I'm so tired... I'm going to get a good night sleep and tomorrow I'll be streaming Engage! I personally found this interview pretty fascinating for both hopeful and concerning reasons. Will be quite a day tomorrow! What do you think of the developer interview? Anything stick out to you? Subscribe: goo.gl/1xHJzR WATCH ME LIVE: www.youtube.com/@faerghaststreams Patreon: www.patreon.com/GhastPatreon
Honestly I’m kind of having high hopes for a cowardly Alear early on. Would make the amnesia feel actually unique and new as a great and brave hero being cowardly due to forgetting who they were is honestly a great way to ramp up into the more stereotypical lord character we always get.
Lol, it's not even close to that when you look at reviews and leaks. It's the typical "they have amnesia, but still act how they're supposed to" thing.
Sad that Nintendo really didn't wanted to do this, like I am tired of boring avatars self insert for players if this end up being another one is going to be a huge let down, even more after Shez that was a character actually.
@@catelyntully9494 Alear is more or less just another Robin/Corrin/Byleth, only worse since they admit in this interview they didn't do much for story and characters on purpose. They also admitted in the past that Shez was written simple also on purpose because they "didn't want Shez to overshadow Byleth".
While understand why people are worried about the future of the series with Engage being designed with a wider audience in mind I don't think it will be a problem going forward. The leaks about Engage being a delayed anniversary game make perfect sense as 3 Houses was made mostly by Koei Tecmo and Engage by IS. The two games also share no voice actors with each other which further proves these games were being made at the same time. Intelligent systems isn't stupid they are well aware of the high praise 3 Houses received for it's story and it's high sales numbers I doubt they would flat out ignore those factors. Engage was just a delayed game that was mostly done before the commercial success of 3 Houses was saw and I'm sure moving forward they will put a strong emphasis on story after Engage with that being a factor that made 3 Houses so loved.
Agreed, it’s easy to forget that these games were being worked on in around the same time. Hopefully (if this one doesn’t) the next FE will have a perfect blend of strategy + social sim
Let's hope this game doesn't burn too many people out of the series. That is a risk that can happen, especially if people are expecting something like 3H, because that's what brought them in in the first place.
I thought the same! Even without the leaks, this game screams "anniversary edition" :D I feel like the game that will come after FEE will be way more interesting in regards to the future direction of FE. And honestly - they have done (if reviews are to be trusted) the whole strategy-mechanic thing right in FEE, while the whole story/character thing was done really good in 3H. So, taking the best parts from both games would be kinda exiting :D
The interview basically explains why FE engage is so bad when compared to earlier FE games. It was led by people who don't like tactics games, and are more familiar with Action games. Not to mention, while claiming to be a throwback to earlier titles. The game was designed to attract new "younger" players who would not understand the heroes. So the design was entirely at cross purposes with itself.
@@tristennorris3725 You should check out the interview transcript, it's worse than I described here. As it becomes very clear these devs should never have been allowed to produce a FE title.
I know that some of us (like myself) have been critical of the art direction here, but I am happy to see her (the artist) have a chance to work on this series and, well, I hope she continues to have a great career
I actually really love Mika Pikazo. I was a little skeptical at first about her style fitting into the Fire Emblem franchise, since her style seems a lot more contemporary for FE's more medieval, traditional style. But ehh it's grown on me tbh.
@@machineofthe6thriver430 Yeah I dont think her contemporary style works for this game personally, its making the characters look too modern, like theyre moreso trying to do a fantasy medieval fashion show, while others flat out wear modern clothes, BUT, as stated, I hope this helps her career thrive!
@@ramenbomberdeluxe4958 Idk it’s just so extra it makes me love it. It’s like a big drag queen show. I know that’s not really for everyone, so I understand the criticism. It definitely fits the flashy and cheesy aesthetic they were going for with the story and gameplay
I think you can dislike the art and not wish ill will upon the artist. I'm not a fan, but I do not think the art is bad and seeing the sales there is little doubt that they accomplished their goal of reaching a wider audience.
have been seeing mika pikazo's work all over twitter these days, she's been popping off. i think her character art is beautiful, but i don't think it translates so well in 3d- at least from what I've seen so far. not enough to deter me from the game or story though
@@Guy-cb1oh People don't always want a hero. The popularity of anti-heroes and villain-centric shows/movies proves that. What people want is a good PROTAGONIST, which Alear most certainly isn't.
Having worked on big projects in corporate settings before, just from the moment you said there were two directors representing different interests gave me a kind of mini-PTSD trauma response. I've been on projects like that, and even if it was in a different technological field, they are the WORST. Hearing that one side had a vision one way, then another steps in to push it back the other way... I can't know how it will affect the final product, but I can super sympathize with all those staff working on it. It was NOT easy.
Development was even more divided than that, since the Nintendo side was further divided between the Japanese and American divisions. The American team had to keep reigning in the Japanese team because they kept putting teenage characters in romantic/sexual scenarios.
I can just imagine all the artist and programmers being told, "Okay we need you to do this...." Then two days later after they had finally finished being told they needed to do the exact opposite. Also, I can imagine a Nintendo rep keep subtly pushing for that red/blue hair in meeting after meeting not quite thinking it was obvious enough, even though no one wanted it, but they kept hinting at it to make them stop asking, because it's the Switch controller colors.
@@aninymouse1651 In Nintendo case NCL has the full authority here, all foreign Nintendo branch including NoA, NoE are responsible for Marketing, Localization and if possible act as tripwire for potential Cultural gaffe. Otherwise NoA only gets to do post-script modification such when they age up Lyn official age for FE7 western release.
This is one of many reasons why Zelda: Skyward Sword turned out the way it did. Aonuma wanted the game originally to have a regular control scheme, but Miyamoto wanted Motion Controls first, everything else second.
@@AkameGaKillfan777 The Inverse seems to be Street Fighter 6, where finally there was a singular vision and designers able to pull off what they wanted for the series, instead of producers meddling and getting a little of this and a little of that and so much missing.
I like that the inspiration for the animations was the GBA ones, which I think everyone agrees are some of the best in the series. From what I've seen, I'm not sure if they completely captured the feeling of those pixel animations, but they sure got close.
The female characters all look awful tbh. All of them are pre-teens with the same personality and are all equally forgettable. I miss when FE characters WORE ARMOUR... remember that? This art direction is bold and novel, but hopefully it will be toned down in future games. Also... Stop giving every female character the same dumb-struck 'anime' expression. And with regards to the personality of Alear, I am so tired of goody-two-shoes types who have no confidence at all. I miss characters like Ike. Bring back heroes!
i dont like how these characters look. most of them look like clowns where are those ok fate and awakening armor at? im sick and tired of these clown plot armor allies fighting these enemies that actually look like their dress for war. i cant love a character if he’s dress like a clown and not suit up for war. im very disappointed of these japanese developers if this game was released instead of AWAKENING this franchise would be DEAD
Batallions are gonna be sorely missed by me. Really helped my immersion. Loved PoR/RD but there was times there were meant to be these huge armies but I was watching single units. I got it and loved it, but it's like picturing a billion; I get the principle but there's a lot left to the imagination
Radiant Dawn did a pretty good job masking it by having fog of war on the Dawn Brigade vs Laguz Alliance swamp map, having Micaiah vs Ike in a dense fortress, and having 100 units on the map at once in 3-E.
I do miss battalions too, they added great customization and it just was cool to have many unit do big thing big amount for big amount of damage. Really activated my monkey brain.
I won't necessarily miss the battalions, but I 100% understand and agree with your sentiment. Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn are the top tier narratives in all of Fire Emblem for me, but that one detail of feelings as though there definitely should have been more soldiers always stood out to me. Limitations of game medium, limited time and budgets, and desire for complexity are understandable, though.
I too will miss the batallions, it was really interesting knowing had a troops with me and made a bunch of sense but this is a different take i suppose.
Part of why Three Houses found a broader audience is SPECIFICALLY the emphasis it had on story, so when IS basically states outright “we deliberately made the story simple and the art genshin for new people” it just looks like they have no idea that they’ve already been getting new players, and it’s in the complete opposite direction of “do LESS story” :/ It’s a tale as old as time at this point, I’m sure they’ll double down again in the opposite direction for the next game. Maybe the fabled FE4 remake?
@@monodoro agreed! I don’t have a problem with a franchise trying to expand its fan base, but I DO have a problem with it patronizing and underestimating its audience. People love a complex but well-written and compelling story with endearing characters - PoR and RD were proof of that, even though they were well ahead of their time. It’s probably too much to ask, but if they could deliver a seamless, high-quality gaming experience with a compelling narrative, that would really make the game take off
1:30 Yikes. What a terrible goal to set. "Don't you dare make a deep story for this. We're going for the simpleton market, so keep it simple.", basically. Normally things need to go wrong to get that outcome. Well, if the story trailers are anything to go by, goal accomplished. Every single time I hear news about the story, my impression gets worse. First time part of me is starting to hope the story is terrible, so they get properly burned for explicitly setting failure as a goal like that and don't do it again.
Why did you feel the need to watch the video, stop everytime you have something to say, write one comment, send it and keep watching the video until you pause again to send another comment. Just write one comment, this is a comment section not a chat room.
*If you want to make it easier for newcomers, the way to go is a very low difficulty option, aswell as many small portion interactive tutorials,* not by designing the whole game around it. Three houses did a good job with having an easy mode, but failed at the tutorial front, by not only not covering everything, but also by just bombarding the player with walls of text very early on, before a mechanic was even in play sometimes, for the stuff they did cover.
After playing the game, I think nah. The way they did it was absolutely perfect. It's honestly baffling how balanced the game is. I've been playing on Hard Classic and its been a blast, the challenge level is high but in a very fair way that makes it feel like it's always my fault when I make a mistake, unlike many of the previous games in the series
See thats the problem. Anytime you go "the classic hero won't appeal to the modern person" you are making a mistake. Archetypes hold true regardless of era, and just because modern people can't see themselves as heroic and brave, doesn't mean their characters shouldn't be. Luke and Han and Leia became popular in the AGE of anti-heroes, proving the archetypes if done well can always cut through. I gave this game a HARD pass because of the atrocious character designs(toothpaste chan actually hurts my eyes to look at), but now that I see how the characters were conceived... I am glad I didn't bite. However for me, Fire Emblem games skip a game, one good (Awakening) One bad (Fates) one good (Three Houses) and sadly one bad (Engage), so perhaps next one will be worth it.
Knowing that the artist struggles drawing older characters and/or non-cute designs, it shows. That's makes a lot of since now. Her style isn't bad, but for this game, I still think some of the character art decisions could've been better.
