Fire Emblem Engage thoughts
Potential hot or lukewarm takes. This is an opinion post; not a comprehensive review to decide if this game will be a good choice for you.
Obvious warning for spoilers (and unmarked spoilers for previous games).
(Originally posted March 2023, finished November 2023 )
Table of contents:
Marked with ameans it's been recently updated.
First note - Second note - Third note (the localization)
What about the actual game? - Experiences when playing - So how about that cast?
Criticisms - Second playthrough thoughts
TL;DR
I've written things about my thoughts and feelings on Pokemon and plan on writing more, but to recap: I slowly fell out of love with Pokemon when the games went 3D, and basically divorced it after hating Ultra Sun & Moon. It sounds devastating to let go of something that was a part of my life since childhood, but it actually wasn't, since I (unintentionally) decided to replace that with Fire Emblem from 2014-onward (which was technically an interest that was piqued in 2008, but put aside until Smash 4). I've basically bought every main series game on release from Fates onward, and Engage was going to be no exception.
I slept through the Nintendo Direct, as I tend to. (I'm either asleep, occupied, or at work.) But when I watched the Engage trailer, I kept an open mind. And then I saw the cue that I'd probably like this game. I was neutral to the art and wrote it off as "not my thing", until...
Peak character design!
Okay, let's keep an eye on this!
First note:
(This part was originally filler to get the ball rolling on writing and bitching about stupid shit I saw online, but in hindsight it might be more relevant than I thought.)
I do not believe in the datamined "character ages" at all. They are not referenced in the actual character profiles or script (from what I've seen). It's functionally been dummied out.
If she's 20 then I'm 20.
Clanne and Framme are "16" but look 12. Both male and female Alear are physically "17" (chronologically 1000+, of course) but their respective designs look older and younger than that.
If Saphir is "35" (not much older than Titania or Catherine), then she looks like complete shit and must have smoked cigarettes and stood out in the sun every day since she was 12. But if she's over 50 (like the white hair and wrinkles imply - show, don't tell), then she looks great! Vander doesn't look too bad either, but being "45" sounds like a white lie on his end. He's not fooling anyone.
It's all bullshit! Despite what Twitter keyboard warriors say, there's no real reason to "believe" most of the tacked-on ages too, since it's not tied to a scrapped game mechanic where age would matter (consuming alcohol - no beer for the kiddies even in a video game) like in Shadows of Valentia, and even in Three Houses some unused ages were off (Seteth is 26? Really?). I do not consider the ages to be hard canon, or canon at all, if you ask me. You're still weird if you're lamenting that you can't marry-marry Jean or Anna though.
Interesting hill to die on, guys.
Second note:
This game is a (late) 30 year anniversary of the franchise, and focuses on gameplay over story or dating sim/matchmaker elements. I'm not a hardcore gameplay nerd, but when I was emulating some older games alongside recent releases, there was something missing; Three Houses was a bit of a breeze. Engage, on the other hand, kind of made me think in most of chapters, especially the end. If Three Houses is a story focused-game, then Engage is a gameplay focused-game. But not to the disonnance of Fates Conquest (more on that later). I'm also not hyperfocused on making everyone marry each other either. I was personally very happy that at least 80% of the dating sim/pairing-up elements were put aside*, because I felt like it was making the recent games weird in a bad way. (Everyone and their mom has criticized the issues and implications the marriage options in Fates and Three Houses to a lesser degree had. I'm not adding more.)
That said, there are S supports - with everyone. It's just not inherently romantic. If you couldn't tell by the screenshot posted earlier of a brave freedom fighter speaking out in the age of a tyrannical internet (*HEAVY SARCASM*), a lot of the options that would raise an eyebrow are platonic. The romantic options also apply to both iterations of Alear, so for the question of "is there same-sex marriage in this game?" - the answer is yes, technically.
Nerd rage and memes aside, I thought this support chain was cute.
