What Engage did RIGHT - A Review of the Positives of Fire Emblem Engage (SPOILER FREE!)

[@dessam3939]

Using actual Fan service by giving us previous FE lords as Jojo stands, that’s what Engage absolutely nailed

[@korinoriz]

Especially the skills, while taking liberties out of necessity, they're great references to their original games.

[@Zaemoncho]

The boba implementation was also upside.

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

​@@korinoriz What necessity?

[@lonelydoku3725]

I really liked how easy it was to get into engage, gameplay wise I felt like I couldn’t stop after each chapter cause it got better and better.

[@suleiman_1]

The best part of Engage is seeing the community get excited after a pretty sizable hiatus. Feels great watching you guys again.

[@emotional_st0rm]

this. the FE drought was hitting hard.

[@Rex13013]

​@@emotional_st0rm Agreed

[@LinkKing7]

I'm always hyped to get a new Fire Emblem game so that I can see all the discussions that are going on as well, so I'm glad you're as excited as I am, great point!

[@Sterncold]

personally my favorite part of the game is being warpskipped by the enemy and it happened more than once during my first playthrough

[@LinkKing7]

YES, Entrap is AMAZING

[@itsallenwow]

I think the series has been chasing the Holy Blood weapons style mechanic for a while. With something like the Crests in Three Houses they were clearly trying to make that connection pretty blatantly, but we eventually saw how small they were in terms of gameplay impact and eventually mostly forgot about them. But the Emblem Rings in Engage are the best they've integrated this style of mechanic since FE4 in my opinion. You get to connect with these old heroes of legend, and while the bonuses they give you aren't like as utterly game breaking as the Holy Blood weapons of that game. Emblem Rings are better in a lot of ways because they do such varied things and any unit can use them. And the last stretch of the campaign where you become Emblem Aleare and get to Engage with someone else on your team was legit so cool for me. Seeing Veyle and Alear teamed up to take down the final boss in their shared animation was legit so cool

[@lanceareadbhar]

Agreed. The best design about the Emblem Rings is that you can't trade them mid map. It let's you choose which of the heroes get the divine powers each map instead of sharing the best items among the best unit's and ignoring the rest of the stuff the game offers.

[@itsallenwow]

I mean I may be just an FE4 simp but I grew to really love the no trades. It kept everyone so unique. And padding down Ayra’s silver sword to her kids and seeing their shared kill count is just something a game with limits can do. But I really really like Engage’s openness as well. For a modern fire emblem game I really really like how much of the mechanics are handled here

[@itsallenwow]

Also I probably will write out an even longer comment on the negatives video so hopefully this comment can show I’m overall really happy with the game. But I also have big criticisms

[@InternetPeopleAreNotReal]

It has Sigurd and Leif with a Finn bond ring. 10/10 game

[@rin2012]

the bosses are definitely one of my favourite parts of maddening. one of the only times i had to think about how to get perfect damage. for example on chapter 10 i had the boss in a very awkward position relative to my units, he was being chain guarded from the front, and only a handful of my highest mobility units with the sigurd ring and warp ragnarok could reach any of his three sides. i used engage skills and backups, and planned the perfect way to attack him. i ended up having the boss drained of his revival crystals and on his last health bar at three health. and i only had one unit left, celine with thunder who did literally 0 damage to him. but because of the way i had positioned she ended up right next to alear and did the exact damage needed to one turn him. it took all of my units and strategy to beat him, and i've found this consistent across most of the chapters i've played. genuinely feels similar to the challenge of beating the death knight early with gambits and swap skills, or beating desaix early in echoes for the dracoshield by utilising mastery of the leather shield

[@bravetree]

I LOVE the new classes(Wolf Knight especially)

[@harrisonwhaley7872]

I really enjoyed the cast. It felt like they were all carefully designed, and the life given to them by the voice actors was another personal favorite. I know not everyone liked them but I also know that’s kind of hard to achieve. If I were to just discuss their visual design though, it was really cool to have such cool armors and clothing that made each individual stand out and even played into their personalities. Diamant vs Alcryst for example, with how their appearances lend to their combat skills, with alcryst being a scrawny little guy, and diamant being a big honking UNIT, etc

[@wildste]

I will admit, I do love how much (well with the dub at least) of the My Hero Academia cast are in this game. Just a nice surprise when a new character shows up and you are thinking "Oh, hello Ms Midnight" or "Hey Hawks, how you doing".

[@korinoriz]

What's a shame is for some odd reason A LOT of the C supports are pretty bad, in my opinion. I thought early reviews that were saying this were just "lol gaming journalists" and/or people upset over the tone difference from Three Houses (which even then had its lighter supports). However, I was shocked at just how true it was. A lot of them give a really bad first impression to the point I feel, based on what I've seen online, people basically just ignore/skip them and assume all the supports are like that when they actually do improve to the point it feels like whiplash sometimes from the C to B.

