Fire Emblem: Three Houses' Greatest Strength -- and Engage's Biggest Worry

[@obba40]

They dont. They barely have any dialogue so they dont take away from anything. Its just fanservice and for gameplay

[@barcster2003]

Personally I'm pretty happy to have some of the cool skills available again.

[@Safcrine]

I personally have low expectations for Engage's main story. The main concern I have is that I hope the continent of Elyos is interesting and has more going on then what we've seen. I'd wager that a fully fleshed out world is what makes Fire Emblem so appealing. Three Houses and POR/RD were so interesting to me because their worlds were flawed and not just defeat the evil dragon and everything will be hunky dory. These worlds dealt with racism and classism in such a mature way that was only further boosted by the character writing for these games. The characters from these games genuinely feel like they live in and are a part of their worlds. I couldn't imagine Ike in Awakening or Claude in the world of Fates without completely changing their characters. I just hope the cast for Engage is actually interesting and not something like Fates where every character can be summed up in a sentence. Also based Ike and Ingrid enjoyer.

[@nuibaba280]

"Mature way" Three Houses did NOT deal with racism in any tasteful manner. Almyra and Duscur got completely ignored and their NPCs didn't even have brown or unique portraits in 3 Houses. Everyone including our main heroes casually brush aside Goneril having Almyran slaves. We never see Almyra's side of the story, just the better off Fodlan people going "savages! savages! savages!"

[@Safcrine]

@@nuibaba280 My bad. I shoulda specified POR/RD dealt with racism, whereas Three Houses dealt with classism. It's pretty hard to treat Holst as this legendary hero when he has slaves cleaning up after him, and yeah Duscur and Almyra should have been visibly darker. They just look a little tanned to me. I like that we're seeing visually darker skinned characters in Engage with Fogado and Timerra, Definitely makes Solm feel like a completely separate country.

[@Ianbits]

@@nuibaba280 I believe they're referring to how Tellius dealt with racism, not Fodlan

[@nuibaba280]

@@Ianbits They said "worlds" so I assumed he was including Fodlan since Claude's one of most iconic traits involve his apparent battle with racism.

[@aghadlarhen9397]

@@nuibaba280 I guess it'd be more appropriate to refer to Claude's struggle as opposing "xenophobia" as opposed to racism but yeah, the criticism still stands that it isn't handled very well.

[@myrrical2203]

Good writing is so important imo, so I really appreciate this video. No game has perfect writing but, I definitely think having nice and satisfying writing is what can really make a good game great. The supports and character depth that happens in FE is such a huge part of the series that I really I love. I think Engage’s has a lot of potential and I just hope it’s style and direction doesn’t come at the sacrifice of the writing. That all being said, I’m hoping all the worries we have rn in the community are proven wrong, we all really like it!

[@techpriest6962]

Lets be honest, Engage has the style and thought of a gotcha game. I doubt the plot is much deeper than Fire Emblem Heroes. Nintendo has sold its soul for money, and all its IPs are suffering for it.

[@myplantsaidno]

Three houses will always have a special place in my heart even though it is not the best Fire Emblem title. The amount of care put into the character supports is genuinely masterful and has caused me to become very attached to them. The main plot is lacking (something that I will say was improved a bit in Three Hopes) and the overall villains (TWSITD) are honestly pretty awful but the characters made the experience so much better. Engage seems to be going back to the traditional formula, in good ways and bad. The combat and overall gameplay looks like an improvement (even though I greatly enjoyed class customization in Three Houses), but the characters already feel like a step back even before I've played the game. I don't think I will feel that attachment to any other future characters like I have with Three Houses. Whether not it will greatly impact my experience is unknown until I actually play the game of course but I don't think me being a bit pessimistic is unwarranted like you said. (I didn't mean to go on a tangent lol)

[@gamerraito2153]

Pretty much share the same sentiments. I keep telling myself "I'm sure Engage is going to be a fun game; I'm excited for it! I just don't think it's going to be better than Three Houses." Nothing about the game narratively is giving me any confidence. While I wouldn't say Three Houses story was super complex or even perfectly executed, on paper it sounds WAY more interesting than Engage's Chosen One synopsis. This also brings the character writing's quality into question. Will I enjoy Engage's characters as much as Three Houses who I consider having the best characters in the ENTIRE series (that I've played so far)? My favorite part of Three Houses were its characters, and they further enriched its narrative into something truly engaging. And it's not because I feel returning characters will overshadow the new ones, in fact from trailers the Emblem characters feel more like accessories/power ups who may have some interesting interactions but won't steal spotlight from the new characters. ' I'm just worried about Engage's character writing in general, especially since the protagonist - Alear - doesn't seem to have such a unique personality so far where he comes off as kind and earnest, which are pretty basic personality traits. We'll have to wait and see, but regardless, I am genuinely looking forward to Friday!