The downgraded/optional otome elements are personally ideal for me, except for the lack of paired endings between characters besides Alear. That sucks! There were plenty of character interactions that I would've loved to see an epilogue of, platonic and otherwise. It digs in my issue with nu-Fire Emblem that the game's world revolves around My Unit at the expense of others. I thought Three Houses averted this well by having S supports exclusive to Byleth, while other characters can still have varied endings with each other, but Engage was a step back in this regard. I hope some kind of future patch update can fix this ... *sigh* Never mind. There's always fics like this.
*ETA: I didn't know that this was partially Treehouses's doing when I first played; I'm less supportive of this if it was made that way. My opinion is roughly the same either way; After the complete shitshow that was Fates, I've grown tired of the diet dating sim elements in nu-Fire Emblem even though I know it's here to stay. Engage trying to build on what Three Houses did by making S supports an optional bonus and not important to the story is ideal, but the way it was handled was frankly stupid and at the expense of other non-protagonist character relationships. One step forward, two steps back. Look, as long as there's no shoehorned kids ever again, I'm happy...
Actually, on that note...
Third note (the localization)
Feel free to skip this section if you're as sick of this topic as I am.
Yeah, well, that's just like your opinion, man.
If you want to know more about what the deal is with the localization besides my rude jokes dunking on weirdos, there actually are some differences (This is not a comprehensive list of everything!):
- Romantic S supports and supports with romantic/suggestive elements between other characters changed
- Compliments towards female characters or comments about their appearance changed (???)
- Some character quirks were changed or added (Louis went from being a himedanshi to a general "observer", Fogado went from not knowing how to swim to not knowing how to fish, Etie is slightly ruder and more of a tomboy, Pandreo howls)
- Gendered language for Alear was removed (This appears to be because both sexes of Alear have a near-identical script, but I could be wrong.)
- According to wiki, some characters have slightly different details in the Ally Notebook? Zelkov's deceased younger twin is "just" his brother, and Ivy's unique trait in the Ally Notebook was about her skin instead of being scared of ghosts. There's probably more, but I haven't looked hard enough.
- Etc.
Okay, so what do I think of this? Well, personally I've been a heavy skeptic of Treehouse since Fates was released. Back in 2015-16, I was optimistic about what Treehouse was going to do with Fates because what I saw of the fan translation did not look good. But then it turned out that the petting minigame is not that big of a deal to remove entirely, the buzz about male Corrin's support with Soleil was a game of telephone that made it sound worse than what it really was (not to mention Treehouse's handling of Soleil was just a different kind of homophobia), Saizo and Beruka's C support being changed for an unfunny joke was idiotic, and poor Rhajat's unique support chain with female Corrin was swapped out with male Corrin's creepy groomer dynamic. Among many more things... My skeptism continued in 2019 when I read more about how Three Houses had similar idiotic changes to its script.
I've been interested in this topic ever since I started going online; I read Dogasu's Backpack like a book daily when I first found it 20 years (!) ago. After the backlash over Fates, I started looking into it again. That's when I found out that this isn't a new problem, we're just more aware of these things. Especially now that the Switch isn't region-locked and many games have multiple audio settings. Radiant Dawn had an entire script from the game removed and rewrote plot details involving the Blood Pact - learning these things have actively discouraged me from continuing my playthrough! Lyn was originally 15 in Blazing Blade, but aged up to 18. 8-4's localization of Awakening gave Henry a completely different personality, and censorship in the DLC. "Dub personality change" and Woolseyism are known tropes outside of (and way before) Fire Emblem for a reason.
At the same time, I hesitated to voice my criticisms because I'm obviously not fluent and have to rely on fan translations for any peek into what's different about the original script. And I don't trust a lot of fan translators! For the last 8+ years I've noticed one too take advantage of the fact most people can't read the original script to insert their own bias, or even troll by posting fake translations. (Fake screenshots, even - I caught edited screenshots of Anna's S support CG circulated earlier this year.) Back when Three Houses was out, I actually wrote off the claim that same-sex marriage occurs in Dagda because it sounded "too convenient" - until it was mentioned in Heroes. Because how the fuck would I know if I can't read the Kanji, don't trust the fan translators, and Google translate sucks? Straight Japanese-to-English translations also come off as flat (Mystery of the Emblem and Gaiden have awful fan translations) and can even make zero sense in the context of culture-specific jokes or certain forms of dialect - which is why localization exists in the first place, onigiri becoming jelly donuts is just the most extreme form of it.
