This game is unimaginably horrible and it's baffling it's the hill so many are willing to die on. There is no enemy variety, which is for sure a good idea for a modern open world game. There is no spell variety either (26), which again certainly was a great idea for a modern rpg based solely around it's magic set at a magic school, but hey Harry Potter has always had a terrible magic system so ¯\(ツ)/¯. For reference Final Fantasy (1987 NES) has triple as many spells (60), and Skyrim a more modern open world game for comparison has over 100 AND both those games have multiple combat classes besides magic. The game will let you use the "unforgivable curses" but it has no morality system to give any meaningful consequences to your actions because according to the devs it would be "too judgmental on the game maker's part". The world is empty, which is always a problem with open world games (not remotely a fan of the genre tbh) and every door is a loading screen. The game is also a buggy mess and anyone saying otherwise is just lying, the game literally has Denuvo lmao. But none of this is surprising, ignoring the original author for a moment, every trailer made it look lackluster and it's made by the developers infamous for Disney tie-in shovelware.

And now for the elephant in the room... The game doubles down on all the racism and antisemitism of its source material, anyone saying Terfling had nothing to do with this game is bending the truth. The official Q&A for the game on their site says they worked closely with her team so it perfectly fits her world, and that it does a little too perfectly. The main premise is squashing a goblin rebellion riddled with antisemitism. The goblin rebellions are not new to the franchise, they are a thing mentioned in the books and expanded material as something the students learn in history class. And what were all the rebellions about? The lack or basic rights like using wands, and checks notes wizards attempting to enslave them "as house elves" but we’re supposed to believe they’re still the villains throughout the franchise?
Which brings us to the next topic, the house elves... As in the source material Hogwarts is run by slave labor and the franchise doesn't want us to look deeper into what that means, waving it off with "well they like it". But if wizards can attempt to enslave goblins as “house elves” what does that actually mean, what exactly is a “house elf” and why doesn’t the series creator want us to examine it? The head house elf at Hogwarts becomes a companion, so you don't actually get to own a slave but you still get one by proxy. The game also lets you decorate the Room of Requirement with mounted house elf heads, with how controversial this aspect of the books has always been idk who on the dev team didn’t think “maybe we shouldn’t keep the mounted head of a sapient creature decoration item”. Again none of this is surprising given the source material where they decorate houses with elf heads and the kids put little hats on during christmas, oh isn’t it so cute and whimsical? And the fact that one of the lead devs was a gamer gate youtuber (them stepping down was never going to divorce the game from these elements). The game is also a prequel set in the 1800s so it can't actually effectively deconstruct the issues with the source material, the goblins are still the anti-semetic bankers, the house elves are still slaves, and the ("good") wizards are still the good guys that have every right to oppress them. Just like Terflings own politics and the politics of the source material the game's message is about preserving the status quo, nothing meaningful can change and it shouldn’t cause we have a continuity to uphold damnit!
The game also throws in the series "first trans character" who they named "Sirona Ryan", this is a name of a Celtic goddess (as many people will point out in an attempt to ignore criticism, despite the origin not being the issue with the name) but just like "Cho Chang", "Anthony Goldstein" and "Kingsley Shacklebolt" it's certainly a choice out of all the Irish names to deliberately use that one for your first trans women. Sirona was also very obviously thrown in last minute in an attempt to save face and say the game was divorced from Terflings and her raging transphobia, but as you can see the game is quite the opposite.
But you know despite all that 9/10 IGN-ostalgia am I right!

In conclusion this game is truly the “Legacy” of this franchise and I can see why fans say “this is everything I ever wanted in a Harry Potter game” because this is all the franchise really truly is. I certainly hope everyone who bought the deluxe edition for the sole reason to spite a minority the author is actively harming daily love their overpriced shovelware and fuck off. Remember yall were the same people in the 90s who hated and wanted to boycott the books for being “satanic” and "progressive". (spoiler alert they never were)

And for anyone who can’t let go of the franchise because of “childhood” and cause “it’s so magical”, let me recommend “Earthsea” by Ursula K. Le Guin, “Discworld” by Terry Pratchett, and “Percy Jackson” by Rick Riordian. None of those series are perfect and have their fair share of problems, but they were written by authors who actually cared, who actually took criticism and grew from it. You can let go and grow too.

