fire emblem echoes shadows of valentia dlc

FIRE EMBLEM ECHOES SHADOWS OF VALENTIA DLC SERIES

I loved the cast of Awakening but thought that Fates‘ assemblage of characters wasn’t quite as engaging. What’s more, this Fire Emblem installment has more voiced dialogue than any before it: I happily sat back with the dialogue auto-advancing and listened to the voice actors deliver a solid reading of their lines. Tap on the background to uncover items, speak with people, and more as Alm and Celica make their way around Valentia. There are also first-person exploration segments that play out similarly to Phoenix Wright and Professor Layton. That might have been enough experimentation for most developers, but Intelligent Systems didn’t stop with the third-person action. It has proven to be a fantastic new feature, shaking up gameplay in an unexpected way. In a welcome addition, for the first time, players can navigate 3D environments, cracking open crates and barrels, initiating attacks on enemies (that transition back to a traditional battle grid), and uncovering treasure chests. This is especially evident in the third-person exploration sections.

FIRE EMBLEM ECHOES SHADOWS OF VALENTIA DLC SERIES

This desire to experiment is what drew me in to Shadows of Valentia so fully rather than play it safe, developer Intelligent Systems has successfully done something new with the series three times in a row on 3DS. This rollicking narrative is refreshingly straightforward, and it’s also particularly appealing having control of two different parties. Zofia is where our heroes hail from, and the game bounces between Alm and Celica’s bands of heroes as they travel to overthrow Rigel and bring peace to the whole of Valentia. They live in the nominal land of Valentia, which is divided by the god Dumel in the Northern region of Rigel and the goddess Mila in her Southern kingdom of Zofia. Young love is blossoming between leads Alm and Celica as the story unfolds, but fate ends up separating them unexpectedly. The setup for Shadows of Valentia plays things a little straighter than either Awakening or Fates in regards to its plot. While the actual tactical combat on the battlefield is somewhat simplified in comparison to the two games that came before, there’s no denying that Shadows of Valentia is a polished, thoughtful bookend for the series on 3DS and hopefully an indicator of where it will go in the future. These changes are not only fun and refreshing, but also feel like a natural evolution for the series moving forward.

Shadows of Valentia takes a similar approach, bringing much of Gaiden‘s core experience while also offering a number of alterations to what players became accustomed to in both Awakening and Fates. Nintendo had a propensity in the NES/Famicom days of taking sequels in wildly different directions, and Gaiden was no different, introducing a number of new features and mechanics like dungeons, random battles, and more. Shadows of Valentia is itself distinct among the other two releases on 3DS, as it’s a remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden, the series’ first sequel. Now, we’ve arrived at the third and presumably final series installment on Nintendo’s handheld, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, and man, does this game throw one heck of a going away party. The last entry on 3DS, Fire Emblem Fates, uniquely offered three takes on its campaign, emphasizing player choice and the distinct impact those decisions would have on the story. In recent years, Fire Emblem has become more popular than ever, with Fire Emblem Awakening on 3DS ushering in an unprecedented level of success that the franchise had never experienced in the West. Though it took thirteen years for non-Japanese players to finally be able to enjoy the series, it was quickly lapped up by tactical RPG enthusiasts. Fire Emblem bowed for the first time on Famicom all the way back in 1990 with Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.

Fire Emblem has been delighting fans in the West ever since its eponymous introductory title dropped on Game Boy Advance in 2003, but the reality is that the series has been a regular staple for far longer in Japan.

Fire emblem echoes shadows of valentia dlc