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Reviews Fire Emblem Engage | Review Thread

Common Knowledge said:
There’s too much conflating, even perhaps among some of the reviewers, that Three Houses’s appeal to people is concentrated in its social sim stuff rather then simply its focus on characters and their motivations in general. TH is my favorite FE since PoR, and it’s because, like the Tellius games, it takes time to flesh out all the different countries and cultures in the game and what drives each character in the story. I can honestly take or leave the social sim aspect between the missions. But it seems like TH is getting labeled by most people as “the social sim/Persona FE”, which, while not entirely off base in some aspects, I feel does not at all encompass what that game’s major strengths are. I love the generally more grounded story with fleshed out lore and political themes of it. Doesn’t mean that I necessarily want to be able to have tea parties with the characters in all these games.

TH to me was more of a return to form of the series to me after Awakening and Fates despite the social sim stuff, cause it’s not the social sim stuff that I particularly value about it, whereas Engage seems to be going further in the Awakening/Fates direction.
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Yeah this is really what I loved about PoR and Radiant Dawn. The story, characters and world building was peak Fire Emblem in those games if you ask me.
It's also what I loved most about Three Houses, even though I disagree with the notion that the "sim aspects" etc. were entirely optional. Garrech Mach being so huge, visually unappealing and so stuffed with little "gimmick" activities was a factor that detracted (and distracted) from the general game experience.

It's also what makes me feel a bit "ho hum" about Engage. I do appreciate a lot of the gameplay changes (weapon triangle back, no more weapon durability, a more streamlined base of operation) and the break system and some of the Emblem aspects seem genuinely exciting.
I also did not care about the Gambit/Battalions in Three Houses and honestly kinda forgot about those for the most part.

Visually Engage seems like a big step up which is nice, but I do wish we would have gotten a more densely envisioned world. But oh well, guess we can't have everything.
 
I agree with people who say we “dont have to choose between a story and good gameplay”.

In my view PoR and Radiant Dawn did both.

3 houses was a gem as well though I consider it “something different”

There is an easy argument to make about the sales of the games after the more animelike changes but I would argue it is unfair.

I dont think a more mature story driven tactical FE would necessarily sell lower in the switch and with the current recognition of the franchise. Or at least it hasnt been tested to know the answer.

Having said all that I am excited for Engage I just could be much more
 
Common Knowledge said:
There’s too much conflating, even perhaps among some of the reviewers, that Three Houses’s appeal to people is concentrated in its social sim stuff rather then simply its focus on characters and their motivations in general. TH is my favorite FE since PoR, and it’s because, like the Tellius games, it takes time to flesh out all the different countries and cultures in the game and what drives each character in the story. I can honestly take or leave the social sim aspect between the missions. But it seems like TH is getting labeled by most people as “the social sim/Persona FE”, which, while not entirely off base in some aspects, I feel does not at all encompass what that game’s major strengths are. I love the generally more grounded story with fleshed out lore and political themes of it. Doesn’t mean that I necessarily want to be able to have tea parties with the characters in all these games.

TH to me was more of a return to form of the series to me after Awakening and Fates despite the social sim stuff, cause it’s not the social sim stuff that I particularly value about it, whereas Engage seems to be going further in the Awakening/Fates direction.
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Yeah that’s pretty much where I am too. Not overly fussed about pairing up units or social links in general but I do like the conversations just to hear each character talk about how they fit into the world, rather than being a character that could easily be transplanted in from anywhere or another game entirely as all they have is a personal hobby or a personal quirk or whatever.
 
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Wilmore said:
I'm glad the disappearance of the tea time and the sauna. These were situations that make you feel ashamed and they were ridiculous. I just want to enjoy a classic Fire Emblem.
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Yup, good thing they dropped those and replaced them with…awkwardly rubbing jewelry to please your Emblems and getting woken up by your army with some very weird subtext.

Tea Time and the Sauna were some of the tamer Fire Emblem side activities tbh
 
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Hot take, I don't think RD's story is that good. I respect it's ambition of trying to tell a story from both sides of the conflict, but I feel it ultimately makes the story feel disjointed and unfocused. This is especially true in part 3 when the reason the Dawn Brigade is given to keep fighting is an out of nowhere blood pact that essentially forces them to fight.
 
