I'm Trying SO HARD to Enjoy Fire Emblem Engage (Reviewmpressions) 

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It's uncanny how good Engage is at the things 3H was bad at, and how bad Engage is at the things 3H was good at.

So for anyone who's wondering 3 Houses and Engage have 2 different development teams which is why the games focus on different things ie story and lore vs gameplay. Unless the 2 teams figure out a way to merge we're going to keep seeing the pendulum swing of every other game focusing on one over the other.

I’ll be honest, if the team who knows how to write a story and the one that knows how to do the gameplay worked together we would have goty material here, i have high hopes for the next fire emblem, see you all in 5 years i guess

Weapon triangle has worked a little differently depending on the game. The break mechanic is new to Engage, previously it is usually things like boosted accuracy and evasion.

A few hours in, I love the style and flow of combat. That all feels greatly fleshed out. It's when a character opens their mouth that I'm unsure about my life choices.

Let me settle this for everyone. The real reason Engage isn't as good as 3H is because it doesn't have FERDINAND VON AEGIR.

Glad I'm not the only one that wasn't super into the characters or the story. Whenever I pick this up after about 15 minutes later it makes me want to pick up Three Houses again.

Thing with Three Houses and Engage is that they both have different writing teams, or at least different writing directors. The one that worked on Engage was also the one that wrote Fates, and generally people don't like how Fates was written or how their characters were.

Path of radiance is definitely the fire emblem game for you to check out. The story, characters, and worldbuilding are great, the stuff between battles isn't very time consuming, and I wouldn't say it's hurting much from qol issues. (There are a few recruitable characters that have really obscure requirements to get that you'd need to look up though)

"Like pop stars playing soldiers in a play" The lead character artist designed Vtubers before this job. So Arlo is surprisingly on the nose with that comment.

I miss how unique the characters in 3H were gameplay wise outside of their growth rates thanks to their combat arts and personal spell list.

6:17 Every NG+ playthrough of three houses gives you bonuses so that you can speed up or ignore the academy stuff. You really only have to do it your first playthrough and even then it’s not mandatory.

Talking to characters after every chapter in Three Houses is what made the cast memorable to me, even the ones I didn't use. So the lack of unique voiced character dialogue during exploration is actually devastating. Edit: A few people mention that they found the exploration elements in Three Houses long or tedious, and say they're glad what I'm talking about has been removed. But, I would argue that is irrelevant since Engage makes exploration more optional. It wouldn't have affected how you play the game if you didn't like it.

I'd like to see Arlo's take on Fire Emblem: Awakening. That game is the reason we even have modern Fire Emblem, and is often cited as having saved the series.

The strangest thing about Engage's reception to me is that while from the outside the visuals look like they should appeal to more of the newer "casual" sort of FE fans that have come in from the recent games, ones where character driven stories took center stage, from what I've seen the appreciation Engage gets is actually from the more gameplay focused "veterans" of the FE community, leading to this weird sort of reverse spectrum where the majority older fans like the gameplay and strategy, and the newer fans aren't fond of the dialing back of the character and worldbuilding. Personally its hard for me to pick either 3H or Engage, but after finishing Engage and having about 250 hours in Fodlan I feel like Engage is a breath of fresh air, and its possibly the only FE game where I was willing to try to do Maddening on my second run, right after finishing the first.

Note: there was like 1 writer for Engage. 3H had like 4

My favorite part of this game was when toothpaste beat the dragon and said “Fire emblem is indeed engaged”

Just imagine these graphics and gameplay with three houses level writing… I’m crying for the game that could have been… 😭

i really wonder how Arlo would feel about Shadows of Valentia, i feel like it does a great job at being a good game as well as a unique fire emblem game. i enjoy the cast of characters, the voice acting, and the story. i believe most importantly, there’s no avatar. seeing Alm and Celica having their own personalities is a lot more interesting than the kind of “blank” avatars

Dang, Shez in Three hopes made me very optimistic about the future for player avatars in FE, voiced with dialogue options, the options didn't shape the story really but at least let me choose when I wanted Shez to be sad, happy, angry or just silly. They were less of a "perfect" avatar, nobody loved them for simply having been blessed being born the avatar and had to work for their plot relevance. Idk maybe I just prefer underdogs that beats the odds rather than being told how amazing they were for being born a demi god 😅

14:57 To contest this point Alear being the "only" avatar protagonist in the series that speaks, Robin and Corrin speak almost all the time in the story and in support conversations, mores Corrin since how big they are in Fates.

