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

[Galgavias]

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.

Well it has been a long time since I played it so maybe there is nostalgia at play, and different strokes for different folks etc. But I remember enjoying seeing all these snapshots of Tellius that came together to form a bigger picture. I feel an argument could be made that Elincia's section could have been cut so that Ike and Micaiah could have got the dual protagonist treatment, and that would have made things more concise. Ultimately I feel the one thing it does do better than other Fire Emblem's is telling stories from different sides of the same conflict without the player going 'arewethebaddies?.gif'

I won't derail the thread further but I do feel it does a better job than Three Houses did narratively, which basically forced square pegs into round holes and ended up with characters having motivations that don't hold up to any serious scrutiny. But that's a story for another day.

 

[BassForever]

The biggest issue with Radiant Dawn is it feels like the game was balanced around the power levels of the casts in parts 2 & 3, but then they also wanted a new group of characters to start at a more traditional FE power level. The fact the Dawn Brigade has to be given like 5 end game ready units for their final handful of chapters is really damning.

 

[PixelKnight]

Weren’t the western versions of RD automatically set to ‘hard’ difficulty or am I misremembering? I do remember thinking the Dawn Brigade section at the start wasn’t very forgiving as an intro at all, and not helped even further when you don’t have any of the usual tankier early units (foot knight, cavalier) that can eat a couple of hits.

I could understand if the intention was to make their plight feel desperate to match the story, and to make use of Miciah’s ‘sacrifice’ ability seem important (despite magical healing from priests like Rhys being a thing in the game world, it just seems intended to sell her as this religious messiah figure in terms of the plot, as she takes damage to heal others). But really it still feels like they frontloaded the difficulty, at the expense of new players, to then make the Greil mercs feel really strong in comparison.

By the endgame, it’s only that Sothe and Miciah being mandatory that kept me fielding them, the rest of the starter Dawn brigade characters are all quickly overshadowed by their equivalents from other factions. Hell, Edward (the swordsmaster) is quickly overshadowed by Zihark who turns up to prop up the Dawn Brigade early on! I always used to give Zihark a silver weapon and watch him make mincemeat of the Laguz.

 

[Bonejack]

I certainly didn't make a very happy face when RD had you fight the Greil mercs with Micaiah's clown brigade. It was actually a very scared face.

 

[ermitron2]

Weren’t the western versions of RD automatically set to ‘hard’ difficulty or am I misremembering? I do remember thinking the Dawn Brigade section at the start wasn’t very forgiving as an intro at all, and not helped even further when you don’t have any of the usual tankier early units (foot knight, cavalier) that can eat a couple of hits.

IIRC the translation was botched so easy in US was normal in JP, normal was hard , etc

 

[PixelKnight]

IIRC the translation was botched so easy in US was normal in JP, normal was hard , etc

Ah, that’s probably what I’m thinking of, thanks!

 

[PixelKnight]

I certainly didn't make a very happy face when RD had you fight the Greil mercs with Micaiah's clown brigade. It was actually a very scared face.

A rare occurrence in Fire Emblem where I was like ‘can’t I go command the force I actually like?’

 

[BassForever]

Weren’t the western versions of RD automatically set to ‘hard’ difficulty or am I misremembering? I do remember thinking the Dawn Brigade section at the start wasn’t very forgiving as an intro at all, and not helped even further when you don’t have any of the usual tankier early units (foot knight, cavalier) that can eat a couple of hits.

I could understand if the intention was to make their plight feel desperate to match the story, and to make use of Miciah’s ‘sacrifice’ ability seem important (despite magical healing from priests like Rhys being a thing in the game world, it just seems intended to sell her as this religious messiah figure in terms of the plot, as she takes damage to heal others). But really it still feels like they frontloaded the difficulty, at the expense of new players, to then make the Greil mercs feel really strong in comparison.

By the endgame, it’s only that Sothe and Miciah being mandatory that kept me fielding them, the rest of the starter Dawn brigade characters are all quickly overshadowed by their equivalents from other factions. Hell, Edward (the swordsmaster) is quickly overshadowed by Zihark who turns up to prop up the Dawn Brigade early on! I always used to give Zihark a silver weapon and watch him make mincemeat of the Laguz.

Even though Sothe and Sanaki are "free to deploy" during the endgame, you're arguably better off benching both of them.

 

[Gingerbread Man]

(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.)

Loptyr counts, I think. They even have the same death quote as FE3 Medeus', implying a connection.

Weren’t the western versions of RD automatically set to ‘hard’ difficulty or am I misremembering? I do remember thinking the Dawn Brigade section at the start wasn’t very forgiving as an intro at all, and not helped even further when you don’t have any of the usual tankier early units (foot knight, cavalier) that can eat a couple of hits.

Uhm, IIRC the first act of the game wasn't too much difficult, especially since you had Sothe as a pre-promoted unit. The difficult spike was during Micaiah's chapters in the third act.

But I remember enjoying seeing all these snapshots of Tellius that came together to form a bigger picture.

