• Hey everyone, staff have documented a list of banned content and subject matter that we feel are not consistent with site values, and don't make sense to host discussion of on Famiboards. This list (and the relevant reasoning per item) is viewable here.
  • Do you have audio editing experience and want to help out with the Famiboards Discussion Club Podcast? If so, we're looking for help and would love to have you on the team! Just let us know in the Podcast Thread if you are interested!

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

Status
Not open for further replies.
Reader mode
BassForever said:
All the "Fates 2" comments are nonsense. Fates problem was that the game had 3 radically different narratives that it's single cast of characters all had to fit into, and two of those narratives were awful (conquest and revelations). Fates would have been a way better game if it's plot was generic "heroes from across the world unite to beat evil dragon/emperor" without the split family drama.
Click to expand...
I haven’t seen much Fates 2 comments here honestly. But the few I’ve seen doesn’t make sense either. I agree.

Tho I agree that it’s disappointing that the story migbt be just there and not very memorable in Engage. Engage is just looking like classic fire emblem story lol. You are the chosen hero and need to defeat the evil. Fates issues were faaaarrrr worst in its writing and it looks like a game that had a ton cut or rushed, base of interviews and whatnot.

It seems folks just pick a game they dislike and say “something 2.0” when describing it. Tho funnily enough, Three Houses was not seen positive at all until the time skip trailer. Even then, a lot of complaints about the power of friendship in that same trailer.

I really enjoyed Three Houses. But that game isn’t well written overall. The routes added a uniqueness to it, but really also hurt the game overall in story telling. Black Eagle being the worst of them with one side super rushed. And the other rather fire emblem standard
 
BassForever said:
All the "Fates 2" comments are nonsense. Fates problem was that the game had 3 radically different narratives that it's single cast of characters all had to fit into, and two of those narratives were awful (conquest and revelations). Fates would have been a way better game if it's plot was generic "heroes from across the world unite to beat evil dragon/emperor" without the split family drama.
Click to expand...
Eh, I don't really agree with this. The three different routes definitely hurt, yes, but the underlying narrative and characters were terrible regardless of that. Collapsing everything into a single route wouldn't have made the characters or writing any better, because they were flawed in ways that extended well beyond the three routes. Three Houses is a better example of a narrative that has too large of a scope, because the characters and writing were still great despite being held back by the structure. There was no saving Fates, barring a radical change in the writing quality and characterization.

Regardless, the "Fates 2" comments seem to essentially mean that Engage is following in the same direction as the 3DS entries, rather than a direct followup to Fates.
 
According to several previews, Engage goes in deep with world building, even more than 3H apparently. That alone is a massive step up from Fates. The story could still potentially be generic but I appreciate that we have a well developed world.
 
DecoReturns said:
I haven’t seen much Fates 2 comments here honestly. But the few I’ve seen doesn’t make sense either. I agree.

Tho I agree that it’s disappointing that the story migbt be just there and not very memorable in Engage. Engage is just looking like classic fire emblem story lol. You are the chosen hero and need to defeat the evil. Fates issues were faaaarrrr worst in its writing and it looks like a game that had a ton cut or rushed, base of interviews and whatnot.

It seems folks just pick a game they dislike and say “something 2.0” when describing it. Tho funnily enough, Three Houses was not seen positive at all until the time skip trailer. Even then, a lot of complaints about the power of friendship in that same trailer.

I really enjoyed Three Houses. But that game isn’t well written overall. The routes added a uniqueness to it, but really also hurt the game overall in story telling. Black Eagle being the worst of them with one side super rushed. And the other rather fire emblem standard
Click to expand...
I'd venture to say that writing was never a strong suit of the FE series and Three Houses may have given people outsized expectations
 
Ozzie said:
According to several previews, Engage goes in deep with world building, even more than 3H apparently. That alone is a massive step up from Fates. The story could still potentially be generic but I appreciate that we have a well developed world.
Click to expand...
Got a link? Haven’t seen anything like that in the few previews I’ve seen/read, and even then I seriously doubt they go deeper into the worldbuilding than Three Houses considering how extensive Fodlan’s history is.
 
Yeah.... I need this game asap lol

First banger of 2023 here we come
 
0
frog said:
I'd venture to say that writing was never a strong suit of the FE series and Three Houses may have given people outsized expectations
Click to expand...
Three Houses also had a much smaller cast of characters, which likely lead to each of them being more fleshed out.
Thunder84 said:
Eh, I don't really agree with this. The three different routes definitely hurt, yes, but the underlying narrative and characters were terrible regardless of that. Collapsing everything into a single route wouldn't have made the characters or writing any better, because they were flawed in ways that extended well beyond the three routes. Three Houses is a better example of a narrative that has too large of a scope, because the characters and writing were still great despite being held back by the structure. There was no saving Fates, barring a radical change in the writing quality and characterization.