Disclaimer: I'm not a fan of those teatime or other bonding minigames (especially when they get creepy like in Fates for example).

But there's only one Teatime to be ashamed of:

Mr_Teatime.png
 
I didn't bother with tea time because it wasn't a good use of your time. You were generally better off blowing all your time shoving food down the kids throats to make them like you and each other.
 
The tea time with the staring was pretty bad tho. Even if not nearly as bad as Fate’s mini-games.

Somehow still made it akward. The reward should’ve been some funny or cool dialogue
 
BassForever said:
I didn't bother with tea time because it wasn't a good use of your time. You were generally better off blowing all your time shoving food down the kids throats to make them like you and each other.
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You like to sing?

GOOD. START SINGING!!!!
 
Tea time, like most of the side activites in 3H, was kinda interesting the first time you do it then it's just boring and tedious and a waste of time lol. Eating like, 5000 meals with your students every day and using the greenhouse to farm for stat boosters/gifts/food were always the best activites to do in terms of usefulness imo.

btw, does anyone know if we're getting any more reviews? Metacritic has been stuck on 63 for a while, and 3H had waaaaay more reviews in total, so I assume there's still a lot more to come?
 
Yeah unless you were trying to max out your charm, tea parties generally aren't it (with the exception of the birthday tea parties which are free). Generally, the strat for Three Houses was to just spam meals and the greenhouse most weeks. That'll rapidly boost your professor exp and let you snowball your activity economy in the mid and late game.
 
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Tea parties may not be good for minmaxing, but they offered some fun interactions with the cast. The specific appeal of the social activities isn't purely "What will boost my stats the most in the most efficient manner?"
 
I still find it unbelievable that is Three Houses vs Engage while some of us have been displeased since Awakening, exiled to the real of oblivion.

I STILL HAVE NOT FINISHED XENOBLADE 3 so while I have my special edition pre-ordered I'll probably play this by the end of the year

Xeno3->Bayo3->Nier->Octopath->Zelda while keep playing Splatoon 3 and Sunbreak hahaha
 
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Seven said:
After reading some reviews I see no problem with having a more simplistic story, especially when the Switch has plenty of other games that deliver on the heavier story front. To be honest I think gamers put too much emphasis on "worldbuilding" when something lighter can be just as satisfying to play.

You don't need that many ellipses, "Yup, I was right; I have almost zero hype for this and will wait for a good sale." Unless you were trying to be dramatic, which your post failed to convey, this way flows better.
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What? I just don’t like what Nintendo is selling here. Deal with it. You don’t even need to respond to my post. I don’t like the idea behind this game and I won’t buy day1 this game. Awakening, Three Houses and Birthright looked more interesting to me. This one don’t and the reviews confirmed my impression.
 
LuckyNumber69 said:
Tea time, like most of the side activites in 3H, was kinda interesting the first time you do it then it's just boring and tedious and a waste of time lol. Eating like, 5000 meals with your students every day and using the greenhouse to farm for stat boosters/gifts/food were always the best activites to do in terms of usefulness imo.

btw, does anyone know if we're getting any more reviews? Metacritic has been stuck on 63 for a while, and 3H had waaaaay more reviews in total, so I assume there's still a lot more to come?
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Maybe they are waiting for the online features? Dunno for sure tbh.
 
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Notsowise said:
What? I just don’t like what Nintendo is selling here. Deal with it. You don’t even need to respond to my post. I don’t like the idea behind this game and I won’t buy day1 this game. Awakening, Three Houses and Birthright looked more interesting to me. This one don’t and the reviews confirmed my impression.
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My apologies, I don't really care whether you like the game or not; I was just pointing out that the excessive ellipses were unnecessary and you could have easily conveyed your post without them just like you did here.
 
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Fire Emblem Engage

In a war against the Fell Dragon, four kingdoms worked together with heroes from other worlds to seal away this great evil. One-thousand years later, this seal has weakened and the Fell Dragon is about to reawaken. As a Divine Dragon, use rich strategies and robust customization to meet your...
www.metacritic.com www.metacritic.com

It seems like in the weeks since launch, Engage’s review score has dropped to an 80, making it the second lowest rated mainline Fire Emblem game on Metacritic.
 

