Fire Emblem Engage has been Announced!

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

The newest game in Nintendo's long-running Fire Emblem series has been announced! Titled Fire Emblem Engage, it is due to be released on January 20th, 2023. In just over four months, it'll hit the Nintendo Switch console (no, not the Nokia N-Gage).

So... what are your thoughts thus far? Are you married to the idea? Ready for a divorce from the series? Or just totally disengaged from this announcement? Gimme a ring in the comments!

[Integrity]

aw man your timing was just the worst

 

i'm punting your thread to christen the new board

 

eta: i think it kinda looks like shit but i also thought 3 houses did on the reveal trailer and i ended up really liking it, so what do i know? i'll withhold judgment gladly

Edited September 14, 2022 by Integrity

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

1 minute ago, Integrity said:

aw man your timing was just the worst

 

i'm punting your thread to christen the new board

Thanks for the kick! It's not every day we get to inaugurate a new first-level subforum.

[Integrity]

not every day you get to be the first user-submitted thread!

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

1 minute ago, Integrity said:

not every day you get to be the first user-submitted thread!

Finally, a worthy engraving to my eventual headstone. It'll go right above my Reddit karma.

Oh, I never shared my thoughts on the game, did I? Well, I was cynical regarding the leaks, and at first wasn't so hyped about the trailer. But when I stopped to watch it in-depth, and start to listen to some analysis... it's been growing on me. As long as it has that traditional core FE gameplay, I think it'll be a worthwhile and enjoyable experience for me. Whether it'll rank toward the top or bottom within the FE spectrum, I can't possibly tell just yet.

Re: "Toothpaste-chan": I am minorly disappointed that, since you can (presumably) decide their gender, we appear to once again be denied a strictly female solo/principal Lord. But an "avatar" is pretty much a given in new titles at this point, so that's just the fallout.

[Armchair General]

Personally, I'm an fan of longer battles; so I'm just holding off until I see another trailer or two. The story is more or less Awakening 2.0, at this point

[Acacia Sgt]

I never had a horse in the race of if the leaks were fake or not. As it is, the game certainly looks interesting so far. I'd definitely get it if I could.

[AnonymousSpeed]

11 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Re: "Toothpaste-chan": I am minorly disappointed that, since you can (presumably) decide their gender, we appear to once again be denied a strictly female solo/principal Lord. But an "avatar" is pretty much a given in new titles at this point, so that's just the fallout.

Choices are good, except when they're not. Then I chose no choices.

Fire Emblem sure is a cruel franchise to be a fan of.

[Florete]

I'm less excited overall for this than I was for Fates or Three Houses, which is probably a good thing because those both let me down in one way or another. I'm wary of the whole summoning past heroes gimmick, but willing to see it through. I like that weapon triangle is back. I like that it appears to be one unified story. A little disappointed that battalions seem to be gone (no Charisma stat), but not a big deal.

I'm not in love with Alear's design, but not especially negative towards it like some people are.

[joevar]

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

So... what are your thoughts thus far? Are you married to the idea? Ready for a divorce from the series? Or just totally disengaged from this announcement? Gimme a ring in the comments!

finally someone else that mention connection between engage and ring. at least they really nailed the title, how uninspiring it might be at first glance

so to celebrate new sub forum and first thread lets talk about the good thing (subjectively ofc)

• zoomed-in map has more proper scaling. one tile doesnt become larger  than necessary anymore unlike in 3H where 2 tiles feels like a 100m distance
• better 3D models movement?. i dunno, its closer to valentia which is great imo
• the protag/Lord Unit is voiced in cutscenes!!! i hate you byleth
• we get to see past Lord in HD glory where everyone gets a glow-up. XD
• Long eyelashes
• its cringier than ever for a mainline game

as for initial bad things (even more subjective)

• supposedly IS got help from Gust/atelier team, but why the map look way less detailed when compared to atelier ryza.
• its Marth all over again, so tired of this
• they forgot to draw Roy in mural depicting "emblem" vanquishing evil. the atrocity. they dare to left my boi 
• whats with that overly big shoulder pad, is this 90's anime lol
• avatar worship, again?!

