As we step into the new year, here’s a look back at the events of 2017–by all means, a landmark year for Fire Emblem.
Image from the fake April Fool’s game.
Not only did we witness the release of Fire Emblem Heroes, which introduced the series to a wider audience, we received a highly-praised remake in Shadows of Valentia, plus another exciting spin-off in Fire Emblem Warriors.
Furthermore, there was the promise of a brand new console Fire Emblem for the Nintendo Switch in 2018. Truly, this was on-going proof of Nintendo treating Fire Emblem as one of their important franchises.
Disclaimer: This is meant to be a lighthearted look back, not an objective report of the entire year!
Fire Emblem Direct
Before 2017, if you had told me that Fire Emblem would be receiving its very own Nintendo Direct presentation, within the first month of the year, I wouldn’t have believed you. Yet that’s what actually happened–and things were never the same.
Most of us were only hoping for news of Fire Emblem Heroes and maybe for the recently announced Fire Emblem Warriors, but we got more than that: the reveal of Shadows of Valentia and a brand new Fire Emblem for the Switch coming next year.
Previously, the most number of Fire Emblem games released in close proximity was two–which happened with The Sacred Stones and Path of Radiance, and with Fire Emblem Fates and Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE. Four is a new record that’s going to be hard to beat!
Fire Emblem Heroes
Honestly, this game requires its own retrospective, because there’s so much to talk about since it launched in early February. Even before its release, there was the Choose Your Legends event, where fans could vote for characters to receive a special costume.
Several months later, these votes were realised via the Brave Heroes Summoning Focus, which added special versions of the four highest-ranking characters–Ike, Lyn, Roy and Lucina–to the game. Players could also choose one of these characters for free!
Anyway, moving back towards the beginning for a moment. Who still remembers the days when stamina was capped at 50 instead of 99, it was impossible to re-position units at the start of battle, and Hero Feathers were insanely hard to come by?
That the game is continually improving is a testament to the developers’ excellent player response. This year, we’ve progressed through many incremental updates to reach Version 2.0 today. Naturally, the game still isn’t perfect, but the road remains open.
Character-wise, we started with approximately 100 heroes and now the roster is double the size. At the time of writing, every game has representation, although the likes of Thracia 776 and Radiant Dawn are still lacking. Hopefully next year…!
Every now and then, the game graced us with limited seasonal heroes. By the end of the year, there were eight: Spring Festival, Bridal Blessings, Ylissean Summer, Nohrian Summer, Performing Arts, Trick or Defeat, Winter’s Envoy and Happy New Year!
(Amusingly, the heroes from “Winter’s Envoy” had to wait a full year to be officially revealed after the game missed its original late 2016 launch.)
From Version 2.0, a new story was added to the game: Book II, featuring new story characters from the Kingdoms of Nifl and Muspell. Also included were monthly Legendary Heroes summoning events with their own limited heroes like Fjorm and Gunnthra.
Event-wise, we had a steady stream of Grand Hero Battles. After that, we had our very first Voting Gauntlet, which resulted in an epic battle between Chrom and Ephraim in the semi-finals. Finally we had Tempest Trials and the curious Bound Hero Battles.
There’s a lot, lot more to talk about, but I should probably save the space for the other games!
By the way, I’d like to thank Kirie, our Cipher news reporter, for covering the majority of the Heroes news this year. This year, we’ve had nearly 400 news posts–most of which are for Heroes–compared to 140 or so from the previous year.
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Released in April/May, Shadows of Valentia was the third full remake–in this case, of Fire Emblem Gaiden, the series’s “black sheep”. Expectations were varied. Artistically, it looked fabuolous, but there were concerns about sticking too close to Gaiden‘s flawed gameplay.
In our review of the Japanese version, it turns they were both correct. Presentation-wise, Shadows of Valentia is the pinnacle of the series, with lovely graphics, fluid animations, and highly commendable voice direction–and this applies to the English version too.
For better or worse, the gameplay treads closely to that of Gaiden. Ignoring DLC, sidequests, combat arts, etc., when you’re playing Shadows of Valentia, you are basically playing Gaiden. Which was a novel game at the time, but has really wacky balance and horrendous maps.
Still, the game as a whole is more than the sum of its parts–and is highly recommended for fans of the series or RPG fans in general. Rather excitingly, its existence opens the possibility of future “Echoes” remakes, although these aren’t 100% guaranteed as some like to believe.
Shadows of Valentia was also very important for being the first Fire Emblem game to be officially translated in Chinese. And you think we’ve been waiting ages! Intelligent Systems made a big deal of this, opting to communicate directly to Chinese consumers.
Fire Emblem Warriors
Landing in September/October, Fire Emblem Warriors was a dream mash-up of Koei Tecmo’s Dynasty Warriors franchise and the franchise we all know and love. Although the path it took to get here was probably far from a dream…
As the first details of the game rolled out, two things started to become clear. One, the game wouldn’t be treating all the titles equally, instead choosing to focus on Shadow Dragon, Awakening and Fates, although even the former got the short end of the stick.
While this isn’t a problem in itself (many Warriors spin-offs only focus on a few titles to begin with), this choice inevitably disappointed a lot of fans who were expecting a more diverse roster, featuring fan-favourites like Sigurd and Ike.
Two, the PR for the game was a hot mess, with the developers trying to defend their choices, but instead ended up digging themselves into a hole. There are too many sword Lords, so we’ll add two more! No characters outside the three titles, except we’ll sneak in Lyn and Celica.
When the game did finally come out, it was a thoroughly enjoyable Warriors game–and clearly, a lot of love had been put into the game. Even now, there are still updates to the game, adding in new weapons and raising the Level cap. Not to mention the DLC.
