Gallery: Fire Emblem Engage Main Character Designer Shares Stunning Artwork Of Heroes

Okay, but where's Chloe?

I want her illustration, please. And thank you.

that subheader explains a loooooooot

I’d take Camilla from Fates over this.

They all look fantastic! Zephia I think her name is stands out the most

Timerra and Hortensia are the best here. This game is looking must better than Three houses. There are so many characters right more than 30?

@somebread We already knew this a long time ago.

They got alot of flak about it, but these illustrations are very well done. Even if I'm not a huge fan of some of the designs, I cant deny the artist is talented

These pieces, mainly the females, look extremely good. But for something like Fate Grand Order not Fire Emblem. And sadly as with most cases, the art doesn't translate anywhere near as good to in game models

Except the "old man". That's still just some 30 year old with a lot of white facial hair, art or in game. Absolutely horrendous

Vander looks like that one KFC dating sim

I like these designs and the games art style overall. Just a few days to go now.

Fire Emblem Engage can reach Genshin Impact levels of fandom if Nintendo let fans run wild with these characters.

@Browny 100%

Ugly to be honest.

Not sure why people hate the style - it looks pretty good to me (aside from low-T Col. Sanders, anyway).

Queen Lumera can step on me any day of the week.

Everyone else is hideous.

@Andy_Witmyer Me neither. I love the style this game is going for. The main protagonist looks good imo, toothpaste hair and all. My first thought when I saw them was that the hair matched the original joy-cons. Anyways. Friday can't come soon enough!

@ Herna “They're going all-in on the VTuber generation.”

Not really, but I am interested on what that conclusion is based.

It looks like they're trying to capture the Genshin Impact crowd's attention and it's making the character designs and game seem cheap :/ I miss the days of the Radiant duology or any other Fire Emblem from that era where you could take the story and characters seriously.

@Herna The gameplay is supposed to be top tier for the genre and some previews go as far as claiming it might be the best gameplay in the entire series.

The two different coloured eyes aspect feels as a desperate way to grab attention. Looks very cheap to me, but I guess people are ok with that and the studio needs money so why not. Just not for me.

The style feels a bit more Tokyo Mirage Sessions than it does Fire Emblem, not gonna lie. I don’t dislike it, but I really wonder if I’ll be able to take any character seriously. That’ll be up to the writing, I guess.

I quite like it when they mix up art styles in series like this and Zelda, but of course doing so means you won't always match tastes. Oh well, a lot of people hated Toon Link back in the day as I recall. Personally don't mind this style, not better or worse than Three Houses for me.

@Herna in that case I read it wrong in the first place, makes more sense now what you meant.

Pepsi-cola-chan has grown on me!! I didn't like the art at first but I appreciate that it has style and its unique.

Ew.
Ew.
How many times do I need to write Ew before NL lets me post?

Wow, pretty disingenuous to note that Mika has designed Vtubers when a previous beloved Fire Emblem artist has done the same but then not say the same about them. I guess this article is made in bad faith or what?

Pretty sick art!

@steely_pete I don't think it was meant in spite rather that's what she's most known for.

I hate having to go to Twitter to see some pics in your articles. Would be nice if they were seeable in the actuall Nlife article here without going to twit each time.

@Travisemo007 Totally agree. It's very annoying. Why would one site send traffic over to another site in the first place? Doesn't make any sense for an ad-money perspective.

I'm not very far yet but I can already say the art style has definitely grown on me. It's insanely colorful from the characters to the environments. Colgate-chan is actually pretty charming once you get to know her a bit!😄

I honestly think the art work is fairly terrible. It’s too vanilla.

@Tainaru it really as. I’ve read a lot…A LOT of amateur fantasy.

The Mary Sue protagonists these people write always have some obnoxious/distracting physical trait like heterochromia.

Lmfao no wonder it looks so idiotic looking and straight up ugly, it's just a vtuber costume slapped into a game.

Now if only they looked a fraction this good than in actual game.

"Mika Pikazo has also helped design VTubers"
Suddenly, Alear's design makes perfect sense.

This person single-handedly ruined Fire Emblem for me. I hate their designs.

Didn't know making a character's haircolor red and blue would generate such ridiculous takes from people.

Why is this back on top? Pretty sure they're paying NL to shill.

I have little interest in playing Fire Emblem in general or any real feeling about these character designs, but most of the negative comments here are super annoying.

@JohnnyMind I'm in the same mindset as you. I prefer the more classical designs of Senri Kita, Chinatsu Kurahana or even the more elaborate designs of Yūsuke Kozaki, but Engage's designer does not deserve the flack. Sometimes devs want to try something new and this is clearly that. And apparently the gameplay is top notch! The entire development team backed this choice and wanted to make a very stylish and colorful game... Sad that people bash on her just because they don't like her art.

People just need to be more open minded and not put all the blame on one person if they dislike something. I personally think her application of colour and shadows is top notice and her line work is amazing! Not big on her character designs themselves, but her talent is very clear!

@SabreLevant I think Johnny's issue (and they can correct me if I'm over reaching) is how people are basically attacking a human being for something they had no control over. They were hired because of their vibrant and stylized art, not to copy previous artists. It's pretty disgusting if I'm being honest with how hyperbolic people are being and directing their vitriol solely at her for "ruining Fire Emblem" when the creator's sought her out after doing the grounded styles of Echoes and Three Houses.

It's just very disappointing the way people are treating her and that's my personal issue with this entire issue. Not buying a game because it personally does not suit your taste is one thing. Attacking an artist is another.

The narrative of the characters being designed by “a VTuber designer” is really reductive. Clearly this is a professional illustrator with a history of character design in video games that extends far beyond whatever projects they worked on for streamers. Regardless of how you feel about their work, portraying them as a VTuber designer first and foremost is, at best, misleading.

@ZealMajin

You know, I can't get around Alear's design, but the negativity is a bit silly at this point. I think it's just because it looks like such a radical departure after Three Houses.....but people seem to forget that Fates deviated from "the norm" as well.

I really like most of the character designs, and I love how colorful everything is. I think shunning the game just because the art style is a bit juvenile though. Wind Waker is a great Zelda game, and people hated it for being different too.

For the most part, I like the characters. But I wish they'd get over the 13-year-old girl thing. They're almost always annoying and it's really hard to take the mother/son relationship between Lumera and Alear seriously when the mother looks younger than the son. I'm not saying she needed to look like an old hag, but they could have at least made her look like an adult.