In the terms of buffs, each glass has the ability to hot switch weapons on the fly. What this means is, in the original games, if a class could use an axe and a spear, if you chose to attack with an axe, they could not use the spear until you get to actively select the weapon next turn. In this game, you have free access to every weapon, spell, and ability you have at any moment. You're clerics get dark magic to counter attack enemies, while still benig able to heal people friends, and other classes, like the Main Characters, are just walking power houses of such a level it makes every Lord before them pale in compairison. (Also, this marks the second new gen FE game to not have Lords as a class)
The nerfs come in terms of the lack of class selection. In this game, with it's massive difficulty, leveling to 20 before you promote is actually a bad idea, and does not provide min maxing potential (can be seen as a buff), but because of this, you do not have the ability to choose your upgrade path. All classes are preset stuck on a singluar path with no options (outside of the villiagers class).

The story, while cliche to painful degrees, was also quite enjoyable. it's a basic "Hero to save the world" type of shtik while also played into the classic "Childhood lovers" role that made for some interesting moments.
The battle is the last noticable thing (music is ignored as all FE titles have enjoyable music) is the removal of the Rock Paper Scissors attack style. Your pegasus knights can now get pegged by arrows without fear, and the like. The only real way to make one class better than anothe ris to either use the newly introduced Weapon proficientcy system (Use a weapon long enough to learn new skills like Anti-Terror, or Anti-Flier), or to level up a class far enough to naturally because strong against it (Knights eventually become anti-Arrow, or Dread Fighter's Anti-magic)

Overall, this is quite an enjoyable game. Even though it added in new thigns like a 3D exploration segment, it's not a game I can recommend to previous fans of FE due to the watered down system that took away a lot of customization, but if you do decide this game is worth your time, go in with an open mind, and to remember: This is not a typical FE game. It's more geared for the Vets of the series.

As someone who knew that Gaiden was a black sheep in comparison to the rest of the series, I thought IS was going to change a lot to make it more akin to the other games. I was surprised to learn that Echoes is a very faithful remake of Gaiden, both for better and for worse.

Also Joker Reviews better become an ongoing thing

I didn't even play it and it's already a favorite for getting back to what I think made things interesting.

As I burn through more games, I'll be making more

Looking forward to the next Joker Reviews. Hope it's a game I've played next time.