Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (May 19)

[Ike]

Look, at this point, if you get spoiled on a NES game, it's your fault for waiting so long.

 

A game that was only released only in Japan until now, I suspect most people haven't played it.

 

But like Jonnas said, it's mostly the new content that's being spoiled, even if it was expected to contain new stuff.

[Glen-i]

Jokes can be hard to do when you refuse to use emoticons...

[S.C.G]

 

Pre-orders are live, go, go,go!

 

[Ike]

 

Pre-orders are live, go, go,go!

 

 

Thanks. Odd that they aren't selling the tshirt with the LE as well.

[S.C.G]

Thanks. Odd that they aren't selling the tshirt with the LE as well.

 

This is why I ended up ordering one of everything, it's not as if the game on its own will go down in value and it would be nice to have a sealed one for the collection.

[Ike]

 

It came with an extra pouch from Amazon. Undecided if I want to play it now or wait for the English version.

[V. Amoleo]

Wow. Fire Emblem DLC has always been on the pricey side but this is a bit much.

 

A Season Pass for Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia that includes all five DLC packs as they release will also be available for £39.99 / €44.99.

 

The game itself is only £32.

[Jonnas]

The concept of a "Season Pass" annoys me so much. I haven't played the bloody game yet! Why would I want to pay for everything at once?

 

Anyway, we have two "farming" DLC packs, one that's a tie-in to the JPN-exclusive card game, one with new story chapters (all of them flashbacks/prologues to events that happened off-screen and/or in backstory) and one that unlocks more powerful classes for everybody.

 

They all seem overpriced to me. And unless there are some genuinely difficult maps included, I don't know why I would even want to unlock the better classes. I mean, is there something in the main game you'd want them for? I don't know, because I haven't played it before they effin' announced it!

[MindFreak]

There is a video explaining the DLC here:

 

[Ike]

The Limited Edition box is huge, it really didn't look so big in the promo materials.

[Jonnas]

Yeah, didn't expect it to be so big. I mean, it was obvious in retrospect, what with it including the artbook and the Amiibos.

 

I haven't started it yet, but hopefully I will during this weekend.

[Ike]

My Japanese Valentia Complete arrived (the one with the Blu-ray), probably got a bit delayed due to it being Golden Week in Japan the week after it released.

 

 

The voice acting and localisation are both really good.

[Ike]

Haha, Mea is great.

 

I keep forgetting archers can counter attack at close range.

 

Saber missed a 97% hit attack.

[Hero-of-Time]

I finally got around to starting this last night. The game has been just sat in a box for the past few weeks and only now have I got around to opening the thing. You guys weren't kidding when you said the SE was big.

 

I've only played the prologue and the first chapter but i'm liking what i've seen so far. The opening was great and i'm intrigued to see just how the 2 main characters get to that point.

 

I'm also enjoying the artwork/visual style. It seems a lot less anime compared to Awakening and Fates, which is a good thing IMO. Keep that stuff for Heroes and give the main games a more withdrawn style.

 

I'm going to harp on about the VA in Zelda again. As I mentioned earlier, i've only played the first couple of missions and already the VA in this game is of a higher quality than what I heard in BOTW. It baffles me just what went wrong with the voice acting and the direction of it in that game.

 

I'm looking forward to getting through a few more missions later this evening.

[Ike]

Official soundtrack is getting a release, in Japan of course, in October. Includes 5 CDs, a booklet, stickers, 5 postcards and a Fire Emblem 0 TCG promo card.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B0756T8FFB/

[Hero-of-Time]

After not really playing anymore of the game since my last post in here back in 2017, I fired up the game again last night and restarted it. I figure it would be best to start a new file as to get to grips with the story again and I wasn't that far into the game anyway. The new game coming out was also a deciding factor in start this. I won't allow myself to buy the Switch game until I've finished this. I work well under pressure.  

I'm currently on chapter 3 at the moment and I'm on doing Alm's side of things first.

Yeah, there's a lot to like about this entry. As I mentioned earlier, it has great voice acting and art direction and this continues to be the case as I progress further into the game. I just love how wholesome the character designs are. They remind me of the classic FE games which makes sense given this is a remake of an older entry.

I enjoy how you interact in certain locations. Picking who I want to talk to and searching for hidden goodies is a nice change of pace, as is running around caves and dungeons, breaking barrels and getting into enemy encounters. Good stuff.

I LOVE a lot of the characters that I've met so far, especially those in the Deliverance. The back and forth between Tobin and Gray is fantastic, Faye's obsession with Alm is hilarious, especially when she keeps saying she'll attack/kill anyone for him ( bitches be crazy  ), Python's laid back attitude is great and Forsyth kicking off with him over it is funny to watch. Special goes mention to Kliff. Mages are always my go to unit ever since I fell in love with Soren's character in the GameCube game and Kliff doesn't disappoint. He's been an absolute beast for my team. Now that I have recruited Luthier, I can do some Mage-or damage in the up and coming battles.

The weak link in Alm's squad for me is Silque. She's been pretty useless so far and her character isn't very interesting. She's constantly getting killed and I imagine she'll be getting kicked to the curb once I have to start shuffling my team around.

