This game is actually amazing. Story wasn't anything special, but it I like some of the story beats and how it incorporated its story into gameplay quite a few times. Definitely a lot of great moments present, and it is unfortunate that people will write it off.

There were plenty of times where you are powerless in the story, and then on the same map the game exactly makes you feel the same way. Something we have been missing in Fire Emblem since arguably Thracia?

The game goes back to the GBA days and make supports very quick and simple, meaning after a map you don't have to spend a long time reading all of the supports. Not to say the characters are hot garbage, there are definitely good ones even with the change of length in them.

I played the game on Maddening and the gameplay itself is REALLY player phase heavy, which is awesome because that means you spend time more strategizing which is very welcomed for a strategy game. Generally the maps have a very consistently alright to good quality (with some really cool ones). Paralogues are definitely the maps with the lowest quality, but I'd argue you could blame the respective games for its quality. (on Maddening they are NEAR identical to the source material)

I had fun, only issue are the hit rate getting pretty shake late game and it gets kinda annoying when using the turnwheel doesn't even reset RN. It takes the FE12 H3 endgame approach where you want to fucking finish every late game map as fast as possible and the Thracia approach of using your entire arsenal to deal with every problem. Which I think is a fine thing at least, but a kinda annoying while dealing with hit rates.

My other complaint is that the UI has been a downgrade compared to its predecessors, a lot of design choices baffles me and it shouldn't be this hard just to look at a might of a weapon.

An insane amount of tools that the game gives you, story that works with the game, pretty good fanservice for older fans, amazing animations, beautiful looking world. A lot of steps forward, I am very content with this game. Definitely a favorite in the series for me.

I am eternally destined to like games that are divisive because people are too joyless to appreciate em, and Fire Emblem Engage is absolutely no exception.

Don't get me wrong - my first impression of this game was far from stellar too. I had half a mind to avoid using Alear entirely because I hated their design so much.
But with every bit of gameplay features we got to see, I got more and more excited for this game - and man, I'm so glad I did. It is such a ridiculously fun game.

We haven't had such a heavy focus on player-phase combat in the series since FE12, which was already my favorite FE gameplay-wise - but this game just goes above and beyond. The Break system took me a while to get used to, but when it finally clicked it was so ridiculously satisfying.
The low deployment slots and gigantic amount of Emblem Ring combinations you could pull off means it's gonna be great fun to replay too, and I can't wait to give that a shot.

The story definitely takes a while to get going, and I don't blame anyone for losing interest relatively quickly, but I'm glad it picks up as well as it does.
Didn't think I'd ever say this about Fire Emblem but the ludonarrative harmony is what especially fascinated me about this game - there's some really impactful moments where you're supposed to feel powerless and it shows SO goddamn well through the gameplay that follows. It's incredible.

Despite the story being pretty basic at first, the characters are still as enjoyable as always - and although it takes more of a GBA FE approach of having some quick and simple supports, there's still plenty of meaningful and enjoyable ones. Ivy was a really stand-out character to me, because she's one of the few that tackles issues that are very specific to the game's setting. I think you could've taken any other character in a different setting and they'd still work - which doesn't bother me too much, honestly - but she's definitely the most layered character I've seen in the supports in my playthrough. Pleasantly surprised about that!

All in all, I'm really happy with this game. It's not perfect by any means, but I think any long-time fan should really be able to appreciate what this game's going for. Tons of subtle nods to older games and tons of direct fanservice with the Emblem Rings and how they play.
Couldn't think of a better (regrettably delayed) anniversary celebration!

Really excited for Fire Emblem's future after playing this game. Fantastic gameplay, a story that works more than well enough for what the game's supposed to be, great fanservice, incredible animations and hell - the game looks gorgeous in general, honestly.
With so much going well for it, I can't wait to see what's next!

Ugh...

Okay-- so, on one hand, this game plays extremely well. Engage's interpretation of the weapon triangle and the titular "Engage" mechanic make combat a blast. Maps are cleverly designed and the battle animations are incredible. The hub world is also fun, and overall, the game has a very rewarding loop that's hard to walk away from.

Unfortunately, I actively dislike everything else. The story is rough and the supports feel AI written. I went in with low expectations given many reviews explicitly stated this game was more focused on tactics, and I still found myself feeling disappointed by the narrative.

I know very well that not every FE game prioritizes story, but there's absolutely a way to have a lighter stakes journey that doesn't take itself too seriously. Instead, we get a plot that echoes the beats of an epic fantasy tale without giving us any reason to care.

Despite my issues with Engage, I am still enjoying the game. My advice is to skip the cutscenes, give everyone sunglasses, and have fun with the incredible tactics.

