Did Fire Emblem Engage FAIL?! An In Depth Analysis of the Negative Aspects of Fire Emblem Engage

[@mateusgreenwood1096]

Having characters from very serious universes and with mature stories like Leif, Sigurd and Ike share a universe with toothpaste dragon is just uncanny. It's like having Guts from berserk in the teletubbies...

[@MP-tw4fc]

Spot on about the recruitments being boring, and the newer units being too strong. This game has a lot of gameplay elements done right, so it’s weird to see them fail so hard with recruitments.

[@AstraProc]

The majority of the new recruits being so strong is very odd, since it basically punishes you for keeping your early game units alive and training them up. I always thought later units were supposed to serve as replacements, at the cost of often being slightly weaker than the unit you lost. I know later strong units exist throughout the series but I don’t know if it’s even been the case with this many of the later units. This game might also have some of the worst early units in the entire series.

[@custom-r]

Relay Battles are actually quite useful. They often yield good things like *stat boosters* and *Seals* (huge if you're low on funds) In fact that's the main reason I go to that mode. Plus, you get to see and use units built by other players. Tempest Trials is a great mode you can use as a testing ground. Some say it was meant to be used for post game. Though, you can use it as early as you'd like. Even more, you can use that mode to guarantee a Level Up for characters who participate. Aside from getting materials to enhance Engage weapons, this can help units catch up without the risk of dying in a Skirmish--because your units don't die in Tempest Trials. And then the online battles are pretty fun too. You don't get much out of it, but its great to test your strongest units against other players' best units.

[@degreeskelvin3025]

Yeah, but it's all kinda wack if you don't have a Nintendo online account

[@bluegallade]

Relay and outer realm are online exclusive modes (as are the free items/ weapons from shiny map spaces). As much as you can use it to level lower level units, you are forced to pick a difficulty suitable for your highest unit, any lower and you don't gain any experience meaning units still can't keep up or grow, you don't gain bond, support or enough exp to level half the time. They don't perma die but you can get locked out of that unit for the remainder of the trial if they do fall(again limiting actual exp gained)

[@rator1st]

While the materials for engage weapons and stat boosters sound nice, you can literally get through the game without them. the units deaths doesn't mean as much in modern fire emblem due to the turn wheel and at the castles in the over world you can at times do training sessions that don't involve permadeath and then there are skirmishes that can be used for training as well. overall while the rewards sound nice, they aren't that enticing to want to do the online stuff, assuming you have the Nintendo online account or even internet in general to access. It's cool that people like these modes, but I personally always felt FE never really needed them. What would benefit engage better is NG+, considering how grind heavy the skills inheritance is, it's weird that a NG+ wasn't added.

[@UnexpectedBanana]

It was pretty cool to play, especially if u have a friend to work or compete against, and i got expert books from some of the relay trials so they were pretty useful

[@lanceareadbhar]

It would have been a nice touch if Sommie collected the gold items in the Somniel as long as you had a full heart meter. Personally, I never got sick of feeding or petting Sommie and those bond fragments are not yours and you should be happy Sommie gives you anything at all as I'd do those activities for nothing. Also, make sure you read Sommie's entry in the notebook, which is a fantastic feature that I hope continues in later entries.

[@wildste]

I'm curious now, what exactly lowers the heart meter? If you do activities with Sommie, the exercise, fishing etc, does that lower it? Because I never did any of that

[@UNSTABLE111]

Also excuse me Alfred trying to overcomepensate for his illness was heartbreaking..

[@bb-qw2pu]

in three houses i deeply cared for every character because of the world building and character depth. that's missing here and it breaks my heart.

[@matmil5]

I didn't care about half the cast in 3 houses, barely cared about 40% and really cared about like... 1 or 2 characters? They chewed off more than they could bite with descriptions and characters simply got annoying. Let's not pretend it didn't have anime and school anime specifically tropes too, because it sure as fuck did

[@_Sinduss]

​@@matmil5 3h fanboys: I hate engage's characters they are so one dimensional. Also 3h fanboys: oooooh bernadetta I really like bernadetta. Bernadetta: runs off screaming for the 50th time.

[@sakutaro3musik486]

3 houses had better characters by a mile. Most supports had a lot of world building in it. Engage has better Gameplay and 3 houses better Story als character I don't think that there is any room to argue for these claims

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

​@@sakutaro3musik486 Gotta love how the 2 idiots above you resort to strawman arguments like the edgy hipsters they are. Would be nice if people like this could actually prove 3H "fanboys" wrong lmao

[@michaelcabangbang]

​@@_SindussTell me you haven't done her supports without telling me you haven't done her supports

[@khoaha6095]

After playing Three Houses, Engage is...not what i really expected. Three Houses is really creative and it did a new whole world to FE series. It is like a whole new FE. Beside the mediocre graphics, everything is nice, all activities has connection each other. Make plan, teach students and direct them to their class based on their talents are really fun. Except magic, there is no limit to what you do. You can make a sniper using sword, a sworsmaster using bow, axe or lance or a falcon knight using bow... Engage let me down a bit. It returns to traditional gameplay. They remove the weapon training system. Divide some classes to many options. Like Paladin in the past can use many weapons, now they can only use 1 weapon unless you change to another Paladin using other weapons. And the weapon proficiencies are fixed in the class, you cannot raise it up to use highter tier weapons unless you change to the classes with higher proficiencies. The game even has some mini games which are pretty boring and repeatable. It is even limited ways in farming money, can only use Anna or fight Gold Corrupted to farm a bit money. What's the point to make the option to change clothes but you cannot wear new clothes in battles? Besise those, Engage is still worth to play with the Engage system and very good animations.

[@elivcdxv1852]

Three houses was fun, but on a personal level I really wasn't feeling it by the time I had my 3rd playthrough (Let alone the 4th "Golden" ending run of recruiting everyone I could; But that's just me getting burned out), NG+ made it significantly more interesting because it sped up the process, but I definitely feel like Engage at least making minigames for small activities that are effectively just a +1 or bit more to a stat was nice, Halfway through my first playthrough of Engage I just stopped caring about picking up the items and stuff at the Somniel instead of playing the game, but that was mostly because I was pretty tired of "Optimizing" my time at Garreg Mach, It didn't feel too bad at first, but making 100% use of the Professor levels additional time unit stuff made using all of it feel like an obligation, being able to skip ahead by a week or just rest was nice, but until that third run, it just felt "Forced" since otherwise I'd be running short. "Online" makes getting money easier, selling the items you get from purple spots isn't much though, and it's pretty negligible, I didn't really fall behind in Money personally, but I also wasn't taking the time to mess around with the Somniel dressup function, so it definitely feels like a bit of a kick to the shin for trying to enjoy a system the game gave you, but if they manage to make a neat mix of Engage and 3h in the future, I'm totally willing to go all in.

[@bizutable8452]

The infinite hub between battle in three house literraly made me drop the game...Just that

[@Sin_Alder]

Not sure I agree with "everything is nice." And by don't really agree with, I mean almost every facet of the game ranged from okay to terrible. That's not to say that what they TRIED to do wasn't good. Campaign that diverges into three different stories, lots of characters, new world, all sounds great. Then you're stuck with crappy characters about as three dimensional as a sheet of paper, literal hours between each battle because of just how much tedious crap there is, stupid tea time, some of the most boring maps I've ever played being nearly every map, it was honestly one of the worst experiences I've ever had with a Fire Emblem game. It's a game that's incredibly close to being good, and full of good ideas, but manages to fall flat on its face in execution. Not to say I'm loving Engage, but by nature of having decent maps without nearly as much crap to keep on top of between every single battle has made it a lot more engaging (pun intentional), and while the characters still aren't interesting, I think a lot more of them are at least a little more palatable than those from 3H, so I can at least put up with them.

[@hectorlackless]

Probably my least favorite things is the class skill system in the game, I wish we got more to build our characters with and the hability to pass them after changing classes like in awakening and fates. I kinda get why they didn't had it with all the focus on the emblems but it is something I miss. Also who's idea was to make the "Divine dragon" character not a manakete?! Give it to them after getting in their advance class but don't leave me without a dragon form wtf.

[@artificialaceattorney6822]

Alear using the dragonstone and assuming a Fell Dragon or Fell/Divine Dragon hybrid form would have ruined the twist. It's still disappointing, though.

[@uberculex]

@@artificialaceattorney6822 The twist is painfully obvious with the dumb hair color.

[@PheonixWild]

As someone who plays on Hard, the skirmish scaling annoys me a lot. Since it scales off Aelear/Highest unit, that means I am fighting Skirmishes that suggested levels advance class level 20. That means I need to drag in my stronger units if I want to train my weaker units, which makes them even stronger while I struggle to level the units I want to train. And now since my stronger units are keep getting stronger, now I am smashing story fights with no challenge at all. I personally rather the scaling to be base off the chapter, not your units, so if you do bring in units higher than chapter recommended, you barely gain exp for your strong units but they are able to help your weaker units.

[@DatakTarr]

@@smileshighly4897 That is way more difficult in modes like maddening. In Maddening a unit that can reliably kill and survive enemy phases will get even stronger and eat up resources quick. And you won't mind cause they are the only reason you still have your run.

[@AcheosWW]

The gameplay is pretty good so I can just skip everything else in a replay and have fun. Generally i feel towards engage the same way i feel towards Conquest. Also for the love of god let me field more units ...

[@Sterncold]

that is something that always made me mad in this game... we have a max army of 36 units... but i can only deploy 14 of them max ? i remember being able to deploy more in older fire emblem even if it's not by a lot...

[@theprofesionalist7927]

@@Sterncold Exactly! If the enemy is able to deploy twice as many units as me as well as reinforcements and my units can't be trusted to take on a full garrison of enemy units on their own (especially in maddening) then I should be able to field an army of comparable if not matching size to the enemy's army!

[@matmil5]

"Let me field more units..." *looks to three houses* Why no one complained about this there

[@Sterncold]

@@matmil5 because we had less units too... assuming you didn’t recruit ppl from other factions that is.

[@theprofesionalist7927]

@@matmil5 Three houses had fewer enemy units/reinforcements on maps. They also had barely any mid-tier units in that game and even if they started out mid-tier U could just easily make them S tier within a month or two of recruiting them.

[@GenMars]

the world map being circular like a ring is genius

[@malcovich_games]

Even Ohio... um, I mean (spoiler place that appears later in the game) is a ring...

[@Korican189]

Sorta like in Xenoblade 3, the map is a form of infinite

[@Largecow_Moobeast]

So deep. So poetic. Hope the dlc is about trapezoids.