I'm genuinely curious to what Arlo's thought would be on the series if he went back to try some of the earlier entries like the GBA & DS games. Especially with the knowledge of the fanbases' own divided feelings on some of the past entries & their direction. It'd be interesting to see what he likes and thinks about each game.

Engage is a perfect example of how graphics and gameplay by themselves are not enough to make a video game great.

I think when Awakening finally roped me into the series it was the interesting character drama that took me into the game like no other. They turned all the qualities of a great leader in other FE games: positivity, courage, persistence, and devotion to the people; and punished him for it. It was such an awesome build up into that world with some cool twists along the way testing the lovable characters in interesting ways. Whether a character lived or died felt earned and devastating. That was not what I got out of the follow up title Fire Emblem Fates lol. And since then I've played quite a few titles, it just seems like the strengths and weaknesses of each game change. Whether you like the current game or not is based on what you think Fire Emblem is: a character drama, a strategy challenge, an epic narrative, a waifu dating sim lol. The focus will ebb and flow until it hits enough of your preferences that it feels "Fire Emblem" again and then you can expect to skip the next one since the focus will be on the opposite of what you liked next time.

Just want to say, love how you used a clip from Next Generations of Picard saying "Engage" whenever the word is brought up

Gotta love the commitment to the 'Engage' joke

Weapon Triangle back during PoR and RD era provided a small bonus/penalty to damage and hit rate. It wasn't like you were hard countered by going against it, but it did tip the scales in meaningful ways.

I feel the EXACT same way. The gameplay is so fun but I completely checked out of the story. It’s definitely a shame, but for me, the gameplay is fun enough that I wanna keep going just to see what new powers I unlock and how much stronger my units can get

You can definitely find a clear divide in the fandom over this game: If you value the gameplay of FE, you love it. If you value the story and characters in FE, you hate it. For me personally I’ve always expected the story and characters to be lighthearted so I don’t mind that they’re all simple. I’m enjoying them for what it is. The gameplay and maps are fantastic, and that’s something it clearly has over Three Houses.

I know it was rumored that a remake of FE4 was being worked on at the same time as Engage was being developed, so my theory is that all of Intelligent System's competent writers were on that team. Which would kind of make sense -- for those not familiar with it, FE4 is often considered to have one of the best stories in the series, so nailing that is very important to any attempt at a remake. Also the writing in the FE2 remake was very well done, so it would make sense for it to be the same writers doing the FE4 remake.

As someone who has played further into the game, I'll say that the story does get better. It's definitely more focused on telling a very simple story, but it's overall functional and it winds up a little more later. I'll say there's a moment in the game that is such a perfect blend of gameplay and its story component that I would beg people to try getting to if they are struggling to play more. It's pretty obvious when it occurs, and it's not too far down the road. I'll also say that they picked a really bad starting cast for the first 5 or so chapters. They definitely intrigue me less than future characters and feel more tropey than some in the future. The writing outside of supports for individual characters is honestly terrible, and I think it really feeds into the perception that these characters are really based around a single trope. The supports are actually pretty alright and flesh characters out a lot more. It develops characters in an exceptionally different way from Three Houses though, so it's understandable if it's not your cup of tea. Unfortunately, one of this game's greatest weaknesses is that building supports is ABSURDLY slow. They really scaled down how much you can build support in battle, and that's going to make it real hard to get invested in characters.

The usual weapon triangle was typically do one more damage and get 15 more accuracy when you have the advantage while the opponent loses that much damage and accuracy. It was something that typically was a big deal early on then lost relevance. The break mechanic makes the weapon triangle much more important in this game than it's been before.

"Let me love you" has been my sentiment towards this game since it was announced. Unfortunately, nothing about it has really got me "Engaged."

I laughed every single time picard appeared. GG Arlo

I agree with most of this review, although I don't like Somniel. It feels more like they stripped most of the interesting stuff from the Monastery, left most of the tedious busywork, then allowed you to ignore most of it. The Monastery could have used improvement, but I feel they made it worse-but-optional. I'd prefer that they scrapped Somniel, and moved the necessary stuff to that post battle exploration.

Fire Emblem Engage had this issue. How am I supposed to be hyped about Sigurd if I can't even play the game in English? How am I supposed to be hyped about Ike if I can't play the game without a scalper milking it? How am I supposed to be hyped about Lucina and Celica if you literally just shut down the 3ds shop? I can't be hyped about a big love letter to the fire emblem games across t he series when I have no way of knowing who the freak any of them are.

