I loved seeing more Forsyth and Python (not because I already liked them in the main story but because they got shafted from story scenes for being "optional" and didn't get much interaction with Clive and the others). Fernand used to be such a likable guy...

I can't beat the Mathilda/Clair DLC though.

 

[Gradivus]

The Rise of Deliverance DLCs were great! I loved seeing more Forsyth and Python (not because I already liked them in the main story but because they got shafted from story scenes for being "optional" and didn't get much interaction with Clive and the others). Fernand used to be such a likable guy...

I can't beat the Mathilda/Clair DLC though.

Use Clair to bait magic users to move in range for Mathilda and make use of this healing spaces. Also, try to make sure Clair doesn't fight so often because she can't heal herself magnificently.

 

[Draxal]

I'm pretty happy with the remake! I like all the redesigns except Deen, I think most of the story fleshing out is nice. Though I agree Celica chapter 4 fumbled. (

Spoiler

Also, I understand gameplaywise why they removed it, but I miss the urgency of Alm getting trapped at the dragon's maw

) Though at the same time I wasn't really expecting them to not make that bit sound stupid so I kinda saw the act 4 issues coming.

I guess the one thing I was hoping on that they didn't deliver on was new boss convos... Did they really only add

Spoiler

one

? Did I somehow miss some?

Spoiler

Sonya

vs

Spoiler

Jedah

was a good choice if they could have added only one for some reason, but I'm still a little sad about it. Like,

Spoiler

Zeke

vs

Spoiler

Rudolf

was one I was hoping for. Though some of the topics I was hoping for in boss convos were covered some in the little base monologues characters get, so... yeah!

It also really annoys me Marla and Hestia don't even have custom heads for their battle models. Come on, even the bosses

Spoiler

in the final chapter with no dialogue

got custom heads >:c

PS: I will forever be baffled they didn't fix up the maps, and even removed some of the unique forced encounter maps from the

Spoiler

Tower of Duma and Duma's altar

. I actually really wanted to see the return of the button but alas.

PPS: I LOVE Memory Prisms, I hope we see them/something similar in other FEs.

I really like Deltea's remake the best, its makes her into a spunky kid.

Memory Prisms is the best new narrative tool they have done, totally agreed.

 

[Golnei]

(

Spoiler

Also, I understand gameplaywise why they removed it, but I miss the urgency of Alm getting trapped at the dragon's maw

)

I don't understand why they didn't force an encounter there - the story makes significantly less sense with the way they've laid it out, and is responsible for much of the problems with Celica's new characterisation.

Spoiler

Even if they wanted to do the bit with the successful sacrifice, having it occur as something necessary to free Alm from his immediate predicament would have worked so much better.

Even gameplay-wise, I can't see why doing it that way would be any more of an issue than the blocked path they went with. Block off the Duma Tower dungeon until you reach the Dragon's Maw - upon being ambushed, you'd fight an unwinnable battle against infinitely spawning, increasingly strong Necrodragons, after you get wiped out Alm's party can no longer be controlled from the map. Then, Jedah would directly show Celica Alm's party about to die, and force her hand much more plausibly. Then things would progress as usual.

It doesn't fix the larger issues with Jedah's portrayal or Celica's character, but it at least makes her actions somewhat understandable.

 

[YAWN]

Python and Lukas' dlc support is amazing. These characters are bursting with personality. Python is just hilarious. My bro for life.

 

[Blackquill]

Shadow Dragon should have been the perfect game, but there was so much wrong with that game (to be honest since it was the first time since the new devlopment team started after the RD team got fired, I can excuse it a little bit).

WHAT ? Source

Edit : Oh nevermind, I should read every post, before... posting

 

[psychowave]

Python and Lukas' dlc support is amazing. These characters are bursting with personality. Python is just hilarious. My bro for life.

Python and Forsyth are the GOATs. I feel bad for never using them in the original Gaiden.

 

[YAWN]

Python and Forsyth are the GOATs. I feel bad for never using them in the original Gaiden.

It's a shame they're optional as they could have made the story scenes a riot. To be honest there isn't a dul character in the cast though, barring Faye.
I hope we get more DLC. It'd be cool to get more info on Sonyas sad past, and maybe a playable Berkut.

