Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valentia (Gaiden Remake)

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valentia (Gaiden Remake)

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

theshim posted:

This is a very weird game, and I love it.

Also it needs constant repeating, but the voicework in this game is top-notch.

Indeed. Admittedly, we'll have to wait a bit before we get to some of the very good voice work since we're in the tutorial sections, but once the game gets going, the performances do not let the player down. Hell, even the DLC content has great voice acting, especially from the Cipher characters, since SoV is literally the first proper western debuts for all 4 characters.

# ¿ Jun 3, 2018 04:45

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 10:38

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

I'm kind of surprised that they went out of their way to make a dismounted Mycen model just for one cutscene. Then again, Fates had a special Leo model with his collar inside out that was also only used for one cutscene, so I guess that's just a thing IntSys likes to do nowadays.

And since voice actors are now properly arriving, Lukas is voiced by Greg Chun, who has taken over the role of Ike with Fire Emblem Heroes. And he is also great at making cheesecake, too.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2018 05:47

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

EclecticTastes posted:

That's what everyone thought about Shadow Dragon and Marth, which sold fewer copies than either of the GBA titles to get released internationally. New Mystery sold so poorly in Japan that it wasn't even translated. I mean, it's more likely they'll repeat that mistake than do FE4, but the most likely remake is probably Sacred Stones, since it's already pretty close to the formula that's making them lots of money.

Shadow Dragon and New Mystery have the added downside of very ugly looking graphics and being 100% true to the original games. Shadow of Valentia goes for a balancing act, retaining the old mechanics while adding in new content to freshen things up, ranging from new characters to DLC content that actually does add to the story of the game.

Plus, like Tae said, Fire Emblem has now gone from one-foot-in-the-grave (around the time of Shadow Dragon's release) to one of Nintendo's top A-listers (around the time of SoV's release). Nintendo actually is putting its full force behind the franchise as opposed to letting it flounder on external hype/second-hand marketing like Smash Bros. to move products. So, if they remade either Genealogy or Binding Blade, there would be a substantial marketing campaign behind it now. Couple that with both Sigurd* and Roy's popularity, and the only way those games would be bad is if the developers deliberately tanked in order to piss people off.

*=Genealogy held the title of most units sold prior to Awakening, plus Sigurd's addition to Heroes resulted in a massive spike in downloads of the game.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2018 01:17

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Rigged Death Trap posted:

FE made its faustian deal with anime and mobile games satan and they came through for once.

Much to my constant groaning and bellyaching about where the series is heading story and style wise.

Indeed. If you want to see what that deal has resulted in, look no further than Reinhardt, who went from a minor(ish) recurring antagonist in Thracia 776 into one of Heroes' most devastating units to face. Heroes has skyrocketed him to fame that probably no other characters in the series (barring the already popular/well-known ones) have ever experienced. And all due to the fact that he can run a train through almost the entire cast (as of this posting) with little effort and some small investments.

Watching Reinhardt get punched in the face by my dedicated counters to him is still satisfying, though. One of them is even from this game, no less.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2018 02:02

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

EclecticTastes posted:

Kliff: In Gaiden, this guy was a god compared to most units. His HP, Skill, Speed, and Defense growths were excellent, and while his Attack lagged, he was a low-level Villager, so he had tons of time to make up the difference, and he was still stronger than Tobin. Echoes corrects this mainly by bringing the rest of the cast up to his level, but he also eats one of the few nerfs of the game, getting his HP growth slashed from a whopping 50 down to 35, though his Attack, Skill, and Speed went up a bit (he's the fastest person from Ram Village). It's also worth noting that in Echoes, he and Faye are the only ones with a useful amount of base Resistance, Kliff having a respectable 8 and Faye having a more moderate 6.

Kliff has another unique thing going for him: he is the only male mage to learn 6 spells in the entire game, and can gain a 7th spell with a DLC overclass. All other male mages cap out at 5 or less spells (6 or less with the aforementioned DLC). Again, the game really, really wants you to make Kliff into Alm's first mage, all but outright having Kliff say "Hey, I'm good with magic. Let me be a mage." to the player.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2018 05:15

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

One thing I like about Alm is that he has a unique trait that sets him apart from the other Lords/main characters in the franchise: he's left-handed. A lot of the protagonists in Fire Emblem really do blur together after a while in terms of personality, so having a lead that employs something to stand out from the crowd outside of a different attitude or different hair color is a refreshing change.

