Barracks: Fire Emblem Thread

[CyberHyperPhoenix]

Can we talk about how Linde is frustratingly annoying to beat in FE Heroes?

I barely managed to pull through against THREE of her on Arena today with Spring Camilla and Lilina. They were all 5* and at least level 40 too.

 

[Lord-Zero]

She's considered "top-tier" for a reason. Spring Camilla has colors has color advantage over her and even so, Linde's defenses are crap so using a mounted unit helps too.

 

[Moydow]

I think Linde is one of those characters where you kind of need something specifically capable of beating her. I've been using since I got her, and with Blue Tomebreaker she does reasonably well against Linde... her low Res means she won't be fit to do much afterwards, but she'll at least soften Linde up enough that one hit from any other unit will finish her, if not finish her herself.

She's still one of the few units I find frustrating to deal with, though. The only other units I have much trouble with are Effie, and sometimes Hector. (I really don't think Takumi is as big a problem as people make him out to be. He just dies if anything gets near him.)

 

[Diddy Kong]

Love this franchise honestly, but haven't played Fire Emblem past FE12 honestly. Never owned a 3DS, so Fates and Awakening are unknown territories for me. But I played pretty much all games except for the first 3, still pretty interessted in playing FE3 at the very least, as it's one of Japan's favorite titles in the franchise.

Recently played through the GBA games, and still thinking that FE6 is heavily underrated as a game. It's challenging but extremely rewarding in the end. I think it's my favorite from all the GBA games due to this all. It doesn't have two or more playable Lords, but it does have different routes to choose so in the end, it's still has good replay vallue. Plus, Roy isn't nearly as bad as a Lord and unit as people make him out to be.

Tellius is still my favorite saga overall, but damn, do I dislike how Radiant Dawn felt so rushed... So many characters to flesh out more, and since it's implied that Ike went to move to Archanea after the story ended, I'd like nothing better than to have them port the Tellius saga and give us a sequel.

As for the games I completed:

FE4
FE6
FE7
FE8
FE9
FE10
FE11
FE12

Games I played but never completed:

FE3
FE5

 

[Lord-Zero]

I think Linde is one of those characters where you kind of need something specifically capable of beating her. I've been using since I got her, and with Blue Tomebreaker she does reasonably well against Linde... her low Res means she won't be fit to do much afterwards, but she'll at least soften Linde up enough that one hit from any other unit will finish her, if not finish her herself.

She's still one of the few units I find frustrating to deal with, though. The only other units I have much trouble with are Effie, and sometimes Hector. (I really don't think Takumi is as big a problem as people make him out to be. He just dies if anything gets near him.)

Faye and her Firesweep Bow's ability could help you as well as having Eliwood or Reinhardt to finish the job. "Cav Meme" teams work incredibly well. Nino also works wonders especially after she gets some buffs on which powers up her Gronnblade tome even more. Felicia is also a nice alternative due to her good resistance. F!Robin has been deemed mostly useless while Cecilia is somewhat viable in cav teams after she gets Odin or Nino's tome and even with those, running Nino is a much better alternative. Just hope Celica's banner can help you in the future.

As for other things, the next Grand Hero Battle should be next week and it'll feature Zephiel.

 

[Moydow]

Faye and her Firesweep Bow's ability could help you as well as having Eliwood or Reinhardt to finish the job. "Cav Meme" teams work incredibly well. Nino also works wonders especially after she gets some buffs on which powers up her Gronnblade tome even more. Felicia is also a nice alternative due to her good resistance. F!Robin has been deemed mostly useless while Cecilia is somewhat viable in cav teams after she gets Odin or Nino's tome and even with those, running Nino is a much better alternative. Just hope Celica's banner can help you in the future.

As for other things, the next Grand Hero Battle should be next week and it'll feature Zephiel.

