Fire Emblem Engage Nintendo Switch Review - Is It Worth It?
Вставка
- Опубліковано 16 січ 2023
- Fire Emblem N-Gage
Review written by PJ O'Reilly: www.nintendolife.com/reviews/...
Video by Zion Grassl: / ziondood
Check out our full site: www.nintendolife.com
Like us on Facebook: / nintendolife
Follow us on Instagram: / nintendolife
Follow us on Twitter: / nintendolife
Music Credits:
Fire Emblem Engage
Review copy provided by Nintendo
#FireEmblemEngage #FireEmblem #NintendoSwitch - Ігри
As much as I liked Three Houses, running around Garreg Mach got quite tiring in second or third playthroughs, so I'm happy to see they toned that down a bit.
It really did, I couldn't even power through the other routes because it was such a chore to go through the game again with how focused it was on the monestary.
It's nice the first time around, but it just gets in the way too much, I was so burned out on the game I didn't even finish the dlc.
@@Smuggers. I did manage to beat all routes, but like you i didn't have the willpower to go back for the DLC.
You can teleport
@@oliverquach9614 it has more to do with the amount of time required in the monetary each mission and how much of a drag it is in getting back into maps than anything else.
@@Smuggers. You can skip the monastery and go straight to the missions.
Some people's biggest disappointments are going to be other people's biggest compliments. This game is gonna come down to "what does FE mean to YOU?"
It's going to be fantastic!!!!!
so much so. a bit like SMT vs persona. i admin that p5r is the better game overall to smt5, but the way smt5 introduce more open zones in its later parts is just freaking great, meaning SMT5 is excellent himself. P5R thought is probably better than excellent.
I think it’s a bit of a betrayal and a super weird move to move away from what’s been a staple in Fire Emblem since Awakening, the game that single handedly revived the series.
It looks the same like Three Houses to me.
This game to be personally looks great but I understand if the 'die hard' fe fans probably won't like it terribly too much
It wasn’t necessarily the “relationship” aspect that I liked about this game’s predecessor (not in the sense of growing relationships, anyway), but having funny, interesting interactions and learning a lot about other characters.
I agree. I don't care if there are a lot of em or not, I just want to get to know these characters. some of my favorite interactions are ones that give you more about the characters. Stuff like Gaius and Maribelle from awakening or Bernadetta and Alois from 3 houses.
I've always thought of supports as a way to worldbuild or develop characters.
I don't think it needs the depth of three houses because frankly the amount of world building in 3 houses was insane, but if they do all end up being fluff I'll be kind of sad
I think this game will still give the characters personality
@@crimsonstormsurge My worry is the presentation reminds me of Fates. Many over-the-top tropes and fluff as supports if the trailers and this review are indicative of the story side of things
@@naruconas2334 it was absolutely overwhelming. I loved things from awakening more like when finding out Frederick will pick up all the pebbles in front of chrome lol
@@naruconas2334 bruh stop bitching. go out and get to know real life people
I wanted to know is how it compared to Awakening. I didn't think the relationship aspect was all that deep, but just present enough to make each character feel unique and presented a personalized story every time you played it. Your character actually felt unique as you got to make choices for them that actively changed the personal narrative. I just hope the character really are that good that it won't make a difference as that made Fire Emblem unique to other Tactical titles.
My thing is if I have no investment in the character by having some agency in their development then for me the permadeath challenge kinda goes as I don’t care about the characters. Sucks to lose a pawn with good stats but I won’t feel any lose beyond that.
Im gonna be honest
engage is soooo much better than awakening
@@gamesboy123able I planned on getting it regardless, FE is one of my favorite franchises! I just had a hard time understanding all the different reviews saying stripping back features as a good thing. Thanks for the input! I am still pretty excited about the release.
@@gamesboy123able Have you finished Engage?
The game will still have support conversations.
I loved the social side of Three Houses and I appreciated that its levels were never too huge and never took too long to complete but I did feel all that extra stuff was a bit much. Sometimes after a long day I'd sit down and continue my 3H save file, play for about 2 hours or so... and I wouldn't do a single battle. I'd be so busy watching the several support cutscenes I unlocked after my previous battle, going around the castle in its entirety to collect every item and do all the stuff that changes between each level like go fishing, cook meals, talk to every character... and though fun it just really was all a lot. I like the battles and the tactics and the strategy but when I'd look at my final playthrough run time I'd think about how little of it was actual the battles 😅 So it'll be interesting to see what the balance is like this time, how much social stuff I want and if they get the battle balance just right or overcorrect just a tad too much. Brilliant review 😊
Yeahhh. Typical female behavior. That’s what the SIMS or Animal Crossing is for.
