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

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Fire emblem games being radically different in styles every other game or so is great personally. But I can see where the divide comes and leads to unwelcoming discussions.

Like Echoes discussion often had “way better then those terrible Awakening and Fates garbage” stuff. Which was strange to see.

And Three Houses is having same thing lol.

Fire Emblem has a true cycle that Zelda wishes they had.
 
Jencks said:
Seems like discussion of this game is going to be insufferable
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It's funny cause most of the negativity seems to come from people who really weren't going to buy Engage anyways. People just like to shit on "anime" styled designs.
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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Been like that for a while now haha.
 
Cheetah6442 said:
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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I think the game will get mid 80’s honestly.

Gameplay for Three Houses was rather mid. But what made people love it was the characters and world. If this isn’t as interesting. I don’t think the gameplay can make up for it. No matter how good. Unless the characters and story is funny and well paced. Which I hope it is.
 
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It's great that Fire Emblem is so experimental and switches things up every game or two. It's not so great that a portion of the fandom flies into hysterics if they don't get exactly what they want and label anything they consider "un-FE" the absolute worst insulting garbage.
 
Jahranimo said:
Wait what? Seriously???
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Yes, and it's nothing new. The characterization of Japan as full of 'simpletons' or 'weird and creepy' is just rearing its head once again because this game has a more overtly Japanese aesthetic.
 
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Really like the opening video and some of the character designs are growing on me. The tease at the end is great too, glad to see a return to dragons as the bad guys
 
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Hailinel said:
It's great that Fire Emblem is so experimental and switches things up every game or two. It's not so great that a portion of the fandom flies into hysterics if they don't get exactly what they want and label anything they consider "un-FE" the absolute worst insulting garbage.
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I don't get it. Maybe it's because of when I got into FE. I feel like the middle child, lol, cause I got into it with Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn when the latter came out. I enjoyed Awakening. Fates was a little long in the tooth but it was fine. 3H was great, imo. I got 180 hours in it or something like that. Maybe more lol. And I'm excited for this. Do I care for the fanservice? No. Does it matter? No lol. But then again I watch anime so I'm used to big boobs on female characters.
 
That intro gives me some nostalgic 80s/90s anime/cartoon vibes.

Big agree with folks in here happy that FE as a series constantly changes things up. It’s similar in a lot of ways to Zelda in that regard.
 
I’ll fully admit that FE is a series I’d rather see go into a darker more serious direction. Like all the memes over the years about “darker Zelda” games is how I’m unironically am about FE lol. I just feel like it’s the Nintendo series most suited to tackle some more serious topics in regards to politics and war. I really enjoyed PoR’s commentary on racism and people turning a blind eye to things that don’t directly affect them. Not that it was front and center to the game’s story or anything, but there was some more nuanced story beats in it I found interesting. I’d like the series to lean more in that direction. Three Houses was the closest post-PoR.

With that all said, I’m sure I’ll enjoy Engage enough for what it is if the gameplay is good enough.
 
Hocot8 said:
I don't get it. Maybe it's because of when I got into FE. I feel like the middle child, lol, cause I got into it with Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn when the latter came out. I enjoyed Awakening. Fates was a little long in the tooth but it was fine. 3H was great, imo. I got 180 hours in it or something like that. Maybe more lol. And I'm excited for this. Do I care for the fanservice? No. Does it matter? No lol. But then again I watch anime so I'm used to big boobs on female characters.
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It's not even just the anime fanservice. People have thrown fits over everything from art style, to "tropey characters," to the strategy gameplay not being challenging enough.

When Three Houses was new, there were people whining about Bernadetta being shrill waifu bait without bothering to take her specific trauma into consideration. Frankly, Engage could have the most three-dimensional characters of any FE and this lot of yahoos would go off over someone mentioning they like pickles in more than one support conversation.
 
Common Knowledge said:
I’ll fully admit that FE is a series I’d rather see go into a darker more serious direction. Like all the memes over the years about “darker Zelda” games is how I’m unironically am about FE lol. I just feel like it’s the Nintendo series most suited to tackle some more serious topics in regards to politics and war. I really enjoyed PoR’s commentary on racism and people turning a blind eye to things that don’t directly affect them. Not that it was front and center to the game’s story or anything, but there was some more nuanced story beats in it I found interesting. I’d like the series to lean more in that direction. Three Houses was the closest post-PoR.

