Fire Emblem Engage Part 1: First Impressions

Yesterday, I picked up Fire Emblem Engage.  I played through the first three chapters and started the fourth, so I will share my thoughts in this blog. This blog entry won't have any major spoilers beyond what you might have heard of in promotional materials, but later ones about Engage might, and I will warn you when those entries delve into spoilers.

Startup and Character Creation

After starting up the game, an opening movie plays, showing most of the main cast, the Emblems in action and teasing future events. The song seems to be about the world, but I personally prefer Three House's "The Edge of Dawn," albeit in part because its significance only becomes apparent after you complete the game.

The moment the game begins, you're given the task of creating your character, and have to choose a few things.

1. Your "form"- in other words, your gender. Since I chose a female character, I will write the first impression accordingly.
2. Your character's date of birth. The significance of this has yet to be seen; in Awakening and Fates, you got gifts on the real-world day of your character's birthday, but in Three Houses, it was the in-game day.
3. Your name. I will refer to the protagonist by her canon name- Alear.
4. The difficulty- Normal, Hard or Maddening. I decided to start with Hard.
5. Whether characters are lost forever if their HP reaches 0- in Classic, they are, but in Casual, they aren't.

After all those choices are made, the game begins.

Prologue

Alear is introduced fighting her way through a hallway full of seemingly undead enemies. She fights alongside an image of Marth- or rather, Emblem Marth, as the game calls him- and is accompanied by several allies with Emblem allies. There are a total of 12 Emblems in the game, including Marth, Sigurd and Celica.

Alear passes through the door and comes face-to-face with a mysterious and seemingly inhuman man with a third eye in his forehead, resulting in the game's first actual battle. Like the tutorial battle with Xander in Fates or Validar in Awakening, it's only you (or your avatar and Lord in Awakening) against a single enemy unit. The battle is rather simple- walk up to the edge of the enemy's range, attack the unit, and then use Engage- a command to draw upon the power of your Emblem- to use your strongest move and finish him off.

While defeated, the villain doesn't seem too put out, appearing to believe that Alear has already lost. The game cuts to Alear waking up and finding herself in what looks like a luxurious bedroom, watched over by two children- the twins Clanne and Framme. An old knight named Vander comes in and explains that he and the twins are part of a long line of stewards who have watched over Alear for 33 generations, or about 1,000 years. 1,000 years is a common period of time in Fire Emblem- the amount of time since the First Exalt defeated Grima in Awakening, since Garreg Mach Monastery was established in Three Houses and now, since Alear went to sleep.

Incidentally, unlike Byleth from Three Houses, but like Corrin from Fates, Robin from Awakening and Shez from Three Hopes, Alear speaks on her own accord, and has no apparent dialogue choices. While characters often address Alear as "Divine One," they will sometimes use her name, but the voice actors will not say it aloud.

Having Alear speak is a nice touch that helps give her some personality, and her voice actress is good at conveying her full range of emotions.

Chapter 1

Vander and the twins escort Alear to her mother, Dragon Queen Lumera, but the group comes under attack by the undead, known as Corrupted- basically highly similar to the Risen from Awakening in that they're undead foes you can mow down without feeling any guilt or wondering why they're fighting for the enemy. Alear is hesitant to fight and wants to retreat, but the twins step in to battle the Corrupted and end up out of their depth, so battle ensues.

This battle is a somewhat more in-depth battle and more of a proper tutorial than the prologue, not to mention one in which you actually have to think about what you're doing. For example, Vander tells you to go into the thicket, which grants a defensive bonus to units inside, and attack the Corrupted nearby.

Unfortunately, even with the advantage of the terrain and the Weapon Triangle (which I will discuss more later), Alear still can't finish off the enemies without help from Vander. Vander is part of a Fire Emblem archetype known as the Jagen- a strong unit that is usually mounted that joins at a high level and/or with good base stats, but tends to have poor growth, meaning they're usually quite useful in the early game but fall behind the other units over time... at least in theory. Of course, that's a topic for another time, and the point is that Vander will do much of the heavy lifting early on.

Alear and Vander pass through the clearing to where the twins escaped, but more Corrupted arrive. Alear begins to despair, but she hears Emblem Marth's voice and calls upon his power, unleashing the Emblem's might.

Vander and Alear reunite with the twins, but their joy is short-lived as even more Corrupted arrive. All seems lost until a dragon arrives and, after being mistaken for another enemy for a moment, destroys the Corrupted.

The dragon lands and shapeshifts into human form before revealing herself as Lumera, Alear's mother. Alear is grateful for the help, but doesn't remember her mother, and Lumera attributes the memory loss to a wound Alear suffered in battle 1,000 years ago. After a brief conversation, Lumera takes Alear and her retainers to safety in Lythos Castle.

At this point, it's obvious that Lumera is more than a little similar to Mikoto from Fates- a woman of high status who is the mother of the protagonist, whom the protagonist does not remember as their mother, and who dies before the game truly begins.

