Topic: Fire Emblem Engage for Nintendo Switch

@Grumblevolcano
You've been playing since the earlier days then. Given how few people within the fanbase were fans at the time (before Awakening released in 2013), did you ever evangelize the series to others here? If so, what were the responses like? Deaf ears and little interest? Or were people receptive to trying it?

@NintendoByNature
Wow. I guess I underestimated the appeal of the localized NES version of FE1. I'm glad they localized it though. Just like we have the original Zelda and the original Super Mario Bros, the original Metroid, etc, it's nice to have the original Fire Emblem alongside them. Especially since all 4 of them as a series are like, the best video games available today.

@JaxonH absolutely. I was actually surprised how playable the first FE was. Sure it was outdated compared to the later entries, but it was fun enough to get me to try 3H, and I'm glad I did. 3H is maybe my 3rd, or 4th favorite game on the system. Kingdom battle was an early SRPG for me too that jump started my love for the genre.

@NintendoByNature
Kingdom Battle was so good. But Sparks of Hope is genuinely one of the best strategy games I've ever played, and outclasses Kingdom Battle in nearly every way.

Aside from Fire Emblem, I'd say Mario Rabbids Sparks of Hope and Triangle Strategy are the two best strategy games ever made. I hear good things about South Park as well, but haven't played enough to make a judgement call on it yet. Valkyria Chronicles 4 is also very good.

But there's something about Fire Emblem that I enjoy more than with any other strategy game. Maybe it's my fondness of knights and mages and nobles. Maybe it's the music. Maybe it's just everything combined. But Fire Emblem hits in a way no other game does.

@JaxonH agreed. Stinks to hear sparks of hope didn't sell well, since it is better than KB.Triangle was great, and I also have VC4 waiting for me.

I think you should circle back to SP: Fractured But Whole again. It's not terribly long, and it scratches that strategy itch, with some customization and laughs. As long as you aren't turned off by potty humor.

There's just something about nintendo franchises that do it better. They're usually more accessible, like-able characters/story, and more engaging 😉. Very rarely do I jump into a nintendo franchise I've never touched and felt overwhelmed. That's a huge win for a guy like me who doesn't have time to sort through guides and tutorials.

Ya know...

I think Fire Emblem Three Houses is one of my favorite video games of all time, up there with Monster Hunter Rise, Zelda Breath of the Wild and Metroid Prime.

I've always loved it and regarded it in my shortlist of faves, but I'm ready and willing to elevate it to that top spot, even above Fire Emblem Awakening.

Doing a 2nd playthrough on Blue Lions in anticipation of Engage, I've come to realize just how incredible this game is. The characters are so well written and multi-faceted. The dialog is interesting and keeps you emotionally invested. The music is GOAT tier, maybe my favorite soundtrack of all time (though Fire Emblem Fates would certainly give it a run for its money in that department), the visuals aren't nearly as noisy as some have made them out to be (looking at you Digital Foundry), in fact I think it's a really good looking game in the map phase, and decent enough in the monastery even if not impressive, the story is gripping, the content is chocked to the hilt with five different paths you can take in a playthrough (counting the DLC route, of course), and as a whole it just comes together as far more than the sum of its parts, though it's individual parts are excellent.

I think some games take time and hindsight to be truly appreciated for what they are. And I'm beginning to realize this game is so much more special than I gave it credit for when I initially played it (and that's saying something, because I adored this game in 2019).

I appreciate Engage offering a different spin on the formula more akin to Awakening, and by no means am I saying that's not also a direction I love. But Three Houses was like... it was the result of the perfect storm, the perfect confluence of ideas and series direction. I'm not sure we'll ever get another Fire Emblem that hits like Three Houses does. Not that new games can't be equally good in their own right, but I have my doubts they will in the specific way Three Houses is.

It's a rare masterpiece. The series as a whole is exceptional, and even "bad" Fire Emblem games are still phenomenal games. But sometimes a series just happens to spit out an entry that nails everything perfectly. Three Houses is that game for the Fire Emblem series, in my humble opinion.

Started playing Fire Emblem Fates again yesterday and today. Fired up my Revelation save file right after the path split.

I gotta say, I'm really, really enjoying playing Fates again. It's so good! I'd forgotten just how incredible the gameplay was in this game. The pair up mechanic was at its peak. Units with Shelter command, switching and separating, double attacks and counters with Dodge/Hit boosts... the strategy in this game is just so addictive.

