Topic: Fire Emblem Engage for Nintendo Switch

I can't believe Ch. 5 of Engage was tougher for me than any map in Three Houses, lol. Just beat it earlier after several attempts and a ton of swearing. I think my biggest issue is that it's taking me a while to adjust to the game-changing Chain Guard ability. It does open up some cool tactical possibilities, though.

@Ralizah
Chapter 5 was tough for me too. I lost units on chapters 2-6, then finally started improving as I became more familiar with the game's mechanics.

Chain Guard is absolutely crucial.

I was just playing a skirmish after Chapter 9, and it was brutal. I legitimately thought there was no way I could beat it without losing a character or starting over from scratch. As I got rushed from both sides at the same time, I somehow figured out a way to chain guard 2 people at once blocking the corridor to the right (they were kitty corner to each other so Framme could guard them both), and I used my Obstruct staff to save Etie on the left hand side who only had 1 HP and couldn't move (Jean couldn't reach Etie to chain guard as someone was behind Etie).

The ice from Obstruct staff funneled the enemy to the adjacent unit, Bucheron, who was able to survive the high damage attack from the cavalier (barely). Like, it was such an intense moment for me. It probably doesn't sound like it as I describe it, but that chain guard saved my butt. As did the Obstruct staff.

Don't sleep on the staves. Obstruct, Rewarp, Warp and Rescue. They can be a gamechanger in the right scenario. And chain guard? I can't imagine beating Hard Mode without it. Just be wary of the fact enemies can and will use chain guard to their advantage also. I didnt realize it but in that same battle I did an Engage move on an armored unit who had a chain guard. Thankfully a chain-attack I just so happened to have hit first and used up their chain guard so the actual attack landed.

Chapter 5 isn't as bad as the first paralogue map for me. That map is the worst anytime I have a skirmish available. The units are too spread out and there's too much rubber nicking to make anything feel meaningful.

That being said, I'm on Chapter 16, and it's definitely a lot different than what I was expecting. I didn't think I'd be getting units as fast as I am, and it makes my core group of around 12-14 really difficult to shrink when I have an 8 or 10 person map.

Holy cow, that first chapter 10 battle on Hard Mode was BRUTAL. I lost the first time and just barely scraped by with two units remaining on the second try. It was super challenging but extremely rewarding. I’m glad I’m not playing on Classic mode, though, otherwise all my units would be looong gone.

The story’s starting to get a bit more interesting, at least. It’s still not good, far from it, and I’ve already called a plot twist that’s gonna happen in a couple chapters probably. Most of the characters are still extremely boring and two-dimensional as well. But I’m hopeful that at least the narrative will pick up more overtime.

However, the gameplay is just amazing. It feels so strategic, contemplative, and rewarding when you finally manage to break through enemy lines. Three Houses absolutely has this game beaten in terms of story and characters, but Engage’s combat is just so good.

@ElRoberico
Yes, picking units is tough as it's usually 9 or so, and it's like ok, I need Alear, I need a mage, I need a Qi Adept healer, I need Louis, I need an archer, I need an axe user, toss in Chloe as a griffin knight, Celine as another mage and oops! All slots full! But I need another sword user! But I need another axe user! But I need a 2nd healer!

It's a love/hate thing though because while I always feel I need to bring more than I can, I understand that's part of the strategy- forcing the player to make hard choices. Same thing applies with gold and bond fragments in this game. There's never enough, so the player is constantly having to choose and prioritize what they want most.

Its a noticeable difference from past games where, not only could you bring 12-14 units on many maps, gold was also not an issue. Awakening, Fates and Echoes had gold DLC maps to farm that were extremely generous on top of gold not being too hard to come by in the first place, and Three Houses had multiple ways to get rich (though early game resources are definitely more scarce). Balancing the gold economy is actually really important, because if the player can afford whatever they want whenever they want, gold kind of loses its purpose.

