Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave Review — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:00] Even for a series known for its sprawling scope, Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave is ambitious. Nintendo and developer Intelligent Systems clearly approach this latest entry having learned from its successes in Three Houses,

[00:15] its missteps in Engage, and even from the series' historical oddities. Fortune's Weave rewards those craving both deep interconnected stories and intricate interlocking RPG systems in equal measure,

[00:27] creating a new high watermark for the series.

[00:41] Right from the beginning of Fortune's Weave, your creative character, Eshmel, is literally created, birthed by sci-fi coded magic as the last hope for humanity against the army of the Demon Lord, who is already on the verge of total victory.

[00:55] Fortuna, the goddess of fate, is cooperating with the last bastions of humanity and sees an opportunity to turn the tide in your favor. For instrumental heroes, the legendary flamelords can be recruited to help in the coming fight.

[01:09] So Fortuna sends Eshmel back in time to key moments in the flamelords' lives to guide them. That moment is the participation in the Heroic Games, a sort of gladiatorial and tactical version of the ancient Greek Olympics.

[01:24] Right away, this imbues the story and the Framelord's individual stories with propulsive force. You know from the very beginning that your ultimate destiny is leading toward a major escalation, but you also know these four characters are special, destined for greatness in ways

[01:40] that make them inflection points in history. The premise also creates a setting that confidently blends tropes from the age of antiquity, smooth futuristic science fiction, and high fantasy. Ishmael has an otherworldly quality to them that seems distinctly out of place in the

[01:56] nation of Gadda, which is obviously inspired by ancient empires, and both Ishmael and the Flamelords themselves all regularly interact with actual gods and goddesses. It's a compelling blend of storytelling motifs that feels fresh and new for the series.

[02:11] Fortuna emphasizes the importance of recruiting the Flamelords to have any real hope of defeating the new king, but you can actually proceed to the endgame at any time. After finishing the prologue, you could technically proceed to the final battle alone.

[02:25] You constantly have choices about how to approach almost every aspect, even down to the core structure. You can play and pivot in whatever manner you choose. The four flame wards can be played in any order and each has their own motivation for competing in the heroic games in which the winner is promised to be granted a single wish Kai is a young boy hoping to save his father from false imprisonment Dietrich is an expert swordsman looking to prove himself by taking on the toughest opponents

[02:54] Theodora is a newly crowned warrior queen who wants to clear a historical injustice for her people. And Rita is a dancer and refugee who sees the games as an opportunity to get close enough to her father's killer that she can exact revenge.

[03:09] Each of them is driven to a fault, obsessed and single-minded,

[03:21] even when their motivations are ostensibly just or even noble. You spend a lot of time with each hero you choose, gaining insights about their motivations and desires as they navigate the twists of their individual stories.

[03:34] And that's one of the most impressive tricks in Fire Emblem Fortune 3. These stories are satisfying on their own as individual narratives, but grow even richer in conversation with each other. It's a layered narrative that builds upon itself and becomes more compelling the more you explore it.

[03:51] The structure of the Heroic Games is simple. You climb a bracket of competitors, starting with low-level, reputable characters, and building your way up to more serious opponents, sometimes including the other Flame Lords. The matches are set for specific days on the calendar, giving you downtime between story

[04:07] quests, to partake in side quests and paralogs, to recruit new units, and so on. While the Heroic Dunes takes place inside the capital of Gaxian, there's a massive world map outside of its walls to explore. I found the map movement to be a little clunky, as you have to select an action on map nodes

[04:23] before selecting a direction to move a limited number of spaces, similar to a board game. The idea, though, is that every action you do makes time pass. You have to manage your time and make use of it wisely to balance the various demands of side quests, leveling up, and making progress on recruiting new team members.

[04:41] It sounds daunting, but I found the system was flexible enough to absorb some time wasted without feeling too punishing. Similarly, some activities in Dagsian can only be performed weekly. Those include giving gifts, attending a play, or training at the arena.

[04:57] It also includes performing acts of service at the temples of the gods. and each god grants you a special benefit that can be used in battle. Fortuna is unlocked from the start, letting you rewind turns, but there are others to be discovered with important passive benefits that can turn the tide of battle.

