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Fire Emblem Engage |OT| More breaks than at the Officers Academy

Mayar

Neo Member
Played for about 4 hours so far. The combat system is pretty normal, not fantastic, but it plays nice. But everything else is 2-3 steps back compared to the previous part. I especially want to look at the people who wrote both the story and the dialogues, they are at such a low level that I don’t understand at all how someone could look at it, read it and approve this script for release.
 

Gabbelgak

Member
I don't understand the point of the fortune telling. Doesn't seem to do anything.

I don't think anyone is playing relay. Every time I try to take over a play there is no data to join and nobody has joined mine. It does seem that it's made for people at end game, maybe just not many people this far yet. Does anyone know if it matches based off difficulty as well? I'm only playing on normal, up to chapter 18.

I love not worrying about weapons running out of charges in this and the old weapons still feel useful due to weight differences allowing more strikes.
 
I don't understand the point of the fortune telling. Doesn't seem to do anything.

I don't think anyone is playing relay. Every time I try to take over a play there is no data to join and nobody has joined mine. It does seem that it's made for people at end game, maybe just not many people this far yet. Does anyone know if it matches based off difficulty as well? I'm only playing on normal, up to chapter 18.

I love not worrying about weapons running out of charges in this and the old weapons still feel useful due to weight differences allowing more strikes.
Where is it even? I got 1 ticket and no clue what to do with it.
 

Gabbelgak

Member
Where is it even? I got 1 ticket and no clue what to do with it.
Tower of Trials in Somniel. It is not level scaled, don't do it when you get your first ticket.

The Tempest Trials are adjustable difficulty and can reward you the upgrade stones for the ring specific weapons also. I've only played one of those, you need to do 3 fights back to back to get rewards other than a small amount of experience
 

gradient

Resident Cheap Arse
Just going to put some advice in here for anyone new to the series or unsure of how to get ahead in the game.

There's an important strategy in Fire Emblem games that most people miss - exp optimization. Learn to spread the available exp from each fight out across your units and make sure that you kill all of the grunts before taking the objective so as to maximize your exp gains from each battle.

A common trap in FE games is the Jagen - that is a character you start off with who is already promoted or high level. This unit seems awesome at first because it can power through the enemies, but in actual fact it ends up being an exp sink. Because it's already high level / promoted it doesn't get very much exp from killing the early game grunts (often as little as 1 exp) whereas if you'd let your main character and other weaklings get the kill they'll get a much more substantial chunk of exp (50+). Fall into the trap and lean on your Jagen and your party will end up underlevelled and struggling throughout the game and later missions will become nigh impossible. Instead use your Jagen to soften up enemies but allow your weaker units to make the kills. Let the Jagen take the hits and block enemy movement while your weaker units pick away at them from a distance.

Vander is the Jagen in FE: Engage. Don't let him get the kills - just let him soften things up so the others can land the kills.

This same strategy applies throughout the games. Let your higher level characters weaken enemies but have your lower level ones pick up the kills. This ensures EXP gains are maximized and your team levels up and gets strong enough to curb stomp enemies late game. You should be thinking about this process in your unit selection and battle positioning. Yes, it requires a bit more though (and risk putting the weak ones near the front) but it pays off in the long run.
 

NanaMiku

Member
I don't understand the point of the fortune telling. Doesn't seem to do anything.

I don't think anyone is playing relay. Every time I try to take over a play there is no data to join and nobody has joined mine. It does seem that it's made for people at end game, maybe just not many people this far yet. Does anyone know if it matches based off difficulty as well? I'm only playing on normal, up to chapter 18.
Where is the fortune telling? I'm still at chapter 13

Yeah, the relay seems broken. I already made a new relay but no one has joined. Tried take over a random relay but can't find anything.
 

ANDS

King of Gaslighting
I'm having trouble thinking of a game I've played with a worse story than this. Everything from the plot to the characters to the dialogue is awful. It's incomprehensible that people were paid to come up with this

I think I'm actually going to go back and finish THREE HOUSES for this exact reason. I played FEA and I don't remember it being as bad as this. Like everything else I'm totally down for, but the writing absolutely kills my interest in continuing on with this game. LIKE FETH has some cheese for sure, but the overall tone of this game is just nothing but regression.
 

The_hunter

Member
I noticed in the language options you can pick between:

English ( North America )
English ( Europe )

I'm curious what's the difference.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
God damn why Louis is so strong? Almost no enemy get through to him and I didn’t even put any emblem rings to him other than common bond ring.