I think people are underrating Robin, personally, since she's been doing good work for me, but that's just me. I've been ranking in the top 30~40,000 or so in the Arena almost every week without putting any real money into the game (the exceptions being during the previous season, where the only bonus unit I had was Lucius), so I guess something is working for me. I do expect that someone like Cecilia will turn out better once I can get some good skills on her, though. I've tried Nino, and while she's good with the right team set up around her to provide her with the buffs she needs, I don't like her fragility that much. I prefer characters who are able to take a few hits, and allow for a more defensive style of play, rather than just pile on offensive skills and go all out on the attack. I think the only other character I have that you mentioned is Felicia, who I've been training up on the side. She seems decent enough; might try her in the Arena at some point and see how she does.

I had one or two goes on the new banner, and just got more 3* Shannas and Selenas to show for it. I don't know if I care enough to try again; I'm mostly saving up orbs to go all out for someone like Sigurd or Ike. Celica's banner might be good too, whenever that comes around.

 

[Lord-Zero]

She isn't used much due to how much more damage the likes of Nino and Cecilia can pull off while Tharja is the definitive red tome mage. Cecilia, Olwen and Ursula in particular also benefit from cav buffs. Hmm, I've never bothered with ranks in the arena. As for Nino's fragility, it comes with her class unless you're Henry. F!Robin and Odin are often looked down upon due to how weak they tend to be with Odin's only good trait is being skill inheritance fodder for his Blárblade tome and the Moonbow skills. Felicia is a pretty good mage killer. Shanna and Selena are good skill inheritance fodder for Desperation and Triangle Adept respectively. As for Ike, good thing I never really cared about him, but the people that go "Ike when" are pretty annoying since they do it with every banner and he's confirmed to pop up late summer but that's for the "Choose Your Legends" variant. No word on vanilla versions of PoR Ike or RD Ike yet.

 

[FalKoopa]

Moydow , I send a Blue Pegasus knight like Catria to deal with Linde.

 

[Moydow]

Moydow , I send a Blue Pegasus knight like Catria to deal with Linde.

I've been using her since like day one, when I summoned her. She's easily one of my favourite units in the game. I think the problem I would have with doing that is that Linde is more likely to be able to double Catria, than vice versa, thanks to Linde's high speed and Speed+3 skill. If Catria has Luna ready to go, then she might win, but a +HP/Def Linde will stop even that. And if you don't kill Linde when you have the chance, she's more than likely going to kill someone on your team on her turn. So in that situation, rather than spend two units' turns getting rid of Linde, I think it's more advantageous for me if I have Robin on my team, since she has Blue Tomebreaker. Then all I have to do is put her on the edge of Linde's range, and Linde will come over and kill herself on the enemy phase, and nobody on my team dies for it. Cecilia would need Blue Tomebreaker or Quick Riposte in order to finish off Linde in one round (which can be done, but I don't have any spares of those skills on hand currently); Nino would probably manage it just with enough buffs.

I think the part that makes her awkward to fight, for me, is where she's placed on the map at the start, since if someone else is in the way, I can't just stick Robin or whoever on the edge of Linde's range without putting them in further danger. If she's easy to isolate and pick off in one go, she's not too bad, really.

 

[Opossum]

Cordelia is my preferred Linde killer, haha.

 

[Tino]

I'm a big fan of this franchise after I played Awakening and since then, I've played 3 others, which were Fates, The Blazing Blade and The Sacred Stones, which I completed just last night. Looking forward to playing Echoes when it comes out next month.

If I had to rank the games I've played from favorite to least favorite, it'd be this:

1. The Blazing Blade
2. Awakening
3. The Sacred Stones
4. Fates

I'm hoping to play Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn one of these days if I ever get the chance.

 

[Lord-Zero]

I've been using her since like day one, when I summoned her. She's easily one of my favourite units in the game. I think the problem I would have with doing that is that Linde is more likely to be able to double Catria, than vice versa, thanks to Linde's high speed and Speed+3 skill. If Catria has Luna ready to go, then she might win, but a +HP/Def Linde will stop even that. And if you don't kill Linde when you have the chance, she's more than likely going to kill someone on your team on her turn. So in that situation, rather than spend two units' turns getting rid of Linde, I think it's more advantageous for me if I have Robin on my team, since she has Blue Tomebreaker. Then all I have to do is put her on the edge of Linde's range, and Linde will come over and kill herself on the enemy phase, and nobody on my team dies for it. Cecilia would need Blue Tomebreaker or Quick Riposte in order to finish off Linde in one round (which can be done, but I don't have any spares of those skills on hand currently); Nino would probably manage it just with enough buffs.

