I feel like a lot of people are misinterpreting the point of this video because of the title or a couple of the lines in it, and that's my fault for not being very clear about it. I'm NOT saying Fire Emblem as a whole is dying, even though I did say that word for word in the video, I didn't mean it in the literal sense, I said I was dying for crying out loud, it's a joke! What I was mostly talking about was that it's strange that the discussion around FE games has quieted down a lot. Generally a new game exercises relevance for long periods of time and I just haven't seen that for Engage. I am by no means saying Engage is a bad game, I really like it and made 16 or 17 videos about it in a single month, that's how much I enjoyed it, but the conversation and discussion about it is just lacking, at least from what I can see. If you see otherwise, then I would love to see WHERE you see this, and by all means, change my mind. It's an opinion video, that's just what I've felt recently, and I'm sharing my own thoughts with everyone, this isn't an attack on you personally or your favorite game.
I figured it was more like a figure of speech. You are right though, I personally like engage, but haven’t seen anyone talk about it other than it being a bad game. Which does hurt a little bit, but at the same time is a hell of a lot better than hearing someone say that a certain character in engage is on par with Edelgard, when it comes to the shit she’s done in 3H. Personally, I’d like to see a FE4 remake for the next system, but at this point I’ll take anything there’s been so much of a drought for so long.
I still remember state of Fire Emblem before Awakening came out, suffice to say I doubt it’ll ever die at this point. Golden Sun, now that’s the series I’m worried about.
Oh I don't think it'll die completely, they've earned the right (and the money) to probably stick around for a long time as long as it continues selling. Golden Sun... yeah, I LOVE Golden Sun music!
@@tbahr123it was failure due to business side and Nintendo tried to scrap the series when War broke out. Also quick cash grab job didn’t help either, when hardcore fans would’ve been satisfied if they did little balance patch and update on certain units and CO would’ve been nice.
@@AkagiRedSun if AW:1+2rebootcamp didnt have such poor art direction/aesthetics it wouldve sold much better. it also ran poorly. cant tell a tank from a medium tank. multiplayer should have been a centerpiece but that ball was dropped too. it was poorly made by an amateur development studio. Not saying i could have done better myself, but AW rebootcamp really needed to be good and it was treated like an afterthought.
@@quickpawmaud You're correct. In my mind I was thinking we are "post-engage" so it is the last one, and 3 Houses is the one before that. So 3 Houses is twice removed from our current state. But that's a very obtuse way to go about it admittedly, lol
@@lapniappe no it is not and no a lot of people do not count them. The entire community uses the same numbering system and that numbering ignores side games. The OP already agreed with me and said they agreed it was awkward and not what they meant. I enjoyed Three Hopes OK but it is not a Fire Emblem game it is a Dynasty Warriors crossover game. Just like with Pokémon they only count the next main game as the generation number not remakes or spinoffs. If you type in FE8 or FE12 or FE+any number 1-17 everyone agrees what game you are talking about.
Heres my take. Every fire emblem game is very different. The reason I think we aren't seeing Engage discussion is because its not a deep game. Not in the story, at least. The game is very combat focused, and can be super fun if you like hard fire emblem with gimmicks. Three Houses was much more story based, with a lot looser gameplay. I think whatever IS does next, itll be fun and neat in its own way. Also hyped for the streams on Speedys channel
Definitely, I think we need to strike a nice balance between the great gamepaly that Engage brought, and the great story and characters that we got with Three Houses. If we get that... oh man it would be amazing. And YES! I'm really hyped for the SS coop as well, can't wait!
Basically this. I personally thought Engage's story was fine. It's just the whiplash from a really good story from Three Houses to a simple "defeat the bad guy" really didn't stick with a lot of people. Especially the new fans brought in by Three Houses.
@@LinkKing7I also feel like engage lacks the replay-ability of three houses, just gameplay wise, there were so many ways to build characters in three houses that were good and viable but in engage I felt like there was no real way to do any experimental builds because sp took far to long to obtain and there was no new game+
@@LinkKing7 lets not call Three Houses story great. Worldbuilding and characters were very good, but each story feels incomplete without playing other routes, and that shouldn't be the case in my opinion.
When you make your channel completely around a game, you're going to see ups and downs in viewership and interest. It doesn't mean people are dropping fire emblem all together or that fire emblem itself is dying. Sometimes I feel like watching people play Pokemon matches and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I want to see someone play fire emblem and sometimes I don't. A new game will come out and we'll all be playing until we don't. That's just how it is. These kind of messages of "fire emblem is dying" can actually negatively influence people's perception of fire emblem. No one wants to get into a dying franchise or an anime that isn't complete. I still love fire emblem and am looking forward to whatever springs forth on RUclips after the next game comes out. We don't want a Pokemon rushed version of the next game so let's exercise patience.
IMO fire emblem has lost its identity a bit. It found it pretty hard with 3H, but Engage is a couple steps back. They love to do that, they'll take like 4 steps forward and then 5 steps back.
Awaken forward has done nothing to improve the games identity. Awakening sold out some to get made, it's part of that games know development. Fates tried to rip off Pokemon to maximize funds. Echoes took a classic game and messed its story up putting on display how poorly the current character writing is compared to former games. 3 houses wanted to be some lame persona 5 thing and is some of the most bland content possible. Engage is ripping off classics and has gatcha bs thrown in. Everything that has come after awakening hasn't come without consequences that burn away important identifying aspects of fire emblem games. It's the reason I'm only interested in waiting on remakes, both switch games don't play well
I went into Engage with a positive mind but came out Dissatisfied. I really hope I would love Engage but didn't and the is coming from the guy who literally played over 2,735 hours or more in Three Houses😅. I think the reason Engage kinda did what it did was from what I got was a lot of mixed feelings from half of the fans.
Engage was definitely a mixed bag, especially since it had to follow Three Houses, which is unfortunate. There are a lot of things I'd keep from Engage though, I did really enjoy the gameplay and the resource management prior to the DLC stuff coming into play!
I can't imagine putting in more than the 600 I did Trite fluffed story that's all over the place and tries to have 'deep' world building but ends up with it being as shallow as a puddle Not to mention the gameplay that eventually put me to sleep. Three of the four routes is enough for me from that game At least the gameplay in Engage is refreshing enough to replay with different setups of units and learned Emblem skills. The story is sub par unfortunately, so it falls flat in the narrative front I'd rather the next game have a decent writer and follow some of the tenets Engage used for difficulty and map design. If Intelligent Systems listens to it's fans they'll hopefully get Kuromu (head script and scenario lead for Fates and Engage) away from a creative role. The games just need a decent narrative and the gameplay will carry it
I don't think fire emblem is dead but I will say whatever the next game is needs to do well whether it's a remake of genealogy of the holy war or the next news main line in the series if they can just keep the gameplay from engage and make story driven like three houses then I think we have the best fire emblem game out there or at least up there.
@@LinkKing7 Okay, merging the two games is probably a bad idea, but 4 absolutely needs a gameplay overhaul, and I'm sure everyone would be happy if they implemented the modern support system.
You should be worried about mega man or castlevania, those franchises haven’t released anything in years besides anniversary collections. Fire emblem as consistently sent stuff out without much warning ahead of time so I think we’ll be ok for a little while yet. Then we can panic
I would kill to see a new Megaman RPG series like Battle Network or Starforce, I played those games SO MUCH growing up. I was actually considering doing some megaman videos because of the collection out!
Same man, I loved all the Megan games growing up! Lucky to be around while they were still making them. But nothing new since megaman 11 and mighty no.9 really kinda sucks :(
Nah Castlevania still lives on through various crossovers and a successful anime series. Aside from Metal Gear, Castlevania is it's most popular IP, I wouldn't worry about it.
@@Garvant_ Compared to all other modern fire emblem games other than Echoes? Yes, yes it is. I'm gonna laugh my ass off if engage doesn't even break 2 million copies sold lol
I dunno if it’s a major factor but I definitely feel like them (IS and anyone else involved in development) marketing the game with nostalgia for the past characters is a loosing battle, especially for non Japanese players, when so many games have never been released outside of Japan. Like if I didn’t play heroes and emulate games, if I was a more casual fan, how would I know who Lief and Sigurd were?
The problem is that Intelligent Systems keeps nostalgia baiting. It’s really a problem when the only Fire Emblem that didn’t nostalgia pander was Three Houses, which was made by KT.
I don't think it'll die with FEH siphoning money from people... but I do think they really need to make a game that nails both gameplay and story like people have been asking forever now, we haven't had that since the Tellius series. As much as I'd love an FE4 remake I do agree that I think they really need a new game that nails both enough mass appeal stuff as well as core fire emblem gameplay. (and proper marketing)
I think Fire Emblem is fine, we had a banger release in 2022 and another in 2024. Weird that Intelligent Systems didn’t use the Fire Emblem title for Triangle Strategy and Unicorn Overlord though…
Just looking at this video after 7 days of intense 'Fire emblem : Engage' gameplay. :3 which is The best gameplay I have experienced from all the FE games (and Tatical RPG in general I guess, heck to heck with Advance Wars : Dual Strike) But i do agree, Fire Emblem Franchise needs a new game totaly fresh since FEE was a kind of anniversary opus. The nostalgia works when we do not summon it that often. btw happy to see your comeback on youtube and that you get out of an non flaroushing job. I look foward to see you posting some new content in months to come.
I agree, I really enjoyed the gameplay of Engage, I just wish there was more reason to come back to it and talk about it past the first playthrough or two And yep! Hopefully settling in so I'll be able to be a bit more consistent with uploads!
I actually disagree and think that a remake of FE4 could revitalize the series once again. This is all speculation, but it feels to me like Fire Emblem sells its games on gimmicks that interest people. Every time I heard Awakening talked about on release, it was almost always alongside its child and marriage system. Similiarly, Three Houses sold itself on the idea of aligning yourself with one of three houses in a darker fantasy setting (for anime styled games at least). This is literally all just speculation, but it would explain why Engage "underperformed." The selling point is the fact that you can use emblems that represent characters from the previous games. It's a cool idea and all, but it doesn't really sound as cool as the child mechanic or house mechanic; but more importantly it also only really appeals to people who have played Fire Emblem before. Meaning it has a smaller audience (in terms of people who get interested because of these gimmicks). This is all just wild speculation, but if I'm right, I think a FE4 remake could sell given what happens in the game plot wise. But it might be kinda hard to sell given its spoliery nature.
Fire Emblem inst dying. However, I believe the franchise is currently at a crossroads between 3 Houses focus on heavy world building and morally gray narrative and Engages traditional approach with gameplay being king. I've noticed this intense divide in the fanbase, too, in online discussion as people argue on what the series should focus on. I personally think we should have both good gameplay and compelling stories as the foundations are already there. Whatever approach IS takes, they now have serious competition with Unicorn Overlord, Triangle strategy, and Octopath Traveler rising in popularity.
Eh, I don't think FE is dying. Think of the Zelda series in the 2000's: we had Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword pretty close together, then an eight-year gap between SS and Breath of the Wild, and you could technically say that we're still waiting for a new game since Tears of the Kingdom is a sequel to BotW. Of course, this is just my speculation, there's a huge difference between Nintendo's trademark fantasy series and the one that nearly died because they released one of their best games alongside Super Mario Galaxy, dooming it to fail, but I think that FE is just past the point of the Return hype. the influx of four new games in the span of six years (six if you count Fates as three) could have easily been because of Awakening's success drastically revitalizing interest in the series, making IS think "Oh, well let's give the people more Fire Emblem!" TL;DR: Let them cook
Oh I will let them cook, and I think they'll do quite well (mostly because FEH has provided them with enough money to justify like 10 more games into the future), but new console will be interesting to see what new games they bring with it! I just like drawing parallels, especially for what seems like a bit of a pivot point in the series's lifespan!
