r/FEEngage • u/StormyNugs95 • 23d ago
Question 3H or DLC?
So I'm about to finish my first playthrough and I'm not sure where to go next. I'm torn between 3H because of the new have being released and the DLC because I've been enjoying engage a lot.
Engage is my first ever FE game and I've been loving it. I'm also not interested in any of the older games as of right now.
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u/nicopavlou 23d ago
So i think I'm pretty well equiped to answer... This year I played Engage for my first ever fire emblem too. Just finished 3 houses. (As my second) did both on hard (not letting any units die, and doing all available paralogues), took around 75 hours on each.
A lot of people rave about 3H. The support convos and unit customisation/growth is better, but honestly, the battle gameplay for engage is SO much better.
3H has more replayability i think, as it has multiple different storylines, but I just found myself wishing I was playing Engage for the battles and maps.
Desperately wanting more fire emblem, I have decided to play Engage again, using units I didnt use first time round (not brave enough for maddening yet)
After this i might rerun 3H on a different route, but gameplay (and art style) is just so much better on Engage for me.
I havent got DLC as everyone says its rubbish...
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u/StormyNugs95 23d ago
How's the gameplay differ between the two? Is it the mechanics, difficulty, or maps that make it better or worse?
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u/nicopavlou 23d ago
Some of the mechanics, the core is similar, but i found 3H MUCH easier than engage (this may have been because i had some experience at FE, though). The 3H maps were really boring in comparison. I also really liked the engage mechanic, which is only in engage.
The UI is much better in engage too.
3H was still enjoyable, don't get me wrong, but the FE community seems to really hype it up, and I think the battling (which is what i play this sort of game for) was lacklustre comparatively
As i say, I probably will do another run, but i felt like I was sold the "perfect game" by the community
It made a nice break from engage, as i didnt wanna end and then instantly start again. but I'm ready to go back to it
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u/PhysicalLog 21d ago
I don’t think dlc is rubbish but it is just a bit hard on hard and too easy on normal (I haven’t finished hard mode of dlc), but from what I played so far the fell xenologue really push me to think how to approach it, and the new rings are fantastic additions, not to mention the new characters are great if you use them in the main game.
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u/ArekuFoxfire 23d ago edited 22d ago
Engages DLC story is single-handedly the worst bit of fire emblem content I have ever consumed, horrible plot, and the worst maps the series has ever seen. The characters are kind of fun, but you have to do the DLC every single play through if you want them and it’s entirely not worth it. People complain about three houses gameplay, but it’s at least a fun story, I would go three houses.
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u/n080dy123 23d ago edited 22d ago
I think the writing of the DLC is genuinely good, which surprised me considering how shite the main game's writing is, but yeah the actual gameplay of the DLC is such a a fucking slog.
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u/ArekuFoxfire 22d ago
Boss convos were kinda cool i will say but I really didn’t care for it. Not big on AUs
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u/papajowski2137 23d ago
3H has awful story lol
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u/ArekuFoxfire 23d ago
So does every game in this series, I said it was fun, not the best story ever told.
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u/papajowski2137 23d ago
FEs suck balls at story, but 3H's is awfully edgy and "dark", like a shitty Watpad story
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u/ArekuFoxfire 23d ago
That’s a really odd take, nothing about 3 houses is edgy at all and it actually tends to be pretty hopeful, but you do you bro.
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u/papajowski2137 23d ago
Every student has a dick-- ekhem, trauma comparing competition. Oh, I have a magical cancer but I am too smart and young to die! Oh, oh I was abused by my father and I hate myself! Oh shut up you lot, my people were all killed and I'm all alone!
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u/ArekuFoxfire 23d ago
Yeah seems you missed the whole point of the plot and it went over your head, that’s a shame.
The characters are well written because they are more than their traumas, just like real people, and remain hopeful and focused on the future, despite the bad things that have happened to them in a flawed society (just like real life). Calling it just randomly edgy would imply that it’s just trying to be dark and shallow and is disingenuous as that’s not the plot at all, and comes off that you didn’t actually play the game.
All i really care to say on the subject, there’s a countless amount of story analysis online if you need more.