I think the part that makes her awkward to fight, for me, is where she's placed on the map at the start, since if someone else is in the way, I can't just stick Robin or whoever on the edge of Linde's range without putting them in further danger. If she's easy to isolate and pick off in one go, she's not too bad, really.

You should consider adding a dancer to your team. Not only it would solve your issue with Linde by using Catria, the other members would also benefit from free buffs. Olivia has Hone Atk which your Catria would definitely enjoy. Azura and Ninian are rare so Olivia's your best choice since she's free.

 

[Moydow]

You should consider adding a dancer to your team. Not only it would solve your issue with Linde by using Catria, the other members would also benefit from free buffs. Olivia has Hone Atk which your Catria would definitely enjoy. Azura and Ninian are rare so Olivia's your best choice since she's free.

I've been considering that, as well. I'd just need to figure out who to drop from my current team; suppose I could stick Rally/Hone Speed on someone else and swap Olivia in for Eirika, since I'm thinking of replacing her at some point anyway; another option I'm thinking of is running Felicia with the Poison/Smoke Dagger, and maybe swapping Iceberg in instead of Glacies, and using her for all my mage-killing needs. Then throw Cecilia in with Quick Riposte or somesuch, and I should be good.

 

[A Distant Demon]

Well I feel like doing something fun (for me at least) since I recently . . ."finished" fates, How about people post what their favorite track from the game. Preferably no repeats.

Im definitely not just trying to build up my music playlist


And to anyone who hasn't played Fates, just pick another song from the series you really like.


If I had to pick one, it would be the final boss theme.

 

[Moydow]

Hmm... I don't think I can pick just one, so have a bunch of them:

Spoiler

I love the Celtic influence in these two.

(Technically it's not a repeat )

 

[Fire Emblemier]

I have a few favorites as well.

Spoiler

I like the feudal Japan vibe the first track gives and it plays in one of my favorite Conquest maps Chapter 17. Even though it made me despise hidden weapons...
I prefer the softer version of Thorn in you, I like how it reflects the tough pivotal choice you make in the game and that piano part.
This game generally has some of my favorite map themes in all of Fire Emblem and that's nothing to take lightly. The music in Fates in my opinion is its best quality.

 

[Erureido]

Fire Emblem fan here. I've only played Awakening, Heroes, and all three versions of Fates so far, but I will be picking up Echoes when it comes out next month in the US. I also downloaded Sacred Stones and Blazing Sword from the WiiU eShop, and once I have more free time, I'll be playing both games.

Anyway, to get on topic of favorite music... Moydow already beat me to Alight (Storm) and Thorn in You (Roar), my two favorite tracks from Fates, so I'll just share some music I liked from other FE games. Here's a few Awakening tracks that I really liked.

1) Can never go wrong with Destiny (Ablaze).

Spoiler

Really keeps the adventurous battle theme really well.

2) Then there's Divine Decree (Ablaze); love the Opera that plays during it.

Spoiler

3) Both versions of Conquest are fantastic, but nothing soothes me down more than the normal Conquest theme.

Spoiler

I just love how peaceful it sounds. It's always my go-to study song whenever I do homework, work on papers, study for exams, etc.

I've also been listening to some of the Echoes music that has been leaked for some time now, and Echoes is already shaping up to have a phenomenal soundtrack.

Spoiler: Echoes music spoilers

This one may just be one of new favorite boss songs in any video game:

Holy cow, Berkut's 2nd Battle theme is one of the most epic things I've ever heard. The dramatic piano solo at the beginning, the opera that plays throughout it... it really is an intense soundtrack!

I've even watched the battle+the map where it plays, and let me say, I really look forward to playing it and hearing that theme in person!

Then there's the endgame map theme, and goodness, it absolutely blows Id (Purpose) and End of All out of the water!

Really intense yet sounds so heroic. The perfect final map theme indeed!

