Topic: Fire Emblem Engage for Nintendo Switch

@NintendoByNature it seems to be 50+ hours if you focus just on the main story (which most reviewers do to make their deadline) so with side quests it can be around 100 hours.

Glad to hear that good reviews are coming in. Friday should be fun

@alpacatears
I'm getting it. But then again I'm a diehard FE fan and there's no way I'm missing out on FE content.

That said, this is the cheapest and best value DLC Fire Emblem has ever had. Awakening DLC totaled like $45, and was just separate disconnected map packs. Fates, same thing, though it did have a series of maps following a bit of a story. It was short though. Echoes DLC was $50, and same thing.

Three Houses finally offered an expansion pass you buy as one bundle, and offered a separate storyline similar to Xenoblade 2 Torna DLC. Engage is similar. Waves 1-3 are DLC emblem characters, items and weapons. But wave 4 is a separate story with new maps. That's where the value lies.

Given how good Three Houses expansion was, for $29.99 I'm all over the Engage expansion. But again, I'm a huge fan. Weigh whether or not you think 7 new Emblem character rings, items and a new storyline path with new maps is worth $29.99 to you.

@jump wowieweewah( in my borat voice)! That's quite the campaign for gameplay only and not side stuff or school Sim stuff like 3H.

The scale back in story focus is disappointing but I consider this to be an anniversary game and thus is more about celebrating various aspects of the entire series rather than a focus on a stand alone story. That does make me wonder if I should wait until the DLC comes out before I open mine as I will likely storm though this rather quickly. Still very excited, but a tiny bit less than before.

https://www.metacritic.com/game/switch/fire-emblem-engage

82 on Metacritic atm. The positives are what you'd expect, based off what we already know: the game looks and plays great. Doesn't seem like map design is a particularly strong aspect of this entry, though.

@Pizzamorg I don't think people "wanted a Persona like game," so much as they wanted a game with decent characters and strong storytelling alongside their tactical action. As it stands, it sounds like virtually all narrative depth is sacrificed in this entry, which is... unfortunate.

I generally like Skill Up, but I thought this review was weirdly bad for him. He was very negative through most of this, despite saying he recommends it and he does a thing I really can't stand in reviews where he talks about the game he wants this to be and his disappointment that it isn't that game, but that is basically irrelevant to a review of the game that actually exists.

It is fine to make a point of that, but it shouldn't be the foundation of a review. I might be mad you gave me a banana and not an apple, but wanting an apple won't change a banana into one, so shut up about the apple. Especially as he isn't even suggesting this is a step backwards exactly, it just a new direction he doesn't like, which should be as much said and then they should move on.

Which is the kind of thing I was referencing @Ralizah, it is one thing to say the story is bad, another to wish it was more like Three Houses and another entirely to just complain for almost an entire review about how the game isn't Three Houses. Like if you think that is such a superior product well great because it already exists.

@Ralizah I think some people wanted a similar gameplay loop to 3H, especially since that gave you a lot of opportunities to get into the shipping part of it.

As for the DLC, I'm really on the fence about picking it up right away. Even with the datamine, I wish there were more new spirits than the ones revealed. I wish it was either included in the Divine Edition or we had some idea of what the big thing is going to be. At least Xenoblade has Torna to compare the DLC for 3 to (For what it's worth, I haven't played the 3H DLC yet, despite owning it).

I don't think the point is that people wanted another Three Houses in terms of all its component parts, but that even in a more battle focused instalment, a good story elevates the entire game. Three Houses has set a benchmark for story telling in this series, so it is natural that there's disappointment with this standard JRPG story - at least going off on reviews. That's a fair point even when one has no desire for the more social sim aspects of Three Houses.

Ever since I played Triangle Strategy, and loved it deeply, i've been itching for a new SRPG to sink my teeth into so I will definitely get this, just not yet (exams ugh)

@ElRoberico There was precious little shipping in Three Houses, though. It wasn't a game like Awakening and Fates where there was a matchmaking meta.

@Pizzamorg I'll admit I skipped around the video, but it sounded like he was mostly taking issue with how disappointing the characters and storytelling in this entry were. I didn't hear a point where he was arguing that the game was bad because it wasn't as social-focused as Three Houses: rather, that it didn't push the series forward in most respects, and actively regressed in terms of the narrative aspects.

I think Fire Emblem Echoes is a good example of how a balance could be achieved. That game has no social elements other than some very brief support conversations. But the support conversations, despite being brief, still help flesh out their relationships with other characters, and there are enough small exchanges throughout the game that it fleshes out its main cast considerably. That game also featured a simple, but effective and emotional story.

@Suicune EXACTLY. A game can have a strong story, fleshed out characters, and still not focus on the social sim aspect.

Triangle Strategy was amazing, wasn't it? Gripping story. Great music. And some absolutely stellar map design.

Interesting developer interview:

Speaking of the Fire Emblem series, I think Fire Emblem: Three Houses, which was also released for the Nintendo Switch system in 2019, is still fresh in our minds. Are there any connections between Three Houses and the new title in terms of the setting and story?

Tei: No, this is a brand-new title with no story connection to any of the previous games from the Fire Emblem series.The game takes place in a new world: the continent of Elyos. This story begins with the protagonist, Alear, awakening from a thousand-year sleep after having fought in a war between the Divine Dragon and the Fell Dragon to save the world. When Alear wakes up, the world is about to see the reawakening of the Fell Dragon that was sealed away in the war a thousand years ago. Alear goes on an adventure in search of the 12 Emblem Rings with the power to prevent the revival of the Fell Dragon. That is the story of this game.