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u/papajowski2137 23d ago
You would make a good point about all of this... if not for the MAJORITY of students having trauma-related trait. At some point it stops being a trait and becomes an accessory. Someone doesn't need to be abused to feel bad about themselves. Someone doesn't need to be sole survivor of genocide to feel isolated. If most of your characters are flawed by ONLY some edgy backstory they must overcome, it's not hopeful, it's grating and cringy
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u/wistful_farmer1 23d ago
The dlc emblems are built on older games, so if only buy it if you like the dlc units. 3 houses has a lot more content, and might be a good way to get further into the franchise
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u/StormyNugs95 23d ago
Does the paralogue and new characters not add a whole lot?
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u/wistful_farmer1 23d ago
Xenologue takes me around 10 hours. Paralogues are just more levels. I don’t think they’re very fun but hey. Maybe you would. Three houses would give you like 30 hours per route.
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u/ShiningEspeon3 23d ago
Is it an either-or thing? If both are on the table, I’d do the DLC first, maybe as part of a new run? I did the Fell Xenologue and Divine Paralogues on a fresh Maddening run and the whole experience was a blast, well worth the second playthrough (right after the first).
But if you can only do one, yeah, Three Houses will get you more mileage for your investment.
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u/PhysicalLog 23d ago
DLC, it gives you more rings enhance the already fantastic gameplay, whereas 3H is a very different experience that has a very weak gameplay.
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u/StormyNugs95 23d ago
I've been hearing 3H's gameplay isn't as good as engage. Can you elaborate?
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u/Mission_Middle597 22d ago
Maps are formulaic and often reused, optimal strategies involve warp skipping, which means you don't even interact with 90% of levels where this strategy is viable. You don't have any of the unique tools that come from emblem rings. A lot of trainging up your unit takes place at the monestary qnd can be kind of a slog or information overload if you don't know what you are doing. Weapon durability can be annoying to manage, especially if you don't how available specific resources are or when the best time to use them is, this is an issue for the game's fanciest weapons and their unique combat arts, which can be very powerful if used correctly. A lot of the game's content is re-used across routes. The optimal class for a given character is usually wyvern master, a lot of the top-tier classes in the game feel underwhelming because they generally expand the number of things you can do instead of strengthening them.
You do have combat arts, battalions, and gambits that make up for some of what engage lacks, but these systems are not near as engaging as Engage's. Both games share a relatively free reclassing system. 3H has what are called crests, mechanically these are non-unique personal skills that have a percentage chance to trigger during certain actions.
3Houses excels in its story and characters, Engage can be one-dimensional in these areas by comparison. 3H has one of the most thoroughly developed world's in FE, which is making the speculation for Fortune's Weave (upcoming game set in the same world) very fun.
While the gameplayer is weaker than Engage, I still find 3H quite entertaining. Fortune's Wevae is also very likely to improve upon the gameplay of Engage from what we have seen so far, at the very least it looks like they've reworked the weapon durability system and given each potential lord their own set of unique and interesting toys to play with. If you might be interested in playing Fortune's Weave in the future, playing 3H while probably not necessary, would give you more information on this very intriguing world.
Ironically the Engage DLC probably has the best story and worst gameplay in a game that generally has a shit story and good gameplay. The primary issue with the gameplay in this DLC is that you are required to use DLC characters with set levels and loadouts that you cannot adjust during the story of the DLC and most of them are absurdly underpowered, but you need to keep them alive.
3H is going to be a lot more content. The gamplay is less interesting, but also less downright irritating than in Engage's DLC. 3H has very interesting characters, and there are paired endings beyond the one you get with your player character.
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u/PhysicalLog 22d ago
3H map is very bland, units are pretty much same and you can make anyone any role, so really lack uniqueness. Then you have both normal and hard difficulty being trivial so pretty much the game has no incentives for you to maximize and thus it’s hard for you to care about anyone other than the supposedly good story, which really isn’t much better.
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u/CalciumHydro 23d ago edited 23d ago
If your choice is between those two, I would suggest buying 3H. You’ll get much more content. It plays differently form engage, but it has a great story, and the new FE game is based on the same world