Story, characters or Gameplay

[Mikethemaster2018]

From what the previews of the games were the gameplay is great and tight. The character and story was bland. I don't know how to feel bout that your takes.

[eclipse]

Story - I do not have high hopes, but perhaps this game will surprise me.
Characters - Not a fan of the designs.  The writing may save them.
Gameplay - Looks interesting.

[Mikethemaster2018]

15 minutes ago, eclipse said:

Story - I do not have high hopes, but perhaps this game will surprise me.
Characters - Not a fan of the designs.  The writing may save them.
Gameplay - Looks interesting.

I feel the same way. Hopefully the story is okay. 3h story was pretty great in my opinion. Possibly thanks to techmo writing the story. Characters hope they arent to bad generic. Gamplay look real good.

[Armchair General]

Gameplay is reasonably good, the characters will probably be vindicated with the support conversations, the music is giving me some Fates vibes.

As for the story, it appears to be kind of bland right out of the gate, of course things might be shaken up an little bit by the time Solm becomes available.

As it is, this game feels like they're setting the foundation for something greater.

[Maimishou]

I haven't been paying attention to reviews so that's not a factor for me but I like what I've seen. I can't judge the gameplay because everything goes over my head when people dicuss it in detail but I like the character designs for the most part. As long as the story is at least Birthright level I'm good.

[Benice]

Story- It'll probably be pretty generic, but I can definitely live with that after Three Houses and Fates being... Something. As long as it's fun, I'm all for it- It looks like it'll be flavourful in its genericness, and I love Mad Alear already. It's also only one route, so PRAISE BE TO WHOEVER DECIDED THAT

Characters- From what I've heard, there's less of an emphasis on characters this time? Regardless, I've got reasonably high hopes for most of the cast, and I really like a lot of the designs much more than I expected to. Same as with the story, I just hope they're fun, rather than anything else. I'm so very happy to have fewer supports too, so hopefully the ones we do have will be pretty good.

Gameplay- Hyped for this, not gonna lie. It's been a very long time since I've played an SRPG, and... Well, from the sounds of it, I might just have to pick this up on the strength of this alone. I'm really hoping that the game is more balanced than TH, since even though I don't mind a bit of brokenness in terms of balance, a break from it would be very nice, especially on the upper difficulties. My only other hope is that it's ironmannable, but that's low-ish priority.

Overall, I'm really excited for Engage, between its flamboyant designs, beautiful battle animations, seemingly really cool high fantasy setting, diverse cast, and reportedly good gameplay. And also Sommie, they make the game a 10/10 pre-release.

[Viberum]

I’m not a fan of the characters appearance, specifically how all the girls looks young and small and the guys being generic, but I like the gameplay the most.

With the reviewers saying the gameplay’s a callback to the older games I’m excited about the difficulty! At least hopefully it’ll be harder than Three Houses lol.

Edited January 6, 2023 by Viberum

[Crubat]

Gameplay- Obviously the best part about engage, no reason to doubt it
Story- It is a lil basic but I really appreciate it after three houses and fates. I want something simple after the clusterfuck that is three houses. Hopefully it's similar to echoes in that it's still written well even if it's a simple story
Characters- From what I've seen, reviewers have said that a character has a trope but supports definitely expand on em a bunch, a reviewer gave the example that Anna is a kid in this game, who still acts like older Annas but has left her family to be a merchant at a younger age so she misses her family. I like that! And I hope there's more of it

[SuperNova125]

Gameplay. Hyped more than ever it seems really fun.

Characters. The designs are kinda samey in a way but I still like their colorfull vibe they have and after doing their supports they will grow to me even more.

Story. Seems to have a pretty typical evil dragon and magical plot items storyline. However the after 3H something more lighthearted is needed I feel.

[Metal Flash]

Story: seems pretty simple, but if it`s written well enough I won`t complain

Characters: very hit or miss based on designs alone, supports needed to form more concrete thoughts

Gameplay: looks like it will be fun 

[Codename Shrimp]

Gameplay - looks hype, and honestly the only one i really really care about when it comes to FE. This series ain't exactly known for good stories

Characters - Best Designs in the series par none and if you put all FE designs together it won't even come close to how awesome the designs here are.

