I’m kind of cheating with this one. I bought it as a reward for getting my backlog down to fewer than 50 games, and also as one last expensive treat before I go to see Mimorin perform in California (!). It never really went onto my backlog as I started playing it immediately, and I’ve certainly given it more than one hour, but I figured I’d write something about it anyway.
I’m a big fan of the series, my favourite being FE7 which was the first title released in the west. Echoes is a remake of the second Fire Emblem game, released way back in the NES days… and it feels like it, in a lot of ways.
The series was still in its infancy back then and there were a lot of decisions made that didn’t quite pan out right. This is understandable in a Famicom title, but the series has come a long way since then, and the faithfulness Echoes shows to its ancestor is pretty jarring. Unbreakable weapons, archers who have a range spanning 5+ tiles, magic is free, no unit ever has magic resistance, enemies who can summon more enemies (again, basically free) every turn so you can’t get close… there’s a lot of wonky stuff on display and I wonder if more should have been done to modernise it.
I’m still having a fun time- it’s still FE at the end of the day and I’m thoroughly hooked. The characters are largely a fun bunch (although for the love of crikey, Mae, please STOP TALKING) and I’ve completely fallen in love with Clair.
Fin or Bin:
I’ve already played more than an hour which automatically puts it in the Finish camp, but I do intend to complete this one. It’s ccurrently my least favourite FE and I don’t know if I’d play it again once I’m done with it though.
Recommended to:
If you’ve never played Fire Emblem, get Awakening first. If you’ve played all the others, you’ll like this one.