 

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Re: "Toothpaste-chan": I am minorly disappointed that, since you can (presumably) decide their gender, we appear to once again be denied a strictly female solo/principal Lord. But an "avatar" is pretty much a given in new titles at this point, so that's just the fallout.

why even bother with option, right? sigh

Edited September 14, 2022 by joevar

[Integrity]

9 minutes ago, Florete said:

I'm not in love with Alear's design, but not especially negative towards it like some people are.

so brave

 

honestly i think it kinda sucks but the degrees that people are taking it to are like good god yall

[zuibangde]

I posted on the ‘Unpopular Opinions’ thread before about wanting an over the top FE game with similar aesthetics to the Atelier games and then it actually happened lmao so I’m actually living for the salt being generated over the art style.

I also think the story may be a bit more complicated than ‘summon heroes to defeat evil dragon’. The way the box art of the divine edition makes a clear distinction between blue and red is giving me route split vibes. 

Edited September 14, 2022 by zuibangde

[Integrity]

idt the salt is because it looks like the atelier games because the atelier games look pretty great (particularly the arland games) and this doesn't look great or like the atelier games to me

[MidoriChan]

Honestly not a fan of the character designs. The art style reminds me of Genshin Impact which doesn't feel very fitting for Fire Emblem in my opinion.

[ZeManaphy]

Couple of thoughts: 

I actually enjoy the character designs, they look definitely more fan service-y compared to Three Houses. Notably, the cutscenes are rendered in 3D as opposed to Echoes and Three Houses which were 2D. 
 

The summonable Heroes seem to be in Spirit as opposed to be physically present. Marth can be interacted with the hub btw. 
 

it seems every 4 years we get an Original title now. Fates in 15, Three Houses in 19, and now Engage in 2023.

[lenticular]

Some thoughts on the trailer (all time stamps are approximate). Going to put this under a spoiler because it got long.
 

Spoiler

 

0:05 -- the two dragons on the plate, fighting, tails wrapped around each other, one black and one white. This is giving me a definite light and dark, yin and yang sort of feel.

0:08 -- "four realms surrounding a holy land at its centre". The southeast realm looks like it's going to have a lot of desert maps (boo) but also looks like it might be either Turkish or South West Asian in theming? The building shown there reminds me of the Hagia Sophia.

0:18 -- "the fell dragon" is very generic as a Fire Emblem big bad, and is hard to get super excited about, but it's also hard to go too wrong with it. And a lot of people have been asking for a less ambitious game. I love the cobra-inspired design too.

0:20 -- "heroes from other worlds to aid us". This is the biggest downer for me. I'm just not a fan of this sort of crossover. I know it's existed before, most notably in Awakening, but this seems like it will be the first time (in a main series game) where it isn't optional.

0:23 -- "heroes known as 'Emblems'" -- this is a silly name, but no sillier than the way they've worked the words "Fire Emblem" into other games.

0:38 -- hey, there's multiple people here with darker skin tones. Hopefully that's reflected in the final game too.

0:46 -- the aesthetic going on here is... let's say "not subtle".

0:54 -- yeah, the two-colour hair and eyes are a bit much, but I do quite like the military officer style design for the outfit here.

0:56 -- I like the design on this dragon too. The big armoured plates are pretty cool.

0:58 -- the castle in the background here seems like it's going for a full-on Disneyland Sleeping Beauty's Castle sort of aesthetic, and I'm here for it. Here's hoping that's a place we can go.

1:06 -- this guy looks like a cross between Sylvain and Touma, but I will try not to hate him before I've even met him. I do like his armour, though. It looks like it could actually offer some protection, without being as impossible to walk in as many Fire Emblem armour units are.

1:10 -- woman with dark brown skin in flamboyantly coloured clothes doing cool kicky moves spinning around a planted staff? Um, yes please! Tentatively preparing for her to be my favourite character.

1:13 -- this feels like it's going to be another Tharja style character. Not really a fan, personally. That outfit does not seem practical to wear into battle. She is reading from a book though, which might imply that tome items are back for magic, maybe?

1:27 -- I don't really like Engage as a title. It mostly makes me think of Star Trek: The Next Generation. "Lock in a course for Archanea, warp factor 5. Engage." I'm sure I'll get used to it in time, though.

1:38 -- So, this looks like the early-game party, yeah? Mage, Avatar/Lord, old veteran (likely a prepromote, if they're going with more traditional classes again), and healer. And I'm guessing the mage and the healer are siblings.

