Anywho, a few days ago I said I'd post my thoughts on Shadow Dragon after FINALLY completing it after a slew of technical issues on my end. With that, here we go. Review/Impressions time.
Among the localized Fire Emblem titles, Shadow Dragon is the one that most often seems lost in the shuffle, even more so than the Tellius duology at times. The reasons for this are honestly numerous, whether it was from its lack of marketing, its controversial sprite style, or the backlash that the gaiden chapters received. However, despite all of that, I genuinely enjoyed my time with Shadow Dragon. It has its share of flaws like any other Fire Emblem game, but at the end of the day, its wonderful writing, careful world building, fantastic music, and interesting map design make it stand out as a sorely under-appreciated entry in the Fire Emblem franchise.
Let's start with the story itself. Honestly, the base plot is pretty typical of Fire Emblem, which makes sense given this is a remake of the first game in the series. Marth's kingdom, Altea, was overtaken by the kingdom of Gra after the latter's forces back-stabbed Marth's father, King Cornelius, killing him on the battlefield. After Gra's army forces Marth and his knights to flee, they sail to the island kingdom of Talys to train. Years later, Marth and his forces set out to take back Altea, and to stop Medeus, the Shadow Dragon. Like I said, the plot itself is standard Fire Emblem fare. The writing quality, however, is where the game shines, making its standard plot have incredible execution.
The Fire Emblem franchise is notable among Nintendo franchises for being incredibly character-driven, more so than gameplay-driven. Not that the gameplay isn't good, mind you, but the series is known for having a rich cast of characters to make the permadeath feel more poignant. With Shadow Dragon's massive cast, this is...sadly a mixed bag. On one hand, playable characters like Marth, Caeda, Merric, Ogma, Minerva, Tiki, and Cain are all very well-written, as well as certain NPCs like Nyna, Camus, and Michalis.
On the other hand, however, you have...the greater portion of Shadow Dragon's cast. Folks like Darros, Castor, Wolf, and Radd get maybe one line upon recruitment, while folks like Bord, Cord, Barst, and Tomas pretty much only get a death quote. That being said, at the very least no characters are outright poorly written or feel like they don't belong. Part of this, of course, is due to Intelligent Systems not wanting to stray too far from the original, which I can understand.
Marth in particular is, in my opinion, one of the series's best lords when it comes to the quality of writing. His struggles throughout the game are believable, and his growth following certain key events is palpable. Of note is the scene that takes place after liberating Altea Castle. Marth finds out that despite his efforts, his mother was killed in his absence and his sister Elice was taken by the mad sorcerer Gharnef. And yet, he recognizes that to his people, this is likely the happiest day of their lives.
"I am a prince before I am a son or brother."
Marth realizes that he owes his people at least one day of celebration, now that the threat of Gra has been lifted. And in spite of his own overwhelming grief, he puts on a strong facade to give hope to his people, as it is his duty as their prince. There are many great moments like this in the game with Caeda, Merric, Nyna, and Minerva in particular, but going through all of them would drag this on way too long.
As for the gameplay, I definitely enjoyed it. Anyone who says the game is a direct port of the original frankly doesn't know what they're talking about. Class changing wasn't in the original, a handful of classes in general were added (including Myrmidon, Swordmaster, Sage, Falcon Knight, Warrior, Sorcerer, and General, to name a few, none of which were in the original), the UI is much more user friendly, Caeda gets the Wing Spear as a PRF weapon while Minerva gets Hautclere, the weapon triangle was added, and healers get experience for healing now. That isn't even an exhaustive list, either. All but the last map are Seize maps, notably, so if mission variety is something you enjoy, that may be a bit of a sore spot. As for me, given my fondness for Awakening and Shadows of Valentia, map mission variety is apparently something I couldn't care less about.
One point of contention the game often receives is the Gaiden Chapter system. Basically, these are chapters you only obtain if you have less than fifteen units alive. Some see this as an incentive to kill off your allies, but I see it differently. This is meant to be a comeback mechanic. The original very much had the Iron Man playstyle (wherein you continue onward if a unit dies no matter what) in mind, hence the exorbitant amount of units, and this was following a similar philosophy. You can very easily complete the game and have a fulfilling experience without needing to play the extra chapters. They existed solely as a precursor to Casual Mode, honestly. That being said, it'd be disingenuous if I didn't at least bring them up.
Likewise, another thing that many people have against Shadow Dragon is the sprite style, calling the portraits washed out and the in-battle sprites ugly. Yes, the battle sprites are reminiscent of the classic DS pseudo-3D, but the only time it looked outright bad, in my opinion, was Medeus's transformation. The portrait style I actually thought was a nice stylistic choice. As well, the pre- and post-chapter art is gorgeous, in my opinion.
Also, the music is phenomenal, which is only natural for the series. The only comment that I have is that
the beginning of Proud Commander sounds, hilariously, like the start of an Epic Rap Battles of History video. That's not a complaint, mind you.
For those wondering, my fielded team for the final battle against Medeus consisted of Marth (with Falchion), Caeda (with Wing Spear), Merric (with Excalibur), Minerva (with Hautclere), Tiki (with Divinestone), Ogma (with Mercurius), Draug (with Gradivus), Jeorge (with Parthia), Cain (no prf lol sorry Cain), Barst (likewise, sorry Barst, but you had the Hammer at least), Lena, and Gotoh. I'd been using Hardin and Wrys too, but I just wasn't dealing with the top right corner so I benched them for the final map.
I lost two people because I was an idiot though. I used a mid-map save point on the Wooden Cavalry map after thinking that Astram wouldn't attack Midia and instead recruit himself...only for him to one shot Midia with a 100% hit rate...after I saved. And then I had to kill Astram since I couldn't recruit him.
And then the thief stole the Aum staff in the penultimate level. Sorry Midia.
Over all though, I really enjoyed Shadow Dragon. It isn't flawless, but it also isn't the total train wreck some paint it as. Far from it, really. I'd give it an 8.4/10 honestly. Incredibly solid, and hey, if nothing else, you get to play through the remake of Marth's first game.
. I thought being selfless is a good trait to have. I thought you guys like likes, right?
