Unit Archetypes ARE THE FUTURE!!!

[@limechips4289]

I like these, but the only real problem I have is that there's so few Covert and Qi Adept classes. Especially Covert. You get thief, archer, and sniper. (And Alcryst's Lord/Tireur d'elite, but that's unit locked) That's it. Which really, REALLY sucks. Because some of the covert bonuses with rings is really useful. Rally Speed with Byleth, double terrain bonuses, you can LITERALLY GET 1000G WITH LEIFS ENGAGE ATTACK IF YOURE LUCKY ENOUGH. A lot of fun things to mess with, with the only caveat being... it's locked to Sniper, Thief, and Alcryst.

[@StirFryTuna]

I mean Mystical is locked to Sage, High Priest, and Celine. Hell armored is locked to general only outside of a DLC class. Wish we had more mysticals too... The main problem with covert is they aren't good classes with terrible class bases. I think giving covert classes an innate crit bonus and tossing swordmaster in the unit type would have made it good enough to be fun at least. Perhaps berserker could also be covert too to give a niche compared to warrior. Oh and let armored units cancel the crit bonus from coverts as counterplay just like mysticals counter avoid.

[@Asch72611]

For me personally, I think a combination of engage's class archetypes mixed with FE Conquest would be amazing. I think conquest was the perfect balance between army management and just pure strategy. Outside of weapon/item shop, forging, and the mess hall in the hub world, you were largely planning inside the map and even the stuff I described even if you didnt know what you were doing, it took like 5 minutes to do all of it. min-maxing builds were harder since those were tied to building supports which as shown by Zoran's recent run is a strategy game inside the map itself and those took many maps to fully max out alongside being limited themselves since you could only get one A+ support and S support per character. Even when you achieved the build it didn't just solo the map for you/auto-win. Hopefully they start reeling it in, cause as much as I enjoy the build to OP aspect of engage and three houses, it kinda loses it luster after a while

[@redchicken5533]

0:01 Yes, just what I've been waiting for

[@richkingfeedx4879]

The Chad is back

[@BobbyCorwen42]

I totally thought you meant something different when you meant unit archetypes (the silly thing like the christmas cavs, the est, all that jazz that I really dislike). I really agree with this, because it was about damn time fliers & mounties got some consequences for their obvious advantages. The balance patch that foot units needed finally came upon us in the best way possible.

[@ultimaterecoil1136]

3 houses sorta had a consequence for fliers with them being unable to use battlions comprised of nonflying units but that just made horses dominant once you ran out of good flying battlions since there was no limitation on cavs.

[@leoerus]

If no one else got me, top left Anna gold 9.5m got me ✊️

[@GentlemanGarrote]

Even at 9 million gold people would still be Anna deniers

[@princessq1729]

Engage is awesome. It’s fun to play like this with no rings but it’s also a lot of fun with the crazy rings you can give your units.

[@spindrift6464]

even when it's not about her, this is yet another Timerra W to add to the mountain, the planet-size pile of Ws

[@leonardwashington7189]

Just when I was debating on starting a new Engage run. The man, the myth, the Legend himself returns

[@Bobucles]

Fire emblem seems to be a series about stacking small numbers. A hero gets strong not by having one super skill, but by collecting many smaller bonuses to push them over the edge. Super skills and engraves really detract from that careful long term strategic planning, by giving everything in one package. Some of them are so powerful that they become the build, no other input is required. Archetypes add a new layer to the small numbers gameplay. The bonuses are far more powerful, but also far more situational. Where a pile of small bonuses can apply to most situations, the powerful archetype powers apply to very few, and that makes them challenging to utilize. Using archetypes to their fullest is where the tactical depth can blossom. It is a bit sad that something with ao much potential gets mostly overshadowed by all the super skills.

[@vodand12]

reddit is not gonna like this one 💀

[@felixma9192]

thank you comrade for keeping up the Timerragenda™️

[@jameljenks2584]

I love the mechanics. It's what keep me coming back to this game

[@cryguy0000]

Panette peak unit type

[@slookide7898]

Glad someone said it. Chain attacks and chain guard ALONE make the gameplay so much more interesting, setting engage apart from other FE games. Overall, with archetypes, stats, unique passives, and the limitation to 2 inherited skills, it actually feels like each character is unique, which is something that engage does better than any other FE I’ve played.

