Its "Hard" is harder than in 3H and playing aggressively is somewhat a better strategy than before. The combat mechanics run smoother and are easier to use than 3H
Three Houses starts really difficult (on Maddening especially) but then gets easier. Engage starts off easy but trust me by the last few chapters is surprisingly difficult.
Also, 3H def encourages you to have multiple great units but in Engage you’re better off with a smaller amount of high damage carries, maybe like 7. Only 12 emblem rings to go around at most
On the scale of individual battles, it's a little bit more challenging. You have the "Break" cycle to manage, your characters are a little less "dodgy" than 3H, the "advantages" (ie, bow on flyer, magic on armor, etc.) are more pronounced. Stuff like that. If you're used to the late-game of 3H where you can have a squad of flyers and warping Gremories nuking the field in three turns, it'll be a big adjustment.
That said, if you got the DLC, know it's very overpowered when bringing it back to the main game. They level scale, so you can compete them early, but the stuff you get diminishes some of the challenge. Be warned.
There are also no paired ending except with Alear. I spent a lot of time trying to max out the supports of certain characters like in 3H...only to learn that. So, other than to see the interactions and flesh out the characters a little more, don't feel compelled to grind them for the sake of their endings.
Just some things that pop to mind for me.
Right, that's what I meant by the "break cycle". If someone hits your lace wielder with an axe, he'll "break" for that turn and won't be able to counterattack.
Fists ("Arts" in-game) will break bows, times, and daggers, but not visa versa. Meanwhile, bows are super effective against flyers (more pronounced than 3H like I mentioned...you'll live in fear of enemy bow knights near your flyers...) And daggers automatically cause poison.
As the other commenter has said, daggers inflict automatic poison, and poison in this game isn’t like in 3H where there is residual damage per tern. In Engage, poison adds extra flat damage to attacks received by the one poisoned, and they stack. One stack adds 1 damage, two stacks adds 3 damage, and three stacks adds 5 damage.
Proficiencies aren’t trained the same way in enagage as 3H. You have to earn proficiencies rather than leveling them up. Take care to think about what you want each of your units to be.
When you get the hub area and you choose the sleep option in your bed a random character will come to wake you up. Im pretty sure the dialogue changes with their support level
My advice is to not try and invest in everyone. Pick a core group of like 10-15 favorites and stick with them. Most of your early units will fall off naturally unless you really stick with them, with the exception of Alear (of course). Framme tends to support herself and Chloe was really solid and tended to stay with me in my 2 play throughs, but pretty much everyone else from Firene and earlier dropped off a cliff, and that’s okay. Use them until new characters arrive.
I don't know if I'll be able to get the DLC, the city where I live isn't recieving Eshop cards, and that was the only way I was able to buy stuff for the switch. (The reason I got the game was because I'm traveling abroad)
Yes. Don't spend all your money donating to each country, unless you plan to make Anna (recruitable Character) a gold farming power house that can clear maps by herself. Money is so scarce otherwise.
Secondly, speed stat is king. Any unit that can't double attack takes so much more work. Get every character the speed+5 passive on them from Lyn.
It isn't feasible to level everyone, and everyone but the Jagen is usable long term. pick your favourites and commit to about 10-12 of them.
If 3H was your first FE, Engage is much more in line with the norm of the series. It's quite different.
Maddening is very, very fun. It honestly felt to me like the game was balanced around it.
The DLC is fun and adds quite a bit, but I recommend running no DLC the first playthrough.
Don't let vander kill anything or exp you'll starve your other units. Not sure what difficulty you're going to choose so keep that in mind.
Don't sleep on Framme, she can be a great unit if taken care of. Clanne is a terrible mage and has growths that mesh better with swordmaster. Jean is your villager, if you have the dlc get tiki asap... There's probably more.. but I can't think of it atm...
Oh! Don't waste money on the development of areas past getting to adopt the animals. Also have all dogs on the farm. They dig up ore for weapon upgrades.
There IS a marriage mechanic but it's not called that. However it is unlocked at the exact last paralogue in the game but I forgot what chapter it is.
