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Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia |OT|

Do the peddlers have a limited amount of times where they show up? D:
The traveling merchants? Much like the stat boost springs they're limited use. The one I've encountered in Chpater 3 I could use once and I was supposed to use it to finish a sidequest but since I picked up the Ridersbane as Celica I had to send that to Alm (Alm fights a lot of mounted units).

Same except I turned Faye to a cleric, only to save and then immediately recruit another cleric in the same damn room.

Whoops. I'll get a Pegasus knight eventually...
Two clerics is not a bad thing to have plus Faye's supports and decent stats help a bit with Noserfatu usage.

Some of the maps are quite there in the BS department.

Greith's and Desaix's fortress in ch 3 is almost impossible for me on Hard without retreat spamming.
In a way I love how casual it feels to simply retreat and just slowly grind down maps.
 

Sölf

Member
So, I am nearly done with Act/Chapter 2 unless something drastic happens, I think.

So far, I actually really enjoy it. It's different which is refreshing. And even though the battles so far (with a few exceptions) feel more like FE Heroes than a traditional FE, I like it. The equipment system also is really cool and the fact that characters/classes learn new skills when leveling up is neat. The story is also pretty interesting so far and I like most characters. Mae and Claire are awesome, same goes for Valbar and Leon.

The one and only thing I fear is that the battles actually do become dull later on, once we fight more enemies. With no weapon triangle and "fixed" equipment, it may actually become a bit boring later on. But maybe my it actually stays fun.
 

Nbz

Member
Plot is classic Fire Emblem, nothing super complicated.

But the worldbuilding and the characterization (which I attribute to the great 8-4 localization) make it way better than either Fates or Awakening for me.

I mean 8-4 did Awakening as well. I could tell the difference with Fates, but Awakening was pretty good. I do think SoV is a step up though
 

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
I loved this conversation (heavily paraphrased)

Gray: Man, all women are such nags! I used to think it was just my mom and sis, but when I learned ALL women shared this trait, my heart just sank.

Tobin: What? How do you know it's all women?

Gray: I've been to.... villages... come on, I've seen at least twelve!

Gray and Tobin are the best. A shame Kliff/Faye don't talk in the story scenes :/
 

aravuus

Member
Sölf;237560583 said:
The one and only thing I fear is that the battles actually do become dull later on, once we fight more enemies. With no weapon triangle and "fixed" equipment, it may actually become a bit boring later on. But maybe my it actually stays fun.

This is the only reason I didn't buy the game straight away. Some of the stuff sounds so simplified I can imagine getting bored of it halfway through.

Do post how you're feeling about it later on.
 
This is shaping up to be my favourite Fire Emblem game, but blimey are the large empty maps tedious.

Spending the first few turns of every battle moving every unit only halfway towards being anywhere near a single enemy sure is a drag.
 

Ninferno

Member
This is shaping up to be my favourite Fire Emblem game, but blimey are the large empty maps tedious.

Spending the first few turns of every battle moving every unit only halfway towards being anywhere near a single enemy sure is a drag.

Well, in that case, tactics -> charge (or sometimes gather) is your friend.
 

Tesser

Member
Ally's x2 attack with a hit percentage of 95: BOTH MISS
Enemy's single attack with a hit percentage of around 20 and Crit of around 5: CRITICAL HIT

I didn't know Firaxis [developers of XCOM 2] had a hand in this game. Seriously, I don't recall this level of bad luck in a Fire Emblem title for some time.
 
I find it hilarious that the characters seem to be commenting on how crap their stat boosts are on level up.

gets only 1 hp "was that a mosquito"
gets only 1 speed "was something supposed to happen here?"
 

Rutger

Banned
So would giving you points to spread around. And at least that way I won't be disappointed a character leveled up.


It also accentuates the poor character balance. Some are incredibly useless as they are given very poor stat growth percentage. You end up ditching those characters for someone of the same class that grows beter. Playing the same characters each playthrough because even a poor roll with them will be better than the best roll of others.

And no, I don't find it charming. I find it tedeous. There are many things I like about the series which keep me playing in spite of it though. I just hope they change it some day in a main game.

Honestly, I like when there's imbalance in the cast of a FE game, especially when there's a fairly large cast to choose from. It adds variety for me in multiple playthroughs, being able to pick weaker characters can change up how I need to approach the game, and add in the random stat growths and it adds a lot to the game's replay value.

How would it break the balance? Each character gets a fixed amount of points each level, you choose where they go. Then you can get fancy. Some have affinity to one stat, so it costs fewer points to raise a stat. And front loading one stat to high will raise the cost.

This would allow you to choose any character and still grow them.