Many of the older Fire Emblems were very grounded, even mature, strategy games with historical themes, this feels to me a little like they leaned into the over the top characters/anime elements that brought in new players post 3DS

I appreciate arlo saying that Engage needs more than just good gameplay. I feel like there’s too many people that act like the story and characters in this RPG aren’t important despite that being arguably the most important part of an rpg. I mean this is the same situation as Fates and people hate on that game all the time, so why shouldn’t Engage also get critiqued for it

I went to a friend's house a few weeks ago and he got me to try out a few minutes of three houses, when I told him I would try a fire emblem he told me I had the choice of three houses or engage, I'm glad I picked three houses.

I think exactly as you OMG. Not able to finish the game because character and story suck. I have been thinking to go back and finish it but I just can't. Then I hear there's censorship in localization and I know it's time to quit. Many say Engage is much better than 3H but for me 3H is miles ahead. The characters themselves make me finish multiple playthroughs in 3H while Engage can't even motivate me to touch it.

Fire Emblem Sacred Stones has a lot of those QoL changes, the weapon triangle and the grounded characters.

I was expecting a turn when you started off so positive in a video about trying so hard to enjoy Engage, but wow that turn was sharp, haha. Glad to know we always get your honest opinion though

I think it'll be the next FE game that sees the consequences of 3H's success. 3H and Engage were developed in tandem by two separate divisions and they were meant to release roughly around the same time for the FE anniversary. Due to Covid though, Engage was pushed back and polished, making it feel more like a sequel than a parallel, celebratory anniversary game. I could be wrong, but I suspect the next non-remake FE game will be the one where IS recognises that people play FE for gameplay AND story and not one or the other. Also, this game was actually designed for kids. That's not a slight, it's the devs honest opinions. In an interview they said they chose Mika Pikazo to lead art direction because her art style appeals to a younger audience and EVERYTHING from the silly characters to the Saturday morning cartoon plot to the' Emblem ENGAGE!' Power Rangers call supports that. Its why so many fans have issue with the presentation of the game - we're literally not the target audience.

You got me dead on. I remember multiple times having a tough time in some battles or feeling a little fatigue while playing FE3H. Every time without fail I didn’t push through because the game play was great. It was because I was invested with my students. I wanted to see every one of them succeed . I’m only on chapter 8 of engage and can’t bring myself to play. I have no connection w a single character and it feels so bad 😢

The "engage" gag is charming, i hope you do more of these things

Finally someone else says it. This game is alright, but the awful writing hurts it so badly and so many characters are bland or one note

Anyone notice how Louis almost always has his eyes closed, but he always says stuff like "that was eye opening" and "I love looking at people"

You are not alone. I kept putting this game down and turning off my switch in the middle of cut scenes. How they manage to be both so bland and use so many words at the same time to do it is worthy of study. It was so hard to stay invested when there was so much clear plot armor dictating what happened at any moment. The combat is admittedly good. Good enough to get me to try maddening mode for once. That was fun until it wasn't.

Arlo would have loved the Fire Emblem Path of Radiance + Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn combo. One of the best gaming experiences in my entire life. But then again, who wouldn't? NOPE, DON'T ANSWER THAT QUESTION.

“It is written: ‘Arlo shall not live on gameplay alone, but on every word of good dialogue that comes from the mouth of a character.’” - Book of Arlo 4:4

If you want a Fire Emblem experience that plays accesibly to modern fans, while also having a top tier story, Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn got you covered. Now getting your hands on them legally would be quite the ordeal xD Also, the TWO storylines you missed in Three Houses? How presumptive ;)

I also started with 3 houses in the franchise and I’ve enjoyed what I played of Engage, but I far prefer nearly everything about 3 houses over Engage.

Honestly kind of feel like I'm alone in my enjoyment for the game. Initial I went in with no expectations because of reviews, but so far it's been a fun experience. I really like the characters. I'll just say that I think I'll be replaying this game a lot more than Three houses because the flow of gameplay is just better.

So I will say this. Engage is intended almost exclusively to be a celebration of the franchise as it is the 30 anniversary of the Fire Emblem series. Typically these games either don't leave Japan or they don't have serious stories.

