I think Fire Emblem Engage is one of the best Fire Emblem games, and an incredible game by itself. Compared to Three House's historical drama, this is the Saturday morning anime you'd watch on Fox Kids each week as a kid. While I was a bit iffy on it from initial impressions I heard regarding the story, I still wanted to give it a try, and I'm glad I did.
Despite the story being more "straightforward" compared to Three Houses, it's still a fun, exciting time, with some twists and turns along the way, with a cast of characters who is incredibly colorful and a lot of fun to be around. By no means are they two-dimensional, and though the core cast of characters in the stories are Alear and the main royals from each country, the supports are a ton of fun and offer some great looks into the characters. While Ivy might seem like a Camilla (of Fire Emblem Fates), she's much more of a socially awkward goth than anything else. Diamant might seem like a simple, hotheaded fighter, but he's rather introspective about the role of his country and his own future duties as the crown prince of his home.
The biggest part of this game, though, is the gameplay itself. This is probably the most well thought out Fire Emblem game I've played (having played almost all of them since 7 came out for the GBA), and you can tell that the designers really thought long and hard about the class design, skills, and especially the Emblems. While, when Engage was first announced, I was a bit anxious that their "anniversary game" would be similar to Fire Emblem Heroes, Engaging as a mechanic isn't just a core point of the game, but it is the core foundation of the gameplay. The maps are built around you engaging, with each emblem ring offering various bonuses to different types of classes, and actively not using them are a detriment more than anything else. When maps are tough, you have to make frequent use of the abilities you get to actually push through. And when enemies can use the mechanic against you, it makes the maps that much harder in an incredibly fun way. Now you have to really examine what to do, where to go, and the capabilities your foes have.
To go back on the story, while there are some points I might not have been the biggest fan of, or some ways that I felt they could've done something differently, or how some characters were underutilized, it is still a rather intriguing ride, even as someone who saw a fair few plot points coming from a mile away. It doesn't detract from that, because seeing the characters to react is what really makes it. Alear being fully voiced and having a character for themselves is perfect, and were they more akin to a Byleth, it would do a horrible number on the story. Alear has a clear character arc that matches well with the game's themes, and I had a good time. Even at the end, when the game itself went completely over the top, it was a fun time, and when the story reaches a fever pitch a handful of times across the game, it always had me focused 100%.
My ultimate minuses are small, in that I think the economy and SP are too harshly overtuned against the player. For much of the game, I was really struggling to have money for upgrades or weapons or donations, and there were only a rare few instances I could buy really big skills for my characters with SP, all towards the end of the game, and even with having used most characters I did for half the game or more. I think to make it slightly more lenient for the player would feel better. Granted, I rarely did skirmishes after chapter 16, preferring to take my time with battles and paralogues (which, on Hard Classic, aside from a few, from chapter 15 on usually took me an hour or more for a map), so maybe grinding skirmishes would've made it easier, but it wasn't something that interested me.
Overall, I think if you like tactical, strategic gameplay, you should definitely pick this up. It's a great time and even as someone who was hesitant to go Hard Classic, I had a lot of fun and felt incredibly satisfied by the end. I will say, if you're looking for a game closer to Three Houses, I'm not quite sure this is what you would be looking for, given that, to me, both games are VERY different and have different goals set for them both. And with Engage's goals, I think, aside the few things I mentioned, they did INCREDIBLY well with it.
Despite the story being more "straightforward" compared to Three Houses, it's still a fun, exciting time, with some twists and turns along the way, with a cast of characters who is incredibly colorful and a lot of fun to be around. By no means are they two-dimensional, and though the core cast of characters in the stories are Alear and the main royals from each country, the supports are a ton of fun and offer some great looks into the characters. While Ivy might seem like a Camilla (of Fire Emblem Fates), she's much more of a socially awkward goth than anything else. Diamant might seem like a simple, hotheaded fighter, but he's rather introspective about the role of his country and his own future duties as the crown prince of his home.
The biggest part of this game, though, is the gameplay itself. This is probably the most well thought out Fire Emblem game I've played (having played almost all of them since 7 came out for the GBA), and you can tell that the designers really thought long and hard about the class design, skills, and especially the Emblems. While, when Engage was first announced, I was a bit anxious that their "anniversary game" would be similar to Fire Emblem Heroes, Engaging as a mechanic isn't just a core point of the game, but it is the core foundation of the gameplay. The maps are built around you engaging, with each emblem ring offering various bonuses to different types of classes, and actively not using them are a detriment more than anything else. When maps are tough, you have to make frequent use of the abilities you get to actually push through. And when enemies can use the mechanic against you, it makes the maps that much harder in an incredibly fun way. Now you have to really examine what to do, where to go, and the capabilities your foes have.
To go back on the story, while there are some points I might not have been the biggest fan of, or some ways that I felt they could've done something differently, or how some characters were underutilized, it is still a rather intriguing ride, even as someone who saw a fair few plot points coming from a mile away. It doesn't detract from that, because seeing the characters to react is what really makes it. Alear being fully voiced and having a character for themselves is perfect, and were they more akin to a Byleth, it would do a horrible number on the story. Alear has a clear character arc that matches well with the game's themes, and I had a good time. Even at the end, when the game itself went completely over the top, it was a fun time, and when the story reaches a fever pitch a handful of times across the game, it always had me focused 100%.
My ultimate minuses are small, in that I think the economy and SP are too harshly overtuned against the player. For much of the game, I was really struggling to have money for upgrades or weapons or donations, and there were only a rare few instances I could buy really big skills for my characters with SP, all towards the end of the game, and even with having used most characters I did for half the game or more. I think to make it slightly more lenient for the player would feel better. Granted, I rarely did skirmishes after chapter 16, preferring to take my time with battles and paralogues (which, on Hard Classic, aside from a few, from chapter 15 on usually took me an hour or more for a map), so maybe grinding skirmishes would've made it easier, but it wasn't something that interested me.
Overall, I think if you like tactical, strategic gameplay, you should definitely pick this up. It's a great time and even as someone who was hesitant to go Hard Classic, I had a lot of fun and felt incredibly satisfied by the end. I will say, if you're looking for a game closer to Three Houses, I'm not quite sure this is what you would be looking for, given that, to me, both games are VERY different and have different goals set for them both. And with Engage's goals, I think, aside the few things I mentioned, they did INCREDIBLY well with it.
scoons
1 year ago