Fire Emblem Engage has been Announced!

[ciphertul]

1 hour ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

wait...you can't marry a ghost...

I mean you can, but you can't do much else then pleasant conversation. 

[Metal Flash]

8 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

I've been thinking about this too. Who's the focus for this game? I'm not confident the Emblems will play any larger narrative role than the Heroes of Fire Emblem Heroes or Warriors of Fire Emblem Warriors. When we see Marth in Somniel (the between-map explorable space that replaces the Monastery) Marth appears in his same floating ghost form we see in battle. That right there implies he has literally no tangible impact on the world around him. And for all we know, only visibly appears to our main character, or whoever is wearing Marth's ring. Marth might not be able to interact with anybody in this world besides us. Will we see the roaring return of MC-sexuals like in Fates/Awakening, or will the writers stop and realize: wait...you can't marry a ghost...

But on the other hand, if the 12 Emblems are THE 12 Emblems of this universe, that may give them greater weight than if there were thirty, forty, or even a hundred of these dorks to collect like in some kind of gacha game. I've been floating the possibility that the Evil Ring we saw the villain wear in the trailer is implying we'll see villains from classic Fire Emblem games opposing us, but another possibility is that these are the 12 Emblems, currently mind controlled by the fell dragon, and we need to convert them to the light side as part of the story. Maybe you need all of them to fulfill some sort of prophecy. Each one could take up an entire story arch if they wanted. Fire Emblem Heroes loves giving us Evil versions of normally good characters, so this may be more of that.

Exactly, I have so many questions. I only hope we get some info in the future to help clarify this.

If the leaks are accurate, I worry even more for the Engage cast. More characters means less development for each one, especially if the Emblems are gonna be key characters.

[Taho]

I really don't think the Emblems are going to be very developped storywise, and I find it unlikely that they will get anything ressembling support conversations. The best you'll get is a couple cryptic lines from their ghost forms in the My Castle hub, I think. And it's fine, actually, I mean, the focus should be on the new cast. The designers could throw in a lore section that gives you background info on each of the emblems? That would make sense and might give the new FE recruits who discovered the franchise with TH or Engage, even, the desire to check out what these old games are about.

[DefyingFates]

55 minutes ago, Taho said:

The best you'll get is a couple cryptic lines from their ghost forms in the My Castle hub, I think.

Yeah. And while I think that the focus should be on the new cast too, it just feels like a missed opportunity to not have them do anything too. Even just two or three support chains with their designated partner and any Emblem(s) with similar personalities to them could be enough to make them feel like they actually exist in the world.

58 minutes ago, Taho said:

The designers could throw in a lore section that gives you background info on each of the emblems? That would make sense and might give the new FE recruits who discovered the franchise with TH or Engage, even, the desire to check out what these old games are about.

Something like Smash's trophies/ stickers? I really like that idea too, thank you very much! It'd make sense for an anniversary title too!

Also, I'm really glad to see someone else who really likes F!Alear's design to go along with Azz supporting M!Alear! More love for our new avatars, please!

[Seazas]

Canon pairs are better, a shame we won't get to see them again and instead another sequence of the developers dancing around any pair even ones that give fantastic development to those characters.

Edited September 22, 2022 by Seazas

[joevar]

9 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

with similar personalities to them could be enough to make them feel like they actually exist in the world.

thats the thing tho? do they even truly exist there? if they are, then at what point their soul/mirage/emblem get called there? i mean everyone will treat this as mainline game, not a spin-off like heroes/warrior. so if they really exist then we can assume (or hope) their knowledge and personality should reflect at which point in their life they get called there. not just generic "nice to meet you, im just humble warrior/lord and i dont know you, but somehow i know Marth is the greatest evah". funnily enough, Ike not wielding Ragnell would fit if he truly exist there since he doesnt seem want to use Ragnell at all after war.

not that i dont want support between emblem and someone else, mind you. but its so easy for them to tripped over their own foot here

Edited September 22, 2022 by joevar

[Fabulously Olivier]

On 9/20/2022 at 5:54 PM, ciphertul said:

I mean you can, but you can't do much else then pleasant conversation. 

