I’m only chapter 11 but so far i can safely say that Echoes has my favourite art direction, 3H has my favourite characters and story, but Engage has the best gameplay! I’m so glad hard difficulty is punishing and well balanced enough for you to have to think when using the plethora of mechanics available in order to win. I’m excited every day to come home from work and playing it!
I'm glad you like it. Fire Emblem has very enjoyable gameplay and battle mechanics. I'm not pleased that the typical Fire Emblem story has moved away from mature and political intrigue to typical anime tropes like harems, Lolis, huge titties, whiny playable children, mascot characters and the like. I'll still give Engage a chance, but I don't like what I've seen from this one in terms of story.
@@acidwizard6528 if i wasnt a fan of fire emblem gameplay i would not like this game ahha but the gameplay loop that i love is just so fine tune here. The battle animations are a treat too!
There are a couple of maps I wouldn't say are balanced later. I won't spoil it but just save your warp staffs and have at least 1 horse unit. Trust me you'll need it cuz if you want all the enemy drops on this one map it's impossible even on normal without warp staffs.
This just felt like a love letter to the series, wasn't trying to tell a new story it just wanted to give players a chance to hang out with their favorite lords one last time. Definitely worth playing if you just wanna play some fe and not in the mood to get invested in lore lol.
it was a cheap letter to it, none of the emblems really match their old selves anymore than awakening "marth" did, woe to if one wanted real depth to their emblem selves
@Marcus Clark tbf I haven't played the 3ds or any of the ones before path or radience fe, so I can't say they do or do not for all of em. The only one I have noticed that feels completely different is Miciah and tbh nobody liked her in radiant dawn because her team was hard to work with. To me I remember her having a bit more sass she wasn't always sweet lol this game paints her as perfect and nice kinda a shame tbh.
As much as people aren’t enjoying the story in this entry, I might be one of the few that like it. For me it’s a great way to break up the hard decisions and choices I’ve been making on my maddening run. The fact the characters express their personality in some chapters before I get to use them, attaches them to me b4 I get to use them. Best example of that would be Yuunaka. Gameplay is solid, it even shines through maddening difficulty, chapter 5 and 8 being ball breaking, but not feeling bullshitted or cheated on the hardest difficulty feels great. A fantastic review as well btw, loved this vid.
Wish they would have an actual moving camp that wasn't magical and you got to see become bigger/smaller/ect based on what is happening in game. Last game you magically go back to the monastery after every battle, this one you have a magical place that you can teleport too as well. Make me a remake of Path of Radiance and have us see Ike's camp and it getting bigger and more advanced. Feel like that would make the game really feel immersive or that a true WAR is going on.
"In Awakening, Fates and 3H the protagonist was silent" Not even remotely true... That was only the case for Byleth. Corrin and Robin had just as much spoken dialogue as other characters in the games.
My personal opinion on Engage's story is that's good, actually? Like. It's very anime, often makes heavy use of clichés and anime tropes, and the basic conceit of gathering 12 Emblem Rings to beat up the evil villain absolutely comes off as an excuse plot. But that last point is okay, because Engage's story actually doesn't care about that, and it uses the former two points to its advantage. Engage is a very, _very_ heartfelt game. It's not really accurate to call it joke-y. It's lighthearted, in a sense. It doesn't really care that much about hard international political decisions or anything like Three Houses tries to. Instead, Engage is a game about personal struggles, character drama, family dynamics, and domestic abuse (specifically, healing from it. …or failing to). That last one is… kinda the theme of the whole game, and it has a _lot_ to say on the topic. Engage conceals a _ton_ of thoughts and moral points about the cycle of abuse behind its veneer of a cute, quirky anniversary title. I'd honestly call Engage the Quirky Indie RPG About Depression of Fire Emblem games. If you really want to take it in, you basically have to be on board with close to Kingdom Hearts levels of weird metaphor and metaphysical mindscrews, especially for endgame. It felt kinda laser-targeted at me specifically in terms of the themes its story and characters address and how it addresses them.
I started becoming a firm believer in, “It’s only cringy if you let it be”. Rather than rolling my eyes or facepalming I instead laugh along WITH Engage. Having large expectations can lead to self imposed misconceptions leading to excess disappointments. I’m loving the game overall, I’m not sure if it’s my favorite FE game yet but like 3Houses it doesn’t leave me bored. I obviously won’t call it a perfect game, it’s got it’s hiccups and I am well aware of that, however, to me that doesn’t include the characters and story. Wyvern Ride is the best mini game and I prefer this game’s fishing over 3H’s (just the right amount of interact-ability). Like what you like, dislike what you dislike but to me Engage is something I firmly like. Thanks for reading.
7:55 that’s not a new trick in engage. I remember it being one of my biggest problems with three house’s visuals. For what it’s worth, I think the pre rendered backgrounds look a lot better here than ij three houses where they could look incredibly distorted
Love the game. playing hard on casual is just perfect for me, the somniel is great more than monestry and mycastle for me. After a battle is just fun to go back to somniel to do some minigames and preapare for next skirmish and the song is just perfect in somniel. The enemy turn battle song is also great. And for note the time travel mechanic is limited in hard mode( i dont know in other difficulty) i find this hard way when i play the tiki dlc lol.
I'm surprised that you didn't like the music. I think the map themes for Firene, Brodia, Solm, and the tutorial are all really good. Granted, there's no equivalent to God Shattering Star this time, but the music in this game still succeeds in pulling me into the moment.
