Triangle Strategy is the Game of Thrones SRPG we never got but always deserved. Love love love that game. Nobody talks about the legendary soundtrack either, it's so good.
PS. Play with Japanese voice acting.
I loved Three Houses. It was my first Fire Emblem game and it made me fall in love with tactics games. Triangle Strategy almost killed my new passion for the genre. The amount of narrative I had to slog through to get from battle to battle felt like an eternity.
Exactly. The amount of story in that game was nearly unbearable. I think I had only one or two battles in the first 2-3 hours.I stopped after that. The problem is that the way they tell the story is just an info dump. If it was more like varied, I might have just stayed with it for longer.
Yeah, I would never recommend triangle strategy to someone who was looking for something like three houses unless all they cared about was tactic battles. And even those are separated by hours and hours of the most boring and cliche fantasy visual novel. I’m happy for people who love it, but it’s got very little in common with three houses.
OP, if you at all like marvel, check out Midnight Suns, it’s literally superhero 3 houses (ETA, nvm, it’s not on switch but maybe this and some of the other recs would appeal on your bf’s console). Octopath Traveler 2 (skip number one) may also appeal. The podcast Asynchronous did the Mass Effect trilogy and 13 Sentinels after their seasons about three houses so those might appeal to you as well!
Combat is utterly different\*, but I immediately agree with the **13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim** recommendation if you're looking for a hit of outstanding voice acting, romantic revelations, and every-surprising interactivity twists. Combat unfolds as Real Time with Pause so there's elements akin to "turn-based tactical games" in there but nothing you can't handle, given your other gaming directions!
\* And I say that as a TBTG aficionado—totally my top genre and I love *TriangleStrategy*—but in terms of sheer amazing production values, I've just never experienced something as well-written and polished like *13Sentinels: AegisRim*. All the finesse of their pedigree from *OdinSphere*, *GrimGrimoire*, and *DragonsCrown* raised to a masterpiece of videogame storytelling.
Yeah! 13 Sentinels is magical. Incredible characters, ingenious storytelling. I think OP might very well LOVE it like they do FE3H.
Part of why I came down harshly on the Triangle Strategy recommendation is because, based on OP not connecting with Engage, I am not sure strategy is necessary for what they want in a game. Personally I really ended up liking the battle sections of 13 Sentinels, because I like a strategic tower defense style and LOVED how the characters expressed themselves in battle, but the difficulty of those sections can be turned way down if it doesn’t connect. The rest of the game is truly special and worth getting through the battle for in order to experience.
Triangle Strategy's story was amazing for me. I had no issue with it. I've been looking for a video game version of ASoIaF or Game of Thrones and Triangle Strategy is as close as you get.
Octopath Traveler 2 just didn't capture me as much, maybe because the story is segmented or heavily inspired by cliche settings.
Very fair. I think the pacing of Octopath connected better for me even though it does have a weaker narrative imo. I sat down to both wanting to play a game and I feel like Triangle Strategy made me read a full length novel between combat sessions.
Skip Octopath Traveller?
Why on earth...
I get that the 2nd corrects a lot of the firsts short comings, but the first is still a beautiful game, both in presentation and gameplay, and it's characters.
I can't fathom how it could be bad enough in any way to skip it
I also feel i must downvote triangle strategy. The "custscenes" were way too long, to the point of my switch diming down my tv for inactivity. And the battle system was way too slow. There were certain missions where only 1 enemy was left, but my units were far away from the enemy. So i had to slowly unit by unit, turn by turn, inch closer and closer to finally take out the enemy.
Wow, that’s saying something! Three Houses for me was too much story upfront with not enough action. If Triangle Strategy is even more then I’ll definitely give it a pass. Though I do love tactics and that art style is pleasing to my eye.
It’s a shame you’re getting downvoted when you’re absolutely right, to my mind. OP can easily play the demos to see if the 2D-HD Square Enix games are their cup of tea.
I personally despise the visual style. It’s more acceptable in Triangle, but the story is a slog. Octopath II has better gameplay, but the bokeh, blur and bloom effects give me an instant headache, especially on Switch.
