Emobot7

Yeah, sadly, even the feeling of your rival scaling is fake, the game is just scripted to have fights with them after a set amount of badges and their pokemons level isn't even related to the gym leaders you last fought or are gonna fight next. As for the argument of it being difficult to make power scaling in a coop game, I understand it and completely agree with it. They honestly don't need to change anything to the wild Pokemons or even the different trainers you meet in the wild. But it would be great if at the very least, the Gym Leaders would have different teams with stronger or weaker Pokemons based on the amount of badges you had. Thats a concept they had in the Pokemon Origins anime I believe and it propably wouldn't be that complicated to implement. Its propably another thing they couldn't bother with because they didn't had the time to be honest.

I honestly thought it was great. There so many quality of life feature that are worth it and the game is just so fun to explore. I also think there are major step up with the story, we get a lot of progression for quite a few characters and those that don't have any progression are already very solid. Talking about characters, these games has lot of characters and some of them are really memorable. As for the Pokemons, there are also a lot of great new ones in my opinion (obviously will depend on taste) and Terracrystalisation really help making use of certain of them. I will also say that I was worried when we learned that your mean of transport was the legendaries Pokemon and was extremely worried they would give them to us far too early, but no, the manner in which they handled the whole Legendaries situation was really good and really helped make you care about them. Honestly, its not perfect and some will say there could have been more side content like the side quests of Legend Arceus but I honestly didn't mind it all that much. There still plenty to do. My 3 main complains are: 1. The bugs and glitch but this is not even Game Freak fault at this point, the Pokemon Company alway push them to release at a certain date and they cannot delay the games because of the merchandising. This is made so much worse by the fact this is a open world game. Not saying we shouldn't complain but our frustration should be directed at those taking the decision at the top and not the poor developers doing their best with their working condition. 2. No level scaling of any kind. This seem stupid but in a open world game where you can go anywhere you want at any point, this would have been really useful. I mean, if you go and beat a Gym Leader which you are supposed to fight later, you'll need to switch your team against a weaker gym leader to keep any kind of challenge. I actually did that against one of the weakest gym leader and I was rewarded with a fight against one of my rival after the gym fight in which I got destroyed by pokemon 20 level over me. 😂 3. Taking away some legitimate option we used to have. As someone who alway used to play Pokemon game on Set mode for a bit more challenge, the fact they simply removed was a bit of a blow for me. I know its not a big issue because you can still choose not to take advantage of the Switch mode but it still annoyed to a certain level. Overall, none of those points were bad enough to make playing through the game a bad experience, I had and still am having fun with it. I understand that considering the price tag, those games at release shouldn't be so buggy, yet I still think this a huge step up from Sword and Shield who were somewhat dissapointing to me. @CyberZord Couple of question if you don't mind me asking. What was your starter and how did you feel about it? What was your favorite new Pokemon? Did you have a favorite characters among the gym leaders or other NPCs? Finally, I'm going to say its completely fine you like Koraidon over Miraidon, as someone who played Violet, I obviously like Miraidon a bit better but both are really nice and the way they were implemented into the game was really satisfying. So all in all, Koraidon = Miraidon. 😁

My biggest problem with him being a doctor is that make him the same class as Framme, which kinda take away from any novelty he could have given us by being a different class. Is it a sticker or paint? Whatever the case, I think it really make her stand out among the rest of the cast. I don't know about her English voice but her Japanese voice fit her really nicely imo. Really make me think of a spoiled, yet somewhat naive rich lady would sound like. Anyway, I for one think she's really great design-wise and really unique as a FE character. Her art is gorgeous as well. You guys conversation represent well the main problem with Hortensia, most people either like her or dislike her. Not a lot middle ground. I think one part of the fanbase dislike her because they think she sound like mean spoiled brat who dress like a clown. To be fair, I don't think they are completely wrong, her being mean, at least at first, will propably be part of who she is and its true that her outfit might too over the top for the taste of a lot of folk. Meanwhile, I'm guessing the other part of the fanbase (which I'm consider myself being part of) think she really colorful and has a personality that is quite unique for a Fire Emblems character. What I personally think is so great about Hortensia is the potential for growth she has and the interaction she might have with other characters. If her convo with Rosado is any indication of how she gonna act with the rest of the cast, then I think she'll be a pretty enjoyable or at the very least, I'd expect her to be a fun character. More Sommie is never a bad thing in my book. 😉

