Review for Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. Nintendo 3DS game, the video game was released on 20/04/2017
There are timeless scenarios capable of giving emotions and embodying stories in a magical and fairytale way. The medieval chivalric is undoubtedly one of these, thanks to the components that characterize it: swordplay and princesses to save, pirates and sorcerers, greedy kings and knights without honor, dragons and spells and of course kingdoms to save . Everything ends up being an element of the whole in the story that we are going to dissect.
We will talk about Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia to Nintendo 3DS e 2DS, remake of a controversial 1992 spin-off, the result of an attempt to find the right route for what would have been a successful brand over time: Fire Emblem.
Ladies and knights
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia tells the story of Alm and Celica, both orphans of their parents, both marked by destiny, and both left in the loving care of a retired knight: Sir Mycenae. The latter, covered with glory in battle, decides to spend the sunset years in a modest village in the company of his beloved nephews. Grandchildren so to speak, because while Alm is convinced that he is really a relative of the brave knight, Celica knows he is not. In fact, she is none other than the daughter of the fallen king, brought to safety by the soldier before anyone could harm her.
The fate of the two young people is intertwined in a tender and tormented love story, that if at a young age it is confused as a simple friendship, with the passage of time it becomes a symbol of that chivalrous love typical of medieval tales. Separated from the events, the two young people will spend the years that will lead them to adulthood with the constant thought of finding each other, driven by a promise of eternal devotion that they exchanged at their forced farewell.
The young Alm will be instructed by the "grandfather" Mycenae in the art of the sword and the way of the knights, while the young Celica will be directed towards the path of priestess of the Mother Goddess. Both grow up and both end up excelling in the path chosen for them; but another thing unites them in addition to the desire to meet: the desire to free the people from the oppression of the tyrant on duty, who puts the country to fire and sword driven by an objective that is still obscure for now.
After the first two chapters where our heroes will travel different paths, we will finally see them reunite in a passionate embrace. But, like any self-respecting chivalric poem, ideals and honor prevail and the boys will travel different paths to reach the same goal: peace. Celica will embark on a journey aimed at seeking help from the Mother Goddess in the hopes that this will show her the way, while Alm will find herself playing a leading role in the Liberators: the last bastion of armed resistance against the tyrant.
At other points in history their destinies will cross but we do not want to reveal too much of that poetic and compelling story that Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia will be able to give you.
The differences from the series
As we said at the beginning, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is the remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden released for NES only in Japan back in 1992. This chapter offered different dynamics from the original series and for this reason it was subject to a lot of criticism from the public. Today Nintendo proposes it in a new guise as a spin off that fans of the genre will absolutely want to play. But even this “new” chapter of the series differs from conventional canons: to be precise, it enriches them with some features and simplifies them in others.
Basically, of course, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia offers a classic fighting style that we are all used to. For those very few who do not yet know it, it is a turn-based strategy managed on a chessboard in which terrain and forces at play decide the fate of the battle. The complementary abilities of the individual team member form a whole with the strategy decided by the player, effectively deciding the outcome of the clash. But in this spin off everything is more fluid and smooth, perhaps too much.
In Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, for example, the difficulty level is set down: it will be possible to play immediately at an expert level with our fighters who return after each fight or at an easy level but with permanent deaths. In both cases, the challenge is within everyone's reach - including beginners - and the only real difficulty element is facing the challenge at a difficult level, with perennial deaths and bringing home all the members of our team safe and sound.
However, this is not the only simplification applied to Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia: you will no longer find perishable weapons, and each member may use only one weapon at a time. This has the ability to grow over time by providing new abilities to the character, but unlike in past chapters, since the classic triangle of ax-sword-spear weapons no longer exists, everything is based on the value of the individual character used. Furthermore spells no longer refer to a dedicated mana bar but they consume the very life of those who use them. So Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is really very simplified and that strong tactical component of the title is waning quickly, making the purists of the saga turn up their noses.
Furthermore, the new elements introduced do not provide that extra inspiration that could compensate for the simplifications: explore some dungeons in 3D facing enemies with the sword (only for the first shot then the battle on the classic chessboard begins), and the parallel stories that they cross are not sufficient to compensate for the shortcomings. There is also the addition of the possibility, through an amulet, to turn back time a certain number of times to try different tactics, a useful element in a difficult battle. This combination of novelty and streamlining of dynamics displaces and confuses those who have played the previous chapters, but it must be admitted that in the long run it can prove to be pleasant, adapting the target to those who want a quick game without thinking too much, rather than the long and calculated battle that Fire Emblem usually proposes.
The technical sector
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia does not disappoint from the technical aspect and offers exactly what all the other chapters of the series offer. Careful artwork that dress well-characterized and complex characters; soundtrack always suited to the context surrounded by an excellent dubbing (only in Japanese and English, with subtitles in Spanish); and polygonal animations effective but not too accurate. All exactly as expected. It must be said that every kind of flaw is largely filled by the plot, intricate, real, cruel and bloody, but at the same time sweet and romantic.
Furthermore, for Amiibo lovers, Nintendo will soon market the figurines of the two protagonists: Alm and Celica, which can be used both in the game and of course in compatible titles. In Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia the two protagonists are also able to summon ghost knights to help them in battle, all by simply selecting the option in the appropriate menu and bringing any Amiibo closer to the player.
Although stripped of many features that over time have made the Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia saga famous, it does not disappoint. We just have to overcome the barriers we are used to and realize that this is an original spin off with a rich plot. At the end, every detail finds its place in an iconic image that fully conveys the ardor of the fight and the honor of the fight, all aimed at the idolized love typical of the context in which Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is placed : After all, it is still Fire Emblem.
► Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is a game for Nintendo 3DS, the video game was released on 20/04/2017