With that all said, I’m sure I’ll enjoy Engage enough for what it is if the gameplay is good enough.
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I thought PoR handled prejudice way better than something like Dragon Age with its ‘Elven Alienages’, or at least way less clumsily. And I thought RD handled something like ‘what happens if the losing side in a war, following their country being the aggressor previously, ends up with its young people then further oppressed by corruption in the occupying force that’s been painted as holy good guys’, sanctioned by the player force in the previous game, really well. As, hell, that whole topic is a total minefield and a cartoony strategy game handled it with a lot of deftness through multiple factions. Some people complained about the lack of social bond conversations in RD, which is a fair complaint if that’s what they like about the series, but it’s fantasy commentary on continental warfare I thought was really elegant considering it’s working in prejudice and also the consequences of the previous, righteous campaign led by Ike as the player avatar in the previous game. It’s not often RPGs stop to examine the consequences of these epic wars beyond the young heroes toppling the evil/Eldritch dictator.
 
PixelKnight said:
Weirdly I thought PoR handled prejudice way better than something like Dragon Age with its ‘Elven Alienages’. And I thought RD handled something like ‘what happens if the losing side in a war, following their country being the aggressor previously, ends up with its young people then further oppressed by corruption in the occupying force that’s been painted as holy good guys’, sanctioned by the player force in the previous game, really well. As, hell, that whole topic is a total minefield and a cartoony strategy game handled it with a lot of deftness through multiple factions. Some people complained about the lack of social bond conversations in RD, which is a fair complaint if that’s what they like about the series, but it’s fantasy commentary on continental warfare I thought was really elegant considering it’s working in prejudice and also the consequences of the previous, righteous campaign led by Ike as the player avatar in the previous game. It’s not often RPGs stop to examine the consequences of these epic wars beyond the young heroes toppling the evil/Eldritch dictator.
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Oh yes that’s definitely something I loved about RD too. Having the game start out from the perspective of the defeated “enemy” country of the previous game allowed for some unique perspectives. And having the lovable hero Ike being seen as a villainous person by some characters who have basically had their lives turned upside down from his actions. I love that type of nuance in these types of stories.
 
Common Knowledge said:
Oh yes that’s definitely something I loved about RD too. Having the game start out from the perspective of the defeated “enemy” country of the previous game allowed for some unique perspectives. And having the lovable hero Ike being seen as a villainous person by some characters who have basically had their lives turned upside down from his actions. I love that type of nuance in these types of stories.
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Yeah, the whole ‘cycle of violence’ and ‘dont expect everyone to love you if you’ve trampled their country to dust, even though their leaders started it’ was cool.
 
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Oh man, the review thread on Era is gonna be bad enough, but I can't even imagine how bad it'll get if this game gets a higher MC score than 3H lol. Which I don't think is impossible btw. I mean, Awakening's story is pretty simple and heavily criticized, yet it's still the highest rated FE to this day, and the only one with the coveted 90+ MC score. Granted, things were different back then, and it was the very first FE to make a big splash, so it's not a 1:1 comparison.

Let's not forget that 3H was also (rightfully) criticized in reviews for its graphics and performance, neither of which are issues in Engage. So we've got gameplay, graphics and animations (presentation and production values in general, really) performance, polish, exploration segments, base activities, and pacing that all seem to be huge improvements over 3H. From what we've heard of the music, it also seems like a huge improvement over 3H imo, although that obviously won't factor into review scores. Even if the story and character writing is worse, that doesn't necessarily mean it's bad, just worse than 3H.

But yeah, anyway, I'm definitely not looking forward to post-release discourse lol. On the bright side though, the negativity will hopefully be drowned out a bit by the casual audience and potential newcomers talking about the game once it comes out.

btw: I completely agree that FE making drastic changes with each new entry (especially in the modern, post-Awakening era) is great and what keeps the series fresh and exciting! I enjoy all styles of FE! I love the look of this game, but I'm also really looking forward to the rumored FE4 remake, which will surely be a lot darker, serious, and grounded in terms of tone and artstyle.
 
