Kondo's trick proves to once again be unbeatable with what's probably Falcom's most polished game to date.

Every single second of this game is the most insane fast paced fun. All the other times they reinvented the gameplay system the first entry felt very weak to me but X busted through the door with full power and full fun. Only real issue gameplaywise i had was boss healthbars felt a bit too inflated at times.

The exploration in this game is probably the best part about it. Just cruising through areas with the hoverboard or using the hook for swinging simply filled me with unmeasurable joy.

The story is also very great for what it tries to do. There wasnt a time where I felt bored or thought it was meaningless and there was a good amount of great moments for all of the main characters sprinkled into it. The "cast of misfits" that you collect during your adventure wasnt as unique as IX's but it was still a fun ensemble nonetheless especially with the main group.

The side content is basically the exactly same as VIII and IX so I dont have much to comment on that.

The presentation for the game is very good for the limits that it got burdened by from being on the Switch aswell. None of the areas looked ugly. The music was also very good for being a modern Falcom OST. Every single area and event theme was basically perfect with the few weaker tracks being mainly boss ones.

TLDR: I absolutely loved this game and i cant wait to see where they go next with Ys or whatever other non Kiseki title they are working on

One of the best in the entire Rance series. A shining example of a remake done right. Stays true to the original, while also being incredibly unique. The gameplay is like a more fun and streamlined version of 01. It gives you multiple party members you can use freely. There's use incentives to try them all. The story is the first in the series with a more grand scale, in comparison to the previous smaller conflicts. Introduces the concept of Dark Lords and the Demon King. Gives a lot of lore and backstory for characters that the original couldn't. Of course, the real highlight is Rance and his interactions with various characters. The presentation is top notch. Music is full of nonstop bangers. Probably the best in the entire series. The voice acting is excellent, everyone is perfectly cast. Kanami and Sill's voice actors give a stunning performance that breathes life into these characters. I wish Rance himself was voiced more. Hearing his iconic "gahaha" post battle is great. Gyokai's art is extremely aesthetically appealing. Every CG is a treat. All the female character designs are stellar.

I am eternally destined to like games that are divisive because people are too joyless to appreciate em, and Fire Emblem Engage is absolutely no exception.

Don't get me wrong - my first impression of this game was far from stellar too. I had half a mind to avoid using Alear entirely because I hated their design so much.
But with every bit of gameplay features we got to see, I got more and more excited for this game - and man, I'm so glad I did. It is such a ridiculously fun game.

We haven't had such a heavy focus on player-phase combat in the series since FE12, which was already my favorite FE gameplay-wise - but this game just goes above and beyond. The Break system took me a while to get used to, but when it finally clicked it was so ridiculously satisfying.
The low deployment slots and gigantic amount of Emblem Ring combinations you could pull off means it's gonna be great fun to replay too, and I can't wait to give that a shot.

The story definitely takes a while to get going, and I don't blame anyone for losing interest relatively quickly, but I'm glad it picks up as well as it does.
Didn't think I'd ever say this about Fire Emblem but the ludonarrative harmony is what especially fascinated me about this game - there's some really impactful moments where you're supposed to feel powerless and it shows SO goddamn well through the gameplay that follows. It's incredible.

Despite the story being pretty basic at first, the characters are still as enjoyable as always - and although it takes more of a GBA FE approach of having some quick and simple supports, there's still plenty of meaningful and enjoyable ones. Ivy was a really stand-out character to me, because she's one of the few that tackles issues that are very specific to the game's setting. I think you could've taken any other character in a different setting and they'd still work - which doesn't bother me too much, honestly - but she's definitely the most layered character I've seen in the supports in my playthrough. Pleasantly surprised about that!

All in all, I'm really happy with this game. It's not perfect by any means, but I think any long-time fan should really be able to appreciate what this game's going for. Tons of subtle nods to older games and tons of direct fanservice with the Emblem Rings and how they play.
Couldn't think of a better (regrettably delayed) anniversary celebration!

Really excited for Fire Emblem's future after playing this game. Fantastic gameplay, a story that works more than well enough for what the game's supposed to be, great fanservice, incredible animations and hell - the game looks gorgeous in general, honestly.
With so much going well for it, I can't wait to see what's next!

Ok, I think this game is very easy to critizise just by the stuff we saw in trailers and the first couple of hours, I understand it is definately not what most people were expecting and I don't think being disappointed by it is unfair, but in my experience I disagree with a couple of the complaints made to this point, and I have to comment on some.

But first, starting with positives, the gameplay is very fun and even tho I still don't know if there will be ways to abuse it or make it feel like a joke, is very fair and balanced. It is definately not what I was expecting, becuase seeing the rings and their effects in the showcases, me and almost everyone would've thought they were inmensly overpowered, but they fit nicely into the gameplay and the maps and enemy locations are prepared with the rings in mind.

It is very difficult to balance a fire emblem game, and sometimes it's even fun to play unbalanced fire emblem games, but this one is still highly enjoyable even on higher difficulties, I don't feel as many bullshit as with three houses and the maps for now are one of my favorites in the series and I haven't finished the game.