 

[Golnei]

Sonya's

Spoiler

equally depressing future

might warrant some expansion as well - the implication may be that

Spoiler

she became a witch, but that means something very different in a world without an active, malevolent Duma

.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Nobody chooses Deen and there's even hate for his redesign in here. Deen was my all star character, love his design and voice too.

Sonya is an equally cool looking character with an interesting backstory, though. Deen may be "just a merc" by comparison but I still liked him a lot.

 

[theprodigy]

Nobody chooses Deen and there's even hate for his redesign in here. Deen was my all star character, love his design and voice too.

Sonya is an equally cool looking character with an interesting backstory, though. Deen may be "just a merc" by comparison but I still liked him a lot.

Deen is easily the better unit at least.

 

[GeekyDad]

It's almost exactly the same thing - you can rewind every action taken in battle, unless either main character dies. The amount of resets per map are limited by in-game items.

That's awesome. Definitely one of the coolest features to come around -- saves lots of frustration.

 

[Ulong]

Anything easy to miss in this game? Like, I'm sure there are party members you can miss out on recruiting, but they are all obvious right, both that they are recruitable and what you'd need to do?

 

[BuckRobotron]

Nobody chooses Deen and there's even hate for his redesign in here. Deen was my all star character, love his design and voice too.

Sonya is an equally cool looking character with an interesting backstory, though. Deen may be "just a merc" by comparison but I still liked him a lot.

I chose Deen too. Great unit that I used along with Saber while semi-benching the others on Celica's side. I like the gruff voice and no-nonsense attitude as well.

 

[NeonZ]

Fates localization was great? I actually preferred chunks of it to 8-4's translation of Awakening. That's not to take away from 8-4, I genuinely love their stuff.

I just really don't get the "fates localization was terrible" nonsense, just because some people saw the infamous "..." picture and ran with it. The problem with fates is that the original script was pretty trash to begin with.

One point where I think 8-4 easily beat Treehouse were the critical/skill quotes in Awakening. They were mostly original, rather than direct translations, and some were fairly memorable, while Fates' are pretty bland.

The Fates Localization was phenomenal, given the source material

Treehouse made so many behind-the-scene changes that most people won't appreciate

Eh, they really didn't. It was serviceable at best, and especially when looking into the minor details there are many questionable aspects - and I'm not talking about those silly "they changed/added a joke, it's ruined now!" issues. Even something as simple as changing female Corrin's married ending to be the same as Male Corrin's just ended up making the ending descriptions clash even more often.

Although you could praise some of their added jokes in light hearted scenes, they seemed to just give up on the main plot, leaving a lot of stilted expository dialogue there. I don't think "The story is bad, so why bother trying?" is a valid excuse.

 

[Lorcain]

I wouldn't say Echoes is a good place to jump in either. The map design is the poorest in the series, and thus is a poor representation.

I don't know, sometimes I think the focus on the quality of the map design is a veteran complaint, and not something someone new to the series would care as much about. The combat system, classes, characters and story are fun/good in Echoes imo.

The reasons why I think Echoes is a good starting experience is not because it hits the high water mark on all the game features, but because it's a much more accessible experience focused more on the battles and story. Echoes cuts out the need to develop relationships outside of battle, learning the unit rock-paper scissor triangle, or the pairing system. It's just easier to get into and start winning battles.

I personally like those systems, but I also like how straightforward Echoes is to play.

 

[Ulong]

Promote villagers at 10 like in the last couple games?

 

[psychowave]

Anything easy to miss in this game? Like, I'm sure there are party members you can miss out on recruiting, but they are all obvious right, both that they are recruitable and what you'd need to do?

Most of them are really obvious, with maybe two exceptions in Act 4.

In Alm's route, you can only recruit

Spoiler

Zeke and Tatiana if you beat Nuibaba before Jerome

. The game sort of tells you that it's better to do this but since you don't have to, some people miss it.
In Celica's route,

Spoiler

you can recruit Nomah at the Temple of Mila after lowering the water

. This is one I completely missed even though I knew this character was recruitable from the original game.

As for other things that might be easy to miss, many people in towns have quests and such that you can complete. You don't have to do them, but they sometimes give you nice equipment or money.

Promote villagers at 10 like in the last couple games?

No, promote everyone as soon as possible. You'll get a prompt telling you when a character can promote, and an icon shows up next to their name as well.