Improved image quality, tighter performance and shorter loading time.
For those unfamiliar with the series, the gist is this - Fire Emblem is a tactical role-playing game.
You’ll build up your characters between battles while working your way through the main campaign.
It’s wickedly addictive and the series has long been respected as a result.
One key thing that has changed, however, is the presentation.
Engage doesn’t quite reach the same heights, but it’s clearly a big improvement over Three Houses.
Character rendering is a big step up.
While the style may not resonate with everyone, their technical implementation is a marked improvement.
Thicker, cleaner strokes outline characters while flat colors and more subtle flourishes help tie everything together.
They’re cleaner, bolder and just work better all around.
In terms of image quality, things have improved as well.
With Engage, the team has finally deployed some sort of edge smoothing.
So overall image quality is a huge win for this title.
Some other tidbits regarding presentation - real-time dialogue sequences cleverly blend 2D background imagery with 3D models.
The result feels like a high-end visual novel in many ways and works surprisingly well.
However, all major cutscenes are simple video clips, exhibiting visible macroblocking and compression artefacts.
Another improvement centres on the game’s user interface.
Performances are also improved over Three Houses.
There is one area where the game does exhibit regular hiccups, I should note - the transition point.
Aside from this, however, overall performance feels more consistent than Three Houses both in docked and handheld.
Overall, I’m happy with the technical improvements made over the prior entry.
