Engage legit became one of my favorite fire emblems because of the focus on gameplay, quick setup in the somniel, great character designs and still a fun story and characters. It's great that it's more lighthearted, and as someone who's been with the series for years, I had a great sense of nostalgia.
I really felt similar too but I’ve only finished Three Houses. I love how silly this game is & that it’s just a sitcom, but I do love the moments of darkness like the Céline/Alcryst supports he brought up, or the Diamant/Ivy supports. And then we have the Rosado and Merrin supports of them yelling about who has the better fashion and it’s just as good
I kind of like how the campaign is alot more battle focused. Alot of the padding from three houses isn't here and it's just going from fight to fight and it makes it flow alot better imo. I got burnt out on the amount of time I spent in garag Mach in 3 houses by the time I got to the time skip. So a more streamlined Fe is a welcome change. Reminded me more of awakening.
I mean that's just how Fire Emblem normally is, Three Houses was the one to differ greatly. Personally I loved it because it built the characters so much more but I can understand why people got tired of it.
Finally a good take on appreciating FE for what it is and specifically Engage for what it set out to do. Too many people were expecting something that wasn't basically a celebration of FE as a whole.
It's a good game, but the title is pretty terrible. Engage is clean gameplay + nostalgia bait / fanservice, sacrificing basically every other aspect (story, narration, characters...). "I love it for what it sets out to do" is very different from "I love *everything* about it".
Except it isn’t celebrating FE because the nostalgia is extremely shallow and surface level. All the returning characters are based on their sanitized Heroes versions and not their original games, making the entire game pointless
I agree with a lot of what you say in the video. I bought and started playing Engage the day it came out and I am so glad I did. The characters, art-style, music, gameplay and just the general feel of the game felt really positive and wholesome. I enjoyed the story for what it was; it's not overly complex, but it still explores some interesting and heavier themes. Ultimately, I just felt overwhelmingly happy playing this game - so many good vibes - so, for me, this is a game I'll remember fondly and replay again and again, like I did with the older FE games. I also think the game does a good job celebrating the series overall, as there are many parallels and references to earlier titles, and as someone who likes FE, well, it just delivered what it set out to do.
I will go to bat for this game any day of the week. It’s just pure fun with a pretty good story and bright art style to boot. If ToTK weren’t coming this year, it would be hard to top for GOTY
honestly, i've been enjoying the story a lot more after chapter 10. nothing but great moments after that. It matches the highs of three houses for me honestly in terms of story and curiosity as you go further. it's very lighthearted and silly as well which honestly, I love. Not every game has to have such a deep and serious story, and this game accomplishes that while being really fun. It's a breath of fresh air in the series. also, the cast in this game is amazing, people who don't think so must have not played anything past three houses because awakening prepared me for learning about the cast via support convos and grinding them out. lastly, the emblem maps full of nostolgia and some of the best moments of the game, those maps alone make this game worth playing. especially the music
Engage isn't nearly as deep as something like Three Houses. And that's perfectly fine. Its not a game trying to be a life-changing or convoluted story. Its a game that simply wants you to have fun with it and enjoy it. And its okay to be that. Sometimes we just need a game that reminds us that games are supposed to be fun.
@@popskar Oh in that regard, absolutely! Honestly my biggest issue with the game is I can't play more, and that is a wonderful flaw to have. New Game Plus when, IS? This game is BEGGING for it!
@@oOPrettywinxOo This is true, but a lot of people mistake that for "A game MUST have a good story and gameplay to be fun or good" and that is simply untrue.
While I would ideally prefer a game to be engaging on both story and gameplay (no pun intended), I really did love the maps of this game, and a lot of the lategame stages were genuinely difficult. If anything, I at least learned to enjoy the game story as an absolute campfest. Every time the Hounds and their Jojo theme popped up I was enjoying myself even more, and that "FAIA EMBLEM" scene in the last battle reminded me of Power Rangers so hard I was smiling throughout XD
The somniel is sorta boring, but it is less mundane and repetitive than the monastery. Also, if you don't do everything in the somniel, it is way less penalizing than in the monastery.
Near the end of the game, I got my Somniel loop down to about 10 minutes, not counting watching Supports. Definitely an improvement over the Monastery, even if I liked actually talking to everyone there more.
@@regulusking4299 the monastery did have a bunch of NPC's that were just there to fill up space and make the area feel more lived in, but I didn't miss that here in Engage though, the Somneil didn't need that kind of fluff for me. Just wanted to mention.
@ZaxFSO8083 Well the Somniel doesn't have many random NPC's because it would not make narrative sense... Three Houses did not add NPC's for "Fluff", it was because narratively Garrag Mach is a school AND monastery, and is natrually going to have many different people walking through it.
Thank god someone knows the greatness that is engage! I’ve been a Fire Emblem fan since I watched my sister play path of radiance on the GameCube and wii when I was like 12, Ike best lord by the way. My first FE game was awakening, and I loved that story and cast of characters. Engage I felt was a breath of fresh air after the mess that three houses left for me mentally, and socially in a way too. I hate drastic split paths like fates, and three houses. So a more linear/streamlined story was much needed at this point. And so many characters in engage deserve a lot more love from their supports with other characters in the game. This is more classic Fire Emblem if anything, three houses was more of a modern (and messed up) version of Fire Emblem. People who wrote off this game and it’s cast of characters don’t know anything about Fire Emblem’s olden days, or at least forgot about them. Glad to see someone knows what a good Fire Emblem game looks and feels like.
I've been loving Fire Emblem Engage. The gameplay has been great. And I'm glad Somniel has been toned down from Three Houses because it was definitely exhausting after multiple playthroughs. I started with Blazing blade, so a more gameplay focused experienced is great for me.
As a longtime fan of the series since the GBA games, I LOVED Engage. Seeing my favorite characters like Lyn get some attention was so fun. And then this game gave plenty of new favorites like Fogado, who was a hoot every moment he was on screen, or Panette, the bestest little goth girl with BIG badass energy. Coming out as the follow-up to Three Houses definitely hurt the game but I loved every moment of it I played, personally. It was EXACTLY the Fire Emblem game I wanted it to be!
Also started with the GBA titles, though my history withe series have been sporadic. My favorite character in the GBA titles is Lyn. Favorite characters in Engage are Chloe, Citrinne, Lapis, and Merinn.
I have really enjoyed Engage. It’s vibrant with insanely solid gameplay. The characters have all grown on me, too. I love the music and the story is fine for what it is. As for the Somniel, I don’t mind it. It’s entirely optional, which I like. The Monastery became tedious and a massive chore with every subsequent play through. I cut my teeth on the franchise back in ‘16 with Conquest and my love for the series VERY QUICKLY snowballed. I had never played a RPG and was looking for something new. I had recalled seeing an IGN review on Conquest and decided to take a chance; best gaming move I have ever made.
I'm addicted. Only in Ch. 12, but I've done 15 skirmishes already and spent lots of time fighting emblems to unlock the skills. I really wish you could add more than two inherited skills person. 1 per emblem would be fine. I think it has the right balance of gameplay and story for me.
The simplified skill system was most likely to put the emphasis on emblems vs classes, but also because being able to inherit even 2 skills is fairly broken, being able to inherit 1 per emblem would completely break the game balance
I don’t personally agree with all positive takes of Engage needing to say that “Oh the plot is goofy and fun and that’s okay.” As someone who has played every game in the series, unless your name is Genealogy or Thracia, pretty much every game has a healthy amount of lighthearted and fun moments alongside one’s that are tragic or maybe even mildly disturbing. I think the main issue with Engage’s plot is that, while I think it actually has some enjoyable plot twists and story beats towards the end, it waits too long to show it’s full hand. It makes repeat playthroughs full of a new perspective as you notice how much foreshadowing is packed in here, but it doesn’t make the best first impression for a lot of people. Otherwise I actually think people are way too harsh on Engage’s story. And from the gameplay to the characters and story, Engage is pretty much the game I was not only expecting it to be, but also hoping for. I was not really a big fan of Three Houses’ calendar system, monastery exploration, and how focused it was on micromanaging your students. I can enjoy it for what it brought to the table, but Engage being a much more traditional title, on top of having so many references packed in, made it an absolute blast. Also, pleased to find another Mia fan in the wild.
Thank you for saying it! Finally someone else mentioned the amazing use of call-forwards and callbacks and foreshadowing in this game! It's so _good_ at what it does, but it's definitely a bit of a slow burn on first playthrough. It spends a lot of time setting things up for the final act, which then comes down on you like a hammer blow.
I am so happy to see a positive review on this game. I loved it for what it is, and I agree. After 3H it was nice to just have a really nice campy story, of "We're going to get the Bad Guy" (insert a few plot twists) and boom. It very much feels like a celebration title of everything that makes FE, FE, hitting all the right notes most of the time. It's okay I think to compare it to the previous game (I mean I remember 3H getting flack for the art style and what not too). but not to the point where you don't appreciate anything of what the current game is trying to do.
I appreciate your comments about the characters. Fire Emblem has ALWAYS been a series where, if you dont make the effort, characters are just anime characters with swords. While i dislike the direction Engage went with a lot of character designs, i think youre a fake fan if you consider Engage's cast a step in the wrong direction. They're all fun and have their own depths, but, like in older games, it's up to you to learn more about them. I love three houses and the character writing, but it's exhausting how the game throws like seven support conversations at you after like one battle. Makes all the fantastic writing just one big blob to sit through after each map lol
As a Veteran of the franchise, and once the initial cringe wore of, Engage became my favourite Fire Emblem. I've replayed it several times, tried every character with different builds, read all the supports, and somehow I still want to play it more. Kinda sad that the community can't appreciate it, it's seriously one of the most polished Fire Emblems out there. You basically spoke for me bringing points like the shallow characterization. Ppl seem to forget that we used to love the GBA titles despite their simplistic stories (well, not SS).
I think you're right about the Three Houses thing, I personally played FE starting with Awakening (so not that many), but Three Houses lost me because it was a completely different game from previous FE games. Alternatively, if you look at a player that started the series with Three Houses they'd have a completely different expectation of FE games than someone who played older ones first. Also, yes, I started with Awakening so I miss the romancing.