What's the point of letting the player decide where stats go if the game encourages a certain build anyways?

Either way, stats like Str/Mag/Spd will be prioritized over all others if we could distribute stats, and that's all our armies would have. Not only would such a system break every FE game that has been made, but it would be pretty dull too.
 
Just about to receive the game, wanted to know quickly if there is anything specific that is easy to miss or anything that would normally need a guide for? Can you miss characters easily or is it pretty obvious? Can you make a wrong choice that can screw you over?
 

R0ckman

Member
This makes me miss classic FE, but I know there's no going back to this as standard. It was too clear what sells better. In Japan this game's sales pretty much went right back to what they were in the series when the big wigs threatened to have the series taken behind the shed.
 

ryushe

Member
Ally's x2 attack with a hit percentage of 95: BOTH MISS
Enemy's single attack with a hit percentage of around 20 and Crit of around 5: CRITICAL HIT

I didn't know Firaxis [developers of XCOM 2] had a hand in this game. Seriously, I don't recall this level of bad luck in a Fire Emblem title for some time.
My mages always miss.

Always. Miss.

It's heartbreaking.

There is no going back after this and Tokyo Mirage Sessions
It honestly makes playing Persona 5 a drag.
 

Reset

Member
This makes me miss classic FE, but I know there's no going back to this as standard. It was too clear what sells better. In Japan this game's sales pretty much went right back to what they were in the series when the big wigs threatened to have the series taken behind the shed.

Well this is a remake, kinda unfair to judge a sales of a remake with a new title. And apparently the game had a bad rep before the remake. :l
 
This makes me miss classic FE, but I know there's no going back to this as standard. It was too clear what sells better. In Japan this game's sales pretty much went right back to what they were in the series when the big wigs threatened to have the series taken behind the shed.
First week sales were softer than Fates/Awakening, but it's held decently over time. It'll probably end up selling decently in Japan, and decently in the West too, even if it doesn't hit Awakenkng/Fates numbers. The older games used to do 300k total, this game will do better than that.
 

Draxal

Member
First week sales were softer than Fates/Awakening, but it's held decently over time. It'll probably end up selling decently in Japan, and decently in the West too, even if it doesn't hit Awakenkng/Fates numbers. The older games used to do 300k total, this game will do better than that.

First week sales were softer than Shadow Dragon and NMOE, basically we're hoping the West saves this game.
 

PK Gaming

Member
Forget Fates/Awakening... FE:Echoes has some of the best worldbuilding and characterization in the franchise, hands down. I especially like how recruitable units are no longer completely transient.
 

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
Sometimes I forget this is a sequel to Shadow Dragon/FE1. Kinda cool to think Marth and friends exist right across the ocean

This makes me miss classic FE, but I know there's no going back to this as standard. It was too clear what sells better. In Japan this game's sales pretty much went right back to what they were in the series when the big wigs threatened to have the series taken behind the shed.
This won't sell as well as those but Echoes may yet live on. Maybe someday we'll even get original titles under the Echoes name.
 
sounds like this is an improvement from the clusterfuck that was fates? how is the level design? the only thing im hesitant about is the dungeon part. is it grindy or is it refreshing?
 
I think this game's claim to fame isn't its plot but the script. 8-4 and Cup of Tea outdid themselves here, this might be their best localization thus far. I considered 8-4's prior best script to be Shadow Dragon which is the best script in the series overall until SoV.

Gold Standard Localization work here.
 

Anteo

Member
sounds like this is an improvement from the clusterfuck that was fates? how is the level design? the only thing im hesitant about is the dungeon part. is it grindy or is it refreshing?

There is no level design. They ported the maps from the original title so its as bad as awakening, worse at times. Dugeon crawling can be fun but its super short unless you want to grind some levels.

Edit: terrain is used more often than awakening, some of the super open maps make sense, like when you are fighting enemies on one side of the map while enemy calvary is aproaching from the other side, you can see them run towards you for a few turns instead of them appearing randomly at turn X like awakening reinforcements.
 
sounds like this is an improvement from the clusterfuck that was fates? how is the level design? the only thing im hesitant about is the dungeon part. is it grindy or is it refreshing?

The level design is practically non existent.

I've not had to do any grinding on Hard classic, and am at the end of one half of Act 3, so I think it's fine,
 

Reset

Member
sounds like this is an improvement from the clusterfuck that was fates? how is the level design? the only thing im hesitant about is the dungeon part. is it grindy or is it refreshing?

Maps are worse than Conquest. Open empty fields.
If you were ok with Awakening/Birthright, you should be able to stomach the map design. The dungeons are short, I guess they're refreshing as they open up a new gameplay element so you're just not going from one location to another. From the dungeons which you're able to get stats boosts + weapons, not really grindy as you can avoid enemies.
 

