New Trailer

[EdeaCreamer]

...man, this did not do it for me.

But, this wasn't a gameplay trailer, and the gameplay elements we've seen so far for Engage have been quite interest-piquing, so I still have high hopes.

[Safy]

Roy! Ike! Lucina! Lyn! Those were the highlights.

Please show more gameplay, the game is releasing in 2 months.

[John Emblem]

Literally just created an account to discuss this, anyways-

Few things I've noticed about Emblems specifically-

• Confirmed only 12 emblems that we saw in the mural 
• Lucina was using a sword in her normal outfit, unlike the legendary variant from Heroes shown in the mural
• Ike was in his normal outfit from Radiant Dawn with Ragnell, unlike his POR Brave version (from Heroes) also shown in the mural 
• Lyn was shown using a bow, I believe in her normal outfit, not a sword also unlike the mural.

Seems to be that there are possibly costumes and weapon options for the emblems like we saw with normal units, for costumes,  in a previous trailer 

Edited November 16, 2022 by John Emblem

[CompteSecours]

Why 12 rings when we only have 10 fingers ?

[ciphertul]

3 minutes ago, CompteSecours said:

Why 12 rings when we only have 10 fingers ?

12 is probably the deploy limit.

[Safy]

21 minutes ago, CompteSecours said:

Why 12 rings when we only have 10 fingers ?

Because we have only one left hand ring finger for the engagement ring.

You won't wear them all by yourself.

Edited November 16, 2022 by Safy

[PrincessAlyson]

Okay, just saw the trailer. There is a lot of unpack here and I'm pretty satisfied with what was shown. I still have my fingers crossed that Alear will get a dragon form and it will be relevent to the plot of the game. Please don't be another Corrin. 

[Midnox]

Ike and Lucina were shown as their Brave and Legendary versions from FEH in the mural the first trailer. Why are they more vanilla in the trailer?

[DefyingFates]

2 hours ago, KoriCongo said:

but it definitely seems like the blue/red split is actually quite plot important

Yeah, that tease for that magazine coverage wasn't kidding!

I like the implication that Alear went insane or turned/ was bad originally. Maybe the red hair (and maybe eyes) represent that and they'll become a classic FE bluenet(te) by the finale? Considering we saw the wyvern girl fighting alongside everyone else in the reveal trailer I imagine there'll be a change of heart for the "evil kingdom" and/ or she and her closest allies will defect.

Also, we're confirmed to only have the 12 Rings from the first trailer in the main plot (though there's still room for secret/ DLC Rings). We saw og!maskless!Lucina and RD!Ike with swords as well as Lyn using a bow, so it seems the Emblems will have multiple weapon options (hopefully it's not just a cosmetic thing - apart from outfit choices, I'd hope). Given they appear paired up with others in cutscenes I think this confirms that each Ring will have a canonical wielder in the story even if you can swap them around in gameplay. Ike being paired with someone who seems to like fighting and food makes perfect sense xD On the other hand, this also confirms (as if there was any doubt before) that Marth will be the most important Emblem of the bunch, which... makes sense, unfortunately.

The "paranoid about spoilers" side of me worries that this was too much information (though it's my fault for watching a trailer with "Story" in the title and expecting gameplay details), but it was nice to get more information about what the stakes are. And again, that tease about Alear's past. I've been adamant that Byleth has been the most interesting avatar so far (conceptually), but if they nail the landing with Alear... well, I'll be thrilled to be proven wrong.

The mystery dragon girl seems a lot more coy than I expected too. She's not another Sothis, I didn't even think of that comparison until right now, since she doesn't have Sothis' cockiness, but she does seem to be kinda smug. Despite what I said about Alear's hair changing to blue, maybe they'll retain some red to show off a yin/yang thing, given this girl also has a mix of blue and red (and lilac) in her design.

And a small thing: the "Divine Dragon" title in the JP clips seems to be simplified to "Divine One" in EN, which I think makes a lot of sense.

1 hour ago, Rose482 said:

And when I end up shipping Alear and Marth, then what???

Well, this is "Emblem Marth" by his own admission, so it's not like you have to worry about Caeda getting involved. I doubt the corruption will stick.

1 hour ago, CompteSecours said:

I hope for a red route where I can slaughter all those genshin impact characters ❤️

Funny you should mention that, because Engage seems to be following a similar route to Genshin's plot: the MC travels to neighbouring countries with vastly different climates before finally ending in the icy place that's openly hostile to them~

1 hour ago, Armchair General said:

Well, that was certainly intense.