I think you need to double check those Zelda release dates. Twilight Princess came out in 2006, Skyward Sword in 2011 and Breath of the Wild in 2017. The wait from TP to SS was 5 years, and the wait from SS to BotW was 6 years. That's hardly a difference. Besides, the whole point here isn't on wait time between releases, it's about the staying power of those releases. Zelda games have strong lasting appeal, so it's not that big a deal that it usually takes 5-6 years for a new one to come out. Engage meanwhile has basically no longevity. Games been out for one and half years and it's been a ghost town for months now. Yiu can practically hear the crickets with how nobody is talking about it.
@@hansgretl1787 thank you for correcting me on the dates, for some reason I thought that SS came out in 2009. And while most discussion and fan engagement of Engage is gone, I view a franchise as “dying” from the amount of focus it gets from the developers rather than the fans. And since FE is arguably still going strong, in no small part thanks to FEH, the lack of any news on a FE18 doesn’t seem like a sign of ill omen. Think of something like the MCU: most people aren’t talking about it as much as during Phase 3, but they’re still forging ahead with new projects
The situation is this. As a REALLY new fan, as in, having played awakening and three houses and considering playing engage, from what i understand, three houses is unironically like top 5 jrpgs of all time. Then engage dropped and it’s debatable to even be top 50-100.
This video feels like bait. I mean we dont talk about sekiro outside of the game journo controversy and then we got no news till elden/demon souls remake, but we didnt call souls "dead"
Titles are generally always "bait". But the point of the video is about the longevity when it comes to discussion of the game in a fandom. I've been around for a WHILE, and I don't think I've seen a game become irrelevant so quickly, for Fire Emblem that is. I can't speak to how it is in other fandoms
0:58 Exactly that, it's only been a year dude. 1:08 Define "enjoyed", gameplay wise yes. Story wise, hell no. The lack of depth and storytelling really hurt Engage's longevity, the characters were a tad one note with exceptions such as Yunaka, and the pandering to the avatar, or in this case Alear the DIVINE DRAGON, was a bit much. I feel like the emblems of older lords felt cliche at best and should've been left out for something more interesting, if I wanna see the older lords I'd rather see Intelligent Systems just remaster the older games for us to enjoy. We'll see when the new Nintendo console comes out.
honestly upon playing unicorn overlord, that game outclassed fire emblem in almost every aspect for me personally, i don’t know if i can go back after the trash heap that was engage
Interesting to hear you say that, I enjoyed unicorn overlord, but the latter half of the game really stagnated for me personally. I ended up using the same 4 teams to clear everything through. What did you find so different that you enjoyed it that much more?
@@LinkKing7 I can agree to that to some extent. It does tend to get sluggish as you reach the fourth nation onwards, but the level of character growth in supports, and certain amount of customization for characters really sold it for me. That and having choices that truly matter in recruitment/story telling. The world building is also so nice to see build on top of itself. Gameplay wise was also fun in making stupidly strong teams as well as surprisingly efficient ones with chance classes/characters. I will say engage has left a very bad taste in my mouth especially with its lacking story, and reliance on broken dlc which is so tired, so I have very low expectations of FE continuing in a positive way for me.
I feel that the next Fire Emblem game needs a complex intriguing plot, interesting characters with backstories and a world with a history that feels like a lived in fantasy world. Three Houses had this and that is why it lasted around and people continue to discuss it to this day. Engage just didn't and I feel if they do the same thing for the next game it will fail.
Sure, Engage is financially and culturally a dud compared to Three Houses, but I think it’s far from how bad it was in the Shadow Dragon days. Shadow Dragon was preceded by Radiant down, which from what I’ve heard also sold poorly in the west and had a worse reception than it has now. It takes two games or more to form a downward trend, and at worst Engage is currently in RDs position where things get bad if the next game performs poorly. Still, Engage sold well, 4th best selling game in the franchise, calling it a failure is hyperbolic imo. As long as the next game isn’t garbage (imagine SoV gameplay with treehouse Fates story) Fire Emblem will be fine
It's youtube, I HAVE to be hyperbolic to play the numbers game after coming back from a long hiatus, so forgive me. But while I agree with you about RD sales, RD did have a LOT of discussion around it, even to this day. That's what I feel like we're missing in the engage era.
@@LinkKing7 yeah, discourse keeps a game alive in the fanbase, and engage's prioritizing gameplay over story neutered its potential discourse, since most people don't talk much about mechanics or map design as much as story and characters. Three Houses meanwhile, while less polished in many places and unfinished in others, had the perfect story to generate years worth of discourse. Hope the next new game has tight gameplay and map design like Conquest and Engage and comes with a story that's at least decent or worth talking about
Personally i don't think fire emblem is dying engage flopping isn't enough to send fire emblem from a rising star to a falling one. for fire emblem to be dying it would likely take the next game flopping and would most definitely be dying if 2 games after engage to floop in a row just like what happened with fire emblem almost dying. which brings me to a criticism is the shadow dragon part in video being misleading shadows dragon was just one part of puzzle to almost kill the franchise but other than that a all around good video.
I think it really does boils down to Three Houses setting the bar really high, and setting the bar period for newer fans that made Engage feel like a "failure". Saying Engage is "rushed" I feel is a disservice, because as you state, and I've seen many others state, the general consensus about the gameplay seems to be is that it's "good" and the game is clearly finished. Compared to Three Houses, where there's clearly cut corners, albeit many of which can be ignored or unnoticeable to some players. Overall, the consensus seems to be mixed though which is, again, caused in part due to Three Houses. Fire Emblem is so popular now and splintered, it's really hard to tell who's saying what. With so many fans now, and with the series always changing things entry to entry, it's really hard to say. I'm interested in how newer fans will react to the "likely" FE 4 remake. The story is there, and the gameplay kinda but it's also very different from Three Houses, modern FE, and even FE in general. So, time will tell. Assuming it will even exist.
FE4 gameplay, if kept the same, is going to be a VERY interesting point to watch newer fans play around with. Personally, I love it, but last I checked, it was fun to bash FE4's gameplay so we'll see how that goes
well i would not say its died i would more describe it as a lull in fire emblem mainly do to engage being pretty mid so the hype around the game did not last as long as three houses whenever the next game comes out that should boost interest in the series and i hope the next fire emblem ends up having a good story and character would not like to see another engage
I consider SRPGs thriving this generation with 3H, Unicorn Overlord, and Triangle strategy. Tactics ogre also got an excellent remaster. As for FE, I do think Engage is mid tier and isn't worth discussing very much compared to the other amazing games this generation.
As someone who miraculously still keeps up with Fire Emblem Heroes, the discourse in that community is one silo that is keeping Fire Emblem discussion alive, for better or for worse. It’s interesting comparing the FEH community vs the community that only play the console games. I imagine the different silos are similar to other franchises waiting for their next console game while having an active gacha/MMO game (i.e Bethesda games like Elder Scrolls and Fallout)
As a casual FE player who just knows 3H and Engage, I just hope that there will be again options to play this on hardware that's not already outdated when it releases. Otherwise these might be the only titles I ever played, if no official ports to other systems are made.
There are... other ways if you so desire. A quick google search can give you access to everything you need. If things aren't accessible, I don't see the issue making them accessible for yourself! I think the Switch has a couple of the older games now as well, which isn't a bad idea!
My take is that it's becoming a bit stale despite sales. Feh had me for years and years but there's just no creativity coming out, it all feels very routine. That and the visual style of Engage feels like most RPGs now, with kinda baby-looking characters, very trope-based cast and no serious tone (I guess this criticism is nothing new 😂) But, there doesn't seem to be much excitement beyond the fact people see Fire Emblem and feel excited rather than seeing the actual content and feel excited. Also, it feels a lot like Three Houses and before, these were things people talked about in groups outside of Fe fandom, but with Engage and Feh now, just FE enjoyers talk as a closed group, no new people and no real growth
I don't even know people who really play FEH any more. It was fantastic in it's first couple of years, but has become a bit too much to try and keep up with.
Fire Emblem will not die if they consider doing an anime series like when they did FE OVA back in 1990s, or special anime episodes of some scenes from every game. That's my opinion, though.. I think releasing like those, aside from the games, may help Fire Emblem survive or even stay longer.
3 houses was lit and I'm gonna get engage soon bc I heard the game play is epic and the story is like a Saturday morning cartoon which actually sounds fun. I've go lt almost 200 hours in 3 houses recently. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo is waiting for next gen console before releasing a new fire emblem game
I think a key factor in Engage discussion being dead may be due to the Fanbase's aggresion for it overall. Like IMO, the story has actual merit and parts are genuinely worth discussing but it's always dismissed by other fans which completely prevents discussion. Like its at the point where engage fans and fe fans feel like seperate groups sometimes.
I simply love fire emblem. My first game of fire emblem was awakening on 3ds i believe 8 months ago now played over nearly 60 hours (i don't play much) it's the first title of fire emblem I've played and I was hooked currently playing fates. I do believe when it comes to fire emblem I love that nostalgia and colour felt more alive on that little device of display. Three houses played 10 hours beautiful game but I told my self first to finish those older one's ❤
If you count the overpresention in Smash Ultimate, the bland character writing, predictable storylines and its decline on quality, then my answer is both yes and no.
Honestly, part of what turned me off from FE: Engage was the Zoomer cartoony childish art style to it. FE: Three Houses was so much more mature in its art style AND story. Oh yeah, nostalgia also kinda made me overwhelmed with Engage. Like, I kinda have to know very older characters to play the game? Technically I don't, but it still feels like I have to care about older games to be invested in this one, and I just couldn't take it seriously enough. Standalone games with their own characters and original story, but not trying to be rippoffs of other games where the characters are always stereotypes of other characters in other genres (looking at most Gacha games out there), are so much better. Give us character depth on multiple NEW characters that look and act different from how you would expect them to be. For example: I know people love to treat Dorothea as the bimbo girl of Three Houses, but I didn't get that from her character at all. She doesn't even like to use her looks for attention. She has the vibe of wanting to look old and decrepit, but still be loved and adored. She just wants to become a grandma. Not be the fantasy of little boys.
Probably just waiting for the Switch 2 to release; that was pushed back for market reasons globally. I think there will be a new or remake game in the first year of that system
Not really but we might end up in Gacha hell instead though... One thing I REALLY HATED about Engage was the Gacha-like mechanics, when I pay for a game, I don't want gacha mechanics, if I play a game for free and I love it? Like GFL, Blue Archive, Arknights, Etc. Then I am okay with Gacha Mechanics. Engage feels like Girls Frontline 2 but Hoyoverse made it, I absolutely despise the art direction because of what it implies what they want to put the series in. I really wish they stuck with the Persona-esque design of Three Houses at this rate, at least that isn't giving me bad vibes, or better yet they went back to Fire Emblem Echoes artstyle, it looked so pretty I love it! If they choose any artstyle should be consistent for the series moving forward, I nominate that instead! Fire Emblem isn't gonna die as a franchise, but here's the thing, it is AT RISK of becoming nothing more but a husk and cashcow. Pray we never reach EA levels of quality and people just keep eating it up. What I really want in Fire Emblem is risk taking while keeping it's identity, nothing should remain stagnant forever if it wants to cater to a wider audience, but still it should keep a healthy balance, Three Houses offered one of the best compelling narratives in a long time, I hope the next one does the same too, wouldn't it be more interesting if you start as a commoner and worked your way up to being respected, becoming a lord? Maybe you lead a Democratic country in the next game and have to navigate the turmoils of Medieval politics like Venice did, so many interesting ideas to take the franchise in but I fear we may end up in a stagnant place instead...
