Fire Emblem Engage has been Announced!

[DefyingFates]

2 hours ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

One of the characters is literally in fishnet stockings and a casino bar-bunny cosplay, so I don't know what game you're looking at.

Who's the bunny cosplayer, the one who spins on that pole during the big battle scene? You make a good point either way, but the designs so far are still miles better than XC2's.

1 hour ago, Use the Falchion said:

(See 2005 with Sacred Stones and Path or Radiance for America, or 2017 with Echoes and Warriors. Granted, the latter two were smaller games overall.)

Now, do I really think that an FE 4 remake is going to come out in 2023? Not really. We have Engage, and we still have some potential (hopeful) Three Hopes DLC to worry about. But I also don't think the "two games from the same franchise in one year" club is as exclusive or unreasonable as you sort of imply.

FE8 and FE9 came out on different systems, but I see your point - especially if they market both games differently (FE4 as a remake of a more serious untranslated-til-now title, Engage as a more upbeat game for newcomers or something like that).

3 minutes ago, PrincessAlyson said:

Corrin status as a half-dragon was only story relevant for a short time (the most it mattered was the chapter it was introduced and Revelations Route).

Alear being a dragon seems like a big deal here, what with them being protected for being one and all, so I really hope this is the case as well. I wonder what Corrin will have to say about that.

4 minutes ago, PrincessAlyson said:

I'm so happy F!Alear is nothing like F!Byleth in terms of her outfit.

And this. So, so, SO much of this.

36 minutes ago, B.Leu said:

What this trailer is telling me is "Good Fire Emblem can only be done right when not in IS's hands", because just look at that trailer, compare it either THs, and gosh, it's the day and the night

The 3H writers could have been working on two games at once... right? I admit this game is definitely much more "tropey" at first glance, but...

5 minutes ago, PrincessAlyson said:

The story seems to be very typical "fight evil dragon" like in previous games. After the beautifully heavy stories in Three Houses, a more traditional good versus evil story might be a welcome breather, especially if a potential FE4 remake is on the way. I love the political drama and heavy themes in TH and would like FE4 to appear in the West so I can play it officially, but I'd like something else while waiting to see if the leaks are true. A more basic story can still be a good one if done right.

This is also a valid point, especially that bit at the end. At the end of the day, it all comes down to execution: a simple story done right is going to feel much more satisfying that a complex story done poorly (e.g. Fates).

[Azz]

Something funny someone pointed out on Reddit, but in Codename STEAM, both Ike and Lucina used an axe (Urvan specifically) and a bow (Nidhogg for some reason) as their sub-weapons, so its neat to see it come full circle lol

[ciphertul]

1 minute ago, Azz said:

Something funny someone pointed out on Reddit, but in Codename STEAM, both Ike and Lucina used an axe (Urvan specifically) and a bow (Nidhogg for some reason) as their sub-weapons, so its neat to see it come full circle lol

Well they had to do something so we didn't have 10 swordies and 2 mages (one who is also a swordie).

[vanguard333]

30 minutes ago, PrincessAlyson said:

Both M!Alear and F!Alear have absurd hair, but I personally find it charmingly absurd. I like the idea of the Avatar being a dragon and I'm hoping it's implanted better than it was in Fates. Corrin's status as a half-dragon was only story relevant for a short time (the most it mattered was the chapter it was introduced and Revelations Route).

I hope so as well; the protagonist being a dragon has a ton of potential and I really hope that they fully utilize it this time, rather than introduce it in chapter 5 and then never bring it up again. The fact that we didn't see Alear shapeshift at all or anything like that in this trailer; instead just seeing them use a sword in cutscenes, does concern me, but IS could easily be saving that for later.

[grin_fish]

I'm feeling pretty positive about FE Engage after watching the trailer.