[@gg_sam7847]

I do very much like doing builds but I don't like doing the broken/optimised builds. I like mixing 2 niches a unit can play into together or taking one unique thing a unit can do and seeing how it mixes with other mechanics. Like how I've just done a run with a Def/Res mix off-tank Lance General Hortensia/Micaiah + Quick Riposte (she greatly underperformed but she was also Quite Underleveled as I over extended myself on the amount of units I was building up). Now I'm about to try a Hero heavy team and Hortensia is going to be one, I just want to get the absolute most out of the really uniqpue tool that is Micaiah, even if in practise it's not really an effective strategy I've put a lot of effort into builds I wanna try, but almost none of them are freakish powerhouses I can just throw into danger and just assume they're safe other than my SwordMaster Jean

[@Stogen]

📝 taking notes

[@darrellharmon9558]

Currently doing a no-reclassing run and it definitely feels like re-classing was something that was thrown in the game last minute because the difference in unit performance (mainly the top tiers who need a reclass) is astounding. Also not being able to re-class Alear into a flier for bonded Air Force ramps up the difficulty so much. I do think rings, crafting and such should remain but things like bonded shield should be toned down because doing a run with vs without bonded shield is night and day

[@Raul_27]

I love Engage, Intelligent Systems and Mika Pikazo.

[@kingjotnar6448]

One of my favorite thing about class archetypes is that it gave physical infantry a niche. No matter how powerful wyvern knights are in stats and mobility, they can't chain attack. Not without the lucina ring. So only one flyer can chain attack. Wyvern knights are less dominant in Engage than in Three Houses because you have physical units that fill a niche that flyers can't, not without giving it a ring. Which is why I love this game. I'm not really good at strategy games, but Engage gives me the ability to break the rules with one character through the rings. But it does give you a limit, because there's only one of each ring.

[@lynneko1304]

Hey! remember me? Got your vid in my feed lol. I always loved backups ever since Engage was released and I started playing it! I loved my full-back up unit run lol

[@MasterStacona]

I think my favourite passive in engage is Celine's because it is the most unique while still being good and useful.

[@Giant_O]

I really would be a fan of difficulty options or at least a ranking system, similar to how some old games had it. E.g. In engage you could give players a score at the end of the game, and part of that could be points for "Funds" Basically the more money you have at the end of the run, the more points you get. Sure, FE isn't a PvP game, but I think this would be a way to lead people into trying challenges for themselves. Also Dragon Crystals/Divine Pulses/Turnwheels/... Used could be sth shown, so that you're not harschly punished for using that mechanic, but also encouraged to not abuse it if you care about difficulty and challenge.

[@Stogen]

Man I love this game. I just hit 800 hours in the game today, and there are still builds I haven’t tried yet.

[@rpgaddict314]

My first Engage play through was blind and I ended up challenging myself by accident because I didn't understand how to inherit skills until after chapter 10 so maybe I'm a bit biased, but I don't think builds are as much of a problem as the Somniel. The Somniel is just doing tedious things for resources and having that dangling fruit is too much of a tease to pass up so "just ignore it" is a poor excuse for its existence. It's very distracting from the core game play. I think the rings and builds are ok and part of the strategy. The game felt balanced around them on a blind play through of maddening. That said, I do agree that there is a little too much build reliance, but not enough to drag the game down without self imposed challenges. Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn had the best balance of builds and positioning reliance. Skills were either attached to specific characters or rarely came in the form of skills so the player could add their own tweaks to their team without as many game breaking combos (though things like earth Zihark + Volug existed). There also wasn't excessive time spent on army management.

[@PsionicConspiracy]