It makes you wonder if we'll get an equivalent of the "time skip reveal" trailer of FE3H that went completely off-the-rails with drumming up the conflict and hype~

2 hours ago, Chloé Waifu Supremacy said:

new villains look better that TwsitD

Visually or do you mean narratively? I think this is the same amount of exposure we got to TWSITD as well pre-release.

33 minutes ago, PrincessAlyson said:

I still have my fingers crossed that Alear will get a dragon form and it will be relevent to the plot of the game.

Yes, please! Their title in JP is literally "Divine Dragon" (and it's how the twins identify them in both languages), their mother is a Divine Dragon and is depicted on that mural fighting another dragon, both in those forms, so... yeah, I hope we get a full-on shapeshifting MC in Alear. Maybe it'll be a perk of their promotion and take place once they remember their past/ how to use their powers and find a way to do so without going insane too?

I'm really looking forward to @VincentASM's analysis, thanks for willing this trailer into existence! It was cool to hear all four nations' names too. The rapid-fire nature of it made me smile a little though, almost as if they were intentionally distancing themselves from Fates' worldbuilding as much as possible xD

[Azz]

That was certainly a lot.

Spoiler

- The dying lady is definitely Alear's mother. Also confirms that last lady who was on the SE boxart that we didn't know anything about.

- Alear definitely has some shady past. I'm wondering if we'll basically get an Awakening 2.0 where there are two avatars, the evil one and the good one. It might work better this time since Alear is the MC rather than Robin sharing the spotlight with Chrom who felt like he got shafted.

- Evil emblems sure are cool. Am actually happy we aren't getting villain rings and instead corrupted emblems.

- Also ROY, LYN, IKE, LUCINA!!!! Very interesting to see Ike paired with dancer girl and also seeing Alfred with Lucina and not Sigurd. Also nice to have confo of 12 only. I'm sure we'll probably get more via DLC tho.

- I can't quite get the name said when the fell dragon pops up, it begins with S I believe by the sounds of it but I can't hear.

- Not Marth keeping secrets lol

-Firene, Brodiya, Salm/Solm (?) and Elusyia are our four countries (plus Lythos). Happy to see it will definitely be a linear story. I wonder if we'll get to choose between Brodiya and Salm tho and where we go first. That would be cool.

- The two characters with Citrinne look cool af (and Citrinne herself tbh). I feel like the archer dude could be Alcryst considering Citrinne is with him and he is on the boxart and a prince would be a pretty important character

- By the looks of it it seems we go clockwise on the map from Firene to Brodiya and then to Elusyia straight away (since we see a scene with Alear, Marth, Alfred, archer dude and Brodiya prince in what seems like a castle in Elusyia with evil king which matches where Marth gets corrupted) and we presumably get pummelled and head to Salm/Solm for help.

 

[Metal Flash]

Apparently, someone decided to just shadow drop a trailer on us.

And we immedietly return to the "mother dies in protagonist`s arms" scene. Why do IS gotta kill of/villaianse all my dragon MILFS?

I find it interesting that Marth pauses before calling Alear kind, suggests that something sinister is afoot.

Unsurprisingly, Firene is the country that asks Alear for help. Alfred`s voice is higher than I expected it to be.

Brodea (or however you pronouce that) has some interesting looking new faces, especially the crown prince.

Somme (or whatever it is called) has the dancer/circus lady and a Shahid/Claude fusion. I wonder if their relations with Firene really are as "good" as they claim, or they are gonna try and pull a sneaky trick

Elusia/Alusia looks to be the "evil empire" of this game. The elderly man looks like he could be either a advisor or maybe chancellor/prime minister type figure. Pink haired girl is giving  the dancer lady a run for her money when it comes to flashy clothes. She also has two-toned hair, wonder if that is signifigant. I am hoping the evil sorceress looking lady is a Malig Knight.

Looks like the evil sorcerer from the first trailer ranks higher than the chancellor looking man. I wonder if the full strenght line refers to him, Alear or the Fell Dragon. Probably the latter.

The little girl from the cover can use magic it would seem.

Curious to see how the whole "corrupting Emblems" thing will be used. Can only those blessed/cursed by the Fell Dragon do it? Also, corrupted Lyn is using a bow, even though her mural depicts her using a sword. Will the Emblems get different weapons depending on allegiance? Or can some just use more than one weapon?

Was kinda hoping the "evil" Alear would be the one not chosen, instead of this whole doppelganger deal. Oh well. 

Glad to see that the newer designs look more distinct. 

[B.Leu]

I have even less respect for the chara-design than before, after seeing the new characters, it's amazing, absolutely, amazing. Even the voice acting is making me ill!

But I gonna say, Alear having a past with the "Emblems" is kind of interesting. "You were kind. As you are now, there is no need to remember everything at once." "We will remain by your side until the end of this dream". I'm probably gonna be disappointed, but I wanna dream a bit, even if it's for such a tiny thing.