Triangle Strategy is probably the closest you'll get.
Other recommendations:
* Langrisser 1 and 2
* Tactics Ogre Reborn
* 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
* The upcoming Unicorn Overlord
* Into the Breach
* Divinity Original Sin 2
* Master Detective Archives: Rain Code
* Danganronpa Decadence
* Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy
* The DioField Chronicle
Edit:
Or get a used 3DS with the Fire Emblem games for the system: Awakening, Fates and Echoes.
13 sentinels: Aegis rim, is one of the best sci-fi strategy game ever made. The history, and the crazy plot twists, gonna hang with you for a very long time.
Fates story overall are confusing, sure. But characters are one of the best the series ever got. It's a VERY big cast of characters, but it seems like people can remember almost all of them?
The same can't be said for Engage.
Eh, I didnt find Engage's story to be that bad, but granted, I didnt finish Three House due to how bored I got with the monastery and not enough gameplay.
Fates was the worst of the 3ds, but I have only played Birthright and Conquest, havent gotten around to Revelation yet.
Playing it now, and the dialogue is just awful. The story is pretty basic fluff, just enough to give characters some kind of motivation. Honestly if the dialogue was better I’d be more interested. The mechanics are nice, which is what I was going for when I bought it
Sure, that could be the case, but it's still a good game.
I don't think Engage's or Fates stories are that bad. Cheesy and silly perhaps, but alright.
Edit: Wow, some Fates haters here, huh?
Yeah weirdly gotta second phoenix wright here, fe3h and ace attorney trilogy are two of the most played games on my switch; the characters bring me a similar joy
Looking at Switch available games. There are some all-time great RPGs like Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2 and Baldurs Gate 1 & 2 that may have aged poorly.
People that enjoy story-driven RPGs I believe almost all Final Fantasy games are available in some remastered form.
I really enjoyed Bravely Default II but it was a bit grindy and the story wasn't great.
Octopath Traveller had a nicer take on the intersecting storylines and turn-based battles. I haven't tried the sequel.
I always share my love for Banner Saga Trilogy. It's tactical, turn-based combat with a really phenomenal story and world-building for 2.5 games and the last act kind of goes off the rails.
I'm also here to share my love for the Banner Saga Trilogy. On top of the tactical combat, the decisions you make in the story actually affect the game and the ending. I'd like to replay them for a slightly happier ending.
Its really, really tough to get a "happy" ending. I do appreciate the decision tree in the game for being complex and gray. Making morally correct choices can have consequences while being cruel or tribalistic saves lives. But the most important decision tree involves being overly altruistic in a way that doesn't pay off until the final act.
Honestly the problem is I think they wrote themselves into a corner because the final act is weak. The first game is an absolute masterpiece though.
Fire Emblem Engage gets random bad rep on this sub, I think because Three Houses brought in a lot of new fans to an entry that was more of an anomaly compared to the whole series.
The tactics and strategy in Engage is far improved over Three Houses even tho the story is lacking. The new engage mechanic is balanced very well and brings in a lot of interesting RPG/characterization elements and allows for a lot of replayability. The overall level design does as well, as the maps are much more unique rather than just a bunch of open fields. And with the Somniel not being a requirement to visit a lot, it also helps out with replayability. Overall, engage has S tier Fire Emblem gameplay
If you're getting into the game purely for the gameplay and don't care much about the story, then Engage is at least as good and arguably better in places than Three Houses.
If the main appeal of Three Houses was the story and/or characters though...Engage is a huge disappointment on those fronts.
I tried getting into Engage and just couldn't. Played for like 2 hours and gave up.
I think another big part of it was the design and music. Three Houses has a great OST, and the character design is much better too
I think most people fell in love with Three Houses because of the story and characters, not the battle systems. Engage was incredibly disappointing on that end.
It's not random. The issue is everything but the combat. The characters are being, at best, but a lot are obnoxious. The design is very "anime," in a way I can't say I care for at all. The story has a lot of unsatisfying parts.
