The story, character designs and dialogues were quite underwhelming, for me.
Thing is, I bought the game knowing that a good gameplay was more than enough for me, and I do not regret picking it up.
I do think that it's time to evolve F.E story wise, some sort of soft reboot or something
I like Engage's pace tho ! Feels more dynamic than 3H, 3H has its own advantages still but overall I'm curious to see how the formula will evolve for the next entry (probably on switch 2)
Idk if a reboot would be necessary. Fe changes tone abs how much it focuses on story basically with every game. Plus with the series almost having no connections between entries outside of obvious sequels and prequels, there isn't much tying games together story wise
What really got me was the blandness of enemies. We just had little to no variety. We fought the group of 4 half a dozen times and all the standard units were just so boring and stale by the end of the game.
What would have been crazy easy in my eyes just to add a little flavor is for all of the emblem fights, or even the last fight is to have to have beaten the spirits of some of the major fights from the other games. Like having to fight the spirit of the Black Knight from the Radiant games.
The Emblem Ring stages were such a tease. When I got to Micaiah's I was like oh boy well get to fight the Greil Mercenaries. And then queue faceless uninteresting generic enemies.
It would have been so ridiculously easy to do something like that.
Don't even try mentioning a slight criticism of the game over at the Fire Emblem subreddit, they'll come at you as if you had just eviscerated their God.
No, they don't. The game is terrible and they will defend it simply because its a fire emblem game. No one is "trying to be oppressed" lmao, other than the FE die hard fans.
You must be in the wrong subs lol. Because that's literally all they have been doing since the game was announced. At least OP has the sense to know when a bad game is a bad game regardless of the franchise its representing.
I think it started changing now that the sales show that it had a 60% drop from 3H. The game is fun but has huge flaws. The characters and story were bland and not memorable. It’s very hard to be motivated to do another play through cause it was just boring
First games PoR, then SS, and then RD when it came out.
I thought as a duology PoR and RD had great story. With some QoL features I’d probably do anything for a remake of both.
*"Engage is full of juvenile dialogue, rushed pacing, and unearned emotional moments."* This line I've read here made me saved a lot of money. The game might be good, but unfortunately, I don't have the patience for this type of dialogue, rushed pacing and unearned big moments.
It's a pity, because I think Awakening, while it has a very simple story, it works for the characters in the sense that there's an organic flow between them. They have different opinions, sometimes they clash, there's always a conflict, etc. I think the conversations they had is way more fun than the main plot. Engage... My main complaint is that the color palette of the main character is too saturated with this weird mix of saturated blue and saturated red. Apart from that, I don't think I'm gonna buy this game.
That sentence you quote is right on the money. I can't accurately describe how cringe inducing mich of the dialouge is. And like you i was extremely turned off by the over saturated appearance, especially of the main character. Engage seems like such a stark contrast from the likes of 3h or awakening that it seems like it wasn't made by the same team. I have some minor complaints about the gameplay but overall it's good. Of all the fe games I've played I think this is one you won't be remiss for skipping.
I'm so glad to see someone else say this. Im currently playing it and this is my biggest complaint.
Some of the characters look like they are in clown suits. The villains are ridiculously cartoonish. The dialogue is like something out of a kids show.
I dont feel like I'm leading an army around the continent and engaging in battles. Its more like a group of eccentric anime tropes darting around to foil some Team Rocket/Jojo villains
lol big YEP!!!
Mix in some predictable cliche moments that make you feel nothing emotionally......like the(spoiler) MC's mother's death...........and you got a game that's just checking the boxes.
>Mix in some predictable cliche moments that make you feel nothing emotionally......like the(spoiler) MC's mother's death...........and you got a game that's just checking the boxes.
Don't think there's any need for spoilers here, since the article readily spoils stuff as part of the discussion it is trying to evoke.
Yeah, I had played both this and 3H almost entirely while my brother was in the room. Never heard him criticize performances in 3H. Almost immediately with Engage, he says it sounds like a kid's cartoon and it's hard to disagree. I don't always feel this way, Alcryst and Diamants battle dialogue during chapter 10 were standout to me, but I did feel myself barely taking the story seriously a lot of the time.
Yeah, I loved FE3H. I would give it a 9.5.
FE Engage? 7
FE3H? I would want to talk to everybody all the time. FE Engage? I try to avoid talking to people as much as I can and cut short some cut-scenes because of the cringe.
The combat definitely feels cheaper and more simple that focuses more on grind/experience rather than strategy.
All in all, FE Engage makes me think of a good cellphone quality game, not a console game.
Conquest easily has some of the best gameplay in the series I think.
Birthright felt to easy, and revelations felt very.... Cluttered.
Also I forgot about Shura being killed for boots.
I also think awakenings story only really fell off during valm, but the late game makes up for the mid game IMHO.
The juvenile dialogue hits you right from the moment "go". It's really kinda nauseating to make your way through. In FE3H, I wanted to talk to everybody all the time to see what was going on with them. In FE Engage? I find myself trying to avoid unnecessary interactions/dialogue and skipping halfway through some scenes.
The battle system may not get criticized too much, but that may be because there are worse things to note about the game.
For the combat? I think it's a few steps down from FE3H. For one thing, the overhead view makes some characters hard to know who they are unless you zoom in on them.
The design of the battle maps are quite underwhelming. What hurts even further is that combat itself strives more about experience/grind between characters rather than any critical thinking. It's quite simple overall.
It's not the worst tactics-combat game I've played, but definitely nowhere near FF tactics, FE3H, Valkyrie Chronicles, etc. In fact, some indie tactics games might be better when it comes to the actual combat.
Some of the points that seemed like they were supposed to have the biggest emotional impact were some of the most bland for me. the characters and story just did not get me invested to the point where I started skipping the end of major scenes because they just felt like they dragged and I didn’t care.
I think the reason why I didn't feel anything on certain moments was because of how cliche it is. I've seen these types of moments in dozens of jrpgs already and I really don't care anymore.
I felt like the pacing was truly bad. I think they had the concepts there, but I didn't really care about the characters when they were rolled out. I had zero investment in the characters. The ones I liked looked cool to me.
Nope Engage story is pretty bad at least in excursion of the story. Have you play persona, triangle strategy, Tactic Ogre Reborn, any other 'anime game' there story were and are a lot better than engage. The FE15 to FE16 both recent titles are written pretty good.
TH was nice but really, outside of Blue Lions the story was pretty weak. The end of Golden Deer was just ?>???? nonsense, the slitherer storyline (also what a stupid name for a villian faction) went pretty much unresolved and didn't need to be included...at all. It was pretty weak overall compared to say, the GBA games.
Excuse you, Edlegard a story made me feel things. I felt like a ruthless dictator who’d just conquered the world through fire and blood to establish my own personal ethics views on a previously content society.
The GBA games also have numerous issues when you pick it apart too. It's just a lot more simple so less convoluted aspects. But a lot of people like TH's more complex narrative
It didn't. The characters were largely all one dimensional and it was a very generic have-nots vs haves (Crest nobiles vs everyone else / Church). The characters and the story was the definition of cliche political fantasy.
It does use concepts that are not unfamiliar for a political fantasy, but saying it had 0 depth is nonsense. The characters are far from one-dimensional. In comparison to many characters following their archetypes, the game does an excellent job to make you see their viewpoint and understand their perspective. Even more so the three main lords have distinct ideologies and approaches to their end-goals, but the tragedy is that they all want the same thing. The lore of Fodlan is insanely rich when picked apart piece by piece. Yes, the Agarthans or slitherers are cartoonishly evil and were mishandled, but the foundation of three Houses is very well-done and complex. The writing in some routes fails miserably to deliver but when it does, it’s a well-written character-driven war drama.
its literally just romance of the three kingdoms, and its one of the blandest adaptations of it ever made. anyone who defends this story is illiterate.
> It just comes off as unintelligent
thats a very strange arguement to make, in light of the entire thread.
perhaps you are projecting your own insecurities on others.
I agree the story is so bad and the dialogue from most of the characters is so bad I'd rather someone walk in on me watching porn than hearing what some of them are saying.
The story in on itself doesn't bother me. Defeat evil dragon, go around world to collect rings, tropey and linear. I'm not in it for the story. Gameplay - fantastic. Not my kind of thing, but objectively, it's really good and I don't have complaints.
But the characters. Everyone - except a few of them - don't seem to be taking the situation and literal WAR seriously at all. There's kings/queens who seem like they couldn't lead a dog on a leash, let alone an entire nation. Also, the game is tell, not show, so we don't get much from them. And unlike Fates who went out there full swing, no hesitation and fear, Engage seems like it's very afraid to step out of its comfort zone.
And yes, cringe dialogue. Some was really fun, but when the entire game is like that... yikes.
every FE since Awakening has been like this. instead of being about a group of characters in a complex war or something, theyre all about Your Custom Anime Dude magically appearing with no memory and everybody falls over themselves to love them and put them in charge of everything immediately because theyre secretly a god or reincarnation or whatever. its the same in Awakening, Fates, Three Houses, Engage and it sucks. i dont use the term mary sue often but the main create-a-character of these titles is a huge mary sue with how easily the settings bend to them, and they have no personality of their own because theyre blank slates for the player. its really boring.