What I'm excited for and stood out to me is:

•  how fluid all the animations are especially in the battle sequences and on the map
• the vibrancy and detail of the maps themselves and how it looks like we might be able to visit the little houses again(pls i hope)
•  weapon triangle making a come back
• possibly female brawlers(?) or whatever Framme is 
• characters with darker skin tones, I really like the look of the girl and the guy on the special edition box art
• alternate clothing, I can't help it... I love clothes.

What I'm cautiously optimistic about is:

• returning fire emblem characters( I like that they seem separated from the roster of new characters but are still "playable" due to the gimmick. It would be neat to see if the game could be played without using them as well. I can see that being a good challenge) 
• also, it looks like the villain has a ring/ emblem too...I would be excited if we saw some FE adversaries in Engage too
• the character designs look kinda fun! I do have a soft spot for the GBA and GC fire emblem art and I really ended up liking FE3H character designs a lot, but I'm not bothered by the more shiny designs in Engage. I don't have any strong feelings either way.

What I'm less enthusiastic of is: 

• the female faces look so similar. I didn't mind this in FE3H, because I liked their more mature looking faces, but in this one they all look a lot more child like. I know its like a series staple but if FE could lose the Nah, Nowi, Nyx stereotype(romanceable 1000 year old children) I wouldn't shed a tear.

[Timlugia]

So far I am probably not going to jump pre-order or day one unless future info changes my mind

Good:

- Significantly improved graphics and animations, undeniable improvement over Three Houses. 

Bad:

- Summoning old heroes again, this is the 6th time we have this since Awakening not counting Cipher. It's really getting old at this point.

- Good dragon fighting comical evil dragon, a major step back from Three Houses and back to "evil dragon" cliches.

- Fell Dragon from 1000 years ago with 3 eyes, is this just Grima, or we can't come up a new villain design?

- Female characters all look too similar and look like 12

- Fantasy revealing armor design again

- "Engage" sounds really weak, comparing to like Genealogy of Holy War, Path of Radiance or even Three Houses. I too at first thought this is another mobile game.

- Seeing swimwear as clothing option concerns me...

Edited September 15, 2022 by Timlugia

[Cysx]

3 hours ago, grin_fish said:

 how fluid all the animations are especially in the battle sequences and on the map

Yeah I forgot to bring that up. I think these are pretty easily the best 3D combat animations we've had thus far. 3H was obviously a low point, but every entry before also had problems, be it too much floatiness, stiff movement, middling graphics because 3DS... this here doesn't seem to have any of that. So that's nice. The enemies also seem to get blown away during combat and even drop their weapons, I'm really curious how they'll even counterattack or react to additional hits after that. Chances are they don't get to attack, but additional hits to the face are still on the table.

Also, we've gotten the Awakening and Fates cgi team back on the main series. That's unexpected, I thought Heroes kept their hands full. In any case, while their style is basically as anime as you can get, it's also very fluid and pretty, and the lighting especially is amazing. No shade to the SoV and 3H one, some of their stuff was good, but this is definitely an improvement.

About the break, it does seem that many people guessed right and it just cancels out the enemy's counter. In the japanese trailer only, after Alfred and Sigurd attack together at 02:09, you can see Sigurd disappear, which strongly implies the fight is over.

Not 100% though, could be that they always leave once it's the enemy's turn to attack.

Finally,

Anybody's guess as to why this fella has his weapon crossed out? They're using an iron axe by the way.
Edit : Could be indicating a break, actually. It happens with Alfred and Sigurd also, missed it because it fades in and out. Or it's just WTA.

Speaking of which, every break we see in the trailer happens with WTA. Not all WTAs lead into a break though, and we have one instance of a character breaking without an Emblem helping them, so it doesn't seem 100% tied to them either. Hopefully it's not random.

Edited September 15, 2022 by Cysx

[joevar]

6 hours ago, Cysx said:

The enemies also seem to get blown away during combat and even drop their weapons, I'm really curious how they'll even counterattack or react to additional hits after that. Chances are they don't get to attack, but additional hits to the face are still on the table.