I remember being obsessed with the two GBA releases, loving path of radiance, and convincing my parents to buy me a Wii when Radiant dawn came out. I'll never forget the complete nothing that Shadow Dragon made me feel (I found the plot bland, the animations hideous, and the class-swapping to be very homogenizing), even going so far as to sell the game back to gamestop (Having come to appreciate Shadow Dragon via emulator, I obviously regret this now). PoR and Radiant Dawn may not have been best-sellers, but they kept the online fanbase alive and hardcore fans around, but man, did Shadow Dragon really kill things off for a few good years. There's definitely a parallel with where FE is now to back then, I feel like we're at the same stage we were with Radiant Dawn back in the day: Most recent entry was pretty niche and had its detractors but still was fundamentally fun, and we're coming down off the high of a boom in popularity (3H/Heroes boom for current gen, GBA game boom and western audience acquisition for the previous gen). Things aren't as dire as they were Pre-Awakening, but if the next game sucks or is uninteresting, things could get bad.
I doo feel like Nintendo as a whole has just been slow this year, with Our 1st proper direct finally happening this month, so maybe we’ll have something juicy will pop up there. Maybe.
Yeah, it's a transition to a new console on the horizon, so I assume most things are being pushed to development there, leaving us with scraps. Supposedly we're not seeing anything about the new console in this Direct though, which is odd, I wonder what they have left in the tank...
@@LinkKing7 Yea. I'd Imagine just remakes and ports to fill out the year. Which if they can get the same love the TTYD did then maaaybe that's not so bad? A tad boring thou.
The reason why the game doesn't generate discussions is because unlike fates and 3H people we're talking about stupid discussions about who's the morally best world or how bad the story is Engage doesn't have any controversy, that's it really
Engage was an anniversary title for long terms fans, it was never going to be as big as three houses. The main problem with it imo is its more classic and difficult gameplay repels newer three houses fans but then its outwards appearance and general lighthearted tone paired up with general negative opinions from the bigger fetubers repelled the older fans based purely on appearances alone. People claim that engage was a "flop" but it still sold really well for a game at the end of a consoles life span and I predict if the switch 2 is announced soon with a new original fire emblem title as one of its early titles it should do very well. Also there is plenty of engage discussion, its just about units and builds not about the characters "deep lore" as that's something engage didn't have, something of note about a large chunk of three houses content is barely any of it is about the actual gameplay itself which is kind of engages whole deal.
You do raise a fair point, and I've been kind of out of the loop for a bit, but is there that much variety in builds and gameplay in engage? From my two playthrough, it does seem pretty one note for most units, and fairly straightforward for a lot of skills builds. Though I guess with the DLC/Well, the diversity of builds and things you have access to have gone through the roof.
@@LinkKing7 with how reclassing and weapon ranks work its the best game for reclassing in the entire series imo as you don't have to worry about grinding it up
Well my first Fire Emblem game was Three Houses so you could call me one of those new players. Engage didn't appeal to me because I couldn't connect with the cartoonier characters, hearing about the rings where you could summon heroes made me think it had gatcha mechanics. 3H was dramatic because the students were so much more relatable and I hated having to fight some of them during the war phase in the latter half of the game. I will probably pick up Engage one day, but purely because I want to play a fire emblem game. I think their next game will also be in Fodlan, because I think most of the audience connects with that setting in particular. I previously thought they were going to have a game set in the days of the saints, so it was surprising they came up with Engage instead.
If you think FE is dying, then you should check out FE universe. The ROM Hack community is going strong. Even some of them have great stories in case you want a narrative experience over the current retail FE storytelling
i absolutely agree with your last point, the next game should be a brand new game and not a remake. remakes usually make way less sales than new entries, and it would be too risky to launch one while the franchise has been very quiet. regarding engage, i feel like IS didn’t really give a f about this game. you can’t release a gameplay focus game without releasing updates and dlc regularly imo, i don’t get why they couldn’t develop new dlcs or updates with new incentives to play ( for example new game + )
I just hope that from now onward all game's story is like engage or fates , because that's what this fandom deserve. What's more , in the fe4 remake bring engage artist and writer and add to the story a self insert avatar that warps and rewrite the entire story around them , i would love to see how the fandom reacts to that.
The issue with fire emblem is it went from a medieval strategy series with anime influences to a cartoony fan service chess game for genshin impact nerds
Strategy game does take a lot out of you and most people will be good playing just one strategy game per year to not burned them self out. I think one new title for console follow by spin off like Warriors or remake of classic title will be enough.
Fire Emblem has nearly died several times, but they always manage to innovate and reinvent the series with a critically acclaimed and commercially successful game when the series needs it most.
I think we franchise is just in a weird place where is seems like IS is having dev issues. Leaks plus datamining from Engage indicates we were supposed to get a FE4 remake between Fates and Engage, but that seems to be in development hell. Engage feels like them cobbling together something to actually release. It feels like a placeholder game, its fine, but not standout.
It's just an anniversary title I think, but whereabout are you seeing that an FE4 remake was supposed to come out before that? I haven't heard that one and would love more details on that
I like to believe that Fire Emblem is going through a phase similar to Mario's with New Super Mario Bros, because they started with great sales success and then only existed and sold enough to not be considered a flop. Although I don't think Fire Emblem is dying, it's just not as popular as before. I think we should only worry if Fire Emblem games start selling very little like they did in the pre-Awakening era.
What I am hearing a lot is thay people are tired of Nami Komuro's style of storytelling where you have a a bunch of royals, each royals have their two retainers, and they have very basic personalities using gimmicks. We have seen it in Engage, Fates, Awakening, etc... for Awakening, the story was bad, but it was the first time this model had occured. Another thing is the base system. For every person I hear say that they like running around the base, I hear another saying that this is what killed FE for them. IMO, Tellius bases were done the best. Just a menu, but with added conversations. Stop wasting my time with fishing, cooking, pushups, finding goodies, feeding pets, etc... let me play Fire Emblem. The emphasis on marriage and Avatars removes all personality from your main character, and they aren't allowed to be flawed, or to have and established life in the world. Either they have no memories, or were sequestered away from the world. People may not all have good tastes in stories, but there is a point where repeating the same formula over and over again will get stale, no matter how low your srandards are. Fire Emblem is on a downwards trend, and will continue tumbling down if it doesn't rapidly change directions towards a better story and more emphasis on the core gameplay. Also, people forget that some games can be successful at first, and then opinions can turn. I liked Three Houses for one run, but within the first one, I was already starting to hate the monastery. Then I did another route, and loathe it. Third run, I forced myself through. Fourth... I skipped Church route. I just couldn't take the monastery anymore. So future games with a similar base system make me hesitate to buy unless it's on a good sale.
Sorry but where in awakening are there lots of royals with two retainers? I agree thou that I had enough of that in fates I didn’t need to to come back for engage. I like the base when it means something, for three houses it was important to use the time to build up your students and balance that with trying to recruit new students from other houses and also training byleth too, and also building support with characters was fun because all (or most) of the characters had interesting stories I wanted to learn about. Compare this to engage where all (most) of the characters are like super one note and just do their one trait at each other for the conversation, there was a real lack of motivation for me to build support points with characters. And the rest of the activities at the somniel were just grindy repetitive tasks to earn a currency to spend on gacha rolls. I actually like Avatar characters and marriage in theory because they help me get more immersed in the world and connect with the characters, but your right they need to actually make your choices matter over the course of the story like say for example how triangle strategy did it. I don’t think we can call engage being worse than three houses a downward trend cause it’s only one game that did worse, if the next one is bad then yeah it’s a trend. Speak for yourself man, it took me over 1000 hours of three houses including playing every route at least twice and blue lions like 5 times before I got bored, and if any SINGLE PLAYER game can keep my interest for 1000 hours then that’s a good freaking game.
If only Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn were not ahead of their time because they were the best. Another thing is Fire Emblem should return to the old worlds instead of make new worlds.
You're. Wrong. Jk, glad to have you return to this plane of existence again again. Part of me feels like FE isn't dying as a series, but I feel like the ceiling of expectation is getting raised higher with every next game release. I think the expectation for Engage was way higher than IS realized with things like it being a new entry AND anniversary game to boot. Iunno, where they go next will be interesting to say the least. I guess just for John Doe Nintendo to leak the Fe4: Shadows of the Holy War for the next Direct for the 4th time.
"i really liked X aspect of Enagage because of reason Y does anyone else have any interesting perspectives to contribute" "No engage is pure garbage in any aspect except gameplay and anyone who says otherwise is OBJECTIVELY wrong" fetubers: why is there no engage discourse
I started playing way after awakening came out but before fates and I can definitely say I’ve lost a lot of interest in this franchise, I played echoes and don’t really like it, warriors sucked, I started three houses but never actually finished it and I bough three hopes but never even opened the box, I didn’t bother with engage, look at feh and what their doing to it, I was so die hard with feh the first few years to the point of obsession but not I barely open it like once a week it’s not fun anymore not like it used to be, the new feh channel was released yesterday and ass soon as they got to the new game mode I quickly lost interest, don’t know what going on but they need something new.
I would say there iss too much three houses drama to get fans to talk on the fandom. Leaving other games not as talked about, plus most of the series is now not payable without emulators, besides three houses and engage.
"X is dying" is fallacy. People will continue to make a product or service as long as people are willing to pay for it and it's profitable to do so. Simple as that. A game can be "dying" when what made it what it was is slowly going away when it starts becoming more mainstream and "more accessible". I mean FFXI, Pokemon, World of Warcraft, and modern Final Fantasy are all but dead to me, to others they are still "going strong" even though they are kind crap at this point. A lot of stuff isn't as good as it used to be and this recent generation enjoys them because they don't know anything else (just like us old folks had to deal with jank of Nintendo Hard games). Just because people stopped making games doesn't mean it's "dead" either, because you can still play the old ones and download romHacks for them.
I think that's an aspect a lot of people are glancing over, even if it is stated. Engage plays much more like "traditional" FE game than 3H. The latter plays much more like a JRPG which is much easier to get into, and it's partly why FE was relatively niche for a while. There's nothing wrong with that, 3H is my third favorite game in the series after all, but the story isn't the only reason why new people came into the series.
Fire emblem engage is good you don’t know what you’re talking about 😂I love it I got the physical copy of the game I have all three games in Nintendo switch physical copy only
Discussion for Engage died quickly because the story and characters -- what most people/casuals play for, and where most of the discussion always lies -- were extremely basic in a bad way. The complete opposite of Three Houses, which ignited persistent discourse for... years. That's the answer. The series is fine, but IS needs to strongly step up their game in the original storytelling department, and stop delivering Fates/Engage-tier writing. (Keep up Engage-tier gameplay though!)