PixelKnight said:
Weirdly I thought PoR handled prejudice way better than something like Dragon Age with its ‘Elven Alienages’. And I thought RD handled something like ‘what happens if the losing side in a war, following their country being the aggressor previously, ends up with its young people then further oppressed by corruption in the occupying force that’s been painted as holy good guys’, sanctioned by the player force in the previous game, really well. As, hell, that whole topic is a total minefield and a cartoony strategy game handled it with a lot of deftness through multiple factions. Some people complained about the lack of social bond conversations in RD, which is a fair complaint if that’s what they like about the series, but it’s fantasy commentary on continental warfare I thought was really elegant considering it’s working in prejudice and also the consequences of the previous, righteous campaign led by Ike as the player avatar in the previous game. It’s not often RPGs stop to examine the consequences of these epic wars beyond the young heroes toppling the evil/Eldritch dictator.
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This is all very true, though looking back those games have their fair share or narrative oddities. Things like Ike somehow growing up so sheltered he doesn't know what laguz are (even though flashbacks in RD indicate he should have been old enough to remember being around them as a kid), or somehow absolutely no one other than Mist taking hold of the medallion for like a decade and none of the mercenaries other than Greil being aware of the consequences.
 
Hailinel said:
This is all very true, though looking back those games have their fair share or narrative oddities. Things like Ike somehow growing up so sheltered he doesn't know what laguz are (even though flashbacks in RD indicate he should have been old enough to remember being around them as a kid), or somehow absolutely no one other than Mist taking hold of the medallion for like a decade and none of the mercenaries other than Greil being aware of the consequences.
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Oh totally- I’m sure a lot of the details you mention have slipped from my mind and would stand out if I played it again, not claiming they aren’t there. But after over a decade that’s kinda my main takeaway from the plot. My rose-tinted glasses, perhaps! :)
 
LuckyNumber69 said:
Oh man, the review thread on Era is gonna be bad enough, but I can't even imagine how bad it'll get if this game gets a higher MC score than 3H lol. Which I don't think is impossible btw. I mean, Awakening's story is pretty simple and heavily criticized, yet it's still the highest rated FE to this day, and the only one with the coveted 90+ MC score. Granted, things were different back then, and it was the very first FE to make a big splash, so it's not a 1:1 comparison.

Let's not forget that 3H was also (rightfully) criticized in reviews for its graphics and performance, neither of which are issues in Engage. So we've got gameplay, graphics and animations (presentation and production values in general, really) performance, polish, exploration segments, base activities, and pacing that all seem to be huge improvements over 3H. From what we've heard of the music, it also seems like a huge improvement over 3H imo, although that obviously won't factor into review scores. Even if the story and character writing is worse, that doesn't necessarily mean it's bad, just worse than 3H.

But yeah, anyway, I'm definitely not looking forward to post-release discourse lol. On the bright side though, the negativity will hopefully be drowned out a bit by the casual audience and potential newcomers talking about the game once it comes out.

btw: I completely agree that FE making drastic changes with each new entry (especially in the modern, post-Awakening era) is great and what keeps the series fresh and exciting! I enjoy all styles of FE! I love the look of this game, but I'm also really looking forward to the rumored FE4 remake, which will surely be a lot darker, serious, and grounded in terms of tone and artstyle.
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I think what we should do is avoid bringing discussion on Era here. Let the Fami discussion stand on its own, let’s welcome new fans and old troopers alike, there’s a lot to look forward to :)
 
LuckyNumber69 said:
Oh man, the review thread on Era is gonna be bad enough, but I can't even imagine how bad it'll get if this game gets a higher MC score than 3H lol. Which I don't think is impossible btw. I mean, Awakening's story is pretty simple and heavily criticized, yet it's still the highest rated FE to this day, and the only one with the coveted 90+ MC score. Granted, things were different back then, and it was the very first FE to make a big splash, so it's not a 1:1 comparison.