About the break, it does seem that many people guessed right and it just cancels out the enemy's counter. In the japanese trailer only, after Alfred and Sigurd attack together at 02:09, you can see Sigurd disappear, which strongly implies the fight is over.

Speaking of which, every break we see in the trailer happens with WTA. Not all WTAs lead into a break though, and we have one instance of a character breaking without an Emblem helping them, so it doesn't seem 100% tied to them either. Hopefully it's not random.

Enemy dropping their weapon only happen when break triggered. thats part of the reasoning behind why break means counter-cancel.

whats wta?

i dont think its random either, or if it does thats not the biggest issue imo. the issue/interesting part is: what if enemy can consistently do it too? if higher difficulty means later chapter enemies start to consistently doing break too, that will be an issue/interesting (depends on who you are). because now strategy that involve Enemy-phase must be changed, and practically the way someone play in higher difficulty could be different with normal difficulty with that added challenge. personally excited since its more challenge without relying on the usual "inflated stats go brr"

12 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

I hope so as well; the protagonist being a dragon has a ton of potential and I really hope that they fully utilize it this time

really hope so. hopefully its actually relevant and something that add more fun to the story and gameplay this time. and hopefully they give him cool design when transformed

[ciphertul]

6 minutes ago, joevar said:

whats wta?

Weapon triangle advantage.

[Use the Falchion]

Just a stupid thought from the last night/this morning, but we know that Ike and Lucina are seemingly based on their Heroes alts according to the mural (which we know that isn't 100% indicative of the characters in-game, as Sigurd is shown with a lance but we see him with a sword later on), and it got me to thinking that if Camilla shows up with her Brave alt as a focus (aka as a Stave unit), it'd be fun to see her and other characters with alts to see how they got their alts and what their world is like if they're using those as their main weapons. Which in turn led to a stupid and impossible idea of Engage having DLC where Alear and Co. travel to those characters' worlds so we can actually see the worlds and Alear interact with them. 

[Zapp Branniglenn]

So the Monastery is called Somniel, eh? As in "Dream"? Will our between-battle activities occur in some sort of dreamscape in the mind of Alear? Is the entire world of Elios a dream? Am I a dream? 

[lenticular]

4 minutes ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

So the Monastery is called Somniel, eh? As in "Dream"? Will our between-battle activities occur in some sort of dreamscape in the mind of Alear? Is the entire world of Elios a dream? Am I a dream? 

I've seen a few people mention the "dream" interpretation here, and I'm not entirely convinced. While it certainly could be derived from Latin somnium (dream), it could also equally well be derived from Latin somnus (sleep). I'm mostly assuming that it's just named as the place where Alear has been sleeping for a thousand years, rather than having anything fancy to do with dreams.

[Use the Falchion]

Just now, lenticular said:

Latin somnus (sleep)

Final Fantasy Versus XIII "Somnus" intensifies

Sorry, couldn't help it. It's been on my mind since we found out the name was Somniel.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

43 minutes ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

So the Monastery is called Somniel, eh? As in "Dream"? Will our between-battle activities occur in some sort of dreamscape in the mind of Alear? Is the entire world of Elios a dream? Am I a dream? 

Actually, the entire Nintendo Direct was a dream. It's still the morning of September 13th, and none of us have woken up yet.

30 minutes ago, lenticular said:

I've seen a few people mention the "dream" interpretation here, and I'm not entirely convinced. While it certainly could be derived from Latin somnium (dream), it could also equally well be derived from Latin somnus (sleep). I'm mostly assuming that it's just named as the place where Alear has been sleeping for a thousand years, rather than having anything fancy to do with dreams.

So, the game is all about what happens when Alear wakes up? Perhaps they should've gone with a name based on that, like "Fire Emblem: Awakening". That's the kind of title that could save the series!

[ciphertul]

OH shit! As I keep re-watching the teaser I keep seeing new things. When Celine engages with Celica and they perform Ragnarok something in that action cost Celine Hp, only 1 point but does the engage cost Hp? or does the spell?