And I'll say it- the story doesn't seem nearly as offensive this time. I think the reason for that is, 1) I've already adjusted my expectations. When the game first released, I and others wanted it to be something it's not, and that was disappointing. But having come to a place of acceptance, I'm just enjoying it for what it is. 2) The cheesiness is actually rather endearidg to me now. I can't say I felt that way 7-8 years ago when it released, but now? It's almost part of its charm. 3) I've already played Birthright and Conquest, so the Revelation storyline is tying it all together and makes it feel more cohesive. I know many people hate Revelations story the most, but to me... I don't like or dislike it any more or less than the other two. But it does feel like it explains things in the other two paths like why King Garon is the way he is.

This game is a gem, and I definitely feel like it's over-hated. There's so much quality content, and while I understand it fails to deliver what people wanted from a character/narrative sense, I'm coming to really appreciate it for what it is.

Gosh dang I'm having so much fun with this game. And all the DLC too? Speaking if which, go grab whatever DLC you want now before the eShop closes! I have a modded New 3DS that I dumped my physical collection to, and downloaded DLC installs that I had already purchased on my "official 3DS" (I never pirate, only install things I've officially purchased and simply don't want to re-buy 3 separate times since each 3DS has games tied to the hardware), and I wanted to check to make sure it was all working before March comes. Turns out the DLC had some issues, so I had to delete the game and repurchase it and all its DLC from the eShop again (like the 6th copy of this game I've bought now), which meant making a new email to make a new Nintendo Account to merge the NNID with to add funds with an eShop card... whew.

Anyways, I now have Awakening + all DLC, Fates + all DLC, and Shadows of Valentia + all DLC tested and working. Thankfully Awakening and Fates stored saves on the cartridge, so I was able to use Checkpoint to copy the saves off my cartridges and restore to my digital versions. Only one I couldn't do that for is Echoes, since it stores saves on ExtData via microSD card, and I didn't originally play it on this 3DS. Thats OK, if I ever play it again I'll do a new playthrough anyways.

I miss the 3DS era Fire Emblem games. They were so unique.

I highly recommend this Fates Retrospective video for anyone who wishes to analyze the game with the benefit of hindsight. It's shortcomings are acknowledged and criticized, but its triumphs are also rightly acknowledged and praised.

Finished Shadows of Valentia, although I lost a few units to Duma, and apparently there's post-game content, so I'm far from done with it.

The game definitely has some issues, but I'm inclined to say it's one of my favorite entries in the series. Interestingly, it's like a mirror image of Fates: Conquest, in some ways: consistently mediocre-to-bad map design that's compensated for by a lot of great writing; a focus on fleshing out the cast vs. developing a needlessly bloated and grandiose plotline; a lot of the mechanics seem kind of unpolished, but this is made up for by just how original the entry is compared to the rest of the series (wild to think most of this is a faithful recreation of an NES game). I've said before that I like Fire Emblem best when it's leaning into the RPG side of its design (because, when it comes to tactical games, I prefer customization and RPG elements to be as minimal as possible), and with extensive world map traversal, town exploration, side-quests, real-time dungeon crawling, etc. there's still no entry in this series that feels more like a full-fledged JRPG.

This game probably had the heaviest focus on romance of any of the entries I've played to date, but it's well-integrated into the rest of the game, and emotional relationships are fully explored. You see many different types of love, how people manage their grief when their loved ones are taken from them, etc. Crucially, this is all tightly scripted, and involves no matchmaking on the part of the player, which allows the character dynamics to feel properly organic. Despite all of the fantasy stuff happening in the background, the characters are almost always grounded, loveable, and the focus of the action. I was a little worried about the female villager who feels like she's bordering on being a yandere at times, but the game exceeded my expectations by having one of her support conversations with Alm directly address the unrequited love she harbors for him.

And man, that ending song is brilliant. Unquestionably the best vocal piece in the series to date.

@JaxonH Memory can oftentimes exaggerate both the good and bad qualities of something. I have no doubt if I replayed the Fates games, I'd be less irritated with the storytelling and writing overall, both because of low expectations going in, but also because I'm sure my initial disappointment has colored my memories of the game somewhat.

There are definitely elements of the games I really like, such as the music and presentation overall. Until playing Echoes, I'd forgotten how much work they put into the cutscenes in these 3DS entries.

Probably won't go hard/classic on Conquest again, though. That was unnecessarily brutal, lol.

Removes silent thread ninja screen

@Ralizah You've hit on exactly why Shadows of Valentia is my favorite 3DS Fire Emblem title, though Awakening is a close second. In addition, I also liked some of the mechanical changes, such as how casting works. I found the dungeon exploration to be a nice change of pace too, even if the mini battles got old after a bit. I fully agree in regards to the maps being meh. One of the few negatives due to the original game being from the NES/Famicom days.

