Game looks cool and it’s awesome that Marth is appearing in it, but why do the protagonists look so weird?
Do you like Genshin? Do you like Vtubers? Do you like FEH? Here’s all of that!
So this is the supposedly latest "mainline" game in this franchise. I know Engage is allegedly a game celebrating
the 30th anniversary of FE, but that's even worse. Bold move celebrating the 30th anniversary of FE with a game that doesn't look like FE at all.
FE always looked like anime and followed the latest trends in artstyle etc, but all character designs still had a coherent theme. The medieval europe aesthetic was always a big influence. Even in a horny game like Fates (even the Hoshido desgins were coherent for the aesthetics of the nation). Ignoring the fanservice most designs looked decent (though there were some stinkers like Peri).
But Engage looks like it has no theme at all. It's just "fantasy" and goofy. The character designs are all over the place like they're all from different fantasy gacha games.
These designs seem like a perfect blend of every currrent day anime design trope and it just looks soulless as a result.
This artstyle is by far the worst the series has ever seen, and it makes me appreciate Three Houses, SoV, Path of Radiance etc. all the more. You know what actually bothers me the most, more than just disliking the aesthetics of the designs? All the women I see look like goddamn kids and suffer from same face syndrome. And my god, the 3D models in general look absolutely atrocious. Even the past lords look like shit in this game's style. Engage is certainly more colorful, but that's honestly it. The textures in Engage are another problem, they're mostly not there. The textures on everything are so flat. Everything looks so artificial because of it. FE3H was not a good looking game but I expected more from a game that released nearly 4 years later.
This game looks like a dollar store genshin that collabs with FE, but at least the Genshin characters look coherent for the themes and aesthetics of the nation they come from.
Colgate and friends look like a travelling circus. I remember when some pictures of this game leaked some time ago and people were 100% convinced that this was a chinese bootleg FE gacha, because of course they would.
Well, let's talk about the gameplay. It's FE so the gameplay was bound to be fun. People say that Engage is going back to its roots because the game "focuses more on the
tactical gameplay than the story, lore and characters". While it's true that Engage offers more variety in the tactical side of things, it still falls flat since the game is lacking some kind of balance. Thanks to the rings units are broken from the start. The problem is, to balance against this, you’d need to have absurdly difficult enemy units, who would invalidate all non-ring using characters and they didn't do that. Though, there are units/classes that are broken in general, so clearing maps wasn't really challenging. Engage offers average FE gameplay with some neat battle animation updates. There are some improvements, but also some step backs. But hey, at least we got weapon triangle back, right?
This is by far one of the easiest FE game I've played. Don't get me wrong, the gameplay is fun but it's not "more challenging" than the past games in that regard. Also, Engage got new game modes and mechanics that are straight up from FEH and I'm not a fan.
The story...exists. Most FE stories aren't really all that unique but can still be enjoyed as political dramas on surface level for most of the time (I greatly enjoyed PoR, Thracia and 3H)
Engage's plot is the most vanilla, over the top anime story in this franchise and I mean this in a bad way. Yeah, it's even more "anime" than Fates. The story simply does not live up to previous installments in the series writing-wise.
Oh and Emblem heroes don't factor much into the plot at all, even Marth.
Also, I hate the "but FE was always anime!!!" argument. Yeah, no shit. Anime can have different genres, artstyle and a difference in tone and groundedness. Not every modern anime has to look like a generic moe harem isekai. Because you know, even "anime" can be serious. And it's not like the series cannot try to do that these days - see SoV and 3H. Now, I'm not against lighthearted plots in this franchise, but Engage's plot is just a joke that overstays its welcome way too long. It's been a while since I cringed so many times while playing a game.
The cast is also the most forgettable one. None of the characters felt unique or interesting in any way. Everyone here is meant to either be a laugh, a bland stereotype, or combination of the two. So, tiresome one-note gimmicks whose character profile never left the draft drawer but was put into the game anyway. Supports heavily focus on the character's gimmicks, which got annoying very fast. The supports are not engaging in any way. It's quantity over quality. All of them are very short, but I appreciate that they fully voiced all of them.
Honestly, the only reason I played this game is because I love Fire Emblem and wanted to give this game a chance. I enjoy FE gameplay, but even good gameplay can get tedious and boring if I don't care about the rest of the game. After finishing a map, I got rewarded with more over the top anime crap and meh characters. I was just not invested enough because of that and hated my time with it as a result. See, I love plenty of gameplay-focused games. The issue is that Engage isn't structured like a gameplay-focused game, it's structured like a game with a shit story featuring shitty characters. Does it give you a rough outline of a story to then let you play freely with no distraction? No. It's not a dungeon crawler, it's not XCOM, it's a very classic FE game with tons of character introductions and interactions that are wasting your time, they're just bad. I can't just admit the game's writing is so shit that it's better to skip every cutscene and call that "gameplay-focused", it's clearly a failure and not the intended experience. That was the worst experience I had with a FE game.
The only interesting thing about Engage are the past lords but if I want to see them I just play their games, where they look decent and not like...this. They're also not even able to
interact with each other or are all that relevant in the story, so whats the point of this "celebration"? That you'll point at your favorite lords and clap? That's what FEH is for. This game that shoves in generic anime designs, gags, lines, acting, same baby face women, and non fitting outfits and other elements is for me the worst FE game. I hope the next one will be better, because this was very disappointing after FE3H's big success. I understand that Engage is supposed to be a goofy and lighthearted "celebration" of this franchise, but why is it mainline? And why is it done so bad? There are many other and better ways to celebrate this franchise that I came to really love. But not like this. It's nothing more than a soulless cashgrab.
(The game leaked a few days ago, so I had the chance to play it early.)
So this is the supposedly latest "mainline" game in this franchise. I know Engage is allegedly a game celebrating
the 30th anniversary of FE, but that's even worse. Bold move celebrating the 30th anniversary of FE with a game that doesn't look like FE at all.
FE always looked like anime and followed the latest trends in artstyle etc, but all character designs still had a coherent theme. The medieval europe aesthetic was always a big influence. Even in a horny game like Fates (even the Hoshido desgins were coherent for the aesthetics of the nation). Ignoring the fanservice most designs looked decent (though there were some stinkers like Peri).
But Engage looks like it has no theme at all. It's just "fantasy" and goofy. The character designs are all over the place like they're all from different fantasy gacha games.
These designs seem like a perfect blend of every currrent day anime design trope and it just looks soulless as a result.
This artstyle is by far the worst the series has ever seen, and it makes me appreciate Three Houses, SoV, Path of Radiance etc. all the more. You know what actually bothers me the most, more than just disliking the aesthetics of the designs? All the women I see look like goddamn kids and suffer from same face syndrome. And my god, the 3D models in general look absolutely atrocious. Even the past lords look like shit in this game's style. Engage is certainly more colorful, but that's honestly it. The textures in Engage are another problem, they're mostly not there. The textures on everything are so flat. Everything looks so artificial because of it. FE3H was not a good looking game but I expected more from a game that released nearly 4 years later.
This game looks like a dollar store genshin that collabs with FE, but at least the Genshin characters look coherent for the themes and aesthetics of the nation they come from.
Colgate and friends look like a travelling circus. I remember when some pictures of this game leaked some time ago and people were 100% convinced that this was a chinese bootleg FE gacha, because of course they would.
Well, let's talk about the gameplay. It's FE so the gameplay was bound to be fun. People say that Engage is going back to its roots because the game "focuses more on the
tactical gameplay than the story, lore and characters". While it's true that Engage offers more variety in the tactical side of things, it still falls flat since the game is lacking some kind of balance. Thanks to the rings units are broken from the start. The problem is, to balance against this, you’d need to have absurdly difficult enemy units, who would invalidate all non-ring using characters and they didn't do that. Though, there are units/classes that are broken in general, so clearing maps wasn't really challenging. Engage offers average FE gameplay with some neat battle animation updates. There are some improvements, but also some step backs. But hey, at least we got weapon triangle back, right?
This is by far one of the easiest FE game I've played. Don't get me wrong, the gameplay is fun but it's not "more challenging" than the past games in that regard. Also, Engage got new game modes and mechanics that are straight up from FEH and I'm not a fan.
The story...exists. Most FE stories aren't really all that unique but can still be enjoyed as political dramas on surface level for most of the time (I greatly enjoyed PoR, Thracia and 3H)
Engage's plot is the most vanilla, over the top anime story in this franchise and I mean this in a bad way. Yeah, it's even more "anime" than Fates. The story simply does not live up to previous installments in the series writing-wise.
Oh and Emblem heroes don't factor much into the plot at all, even Marth.