Talking about difficulties, "Hard" actually poses a challenge, as opposed to, again, Three Houses which was a joke except on the "maddening" difficulty, which often used same-turn reinforcements and bullshit mechanics to keep it hard (infamous Reunion at Dawn). I still haven't touched maddening in this game, but hard does impose a bit of challenge and I am hopeful it will be as sweet in the highest difficulty, will update my review based on that.

Now, addressing the art-style, it is really different from the rest of the games so far, and I agree that the fact that this series changes it's style frecuently wouldn't be an excuse for badly designed characters and environments. So yes, Alear is not a compelling design, and I found a couple that weren't too great either, but the rest of them aren't bad at all.

You could complain that that are too separated from each other and they don't look like they are from the same game sometimes, I don't agree but even if it was the case, I like having a diverse cast and they fit in their own kingdoms and follow a trend in each one as if they had a different culture. They are mostly nice designs and I like the fact that they made them distinctive according to their region of origin, which they didn't do in past FE games with some exceptions.

Now, the graphics on the other hand, look gorgeous, even if you think they are generic, the bright colors and textures are very nice to the eyes and I found myself really digging the art style thanks to the backgrounds in battle, I really don't understand people that call this ugly because I don't see it at all.

Also, this game has top tier animations, for the attacks and dodges, it's one of the first games where I don't see myself pressing the skip button or turning animations off becuase they take too long, at least since the GBA games. There is one where, if the character has a high level, instead of just dodging an arrow he will break it with his sword mid-air and it's unnecessary, but it's still there and it's hilarious, things like that give this game more charm than any of the pokémon games on switch.

Now, talking about characters and story, maybe the story isn't anything special, that's definately true, it's not like Fire Emblem has any game with an incredible story, far from it, but this one follows generic story beats of old games. It's not horrendous, there aren't any stupid decisions or questionable plot points as in other games, but it isn't great.

On the other hand, I find myself also liking most of the characters in the game, maybe they aren't as focused and three dimensional as in three houses, but almost all of them have something interesting and the supports rarely feel annoying.

Alear is a step up for the avatar character, not as great as Shez I think, but it improves upon Byleth, feels more similar to something like Robin. Of course he isn't complex or anything, and I don't personally like avatars and would be happier if they stopped using them, but he is decent enough. Only thing I do have to mention is that the characters are jerking him off most of the time, and that is something that wasn't present with Byleth (that much) and does bother me, but it isn't a problem with Alear himself.

So, to keep things simple, Engage is a game that improves in gameplay significantly sacrificing a bit of the story significance that was in the previous entry, but that doesn't make it worse, just a very different experience that is focused on another group of people which are here for the strategy and want to have a good time with it. I think It succeeds in that regard and I couldn't be happier with how fun I'm having with the maps until now, even with the average story, I am still picking characters depending on how much I like them, and I am enjoying building them more than in the most recent entries at least.

Complaining about the tropes and art style is definately fair, but some of the critiques miss the point completely and makes it seem like Fire Emblem wasn't always about a game where you have to build your own army and strategic resource management. Three Houses is to blame for setting expectations to new players into other directions, (not that I'm mad with 3H or anything, I also adore that game, but the reasons are completely different, and I don't expect to find myself enjoying the same aspects, becuase shaking things up once in a while is what makes the series feel fresh with every new entry).

My last point, is a bit more of rant, and it's not from my experience of the game, but a response to some complaints I have heard that make little to no sense to me, I'll try to not extend myself too much.

First, the fact that this game is the 30th anniversary celebration title is false, people said it becuase of the leaks that came out which turned out to be true, but blindly trusting leaks isn't a good source of information, as a couple other things, like the fact that Gust was involved with the game, turned out to be false. Expecting it to be a celebration and being disappointed becuase of the ring mechanics, doesn't justify the fact that it is still a normal mainline Fire Emblem game, and it doesn't need to prove itself worthy or more special than any other title. Maybe it doesn't have to be the best in every department and it's focused on being a different experience and attracting different people (that's why it is so different to Three Houses despite coming on the same console).

If you are worried about the direction of the series and don't like this game, don't whine online about how this is "ruining" the series, the next entry will be completely different again, and maybe it will take a while but a new game may fit you taste as time passes, if not, you have more than 17 old games with infinite replayability that may please you.

This game is not going to damage the series and turn it into anything that it isn't just becuase you don't like the artstyle and story, it is still an excellent Fire Emblem game at its core, and many people such as me are enjoying it and will enjoy the next entries as much as this one becuase I simply can't find myself hating a game that looks and plays great (at least it's how I feel) as I'm sure the next games will too.

Not mad at people who don't like the game, but some came with the expectation of hating it just for the first trailer and ended up doing it becuase that's obviously what's going to happen if you have that attitude. Sad that a great part of the fanbase aren't enjoying it as much as I am tho, but again, you don't have to light up all the alarms, it is not a big deal.

Luckily a Genealogy Remake is coming next, hope that game satysfies the fans that enjoy FR stories becuase that is easily the best one of the bunch, very hyped for that game too.