Let's not forget that 3H was also (rightfully) criticized in reviews for its graphics and performance, neither of which are issues in Engage. So we've got gameplay, graphics and animations (presentation and production values in general, really) performance, polish, exploration segments, base activities, and pacing that all seem to be huge improvements over 3H. From what we've heard of the music, it also seems like a huge improvement over 3H imo, although that obviously won't factor into review scores. Even if the story and character writing is worse, that doesn't necessarily mean it's bad, just worse than 3H.

But yeah, anyway, I'm definitely not looking forward to post-release discourse lol. On the bright side though, the negativity will hopefully be drowned out a bit by the casual audience and potential newcomers talking about the game once it comes out.

btw: I completely agree that FE making drastic changes with each new entry (especially in the modern, post-Awakening era) is great and what keeps the series fresh and exciting! I enjoy all styles of FE! I love the look of this game, but I'm also really looking forward to the rumored FE4 remake, which will surely be a lot darker, serious, and grounded in terms of tone and artstyle.
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Don't worry, they'll probably deduct some points for being too anime.
But yeah I agree with the main talking point about how fire emblem always changes style even after finding success.
It pretty much kills the concern that "if this game gets popular all of them will be like this" that some people use for hating the games they don't like.
I was also of that idea tbh and I thought after awakening and fates that pair up would always stay as a main mechanic of the series, instead we're 3 games away from fates and no pair up in sight.
If they didn't stick to the formula with the game that saved the franchise or with a 4+ mil seller like Threehouses I think the series will always change tone and structure, that's the creative freedom that IS probably wants.
 
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Honestly the thing I find the most baffling around the FE discourse is that at the end of the day, the appeal of this franchise for me has always been it's strong tactical rpg gameplay. Even in the games I've enjoyed the least (Gaiden, Thracia, Fates), the core gameplay is fun. Even if the story sucks, the characters are dull, the graphics are fugly, and the music is bland, as long as that core gameplay is there I know I'll have a good time. The way some of the people critical of this game talk you'd think the core gameplay is like a chore they have to get through to get back to the story and characters.

I do respect that there are some people who got into the franchise with 3H primarily because of the social sim elements and Engage pulling back on those is a disappointment. My above comment isn't really aimed at them, nor are they the ones I've seen complain the most online.
 
PixelKnight said:
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.
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Well, it wouldn't to me, which is why I'm a bit worried about that. What made me absolutely adore the social stuff and monastary activities in Three Houses was how well it all tied into mechanical rewards - basically every single thing you did either worked toward getting you more teacher points for improving your units, unlocking skills/paths/etc toward later jobs, unlocking stat buffs and perks with the statues, giving you new battalions or letting units use better battalians, and so on. And that mechanical side of the rewards is what drew me in - I LOVE when games give you good mechanical rewards for interacting with sidequests, social elements, and smaller things. Tying together a lot of different gameplay elements and features so that everything is really meaningful and well-integrated is one of my favorite things a game can do.

If they make it so that there's still tons of side things you can do like in Three Houses, but the rewards are significantly more minimal or not well-integrated, then I'm afraid I might lose most of my interest in it.
 
PixelKnight said:
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.
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I could be wrong, but I don't think there's any tea parties in this game.
 
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Cheetah6442 said:
I could be wrong, but I don't think there's any tea parties in this game.
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Fair enough, but I’m sure there will be something socially equivalent to it, even if the sharing a meal and tea parties have been condensed to one activity, or expanded with the keep fit stuff etc.
 
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Game looks like it will be a ton of fun:
-Less serious tone with some anniversary fanservice BS
-Colorful characters
-Interesting map design (I still need to see more to be convinced)
-Less focus on management and dialogues
-New broken mechanics

To me it seems like the perfect FE to follow what 3H does.
 
PixelKnight said:
I think what we should do is avoid bringing discussion on Era here. Let the Fami discussion stand on its own, let’s welcome new fans and old troopers alike, there’s a lot to look forward to :)
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You're absolutely right. I bear some responsibility for drawing the comparison (though it wasn't meant as a diss). My apologies.
 
