Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes
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| ♥ | This article is dedicated to the Ferdinand von Aegir's english voice actor, Billy Kametz (1987-2022). |
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 Three stories yet untold
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Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is a hack and slash action RPG developed by Omega Force and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. This is said to be a spin-off of Fire Emblem: Three Houses and a successor to the original Fire Emblem Warriors.
Plot
The story takes place in the same universe as the original Three Houses game. Many characters and story elements are present yet it takes place in an alternate timeline and focuses on a new character named Shez. Shez is a mercenary who has a team that was decimated by Byleth during battle and thus joins a military academy of the Garreg Mach Monastery and becomes a student in one of the three classes with each of them including students from one of the three nations of the continent of Fódlan.
Why It Has A Lot Of Hope
- The idea of a Fire Emblem game that takes place in an alternate timeline much like Marvel's What If...? sound interesting. To put it together, this timeline depicts Byleth not being able to join the Monastery. Shez sees Byleth as a rival and yet their presence changes the outcome of certain key events that were present in the original Three Houses timeline. Since this is a different telling, it goes through different changes like when Byleth fell into a five-year-coma in the original game whereas Shez doesn't go into a coma.
- Much like the predecessor, the game has a good roster with a great number of playable characters. The roster has a fairly sizable amount of characters and makes good use of the choices of the cast.
- Not only can you change Shez's gender, but you can also pick which gender you want Byleth to be in the story. Does that sound neat?
- Plenty of chapters to go through. This includes the routes and the paralogue chapters.
- This game covers a lot of aspects of the original game that wasn't expanded upon. A notable one would be the character's different family members like Holst who happens to be Hilda's brother or Erwin who is the father of Lorenz.
- You get to play as some new characters who were not playable in Three Houses. They consist of Shez, Arval, Sothis, Monica, Rodrigue, Holst, Jeralt, Rhea, and the Gatekeeper.
- The characters from the Cindered Shadows DLC from the original game appear too. While they are not new playable characters since they were playable back in the original, you get to play as them in the base game. Now neat is that!
- The storyline is an improvement over the original Fire Emblem Warriors game. Yes, that game isn't bad but the story here is much more interesting because it gives off the impression that it doesn't want to be too serviceable and instead focuses on telling its own story. This is a story that is said to be an alternate story of the original Three Houses game and that is the main focus of the game wants to be. To have a better experience, it's best to play the original Three Houses before playing this game.
- The gameplay is different from the original game this musou is based on. Rather than being the typical tactical RPG that the series is known for, it goes for a hack-and-slash RPG which is expected from a Warriors game. Since this is a Fire Emblem game, it also has some strategies used as well so you would need to plan the best that you can.
- You need to give out the commands to your army to take down some missions and objectives.
- Planning ahead is crucial because you need to consider your plans including what allies are you going to use and giving your characters the right weapons.
- You can also hire battalions that fight alongside your characters.
- The combat for this musou game is not only slick, but it's also addicting and wild. Not to mention that they are epic and fun to get through. Seriously, this is a musou game so that is something you would expect. If you were to play this on classic mode, things are going to get really dramatic for those hardcore players and we really mean it!
- Just like the original game this musou is based on, you have to decide which class to join thus leading to different story paths and playable characters. They consist of Azure Gleam, Scarlet Blaze, and Golden Wildfire. Now be honest with yourself, which one would you pick? Well, it's your choice so that's up to you.
- Returing from Three Houses is the Adjutants mechanic. You can make another playable character an adjutant during combat. Because of this, you have Partner Specials which can deal a great amount of damage and increases your support level. This all changes depending on your class and your partner. Players can swap and can swap to control the adjutant or dismiss the pair-up at any time with the L button wheel. The paired-up units have the ability to combine their firepower into a Partner special.
- Unlike the original game where you are using the Garreg Mach Monastery, you are now being placed in a Base Camp where you can freely roam the grounds or fast travel to specific points of interest in order to talk to other characters or make use of the facilities. Facilities can be upgraded with the expenditure of upgrade materials acquired as battle rewards.
- Between battles, you may spend some time at the Training Grounds. You need to assign two pairs of characters that can train together to earn Class Evel experience. Seals can also be used to promote a higher tier of class. Another way of leveling up is by paying gold albeit you can't exceed that of the current highest-leveled member of the roster
- Shez can prepare meals using ingredients acquired during battle or bought at the item shop to share with others. Sharing meals that match the preference of other characters will give a morale boost and greater Support gain. Heck, some of these meals can help out via different effects like reducing the durability cost of weapon skills or boosting the rate at which the special attack gauge fills. Ain't that nice or what!
- When you encounter Anna on the War Map, her secret shop will be available for the duration of the current chapter. Anna can sell class promotion seals and stat-boosting items. In chapters where only the main story battle is available, Anna will appear in the camp without needing to be found.
- A social mechanic is introduced in the game in the form of Expeditions. It's kinda like the tea party mechanic from the original Three Houses. They cost one activity point and you need to share a support level of at least a rank of C with the desired participant. After a battle, you will occasionally get notified that a specific character wants to go on an expedition.
- Changing class types is different in this game compared to both Three Houses and the first Fire Emblem Warriors game. Classes now have a four-tier promotion tree with Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Masterclasses. All playable characters have the same selection of Beginner-tier classes and you must master the classes to get more advanced classes. To do a class change, all you just need is a seal matching the class's rank. Some units can also have unique personal classes.
- The characters are still just as likable and well-written as they were in the previous game regardless if it's a new character or a returning character. A number of the characters have more depth or are half rewritten.