[joevar]

9 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Actually, the entire Nintendo Direct was a dream. It's still the morning of September 13th, and none of us have woken up yet.

nah, im already awake, ready to go to bed actually.  but cant sleep for a good hour or two after watching it, FE trailer to blame

1 hour ago, ciphertul said:

OH shit! As I keep re-watching the teaser I keep seeing new things. When Celine engages with Celica and they perform Ragnarok something in that action cost Celine Hp, only 1 point but does the engage cost Hp? or does the spell?

spell ala echoes i guess

[Cyan1456]

On 9/14/2022 at 3:12 PM, B.Leu said:

What this trailer is telling me is "Good Fire Emblem can only be done right when not in IS's hands", because just look at that trailer, compare it either THs, and gosh, it's the day and the night, the colors are over satured everywhere, the interface look oversimplified, the designs, while not 100% bad, reminds me of pre-TH, and I'm nitpicky as all hell for this one, but look at Vander's bear, compare it to Jeralt's. Also, freaking Toothpaste. Dragon Child. Yeah, I'm definitely not getting any bad vibes from it. GG. 

Last time the game tried to put past games into one, that was Awakening, and Heroes and Tokyo Mirage, that's a bad sign not a good one.

But I'm not gonna pretend that TH was perfect, Three Houses and it's Garreg Mach of Infinity, Three Houses and it's bland maps, Three Houses and it's reusing of maps, Three Houses Birthrout, Three Houses with Kronya and FemByleth's designs. Engage's maps looks good, but so far, that's look and only look.

So I'm rather pessimistic, going from Echoes, to TH, to Engage is like inventing archery, then the tank, but going back to throwing stones.

I have the opposite reception.

I feel like the promise of a more linear story is already an improvement since IS (and KT for the matter) make it perfectly clear that branching routes is too much for them. C'mon in Three Houses only ONE route out of the 4 can be considered competently written or even finished. CF was rushed and SS and VW were near clones of each other whose primary revelations come from an info dump literally before the end. Even the worldbuilding was clumsily done more often than not (and more detailed than actually present), especially since it constantly refuses to explore the two most important factions to the game's setting, and is frustratingly vague on many fronts (seriously, it feels like most arguments on 3H is more about what happened rather than the ideals set forth).

3 Hopes which was also done by KT was also a kind of a mess in a lot of places after the promising demo so it's not like they're any better than IS in that regard.

 

FE's greatest strength has always been its characters, even at its lower points, so I'm hoping for a more character-focused narrative like AM was.

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. 

Also, as someone who's followed Mika Pikazo, I am genuinely excited to see more of the characters, especially since what we've got was pretty dang good, I mean look at these twins:

Spoiler

They're probably the most visually pleasing Christmas Knights (at least that's what I think their archetype is), we've got in a long while. I love how their facial structures and eyes are similar enough you could easily recognize them as twins but are still very distinct in how they contrast one another in more than just primary color (namely outfit and hair). The boy's design is probably my favorite.

Also IMO I don't think Alear's design is necessarily bad, the hair is just a weird design choice. Otherwise I'd hardly call it ugly or even that hard to look at. The female/male difference is also way better here imo, the female design is a lot closer to the male one with enough differences to be unique and definitely a step up from female Byleth.

On 9/14/2022 at 3:51 PM, DefyingFates said:

Who's the bunny cosplayer, the one who spins on that pole during the big battle scene? You make a good point either way, but the designs so far are still miles better than XC2's.

Nah I think they're referring to her:

Spoiler

A bit cut off, but based off of her headdress (which resembles a flapper veil) and cape thing it looks like her look is more so after a gothic-noir flapper, with inspirations from gothic lolita fashion. I don't really mind it being more sexualized imo since this game seems to be going for a more high fantasy kinda feel, so long as it fits the character and looks cool when we see it in full, I'm perfectly fine with it. It's cool and I don't think I've seen many dark mages in fantasy inspired by 1920s fashion.

