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crapmagak · 1 year

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Thoughts on Fire Emblem Engage

(Spoiler Warning for story events)

I’m not gonna lie, even after having beat Fire Emblem Engage, it still feels unreal that a new Fire Emblem just came out. I remember the drought of Fire Emblem news really getting to me last year, three whole years since Three Houses. Obviously this was due to the pandemic slowing everything down. Hell, it’s incredibly obvious Engage was meant to be a thirtieth anniversary game.

As for the game itself, I’m a little mixed. The gameplay side of things was fantastic, feeling like a more polished version of Conquest, without some of the more gimmicky maps. I’m not the first to notice just how player phase focused this game is, and how much it rewards constant aggression and advancement. This is further complemented by the break mechanic allowing the player a bit more safety in being aggressive, along with incentivizing a diverse army roster. Likewise, game elements like chain attacks and breaking really punish the player for overextending and trying to juggernaut. Even with the time wheel mechanic, I constantly found myself in tense moments where the only way out was to play smart. From a gameplay perspective, this might be the best Fire Emblem they’ve ever made. My only real gripes were that I found some late game reinforcements a little excessive at times (especially in chapter 21), and fog of war maps have the audacity to still be an annoying thing in the series. I’ll even go so far as to say fog of war does not compliment the aggressive nature of Engage at all.

On the other hand, I found the story pretty weak. It’s not bad, just pretty bland. Mostly, it’s just a pastiche of Fire Emblem tropes and cliches, perfectly fitting for an anniversary game. Though a fair number of characters have their inner depth, they don’t quite have as much impact as members of past entries. That’s not to say they aren’t a fun cast, I just don’t think they’ll ever reach the popularity of the casts we’ve seen in the past decade. As a whole, though, they’re very… let's say quirky nature makes them all come across as the most cracked out Fire Emblem cast to date. In a way, it makes Alear shine all the more, because despite their deviantart oc ass design, they are the sane one of the group. The only thing I actually disliked was that for a story supposedly about dragons, there is almost no dragon shifting. Alear never turns into a dragon. Veyle never turns into a dragon. Zephia never turns into a dragon. Lumera turns into a dragon only in two cutscenes, and not even when you fight her corrupted form. I have been cheated out of a proper manakete protagonist yet again, and I shall not stand for it!

Of course, there are some strong moments. The Brodian and Elsuian royals boss convo’s with their corrupted parents were really good. Each country has a really strong aesthetic. A lot of the royals like Alfred and Fogado have some surprising inner depth. I was also a big fan of crazy corrupted Lumerra. Finally, chapters 10 and 11 were a tense and exciting point narrative wise.

All in all, it’s a really fun game, and if you’re actually into the strategy rpg part of Fire Emblem, you’ll have a blast. If you were a fan of Awakening and Fates’s cast, you’ll probably also enjoy this one quite a bit too. If you got into this series thanks to Three Houses and are primarily interested in the story aspect of this franchise… I’d recommend waiting for the Genealogy of the Holy War remake.

#firene #fire emblem engage

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crapmagak · 1 year

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Fire Emblem Engage Final Story predictions

So, with Engage being two weeks away, here’s my final prediction for how the story’s gonna go.

Note: Because most of the footage we’ve seen is of the earlier game, my predictions are gonna be more specific at the start and gradually get more vague.

Part 1: Fucking around in Lythos

Our story will begin with your standard foreshadowing plot dream. This leads to Alear waking up after a thousand years, and meeting the dragon guardians. They give Alear the basic rundown, “your the divine dragon, this is Lythos,” that kind of thing. Then you decide to get some fresh air and go for a walk. Uh oh! Corrupted have arrived. Time for a tutorial battle! After said tutorial battle, a whole lot more corrupted arrive, and Alear seems down for the count. Luckily, Lumera shows up and saves the day.

Some time later, Lumera decides that Alear and the dragon guardians could use some training, so she arranges a mock battle in the castle courtyard. Here we get tutorials on some of the newer mechanics and the like. Afterwards, our heroes rest for the night when suddenly, oh no, Elusia is invading! Our heroes fight the soldiers on the bridge, but there’s just too many of them. Thankfully, Alfred and his retainers arrive as back up. Once the soldiers are cleared out, Alear makes their way into the castle. There, the hooded girl casts a dark spell, only for Lumera to take the hit. She then dies in Alears arms, giving him the plot mission of “find the rings, stop the fell dragon”.

Part 2: Fucking around in Firene

After this, Alfred offers to grant our heroes sanctuary in Firene, and help them on their ring finding quest. Alear then discovers that the island of Somniel can float, and uses that to travel to Firene, thus setting up the game's home base system. When our heroes arrive, they come across a village under attack by Elusian troops. Princess Celine is there with her trainers, struggling to defend it, so you guys decide to help. Afterwards, we have another cutscene where a corrupted almost does Alfred in, only this time they’re saved by Veyle. She basically goes “I am mysterious and will be important later”, then peaces out. Celine is thankful and joins your squad. Then the gang learns that Firene castle has been taken by Elusia.

Naturally, our heroes retake the castle. There, we meet queen Eve. She says she plans to make an alliance with Brodia and Solm to help curtail Elusia’s invasions. Then she reveals that there’s a second ring in Firene. Our heroes manage to find it off some bandits who stole it, hurray! And just in time to learn that Brodia has agreed to the alliance.

At some point in this part, the player is introduced to the four hounds via a flash to Elusia.

Part 3: Fucking around in Brodia

On our hero's way to Brodia, they arrive at the great Brodian bridge. There, they meet Prince Alcryst and his retainers who were sent to greet them. Unfortunately, Elusia has already invaded Brodia, and it’s up to our heroes to retake the bridge. Even more unfortunately, Princess Hortensia is leading the charge, and she reveals that Elusia already has some emblem rings in their possession. After our heroes manage to fight them off, Hortensia leaves without much of a fuss, foreshadowing Elusia’s true invasion plan.

Next, our heroes make it to the Brodian castle and meet with King Morion and Prince Diamant. Amicable alliance meetings happen, until Elusian forces arrive on their doorstep. A defense map ensues, and near the end Princess Ivy shows up, beats up our heroes and taking some of the rings before leaving.

This part ends with a big battle at the border of Brodia and Elusia, with both kings leading the charge. Our heroes but up a strong fight, but King Hyacinth whips out Lyndis’s emblem ring and manages to defeat Morion and the army. Brodia loses, and our heroes are captured.