I don't understand some of these changes like romantic S supports being tweaked. Maybe it's taking into the account of those invisible datamined ages...? But even then, not only are the ages not brought up in the script, supports with characters that have the same datamined age as Alear (17) were also changed. I also don't understand why a T-rated game has suggestive lines removed, when the localization has jokes like that kept in. See Goldmary and Yunaka's localized chain - there's still a joke about underwear I got a laugh out of, even though other parts were rewritten. Even though I see this as the usual business for Treehouse, it didn't heavily impact my opinion of the game overall. If you caught this page at it's earlier stages, I added this section AFTER my second playthrough. The English localization is the version I played and the version I'm judging overall.
If you want to be neutral and weight the pros and cons, there are some things I liked about the localization. I used to be a hardcore "sub snob" my whole life, but I actually really like most of the English voice cast. Emphasis on most - Half of Fates voice cast were always nails-on-chalkboard to me (espcially Camilla, Jesus...), but I rarely skipped voiced dialogue in Three Houses and Engage. I also think it's hard to measure if changes that don't otherwise affect the gameplay are truly "bad" because it's a matter of opinion; I personally prefer Etie as a roided tomboy over the soft-spoken original, but doing this to Effie in Fates was weird and off-putting. Goldmary was also hit pretty bad by localization changes, but her support pool still made me laugh several times. I don't think there's a solution that will make everyone happy. I think all attempts to try to avoid things that might be potentially offensive backfired and is spineless, but I notice in some cases it's zig-zagged. A lot of self-proclaimed purists will blame any awkward dialogue on Treehouse, even in cases where it was an actual translation. For example, the line from Byleth and Bernadetta's B support about Bernadetta's father tying her to a chair for hours to stay quiet was patched out in a later update. People cried that this was Treehouse's usual censorship antics, but the line that replaced it was actually closer to the original script. So which change was bad?
If this is personally an issue for you, there is an uncensored mod of the game that aims to be a closer translation instead of a localization. I'm not going to link to it and I'm personally not a big fan of it (what I've read of it falls into "flat translation" territory), but it's not hard to find. If you don't want to mod your Switch or emulate, you can look at a spreadsheet of the script here. From what I've read of the various script differences in Fates, Three Houses, and Engage, both versions are mixed bags in different ways. Worth keeping a critical eye on.
What about the actual game?
According to an interview with the devs, Engage was developed around the same time as Three Houses but is intented to be a gateway for newbies. Since Awakening is a decade old now...oh no. However, if you ask me, this is NOT a good intro to the series, I'm not sure if I'd recommend it as one. The game itself is a decent jump into the series, but it's mostly regarding the Emblems that's iffy for complete newbies. Knowing about the source of an Emblem impacted if I cared for or used them. I didn't care much about Leif at all (and even if I was curious, Thracia 776 is pretty dated and due for a remake), but I did use Ike, Roy, Corrin, etc. Awakening was also a decent gateway for being pretty easy (to the point it got annoying on my replays) and not heavily reliant on past game throwbacks in the main story (knowing about Lucina's disguise as Marth or seeing Tiki as an adult are just bonuses), but Engage isn't.