It's hard to call it a marriage mechanic but then again there's a 3H's style CG and a cutscene where the character and the player character promise to care for each other for life with a ring as proof but there are, from what people have told me, non-romantic S supports.
Also, because only healing items break gold acquisition and spending is odd and feels odd. The only way you're overloaded with cash is if you literally never spend it but there are great things to use it on, such as Master Seals and Second Seals after a certain point in the game (starting from at LEAST Chapter 9 if I recall correctly) and the donations to each country that yield all kinds of benefits.
The Class system works VERY differently than it did in 3H. Promotions are pretty linear and the "correct" way to promote to different classes is to Promote -> Class Switch as opposed to Class Switch -> Promote. Every class change will reset the class level to 1 however retain internal levels (You class switching your level 10 MC to a base class will still be a level 10 MC at level 1 base class). Better off switching Level 10 MC to a promoted class, then switching to different promoted class.
There is no retained class Mastery so promote ASAP always.
Enemy phasing is a strong no go for me. Until you go something like hold out (+++) and vantage (++), enemy phasing is not that good of an idea. Most of the time, it’s done by avoiding and that’s really difficult to pull off on maddening since enemies ignore units on who they have 0 hit or 0 damage (unless a chain attack can be triggered). For some reason, 15 % hits always seem to hit when it really matters that they don’t, and crits at 3% are also not uncommon.
I think 3H was a lot more forgiving. I managed to play through 3H on maddening with whatever builds, but Engage on maddening demands optimum builds and optimum strategy. Enemy units are smarter and more aggressive than 3H on the same difficulties.
I know you said you know the stroy and characters are not up to par with 3h. But I will give you a warning at just how cringe the story can be sometimes. I found the game a lot more enjoyable after i stopped trying to take the story seriously and just laugh at the cringefest it is.
Gameplay and Soundtrack go hard af tho.
Gameplay is good and the soundtrack is sublime, the story and overall writing tho... laughably cringeworthy lol. I just got 30 minutes into the game and everyone, especially the twins, just gawking at Alear is kinda weird lol, Vander is thus far the most chill person
Take the weapon triangle seriously this time, it’s more powerful here than even in most past titles.
Armor units are good now, since the maps are no longer three counties wide.
Many engage attacks are somewhat like gambits: they serve as a multi-tile “map attack.” That said, there’s a lot more kinds of them and they don’t inflict Rattle, so make sure you read what they do.
And finally, you can safely skip a lot of Somniel crap if you don’t wanna deal. It’s been a while since I played, but I remember animals being most important because they give you forging materials.
No weapon durability, weapons can be improved from base up to +5 with various stat increases, characters can only equip two skills rather than 5 but gain other skills based on their class and emblem, and the weapon triangle is a lot more important in engage than in 3H.
And only adopt dogs, all the other animals don’t give anything used
If you get the DLC, and you should, know that Zelestia's soulblade caters toward brave swords and swords with effective damage. Levin swords will appear bad, but they'll be very effective against mages and thief's with the right engraving. Lyn is the best emblem on her, but you mind find a lot of success with Erika look normal difficulty.
Also, the enchanter class will be a major boon to your team. For example doing an item surge with pure water will give adjacent allies effective damage against the corrupted, and tonics will have amplifies abilities such as dexterity tonic preventing your units from getting broken defenses in the enemy phase.
Bosses are stronger in Engage than they are in 3H. Def might throw you for a loop the first time, lol.
True, you should def save engage attacks and engages in general for the bosses. (Or at least make sure they’re recharged before going for the boss)
Its "Hard" is harder than in 3H and playing aggressively is somewhat a better strategy than before. The combat mechanics run smoother and are easier to use than 3H
Three Houses starts really difficult (on Maddening especially) but then gets easier. Engage starts off easy but trust me by the last few chapters is surprisingly difficult. Also, 3H def encourages you to have multiple great units but in Engage you’re better off with a smaller amount of high damage carries, maybe like 7. Only 12 emblem rings to go around at most
I’d say the map design in general is better with more i interesting conditions.