Regardless, the "Fates 2" comments seem to essentially mean that Engage is following in the same direction as the 3DS entries, rather than a direct followup to Fates.
Click to expand...
A Fire Emblem Fates written around a single narrative, or a narrative with a plot split that happens much later in the game (like 3 Houses) would be written completely differently. Fates was absolutely a case of the writers biting off more then they could chew, and the character writing suffered because of it.
 
The problem is not only three houses, but also another two SRPGs released last year and both had great gameplay and also great story (Triangle Strategy, TO reborn)

having unimpressive story should hurt this game. it's a major part of the experience for SRPGs
 
frog said:
I'd venture to say that writing was never a strong suit of the FE series and Three Houses may have given people outsized expectations
Click to expand...
Yes, Three Houses was rather the exception that the rule in terms of story and worldbuilding. Only the Jugdral games (Genealogy of the Holy War/Thracia 776) and the Tellius games (Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn) were at comparable levels, in my opinion.
 
Yeah, these previews have turned me from 'meh' to “yeah.” I’m still unsure about the increase in ‘anime’ tropes, but the rest of the game looks like a big step up over Three Houses. Not sure if I’ll get it at launch… but it’s on my list for the year if it reviews well.
 
0
I liked all the Houses and world stuff in Fire Emblem 7, in the sense that I still remember the world more than something like Three Houses. So I still remember Lycia, which is the focus and a lot of the Houses that rule there like Ostia, Pherae, Caelin. Then you have Bern and then the Tabata Desert and Sacae - stuff like that.
 
0
BassForever said:
A Fire Emblem Fates written around a single narrative, or a narrative with a plot split that happens much later in the game (like 3 Houses) would be written completely differently. Fates was absolutely a case of the writers biting off more then they could chew, and the character writing suffered because of it.
Click to expand...
Again, disagree. The worldbuilding and writing of Fates is so incredibly flawed that no narrative would work without a complete overhaul of its lore and characters. The three routes definitely hurt more than they helped, but the foundation was already crumbling from the start.
 
0
Racalia said:
Yes, Three Houses was rather the exception that the rule in terms of story and worldbuilding. Only the Jugdral games (Genealogy of the Holy War/Thracia 776) and the Tellius games (Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn) were at comparable levels, in my opinion.
Click to expand...
In terms of general story, I'd agree that Genealogy and PoR were on the same level as Three Houses (I'm a bit "eeeh" on Thracia and Radiant Dawn). But in terms of character writing, Three Houses is way above any other game in the series. Side-characters like Petra have more depth to them than quite a few lords in older FE games.

Also, I personally don't agree that the 4-route split was detrimental to Three Houses' overall writing. Yeah, some sections feel rushed and undercooked, but even with these imperfections, I prefer them over a lot of other FE one-route campaigns.
 
From the previews I expect the story of engage to be mostly unremarkable and simple but saved by the characters who're looking to be pretty great and well developed.
Comparing it to fates is concern trolling at best, the story of fates wasn't unremarkable but a complete disaster, worst of the worst in a series with pretty bad story like awakening and fe7, it's going to pretty hard to do as bad as fates.
 
Think I might end up being stupid and pre order this even though I didn’t really enjoy Three Houses that much. Engage is looking really good, ticking a lot of boxes for me as an Awakening fan.
 
I don't expect to Engage to be as bad as Fates (I mean, you have to actually try to be bad to top stuff like "Justice is an illusion", Conquest chapter 18, and the entirety of Revelations).
Maybe the fact the game is as ambitious as the last entries could also result in a nice simple story, who knows at this point?

Regardless, going by the previews and what was shown in the trailers I still expect the story/characters and worldbuilding of this game to be a step down compared to 3H and that the gameplay will be this game's high point, so I still think the Fates comparison is justified.
 
Ok ok. I preordered the game, you malevolent good previews that hyped me. Don’t like the artstyle, but I like the gameplay. So Day 1 😎
 
0
Ill hold judgment for the story until I played it myself and/or see reviews. The comparisons online to Fates/Awakening are out there, like I mentioned the previews are limited, plus we don't know who is behind this.

From my understanding from Awakening the only people involved with story/writing left are Maeda and Komura since Horiwaka is doing that dark fantasy game from the Ender Lilies devs. And from Fates the story was done by Shin Kibayashi, a novelist/mangaka, and Kitajima, the writer for Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies(and Senran Kagura), one of the most divisive (and lowest rated) games in the series. Don't get me wrong I adore Fates, its my most played FE ever (currently on a Conquest kick) and I don't think the story is horrible but IS wanted multiple stories, too much for them at the time, so that's why we got those two to write out the scenarios and some of the main story beats miss.