[@mray4784]

Byleth din'd have much personality either.

[@gamerraito2153]

@@mray4784 Byleth was a unique take (but a fair bit flawed in execution) on a silent protagonist as the trope tied into their character and arc who you can see subtly change through their facial expressions and actions which humanize them, not to mention student and staff reactions dealt with their surface level characterization. And even if we don't take my admittedly unpopular opinion into account, Three Hopes Byelth - who has a voice now - and Shez seem way more interesting in personality than Alear in their promotional materials imo. It's not like I'm turning down Alear. I'm giving them a chance, but trailers hasn't given me an interesting impression of their character so far...

[@cartergreen2309]

As a massive fan of the shift Three Houses implemented and a fan of the Persona series I was really hoping that would be the direction going forward (also makes sense to do based on appeal) but as long as some form of GOOD support and decent enough story and characters are there the gameplay will obviously keep me in. I've just tempered my expectations some is all.

[@sptspoon6818]

Agree about the worry for Engage's story and characters. Fates is by far my least favorite game in the series because the story and characters in that game are so bad, so I hope that Engage does not repeat that. Early signs are that the gameplay for Engage is really good so hopefully that aspect is strong. Hopefully the story is better than the early signs indicate. Great video Ian, look forward to your full thoughts on the game!

[@Raventric]

Glad to see you making videos again Ian, used to watch your old content, I think this is far better quality, best of luck in your youtube journey, it will be hard at first! :)

[@Ianbits]

Thank you much!

[@therealjaystone2344]

I can say based on my research (nobody else did it): 1st generation of FE fans (1990-2001) was the ‘Kaga generation’ of the 90s from Shadow Dragon to Thracia 776”. Their best storyline FE game was Jugdral (Holy War). 2nd generation of FE fans (2002-2011) was the ‘Post-Kaga generation’ (in Japan) and the ‘original generation’ (in the West) of the 00s from Binding Blade to Raidiant Dawn. Their best storyline was the Telius games (PoR and RD). The 3rd generation of FE fans (2012-) was the ‘casual generation’ for the 10s to early 20s from Awakening to Engage. Their best storyline was Fodlan (3H and Hopes). Each generation had their games with the best story and depth. Most FE stories are mid and more on character gameplay. I can say Engage will be the second to last FE game to the germation as we are having a FE4 remaster coming aoon as its last for this generation. 2027 will be the start of the fourth generation of FE fans with a new direction of the franchise as the waifu trends dying down. Yes, Engage will be heavily controversial as what xenoblade fans had the same feeling with xenoblade 2. Just because the sales are successful doesn’t mean it’s a great quality of a product, ask Pokémon SV.

[@hyperm8]

I lowered my expectations for Engage's story from the moment I heard the words "Fell Dragon" which gave me immediate Awakening flashbacks. Awakening's plot is my least favourite of any Fire Emblem game... yes I prefer Fates' story over it. The reason why is because a plot that's hilariously bad is preferable to a boring one. I seriously doubt Engage's story is gonna be anywhere near as good as Three Houses', but hopefully they do a much better job than Awakening or Fates.

[@Ianbits]

Yeah there's a big spot in the middle that it can land in considering how bad Fates was and how surprisingly good Three Houses was. If the story lands on "solid" and the gameplay is classic FE it'll still be a great game.

[@ultraginge1990]

I am a new fan and my only full FE experience has been 3H. I am looking forward to a game which is “more fire emblem” as long as the story isn’t terrible I will be happy I think. I was very very happy with 3H story going through with Dimitri in my first playthrough. I played the game about 7 times with 3 of them being Dimitri and the rest a single playthrough of the other routs.

[@Ianbits]

Dimitri is my favorite Fire Emblem lord ever by a huge margin, his character arc was heartwrenching

[@ultraginge1990]

@@Ianbits and so he should be. It’s a shame he is only 1/3 of a single dlc bracelet.

[@lukasjeszka8879]

From the reviews I've watched the old characters aren't the focus. They have their own "supports" with every character but they're only about 10 seconds. They aren't even in most cutscenes

[@mikeroe7943]

That support design sounds weirdly similar to Suikoden 3. Instead of creating unlockable combo attacks between any and all 108 characters (what Suikoden usually did, and it usually felt really random who paired with who), most relationships you saw were very clearly restricted to the 3 teams they started out on. You even had missions to beat your self up pretty frequently as you switched between groups. It made finding secret unlocks a lot easier when you weren't making random shots in the dark with a team comp that had all 108 possibilities, and the smaller team sizes meant the side characters could actually get a bit of story participation.

[@kanyonferreira407]

I’m so looking forward to this.