Celica's team is pretty decent but I don't think it's as interesting. Saber is pretty cool and Boey is quite funny ( plus he's a Mage ) but the rest seem a bit meh so far. I find Mae too annoying to be funny.

Another thing I'm really enjoying is the narrative. I'm finding it pretty down to earth and it's really interesting having two friends clashing over different ideals. I'm team Alm at the moment and I love the way he is talking about how you shouldn't judge a person by their class or where they were born. Dude has put Clive in his place a couple of times over this.

Speaking of Clive, the seeds of doubt have been sown in his head and I'm intrigued to see if he's going to stab Alm in the back or not....

Yeah, I'm REALLY enjoying playing this.

*gets back to playing*

[Ike]

Silque is a healer not a fighter, keep her out of danger!

You can't like Boey and not Mae, they're a pair!

[Hero-of-Time]

34 minutes ago, Ike said:

Silque is a healer not a fighter, keep her out of danger!

You can't like Boey and not Mae, they're a pair!

I know she's a healer but she's so weak that when she does get targeted it's usually a one shot kill.

Mae seems to be the stereo typical, happy go lucky, loud mouth JRPG female character. I usually despise these. 

[Glen-i]

I've said this a few times before, but this is the best Fire Emblem I've ever played. I like the HP is also MP mechanic (Better than the breakable weapons) and the characters are just great. Lukas has a buttery smooth voice that's just delightful to listen to and Berkut is definitely my favourite FE villain.

Music's gorgeous too. Shout outs to "Lord of a Dead Empire" for being absolutely stunning. Got that whacked up to max on Castle Siege in Smash Ultimate.

Edited July 23, 2019 by Glen-i

[Hero-of-Time]

I played a little more of the game before turning in for the night. The last couple of stages proved challenging and one of them I had to do multiple times.

The first level was a desert stronghold. Being only able to move a square or two made it difficult to position my units. The map took a while to clear but once I had made it into the castle area I was able to wipe out everyone that was left pretty quickly.

The other level that caused problems was the sluice gate. Trying to rescue Delthea was a pain in the backside and it took numerous attempts before I was able to complete the map. I had to rush the boss of the area and hope that Delthea didn't teleport near any of my soldiers otherwise she would probably get killed before I could save her.

I've brought my 3DS with me to work today so hopefully i'll get some battles done on my lunch break.

[Jonnas]

I still prefer Blazing Blade (likely since I've been invested in Elibe for so long), but Echoes is absolutely a close second. Marvelous game.

Edited July 23, 2019 by Jonnas

[Ike]

Echoes' weakest point where the maps, everything else is top notche. 

Blazing Blade remains my favourite, as well.

Quote

I've said this a few times before, but this is the best Fire Emblem I've ever played. I like the HP is also MP mechanic (Better than the breakable weapons) and the characters are just great. Lukas has a buttery smooth voice that's just delightful to listen to and Berkut is definitely my favourite FE villain.

Music's gorgeous too. Shout outs to "Lord of a Dead Empire" for being absolutely stunning. Got that whacked up to max on Castle Siege in Smash Ultimate.

@Glen-i Can't get quote to work when editing a post.

I think I 've posted this before.

[Hero-of-Time]

Act 3 is done and dusted but man, what a slog it turned out to be. The enemies constantly respawning/being summoned both on the world map and on the actual levels was annoying as hell. 

Grieth's Citadel took a fair few tries. The constantly spawning enemies, as well as the archers and mages, made it a pain in the butt to complete. I was struggling for a while but once I went back to town and recruited the sister Pegasus knights and another mercenary it made things a little easier.

I'm very glad this act is now over. 

[Jonnas]

While the map design is an original sin from Gaiden, I think they counterbalanced it well with enemy design. In other Fire Emblems, enemies are killed by the dozen, and the goal is to not let them overwhelm you. In this game where every enemy is tough and sturdy, successfully killing the enemy at all is the goal.

Of course, at the same time, that's me basically saying that they just swapped one form of challenge for another. I wonder if these sturdy enemies would work in a game where you also need to visit villages, protect NPCs, and the like.

4 hours ago, Ike said:

I think I 've posted this before.

I know I did, at least.

[Hero-of-Time]

I was ready to throw in the towel with this last night. The game has gone from being an absolute joy to play to now being a VERY annoying experience. I thought that I may have seen the last of the Cantor enemies ( guys you keep summoning more backup ) but no that wasn't the case. Pretty much every stage has them now and they've even started popping up on Alm's missions. It's such a frustrating and cheap mechanic to put into a game. You are constantly having to try and rush the enemy in order to get rid of the guy summoning the reinforcements. What's even worse is that a lot of the maps are pretty much designed with only 1 real way to get to these enemies, with you having to funnel your team down a choke point. 

You then have the issue on the world map where you clear an area and then go to either change a class or visit a village only to find more enemies have spawned on the area you've just cleared. This became a very tedious affair and it makes you feel like you can't explore various options otherwise you are going to get punished for it.

There were 4 times last night where I just knocked the game off in frustration. What awful design decisions.