When it comes to the story, I'd love more games with at least decent stories, but I thought this one was passable enough. When it comes to gameplay versus story, it doesn't have a Conquest-tier dissonance, in my opinion at least. It's not actually "good" by any means, but I appreciated that it's a refresher compared to the dense script, pages of lore, and in-universe politics that Three Houses had. I noticed the loudest criticisms against Engage are from people comparing to Three Houses; But Three Houses is a diversion of the Fire Emblem formula, Engage is a return to form. It's very much "not that deep", but still has moments that are interesting to contemplate or hilarious. There is more depth to be seen in supports than in the story, much like previous games. It reminds me of an upgraded version of the Gameboy Advance-era games (turns out this was intentional, too); Binding Blade is a personal favorite of mine, so that's a plus. It makes me really hope for some kind of GBA-era remake in this quality!
What I like about Fire Emblem is how it kind of reuses and subverts it's tropes and character archetypes, which there's plenty of here. I actually saw the Emblems as similar to Tokyo Mirage Sessions, except it's a main series game. I also assumed when the first trailer dropped that it would be a console version of Heroes, and while it does take some cues (the Tempest Trials and Veronica as a DLC Emblem), it's very much not. (Disclaimer: I haven't played Tokyo Mirage Sessions, I just watched a let's play. But it appeared to be closer to a Shin Megami Tensei game with Fire Emblem decorations than a true fusion.)
The Somniel is a diet version of the Monastery in Three Houses combined with My Castle in Fates, which is a good thing in my opinion. The Monastery was fun to explore...in your first playthrough. (I wanted to do a new playthrough this year to know what opinion on it now is, but the school phase is such a slog...) My Castle was also something I unironically liked in Fates, so I liked seeing a more first-person verion of it. Speaking of My Castle, Sommie is basically Lilith without the aborted plot twist, and the Somniel has some optional cute things like being able to adopt animals and...a gym... Also there's a platonic version of the skinship where you polish the Emblem rings???
As if Alear and Marth didn't already have a weird thing going on. Is Caeda okay with this?
I won't deny that I get a huge kick that this exists, but I only tried some of the minigames once early-on. The fact they're purely optional is a point in their favor, since I often skipped visiting the Somniel between chapters, and I never did anything more besides using the Arena, and using the Cafe and Recreation to support gring. I might try the other options on a future playthrough. I'm glad these don't add more slog, but they're really, really funny for those who want something like this.
Experiences when playing
I did some mistakes in my first playthough. The main mechanic that Engage introduces is units equipped with an Emblem can Engage (ya think?) with them to access unique skills and weapons. I made the completele mistake of seeing that as crutch and rarely did it. Dumb move, since Engaging is...quite literally a major mechanic, and using them builds up bonds. I only had a few bonds reach A rank. I also didn't bother with the Emblem paralogues before the twist at Chapter 11, so while that was something I could go back and do later in the game, it led to putting off finishing it. I also was frankly uncreative with assigning Emblems to units before Chapter 11, and stuck to the canon/implied (pairing the Emblem with the character on the chapter they were introduced with). Near the end I tried things out by doing the automatic assigning, with mixed, bordering on timewasting results. The most adventurous "divergent" Emblem I stuck with was Diamant+Ike, and Merrin+Lucina. My personal favorite is Veyle+Roy, which I didn't realize I liked...until the very last chapter. Oops!
I also rarely used the Time Crystal, I only used it if I made a mistake when placing a unit. I'm neutral to the Time Crystal, personally. I used emulator save states in old titles, what's the difference? I also thought it was funny how I ended up repeating a lot of mistakes I made in older games here; I would hold onto stat items and certain staves to not "waste" them, only to never use them. Also, yes, the bosses having Revival Stones is fucking annoying, but it was something I got used to early on.
When it comes to the cast, I initially thought it was bloated - Whenever a batch of new character was introduced, I benched half of them. A lot of the early game units I dropped by the middle of the game. I skipped a lot of supports as I got them out of lack of interest. But on second thought, this actually adds more replay value, especially when it comes to Emblem combos.
So how about that cast?
Like I said, I did bench a lot of them, which adds replay value on who I can give another chance next file. But my first playthrough did have some favorites and opinions.
Initial character highlights!