[@stenzel27]

I felt the opposite. All the characters were generic and one dimensional. The acting was over the top and melodramatic, although part of that is the awful script/plot the actors had to work with. I had a great time with the actual gameplay, but almost everything else was obnoxious. If you weren't one of the royals you were basically not really a part of the story outside of your introductory chapter. I found myself constantly getting irritated and annoyed by the events of the story and the way the characters react to them. This was obviously written for a much younger audience than prior games.

[@korinoriz]

@@stenzel27 You're entitled to your own opinion, but I highly disagree with the "written for a much younger audience". It's about the same general tone as Awakening, which for that matter is also rather "juvenile" and somewhat cliched like Engage is, in my opinion (not that it's bad mind you). FE 6-8 are also fairly light with a dark moment here or there. I don't know how you can really think this unless you've only played Three Houses, Genealogy, and/or Thracia, subconsciously associate brighter colors with being "juvenile" which is fine and fair, or think simple stories are automatically "for kids".

[@stenzel27]

@@korinoriz I started with Tellius and have played all of the FE made after and none of the ones before. This story just feels so much more straightforward and plain than the prior entries, with the only twist being so incredibly obvious that I resent the MC for reacting like it was a shock. Every time we did an emblem trial paralogue I felt like their story was more interesting than Alear's. There's just not much to the story here, no political intrigue, no hidden depths, no mention of slavery or racism, religion seems to be a thing, but it isn't expanded on. Many of the mature themes I've seen in prior games are just not here. All the bad guys are laughably evil just for the sake of it, not even questioning it until the plot says it's time, at which point they turn on a dime. Even the Agarthans, who are pretty much the same, believed they were doing the right thing for the right reasons. Just feels less immersive and less interesting. It's just a generic good vs evil. That, along with the character designs that looked like the devs saw Vtubers for the first time and wanted them as protagonists, are why I say it is written for a younger audience.

[@leargamma4912]

My favorite part about the game so far apart from the actual balanced strategy depth, is you can still do what you want. And I want Ivy's... bases. Yes. Definitely those base stats. (Still haven't beaten the game. Will come back and watch this later)

[@neog8029]

Ivy's bases Kagetsu walking around with absolute dump truck he calls base stats behind him.

[@malcovich_games]

Thumbnail joke aside, Ivy has just enough defense and speed to tank.

[@ceresbane]

From a certain point of view the story was great. As a comedy that took itself seriously.

[@wildste]

The only thing with the hub world I would add loving is the "support convention" activities. Its nice to have three activities that you can do just to build support and just see what the conversations between the two characters are. And some just give you an incentive to go further with it, like discovering two characters are actually siblings. Though I'm still trying to work out if fortune telling is worth it, as it often tells you that they are thinking of a particular person, and they don't even have support with them

[@malcovich_games]

I need to test this more... but allegedly there's an exp bonus for being near the "thinking of" target in combat.

[@aaronwolf6823]

While Engage's story wasn't anything to write home about, I do enjoy how the emblems feel just as powerful as the story makes them out to be. With chapter 11 probably being the best example of this, as losing all your rings really makes you feel powerless. I wish more emblems besides Marth spoke up after their joining chapter, but at least they get their time in battle.

[@malcovich_games]

I think they really made the story very straightforward and focused on the "series history celebration" aspect. I wish the enemy had villain emblems with unique graphics though, instead of just corrupted heroes.

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

​@@malcovich_games Which means absolutely nothing to newcomers

[@malcovich_games]

@@AkameGaKillfan777 There's no point in doing anything at all, unless it has universal appeal, got it.

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

@@malcovich_games Don't do something that's completely lost on people, like Teen Titans Go episodes that only want to insult critics instead of appealing to actual fans of the show.

[@malcovich_games]

@@AkameGaKillfan777 I am disappointed that you consider “niche” content as “pointless”, but that’s your call. Your Teen Titans Go example pulls referential content from outside the series, rather than from within the series like a Villain Emblem would be, so it may not apply.

[@andreluisdasilvagabriel6091]

Engage gave me the same feeling of playing Path of Radiance 15 years ago. Loved the Octopath Traveler 2 OST in the background, Partitio theme is my favorite.

[@ariangulick9249]

Honestly, up until chapter 10 I was thinking, "the maps are ok but nothing really special" and then after [event redacted] changed everything up, things got a lot more interesting. The paralogue maps really help out, too.

[@zildog]

I don't get what I've done wrong with my Anna gold machine build. Got her to a 45 LCK stat... and that's where it stopped. Farmed a ton of BF's and got the +10 HP/LCK from Tiki and the +12 LCK from Byleth BUT... Anna as a Mage Knight (which is still killer) has her capped at 45!! Nothing seems to change that short of an extra 3 from switching to a High Priest. Where did I go wrong? I've seen some people getting 60's in LCK for her and I think I screwed up her pre post development but not entirely sure. Any ideas?

