Current Events > How is the story in Fire Emblem Engage?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Does it have interesting cutscenes?

Pretty bad

Nothing overly gripping or (no pun intended) engaging, but the gameplay makes up for it.

The characters I think are pretty good even if a majority of them are fairly one-note. The dialogue I think is phenomenally unhinged at points

Story?

Ryven posted...

Nothing overly gripping or (no pun intended) engaging, but the gameplay makes up for it.

This. The story is decent and nothing special, but the gameplay is (IMO) the best the FE franchise has seen in like 15 years.

From all the FE games I played, none of them had good story. You're mostly playing it for the gameplay... or for some the waifu/husbando sim.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Weapon triangle is more important than ever with the break system (a hit or two from something your weapon is weak to will make you drop your weapon the rest of that phase, removing counterattack risks), smash weapons that knock enemies back, wide skill customization via emblems, and an even more accessible class change system than any previous entry. So you can pretty safely promote as soon as you get the chance and just use another second seal later on to get more level up chances. Plus maps aren't horrible to play except the optional ones and like one super hard level right at the end but it isn't like how in Conquest you have absolutely BS levels like that great wall of whatever stage where even if you can get through the first two parts, the boss section really is bs because of the layout and skills and range on them.

gunplagirl posted...

Weapon triangle is more important than ever with the break system (a hit or two from something your weapon is weak to will make you drop your weapon the rest of that phase, removing counterattack risks), smash weapons that knock enemies back, wide skill customization via emblems, and an even more accessible class change system than any previous entry. So you can pretty safely promote as soon as you get the chance and just use another second seal later on to get more level up chances. Plus maps aren't horrible to play except the optional ones and like one super hard level right at the end but it isn't like how in Conquest you have absolutely BS levels like that great wall of whatever stage where even if you can get through the first two parts, the boss section really is bs because of the layout and skills and range on them.

A few more points to add to this:

* Emblem rings can give characters weapon options that they normally can't use in their current classes, which opens up new ways to use them in battle. Example: Alcryst, an archer, can wield a Rapier when engaged with Marth's emblem ring, or a Killer Axe while engaged with Leif's Emblem ring, despite archers not normally being able to use swords or axes at all.
* Weapon forging is more in-depth than in past games and weapons can be customized in plenty of different ways.
* Story stages can no longer be cheesed with 1-2 overleveled characters or by quickly killing a boss with warp shenanigans due to enemies having chain attacks/blocks and bosses having revival rings that essentially give them multiple "stages" to defeat them. The game forces you to build a good and balanced team and think hard about your team composition.
* There's a good amount of side content outside of the story, but it's optional and has little effect on the core gameplay, so you have the freedom to explore as much or as little of it as you want. This is in stark contrast to Awakening/Fates, where you basically had to go through a glorified eugenics simulator to set up your support conversations and recruit/ optimize the second generation characters, and Three Houses, where the Persona rip-off social aspect wasted a lot of time and had a huge effect on your characters' performance in battle if you skipped or half-assed it.

So in other words, Engage drastically trimmed down the non-gameplay fluff and focused specifically on improving the core strategy gameplay to be the best experience that it could be. It's more challenging, more in-depth, and more (no pun intended) engaging than any FE game in recent memory.

Calwings posted...

A few more points to add to this:

* Emblem rings can give characters weapon options that they normally can't use in their current classes, which opens up new ways to use them in battle. Example: Alcryst, an archer, can wield a Rapier when engaged with Marth's emblem ring, or a Killer Axe while engaged with Leif's Emblem ring, despite archers not normally being able to use swords or axes at all.
* Weapon forging is more in-depth than in past games and weapons can be customized in plenty of different ways.
* Story stages can no longer be cheesed with 1-2 overleveled characters or by quickly killing a boss with warp shenanigans due to enemies having chain attacks/blocks and bosses having revival rings that essentially give them multiple "stages" to defeat them. The game forces you to build a good and balanced team and think hard about your team composition.
* There's a good amount of side content outside of the story, but it's optional and has little effect on the core gameplay, so you have the freedom to explore as much or as little of it as you want. This is in stark contrast to Awakening/Fates, where you basically had to go through a glorified eugenics simulator to set up your support conversations and recruit/ optimize the second generation characters, and Three Houses, where the Persona rip-off social aspect wasted a lot of time and had a huge effect on your characters' performance in battle if you skipped or half-assed it.

So in other words, Engage drastically trimmed down the non-gameplay fluff and focused specifically on improving the core strategy gameplay to be the best experience that it could be. It's more challenging, more in-depth, and more (no pun intended) engaging than any FE game in recent memory.

Oh right. Giving new weapon access can drastically boost some units because they have control over the weapon triangle. Or at least can mitigate their weaknesses some.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Somniel is much better than the monastary. Easily ignorable, with the only two important things being reforging and inheriting skills which are quick and easy.

No more monotonous weekly chores like 3H had

gunplagirl posted...

Oh right. Giving new weapon access can drastically boost some units because they have control over the weapon triangle. Or at least can mitigate their weaknesses some.

Exactly. The game lets you make all kinds of crazy builds, but still carefully balances everything so that you can't make anyone too broken.

mattymad posted...

Do I still have to run around a boring open world, talking to everyone and picking up shineis? I hated that about the last one.

No, the Somniel is a much smaller area to cover, plus most of the places you can go in it can also be accessed from the menu without actually having to walk there. The only "chores" you should do regularly are arena training battles (you can do 3 of them after each story, paralogue, or skirmish battle, there's no risk and they give you exp whether you win or lose) and checking on your animals (adopt dogs because they bring you forging materials and ignore all others) and those take a total of like 2-3 minutes to do each time. Aside from those, you'll occasionally visit the shops, the forge, the bulletin board, and the ring chamber, and everything else is optional fluff.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

There is a hub world, called The Somniel, with collectible items, but it's a much smaller place than the school in Three Houses and the collectibles are mostly food and gifts, which are optional and not actually needed.

Plus, everything in the Somniel can either be directly fast traveled to, or accessed through menus. Like if you have a new support conversation unlocked, instead of having to walk over to that person, you can just open up the menu and select "References" and start any support conversations from that menu.

It doesn't really lean into being a social sim like Three Houses did. Instead, there's a clear focus on being able to level characters and learn different skills and proficiencies by changing classes.