While many Nintendo fans are no doubt focusing on the upcoming excitement around E3 and Super Mario Maker 2 coming at the end of June, just one month after that we'll be getting our hands on the next entry the Fire Emblem series, too. A cracking summer, we're sure you'll agree.
The most recent issue of Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu is jam-packed with new info regarding the ins and outs of Fire Emblem: Three Houses and these details are now online. There's a huge amount of information to digest including details on characters, classes and a whole lot more. For those who have missed the basic set-up, the game takes place at an academy with you taking the role of a new teacher instructing students in the ways of battle, chivalry and how to carry oversized weapons without looking like a clot.
Perhaps most interestingly, more details about new gameplay systems have emerged. It seems that once you have reached the requisite 'teaching level' at the academy, you can assign an 'adjutant' to specific units. As your level increases, so does the number of units that can accept a helping hand. In battle this gives you the advantage of always performing Joint Attacks, as well as giving additional perks and effects.
Just as in previous games, building relationships and fighting together will improve your unit's effectiveness over time, tying combat and narrative together in a similar way to how the brilliant Fire Emblem: Awakening did on 3DS.
Also detailed are 'gimmicks', new map features you'll have to take into account during battle. These include environmental constructs such as drawbridges and using them correctly could make the difference between a stunning win or a catastrophic defeat. After all, it's hard for an advancing army to give you a beating if you've pulled up the drawbridge from the other side.
Weekend activities also figure in the game when you're not studying. These include strolling, cooking, tending plants and crops in the greenhouse and fishing.
The Japanese Fire Emblem Twitter account is also regularly tweeting screenshots and short videos highlighting characters such as Ashe:
There's more - a lot more - information to dive into if you're interested, including full breakdowns and over 100 screenshots, so be sure to check out Famitsu and the translation at Perfectly Nintendo for every last scrap of info on the upcoming game. It's out in less than two months on 26th July, and we can't wait.
Lots to look forward to this summer! Are you a Fire Emblem fan looking forward to this entry? Are you getting a Harry Potter / Game of Thrones vibe from the school and house banners? Share your thoughts below.
[source perfectly-nintendo.com, via famitsu.com]
Comments 48
Just preordered mine last night, it looks like it’s shaping up to be a great game
Already preordered mine as well. I don't want everything spoiled ahead of time of course, but some details are nice. I really like the idea of a more interactive environment. Doing things like pulling up drawbridges or perhaps setting a fortress on fire to smoke out enemies, or maybe starting a forest fire to cover your army's retreat etc...
As a teacher of sorts myself, I imagine this will be a somewhat different experience than it would have been back when I was still a student myself. Actually knowing what it is like standing in front of a room full of students is something you can only really learn by actually doing that. It was and still is interesting seeing which of my assumptions were correct and which were utter nonsense.
And I look forward to what shenanigans they pull to explain how a mercenary is suddenly an instructor at a prestigious officer school, as well as seeing how they explain why 3 countries would be sending their soldiers to the same school.
And I do very much hope that there is more to it than picking a side and winning some sort of tournament. Fire Emblem games always have a more real life or death story, and while I welcome the changes I have seen so far, I don't want to see them stray too far from what makes Fire Emblem, Fire Emblem.
I think I'm good on info about this game. I'll discover the nuances of gameplay mechanics first-hand.
Think I'm going digital on this with one of my vouchers. I had a physical copy pre-ordered, but the box art is kind of disappointing, and I'll be spending a lot of time with this game.
Pre ordered the special edition soon as it was available and I’m beyond excited to dive into fire emblem again! Wargroove held me off and with cadence of hyrule coming soon and that cat Metroid game I can wait ;-;
Looking forward to this, definitely using one of those eShop vouchers for this. As for the other one...I guess I'll wait and see how Astral Chain holds up at E3
I’m already sold (pre ordered) too. Trying not to spoil anything with too much info, but I can’t help but look.
I have always been intrigued by Fire Emblem but I am not too crazy about tactical games, especially when they are unforgiving. I do love Fire Emblem character design.
@Ralizah Box art is not the only thing that's a bit disappointing IMO.
I'm finding the artwork in the screenshots fairly underwhelming.
This one kinda looks like a Wii game:
@gcunit hard agree there. Graphically speaking, it’s probably the worst out of all the big Nintendo games coming soon. If it wasn’t for how good and complex the new systems and mechanics seem to be in this game and that Fire Emblem games have basically never been visually impressive (quite ugly most of the time actually) I’d honestly be super disappointed.
@Rhaoulos the series became a lot more forgiving on the 3ds when they made perma death optional. Combat aside, the dialogue between characters is what keeps me coming back
@gcunit it is going to be look good on in handheld mode, but yeah, I agree that the box art is unbelievably bad
@Ralizah Agreed that the box art is a let down. Why is Claude upside down?!?
@-Green- I strongly disagree. The 3DS FE games had amazing graphics and the 3D effect was amazing
@peanutbuttercup because it was designed by a Japanese
@peanutbuttercup well, check Permadeath option and the problem solved
Man the characters look amazing and the UI is beautiful (time will tell if it's also functional) but the environments look so rough. It's all obviously low poly with a generic texture slapped on it, absolutely no style or art direction at all. I get in a tile based battle system you have to make some compromises but it looks bad even in the bits where that's not an issue.
I mean I'm going to play it of course and I'm sure it'll be fun. I'd take a delay to polish up the environments first though. Not like there isn't a ton of stuff on Switch to keep me going anyway.
Is there still no confirmation on whether breeding mechanics- I mean marriage with child characters is back?
