Nintendo Switch Games have been very proactive this year with their games coming out more frequently than usual. Spanning from Metroid to Mario games to even the Pokémon series, and now a new game from Omega Force and Nintendo has been released recently and has been given lots of anticipation for fans to play. That game is Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes.
The game is an alternative story from the Fire Emblem Three Houses game that was released back in 2019. The game was developed by Omega Force and its gameplay utilizes the Musou engine which is a combination of JRPG and hack and slash.
The game’s story as I said before is an alternative story in which players play as Shez, a lone mercenary, who has bonded with an unknown deity and vows to become stronger and defeat the Ashen Demon. To complete his vow, he is given a choice to join one of the great 3 classes in Garreg Mach and accompany them on their journey to become the strongest faction on the whole continent.
The way story goes is really how Fire Emblem should be. A character-centered story with their own choices gives the game a new feeling as well as options on what story they should choose. If I were to compare this new FE Warriors game to its predecessor, Fire Emblem Warriors Three Hopes made its predecessor look like a kid’s game.
The gameplay is a combination of JRPG and hack and slash. Players will control various and returning characters from the FE: Three Houses series. Each of them uses skills and classes that are found in all Fire Emblem games fitted for this new Musou game. Following the FE tradition to increase the rank of classes through training and battle, the game fully adapts this concept as well as learning skills and increasing one’s stats. Everything related to FE was fully incorporated by Omega Force making this game worth the wait.
The combat aspect is really impressive to the point not only is there a huge roster of characters but players can control a total of 4 characters in a mission. Using proper timing and planning, assigning where our chosen characters should help clear the objective of the game. The usual basic controls of Musou are of course in Fire Emblem Warriors. However, character weapon skills are also added and every skill has a cost that can be refilled only through collecting gemstones in battle.
Every skill that a player uses will level up and become more powerful in the end. This is another example of what makes this game different from other Musou games and that actually puts a great impression that they could use this concept for future projects as well.
To make the game more interesting, upgrading facilities and building bonds have been added to the game. In Fire Emblem Warriors Three Hope, facilities are needed to make you strong and reliable. Each facility can sell items, make new weapons, upgrade a character’s ability, deliver resources and even train characters to improve their classes and level them up faster.
Upgrading each facility will grant new benefits such as new items to sell, bigger shop discounts, and more. From my experience in the game, this was a huge advantage for me and most players as this gives me more ways to strengthen my characters against tougher enemies. I really loved the fact that this game can challenge one’s mind on which area needs to be improved to make it through each stage.
Deepening one’s bond is important as well in Fire Emblem. Not only does it unlock some side story quests and cutscenes, but it also provides great advantageous experience in battles as well. The bonds developed for each character are determined by rank. The higher the bond is, the greater the disposals are. In battle, when you make one of your party members an adjutant, they can do extensive combos or guard you against incoming attacks. Simply put, this feature is really a FE concept that is nostalgic. Sadly though, there are no romance ending options in this game and well, that is kind of disappointing.
Maps and Missions Areas are really good. Even though it is repeatable to do the missions, each map has its own challenge. Sometimes, they are hard to get through and the only way is not only through brute force but through the use of the feature called Strategy. Strategy is a really amazing concept to use as there are numerous ways to make the mission easy to get through. However, the cost of using them is limited. I really like this concept as it showed much potential for many things and helped unlock secret characters that I never knew could be worth using for this game.
Overall, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is one of the best Musou games that I have ever played. The only two issues that I dislike about the game are the missing romance ending and low texture rendering. But aside from that, this game is really worth the wait for many including FE fans. I really hope that the next FE Warriors game will be worth the money that gamers will like.
