[Franky Family]

I've only watched the trailer, but am unsure about it tbh. Never seen something as vibrant and colorful as Fire Emblem Engage but it's almost that way in an obsessive manner, if you get me?

Like ALL the colors seem to be dominant colors and very bright. It makes me wonder if it was designed specifically for the OLED. Because this is by far the brightest game I have ever laid eyes on outside of Cruise'n Blast if you just watch the trailers for it, but look here and you'll see it's not as crazy looking as the trailers will make it seem



The hair coloring is extreme though, thought it was really tacky to endorse Nintendo Switch JoyCon colors directly onto their hair, like we aren't already supporting the Switch by playing the game in the first place? Just seems like a very ridiculous promotional decision; to blatantly advertise WITHIN the game itself?

What do you guys think?

 

[Donald Duck]

I wasn't aware about the JoyCon thing. That doesn't seem fair at all.

Regarding the graphics, I like the style but understand the modern anime look can be a little derisive.

 

[Dacon]

As far as anime style games go, it looks quite generic imo.

 

[JORMBO]

I like the style and bright colors. I think the perfectly divided hair colors on the main character look dumb though.

 

[Zefah]

Danger hair vibes aside, I do like the look overall. Certainly more interesting than Three Houses.

 

[DESTROYA]

Watching this on my AMOLED Galaxy Tab S6 looks stunning , colors really pop . As for the art style its meh.
Not a fan of the generic Anime look

 

[teezzy]

Fire Emblem would benefit greatly from a grim realism aesthetic

 

[HE1NZ]

Looks like anime

 

[Zefah]

Fire Emblem would benefit greatly from a grim realism aesthetic

I'm all in for a Dark Souls Tactics game.

 

[Neil Young]

I'd go with gay or fucking gay. I also hate all their names. "I am Bartholemeu Bodorf Higgingbotham." Oh shut up! Just get me to the next battle, I don't give a shit about what some three named douche is having for a snack. I used to love this series.

 

[DonDonDonPata]

Fire Emblem would benefit greatly from a grim realism aesthetic

Advance Wars Days of Ruin is the best entry in the series; Nintendo could pull off something similar with Fire Emblem, but they just want to chase after the soy anime look

 

[Snes nes]

Fire Emblem would benefit greatly from a grim realism aesthetic

They could do both there's gritty anime like berserk out there. id like them to stop with the anime shtick for sure though. I'd like actual gameplay like a real multiplayer aspect would be amazing addition

 

[Bonfires Down]

Sorry to say that the anime style they are using is a complete turn off. And I like anime but it just doesn't look good here.

If they could do it at this level of fidelity though, that would change my mind:

 

[Stilton Disco]

I think the art style and character designs are pretty generic but I love the abundance of colours and their use in an overall bright, vivid pallet. I wouldn't want it in every game, but it's far nicer than the old piss filter we had in games back in 7th gen.

I'm honestly more concerned by the apparent walking back of character interactions and romance I've heard reported. This looks like total weeb bait, so taking away the thing that made Fire Emblem a success, that that audience will be buying it for, seems like pandering to the vocal minority of complainers, who want a return to the approach that was going to get the series permanently cancelled for low sales.

 

[Mickmrly]

I'm honestly more concerned by the apparent walking back of character interactions and romance I've heard reported.

Me too. Its one thing to want there to be more realistic interactions, although Three Houses only had a few that weren't written well, but going to the bare minimum of interactions is just limiting the game experience for those who do like it. It wasn't really forced on the player to go through the cutscenes between characters in Three Houses or Three Hopes, and I don't know why just having a feature exist is so annoying in some players' eyes.

In regards to the art style, I feel it is definitely a step down after the more realistic anime look in Three Houses/Hopes. Generic Anime style has been done to absolute death, and combined with the lack of character interactions, it just leads to creating a very generic game experience.

 

[Stilton Disco]

Me too. Its one thing to want there to be more realistic interactions, although Three Houses only had a few that weren't written well, but going to the bare minimum of interactions is just limiting the game experience for those who do like it. It wasn't really forced on the player to go through the cutscenes between characters in Three Houses or Three Hopes, and I don't know why just having a feature exist is so annoying in some players' eyes.

In regards to the art style, I feel it is definitely a step down after the more realistic anime look in Three Houses/Hopes. Generic Anime style has been done to absolute death, and combined with the lack of character interactions, it just leads to creating a very generic game experience.

I definitely think it's something that should be entirely optional.

Like you can have the classic permadeath on or off, a purely combat focused, story light 'Arcade Mode' or such like for those that don't want to bother with the power of love and friendship tropes seems perfectly easy to add in.