1 hour ago, CompteSecours said:

Why 12 rings when we only have 10 fingers ?

How dare you forget about the big toes.

Edited November 16, 2022 by B.Leu

[Ivy Wife Supremacy]

18 minutes ago, DefyingFates said:

Visually or do you mean narratively? I think this is the same amount of exposure we got to TWSITD as well pre-release.

I’m talking design wise the one with Knight guy. Abby and Jester group are definitely not evil probably mini antags though especially given she’s on Alears side and both on official boxes for the game.

Edited November 16, 2022 by Chloé Waifu Supremacy

[DefyingFates]

Just now, Chloé Waifu Supremacy said:

I’m talking design wise the one with Knight guy. Abby and Jester group are definitely not evil probably mini antags though especially given she’s on Alears side and both on official boxes for the game.

Ah, so you're saying them changing sides makes them more interesting? I can agree with that. You're not going to jump ship from Chloe though, are you? I can see CYL 8's results already...

[Rose482]

19 minutes ago, DefyingFates said:

Well, this is "Emblem Marth" by his own admission, so it's not like you have to worry about Caeda getting involved. I doubt the corruption will stick.

 

I don't mind the "corruption" lasting for a bit! Every love story needs a bit of a drama : P 

[Ivy Wife Supremacy]

4 minutes ago, DefyingFates said:

Ah, so you're saying them changing sides makes them more interesting? I can agree with that. You're not going to jump ship from Chloe though, are you? I can see CYL 8's results already...

I don’t know man Pink Hair Buster sword girl, dark tone girl and Abby got me conflicted lol. Yeah Chloe definitely getting votes for her VA alone.

Edited November 16, 2022 by Chloé Waifu Supremacy

[DefyingFates]

7 minutes ago, Rose482 said:

 

I don't mind the "corruption" lasting for a bit! Every love story needs a bit of a drama : P 

True enough xD

But again, you're lucky Caeda isn't around!

26 minutes ago, Azz said:

- By the looks of it it seems we go clockwise on the map from Firene to Brodiya and then to Elusyia straight away (since we see a scene with Alear, Marth, Alfred, archer dude and Brodiya prince in what seems like a castle in Elusyia with evil king which matches where Marth gets corrupted) and we presumably get pummelled and head to Salm/Solm for help.

Ooh, that could be pretty interesting! That may also mean Elusia would keep the corrupted Rings, leaving us at a disadvantage in gameplay until we get more from Salm/ Solm and mount a rescue.

26 minutes ago, Metal Flash said:

I am hoping the evil sorceress looking lady is a Malig Knight.

She was using magic in the reveal trailer so I'd assume so (either that or a Malig Knight in all but name).

8 minutes ago, Chloé Waifu Supremacy said:

I don’t know man Pink Hair Buster sword girl, dark tone girl and Abby got me conflicted lol. Yeah Chloe definitely getting votes for her VA alone.

Hmm... well, at least your allegiances haven't been completely warped, I suppose.

[CompteSecours]

1 hour ago, Safy said:

Because we have only one left hand ring finger for the engagement ring.

You won't wear them all by yourself.

Where does it say they are engagement rings ?

Does that mean Celica cheats on Alm if someone else put her ring on ?

Did Ike get married ?

Why not putting 2 rings on your left hand ring finger ?

[Cysx]

Man, there IS a lot here. Feels like we just saw the entire cast. No Etie or Bucheron, though, so maybe not.

Don't even know where to start. I'll just let Vincent do his thing.

[Taho]

Anybody else thought the trailer started on a low point with the pinky promise? I thought "This is so dumb and childish..." Then we get to the emblemw in the cutscene and I went "Hang on..." and the end is BOOOM! In your face!

I so hope it's our Alear that gets corrupted though, and not a doppelganger. Please IS hear my prayer! 🙏 Make them the boss of one map where the rest of the cast's got to beat them to make them come around! Like when Edelgard shows her hand in the catacombs beneath the monastery. That was a very cool moment. Hoping they can do something similar.

[vanguard333]

4 hours ago, Crubat said:

I hope we see Alear turn into a dragon, the trailer showed off their mom turning into one so we can assume they can too.

I hope so as well. Sadly, all we've seen from Alear is them swinging a sword; even Corrin had their dragon form revealed by the second trailer, so either they're saving it up for a big pre-release reveal, or they're going to do even less with this concept than Fates did.

2 hours ago, PrincessAlyson said:

Okay, just saw the trailer. There is a lot of unpack here and I'm pretty satisfied with what was shown. I still have my fingers crossed that Alear will get a dragon form and it will be relevant to the plot of the game. Please don't be another Corrin. 