Its decent but when comparing it to previous games, there's no big standout tracks. Every FE game before has had at least one. Also, I did not enjoy the final boss theme at all.
Its refreshing to hear actual FE fans talking about this game. I die a little inside when people like Arlo whove only played TH make videos about why they dont like it. Engage gameplay is total peak
@@TheGamingShelfokay- they weren’t good, but I reserve that kind of phrase for maps in Revelations and especially Shadows of Valentia. I think the maps are better than Awakening’s for whatever that’s worth.
Starting this today on your recommendation! Excellent summary of the game, but it does look like a weird one in the most wonderful sense! Thanks Taylor and I will check our your fire emblem retrospective now too!
So, after watching this, one could say this is another Conquest. Meaning good maps, good gameplay, but it falls behind in story. So something worth playing.
How did you find the Somniel a chore but not the monastery? The Somniel is designed to be very optional and umimportant. Polishing rings almost does nothing. Picking up items is kind of worthless outside of the dogs digging up iron and steel, and even that is a small % of the total iron and steel you will get in the game. Contrast this to planting flowers, spamming cafeteria for Motivation, spamming tournaments for ranks and money, etc., I'll take the Somniel any day over the monastery. In Three Houses, it's fair to say people spend 30-60 minutes in between story chapters betwen the monastery and all the monthly activities. I spend about 3-5 minutes in Engage unless a shop opens up with a slew of new items/weapons. You're entitled to your opinion and all of that, but I think it might be a good idea to play Three Houses for a bit to verify this before stating this. I think there's some rose-tinted glasses talking her (and I'm guessing you didn't play all 4 routes in Three Houses, or you would have remembered). It's going to give people the opposite conclusion they should draw from this I think.
With Three Houses the free time activities were more clearly laid out and it was part if the structure, more like Persona. In Engage you’re right it’s totally optional, but it felt like I was missing out on something by not participating in it.
The monastery of 3H already felt like a chore list to me, so if this is more so then I think I’ll pass. Great review though! You actually made me more open minded about the game.
3H is the only FE game i didnt finish BECAUSE of the monastery nonsense. The somniel in Engage is nothing like that. It's closer to the castle system in Fates if you played that entry.
It was better than 3 houses. The breaking system brought back the strategy to battle. My only complain is the lackluster history and bonds. The old character's completely stole the game, see celica, eirika, Marth, etc again was amazing. Battle is a easy 10/10. Localization is another problem. Treehouse managed to mess bonds and wake up dialogues again for senseless censorship. The ONLY thing you need to do in the base is the duel that helps ALOT. The rest are useful but you can do wo it or just do exercises before really hard battle.
looking forward to picking this up. 3H is my favorite game on switch. not expecting engage to surpass it, but it has the same elements i’m looking for!
This game is so soulless. The combat is the only thing that saves this game from being a terrible game. The story is just bad, really bad. The character design is up to personal taste but the direction of this game is awful, there is no weight to the conflict, characters just scream to each other face and then run. Even the nostalgia part is short or bad, most of the bond events with the emblems are comically short or generic.
I feel like playing on casual difficulty would defeat the puzzle solving on many of these maps. It's basically a way to brute force a map without having to find the solution, which I think would cheapen the experience quite a bit. With the Turnwheel having 10 charges, you shouldn't really worry about losing anyone on Hard mode. I just find that the levels are even more gratifying when you find the solution to a map rather than saying "Screw it, this and that character will die and now I can beat the level". With the world building, story, etc. being more straightforward and less complex, I think one should play on classic to milk the excellent gameplay and satisfaction for all it's worth.
I really want to like this game. But strong character writing and a good story are important to me and I just feel let down by it. I'm only about halfway through at this point but I'm not expecting it to get better..
I've played the Fire Emblem 3DS game (Echoes, Fates, Awakening) & 3 Houses, and I can say Engage's story are the worst of them. But, this Fire Emblem have the best gameplay by far.
Uh, only Byleth doesn't speak. Robin and Corrin were fully voiced. While Byleth not speaking did strangely play into the story, they weren't very engaging. Alear is a significantly better protagonist.
The combat in engage is awesome and I guess that's what really matters, but Story & Character wise it's been a huge step back from 3H. The characters are all so... vanilla. Getting Supports in 3H was exciting because around pretty much every corner there was some tragic thing going on which developed over time with interesting Mini arcs. In engage they just talk about tea or the weather or similarly mundane things in many Supports and the tone these set in between battles makes it kinda hard for me to take the - already pretty generic - Story seriously. Sure, 3H also had some silly stuff going on Support wise but it felt balanced out there with the Rest and made the characters come off as much more round
See for me, that’s actually part of why I had so much trouble getting into Three Houses. I really didn’t find the story interesting and I couldn’t bring myself to care about it. I’m in the extreme minority there, but that’s how I felt. Engage has a much more carefree tone so far as I’ve played (for the most part), and paired with the fun and more clean art style, I’m having a lot more fun with it. Nothing’s too deep or complex. I just get to enjoy moving characters around on a field.
I am not invested into the story either but the gameplay what matter in games the most imo and this one is the best compared to the rest ( gameplay wise ofc)
Yeah i get what you mean. It's just that i can't care about the battles if there isn't a reason for them in the story. And permanent death loses it's meanig and atmosphere if I can't care about the characters.