The game story is not most interesting but game its absolute blast to play, I hooked on its gameplay loop.
 
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Synless

Member
So is this a mainline game in the series or one of their many spin offs…? the heroes thing is throwing me off.
 
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Astral Dog

Member
So is this a mainline game in the series or one of their many spin offs…? the heroes thing is throwing me off.
Yep its a brand new mainline game(the last spinoff was Three Hopes released on June, a Warriors style Three Houses retelling/sequel)

what Heroes thing, the Engage mechanic? this game's gimmick, the characters use rings to fuse and talk with a hero from past games(called Emblem) , kinda if they were those BLADE things from Xenoblade 2.

It has a brand new storyline and artstyle with no connection to Three Houses or other games(other than the Emblems), ENGAGE is designed to be an entry point to the series and newcomer friendly
 
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jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Just started but I'm on chapter 4. As others have said, the story is pretty shit. Battle is good so far, but waiting for it to open up a bit.
 

Gabbelgak

Member
Where is the fortune telling? I'm still at chapter 13

Yeah, the relay seems broken. I already made a new relay but no one has joined. Tried take over a random relay but can't find anything.
It unlocked somewhere around there. After you do the mission with the dancer in it. Has to be night to use it.
 

Celcius

°Temp. member
Oof, sounds like it was a good thing I skipped this based on what everyone is saying about the story.
 

NanaMiku

Member
The story so far is pretty simple, it's more like your typical anime story. I enjoyed it though, there are some interesting things in the support story. The gameplay is fun though. The battle in campaign is pretty diverse so far, so no complain. I really like the skirmish variation, you can choose exactly what you want to farm in skirmish. Too bad the money/exp you get is not much.

God damn why Louis is so strong? Almost no enemy get through to him and I didn’t even put any emblem rings to him other than common bond ring.

The game story is not most interesting but game is absolute blast play, I hooked on gameplay loop.
I rarely used Louis, he's one of the underleveled in my party lol. Currently trying to improve the level of my least used characters

It unlocked somewhere around there. After you do the mission with the dancer in it. Has to be night to use it.
From Googling:
What you’re actually interested in is the ‘Thinking Of’ section — the ally listed in this section will have a greater chance to increase Support with the listed ally. This changes between every battle, so don’t fret if it lists someone that you’ve sidelined due to character score or how they fit in your army.

Seems it'll help you increase support for least used characters.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I rarely used Louis, he's one of the underleveled in my party lol. Currently trying to improve the level of my least used characters
Thats RNG level up for you, but that makes your multiple playthrough interesting. My Louis is basically my tank, other than mage and boss, no other enemy can scratch him and he does lot of damage.

Also hard difficulty in Engage is much better balanced compare to Three Houses, that game hard difficulty was almost I was playing normal, it pretty much cake walk.
 
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NanaMiku

Member
Thats RNG level up for you, but that makes your multiple playthrough interesting. My Louis is basically my tank, other than mage and boss, no other enemy can scratch him and he does lot of damage.
I think my tank is Chloe (my fav character). Almost evade all attacks. Even when it hit, the damage is usually under 10. She also can heal, so it's pretty strong lol
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I think my tank is Chloe (my fav character). Almost evade all attacks. Even when it hit, the damage is usually under 10. She also can heal, so it's pretty strong lol
Unfortunately for me she is very weak in my playthrough and tried use her as much as can but that RNG level up kinda screwed me.

I'm still in chapter 7 if can believe it because I'm doing lot of side battles. I just did the Tiki DLC, her map is very interesting and kind of tough.
 
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NanaMiku

Member
Unfortunately for me she is very weak in my playthrough and tried use her as much as can but that RNG level up kinda screwed me.

I'm still in chapter 7 if can believe it because I'm doing lot of side battles. I just did the Tiki DLC, her map is very interesting and kind of tough.
Fortunately, in new game plus, you can choose fixed level up stats

I'm interested in the DLC because of Tiki. Can't afford it right now. Hopefully it'll go on sale later on
 

NanaMiku

Member
Everything I’m seeing online says there is no new game plus??
My bad, I thought it's gonna be a new game plus. It seems they only give you new option when starting a new game for the stats upgrade

When you finish the game at least once, you'll be given the option to pick how the growth rates are used to determine stat boosts for a new game. There are two options: Random and Fixed, the latter of which is the default for Maddening.


Random, which seems to be the default for Normal and Hard difficulties, means that the growth rates are the chance a stat increases. Even with a high growth rate, the randomness means there's a possibility a stat won't increase even after several level-ups.


