Can a crossover game have a good story?

[Hrothgar777]

Hi,

 

This is not a thread meant to hate on the new game. I've preordered not only the game but its Divine Edition and I look forward more than not to playing it as soon as it drops in January.

BUT, that having been said, I do have a major concern.

This game was designed with Fire Emblem's 30th anniversary in mind. Though it missed that deadline, it's clearly meant to be a work celebrating the franchise at large. By now it's well known that possibly dozens of units from previous installments will be playable here.

The problem is, for starters, not all Fire Emblem is set in the same world. Over the past 30 years there've been many different settings and setups from Archanaea to Fodlan to Jugdral to Elibe, with differing creator gods/goddesses who created the world and with different mythologies surrounding said creation. Which is to say that it could be incredibly hard to write a coherent story with solid worldbuilding and a believable history out of this.

I've written many times before that I love Three Houses. That's in large part because the lore is both complicated and makes sense from start to finish. It has much of the nuance and depth of real-world history and largely feels like you're exploring a believable civilization, magical elements notwithstanding. And I'm sure that's true of many FE titles that came out before Three Houses; feel free to substitute for whatever your favorite FE game is. Engage, in contrast, seems like it could be closer to Super Smash Bros. And yes, there is a story and world to Engage. But I fear it not only will not but downright can not hold up to the same standard of quality of writing, precisely because it's a giant crossover instead of a self-contained work.

 

Thoughts?

[Seazas]

Funny you say that since just like Smash Bros, the Emblem rings are pretty much confirmed to be spirit copies made in the legendary hero's image. They're not the real hero being dragged out of their continuity. Engage will be a competent enough story because the crossover characters are nothing more than mcguffin items, not full fledged standalone characters that the plot has to acknowledge much.

[Armchair General]

I wouldn't really call Engage an crossover on account that the rings aren't the main focus of the game; going by what dialogue that we've seen, they're more akin to the Heroes Relics from 3 Houses or an collection of personal advisors. As it is, they mostly feel like an rotating roster of secondary characters, given how an war was being started over the usual reasons.

[Crubat]

Yeah they're more like items and side characters the aid the main characters than anything else.

[vycr_stis]

I think Engage is going to have a difficult time genuinely matching the complex political setup with 3H and other games. The way the world map is structured to me a dead giveaway; it being literally shaped as a ring with different climates instead of an actually interesting continent and geopolitical features, which was seen with the centralization of the church in 3H.

I do think the rings are going to matter a lot more than just usable mcguffins, and to me it seems to be the main point of the game (alongside Alear's past). Regardless, the game looks incredibly pretty and it seems like they're putting a level of emphasis on new characters alongside the crossover ones from the rings. I'm just not too hopeful about the potential direction of the story, and I really hope i'm wrong.

[Azz]

I don't think the rings themselves will affect the quality of the story. The 12 are essentially taking the role of what normally would be the legendary heroes who wielded each games' S rank weapons (the holy crusaders, the eight legends, the 10 heroes etc). The only one I see primarily appearing in the story cutscenes will be Marth, the rest I feel like will have a cutscene or two around their introduction and will swiftly be swept to the wayside and only have their appearances in the Somniel and bond conversations.  

[Loliko]

What's important to note is that the emblems aren't the playable characters , you still have a very sizable roster with several kingdoms and parties each fighting for different reasons. That , and Alear offer a pretty interesting concept as a protagonist : They aren't human , but more so , they're a divinity. While to some extent the last 3 protagonists were all beyond humans , their real identity weren't revealed until much later (Robin/Byleth) or they were simply a different specie (Corrin). From the get go , you have entire countries dedicated to worshipping Alear as a divinity , and not as a person.

However , from the trailers it's pretty obvious that Alear isn't some all knowing god , they're not even aware of how the kingdoms are constructed. But the people around them still treat them as someone above humankind , which would make for very interesting dynamics to explore. It's reminiscent of how adult Tiki was treated as above human kind as well , but ended up being a very relatable character who had to cope with the fact that she will never see her past friends ever again ; so perhaps Alear will have a really hard time to connect to anyone both by fear of eventually losing them , or because they feel like they aren't treated as a proper equal , and instead someone to respect and fear , not bound with. In fact , I suspect that the final plot twist is that Alear is the real fell dragon , and that the one summoned by the bad guys is a man made one , like (SoV spoilers)

Spoiler

how Grima was one , as shown in SoV.

But I admit that I don't think the plot will be as complex as 3H , since it's only a singular path , so each kingdom will get much less screen time. But it's not a bad thing either , a more straight to the point plot works better as a title meant to celebrate the franchise's history. Kingdom politics are something that goes very in depth , and overloading the player with ton of lore about them in a much shorter ammount of time would feel bloated.

[Seazas]

At the very least, Engage will offer a lot of potential for fans to sink their teeth in. Which will happen no matter what. This isn't the first time barebones ideas got thoroughly touched on and talked about (Almyra. I still see AUs and OCs about it to this day). Alear's a really interesting concept and the four kingdoms do have things going for them.

[Azz]

2 hours ago, Seazas said:

At the very least, Engage will offer a lot of potential for fans to sink their teeth in. Which will happen no matter what. This isn't the first time barebones ideas got thoroughly touched on and talked about (Almyra. I still see AUs and OCs about it to this day). Alear's a really interesting concept and the four kingdoms do have things going for them.

Big agree. I still remember all the Fates fix-it-fics that were around back then, we'll definitely get a lot of fan content for Engage which will hopefully not result in big ass fandom division like Three Houses did which I'm very excited for

[Zapp Branniglenn]

On 12/25/2022 at 12:02 AM, Armchair General said:

I wouldn't really call Engage an crossover on account that the rings aren't the main focus of the game; going by what dialogue that we've seen,

I just got this ad for the game. "Marth. Sigurd. Celica. Summon your Heroes. The War Continues on January 20th."

The marketing comes off like any other crossover game. Even 'The War Continues implies' this to be a continuation of those characters' stories. A sequel, rather than an original game. In this ad, the legacy content IS the product. 

[Seazas]

2 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

I just got this ad for the game. "Marth. Sigurd. Celica. Summon your Heroes. The War Continues on January 20th."

The marketing comes off like any other crossover game. Even 'The War Continues implies' this to be a continuation of those characters' stories. A sequel, rather than an original game. In this ad, the legacy content IS the product. 

Because the english advertising for this game is complete ass and clearly lacks faith. The Japanese stuff has no problem actively showing and introducing new characters. Meanwhile, on NOA's side, when we finally get more non-trailer english footage... it's the only other returning character: Anna. It's so frustrating.

[Armchair General]

21 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

I just got this ad for the game. "Marth. Sigurd. Celica. Summon your Heroes. The War Continues on January 20th."

The marketing comes off like any other crossover game. Even 'The War Continues implies' this to be a continuation of those characters' stories. A sequel, rather than an original game. In this ad, the legacy content IS the product. 

Come on, you know how lazy NoA is when it comes to advertising this game. Outside of the three translated trailers, there really isn't an lot of coordination between the two branches

[Zapp Branniglenn]

16 minutes ago, Armchair General said:

Come on, you know how lazy NoA is when it comes to advertising this game. Outside of the three translated trailers, there really isn't an lot of coordination between the two branches

Not sure where laziness comes in. This is a crossover game, sell it. It reminds me most of the reveal trailer for Heroes. Intentionally spotlighting their most obscure inclusions like Ursula and Lilina. You wanna phone in a 15 second ad spot for Engage? Milk the Smash angle:

"Marth. Ike. Byleth. Everyone is Here in Fire Emblem Engage".