@JaxonH Yeah, several of my Ch. 5 character loses happened because the enemy made effective use of chain-guarding in chokepoints. The enemy AI actually seems really intelligent in this game. I'm very satisfied with the difficulty balancing. Hard mode is actually hard, but not, like, stupid hard. The map design and return of the weapon triangle, along with stuff like chain-guarding has a lot to do with it. Also, the one boss I've faced so far actually chased my units around the map instead of just sitting in one place the entire time.

I've never been wowed by the AI pulling off some grand strategy or whatever here, but I will say the game is absolutely brutal when it comes to punishing bad decisions. The AI will often realise you made a mistake long before you could if they weren't punishing it. Especially during those early turns on unfamiliar maps, if you put a unit out of position the AI will make sure that Unit can't make it to the next turn. Likewise, the AI will focus on your weakest, or lowest level, Unit and target them over and over again, until that Unit falls or their turn ends. It can feel like playing another person at times because of this focus on exploiting your weakness, but at others the aggressive nature of the AI exposes it's general lack of intelligence because it's clear it's never thinking ahead, it'll put Units in really bad positions or make mistakes of its own, in a single minded pursuit of punishing yours on that specific turn, regardless of whether it'll cost them 10 units that following turn.

This is great if you want to truly master the game I think, but it's also somewhat open to exploitation, because you can just treat the enemy like a massive meat grinder on Casual. Deliberately toss a couple of Bait Units to the wolves while your real Units go on to the objective relatively unchallenged.

My plan of sticking with the OG characters from the first few chapters has crumbled apart. Each chapter I seem to get multiple units who are stronger than the ones I already have and can’t help but want to try them out. The game seems to be encouraging the player to shake up their team frequently.

@JaxonH I am not talking censorship as honestly I don’t care and usually agree with it. Japan has a lower age of consent than most countries in the west which while I will go “their culture their rules” doesn’t mean I agree with it or wanna see that displayed (just because something is a law, doesn’t make it just). After all we are all human it’s not like the Japanese become fully formed adults at 14 while the rest of us are elves that take longer. I’m always against anything that takes away a girl’s chance to just be that: a girl, a child with no sexual expectations beyond what her own body tells her. But that isn’t what I am talking about.

When I say localization I am talking about translation choices made to “add flavor” to a game. To keep spoilers from happening a few characters are less creepy in their original dialogue (there is are a few that are moreso but one in a schoolgirl crush sorta way) and Alear is while still a vulnerable hero is a little less of a chicken. Like I get it when things are cultural or historical quotes or something that doesn’t have a real parallel (like Anna wanting to be called Anna-san makes sense to be localized as “Lady Anna”) and again I agree with anything that that ages up characters and keeps girls (not women) out of sexual situations.

The foreshadowing is also really obvious in the OG script. I’m way less annoyed with Alear’s design now that I know it’s an intentional plot point even if I only have an inkling as to what it is ( only on chapter 12. Mostly grinding for cash and exp) But sometimes a script is perfectly fine to just…translate and the team goes ham. Imo it isn’t needed. I know the easy answer is switch to the English script but I want the JPN script because of the cast. My favorite seiyuu of all time is in this, so yeah I wanna listen to JPN voices but it doesn’t change my annoyance. I’m just commenting on my experience as I am playing. I usually don’t play when everyone else is playing so I am just adding to the thread/convo.

As to the units part. Bummer but I am getting the hang of it. I need Anna because I need money so I finally got her to useful and less swiss cheese or glass canon. But I found the discount card so that helps. (Just bought the expansion pack. Was playing without it initially)

Also this game reminded me why Lyn is still my favorite Lord. Had to reboot 3 times (don’t remember how many times I turned back time) and did one suicide run. She beat us up like Nergal was in the team. I finally got out with no losses but dang if she fought like that in the main story I would have let the bad guys have the world(sorry y’all).

Chloe is a QUEEN.

I had one shot to stop this thief and nab the steel dagger and dracoshield. And Chloe says "it's all I need"

@Ryu_Niiyama
I saw that skill Anna has, but it's based on Luck Stat and her luck was like, 3 lol

Took one look and said yup, not gonna bother with that grind 😀

The silver card is a huge help though. Not game-breaking, but enough that it makes a difference. I typically just rely on military funds, and any time I see Gold Corrupted I pounce on it.

