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Pre-Release Fire Emblem Engage — Pre-release Discussion Thread

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The Engaged state only lasts for three turns at a time, and the ring abilities are pretty diverse (Sigurd is likely the only one with that offers overwhelming movement range + canto), but the variety of Emblem abilities should allow for diverse strategies hopefully. Corrin's Dragon Vein has a lot of potential for environmental havoc.
 
The Engaged state only lasts for three turns at a time, and the ring abilities are pretty diverse (Sigurd is likely the only one with that offers overwhelming movement range + canto), but the variety of Emblem abilities should allow for diverse strategies hopefully. Corrin's Dragon Vein has a lot of potential for environmental havoc.
Yeah the Dragon Vein one is defo one I eyeballed as having a lot of potential. Byleth’s dancer buff too. Do they all offer a permanent passive stat buff while equipped too?
 
While the character designs have have (rightfully) been criticized, I still gotta give credit to the sheer volume of them. There seems to be a ton of units in this game, and each will seemingly have multiple Engage variants as well. That's a crazy amount of effort, so props to them for that.

I still have some pretty significant reservations about the story and writing (I hope they really lean into the cheese, rather than try to write a serious story from such a flawed premise), the gameplay looks fantastic. So many options. Challenge runs for this game are gonna be really cool.
 
Calling the faces "generic" is kind of an empty criticism. Like, I get that many artists tend to draw similar faces across characters, but that doesn't really make them generic, and saying such sells the skills of the artist short.
People should not look at the history of Kurahana (3H) or Hidari (Echoes) designs. If people don't like the design that is one thing, some illustrators/artist/mangaka have similar faces/body for their work. I love OP but look at how Oda designs women in that universe, basically the same.

But saying "generic" is reaching that "devs lazy" rhetoric imo. Idk, I feel we have this conv after every trailer lol.
 
Calling the faces "generic" is kind of an empty criticism. Like, I get that many artists tend to draw similar faces across characters, but that doesn't really make them generic, and saying such sells the skills of the artist short.
alright, my mistake. I take generic back.
However I stand by my statement that those faces look the same.
 
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It's fine if people don't like the style but some of the criticisms get really weird and somewhat uncomfortable when you only need to look at Mika Pikazo's twitter to see that cute, colourful girls is just what she likes to draw.
 
Gotta say, I never played Fire Emblem for the graphics, but I can not deny that the game looks super clean and the presentation is way above earlier entries. Game looks superfun.

Going to be super broke during Q1 2023
 
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Oh my goodness.

Classic maps?

Gimme Elincia’s Gambit or chapter 10 of Conquest.

For Roy should be that desert map where he’s practically useless cause he can’t move at all lol
 
Ok, I hadn’t bothered to look up the artist until now, and it all makes sense lmao. I actually quite like her work? Still not a fan of this much neoteny in my SRPG characters but if there is a new designer in every game hopefully that wont be the norm…
 
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One of Pikazo's best known characters is Fate's Sei, so I was well prepared for her style lol.

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I am super pumped about classic map designs coming back. I wonder what they'll use for Lucina since I wouldn't really place any specific chapter with her.
 
Oh my goodness.

Classic maps?

Gimme Elincia’s Gambit or chapter 10 of Conquest.

For Roy should be that desert map where he’s practically useless cause he can’t move at all lol
I love Elinicia’s Gambit, probably my favourite defensive battle in the series. I always made a point of routing the enemy anyway, but it’s a great looking fight too as the enemy keep bringing up more reinforcements. Even the choke points are still vulnerable as you only have so many tanky units, some of your toughest fighters at that point are the cat Laguz and the heavy fighting of choke points shows up their weakness when they get knocked out of beast form. I used to prioritise my ranged attacks knocking out casters so that Brom can happily block the western staircase on his own for the whole battle, and keep Elincia in reserve ready to fix any mistakes I made while also keeping her safe from crossbows.
 
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We finally get to see Anna! I think she's an Axe Fighter.

Edit: It looks like Anna's a child in this game?? lol
 
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Caught up on the trailer and the new twitter/website info. Every time I see more of this game, I'm amazed to see a 3D Fire Emblem game looking this slick. All the new mechanics are looking fun. Love getting abilities to affect the terrain or set healing circles and those kinds of utility combat options.

The characters have set classes and the customization comes from assigning the emblem rings to them, right? So can the character use the weapon of their assigned hero even if their class doesn't support that weapon when engaged or is that only for a limit break type of attack?

On the subject of the character designs, I do prefer more fun and colorful designs over somber/trying to be more realistic. That's not to say I love every design that I'm seeing here of course. I just wish fun and colorful designs for women didn't equal horny a majority of the time in JRPGs.
 
I'm not sure if Anna is really younger this time... or if it is just because of the artstyle and babyface most of the female characters have. Really hard to tell. But looks well in this still regardless.
 
