I really liked Berkut. His voice actor deserves an award for his performance and his descent into madness is really interesting

This game definitely has the best art direction imo

Regarding Mila's Turnwheel, it really helps out with instances of mis-clicks, the enemy getting that 1% Crit kill on your unit, or your unit missing a 90-95% or two. It's not just a safety net for mistakes, but also for BS.

I was surprised that Berkut and Fernand were "forgettable" to you. Berkut was easily a well-known and favorited added character who had a great arc. Fernand can be forgotten if you didnt know his backstory about his family and commoners. For Conrad, I dont really mind him or his involvement in the story. Out of the new characters, I would say Faye is kinda my least favorite because her dialogues mostly consist of her feelings of Alm. However, I started to feel neutral about her because her personality is actually really protective and caring for her friends.

Berkut is easily, not even close, the best character in the game. Fucking insanely good voice acting from him too.

Something I love about this game is the completion reward. The title screen welcomes you with Alm and Celica as innocent children running, enjoying peace and after completion, they take a stroll as a couple, advancing towards their future... This always touches my heart like only another game has managed, and from IS too! ... No, not fe16's...

24:05 minor correction, Rinea is NOT a commoner, she is a minor noble

I was getting nervous you weren’t gonna really praise the presentation of this game which blows other games out of the park by A LOT. The cast for me was also really something I thoroughly enjoyed Berkut and Faye included. In the end what truly stands out for me here is the writing, the art and the music; gameplay wise I will always return to something like fates did but I still enjoyed it in SoV

I think Conrad is really the weakest link of the new characters. Fernand and even Berkut you'd be forgiven for not knowing they were additions to the remake, if you started with Echoes, but Conrad just has the same aura as someone like Marie from Persona 4 - they drop in during what are very clearly new scenes meant to include them throughout the story. It really doesn't help that Conrad steals away a lot of Celica's agency as a character. I love the concept that Conrad gives Zeke his mask though. It's an addition to the lore so pointless I just find it hilarious instead.

Wow, this game is old enough to have a Retrospective....Times fly huh?

Post battle mourn quotes are amazing. They also need to add mid battle mourn quotes

I was absolutely on pins and needles waiting for this video. Echoes is personally my favorite FE game and one who's story probably affected me the most. I remember playing it while I was quarantined at my university. I had watched let's plays and listened to the music for years but holding it in my hands was a totally unique experience. I think for me, the standout element of Echoes is it's music. It touches my very soul. Thank you for enjoying it as much as I have and giving it space to shine. I hope you liked three houses too, and I am really interested to see your unique experience with it.

I really like Berkut, even as someone who had played (albeit not beaten) Gaiden beforehand. It's partly an appreciation for the aesthetics of he and Rinea's final forms, but I have a personal preference for characters that really effectively serve the themes of the story regardless of how consequential they might be to the overall outline of the plot. Though, being more honest I just have a strong affinity for characters that are Toxic Relationships Personified and it'd be ridiculous to expect everyone to share that particular quirk of taste lmao. I do expect everyone to at least appreciate the Top 10 Videogame Dub, if not Videogame Period, Voice Performance that came with the characte.r

This game was a beauty! The art, the music, the voice acting... it has a special place in my heart. I expect the Three Houses retrospective to be insanely beefy.

Grinding in echoes gets weird. The falloff in xp you get is really substantial which makes grinding relatively unproductive, but your levels also really don't give you much. When most characters will get maybe two stat ups per level, the grind does not feel great unless you're getting new classes. The difficulty is also just unusual unusual an FE game. It's more focused on a war of attrition. If your line can hold, you will eventually win. This is most obvious in some of celicas maps where you will take inch by inch tanking everything with Saber.

This game will always hold such a special place in my heart, such amazing presentation and a wonderful story with relatable characters.

I think you're absolutely right on the Echoes OCs. The voice acting performance might be good, especially by Berkut's VA, but their writing is not this game's strong point.

i agree with everything save for the part that has to do with berkut. i think he also acts as a wonderful foil and stark contrast for alm, which helps add more layer to alm as a character. not to mention, his voice acting is stellar. anyway this is a beautiful video and i’m just glad to see new fe echoes content every time i see one here on youtube.

Thank you so much for this series Shane. Although this series is long, it is one of my favourite on KZfaq.

I've just stumbled upon this channel today and have watched several of the videos in this series, your content is lovely and I can't wait to see the next installment.