Personally my issue with 3H isn't that it's different but the fact that it's boring and mediocre, while for some reason wanting to be a poor man's Persona game meaning most of the time in this strategy RPG is spent doing literally anything but strategy RPG stuff...
I sum it up as "Three Houses is a fantastic JRPG, but a terrible Fire Emblem game." Even thinking about its exp progression lately and I realize how radically different it is from FE. It feels more like a spinoff that got marketed as a mainline entry. Engage's maps actually made me THINK, which is a first for me since Conquest.
Started with the first two localized GBA titles, didn’t play most until Awakening, dropped Fates, playing Echoes, also dropped Three Houses, and loving Engage. As for favorite characters, they are Chloe, Citrinne, Lapis, and Merinn, maybe Yunaka as well.
FINALLY someone sees the panzer dragoon connection. I keep seeing people calling it a star Fox mini game but it’s so obviously inspired by Panzer Dragoon
Ok first my favorite joke of this entire vid was the level up joke, gold just gold. Engage is not perfect by any means but what it does it does awesome. This games story and cast are different than 3 houses and that's wonderful! They may be a bit bland but still fun to watch on the whole excited to play more when I have more free time this weekend.
I'm not going to lie: when I first started playing Engage, I was expecting it to build on everything Three Houses established (you can imagine my surprise and disappointment when I saw that it return to simplistic storytelling). However as I kept on playing, I came to accept that it wasn't going to be Three Houses level of story telling (maybe I lowered my standards?), And an accepting that the game became a lot more fun. Gripes about character depictions and storytelling aside, this is easily the most beautiful fire emblem game to date: the art style, the animation, the graphics, all of it is simply beautiful to watch
People just think that morally grey=deep and complex, when in truth that's a gross oversimplification. Because, yeah, "morally grey" can help, but it always runs the risk of making character unintentionally unsympathetic, a trap I'd argue Three Houses occasionally fell into.
Additionally, I would definitely say that some characters in this are better than their Three Houses counterparts. For example, Alear and Veyle are leagues better than Byleth and Sothis.
Maybe it's recency bias, but right now I'd say Engage has my favourite characters so far. Yeah, they may be kinda shallow - but a diamond at the bottom of a shallow pool, is easier to admire than a diamond at the bottom of the deep sea. Some may enjoy the diamond that is hidden deeper much more engaging, as they connect it with the adventure they had reaching it, but others can enjoy the diamond in the shallow water just as much.
definitely recency bias everything in this is mid but higher production can confuse it (even then cutscenes are more FE heroes aesthetic already just in a console game now), makes the player feel stronger so it has larger appeal but it be bad if it continued down this route really both this and 3H suffer in dividing audience appeal and neither long lasting
@@marcusclark1339 I totally respect your opinion, but you cannot just decide that it's "definitely" just recency bias for me, lol. (no hard feelings tho, even if I'll write a huge paragraph now cuz I feel like it) I totally see that recency bias may boost my opinion, but even trying to factor that in, I can say without doubt that Engage is my favourite FE this far, maybe second to Echoes (which I actually haven't finished yet, but eventually will). Maybe not story wise, but as a whole package. And that either Céline or Lapis will take the cake as my new absolute favourite unit for the time being. Maybe their backstory isn't so deep, but the personality that they show just absolutely vibes with me. And for me, I have seen many characters that had super deep and long conflicts, but in the end, I still cared about them much less, than I now do about many Engage chars. And honestly, I don't think they're all that flat either. Sure, you can sum most of their personality up in one or two sentences each, but if you really try, you can do that with even the deepest character. And I think that's actually good. A personality that cannot be described short and quick usually just ends up feeling "inconsistent" to me. Which may be realistic to an extent, but that's another "me-thing". I don't want my (fictional) stories realistic, I want them fun and exciting. I they manage to be both, even better, but only one of those two things bothers me if it's missing. That's kinda what bothered me about Three Houses. The characters were mostly just "quirky enough" in their own right, but in general, it just sits in my mind as being a tad TOO MOODY, too political and too dark for my personal taste. Yet I fully accept that that's not a bad thing, cuz evidently, there are people with different tastes than me.
I think to a degree it’s Fire Emblem Heroes for the Nintendo Switch to some degree and I f**king love it, it is amazing for what it is. 9.5 if not a 10 depending on person.
With Three Houses, as much as there is to the plot, I still feel like they leave out a lot of detail that when you think about it more, it makes things more confusing (there's other students at the Monastery, who are they and why don't we know them??). Three Hopes definitely isn't perfect either, but considering that it's a Warriors game and the threads it leaves loose aren't as major as some of the ones in Three Houses, I can excuse it more. Engage, on the other hand, definitely doesn't have the strongest story, but the Four Hounds are easily my favorite FE villains, and everything about them is amazing. (The way Griss is animated in cutscenes... it's perfect.) Honestly I wouldn't have minded if the final chapter was the one before, the Fell Dragon can go do his own thing.
Man I always feel a bit upset when people call Engage's story just "light-hearted" and talk about how stuff doesn't tie together. Stuff _does_ tie together, this game loves its little bits of character foreshadowing and callbacks and call-forwards. There's so much _stuff_ that happens in the back half of this game and it's all tying back to stuff that happened in the first few chapters! And the game's story has such a good theme to it, albeit one that takes until literally the final battle to finally be shoved in your face hard enough for you to realize the entire game was about that all along.
I started with Fire Emblem on the GBA, the first game to be localized. And I will say this game has probably become my favorite game to play since. You know what I miss though- having to protect an immobile merchant through the levels until he levels up and gets a horse. It was a way to optionally increase the difficulty for yourself that rewarded you in the long run
I've been privy to an unhealthy amount of harsh Engage discourse lately and this video is just what I needed. Even though I don't agree with everything, it's well-reasoned and unassuming. I have at last been freed. If it wasn't freezing outside, I would go touch grass now. Maybe I will anyways, for the spiritual experience.
Probably the best FE game since Radiant Dawn. The gameplay is fantastic. The story is very campy, but that is the norm for classic FE. I didn't have a problem with it at all. I'm also one of those people that hated the school parts of Three Houses.
The monastery was my least favorite thing about Three House. There was just too much and it was too big. So hearing that Engage's hub is smaller and better, very welcomed
I still think Engage was one of the best games in the series The lack of linked futures in the epilogue was a bit annoying And they could’ve used the emblems more, like the bond links were just kinda then, like imagine if you had emblem links between like Ike and Micaiah or Corrin and Byleth There was at least a lot of Marth and Sigurd The soundtrack was also just good But overall it was fantastic though!! Story, characters, visuals, gameplay and just the clear love from the devs :) I started with 3Houses, but I’ve played the majority of the series at this point Engage makes me forgive 3 hopes… which wasn’t very good…
Honestly I’m fine with Engage’s story and characters. This is pretty much what Fire Emblem was all about. Three Houses was a different take on the formula, but if all future Fire Emblem games were like it, I’d probably get tired of it. Sometimes simple is better, and Engage succeeds in that regard. Is the story generic, yes, but it’s still an enjoyable ride from start to finish. While I’m not sure it’s been confirmed if Engage was meant to be an anniversary title, I can totally believe it with how many callbacks to the older titles there are, and they’re always great to see if you’re a veteran like me (started with Awakening). Speaking of story, I like that even though Engage reuses similar plot beats from past games (especially Awakening), it does its own thing with it. Example, just like Robin, Alear has a connection to the Fell Dragon, however they are not tied to Sombron’s resurrection or was made into a puppet (the latter instead going to another character). I’d definitely recommend Engage, but I would also say not to go into it expecting something like Three Houses, because let’s be honest, Three Houses is more the exception not the rule when it comes to FE stories and characters. It’s not a bad thing, but again, sometimes simple can be more effective.
Hopefully if you and Derrick playthrough the Legend of Heroes Trails series together y’all will see similarities with fire emblem for its cast of characters and the different groups of fans for each Story arc.
I loved Engage. Gameplay is the best out of all the FE games I've played. Really well designed maps, challenging, and the units have really fun abilities. And honestly? I really liked the characters, I was a bit iffy on how they would turn out pre release. But I found a lot of them super charming and charismatic. I specially love Ivy, Yunaka and Alcryst. And Alear might be my favorite "avatar" character in the series. After the silent protagonist that was Byleth, or the kinda too neutral stand in that was Kamui, I enjoyed having an avatar that had much more of a defined personality. I liked Daraen back in Awakening too, but I think Alear ended up being more interesting personality wise. Also, Engage is just a beautiful looking game. Its super comfy to just hang around after battles. And the animations in combat are great. Very, very good game.
It's really nice to see someone compare this game to the rest of the series and not just Three Houses. I am right there with you man, I've had a much better time with Engage, it's just so much faster and the gameplay is so smooth and tightly designed. I started with Awakening and this is the first new entry since it that has hit me the same way. Three Houses is super ambitious and has a great world and characters, but Garreg Mach really just hits the breaks after like every single story beat. Engage is just kinda like "you can just go to the next map if you want, it's no biggie, and I really appreciate that. Great video my dude!
So cool to see Engage apreciation. My only issue is the lack of NG+. I would love to eventually have a NG+ in a FE similar to Luminous Arc where you can use any character since the beginning even if it doesn't make sense story-wise. It would be awesome to have a lvl 1 Veyle early or stuff like that. Nice vid (Also I love Mika Pikazo's designs)
I don't understand why people keep complaining about the characters, like the first few ones you meet are not the most interesting, but they are so much better after that imo. I got a support convo about 2 characters talking about how they used to be assassins, its great.
I'm loving engage! It definitely beats Fates and 3 Houses for me (3houses I just don't have the free time for it but I beat one black eagle playthrough) but it's not quite Echoes or Awakening (my 1st FE game).
Iv'e played several fire emblem games, my first game was a cartridge I found (on the bus) of shadow dragon. Then I played Awakening and then sacred stones. I bought the special edition cart for all 3 fire emblem story path's in fates. I also bought the fire emblem gaiden remake with celica and the amiibo's for that game. Then finally bought 3 houses and I only beat the edelgard path(all who oppose her must die!) and then I bought the warriors 3 houses game but haven't played it yet and now I'm currently playing engage. Love the series, great series. Eventually I'll also play the first fire emblem on the NES which I bought digitally on switch when it was available for a limited time.