 

[---]

Finally beat the entirety of Fire Emblem Fates. Definitely not the best the series has to offer, but they're still worth checking out and are by no means bad games. The FE community has grown so large and vocal I honestly don't feel as if I need give an in-depth opinion.

Spoiler: Opinions

9 > 7 > 2/3/8/10/12 > 6/11/13/14C/14R > 14B > 1

FE1 hasn't aged well, but I think most over exaggerate just how much. Haven't played either Jugdral games despite owning both of them, but I think it'd rather go back and replay FE10 or wait for Echoes to come out first.

Though I will ask, why do people think Revelations had such a bad story? To be honest I think I enjoyed it the most of the three versions.

 

[Opossum]

Finally beat the entirety of Fire Emblem Fates. Definitely not the best the series has to offer, but they're still worth checking out and are by no means bad games. The FE community has grown so large and vocal I honestly don't feel as if I need give an in-depth opinion.

Spoiler: Opinions

9 > 7 > 2/3/8/10/12 > 6/11/13/14C/14R > 14B > 1

FE1 hasn't aged well, but I think most over exaggerate just how much. Haven't played either Jugdral games despite owning both of them, but I think it'd rather go back and replay FE10 or wait for Echoes to come out first.

Though I will ask, why do people think Revelations had such a bad story? To be honest I think I enjoyed it the most of the three versions.

Most of what I've heard leads to a dislike for

Spoiler

Anankos. I think Ghast Station had a video that explains the general dislike of Anankos pretty well (I think it was actually his Least Favorite Fire Emblem Characters video). A lot of it had to do with the fact that his mere existence invalidated a lot of things in the other routes.

 

[Erureido]

Though I will ask, why do people think Revelations had such a bad story? To be honest I think I enjoyed it the most of the three versions.

Most of the problems I've read about Revelation's story include:

Spoiler

• The fact Azura tells you, from the get-go, everything about Valla and Anankos and how they created the war between Hoshido and Nohr, rather than gradually learning the answer.
• The Valla curse was a silly plot device that was only there to keep the plot moving and prevent Corrin and Azura from spilling the answer right away.
• Horrible/Almost nonexistent world building in Fates strikes back, only this time, it becomes very apparent once Corrin and the gang start exploring Valla from Chapter 18 onward. We learn very little about Valla, and even I will admit it was one of my biggest grips of this route. How did Valla turn into that destroyed and floating island wasteland it is now? What other history is there to Valla?
• The Anthony arc: It was pretty obvious Anthony was going to betray Corrin, not to mention he did very little. In fact, the Anthony arc could've provided more world-building about Valla where Corrin and the gang might have to follow and/or chase Anthony for a certain reason, and during this chase, we would get to see and learn more about Valla. Considering what it could've been, the Anthony arc we got was wasted potential.
• Corrin being praised for his naivete by Ryoma and Xander in Chapter 21. Pretty much viewed as the epitome of Corrin worship, a major reason why Corrin is a heavily disliked character in the Fire Emblem community. Heck, the entire route feels like Corrin was glorified to the extreme.
• Arete, Mikoto, and Sumeragi's role as villains were very lackluster. They appeared very little during the plot, and while the games tried to make their deaths seem emotional, they really weren't because of how little we know the three, especially Arete.
• The Gunter plot twist in Chapter 26: The shadowed figure in Chapter 18 sounding exactly like Gunter was one big hint, but the ultimate giveaway for Gunter's betrayal was the fact Gunter was the only unit in Revelation that cannot support with anyone. That indicated something big was going to happen to him later on.
• Scarlet's death: you only use her for two chapters, and then the story randomly kills her off. The randomness of her death was similar to how silly Lillith's death was in both Birthright and Conquest.

There might be a few more I'm missing, but those are some of the most commonly raised issues that I could think of off the top of my head.

Most of what I've heard leads to a dislike for

Spoiler

Anankos. I think Ghast Station had a video that explains the general dislike of Anankos pretty well (I think it was actually his Least Favorite Fire Emblem Characters video). A lot of it had to do with the fact that his mere existence invalidated a lot of things in the other routes.