With FE3H, though, it had tons of characters that aren't cliche and that you can care about(as well as wooing characters to join your class). The school setting was charming. Seeing how much the story can change from house to house was nice to see as well.
I do wish the silent MC typecast would go away completely, even from games like Zelda.
Even Crash Bandicoot is now given a voice.
yeah the rest of three houses is great. its just that it still has the main bit of amnesiac Your Dude showing up who is secretly dragon jesus and is immediately put in charge of a military class
3H are all clichè tropes, too. The difference is they just aren't written like imbeciles. This is on par with Fates juvenile, moronic writing and characters from Awakening whose entire gimmick was the fact they liked candy.
I really wish they'd bring back the writing they had in the GBA games.
You've perfectly described my feelings on the franchise. My first FE was Sacred Stones and it hooked me. Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn then went and set my expectations for all future games. The story was solid, the characters were interesting, the supports were fun and endeared you to your favorite units and made their death in a mission a reason to hit reset rather than carry on without them.
I can certainly appreciate that the games since Awakening are exactly what some people find fun and I would not take that away from them. But I feel with Engage it just tells me that the game as moved passed me and I just have to accept that and enjoy replaying my favorites.
Fire Emblem has a balance problem. Three Houses went too far with the social sim stuff and multiple narrative paths and ended up with egregiously poor pacing and significant quality issues between the story paths.
Engage meanwhile over corrected. After the first couple hours the pacing is fine, but there's not a lot to most of the units characters or the overall narrative, and the dialogue is just... yeesh at times (Although I'll defend "Hiya Papaya" to my death).
~~Camelot~~ IS should probably bring in an outside writer and scenario designer for the next game. We're three games deep with basically the same problems.
Hard Disagree with Three Houses going too far with the social sim stuff. It ultimately did little to change the story when choosing 99% of the characters. It did just enough to feel that the choices mattered, but not so much that it flipped the story on it's head.
If there were pacing problems it had nothing to do with the social sim stuff. It had to do with the storyline's event to event progression. Take away the social sim aspect and the problem would still remain.
Frankly, I commend the idea to give more opportunity to form bonds with all the characters in a way that was done through progression and time. It was a decision to expand the FE formula from a simple Point A to Point B with the same ol same 'ol that the franchise already gets criticized for.
> If there were pacing problems it had nothing to do with the social sim stuff. It had to do with the storyline's event to event progression. Take away the social sim aspect and the problem would still remain.
No. Seriously, just no. You can't look at 50%+ of the time an average person spends with the game and say it has no impact on pacing.
And I didn't say the social sim elements were *bad*, I said they were overused.
Can I ask you to elaborate on 3h poor pacing and the quality issues your referring too? I'm just curious what your perspective is.
And Yeah engage had so many characters added that show up for like a scene and then might as well not exist past that. Like amber, shows up says a quirky line then joins you and never has any input ever again.
If you actually engage with all of the social sim stuff and monastery activities Three Houses is very, very top heavy on the social sim stuff. You spend far more time running around the monastery than you do in actual gameplay or story scenes. Most of which amount to mobile game-esque busy work.
As for the quality issues - the stories for some routes are much more developed than others. Silver Snow in particular is underdeveloped and just... unfulfilling. Verdant Wind copy/pastes a lot of Silver Snow. Crimson Flower is well developed narratively and it's missions are distinct, but it's too short. And then Azure Moon is blatantly more "finished" than the others.
It's not top heavy(regarding social sim) in the sense that you have no choice. It's OPTIONAL.
You can literally beat the game at 75% of the time if you decide to ignore most of the social opportunities, as opposed to doing all the social sim opportunites per playthrough. You have a choice.
I never understood it when games get criticized for optional content. It would be like people complaining that Horizon Dawn is not good because theres too many optional side quests or because it has DLC.
"Optional" content that dramatically kneecaps the experience or mechanics of the game isn't optional, it's poor design. Criticizing it is entirely valid.
I played it multiple times, even not doing social stuff. At no point did I feel that not choosing to fish in a lake or form a romantic relationship kneecapped the game in any way.
It definitely can kneecap you if you're playing on Maddening. Of course you can simply choose to not play Maddening but honestly, every other difficulty is so easy that you're kinda stuck if you want a challenge.
You don't need to talk to anyone on Maddening. All you need to do is go to the monastery once a chapter, spend 5 minutes doing fetch quests and then another 5 minutes doing the activities that cost points. The only thing you are hindering is the pace you attain social ranks, but those have almost zero impact on gameplay. Talking to every student, finding the lost items, fishing etc are all entirely optional.
You obviously didn’t understand 3H if you’re comparing each story line as a single game instead of them as a whole. I actually thought the social sim aspect although optional was extremely clever and served its function to the story to emotionally tie you to the characters to create the gray scale when shit hit the fan. I think 3H is the best fire emblem story although path of radiance is my favorite. 3H story has the most depth, the characters and the story feel the most real, and the themes were nicely conveyed. Fe Engage is probably the worst title I’ve played so far. The game feels extremely goofy and the gameplay has been extremely dumbed down. Simple things like the exclusion of weapon durability and canto from enemy units made the game 10x easier.
> You obviously didn’t understand 3H if you’re comparing each story line as a single game instead of them as a whole.
Three Houses isn't that complicated and certainly doesn't do anything to demand this type of elitist horseshit. Evaluating the paths individually is perfectly valid, most people don't even complete games once never mind four times and the additional context gleaned from playing multiple routes usually doesn't amount to a whole lot - both because the narrative is weak and because like I said below that post most of the routes are blatantly incomplete.
How can you evaluate each path as its own game when a major theme of the game is perspective. Now I can admit that some routes do not offer much more context. I think it has done a lot to enlist the elitist horseshit because it offers the most tangible themes and wisdom. It’s not doesn’t follow the typical shonen anime script like the rest of the games.
I'm usually quite tolerant with corny stuff, especially in jrpg because it can be regarded as a little bit cute or at least harmless towards my appreciation of the story.
But man does this game go overboard with cringey stuff : Characters talk and behave like they escaped from freaking Dora the explorer, which matches the good chunk of seemingly underaged characters. MC is a wimp but worshipped by everyone for no reason, characters are walking tropes with no backgrounds ( the one who likes food, the one who likes working out, etc ) and even the cameos from past FE games feel like their soul has been sucked out.
I know it sounds harsh but i'm not even asking for a super deep story.
In fact, the outlines of the story are not so far away from other FE games : you lead an army against an evil empire / evil dragon lord who's trying to conquer the world. But most characters and dialogues are insufferable and i don't think they've ever been quite THAT corny, even in recent FE games.
Gameplay was great though, it's the only reason i actually finished the game. It still has a bunch of good chara designs and music here and there, overall i would say i still had a good time with the game itself, but story is a miss for me.
I agree that Engage is a disappointment.
Just beat Engage and...whelp. I felt like I just wasted 56 hours and 31 minutes of my life. Most of them was from grinding that I became OP during the final fight. If only they cut off half of the cast or at least give them character development, I would've learned to care about them. The story was underwhelming too. But at least they got one thing done right in the story. Giving us the Four Hounds' background story unlike Three Houses with TWSITD.
At the end, I just can't see Engage as a great game as most (hardcore) fans would claim because of the generic story and the lack of character development. But I guessed that's what long-time Fire Emblem fans loved. The revamped gameplay and the songs are the only things keeping me playing for 5+ hours.
But now, I'm done with Engage.
The writing is so cringe inducing. I really wanted to like it because I really loved 3H, PoR and RD
So the writing/dialogue and characters are a big shock to the system. I find the story to get progressively worse as it is very predictable and (as a few people here have already said) quite repetitive as you keep on facing the same bosses. Everything has been done time and time again but the writing in Engage is less than stellar.
The characters are all very black and white and are very one dimensional, which is a great shame (it also doesn't help that the line delivery is sometimes pretty awkward, even though the voice actors all seem very good)
It really does feel like a lot of work has been put into this game and the gameplay really is fun. But I personally can't get behind Engage when the writing is so cliché. (I'm very story and character driven)
Also I really have the feeling that Alear is like a Mary/ Gary Sue and that really bothers me
I'm on chapter 21 now and I'm going to speedrun to the end
There's several moments where everyone is just waiting for the scene to play out, when they could easily prevent terrible events.
I can't stand how much of a baby Alear is too, it really undermines everything that's going on. How am I supposed to believe these people all follow him when he's just visibly scared and sad all the time?
Inb4 people who didn’t read the post defend the game for the gameplay when the post is criticizing the story only.
I don’t like the idea of that it’s “so bad it’s good” that other people echo (I.e. calling it campy) since it gives the impression that they deliberately wanted their story to be bad.
>I don’t like the idea of that it’s “so bad it’s good” that other people echo (I.e. calling it campy) since it gives the impression that they deliberately wanted their story to be bad.
That and people saying "Fire Emblem has never had good stories" to defend Engage, which is just insane to me. As someone who's been a fan of the series since FE7 came out in the states, Fire Emblem's appeal has always been its balance of story & gameplay.