After the battle, you can talk to the various characters for their thoughts on recent events, which can occasionally result in them having interesting things to say. You can also pick up items around the area, although they don't seem to be all that useful. Once you're finished, you can leave.

On the way to Lythos Castle, Lumera reveals that the continent of Elyos is a ring-shaped land with four kingdoms- Firene, Brodia, Elusia and Solm- as well as Lythos, the kingdom they are in, and Gradlon, domain of the Fell Dragon. The Fell Dragon Sombron, who appears to be the same individual Alear fought in the prologue, was defeated a millennium ago, but as his binding weakens, his resurrection nears.

Chapter 2

Inside Lythos Castle, Lumera tells Alear about the Corrupted- the undead minions of Sombron. While Sombron is coming soon, Alear is safe for now, as Lythos Castle is protected by the spirits of Divin Dragons. Lumera reveals that there are 12 Emblem Rings in all, but only six are present in the castle vault- the others are entrusted to the other kingdoms. Their power can only be called upon once every thousand years, and as one might guess, that time is now.

Lumera then holds a training battle, pitting Alear, Vander and the twins against herself and some minions she created. They remind Alear of the Corrupted, but Lumera assures her daughter that they're different. Vander's uneasy about fighting his queen, but realizes that Lumera has ordered him to do so, and thus obeys.

The first phase of the battle introduces two key concepts in Fire Emblem. The first is the weapon triangle- swords defeat axes, axes defeat lances and lances defeat swords- but with a twist. If a unit is attacked with a weapon they're weak against, they're "broken" and can't act until the end of their next combat sequence. It's an interesting twist on the series staple mechanic, which was largely absent from Three Houses (although some units can get a skill that gives them advantages if they wield a weapon against an enemy it's strong against). Incidentally, all the Corrupted in Chapter 1 wielded axes, while Vander had an axe and Alear had a sword, so the player never had to deal with potentially being at a disadvantage.

Speaking of counterattacks, archers make their debut in this chapter. As in most Fire Emblem games, archers can attack from two- and only two­- spaces away, allowing them to hit melee opponents without being countered, but at the same time, they can't counterattack if attacked in melee.  The system is fundamentally good, but I preferred how Three Houses gave archers longer range, enabling them to be more competitive against mages.

In Fire Emblem, characters can use abilities that grant various bonuses, from a flat bonus to a statistic to abilities that activate in certain situations(Vantage allows units with less than 50% health to attack first if they're attacked). Characters have a unique personal ability and can equip abilities from classes they've mastered, allowing for you to customize your character while ensuring each unit remains special. Unfortunately, there only seem to be three ability slots in this game, with another three for Emblem abilities, which may limit how much this mechanic comes into play.

After Lumera and her minions are defeated, the battle is far from over. She goes from the southwest corner of the battlefield to the far north and sets up a new phase of the battle. This time, she calls upon Emblem Sigurd, enabling her to travel much father than usual and gain a bonus against mounted units. Like how enemies in Three Houses could equip battalions and use Gambits against you, some enemies (presumably bosses) can use Emblems in Engage, which is a good touch.

Chapter 3

At night, intruders attack the castle, aiming for the vault in which the rings are stored, and Alear and her retainers spring into action.

The battle starts off with rather unfavorable odds. The enemy not only has numbers on their side, but they have flying units, too, which hover to the side of the causeway and can swoop in to attack you. At this point, it seems as though Engage is more difficult than Three Houses, or at least has a steeper difficulty curve.

After the first turn, though, reinforcements arrive- Prince Alfred of Firene and his retainers Boucheron and Etie- respectively a lance-wielding cavalier, an axe-wielding fighter and an archer. The latter is especially convenient, as archers gain a massive damage boost against flying enemies. The games with fixed class progressions tend to give you characters you need around the time you need them, often when introducing new mechanics.

At the end of the map is a boss- an armored unit. While in most games, armored units have a bad reputation for being slow, not strong enough to make up for that weakness, here, it's different. They not only are strong defensively but are immune to being broken under most circumstances. Despite this, they have two weaknesses- their poor Resistance stat(which makes magic effective) and taking a damage bonus from anti-armor weapons. Since the latter isn't available, using a mage is necessary to take down the boss.

Alear enters the vault and goes face-to-face with a mysterious individual, who attacks her with purple lightning. All seems lost until Lumera intervenes and saves Alear but is mortally wounded herself. It is revealed that Lumera had great power but spent it over the years to help Alear awaken and is now dying. Before Lumera passes, she entrusts Alear with Emblem Sigurd and charges her with the task of recovering the others. Alear and Lumera's retainers then mourn her loss.

Like Mikoto, Lumera is a parental figure who's killed off too early in the game to have all that much emotional impact on the player. Compare Jeralt from Three Houses and Greil from Path of Radiance, Byleth and Ike's respective fathers, who die at major turning points in the story. Perhaps she, like Mikoto, had to die early on, since her death kicks off the primary conflict, but it's a shame that there isn't more to her character.