SammyJ9 said:
Well, it wouldn't to me, which is why I'm a bit worried about that. What made me absolutely adore the social stuff and monastary activities in Three Houses was how well it all tied into mechanical rewards - basically every single thing you did either worked toward getting you more teacher points for improving your units, unlocking skills/paths/etc toward later jobs, unlocking stat buffs and perks with the statues, giving you new battalions or letting units use better battalians, and so on. And that mechanical side of the rewards is what drew me in - I LOVE when games give you good mechanical rewards for interacting with sidequests, social elements, and smaller things. Tying together a lot of different gameplay elements and features so that everything is really meaningful and well-integrated is one of my favorite things a game can do.

If they make it so that there's still tons of side things you can do like in Three Houses, but the rewards are significantly more minimal or not well-integrated, then I'm afraid I might lose most of my interest in it.
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That’s all fair enough, I see where you’re coming from!
 
Path of Radiance was a pretty straight-forward FE that at least made a solid attempt at covering the themes of racial tensions and racism. I really don't have fond recollections of Radiant Dawn since its execution fell well short of its ambitions.

I still find it funny that Ike rode to victory in CYL1 on the backs of Smash fans and botting, because no way in hell would he have beaten everyone else out otherwise. :p
 
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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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It’s weird. That place has gotten overly negative at times. It’s okay to criticize things fairly, but quite a few people are making horrible and even racist comments, like “Japan has shit taste”, etc.

And a ton of other things. I saw in the preview thread too, when there weren’t many posted when the thread went live that everyone jumped on one of the early previews saying the writing for characters seemed one dimensional and that it wasn’t challenging, only for other previews minutes later to praise the challenge and the writing for characters; but it got drowned out because people latch onto negativity because they don’t like the art direction of this one.

I reported quite a handful of posts in the preview and opening intro thread, but not a single one has had anything happen.

The site has just gotten too negative with this game, sometimes even Nintendo discussion. I hope the OT for the game is better over there.

Edit: didn’t see the post above about it not being the best to bring discussion over, I’m sorry.

I am excited for the game and am very excited for those looking forward to it to have some fun. Gameplay looks amazing, and quite improved from three houses.
 
BassForever said:
Honestly the thing I find the most baffling around the FE discourse is that at the end of the day, the appeal of this franchise for me has always been it's strong tactical rpg gameplay. Even in the games I've enjoyed the least (Gaiden, Thracia, Fates), the core gameplay is fun. Even if the story sucks, the characters are dull, the graphics are fugly, and the music is bland, as long as that core gameplay is there I know I'll have a good time. The way some of the people critical of this game talk you'd think the core gameplay is like a chore they have to get through to get back to the story and characters.

I do respect that there are some people who got into the franchise with 3H primarily because of the social sim elements and Engage pulling back on those is a disappointment. My above comment isn't really aimed at them, nor are they the ones I've seen complain the most online.
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I mean, I love the core gameplay of Fire Emblem, I wouldn’t keep coming back to the series and playing all of the games if I didn’t. But the fact is that these games put a lot of emphasis on story, character writing and designs, and music. So yes, if any of those elements are bad it becomes very noticeable very quickly and people are going to complain about them. I don’t think that’s unreasonable.
 
Vantell said:
We just shared the Full Opening of Fire Emblem Engage. Much anime, such engage

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The animation in this is beautiful, and the colors pop so well! But I am really not feeling the song here. And not just due to the English, I don't like the flow or melody or like... anything about it, lol. It's like an anime intro song that you listen to once and then skip every single time after that.
 
Alexis said:
Can you pet the dog in this?
And I remember seeing you could put sunglasses on them as well?
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I will always stop to pet dogs and cats in games. Essential mechanic :D

“The Dark Dragon has just enveloped the continent in darkne… what are you doing m’lord?”
“Have you seen Mr Tibbles this morning? He wouldn’t like it if I headed off to fight the undead without giving him his scritches and a snack first.”
“But we need to rally the paladins and…”
“Empty those litter boxes, that’s an order!”
“Truly dark times, m’lord”
 
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DecoReturns said:
Like Echoes discussion often had “way better then those terrible Awakening and Fates garbage” stuff. Which was strange to see.
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Echoes had a more dire/serious look at conflict, and tried to make the appearance of characters look more like traditional believable Euro-fantasy. Not to mention it's an adaption of one of the older FE's (FE Gaiden), which had more somber tones. Hidari's art also looks really nice despite this.