I respect any opinion, though i do think you are a little too pessimistic if you really think Fire Emblem is "dying". With the success of three houses, as well as heros still doing hot, Fire Emblem really needs a few "bad" games to really be dying. Engage is not a success, but I wont call it a failure, I mean the sales was great in the first week, and the final result is still not terrible, maybe more like mediocre. There is a problem of where the game wants to go because it does not look like there is a good direction for Fire Emblem to take, but I still believe Fire Emblem is fine as long as IS just "perform normally". Engage's problems are numerous, but many problems are still more to me like IS not trying hard enough, like the lack of new game+, or even more pointless stuff in somniel, which are really baffling decisions. Also I want to bring up a point: while engage itself has few discussions, as a game that brought back past characters, engage actually triggered numerous discussions and attention to older games too, so thats a point in engage's favour too.
I was taking notes during this and if I typed everything I wrote this post would be longer than the video, so here. -Yeah I'll agree that Shadow Dragon was really bad. It's okay as a remake, but the animations were sad and pathetic, they didn't even bother making color palettes for these characters, and the whole game felt souless. You're telling me they're so lazy they can't make palletes like they did for the GBA games? I won't say it made Fire Emblem die, but it's definitely a candidate for worst FE for how souless it really is. It did give us Clash of Two Virtues tho, which is a pretty good boss theme. -Engage. I'll counter a lot of things from the video so yea there's a big storm coming. 1. Characters and story is a hit or miss subject depending on what you like and enjoy in a character. Engage plays it really safe story wise, but that's not exactly a bad thing. You can still have a fun time with a simple and straightforward story-which I did for Engage. A few moments felt corny, but I generally had fun. Character wise? I'm no fan of the army being lord + their 2 retainers thing and only one recruitable enemy in a series where a good chunk of your allies are recruitable enemies, but I generally liked Engages cast. Hortensia somehow grew the most from insufferable to having a redemption arc, Engage Anna is the best version of Anna in a while, Zelkov is *plesantly* fun in all of his supports, and Fogado and Alcryst were two of my favorites from start to finish. 2. Music was fine with me. Not much to say there. Defininetly some bangers-namely the Brodia maps and a good chunk of the Emblem chapters have really good music. I'll take this over whatever the fuck Shambhala's music was supposed to be. 3. Having been around since Sacred Stones, I don't mind Engage' gameplay going to a more simpler path. It's definitely not as complex like 3 Houses where there's so much to keep track of, but that isn't a bad thing since combat is so enjoyable. If anything, the gameplay being so fun is what substitutes Engage' story. 4. Rushed Dead End game? If you're talking about visuals, then you must've played a whole different game because Engage looks leagues better than 3 Houses. Also it had 4 years in the oven, which is time they're spending polishing the game making it look as neat and stylish as it can be. -That's a tall order for the next FE Game. Personally, I think the next game has to strike a balance in the middle. Something that can appeal to everyones appetite in gameplay, style, whatever. -Also an FE4 remake has been on everyones FE wishlist for years, decades even. It wouldn't be like Gaiden, which was obscure as hell prior to Shadows of Valentia. FE4's pretty big in the community-and a remake that does it much needed justice would be a pretty strong and pretty welcome game. As long as they don't screw it up-that's been happening too much with games lately. Also no, they're gonna kick off the new switch console with a Mario or a Zelda game.
though modern games get worse like all later generations for a while to long time, so long as the original fans from SNES/GBA days exist it will live, plus GBA fans know how to make their own which ups the number of good games vs the official games
Lowkey bordering on doom posting. Funding wise Engage did fine, and we can’t determine if they lost money from it without knowing their budget. I think it’s clear though that 3H had a stronger budget put in it I also don’t think the characters or discussion on it has cooled down as much as some people say they have. I would LOVE to see where people are seeing a flourishing community of constant 3H discussion and crickets on Engage since it sure isn’t any of the FE discords or subreddits I frequent (since I see this type of comment thrown around a LOT but then three posts/messages down it’s like an Engage related question or fan art). 3H is so large and massive that ofc it will continue to be talked about but I don’t think that’s a detriment to Engage. There’s just more to be discussed on it character/story wise, but I don’t see a lot of people still constantly replaying it due to how much a chore the gameplay is. Engage has the strength of still being played and replayed due to the widely praised gameplay. I think the only reason why Engage is not causing the controversy or major discussion 3H stirred is because of the lack of character or story nuance. A lot of people have their personal favorites but nothing all that controversial or having one character stir a massive debate (cough, Edelgard). All discussion seems centered on fun builds, gameplay mechanics, and occasionally character theories. Tangent aside, FE can’t die because FEH is keeping it alive. And yes there is the whole “FEH is dying” argument being thrown around but it’s still Nintendo’s biggest mobile cash cow. When FEH dies, maybe we can discuss dying a little bit, but even then it would be a stretch. Not even the community discussing the games is dying. Respectfully, it might just be the lack of interest on your part. I will agree though that a new game will only add more kindling to the fire, but that much is obvious.
It has to border on doomposting a little bit because I need to play the YT algorithm game to revive the channel, but from a content perspective I do thing Engage takes a back seat to 3H and even Fates. If you have any places where there's still flourishing Engage discussion I'd love to see that as well, but among the creator circles, and my own groups, I feel like Engage came and went very quickly. Definitely not a lack of interest on my part, otherwise I wouldn't be here making a video about it and replying to comments. I just like to spark discussions, even if my methods may be a bit exaggerated, there's a method to the madness.
Two years between each new game is a healthy amount imo ; It feels like FE is dying because we have nothing (confirmed) to look forward to , without mention that all those rumours made us anxious . Heroes isn't helping either because of all the powercreep and amount of characters alts we are getting. At least it's fun to see how the Engage manga is doing.
>Fire Emblem fans when they don’t get a new game every years Fire Emblem fans think they’re entitled to multiple games a year when they still have a horny mobile gacha that’s still active, while others like Dr. Mario World, Dragalia Lost, Animal Crossing, Mario Kart Tour and Miitomo have all ended and or stopped their service.
I thinak and other thing that kill the fances was a gmae that was a remake or celcbraton not a thinkg the 3 gmaes that where a dow persoeo where sadwo dragon new mistery and shados of vlatentia and engege what whe wan't is new carcter even tou revaltion had a terival story and therbal gamply it had a whac sotry that was sou stupid that was funy and had brnad new carecters and events coempr to engege wich is acturlay just fier emble but with all the protaognist. and the gmaes lost all of iits inters of criking bad carecters like allxme everyone agras that is buney and it is borring becouse he justs dose his job medeicoer-ly comepr to amilia sofia rolf or donal or nino they wher peropel how thisnk this carcter wher vry good du to ahving ig gorut rates and they wehre alsoe teribal
Nah Heroes making bank engage sold 1.61 mil I mean yes Engage overall is a mid game and the characters is mostly ass with some exceptions. FE isn't dead. We don't want a pokemon issue do we
Nah, I'm not lobbying for yearly releases, most definitely not, I'm fine with one every 2-3 years, but I'd like the discussion about that game to stretch over the span of those 2-3 years, not sit in silence in between games. That was more teh angle I was going for here
We need a 3H redux for the switch 2. Now before you crucify me hear me out. That’s of other RPGs get 2nd versions that either add more to the base game or also iron out the game’s problems. SMT5 for example is getting a new version this year.
The last entry was literally only a year ago, and we're gearing up for the next Nintendo console. The series is fine. Personally, as someone who grew up with the series, I'd be happy if the new game in the franchise went all in on doing something different. Engage felt like a halfway point between trying to appeal to newbies while also being a nostalgia trip, and it just didn't work as either one for me. To my mind, Three Houses was the perfect capstone to everything I loved about the games, but I'm in my 30s now and it's getting harder to find the time to sit down and invest 60~ hours into a big strategy RPG. Sooner or later, I just won't have the time at all, and I'm okay with that, so I say let the next Fire Emblem be something that the kids of today can truly fall in love with. Maybe a new setting, removed from the usual western fantasy aesthetics? Maybe taking inspiration from new cultures and mythologies, or making that game on Mars that Awakening was going to be? Shifting up the gameplay in a big way, like maybe leaning more into the social sim aspects so that support levels and building relationships tie much more strongly into gameplay? Whatever it is, my greatest wish for the series is for FE18 to get announced at the next Nintendo Direct, and to be one of those games that I look at and say, "This is going to truly move the franchise into the next generation, almost certainly make absolute gangbusters, and I can immediately tell it won't be designed with people like me in mind."
I think this comment encapsulates a lot of what I've been thinking recently. It's becoming less about what we as the older generation of FE players have grown used to, and more about how can we maintain popularity with an incoming new audience, and that's quite important. What gets you here will be different, but as long as it keeps you here, I don't think that's a bad thing, regardless of the style
It is amazing how Three Houses turned the series into a discussion about "Three Houses or not Three Houses". It is an ok game, but why are we pretending that games that are not it are not doing well? Every single game since Awakening can be considered a success and either elevated the series popularitywise or got a big return on financial investment.
It's generally what success does to a series, but I don't think it's that specifically that causes these arguments. Every single game since awakening has had it's place in discussions for lengthy periods of time, except Engage. That's what sparked this video at least for me
![[#2024MAMA] ROSÉ (로제), Bruno Mars - APT. | Mnet 241122 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dgGqD28J6aQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I feel like a lot of people are misinterpreting the point of this video because of the title or a couple of the lines in it, and that's my fault for not being very clear about it. I'm NOT saying Fire Emblem as a whole is dying, even though I did say that word for word in the video, I didn't mean it in the literal sense, I said I was dying for crying out loud, it's a joke! What I was mostly talking about was that it's strange that the discussion around FE games has quieted down a lot. Generally a new game exercises relevance for long periods of time and I just haven't seen that for Engage.
I am by no means saying Engage is a bad game, I really like it and made 16 or 17 videos about it in a single month, that's how much I enjoyed it, but the conversation and discussion about it is just lacking, at least from what I can see. If you see otherwise, then I would love to see WHERE you see this, and by all means, change my mind. It's an opinion video, that's just what I've felt recently, and I'm sharing my own thoughts with everyone, this isn't an attack on you personally or your favorite game.
I figured it was more like a figure of speech. You are right though, I personally like engage, but haven’t seen anyone talk about it other than it being a bad game. Which does hurt a little bit, but at the same time is a hell of a lot better than hearing someone say that a certain character in engage is on par with Edelgard, when it comes to the shit she’s done in 3H. Personally, I’d like to see a FE4 remake for the next system, but at this point I’ll take anything there’s been so much of a drought for so long.
Engage is fun in gameplay but sucks in story.
I still remember state of Fire Emblem before Awakening came out, suffice to say I doubt it’ll ever die at this point. Golden Sun, now that’s the series I’m worried about.
Oh I don't think it'll die completely, they've earned the right (and the money) to probably stick around for a long time as long as it continues selling.
Golden Sun... yeah, I LOVE Golden Sun music!
We will get Silver Moon instead
Advance Wars is in trouble too, Reboot Camp was a massive failure
@@tbahr123it was failure due to business side and Nintendo tried to scrap the series when War broke out. Also quick cash grab job didn’t help either, when hardcore fans would’ve been satisfied if they did little balance patch and update on certain units and CO would’ve been nice.
@@AkagiRedSun if AW:1+2rebootcamp didnt have such poor art direction/aesthetics it wouldve sold much better. it also ran poorly. cant tell a tank from a medium tank. multiplayer should have been a centerpiece but that ball was dropped too. it was poorly made by an amateur development studio. Not saying i could have done better myself, but AW rebootcamp really needed to be good and it was treated like an afterthought.
We're two games removed from the best-selling game in the franchise. Let's chill on this nonsense.
It's just a discussion point, far from doomposting dont worry!
What is the second one? Three Houses was FE16 and Engage is FE17. There is no FE18.