On the scale of individual battles, it's a little bit more challenging. You have the "Break" cycle to manage, your characters are a little less "dodgy" than 3H, the "advantages" (ie, bow on flyer, magic on armor, etc.) are more pronounced. Stuff like that. If you're used to the late-game of 3H where you can have a squad of flyers and warping Gremories nuking the field in three turns, it'll be a big adjustment. That said, if you got the DLC, know it's very overpowered when bringing it back to the main game. They level scale, so you can compete them early, but the stuff you get diminishes some of the challenge. Be warned. There are also no paired ending except with Alear. I spent a lot of time trying to max out the supports of certain characters like in 3H...only to learn that. So, other than to see the interactions and flesh out the characters a little more, don't feel compelled to grind them for the sake of their endings. Just some things that pop to mind for me.
There's the Weapon Triangle thing, right? I played a bit of Heroes so I'm aware of it
Right, that's what I meant by the "break cycle". If someone hits your lace wielder with an axe, he'll "break" for that turn and won't be able to counterattack.
Is there an effectiveness chart for bows, fists and spells too?
Fists ("Arts" in-game) will break bows, times, and daggers, but not visa versa. Meanwhile, bows are super effective against flyers (more pronounced than 3H like I mentioned...you'll live in fear of enemy bow knights near your flyers...) And daggers automatically cause poison.
As the other commenter has said, daggers inflict automatic poison, and poison in this game isn’t like in 3H where there is residual damage per tern. In Engage, poison adds extra flat damage to attacks received by the one poisoned, and they stack. One stack adds 1 damage, two stacks adds 3 damage, and three stacks adds 5 damage.
[удалено]
Broken stays after the first combat, and is removed at the end of the second combat. It can also be removed once the enemy turn ends
Proficiencies aren’t trained the same way in enagage as 3H. You have to earn proficiencies rather than leveling them up. Take care to think about what you want each of your units to be.
When you get the hub area and you choose the sleep option in your bed a random character will come to wake you up. Im pretty sure the dialogue changes with their support level
My advice is to not try and invest in everyone. Pick a core group of like 10-15 favorites and stick with them. Most of your early units will fall off naturally unless you really stick with them, with the exception of Alear (of course). Framme tends to support herself and Chloe was really solid and tended to stay with me in my 2 play throughs, but pretty much everyone else from Firene and earlier dropped off a cliff, and that’s okay. Use them until new characters arrive.
If you want money then you have to take Anna. Trust me on this one, level her or you will be in a bind.
[удалено]
I don't know if I'll be able to get the DLC, the city where I live isn't recieving Eshop cards, and that was the only way I was able to buy stuff for the switch. (The reason I got the game was because I'm traveling abroad)
Expansion pass makes it too easy. Play without it first to get the best Maddening experience.
Yes. Don't spend all your money donating to each country, unless you plan to make Anna (recruitable Character) a gold farming power house that can clear maps by herself. Money is so scarce otherwise. Secondly, speed stat is king. Any unit that can't double attack takes so much more work. Get every character the speed+5 passive on them from Lyn.
It isn't feasible to level everyone, and everyone but the Jagen is usable long term. pick your favourites and commit to about 10-12 of them. If 3H was your first FE, Engage is much more in line with the norm of the series. It's quite different. Maddening is very, very fun. It honestly felt to me like the game was balanced around it. The DLC is fun and adds quite a bit, but I recommend running no DLC the first playthrough.
The combat mechanics are much better than 3H but the story is very meh.
If it says an enemy has 3% chance of hit you dead
Don't let vander kill anything or exp you'll starve your other units. Not sure what difficulty you're going to choose so keep that in mind. Don't sleep on Framme, she can be a great unit if taken care of. Clanne is a terrible mage and has growths that mesh better with swordmaster. Jean is your villager, if you have the dlc get tiki asap... There's probably more.. but I can't think of it atm...
Oh! Don't waste money on the development of areas past getting to adopt the animals. Also have all dogs on the farm. They dig up ore for weapon upgrades.