[@TinyPrinceGames]

I'm a relatively new (or returning, I guess) fan of the series who finished Awakening and bought every title since but haven't finished any of them. I don't think Awakening's story or characters are high art by any means, and I think Fates is even worse in that aspect, but I also don't really care. I'm playing Shadow Dragon DS to get my bearings before Engage, and might try to squeeze in an Awakening playthrough, but I honestly really appreciate Shadow Dragon's sparse but decent writing and a bigger focus on gameplay since that's why it's a video game. I still get plenty of attachment to units just from watching my highly powerful ones wipe out entire battalions. I want replayability above all else for this type of series and I can already see myself revisiting Shadow Dragon down the line but couldn't even get through a playthrough of Three Houses with how tedious the monastery is. If Awakening and Fates do anything right, imo, they strike a good balance of downtime and action. SD is really enjoyable because it's all tactics, but admittedly that much strategizing with little break is mentally taxing. I'm excited for Engage specifically because it's going back to that middle ground.

[@redmagelala]

clicks on vid: I expect to hear about the whole "any character can wield any weapon" character growth system the actual vid: ACTUALLY - - - THE WRITING

[@pokelogikx]

Listen if I was in the throes of war I'd probably also talk about the glory of the pickle and perhaps even swedish meatballs.

[@automaton125]

Consider this comment to kinda be a pre-comment (they should probably come up with a word for that). Assuming I don't suck at time management and get this comment finished, Ianbits newest video about Fire Emblem Engage should come out in just a few days (after release), and I'm ready to make some sweet sweet video comments. But before I do, I should look back on what made my previous comments so good. So, here's that... That's this comment. I can't do a transition because this is a comment, big oof. By copying the beginning of Ian's videos, I gain a connection to its message, and commit myself to watching even further. Then, the process of making the comment only becomes a task of play, pause, rewind, and repeat. Therefore, I have developed only the highest quality commenting because if you don't like it, it's not my fault because Ian basically wrote it. Checkmate. Also, as always Ian love the video, whale stamp of approval

[@Ianbits]

thank you whale friend

[@CobaltLotus]

Engage will be fine, I think. 3H was not at all a masterwork in storytelling, and I have no idea why people think it's such an amazing story or incredible narrative. Opinions are opinions, of course, but 3H was a MASSIVE step back in a myriad of ways: the biggest flaws are the multiple routes, and how disjointed the story-telling was. Most of the characters in the game were one note anyway, and there were only a handful of characters that were arguably interesting - the lords, for the most part. The rest of the characters range anywhere from "eh" to "meh." The other largest weakness of 3H is the Monastery. It was just.. bad. Lots of walk,ng, lots of talking, lots of absolutely menial tasks, and other semi-pointless minigames ended up making this the largest part of the game, which in turn ended up taking away from the rest of the game, like battles, grinding, etc. It was exhaustive, and fatiguing, not at all in a good way. There are other problems as well - the story-telling is heavily disjointed, and there are a lot of things that just.. happen. They happen quickly, and without a lot of buildup or explanation. The timeskip was also single-handedly one of the stupidest parts of the story. 3H just has too many drawbacks, IMO. Personally, I'd say the Tellius games have a more interesting and focused narrative that's a lot less disjointed (or almost completely free of that issue, really). Engage is looking great so far, and will probably be a game I actually finish. 3H was too cumbersome and disjointed for me to give a shit about finishing it.

[@Heira]

Same lol 😂 I hate the relationship part too lol

[@mray4784]

Well said it.

[@GreatAether58]

I can't agree with your claim that the writing in Three Houses is so much better than everything else in the series. In terms of support conversations, maybe. But overall, no not really. Not when Tellius exists. I saw another video the other day on the Tellius lore that really drove home how developed that world was. Fodlan from 3H comes pretty close, but doesn't quite reach that bar I don't think. That being said, great video overall! I hope your next video is about how much you loved Engage too!

[@Ianbits]

That's fair. I think the main story and setting in Tellius is right there with Three Houses but the characters were pretty underdeveloped outside of Ike/Soren/Elincia. I love Radiant Dawn but it definitely spread itself a little too thin character wise.

[@GreatAether58]

@@Ianbits Yeah that's why I'd agree that Three Houses is the best when it comes to supports. I wish Radiant Dawn would have had real support conversations. They were good in Path of Radiance, but that's one thing RD definitely dropped the ball on. Although gameplay wise the RD support system was actually really good. That +45 Avoid for an A support between two characters with Earth affinity was hard to beat!

