My first strategy to reviewing Hearth Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes was to interrupt it down by franchise: Warriors and Hearth Emblem. However I don’t assume that’s far sufficient. I’m a fan of each, however I do know Three Hopes is supposed to attraction extra to Three Homes followers than to those that obtained their Hearth Emblem begin effectively earlier than that.
Together with the hack-and-slash Musou motion that defines Warriors video games, Koei Tecmo has jammed Three Hopes with as many components from Three Homes that they may shove in. As such, a whole lot of this sport will really feel very snug to those that performed by way of Byleth’s journey. If all her “faculty days” stuff put you off, nevertheless, it’ll additionally put you off right here.
Curiously, Hearth Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is neither a sequel nor a prequel to Hearth Emblem: It units up a unique path by which Byleth by no means turns into a professor at Garreg Mach. In actual fact, the sport opens with Byleth kicking your butt within the first battle.
You play as Shez, a mercenary who—like Byleth—has a reference to some kind of non secular being. This one’s named Arval, and any significance he could have is overshadowed by the truth that he’s voiced like a pet from a Disney cartoon.
The participant is once more requested to decide on between Edelgard, Dmitri, and Claude’s home, however a lot earlier within the sport this time. The route you select will form the story and the conclusion, permitting for a number of playthroughs. It’ll additionally change up the battles a bit, nevertheless it’s robust to note since all of them mix collectively. The largest variation is within the combatants to which you’ll have entry. I selected Edelgard’s Black Lions as a result of that’s the one path I didn’t play in Three Homes. And though Edelgard herself is a bore, the Black Lions are type of enjoyable. You’ll have the chance to recruit members of different homes whereas on the battlefield. You don’t need to recruit everybody, however killing them denies you entry to a number of the sport’s paralogues which include a number of the extra revolutionary missions.
As you absolutely know by now, the Musou battles contain working round massive maps to attain particular targets. Hundreds of troopers stand in your manner, and also you’ll wish to kill a superb majority of them to power-up your stronger assaults and obtain that all-important S rating. Most fight includes using particular combos of X and Y, dodging or blocking, and utilizing your particular abilities on the proper time.
As with Three Homes, you may be taught and assign particular abilities for every class, permitting you to optimize your characters for the best way you propose to make use of them.
Every chapter of the story incorporates round 5 – 6 smaller battles in which you’ll decide your combatants. Successful these battles means that you can discover the speedy area for sources to make use of again at camp. Additionally they typically open up extra battles or mean you can degree up a personality’s abilities. Though you may replay battles at any level within the sport to enhance your grade, you may’t discover the areas when you’ve accomplished that chapter. So, seize these sources when you can.
Chapter completion solely occurs after a bigger battle. These take longer to finish and might contain as much as eight troopers—the 4 you management and 4 assistants. Not like in earlier Warriors video games, the troopers you’re not controlling are literally fairly good at their job. The weapon triangle is as soon as once more in impact, so in the event you ship an ax wielder off to combat a lance-carrying stronghold captain, you may relaxation assured your buddy will win with out your assist. The sport even offers you a power share to find out how environment friendly that solder might be. In different phrases, you gained’t have to fret about each single side of the battle. You may change between the 4 fundamental troopers at any time and use the battle map to ship the others off to particular areas to protect or assault (I want there was an choice to have them robotically bust open these well being or cash jars).
You may as well pair up with some other teammate on the sphere. Relying upon their relationship, this may permit the secondary character to offer bonuses as you combat, together with a extra highly effective particular assault. I usually used this characteristic to guard characters who weren’t robust sufficient to outlive on their very own.
In fact, none of this is sort of a correct Hearth Emblem sport. The crossover occurs between battles the place you should use your sources to unlock and assign new lessons, swap out character abilities, prepare dinner meals and go on expeditions to boost affinity, enhance amenities to acquire higher weapons, and many others. I like that you may spend cash to extend a soldier’s degree. With so many recruitable characters, it’s simple for some characters to lag. Nonetheless, it’s possible you’ll discover you’re manner behind the advisable degree for one in every of them to outlive a paralogue by which she’s required. As an alternative of grinding for hours, you may merely degree her up with money to get the job executed (offered you haven’t spent your cash on different gadgets).
All of this implies there’s a stunning quantity of depth and technique to Hearth Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes. On the upper issue ranges, I think about that technique could also be essential. I fought by way of on regular mode with permadeath activated (as a result of Hearth Emblem), and I discovered I hardly ever needed to fuss with shields or arts/magic or whatnot to hack my manner by way of.
Not like different Warriors video games, I didn’t even have to fret about battlefield positioning. If I wanted a personality to take out a selected enemy at a sure spot, he may cross the map in a matter of seconds. Attaining S ranks is the best it’s ever been, so replaying ranges was extra about utilizing my underutilized home members than a must get hold of a selected reward.
So, in the event you get pleasure from Hearth Emblem video games for the brainy components, you’re not going to get that right here. There’s extra to maintain you engaged than within the authentic Hearth Emblem Warriors, however you’re nonetheless not being strategically examined. You get a greater story, although, and the characters have extra to supply than, “Hey, right here I’m! How loopy is that this?!” Shez is type of cool, serving because the antithesis of Byleth, and I like that you just get to play as a number of the characters you couldn’t in Three Homes.
The sport appears to be like proper, too, and performs effectively. You’ll expertise some slowdown when unleashing the extra animated assaults on a lot of enemies, nevertheless it doesn’t mess up the motion a lot.
Hearth Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes serves as a superb companion to Three Homes, offered you’re OK with Musou. I’ll dare say your entire Three Homes setup works higher as a Musou sport than as a turn-based technique sport as a result of all that camp administration feels extra welcome after the depth of the motion ranges. However Samurai Warriors 5 is a greater Musou sport than Three Hopes, so go for that one first in the event you don’t have an attachment to the Hearth Emblem franchise.