But the fact is that, since Awakening, the 'Waifu' gimmick is the series unique selling point and source of success.

Without it, you're looking at a pretty uninspiring looking, generic anime TRPG, and there are better options out there for the hard-core fan of the genre, ones that don't have as big of a budget and need the sales of that more mainstream audience to justify their existence.

 

[Lady Marmalade]

Me too. Its one thing to want there to be more realistic interactions, although Three Houses only had a few that weren't written well, but going to the bare minimum of interactions is just limiting the game experience for those who do like it. It wasn't really forced on the player to go through the cutscenes between characters in Three Houses or Three Hopes, and I don't know why just having a feature exist is so annoying in some players' eyes.

In regards to the art style, I feel it is definitely a step down after the more realistic anime look in Three Houses/Hopes. Generic Anime style has been done to absolute death, and combined with the lack of character interactions, it just leads to creating a very generic game experience.

Why don't you just play some anime jrpg if you need that fix, of which there is an over abundance on the Switch already. Three Houses is the outlier here, I'm glad they've rolled back crow barring all that absolutely tedious childish crap in this new entry.
If you think without those elements Fire Emblem is just a generic game experience, maybe you don't actually like what Fire Emblem is all about in the first place?

 

[Lady Marmalade]

Without it, you're looking at a pretty uninspiring looking, generic anime TRPG, and there are better options out there for the hard-core fan of the genre, ones that don't have as big of a budget and need the sales of that more mainstream audience to justify their existence.

I'd love to know what these titles are actually, I'm a huge Fire Emblem fan (apart from Three Houses) and always on the look out for alternatives inbetween releases.

 

[Mickmrly]

Why don't you just play some anime jrpg if you need that fix, of which there is an over abundance on the Switch already. Three Houses is the outlier here, I'm glad they've rolled back crow barring all that absolutely tedious childish crap in this new entry.
If you think without those elements Fire Emblem is just a generic game experience, maybe you don't actually like what Fire Emblem is all about in the first place?

I do like the Fire Emblem series as a whole, I enjoyed playing the first one when it was released on the switch for Christmas a couple of years ago. I'm just not a fan of rolling back extra features that expand the game lore/world. Devs these days are sticking to less and less core features and pushing the Fire Emblem series to embrace that as well would just be a shame.

I do think that going back to core gameplay could work every second release or so, but I think that the expanded features revolving around character support conversations should be kept for the series, even if not in every entry.

Also if they are going to go back to the core gameplay, they should at least keep the aesthetic style that the series is known for. The series has always had realistic looking characters with middle ages Europe designs, and having generic bright anime designs is just not Fire Emblem to me.

 

[Stilton Disco]

Why don't you just play some anime jrpg if you need that fix, of which there is an over abundance on the Switch already. Three Houses is the outlier here, I'm glad they've rolled back crow barring all that absolutely tedious childish crap in this new entry.
If you think without those elements Fire Emblem is just a generic game experience, maybe you don't actually like what Fire Emblem is all about in the first place?

Almost no one liked what Fire Emblem was about in the first place. That's why they had to try something new.

 

[Sean Mirrsen]

Fire Emblem: N-GAGE.

Honestly I'm at the point where animesque character designs in these games start blending for me a bit. I don't mind the wacky hair coloring (and I don't see joycon colors in it at all), but in that gif @Bonfires Down posted if the two characters didn't have different hair colors I'd never be able to tell which is which.

It's really more of a series length problem, if anything. When the same designers with the same inspiration keep trying to make characters for dozens of games, they're bound to start having ones that look the same. Part of why I like Super Robot Taisen games is that I can immediately tell characters apart, because almost every series has very differently styles.

 

[Sean Mirrsen]

Almost no one liked what Fire Emblem was about in the first place. That's why they had to try something new.

Nobody liked what, animesque tactical RPGs?

 

[Lady Marmalade]

Almost no one liked what Fire Emblem was about in the first place. That's why they had to try something new.

Not sure if serious..

 

[Stilton Disco]

I'd love to know what these titles are actually, I'm a huge Fire Emblem fan (apart from Three Houses) and always on the look out for alternatives inbetween releases.

Off the top of my head, last year there was Triangle Stratergy, Mario and Rabbids 2, Marvels Midnight Suns and the Front Mission Remake. I'm certain there are loads more, its a very popular genre.

 

[Lady Marmalade]

I do like the Fire Emblem series as a whole, I enjoyed playing the first one when it was released on the switch for Christmas a couple of years ago. I'm just not a fan of rolling back extra features that expand the game lore/world. Devs these days are sticking to less and less core features and pushing the Fire Emblem series to embrace that as well would just be a shame.