[@LinkKing7]

I'm not sure where these people are getting 60's in luck for Anna considering the class with the Highest Luck is High Priest and that has a cap of 39, with a max of +20 from emblems and skills, which means the highest cap possible is 59. You can get an extra 5% to get to 64% proc rate for the skill on it's own from the Chrom S rank ring, but Luck can NOT go to the 60's, it's impossible right now. I have an entire video on Anna on the channel btw if you want to look into that further and broke it down there entirely!

[@zildog]

​@@LinkKing7 I've watched it. And it still doesn't make sense, haha. Without any of the buffs, my Anna's absolute base maxxed out at 25 LCK! Added Byleth for +12 innate to get 37. Then I go to add Byleth (+12 LCK) and Tiki (+10LCK/HP) buffs... and it just stops at 45! I SHOULD be getting 59 but it's just stopping at 45 and nothing I do changes that. That's why I'm confused... did I screw up her pre promote growths or something?

[@LinkKing7]

@@zildog That's impossible. Her cap in the High Priest class is 39, the game decides that. So if you level up enough times she should hit 39. You literally can't screw this up, you just need to level her up to allow the luck to grow.

[@mikansempai146]

Lowkey i liked the weapon ranks being tied to classes and a small bonus in some weapons for certain characters that specialize in said weapons.

[@squatch1565]

The forging system is definitely fun, especially with the Engraving part. I was just disappointed that you still can't name weapons. One of my favorite things to do in FE9-15 is give names referencing weapons from other FE games or even other franchises, and after getting into Bleach last year I would've loved to name some forged weapons after Zanpakutos.

[@RKOJERR]

Your videos are great. Interested to hear negatives. I felt the positives the same. Subscribed.

[@illusive-mike]

One thing I need to mention on the gameplay front is the Combat Styles. These hugely affect class balance in what I consider a positive direction by providing benefits for infantry units. Generals and Great Knights are both great in this game while having a meaningful tradeoff between unbreakability and mounted mobility. Qi Adepts and Backups finally get pair-up effects right, and the High Priest being a Mystic is a consideration when choosing whether your healer really needs the top tier staves on promotion. And then there are the Emblem interactions, where a Mage Knight misses out not only on the ability to ignore the terrain and the crazy Avo bonuses of Covert units, but also on Thyrsus from Byleth.

[@Locklen]

I think you missed the Arena on the Somniel, since after every map you can do 3 fights there for some extra exp, which can be very nice when trying to get characters to promotion level, or to have someone who was close to a level scoop it before a new map.

[@malcovich_games]

On Maddening it only gives 10exp and 5sp at all per battle, so I can kinda see how people who are REALLY tired of Somniel and want to go to the fights might even skip that?

[@LinkKing7]

I look forward to seeing your list as well!

[@Game3Free]

1:24 have you looked at the fruit on the Orchard trees on the Somniel? Not as egregious as 3H market fruit, but still low textures. I like to think they’re poking fun at themselves I really liked the QoL in the ZR Addt’l Info and being able to switch which lens to look at. Ex: which unit can chip at a wyrm’s hi def, which unit can do the most Mag dmg to low Res bosses, will my dodgetank’s Avo be below an enemy’s Hit by at least 1 I really didn’t like that i had to do math to figure out the Wt or Mt of weapons. If it’s Player Phase and you have acted with a unit yet, you can check those easy, but if you’ve already moved them or if it’s on an enemy unit, you gotta math. Ex: enemy is using an effective weapon I’ve never seen before, how much effective dmg is it going to do? I already moved my swordie, will trade equipping an Armorslayer mean they 1 round an armored unit or just do hi dmg on Enemy Phase? Cuz that’ll help me decide on whether to leave a Steel Sword on them for non-armored units or not I do like the Break mechanic, but I wish having weapon advantage gave you some small buff for Enemy Phase. Only thing I can think of is Leif’s arms advantage, but it coulda been cool if for example swords got +5 Avo, lances got +5 Hit, axes got +5 Crit (would +1 Mt be too busted?), and arts got all of the above on Enemy Phase with weapon advantage

[@VerveFEH]

Obstruct staff my beloved

[@genx589x]

the break mechanic is my absolute favorite thing. in previous games about 1/3rd the way into the game i always found myself just utterly ignoring the weapon tree as it didnt matter. i was so strong that i would plow through everything regardless of weapon advantage/disadvantage. now that there are consequences for my actions of ignoring the weapon tree, i have to pay a bit of attention to how i move around and i love that

[@eili_enie]

i glad that they made stuff units great again. and i already learned that my favorite conquest stuff entrap is back - i ready to feel pain dealing with it.