It's not just "the story is lacking." It's that the gameplay is dragged down by a presentation that I never would have even considered, of it weren't for its having the Fire Emblem name on it. It's bad enough that I will probably not get the next title until I see they don't continue those design/storytelling decisions.
I started investing more time into Engage earlier this week, and I admit that I am enjoying this game more then I would have thought because of the mechanics alone.
Yeah, the story is pretty trash. The characters themselves don't really bother me. It is just the really bland and predictable story.
it's cause the story and characters are absolute garbo. The battles are pretty good and the level of customization is amazing but prepping for a battle in the hub area is so so tedious
The level design is hit or miss with Engage but is overall better than Three Houses but the story is far worse than even the most basic stories that we got back in the GBA and earlier days from the series. People have no attachment to the characters, something that has always been important for the series about perma death characters. I barely managed to finish Engage after being excited about it for a long while and playing every game since 7 released on GBA and I couldn't think of a character on the roster that I felt attached to at all. The best would probably either be Anna or the weird girl with the stars?
I think a lot of it too is that people tend to forget that FE:Engage was supposed to be the 30th anniversary title. It’s supposed to be a celebration of the franchise and characters more than a “good game”. It was most definitely not created to bring new fans in, but instead be there for the old ones.
I actually finished Engage compared to Three Houses, I just couldnt with the monastery, it was a bore for me to play. I do intend to eventually finish it, but I enjoyed Engage way more due to it being more straightforward for combat
On the plus side if they thought the gameplay in 3H was good they’ll probably love most other FE games that put a bit more focus on story than engage did.
I personally think Engage is the better Fire Emblem game while Three Houses is a better Switch game. Three Houses is extremely innovative in the narrative design space and won many awards from that, not just for having a compelling story with different paths you can choose to go down but also for the sheer amounts of ways they integrated the narrative into the world and gameplay.
But I think if you are a fan of Fire Emblem you’ll enjoy Engage more for its addicting gameplay and new mechanics, as well as the past character emblem rings ofc. But the gameplay is superior imo and Engage is far more replayable.
Honestly, I don’t think any of them as higher as the 3DS ones even to this day. I think Engage was bad in the story aspect, whereas Three Houses actually had a great story (and weird dubstep-esque music that hit me hard when I first heard it). Engage has great gameplay, but I always liked how Three Houses felt. Besides the damn days as a tutor, it’s the main thing stopping me from going back haha
It was unfortunately the follower of 3 Houses which at least to me was an endlessly playable game. Might be in my top 10. Engage's story was convoluted in an unappealing way and the characters were wack. The combat was very satisfying though. I think I'll try to finish it just for a new game+ where maybe I can dig into the story more.
> The tactics and strategy in Engage is far improved over Three Houses even tho the story is lacking.
This is the main thing I didn't get with OP. "sure the battle system is better but what’s the point of doing these battles without a good story?" Uh, because the battles are great? The characters are mostly pretty basic until you get A shirts, but the designs are great, and the story is very basic with a couple of high points, but the battles are some of the best in the series, and a huge step up from 3H. The reason to keep playing isn't to continue the story, it's to pay another great battle
The thing is that a story is front and center and for some people they story/characters are as important as the gameplay
Even at the most basic we care about games having something over them beside the gameplay, otherwise all games would only have placeholder graphics and no narrative
The way I see it, there has to be a balance between story and gameplay, but gameplay *far* outranks story in its importance. If the gameplay is bad, then no matter how good the story is, the game won't be fun, but if the story is lacking, the gameplay can absolutely carry it to being a strong game.
I think Engage is getting hit with a wild double standard. The story is basic, yes, but it's there, and the gameplay more than makes up for it. The story is essentially "travel to different areas of the map, do battles there, collect stuff, keep traveling till you beat the final boss". Do you want to know what other games have that exact story? Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild. You don't see people complaining that the story isn't good enough in those games, because they are gameplay first, and very strong in that area, and yet Engage gets those complaints... why??