no one is forcing you to collect every blue item or fish or watch all supports or talk to every character, you can skip all of those, thats wasting your own time. you can even opt out of doing any monastery at all if you really want to. you can just to an aux or a paralogue battle or skip straight to the main missjonn
@@alpha_c. But I enjoyed all that stuff and the benefits that came with it. But like I said it's just that it took so long that sometimes I wouldn't even be able to get a battle in. It wasn't the end of the world or a huge frustration but a bit of a " wow that was a lot of stuff... I didn't even get around to a battle tonight"
@@beauvogames some of that stuff is literally a waste of time tho and has no reward. like getting every blue item and watching every support and talking to every character. most blue items will be useless or a lost item for someone who’s not even in your house. and there’s no reason to fish unless you are doing cringe profxp farming or you need it for a meal
@@alpha_c. Yeah, I totally agree that a bunch of the interactions are literally going to go nowhere since you're never going to recruit every single student from every single house into your house. But when you're picking up blue items you don't always know what it's going to be / whether it's for your house or a character you want to recruit. So unless you're playing with a guide, you're still kind of encouraged to do this whole "do everything approach" and like I said I still find it fun, it was just way too time consuming and imbalanced with the battles and then as you rightly say, the payoff for a lot of that extra time can at points be almost pointless
One of the biggest reasons I love this series is how vastly different each game is. I never know what to expect apart from a good time because the base gameplay is just so great. Truly so excited for this game
This is how I feel! From the grittiness of PoR and RD, to the school life of 3H, I love every single game for being completely unique yet keeping the core gameplay in place. Intelligent Systems are (IMO) the best in the business in creating tactical RPGs.
This is the only correct answer in the pile of 'WAHH FE IS NOT TO MY LIKING SINCE AWAKENING WAHH' .
The recent games in the series really experiment and innovate novel experience, so I am so glad they're taking it in new directions compared to predecessors. If I want 'authentic' I would go back to play on emulator.
@@roseflamingo8102Fire emblem fans are whiny brats
I like the monastery in three houses but towards the end of my first run, I pretty much was auto-instructing and just doing a few battles for gold or ore after the side quest was done. I'm just happy for the triangle systems return and I kinda like the new graphics. Very excited about the 20th!
Frankly I will miss three houses’ deep storytelling and deep characters BUT engage’s gameplay looks amazing. Engage mechanism and those supermoves look great
lmao deep 🤣
They also look ridiculously OP.
@@prawiraagung4011 No other fire emblem game deeply explored individual characters’ motives/interests/conflicts as Three Houses. Whether you personally found the supports and convos PROFOUND is irrelevant.
they should make story deeper with dlc
@@prawiraagung4011 u obviously didnt play or read lore of three houses
The social sim stuff in Three Houses is what made me fall in love with the game. Sad to hear that its been mostly gutted in this entry.
It’s a shame about the hub not having much in the way of character development. I really loved that aspect in Three Houses. The rest of the game sounds great though, so I’m sure it’ll be good fun.
On one hand, I'm glad I don't feel the need to talk to 40 different characters each month, on the other hand it would have been nice to see Engage characters perspective on events.
@@blook741 The way I see it, it's taking the same route as Trails of Cold Steel, which is a very good thing.
I really appreciate getting a FE more in line with Awakening again, where much less time is spent between battles (barring inventory management), and a stronger focus on getting right into the next battle. I LOVE Three Houses, it's just, I ALSO love the Awakening style Engage offers. Both are valid. It's nice to have one of each type on Switch.
was awakening one that started romance and children's tho lmfao
I get what youre saying but i think awakening is kinda the start of that trend. Almost all older FE games have very little going on between each level. So while Awakening does have less than 3H, both have more than most of the series
The best system was tellius games imo, and those aren't even my favorite in the series
@@user-yg7ck9ip3d nope. Genealogy was the one started children, and is still the best one in this regard.
@@leaffinite3828 Frankly Path of Radiance has a lot more stuff going on in between chapters than Awakening, unless you specifically support grind
I’m very happy to hear it’s more combat oriented.. as someone who has been a part of the franchise since the very early 2000s, Three Houses was a Soap Opera between battles and I’m not trying to play Fire Emblem: The Young and the Restless
Three houses have simp fans. Adults that act and speak like children
My biggest question as far as gameplay goes is about class promotions, as 3 houses approached the subject in a way I was a little mixed about. On one hand I loved how flexible you could be with how you developed each of your characters’ classes, and how you could promote character several times. However it also felt like when you got to the final set of classes the options were not super plentiful, and I would like to see a greater variety of class options in engage! I don’t mind having less options for how I want to promote my characters as long as the variety of classes overall is still plentiful! Awakening I thought did it best where you had plenty of class options but you could also change your character’s class rather freely with the proper item!