Rare review from the CBC of a video game
Engage shows that it's a trade worth making. I found it hard to miss tea time, nice as that was, when the battlefield called more frequently, bringing new enemy types and exciting maps along with them. Fighting on fertile plains, rugged mountains, barren deserts, spooky castles keeps the chapters from feeling stale.

Engage also solidifies Fire Emblem's commitment to accessibility. Many past games could be punishingly difficult, especially for newcomers. Few clashes were a breeze on Engage's hard mode, but I only rarely threw my controller in frustration. (Thankfully, nothing broke.)

While the characters were a bit one-dimensional when it comes to personality, Engage gets points for their visual design. No other Fire Emblem looks as colourful or as appealing. The vibrant colours even get a chance to shine in the protagonist's unique hair — a vibrant blend of red and blue.

Engage takes Fire Emblem a step forward by looking back in a new and exciting way. Fans of the series expect no less from a series that's never content to rest on its laurels — and they won't come away disappointed from this instalment.
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DittoM said:

Fire Emblem Engage

In a war against the Fell Dragon, four kingdoms worked together with heroes from other worlds to seal away this great evil. One-thousand years later, this seal has weakened and the Fell Dragon is about to reawaken. As a Divine Dragon, use rich strategies and robust customization to meet your...
www.metacritic.com www.metacritic.com

It seems like in the weeks since launch, Engage’s review score has dropped to an 80, making it the second lowest rated mainline Fire Emblem game on Metacritic.
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That is inexplicable to me. I'd have thought more time and potentially being further in the game would make critics like it more.
The tactical aspect is so far beyond anything that Three Houses offered that I don't understand the reviews unless they really all just liked the Persona aspect.

Having said that, I too prefer Three Houses characters, for example, but this is mechanically the best FE since at least Conquest.
 
It's been a while since I've had one of those "one of the lowest rated games in a franchise is actually one of my favorites" moments. This and Conquest are the best modern FE games by a long distance for me.

It being divisive makes sense though, I don't think the scores are unfair by any means.
 
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I agree with the rating, personally. Engage is my least favorite modern Fire Emblem, and I even prefer Three Hopes over it by just a bit.

The lackluster story combined with a number of very poor balancing and QoL decisions is what keeps it at the bottom, even though the gameplay is generally great.
 
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I quite enjoyed Engage, but I think the overall rating makes sense.

The game shines with it's map design and mechanics, but falls flat in regards to most character writing, story, and world building. I think, broadly, when looking at RPGs, folks tend to value the latter more than the former, which is why Three Houses scored so well while being essentially the reverse of Engage.

I think it's a game more broadly suited towards Fire Emblem veterans than Fire Emblem newcomers.
 
Gambit said:
That is inexplicable to me. I'd have thought more time and potentially being further in the game would make critics like it more.
The tactical aspect is so far beyond anything that Three Houses offered that I don't understand the reviews unless they really all just liked the Persona aspect.

Having said that, I too prefer Three Houses characters, for example, but this is mechanically the best FE since at least Conquest.
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Because outside of the traditional battles Three Houses does pretty much everything better outside of visuals, and even that’s controversial because of the new art style. I really enjoyed my time with Engage but it didn’t hit the same way Three Houses did, and I imagine that critics felt the same.
 
Engage is one of my favourites in the series already, as the core battle gameplay and a ton of small tweaks and new ideas have made it simply some of the best it’s ever been.

However, presentation is literally the first impression a game makes with critics, and Engage’s cut scenes, their direction, the main story and script are just awful. Formulaic, predictable and simple, with anyone who’s ever seen any kind of fantasy cartoon before able to predict almost every revelation long before it happens and hours before the cast act like it’s a major twist. There is very little that’s new going on in its ‘amnesiac rallies the armies of green hill zone, angry fire warrior people, cool distant ice realm and fun tropical/desert land and eventually confronts their heritage’. It’s all been seen before, even as it treats its tired retread of various ideas as being impactful. For me it was particularly strange that the one moment of dissent in the party between allied characters, the only scene that had me sit up and go ‘hey that’s gonna be interesting’, was quickly handwaved away in the next sentence and never mentioned again, deliberately plastering over any kind of dialogue that felt like actual people disagreeing on the route forward.