As someone who didn't wanted to know about those leaks, I second this. 😂 I'm honestly a bit perplexed by Jean, I mean, I'm the kind of guy who generally like the villager archetype he fit but for some reason, he just not doing for me. Anyone else with a similar feeling toward him? I mean, at least Donnel had something that immediately set him apart from the rest of the crew.

Deployment limit should be between 10 to 15 so I'm gonna allow myself to make a 15 characters list. Those I really wanna use: - Alear (the protagonist so of course but considering how bad my initial thought on him, he really grew on me) - Louis (Kellam with fabulous hair lol, will try to promote him to great knight and give him Sigurd) - Alcryst (character that lack confidence but try hard never-the-less is relatable to me, I also really like both of his retainer as well) - Panette (really like the berserker theme she got going, trying to act prim and proper but letting lose in battle, she really grew on me when I first saw her profile on the site) - Hortensia (unpopular opinion but I like her archetype, the fact she seem a bit meaner than your usual fire emblem rich girl is interesting too) Those I want to use but could drop depending on the situation: - Céline (I honestly like her better than her muscle-obsessed brother, she also seem super sweet) - Lapis (alway liked female myrmidon, the fact she got a cool red armor, pink hair and a interesting hair ornament is another really good point imho, will propably give her Roy) - Zelkov (kinda remind of Hubert but less vicious, also one of the few thief in the game so I'll take him over Yunaka) - Anna (I don't like Anna units that much in most fire emblems but tiny Anna just too cute, the fact they also giving her support is much better than what we seen in the past, will try to promote her to Hero and give her Ike) - Chloé (I'm propably not her biggest fan but she pretty cool and considering I wanna use Celine and Louis, I think she will fit nicely on my team, I would promote her to griffin knight) Those I'm not entirely sure about: - Vander (cool older dude and propably my favorite calvary unit yet) - Fogado (mostly to complete my group composed of the younger noble siblings but also because he sound like quite the charmer and I alway find those character funny) - Citrinne (I really like her too but I feel I might have too much tome users already) - Seadall (you can't go wrong with a dancer but a male dancer is even more interesting) - Pandreo (Panette brother + delinquent priest is alway funny in my book)

The problem with the Awakening comparison is that it was when Fire Emblem really became more mainstream, so a lot of reviews didn't really compare the game with older entry. Which is propably why they never complained about the Awakening crew. I'm guessing they are comparing the characters in Engage to those of 3H since its the most recent entry. Now, as for me, the argument that most reviewer aren't writer isn't really positive in my mind because, generally, not knowing a lot about writing characters usually mean you are less critique with other work, not the other way around. Which would explain some of the mixed view some reviewers seem to have. The truly worse one in term of the writing propably don't see much difference between the Engage characters or the 3H characters. While I'll concede I don't think highly about quite a few gaming journalist skills as writers either, I just want to point that you shouldn't assume that because someone doesn't write well, (making typos and grammatical mistake) that he can't write or spot a great story when he see one (note that what make a great story or character is subjective anyway). The reverse is also true, its not impossible for someone to have a writing background and to write without ever mistake to make story that are considering dull by the people around him or her. Writing fascinating story and writing without making mistake are two different skills, even though its true that good writer generally master both. Look, I'm not saying we should be over negative and take everything they say as hard fact but I would recommend anyone not to look down too much on the few feedback we have and prepare yourself based on that. Gaming journalist aren't the greatest professionals in the journalist world but personally, most time I disregarded their opinion because I didn't like what I heard, I ended up dissapointed. I'm just talking out of experience but I'll be the first happy if I'm wrong. Honestly, I'm just hoping they are actually based their comparison on 3H characters if what they say is true and that the characters in Engage will at least be similar to those in Awakening and Fates. I honestly don't think it would be too bad if it were the case.