The story seems to have quite a different feel from the previous title, Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

Tei: The previous game was set in the Officer’s Academy and had an epic historical-drama-like story with a structure in which players could enjoy different story paths for each house. But in this title, we wanted to simplify the story structure by having one major goal, so that players can put their full focus into enjoying the tactical gameplay. So, we decided to develop a game that can be played with an RPG-like feel, where players walk around the world map to progress through the story and raise the skills of different characters who join as allies. This time, we wanted to create a game that appeals to a broader audience so that even players who are not yet aware of the fun of turn-based tactical RPG games would find it interesting just by looking at its visuals.

Yokota: Having multiple story paths makes the game interesting, but some may find the idea of playing all of them a bit overwhelming. But we have a world map in this title, so we hope our players will feel a sense of adventure as they travel across the continent of Elyos.

Speaking of which, I remember that the protagonist, Alear, was featured in the center of the main visual of this title. I don't recall any protagonist illustrated in the center of the artwork for Fire Emblem Awakening and later titles.

Nakanishi: You're right. Recent titles in the series had key characters besides the protagonist, and the stories focused somewhat on those characters too. But we wanted our players to think of this title as a traditional heroic fantasy game. Alear, the protagonist that players control, grows as an individual guided by the Emblems and leads the way, working with allies to achieve a great goal. So, we were very keen to portray Alear in the center of the main visual.

Tei: That said, we had many twists and turns with Nintendo regarding the characterization of Alear... (Laughs)

Twists and turns?

Tei: Yes. When a protagonist is a royal, they are often associated with bravery, or thought to have a sense of mission to fight against fate and challenges, and I believe those are the traits that people generally associate with heroes. However, I thought such heroes are unlikely to resonate with people today. Let's say someone tells you one day, out of nowhere, that your mission is to save the world. My guess is that your response wouldn't be like, “OK! I'll do my best...”So, at the early stage of development, we had many moments where Alear fears the enemies and says unheroic things.

That sounds interesting – showing a relatable protagonist.

Tei: Well... we overdid it, and Nintendo pointed it out to us. (Laughs)

Nakanishi: We were worried that players would give up on the protagonist before they could get emotionally attached to them. (Laughs)

You thought Alear was being too vulnerable?

Nakanishi: Yes... (Laughs)

Tei: So, we decided to keep a good balance. We kept Alear’s fragile side in the beginning but showed them gradually growing braver. The protagonist – in other words the actual player of the game – embarking on a journey is a classic storyline of a Fire Emblem title, but we knew we wanted to create a story that matches the modern world and made some adjustments.

@Ralizah I might be seeing too much of SPE on reddit lately.

Finding out that this game is less focused on the social sim aspect has me suddenly more interested, hehe. I didn't get very far in three houses due to how slow all the monastery stuff felt, while being a big focus in that game. It reminds me of Fire Emblem: Echoes, which is to this day still my favourite since it was decently challenging, the voice acting was stellar, the story was pretty good and the lack of social elements was for the better, since that meant the character development/supports happen in tandem with the story, instead of just kind of happening to the side. I don't think this will dethrone Echoes but at least I see myself having a good time with this.

I think the lack of romance isn't a huge dealbreaker for me, I like that the support conversations are a bit shorter. Radiant Dawn didn't have support conversations and it was a fine game. It doesn't have to be the next Three houses, that said I do really value characters and story. But great music and gameplay are sometimes enough to keep me engaged. I'll give it a fair shot.

@SothisPocus
Supports aren't shorter. People mistakenly reported supports with Bond Emblems being shorter as "all supports being shorter". They're right on par with any other game in the series.

I also think too much emphasis has been put on "not enough characters and story" because from what I've seen and read, it's no different than Awakening and everyone loved that game. I think Three Houses has created a bias.

In any case, game does actually have S supports for Alear. Just so you know.

@SothisPocus I see what you did there!

I also have been doing some thinking. It feels like the Switch has the potential to have all 3 types of FE games that all offer somewhat unique experiences. 3H is the multipath epic filled with so many strong characters. Engage is the thrilling, gameplay-focused one that's all killer, no filler. And if the rumors are true, we'll have a remake with a potential Geneology remake. Plus a straight-up port of the original Shadow Dragon and the Blade of light and the Warriors games. It's kind of insane how wide-spread and varied the FE content is, especially compared to where the franchise was 10 years ago.

I think it's fine for Engage to be the way it is as long as IS pushes the series forward in the future.

A few of the reviews seem to indicate this entry is shorter than Three Houses, hitting a roughly 40 hour sweet spot, which I actually like. RPGs have grown a little too... unwieldy in recent years. Three Houses itself took me 80 hours to complete on my first run. Some of that was side content, sure, but I do think it clashes with the replayable design of the game. One reason I managed more than one playthrough of Triangle Strategy in the same year is because it was a 30 - 40 hour experience per run.

Echoes also took me roughly 40 hours to complete, and I felt satisfied with that length. I did tackle that crazy post-game dungeon and ALMOST managed to clear it, but got destroyed near the end. I don't feel any hugely pressing need to retry that gauntlet, tbh.

Playing through 90 hours of AC Valhalla made me realise how underrated a 12 hour narrative game and a 35 hour RPG is.

@ElRoberico I'm especially looking forward to the Geneology remake. Geneology and Shadow Dragon are the only Fire Emblem games remaining that I haven't finished. While I liked the more serious tone of Geneology's story, I couldn't really get into the gameplay. Something the remake will undoubtedly make better. I hope it has a beautiful artstyle like that of Echoes: SoV

@Ralizah Three Houses having 4 routes was mostly unnecessary in my opinion. I only ended up playing 2 of them to completion. Would've been fine if it was just an Edelgard and Dimitri route, with the golden deers being recruitable in both. Some games just want to be big and long for the sake of it.