I’m a few hours in and I’m loving it. While I enjoyed Fates (both Conquest and Birthright), there was a lot missing in terms of story that I feel like Awakening had.
Echoes has some really stellar localization, and I’m excited to see if they continue with the branding to remake other older FE games.
I’m also a few hours into Fire Emblem Echoes and I love it so far. I wasn’t a fan of Awakening and Conquest at all but Echoes feels like a step-up in a lot of areas : music, characters, also the art is gorgeous.
Though, I don’t think this is a direction that is going to last for the series, I haven’t seen any kind of momentum going for this game which is kinda sad. Then again, Fates was a terrible display of controversy all around.
Atelier has incredible art so they definitely picked the right person for the job. They are beautiful to look at.
I guess we’ll have to see how the game performs, but it’s straightforwardness is greatly appreciated after Fates. Character interactions feel more scripted, sure, but also more natural. I also appreciate the exploration elements, though I could do without the simplification of combat.
I am hyped for Echoes. Gaiden was always an interesting beast of a Fire Emblem game, and I didn’t think we’d ever get a remake. Especially not a remake as thorough as the one we ended up getting! Mechanically, it stands out from the rest of the series in pretty key ways, and I really want to see how the dungeon-crawling elements mesh with the strategy RPG portion.
From what I hear it sounds like it might just be the first Good Fire Emblem game.
hue
But seriously, it seems to have not made any of the dumb decisions that made the previous games so impenetrable to me, so I’m actually well up for this. Doubt I’ll pick it up for a while, but only because there are so many good games right now. Like, God damn, what a problem to have.
As much as I’m happy that the franchise has picked up steam thanks in part to the relationship stuff and just general shipping, kinda hoping that this one is more toned down on that aspect and is more strategy focused (which it looks like it is!) Fingers crossed it comes out great!
I am interested in it. I have A LOT of Fates left to play tho. I have only played through Conquest because I love Camilla she is my big strong dragon riding sister.
was gonna say I’m surprised to see a couple people mention Radiant Dawn but not Path of Radiance (its prequel) but then I remembered both games are stupid rare and you can’t really buy either of them anymore, so it’s actually pretty understandable why that would happen.
anyway, for anyone who can emulate them (or drop a cool $200 on physical copies), PoR & RD are some really great games. RD’s story goes like, waaaaay off the rails but it has great maps & tight gameplay with few flaws, and PoR offers most of the same. they also have much better world building than Awakening or Fates, if that’s your bag.
and if you really wanna go back, check out FE4. the fan translation floating around is pretty solid and it’s both a great game and an oddity in the series feat. enormous maps & some real interesting mechanics. if the theory that the “Shadows of” in Valentia’s title is indicative of future FE remakes, my biggest wish would be a proper international release of this one.
although hearing how sick everybody is of the marriage mechanic, maybe hold off on that one for a while. it’s great tho. its sequel is also good but the translation is unfinished (to put it kindly) and it is Extremely Goddamn Hard
Also worth noting that all of the armor and weapon design in Awakening/Fates is attributed to the art director for the series. Kozaki just did the character art and some of their designs iirc.
So how much is the split on who’s responsible for Camilla? We talking like 60/40, 70/30?
I just want to know who got horny one day and said “So what if your sister… Tiddies.” So I don’t judge the wrong person
Obviously can’t deny that the new games have some more provocative(or pandering if you lean more toward that direction) designs.
We just gonna like, ignore stuff like 15 year old Lyndis wearing a dress with slits that go all the way up to her waist? We can’t act like this franchise has ever been completely free of this stuff.
I honestly can’t stand the current FE discourse. This game has just been an excuse for old fans to be toxic as hell toward people who got into the series with the newer games or who just prefer them for various reasons. I wish old fans were framing this game as a good way for newer fans to experience an FE game that skews more closely to the franchise’s roots. Instead it’s just dominated by people celebrating the exclusion of things like marriage because it’s back to the Old Way which was When Things Were Good. Like damn, sorry that the franchise has a much larger and more diverse following now than it ever has had before I guess? Real shame that is.
And all of that isn’t to say that the new games are perfect and can’t be improved upon because they obviously can. Other people in this thread have spelled out some of the more glaring flaws that they have. You don’t have to love the new games but please try not to gatekeep so hard.
(Also I know I responded to you but most of this isn’t aimed directly at you. It’s just some thoughts I’ve been having about the general state of discussion around this specific game.)