@@ratman5225 I don't play classic . .. even if I dont care about the characters lore wise I hate losing them because the waste of time and resources investment lol
This might be the most accurate take I've seen yet, based on how I feel about Engage. The story is not amazing.. but light hearted/fun ≠ bad writing. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, like the art design.. it has it's flaws.. but it's a perfectly good story that can be quite enjoyable. The maps are so much more fun than 3H. So is the gameplay. The Emblem mechanic is fun, and while I think it had some more potential in it.. I love it being there. Engage's gameplay is superb. The difficulties feel appropriate and fair again. I love how this game looks. From it's art design, to the cutscenes, animations.. just everything! And at least the JP voice acting is as great as ever. I only miss conversations after each battle referencing current story events.. or at least I wish they weren't as bland. It was a small thing that did a lot to carry 3H cast. It made the story feel more relevant and real.. as does exploring a map after a battle.. I wish we could have gotten both. The music is good.. but there's only really one OST that I really enjoy and listen to outside the game (Royal Confidence).. nothing like the Id's from Awakening or 3H Apex of the World, Blue Skies and a Battle and many more.. Overall I love this game. The only reason I see to be upset is that there's some missed potential.. but hopefully some patches and the DLC will fix at least a little.
No- I don’t really agree on the story. For the first 2/3ds of the game, I could agree with that. It wasn’t anything ground breaking but perfectly serviceable, and then I got to chapter 22. The entire story just fell apart for me from there. Plot holes started showing up. The game makes bad attempts to make the villains feel sympathetic. And to top it all off, Alear dies 3 times and comes back every single time. Do you want me to have a goofy time or serious time with the story guys? Don’t get me wrong. A bad story isn’t enough to turn me away. Conquest is among my favorite FE titles for the maps alone, but I know painfully well that many fans from before Awakening don’t see my way.
So uh... Did you say that Robin and Corrin don't talk in their Respective games just to get "engage"ment in the comments, or was that an honest mistake?
"in awakening fates ann three houses they were all silent". i'm pretty sure they're only silent in three houses because awakening robin talks. and in fates corrin doesn't shut the fuck up
i 100% agree with pretty much all your points, especially with regards to how much time you spend in menus!! the gameplay really shines in Engage. itll be interesting to see what direction the series takes after this!!
I'm gonna be honest, if you call a JRPG "cringy" while you use it's ENGLISH DUB, you deserves the cringe and some more. Not only the english dub is straight up worse than the jp dub and doesn't have the intended tone, but localizers often rewrite the dialogues.
Like a Saturday morning cartoon where we know the good guys will win? But.... permadeath... there are those of us who are addicted to Fire Emblem in part DUE to permadeath, the mechanic that forces the player to deal with the cold reality that not ALL of the good guys always win. Some die, and are left behind to rot on the battlefield, their possessions all looted by the enemy, but their sacrifices allowing others to live on. I'm still scarred from the deaths I let happen when I played FE7. It's magnificent.
Loving the game thus far, difficultly is my biggest gripe*. Had to restart a couple of times…Normal was too easy and Hard was a bit too much but I think I’ve found my way with Hard/Classic mode (5 chapters in). Great vid and good luck to the 9ers moving on! Edit *
Philosopher Reviews: Fire Emblem Engage (2023): This is essentially third-world country warlord simulator. * Child soldiers * A woman who looks suspiciously like a prostitute and deals with poison (from where?) and says, "I can handle myself". She is just recruited next to the child soldiers. * Protagonist just seem to recruit anyone who passes by. Naive as heck. * Evil enemies who look like the KFC gaming console. Corrupted indeed. * A protagonist with a God complex who feeds his army with food he/she finds on the floor. Sometimes this food is cooked too. Sane, am I right? Nope. This basic work will not be done by your troops. This is a warlord's work. * Gatcha game. * DLC pass. * Protagonist can handle a warband but not specific types of pets such as cats and chickens. * Robbie Rotten lookalike who dies early on. That sucks. Summary: When you're engaged, prepare for divorce.
You were on point with your "review". This is essentially Fire Emblem Heroes but on the Switch and I'm all for it. I don't have the time to invest in so many Rpgs
I think the gameplay is a top contender for the series, but the story is almost as bad as Fates. I love Conquest for the gameplay alone, so I’m not too put off by the terrible writing in Engage. However, I know that for fans of the pre 3DS era, a bad story is enough to turn them off with gameplay be dammed. Fates was especially infamous for that reason, and it’s no doubt a similar case here.
Story is weak, dialogue is cringe most of the time, and design is too cartoony for me. Everything else is great though. I still love the game just no where near the top for me
define cringe, is it just because you pretend to be better than other people and like so called mature stories, or is it actually cringe?, keep in mind your still playing videogames so no matter what you do its all going to be cringe.
Disagree 100% whole heartedly, as someone who has played almost every game, this game is 100% fucking fire, you are just jaded cause it doesn’t have enough weeb shit for u
@@mpo48 eh cringe is just another forsaken internet words that lost it's meaning and can mean anything due to overuse. Probably OP just meant that the dialogues isn't their cup of tea.
It’s mainly just the interactions the main character has with all the other supporting characters. The worship of him is just weird to me, not relatable of a main character at all. There have been much better main characters than Alear. Also I think the art style is to childish for me. Yes I like more mature stories and characters of the past. I still am loving the game, it just isn’t as good as previous titles to me. Just my opinion
Great review! I’m not getting much out of the story, but the gameplay is some of the best in the series! I kind of disagree with your statement on the music. I’m actually enjoying most of it! I’m hoping we get Hector in one of the future waves of dlc!