Oh yeah, RD excels as a series of vignettes. The chapter with Brom and Nephenee comes to mind. I feel it lacks a cohesive narrative, though -- ultimately, all the political and personal conflicts are set aside by a (literal) dea ex machina.

 

[Metroid]

IIRC the translation was botched so easy in US was normal in JP, normal was hard , etc

I was always amused that the reverse of this happened for Path of Radiance (US got an extra very easy mode as Easy, US Normal was Japanese Easy, and US Hard was Japanese Normal).

 

[Thunder84]

My biggest issue with Radiant Dawn is that I can’t play it.

Let me play your legacy content Nintendo.

 

[LuckyNumber69]

Today's tweets

 

[ermitron2]

Today's tweets

You can pet dog and cats, but can you pet the donkey??? That would be a game changer

 

[Kartina]

Today's tweets

oh, we have a male dancer in this game, I guess nobody can criticize this sexual design, good move Intelligent system.
Btw 10 days left and I don't think I'll look for anything else of the game, we're getting reviews on wednesday?

 

[Bonejack]

Heads up, i got an E-Mail from the german My Nintendo Store about my Divine Edition preorder.

Basically told me i should check if my payment option is valid since they're about to process the order and thus charge.

 

[Hocot8]

The biggest issue with Radiant Dawn is it feels like the game was balanced around the power levels of the casts in parts 2 & 3, but then they also wanted a new group of characters to start at a more traditional FE power level. The fact the Dawn Brigade has to be given like 5 end game ready units for their final handful of chapters is really damning.

Yeah the weakness of the DB is pretty bad at the end. Really unfortunate. Nolan, Sothe and Micaiah can hold there own. Edward if you actually put effort into him can land a good hit but he's defensively weak that he still becomes useless.

Well it has been a long time since I played it so maybe there is nostalgia at play, and different strokes for different folks etc. But I remember enjoying seeing all these snapshots of Tellius that came together to form a bigger picture. I feel an argument could be made that Elincia's section could have been cut so that Ike and Micaiah could have got the dual protagonist treatment, and that would have made things more concise. Ultimately I feel the one thing it does do better than other Fire Emblem's is telling stories from different sides of the same conflict without the player going 'arewethebaddies?.gif'

I won't derail the thread further but I do feel it does a better job than Three Houses did narratively, which basically forced square pegs into round holes and ended up with characters having motivations that don't hold up to any serious scrutiny. But that's a story for another day.

I mean I definitely loved RD. I have rose-tinted glasses because it was actually my first foray into FE so it has a soft spot. I had no clue it was a sequel because I was frankly young and too adhd to read up on that. I enjoyed it and the story it was telling. I have nothing but good memories with that game.

 

[Amadeus]

countdown Art by Mika Pikazo herself

 

[Hailinel]

Fire Emblem Engage |ST| Put a ring on it

 

[Kartina]

countdown Art by Mika Pikazo herself

yeah all of this pics are gorgeus

 

[Marce-chan]

Today's tweets

This character gave me gender envy. Jesus they're gorgeous.

 

[SofyTrancy]

countdown Art by Mika Pikazo herself

Idk if is her style that makes me think so but idk, Alfred seems a bit sus here. He is described as a kind prince but idk, this art and also the other one that she did for him makes me believe that he might be pretending a little

 

[RochHoch]

I think the biggest issue with the character designs in this game is that the in-game models don't do justice to Mika Pikazo's art tbh

 

[Hauke_von_Arding]

I think the biggest issue with the character designs in this game is that the in-game models don't do justice to Mika Pikazo's art tbh

Yeah. They look way better in her art than in their 3d model.

 

[KanameYuuki]

I wonder if I should see some lore video or something like that, I have no idea about anything of the series besides that they are represented maybe a bit too much on Smash.

 

[NabiscoFelt]

I wonder if I should see some lore video or something like that, I have no idea about anything of the series besides that they are represented maybe a bit too much on Smash.

You'll probably be fine with this game, unlike most games in the series it does have callbacks to other entries but they seem fairly minor and you probably won't need to know the lore to understand anything

 

[Appelsider]

I think the biggest issue with the character designs in this game is that the in-game models don't do justice to Mika Pikazo's art tbh

Makes me wish this game kept 2d art sprites next to the models just like in the other games

 

[V_ac]

I think the biggest issue with the character designs in this game is that the in-game models don't do justice to Mika Pikazo's art tbh

This is an issue with most HD Fire Emblem games, imo. Outside of Warriors 1 none of them have done a good job at adapting the artstyle to the in-game models.

 

[YoboD]

I think the biggest issue with the character designs in this game is that the in-game models don't do justice to Mika Pikazo's art tbh

Xenoblade X had this exact problem too.

 

[lilod]

Xenoblade X had this exact problem too.