@@quickpawmaud You're correct. In my mind I was thinking we are "post-engage" so it is the last one, and 3 Houses is the one before that. So 3 Houses is twice removed from our current state. But that's a very obtuse way to go about it admittedly, lol
@@lapniappe we don't count side games.
@@lapniappe no it is not and no a lot of people do not count them. The entire community uses the same numbering system and that numbering ignores side games. The OP already agreed with me and said they agreed it was awkward and not what they meant. I enjoyed Three Hopes OK but it is not a Fire Emblem game it is a Dynasty Warriors crossover game. Just like with Pokémon they only count the next main game as the generation number not remakes or spinoffs. If you type in FE8 or FE12 or FE+any number 1-17 everyone agrees what game you are talking about.
Heres my take. Every fire emblem game is very different. The reason I think we aren't seeing Engage discussion is because its not a deep game. Not in the story, at least. The game is very combat focused, and can be super fun if you like hard fire emblem with gimmicks. Three Houses was much more story based, with a lot looser gameplay. I think whatever IS does next, itll be fun and neat in its own way.
Also hyped for the streams on Speedys channel
Definitely, I think we need to strike a nice balance between the great gamepaly that Engage brought, and the great story and characters that we got with Three Houses. If we get that... oh man it would be amazing.
And YES! I'm really hyped for the SS coop as well, can't wait!
Basically this. I personally thought Engage's story was fine. It's just the whiplash from a really good story from Three Houses to a simple "defeat the bad guy" really didn't stick with a lot of people. Especially the new fans brought in by Three Houses.
@@LinkKing7I also feel like engage lacks the replay-ability of three houses, just gameplay wise, there were so many ways to build characters in three houses that were good and viable but in engage I felt like there was no real way to do any experimental builds because sp took far to long to obtain and there was no new game+
@@LinkKing7 lets not call Three Houses story great. Worldbuilding and characters were very good, but each story feels incomplete without playing other routes, and that shouldn't be the case in my opinion.
You sure about that buddy @ninjakirby777
When you make your channel completely around a game, you're going to see ups and downs in viewership and interest. It doesn't mean people are dropping fire emblem all together or that fire emblem itself is dying. Sometimes I feel like watching people play Pokemon matches and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I want to see someone play fire emblem and sometimes I don't. A new game will come out and we'll all be playing until we don't. That's just how it is. These kind of messages of "fire emblem is dying" can actually negatively influence people's perception of fire emblem. No one wants to get into a dying franchise or an anime that isn't complete. I still love fire emblem and am looking forward to whatever springs forth on RUclips after the next game comes out. We don't want a Pokemon rushed version of the next game so let's exercise patience.
IMO fire emblem has lost its identity a bit. It found it pretty hard with 3H, but Engage is a couple steps back. They love to do that, they'll take like 4 steps forward and then 5 steps back.
Awaken forward has done nothing to improve the games identity.
Awakening sold out some to get made, it's part of that games know development. Fates tried to rip off Pokemon to maximize funds. Echoes took a classic game and messed its story up putting on display how poorly the current character writing is compared to former games. 3 houses wanted to be some lame persona 5 thing and is some of the most bland content possible. Engage is ripping off classics and has gatcha bs thrown in.
Everything that has come after awakening hasn't come without consequences that burn away important identifying aspects of fire emblem games.
It's the reason I'm only interested in waiting on remakes, both switch games don't play well
Man, this fandom really acts like the franchise is dead if they don’t get a new game every single year.
Well, it feels like they should have something already cooked for us considering the speed which the DLC waves were released.
Nah, we've never gotten a new game every year, it's just a video about how Engage's discussion died after a couple of months
How did you get that from this video? Nowhere in this video was that said or implied. You need to work on your comprehension and listening skills.
I went into Engage with a positive mind but came out Dissatisfied.
I really hope I would love Engage but didn't and the is coming from the guy who literally played over 2,735 hours or more in Three Houses😅.
I think the reason Engage kinda did what it did was from what I got was a lot of mixed feelings from half of the fans.
Engage was definitely a mixed bag, especially since it had to follow Three Houses, which is unfortunate. There are a lot of things I'd keep from Engage though, I did really enjoy the gameplay and the resource management prior to the DLC stuff coming into play!
I can't imagine putting in more than the 600 I did
Trite fluffed story that's all over the place and tries to have 'deep' world building but ends up with it being as shallow as a puddle
Not to mention the gameplay that eventually put me to sleep. Three of the four routes is enough for me from that game
At least the gameplay in Engage is refreshing enough to replay with different setups of units and learned Emblem skills.
The story is sub par unfortunately, so it falls flat in the narrative front
I'd rather the next game have a decent writer and follow some of the tenets Engage used for difficulty and map design.
If Intelligent Systems listens to it's fans they'll hopefully get Kuromu (head script and scenario lead for Fates and Engage) away from a creative role.
The games just need a decent narrative and the gameplay will carry it
I don't think fire emblem is dead but I will say whatever the next game is needs to do well whether it's a remake of genealogy of the holy war or the next news main line in the series if they can just keep the gameplay from engage and make story driven like three houses then I think we have the best fire emblem game out there or at least up there.
It'd be pretty cool if they did a reboot of 4 & 5 merged into a single game with the gameplay largely overhauled.
Now that's a controversial take that will get people MAD 😂
*Insert link to mekkahs video here*
@@LinkKing7 Okay, merging the two games is probably a bad idea, but 4 absolutely needs a gameplay overhaul, and I'm sure everyone would be happy if they implemented the modern support system.
You should be worried about mega man or castlevania, those franchises haven’t released anything in years besides anniversary collections. Fire emblem as consistently sent stuff out without much warning ahead of time so I think we’ll be ok for a little while yet. Then we can panic
I would kill to see a new Megaman RPG series like Battle Network or Starforce, I played those games SO MUCH growing up. I was actually considering doing some megaman videos because of the collection out!
Same man, I loved all the Megan games growing up! Lucky to be around while they were still making them. But nothing new since megaman 11 and mighty no.9 really kinda sucks :(
Nah Castlevania still lives on through various crossovers and a successful anime series. Aside from Metal Gear, Castlevania is it's most popular IP, I wouldn't worry about it.
Fire Emblem Engage is an amazing game and still gets regular discourse on all the FE communities whether it's twitter. youtube, reddit, 4chan, etc.
"Dying" is a strong word. Considering FEH is still making a lot of money, I'd say it's fine at the moment.
FEH, the curse that gives us the money to move on eh?
Fehtubers try not to fearmonger challenge (Impossible)
Don't hate the player, hate the game. Sometimes you have to try and play the youtube algorithm game when you can
@LinkKing7 W for keepin it a buck 😭
How is it fearmongering? Engage did sell badly.
@@dinar8749 1.6 million copies is bad now?
@@Garvant_ Compared to all other modern fire emblem games other than Echoes? Yes, yes it is.
I'm gonna laugh my ass off if engage doesn't even break 2 million copies sold lol
I really hope we see the Genealogy of the Holy War remake in this upcoming June direct
I dunno if it’s a major factor but I definitely feel like them (IS and anyone else involved in development) marketing the game with nostalgia for the past characters is a loosing battle, especially for non Japanese players, when so many games have never been released outside of Japan. Like if I didn’t play heroes and emulate games, if I was a more casual fan, how would I know who Lief and Sigurd were?
That's probably just the anniversary title angle they went with
@@LinkKing7 They shouldn't of made an anniversary game to begin with. Nostalgia pandering is almost always a bad thing.
The problem is that Intelligent Systems keeps nostalgia baiting. It’s really a problem when the only Fire Emblem that didn’t nostalgia pander was Three Houses, which was made by KT.
I don't think it'll die with FEH siphoning money from people... but I do think they really need to make a game that nails both gameplay and story like people have been asking forever now, we haven't had that since the Tellius series. As much as I'd love an FE4 remake I do agree that I think they really need a new game that nails both enough mass appeal stuff as well as core fire emblem gameplay. (and proper marketing)
Crazy to see that FEH is still generating like 3-4 million a month purely off character rehashes and alts
I think Fire Emblem is fine, we had a banger release in 2022 and another in 2024. Weird that Intelligent Systems didn’t use the Fire Emblem title for Triangle Strategy and Unicorn Overlord though…
*If FE is dying, it's Engage that killed it.*
3H revived the series only for it's gatcha counterpart to kill it.
Just looking at this video after 7 days of intense 'Fire emblem : Engage' gameplay. :3 which is The best gameplay I have experienced from all the FE games (and Tatical RPG in general I guess, heck to heck with Advance Wars : Dual Strike)
But i do agree, Fire Emblem Franchise needs a new game totaly fresh since FEE was a kind of anniversary opus. The nostalgia works when we do not summon it that often.
btw happy to see your comeback on youtube and that you get out of an non flaroushing job. I look foward to see you posting some new content in months to come.
I agree, I really enjoyed the gameplay of Engage, I just wish there was more reason to come back to it and talk about it past the first playthrough or two
And yep! Hopefully settling in so I'll be able to be a bit more consistent with uploads!
I actually disagree and think that a remake of FE4 could revitalize the series once again. This is all speculation, but it feels to me like Fire Emblem sells its games on gimmicks that interest people.
Every time I heard Awakening talked about on release, it was almost always alongside its child and marriage system. Similiarly, Three Houses sold itself on the idea of aligning yourself with one of three houses in a darker fantasy setting (for anime styled games at least).
This is literally all just speculation, but it would explain why Engage "underperformed." The selling point is the fact that you can use emblems that represent characters from the previous games. It's a cool idea and all, but it doesn't really sound as cool as the child mechanic or house mechanic; but more importantly it also only really appeals to people who have played Fire Emblem before. Meaning it has a smaller audience (in terms of people who get interested because of these gimmicks).
This is all just wild speculation, but if I'm right, I think a FE4 remake could sell given what happens in the game plot wise. But it might be kinda hard to sell given its spoliery nature.
Also I definitely disagree with Engage's OST being bland. I prefer most of Engage's OST to Three Houses imo.
Fire Emblem inst dying. However, I believe the franchise is currently at a crossroads between 3 Houses focus on heavy world building and morally gray narrative and Engages traditional approach with gameplay being king.
I've noticed this intense divide in the fanbase, too, in online discussion as people argue on what the series should focus on. I personally think we should have both good gameplay and compelling stories as the foundations are already there. Whatever approach IS takes, they now have serious competition with Unicorn Overlord, Triangle strategy, and Octopath Traveler rising in popularity.
Eh, I don't think FE is dying. Think of the Zelda series in the 2000's: we had Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword pretty close together, then an eight-year gap between SS and Breath of the Wild, and you could technically say that we're still waiting for a new game since Tears of the Kingdom is a sequel to BotW. Of course, this is just my speculation, there's a huge difference between Nintendo's trademark fantasy series and the one that nearly died because they released one of their best games alongside Super Mario Galaxy, dooming it to fail, but I think that FE is just past the point of the Return hype. the influx of four new games in the span of six years (six if you count Fates as three) could have easily been because of Awakening's success drastically revitalizing interest in the series, making IS think "Oh, well let's give the people more Fire Emblem!"
TL;DR: Let them cook
Oh I will let them cook, and I think they'll do quite well (mostly because FEH has provided them with enough money to justify like 10 more games into the future), but new console will be interesting to see what new games they bring with it!
I just like drawing parallels, especially for what seems like a bit of a pivot point in the series's lifespan!
