Many of us were pleasantly surprised when Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes was announced for the Switch. Instead of making a direct sequel to the original Fire Emblem Warriors, we got a Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity situation with a focus on the most recent Fire Emblem title and characters, Three Houses. But it wasn't always going to be that way.
In a recent interview with the Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream, the game's development producer, producer, and director — Hideo Suzuki, Yosuke Hayashi, and Hayato Iwata respectively — revealed that the team originally planned to make a direct sequel. In this segment of the interview, translated by Nintendo Everything, Hayashi shared that this "placeholder name" was chosen because of the team's desire for a sequel.
Here's what Hayashi had to say:
Hayashi: Development started on Fire Emblem: Three Houses just about as soon as it ended on Fire Emblem Warriors. Once that was over, we decided that since our three companies had worked together for so long and begun to understand each other’s ways of thinking, we wanted to make a sequel to Fire Emblem Warriors. We originally called it Fire Emblem Warriors 2 as a placeholder name and discussed various directions we could take it in, and we decided on making a Warriors title in the world of Three Houses with the current staff involved because of its good reception and because the setting that our companies collaborated to make was one of its strengths. That was what Suzuki, Iwata and I concluded the audience would want the most. So we started by making Fire Emblem Warriors 2 and ended up making Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes from there.
Hayashi and the team concluded that due to the popularity of Three Houses, making a follow-up of sorts would make the most sense. Development producer Suzuki agreed, saying "It ended up as the phantom proposal... we’re fans of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, so we were more glad than anything to have the opportunity to create a Warriors title in that setting."
Fire Emblem Warriors 2 would've likely been more similar to the first game, a celebration of past Fire Emblem characters with more pulled from past titles. But according to the game's director, Iwata, the team did originally want to bring those past characters to Three Hopes too, but everyone eventually decided “to focus on just Three Houses and create a story that could have plausibly happened in that world".
The full interview is out in Nintendo Dream now if you happen to have a copy and read Japanese, however, Nintendo Everything is working on a full translation, so hopefully, we'll have some new nuggets of info on Three Hopes' development soon.
In case you missed our glowing 9/10 review for Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes last week, check it out right here:
Would you have preferred a more 'traditional' Fire Emblem Warriors game? Are you enjoying Three Hopes? Let us know!
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[source nintendoeverything.com]
Comments 16
My copy came late and only just arrived yesterday so I will playing a lot this weekend and hopefully keeps me hooked unlike most other musou games
I'm glad they made the right decision then imo
Didn't like the first one at all, it felt kinda soulless. Three Hopes on the other side is a really cool "what if" scenario and I really enjoy it, it actually feels like a different take on Three Houses instead of "we took some FE characters and put them into a Warriors game"
Even if you don't are into the gameplay that much I still can recommend it to everyone who liked the story and characters of Three Houses
Although I liked the first game, it didn't have a lasting impression like Hyrule Warriors did for me. I played the story and left it shortly after that. I think the tie-in with Three Houses was a really good call and that's why this Fire Emblem Warriors game is the superior one of the two.
I'm honestly glad they did this. Even if they added Ike and Roy, it wouldn't have magically made FEW a great game. It still suffered from a lack of weapon variety (too many sword users and the only non-mounted lance user was DLC) and a general lack of substance. It was just a slew of random FE characters in a boring world with uninteresting protagonists. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE is a more fun and interesting Fire Emblem spin-off than FEW1 honestly.
Three Hopes is infinitely better than FEW1 because not only is there variety in everyone's moves, but everyone has unique abilities that sets them apart from each other. (I.e. Annette and Hapi are both mages but the former has a unique attack buff ability while the latter can activate explosive magical charges that she can place on the battlefield). Not to mention the story is way better because it takes the great writing of 3H and adapts it into a spin-off title into yet another set of 3 story paths. While I still prefer true tactical FE combat, this game is a perfect distraction to hold us over until he next mainline FE game.
Thought the first one was sort of bland. Barely got through a couple chapters unlike Hyrule Warriors I must have put in like 200 hours. So this one I wasn't optimistic but after playing the demo they made a lot of great changes and the focus on Three Houses characters was the best decision they could have made. I've been playing through the Golden Deer path and loving it so far.
I think they made the right choice. I liked Age of Calamity but this much better fits the universe. Koei Tecmo had a very direct connection with Three Houses and you feel that in Three Hopes, this was very much their baby and they have an understanding of the world. It's been a blast so far, a good mix of the usual Musou fun and the attempt at a more focused serious game like Age of Calamity.
Having said that, I would like to see them do another tribute style game in the future. I think the original FE Warriors is a bit underrated actually and there's a lot of missed opportunity with the very narrow focus that game had.
I think in this case they made the right decision, though in the case of Age of Calamity I'd have waaaaay rather have had a mission pack sequel to Hyrule Warriors than what they did.
"In other news, water is wet!"
I liked the first one but this warriors game is a significant improvement imo. They made the right decision IMO.
Very much so the right decision. Their sister development team already worked on most of Three Houses, so it was just a matter of time before a serious, Three Houses-based Warriors game was to be made.
But with this in mind, I really hope that Omega Force works on making sequels to Age of Calamity and Three Hopes. There's a lot of potential to continue the stories established in both of these games, especially considering the parallels that they can set for their main-series counterparts.
I don't get the hype with this game. I'm a lifelong Fire Emblem fan, I own every game, every Limited/Collectors Edition, and have completed them all. But I hate warriors games. I bought the first one, played a few hours got bored. I could tell there was a similar feeling after the limited edition was found in bargain bins worldwide. Then this got announced, and yeh I've bought the LE, played it an hour or two, probably won't touch it again.
CE arrived today!
Poor Roy and Ike. The sequel could've been their chance 😛
@martynstuff there is always Smash for them
When we ask for a Fire Emblem Warriors, what we meant was a game like Fire Emblem Heroes/Awakening but Musou style. The actual Fire Emblem Warriors is nothing like that.
I like the direction they took. Especially with Byleth. Byleth has a very specifically layered backstory that makes her being cast as the antagonist very apt. She isn’t the villain but simply the antagonist in the true sense of the word. Her natural muted demeanor, incredible skill and focus really let the ashen demon come forth.
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