Also, I hate the "but FE was always anime!!!" argument. Yeah, no shit. Anime can have different genres, artstyle and a difference in tone and groundedness. Not every modern anime has to look like a generic moe harem isekai. Because you know, even "anime" can be serious. And it's not like the series cannot try to do that these days - see SoV and 3H. Now, I'm not against lighthearted plots in this franchise, but Engage's plot is just a joke that overstays its welcome way too long. It's been a while since I cringed so many times while playing a game.
The cast is also the most forgettable one. None of the characters felt unique or interesting in any way. Everyone here is meant to either be a laugh, a bland stereotype, or combination of the two. So, tiresome one-note gimmicks whose character profile never left the draft drawer but was put into the game anyway. Supports heavily focus on the character's gimmicks, which got annoying very fast. The supports are not engaging in any way. It's quantity over quality. All of them are very short, but I appreciate that they fully voiced all of them.
Honestly, the only reason I played this game is because I love Fire Emblem and wanted to give this game a chance. I enjoy FE gameplay, but even good gameplay can get tedious and boring if I don't care about the rest of the game. After finishing a map, I got rewarded with more over the top anime crap and meh characters. I was just not invested enough because of that and hated my time with it as a result. See, I love plenty of gameplay-focused games. The issue is that Engage isn't structured like a gameplay-focused game, it's structured like a game with a shit story featuring shitty characters. Does it give you a rough outline of a story to then let you play freely with no distraction? No. It's not a dungeon crawler, it's not XCOM, it's a very classic FE game with tons of character introductions and interactions that are wasting your time, they're just bad. I can't just admit the game's writing is so shit that it's better to skip every cutscene and call that "gameplay-focused", it's clearly a failure and not the intended experience. That was the worst experience I had with a FE game.
The only interesting thing about Engage are the past lords but if I want to see them I just play their games, where they look decent and not like...this. They're also not even able to
interact with each other or are all that relevant in the story, so whats the point of this "celebration"? That you'll point at your favorite lords and clap? That's what FEH is for. This game that shoves in generic anime designs, gags, lines, acting, same baby face women, and non fitting outfits and other elements is for me the worst FE game. I hope the next one will be better, because this was very disappointing after FE3H's big success. I understand that Engage is supposed to be a goofy and lighthearted "celebration" of this franchise, but why is it mainline? And why is it done so bad? There are many other and better ways to celebrate this franchise that I came to really love. But not like this. It's nothing more than a soulless cashgrab.
(The game leaked a few days ago, so I had the chance to play it early.)
alear is somehow worse than corrin in every way, the dialog is insufferable, the cutscene animations vary between bad mocap and sfm porn in quality, and the majority of the cast is just as one note as the fates/awakening characters but with even less appealing designs. the only positives in this game are the map design and the in battle animations, which are both surprisingly good, but still far from the best the series has to offer and the emblem system makes the act of playing the game trivial. everything else is just a testament to the fact that fire emblem has been on a downward spiral since the release of awakening. the kusakihara directed games seem to be the only ones we can expect to do anything right in terms of characters and story, but even then based on the two games we've gotten they aren't that great aside from the one that is based on an existing game.
speaking of the existing games, it's also very frustrating to me how flanderized or just completely mishandled the emblems are. for a title that was initially an anniversary project you'd think they'd show a small amount of respect to the source material they're supposedly celebrating, but instead they decide to drag the legacy characters down to the level of the modern franchise in terms of writing and characterization to the point where the filler voice lines from the gacha game are better representations of these characters
i'm sure if you started with modern fire emblem and don't care for the older titles you'll enjoy this game but i absolutely hate it, and i would've preferred fire emblem to die with new mystery than become whatever the hell it is now. hopefully we'll eventually get a title that recaptures what the series used to be outside of remakes of what it used to be, but based on the trajectory of intelligent system's other rpg series, i sincerely doubt it.
addendum: i went back and finished the game, here is my review with my thoughts after not abandoning it halfway through
speaking of the existing games, it's also very frustrating to me how flanderized or just completely mishandled the emblems are. for a title that was initially an anniversary project you'd think they'd show a small amount of respect to the source material they're supposedly celebrating, but instead they decide to drag the legacy characters down to the level of the modern franchise in terms of writing and characterization to the point where the filler voice lines from the gacha game are better representations of these characters
i'm sure if you started with modern fire emblem and don't care for the older titles you'll enjoy this game but i absolutely hate it, and i would've preferred fire emblem to die with new mystery than become whatever the hell it is now. hopefully we'll eventually get a title that recaptures what the series used to be outside of remakes of what it used to be, but based on the trajectory of intelligent system's other rpg series, i sincerely doubt it.
addendum: i went back and finished the game, here is my review with my thoughts after not abandoning it halfway through
A shallow story with generic cliche characters that band together using the power of friendship to defeat an evil dragon, presented with an aggressively jarring art direction?
Excellent. I love Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon.
Excellent. I love Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon.
Remember when Fire Emblem was about, like, war and politics. It even had commentary on human suffering and religion and discrimination and so on and so forth. Fire Emblem used to be good. It used to mean something.
(For a more serious review:
I'm not totally opposed to the idea of a trashy fanservice game that only exists as an anniversary title, but if that was the goal of this game then why waste their time with the brand new world and characters that no one seems to care about. Why not make it a series-wide crossover and include several characters from each game instead of only 1 character. I've seen a couple people say that maybe this game was only made so that they could sell more swimsuit alts in the gacha game and honestly that idea makes me a bit depressed. The idea of a series like Fire Emblem going the route of pokemon where new games are primarily made to sell merchandise is pretty disheartening. I'm not actually that pessimistic about the future of FE though. We know an FE4 remake is coming and I'm currently praying that the team that made 3H is working on that.)
(For a more serious review:
I'm not totally opposed to the idea of a trashy fanservice game that only exists as an anniversary title, but if that was the goal of this game then why waste their time with the brand new world and characters that no one seems to care about. Why not make it a series-wide crossover and include several characters from each game instead of only 1 character. I've seen a couple people say that maybe this game was only made so that they could sell more swimsuit alts in the gacha game and honestly that idea makes me a bit depressed. The idea of a series like Fire Emblem going the route of pokemon where new games are primarily made to sell merchandise is pretty disheartening. I'm not actually that pessimistic about the future of FE though. We know an FE4 remake is coming and I'm currently praying that the team that made 3H is working on that.)
hell nah they made the fire ember into a merryweather comic
Ok, I think this game is very easy to critizise just by the stuff we saw in trailers and the first couple of hours, I understand it is definately not what most people were expecting and I don't think being disappointed by it is unfair, but in my experience I disagree with a couple of the complaints made to this point, and I have to comment on some.
But first, starting with positives, the gameplay is very fun and even tho I still don't know if there will be ways to abuse it or make it feel like a joke, is very fair and balanced. It is definately not what I was expecting, becuase seeing the rings and their effects in the showcases, me and almost everyone would've thought they were inmensly overpowered, but they fit nicely into the gameplay and the maps and enemy locations are prepared with the rings in mind.
It is very difficult to balance a fire emblem game, and sometimes it's even fun to play unbalanced fire emblem games, but this one is still highly enjoyable even on higher difficulties, I don't feel as many bullshit as with three houses and the maps for now are one of my favorites in the series and I haven't finished the game.
Talking about difficulties, "Hard" actually poses a challenge, as opposed to, again, Three Houses which was a joke except on the "maddening" difficulty, which often used same-turn reinforcements and bullshit mechanics to keep it hard (infamous Reunion at Dawn). I still haven't touched maddening in this game, but hard does impose a bit of challenge and I am hopeful it will be as sweet in the highest difficulty, will update my review based on that.
Now, addressing the art-style, it is really different from the rest of the games so far, and I agree that the fact that this series changes it's style frecuently wouldn't be an excuse for badly designed characters and environments. So yes, Alear is not a compelling design, and I found a couple that weren't too great either, but the rest of them aren't bad at all.
You could complain that that are too separated from each other and they don't look like they are from the same game sometimes, I don't agree but even if it was the case, I like having a diverse cast and they fit in their own kingdoms and follow a trend in each one as if they had a different culture. They are mostly nice designs and I like the fact that they made them distinctive according to their region of origin, which they didn't do in past FE games with some exceptions.
Now, the graphics on the other hand, look gorgeous, even if you think they are generic, the bright colors and textures are very nice to the eyes and I found myself really digging the art style thanks to the backgrounds in battle, I really don't understand people that call this ugly because I don't see it at all.
Also, this game has top tier animations, for the attacks and dodges, it's one of the first games where I don't see myself pressing the skip button or turning animations off becuase they take too long, at least since the GBA games. There is one where, if the character has a high level, instead of just dodging an arrow he will break it with his sword mid-air and it's unnecessary, but it's still there and it's hilarious, things like that give this game more charm than any of the pokémon games on switch.