I'm not especially worried about the series as a whole. Good business is partly about widening your audience, sure, but it's also about retaining your audience. Not much point in gaining new fans if you're losing old fans at the same rate. I fully expect the next game to swing its emphasis back towards fans of classic FE. Alternating like that has historically been a good strategy for game devs, and I think we're already seeing that pattern with modern FE. Also, as someone who remembers Fates's art direction (shout-outs to lobster king) the art style for this game really doesn't strike me as all that extreme.
I have been thinking that maybe they are going to do both the original style and the just for fun style games from now on. It would make the most sense. Do more serious games like echoes and 3 houses and like every other or two other games make a not so serious one like engage or a collaborative game like the warriors games. That might work out for them in keeping almost everyone happy.
@@sunkeyavad6528 "Burn"? Really? Do you think that the majority of people who played Three Houses and loved it aren't also buying Engage, knowing full well it's going to be a different experience?
I'm just hearing way too much "We want to broaden the audience" "appeal to a more casual audience" "excite a younger audience" etc to really feel particularly enthused at this point. Seems to me like the best case scenario is another Fates/Conquest scenario where the gameplay is fine and everything else is varying levels of dumb... Although Conquest's gameplay was interesting because of how punishing it could be, which seems like it'd run counter to the "appealing to a more casual audience that doesn't play tactical RPGs" thing, so...
well after watching this and reading the article myself i have some serious concerns lol and i already had concerns. I think the mainline games are just going in a direction now, im not a huge fan.
I swear this is just like reading developer interviews about Paper Mario and Sonic Forces. These people really think the audience they claim will buy the game are stupid.
I literally see you every where! We must watch the same stuff. I found this video today and I am completely complexed by the idea that "Heroic characters are not relatable." Like...are they stupid? I mean, yes, you can build a vulnerable character who is still heroic. Alm and Celica are good examples of this. Chrom in Awakening had several vulnerable moments that were of note. Robin, Xander (through his supports), Marth (Shadow Dragon), I believe even Sigard had vulnerable moments in Holy War. The point is you don't have to make them cowardly to create a vulnerable or relatable character, IS was already doing that! They even contradicted themselves by having a classic lord (Diamant) become vulnerable when he has to slay his father, and yet, he still keeps the heroic traits people love about the games! There were enough polls done when Engage came out that proved this as Diamant was toping all of them (I saw him consistently break the top 3) and Alear was usually one of the first ones to go. Japan seems to be the only place from what I can tell that really likes Alear as they are first on the Japanese poll...but under them in second is Diamant. So clearly, this director has no idea what he's talking about. It is so dumb, like legitimately, the director is missing the whole point. Heroic, relatable characters is what made fire emblem what it is and to not build upon that and go BACKWARDS for this game is truly terrible, awful garbage.
@@binxthebinx6575 I've been subscribed to this channel since 2018, back when he still called the channel Ghast Station. Same with Mekkah when he had 3 k's in his name. But yeah, the whole "we didn't care about the story here" only proves further how little the people in charge of Engage knew about FE as a whole. They just didn't want to try.
I am a little perplexed by the idea that the direction they went with this game was intended to make an SRPG that had broader appeal. I think this game has the potential to really turn off some of the people who came into the series only playing Three Houses. I guess we will see in the coming weeks but it seems like this will be much closer to some of the earlier Fire Emblem titles before Awakening.
I am at Chapter nine and my above comment still stands. I don't feel like there has been a simplification of menus, stats, or game mechanics in Engage. I also feel like the combat, while more rewarding, is also more punishing than Three Houses. If a non-SRPG player was interested in getting into Fire Emblem I would not start them off with this game.
This was a terrific overview of that interview, thank you for making it! After hearing the developer's words, I can certainly see where they're coming from, and feel particularly confident in their vision. I look forward to when my copy comes in the mail soon! 😊💜
My respect for the artist has grown even more. I liked the way the artist uses colors to make things stand out. Also tho the fact the artist took up the challenge after the fact they claimed that they weren't confident with drawing older looking characters. Overall can't wait to play!
I am a fan of the artist. Though I wouldn't say she succeeded in creating older characters. The female age range is significantly younger and the artist is using boob sizes to show maturity which is.....ugh why. Thus is a larger problem within game spaces though but I can't hide my disappointment.
@@cyncynshop After finding out she's struggles drawing older characters, I thought that makes so much sense. It shows. She's not a bad artist but I think some of the character art decisions could've been better.
I'm honestly super excited for this game, and these interviews and especially Mika Pikazo's art countdowns have only furthered that excitement! I can't wait to binge the game upon release! I find it interesting how they really want this to be a jumping in point for new fans. I'm curious how well that will pan out!
I found Three Houses to be a good jumping off point for a lot of people I know. When I tried to tell folks about Engage, and how it's different, they seem less interested. Though, I feel pretty confident that this game will sell really well, not because of this game, but because of Three Houses, and people want more of that, refined.
@@madness1931 This is my exact wondering. Fire Emblem: Three Houses' characters and story are what made it a huge hit. Why would it be more appealing to the newcomers to strip that down to bare bones?
I'll be interested in seeing if Engage does indeed appeal to younger audiences, and just how young they mean when they say that. I'm skeptical, seeing as the reason I first took an interest in Fire Emblem as a teenager was because of its pseudo-historical style. Nevertheless, we shall see.
As far as the art goes, the artist is definitely skilled, but the design for the characters is awful. They took a big steamy dump on them. Overdesigned to the point of being outright ugly. I don't think fire emblem fans were really behind this title given the stated motivations behind the decisions they've made
2:45 "Appeal to a broader audience" is another one of those red flag terms that signals impending failure from abandoning the audience you already have. "Appeal to a broader audience" in reality usually means "appeal to the lowest common denominator". Which pretty much guarantees things not being excellent at the very least, but usually worse.
I do like how many people here are recoiling at "appeal to a wider audience". That is the correct response. Also shows that people have been paying attention.
Engage being handled by a different team than 3H makes a lot of sense. It really does feel like a different take on Fire Emblem, for what that's worth. ...I really find myself wishing we could have had the gameplay of Engage with the *everything else* of 3H, but oh well.
Honestly, as Three Houses is my favorite Fire Emblem, this was....rather sad to me? I dunno, there was a LOT of talk about "appealing to a broader/younger audience" while Three Houses was the most successful (not including Fire Emblem Heroes) Fire Emblem to date. Speaking of which, the more I think about it the more it looks like this was designed off the financial success of Heroes rather than Three Houses. There's a lot more to unpack (I loved the sense of Scale battalions gave) but...well, I don't think Engage will be a bad game. I think I'll pick it up and (at least on Hard mode) enjoy the gameplay. But I'll be comparing it to Fire Emblem Awakening (which I enjoyed) rather than the nuanced characters and plot of 3H.
I think it's because Engage started development before 3Houses got released. And actualy it makes a bit sense, in a way they decide to go in a totally different direction about style and story. So maybe their objective was/is to compare 3Houses with Engage, which one appeals more and is the more acclaimed.
I've enjoyed alot of the fire emblem games...but im here with ya. Three houses was my favorite...im going to miss the differing story paths which kept me for extra time in the game and the cast...So i get you.
Man, the character designer was right to worry about older-looking characters. Almost all the designs look like anime babies. Even dude with the beard. I wish FE also wasn't so afraid of older woman characters (who aren't thousand-year old children).
I think the only difficulty that I’m going to have with Engage is losing all of the freedom that we had with Three Houses. I hoped that with Engage we would keep a similar classing system, but I think I’ll be fine with what we have. I just hope the game turns out successful like 3H.
Yeah, I hate to tell you, but don’t ever get used to the entries that have relentless customization, it’s never been a staple and for the sake of unit identity and variety I hope it never is personally.
@@ramenbomberdeluxe4958 Not saying I don’t enjoy the limitation. I loved the DLC. I started playing Awakening and Fates and a few months back. However the flexibility made is so no play through was the same. It’s also made for some fun challenges. (Play random classes, worst classes only). Freedom leads to more gameplay in my mind.
@@eliminat20 I like the more limited branching paths personally. I like having SOME variety, and I think Fates had the perfect system for it. Technically speaking, most units could pair with most units, be it friendship or romance, and on top of their already pre-existing side classes, they could gain a few more options through the friendship system itself. I loved that and I think in terms of customization, thats the way to go from now on.
I mean I do kind of always find it worrisome when devs try to widen the audience. Like sure its good for business, but people often make silly mistakes when they have nebulous understanding of what is trendy or accidentally alienate their audience.(its also something risky when people try to streamline genre perceived as complex by making things simpler rather than making it more intuitive to play or such) Or better yet, make choices based on biases :D (I'm liking Alear's personality in game so far, but geez thankfully Nintendo prevented them being too much of scaredy cat? Either way, I don't think blanket statements like "brave heroes don't appeal nowadays anymore" is really the case, its more of when execution of them is just cliche and one note)
"Made for modern audiences" is a term that doesnt exactly raise confidence or work out to well. I pre-ordered, and I am looking forward to it, but I hope this isnt a fixed direction for the series, as I still think 3 houses was a better vibe, with the deeper narrative and branching story. Nothing wrong with going more traditional now and then of course, but they hit many of the right notes with 3 houses that's going to be hard to surpass.
Given what I’ve seen being used for that term *cough* Netflix Witcher *cough* *cough* I get why. I stated that I play FE for the gameplay than the story since I have never found FE writing to be that good. But I will say 3 houses is undeniably one of the best written in the newer FE games even if I have quite a few writing gripes with it and especially it’s execution. Honestly I would rather they experiment with more with gameplay and story telling in the future. To clarify let gameplay still be the main focus but try to write interesting characters with a more generic story or vice versa.
@@2265Hello Thanks, Pickle. And your right, Reborn. Japan is still sane, after all. While my country (America) seems to have lost its damned mind. I pre-ordered this and the expansion pass, as I am a longtime fan of the series. For the longest time, Path of Radiance was my favorite (BTW, the devs of THAT game have made a new SRPG coming out in a month or two called "Redemption Reapers", and it looks stunning!) till 3 houses blew it out of the water with its interchanging story, mysteries, lore, and character development. So I was kind of sad to see that much of that wont be here, with the trade off of much better combat. I hope they keep experimenting till they find the perfect balance of the two. I KNOW they can do it. But this doesnt look bad by any stretch of the imagination. I REALLY hope they take the best of 3 houses, the best of engage, and merge them for a remake of Geneology.
This will be the first FE game I havent seen any coverage on it. Partly because, I havent actively looked for and at the info prior to it's release. Heck this is the first video I've watch about Engage. I'm looking forward to my 100% blind playthrough.
anyone else think it's a little weird many of Engage's choices were made to appeal to a wider audience, even when 3H was the best selling fire emblem game already?
3H was made by a completely different team and I suspect there was a rush to get a Fire Emblem game on the Switch as early as possible. I bet it was meant to be filler while Intelligent Systems got more time to work on the game they really wanted to make, Engage. It's just a guess but I think 3H's success was a fluke.
