Board 8 > Fire Emblem Engage: Official Release Topic *Tagged Spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

So, from what I gather so far, story is lame and characters are pretty samey in appearance.

Is it worth playing for the gameplay? This coming from someone who though PoR was less good than the GBA games.

TheRock1525 posted...

So you can change your appearance which A) doesn't affect your character's appearance in battle and B) doesn't affect your character's appearance in supports and cutscenes.

What exactly is the point?

It changes appearance around the Somniel. That's all.

Finished Chapter 5 and Paralogue 1 on Hard. Pretty good so far. I'm not used to the low movement of everyone in this game.

I have a few questions:

1) Is there a way to see the Type Bonus for the ring bonuses or do I just need to try it on each different user?

2) How does Back-up work? I thought it works like Attack Stance from Fates, but Boucheron shows up to attack sometimes even when he's nowhere near the attacking unit.

Bitto posted...

2) How does Back-up work? I thought it works like Attack Stance from Fates, but Boucheron shows up to attack sometimes even when he's nowhere near the attacking unit.

It's based on if the backup is in range of the enemy. If Boucheron has a hand axe equipped he'll chip in on any enemy within 2 squares of him even if the unit attacking is on the opposite side.

So the game says I've been playing it for 12 hours, so here's my '12 hours in assessment'. I'm playing on Hard Classic (although rewinding time kind of takes some of the sting out of Classic, unless you somehow manage to run out of uses). I'm 8 or 9 chapters in, and that includes one skirmish and all 3 currently available paralogues.

If you take the main points of praise and criticism from the pre-release critic reviews, they have it about right. Starting with the bad, the story and character writing is every bit as mediocre as was claimed. The plot so far is cliche-ridden and generic, the dialogue is stiff, stilted and mostly uninteresting, with the same going for a lot of the voiced delivery. Exceptions to that exist. Some of the humour lands, but a lot of it you'll only find funny if you're the kind of person that laughs at the jokes in your average Pokemon episode. Most of the cast, even some of the royals have their one defining character trait which they'll let you know about relentlessly. Alfred is obsessed with working out and getting stronger, Celine loves tea; but at least those two are important enough to appear in story cutscenes to flesh out their character more, the same can't be said for their retainers. It's early days but I wish there were a better consistent way of earning gold and materials than skirmishes, other than the occasional stimulus package the game gives you. Finally, some of the features around the Somniel seem a little redundant. I've more or less stopped exercising since they currently only offer small temporary stat boosts (this may change as the game progresses though so it may become worth my while again) I'm also not sure why the Tower of Trials unlocks of early as it does since in the only mode it would let me challenge, the enemies were way above my paygrade and almost instantly beat me by kidnapping Alear and then immediately crit oneshotting her with a Swordmaster. There were no other maps started by other players for me to join.

Onto the good, I'm not sure I have a bad word to say about the combat/gameplay so far. Emblem rings seem like they can make more or less any unit usable, even ones that initially seemed weak, like the twins and this games Villager unit, Jean. The game steers you towards combining certain emblems with certain units, but they're pairings that make sense - Celine + Celica are very strong and the 4th ring you get along with the unit who joins that chapter are very useful utility. The game seems to imply giving Sigurd to Alfred, although I've been making better use of giving him to Chloe instead imo.

Martial Monks are a combination of cleric and brawler and feel like a weaker version of a War Cleric. If you want to use them offensively they need levels and strength growths desperately, otherwise you're better off sticking to staves and breaking ranged units. Reducing the number of units that can use multiple weapon types in their base class is an interesting balancing decision reminiscent of Heroes that I think I'm ok with. It stops any one early unit being too good (Celine with her tome/sword combo is one of the only exceptions and lo and behold she's arguably the best early unit). I like the visuals, they're bright and vibrant; and the music has been fine so far but nothing too memorable yet.

In terms of early maps, Tiki's paralogue is the easy standout. I did it as soon as it unlocked and it was grueling, but in a fun way. I didn't realise until after I beat it that that was how I'm also supposed to get the Silver Card though, so I guess I'll be back again later to pick it up.

All in all you can choose to let the story and supports bog you down and detract from the gameplay, and even if you don't it would still be a black mark against the game, but if not there's the makings of a very good Fire Emblem so far. I'm having fun.

