Fire Emblem Warriors Three Hopes Impressions

Developers: Intelligent Systems, Omega Force

Publishers: Nintendo

Genres: Musou Hack and Slash

Platform: Nintendo Switch

So I dusted off my Nintendo Switch. I mean, apparently I had to eventually because of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 next month. After making twenty gameplay videos of Musou Fire Emblem Three Hopes for Jason’s Gameplay Videos I decided to write this post. Honestly, I haven’t played many musou games over my 40 years off and on gaming as a hobby. The last one I can remember was Dynasty Warriors 2 back in 2000 on the Playstation 2. I was attending classes at UWM at that time. Damn, I’m old! I do have experience with Fire Emblem Three Houses. I made hundreds of gameplay videos for this one on Jason’s Video Games Source youtube channel but It’s currently privated as of 6/21/2022. Check back later.

Presentation/Story: Okay so where do I start. The presentation is all Fire Emblem Three Houses. Take the base tactical strategy gameplay and replace it with 1 versus 1000 musou style gameplay. Early into the demo’s prologue you play as a new hero named Shez. After a few basic tutorials you get your ass kicked by Byleth who is now the bad guy somehow. I have no idea how this happened so don’t ask. Shez soon after, runs into The leaders of the Three Houses including Edelgard, Dimitri and Claude. Shez gets roped into their problems which is where the story left off for me. Story elements includes a cutscene of Seiros herself. You also have those cutaway dialogue option gameplay sequences that were in Three Houses.

Graphics/Performance: Let’s start with performance. I myself must realize I am playing the Nintendo Switch and not these new consoles or PC for that matter. What Fire Emblem Warriors wants to pull off it seems to for the most part. You have huge musou arenas while performing 1000+ hit combos with little slowdown or frame rate hiccups. As for the framerate I have no idea. Framerate seems faster than 30 fps with hiccups. Maybe uncapped? It isn’t a smooth 60fps that much I do know.

As for the visuals, graphically what do you expect? It’s Nintendo Switch. So judging by Nintendo Switch standards and playing a few of it’s first party games Fire Emblem Warriors looks noticeably worse then say Zelda Breath of the Wild or more recently Metroid Dread. The visual standout sequences included it’s cutscenes and dialogue tree gameplay sequences. When you actually get into the musou arena and 1000s of bodies are flying around this game is just eww graphically. I wished I played Zelda Age of Calamity for a more acurate comparison but I haven’t. If I was judging by art style over textures I wouldn’t hate the graphics as much as I do. The art style is pretty good just like Fire Emblem Three Houses was.

Music/Sound: I’m not one of those gamers who pay that much attention to in-game sound and music unless it makes me by standing out. It has to be really good for me to remember it. I mean I have played so many games over the decades. Anyways, I don’t remember much about the music in the demo. I DO however remember the voice actors and actresses from Three Houses and they are all back. Character dialogue rocked just like Three Houses. I really enjoyed the dialogue voice acting.

Gameplay: Musou style 1 versus 1000s arena battles featuring over the top stylish action is what Fire Emblem Warriors Three Hopes is all About. If you played Fire The gameplay is very different from Three Houses. In Three Hopes it’s all real time not turned based. After two hours in the demo I was attacking, rolling, guarding against waves of enemies. Gameplay is easy to pick up because you’re only pressing two buttons mostly. The fun started when I acquired Edelgard, Dimitri and Claude. You can issues orders to three separate companions while in battle. I had the compatriots attack certain areas of the map to progress the overall fight. There are some strategic gameplay elements in this.

Changing between classes and characters in battle was seamless and the tutorials were simple enough to grasp. All of the warriors you control have their own special attacks and class action abilities that are very flashy in-game. The maps are littered with items you can buff out on after defeating special enemy soldiers. While battling hordes of enemies you have mini-goals whether it’s to take down a stronghold or defeat an elite soldier. In the few hours or so while making the gameplay videos I had fun with the core gameplay.

Final Thoughts: I have pre-ordered Fire emblem Warriors Three Hopes in hopes of making a few hundred gameplay videos for my youtube channels and for here. It doesn’t take allot of brain power to know what you will get with this game. It’s two things. 1. A musou hack & slash and 2. It’s Fire Emblem Three Houses. If you’re passionate about those two things you will probably enjoy this quite a bit. I think it was okay from the few hours I gave it. The full game from what I read is suppose to be a 30 hours or more apparently. Anyways, thanks for reading. – Jason