Schooled by Old-School Combat

You might say it’s to die for…

I’m one of those people who fell in love with the Fire Emblem series through Fire Emblem Awakening…despite being comically horrible at strategy games at the time. Despite this, I managed to complete Fire Emblem Awakening and then enjoyed a somewhat intense training (lit. ego eviscerating) period with the Nohrian royal family. So when I was assigned to Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia as the product marketing lead—which is essentially the game expert who juggles communication between Japan, localization, and other teams while supporting global efforts to promote the game—I felt that my body was ready. While my ego may not have survived the experience, it’s definitely helped make me dig deep into the combat.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is a reimagining of Fire Emblem Gaiden with gameplay and combat that remain true to those classic roots. It has the bones of Fire Emblem Gaiden at its core and all the dungeon crawling cream-center goodness that made its predecessor stand out from other games in the franchise.

Fire Emblem Gaiden released in 1992 on Famicom. The early 90’s-vibe is strong.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia offers a classic gameplay experience with the modern fan in mind. But since Gaiden was never released in the West, or in English, the ways in which this game stays true to its roots while creating its own identity might not be immediately obvious. So let’s dig into how this game compares to its inspiration and modern offerings in the franchise, specifically in terms of combat?

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is not like Fire Emblem Awakening or Fire Emblem Fates and really stands apart from all the other offerings in the franchise. Its combat system is back to the brutal basics, with no space pairing and no weapons triangle; rather, it favors a classic (i.e. merciless) battle style mixed with modern UI.

Old-school combat with a modern look and interface.

In this case, “back to the basics” doesn’t mean easy, and the game will not babysit you. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia has its own system of strategic checks and balances, and you’ll need to learn how to use them to your advantage, because your enemies certainly will! I had to learn very quickly just how deep and challenging (cough…sadistic…cough) grid-based combat can get. We already covered a few of these mechanics in the Two Armies trailer, so from this point I’ll dive more into combat details we didn’t cover yet.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia has you controlling two separate armies in parallel.

Well, at least it’s not a selfie.

Each one has a unique makeup of classes and characters, and understanding the individual strengths and weaknesses often means the difference between victory and a grave mistake.

Classes work slightly differently from how they did in some of the more recent games, too. There are no “seals” in this game; instead, you head to one of the Mila Idols found in key places or within dungeons to change to the next class.

Here I thought a goddess couldn’t get any more statuesque…yet here we are.

With the exception of Villagers, who can choose from four initial path options, characters can only progress along the line of promotion that’s permitted by their initial class.

This actually made the game that much more challenging for me, since there were only so many of each character class type. And a few characters definitely surprised me: a late-game recruit who I thought would be a glass cannon ended up being the best mage in both armies, and my favorite flamboyant Archer character ended up as a crit machine… You get the idea.

Concept art with class.

Character relationships are still in the game, but I was somewhat relieved to find that it has no marriage or children. While I’ve enjoyed getting the most bang for my buck with these mechanics, not having them actually upped the challenge and tension during battle for me. Even with two different armies, my forces weren’t unlimited! Not being able to breed replacements made me that much more careful with my battle tactics.

Speaking of character relationships, the support conversations are a crack up and give additional insight into the characters.

Plus some great one-liners too.

Support conversations only happen during battle, and as long as you position yourself within an attacking distance from an enemy (or healing distance from an ally), these conversations won’t eat a character’s turn. The near-full voicing of the game (about 90-95% of the game, from what I can tell) came as a pleasant surprise. The main story, support conversations, and even random NPCs in town are all fully voiced, and this made the story and cast of characters feel more relatable for me. The cinematics in the game (by Hideki Anno’s Studio khara) are also fully voiced and gorgeously animated.

So pretty…and fully voiced!

You can use your imagination for the obligatory joke about playing with sharp objects.

If you’re curious how this game handles abilities, that’s where Combat Arts come into play. In a nutshell, equipping certain items long-term allows characters to learn special abilities that they can use in battle (though the characters won’t be able to use these specific Arts while the items are unequipped). And unlike some of the other Fire Emblem games, your equipment in this game won’t break from extended use.

The Arts themselves vary from HP recovery effects (like getting damage you inflict back as HP), magic-resistance and magic-damage boosts, powerful attacks, and even the ability to prevent enemies from counterattacking. Equipment types tend to give similar Arts, but you may find a few that will surprise you. I spent some time testing who worked best with which Arts, but admittedly, it’s probably a task for smarter, more patient fans out there. However, I’d recommend using Arts strategically rather than just spamming them to see what they do - even if it IS fun in its own right, some of the Arts cost HP to use.

It wasn’t until well into my first playthrough that I remembered (more accurately, “rediscovered”) a mechanic called Mila’s Turnwheel.

Seen here on the lower screen, and which could be a metagame for those looking for a serious headache… I mean challenge.

Mistakes happen, and this game is particularly unforgiving of them, but the Turnwheel lets you roll back time to a previous turn so that you can try to correct your mistakes. It’s got a limited number of uses per battle, and these uses are restored once the map’s been cleared. It’s a pretty nifty mechanic. The Turnwheel can help you get a handle on the deeper tactics of a battle, while acting as a bit of a safety net for players who are not as steeped in turn-based strategy. I wish I had remembered Mila’s Turnwheel during my three-day headdesk campaign against the witch near Fear Mountain.

The swear jar got a lot of use.

So that’s a closer look at the combat mechanics in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. Think your tactics can stand up to the challenges of classic combat?

—Lindsey N.