As such, I can see entirely why it would get a (comparatively) lower score, even if I think the battle gameplay transcends it and is better than TH. There’s also a lot of cool dialogue and characterisation hidden in the support conversations, which is so weird when the writing in the main cut scenes has zero flair in comparison, it just feels like it’s going through the motions, like an AI rehashing the most average fantasy war plot vs a big dragon imaginable.

That it’s still a really good game despite that goes to show how strong the other elements are. Personally I care more for battle mechanics in SRPGs than stories I can just skip through as I fell in love with the series playing the GBA games where the plot was told in as few sentences as possible, but I understand a lot of people do like the unfolding story surrounding the campaign too, and Engage is following up a game where people were invested enough to argue about the plot and the setting for years. That’s not gonna happen with Engage because the plot is barely there, you can write it on the back of a stamp and even then there’s nothing particularly new or interesting about it.
 
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Engage did that weird thing to me where it made wonder why did I even enjoyed the previous game.

I could still see myself going back to Echoes, the Tellius games or even the Sacred Stones, but after Engage I really don't feel like playing 3 houses ever again.

There were a point in three houses where I just wanter to get it over with. When I oroginally started it, I thought gonna do all 4 routes and play the game to the fullest, I ended up doing 1 and a half.

Meanwhile engage's maps and general gameplay are so good I could see myself playing until all my units are maxed out.
 
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Comic Obsessed said:
"What do you mean this is the best FE in terms of gameplay and is basically the same in terms of story as other FE aside from TH? It doesn't have the Persona stuff so is a 6 out of 10!"
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Comic Obsessed said:
Just repeating what some critics have said.

People have to understand that TH was a fluke in the series (and Persona extra stuff is overrated).
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I love Engage but people need to stop pretending this story and level of character writing aren't bottom of the barrel. It's some real revisionist history to claim that even something like Awakening for example had writing this bad
 
I always find it funny when you have such a big disconnect between general videogame critics and the actual fanbase of the series, in this case engage is one of the lowest rated game in the series while most of the fanbase enjoys it a lot and considers it one of the best of the series while the highest rated game in the series (Awakening) is one of the least liked games in the series by the fanbase.
 
Lord Azrael said:
I love Engage but people need to stop pretending this story and level of character writing aren't bottom of the barrel. It's some real revisionist history to claim that even something like Awakening for example had writing this bad
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Is basically the same. Let's not kid ourselves (probably above Fates as well).
 
Kartina said:
I always find it funny when you have such a big disconnect between general videogame critics and the actual fanbase of the series, in this case engage is one of the lowest rated game in the series while most of the fanbase enjoys it a lot and considers it one of the best of the series while the highest rated game in the series (Awakening) is one of the least liked games in the series by the fanbase.
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Maybe if you ignore all the people calling the story and character writing shit even in this very site's ST
 
Lord Azrael said:
I love Engage but people need to stop pretending this story and level of character writing aren't bottom of the barrel. It's some real revisionist history to claim that even something like Awakening for example had writing this bad
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This. Fire Emblem has a ton of large fantasy war stories, simply told, but Engage’s is really poorly presented in its cut scenes. The art is great but the direction of the animation, the script and the main story are just dull, simple and predictable. A huge cast that all stand there and watch as NPCs dole out the story, while a dozen epic old emblem heroes also have to stand and watch so as not to overshadow the new cast. It’s really, really badly done. Which is a real shame as there’s some flair in the supports and the battle mechanics are amongst the best in the series.

Regarding Fates, I think Fate’s issue wasn’t that it’s cut scenes weren’t exciting, it’s that the story tied itself in knots to manage a reason two major factions were both trying to do the right thing when one was coded ‘evil’, and the character decisions were often stupid. In comparison, Engage is just really dull and predictable (with its huge cast almost entirely passive observers as they chase the plot on a predictable path around the map) rather than exciting but stupid.
 