Great review with respect to the series, Daniel and I totally agree with everything you're saying. Engage may have my favorite battle mechanics in FE in recent years. Hard mode actually feels like hard mode! And like you said, I've found several favorite characters. Story-wise, I for one have always thought FE was usually about "lot of characters, wars and a dragon or two" so whether the story is light or dark I've never really minded 'cuz I like both. And honestly, getting heavy and dark story after another will be a bit overwhelming, so the simple and rather light-hearted story of Engage is very enjoyable for me.
This game felt like a leveled up version of one of the GBA games, and thats a good thing! It was so much fun playing Engage. I enjoyed everything about the game. If I had one complaint I'd say that some of the bond conversations with the Emblems feel a bit lacking.
The best users with Lyn are generals. Reason is because they are normally low speed, but speed taker will end up making them double hit in battles and her ultimate arrow move is insanely strong with high strength users which are also generals.
Thanks for this. You're totally right that Three Houses basically ruined the reception of Engage. Engage is otherwise basically like every other FE game, while Three Houses is the outlier that is very different from the rest of the series and drew in a lot of new "fans" (that I'd hesitate to call fans if they only actually like that one outlier). In my opinion, it's one of the BEST "regular" Fire Emblem games. The gameplay and visuals and music are all top-notch and the story is relatively simple but it's fun! And I adore some of the characters - Yunaka, Pandreo, Kagetsu, Citrinne... Honestly my biggest problem with the game is the lack of paired endings. I got into the series with Awakening, so yeah, I'm used to being able to play matchmaker (and even when I looked back at a few older games, you could still pair up certain units, so...). And while there WERE some nice supports with hinted romance, I felt like none of them got to be "completed" or fulfilled without a paired ending clinching them, you know? All the potential for the future in every ship just fizzles out. For instance you brought up Alcryst/Celine. I would have loved to see a paired ending for them where they get together after the war. Not a deal breaker for the game, but it's my only real complaint.
"The visuals are top notch" The characters have 0 art direction to them and mostly hardly fir into the general design of the world they are put into. At times even the colour saturation of two people is different as if they had literally been placed there straight from the artists notebook without any thought to it. There is no art direction in this game. Then there is the fully overloaded battle interface which makes it basically impossible to see any of the on map animations on anything but a big TV due to everything needing at least 4 different effects, like a star shower, wind and so on, applied to their movement. The combat animations are just about average at best. The supports somehow got even more predictable than those of 3H with them at times literally being one long conversation cut into three parts for no reason (sth we joked about for 3H supports) and their quality varies greatly. No problem with you liking the game, but those points you made are just factuallywrong when it comes to the art of the game.
I love everything about Engage as well, I first truly started with Awakening (I still haven't played Fates) and I've been fully invested in the series games since. I'm not going to go into detail but as I was going through chapters 21 and 22 I started cheering whoever calls that specific thing I won't talk about here as predictable is lying! I love the Somneil short, concise, optional, I don't have a problem with the monastery the Somneil is just easier to recommend and describe to someone. Sure the fishing mini game in 3Houses is simpler and easier to recommend than Engage but I like the level of interaction that Engage's mini game allows. Also Wyvern Ride is the best mini game! The Emblem's were like the Smash Bros Ultimate dlc characters, at first glance they seemed so overpowered that they'd break the game balance but that's not what happened in the long and short of it. I firmly believe people who call the characters bland and one dimensional just need to find the right support conversation, not everything Clanne and Framme do is tied to their worshipping of the Divine Dragon, Pandreo and Pannete's C Support goes directly into a serious topic that shaped them as the characters (dare I say people) they are deep down. Alfred and Celine's entire support chain is about their relationship as siblings and gives insight to how they act or think from before the story takes place. Heck, the way I see it Timerra and Fogado go against the mold that other royal families act or function to certain visible degrees, Ivy and Hortensia's support chain goes into the background of their relationship and what they had done prior to the story as well like they did with the Firene siblings but the dynamics are completely different. These are all from things I've seen so far but I hope my point is clear; spend enough time with something and you'll stop judging it by its cover. Thank for reading.
If you like Engage then it's likely you will like Fates too as Engage pretty much is Fates 2, just with 1 route as Engage clearly takes most of it's more gameplay focused notes from Fates than either Awakening or 3H, just with a lighter tone in comparison.
People who wanted Engage to just be another three houses must not have played three hopes because playing those two games with their 3 storylines one after the other and I really wanted something different.
Personally, I love it when something goes completely against what you were expecting. That's why Alphen is easily one of my favourite Tales protagonists, in that he completely goes against everything people thought he would be. I also personally enjoyed having a more black and white story after about four games of nothing but sympathetic villains, some of whom fell hard into the "unintentionally unsympathetic" territory.
5:49 Wait, THAT'S what the Obstruct staff does? I thought it just prevented a single foe from moving for one turn! Now that I know I can use it to basically give the entire enemy team the middle finger under the right circumstances, I might actually go back and do a 'Classic' mode run for the first time ever once I finish my ongoing first play-through.
I finally got it, currently waiting for it to be delivered. I've also bought 3H a couple weeks ago but haven't even taken the shrinkwrap off it yet. From what I've seen, Engage's gameplay and overall design is more akin to the pre-Awakening era, with no focus on relationships or - gasp - social sim and romance "options". I'm looking forward to olay Engage a lot more than 3H becaise of that.
Reminds me of the Animal Crossing New Leaf vs New Horizons debate. They're just different. I appreciate this video for being the one positive video as I recently fell down that rabbit hole of negative Engage reviews even though I've been playing since release and my opinion is pretty set by this point. I'd say I really enjoyed the game but I definitely found myself disappointed with some aspects that didn't return from 3 Houses so that clouded some of my opinion even though i feel more positive than negative overall.
I didn’t really watch many of the support conversations in Engage which ironically made me like the characters more than the characters in Awakening. The supports in that game only emphasised how one note most of the cast is. Knowing less about them actually made the characters in Engage better, which isn’t a compliment but it is what it is 😂
Three Houses was amazing, but honestly a bit overwhelming. I sank well over 60 hours into the game and was maybe a month or two before the time skip on my first route! There was so much to do that I think I burned myself out and haven't been back to any of the Fire Emblem games since. I'm thinking if/when I do go back to the series, I might try out Shadows of Valentia or maybe try Three Houses again... Engage might be right up my alley, but I don't think I'm willing to buy a whole new game just yet
While I wasn't as attached to most characters as in some other fire emblems, I still found them all good enough and teh story fine as is. My biggest focal point was the gameplay and that aspect was fantastic. I started with FE8 before playing 3H and then Fe 7 and 9, before playing awakening just before engage came out.
This might be recency bias but I really think this is my favorite cast of fire emblem characters. The designs are truly unique and almost all of the characters have made me laugh at some point. I'm excited to do another run in a few months to see supports I'm missing on my first run
I beat this game last night. It's my second favorite Fire Emblem game, above Awakening, Fates, Echoes, and the GBA games. I haven't played the Radiant games because the prices are insane. Three Houses is still my favorite because of the writing and characters, but Engage actually turned it around for me toward the end. Despite being simple, it did make me invested in the characters. And the map design is much better than Three Houses. Gameplay wise, it's probably my favorite Fire Emblem. The engage mechanic also allows for a lot of customization. You can customize your units but inheriting skills from certain Emblems. The only negative for this is you get way too little SP to play around with different skills, so you have to be certain which skills you want to inherit.
While your thoughtful insights regarding Fire Emblem Engage are certainly well-reasoned, it is evident that Engage experienced a significant decline in sales, surpassing a 50% drop-off rate. This decline raises concerns about the game's overall appeal. Initially, Engage found success, particularly among dedicated fans who pre-ordered and played it. However, it failed to resonate with a substantial portion, approximately 50-60%, of players who had previously enjoyed titles like Three Houses. I believe that various factors, including character designs, excessive avatar worship, and formulaic character writing, played a substantial role in this downturn. For instance, some character designs in Engage seemed peculiar, with examples such as Timerra's outfit adorned with an abundance of Christmas ornaments or Celine's dress appearing excessively oversized. In contrast, previous titles like Awakening, Fates, and Three Houses generally received favorable feedback for their character designs and overall tone, even if some players had minor qualms with gameplay or storytelling. In conclusion, there is a compelling argument to suggest that Engage's character designs and its overall unserious story tone significantly impacted sales, as they deterred potential players. The sales numbers indeed validate this assumption, as a brief 5-minute video showcasing these elements can often be enough to determine whether one wishes to invest in the game. People didn't even want to know how good the combat was - they were out immediately. Let's not overthink this sales drop-off. This has nothing to do with lack of character depth! People bailed out on Engage before that even became a factor! These character designs really are problematic for most people.
Love it, and wasn't expecting to. The designs are busy, but the colors make me happy. I wish it were easier to build bonds (why is it only in attacking it rises?). Male Alear is my favorite lord by far.
It feels like they didn’t want to allow the game to become “cool”. Like you could tell in Path of Radiance when Tibarn shows up for the first time that they WANT you to admire the Eagle King. Same with Caineghis, or the Black Knight.