I wil never get tired of the awsome zoom in during battles and the map. Satisfying to watch
Building and finding out funny and cute relationships between the characters is one of the most fun part for me of fire emblem besides tactic combat. I remember the time were we could create different children from getting an S rang with or party members. I was romancing them together to create a funny and strong child and family. But after awakening and fates they did not return this sadly. There is notting wrong with liking a romancing/friendshipping game that has good tactical combat and a great story.
Speaking of Awakening, I think it'd be great if they did a Switch port of Awakening. I'd totally buy it again.
As someone who hasn't played it yet, same.
I’ve played all of them since awakening and sadly I’ve only ever truly LOVED awakening. 😞
Very Excited to get a lot of replayability from this title, I'm really getting Sacred Stones vibes off of your guys review. I can't wait for Friday to play it!
Great work Nintendo life! Just curious if you play on perma death and someone wearing an emblem ring dies, do you just automatically get the ring back or do you have to go to wear they fell and recover the ring or is the ring just gone for good? Again loved the review!
I think the characters are one of the main aspects that made me love Three Houses so much. The depth of the characters and their motives made the world feel very much alive, so it's unfortunate to hear this game shoves those aspects out of the way.
Which is unfortunate.. seems like they poured more effort into the gameplay instead of the actual characters.. and at this point.. prob even the story may be lackluster too
The reviews I’ve seen that even mention the story say that it’s generic. Chosen one with amnesia fights evil god-like monster.
And that the roster is wide but shallow. The character development is pretty bad. :(
That's disappointing. Personally, I don't really care if there's a lot of support as long as they're interesting. And beyond the combat most of the other games are still interesting character dramas.
I don't think I'll be dissapointed even tho I think 3 houses/3 hopes are games I'll be more likely to go back to, like Fodland raised the bar to an extent that I'll remember characters long after I've put down the game and want to know more about the world. (Be nice to get games set in Dagda or Almyra some day.)
But it's unfair to expect that level of story telling to be maintained all the time, so I'm cool with an outing where the world is just a backdrop for some fun maps.
I’m a huge fan of social sims, as well as in-depth story and characters. I really love 3 Houses for its combination of these things, and how much game play time they put into the social aspect of things. I am worrying a little bit that Engage may not be as much up my ally personally the more I hear about it. Still have it pre-ordered, but I hope I enjoy it even if I don’t end up liking it as much as 3H.
To be fair, Fire Emblem isn't a social sim franchise. Until Three Houses, the 15 previous games did not have social sim elements beyond some supports (which changed from game to game. They were either exhaustive like Fates, or pretty basic like Radiant Dawn and everything in between).
I'm worried some % of new players want Fire Emblem to become a social sim when that's not really something core to Fire Emblem.
I think people who like social sims should buy social sims, not tactical rpgs, but that's just me. To the millions of players who did not like the social sim elements, these features really bogged down the game (especially on multiple playthroughs). The game forced the player to engage in the monastery and the monthly activities to optimize their playthrough, and this added about 10+ hours of busy work each time that just became tedious and repetitive. Not doing so would handcuff you, especially on harder difficulties. This really affected the replay value of the game, and I'm actually thankful they scaled this back considerably. They really had to. It's fine for the first 30 hours, but it just outstays its welcome, especially in a game that was designed for players to play all 4 routes which took about 50 hours each to complete. I get through the older games in about 18-25 hours with the same number of combat chapters - that's the time savings by not having the social sim.
3 houses is a dating sim.
@@Katie-hb8iq Oh yes, all of that is completely true! I actually only got into 3 houses at all because it wasn't as much like past games and more in line with the type of games I tended to play, wich I completely understand is not reflective of the series as a whole. I really actually loved the tactical game play in 3 Houses but I think I liked it mixed with the other things as well. I am very much not the main demographic for the Fire Emblem series as a whole though, but I do still hope I enjoy Engage!
@@Katie-hb8iq The main thing with the social sim aspects of 3H is it added depth and a sense of care between the characters. I ended up actually liking my characters during my playthrough and ended up loving the small things that happened to them. made progression feel like it lead somewhere, however they definitely needed to tone it down a few notches. I liked it, but it got too boring to read so much dialogue over and over again. My fear is they'll strip away the chance to get to know your characters in exchange for gameplay, because that would mean characters are bland and the replay value is decreased.
