Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

 3DS
User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 419 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 356 out of 419
  2. Mixed: 37 out of 419
  3. Negative: 26 out of 419
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  1. TheRavingTimes
    May 21, 2017
    7
    Let me get this out of the way, but I've been a huge fan of the Fire Emblem series ever since I played Shadow Dragon. However, I'd argue that Fire Emblem Gaiden is one of the worst games in the franchise due to terrible map designs, gameplay choices and a plot that barely makes sense. Thankfully Echoes tries its best to resolve these issues to the best of its abilities. Realistically,Let me get this out of the way, but I've been a huge fan of the Fire Emblem series ever since I played Shadow Dragon. However, I'd argue that Fire Emblem Gaiden is one of the worst games in the franchise due to terrible map designs, gameplay choices and a plot that barely makes sense. Thankfully Echoes tries its best to resolve these issues to the best of its abilities. Realistically, there's no way to work around the poor map design that forced players to spend 10-20 turns moving their units to the enemies front-lines. Thankfully, the poor gameplay mechanics from Gaiden have been altered to add a little more depth ranging from skills that can activate during battle at the cost of HP, the ability to arrange your units before non-dungeon battles and supports to give your units a small boost in battle. However, compared to Awakening and Fates there is a LOT of content that remained absent ranging from the ability to pair units, carry more than one item/weapon, the weapon triangle, equipable skills and A LOT more. Thankfully the battles are more fast-paced and the inclusion of full-voice acting during in-game dialogue. The dungeons you can explore are a nice addition, though controlling Alm/Celica in these dungeons feel stiff and sometimes I'm ambushed by a bandit or a terror due to these poor controls. The music is also amazing, though it easily pales in comparison to Fates OST. A majority of the characters in this game are fairly interesting, though it feels like they either fit the category of offering relevance to the plot (like Lukas, Clive and both protagonists) or exist for the comedic value (like Gray, Tobin, Mae and Boey) Overall I enjoyed Fire Emblem Echoes, though I feel like that the attempts to retain some of Gaiden's unique gameplay mechanics damaged the experience for me. If you're a newcomer to the series, you should stick to Awakening or Fates Birthright version. But you're a veteran to the series, you may want to check this game out when you have a chance.… Expand
  2. MediaFreak
    Jul 27, 2017
    7
    The worst fire emblem title in years.

    I get it, it's a remake of a classic fire emblem so doesn't have all the new stuff, but the game has come along way in 25 years. The graphics look great outside of the actual battles, but the battle themselves look much in need if update, more akin to shadow dragon than any of the more modern titles. Even the art style of the game boy advance    The worst fire emblem title in years.

    I get it, it's a remake of a classic fire emblem so doesn't have all the new stuff, but the game has come along way in 25 years.

    The graphics look great outside of the actual battles, but the battle themselves look much in need if update, more akin to shadow dragon than any of the more modern titles. Even the art style of the game boy advance games was more pleasant than this. All the troops looks sametpy which makes them hard to care about.

    The battles the self are just lacking so more depth that any previous game I've played in the series offers (aka everything that came out in the west). The 3rd person exploration bits are like something about of the persona games, except they feel even clunkier to control and just out of place in a game like this.

    I rushed the 3rd story of fates due to how soon after this game came out (a year isn't long to play essentially 3 fire emblem games) and wish I hadn't, because even the story can't be save this game.