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A classic!

This is so true, I still cast my eye over the portraits of the enemy army at the start of a mission whether you can recruit them or not, If only to see which which are advanced classes or with ‘slayer’ weapons to watch out for. But I did like it in the GBA games where there would be a whole army of brigands in makeshift armour, and in the middle of them, some random kid in a flashy different coloured outfit who happened to have signed up with them.
 
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I was wondering why Anna seemed younger and at least according to the tweet (and google translate) she is an apprentice in this game versus a merchant in the others. Also she is an ax fighter, fantastic we need more of those lol
 
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I like this Anna. Better than Awakening version which felt like a robot. Hopefully she's got more to say this time around.
 
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If she’s an ‘apprentice’ I wonder if that means she’s a rookie class like ‘villager’, where she’s essentially got two class upgrades to go through rather than one? That would be cool if you can send her down through brigand/warrior to pirate/berserker, or through thief to assassin etc.
 
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Curious if you just run into Anna in Brodia in the main story, or if she's just another paralogue character. I hope it's the former, so that Anna can be a "proper" part of the cast this time around with plenty of supports and whatnot.
 
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Thanks. I'm kind of hoping it's old, old school where it just goes like Cavalier -> Paladin or summat, though a branching promotion tree is also OK

We've had enough "anyone can be anything" in the past 10 years, something more limited would be refreshing an probably allow for more precise balance
 
Thanks. I'm kind of hoping it's old, old school where it just goes like Cavalier -> Paladin or summat, though a branching promotion tree is also OK

We've had enough "anyone can be anything" in the past 10 years, something more limited would be refreshing an probably allow for more precise balance
Yeah I like the relatively limited branching trees where you had a couple options but it was still fairly reasonable upgrades, like foot knight to either great knight or general. So you were still weak to magic and heavy armour, but chose either even more armour or more mobility.

Or Priest to Bishop/Sage,you’re still a healer but choose between gaining elemental attack magic or even better healing and light magic
 
Yeah I like the relatively limited branching trees where you had a couple options but it was still fairly reasonable upgrades, like foot knight to either great knight or general. So you were still weak to magic and heavy armour, but chose either even more armour or more mobility.

Or Priest to Bishop/Sage,you’re still a healer but choose between gaining elemental attack magic or even better healing and light magic
I cut my eye teeth on Blazing Sword, so I'm still partial to the single path where specific characters keep their roles and just become better at it

The upgrades in the Ashen Wolves DLC did remind me that limited branching can still be very satisfying, though
 
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I felt that the older games, in retrospect at least, were pretty restrictive in terms of classing. There wasn't much customization. It was basically, "Make the cavalier a better cavalier, but only if you have a seal that is rare/expensive/hard to find". Having branching options, and making those options readily available to a degree that isn't overly resource-constrained, would be nice, even if the range of class options per character isn't that broad.
 
Thanks. I'm kind of hoping it's old, old school where it just goes like Cavalier -> Paladin or summat, though a branching promotion tree is also OK

We've had enough "anyone can be anything" in the past 10 years, something more limited would be refreshing an probably allow for more precise balance
It seems like things are relatively limited but it's kinda hard to tell, and it could just be hiding a customization system like Three Houses

If I had to speculate, I think units might be fixed to a type (like "Cavalry", "Flying", "Qi Adept") and have class promotions and branching within that type
 
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This games keep looking better and better every time they show it. I'm big into jrpg, but strategy jrpg not so much. Maybe I'll pick it up in January.
 
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I wonder if we'll get an original vocal theme for this one or if it'll just be the classic FE theme since we heard something like it in a trailer + it was meant to be the anniversary game.
 
I wonder if we'll get an original vocal theme for this one or if it'll just be the classic FE theme since we heard something like it in a trailer + it was meant to be the anniversary game.
We might. Though even if in the spirit of an anniversary-themed title, they could do a lot with existing tracks. Shadows of Valentia knocked it out of the park with its orchestrations of the original Gaiden soundtrack.

I'm most curious at this point to hear more about the gameplay outside of combat. The game was rumored to take direct influence from the cancelled Wii Fire Emblem, which was supposed to be a pretty radical departure from how FE was traditionally structured in the Radiant Dawn days.
 
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Looks like Engage will do quite well, and still two months to go, even outsell three houses? It’s crazy how much fire emblem has grown since it was nearly killed back in 2012 if Awakening didn’t do well!

Toothpaste Chan securing preorders and I love it
 
Wow. Switch install base is huge now too, and I suspect Heroes has helped. But yeah, it’s amazing how the series has reached that critical point to really take off. For a series that had been around for 20 years to suddenly start climbing the list of top-selling Nintendo games following an all-or-nothing kickstart with Awakening, and then another decade later it’s a ~4m seller (I think that’s about right for TH by now), it’s really something.

Switch is such a beast for JRPGs.
 