If I was rating this solely on gameplay, it would be a 4.5/5. The core gameplay is so fun and versatile. There's a lot of options that open up as you switch Emblems around with your units and they're balanced so nicely so that they don't break the game entirely. The difficulty is just right. I'm really looking forward to a second playthrough after all the DLC comes out and see what options it will provide me.

The story is serviceable at best and boring at worst. It asks a lot from the player to be invested in things that the writing itself doesn't give enough time for or isn't written well. Even most of the supports are kind of lackluster. Towards the endgame, I was checked out and even started skipping dialogue, which is rare for me. It is probably my least favorite story in any FE game and I've played most of the western releases. More power to you if you like it though.

This is certainly a celebration of the series and if anything I'm finding myself wanting to go back to the older games I do have, but also hoping that some that haven't been given their due in the west finally get here (Here's hoping that FE4 rumor is true). It's sort of rekindled my love of the series just by plain nostalgia through the Emblems (Also the reused maps and new arrangements help).

I'm really looking forward to that second playthrough. There's so many units I didn't use, skills I didn't optimize and more importantly, I can skip the story scenes now. This game has potential to be top 5 FE games down the line.

A profoundly disappointing experience, Intelligent Systems has displayed that they have the capability to make the peak of strategy RPG gameplay (Fates: Conquest) and that they still have the writers to make even an afterthought of an NES game's story good with lively characters and interestingly explored motivations and relationships (Shadows of Valentia) and has decided to discard all that quality to phone it in for a game that lacks both of these aspects. Coming out after Three Houses doesn't help, a game that pushed the series' character writing and support conversation quality to the next level.

In terms of story, the game I'd consider just below Awakening's, the world they craft is extremely poor and the four kingdoms are given traits that ultimately don't matter in the grand scheme of the narrative since the plot is solely focused on the conflict between the divine dragon side and the fell dragon side, which ruins a lot of the characters motivations since its never illustrated, for example, why Diamant is different from his father, except that Diamant wants to end the constant invasions from Brodia's end. However, King Morion is beloved by everyone, and no one can say any wrong about him as a person nor as a ruler, the same applies to every other currently ruling character in the world which completely deflates every character's aims and goals of trying to make the world a better place when it's already idyllic with only the extremely recent threat of the corrupted meaning anything in the grand scheme of the world.

The plot itself is incredibly weak, with an absolutely poor execution on even simple topics, topics the series has explored before even in it's very first incarnation and succeeded more than this game does. I'm not opposed to the game having simple writing, simple themes, simple characters but this game is no Dragon Quest, there is an almost negative charisma emanating from some of the scenes and dialogue that happen throughout the story with some laughably terrible moments like introducing a character in one chapter and giving them a """tragic""" death in the next chapter only a few minutes later. On a note unrelated to the game's quality, it's completely baffling to me how much leeway is given to this game because it's not attempting to make anything more than the sentai monster of the week that it is, this is a series about heroic fantasy in the context of war and has always managed to hold a level of decorum about it even in the worst stories like Fates.

The characters are especially disappointing in this game, for me a pillar of the series ever since Genealogy has always been to expand side characters through meaningful side conversation which the support system was brilliant for, maybe even being my favourite aspect of the series, and Engage absolutely guts the system, with meaningless drivel that even the tropiest of characters in other games at least topped in quality. This might even be the only Fire Emblem game where I simply did not care about most of the supports in the game, most of them feeling like a waste of my time and an exercise in demolishing any character potential a character might have had. The characters aren't just simple walking cliches played straight, they're worse than that because of the aforementioned problems with the world, but they don't even get to be meaningfully involved with each other with paired endings, an aspect of the series present since Genealogy, being absent which isn't simply shippers not being catered to, but there were paired endings in previous games that weren't just marriage related which bolstered those games' commitments to forging ironclad lifelong bonds through said games' conflicts, something this game barely feels like it does.

On a slightly related note, the hub in this game is absolutely terrible, the characters within never have anything interesting to say at all, something the Three Houses hub was great at. The gameplay in the hub is also atrocious, the place is shit to navigate with functions you'll be returning to frequently being behind separate doors with loading screens resulting in a very clunky experience that makes doing anything in the hub a chore, on top of the dogshit minigames. Who really asked for a timing minigame for temporary buffs? Or a shitty rail shooter?