It’s the same for me. I packed away the 3DS and am thoroughly enjoying the Switch (moving between Setsuna, MarioKart and Minecraft currently, which is a great mix) but man I would love a game like this on the Switch right now. Mightily tempted by Disgaea in a week or two.
I… Yeah I get that totally.
I don’t want any of my dislike for Awakening or Fates to come across as disdain for people who like them, or a toxic nostalgic view that the series was always better “back in the good ol days”
There are definitely aspects of older Fire Emblem games I like more but I also am not here to act like Awakening, at least, hasn’t done a lot of good for the series. I like that the series is becoming more accessible, I like that it’s STILL ALIVE which it might not have been had Awakening not done so well.
And yeah there have def been some skeevy character designs in older games no doubt. It just feels like Fates brought all of that into maximum overdrive and… No thanks please. (Though I could have sworn Lyn was 18? Was that just localization?)
Lyn was 15/16 in the original version, yeah. 18/19 in the Western version.
I do totally get why Fates in particular rubbed people the wrong way. They basically went summer blockbuster with it. Three routes, character designs all cranked up, story way more bombastic. Awakening had pretty good justification for marriage and kids through its narrative while Fates just didn’t give a fuuuuuuuuck. Their justification for the kids can barely even be called that. Still, Fates was the first time I actually felt myself coming back because I really liked the different maps and situations they put you in. Conquest especially I found really fun despite the pretty bad story(by far the worst of the three routes imo).
I’m very excited for this game. I really wish most of the 3DS catalog this year was also coming to Switch. Hopefully this game leads the way to remakes of the other FE games that never came stateside (like Binding Blade) and maybe they will localize New Mystery of the Emblem at some point.
I think it’s more of a matter of frequency than anything else. None are free of sin, but none more so than Awakening and Fates. I don’t think Lyn is that bad, though. If anything later installments just outrageously slimmed down her dress to make it look weird.
Honestly I’ve been really put off by the emphasis on “going back to the roots” and people dumping on Awakening, ngl.
Between that, Fates’s over-expanding, and this being endgame 3DS time I’m guessing that this may not sell to well.
Honestly, I’ve seen a lot lately about how the shipping mechanic is something they should pull away from, and I can’t say I like the idea of dropping it. For remakes, sure. It might not make sense. Who knows? But for future games, I’d rather it be expanded upon and just generally made better.
What I’d most like to see is it divorced completely from the breeding mechanic, which has always made me uncomfortable in games. Personally, I’ve never liked breeding mechanics in any games. I feel it cheapens sex and relationships between people, dissolving them down less into “these characters have a good dynamic and I’d love to see them happy together” to “these characters give me the best unit so lets burst down that social link”. Not to mention that the breeding mechanic insures that queer characters in Fire Emblem will never get a fair shake. If I recall correctly, in Fates if you get married to Rhajat as a lady PC or Niles as a guy PC, there are no kids even though they adopt in at the end of Revelation. What this says about the validity of adoption is… distasteful to me.
I’d be good with the continuation of the shipping mechanic, because I like playing matchmaker in video games and shipping is fun for me (provided it involves, you know, actual consenting adults). They could split the S-ranks into platonic and romantic, and both can give certain bonuses between characters on the field together. Miss me with the breeding and kids mechanics though. They’re exclusionatory at worst (Niles and Rhajat are the only queer options, despite Soleil saying she prefers women), and at best, pointless as a mechanic because all it does is provide you with units with certain traits that don’t really add anything to the game since you can beat it without them and with little difficulty.
Yeah. I love character and hate plot, and being able to pair off characters (even non-romantically, idc) to give them a cute little dynamic is, fun?
I feel like them then having children would make me feel like I’m “supposed” to pair everyone into male/female pairs which, uh, I don’t think I tend to do. (Like I say, I’ve not played Awakening or Fates, but this thought has been in the back of my mind that it could slightly impair my enjoyment of them.)
I like my people having cute little conversations about being there for each other, rather than just being tactical pieces on the board. (Not that the latter is the Wrong Way to Have Fun or anything, this is just my taste.)
I burned out on Fates Birthright right at the end of the game, like 2 chapters left end of the game. The trend in that game of just constant enemy reenforcement in so many levels was so off putting. It was so often a guessing game of “can I safely move up yet to move towards the objective, or in 2 turns will there suddenly be 8 more guys behind me and able to get to and kill my weaker characters?” and it was just awful because it turned into a slog of waiting for them to finally run out. Also all of the support conversations were so cringeworthy and awful.
I’ll probably get it eventually because I really do like the core gameplay of FE, but Fates was kinda bad and put me off of it for probably a year or two before I want to go back to it.