Now, talking about characters and story, maybe the story isn't anything special, that's definately true, it's not like Fire Emblem has any game with an incredible story, far from it, but this one follows generic story beats of old games. It's not horrendous, there aren't any stupid decisions or questionable plot points as in other games, but it isn't great.
On the other hand, I find myself also liking most of the characters in the game, maybe they aren't as focused and three dimensional as in three houses, but almost all of them have something interesting and the supports rarely feel annoying.
Alear is a step up for the avatar character, not as great as Shez I think, but it improves upon Byleth, feels more similar to something like Robin. Of course he isn't complex or anything, and I don't personally like avatars and would be happier if they stopped using them, but he is decent enough. Only thing I do have to mention is that the characters are jerking him off most of the time, and that is something that wasn't present with Byleth (that much) and does bother me, but it isn't a problem with Alear himself.
So, to keep things simple, Engage is a game that improves in gameplay significantly sacrificing a bit of the story significance that was in the previous entry, but that doesn't make it worse, just a very different experience that is focused on another group of people which are here for the strategy and want to have a good time with it. I think It succeeds in that regard and I couldn't be happier with how fun I'm having with the maps until now, even with the average story, I am still picking characters depending on how much I like them, and I am enjoying building them more than in the most recent entries at least.
Complaining about the tropes and art style is definately fair, but some of the critiques miss the point completely and makes it seem like Fire Emblem wasn't always about a game where you have to build your own army and strategic resource management. Three Houses is to blame for setting expectations to new players into other directions, (not that I'm mad with 3H or anything, I also adore that game, but the reasons are completely different, and I don't expect to find myself enjoying the same aspects, becuase shaking things up once in a while is what makes the series feel fresh with every new entry).
My last point, is a bit more of rant, and it's not from my experience of the game, but a response to some complaints I have heard that make little to no sense to me, I'll try to not extend myself too much.
First, the fact that this game is the 30th anniversary celebration title is false, people said it becuase of the leaks that came out which turned out to be true, but blindly trusting leaks isn't a good source of information, as a couple other things, like the fact that Gust was involved with the game, turned out to be false. Expecting it to be a celebration and being disappointed becuase of the ring mechanics, doesn't justify the fact that it is still a normal mainline Fire Emblem game, and it doesn't need to prove itself worthy or more special than any other title. Maybe it doesn't have to be the best in every department and it's focused on being a different experience and attracting different people (that's why it is so different to Three Houses despite coming on the same console).
If you are worried about the direction of the series and don't like this game, don't whine online about how this is "ruining" the series, the next entry will be completely different again, and maybe it will take a while but a new game may fit you taste as time passes, if not, you have more than 17 old games with infinite replayability that may please you.
This game is not going to damage the series and turn it into anything that it isn't just becuase you don't like the artstyle and story, it is still an excellent Fire Emblem game at its core, and many people such as me are enjoying it and will enjoy the next entries as much as this one becuase I simply can't find myself hating a game that looks and plays great (at least it's how I feel) as I'm sure the next games will too.
Not mad at people who don't like the game, but some came with the expectation of hating it just for the first trailer and ended up doing it becuase that's obviously what's going to happen if you have that attitude. Sad that a great part of the fanbase aren't enjoying it as much as I am tho, but again, you don't have to light up all the alarms, it is not a big deal.
Luckily a Genealogy Remake is coming next, hope that game satysfies the fans that enjoy FR stories becuase that is easily the best one of the bunch, very hyped for that game too.
But first, starting with positives, the gameplay is very fun and even tho I still don't know if there will be ways to abuse it or make it feel like a joke, is very fair and balanced. It is definately not what I was expecting, becuase seeing the rings and their effects in the showcases, me and almost everyone would've thought they were inmensly overpowered, but they fit nicely into the gameplay and the maps and enemy locations are prepared with the rings in mind.
It is very difficult to balance a fire emblem game, and sometimes it's even fun to play unbalanced fire emblem games, but this one is still highly enjoyable even on higher difficulties, I don't feel as many bullshit as with three houses and the maps for now are one of my favorites in the series and I haven't finished the game.
Talking about difficulties, "Hard" actually poses a challenge, as opposed to, again, Three Houses which was a joke except on the "maddening" difficulty, which often used same-turn reinforcements and bullshit mechanics to keep it hard (infamous Reunion at Dawn). I still haven't touched maddening in this game, but hard does impose a bit of challenge and I am hopeful it will be as sweet in the highest difficulty, will update my review based on that.
Now, addressing the art-style, it is really different from the rest of the games so far, and I agree that the fact that this series changes it's style frecuently wouldn't be an excuse for badly designed characters and environments. So yes, Alear is not a compelling design, and I found a couple that weren't too great either, but the rest of them aren't bad at all.
You could complain that that are too separated from each other and they don't look like they are from the same game sometimes, I don't agree but even if it was the case, I like having a diverse cast and they fit in their own kingdoms and follow a trend in each one as if they had a different culture. They are mostly nice designs and I like the fact that they made them distinctive according to their region of origin, which they didn't do in past FE games with some exceptions.
Now, the graphics on the other hand, look gorgeous, even if you think they are generic, the bright colors and textures are very nice to the eyes and I found myself really digging the art style thanks to the backgrounds in battle, I really don't understand people that call this ugly because I don't see it at all.
Also, this game has top tier animations, for the attacks and dodges, it's one of the first games where I don't see myself pressing the skip button or turning animations off becuase they take too long, at least since the GBA games. There is one where, if the character has a high level, instead of just dodging an arrow he will break it with his sword mid-air and it's unnecessary, but it's still there and it's hilarious, things like that give this game more charm than any of the pokémon games on switch.
Now, talking about characters and story, maybe the story isn't anything special, that's definately true, it's not like Fire Emblem has any game with an incredible story, far from it, but this one follows generic story beats of old games. It's not horrendous, there aren't any stupid decisions or questionable plot points as in other games, but it isn't great.
On the other hand, I find myself also liking most of the characters in the game, maybe they aren't as focused and three dimensional as in three houses, but almost all of them have something interesting and the supports rarely feel annoying.
Alear is a step up for the avatar character, not as great as Shez I think, but it improves upon Byleth, feels more similar to something like Robin. Of course he isn't complex or anything, and I don't personally like avatars and would be happier if they stopped using them, but he is decent enough. Only thing I do have to mention is that the characters are jerking him off most of the time, and that is something that wasn't present with Byleth (that much) and does bother me, but it isn't a problem with Alear himself.
So, to keep things simple, Engage is a game that improves in gameplay significantly sacrificing a bit of the story significance that was in the previous entry, but that doesn't make it worse, just a very different experience that is focused on another group of people which are here for the strategy and want to have a good time with it. I think It succeeds in that regard and I couldn't be happier with how fun I'm having with the maps until now, even with the average story, I am still picking characters depending on how much I like them, and I am enjoying building them more than in the most recent entries at least.
Complaining about the tropes and art style is definately fair, but some of the critiques miss the point completely and makes it seem like Fire Emblem wasn't always about a game where you have to build your own army and strategic resource management. Three Houses is to blame for setting expectations to new players into other directions, (not that I'm mad with 3H or anything, I also adore that game, but the reasons are completely different, and I don't expect to find myself enjoying the same aspects, becuase shaking things up once in a while is what makes the series feel fresh with every new entry).
My last point, is a bit more of rant, and it's not from my experience of the game, but a response to some complaints I have heard that make little to no sense to me, I'll try to not extend myself too much.
First, the fact that this game is the 30th anniversary celebration title is false, people said it becuase of the leaks that came out which turned out to be true, but blindly trusting leaks isn't a good source of information, as a couple other things, like the fact that Gust was involved with the game, turned out to be false. Expecting it to be a celebration and being disappointed becuase of the ring mechanics, doesn't justify the fact that it is still a normal mainline Fire Emblem game, and it doesn't need to prove itself worthy or more special than any other title. Maybe it doesn't have to be the best in every department and it's focused on being a different experience and attracting different people (that's why it is so different to Three Houses despite coming on the same console).
If you are worried about the direction of the series and don't like this game, don't whine online about how this is "ruining" the series, the next entry will be completely different again, and maybe it will take a while but a new game may fit you taste as time passes, if not, you have more than 17 old games with infinite replayability that may please you.
This game is not going to damage the series and turn it into anything that it isn't just becuase you don't like the artstyle and story, it is still an excellent Fire Emblem game at its core, and many people such as me are enjoying it and will enjoy the next entries as much as this one becuase I simply can't find myself hating a game that looks and plays great (at least it's how I feel) as I'm sure the next games will too.
Not mad at people who don't like the game, but some came with the expectation of hating it just for the first trailer and ended up doing it becuase that's obviously what's going to happen if you have that attitude. Sad that a great part of the fanbase aren't enjoying it as much as I am tho, but again, you don't have to light up all the alarms, it is not a big deal.