- Good voice acting. Many of the cast from the original game return to voice their respective characters with some new additions joining the cast like Damien Haas (yes the same guy who is associated with Smosh, no kidding), Dawn M. Bennett, Melissa Hutchison, Ryan Colt Levy, Jason Marnocha, and SungWon Cho. Heck, this alongside AI: The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative (since both were released on the same day, NA for the latter game's case) ended Billy Kametz's voice acting career on a high note so he was able to record his lines as Ferdinand prior to his death so this is the last time you get to hear Billy's voice.
- A wonderful soundtrack that features various remixed songs from the original Fire Emblem: Three Houses as well as some original ones too.
- Choose between classic or casual mode which has been really common in newer installments of this TRPG series no doubt about that.
- You can get some bonus items depending on your condition.
- If you were to have save data for Fire Emblem Three Houses and/or Fire Emblem Warriors then that would mean you will receive in-game gold or items.
- If you get the digital version of the game, then that would mean you get to have a regular visit from an owl that will gift you Owl Feathers that can be used to boost your support level with other characters.
- You can use Amiibo randomized bonuses that earn you resources, or weapons/equipment. Using an Amiibo related to a Fire Emblem character gives you better quality rewards compared to the non-FE characters. As you progress through the story, the quality of the Amiibo presents will also increase drastically overall.
- Through July 31, you can earn platinum points for your My Nintendo account if you were to download the demo. The best part about the demo is that you can have your progress carry over to the full game once you buy the real game.
Bad Qualities
- The early chapter battles feel so short for some. Not to worry though because they still will get better later on.
- Sometimes the game has some experience with slowdowns wandering around camp.
- Since this is a tactical game, you would easily mess up if you were to use the wrong unit or be reckless which can result in some consequences.
- The camera can sometimes have some issues when it's locked on the enemy unit.
- Like the original game, the environmental designs do look washed out. Though this could be intentional yet still they look washed out.
- The gameplay can be a bit repetitive especially since this is a musou game.
- The lack of the three DLC classes which are War Monk/Cleric, Dark Flier, and Valkyrie as well as Hero. Even worse, females can't have access to gauntlets since Gauntlet classes are again gender locked nor can anyone use tomes while riding or flying.
- Not being able to use any weapon no matter the class. It would've made sense if for example, the unit can use swords as a Falcon Knight since that's a requirement to get it in the original game.
- Only Reason based users can unique warrior specials if they're Gremories and Faith based users get it if they're Bishops. This feels wrong since they're grounded, so what's the point?
- Similarly, characters with unique warrior specials in a riding class lose it if they're Holy or Dark Knights.
- Seteth is the only character with a unique warrior special as a Wyvern Rider or Lord. Caspar and Hilda whom would have these classes as their preferred ones only get it if they're grounded as they have to be Warriors to use it.
- All the routes end in an anticlimatic way with some plot holes thrown out the window. There's also a bad ending in Scarlet Blaze if Byleth is defeated.
- No acknowledgment of Nemesis at all in this game as he never shows up.
- Golden Wildfire is the weakest of the routes since Claude teaming up with Edelgard happens in Scarlet Blaze. With such chapters following the same objective as Scarlet Blaze and Rhea being fought again, this route falls flat in execution and feels wrong in some ways.
- Recruitment for Blue Lions is limited as only Ashe and Mercedes can be recruited. This is mostly because of the close connections the Faerghus characters have, however, the game forces you to kill Ingrid and Sylvain in Scarlet Blaze though they survive in Golden Wildfire.
- Similarly, Caspar must be killed in Azure Gleam to proceed.
- Alois, Hanneman, Cyril, and Gilbert who were playable in Houses aren't playable in this game at all. While Gilbert makes sense since Rodrigue is playable, it doesn't feel right for the others to not be playable since Alois joins you once Jeralt and Byleth are dealt with, but can only be interacted with. Even Hanneman whom is someone Manuela is close to isn't playable and recruitable but she is which is quite strange. Cyril is also someone who could've been playable as a missed opportunity.
- Byleth only gets two supports and gets full support ranks like Shez and the others possibly as a reference to Three Houses. Despite this, they could've had supports with the house leaders at least and have them interact with voiced dialogue and even with the route exclusive characters too.
- Byleth also doesn't get treated well at all in this game since once recruited, becomes irrevelant until Shez fights them. However, they never join them to fight Arval at all. This doesn't feel right at all considering the fact you recruit Byleth to have access to two new chapters. These chapters serve as a purpose for a different ending in Scarlet Blaze, but don't add much to the story or the last chapter at all.
- Unlike the original Warriors game and even the Hyrule Warriors games Koei worked on, this never got DLC at all despite doing well.
Reception
The game has gotten positive reviews with Metacritic giving the game a generally favorable reviews. Nintendo Life gave the game a 9/10 stars. Shacknews gave the game an 8/10.
The Spanish video game magazine HobbyConsolas gave the game an 82/100 while British daily newspaper The Guardian gave the game a 4/5 stars alongside Pocket-lint giving the game the same rank
A lot of critics and fans noted that the game is an improvement on its predecessor.
Trivia
- This is the final video game that Billy Kametz got to be in before he passed away due to being diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer.
- It was originally going to be a legit direct sequel to the original Fire Emblem Warriors. The working title was called Fire Emblem Warriors 2. It was decided to have the game be based on Three Houses because of its good reception and that was what the audience would want the most according to Hideo Suzuki, Yosuke Hayashi, and Hayato Iwata.
- It brought back the "I am Ferdinand Von Aegir" meme due to Billy's colon cancer issues thus being the final time he voiced Ferdinand. It also gave us the "Is it Claude Time? I think It's Claude Time!" meme due to being compared to the fan-made quote "It's Morbin Time" meme from the 2022 Marvel film Morbius.
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