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

Too bad it's just a worse version of Awakening's

[@merxh00z]

My biggest greivance with the emblems is their bond conversations. I get that having the rings equipable by literally anyone means a lot of writing and voice acting, but I feel like I rather would’ve seen the emblems have limited compatibility with characters so that we could’ve had more engaging bond conversations that actually gave us more insight into the emblem heros and the characters with them, instead of just a single sentence of text between the two characters.

[@theprofesionalist7927]

And maybe...just maybe cut the bond rings and give everyone their own special ring. They don't all have to be lord rings with bond convos, but they could at least be better than the crappy bond rings, but hey I guess if they did that then Nintendo wouldn't be able to sell U on that that sweet sweet DLC that just gives U a couple items, extra levels, and extra rings all for the low low price of 30 additional dollars on top of a 60 dollar game! Yeah Nintendo I see wut you're doing, you must think you look real cute when you take me back to square one and tell me to play the game against promoted enemy units that have rings when I've got barely any promoted units and only two rings to choose from! Again I'm sorry if I'm sensing malicious intent here when it could just be incompetence, but Y would Nintendo take away the one thing that keeps most of my units from being mid AF at best if not to sell me on the DLC that gives me a shit ton of items that R way too OP for the early to mid game or they at least seem that way cuz U have a lot of artificial scarcity when it comes to these resources at this point in the game?

[@elivcdxv1852]

@@theprofesionalist7927 First run through on Hard/Classic, I didn't really take the time to do things like actually giving skills to my characters through the Arena/Skill Inheritance- Didn't have a particularly bad time aside from once I rolled around to Seadalls Chapter and had to sprint through the last room to avoid those Killer Axe/Tomahawk Corrupted that spawn in. TL;DR, knowing the game, like with many situations makes things immensely easier. If you aren't inheriting Skills, atleast take the time to Inherit Unyielding, boost a ton of characters survivability. Taking the time to do that and engrave a few weapons after knowing what was about to happen made it much more tolerable, and that was on Maddening, the Rings are nice, but also knowing how to take full advantage of them can make the game extraordinarily more easy even on harder difficulties, Marth alone has Unyielding, and that just cost 100 SP to get, it's nothing super crazy, but it's stupid effective on Tankier units like Louis and even squishier ones who might take a stray hit from something that could kill them next turn, and if you take the time to use things like Pure Waters and Tonics, even if it's just for defense it can alleviate a lot of the stress of losing those emblems- Not to mention using the Bond Rings that are varying levels of 'Whatever', but I don't think it was Malicious or Incompetence to yeet the Rings, Engage skills are pretty bonked out, and with most maps allowing 8-10 units, having every unit on them with a skill that can Pulverize most enemies no questions asked, one that can just cut through a line of enemies for free, 100% full heal everyone or just hard-ignite an entire group, along with Warp Rag letting you just pop over and nuke someone, It seems more like the first 6 were set up to be "Game Breakingly" Useful right out the gate, while the second half needs more strategic use, Minus maybe Lyn, that's just a low-orbit ion cannon on certain characters. From a story standpoint, because you were relying on those Emblems, losing them actually does hit harder, same for being able to turn time back if you were using that to test the waters, it's not the best, but if I can use Marth to hit someone 7-8 times with an engage skill, why would I even bother trying to set up positioning to hit something with Lucina, each Chain-Attack is 10% HP, but unless I'm iron-walling a group of enemies like with Ike's Paralogue, I don't think I've ever used it aside than to make sure I can hit someone without them hitting me back that turn.

[@RaidenKaiser]

You know the most infuriating part about the story? You have side characters with great templates to be an interesting lord and have a story follow them instead. Imagine a fe story about a sinner finding redemption like yunaka.

[@sootythunder3111]

Intelligence System: “NO WE MUST HAVE AVATAR WORSHIP, ACTUALLY THIS TIME LETS MAKE THE AVATAR A LITERAL FIGURE OF WORSHIP”

[@firenze6478]

Same but to a lesser extent for basically everything avatar, Ryoma and xander would have been far better to follow than corrin Edelgard, claude and dimitri would have been far better protagonists than Byleth

[@ThisIslandDoesNotExist]

​@Firenze 64 And Diamant and Ivy would have been a much better protagonist than Alear. *sigh* Well, maybe they can make up for it if another warrior game comes out, but after the first one. I fear they might mess that up too.

[@qtpie1144]

@@ThisIslandDoesNotExist I doubt they would have a 3rd Fire Emblem warriors game.

[@ThisIslandDoesNotExist]

@@qtpie1144 Really? Why do you think so? Did they not sell well?

[@charterhold1469]

My friend who is really in touch with voice actors told me me that this game is a parody of fire emblem games and that's why the characters and story is how it is. And under that lense, I'm absolutely here for it it's so funny to read into what tropes they're intentionally playing up at what time. One of my favorites is how Jean the villager is absolutely busted and this kid is the straight man of everyone else's tomfoolery when you read his supports. But that's just my experience with it and how I've come to understand Engage.

[@SappyNoypi]

As a very casual Fire Emblem fan (I've only played the FE7 on emulators) I wasn't expecting anything so I was pleasantly surprised by everything. But I guess if you want another Three Houses you will be underwhelmed. But for what it's worth they are probably halfway through the next game by now as rumors said Engage was finished a long time ago.

[@neog8029]

Saying a story is a parody doesn't make it excused from criticism. It reads more that the writers threw their hands up and phoned it in than anything else in this situation.

[@Sandthatsparksstars]

noted, that explains quite a bit and thanks for sharing a unique comment! i wish the story and supports had more depth, but i feel like maybe being in my late 20s I've older than the target audience and people in their young teens would enjoy it way more!

[@alexandermatthews3493]

That's objectively not true. Just because it made poor choices, it doesn't mean it's a parody.

[@Megajmaster1000]

@@neog8029 T H I S

[@Arxyee]

I 100% agree about the recruitment system being terrible. They should've ditched the lord + 2 retainers gimmick from Fates or at least changed it up a bit with some lords having less retainers or no retainers at all. 24 characters in this game are either lords or retainers, which is way too much. Relay Battles is the only Tower of Trials mode I actually found fun. It doesn't take much time and it has decent rewards. The other 2 modes are awful though.

[@MadGabCrazy]

One thing I hate is when buying things from the stores that you cant select a certain amount and that you have to buy them one at a time. (unless you can then I didn't know)

[@leargamma4912]

Not too big of a deal. Yes it saves like 20 seconds, but you should really only be buying 1 or 2 weapons throughout the game and spend most of your funds on forging, donations, and shop items/staves. Besides. When you can just press A and you get the item near immediately, I don't see the issue. If the text box and retrieval through menus took longer, I may understand your complaint.

[@qtpie1144]

@@leargamma4912 you cant buy multiple potions or staves at the same time. It's a weird feature they don't have.

[@yunuss58]

For me it is the opposite. The characters and lore of 3H outweighed the aspects I didn't like. The awful story and characters of Engage ruin the rest for me

[@thats4thebirds]

Honestly the writing is my biggest gripe. The plot is “fine” but made worse by how awful the writing is. That said the gameplay is top tier and to some that matters more. I frankly wish we hadn’t got one or the other. It would be nice if they did both.

[@squatch1565]

Two things that disappointed me in Engage were the lack of a New Game Plus--seriously, with how difficult it can be to collect SP for Emblem skills and getting all the other bond rings, it would have been really helpful to have an option to start a new journey with it--and the voice acting. It wasn't bad, but it ties in with the character critique that I agree with: everyone just feels pretty one-note. It's especially disappointing after the incredible ensemble of performances in Three Houses, and because they got some pretty big names in the side cast who are just... okay here. My friend and I were so excited to see J. Michael Tatum and Trina Nishimura in the cast, but compared to previous roles they've had, Louis and Etie are kind of bland. (My friend was also disappointed that they didn't have a support together, but that's because he's a huge fan of Steins Gate.) With the exceptions of some who show up in a fully animated cutscene and Yunaka, no one really stands out. Also on the support note, every conversation just feels... the same. Compared to Three Houses, which I've been doing just because it's the most recent main game, it's so boring. Almost every conversation starts out with X saying, "Hey there, Y!" and Y saying, "Oh, hi X." Meanwhile, you had characters like Raphael who were always super happy during conversations, Felix and Hubert talking down to others (for completely different reasons, and with special exceptions), and special cases like Sylvain and Dorothea whose tones differ drastically depending on who they were talking to. Everything gets a tiny bit same-y by the end, especially when 70% of the A-rank conversations have that romantic music playing, but even then the conversations end up different solely because everyone in the cast has such different personalities. The same applies to most of the other games in the series with support conversations. I do think there are some characters who stand from the others, such as Ivy, Diamant, and the Solm siblings. Fogado's support conversation with Bunet is really good, and while the "I love you" in Ivy's B support with Alear threw me for a loop, I think the reasoning she gives for it in the A support is a really nice twist on the typical over-adoration the avatars usually get. But in Fire Emblem Heroes, I won't be too upset if they space out the Engage banners more than they did for Three Houses.

[@ThisIslandDoesNotExist]

Diamant Stan! 😊😊😊 I pretty much felt the same way about him and Ivy. For me, not only did they have the best supports in the game, but they are really the only two characters that actively go through character development during the game. I will admit the only character I don't quite understand yet is Yunaka. People say she does go through character development, but I guess I haven't found it yet. I just want to know where the hype is surrounding her. I'm only on chapter 17. Does she get a paralog later in the game or am I missing something. 🤔

[@squatch1565]

@@ThisIslandDoesNotExist I haven’t read all her supports, but they mostly seem to be her growing to trust people after her shady past. Tbh I didn’t think it was amazing development, but I still like her

[@ThisIslandDoesNotExist]

@@squatch1565 I will admit though. The solm siblings didn't really do it for me. Fordago is cool and I liked his personality a lot. Tamara however is just...annoying. I thought it would have been better if Fordago was crown prince. Plus, he looks older than her, which made the idea of Tamara being Crown princess a little off putting to me. Most of all. Other than the 3 or 4 chapters they were involved with. Fordago and Tamara pretty much fall off the face of the Earth after chapter 16 It just felt so pointless to include them and not have the two go through any struggles or character development. It's absolutely fine if people like them. As I said, I like Fordago a lot, but man. They deserved a lot more then what they got. Even if I don't like Tamara. She still deserved SOMETHING, you know.

[@JasPugliese]

For me it did not fail. For some people it did. We all have different values and expectations for this franchise of chess games with hot anime pieces. I had fun with it. I laughed at the characters and story, I had tons of fun with the gameplay, and I enjoyed the inclusion of the emblems even if they where poorly explained. Thats what I value in fire emblem.