@Ralizah
Oh my gosh. I'm so used to baiting enemies. In Chapter 9, I tried baiting 2 of the retainer calvary away from the boss to thin out their numbers... bad idea. The boss decides to just up and follow one of them, catching me unprepared with a small assassination team off to the side of the map. Thankfully they all had Engage meter so I was able to barely squeak by just focusing on the boss instead.

Engage will catch you off guard if you don't anticipate the unexpected.

I don't get it. The skirmishes are supposedly for levelling up but they're...the hardest part of the game?

Anyone else having this much trouble with them?

Both the paralogues and skirmishes are brutal in my experience so far, I've basically given up on trying to level up anyone who has fallen behind. I dunno whether there is something I am missing, but the design intent seems baffling to me. Especially as the AI is seemingly programmed to go after your weakest link, so you can't even jump into these Skirmishes and hide a low level Unit in a corner or whatever.

@Pizzamorg yeah this is precisely my problem.

Add to that, when you have 10 enemies on you at once it's kinda difficult to justify using anyone that's not able to one-shot the opponent.

I think skirmishes wouldn't be so difficult if the entire enemy force doesn't rush you from turn one. I don't think I've been able to clear a skirmish outside Firene so far.
Is the skirmish level affected by donation level too? I may regret spending most of my money donating to the different realms, but I didn't foresee money being so difficult to come by.
But if it had the added effect of buffing the enemies, then that's even worse!

I honestly kinda hate the map design in Engage in general, if I am being honest. Units are often too far away to engage on your first turn, and the CPU often won't push forwards unless you send out a bait unit, so you sorta have to send your Units into no mans land during those early turns and then just kinda hope the CPU doesn't pounce on you in the process.

The absolute best maps are the maps which function as like a series of interconnected small zones, where you can match up Units and send them off in different directions, those are really fun. But most of the Engage maps just seem to be a friendly Unit meat grinder you funnel everyone into because otherwise the mission will just never move forwards.

And especially in Skirmishes, paralogues and later missions, the game will absolutely flood the map with Units who have similar health pools as your Units and can do the same damage, so it is super easy to have Units in ten against one match ups, and they may have a truly heroic performance of dodges and retaliation hits, but it is unlikely they'll survive the entire flood.

I think being able to move your Units around should remain, but just put the Units closer together so you don't have these frustrating dead turns at the beginning.

Ah screw it I’m starting over. I don’t think i used the skill/ring system effectively so gonna try again. Not that far in the story anyway.

@JaxonH I just feed her luck items and assign luck rings. Has worked so far. Restarting my game though.

@Buizel Tank and bait works for me. I find a bottle neck/easy defense point equip my crap units with ranged weapons and put the worst weapons on my tanks. Tanks damage sponge while not stealing kills and weak units mop up. I will also take less units and focus on leveling one unit and tank and bait. Same with farming SP. The grinding kinda sucks in this game though. If you are trying to do is quickly and not die I mean.

Is there a new game plus? I may storm through this play through and try a better run next time if there is. Ima get beat up for this but I feel like 3 houses respects your time better. I will likely get to chapter 9 or 10 and freeze and grind/wait on dlc.

@Ryu_Niiyama Sounds like a good strategy, but honestly I don't think it would work on some of the skirmishes I've been doing. These are maps where the enemy can attack you at all angles, and I tend to have 10 or enemies on me at once.

That said, I notice that one skirmish in particular that I found impossible to complete was a "gold corrupted" one. I can't even beat them with my best members for the most part. Maybe I should just avoid these?

Whew! Just beat Chapters 11 and 12.

Wow. I had to restart on Ch 12 after losing Framme. But nailed it on my 2nd try. That was one heckuva set of chapters!

@Buizel
I've heard others say that, but they've been no different than story missions for me, some even easier. And I don't think I'm particularly great at these games (though I can sense I'm improving).