I think you need to double check those Zelda release dates. Twilight Princess came out in 2006, Skyward Sword in 2011 and Breath of the Wild in 2017. The wait from TP to SS was 5 years, and the wait from SS to BotW was 6 years. That's hardly a difference.
Besides, the whole point here isn't on wait time between releases, it's about the staying power of those releases. Zelda games have strong lasting appeal, so it's not that big a deal that it usually takes 5-6 years for a new one to come out.
Engage meanwhile has basically no longevity. Games been out for one and half years and it's been a ghost town for months now. Yiu can practically hear the crickets with how nobody is talking about it.
@@hansgretl1787 thank you for correcting me on the dates, for some reason I thought that SS came out in 2009. And while most discussion and fan engagement of Engage is gone, I view a franchise as “dying” from the amount of focus it gets from the developers rather than the fans. And since FE is arguably still going strong, in no small part thanks to FEH, the lack of any news on a FE18 doesn’t seem like a sign of ill omen. Think of something like the MCU: most people aren’t talking about it as much as during Phase 3, but they’re still forging ahead with new projects
@@squatch1565 I see, so you were just addressing the wording. I getcha now.
The situation is this. As a REALLY new fan, as in, having played awakening and three houses and considering playing engage, from what i understand, three houses is unironically like top 5 jrpgs of all time. Then engage dropped and it’s debatable to even be top 50-100.
This video feels like bait. I mean we dont talk about sekiro outside of the game journo controversy and then we got no news till elden/demon souls remake, but we didnt call souls "dead"
Titles are generally always "bait". But the point of the video is about the longevity when it comes to discussion of the game in a fandom. I've been around for a WHILE, and I don't think I've seen a game become irrelevant so quickly, for Fire Emblem that is. I can't speak to how it is in other fandoms
0:58 Exactly that, it's only been a year dude.
1:08 Define "enjoyed", gameplay wise yes. Story wise, hell no.
The lack of depth and storytelling really hurt Engage's longevity, the characters were a tad one note with exceptions such as Yunaka, and the pandering to the avatar, or in this case Alear the DIVINE DRAGON, was a bit much. I feel like the emblems of older lords felt cliche at best and should've been left out for something more interesting, if I wanna see the older lords I'd rather see Intelligent Systems just remaster the older games for us to enjoy.
We'll see when the new Nintendo console comes out.
honestly upon playing unicorn overlord, that game outclassed fire emblem in almost every aspect for me personally, i don’t know if i can go back after the trash heap that was engage
Interesting to hear you say that, I enjoyed unicorn overlord, but the latter half of the game really stagnated for me personally. I ended up using the same 4 teams to clear everything through.
What did you find so different that you enjoyed it that much more?
@@LinkKing7 I can agree to that to some extent. It does tend to get sluggish as you reach the fourth nation onwards, but the level of character growth in supports, and certain amount of customization for characters really sold it for me. That and having choices that truly matter in recruitment/story telling. The world building is also so nice to see build on top of itself. Gameplay wise was also fun in making stupidly strong teams as well as surprisingly efficient ones with chance classes/characters. I will say engage has left a very bad taste in my mouth especially with its lacking story, and reliance on broken dlc which is so tired, so I have very low expectations of FE continuing in a positive way for me.
Fire emblem is only being kept alive by heros as fire emblem games dont come out often
I feel that the next Fire Emblem game needs a complex intriguing plot, interesting characters with backstories and a world with a history that feels like a lived in fantasy world. Three Houses had this and that is why it lasted around and people continue to discuss it to this day. Engage just didn't and I feel if they do the same thing for the next game it will fail.
Sure, Engage is financially and culturally a dud compared to Three Houses, but I think it’s far from how bad it was in the Shadow Dragon days. Shadow Dragon was preceded by Radiant down, which from what I’ve heard also sold poorly in the west and had a worse reception than it has now. It takes two games or more to form a downward trend, and at worst Engage is currently in RDs position where things get bad if the next game performs poorly. Still, Engage sold well, 4th best selling game in the franchise, calling it a failure is hyperbolic imo. As long as the next game isn’t garbage (imagine SoV gameplay with treehouse Fates story) Fire Emblem will be fine
It's youtube, I HAVE to be hyperbolic to play the numbers game after coming back from a long hiatus, so forgive me.
But while I agree with you about RD sales, RD did have a LOT of discussion around it, even to this day. That's what I feel like we're missing in the engage era.
@@LinkKing7 yeah, discourse keeps a game alive in the fanbase, and engage's prioritizing gameplay over story neutered its potential discourse, since most people don't talk much about mechanics or map design as much as story and characters. Three Houses meanwhile, while less polished in many places and unfinished in others, had the perfect story to generate years worth of discourse.
Hope the next new game has tight gameplay and map design like Conquest and Engage and comes with a story that's at least decent or worth talking about
Personally i don't think fire emblem is dying engage flopping isn't enough to send fire emblem from a rising star to a falling one.
for fire emblem to be dying it would likely take the next game flopping and would most definitely be dying if 2 games after engage to floop in a row just like what happened with fire emblem almost dying.
which brings me to a criticism is the shadow dragon part in video being misleading shadows dragon was just one part of puzzle to almost kill the franchise but other than that a all around good video.
I think it really does boils down to Three Houses setting the bar really high, and setting the bar period for newer fans that made Engage feel like a "failure". Saying Engage is "rushed" I feel is a disservice, because as you state, and I've seen many others state, the general consensus about the gameplay seems to be is that it's "good" and the game is clearly finished. Compared to Three Houses, where there's clearly cut corners, albeit many of which can be ignored or unnoticeable to some players. Overall, the consensus seems to be mixed though which is, again, caused in part due to Three Houses. Fire Emblem is so popular now and splintered, it's really hard to tell who's saying what. With so many fans now, and with the series always changing things entry to entry, it's really hard to say. I'm interested in how newer fans will react to the "likely" FE 4 remake. The story is there, and the gameplay kinda but it's also very different from Three Houses, modern FE, and even FE in general. So, time will tell. Assuming it will even exist.
FE4 gameplay, if kept the same, is going to be a VERY interesting point to watch newer fans play around with. Personally, I love it, but last I checked, it was fun to bash FE4's gameplay so we'll see how that goes
well i would not say its died i would more describe it as a lull in fire emblem mainly do to engage being pretty mid so the hype around the game did not last as long as three houses whenever the next game comes out that should boost interest in the series and i hope the next fire emblem ends up having a good story and character would not like to see another engage
I consider SRPGs thriving this generation with 3H, Unicorn Overlord, and Triangle strategy. Tactics ogre also got an excellent remaster. As for FE, I do think Engage is mid tier and isn't worth discussing very much compared to the other amazing games this generation.
As someone who miraculously still keeps up with Fire Emblem Heroes, the discourse in that community is one silo that is keeping Fire Emblem discussion alive, for better or for worse.
It’s interesting comparing the FEH community vs the community that only play the console games. I imagine the different silos are similar to other franchises waiting for their next console game while having an active gacha/MMO game (i.e Bethesda games like Elder Scrolls and Fallout)
As a casual FE player who just knows 3H and Engage, I just hope that there will be again options to play this on hardware that's not already outdated when it releases. Otherwise these might be the only titles I ever played, if no official ports to other systems are made.
There are... other ways if you so desire. A quick google search can give you access to everything you need. If things aren't accessible, I don't see the issue making them accessible for yourself!
I think the Switch has a couple of the older games now as well, which isn't a bad idea!
My take is that it's becoming a bit stale despite sales. Feh had me for years and years but there's just no creativity coming out, it all feels very routine. That and the visual style of Engage feels like most RPGs now, with kinda baby-looking characters, very trope-based cast and no serious tone (I guess this criticism is nothing new 😂) But, there doesn't seem to be much excitement beyond the fact people see Fire Emblem and feel excited rather than seeing the actual content and feel excited. Also, it feels a lot like Three Houses and before, these were things people talked about in groups outside of Fe fandom, but with Engage and Feh now, just FE enjoyers talk as a closed group, no new people and no real growth
After book 7 most of my enjoyment for FEH fell off lol. FE gameplay isn't the main reason I play FE so I couldn't really get into engage
I don't even know people who really play FEH any more. It was fantastic in it's first couple of years, but has become a bit too much to try and keep up with.
Engage was effectively Awakening 3.0, no surprise it’s getting stale.
Fire Emblem will not die if they consider doing an anime series like when they did FE OVA back in 1990s, or special anime episodes of some scenes from every game. That's my opinion, though.. I think releasing like those, aside from the games, may help Fire Emblem survive or even stay longer.
If not well made, the anime could be a disaster though!
3 houses was lit and I'm gonna get engage soon bc I heard the game play is epic and the story is like a Saturday morning cartoon which actually sounds fun. I've go lt almost 200 hours in 3 houses recently. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo is waiting for next gen console before releasing a new fire emblem game
design wise
yeah
I think a key factor in Engage discussion being dead may be due to the Fanbase's aggresion for it overall.
Like IMO, the story has actual merit and parts are genuinely worth discussing but it's always dismissed by other fans which completely prevents discussion.
Like its at the point where engage fans and fe fans feel like seperate groups sometimes.
I simply love fire emblem. My first game of fire emblem was awakening on 3ds i believe 8 months ago now played over nearly 60 hours (i don't play much) it's the first title of fire emblem I've played and I was hooked currently playing fates. I do believe when it comes to fire emblem I love that nostalgia and colour felt more alive on that little device of display. Three houses played 10 hours beautiful game but I told my self first to finish those older one's ❤
If you count the overpresention in Smash Ultimate, the bland character writing, predictable storylines and its decline on quality, then my answer is both yes and no.
Honestly, part of what turned me off from FE: Engage was the Zoomer cartoony childish art style to it.
FE: Three Houses was so much more mature in its art style AND story.
Oh yeah, nostalgia also kinda made me overwhelmed with Engage. Like, I kinda have to know very older characters to play the game? Technically I don't, but it still feels like I have to care about older games to be invested in this one, and I just couldn't take it seriously enough.
Standalone games with their own characters and original story, but not trying to be rippoffs of other games where the characters are always stereotypes of other characters in other genres (looking at most Gacha games out there), are so much better. Give us character depth on multiple NEW characters that look and act different from how you would expect them to be.
For example: I know people love to treat Dorothea as the bimbo girl of Three Houses, but I didn't get that from her character at all. She doesn't even like to use her looks for attention. She has the vibe of wanting to look old and decrepit, but still be loved and adored. She just wants to become a grandma. Not be the fantasy of little boys.
Probably just waiting for the Switch 2 to release; that was pushed back for market reasons globally. I think there will be a new or remake game in the first year of that system
Not really but we might end up in Gacha hell instead though... One thing I REALLY HATED about Engage was the Gacha-like mechanics, when I pay for a game, I don't want gacha mechanics, if I play a game for free and I love it? Like GFL, Blue Archive, Arknights, Etc. Then I am okay with Gacha Mechanics. Engage feels like Girls Frontline 2 but Hoyoverse made it, I absolutely despise the art direction because of what it implies what they want to put the series in.
I really wish they stuck with the Persona-esque design of Three Houses at this rate, at least that isn't giving me bad vibes, or better yet they went back to Fire Emblem Echoes artstyle, it looked so pretty I love it! If they choose any artstyle should be consistent for the series moving forward, I nominate that instead! Fire Emblem isn't gonna die as a franchise, but here's the thing, it is AT RISK of becoming nothing more but a husk and cashcow. Pray we never reach EA levels of quality and people just keep eating it up.