Fair enough! I’m comparing it to past games that I have tracks I could him in my head and here and couldn’t him a single one for you. The “hum test” if you will lol
The story and characters are so boring and generic I just couldn't get into it. Skip button became my best friend lol. Gameplay and map design is really good tho
Coming from loving Three houses, I was just so disappointed with the story. It's on par with any horribly generic anime that comes out by the hundred each year ... And it's even more painful seeing how good the combat and the graphics are compare to 3H !
a middling game with high production value, that's really it, don't know why this is so hard to get its not busted in the sense of broken on a technical side but its just weak, never good that its middling the problem of FE is every game tries to be a "first timers' game and its not needed, either you're in or you're not at this point, dumbing it down, power creeping play ability, casualizing and infinite restarting doesn't make the audience stay just face value feel powerful
The story was ...terrible and all the characters you will forgot in 5 minutes after you close the game and the replay value of this game is just not there. This was a step down from three houses
The game was like your "typical anime cringe show" Engage is my most least favorite FE game in the entire franchise. It's also my most least likable characters. There still some positive things about the game that three houses doesn't have. I'm not gonna go too hard on the game cause it happens with every franchise. Not every game is gonna be great & meet "ALL" of your expectations. Overall I'm just glad to play a new FE game.
Pretty much where I stand. Bad story, writing and characters. Least favorite I've played but I'm still having a decent anount of fun because the combat.
@Carter Green Exactly. We are on the same page. The tactic gameplay is where the game truly shines. The engage rings are the most coolest gameplay feature I've seen in FE
This is the most cringe Fire Emblem I've ever played... BUT, probably some of the best map designs of all time. As long as the gameplay is great, I dont really care about the story.
Lmao and you think three houses is good story. What a fucking joke. Go try trails series thats good story. Three houses was the biggest slog ive played, and such a fanservice for waifu simulator
I'm still playing Three Houses (just started it this month) and I cannot seem to get used to the character art style. I mean, especially the eyes. They all feel so lifeless. It's uncanny.
I keep hearing people praising 3H story and I'm cluless as to why. It put me to sleep and the fact it was split into 4 paths didn't help. Engage story is very simple but fairly enjoyable and that's enough for me in a series where Fates's plot exists. And don't get me started on the awful monastery gameplay. No really to me all 3H had was the music and a few character designs, the rest was boring. I'm having so much more fun with engage rn.
@@blastimbre oh trust me I'm not saying it's a good story far from it. The cringe in this game made it unconfortable to play with familly around. But theres a point it's so stupid it kinda becomes entertaining to laugh at.
i've dropped the series long ago but I hate the main character design so much. I hate everything about this. Sorry if you enjoy it, i'm glad whoever enjoys this will get to enjoy it, but as a former fan of the series... yeah... glad to not support this.
I’m only chapter 11 but so far i can safely say that Echoes has my favourite art direction, 3H has my favourite characters and story, but Engage has the best gameplay! I’m so glad hard difficulty is punishing and well balanced enough for you to have to think when using the plethora of mechanics available in order to win. I’m excited every day to come home from work and playing it!
Agreed with your last point! Always fun to close out the day with a few missions.
I'm glad you like it. Fire Emblem has very enjoyable gameplay and battle mechanics. I'm not pleased that the typical Fire Emblem story has moved away from mature and political intrigue to typical anime tropes like harems, Lolis, huge titties, whiny playable children, mascot characters and the like. I'll still give Engage a chance, but I don't like what I've seen from this one in terms of story.
@@acidwizard6528 if i wasnt a fan of fire emblem gameplay i would not like this game ahha but the gameplay loop that i love is just so fine tune here. The battle animations are a treat too!
There are a couple of maps I wouldn't say are balanced later. I won't spoil it but just save your warp staffs and have at least 1 horse unit. Trust me you'll need it cuz if you want all the enemy drops on this one map it's impossible even on normal without warp staffs.
@@RaidenKaiser I did this ons today xD
This just felt like a love letter to the series, wasn't trying to tell a new story it just wanted to give players a chance to hang out with their favorite lords one last time. Definitely worth playing if you just wanna play some fe and not in the mood to get invested in lore lol.
it was a cheap letter to it, none of the emblems really match their old selves anymore than awakening "marth" did, woe to if one wanted real depth to their emblem selves
Good way of putting it 😄
@Marcus Clark tbf I haven't played the 3ds or any of the ones before path or radience fe, so I can't say they do or do not for all of em. The only one I have noticed that feels completely different is Miciah and tbh nobody liked her in radiant dawn because her team was hard to work with. To me I remember her having a bit more sass she wasn't always sweet lol this game paints her as perfect and nice kinda a shame tbh.
@@marcusclark1339the only one I can agree with this on is Byleth
As much as people aren’t enjoying the story in this entry, I might be one of the few that like it. For me it’s a great way to break up the hard decisions and choices I’ve been making on my maddening run.
The fact the characters express their personality in some chapters before I get to use them, attaches them to me b4 I get to use them. Best example of that would be Yuunaka.
Gameplay is solid, it even shines through maddening difficulty, chapter 5 and 8 being ball breaking, but not feeling bullshitted or cheated on the hardest difficulty feels great. A fantastic review as well btw, loved this vid.
For me so far, the story is exactly what I was looking for. It’s not too overbearing and doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Wish they would have an actual moving camp that wasn't magical and you got to see become bigger/smaller/ect based on what is happening in game. Last game you magically go back to the monastery after every battle, this one you have a magical place that you can teleport too as well.
Make me a remake of Path of Radiance and have us see Ike's camp and it getting bigger and more advanced. Feel like that would make the game really feel immersive or that a true WAR is going on.