On 9/14/2022 at 3:51 PM, DefyingFates said:

The 3H writers could have been working on two games at once... right? I admit this game is definitely much more "tropey" at first glance, but...

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.

[DefyingFates]

5 hours ago, Cyan1456 said:

I think you mean cliches and such.

I did, thanks for the correction!

5 hours ago, Cyan1456 said:

Also IMO I don't think Alear's design is necessarily bad, the hair is just a weird design choice. Otherwise I'd hardly call it ugly or even that hard to look at. The female/male difference is also way better here imo, the female design is a lot closer to the male one with enough differences to be unique and definitely a step up from female Byleth.

I feel the same way. And even the hair fits the more vibrant world! It was just a surprise to see for the first time. Ditto for the comparison between F!Alear and F!Byleth...

5 hours ago, Cyan1456 said:

FE's greatest strength has always been its characters, even at its lower points, so I'm hoping for a more character-focused narrative like AM was.

Fingers crossed for good characters this time too! After two (three counting Hopes) games with branching stories, I wonder how long Engage will be: the length of a typical game or will they make it the length of two or more 3H routes? Four kingdoms, a holy land, a fell dragon and at least 12 returning heroes is a lot of ground to cover, but I suppose they could offload parts of the worldbuilding to in-game books/ dialogue or Paralogues. But we've also had a doorstopper of a narrative before with FE10 as well. Hmm.

But again, if the story and cast are good, the length won't be an issue (unless it's only 5 chapters long or something, of course).

[Hawkwing]

First Impressions: After I stopped laughing about the leaks being real (which I could have seen going either way when I first saw them), I think the game looks fun, I'm interested in learning more, and I plan on picking it up eventually. At the same time, I can't say I'm super hyped for it (yet).

 

- I think the UI is an improvement over Three Houses, I'm glad to see gauntlets return in some fashion as they were my favorite addition in Three Houses, and I hope the hub is more compact and there is an option to do things in the menu instead of having to fast travel everywhere.

- I am very thankful for the addition of alterative costumes, as that's a feature I've been wishing for quite a while. I would have killed to swap out some of the weirder outfits in Awakening/Fates, and I am very happy Engage gives me that option.

- Speaking of visuals, I appreciate the game being more colorful than Three Houses, though I'm not sold on the character and class designs yet. I don't think they're bad, and I don't get the impression we'll get the strange class designs from Awakening or Fates, but aside from the protagonist and cobra dragon nothing stuck out either. My biggest concern is that the classes will be overdesigned and the characters will have a more "cutesy" look to them, which I don't want for Fire Emblem. However, I'll reserve judgement until I see more examples.

- Similar story with the animations. They look far quicker, dynamic, and engaging than they were in Three Houses, and I'm glad that terrain seems to be taken into account for certain actions. To be honest though, I still prefer Shadows of Valentia animations, as I think they were snappier and had more personality. That said, I looked back at SoV's reveal trailer, and I wonder if Echoes simply chose more interesting animations to show off compared to Engage. Again, I'll reserve judgement until we see more.

- As for the new "summon past heroes" mechanic... I just hope it comes with a lot of variety that legitimately changes how you strategically approach some situations and isn't just a marketing gimmick. I want to be able to say "If I equip Marth on this character and Erika on that one, then I can perform these actions. But if I equip Roy and Celica instead, I could combo these abilities together and complete the map a different way". If done right, I can see this mechanic offering a lot of experimentation and replayability.

- The story setup sounds really generic, which makes me think they'll take one of two paths for the plot:

1. The game will start of pretty standard, before taking a hard swerve and turning a lot of tropes and expectations on their head with twists galore

OR

2. The game is very predictable... and they have a blast with every cliche and story beat they can. I'm personally fine with a story being straightforward if it's fun to go through.