[@hkkobayashi7657]

Awakening was my first fe game. I remember going to Target and buying it with only quarters. Yes...just quarters. I loved it! So next I bought fates. I kinda hated it! I noticed the difference with the story and the way the characters acted immediately and I still hate what they've done with that game. But I liked some of the gameplay and outfits and such. Any fire emblem that is to ever come out from now on will have to compete with three houses. Three houses is such a good game and I just love every character and the depths they all have. And the English cast helped with that a lot. The way the characters bounced off of each other was just amazing. And three hopes made it even better with just a little bit more of the story and me getting to see more of my favorite characters. I am kind of afraid that engage won't be as good. For starters, I don't like a lot of the outfits and some of the character designs. I feel like this game is way too stereotypical anime. The class outfits are bland and some of them have no details to them. Even the pixels of the ds had lots of attention to detail on their outfits. Alot of the characters look like clowns. They don't look like they belong to the same game. Also, I have three dude characters that I like the looks of, turns out all three of the are fucking idiots and have the same personality type. I really really reaaaalllly hope I am so so wrong with this but it seems like these characters are way too stick on their one gimmick. Also none of the characters seem serious. The whole tone of the game seems too....funny. like I am not taking the story serious at all when they want to show that 'ooooh Marth is a red unit now! Oh no! Or ooooh look at the mc turn dark and scary! ' i feel like the game has no threat. I feel like I will treat this game like a game where I just skip the story and only play it for the combat. I am excited for a new fe game but I'm also afraid this game just won't be that good. I hope I'm wrong. I REALLY hope I'm wrong about the characters too. I hope I can put these new lords in the same row of love that I have the three houses lords in. Also this is coming out on my birthday!!

[@ivaniawren5014]

I *very strongly* agree with everything you said here.

[@thetactlesstactician7703]

Fe has had good stories besides those two games. The Tellius duology is great and genealogy of the holy war is the best in the series in terms of story.

[@Ianbits]

I love the Tellius stories, but it certainly wasn't as much of a focus as it was in Three Houses

[@GreatAether58]

I think Tellius overall has the best story and world. Fodlan is second, and Jugdral maybe third. Though I haven't played Thracia 776 so I don't have the complete picture.

[@hekanymous]

Honestly, Awakening and Fates are my favourite games in the series, gameplay wise. If we're getting a game that's as fun to play as those, I am more than happy to have more bland characters than there were in 3H as a tradeoff, personally always focused on gameplay way more than the story or character development.

[@MrRamo14]

It is worth noting that Three Houses was developed mostly by Koei Tecmo developers and most of the main plots and supports were written by KT writers not IntSys. So I don't really have any expectation or hope that Engage will come close to 3H in terms of story or character writing. Even the decision to make the mary sue dragon god avatar the primary protagonist of Engage like Corrin rather than a co-protag like Byleth and Edelgard/Claude/Dimitri already confirmed it'll be a kind of uninteresting storywise.

[@Ianbits]

I was under the impression KT mostly did the technical work and not the writing? Not saying you're wrong, just that it's surprising if that's the case. Never really played a KT game with a good story

[@MrRamo14]

@@Ianbits yup the credits in game and some interviews mention that KT did most of the development and that three of their writers did AM, VW, and CF in addition to the social convos at the monastery.

[@jdblue9460]

I got into the series by playing three houses and the thing i liked the most was the story and the character development. From the trailers of Fire emblem engage i am a bit worried on its story and not really sold on buying it. In order to buy the game i would need to see the story itself since Fire emblem engage looks like it will only focus on gameplay and a bit of the characters. I know they are trying something new with the whole ring mechanic but it seems too much like Persona and not really Fire emblem like how Awakening and Radiant dawn was.

[@jdblue9460]

I just checked out bits and pieces of the story and I take back all of the things i said negative about engage. now i am sold on Fire emblem engage. I like the story and all of the characters in it.

[@GamesareJoy]

Your comment at the end had me keeling over. Same man! I totally see your perspective with the writing in 3H, I know everything about that game and loved almost every bit of the story. I'm also incredibly optimistic about a change of pace after my... 1600 hours with 3H. 🎉 Maybe we get another title that is similar in scope to 3 Houses after Engage? I imagine all the writing and voice acting/translations took AGES! Im hoping the character supports give proper character growth to units, and a decent reason to like them besides Support A boons. 🤷‍♀️

[@Ianbits]

I remember reading that development on this game started before Three Houses came out so before they knew it would pass both Fates and Awakening in sales. Would love for them to make a spiritual successor in terms of a story but with the gameplay more refined and varied like in the GBA games.