But on the other hand, Xenoblade 3 did a great job mapping character art to 3D model (

 

[bathynomus]

I think the biggest issue with the character designs in this game is that the in-game models don't do justice to Mika Pikazo's art tbh

Yeah, I think if they were able to lean harder into it people would be less “too anime” about the designs because they would stand out more. But I’m not sure how much you can do that in the limitations of Switch graphics? Her art has a lot of detail, dramatic lighting and busyness/texture that might be hard to translate consistently to video game.

 

[LuckyNumber69]

 

[Hauke_von_Arding]

I really Hope they will write Rosado well as Gender Non-Conformist, as they did Forrest. I love his attitude and Hope it will Not be too tropey

Rosado: "Hey, Goldmary. Could you teach me how to cook?"
Goldmary: "I don't mind, but what's up all of a sudden?"
Rosado: "I've been thinking about this. Between us, I'm the cuter one, right?"
Goldmary: "Huh?"
Rosado: "But Goldmary is good at cooking, so I might be at a defecit there. That's not good, so I have to get better at cooking too."
Goldmary: "I see...? Uh, sorry... But I'm also cuter..."
Rosado: "Well, let's leave it at that. For now. Anyway, I want you to teach me how to cook! Please! Out of respect for my cuteness! Okay?"
Goldmary: "That's not the attitude you take when asking someone to teach you, I think... But since you're my friend, I can do you a favour..."

 

[Kenka]

I don't know if they have been posted yet but here are two TV commercials for South East Asia:

 

[DenkeyKong]

But on the other hand, Xenoblade 3 did a great job mapping character art to 3D model (

Iirc they specifically mentioned in the developer interviews that they put a lot of attention into properly translating their designs to 3d

 

[Bonejack]

Iirc they specifically mentioned in the developer interviews that they put a lot of attention into properly translating their designs to 3d

Not surprising given they have seen a lot of jokes about this topic for Xenoblade 1 (non Switch versions) and Xeno X. ;D

 

[Clov]

I really Hope they will write Rosado well as Gender Non-Conformist, as they did Forrest. I love his attitude and Hope it will Not be too tropey

He's very cute! I'm looking forward to seeing more of his supports in the full game.

 

[KanameYuuki]

Wait, I thought Mika was doing some fan art and not that she was actually the lead character designer, no wonder the characters have that clash of colors, that explains why I like them so much.

 

[ZephyrPhoenix]

So you're telling me that Alear has been hinted to have potentially committed genocide in retaliation for what the antagonists did.

 

[Thunder84]

I’m surprised so many people seem to dislike the models. I think they look fantastic, to the point where I don’t miss the face sprites at all.

 

[NabiscoFelt]

So you're telling me that Alear has been hinted to have potentially committed genocide in retaliation for what the antagonists did.

I mean we've already established Alear is apparently half evil (specifically, for some reason, the red half) so this is may even be intentional

 

[DecoReturns]

I hope the final boss is Alear and the old Fire emblem lords themselves

That would funny for a anniversary celebration title finale

 

[NabiscoFelt]

I hope the final boss is Alear and the old Fire emblem lords themselves

That would funny for a anniversary celebration title finale

I'd honestly bet on us fighting a Red Alear and their evil and equally Red (except Evil Roy, who will presumably be blue to the confusion of everyone) army of Lords at some point, and I mean the final boss makes as much sense as anything there

 

[DecoReturns]

I'd honestly bet on us fighting a Red Alear and their evil and equally Red (except Evil Roy, who will presumably be blue to the confusion of everyone) army of Lords at some point, and I mean the final boss makes as much sense as anything there

Except Ike.

He’s too pure to corrupt. Unless the Fell dragon convinces him that Alear is a racist. Then he’ll be like “hell nah”

 

[Hailinel]

Except Ike.

He’s too pure to corrupt. Unless the Fell dragon convinces him that Alear is a racist. Then he’ll be like “hell nah”

Intelligent Systems disagrees.

 

[DecoReturns]

Intelligent Systems disagrees.

Someone clearly said “Sub-human” off screen.

Obviously

 

[Tentacle-tropes]

Intelligent Systems disagrees.

FEH is the gift that keeps giving. Love all the stuff they’ve done over the years. Hope we get more weird & interesting directions in the future.

 

[bathynomus]

I’m surprised so many people seem to dislike the models. I think they look fantastic, to the point where I don’t miss the face sprites at all.

Oh, the models aren’t bad at all, I think it’s really just a matter of the charm of 2D art not translating fully to 3D. Which is common.

 

[LuckyNumber69]

 

[Bonejack]

Someone clearly said “Sub-human” off screen.

Obviously

Nope, someone told him that his sisters' name, Mist, literally means garbage/dirt in german.

 

[Yamanoi]

Some of the previews read a bit weird as someone who has been trying to avoid watching too many trailers. I love Three Houses and Three Hopes, but Engage's recent overview trailers from Japan also show a lot of side activities (which I like). Only thing that looks off right now is how older characters' 3D models look in animations. The new models and protagonists look awesome. Glad to see so much color, this will likely be amazing on my OLED.