I just finished Engage a couple of days ago after having gotten it on day-one, and I gotta say: the game is kinda underrated.
The characters in this game, aside from Alcryst and Amber, for me, all range from good to great. Especially Alear. I love what they did with him and Veyle. He and Robin (haven’t played FE12 yet) might just be the only two avatars I like from this series as a whole.
Watching my boyfriend play through the opening chapters, I came to see truly how far I’ve come, and how big this game gets over time.
From the beginning, the amnesiac angle to Alear really appealed to me (though it did take me a while to grit my teeth through Clanne and Framme’s opening moments with him). I especially laughed out loud at his “Here’s what we’ll do, Vander. We run!” moment from Chapter 1. Sadly, that aspect of his character is swiftly set aside by the time Chapter 3 ends, but hey, 'twas nice while it lasted.
Anyway, the Firene arc is all over the place with its great aesthetic, and especially its amazing music. Brodia was fine, Elusia I feel we spent way too little time there, and Solm was, just like Firene, freaking fantastic.
The Somniel, while I do find it slightly annoying due to how much time it takes compared to something like the Tellius base system, is pretty good. My least favorite part of the game, though, I think was the walking around after the battle on the spot we just fought at. I prefer both Echoes’ visual novel approach as well as the Tellius-style info scenes over this.
Anyway, my previous point about the DLC invalidating this game’s difficulty that I made in another post has been rendered void, due to:
A) Me learning the joy of levelling people back down to Level 1
B) The game actually remembering that I chose Hard Mode by the time I got to Lythos😊
Speaking of, the gameplay in this game is the area that I hear most oftenly praised, which is totes fair. I really enjoyed myself, the thingy that allows me to wind back time (I played this game in Italian so I don’t know the names XD) is a thing that I’ll forever be grateful to Echoes for introducing.
Each and every boss was a treat to take down, due to how this game makes them feel like huge threats each and every time. Seriously love how their intense themes overtake the normal map theme in order to get you pumped for the big finale of each map.
Can we talk about the Lythos late-game chapters, though?
In spite of the fact that I think the Four Hounds were used way too much, I really think that they were sent off really well.
I’m sad about Marni dying, though I respect that they let her stay dead, only to have Alear killed in the next battle, in which Veyle/ the emblems manage to make their revival make just the slightest bit of sense enough for it to not feel like an insult (anyone remember Corrin?).
Mauvier was an over-all great guy.
Griss and Zephia, though, I really enjoyed. I think that their last moments were written pretty well.
I think that my favorite Chapter, story-wise, though, has to be Chapter 24 (closely tied to Chapter 6 due to it introducing best-girl Yunaka, who is closely tied to one of my favorite protagonists ever, Micaiah).
I utterly adore that one of Zephia’s last actions was to help us get to the past in order to destroy the shard, and that we got to meet past Alear (who was not this scary entity the game’s opening made them out to be; heck, they were rather sympathetic).
Alear’s scene with Lumera after our party left really warmed my heart, and managed to finally make me feel sorry for her death, something that I think Chapter 3 utterly failed at (way-too long of a death scene, plus exclusion of Etie and Boucheron in the giant room when this series has a fantastic Path of Radiance Chapter 8 intro. Like, hello?)
Corrupted Lumera was so damn unsettling, though. The way she shifted when alone with Veyle, just… chef’s kiss. I loved it when Sacred Stones played got dark with corrupting the dead, and I loved it when they did so with Lumera. Massive kudos.
Speaking of someone deserving kudos. Sombron.
I love how for most of the game he is just a generic Anankos/Garon dead-set on destruction, yet right before the final battle begins, we finally get to see his motivations. And I especially love how even after Alear and Veyle were pitying their father, Sombron stayed a piece of garbage until the bitter end.
He sought companionship, though he only accepted it from Emblem Zero. He has managed to psychologically corner himself in a state of delusion way worse than FE7’s Nergal.
He gave no sh*ts about Elyos. He just wanted to destroy the world he came from, though he was not averse to causing pain to other random worlds in the hope to reunite with Zero.
Loved every single bit of this.
Stand-out music from this game for me is:
The Battle Preparation theme
Bloom in the Breeze
Bright Sandstorm
Determined Journey
Somniel theme
The world-map theme
Corrupted
Slithering Cold