I feel like the amount of options offered by games like Engage makes it a more sandbox feel in terms of builds, erasing unit identity to a degree. I mean... how many of us haven't had a squad with almost all fliers/wyverns? Sure, some builds -assuming maddening difficulty- are going to be good, fun, great, very much meta(defining), and others are going to be Bunet/Etie-tier or test your patience like Jean. Fine, I'll concede that those out-of-combat mechanics can be nifty and add some replayability and flexibility, to make people's experience unique and different. Which is perfectly fine, Fire Emblem **has** had the reputation for being too difficult, hard to get into and even gatekeepy at times: so by all means, make it more beginner-friendly. However, using those tools -again, assuming maddening- works against, and somewhat trivializes the strategy/puzzle aspect of planning and in-map execution, which can be relied on your top 2-3 units to just stomp through with upgraded, engraved weapons, powerful rings and inherited skills. Class archetypes and the intricacies of them, how they work together to form a strong army, end up barely mattering if none of the aspects that make a unit (archetype) feel unique aren't present. Side note: i can't tell you how much time I've sunk into planning builds that never come to fruition, because there's only so much time and energy I can spend on a single video game, so they end up on the cutting floor, to gather dust and become forgotten. Builds that in-theory sound like they are fun, powerful, but pivotting to the build isn't "optimal", and starting over is a time-sink. In that regard, I like ringless no-somniel conceptually.

[@jaysea33]

I'm trying 3 houses maddening. I found your silver snow guide, but it looks like not all chapters are available (stops at 13 or 14). By chance are they named something else?

[@thomasmitchell7815]

Weve been waiting for more engage discussions. The wait is over

[@TheMadman911xx]

The DLC campaigns of FE:3H and Engage tell me that IS/KT would have to visualize a game from the ground up with pared down mechanics to have a chance at making the game described here. In both games the devs attempted a version with stripped down mechanics (Xenologue/CS) which are widely panned. Imo this is because the devs got too used to the wiggle room afforded by build flexibility to remember how to balance the game using its fundamentals. Still, people like juggernauts and min/maxing, so flexibility is likely more marketable

[@austin80112]

ICG out here really saying how much he loves Timera and how much he hates everything she represents.

[@GMKGoji01]

Dude, I've been suffering since the day I reached Chapter 10, unable to progress through the story, because of that cutscene where Lilac takes Celica from me. But at least I got Alear and Nel to reach Support level A before that chapter.

[@creamshiplive4625]

timerra is cracked asf

[@cosmictraveler1146]

Off topic but New game plus moving forward should be a thing too, it greatly encourages replay - Engage really really needed new game plus that retained SP for the characters

[@willberg8599]

I started a new game the other day and it's just too easy. I'm inspired now to try no rings/no Somniel

[@AstraProc]

Agreed!

[@DarkflameEmperor]

I just hope they can work on the armored type a lot more. General is fun but boy dodge tanking worked so much better. Most of the other archetypes were fine. Perhaps not making a thief character have 15+ crit would've been nice for balance, but making OP units is cool too I guess.

[@valygomu]

I agree, and that's exactly why I sometimes I just say fuck it and play advance wars campaign instead

[@SeanTxty]

Berwick Saga style fire emblem next

[@Dominicドミニク]

Can you make content on sword of convallaria? Mobile and pc gatcha game similar to ff tactics.

[@IcedCoffeeGaming]

it seems to have bad design principles and funny numbers that arent rooting in meaningful breakpoints. i usually steer clear of mobile games

[@eddyhardz5404]

I challenge Iced Coffee Gaming to do a big multi video guide on a unique game that doesn't veer too much from strategy gaming, but is more JRPG rather than tactical. Game in mind... Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes. Don't see too many creators on KZbin doing this game.

[@IcedCoffeeGaming]

noooo I don't like that game it has no appeal to me

[@eddyhardz5404]

@IcedCoffeeGaming 😂😂😂... I figured. I will never forget your Triangle Strategy phase. Your guides turned my team into a BEAST. I WILL find that next hidden gem.

[@MasterStacona]

Next fire emblem should be a lot more fantasy based on the DLC, and more strategic features with mage cannoneer and enchanter being in a full campaign rather than being tacked on as DLC.

[@PrimismyEX]

Sounds like you wanna play FE12 on lunatic reverse tbh

[@dimik6745]

the future is tina from thraica 776

[@MasterStacona]

if people want more challenge then come up with your own challenge runs, don't waste dev time with a super niche insane difficulty mode when players can do that on their own

[@personontheinternet2164]

By your own admission, you have 2000+ hours in this game. This skews your view of the game. Devs design for a blind, first play through above all else when it comes to PvE games. If you look at several people on KZbin play maddening for the first time in engage, they have a hard time even with all the emblems, forges, and engraves. Saying these things take away from strategy because you can minmax them to infinity to solve the problem isn’t much different than me saying chain attacks take away from the challenge of this run became they enable too much free damage. I do see your greater point about how the series is shifting too much in the direction of builds instead of strategy, tho. Engage is much better than three houses in that regard, but taking away additional layers of unit development leaves you with the barebones GBA games that are honestly kind of ass for a whole bunch of other reasons. Unit typing is a great idea, and I think armors being unbreakable via weapon triangle is much better than people give it credit for.

