Individually, all these pieces are fantastic: the Warriors action is as exciting as ever, the tactical elements are satisfying and cleverly designed, the story is engrossing, and the characters are as delightful and compelling as ever. But what really sets Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes apart is how expertly it weaves them all together; a sublime blend of action, strategy, political drama, and character work that all work effortlessly in tandem. A chance to spend a few more dozen hours with Edelgard and the rest was always going to be welcome, but Three Hopes took that idea and turned it into one of the best Warriors games yet.
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes brazenly leaps headlong into battle, delivering tactical brilliance and heroic thrills in equal measure. This is an exceptional standout among the many Warriors games on Nintendo Switch, and perhaps the best to grace the portable home console up until this point – laden with armies to slaughter, heartfelt storytelling and more than enough content to keep you occupied for months on end whether at home or on the move.
Even without playing Fire emblem three houses this game became my favorite switch game that I've played. I loved the original Fire emblem warriors game and this one feels much more full than the original.
I wanted to play this whenever it came out, but with so many other games and the fact that I don't care for the "warriors" game so much I passed it up. That being said I really shouldn't have! This game is easily the best warriors game I'm ever played. The story is fun and exist in a non canonical world separate to the original (Three houses) one. There's a lot of repeats of the things that make three houses fun, and I can't imagine why anyone who enjoyed three houses wouldn't enjoy this title. Not only is it the best Warrior game but it might just be the best fire emblem game! Certainly tied with three houses at least. Also there's flipping strategies on the battle field!!! *Mind Blown!*
An improvement over Fire Emblem Warriors and a new perspective on the universe of Three Houses, Three Hopes gives you plenty to do and presents it all in a way that makes for a robust musou experience that is more than just mashing buttons. While the game can tend to drag on at times with a story muddled in politics, you are sure to find joy in its various features that marry two genres together in a surprising, yet successful way.
The new Fire Emblem Warriors title brings even greater musou integration with this classic JRPG, while also being a great spin-off for Three Houses and a clear evolution of this long-standing genre. However, due to its specificity, it will be interesting only to a very narrow audience.
Three Hopes runs a few chapters too long, and some late-game twists don’t carry the impact they should as a result, but my 36 hours were a great time. Three Hopes successfully and expertly integrates everything great about Three Houses into its musou format, both in narrative and in gameplay; it’s been one of my favorite Switch experiences in recent memory as a result. If you like Three Houses, you should play Three Hopes, and I’d recommend it to you even if you aren’t familiar with the musou genre. And if you haven’t played Three Houses, there’s a good chance that’ll be your next game after rolling credits on this one.
Despite these qualities, Three Hopes is nonetheless a Musô with inherent flaws in this kind of game, such as a certain repetitiveness in the gameplay which will put some people off. As for the technique, if the graphics are simple, the framerate manages to remain stable as a whole, even if it happens to have slowdowns. A pleasant return to Fódlan in itself.
Fire Emblem should be the perfect partner for Dynasty Warriors style action, but this incompetently made crossover squanders its potential on trite fan service and hollow gameplay.
Much better than I thought it would be! Arval and Shez were great additions to the cast. I would recommend taking a break between each of the three routes as to not get to overwhelmed, it is a long game, but a streamlined "monastery" system and new game plus makes each playthrough require much less micromanagement comparatively to when replaying three houses.
On the Plus Side:
Firstly, the mindless hack-and-slash action is pretty solid, providing a nice opportunity to veg out and enjoy without overthinking. The gradual progression of Shez and their intriguing inner demon/angel/god aspect kept things interesting, at least in the beginning stages.I also found myself quite enjoying the variation in movesets between the classes, especially when it comes to the flying types - big shoutout to Ingrid!But,
Here's the Catch:
Sadly, the game overstays its welcome a bit, with a story that doesn't quite hold the weight for its extensive length. Honestly, it got to a point where I couldn't push myself to finish it.Also, I found it a bit hard to truly connect with any of the characters. Despite the developers' evident effort, the relationships felt somewhat mechanical, lacking the depth to really draw me in.
So, in conclusion, "Fire Emblem: Three Hopes" offers a decent hack-and-slash experience with some interesting class dynamics, but falls short in narrative depth and character connection.
I had high hopes for this because I absolutely adored Three Houses but yea, this isnt for a fan of that game, its essentially an alternative universe fanfiction retelling that craps all over the originals characters and stories, including but not limited to Byleth, the main character and Claude, one of the main lords.
It changes or tries to change some of the context behind characters actions and to me at least it cheapened the storytelling.
I was innitially excited but grew weary when we got the announcment of the new protagonist, the generic Shez who while fine hardly makes for a better protagonist than Byleth whom actually had reasons for being the way they were and was important to the story being told. The fact that its an alternate universe initially also put me off because instead of enhancing the Three Houses universe this is seemingly meant to replace it, but now I am glad because at least it means that this mediocre mess wont damage my enjoyment of its predecessor.
Gameplay is up to anyone to decide whether it works or not, it was fun at times for me but mostly its been a chore but regardless I was in this for the story and the longer I played the less I wanted to play and see and the more and more annoyed I grew at this failed attempt at painting over something great with something of a far inferior quality just because they could.
Like I wrote above, this isnt really a game for fans of Three Houses unless they simply wanted some more in a similar world, it takes away a lot of the heart and soul of the game, genuinely tries to crap on some of the stories and characters told in Three Houses and in general doesnt value the love that fans had for that game.
The best that I can say about it, is that its ok, at least it attempts to actually tell a story and be somewhat similar to the actual FE games, its nowhere near as successful as P5 Strikers simply based on the fact that they didnt respect what came before here and it was nearly insulting at times how much they seemingly wanted this to be the "superior" version of the Three Houses story, it even has the same innitials, TH, so you have to write the name in full.
Hope people had more fun with this than me, because I genuinely did not have a good time. At least I tempered my expectations but that doesnt mean I wouldnt have loved for it to be better, just imagine getting answers to all the questions we still had, seeing more of Fodlan within the Three Houses setting, exploring the TWSITD in more depth, getting that golden route people were clamoring for, there was so much potential, instead it is a retelling, a worse one, one that tries to **** on the original and take its place, at least in my eyes.
Its a big fat no from me.
SummaryJoin Fire Emblem: Three Houses characters as you engage in massive battles across Fódlan Edelgard, Dimitri, Claude, and other Fire Emblem: Three Houses characters return to put their combat expertise on display as you revisit a war-torn Fódlan. Unleash devastating combos and striking special moves in action-packed, real-time combat. Cut ...