The thing here is that the character rosters for every FE game before Echoes (excluding Gaiden and perhaps Genealogy) were all designed to account for the distinct possibility that you would end up losing some units over the course of your playthrough. It’s why most of the characters you recruit in the midgame and lategame end up being pre-promotes; they’re there to fill out any of the empty spaces left in your party if you got one of your mainstays killed.
Both Echoes and Three Houses took an approach closer to that of a traditional RPG - the same few characters you start the first proper chapter with are probably the same few characters that you’ll be taking with you into the final chapter. They boast the smallest playable character rosters in the series, which gives them much more room to expand those characters, with the issue being that if you go and get one of them killed, it hits your gameplay performance incredibly hard because recruitment in Three Houses is such a huge chore if you’re not snatching up a teacher. On a related note, this was likely why the Turnwheel was introduced in Echoes, because resetting a map after losing one of the only 18-odd units you’ll be getting for that army is pretty fucking exhausting.
Thank you for this review! This game sounds like it’s is perfect to just play and put on a podcast. The combat has always been what I looked for the most in FE
Boy I am stoked for FIre Emblem Engage, as a huge fan of the franchise! The new mechanics allow one to delve much deeper into the intricate strategy elements Fire Emblem is known for. Hopefully, the story turns out to be on the level that brought Three Houses critical acclaim.
...it's not. Engage's story is not. Well, maybe Fell Xenologue, but that's it. It had potential, too.
While Im not big into the art style here, the gameplay looks great. I recently beat Three Houses which was good enough for me to buy this.
The clear focus on tactics instead of social aspects is a huge plus for me. Also I think Alear's hair looks cool!
I enjoyed the social hub but what kept me engaged was how I could create my own little army and tweak their classes and weapons. So it looks like it has improved and I'm very excited.
I'm so happy it tells more of its story in combat. Three houses wore me down, and it took three playthrough to know what the hell was going on. The school aspect got really old halfway through. I'm here for strats!
Lol, some people be like: "Back in my day, fire emblem designs weren't cringe with double colored hair!"
Heath says hi...
I have Three Houses. I’m getting Engage. I like how both are different. It’s nice that this new entry is different enough to where either game has something unique to offer. 🙂
Plus, it looks gorgeous!
I wish more people thought like this. Pretty sure there are... however as the game has just launched recently you have the people making noise over how it's not Three Houses 2.0... Yet those same people could barely do one playthrough of that game without getting bored.
The problem with people now days is it's a "raising bar" of expectations where they want bigger and better things... and expect to get it. It's like a Rose Garden... searching for a rose better then the last one you saw and comparing 2 different roses as if they were the same kind of rose... with ever raising expectations eventually... that Beautiful Lavish Rose Garden will look to the person visiting it like a Garden of Weeds... never finding that flower that was the pinnacle of absolute perfection.
I think the ever rising bar is as unfair as the ever crazy high expectations parents "can" have for their children to be better then they were instead of treating them as their own person. The same thing applies to games and everything else in real life. For me... I don't place a bar very high. If it's beautiful, fun, stirs my emotions... I love it. Fire Emblem Engage does that without needing the overly complex structure of Three Houses.
@@chriswinfrey3744 well said. Thank you for such a nice compliment. I couldn’t agree more with your assessment.
I liken this to Final Fantasy or Street Fighter. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike is a very different animal than Street Fighter IV. While both are quite similar. Ultra Street Fighter IV is 3D instead of 2D for 3rd Strike. They should be appreciated on their own merit. Final Fantasy VII vs. Final Fantasy X… which is better? I say both.
I cannot wait to play this. I really liked 3H but I’m looking forward to this much more personally.
The bigger focus on combat is exactly what I wanted, so excited!
naaah its good they focus on it but when you give a story like this..? most ppl like me just cant finish it if you play with statues with no emotion or whatever in them sadly.
@@larsstavenuiter424 Well, I didn't finish the game either so I guess you're right lol
I find these changes from Three Houses slightly refreshing. As much as I enjoyed all the Garreg Mach side content my first go round…After multiple playthroughs, especially on Maddening, it started to become a chore to me to get through just to get back to the main story
I love that this get back to the Awakening style of FE that I fell in love with. I’m so in.
Combat focused FE is what I'm here for. I hope the story can at least be Awakening level, although I won't set high expectations right now.
I liked the social aspect of three houses, but it really because a slog on repeated playthroughs, so I'm fine if it's reduced.
