LogFAQs > #934791053

I just realized this entry breaks the usual formatting due to its lack of a proper chapter name, or even number. So I'll have to improvise a tad. The final battle from this game tends to get people using the name of its music as a substitute chapter title, so I think I'll do the same thing here.

The Good

8. Gaiden/Echoes Part 4 Final - Lord of a Dead Empire

https://www.fireemblemwod.com/fe15/guia/4-9-Alm.htm

Closing out part 4 of Gaiden/Echoes (henceforth referred to just as Echoes) is the battle against Emperor Rudolf. A snow castle courtyard awaits in front of you, the walls manned by bow knights and arcanists who will pelt you with ranged attacks as you enter (this is a bit different between normal and hard difficulty, as this map has its enemy placements changed rather noticeably from the original game when played on Echoes hard mode, but to some extent it holds true regardless) and a whole host of other mounted units and barons (Echoes' version of promoted armor knights, essentially) prepare to meet you head on. And at the back or up on the wall, depending on difficulty (on the wall in normal, on the other side of the courtyard on hard to make it harder to warp someone to him immediately) is Rudolf himself.

There may never have been an enemy boss who outclasses your units as hard as Rudolf. He has capped HP and as much defense as a previous Baron boss, while also having the speed of a Dread Fighter (the fastest generic class in the game) and as much or more strength as anything you've seen (though his choice of an Angel Ring instead of a weapon holds his damage per hit to slightly lower than some of his allies). And he does all this as Gold Knight, fully willing to take advantage of his huge movement range! Even Alm in the remake, with growths buffed compared to the original, is hard pressed to muster the stats that it would take to handle Rudolf's Gaiden/normal mode stats conventionally.

Of course, there is a trick to dealing with him. He will never attack Alm, allowing your strongest unit free reign to attack him, assuming he can survive the onslaught of other nearby enemies. This trick doesn't really undermine his credibility as a threat since you still need to deal with his troops to make it safe, and god forbid you let anyone enter his range unintentionally. Instead it just contributes to the wonderful atmosphere of this battle, aided immensely in the remake by the new snowy look of Rigel Castle and, of course, the stellar new soundtrack. I'm usually not as fond of video game music with vocals as most people are, but Lord of a Dead Empire blew me away the moment I heard it and the tone it sets, energetic and triumphant mixed with a hint of sorrow, works wonders.

(I would advise against reading the comment section on this if you don't want to be spoiled)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrfutC6DDq8

This battle can be quite difficult, and requires you to abuse every tool at your disposal to really master it - huge bow and possibly magic range to take down enemies safely, things like Warp (and Rescue in the remake) to move around and possibly go for Rudolf quickly (might as well leave some of his soldiers alive to surrender like he wants, right?), the various items you can carry to amp up a given units power immensely (especially in the original where some of these things were downright busted), etc. It absolutely nails every aspect of its presentation to perfection. Combined, it makes for perhaps *the* Fire Emblem battle most deserving to be described with the often overused term "epic". When Echoes was announced I was hoping this already great battle from Gaiden would get a bit of special treatment to make it even better, and holy shit did it ever.

Up next: Too much excitement, got to take a break, and what a way to do so! We revisit a concept from earlier on the worst list, except this time it adds a stupid new gimmick and removes the part where anything fucking happens

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Meow!