Story - Edelgard discourse outdated, routes overrated, Dragon slaying activated. 

Edited January 6, 2023 by Shrimpy -Limited Edition-

[Mirron]

Gameplay: I’m mostly excited for them trying new things, though not sure if I’m totally on board with some of the execution of things. It should be fun overall though.

Story: It looks like basic Fire Emblem stuff. Evil empire, evil cultists, evil dragon. There are exceptions but FE tends to have these three more often than not. 

Characters: This part I’m worried about, but hopefully with less Supports there will be better quality. 

Edited January 6, 2023 by Mirron

[Azz]

As others have said, the gameplay looks outstanding. A bit of a return to basics but with some nice new shake ups to make things interesting. Pretty much every person who has previewed the game has said that the gameplay is great so I'm excited to get my hands on the game.

Story wise, it may be generic but tbh I don't mind. I'm happy to return to one route and I'm hopeful we wont have nearly as much discourse as we had with Three Houses/Hopes which to be quite honest ruined my enjoyment of engaging with the fanbase. A generic story can be done well, generic does not equal bad imo.

Character wise, I'm excited for a lot of these dudes. I quite like the designs and I like how we seem to have a smaller playable cast so it will be easier to use everyone. I have heard some previewers say they are tropey but most of Three Houses characters were tropey until the timeskip happened and they had 5 years of implied character development so I am taking the 'the characters are too tropey' comments with a pinch of salt and I'm gonna wait and form my own opinions as I unlock their supports. Also again, generic and tropey does not always equal bad imo.

[Yexin]

story? couldn't care less

characters? i just hope they're not complete idiots

my only hope for Engage is gameplay

[Etrurian emperor]

Story is probably my biggest concern. Every preview out there saying its either a downgrade or a step away from Three Houses isn't a good sign. Now I don't fear the story will be simple. I don't mind simple. Blazing Blade, Stones and Path of Radiance are all simple but those story have meat on their bones. What I worry for is that Engage will skip straight past simple and instead go for minimalistic like Awakening. 

The characters so far seem like a lovable bunch. I expect to be pleased by the cast on offer. Them going with a royal+retainer combo for most of the cast is a bit disappointing but that set up has its advantages too. 

I have high hopes for the gameplay and I think that's where Engage in particularly is gonna shine. The combat mechanic, lap layouts and the extra bells and whistles seem promising. 

 

[Use the Falchion]

I'm usually a characters > story > gameplay person, but every few games that's reversed or switched around. This may be a time where it is. 

Story - I just want a simple story done well. I don't care about complexity. 

Characters - Make them fun. I can deal with simple or complex, so long as they're likable. 

Gameplay - It seems to be the focus of the game, and I'm fine with that. 

[Ycine]

Story : I don't have high hopes.

Characters : I really want to see the Supports and Bond Supports. Because they all seem to be quite the lovable bunch.

Gameplay : Looks hype. Can't wait to try it out.

[Lynsanity]

Story and characters both are going to be let down by typically awful English voice direction I think. I watched some localized cutscenes and support convos in the preview videos, and cringed through every one. Not only Saturday morning cartoon vibes, but also some wrong intonations in context. That's likely a step down from Three Houses which allowed most of its characters to sound pretty natural.

[Acacia Sgt]

Been satisfied with all three categories so far.

[link16hit]

Story : the story seems to be okay.

Characters : far more interesting character. We can see difference

Gameplay : looks really nice. Could be IS themselves? Three houses was a let down

[Hawkwing]

Gameplay: It looks like it's going to be the best aspect of Engage. All the new additions look incredibly interesting, and I get the impression from previews that the game is tightly designed around these new mechanics. We'll have to see whether or not it's the best Fire Emblem game in this regard, but it's shaping up to be one of the stronger titles in regards to pure gameplay.

Story: I'm expecting some sort of twist. How much it will turn the game on it's head remains to be seen. Otherwise, it seems incredibly straightforward, which is a little disappointing. Hopefully it's the kind of game that knows you're here for the gameplay and doesn't waste time getting to the action. While I had fun with Three Houses, I thought that several of the story sections and supports could overstay their welcome, so I hope Engage has better pacing in this regard.