Fixed uses growth rates as points toward a stat increase, so it tends toward the average stats. Given the Mage Boucheron example above, after gaining 4 levels with a 25% total Mag growth rate, he may get anywhere between 0 to 4 Mag with Random, but should get 1 Mag with Fixed.
 
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Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
My bad, I thought it's gonna be a new game plus. It seems they only give you new option when starting a new game for the stats upgrade


[/URL]
Holly f**ck that! That means in fix mode none your character will exotically strong and this by default in Maddening mode which it will make the fight that much tougher.
may-god-have-mercy-on-us-all-michael-bryce.gif
 

Mitsurux

Member
Really been enjoying my playthrough so far. Only one slight nit pick i have is:
All of the Story missions, Paralogs and Skirmishes use "Base level:" to kind of give you an idea of the difficulty of the event.
When you promote you characters to "Advanced classes" their levels are then set to level 1 (for that class) which can make it kinda tricky to figure out if you are under or over leveled

How does a Level 17 Base class compare to a Level 2 advanced class? (I don't remember running into this in 3 houses...but it been awhile since i played it)
 

Gabbelgak

Member
Really been enjoying my playthrough so far. Only one slight nit pick i have is:
All of the Story missions, Paralogs and Skirmishes use "Base level:" to kind of give you an idea of the difficulty of the event.
When you promote you characters to "Advanced classes" their levels are then set to level 1 (for that class) which can make it kinda tricky to figure out if you are under or over leveled

How does a Level 17 Base class compare to a Level 2 advanced class? (I don't remember running into this in 3 houses...but it been awhile since i played
Pretty sure it's just adding 20. Advanced 8 assumed you've had 28 levels basically
 
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Framme is a demon in my game. She even beats Louis in the arena. Does 1 damage a hit but gets almost 8 attacks to his 1 and dodges anything
 

TwiztidElf

Member
^ yep. Completely agree with you two above.
I have a love/hate relationship with FE as I'm a long suffering AW first fan. But I've played every FE since Path of Radiance, and yeah, I'm really enjoying this a lot. Finished chapter 5.
I'm enjoying the cheezy cliched story and dialogue as it suits the game. And the characters and artwork are fantastic.
Japanese VA of course, but due to my history with the franchise and because I'm an old fart with no patience, I jumped straight in on Normal/Casual, and I must admit I am finding it very easy.
 
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NanaMiku

Member
^ yep. Completely agree with you two above.
I have a love/hate relationship with FE as I'm a long suffering AW first fan. But I've played every FE since Path of Radiance, and yeah, I'm really enjoying this a lot. Finished chapter 5.
I'm enjoying the cheezy cliched story and dialogue as it suits the game. And the characters and artwork are fantastic.
Japanese VA of course, but due to my history with the franchise and because I'm an old fart with no patience, I jumped straight in on Normal/Casual, and I must admit I am finding it very easy.
I think the difficulty curve is just right. It was quite easy in the beginning, but now in the middle part, it's quite challenging. You'll need to think things through, not just bruteforce it.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I think the difficulty curve is just right. It was quite easy in the beginning, but now in the middle part, it's quite challenging. You'll need to think things through, not just bruteforce it.
Yeah, I think the hard difficulty in Engage is much better balanced than Three Houses. Hard difficulty in 3Houses is very much normal difficulty, maddening is only way get proper challenge in that game.

Engage hard difficulty is more push back that makes the fights really fun.
 
Normal is fun but feeling a bit too easy for me. I'm putting in Framme on skirmishes by herself now and having her stand in some bushes. Everyone dies lol.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Made it to chapter 5, unlocked the animal adoption thing. Hope it's optional, I don't want to have to spend all my time managing dumb animals.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Its completely optional, other than dropping few ingredients for food, its not all important.
Thanks. This is the difference between me and my wife when it comes to gaming. I'm like: "I hope this dumb shit is optional" and she's more like: "I have to rescue every animal and care for it and spend a bunch of time playing with them and making sure they're all okay and happy".

:messenger_grinning_sweat:
 
Thanks. This is the difference between me and my wife when it comes to gaming. I'm like: "I hope this dumb shit is optional" and she's more like: "I have to rescue every animal and care for it and spend a bunch of time playing with them and making sure they're all okay and happy".

:messenger_grinning_sweat:
Just warp to orchard and farmland. Warp out. Minimal time wasted
 

NanaMiku

Member
Its completely optional, other than dropping few ingredients for food, its not at all important.
Well, food is pretty important if you want increase the support level


BASED Nintendo of America, save the children!