[@FROGxDELIVER]

Maddening in three houses felt daunting since it was the first game I tried of Fore emblem (though I did play advanced wars way back on the ds) Then I got into feh after seeing u could get byleeth for free, and I wanted to try mobile gaming again. After playing feh for about a year before stopping, I can definitely say that the time they spent working on abilities making a huge difference in game play carried over into engage. Maybe that's why I enjoy it so much more, because unlike in three houses u don't have to plan ahead on how u want to use a unit, which classes to max out, and have all this extra knowledge jumping into it, and then only having a skill like quick repost being top tier... and now u have Lyn who gives desperation and +10 speed with just a bit of bond points. It feels like ur decisions are way more impactful, as well as not as annoying enemy types. In 3 houses I remember getting stuck and having to change difficulties on the siege fight with edelgard attacking the castle right before time skip.... cause the dragons just keep spawning. And having weapons that break like... it was infuriating. If I planned it out better and started again then I would have made it further... but engage throws that curveball at chapter 11, and the game play was so enjoyable I wanted to restart to think what I could've done differently... not get out a spreadsheet and plan each unit to use, what classes would work, etc. The streamlining they did in engage is really great. Also can't wait to try advanced wars when that comes out soon 👍 I also really like how helpful the videos are for this game. Just someone recommending a ring or a refine on this unit with this weapon opens a whole different playstyle. Very rewarding game

[@Jestylor6]

I there is some stuff I don't like, how support doesn't matter, how Fire Emblem treats Roy, these are just examples. But I pretty much in general like this game I like pretty much every character & their design...

[@Lowzone16]

My favorite for engage are : Mixing previous titles hero brings nostalgia I love it ! Weapon Triangle is back ! Love the inherit skill mechanics because it helps making weird build and have fun with it.

[@pf9878]

what was with the *AXES* on screen around 9:30 when what you wwere saying was correct? Also the black box in the forge menu

[@malcovich_games]

The black box was to hide character spoilers, because in the forging menu shows who have equipped the weapons. And about AXES I'm guessing it's really not AS worth reducing the weight of other weapons classes?

[@brandobond]

Something else great about this game is the characters and how they can all be viable. I just finished my first playthrough (hard) and now I started a second playthrough (maddening). While preparing for my second playthrough I read lots of character tier lists to help me decide which units to use. Almost every tier list I read was different and in many cases, one list would give a certain character S tier while another would give the same character like C, D, or F tier! There seems to be very little agreement on which characters are actually best.

[@bhume7535]

The most consistently high rated units I've seen seem to be Yunaka, Louis and Jean. They're just always busted.

[@brandobond]

@@bhume7535 Those are 3 of my favourites but I've read tier lists that have rated each of them poorly. I think I would have to rate Alcryst as my top unit since quadding with a brave bow and popping off lunas is amazing.

[@bhume7535]

@@brandobond This is where the variety of Engage shines, because my Alcryst was dogshit. Lmao.

[@wiiu3506]

The new boss mechanics are great. I just wish they had more variety in enemy bosses. I only want to fight the Four Hounds so many times...

[@malcovich_games]

I think I can take fighting the Four Hounds so many times if they varied the rings that each one was using in every encounter, instead of Marni having the Roy ring all the time and basically having 6 life bars...

[@OpheliaDuskElla]

Give chloe a forged engraved steel lance she pop off

[@talongeorge3750]

Honestly I really liked the aesthetics of this game, I've seen a fair few people complain that the brighter color scheme and so forth made it feel more cartoony for some people and that they had a harder time taking the story seriously at first because of it, but I liked it compared to the more reserved (in my opinion) aesthetics of three houses

[@Korican189]

There's a lot that I liked/loved! I liked how every unit is capable (unlike Revelation non-Royals). I felt like balance was fair and some things were restrictive (uninheritable class skills). Many more. Gameplay standouts ***SPOILERS*** Enemy Warps. Mauvier AOE warping on you. Corrupted in houses. Griss Jumpscare turn 1. Chapter 11.

[@tbahr123]

I finished up my third Three Houses playthrough (Golden Deer) in the latter half of last year and the gameplay was truly mindless by the end, I had so many broken units and the enemies were extremely weak. Coming off of that into Engage it really made some incredible changes to make the gameplay so much more strategic. It’s extremely fun to just play the game

[@korinoriz]