1:39 -- I really like having a summary of the character's stat's on the bottom of the screen. I hope there will be more detailed stat screens as well, but having quick and easy access to the most important stats as part of the UI seems like it might be a really nice change, bringing back some of the functionality of the dual screen from Awakening and Fates. Also, that looks like a house that can be visited. Nice to see them back after Three Houses. However: "Lvl 4, Mov 4". I really hope that doesn't mean we'll be stuck with move 4 characters until level 20.

1:40 -- yeah, those arrows on the weapons definitely look like weapon triangle is back. I also like that the combat forecast shows the order that the hits will take place in. That's going to be clearer for new players, and also good for making skills like Vantage more obvious. I'm also seeing L and R to cycle through weapons here, but not seeing any indication for cycling through combat arts. Possibly we're just too low level here to have any?

1:43 -- "you are a divine dragon". Avatar, main character, and also a divine dragon? Yeah, there's going to be a lot of super-special here, isn't there?

1:46 -- red lines for enemy attack intentions are back. Also, "Paladin, lvl 1, mov 6". If even paladins only have move 6, that makes me a little nervous that this is might be a low move game.

1:53 -- this is the equivalent of gauntlets. Not loving "Iron-body art" as the name of the weapon, but do like that there's a woman brawler now.

1:55 -- anyone have any idea what "Break!" means in this context, because I have no clue.

1:56 -- that crit animation is pretty underwhelming. Not awful, but not exciting either.

2:01 -- so this is, what? 5 inventory items, 1 personal skill, 2 slots for additional equipable skills, and then 4 skills gained from the bonded Emblem character? Am I reading that right? I wonder if those numbers are constant, or if they will grow as a character progresses. I'm also seeing the the renaming of Skill to Dex seems to have stuck, that Charm has gone away (so probably no battalions?), that Build is back for the first time in a long time, and that SP are a thing that exists. I think SP is a thing in Heroes, right? (I don't play Heroes.)

2:12 -- this definitely feels a lot like Garreg Mach Monastery, especially given the minimap. But notably, there doesn't seem to be any thing equivalent to "activity points", which will probably mean that it's possible to get in and out much faster. Also: oh hey, floating islands in the sky.

2:17 -- I like character customisation in theory, but these look a little on the generic side. Hopefully, whatever system they have will be easily ignorable for people who don't care and just be a bonus for whoever wants to engage with it.

2:35 -- the reposition after combat thing is interesting, though I'm guessing probably won't be super impactful. I know I very rarely used the combat arts in Three Houses that move you after the attack, since they were just so rarely worth it. Will be surious to see what the exact mechanics are for this and how it plays.

2:39 -- OK, that's like the third é that I've seen. Céline, Libération, and Chloé. Gives the whole thing a French feel, to me.

 

Overall, my first impressions were fairly negative, but I'm warming up to it as I look at it more closely. I'm not really a fan of the big crossover aspect, and I'm a little worried about the low movement stats, but there's quite a lot that I do like. Definitely want to see more of this before jumping to any conclusions though. Or to be more realistic, I'm going to want to actually play this before making my mind up. I'm cautiously optimistic, though.

[Integrity]

2 minutes ago, lenticular said:

and I'm a little worried about the low movement stats,

honestly i didn't tune into this when i watched it but if you're right, i'm more interested than i was. lower movement stats maps directly onto more tactical gameplay, so maybe this plays into me eating shit about it not looking good

[Sentinel07]

There are some things I like. The animations definitely got polished up, and I'm very happy to hear the classic Fire Emblem theme front and center again. Lost in Thoughts All Alone and Edge of Dawn are very much appreciated, but nothing hits as hard as the classic theme.

Now, as for the art style....yikes, it is not gelling with me at all. It's probably the most generic a Fire Emblem game as ever looked as far as character designs. I feel like you could insert them into any other RPG and they'd fit in.

I'm not particularly fond of them once again using the "heroes from other worlds" concept. Heroes and Warriors already did this concept to death, and even though the leaker specified this by saying the game is intended as an "anniversary" style game, I still feel like Heroes covers just about everything this one is trying to do.

Also, not going to lie, the name is awful. It's not even ironically funny bad like Triangle Strategy. I miss the classic subtitles that always sounded so cool.