TLDR: Help, I miss Garegg Mach so much...

those mfers made sigurd of all people say justice is an illusion lol, memes become real
have they even played genealogy

i'm done
f u maeda
f u nami komuro
f u intelligent systems

now if you excuse me i'll be afk becoming the joker after this

TL;DR: Listen, Fire Emblem series is a joke in terms of story writing. It's almost unbelievable that this game celebrates 30 years of this mid franchise. Engage had EVERYTHING to be the best Fire Emblem ever, but the writers threw it all down the drain for the sake of the gameplay.

Engage looks like a fangame. It doesn't even look like it was made by professionals. I played almost all FE games believing that a great game would come, like I tried other franchises that didn't like at first but I liked it later, but Fire Emblem seems to be an eternal average. I still give it a relatively high rating because I REALLY enjoyed the beginning of the game, I was really looking forward to it.

it fails miserably to deliver a good, consistent story. I'm not even gonna talk too much about the apalling worldbuilding, I'm going to focus on the bad writing. At first I was surprised, the story at the beginning was amazing, however, as soon as the prologue ended, again, another FE game went to hell. I've said it before and I'll say it again: it's 2023 and this series still has outdated writing. It feels like I'm watching some generic 2005 anime. The problem with the narrative in this series is because they create a narrative for the gameplay, they actually don't want to tell you a story. They've started to change this mindset a bit in Three Houses, but it's still BAD. It's a lot of time spent on gameplay and eventually becomes repetitive, making it all a dragging game. THE STRUCTURE IS LOATHSOME, DISGUSTING

DUDE YOU'VE LIKE 15 MIN OF SIMPLE DIALOGUES THEN YOU GO TO 50 MIN REPETITIVE GAMEPLAY, AND YOU CONTINUE THIS SHIT THE ENTIRE FUCKING GAME. The writers seem like amateurs. It's poorly written.
bro I swear, the villains in this game don't even know what they're fighting. I SWEAR TO YOU, THE GAME PRESENTS THE ANTAGONISTS, ONE OF THEM EVEN BASICALLY KILLS THE OTHER CHARACTER'S DAD, BUT THE GAME 30 MINUTES LATER PUT THAT ANTAGONIST CHARACTER AS PLAYABLE AND A GOOD-GUY AND THE EXCUSE IS LIKE "haha my father died too it's all right now I'm on your side"

IT DOESNT END HERE

THERE'S TOO THAT SCENE WHERE THE CHARACTER LITERALLY HATES YOU AT FIRST, LACKS YOU WITH EDUCATION AND IS AN ASSHOLE, BUT SUDDENLY JOINS YOUR TEAM (YES LITERALLY OUT OF NOWHERE, THERE'S NOT EVEN 1 SINGLE TALK FROM THIS CHARACTER, SHE JUST JOINS YOUR PARTY AND THEN AFTER THE BATTLE "haha xD I'm sorry" there was nothing more to it than that, dudes just used 1 single dialogue to say she's sorry.

It
Does
Not
End
Here.

ONE OF THE VILLAINS WHO IS A GIRL LITERALLY KIDNAPS THE QUEEN OF A KINGDOM, PUTTING HER IN THREAT OF DEATH FOR SOME DISGUSTING REASONS OF WRITING STUPIDITY, AND THEN WE'VE TO FIGHT 50 MINUTES AGAINST HER THEN AT THE END OF ALL OF THIS SHIT SHE'LL BECOME A PLAYABLE CHARACTER AND THE QUEEN WILL SAY: "xDxD please help the Divine Dragon save the world! This is your punishment!"

It
Does
Not....


On other points: the gameplay is the best in the franchise. Ironically, this Fire Emblem still manages to be the best in many ways among all the others. You see how bad this franchise is when even a mediocre game like this manages to outperform many others.

The soundtrack is spectacular. This one is arguably the best in the series. I shall research more about the composers. It presents beautiful leitmotifs with a pure and well harmonic orchestra. I'll definitely be adding several songs to my playlist and I pity songwriters so good working in a bomb like this one.

Artistic direction is good, the artist is very good. It won't be a very welcome game in the west, I know why but I don't know how to explain it well. One of the reasons is because there's no marriage system.

Framme Best Girl.


In conclusion, fuck this franchise of assholes, dumbasses, intelligent systems it's your fault you incompetent
🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕

Fire Emblem Engage, executed for committing a mortal sin of appealing to the "modern anime" audience. These negative reviews are undeserving honestly. At worst, FE Engage tells a campy story with some hit-or-miss character designs. At best, if you're a die-hard FE fan who has always loved the tactical combat the series have provided so far, Engage exceeds the expectations a fan may have for its gameplay and delivers fun, "engaging" systems with the Emblems and the myriad of activities to do at the Somniel. I recommend playing on Hard/Classic. I heard that the Maddening difficulty still has the tradition of being absolute bullshit.

