Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
The Direct started with the most shocking and unexpected idea ever; a remake of the least popular Fire Emblem (Gaiden). The game is describe as a "re-imagination" of the game; looks-like they decided to take the basic stuff about the game and expand it how it what originally needed for this game.
Fire Emblem Gaiden is known for be the Series' Black Sheep, with an awkward and outdated design, but filled with lots of interesting ideas; some of the only appears in this game (like visit towns/caves and the HP-Based Magic), but other ideas were adapted for future games (the most destacable are the World Map and the Branched promotion).
I don't have anything against Kozaki, but I'm happy to see this game with a different style (Art by Hidari/LeftSide) |
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia as we can see in the Direct has a design based in a mix between the FE!3DS Basic Engine (with some changes to allow the exploration sections) and the Gaiden style to do several things (Minimal Damage is one, the attack/defense bars in the UI, Promotion using the Mila's Shrine, etc.).
I still have my doubts about the possible implications of this game, but the idea sounds great, I always have thought Fire Emblem Gaiden was the kind of game that really need and better Console and Development Time to actually work; and I hope this is the case.
There also some curious things about the Direct's indirect reveals.
We content it's a thing, we have a new villager in this game which her (?) name is Effie/Effa that appears as the forth villager after Gray, Tobin and Kliff (respectly); the original villager trio.
This probably opens the possibilities to more new characters outside of Effa. In fact, if she is indeed a female character, I wonder if the class selected for her promotion are gonna be the same that the other villagers, or she will replace some clases (like Soldier with Pegasus Knight).
Talking about the female classes. Wouldn't be great to see some Second Class like Sage/Saint/Priestess get a Third Tier Class unlike the original Gaiden?
Overall I'm cautious, but excited.
Fire Emblem Switch... for Switch (Working in a better title)
Hmm... This title is a complete mystery; we only know this game isn't a remake; I will eventually to any new related with the game, I'm not exactly excited, but I'm interested to see what become in the end, and...
Will this game feature the same Character Designer and Art Director from the 3DS Games? Who knows, but I doubt Maeda doesn't work in this new project (that I will call FE16), his games have been really succesful even I don't agree with several of his decisions.
Fire Emblem Warriors
Look like Chrom got his chance |
Fire Emblem Warriors Extent Trailer didn't show anything new gameplay-wise outside of the overall Warriors-Style. Looks like we'll have to wait for the Koei Tecmo's updates to know more characters.
I good new in the other hand, Fire Emblem Warriors will arrive sooner of what we expected (Fall 2017), prepare yourselves people.
Also, if for some reason you don't like the Switch and you have a New 3DS; you're lucky, the game will have a version for the N3DS Users.
Fire Emblem Heroes (aka: Fire Emblem Mobile)
Featuring our two Original Protags, and some popular Fire Emblem Characters |
And then, this is the thing we was waiting (but didn't exactly excited); I wasn't expecting a lot from this game, but at least this game fulfill a little idea I thought was perfect for this game: the ultimate fanservice game!
From Marth to Chrom, from Celica to Lyn, from Shiida to Sophia,... pretty much everything has a place here. |
Fire Emblem Heroes is a simplistic version of Fire Emblem, and while doesn't have a particuarly great deep gameplay, the idea sounds fun, and I like the idea to recollect new Fire Emblem characters playing a lot (just don't get to greedy if you're using the microtranslations, the orbs aren't exactly cheap, I don't recommend pay for it unless you're really sure about it)
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Looks like Chrom will get his chance another day... again. |
This are my basic opinions about this games revealed, while my excitement it's mostly focused on Echoes and Warriors, I'll check Fire Emblem Heroes (the game is free-to-play), and I'm interested in what would brings us the future with Fire Emblem Switch.
Prepare yourselves, this is a incredible year for Fire Emblem with three titles in the same year (two Spin-Offs and one main-game). Maybe I'll get the chance to review one of these games.
See you next time!
- Troykv (The Dawn's Historian and Micaiah4Smash Main Admin)