If I'm being honest, Three Houses kind of had a perfect storm going on because of Covid, similar to Animal Crossing. It's also worth noting the game was practically _entirely_ made by Koei Tecmo and not IS themselves. The game did phenomenally well for sure, but it's also very possible the game got simply very lucky with timing.
The fact that they pretty much just said "We set out to make the story dead simple, there's more focus on the gameplay that way" makes me a bit worried. It reads like IS really do operate under the assumption that it's either story or gameplay, and you can't prioritize both. Not because it's difficult, but because it's somehow fundamentally distracting? It could also just be PR speak attempting to temper expectations with people looking for "3 Houses: The Sequel"
I didn’t know that the artist was a FE fan herself. Good for her. While yes I don’t like certain designs and to me they seem out of place in FE the artist is definitely talented and I would love to see more of her work. FE being what it is i would’ve preferred the epic war story but I will give this game a chance for sure
A bit of an unpopular opinion, but I really like Mika's character designs as a whole. There are a few I don't like, but mostly I think they're well done.
@@viscount8388 Because the MC looks like a Colgate mascot with how she's colored. When I see the design, all I can think about is "deviant art OC". The art is fine, nothing to complain about, but the character designs are egregious. I saw another comment say that what sets Fire Emblem apart from other anime strategy RPGs is that, at its core, it's a war drama. While character designs tend to be stylized, they're still fairly grounded within their setting. Engage just kind of spits in the face of that core concept.
@@viscount8388 it's not so much the art 'style' so much as the art 'direction'. The quality of the drawings is fine, it's the content and tone that have people's hackles up. It screams less 'shades of grey/gradients of evil' and more 'the power of friendship.' And plenty of people, myself included, feel that FE is vastly better when it's doing the former rather than the latter.
@@sr71silver Fire Emblem is at its peak when it engages with the darkest aspects of war. Three Houses, Echoes, Genealogy, and Thracia all have exceedingly dark themes within their stories, and it's part of what makes them so engrossing.
It feels weird their goal was the grab the attention of the wider audience... by simplifying the story aspect and making the gameplay more complex? Isn't that the opposite of what 3H did to reach the levels of success it did? Why can't both gameplay and story go hand in hand? Why do we have to sacrifice one for the other?
Agreed. Also shouldn't it be primarily the job of the lowest difficulty to make it more accessible? 3H had a very easy difficulty option and that made the gameplay pretty accessible for new players. (The complex thing that overwhelmed people was the monastery management, from what i've heard.)
@@sunkeyavad6528 I personally enjoy getting to know systems like that and using it to my advantage in different ways through each playthrough. BUT I realize it was over done in a way that deterred people from doing it over and over again so I understand a balance still needs to be struck between pure tactical gameplay and the social sim and narrative aspects
And now a Fire Emblem Engage manga has been recently announced for Japan (as of this comment). I guess the devs were not kidding about wanting this game to appeal to a more casual and broader demographic huh.
I'm a first time fire emblems fan. I'm excited about my new game purchase..the first 20 mins if game play sold me. After seeing a review bec of so many options in this series..yeah this takes me back to when it all began when I first started playing turned based rpgs but now this looks new and exciting and challenging..I'm sure the story is so great . Yep..can't wait to play it
@ra 3H only real boon was the characters, the story while not bad was a bit scuffed considering were you to strip the characters away all you would have left is basically just a war.
@@MiguelHernandez-lo5lg >were you to strip the characters away all you would have left is basically just a war. what? >only real boon was the characters i mean undeveloped characters such as claude, absofhckinglutely; ones like dimitri however, def not very much..
I've played CF and AM (AM was really great)- I miss the game now though- is it even worth it to play SS? (I think I understand enough about the difference between it and VW; I'm just very uninterested in Claude and the atmosphere)
They didn't talk at all about the inclusion of Emblems, conceptually. What was the thought process in having all these legacy characters? They talked a lot about broader appeal to non FE/non-strategy players, so you think including characters from Super Smash Bros would be a big bullet point in that discussion.
It's always concerning when new games try to appeal to a broader group because they tend to lose their identity, and after 3 Houses success I see no reason why that had to be one of the main concerns for the game, lighter game is ok sometimes its good to change focus but its clear to see some gacha influences in the game direction. It's supposed to be a game about aniversary and celebrating old characters and stories that is why this whole mechanic and things exist but at the same time they talk about mostly new players and what they may think. That can still work it's not a bad thing to keep those 2 things in mind but it ends up sounding more like excuses. Hope the game is good with all my heart.
Having just recently gotten back to playing my demo of Square Enix's Triangle Strategy (due to it reminding me of Final Fantasy Tactics), I'm surprised to feel as though Square Enix, formerly Square Soft when talking about FFT, manages to resonate with me more regarding a tactical RPG than does Intelligent Systems, which is known specifically for tactically RPGs... When I frame my mindset like this, the answer is clear to me that Fire Emblem, much like many things these days, feels as though it is no longer designed for someone like me. I can always find things to enjoy about a given entry, but the fact that it doesn't stand out to me immediately and evoke joy is all I need to know. We'll see how Triangle Strategy (terrible title, in my opinion, by the way) goes throughout the demo. It has not disappointed me yet, but I have only raised my standards in this era of gaming where standards seem to be quite lacking among the consumers.
Hearing about Mika Pikazo’s excitement as the lead artist and her hard work designing the characters makes me respect her so much more It’s definitely an unusual style for FE but damn am I hyped to see her iteration of the series’ new title
I'm so pumped to finally play Engage tomorrow. I probably won't be tuning into the livestreams for spoiler reasons as I want to experience the game fresh for myself, but I do hope you'll keep the VODs up for those of us who want to go back and see your playthrough once we've finished our own! Looking forward to all the Engage content you have in the pipeline and hope you have fun with the game, Ghast!
These interviews make me doubt even more. So the story and character development was made much worse ON PURPOSE. The Engage mechanic was also made blatantly powerful, maybe even TOO powerful, on purpose so "less skilled" players could use it to clear chapters? They wanted an art direction that would "appeal to a wide audience"? The art direction is one of the main things people are so split on, so this whole idea clearly failed. "Appeal to those who would normally struggle"? They already added the Phoenix mode, which removed the permadeath that the series in known for, but it wasn't enough? They needed to add mechanics that were made OP on purpose like Break and Engage?
When they said they had to ask someone to balance the Engage mechanic...I raised an eyebrow, why would you do something but ask someone else to fix it??
After watching two and a half hours of gameplay with story in English. Game will be worse than Fates when it comes to storytelling. Gameplay mechanics look super solid. Art direction is not in my opinion. Very good but I respect people who disagree. I do hope the people that buy this game enjoy it, but I still think it sits in the skip category for me
That is some of the worst logic I've ever seen. "This will make it easier for new comers! It will also make it more fun for veterans!" No. No. I don't think that's how that works.
To be fair, judging from reviews, it does seem like they've succeeded at exactly that on the gameplay front. It's the one thing that's seeing nigh unanimous praise from what I've seen.
@@smallsoul2374 that's confused me. I'm intrigued enough to download it tonight instead of waiting until tomorrow. I HAVE to know if these kinds of comments are coming from series veterans or 3H first timers. I heavily, HEAVILY suspect the latter. The few reviews that I've seen that are critical have clearly been from veteran players.
Like many other I'm not a fan of the art style. It just looks off to me. Echoes of valentia or the tellius games to me were vastly superior to anything this game has to show. This art style would probably work well for a SMT or personal game. Fire emblem not so much, for me. That said, best of luck to the artist, got nothing against her jsut not a fan of her art
As interesting as the interview was , I am still approaching this game with a fair amount of skepticism, with the hope that its bid for more main stream appeal has not come at the cost of the franchises soul and identity. Yes, the game does look great, yes the combat looks interesting, but I can not shake this feeling that there will not be much in the way of depth or replayability, granted something that we may have been a bit spoiled on in Three Houses and Fates. I also have some concerns from what I've seen from the Characters and somewhat meh world building, two things that I have personally used to hook people into the Franchise over the last 10 years. I hope tomorrow I am proven wrong, but this screams more mass market cash grab in some ways, something I've seen all too often in the recent decade as well.
"The engage feature makes the game easier to play" does not give me high hopes for the game tbh. I was already not loving the art style and was at least hoping for something with some bite to it
Yeah like I don’t hate the art style, but I’m just not a fan of the older character’s designs and how some of the male characters look. Like how are these men actually older when they got the face of a 17 seven year old boy but with a full beard? Or that one knight character with a tiny head but covered in giant heavy armor; it just looks so oddly proportioned, but that might not be the actual artist’s fault so I can let that one kinda slide. But at least everything is so colorful which is something I do like. Lol.
You know, when Halo attempted to appeal to broader audience, it literally gutted and destroyed the entire franchise. It destroyed the soul of the series and what made Halo, _Halo_ . So why would this be any different? Attempting to appeal to a mass audience tends to alienate the core audience that was kept around by the unique experience your game offered.
i’ve played the first couple hours and where is this cowardly alear you speak of? i thought he was so easily down with his mission after just waking up that it was comical
This comment was made between the first and last comment on this video. I recommend you to hop out of this chat and watch the video, curiosity which you waited to unravel feels more satisfying than indulging your curiosity right now
Theres a lot about this game I have been critical about but I'm SO happy the battalion system is gone. I love the better animation and focus on the one on one combat. I never really liked how the battalion people just ran around like headless chickens, this feels way better to me.
I’m sure I will enjoy the game and I’m super excited for the game. However, I’m confident that the character design for this game is my least liked of any mainline fe game. The portion on character design just made solidified my stance.
One of the things I've notice is how similar this game feels to a gacha. The core concept and the core of the plot could certantly be the ones for a, Say, FE Heroes 2. As (If I remember correctly) Faerghast pointed out in another video, the artstyle (and how it interacts with the world aesthetics) are very similar to something like Genshin Impact. And I don't think that's a mere coincidence, but rather, a conscious choice to appeal to the kind of audince that makes those games thrive. And that's, mostly at least, fine. I get the same feel I had back when Awakening released that "these characters don't feel like FE characters" (aesthetically speaking, of course) but on the other hand it would be pretty boring if everthing stayed with the aesthetical style of, say, Tellius series. However that doesn't make it feel less weird and uninterestinng to me. The other point I wanna ramble about is the simplification of the story. I don't feel like "broadening the appeal to new players" is the reason for a poor story and script. Rather, I have the feeling this has been a videogame with a very límited budget. Gameplay is something that resonates with a lot of people more than story does but this gameplay, while not as complicated as, say, FFT or LUCT, is probably not enough to catch a lot of people. While it keeps the same bases as, well, every FE since 4, it's main gimmick mechanic revolves around a ensamble of characters that are simple fanservice. And while fanservice is not inherently bad, it's, well, fan-service. We may be excited to equip Sigurd or Lyn to a character but how can that excite new players? Of course, it may inspire them to look at the older games of the franchise but they would see a certantly different art style that may not resonate with them. A friend of mine, for instance, loved Awakening and Fates but she could not play older games no matter how much she tried to because those didn't have the features and art style that she liked from the games that initially drew her to the series. Furthermore, and this is completely anecdotical evidence, but I saw a big influx of new players excited for the series when Three Houses released. And they were drawn to the story, debating (rather toxically in many cases) about it's characters and narrative. Ultimately I feel like this game had a limited budget and was pushed by a board to appeal to the maximum amount of people. After Awakening and Heroes, FE became the premier non-pokemon rpg of nintendo's share of the market and while the series has never been this popular, that may not be enough for the financial deparments of Nintendo or Intelligent Systems.