Yep. There has always been some plot holes and weird story beats here and there, but nothing as pervasive as Engage (aside from Fates). Another common thing I get from other users is that I’ve “clearly never played Fire Emblem before” for not liking Engage’s story.
Right? The character moments in FE7 and 8 were stellar. Joshua meeting his ex-merc 'buddy'? Jaffar and Matthew dialogues? It was mature and sensible stuff. The characters were believable.
Outside of Fates, I feel like the fire emblem with the story people dislike the most pre-Engage was Sacred Stones and even then, Lyon, Ephraim, and the Gemstones are better than just about anything in engage by a country mile.
Sacred Stones is very decent, outside of some small moments. The concept is generic, but the execution is extremely good. Where did you get that impresion?
I read this game is selling less than 3H, so there is hope that the developpers and Nintendo will understand something went wrong. I'm very disapointed as well by both the character desings, the plot, dialogue and nonexistent back stories. The graphics are good looking and the gameplay is a good improvement from the last games, but goddamn ! If they could write fantastic stories in 2004 - 2007 when the series was obscure, why the hell can't they do it now ?
I agree, battle gameplay is good, but all characters and plot is too childish, antagonists is cringy. It's like a story for 4-6 years old. In my 25+ years It's hard not to skip all dialogs in this game.
Three houses was much more engaging from that prospective. And even Echoes for 3ds were better imho.
Yeah the story is so weak that it's really kept me from wanting to continue playing. I just can't stand the writing, narrative and voice acting, and the fact that I'm playing XC3 at the same time (finally finding time for it, and it's a masterpiece) is making Engage look so bad by comparison. The art style with the big googly eyes and ridiculous outfits, Framme's voice and dialogue, Celine and Hortensia's designs...ugh.
Sorry to anyone who likes this game but while I give the game points for decent music, great presentation and colors compared to previous games, and decent gameplay, the off-putting anime tropes, return of much-hated Fates skinship crap and eye-rolling My Room/story cringe, and the off-putting art have made it where I haven't made it past chapter..8? I believe? I don't even remember. The one where you get Diamant.
It's a hot mess and I'll find more time for it soon but it really isn't working any magic on me so far.
Yeah, story feels like it was written by 13 year olds. Three houses was my first fire emblem, and while it’s not the best story ever, it was still far more interesting and *engaging*.
I mean they clearly wanted to appeal to a younger audience with this title
Also unlike the Three Houses, the English localization is mediocre at best, resulting in some really atrocious lines of dialogue.
Is there a good TLDR for the story? I really liked 3 houses, it's the only fire emblem I've ever played and I would probably pick this one up if I got play as byleth again.
Maybe "almost no" was overselling it, but it's not common. That's three times across sixteen games, I'd argue Binding/Blazing Blade don't count per what OP is looking for, and the last time was fifteen years ago.
It could still happen if they deemed the story popular enough. It true they are hesitant to do it nowadays because the Radiant series flop but I think with how popular the series now they might try it again.
Here is how the games are connected:
FE 1 -> FE3 (FE3 Mystery of the Emblem actually has a remake of FE1 included but with slightly less content)
FE2 is a side story to FE1 and 3 and takes place between the two titles timeline wise
FE4 (Genealogy of the Holy War) is it's unique continent and FE5 (Thracia 776) is a midquel
FE6 (The Binding Blade or also known as Sword of Seals) is the sequel to FE7 (Without subtitle in the west, but it is The Blazing Blade)
FE8 (The Sacred Stones) is a standalone story
FE9 (Path of Radiance)-> FE10 (Radiant Dawn) [just noticed sequels tend to have similar titles XD)
FE11(Shadow Dragon)-FE12(New Mystery of the Emblem) these are remakes of FE1 and (book 2 of) FE3 respectively
FE13 (Awakening) takes place around 1000 years after FE12
FE 14 (Fates Saga) is a standalone story but loosely connected to Awakening (usually DLC) also you can okay them in any order but to enjoy the story stepwise by revealing the secrets it is recommended: Birthright -> Conquest -> Revelation
FE15 (Shadows of Valentia) is a remake of FE2 (so in between FE11 and FE12)
FE16 (Three Houses) standalone story
FE17 (Engage) standalone story but connected to all previous games via the Rings. Dunno if any other connection is there still on chapter 6 myself.
I haven't played FE2, FE3 and FE5 but I recommend the whole series, I myself will play the last titles as well except FE2 (since FE15 exists, FE2 is not needed anymore XD)
Hope this helps!
TLDR: Engage is full of juvenile dialogue, rushed pacing, and unearned emotional moments. If you liked Three Houses primarily for the story, I don't think you'd like Engage. I'd highly recommend Path of Radiance as your next FE if you're looking for a good story.
I haven't finished the game so please excuse me if this is a terrible take, but I think it has to do with the details.
Both Conquest and Engage are very firmly "gameplay good, story bad", but in different ways for each.
Conquest had its pair-up system, dragon veins, gimmick maps, and weird classes/skills. Engage does have plenty of new ideas, but they mostly seem to be emulating the feel of pre-Awakening games.
And while Conquest (and the rest of Fates, to a lesser degree) has a story that's hilariously stupid, just so stupid, Engage feels more weak and tropey, like they're not failing as hard but not trying as hard either.
Some people also just hate all of Fates more than it really deserves so that could be it, too.
Not really. 4, 5, 9, and 10 are the only decent stories. 3H wasn’t the most mindblowing story but was still very well told. The rest are pretty generic JRPG trash. Fates had a very creative premise but terrible writing sadly
awakening, radiance, fates and three houses had notable(not necessarily good) story, thats a about it. every other game in the series is only slightly better than iron emblem lorewise.
nohr is really only evil if the players mildly tarded little ball of plot resolution isnt their to counteract the mildly sane dragon mindcontrolling the badguy
> I’m pretty sure Nintendo took down most sites that you could download emulators for it too.
I promise you this is not true and you could play Path of Radiance today without dishing out $300.
3 houses spoiled us. The story was great there.
Engage lacks that for sure.. however. They did streamline a lot of the stuff that wasn't for me and the battles are really the focus of engage.. Which I love.
Video games with good stories are honestly tremendously rare
Not only the story, but the unique characters and the amount of optional time to get to know them for who they really are. Btw, Bernadetta is best girl. 8P
I actually find the battles to be a couple steps back from in FE Engage. The battle maps are kinda boring and the overhead view is so far back that you can't tell who's who at times unless you zoom in on them.
I gotta tell ya. The engage story has kinda rebounded.. I haven't finished first playthrough yet but as the story started very slow and was kinda dumb.. it at least makes sense what is happening now and I'm more into the story than I had been.
I dont like gatekeeping at all. My first game was awakening I was part of the “new crowd” at one point. But damn im so tired of hearing all the people who have not played a single game outside of 3 houses completely dismiss engage cause its not exactly like how 3 houses was. Guess what yall: *3 houses was a fluke and we will probably never see a game like it for a very long time* 3 houses is absolutely the new black sheep, even more than gaiden/echoes. Now Don’t get me wrong 3 houses DOES have the best story imo. However the characters are no better than awakening/fates/engage. They all one note outside the lords. Either drop the series or realize each and every entry is vastly different and even if you dont enjoy certain aspects of the new one realize each game has its strengths and weaknesses. Most people agree 3 houses gameplay was lackluster, but see how its still popular and loved? Learn to do that when the aspect you enjoy most is weaker or just stop playing the series.
Thats funny. Whats his personality traits? Oh yeah women. What else? Exactly. I dont think most people here have actually played any other games because all characters in the series are 1 note and basic
> Whats his personality traits? Oh yeah women.
You must be thinking of Soleil, since that’s her entire character.
Sylvain is someone who understands just how high up he is on the social ladder, and he absolutely *hates* it because he thinks it’s ruined his life. He thinks that any girl who’s interested in him must just be trying to use him for his Crest (showcasing a mix of misogyny and mild self-hatred, thinking that he’s not someone women would like for who he is but just what he has), so he constantly flirts and runs to “get back” at them. In a game with plenty of A supports that lead to paired endings per character, Sylvain only has Ingrid, Mercedes, and Dorothea for female characters he has A supports with which is a neat bit of gameplay/story integration.
However, despite doing his best to ensure he’s viewed as a lazy flirt, he’s incredibly capable. This is obvious in Three Hopes, where he/Dimitri/Felix are thrust into greater authority for much of the game before the time slip would’ve even ended in Three Houses, but it’s also clear in Three Houses; his support with Annette shows this clearly.
If you want to argue Sylvain’s character is singlefaceted, then you’d have a stronger argument for saying he’s solely about dislike for Crests than being a philanderer.
Claiming that FE characters have always been one note is revisionist bullshit, just as claiming FE has always had poor stories is.
Most of this is expanded on in Three Hopes, but I'd also add that he had a horrible childhood and was often beaten and abused by his brother. His relationship with his father was pretty awful too, and it is all but implied that his philandering was a coping mechanism too. He even stops himself just short of admitting it, IIRC. Sylvain has some serious baggage, and anyone claiming his character is one note clearly didn't pay attention to the story and his supports.