I haven't seen much of that myself, trying to get into the game with as little information I can but from what I understand, the review and feedback we got were based on the 8th first chapters so they propably haven't gotten to that part of the story. This is also why I don't think we need to take too seriously the commentary regarding the plot because its not unusual for recent Fire Emblem games earlier chapters to be a bit more generic only to have a twist later that change our viewpoint of the scenario as a whole. Now regarding the characters interaction and their depth, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but conflicting report on that is not a good sign based on my experience. I mean, it depend on the taste of the peoples reviewing this but generally, in case like these, its more common for people to say its good when its a bit more meh than for people to say its bad when its actually good. I hope I'm wrong on this but my honest advice here is to lower your expection, at least a bit, like that, if the people being negative about that are right, its a lot less dissapointing and if they are actually wrong, you'll just be pleasantly surprised.

I also thought about that, it would be an rather easy class to make at least, from a game mechanic point of view. Just make it a class that use tomes (maybe staves too) and has a similar ability to that of Lyn clones. Other class I'd like think to see would be Necromancer, it could either be similar to Summoners and create phantoms or raise ennemy units it defeat with a single HP point. I mean, I doubt we'll get it but it would be neat and I think it would be quite fitting as a DLC Class.

Yep, this is also part of what I meant when I said to chose target who won't get a chance to counter, not just ennemy with ranged attack only but also possibly, finishing ennemies off and taking down weaker (and maybe even stronger) foe in a single hit if possible. This is propably how IS expect people to play him and I'd be surprised if his stats didn't reflect that. But like you said, we don't know that yet and I also don't really care to know right now, we'll find out when the game release.

Yes. Though I was already annoyed with it as far back as X and Y when it was set to "On" by default. I think difficulty easing things like this should always be opt-ins, not opt-outs. Actually, exp all was made mandatory since Sword and Shield. And yeah, I do believe it should remain an option. For me, one of my biggest grip with Violet and Scarlet is the fact we don't have set mode anymore. I know you're not forced to use the switch mode but its annoying to constanly have to press B whenever you beat a pokemon and I think I did use it a couple of time by mistake because i was too into it and meant to switch pokemon anyway. Thats actually a really good comparison. Like, we know the amount is different for hard and normal so why is it so complicated to make an option unrelated to difficulty which allow to change the amount of charge? I'd be happy with that myself. More option is never a bad thing especially if its ain't an very hard option to add in the game. Well obviously, you can alway set your own limit but considering how easy it propably would have been to add an option unrelated to difficulty level, I think its a bit of a shame we have to do it ourself. Personally, I think the rewinds ability are a great quality of live feature and I don't mind using a few to salvage a chapter if thing doesn't go my way and while I could propably limit myself, I kinda worry having access to infinite rewind would slowly make me lose my capacity to plan more carefully, that I would stop caring about the challenge, a bit like it become harder to make mental calculation if you switch completely to a calculator for a while. Just to be clear, I know this isn't an huge issue and I'm might be over-reacting a bit. Simply puting a limit on oneself as long as you have enough willpower to stick to said limit would be enough to fix this issue but at the same time, I really don't understand why something they themselve considered to be for begginers has to be in the default normal setting. Its like they saying veteran should only play on Hard or on Maddening in a way and as a long time Fire Emblem who generally play most of my game on Normal, I find this a bit dissapointing. Like, I got no problem with casualisation, it make it so more people can play the game and thats good. My problem is that its feeling more and more like we got the choice between Easy and Hard in more recent games and that the Normal difficulty is just dissapearing.

