Completing the game a second time and unlocking that amazing OST on the menu page after 70 hours of playthrough is the best reward. This game is amazing! I am going to keep it for years.
Why would I expect anything less than great? Octopath was the best JRPG released in the past decade, and this is from the same team. I was expecting this to be incredible, and I was right.
I would disagree with the voice acting. Seronoa’s voice seemingly changed near the endgame. There were great performances though but overall, it was the story rather than the acting that shines in each scene. Great game and great review though!
I am a longtime Fire Emblem fan with a particularly affinity for Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn and also enjoyed Final Fantasy Tactics, and while I really liked the combat and character upgrades of the Triangle Strategy demo (as well as the story and visuals), I think I'm going to wait until it goes on sale before I buy the full game. As someone who enjoys Fire Emblem, I'm not averse to long sections of dialogue between battles or to lengthy and in-depth political narratives. But the most difficult thing about Triangle Strategy for me can be summed up in this experience: After the Chapter 1 battle (same with after the Chapter 2 battle), there was some dialogue, and then I was put onto the world map. I selected the next story section (there was no green side story available) and watched a lengthy portion of dialogue. Then I was booted out to the map again, and I watched an optional side story, which was just dialogue. Then I clicked on the main story again, and I watched more dialogue, only to be put on the map screen AGAIN to click on the main story section and watch, you guessed it, more dialogue. There was probably an exploring section in there somewhere, but all that is is more dialogue with a couple optional responses and a couple hidden items. It was a nice change of pace, to be sure, but the sheer amount of times I clicked on the main story node on the map, only to have to click it again like 15 minutes later after doing nothing, was pretty discouraging. I was always left wondering when a new battle would finally present itself. That one function made it feel much longer between battles than it probably actually was, even though the story sections are quite long as they are. But in my favorite Fire Emblem games, after a battle ended, you'd have 1) dialogue (between which you didn't have to go back to a map screen constantly), 2) a save screen, 3) a home base menuing section with inventory and EXP management and support conversations and unique conversations to be had (a mix of Triangle Strategy's exploration and encampment options), 4) dialogue to set up the next battle, and 5) the next battle. Fire Emblem Three Houses follows a structure as well, even if it includes a free-flowing month's worth of activities between each battle. But the two facts that I never really knew when I was going to be getting dialogue or a battle and that the dialogue was quite long as it was seemed to exacerbate the worst aspects of each other, at least for me. Additionally, while most of the voice acting was good (I really like Frederica and Roland in particular), Serenoa especially was very bland, which is a big bummer since he's the MAIN main character. Many of his lines were not spoken with inflection or energy that I felt would accurately fit the situation or that I felt gave him much personality and individuality, and he spoke so many lines in the exact same way. I felt the same about that latter point regarding Benedict. I really like the sound of his voice, and I feel like his voice actor was well cast, but every line of his is spoken in the same way as the last. It makes it feel to me as if the actors just read out lines without context and said their lines in a way that they felt made the most sense for most situations, which may generally fit, but not always. For a specific example, in the scene where you first meet Frederica and Geela, Geela stands between Frederica and the two newly-introduced bandits and says, "Stand back, Frederica. I shan't let them have you." The only energy in her voice is in the speed she reads the words, and not at all in her inflection. Her urgency feels very low in an urgent situation. I get that some characters will stay calm in tight spots, but I don't get that feeling from Geela in this scene, anyway, mostly based on the words she speaks themselves. One last thing I thought was weird was regarding some of the soundtracks. I know you said toward your review that they matched their story and visual contexts, but I disagreed at a few different points during my playthrough of the demo. One was the theme of the two aforementioned bandits, Travis and Trish. I don't know if they ever come back at some point later in the story, but the music of Travis' Thieves felt more appropriate for a casino or a group of gangsters rather than a band of random brigands who weren't actually overly silly threatening Frederica and Geela. I played and enjoyed Octopath Traveler, and I feel like the Octopath OST "How Amusing" track would have fit more. It's a great theme for seedy characters who are up to no good but who often don't pose too much of a sinister threat at the moment, which would have fit Travis and Trish pretty well, though not quite perfectly, in my opinion. Merriment is another example. It sounds almost a bit too much like a game show to fit in every situation we find it in. I liked it when House Wolffort met with Minister Lyla for the first time, but it felt out of place when talking to Roland and Hughette before the exploration preceding the tournament in Chapter 2, especially since most of the rest of the music has a certain medieval feel. This game has a great OST with a lot of awesome music, similar to Octopath Traveler, but a couple of the tracks just seemed oddly-placed to the point where I was removed from my immersion for that reason alone. However, since finishing the demo, I've been thinking of the game more and more and I'm wishing I could play it some more. I'm still going to wait for a sale for now (possibly after a PC release in a while), but I might eventually be compelled to just get it and continue it on Switch, because it really is a good game, imo.