[@imperiumVII]

Well said brother

[@eea00525]

Completely agree sometimes things just don’t please everyone I had a joyful time playing this game and while the story is not great it’s passable and the gameplay is amazing and the characters while not crazy in depth, are just funny and wacky making it enjoyable. My favorite games are POR, RD, awakening, 3h, and fe4 but I just wish people would realize that yeah cringe exists and anime tropes are a thing but this is a game, from Japan where anime is the most prevalent media source, and us as western fans didn’t even play most of the games till the 7th entry or translations of the games need to realize while what we treasure about the original games are so good we also have to acknowledge the fact that these new mechanics from awaking onward have really caused more people to join the series and enjoy those parts along with the part of FE at its core along side it, if those mechanics or main stream attention never came the series it (maybe) would have not made it this far and I’m glad it’s still going

[@regulusking4299]

Agreed we all have different ways on how we value a game, like I value characters most in game. For me it didn’t fail, but it was there. Which is better than I expected bc I was hating on Engage before. And even with the cast being generic. There are a few diamonds in the rough like Ivy, Yunaka, and Alfred for me which again better than I expected

[@sakutaro3musik486]

I didn't enjoy it that much compared to some of my favorite FE games, but I still had fun with it. Tho I think in about a year the Community will go back to the discussion weather Edelgard was right or not for starting a war even tho the devs themself already answered this question 😂

[@techpriest6962]

Lucky you, the fact the game had zero depth was insufferable to play through.

[@whybother3486]

The question about is this a good starting point for a new FE player is an interesting one. Because what is the easiest to recommend is engage or 3 houses cause they're both on the switch, but engage has it's multitude of flaws you covered in this video, and 3 houses is honestly such a different game than the rest of the FE roster. But if you don't recommend those then you have to get new fans to use an emulator and everything is just way harder, I'd be interested to see your thoughts on what a good starting point would be for the series

[@sakutaro3musik486]

Easy. I ask a Player who is interested in FE if he values Story over Gameplay and if they want a more Story driven Game, then I recommend 3 houses. If they prefer flashy well designed Gameplay then I recommend Engage

[@tylorian5168]

Honestly, the worst part for me is definitely the Four Hounds. Yea, I know a lot of people aren’t big fans of them, and the reason you give here was the biggest one for me: here’s this evil character who is evil for 98% of the game, then at the very end decides to be a real character. Like the whole time with Zephia, for instance, I thought “this is just Aversa but irredeemable.” Then in her dying breaths they’re like “oh right, let’s make her likable.” One of my favorite RPGs ever, StellaGlow, has a “Four Hounds” group of its own, a team of four completely different people who came together to form a team that becomes your enemy throughout most of the game (the Harbingers is what they’re called). What the Harbingers accomplish that the Hounds don’t is that you learn about their pasts, why they’ve all come together, and that they fight for a reason other then “oh we’re bad and we oppose you.”

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

I got real bad Pokemon vibes off of them. Especially Marcie(?) She has that unmistakable "How can someone so proficient at having their ass handed to them have a fraction of the ego they do" personality. Also, frankly, they kinda have that charictaristic, kinda, "asspull gacha event plotline" vibe where they just kinda show up for no reason or particular in universe justification, do some evil stuff (trust me bro, very evil) then just kinda peace out and are inexplicably unpersuable when they're punched enough.

[@matmil5]

You might be surprised. But they were set up as not so bad people from the beginning, which made me question whether or not you even paid attention. They are portrayed from the start as one of the things whi h game has as its theme: family. At the very introduction Zephia says they are like a family. And that is their depth - disfunctional, abusive even family. Daughter who isn't given attention, Edgy Son, Controlling Mother, Well meaning but dead beat Father. Their relationships are explained. How they got to where they are, what are their stances to one another and why. Literal band of misfits clinging to each other. I think you really fell asleep or skipped cutscenes my man.

[@tylorian5168]

@@matmil5 I suppose that you do have a point, when described like this. I agree with you on Mauvier and Griss, Marnie too. I guess it’s mostly Zephia that I have the issue with. Zephia is the supposed “mother figure” of the group, and yet she slaps Veyle square in the face and straight up offs Marnie, who in this situation is meant to be the “daughter” (they both can be considered that, honestly). And if her whole thing is that she wants a child with Sombron, but then you go and have her do such acts to the “children” of this dysfunctional family, it just doesn’t sit right with me. Maybe I’m just looking too deep into this (or perhaps not far enough), but either way I’m not a fan of how they handled her character. I appreciate your input on this, though.

[@jacobpamplin6449]

​@@matmil5 they say that they're family, but they barely show it. It feels more sarcastic than anything.

[@sakutaro3musik486]

@@tylorian5168 zephia explained that this is her understanding of love. For her punishing her "children" shows her love to them. She is like a toxic Controlling mother, not every mother in the world is a good one

[@MMM69]

17:23 "when the mandatory portions of the game are the best part..." Bismix in the distance: "OR I COULD USE THE WARP STAFF"

[@bluegallade]

One other major issue with how the emblems work, being integral to both story and gameplay, is availablity. To clarify in terms of story chapters there is only 4 chapters (of 26) you have full access to ALL emblems. Comparing the 12 emblems over 26 chapters the accessibility is roughly around 43+% of the game. For example Roy can only be freely equipped in 8 story chapters in the whole game. Additionally Leif is only available to the player for 2 chapters before being stolen (again). Losing Leif, Celica and Micaiah at chapter 10 prevents any staff or dagger proficiency until chapter 18. 9 of the 12 emblems are also forced onto a character in their introductory chapter again reducing true availability, one chapter of Ike on Timerra is one less chapter towards getting wrath on panette especially on a no skirmish run. You require (specific) emblems for skills, classes, engravings, SP growth and bond ring forging. Lacking these emblems for a majority of the game really limits the potential some characters can have, as a lesser example my Anna couldn't promote before chapter 10 due to level, after chapter 10(+11) she had the right level but no staff proficiency (Leif Celica and Micaiah were just stolen) meaning she was unable to promote into high priest for the magic and luck growth, in turn worsening both her performance and my enjoyment.

[@Soeupe]

Spending over 10% of the video complaining about the music because it doesn't have a recruitment theme felt really weird to me, but I guess we just have different priorities. I thought a majority of the map themes were really good.

[@mysmallnoman]

It's almost as he's full of shit and tries to nitpick stuff

[@Patchuiko]

I started to play the online features after finishing my second playthrough in maddening and it pretty good. Only few gripes I have, it might make your playthrough easier since the game do give you SP books with relay trials and I think that maybe why the sp gain is so low ingame... Also relay trial seem to work now, I think? there sometime bugs where the game mode doesnt seem to work correctly for finding relays. But other than that I do feel like putting more hours in my savefile to make a defense team and an attack team even tho I dislike aether raids type of mode in general. But I feel its a shame that Three Houses didnt had online modes, it would had kept me hook... But my only negative with Engage is the lack of an new game+ with the ability to keep sp and a bond fragments shop to buy past game upgrades/skills/supports like in Three Houses , the story being bad at the beginning and alright at the end and the world building being very lacking, wish it had more paralogues to flesh out the world of Elyos more...

[@malcovich_games]

Since they fixed the relays, most of the trials just go immediately, so just press take over a few times until you get one. Three Houses' online mode being just hide and seek, buying goods from others or using random units as adjutants is truly a letdown. Engage's New Game+ seems like inevitable, but then we said that about Three Hopes DLC...

[@lssjgaming1599]

One thing that bothers me that is really oddly specific is how the localization was handled as I do not think it was done well. There are multiple lines in the Japanese version that are like 3-4 sentences that are shortened down to only one in English, removing quite a bit of information. Outside of Anna, Jean, Clanne and Framme who had their S supports turned platonic for obvious reasons, quite a few random characters like Rosado, Alcryst, Fogado, ans Celine also had their romantic implications either outright removed or made more vague which doesn't make a whole lot of sense considering these characters are supposed to be around the same age as Alear (minus the 1000 year sleep) so the age gap thing isn't really an issue. As someone who is still early on in her Japanese studies so I need to play with the subtitles the sheer difference on what I was hearing being said by the characters while the text said something totally different just bothered me so much which sucks since after Three Houses which was incredibly faithful to the Japanese script, it feels like we are going all the way back to Fates with how random changes were made for no reason. Most Western fans won't really notice this issue unless they are learning Japanese so it really stinks that we are getting a product that has issues with how it adapts the plot and characters into another language. Not sure if any of the other localizations like Spanish and French are better with accuracy, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were double translations based on the English script instead of the Japanese

[@LinkKing7]

At some point I might have to go dig up the direct translation of the Japanese text and see how it compares. We've had this problem previously in Fire Emblem and it's honestly what makes me worried about something like an FE4 remake

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

What I don't get is why in the hell Treehouse is still a thing. I thought they would've been gone for good after how badly they butchered Fates.

[@dudamoos]

I think the Tower of Trials is useful, but only in specific cases. I did a lot of Relay Trials just before the final chapter to get Seals without spending money. I did a few Tempest Trials during mid-game to level up units on the verge of capping. I didn't really play Outrealm Trials - the rewards weren't worth it. As for how fun those modes are: Relay Trials can be fun for two reasons. First, sometimes it can be fun to go into an easier map and just throw in a powerful unit to wreck everything. However, for me one of the benefits was seeing other players' builds for ideas for my second playthrough. Just be careful and save frequently because it can crash your game and lose you unsaved rewards permanently. Tempest Trials wasn't bad, but I tried not to do it too much because it's a large time sink that I already hold a grudge against after burning out on FEH a few years ago. Outrealm Trials can be fun, but I didn't do it much and it seemed a bit dead when I got to it a couple of months after release.

[@borjaarellano9966]

for me,the biggest problem was the cast there are only three types of characters number one are the normal dudes (Alear,Diamant,Ivy) these ones don't have a quimick and are just people who live their life number two are the half quimick (Louise,Yunaka,Zelkov) these one have a quimick but said quimick isn't their only personality,they have more things to say and said quimick isn't their only thing,it's just something they do but it isn't the only thing number three are the full quimick (almost all of the cast) their only personality is their quimick,almost all their supports are about said quimick and nothing can change that and the fact that the third one is prevelant so much throught this cast just hurts me,i loved three houses cast and yet i despised this one

[@shizachan8421]

Haven't played Engage now but kinda followed it a bit and I feel like the issue probably could be that there seems to be a hugh shift in tone and also character design? Like, Three Houses Character design is already pretty down to earth, outside of hair colors they look rather realistic and even the hair colors don't pop out so much that it looks very stereotypicall anime, its just helping them additionally stand out a little bit more. Each design had personality, while being pretty down to earth and even the costume design being this mix of modern and historical elements that remains immersive for a feudal aristocratic fantasy world. Especially with the female cast you could see that the artist really kept the fanservice down and had the girls look very appropriate for their personality, with the more sexualized ones like Dorothea and Hilda also being girls who care more about fashion and being attractive, so it is a part of their personal preferences that influences the outfit. And the personalities themselves were peak writing, many were set up to subvert the players expectations and to reveal different facets of their personality through different interactions. Just take Sylvain and Dorothea who were introduced as womanizer and a gold digger, just for their supports to reveal hidden depths, anxiety, psychological burdens and the desastrous effects the central class system of the narrative has on a persons self-worth and self-perception. Edelgard herself is a masterfully crafted character who I feel can't be appreciated and understood without fully taking into account her personal circumstances, trauma and the implications of both the system she fights and her own ideological aspirations. Hell, I feel like she is one of those characters where the way you feel about her is highly reliant on your own personal values and political positions, because she is a very political character who deals with very real historical political ideas.