[Integrity]

Just now, Sentinel07 said:

I miss the classic subtitles that always sounded so cool.

my brother they really didn't. engage is uniquely poor but 'fates:subtitle' wasn't great, and it's really hard to argue 'shadow dragon' or 'shadows of valentia' are particularly cool

[Acacia Sgt]

Eh, "Shadow Dragon and the Sword of Light" does sound like a classic epic to me.

[Sire]

Guess I'll place my consolidated thoughts here after having the day to mull things over.

Initial impressions were not great. I had some knowledge of the leaks and it was amusing at first, but seeing it being confirmed dragged down the mood.
-- The aesthetics immediately jumped out to me. I suppose I fit into the category of enjoying "darker/realistic" FE instead of the going "full anime," although perhaps it may be more appropriate to say Engage may be more of a "fantastical tale of good vs evil" instead of the struggles of kingdoms and its people. // I know FE has been stepping into a more "anime" direction since Awakening, mainly due to S-Supports and the Private Quarters from Fates (Tea Time/Expeditions for Three Houses/Hopes). I just hoped Shadows of Valentia and Three Houses were good signs of a potential return to form...
-- "Engage" being the title is underwhelming. I guess it works, but it just doesn't sound cool. Sometimes I misread Engage as Enrage though...
-- The legacy characters and various callbacks are dangerous additions. While I'm sure FE: Heroes players will be more accommodating, I don't play FEH anymore and was hoping for a more "standard" mainline installment. // That said, apparently the leaks stated Engage was originally made to celebrate the franchise, but missed the initial date. Having a celebration in Heroes would have been good enough in my opinion, but I guess having a "mainline anniversery game" could also work.
-- I'm personally not a fan of the "Base Camp," but this is more due to fears of being too similar to the Monastery of Three Houses where it interrupted the pacing of the SRPG side of the game. I know the "character bonding" aspects have always been a strong point for Fire Emblem (Support Conversations), but I can live without meaningless fluff dialogue and Avatar praise.

Looking over the trailer again at the time of this post, I noticed there was no portraits for the "combat engagement" screen, instead using the 3D models. I guess this makes sense considering costume changes are a thing, but it is sad to see the portraits go.
-- I could post other things I noticed, but Vincent's write-up on the main site covers basically everything and more, so go read that for a more detailed analysis of the trailer.

As of the present moment though, I have went from dehyped fan to being a hopeful skeptic. All we have is 3 minutes of official footage to draw conclusions from, which is not nearly enough to hold a proper opinion on the game itself.
-- I believe Engage is meant to be a more fantastical story of good vs evil, and it shows with the chosen aesthetic. It's a shame for me personally, but I have a feeling the "darker/realistic" FE may end up being the FE4 remake (provided the leaks was also true on that front).
-- I just need to see more to form a more solid opinion. The environments look nice, but I need to see more of the various character designs and the UI, as well as knowing more about the main storyline.
-- I'll try to remain hopeful that Engage is actually a really good game and that my initial impressions were misguided. Better to stay an optimist and just move on if it doesn't work out than be a pessimist drowning in misery the whole time.

[Integrity]

4 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Eh, "Shadow Dragon and the Sword of Light" does sound like a classic epic to me.

genuinely have you read a single classic western epic? they all have pithy names. 'the song of roland', choose your own shakespeare quip, 'the odyssey', 'the aenid', 'the death of arthur'. i can't think of a one that had that many words to it myself

 

eta: the classic western germanic epic is the niebelungenlied which more or less directly translates to 'the song of the underfolk' and defies its long german roots to be way shorter than what you said

Edited September 14, 2022 by Integrity

[Acacia Sgt]

Sounds par for the course, no.

[Sentinel07]

18 minutes ago, Integrity said:

my brother they really didn't. engage is uniquely poor but 'fates:subtitle' wasn't great, and it's really hard to argue 'shadow dragon' or 'shadows of valentia' are particularly cool

The pre-Awakening subtitles were awesome.

You can never convince me that "Mystery of the Emblem", "Genealogy of the Holy War", or "Path of Radiance" don't sound cool. Even "Shadows of Valantia" at least has a classic epic sound to it. "Engage" is just....nothing.

Kind of like the difference between "Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door" and "Paper Mario: Color Splash".

Edited September 14, 2022 by Sentinel07

[Acacia Sgt]

Engage to me makes me think of Ace Combat.

"Mobius One, Engage!"