The most effective (and worst) of each worlds.
Between Persona 5 Strikers, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, and now Fireplace Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, we’re getting a variety of mileage out of Omega Pressure’s skill to decorate up the Dynasty Warriors sequence’ gameplay into an ideal mimicry of another franchise’s model. Not like the unique Fireplace Emblem Warriors, Three Hopes totally adopts the setting and aesthetics of Fireplace Emblem: Three Homes, serving as an alternate model of the occasions depicted in that sport. As a fan of each Fireplace Emblem and Warriors video games I’m extremely proud of the end result. Three Hopes shares a lot of its predecessors’ best strengths, though it additionally sadly shares a lot of their weaknesses.
While you consider a Warriors sport (also referred to as a musou sport) you most likely consider one highly effective soldier tearing by total armies of weaklings with large, flashy particular strikes. You most likely consider strongholds that should be captured by defeating a captain, and highly effective boss enemies with radial stamina bars that take large harm when that bar is depleted. Three Hopes doesn’t stray removed from that formulation; on this regard it has extra in frequent with Age of Calamity’s basic Dynasty Warriors-style missions fairly than Persona 5 Strikers’ totally explorable dungeons with fast fight encounters.
Nonetheless these fundamental gameplay mechanics are the one factor that this sport has in frequent with different musou video games. In just about each different method, Three Hopes is shockingly just like the unique Fireplace Emblem: Three Homes. In between battles you’ll stroll round a camp and speak to the characters in your military, getting their perspective on how occasions are unfolding. You’ll practice your items to be taught totally different expertise and weapon proficiencies (an analogue to Three Homes’ classroom), do chores to construct bonds between characters, and even witness full-length help conversations the place you get to know every character and their relationships somewhat higher.
In battle, a higher emphasis has been positioned on the power to present direct orders to your AI-controlled items. This isn’t a brand new characteristic in musou video games, but it surely feels extra worthwhile in Three Hopes as a result of rock-paper-scissors results of Fireplace Emblem’s weapon triangle. Because you might be assured {that a} sword-using unit goes to defeat an axe-wielding enemy, there may be a variety of worth in taking inventory of your items’ positions on the orders display screen and directing them across the map to finish targets. This may find yourself being mandatory if you wish to go for the very best rankings in every mission, because it’s very uncommon to solely have one goal to finish in any given battle.
The most important innovation is the construction of how aspect missions are immediately built-in into primary story development. Every chapter has a battle map with distinct fight zones between your camp and your primary goal. Every zone represents a fast aspect mission the place you’ll defeat just a few minor enemies and possibly rescue a villager or two, gathering sources and elevating your items’ energy alongside the best way. So as to attain your primary goal and play the following story mission, you’ll want to finish sufficient fight zones in an effort to clear a path in your military to advance. In idea that is just about the identical setup as Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity which had aspect missions on its overworld map that dropped sources. In observe, the mixing of those aspect missions into primary story development helps give them a way of goal in order that they really feel extra such as you’re carrying out one thing fairly than simply making them obstacles to get the precise character upgrades you need.
In fact, Three Hopes additionally places a heavy emphasis on its story. Cutscenes are simply as frequent and prolonged as they have been in Three Homes, and the plot shares a lot of its predecessors’ strengths and weaknesses. The forged of Three Homes is considered one of my favourite casts in all the franchise, and the wealthy lore and worldbuilding of Fódlan is taken benefit of to craft a story with epic navy stakes and dramatic political intrigue. In some ways I truly like Three Hopes’ story higher than Three Homes as a result of I discovered the development of the battle and every technique being executed by every faction rather more attention-grabbing and straightforward to observe this time round.
Sadly, very similar to Three Homes, Three Hopes fails to stay the touchdown on its story in lots of large methods, and big plot threads are given hasty, unsatisfying resolutions or deserted altogether. I ought to be aware that I solely performed one of many sport’s three routes, Scarlet Blaze—and simply that one playthrough took me over sixty hours—so your mileage could fluctuate on different routes. However after a strong fifty-five hours loving the sport, the final ten or so left me scratching my head and considering “wait, that’s it?” Even fewer of the sport’s plot threads are resolved should you occur to overlook the non-obligatory ‘true ending chapters’, and it is vitally simple to overlook them, so that you would possibly need to spoil your self on how precisely to unlock these chapters.
The ultimate large query of Three Hopes is the way it runs on Change. Musou video games on Change have had fairly inconsistent efficiency on Nintendo’s handheld; the multiplatform Persona 5 Strikers managed a principally secure 30fps on Change, however Age of Calamity struggled to hit its 30fps cap. Three Hopes targets an bold 60fps, although the phrase “targets” is performing some heavy lifting there. UI components and menus constantly hit that full 60fps quantity, working buttery clean. In fact these menus aren’t actually what you’re right here for, and actuality can usually be disappointing. Throughout battle you’ll usually see the framerate hover roughly round 30fps. The precise framerate can fluctuate fairly wildly between ranges round 35 and 25fps, however there are predictably some fairly large drops when the motion begins to get intense. Flashy particular strikes will trigger the framerate to take an enormous hit as little as 20fps, though some moments that really feel like they need to trigger even larger drops are extra secure, managing to carry fairly near 30.
The sport often manages to succeed in heights of round 40fps when only a few characters are on display screen, and at one level when the digicam was zoomed in to a single character mannequin with nobody else in sight, I managed to identify the sport working at a document excessive of fifty! Wow!
Though the sport technically runs higher than Age of Calamity, which struggled to succeed in its arduous cap of 30fps, the uncapped framerate could make issues really feel even worse in Three Hopes. Although it might have the next common framerate, the drops are sometimes a lot larger, and a 30fps cap would’ve helped to alleviate this. If you wish to discover a vivid aspect, I suppose the uncapped framerate will assist this sport loads if a Change Professional ever finally ends up being actual, however till that day comes we’ll solely be capable of dream of seeing this sport run at a full 60fps.
On the finish of the day, Fireplace Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes met my expectations, although after the stellar first impression from its demo masking the primary 4 chapters I did make the error of hoping for extra. The sheer scale and depth of this sport’s dedication to matching Three Homes’ model and construction made for a really nice shock that sadly made it much more disappointing when the ending fell as flat because it did. Nearly in a single day I went from not having the ability to get sufficient of the sport to questioning if I had it in me to play even yet one more of the sport’s three story routes. Three Hopes is a should play for diehard followers of each Fireplace Emblem and Dynasty Warriors alike, however I nearly want that it had dedicated much less to the dimensions of its story in order that its poor closing hours weren’t a lot of a bitter tablet to swallow.