Long-time fan since Path of Radiance here. ...I ended up writing a lot more than expected. I think I rather fall in line with the concensus I've seen. To start, the moment-to-moment gameplay is excellent. For as gimmicky and seemingly broken as you'd expect the Emblem mechanic to be, it's remarkably well-balanced and the map design is very tight and clearly made with this and other powerful new mechanics in mind. The game very frequently encourages you to play fast and not turtle, virtually every unit is decent at worst, Break and Chain Attacks make cheesy juggernaut strategies far more difficult to rely on... it feels clean and cohesive. With a small handful of exceptions, maps in this game are a joy to play through. I played on Hard first, and am now doing a Maddening playthrough, and even here this all holds up quite well. Maddening this time is MUCH more enjoyable than it (or Lunatic) was in previous games, especially in the early stages. Compared to, say, Three Houses, the difficulty ISN'T frontloaded this time, and it doesn't render half your roster obsolete right from the start like Awakening did. Unit "types" add an interesting new dynamic through the way in which it creates new niches and interactions. Thieves, traditionally a poor combat class, benefit immensely from doubled Avoid bonus from terrain by being "Covert" type, but is in turn countered by "Mystical" units, which ignore terrain avoid bonuses. Armored units don't just have large Defense stats anymore, they also get to ignore Break from the weapon triangle, making them far more reliable when defending compared to other units, even if they manage to have similar Defense stats. And the new Qi Adept gives a fun and versatile spin on the basic healer archetype, making them multifunctional in a powerful new way that doesn't involve making them strong combat units. Resource balance is a big weakness of the game, though. Donating is a huge new-player trap and you're easily starved for Gold regardless. Skirmishes are worth very little Gold and difficulty scales to your roster's internal levels, making them consistently difficult and particularly hostile to attempts to train up lower-leveled units. This is made worse by the enemies going all-in on rushdown in these battles, like in Awakening's skirmishes. Ingots for weapon refining are also very scarce and don't feel very naturally integrated. And then SP gain is really slow to build and the way SP cost of inheritable skills is balanced, it feels a little self-defeating at times. Some skills are so very obviously much more valuable for their cost than others (Canter, Alacrity...) that you end up mostly inheriting just a select few on everyone, and some skills are virtually impossible to obtain before endgame without excessive grinding. The Skills/SP system feels a bit shallow as a result and forced in as a callback to Heroes. The game feels in need of some balance changes on this end and probably NG+, too. The writing is definitely my greatest disappointment, however. The story, frankly, suffers from (what strikes me as) a LOT of annoying writing habits. It's so strange in the way it presents new characters and then often immediately hones in on their most extreme - and often most obnoxious - character traits. Part of the reason I'm not particularly keen on this cast of characters, overall. The "twists" of the story are also remarkably predictable, to the point that I don't think telling a compelling story was ever high on the priority list at all. Yet it does have a select few moments that are good in a vacuum and are so very close to creating something actually compelling... but everything around it undermines what it could have been. It just falls flat every time and I can't help but feel potential was clumsily squandered. The limitations of cutscene presentation also definitely hurts the immersion a lot here. While the game is overall a hell of a lot more visually appealing than Three Houses, the non-CG cutscenes and backgrounds still look really cheap. And can we please just have a *fixed name for our protagonist again?* Without any character customisation, the self-insert element is already shallow, and it became increasingly frustrating watching their name pop up in the subtitles but then not get spoken. And this happens over. And over. And over. The way the voice lines dance around it feels incredibly awkward. Doesn't it sound really stupid when you hear "I am the Divine Dragon." and then the response is: "What a lovely name." The subtitles add the character's name after "Divine Dragon", but it isn't spoken. It's incredibly jarring. And a shame, because Alear (default name) is actually a pretty decent character, shockingly! (Thank Naga they're not mute!) Next, the Somniel, it's fine. It's an okay hub. The minigames aren't much to write home about and Strength Training is offensively awful to play, but I do really appreciate how little of it yields meaningful, permanent gain and how much of it can be easily ignored compared to 3H's monastery, which very quickly became a slog to deal with. Ignoring some annoying loading screens, it respects the player's time pretty well. Also Sommie. Everyone loves Sommie. Lastly, special mention to the Tower of Trials... frankly, it feels a bit half-baked. It's there, it's inoffensive, but it's also not very compelling at all. Relay Trials are the lone part of it that's actually kinda fun, but simultaneously sad and hilarious, randomly taking over Relay Trials doesn't function right now. It's literally impossible to take over one without inputting a code, which is completely absurd and somehow has yet to be fixed. Hopefully updates and/or DLC will make this feature into something more interesting, but I'm not exactly holding my breath A Fire Emblem game can get by, by just having good gameplay at its core, no matter how bad the story is (see: Conquest. Dead horse, I know), but it is nevertheless disappointing. I'm satisfied with what I got, but the nagging feelings remain.
My main problem with the game wasn't the story, it was being unable to pick a different outfit for a unit after promoting them. Because of that Chloe was kept at her base class. There was no way I was gonna ruin that beautiful design with the generic one for Griffin Knights and Wyvern Riders. But yeah, the story was too simple. Without a thrilling story to see through I don't get as excited when doing each mission. Seeing how a mystery unravels is the best reward for a story chapter.
Yes, Engage is more faithful to the classic FE formula than 3H was. Also, 3H was the most popular FE by far, largely due to elements that gave it more crossover appeal. Many people who liked 3H for those elements will like Engage less, not because of expectations but because classic FE doesn't appeal to most people on its own. Its like how SMT5 doesn't appeal to me, not because it isn't Persona, but because it bored me, which Persona doesn't.
As someone who found 3H extremely boring I'm super happy. Engage made me love FE again. Already 120h of gameplay I can't stop playing it. Gameplay is peak, story was simple yet enjoyable, characters design can be questionable but funny. You can date the guys, this game makes me happy.
I started with Blazing Sword, but only have beaten Path of Radiance as of yet. I like this game as a change of pace from Three Houses (as stated), and one of my favorite character from Engage so far is Alcryst.
Engage to me is one of those safe entries. It’s nothing new or deep, it knows what it wants to do and does it fine so it doesn’t have story problems like Fates did. I will say characters and lore are a step down from Three Houses, but my biggest complaint is how grindy it can be. Resources like money, materials, SP and even supports are so difficult to get and it hurts when the combat is pretty good and so much potential to customize. Plus the Emblems are just a McGuffin which is kinda lame
IDK 3 houses is the better game to me even though i think gameplay wise Engage is better. Engage really bore me. I didnt think a good story was important to me but i guess it is. Even in three houses what had me keep playing was seeing more story, watching the characters grow up, and seeing them fight there own teammates in the name of war. It had me hooked. Also even though the monastery can take awhile, it felt way more important to the story, and we Characters actually talked about the events of the last chapter. Somniel feels so unimportant and dont fit the war vibe at all. And Half of the characters dialouge is praising the divine dragon. Honestly a mix of both games would be my ideal Fire emblem.
I know I'm in the minority here, but I greatly preferred the monastery. It felt grounded and lived-in, compared to the anachronistic hotel of the Somniel, which doesn't even have bedrooms for anyone besides Alear? Where do all your other soldiers sleep? And the characters don't even talk about current events there, they just comment on whatever facility they happen to be standing in. "I'm at a cafe," "I'm working out," "I'm catching fish." Yawn. I would have preferred if Engage had gone back to the Tellius base menus. I can't agree with the assessment that Three Houses comparisons are entirely or even mostly to blame for the poor reception of Engage's story and characters. The story simply starts off on a bad foot, and it takes a while before the game starts properly selling its characters. Every Fire Emblem requires you to dig in to the optional conversations to get to know its non-main characters, but with Engage it wasn't until Yunaka's introduction that I actively wanted to know more about a character. Everyone up to that point had been "Hello, I am a royal joining your army, here are my two retainers, they have one quirk each." Also, Engage makes actually getting to those support conversations take longer than it once did, because Support points no longer build during Enemy Phase.
Thank you for defending the story, even if it is not a masterpiece it's still an enjoyable. Not every video game story has to be War and Peace, it's okay if it's a bit mindless because that's what games are for sometimes.
Great video! I think you hit on a lot of what makes this game divisive and what it does well anyway... As someone who has been playing since the GBA games, I feel like FE as a franchise makes a divisive change that splits the fanbase every few entries. I hope that the next non-remake entry leans a little bit more into 3H-style narratives, but I am enjoying Engage as an anniversary title and nostalgic throwback!
after watching Celine ooze about tea with 5 different characters all the way thru A rank, I just started skipping them. In fact as a whole the supports just made me queasy that I didn't even bother any more as it didn't even seem to impact gameplay.
I feel like those who say this is the worst fire emblem ever haven't played very many fire emblems.... It is most definitely not the worst, is it the best perhaps not but there's no way it's the worst.
Couldn't have said it better. All the early reviews wanted 3 houses part deux, it was so obvious that it was their first and probably only fire emblem game. 3 houses was fine but I hated the monastery so much. It was like work in between the fun battles. I started with Sacred Stones on the GBA and I am glad FE is not doomed to being a persona clone.
Engage legit became one of my favorite fire emblems because of the focus on gameplay, quick setup in the somniel, great character designs and still a fun story and characters. It's great that it's more lighthearted, and as someone who's been with the series for years, I had a great sense of nostalgia.
I really felt similar too but I’ve only finished Three Houses. I love how silly this game is & that it’s just a sitcom, but I do love the moments of darkness like the Céline/Alcryst supports he brought up, or the Diamant/Ivy supports. And then we have the Rosado and Merrin supports of them yelling about who has the better fashion and it’s just as good
meaning low effort in anything but gameplay and even then that's not great
@@marcusclark1339 L
I cant get into the character design at all. This is a game about war but the characters all look like twitch streamers and egirls.
@@supersaiyanwrastler2343 And? If One Piece can, this game too.
I kind of like how the campaign is alot more battle focused. Alot of the padding from three houses isn't here and it's just going from fight to fight and it makes it flow alot better imo.
I got burnt out on the amount of time I spent in garag Mach in 3 houses by the time I got to the time skip. So a more streamlined Fe is a welcome change. Reminded me more of awakening.
I mean that's just how Fire Emblem normally is, Three Houses was the one to differ greatly. Personally I loved it because it built the characters so much more but I can understand why people got tired of it.
Finally a good take on appreciating FE for what it is and specifically Engage for what it set out to do. Too many people were expecting something that wasn't basically a celebration of FE as a whole.
It's a good game, but the title is pretty terrible. Engage is clean gameplay + nostalgia bait / fanservice, sacrificing basically every other aspect (story, narration, characters...). "I love it for what it sets out to do" is very different from "I love *everything* about it".
Except it isn’t celebrating FE because the nostalgia is extremely shallow and surface level. All the returning characters are based on their sanitized Heroes versions and not their original games, making the entire game pointless
@@RLCguy Pointless? Yeah, no. The game was not “pointless”. That’s a silly take dude lol.