It is seriously such a great game! Do you know if your convictions also carry over into new game plus? And does your money carry over too? Or just your characters and items? Haven't been able to find super clear answers online for that
Yep everything carries over. Once you get through the first two battles in New game plus you'll be able to see what your conviction values actually are too
@@89Games Awesome! So if there are new characters that we recruit in NG+, will their level scale, or will their level still be super low? For example *Mild spoilers* I'm probably not going to recruit Milo until I do the Golden Route. Will still be at level 20 despite the rest of my team being at a much higher level?
Looks like a really good game. Does it have a huge learning curve or does it have a good tutorial system? I have consider buying this game but I get frustrated with huge learning curves.
Honestly, I was really surprised by this game, the story is top tier, and it gave me Final Fantasy Tactics A2 vibes that I didn't knew I NEEDED
I expected it to be great but it was even better. Love it.
Completing the game a second time and unlocking that amazing OST on the menu page after 70 hours of playthrough is the best reward. This game is amazing! I am going to keep it for years.
Couldn't agree more!
Amazing game. Simply spectacular
Why would I expect anything less than great? Octopath was the best JRPG released in the past decade, and this is from the same team. I was expecting this to be incredible, and I was right.
Positive comment.
I would disagree with the voice acting. Seronoa’s voice seemingly changed near the endgame. There were great performances though but overall, it was the story rather than the acting that shines in each scene. Great game and great review though!
Great review!
I am a longtime Fire Emblem fan with a particularly affinity for Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn and also enjoyed Final Fantasy Tactics, and while I really liked the combat and character upgrades of the Triangle Strategy demo (as well as the story and visuals), I think I'm going to wait until it goes on sale before I buy the full game.
As someone who enjoys Fire Emblem, I'm not averse to long sections of dialogue between battles or to lengthy and in-depth political narratives. But the most difficult thing about Triangle Strategy for me can be summed up in this experience: After the Chapter 1 battle (same with after the Chapter 2 battle), there was some dialogue, and then I was put onto the world map. I selected the next story section (there was no green side story available) and watched a lengthy portion of dialogue. Then I was booted out to the map again, and I watched an optional side story, which was just dialogue. Then I clicked on the main story again, and I watched more dialogue, only to be put on the map screen AGAIN to click on the main story section and watch, you guessed it, more dialogue. There was probably an exploring section in there somewhere, but all that is is more dialogue with a couple optional responses and a couple hidden items. It was a nice change of pace, to be sure, but the sheer amount of times I clicked on the main story node on the map, only to have to click it again like 15 minutes later after doing nothing, was pretty discouraging. I was always left wondering when a new battle would finally present itself. That one function made it feel much longer between battles than it probably actually was, even though the story sections are quite long as they are. But in my favorite Fire Emblem games, after a battle ended, you'd have 1) dialogue (between which you didn't have to go back to a map screen constantly), 2) a save screen, 3) a home base menuing section with inventory and EXP management and support conversations and unique conversations to be had (a mix of Triangle Strategy's exploration and encampment options), 4) dialogue to set up the next battle, and 5) the next battle. Fire Emblem Three Houses follows a structure as well, even if it includes a free-flowing month's worth of activities between each battle. But the two facts that I never really knew when I was going to be getting dialogue or a battle and that the dialogue was quite long as it was seemed to exacerbate the worst aspects of each other, at least for me.
