The modern era of Fire Emblem has embraced the balance of gameplay and narrative, yet a more controversial sentiment is that breaking this equilibrium does not act as a detrimental sacrifice to the overall experience; In the case of Engage, that a deterioration of story and character quality can be excused for the exceptional improvement in gameplay over the previous titles. I have spent over a year grappling with this belief, but it's a position I cannot bring myself to stand by.

My difficulty with this game only exists given how incredible the fundamental strategy system is. Although unfortunately the differentiating factors are directly tied to a crude Heroes-esque fanservice Ring mechanic, they provide an infinite number more solutions to the already fine-tuned core Weapon Triangle. With a plethora of weapons with unique abilities to acquire, healing staffs to purchase, and refining to be accomplished, this is the most challenging yet enjoyable Fire Emblem has been for me.

The harsh reality that I have come to grips with, is that the modern Fire Emblem experience cannot be separated from the narrative and social components, which are by all accounts atrocious. This cut digs even deeper in the wake of Three Houses, which both innovates on the concept of narrative deliverance and sits on a pedestal in this Modern era. It is not simply an issue of story beats, but more importantly, the experience with characters. You can boil the driving factor of keeping allies alive in the modern era of Fire Emblem to their necessity on a simple basis of numbers, but the magic of the series is its ability to create personal attachment with the characters that similarly fuels this desire.

In the case of either Three Houses or Awakening, not only do the characters elevate the largely separated narrative itself, but they keep a consistent level of engagement and attachment to the combat experience in a wholly unique manner. Therefore, breaking the balance of story and gameplay is far messier and convoluted than how many make it out to be, and truthfully erases the magic of the series. This is only more disappointing given Intelligent Systems' impressive ability to develop for the Switch, with an aesthetic choice that isn't quite as noteworthy as Three Houses, yet still appealing to the eyes on a level of visual fidelity and quality.

Despite the overall mixed takeaway, Intelligent Systems has proved their ability as developers from a gameplay perspective, offering a promising future of enjoyable games from a moment-to-moment perspective. In order to re-capture the fascinating quality of the modern Fire Emblem experience though, a narrative and aesthetic improvement is necessary. Three Houses is beyond proof that the talent is there to craft the ideal vision for the future of the series, it is now a matter of waiting to see if Nintendo chooses to act on this potential.