Resumes read-only thread behavior until Engage releases or is replied to

Watching playthroughs online, there's apparently a recruitable character on Celica's route I missed entirely. WTF

@Tyranexx The lack of limited uses for magic spells was nice, and I thought the risk/reward elements of magic draining your HP bar was interesting. In addition, I actually really liked not having to worry about weapon durability, and how it balanced that out by making you choose which item the character world hold.

The maps sucking makes sense, considering this was all in the literal infancy of the genre, and the people making these games had nothing to go on when it came to good map design. That aside, I'm amazed how forward thinking Gaiden was: so many of the mechanics it introduced have aged so well. And, in terms of Echoes-original additions, I happen to really like the turnwheel mechanic, which pairs extremely well with classic mode, as it gives you an out for the occasional bit of annoying RNG.

@Ralizah there's a non-permadeath mode to Fates: Conquest?

@ElRoberico Fates has two non-permadeath modes. One, called "Casual," where your dead characters revive by the time the next battle rolls around, and "Phoenix Mode," where your characters return to life the turn after they die. Which I guess makes it nearly impossible to fail battles unless you don't meet a specific victory condition.

Casual mode has been standard in the series since the Japan-only DS release New Mystery of the Emblem, which was a remake of Fire Emblem 3. As far as I know, Phoenix Mode is still a Fates-exclusive thing.

There is no weapon breaking in Engage either, right?

Would it be worth seeing if I can grab a DS to play some of the DS Fire Emblem games?

@Ralizah
I fired up Echoes myself today and played the first 2 battles (prologue and first map battle). Shadows of Valentia really is a mirror image of Fates. One has immaculate gameplay with shoddy story/characters, while the other has shoddy gameplay with immaculate story/characters (that's not entirely fair- I don't think SoV gameplay is shoddy, it's just... subpar compared to the rest of the modern series, but understandably so as it's an NES remake, so it makes sense why it doesn't have weapon triangle or pair up or special abilities or more tactical, less open maps).

They're all great. Fire Emblem is always good, even when it's not. I love the Alm/Celica story and the unique visual novel approach of Shadows of Valentia. I love the immaculate maps/objectives of Fates with the most complex and tactical gameplay in the series. I love Awakening and its all around quality with characters/story, generational gap with children and fun gameplay. I love Three Houses and it's incredibly deep well of lore, multi-faceted characters and nearly half a dozen unique path splits. And above all, I love the music. All of them have great music. Awakening- banger. Fates- banger. Shadows of Valentia- banger. Three Houses- banger. And let there be no doubt- Engage soundtrack will be a banger as well.

I feel so blessed having not one, not two, but THREE quality Fire Emblem titles on 3DS that are recent enough to offer Casual/Classic modes (and with the benefit of a hacked 3DS, easily accessible cheats holding L+down+select in game, though I only use to to unlock raising difficulty, not that I've done that yet but I like the idea of being able to if I want). And one of those games is essentially 3 games in itself. That's a LOT of high quality Fire Emblem.

And that's before taking into account Three Houses, which I am currently on Chapter 15 of Blue Lions. Once I finish this playthrough I'd like to load my Black Eagles save before the time gap choice, and side with Edelgard rather than the Church. I hear it's only 16 chapters total for that route and the choice is in Chapter 10 or 11, so it wouldn't take much to finish that one off also. Then there would just be Golden Deer and the Ashen Wolves dlc.

Of course, with Engage releasing Friday, all that will have to go on the back burner for a while. Still, its nice having so much to fall back on. As accustomed as I am to the Switch, Fire Emblem is one series that doesn't really feel like much of a "downgrade" on 3DS. Sure, the 3D models are much more simple and... archaic, even, but it just feels right. Especially with the 3D effect on. It adds depth so well- I noticed by toggling the slider off in a scene where there was a bright light and the characters had little contrast against the background, once the slider was on the characters jumped out against the background despite little contrast. Idk how so many people ignored the 3D slider on this system. It's so good! I would not be opposed to Switch 2 bringing the glasses-free 3D effect back, in HD, though I know they never will. I can already hear the outrage from fans and media- "what is Nintendo doing! Tone deaf as always! Should have left this gimmick buried in the past where it belongs and used that power for more GrApHiCs"

@Ralizah I did indeed also like not needing to worry about weapon durability. I find that to be a mechanic that ranges from annoying to beyond irritating in games I play. The turnwheel mechanic was also very welcome. It saved me a couple of times when an enemy would get in a lucky crit or if I accidentally made a blunder.

Despite the original Garden's reputation as a black sheep, it got a lot right IMO. Shadows of Valentia is definitely a remake done right. Now if only the West could get New Mystery of the Emblem....

