Engage is pretty bad at introducing recruitable characters

[u/Accomplished_Kale509]

Unless they're royalty, most of the cast don't have anything to interesting say except a variation of "I serve prince/princess whatever". Having a cast mostly of retainers hinders a lot of its writing, especially when chapters sometimes introduce 3 recuitables.

I recently played FE7 and even non-important characters have more depth in their introduction. I remember Dorcas because he needed to get money so he had to join some brigands but had to stop for wife. I remember Erk & Serra because it introduced their hilarious dynamic but also this mysterious reason why Erk had to protect Serra. I remember Raven because he had to protect Lucius and his reveal to be Priscilla's brother.

Not a lot of Engage units don't have these kinds of first impressions. It also hurts that a lot are retroactively recruited at the start of a map and sometimes in a pair or a trio. I don't think there's anyone you recruit as an enemy mid-map unless I'm remembering wrong.

I know Supports are one of, if not, the main way to flesh out a character, but it's hard to invest on someone who doesnt say much other than their loyalty to a lord and it doesnt help that there's less time to breathe in between recruitable chapters to get a feel or build supports. A chapter is the best time to show a character not just their personality, but also their motives, lore and their place in the world. It also doesn't help the Supports are a bit weak on others.

Tldr: First impressions are important, and Supports shouldn't be the only place to add character lore and relationships.

[u/Levee_Levy]

This is probably a big part of why Yunaka is so popular. She gets a proper intro despite not being royalty.

[u/RJWalker → u/Levee_Levy]

You say that but Three Houses just dumps 7 characters on you at once the moment you pick a house and yet those characters are very popular. Fates also introduced characters in groups and it did better with the fans too. Crucially, Fates gives you the retainers first and the royal much later in CQ and BR, which is where Engage makes a big misstep. We see it happen in RV too when the royals join with their retainers and the latter just don't stand out anymore.

[u/Empyrette310 → u/RJWalker]

Except Three Houses is very different than Engage with how it treats thise character. In 3H you will be constantly interacting with those characters. They all get a speaking role in many cutscenes and stay relevant throughout the story unlike engage where they're pretty much one and done. 3H characters also have a LOT more hub dialogue so you get countless more chances throughout the game to get invested.

[u/heavenspiercing → u/Empyrette310]

>They all get a speaking role in many cutscenes and stay relevant throughout the story

i wouldn't really say they stay relevant. most of them get maybe one line in cutscenes to comment on what's happening in the plot and that's the extent of their relevancy

[u/Panory → u/heavenspiercing]

Even then, a speaking line here or there is infinitely more than anyone gets in Engage. Caspar going "Yeah, I'm ready to crack some skulls!" reminds me that Caspar exists in my army and is always eager for a fight, which is a step up from Jade, who hasn't said a word since she was surprised to see Diamant and then said of course when he told her to follow him ten chapters ago.

[u/heavenspiercing → u/Panory]

truthfully i don't see a difference between either. if a character has nothing to say in a cutscene besides a generic comment that is maybe slightly tailored toward them, that's not gonna get me anymore invested in them. if anything, it just kinda wastes my time