Luckily a Genealogy Remake is coming next, hope that game satysfies the fans that enjoy FR stories becuase that is easily the best one of the bunch, very hyped for that game too.
I'm not even interested in this game for the time being
I just wanna send Framme out on the frontlines with no weapon
I just wanna send Framme out on the frontlines with no weapon
This would be a 8 but it gets extra 2 points for not being three houses
To edit in a actual review
Neat story with raw moments nothing rly offensive in it the real draw is the gameplay, played on maddening and a had a well, engaging time this is just the best series has ever balanced the hardest difficulty
the music is fire both original tracks and remixes, the supports are all mostly fun to read, the cast is likeable this is something that will grow on me as time goes as i replay it not because i need 325235 playthroughs to get a full picture but because i actually want to play this,
3rd edit: changed my mind this is the best game ever
To edit in a actual review
Neat story with raw moments nothing rly offensive in it the real draw is the gameplay, played on maddening and a had a well, engaging time this is just the best series has ever balanced the hardest difficulty
the music is fire both original tracks and remixes, the supports are all mostly fun to read, the cast is likeable this is something that will grow on me as time goes as i replay it not because i need 325235 playthroughs to get a full picture but because i actually want to play this,
3rd edit: changed my mind this is the best game ever
I know this game is leaning into camp and cringe but it's even too much for me
Shouzou Kaga aint got SHIT on that super sad™️ character death scene that had like 40 seconds of focus on said dying character's balloon tits. truly the first engaging fire emblem game.
Good gameplay doesn't make up for the quality of the writing.
Good gameplay doesn't make up for the quality of the writing.
after a second playthrough, if you ever saw my previous review, you didn't. Anyway, peak fiction.
Intelligent systems, is this a bit?
As soon as it was announced Engage is a game that was raising a bunch of red flags. Nostalgia baiting, the awful focus on a myunit, gimmicky new mechanics and fucking GACHA? The whole thing really looked like intelligent systems giving into the worst tendancies of post-awakening Fire Emblem.
And y'know, if that was it, i'd probably be at least fine with that. Fates, even revelations, one of the dumbest fucking things i've ever played, are all still at the very least, compelling. I have like 100 hours in Fates, embarassing as that is, because the Fire Emblem formula is still pretty great, conquest has like 5 good maps and the bad stuff is mostly ignorable. I have played fucking Gaiden to completion even after Echoes was out just to see what was up.
With engage ive got 15 hours in it and I can barely stomach a moment more. I want to keep going because I love FE. But I absolutely cannot stand this game.
Yes, like Fates, Engage is a game that falls prey to IS' stupid tendancies. But the real sin with Engage is that what has been cribbed about just does not gel together at all.
Main issue is bloat, on a gameplay level. Part of the genius of Fire Emblem is how really quite simple it all is, and how limited the resources and options really all are. The best section of the entire franchise, and it's not even close, is Thracia 776's Munster arc, a section which truly relies on you making the most of an incredibly limited toolset and pushing it as far as you can against overwhelming odds. Of course, over the years the complexity inevitably increased, to mixed but often positive results. Engage firmly goes too far though.
The big problem is the mixing of the social sim stuff from 3 houses whilst also incorporating its new stuff with the engage system and so on. Being able to boost stats and stuff in a hub was questionable but mosty worked in 3H, a game structured around it. In Engage all the stat boosting, friendship boosting, animal handling(why), minigames (WHY) are mindnumbing roadblocks to the fun strategy. These sorts of things have never really sat right in FE, where the ways damage formulas and speed formulas in particular work make tiny stat boosts often have huge implications, but this goes way too far in a game system very unsuited to it. It essentially stretches the preperations stage, already too long in most FEs, to being the majority of the game. It's unnaceptable.
And it's a real shame as a lot of the changes in the gameplay department are actually really good. Map design is probably the best it's been since radiant dawn, unit balance doesnt seem so overfocused on a small amount of strong units, bosses actually move about and honestly the engage system, regardless of it being insulting to the original characters and whatever, is a pretty neat gimmick honestly. It's a way more balanced version of pair up that gives effectively more burst damage and interesting techniques, which combined with enemies being generally stronger than previous games makes for an interesing loop. Obviously, its in this game so the execution is flubbed - the rings being limited in number kinda undoes the balance improvements on its own, and the skill inheritance, bonding, and gacha ring stuff is yet more pointless fluff to waste your damn time.
If the game just had the engage system over lets say, Radiance series levels of prep and other stuff going on, the gameplay could have been great, probably the best the series had seen in over a decade. But there's way too much going on to waste your time and it does not gel together.
The story and characters are so bafflingly bad I don't know who it's even for. As ludicrously bad as fates' are, at least it's very easy to pinpoint what's going for - the sheer power trip of being infalliable corrin, the stupid golden route both sides-ing and being able to have children with your big booba wyvern riding sister. Engage's is less bad in the "IS is down bad" regard, but it's worse in that it just completely forgets to have anything at all. It's completely hookless, the world and characters feel like they've got nothing going on at all, and it all feels very rote. The mystical/dragon elements feel tappen onto a pretty normal fire emblem plot and all they do is make the MC less personable and relatable. FE has only really had a good story in like 4 games, but it's structure as a series has always made it very easy to connect to characters and it has never dropped the ball this hard, and it's not like it's even trying something.
The whole game is just a confused mess, and doesnt even seem to be sure of who it's appeal is for. It's nostalgia bait to an extreme whilst barely resembling the simple, down to earth nature of those games. It goes for a simpler structure, dropping choice and most of the social sim elements (which people quite liked even if they're not entirely my bag), but keeps just enough of them to be really annoying. Characters are less of a focus for some reason? Romance is less of a thing? I can't even tell who this game is for because it feels like it consciously does something to alienate a fan of every game in the series, and it certaintly isnt for new players. Even as a "we needed 20 more characters to eventually put in heroes" joint it's a complete failure.
I hesitate to say this is the worst FE - Revelations is truly awful - but even Fates had like, an idea of what it was going for, as bad as what that is and as bad as it's execution is. Engage is aimless and awful and for the first time ever, it's easy for me to put an FE down.
As soon as it was announced Engage is a game that was raising a bunch of red flags. Nostalgia baiting, the awful focus on a myunit, gimmicky new mechanics and fucking GACHA? The whole thing really looked like intelligent systems giving into the worst tendancies of post-awakening Fire Emblem.
And y'know, if that was it, i'd probably be at least fine with that. Fates, even revelations, one of the dumbest fucking things i've ever played, are all still at the very least, compelling. I have like 100 hours in Fates, embarassing as that is, because the Fire Emblem formula is still pretty great, conquest has like 5 good maps and the bad stuff is mostly ignorable. I have played fucking Gaiden to completion even after Echoes was out just to see what was up.
With engage ive got 15 hours in it and I can barely stomach a moment more. I want to keep going because I love FE. But I absolutely cannot stand this game.
Yes, like Fates, Engage is a game that falls prey to IS' stupid tendancies. But the real sin with Engage is that what has been cribbed about just does not gel together at all.
Main issue is bloat, on a gameplay level. Part of the genius of Fire Emblem is how really quite simple it all is, and how limited the resources and options really all are. The best section of the entire franchise, and it's not even close, is Thracia 776's Munster arc, a section which truly relies on you making the most of an incredibly limited toolset and pushing it as far as you can against overwhelming odds. Of course, over the years the complexity inevitably increased, to mixed but often positive results. Engage firmly goes too far though.
The big problem is the mixing of the social sim stuff from 3 houses whilst also incorporating its new stuff with the engage system and so on. Being able to boost stats and stuff in a hub was questionable but mosty worked in 3H, a game structured around it. In Engage all the stat boosting, friendship boosting, animal handling(why), minigames (WHY) are mindnumbing roadblocks to the fun strategy. These sorts of things have never really sat right in FE, where the ways damage formulas and speed formulas in particular work make tiny stat boosts often have huge implications, but this goes way too far in a game system very unsuited to it. It essentially stretches the preperations stage, already too long in most FEs, to being the majority of the game. It's unnaceptable.
And it's a real shame as a lot of the changes in the gameplay department are actually really good. Map design is probably the best it's been since radiant dawn, unit balance doesnt seem so overfocused on a small amount of strong units, bosses actually move about and honestly the engage system, regardless of it being insulting to the original characters and whatever, is a pretty neat gimmick honestly. It's a way more balanced version of pair up that gives effectively more burst damage and interesting techniques, which combined with enemies being generally stronger than previous games makes for an interesing loop. Obviously, its in this game so the execution is flubbed - the rings being limited in number kinda undoes the balance improvements on its own, and the skill inheritance, bonding, and gacha ring stuff is yet more pointless fluff to waste your damn time.