Part 4: Fucking around in Elusia

Our heroes are brought to the church of the fell dragon to meet Sombron personally. Before that can happen, Diamant gets angsty about his fathers possible death. This leads to some dialogue with an Elusian where they say their invasion was justified since Brodia tried to invade them in the past. Next, our heroes meet the four hounds, where we learn that Veyle is also working with them for some mysterious reason. Finally, Sombron shows up, and steals Marths ring, and Alear gets some unsettling flashbacks to their past and them being pretty sinister. They then manages to escape with the help of a mysterious benefactor.

During the rest of this section, Alear is angsty for a while about losing Marth, and whether or not they were evil. As they try to evade Elusian forces, Ivy and Hortensia eventually grow sick of Elusia getting more and more evil and decide to help out Alears forces. Near the end, our heroes have a big fight with Mauvier of the four hounds. After defeating him, we learn that Mauvier is actually a cool dude who helped our heroes escape upon Veyle’s orders. He then joins our army, and arranges a ship to help them escape to Solm. Obviously, Elusia isn’t too fond of that, and a big naval battle ensues. Our heroes emerge victorious, and escape to Solm. With hope in sight, Alear manages to lighten up, and look to the future.

Part 5: Fucking around in Solm

Our heroes arrive in Solm and meet Fogado and his retainers while they fight off some bandits. Our heroes help and receive a warm welcome. Afterwards, they travel to meet Timerra and her retainers, helping her fight off some bandits as well. Our heroes then get word that Elusian troops are attacking Solm castle as well, so our heroes rush forward to save the day. Queen Sfoglia then gives our heroes the last Emblem ring not in Elusia’s possession. We also learn King Morion indeed survived. Unfortunately, our heroes receive word that Elusia is attacking Firene with the largest force they have.

Part 6: Cleaning up the four nations

Our heroes arrive at another Firene port town that’s really fucked up. Most of the Firenesse military have been crushed. It’s up to our heroes to take on the remaining four hounds and Sombrom. Somehow, our heroes manage to do this, and reclaim the last of the emblem rings. Big reunion with Marth, hurray!. The Elusian forces then retreat.

After resting, our heroes finally get to counter invade Elusia. During this, our heroes go through our obligatory volcano map, before re entering the Elusian church. There, they have to fight Veyle. Once she’s defeated, Veyle gives a nice big plot dump.

Basically, during the war 1000 years ago Sombron was a cool dude, and the mage/ dark dragons weren’t evil. However, some kind of ancient evil force possessed Sombron and caused him to start the whole war. She also reveals that Sombron is Alears father. During the war, a whole bunch of Alear’s friends died. This made them go mad with grief and lose their shit, full “kill every last one of them” mode. After Lumera sealed away her husband, she cast a spell to put Alear to sleep until they’d calm down, and even erased those painful memories of theirs.

Next, we learn that Veyle is also a member of the divine dragon tribe, distantly related to Alear. However, she wound up in some kind of magic contract that forced her to do the fell dragons bidding, thus the chains on her outfit. Somehow, defeating her has undone the curse. She apologizes for killing Lumerra, and reveals that she managed to bind Lumera’s soul into a thirteenth emblem ring. With that, Veyle joins your partner, and Alear and Lumera have a nice reunion.

Now that that’s out of the way, our heroes siege Elusia castle, and have a big final showdown with Hyacinth. Ivy and Hortensia make peace with slaying their father, but wait. It looks like the leaders of the other nations are also being evil in different ways, and now that Elusia’s out of the way they can fulfill their own mad ambitions. What follows is Alear and friends going to each castle and facing off with each king/ queen. Each royal pair of siblings has their angst and finishes their character arc. Once that’s all out of the way, our heroes learn that Sombron and his forces have taken up residence in Lythos.

Part 7: Endgame

Our heroes head to Lythos and battle a bunch of corrupted, making their way through the castle. This leads to them facing Sombron in the throne room. Alear tries to reason with him, but he’s too possessed for that to work. After defeating him, there's a brief moment where Sombron snaps out of it, only for the corruptive force to come back with a vengeance. Now at full power, Sombron becomes the complete fell dragon, giant, with front legs and everything. Even worse, the land of Gradlon rises from the sea.

Before our heroes can go defeat Sombron once and for all, they must first go to some kind of sacred place so they can awaken the full power of the Liberation sword. With that, the corruptive force can finally be vanquished for good. Next, our heroes go through Gradlon, having big final showdowns with the remaining four hounds. During your final fight with Zephia, she’ll fight with her own unique dragon form. Afterward, you have the big final battle. Unfortunately, this kills Sombron. As he dies in Alears arms, he has a proper reconciliation now that he’s unpossessed for good. The typical “My child, I’m so proud of you,” type stuff. After a sad goodbye, Gradlon begins to sink into the ocean once again, and our heroes hurry off before it’s too late. Once safe, Alear and the gang smile at each other, and agree to be better leaders than their parents, and the credits roll.

Final Thoughts

And that’s basically how I think the story is gonna go down. Actually changed a couple things today based on what we saw in the new Japanese trailer (Which reminded me to actually post this thing) As for why I think certain things will happen in the late game, well…

Lumera has blue hair and eyes. Sombron has red hair and eyes. Therefore I think Sombron is Alear’s dad. And if those two got together, then obviously there was a time when Sombron must have been a good guy. And while I think his cobra dragon form is cool, I don’t think it’s final boss material. And “cool guy was possessed and turned evil” is a pretty common Fire Emblem plotline.

The only other major little girl character we’ve seen, who isn’t in Alear’s army, who could be that small, cloaked girl is Marni. And since she’s an axe wielding general, and Veyle uses tomes, I think it’ll be the later. But since she’s so prominently shown on the special edition, and since Fire Emblem loves its dragon lolis, I don’t think she’ll actually be evil. I also don’t think she’ll be Alears blood sister since that’d make it so you can’t romance her. And obviously Intsys can’t have that.

If Gradlon exists in the first place, then at some point in the story it’ll rise back to the surface and you’ll have a map or two on it.

Mauvier has “token good general that joins you” written all over him. I don’t think the others will join, though. Gradlon’s a decently large landmass, so I doubt we’ll only get one map there, and you’ll need someone to fight. Also, the rest of the hounds have a certain sadistic and crazy vibe. Consider Zephia’s “we’re going to kill everyone in the room” speech. Speaking of which, Ivy already has the “sexy villainess who joins the heroes side” locked, so recruiting her would be a bit redundant.

