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

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I, personally, am not that worried about supports and depths of characters, tbf its not like fe3h characters/supports were THAT varied either (they all had like 1 thing that makes up their character and based their supports off that ex Bernies personality, Petra's home country etc etc) and I enjoyed myself plenty with them!

As long as there's some banter between the characters I'm good. Fanartists and writers will find a way to make it work if the game doesn't. XD
 
BassForever said:
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.
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Yeah, so looking at NWR, it seems like they say the ’single trope’ is still there but is used as a basis to flesh things out. So I suspect a lot of that comes down to how much tolerance you have for such anime tropes as a basis that then underpin other stuff, rather than having starting points that aren’t so one-note.

If you enjoyed the fact that Three Houses had enough lore to fill a textbook you probably won’t be happy with how underwritten things feel. It’s honestly a shame because Engage’s cast of characters is one of my favorites in the entire franchise. The support conversations in this game go a long way towards fleshing out units from multiple angles, and almost every character has more interesting things going on than the single anime trope that defines them.

This is best seen with the recurring character Anna, who has been reimagined as a child separated from her family. She’s still motivated by money at heart, and her interests are focused on business strategies and marketing, but she also struggles with the anxiety of being separated from her family, and often speaks up about how she resents being treated like a child. The silly trope that defines her may be the same as ever, but it’s been used as a foundation to build a more interesting character instead of just being the entire character like in previous games. The entire cast seems to have gotten this amount of care and focus, and the only characters I didn’t find something to love about were the ones that I simply didn’t keep on the battlefield long enough to unlock support conversations for.
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Fire Emblem: Engage Preview - Preview

www.nintendoworldreport.com www.nintendoworldreport.com

Still, I’m glad to hear they rounded Anna out a bit, there seems more going on to Engage as a whole where with Fates the characterisation was another tier of tired, simplistic writing as part of issues across the writing of the entire script, plot, setting, scenario, pacing, all of it. So I’ll be interested to see how it all plays out, hopefully there’s hidden depths beyond ‘I like thing! Let us bond through me teaching you thing too!’

They also they touch on the enemy AI a bit that sounds improved too.
 
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Appelsider said:
I, personally, am not that worried about supports and depths of characters, tbf its not like fe3h characters/supports were THAT varied either (they all had like 1 thing that makes up their character and based their supports off that ex Bernies personality, Petra's home country etc etc) and I enjoyed myself plenty with them!

As long as there's some banter between the characters I'm good. Fanartists and writers will find a way to make it work if the game doesn't. XD
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I don’t know, I quite enjoyed how Dorothea and Ferdinand’s bond was how he had forgotten when he was a young noble who had humiliated her, and then later in life it becomes more about how she’s concerned about being more than just a pretty young thing as she grows older, whereas he’s always had the assured confidence and backup of wealth and status but has matured through a more rounded perspective too. There’s a lot more going on there than ‘I like cooking’ or ‘I like tailoring’ or ‘I’m invisible’ etc. Agree that some were more one-note than others, but I liked that plenty of them commented on the politics of the continent as a whole rather than just hobbies and traits with no further link to wider events or with much to say about Fodlan itself. The character skits are such a good opportunity to learn more about the game world and it’s peoples, I find that way more interesting than random tropes which can feel like the characters were just dropped in from anywhere rather than living in that world.
 
Three houses characters were also very one trait about them. What help is they had a lot of their own screen time.

Not expecting Engage to be deep or anything. But just don’t feel Three Houses character were as great as many praise them to be. A few were standouts. But not enough personally.

Think the last Fire Emblem game were I felt did a overall great job with a lot of characters was Path of Radiance. And of course it wasn’t perfect either
 
PixelKnight said:
I don’t know, I quite enjoyed how Dorothea and Ferdinand’s bond was how he had forgotten when he was a young noble who had humiliated her, and then later in life it becomes more about how she’s concerned about being more than just a pretty young thing as she grows older, whereas he’s always had the assured confidence and backup of wealth and status but has matured through a more rounded perspective too. There’s a lot more going on there than ‘I like cooking’ or ‘I like tailoring’ or ‘I’m invisible’ etc. Agree that some were more one-note than others, but I liked that plenty of them commented on the politics of the continent as a whole rather than just hobbies and traits with no further link to wider events or with much to say about Fodlan itself. The character skits are such a good opportunity to learn more about the game world and it’s peoples, I find that way more interesting than random tropes.
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I definitely agree with what you wrote as character supports are what I like the most in FE!
I just feel that we don't have the full image of the game yet, which makes sense, so maybe all the deeper stuff can still happen later on!

