Tactical RPGs are often a test of one’s patience and ability to think several moves ahead to defeat challenging enemies. There are many comparisons to chess, except that there are many dimensions to characters in tactical RPGs. In contrast, chess is primarily a measure of playing better than your opponent. Fire Emblem has been around since 1990, but since I never owned a Nintendo system until 1998, I had largely heard of the franchise through friends and articles in various gaming publications. This month, I decided to take a closer look at Fire Emblem: Engage to see precisely what I was missing and to draw my own conclusions about the franchise through a fresh perspective.
After a thousand years, the divine dragon Alear is awoken to help defeat the Fell Dragon, Sombron. The player must then gather the Emblem Rings spread across Elyon. Players get a free-roaming hub area with shops and activities named Somniel. Every character you recruit can be found in Somniel. Aside from preparing them for battle through the Armory, Item Shop, and Smithy, you can give them gifts and change their attire. The Flea Market sells rare items. You can improve Emblem Rings and create Bond Rings to improve your characters’ battle stats in the Ring Chamber. Characters that have Emblem Rings cannot equip Bond Rings. Emblem Rings are more powerful, so choose wisely based on your play style. I prefer a mix of physical and magic users for balance, but you can do whatever you wish.
Powering up units can be done through story battles, but you can use the Arena to further power up your characters, although it is limited between missions. You can do Emblem training, but it will cost you bond fragments. In my experience, bond fragments are better off for creating bond rings as there is a slight chance you can get an S-ranked item and use extras of the same ring to get a higher-ranked item. For those who want to test their mettle, you can enter the Tower of Trials. On top of that, you can create your own trials for your friends and the Fire Emblem Engage community to take on.
Combat in Fire Emblem Engage is determined by the weapon triangle: swords beat axes, axes beat lances, and lances beat swords. The addition of fist weapons beats magic, bows, and daggers. If you have a weapon advantage over your enemies, you can inflict Break on them, preventing them from counterattacking you. You either have personal skills or skills learned from bonding with Emblems, which can work in your favor if you combine them well. You also form support bonuses between allies, so make sure you have synergy in your team. You can even rewind choices you’ve made during battles or restart them entirely if you’ve made a mistake using the Draconic Time Crystal. Certain maps will be hidden by the fog of war, which can be dispersed with magic, torches, or lighting beacons around the map.
For people who play RPGs for the story, you’ll be disappointed as it lacks the story depth of previous Fire Emblem games. The story is rather basic, and the characters have little depth. Some of the best tactical RPGs also have some of the best stories and most memorable characters, and the series has proven in the past that it is capable of the storytelling RPG fans know and love. While the art style and music are solid, RPGs are like reading a novel where you decide how the story progresses, and that was lacking from this installment as of this writing.
Fire Emblem Engage is definitely something I’d play to kill a weekend or something I’d do on a long road trip. There are plans for more content and DLC in the future, and hopefully, this expands on the foundation that is in place to create a Fire Emblem game that both long-time fans and new fans can enjoy.
Developer: Intelligent Systems
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Words by Jose Alvarez
Also published in Gadgets Magazine February 2023 Issue.