[@MasterStacona]

Generals are extremely underrated in Engage.

[@lukestarford7608]

"By your own admission, you have 2000+ hours in this game. This skews your view of the game." Coming as a an actual Game Designer here. You are right and wrong. The thing with dev is that they playtest the game so much that they become masters of it. Especially, programmers which is why we have Game Designer and playtesters. While Game Designer design the game, they also have to think about how the player interacts with the game itself while Play testers are there to tell us what is fun about the game and what need to improve. It the general idea on how to iterate and improve on the game. Depending on the game, will determine what the dev's are aiming for but most general game aims for it to be 'fun' and comfortable to play which is slowly becoming more of a factor within FE. You are right in him having 2000 hours can skew his view on the game which is good. You need people who have played the game a lot to the point of understanding and can give good constructive criticism and explain why he think that. However, you also need player on the opposite end of the spectrum. What I'm saying is you need both casual normal player and the Maddening Classic player because through both interacting, the players can learn what the game did well through both group saying what they enjoy. I think the one of the thing I want to see again in another FE game is the revamped weapon triangle and I think something people would agree on. But also what is thing that both groups of player understood but also what is something that either one or both of the groups didn't like or didn't understand. They can then try and pass this onto the dev's which will allow them to make the next FE game better so long as they listen. ( I say this last part because it an FE trend that IS doesn't listen to constructive criticism. Which is annoying when you notice that a lot of flaws with Engage, exist in House which flaws also existence in prior games. ) That my thoughts on it.

[@cosmictraveler1146]

@@lukestarford7608love your Comment

[@hajoeijgenraam295]

I take it your retirement is more of a "fuck it i'll just make videos whenever i feel like it" then?

[@danielvanstarkenburg2852]

wait why don't you play AWBW?

[@IcedCoffeeGaming]

I tried the rebootcamp and found it ok, I prefer chess if I wanted to get heavy into pvp srpg

[@rollbustah]

Build Emblem is here to stay I think unfortunately. Which is a shame because FE was always one of the few SRPG series that really emphasized map gameplay and positioning over building units.

[@foxmccloudizsexy]

Sad thing true strategy games don't really sell and is kind of a niche market. Advance wars is dead and fire emblem post awakening had to focus on unit building + waifu simulation to make sells. We will still have ROM hacks though.

[@InternetMonster1]

I win

[@MasterStacona]

three houses is bad

[@evansmith2832]

borderline unplayable for me. 70% shitty simulator game 30% ok fe.

[@MasterStacona]

@@evansmith2832 i barely did one playthrough with three houses, and i have over 1,000 hours in Engage and i listen/read to the story every time too and the support convos for engage the biggest sin of three houses is that it barely has fire emblem gameplay. If you like more gritty stories then shadows of valentia is much better to play than three houses will ever be.

[@iTacket]

Preach

[@iTacket]

@@evansmith2832so true. I only got 7 hours in before I had to drop.

[@dyflil1786]

if we can merge all nice parts of engage and unicorn overlord that gonna be the best srpg ever.F**k the story no one really cares

[@MasterStacona]

I like Engage's story. Three Houses is meme worthy boring, bland, uninteresting slog where all of the characters blur together in multiple aspects and is easily forgettable. I am excited for the next new Fire Emblem based on the Engage DLC because it looks like they are going to make it very fantasy heavy again which has not been a thing since Path of Radiance / Radiant Dawn and a bit of Awakening... plus i can experience a proper full campaign with Enchanter and Mage Cannoneer.

[@goroadachi9489]

@@MasterStaconaWow, you said a lot there without really saying anything at all.

[@dyflil1786]

@@MasterStacona I‘m not defending for 3H,but compared to Engage....Dude are you serious

[@MasterStacona]

@@dyflil1786 Engage is an absolute 10/10 masterpiece, and three houses is the worst in the series and worst by a lot.

[@dyflil1786]

@@MasterStacona In gameplay I agree,but other than that......tell you what you should play more rpg games