Spoiler

I think you're confusing Ghast with RavenNG. Ghast hasn't made a video talking about his least favorite Fire Emblem characters yet. It was Raven that did that, and I remember Anankos was Raven's least favorite character. Raven's one quote sums it up perfectly: "Anankos did it."

 

[Opossum]

Most of the problems I've read about Revelation's story include:

Spoiler

• The fact Azura tells you everything about Valla and Anankos and how they created the war between Hoshido and Nohr, rather than gradually learning the answer.
• The Valla curse was a silly plot device that was only there to keep the plot moving and prevent Corrin and Azura from spilling the answer right away.
• Horrible/Almost nonexistent world building in Fates strikes back, only this time, it becomes very apparent once Corrin and the gang start exploring Valla from Chapter 18 onward. We learn very little about Valla, and even I will admit it was one of my biggest grips of this route. How did Valla turn into that destroyed and floating island wasteland it is now? What other history is there to Valla?
• The Anthony arc: It was pretty obvious Anthony was going to betray Corrin, not to mention he did very little. In fact, the Anthony arc could've provided more world-building about Valla where Corrin and the gang might have to follow and/or chase Anthony for a certain reason, and during this chase, we would get to see and learn more about Valla.
• Corrin being praised for his naivete by Ryoma and Xander in Chapter 22. Pretty much viewed as the epitome of Corrin worship, a major reason why Corrin is a heavily disliked character in the Fire Emblem community. Heck, the entire route feels like Corrin was glorified to the extreme.
• Arete, Mikoto, and Sumeragi's role as villains were very lackluster. They appeared very little during the plot, and while the games tried to make their deaths seem emotional, they really weren't because of how little we know the three, especially Arete.
• The Gunter plot twist in Chapter 26: The shadowed figure in Chapter 18 sounding exactly like Gunter was one big hint, but the ultimate giveaway for Gunter's betrayal was the fact Gunter was the only unit in Revelation that cannot support with anyone. That indicated something big was going to happen to him later on.
• Scarlet's death: you only use her for two chapters, and then the story randomly kills her off. It's similar to how silly Lillith's death was in both Birthright and Conquest.

There might be a few more I'm missing, but those are some of the most commonly raised issues that I could think of off the top of my head.

Spoiler

I think you're confusing Ghast with RavenNG. Ghast hasn't made a video talking about his least favorite Fire Emblem characters yet. It was Raven that did that, and I remember Anankos was Raven's least favorite character. Raven's one quote sums it up perfectly: "Anankos did it."

Oh yeah, it was Raven. I remembered the quote, but not who said it, haha. Thanks.

 

[Fire Emblemier]

I actually didn't pick up Revelations after hearing the mixed reception from it when the path came out. Also by that point I was finishing up Conquest and switching to Birthright so I didn't feel the need to pick it as I still had plenty of chapters. By the time I was done I moved on to other games that I felt like playing. I think at that time it was games like Doom and Dark Souls 3

 

[Lord-Zero]

--- : Revelations had its moments but it also suffered from the 3-route split. It's meant to be played after clearing both Birthright and Conquest so that's why...

Spoiler: Early Revelations spoiler

...Azura spills the beans regarding Anankos and Valla to Corrin right away. They tried so hard to make Fates' story to be better than Awakening's that it backfired and it actually made Awakening's story feel superior by comparison. Peoples' expectations were too high but Revelations was okay.

 

[Freduardo]

I got a spare chrom and lackesis in fire emblem heroes and I don't know who to give their skills to. Any ideas?

Also anyone know if there will ever be another fire emblem 4 banner?

 

[Opossum]

I got a spare chrom and lackesis in fire emblem heroes and I don't know who to give their skills to. Any ideas?

Also anyone know if there will ever be another fire emblem 4 banner?

I imagine there will be eventually. Sigurd is one of the only three lords left that aren't in the game.

 

[FalKoopa]

One month late to the music party, but here are my few faves from Fates. One thing Fates did excellently was the music and how it is executed. It knows really well how to pump up the player at important points in the story.