This is amazing Shane! So this is why it took a while to post. The video is actually really amazing

Echoes is a truly beautiful game. The presentation is really something else

Great Video! I always enjoy watching these!!

Fantastic video! Glad to see these are back. The 3H video must've been a doozy.

Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinions but saying Ferdinand and Berkut are forgettable is wild, they are the two most interesting villains for most of the game until Rudolph is properly introduced. Conrad makes sense though cause he’s super whatever lol

Really like this game, best presentation in the series

My absolute favorite Fire Emblem game. Thank you for this incredible video

Man, I thought you stopped doing this reviews~ Glad to see new videos again!

I loved your examination of the TurnWheel. I think that’s a very wise way of looking at how it affects gameplay.

The voice acting for this game is incredible! They all fit and help set the tone of the world, and their voice delivery makes their characters so believable and fully realized despite pretty minimal dialogue

Finally the next retrospective! :) For me, SoV was my first exposure to the Gaiden world and characters, as I didn't emulate the original. I think the presentation is stellar, with a beautiful artstyle and bringing the barren NES characters to a new interpretation. And since I didn't play Gaiden, a lot of things were "strange" - magic draining HP? monster dungeons? It's all an interesting ride. I think one of my favorite bits behind the development is Nakanishi (the director) playing Fire Emblem with his dad when he was younger, including Gaiden. It gives the project an emotional side that one might not gleam from Fates, what with it three versions and trying-to-succeede Awakening. Granted not all Gaiden players like SoV, but I think it partly explains why (initially) people were so receptive.

This was my first fire emblem game that I played and I don't regret a thing

This was the 1st game I played legitimately (I've played other installments through emulation) and I was so stoked when I booted up the game. It's such a fun experience begging to end, the voice acting, soundtrack, the sometimes jank gameplay. I wish I could be as excited as I was back in then....maybe once a Fire Emblem 4 remake is announced

I am right at the end of an Echoes playthrough, and I must say I have fallen in love with this game like never before.

Watching this makes me want to replay this game. Loved it

Amazing analysis on Echoes, it was definitely worth the wait.

LETSGO, I’ve been waiting for this

I love how I beat Fates last night, watched your video on it, decided I want to play Echoes next, and then your video came out. Definitely gotta watch after I play it.

YAAAA i’ve been waiting for this for so long holy shit

Ever since you did a retrospective on Gaiden, I had been waiting for the day you would finally review SoV, and I knew it would be a unique video since you were playing each game in chronological order.

Been waiting for this like Christmas

Really liked your praise towards this game and the respect you had for Gaiden while criticizing its flaws

I love it it’s such a simple story with the fantasy aspect but I love for its simplicity

Been waiting for this!

Wow, I finally got around to the Fates retrospective after it had been on my watch list for so long, wondered if one had been made for Echoes, saw that it had, and then only at the end see that it was barely uploaded today. Serendipitous timing

Great work. Echoes is my favorite of the series, even though I think Gaiden is a better game in many ways. You went over the most noticeable changes from Gaiden, but there were a large amount of less noticeable mechanical changes that change the experience quite a bit. Growths were changed, stat bases were tweaked for certain characters and classes, class growths were added, spell lists were changed, Falcon knight terror effectiveness was nerfed, the RNG system from Fates was used rather than the 1RN of the original or 2RN of the other remakes... it certainly feels and looks like a faithful remake on the surface, but underneath it's a very different game. That's not a problem, of course. It mostly means that everyone should play both games. But I just think it's important to note that "faithful" does not always mean what you think.

I first played Echoes around the same time you started this series and I absolutely fell in love with it. So I've been looking forward to this for years.

so excited to see this!

I have greatly appreciated the introduction of the Turnwheel / Divine Pulse sort of thing. I always play Hard/Classic and refuse to allow deaths. I know a few videos ago you said doing Classic Mode resetting on deaths isn't the intent of the game, but that's how I enjoy it. And it's exactly as you say in this video, the ability to turn back turns is just saving me time instead of resetting an entire level.

THIS IS WHAT WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is easily my favorite in the series and quite possibly a top 10 favorite game of all time. I was absolutely blown away by the quality on every front, the story and characters, soundtrack, etc. Great retrospective! Thorough, informative, and entertaining.

Loved the gameplay analysis sections. I think your point about strategies being the same boing part is definitely true.

Wow just when I was just watching this series, this was uploaded

Great video 👍🏽

I loved this game and reliving it through this vid

Fantastic game. With a glorious OST. One of my favorites of FE and 3DS.

