Game Finished In 2024 #7.5?:
So I'm going through Fire Emblem Engage, and while I'm not done with the game at time of writing, I HAVE done all the DLC offerings, and it's worth a log, I think.
I'll save thoughts on Engage as a whole for when I'm actually done with it, but as it stands the bulk of the DLC is split into basically two parts: the Divine Paralogues, seven additional Emblems for the main game and six maps to go along with them, and the Fell Xenologue, a six chapter sidestory with fixed character attributes akin to Cindered Shadows from Three Houses, which adds new characters and classes to the main game upon completion.
The Divine Paralogues are a great addition to the game overall, adding fan favorites such as Tiki, Camilla [huge win for yuri fans!], Soren [huge win for yaoi fans!], and Veronica [huge win for me, who liked her in Dragalia]. These Emblems add a lot of interesting options to use in the main game, including and especially after the Big Scripted Loss where the Emblems you have are taken away. Hilariously, the DLC Emblems are entirely unaffected by this event, and it gives you something of a head start on getting the rest back. I chose to get each Emblem according to the Emblem's respective game to break them up. So when I got Lyn in the main story, I did Hector's paralogue, and when I got Corrin in the main story, i did Camilla's paralogue, and so on. This paced the new additions quite well, and eased any potential issues with being frontloaded by 7 new Emblems to figure out. My favorite Emblem to use is possibly Veronica, who has the special ability to... do a gacha pull. Because she's from the mobile game. The ability to pull an extra unit out of your ass on command has a lot of utility, and this utility is further increased when you pull a particularly good summon.
Once I had done all the Divine Paralogues, I decided to do the Fell Xenologue. This is a weaker addition to the game, unfortunately. When I get to Engage itself I will elaborate further but the story and setting in Engage are not particularly interesting, and this is More Engage Plot. An alternate universe plotline does not particularly work when you don't care about the original universe The maps are largely fine, though the last two are notably obnoxious. The fixed character attributes could be theoretically interesting, but Engage is a game that thrives off of the gameplay's excellent character building, and the Fell Xenologue denies you all of the building you've done so far so that you can theoretically do this at any time. The usability of the new classes and characters is to be determined, but I will say Engage is already so filled with likeable characters that even in the base game I struggle fitting all my favorites into a balanced team comp.
Overall, a solid DLC offering, even if it's not all perfect.
So I'm going through Fire Emblem Engage, and while I'm not done with the game at time of writing, I HAVE done all the DLC offerings, and it's worth a log, I think.
I'll save thoughts on Engage as a whole for when I'm actually done with it, but as it stands the bulk of the DLC is split into basically two parts: the Divine Paralogues, seven additional Emblems for the main game and six maps to go along with them, and the Fell Xenologue, a six chapter sidestory with fixed character attributes akin to Cindered Shadows from Three Houses, which adds new characters and classes to the main game upon completion.
The Divine Paralogues are a great addition to the game overall, adding fan favorites such as Tiki, Camilla [huge win for yuri fans!], Soren [huge win for yaoi fans!], and Veronica [huge win for me, who liked her in Dragalia]. These Emblems add a lot of interesting options to use in the main game, including and especially after the Big Scripted Loss where the Emblems you have are taken away. Hilariously, the DLC Emblems are entirely unaffected by this event, and it gives you something of a head start on getting the rest back. I chose to get each Emblem according to the Emblem's respective game to break them up. So when I got Lyn in the main story, I did Hector's paralogue, and when I got Corrin in the main story, i did Camilla's paralogue, and so on. This paced the new additions quite well, and eased any potential issues with being frontloaded by 7 new Emblems to figure out. My favorite Emblem to use is possibly Veronica, who has the special ability to... do a gacha pull. Because she's from the mobile game. The ability to pull an extra unit out of your ass on command has a lot of utility, and this utility is further increased when you pull a particularly good summon.
Once I had done all the Divine Paralogues, I decided to do the Fell Xenologue. This is a weaker addition to the game, unfortunately. When I get to Engage itself I will elaborate further but the story and setting in Engage are not particularly interesting, and this is More Engage Plot. An alternate universe plotline does not particularly work when you don't care about the original universe The maps are largely fine, though the last two are notably obnoxious. The fixed character attributes could be theoretically interesting, but Engage is a game that thrives off of the gameplay's excellent character building, and the Fell Xenologue denies you all of the building you've done so far so that you can theoretically do this at any time. The usability of the new classes and characters is to be determined, but I will say Engage is already so filled with likeable characters that even in the base game I struggle fitting all my favorites into a balanced team comp.
Overall, a solid DLC offering, even if it's not all perfect.