Over the past couple months, people have noticed Alear battling with a blank engage meter on him. You can see the ring, but no face is between it. This has led some to believe there's a secret thirteenth emblem ring in the story. Lumerra seems to fit the bill, considering she did fight in the first war 1000 years ago. In the latest japanese trailer, we can even see Veyle holding a white ring that doesn’t resemble any of the past emblems we’ve seen.

Finally, all the rulers being evil. First, I mean just look at Morion. He’s also described as an ambitious man, so… We hear Eve’s voice in the story trailer, when she says there's another emblem ring in her possession. Before there were captions, I thought it was Ivy because her voice has the same sexy and evil cadence. Also, this line is sandwiched right between all the other villainous lines. And if three of the four rulers are evil, then all four of them probably are.

Bonus Predictions

The rest of the unrevealed characters will be recruited during paralogue chapters. I predict somewhere between 3-6 characters we haven’t seen in total.

There will be no beast shifter classes in the base game. If there were, they’d probably have their own unique class family. That means at least some of the emblems interact with them in unique ways. And since they showed unique skills for every class type with Corrin and Byleth’s rings, I doubt they’d keep an extra secret.

However, there will be a beast shifter character included in dlc, along with a beast shifter emblem. The emblem will turn units into different kinds of beasts for class type. Maybe not one for each type, but probably something like “Back ups and cavalry turn into lions, fliers and coverts turn into birds” that kind of thing. Said beast shifter will get access to all forms when using that emblem, like how dragon units can use all skills with Corrin and Byleth.

Timerra will get a vocal song of some sort in the game, possibly acting as a credits theme.

Liberation will be the only unique legendary weapon in the game, incentivising the player to use the emblems more.

Lumerra’s emblem ring/ engage form will function as the game dragonstone, usable only by Dragon type units (So Alear and Veyle)

Supports only go up to A. Like in Three Houses, many A supports tease romantic interest without ever outright saying it. Paired endings will return, with one of Seadalls fortune telling games having the power to lock them in regardless of who has the most points. Naturally, before the end of the game the player will be allowed to decide who Alear can have an ending with (as long as they have an A rank support). After beating the game, Alear and their chosen partner get a cutscene together before the credits roll. This will likely involve waking up next to them in your bed, making things go full circle. You can also get more platonic endings with the emblem characters as well. Sadly, only a select number of characters can be romanced by either gender. My guesses are…

Framme (Divine Dragon fan club)

Merrin (Has the typical “princely woman” look)

Ivy (Major female character. Edeleth was fuckin popular, dude)

Timerra (Same reason as above)

Chloe (IDK. Just a hunch)

Clanne (Divine Dragon fan Club)

Rosado (If he’s not, what a colossal misread of your target audience)

Alcryst (Seems like the kind of guy the folks at intsys would assume gay players are into)

Fogado (Vibes, both in the character and which characters Intsys has made bi in the past)

#fire emblem #fire emblem engage #So much news came out so fast that I'm just not gonna cover it all #Holy shit the games out in two weeks!

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crapmagak · 1 year

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Engage Drip Marketing: Yunaka

This one’s a day late. Wanted to get some personal writing finished first.

I figured we’d get the remaining royals first, but instead it seems like we’re getting Yunaka first. In terms of design, I’m kind of dispassionate. Like, I’m used to the overall style of engage characters, so she seems like nothing new. And as dumb as they are, side waist windows is such a niche design choice that I appreciate the novelty. Also, oh look, a short girl that doesn’t look like a baby, mostly thanks to booba. I do unironically like that shade of red/ purple they used for her hair though.

Now, for the intro tweet…

Yunaka is a strange girl you meet during your travels. She's bright and active, and gets along easily even with people she's just met thanks to her good vibes.

And the Cutscene tweet…

Yunaka is trying to find something she dropped. Maybe these two nice people will help her.

Yunaka: "How could I mess up like this..."

Alfred: "You there."

Yunaka: "Huh?"

Alfred: "What are you doing crying in a place like this? Is something wrong?"

Yunaka: "...Yi-"

Alear: "You must be in shock. Sorry for suddenly talkin-"

Yunaka: "Yipee! Help is here!"

So, at first glance, she seems to be your typical cute and plucky thief girl. Considering the cutscene takes place at night, I think we’ll end up recruiting her after the night village map. The presence of Alfred makes me confident of this.

Of course, the juicier stuff is shown off in the crit clip…

Yunaka's starting class is Thief. Good at picking locks and dazzling enemies with swift moves. Uses daggers, capable of poisoning enemies with them.

Not gonna lie. When Yunaka’s voice went deep and cold for her crit quip, she shot up from a 4/10 to a 9/10. Also, the gold plating on her legs looks dope. If Yunaka turns out to be like a gremlin version of Charlotte from Fates, she may end up being one of my faves.

As for the clip itself, it takes place in the ruins chapter, so nothing new here. However, another tweet I don’t feel like copy and pasting did shine some light on how daggers will function. Not only are they 2 ranged, but they inflict the poison status, which works differently, again…

So in old dames, poison worked like in more typical jrpg’s, dealing a little bit of damage and wearing off in a couple turns. This meant it was about as dangerous as a gnat when integrated into Fire Emblem gameplay. In fates, it shaved off 10% of your health after combat. That doesn’t seem like much, but if you weren’t careful it could fuck you up fast. Especially if a unit was surrounded by multiple enemies that could inflict it.

In Engage, poison seems to be a stackable defense debuff, and one that doesn’t go away on its own. Since we don’t exactly see how much your defense is affected, I can’t really say what my thoughts are. This could be op/ frustrating, or this could be largely irrelevant. Only time will tell.

Honestly, though, I feel like status effects just don’t work in Fire Emblem. Even in typical jrpg’s status effects are hard to do right. If they aren’t punishing enough, they might as well not even be there. If they’re too punishing, they feel unfair and unfun. And a lot of them limit or take away your control in some way. And in Fire Emblem, where so much happens each turn, where merely one or two rounds of combat can mean life or death, where the mere act of position of unit affects so much, any act of taking the players control away can put them in unfair positions. Easier to manage and understand stat changes could make this work though, as long as it’s easier for the player to know what those changes will be ahead of time.

#fire emblem #fire emblem engage #Yunaka #Please turn out to be gremlin Charlotte!

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crapmagak · 1 year

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Engage Drip Marketing: Timerra and Solm

Whelp, it’s-a-time for the last major box art character to appear (not counting Sombron), Timerra, as well as an intro to Solm itself. Seems we’re rounding out the countries first before further intros, which I’m down for.

So, Solm…

Solm is a country in southeast Elyos, ruled by the freedom-loving queen Sfoglia as a neutral nation.