In the aftermath of the battle, Alfred speaks with Alear and reveals that he and his retainers traveled to seek help for their kingdom of Firene, which is under attack. Alear agrees to assist them and sets out. Alear also finds a strange gem on the ground from her encounter with the mysterious intruder and takes it with her.

Somniel

Before the story resumes, the player is introduced to Somniel, a floating fortress that is the cast's home base, like Garreg Mach in Three Houses or "My Castle" in the Deeprealms in Fates. The castle has a variety of facilities but isn't nearly as critical to character growth as the monastery, which had activities you could take part in to increase characters' skills. Their absence is a shame, but then again, it may not be necessary since Engage has a simpler character growth system than Three Houses(although that, too, is a shame).

While in Somniel, you can have support conversations with your units, similar to how support conversations unlock at the same time as you get your base in Fates. At this point, I had succeeded in unlocking Alear's C Supports with Vander and Framme, so I was able to view them. Unfortuntely, the initial support conversations struck me as nothing particularly special.

By talking with the characters and earning support ranks, you can unlock additional pages of information about them. It's a good touch that encourages developing supports, but the character information is decidedly less interesting than Three Houses, in which character pages not only revealed characters' likes, dislikes and hobbies, but also important information about their lives.

Your only option is to head straight to the next chapter. There seem to be no auxiliary battles (for level grinding) or Paralogues (side chapters focusing on certain units) at this point, which is unfortunate, but may change. Fates introduced Paralogues after the route split, but in Three Houses, they only started appearing in Chapter 7.

Chapter 4

The chapter begins with you arriving in a town under attack. Alfred's sister Celine(a mage) is under attack, and her retainers Chloe (a pegasus knight) and Louis(an armored knight) urge her to get to safety. Celine meets up with Alfred and Alear and asks them to help her retainers.

The battle begins with three additional units under your command, but unfortunately, Louis and Chloe are far away. The game helpfully gives you a hint that Chloe's high resistance makes her good against mages, but she's weak against archers, while Louis' high defense and lack of vulnerability to arrows makes him good against archers but his low resistance makes him struggle against mages.

Celine wields Emblem Celica, which has magic-oriented abilities. In addition to her standard spells, she can teleport and attack far-away units with Warp Ragnarok, an ability that the game encourages you to use to help Celine get to Chloe and Louis. She can also use Echoes, an ability that allows her to attack twice for half strength, enabling her to finish off two weakened enemies; it's a good ability in theory, but highly situational.

After your first turn, you get the ability to turn back time, similar to the Divine Pulse from Three Houses or Mila's Turnwheel from Echoes. I personally preferred Divine Pulse's implementation, since you receive the ability in Chapter 2, your first real battle after the prologue(when Byleth first gains the ability at the end of the battle), but all the battles between the prologue and Chapter 2's mission are practice battles in which you do not lose units permanently, even on Classic. Additionally, since you get the ability on Turn 2, you are unable to rewind back to Turn 1 if you make a  mistake right off the bat.

In my case, I may have ended up making a mistake on the first turn, since I found myself unable to get Celine or her retainers out without losing one of them, and ended up losing the mission. Luckily, you are able to restart the mission with the experience you gained during the battle, which makes it slightly easier next time. I chose that option, but since it was getting late and I'd played enough for now, I decided to call it a night.

My Thoughts So Far

Fire Emblem Engage's greatest strength is the Engage system, which not only augments the user's stats and abilities, but gives them abilities that can turn the tide of the battle. In theory, it's slightly similar to the Battalions from Three Houses, but each Emblem is more distinct and unique. I wonder if they're only usable by royals, but that may not necessarily be the case. 

The graphics are excellent, particularly the expressive 3D models, and the battle animations are quite well-done. I'm not as fond of the music thus far, but perhaps it will grow on me over time, the best soundtracks are being saved for later in the game, or both.

Unfortunately, the story is the weakest part thus far. At this point, it's a bog-standard "save the world from the revived ancient evil" plot that comes off as a rehash of Awakening, but Awakening had more interesting elements such as the time travel aspect of the plot.

The characters are rather one-note thus far, and it doesn't help that the ones who showed up in Heroes' Forging Bonds event only showed their most basic personality traits(e.g. Alfred's obsession with building muscle, Chloe's love of food). By comparison, at this point in Three Houses' story, the house leaders have started hinting at their hidden depths, such as their reactions to Lonato's rebellion. It also helps that in Three Houses, monastery conversations gave characters a chance to show development outside of battle.

I may be unfavorably comparing Engage to other installments, particularly Three Houses, thus far, but keep in mind that these are only my first impressions. My opinion of a game changes over time, and sometimes changes long after I'm finished, so stay tuned to see how the rest of the game changes or reinforces my opinions.