[@marcusbullock2753]

This is my second fire emblem game. And honestly I’m enjoying it. Don’t really care for the online part but I like building up my characters and starting over to try people I don’t use on my next playthrough.

[@stephenwithaph1566]

Im glad you enjoy it! Although older fe games are a bit annoying since you have to emulate them, if you enjoyed engage I guarantee you will get a kick out of the other installments! Ask around the community and fe creator discords for games with traits about engage you enjoyed!

[@elivcdxv1852]

Game would definitely benefit from a NG+, at least for the Emblem Rings, Skill Inheritance adds some spice to the game that makes it a lot of fun for me.

[@lanceareadbhar]

I felt the story was very self aware for most of it and I actually enjoyed that, but it definitely dragged at the end even if it was still being self aware. I also thought the voice acting did a very good job for the most part, with the Veyle voice actress stealing the show. I'm looking forward to whatever they come up with next and am hoping there will be a Remake at some point as well.

[@UNSTABLE111]

It actually dragged in the beginning for me and started to get more interesting after the 10th chapter

[@AstraProc]

I don’t really agree since the cliche, drawn out death scenes, shoved in sad back stories, emblems turning into fucking red units, etc is supposed to be taken seriously lol.

[@shizachan8421]

I have to say, I kinda dislike the character designs. Just loved Three Houses Art Direction so much, with pretty down to earth character designs. Feel like the fact that most characters were school uniforms half the game really made it so that each character had to convey personality without relying too much on gimmicks and over the top outfits and I think the post timeskip designs really conveyed a sense of a bunch of teenagers having grown up, with characters like Anette, Leonie and Lorenz really glowing up, which is just really fun and great to see, similarily to not having seen some kid for years after graduating and when you meet them again, they nearly look like a different person just by having become a grown up and having found their own personal look. Also as a female player, it was kinda nice seeing an anime game that isn't going all in on the fan service and treating its female cast with respect. Every character looks appropriate to their personality, outside of female byleth but even her design has grown on me outside of the atrocious enlightened one outfit, and the costume design for the cast has this wonderful mix of historical and modern elements that is stylish and has quite some anime to it while remaining immersive. Take Hilda, who probably has one of the most sexualized outfits. Her post timeskip outfit itself is a wonderful mix of a modern fashionable style with elements that convey the impression of a girlified style of brigand or brawler type axe-fighter, that fits her personality and background.

[@bobd3749]

If you find the time for it, I would love to hear your thoughts on whether this game is worth it for people who have never played FE. That's the boat I'm in!

[@junehanabi1756]

This was my first fire emblem game, i kept getting told to play awakening by everyone but decided to just jump into the newest game. I kept getting told it's too complicated for new players but, I ended up loving it. I rarely get so engrossed in a game, and I didn't find it too complicated at all. Some of the stuff did get a bit overwhelming at the beginning but the game was so captivating it just pulled me in and I lost whole days playing it. It's by far one of my favorite games. I agree with everything in the video though, the characters felt flat, the somniel was just a lot of running around, the story was extremely bland minus a couple of parts here and there, etc... but despite all that I've ended up replaying this game twice now and I never do that with games so soon. I say go for it, you may like it.

[@bobd3749]

@June Hanabi Awesome thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it so much, I think this might just push me to get it haha. I'm curious, had you played any strategy games before this, or was this your first strategy game too?

[@sakutaro3musik486]

I Played many FE Games by now and think you can Start with whichever catches your interest the most. But if you want to have some help for the decision whether to start with Engage or 3 houses, then I will provide you with the key fact for each Game. Fire Emblem 3 houses was more focus in the RPG Part, social interactions, better characters that have more dimensions and a good story but you have to play it a lot since the story os split in 3 Routes. But There is one route that gives you all the informations you need in the first run which would be the Golden deer. If you want to play all Routes then blue lions would be the best Start point. Black Eagle would be the best last route. If you prefer the strategie part and like the battle System theb pick engage. It has much better mechanics and balance on top of giving you really cool abilities you can mix and Match. It also provides much better animations.

[@bobd3749]

@Sakutaro〈3musik @Sakutaro〈3musik Thank you very much for the recommendations! I've seen a few episodes of a 3 Houses Let's Play and personally I don't think I'd enjoy spending so much time at the monestary with all the social stuff. So I think Engage would be better for me. I wish they had demos of these games, that way I could know for sure lol. I'm curious, which of those 2 games did you like better overall?

[@_Sinduss]

@@bobd3749 not the person you asked but I will give my 2 cents. 3h is a game where the more I played it the less I liked it. I very much enjoyed my first play through but with subsequent play throughs I started to dislike it as its flaws became more apparent. It is kind of unfinished it promised 4 different routes but two are basically identical, one is very similar and the different one is rather short. Using the monastery optimally is super tedious especially fishing. Class balance is awful. Hard mode is way too easy and maddening mode is a slog in the early game with a potential softlock half way through. It may sound like I'm shitting on it but I will reiterate that you will not notice these flaws until your second play through at least. Engage is definitely gameplay first but people are overplaying how bad the writing is. The writing is not great but it's not a fates (absolutely awful). Writing quality varies between character some are basic some have a bit more depth. The game is designed around permadeath where 3h is not so unless a character is a main royal, vander or spoiler do not expect them to have any main story significance after the map they are recruited in as they could very well be dead (you can still keep everyone alive quite easily). Engage gives allot of replacement units as you will recruit new units almost every map. Finally for the first time they balanced the hardest difficulty properly instead of just inflating enemy stats. If you do decide to play engage I recommend hard mode but do not be afraid to drop the difficulty if for finding it too tough as it takes a while to learn Fe conventions.

[@MrJakeSuperior]

I agree with many of the criticisms here, and while I very much enjoyed the game, I'm also disappointed with how some things went. I'm not a huge fan of dressing up my characters, but if I change their outfits, it feels weird that I rarely get to see them in their new clothes. Nothing bothered me more than allowing the Hounds to run away only to face them again a few maps later. I appreciate they've built an end game to give the game more longevity, but it could have benefitted with a bit longer and more in-depth story like you suggest.

[@matthew3955]

My biggest dislikes (FWIW this is my 6th Fire Emblem if you don't include FE Heroes): -Not enough SP especially for new characters, wish the Somniel could help there -Too many one dimensional & shallow characters and meh supports (however i liked yunaka's VA - same person as Catherine from FE3H) -Predictable plot -No New Game Plus (not asking for something big since i know T. Trials exist) -For Emblem Bond Rings supports, i would've prefer only 1-2 longer instead 3 super short supports -Annoying UI: Inventory not grouping the vulnerary and elixirs together, makes going thru the inventory a huge pain (was not a problem in FE3H) -Some maps I would've liked to use more characters as LinkKing summed that up well LinkKing did well covering the dislikes on a holistic level!

[@shasta_creates]

I think the characters being over-the-top and cartoony really did a disservice in terms of selecting who I would bring with me to battle. With hindsight, everyone who stayed off the bench for me were all the characters that were deeper than a rain puddle, and even then, not all of them met that criteria. I enjoyed Engage and I would say I liked the simplicity of it, including the story, but you can have a light story and still have interesting and non-cringeworthy characters. I wanted to use Alcryst, I really did, but him hating himself so often and so much made him irredeemable.

[@Acot03]

I feel like, compared to 3 houses, I had to create a reason to form an attachment to a character to make them my favorite. In 3 houses, the characters themselves gave me the reason to like or dislike them.

[@TheRedScizor]

My problem with 3H is that all the characters are basically wearing the same outfit making them all kinda blens together at first whereas with a game like Engage I can get an idea of what they are about just at a glance.

[@narkona1084]

@@TheRedScizor I agree about 3H, but I can't stand Engage character designs for almost the opposite reason. Characters in engage are mostly visually overdesigned. There is just way too much going on to the point that many of them look ridiculous. Even though the school uniforms make sense in 3H, it got very boring to look at as well. I miss the more standard designs. I think the best designs they had were the GBA and GC games. But even something closer to Awakening would be acceptable to me. It actually kind of hurts seeing the Emblem ring characters next to the Engage characters. Just a direct comparison on how much better the designs used to be.

[@k-dawg7867]

I get attached to characters based on their value as units, so I had no trouble here.

[@matmil5]

3H fans after being gaslit into liking Marianne just bcause she has deppression for the 33rd time:

[@ariepaul8647]

Say what you want about the villains and story, but Corrupted Lumera was awesome and my mind will not be changed.

[@hansgretl1787]

Really? She was literally just Mikoto again, in every single way. It's one thing to have tropes or archetypes, but I don't think they have ever ripped off an older FE character this blatantly.

[@rockowlgamer631]

While her early death was dumb, the music during the fight was what made it good.