As cool as that would be, is that really where you want to spend your development budget?
"In Awakening, Fates and 3H the protagonist was silent"
Not even remotely true... That was only the case for Byleth. Corrin and Robin had just as much spoken dialogue as other characters in the games.
My personal opinion on Engage's story is that's good, actually? Like. It's very anime, often makes heavy use of clichés and anime tropes, and the basic conceit of gathering 12 Emblem Rings to beat up the evil villain absolutely comes off as an excuse plot. But that last point is okay, because Engage's story actually doesn't care about that, and it uses the former two points to its advantage. Engage is a very, _very_ heartfelt game. It's not really accurate to call it joke-y. It's lighthearted, in a sense. It doesn't really care that much about hard international political decisions or anything like Three Houses tries to.
Instead, Engage is a game about personal struggles, character drama, family dynamics, and domestic abuse (specifically, healing from it. …or failing to). That last one is… kinda the theme of the whole game, and it has a _lot_ to say on the topic. Engage conceals a _ton_ of thoughts and moral points about the cycle of abuse behind its veneer of a cute, quirky anniversary title. I'd honestly call Engage the Quirky Indie RPG About Depression of Fire Emblem games. If you really want to take it in, you basically have to be on board with close to Kingdom Hearts levels of weird metaphor and metaphysical mindscrews, especially for endgame. It felt kinda laser-targeted at me specifically in terms of the themes its story and characters address and how it addresses them.
I started becoming a firm believer in, “It’s only cringy if you let it be”. Rather than rolling my eyes or facepalming I instead laugh along WITH Engage. Having large expectations can lead to self imposed misconceptions leading to excess disappointments.
I’m loving the game overall, I’m not sure if it’s my favorite FE game yet but like 3Houses it doesn’t leave me bored.
I obviously won’t call it a perfect game, it’s got it’s hiccups and I am well aware of that, however, to me that doesn’t include the characters and story. Wyvern Ride is the best mini game and I prefer this game’s fishing over 3H’s (just the right amount of interact-ability).
Like what you like, dislike what you dislike but to me Engage is something I firmly like. Thanks for reading.
Great way to look at it!
7:55 that’s not a new trick in engage. I remember it being one of my biggest problems with three house’s visuals. For what it’s worth, I think the pre rendered backgrounds look a lot better here than ij three houses where they could look incredibly distorted
Super Cringy, extremely anime, in all the worst ways, but I am still loving this game. It's just fun to play,
I hope next Fire Emblem will have Engage Tactical style and Three Houses Story that not overwhelming 😂😂😂
Love the game. playing hard on casual is just perfect for me, the somniel is great more than monestry and mycastle for me. After a battle is just fun to go back to somniel to do some minigames and preapare for next skirmish and the song is just perfect in somniel. The enemy turn battle song is also great. And for note the time travel mechanic is limited in hard mode( i dont know in other difficulty) i find this hard way when i play the tiki dlc lol.
I'm surprised that you didn't like the music. I think the map themes for Firene, Brodia, Solm, and the tutorial are all really good. Granted, there's no equivalent to God Shattering Star this time, but the music in this game still succeeds in pulling me into the moment.
Not to even mention the emblem paralogues remixes, those are insanely cool!
Its decent but when comparing it to previous games, there's no big standout tracks. Every FE game before has had at least one. Also, I did not enjoy the final boss theme at all.
Its refreshing to hear actual FE fans talking about this game. I die a little inside when people like Arlo whove only played TH make videos about why they dont like it. Engage gameplay is total peak
The maps in Three Houses were SO bad. While the story is lacking in Engage it counts where it matters with the gameplay.
Honestly im jsut impressed when you make a review of a relativly short game with 25 battles, at battle 5.....
@@theonesithtorulethemall People desperate to stay relevant lol
@@TheGamingShelfokay- they weren’t good, but I reserve that kind of phrase for maps in Revelations and especially Shadows of Valentia. I think the maps are better than Awakening’s for whatever that’s worth.
Do we engage more on linger dialogues than actual fights in 3H? Anyways, I glad on what I've been hearing about Engage.
I haven't touched 3 Houses at all and wondering if I just skip ahead to Engage. Is it a massive jump?
Three Houses had a stronger story whereas Engage has better gameplay. Otherwise quality of life-wise they’re similar. Up to you which you prefer!
Starting this today on your recommendation! Excellent summary of the game, but it does look like a weird one in the most wonderful sense! Thanks Taylor and I will check our your fire emblem retrospective now too!
Hope you enjoy it!
So, after watching this, one could say this is another Conquest. Meaning good maps, good gameplay, but it falls behind in story. So something worth playing.
Yep.
How did you find the Somniel a chore but not the monastery? The Somniel is designed to be very optional and umimportant. Polishing rings almost does nothing. Picking up items is kind of worthless outside of the dogs digging up iron and steel, and even that is a small % of the total iron and steel you will get in the game. Contrast this to planting flowers, spamming cafeteria for Motivation, spamming tournaments for ranks and money, etc., I'll take the Somniel any day over the monastery. In Three Houses, it's fair to say people spend 30-60 minutes in between story chapters betwen the monastery and all the monthly activities. I spend about 3-5 minutes in Engage unless a shop opens up with a slew of new items/weapons.
You're entitled to your opinion and all of that, but I think it might be a good idea to play Three Houses for a bit to verify this before stating this. I think there's some rose-tinted glasses talking her (and I'm guessing you didn't play all 4 routes in Three Houses, or you would have remembered). It's going to give people the opposite conclusion they should draw from this I think.