McNum

Member
There is no level design. They ported the maps from the original title so its as bad as awakening, worse at times. Dugeon crawling can be fun but its super short unless you want to grind some levels.
I'm up to Act 3 and by now I've seen three kinds of map: Open field. Some kind of fortress. Boats.

But how the game plays with weapon ranges, open fields can become surprisingly complicated. Archers are really nice to have in this game.

As for Dungeons... they seem straightforward. You move pretty fast, and they are great places for grinding Exp, especially since you find Mila statues inside them that allows you to Class Change. It really is the best place to push over that hill and get the new class immediately.
 

Anteo

Member
I'm up to Act 3 and by now I've seen three kinds of map: Open field. Some kind of fortress. Boats.

But how the game plays with weapon ranges, open fields can become surprisingly complicated. Archers are really nice to have in this game.

As for Dungeons... they seem straightforward. You move pretty fast, and they are great places for grinding Exp, especially since you find Mila statues inside them that allows you to Class Change. It really is the best place to push over that hill and get the new class immediately.

I dont agree. For open field maps I just send units with high def or res depending on the enemy so they fight in open terrain and after the first clash I send every one else to hunt down the survivor. Works really well against calvary, a single soldier with the anti cav spear can hold down a entire push. Heck Faye can do it as well with her def growth.

And for choke points, the archer bonus damage on flyers is not as good so you can safetly poke with your flyers while holding/pushing the choke points.

Its just 2 types of maps and there is no much variety on how to aproach them.
 
There is no level design. They ported the maps from the original title so its as bad as awakening, worse at times. Dugeon crawling can be fun but its super short unless you want to grind some levels.

Edit: terrain is used more often than awakening, some of the super open maps make sense, like when you are fighting enemies on one side of the map while enemy calvary is aproaching from the other side, you can see them run towards you for a few turns instead of them appearing randomly at turn X like awakening reinforcements.

cool! i liked that about the older FE's
 
I'm up to Act 3 and by now I've seen three kinds of map: Open field. Some kind of fortress. Boats.

But how the game plays with weapon ranges, open fields can become surprisingly complicated. Archers are really nice to have in this game.

As for Dungeons... they seem straightforward. You move pretty fast, and they are great places for grinding Exp, especially since you find Mila statues inside them that allows you to Class Change. It really is the best place to push over that hill and get the new class immediately.

how to counter enemy archers 101: just use your own

not really complicated, you can also have your whole team rush them down
 
Yes, with the resistance growth of every one in the single % range.

This is the case for every single FE game in history and it won't change any time soon

Nah, the boosted resistance growth a bit in the GBA games slowly. It's just that everyone still has extremely low base res say for a few units. Strangely, I don't remember a thing on res growth in POR/RD.

I loved this conversation (heavily paraphrased)

Gray: Man, all women are such nags! I used to think it was just my mom and sis, but when I learned ALL women shared this trait, my heart just sank.

Tobin: What? How do you know it's all women?

Gray: I've been to.... villages... come on, I've seen at least twelve!

Gray and Tobin are the best. A shame Kliff/Faye don't talk in the story scenes :/

That reminds me, I need a screen shot of this conversation. Where/when does it happen? I've seen it, but I forgot.
 

Erheller

Member
Nah, the boosted resistance growth a bit in the GBA games slowly. It's just that everyone still has extremely low base res say for a few units. Strangely, I don't remember a thing on res growth in POR/RD.



That reminds me, I need a screen shot of this conversation. Where/when does it happen? I've seen it, but I forgot.

Want to say beginning of chapter 3
 
12 hours in, I'm liking the addition of 3D dungeons much more than I expected, but they could have used more variety and depth to make them less repetitive.

But best addition is mila's turnwheel, especially on hard classic. Its the addition I wouldn't mind seeing in the mainline series, but maybe with further restrictions or penalties for use (one use per battle, using causes damage to all units, etc).
 

PsionBolt

Member
Yeah I am. But it feels worse than even the GBA games.

Oh, it absolutely is. The best FE15 units have a growth total around 300, compared to ~350 in FE7 or ~400 in FE14.
That's part of the unique charm of classic FE -- since nearly everyone has terrible growths, you get a much wider range of "good units" between playthroughs, depending on your RNG.
In modern FE, it's statistically super unlikely that a bad unit will ever end up stronger than a good unit, but in classic FE, they're all bad, so it's easier for variance to bring a variety of different units up into usefulness.
Even within one playthrough, you'll often see characters who excel in the earlygame but drop off late (or vice versa), purely because you get a few lucky or unlucky levels in a row.
 
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