This is my favorite game in the series.

This game is one of my favorite in the series for one major reason... the animations, more specifically, the battle animations. They are easily the best the series had to offer (so far) with battles that actually feel like a battle. For example, when a unit dodges a attack, they immediately follow through with a counter attack.

The music that was played at the 11 to 12 minute mark. I know of that music, the Fire Emblem music CD that has rearranged music from the Fire Emblem series including the recent 3DS games that I got a few years ago sounds really beautiful during that flute solo. I think it was one of the Battle themes during Fire Emblem Echoes.

im so excited to see the three houses one when you finish it. When you finish the series have you thought of doing a video on triangle strategy or are you covering other properties and/or spinoffs

For me, Echoes was an absolute blast of a first playthrough. But every time I try to replay it, the cracks really start to show. There is such a thing as being to faithful to the source material, where you keep all the stuff that desperately needed to be fixed The game however, did nail everything presentation wise. The voicework, animations, music, and more fleshed out story were all amazing.

Awesome vid

This is genuinely one of the best entries in the series, gaiden-isms aside. Such an interesting world and fun cast of characters. It's the only fire emblem game where I was compelled to unlock every support conversation I could. Delthea and her relationship with Luthier was one of my favorites. Really hope we get a return to this artstyle in a future remake, it was so utterly tasteful and beautiful.

I'm of the opinion that in terms of writing and voice acting Echoes absolutely takes top spot in the series

Shadows of Valentia has a good story, presentation, and music bogged down by some of the most frustrating mechanics and character moments I've ever seen. *stares at Celica*

As a long time fan who refuses to play on casual mode, I love mila's turn wheel. Unlike casual mode, the turn wheel doesn't invalidate your mistakes and instead asks you to find a better solution. I was going to reset anyway when someone died, the turn wheel's main function is honestly just saving me time I would've had to waste on getting back to the same point. A lot of the time in the older games, when I have to reset a level because of a death, I still do it but I get somewhat demoralised about having to start over and I end up taking a break from playing and I feel that it's a barrier to entry for a lot of people and the turn wheel is a fantastic way to fix it. If I could add the turn wheel back into other older games, I would.

This game is so good. I loved every bit of it and every challenge I had beaten. It's so satisfying. I wish to re experience it again and forgot my old experience of it.

Probably top 3 favorite fire emblem games

One thing I want to note is, that in echoes, with rng, Milas turntable reacts a bit weird, as it actually can be used to rigg RNG in your favour, but you have do some things, for it to change. In echoes, after the using turntable, the RNG is determined from the state on the map, so the first time you turn back time, the RNG actually changes, but after that, every time it will be the same. However, if you change the order of things, or where exactly you place which units, the RNG changes again.

I also like that after you beat the game, the title screen changes to Alm's and Celica's adult models. It was just a great touch and dedication to the characters.

Great video as always! I am definitely with you in loving Gaiden, I think it has the best final chapter in the series bar none, and I was a bit sad with how it was made in SoV, it felt way less tense and dramatic, but I would've probably liked it a lot more if I hadn't played gaiden. Also I agree with Conrad being lame but on the other hand I did really like Berkut and Rinea. I also really love how this game depicts its dragon deities, and I think it's one of the coolest lore pieces in the whole series, talking about how both Duma and Mila were degenerating and had both good and bad things happening because of their influence.

Oh man this game... While I haven't played 2 or 3, SoV was the only one where I took breaks from and finally had to force myself to beat. Probably a combination of different things but this game just didn't click for me in any of the areas from story/characters to especially the gameplay.

This is my first time finding this channel and I was like "wow, this guy sounds like the guy from Warriors Dojo. I wonder if it's the same guy" then I went to your channel and saw you're the same guy and was like "haha! I knew it!" Glad to find more content from you! I hope this means we can expect some Fire Emblem Warriors game content on that channel to follow this all up! How fun 😁

I know I'm late but I've got some free time to finally watch this video. Can't wait for three houses

Very nice video. I love this game so much. Alm & Celica are my favorite main characters and Berkut is my favorite villain. I a little upset that you think Berkut is a forgettable character but i, and many other Berkut fans, dont think so. In fact the one character in this game that i KNOW is the true forgettable character is Jedah.

