I think people put too much emphasis on story for a FE game I don't think the story is more generic than Three House, 3H's story is super generic and "anime" it just gets more of a praise because it gets it tropes from melodramatic anime. lets not pretend like 3H doesn't have characters with one trait too. So long as the characters are fun and aren't annoying they are fine for a FE game and the characters are mostly fun even but some are forced (rosado). The important thing is that the maps and gameplay are fun and well design, they are engaging(:3)). The Maddening difficult is the first super hard mode that is well balanced It's a bit crazy but I don't think the overly bloated enemy's with infinite skills was fun in the previous games and unlike the other recent games the increase difficult doesn't make the game's faults apparent. The game also made the time in the hub area less tedious and take less time I swear I spent more time in the school of 3H more than playing the game I'm glad they fixed that. If they keep this amount of consistently fun gameplay I think a remake of 4 will be the next best FE. I played on Hard mode and I'm currently doing a lesbians only maddening run.

This is probably the best in-map gameplay of the series. Emblems are a really fun mechanic and somehow the map-design is great enough that it doesn't feel broken to use the emblems, the original music is great and it i really dig the art-style (tho i hope not FE is this way, i wouldn't care to get more FEs in this art direction). The story of this game is fucking dogshit and the worldbuilding is generic and uninteresting. Some of the characters are annoying but most of them are fun after you get to know them a bit. The worst part is the lamest characters are near the beggining of the game, and some of the good ones turn to mush when near the MC to keep the games weird "Divine Dragon" power-fantasy. Exploring Somniel is pretty much just worst Garech Mach and sadly the class system is underwhelming and favors characters with excluisve classes a lot

Even with its problems, is an phenomenal experience to anyone who likes FEs in-map gameplay. Playing this for the first time on Maddening has been one of my most fun gaming experiences in quite some time. Grabbing me for hours and hours and making any weekends or free time dissappear. Playing on calls with friends specially is A BLAST

I don't want to spend too many words on this game because it's absolutely not worth it. I have no idea what went wrong at Intelligent Systems, but this is probably the worst writing I've experienced to date. I can barely put into words how stupid this game is in everything related to the writing - story, dialogue, worldbuilding, characters...it's all a nonsensical, illogical jumble of stupid clichés, predictable twists and absolutely overdramatized scenes that have none of the impact they're supposed to have on the player. To write such garbage and then integrate it into a tactics game with a more adult target audience is a disgrace, especially after the great Three Houses. I played through it anyway because of the solid gameplay and the very cool Engage mechanics. But I wouldn't recommend it, the gameplay changes aren't interesting enough for that. What a waste.

Almost everything in Engage feels like a step back from what FE games are usually able to land with ease, and I actively balked at continuing the game for a solid month upon seeing the opening for Chapter 14. About the only good experience I had with this game was getting through Chapter 10/11 – that was the only time where I felt “Okay, Engage is actually trying to do something interesting now” and the various elements of the game actually came together in a satisfying way. Past that point, nothing really worked for me.

Having completed Engage, I can confidently say it is the most disappointing FE game I've ever played (besides FEH), and it was definitely not worth my time.

A really good Fire Emblem game.

The engage system adds depth to the game. A unit you might think is underwhelming might be better with the right emblem pairing. This game might be fun to replay every now and then to experiment with different unit and emblem parings.

The story while a bit clique, is a entertaining mostly due to the writing. The characters are fun even if they don't have the depth of the casts from other FE games.

The artstyle this game has is really appealing. It's vibrant and colorful. The style fits the tone of the story which is a huge plus.

Game Finished In 2024 #7:

I am something of a fairwearther Fire Emblem Fan. Were I to rank gaming franchises by how attached I am to them, Fire Emblem would be a comfortable B. I have played every game since Awakening, and a couple before then, but I largely don't get motivated enough to finish them. So why is it then, that I decided to play through and Engage, an anniversary title? Isn't it kinda weird? It is, but for the most part, it did work for me.

Having a passive familiarity with most FE games is all one needs, really. Despite how important you might think prior FE knowledge would be to an anniversary game like this, you would be kind of wrong. There are passing references, but there is rarely much depth to them. I did pick up on some of them from the games I've played, but they were largely unimportant to the enjoyment of the game.

Speaking of, this game is primarily enjoyed for the gameplay. I make it a point to give a game's story A Shot. I don't like skipping cutscenes, so I try to see what a story has to offer. Engage's story has nothing to offer. About the nicest thing I can say about it is "I am glad they stuck to one route this time". The character writing, showcased in the supports, does have some good stuff, but the actual Plot is basically auxiliary to the gameplay.