Ghost Alm looks on in horror as you near S Support with Ghost Celica.

[B.Leu]

 

On 9/18/2022 at 6:17 AM, Cyan1456 said:

On another note, Engage is almost immediately more visually impressive than what we've had before. The backgrounds and colors are vibrant and much more visually pleasing than how grey and washed out a lot of things looked like in Three Houses. 

I don't really care what anyone is saying, but I'm not calling Toothpaste/Pepsy-kun-chan, Jeigan with a badly rendered beard (seriously, how do you screw that up?), and all Generic J-RPG designs impressive in the slighest. I can agree about the colors being vibrant instead of satured, but the designs? Nope.

On 9/18/2022 at 6:17 AM, Cyan1456 said:

Also very very minor gripe, but tropes are tools and common literary conventions. Complaining a story has tropes is like complaining a tree has wood. I think you mean cliches and such.

Last time it was tropey, it was Fire Emblem Awakening and Fates. I understand that right now a lot of people, me included, are jumping the gun, but don't act as if any fear was undeserved if the devs though going back to those two is a good idea. I did said that TH wasn't perfect at all remember? Include every implications. Three Hopes too messed with things, but somehow it still was better writing wise, even if it still could have been better.

  

On 9/23/2022 at 12:47 AM, Fabulously Olivier said:

Ghost Alm looks on in horror as you near S Support with Ghost Celica.

Too late, I already near S Support with Ghost Alm. Celica will now have to watch in horror. :d

Edited September 24, 2022 by B.Leu

[Crubat]

9 hours ago, B.Leu said:

I don't really care what anyone is saying, but I'm not calling Toothpaste/Pepsy-kun-chan, Jeigan with a badly rendered beard (seriously, how do you screw that up?), and all Generic J-RPG designs impressive in the slighest. I can agree about the colors being vibrant instead of satured, but the designs? Nope.

Just cause you dont like the designs doesnt mean it's bad, everyone has their opinions. I dont see the reason to say this at all.

[DefyingFates]

u/domilea made a really impressive, comprehensive post of what the different countries may be and who comes from each on Reddit, with an extra written comment with further clarifications and stuff, I think it's definitely worth a read. There are no spoilers of course, but it does name characters seen in the leak so be warned if you don't want to see that.

Spoiler

 

What do you think?

[Crubat]

1 hour ago, DefyingFates said:

u/domilea made a really impressive, comprehensive post of what the different countries may be and who comes from each on Reddit, with an extra written comment with further clarifications and stuff, I think it's definitely worth a read. There are no spoilers of course, but it does name characters seen in the leak so be warned if you don't want to see that.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

What do you think?

oh wow this is so interesting, im glad people have the time to do this cause it just makes things easier for all of us. this is really cool

[Azz]

1 hour ago, DefyingFates said:

u/domilea made a really impressive, comprehensive post of what the different countries may be and who comes from each on Reddit, with an extra written comment with further clarifications and stuff, I think it's definitely worth a read. There are no spoilers of course, but it does name characters seen in the leak so be warned if you don't want to see that.

  Hide contents

 

What do you think?

Spoiler

I was actually thinking about making one of these myself lol.

I agree that that 'Lapis' character does look a lot like Etie. I would love to know where they got 'Mathilda' from tho, as far as I am aware they were mentioned no where in the leaks.

Also unsure of the countries, but for the most part I do think it feels fairly accurate.

 

[ciphertul]

2 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

u/domilea made a really impressive, comprehensive post of what the different countries may be and who comes from each on Reddit, with an extra written comment with further clarifications and stuff, I think it's definitely worth a read. There are no spoilers of course, but it does name characters seen in the leak so be warned if you don't want to see that.

  Hide contents

 

What do you think?

You know the season themed Kingdom's kinda remind me of that new SQ Rune Factory game Harvestella. The 4 seasons then a season of "death" aka the fallen kingdom.