(Only ones that haven't been posted already)

Surprised the last one wasn't posted. Though to be honest, there is no track in the game I dislike. That's incredible.

 

[DarkAuraful]

Just for the heck of it, because I'm bound to post here for future reference...

Fire Emblems I've played:

• Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade
• Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword
• Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones
• Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
• Fire Emblem: Awakening
• Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright
• Fire Emblem Fates: Revelations
• Fire Emblem Heroes

And if I had to rank them. First would be most favorite and last is least favorite.
Heroes > Path of Radiance = Binding Blade > Blazing Sword = Awakening > Sacred Stones > Birthright > Revelations.

Pretty excited for Fire Emblem Echoes and Fire Emblem Warriors. My has Fire Emblem become as a successful and premium part of Nintendo.

 

[Fire Emblemier]

I've played
Genealogy (haven't finished yet.)
Binding Blade
Blazing Sword
Sacred Stones
Path of Radiance
Radiant Dawn
Shadow Dragon (never got around to finishing it)
Awakening
Conquest
Birthright
A few rom hacks and fangames

The Tellius games are definitely my favorite overall. Followed by Blazing sword, mostly by the help of hacks making appreciate the engine. I enjoyed Conquest quite a bit too. Stopped caring about the plot as soon as the 2nd half came around, but the chapters were still fun. Sacred Stones was great, but I much prefer 7 as stated. Birthright wasn't bad, but I wish there weren't as many things that trivialize it like Ryoma and Takumi. Awakening is awakening. I loved some things, felt disappointed in others, but that's a discussion for another time.

 

[Lord-Zero]

FalKoopa : A Dark Fall and Alight are great.
As for music contribution...

Garon and his madness.

 

[Erureido]

Well everyone, tomorrow is finally the day. Echoes comes out tomorrow! Anyone else excited? I know I am. Here's some Echoes music to show how I'm feeling:

This kind of track makes your heart pump, and that's the kind of feeling I feel about tomorrow.

Though I'm not sure if I'll manage to beat Echoes in a week though. I just started Sacred Stone and currently on Chapter 11, so if I want to make the most of Echoes these next few days, it seems like I'll need to put aside Sacred Stones for a bit.

 

[A Distant Demon]

Well everyone, tomorrow is finally the day. Echoes comes out tomorrow! Anyone else excited?

I have it preordered, but it probably will come so late in the day I wont be able to play until after work :X

 

[Lord-Zero]

My LE is on its way to me. Hopefully I'll get to play a bit tomorrow since I work later today.

 

[dezeray112]

Fire Emblem games which I have played in order:

1. Fire Emblem (Game Boy Advance)
2. Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones (Game Boy Advance)
3. Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi (Game Boy Advance)
4. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (Wii)
5. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragons (DS)
6. Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)
7. Fire Emblem: Birthright, Conquest and Revelations (3DS)
8. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (3DS)

Currently play Shadows of Valentia and pretty much liking what I've played at the moment.

 

[A Distant Demon]

In FE SoV when does one of the pegasus sisters join?

I want to know whether I should train up clair for a little or to not bother since im replacing her as soon as I get one anyway.
(unless it's a spoiler in which case just dont tell me lol)

 

[Opossum]

In FE SoV when does one of the pegasus sisters join?

I want to know whether I should train up clair for a little or to not bother since im replacing her as soon as I get one anyway.
(unless it's a spoiler in which case just dont tell me lol)

I won't spoil anything too big, but train up Clair. The Whitewings join up with Celica and her group, so Clair is great to have on Alm's side.

 

[A Distant Demon]

Spoiler: extremely minor spoiler

"I shall rip out your treacherous tongue"

Lukas: "then you will finally hold the truth!"

Man this game's writing is great. Love having all these coll cutscenes and voice acting.

 

[Opossum]

Spoiler: extremely minor spoiler

"I shall rip out your treacherous tongue"

Lukas: "then you will finally hold the truth!"

Man this game's writing is great. Love having all these coll cutscenes and voice acting.

One of my favorite lines in the game. I just thought "damn, that's a good one." Lukas leapt pretty high up on my favorites list after that.

 

[A Distant Demon]

Finished act 2.