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I was surprised by how much I liked Alear! I opted for male Alear the first playthrough, but the goofy colors on both designs won me over from day one. Seeing him with just one color later on was just wrong. Despite being a part of the intentional cliche storm plot, I actually didn't expect Alear to be fully a Fell Dragon (I assumed half-Divine initially)! Too bad about the lack of dragon form, which was something I was really hoping to see... |
 Shout out to Merrin for being Mecore and the personification of what "cool" was to my tweenage self! Someone my 11 year old self would both want to become and befriend. (In fact...maybe she was the person I roleplayed Lupes with over Neomail 20 years ago!?) She's a great unit that I carried with me to the end and her interactions with everyone are so funny! My personal favorites are with Yunaka and Rosado. Lucina was assigned as her Emblem when randomizing, but they made a great match personality-wise. |
 Yunaka was someone I also brought with me to the very end; It was hard not to when she made a great first impression despite her minimal story involvement! Hearing positive things about her from someone who played a review copy early on was what warmed me up to her. I think her secret twist of being a former assassin was as subtle as a brick, but the way she tries to hide it is funny to watch. Also, Yunaka+Corrin is an overpowered combo, but it suits her well and she looks great when Engaged! |
  Fogado and Timerra were also in the camp of characters who I kept around until endgame for having a great first impression. I also love their designs! Shout out to their mother Seforia for having a lot of personality for an NPC, her involvement in their chapters made them feel a lot more lively as a family. Timerra+Ike is a great Emblem combo too, but later I ended up giving Ike to... |
 Diamant took me by surprise too - as I mentioned, with Binding Blade being one of my favorites, I immediately liked him because Roy was his canon Emblem. (But like I said, I prefer him with Ike. He looks great when Engaged with him.) Meanwhile, I just benched Alcryst (sorry!). One would immediately assume that he would have a "hot blooded" type personality, but instead I like that he tries to subvert his country's "might makes right" attitude and wants to make ammends with Elusia. (Side note, but did you notice that the only reason Morion is considered a good guy is because the game presents him that way... He kind of fucked things up at the beginning of the story...) Speaking of that: |
If you caught this page at its early stages, you would've noticed I had a very clear bias towards Ivy, who also took me by complete surprise personality-wise. Like many others, I assumed she would be another Camilla or even Loki (ew), and accepted that prospect. But the fact she's the opposite literally made me lose my shit!! I actually appreciate that she's a "non-toxic" counterpart to Camilla by sharing her archetype and backstory elements without being the complete wasted potential trainwreck Camilla is. Kind of reinforces the thought I had that maybe Engage is actually Fates done right, since both have equally Fire Emblem-tier average stories - Engage just doesn't hype itself up as something serious. Every single one of her supports are adorable and I wish her support pool was larger like most characters in Awakening had (for better or for worse). Her S support was terrible, but If you want to see more autistic screeching about Ivy in particular, click here. |
 Despite generally not paying close attention to most male characters, Rosado was someone I immediately liked a lot too! With how male gender noncomformity is continued to be either demonized or only tolerated in solely sexualized contexts in this social climate, it was refereshing to see have it not played for laughs in a recent media. I love that he's an artist and his supports are hilarious! (Seadall's had me on the edge of my seat, and of course he makes great friends with Merrin...proof she is #LiterallyMe) It's just a shame I wasn't sure who to Engage him with. (I didn't consider Erika until I noticed the special dialogue he had with her...) |
 I also like Mauvier, especially after defecting from the Four Hounds (who I grew to have a distaste for - more on that later). I actually found him pretty boring during the beginning and middle of the game... It's VERY clear that he's going to be a defector from the villains. His supports with other characters late-game is where he really shines. His epilogue was really disappointing for this reason, and makes me wish one of his A supports could've led to something different.
He's the father figure that Veyle deserved to have instead. Also, ouch at the Fell Xenologue... |
 Remember when I wrote that Sommie is basically Lilith from Fates without the aborted plot twist? Not to put a conspiracy tinhat on, but I think that Veyle might've been based off of Lilith just as much as she has parallels to Azura. I liked her on principle despite her appearance and evil version in the first half being corny, because I see her as what Lilith could've been if she wasn't designated to Corrin's pet fish with everything else hidden behind DLC. If only she and Alear got to have dragon forms... |
Criticisms
There are some I didn't like, of course.
