Top 10 Worst Fire Emblem Gaiden/Echoes: Shadows of Valentia Maps

Map design is important to strategy games, especially the Fire Emblem series. The series has had a variety of maps that vary from mission to mission, and game to game- some are small, while others are large, and some are simple while others are complex. Fire Emblem Gaiden, which was remade as Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, has especially poor map design, and I will rank the ten maps that I believe are the worst in the game. 

I will evaluate maps based on the final criteria, ranked in order of importance.

1. Difficulty: Whether a map is too easy, too hard or just right.
   
   
2. Terrain: Whether the terrain provides a reasonable challenge or unnecessarily hinders the player. Bland and nondescript maps aren't very good, but they are unlikely to get on this list.
   
   
3. Enemies: An important part of map design is the enemies- the number of enemies, the strength of each opposing unit, the types of foes, and their placement on the map.
   
   
4. Objectives: Whether the map design favors the objective

As a note, I will not include random encounter maps, and for dungeons, I will only consider the area in which the final battle takes place. Without further ado, here is my list.

10. Zofia Seaway 3(Act 2- Celica)

I'll start off this list with the first map that has a Cantor on it. At first, it seems simple by virtue of only having one enemy on it, especially compared to the previous naval battles, but nothing could be further from the truth.

For starters, the single enemy summons Terrors. Terrors vary in strength, but since this is early in the game, these ones are weak Revenants. Nevertheless, it can be difficult to wade through the reinforcements to get at the Cantor.

Once you reach the Cantor, you may be tempted to assume that he goes down easily due to relying on summoning, but this is not the case. He has powerful magic attacks that can kill weaker units, and has an ability that provides passive health regeneration to recoup the HP he spends on his summoning. In order to take him down, you'll have to strike with powerful units that can avoid or survive his counterattacks

This is far from the worst map, but it is a rude awakening for players, and I included it to explain why enemy summoners are so frustrating to deal with.

9.Forest Crossroads(Act 3- Alm)

This is a relatively strange mission. There are only three enemies- Berkut, Fernand and a nameless mounted unit- and your unit starting points are spread out across the map. There are forest spread haphazardly around the area, providing cover for your units.

The map seems a bit too large for its own good, and while it serves a narrative purpose by being the site of Alm's first confrontation with his rival Berkut and Fernand confronting his former friend Clive, it seems like a bit of a waste to only have three enemies.

8.Nuibaba's Abode(Act 4- Alm)

This map is rather frustrating, due in part to Nuibaba's summoning abilities. While most summoned enemies are nuisances, Nuibaba can summon Witches, which are powerful spellcasters. Worst, the Witches can teleport behind your lines and attack defenseless units, likely killing them. The especially troublesome part of this ability is that the Danger Radius, a feature that shows which squares are in one or more enemies' attack range, is of little help here.

7.The Sluice Gate(Act 3- Alm)

This is a relatively straightforward map, albeit one with many casters on it, but there's a twist. One enemy, a young magician named Delthea, is being brainwashed and must be spared until the enemy is routed if you want to recruit her. That wouldn't be so hard if she wasn't going around killing your units, or if she wasn't so fragile that she is at risk of dying from player counterattacks. Since every unit counts, it's in your best interests to put up with this so you can recruit her.

6.Grieth's Citadel(Act 3- Celica)

The good news is that this desert fortress doesn't have as much difficult to traverse desert terrain as the Desert Stronghold did.

The bad news, however, is that Grieth has Cantors on his side, who will summon Terrors.

5.Desert Stronghold(Act 3- Celica)

This map is one of the most frustrating from a terrain standpoint.

Your units must traverse a desert, which hinders their movement, to reach the stronghold where the enemies are waiting. Unfortunately, the stronghold is manned by archers, which will pick off your units with impunity. If you try to send a flying unit over, the archers will target them.

4. Dolth's Keep(Act 4-Celica)

Like the Desert Stronghold, this is another map that forces you to start in an unfavorable position.

While the terrain isn't as treacherous, there are damaging swamps between you and the stronghold. Not only are there archers in the castle, but the enemy also has Necrodragons and Cantors, giving them fliers and summoners.

3.Altar of Duma(Act 5)

Final maps are supposed to be challenging, but this one ends up being frustrating for a few reasons.

First, much of the map is covered by poison swamp.

Second, your units are split up into Alm and Celica's groups, and it will take several turns to group up and present a united front.

Third, Duma is rather powerful, with AOE abilities and high stats. He's also next to impossible to finish off without Alm, who gains a passive bonus by being next to Celica when he attacks.

Lastly, there's Jedah. I'll elaborate more later on, but to sum it up, he's basically an extremely powerful Cantor. The only good thing is that you can skip him.

2.The Last Bastion(Act 4- Alm)

As the last line of defense in Rigel before Emperor Rudolf's castle, the Last Bastion lives up to its name. I'm not sure how viable this defense would be in real life, but it works well enough here

Four long walls stretch from north to south, and have Bow Knights(i.e. a deadly combination of a mountd unit's mobility and an archer's range) and casters on them.  Barons- slow but armored units- guard each of the stairs leading up to the back, and if you get that far, you'll have to deal with Slayde one last time.

In terms of design, this map is probably the worst of the lot, but it isn't as frustrating as the top-ranked map.

1.The Swamps of Duma(Act 4- Celica)

The map isn't terribly large, but most of it is covered in a poisonous bog. The real problem, however, is the boss.

Jedah, one of the main antagonists, has the following troublesome abilities.

• Like other Cantors, he can summon Terrors and has strong magic.
  
  
• His Dracoshield increases his Defense and Resistance and restores 5 HP per round, recouping the HP he spends on his summoning magic...
  
  
• ...but thanks to Pact, his magic costs no HP at all.
  
  
• His Incarnation skill also restores HP per turn.
  
  
• He is also immune to status ailments.
  
  
• Worst of all is Duma's Gift, which only allows one in four attacks to damage him, and the one that gets through is not guaranteed to hit. Worse, Jedah can still retaliate against your units.

As you can see, Jedah's abilities synergize rather well with each other, making him extremely challenging to defeat. Luckily, he will retreat if you survive a certain number of turns, although this fact is not immediately obvious. As such, this is the most frustrating and least enjoyable map in the game.

Conclusion

Because Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia did not change its maps much from Gaiden, there's little good I can say about its maps. Part of the problem is that the maps did not age well, and part is that they were not very good in the first place. Hopefully, the next Fire Emblem remake will iron out some of the problems with the original game's maps while still staying true to the original.