As ever, with nearly every video game review, I am disappointed by the lack of input on the audio of the game. I am thankful that this spends time praising the good qualities of Echoes because there are a lot, and I might be on a different side of the fence when it comes to the community because I've only ever heard people hate on the game (and yes because of the maps, mostly, as covered). But I think the most important thing in Echoes is its soundtrack - it is far and away the best thing about the game. It is also, by contest from only Genealogy, the best soundtrack of the series and I would be willing to say contends with similarly great masterpieces of gaming history. It is tonally intricate and diverse, it has set roots and innovations whilst making it feel both like a commodity of the world and an exploration of a remake. It tackles the soundtrack in both a Fire Emblem format but also in its own personalised identity. The opening theme Echoes and the title sequence are absolutely gut-wrenching and soul-destroyingly perfect representations of the narrative depth while providing a perspective spin on the rest of the game. The fact the title sequence is a reminder to where the journey began with Celica and Alm running in a field of flowers and a track that sounds almost like anemoia embodied is a testimony to the emotional ethos of the game. The town themes are jaunty and memorable and creative and illicit a similar sense of wonder to a lot of Awakenings Barracks/Support themes but without overpowering the set-pieces nor overstaying their welcome. The combat themes are iconic, preserved and elevated to exceptional heights with not only the original creativity of melody Gaiden entailed but the strengths and variety that the sound design team carries as a whole. Even the map theme, which I will admit teeters a light bit on the side of becoming repetitive in the late game, does a very sound job of setting the tone of Valentia as well as preserving the narrative tension between fights and progress. And without question - as seems to be the opinion of nearly every FE fan I've seen put to opinion on it - Twilight of the Gods and Heritors of Arcadia are two epoch pieces of audio when it comes to gaming music in general. As someone who spent more than 600 hours on Awakening and over 200 on Fates - I only spent less than 100 on Echoes because it was short and self-contained, yet it is the game I most fondly remember and consider the easiest to recall the emotional density and value of. This is because the soundtrack is the ship by which all boarding passengers - narrative, design and direction - all sail upon. And Echoes does so in making its way to the destination of incredible storytelling thanks to this OST better than nearly all other games I've played in my lifetime, sparing only a few.

Damn, thank you so much for your retrospective. I have been binge-watching all videos in your series over the last few days and I really enjoyed them (especially the ones about the older games before Awakening, which I never actually played). Shame that your viewcount is - relatively speaking - so low considering how much effort you clearly put in.

I guess its cause the FE11 and 12 retrospective was such a while ago, but I was nice seeing you revisit an old game on the journey. Over the time you've been working 3H opinions have gone all over the place, very interested to see how it felt on your end!

Nice work Shane! I enjoyed hearing your thoughts on SoV, especially considering your play order for the franchise. Keep up the great work on this retrospective series! Personally I recognize SoV as being a quality entry in the series, but it’s not a title I find myself returning to much due to the gameplay. Most of the maps are either mediocre or tedious and the dungeon crawling lacks the mechanical depth to stay fresh throughout an entire play through. That being said I appreciate the story which is pretty solid by Fire Emblem standards, and the presentation and voice acting are both top notch. I personally never understood the hubbub about Mila’s turnwheel, to me it was always just a convenient way to save time or test things for experienced players and a QoL improvement for newbies who are still learning the ropes. The only element of SoV I dislike are the cutscenes since I find the animation to be a step down from both Awakening and Fates. Berkut is also massively overrated, but he serves his role fine as a thematic contrast to Alm and as a filler villain. But all things considered while SoV isn’t my cup of tea I can absolutely understand why it’s so beloved among the community, and I think it was a great way to round out the 3DS era of the franchise.

Besides FE7 and Awakening, this is one of the best games to give to someone new to Fire Emblem. Echoes was quite easy on normal, hard mode gave me some trouble, but no one starts playing new games on hard.

A quick correction, Rinea is not a commoner, she’s just from a minor noble house. The kind that would not be seen as suitable for someone like Berkut, who is in line to potentially be the next emperor.

The most beautiful Fire Emblem if not anything else. While having gameplay issues, it's the only 3DS game I come back to.

Great work, although I’m kind of surprised you found this game to be one of the less challenging games in the series. In my experience, it’s one of the harder ones. Not THE hardest (my first play through of Radiant Dawn was a nightmare) but definitely a step up from most. IMO, from the GBA era onward, the games can be relatively brute forced through without much stopping you, but Echoes really throws you a wrench with teleporting witches, AoE attacks, and basically every map with a Duma Faithful acting as the boss. This may be because I haven’t played the original but I’ve always heard from the community that Echoes is one of the harder entries in the series.