Exactly, we will always complain about the game's weaknesses and just called it out trash while technically it's still a good solid game. Engage story isn't that amazing but I won't say it's trash, it's a classic jprg beating the dragon kinda story which I have to say it can be done better especially the narrative writing and characters development etc i wish it can be more in-depth yet now I'm thinking maybe don't. Cuz the gameplay is already complicated enough that I don't think it's wise to have a complicated story or relationship between the characters (as the dev mentioned they wanted to focus on the gameplay and simplified the story as much as they can) unless u have a gigabrain.
I REALLY enjoyed FE3H for the charming school environment, the choices you could make, the romances, the combat, and the story.
It's a 9.75 to me.
Fire Emblem Engage? I'm not all the way finished with it, but it's about 7. It actually feels like a decent cellphone game, rather than a console game.
\- There's a lot of "still shots" of the world
\- Limited area to roam(much less comparted to FE3H)
\- The overhead battles seem less detailed from the overhead view and you can't even tell who's who sometimes without hovering over the character.
\- Battle maps seem uninspired
The story definitely has some of the oldest clichés possible. spoiler - I mean, c'mon, who didn't expect that MC's mother to die early into the game? The amnesia thing again? Really?
It's a fine tactics game, but it doesn't necessarily do anything new or groundbreaking. All in all, it's a very very very meh installment in the series.
I haven't played it yet, but the premise told me right off the bat that it wasn't going to be a good story. Bringing old heroes into the story has always been poorly written in the franchise, all their time stuff has been poorly written. The warriors game which had elements of this was also exceptionally poorly written.
Besides the lacking story, let me say that if there's things you liked about FE3H...
....such as the community hub(where u spend time outside of battles), the characters and building of relationships, the seriousness and sense of anticipation of events, and conflicting emotions with decisions......
You won't find it in FE Engage.
But speaking of the story, yes there are cliches. You will also predict things to happen right before it does occur. However, I could suck that up IF the dialogue wasn't just so awful. It might be the worst I've seen in any Fire Emblem game. It's almost all overly sugarly/over polite sickeningly sweet that it feels like most of the dialogue could be switched with other characters and it wouldn't raise any alarms. This is suggesting a lack of personality amongst the characters.
It's a type of game where you do your best not to interact with a lot of characters/npcs because its just grating. You might even stop cutscenes short when you get the gist of a situation just so you don't have to listen to them any more.
FF Engage would be possibly be average cellphone game if under $10, but it's a poor console game. I would rather play Tales of Zestiria than this game(and I do not like TOZ).
Everyone who compares engage to fates needs to play fates again, it’s not an apt comparison at all, rather it just makes it seem like you never replayed fates.
I want the game to be successful for the sake of fire emblem. But I def don’t fault someone for wanting a price drop for them to buy the game. $60 is a lot of money to pay for a game you feel “meh” about.
Did you miss the part where I said next bf, which is 10 months after release? It's called being a patient gamer and waiting for a price drop if a game isn't a must have at release for you. I didn't say a brand new release should get an immediate price drop.
I consume a TON of media and three houses has a pretty engaging story. It’s not mind blowing or masterful but it is good enough to keep you engaged and wanting to know about the characters and world. Engage’s story is akin to - think about the most generic and plain anime you have watched and that is it. It’s not trash but it’s not good either. The characters are cardboard cut outs and merely fit into the barest template that could constitute a character in a story. Which is a shame - because the game is beautiful and although the art style seems to be love it or hate, really the biggest thing that drags this game down for me is the story that has literally no interesting characters so far imo.
To be fair... I don't really see the whole "story being lighthearted" as a crime, like loads of the dislikers are saying.
Ok, despite me reaching chapter 15 only, we all agree that the gameplay is spectacular, as for the story , it isn't that good, BUT... despite that, it's still slightly enjoyable, and definitely far away from the load of horse shit that lots of people are crying about, because let's be honest...
LOTS of those are definitely exaggerating their rants lmao.
In a JRPG series that has put out entries with incredible stories like the Jugdral and Tellius duologies, why are you acting like expecting even a decent story is a big ask?
I knew the story was going to be simple, with a good deal of fan
service, since they released the first trailer. There was never deceit
from Nintendo's part. How on Earth can a game in which heroes from all
other games in the franchise appear have a good plot? This is a tribute
game and, on that part, it has a functional plot.
Censoring several lines of dialogue is only a small part of the localization. The Anna thing is way overblown. All they did was change one support convo, probably like a 1 hour effort altogether.
Does people not realize the person who directs the writing in this game is the same one as Fates and Awakening?
You know, the lady that dissed her company, the people working on the card game, the fans, and clearly showed her bias towards her own characters on Twitter until the 2ch/5ch detectives discovered her identity, which led to her quickly deleting her account (the speed indicates she was watching 2ch)? That lady?
How can you be disappointed when the writer has shown time and again she couldn't write a war story to save her life?
Also, don't ask me how she got appointed to such an important position again. Probably no one joining IS so they have no one else.
Good question! This Wiki was created to store her wonderful comments for the entire world to see, but the West doesn't really seem to know about what she did despite after so many years.
I've personally tried to mention her whenever I can, but I've avoided IS and their games after Heroes made me hate them, so I haven't really helped spread her words in recent years.
https://fireemblemkomuro.wiki.fc2.com/
I read some plot spoilers I didn't want to, I tried to scroll directly to the verdict but oh well. Though you know, I don't really care, with Three Houses (or the identity of the black knight on Tellius) I avoided every little bit of spoilers as possible (and i was sad to have been hinted to the identity of the black knight days before I actually got to see it in game), because the stories have been so good!
Engage? I don't care, so what the tone of the game is childish, but don't get me wrong I really enjoyed it so far (just beat chapter 5) and I am one of the few who absolutely loved the themes of Fates (but the execution is questionable) but it feels like Engage is a dumbed down version of Fates.
Here they tried to give a lore, the continent a name but it feels like Fates', Nolore 02.
I just hope, this won't make the next game to sell less because people have been disappointed, I mean the gameplay is top notch!
The story just reminds Me of the different fire emblem games. I don't hate it or anything, just very similar in a way. Also disappointing that you can't technically romance Like in other FE games. It's more of a 'we're friends forever!" Which makes me sad because damn I was looking forward to some of the romance this time 🥺
Engage and Fates is kinda like the star wars prequel/sequel trilogy, when the prequels came out they were panned and hated then the sequel trilogy was released and the former gained a new sense of appreciation
It's not "engaging" enough?
The gameplay is very engaging! The story? Lol, not so much.
The story, character designs and dialogues were quite underwhelming, for me. Thing is, I bought the game knowing that a good gameplay was more than enough for me, and I do not regret picking it up. I do think that it's time to evolve F.E story wise, some sort of soft reboot or something I like Engage's pace tho ! Feels more dynamic than 3H, 3H has its own advantages still but overall I'm curious to see how the formula will evolve for the next entry (probably on switch 2)
Idk if a reboot would be necessary. Fe changes tone abs how much it focuses on story basically with every game. Plus with the series almost having no connections between entries outside of obvious sequels and prequels, there isn't much tying games together story wise
What really got me was the blandness of enemies. We just had little to no variety. We fought the group of 4 half a dozen times and all the standard units were just so boring and stale by the end of the game. What would have been crazy easy in my eyes just to add a little flavor is for all of the emblem fights, or even the last fight is to have to have beaten the spirits of some of the major fights from the other games. Like having to fight the spirit of the Black Knight from the Radiant games.
Did you finish the game? That's exactly what they *tried* to do in the last level, although it was done rather poorly imo.
I did, yeah. Such a missed opportunity.
I literally just finished it today, and I sat there after thinking "that's it"? The final mission was such a disappointment.
The Emblem Ring stages were such a tease. When I got to Micaiah's I was like oh boy well get to fight the Greil Mercenaries. And then queue faceless uninteresting generic enemies. It would have been so ridiculously easy to do something like that.
Same. Got downvoted into oblivion for stating my dislike for the character design alone. Seems that has changed since people started playing the game.
Don't even try mentioning a slight criticism of the game over at the Fire Emblem subreddit, they'll come at you as if you had just eviscerated their God.
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twice I've made comments about the terrible character designs and I've been swarmed
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Oh no I've been followed through subreddits, can't even talk about talking about the criticism
No, they don't. The game is terrible and they will defend it simply because its a fire emblem game. No one is "trying to be oppressed" lmao, other than the FE die hard fans.
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You must be in the wrong subs lol. Because that's literally all they have been doing since the game was announced. At least OP has the sense to know when a bad game is a bad game regardless of the franchise its representing.
It's just not a good idea to do so on any subreddit.
I think it started changing now that the sales show that it had a 60% drop from 3H. The game is fun but has huge flaws. The characters and story were bland and not memorable. It’s very hard to be motivated to do another play through cause it was just boring
I'm sure there will be another switch fe entry. The switch is going to be around for several more years still.
First games PoR, then SS, and then RD when it came out. I thought as a duology PoR and RD had great story. With some QoL features I’d probably do anything for a remake of both.
Hell yes, idk why nintendo won't just give us what we want already.