Seeing the main protagonist have toothpaste hair was rather...out there seeing it the first time.

(I think most FE' remakes also retroactively added an evil Dragon as big bad, too. Gonna be interesting how they adopt Geneology of the Holy War.)
 
SiG said:
(I think most FE' remakes also retroactively added an evil Dragon as big bad, too. Gonna be interesting how they adopt Geneology of the Holy War.)
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?????

Only three games have been remade so far, and their final bosses were Medeus (in two of them) and Duma. Same as they were originally. The Creation was a bonus chapter boss in Echoes.
 
Quoted by: SiG
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I rarely care about other Nintendo's fans insults towards FE because a big chunk originates from:

A) They "stole" a Smash Bros slot from (insert character here)
B) They "stole" a segment at (insert Nintendo Direct here)
 
zumaddy said:
I rarely care about other Nintendo's fans insults towards FE because a big chunk originates from:

A) They "stole" a Smash Bros slot from (insert character here)
B) They "stole" a segment at (insert Nintendo Direct here)
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You forgot:

C) Fire Emblem Heroes stole their money. (Disclaimer: You should never use actual money in a mobile game!)
 
Not too long now Fami! I’m still on a playthrough of Valkyria Chronicles and am trying to finish it up before Engage launches, but games take me ages to finish these days.
 
SiG said:
Echoes had a more dire/serious look at conflict, and tried to make the appearance of characters look more like traditional believable Euro-fantasy. Not to mention it's an adaption of one of the older FE's (FE Gaiden), which had more somber tones. Hidari's art also looks really nice despite this.

Seeing the main protagonist have toothpaste hair was rather...out there seeing it the first time.

(I think most FE' remakes also retroactively added an evil Dragon as big bad, too. Gonna be interesting how they adopt Geneology of the Holy War.)
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This has nothing to do with what I was referring too.
 
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Fire Emblem has never exactly had plots that you can consider to be A-tier storytelling, but it can cover a lot of shortcomings by creating a world that is interesting to be a part of. That's why people look fondly on Three Houses and its characters despite that game being an absolute mess narratively. It's why I look back fondly on Radiant Dawn (the first FE I ever played) because its world and cast resonated with me, though I imagine if I played it for the first time now I might be more critical of its narrative.

If Engage can create an interesting universe and a likeable cast, then people will likely overlook a story that is silly or nonsensical. If it doesn't, then we'll still be talking about colgate hair in a decade's time.
 
Galgavias said:
Fire Emblem has never exactly had plots that you can consider to be A-tier storytelling, but it can cover a lot of shortcomings by creating a world that is interesting to be a part of. That's why people look fondly on Three Houses and its characters despite that game being an absolute mess narratively. It's why I look back fondly on Radiant Dawn (the first FE I ever played) because its world and cast resonated with me, though I imagine if I played it for the first time now I might be more critical of its narrative.

If Engage can create an interesting universe and a likeable cast, then people will likely overlook a story that is silly or nonsensical. If it doesn't, then we'll still be talking about colgate hair in a decade's time.
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Really good point, and probably explains why I also remember RD only for the bits I thought it handled deftly, and not for the bits I’d probably criticise if it were released today.

I often think it’s easier to write criticism when the flaws are obvious too, and it tends to lead debate more. With Fates I could easily write long posts about all the stuff it did well in terms of battle scenarios (and that Awakening did badly in comparison), as well as the things Fates did really badly, but the latter gets more traction as the sheer stupidity of the story and characters in order to prop up the multiple routes is hard to avoid when it’s front and centre of each chapter.
 
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Galgavias said:
Fire Emblem has never exactly had plots that you can consider to be A-tier storytelling, but it can cover a lot of shortcomings by creating a world that is interesting to be a part of. That's why people look fondly on Three Houses and its characters despite that game being an absolute mess narratively. It's why I look back fondly on Radiant Dawn (the first FE I ever played) because its world and cast resonated with me, though I imagine if I played it for the first time now I might be more critical of its narrative.