Two stinkers and one disappointment.
 I was neutral to Zephia and the Four Hounds in general, but her attempt at a redemption near the end ironically soured me to her. Borderline Lusamine-tier bullshit. The Freudian excuse of just wanting a family all along (due to associating it with having subordinates and not knowing what one is like) rubbing me wrong aside, it also...completely flops at being sympathetic when she only does an at-death attempt of redemption to get back at Sombron for not fucking her (I'm serious). And the heart-to-heart resolution that maybe her real family all along was with her BDSM freak henchman, Griss, is... uh... Yeah. This isn't even "problematic fav" material, just completely fucking bonkers and hard to take seriously even for a game that isn't supposed to be deep in the first place. |
Let's be frank, Sombron also kind of sucks. Weird guy all around. Unlike Zephia, I don't think the lore dump about his lost Zero Emblem and being exiled to Elyos was an attempt at redemption or feigning sympathy (it's called out in-canon that it's no excuse for his actions); I honestly don't know what it is. It was presented way too late in the game to be meaningful at all to me. |
Lumera was another disappointment, despite it being pretty clear what her fate would be in the trailers. Repeated "dead mother" trope aside, the build up of her introduction followed by the drawn out death scene was almost comical. I also consider her to be a waste of a good design and lore potential. Another thing I was let down by is when selectively skimming the leaks, I saw someone report that Lumera is actually alive and was evil all along - an interesting twist I was actively looking forward to see, but in the actual game that wasn't the case. (The leaker was likely speedrunning and misinterpreted Lumera becoming Corrupted near the end as this.)
Well...there's always her unit in Heroes, right...? (I don't play Heroes LOL) |
Second playthrough thoughts
I'm working on it. Well, that was fun! I liked playing as Pepsi-kun, because he actually looked like an adult. Playing as Toothpaste-chan, on the other hand, was a bit uncomfortable because how young she looks... It makes the scenes with Marth even more awkward. Is this a 30th anniversary, or just a prolonged 40+ hour game of Caeda being cheated on?
So what went on this time? First, I can't believe Engage doesn't have a New Game+?! You think this would be the logical conclusion since Three Houses has a NG+ I utilized in future playthroughs, but no... This would've been useful for transferring SP, Emblem bonds to skip the paralogues, and donation levels for each nation in the Somniel, but this is such a weird oversight. I also didn't notice there's no global support log on the title screen until I started this run. I initially started this for support log purposes, but okay!!! I also ended up making some of the same mistakes as my first playthrough, I went through most of the game not using the Emblems until the very end! I just don't care about them. Who wants to bet I'm going to pull this on my future playthroughs even though I shouldn't? I also had to grind a bit before the end, because a lot of otherwise good characters lagged behind and had to be replaced by the late-game recruits. Fire Emblem's replayablity is also in the RNG; My first playthrough's Alear was really good! In the second, Alear is average but Diamant of all characters turned out weak after awhile.
My feelings on the story slightly shifted after I finished the final chapters, but early on I forgot how fucking boring it is until Yunaka shows up. (Thank you queen!) It also just doesn't get interesting after Chapter 11 (you know what happens then LOL)*. The game in general is boring at the very beginning, average in the middle, but I think it does actually get good near the end. My blurb about Ivy in the first playthrough mentioned that maybe Engage is actually Fates done right; After replaying the last few chapters, I think I was onto something here. I'm dead convinced Three Houses gave most players higher writing standards than what we're used to from Fire Emblem (even though Three Houses had its own issues... Two routes are near-identical and Crimson Flower was rushed). No offense, but Fire Emblem was never a series known for it's story!!! (With some exceptions, Path of Radiance was decent.) Every fucking game reuses the same tropes and plot points, its strength was mostly in the character's supports. Which Engage does again.
