Woah that's awesome, I still need to finish Fates though.

Really for 3DS and not Switch?

Aren't they getting worried about Fire Emblem fatigue? I mean 3 games last year (Birthright Conquest & Revelations) smart phone game next month then 3DS game in May, followed by Fire Emblem Warriors in the Fall and a new Fire Emblem game for Switch in 2018.
I won't be playing them all that's too much.
Why did they give up on Advance Wars?

They have the engine for 3DS, of course they're going to keep making FE games until the system dies out.

So, uh... I actually REALLY like Fire Emblem Gaiden, and the direction the series has taken has really harkened back to this game in particular with elements of the Judgral and Elibe games tossed in for good measure.

One really kinda weird thing about this game though is the odd way this game's story kinda slots into Shadow Dragon's, with a character or two like Est appearing here that were from the original game... I guess that's someting that could be tossed up to the whole dimensional gate outworld thing the series has going on that reads as incredibly lazy storytelling. oh well.

I think I was caught off guard as the localization for Doma's name being "Duma"... Oh well, there's so much of this game's soundtrack that I love and want to hear re-arranged like other pieces have gotten the treatment. The Alm Map theme was on display during the direct and it sounds great to my ears as always. <3

awww YEAAAAAAAHHHHH

I'm down for a Fire Emblem that doesn't play like the recent, trashy model of Fire Emblem. This game and it's mechanics look way more fun than anything that came from Fates, and the more reserved character designs are definitely welcome! All and all, this was the best thing to come from this Direct.

I'm afraid I have some bad news... there's features that Fire Emblem Gaiden introduced, and then the series got away from until awakening and fates. things like repeatable battles, characters that have multiple promotion paths, and weapons not having durability. this is also a game that was made before several key features of the series like Weapon Triangle, Support, Light or Dark Magic, and many other little bells and whistles that would later define the franchise. I imagine some of this will get touched up to modernize it, but I'm not sure how much they'll do.

From what I saw of the game, the free roaming map and dungeon sequences look like a fresh departure from what Awakening and Fates promoted. Also, I'm hoping for no pairing up mechanic, as I'm not a fan of that.

Honestly, I'd love to discuss at length how I'd personally like to see the series evolve, but that's a chat for another thread.

But what about my creepy waifu petting minigame?

from what I remember of playing the original game, often times the 'dungeon exploration' would essentially lead you to fighting a group of mooks in a big open room Ultima 3 style, and the one example they showed where Celica gets the jump on those skeletons in Echoes here seems to be following that pattern where the actual story maps will be the ones with interesting stuff.

Considering they didn't bother writing support stuff for Shadow Dragon or New Mystery of the Emblem, who knows if they'll bother with that? I'm not sure about them retrofitting the pair up mechanic in or not either.

Honestly, the way I used to describe this game to people was that Fire Emblem Gaiden is the game that Shining Force ribbbed on from fire emblem, while more traditional Fire Emblem games tend to be far more focused on the whole sound strategy part of things.

I don't mind the side-by-side mechanic of the newer games, but I almost never pair up my units. I'm too old fashioned in how I execute my strategy. I use all of my units in battle and rate losing a roster slot to someone acting as a permanent defensive player to cover another character.

I'm also much more engaged by the art style of Echoes than of the recent character designs. Nothing against Yusuke Kozaki, but while Awakening was stylized, Fates' character design recycles the worst parts of Awakening's character designs and takes it to the next level to where the medieval overtones of the series' prior feel nonexistent.

So yeah, I guess it's something against Yusuke Kozaki.