Additionally, while most of the voice acting was good (I really like Frederica and Roland in particular), Serenoa especially was very bland, which is a big bummer since he's the MAIN main character. Many of his lines were not spoken with inflection or energy that I felt would accurately fit the situation or that I felt gave him much personality and individuality, and he spoke so many lines in the exact same way. I felt the same about that latter point regarding Benedict. I really like the sound of his voice, and I feel like his voice actor was well cast, but every line of his is spoken in the same way as the last. It makes it feel to me as if the actors just read out lines without context and said their lines in a way that they felt made the most sense for most situations, which may generally fit, but not always. For a specific example, in the scene where you first meet Frederica and Geela, Geela stands between Frederica and the two newly-introduced bandits and says, "Stand back, Frederica. I shan't let them have you." The only energy in her voice is in the speed she reads the words, and not at all in her inflection. Her urgency feels very low in an urgent situation. I get that some characters will stay calm in tight spots, but I don't get that feeling from Geela in this scene, anyway, mostly based on the words she speaks themselves.
One last thing I thought was weird was regarding some of the soundtracks. I know you said toward your review that they matched their story and visual contexts, but I disagreed at a few different points during my playthrough of the demo. One was the theme of the two aforementioned bandits, Travis and Trish. I don't know if they ever come back at some point later in the story, but the music of Travis' Thieves felt more appropriate for a casino or a group of gangsters rather than a band of random brigands who weren't actually overly silly threatening Frederica and Geela. I played and enjoyed Octopath Traveler, and I feel like the Octopath OST "How Amusing" track would have fit more. It's a great theme for seedy characters who are up to no good but who often don't pose too much of a sinister threat at the moment, which would have fit Travis and Trish pretty well, though not quite perfectly, in my opinion. Merriment is another example. It sounds almost a bit too much like a game show to fit in every situation we find it in. I liked it when House Wolffort met with Minister Lyla for the first time, but it felt out of place when talking to Roland and Hughette before the exploration preceding the tournament in Chapter 2, especially since most of the rest of the music has a certain medieval feel. This game has a great OST with a lot of awesome music, similar to Octopath Traveler, but a couple of the tracks just seemed oddly-placed to the point where I was removed from my immersion for that reason alone.
However, since finishing the demo, I've been thinking of the game more and more and I'm wishing I could play it some more. I'm still going to wait for a sale for now (possibly after a PC release in a while), but I might eventually be compelled to just get it and continue it on Switch, because it really is a good game, imo.
It is seriously such a great game! Do you know if your convictions also carry over into new game plus? And does your money carry over too? Or just your characters and items? Haven't been able to find super clear answers online for that
Absolutely everything carries over to NG+
Yep everything carries over. Once you get through the first two battles in New game plus you'll be able to see what your conviction values actually are too
@@89Games Awesome! So if there are new characters that we recruit in NG+, will their level scale, or will their level still be super low? For example *Mild spoilers* I'm probably not going to recruit Milo until I do the Golden Route. Will still be at level 20 despite the rest of my team being at a much higher level?
@@Flareboxx They scale so no worries
@@89Games Thank you for all your help!
Looks like a really good game. Does it have a huge learning curve or does it have a good tutorial system? I have consider buying this game but I get frustrated with huge learning curves.
it does a good job of introducing new concepts in bite size pieces. easy to learn, more difficult to master
It’s incredibly easy
Honeatly... game play feels shallow. Story is great not worth the 60 bucks though.
i feel you. not being able to change the classes of the characters made it feel too linear for me
Excellent review!