With Three Houses the free time activities were more clearly laid out and it was part if the structure, more like Persona. In Engage you’re right it’s totally optional, but it felt like I was missing out on something by not participating in it.
The monastery of 3H already felt like a chore list to me, so if this is more so then I think I’ll pass. Great review though! You actually made me more open minded about the game.
3H is the only FE game i didnt finish BECAUSE of the monastery nonsense. The somniel in Engage is nothing like that. It's closer to the castle system in Fates if you played that entry.
From my understanding is that yes there is chores and all but that being said it's optional or you can skip it. So take that as a reference
It was better than 3 houses. The breaking system brought back the strategy to battle.
My only complain is the lackluster history and bonds. The old character's completely stole the game, see celica, eirika, Marth, etc again was amazing.
Battle is a easy 10/10.
Localization is another problem. Treehouse managed to mess bonds and wake up dialogues again for senseless censorship.
The ONLY thing you need to do in the base is the duel that helps ALOT. The rest are useful but you can do wo it or just do exercises before really hard battle.
That’s probably true. The workout benefits are very minor.
the workout was just too annoying to do and didn't give much so I never use it
The gameplay is definitely phenomenal, but the story just sucks. It’s Conquest all over again.
Personally so far in my 8 hours I like the premise of the story more than 3H. I just dont care for war and political stories so 3H didnt grab me
looking forward to picking this up. 3H is my favorite game on switch. not expecting engage to surpass it, but it has the same elements i’m looking for!
This game is so soulless. The combat is the only thing that saves this game from being a terrible game. The story is just bad, really bad. The character design is up to personal taste but the direction of this game is awful, there is no weight to the conflict, characters just scream to each other face and then run. Even the nostalgia part is short or bad, most of the bond events with the emblems are comically short or generic.
Did you actually link the FE Retrospective?
Check the description!
I feel like playing on casual difficulty would defeat the puzzle solving on many of these maps. It's basically a way to brute force a map without having to find the solution, which I think would cheapen the experience quite a bit. With the Turnwheel having 10 charges, you shouldn't really worry about losing anyone on Hard mode. I just find that the levels are even more gratifying when you find the solution to a map rather than saying "Screw it, this and that character will die and now I can beat the level". With the world building, story, etc. being more straightforward and less complex, I think one should play on classic to milk the excellent gameplay and satisfaction for all it's worth.
Hey that’s why different options are available! Everyone can play how they want.
I’m building my way up to classic my guy lol. I only have so much time in the world.
I'm playing on casual but trying to beat every map without anyone dying, definitely makes it more fun to try and figure out
I really want to like this game. But strong character writing and a good story are important to me and I just feel let down by it. I'm only about halfway through at this point but I'm not expecting it to get better..
Yeah it's just...okay.
Pacing is really bad imo. Gameplay is really good tho. Try playing the trails series, it'll satisfy your story cravings.
I've played the Fire Emblem 3DS game (Echoes, Fates, Awakening) & 3 Houses, and I can say Engage's story are the worst of them. But, this Fire Emblem have the best gameplay by far.
Uh, only Byleth doesn't speak. Robin and Corrin were fully voiced.
While Byleth not speaking did strangely play into the story, they weren't very engaging. Alear is a significantly better protagonist.
While this doesn’t mean much, Alear is probably the best of the bunch.
@@Mojo1356 I'm actually a big fan of female Alear
@@zankudragon I mean Alear still isn’t anything spectacular, but it’s at least an improvement since she has an actual personality and actually fears.
@@Mojo1356 Nah, she's great, one of my favorites in Engage and probably my favoriteprotag in the series. I won't tolerate any FemAlear slander lol.
The combat in engage is awesome and I guess that's what really matters, but Story & Character wise it's been a huge step back from 3H. The characters are all so... vanilla. Getting Supports in 3H was exciting because around pretty much every corner there was some tragic thing going on which developed over time with interesting Mini arcs. In engage they just talk about tea or the weather or similarly mundane things in many Supports and the tone these set in between battles makes it kinda hard for me to take the - already pretty generic - Story seriously. Sure, 3H also had some silly stuff going on Support wise but it felt balanced out there with the Rest and made the characters come off as much more round
See for me, that’s actually part of why I had so much trouble getting into Three Houses. I really didn’t find the story interesting and I couldn’t bring myself to care about it. I’m in the extreme minority there, but that’s how I felt. Engage has a much more carefree tone so far as I’ve played (for the most part), and paired with the fun and more clean art style, I’m having a lot more fun with it. Nothing’s too deep or complex. I just get to enjoy moving characters around on a field.
@@Road_to_Dawnno- they try to get deep and complex. It fails miserably in Engage. Chapters 22 and beyond speak for themselves.
I am not invested into the story either but the gameplay what matter in games the most imo and this one is the best compared to the rest ( gameplay wise ofc)
Yeah i get what you mean. It's just that i can't care about the battles if there isn't a reason for them in the story. And permanent death loses it's meanig and atmosphere if I can't care about the characters.
@@ratman5225 I don't play classic . .. even if I dont care about the characters lore wise I hate losing them because the waste of time and resources investment lol
This might be the most accurate take I've seen yet, based on how I feel about Engage.
The story is not amazing.. but light hearted/fun ≠ bad writing. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, like the art design.. it has it's flaws.. but it's a perfectly good story that can be quite enjoyable.
The maps are so much more fun than 3H. So is the gameplay. The Emblem mechanic is fun, and while I think it had some more potential in it.. I love it being there. Engage's gameplay is superb. The difficulties feel appropriate and fair again.