[@Heatranoveryou]

Cringe

[@rockowlgamer631]

@@Heatranoveryou and the guy that says it

[@thelostician]

@@hansgretl1787 lumera is mikoto done right

[@techpriest6962]

*The honest truth is pretty ugly.* The Short Version: Nintendo put a New developer as the lead for the game who had no experience. A basic "Yes Man" who likes action games and not turn based tactics games, and was heavily influenced by Nintendo wanting to aim for a New Younger Audience which meant dumbing down the game, and making it flashier. The Long Version: If you read the "Ask the Developers" interviews that were released. The guy in charge (Tsutomu Tei), had never been a director of a game at IS before, and seemingly never discusses having any previous experience working on a FE game. So while I can't say what his previous role was, if any, it doesn't seem to be significant enough to mention in his bio. I'd link the Nintendo article, but KZbin is pretty finicky with links these days. (Typing Ask the Developer Vol. 8, Fire Emblem Engage Part 1, 2, and 3 should get you too it) If anything, just someone picked by Nintendo to lead the development. Listening to the other two employees of Nintendo that were in the interview. Tei and the two mention wanting to "appeal to a broader audience" and saying that RPG mechanics such as the Awakening / Fates marriage system took too long to play out in the game. According to them it "wan't fun" so they developed the Emblem Ring idea instead. With the goal of intruding the "fun elements" early on. I'll quote the Nintendo stooge "Higuchi: We wanted to introduce this fun element for players as early as possible. I felt that the fun of tactical RPG games wasn't as intuitive or immediate as that of action games." So basically you had Nintendo heavily influencing the game with employees who were more interested and familiar with Action games than tactics RPGs. Then from the games IS developer, "Tei: People often say that turn-based tactical RPGs seem difficult or too complicated... In fact, I’m not very good at them myself." Take of that what you will, I take it as even the new IS dev wasn't interested in making a Tactics game. Just taking orders and advice from his Nintendo handlers. "Tei: We had several candidates. We were looking for an artist whose design style would appeal to a broad audience - including younger players - as well as the ability to portray a variety of characters. Among the candidates, Mika Pikazo-san's drawings were colorful, vivid, and really popped! They were a perfect fit for the flashy direction we wanted for this title." So from that we can see the "broader audience" meant appeal to children. In spite of marketing toward long time fans, which makes no sense since new players and young players would not get any of the references. So basically they tried to do both and focused on the younger new audience by lying to the older one. As it would seem, the games development and design was all over the place. Trying to create a game for a new younger audience, while throwing a bone to the old players to make it seem like they were not being abandoned when they were. As for another section about their Artist choice that influenced the game in a bad way. "Tei: Well, I thought it'd be better to be upfront about the request. That said, there was one concern she had. Since she usually draws young characters, she was concerned about her confidence level in some of the character design." So to answer why all the characters were loli or V-tuber style. It's because that's the only style the artist knew, and he went with it. Also, it also turns put it was her idea to make toothpaste-chans hair color red and blue. As before Tei just went with whatever he was told, advised, or requested. From everything I have read, Tei should never be in charge of any product. Unless he was specifically chosen because he just follows orders and has no skill as a leader or director. "Tei: As I mentioned at the beginning, I'm not very good at strategy games myself, so during development, I hoped to create a game that even those like me would want to try out or find interesting."

[@techpriest6962]

I couldn't have been more disappointed in everything Engage did. The Break mechanic forced the game to be more offense focused like an action game. Making counter attackers / defensive play styles obsolete. Not to mention, FE3H introduced the idea of player choice. Where Engage had none of it. The characters were all one dimensional and cringe. With generic "Hahaha I'm evil" villains. No deeper motivations until the death scenes which far too little character exploration far too late. Lets not start about how dreadfully short the class list was or the weapon list. FE3H had the right idea letting the players equip any melee weapon to a class instead of V1, V2, or V3 of the same class. I could go on... as a writer I can write a better plot outline for a tactics game in a day. Though that's not saying much compared to Engages plot.

[@techpriest6962]

On top of this, people need to stop defending the artist. The artist warned the dev they were not experienced with FE designs. They need to be upset with Tei, as he went with a Vtuber artist for a FE game who only knew how to design child-like characters.

[@techpriest6962]

I would never recommend this game to anyone.

[@AstraProc]

Not sure how much I agree with all of this but I will say it is weird to try and make a strategy game appeal to a younger audience, since I think strategy games fundamentally aren’t something most children will be interested in. In that sense, I feel there is a disconnect between the tactical gameplay that typically interests mid/late teens and above and the extremely silly, immature story.

[@techpriest6962]

@@AstraProc That is a good point, as kids typically have a short attention span. Tactics games as a result are not appealing to such players. Which is why Engage did so much to try and speed up the gameplay and make it flashy; aspects that appeal to kids. While also dumbing down the games combat, social, and character aspects. Though at cross purposes with what the game is meant to be. It really was a typical case of a big publisher "Nintendo" trying to chase a imaginary larger audience because of the success of mobile FE: Heroes. Instead of appealing to its existing base and trying to create a reliable income source.

[@Zabes10]

I like the game, however I know is not perfect a least for me the thing that they should have more of the focus deities aspect sinces is never clear how and why whould anyone pray or care for the fell dragon especially after what he did to the kings, also I would have liked if they made a more chapter (paraloges) where we see how the rest of the world treats alear since in this game he/she is also consider a deity. Thats honestly why I really like the Pandreo and Mavier support so much and wish there were more like it

[@samhall5096]

Fe8 Selena Fluorspar A general of "the bad guys" army. Raised in poverty and was shown kindness by the emperor. That is what inspired her to serve her country. In ch2 she pays the MC to protect THEIR citizens. She is later killed in battle knowing that something is wrong but staying faithful to the ruler that gave her everything. She was practically the embodiment of a "good" aligned character. This is a GBA game. THAT is powerful narrative. You can kill "bandit x" all day, but what about a good person on the other side?

[@UNKNOWN-ov7md]

I firmly disagree about Selena providing a powerful narrative. While she starts strong, providing an interesting view of her character the first time shes's seen, she quickly tumbles down as a character, with her narrative of 'good person among the enemy army' declining in quality the more she appears, culminating in her map, where she decides to keep fighting even after being explicitly told that Vigarde is completely gone and that there's no way to bring him back, who is doing nothing but damaging Grado and it's citizens, and she still decides to fight Ephraim knowing all this. ...Also, um, not to be *that* guy, but I'm pretty sure that Fluorspar is a title, not surname.

[@yunoandi4673]

I really liked it, but the replayability just isn't there for me. I played Awakening, Fates, Sacred Stones(Eirika and Ephraim Routes) and Three Houses multiple times.

[@LadyViolet1]

13:30 I played the tempest trials, but only once I could cheese it on a high level (around 30-40 is worth it, 40 if possible) with a thief and spam end turn for the first two maps. And only for upgrading the 3H bracelet weapons since Areadbhar doubles weapon might with atrocity. This gives you a light 9 weight 40 might lance with atrocity at its max might upgrade, and 30 might on player phase without using atrocity since it still gives you an extra 50% might (20 base might which you'll only see on enemy phase). The tempest trials don't give XP on maddening until post game, but I still find it worth it *just* for the 3H bracelet if you have the DLC. Other than that I upgraded Sigurd's Ridersbane since it's effective damage.

[@calvincoolidge5795]

Relay battles can occasionally give you master seals. Meaning it’s a way to get a free limited resource early in the game. It depends if the time spent to play them is worth it too you, but they are quick, just to 2 to 3 rounds of combat, and after you play in relay trials. You can use the arena again, meaning that it’s almost like having free exp too.

[@vanilla1749]

Ooh, sounds like i’m spending hours grinding those. Thanks!!

[@alphadawg550]

Thanks so much for highlighting the recruitment piece - I'm glad someone shares the same sentiments. Although I am having fun with Engage, this is one of my biggest issues when "going back to the old roots" of FE. I grew up with FE 7 and 8 on the GBA and also PoR on the Gamecube. I absolutely LOVED recruiting characters in those games from the whole Harken vs Karel, training up Bartre for Karla, and re-recruiting Shinon to name a few. The fact that most characters joined on their own in addition to very few/simple "Talk" actions were needed was a bit of a letdown. To each their own but it added an additional element that to me made FE stand out a bit from other games while also simultaneously rewarding the player.

[@malcovich_games]

I did kinda enjoy Engage's action movie plot for the first time by turning my brain off. And I'd take how Engage's villain gets his power near the end of this game, than how a character in Sacred Stones just hands the villain his win condition... (Look, I know what that character hoped to achieve with the villain, but I just don't buy it. It's just a dumb move.) Engage's gameplay is so great I immediately replayed it to try building different characters. I wish Engage had Awakening/Fates's boon/bane system though, give me the option to make Alear a viable mage from the get-go. OH YEAH, the Four Hounds... please. At least have them vary what rings they equipped. Imagine Marni with Sigurd and a cavalry brigade, or Griss with the Creator Sword, or Zephia spewing terrains. That would mean they need to rewite the story so that they have some of the "second half" rings for one mission, but that might be what we need to have Four Hounds be more varied than what we got.

[@kaedegrv]

I must say I can't agree on the fact that this game is better than three houses, but that's because I highly appreciatte a good plot and good characters. Three houses surprised me because it treated war as it should be treated, not as a simple kids game or a good vs evil thing. In engage I'm struggling to even complete my frist playthrough because I just don't have the urge to know what happens. Gameplay-wise is probably better, but I'm clearly not going to replay this game. All paralogues are the same, they are grindy and boring, they bring no actual plot to the table. It's probably fine if you are the kind of person who just loves the challenge of beating a difficult game, but people like me, who enjoy the challenge but the real fuel is discovering what will happen next, are going to prefer 3 houses. Man, I miss the attachment I felt to those characters, the sountrack, the time lapse... Engage is so bland in comparation. As you say, this game is not a failure, but I'll just remember it as another FE game.

[@nehylen5738]

I wholeheartedly agree with all those negatives, to which I'd like to add another big one in the link between gameplay and emblems: depriving you of them for such a long part of the game due to the story might be alright story-wise, gives a sense of loss...But it sucks gameplay-wise. It simply forbids some characters from evolving properly. Especially the original ones you get, which ties in with one of your reproaches. I've been a fan since PoR myself, loved Engage's gameplay, which feels like a good evolution overall (even if I deem it inferior to Fates), picking a few of the elements that worked with 3H(Engage attacks are like Battalions done right), but making them more IS than Koei Tecmo. I wish inheritance wasn't as stupidly expensive, and you had more skill slots, but that'd require re-balancing stuff around. Having barely touched the relay battles & tempest trials, for now I'm not enthusiastic about them, and it seems much less interesting to me at 1st glance than what Fates used to have. And for which I had set up a whole gameplan of skills acquisition for each of my characters on my 2nd run.

[@korinoriz]

The thing about story is, it's simple which I know a lot of people don't like these days, and there's certainly parts I can see people not liking. But I feel the fact we're coming off of Three Houses was a major whiplash for people, especially the Three Houses only crowd. Which I feel made it seem worse to people than it actually is. Cause its tone is the polar opposite, so it's not really fair to compare it. It's a similar shift from Thracia to Binding Blade. Of course it's all subjective at the end of the day, and that's just me, but it really peeves me people are essentially comparing apples to oranges more often than on its own merits. Again, there are reasons to not like it everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but a lot of the story criticism I've seen from my experience tends to just end up being Three Houses comparisons.

[@benjaminborkowski12]

I always see this when people say Engage's story is bad, and it always feels like deflection to me. Engage and Sacred Stones are very similar in how simple the story is. However, Sacred Stones character are generally well liked and Lyon is considered one of the best Villains in the series, Engage characters however are divisive if they're good or not, and the Villains are generally disliked. You're right, Simple doesn't mean bad, but you can write good simple stories and bad simple stories.

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

​@@benjaminborkowski12 The reality is, people simply compare it to 3H because it was the last FE game. Engage always failed on its own merits first and foremost, people simply use 3H as an example because it succeeds where this game fails.