Solm by far has been one of the nations I’ve been the most interested in. Mostly just because of how little we saw of it until a couple weeks ago. Here, though, it seems to play double duty as our token neutral mid act shake up country, and our token desert country. And considering all the vibes every royal but Lumera has been putting down, and how neutral countries usually operate in Fire Emblem… If queen Sfoglia isn’t gonna be an antagonist at some point, some noble probably will be. Speaking of which, from Fogato’s website bios, it’s also revealed the royal line of Solm is matrilineal, which is neat.

Sadly, though, I am kind of worried about something when it comes to Solm. Earlier this year, the country of Sumeru came in Genshin Impact, and swiftly grew infamous for its colorism issues. With the italian food name gimmick of this country, we currently know six Solmnian characters; Timerra, Fogato, Bonet, Pandoro, Seadall, and Merrin. And, well… four of them are the ambiguous maybe white, maybe east asian skin tone of anime. Like, I’m a white American dude, I’m not the best person to articulate the problems here. Still, they are kind of eyebrow raising. Hopefully this isn’t the case, but I’m ready to be disappointed again.

And without further adieu… Timerra herself. Fire in artwork…

Timerra is the first princess of the Kingdom of Solm, and Fogato's sister. Perhaps because she was raised in the freedom-loving Solm, she has an innocent and positive personality.

Then portrait…

While Timerra has been educated to become the next queen, she has been allowed to roam freely, so she can get along with just about anyone.

Then cutscene…

Timerra loves having everyone sit around bonfires. She loves singing, and it seems sometimes she comes up with songs on the spot...

Timerra: "Hmm, there we go! Time to happily wait for this meat to grill! Ahem... Now then, First Princess of Solm, Timerra, is going to sing!"

So, quite a bit going on with her. The design is cute, and the colors work really well together, even if the balls are rather silly. Still, her outfit itself is kind of an orientalist stereotype. Not as fetishistically horny as it could be, but not great either. Like, with the specific portions of skin shown off, the clothes around her waist and legs, and the ornaments on her wrists and ankles, they all bring to mind a stereotypical belly dancer, and that’s not even her class as it turns out. Sadly, these depictions are par for the course in fantasy media depicting any country inspired by MENA regions. I don’t even think she should be in something from a historically accurate documentary, or show no skin at all. Timerra is clearly a free spirit girl who employs an acrobatic fighting style, so her design should communicate that. Just… maybe not something evocative of a fictitious outfit made up by Europeans to fetishize women from a region of the world they were colonizing. This is a problem that's so much bigger than one game though, so I’ll try not to harp on it too much, and just leave it at disappointed but not surprised.

As for the character herself, Timerra seems alright. Your typical cute genki girl, here to round out the cast of generically nice avatar Alear, generically nice prince Alfred, cool and stoic prince Diamante, and cool and sexy princess Ivy. It’d be cool if Timerra’s freedom and roaming around gave her a more ground perspective compared to the other royals. Sadly I won’t hold my breath. This is Fire Emblem, after all, the little people don’t really matter in this franchise.

Also, I’m curious if she actually is gonna break out into song near the end of that cutscene. Vocal themes have become a huge part of nintendo games all over, and every mainline FE game since Fates has had one. Perhaps Timerra may end up singing the opening and or ending theme for the game.

And now for the crit clip…

Timerra's starting class is Sentinel. Elegantly wielding a lance, they use quick movements to make enemies' heads spin.

Curiously, her class name is Vigilante in japanese, but was changed to sentinel as seen in english trailers. Not sure why. Maybe it’s like a translation thing, like how the devs for Metroid thought bounty hunter just meant “cool guy who goes on adventures”? Don’t really know enough about the language to know for sure, though.

There are some rather interesting details to look over. The map itself seems to be the castle of Solm itself, overrun with Elusian soldiers. And that's not even the strangest part. We can see on the mini map that Timerra is alone in the middle of the map, while the rest of the army is away at the bottom. I’d ask if this is the chapter Timerra is recruited, but she’s currently level 19, a mere level away from promoting. Perhaps for story reasons she’s been separating.

I’m also curious because we haven’t seen Timerra with any characters that could be her retainers, same as Ivy. It’d be odd if these characters didn’t have them while the other royals clearly do. Perhaps we’ll see them later.

#fire emblem #fire emblem engage #Timerra #Solm

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crapmagak · 1 year

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Engage Drip Marketing: Ivy and Elusian

Oh, Ivy. I remember half a year ago, when we first saw you in the leaks, and we thought your name was Abby. Back then, all we really knew was that you were a wyvern riding mage, and your zoomed in, blurry face portrait made me think you had a Jotaro style hat. Ah, memories.

Without further adieu, here's Ivy’s official twitter posts… Starting with Elusia…

Elusia is a country in northeast Elyos, a religious nation ruled by the Sage King Hyacinth, seeker of knowledge and wisdom. They largely worship the Fell Dragon, and strange movements have been seen there in recent years.

So, it seems like that dark mage guy we kept seeing is the king after all. Makes sense. Don’t exactly see the family resemblance with his daughters, though. Him being a seeker of knowledge is interesting. Perhaps this led him to discovering corrupting forbidden knowledge or something like that. As for why the nation worships the fell dragon… My current theory is that it’ll have something to do with military pressure from Brodia somehow.

Also, I do dig the gothic vibes of this country.

Now, for Ivy’s artwork tweet…

Ivy is the first princess of the Kingdom of Elusia, and Hortensia's elder sister. She has a mysterious air about her, and she's a serious and stoic person.

And her portrait tweet…

The Kingdom of Elusia worships the Fell Dragon. It seems Ivy is seeking the Rings of Emblems as the princess.

Then finally, her cutscene tweet… (It’s just the cutscene we saw in that trailer a couple weeks ago)

Brodia and Elusia have been at odds for many years. Ivy attacked Brodia to obtain the Rings of Emblems.

And here we finally have our big waifu bait character. Seeing how hard Edelgard left the target audience of straight dudes, it makes sense they’d go back to Camilla. In all seriousness, though, even if Ivy’s appearance has some pretty obvious influences, her personality is rather different. Give’s me more Sonya vides than anything else, really. I wonder if she’ll also have daddy issues.

All in all, Ivy’s a rather curious character. The cutscene paints a rather menacing picture of her, yet it’s clear she’s going to switch sides and become a good guy. Still, how the story will go about this change is still up in the air. I assume a lot of her motivations are based around her country and it’s people, so perhaps serving the fell dragon helps them in some way. My guess is she eventually grows tired of the Four Hounds and her father being increasingly evil, and concludes they’ll do more harm to her country than good.