My favorite part of Engage is how well they nailed a lot of the references, but also compromised with gameplay and took actually fewer liberties than they could've. One of my favorites is the fact Leif gives almost every proficiency being a reference to the Master Knight Class being able to use almost everything. The only character they took major liberties with was Lucina in using a bow, as that's based solely on FEH, but again she's basically the only character who sticks out like this. It's a shame most of the fandom isn't aware of the amount of thought they actually put into it. Similarly, being fairly familiar with the series, I actually understood a lot of the references, and I can't "un-know" them, but I felt the references weren't really "in your face" like a lot of people feared. I have seen some people say it is, but I personally don't feel it to be true. You could replace the Emblems with made up characters from Elyos' past (akin to the 12 crusaders), and not much would change, in my opinion. The moment I realized how good the map design is (for the most part) was during Anna's paralogue when I noticed they put a Monk right next to an Armor Knight players would likely just Warp Ragnarok to. Honestly, I think the Monk isn't strong enough to be a threat, but he thought is there. I'm also the rather minority of people who think the story was good. While not flawless, I feel people are too hard on simple stories and equate "dark" elements, complexity, and perceived "maturity" with "good", and but that's a whole other rant. I feel a lot of the complaints are rooted in the fact the game isn't Three Houses 2, which made a huge impression on fans, and newcomers. So, it's a major whiplash/change for many. That being said, I have seen people say saying that is a fragile defense so it just brings arguments to a stand still.

[@satua13]

Couldn’t agree more. Of note, is Archer not one of Lucina’s default second seal options in Awakening? I know Chrom’s two second seal options are Archer and Cav, and I don’t remember perfectly, but I think kids in awakening inherit second seal options from parents… can’t remember for sure… but it might be the reason.

[@malcovich_games]

Three Hopes is already Three Houses 2 in plot though. Feels like there would be more DLC for Three Hopes but they canceled since Engage was just around the corner.

[@peppe_5]

I was thinking about playing some games from the Fire emblem saga, but idk what to start with, any suggestion?

[@LinkKing7]

The Gameboy Advance ones are probably the best starting point in my opinion, especially FE7: The Blazing Blade with Eliwood, Hector and Lyn! After that, the world is your oyster really!

[@peppe_5]

@@LinkKing7 what about 3ds or switch games (other then engage)

[@LinkKing7]

@@peppe_5 The only other Switch FE is Three Houses really, the Warriors games are spinoffs that don't play like Fire Emblem. Three Houses isn't a bad option tbh, I just prefer FE7 as a starting point for people when I make my recommendations

[@peppe_5]

@@LinkKing7 i think ill look more into Fire emblem three houses then engage and maybe three hopes but ill keep you're suggestion into consideration ty

[@whybother3486]

I'm barely into the game (Literally just finished chapter 9) and while I love the gameplay and everything else I think my genuinely favorite part of the game is the comedy. I've not played all the FE games, but out of the 5 I've played this is the only one where I seriously crack up at the dialog and supports. Obviously this isn't the most important positive to give to the game, but it's the biggest standout to me besides the combat being amazing

[@rockowlgamer631]

The cast of characters is pretty nice, especially the girls (most of them anyway) I got an 8 way tie for whom I want to give the Pact Ring to and I can't decide

[@psazich]

Do you know if adding extra ingredients when cooking actually modifies the chances of a better meal or earning additional support points? Or is the whole extra ingredients thing a scam to suck up our food resources? Thank you.

[@LinkKing7]

Not entirely sure how cooking works tbh, but I assume adding more ingredients is better, and there are things like dish proficiencies and favorite dishes that the characters like so that's all part of what contributes to high cooking rank.

[@psazich]

​@@LinkKing7 Thank you for the information. I'll keep experimenting, I just wasn't sure if that's something the data miners have looked in to yet.

[@marcusbullock2753]

My positive take for this game is I’m glad I got a glimpse of the older characters in this series. The thing is for old Fe fans. Did they do the emblems justice? Or was it censored or mistranslated in the game? I think my fav emblems is Leif Sigurd Marth Lucina and corrin. If they’re characters is accurately portrayed in this game or not.

[@joho4430]

I like the reclass system of this game a lot. It feels less like 3h where you change classes Willy nilly, and more like the older games right up until promotion. Class skills being locked and resetting each time you switch classes makes it so any unit can do anything, but not in the same run (because some of these skills aren’t half bad)

[@laprayprey]

Engage has been one of the best balanced FE games I've played since Conquest. Coming right off 3H Maddening, Engage's Maddening experience has been surprisingly enjoyable with a lot less RNG than what I expected. A lot of the difficulty spikes also felt pretty well designed and justified, leaving us a lot less frustrations compared to previous titles' highest difficulties. They also did a good job integrating some of the story elements into gameplay and that's encouraging to see. I do have a fair share of criticisms but I'll wait for your critique first.

[@thebatman8957]

My favorite part was definitely the combat and the classes. I really enjoyed upgrading to an advanced class and then making certain units absolutely broken. Looking forward to the gloom and doom. My least favorite part of the game probably was the Somniel because after a while it felt like a necessary chore after each battle.

[@EvilFuzzy9]

That’s a nice thumbnail. 👀

[@jackmanleblanc2518]

I really like the cast, so I'm sad you didn't bring them up here cause that means they'll probably be in the next video on the negatives. Granted, I feel like you need to see a few supports to get a good read on most of the characters and I am aware that there are some people who just skip the support conversations entirely which... I don't really get.