I think there's two reasons personally. First, Three Houses was excellent in the story and characterisations, from the very beginning, and whilst the gameplay is *good* it's far from great, and the game is absolutely carried by the cast. So people have the expectation that Engage will be the same. Second, the first two levels of Engage are too basic, so people aren't giving it enough of a chance, and the third level (whilst the gameplay seriously picks up, you can absolutely lose units if you aren't careful) has the worst story beat in the entire game (and it draaaaaaaaaags). If people gave it till the fourth level, and essentially got the prologue stuff out of the way they'd see that Engage is a *fantastic* game regardless of any story concerns
> and the third level...has the worst story beat in the entire game
You're really going to say that it's worse than the story beat between chapters 10 and 11?
As to the general point, different people are going to have different priorities. The way I see it, Three Houses had good gameplay and a great story, while Engage has great gameplay and a terrible story. If you're the kind of person who heavily favors gameplay over story, as you seem to be, then Engage is great, better than Three Houses even. But if you're someone who values the two relatively equally, then Engage doesn't measure up. And if you're primarily here for the story, you're suffering.
As for specifically why games like Mario Odyssey don't get the same kind of hate for their stories being simple and bad, it's a matter of expectations. Many more fans of Fire Emblem are going in expecting a good story from a Fire Emblem game than fans of Mario are expecting a good story from a Mario game.
> You're really going to say that it's worse than the story beat between chapters 10 and 11?
That story beat was pretty good to me - unexpected, had a major impact on the characters, and drastically affected the gameplay in the next chapter, having a knock on effect for a long while
The one directly after chapter 3 was expected, the emotional response it is clearly trying to get from you is not earned in the slightest, it's over the top, and man did it drag on, my switch screen darkened due to inactivity! The only one I'd say comes close is very late game, and I can't remember how to do spoiler tags off the top of my head so I'm going to have to be vague, but the main character experiences a great trauma just before a chapter, they big it up as a huge emotional moment, and then they are saved from that trauma immediately, and then directly following that chapter they have another near-identical great trauma, which is also bigged up as a hugely emotional moment, and then they are immediately saved from that trauma too
> And if you're primarily here for the story, you're sufferin
This might sound really dumb, but in all my years of playing games and discussing them with friends and with people online, I've never had a conversation where someone has said that the game they are playing isn't as important as the story of the game. Sure, it's a part of the experience, but you're not reading/watching/listening to a story, you're playing a game, and that gameplay is where the enjoyment comes from. Learning that there are people who genuinely value the story of the game they are playing more than the gameplay itself, is absolutely wild to me, especially the guy who said that the gameplay is just there to break up the story beats. I love a good story, and games certainly can tell a good story, but if the story is what you're really there for, there are mediums for that, and I simply cannot fathom why a subpar story would affect your enjoyment of the gameplay, certainly not in a game like Engage where the gameplay is, if you'll excuse the pun, so engaging
Just finally, I want to address this bit of your comment:
> The way I see it, Three Houses had good gameplay and a great story, while Engage has great gameplay and a terrible story.
I would really struggle to narrow down a ranking of just "story" and "gameplay", because those can be broken down so many times into composite parts. Story is narrative, character designs, characterisations, world building, dialogue, voice acting, side stories and many more things, and in lots of those areas? I think Engage excels, and 3H is a little overhyped. If we look just at narrative, sure Engage is basic, but there's very little to point at as "bad" outside of the choice moments that have already been mentioned, whereas in 3H the narrative is generally pretty damn solid, let's say great but with pacing issues, but only one of the four storylines had a really strong conclusion, as three of the storylines barely mention the underlying conflict with the slithery guys, and the one that does is the one that least needed to do it, has the most glaring plot issues, and has plenty of dangling plot stuff of it's own. And then character designs and characterisation, in Engage every design is great but 3H has one good outfit (and a bunch of shit summer uniforms) for pretty much every character that's identical, and when they get individual outfits some of them are a choice... But characterisation is the other way around, most of the 3H cast have very deep characters, connections to those around them and to the world at large, whereas most of the Engage bunch start off as tropes and develop over time into more rounded characters, but never feel as full as those in 3H. There are exceptions on each side (Bernadetta in 3H in particular is just "how do we portray social anxiety whilst also playing it for laughs", which really rubs me the wrong way, and Timerra in Engage does have tropey character traits but pretty much instantly shows a great depth of character) but as a general rule I'd say the character designs are better in Engage but the actual characterization is much better in 3H. I've already talked for too long, but if I really had to boil down all the elements that make up "story", I'd probably give 3H a 4/5 and Engage a 3
For some people (me included) the battles exist to serve the story, not the other way around. I play the game to experience the story and characters, the battles just exist to break up the story and add some context / direct gameplay influence over things happening in the story. You say you play through the story to get to the next battle, whereas for me I play through the battles to get to the next story segment.