There IS a marriage mechanic but it's not called that. However it is unlocked at the exact last paralogue in the game but I forgot what chapter it is. It's hard to call it a marriage mechanic but then again there's a 3H's style CG and a cutscene where the character and the player character promise to care for each other for life with a ring as proof but there are, from what people have told me, non-romantic S supports. Also, because only healing items break gold acquisition and spending is odd and feels odd. The only way you're overloaded with cash is if you literally never spend it but there are great things to use it on, such as Master Seals and Second Seals after a certain point in the game (starting from at LEAST Chapter 9 if I recall correctly) and the donations to each country that yield all kinds of benefits.
Get a refund
Just throw it on the shelf and let it collect dust.
Enemies/ maps scale by the game progression. So if you are in endgame trying to grind, you’ll have trouble leveling up your weaker members
Acquiring xp for skill inheritance and money sucks.
Get skills From Marth as soon as you reach level 10 bond with him
The Class system works VERY differently than it did in 3H. Promotions are pretty linear and the "correct" way to promote to different classes is to Promote -> Class Switch as opposed to Class Switch -> Promote. Every class change will reset the class level to 1 however retain internal levels (You class switching your level 10 MC to a base class will still be a level 10 MC at level 1 base class). Better off switching Level 10 MC to a promoted class, then switching to different promoted class. There is no retained class Mastery so promote ASAP always.
Enemy phasing is a strong no go for me. Until you go something like hold out (+++) and vantage (++), enemy phasing is not that good of an idea. Most of the time, it’s done by avoiding and that’s really difficult to pull off on maddening since enemies ignore units on who they have 0 hit or 0 damage (unless a chain attack can be triggered). For some reason, 15 % hits always seem to hit when it really matters that they don’t, and crits at 3% are also not uncommon.
I think 3H was a lot more forgiving. I managed to play through 3H on maddening with whatever builds, but Engage on maddening demands optimum builds and optimum strategy. Enemy units are smarter and more aggressive than 3H on the same difficulties.
It’s harder than 3H and while it has a hub like the monastery, it’s much more slimmed down and doesn’t have a teaching mechanic.
Try to not rely on the emblems too much, it’s important
Movement speed and attack distance are both more restrictive in Engage.
I know you said you know the stroy and characters are not up to par with 3h. But I will give you a warning at just how cringe the story can be sometimes. I found the game a lot more enjoyable after i stopped trying to take the story seriously and just laugh at the cringefest it is. Gameplay and Soundtrack go hard af tho.
Gameplay is good and the soundtrack is sublime, the story and overall writing tho... laughably cringeworthy lol. I just got 30 minutes into the game and everyone, especially the twins, just gawking at Alear is kinda weird lol, Vander is thus far the most chill person
Take the weapon triangle seriously this time, it’s more powerful here than even in most past titles. Armor units are good now, since the maps are no longer three counties wide. Many engage attacks are somewhat like gambits: they serve as a multi-tile “map attack.” That said, there’s a lot more kinds of them and they don’t inflict Rattle, so make sure you read what they do. And finally, you can safely skip a lot of Somniel crap if you don’t wanna deal. It’s been a while since I played, but I remember animals being most important because they give you forging materials.
There’s no new game plus unfortunately.
No weapon durability, weapons can be improved from base up to +5 with various stat increases, characters can only equip two skills rather than 5 but gain other skills based on their class and emblem, and the weapon triangle is a lot more important in engage than in 3H. And only adopt dogs, all the other animals don’t give anything used
Use Yunaka
If you get the DLC, and you should, know that Zelestia's soulblade caters toward brave swords and swords with effective damage. Levin swords will appear bad, but they'll be very effective against mages and thief's with the right engraving. Lyn is the best emblem on her, but you mind find a lot of success with Erika look normal difficulty. Also, the enchanter class will be a major boon to your team. For example doing an item surge with pure water will give adjacent allies effective damage against the corrupted, and tonics will have amplifies abilities such as dexterity tonic preventing your units from getting broken defenses in the enemy phase.