[@Heira]

@@Ianbits your telling me u want a persona 5 style of fire emblem lol bro lol i played fire emblem three houses the story was pretty weak fire emblem three hopes was better than three houses at any level I’m sorry I just played fire emblem echoes on 3ds single story is better 3 story is messy unless they didn’t left stuffed out which they did lol 😅edelgard idk the route was short ending was messed up didn’t make since also the person who voice of ferdie died I think cancer or something besides that point I love the game it got problems bro lol 😂the game wasn’t even complete when it came out

[@groudon2006]

This is a good review, however when it comes to stuff this I usually say, if you're worried about something due to events of the past then you're not giving the present event a fair chance because you already have speculations of it failing, regardless of how people feel about the previous fire emblem games, one fact is that new fire emblem games are not the previous one, Engage isn't 3 houses, 3 houses isn't Radiant Dawn, Radiant Dawn isn't Blazing Blade, and Blazing Blade isn't Warriors, so you should never compare these games with one another, wait for Engage to come out and play it, if you know why you've played and stuck with the Fire Emblem series then it shouldn't be much of a problem for you to play them don't doom a game because you had a bad experience with a completely different game

[@Ianbits]

For sure! That's why I'm going in with an open mind. If I judged Three Houses based on the art style or called it a persona ripoff before even playing it I wouldn't have had the great experience that I did. Hoping Engage does its own thing!

[@AzureRoxe]

That is one of the dumbest things i've ever read. "Don't compare things to their previous titles!!" :/ Bruh.

[@richcast66]

The only regret that I have is that there is no recapturing the magic of three houses. The lockdowns allowed me to just melt away into the game, uninterrupted by work or social gatherings. Engage will be good, but I won't be able to drown into the game endlessly for days on end

[@techpriest6962]

FE:Engage It seems like it's just nostalgia p.rn. With a shallow plot. I really have no hope for it, because in FE games I care about the story & characters, not just the combat.

[@crusiver8453]

Emblem Rings barely have dialogue both in story & supports. So no, they won't be taking the lime light unless you truly ONLY watch their supports.

[@AzureRoxe]

Which begs the question of: why are they even a thing if they barely matter? From what some reviewers have said, some of the Rings don't even matter at all after the mission you get see them in, you just see them, fight, get it and that's it.

[@SH1NK1R01]

@@AzureRoxe a gameplay mechanic doesn’t need a narrative reason to justify its existence. They wanted a stand mechanic and decided to use their past mcs as the stands. They don’t need to justify that further.

[@konstantinos-iliasstrempas4594]

@@AzureRoxe its an aniversery game they just delayed it

[@nuibaba280]

Both of the comments are correct. Engage rings are nothing more than fanservice for an anniversary for fun gameplay.

[@tirex3673]

I do think, you throw Awakening to much in with Fates. While not quite in the same league as 3H, many of Awakenings characters are surprisingly complex. (like Tharja or Cordelia). It‘s probably my second favourite cast after 3H.

[@techpriest6962]

I'll have to admit, why FE's story have been so lackluster is beyond me. It really isn't hard to write an interesting plot. Where as FE puts its plot on a back burner and uses the outline for their games.

[@klissattack]

Already downloaded. I think we'll get good supports from our main cast

[@miriam8376]

It took me 3 playthroughs to be annoyed about the repetition of the first half of 3H. It’s so complexly written and so wonderfully character based that I didn’t mind watching things over and over because I got something new each time, even if it was mostly through a different character’s support’s context. Most issues in the story can be explained by point of view subjecting events to interpretation. There are a few serious, objective issues (Crimson Flower choosing not to deal with Those That Slither, for example, tho the obvious answer there is that Edelgard is such a bad guy that she never bothers to fight the other bad guys despite claiming that she’s the good guy who is too good for that kind of evil nonsense). But for the most part, the 3H story makes the gameplay worth investing in emotionally. Without a good story, it’s hard to not feel like the strategy elements risk stumbling into soulless math problems.

[@retcongecko1016]

As someone who has been following this series for over 6 years and has sampled at least one title from each console generation of the franchise, I’m not feeling very optimistic about Engage, at least story-wise. From what I’ve seen of it (which I will admit hasn’t been more than the very first reveal trailer), it seems like a rehash of Fates with maybe a bit of the “powerful God-avatar” from 3H thrown in as well. All of the characters seem like bland “yes-men” who mindlessly support the equally bland player-insert character against the evil person who is most likely being controlled by the evil dragon. Compared to the obvious draw of 3H’s story (the time skip and differing routes which pit you against former allies), there is nothing really that feels unique or bold. That, coupled with the fact that this premise of summoning characters from previous titles has been done multiple times at this point, and I have to be honest, I’m not feeling very motivated to play the game, at least not for a long while. That being said, the concept of the main character being the actual divine dragon could raise some interesting scenarios if done properly, and it might be interesting to see the interactions between characters with darker and more “mature” elements in their stories. I’m really hoping at the very least that IS has learned from the massive success of 3H’s writing and attempts to adopt a more mature and nuanced tone with Engage. There’s a decent foundation IS can build upon, both from the lessons of previous games’ stories/characters and the few story elements we’ve seen up until now, I’m just not the most enthusiastic when it comes to game studios and new releases. We unfortunately don’t seem to have any info on the game’s writers, so there really is no way to know what to expect.