Fm9aF1yWIAAo7xX


They only highlight the relationship, but I'm pretty tired with the EN localization of Nintendo games. So many different character names between the original and localization. Also some dialogues are really different in the meaning
 
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It might not have deepest story but the actual SRPG gameplay is fantastic, in my opinion one of the bet in the series.
It is the best combat in the series. And I can't believe it but even the story manages to hit a few beats effectively once or twice. And the visuals are the best in the series.
 
I just finished chapter 6 and am playing on Hard/Classic

  • Story is just about tolerable but barebones and uniquely generic. Dialogue is extremely barebones and basic. It's like the devs tried to make the narrative as painstakingly bland as possible.
  • Characters aren't that interesting either. I like the evil witch chick, Etie maybe Vander to an extent as well. The rest are meh. The characters seem very one dimensional and feel like Isekai side characters who do nothing but worship the main character.
  • I'm going to piss a lot of people off but the gameplay feels underwhelming, especially so compared to how people were hyping it up. First of all, there is zero tension because this game gives you so many rewinds. At least in 3H each rewind was valuable so you still felt reluctant to waste each charge knowing it could soon run out and then if you fail again then its over. Here, you get an overabundance of them. 10 whole ass fucking rewinds. It's just way too easy and I might have to set a "no rewinds" rule for myself to make the game more challenging. Even besides rewinds the game still feels easy. It requires a lot of thinking and playing the long game but still feels very easy to see maps through with no casualties. You get lots of overpowered units like Louise who just tanks everything or Celica which can one shot most enemies. I don't even have to engage most of the time. Units seem to just stay in one place and don't close in on you. It could get more difficult since i'm only on chapter 5 but I doubt the difficulty will increase enough to counteract the 10 rewinds you get. Despite the lack of difficulty I still find it somewhat fun planning how to win battles with no casualties and as efficiently as possible to maximise EXP for the units I want to focus on. I find new mechanics such as Engage and Breaks fun to take advantage of. I find the changes to weapon damage questionable however. Sure it gets rid of pesky micromanaging but that also removes a layer of depth from the combat where you had to consider if it is worth using a more powerful weapon which has very limited uses on someone.
  • Visuals look nice. I appreciate that they went full on anime. I prefer it to the usual half anime style the series is known for.
  • OST absolutely bangs. Love the techno influences and the different renditions of the intro used for combat encounters.
  • Thank god we're back to overworld paths for activities/battles and not whatever the hell that calender shit in 3H was.
  • Somniel seems much more tolerable compared to three houses terrifyingly-tedious approach to the hub. Looks much cooler, less bloated and the activities don't seem as forced.
  • Intro kicks ass
The game is alright so far imo. Better than three houses but not on the same level as Awakening or Fates.
 
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gradient

Resident Cheap Arse
First of all, there is zero tension because this game gives you so many rewinds. At least in 3H each rewind was valuable so you still felt reluctant to waste each charge knowing it could soon run out and then if you fail again then its over. Here, you get an overabundance of them. 10 whole ass fucking rewinds. It's just way too easy and I might have to set a "no rewinds" rule for myself to make the game more challenging.

Did that as soon as I saw the feature.

IMO rewinds are as much a cop out as playing without perma-death. A lot of the fun in FE games comes from the tension, risk and need to think through your moves properly or face the consequence (character loss or restart). Rewinds take that penalty away and remove some of the stakes.

You're on Hard/Classic, might as well go the extra mile and set yourself a no rewind rule. The game is more enjoyable that way.
 
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Did that as soon as I saw the feature.

IMO rewinds are as much a cop out as playing without perma-death. A lot of the fun in FE games comes from the tension, risk and need to think through your moves properly or face the consequence (character loss or restart). Rewinds take that penalty away and remove some of the stakes.

You're on Hard/Classic, might as well go the extra mile and set yourself a no rewind rule. The game is more enjoyable that way.
The thing is if I set a no rewind rule I might just end up backtracking on it later if there is a difficulty spike that actually pushes me to use them. I feel like maybe later on the game will be more balanced around rewinds. But I don't know for certain if that will happen or when it will.
 
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Mitsurux

Member
If anyone want to try a Relay battle or a Outrealm Trial here are codes for 2 I created as a test of how this works.

Relay Trial - 2PNF97B

Outrealm Trial - M6M3FC
 

flying_sq

Member
I played through the first 3 chapters, and got to the 4th. The writing is horrible, pretty sure this was made for children. if I recall, the older games were much more serious in tone. I was kind of excited to jump back into the series, but my god.
 
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