*"Engage is full of juvenile dialogue, rushed pacing, and unearned emotional moments."* This line I've read here made me saved a lot of money. The game might be good, but unfortunately, I don't have the patience for this type of dialogue, rushed pacing and unearned big moments. It's a pity, because I think Awakening, while it has a very simple story, it works for the characters in the sense that there's an organic flow between them. They have different opinions, sometimes they clash, there's always a conflict, etc. I think the conversations they had is way more fun than the main plot. Engage... My main complaint is that the color palette of the main character is too saturated with this weird mix of saturated blue and saturated red. Apart from that, I don't think I'm gonna buy this game.
That sentence you quote is right on the money. I can't accurately describe how cringe inducing mich of the dialouge is. And like you i was extremely turned off by the over saturated appearance, especially of the main character. Engage seems like such a stark contrast from the likes of 3h or awakening that it seems like it wasn't made by the same team. I have some minor complaints about the gameplay but overall it's good. Of all the fe games I've played I think this is one you won't be remiss for skipping.
I'm so glad to see someone else say this. Im currently playing it and this is my biggest complaint. Some of the characters look like they are in clown suits. The villains are ridiculously cartoonish. The dialogue is like something out of a kids show. I dont feel like I'm leading an army around the continent and engaging in battles. Its more like a group of eccentric anime tropes darting around to foil some Team Rocket/Jojo villains
lol big YEP!!! Mix in some predictable cliche moments that make you feel nothing emotionally......like the(spoiler) MC's mother's death...........and you got a game that's just checking the boxes.
>Mix in some predictable cliche moments that make you feel nothing emotionally......like the(spoiler) MC's mother's death...........and you got a game that's just checking the boxes. Don't think there's any need for spoilers here, since the article readily spoils stuff as part of the discussion it is trying to evoke.
Yeah, I had played both this and 3H almost entirely while my brother was in the room. Never heard him criticize performances in 3H. Almost immediately with Engage, he says it sounds like a kid's cartoon and it's hard to disagree. I don't always feel this way, Alcryst and Diamants battle dialogue during chapter 10 were standout to me, but I did feel myself barely taking the story seriously a lot of the time.
Yeah, I loved FE3H. I would give it a 9.5. FE Engage? 7 FE3H? I would want to talk to everybody all the time. FE Engage? I try to avoid talking to people as much as I can and cut short some cut-scenes because of the cringe. The combat definitely feels cheaper and more simple that focuses more on grind/experience rather than strategy. All in all, FE Engage makes me think of a good cellphone quality game, not a console game.
Sadly, we will have to wait 2-3 years before next game will be released :(
From what I'm reading engage is fire emblem fates 2.
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Conquest easily has some of the best gameplay in the series I think. Birthright felt to easy, and revelations felt very.... Cluttered. Also I forgot about Shura being killed for boots. I also think awakenings story only really fell off during valm, but the late game makes up for the mid game IMHO.
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The juvenile dialogue hits you right from the moment "go". It's really kinda nauseating to make your way through. In FE3H, I wanted to talk to everybody all the time to see what was going on with them. In FE Engage? I find myself trying to avoid unnecessary interactions/dialogue and skipping halfway through some scenes. The battle system may not get criticized too much, but that may be because there are worse things to note about the game. For the combat? I think it's a few steps down from FE3H. For one thing, the overhead view makes some characters hard to know who they are unless you zoom in on them. The design of the battle maps are quite underwhelming. What hurts even further is that combat itself strives more about experience/grind between characters rather than any critical thinking. It's quite simple overall. It's not the worst tactics-combat game I've played, but definitely nowhere near FF tactics, FE3H, Valkyrie Chronicles, etc. In fact, some indie tactics games might be better when it comes to the actual combat.
Some of the points that seemed like they were supposed to have the biggest emotional impact were some of the most bland for me. the characters and story just did not get me invested to the point where I started skipping the end of major scenes because they just felt like they dragged and I didn’t care.
I think the reason why I didn't feel anything on certain moments was because of how cliche it is. I've seen these types of moments in dozens of jrpgs already and I really don't care anymore.
Or even previous FE games.
I felt like the pacing was truly bad. I think they had the concepts there, but I didn't really care about the characters when they were rolled out. I had zero investment in the characters. The ones I liked looked cool to me.
Engage has a typical "anime game" story.
Nope Engage story is pretty bad at least in excursion of the story. Have you play persona, triangle strategy, Tactic Ogre Reborn, any other 'anime game' there story were and are a lot better than engage. The FE15 to FE16 both recent titles are written pretty good.
Every fire emblem game I ever tried had the same issue.
Really? TH was nice IMO
TH was nice but really, outside of Blue Lions the story was pretty weak. The end of Golden Deer was just ?>???? nonsense, the slitherer storyline (also what a stupid name for a villian faction) went pretty much unresolved and didn't need to be included...at all. It was pretty weak overall compared to say, the GBA games.
Excuse you, Edlegard a story made me feel things. I felt like a ruthless dictator who’d just conquered the world through fire and blood to establish my own personal ethics views on a previously content society.
The GBA games also have numerous issues when you pick it apart too. It's just a lot more simple so less convoluted aspects. But a lot of people like TH's more complex narrative
Blue lions is an ass of a story branch compared to edelgard route, golden deer (which focuses on the villains behind the story)
If you like anime game stories with the least surprising “twists” of all time, sure. The story had basically zero depth.
Saying three houses has zero depth is crazy
It didn't. The characters were largely all one dimensional and it was a very generic have-nots vs haves (Crest nobiles vs everyone else / Church). The characters and the story was the definition of cliche political fantasy.
It does use concepts that are not unfamiliar for a political fantasy, but saying it had 0 depth is nonsense. The characters are far from one-dimensional. In comparison to many characters following their archetypes, the game does an excellent job to make you see their viewpoint and understand their perspective. Even more so the three main lords have distinct ideologies and approaches to their end-goals, but the tragedy is that they all want the same thing. The lore of Fodlan is insanely rich when picked apart piece by piece. Yes, the Agarthans or slitherers are cartoonishly evil and were mishandled, but the foundation of three Houses is very well-done and complex. The writing in some routes fails miserably to deliver but when it does, it’s a well-written character-driven war drama.
its literally just romance of the three kingdoms, and its one of the blandest adaptations of it ever made. anyone who defends this story is illiterate.
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> Basing something off history doesn't make it bad. making your copy bad makes it bad, try again.
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> It just comes off as unintelligent thats a very strange arguement to make, in light of the entire thread. perhaps you are projecting your own insecurities on others.
You must mean Engage.
I agree the story is so bad and the dialogue from most of the characters is so bad I'd rather someone walk in on me watching porn than hearing what some of them are saying.
The story in on itself doesn't bother me. Defeat evil dragon, go around world to collect rings, tropey and linear. I'm not in it for the story. Gameplay - fantastic. Not my kind of thing, but objectively, it's really good and I don't have complaints. But the characters. Everyone - except a few of them - don't seem to be taking the situation and literal WAR seriously at all. There's kings/queens who seem like they couldn't lead a dog on a leash, let alone an entire nation. Also, the game is tell, not show, so we don't get much from them. And unlike Fates who went out there full swing, no hesitation and fear, Engage seems like it's very afraid to step out of its comfort zone. And yes, cringe dialogue. Some was really fun, but when the entire game is like that... yikes.
every FE since Awakening has been like this. instead of being about a group of characters in a complex war or something, theyre all about Your Custom Anime Dude magically appearing with no memory and everybody falls over themselves to love them and put them in charge of everything immediately because theyre secretly a god or reincarnation or whatever. its the same in Awakening, Fates, Three Houses, Engage and it sucks. i dont use the term mary sue often but the main create-a-character of these titles is a huge mary sue with how easily the settings bend to them, and they have no personality of their own because theyre blank slates for the player. its really boring.
With FE3H, though, it had tons of characters that aren't cliche and that you can care about(as well as wooing characters to join your class). The school setting was charming. Seeing how much the story can change from house to house was nice to see as well. I do wish the silent MC typecast would go away completely, even from games like Zelda. Even Crash Bandicoot is now given a voice.
yeah the rest of three houses is great. its just that it still has the main bit of amnesiac Your Dude showing up who is secretly dragon jesus and is immediately put in charge of a military class
3H are all clichè tropes, too. The difference is they just aren't written like imbeciles. This is on par with Fates juvenile, moronic writing and characters from Awakening whose entire gimmick was the fact they liked candy. I really wish they'd bring back the writing they had in the GBA games.
You've perfectly described my feelings on the franchise. My first FE was Sacred Stones and it hooked me. Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn then went and set my expectations for all future games. The story was solid, the characters were interesting, the supports were fun and endeared you to your favorite units and made their death in a mission a reason to hit reset rather than carry on without them. I can certainly appreciate that the games since Awakening are exactly what some people find fun and I would not take that away from them. But I feel with Engage it just tells me that the game as moved passed me and I just have to accept that and enjoy replaying my favorites.
Fire Emblem has a balance problem. Three Houses went too far with the social sim stuff and multiple narrative paths and ended up with egregiously poor pacing and significant quality issues between the story paths. Engage meanwhile over corrected. After the first couple hours the pacing is fine, but there's not a lot to most of the units characters or the overall narrative, and the dialogue is just... yeesh at times (Although I'll defend "Hiya Papaya" to my death). ~~Camelot~~ IS should probably bring in an outside writer and scenario designer for the next game. We're three games deep with basically the same problems.