To continue on with my point that Engage is Fates done right, not only is because Engage didn't hype itself up as something serious like Fates did or split between three separate games, but the "family" aspect of the story was done a lot better. Even if I still think the way family was handled for the Four Hounds was stupid and batshit insane, for the heroes it makes a lot more sense. Every royal family is a pair of siblings (and for Brodia we even see Diamant and Alcryst's cousin, Citrinne) with different relationships with each other and their parents. Unlike the "twist" that Corrin isn't related to the Nohrians or the Hoshidans but is related to Lilith and Anankos, the reveal that Alear is actually Sombron's child and Veyle's long lost sibling, not Lumera's biological child didn't cheapen things at all IMO. (That's where my conspiracy tinhat I mentioned before that Veyle might be based off of Lilith comes from, by the way.) Especially near the end, we find out that Lumera lost her family, but found Alear. (Interestingly, despite Lumera being an obvious expy of Mikoto, I noticed potential parallels with Rhea. It makes me think Rhea wouldn't have gone off the deep end if she had what Lumera got.)
Some slight twists in the end I also were surprised by again. On replay, the foreshadowing that Alear is actually adopted are subtle but more obvious in hindsight. Another thing I didn't see coming was Alear being revived as a Corrupted before becoming the 13th Emblem. The maps near the end of the game are also the most creative and fun. The first time I thought Chapter 24 was a pain in the ass, but I loved it on replay. (Fuck Chapter 25 though...) In the very last battle, the Dark Emblems were a huge missed opportunity. I could figure out who most of them were, but not being able to actually see them made me not care to try to unlock the special dialogue with their respective Emblem. After checking on Youtube, it just feels more like an Easter Egg to not see Emblem versions of the main villains from each game.
*It was a huge cop-out how you get back the Time Crystal a chapter after it was taken away, though. I don't know if higher difficulties pull that (I play on normal mode), but I really wasn't a fan.
Now for the part you're probably waiting for...
Character highlights on replay!
Lemme at them!
Etie is sadly one of the biggest disappointments on both playthroughs. I love her as a character, but she's absolutely awful as a unit. I guess her bodybuilding and |
... Good thing I managed to quickly replace her with Alcryst, huh? Alcryst actually caught my attention on my first playthrough because he resembled a male Noire, but I destroyed his poor self esteem by benching him for Diamant. Now he's a MVP in several chapters while whining about how much he sucks. Yeah, okay, I actually found his self-hatred gimmick grating at times. He's more likable to me than Takumi (who I'm neutral to), but sometimes I wished other facets of him were explored more often instead of being a weird combination of Noire and Bernadetta. Unlike other people, I think it's a good thing he doesn't have a traumatic backstory as an explanation why he's Like That™. While a tragic backstory would probably be handled better than his female counterparts (you know why), not every character needs a dramatic reason for acting a certain way. Engage has plenty of other characters who canonically have shitty lives. |
Hortensia was one of my favorites on my first playthrough, I just slacked on writing my thoughts on her (lol). Her voice kind of grated on me a bit, but I actually thought her design works in a "teenage girl trying hard to be cute/trendy" way. She has some of the best serious supports with Ivy (of course), Alear, and Veyle. I also appreciate how her support chain with Lindon of all characters has an interesting lore dump about Elusia not mentioned anywhere else (to my knowledge). I needed a good healer in this run, since a lot of characters fell behind and got benched. The advice online that Micaiah is the perfect Emblem for her worked. Why the fuck did I give it to Saphir last time?!
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Jade is someone I absolutely regret benching the first time, because her character is 100% up my alley. I fucking love the dissonance that she appears to be a serious stoic knight but writes slapstick comedy novels and I'm obsessed with every support where an excerpt was read out loud! She's easily my favorite Brodian character (sorry Amber). I ended up having to bench her near the end because she fell behind, but I still did some support grinding in the Somniel with them just because they're so good. Check them out if you haven't already, Jade is now another character who I wish had an even bigger support pool.