Luckily, for most of the runtime, Engage is one of the best FE games to actually play. The game plays with a lot of established FE standards, and manages to be as compelling, or even moreso at times, than Three Houses's gameplay, the previous contender for my favorite FE game in gameplay. Things like removing weapon durability go a long way towards making the game stand out. Of course, the titular mechanic of Engaging is the most unique feature the game has, and it is one I'm going to be sad to see go. In simple terms, you get a character from a previous FE game, and can pair them up with any one of your units to give them special abilities. Furthermore, you can Engage with an emblem to gain further abilities, including a limit break-esque special move, and additional weapons to use. This push and pull of when to Engage to turn the tide of battle results in a lot of interesting encounters.

This is also a great game, presentation-wise. While I didn't remember much of the music, the vibrant graphical style and bold character designs were a marked step up from Three Houses, which was genuinely difficult to look at after realizing how good Engage looks. The animations, especially for critical hits, were also polished. Some may criticize the designs, but they're very Fun in a way that fits the game overall.

Unfortunately, Engage does have some flaws. The Somniel, on paper a version of the Academy from Three Houses without the time limit, ends up undermining itself by utterly inundating the player with mechanics. Going back to the Somniel after every chapter genuinely felt like doing dailies in a particularly unpleasant gacha game. The mechanical bloat also made it incredibly difficult to discern what mechanics were worth bothering with or not. The game's reliance on materials and currencies to facilitate a lot of mechanics did not help in the slightest, as I always felt short on them due to my attempts to stay away from the skirmish encounters. You get "war funds" from time to time, which struck me as a way to smooth this process, but they did not provide any materials to go along with, resulting in me largely neglecting the blacksmith. Trying to discern what I would actually benefit from doing in between chapters made it arguably more stressful than the chapters themselves at times. That is, at least until the three chapters before the final boss, where even the thin plot stretches to it's breaking point for a plotline that is essentially padding, coupled with downright unpleasant chapters. Perhaps I missed a mechanic to make these three chapters bearable, but there was simply so much in the game it was impossible to tell what I could have done to make those less annoying. Doubly confusing, in that the final boss himself was completely fine and went down with no trouble.

I sincerely hope Engage informs FE games in the future. I'd like to see better plots, of course, but the gameplay is so good it would be a shame to see it completely abandoned. A game that could theoretically combine 3H's quality of writing and Engage's gameplay would likely be handily the greatest FE game ever made. As long as they stick to one route. Please?

Going into Engage I had zero clue what to expect. After seeing so much post-launch discourse about this game, I wasn't sure if I was getting into something good or potentially disappointing, but I'm glad to say it exceeded far beyond my expectations and has become one of my top 10 games of all time. In a way, I feel like Fates Conquest walked so that Engage could run, and I don't even mean to say that Conquest was bad in any capacity; Engage is just that many miles ahead of every other game in the series that I have played. The vibrant and colourful artstyle is controversial but I honestly don't care if it fits the franchise or not, it's really fucking pretty. To enhance this aspect even further, the combat animations and overall flow of gameplay is immensely satisfying and nice to look at. I don't think any FE game's animations come close to Engage's. On the topic of art direction, I really like a lot of the character designs in this game, yes even Alear's. I don't think this should be the standard for Fire Emblem but I think most of the characters in this game look really cool and fun.

The emblems gimmick of this game is incredibly fun to customize with the insane pool of skills and perks to choose from. It adds a whole new layer of strategy beyond the typical map preparations from prior entries. With reclassing making a return alongside a new skill system, there are quite literally an infinite amount of possibilities for how you might want to build your army and playstyle. One minor issue I have with Engage is that the Somniel does make the gameplay loop a tad bit worse; albeit it's definitely an improvement on the monastery in terms of time and playing optimally.

The cast of characters in Engage are also very good. Many characters in this game ended up becoming some of my favourites in the franchise, though as an ensemble it does have competition with the likes of Three Houses, Tellius, and Awakening. Some of my favourites in the game include Nel, Ivy, Yunaka, Merrin, Boucheron, Celine, Alear, Veyle, and Mauvier. My one criticism for the characters are the emblems. They are either very underwhelming in terms of content, or are completely different from how they were in their origin games. Lyn, Eirika, and Micaiah are some major examples of characters who just feel very different than they were in their source material. And the rest of the emblems are just kind of bland, and I think a lot of the blandness is due to the bond conversations being so short and one-note. Not exactly anyone's fault, because I wouldn't want bond conversations to be as long as support conversations, but it's just unfortunate. It just feels like a big missed opportunity that some emblems who do know each other have hardly anything to say to each other.

Finally I want to discuss the story. I like it a lot. It's definitely safe and very simple, but that's fine. I would have liked a deeper story similar to Tellius or Fodlan, but I liked what we got. I do think the last handful of chapters were a bit underwhelming (especially the finale) but otherwise I enjoyed it throughout the whole game despite some obvious issues.

Engage is one of the best Fire Emblem games and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. If you go into the game without the influence and expectations of all the negative feedback this game got, it's one of the most enjoyable experiences you can get from this series.