Now for the crit clip, which has a lot going on…

Ivy's starting class is Wing Tamer. Knights who bond with beasts and have them do their bidding. Riding a dragon, they can use magic and staves.

So, first things first. The Elusian royals both have the Wing Tamer/ Flying class. In fact, they both wield tomes and staves, meaning the only true difference is their stats and mounts. I’m curious what kind of weapons they’ll get to use when they promote, if any. And considering we haven’t seen falcon knights at all, perhaps Hortensia will get a griffon upon promotion.

Considering Ivy is level 1 on this map, I think this will be where we recruit her. We’ve also already seen this map in the Emblem Ring trailer, the one where Chloe showed off some of Corrin’s abilities. And considering Chloe was promoted level three, I’d say this is around one half to two thirds of the way through the game. The enemies even look promoted too. Seems like at some point, Elusia attacks Firene. And considering the official website shows we’ll have Hortensia in the Solm chapter at some point, I wonder if this attack will be the breaking point for Ivy, or just the first chance she gets to join us.

Speaking of the map itself, we’ve got burning tiles making a return, along with rubble that seems to function as slowing terrain like forests and mountains. We’ve also got giant monster units, this chameleon looking creature with a pure brief attack. Hopefully this further confirms manakete units, and perhaps the weapon is purple to show it’s unaffected by fists. That’d actually be pretty funny, since grapplers were kind of my go to unit in Three Houses when it came to taking out giant monsters. Just ripped those hp sponges to shreds. I’m curious if they are dragons in lore. Considering the cobra look of Sombron, perhaps dark dragons just have a reptile based look in this game. Maybe we’ll see turtle and crocodile monsters too.

But that’s not all. In the corner, we can actually see Zephia charging up some kind of aoe attack, likely something akin to Upheaval in echoes. It even tells us it’ll deal 19 damage. Nice. Yet there's still more. During a brief moment, we can see that Zephia actually has a corrupted Sigurd emblem equipped.

So, I have a story theory. Well, a continuation of my current ones. Basically, you know how Ivy says she’ll take the rings in that cutscene… Yeah, I think that’s gonna be more than just a threat. Then at some point our heroes are captured, Sombron turns Marth into evil Marth. Our heroes escape to Solm, and basically go about reclaiming their lost rings and the like. This likely ends with Marth reclaimed, coinciding with Alears character arc. I also think this won’t be our last fight with Zephia. Considering her being descended from the dark dragon clan, and her ears and horns, I think her final fight will be against her as a manakete.

All in all, I’m curious that we only got Ivy today. Perhaps since there isn’t another trailer to show this week, news will be slowing down again. Hopefully we’ll get her later in the week. And considering how many weeks are left until the game comes out, maybe another emblem showcase this week as well. Also, curious to see who Ivy's retainers will be like.

#fire emblem #fire emblem engage #Ivy #and this time she isn't your adopted sister #Elusia

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crapmagak · 1 year

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Engage Drip Marketing: Anna, talking, and Bonus Firene Theories

This ones probably gonna be a quickie. And honestly, it’s nice to have a little breather.

Anna intro tweet…

Anna is a merchant in training. It seems she's traveling around various countries in search of treasures that might sell for a pretty penny.

And cutscene tweet…

Anna is surprised when she realizes Alear is the Divine Dragon. It seems her instincts as a merchant are at work.

"T-the Divine Dragon? Y-you're the Divine Dragon? I-I'm sensing a good business opportunity...

...Ahem, my name is Anna. Just call me Anna-san. Nice to meet you!"

Seems Anna’s a recruitable unit in the game, and not even dlc. In fact, she seems to be a main story recruit. And considering the background behind her, I think she’s recruited during or after the Fierenesse ruin chapter.

The crit clip just says Anna is an ax fighter, with nothing new about the class. Oh well, they don’t really need to make new bios for repeat classes anyways. Anna herself has never really had a dedicated class given to her either, but I’m surprised she’s an ax fighter instead of a thief. Maybe it’s a hero's reference. Or maybe ax fighters can promote into a more fitting class for her. We also see more of the bridge chapter, and the Brodian map theme. Maxes me eager for whenever the ost leaks to youtube.

But we’ve also got a bonus tweet about the talk action…

Units with the Talk icon on them can be conversed with by choosing the Talk command when next to them. There are units who will become allies when spoken to, so use the Talk command actively. There are units who can only be spoken to with certain ally units too.

So, this monk unit with a unique color scheme and design, that Alear can talk to, is absolutely recruitable. It’s also clear they’re among the villagers you’re meant to save in that one chapter. I’m guessing they’re a boy, probably our second healer unit.

Speaking of which, I think I have a better idea of how Firene is gonna shake out story wise. Basically, in the Dragon Awakens trailer, the subtitles reveal one piece of dialogue comes from Queen Eve. “My kingdom has another Emblem Ring in its possession.” So, I think this means those ruins our heroes seem to end the Firene arc on would be the ring's location (Perhaps Micaiah’s?). On the way there, our heroes clean up some local bandits, and recruit this monk, Yunaka, and Anna. But there are two things of note to me.

1: I find Eve’s voice kind of off. Like, it has the same deep, airiness I associate with sexy female villains. Like, before the subtitles I thought this was a line of dialogue from Ivy. Like, that could just be an odd line read. But the fact it’s playing during the ominous music cut in showing off a lot of villains kind of makes her look sus. And considering the everything about Emperor Morion, the leaders of the four countries aren’t looking too good. If the ruler of Solm is also evil seeming, this story may be going some interesting places.

2: In the Engaging with Emblems trailer, we get a look at a town covered in familiar windmills, burning to the ground, and full of Elusian soldiers. This makes me think at some point in the story, Firenze is gonna get invaded again, and that each country's arc doesn’t end on the first visit. This also makes me think if Eve doesn’t turn out to be a villain, she will also meet the fate of Fire Emblem parents.

All in all, it seems like there really will be characters skipped over in favor of the main royals and their retainers. Not a terrible choice considering how close release is, in my mind. Still, I’m absolutely gonna spoil myself when the game comes out so I know how to recruit everyone.

#fire emblem #fire emblem engage #anna

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crapmagak · 1 year

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Jumble thoughts on recent Engage news

Yeah, don’t think I have time to cover yesterday/ todays news bomb, so heres just some jumbled thoughts.

It’s nice to see bios for some of the major characters on the website, including class sprites. Lumera’s got one so maybe she’s playable after all, I honestly don’t know anymore. The four hounds seem cool. I really dig that Marni’s a general of all things. Also, I’m curious if we’ll have two fights with Zephia, one as a sword wyvern rider, and one in the dragon form I’m confident she has.