@@teckelred idk i loved most things about it and also appreciated it for what it was. It is not that deep.
I agree with a lot of what you say in the video. I bought and started playing Engage the day it came out and I am so glad I did. The characters, art-style, music, gameplay and just the general feel of the game felt really positive and wholesome. I enjoyed the story for what it was; it's not overly complex, but it still explores some interesting and heavier themes. Ultimately, I just felt overwhelmingly happy playing this game - so many good vibes - so, for me, this is a game I'll remember fondly and replay again and again, like I did with the older FE games. I also think the game does a good job celebrating the series overall, as there are many parallels and references to earlier titles, and as someone who likes FE, well, it just delivered what it set out to do.
Anyway, thank you Daniel. The reception this game got is so odd. It's Persona 5 and SMT V all over again.
I will go to bat for this game any day of the week. It’s just pure fun with a pretty good story and bright art style to boot. If ToTK weren’t coming this year, it would be hard to top for GOTY
honestly, i've been enjoying the story a lot more after chapter 10. nothing but great moments after that. It matches the highs of three houses for me honestly in terms of story and curiosity as you go further.
it's very lighthearted and silly as well which honestly, I love. Not every game has to have such a deep and serious story, and this game accomplishes that while being really fun. It's a breath of fresh air in the series. also, the cast in this game is amazing, people who don't think so must have not played anything past three houses because awakening prepared me for learning about the cast via support convos and grinding them out. lastly, the emblem maps full of nostolgia and some of the best moments of the game, those maps alone make this game worth playing. especially the music
The break system really reminds me of Persona-style weaknesses. Instead of just doing more damage, it truly makes a foes vulnerable.
Engage isn't nearly as deep as something like Three Houses. And that's perfectly fine. Its not a game trying to be a life-changing or convoluted story. Its a game that simply wants you to have fun with it and enjoy it. And its okay to be that. Sometimes we just need a game that reminds us that games are supposed to be fun.
It’s definitely not as deep story wise, but I’d argue the tactics are deeper than ever!
@@popskar Oh in that regard, absolutely! Honestly my biggest issue with the game is I can't play more, and that is a wonderful flaw to have.
New Game Plus when, IS? This game is BEGGING for it!
A game can be fun AND have a good story. I'd argue a good story makes it MORE fun.
That being said there is nothing wrong with simple stories either.
@@oOPrettywinxOo This is true, but a lot of people mistake that for "A game MUST have a good story and gameplay to be fun or good" and that is simply untrue.
While I would ideally prefer a game to be engaging on both story and gameplay (no pun intended), I really did love the maps of this game, and a lot of the lategame stages were genuinely difficult.
If anything, I at least learned to enjoy the game story as an absolute campfest. Every time the Hounds and their Jojo theme popped up I was enjoying myself even more, and that "FAIA EMBLEM" scene in the last battle reminded me of Power Rangers so hard I was smiling throughout XD
It's refreshing for Fire Emblem to be quick and snappy again after playing the dense Persona-inspired Three Houses.
•gameplay is great
•story is middling
Worth buying.
its a skip unless impatient to next main FE
@@marcusclark1339 no, it’s not
The somniel is sorta boring, but it is less mundane and repetitive than the monastery. Also, if you don't do everything in the somniel, it is way less penalizing than in the monastery.
Near the end of the game, I got my Somniel loop down to about 10 minutes, not counting watching Supports. Definitely an improvement over the Monastery, even if I liked actually talking to everyone there more.
The Somniel is less charming than the monetary, but more optional.
@@regulusking4299 the monastery did have a bunch of NPC's that were just there to fill up space and make the area feel more lived in, but I didn't miss that here in Engage though, the Somneil didn't need that kind of fluff for me. Just wanted to mention.
@ZaxFSO8083 Well the Somniel doesn't have many random NPC's because it would not make narrative sense... Three Houses did not add NPC's for "Fluff", it was because narratively Garrag Mach is a school AND monastery, and is natrually going to have many different people walking through it.
Thank god someone knows the greatness that is engage! I’ve been a Fire Emblem fan since I watched my sister play path of radiance on the GameCube and wii when I was like 12, Ike best lord by the way. My first FE game was awakening, and I loved that story and cast of characters. Engage I felt was a breath of fresh air after the mess that three houses left for me mentally, and socially in a way too. I hate drastic split paths like fates, and three houses. So a more linear/streamlined story was much needed at this point. And so many characters in engage deserve a lot more love from their supports with other characters in the game. This is more classic Fire Emblem if anything, three houses was more of a modern (and messed up) version of Fire Emblem. People who wrote off this game and it’s cast of characters don’t know anything about Fire Emblem’s olden days, or at least forgot about them. Glad to see someone knows what a good Fire Emblem game looks and feels like.
Engage is my first Fire Emblem game, and I'm currently a few hours in and it is really fun! I'm loving it so far :)
I've been loving Fire Emblem Engage. The gameplay has been great. And I'm glad Somniel has been toned down from Three Houses because it was definitely exhausting after multiple playthroughs. I started with Blazing blade, so a more gameplay focused experienced is great for me.
There’s no spoilers there by the way! And pardon my voice, was a little sick when recording 😅
As a longtime fan of the series since the GBA games, I LOVED Engage. Seeing my favorite characters like Lyn get some attention was so fun.
And then this game gave plenty of new favorites like Fogado, who was a hoot every moment he was on screen, or Panette, the bestest little goth girl with BIG badass energy.
Coming out as the follow-up to Three Houses definitely hurt the game but I loved every moment of it I played, personally. It was EXACTLY the Fire Emblem game I wanted it to be!
Also started with the GBA titles, though my history withe series have been sporadic. My favorite character in the GBA titles is Lyn. Favorite characters in Engage are Chloe, Citrinne, Lapis, and Merinn.
I have really enjoyed Engage. It’s vibrant with insanely solid gameplay. The characters have all grown on me, too. I love the music and the story is fine for what it is.
As for the Somniel, I don’t mind it. It’s entirely optional, which I like. The Monastery became tedious and a massive chore with every subsequent play through.
I cut my teeth on the franchise back in ‘16 with Conquest and my love for the series VERY QUICKLY snowballed. I had never played a RPG and was looking for something new. I had recalled seeing an IGN review on Conquest and decided to take a chance; best gaming move I have ever made.
It can be cringe but in such a fun way I love it! The characters are just a lot of fun. The gameplay was stylish and pretty nice
I'm addicted. Only in Ch. 12, but I've done 15 skirmishes already and spent lots of time fighting emblems to unlock the skills. I really wish you could add more than two inherited skills person. 1 per emblem would be fine. I think it has the right balance of gameplay and story for me.
The simplified skill system was most likely to put the emphasis on emblems vs classes, but also because being able to inherit even 2 skills is fairly broken, being able to inherit 1 per emblem would completely break the game balance
I don’t personally agree with all positive takes of Engage needing to say that “Oh the plot is goofy and fun and that’s okay.” As someone who has played every game in the series, unless your name is Genealogy or Thracia, pretty much every game has a healthy amount of lighthearted and fun moments alongside one’s that are tragic or maybe even mildly disturbing. I think the main issue with Engage’s plot is that, while I think it actually has some enjoyable plot twists and story beats towards the end, it waits too long to show it’s full hand. It makes repeat playthroughs full of a new perspective as you notice how much foreshadowing is packed in here, but it doesn’t make the best first impression for a lot of people. Otherwise I actually think people are way too harsh on Engage’s story.
And from the gameplay to the characters and story, Engage is pretty much the game I was not only expecting it to be, but also hoping for. I was not really a big fan of Three Houses’ calendar system, monastery exploration, and how focused it was on micromanaging your students. I can enjoy it for what it brought to the table, but Engage being a much more traditional title, on top of having so many references packed in, made it an absolute blast.
Also, pleased to find another Mia fan in the wild.
Thank you for saying it! Finally someone else mentioned the amazing use of call-forwards and callbacks and foreshadowing in this game! It's so _good_ at what it does, but it's definitely a bit of a slow burn on first playthrough. It spends a lot of time setting things up for the final act, which then comes down on you like a hammer blow.
I am so happy to see a positive review on this game. I loved it for what it is, and I agree. After 3H it was nice to just have a really nice campy story, of "We're going to get the Bad Guy" (insert a few plot twists) and boom. It very much feels like a celebration title of everything that makes FE, FE, hitting all the right notes most of the time. It's okay I think to compare it to the previous game (I mean I remember 3H getting flack for the art style and what not too). but not to the point where you don't appreciate anything of what the current game is trying to do.
I appreciate your comments about the characters. Fire Emblem has ALWAYS been a series where, if you dont make the effort, characters are just anime characters with swords. While i dislike the direction Engage went with a lot of character designs, i think youre a fake fan if you consider Engage's cast a step in the wrong direction. They're all fun and have their own depths, but, like in older games, it's up to you to learn more about them.
I love three houses and the character writing, but it's exhausting how the game throws like seven support conversations at you after like one battle. Makes all the fantastic writing just one big blob to sit through after each map lol
As a Veteran of the franchise, and once the initial cringe wore of, Engage became my favourite Fire Emblem. I've replayed it several times, tried every character with different builds, read all the supports, and somehow I still want to play it more. Kinda sad that the community can't appreciate it, it's seriously one of the most polished Fire Emblems out there.
You basically spoke for me bringing points like the shallow characterization. Ppl seem to forget that we used to love the GBA titles despite their simplistic stories (well, not SS).
I think you're right about the Three Houses thing, I personally played FE starting with Awakening (so not that many), but Three Houses lost me because it was a completely different game from previous FE games. Alternatively, if you look at a player that started the series with Three Houses they'd have a completely different expectation of FE games than someone who played older ones first. Also, yes, I started with Awakening so I miss the romancing.
yikes
Personally my issue with 3H isn't that it's different but the fact that it's boring and mediocre, while for some reason wanting to be a poor man's Persona game meaning most of the time in this strategy RPG is spent doing literally anything but strategy RPG stuff...
I sum it up as "Three Houses is a fantastic JRPG, but a terrible Fire Emblem game." Even thinking about its exp progression lately and I realize how radically different it is from FE. It feels more like a spinoff that got marketed as a mainline entry.