Awaening is pretty good though story wise, atleast until 18 ish
Does anyone know why this was reuploaded?
I loved Three Houses but the Monastery stuff wears on you after a while. By the time I was deep into that game I was really tired of having to go around and do all the extra social stuff and wanted to get right back into battle. Particularly the teaching element of 3H was never really interesting and it felt tedious. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed getting to know all the characters in 3H, but I think Engage paring back the social elements is for the best. Most people play these games for the combat.
I'm so glad they returned back to a more focused direction on actual strategy gameplay rather than the tacked on romance building and life sim aspects. If I want a life sim I'll go play one of the many options out there. Thank you very much.
Sadly had to skip this game, I know people want to dogpile on 3H being a waifu sim but it had ALOT of characterization, lore, and the story was deep. 50 percent of the reason for me playing 3H WAS because of the characters. From what ive seen in Engage, the gameplay is excellent but they really toned down the character interactions and backgrounds while the story feels really basic.
I just find it overall silly that there couldnt be the best of both worlds and instead Intelligent Systems ends up wanting to cater to one crowd or the other
While I do believe social sim elements will be expanded upon in future titles, the return to an emphasis on combat is a welcome transition for someone like me who has only played Three Houses. Cannot be more excited for this game.
More than "persona style" romance, what i loved about Three houses was the three diverging stories. How you could experience the story from 3 different points of view
I really hope the success of this entry brings in Remasters and/or translations of previous titles. FE is crack to me. Although divisive and cowardly, bring the rewind function. I hate losing 30 minutes to 1% crit and same-turn reinforcements...
I would love the GameCube and Wii versions. 🥰
So is the most like Fire Emblem warriors or like three houses? It’s more combat driven versus like rpg social sim right?
I personally get the vibe of Fates with Three Houses facelift appearance. It certainly is very colorful with the choices of costumes and the Emblem Ring gimmick kind of kills me. Its like they throw that in there with the intent of a package deal to buy the game. Aside from that, I like everything else they got in place. Of course, to me I have still experience a new Fire Emblem that is comparable or top Awakening. Three Houses came close and honestly I wish they pulled a Fates move with Three Houses and make each House it's own game and if you got all 3, you can unlock the church ending. Perhaps that way the BE and Church route wouldn't be so short and flesh out better.
If anything, the limiting of support options, romancing, and more a focus on story telling, and more importantly, combat, reminds me of Shadows of Valentia, and HOO BOY let me tell you that game is an absolutely phenominal Fire Emblem experience, widely lauded as one of the most enjoyable games in the series in the fandom.
If if this game is taking a leaf more out of that game's book, I am HERE for it!
Loved Three Houses social stuff but glad that this game is focusing more on what’s made Fire Emblem great, the turn base battling. Hype af.
My first game for any Fire Emblem was Three houses and while playing Engage missed the differences yet still like it for what it is. Wanted to see what other thought about it so looking up review videos and it seems I’m the only one that really liked the heavy story base and character development 😭
I'm kind of sad about the lack of real supports as that is something that really made me enjoy Three Houses but I guess I'll just have to see it for myself
Im glad this game is positively received, can’t wait to get my hands on it myself 🙏🏾
It isnt, look at metacritic
@@minecraftotalwarpress F5
@@minecraftotalwar it has an 82 on metacritic and most of the bad reviews wanted it to be like three houses. 82 is still pretty good
@@minecraftotalwar Since when is an 82 a bad score? Most of the bad reviews were upset Engage wasn't Three Houses 2.0 anyway
You really shouldn't care how a game is received, only how you feel about it yourself.
If a game is good, enjoy it and screw what other people say.
I like Fire Emblem Sacred Stones from the GBA era nd I am hooked from this franchise. Haven't played other FE games because I don't have money to buy a Nintendo Console until I bought a Switch.
Played the Three Houses but it is not my kind of story, atmosphere etc.
Maybe this game will return my love from this franchise.
Are they going to add new game plus to this after release?
i hope its like awakening, u can still support chars but the main storyline hits. ik awakening isnt very favoured by OGs but I played a fair number of FE's when i was a kid and the aspect of just simple support convos and the class changing and skill grinding being quite in-depth made awakening feel like a nice balance. that was smth i felt sucked abt fates as corrin's story just didnt hit as much (sorry fates fans, the game was aite tho) however, if i just have the same feeling of blazing blade again when i was a smol boy... i would just be happy for that.
Im glad about the new social system and that they focus more on combat and story this time.