    A huge dip in quality for fire emblem and a game that was probably too faithful to the original. Only for die hard fans and even then you'll probably be dissatisfied.    … Expand
  3. Rtheom
    Jun 14, 2017
    6
    Definitely the weakest game in the series, unfortunately, Echoes is kind of a grind all around. Between poor map design that forces you to spend several turns just moving to combat while heavily funneling you, forcing you to fight with only a couple of characters at once, enemies that infinitely spawn more enemies, the fatigue system that does nothing but drag out already boring battles,Definitely the weakest game in the series, unfortunately, Echoes is kind of a grind all around. Between poor map design that forces you to spend several turns just moving to combat while heavily funneling you, forcing you to fight with only a couple of characters at once, enemies that infinitely spawn more enemies, the fatigue system that does nothing but drag out already boring battles, the lack of the combat triangle to add tactical depth, and the extreme simplification of the item system, you really feel like you're spending A LOT of time putting in work just to advance the story of the game. Fortunately the characters and story are very strong and the only reason I did push though this mostly frustrating grindfest. As others have said, newcomers should stick to Awakening, this is really only good for vets that are already willing to put the time in.… Expand
  4. PlayorNaygames
    Jan 21, 2020
    6
    Don't go into Shadows of Valentia thinking you'll have a standard Fire Emblem experience. There's a lot of odd design choices, some good, some bad. Since this game is a remake, there's also some old-school rough edges that were not touched. Here are the differences:

    -No weapons triangle or durability. Money is used simply for upgrades to existing weapons. Your units can only hold 1 item    Don't go into Shadows of Valentia thinking you'll have a standard Fire Emblem experience. There's a lot of odd design choices, some good, some bad. Since this game is a remake, there's also some old-school rough edges that were not touched. Here are the differences:

    -No weapons triangle or durability. Money is used simply for upgrades to existing weapons. Your units can only hold 1 item and learn skills from that item. When you take off the item you lose access to the skill sadly. The game still has the FE problem of "arts" not being worth using most of the time. This time, Arts and magic cost health to use, so for physical arts especially, they aren't worth the hp cost and loss of a double attack most of the time. There's no UI to easily flip through your skills like in FE: 3 Houses either.
    -Very strange "required" skills to beat levels that the game doesn't tell you you need. There are some enemies that spawn 4-8 enemies every turn and there is a spell that will insta-kill 2-5 of them you can use every turn, for example. You will not know that the spell exists or when you'll get it, leading to frustration if you try to complete a map that requires it without it. There's several other instances of this as well.
    -3rd person dungeons for side quests and loot. I liked this, but there is too many generic battles and combat is too slow. Dungeons are relatively small and you have to revisit them as you get quests to go back.
    -2 different armies that you have to flip back and forth to. I didn't care for building up 2 different armies because you're basically doing the same thing over again. Double the grind for no reason other than to increase the play time they boast on the back of the box. You also have to use an annoying to find NPC to ship items back and forth between armies.
    -Tons of generic, repetitive unavoidable battles. As time passes on the world map, the enemy will send out troops to fight. Also, certain areas will have enemy armies respawn every time you pass by the area. This happens frequently and you'll be going back and forth a lot trying to find new NPCs in the same areas you have visited before.
    -Maps that are poorly designed. Lots of annoying mechanics that waste time and test your patience. From what I have read, they are copy/paste from the original game. I think they could of spent time redesigning the maps to be more interesting. For example, there are quite a few desert maps that will reduce movement significantly and you'll spend 4-5 turns just getting in position. Why? There are many maps that have choke points that highly favor the enemy. Since most of your units won't be 1 shoting enemies, there's a slog to get through the choke point while archers (which have crazy range in this, 5+ squares) rain down on you. It's simply not fun.

    That said, the story is standard JRPG anime fantasy. There is a lot of English Voice acting, which is nice, with a few recognizable voices you may have heard elsewhere. The visuals are better looking than FE Fates for the character models, but the environments, towns, NPCs, ect. are very generic and lack detail. There's a lot of repeated dialog in towns from your party members. Side quests are rudimentary, but quick normally. I find the rewards don't usually equate to the effort to complete some of them.

    Overall, FE: SoV is a good game, but not the one fans deserve. I would recommend this to extreme FE enthusiasts only.    … Expand
  5. Rstiles7
    Jun 7, 2018
    7
    When Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia was first announced, I was really excited, as it meant that I would get to experience a Japan-only Fire Emblem title for the first time. Once the game came out, it did two things for me: it did a good job of showing me why long-time veterans of the series speak so highly of the older titles, but it also perfectly showed off exactly why theWhen Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia was first announced, I was really excited, as it meant that I would get to experience a Japan-only Fire Emblem title for the first time. Once the game came out, it did two things for me: it did a good job of showing me why long-time veterans of the series speak so highly of the older titles, but it also perfectly showed off exactly why the series has evolved and moved on from its beginnings.