[Crubat]

8 hours ago, Azz said:

  Hide contents

I was actually thinking about making one of these myself lol.

I agree that that 'Lapis' character does look a lot like Etie. I would love to know where they got 'Mathilda' from tho, as far as I am aware they were mentioned no where in the leaks.

Also unsure of the countries, but for the most part I do think it feels fairly accurate.

 

Spoiler

if you missed it:

 

[DefyingFates]

12 hours ago, Crubat said:

oh wow this is so interesting, im glad people have the time to do this cause it just makes things easier for all of us. this is really cool

Agreed! And @Azz, as Crubat pointed out, there are some corrections in the big comment I mentioned too. It's so cool that you wanted to make one of these too!!

[Cyan1456]

On 9/24/2022 at 3:24 PM, Crubat said:

Just cause you dont like the designs doesnt mean it's bad, everyone has their opinions. I dont see the reason to say this at all.

Yeah the designs are definitely going for a higher fantasy feel this time around for sure, harkening back to older Fire Emblem's leanings.

We've also barely seen most of them, and I don't really see how they're all that "generic" to begin with? Yeah, definitely the Knight guy is a bit eh, but the other designs have a lot of creative flair to them (the dark mage flapper is probably one of my faves) or have some decent thought put in (just how well the christmas knights complement each other designwise this time). At worst they're no better than any other of Fire Emblem's previous designs, just brighter and more eye-catching. Especially since, the series always has always taken from the classical medieval fantasy bit.

On 9/24/2022 at 5:32 AM, B.Leu said:

Last time it was tropey, it was Fire Emblem Awakening and Fates. I understand that right now a lot of people, me included, are jumping the gun, but don't act as if any fear was undeserved if the devs though going back to those two is a good idea. I did said that TH wasn't perfect at all remember? Include every implications. Three Hopes too messed with things, but somehow it still was better writing wise, even if it still could have been better.

Again, like I said, tropes are tools. Three Houses wasn't any less tropey than Awakening or Fates. Because stories are MADE of tropes the same way trees are made of bark. You're talking about cliches.

And also I really wouldn't peg Three Houses any bit higher than the other two writing wise- I had the exact same writing issues with it in a lot of places on top of being even less finished, the worldbuilding isn't necessarily "good" as it is "detailed" which are two very different things while also actively refusing to explore its most important faction (Church), and STILL has the Player Worship issue the previous entries had except in some cases worse because Byleth is even more of a self-insert due to a lack of personality or real sense of agency apart from the player (even when the plot tries to act like they developed one). Even the gameplay is a stepdown from Conquest imo.

 

I'd welcome a return to a more traditional and linear approach for this game. Especially since when Fire Emblem does it well, it really can do it well. As far as I know, FE is at it's best when the plot is heavily character focused, and I'm honestly hopeful and intrigued by how the protag this time, Alear, appears to be incredibly tied to the world's history.

[Use the Falchion]

Just a passing thought, but I wonder if Engage will get a demo. Three Hopes had a demo, but the last mainline game to have a demo was Awakening almost ten years ago. Yeah, it'd be pretty cool for a game that seems to really be influenced by Awakening (...and Fates, if the half-dragon/half-human Lord Avatar/Protag and the focus on lords & retainers are anything to go by...) to have a demo as well, but it's far from a guarantee. Still, I think it'd be cool to see another trailer for the game at the VGA followed by an announcement that a demo was either immediately available or would be made available soon after. It'd be far enough away from Pokemon to truly enjoy the DLC time, and it'd get more eyes in front of an audience outside of maybe anything but a general Direct. Granted, Nintendo doesn't really need to do use the VGA to drop a demo. I just think the timing is pretty good. OR MAYBE THEY CAN DROP A TRAILER FOR THREE HOPES DLC AND ONE OF THE REWARDS FOR BEATING THE DLC IS THE CHANCE TO PLAY AS ALEAR IN WARRIORS.

Anyways, it's just a passing thought and partial hope based on some outlier examples.