{"id":17645,"date":"2023-01-30T12:28:34","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T03:28:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=17645"},"modified":"2023-01-30T12:31:07","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T03:31:07","slug":"20230130-17645","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20230130-17645\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire Emblem Engage: Why is the story being poorly received?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n



Fire Emblem Engage<\/strong><\/em> is now available and currently holds a nice Metascore of 82 on the review aggregate website Metacritic<\/em><\/a>. I (the original author of this article) am playing and enjoying the game as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, one thing that stands out is the negative impressions regarding the game\u2019s story. For example, The Verge<\/em><\/a> praised the game\u2019s combat, but described the story as, \u201chollow.\u201d RPG Site<\/em><\/a> also had high praise for Fire Emblem Engage<\/em>, but found the story to be disappointing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Japan, just after the release of the game, \u201c\u98a8\u82b1\u96ea\u6708,\u201d the subtitle for Fire Emblem: Three Houses <\/em>in Japan, started trending on Twitter. Players were comparing Fire Emblem<\/em> Engage<\/em> with the previous entry in the series. Among those tweets, players were giving negative impressions of how the story is depicted. But why? I think one of the reasons lies in the sense of things being out of place in how the beginning chapters of the game are presented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, rather than talking about whether the story is good or bad, I want to put the nature of this feeling to words. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll be talking about story elements up to chapter 4, so please be warned if you want to go in totally unspoiled.<\/strong>




<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Praised for not doing anything<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


The first thing that feels out of place is all of the indiscriminate praise and admiration. The protagonist of the game is a Divine Dragon. In other words, a god that is revered. Wake up? Praised. Fight? Praised. Just being there? Praised. Considering the character is a god, this reverence isn\u2019t out of place in the game\u2019s setting and can be a big self-esteem boost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it gradually starts to get a little off-putting. That\u2019s because the protagonist, which represents the player, hasn\u2019t done anything yet. You haven\u2019t done anything, but characters heap praise on you from the beginning. Being praised for accomplishing something feels good, but being continuously praised for doing nothing starts to feel weird, or rather, uncomfortable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that being said, the Fire Emblem<\/em> series has had a multitude of reasons for protagonists to be revered from the beginning of the game, such as royal lineage. Even in Three Houses<\/em>, the protagonist is highly thought of from the beginning. But in that case, the protagonist rescues the three house heads as a mercenary, so at least there\u2019s a reason for it. You receive praise for legitimate achievements. On the other hand, praise in Engage<\/em> comes down to simply being a god and feels a little idol-ish.


<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Your mother\u2019s death<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Early in the game, the protagonist\u2019s mother Lumera, a Divine Dragon, dies. This puts the story in motion, but it\u2019s hard to share empathy with the grieving protagonist. This is because the protagonist has lost their memory. At that point, a day hasn\u2019t even passed since they met their mother. The character is almost a total stranger. Players also don\u2019t get to spend much time with Lumera in-game, and the character dies before we even get attached. It\u2019s just hard to feel sadness over this scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it causes the protagonist to jump into action, players didn\u2019t have an attachment to their mother which creates a disconnect between the determined protagonist and the feelings of the player. It\u2019s another thing that feels out of place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The death of a parent or parental figure hardening the resolve of a protagonist is something of a staple in the Fire Emblem<\/em> series at this point. But Lumera\u2019s time in the spotlight is especially short. Compared to Greil, Mikoto, Emmeryn, or Jeralt, the character is only around just briefly before dying. Lumera dies in chapter 3 just after the game\u2019s tutorial ends, so it\u2019s extremely quick by the series\u2019 standards. Because of this, it\u2019s hard for players to have an emotional attachment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, there\u2019s also the problem with how long the cutscene of her death is. Fire Emblem Engage<\/em> has a lot of cutscenes. It also has more cutscenes where text can\u2019t be manually advanced forward compared to past titles in the series, and this is one of those scenes. You can skip it all together, but then you won\u2019t have any idea what happened, so that\u2019s not a great option. This leaves players spending a lot of time watching the death of a character they hardly even know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incidentally, the scene lasts for around 5 minutes. The less you\u2019re immersed into the game, the longer these cutscenes feel. I get the impression that players being forced into watching this entire scene that doesn\u2019t emotionally resonate play out is part of why the story isn\u2019t being reviewed favorably.


<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Dumps of world building<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Fire Emblem Engage<\/em> dumps the exposition on players. The game\u2019s world has four different countries, along with other forces of influence, and it just lists all of this information off to the player, which I think is a primary factor for the sense of discomfort and feeling out of place I mentioned earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, the game will frequently introduce information about a country while the player doesn\u2019t even know what kinds of characters are there. This isn\u2019t a problem specific to Fire Emblem Engage<\/em>, but it stands out when compared to Three Houses<\/em> which handled it so well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fire Emblem: Three Houses<\/em> has an extremely complicated setting but starts by introducing the nobles who head their respective houses and shows what kind of characters they are from the protagonist Byleth\u2019s perspective. Players get to indirectly see the appeals of each nation, and later, learn about each one in more detail as they progress. It\u2019s excellent how players gain an understanding of the world naturally and in steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the setting is explained in Fire Emblem Engage<\/em> isn\u2019t a notable problem, but it\u2019s hard to understand when information is listed off that you don\u2019t have a connection with. It\u2019s not handled as smoothly as it was in Three Houses<\/em>.