@Tyranexx
There's a very good fan translation of New Mystery of the Emblem (actually, every JP-only Fire Emblem has an English translation). It's easily available even without a hacked 3DS. Just buy a $20 R4 DS cart and play the patched rom through that. There's also emulators but I find dual screen entries play best on native dual screen hardware.

New Mystery of the Emblem did a lot for the series- notably casual mode and the user avatar, but it did take a lot of criticism for that avatar being shoehorned into the story that was not originally present in Book 2 of the SNES entry (personally I couldn't care less- they took some liberties, so what).

Anyways, I think they missed their chance at localizing that one. It either should have released on 3DS as a DS port with added 3D effect, or it should have released on Wii U VC alongside Shadow Dragon. Now that dual screen gaming is gone, it doesn't make much sense trying to convert those games as ports. I suppose they could rework the bottom screen into the menu but, if you're gonna do all that, and localize it, why not just remaster both Shadow Dragon and New Mystery of the Emblem and release as one $60 package. Unfortunately, at least thus far, they've shown little interest in releasing older entries in the series on Switch (barring FE1). There's no GBA or DS in Switch Online, and until there is, I think we're sol.

So, I will say, I think Shadows of Valentia sated my hunger for more "serious" Fire Emblem for the moment. As long as they go back to that style with the next remake or mainline entry, I'm fine with Engage being the sort of goofy, colorful saturday morning cartoon it appears to be.

Also, that opening has grown on me. I'm unironically enjoying it now. Particularly looking forward to seeing the Japanese version, which sounds like it has the same singer:

@JaxonH The map design in Echoes makes sense in context, considering most battles are small skirmishes in the countryside and inside dungeons. Random fields and caves aren't going to have complex geography. Still, it's an undeniable downgrade from the other 3DS-era games, in that regard.

I'm really drowning in potential Fire Emblem playthroughs at the moment. I still have more to do in Three Houses. Haven't touched Three Hopes at all, which also features three routes. Also have the original Fire Emblem Warriors on my New 3DS. And a whole bunch of older games in the series I haven't played yet, like the other two GBA entries that aren't The Blazing Blade.

I've long been an advocate of the 3D effect on the system. Its usage is uneven, but when it works, IT WORKS, and produces a visual experience wholly unlike any other device I've ever used. With some games, you literally feel like you're looking into a fully three-dimensional environment, like you could fall in. In some games, it's just window dressing, but in others, it's arguably important to the gameplay. Like, I can't really imagine A Link Between Worlds or Super Mario 3D Land without the slider turned up. The games, especially the former, lose so much visual depth with it off, which is important considering how they're designed with the effect in mind.

I'd love to see other stuff from that system come back as well. Like an actually good activity log. Or those really cute, and sometimes eye-popping 3D logos that popped up when you selected a game. Aren't those more interesting than a flat icon on a screen?

With that said, a straight-up, Sony-style upgrade is the only decision that makes sense for the successor. It'll hopefully address the technical issues keeping more demanding JRPGs and whatnot from hitting the platform day and date. I expect developers like RGG Studio will continue to manufacture absurd excuses for not supporting the system, but most of the developers I care about (now including Falcom, thanks to NIS) will likely be on-board day one. In terms of the sort of games we're getting, and how often we're getting them, Switch feels more like a throwback to the PS2 than it does a Nintendo console.

But who knows? I don't expect it to be too many more gens before the power gap between mobile and home platforms has narrowed to the point where every device can effectively play every game reasonably well, requiring them to grow sideways again. At that point, it'd be pretty cool if Nintendo said: "Hey, you remember that neat glasses-free 3D gimmick we included in one of our old handhelds? Let's bring that back!"

@Tyranexx Given it was already a remake, I'm guessing it'll be a long time before we see New Mystery of the Emblem hit Western shores. I actually set that up on an emulator on my phone today. No idea when I'm going to play it, but it's nice to have open access to it regardless.

There will be a special cross promotion bonus for Engage you can unlock in FE Heroes that gives you some special weapons in Engage. Available Thursday evening at 5pm PT

https://fire-emblem-heroes.com/en/order-of-heroes/

@JaxonH Thanks for the heads up. I may have to download Heroes again then just for Anna.

@JaxonH I wonder if I should even go through with this... I don't want overpowered equipment at the start of the game.

I'll never understand the appeal of mobile games. I redownloaded Heroes again to mess with this, and the crowded menus, dozens of different currencies, weird event lists, etc. are all just mind-boggling for me.

So is this not stuff you can obtain in-game?

@JaxonH @Ralizah As a gamer who's only played old-school Fire Emblem games "before gender choice was an option for the MC" Does gender choice change the game and its story in any meaningful way that would make it worth playing through at least twice "at least once per gender" or is it mainly superficial like the gender choice in Pokemon games?