Whenever a game designer says "Broader audience" essentially what they mean is make it as generic and low IQ as possible, have no depth, tons of avatar worship and little to no character development all the while ensuring that every player has non stop dopamine hits.
I’m a little concerned is the story will stray away from having dark or serious tones in order to appeal to a “broader audience” (a term they had no hesitation saying multiple times). Gameplay and social interaction got me into 3 Houses. However, there was a point that the story ended up being a driving force to keep playing because it emotionally grabbed me. I’m optimistic gameplay wise this will be a fun game while hoping the story won’t suffer.
@@Terranigma23 I don't think anyone said that. Though FE is a series about war so they shouldn't stay from dark and serious tones just to please new fans.
@@dhisufiroafrozenseraphimdragon I mean, it's not like if Fire Emblem was the darkest/serious tone Jrpg series. There is far more darker/serious than that.
@@Terranigma23 It doesn't have to be the darkest. I still want the heroes to win in the end but it needs to be realistic enough about how it portrays war, politics and those affected by it.
I haven't been around the FE community for very long so I don't understand the hate towards the animation style for engage. I loved everything I've seen of the game so far
The visual style of the series has changed many times, and every time we see familiar arguments between people who do and don't like the new style, with the merits and flaws of those arguments varying greatly. That said, the shift with Engage is definitely the most drastic the series has ever had, to the point that it seems glaringly at odds with core elements of Fire Emblem's appeal. As noted in this interview Three Houses was a war drama at its core, and it's argued by many Fire Emblem fans that this is an irreplaceable strength of not just Three Houses but all of the Fire Emblem series, and that this is what makes it stand out from so many other turn-based fantasy RPGs. So the overly flashy and aggressively "moe" (for want of a better term) presentation of Engage, which flies in the face of that war drama appeal, understandably has a lot of fans upset.
So the weak and predictable story was a deliberate decision. Good to note. For me, the story of three houses was the 'one more battle' moment, what will happen next? But when you can predict the end after chapter 3 its like, 'ehhh what's the point?' At chapter 3 of Three Houses, you couldn't predict how it would end. There was mystery, there was a reason to play the next mission. I had prepared to stay up all night from midnight and play it. By 2am, it was like, 'this story isn't engaging. I am going to sleep' Art direction? I am fine with. Gameplay? Great. The Emblems? Not as bad and nostalgia baity as I thought. But the story? Nope. That pulls the game down significantly. I'll still keep playing, because I want to see the character development, but the story is really holding back my desire to play.
I guess that's why they chose to employ an artist that has worked on vtubers, to be more modern. I personally don't like that approach, but it's valid. Even if they are privileged people already, which is what nobles kind of are. Maybe they mean some other definition of noble? Or what about the definition of modern? I do wonder what they mean by modern heroes, as what Alear will probably undergo is the classical heroes' journey, that starts with the refusal of the call to adventure. Certainly that's more relatable, but will probably force us to go through too little story until they have to fight, or too much story, until they have to fight. I'll have to see how that works out. Now the art direction makes more sense. Were other fire emblem characters flashy as well? Sure, but I can't think of any off the top of my head. Maybe Camilla, for obvious reasons. But I still think that due to that flashiness, can the characters be more relatable? I feel like that's more up to the writing and less up to the design, though design helps. I wouldn't go for the anime argument, that's kind of dumb, but when I look at these characters, I feel like I'm just being overwhelmed with EVERYTHING they have on them. It makes them more unique, but that's... not a good thing for me. It feels like so much damn visual noise, the same problem I kind of got with femByleth. Though the last one has more to do with needing to show that character is a woman... for some reason. But I don't want to get into that one more. This is more for beginners? It's an interesting way of blending an anniversary title with a good starting spot for beginners. On the one hand, you get to enjoy a REALLY flashy title while learning the basics games like these. You get to meet icons of Fire Emblem along the way, maybe you can start playing said games later. On the other hand, the flashiness of the game can set the wrong tone for the other games going forward. Let's say you go from Engage to sacred stones. First off, how are you going to get that game in the first place? There are basically no rereleases from nintendo's side on that. The more dedicated new fan would find ways, but what if someone just doesn't want to bother with that? Second, the tone going to whiplash you into what FE games tend to be about. While it's a far more classical hero story that engage tells, other games generally trend towards more serious and grey topics. There are installments out and about that are not like this at all, but I think most of the games are fantasy war dramas. And you can't rely on the engage mechanic as much to make your playthrough easier. Maybe support. I had a lot to say huh? If you've gotten to the end, thanks for reading, I really appreciate that.
Thousands of artists worked with vtuber character designs so it could be anyone. Mika isn't just related to vtubers, she has worked on everything possible in Japan
@@ausgod538 ABSOLUTELY this. VTubers are worked on by a LOT of people, including Three Houses' artist! It can feel kind of demeaning when all people do is demean them as "the VTuber artist" even as someone who's a fan of VTubers.
Not too happy to hear about Nintendo telling them to change what they got for Alear, sounds like they were going to give them character flaws and Nintendo said "Nuh-uh, only Mary/Gary Sue/Stu"
You two are scarily on point and that concerns me. I’m not all doomer about it myself, but I am gonna keep an eye on the direction come the next game to see if it’s a win or a loss for me personally.
This game is pretty much the opposite of that though. It's mechanics are heavy leaning towards classic FE gameplay. So that makes not sense. But I get the concern. I think it's important to have a good balance of modern ideas but classic FE
@@corypheusb1027 yeah it’s kinda weird how the gameplay seems to be a sort of return to form but the story and characters seem to be a total downgrade from the previous title. Hopefully for their next game they can finally strike that good balance
![NOSFERATU - Official Trailer [HD] - Only In Theaters December 25](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nulvWqYUM8k/mqdefault.jpg)
I'm so tired... I'm going to get a good night sleep and tomorrow I'll be streaming Engage! I personally found this interview pretty fascinating for both hopeful and concerning reasons. Will be quite a day tomorrow! What do you think of the developer interview? Anything stick out to you?
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Honestly I’m kind of having high hopes for a cowardly Alear early on. Would make the amnesia feel actually unique and new as a great and brave hero being cowardly due to forgetting who they were is honestly a great way to ramp up into the more stereotypical lord character we always get.
Im from the future, its nothing like this and very boring.
I love the idea of a timid lord growing into a confident leader too, thats a GREAT concept!
Lol, it's not even close to that when you look at reviews and leaks. It's the typical "they have amnesia, but still act how they're supposed to" thing.
Sad that Nintendo really didn't wanted to do this, like I am tired of boring avatars self insert for players if this end up being another one is going to be a huge let down, even more after Shez that was a character actually.
@@catelyntully9494 Alear is more or less just another Robin/Corrin/Byleth, only worse since they admit in this interview they didn't do much for story and characters on purpose.
They also admitted in the past that Shez was written simple also on purpose because they "didn't want Shez to overshadow Byleth".
While understand why people are worried about the future of the series with Engage being designed with a wider audience in mind I don't think it will be a problem going forward. The leaks about Engage being a delayed anniversary game make perfect sense as 3 Houses was made mostly by Koei Tecmo and Engage by IS. The two games also share no voice actors with each other which further proves these games were being made at the same time. Intelligent systems isn't stupid they are well aware of the high praise 3 Houses received for it's story and it's high sales numbers I doubt they would flat out ignore those factors. Engage was just a delayed game that was mostly done before the commercial success of 3 Houses was saw and I'm sure moving forward they will put a strong emphasis on story after Engage with that being a factor that made 3 Houses so loved.
that's actually a really valid argument
Agreed, it’s easy to forget that these games were being worked on in around the same time. Hopefully (if this one doesn’t) the next FE will have a perfect blend of strategy + social sim
This is a really reassuring comment! Your point makes sense and I hope future fe games try to marry both concepts
Let's hope this game doesn't burn too many people out of the series. That is a risk that can happen, especially if people are expecting something like 3H, because that's what brought them in in the first place.
I thought the same! Even without the leaks, this game screams "anniversary edition" :D I feel like the game that will come after FEE will be way more interesting in regards to the future direction of FE. And honestly - they have done (if reviews are to be trusted) the whole strategy-mechanic thing right in FEE, while the whole story/character thing was done really good in 3H. So, taking the best parts from both games would be kinda exiting :D
The interview basically explains why FE engage is so bad when compared to earlier FE games.
It was led by people who don't like tactics games, and are more familiar with Action games.
Not to mention, while claiming to be a throwback to earlier titles. The game was designed to attract new "younger" players who would not understand the heroes.
So the design was entirely at cross purposes with itself.
i agree with you
@@tristennorris3725 You should check out the interview transcript, it's worse than I described here.
As it becomes very clear these devs should never have been allowed to produce a FE title.
@@techpriest6962 yeah agree
I know that some of us (like myself) have been critical of the art direction here, but I am happy to see her (the artist) have a chance to work on this series and, well, I hope she continues to have a great career
I actually really love Mika Pikazo. I was a little skeptical at first about her style fitting into the Fire Emblem franchise, since her style seems a lot more contemporary for FE's more medieval, traditional style. But ehh it's grown on me tbh.
@@machineofthe6thriver430 Yeah I dont think her contemporary style works for this game personally, its making the characters look too modern, like theyre moreso trying to do a fantasy medieval fashion show, while others flat out wear modern clothes, BUT, as stated, I hope this helps her career thrive!
@@ramenbomberdeluxe4958 Idk it’s just so extra it makes me love it. It’s like a big drag queen show. I know that’s not really for everyone, so I understand the criticism.
It definitely fits the flashy and cheesy aesthetic they were going for with the story and gameplay
I think you can dislike the art and not wish ill will upon the artist. I'm not a fan, but I do not think the art is bad and seeing the sales there is little doubt that they accomplished their goal of reaching a wider audience.
have been seeing mika pikazo's work all over twitter these days, she's been popping off. i think her character art is beautiful, but i don't think it translates so well in 3d- at least from what I've seen so far. not enough to deter me from the game or story though
Instead of having a mc with depth and growth let's just assume people just want a dumb cookie cutter hero. I hate when this happens.