[@brianwinters2285]

The better units every other chapter was getting on my nerves most of the game. The only unit I felt comfortable investing in was Alear because they are the MC. To add insult to injury the newer units come with way more SP then the beginning units. Starter units in this game has no advantages over the later units. My first FE was 3 houses and after playing engage I prefer 3 houses way of recruitment over engage. At least I didn't have someone outclass my units every other chapter. So I can focus making the units I have work. Engage gameplay is great but the investing and building up units is what sold this franchise to me. And Engage just shits on that.

[@Korican189]

Not a major gripe, a majority of characters from this game and Fates were Royals/Lords and their 2 retainers a piece. 30 of the 36 characters here were a Lord and retainer(s). Yunaka, Anna, Jean, Seadall, Lindon and Saphir.

[@thomask4538]

I think it become more ridicules base on how 10 (might have forgot someone) characters end up having their own classes. I get the main future ruler, but seeing their siblings felt a little crazy.

[@DeadSpaceWing]

Also, if I hear one more thing about Maddening Mode, I will go mad.

[@ramenrider1792]

I'll elaborate below but its going to be a very long post so the TLDR is I think the opposite about what was said about this game not being a good starting point because to me, other than gameplay at the hardest levels of the game all other aspects of this game feels like it was made for children to try and bring in a newer audience to the series as opposed to being made for the series fans. As someone who's fire emblem journey started with the more complex story telling nuance and verging paths of Three Houses and Three Hopes, this whole games story just felt so lackluster and the characters felt so hard to care about. The only thing that motivated me to even start a second playthrough, which I since haven't touched after playing the first few levels, was there was units that I fucked up that the first time that I really wanted to try and build more correctly this time. But also the lack of new game + as well was a real bummer cus I was looking forward to going forward into a new game with, I dunno, something, like at least the donation levels carried over maybe so the gold I spent on them the first time didn't feel so wasted. But on the flipside content wise the the game really doesn't have enough depth to have a new game+ I suppose. Otherwise if you removed some of the resource restriction that most new game+ modes typically tend to do, especially with the DLC, you'd just be so overpowered at the start that you'd be able to snowball that power spike through the rest of the game and remove most of the challenge. By far one of my biggest problems with this game is the Somniel grind and the fact that unlike 3 house you cant just chain battles one after another and farm as you want and then go back and you wont have missed any loot, drops or interactions as long you visited the monastery at least once in the month. You literally have to go back after every fight or you're giving away free bond fragments, loot drops and training opportunities that you would otherwise have and putting yourself at a disadvantage. Particularly in the late game with the max levels of all activities unlocked this can take ages before you get back into the action. It just sucked to me. The way it handles ally conversation is also terrible. Other games each ally you grow a character with seemingly reveals a new trait to the character with how they interact with different members of the cast. This game, as you've said, each interaction just further emphasizes the ONE singular thing that sets apart that character further. But what pissed me off more was you'll go back after key story missions and all of 2 allies will have something to say about what happened and the rest just don't give a fuck... like at all. They just lost their friends and allies but man isn't it a lovely time to be alive on the Somniel guys! *Spoilers ahead* Compare when you lose the emblems in engage to when Jeralt dies in 3 houses or when you kill a former student in a mission if you didn't manage to recruit them. Like when Jeralt dies, every time you visit the monastery in that month all the characters are talking about it. The in game music in the monastery for that month is this sombre tune that plays instead of the usual BGM cementing this sense of loss that you could do nothing about and makes you feel powerless and lost without your characters father figure around. Even with the power to reverse time you were left helpless, but life had to go on. When you lose the emblems you go back to the Somniel, the same old happy go lucky music playing in the background and aside from like Crown princes/princesses & maybe Vander, no one seems to give a shit that you just lost a solid chunk of your chance to save the world and that the rulers of three out of five nations are now dead as fuck if you include Lumerra's death before it even gave you a chance to get to know or care about her. The fact that seemingly no one in this game can just be a villain was also a draw back. The only people that stayed villains were just two bit chumps that never got any development like the Elusian generals in the early chapters. Every major villain seemingly gets this redemption arc when meeting their end or just outright changes allegiance to aid you. I would like the enemies to have more depth but the way they tried to give it to them, It's like this real watered down kiddie story telling that's trying to tell you "They may be Villains but there's a bit of good to be found in everyone you meet." I gotta be honest. It just made them feel really half baked and wishy washy about their motives. Like yeah in 3 houses you could recruit the other houses members, but if you didn't they were committed to the cause and the leaders of the other houses didn't falter or pivot because they became "villains" while doing what they thought was right and so they didn't regret what they did, only that they couldn't convince you their path was the right one. After starting with 3 houses as my intro to fire emblem I was just so fucking disappointed with this game of what honestly felt like fire emblem for kids by comparison. Other small downgrade's to me were the whole gaining support rep with your allies in battle. In 3 houses if they were in range to attack the enemy you fought you gained rep with the ally. In this one they have to be stood adjacent to you so who ever you lead with is usually really hard to grow any rep with. Also, and players of the older games can correct me if I'm wrong here cus I haven't played enough FE games to be 100% on this but I thought it was pretty established lore that most of the dragons in FE series have a greenish colouration to their hair. This game has like what 4 dragons in it? 5 if you count the Tiki emblem ring and Tiki is literally the only one to have the green hair. All the new dragon characters for go what I believed to be this established lore in favour of this shitty flavour of the month Vtuber art style where they cant make an interesting character unless they make them look like they belong in a new Yugioh series with some physics and logic defying hair cut and outfit... and even with that they still failed to make any truly interesting characters, very style over substance character design and it did not pay off, at least to me anyway.

[@LinkKing7]

I love it when people leave thesis level comments like these haha, always great to read it all and see the thought process!

[@ramenrider1792]

@@LinkKing7 I ain't even gonna cap man, as you can see, I had clearly been waiting to get that off my chest. Soon as your video got to "Let's address the elephant in the room, the story..." I started formulating my comment. I was like "My time has come!" As someone who mainly plays RPG's and especially JRPG's for the story told and characters tales. Like this has to be maybe one of the worst JRPG's in recent memory in that aspect. It just felt like such a kids game when listening to the dialogue and watching the cut scenes. But to me the most frustrating part is like you said in your summation. Hidden somewhere under what may be the worst story ever told in a Fire Emblem game is some of the best action the series may have ever seen too. They just put soooo much garbage in between you and the action in the form of the entire existence of the Somiel.

[@dessam3939]

You nailed the boss variety because fighting some pattern of one time random boss to the next 4 chapters against Hounds for the 57th time definitely got old real quick. The Hounds were okay towards the end but I wish they all were fleshed out from the beginning instead of just shoehorning their stories into the mid to late game plot.

[@Eliwood29]

The only reason I would do relay trials is to get second seals/master seals earlier than the game would otherwise give them to you and in greater amounts but it can take a while. but yep this pretty much sums it up I just wish we could have a fire emblem with both a decent story and decent gameplay again we seem to be switching between the 2 every game where fates story was dogshit 3H was decent and now Engage is dogshit again and the gameplay does the same in reverse (sorta 3H isn't that bad but it is exhausting to Monastery the amount u need to which doesn't feel great)

[@Game3Free]

10:52 dang, the standard battle prep song and the Somniel music box are mediocre? that's some high standards if Dinner in Elusia didn't make the cut. Ch 8, 10, & 11 was my peak Engage experience *spoilers ahead* the Brodian royal family dynamic at the end of Ch 8 was a rare bit of solid characterization that setup and was paid off with their battle dialogue in Ch 10. Alcryst saying he has to put down his father to spare his brother from doing so? SHEESH, that sounds like something Diamant would say, not the self-deprecating guy that grovels at your feet the first time you meet him. add to the fact that when i destroyed the door in pt 1 of the map, and the music track intensifies with the chanting...unforgettable. and finally Ch 11 is a great example of making the player feel more vulnerable than they actually are. playing without an Emblem is one thing, but playing without the Time Crystal is def a vibe

[@lux3239]

I will honestly say that Tempest and Relay Trials are fun and more people need to play them. My only grip with Relay Trials is that they should be harder. The map making online thing is fun too but nobody plays it since you don't really get any rewards. If they structured it more like Aether Raids from FEH the game mode would have been way better.

[@ElectricBookWorm]

My first FE game was three houses and I loved it. Engage just doesn't hit the same due to its one story path and it being so shallow. I replayed houses several times. I'm not sure if I will get around to replaying engage though. Just the two cents of a series noob though.

[@dspellcaster1027]

I feel like for every step forward they took 3 or so back. I want to get the support conversations but dear lord not having a static non leveled map for it is a pain. 95% of what you said strikes true with me. Also the Hub worlds...you would think they would learn but no... I play the tempest trials to test play builds I made. That's about it. I have put about 150 hours on record, probably more into this game and I just don't want to do it again sadly. Actually currently playing Persona 5 at 500 hours again and still enjoying it. This game is like Fates to me in it being a Fire emblem game I will probably put down and forget about.

[@junehanabi1756]

I like the relay trials because i don't have to spend hardly anytime with it, I just start or continue a battle, play 3 or so turns, and then move on and do something else in the game. It's very short and quick. Later on I can come back and see if it got finished or not, collect my rewards which there's often a ton of, and enjoy. One of the best parts is you can often get at least 1 permanent stat boost item every relay trial which adds up. So for minimal time to invest in a battle, I'm pretty happy with the rewards i get in return. Outrealm was fun but got boring, you don't get any rewards, i haven't even done tempest trial but Ive heard you barely get anything from it and it takes considerable time. So I just use Relay trials which showers me with items and often a single permanent stat boosts all for spending like 3 turns in a single battle.

[@ariangulick9249]

I agree with most of your gripes and overall assessment; I'd just add that the game is frustratingly opaque in explaining some of the systems in play. Like, on my first playthrough I never bothered to click on the "achievements" on my desk at the Somniel; why would I? I finally did about halfway through and it's like, "oh here's like 25k bond fragments, probably would have been useful when you were levelling but we didn't think you needed to know that, please understand :)" Most of the things that annoy me (bland, boring story and cringe factor) I have either just accepted as series tropes or necessary for attracting a larger playerbase for the games so they can be profitable enough to keep making. Which, if I've gotta deal with a bunch of overly obnoxious animu characters, thanks for at least letting me skip dialog. One day they'll nail a story with 3 Houses more appealing cast/"better" story with the better mechanics/maps/systems of Engage and I'll be super happy. Or they'll remaster the Tellius games, whichever.