    Before I get into this game's major problems, I will first address its strengths, as there definitely are great things about this game. First off, the story is great, and has excellent writing and execution. In addition to the story, the characters are pretty memorable too, with standouts being Alm, Clair, Saber, and Berkut. Both of these elements are a big step up from Fates (though that really isn't saying much). Finally, I have to give the game credit for trying something different and feeling like a unique game as a whole, considering it introduced new mechanics such as dungeon crawling. Other great elements include the soundtrack and the fact that your actions and choices actually have an impact on the story.

    While Echoes may succeed in quite a few departments, it unfortunately has some insanely glaring flaws that cannot be looked past. The gameplay in this game is archaic and boring thanks to the omission of the weapon triangle, AKA the mechanic that makes Fire Emblem the strategy series it is. Now, you might be saying that Fire Emblem Gaiden (the original game) did not have the weapon triangle either, so its a problem, but that is a terrible reason not to include it now considering the whole point of a remake is to make a game feel more modern and advanced. Secondly, the map design in this game is unacceptable, as nearly every map in this game is either an open field that is way larger than it has any reason to be or map that is designed specifically to be biased against the player. Want proof? Look at every single swamp map and the enemy placement within them. Also, the RNG system in this game is broken as hell, and I cannot tell you how many times I had a 90+ hit chance but still missed. I don't mind missing a 90 hit chance every now and then, but when I miss like one or two every map, it becomes a constant issue and annoyance. Other issues include the lack of replay value, thanks to the fact that the game never limits the number of units you can use per map (and using less units in this game does not make the game feel more fun and challenging), the horrible difficulty scaling, and poor excuse for support conversations.

    All and all, I would call Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia a great remake, but not a great game. Because it does a great job of feeling like a unique and modern Fire Emblem title, but lacks severely in many departments. Echoes is a mixed bag, but overall I would call a frustrating gameplay experience but pleasant story experience. If you are a long time fan of the series or strategy RPG's in general, give this game a try, but otherwise, I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone else.    … Expand
  6. HarrySatschel
    Nov 27, 2018
    7
    A good entry in the FE series. There are quite a few changes in the combat system compared to other recent FE entries, most of the changes I enjoyed. I like most of the characters in this one. It helps that the voice acting is quite well done in the English version. I also like the change to 2d cutscenes instead of cgi. Also the character models in this one even have feet.

    Overall the    A good entry in the FE series. There are quite a few changes in the combat system compared to other recent FE entries, most of the changes I enjoyed. I like most of the characters in this one. It helps that the voice acting is quite well done in the English version. I also like the change to 2d cutscenes instead of cgi. Also the character models in this one even have feet.