Don't have much more to say. I mostly enjoyed my experience with this game. Buy it for the gameplay, not for the story/characters. I'm sure those who are critical of Engage's narrative will have their "dark" and "mature" stories about war in the next mainline FE where they can continue having countless reddit discussions over. For now though, while I can't say the plot impacted me, it sure did make me laugh with how melodramatic and silly it is. It's literally a story my 14-year-old self would write and claim that it's "deep." Not sure about you, but I found it pretty amusing. This may be the best 3/5 game I've ever played.

A profoundly disappointing experience, Intelligent Systems has displayed that they have the capability to make the peak of strategy RPG gameplay (Fates: Conquest) and that they still have the writers to make even an afterthought of an NES game's story good with lively characters and interestingly explored motivations and relationships (Shadows of Valentia) and has decided to discard all that quality to phone it in for a game that lacks both of these aspects. Coming out after Three Houses doesn't help, a game that pushed the series' character writing and support conversation quality to the next level.

In terms of story, the game I'd consider just below Awakening's, the world they craft is extremely poor and the four kingdoms are given traits that ultimately don't matter in the grand scheme of the narrative since the plot is solely focused on the conflict between the divine dragon side and the fell dragon side, which ruins a lot of the characters motivations since its never illustrated, for example, why Diamant is different from his father, except that Diamant wants to end the constant invasions from Brodia's end. However, King Morion is beloved by everyone, and no one can say any wrong about him as a person nor as a ruler, the same applies to every other currently ruling character in the world which completely deflates every character's aims and goals of trying to make the world a better place when it's already idyllic with only the extremely recent threat of the corrupted meaning anything in the grand scheme of the world.

The plot itself is incredibly weak, with an absolutely poor execution on even simple topics, topics the series has explored before even in it's very first incarnation and succeeded more than this game does. I'm not opposed to the game having simple writing, simple themes, simple characters but this game is no Dragon Quest, there is an almost negative charisma emanating from some of the scenes and dialogue that happen throughout the story with some laughably terrible moments like introducing a character in one chapter and giving them a """tragic""" death in the next chapter only a few minutes later. On a note unrelated to the game's quality, it's completely baffling to me how much leeway is given to this game because it's not attempting to make anything more than the sentai monster of the week that it is, this is a series about heroic fantasy in the context of war and has always managed to hold a level of decorum about it even in the worst stories like Fates.

The characters are especially disappointing in this game, for me a pillar of the series ever since Genealogy has always been to expand side characters through meaningful side conversation which the support system was brilliant for, maybe even being my favourite aspect of the series, and Engage absolutely guts the system, with meaningless drivel that even the tropiest of characters in other games at least topped in quality. This might even be the only Fire Emblem game where I simply did not care about most of the supports in the game, most of them feeling like a waste of my time and an exercise in demolishing any character potential a character might have had. The characters aren't just simple walking cliches played straight, they're worse than that because of the aforementioned problems with the world, but they don't even get to be meaningfully involved with each other with paired endings, an aspect of the series present since Genealogy, being absent which isn't simply shippers not being catered to, but there were paired endings in previous games that weren't just marriage related which bolstered those games' commitments to forging ironclad lifelong bonds through said games' conflicts, something this game barely feels like it does.

On a slightly related note, the hub in this game is absolutely terrible, the characters within never have anything interesting to say at all, something the Three Houses hub was great at. The gameplay in the hub is also atrocious, the place is shit to navigate with functions you'll be returning to frequently being behind separate doors with loading screens resulting in a very clunky experience that makes doing anything in the hub a chore, on top of the dogshit minigames. Who really asked for a timing minigame for temporary buffs? Or a shitty rail shooter?

The level design of the maps are okay at best, while there are some interesting objectives and ideas here and there, they are few and far between as a whole. I wasn't expecting something like the series' highs after seeing footage of the Engage mechanics, but the maps here never hit anything distinctive for me, aside from one chapter. The Engage aspect of the gameplay is a mixed bag, on one hand its fun to steamroll through enemies with your super powered bankais, but most of the game just does not account for these superpowers. For reference I played on Hard Mode, because Fire Emblem games historically have not done the highest difficulty very well with very few exceptions, and I did not have trouble at all past chapter 11 or so, save for doing paralogues under the recommended level. The paralogues are generally where the bulk of the interesting map design stems from, except that most of these mechanics and good design is jacked wholesale from previous games anyway, regardless of whether that is intentional because of the anniversary nature of the game I just think its really sad that the game's best ideas are just from older games.