Having a coward mc growing into a realiable person could be good and have depth, I don't see the problem
Yup and we have Nintendo to thanks for that change
@@ahmadumar3274 Nintendo was right. No one wants to see a non heroic hero.
@@Guy-cb1oh People don't always want a hero. The popularity of anti-heroes and villain-centric shows/movies proves that. What people want is a good PROTAGONIST, which Alear most certainly isn't.
Having worked on big projects in corporate settings before, just from the moment you said there were two directors representing different interests gave me a kind of mini-PTSD trauma response. I've been on projects like that, and even if it was in a different technological field, they are the WORST. Hearing that one side had a vision one way, then another steps in to push it back the other way... I can't know how it will affect the final product, but I can super sympathize with all those staff working on it. It was NOT easy.
Development was even more divided than that, since the Nintendo side was further divided between the Japanese and American divisions. The American team had to keep reigning in the Japanese team because they kept putting teenage characters in romantic/sexual scenarios.
I can just imagine all the artist and programmers being told, "Okay we need you to do this...." Then two days later after they had finally finished being told they needed to do the exact opposite. Also, I can imagine a Nintendo rep keep subtly pushing for that red/blue hair in meeting after meeting not quite thinking it was obvious enough, even though no one wanted it, but they kept hinting at it to make them stop asking, because it's the Switch controller colors.
@@aninymouse1651 In Nintendo case NCL has the full authority here, all foreign Nintendo branch including NoA, NoE are responsible for Marketing, Localization and if possible act as tripwire for potential Cultural gaffe. Otherwise NoA only gets to do post-script modification such when they age up Lyn official age for FE7 western release.
This is one of many reasons why Zelda: Skyward Sword turned out the way it did. Aonuma wanted the game originally to have a regular control scheme, but Miyamoto wanted Motion Controls first, everything else second.
@@AkameGaKillfan777 The Inverse seems to be Street Fighter 6, where finally there was a singular vision and designers able to pull off what they wanted for the series, instead of producers meddling and getting a little of this and a little of that and so much missing.
I like that the inspiration for the animations was the GBA ones, which I think everyone agrees are some of the best in the series. From what I've seen, I'm not sure if they completely captured the feeling of those pixel animations, but they sure got close.
The female characters all look awful tbh. All of them are pre-teens with the same personality and are all equally forgettable. I miss when FE characters WORE ARMOUR... remember that? This art direction is bold and novel, but hopefully it will be toned down in future games. Also... Stop giving every female character the same dumb-struck 'anime' expression.
And with regards to the personality of Alear, I am so tired of goody-two-shoes types who have no confidence at all. I miss characters like Ike. Bring back heroes!
i dont like how these characters look. most of them look like clowns where are those ok fate and awakening armor at? im sick and tired of these clown plot armor allies fighting these enemies that actually look like their dress for war. i cant love a character if he’s dress like a clown and not suit up for war. im very disappointed of these japanese developers if this game was released instead of AWAKENING this franchise would be DEAD
Batallions are gonna be sorely missed by me. Really helped my immersion.
Loved PoR/RD but there was times there were meant to be these huge armies but I was watching single units. I got it and loved it, but it's like picturing a billion; I get the principle but there's a lot left to the imagination
Radiant Dawn did a pretty good job masking it by having fog of war on the Dawn Brigade vs Laguz Alliance swamp map, having Micaiah vs Ike in a dense fortress, and having 100 units on the map at once in 3-E.
I do miss battalions too, they added great customization and it just was cool to have many unit do big thing big amount for big amount of damage. Really activated my monkey brain.
I won't necessarily miss the battalions, but I 100% understand and agree with your sentiment. Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn are the top tier narratives in all of Fire Emblem for me, but that one detail of feelings as though there definitely should have been more soldiers always stood out to me. Limitations of game medium, limited time and budgets, and desire for complexity are understandable, though.
Kills the frame rate
I too will miss the batallions, it was really interesting knowing had a troops with me and made a bunch of sense but this is a different take i suppose.
This interview is very enlightening. I'll definitely be thinking back on it as I begin playing tomorrow
I'm not gonna lie, I didn't like how the developers stated the reason for a lot of decisions was "we wanted to appeal to a broad possible audience"
"We want that genshin money"
Part of why Three Houses found a broader audience is SPECIFICALLY the emphasis it had on story, so when IS basically states outright “we deliberately made the story simple and the art genshin for new people” it just looks like they have no idea that they’ve already been getting new players, and it’s in the complete opposite direction of “do LESS story” :/
It’s a tale as old as time at this point, I’m sure they’ll double down again in the opposite direction for the next game. Maybe the fabled FE4 remake?
@@monodoro agreed! I don’t have a problem with a franchise trying to expand its fan base, but I DO have a problem with it patronizing and underestimating its audience. People love a complex but well-written and compelling story with endearing characters - PoR and RD were proof of that, even though they were well ahead of their time. It’s probably too much to ask, but if they could deliver a seamless, high-quality gaming experience with a compelling narrative, that would really make the game take off
Agreed.
"Appeal to lowest common denominator."
1:30 Yikes. What a terrible goal to set. "Don't you dare make a deep story for this. We're going for the simpleton market, so keep it simple.", basically. Normally things need to go wrong to get that outcome. Well, if the story trailers are anything to go by, goal accomplished. Every single time I hear news about the story, my impression gets worse.
First time part of me is starting to hope the story is terrible, so they get properly burned for explicitly setting failure as a goal like that and don't do it again.
Why did you feel the need to watch the video, stop everytime you have something to say, write one comment, send it and keep watching the video until you pause again to send another comment. Just write one comment, this is a comment section not a chat room.
*If you want to make it easier for newcomers, the way to go is a very low difficulty option, aswell as many small portion interactive tutorials,* not by designing the whole game around it.
Three houses did a good job with having an easy mode, but failed at the tutorial front, by not only not covering everything, but also by just bombarding the player with walls of text very early on, before a mechanic was even in play sometimes, for the stuff they did cover.
I totally agree with this. I wish more Nintendo games took this formula instead of removing all the depth and character from the game.
After playing the game, I think nah. The way they did it was absolutely perfect. It's honestly baffling how balanced the game is. I've been playing on Hard Classic and its been a blast, the challenge level is high but in a very fair way that makes it feel like it's always my fault when I make a mistake, unlike many of the previous games in the series
See thats the problem. Anytime you go "the classic hero won't appeal to the modern person" you are making a mistake. Archetypes hold true regardless of era, and just because modern people can't see themselves as heroic and brave, doesn't mean their characters shouldn't be. Luke and Han and Leia became popular in the AGE of anti-heroes, proving the archetypes if done well can always cut through. I gave this game a HARD pass because of the atrocious character designs(toothpaste chan actually hurts my eyes to look at), but now that I see how the characters were conceived... I am glad I didn't bite. However for me, Fire Emblem games skip a game, one good (Awakening) One bad (Fates) one good (Three Houses) and sadly one bad (Engage), so perhaps next one will be worth it.
Echoes?
yes engage took a massive turn awat from 3H;the most sucsesfull fe game....... good call i.s. 🤦♀
You know you’re being wrong.
Knowing that the artist struggles drawing older characters and/or non-cute designs, it shows. That's makes a lot of since now. Her style isn't bad, but for this game, I still think some of the character art decisions could've been better.
I'm not especially worried about the series as a whole. Good business is partly about widening your audience, sure, but it's also about retaining your audience. Not much point in gaining new fans if you're losing old fans at the same rate.
I fully expect the next game to swing its emphasis back towards fans of classic FE. Alternating like that has historically been a good strategy for game devs, and I think we're already seeing that pattern with modern FE.
Also, as someone who remembers Fates's art direction (shout-outs to lobster king) the art style for this game really doesn't strike me as all that extreme.
I have been thinking that maybe they are going to do both the original style and the just for fun style games from now on. It would make the most sense. Do more serious games like echoes and 3 houses and like every other or two other games make a not so serious one like engage or a collaborative game like the warriors games. That might work out for them in keeping almost everyone happy.
Not sure if that's a great pattern. Sounds alot like constantly attracting different audiences and alternating between burning them.
@@sunkeyavad6528 "Burn"? Really? Do you think that the majority of people who played Three Houses and loved it aren't also buying Engage, knowing full well it's going to be a different experience?
.......... ryoma's armor is just deadass an actual suit of samurai armor my guy.
@@clmaoo Maybe, but I said lobster king with no additional information and you immediately knew who I was talking about, so the point still stands.
this doesn't give me confidence, everytime a developer tries to "appeal to everyone" it always falls flat on it's face.
The bit about celebrities being relatable makes it sound like they're on crack
These people really thought the "We're in this together" video at the start of lockdowns wasn't incredibly tone-deaf
My big hope is that with the success of this game, we will eventually get a legacy collection on Switch!
Never thought of it like that. The success of being back old characters could incentivize them to rerelease old titles and develop remakes.
I mean heroes practically shows old characters can make money
Yeah id rather own the older games and have it playable on newer system rather than having to rely on emulation every single time.
This would help so much more than... the one game that was LIMITED TIME ONLY FROM THE NES ERA! I will not forget that! Or 3d allstars.
@@valemontgomery9401 You and OP seem to have forgotten Heroes exist, which is DESIGNED to bring everyone.
I'm just hearing way too much "We want to broaden the audience" "appeal to a more casual audience" "excite a younger audience" etc to really feel particularly enthused at this point.
Seems to me like the best case scenario is another Fates/Conquest scenario where the gameplay is fine and everything else is varying levels of dumb... Although Conquest's gameplay was interesting because of how punishing it could be, which seems like it'd run counter to the "appealing to a more casual audience that doesn't play tactical RPGs" thing, so...
"...broader audience..." explains everything
that red/blue hair turned me off to this game instantly
well after watching this and reading the article myself i have some serious concerns lol and i already had concerns. I think the mainline games are just going in a direction now, im not a huge fan.
I swear this is just like reading developer interviews about Paper Mario and Sonic Forces. These people really think the audience they claim will buy the game are stupid.
I got the same feeling. It is like kids are stupid and will buy it if the game is made "colorful" enough.
I literally see you every where! We must watch the same stuff.
I found this video today and I am completely complexed by the idea that "Heroic characters are not relatable." Like...are they stupid? I mean, yes, you can build a vulnerable character who is still heroic. Alm and Celica are good examples of this. Chrom in Awakening had several vulnerable moments that were of note. Robin, Xander (through his supports), Marth (Shadow Dragon), I believe even Sigard had vulnerable moments in Holy War.