New engage powers look busted and fun as hell. I hope we get another trailer showing off what the other emblems can do. Most of the new maps seem interesting as well. I’m pretty sure my theory about our heroes being captured in Elusia and escaping to Solm is right, though it seems we’ll have to revisit Firene when it gets attacked. I’m hype for the return of griffon knights, as well as the new wolf rider class. Curiously, while we can see enemy units with these classes in the japanese nintendo website article, we see no falco knights. Perhaps they’ve just been replaced by griffons in this game. Getting a male dancer this time around is cool, especially one that uses martial arts. Seems like I was wrong about Timerra. Fatago being a mounted archer also took me by surprise.

Also neet to get a sneak peek at Alcryst and Alears promotions. I don’t see a dragonstone in their inventory, but since we see giant monster units with the dragon breath icon from Heroes, I haven’t given up hope. Speaking of which, the return of giant monster units seems interesting. Hopefully they won’t feel like giant blobs of hp there to waste your time in this game. Them looking like chameleons is curious. With the cobra wyverns we’ve seen, I wonder if dragons in this game have a more general reptile theme going on. Sadly, I may have to give up my hopes for beast shifter units. We’ve seen so many new characters now, and none of them seem to be that, sadly.

The maps that are based on ones from past entries seem to be cool. Considering you fight black and white fabrications, I think they’re just gonna be paralogues related to the emblem characters. Still, hope we have room for character side stories like in Three Houses. Speaking of which, glad to see Emblems will get supports with other characters too.

Also got some looks at characters in the article, like those two guys we saw in Solm. The blond ones Bonnet, who seems to be a great knight who uses swords. The orange haired guy is Pandoro, a high priest who uses martial arts, staves, and tomes. Also, blonde armor lady is named Jade. Seems to start as an ax knight who promotes into an ax paladin/ great knight. Not too sure yet. Also seems to be Brodian from the name.

Speaking of which, we seem to have some curious naming conventions for these characters based off countries.

Lythos: No Convention

Firene: French

Brodia: Gemstones

Elsuia: Flowers (Why not Firene though)

Solm: Food/ Deserts (Also, it seems like Bonnet, Pandoro, and Seadall are from Solm… Are Timerra and Fotago the only characters with melanin though?)

Also, in Marth’s emblem trailer, we can see Vander in a new outfit, with the back up halo behind him into of the cav one we’ve seen before. Perhaps he reclassed into an ax fighter. In which case, reclassing is back. Honestly, after all the glimpses we’ve seen, I just want a good look at the game's class trees.

All in all, pretty exciting stuff. The kind that makes me go “jesus christ this game is only two months away. What happened to time?”

#fire emblem #fire emblem engage #griffon riders are back baebee!#Also wolf knights!

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crapmagak · 1 year

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Engage Drip Marketing: Brodia, Diamant, and Alcryst

Jesus. I was expecting Diamant today, and Alcryst on Friday if we were lucky. Maybe they really are kicking marketing up into hyperdrive.

Brodia tweet…

Brodia is a militant country founded in northwest Elyos. It's a rich and powerful country ruled by Emperor Morion, a man who values pride and strength. It has been at war several times with the neighboring Elusia, the ones who worship the Fell Dragon.

So, we have our next nation. Not gonna lie, Brodia’s been giving me some pretty worrying vibes from the start. The mountains, the red, the design of their king, all of it just screams evil Fire Emblem Empire. Like, just looking at its castle makes me hear Bern’s theme. And in some other translations I saw, Morion is referred to as a conqueror. Pretty damn sus if you ask me. I can see them being surprise villains (minus the characters you recruit) after Elusia’s been dealt with, or being used as a way to make Elusia seem more sympathetic (Like with Plegia and the backstory crusades).

Next, we have two tweets for Diamant, one with official artwork…

Diamant is the First Prince of the Kingdom of Brodia, and brother of Alcryst. He's been receiving proper education to become the next king, and seems to have the people's trust.

And one with his Bio…

Diamant has a serious personality with much fortitude and vigor, and he respects his father, the king, from the bottom of his heart.

And finally, his cutscene tweet…

As future king of the Kingdom of Brodia, Diamant demonstrates honor and dignity, and seems to be building good relations with the Kingdom of Firene.

Diamant: "I've heard rumors of you. I'm honored to meet you."

Alear: "The honour's all mine, Prince Diamant."

Diamant: "Also, welcome, Prince Alfred of Firene. You must have come a long way. I've read Queen Eve's letter and understand the situation."

Alfred: "It's really been a long time since we last met. It's a shame that we're in a time of war."

Back in the Dragon Awaken’s trailer, when this guy looked to the screen, and talked with what I'm pretty sure is Slyvains voice, I knew this guy was gonna be popular. Like, the flagship husbando of this game popular.

As for the character himself, Diamant seems alright. Seems to have a more stoic and cool personality. I’m fairly sure some level of daddy drama’s gonna go down, though. Either A: His dad dies in the cutscene we keep seeing. B: His dads gonna turn out to be evil. Or C: His dads gonna die, and Alcryst is gonna learn his father was evil after the fact. All roads lead to angst.

Next is the crit clip…

Diamant's starting class is Lord. As one who inherits the blood who leads others as ruler, they use elegant swordplay.

More specifically, he’s a Lord/ Back up. Despite being a sword locked lord, his animations give me more Ike vibes. Also, it seems the Brodian royals have fire flourishes to their crits, unlike the Firenese floral ones. But what really catches my interest is the map, of course.

We finally get a better look at that snowy map we saw Alfred do that super move in. Seems decently large, and with the mini map, like there's some kind of fortress/ barricaded area near the right. We can also see that Diamant’s level 12, so this isn’t too far after the bridges and defense map. I’m curious if this will involve the snowy battlefield cutscene we’ve been seeing a lot of. Also, some people have been curious about the break symbol not appearing over other ax wielding units. I think that’s just because Diamant isn’t in range to attack them.

Next up is Alcryst

Not gonna lie, when we first saw him, I felt the colors of his outfit clashed a little bit. Still, he seems to look better now, so maybe it was just the lighting of that cutscene we saw him in.

Bio tweet…

Alcryst is the Second Prince of the Kingdom of Brodia, and Diamant's younger brother. He often compares himself unfavorably to his exceptional brother, carrying a negative personality and low self-esteem. That said, he is quite social, and has the fortitude of royalty.