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I actually used Goldmary on my first playthrough, but I didn't bother checking out her supports. Then when playing on my lunch break, I unlocked her C support with Alear... What the FUCK is going on here? I ended up binge watching all of her supports and... I found her narcissism charming and laughed out loud during several moments. No, her Freudian excuse that she was popular in her village until being sent to Elusia's academy, where she had competition with people better than her is incredibly shallow and unsympathetic, but she amuses me anyway. I am so fucking sorry. Is my taste in women this horrifying in real life too? You betcha!
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I hate that the first thing people have to say about Saphir is her age. I'm guilty of it too, so I'm going to rectify it. Invisible game data aside, Saphir is incredibly fun and likable for someone who shows up pretty late. Just like Flavia and Basilio in Awakening, huh? (Except Saphir has a proper support pool...) Her support pool has a good mix of funny and serious stuff (check out Lindon's...). Honestly, what made her shoot up higher up as one of my favorites was how she laughs if you give her the horse manure item! We stan a cool old lady who can take a joke!
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Are you thinking what I'm thinking? I know, I know... I'm a complete fucking dumbass for benching Kagetsu. He's honestly really good as a unit! Possibly overpowered, but I'm not complaining. It's no surprise that I love Ivy's retainers just as much as I love Hortensia's. His supports are pretty good, being ESL and the culture clash leads to some fun moments. I just wonder more about Pale Sands...
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What is with me and benching good characters on my first playthrough? To be fair, this has been a trend for me in every Fire Emblem. My second playthrough is usually the *best*. Zelkov is an incredibly *mecore* character and I'm kicking myself for passing over him initially. He's both very funny (in a *subtle* way) and has a pretty *serious* backstory on par with Yunaka's. On that note, I ended up benching Yunaka this run and replaced her with him!
Wait a minute... Why am I using the S support CG for his picture?! Yep, it's *true*... I really thought I was going to *only* give the Pact Ring to Ivy. However, when I play games, I do not see the protagonist as myself. (It's important to try to empathize with experiences besides your own, you know...) Maybe *I* only like Ivy, but Alear has someone else in mind! (Ivy's S support sucked...) And I have to say Zelkov's support chain was so *charming* and the progression from C-B-A to S felt so natural. I'm personally not a fan of their paired ending at all, but I love how Alear picks up on his *speaking quirk*, and Zelkov drops his when he's around Alear. I really am saving the best and most shocking revelation of my second playthrough for last, huh... |
Too Long; Didn't Read
Engage was honestly a fitting and very cute tribute to the franchise as a whole, even if I have a significant amount of gripes. Sales have fizzled out since release, so I'm not sure what this means in the long run. I think living in Three Houses' shadow is why critcisms against Engage are harsh right now, but my unspoilered experience led to being extremely pleasantly surprised despite low expectations. It's also not as big on social media as Three Houses, which you can chalk up to many factors: The art style (lol), not having a complex canon to create internet slap fights about (also lol), or no free advertisement via Smash DLC. (There is a Warioware cameo, though.) I predict down the line that Engage will be vindicated by history like previous games that were considered "bad" (ex. Radiant Dawn, Awakening). I thought the ride was fun, it was a big highlight of my year. I don't think it's a good jumping point for anyone completely new to Fire Emblem (try Sacred Stones, Blazing Blade, Path of Radiance, or Awakening), but I do recommend and think it's worth a shot for people who have played previous games pre-Awakening.
Thanks for reading! I fucked up hardcore with this page by leaving it half-finished in public for half a year, but I hope the final result was decent or entertaining enough. If you're wondering why there's nothing about the DLC here, it's because this page got long enough. I didn't finish it and have the same technical issues with it as everyone else, but I'm not comfortable making a verdict on it until I finish the last chapter and watch the character supports. Any DLC thoughts will be moved to a separate page if it happens. The same applies to the manga adaption.