# ¿ Jun 8, 2018 04:35

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

ApplesandOranges posted:

Marisa is ambidextrous but naturally left-dominant.

True, but her in-game sprite still holds her sword in her right hand. Only Marisa's special skill activation artwork reflects her trait of using her left hand when she, to paraphrase Marisa herself, "gets serious when fighting". Alm's in-game sprite, however, does hold his sword in his left hand like he does in SoV.

# ¿ Jun 9, 2018 05:32

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

A fun little tidbit about Ram Wine: it sells for 25 silver marks, which is a lot compared to the other food items you come across.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2018 05:02

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

EclecticTastes posted:

Too many people use lances in Echoes already, adding more just ends up rendering even more of them useless.

Come to think of it, that's a pretty common issue in older Fire Emblems, too many drat lance-users.

Not to mention that Alm's party has a lot of lance users (Lukas + 5 more people we'll eventually recruit) to juggle around. Admittedly, Celica also gets 5 lance-locked users on her route as well, plus potentially four other people who can take up lances (one Villager + three Mercs who can abuse the Dread Fighter loop). And then two of the DLC Cipher characters use lances, just to make things worse.

Anyhew, onto the vote:
Gray: Mercenary
Tobin: Archer
Kliff: Mage
Faye: Cleric

# ¿ Jun 20, 2018 04:29

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Clair may struggle with attack power, but that speed stat pairs wonderfully with a special lance (Rhomphaia) due to one of its combat arts running off the speed stat. At the same time, Alexis Tipton delivers a wonderful performance as Clair, even at times she slips into a "For some unknown reason, the ADR director wants me to imitate Melissa Fahn's performance as Maribelle from Awakening, right down to sounding exactly like Fahn" manner of speech and vocal inflection.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2018 02:44

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

BlazetheInferno posted:

Echoes physical classes work on three tiers, villager aside. Lukas is a Knight now.

Soldier->Knight->General
Mercenary->Myrmidon->Dread Fighter

Etc.

The third tier for the Soldier line in this game is the Baron class. Note that this is different from the FE4 version of the class, in that Barons are lance-locked (as opposed to learning every weapon in the game barring dark magic like in FE4), but sport insanely high defense. And we're going to see just how annoying a Baron can be to fight even if you're prepared once we reach the end of Act I.

# ¿ Jul 2, 2018 02:23

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Fernand's outburst is a split moment for me. On one hand, yes he's got a point in calling out Clive for immediately handing over the keys to the car to Alm upon meeting him. But on the other hand, if Fernand is worried Alm might lead them in a direction he doesn't like, why not stay around and advise Alm to be a leader? It's clear that Clive is mentally checking out (not helped by his fiancee being held captive by Desaix, something Fernand certainly knows about), so if Fernand is worried about Alm not satisfying everyone, he's an idiot for not staying around because the thing Alm needs right now are veteran advisors (i.e., people like Fernand) to help him out. But alas, it seems prejudice is stronger that logic, so Fernand has to leave.

Also, in playing around with my own game files, I found out that you can use the control stick to move the camera around (somewhat) while the level up screen is displayed. I did not know that was even a thing in this game.

# ¿ Jul 18, 2018 05:36

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

"Fernand, allow me to introduce Haar. He's a Wyvern Lord from Daein and yes a wyvern is sorta kinda a dragon and sorta kinda not. It's weird, but...yes, that is indeed Haar snoring. Yes, he can still function as a flying tank. No, I do not know how he is able to hold chokepoints while fast asleep, Haar just does that. Trust me, he has not let us down yet."

# ¿ Jul 19, 2018 02:07

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 10:38

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Hunt11 posted:

The Awakening cast in general would probably cause Fernand to start foaming at the mouth.

If that results in a chance for Henry to troll the poo poo out of Fernand with bad puns, I will gladly accept this outcome.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2018 02:56

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