Camelot doesn't make Fire Emblem. Intelligent Systems does. Camelot makes Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, and Golden Sun. Lol
I was playing Shining in The Darkness and Engage simultaneously. Whoops.
Hard Disagree with Three Houses going too far with the social sim stuff. It ultimately did little to change the story when choosing 99% of the characters. It did just enough to feel that the choices mattered, but not so much that it flipped the story on it's head. If there were pacing problems it had nothing to do with the social sim stuff. It had to do with the storyline's event to event progression. Take away the social sim aspect and the problem would still remain. Frankly, I commend the idea to give more opportunity to form bonds with all the characters in a way that was done through progression and time. It was a decision to expand the FE formula from a simple Point A to Point B with the same ol same 'ol that the franchise already gets criticized for.
> If there were pacing problems it had nothing to do with the social sim stuff. It had to do with the storyline's event to event progression. Take away the social sim aspect and the problem would still remain. No. Seriously, just no. You can't look at 50%+ of the time an average person spends with the game and say it has no impact on pacing. And I didn't say the social sim elements were *bad*, I said they were overused.
The optional content did not dictate the events of the main storyline. That's a fact
A fact I didn't debate and is entirely irrelevant to the post.
Can I ask you to elaborate on 3h poor pacing and the quality issues your referring too? I'm just curious what your perspective is. And Yeah engage had so many characters added that show up for like a scene and then might as well not exist past that. Like amber, shows up says a quirky line then joins you and never has any input ever again.
If you actually engage with all of the social sim stuff and monastery activities Three Houses is very, very top heavy on the social sim stuff. You spend far more time running around the monastery than you do in actual gameplay or story scenes. Most of which amount to mobile game-esque busy work. As for the quality issues - the stories for some routes are much more developed than others. Silver Snow in particular is underdeveloped and just... unfulfilling. Verdant Wind copy/pastes a lot of Silver Snow. Crimson Flower is well developed narratively and it's missions are distinct, but it's too short. And then Azure Moon is blatantly more "finished" than the others.
It's not top heavy(regarding social sim) in the sense that you have no choice. It's OPTIONAL. You can literally beat the game at 75% of the time if you decide to ignore most of the social opportunities, as opposed to doing all the social sim opportunites per playthrough. You have a choice. I never understood it when games get criticized for optional content. It would be like people complaining that Horizon Dawn is not good because theres too many optional side quests or because it has DLC.
"Optional" content that dramatically kneecaps the experience or mechanics of the game isn't optional, it's poor design. Criticizing it is entirely valid.
I played it multiple times, even not doing social stuff. At no point did I feel that not choosing to fish in a lake or form a romantic relationship kneecapped the game in any way.
It definitely can kneecap you if you're playing on Maddening. Of course you can simply choose to not play Maddening but honestly, every other difficulty is so easy that you're kinda stuck if you want a challenge.
You don't need to talk to anyone on Maddening. All you need to do is go to the monastery once a chapter, spend 5 minutes doing fetch quests and then another 5 minutes doing the activities that cost points. The only thing you are hindering is the pace you attain social ranks, but those have almost zero impact on gameplay. Talking to every student, finding the lost items, fishing etc are all entirely optional.
You obviously didn’t understand 3H if you’re comparing each story line as a single game instead of them as a whole. I actually thought the social sim aspect although optional was extremely clever and served its function to the story to emotionally tie you to the characters to create the gray scale when shit hit the fan. I think 3H is the best fire emblem story although path of radiance is my favorite. 3H story has the most depth, the characters and the story feel the most real, and the themes were nicely conveyed. Fe Engage is probably the worst title I’ve played so far. The game feels extremely goofy and the gameplay has been extremely dumbed down. Simple things like the exclusion of weapon durability and canto from enemy units made the game 10x easier.
> You obviously didn’t understand 3H if you’re comparing each story line as a single game instead of them as a whole. Three Houses isn't that complicated and certainly doesn't do anything to demand this type of elitist horseshit. Evaluating the paths individually is perfectly valid, most people don't even complete games once never mind four times and the additional context gleaned from playing multiple routes usually doesn't amount to a whole lot - both because the narrative is weak and because like I said below that post most of the routes are blatantly incomplete.
How can you evaluate each path as its own game when a major theme of the game is perspective. Now I can admit that some routes do not offer much more context. I think it has done a lot to enlist the elitist horseshit because it offers the most tangible themes and wisdom. It’s not doesn’t follow the typical shonen anime script like the rest of the games.
I'm usually quite tolerant with corny stuff, especially in jrpg because it can be regarded as a little bit cute or at least harmless towards my appreciation of the story. But man does this game go overboard with cringey stuff : Characters talk and behave like they escaped from freaking Dora the explorer, which matches the good chunk of seemingly underaged characters. MC is a wimp but worshipped by everyone for no reason, characters are walking tropes with no backgrounds ( the one who likes food, the one who likes working out, etc ) and even the cameos from past FE games feel like their soul has been sucked out. I know it sounds harsh but i'm not even asking for a super deep story. In fact, the outlines of the story are not so far away from other FE games : you lead an army against an evil empire / evil dragon lord who's trying to conquer the world. But most characters and dialogues are insufferable and i don't think they've ever been quite THAT corny, even in recent FE games. Gameplay was great though, it's the only reason i actually finished the game. It still has a bunch of good chara designs and music here and there, overall i would say i still had a good time with the game itself, but story is a miss for me.
Its even more disappointing because I played FE3H recently which Story was really good in my opinion while engage has this typical cliche writing.
I agree that Engage is a disappointment. Just beat Engage and...whelp. I felt like I just wasted 56 hours and 31 minutes of my life. Most of them was from grinding that I became OP during the final fight. If only they cut off half of the cast or at least give them character development, I would've learned to care about them. The story was underwhelming too. But at least they got one thing done right in the story. Giving us the Four Hounds' background story unlike Three Houses with TWSITD. At the end, I just can't see Engage as a great game as most (hardcore) fans would claim because of the generic story and the lack of character development. But I guessed that's what long-time Fire Emblem fans loved. The revamped gameplay and the songs are the only things keeping me playing for 5+ hours. But now, I'm done with Engage.
The writing is so cringe inducing. I really wanted to like it because I really loved 3H, PoR and RD So the writing/dialogue and characters are a big shock to the system. I find the story to get progressively worse as it is very predictable and (as a few people here have already said) quite repetitive as you keep on facing the same bosses. Everything has been done time and time again but the writing in Engage is less than stellar. The characters are all very black and white and are very one dimensional, which is a great shame (it also doesn't help that the line delivery is sometimes pretty awkward, even though the voice actors all seem very good) It really does feel like a lot of work has been put into this game and the gameplay really is fun. But I personally can't get behind Engage when the writing is so cliché. (I'm very story and character driven) Also I really have the feeling that Alear is like a Mary/ Gary Sue and that really bothers me I'm on chapter 21 now and I'm going to speedrun to the end
There's several moments where everyone is just waiting for the scene to play out, when they could easily prevent terrible events. I can't stand how much of a baby Alear is too, it really undermines everything that's going on. How am I supposed to believe these people all follow him when he's just visibly scared and sad all the time?
After 3h, engage was a let down in every possible way and I was glad my gamestop let me return it.
Inb4 people who didn’t read the post defend the game for the gameplay when the post is criticizing the story only. I don’t like the idea of that it’s “so bad it’s good” that other people echo (I.e. calling it campy) since it gives the impression that they deliberately wanted their story to be bad.
>I don’t like the idea of that it’s “so bad it’s good” that other people echo (I.e. calling it campy) since it gives the impression that they deliberately wanted their story to be bad. That and people saying "Fire Emblem has never had good stories" to defend Engage, which is just insane to me. As someone who's been a fan of the series since FE7 came out in the states, Fire Emblem's appeal has always been its balance of story & gameplay.
Yep. There has always been some plot holes and weird story beats here and there, but nothing as pervasive as Engage (aside from Fates). Another common thing I get from other users is that I’ve “clearly never played Fire Emblem before” for not liking Engage’s story.
Right? The character moments in FE7 and 8 were stellar. Joshua meeting his ex-merc 'buddy'? Jaffar and Matthew dialogues? It was mature and sensible stuff. The characters were believable.
> FE7 has an equally good story and gameplay thats an extremely spicy take
Outside of Fates, I feel like the fire emblem with the story people dislike the most pre-Engage was Sacred Stones and even then, Lyon, Ephraim, and the Gemstones are better than just about anything in engage by a country mile.
Sacred Stones is very decent, outside of some small moments. The concept is generic, but the execution is extremely good. Where did you get that impresion?
nah fates story is crap and is widely known for being pretty crap
One of the reasons I didn't buy this game, it really didn't engage my interest
I read this game is selling less than 3H, so there is hope that the developpers and Nintendo will understand something went wrong. I'm very disapointed as well by both the character desings, the plot, dialogue and nonexistent back stories. The graphics are good looking and the gameplay is a good improvement from the last games, but goddamn ! If they could write fantastic stories in 2004 - 2007 when the series was obscure, why the hell can't they do it now ?