Will the story be genre-defining? Probably not. Will it be at least serviceable? Maybe. Only 15 days left.
 
0
Xorhan said:
I don't expect to Engage to be as bad as Fates (I mean, you have to actually try to be bad to top stuff like "Justice is an illusion", Conquest chapter 18, and the entirety of Revelations).
Maybe the fact the game is as ambitious as the last entries could also result in a nice simple story, who knows at this point?

Regardless, going by the previews and what was shown in the trailers I still expect the story/characters and worldbuilding of this game to be a step down compared to 3H and that the gameplay will be this game's high point, so I still think the Fates comparison is justified.
Click to expand...
I think the problem is not in Engage being a step down from TH

it's the fact that it seems they're not even trying. They're just going with a traditional FE story with nice presentation and and graphics and that's it . While on the gameplay side most if not all FE games have good gameplay

TH had an amazing mature story. Units dying in battle never felt more personal . going back to generic storytelling is like if FF went from FF6 to FF5 rather than the opposite . even then I would argue the gap seems to be bigger with TH and Engage compared to those two games
 
Most previewer only played through the first ten hours and they weren't allowed to talk about anything past chapter 8. I understand that people (myself included) don't have high expectations, but who knows what will happen in the other 18-20 chapters. Maybe the cookie-cutter beginning is just a decoy and IS will blow our minds. (y)
 
As with most things, execution is everything.

Intrigued to see how it will play out.
 
A straightforward generic story is cool. Sometimes its great we get something more involved but sometimes basic and silly is fine. As long as we get to experience both experiences in future entries, I can get jiggy. In a world where one system had a Fates and a Valentia, its cool that another system gets a 3H and an Engage. I skipped 3H out of fear of being overwhelmed by the monastery system. I plan to double back to it but this approach with Engage is my speed coming from GBA and 3DS. I love walking around the exact maps after the battle, def giving me the Triangle Strategy mechanic in reverse, where in there you often walk around the map to learn it before the battle starts. I really am excited for what mechanical value the rings provide and some synergies I will rely on. The new cast designs look great, not sure if they match my faves like Ross, Lute, Owain or Setsuna but I am excited for a lot of them, and their animations carry alot of the design.
 
I fully expect this game will put me on a FE kick where I replay the Ike duology(AGAIN) and maybe I'll finally do Claude's path in 3H lol.
 
0
Okay, the closer we’re getting to release the more hyped I’m getting for this game. The positive previews compiled here are helping a lot too. I was previously planning to just buy it at a later date when there’s a sale, but now I’ll probably get it on release.

I’m still really not liking the character designs, and as positive as these previews are they haven’t done much to quell my concerns over story, tone and writing. Guess we’ll see how that turns out on release.
 
0
You know, I wasn't really looking forward to this title before, but some of the impressions given by various youtube outlets, not to mention DFs rather positive outlook, have made me want to check the game out.
 
0
I’m still a bit mixed given the apparent downgrade in management/social stuff and unit building, but everything else is looking great so I’ll be keeping an open mind. It’s entirely possible I won’t even miss that too much once I’m playing the game.
 
0
DunningSmith said:
Most previewer only played through the first ten hours and they weren't allowed to talk about anything past chapter 8. I understand that people (myself included) don't have high expectations, but who knows what will happen in the other 18-20 chapters. Maybe the cookie-cutter beginning is just a decoy and IS will blow our minds. (y)
Click to expand...
There are clearly some previewers who've gotten further into the game and given the "there's more I want to talk about but can't". I'm not expecting some kind of evomindblown twist, but I do think there's something about the games story or mechanics that IS has kept a secret.
 
Awakening, Chrom, Lucina and Robin are still massively popular in the fandom so being like Awakening is hardly an issue imo. An Awakening seasonal banner in Heroes was one of the best-selling last year IIRC.

Clanne sounds like she has Sothis' VA, wonder who else is returning from Three Houses? Male Alear sounds a little like Ignatz but it also could be someone else.
 
BassForever said:
There are clearly some previewers who've gotten further into the game and given the "there's more I want to talk about but can't". I'm not expecting some kind of evomindblown twist, but I do think there's something about the games story or mechanics that IS has kept a secret.
Click to expand...
Along these lines, it's not like Three Houses' plot was all that interesting in the first 8-10 hours. That's barely long enough to get to a few battles and kill some bandits. I'm sure there's quite a bit left, even if it's nothing as drastic as the time skip was.
 