Cutscene tweet…

Alcryst is training with his brother, Diamant. A negative person, Alcryst calls himself "The one that isn't Diamant of Brodia".

Alcryst: "I'm grateful you'd invite me to train, brother."

Diamant: "Yeah. It's good for us brothers to work up a sweat together once in a while."

Alcryst: "I don't compare to you at all, brother. I'll be learning a lot today."

Diamant: "Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Putting yourself down like that is a bad habit."

Alcryst: "I'm not putting myself down, it's just the truth... When people talk about the prince of Brodia, they think of you, brother."

Diamant: "You're a prince of Brodia too, aren't you?"

Alcryst: "I'm the prince of Brodia that isn't Diamant."

Diamant: "What's with that weird way of putting things... People must be talking nonsense behind my back again."

Yeah, I think Alcryst is gonna be popular in the same way Marianne is popular, but for people that like twinks. I’m actually rather curious what his supporters with his retainers will be like, and how they see they’re lord. Also, it’s nice to see that he and Diamant have a loving and supportive relationship despite it all.

One last thing of interest, this support conversation doesn’t seem to take place in Somniel. I wonder how many more will be in other locations.

Next up is our crit clip…

Alcryst's starting class is Lord, same as his brother. Expertly wielding bows, they excel at attacking from range.

More specifically, Alcryst is a lord/ spy. Seems like each royal duo is getting their own title this game. We have Firenese nobles, Brodian lords, I assume Elusian princesses, and Solmnian… honestly I don’t know. Interesting.

The map itself also has some curious details. The bridge map we’ve been seeing for a while also seems to be rather large, and we’ve gotten a huge deployment amount as well. This is probably because this is where Alcryst and his retainers join you. Speaking of which, finally have a look at the pink haired girls class, which seems to be sword fighters. It’s a shame we can’t get a look at the jester girl (whose name was revealed to be Hortensia) and her retainers, to see what classes they are. Perhaps later. I am curious about the swordsman in yellow now. Is she also a sword fighter, a sword cav, or even a sword pegasus knight?

Also, I must admit, Alcrysts little victory bow was pretty cute.

All in all, damn, I was not expecting this much stuff to cover. I’d say I’d be surprised if we got anything else this week, but honestly I’m not so sure anymore. The old rules may have been thrown out, and this new age has yet to truly show its patterns. I am curious, though. Are we gonna continue in order of recruitment and get Alcryst’s or Diamant’s retainers first, or are we gonna cover all the remaining countries and royals first. I’m rather curious about both, honestly. Admittingly, a bit more curious about the more plot important characters.

Honestly, it’s so weird thinking about how these posts may no longer just be a weekly thing. Oh well, an excuse to procrastinate is still an excuse to procrastinate.

#fire emblem #fire emblem engage #Brodia #Diamant #Alcryst

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crapmagak · 1 year

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Engage Drip Marketing: Lythos, Lumiere, and Vail

They just won’t stop coming.

First, get an official intro for Lythos. I kind of dig the disney castle esc look of the place, honestly.

The tweet…

The Holy Land of Lythos is ruled by Alear's mother Lumiere, the Divine Dragon King. At the center of Elyos, it's a peaceful area, where refreshing winds blow in the plateaus, and light and grass interweave. Alear has spent a thousand years sleeping on a floating island on Lithos.

Lythos gives me Path of Radiance Crimea designs. We start out there, and have our tutorial fun. Then it gets invaded and the party has to travel across the world and junk. Then during the final act of the came, our heroes reconquer their home land with a big final battle in the castle. Part of why I think this is the big cutscene of our heroes fighting through the pillar bridge, and where Alear and Marth dramatically open that door.

In regards to the floating island part, I think they’re talking about that stone pillar we can’t see the bottom of, connected to the castle by a bridge. We see similar structures in Somniel, so maybe they’re just a part of Lythos. It’d be cool if we got like a floating island map like in Fates, but with bridges instead of weird gimmicks.

Also, I feel like we’ll get some more characters from Lythos besides the dragon guardians. Such as the blue haired armor knight, and those two white guys we saw in Solm.

We get another look at Lumiere, this time actually giving her a profile, and another intro tweet…

Lumiere is the King of Divine Dragons who rules the Holy Land Lithos, and is Alear's mother. She is a hero of Elyos, who helped humans in the war against the Fell Dragon a thousand years ago.

Again, they really went that hard on a design for a character that dies so early. They’re really gonna design a beautiful woman like that then make her your mom. Speaking of design, though, this portrait made me realize something. Lumiere’s hair isn’t silver, it’s blue. This squarely puts my “The token dragon loli is her diminished form” theory to rest. However, her hair is blue and she has blue eyes… and Sombron’s hair is kind of red, and he has red eyes… Oh shit, the plot twist is gonna be that Sombron is Alear’s dad, making them half fell dragon, isn’t it.

Assuming this is true, that would be an interesting twist to make, certainly. It’d also explain the whole evil Alear thing a bit. Makes me wonder why she presumably banged Sombrom at some point. Considering this is Fire Emblem, I assume it’s gonna be that he was a good guy until he got possessed by some ancient evil force. If so, perhaps said evil force will be the true final boss of the game. Again, assuming this theory is true.

Also, I know I said a lack of a portrait was a smoking gun on this character not being playable. However, the fact that her background is pale white and gray instead of gold, and her class isn’t listed still make me think she won’t be. Besides, as Fates and Rhea proved, Intsys isn’t gonna let you recruit a character you can’t marry unless they’re a dad. And despite the incest ouroboros that is Rhea, those details a buried in lore. I doubt Intsys will really let you go full on Oedipus Complex in this game. And if they did… honestly, after throwing up, a part of me would respect the sheer balls that would take, if nothing else.

Finally, it says Lumiere fought in the back story war a thousand years ago. Considering the possibility of Alear going apeshit and evil in the back story war, I’m curious what her role in all of that was. My best guess is she somehow snapped Alear of out of it, or maybe was the one who put them to sleep for so long they’d calm down.

We then get a cutscene tweet, shedding light on clips we’ve seen in past trailers…

Lumiere has waited for Alear to wake up for a thousand long years. To defend Alear from the strange soldiers, she defeats them in her Divine Dragon form.

Alear: "There's still so many?

Now there's a dragon too?!"

Lumiere: "Finally, you're awake..."