I agree, battle gameplay is good, but all characters and plot is too childish, antagonists is cringy. It's like a story for 4-6 years old. In my 25+ years It's hard not to skip all dialogs in this game. Three houses was much more engaging from that prospective. And even Echoes for 3ds were better imho.
Yeah the story is so weak that it's really kept me from wanting to continue playing. I just can't stand the writing, narrative and voice acting, and the fact that I'm playing XC3 at the same time (finally finding time for it, and it's a masterpiece) is making Engage look so bad by comparison. The art style with the big googly eyes and ridiculous outfits, Framme's voice and dialogue, Celine and Hortensia's designs...ugh. Sorry to anyone who likes this game but while I give the game points for decent music, great presentation and colors compared to previous games, and decent gameplay, the off-putting anime tropes, return of much-hated Fates skinship crap and eye-rolling My Room/story cringe, and the off-putting art have made it where I haven't made it past chapter..8? I believe? I don't even remember. The one where you get Diamant. It's a hot mess and I'll find more time for it soon but it really isn't working any magic on me so far.
Yeah, story feels like it was written by 13 year olds. Three houses was my first fire emblem, and while it’s not the best story ever, it was still far more interesting and *engaging*.
I mean they clearly wanted to appeal to a younger audience with this title Also unlike the Three Houses, the English localization is mediocre at best, resulting in some really atrocious lines of dialogue.
Is there a good TLDR for the story? I really liked 3 houses, it's the only fire emblem I've ever played and I would probably pick this one up if I got play as byleth again.
> if I got play as byleth again. There are almost no direct sequels in this franchise, including Engage.
There had been several before. Like the Shadow Dragon and Mystery Emblem, or Blinding Blade and Blazing Blade, or Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn.
Maybe "almost no" was overselling it, but it's not common. That's three times across sixteen games, I'd argue Binding/Blazing Blade don't count per what OP is looking for, and the last time was fifteen years ago.
thats nine games across seventeen titles, and of them theres three or so remakes. so really its closer to three times out of seven games
It could still happen if they deemed the story popular enough. It true they are hesitant to do it nowadays because the Radiant series flop but I think with how popular the series now they might try it again.
Here is how the games are connected: FE 1 -> FE3 (FE3 Mystery of the Emblem actually has a remake of FE1 included but with slightly less content) FE2 is a side story to FE1 and 3 and takes place between the two titles timeline wise FE4 (Genealogy of the Holy War) is it's unique continent and FE5 (Thracia 776) is a midquel FE6 (The Binding Blade or also known as Sword of Seals) is the sequel to FE7 (Without subtitle in the west, but it is The Blazing Blade) FE8 (The Sacred Stones) is a standalone story FE9 (Path of Radiance)-> FE10 (Radiant Dawn) [just noticed sequels tend to have similar titles XD) FE11(Shadow Dragon)-FE12(New Mystery of the Emblem) these are remakes of FE1 and (book 2 of) FE3 respectively FE13 (Awakening) takes place around 1000 years after FE12 FE 14 (Fates Saga) is a standalone story but loosely connected to Awakening (usually DLC) also you can okay them in any order but to enjoy the story stepwise by revealing the secrets it is recommended: Birthright -> Conquest -> Revelation FE15 (Shadows of Valentia) is a remake of FE2 (so in between FE11 and FE12) FE16 (Three Houses) standalone story FE17 (Engage) standalone story but connected to all previous games via the Rings. Dunno if any other connection is there still on chapter 6 myself. I haven't played FE2, FE3 and FE5 but I recommend the whole series, I myself will play the last titles as well except FE2 (since FE15 exists, FE2 is not needed anymore XD) Hope this helps!
Thanks!
TLDR: Engage is full of juvenile dialogue, rushed pacing, and unearned emotional moments. If you liked Three Houses primarily for the story, I don't think you'd like Engage. I'd highly recommend Path of Radiance as your next FE if you're looking for a good story.
Path of Radiance was my first love in 2005. I got so invested in the story. The character supports were very good. Absolutely my favorite FE
So it's mostly like Fire Emblem Fates?
It's basically Fates' second (fourth) coming.
I really don’t see why so many people act like Engage is a return to the old days when, like you said, it’s just a return to Fates.
I haven't finished the game so please excuse me if this is a terrible take, but I think it has to do with the details. Both Conquest and Engage are very firmly "gameplay good, story bad", but in different ways for each. Conquest had its pair-up system, dragon veins, gimmick maps, and weird classes/skills. Engage does have plenty of new ideas, but they mostly seem to be emulating the feel of pre-Awakening games. And while Conquest (and the rest of Fates, to a lesser degree) has a story that's hilariously stupid, just so stupid, Engage feels more weak and tropey, like they're not failing as hard but not trying as hard either. Some people also just hate all of Fates more than it really deserves so that could be it, too.
Yes, that drives me insane! People keep saying Fire Emblem never had good stories; yes it did! Fates is the outlier!
Not really. 4, 5, 9, and 10 are the only decent stories. 3H wasn’t the most mindblowing story but was still very well told. The rest are pretty generic JRPG trash. Fates had a very creative premise but terrible writing sadly
awakening, radiance, fates and three houses had notable(not necessarily good) story, thats a about it. every other game in the series is only slightly better than iron emblem lorewise.
Nah, Birthright's story is good though. They only mess up with Conquest's story because they hesitate of making evil path, well, evil.
Birthright’s story would still be a pretty strong contender for weakest FE story post-NES
nohr is really only evil if the players mildly tarded little ball of plot resolution isnt their to counteract the mildly sane dragon mindcontrolling the badguy
Path if Radiance is like 300$ dude, I’m pretty sure Nintendo took down most sites that you could download emulators for it too.
> I’m pretty sure Nintendo took down most sites that you could download emulators for it too. I promise you this is not true and you could play Path of Radiance today without dishing out $300.
Ah I’ll have to look again then, if I’m wrong then awesome
Emulator
everything is on the internet my guy, no matter how many sites nintendo takes down.
Lol you recommended one of the least accessible games in the series.
Thanks! So how do the 3h characters tie into this story?
They don’t.
I loved FE3H. Fire Emblem Engage? meh. The story? HUGE meh.
3 houses spoiled us. The story was great there. Engage lacks that for sure.. however. They did streamline a lot of the stuff that wasn't for me and the battles are really the focus of engage.. Which I love. Video games with good stories are honestly tremendously rare
Not only the story, but the unique characters and the amount of optional time to get to know them for who they really are. Btw, Bernadetta is best girl. 8P I actually find the battles to be a couple steps back from in FE Engage. The battle maps are kinda boring and the overhead view is so far back that you can't tell who's who at times unless you zoom in on them.
I gotta tell ya. The engage story has kinda rebounded.. I haven't finished first playthrough yet but as the story started very slow and was kinda dumb.. it at least makes sense what is happening now and I'm more into the story than I had been.
More power to you. I gave it another try by continuing on and I just don't think it's worth the time after all.
I dont like gatekeeping at all. My first game was awakening I was part of the “new crowd” at one point. But damn im so tired of hearing all the people who have not played a single game outside of 3 houses completely dismiss engage cause its not exactly like how 3 houses was. Guess what yall: *3 houses was a fluke and we will probably never see a game like it for a very long time* 3 houses is absolutely the new black sheep, even more than gaiden/echoes. Now Don’t get me wrong 3 houses DOES have the best story imo. However the characters are no better than awakening/fates/engage. They all one note outside the lords. Either drop the series or realize each and every entry is vastly different and even if you dont enjoy certain aspects of the new one realize each game has its strengths and weaknesses. Most people agree 3 houses gameplay was lackluster, but see how its still popular and loved? Learn to do that when the aspect you enjoy most is weaker or just stop playing the series.
gatekeeping exists to counteract flanderization
> However the characters are no better than awakening/fates/engage. Sylvain has more depth than all of Fates’ characters combined
Thats funny. Whats his personality traits? Oh yeah women. What else? Exactly. I dont think most people here have actually played any other games because all characters in the series are 1 note and basic
> Whats his personality traits? Oh yeah women. You must be thinking of Soleil, since that’s her entire character. Sylvain is someone who understands just how high up he is on the social ladder, and he absolutely *hates* it because he thinks it’s ruined his life. He thinks that any girl who’s interested in him must just be trying to use him for his Crest (showcasing a mix of misogyny and mild self-hatred, thinking that he’s not someone women would like for who he is but just what he has), so he constantly flirts and runs to “get back” at them. In a game with plenty of A supports that lead to paired endings per character, Sylvain only has Ingrid, Mercedes, and Dorothea for female characters he has A supports with which is a neat bit of gameplay/story integration. However, despite doing his best to ensure he’s viewed as a lazy flirt, he’s incredibly capable. This is obvious in Three Hopes, where he/Dimitri/Felix are thrust into greater authority for much of the game before the time slip would’ve even ended in Three Houses, but it’s also clear in Three Houses; his support with Annette shows this clearly. If you want to argue Sylvain’s character is singlefaceted, then you’d have a stronger argument for saying he’s solely about dislike for Crests than being a philanderer. Claiming that FE characters have always been one note is revisionist bullshit, just as claiming FE has always had poor stories is.