Plot really started to pick up for me around chapter 8, got pretty solid in chapter 10 But I definitely, DEFINITELY understand where you're coming from, haha. OH and Awakening or Echoes: Shadows of Valentia for 3DS are the games I recommend playing, if you're looking for still having that quality of life alongside good gameplay alongside a solid story, etc But that's just me

Fun fact : in the game's imternal data this game is coded as "iron 19" ( every FE game is intrrnally coded as iron ) while 3 Houses was coded as "iron 17" meaning that a game was supposed to release before this one , and judging by the constant rumors and Sigurd being the 2nd most important emblem story wise , it probably was the FE4 remake fans been begging for for ages

Im lovin' the game so far. The story definitely isn't something to write home about, but it's cozy and entertaining.

I personally think for what was originally the Anniversary Game that was suppose to release back in 2020 but Covid happened thus why we have a more laid back yet traditional FE story of good vs evil (hero vs dragon) esque story, which honestly I'm completely fine with, its celebrating the roots of the games origins. The leak that originally showed Engage will likely point us to a Genealogy of the Holy War remake, so if you want a more story driven FE, that one will likely be what you want. Personally I'm enjoying this a lot, I like both story driven or gameplay focused FE games

Arlo videos always make my day. :) Glad to hear Arlo finished 3 Houses too. I love 3 Houses so much.

One of my favorite FE games is Awakening. It was the first to introduce some of the quality of life changes present in modern games and there are a lot of interesting characters, good 3D, and a world map. It was a bit on the easy side compared to later games though, a lot of broken mechanics that got balanced later, but I honestly liked that too.

Honestly, I was worried about this the first time I saw the trailers for the game. The main selling point they pushed was how you can relive your nostalgia with all these old Fire Emblem heroes from previous games. "Team up with Marth, Roy, Lyn, Ike, Lucina, etc." I thought if their biggest draw to their new game was how you can use all their old characters, it didn't bode well for the new characters if they didn't warrant a mention in the trailers. And your video seems to confirm it. If I want to play with the old characters, I could play Awakening. Or, you know, the older games that these characters came from. If I'm getting a new Fire Emblem game, I want to meet and enjoy a bunch of new characters. Not gonna lie, hearing this disappoints me, especially after how awesomely the Three Houses characters were written and realized. Hell, even the writing in Three Hopes, a Dynasty Warriors/Fire Emblem spin-off game based on Three Houses, is pretty damn well written! Anyway, thanks for the video man, I think I'm gonna hold off on getting this one for a while. If you do manage to beat it, I would love to see a review video, but if you can't bring yourself to finish it, I totally understand. As a side note, breaking the opponent's stance with a weapon attack that has advantage is new to this game. In the past, advantage in the weapon triangle simply increased your chance to hit as well as granted bonus damage.

this is probably the worst game to go from after three houses I see those two games as polar opposites, all of three houses weak points are engages strong points and all of engage's weak points are three houses strong points

Really good video! One thing I thought I would mention as you said you were a Three Houses fan, (but said the visuals weren't that great and maybe that was a budget thing), is that a lot of the game's budget I believe went into a feature many players don't even realize is there. If you press + while in combat on any map, it zooms in very close, and you can navigate the map in third person POV with your characters. The maps are incredibly detailed and the visuals on those maps, at least on the newer switch, are really high quality! They didn't include this in Engage thankfully though. While I thought it was amazing, it also felt unnecessary, and it was harder to play the game in 3rd person POV. It was more immersive, and I tried to play a playthrough completely in this zoomed in POV, but I got a headache fast as there was so much to look at on a colorful fantasy battlefield. Anyways, you may have known about the POV and still thought the game's visuals weren't that great, and that is totally fine! I thought the visuals weren't great in the monastery, but when you were in the actual zoomed in battles the game got unexpectedly polished, and it is a shame that many players missed that feature. I may not have battled much in the zoomed POV, but I always loved flying around the maps in this POV looking at the incredible detail of the maps.

Sacred Stones was my introduction to Fire Emblem. Some of the best sprite art i had ever seen, but permadeath was just brutal. I loved it but in the same way you learned to love Crash Bandicoot after accepting defeat. If you want to try some of the more modern titles, try the 3ds titles, especially awakening and echoes. A lot of people swear by the ones on switch and gamecube as well.

It's so true that even just a few interesting characters or ideas would've made a huge difference. I don't think Fire Emblem Awakening's story will rock anyone's world, and some of the paint-by-numbers plot elements from Engage are straight up lifted from Awakening. But its Big Idea was the time travel, and Lucina's story was the hook that made me a hundred times more motivated to play it despite the fact that its map design and gameplay are (imo) worse than Engage. It also managed to make some of the same basic plot elements more interesting by injecting a bit more flavour and depth - e.g. Robin as the amnesiac protagonist with a forgotten dark past had a more grounded and distinct personality than Alear, and their bond with Chrom gave me something to invest in. It's funny to look back at how some people used to complain about Awakening being 'too anime' or its characters too one dimensional when Engage's cast makes them look very deep by comparison.