[@malcovich_games]

Some people just prefer to have most of the supports include some heavy worldbuilding like in Three Houses. Engage's story and world are a lot more straightforward than 3H's web of political intrigue though, so most of the Engage supports are strictly character building, and with crazy character designs that will make them hit-or-miss, I can see it.

[@LinkKing7]

It's not that I don't like the cast, it's how they were handled that's quite the negative so yeah, that'll be in the next video unfortunately. I have a preference for character depth and development beyond just their initial quirks

[@thomasnguyen4427]

i have 270 hrs on my first playthrough, still on ch16. been loving every part of it. the min-maxing tickles my inner munchkin just right.

[@degreeskelvin3025]

Bro how? What difficulty? Are you just grinding skirmishes for exp?

[@arikaaa69]

I've beaten my first hard mode playthrough in 100 hours and I think I'm 30 hours in my second one where I last beat ch16. Did all paralogues but no skirmishes on the first one, only done one skirmish on the second to get Canter on Anna before ch10. No clue how you get 270 hours

[@jluis859]

78 hours my first playthrough; how…

[@AstraProc]

I guess you are keeping the game open whilst doing other things. That’s how a decent part of my hours racked up.

[@joshuagabrielcatindig7607]

The thumbnail made my brain bicycle a certain tunnel in Japan.

[@crystalqueen9711]

To me, the best thing about Engage is absolutely the part where you actually play it, this is easily top 3 Fire Emblems for me

[@MrChip-jm3vq]

I think it is disingenuous to say there is nothing really missed from skipping somniel. The arena is guaranteed xp and sp, wyvern ride gives items to be sold for money which its often tight because you SHOULD be donating for metal multipliers, you mentioned ingots, bond fragments can get tight so taking care of sommie through the game can mitigate that, and pushups are important for alear especially early, 2-3 strength is not nothing.

[@Sterncold]

the thing is that food and training don't stack unfortunately which is why a lot of ppl don't bother with training (on top of being just a boring mini game)

[@arcanemaster8722]

To add on to this, the new support boosting recreations should also be a must. Building support is so difficult and being near allies with a support boost especially in maddening could make a life or death difference in battle. Additionally, cooking and sometimes arena can too, which is neat

[@MrChip-jm3vq]

@@Sterncold Them not stacking doesn't matter as its only within 1 stat type, you can get 3 res and 2 dex from cooking and then 2 strength from training. Its still 2 points of strength you may not get from cooking. Tonics count under the same category as those two, think of strength training in the early game as saving a tonic

[@Father_Owl]

Wait, bond fragments are tight? Since when?

[@MrChip-jm3vq]

@@Father_Owl Later skills cost a lot to obtain and trading rings around on the harder maddening maps isn't really worth it. Also if you aren't scumming for bond rings, that is a sink. Even if you are they can get tight.

[@ty_sylicus]

I really wanted to like Engage but, after a playthrough, it joins Three Houses in my bottom three. I enjoyed the art, music, characters, and gameplay (mostly). I disliked the chores between missions and the complexity of all the extra stuff in combat (it felt impossible to remember every character's abilities and what they did, or even who was where given the graphics).

[@Coreyographed]

As stupid as it is, I really like that they put in a picture mode. I actually think it’s a cute addition that I would like to see expanded on with more customizability and options

[@Lisa_Minci96]

The thing that happens in Chapter 10 is one of the best thing this series has done IMO

[@nevermoresalt]

I have yet to complete the game, but so far I also LOVE the gameplay and (most) of the songs.

[@AnimeCollectorEric]

what Fire Emblem Engage did right? they gave Ivy two massive-

[@sammi-qg9nj]

I want to recommend you to my friends but in true fire emblem KZbinr tradition, you choose the most awkward thumbnails possible that make it embarrassing to associate with you lmao

[@LinkKing7]

LMAO, I gotta do what I gotta do to get the clicks ya know? Not ALL of my thumbnail are awkward, the Jean one I think it pretty cool!

[@JimiMiki]

I gotta tell ya, I was enjoying the game, but when Alear dodged and countered and then crit hit, I was hooked.

[@shadowedfate151]

Best thing engage did was inspire that thumbnail

[@LinkKing7]

LMAO, yeah my friend did a great job with it, you can check more of his work on twitter!

[@izanagiforsmite4365]

Hey man, Ivy ain't like that bro, use goldmary instead

[@kmpzz2]

I have to say it. Some crit arę really funny, or ridiculous. Like Axe wolf knight tornado kill, or leif Axe emblem crit (same as mercenary from GBA literally)

[@Father_Owl]

Going from Three Houses map design to this is absolutely insane. I absolutely despise everything about the characters and story, but the gameplay and map design more than make up for it.

[@lanceareadbhar]

I understand the story frustrations, but haven't had many issues with the characters themselves. Some are worse than others, but they exceeded my low expectations.