[05:14] Exploring the map outside of Daxian is a must, because it's vital for completing your Flame Lord's individual quests and gaining renown. Each Flame Lord has their own specialized quests and those give you much bigger bonuses to renown points than any other side quest Theodora for example has to scour the world searching for supplies to send back to her

[05:34] nation while Lita gets tips about caverns in distant cities where she can perform. Those grant you regular rewards like any other side quest, but the real reward is renown. Renown is an important resource because it's one of the factors that determine who you

[05:49] can recruit. Another is support, which you gain by improving your flamelord bonds with another character via giving gifts or sharing meals. I found progressing this stat fairly slow, so it can take time to win someone over to your side.

[06:06] Randomized battles also populate the world map, along with dungeons that can be explored in third person. Those provide a nice change of pace and a different way to engage with the world, granting you a little experience boost by taking part in more traditional turn-based RPG combat.

[06:22] The best missions, of course, are those involving traditional tactical combat. Fire Emblem is second to none in this regard, and Fortune's Weave manages to improve on it further. The main quest always finds ways to add new wrinkles to combat scenarios,

[06:36] forcing you to think differently and saving off complacency that can come from having a powerful team. In one memorable battle, I was being targeted by a long-range attack, requiring careful movement and creative walking while I slowly advanced.

[06:50] In another, I would lose if any enemy units reached a certain goal line, but their forces were so overwhelming that I realized I had to prioritize cutting my way through to the one enemy unit whose defeat served as a victory condition.

[07:03] What's so satisfying about these challenges is that the game never explicitly explains how to resolve the puzzle. It just presents you with a scenario and presses you to figure out the solution. Aiding in combat, there are two types of special abilities, combat arts and blaze arts.

[07:20] Combat arts let you perform special actions at the cost of weapon durability, which can be repaired at the blacksmith. Blaze arts are reserved for special characters, letting you sacrifice HP for powerful effects.

[07:32] Theodora, who is imbued with a magical super-powered prosthetic arm, can grab a hunk of stone from the earth and chuck it great distances, while Dietrich can teleport forward to strike down an enemy before they even see him coming.

[07:45] New blaze arts are offered as you take part in the quest to improve renown, so all the systems feed into each other nicely. However, all this complexity does come at a price. While the battles themselves are snappy and intuitive, enough for newcomers to understand,

[07:59] the menu user interface is overstuffed, and at first it was hard to find certain elements. I got accustomed to it well enough after several hours but there just a lot going on and I wish the UI had been easier to navigate With four heroes all existing concurrently sometimes you see the same story beats repeated but I rarely found this tiring or repetitive Instead it was delightful to see a similar scene

[08:23] recontextualized through the lens of the current character's story, adding more color and texture to their own tale by how they've interacted with others. Each of these characters also has their own entourage of close companions, and Fortune's Weave excels at making each one of them likable

[08:39] in their own way. It's a strong ensemble cast, even before you start recruiting a variety of distinct warriors with their own odd designs. It's inconceivable that these dogs could run me to ground.

[08:54] Thanks, Connie. May I eat this? I am no longer a garrison. Naturally, after your flame lord's individual stories resolve, events in the world take a turn for the more dramatic on a global scale.

[09:08] This is very similar to the Ark of Fire Emblem Three Houses, where your chosen house then became instrumental in a massive war. This time, though, you aren't forced to pick favorites. You can play through all four Flame Lord stories, the more the better, and each of them have a part to play in the second arc as you proceed towards the endgame against the Demon King.

[09:28] All of this is complemented by an incredible orchestral score, as evidenced by finding myself idly humming the main theme for days at a time, and the voice acting is well performed. I made a point of playing Fortune's Weave in quiet environments where I could hear everything, because I just didn't want to miss an audio moment.

[09:45] And while Dagzian itself can look a little plain in places, the character designs themselves are universally gorgeous in incredible detail and flourishes, and class designs that look great and fitting no matter how you spec your characters.

[09:58] The cutscenes as well are remarkably cinematic and help accentuate the epic scope of this story about war in an age of antiquity. Fortune's Weave is the best-looking and best-sounding Fire Emblem game to date, on top of all of its other excellent traits.

[10:15] Fire Emblem Fortunes Reef is a sprawling masterpiece of an RPG,

[10:33] building upon the successes of past Fire Emblem games with new interconnected elements, expertly designed combat puzzles, and an emphasis on flexibility and choice. Nintendo and Intelligent Systems have taught themselves,

[10:46] making this the new high point to beat for future entries.