The point is you don't have to make them cowardly to create a vulnerable or relatable character, IS was already doing that! They even contradicted themselves by having a classic lord (Diamant) become vulnerable when he has to slay his father, and yet, he still keeps the heroic traits people love about the games! There were enough polls done when Engage came out that proved this as Diamant was toping all of them (I saw him consistently break the top 3) and Alear was usually one of the first ones to go. Japan seems to be the only place from what I can tell that really likes Alear as they are first on the Japanese poll...but under them in second is Diamant. So clearly, this director has no idea what he's talking about.
It is so dumb, like legitimately, the director is missing the whole point. Heroic, relatable characters is what made fire emblem what it is and to not build upon that and go BACKWARDS for this game is truly terrible, awful garbage.
@@binxthebinx6575 I've been subscribed to this channel since 2018, back when he still called the channel Ghast Station. Same with Mekkah when he had 3 k's in his name.
But yeah, the whole "we didn't care about the story here" only proves further how little the people in charge of Engage knew about FE as a whole. They just didn't want to try.
I am a little perplexed by the idea that the direction they went with this game was intended to make an SRPG that had broader appeal. I think this game has the potential to really turn off some of the people who came into the series only playing Three Houses. I guess we will see in the coming weeks but it seems like this will be much closer to some of the earlier Fire Emblem titles before Awakening.
I am at Chapter nine and my above comment still stands. I don't feel like there has been a simplification of menus, stats, or game mechanics in Engage. I also feel like the combat, while more rewarding, is also more punishing than Three Houses. If a non-SRPG player was interested in getting into Fire Emblem I would not start them off with this game.
This was a terrific overview of that interview, thank you for making it! After hearing the developer's words, I can certainly see where they're coming from, and feel particularly confident in their vision. I look forward to when my copy comes in the mail soon! 😊💜
My respect for the artist has grown even more. I liked the way the artist uses colors to make things stand out. Also tho the fact the artist took up the challenge after the fact they claimed that they weren't confident with drawing older looking characters. Overall can't wait to play!
I am a fan of the artist. Though I wouldn't say she succeeded in creating older characters. The female age range is significantly younger and the artist is using boob sizes to show maturity which is.....ugh why.
Thus is a larger problem within game spaces though but I can't hide my disappointment.
@@cyncynshop ivy does seem like she could've looked a bit older.
@@cyncynshop After finding out she's struggles drawing older characters, I thought that makes so much sense. It shows. She's not a bad artist but I think some of the character art decisions could've been better.
@@jelruv6721 I miss Yusuke Kozaki so much, he's art style is what saved Fire Emblem on the 3ds.
I can see why Pikazo lacked confidence, pretty much all the designs for older characters look weird and have some major baby face going on.
I'm honestly super excited for this game, and these interviews and especially Mika Pikazo's art countdowns have only furthered that excitement! I can't wait to binge the game upon release!
I find it interesting how they really want this to be a jumping in point for new fans. I'm curious how well that will pan out!
I found Three Houses to be a good jumping off point for a lot of people I know. When I tried to tell folks about Engage, and how it's different, they seem less interested. Though, I feel pretty confident that this game will sell really well, not because of this game, but because of Three Houses, and people want more of that, refined.
@@madness1931 This is my exact wondering. Fire Emblem: Three Houses' characters and story are what made it a huge hit. Why would it be more appealing to the newcomers to strip that down to bare bones?
I'll be interested in seeing if Engage does indeed appeal to younger audiences, and just how young they mean when they say that. I'm skeptical, seeing as the reason I first took an interest in Fire Emblem as a teenager was because of its pseudo-historical style. Nevertheless, we shall see.
Same. As a teen, I leaned more towards realism, with some edge. More Berserk anime, and less Aquafresh toothpaste.
As far as the art goes, the artist is definitely skilled, but the design for the characters is awful. They took a big steamy dump on them. Overdesigned to the point of being outright ugly. I don't think fire emblem fans were really behind this title given the stated motivations behind the decisions they've made
What were they NOT smoking when they designed Yunaka and ESPECIALLY Hortensia?
2:45 "Appeal to a broader audience" is another one of those red flag terms that signals impending failure from abandoning the audience you already have.
"Appeal to a broader audience" in reality usually means "appeal to the lowest common denominator". Which pretty much guarantees things not being excellent at the very least, but usually worse.
3H is the one that was appealing to a broader audience. Engage is a FE game through and through.
@@rifway22 You must have your priorities backwards
They wanted the characters to be “down to earth”? Dude….most of the characters are goofy as hell and they think it was down to earth?
I do like how many people here are recoiling at "appeal to a wider audience". That is the correct response. Also shows that people have been paying attention.
Engage being handled by a different team than 3H makes a lot of sense. It really does feel like a different take on Fire Emblem, for what that's worth.
...I really find myself wishing we could have had the gameplay of Engage with the *everything else* of 3H, but oh well.
Maybe next time?
Honestly, as Three Houses is my favorite Fire Emblem, this was....rather sad to me? I dunno, there was a LOT of talk about "appealing to a broader/younger audience" while Three Houses was the most successful (not including Fire Emblem Heroes) Fire Emblem to date. Speaking of which, the more I think about it the more it looks like this was designed off the financial success of Heroes rather than Three Houses. There's a lot more to unpack (I loved the sense of Scale battalions gave) but...well, I don't think Engage will be a bad game. I think I'll pick it up and (at least on Hard mode) enjoy the gameplay. But I'll be comparing it to Fire Emblem Awakening (which I enjoyed) rather than the nuanced characters and plot of 3H.
I think it's because Engage started development before 3Houses got released.
And actualy it makes a bit sense, in a way they decide to go in a totally different direction about style and story.
So maybe their objective was/is to compare 3Houses with Engage, which one appeals more and is the more acclaimed.
I've enjoyed alot of the fire emblem games...but im here with ya. Three houses was my favorite...im going to miss the differing story paths which kept me for extra time in the game and the cast...So i get you.
Man, the character designer was right to worry about older-looking characters. Almost all the designs look like anime babies. Even dude with the beard. I wish FE also wasn't so afraid of older woman characters (who aren't thousand-year old children).
YOU SO RIGHT😩
When I saw Lyn for the first time I was like "why she looks like a baby? " Then, I realized that they all look like a babies
Flashy directioon?, so the developer/director is the guilty one for such ATROCIOUS CHANGE.
I think the only difficulty that I’m going to have with Engage is losing all of the freedom that we had with Three Houses. I hoped that with Engage we would keep a similar classing system, but I think I’ll be fine with what we have. I just hope the game turns out successful like 3H.
Yeah, I hate to tell you, but don’t ever get used to the entries that have relentless customization, it’s never been a staple and for the sake of unit identity and variety I hope it never is personally.
@ramenbomberdeluxe4958 I agree. I loved the limitations of the dlc. Forced me to make difficult interesting choices.
@@ramenbomberdeluxe4958 Not saying I don’t enjoy the limitation. I loved the DLC. I started playing Awakening and Fates and a few months back. However the flexibility made is so no play through was the same. It’s also made for some fun challenges. (Play random classes, worst classes only). Freedom leads to more gameplay in my mind.
Ghast mentioned in this video that pairing units with Engage rings unlocked new classes for that unit. Didn't you pay attention?
@@eliminat20 I like the more limited branching paths personally. I like having SOME variety, and I think Fates had the perfect system for it. Technically speaking, most units could pair with most units, be it friendship or romance, and on top of their already pre-existing side classes, they could gain a few more options through the friendship system itself. I loved that and I think in terms of customization, thats the way to go from now on.
You know things are going to be bad when the devs want to pursue "A wider audience"
I mean I do kind of always find it worrisome when devs try to widen the audience. Like sure its good for business, but people often make silly mistakes when they have nebulous understanding of what is trendy or accidentally alienate their audience.(its also something risky when people try to streamline genre perceived as complex by making things simpler rather than making it more intuitive to play or such) Or better yet, make choices based on biases :D (I'm liking Alear's personality in game so far, but geez thankfully Nintendo prevented them being too much of scaredy cat? Either way, I don't think blanket statements like "brave heroes don't appeal nowadays anymore" is really the case, its more of when execution of them is just cliche and one note)
"Made for modern audiences" is a term that doesnt exactly raise confidence or work out to well. I pre-ordered, and I am looking forward to it, but I hope this isnt a fixed direction for the series, as I still think 3 houses was a better vibe, with the deeper narrative and branching story. Nothing wrong with going more traditional now and then of course, but they hit many of the right notes with 3 houses that's going to be hard to surpass.
Given what I’ve seen being used for that term *cough* Netflix Witcher *cough* *cough* I get why. I stated that I play FE for the gameplay than the story since I have never found FE writing to be that good. But I will say 3 houses is undeniably one of the best written in the newer FE games even if I have quite a few writing gripes with it and especially it’s execution. Honestly I would rather they experiment with more with gameplay and story telling in the future. To clarify let gameplay still be the main focus but try to write interesting characters with a more generic story or vice versa.
I imagine that phrase isn't such a sign of death over on the JP side.
I've seen significantly less butchering come from them in recent years
@@2265Hello Thanks, Pickle.
And your right, Reborn. Japan is still sane, after all. While my country (America) seems to have lost its damned mind.
I pre-ordered this and the expansion pass, as I am a longtime fan of the series. For the longest time, Path of Radiance was my favorite (BTW, the devs of THAT game have made a new SRPG coming out in a month or two called "Redemption Reapers", and it looks stunning!) till 3 houses blew it out of the water with its interchanging story, mysteries, lore, and character development. So I was kind of sad to see that much of that wont be here, with the trade off of much better combat. I hope they keep experimenting till they find the perfect balance of the two. I KNOW they can do it. But this doesnt look bad by any stretch of the imagination.
I REALLY hope they take the best of 3 houses, the best of engage, and merge them for a remake of Geneology.
the blue red colored hair/eyes is such a bizarre unnecessary design choice. they look like someone’s custom character on an mmo
Even Kamui looks better, and he is a divine dragon humanoid.
This will be the first FE game I havent seen any coverage on it. Partly because, I havent actively looked for and at the info prior to it's release. Heck this is the first video I've watch about Engage.
I'm looking forward to my 100% blind playthrough.
anyone else think it's a little weird many of Engage's choices were made to appeal to a wider audience, even when 3H was the best selling fire emblem game already?
Just because 3H was the best selling FE game doesn't mean it didn't come with its own faults
@@pezaroo1234 i mean, clearly one of those faults was not appealing to new players lmao
3H was made by a completely different team and I suspect there was a rush to get a Fire Emblem game on the Switch as early as possible. I bet it was meant to be filler while Intelligent Systems got more time to work on the game they really wanted to make, Engage.
It's just a guess but I think 3H's success was a fluke.