Either way, I feel like deciding if a convo between character was fun myself rather than some reviewer I personally don't know. Everyone has different thresholds for enjoyment is what it comes down to I guess!
 
DecoReturns said:
Three houses characters were also very one trait about them. What help is they had a lot of their own screen time.

Not expecting Engage to be deep or anything. But just don’t feel Three Houses character were as great as many praise them to be. A few were standouts. But not enough personally.

Think the last Fire Emblem game were I felt did a overall great job with a lot of characters was Path of Radiance. And of course it wasn’t perfect either
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Yeah, fair enough. I liked PoR too. I thought it did well considering how much prejudice and misconceptions it was exploring through the various factions, and then again through RD too as they end up with leading a force containing the remnants of half a dozen factions.
Appelsider said:
I definitely agree with what you wrote as character supports are what I like the most in FE!
I just feel that we don't have the full image of the game yet, which makes sense, so maybe all the deeper stuff can still happen later on!

Either way, I feel like deciding if a convo between character was fun myself rather than some reviewer I personally don't know. Everyone has different thresholds for enjoyment is what it comes down to I guess!
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Oh absolutely, I agree entirely! I’ll be picking it up on day one and deciding for myself too, looking forwards to unpacking it all with everyone here :)
 
Imitatio said:
I just love that one 😂
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For me there’s a delicious irony in that it was so weird that Kellam is one of the few Awakening characters that really stuck in my mind, so at least it was funny and to be fair that’s a good thing when you’ve got a long game knee-deep in mass warfare and tragedy etc.
 
PixelKnight said:
For me there’s a delicious irony in that it was so weird that Kellam is one of the few Awakening characters that really stuck in my mind, so at least it was funny and to be fair that’s a good thing when you’ve got a long game knee-deep in mass warfare and tragedy etc.
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Yeah, totally with you there. While he seemingly got overlooked by almost anyone in-game, he conversely stuck out to you as the player. That's one of the reasons I enjoyed interacting with him and observing his support convos with others so much, because it felt like the writers were kinda playing with this trait. Subtly breaking the fourth wall there to some extent. He's easily one of the first characters coming to my mind when thinking back to Awakening.
 
Imitatio said:
Yeah, totally with you there. While he seemingly got overlooked by almost anyone in-game, he conversely stuck out to you as the player. That's one of the reasons I enjoyed interacting with him and observing his support convos with others so much, because it felt like the writers were kinda playing with this trait. Subtly breaking the fourth wall there to some extent. He's easily one of the first characters coming to my mind when thinking back to Awakening.
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I think that’s just it- I don’t mind the jokey one-note skit characters when they are a fresh of fresh air compared to half the cast being more serious about destiny, warfare, responsibilities and consequences. Pacing and all that across the cast as a whole :)
 
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What also makes characters endearing to the player is if they're strong, dominate in combat, and have great attack animations.
 
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We already knew from the previews but it's good to have confirmation, 3 difficulties with maddening unlocked from the start unlike Threehouses.
I wonder if it means maddening difficulty will actually be balanced (unlike Threehouses) or if it's just going to be an easier game overall.
I'm definitely doing hard mode first and then maddening right after.
 
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I don't think they are in this game (outside the dlc), but I wonder if IS has no future plans for shapeshifters/laguz type characters. Awakening and Fates had 1-2 characters and the Tellius games had 20 (jk, but that roster, in general, is insane). They are a pain to balance (whether its time or orbs) so I understand shying away from them.
 
SirArthur said:
I don't think they are in this game (outside the dlc), but I wonder if IS has no future plans for shapeshifters/laguz type characters. Awakening and Fates had 1-2 characters and the Tellius games had 20 (jk, but that roster, in general, is insane). They are a pain to balance (whether its time or orbs) so I understand shying away from them.
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I think we're definitely getting a manakete in engage with how many dragons they're showing.
 
Based on the opening I totally see the theory confirmed that
Sombron aka the Evil Dragon, is Alears father. Which explains the split hair and their good/evil theme. Just... why mother?! Was she like "I can fix him"?
 