Leading up to this game I was despising it, but having gotten to play it I actually find a lot of enjoyment out of it, despite being a more classic fan. It's not at all the game I would point people to in order to show them why I love Fire Emblem, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying the game

This game does a great job at making me want to go through another run of 3h with a separate house. Something I said I'd never do because it takes too much time. Now that run will be my replacement for engage. 10/10 combat. Story and characters? 2/10. 3 if I'm being generous

I feel like the quality of the writing is very weirdly paced. Having finished the game recently, spent a whole bunch of hours with the writing living down to my worst fears of the game (When I saw the art style and character crossover aspect, was pretty much immediately pessimistic), but then it suddenly gets way better after a while. Supports start opening up to reveal more interesting relationships and nuances with quite a lot of the characters, and the plot beats and character interactions in the story suddenly have a noticeable uptick in quality and impact. The conclusion is very predictable, but, there's some genuinely good stuff that happens on the way to get there. But, that said, being extremely disappointed with the writing during early impressions of the game is 100% valid, and I would've said pretty much exactly all of the same things that our good blue fuzzy fellow was saying here early on as well.

I picked my favorite characters(ones that seemed normal and didn’t worship the Divine Dragon) and I’ve been loving it ever since! It only took 10 hours to get enough for a full team, but it’s worth it.

Ironically I really liked this entry over three houses. The battles feel more fun and interesting, with the customization of the exact units being super fun to tinker around and try out new combinations with. It’s interesting to see the divide between the people who really like the life-sim/interaction aspects of this modern fire emblem design and those who play it for the tactics gameplay. (I should say, I still really enjoyed Three Houses, only gripe with it was the 2 hours of conversation and monastery management after each battle got a bit exhausting)

I disagree that the somniel is less of a time consumer than the monastery. The somniel gives me series fomo about getting the hundreds to thousand band crystals available after every skirmish, most tied up behind minigames, while the monastery I had a little round to make at the first of each month, and any following trips that month was just focused on a specific goal of either fish, meals, or trainings that went quick.

I loved 3H for the sort of “life sim” aspects and being able to choose your loyalties and im assuming it isnt quite the same in this game

While I disagree on the Academy vs. Somniel, I 100% agree on pretty much everything else you said. I loved Three Houses, Awakening, and Sacred Stones for their stories and characters, but in Engage they're just... ugh. I did multiple playthroughs of the other games because I wanted to learn more about the characters and the worlds they lived in. In Engage I talk to the characters because the game says I have to. I'll probably treat Engage like Fates, one playthrough and then never touch the game again. Three Houses is like hanging out with your best friend, you never want it to end and keep coming back for more. Engage is like spending time with your weird cousin because your parents said so.

Everyone online and the one person I know irl has all said this is closer to FE Awakening which I can see myself enjoying. I’ve been playing since the gba days so it’d be nice if every game was differing levels of seriousness.

Chain attack is gamechanger for me. My top 3 favorite mechanics in order, 1.chain atk 2.break 3. Returning weapon triangle. Bonus, the 3 turn engage(because im a sucker for transforming mechanics)

This may sound kind of weird, but I quickly learned that I could only play this game after I came home from the gym. I had to play it like that because my adrenaline is still pumping. If I don't I literally find myself falling asleep during the game. That is not a good sign. That never happened for me with Three Houses. I put in over 300 hours into Three Houses and the only time I would get sleepy was about after 200 hours during the battle phases. Three Houses kept me going because I wanted to get all 3 endings. But Engage has me working overtime in the real world just to help me stay awake both for the story and gameplay.

I’d making a joke about Arlo not finding the gameplay “engaging”, but that would be too easy After all, bad puns are best when they’re hard to gage.

Definitely dig up some old fire emblem games. Fire emblem awakening on the 3ds is one of my favorite games. Absolutely lovable characters and a really engaging story (pun intended). Also it's not hundreds of hours like three houses.

This pretty much confirms my concerns about the game. I couldn't really get into it because of the art style - I love anime and the character designer does amazing illustrative work, but the translationt to 3D felt clumsy and, well...there are just so many places to go for super flashy anime magic fighting, the appeal of the FE series for me has always been in its groundedness. At least I've still got a bunch of mileage left to get out of Three Houses. Oh, and I still cannot for the life of me get over the toothpaste hair.

