![]() ![]() Skirmishes are stripped back, taking place on maps that lack some of the smart complexity seen in Conquest, but in getting back to basics the combat can be quietly brutal. It's a heavy edit, then, so it's credit to how much else is going on in Shadows of Valentia that this particular flavour of Fire Emblem remains so satisfying. Perhaps more importantly, love doesn't blossom on these battlefields and you can no longer pair up units and make lovely baby soldiers. Gone is the weapon triangle, and absent too are the support systems that have blessed more recent Fire Emblems. Following the sometimes painful convolutions found in the plots of last year's Fire Emblem Fates, there's something to be said for the simplicity here for all of its familiarity there's something of the wide-eyed wonder of early 90s RPGs that's been captured in this restoration, all fully voiced and enthusiastically articulated. It's there in the story, the tale of friends Alm and Celica who are separated at childhood before finding their paths intersect later in life, the two protagonists spearheading the dual campaigns that forge their own paths across the map. Hidari's character art, in all its fulsome beauty, speaks to a sense of innocence that lifts so much of Shadows of Valentia. Towns can be visited from the world map, explored by moving from screen to screen and being treated to the wonderfully wistful work of illustrator Hidari, who brings Gaiden's cast to vivid life. Gaiden was, to date, the only mainline Fire Emblem to feature dungeons, and in Shadows of Valentia they're now glorious 3D affairs for you to crawl through. Famed for being an idiosyncratic follow-up to the original Fire Emblem - the Zelda 2 of its own series, if you will, offering a very different take on the formula with ideas never to be seen again in a Fire Emblem - there's a certain novelty to be found in this full-blooded makeover, where all those quirks are embellished in lavish detail. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, to give it its full and gloriously overstated name, is a remake of 1992's Fire Emblem Gaiden, a late Famicom game that never found its way out of Japan. ![]() It can certainly boast some of the most interesting heritage. This 3DS offering, coming late in the handheld's life-cycle, is one of three Fire Emblem games out in 2017, and I wouldn't be surprised if by year's end it emerges as the very best. A revival of a 1992 Famicom game that never made it out of Japan, there's more to Echoes than a mere history lesson.Īn unexpected pleasure in recent years has been the resurgence of Fire Emblem in the west, Intelligent Systems' fantasy tactical RPG making the unlikely crossover from exquisite curio to Nintendo staple. ![]()
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