Finally, I take umbrage with how the game handles the anniversary aspect of it, which bleeds into every aspect of the game. The best way to illustrate my frustration with it is Awakening which was also an anniversary game, and one with a lot more dignity than this game. Engage performs very blatant and in your face pandering that just feels like a mobile gacha game, as opposed to Awakening which relegated overt references to previous games to design aspects or very specific callbacks that worked, whereas Engage is content to just throw out previous game references raw and hope people will bite, which they probably did, but there's just no dignity or elegance to how the game handles its legacy, down to having a fucking gacha of all things.

Fire Emblem Engage is the series indulging in its vices at its worst, and I really hope that this isn't the vibe going forward because this is my favourite video game series, and its really sad to see the future I envisioned at my most cynical after Awakening and Fates actually coming true following two other excellent entries in the series that regained all my good will back.

Haha Fire Emblem brainrot but on a serious note, Gameplay wise this is probably the best Fire Emblem since Fates Conquest, I have also played pretty much every Fire Emblem game in the series so I get a little bit more out of it than most I think.

but yeah with the context of knowing this is supposed to be a 30th anniversary game I think it's great and I'm glad they experimented with a lot of stuff and brought a lot of old stuff back, I think what keeps it being a 5 for me personally is how the class system works and how little SP you get, making it so you can't really get any super relevant skills unless you grind your dick off.

shit game
hate the v-tuber art style
hate the overall style as well
main character looks ass
don’t care if it’s an anniversary title, the fanservice is garbage
time wheel again
embarrassing plot and characters
the opening song is worse than the worst seven deadly sins opening

game looks unironically like it was developed with ai tools

Fire emblem Engage classic edition!

Fire emblem engage goes back to its original route When the story and character building was less focused on and more focused on battle strategy. If don't care for the story and characters and just get into the battle, you'll be right at home when you played Fire emblem on Gameboy Advance.

Fire Emblem story starts with your character named Alear awaking with amnesia (Remember FE Awakining?) and the goal is to collect the emblem rings and stop the Fell dragon.

The emblem rings are the big event of the game as you are able to form bonds with the classic fire emblem characters and give stat enhancing boost to your army. If you form a bond with Sigurd, you'll be able to attack and move your character. Form a bond with Lyn and you'll be able to rain arrows on far away enemies.

The main hub of fire emblem engage is the location of Somniel where you will do most of the work. Forming bonds and knowing your allies, eating meals and doing workout to give your team a stat boost, also shopping for upgrades and have your characters wear different clothes. The conversations between your teams are short and not as compelling as it was in FE houses.

Fire emblem engage has more focus on the strategy style then on the world building. If your more classic Fire emblem and focused on the gameplay I highly recommend. For the people who enjoys story and character building its still their just not as much.

Visually one of the most vibrant and pleasing to look at games on the console

Has some of the best character designs in the medium In my opinion

Fire Emblem goat

I might edit this and go more in-depth and detailed when I finish the game, but this is after about 25 hours of gameplay time and over halfway through the main story so I feel pretty confident in my opinions on the game right now.

The more I play Engage, the more I enjoy it and I honestly just don't understand the hate at all, this is not even close to being the worst FE title let alone the worst game ever in general. Even the story is nowhere near as bad or offensive as people make it out to be, it's just very dated and simplistic.

If you can get past the extremely flamboyant, V-tuber, modern anime character designs (Personally I like a lot of them as they're very vibrant and colorful, but I get why they're not everyone's cup of tea), this is the most "classic" feeling Fire Emblem game post-Awakening with the most polished and arguably the best gameplay the series has ever had.

I'm very happy to see the iconic weapons triangle return and I love the new additions with the break and smash mechanics and of course the whole gimmick of Engaging with Emblems which you'd think would be overly OP, but since the entire game was designed around it and even enemies can Engage as well it is pretty well balanced and the game will really give you a challenge even on normal, but the one thing I honestly do miss is weapon durability.

I think a lot of the disappointment just comes from people who were expecting this game to be like 3H and don't get me wrong, I love 3H, it's great in its own way, but it is a Persona game in disguise with a Langrisser combat system. Nearly nothing about that game feels like Fire Emblem. It was a cool experiment, but I wouldn't want every future Fire Emblem to be like that and I'm very happy Engage actually feels like a real Fire Emblem game.