The level design of the maps are okay at best, while there are some interesting objectives and ideas here and there, they are few and far between as a whole. I wasn't expecting something like the series' highs after seeing footage of the Engage mechanics, but the maps here never hit anything distinctive for me, aside from one chapter. The Engage aspect of the gameplay is a mixed bag, on one hand its fun to steamroll through enemies with your super powered bankais, but most of the game just does not account for these superpowers. For reference I played on Hard Mode, because Fire Emblem games historically have not done the highest difficulty very well with very few exceptions, and I did not have trouble at all past chapter 11 or so, save for doing paralogues under the recommended level. The paralogues are generally where the bulk of the interesting map design stems from, except that most of these mechanics and good design is jacked wholesale from previous games anyway, regardless of whether that is intentional because of the anniversary nature of the game I just think its really sad that the game's best ideas are just from older games.

Finally, I take umbrage with how the game handles the anniversary aspect of it, which bleeds into every aspect of the game. The best way to illustrate my frustration with it is Awakening which was also an anniversary game, and one with a lot more dignity than this game. Engage performs very blatant and in your face pandering that just feels like a mobile gacha game, as opposed to Awakening which relegated overt references to previous games to design aspects or very specific callbacks that worked, whereas Engage is content to just throw out previous game references raw and hope people will bite, which they probably did, but there's just no dignity or elegance to how the game handles its legacy, down to having a fucking gacha of all things.

Fire Emblem Engage is the series indulging in its vices at its worst, and I really hope that this isn't the vibe going forward because this is my favourite video game series, and its really sad to see the future I envisioned at my most cynical after Awakening and Fates actually coming true following two other excellent entries in the series that regained all my good will back.

few games linger in your brain cells for decades and decades to come and super mario galaxy wouldnt be able to leave my mind even if i wanted to

this is a game that monumentally changed the course of my life into the deranged all nighter videogame addicted junkie depressed mess of a person i am today and it is all thanks to this masterpiece

i used to play this game when i was little A LOT and somehow it didnt end up being only romanticised in my head by the nostalgia but even playing it after so many years it still shimmers of a beauty of its own that i cant even understand fully to this day

it looks beautiful as fuck the atmosphere is unmatched the graphics still hold up the gameplay is simple yet addicting and the story is probably the best in the 3D collectathon mario games and caused me a 20 year old adult to bawl my eyes out not only during the finale but also during the entirety of rosalinas storybook which many years ago left me with a lasting ptsd that still echoes to this day

in the end i kinda believe that if everyone in the world played this game maybe more people would know what kindness and empathy and tenderness mean . but thats just me

I didn't expect a lot from this game. I did hear great things about it, but it's not my favourite genre of games. But man, I was so wrong. What really struck me after finishing the game was how I felt. Throughout the game, I made choices based on what I believed was true. Inside me, I was thinking at the end of the game there would be a clear explanation of what truly happened in the game. But there wasn't. There was some explanation, but not about everything I chose. I ended up feeling unsure about myself. But that's what the game wants. It wants you to feel like what you believed led you to your decisions, without knowing if it was true or not. And it makes a comparison with what the characters in the game also do, base their decisions on what they believe. With this feeling, I was thrown right in the mindset of the people of that age.
Talking about making you feel like you live in the past, the narrative is not the only way the game achieves this. It obviously uses its art design, which is detailed, and it shows a great care behind it. For example, the types of letters change between nobles and peasants. This is incredible, but is not the only thing it uses. The sound design also plays a big part. When you are in the monastery, for example, every step you take really sounds like it's real life. When you are in the town plaza, there's a lot of talk in the background, These are just some examples, but the game is full of this little details. Last but not least, the soundtrack also does a good job. It complements the story perfectly.
In conclusion, don't get turned away by the genre like I was and just experience what the game has to offer, you will be pleasantly surprised by little details all over and a powerful narrative with impactful themes

There’s only one way to describe this game: wildly inconsistent. Pokémon Scarlet/Violet very much embodies the “three steps forward, three steps back” phenomenon. For a game that’s supposed to offer more freedom than ever in a sizable open world, I’m shocked at the amount of restriction within.