Seems to take place after chapter 1, and this is how we’re first introduced to the character. A solid intro, for sure. Also nice to get a full look at the design. Considering all the effort put into the dragon forms design, and it being on the box art, I’m curious. Either Lumiere doesn’t die, is a surprise villain, or this design is used for the Dragon form of Alear or Vail. The earlier two would explain why so much work was put into Lumiere’s design, and why she’s on the special edition box art (And possibly normal box art). Considering how plot important these details are, though, we definitely arne’t knowing until the game comes out. And by that, I mean a week before the game comes out and all the details are leaked. I’m not strong enough to ignore them, but fear not, I don’t plan to post on them either.

Next up, we finally get a name for our mysterious token dragon loli character…

Vail is a mysterious girl who suddenly appeared when Alear was assaulted by strange soldiers, saving them. It seems she's traveling to find someone.

Well, looks like she finally has a name. Also, now that we have a good look at her, Vail doesn’t quite seem to be a toddler, and instead around the same age Celine and Etie are. You know, a decent half a foot above the bar. It’s… something…

I think her hair looks neat, with the monochrome stripes and all. The outfit also has a very pretty swan lake vibe. The faded out strips of red and blue also indicate a clear connection to Alear. I’d guess long lost siblings, but let's be real, Intsys 100% designed this character knowing certain people would s support her. Cousin maybe, since in Japan marrying cousins is legal. I don't know how normal it’s considered there, but in most anime I’ve seen, the kind Fire Emblem takes inspiration from, it seems to be considered normal. Yeah, I think it’s gonna turn out she’s somewhere on the divine dragon family tree.

As for what she’s looking for… Maybe the one person who knows how to purify Sombron, if my theory’s right? Maybe she’s a secret antagonist. I can’t think of who else the little cloaked girl was, and they can both use magic. Having the token dragon loli be the main villain would be a neat twist, but honestly, I don’t think that’ll happen. If you’ve seen enough anime, you know exactly why this character exists after all.

If her dragon form isn’t the same as Lumieres, then I wonder what it’ll look like. Hopefully it’ll share her unique color scheme. Speaking of which, all this monochrome makes me positive she’ll have some connection to Corrin’s emblem ring in some way, maybe being its original holder.

Next, we have the cutscene tweet…

Vail used magic to easily send the strange soldier packing. Why did she appear on the battlefield?

Vail: "...That was close. Are you okay?"

So, I’m confident she’ll be a playable unit late in the game. In fact, I think she’ll have her own special version of the dragon child class that can also use tomes, and maybe staves. Guessing they want to make her dragon form some kind of surprise after all.

This is probably the first time we see her too. Back when the first trailer came out, and we saw the shot of Vail next to the tree, Alear said “She asked us to find the rings”. This made me think Vail was the one sending the heroes out on their questions. Instead, I think she’s a character we’ll bump into from time to time, giving cryptic foreshadowing until she’s actually important to the plot.

All in all, this week has been a pretty busy press cycle, all things considered. I’m curious how fast it’ll stay, considering what’s left to show. We’ve got all the remaining emblem rings, the Brodian characters, and the Solmian characters, who I feel have good shots at getting full bios. At the same time, I think some Elusian characters, along with the Four Hounds, and other major characters like the Brodian king, along with the other countries will also get small profiles in batches like we got today. If we go back to one profile a week, it won’t nearly be enough. But I can’t see them increasing the amount they show so much all of a sudden. We got a new trailer, so I feel like this week was special, after all. Likewise, I think we’ll get two days of news a week if we’re lucky. Maybe we’ll get extra batches of characters if another trailer or two comes out. Still, I doubt there's enough time for the marketing to show us every playable like in Three Houses this time around.

Again, we’ll find out next week just how much things will slow down. Either way, I’m fairly confident we’ll get to see Diamante and maybe Alcryst next week. As long as we get a decent look at characters from each country, and those on the special edition box art, I’ll be satisfied.

#fire emblem #fire emblem engage #Lythos #Lumiere #Vail #So many theories that won't get answered till the game comes out #But I'm sticking with the one about who Lumiere fathered her child with

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crapmagak · 1 year

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Engage Drip Marketing: Lumiere, Four Hounds, and Firene

And they don’t stop coming, this time with three new batches of info.

First off, we get to learn more about the lady from yesterday's trailer.

Lumiere tweet…

“Lumiere” the Divine Dragon King is Alear’s mother. She watched over Alear who was sleeping at the Land of Lythos for a thousand years. When Alear was attacked by unknown assailants, she protected them and entrusted them with gathering the rings to bring peace to the world.

Welp, it seems this woman is officially Alears mom, as well as the ex-current ruler of Lythos. The title of king may just be a translation thing, like how Edelgard is Emperor. Either way, I think it’s fair to say it’s over. If she doesn’t even get an official profile like the other characters, then she probably isn’t playable. A shame for such a good design, but oh well. Then again, I could see them pulling a Morva from Sacred Stones and you have to fight a corrupted/ reanimated version of her.

Another theory just crossed my mind, though. Lumiere has to relate to the mysterious manakete girl, right? But how. Is she Lumiere’s niece? Does Lumiere survive, and the girl is like her weakened, diminished form. Illegitimate love child?

Next is the Hounds tweet…

The “Four Hounds” work in the shadows, plotting to resurrect the Fell Dragon Sombron. They join forces with Elusia, the Fell Dragon worshiping nation, to lay low Alear and their allies.

So, we have our four big bad generals this time around. Curious if the title “Four Hounds” will also be in english. It puts to mind the image of these soldiers relentlessly hounding our hero, but they seem to more be working in the shadows and what not.

Hopefully they get a lot of screen time to flesh them out as villains, and hype up the big final confrontations with each of them.

Then, we get the Firene tweet…

Firene is a philanthropic kingdom founded in the south-west corner of Elyos, ruled by Queen Eve, an advocate of peace and co-existence. It has signed a non-aggression treaty with the neighbouring countries of Brodia and Solm.

Seems to be mostly stuff we already new, though a look at their castle is always nice. So much effort was put into its design, it has to be a map of some sort. Though I’m curious, was the chapter where we saw the twins crit the castle, or are they saving that for the climax of this game's arc.

Also, it seems to be ruled by a queen. I wonder if we’ll ever see her, and if she’ll end up dying because Fire Emblem. I’m digging the Tyrell vibes of the place, so I hope her design matches up with the others. Maybe she’ll be an actual, playable grown woman. And considering Celine has a crown, but Alfred doesn’t, I wonder if this country is matriarchal at all.

Finally, we get some official art of Alfred that makes him look… surprisingly menacing. I wonder if that's intentional. I doubt a character that’ll be in your army so early will become a villain, after all.

#fire emblem #fire emblem engage #Lumiere #Four Hounds #Firene #Alfred #I'm so full from marketing yum!

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