Topic: Fire Emblem Engage for Nintendo Switch

Ok, rushing trying to beat golden deer before Engage drops. I have next monday off so I should make it. I'll do another run of silver snow later this year ( I refuse to do CF).

I've not really been following the trailers or the previews but some of the comments I've heard like it's got the SRPG aspects down (which I thought was lacking from the last game to be honest) has me really looking forward to this now.

Does anyone know if it's gonna be a split/multipath route game like Fates and Three Houses?

@jump
Negative.

One route, one storyline. It's very much akin to Awakening in that respect. In fact, it's the first new FE game since Awakening to not feature split paths.

@Ulysses
It does seem to be more aligned with older entries gameplay wise. Gone are the combat arts and battalions and pair up mechanics of the last few entries. That said, Emblem characters kind of fill that void for pair up, and their special moves serve as the combat arts.

Weapon triangle returns for this game (it was not featured in Three Houses)- how it works has been revised with the new Break status.

I highly recommend also checking out Three Houses at some point though. That game is really good.

@JaxonH Ah good, this is shaping up nicely for me then. Maybe I should I have given it more of a breather between playthroughs but I found the last couple a slog due to having to keep playing the early levels over and over to get to the other routes.

@jump
Ya, that's true. I think it offers great replayability, but probably not so good for back to back playthroughs.

I played Black Eagles and saved before the Church split choice, so I could finish both versions of Black Eagles without replaying the first half of the game.

Then after 3 years I started Blue Lions. It had been so long at that point everything felt fresh. So I do like it, as the game will have so much content and life for many years to come, but for immediate back to back playthroughs it feels repetitive.

But then again, I suppose replaying a game with one route would feel just as if not more repetitive.

@Pizzamorg If I didn't have a short week, I would at this point. Unfortunately, I my PTO is much less at the moment, so it was this or Zelda. I love FE, but Engage isn't the insane event that TOTK is.

Just placed on pre-order with best buy 🙂

That is fair, I think I have like four days of my holiday left I haven't prebooked so I might do some stuff for the new Zelda too. Although I might wait until closer to the time on that one, just so we can be sure it is really coming out. I am fully confident we are a week away from Engage.

@NintendoByNature
You doing store pick up or shipping?

I've got the digital preloaded myself, and... I can't help but keep trying to start the game over and over, watching the error message pop up about not being ready to play yet, hoping against hope some glitch will occur and approve the game for play early (it has actually happened to some people before- though the odds are low, it's still possible to crit in theory!)

@JaxonH haha! That's funny. I've done that before, actually. I think LM3 was able to be played a few hrs earlier digitally from what I remember back in 2019.

I ended up going for in-store pickup. Reminds me of being a kid again 😜.
I love having all my games on display on my shelves, but can understand wanting to go the digital. It's definitely convenient for many reasons. I'd say it's my most anticipated game behind TotK.

I definitely don't mind the lack of path splitting in this entry. Especially since I'm not keen on replaying long games for years after the fact.

One thing I'm enjoying about Echoes/Gaiden is how it effectively incorporates two short story campaigns into one playthrough. And also how the two campaigns affect one-another. It's a really cool structure that I'd love to see return to the series at some point.

I guess I wouldn't mind having multiple paths. Doesn't hurt my overall excitement for the game not having it though. It is nice knowing at some point I can go back to 3H and play the other 2 paths I didn't do on my first run.

I enjoy both approaches. Given how much I enjoyed Awakening, and even still got 100 hrs from my playthrough, I'm eager to experience a single path FE again. Engage is Awakening 2.0 as far as I'm concerned, and I'm all for it.

That said, I do appreciate Three Houses being a monster of a game with 5 separate paths to play. That one is a modern masterpiece, and I'll be coming back to it for many years finishing off the remaining paths.

I'm curious when everyone here became Fire Emblem fans. There's so many people here excited for Engage.

I first got turned onto the series with Awakening on 3DS, specifically the demo, after my brother told me about it and compared it to chess but with characters and a story (I grew up playing chess and studying Bobby Fisher games).

That did it for me. Been a fan ever since, and have fully completed Awakening, Fates Birthright, Fates Conquest, Shadows of Valentia, Three Houses Black Eagles Church route, and almost beat Blazing Blade (I'm at the end of the game), and am nearing completion of Three Houses Blue Lions. I've also dabbled in all other entries (2 chapters in Holy War, 1 chapter in Thracia 776, 3 chapters in Binding Blade, 6 chapters in Path of Radiance, 2 chapters in Radiant Dawn, 4 chapters in Shadow Dragon, 1 chapter in Heroes of Light and Shadow).

So. Where did all these Fire Emblem fans come from? What game turned you into a fan?

@JaxonH I became a fan when they released the English version of Shadow Dragon And The Blade Of Light. I never beat it mainly because I got stuck and it got really hard.

I'm looking forward to Engage as my second dip into the series.

@Kermit1
Are you referring to Shadow Dragon on DS, or the localization of the NES title on Switch?

If the latter, that's certainly an interesting game to start with. I imagine very few people can make that claim, barring a few old school Japanese fans who grew up with Famicom.

@JaxonH Path of Radiance was my first. Got interested in the franchise via Ike being in Brawl and at the time Path of Radiance was only around £20 so I bought it. Liked it so much that I delved into other entries.

Looking at the price nowadays makes me very sad, even a new Switch OLED is cheaper than that game.

@JaxonH the localized NES on Switch one

Believe it or not, I first got into the SRPG genre with SP: Fractured But Whole game. I fell in love with the genre after that. And it turned me over to some other rpgs and srpgs. When the switch version of the NES FE got announced, I was super excited to try it out. So I played a decent amount of that, moved onto 3H, then awakening, and I have both conquest and shadows of Valencia waiting on the shelf. Truly it's one of the best franchises and genres.

@Grumblevolcano I very much wish I would have done that. My sister had a GameCube, and I wish I cared about Nintendo more than just Smash Bros at the time. Even when we had a Wii, I should have looked at GameCube games more.

@JaxonH it was the demo for Awakening for me too. I downloaded it when I got my 3DS, but didn't pull the trigger for years. I think it was around 2018/2019 when I actually bought a copy. I fell in love and got Fates: Birthright some point in 2020. Engage is the first one I'm playing at launch. That's what really excites me.

@Pizzamorg the flu drained me, man. It sucks.