I deeply hate 3H, but I love a lot of the older FE games so I'm thoroughly relieved this game is more like the older games. I had 0 interest in this game until this week when I was told it wasn't like 3H much. I'm so happy
I’m really glad to hear you connect with your army in how they perform in combat, especially if it’s like Triangle Strategy. Everybody in Three Houses felt like the played pretty similar, since you had the freedom to build everyone any way it left it so nobody stood out. In Fates alone I can think of characters like Effie who I came to rely on and Odin who could tank and they became uniquely useful in that way. I’d love if the writing was equal to three houses and we got the best of both worlds, but I’m glad unique units may be a big thing again
This is exactly what I wanted from a new FE game. It seems like the game has a much clearer focus and is just a huge love letter to the people who grew up playing FE like myself. Cannot wait till Friday.
I feel the same but every review I've seen says the stories horrible. I really wish we could go back to the gba FE or gamecube
@@SK-do5rv Don't trust reviewers. Trust the fans of the new and old games
@@SK-do5rv Its going to be the same as all the others. Good but not great. You dont really play FE for story. Or really any Nintendo game for that matter lol
@@theolong6689 xenoblade chronicles? Why is it a sin to want better stories not just basic fantasy stuff?
@@Ratorss Oh yea good point xenoblade all had good stories. I personally liked all the FE stories for the most part. Zelda also has a very interesting method of story telling. So much of it is told through the environment and world rather than dialogue and cutscenes. Similar to the souls series and I personally love that form of story telling. But its just not going to be winning any awards for story telling like God of War. Still good though.
thank GOD for this direction. I never cared for any of the relationships characters had in previous games... even in GBA FE, I basically skipped every single support conversation dialogue. My attachment to characters grows from what they can do on the battlefield, and what they become capable of as I invest resources into them. Was never a LTC kind of player, but I thoroughly enjoyed babying the fuck out of Nino in FF7 and watching her become very powerful by last chapter. Or practically any of the past swordmaster characters, because they tended to have the coolest animations and I loved dodge-tanking after tossing them on a forest tile and ending player turn. I'm excited for Engage.
my worry is the rings, they seems very op like dynamaxing in pokemon. so im worried that its focused on combat and that combat is going to feel cheap because you are just waiting to use the ring all the time to win 🤔
By far the best fire emblem i've played in years, last fire emblem i really enjoyed and got myself lost for hours was Radiant Dawn.
But with Engage i found myself fully inmersed in customizing the units, always wanting to land crits of my favorite class due to high class animations (a staple in old FE), amazed by the level of polish for all the details within the gameplay, flashy moves, engaging combat, etc.
I really hope FE goes this route for the future.
As someone who *vastly* prefers old-school FE over Three Houses, this sounds great to me. I may actually pick this up, after all!
I'm pretty sure I'll still enjoy this game, since I enjoyed my old school FE, but I'm not quite excited about going back to not caring if a unit dies because their personality is just made of two old tropes.
This review fits with the impressions I got from all the previews already
They've made a smaller, but more focused game, and I'm honestly optimistic about that, even though I haven't played it yet
The side activities and relationships were really nice to have initially, but as the game went on, with four different campaigns, those things got tiring real soon
Even as someone who absolutely loved Three Houses and its great cast of characters, by the time I was done, I was so burned out I never wanted to touch Three Houses again; And I never did
Clearly, it's not just me who had this problem, and the developers appear to have listened, though some may argue they might have dialed it back too far (Can't comment on this until I play the game for myself tomorrow)
update?
Well done on this review! Very thorough, answered all of my questions, and made me excited to get this game when it comes out! The tactical aspect was always the priority for me when it comes to FE (I never played FE3H, although I'm sure it's an excellent game) and this game looks like a excellent return to the core of the franchise.
I've watched all the reviews released so far and this one is hands down THE best and most informative one.
Can I have question about permadeath...do characters even recognize it or care ? I played one FE with permadeath (Awakening I think) and when I lost character, nobody cared. Nobody mentioned him and character just disappeared, what I really hated, it was during mission when the dead character tried to save some princess, he sacrificed himself and she didnt even blink and just move on... From this on, I never bothered with perma death because when characters dont care, why should I..
Good question
Can't get over that Crest haircut, but the gameplay looks great. I've never played a Fire Emblem game but might finally be time to dip my toes in to the franchise!
I might get this one. If it focuses on battle and the main story then it feels like echoes which is my first entry on the series. I really like echoes because it is straightforward and seeing this i may actually like engage as well.