SoV being a faithful remake sounds nice, but then you have to consider that Gaiden was released in 1992 so in gaming terms it's ancient. And while it makes some improvements here and there, it still has many of those dumb moments from Gaiden which weren't as apparent there. Like Samson and Aran in FE1 being mutually exclusive for a really stupid reason and Shadow Dragon didn't changed it in any way, likewise the choice between Deen and Sonya is just a arbitrary in Echoes as it was in Gaiden. Rudolf's plot in Gaiden basically ammounted to "I'll send my soldiers to die in order for Alm and his friends to gain exp" and it's even more ridiculous in Echoes with it's much improved presentation. They give more backstory to this whole idea, but a dumb plan is still a dumb plan no matter how much you elaborate on it. Lack of gameplay changes is especially noticeable when you look at what's new - Berkut and Fernand are propably my favourite villains in the whole FE series and it's a crying shame they cut them as playable characters. My theory was that Rinea didn't exist yet and when she was created and the story was altered and they were cut... exept they have full library of unused voice lines, indicating that the idea wasn't set for a long time, which creates problems in the story. The point where these 2 were to join was likely start of act 4 after defeating them at the border. I know this, because there's a cutout that's noticeable and scene completely changes direction all of a sudden - the justification for Berkut shattering the mirror which facilitated his escape and descent into madness was Alm suddenly threatening to execute him, which he never did before and never does after this scene and it really sticks out. It's like they couldn't decide if they want to keep the game completely intact or make sweeping changes. It had the potential to be incredible, but unfortunately it wasn't realized. And it's a shame, because every aspect of audiovisual presentation in SoV is near perfect.

I am now finally happy omg

What a journey we finally reached the latest game!!

If you ask me the Turn Wheel isn't moot in Classic mode. Because that's where you are more likely to use it. In Three Houses and Engage it has limited uses, although in Engage it's not so limited that I ever ran out. In Three Houses though, in the early chapters when you have very few charges, I did eventually run out. To me it's more of a soft reset system. So you don't end up save scumming a lot, or being overly cautious. It's honestly a very nice system for a game like this. (Especially since these games Love their random reinforcements, which can royally screw you over.

Rinea and Conrad really don't do much for me or the story, but Berkut and Fernand made that first battle in Rigelian territory 1 of the most hype moments in any FE game I've played.

In my opinion, this is the most underrated fr game. It’s so damn good and I love it.

I really appreciated the addition of the wheel of time into 3 houses it was nice as a quality of life feature if you accidentally miss clicked or were trying to understand what was going on with the black knight initially. Also I felt like the combat arts and battalions were balanced and it didn't feel like they were as broken as you described hunters volley. I really would love to see a geneology remake on switch if they arent prepared with a full game at the level of 3 houses. Id rather wait for their best work.

Don't know how much you read the comments but I was curious, when you play the games for these videos do you usually let your dead units lie or do you reset for them? Or do you take a middle ground approach letting some situations stand but not others?

Shame you're not covering the DLC. There are 4 extra characters that can balance out each side. Yuzu and Shade for Alm and Emma and Randal for Celica. In addition, there are ten altars that allow your units to promote even further. Alm becomes a Conquorer like Walhart before him and Celica becomes a Rigain. All your units would need to be strong for the bonus dungeon and it's super boss. Plus they look super cool, though the armor of Oliphanters for horses, overclass of Bow Knight, fittingly makes them look like elephants. Also, in Part 1 if you kill Desaix first, Slayde will revel that the real Desaix retreated to Rigel and the Desaix they beat was a body double.

Berkut is my favourite villain in a Fire Emblem game

My favourite Fire Emblem game 🥲

Damn, I want to watch this but I just picked this game up myself finally not too long ago so I'll have to finish it before watching.

Can’t for the Three Houses retrospective!

I'm surprised by the lack of mention of the post-game.

Man, I really really love the character designs in this game . Still hoping for a Switch port.

I only played SoV, and not the original Gaiden, but I really like the new characters, apart from Conrad. While he's a Good Boy, I once read a fanfic where Saber was actually Celica's long-lost brother, and I tend to adopt that as my canon instead. (He recognized her bc of the golden dagger she gave him at the start, and she didn't recognize him for a long time bc he lost an eye in the villa fire and had been living rough for years before they were reunited.) Also, I've played this game twice and somehow never knew Hunter's Volley was in SoV?? Time to play a third time 👀

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!