A few random thoughts

• Voice acting in this game is such a great addition. SO much character added to the . . .characters
• Love all of the text. Gray and Tobin and stuff like that geting so much text along with Alm makes them all great characters
  • Alm is especially great. Easily my favorite lord right now
• Archers having so much range is really cool. It's super fun to just pepper opponents with arrows and make them weaker before someone else finishes them off. Having o much range AND the ability to counterattack at 1 range and having decent defensive capabilities feels like a bit much though
• Dungeons are a really cool addition
• I like the way mages and clerics are handled
• The way the maps are laid out is . . .weird

Spoiler: maps

Maps are basically quantity over quality. Instead of having say . . .20 big fights in a game, it's like 10 small skirmishes per act. The little skirmishes are admittedly cool, but it makes it seem a bit easy when there arent as many threats per fight and then everyone gets healed to full and re positioned. Im not sure how I feel about it yet, but I'm worried there wont be many memorable maps because most are so short

 

[Erureido]

Forgot to mention this earlier, but I finally beat Fire Emblem Echoes this morning.

All of my thoughts below are copy and pasted from the Nintenzone Social, so for those that notice it seems familiar, that's probably why.

Spoiler: Final Boss spoilers

Get out of here Id~Purpose~ and End of All. Twilight of the Gods is my new favorite final map theme in Fire Emblem:

Seriously, THIS is how you compose a final boss track!

What I really loved about this map is that when you first select your units when the battle starts, they each have something to say either to Jedah or Duma, or they talk about how the continent shouldn't be ruled by gods. All of them have a unique way of how they say it, and they really pep you into the battle. My favorite has to be Conrad's: "Duma... O ancient benefactor. Consider this is an act of mercy. A great god is deserving of a great and glorious end." Sounds pretty poetic. Forsyth, Python, Mathilda, Saber, Mae, and Sonya's quotes were awesome too.

My team for this battle: Alm, Celica, Lukas, Forsyth, Python, Mathilda, Delthea, Clair, Clive, Dread Fighter!Gray, Silque, Tatiana, Saber, Mae, Sonya, Dread Fighter!Atlas, Leon, Est, Catria, and Conrad.

The battle was pretty difficult even on Normal Classic, but it was still duable. Lukas, Forsyth, and Clive handled the two Dread Fighters on the left side of the map. Delthea got a KO on the Gold Knight, and then Silque (protected by her Invoke units) warped her away. Clair and most of Celica's units took care of the initial chunk of Moghalls. When it finally came time to take out Jedah, I had to rely on Leon to stall out the curse. Jedah even scored a crit on him at one point to kill him, so I had to use Mila's Turnwheel to reverse that. Once Alms units caught up, Python, Delthea, and even Celica helped in stalling out the Curse. It was Mathilda who ultimately killed Jedah. She was the most reliable in getting the job done.

I didn't have any trouble taking out the two Bow Knights, but it was in the second half of the battle dealing with the Medusa Arcanist, Hestia, and Marla when it got difficult. Conrad died at one point because I accidentally put him in range of Medusa and a Witch followed up with a kill, so Mila's Turnwheel came to the Rescue again. Luckily, he took everything else like a champ. Python and Leon worked together to take out Hestia. When it was time to take out the Medusa!Arcanist, I had Python use his Silver Bow art to cancel the Arcanist's attack so that I could safely follow up with Leon and Est for the kill. The Invoke Dread Fighters eventually killed Marla as well. Tatiana was also very clutch in dealing with the Earthquakes.

That left only Duma. It took a while to take him down. Invoke Dread Fighters and Pegasus Knights, as well as Python, Leon, and Est did most of the damaging. Even Catria tried to lower his HP, but she got KOd in the enemy phase when I expected him to go after one of my Invoke units. Oh well, at least Mila's Turnwheel saved the day. Once his HP was low enough to the point no one could attack him but Alm, I had to heal him with Celica and Silque every turn because he wasn't landing the crit to finish Duma off. After about 3-4 turns, Alm finally got the kill on Duma.

