Fire Emblem Engage Part 3: Jean's Paralogue, Chapters 6-8

 I pick up where I left off on my first impressions of Engage. Again, there shouldn't be too many major spoilers at this point, but this review will discuss plot points, so be advised if you want to go in blind.

After starting the game, I saw that skirmishes were available- like in Awakening, they tend to become available upon startup or after completing a map. I took part in my first skirmish, against Firenese knights. It was a good opportunity to gain experience points and support with my units.

Speaking of supports, I notice that they're rather short, often totaling between 10-20 lines between the characters. That isn't necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, but perhaps it could contribute to the lack of in-depth

Jean's Paralogue

I decided to start with the first Paralogue. Paralogues in Awakening and Fates tend to involve unit recruitment (usually a second-generation unit), while Three Houses grants special battalions, Heroes' Relics and other rewards. Engage takes after the former pair, and this Paralogue is to recruit Jean.

When the Paralogue begins, Sean, a village healer, is tending to patients with his son Jean when the Corrupted attack. They set up a defense, but it's up to you to save them. I was successful in protecting most of the villagers, but one died, reducing my rewards. I also recruited Jean by talking to him mid-battle.

Unsurprisingly, Jean is a healer. His personal skill increases his growth rates by 10%, although it's unclear whether it's 10 percentage points, or a flat increase of 10%(for example, if he has growth rates of 10% in one stat and 50% in another, they'd go to 20% and 60% in the former case, and 11% and 55% in the latter). He's the opposite of Vander in that he's part of the Est archetype, a latecomer who joins at a low level but has fast stat growths. Unfortunately, he has low bases and a low starting level, and while his growths are increased, he never gains more than one point in a stat each level- the growth rates determine how likely a stat is to increase.

Chapter 6

After completing the Paralogue, I proceeded to Chapter 6. The bad news is that the ring the heroes are looking for has been stolen by bandits. The good news is that a girl named Yunaka can help find it... although she obviously seems less than trustworthy and drops hints that she's an assassin. Yunaka pulls Alear aside, ostensibly to forrm smaller groups for the purpose of stealth.

The map takes place at night, and only units with a torch or a special staff, as well as torches around the area, can illuminate the darkness. Unfortunately, after a few turns, the boss orders the torches to be snuffed out. Fog of war maps can be rather frustrating, since you can't tell how far away the enemies are, but they have no trouble finding your units.

Incidentally, one other thing I dislike about the UI is the "danger radius"- specifically the colors. The Danger Radius, when toggled on, shows all the attack ranges of enemy units, with shaded tiles showing you the spaces enemies can attack, and allows you to select certain units- for example, you might select a dangerous unit you plan on avoiding, like the Death Knight in Chapter 4 of Three Houses. Unfortunately, in Engage, the color of the collective enemy attack radius is in light purple, and the color of the attack radius for the enemies you've selected is light pink, making them unnecessarily hard to differentiate from one another.

Before long, Yunaka manages to kill the bandit who stole the ring and recovers it, along with the power of Emblem Micaiah. Micaiah has a variety of healing-based powers, from allowing the use of staves to reducing the wielder to 1 HP to fully heal all allies.

After the battle, Yunaka confesses that she was originally planning to sell the ring, but then heard Micaiah's voice. Alfred decides that as prince, he can't let her go unpunished, but accepts Alear's proposal to recruit her.

Chapter 7

The heroes arrive on the border to Brodia, and are greeted by a rather suspicious archer and his two companions. After shooting an arrow inches from Alear's head, the archer demands that the group identify themselves, and threatens not to miss the next time. After learning that he nearly shot Alear, the Divine Dragon, the archer  leaps into the air and grovels for forgiveness.  He turns out to be Alcryst, second prince of Brodia, and his companions are his retainers, Lapis and Citrinne. The group is on edge from the suspicious individuals in the area.

Unfortunately, things quickly get much worse when they get to the bridge, and find that Hortensia, second princess of Elusia, has taken the bridge while her older sister Ivy attacks the castle. Even worse, Ivy has Lucina's ring, and while she can't Engage, she can unleash the special ability- allowing nearby allies to fight alongside her. This ended up allowing her to kill Louis, whom I'd used to bait her out, and forced me to rewind time.

Hortensia and her retainers are forced to retreat, and she escapes with her ring.

The scene cuts to Veyle, who's fighting Corrupted in the village she's practicing, intending to get strong enough to protect her sister- Alear.

Chapter 8

I started up to find a skirmish available, but I found it was a bit too hard- the suggested level was 11 but my units were 10 at most. I'm not sure how the level is calculated, but it seems like a poor idea to make the skirmishes, which are ostensibly for level grinding, harder than the story missions available at that time.

I thus decided to check the next mission, and decided that since the suggested level was lower than my current level, I was ready for the next story mission.

At Brodia Castle, Diamant, crown prince of Brodia and Alcryst's older brother, greets the heroes and escorts them to his father, King Morion. Morion seems rather friendly, if a bit hardheaded and preoccupied with honor, and while he's willing enough to turn over Roy's ring, he throws it.

Unfortunately, Ivy and her army show up, and the player is forced into a defensive map. They must ensure that no enemies reach the castle gate, but there isn't a time limit- the goal is to defeat Ivy.

Luckily, I was able to play relatively defensively, luring enemy units in to kill them without overextending myself. Ivy is a bit more challenging, since she has Leif's ring, enabling her to always have the advantage if she is attacked.

After the battle, Ivy is forced to retreat, but not before dropping Leif's ring. Morion hears that Ivy and Hortensia's father, King Hyacinth, is at the border, and is determined to deal with him personally, ignoring concerns that he's walking into a trap and dismissing Diamant's fears that he'll die and force Diamant to take the throne before he's ready. Since there's no talking Morion out of this, there's no choice but to follow him to war no matter how disastrous the consequences might be.

My Thoughts Thus Far

The gameplay is continuing to grow on me. The maps are surprisingly small compared to Three Houses, but they generally have simple yet elegant designs.

I actually like that some of the bosses are turning out to be secondary antagonists, which I hope leads to more nuanced characterization for the villains (although considering that Ivy is shown with Alfred and Diamant in the opening movie, it's clear she, Hortensia and their retainers will join the heroes). The fact that Brodia routinely invades Elusia, ostensibly to keep the latter in check, resulting in the deaths of Elusian civilians, may indicate that Brodia is not entirely blameless in their conflict, just like how the previous Exalt of Ylisse waged a war against Plegia that caused great suffering to both nations in Awakening.