If the game just had the engage system over lets say, Radiance series levels of prep and other stuff going on, the gameplay could have been great, probably the best the series had seen in over a decade. But there's way too much going on to waste your time and it does not gel together.
The story and characters are so bafflingly bad I don't know who it's even for. As ludicrously bad as fates' are, at least it's very easy to pinpoint what's going for - the sheer power trip of being infalliable corrin, the stupid golden route both sides-ing and being able to have children with your big booba wyvern riding sister. Engage's is less bad in the "IS is down bad" regard, but it's worse in that it just completely forgets to have anything at all. It's completely hookless, the world and characters feel like they've got nothing going on at all, and it all feels very rote. The mystical/dragon elements feel tappen onto a pretty normal fire emblem plot and all they do is make the MC less personable and relatable. FE has only really had a good story in like 4 games, but it's structure as a series has always made it very easy to connect to characters and it has never dropped the ball this hard, and it's not like it's even trying something.
The whole game is just a confused mess, and doesnt even seem to be sure of who it's appeal is for. It's nostalgia bait to an extreme whilst barely resembling the simple, down to earth nature of those games. It goes for a simpler structure, dropping choice and most of the social sim elements (which people quite liked even if they're not entirely my bag), but keeps just enough of them to be really annoying. Characters are less of a focus for some reason? Romance is less of a thing? I can't even tell who this game is for because it feels like it consciously does something to alienate a fan of every game in the series, and it certaintly isnt for new players. Even as a "we needed 20 more characters to eventually put in heroes" joint it's a complete failure.
I hesitate to say this is the worst FE - Revelations is truly awful - but even Fates had like, an idea of what it was going for, as bad as what that is and as bad as it's execution is. Engage is aimless and awful and for the first time ever, it's easy for me to put an FE down.
This review contains spoilers
I'm mixed at best.
Overall, I think the gameplay is solid. I think Break is an excellent mechanic that encourages aggression on the part of the player and makes the game's combat player-phase focused. The Engage effects are really flashy, really cool and really interesting - if a bit overpowered (Sigurd's effect is pretty bonkers, especially combined with Chloe which gives her a ridiculous amount of movement). Whilst I don't think there's an astounding map in Engage akin to Conquest Chapter 10, many of the maps in the early and mid game are very good, with the highlight being Chapter 11 in my view.
That being said, though Engage's gameplay is an improvement over Echoes and Three Houses, I absolutely wouldn't say it has the best gameplay in the series. In particular, I think Conquest overall has better balance by virtue of not having the Engage effects be so powerful, and whilst the early and mid game's map designs are good, I think that outside of the (admittedly great) final boss, Engage's map design deteriorates significantly in the late game. Out of the last 10 maps, I think there are only two maps with meaningful side objectives (in Chapters 19 and 20) and one additional anti-turtling incentive (via a time limit in Chapter 24) - and many of the late game maps feel like open fields without much in the way of interesting terrain - to the point where I'd argue that if it wasn't for Engage's core mechanics, most of the late game maps aren't any better than those of Three Houses.
My biggest issue with Engage's plot is there is nothing that is at all compelling. There's nothing that is compelling enough to really hook players in and leave a lasting impression on them either. None of the game's emotional beats manage to hit particularly well and nothing the game presents has provoked any kind of thought. Whilst Fire Emblem has had its share of simple stories in the past, no story in the series has been this incredibly shallow. I would be perfectly fine with a simple story (Sacred Stones is one of my favorite games in the series because of how well it is executed) - but Engage isn't the next Sacred Stones. If anything, it's the next Birthright in how poor the story's execution is despite how little the story attempts to do.
The dialogue is abysmal - characters at times feel like they were written by aliens who read about how humans talk in a book. This, I would argue, worsens the game's incessant avatar pandering. Whilst avatar pandering has been an issue with every Fire Emblem game since Awakening, it has never been this blatant.
Another minor issue with Engage's plot that may have been forgivable if it was attached to a more interesting story is its tonal inconsistencies. Whilst I wouldn't have had that much of an issue if Engage had committed to being a more comedic Fire Emblem game (and the first few chapters are by far the best for this reason) - there are countless moments where the game wants me to take it seriously, and because of how jarring this is compared to the silly anime hijinks that fill the rest of Engage's plot, none of these moments land.
Whilst Engage is not supposed to be a groundbreaking plot, given that it is clearly an anniversary title, I also have to note the sheer unoriginality of Engage's plot - to the point where certain late-game plot points are flat out ripped from Fates.
Engage's plot really suffers in its pacing. Because it tries to rush players from plot point to plot point without giving the player time reflect upon events or actually showing the backstories of certain characters, nothing in Engage that resembles an emotional moment feels at all earned. Of particular note is Lumera's second death in Chapter 25 where she gets revived and dies in the span of one chapter just like Mikoto did in Revelation and which my response basically was "At least Mikoto had the decency to not drag out her death for five minutes". Compare this with Lyon where there are numerous cutscenes in Sacred Stones showing his backstory and humanizing him well before he is ever fought, or even Emmeryn or Jeralt's deaths, which occur far later in the plot that that of Lumera's and after the point where you've grown attached to these characters.
I haven't even gotten to the contrivances yet - and there's a lot of contrivances attached to Engage's plot. Key plot points seem to be driven by events that come out of completely nowhere. Most notable of which are the Chapter 10-11 sequence where Veyle magically steals your time crystal out of nowhere, or the Chapter 21-22 sequence where Sombron suddenly appears out of completely nowhere, only for Alear to begin fading despite the fact that the game never hints that Corrupted die after summoning Emblems only for Veyle to try to revive Alear and fail despite successfully doing so in the previous cutscene only for Alear to get revived out of nowhere by the other twelve Emblems revive them out of completely nowhere due to some sort of thousand year miracle (which they could have done the first time Alear got killed) that the writers were clearly making up as they went along - it's a contrivance on top of a contrivance on top of a contrivance.
All of these issues wouldn't be particularly problematic if they were attached to a more interesting story. The problem with Engage's plot is that very little works particularly well. It's an aggressively mediocre plot even on paper - and as such, all of these minor issues ultimately drags this story down from a serviceable plot to one that is barely better than Fates. Even Awakening, for all of the issues with its plot, managed to have some highlights in its story which Engage just doesn't have.
In my view, the character writing of Fire Emblem is arguably the most essential aspect of the series. In this stead, Engage's character writing isn't just a very noticeable step down from Three Houses (which admittedly was always going to be a very tough act to follow), but outright mediocre at best even when taken on its own merits.
On paper, Alear is a serviceable character. They're like Shez in that they're goofy and charming (albeit maybe a bit less charming), and their suggestion to run early on is a highlight of their character. The problem I have with them, however, are twofold: the constant avatar pandering which I mentioned above, and their presence in the story.
Alear has the same issue with Corrin in that they are the only protagonist in the game. In Awakening and Three Houses, having a bland avatar, whilst still problematic, wasn't as detrimental to the plot because there were other, far more compelling lords in these games which drove the plot. The problem with Engage, though, is that since Alear has no supporting protagonist, the story requires them to be a compelling character in their own right to hold up the story - and unfortunately, whilst Alear can be charming at times, they are not a compelling character at all. The only remotely interesting aspect to their characterization is the fact that they are Sombron's child - which gets resolved in Chapter 20 immediately after it gets brought up. It isn't even brought up in their supports despite the fact that Veyle being part Fell Dragon is brought up in her supports. It's a shame, especially coming off of the two most compelling lords in the series in Edelgard and Dimitri.
I don't like Sombron as an antagonist either. He has the same issue as the Agarthans in that whilst there's something to his character, it's let down completely by the fact that most of his presentation shows him doing generically evil things. Whilst the writers wanted him to be sympathetic to an extent given his motive rant in the final chapter and in his backstory, because he isn't humanized at all, it falls completely flat. Just a scene or two where he does do good things would have worked wonders for his character.
The side characters are a massive mixed bag at best. To its credit, I feel that Engage's cast has a little more to them than that of Awakening or Fates' casts, and there's no character that's quite as offensively awful as Peri or Camilla. That being said, I think Engage's cast is presented horribly. Almost all of the C supports and even most of the B supports revolve around each character's gimmicks or is needless fluff, and very little that is particularly enlightening is brought up at all. Whilst this wasn't something that was particularly noticeable when the game leaked and I first read the supports, it's feels outright grating when I'm actually playing the game and I can't just read all of the supports at once. The A supports are much better in this regard, but even these supports aren't at all exceptional. Even the more meaningful supports feel contradictory and incohesive - compare Diamant making a bit deal about how he has to be better than his predecessors and resist his people's temptation to wage war with his support with Framme and his support with Alfred where he all but admits that he will be willing to wage war if his people demand it, making him look downright cowardly. Or how Celine makes a big deal about doing anything to protect Firene but gleefully helping Mauvier without any hesitation despite the fact that Mauvier destroyed a city in Firene and never apologizes for it - apparently she only cares about named characters in Firene?