[@seanburns9105]

I never really got into the Fire Emblem series, but your spin on it makes it appealing. I worry about titles that rely on lore from previous games for character development when coming into a series fresh. I'll check it out once it's released and see if it holds up. Entertaining video nonetheless!

[@Ianbits]

Thank you! It's worth mentioning that in general Fire Emblem games follow the Final Fantasy line of not being related to previous titles so you don't need to know anything to jump into games like Three Houses, Path of Radiance or Sacred Stones. And I wouldn't worry too much about context for Engage, I'm guessing they'll provide plenty about the returning lords.

[@groudon2006]

If you've never got into the series then 9 times out of 10 you're likely not gonna like Engage because you don't really have previous experience playing the other games and majority of the games have been out for a quite a number of years, so if you haven't at least played awakening then you might be better off not getting into the series now, because for all we know Engage could give you the wrong idea about the fire emblem series and completely ruin it for you

[@nuibaba280]

@@groudon2006 You don't need to play other games for Engage. They're actively marketing it as beginner friendly with the best Quality of Life to date.

[@germanicusternus1982]

I hope the game is good, but it looks silly.

[@yukioacumora4430]

For me fire emeblem has always been more about thr gameplay rather than the story, and the things like supports were always goofy moments of repreif to catch my breath some an intense spell of tactics. Strong writing and narritive is always good, dont get me wrong, but if thr game isnt as enjoyable to play, i may just not end up playibg itneven if it has the best story. Others can differ and thats totally chill, but engage can have dogwater of a narritive with more one note characters, and ill likely enjoy it so long as the game itself is actually really fun to play Which so far, it certainky looks to be the case. I feel though its gonns have a good narritive both in story and for much of thr cast itself though. Looks may be deceiving, but engage shoes good promise.

[@xxxfirefart]

I'm happy they are moving away from the three houses calendar school schedule system. I can see how some people like that sort of thing, but I found it exhausting and it's the same reason I didn't like persona 5. I don't want to worry about having to plan and schedule my characters growth like that. I want to be able to just jump in and continue the game where I left off without any hassle or feeling like I may have messed up my timing and now I won't be able to recruit/evolve/support X character. Ideally they would include character development and attachment without that kind of system. I feel like it should be possible to include the great character writing of 3 houses without the restrictions of a calendar/time management system

[@Ianbits]

Totally agree with that last sentence. There's plenty of ways to write good characters.

[@GreatAether58]

I always thought that the calendar system in Three Houses should have been pre-timeskip only. It makes absolutely zero sense whatsoever that in the middle of a war across the entire continent the major battles would occur in exactly 1 month intervals.

[@ActionJaxonH]

It's designed as an anniversary title. Enjoy it for what it is, and stop hating it for what it isn't. Let's just enjoy the fact we have a new Fire Emblem to play 😀

[@Ianbits]

I'm definitely not hating it my friend. Looking forward to playing it and seeing for myself how good it is!

[@SIGuy7480]

Three Houses is about character, Engage is about gameplay. if Engage has good gameplay then the bad character will not be as big a problem. But if the gameplay is even mediocre it will be one of the worst games in the series.

[@SzotyMAG]

Views are booming

[@mercy144]

Nope the older lords arent gona take away anything, thry barely got dialogue and are just present for fanservice and gameplay reasons. The new charakters are gona be the focus.

[@hunterwise5156]

Fire Emblem Awakening is easily my favorite in the series, I'm playing throu it rn once again. Fates is trash, 3H I great but has major issue imo, with the main thing for me is the time rewind, I think its beyond dumb and definitely prefer not picking and choosing what a character upgrades like you talked about, for me it takes away from the series. I disagree with support convos, yes some are dumb comedy especially in Fates but heavily implying Awakening doesn't have character development in supports cause it definitely does with a lot of them. Awakening may even be my favorite cast of characters but that's a really tough cause I think other games have more great characters including 3H obviously but Awakening has some of my all time favorites like Lucina, Lon qu', and not to mention easily the best Avatar character Robin

[@regalgiant1597]

The school part of three houses was bloody crap, then i was super letdown as my chosen path, the Empire, was the least fleshed out and was rushed, it had considerably less chapters than the other two houses and made little sense, I was pissed off.

[@KittyPozer]

I’m glad the story has improved for the people who care about that. But three houses had so much boring story gameplay that I had to wade through to get to the combat. I’m so glad that engage is going back to fire emblem’s combat focused roots.

[@BenFM]

Bit pessimistic no?