 

Overall, I'm interested, though I'll probably wait until I see some reviews and word of mouth before picking it up.

[DefyingFates]

25 minutes ago, Hawkwing said:

1. The game will start of pretty standard, before taking a hard swerve and turning a lot of tropes and expectations on their head with twists galore

OR

2. The game is very predictable... and they have a blast with every cliche and story beat they can. I'm personally fine with a story being straightforward if it's fun to go through.

I'd love both of these options, honestly. While the latter option may mean Engage is forgotten quickly, maybe a really cheesy, tongue-in-cheek entry could work right after Three Houses and Hopes.

25 minutes ago, Hawkwing said:

- As for the new "summon past heroes" mechanic... I just hope it comes with a lot of variety that legitimately changes how you strategically approach some situations and isn't just a marketing gimmick. I want to be able to say "If I equip Marth on this character and Erika on that one, then I can perform these actions. But if I equip Roy and Celica instead, I could combo these abilities together and complete the map a different way".

I doubt the Emblems will be that game-changing, but I hope they add a lot of diversity to how you approach builds at least. As I've said earlier, my biggest concern is that the non-Marth Emblems will just be character-less gimmicks. Let them talk, please! This premise is basically a mini Fire Emblem: Endgame and I hope they use that.

25 minutes ago, Hawkwing said:

- I am very thankful for the addition of alterative costumes, as that's a feature I've been wishing for quite a while. I would have killed to swap out some of the weirder outfits in Awakening/Fates, and I am very happy Engage gives me that option.

We know there's a one-piece (and maybe more types of swimwear), but at least  I hope the other outfits are more in line with the summer dress we saw in the trailer: cool or casual clothes that actually make sense. That could be really fun! Ditto for the accessories!

Oh and hopefully there are no terrible character/ class designs like in the 3DS games that make us desperate to equip custom outfits too.

Overall I'm glad you're taking an open-minded approach, Hawkwing!

Edited September 18, 2022 by DefyingFates

[Jave]

I'm honestly really excited about this. I like the concept a lot. Game looks visually outstanding, being the most colorful entry in the series. Character design is okay outside of a couple of characters, but I like it. Game comes out on the day after my Birthday so this will be a perfect present from me to me.

I probably won't talk about the game here, but I sincerely hope the game is good and you people enjoy it.

[DefyingFates]

10 hours ago, Jave said:

Game comes out on the day after my Birthday so this will be a perfect present from me to me

Awesome, happy birthday in advance Jave!

10 hours ago, Jave said:

but I sincerely hope the game is good and you people enjoy it.

And you hope you enjoy it too, right?

[VincentASM]

16 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

We know there's a one-piece (and maybe more types of swimwear), but at least  I hope the other outfits are more in line with the summer dress we saw in the trailer: cool or casual clothes that actually make sense. That could be really fun! Ditto for the accessories!

Assuming it's the same one, it's supposedly a flared swimsuit in the Japanese version.

So hopefully it's cute and frilly, ahaha.

My only worry is that the outfits may not apply in battle, because they didn't show off any of them in battle. However, the trailer was pretty short so perhaps they simply didn't have enough time. Plus we had outfits/accessories in battle in Fates, which this game looks like an evolution of.

[Fabulously Olivier]

16 hours ago, Jave said:

Game comes out on the day after my Birthday so this will be a perfect present from me to me.

A few days before mine. So I've actually booked vacation during my birthday week for once to play it.

[ciphertul]

9 minutes ago, VincentASM said:

Assuming it's the same one, it's supposedly a flared swimsuit in the Japanese version.

So hopefully it's cute and frilly, ahaha.

My only worry is that the outfits may not apply in battle, because they didn't show off any of them in battle. However, the trailer was pretty short so perhaps they simply didn't have enough time. Plus we had outfits/accessories in battle in Fates, which this game looks like an evolution of.

My worry is that it will be like Fates and we just won’t get the swimsuits.