“Like Awakening and Three Houses” Damn, it’s like Fates didn’t even exist lol
"The Somniel quickly becomes a series of menus and hoops that you jump through in order to get your stat increases and get new gear."
Respectfully, I'd like to hear how you think that's different from the Monastery in 3H. Just a series of lengthy, repetitive, poorly-animated-and-textured hoops.
Exactly. Monastery was just a big, ugly slog and not much more.
Since I was a kid and played Path of Radiance (my first Fire Emblem) and then the GBA games, for me the series was ALWAYS about the RPG-Tactical experience, I used to skip all the non-sense talking just to the get in to the next combat, I never found the main stories to be that attractive. That's why I'm totally hyped for this game, because it's all about the combat.
Thank you; i really can't take all that social stuff; it gets tiring really fast and takes away from the main thing about games; gameplay.
i mean there are like a ton of rts and other games you can play for that this is the one that actually has had this social aspect
i loved Three Houses, but trying to replay that game was a slog. i’m glad to hear Engage cuts down on the time spent in the main hub doing… well, functionally nothing. and the time you DO spend in the somniel being both fun AND optional. supports being shorter than 3H is a bit worrying in some ways, but if you ask me, 3H support conversations were WAY too long. excited to judge for myself how well they’re handled in Engage
If I want persona I will play persona, if I want triangle strategy I will play fire emblem engage!
One thing that deterred me from trying Three Houses was all the fluff, now that I know that Engage has disposed with most of that, I'm actually a lot more inclined to give this a try! I love turn-based combat that has many aspects and elements to it, last game I really enjoyed that offered this was probably the XCOM reboot. Thanks for the video.
This is one of my top Nintendo switch games! A must play!
Idk man… I had so much fun playing match maker with all my units in three houses… it wasn’t even about the relationships the mc had, although that was a factor.
Is none of that really in this game at all? The support dialogues were so fun to witness.
If there is both no supports like this, AND no alternate routes, I’m not sure if I’ll enjoy it. Say what you will, but I loved three houses so much. For this to be such a drastically different game is a tough pill to swallow. I’ll have to sit on it for a while
Glad to hear this reviewed. Trying to decide weather to get this or Persona 4 first. 🤔🤔
11:20 Great editing here haha 🤣
Thank goodness this is more focused on combat. I thought the relationship building was always so long and tedious, and distracted from the story and gameplay. I'm glad that they worked it into the narrative instead
Seems like Engage is a sort of return to form for the series. I’m not a huge Fire Emblem fan (I’ve tried and failed many times to get into the Strategy RPG genre), but I’m glad that it seems to have turned out well. Who knows, maybe I’ll give it a try some day!
Return to form? Three houses was one of the most successful fire emblem games of all time lol
@@rufusrupo I never said it wasn’t. All I’m saying is that this game is much more similar to the older games, with more of a focus on combat than Three Houses. I never said Three Houses was bad; it’s just different than previous Fire Emblems, which is what it was meant to be.
@@rufusrupo3Houses was successful but nothing like the og games
Three Houses was my first FE game and it was my favorite game that year. 3 hours in and I can already tell the difference, this definitely is a change of pace, but I’ll definitely enjoy it even though I’ll miss the relationships
Honestly a focus on combat sounds good to me. That’s why I like fire emblem after all.
Honestly, I hated Three Houses for all the Monastery stuff… I’m glad Engage is more like the previous FEs
Edit: I don’t like the hair, but it doesn’t bother me at all
Not even a question if it's worth it or not. To me most definite yes.
So is the Support/Marriage/Kid stuff replaced by building with your ring ghost?
So it sounds like, even though I was a little weary about the 'summon characters from the past' mechanic. This game isn't really leaning on that too heavy. It's giving a really cool way to train up and that. But there's still a story to it and that.
I’ve never played a fire emblem game so I’m just curious if this is a good place to start please let me know
When will the game be released on Nokia N-Gage ?
Just the kind of fire emblem experience I was waiting for. I loved awakening for the 3DS and gave up on three houses because it focused more on relationships and dialouges, and seeing this one returning to the roots of pure journey and combat is great news for me
Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn was my favorite game growing up and I've been chasing that high ever since. I still boot up my Wii every once in a while and replay it. I tried Three Houses and eventho I liked it, it didnt feel like even the same franchise. Does anyone know if this one might be more for me since it seems a bit more combat and strategy centric?
I just watched this and the Bayonetta 3 review back to back. It's such a difficult choice between the two because I love FE but I also really enjoyed Bayo 2 when I played it.
this was re uploaded?
