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Yes, I’m going to talk about Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes – just a little late. I got the game on launch day and thought about making a review of it. But then I got distracted by other things, and told myself to play some more of it. Now here it is, a month later, and I’m not sure where the time has gone. So, to avoid looking too much like a Johnny-Come-Lately, I’ll give my brief thoughts here. Anyway, I feel like it’s been a relatively slow week.
In short, Three Hopes is a fantastic new twist on the Three Houses plot. It provides space to explore characters and storylines that the original game didn’t have room for. The gameplay isn’t for everyone – it tries to add a certain level of strategy to the Musou gameplay to fit the Fire Emblem brand, which I don’t think is necessary. And I think it lacks the replayability of Three Houses. But it’s still fun and offers even more facets to a story that was all about perspective and who’s telling the story. It’s also cool to see Byleth, the previous player’s character, as an antagonist. Three Hopes highlights something that Three Houses has not addressed to my satisfaction: How? terrifying it is that a mercenary of undetermined origin or loyalty has a direct, unassailable connection to the deity of the world.
If the game has one major weakness, it’s Shez, the player’s character. I understand their intended role in the story: an entry point for new players and a jack of all trades to fill Byleth’s place. But Shez feels like they’ve been thrown into the story and that’s not natural. In Three Houses, for example, Byleth had to work for years to gain the trust of Hubert, the magician of Black Eagle, and yet he befriends Shez almost immediately. I would have enjoyed the game more if the stories focused on the three gentlemen characters – Edelgard, Dimitri and Claude – and showed how they treated themselves without Byleth or Shez acting as their moral compass. It seems like a minor point, but I honestly got tired of Shez after a few chapters of one route.
In real game news, the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake is: allegedly on ice. I don’t necessarily cry about it, but I do wonder what’s going on with it. How will you recreate one of the most interesting RPGs of all time? Perhaps Aspyr himself asks that question. We also got to see some new titles from Annapurna, and I absolutely love the new dino game The Lost Wild. Finally, a new rumor is circulating that GTA VI will feature a female character, let us know I asked for this four years ago – so I’m happy! As for me, I’m going to try out Xenoblade Chronicles 3 this week. My husband, a huge Digimon fan, also promises to let me know if Digimon Survive is any good.
What to play this week?
What’s new:
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3
- Digimon Survival
- bear and breakfast
- Multiversus (in beta)
- Lord Winklebottom Investigating
- fire commander
New on subscription services:
- Inside (Xbox Game Pass)
- Kingdom Rush Vengeance TD+ (Apple Arcade)
- Sweet Transit (GeForce Now)
- Blasphemous (GeForce Now)
- Command & Conquer Remastered Collection (GeForce Now)
- Genesis Alpha One (GeForce Now)
- This is the Police (GeForce Now)
- This Is The Police 2 (GeForce Now)
- Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground (GeForce Now)
- Roguebook (GeForce Now)
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