Thread by @StarlightGale, I know "play Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia" has become an [...]

I know "play Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia" has become an (admittedly annoying) meme at this point, but like. There are genuinely some valid reasons for why more FE fans should give it a chance and check it out despite its more glaring flaws.

I'm not going to deny its issues. SoV was, more or less, a cosmetic update for Gaiden so it could stand alongside the modern titles. They opted to keep a lot of the questionable and often bad map design, and some of the writing just oozes sexism.

That said, let me make a thread about all the reasons you SHOULD go and at least try it out because there is still a lot to love about this game.

1. Storyline

Summarizing the important details of Shadows of Valentia's plot would take several tweets, but the short version is that it is the story of two warriors: Alm, a boy from a village in the borderlands, and Celica, his childhood friend who serves as a priestess.

Alm and Celica each have different goals; Alm wants to drive back the Rigelian Empire, who has invaded the Kingdom of Zofia, while Celica seeks a peaceful solution to the conflict by finding out what has happened to Zofia's patron goddess, Mila.

Shadows of Valentia's strength is that, despite all the war, complicated politics, religion, crazy dragons, etc. it follows a fairly linear plotline that is easy to follow while still having a lot of depth, along with engaging characters that drive the story. Speaking of which...

2. Characters

Shadows of Valentia's cast isn't quite as big as other Fire Emblem titles (ex: Fates); this does, however, play in its favor, as a smaller cast allows the game to give more focus to fleshing out its characters, as well as establishing relationships between them.

Supports this time are few and far between; however, all units have three "base conversations" that occur during village/fort segments. They give you an idea of their history, their motivations, and their beliefs, helping to give them depth even if they don't get the spotlight

Additionally, there are several characters who are considered "mandatory recruits" who are actively involved in the plot. Even if they fall in combat during Classic Mode, they will still show up for story segments and to talk about what's going on in the game.

Beyond that, the cast is just very lovable. There are a lot of pre-established friendships and developing relationships/romances, and it's just fun to see the characters grow over the course of the game.

3. Art, graphics, and animations

If some of previous images weren't an indicator, Shadows of Valentia was a labor of love in the art department, and is arguably the best-looking of the 3DS Fire Emblem titles. Combat models are highly detailed, and animations are just STUNNING.

The character designs for the game were done by Hidari, best known for his work on some of the Atelier games. Game/art director Toshiyuki Kusakihara had apparently wanted him as his character designer since Awakening, but Hidari was too busy at the time.

Character portraits and story CGs are just a treat to look at. Everything is so expressive and the colors...god the colors. Hidari is a master of color theory and it REALLY shows in this game

Also, I didn't mention this earlier, but the English dub for this game is wonderful. Very few characters ever really fall flat and everyone just sounds so good. Alm, Celica, Gray, Python, Mathilda, Mae, Boey, Saber, Leon, and Sonya are probably among my favorite performances.

4. THE GAME ACKNOWLEDGES FIRE EMBLEM CIPHER

This may seem like a minor thing, but I feel like it's worth pointing out since, thus far, Shadows of Valentia is the only FE game that has made the OCs from the Cipher card game playable in a main series game.

While DLC-exclusive, Emma, Shade, Yuzu, and Randal are all charming in their own right and are also all reasonably good units, so investing in the Cipher Legends pack might be a good call.

5. LGBT+ Rep

Let's be real here; while things have gotten somewhat better since the release of Three Houses, good LGBT+ rep in Fire Emblem is still pretty hard to come by. Thankfully, Shadows of Valentia provides some of that.

Leon, an archer on Celica's route, is openly gay, having an (unrequited) crush on his friend, Valbar. It's also heavily implied that Kamui, another unit Celica's route, is bisexual, along with Forsyth and Python on Alm's route.

There are other characters who can be interpreted as LGBT as well. Supplementary material seems to imply that Mycen never married because he's gay, and Lukas is commonly thought to be asexual based on a DLC support with Python.

6. Respectfully written PoC Characters

This one is fairly important because I KNOW a lot of people walked away from Three Houses disappointed with how it handled its PoC characters and while I'd rather not bring down one game to make mine look good, well...

Among SoV's playable cast, there are three noteworthy PoC characters; Gray on Alm's route, and Boey and Atlas on Celica's route. Each of them have their own strengths and flaws, and all of them are dealing with their own personal problems during the course of the game.

There are no poorly-handled racism plots/conflicts, none of them have a "white savior" they worship, and none of them are ever treated like garbage by the story or other characters. They are allowed to have their own roles in the plot and that is great.

That's all I've got for now. I still have yet to talk about the actual GOOD aspects of Shadows of Valentia's gameplay (the class variation, archers, magic, dungeons) but I am starting to get tired sdfkdfjsfds

Maybe some other time...

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