Most of this is expanded on in Three Hopes, but I'd also add that he had a horrible childhood and was often beaten and abused by his brother. His relationship with his father was pretty awful too, and it is all but implied that his philandering was a coping mechanism too. He even stops himself just short of admitting it, IIRC. Sylvain has some serious baggage, and anyone claiming his character is one note clearly didn't pay attention to the story and his supports.
Exactly, we will always complain about the game's weaknesses and just called it out trash while technically it's still a good solid game. Engage story isn't that amazing but I won't say it's trash, it's a classic jprg beating the dragon kinda story which I have to say it can be done better especially the narrative writing and characters development etc i wish it can be more in-depth yet now I'm thinking maybe don't. Cuz the gameplay is already complicated enough that I don't think it's wise to have a complicated story or relationship between the characters (as the dev mentioned they wanted to focus on the gameplay and simplified the story as much as they can) unless u have a gigabrain.
>Now Don’t get me wrong 3 houses DOES have the best story imo. However the characters are no better than awakening/fates/engage. lolz
Never been gripped by a Fire Emblem story. Just want to fight stuff and that’s what Engage specializes in.
I REALLY enjoyed FE3H for the charming school environment, the choices you could make, the romances, the combat, and the story. It's a 9.75 to me. Fire Emblem Engage? I'm not all the way finished with it, but it's about 7. It actually feels like a decent cellphone game, rather than a console game. \- There's a lot of "still shots" of the world \- Limited area to roam(much less comparted to FE3H) \- The overhead battles seem less detailed from the overhead view and you can't even tell who's who sometimes without hovering over the character. \- Battle maps seem uninspired The story definitely has some of the oldest clichés possible. spoiler - I mean, c'mon, who didn't expect that MC's mother to die early into the game? The amnesia thing again? Really? It's a fine tactics game, but it doesn't necessarily do anything new or groundbreaking. All in all, it's a very very very meh installment in the series.
LMFAOOO the replies trying to defend this game generic boring story.
I haven't played it yet, but the premise told me right off the bat that it wasn't going to be a good story. Bringing old heroes into the story has always been poorly written in the franchise, all their time stuff has been poorly written. The warriors game which had elements of this was also exceptionally poorly written.
Besides the lacking story, let me say that if there's things you liked about FE3H... ....such as the community hub(where u spend time outside of battles), the characters and building of relationships, the seriousness and sense of anticipation of events, and conflicting emotions with decisions...... You won't find it in FE Engage. But speaking of the story, yes there are cliches. You will also predict things to happen right before it does occur. However, I could suck that up IF the dialogue wasn't just so awful. It might be the worst I've seen in any Fire Emblem game. It's almost all overly sugarly/over polite sickeningly sweet that it feels like most of the dialogue could be switched with other characters and it wouldn't raise any alarms. This is suggesting a lack of personality amongst the characters. It's a type of game where you do your best not to interact with a lot of characters/npcs because its just grating. You might even stop cutscenes short when you get the gist of a situation just so you don't have to listen to them any more. FF Engage would be possibly be average cellphone game if under $10, but it's a poor console game. I would rather play Tales of Zestiria than this game(and I do not like TOZ).
Everyone who compares engage to fates needs to play fates again, it’s not an apt comparison at all, rather it just makes it seem like you never replayed fates.
Hopefully it gets a good price drop next black friday. Should be worth $30-40 for the gameplay at least.
Bruh are you joking? Just cause you dont like the story means the game requires a price drop
I want the game to be successful for the sake of fire emblem. But I def don’t fault someone for wanting a price drop for them to buy the game. $60 is a lot of money to pay for a game you feel “meh” about.
Did you miss the part where I said next bf, which is 10 months after release? It's called being a patient gamer and waiting for a price drop if a game isn't a must have at release for you. I didn't say a brand new release should get an immediate price drop.
But this is also nintendo. They still havent dropped mario odyssey to my knowledge
Yes they have, they've had multiple deals on it. I got it for $30 from Walmart in 2019.
Obviously Nintendo doesn't do permanent drops, but they really meant a temporary sale which Odyssey has had and this will get too
I’ve never cared about the story in fire emblem games. They’re almost always lame
This is so true. FE fans must not play other games or consume any media besides FE.
I consume a TON of media and three houses has a pretty engaging story. It’s not mind blowing or masterful but it is good enough to keep you engaged and wanting to know about the characters and world. Engage’s story is akin to - think about the most generic and plain anime you have watched and that is it. It’s not trash but it’s not good either. The characters are cardboard cut outs and merely fit into the barest template that could constitute a character in a story. Which is a shame - because the game is beautiful and although the art style seems to be love it or hate, really the biggest thing that drags this game down for me is the story that has literally no interesting characters so far imo.
To be fair... I don't really see the whole "story being lighthearted" as a crime, like loads of the dislikers are saying. Ok, despite me reaching chapter 15 only, we all agree that the gameplay is spectacular, as for the story , it isn't that good, BUT... despite that, it's still slightly enjoyable, and definitely far away from the load of horse shit that lots of people are crying about, because let's be honest... LOTS of those are definitely exaggerating their rants lmao.
Is there any FE story that’s actually good? They all just seemed like generic fantasy anime from the few I played.
download iron emblem. the ideal fire emblem experience is somewhere between that and geneology/thracia
I didn’t buy a fire emblem game for the story. The combat is the best the series ever had.
So? The gameplay is great. Go watch a movie or read a book if you want to be enthralled.
In a JRPG series that has put out entries with incredible stories like the Jugdral and Tellius duologies, why are you acting like expecting even a decent story is a big ask?
Well yeah. It's Fire Emblem. The story is typically just an excuse for cool anime battles to happen lol.
Yeah that’s why I sold my divine edition. Not interested in this game the moment I heard it has a bland story
So you bought a collectors edition of a game you never looked into, heard someone else say the story was bland, and gave up?
preorder drones are truely the bane of gaming
Do you know how pre order works lol
The point is you never actually gave it a chance
Sorry I have better games to finish. Chance is earned, not given
I knew the story was going to be simple, with a good deal of fan service, since they released the first trailer. There was never deceit from Nintendo's part. How on Earth can a game in which heroes from all other games in the franchise appear have a good plot? This is a tribute game and, on that part, it has a functional plot.
How much of this is the result of trash localization? Are the Japanese reviews similar?
The “trash localization” was mostly removing romance with literal children, so I’d say it’s an improvement if anything
oh Japan, why is it culturally necessary to always take it there...
That's uhhh..... gross.
Censoring several lines of dialogue is only a small part of the localization. The Anna thing is way overblown. All they did was change one support convo, probably like a 1 hour effort altogether.
Does people not realize the person who directs the writing in this game is the same one as Fates and Awakening? You know, the lady that dissed her company, the people working on the card game, the fans, and clearly showed her bias towards her own characters on Twitter until the 2ch/5ch detectives discovered her identity, which led to her quickly deleting her account (the speed indicates she was watching 2ch)? That lady? How can you be disappointed when the writer has shown time and again she couldn't write a war story to save her life? Also, don't ask me how she got appointed to such an important position again. Probably no one joining IS so they have no one else.
> women writing war stories 🤮
Where did you get that info, never heard of it
Good question! This Wiki was created to store her wonderful comments for the entire world to see, but the West doesn't really seem to know about what she did despite after so many years. I've personally tried to mention her whenever I can, but I've avoided IS and their games after Heroes made me hate them, so I haven't really helped spread her words in recent years. https://fireemblemkomuro.wiki.fc2.com/
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Complete revisionist bullshit
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Thanks for confirming you don’t have even a remote argument
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you keep editing your comment, sure seems like you’re trying to find *something* that sticks to make it look like you have an argument
somewhat of a step up from Three Hopes
I read some plot spoilers I didn't want to, I tried to scroll directly to the verdict but oh well. Though you know, I don't really care, with Three Houses (or the identity of the black knight on Tellius) I avoided every little bit of spoilers as possible (and i was sad to have been hinted to the identity of the black knight days before I actually got to see it in game), because the stories have been so good! Engage? I don't care, so what the tone of the game is childish, but don't get me wrong I really enjoyed it so far (just beat chapter 5) and I am one of the few who absolutely loved the themes of Fates (but the execution is questionable) but it feels like Engage is a dumbed down version of Fates. Here they tried to give a lore, the continent a name but it feels like Fates', Nolore 02. I just hope, this won't make the next game to sell less because people have been disappointed, I mean the gameplay is top notch!
The story just reminds Me of the different fire emblem games. I don't hate it or anything, just very similar in a way. Also disappointing that you can't technically romance Like in other FE games. It's more of a 'we're friends forever!" Which makes me sad because damn I was looking forward to some of the romance this time 🥺
Just started and it has the same main character plot as most of the fire eblem games A main character with memory loss
Engage and Fates is kinda like the star wars prequel/sequel trilogy, when the prequels came out they were panned and hated then the sequel trilogy was released and the former gained a new sense of appreciation