Game looks great. Seeing the new art style is always one of the most exciting things about seeing a new entry in many Nintendo franchises. The Fire Emblem series is a great canvas to try out new things. They could have made every game look and play just like Awakening but they've done a great job of mixing things up for each game. The end result may not have been to everyone's satisfaction but it was nice seeing more Asian aesthetics in Fates and they had a good idea with trying to appeal to both style of Fire Emblem games. Echoes definitely had its own distinct art style. Three Houses had its own style and structure. And now Engage looks to be another welcome change up.
 
Wow. Switch install base is huge now too, and I suspect Heroes has helped. But yeah, it’s amazing how the series has reached that critical point to really take off. For a series that had been around for 20 years to suddenly start climbing the list of top-selling Nintendo games following an all-or-nothing kickstart with Awakening, and then another decade later it’s a ~4m seller (I think that’s about right for TH by now), it’s really something.

Switch is such a beast for JRPGs.
I think the series always had the chops, it just had a hard time breaking through beyond Japan due to inconsistent localization and frankly some bad luck. Awakening is where everything aligned perfectly for the series and it's been chugging along to greater success ever since.

The latest trailer has made me much more excited about Engage. It's Fire Emblem, so I'm day one no matter what, but I was feeling like this one seems closer to Fates than Three Houses. Visually it looks great, and the maps look promising (one of Three Houses' weak points).

Still not loving the character design (particularly the women), but it looks like there is a large breadth of characters so I'm sure there will be some I enjoy.
 
I think the series always had the chops, it just had a hard time breaking through beyond Japan due to inconsistent localization and frankly some bad luck.
I don't think it's that. Older Fire Emblem titles frankly were seen as inaccessible to a lot of people because the word permadeath is enough to give people that would otherwise be part of the target audience too much anxiety to bother.

Casual Mode and an increased focus on relationships in Awakening with the return of marriage was what really kicked things into gear.
 
I don't think it's that. Older Fire Emblem titles frankly were seen as inaccessible to a lot of people because the word permadeath is enough to give people that would otherwise be part of the target audience too much anxiety to bother.

Casual Mode and an increased focus on relationships in Awakening with the return of marriage was what really kicked things into gear.
That's true, but there are a few other things that could have helped if they actually happened. I think the canceled N64 game would have done wonders for the series in the West, and releasing Radiant Dawn as the sole entry on the Wii was probably a mistake.

EDIT: Also, don't forget that FE6, Roy's game, wasn't actually available for the folks who fell in love with Fire Sword Guy from Melee lol.
 
That's true, but there are a few other things that could have helped if they actually happened. I think the canceled N64 game would have done wonders for the series in the West, and releasing Radiant Dawn as the sole entry on the Wii was probably a mistake.

EDIT: Also, don't forget that FE6, Roy's game, wasn't actually available for the folks who fell in love with Fire Sword Guy from Melee lol.
FE64 sounds like a complete dev mess (starting as a 64DD game, then becoming a cartridge game, all while Kaga was being weird and planning shit behind IS's back). I don't think it ever stood a chance. And Radiant Dawn sold so badly that IS never moved forward with that prototyped Wii game that they scrapped in favor of the ultra-bland FE1 remake on DS.

Also, anyone that plays FE6 expecting screamy fire boy Smash Roy is going to be super-disappointed that he's useless load for most of his own game.
 
FE64 sounds like a complete dev mess (starting as a 64DD game, then becoming a cartridge game, all while Kaga was being weird and planning shit behind IS's back). I don't think it ever stood a chance. And Radiant Dawn sold so badly that IS never moved forward with that prototyped Wii game that they scrapped in favor of the ultra-bland FE1 remake on DS.

Also, anyone that plays FE6 expecting screamy fire boy Smash Roy is going to be super-disappointed that he's useless load for most of his own game.
Yeah, that's largely what I mean by bad luck. They had no control over the 64DD's failure, or Kaga's shenanigans for that matter.

While Radiant Dawn is great, they should not have led with a direct sequel on the Wii, it just led to fewer people even trying the game, nevermind it's deserved reputation on difficulty on a very casual friendly console.

For FE6, I don't think anybody expected the Fire Emblem characters in Melee to become as popular in the West as they did, but because they didn't localize FE6 they didn't really get to capitalize on it. Hell, Roy is still (somehow) one of the most popular and recognized Fire Emblem characters in the West, and he's essentially just a Smash Bros character here lol. Like you said he might actually be less popular if his game actually released and folks had to baby sit his 12 year old ass for 80% of the game.
 


You ever look at a design and go "that's gonna make a lot of money in a gatcha game"? Cause that was my first thought upon seeing Ivy.
 
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Ivy being voiced by Yoko Hikasa makes her instantly my most looking forward to character LOL.

Though I kind of wish we didn't know she could be a playable unit before the game even comes out. It would have made for a neat surprise!
 
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