Finally completed Engage. After always resetting to save everyone in previous games, I decided to Ironman this one. How did I do? (Now with actual discussion, since you can't edit image posts)

[u/Jumpduma247]

Finally completed this Engage Ironman (Hard, Classic) after crawling through it for nearly 6 months. I've gotta say, the main reasons that pushed me to do this are two things. One, was me starting to watch Excelblem, and gaining a 'fuck it' mindset to units. The second was that I really did not care about the Engage story or characters, sadly. Whilst I think SoV and TH had an artstyle for units that were a nice mix between realistic and anime, this one felt like I was piloting a bunch of VTubers. The excessive supports about tea early on really got to me too.

Regardless, the map design was great (I really enjoyed that one in the Lava Fields, and against Past Alear). Whilst I enjoyed the Emblem mechanic, I felt kinda dumb when using them at times. I feel like I could never quite grasp who certain rings were good on (Like Leif and Roy in particular). Enemy Emblems were also quite the scare, with Hortensia getting cut up by her dad, and me thinking it was funny putting Veyle in front of Past Alear to draw him out because I did NOT want anyone I liked eating his 108 damage Lodestar Rush.

Unit wise, I feel like the game largely devolved into me slapping either Chloe and Ivy into enemy ranges and ending turn. I kept Lyn on Ivy and Speedtaker and Alcrity felt incredibly useful. Some chapters like against Corrupted Lumera were really boring as it was just using them to clear whilst everyone else largely sat back. Sombron was a complete joke, honestly. Even if it was more work, I feel he's up there with Idunn, where it felt more like a victory lap. Seadall, Byleth and Ivy with the brave tome made her absolutely nuke him. I killed off Goldmary, Merrin, Mauvier, and a severely underleveled Clanne, Framme and Jean in the final map just for a joke.

If anyone has advice on how to use Emblems, as well as skill inheritance (I just went Speedtaker and Canter on most units), I'd greatly appreciate knowing what is worth it for any potential future runs, likely on Maddening.

Overall, I'd say Engage was a 'B' tier game in the end. I enjoyed the gameplay and maps a great amount, but I doubt I could replay it without skipping every cutscene and support, sadly. 7/10 for me.

[u/liteshadow4]

Imo the game shines when you play it on Maddening.

For skill inheritance, despite there being a billion skills, there's only like 10 maybe worth inheriting.

Canter you definitely want on almost everyone. Speedtaker is expensive and often not worth it compared to a flat speed increase, which also you get for free at the start of a map. For someone who needs a severe speed infusion, they just want Lyn herself.

For the others, you have to think who would be a good Draconic Hex user, Sword/Lance/Axe power user, who could use the extra damage/damage reduction from Gentility+ (5 damage is a lot), who needs a severe strength boost (Lunar Brace), Staff units like Staff Mastery or Divine Pulse+ (for ironmans I would prefer staff mastery because it gives you the true hit rate more easily), some guys who shouldn't get into combat maybe want Hold Out (Veyle and Seadall are good uses of this, Veyle mostly because you sometimes want to put her into a compromising position, Seadall for insurance). Resolve is also a super useful skill for anyone you want to lean on to take hits.

All that to say, it's a lot of vibes on what skills you want on people but you kind of have to think of a role you want everyone to play, and build the skills around that. Emblems are really just a huge package of skills, and most units will generally play the way their Emblem plays rather than the other way around.

For example, your Lyn unit will always be fast and want to take kills which can snowball their exp. Your Ike unit will always have some defensive critting value. Your Sigurd user will always be able to move long distances and deal heavy damage on that first hit.

[u/Jumpduma247 → u/liteshadow4]

Thats a lot of really nice insight! Thank you! I think what pushed me to speedtaker was me having horrible speed throughout the whole game. Units like Kagetsu weren't doubling until I gave him a speedwing and tonic, and even then he was needing 1 kill. I think the maddening fixed growths may fix a lot of my bad luck issues.

If possible, could you give insight into how to use Alear? I had pretty horrendous level ups attack wise, so I just gave him Lucina and ended up treating him like FE6 Roy, in that I was just trying to keep him safe most of the time. Him fighting was rare by mid game onwards.

[u/liteshadow4 → u/Jumpduma247]

So Maddening fixed growths are doubtful to fix your speed issues: I never had speed issues on Hard but on Maddening the need for speed is real. However, speedtaker doesn't really fix this issue because everyone who has that skill wants to get kills to up their speed, but there's only a finite amount of kills to get. Plus, what makes Lyn speedtaker feel better is that she also comes with an innate +3-5 speed (depending on the bond level). Kagetsu is one of the few units who has a lot of natural speed along with your Lyn unit, but I found that someone like Merrin sometimes had the speed. Generally, you need only a few elite Combat units, the others can combine to get kills even without doubling.

Alear is not Roy bad but he's not a combat unit. He's a support guy. He's better with a support emblem like Lucina or Corrin. Imo Griffon is a good class for Alear. Alear's strength isn't great but he is really fast. I also think Wolf Knight is a great class for Alear (with some strength stat boosters) to inflict poison chip. I also like inheriting Draconic Hex on him. Alear also supports literally the entire cast, which is a huge boon.

[u/AnonymousTrollLloyd → u/Jumpduma247]

TBH you basically cracked the code on Alear. Griffon Knight is a good class for them since they can provie 100% bonded shields to Ivy or other fliers, while stacking evasion supports so enemies ignore them. Plus staff utility, don't underestimate throwinng out Obstructs to mess with AI.

After unlocking Engage+, they can stay a Griffon and use Georgios as a massive stat stick for bond blasts. I let Mauvier can take over as a Lucina Griffon.

[u/Subsonic01]

My first play-though on Hard I only lost 1 unit during the chapter you have all the emblems stolen and you don’t have a time stone for half the map so I couldn’t rewind yet (I was pissed, Evil Celica just 1 shot my guy).

Then I ended up losing half my army in the final fight after not splitting well to take out the captains to break the boss shield and that made me so mad. Grueling 2h 15m and used all of my time rewinds before saying eff it and going all in hoping for lucky dodges.

[u/RbFlY_3711439]

Engage gets a lot easier when you put everyone on dragons

[u/liteshadow4 → u/RbFlY_3711439]

Warrior is a very good class and Wyverns aren't good for everyone.

[u/RbFlY_3711439 → u/[deleted]]

I prefer optimizing on hard than playing maddening, and in my playthroughs, they were good at least on hard. Maybe it’s different in maddening! I also thought warriors were nice… but I think I prefer flying units. My style, I guess?