The social aspect is what I will miss most simply because , Some of it lead to story moments that have stuck with me for years. Like in Awakening where I partnered my Robin with Chrom and lead to my Robin being Lucina's mother. Or why some people chose a specific house in Three houses, And to be honest it is a big hit for me personally. It made me feel and gave me visually representation that what I did mattered. The game might be great and it might have a great story will have to wait and see. But if its missing stuff like that it may rank lower for me. I do hope though that those who wanted less social stuff enjoy the game.
For me too. Can we even call it firem emblem game if we dont care for the troops anymore? Like, wasnt it the differential of the series?
I wouldn’t be turned off quite yet! The game still has lots of social aspects. You can still cook meals, train, and have support conversations with all your allies in this game. Marriage might be out of the question but it looks like there will still be plenty of opportunities for character building. Contrary to the review building supports in this game is still just as important as the past titles, if the official trailers we have are anything to go by.
Why did they reupload this ?
I think its to add in Zion's credit, as the original only had PJ
FE 7 on the gameboy advanced and Path of Radiance are still my favorite FE games, so Im glad to see this game going back to those roots
Ya, I'm glad they decided to focus on the combat. Three Houses was lacking in that, and while that game got away with it for me (because I was interested in its story), it felt like one-off thing never to be repeated in future FE games.
I have never played any Fire emblem game and I was wondering if this or three houses would be better to start at
I never completed all 4 routes in Three Houses just because the monastery became such a chore and boring after two playthroughs. Happy to hear that combat is the core focus in this game again - honestly I liked Radiant Dawn for the simple, bite-sized conversations in the base camp.
I'm actually kind of glad that they are returning to this type of style. I don't mind social aspects in a game since I do like Persona but it was a bit too much in three houses
And while Persona's social sim is always very fun, 3h one is boring
Through the whole game the actions you make in the Monastery are the same, the dialogue lines are the same and etc., It's repetitive and boring
@@Zerorenren4761 Hey
Thank goodness they focused on actual gameplay and not that social/vn/teacher aspect that bogged down 3H.
I started playing fire emblem when awakening came out and I have loved every release since. I loved the marriage/children mechanic of awakening and fates. I loved how fates was like 3 games. I loved three houses for its big scope and replayability. I love this game for how streamlined it is and the graphics are gorgeous. but with that being said this game feels much smaller and has less replayability than the others even including awakening. love this game but without children or optional recruitable characters or even a time skip- im hoping for the next fire emblem to take engages gameplay and graphics to the next level. give us more choice. give us more optional recruits. bring back the children system. we don't need another monastery- the somniel is perfect- but just give us more. im still hopefully with all of the dlc but so far it seems like the dlc will just be more bracelets... which doesn't really help the games replayability factor
I haven't played a tactics game in a veeeery long time. I might pick this up. This looks great!
I personally hated how heavy the social sim stiff was in Three Houses, so this sounds like a game I would enjoy more.
As a long time fan of Fire Emblem (Since Awakening), I am happy to see that the more visual novel aspect of FE that has become normalize take a back seat. I am also happy to hear that the hub area isn't as needed as it was in Three Houses, which was ultimately my biggest gripe of the game on how often I needed it and how much stuff there was to do. (Not to mention you had to replay the first half of the game 3 / 4 different times in order to play all the routes)
I am looking forward for the more linear Engage. Takes me back to Awakening where the story was deep, and the supports weren't long winded dialogue. I am excited for this game!
I really hate to be that guy, but being around since Awakening does not make you a “long time fan”
@@cbmatty9262 yes it does. A decade is a long time. Compared to fans have been into it for 2 decades? Not so much. But 10 years is a long time.
@@johnathanera5863 A long time fan means that you played many games of the series and knowing a lot the about the series, not how many time has passed between the releases. There are 16 Fire Emblem games (without Engage) and if you just played 4 (Awakenings, Fates, Shadows of Valentia and 3H) at max you are a fan, but not a "long time" fan.
@@Ryu_Teruyama considering only half those games came out in the west, those are the only ones that matter to western fans. So the number is 9, not 16. And playing half the games released in the west and over the course of a decade makes you a long time fan imo. Not the longest time fan, but a long fucking time. Time does indeed matter, so does number of titles played tbf.
Someone who started FF with final fantasy 7 is a long time fan, regardless of the 6 games that came before. Same with fire emblem.
@@johnathanera5863 There are fan translations for all FE games that didn't came out in the west, so it's not like you can't play them.
Yes, I feel really sorry for all people who didn't play probably the peak of the series, FFVI. (After IX of course. 😉)