My opinion of this game changed many times as I was playing through it. Thus I wanted to wait until I was way post-game before reviewing. Initially, I thought it was 3/5, to 3.5, to 2, again back to 3.5, and finally after being in the post-game, I now believe this is a 4/5 star game. In the first week following its release, I put 115+ hours into the game, beat the elite four twice, and also finished the pokedex for the first time ever - something I could never be bothered to do in any other Pokemon game. Clearly the game is doing something right, but I'm still torn nevertheless.

Every positive quality can be matched with one negative at a 1:1 ratio. On one hand, performance issues are extremely distracting as everyone has already mentioned. But the game itself is lovely. The music is phenomenal, character, and Pokémon modeling look great. For example, steel type pokemon like forretress, bisharp, and magnemite look absolutely fantastic in this game. What a glow up! They look genuinely metallic and shine like steel. This is a huge visual improvement. Only it's so wildly inconsistent when compared with overworld surroundings.

The majority of the overworld frankly feels desolate and empty. The only exception could be the ruins you encounter every so often, the vast amounts of sparkly items on the ground, and the rare stakes scattered around the map. Even so, none of this makes up for how boring the overworld is. In fact, very few towns are memorable. One town that particularly stood out to me the most was Montenevera. Absolutely gorgeous, cozy, and lively little snow town brimming with warmth and soul. The detail on the ground is realistic, and it's just chefs kiss. Another town I loved was Porto Marinada. It truly encapsulates the ideal fantasy beach town, it has a homey feel to it. Levincia gives off a trendy, touristy beach city vibe that's meant for shopping and spending $$$. If only every town or part of the map was made with as much love and detail as these cities.

Then there's the other side of the coin. The player cannot walk into about 99% of buildings which is bizarre. Previous titles open up virtually every facility to the player and allow for additional npc interactions, items, and other stuff to discover. Not this game. Well, at least when you CAN actually enter a building (eg. the Academy) it’s done exceptionally well. Highly detailed, encapsulates a large school environment perfectly, and is visually pleasing. It's obvious that the inside of this building (notice i say building, not buildings) was designed with love. Still weird how most of the overworld is glitchy rubbish, yet you'll find the finest details on npc clothing.

In addition, there are “quality of life” updates that are actually regressive. For example, the devs included 26 hairstyle options, 31 colored contacts, 24 eyelash shapes, 9 eye shape. That's pretty cool, but the player is restrained from changing out of the god awful school uniform the entire game???? Make it make sense. Even if actual clothing options aside from accessories were added in the dlc, that's still not cool at all. It should've been implemented when the game was released. Look at Pokemon X/Y - the vast amounts of clothing and other customization are definitely possible. It's either sheer laziness or the fact that Game Freak was pressured to pump something out in a year's time.

One cool thing is that you can do hyper training at level 50. Bottle caps and nature changing mints can be purchased for only $20k each. This is a massive improvement compared to previous titles, where one would have to grind for hours for enough battle points to purchase a single item. The bad news is that there's no battle frontier or battle tower. Why is this? So easily this could've been included, yet they chose not to. Why even lower the hyper training to level 50 then?

The 360 view of battles is nice, it really feels like you're in a battle while still remaining in the overworld. The flip side of this is that the camera angle view is horrendous. Not only does the camera look through the ground most of the time, everything just looks blurry, pixelated, and like absolute garbage. This needs to be fixed, but of course it won't be. Instead, GF is focusing their efforts on patching the fun glitches like item duping and other money hacks.

I do love how you can see shiny pokemon walking around in the overworld, just like in Arceus. Through my regular playthough with no shiny charm, I got blessed with four shinies. FOUR! Through the course of a regular playthrough. This has never happened to me...even in bdsp, i got my second shiny after 200 hours of playtime. Speaking of Arceus, they really should've kept that engine for this game. But I digress.

There's really so much to say about this game. I could go on forever, so I'll add additional information if I think of anything. Overall this is a fantastic game - the gameplay is addictive and undeniably fun despite how majorly flawed it is in a technical sense.

edit: 120 hours of playtime and counting, and I am still discovering new locations I've never been to, trainers I never beat, and objects I never picked up. The open world is MASSIVE! If you think you've been everywhere, think again. You haven't. What a shame the open world is so desolate. While the devs did an amazing job at distinguishing each individual region from one another, it's still so empty...