Hauke_von_Arding said:
Based on the opening I totally see the theory confirmed that
Sombron aka the Evil Dragon, is Alears father. Which explains the split hair and their good/evil theme. Just... why mother?! Was she like "I can fix him"?
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See I was thinking the reveal was gonna be
Alear is the og fell dragon, or that the fell dragon was sealed inside them hence the 1,000 year sleep. Your suggestion makes a lot more sense narratively.
 
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Vantell said:
We just shared the Full Opening of Fire Emblem Engage. Much anime, such engage

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The fact that this game with the tone it's going for is releasing after THs is kinda funny

If it was the opposite and Engage released after Fates it would've been more welcomed imo
 
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I’m beginning to see that people don’t actually remember Fates at all.

Both the game itself and the pre-release anticipation.

Engage is nothing like Fates lol
 
I absolutely love the anime opening to this game. It is so cheesy that it wraps back to being great. I've seen it compared to Sonic and old Saturday morning cartoon openings and I totally get that vibe. lol
 
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JR436 said:
Heh, the contrast between here and Era regarding the opening theme are even more apparent than usual.
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I would say that most of the reactions are pretty harmless/tame, at least on the first page/at the time of writing this post. Of course, there are again the typical two or three suspects who react hyperbolically to the opening, but you just have to expect that there, I think. Otherwise, it's really not that bad in my eyes.
And it's clear by now that this opening and the tonal direction of the game overall aren't for everyone, I'd say.
 
While I liked Three Houses for what it is, I'm more interested in Engage because of the tone it's going for. If I want something that takes itself seriously, I can play a multitude of tactical JRPGs between Triangle Strategy, Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre. It's nice to have something different with a big budget.
While you might not like it, you can't deny that the game 100% assumes itself with its tone. Sometimes people have to take the game for what it is instead of what they want it to be.
 
Amadeus said:
While I liked Three Houses for what it is, I'm more interested in Engage because of the tone it's going for. If I want something that takes itself seriously, I can play a multitude of tactical JRPGs between Triangle Strategy, Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre. It's nice to have something different with a big budget.
While you might not like it, you can't deny that the game 100% assumes itself with its tone. Sometimes people have to take the game for what it is instead of what they want it to be.
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I totally agree with you. I love Engage tone and I’m all for a “shonen anime” adventure.
My only problem with the opening is that imho it doesn’t sound too good in English, specially in the most “quick” part of the song. Tbh I think that the japanese one will be much better (like most anime opening)
 
I'm liking how many previews mention creative maps & goals from chapter to chapter. It reminds me of conquest in that way, even though I never finished that game.

One thing I remember about Awakening and Fates is that it seemed to throw new playable characters at you pretty often, while Three Houses had pretty much everybody introduced from the beginning. I sometimes had a hard time keeping track of everybody in the 3DS games, so I hope I can do a better job with that in Engage -- it's not really a problem with the game, it just comes down to my focus and attention.
 
Amadeus said:
While I liked Three Houses for what it is, I'm more interested in Engage because of the tone it's going for. If I want something that takes itself seriously, I can play a multitude of tactical JRPGs between Triangle Strategy, Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre. It's nice to have something different with a big budget.
While you might not like it, you can't deny that the game 100% assumes itself with its tone. Sometimes people have to take the game for what it is instead of what they want it to be.
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Yeah, for a colorful tactics game, Three Houses really hit the limits on edginess (it even had an eyepatch guy ffs). I always loved FE series for its lighthearted nature where everyone smiles but the drama in 3H felt very out of place. Engage returning to that campiness really hits the spot for me.

Nintendo needs to bank on this asap. We need an Engage Netflix series and an affordable action figure line. Maybe Happy Meal tie in too?
 
Jencks said:
Seems like discussion of this game is going to be insufferable
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A shame really.

But in hindsight. Amusing. I think a new cycle will start with many saying stuff like “KT is the reason fire emblem is good” or something. I wouldn’t be surprise if folks start to talk about that.

And Genealogy might be made by KT’s three Houses team as well. Gonna be an interesting read going forward for a bit.

But I keep myself away from Fire Emblem discussions. It’s my favorite series but it’s usually horrible. I remember joining Serenes Forest and was a bit shock on how mean people were. And the popular members were the mean ones, I get not liking a direction and fair criticism is fascinating to read always. But it wasn’t like that at all. Maybe it’s better, but I have no desire to go back and find out.
 
