Fire Emblem Engage does tactical RPG combat right, as always. Battles are turn-based tactical RPGs. You and your coterie face off against the Corrupted: an army of pain-craving cosmic interlopers clad in spiky black. Terrain, whether it’s a rutted hillside or a flat castle hall, is sliced into squares, where your troops can attack. Among them is Alfred, a princeling with a laurel wreath on his blonde hair; and Boucheron, a knight with plain shoulder pads.
This is where Fire Emblem Engage shines, in the thick of these skirmishes, and in the strategies that emerge. When Boucheron is next to an ally, say, he’ll throw in his axe for an extra hit; therefore, moving around on the field becomes important. It’s not that important, though. It’s an easy game for the most part, except for the very last few hours. As far as combat goes, the triangle strategy rules the game: swords beat axes, axes beat spears, and swords beat spears.) Your soldiers level up quite a bit, and there’s a methodical satisfaction in hacking down ranks of foes, square by square, and watching victory inevitably approach. Sometimes that’s all you need from a game, but I wasn’t satisfied.
In addition to buffing their wearers, Emblem Rings help fans of the series draft previous stars. Because I didn’t know anything about these games, I only recognized characters from Super Smash Bros. – Ike, Roy, and Marth, who blurred together, next to Mario and his chums, thanks to their shared love of capes and swords. You can cook up some tasty strategies when you equip your chosen warriors with emblems. It would have been great if the game’s premise prodded us more.
All those years ago, you whooped Sombron and then hibernated until needed again. Having woken up from your millennial slumber, you’re now a saviour. You’ve always been kind, noble, and brave, I’ve heard. Your unflinching heroism,” says Vander, one of your new best friends. Despite saving the world from his own island, Alear says there’s no need to put him on a pedestal. On a mattress of milk-white clouds, it glides above Elyos. It’s hard to shake the smugness in this conceit, since Alear, with its pale marble and splashy fountains, seems high above the everyday woes of ordinary people.
Still, the Somniel is yours to customize. There are pets to adopt, businesses to start, and friends to dine, fish, talk, work out, and woo. Basically, Fire Emblem Engage is influenced by Monteriggioni, which needed a similar renovation in Assassin’s Creed II. It felt like a relief when the hero – who donned an ice-white hood and adopted the tactics of homicide – devoted his spare time and passion to the place, flooding it with florins. Because he knew the real thing was anything but incorruptible, he built a miniature world. Neither relief nor urgency, nor even much sense can be found in the Somniel: just something to do.
So here’s the crux of Fire Emblem. Drama works best when it’s not leveraged against the mechanics, but locked into them. Fire Emblem Awakening on the Nintendo 3DS nurtured bonds between your units if they attacked nearby. It was set in a school, and romance flourished on and off the battlefield, bestowing perks and stoking rivalries. When these forces are marshaled and balanced against each other, and, crucially, when they plug meaningfully into the grid at the heart of each clash, that’s where Intelligent Systems shines. Love and war are square.
There’s no narrative in Fire Emblem Engage that starts with, “I’m glad to meet you.”. Not even my ring can do that. With Intelligent Systems working with Nintendo for over three decades, you can cruise through with a smile. In this game, the trappings are there, the heroes of old are here, and the foundation is untouchable, but it drifts along untethered from the world.
