The innovations Fortune’s Weave brings to the Fire Emblem formula are a prime example of one step forward, two steps back. Fortune’s Weave is the first game in the franchise to make character growth rates visible to the player, a long-requested feature that gives the player vital information they would otherwise have to consult outside sources like the perennial Fire Emblem fan site Serenes Forest to find. This change is massive, as you can see how different classes will impact character growths and plan out future builds and progression paths for each character to shore up weaknesses and lean into their individual strengths.
A less successful change is the weapon system. Fire Emblem‘s weapon triangle is a foundational series mechanic, one that was refined expertly in Fire Emblem Engage with the Break system, where attacks with a weapon advantage dealt extra damage and prevented counterattacks. Much like Three Houses before it, Fortune’s Weave once again abandons the weapon triangle system, in favor of granting unique properties to each weapon type outside of the rock-paper-scissors framework.
I probably agree with more points on this review that on some with very high scores. I see a lot of flaws in Fortunes weave as well. Or rather i think it’s inconsistent with it’s gameplay approach and is very bloated with tasks between battles and story progression.
I was a big fan of the GBA games so tried one of the switch ones and found I was spending more time in the school portion of the gameplay than in combat. Ended up dropping the game because it felt more like a school simulator than a trpg.
It seems like fans like that element though cause the games keep selling well, but it was too much bloat for me.
Yes, seems fans like that kind of gameplay, three houses is the best selling fire emblem as long as fortunes weave didn’t oldsold it. I like the gba games as well, but from the more modern games i’m more a fan of engage and fates, which aren’t that bloated with side content, just a bit more than gba games. But there is a huge difference in three houses and fortunes weave. In three houses, if you want you could try to minimize the time you spend in the monectary, the base and have more time spending with the tactical, with the core gameplay of fire emblem. In fortunes weave, you spend a lot more time doing everything else but the core gameplay and it’s mostly nessesary. So if you have played three houses, imagine fortunes weave is a lot lot more bloated.
Thanks for the info!