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Lord Azrael said:
I love Engage but people need to stop pretending this story and level of character writing aren't bottom of the barrel. It's some real revisionist history to claim that even something like Awakening for example had writing this bad
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Yeah Awakening was probably worse than Engage, especially Awakening story was a trainwreck from the halfway point to the end while Engage story is mostly safe and inoffensive. I think the characters in Awakening are written better though even if I prefer Alear to Robin and Chrom
 
Lord Azrael said:
I love Engage but people need to stop pretending this story and level of character writing aren't bottom of the barrel. It's some real revisionist history to claim that even something like Awakening for example had writing this bad
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Yeah, this is my second Fire Emblem after 3H, and if your argument is "this writing is standard for the series actually" then what you're telling me is "Fire Emblem typically has shockingly bad writing and isn't the series for people who want an engaging story to accompany their strategy gameplay"
 
hologram said:
Yeah, this is my second Fire Emblem after 3H, and if your argument is "this writing is standard for the series actually" then what you're telling me is "Fire Emblem typically has shockingly bad writing and isn't the series for people who want an engaging story to accompany their strategy gameplay"
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Actually, it gets worse in other FE games.
 
Kartina said:
while most of the fanbase enjoys it a lot and considers it one of the best of the series while the highest rated game in the series (Awakening) is one of the least liked games in the series by the fanbase.
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Yeah, I’m gonna need a source on that one. Engage has been fairly controversial everywhere I’ve looked: some people love it, some people don’t. Consensus is that it’s a good game, sure, but one of the best in the series? I’m not seeing that. Some people think that, but it certainly isn’t a consensus opinion.

Not to mention that Awakening is approaching 10 years old now, while Engage is only 2 weeks old. It’s a lot easier to form a more negative and realistic take on a game after 10 years than just two weeks, and even then there are still plenty of people that still adore Awakening.

Hell, if you were to check on the opinions of Three Houses two weeks after launch nowadays, I’d bet that you’d see damn near universal praise, way more than Engage is getting. It can take a while for people to really settle on how much they enjoy a game.
 
hologram said:
Then I repeat: what you're telling me is "Fire Emblem typically has shockingly bad writing and isn't the series for people who want an engaging story to accompany their strategy gameplay"
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It depends, some games can have good stories while other have usually weak and safe stories with a couple of good moments and some of them have really bad and stupid stories. But yeah you shouldn't expect deep and engaging stories from most of this games.
 
Ah, here's the discourse to replace the Edelgard Discourse.

Engage isn't a bad game, but its story is very firmly gunning for being a celebratory anniversary title. Either you're going to appreciate it for that or you won't. If what you want is a story akin to Three Houses, Genealogy, Shadows of Valentia, or the Tellius games, you won't get it from Engage.
 
Kartina said:
Yeah Awakening was probably worse than Engage, especially Awakening story was a trainwreck from the halfway point to the end while Engage story is mostly safe and inoffensive. I think the characters in Awakening are written better though even if I prefer Alear to Robin and Chrom
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Setting aside that Awakening’s story was apparently a trainwreck (which I don’t agree with at all, I just found it boring) I’d rather have a story that’s a complete disaster than one that’s a complete snoozer.

Engage’s story feels like a mix between the intrigue of Birthright (AKA astoundingly boring) and the character intelligence of Conquest (everyone’s an idiot), and the end result is a story that’s technically better than Fates, but a whole lot less interesting. I at least could laugh at Fates, and was interested in continuing to see just how catastrophic the story would become. I get nothing like that out of Engage.
 
Kartina said:
Actually, it gets worse in other FE games.
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Only fates is worse than this, anyone saying awakening is, either doesn't remember anything about Awakenings writing, story or character wise, or just has a real raging hate on for the game that pushed the series to the mainstream audience.

If awakening was written like engage was, you'd have had things like Lucina in her first appearance Meeting Chrom magically fix her bad future because every problem in Engage is introduced to the players and then immediately resolved, sometimes without even changing cutscene. There's only two exceptions to that in the game as far as I've gotten and I doubt it's going to change.
 
I really don’t get much Persona vibes from three Houses. Yes. It’s a school but never felt like I was playing a modern persona game when I played three houses
 
Kartina said:
I always find it funny when you have such a big disconnect between general videogame critics and the actual fanbase of the series, in this case engage is one of the lowest rated game in the series while most of the fanbase enjoys it a lot and considers it one of the best of the series while the highest rated game in the series (Awakening) is one of the least liked games in the series by the fanbase.
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I think this is missing the nuance that it’s entirely possible fans can enjoy the battles a lot but also recognise that the writing of the main plot and direction of the cut scenes is amongst the worst in the series. There’s then at least three tracks there, some fans prioritise battle mechanics, some prioritise story and characters, and some both. I don’t think the FE fanbase is particularly united rather than clustered around those three points.
 
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