[@plentyofpaper]

What's this good writing I'm hearing about FE Echoes? This is a game where the support conversations usually last 3 sentences, appear to be going somewhere, then abruptly end. I literally press the A button to view the next line of dialog, then the conversation just closes.

[@Ianbits]

The support conversations aren't really important in that game, I'm talking mostly about the main story and the conversations you can have with people in towns.

[@plentyofpaper]

@@Ianbits I mean, it was kind of cool that they were in town and you could talk to them. But they really didn't have anything worth saying. Nothing fun. No interesting background. Nothing important to the plot. Not really much of any personality to show. It was basically the developers deciding that members of your army would be more interesting to talk to than NPCs, which was a good call, but it didn't really accomplish much. Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn had a similar feature with base conversations. I don't feel they were nearly as well thought out as the support conversations 7-present (Shadows of Valentia, and especially Radiant Dawn) but they were a much better diversion than any of the non-plot non-support dialog in the series (Looking at you Fates face gazing and Three Houses tea party.)

[@tirex3673]

@@plentyofpaper In SoV many characters did suddenly tell you their life story in base conversations, so i don‘t understand, what you are talking about

[@plentyofpaper]

@@tirex3673 Sometimes, they're fine, yeah. Most of the time, not so much. Alm Mycen C Support Mycen: Alm. Alm: Grandfather. Mycen: So it seems we must finally take up swords together. I knew this day would come. Alm: I’m sorry, Grandfather, but… Well, I’m not sure I’m ready to talk to you just yet. Can you give me a little more time to process what happened? Mycen: Of course. Gray Tobin C Support Gray: Hey, Tobe. How goes? Tobin: *sigh* It goes, I guess. Gray: Uh, do you think you could sound a little less cheerful? Tobin: I don’t know, you tell me. Why did you have to- Gray: Huh? Tobin: Ugh, never mind. Forget it. Gray: Wait, what did I do? Zeke Tatiana B Support Zeke: …… Tatiana: Zeke? Zeke: …Ah, Tatiana. What is it, my sweet? Tatiana: Well, it’s just… You were staring off into space, my love. Zeke: Ah. Perhaps I was. The ringing of swords in battle calls up strange images in my mind. I see wars I can’t possibly have waged… A past I cannot remember living… Tatiana: …… Zeke: …We should not dwell on such thoughts. Please forget I spoke of it. I certainly don't recall base conversations being any better. They were present. They were a smidge better than NPCs. I'd prefer they not be removed, but if they were, I would barely notice.

[@tirex3673]

​@@plentyofpaper Those aren't base conversations, those are supports, the SoV base conversations were the Monologues, units had in towns, which did change over the course of the story, and basically dumped their backstory on you. For example, here is Lukas first base conversation: Greetings, Alm. Have you grown accustomed to all the fighting yet? ...Ah, of course. I suppose I needn’t even have asked. No matter how quiet a village you hail from, in the hands of a capable teacher, one can become every bit as strong as a royal knight. I find that thought quite inspiring. I grew up in the borderlands as well, though not the same as yours. Some in the Deliverance ridicule me for this, calling me a “backwater noble.” But unlike them, I rose above my origins on my own merits, and as a result, here I stand today. You never can truly tell where life is going to take you, Alm.

[@ihaveakirbyobessesion2617]

Fates slander and Echoes appreciation, a combination of my two favorite Fire Emblem things!

[@takarahayashi4124]

I was the character designer was more consistent in the costume department. you have medieval knights combined with people who shop at forever21 and spencers, while moonlighting as a Gundam. There's a severe identity crisis.

[@nuibaba280]

They're consistent. French names align with french history, lots of british people had these type of overly frilly dresses and outfits to the point even the face stickers are accurate lmao.

[@takarahayashi4124]

@@nuibaba280 that's why they wear clothes that came from modern malls, and have photon beam sabers and mecha parts? didn't know ancient france was so... "progressive"

[@takarahayashi4124]

@@nuibaba280 and no, during medieval times showing that much skin will get you hung for being a whore.

[@nuibaba280]

@@takarahayashi4124 It's no different from 3 Houses' nukes and technology. Engage is supposed to be more modern, it's why we have lamps and some weird technological background somewhere in Solm.

[@fliplife67]

For me Im still waiting 4 a FE world war type game.

[@Bruno-MakeMoney-Hirsch]

never played, should i get it?

[@Ianbits]

I definitely recommend the series overall, Path of Radiance or Three Houses are solid places to start!

[@Castapher]

For many, FE: Awakening were their first. Read the reviews from the series, and find the storyline that is more to your liking. (Thats what I did, and I dont regret it).

[@barcster2003]

It should be a good game.

