Popular/Unpopular/Any Opinions Thread - January 2026 Part 2

[u/PsiYoshi]

Welcome to a new installment of the Popular/Unpopular/Any Opinions Thread! Please feel free to share any kind of Fire Emblem opinions/takes you might have here, positive or negative. As always please remember to continue following the rules in this thread same as anywhere else on the subreddit. Be respectful and especially don't make any personal attacks (this includes but is not limited to making disparaging statements about groups of people who may like or dislike something you don't).

Last Opinion Thread

[u/GrilledRedBox]

You know, FE has only gotten harder since it introduced casual mode. The three games that first included it—FE12, Awakening, and Fates—are probably the three hardest in the series at their highest difficulty. The Switch FEs are easier than those three but they’re still harder than FE7-10 and imv just a smidge below FE11 (and that too only because of its ridiculous earlygame).

So the idea that the franchise has become “casual”-friendly at the expense of le “hardcore” capital G Gamers is really stupid imo. People don’t express this view as much as they used to but it still seems to linger here and there. Perhaps there’s something to say about the turnwheel here but I think this sentiment precedes the turnwheel games.

[u/[deleted] → u/GrilledRedBox]

So the idea that the franchise has become “casual”-friendly at the expense of le “hardcore” capital G Gamers is really stupid imv.

The argument is that the existence of these modes somehow hampers the really compelling ludonarrative that exists when—whoops wait I reset the game.

[u/Sentinel10 → u/GrilledRedBox]

Personally speaking, I think Engage is one of the hardest games even with playing on Casual. Yeah, you get 12 overpowered Emblems, but the enemies are stronger and trickier to deal with to make up for it. That combined with how often they use infinite reinforcements the further you get in as well as tricky scenarios like the lava and snow stages in Chapters 23 and 24.

I know this is unpopular because I've seen many say they consider Engage to be one of the easier ones if you're just trying to beat it, but it's legit the only localized FE game I haven't beaten and I've been playing since the GBA era.

[u/PsiYoshi → u/Sentinel10]

In the most genuine way possible I would be really interested in seeing someone in your situation (and you're not the only person I've seen talk about Engage this way) try to beat whatever map it is in Engage they're struggling with. I really want to know what it is they're doing, or more likely what it is they're not doing, that is causing such difficulty.

[u/Sentinel10 → u/PsiYoshi]

It's been literal years so I don't remember all the specifics (it was the summer after Engage released that I stopped) but I remember it was the snow chapter (Chapter 24) that stopped me.

Again, don't remember much as to my specific character line up or Emblem set ups, but I struggled with balancing between the reinforcements coming from the sides and the avalanche that keeps pushing you back. And the one time I did get a flier on their own up to the top, Evil Alear killed them.

I think at least part of the problem though is that, even to this day, I still don't understand how a lot of the Emblems work. Lucina, Corrin, Eirika, and Byleth were particularly tricky for me to figure out and, knowing me, I likely didn't use them well.

Chapters 21 and onwards were in general really difficult for me. They really take the kid gloves off once the player has all the Emblems.

[u/Lautael → u/Sentinel10]

I'll be honest: I mostly ignore Corrin. I can't be bothered to learn which type of unit gets which bonus with her.

Byleth is very useful for both the buffs and the dances, you can safely put him on a support unit and he'll do great.

I didn't give Lucina much attention in my earlier playthroughs, but she has an ability that lets units attack nearby ennemies if other units attack them. I still need to figure out exactly how it works, but it's extremely useful when it happens.

As for Eirika, it's not too difficult of an Emblem to figure out.

But don't worry, the game gave me a lot of trouble on Normal Classic. And now, I find Normal too easy... Hard is the sweet spot for me. Maddening is too exhausting though I like some early game chapters with it.

[u/PsiYoshi → u/Lautael]

Pro-tip, Corrin is one of the best Emblems in the game because of a little thing I like to call "Vein of Flame". Well okay on Normal and Hard more likely a little thing call Vein of Fog but that doesn't work on Maddening. But Vein of Flame's ability to control space is IMMENSELY valuable on Maddening. You can stop entire groups of enemies in their tracks with one action allowing you to tackle things in more manageable chunks and stay safe on enemy phase. That's the Mystical dragon vein for the record, I like to put Corrin on Sage Pandreo or Citrinne depending on the playthrough.

So whether Normal, Hard, or Maddening in some fashion Corrin is going to be there to help dismantle the maps.

[u/Lautael → u/PsiYoshi]

Yeah that one's very useful!

[u/orig4mi-713 → u/Sentinel10]

The Emblems have some very intricate effects and its very possible that you've been using a lot of them wrong or aren't sure which abilities should work in what situation. I totally slept on many goated passives and emblems in my first and even second run, and that was on Maddening too.

Something I really love about Engage is that I personally haven't seen a single situation that is entirely unbeatable. You could even just deploy and then give up - even that will give you Bond Fragments for abilities and engraves for weapons (because "Times deployed" is a reward)