[@Father_Owl]

@@lanceareadbhar A very few are alright. Some are just camp which is fine. I like a good laugh. But most are just terribly written, and awful dialogue. Clanne, Frame, Hortensia, Rosado, Timerra, Pandreo, and Alfred really drive this home. Also the fact that more people wear dresses instead of armour bugs me. These are soldiers I'll remind you.

[@malcovich_games]

I think this very conversation just shows the hit-or-miss designs and writing of the characters in the game. Anyone outside of Brodia (and Amber) are just wild.

[@leargamma4912]

​@@Father_OwlI think alfred is alright. But pannete for me is a no go

[@Father_Owl]

@@leargamma4912 For me, FE9 is the gold standard of character writing.

[@davidlopez6517]

My 3 biggest issue with engage are the story, characters, and the class system. There's almost no reason to deviate from the standard classes each characters has and almost zero reason to change the lords from their classes. The story was meh. Loved the combat, loved the music, loved the maps, loved the strategy and positioning aspects

[@Yarzu555]

Engage absolutely nails the game part of the game, which is nice since that's been the biggest issue with modern FE, CQ aside.

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

"Modern" Fire Emblem, where the last game is FOUR YEARS OLD

[@blockchiken]

seeing the thumbnail i think we know what you meant.... ;)

[@TheRedScizor]

Engage is like the first FE game who's gameplay I have no major complaints with for the first time since like... Radiant Dawn. Fates would have been that game but the maps are SO bad that it ruins it.

[@leargamma4912]

FE 12 (new mystery) is amazing and really deserves to be played. The main issue is it is also the hardest FE in the series. Even harder than conquest

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

​@@leargamma4912 I always hear FE5 is the hardest

[@theprofesionalist7927]

As much as I luv playing this game I can't wait for what is obviously going to be the much longer list of what Nintendo did wrong with this game.

[@LinkKing7]

Oooooh it's coming haha!

[@EricArroyoSanchez]

Sincereley, the Somiel was fine but the rings itself... Holy shit... Who the fuck thought that those amounts of dialogs and loading screens will got anyone who like it ? I mean, it didn't even mark the last selected character niether let you upgrade more than 5 levels at once That was tedious as fuck (farming aside as always). Also, the non emblem ring paired character should get access to 2 skills at least ¬¬ (actually i don't understand why they didn't grant any of those with at least 1 skill 😅) PS: + the lack of customitation is a huge flaw. IDK, i like the game but it got a strange balance of pros/cons.

[@pignosis354]

Honestly, the gameplay makes this game super replayable, my first playthrough on hard, I'm just using what's traditionally good and looks like raw power, but because how well balanced everything looks, breaking units, how combat works, the rings, the fact theres no durability letz you really test weaker characters too, i always disliked giving a slightly weaker character a strong weapon in previous games, solelu because of durability. Also, because how well the game is designed, I think just about every character could pull some weight on hard difficulty except jagen.

[@malcovich_games]

At the end of my Hard game, I fed all my stat boosters to Vander and used him in Relay Trials for the memes. He's finally become a monster though of course any character can be good when fed all the stat boosters in the world... :)

[@jimsface]

I married Ivy

[@leargamma4912]

I mean you should

[@LinkKing7]

Saaaaaaame

[@averagetechnologyenojyer]

Intersting thumbnail

[@RaidenKaiser]

Axe meta is back with a vengeful lol like I know you can easily build around it but holy shit swords really got nerfed hard in this game. It's like they heard the complaints of swords being nerfed too hard in 3h and doubled down on it lol.

[@kyethememer9836]

Ivy art on the thumbnail is very pretty

[@geek593]

All of the things I enjoyed about the game by the mid game became boring when they were repeated ad nauseam until the game finally wrapped. The Solm palace boss rush was cool but having it repeated over and over again with the same bosses got very old.

[@leargamma4912]

The main issue I have with the gameplay is there's only1 strategy to use to win most maps in the mid and late game. Boss rush.

[@jakksonkobalt]

I feel like Fire Emblem Engage manages to be Fire Emblem for Fire Emblem fans where as since Awakening it has felt more like they have been dumbing down the game to appeal to wider audiences. While Engage still has some of that dumbing down and accessibility, it doesn't feel overbearing. I mean sure my first reaction to playing the game after 5 hours was literally, "Game's good, but it doesn't FEEL like Fire Emblem.", at this point I am surprised to say that it feels more like Fire Emblem than the other games I have played. I also love the fact that the game at least tried to pull mechanics from what people have said are the best Fire Emblem games. The skirmishes and Tower of Trials remind me of the Creature Campaign part of Sacred Stones which wasn't my cup of tea, but does add to the enjoyment of a lot of people and TONS of endgame content and the ability to grind if the game is just a little too hard, or you want to use a unit that is too low level. They made class promotion have choices like in 3H and Sacred Stones, however I am not sure I am still sold on being able to reclass any unit into any class if you want. Additionally, I feel like usable weapons being 100% tied to class feels off and I definitely prefer weapon proficiency leveling up rather than being static.

