Board 8 > How is Fire Emblem Shadows of Valentia

(+) Yeah! (+)

Been looking for a new game to play, I have enough gamestop credit for one game, how is this game as far as gameplay goes? I'm pretty well versed in FE but as I understand, the mechanics in this game are way different than other FEs? Do they work well? Is the game fun to play? Are there bull**** same-turn reinforcements like in awakening?
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It's slavishly faithful to the original in its mechanics. There are a lot of really weird and unique mechanics not in other games, but the maps are almost all terrible. Many are just flat planes with maybe a tree or two scattered around. Reinforcements don't happen except when enemy summoner units are around.

I enjoyed it, but in a general fan of the series.
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It certainly has the best story and presentation of the 3DS games, with pretty good voice acting. Gameplay is rather simplistic. A majority of maps are just you and the enemy bumrushing towards each other. Late game difficulty is kinda mostly just the enemies ending up with really high attack or defense stats, or enemy mages in general since only a few characters end up with a good Resistance stat.

I'm still enjoying it though.
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It plays like an NES game with a coat of new paint

The coat of paint is really pretty and good but its still an NES game gameplay wise. And a not particularly good one at that.

I only made it to the end of Act 1 (and this was a couple months ago). The presentation was really good from what I played, and I've been meaning to play more, but haven't gotten around to it. The maps were pretty simple so far as everyone said, but I have only seen a few to this point.

Some of the differences from other FE games I remember: bows having 1-3 range (I think potentially more range later?), having any amount of speed that is higher than your opponent lets you double, all attacks do at least one damage, magic works differently + skills that will use HP, and there are some 3rd person view dungeons that have encounters you can get into by running into/attacking enemies.

Dungeons let you grind up party members if you want to, but from what I played/heard, even on hard, the game isn't super challenging.

Fun! The story is neat, and the dual main character format is excellent. The maps aren't the best though, and there's a bit too much fighting. Still, I enjoyed it very much.

It's also not as different from the other FE games as you might expect. Sure, there's a few quirks, but it's the same basic system.
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Mac Arrowny posted...

Fun! The story is neat, and the dual main character format is excellent. The maps aren't the best though, and there's a bit too much fighting. Still, I enjoyed it very much.

It's also not as different from the other FE games as you might expect. Sure, there's a few quirks, but it's the same basic system.

Is the dual main character thing like Sacred Stones where you pick a character halfway through then they join up again for the end? Or is it literally 2 separate stories the entire time?
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2 stories that the game alternates between that are happening at the same time. Not like Sacred Stones.
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Both. Chapter 1 is one character, chapter 2 is the other, and chapter 3-4 has you choose whichever you want action by action, with the only thing really separating them being the map preventing them from joining up.
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Ah, cool, sounds interesting. Thanks everyone for the input!
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