My review isn't online yet but here are some impressions regardless.
- I love that they kept Gaiden's oddities. Being only able to carry one additional item with you - might it be a better weapon, shield or potion - forces you to evaluate your priorities. Magic is crazy strong, but the self-damage requires you to be thoughtful. Dungeons aren't really worth talking about - they are very simple and short - but they are a nice change of pace. Being able to interact with NPCs in towns makes the world feel more believable. Goddess statues that can resurrect a small number of fallen friends is a nice addition as well.
- Keeping Gaiden's peculiarities is also its biggest fault. I actually don't mind the early maps: they are very simple, straight forward and short, but that's actually a welcome change after Fate's long maps. It's less stressing, more relaxing. A bit like a bigger version of FE Heroes.
- However, some of the later maps are incredibly annoying. Maps have several hard to reach summoners that can endlessly spam reinforcements and progress comes to a screeching halt. The game is generally rather easy, but in order to get these maps over with quickly I'd nevertheless recommend playing on casual...
- Oh, and I love the game's structure. Having two protagonists with different armies that you can change between any time (well, after the beginning at least) is pretty cool. Also means you can just continue the other side if you are stuck on the other.
- Presentation is great. 99% of the game's dialogues are voiced (only exception being requests - I wonder if those were added late into the development) and it's great. Adds a lot of personality. Art style is so much better than Fates/Awakening. Anime scenes are sadly compressed to hell and back and look quite awful.
- Story is leagues above Fates and Awakening. Echoes' story might not be very original, but it's well-made and entertaining. The characters are cool too and talk a lot about themselves even outside of support conversations.
- World map, towns, dungeons are actually fun additions and not just useless nonsense that ruins the pacing like "My Castle" in Fates. Generally, Echoes has a lot less weird bullshit.
The game has its weaknesses, the map designs leave something to desire, but I daresay that it's nevertheless my favorite FE on 3DS. It made me realize how much I miss the classic, more down to earth and honestly more classy approach to FE. It's a damn shame the next main FE will inevitably follow Fates' path of awfuly dumb waifu characters and alienating pandering once again.