DecoReturns said:
And Genealogy might be made by KT’s three Houses team as well. Gonna be an interesting read going forward for a bit.
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In discussions about Engage, I noticed that some people are worried about it having a generic story. On the other hand, many people are excited about the gameplay and its potential. Three Houses was the opposite; many people praised the story and discussed it at length, but I remember hearing less praise for the maps/gameplay.

I have never played Genealogy, so I'm wondering how that will be received? I have heard it has a great story. Once that game releases (assuming the reports are true), will it be a better option for those who prioritize the scenario over the gameplay?

I'm not a long-time FE fan (I've only played the 3DS game & Three Houses), but in that time I have seen that this franchise doesn't necessarily stick with one formula. Any one of these games can have major differences from its predecessor.
 
That’s some awesome grade a cheese with the opening. So fun. I just wish I didn’t stall on srpgs so easy. Shrug maybe after I finish some Nintendo backlog I’ll give it a whirl.
 
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Gengar said:
In discussions about Engage, I noticed that some people are worried about it having a generic story. On the other hand, many people are excited about the gameplay and its potential. Three Houses was the opposite; many people praised the story and discussed it at length, but I remember hearing less praise for the maps/gameplay.

I have never played Genealogy, so I'm wondering how that will be received? I have heard it has a great story. Once that game releases (assuming the reports are true), will it be a better option for those who prioritize the scenario over the gameplay?

I'm not a long-time FE fan (I've only played the 3DS game & Three Houses), but in that time I have seen that this franchise doesn't necessarily stick with one formula. Any one of these games can have major differences from its predecessor.
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It really depends on how a remake is done. Genealogy is loved for its characters and story, and the gameplay is rather unique, but some of those unique elements (giant maps and a small number of chapters) could be a hard sell without adjustment.
 
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Gengar said:
In discussions about Engage, I noticed that some people are worried about it having a generic story. On the other hand, many people are excited about the gameplay and its potential. Three Houses was the opposite; many people praised the story and discussed it at length, but I remember hearing less praise for the maps/gameplay.

I have never played Genealogy, so I'm wondering how that will be received? I have heard it has a great story. Once that game releases (assuming the reports are true), will it be a better option for those who prioritize the scenario over the gameplay?

I'm not a long-time FE fan (I've only played the 3DS game & Three Houses), but in that time I have seen that this franchise doesn't necessarily stick with one formula. Any one of these games can have major differences from its predecessor.
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Genealogy is a very interesting game in the gameplay department honestly.

I’ll be shocked if it’s as mediocre as Three Houses gameplay and map design.

Biggest thing is that the maps in Genealogy are way too big for today. And the game is only 12 (?) chapters long but a lot of stuff happens during chapters. Like a few turns pass and then an event happens in a chapter. It’s pretty much like the battle starts with one objective and changes cuase something happens during a certain turn. Plus something happens after the mid-game turns the game around narratively.

Of course. The games total have expanded so much that if they stuck the the orignial’s core mechanics. It will be dated. That is assuming they update some of them for the better.

The story is tricky cause it’s pretty out there sometimes and things just happen in sentences, like moving the story in time without really showing it. But even then I’m interested to see how they translate the story with cutscenes and all. Personally it’s a story that always came off better in summaries written then in the game itself, at least that’s my opinion.
 
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Jencks said:
Seems like discussion of this game is going to be insufferable
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There's certainly gonna be a lot it "am I out of touch? No it's the children that are wrong" energy after this game comes out. I've seen people saying FE is having an "identity crisis" with Engage???
 
Gengar said:
I'm not a long-time FE fan (I've only played the 3DS game & Three Houses), but in that time I have seen that this franchise doesn't necessarily stick with one formula. Any one of these games can have major differences from its predecessor.
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Honestly that’s one of the things I like about FE (and various other longrunning game series). I’ve played about 10 different FE games at this point and there’s a lot of experimentation around the mechanics that are either the most important, the most heavily promoted or that change the core rules the most. In the presentation sense, there’s also a difference between those that have a more reserved tone and those that just go full-on Saturday-morning cartoon too, and that’s OK. The thing is, just like any other game series that heavily changes all manner of things up from art direction to combat mechanics to tone to writing etc up each time (and Zelda, Final Fantasy and to a lesser extent Ys all do this too), any of those elements are gonna have some players that prioritise some of those elements over the others, and also have preferences within those elements. I don’t really see the point in going ‘discussion is gonna be terrible’ just because people might not agree on what’s best. It’s unavoidable with series that reinvent themselves and gain the benefits of a refresh every time (as some players welcome the return of the stuff they like after an entry they didn’t) as well as the downsides of abandoning stuff some players may have seen as a step forward. For every player that loves the campy anime of shouting ‘Emblem engage!’ in the opening cut scene and watches it every time, there will be others whose heart sinks, and that’s all OK. For every thing I like in a new FE there’s usually something I can criticise, and vice versa. I much prefer that to a stagnant approach where every single one is very similar. It’s that experimentation that keeps it interesting every time for me.