SammyJ9 said:
Along these lines, it's not like Three Houses' plot was all that interesting in the first 8-10 hours. That's barely long enough to get to a few battles and kill some bandits. I'm sure there's quite a bit left, even if it's nothing as drastic as the time skip was.
Click to expand...
While I do think there might be potential in Engage's story, I do think Three Houses had already got the ball rolling on a lot of its more interesting plot elements by chapter 8. A lot of the early Noble/Church stuff is there, as well as Flayn's kidnapping and even the Tomas = Solon reveal
 
Nintendo is making this game so hype only 15 days before it launches. Shit I'm gonna need to cop 😂
 
0
I bought three houses a year and half ago and still haven't played it, eep

but dang i really like what they did with the graphics here. The only thing i think looks a bit off is the third person segments... sort of stilted
 
Last edited:
NabiscoFelt said:
While I do think there might be potential in Engage's story, I do think Three Houses had already got the ball rolling on a lot of its more interesting plot elements by chapter 8. A lot of the early Noble/Church stuff is there, as well as Flayn's kidnapping and even the Tomas = Solon reveal
Click to expand...

I remember in another forum that things looked pretty grim hypewise until the timeskip trailer was uploaded.
 
NabiscoFelt said:
While I do think there might be potential in Engage's story, I do think Three Houses had already got the ball rolling on a lot of its more interesting plot elements by chapter 8. A lot of the early Noble/Church stuff is there, as well as Flayn's kidnapping and even the Tomas = Solon reveal
Click to expand...
By Chapter 8, yes, but that's like... almost half the game in Three Houses since the routes are only ~20 chapters long. Isn't Engage going to be quite a bit longer in terms of chapter count? And I thought it was only like 8-10 hours of the game, unless I'm mistaken
 
totofogo said:
I bought three houses a year and half ago and still haven't played it, eep

but dang i really like what they did with the graphics here. The only thing i think looks a bit off is the third person segments... sort of stilted
Click to expand...
At least you didn't import Tales of Vesperia ps3 with plans to hack your ps3 to use the English Patch right before the definitive edition was announced at the Xbox e3 event 🫠
 
They should have had male Alear have long hair too. Like the SMTV protagonist. I still don’t know how I feel about the hair color but the design theme they’re going for feels less “complete” in male Alear compared to female Alear…if that makes sense.
 
zumaddy said:
Choose Your Legends is starting in FEH and no Engage characters eligible! I think that's for the best, honestly.
Click to expand...
Yeah. It would be very weird to have an Engage ballot loaded with possible spoiler characters out right as the game is launching.
 
0
I did one of those tier rank thingies for FE Engage to see if my initial ranking/impressions of the characters will still hold up after the game is already out!

Now i'm extra excited to play the game!


I kinda still don't know which mc to go for, I even made a whole pro and con list regarding both and I still couldn't decide.. 🥲
Guess I'll watch more preview videos to see if that'll help!
 
0
Reading the Polygon preview-

However, with few exceptions thus far, cast members all feel like rough drafts — one loves cooking, while another enjoys lifting weights. Their 10-second support cutscenes are all about (you guessed it) cooking and lifting weights. In Engage, characters rarely transcend the one or two hobbies that define them, and the resulting web of relationships is just as flimsy.
Click to expand...
This feels like a huge step back, a return to ‘I am the walking embodiment of being either obsessed with or terrible at one activity!’ from Fates. Such a missed opportunity to go for such tired, repetitive skits when you’ve got a full cast from all over the game world with (presumably) different perspectives. That was a real strong point in TH.

Ah well, at least I can send the more tedious ones off to die I guess.
 
Last edited:
The only reason I haven't preordered is: Will Nintendo release it here at the same time or should I preorder from importers?
 
0
PixelKnight said:
Reading the Polygon preview-


This feels like a huge step back, a return to ‘I am the walking embodiment of being either obsessed with or terrible at one activity!’ from Fates. Such a missed opportunity to go for such tired, repetitive skits when you’ve got a full cast from all over the game world with (presumably) different perspectives. That was a real strong point in TH.

Ah well, at least I can send the more tedious ones off to die I guess.
Click to expand...
It definitely seems like the opinions of the character writing are the most variable across previews. NWR gave a fairly positive example of how a character evolves beyond that initial one note personality, though another preview commented how they had gotten a few B supports and they were weak. Hard to know if it's

1- Due to a larger cast of character the quality of the character writing is more variable so impressions will change based upon who a reviewer is interested in

2- What previewers are looking for as "good writing". Did Polygon see the same support convo NWR did and have a completely different reaction to it.

3- How much the player is doing events in the Somniel. Since the Somniel seems a lot more optional in Engage, perhaps some reviewers are spending less time there which is further coloring their impressions of supports positively or negatively.
 
Reader mode
Status
Not open for further replies.


Back
Top Bottom