Engage's maps actually made me THINK, which is a first for me since Conquest.
Fire Emblem Engage is 10/10, and will be my game of the year
Started with the first two localized GBA titles, didn’t play most until Awakening, dropped Fates, playing Echoes, also dropped Three Houses, and loving Engage. As for favorite characters, they are Chloe, Citrinne, Lapis, and Merinn, maybe Yunaka as well.
FINALLY someone sees the panzer dragoon connection. I keep seeing people calling it a star Fox mini game but it’s so obviously inspired by Panzer Dragoon
Ok first my favorite joke of this entire vid was the level up joke, gold just gold. Engage is not perfect by any means but what it does it does awesome. This games story and cast are different than 3 houses and that's wonderful! They may be a bit bland but still fun to watch on the whole excited to play more when I have more free time this weekend.
I'm not going to lie: when I first started playing Engage, I was expecting it to build on everything Three Houses established (you can imagine my surprise and disappointment when I saw that it return to simplistic storytelling).
However as I kept on playing, I came to accept that it wasn't going to be Three Houses level of story telling (maybe I lowered my standards?), And an accepting that the game became a lot more fun.
Gripes about character depictions and storytelling aside, this is easily the most beautiful fire emblem game to date: the art style, the animation, the graphics, all of it is simply beautiful to watch
I don't understand the hate on the characters, I love them! Some of the conversations are so funny, that potato 😂
People just think that morally grey=deep and complex, when in truth that's a gross oversimplification. Because, yeah, "morally grey" can help, but it always runs the risk of making character unintentionally unsympathetic, a trap I'd argue Three Houses occasionally fell into.
Additionally, I would definitely say that some characters in this are better than their Three Houses counterparts. For example, Alear and Veyle are leagues better than Byleth and Sothis.
Maybe it's recency bias, but right now I'd say Engage has my favourite characters so far. Yeah, they may be kinda shallow - but a diamond at the bottom of a shallow pool, is easier to admire than a diamond at the bottom of the deep sea. Some may enjoy the diamond that is hidden deeper much more engaging, as they connect it with the adventure they had reaching it, but others can enjoy the diamond in the shallow water just as much.
definitely recency bias
everything in this is mid but higher production can confuse it (even then cutscenes are more FE heroes aesthetic already just in a console game now), makes the player feel stronger so it has larger appeal but it be bad if it continued down this route
really both this and 3H suffer in dividing audience appeal and neither long lasting
@@marcusclark1339 I totally respect your opinion, but you cannot just decide that it's "definitely" just recency bias for me, lol. (no hard feelings tho, even if I'll write a huge paragraph now cuz I feel like it) I totally see that recency bias may boost my opinion, but even trying to factor that in, I can say without doubt that Engage is my favourite FE this far, maybe second to Echoes (which I actually haven't finished yet, but eventually will). Maybe not story wise, but as a whole package. And that either Céline or Lapis will take the cake as my new absolute favourite unit for the time being. Maybe their backstory isn't so deep, but the personality that they show just absolutely vibes with me. And for me, I have seen many characters that had super deep and long conflicts, but in the end, I still cared about them much less, than I now do about many Engage chars. And honestly, I don't think they're all that flat either. Sure, you can sum most of their personality up in one or two sentences each, but if you really try, you can do that with even the deepest character. And I think that's actually good. A personality that cannot be described short and quick usually just ends up feeling "inconsistent" to me. Which may be realistic to an extent, but that's another "me-thing". I don't want my (fictional) stories realistic, I want them fun and exciting. I they manage to be both, even better, but only one of those two things bothers me if it's missing. That's kinda what bothered me about Three Houses. The characters were mostly just "quirky enough" in their own right, but in general, it just sits in my mind as being a tad TOO MOODY, too political and too dark for my personal taste. Yet I fully accept that that's not a bad thing, cuz evidently, there are people with different tastes than me.
That's deep.
I think to a degree it’s Fire Emblem Heroes for the Nintendo Switch to some degree and I f**king love it, it is amazing for what it is. 9.5 if not a 10 depending on person.
With Three Houses, as much as there is to the plot, I still feel like they leave out a lot of detail that when you think about it more, it makes things more confusing (there's other students at the Monastery, who are they and why don't we know them??). Three Hopes definitely isn't perfect either, but considering that it's a Warriors game and the threads it leaves loose aren't as major as some of the ones in Three Houses, I can excuse it more.
Engage, on the other hand, definitely doesn't have the strongest story, but the Four Hounds are easily my favorite FE villains, and everything about them is amazing. (The way Griss is animated in cutscenes... it's perfect.) Honestly I wouldn't have minded if the final chapter was the one before, the Fell Dragon can go do his own thing.
Man I always feel a bit upset when people call Engage's story just "light-hearted" and talk about how stuff doesn't tie together. Stuff _does_ tie together, this game loves its little bits of character foreshadowing and callbacks and call-forwards. There's so much _stuff_ that happens in the back half of this game and it's all tying back to stuff that happened in the first few chapters! And the game's story has such a good theme to it, albeit one that takes until literally the final battle to finally be shoved in your face hard enough for you to realize the entire game was about that all along.
Great video! I was initially put off by the new art style and engage mechanic before release. But I can safely Im really enjoying this game!
Yep, it has become one of my top 2 games in the franchise and i played most of the localized ones (barring shadow dragon)
After beating the game I’m happy to got play this game cause there were moments I wanted to start over cause of mistakes I made
I started with Fire Emblem on the GBA, the first game to be localized. And I will say this game has probably become my favorite game to play since. You know what I miss though- having to protect an immobile merchant through the levels until he levels up and gets a horse. It was a way to optionally increase the difficulty for yourself that rewarded you in the long run
The all-knowing algorithm guided me here, and I do not regret this.
I love zihark, all I knew about him is that he is a swordsman and loves animals. Life was simpler in path of radiance times
I've been privy to an unhealthy amount of harsh Engage discourse lately and this video is just what I needed. Even though I don't agree with everything, it's well-reasoned and unassuming.
I have at last been freed. If it wasn't freezing outside, I would go touch grass now. Maybe I will anyways, for the spiritual experience.
Probably the best FE game since Radiant Dawn. The gameplay is fantastic. The story is very campy, but that is the norm for classic FE. I didn't have a problem with it at all. I'm also one of those people that hated the school parts of Three Houses.
The monastery was my least favorite thing about Three House. There was just too much and it was too big. So hearing that Engage's hub is smaller and better, very welcomed
I still think Engage was one of the best games in the series
The lack of linked futures in the epilogue was a bit annoying
And they could’ve used the emblems more, like the bond links were just kinda then, like imagine if you had emblem links between like Ike and Micaiah or Corrin and Byleth
There was at least a lot of Marth and Sigurd
The soundtrack was also just good
But overall it was fantastic though!!
Story, characters, visuals, gameplay and just the clear love from the devs :)
I started with 3Houses, but I’ve played the majority of the series at this point
Engage makes me forgive 3 hopes… which wasn’t very good…
I'm hooked on this game. Lyn's paralogue is pretty tough.
Same, had a strong feeling this video was coming after I started it
Honestly I’m fine with Engage’s story and characters. This is pretty much what Fire Emblem was all about. Three Houses was a different take on the formula, but if all future Fire Emblem games were like it, I’d probably get tired of it. Sometimes simple is better, and Engage succeeds in that regard. Is the story generic, yes, but it’s still an enjoyable ride from start to finish. While I’m not sure it’s been confirmed if Engage was meant to be an anniversary title, I can totally believe it with how many callbacks to the older titles there are, and they’re always great to see if you’re a veteran like me (started with Awakening).
Speaking of story, I like that even though Engage reuses similar plot beats from past games (especially Awakening), it does its own thing with it. Example, just like Robin, Alear has a connection to the Fell Dragon, however they are not tied to Sombron’s resurrection or was made into a puppet (the latter instead going to another character). I’d definitely recommend Engage, but I would also say not to go into it expecting something like Three Houses, because let’s be honest, Three Houses is more the exception not the rule when it comes to FE stories and characters. It’s not a bad thing, but again, sometimes simple can be more effective.
Hopefully if you and Derrick playthrough the Legend of Heroes Trails series together y’all will see similarities with fire emblem for its cast of characters and the different groups of fans for each Story arc.
I love how vibrant this game looks. The colors pop and the gameplay is so good
I loved Engage. Gameplay is the best out of all the FE games I've played. Really well designed maps, challenging, and the units have really fun abilities. And honestly? I really liked the characters, I was a bit iffy on how they would turn out pre release. But I found a lot of them super charming and charismatic. I specially love Ivy, Yunaka and Alcryst. And Alear might be my favorite "avatar" character in the series. After the silent protagonist that was Byleth, or the kinda too neutral stand in that was Kamui, I enjoyed having an avatar that had much more of a defined personality. I liked Daraen back in Awakening too, but I think Alear ended up being more interesting personality wise.
Also, Engage is just a beautiful looking game. Its super comfy to just hang around after battles. And the animations in combat are great. Very, very good game.
It's really nice to see someone compare this game to the rest of the series and not just Three Houses. I am right there with you man, I've had a much better time with Engage, it's just so much faster and the gameplay is so smooth and tightly designed. I started with Awakening and this is the first new entry since it that has hit me the same way. Three Houses is super ambitious and has a great world and characters, but Garreg Mach really just hits the breaks after like every single story beat. Engage is just kinda like "you can just go to the next map if you want, it's no biggie, and I really appreciate that. Great video my dude!
So cool to see Engage apreciation. My only issue is the lack of NG+. I would love to eventually have a NG+ in a FE similar to Luminous Arc where you can use any character since the beginning even if it doesn't make sense story-wise. It would be awesome to have a lvl 1 Veyle early or stuff like that. Nice vid
(Also I love Mika Pikazo's designs)
I don't understand why people keep complaining about the characters, like the first few ones you meet are not the most interesting, but they are so much better after that imo. I got a support convo about 2 characters talking about how they used to be assassins, its great.