I love how this game looks. From it's art design, to the cutscenes, animations.. just everything! And at least the JP voice acting is as great as ever. I only miss conversations after each battle referencing current story events.. or at least I wish they weren't as bland. It was a small thing that did a lot to carry 3H cast. It made the story feel more relevant and real.. as does exploring a map after a battle.. I wish we could have gotten both.
The music is good.. but there's only really one OST that I really enjoy and listen to outside the game (Royal Confidence).. nothing like the Id's from Awakening or 3H Apex of the World, Blue Skies and a Battle and many more..
Overall I love this game. The only reason I see to be upset is that there's some missed potential.. but hopefully some patches and the DLC will fix at least a little.
Basically my thoughts too :)
No- I don’t really agree on the story. For the first 2/3ds of the game, I could agree with that. It wasn’t anything ground breaking but perfectly serviceable, and then I got to chapter 22. The entire story just fell apart for me from there. Plot holes started showing up. The game makes bad attempts to make the villains feel sympathetic. And to top it all off, Alear dies 3 times and comes back every single time. Do you want me to have a goofy time or serious time with the story guys?
Don’t get me wrong. A bad story isn’t enough to turn me away. Conquest is among my favorite FE titles for the maps alone, but I know painfully well that many fans from before Awakening don’t see my way.
Casual Hard difficult.
I like the sound of that.
Iunno...i liked the darkness of 3h... Do i want to play a light-hearted anime trope game?? Maybe I'll wait...
So uh... Did you say that Robin and Corrin don't talk in their Respective games just to get "engage"ment in the comments, or was that an honest mistake?
I thought they were silent, were they not?
It’s only Byleth that’s silent of the “avatar” characters
Robin is a half truth since there's a silent protagonist voice option for them.
Too bad 8-4 cut it from the localized releases.
Bright bold sandstorm absolutely slaps. Been listening to it non stop.
"in awakening fates ann three houses they were all silent". i'm pretty sure they're only silent in three houses because awakening robin talks.
and in fates corrin doesn't shut the fuck up
I'm so happy to see more of your videos 👌🏻 you do an amazing job 💫
Thank you so much!!
i 100% agree with pretty much all your points, especially with regards to how much time you spend in menus!! the gameplay really shines in Engage. itll be interesting to see what direction the series takes after this!!
I'm gonna be honest, if you call a JRPG "cringy" while you use it's ENGLISH DUB, you deserves the cringe and some more.
Not only the english dub is straight up worse than the jp dub and doesn't have the intended tone, but localizers often rewrite the dialogues.
WATCH NEXT: The Complete History of Fire Emblem 👉 th-cam.com/video/G-f5e0_romc/w-d-xo.html
Like a Saturday morning cartoon where we know the good guys will win?
But.... permadeath... there are those of us who are addicted to Fire Emblem in part DUE to permadeath, the mechanic that forces the player to deal with the cold reality that not ALL of the good guys always win. Some die, and are left behind to rot on the battlefield, their possessions all looted by the enemy, but their sacrifices allowing others to live on.
I'm still scarred from the deaths I let happen when I played FE7. It's magnificent.
Not on casual mode 😜
Loving the game thus far, difficultly is my biggest gripe*. Had to restart a couple of times…Normal was too easy and Hard was a bit too much but I think I’ve found my way with Hard/Classic mode (5 chapters in).
Great vid and good luck to the 9ers moving on!
Edit *
Thank you and yes go 49ers 🥳
Skirmishes are way harder than story battle for some reason
Play maddening blind like me! Just beat chapter 10
I'm really enjoying this FE title!
Awesome! Who are some of you favorite characters?
Philosopher Reviews: Fire Emblem Engage (2023):
This is essentially third-world country warlord simulator.
* Child soldiers
* A woman who looks suspiciously like a prostitute and deals with poison (from where?) and says, "I can handle myself". She is just recruited next to the child soldiers.
* Protagonist just seem to recruit anyone who passes by. Naive as heck.
* Evil enemies who look like the KFC gaming console. Corrupted indeed.
* A protagonist with a God complex who feeds his army with food he/she finds on the floor. Sometimes this food is cooked too. Sane, am I right? Nope. This basic work will not be done by your troops. This is a warlord's work.
* Gatcha game.
* DLC pass.
* Protagonist can handle a warband but not specific types of pets such as cats and chickens.
* Robbie Rotten lookalike who dies early on. That sucks.
Summary:
When you're engaged, prepare for divorce.
ok
So far I’m 40 hours in and almost done and I’d say engage has the best gameplay in the series and kinda prefer it over 3 Houses
I agree with you there! Story and characters are weaker for sure but the gameplay is what matters most to me in these games.
You can't really use yunakas intro as an example her whole thing is she was trying to lie to us and trick us
While true that scene perfectly captures the weird tone this game is going for lol.
You were on point with your "review". This is essentially Fire Emblem Heroes but on the Switch and I'm all for it. I don't have the time to invest in so many Rpgs
EMBLEM..... *WAIT FOR IT*.............. ENGAGE
🙌🤪
I think the gameplay is a top contender for the series, but the story is almost as bad as Fates. I love Conquest for the gameplay alone, so I’m not too put off by the terrible writing in Engage. However, I know that for fans of the pre 3DS era, a bad story is enough to turn them off with gameplay be dammed. Fates was especially infamous for that reason, and it’s no doubt a similar case here.