[@Just_Red_]

Personally, I don't think Three Houses has a good story, or at the very least not a good *plot*. I mean to say I think the events actually happening in the game (post timeskip atleast, the story was much more interesting pre timeskip) are fairly boring. That being said, I still very much enjoyed Three Houses story simply because the characters are so loveable, and some of them quite complex (namely Dmitri and Rhea, even if the latter is criminally underutilized). All this is to say I don't really need Engage to impress with the story as long as the characters are interesting and fun. That being said personally it's just hard for me to see it beating Three Houses in that regard, I love every single character in that game with the exception of 1 or 2 that are just ok and then Edelgard who is probably one of my least favorite characters of all time

[@Ianbits]

Yeah I can agree with most of that. I remember I started with Blue Lions and I was disappointed that all the stuff with TWSITD was basically completely dropped after the timeskip

[@Just_Red_]

@ianbits Meanwhile I started with Crimson Flower, so not only did the TWSITD stuff never get resolved (on screen), I also didn't get any sort of interesting character arc and had to slog through a war I didn't believe in Honestly it almost killed the game entirely for me, if I didn't eventually play other routes I probably wouldn't have a very high opinion of Three Houses at all

[@annanz0118]

@@Ianbits Where I played Golden Deer first and was completely satisfied with the story as it dealt with everything to some extent (though none of the plots individually in as much detail as the other routes). It really depended on which route you took in the game.

[@ejinathan]

There are times i prefere playing awakening over the rest.

[@roseforyoubabe]

three hosue sis what brought fire emblem to the mainstream and taking away what made it great is what gave emblem a lower score..

[@icarus6563]

I do hope the theory about how since this is the anniversary game, the writing and characters are subpar on purpose and is just a one-time thing to celebrate FE, is correct. Three Houses set the bar for characters and writing, and the older games just haven't done it for me.

[@ashenwolf3846]

For me any Fire Emblem game is same in terms of gameplay. My only real concern is the story, Three Houses set up this great story with amazing world building and well written characters. True each Route is more or less incomplete because of the format the game is structured around, but that's the beauty of it, it tells you no one Route is the right choice (though I personally think Blue Lions in the best and correct Route to choose). This Heroes theme Engage is going about makes me worry the story will won't even hold a candle to Three Houses storytelling. Which will be a huge let down for me personally.

[@dragonfly4441]

I wish they made more DLC for FE3H. There is so much left to do with those good characters. Also engage has fishing. That's worth at least a point.

[@richcast66]

Ikr it just had 1 major dlc, cindered shadows. And it only slightly complimented the main game

[@Mijoulin]

hell yea, I want to see more. Haven't really found my way into the Fire Emblem series yet, so I'm looking forward to your review of Engage to see if the story actually holds up, because while the tactical gameplay is something I enjoy, I now also would like a good story or interesting characters to go along with it to make the journey worthwhile.

[@Ianbits]

For sure! If you can stomach some bad graphics, Path of Radiance is a great starting point for the series. Solid story, some interesting map design, just overall a very strong game.

[@TheAngous]

I can answer you already: no the story won't be as good as three houses because this game focus on gameplay. Like Awakening.

[@sorawingo2474]

I really loved the story of radiant dawn and all its characters its my favorite game of all time and the way you get to see what happens after path of radiance is amazing I want more of the new fire emblem games to take place on the same continent it just makes such a rich story

[@Ianbits]

It's a shame they haven't made remasters of Tellius yet, those games were fantastic

[@Lechgang]

@@Ianbits To be fair, there are quite a few games pre-Tellius that are probably due for a remake first.

[@Dogofwar9]

Frankly i dont like “mary sue” protagonists or chosen one story telling very often so my expectations for the story of engage is in the ground

[@stevewallace1387]

I'm looking forward to engage I found three houses a bit long winded I liked it but the hub part got a bit tedious so I'm happy that engage has gone back to its root's a bit more

[@djuka65]

FE4 > FE5 > Every other FE 😎 Can't wait for the remake

[@germanicusternus1982]

Subbed for the upcoming review. Longtime fan here. Definitely on the fence after the art direction and because this looks like Awakening II. Awakening was shit. Conquest was shit. Echoes was great. Hopefully we will get an FE4 Echoes next and this game is just an elaborate strategy to increase demand for the older characters like Sigard and Seliph. I think part of the reason I don’t like this game is because it isn’t the FE4 remake that we have been waiting for.

[@jackstrife3821]

Yeah....your knowledge of the history of this franchise is questionable. This video is riddled with inaccurate info & what is obviously just your biased opinion. Take everything you see here with a grain of salt. The creator clearly didn't do much research.

[@Ianbits]

I don't think I ever really claimed stuff wasn't my biased opinion, but curious as to what inaccuracies there were! I've played every western entry in the series multiple times and played SS, PoR and RD probably 10 times or so each, so you're a bit off on me not having knowledge but I'm certainly not perfect and could have made some mistakes.