Yes; please don't be another Corrin.

1 hour ago, DefyingFates said:

Yes, please! Their title in JP is literally "Divine Dragon" (and it's how the twins identify them in both languages), their mother is a Divine Dragon and is depicted on that mural fighting another dragon, both in those forms, so... yeah, I hope we get a full-on shapeshifting MC in Alear. Maybe it'll be a perk of their promotion and take place once they remember their past/ how to use their powers and find a way to do so without going insane too?

Exactly. In Fates, at least there was the excuse that Corrin being half-dragon was incidental to the plot; here, the trailers make a big deal out of Alear being a dragon in the story; it needs to be backed up by the gameplay.

 

By the way, regarding the red vs blue theming in this trailer, with Alear looking like they might be partially corrupted and with Marth turning red when corrupted, I know that "blue = player-controlled unit and red = enemy unit" is a staple of Fire Emblem, but, speaking as a redhead, it felt weird seeing a character being corrupted mean that they turn into a redhead.

 

41 minutes ago, CompteSecours said:

Did Ike get married ?

Speaking as someone who has had the misfortune of seeing the shipping wars surrounding Ike, if Ike ever is established as having gotten married, shippers will riot regardless of who turns out to be the spouse. If it were to be Elincia, for instance, the very vocal Ike x Soren shippers would riot; if it is Soren, the vocal Ike x Elincia shippers will riot, and if it's someone we've never seen before, both will riot. IS is probably going to avoid ever explicitly saying that Ike ended up with anyone, and that's probably for the best.

[Fabulously Olivier]

Brodean designs look good in general.

 

Most of the rest, I'm just not feeling. Even in a series with so many artstyles, they still stand out as just not looking like Fire Emblem characters, much like a lot of Heroes' Original-Character-Do-Not-Steals tend to.

[Safy]

1 hour ago, CompteSecours said:

Where does it say they are engagement rings ?

Does that mean Celica cheats on Alm if someone else put her ring on ?

Did Ike get married ?

Why not putting 2 rings on your left hand ring finger ?

These are great questions the game will hopefully answer. After all these years we get the sequel story where Ike's marital status is revealed.

 

While I can live with this entry's over the top animeisms and vibrancy, I'm hoping we'll really get that Genealogy remake next (with art by Suzuki Rika or Hidari please). A bit sillier and simpler title between more mature 3H and Genealogy would make sense just so all Switch Fire Emblems aren't overly heavy stories with deep lore and muted art direction.

[Mysterique Sign]

Hey, I was right about that lady being Alear's mom

 

[DefyingFates]

I gave the trailer a second watch and some new thoughts (starting with one I forgot to mention the first time):

• The woman with the horns in her hair has purple eyes, maybe she's related to Alear?
• I think the "Malig Knight" is voiced by Cherami Leigh? That's two morally grey characters in a row, following Mae of all people. Weird. Hopefully no VAs get in trouble from me speculating that.
• The blue part of Alear's hair glows purple when he's having that freak out at the end, which furthers my theory that hair color is synonymous with morality/ sanity (I don't THINK he's wearing Marth's Ring at the time). Who knows, maybe that shot of him as a full redhead is set in the present after all, and we will indeed need to snap Alear out of their panicked rage at some point (Fallen Hero 2024 confirmed). The bit about their friends being "long dead" is likely just bait to get them to snap further, but look at that manic grin...
• The main human villain(?) uses at first Lyn, but seems to be the one corrupting Marth as well, so I don't know if that means Lyn is his "signature" Emblem or if she's just the first he'll use, since her Ring is in the cutscene*.
• That said, he's caught of guard by the Fell Dragon taking form, so clearly he's not as close an ally of this one as Validar was with Grima.
• Solm's the only country whose inhabitants have different pupils. That's an odd choice, and I wonder if that means anything more than just as a marker to indicate how foreign they are.

\* It's actually pretty clever that Alear partners with the first ever FE protagonist while this villain debuts with the first Western FE protagonist.

Now I'm wondering if Marth being corrupted is what introduces the concept of "evil Emblems" or if that girl's dialogue is from a different scene, and Marth being stolen is to show that the baddies can corrupt Rings that are currently being used too. We see a good and evil Lucina, so it could go either way, but now that I think about it it may be the former. Then the story may take a detour into finding a way to rescue the stolen Rings, at which point all the Lords we saw in the trailer are taken back by the main party.

Which incidentally implies that all the most popular Lords are recruited first and then lost, leaving us with the six less popular ones until we save them, which is actually really impressive if that's what IS is going with. It'd take a lot of guts to pull a stunt like that!

Edited November 16, 2022 by DefyingFates