Sometime Framme will just decide to do insane damage with here punches and kicks and I haven't figured out why yet.

Like, she'll be bopping a healer for 5x2, then out of nowhere she's doing 9x4 to a Pegasus.

You know, if the gameplay is fun, I'll give it a go. Awakening had solid story and characters but the maps were just so dull.

Thanks for the review, Luis.

Having just played every single game in this franchise post Mystery of the Emblem over the last 4 months, I will say that the *initial* impressions of the gameplay are the strongest in the series to me personally.

Now, whether that holds and reflects my final impressions is a different story altogether, and I'm not even close to that yet. I haven't even promoted any units (and one thing I already know I'm not the biggest fan of is excessive promotion options rather than focused units, but I can self impose that if need be). The first impression here is strong, though!

I'm around chapter 15 right now and yeah that's pretty much my thoughts as well.

Story is very cliche and the writing is not great, supports have regressed in quality from 3H. Gameplay is fantastic so far and probably some of the best the series has seen in quite awhile.

It's hard to say during an initial playthrough as my opinion may shift significantly later on but so far I really enjoy the game a lot, I just wish the writing was better.

King Morion more like King Moron

LuisSera posted...

It's early days but I wish there were a better consistent way of earning gold and materials than ski

Get pet dogs. They're so much better than the other animals it's ridiculous.

MacArrowny posted...

King Morion more like King Moron

I was not prepared for his characterization, lol.

I have 4 dogs and a donkey on the go at the moment!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/3/3/AAeolZAAEHSh.jpg

Heck YEAAAAH

I just noticed the red threat range that's specifically there for status staves, that's a SUPER welcome addition.

Wow OK well this chapter is SUPER cursed.

Chapter 11 spoilers

I won't directly spoil other games, but obviously chapter 11 was very reminescenet of another early game set of chapters from an older title.

Chapter 10 and 11 are also, of course....really fucking good. Obviously a huge turning point for narrative quality and interest here. Those early levels in Firene really put the worst story and character foot forward, with the fairly uninteresting setting and party full of lighthearted characters that worship the ground Alear walks on. Very excited to see where it goes from here.

Yeah I also just finished chapter 11, really good stretch of the game we seem to be in!

How do I make Framme a High Priest? Feels like a better class than Martial Master for my purposes. Currently right after Chapter 11, not sure how to get Tome Proficiency on her...

Just have to reach the appropriate bond level with an emblem that grants tome proficiency, Celica for example. It's SUPER cheap to just instantly reach the necessary level using the Bond mode in Arena. Doesn't work so easy for skills because you still need SP to unlock them still, but proficiency is instant and free once you've reach the right level.

Ouch

Bad timing!

I haven't been able to play yet since that post so no idea when that's gonna resolve itself lol. But it's the only way, all proficiency unlocks are emblem based.

Not making a ton of progress beyond paralogues and a couple skirmishes for money (the skirmishes listed as training, which take place in castles, give you money and they seem to be easier than the gold corrupted battles, which can be brutal. I imagine this doesn't work the same way on Maddening but I don't think anyone here is playing that) but chapter 12, though really easy, has great music and my favourite take on the desert gimmick yet.

Oh. Oh Rosado.

I definitely think I'm gonna love you.

Me, an hour ago: "I haven't met him yet, but I don't think I'll be swapping out Alfred for Folgado."

Me, after seeing Folgado's intro 30 seconds ago: "Bye Alfred"

Lapis drinks milk by diluting it with 90% water this is the worst character in the history of Fire Emblem EWWWWWWWW.

Well hot damn!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/7/8/AAeolZAAEHZe.jpg

The top three viewed pages in the FEwiki right now are Alear, Fire Emblem Engage... and Rosado.

Relay Trial In-Progress Codes:
5FPHRHK
291K521 -This one went bad but looks winnable with units on field now
78DTHH7
2730KC5
5WF0PPC - This one looks like hell. But the catch is it is a survive chapter. Your goal is keep Alear in the corner and survive with your 3 units for two turns.

Would appreciate anyone that would be willing to pop into these and complete them.

Almost to chapter 10, Louis with Sigurd is my MVP lol its so busted. Very fun game so far since I just laugh at the cringe story/dialogue and only care about the combat.