Engage feels like a true love letter to the series past (Which makes sense considering it is an anniversary title), I especially see so much influence and inspiration from the GBA titles everything from the animations to the over-world map making a return to the stripped down and more simplistic support events (Note: Most of the characters don't have a lot of depth, but I still find them likable and charming enough, however Alear is the best protagonist Fire Emblem has had in years) and even the very old-school 90s-like narrative with a classic tale of good vs evil, a band of heroes traveling around various kingdoms to collect magical artifacts to stop an evil dragon complete with a very campy 4Kids sounding Saturday morning cartoon dub and that really makes me feel nostalgic.

Also want to mention how much I love the side mission Paralogues which let you re-live iconic battles and maps from the classic games even with remixes of that game's music as well.

I also want to say that I am not a fan of the Somniel. Glad they cut down the Monastery-like content (Despite actually enjoying it in 3H for the most part), but I would've been happier if they removed it all together because while raising the Guardian Spirit, adopting animals, working out and eating meals with your friends are all cute side activities they feel like inconsequential fluff that could easily be skipped entirely if you wanted to and I think it was developed like that on purpose due to the criticisms of many people saying the Monastery parts of Three Houses went on for too long. The main thing that your base offers which is mandatory is the shops and smithy where you can buy new equipment and upgrade it.

One last thing to note, the animations and cut-scenes are very smooth and look better than ever thanks to the improved graphical fidelity and I haven't had a problem with the performance overall yet which is a miracle considering most newer games run horribly on the Switch.

Overall if you got into the series with 3H or 3H is your favorite in the series you'll probably be disappointed because Engage is nothing like it and in a way kind of dated, but if you've been a long-time fan and prefer old-school FE compared to the more modern titles I think you'll be pleasantly surprised and satisfied with Engage.

Fire Emblem: Engage feels like the logical conclusion to the trajectory set forth by Awakening. There is a definitive change in the series following the Tellius games underselling (Nintendo forgot to market them) and IntSys making the successful FE: Awakening.

Engage has fun combat and adds new things. The maps are varied and the combinations in class + emblem ring really scratches the number crunching itch. However, some questionable decisions with the new mechanics or enemy stat scaling holds it back. Some mechanics outright don't work in some situations and some bosses are harder than their entire level. The core gameplay loop is still fire emblem and the maps have variety so it works and is easily the best part of this game.

The characters are not good, obviously there are standouts and favorites but this is arguably the weakest cast in the series. People call the character designs "camp" and "self-aware corny" but nothing in the game actually supports that - the designs just aren't good.

The story speaks for itself. (It's not good)

Obviously it sounds cynical or cranky to say "Fire Emblem isn't how it used to be!" but there is an exact point in the series where priorities changed and the games are being made for a different group of people.

The games just aren't for fans of FE1->F10 anymore.

Okay this has got me back into FE but also made me cringe hard. Because it takes a lot of modern character design, attitudes, personalities from stuff like Genshin Impact or I dont know and makes them really prominent. I cant stand the story, the writing etc.. However the actually gameplay is so fun!! I love the game because it is less of the social stuff and more just the combat. but oh god i hate all these genshin impact looking characters and their cringe dialogue.
PINKIE PROMISE. All the gameplay mechanics and options are really fun to mess around with and use in combat. I really like it. weapon triangle is there and everything. I find the gameplay pretty meaty. I just cant fuck with anymore RPG high school classes and all this bullshit lol. I refuse to play anymore boring anime RPG classes that make me go to sleep. If I want to go to school. I will go to school.

Making a new review because my original got deleted (made a joke about k)
I'm finished. The gameplay and maps are consistently stellar and satisfying, and the story is intentionally campy. Many will compare it to the mess that is fates, but the camp here is by full intent and not meant to be serious, so I tolerate it more. The hub's far more optional and thus less of a slog than the monastery was for me, but the supports drag hard. They're very small and I find it hard to be attached to the cast. I like them, mostly, but they are every trope the "FE has never had a plot" bozos reduce this series to. While the story's goof is funny to me, these supports make me feel very little. I overall do find the game a stellar loop, though the onslaught of paralogues by midgame has stalled my progression. Nothing is intrusive. I like this quite a bit. It is a mickey mouse ass game with phenomenal tactical gameplay, yet mickey mouse by intent. This is what disconnects it from the insuffrability of Fates (not Conquest) for me, but any real layer to the story or world isn't there either. I'd like more layers, but camp is enjoyable if intentional. The OST is particularly good too. I initially didn't click then I hit Bright Sandstorm and I creamed.
All of the creepy shit that the localization team cut is good, but also, why was that allowed in general?
EDIT 3/23/2023, I beat this game on Hard. Love it even more. Bumping it up a half star, it was also a sort of comfort to cope with the loss of my father. Just a distraction from the world.