Arlo: I still have to finish playing through the three houses Me, shoveling popcorn in my mouth: four. *crunch Then the hidden fifth house.

If Mario had this grand of a story, you'd think it would be the coolest thing since the mini fridge. But reminder that tropes aren't inherently bad, it's all on execution and the concept as a whole.

I'm almost half through the game and the two brightest spot so far is the music (haven't heard all the tracks but liking what I heard so far but it aint as good as 3 houses yet) and the dog Sommie. It's asleep animation is adorable

I'm about to start chapter 9... And I'm done. I haven't enjoyed the story or characters at all. I miss three houses. Right now Metroid prime is out... Gonna go play that.

I’m loving the game so far. Very reminiscent of Awakening, fantastic gameplay. I put about 500 hours into Awakening and 280 into three houses so I like both types of Fire Emblems and I think I’ll put quite a few hours into this one as well.

So far I love it! Back to basics for Fire Emblem. I was never a big fan of the dating sim aspects of Fire Emblem, but I can see why people who have only played Three House may have challenges getting into Engage.

Honestly, starting with Three Houses must be the most difficult starting point for any fan I've seen. There's starting with Awakening and Fates or even Echoes, which themselves are very much the modern games they were built to be, and then theres how different Three Houses is. Its like starting players with Gaiden before Echoes ever came out, its just super experimental and not representative of the franchise proper. I worry how many fans wont like the series proper due to the whiplash there is. I dont hate 3H, I love the game, but goodness...what a game to start on for people. Hopefully I'm just overthinking things lol EDIT: To be clear, my main concern is *style and gameplay* more than actual difficulty. Three Houses has its own flair, its own flavor, I'm sure fans can understand the mostly simpler gameplay fo other games, its just the style that worries me.

appreciate your honesty! Im here to hear ARLOS thoughts.

Agreed about the characters and story (I'm all about the Wii/GameCube fire emblems--I thought that has tension I cared about way more) but I don't think you're far enough to get Yunaka or the Solm royalty. They are just what to be asked for: 1-2 interesting characters that are actually interesting

I think it's very commendable that FE can go from over the top designs to more down to earth design than back to the over the top design. Truthfully, I love both types of designs. And hey, if you don't like the design of the new one. You can always go back to the last one or wait for the next one. That will have a style change again.

Honestly I felt the exact same way about 3H, I loved it and was ready to dive into a 2nd playthrough, but it was a slog to keep doing all of the schools stuff again. I really feel like there should have been an option to just start at the time skip.

Thanks for the reviewmpression, Arlo!

Man, I don't comment that often, but the brick dropping at the end freaking sent me. Bravo, Arlo.

I'm not surprised to hear you feel this way. As someone who is painfully familiar with the entire Fire Emblem series, I feel like this game might be a new low in terms of writing (arguably Revelation is worse but I haven't read all of engage's supports yet so I don't want to say for certain). There's a remake of the 4th game that was mentioned in a leak that has since been proven reliable so that will (hopefully) be way better.

“Do you need some scissors?” Me: well yes actually I could use so- “Well too bad these are mine” :(

Man, I loved the video! Your energy is refreshing! And I really liked how you tried to see the good in the game rather than ripping into it from the get-go. Things are much better when we try to see their bright side. On a side note, I would LOVE to see you reviewing other games in the franchise (especially Awakening!). To see someone retroactively review them after playing the newer entries would be such an interesting watch!

What really sucks is that the terrible dialog and cutscenes have to be individually skipped. I literally spam the start button and jump from one black screen to the next because there are just so many cut scenes and moments of dialog.

As a big fire emblem fan, I was really worried about the characters, I just couldn't enjoy any of them. With the sheer amount of characters they give you throughout the story I found a cast I really liked by about chapter 8. They're not the most original but just fun enough to get me to look over it and focus on the top notch gameplay

The dialogue definitely improves as you move forward. It’s still not ~good.~ but it’s a major improvement from the beginning of the game. Path of radiance for the game cube and radiant dawn- it’s direct sequel for the wii, might be more up your ally. Or maybe you’d like awakening for the 3DS. Go with those games if you want to back track.

Really interested in your take on some other games in that case. Awakening, Binding Blade, Path of Radiance. All having such different balances on story/characters and gameplay. Fire Emblem is a very 'fluid' series, almost no games really feel alike outside of maybe the GBA trio. Even Path of Radiance and it's sequel don't really feel alike.