Fire Emblem Engage was announced last September in the Nintendo Direct. It’s the title of a new chapter of the long-lived series of Intelligent Systems starting from Friday 20 January 2023, which is called Nintendo Switch, will be available exclusively. Several weeks after the launch, we tried the first chapter, to get to know the new combat system and about the interesting mechanics of the title and get ready for the new one. You would know how we’re in our previous preview of Fire Emblem Engage. From the beginning of our journey, in order to obtain an final decision, on the strategy that proved solid in all respects, we’ll tell you below our first impression of the Fire Emblem Engage statement.

Dragons began to erupt into light.

As mentioned in our special on the most promising JRPGs to be released in 2023, the main (and interesting) feature of Fire Emblem Engage is that the Japanese studio decided to bring aside the loved/hated multiple narrations adopted in the latest episodes of the franchise.

Instead of proposing three different stories and featuring several dozen characters, the guys behind Intelligent Systems have finally backtracked and piled the entire plot down for this round. The hero of the story, who as always can be selected male or female in the first ten minutes of the game, is the Divine Dragon Alear, an individual revered like a deity and who, following a no-show accident, remained asleep for a thousand years. After having slept so long, the young son (or daughter) of Queen Lumera’s thoughtful and charming son discovers himself strangely suffering from amnesia, so much that he doesn’t remember any details of his past life except her name. The Aberrations were soon embraced by the valets with enthusiasm and incredulity and were delighted by their ability to admire his inert body for years to pass. After resolving his inert body and becoming an unto his mothers, this Alear determined to call her the mum castle to give the good news and perhaps recover some of the lost memories, was quickly attacked by the Aberrations: creatures that they had haunted the world of Elyos a thousand years ago and went missing centuries.

Despite the fear, the hero of the legend who at least initially doesn’t reach the mind of the protagonist of a series of stories based on his past hats stands and defends his valets, while, after hearing some familiar voices, awakens the spirit of the Emblem Ring he wears on his finger. The mighty goddesses in his veins have the power to draw upon the power of twelve other worlds’ heroes and a millennium earlier allowed the different kingdoms of Elyos to stand and impose the evil dragon Sombron.

Even though it was in a very separate state from the desire of Marth, Alear then left the sailor and reunited with her mother Lumera, then fusing in his spirit of the spirit of Marth (protagonist of the original Fire Emblem). Suspecting that the unbearable reappearance of the Aberrations would imply the imminent return of Sombron himself, the wise queen is the only one who points out that the sudden awakening of his son might not be a coincidence. Since there have been a painful but all too predictable series of events that we prefer not to mention so that we wouldn’t deprive you of the pleasure of discovery, Alear will continue traveling the world, in order to find the 12 Emblem Rings and keep Sombron from a peaceful, otherwise peaceful land of Elyos.

After some a few rather telephoned twists and turns, which in the first three chapters of the adventure evoked in our mind the bloody events of the first fire Emblem, the story of Engage created a curiosity and enraged us in a epic of classic realism to become increasingly interesting.

Some characters seem vaguely stereotyped, but overall, it seems that the intelligent system team has taken much care of the diversification of main players. Even the choice to resort to the Emblem Rings to bring back the heroes of the past, which, on the day of announcement, seemed trivial and devoted to fanservice, didn’t bother us much. Although Marth and his wife play an important role in the story, and as a big power so that it allows for dialogue with both the protagonists and the antagonists, the dialogues involving them not only less frequent than we expected, but their presence would sound quite acceptable. Having experienced only a small portion of the game, at a third of the total, we still prefer to postpone any further judgment of the narrative plot and the actors involved to the end of the review.

Between old and new, in-depth exploration!

The playful component of Fire Emblem Engage isn’t much like what Fates and Three Houses propose for us (when you review Fire Emblem: Three Houses), but rather because mechanics are precisely linked to synchronization. The new version of the Nintendos strategy has preserved its historical charm and the newfangled features introduced at the last few episodes, such as the possibility of returning time in the fight phases to change some moves and avoid a fatal continuation of events.

Once the Dragon Chronogem has been activated, the user can even rewrite the actions performed in the battle and try on an alternative approach. When deciding the appropriate item in the pause menu: There is a limit to how much one can return, but unlike the three houses that are discussed above, this power isn’t consumed. The basic rules of the combat system haveremained unchanged with the classic idea of the top view which facilitates the complete reading of the pitch, the positioning of the units and the adoption of strategies aimed at strengthening the individual strengths. Unlike other countries, the effectiveness of swords, axes and spears is regulated by the Chinese pen, the latter defeating the latter and the latter winning against the third, etc., while the arts play a great game against people who’re skilled in using bows, knives, and spells to do the best. In Fire Emblem Engage, however, attacking an enemy and trying a weapon against opponents lets you win inflict a breach effect; when this happens, the target disarmed to the rest of the turn; and therefore he cannot defend himself. Because the enemy can use it, this sword is dangerous and is also dangerous – its double edged sword – and is quite useful in preventing these situations from turning up an already succulent strategic component.

The developers also brought the same attention to the surrounding environment and the morphology of the area, and it is not coincidence that during the missions we had to break some doors to progress or to demolish some buildings, and use the walls of different buildings for the sake of using shortcuts and bypassing enemy soldiers. It’s possible that even the terrain can influence the outcome of a dispute. If in other words soldiers hide in bushes and make the enemy unprepared for this attack, then there’s a unit that requires more movements to cross certain obstacles such as shrubs. When you plan your strategy, you must also take out different factors in order to get more precise from the terrain.

However, the main novelty of Fire Emblem Engage needs to be sought in synchronization, or in the mechanics that allow characters equipped with the prodigious Emblem Rings to fight with the ancient heroes. When the blue bar next to the HP bar is full, the user can use the Union command to ensure that the selected wrestler has a power-up and access to deadly union attacks.

The functions that that HUBFollowing in the footsteps of its predecessors, including Fire Emblem Engage, will hold a headquarters to which we can return from one mission to another to talk with us and to continue with the campaign, may be used as more functions and shops. We, during our tests, unlocked the general store, the gunsmith, the tailor who makes costumes to match the team’s appearance, and the inevitable blacksmith to turn to modernize the weapons of our heroes. And as with what happened in the past, these have no longer a durability value, and if equipped with the needed materials, it is possible to constantly renew Alear’s and singing lines.

The union skills seemed to us without a doubt useful, namely those talents which, among other things, can increase the parameters and reduce the number of hits achieved or even allow a spellcaster to attack twice in a row. As far as the union skills can be permanently acquired by Alear and his allies, the system encourages the player to change the group structure, making sure that its components acquire the qualities of various heroic spirits as soon as possible. When it comes to synchronization, the mechanics themselves are not limited to improving the characters in a few rounds, but because of their sensitivity they will enable the whole customization and design of a uniquely organized group.

More and more people are living in a world of anime.

When we spent these first hours working with Fire Emblem Engage, we were not able to stop it from seeing how intelligent systems voted to concentrate on one more pronounced anime style than that used in the past titles. Even though it is somewhat odd, the characters who created the very popular Fate/Grand Order by Mika Pikazo has been a treasured character designer since 2018 and who has recently created several illustrations for the popular free-to-play o-played karate/karate program available on mobile devices are very beautiful, detailed and expressive.

The fusion between the original and historical characters demands a signal. While the artist has narrated the different ways in which these enemies have evolved, she has also created some unique and captivating appearances, as well as a wonderful kinematics.