Characters: I expect them to be entertaining. But I had fun with the cast of Fates despite them being one of my least favorites in the franchise, so that's not saying much. I am concerned about how "tropey" they appear to be. Or perhaps I should say, I'm concerned about how they're introduced and handled. I love Awakenings cast, but I thought that many of them gave questionable first impressions, and you often have to dig through someone's supports to get a more well-rounded view of their character. The fact that people still think Kellam's gimmick is forgotten by his peers or that Ricken's complains about being treated like a child all the time despite their supports saying otherwise is pretty telling. I'm not expecting Engage's cast to be my favorite based on first impressions, but I they seem like they'll still be a ton of fun.

[Sidereal Wraith]

IS really seemed to put must of the development time into the gameplay rather then story or characters. While this may seem decent in the sort term, I can definitely see this game not having the same longevity that TH enjoyed. The story and characters seem to be a massive downgrade when compared to other games in the series. This is what I fear will bite the game in the ass in the long ran, because without a compelling narrative or a magnetic cast the game while being fun to play will also lack any lasting impact on the audience. Engage will this suffer the fate of being nothing more then a disposable thrill.

Edited January 7, 2023 by Sidereal Wraith

[grin_fish]

Gameplay is looking promising. I'm excited about all the unit customization with classes and emblems. It looks like a return to form for varied map objectives and I just can't wait to play. I'm trying not to look too hard at anything, because I want to go in a little bit blind. 

I hope the story will be engaging and fun, because I can already see the plot connivences. After watching the scene where Alear meets Alcryst for the first time, I don't think that this game is going to take itself too seriously(and I think the theme song and art direction really match that tone). I don't mind if it is cliché or simple, but I am already counting on suspending my belief on the more intercut details.

Personally, I think that good characters have motivations, fears, and interactions that draw from their histories. Fire Emblem games have huge casts of characters and there will be some that strike a better balance with their trope than others. I'm expecting the characters to be on par with pretty much every other game. There will be some standout characters and others where the writing falls short. I do feel positive that their are more limited supports. I think having a smaller number of supports may hopefully lead to less repetition and more meaningful dialogue. 

[Etrurian emperor]

So far most previewers keep mentioning the story and world are bland, and some also say the characters are one note. With that in mind this game seems the direct continuation of Awakening and Fates. Not just in the sense that they kept the aspects that worked, but also that they stubbornly brought back the weaknesses of those games without doing anything to address them.

IS seemingly doubling down on not fixing their weaknesses has some curious implications about how much they contributed in the writing of Three Houses. It was easy to imagine Fodlan a deliberate course correction where IS took the effort to invest in aspects the previous games were really weak at. But if Engage seemingly lacks any self awareness about the bad story and worldbuilding from previous games, then it might be that IS is as disinterested in those aspects as before. Fodlan might have been a very interesting continent, and Edelgard a very nuanced antagonist not because IS was working hard to address criticism, but because Koei was doing the writing for that game. 

[Mikethemaster2018]

On 1/10/2023 at 8:36 AM, Etrurian emperor said:

So far most previewers keep mentioning the story and world are bland, and some also say the characters are one note. With that in mind this game seems the direct continuation of Awakening and Fates. Not just in the sense that they kept the aspects that worked, but also that they stubbornly brought back the weaknesses of those games without doing anything to address them.

IS seemingly doubling down on not fixing their weaknesses has some curious implications about how much they contributed in the writing of Three Houses. It was easy to imagine Fodlan a deliberate course correction where IS took the effort to invest in aspects the previous games were really weak at. But if Engage seemingly lacks any self awareness about the bad story and worldbuilding from previous games, then it might be that IS is as disinterested in those aspects as before. Fodlan might have been a very interesting continent, and Edelgard a very nuanced antagonist not because IS was working hard to address criticism, but because Koei was doing the writing for that game. 

I think IS should always get some other company to write a story, while they do gameplay. like falcom should write an FE story.theor legend of heroes games are top tier for jrpg storytelling.