Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is a spin-off to the latest Fire Emblem game, Three Houses, developed by Koei Tecmo, best known for their other Warriors games. The last Fire Emblem Warriors game was released to mixed reception, with particular criticism for the lack of variety in the characters represented and the weaker main characters and story. Three Hopes instead acts as a proper spin-off/sequel for a specific Fire Emblem game than a collection of different games. Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes seeks to take players back to the continent of Fodlan for a game of What If? New characters, new stories, and a fate for Fodlan await in Three Hopes.
Time to make my debut!
Three Hopes plays like a traditional Warriors game, if you are familiar with Koei Tecmo’s past library. Every character from Three Houses (with a few exceptions) is available to play in the game’s three routes. Unlike Three Houses, Three Hopes is a bit more restrictive with how many characters you can recruit at once. Different circumstances at the monastery in the Prologue means most of the cast will join your side after you defeat them in battle and not because you flooded them with flowers and tea party invitations. There is also a good mix of weapons and movement types, as typical of a Fire Emblem game. And just like in Three Houses, you can train your units to wield any of these weapons. Of course, some are easier to use or more fun to play with, but the flexibility and adaptability in training your units however you like is a strength from Three Houses that I’m glad is returning in Three Hopes.
Three Hopes also brings back the open exploration in between missions. Instead of the great halls and walls of Garreg Mach monastery, Shez can explore the Base Camp of your army. The Base Camp’s facilities can also be upgraded, allowing you to forge stronger weapons, have a wider selection of gifts or items to purchase, train more allies at once, and cook more dishes, among other upgrades. These upgrades are meaningful enough to make an important impact on the gameplay and you get access to upgrade materials often enough where it doesn’t feel like a detriment to miss out on some of the later unlocks. Upgrading facilities simply adds a management metagame on top of the standard hack and slash that you experience during the missions.
Speaking of missions, the meat and potatoes of Three Hopes rests in its hack and slash Warriors gameplay. And man is it great. I said in my impressions of the demo that Three Hopes has the best gameplay of any Warriors game to date and I stand by that. Combat is fast and fluid, attacks feel punchy, and the strategy map allowing you to quickly give orders to the characters you’re not controlling adds a depth to the Warriors gameplay that both augments it and makes Three Hopes feel like a Fire Emblem game. Each chapter is split up into different missions on a War Map. The War Map is honestly such a cool idea for a Fire Emblem game, making you feel like a general choosing which battles and territories to fight over first and when to eventually attack the main objective of that chapter. The War Map doesn’t just have maps to fight on, but for every mission you clear, further awards are made available in each territory. The minor missions do tend to overlap in terms of objectives but the variety of maps as well as the intense and fun main missions makes playing through Three Hopes just…fun. I have thoroughly enjoyed the gameplay of Three Hopes more than I was expecting to initially. Warriors games have always started to feel same-y to me a few hours in but the sheer variety of interesting and loveable characters, playstyles, classes, and maps means replaying that one mission for the S rank is just as fun as it was the first time.
A taste more bitter than blackest coffee…
Of course, Three Hopes does have its flaws. The Nintendo Switch is not a high performance device, especially in handheld mode, and although Three Hopes does make some improvements to the textures and frame rate to previous Fire Emblem games, including Three Houses and Warriors, the performance jumps between inconsistent and just acceptable. I’ve waxed lyrical about Three Hopes and the improvements it’s made over Three Houses, but that’s not to say that some things that I liked about Three Houses has been lost. One thing that makes Three Hopes feel a bit smaller is the 4 character deployment limit. Main story missions allow you to deploy 4 AI-controlled adjutants but the side missions and paralogues limit you to just 4 characters (more like 2 or 3 since you’ll probably always deploy Shez and the main lord). For a game franchise whose premise is centered on building your army, Three Hopes makes me feel like I’m leading a small squad with a bench full of cheerleaders.
For one, the number of support conversations for each character has been gutted. Support conversations have become a core part of Fire Emblem games and are great ways to flesh out a character and their relationships with other characters, 1 on 1. Unfortunately, although some characters who didn’t have supports in Three Houses now do in Three Hopes, some characters who did have supports have lost them. Supports are now used more as gameplay bonuses, which means that characters can technically “support” each other, but you’ll miss out on the conversations, which I’d argue are probably a big reason for playing a Fire Emblem game in the first place. The lack of the “standard” 3-4 conversations for C-A supports also lends to the feeling that this aspect is something IS or Koei Tecmo either didn’t have the time for or was not a priority. There has also been some controversy about the story of Three Hopes. Three Houses has proven to have both a compelling and controversial story and Three Hopes only adds to this discourse. Strong-willed characters, morally gray decisions, and an army of stans all willing to yell at people on Twitter in defense of their favorite anime war criminal husbando make a pretty explosive package. Three Hopes’ story is not as strong as Three Houses in my opinion and the lack of supports only compounds this. That’s not to say that it’s not good though. I love these characters and getting to see them in a slightly different setting was enough for me.
You’ve got an eye for quality, friend…
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes combines the best of the Warriors-style gameplay with one of the most interesting, diverse, and frankly strongest casts in the entire Fire Emblem franchise (yeah, I said it). Warriors games are such a perfect playground for the Fire Emblem franchise and I’m glad to see that Koei Tecmo and Intelligent Systems seems to be open to making more despite the lukewarm reaction to the first Fire Emblem Warriors game. Three Hopes expands on the great character dynamics from Three Houses, adds a few new surprises, and the relationship between Shez and the cast is such an unexpectedly fun contrast to Byleth’s. Three Hopes feels like a true sequel/spin-off to Three Houses. However, some of the issues present in Three Houses do find themselves into Hopes, along with some new ones. Support conversations have been gutted, and even though characters can still gain bonuses to being supported, the number of conversations each character can have has been reduced substantially. The massive cast and limited deployment during each mission means many characters are left on the bench (sorry, Shamir), even more so than in Three Houses. Also, having multiple routes and stories means focus has to be split between them, potentially resulting in 3 slightly weaker stories rather than a focused, strong singular story.
However, these issues are, at the end of the day, small. A slightly weak main campaign is easily overshadowed by the dates expeditions that you can take your favorite characters on and the relationships you will either continue from Three Houses or build. The limited deployment can be rectified in buying levels for characters you aren’t actively using and remembering to train them alongside your favorites. Three Hopes is a great game, not just for those already in love with Three Houses, but also those who just like to be a one-man army, hacking and slashing their way through faceless minions. Just make sure you pick Black Eagles first 😉
9/10
For more information and to play the demo, visit: HERE
Related: Matt Tran Reviews
My name is Matt Tran and I have been playing video games since I could remember holding a controller. I've always been a hardcore gamer growing up, from the hectic MW2 and Halo 3 lobbies, my many journeys through several Halo clans and my current exploits with my Destiny 2 clan. I love shooters and RPGs and overanalyzing every component of every game I've played, from weapon stats to ideal perks. When I have time to play other games, I currently play Genshin Impact and Star Wars Squadrons.
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