The Map Design
- So, I LOVE Chapters 10 and 11 from both a gameplay and a storytelling perspective! Getting your current Emblems taken from you, and then having enemies use them against you, feels like the kind of thing Thracia 776 would do. It reminds me a lot of the Manster Arc in all the best ways.
- Chapter 11 is currently my favorite map! I love the fact that it's "a seize map disguised as an escape map" to borrow Scylla's words. This map does the best job of putting pressure on the player by providing turtle disincentives. I hope more chapters in Engage do that.
- Chapter 12 is a desert map that I don't hate. That's refreshing. Quicksand is annoying, but at least it can be played around. The only issue I have is that it's a rout map with reinforcements. Why does IS give reinforcements to rout maps?
- Chapter 13 is a solid fog of war map. The destructible parts of the map provide options as to where the player should / shouldn't go. They also provide a level of choice as to which enemies the player can deal at a given moment.
- Chapter 14 is excellently designed! It has multiple paths to approach the boss, treasure chests that get threatened by thieves, and turtle disincentives in the form of enemy reinforcements that show up behind the player, a status staff that breaks you, OH and a flying boss with a dancer ability! That's pretty cool!
Map Design Wrap-Up: It feels like the map design has dramatically improved ever since Chapter 10! It's really exciting to see this game provide interesting challenges and scenarios for the player. I haven't finished Chapter 15, but I like I've seen so far. If the game maintains this level of quality, it will definitely reach "Top 5 Best Map Design" for me.
The Unit Balance
- This game has some really strange unit balance, which is why I reached out and asked people what their thoughts were on it. I agree with Scylla that there aren't any Haars / Camilla type characters. Nobody strikes me as "this is the uber unit that will destroy everything". I'm not used to that. Perhaps over time we'll all find out who the best units are. It's really strange not having an obvious juggernaut.
- Alear is probably the most underpowered "My Unit" I've come across. I'll take it! In addition to the damage that My Units deal to the game's narrative, they're also usually OP. Kris, Robin, and Corrin (at least on Revelation). Byleth was really good, but a step in the right direction. Alear is even less powerful, and I really like that. Alear's good, but not game-breakingly good.
- As of right now, the best characters in my army are a mix of Kagetsu, Merrin, Timerra, Alear, Alcryst, Louis, and Ivy. Forged a Wo Dao for Kagetsu to have even more crit so he can land some sweet kills. Ivy is fun to use, but she still gets critted or double attacked, a lot. Is she supposed to have the Lyn Emblem?
- Merrin's really good! Double attacks everything and can one round KO a lot. Wolf Knight enemies also double quite a bit. Is this class supposed to be strong?
- Timerra and Louis's tanking abilities are much appreciated. Great Aether is fun. There are plenty of fliers for Alcryst to snipe, and the occasional Luna proc is also fun. Lucina's Emblem is fun to use on Alear. I really like the way this game handles Chain Attacks. It's neat to set them up in order to dish out extra damage.
- Diamant was promoted to Successor, and he's coming across as decent, but not an uber unit. He started off so much better, and hasn't scaled super well. Is there a better class to promote him to than Successor? If so, which is it?
Unit Balance Wrap-Up: This game's unit balance is strange. In a sense, it's almost the reverse Fire Emblem 12. Fire Emblem 12 was a game where all your earlygame units were the best, and the later units were lame. In this game, being an early game unit is no guarantee of success. Being a mid / later game prepromote is better. It's an interesting take on unit balance. Not sure how I feel about that.
Other Gameplay Thoughts
- Hard Mode so far hits the sweet spot for me in terms of difficulty and challenge. It's tough enough to require me to think and turn my brain on without being stupidly difficult. This game does a good job of punishing a player's mistakes, which makes me respect it all the more.
- When it comes to gold, I feel like I have plenty for what I want to do. I usually buy up Master Seals and Second Seals whenever they're available. Every now and then, I'll buy a weapon or two, but I always feel like the weapons that I have are sufficient. The game doesn't strike me as too generous with its resources, but it's also not super restricting. Resource management is turning out to be a net positive for this game.
- Weirdly enough, I don't miss weapon durability here. This game seems to balance around that just fine.
- Scylla was right about the resurrection stones: They're a net positive. It makes the game more difficult to juggernaut when you have to kill the same boss more than once. Hortensia needing to get killed three times made me feel like I had to bring my whole army with me just to kill her. Definitely changed my mind on this.
Summary: This game is definitely earning its reputation for stellar gameplay. It gets a lot right, and it's making for a fun experience! The dialogue, supports, and the story aren't very good. However, I think this game works as "gameplay, the game". I can see this fitting in A tier along with FE 3, 12 & 6.
