![]() ![]() ![]() Fire Emblem cut its teeth on strategic battles, with inventive map design forcing the player's hand to build and rebuild teams suited to survive on them. It was tempting to skip through the lengthy dialogues to get to the action, but the beautiful character art and solid performances often convinced me to sit through these scenes.Īs the plot thickened, I found myself more interested in Shadows of Valentia's ample cutscenes than its primary spectacle: the battles. The first Fire Emblem game to feature full voice acting, Shadows of Valentia's high production values are an easy highlight. These routes are punctuated by copious battles and just as many cutscenes and conversations. As I switched between playing as one or the other in its latter half, I was never able to steer them toward each other they were charting their own journeys. Alm and Celica travel separate routes throughout the game. Shadows of Valentia makes this plot both meaningful and exciting by mirroring it in its gameplay. It's a classical fantasy story in many respects, full of love and death and magic and friendship. The tension in their adult relationship drives much of the plot forward. Alm and Celica are childhood friends bonded by a strange mark they each have on their hands, but a brutal war sends them off in different directions when they're still young.Īfter years apart, they're reunited - each now leading a separate band of fighters dedicated to a similar cause: Alm a rebellion against the regime terrorizing the eastern part of the country Celica, a more law-abiding coalition of soldiers that want to rescue the religious idol of the west. It plays out like a classic role-playing game in many respects, with a heavy emphasis on story. ![]() Shadows of Valentia is the new name for Fire Emblem Gaiden, the second game in the series. Shadows of Valentia instead embraces its old-school, often obscure trappings, in ways that are usually more frustrating than fun. As a Nintendo 3DS remake of a Famicom game, it rejects modern expectations of a Fire Emblem title. But Shadows of Valentia, the first of these new Fire Emblem games to launch on Nintendo hardware this year, does away with these major features and much else. Most of these seem pitched at people like me, who fell in love with Fire Emblem for its series-defining battle system, memorable characters and contemporary romance elements. After 2012's Fire Emblem Awakening raised the role-playing games' international profile, Nintendo went from releasing one long, challenging title once every few years to having no fewer than four new games planned through 2018. Out of nowhere, Fire Emblem has become one of Nintendo's most visible series. As a faithful remake, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is in an awkward spot. ![]()
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