    Overall the story was quite good, but I have two complaints. First, way too much heavy handed situational irony. Like instead of hinting at an interesting part of the story that might get fully revealed later, they hammer away again and again the same point until it's painfully obvious and even frustrating that the characters haven't realized it yet. Also the unrequited love interests. There are always multiple characters in every FE game who are defined entirely by their obsession with another character.    … Expand
  7. ThePSButton
    Apr 8, 2020
    7
    Los calabozos son un concepto muy interesante, pero no se explota lo suficiente. En general es un Fire Emblem de buena calidad. Lo que más le duele es la ausencia del triángulo de armas.
  8. DigaHole
    Apr 6, 2020
    7
    Felt kinda boring in some parts, due to unnecessary spamming of some opponents, but in the end a pretty good title with loveable characters and the best soundtrack ever in the final boss battle. What a f****** anthem.
  9. Hasancan2001
    Dec 27, 2020
    6
    I started playing this game so that I could work my way up to the last game because I knew that if I played them in reverse order everything would seem old and clunky. So this is my first experience with fire emblem and it gravely disappointed me. I started the game in classic mode to the full experience and was amazed by how well the game pulled you into it's story and immediately madeI started playing this game so that I could work my way up to the last game because I knew that if I played them in reverse order everything would seem old and clunky. So this is my first experience with fire emblem and it gravely disappointed me. I started the game in classic mode to the full experience and was amazed by how well the game pulled you into it's story and immediately made you care about the characters. The story was instantly compelling and dialogues as well as character models were excellent. Every character felt like they were an actual person. I started my first few fights and loved the sharpness of the gameplay despite the lack of enemy variety in the game. I could only manage the health of my characters, the weapons triangle wasn't there (yet). But I kept on playing because the fighting animations were done very well and theydidn't get old quick despite them being repetitive. I hit my first and last wall with the leather shield merc. He felt impossible to get through with all my characters still intact. So I couldn't, after many quit and reloads the best performance I got was killing the guy while only sacrificing Tobin. He had volunteered to join our quest so he could make the money to feed his family. It was sad seeing him go like that, I mourned my loss and moved on to the outpost I had recovered from the enemy. The game broke before my eyes when I entered the dungeons and the game showed a dialogue scene where Tobin -whom just sacrified his life for the quest- was casually chatting with Gray. My actions that were supposed to have so much weight just seemed dismal and the game degraded from a perilous journey of a group of friends where every decision of their leader mattered and had tangible meaning, to a strategy game that lacked depth and repeated itself way too often at the beginning stage. I know it was way too early to judge the fighting system but the lack of weight your decisions have on the story would only get worse and that was for me the main selling point of the game. I can think of many games with much better strategy elements, the perma-death system was the thing that made the game unique and it still does -except for x-com?- but you should know that it has no applications to the story. I will try my luck with other games from the series but so far this franchise has disappointed me.… Expand
  10. klaaz
    Jan 25, 2023
    6
    A remake that feels old because it is afraid to change outdated mechanics from its original version even though they had already been modernized in FE Awakening and Fates.

Awards & Rankings

7
#7 Best 3DS Game of 2017
4
#4 Most Discussed 3DS Game of 2017
2
#2 Most Shared 3DS Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 76 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 67 out of 76
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 76
  3. Negative: 0 out of 76
  1. Riot Pixels
    Aug 25, 2017
    76
    Even though Shadows of Valentia lacks some of the cool ideas from the previous installments in the Fire Emblem series, this tactics game is very addictive. It’s head and shoulders above the dull Fire Emblem: Fates.
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  2. Nintendojo
    Aug 16, 2017
    91
    Fire Emblem has come to be one of Nintendo’s premier franchises, with Shadows of Valentia further cementing the series’ sterling reputation. This is some of the best storytelling and gameplay anyone could hope for on any platform, whether home or portable. Its presentation belies the fact that the game is running on a portable console, and the clever additions to the familiar Fire Emblem formula have yet again breathed new life into a series that has never been stagnant. There are other features waiting to be enjoyed, like the addition of Amiibo that bring new dungeons and fighters, a StreetPass feature, and more. It’s likely that other than Fire Emblem Warriors this will be the last time the franchise appears on 3DS, but it’s going to be a long goodbye—expect to sink many hours into this adventure. Alm and Celica have firmly cemented themselves into the ranks of my favorite Fire Emblem characters, and I hope that when the series transitions to Switch it will be half as entertaining as Shadows of Valentia.
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  3. NZGamer
    Jul 14, 2017
    90
    Fire Emblem Echoes is the second best entry in the new generation of Fire Emblem games, ranking lower than Awakening, but higher than Fates. Tight storytelling, paired with challenging gameplay, makes for a thoroughly enjoyable experience, as accessible to new players as it is inviting to old. Watch out for tantalising-but-expensive DLC, and a bit of a nerf on older consoles. It’ll be hard for the next Fire Emblem to step out from under the Shadows of Valentia.
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