In all, the battle was difficult and got annoying at times, especially when dealing with Duma, but I'd say this is up there for one of my favorite final maps of the FE games played, tied with Revelation's Endgame map.

As for overall thoughts on the game:

Spoiler: Echoes Story Spoilers

Really enjoyed this game overall.

• Story: Definitely a huge improvement from Awakening and Fates. Really great world building, especially when it came to visiting the villages and dungeons. The overall conflict felt like Nohr vs Hoshido done right: both kingdoms have their faults and not necessarily all that they seem. Only issues I can think of in regards to the story is how Celica is treated in Act 4 and 5 (though that's also more of a character complaint as well) and some of the characters mysteriously had X-ray vision with seeing Alm's concealed Brand (such as Berkut in Act 2). There are a few other issues here and there, but I enjoyed it overall.
• Gameplay: It's pretty enjoyable and offers a pretty good challenge, even on Normal Classic. I wish there was more mission variety consider "Rout the Enemy" appears pretty often. I also wished the map design was better in most parts. Many of the maps were mainly big, open plains. I'd say even Birthright, while it too suffered from lack of mission variety, had better map design since big, open fields weren't that common. Granted, it is a remake of an NES game, so I can understand why Echoes was like that. The dungeon exploring was also pretty good too, even suspenseful at times in the case of the final dungeon.
• Music: Fantastic overall. Berkut's second battle theme, King Rudolph's theme, and the final map theme are among my favorites thus far.
• Characters: Awesome voice-acting. I love how all character lines are voiced now, and I hope this returns in future installments. The cast is very enjoyable as well. There are very few characters that I dislike this time around. The only characters that I did not like at all were Faye and Fernand. My top three favorite characters in Echoes would definitely go to Python, Forsyth, and Conrad. I see myself in both Python and Forsyth's personalities, and I love the dynamic the two have. Conrad was a pretty cool character too with a great backstory and an interesting personality that varied depending on whether or not he wears the mask (both badass and dorky at the same time). Other favorites of mine include Mathilda, Gray, Tobin, Lukas, Clive, Clair, Saber, Boey, Mae, Leon, Atlas, Sonya. I'd say Alm is up there for one of my favorite lords in the series alongside Chrom (Corrin is pretty low, while I'm currently indifferent to Eirika and Ephraim; I'll need to advance further into Sacred Stones to gain a better opinion on them)

My best units on Alm's army were Forsyth, Python, Mathilda, Lukas, Clair, Tobin, Gray, Kliff, and Delthea (she is devastating with a Mage Ring). While Clive started out lackluster, mine ended up being surprisingly good later in the game, though part of the reason could be that I invested all of the speed fountain points in that one dungeon for him, and combined with a few lucky level ups, he even had higher speed than Mathilda. Honestly, pretty much all of Alm's units never let me down.

On Celica's army, my best units were Saber (definitely the best Dread Fighter), Dread Fighter!Atlas, Mae, Boey, Leon, Kamui, Jesse, Est, Catria, Sonya, and Conrad. Dread Fighter!Atlas hits like a truck and was even capable of withstanding hits. Boey was surprisingly fast in my playthrough with pretty good speed. Conrad was a pretty good Cavalier from my experience. I grinded him up in the Treescape so that he would promote before tackling the second to last map before Duma Tower, and he was very reliable in the following battles, especially in the Duma Tower dungeon. I'd say my Conrad was only outclassed by Mathilda in the Cavalier department.

In all, this was quite a fun game. I'll need to finish Sacred Stones first to see which one I like more, but I will say that I enjoy both games much more than Awakening and the three versions of Fates. I'll try to tackle the post-game dungeon now, though I fear I won't be able to beat it because of how hard it is.

 

[Tino]

I'm really enjoying Fire Emblem Echoes so far. I've put in like 20 hours into the game and I'm just now finishing up Act 3. I plan to finish Alm's part first before moving on to finish Celica's part.

I really like this whole dungeon exploration thing and character dialogues now fully voiced (they should've done this in Awakening and Fates). Archers having so much range in this game is pretty cool too. However, I don't like how mages and clerics have to give up some of their HP just to use their magic, even if it's only just one.