If Engage can create an interesting universe and a likeable cast, then people will likely overlook a story that is silly or nonsensical. If it doesn't, then we'll still be talking about colgate hair in a decade's time.
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The other thing is often times fan favorite characters become popular becuase of how good they are in combat, even if they don't provide much to the overall narrative nor have interesting arcs even in their supports. Look at how popular Navarre is despite his entire character arc basically being "bandit who changes side when a girl gives him the goo goo eyes". That summarizes half the recruitable units in the original Fire Emblem and it's remake 😅
 
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One area I am more optimistic in is the fact it's just one singular story/route this time. I much prefer Fire Emblem when it focuses on telling one story and ensuring the maps in this sole route are the best they can be.

Both Fates and Three Houses, in their attempt to do multiple routes, both ended up having to 'both sides' what was ultimately an attempt by one nation to invade another, requiring insane leaps of logic and headscratching narrative decisions to do so. Radiant Dawn did a better job of this by switching narrative focus between three seperate armies while still managing to maintain a cohesive storyline.

Basically, where's my Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn HD Twin Pack Nintendo?
 
I wonder how does everyone get "attached" to a character, is it based on their utility, backstory, interactions or a combination?

For example I love Arthur from Fates, cause that man is a crit machine and has goofy one liners so I use him in every playthrough lol. His story of being unlucky is whatever but it gives an ironic twist to the character.

In contrast, Rhys from the Tellius games has a really nice story/interactions with Titania and the rest of the mercenaries that made me really appreciate his role in the team. I barely used him in PoR, I did more in RD though but late game he was replaced.
 
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Galgavias said:
One area I am more optimistic in is the fact it's just one singular story/route this time. I much prefer Fire Emblem when it focuses on telling one story and ensuring the maps in this sole route are the best they can be.

Both Fates and Three Houses, in their attempt to do multiple routes, both ended up having to 'both sides' what was ultimately an attempt by one nation to invade another, requiring insane leaps of logic and headscratching narrative decisions to do so. Radiant Dawn did a better job of this by switching narrative focus between three seperate armies while still managing to maintain a cohesive storyline.

Basically, where's my Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn HD Twin Pack Nintendo?
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From my perspective, that feels like an extremely rose-tinted view. Radiant Dawn was an absolute mess of a narrative that had good ideas and collapsed under the weight of doing too much between the Dawn Brigade, the uprising in Crimea, swapping between perspectives in the war between the laguz army and Begnion, and then the resolution with Ashera. Micaiah is set up as the lead character at the start and ultimately gets sidelined by a worse-written Ike who literally swoops in an steals the show midway through the game.

It didn't help that Radiant Dawn's difficulty curve was absolutely jacked up, but I only found it an enormous slog and I'd rather play every route in Three Houses since they're at least contained to themselves and playing one route doesn't feel like an exhausting marathon.
 
Galgavias said:
One area I am more optimistic in is the fact it's just one singular story/route this time. I much prefer Fire Emblem when it focuses on telling one story and ensuring the maps in this sole route are the best they can be.
Click to expand...
Agreed, the RPGSite preview seems to imply that maps are not that great or at least not at Conquest's level (it's only a preview, we will see how they are when the game launches), but knowing that we will play them only once during the playthrough makes me feel optimistic, in 3H it's not only that the map design is not the best, it's also that the map re-use is crazy and doing a important story battle in a map you played in 3 paralogues (the volcano map in 3H is exactly this) feels anticlimatic.

Galgavias said:
Basically, where's my Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn HD Twin Pack Nintendo?
Click to expand...
I would prefer 2 remakes with new graphics TBH, Ike is a popular lord so I can see them doing it after remaking FE4.

The gameplay of Tellius is fine, but the graphics are abyssmal, animations are boring and the overall presentation would need a ton of changes to be appealing today.
 
I’m so excited for Engage🔥 I really can’t wait
I hope I’ll be able to play from day1 tho, I have a uni exam on the 25th so if I haven’t finished studying by the 20th I won’t be able to 🥲
From the 25th forward I won’t stop playing tho lol
 
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