I do think that going back to core gameplay could work every second release or so, but I think that the expanded features revolving around character support conversations should be kept for the series, even if not in every entry.

Also if they are going to go back to the core gameplay, they should at least keep the aesthetic style that the series is known for. The series has always had realistic looking characters with middle ages Europe designs, and having generic bright anime designs is just not Fire Emblem to me.

Thing is Fire Emblem is a tactical game fundamentally. I think watering it down as they did with the previous entry made for a more tedious extrapolated experience, and also getting rid of the battle triangle to presumably make it more accessable made the battles a lot less fun and challenging. The game was a chore, and easy to complete. You could never say that about Fire Emblem in the past.
I agree about the art style issue, that anime shit is just very tired looking

 

[Lady Marmalade]

Off the top of my head, last year there was Triangle Stratergy, Mario and Rabbids 2, Marvels Midnight Suns and the Front Mission Remake. I'm certain there are loads more, its a very popular genre.

None of those games are like Fire Emblem, maybe Mario + Rabbids at an absolute push, but thanks anyway.

 

[Stilton Disco]

Nobody liked what, animesque tactical RPGs?

Not sure if serious..

Sorry, you are both aware Fire Emblem was on the verge of permanently being binned due to low sales and not being profitable right? That Awakening and its focus on Persona like character interactions and romance saved it by bringing in an entirely new and absolutely massive audience?

This isn't some secret or debated idea, the actual studio has been very open about how this all went down, and that classic Fire Emblem just did not have a big enough audience to justify making games for.

 

[Bonfires Down]

I'd love to know what these titles are actually, I'm a huge Fire Emblem fan (apart from Three Houses) and always on the look out for alternatives inbetween releases.

If you don't mind indie Symphony of War Nephilim Saga has been well recieved.

 

[Lady Marmalade]

If you don't mind indie Symphony of War Nephilim Saga has been well recieved.

Thanks, I might also give that a look.
Seems like this new Fire Emblem : Engage is right up my street, proper fan service. Excited to get back to proper tactical battles with minimum tedious fluff.

 

[Lady Marmalade]

Sorry, you are both aware Fire Emblem was on the verge of permanently being binned due to low sales and not being profitable right? That Awakening and its focus on Persona like character interactions and romance saved it by bringing in an entirely new and absolutely massive audience?

This isn't some secret or debated idea, the actual studio has been very open about how this all went down, and that classic Fire Emblem just did not have a big enough audience to justify making games for.

Well Awakening wasn't too forced on all that jrpg shit, I remember playing it and it was easily ignored. Maybe that is the right balance, and Engage is going more in that direction. Three Houses took it way too far, and also removing the battle triangle made for a very boring easy game.

 

[Sean Mirrsen]

Sorry, you are both aware Fire Emblem was on the verge of permanently being binned due to low sales and not being profitable right? That Awakening and its focus on Persona like character interactions and romance saved it by bringing in an entirely new and absolutely massive audience?

This isn't some secret or debated idea, the actual studio has been very open about how this all went down, and that classic Fire Emblem just did not have a big enough audience to justify making games for.

If a game isn't profitable it doesn't mean it's a bad game. I thought the GBA Fire Emblem titles were excellent, they're right up there with Shining Force, Super Robot Taisen, and Disgaea as my favorite tactical RPGs of the time.

 

[Stilton Disco]

If a game isn't profitable it doesn't mean it's a bad game. I thought the GBA Fire Emblem titles were excellent, they're right up there with Shining Force, Super Robot Taisen, and Disgaea as my favorite tactical RPGs of the time.

See that's getting into the weeds of subjectivity that is personal taste.

The objective fact is, you were in a tiny minority.

That doesn't invalidate your preferences, nor am I calling you wrong personally, because I too was in that minority, but that doesn't change the reality of what the game has become, nor who the target audience now is for the series, because Awakening 100% did change that irrecoverably.

And I personally have no problem with it. I loved Awakening, and I wouldn't say the games that followed have matched it, especially in terms of just characters and their interactions, but I still think the last 3 games have all be as enjoyable as those before Awakening overall. That's my particular taste.

Above all else, I want them to keep making Fire Emblem games, and to do that, the waifu and anime slice of life weeb shit is absolutely NEEDED. You don't have to like it, and I 100% think it should be entirely optional, but we know what happens without it, and that is simply that not enough people think the games are good enough to buy to justify making them at all.