[@DarknessDpa]

There can be things to be said here about some of the stuff but most of those are probably due to my relaxed nature when I play games in general where as long as I am having fun, small things don't impact me as much. I haven't finished the story yet but I do like it a lot more than 3 Houses one in some regards due to how I saw 3 Houses. The character thing is fine to say since most do just have 1 or 2 narrative this about them except that there are some good ones in there if you search hard enough like Yunaka and Panette (Who I have at B atm). 3 Houses did probably do supports a lot better but I don't mind the supports here since there are still a lot of them but definitely feel a lot shorter which is nice so I just need to spend 5 to 10 minutes on something that took over an hour and I think that is one reason why things might be how they are. Recruitment for allies are also just more with how they change things and I would agree that older games have more unique recruitment strategies but I would still say things are just alright for this game. (But I heavily disagree on enemy recruitment that can beat your ass to attempt to hire like Ayra only because of how much of a pain it can be, without save states I probably would not bother recruiting those characters if things remained difficult) Other recruitments could still have been added here tho since like with 3 Houses, the Talk action was hardly used. Music unfortunately is something I disagree here because a whole lot of the non-Somniel music here is a banger to me even if some are better than other's. The Somniel stuff if one that is based on my personality since I do go and collect my junk before a map, do Training, Wyvern Ride, Arena, Cook, and plan. The only thing that is now mainly skipped is the Fishing and that bonus market since once I money farmed, I had no need for Bond Fragments much and that Market sells Jack Diddley of things. I still feed Sommnie only because they do make certain other facilities a lot easier to do and I don't mind doing that. As for the Tower thing I would probably use it if the materials needed to Enhance weapons weren't so high in terms of the time it would take me to just boost 1 weapon doesn't feel worth. That being said T Trials didn't care much, Relay Trials are actually interesting even if the rewards are low and don't mind those, and I haven't done any map building for the 3rd one. That's probably all the meat and potatoes that I can say atm as most other things are just either seems good to me with what they did or just didn't care enough about that aspect and I can definitely say that I would play this game again and I haven't even finished playing through it yet. You can probably come up with some interesting things just like 3 Houses but less tedious and I wouldn't mind trying some things like a Female only run since there are a lot of girls that I want to use but I have people that are already invested to my liking. (Like how I didn't use Panette because I already had a good Boucheron.) But anyways I don't know if there will be an "I don't like this thing" video but if there is then I'll say some other things there may be but that's it for me with this long oversized comment.

[@sermartinlaw]

Agree with the general writing being well below average, but I think that the positives regarding the inclusion of the emblem rings outweigh the negatives. Their maps and movesets felt like Smash Bros tier reverence for the source material. It was disappointing that they really felt left out of the story though. Also idk what you're talking about regarding the music, to my ears it was in top form for this game.

[@mateusgreenwood1096]

At lot of FE fans call the story of FE7 shit but at least the non lord characters in that game are memorable and endearing and in FE8 we have characters like Joshua and Cormag stealing the spotlight despie not being important, or leif in FE4 having the best revenge in the series. You just don't get that in engage. It's still a huge improvement over 3H's rubbish maps, non-gameplay and fragmented nonsensical story but i wish they just took the story seriously. Engage, awakening, and fates feel like they were writen for toddlers and turns out they were writen by the same person.

[@peytonibarra8992]

Fail? No. Was the best? Also no. That's a hard bar to beat though. Genealogy is in my opinion the best FE game ever made, in terms of story, gameplay and style. There aren't any bad FE games to be honest. Some are a bit rough, sure, but the series puts out solid games.

[@riyuphoenix4533]

The games strong points was it's overall gameplay, Maddening provides a fairly decent challenge. Giving you characters at the start with abysmal stat growths, and having to change virtually you entire team because most new recruits beyond chapter 10 are such much better is irritating. Ment I really didn't want hardly one taking exp away from Alear or Chloe became a chore. The builds you can make are fun. Somniel is boring AF. Characters look amazing, story was average.

[@logiceraser]

I did relay trials solo. Rewards are better on solo since you get to get everything. (Trick to solo 2 turn clear: Warp, Rewarp, Thoron one shot counter)

[@TheFierburn]

Honestly couldnt disagree more on the point about the music being bad. Yeah its not as banger as three houses but cmon there are so many excellent tracks. Chapter 10/11 is top tier, solm ofc and Ivy's boss music is also great. Trial stuff ofc also amazing. the list goes on.

[@Requinix17]

The somniel is absolute hell for completionists/OCD like me. I know the activities aren't worth it, and I hate every single activity, but I do them anyway because there are marginal rewards.

[@AstraProc]

I actually found that I had to do a lot of them out of desperation for primarily bond fragments in my maddening iron man. If you don’t rig the rng for the gacha crap, then it absolutely devours your bond fragments, which sucks since certain S rank rings are really nice to have and you also have limited time to get them. You barely have time to get Olwen before you lose Leif, so you can absolutely get fucked by the gacha system. I don’t think wanting to minmax a game should require having to do boring as fuck mini games, walk around and play out the same petting animation over and over and over. Really drags out the game in a bad way and hurts the tight replay value I love in fire emblem.

[@Luna-pk7gz]

Ngl, Even FE4 I'd say in it's side cast were also really undercooked and underdeveloped like I could not tell you anything about characters like Tailtiu or Fee, besides Tellius, I feel most FE games suffer from casts who are basically nothing characters. Idk, ig imo, I think judging a game based on it's own merits without comparing to other games is more fair but that's just me.

[@davidtolbert8446]

Hmmm there are definitely undercooked/developed characters in FE 4 due to the lack of support conversations but the talk conversations I feel make Tailtiu more deep and involved than 90% of Engage's cast. We learn tailtiu is a fun adventurous girl who comes from a troubled, toxic, politically nefarious noble household and seizes the opportunity to escape by accompanying Claude. She feels insecure about her families reputation but learns to gain confidence in herself by relying on her friend Azelle and others in the army who respect her despite her background. She is a loving sister who is even able to convince her sister to betray their family as well in support of Sigurd and although nervous and desperately not wanting to fight her father, is willing to do what she must for her friends and family. She tries to flee with her children to Silesse but is found and dragged back a traitor only to be horribly abused turned from an innocent friendly girl to a depressed and desperate mother who is only able to protect her daughter and never gets to see her son again. Although she succombs to abuse she is able to protect her daughter and both their children remember her as a great and kind woman. Compare that to 90% of Engage's cast that has no real relevance to what is happening to the story other than that their country is under threat.

[@Luna-pk7gz]

@@davidtolbert8446 again, games like FE4 and 5 also suffer from this, and while.I agree it's an issue with Engage, it's just been a series wide issue besides Tellius and Three Houses.

[@potatothingy4708]

I don’t disagree with you but Tailtiu is definitely not the example I’d use. Besides from having a good amount of complexity imo, she’s probably one of the more memorable Jugdral characters just for what happened to her

[@Luna-pk7gz]

like what does characters like Alec, Noish, Ronan, Marty, Osian, Larcei, Midir add to the story ? not much if anything imo

[@Luna-pk7gz]

@@potatothingy4708 fairs, I just did not find her memorable personally

[@SuzuriHeinze]

I made a map to try but no one seems to have tried it. :(

[@Wolves437]

I still cannot get past Alear. That character design is just horrible to me.

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

In some ways that's a good thing, because you'll never see how much of a monstrosity Hortensia is.

[@engr.reyes3]

I play relay trials for the chance of getting master seals, second seals, and if your units did well in battle, like killed the most units or most crits, you can get stat boosters

[@b.lakeberg7456]

I agree with your points on failure of Engage. I am having fun playing the core gameplay features. The story is lacking and I miss havibg a deeper experience when compared to previous entries. Imo Awakening did a better celebration of the series than Engage. The second generation of units provided a better investment opportunity than the bond ring system. I did like seeing previous beloved lords from the other games, but the execution of including them could be better. A core game that provides an opportunity to summon various past units with classic strategy battles is something I would enjoy.

[@DDRdavo]

Relay trials are an extremely easy way to get free mats, even stat boosting items and once you know how to do them you can knock one out in a minute or two, you’ll get speedwings, seraph robes, energy drops etc. I’ve done about 200 or so on my 1st maddening run and they can be fun.

[@alphabetbeer]

I'm on my second playthrough, and I have been skipping over 90% of the Somniel and a good half of the story beats. And I am enjoying it much more this time around. In that way it is kinda like old school FE, where all the non-main characters have limited to no characterization, and it is in their mechanics where I fill in the narrative myself. My Amber is a hotheaded daredevil with the Sigurd ring who can decimate a line of foes with a well timed Override and excels at harrying distant targets who would otherwise be a problem. Haven't heard one mention of Alpacas the entire time.

[@Das_Mexikaner]

I agree with your critiques and praise, with the exception that I personally find a lot of character designs to be pretty bad. Do you think you will revisit the game with mods at any point?

[@regulusking4299]

Engage felt middle of the road. Not much stands out about it in terms of story as it’s very basic, but it knows what it wants to do for the most part so there aren’t Fates level bad moments. Biggest negatives is the villain and trying to make them sympathetic at the last possible moment instead of building them up. Gameplay is mix. Battles and maps are good, but the grind for resources like money, materials, SP and even supports is annoying. Somniel while isn’t tedious as the Monastery bc it’s optional, it has no charm to it and the mini games feel pointless as they barely give anything great for long term use. I enjoyed Engage more than I thought I would mostly bc I was mega negative on it. It’s mostly just there

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

It wants to make me care about villains that have spent the entire game killing innocent people.

[@illusive-mike]

One note on the music: this is a big anniversary celebration game. SO WHERE'S THE FIRE EMBLEM THEME? Oh, you're holding it back for when this game's Fire Emblem appears? Neat, now let me boot up Three Houses and hear that motif in the main menu. Which one is more appropriate for the big homage game again?

[@BaselardFE]

I know music is incredibly subjective, but I am surprised the OST is in the negative. I thought it was all around great.

[@blueflameno.5013]

Engage is my second FE game after 3 houses and my take overall is while the gameplay is better in engage, I feel like it’s missing a lot of the mechanics soul 3 houses had. The characters, story, music and art style of 3 houses I enjoyed a lot more than engage and while engage has better gameplay. I don’t think 3 houses gameplay is that much worse so overall I still think I like 3 houses a bit better.