My biggest criticism of Engage's cast is that for one reason or another (i.e. maybe Engage's worldbuilding isn't particularly deep), many of the characters don't feel like they are grounded in the world they live in. As a result, many of the characters don't have a cohesive worldview that they can use in interactions with other characters, which I think the Tellius games and Three Houses did really well. For an example, Alfred trains a lot because according to his support with Celine, he has an old illness and he doesn't want his allies to see this weakness of his. Compare this to Jill from Path of Radiance, who initially is racist due to the systemic racism within Daein, or Dorothea from Three Houses, who is desperate to marry a rich noble due to her unstable childhood as a result of Fodlan's classism. The latter two are characters whose writing wouldn't make sense outside of the world they exist in - whereas Alfred (and most of Engage's cast, for that matter) feel like they could be in any other game in the series and not much would change.
The characters of Engage also feel far too idealized. While I don't think every character needs to be outwardly flawed, so many of Engage's cast feels generically nice that the cast begins to feel outright interchangeable. Almost every character interaction has the characters in question acting polite and friendly towards each other. Because of this, there is very little room for the drama, misunderstanding, character growth or ideological disagreements that are required to make a character compelling - and just because Engage's characters are nice people don't mean that there isn't any room for such drama or disagreements to occur (Dorothea's support with Ferdinand and Mercedes' support with Sylvain are excellent examples of this despite the fact that Dorothea and Mercedes are kind people). Hence, there is nothing in Engage's character writing that is nearly as memorable as Jill having to grapple with her racism, or Marianne finding her will to live, or Lysithea grappling with her own mortality, and that's simply a shame.
It's not all bad, though. In particular, there are some standout characters that do have some compelling character interactions. In particular, Ivy is a real highlight because it feels like the worldbuilding of Elusia was very carefully considered when the writers were designing her character. The fact that she's a worshipper of the Divine Dragon makes sense because she's had poor experiences with the fact that Elusia worships the Fell Dragon, and as a result, she changed religions in secret. Similarly, the fact's that she's very distrustful can both be attributed by both her mistreatment within the Elusian court and her mistreatment at the hands of the Fell Dragon's worshippers. In this stead, she genuinely feels like a Tellius or Three Houses character in that her worldview and personality traits are informed by her place in the world. Similarly, whilst Veyle has a similar backstory to Alear in that she is part Fell Dragon, this fact is meaningfully brought up in her supports, and she is a far stronger character as a result.
Overall, it's exactly what I expected from all of the trailers - good gameplay, but really poor storytelling and characters.
Overall, I think the gameplay is solid. I think Break is an excellent mechanic that encourages aggression on the part of the player and makes the game's combat player-phase focused. The Engage effects are really flashy, really cool and really interesting - if a bit overpowered (Sigurd's effect is pretty bonkers, especially combined with Chloe which gives her a ridiculous amount of movement). Whilst I don't think there's an astounding map in Engage akin to Conquest Chapter 10, many of the maps in the early and mid game are very good, with the highlight being Chapter 11 in my view.
That being said, though Engage's gameplay is an improvement over Echoes and Three Houses, I absolutely wouldn't say it has the best gameplay in the series. In particular, I think Conquest overall has better balance by virtue of not having the Engage effects be so powerful, and whilst the early and mid game's map designs are good, I think that outside of the (admittedly great) final boss, Engage's map design deteriorates significantly in the late game. Out of the last 10 maps, I think there are only two maps with meaningful side objectives (in Chapters 19 and 20) and one additional anti-turtling incentive (via a time limit in Chapter 24) - and many of the late game maps feel like open fields without much in the way of interesting terrain - to the point where I'd argue that if it wasn't for Engage's core mechanics, most of the late game maps aren't any better than those of Three Houses.
My biggest issue with Engage's plot is there is nothing that is at all compelling. There's nothing that is compelling enough to really hook players in and leave a lasting impression on them either. None of the game's emotional beats manage to hit particularly well and nothing the game presents has provoked any kind of thought. Whilst Fire Emblem has had its share of simple stories in the past, no story in the series has been this incredibly shallow. I would be perfectly fine with a simple story (Sacred Stones is one of my favorite games in the series because of how well it is executed) - but Engage isn't the next Sacred Stones. If anything, it's the next Birthright in how poor the story's execution is despite how little the story attempts to do.
The dialogue is abysmal - characters at times feel like they were written by aliens who read about how humans talk in a book. This, I would argue, worsens the game's incessant avatar pandering. Whilst avatar pandering has been an issue with every Fire Emblem game since Awakening, it has never been this blatant.
Another minor issue with Engage's plot that may have been forgivable if it was attached to a more interesting story is its tonal inconsistencies. Whilst I wouldn't have had that much of an issue if Engage had committed to being a more comedic Fire Emblem game (and the first few chapters are by far the best for this reason) - there are countless moments where the game wants me to take it seriously, and because of how jarring this is compared to the silly anime hijinks that fill the rest of Engage's plot, none of these moments land.
Whilst Engage is not supposed to be a groundbreaking plot, given that it is clearly an anniversary title, I also have to note the sheer unoriginality of Engage's plot - to the point where certain late-game plot points are flat out ripped from Fates.
Engage's plot really suffers in its pacing. Because it tries to rush players from plot point to plot point without giving the player time reflect upon events or actually showing the backstories of certain characters, nothing in Engage that resembles an emotional moment feels at all earned. Of particular note is Lumera's second death in Chapter 25 where she gets revived and dies in the span of one chapter just like Mikoto did in Revelation and which my response basically was "At least Mikoto had the decency to not drag out her death for five minutes". Compare this with Lyon where there are numerous cutscenes in Sacred Stones showing his backstory and humanizing him well before he is ever fought, or even Emmeryn or Jeralt's deaths, which occur far later in the plot that that of Lumera's and after the point where you've grown attached to these characters.
I haven't even gotten to the contrivances yet - and there's a lot of contrivances attached to Engage's plot. Key plot points seem to be driven by events that come out of completely nowhere. Most notable of which are the Chapter 10-11 sequence where Veyle magically steals your time crystal out of nowhere, or the Chapter 21-22 sequence where Sombron suddenly appears out of completely nowhere, only for Alear to begin fading despite the fact that the game never hints that Corrupted die after summoning Emblems only for Veyle to try to revive Alear and fail despite successfully doing so in the previous cutscene only for Alear to get revived out of nowhere by the other twelve Emblems revive them out of completely nowhere due to some sort of thousand year miracle (which they could have done the first time Alear got killed) that the writers were clearly making up as they went along - it's a contrivance on top of a contrivance on top of a contrivance.
All of these issues wouldn't be particularly problematic if they were attached to a more interesting story. The problem with Engage's plot is that very little works particularly well. It's an aggressively mediocre plot even on paper - and as such, all of these minor issues ultimately drags this story down from a serviceable plot to one that is barely better than Fates. Even Awakening, for all of the issues with its plot, managed to have some highlights in its story which Engage just doesn't have.
In my view, the character writing of Fire Emblem is arguably the most essential aspect of the series. In this stead, Engage's character writing isn't just a very noticeable step down from Three Houses (which admittedly was always going to be a very tough act to follow), but outright mediocre at best even when taken on its own merits.
On paper, Alear is a serviceable character. They're like Shez in that they're goofy and charming (albeit maybe a bit less charming), and their suggestion to run early on is a highlight of their character. The problem I have with them, however, are twofold: the constant avatar pandering which I mentioned above, and their presence in the story.
Alear has the same issue with Corrin in that they are the only protagonist in the game. In Awakening and Three Houses, having a bland avatar, whilst still problematic, wasn't as detrimental to the plot because there were other, far more compelling lords in these games which drove the plot. The problem with Engage, though, is that since Alear has no supporting protagonist, the story requires them to be a compelling character in their own right to hold up the story - and unfortunately, whilst Alear can be charming at times, they are not a compelling character at all. The only remotely interesting aspect to their characterization is the fact that they are Sombron's child - which gets resolved in Chapter 20 immediately after it gets brought up. It isn't even brought up in their supports despite the fact that Veyle being part Fell Dragon is brought up in her supports. It's a shame, especially coming off of the two most compelling lords in the series in Edelgard and Dimitri.
I don't like Sombron as an antagonist either. He has the same issue as the Agarthans in that whilst there's something to his character, it's let down completely by the fact that most of his presentation shows him doing generically evil things. Whilst the writers wanted him to be sympathetic to an extent given his motive rant in the final chapter and in his backstory, because he isn't humanized at all, it falls completely flat. Just a scene or two where he does do good things would have worked wonders for his character.