If I'm being honest, Three Houses kind of had a perfect storm going on because of Covid, similar to Animal Crossing. It's also worth noting the game was practically _entirely_ made by Koei Tecmo and not IS themselves.
The game did phenomenally well for sure, but it's also very possible the game got simply very lucky with timing.
@@valeriemcdonald440 if this is the case than IS is incompetent cause engage has about 40 percent of the content.
12 hour streams starting tomorrow, clear your schedules people
High school, homework, and playing another game...good?
I Love games with Unrealistically flashy movements/attacks.
The fact that they pretty much just said "We set out to make the story dead simple, there's more focus on the gameplay that way" makes me a bit worried. It reads like IS really do operate under the assumption that it's either story or gameplay, and you can't prioritize both. Not because it's difficult, but because it's somehow fundamentally distracting? It could also just be PR speak attempting to temper expectations with people looking for "3 Houses: The Sequel"
I didn’t know that the artist was a FE fan herself. Good for her. While yes I don’t like certain designs and to me they seem out of place in FE the artist is definitely talented and I would love to see more of her work.
FE being what it is i would’ve preferred the epic war story but I will give this game a chance for sure
At this point her saying she's a FE fan holds as much weight as Arin Hanson saying he's a Sonic fan.
Spoilers: he's not
A bit of an unpopular opinion, but I really like Mika's character designs as a whole. There are a few I don't like, but mostly I think they're well done.
the art is honestly so overhated for no reason. every game has its own artstyle so idk why this one is getting hate
@@viscount8388 Because the MC looks like a Colgate mascot with how she's colored. When I see the design, all I can think about is "deviant art OC". The art is fine, nothing to complain about, but the character designs are egregious. I saw another comment say that what sets Fire Emblem apart from other anime strategy RPGs is that, at its core, it's a war drama. While character designs tend to be stylized, they're still fairly grounded within their setting. Engage just kind of spits in the face of that core concept.
@@danielgiovanniello7217 i disagree
@@viscount8388 it's not so much the art 'style' so much as the art 'direction'. The quality of the drawings is fine, it's the content and tone that have people's hackles up. It screams less 'shades of grey/gradients of evil' and more 'the power of friendship.' And plenty of people, myself included, feel that FE is vastly better when it's doing the former rather than the latter.
@@sr71silver Fire Emblem is at its peak when it engages with the darkest aspects of war. Three Houses, Echoes, Genealogy, and Thracia all have exceedingly dark themes within their stories, and it's part of what makes them so engrossing.
I like the gameplay of Engage and there's less bloat in-between battles. Everything else though... I prefer Three Houses.
It feels weird their goal was the grab the attention of the wider audience... by simplifying the story aspect and making the gameplay more complex? Isn't that the opposite of what 3H did to reach the levels of success it did? Why can't both gameplay and story go hand in hand? Why do we have to sacrifice one for the other?
Agreed. Also shouldn't it be primarily the job of the lowest difficulty to make it more accessible? 3H had a very easy difficulty option and that made the gameplay pretty accessible for new players. (The complex thing that overwhelmed people was the monastery management, from what i've heard.)
@@sunkeyavad6528 I personally enjoy getting to know systems like that and using it to my advantage in different ways through each playthrough. BUT I realize it was over done in a way that deterred people from doing it over and over again so I understand a balance still needs to be struck between pure tactical gameplay and the social sim and narrative aspects
The artist's concern over her art style definitely was evident by fans when the game was first shown off.
8 believe this is why there are a lot of video advertising. Indoctrinating us the style before the release.
She didn't have concerns over her art but being able to draw older characters
I personally like engage more then other fire emblem games to be honest.
Spoiler alert! Three houses is better.
It’s okay to be wrong.
And now a Fire Emblem Engage manga has been recently announced for Japan (as of this comment). I guess the devs were not kidding about wanting this game to appeal to a more casual and broader demographic huh.
I’m not very far in.. But two things I think should be possibly changed in an update.. The traditional FE fanfare when you level up.. And that hair..
I hate celebrities. I hope that aspect isn't over done.
I'm a first time fire emblems fan. I'm excited about my new game purchase..the first 20 mins if game play sold me. After seeing a review bec of so many options in this series..yeah this takes me back to when it all began when I first started playing turned based rpgs but now this looks new and exciting and challenging..I'm sure the story is so great . Yep..can't wait to play it
Story not so much.. you should have gotten 3 houses
@ra 3H only real boon was the characters, the story while not bad was a bit scuffed considering were you to strip the characters away all you would have left is basically just a war.
@@MiguelHernandez-lo5lg >were you to strip the characters away all you would have left is basically just a war.
what?
>only real boon was the characters
i mean undeveloped characters such as claude, absofhckinglutely; ones like dimitri however, def not very much..
@@MiguelHernandez-lo5lgdepends on the route. VW and especially SS yes. The other 2- not so much.
I've played CF and AM (AM was really great)- I miss the game now though- is it even worth it to play SS? (I think I understand enough about the difference between it and VW; I'm just very uninterested in Claude and the atmosphere)
1:42 Yeah I don't think that worked out well for this game >_>
I really love Mika Pikazo's art and the reviews of the make me want to buy it even more.
really the art is pretty junk with a sever case of same face
@@EvilDickism your profile picture is the epic face xd
They didn't talk at all about the inclusion of Emblems, conceptually. What was the thought process in having all these legacy characters? They talked a lot about broader appeal to non FE/non-strategy players, so you think including characters from Super Smash Bros would be a big bullet point in that discussion.
They also didn't talk about Somniel at all in the interview, so I guess both topics will be covered later in the future with another interview.
people are saying it is to celebrate the franchise's 30th anniversary, looking back at characters from the past
Feels like they saw the success that Fire Emblem Heroes had back then and thought: "Hey, I want a piece of that cake too!", lol.
It's always concerning when new games try to appeal to a broader group because they tend to lose their identity, and after 3 Houses success I see no reason why that had to be one of the main concerns for the game, lighter game is ok sometimes its good to change focus but its clear to see some gacha influences in the game direction.
It's supposed to be a game about aniversary and celebrating old characters and stories that is why this whole mechanic and things exist but at the same time they talk about mostly new players and what they may think. That can still work it's not a bad thing to keep those 2 things in mind but it ends up sounding more like excuses. Hope the game is good with all my heart.
so basically copy saints row reboot, got it.
Having just recently gotten back to playing my demo of Square Enix's Triangle Strategy (due to it reminding me of Final Fantasy Tactics), I'm surprised to feel as though Square Enix, formerly Square Soft when talking about FFT, manages to resonate with me more regarding a tactical RPG than does Intelligent Systems, which is known specifically for tactically RPGs... When I frame my mindset like this, the answer is clear to me that Fire Emblem, much like many things these days, feels as though it is no longer designed for someone like me. I can always find things to enjoy about a given entry, but the fact that it doesn't stand out to me immediately and evoke joy is all I need to know. We'll see how Triangle Strategy (terrible title, in my opinion, by the way) goes throughout the demo. It has not disappointed me yet, but I have only raised my standards in this era of gaming where standards seem to be quite lacking among the consumers.
I immediately thought of Paper Mario and Pokémon fans while reading this
Hearing about Mika Pikazo’s excitement as the lead artist and her hard work designing the characters makes me respect her so much more
It’s definitely an unusual style for FE but damn am I hyped to see her iteration of the series’ new title
I'm so pumped to finally play Engage tomorrow. I probably won't be tuning into the livestreams for spoiler reasons as I want to experience the game fresh for myself, but I do hope you'll keep the VODs up for those of us who want to go back and see your playthrough once we've finished our own! Looking forward to all the Engage content you have in the pipeline and hope you have fun with the game, Ghast!
These interviews make me doubt even more.
So the story and character development was made much worse ON PURPOSE. The Engage mechanic was also made blatantly powerful, maybe even TOO powerful, on purpose so "less skilled" players could use it to clear chapters? They wanted an art direction that would "appeal to a wide audience"? The art direction is one of the main things people are so split on, so this whole idea clearly failed. "Appeal to those who would normally struggle"? They already added the Phoenix mode, which removed the permadeath that the series in known for, but it wasn't enough? They needed to add mechanics that were made OP on purpose like Break and Engage?
When they said they had to ask someone to balance the Engage mechanic...I raised an eyebrow, why would you do something but ask someone else to fix it??
I sincerely hope they avoid games like Engage in the future what an awful game.
You clearly had no fun in life.
@@raphaelsorel6907 I did, with many games better than this
@@AkameGaKillfan777 Then you’re clearly just hating for the sake of hating.
@@raphaelsorel6907 The grown-ups are talking here
@@AkameGaKillfan777 You’re one to talk.
After watching two and a half hours of gameplay with story in English. Game will be worse than Fates when it comes to storytelling. Gameplay mechanics look super solid. Art direction is not in my opinion. Very good but I respect people who disagree. I do hope the people that buy this game enjoy it, but I still think it sits in the skip category for me
That is some of the worst logic I've ever seen.
"This will make it easier for new comers! It will also make it more fun for veterans!"
No. No. I don't think that's how that works.
To be fair, judging from reviews, it does seem like they've succeeded at exactly that on the gameplay front. It's the one thing that's seeing nigh unanimous praise from what I've seen.
@@smallsoul2374 that's confused me. I'm intrigued enough to download it tonight instead of waiting until tomorrow. I HAVE to know if these kinds of comments are coming from series veterans or 3H first timers. I heavily, HEAVILY suspect the latter. The few reviews that I've seen that are critical have clearly been from veteran players.
Like many other I'm not a fan of the art style. It just looks off to me. Echoes of valentia or the tellius games to me were vastly superior to anything this game has to show. This art style would probably work well for a SMT or personal game. Fire emblem not so much, for me. That said, best of luck to the artist, got nothing against her jsut not a fan of her art
As interesting as the interview was , I am still approaching this game with a fair amount of skepticism, with the hope that its bid for more main stream appeal has not come at the cost of the franchises soul and identity. Yes, the game does look great, yes the combat looks interesting, but I can not shake this feeling that there will not be much in the way of depth or replayability, granted something that we may have been a bit spoiled on in Three Houses and Fates.
I also have some concerns from what I've seen from the Characters and somewhat meh world building, two things that I have personally used to hook people into the Franchise over the last 10 years.
I hope tomorrow I am proven wrong, but this screams more mass market cash grab in some ways, something I've seen all too often in the recent decade as well.
So basically this is Fire Emblem "Let's appeal to modernity guys" edition? Oh that direction explain everything.
I’m excited to play this one!
"The engage feature makes the game easier to play" does not give me high hopes for the game tbh. I was already not loving the art style and was at least hoping for something with some bite to it
I'm always a fan of Fire Emblem artstyle but Engage is just not fitting for me
Yeah like I don’t hate the art style, but I’m just not a fan of the older character’s designs and how some of the male characters look. Like how are these men actually older when they got the face of a 17 seven year old boy but with a full beard? Or that one knight character with a tiny head but covered in giant heavy armor; it just looks so oddly proportioned, but that might not be the actual artist’s fault so I can let that one kinda slide. But at least everything is so colorful which is something I do like. Lol.