[@sakutaro3musik486]

I also prefer 3 houses. If they Rework FE4 next then you will love it. It's my favorite Fire Emblem and the closest to 3 houses

[@davidwampler7801]

I'm still on my first playthrough at exactly 25 hours in, and I'm only on Chapter 20 (Hard Mode). I'm grinding the HELL out of EVERYTHING, even though things like fishing are INCREDIBLY boring. I want to see all that I can do by grinding (Sacred Stones was my favorite game as a kid), and that included Tempest Trials. Tempest Trials provide a good bit of fun. You have to do three maps in a row for any rewards, including EXP, but they are a nice challenge (you can save in between maps like normal, but not like the Tower of Valni/Lagdou Ruins, where part of the challenge was no saving). During the first 20 levels, the enemies are almost always base classes, and you get infinite "turn wheel" uses. However, at level 21 is a MASSIVE difficulty spike, because you get the 10 turns wheels again, the enemies are suddenly all promoted, the maps are harder (team is split up into two teams of four, or completely surrounded, or you have quicksand on the desert maps, etc.), and the enemies usually just rush you with practically every unit. You also get less experience if you go "down" to the levels that aren't "recommended." However, as my characters get stronger, the Tempest Trials get easier, and now they are a breeze (my characters are around 17 promoted, after promoting from base at 20, so internal levels equal 37ish). while the first two levels are always region specific, the last level is always a variation of a battle on a sky map, which there are about 4 versions of. The first two maps are always "route the enemy," and the enemies rush you, but on the sky map your objective is "kill the boss" and enemies don't rush you unless you enter each unit's attack range. For this last map, you always start in such a way that enemies, particularly flying units, are already in range, so they will immediately attack on enemy phase, so your first few turns are about surviving the initial onslaught. But after that you can slowly make your way to the boss, and win at your own pace. The bonus crystals are, unfortunately, not worth it. The first Emblem weapon requires at least 10 crystals to enhance, the second requires 15, and the third needs 25 to enhance even one stat. But you can't enhance at all until you level up the bond between Emblems and characters (I think), meaning that initially you can't enhance at all, and it requires more and more bonds, more and more crystals, and more and more "capacity" slots, to enhance a stat. If you enhance a stat with 10 crystals in ONE "capacity" slot, it will take 15 crystals to upgrade that stat, but require TWO slots, etc. But seeing as it takes several Tempest Trial playthroughs to get even 10 crystals of the same type (and you have no control over which ones you get), it means that it will take a very long time to add buffs to weapons. But when you consider that the third tier Emblem weapons will be unlocking around the time that you could accumulate even 10 crystals for the first tier weapons, you quickly see that it isn't worth that much. For example, Lyn's Mulagir has 16 might for 9 weight, but her Killer Bow has only 9 might for 7 weight, so Mulagir is more reliable with Astral Storm than Killer Bow, even with MULTIPLE stat increases to the Killer Bow, so I've never upgraded Lyn's Killer Bow (or any of her weapons for that matter), even though she is one of the best Emblems. I haven't tested "stripping" crystals, so maybe that can help players move the crystals around, IDK. Again, I'm grinding, so I'm enjoying the process and I put the crystals where I think they should go. But, yeah, other than for grinding purposes, or to test yourself on some unique, challenging maps, they aren't worth it towards the main game. I've done one or two Tempest Trails in between each Level (in addition to one or two Skirmishes per level, which are also a lot of fun, with the same difficulty spike described above around level 21).

[@DogHairDontCare]

I don't know how you're at 25 hours and "grinding the hell out of everything" at chapter 20 hard mode. I hit 60 hours at chapter 20 on hard classic, didn't even do a tempest map until last night, and only did like 2 or 3 skirmishes. Do you literally skip all your support conversations and somniel activities after every battle?

[@davidwampler7801]

@@DogHairDontCare Lol, that should read "125" not 25, my bad.

[@Yarzu555]

For me I play FE for the gameplay and get my story itch scratched elsewhere. When the story is good like in Jugdral or Tellius it’s a pleasant surprise but I really like/need that tactical gameplay to be there. So I think Engage did a great job doing what it needed to do. Ideally it would be great to have both, but I’m gonna value better gameplay in FE like I’d value story in a Trails game.

[@Strawb_milk5]

Engaged leads with its worse foot forward. The early game characters personality sucks and their supports are so basics. Some of the later units have way better supports that are nice and add to the characters. I have how move is 4 and not 5 but i also blame 3 house as i really wanted a stride on my units. Like you said enemy's are just there i didn't care about the first death in the four hounds like at all because we got five seconds of characterization. The last two deaths where carried by the leader and other was there but didn't make it worse but still came way to late. It was nice not to have so many reused maps but honestly none are too memorable. Overall game has really good peaks and some bad lows but hits the meh middle ground a lot but i still enjoyed it.

[@hhjan594]

I'm a new fire emblem player and I only bought the game because I like the character designs I saw in the trailer. So far I am having fun. I definitely am not the hardcore player type and I just wanted to casually go through the plot in my first playthrough. Although the plot has been complained about a lot, I didn't really feel the cringe in the plot.... I must say I went in with 0 spoilers and I was guessing how the plot would go after every chapter, and I am indeed astonished at how predictable the plot goes, but overall I don't feel the cringe everyone is complaining about. Could be just because I don't have prior Fire Emblem game plots to compare with, or I am simply a person who is easy to be pleased by shitty plots.

[@sakutaro3musik486]

You will understand what the People mean if you play fire emblem 3 houses After engage. The character? World and story tone is totally different from the first 5 min on. I don't think engage has a bad story, but the tone is much more light hearted and predictable then most prior Fire Emblem games

[@VerveFEH]

That being said Solm's map theme do be one of the best bangers in a long time

[@bluedragonstudios9004]

One of the things I hated about engage is the whole allied kingdoms thing. I rather untie a new nation like in Three houses. Also Alear never turns into a dragon 😢

[@SvanEsch123]

It’s great and I’m enjoying myself immensely. I think the simpler social aspects and more traditional feel of the game works very well for an anniversary title. I just do genuinely hope that the next mainline title will take a page from Three Houses again. Especially the class system and skill inheritance flopped hard for me.

[@bizutable8452]

Three house without the muted hero and the agonizing infinte hub session between each battle plz

[@Hawkatana]

On an unrelated note, I see you too can appreciate the masterpiece that is the Mega Man Zero series.

[@rogeliocastellanos1576]

Relay helps when you get stuck, itr resets the somiel and the booster and seals are nice but you have to be an mvp for that, being the one who kills more, engage more , dodge more, etc, it gives you books helping the annoying sp farm but the gems for engage weapons well... the really lack on that they give you like 3 to 5 random gems , i prefer to use this mode to see how someone build theirs units and maybe try them in another rum. the tempest its pretty boring and useless a refine weapon will still be more powerfull than one of those, maybe its worth it for the dlc emblems cause you can refine them more times than normal emblems, but its something that i will never try cause tempest its boring to farm

[@SHADOWFRENZY92]

I forget what chapter it was but the snow area stuff was extremely disappointing. I was hoping for and expecting a lot more than we got, they could have done quite a lot there. Easily my biggest negative. Or maybe my second biggest, I really do not like Goldmary. There is also the over reliance on electric guitars in the remixed tracks. The non combat versions are great but only a few of the combat ones are any good.

[@Bulbamaster4851]

i just finished my own playthrough of the game and i genuinely believe yeah gameplay wise this game is fantastic, the characters are alright, designs are hit and miss, like boucheron or however you spelt his name was INSTANTLY benched because i caught one whiff of him and immediately kicked him to the side... i think 3 houses had overall better characters, but i think this game's gameplay is leagues better in general and i can't wait to do my maddening run to see just how much i can do to push my units to their limits. past that... i dunno i feel like the couple things i'm lacking are a story that i genuinely feel like could be settled by like, having a good hour long talk to the villians and just giving them what they wanted and we could have just avoided the war, which i don't think that is something you should have in your villians. a bit more depth to the characters, and like just overall story, it had several moments that just made me feel giddy but also like, annoyed, so i think this overall is a great game it just doesn't feel like a full fire emblem experience. gameplay wise, easily amazing... everything else? i would say mostly just acceptable but doesn't feel like i'm getting the full experience

[@kodaboren7145]

For myself, I was only disappointed in two things with Engage. First; You the main character, have several moments where you are a wet blanket. Second; I like to have the other characters bond, and possibly get together, either during the story, or after. I beat the game, and none of the characters got together. Don't get me wrong, the good definitely outweighs the bad, but still. Of the more recent FE games, for me, it's: Three Houses (first), then Awakening, Engage, then Fates.

[@AstraProc]

I agree with basically everything you said, aside from the music being mediocre; I think the soundtrack of this game is fantastic, though I dislike the lack of recruitment themes and underwhelming enemy phase themes. In regards to the Somniel, I really dislike it, so much so that I think the somniel alone is reason enough for me to still find the gameplay in an FE game like conquest quite a bit better. Picking up shiny stuff and the terrible loading screens only scratch the surface of the BS imo. In my maddening iron man run, I have found that the majority of the mini games give too many benefits to be ignored, meaning I wasted a crap load of time desperately fishing and running around for bond fragments. The ring gacha absolutely eats them up when one doesn’t rig the rng and the bond rings being limited in terms of when one can get them makes this even worse. The exercise mini games also eventually give a higher stat boost than what can be achieved by a tonic. However, even in my iron man where I was desperate for resources, I could not be bothered to do the wyvern mini game each time. Somniel ended up being almost as bad as I feared in terms of time waste, which is unfortunate and definitely hurts the replay value of the game for me, though not to the same extent as something like the monastery.

[@Joe_Silly_FEH]

The way you said the darth plagueis the wise line fucking killed me lmao

[@LinkKing7]

Thank god someone picked up on the analogy haha!

[@tjreed7797]

As someone who recently started FE with 3 houses up to engage, which FE game should I play next? (I prefer story more so than gameplay)

[@ixlness]

Tellius duology imo if you prefer story.

[@sakutaro3musik486]

Telluis has the best story. But if you don't want to make such a big grafik jump then you might give echoes a try before going into tellius

[@bobowon5450]

Tellius games are top tier story apart from one or two points. Path of radiance and radiant dawn were my intro to fire emblem and have remained my favorite fire emblem games

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

Awakening and Echoes if you have a 3DS. The former isn't that amazing, and one of the later villains is incredibly lame, but it's overall fine.

[@umo7043]

Okay I was with you until the music bit, the ost is straight heat.

[@jmagicd9831]

I’m only on chapter 10 but this all rings true, especially the story. Even Alear is poorly written. I’m just finished with chapter 9 realizing that exploration of the memory loss part of the story just isn’t coming. Big step back from 3 houses in that regard, but still, the maps are more fun so far. Maddening is better balanced, and the Somniel is less tedious than the Monastery. (Load times are garbage though)

[@jmagicd9831]

Also sad to hear that about the OST. I actually like the prep screen track, but nothing else stands out so far.

[@AsbakNL]

My main issues with the game is the art style and characters, compared to three houses it's not s step down it's falling down the stairs. Story wise it's just bland and basic. Three houses for it's flaws atleast tried it's best

[@kawabewa_8w8]

Fe engage felt like I watched one of those netflix sub-B original that you know is a waste of time but watch anyway to find out why someone decided to use the budget in such a way

[@TeeMac009]

I agree with basically all of your opinions in both videos. Thanks!