What? Load times are WAAAAAY faster than Three Houses, what are you on?
Something gooooood 🫠
Story is weak, dialogue is cringe most of the time, and design is too cartoony for me. Everything else is great though. I still love the game just no where near the top for me
define cringe, is it just because you pretend to be better than other people and like so called mature stories, or is it actually cringe?, keep in mind your still playing videogames so no matter what you do its all going to be cringe.
Disagree 100% whole heartedly, as someone who has played almost every game, this game is 100% fucking fire, you are just jaded cause it doesn’t have enough weeb shit for u
@@mpo48 eh cringe is just another forsaken internet words that lost it's meaning and can mean anything due to overuse. Probably OP just meant that the dialogues isn't their cup of tea.
It’s mainly just the interactions the main character has with all the other supporting characters. The worship of him is just weird to me, not relatable of a main character at all. There have been much better main characters than Alear. Also I think the art style is to childish for me. Yes I like more mature stories and characters of the past. I still am loving the game, it just isn’t as good as previous titles to me. Just my opinion
For how boring the story was it definitely made me wanna play every fire emblem game
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*You mean the worst.*
Genuinely worse than Fates.
Nah
@@TheGamingShelf Well I guess I didn't do the Birthright path, though the plot of the Conquest route was bad. Though not as bad as Engage.
Great review! I’m not getting much out of the story, but the gameplay is some of the best in the series! I kind of disagree with your statement on the music. I’m actually enjoying most of it! I’m hoping we get Hector in one of the future waves of dlc!
Fair enough! I’m comparing it to past games that I have tracks I could him in my head and here and couldn’t him a single one for you. The “hum test” if you will lol
The story and characters are so boring and generic I just couldn't get into it. Skip button became my best friend lol.
Gameplay and map design is really good tho
Yep I pretty much agree 100%!
Robin and Corrin were never silent, my guy.
I don't know how I messed that up lol. Thanks!
The story is soo childish and cringy but the gameplay is great so....🤷🏾♂
Yeah it’s a weird balance but I kind of love it lol
Coming from loving Three houses, I was just so disappointed with the story. It's on par with any horribly generic anime that comes out by the hundred each year ... And it's even more painful seeing how good the combat and the graphics are compare to 3H !
a middling game with high production value, that's really it, don't know why this is so hard to get
its not busted in the sense of broken on a technical side but its just weak, never good that its middling
the problem of FE is every game tries to be a "first timers' game and its not needed, either you're in or you're not at this point, dumbing it down, power creeping play ability, casualizing and infinite restarting doesn't make the audience stay just face value feel powerful
Unfortunately I feel like because the series is so big now they need to make each game approachable. It would be cool to get sequel though.
The story was ...terrible and all the characters you will forgot in 5 minutes after you close the game and the replay value of this game is just not there. This was a step down from three houses
The game was like your "typical anime cringe show" Engage is my most least favorite FE game in the entire franchise. It's also my most least likable characters. There still some positive things about the game that three houses doesn't have. I'm not gonna go too hard on the game cause it happens with every franchise. Not every game is gonna be great & meet "ALL" of your expectations. Overall I'm just glad to play a new FE game.
Pretty much where I stand. Bad story, writing and characters. Least favorite I've played but I'm still having a decent anount of fun because the combat.
@Carter Green Exactly. We are on the same page. The tactic gameplay is where the game truly shines. The engage rings are the most coolest gameplay feature I've seen in FE
Yep agreed. Story is whatever but the map design and combat is great.
"My muscles are yours" - Chad
lol
Started Person 4 golden on switch for the first time and I'm addicted but will buy this right after looks so good.
The GOAT JRPG!
@@TheGamingShelf lol is it wierd that I prefer 4 more than 5?
This is the most cringe Fire Emblem I've ever played... BUT, probably some of the best map designs of all time. As long as the gameplay is great, I dont really care about the story.
That's pretty much where I'm at.
I dont like how FE is forgetting Story for fanservice. relying on old boring inserts of cringe cameos.
Lmao and you think three houses is good story. What a fucking joke. Go try trails series thats good story.
Three houses was the biggest slog ive played, and such a fanservice for waifu simulator
Yeah the core story is pretty basic. My one main complaint for sure.
@@JimC1984 GBA games my man who said ANYTHING about 3 houses?
I'm still playing Three Houses (just started it this month) and I cannot seem to get used to the character art style. I mean, especially the eyes. They all feel so lifeless. It's uncanny.
Yeah the eyes are very interesting in that game.
Never noticed this before but looking at 3H eyes now, I think I agree with you.
@@robba5640
It was a style choice that I don't enjoy.
I keep hearing people praising 3H story and I'm cluless as to why. It put me to sleep and the fact it was split into 4 paths didn't help. Engage story is very simple but fairly enjoyable and that's enough for me in a series where Fates's plot exists. And don't get me started on the awful monastery gameplay. No really to me all 3H had was the music and a few character designs, the rest was boring. I'm having so much more fun with engage rn.
@@blastimbre oh trust me I'm not saying it's a good story far from it. The cringe in this game made it unconfortable to play with familly around. But theres a point it's so stupid it kinda becomes entertaining to laugh at.
i've dropped the series long ago but I hate the main character design so much. I hate everything about this. Sorry if you enjoy it, i'm glad whoever enjoys this will get to enjoy it, but as a former fan of the series... yeah... glad to not support this.
It’s certainly not everyone so I hear you! It’s polarizing for sure.
love this game and eveything about it
FIRST IM 22 YEARS OLD BTW
Okay 👍