Basically what die hard old fans see as window dressing, is in fact vital structural supports. Their building a new game without them, or even just with insufficient amounts of them, should be cause for alarm from the entire fan base, because we know from past experience that this series needs that soppy bollocks.

 

[Sean Mirrsen]

Basically what die hard old fans see as window dressing, is in fact vital structural supports. Their building a new game without them, or even just with insufficient amounts of them, should be cause for alarm from the entire fan base, because we know from past experience that this series needs that soppy bollocks.

See... 'vital structural supports' for Fire Emblem, is the tactical RPG bit. You said it yourself, that without these soppy bollocks, the game wasn't profitable. That's very different from a bad game, or an undesirable game, by your own admission - it just appeals to a minority. But why not use the momentum the series gained with the soppy bollocks, and try to forge a 'classic' game again, appealing to the core tactical RPG base? Character interaction can stay, in fact it was already present in the GBA games. You had characters talk to each other on the field, even talking to enemy characters, and that was a lot more interesting than just CYOA visual-novel cutscenes.

If a new 'classic' game fails, it's just back to the sappy bollocks for the next game. But if the series doesn't try to go back to its roots every so often, it's just going to lose those roots eventually, and become nothing but a character interaction VN with tactical combat elements.

 

[Stilton Disco]

See... 'vital structural supports' for Fire Emblem, is the tactical RPG bit. You said it yourself, that without these soppy bollocks, the game wasn't profitable. That's very different from a bad game, or an undesirable game, by your own admission - it just appeals to a minority. But why not use the momentum the series gained with the soppy bollocks, and try to forge a 'classic' game again, appealing to the core tactical RPG base? Character interaction can stay, in fact it was already present in the GBA games. You had characters talk to each other on the field, even talking to enemy characters, and that was a lot more interesting than just CYOA visual-novel cutscenes.

If a new 'classic' game fails, it's just back to the sappy bollocks for the next game. But if the series doesn't try to go back to its roots every so often, it's just going to lose those roots eventually, and become nothing but a character interaction VN with tactical combat elements.

You're basically just proving my point, you see it as optional, when it's what the game is now built on.

You could probably remove the combat entirely at this point and have little to no impact on what most fans think of the game.

There is absolutely zero potential benefit from removing the love and friendship guff. The rest of the game won't improve, sales and the potential for future content won't improve. The only possible outcome would be for fewer people to rate the game as good, lower sales and potentially fewer future titles.

Hoping the devs will actively take away what 99% of their players like, so that the 1% who pine for the older, objectively less enjoyable way of making these games are exclusively catered to, is both spiteful and self destructive.

 

[Lady Marmalade]

You're basically just proving my point, you see it as optional, when it's what the game is now built on.

You could probably remove the combat entirely at this point and have little to no impact on what most fans think of the game.

There is absolutely zero potential benefit from removing the love and friendship guff. The rest of the game won't improve, sales and the potential for future content won't improve. The only possible outcome would be for fewer people to rate the game as good, lower sales and potentially fewer future titles.

Hoping the devs will actively take away what 99% of their players like, so that the 1% who pine for the older, objectively less enjoyable way of making these games are exclusively catered to, is both spiteful and self destructive.

A quick peruse on the Resetera thread about this game has a substantial number of posters who approve of the greater emphasis on the tactical aspect over the relationship stuff. And those fuckers love all that anime shit so I don't think it's a given that you could just remove the actual Fire Emblem game itself and run with a relationship simulator on it's own. Why even bother calling it Fire Emblem at that point.
As I said before this new entry looks like the balance is reconfigured for the better.

 

[lock2k]

I love cel-shaded shit and the sceneries are beautiful but their faces look like newgrounds flash games.

 

[Stilton Disco]

A quick peruse on the Resetera thread about this game has a substantial number of posters who approve of the greater emphasis on the tactical aspect over the relationship stuff. And those fuckers love all that anime shit so I don't think it's a given that you could just remove the actual Fire Emblem game itself and run with a relationship simulator on it's own. Why even bother calling it Fire Emblem at that point.
As I said before this new entry looks like the balance is reconfigured for the better.

I have never seen a discussion of this topic ANYWHERE that doesn't have very vocal old fans repeating the exact same sentiment.

They had stuck with the series through thick and thin and absolutely will not shut up about the changes that saved the series being a mistake that needs to be reigned in. And more power to them for it!

I'm also not saying I want them to get rid of combat, I'm saying that, given how many millions more people that were brought into playing the games precisely because of the dating sim components, it logically follows that the audience that would be OK with a hypothetical minimising or removal of combat must be massively larger than the known to be very small audience that enjoyed the games without it.

