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.

(Hard/Classic player)

I've never played an SRPG before Engage, hell I didn't play that many RPGs in general and honestly I only picked this game up because it was new, I had a lot of money from my birthday and wanted to try the series out for a while now

3 playthroughs and 200 hours later - holy shit I love this game.

Fantastic map design throught the entire main campaign, an astounding amount of fun mechanics, consistently great music and the game is just gorgeous - even on my regural handheld Switch the colors just pop and the combat animations are full of life and energy.
As for the story, I honestly think people are too hard on it. It's definitely not a game you play for the story as it definitely has bad bits (most stuff related to the Four Hounds), but most of it is perfectly average with the occasional good moment like Chapters 10, 24 and 25. I've seen people online describing this story as it killed their dog or something and I think that's just a bit silly. The character cast however is very fun - they're not the most deep or fleshed out characters out there but I do enjoy almost all of them and most support chains left me with a smile, also the voice actors are suprisingly good.

So yeah, I'm sold on Fire Emblem now. Engage is seriously fantastic, just don't expect much from the story and you're ought to have a great time if you enjoy SRPGs

Fire Emblem Engage is one of the greatest Tactical JRPGs I've played. The story may be its biggest slip, but the rest of the experience more than makes up for a very entertaining game.

From its opening cutscene to how well it runs, from beginning to end, it's very noticeable that this is one of the most beautiful games on the Switch. The environments are a bit empty, but it's all very colorful, charming, sometimes bleak and, overall, inviting! Character designs are great, the Somniel looks pleasant and comforting, the arenas feel grand and even the overworld map is amazing.

The cast of characters pleased me right from the start! They're definitely tropey and a bit cliche, but I loved most of them, their usefulness in battle, their backstories and little support/bond conversations. I got attached to them. From Citrine's questioning of Yunaka's past, to Goldmary and Panette's weird cooking lessons. You'll definitely find your favorite and there are A LOT of them. Maybe more than it should, I think.

But it's hard not to talk about the cast without touching upon the dialogues. And I'll be frank: it's obnoxious! The story is your basic "good vs evil" shonen, with a few predictable twists here and there. It's not great, but it's fine. There were some genuine epic moments, in fact. But when it comes to its writing? It's bad.

The presentation during conversations doesn't help either. When you have bad writing + bad character interaction scenes, you end up turning some story bits into shallow moments. There's no impact in places screaming for it! It's a major flaw, but one that I was gladly able to look past.

Especially since what holds FE Engage together is definitely its perfect combat system. It's easy to get into, never gets too complicated, it's challenging without being frustrating (fuck classic mode, tho), the arenas are stimulating, combat animations look amazing, objectives are nice and the whole loop is just super addictive. Once you're done with it, it's hard to let go!

I loved the Engage system and its celebration of the franchise. Character progression was certainly satisfying, as well. The only things that bothered me were how hard it was to acquire SP and Gold and how tiresome it became to inherit skills, having to swtch emblem rings constantly. Other than that, it was incredible. Especially boss fights on arenas with weird terrain effects. I think it will be hard to go back to past instalments after experiencing this level of refinement.

And last, but not least, the soundtrack is superb! It's thrilling, calming, ominous and quite epic. Remixes of old FE themes that played during some paralogues were fantastic. And what about Somniel's songs? Simply remarkable! I don't think there's a single song I didn't like. Just wish I could listen to it on Spotify or something.

Fire Emblem Engage is my 3rd and favorite game in the series, so far. It has almost everything you need for a good JRPG: great cast, perfect battle system, charming world and an excellent soundtrack.

It's a shame that they dropped the ball on the story. With the right writing, better dialogue presentation and an overall deeper plot, this could be one for the ages.

I understand how somethings in it can make you ignore it, but trust me, don't let it.

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.