<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Over-the-top characters<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Engage<\/em> is a game that really pushes the appeal of its characters. The models and animations look great, and the characters are fully voiced. However, they tend to be a little over-the-top. There are characters that treat the protagonist like an idol and others that repeat odd phrases. Another character who attacks the protagonist without knowing they are a Divine Dragon even jumps to their knees for forgiveness. These kinds of antics help bring out a character\u2019s individuality, but in a game about war, it tends to feel overly flamboyant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enemies will even retreat despite having an advantageous position, or say things like, \u201cget over here!\u201d to characters that are already standing next to them. A lot of it feels out of place. This isn\u2019t new to the Fire Emblem<\/em> series, but when it\u2019s combined with rich animations and voice acting, it may make these over-the-top aspects stand out even more.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


It\u2019s these elements that feel out of place to the player and that are present from the very beginning that I think is contributing to the game\u2019s story being criticized. There are probably a number of more minute details as well, but I think these are four primary factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article isn\u2019t an evaluation of whether the overall story is good or bad. The composition of it is quite polished, and it contains all sorts of peaks and standout scenes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve compared the game to Three Houses<\/em> numerous times, but Three Houses<\/em> tells a very complex story. When playing Engage<\/em>, you can feel that they were trying to make a game that goes in a different direction. In an Ask the Developer<\/em><\/a> interview, the developers state that \u201cwe wanted to simplify the story structure by having one major goal, so that players can put their full focus into enjoying the tactical gameplay.\u201d They also discussed wanting to make a game that appeals to a broader audience, so we know that the simplification of the story was intentional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Down the line, it seems possible that the series could continue down both a Three Houses<\/em> path and an Engage<\/em> path. Because of this, I don\u2019t want to argue that the series should simply be like Three Houses<\/em>. Some players might not want heavy story or prefer more humorous characters. There are probably even players that don\u2019t play Fire Emblem<\/em> for the story at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned earlier, Fire Emblem Engage<\/em> is a high-quality game overall. The weapon triangle for the Break mechanic, the Engage system which adds depth to both the combat and the visuals, and the Chain Guard mechanic to work into your defensive strategy all come together to provide the preeminent combat experience for the series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, that out-of-place feeling present from the start of the game reduces the immersion, which is a shame. But maybe that\u2019s just one of the other quirks with Engage<\/em>. At any rate, playing Fire Emblem Engage<\/em> has me anticipating the next Fire Emblem<\/em> and the interesting gameplay it could bring even more. I\u2019m looking forward to seeing what approach they take to the story on the next one.



<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translated by. Nick Mosier based on a script written for AUTOMATON JP\u2019s YouTube video<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fire Emblem Engage’s story is being poorly received and I want to list a few reasons as to why this is the case: Praised for not doing anything, scenes that doesn’t emotionally resonate, dumps of exposition, and over-the-top characters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17654,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-17645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-column","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nFire Emblem Engage: Why is the story being poorly received? - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fire Emblem Engage's story is being poorly received and I want to list a few reasons as to why this is the case: Praised for not doing anything, scenes that doesn't emotionally resonate, dumps of exposition, and over-the-top characters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20230130-17645\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fire Emblem Engage: Why is the story being poorly received? - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fire Emblem Engage's story is being poorly received and I want to list a few reasons as to why this is the case: Praised for not doing anything, scenes that doesn't emotionally resonate, dumps of exposition, and over-the-top characters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20230130-17645\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-30T03:28:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-30T03:31:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/20230130-17645-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ayuo Kawase\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ayuo Kawase\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fire Emblem Engage: Why is the story being poorly received? - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Fire Emblem Engage's story is being poorly received and I want to list a few reasons as to why this is the case: Praised for not doing anything, scenes that doesn't emotionally resonate, dumps of exposition, and over-the-top characters.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20230130-17645\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Fire Emblem Engage: Why is the story being poorly received? - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Fire Emblem Engage's story is being poorly received and I want to list a few reasons as to why this is the case: Praised for not doing anything, scenes that doesn't emotionally resonate, dumps of exposition, and over-the-top characters.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20230130-17645\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2023-01-30T03:28:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-01-30T03:31:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"http:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/20230130-17645-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ayuo Kawase","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ayuo Kawase","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20230130-17645\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20230130-17645\/"},"author":{"name":"Ayuo Kawase","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/c4956fe8b9817b63cdaf4708ad59bc8e"},"headline":"Fire Emblem Engage: Why is the story being poorly received?","datePublished":"2023-01-30T03:28:34+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-30T03:31:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20230130-17645\/"},"wordCount":1564,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20230130-17645\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/20230130-17645-header.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["Column"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20230130-17645\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20230130-17645\/","name":"Fire Emblem Engage: Why is the story being poorly received? - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20230130-17645\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20230130-17645\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/20230130-17645-header.jpg","datePublished":"2023-01-30T03:28:34+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-30T03:31:07+00:00","description":"Fire Emblem Engage's story is being poorly received and I want to list a few reasons as to why this is the case: Praised for not doing anything, scenes that doesn't emotionally resonate, dumps of exposition, and over-the-top characters.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20230130-17645\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20230130-17645\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20230130-17645\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/20230130-17645-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/20230130-17645-header.jpg","width":1280,"height":720},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/20230130-17645\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Fire Emblem Engage: Why is the story being poorly received?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/c4956fe8b9817b63cdaf4708ad59bc8e","name":"Ayuo Kawase","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/minoru-umise-250-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/minoru-umise-250-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/minoru-umise-250-100x100.jpg","caption":"Ayuo Kawase"},"description":"Editor-in-Chief of AUTOMATON Japan","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/ayuo-kawase\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17645"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17664,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17645\/revisions\/17664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}