They level based on your highest level unit (in total levels). So if you have one super high unit, expect a rough time. Best to keep all units leveled together.

Still, you can keep EXP and try again if yoy lose, so it really doesn't matter how hard they are. You're gaining XP either way. If you've lost units and feel you can't rewind and win, just hit the failure condition sticking Alear out in the open and loss, then keep EXP and try again.

You can also stick to Training Battles, since lost units don't die permanently in those.

Of course, you always have the option of dropping to Normal and/or Casual
if needed (unless you're already on the lowest difficulty). Hard Mode is definitely the hardest this series has been since Fates Conquest, and should not be underestimated.

So there's a few options for your consideration.

@Ryu_Niiyama
No. But you do unlock the ability to choose fixed or random Stat growths after beating the game, for new runs.

I feel the game respects my time perfectly, but that's just been my experience. I've had no issues, not in skirmishes, not in main story, not in Somniel... Three Houses forced making an hour long loop in the monastery even post-time skip and on multiple runs. Not that it bothered me as much as others because, Idk, it just didn't, but Engage definitely respects my time more, especially with Somniel not only taking half the time, but largely being optional.

@edhe
Nope. Its all how leveled your highest unit is. Donation level just affects Gold/Silver Corrupted rates.

@JaxonH everyone is different. I have no idea how the monastery loop takes you an hour. Especially on a second run or up. I just increase support ranks (meals), tea time Rhea’s high maintenance self, farm the greenhouse and altar (for renoun), restock on smithing stones and see what the online folks are selling. I don’t think that takes 20 minutes if you fast travel everywhere. Even the teaching loop is super quick and no I don’t auto teach. I just focus on budding talent and training goals based on what class I want them in. Then I battle until I am bored to farm exp and money. Then I loop it again. If it’s a class I already own I spend more time in skirmishes so I can farm renown and then buy the previously unlocked support/class/skill levels. Which means I can focus on the new class more.

In Engage i have to go to the somniel after every battle and collect ingredients, feed sommie, eat using that rando dining system (3H was way more straightforward), polish the rings, sell anything extra because money is hard to come by even with gold corrupted skirmishes, do mini games to farm stuff to sell, donate to the countries, do the tempest battles to farm orbs. It doesn’t feel optional the way it does in 3H to me unless you just abandon units you put time into. Which has its own dilemma given that gold and safe places to get exp are harder to come by. I don’t dislike the game but I now see the way I respond to the gameplay loop this is a short session kinda game whereas I can grind 3H and make significant progress. I can prepare better in 3H which my brain responds to better, as opposed to feeling forced into a disadvantage in Engage. Especially given that the ring system gets sorta reset after a point. Now that I know that I can prepare better. It’s not a knock, just different. But I will be switching back to 3H and playing this in between instead of the other way round.

How much priority are people putting on crafting bond rings? They seem good, but since you can just re-assign emblem rings for whoever you're taking into battle, it doesn't seem like you need that many. You do want some, that's for sure. The expansion provides 2 Emblem Rings, and the Heroes crossover content provides 3 S-rank rings which I've used from the start. And I have crafted about 20 rings beside that, landing 1 S-rank ring, 2 A-rank rings, a few B's, and the rest C's.

But as the story progresses and you gain more emblem rings, the reliance on Bond Rings diminishes. Since Bond Fragments are almost always better used to level up bonds with Emblems in the arena, I never spend them on crafting rings.

That said, I have pretty much bonded all my units with the Emblems I want them to inherit skills from (gave Edelgard's Lineage to everyone, gave Michaia's Silence Imminity and the skill where healing with a staff also heals the user 50%, to all my healers, and got everyone else bonded with Sigurd for Canter when they eventually reach 1,000 SP).

So maybe it's time to shift focus to crafting bond rings now? I also have this urge to collect them all to fill out the Ring notebook with lore entries for all the characters. Then again, perhaps a better strategy would be to ration the bond fragments 50/50, and use half to increase bonds with Emblems, and the other half to craft bond rings. Because without rationing, they all end up getting blown at the arena.