What I really want in Fire Emblem is risk taking while keeping it's identity, nothing should remain stagnant forever if it wants to cater to a wider audience, but still it should keep a healthy balance, Three Houses offered one of the best compelling narratives in a long time, I hope the next one does the same too, wouldn't it be more interesting if you start as a commoner and worked your way up to being respected, becoming a lord? Maybe you lead a Democratic country in the next game and have to navigate the turmoils of Medieval politics like Venice did, so many interesting ideas to take the franchise in but I fear we may end up in a stagnant place instead...
I remember being obsessed with the two GBA releases, loving path of radiance, and convincing my parents to buy me a Wii when Radiant dawn came out. I'll never forget the complete nothing that Shadow Dragon made me feel (I found the plot bland, the animations hideous, and the class-swapping to be very homogenizing), even going so far as to sell the game back to gamestop (Having come to appreciate Shadow Dragon via emulator, I obviously regret this now). PoR and Radiant Dawn may not have been best-sellers, but they kept the online fanbase alive and hardcore fans around, but man, did Shadow Dragon really kill things off for a few good years.
There's definitely a parallel with where FE is now to back then, I feel like we're at the same stage we were with Radiant Dawn back in the day: Most recent entry was pretty niche and had its detractors but still was fundamentally fun, and we're coming down off the high of a boom in popularity (3H/Heroes boom for current gen, GBA game boom and western audience acquisition for the previous gen). Things aren't as dire as they were Pre-Awakening, but if the next game sucks or is uninteresting, things could get bad.
I doo feel like Nintendo as a whole has just been slow this year, with Our 1st proper direct finally happening this month, so maybe we’ll have something juicy will pop up there. Maybe.
Yeah, it's a transition to a new console on the horizon, so I assume most things are being pushed to development there, leaving us with scraps. Supposedly we're not seeing anything about the new console in this Direct though, which is odd, I wonder what they have left in the tank...
@@LinkKing7 Yea. I'd Imagine just remakes and ports to fill out the year. Which if they can get the same love the TTYD did then maaaybe that's not so bad? A tad boring thou.
The reason why the game doesn't generate discussions is because unlike fates and 3H people we're talking about stupid discussions about who's the morally best world or how bad the story is
Engage doesn't have any controversy, that's it really
omg not the "3d mario is DEAD" type discourse 😭
We gotta do it, it's free real estate
Answer the awakening model is generic and doesn't work for staying in the public consciousness. Generic slop doesn't tend to be memorable.
Engage was an anniversary title for long terms fans, it was never going to be as big as three houses. The main problem with it imo is its more classic and difficult gameplay repels newer three houses fans but then its outwards appearance and general lighthearted tone paired up with general negative opinions from the bigger fetubers repelled the older fans based purely on appearances alone. People claim that engage was a "flop" but it still sold really well for a game at the end of a consoles life span and I predict if the switch 2 is announced soon with a new original fire emblem title as one of its early titles it should do very well. Also there is plenty of engage discussion, its just about units and builds not about the characters "deep lore" as that's something engage didn't have, something of note about a large chunk of three houses content is barely any of it is about the actual gameplay itself which is kind of engages whole deal.
You do raise a fair point, and I've been kind of out of the loop for a bit, but is there that much variety in builds and gameplay in engage? From my two playthrough, it does seem pretty one note for most units, and fairly straightforward for a lot of skills builds. Though I guess with the DLC/Well, the diversity of builds and things you have access to have gone through the roof.
@@LinkKing7 with how reclassing and weapon ranks work its the best game for reclassing in the entire series imo as you don't have to worry about grinding it up
"Over 100 hours a week" for the sake of your health, I hope that was hyperbole.
Out of the many hyperbolic statements in this video, this wasn't one of them, it wasn't abnormal for me to be doing 120 every other week.
Well my first Fire Emblem game was Three Houses so you could call me one of those new players. Engage didn't appeal to me because I couldn't connect with the cartoonier characters, hearing about the rings where you could summon heroes made me think it had gatcha mechanics. 3H was dramatic because the students were so much more relatable and I hated having to fight some of them during the war phase in the latter half of the game.
I will probably pick up Engage one day, but purely because I want to play a fire emblem game. I think their next game will also be in Fodlan, because I think most of the audience connects with that setting in particular. I previously thought they were going to have a game set in the days of the saints, so it was surprising they came up with Engage instead.
If you think FE is dying, then you should check out FE universe. The ROM Hack community is going strong. Even some of them have great stories in case you want a narrative experience over the current retail FE storytelling
I keep an eye on ROM Hacks when I can. I've been a bit out of the loop recently, but I've played a handful of fantastic ones!
That’s cool but rom hacks have a pretty large barrier of entry to newcomers, y’all need to make it easier for us newbies 😂
i absolutely agree with your last point, the next game should be a brand new game and not a remake. remakes usually make way less sales than new entries, and it would be too risky to launch one while the franchise has been very quiet. regarding engage, i feel like IS didn’t really give a f about this game. you can’t release a gameplay focus game without releasing updates and dlc regularly imo, i don’t get why they couldn’t develop new dlcs or updates with new incentives to play ( for example new game + )
I just hope that from now onward all game's story is like engage or fates , because that's what this fandom deserve.
What's more , in the fe4 remake bring engage artist and writer and add to the story a self insert avatar that warps and rewrite the entire story around them , i would love to see how the fandom reacts to that.
The issue with fire emblem is it went from a medieval strategy series with anime influences to a cartoony fan service chess game for genshin impact nerds
With how much hype that 3H had, it was basically impossible for Engage to live up to it.
Strategy game does take a lot out of you and most people will be good playing just one strategy game per year to not burned them self out. I think one new title for console follow by spin off like Warriors or remake of classic title will be enough.
It also doesn't help that Alot of Nintendo fans don't acknowledge Fire emblem because of smash bros
I didnt even play engaged its just doesnt interest me.
Fire Emblem has nearly died several times, but they always manage to innovate and reinvent the series with a critically acclaimed and commercially successful game when the series needs it most.
I think we franchise is just in a weird place where is seems like IS is having dev issues. Leaks plus datamining from Engage indicates we were supposed to get a FE4 remake between Fates and Engage, but that seems to be in development hell. Engage feels like them cobbling together something to actually release. It feels like a placeholder game, its fine, but not standout.
It's just an anniversary title I think, but whereabout are you seeing that an FE4 remake was supposed to come out before that? I haven't heard that one and would love more details on that
I like to believe that Fire Emblem is going through a phase similar to Mario's with New Super Mario Bros, because they started with great sales success and then only existed and sold enough to not be considered a flop. Although I don't think Fire Emblem is dying, it's just not as popular as before. I think we should only worry if Fire Emblem games start selling very little like they did in the pre-Awakening era.
What I am hearing a lot is thay people are tired of Nami Komuro's style of storytelling where you have a a bunch of royals, each royals have their two retainers, and they have very basic personalities using gimmicks. We have seen it in Engage, Fates, Awakening, etc... for Awakening, the story was bad, but it was the first time this model had occured.
Another thing is the base system. For every person I hear say that they like running around the base, I hear another saying that this is what killed FE for them. IMO, Tellius bases were done the best. Just a menu, but with added conversations. Stop wasting my time with fishing, cooking, pushups, finding goodies, feeding pets, etc... let me play Fire Emblem. The emphasis on marriage and Avatars removes all personality from your main character, and they aren't allowed to be flawed, or to have and established life in the world. Either they have no memories, or were sequestered away from the world. People may not all have good tastes in stories, but there is a point where repeating the same formula over and over again will get stale, no matter how low your srandards are.
Fire Emblem is on a downwards trend, and will continue tumbling down if it doesn't rapidly change directions towards a better story and more emphasis on the core gameplay.
Also, people forget that some games can be successful at first, and then opinions can turn. I liked Three Houses for one run, but within the first one, I was already starting to hate the monastery. Then I did another route, and loathe it. Third run, I forced myself through. Fourth... I skipped Church route. I just couldn't take the monastery anymore. So future games with a similar base system make me hesitate to buy unless it's on a good sale.
Sorry but where in awakening are there lots of royals with two retainers? I agree thou that I had enough of that in fates I didn’t need to to come back for engage.
I like the base when it means something, for three houses it was important to use the time to build up your students and balance that with trying to recruit new students from other houses and also training byleth too, and also building support with characters was fun because all (or most) of the characters had interesting stories I wanted to learn about. Compare this to engage where all (most) of the characters are like super one note and just do their one trait at each other for the conversation, there was a real lack of motivation for me to build support points with characters. And the rest of the activities at the somniel were just grindy repetitive tasks to earn a currency to spend on gacha rolls.
I actually like Avatar characters and marriage in theory because they help me get more immersed in the world and connect with the characters, but your right they need to actually make your choices matter over the course of the story like say for example how triangle strategy did it.
I don’t think we can call engage being worse than three houses a downward trend cause it’s only one game that did worse, if the next one is bad then yeah it’s a trend.
Speak for yourself man, it took me over 1000 hours of three houses including playing every route at least twice and blue lions like 5 times before I got bored, and if any SINGLE PLAYER game can keep my interest for 1000 hours then that’s a good freaking game.
It mostly started with Fates and was replicated with Engage. But Awakening's story still had the gommick characters
If only Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn were not ahead of their time because they were the best. Another thing is Fire Emblem should return to the old worlds instead of make new worlds.
You're. Wrong.
Jk, glad to have you return to this plane of existence again again. Part of me feels like FE isn't dying as a series, but I feel like the ceiling of expectation is getting raised higher with every next game release. I think the expectation for Engage was way higher than IS realized with things like it being a new entry AND anniversary game to boot. Iunno, where they go next will be interesting to say the least. I guess just for John Doe Nintendo to leak the Fe4: Shadows of the Holy War for the next Direct for the 4th time.
That's a good point, I think following 3H was tough
"i really liked X aspect of Enagage because of reason Y does anyone else have any interesting perspectives to contribute"
"No engage is pure garbage in any aspect except gameplay and anyone who says otherwise is OBJECTIVELY wrong"
fetubers: why is there no engage discourse
Well I am keeping myself distracted with playi g romhacks or the old games trying out new units.
I started playing way after awakening came out but before fates and I can definitely say I’ve lost a lot of interest in this franchise, I played echoes and don’t really like it, warriors sucked, I started three houses but never actually finished it and I bough three hopes but never even opened the box, I didn’t bother with engage, look at feh and what their doing to it, I was so die hard with feh the first few years to the point of obsession but not I barely open it like once a week it’s not fun anymore not like it used to be, the new feh channel was released yesterday and ass soon as they got to the new game mode I quickly lost interest, don’t know what going on but they need something new.
I would say there iss too much three houses drama to get fans to talk on the fandom. Leaving other games not as talked about, plus most of the series is now not payable without emulators, besides three houses and engage.
"X is dying" is fallacy. People will continue to make a product or service as long as people are willing to pay for it and it's profitable to do so. Simple as that. A game can be "dying" when what made it what it was is slowly going away when it starts becoming more mainstream and "more accessible". I mean FFXI, Pokemon, World of Warcraft, and modern Final Fantasy are all but dead to me, to others they are still "going strong" even though they are kind crap at this point. A lot of stuff isn't as good as it used to be and this recent generation enjoys them because they don't know anything else (just like us old folks had to deal with jank of Nintendo Hard games).
Just because people stopped making games doesn't mean it's "dead" either, because you can still play the old ones and download romHacks for them.
As a fan who came in with 3h I can confirm that I too enjoy 3h gameplay more than engages
Out of curiosity, what parts of it did you like more?
