In just 10 short years, the fire emblem The franchise has gone from the brink of ruin to overwhelming success. It is a series with a rich and rich history, and Fire Emblem Engage it’s about celebrating that legacy while looking to the future. It strikes the core of what it does fire emblemThe gameplay of so attractive after all this time.

Fire Emblem Engage takes place on the continent of Elyos, which is divided into a handful of different countries. You play as Alear, a deity also called the Divine Dragon. A thousand years ago, you sealed the Fallen Dragon, Sombron, but after sleeping for a millennium, you wake up with no recollection and throw yourself into the middle of the war.

It’s a pretty numbers-based setup of good vs. evil, but that feels intentional, as if Engage is trying to take advantage of the narrative style of the older fire emblem games.

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Just to be clear, Engage it doesn’t have any of the social simulation elements that made three houses so unique; the “Support” system between your units is much more simplified this time around. Having said that, Engage it still manages to highlight a diverse group of weird and wonderful characters.

Just one look at Alear’s Trident toothpaste hair shows that the character designs in Engage they’re wildly colorful, but many characters have personalities to match. From the thief Yunaka, who greets people by saying “Hiya Papaya,” to a priest named Pandreo, who howls like a wolf during almost every conversation, there’s plenty of charm to go around.

The supporting conversations also add flair to the cast of characters and generally focus more on humor than drama. The delightfully over-the-top voice acting only makes things more surreal and entertaining.

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The great new trick for both. participate The story and gameplay come in the form of Emblem Rings. These rings are relics inhabited by the spirits of ancient warriors from previous games, such as Marth and Ike, and while they play a role in the story, they are also the key new gameplay mechanic.

participate The game uses the same tried-and-true style of the previous entries, with turn-based battles taking place on a tactical grid. Each unit falls into a different class, and the The triangle of weapons from past games returns (Axes are weak to swords, swords are weak to spears, and spears are weak to axes.)

Crest Rings enter the mix as unique items that you can equip any character. During battle, you can “Pledge” the ring to become a powerful new form that merges your character with the one inside the ring. This not only powers up your character, but opens up access to unique skills and abilities.

For example, Engaging with Celica gives that character the ability to dash across the battlefield to launch a surprise magical attack against a single enemy. However, the stake cannot be used in any way, as it only lasts for three turns and will need to be recharged after each use.

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The Engage feature brings an exciting new layer to fire emblemstrategy, as you suddenly have dozens of new building options at your fingertips. Using an Engage ability at the right time can also turn the tide of battle, though the balance is never really felt. also tilted in your favor. participate the maps do a great job of creating unique challenges or giving the enemy army something to counter with, and sometimes it’s their own emblem rings.

There are a number of other small changes that make participate More vibrant combat, such as the ability to “break” an enemy if you take advantage of the weapon triangle, preventing them from using a counter, or the removal of degrading weapons. This is by far the most dynamic battle system the series has seen, and it’s further backed by some phenomenal presentation.

Fire Emblem Engage’s The anime art style is absolutely gorgeous, and the game makes great use of color and contrast. At the same time, the combat animations are incredibly fluid and change over time in interesting ways. For example, as your units become more powerful, their dodge animations change; a unit can initially dodge an arrow, but it flares up and will knock it out of the air with a sword.

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Aside from the core battle system, there is an almost overwhelming number of ways to customize your units. Between battles, you can visit a base of operations called Somniel. There are shops to buy weapons and items, a smithy where you can upgrade weapons, a cafeteria where you can prepare meals to bond with the characters, and more. There are even stat-boosting mini-games to play.

It is clear that the Somniel is meant to function a bit like three houses Garreg Mach Monastery, but even with all of that stuff to do, it ultimately feels more like a fancy static environment that’s mostly a static menu at its core. The activities you find in the Somniel are fine, but the base itself doesn’t do much to expand or change as you progress through the game.

In terms of powering up your units, there is the standard mechanic of leveling up, and you can change class with Master Seals. But a whole new system that allows you to inherit abilities from Emblem Rings using SP adds a nice twist. From there, you can also enroll weapons with rings to increase their stats, and you can upgrade the rings themselves, making them more useful and powerful.

It’s clearly a lot to keep track of, and it can take some getting used to, something that a little extra simplification would go a long way to fix.

Fire Emblem Engage review: The bottom line

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Advantages:

• The best combat system the series has seen, with significant changes like the Engage system.
• Vibrant characters full of personality, backed by fun voice acting.
• What a wonderful presentation Engage Feel vibrant and unique.

Cons:

• Uninteresting main story that fails to do anything unique.
• Overloaded customization systems that could be simplified.
• The Somniel ultimately feels like a glorified menu and doesn’t grow or change significantly.

Fire Emblem Engage it’s a bit of a strange beast; It doesn’t feel like a true formula advancement of the franchise as a whole, but it does have some great elements that feel like significant changes. Combat and gameplay are highlights, along with some fun optional character interactions.

After three houses gripping story of political intrigue, it’s certainly a bit disappointing to see the series take a step back narratively, but Fire Emblem Engage it does well enough not to be a huge drawback. In the future, if the franchise can combine the ideas of three houses and Engageit could turn out to be something really special.

[Note: Nintendo provided the copy of Fire Emblem Enage used for this review.]