My copy of the Divine Edition shipped out and should arrive tomorrow. Looking forward to jumping into Elyos all weekend!
You know, when Halo attempted to appeal to broader audience, it literally gutted and destroyed the entire franchise. It destroyed the soul of the series and what made Halo, _Halo_ . So why would this be any different? Attempting to appeal to a mass audience tends to alienate the core audience that was kept around by the unique experience your game offered.
Knowing that everyone on the engage team thought the artist was a perfect fit is interesting...
It is interesting indeed
I mean most fe staff now are huge anime fans or play anime like games
i’ve played the first couple hours and where is this cowardly alear you speak of? i thought he was so easily down with his mission after just waking up that it was comical
This comment was made between the first and last comment on this video. I recommend you to hop out of this chat and watch the video, curiosity which you waited to unravel feels more satisfying than indulging your curiosity right now
Theres a lot about this game I have been critical about but I'm SO happy the battalion system is gone. I love the better animation and focus on the one on one combat. I never really liked how the battalion people just ran around like headless chickens, this feels way better to me.
Battalions also killed 3H framerate
What version of 3 Houses did you play? Because mine always had specific attack patterns on Gambits.
I’m sure I will enjoy the game and I’m super excited for the game. However, I’m confident that the character design for this game is my least liked of any mainline fe game. The portion on character design just made solidified my stance.
One of the game directors look like an Otaku lol. The art is super anime
One of the things I've notice is how similar this game feels to a gacha. The core concept and the core of the plot could certantly be the ones for a, Say, FE Heroes 2. As (If I remember correctly) Faerghast pointed out in another video, the artstyle (and how it interacts with the world aesthetics) are very similar to something like Genshin Impact. And I don't think that's a mere coincidence, but rather, a conscious choice to appeal to the kind of audince that makes those games thrive. And that's, mostly at least, fine. I get the same feel I had back when Awakening released that "these characters don't feel like FE characters" (aesthetically speaking, of course) but on the other hand it would be pretty boring if everthing stayed with the aesthetical style of, say, Tellius series. However that doesn't make it feel less weird and uninterestinng to me.
The other point I wanna ramble about is the simplification of the story. I don't feel like "broadening the appeal to new players" is the reason for a poor story and script. Rather, I have the feeling this has been a videogame with a very límited budget. Gameplay is something that resonates with a lot of people more than story does but this gameplay, while not as complicated as, say, FFT or LUCT, is probably not enough to catch a lot of people. While it keeps the same bases as, well, every FE since 4, it's main gimmick mechanic revolves around a ensamble of characters that are simple fanservice. And while fanservice is not inherently bad, it's, well, fan-service. We may be excited to equip Sigurd or Lyn to a character but how can that excite new players? Of course, it may inspire them to look at the older games of the franchise but they would see a certantly different art style that may not resonate with them. A friend of mine, for instance, loved Awakening and Fates but she could not play older games no matter how much she tried to because those didn't have the features and art style that she liked from the games that initially drew her to the series. Furthermore, and this is completely anecdotical evidence, but I saw a big influx of new players excited for the series when Three Houses released. And they were drawn to the story, debating (rather toxically in many cases) about it's characters and narrative.
Ultimately I feel like this game had a limited budget and was pushed by a board to appeal to the maximum amount of people. After Awakening and Heroes, FE became the premier non-pokemon rpg of nintendo's share of the market and while the series has never been this popular, that may not be enough for the financial deparments of Nintendo or Intelligent Systems.
Their's one is missing the developers didn't add theirs no voice lines while leveling up those characters compared to other series
Whenever a game designer says "Broader audience" essentially what they mean is make it as generic and low IQ as possible, have no depth, tons of avatar worship and little to no character development all the while ensuring that every player has non stop dopamine hits.
The decision to add infinite map rewinds makes more sense from that viewpoint.
I’m a little concerned is the story will stray away from having dark or serious tones in order to appeal to a “broader audience” (a term they had no hesitation saying multiple times). Gameplay and social interaction got me into 3 Houses. However, there was a point that the story ended up being a driving force to keep playing because it emotionally grabbed me. I’m optimistic gameplay wise this will be a fun game while hoping the story won’t suffer.
I always get concerned when I hear "broader audience". If they focus on that too much, FE will likely lose it's identity.
"dark or serious tone' don't always mean "good game".
@@Terranigma23 I don't think anyone said that. Though FE is a series about war so they shouldn't stay from dark and serious tones just to please new fans.
@@dhisufiroafrozenseraphimdragon I mean, it's not like if Fire Emblem was the darkest/serious tone Jrpg series. There is far more darker/serious than that.
@@Terranigma23 It doesn't have to be the darkest. I still want the heroes to win in the end but it needs to be realistic enough about how it portrays war, politics and those affected by it.
All of this "modern audience" stuff are MAJOR red flags. It makes me assume the game is going to feel completely bizarre, and push evil ideals.
You had me until “evil ideals”
Explain at once, don’t run from it, we’re too curious!
I haven't been around the FE community for very long so I don't understand the hate towards the animation style for engage. I loved everything I've seen of the game so far
The visual style of the series has changed many times, and every time we see familiar arguments between people who do and don't like the new style, with the merits and flaws of those arguments varying greatly.
That said, the shift with Engage is definitely the most drastic the series has ever had, to the point that it seems glaringly at odds with core elements of Fire Emblem's appeal.
As noted in this interview Three Houses was a war drama at its core, and it's argued by many Fire Emblem fans that this is an irreplaceable strength of not just Three Houses but all of the Fire Emblem series, and that this is what makes it stand out from so many other turn-based fantasy RPGs.
So the overly flashy and aggressively "moe" (for want of a better term) presentation of Engage, which flies in the face of that war drama appeal, understandably has a lot of fans upset.
Some Fire Emblem fans want to act like the series never had anime influence
@@finaldusk1821 ah makes sense now but I feel that the change is fine still
'please fix our game' is indeed a daunting request.
They've no doubt put a lot of thought into development.
As to how it will come out... well, only one way to find out.
So the weak and predictable story was a deliberate decision. Good to note.
For me, the story of three houses was the 'one more battle' moment, what will happen next? But when you can predict the end after chapter 3 its like, 'ehhh what's the point?' At chapter 3 of Three Houses, you couldn't predict how it would end. There was mystery, there was a reason to play the next mission. I had prepared to stay up all night from midnight and play it. By 2am, it was like, 'this story isn't engaging. I am going to sleep'
Art direction? I am fine with. Gameplay? Great. The Emblems? Not as bad and nostalgia baity as I thought. But the story? Nope. That pulls the game down significantly.
I'll still keep playing, because I want to see the character development, but the story is really holding back my desire to play.
I guess that's why they chose to employ an artist that has worked on vtubers, to be more modern. I personally don't like that approach, but it's valid. Even if they are privileged people already, which is what nobles kind of are. Maybe they mean some other definition of noble? Or what about the definition of modern?
I do wonder what they mean by modern heroes, as what Alear will probably undergo is the classical heroes' journey, that starts with the refusal of the call to adventure. Certainly that's more relatable, but will probably force us to go through too little story until they have to fight, or too much story, until they have to fight. I'll have to see how that works out.
Now the art direction makes more sense. Were other fire emblem characters flashy as well? Sure, but I can't think of any off the top of my head. Maybe Camilla, for obvious reasons. But I still think that due to that flashiness, can the characters be more relatable? I feel like that's more up to the writing and less up to the design, though design helps. I wouldn't go for the anime argument, that's kind of dumb, but when I look at these characters, I feel like I'm just being overwhelmed with EVERYTHING they have on them. It makes them more unique, but that's... not a good thing for me. It feels like so much damn visual noise, the same problem I kind of got with femByleth. Though the last one has more to do with needing to show that character is a woman... for some reason. But I don't want to get into that one more.
This is more for beginners? It's an interesting way of blending an anniversary title with a good starting spot for beginners. On the one hand, you get to enjoy a REALLY flashy title while learning the basics games like these. You get to meet icons of Fire Emblem along the way, maybe you can start playing said games later. On the other hand, the flashiness of the game can set the wrong tone for the other games going forward. Let's say you go from Engage to sacred stones. First off, how are you going to get that game in the first place? There are basically no rereleases from nintendo's side on that. The more dedicated new fan would find ways, but what if someone just doesn't want to bother with that? Second, the tone going to whiplash you into what FE games tend to be about. While it's a far more classical hero story that engage tells, other games generally trend towards more serious and grey topics. There are installments out and about that are not like this at all, but I think most of the games are fantasy war dramas. And you can't rely on the engage mechanic as much to make your playthrough easier. Maybe support.
I had a lot to say huh? If you've gotten to the end, thanks for reading, I really appreciate that.
Thousands of artists worked with vtuber character designs so it could be anyone. Mika isn't just related to vtubers, she has worked on everything possible in Japan
@@ausgod538 ABSOLUTELY this. VTubers are worked on by a LOT of people, including Three Houses' artist! It can feel kind of demeaning when all people do is demean them as "the VTuber artist" even as someone who's a fan of VTubers.
@@smallsoul2374 pretty much. It's like calling someone a hentai artist just because they worked on it in the past
@@ausgod538 Especially when a ton of Japanese artists have done hentai lol. It means nothing
@@smallsoul2374 Ah, there I go, falling into the same anime trap. My bad. It's the same thing with Iono, NGL.
Not too happy to hear about Nintendo telling them to change what they got for Alear, sounds like they were going to give them character flaws and Nintendo said "Nuh-uh, only Mary/Gary Sue/Stu"
Didn't they say they made them unreliable but they grow as the game goes? Or they changed that?
No they didn't they went overboard which meant they made Alear super annoying or super weak minded.
so.. thats why the characters look so young and samey
I’m hearing the term “modern audience way too much in this interview”
I’ve seen how this ends. I think FE isn’t gonna go in a good direction from this game onward
You two are scarily on point and that concerns me. I’m not all doomer about it myself, but I am gonna keep an eye on the direction come the next game to see if it’s a win or a loss for me personally.
This game is pretty much the opposite of that though. It's mechanics are heavy leaning towards classic FE gameplay. So that makes not sense. But I get the concern. I think it's important to have a good balance of modern ideas but classic FE
i believe you two are scared for nothing, the games are going to be fine
@@corypheusb1027 yeah it’s kinda weird how the gameplay seems to be a sort of return to form but the story and characters seem to be a total downgrade from the previous title. Hopefully for their next game they can finally strike that good balance
Damn this video made me regret buying the game.