Louis does indeed rule too hard. Other than the first couple chapters, I haven't really been in danger of losing any units, despite playing Hard? Getting so many uses of the Time Crystal certainly helps there. I did try Lyn's paralogue though, which I seem to be underleveled for, despite it having the same recommended level as Lucina's, which was particularly hard.

Gameplay's definitely the star attraction here. I always have fun setting up my characters and doing battles. Which is good, considering that the story and especially the characters may be the weakest of any FE I've played, with really dull Supports. One thing that hurts it is the direction of a lot of scenes: they think it's really DRAMATIC when the camera slowly zooms in on a single character who's talking, but it just looks bad.

MacArrowny posted...

I did try Lyn's paralogue though, which I seem to be underleveled for, despite it having the same recommended level as Lucina's, which was particularly hard.

I just did that one and it didn't seem too bad, although that might just be that nothing seems too bad when compared to the utter hell of the map it's inspired by

Whoops, I meant Lucina's wasn't particularly hard, haha.

Chapter 14 mechanics spoilers.

OK

So

Now we've got bosses with THREE health bars and a RAGE MODE after the first breaks!

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Chapter 14 mechanics spoilers.

OK

So

Now we've got bosses with THREE health bars and a RAGE MODE after the first breaks!

Man every time I check in it seems like you're at exactly the same point I am

And that mechanic seems like it could be scary, but luckily in this case the boss kind of melts if you hit with bows. Or anything really. And doesn't do all that much damage to anyone but Alear.

The music was certainly scary!

Yeah this one was easy thankfully.

I got to Brodia. I now understand the point of the clothing/accessories.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/9/9/AAMDNAAAEHkv.jpg

Made Yunaka a Swordmaster once she hit 21, she has 22 strength what is this beast??

Chapter 16

Devs giving Rosado the ring with a man and a woman in it definitely not done on accident <_<

Chapter 17 was a hell of a fight. And 19 ended up being way better than it initially looked. Some of the paralogues are pretty fun, but then there's Leif's paralogue, which was a bad map in its original game and looks to be very obnoxious once again.

I mean it doesn't have a dozen balistas this time, right?

....Right?

And yeah I'm slamming like 6 Paralogues now after beating 16, so I won't see 17 for a minute, but I've heard horror stories.

Just finished chapter 11.

Don't normally like letting any units die, but honestly I lost Vander and thought about restarting the mission, but it seemed kind of like a fitting end for the character considering everything that went wrong before then.

Ike Paralogue

https://youtu.be/9I66d6Bt86A

Why did they nerf Support growth rates in this game anyway? They're much slower than any of the recent games, and they got rid of Support growth during the enemy phase. Kinda a bizarre decision.

Ike Paralogue was good times. Ragnell too OP.

The game seems determined to represent the Emblem characters in their strongest forms even if it's not technically the game they're representing, lol. Ike is definitely FE10 Ike, Leif is FE4 Leif, Marth SURE AS HELL ain't FE1/11 Marth, probably even too much for FE3/12.

Consistently getting 65%-85% crit rate doubling with Fates Killing Edge+3 on Swordmaster Yunaka. Dont forget to Engrave at the Smith, folks!

Not sure why the Wo Dao is the higher rank weapon in this game, just because it's a little more accurate? It has 3 less Mt and 10 less crit! I guess it's lighter, so a lower build units may need it to double....but my Yunaka HAS 10 build....somehow.

Combined with her 25 strength at 20/5, I'm just gonna assume she got some abnormally insane levelups.

Time to answer how long can I keep Bright Sandstorm playing in the background while answering emails at work before I get tired of it.

I'm at 40 minutes so far!

It really is the best song in the game

Will probably bring it up more in a post game....post, but honestly I think this is the first game in the franchise to actually solve the FE boss fight problem that I don't personally think they've ever found a fully positive solution to.

What, you didn't like old classics like "it's chapter 8x and here's a guy that ORKOs your entire team and is basically immune to physical attacks" and "you can't hit this guy", the latter of which is extra funny because you know I'm talking about Binding Blade but you don't know which of seven different guys I might mean?

"Boy I wanna openly shit talk Binding Blade here specifically, but maybe I'll save it for later" - me 10 minutes ago.

Frankly, any boss that sits on a throne or throne equivilant and doesn't move is bad by default, so that basically makes the standards for bosses in FE rock bottom from the get go, lol.