[@MMM69]

Fire Emblem Engage Did Nothing Wrong

[@LinkKing7]

Missed opportunity for a title, RIP

[@luisfernandomanrique5612]

Pretty good but you missed the peak character design.

[@keithelliott9376]

Fire emblem has so many amazing units but my when pair up was introduced and the option of playing the story with units not perma dying.. diluted a lot of what made fire emblem great. That said innovative new mechanics help keep things relevant and I think fire emblem has went in the right step with the genre. I would love for them to bring in actual playable units instead of more rings and preferably laguz style. Miss my tigers, cats, lions, wolves, crows, hawks and herons. They seem to keep the dragons present in some form but I find it weird they excluded almost all of the others. Fire emblem path of radiance was on of my favourite for some of the story and great cutscenes.

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

How dare there be extra OPTIONS for people that don't use MY preferred playstyle?

[@blankblank6214]

Sorens dlc map forced turned off staff and dance animation

[@TheIronSavior]

Warrior crit animation is literally getting dunked

[@bladecommando]

I mean, it made me buy a switch finally... so. Idk it made nintendo get my money so there's that

[@sam7559]

1:22 how could you forget the Three Houses fruit textures? Easy, it's a minor background detail you're not supposed to be actively looking at. IS can be excused for not giving each individual fruit enough polygons to rival 2B's ass from NieR Automata

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

I didn't even notice those until this video brought them up. What I did notice however was part of the Monastery just straight-up disappeared when I zoomed in the camera at the right spot, which was kind of creepy.

[@SeveralKnapkins]

As a first playthrough experience, I would say the Somniel experience was a step down from Garreg Mach. By trying to make it more streamlined (highlighted dots for item pickups, no substantive conversations, minimal consequences for not having food allotments) it took away any sense of discovery or accomplishment you might chase between chapters in 3H: there's no need to search for hidden items, no additional story / character development, and little RPG/resource management satisfaction from say, planning your garden correctly. No doubt it will be better for multiple playthroughs, or even just later game chapters in a first play through where the veneer of Garreg Mach started to wear off, but for me the Somniel was never anything *besides* a checklist, and just served to increase time between the actual best bits of the game.

[@malcovich_games]

Others actually hated Garreg Mach for the exact same reasons you say though, like it's too much of a slog. The Somniel is a streamlined checklist yes, but the best part is, it's a skippable one (except the ingot farm).

[@SeveralKnapkins]

@@malcovich_games for sure - which is why I mentioned Somniel likely being better on multiple playthroughs. Likely just depends on how quickly each person sees through Garreg Mach's veneer, which anecdotally seemed most often post time skip. Still always looked forward to the Gatekeeper, though.

[@stenzel27]

Positives: Gameplay, animations, graphical fidelity, the pre-battle music Negatives: Everything else

[@chaozgaming8565]

The battle animations are better than pokemon, lol

[@OvrlordEtna]

I hate how enemy scaling works with random battles how they scale with your strongest unit

[@Chunes3]

It doesn't scale with your strongest unit. Enemy level is determined by Alear's level + 2.

[@gb45085]

Just started the video so i will probably edit or post another comment but i have to say: I can not agree on the Break mechanic, i absolutely loath it. Maybe i did not play enough other fire emblem titels but i want my hit advantage/disadvantage for the weapon triangle. But maybe this is because i just prefer dodge over normal tanking via def edit: so i am now through and i have to say i have one more point: the forge. i think it is cool that i can "craft" different weapons like killer edge ect. but on the other hand i do not get a real boost anymore when i can buy silver weapons from the vendor because they are just as strong as a +5 iron sword and with crafting materials being so rare that i can not upgrade nilly willy (which is a good thing) there actually is not much of the feeling of: i am getting stronger. in the past getting a higher version of a weapon always meant some sort of power up but now it just like: yeah i already have that

[@quickpawmaud]

0/10 no Alm

[@raulrojas9253]

Engage>>>>3 casitas. 3 casitas is carry hard by its story, but gameplay, visuals, music and performance is far behind Engage. Really dislike the new fanbase bashing engage without playing it or just neglecting everything just because the story is not 3 houses. Is a videogame for fuck sake.

[@leargamma4912]

Gameplay is more important than the story. Always. A good story and ok gameplay is nice. But terrible gameplay and a passable story is unforgivable

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

Here come the hopium copium clowns pretending that Fates wasn't put through the wringer back in 2016 because of how badly executed the story and characters were.

[@samhall5096]

Vander is so bad and I feel he is the one character that is irredeemably bad. Killing him off almost feels canon.

[@lanceareadbhar]

Vader is very good for early game and then he can go to the bench or second seal him for some memes.