Speaking of, the DLC is a very hit-and-miss topic. Fans expected DLC, but few fans guessed that the DLC would focus on the three titles already featured. There’s also the deal with Azura who’s strangely missing, and the unfinished DLC characters appearing in-game.
That said, the DLC itself is really cool. Anyway, with luck, Nintendo and Koei Tecmo are content with the sales of the game to fund a sequel that features all the missing “big gun” characters. Just like they promised in the interviews!
A big thanks to Jedi for helping to cover the Fire Emblem Warriors news.
Fire Emblem Cipher
For many Western fans, it’s easy to miss what’s been going on with the Fire Emblem Cipher card game. 2017 marked Cipher‘s 2nd anniversary and saw the release of another four expansions, for a total of 11 expansions by the year’s end.
During March, Series 8 “Life and Death: Beyond Fate” was released. This expansion featured additional Awakening characters, alongside the debut of the 2nd generation of Genealogy of the Holy War. Most notably, it provided a glimpse into two possible fates for Chrom.
Next, Series 9 “Thunderous Earth” landed in June. It debuted characters from the recently released Shadows of Valentia, and included Laguz-related characters from the Tellius saga, as well as characters from the Binding Blade manga “Hasha no Tsurugi”.
Later in September, Series 10 “Crossroads” entered the fray. At long last, characters from Thracia 776 reveled in the spotlight, and they were joined by the 2nd generation of Fates, plus the story characters from Fire Emblem Heroes.
Finally, December gave us Series 11 “Glorious Twinstrike”. 2017’s last expansion featured characters from The Sacred Stones (which holds the distinction of being the last game to receive representation), Shadows of Valentia and Fire Emblem Warriors.
Besides the cards themselves, Cipher–or, more accurately, its four mascots–sneaked its way into Shadows of Valentia via the “Cipher Legends” DLC. Surprisingly, this DLC was also made available to the West. By the way, there are two more mascots now!
Throughout the year, our editors at the Cipher wiki, including TheVinceKnight, have put in a lot of hard work to keep the card database updated.
Merchandise
To start off the new year, Fire Emblem Cipher visited Japan during the “Fire Emblem Festival” event. Hardcore collectors will recognise these events as places where you can purchase exclusive merchandise–and this time was no different!
Not long after the reveal of Shadows of Valentia, Nintendo Japan announced a very rare (and expensive) limited edition: the Valentia Complete. Unlike the editions that the West received, this one included a Blu-Ray with movies from Radiant Dawn and onwards.
To my delight, a nendoroid figure of Sakura was revealed during the Winter WonFes in February. Often seen as one of the less popular royals from Fates, it was great to see her getting recognition. This figure is expected to release some time in early 2018.
Following the release of the “Faith & Engagement” piano soundtrack CD, there was a concert in Japan during March, which also served as an excuse to roll out exclusive merchandise. Similar to the 25th anniversary concerts, but smaller in scale.
Halfway through the year, the first wave of Fire Emblem Heroes merchandise debuted in Japan. Clearly because the developers aren’t simply content with taking our money via Orbs. New products included keyrings and iPhone cases.
Around this time, Cipher stormed Japan with the Go! Go! Summer Tour. Up for grabs was a new soundtrack CD from the “Cavalier Duo”, a pretty card stand, and various other Cipher bits and bobs, like playmats and card sleeves.
For collectors, Fire Emblem Warriors was notable for providing a unique Dragonstone replica–based off the one Tiki wields–with the Japanese “Treasure Box” edition of the game. Sadly, this crystal wasn’t (officially) provided outside Japan.
Like Awakening and Fates before it, Shadows of Valentia received a glamarous official soundtrack package, featuring four disks with the game’s awesome soundtrack and a bonus disk. The game’s artist, Hidari provided a charming cover illustration as well.
Later in the year, another batch of Heroes-themed merchandise was released in Japan. Highlights included dialogue box sticky notes, a tote bag adorned with artwork of Feh the owl, and a pink snuggle blanklet with lots of tiny Fehs.
Finally, Cipher returned to Comiket at the end of the year, with more of our favourite exclusive merchandise (please IS, sell them on a website or something!). On top of that, they raffled away replicas of Chrom’s Falchion and Roy’s Binding Blade.
Community
Last but not least, the Fire Emblem community has been generally amazing this year. Naturally, there’s been a humongous growth thanks to Fire Emblem Heroes–and it’s simply wonderful to see the community grow, whether it’s here, on Reddit, the wikis or elsewhere.
Also this year, our community liaison, Elieson, got in touch with some community projects and ventures, with the aim to raise awareness.
In November, the Fire Emblem Reddit communities banded together to raise money for Extra Life, with a 24-hour Fire Emblem gaming marathon hosted by multiple players, including Elieson himself. There was even a special appearance from Greg Chun, the voice of Ike!
The Fire Emblem Compendium project was an instant hit, challenging artists of all skill levels to come together to draw every single notable Fire Emblem character in existence (and some less notable ones). Here’s our interview with the team.
Also art-related, we highlighted the Artists of Askr, a group of talented artists that formed during the middle of this year. At the time of writing, they recently released a summer-themed fanzine, “Anna’s Secret Stash”.
By the way, if you’d like to try and get your project (or a friend’s project) featured, don’t hesitate to contact us via e-mail, the forums, etc. We’ll see what we can conjure up!
Closing Remarks
To finish off, here’s the unbelievable live action trailer created to promote Fire Emblem Heroes‘s “Brave Heroes” summoning event. Which is quite possibly the best Fire Emblem thing to come out of 2017 (or silliest… you decide).
Anyway, I hope you had a great year–and that 2018 becomes a stunning year for Fire Emblem and for us all!
