Fire Emblem Engage

[Nester the Lark]

I forgot to mention one minor thing. I think I said before (probably in the shout box) that the lip sync for the characters was not re-synced for the English voice acting, but it turns out I was half-wrong about that. It *is* re-synced, but only outside of pre-rendered cutscenes (which is what I was comparing before without realizing it).

This is a detail I really appreciate, as it not only looks more natural, but also allows the actors to have a more natural delivery due to not having to match animation made for a different language.

[Nester the Lark]

The fourth and final wave of the DLC is coming out on April 4.



So, all the DLC will have come out less than three months after the game's launch. That seems really fast, but I guess it kind of makes sense. Fire Emblem DLC tends to feel a bit superfluous to me.

As I mentioned before, I did not buy the DLC and currently don't plan to, although that could change.

EDIT: Oh, and the game is also getting a Tetris 99 Maximus Cup.

Fire Emblem gets a second theme after I waited in vain for a Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Maximus Cup.

[nocturnal YL]

The DLC consists of maps with player characters of fixed levels and items, making it kind of like the Heirs of Fate DLC from FE Fates. Characters from the DLC will join the player after it's cleared, although the Japanese site only shows Nel as an example. It's not known if the Four Winds will join too.

Enemy Céline looks scary.

[Nester the Lark]

So, apparently there's an interview with Intelligent Systems in the latest issue of Nintendo Dream magazine, and it confirms some rumors and other details about the development of Engage. This Reddit thread provides a rundown.*

Engage was developed around the same time as Three Houses.

The developers deliberately went for a complete opposite direction in tone compared to Three Houses, for experimentation and exploration's sake as far what Fire Emblem could be.

Engage's release was meant to coincide with the franchise's 30th anniversary and release in 2020, meaning the leak from last year was indeed accurate on that.

It's confirmed COVID-19 tore those plans apart.

The silver lining is that the delay allowed the devs to polish the gameplay (and mainly, the Engage mechanic) further.

Engage originally had a CERO C rating (as in, for players of 15 years old and more) before it was later lowered to B (12 and up) so the game could be marketed to a younger demographic.

This issue only contains the first half of the interview. The next one is coming next month.

* Worth taking into account that this is an English translation of Japanese fan tweets that sum up the Japanese article in question, so there's a game of telephone going on.

Interesting to note that Engage and Three Houses were developed around the same time, which I guess explains why Koei Tecmo was developing the latter.

Not mentioned here is the rumor that a remake of Genealogy of the Holy War is also supposed to be ready for release. Three Houses' internal code name was "Iron17," whereas Engage is "Iron19," leading to speculation of a "missing" game. If there is, was it also developed around the same time as Engage and Three Houses? And if so, who worked it? TOSE? (Just letting my imagination run wild here.)

[Nester the Lark]

I've finished my playthrough of Fire Emblem Engage. I played on Normal/Casual, and finished all paralogues. My final save data clocks in at 87 hours, 48 minutes. I have not bought the DLC.

In the past, I've had a hard time deciding what my "favorite" Fire Emblem game is because there wasn't necessarily one that stood out to me as being head and shoulders above the rest. However, with Engage, I feel pretty confident in saying that it's my favorite so far.

It's kind of funny because my initial impression when the game was first revealed was not the most positive. But some of my initial misgivings, like the character designs and graphical style, ended up being some of my favorite things about it.

While I have not bought the DLC, I am considering it now, but I'll probably save it for when I do another playthrough. For now, I might try more of the online modes, but I think I'm going to take a break for a while.

[Nester the Lark]

I've finished my second playthrough of Engage. This one took me 102 hours, 42 minutes, which is almost exactly 15 hours longer than my first playthrough. I spent a lot more time doing skirmishes and online relay trials. Overall, I've spent far more time on Engage than I did on Three Houses. In fact, I'd say that I'd rather play Engage's single route four times than all four of Three Houses' different routes.

I still don't have the DLC, but now it's definitely something I would want next time I come back to the game.

Here are some random musings:

I chose male Alear for both of my playthroughs. Normally, I would swap between both versions of the character when replaying a game (I did this with Three Houses), but I guess I just got attached to the male version. His English voice actor can be a little over the top during dramatic scenes when it sounds like he's about to start sobbing at any moment, but I started to find that endearing. (Maybe even a little relatable. ) I'd likely pick female Alear for a third playthrough, though.

I changed up my team a little bit. I used some different characters, while keeping some of my favorites. I used all of the main royal leaders just for the sake of being consistent with the story, but they were all really good units. I don't mess around with changing classes much (aside from promotions), so it made for a different experience.

In my first playthough, I got S support with Alfred. This time I went with Veyle. I think I prefer Alfred, though. He's such a wholesome character, and doesn't deserve the fate he gets in his solo ending.

I wonder if the post-credits scene is meant to be a teaser for a possible sequel, but more likely it's just meant to stir your imagination. I would love to see more done with this setting, though.

[Nester the Lark]

I finished my third full playthrough of Engage a few days ago, this time with the DLC. Once again, it was on normal/casual difficulty. My final playtime was 120 hours, 8 minutes. This includes the Fell Xenologue and all of the Divine Paralogues. I did very little in terms of extra skirmishes and online relay trials, except for some grinding near the end, but I'll get to that.

I tried to do things a little differently in this playthrough than I had in previous playthroughs. I picked female Alear, and I enjoyed hearing her voice actor's different take on the character. I re-classed some of the characters, and used Emblems on different characters just to mix things up a bit.

I didn't have a vastly different team of characters than in previous playthroughs. In some cases I tried to use new characters, but didn't find them too useful, and ended up benching them. I hadn't used Lady Anna in a full playthrough before. In my first playthrough, she fell behind in levels and ended up being too weak, and I didn't use her at all in my second run. This time, I was determined to make her a main unit. Re-classing her into a mage is a popular thing to do because she has high magic growth, but that felt a bit cliché. Instead, I re-classed her into an archer, and by the end, she was the cutest, deadliest little sniper. (Also, Lady Anna is my favorite version of Anna so far.)

At first, the only DLC character I used was Madeline, mainly because I thought her main story counterpart was such a tragic character, and it felt like I was giving her a second chance. I don't always find knights useful, but Madeline turned out to be a really good unit, and I liked her character a lot, too.

I added Nel only very late in the game as a substitute for Mavier, so I did have to do a little grinding to get her up to speed. It wasn't too bad, though. Doing the online relay trials resets the Somniel, so I was able to use the arena get Nel's levels up fairly quickly. I don't know if she was necessarily the strongest unit, but I liked her character a lot.

As for the Fell Xenologue, I've seen mixed opinions about it. Some of the battles are a little gimmicky, and all stats and levels are preset. That didn't bother me, though, and I enjoyed it overall. I also liked that the story was considered canon in the main game. The new characters don't have a lot of supports with the main cast, but what they did have was really good, maybe even some of the best support conversations in the game. I especially enjoyed the therapeutic nature of their conversations with Mavier.

I did not end up using either of the DLC classes. Neither one seemed that useful for my playing style, although the Enchanter outfit does look cool.

The more I've played Engage, the more I love it. Currently, I've spent well more time with it than Tears of the Kingdom. The general consensus is that the story is not good, but having sat through it three times now, I have to say I disagree. It's not transcendent in any particular way, but I think it's well-crafted with an uplifting tone. If it's cliché, I think it's because Engage was intended to be an anniversary game that pays homage to common story beats in the Fire Emblem series. But it works for me.