I think that's an aspect a lot of people are glancing over, even if it is stated. Engage plays much more like "traditional" FE game than 3H. The latter plays much more like a JRPG which is much easier to get into, and it's partly why FE was relatively niche for a while. There's nothing wrong with that, 3H is my third favorite game in the series after all, but the story isn't the only reason why new people came into the series.
Fire emblem engage is good you don’t know what you’re talking about 😂I love it I got the physical copy of the game I have all three games in Nintendo switch physical copy only
Discussion for Engage died quickly because the story and characters -- what most people/casuals play for, and where most of the discussion always lies -- were extremely basic in a bad way. The complete opposite of Three Houses, which ignited persistent discourse for... years. That's the answer. The series is fine, but IS needs to strongly step up their game in the original storytelling department, and stop delivering Fates/Engage-tier writing. (Keep up Engage-tier gameplay though!)
I respect any opinion, though i do think you are a little too pessimistic if you really think Fire Emblem is "dying". With the success of three houses, as well as heros still doing hot, Fire Emblem really needs a few "bad" games to really be dying. Engage is not a success, but I wont call it a failure, I mean the sales was great in the first week, and the final result is still not terrible, maybe more like mediocre. There is a problem of where the game wants to go because it does not look like there is a good direction for Fire Emblem to take, but I still believe Fire Emblem is fine as long as IS just "perform normally". Engage's problems are numerous, but many problems are still more to me like IS not trying hard enough, like the lack of new game+, or even more pointless stuff in somniel, which are really baffling decisions. Also I want to bring up a point: while engage itself has few discussions, as a game that brought back past characters, engage actually triggered numerous discussions and attention to older games too, so thats a point in engage's favour too.
I was taking notes during this and if I typed everything I wrote this post would be longer than the video, so here.
-Yeah I'll agree that Shadow Dragon was really bad. It's okay as a remake, but the animations were sad and pathetic, they didn't even bother making color palettes for these characters, and the whole game felt souless. You're telling me they're so lazy they can't make palletes like they did for the GBA games? I won't say it made Fire Emblem die, but it's definitely a candidate for worst FE for how souless it really is. It did give us Clash of Two Virtues tho, which is a pretty good boss theme.
-Engage. I'll counter a lot of things from the video so yea there's a big storm coming.
1. Characters and story is a hit or miss subject depending on what you like and enjoy in a character. Engage plays it really safe story wise, but that's not exactly a bad thing. You can still have a fun time with a simple and straightforward story-which I did for Engage. A few moments felt corny, but I generally had fun. Character wise? I'm no fan of the army being lord + their 2 retainers thing and only one recruitable enemy in a series where a good chunk of your allies are recruitable enemies, but I generally liked Engages cast. Hortensia somehow grew the most from insufferable to having a redemption arc, Engage Anna is the best version of Anna in a while, Zelkov is *plesantly* fun in all of his supports, and Fogado and Alcryst were two of my favorites from start to finish.
2. Music was fine with me. Not much to say there. Defininetly some bangers-namely the Brodia maps and a good chunk of the Emblem chapters have really good music. I'll take this over whatever the fuck Shambhala's music was supposed to be.
3. Having been around since Sacred Stones, I don't mind Engage' gameplay going to a more simpler path. It's definitely not as complex like 3 Houses where there's so much to keep track of, but that isn't a bad thing since combat is so enjoyable. If anything, the gameplay being so fun is what substitutes Engage' story.
4. Rushed Dead End game? If you're talking about visuals, then you must've played a whole different game because Engage looks leagues better than 3 Houses. Also it had 4 years in the oven, which is time they're spending polishing the game making it look as neat and stylish as it can be.
-That's a tall order for the next FE Game. Personally, I think the next game has to strike a balance in the middle. Something that can appeal to everyones appetite in gameplay, style, whatever.
-Also an FE4 remake has been on everyones FE wishlist for years, decades even. It wouldn't be like Gaiden, which was obscure as hell prior to Shadows of Valentia. FE4's pretty big in the community-and a remake that does it much needed justice would be a pretty strong and pretty welcome game. As long as they don't screw it up-that's been happening too much with games lately.
Also no, they're gonna kick off the new switch console with a Mario or a Zelda game.
Are online FE discussions dying?
Maybe, but I'm just getting started again don't worry, I have a few things to talk about
@@LinkKing7 It is going to be interesting to see what you have in mind to say. Hope you are not overworking.
though modern games get worse like all later generations for a while to long time, so long as the original fans from SNES/GBA days exist it will live, plus GBA fans know how to make their own which ups the number of good games vs the official games
Engage sold like 2 million, which is better than how Awakening was selling. FE isn't dead lmao. what a dumb clickbait video
bad news - FEtwt found this. they are going to roast you alive with pitchforks and bad faith extrapolations
Good, no publicity is bad publicity, give me the engagement to get my youtube algorithm off the floor!
Fire emblem isn't dead, but the RUclips community is
Lowkey bordering on doom posting. Funding wise Engage did fine, and we can’t determine if they lost money from it without knowing their budget. I think it’s clear though that 3H had a stronger budget put in it
I also don’t think the characters or discussion on it has cooled down as much as some people say they have. I would LOVE to see where people are seeing a flourishing community of constant 3H discussion and crickets on Engage since it sure isn’t any of the FE discords or subreddits I frequent (since I see this type of comment thrown around a LOT but then three posts/messages down it’s like an Engage related question or fan art). 3H is so large and massive that ofc it will continue to be talked about but I don’t think that’s a detriment to Engage. There’s just more to be discussed on it character/story wise, but I don’t see a lot of people still constantly replaying it due to how much a chore the gameplay is. Engage has the strength of still being played and replayed due to the widely praised gameplay.
I think the only reason why Engage is not causing the controversy or major discussion 3H stirred is because of the lack of character or story nuance. A lot of people have their personal favorites but nothing all that controversial or having one character stir a massive debate (cough, Edelgard). All discussion seems centered on fun builds, gameplay mechanics, and occasionally character theories.
Tangent aside, FE can’t die because FEH is keeping it alive. And yes there is the whole “FEH is dying” argument being thrown around but it’s still Nintendo’s biggest mobile cash cow. When FEH dies, maybe we can discuss dying a little bit, but even then it would be a stretch. Not even the community discussing the games is dying. Respectfully, it might just be the lack of interest on your part. I will agree though that a new game will only add more kindling to the fire, but that much is obvious.
It has to border on doomposting a little bit because I need to play the YT algorithm game to revive the channel, but from a content perspective I do thing Engage takes a back seat to 3H and even Fates.
If you have any places where there's still flourishing Engage discussion I'd love to see that as well, but among the creator circles, and my own groups, I feel like Engage came and went very quickly. Definitely not a lack of interest on my part, otherwise I wouldn't be here making a video about it and replying to comments. I just like to spark discussions, even if my methods may be a bit exaggerated, there's a method to the madness.
Two years between each new game is a healthy amount imo ; It feels like FE is dying because we have nothing (confirmed) to look forward to , without mention that all those rumours made us anxious . Heroes isn't helping either because of all the powercreep and amount of characters alts we are getting. At least it's fun to see how the Engage manga is doing.
Switch is in it's final years, so we just gotta wait till the switch 2 for some real news
I think so too, and that's probably for the best
>Fire Emblem fans when they don’t get a new game every years
Fire Emblem fans think they’re entitled to multiple games a year when they still have a horny mobile gacha that’s still active, while others like Dr. Mario World, Dragalia Lost, Animal Crossing, Mario Kart Tour and Miitomo have all ended and or stopped their service.
link to the fe4 arrange that plays in this?
It's part of the Lofi playlist, here you go: ruclips.net/video/cOoudQcvp3s/видео.htmlsi=Vmqv9Bpr0kqffgJJ
Depends, how many people still buy orbs in feh?
Last I checked it was still pulling in a steady 3-4 million dollars a month?
I thinak and other thing that kill the fances was a gmae that was a remake or celcbraton not a thinkg the 3 gmaes that where a dow persoeo where sadwo dragon new mistery and shados of vlatentia and engege what whe wan't is new carcter even tou revaltion had a terival story and therbal gamply it had a whac sotry that was sou stupid that was funy and had brnad new carecters and events coempr to engege wich is acturlay just fier emble but with all the protaognist. and the gmaes lost all of iits inters of criking bad carecters like allxme everyone agras that is buney and it is borring becouse he justs dose his job medeicoer-ly comepr to amilia sofia rolf or donal or nino they wher peropel how thisnk this carcter wher vry good du to ahving ig gorut rates and they wehre alsoe teribal
Nah Heroes making bank engage sold 1.61 mil I mean yes Engage overall is a mid game and the characters is mostly ass with some exceptions. FE isn't dead. We don't want a pokemon issue do we
Nah, I'm not lobbying for yearly releases, most definitely not, I'm fine with one every 2-3 years, but I'd like the discussion about that game to stretch over the span of those 2-3 years, not sit in silence in between games.
That was more teh angle I was going for here
You counting Warriors? Or was Echoes the best selling game?
I tend to forget Warriors exists tbh. Three Houses was the best selling in these last 10 years
No No No No No and NO‼️
We need a 3H redux for the switch 2. Now before you crucify me hear me out. That’s of other RPGs get 2nd versions that either add more to the base game or also iron out the game’s problems. SMT5 for example is getting a new version this year.
just release a new pixel one and it'll be fine
blazing blade >>>>>
The last entry was literally only a year ago, and we're gearing up for the next Nintendo console. The series is fine.
Personally, as someone who grew up with the series, I'd be happy if the new game in the franchise went all in on doing something different. Engage felt like a halfway point between trying to appeal to newbies while also being a nostalgia trip, and it just didn't work as either one for me. To my mind, Three Houses was the perfect capstone to everything I loved about the games, but I'm in my 30s now and it's getting harder to find the time to sit down and invest 60~ hours into a big strategy RPG. Sooner or later, I just won't have the time at all, and I'm okay with that, so I say let the next Fire Emblem be something that the kids of today can truly fall in love with. Maybe a new setting, removed from the usual western fantasy aesthetics? Maybe taking inspiration from new cultures and mythologies, or making that game on Mars that Awakening was going to be? Shifting up the gameplay in a big way, like maybe leaning more into the social sim aspects so that support levels and building relationships tie much more strongly into gameplay?
Whatever it is, my greatest wish for the series is for FE18 to get announced at the next Nintendo Direct, and to be one of those games that I look at and say, "This is going to truly move the franchise into the next generation, almost certainly make absolute gangbusters, and I can immediately tell it won't be designed with people like me in mind."
I think this comment encapsulates a lot of what I've been thinking recently. It's becoming less about what we as the older generation of FE players have grown used to, and more about how can we maintain popularity with an incoming new audience, and that's quite important.
What gets you here will be different, but as long as it keeps you here, I don't think that's a bad thing, regardless of the style
I think ROM hacks are the current future of the franchise, since buildfiles are getting more and more powerful
Yeah it's been very impressive to see what people have been doing with those recently
It is amazing how Three Houses turned the series into a discussion about "Three Houses or not Three Houses". It is an ok game, but why are we pretending that games that are not it are not doing well? Every single game since Awakening can be considered a success and either elevated the series popularitywise or got a big return on financial investment.
It's generally what success does to a series, but I don't think it's that specifically that causes these arguments. Every single game since awakening has had it's place in discussions for lengthy periods of time, except Engage.
That's what sparked this video at least for me