The side characters are a massive mixed bag at best. To its credit, I feel that Engage's cast has a little more to them than that of Awakening or Fates' casts, and there's no character that's quite as offensively awful as Peri or Camilla. That being said, I think Engage's cast is presented horribly. Almost all of the C supports and even most of the B supports revolve around each character's gimmicks or is needless fluff, and very little that is particularly enlightening is brought up at all. Whilst this wasn't something that was particularly noticeable when the game leaked and I first read the supports, it's feels outright grating when I'm actually playing the game and I can't just read all of the supports at once. The A supports are much better in this regard, but even these supports aren't at all exceptional. Even the more meaningful supports feel contradictory and incohesive - compare Diamant making a bit deal about how he has to be better than his predecessors and resist his people's temptation to wage war with his support with Framme and his support with Alfred where he all but admits that he will be willing to wage war if his people demand it, making him look downright cowardly. Or how Celine makes a big deal about doing anything to protect Firene but gleefully helping Mauvier without any hesitation despite the fact that Mauvier destroyed a city in Firene and never apologizes for it - apparently she only cares about named characters in Firene?
My biggest criticism of Engage's cast is that for one reason or another (i.e. maybe Engage's worldbuilding isn't particularly deep), many of the characters don't feel like they are grounded in the world they live in. As a result, many of the characters don't have a cohesive worldview that they can use in interactions with other characters, which I think the Tellius games and Three Houses did really well. For an example, Alfred trains a lot because according to his support with Celine, he has an old illness and he doesn't want his allies to see this weakness of his. Compare this to Jill from Path of Radiance, who initially is racist due to the systemic racism within Daein, or Dorothea from Three Houses, who is desperate to marry a rich noble due to her unstable childhood as a result of Fodlan's classism. The latter two are characters whose writing wouldn't make sense outside of the world they exist in - whereas Alfred (and most of Engage's cast, for that matter) feel like they could be in any other game in the series and not much would change.
The characters of Engage also feel far too idealized. While I don't think every character needs to be outwardly flawed, so many of Engage's cast feels generically nice that the cast begins to feel outright interchangeable. Almost every character interaction has the characters in question acting polite and friendly towards each other. Because of this, there is very little room for the drama, misunderstanding, character growth or ideological disagreements that are required to make a character compelling - and just because Engage's characters are nice people don't mean that there isn't any room for such drama or disagreements to occur (Dorothea's support with Ferdinand and Mercedes' support with Sylvain are excellent examples of this despite the fact that Dorothea and Mercedes are kind people). Hence, there is nothing in Engage's character writing that is nearly as memorable as Jill having to grapple with her racism, or Marianne finding her will to live, or Lysithea grappling with her own mortality, and that's simply a shame.
It's not all bad, though. In particular, there are some standout characters that do have some compelling character interactions. In particular, Ivy is a real highlight because it feels like the worldbuilding of Elusia was very carefully considered when the writers were designing her character. The fact that she's a worshipper of the Divine Dragon makes sense because she's had poor experiences with the fact that Elusia worships the Fell Dragon, and as a result, she changed religions in secret. Similarly, the fact's that she's very distrustful can both be attributed by both her mistreatment within the Elusian court and her mistreatment at the hands of the Fell Dragon's worshippers. In this stead, she genuinely feels like a Tellius or Three Houses character in that her worldview and personality traits are informed by her place in the world. Similarly, whilst Veyle has a similar backstory to Alear in that she is part Fell Dragon, this fact is meaningfully brought up in her supports, and she is a far stronger character as a result.
Overall, it's exactly what I expected from all of the trailers - good gameplay, but really poor storytelling and characters.
This review contains spoilers
I need to preface this with that I only played fates and 3h, so my knowledge is limited. There's really good reviews on here that focus on the past games in comparison to this one.
I finished the game just earlier and I'm a bit conflicted. The start of it was super weird in the way where I didn't feel like the target audience at all. Alear was also mega annoying and all they really did was cry around and do nothing... while every character worshiped them. Only when they reached the desert area it kinda started going upwards story wise. I won't lie to you though, the story is predictable but that didn't really bother me per se. I liked a lot of lategame to endgame moments, Alear finally started becoming cool and not just whiney. But here comes the part I didn't like: The villains. In the game we meet the four hounds, loyal followers of Sombron. In reality most of them, much like Alear, are just traumatized bc of their past and how their caregivers treated them. These four form a found family, a trope I adore usually but Engage did it so horribly I can't even laugh at it. Mauvier I knew from the very beginning that he'd switch sides so he's really not the issue since he was always an anti-hero. Marin was just really looking for parental affection and praise, because her own mother abandoned her since she only wanted to keep her sons.. this affection she got from Mauvier but realized too late. So she was fine too and not exactly what I'd call a villain either. Griss is just a masochistic freak. He was handled okay since he didn't really do much except follow people, namely Zephia, around bc mommy issues. But Zephia... oh my god this character. Zephia is the oldest of the bunch, having fought at the 1k years old war alongside Sombron and Alear when they were bad still. From the very beginning she's shown as motherly but in a twisted and evil way. She punishes all other 3 constantly by hitting them, keeps calling Veyle a defect and is honestly just horrible. She ends up killing Marin, too, when Marin attempted to free Veyle from Zephia's spell and does not feel regret even when Mauvier gets mega pissed. Even calls her a bad child who needed to get punished accordingly. Anyway fast forward to when we actually do end up killing her, Zephia reveals that she wanted to bear a child; Sombron's child. Not because she loved him, but because she wanted to know what having a family was like. Griss, while dying, tells her that she's the closest he had to a mom ever in his life. Zephia then says when she called the other three her family she meant it. But yknow, she also abused them constantly, KILLED Marin without regret and so much more. Oh my god Intsys what is this insane attempt of trying to redeem her bc it did not work. Literal bottom 1 villain for me. Speaking of redemption, they tried this with the big bad too and while redemption itself isn't bad, it was shoehorned in last second. Sombron sought revenge because the rings originally belonged to the world he is from. In that war, he was the sole survivor and was granted exile in Alear's world and did the same thing in Alear's world as his oppressors in order to get his emblem, the Zero Emblem, which left him after seeing how much destruction Sombron brought. This storyline, while sympathetic, just gets shoved in right at the end of it all. I just think it could've been done earlier. It certainly would've been better. While on the topic of the finale, they really missed the opportunity to put the main villains of each emblem's game as the dark emblems in the final fight. They even get described as the foes the emblems beat in the past... come on. THIS ALL BEING SAID it honestly was less bad than I had expected. It even had a lot of good moments such as the miracle being performed on Alear and them becoming the 13th emblem. Marin's death was also super sad to me. Visually it was easily the most polished of all fe games. Animations were really good, no more jpg textures. Art style wise it was the wrong choice though. All characters look like vtubers and I don't mean this in a bad way per se since I watch vtubers myself but... fire emblem was kinda known for having medieval influence combined with anime. This game barely has any armored characters and Intsys straight up admits in an interview that Mika Pikazo was made to draw 50 character designs without even knowing what kinda game it is for. The sameface on all female characters and Rosado (feminine guy) is very annoying too and I wish it had more variety. But that's honestly the only beef I have with it visually.
Tl;dr Game wasn't bad, villains dragged the score down mostly. I give it 3 stars. It wasn't super good but it also wasn't awful, just mediocre and unexceptional. I enjoyed 3h more.