What I would say with discussion of Engage is, on Fami, there’s no need to assume any criticism of an element automatically comes from someone who hates the game or JRPGs or anime or whatever. I hope we can discuss the stuff we all enjoy and perhaps dislike about this Fire Emblem together. I hope the former outweighs the latter, but criticism accompanies creativity, it’s what leads to mechanics that aren’t quite working getting adjusted, revamped or abandoned, to exciting new ones refreshing the series now and then. In a similar way, I don’t think the games now having easy modes or ways to avoid permadeath is a bad thing either if it’s helped more people enjoy the story sides of the campaigns. The series is bigger than ever and I welcome anyone who likes pushing fantasy armies around the battlefields even if it’s now quite different to the FEs I got into 20 years ago.

Finally, we’ve been able to see the visual side of the game more than the mechanics so far- I’m really excited to see how much we can tinker with the ring system as an advancement on the three previous iterations of battalions and pair-up etc.
 
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DecoReturns said:
But in hindsight. Amusing. I think a new cycle will start with many saying stuff like “KT is the reason fire emblem is good” or something. I wouldn’t be surprise if folks start to talk about that.
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If it turns out that Kouhei Maeda is one of the directors of Engage, I predict that a lot of older FE will put the blame on the game's "shortcomings" on him.
He was one of the directors of Fates among other things but he wasn't involved with 3H afaik.
 
Xorhan said:
If it turns out that Kouhei Maeda is one of the directors of Engage, I predict that a lot of older FE will put the blame on the game's "shortcomings" on him.
He was one of the directors of Fates among other things but he wasn't involved with 3H afaik.
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Yeah. When FE fans hate something, they tend to find a specific person or people to blame. I remember a point where a discussion got ridiculous because fans tried to paint the existence of an internal war at IS between devs that were for and against horny fanservice, that the "horny team" moved over to FEH, and...no. That's not how this works.
 
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BassForever said:
There's certainly gonna be a lot it "am I out of touch? No it's the children that are wrong" energy after this game comes out. I've seen people saying FE is having an "identity crisis" with Engage???
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I don't know what the hell it is about this game but there's straight up xenophobia/racism surrounding its discourse at this point
 
I personally think it's good they can keep FE fresh with new takes everytime, Engage looks like the perfect entry for hardcore fans who want more battles and for Heroes newcomers. I hope they can expand on the online modes even further.

Die hard Three Houses fans can play Three Hopes that has come out less than a year ago, if the rumors are true FE4 remake should appeal to them as well, i don't see the point of that drama.

We're getting many FE games and they're all consistently good.
 
RenHojo23 said:
I personally think it's good they can keep FE fresh with new takes everytime, Engage looks like the perfect entry for hardcore fans who want more battles and for Heroes newcomers. I hope they can expand on the online modes even further.

Die hard Three Houses fans can play Three Hopes that has come out less than a year ago, if the rumors are true FE4 remake should appeal to them as well, i don't see the point of that drama.

We're getting many FE games and they're all consistently good.
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In particular, if someone doesn’t like the social aspects of it (and I vastly prefer the battles) it sounds like you can automate a hell of a lot of it, and the mechanical bonuses of the cooking and gifts and tea parties and whatnot sound pretty minor. Which all means you can minimise it in a way that you couldn’t really do so with TH’s lessons and running around the monastery. That sounds like a pretty reasonable solution to suit everyone to me.
 
Jencks said:
I don't know what the hell it is about this game but there's straight up xenophobia/racism surrounding its discourse at this point
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I don't know about any of ya'll, but as soon as the review thread is made there(cause I jump between Era and this forum), I'm putting that shit on ignore. And I suggest anyone of you that still lingers on Era as well to do the same. Because no matter which way the reviews go(rather really high 3H, or in the lower 80s), it's going to be a toxic cesspool.
 
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