I'm loving engage! It definitely beats Fates and 3 Houses for me (3houses I just don't have the free time for it but I beat one black eagle playthrough) but it's not quite Echoes or Awakening (my 1st FE game).
Iv'e played several fire emblem games, my first game was a cartridge I found (on the bus) of shadow dragon. Then I played Awakening and then sacred stones. I bought the special edition cart for all 3 fire emblem story path's in fates. I also bought the fire emblem gaiden remake with celica and the amiibo's for that game. Then finally bought 3 houses and I only beat the edelgard path(all who oppose her must die!) and then I bought the warriors 3 houses game but haven't played it yet and now I'm currently playing engage. Love the series, great series. Eventually I'll also play the first fire emblem on the NES which I bought digitally on switch when it was available for a limited time.
A full dive look into previous Fire Emblem games wouldn't also be a bad idea to try out down the line.
Superb video, Daniel! He's become my go-to Fire Emblem expert.
Great review with respect to the series, Daniel and I totally agree with everything you're saying. Engage may have my favorite battle mechanics in FE in recent years. Hard mode actually feels like hard mode! And like you said, I've found several favorite characters. Story-wise, I for one have always thought FE was usually about "lot of characters, wars and a dragon or two" so whether the story is light or dark I've never really minded 'cuz I like both. And honestly, getting heavy and dark story after another will be a bit overwhelming, so the simple and rather light-hearted story of Engage is very enjoyable for me.
If you have only played 3 Houses, you don't get to make broad generalizations about the series.
🎯
Yup!
This game felt like a leveled up version of one of the GBA games, and thats a good thing! It was so much fun playing Engage. I enjoyed everything about the game. If I had one complaint I'd say that some of the bond conversations with the Emblems feel a bit lacking.
The best users with Lyn are generals. Reason is because they are normally low speed, but speed taker will end up making them double hit in battles and her ultimate arrow move is insanely strong with high strength users which are also generals.
Ironic…so Hector archetypes pair best with his wife
Thanks for this. You're totally right that Three Houses basically ruined the reception of Engage. Engage is otherwise basically like every other FE game, while Three Houses is the outlier that is very different from the rest of the series and drew in a lot of new "fans" (that I'd hesitate to call fans if they only actually like that one outlier). In my opinion, it's one of the BEST "regular" Fire Emblem games. The gameplay and visuals and music are all top-notch and the story is relatively simple but it's fun! And I adore some of the characters - Yunaka, Pandreo, Kagetsu, Citrinne... Honestly my biggest problem with the game is the lack of paired endings. I got into the series with Awakening, so yeah, I'm used to being able to play matchmaker (and even when I looked back at a few older games, you could still pair up certain units, so...). And while there WERE some nice supports with hinted romance, I felt like none of them got to be "completed" or fulfilled without a paired ending clinching them, you know? All the potential for the future in every ship just fizzles out. For instance you brought up Alcryst/Celine. I would have loved to see a paired ending for them where they get together after the war. Not a deal breaker for the game, but it's my only real complaint.
"The visuals are top notch"
The characters have 0 art direction to them and mostly hardly fir into the general design of the world they are put into. At times even the colour saturation of two people is different as if they had literally been placed there straight from the artists notebook without any thought to it. There is no art direction in this game.
Then there is the fully overloaded battle interface which makes it basically impossible to see any of the on map animations on anything but a big TV due to everything needing at least 4 different effects, like a star shower, wind and so on, applied to their movement.
The combat animations are just about average at best.
The supports somehow got even more predictable than those of 3H with them at times literally being one long conversation cut into three parts for no reason (sth we joked about for 3H supports) and their quality varies greatly.
No problem with you liking the game, but those points you made are just factuallywrong when it comes to the art of the game.
I love everything about Engage as well, I first truly started with Awakening (I still haven't played Fates) and I've been fully invested in the series games since. I'm not going to go into detail but as I was going through chapters 21 and 22 I started cheering whoever calls that specific thing I won't talk about here as predictable is lying!
I love the Somneil short, concise, optional, I don't have a problem with the monastery the Somneil is just easier to recommend and describe to someone. Sure the fishing mini game in 3Houses is simpler and easier to recommend than Engage but I like the level of interaction that Engage's mini game allows. Also Wyvern Ride is the best mini game!
The Emblem's were like the Smash Bros Ultimate dlc characters, at first glance they seemed so overpowered that they'd break the game balance but that's not what happened in the long and short of it.
I firmly believe people who call the characters bland and one dimensional just need to find the right support conversation, not everything Clanne and Framme do is tied to their worshipping of the Divine Dragon, Pandreo and Pannete's C Support goes directly into a serious topic that shaped them as the characters (dare I say people) they are deep down. Alfred and Celine's entire support chain is about their relationship as siblings and gives insight to how they act or think from before the story takes place. Heck, the way I see it Timerra and Fogado go against the mold that other royal families act or function to certain visible degrees, Ivy and Hortensia's support chain goes into the background of their relationship and what they had done prior to the story as well like they did with the Firene siblings but the dynamics are completely different.
These are all from things I've seen so far but I hope my point is clear; spend enough time with something and you'll stop judging it by its cover.
Thank for reading.
If you like Engage then it's likely you will like Fates too as Engage pretty much is Fates 2, just with 1 route as Engage clearly takes most of it's more gameplay focused notes from Fates than either Awakening or 3H, just with a lighter tone in comparison.
Finally got a copy! I started out with Awakening and have played every game since, I’m excited to see how I feel about this one
People who wanted Engage to just be another three houses must not have played three hopes because playing those two games with their 3 storylines one after the other and I really wanted something different.
Personally, I love it when something goes completely against what you were expecting. That's why Alphen is easily one of my favourite Tales protagonists, in that he completely goes against everything people thought he would be. I also personally enjoyed having a more black and white story after about four games of nothing but sympathetic villains, some of whom fell hard into the "unintentionally unsympathetic" territory.
5:49 Wait, THAT'S what the Obstruct staff does? I thought it just prevented a single foe from moving for one turn! Now that I know I can use it to basically give the entire enemy team the middle finger under the right circumstances, I might actually go back and do a 'Classic' mode run for the first time ever once I finish my ongoing first play-through.
Aaahhh Owain best boy! Still so true
I finally got it, currently waiting for it to be delivered. I've also bought 3H a couple weeks ago but haven't even taken the shrinkwrap off it yet. From what I've seen, Engage's gameplay and overall design is more akin to the pre-Awakening era, with no focus on relationships or - gasp - social sim and romance "options". I'm looking forward to olay Engage a lot more than 3H becaise of that.
Reminds me of the Animal Crossing New Leaf vs New Horizons debate. They're just different.
I appreciate this video for being the one positive video as I recently fell down that rabbit hole of negative Engage reviews even though I've been playing since release and my opinion is pretty set by this point. I'd say I really enjoyed the game but I definitely found myself disappointed with some aspects that didn't return from 3 Houses so that clouded some of my opinion even though i feel more positive than negative overall.
I didn’t really watch many of the support conversations in Engage which ironically made me like the characters more than the characters in Awakening. The supports in that game only emphasised how one note most of the cast is. Knowing less about them actually made the characters in Engage better, which isn’t a compliment but it is what it is 😂
Three Houses was amazing, but honestly a bit overwhelming. I sank well over 60 hours into the game and was maybe a month or two before the time skip on my first route! There was so much to do that I think I burned myself out and haven't been back to any of the Fire Emblem games since.
I'm thinking if/when I do go back to the series, I might try out Shadows of Valentia or maybe try Three Houses again... Engage might be right up my alley, but I don't think I'm willing to buy a whole new game just yet
While I wasn't as attached to most characters as in some other fire emblems, I still found them all good enough and teh story fine as is. My biggest focal point was the gameplay and that aspect was fantastic.
I started with FE8 before playing 3H and then Fe 7 and 9, before playing awakening just before engage came out.
This might be recency bias but I really think this is my favorite cast of fire emblem characters. The designs are truly unique and almost all of the characters have made me laugh at some point. I'm excited to do another run in a few months to see supports I'm missing on my first run
I beat this game last night. It's my second favorite Fire Emblem game, above Awakening, Fates, Echoes, and the GBA games. I haven't played the Radiant games because the prices are insane. Three Houses is still my favorite because of the writing and characters, but Engage actually turned it around for me toward the end. Despite being simple, it did make me invested in the characters. And the map design is much better than Three Houses. Gameplay wise, it's probably my favorite Fire Emblem. The engage mechanic also allows for a lot of customization. You can customize your units but inheriting skills from certain Emblems. The only negative for this is you get way too little SP to play around with different skills, so you have to be certain which skills you want to inherit.
Me too! It's quick, snappy and cozy.
“And heal your entire team for a relatively small price!”
(Also Great Sacrifice setting a non dragon user to 1% HP)
While your thoughtful insights regarding Fire Emblem Engage are certainly well-reasoned, it is evident that Engage experienced a significant decline in sales, surpassing a 50% drop-off rate. This decline raises concerns about the game's overall appeal. Initially, Engage found success, particularly among dedicated fans who pre-ordered and played it. However, it failed to resonate with a substantial portion, approximately 50-60%, of players who had previously enjoyed titles like Three Houses. I believe that various factors, including character designs, excessive avatar worship, and formulaic character writing, played a substantial role in this downturn.
For instance, some character designs in Engage seemed peculiar, with examples such as Timerra's outfit adorned with an abundance of Christmas ornaments or Celine's dress appearing excessively oversized. In contrast, previous titles like Awakening, Fates, and Three Houses generally received favorable feedback for their character designs and overall tone, even if some players had minor qualms with gameplay or storytelling.
In conclusion, there is a compelling argument to suggest that Engage's character designs and its overall unserious story tone significantly impacted sales, as they deterred potential players. The sales numbers indeed validate this assumption, as a brief 5-minute video showcasing these elements can often be enough to determine whether one wishes to invest in the game. People didn't even want to know how good the combat was - they were out immediately. Let's not overthink this sales drop-off. This has nothing to do with lack of character depth! People bailed out on Engage before that even became a factor! These character designs really are problematic for most people.
Love it, and wasn't expecting to. The designs are busy, but the colors make me happy. I wish it were easier to build bonds (why is it only in attacking it rises?). Male Alear is my favorite lord by far.