I finished the game just earlier and I'm a bit conflicted. The start of it was super weird in the way where I didn't feel like the target audience at all. Alear was also mega annoying and all they really did was cry around and do nothing... while every character worshiped them. Only when they reached the desert area it kinda started going upwards story wise. I won't lie to you though, the story is predictable but that didn't really bother me per se. I liked a lot of lategame to endgame moments, Alear finally started becoming cool and not just whiney. But here comes the part I didn't like: The villains. In the game we meet the four hounds, loyal followers of Sombron. In reality most of them, much like Alear, are just traumatized bc of their past and how their caregivers treated them. These four form a found family, a trope I adore usually but Engage did it so horribly I can't even laugh at it. Mauvier I knew from the very beginning that he'd switch sides so he's really not the issue since he was always an anti-hero. Marin was just really looking for parental affection and praise, because her own mother abandoned her since she only wanted to keep her sons.. this affection she got from Mauvier but realized too late. So she was fine too and not exactly what I'd call a villain either. Griss is just a masochistic freak. He was handled okay since he didn't really do much except follow people, namely Zephia, around bc mommy issues. But Zephia... oh my god this character. Zephia is the oldest of the bunch, having fought at the 1k years old war alongside Sombron and Alear when they were bad still. From the very beginning she's shown as motherly but in a twisted and evil way. She punishes all other 3 constantly by hitting them, keeps calling Veyle a defect and is honestly just horrible. She ends up killing Marin, too, when Marin attempted to free Veyle from Zephia's spell and does not feel regret even when Mauvier gets mega pissed. Even calls her a bad child who needed to get punished accordingly. Anyway fast forward to when we actually do end up killing her, Zephia reveals that she wanted to bear a child; Sombron's child. Not because she loved him, but because she wanted to know what having a family was like. Griss, while dying, tells her that she's the closest he had to a mom ever in his life. Zephia then says when she called the other three her family she meant it. But yknow, she also abused them constantly, KILLED Marin without regret and so much more. Oh my god Intsys what is this insane attempt of trying to redeem her bc it did not work. Literal bottom 1 villain for me. Speaking of redemption, they tried this with the big bad too and while redemption itself isn't bad, it was shoehorned in last second. Sombron sought revenge because the rings originally belonged to the world he is from. In that war, he was the sole survivor and was granted exile in Alear's world and did the same thing in Alear's world as his oppressors in order to get his emblem, the Zero Emblem, which left him after seeing how much destruction Sombron brought. This storyline, while sympathetic, just gets shoved in right at the end of it all. I just think it could've been done earlier. It certainly would've been better. While on the topic of the finale, they really missed the opportunity to put the main villains of each emblem's game as the dark emblems in the final fight. They even get described as the foes the emblems beat in the past... come on. THIS ALL BEING SAID it honestly was less bad than I had expected. It even had a lot of good moments such as the miracle being performed on Alear and them becoming the 13th emblem. Marin's death was also super sad to me. Visually it was easily the most polished of all fe games. Animations were really good, no more jpg textures. Art style wise it was the wrong choice though. All characters look like vtubers and I don't mean this in a bad way per se since I watch vtubers myself but... fire emblem was kinda known for having medieval influence combined with anime. This game barely has any armored characters and Intsys straight up admits in an interview that Mika Pikazo was made to draw 50 character designs without even knowing what kinda game it is for. The sameface on all female characters and Rosado (feminine guy) is very annoying too and I wish it had more variety. But that's honestly the only beef I have with it visually.
Tl;dr Game wasn't bad, villains dragged the score down mostly. I give it 3 stars. It wasn't super good but it also wasn't awful, just mediocre and unexceptional. I enjoyed 3h more.
Coke is better.
Pessoalmente para mim este jogo tanto me desiludiu como ultrapassou as minhas expectativas.
Desiludiu na questão que abandonou todas as coisas que me fizeram gostar tanto do Three Houses, mas também ultrapassou as expectativas no quão boa é a gameplay e todo o art design colorido.
Feliz 30 anos Fire Emblem que venham mais 30 mas de preferência que venha um melhor a seguir
Desiludiu na questão que abandonou todas as coisas que me fizeram gostar tanto do Three Houses, mas também ultrapassou as expectativas no quão boa é a gameplay e todo o art design colorido.
Feliz 30 anos Fire Emblem que venham mais 30 mas de preferência que venha um melhor a seguir
This game is similar to Awakening and the story is kinda average with some nice moments. I don't like the art style of this game, however, since everyone looks like Genshin characters, and the girls all have the same face. Anyway, Alear is a much better protagonist than Byleth, and I'd say this a big improvement over Trash Houses' story and gameplay.
Ike and the Tellius games reign supreme still 👊👊👊
Ike and the Tellius games reign supreme still 👊👊👊
This review contains spoilers
(i have completed up to chapter 11 hard/classic at the time of posting this)
i have been very excited for this game and i am both pleased and disappointed. the positives are that the gameplay is very good, maps are tightly designed and feel good to play, the emblem system early on may seem overpowered but soon enemies will get emblems and they will use them against you, bosses also having multiple hp bars forces you to make careful use of your attacks so that you dont waste an attack that can be the difference between keeping a unit alive or them dying. the bosses are very strong offensively and it seems like the game will even rig crits (or ive been very unlucky) to punish you for not killing them fast enough. the battle animations are fantastic as well. the positives end there, as the writing is worse than fates sadly, every and i mean every non enemy character sucks off the protagonist for no good reason other than that they were born special, even some of the protagonists enemies suck up to them, it feels unearned and just bad. the characters are more one note than the awakening cast as well, some characters honestly are still fine and enjoyable but some are either immensely grating (CHLOE) or just disappointingly flat. it really does not bode well to have such a poorly written game especially right after 3 houses which was good but underbaked. i hope that the next new mainline entry in the franchise hires a new writing staff because this is bad. the character design varies, some i love some i dont. i wish some characters were not the way they were (bunet and boucheron are particularly unappealing desings) but some are very good. overall i enjoy the game but hope that we never get a game with this quality of writing again
i have been very excited for this game and i am both pleased and disappointed. the positives are that the gameplay is very good, maps are tightly designed and feel good to play, the emblem system early on may seem overpowered but soon enemies will get emblems and they will use them against you, bosses also having multiple hp bars forces you to make careful use of your attacks so that you dont waste an attack that can be the difference between keeping a unit alive or them dying. the bosses are very strong offensively and it seems like the game will even rig crits (or ive been very unlucky) to punish you for not killing them fast enough. the battle animations are fantastic as well. the positives end there, as the writing is worse than fates sadly, every and i mean every non enemy character sucks off the protagonist for no good reason other than that they were born special, even some of the protagonists enemies suck up to them, it feels unearned and just bad. the characters are more one note than the awakening cast as well, some characters honestly are still fine and enjoyable but some are either immensely grating (CHLOE) or just disappointingly flat. it really does not bode well to have such a poorly written game especially right after 3 houses which was good but underbaked. i hope that the next new mainline entry in the franchise hires a new writing staff because this is bad. the character design varies, some i love some i dont. i wish some characters were not the way they were (bunet and boucheron are particularly unappealing desings) but some are very good. overall i enjoy the game but hope that we never get a game with this quality of writing again
Anime was a mistake
i'm only an hour in but ive never felt so far from the target audience of a game in my entire life
This is worse than Fates
Fucking terrible game Intelligent Systems should be ashamed
People who dislike the story of this game simply cannot feel joy
Only having 1 and 5 star reviews makes it easy to tell who's actually played the game and who just hates fun
perfectly fine as long as you're not looking at it or listening to it. it's nice to see Marth.
Could've benefited from an art director and a writer.
No me esperaba nada, las reviews eran malas pero me parece el mejor fire emblem de todos. Me ha hecho llorar y no ha bajado el ritmo en ningún momento. No creo que sepan superarse después de esto. Aunque es verdad que el final del boss final se queda un poco seco.
I'll start with the good, which is the fact that this game is absolutely gorgeous, and the gameplay's great. Most of the maps are pretty good, and the combat improvements are wonderful. I liked Three Houses' combat system, but I'm glad they brought back the weapon triangle. Break is also a pretty interesting mechanic and the engage mechanic, while absolutely broken at times, is always fun to use. This game feels like it should the blueprint for FE going forward gameplay-wise.
Then there's everything else.
I have no idea what happened, but in terms of story, characters and writing, this is easily the worst in the franchise (from what I've played) and a huge step back from Three Houses. The main premise of the plot feels like it came straight out of a Musou/Warriors game in the worst way possible, the tone is half saturday morning cartoon half anime political thriller (it's as terrible as it sounds), the characters are incredibly lifeless and unbelievably boring, and the writing is laughably bad. This is all incredibly shocking especially after Three Houses, which absolutely nailed those things imo. I still remember Three Houses' cast (Black Eagles forever). I'm going to be shocked if I remember any of the characters in this game by the end of next week.
As I said, the gameplay's fantastic but the absolutely awful, bottom-of-the-barrel...everything else makes this my least favorite Fire Emblem game I've played.
Then there's everything else.
I have no idea what happened, but in terms of story, characters and writing, this is easily the worst in the franchise (from what I've played) and a huge step back from Three Houses. The main premise of the plot feels like it came straight out of a Musou/Warriors game in the worst way possible, the tone is half saturday morning cartoon half anime political thriller (it's as terrible as it sounds), the characters are incredibly lifeless and unbelievably boring, and the writing is laughably bad. This is all incredibly shocking especially after Three Houses, which absolutely nailed those things imo. I still remember Three Houses' cast (Black Eagles forever). I'm going to be shocked if I remember any of the characters in this game by the end of next week.
As I said, the gameplay's fantastic but the absolutely awful, bottom-of-the-barrel...everything else makes this my least favorite Fire Emblem game I've played.
i like when the game does the gameplay thing and the somniel thing, less so the between chapter cutscene thing
edit: I lied this game is kind of sick actually later , deserves the 5, also mika pikazo deserves a raise really really really wish there was convo portrait art though
edit: I lied this game is kind of sick actually later , deserves the 5, also mika pikazo deserves a raise really really really wish there was convo portrait art though