I know the explanation in Fates was garbage but I rather liked the mechanics.
@Kimyonaakuma I’m using the first voucher on MM2, the second on this, and the third on Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3. ...what do you mean they’re only in two packs?
Why is this game so underwhelming looking? Not gameplay wise, I feel this game will play very well. However, for a first party Nintendo game this looks subpar. Which is unfortunate because a major part of RPGs for me is the design of the game overall. I mean the characters look blurry and the environments look overly simplified. This game looks pretty rushed overall.
I'm excited for Fire Emblem: Hogwarts! Which frankly is what I'll always call this game. I have a special edition preordered! While the North American special edition isn't as nice as the European one, I have bought a special edition for every North American release of Fire Emblem and I'm not about to stop now. HAHA!
@gcunit It shouldn't be surprising that some of Nintendo's devs are still not ready for HD, but it sure is disappointing. This is why they're over-reliance on the 3DS was more of a hinderance then a gain.
@Chunkboi79 Baring in mind I really don't know anything about the story, the whole school setting lacks urgency of the past games.
@gcunit This is the first HD FE so it’s probably going to be a comparable boost to Pokemon (Gen 7 -> Sword/Shield).
@Grumblevolcano I get what you're saying in terms of maybe where expectations might be at, but Sword/Shield is a bit underwhelming for the same reason to me, and it's a missed opportunity. Nintendo was meant to have merged development resources and I'm not seeing it.
I've got a massive backlog of FE games - the only way I was going to get this any time soon was if it was irresistible to me, and it's not, so I'll pick this up in a few years if it earns itself a good enough reputation.
Oddly enough, this game is my most anticipated for the whole year. I’ve sunk hundreds of hours into this series and I can’t wait to play a proper HD entry for the first time.
More info is always nice, but I think that I'm to the point where I can do without too much more. I wouldn't mind a few more plot details however.
I can't wait for this one, but I sorta feel like I should play through Fire Emblem Echoes before getting it. I know there's no story relation, but as the game is currently backlogged....
The environments are super sparse and while the character portraits and FMV sequences look really nice - everything else looks super dated.
I also played FEH daily for over 2 years but deleted it last night. It had sucked any joy I had in the game a long time ago - it just took a lot out of me to finally come to grips with that and deleting it.
I'm moving on, but hope you all have fun!
It doesn't look as bad as these comments are making it out to. There's also way more to a game than graphics.
RDR2 had shrinking horse testicles and was still extremely boring. I'll wait and actually play the game before I make snap judgements.
woo, This may be my last game of the year just so I don't make the backlog worse because once it drops....that's it. Give me DLC give me the ost and let's go!
@LUIGITORNADO True but I mean you can have a sense of urgency in a school setting. I mean look at xmen or my hero academia
I dunno why people always have to make this same tired comment;
"Graphics aren't everything. Blah blah blah."
It's 2019. Visual fidelity and gameplay aren't mutually exclusive concepts. Good companies excel at delivering both.
Just wanted to note that this game is using the Dynasty Warriors gfx engine by Koei Tecmo. Hence the reason it looks like a Dynasty Warriors game...
@BlackenedHalo Perhaps for 3ds games, but even then I personally disagree. The models especially looked terrible imo. Echoes was the least notable in that case, and I’d argue largely due to that game not having cutscenes with the game’s models in them and instead filling them with the beautiful art done by Hidari.
I'm digging how much more depth this game has compared to the previous entries.This game's gonna be awesome.
@LUIGITORNADO
school setting lacks urgency of the past games
The school setting is nothing more than a fleshed out My Castle.
The lack of urgency has more to do with the fact they’ve held the story and conflict close to their chest, more than it has to do with the customization options between missions.
Bizarrely the more I hear about the game, the less it appeals to me. I love the series but the prospects of it becoming a life sim bother me — I like story-driven narrative that moves on at a decent pace. I don’t want to tend to gardens as part of the story (sure, give me the option to do this on the side, but don’t make it mandatory). Hoping I have misjudged it, but the game has gone from an instant pre-order to one that I’ll wait till the reviews are out.
I think those complaining about the graphics are spewing utter nonsense. But fine, you go right ahead and do that.
@Chunkboi79 None of which are fire emblem. I always preferred the war torn country aspect. School thing just seems boring, hackneyed in other genres, and too predominant in eastern media.
@Heavyarms55 Why are you up in arms about those comments? Which are entirely valid since the game looks extremely underwhelming.
@Nanaki if it helps the game offers auto teaching and seemingly the ability to skip days (perhaps even longer) so you can limit the sim features if you want.
@MsJubilee Just as they are entitled to say what they want, I am entitled to strongly disagree. Which I do, I think the game looks really solid and don't remotely see why everyone seems to think otherwise.
I didn't even question the graphics until I saw all the people who seemed to be up in arms about poor graphics that I just don't see.
I think the game looks great and I can’t wait to play it. I am glad that the psudo cell shaded artstyle is here to stay. It fits this franchise well.
Looking forward to this although I haven't preordered it yet but either way I do plan to purchase it.
@Ryu_Niiyama
I agree the art style is awesome
@peanutbuttercup I didn't know perma death was optional now, thanks for the info. I might give it a go if I run out of games.
@Rhaoulos Try one of the 3ds titles, those are spectacular. I would play awakening if I were you just to get your feet wet
I got the special edition pre ordered I cant wait for it to come
Wish I had a Switch so I could be more excited for this. FE is one of my favorite video game franchises, but I'll likely either miss this one completely or just play it way late. My current backlog of games (PC, 3DS, Wii U) does not justify getting a Switch, sadly.
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