It feels like they didn’t want to allow the game to become “cool”. Like you could tell in Path of Radiance when Tibarn shows up for the first time that they WANT you to admire the Eagle King. Same with Caineghis, or the Black Knight.
This was my first Fire Emblem and I enjoy it! I do want to play Three Houses too though and I think I’ll enjoy that one as well.
Long-time fan since Path of Radiance here. ...I ended up writing a lot more than expected.
I think I rather fall in line with the concensus I've seen. To start, the moment-to-moment gameplay is excellent. For as gimmicky and seemingly broken as you'd expect the Emblem mechanic to be, it's remarkably well-balanced and the map design is very tight and clearly made with this and other powerful new mechanics in mind. The game very frequently encourages you to play fast and not turtle, virtually every unit is decent at worst, Break and Chain Attacks make cheesy juggernaut strategies far more difficult to rely on... it feels clean and cohesive. With a small handful of exceptions, maps in this game are a joy to play through. I played on Hard first, and am now doing a Maddening playthrough, and even here this all holds up quite well. Maddening this time is MUCH more enjoyable than it (or Lunatic) was in previous games, especially in the early stages. Compared to, say, Three Houses, the difficulty ISN'T frontloaded this time, and it doesn't render half your roster obsolete right from the start like Awakening did.
Unit "types" add an interesting new dynamic through the way in which it creates new niches and interactions. Thieves, traditionally a poor combat class, benefit immensely from doubled Avoid bonus from terrain by being "Covert" type, but is in turn countered by "Mystical" units, which ignore terrain avoid bonuses. Armored units don't just have large Defense stats anymore, they also get to ignore Break from the weapon triangle, making them far more reliable when defending compared to other units, even if they manage to have similar Defense stats. And the new Qi Adept gives a fun and versatile spin on the basic healer archetype, making them multifunctional in a powerful new way that doesn't involve making them strong combat units.
Resource balance is a big weakness of the game, though. Donating is a huge new-player trap and you're easily starved for Gold regardless. Skirmishes are worth very little Gold and difficulty scales to your roster's internal levels, making them consistently difficult and particularly hostile to attempts to train up lower-leveled units. This is made worse by the enemies going all-in on rushdown in these battles, like in Awakening's skirmishes. Ingots for weapon refining are also very scarce and don't feel very naturally integrated. And then SP gain is really slow to build and the way SP cost of inheritable skills is balanced, it feels a little self-defeating at times. Some skills are so very obviously much more valuable for their cost than others (Canter, Alacrity...) that you end up mostly inheriting just a select few on everyone, and some skills are virtually impossible to obtain before endgame without excessive grinding. The Skills/SP system feels a bit shallow as a result and forced in as a callback to Heroes. The game feels in need of some balance changes on this end and probably NG+, too.
The writing is definitely my greatest disappointment, however. The story, frankly, suffers from (what strikes me as) a LOT of annoying writing habits. It's so strange in the way it presents new characters and then often immediately hones in on their most extreme - and often most obnoxious - character traits. Part of the reason I'm not particularly keen on this cast of characters, overall. The "twists" of the story are also remarkably predictable, to the point that I don't think telling a compelling story was ever high on the priority list at all. Yet it does have a select few moments that are good in a vacuum and are so very close to creating something actually compelling... but everything around it undermines what it could have been. It just falls flat every time and I can't help but feel potential was clumsily squandered. The limitations of cutscene presentation also definitely hurts the immersion a lot here. While the game is overall a hell of a lot more visually appealing than Three Houses, the non-CG cutscenes and backgrounds still look really cheap.
And can we please just have a *fixed name for our protagonist again?* Without any character customisation, the self-insert element is already shallow, and it became increasingly frustrating watching their name pop up in the subtitles but then not get spoken. And this happens over. And over. And over. The way the voice lines dance around it feels incredibly awkward. Doesn't it sound really stupid when you hear "I am the Divine Dragon." and then the response is: "What a lovely name." The subtitles add the character's name after "Divine Dragon", but it isn't spoken. It's incredibly jarring. And a shame, because Alear (default name) is actually a pretty decent character, shockingly! (Thank Naga they're not mute!)
Next, the Somniel, it's fine. It's an okay hub. The minigames aren't much to write home about and Strength Training is offensively awful to play, but I do really appreciate how little of it yields meaningful, permanent gain and how much of it can be easily ignored compared to 3H's monastery, which very quickly became a slog to deal with. Ignoring some annoying loading screens, it respects the player's time pretty well. Also Sommie. Everyone loves Sommie.
Lastly, special mention to the Tower of Trials... frankly, it feels a bit half-baked. It's there, it's inoffensive, but it's also not very compelling at all. Relay Trials are the lone part of it that's actually kinda fun, but simultaneously sad and hilarious, randomly taking over Relay Trials doesn't function right now. It's literally impossible to take over one without inputting a code, which is completely absurd and somehow has yet to be fixed. Hopefully updates and/or DLC will make this feature into something more interesting, but I'm not exactly holding my breath
A Fire Emblem game can get by, by just having good gameplay at its core, no matter how bad the story is (see: Conquest. Dead horse, I know), but it is nevertheless disappointing. I'm satisfied with what I got, but the nagging feelings remain.
Wow, you hit the nails on the head. Engage's gameplay is addictive, even if the other elements might be so-so.
My main problem with the game wasn't the story, it was being unable to pick a different outfit for a unit after promoting them. Because of that Chloe was kept at her base class. There was no way I was gonna ruin that beautiful design with the generic one for Griffin Knights and Wyvern Riders.
But yeah, the story was too simple. Without a thrilling story to see through I don't get as excited when doing each mission. Seeing how a mystery unravels is the best reward for a story chapter.
Yes, Engage is more faithful to the classic FE formula than 3H was. Also, 3H was the most popular FE by far, largely due to elements that gave it more crossover appeal. Many people who liked 3H for those elements will like Engage less, not because of expectations but because classic FE doesn't appeal to most people on its own. Its like how SMT5 doesn't appeal to me, not because it isn't Persona, but because it bored me, which Persona doesn't.
As someone who found 3H extremely boring I'm super happy. Engage made me love FE again. Already 120h of gameplay I can't stop playing it. Gameplay is peak, story was simple yet enjoyable, characters design can be questionable but funny. You can date the guys, this game makes me happy.
I started with Blazing Sword, but only have beaten Path of Radiance as of yet. I like this game as a change of pace from Three Houses (as stated), and one of my favorite character from Engage so far is Alcryst.
Engage to me is one of those safe entries. It’s nothing new or deep, it knows what it wants to do and does it fine so it doesn’t have story problems like Fates did. I will say characters and lore are a step down from Three Houses, but my biggest complaint is how grindy it can be. Resources like money, materials, SP and even supports are so difficult to get and it hurts when the combat is pretty good and so much potential to customize. Plus the Emblems are just a McGuffin which is kinda lame
IDK 3 houses is the better game to me even though i think gameplay wise Engage is better. Engage really bore me. I didnt think a good story was important to me but i guess it is. Even in three houses what had me keep playing was seeing more story, watching the characters grow up, and seeing them fight there own teammates in the name of war. It had me hooked. Also even though the monastery can take awhile, it felt way more important to the story, and we Characters actually talked about the events of the last chapter. Somniel feels so unimportant and dont fit the war vibe at all. And Half of the characters dialouge is praising the divine dragon. Honestly a mix of both games would be my ideal Fire emblem.
I know I'm in the minority here, but I greatly preferred the monastery. It felt grounded and lived-in, compared to the anachronistic hotel of the Somniel, which doesn't even have bedrooms for anyone besides Alear? Where do all your other soldiers sleep? And the characters don't even talk about current events there, they just comment on whatever facility they happen to be standing in. "I'm at a cafe," "I'm working out," "I'm catching fish." Yawn. I would have preferred if Engage had gone back to the Tellius base menus.
I can't agree with the assessment that Three Houses comparisons are entirely or even mostly to blame for the poor reception of Engage's story and characters. The story simply starts off on a bad foot, and it takes a while before the game starts properly selling its characters. Every Fire Emblem requires you to dig in to the optional conversations to get to know its non-main characters, but with Engage it wasn't until Yunaka's introduction that I actively wanted to know more about a character. Everyone up to that point had been "Hello, I am a royal joining your army, here are my two retainers, they have one quirk each." Also, Engage makes actually getting to those support conversations take longer than it once did, because Support points no longer build during Enemy Phase.
Yup. Yunaka. Lapis. Louis. In that exact order
Besides John I think Daniel is my preferred reviewer from the group
just because the story has been done before and engage is paying homage to the earlier games doesn't mean we should be happy with the mediocrity
Thank you for defending the story, even if it is not a masterpiece it's still an enjoyable. Not every video game story has to be War and Peace, it's okay if it's a bit mindless because that's what games are for sometimes.
Great video! I think you hit on a lot of what makes this game divisive and what it does well anyway... As someone who has been playing since the GBA games, I feel like FE as a franchise makes a divisive change that splits the fanbase every few entries. I hope that the next non-remake entry leans a little bit more into 3H-style narratives, but I am enjoying Engage as an anniversary title and nostalgic throwback!
after watching Celine ooze about tea with 5 different characters all the way thru A rank, I just started skipping them. In fact as a whole the supports just made me queasy that I didn't even bother any more as it didn't even seem to impact gameplay.
i haven't played this yet but i love this already three houses was too much bs between combat and story
I feel like those who say this is the worst fire emblem ever haven't played very many fire emblems.... It is most definitely not the worst, is it the best perhaps not but there's no way it's the worst.
❤ I simply adored Engage. Over the top, less speed dating and more smooth colourful battles. Yummy.
Yes, the story in Engage is meh. But 3 Houses' story was not perfect either. It was uneven and fumbled the ending of most routes.
Couldn't have said it better. All the early reviews wanted 3 houses part deux, it was so obvious that it was their first and probably only fire emblem game. 3 houses was fine but I hated the monastery so much. It was like work in between the fun battles. I started with Sacred Stones on the GBA and I am glad FE is not doomed to being a persona clone.