Old school fans think you can minimise the lovey dovey wankery without any negative effects because they don't value that content.

Sales, reviews, fan creations and mindshare since Awakening all point to that being the thing the vast majority of Fire Emblem fans value the most. There is no evidence to support any other conclusion.

 

[Sean Mirrsen]

I have never seen a discussion of this topic ANYWHERE that doesn't have very vocal old fans repeating the exact same sentiment.

They had stuck with the series through thick and thin and absolutely will not shut up about the changes that saved the series being a mistake that needs to be reigned in. And more power to them for it!

I'm also not saying I want them to get rid of combat, I'm saying that, given how many millions more people that were brought into playing the games precisely because of the dating sim components, it logically follows that the audience that would be OK with a hypothetical minimising or removal of combat must be massively larger than the known to be very small audience that enjoyed the games without it.

Old school fans think you can minimise the lovey dovey wankery without any negative effects because they don't value that content.

Sales, reviews, fan creations and mindshare since Awakening all point to that being the thing the vast majority of Fire Emblem fans value the most. There is no evidence to support any other conclusion.

So? If people want a dating sim spinoff, let them have it. But Fire Emblem is a tactical RPG first and foremost, no matter what its 'current' fanbase may think. Just like the brony fanbase upsurgence didn't change MLP from being a kids' toyline. A tactical RPG-only Fire Emblem is a more valid FE title than a dating sim, even if it tanks in revenue. And bringing more people towards the tactical RPG side of it is worth the expense, if it comes to it. Because some people may have bought into Three Houses for the character relations aspect, and discovered they like the tactics too. And they won't mind playing more tactics with those characters, even if the relationship aspect is reduced. That's how a series develops itself.

 

[Stilton Disco]

So? If people want a dating sim spinoff, let them have it. But Fire Emblem is a tactical RPG first and foremost, no matter what its 'current' fanbase may think. Just like the brony fanbase upsurgence didn't change MLP from being a kids' toyline. A tactical RPG-only Fire Emblem is a more valid FE title than a dating sim, even if it tanks in revenue. And bringing more people towards the tactical RPG side of it is worth the expense, if it comes to it. Because some people may have bought into Three Houses for the character relations aspect, and discovered they like the tactics too. And they won't mind playing more tactics with those characters, even if the relationship aspect is reduced. That's how a series develops itself.

I'm sure there's fans of the original Fortnite similarly still fuming about the Battle Royale becoming Epic's sole focus.

Things change, games evolve as a series go on, and what constitutes a Fire Emblem 'first and foremost' HAS changed, whether you like it or not.

For the vast majority of the series fans, how the games have been since Awakening is what the games are first and foremost, and those elements added in then are core to the series success. Whether you and other older fans are able to accept that fact, and that your tastes are kind of an irrelevant footnote in the history of a series that only found it's footing and became a truly beloved series after it changed to soemthing you didn't want it to be.

It's sad, and I empathise, but as a long time fan that loves the games now just as much if not more than they used to be, and want to see them continue to be a success so I can get more of them, I can only look at what is potentially happening with Engage possibly moving away from what most fans want and worry for the series future.

 

[Lady Marmalade]

I have never seen a discussion of this topic ANYWHERE that doesn't have very vocal old fans repeating the exact same sentiment.

They had stuck with the series through thick and thin and absolutely will not shut up about the changes that saved the series being a mistake that needs to be reigned in. And more power to them for it!

I'm also not saying I want them to get rid of combat, I'm saying that, given how many millions more people that were brought into playing the games precisely because of the dating sim components, it logically follows that the audience that would be OK with a hypothetical minimising or removal of combat must be massively larger than the known to be very small audience that enjoyed the games without it.

Old school fans think you can minimise the lovey dovey wankery without any negative effects because they don't value that content.

Sales, reviews, fan creations and mindshare since Awakening all point to that being the thing the vast majority of Fire Emblem fans value the most. There is no evidence to support any other conclusion.

Thing is, Awakening had nowhere near the wanky anime levels as Three Houses.
I think that's the point, it was pushed too far and the overall game suffered as a consequence. As I say, it's just about rebalancing things back a bit, and that's what they looked to have done here.

I think it's just a little bizarre take to think everybody who liked the new direction the series has gone would be theoretically ok with sacking off the actual core gameplay. What would be the point of the relationship simulator otherwise? I thought it's purpose was to support the development of your team for battle. I know people are suckers for all that shit but there's a limit to far you can take it.

Anyway the proof will be in the pudding when we can compare sales figures for this new entry with Three Houses. Then we'll know for sure.