Well, a lot of those skill are gimmicky and not alway very easy to make the most of, don't think this one is any exception. Anyway, I don't think its that bad though as its only activate when Diamante himself initiate a battle (at least, that how i understood it) so as long as you make him chose target that don't get the chance to counter, it shouldn't too bad. If anything this will propably help him finish off weaker unit with higher avoid. Honestly, I expect it won't be very hard to make him very solid defensively, I mean, among every lord in the game, he seem to be the most likely to have higher defense. Kinda found it weird he seemed to be more associated with Roy as far as trailers are concerned when he clearly feel tailor made for Ike in term of battle style.

So, apparently, the amount of Dragon Time Crystal charges (Engage version of the Divine Pulse or Mila's Turnwheel) on normal difficulty would be infinite? And on maddening (and potentially on hard as well) it would be 10 charges. Its what I seen and understood as of now at least. Personally, I'd rather the amount of charges was a separate option at this point because while I think its completely fine for some players to want to have the extra cushion of infinite charges, I don't really see much difference between playing in casual mode and playing with infinite charges. This is not a thread to look down on people who are fine with having infinite charges or to play game on lower difficulty, I just wanted to know how people felt about the amount of charges of the Dragon Time Crystal and what it imply. Personally, as someone who alway played his first game on classic/normal, I'm honestly tempted to make Engage my first Fire Emblem in which I play on Hard on my first playthrough as if the difficulty is similar to Three House, I believe 10 charges would be more than enough for me.

Hey, if thats true, that make Louis an even greater character in my book. 😁 But yeah, if retainers have a second job they practice while being their lord retainer or that led to them becoming retainer to their lord, I personally think it does add a little something to the characters. I will concede though that we propably could have gotten way less retainer and more neutral characters like Yunaka, Jean and Anna for example. I just want to say that the reason they are making most of them retainer is propably to make it easier to have them interact together from a scenario point of view. I mean, you don't need to do any first meeting among characters from the same factions, you can start off certain supports with characters knowing each other personality and this will also explain why retainers who are used to spending times in the presence their lord won't have any problem speaking with nobles from another faction. Some will say its a lazy plot device to skip some potential interaction and to make character join you faster. I personally think it will depend on how it is used.

Thank you so much for the summary Hawkwing, I won't lie, I really didn’t feel like watching those videos. Honestly, it’s indeed an interesting question but I think its mostly not worth the worry. Most fire emblems fans have had some exposure to Roy and Marth at least through Super Smash Bros and potentially also through Shadow Dragon (Marth only obviously) on the DS. Likewise, those who played Shadow of Valencia will know about Celica. Meaning the only characters who might really be unknown in the west are Sigurd and Leif and even then, there possibility of exposure thanks to Heroes. Not knowing maybe 3 or 4 of those 12 characters honestly doesn’t seem like too much of negative and I doubt it really put off a lots of fire emblem fans. That’s actually a really good idea when you think about it, it adds a side activity and make it so character not equipped with an emblem ring can still get some kind of bonus. I actually like that and I must concede I didn’t understand that was what the gacha minigame was for until now. That’s not great but not really surprising, there were a lot of sign of Engage being similar in structure with the 3DS games which had more archetypical characters (and I don't mean that as a negative for the 3DS game, it was part of their charm) so it make sense. No, I just hope its not too bad and characters are not just walking cliché. My one hope is that, while the world in Engage isn't as complex as 3 Houses, it does end up being more complex than the worlds of the 3DS games. Good worldbuilding sometime goes a long way into making deeper and more flesh out characters and characters interaction. Honestly, it would be great if we could remove penalty on better tier weapon through the Forge, I don't know if that what you were implying but that be a good way to make late game weapon more viable at least.

Well, I get your point but what I'm hoping is that at least, the characters end up being different kind of retainer, like, some of them might have been prepared all their live to be a retainer while other might have just become one because they demonstrated their prowess and impressed their lord. I also hope that the world building is strong enough to give character distinct setting despite them sharing the same profession as you said. Hopefully, being a retainer for a Firene lord will be a completely different experience from a Elusian retainer and similar stuff like that.