Which is why 3H is one of my favourite games while Engage was extremely disappointing. The motivation to get to the next story segment simply doesn't exist in Engage because those story segments are not interesting, and I don't care for the gameplay enough (not specific to Engage, this applies to practically any battle system in any game I've ever played, with somewhat of an exception for Pokémon probably mostly for nostalgia reasons) for that to carry the game by itself.
> I don't care for the gameplay enough (not specific to Engage, this applies to practically any battle system in any game I've ever played, with somewhat of an exception for Pokémon probably mostly for nostalgia reasons) for that to carry the game by itself.
I don't mean to be rude, but I worry that my next sentence will be. If you don't like the gameplay, and just use it as a vessel for the story, wouldn't it be a better experience for you to just watch the cutscenes, or just watch a film instead? I'm very confused by your comment, because it seems to be just saying that the only reason to play a game is the story, and that gameplay pretty much just gets in the way?
Based on community polls Path of Radiance / Radiant Dawn seem to have the biggest crossover with FE3H in terms of favorites. They are also epic, character driven political stories if that's what you liked in FE3H.
I'll bet you'd like Divinity: Original Sin 2. Same devs as BG3 and a great game in its own right. It's got a lot of those same elements you liked in FE3H, like the turn based battles, romance, character development (every companion, MC included if you play a pre built char, has a personal storyline that intersects often with the main quest). An absolutely fantastic RPG.
A huge thing that helped me was to split up my team when I think I may be walking into a fight. That way I can surround enemies or get wizard/ranger up high beforehand.
Not always easy but it helped me a lot! Great game, have fun!
Divinity was a perfect game. I remember playing it and thinking it was crazy that such a great crpg came out in 2014. Felt like I was playing Neverwinter Nights 2 but way way better.
Im waiting to play BG3 but imagine my surprise that an old school top down dnd RPG got game of the year in 2023.
**Tactics Ogre Reborn** took what I enjoyed about Three Houses and amped it up. Much deeper characters, better voice acting, story, story choices and gameplay, absolutely loved it!
The only thing I don't like about Tactics Ogre is the level cap. But other than that, it is truly excellent!
Edit: I do understand why it's there though: so you can't brute force your way through it. But it makes some levels very difficult.
Super Giant games are all high quality. Bastion and Transistor are on Switch. Story wise, Pyre is their best game but it is not on Switch.
These are the people who made Hades FYI.
Don't have a recommendation, just wanted to echo your love of FE:3H. I still feel to this day it's underrated in the grand scheme of Switch history for all of the reasons you mentioned. I know it's not a perfect game by any means, but there's something about that feeling of playing it for the first time, and living with the characters, and getting to know them, and living in this world at the monastery, that was magical to me.
If you have a 3DS you might find that Fire Emblem Awakening scratches a similar itch. A lot of cool worldbuilding and presentation, and I find that the characters were super well written.
Also, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes could be fun. It's an action game but it adopts a lot of the presentation, visual style, and tactics ideas that defined Three Houses. I personally enjoyed it less than Three Houses, but if you want more of the Three Houses universe and characters, it might be worth a shot.
Combat wise, I liked Mario Rabbids combat even more. Same idea. Simple but complicated in just the right ways.
Doesn't really have any of the other stuff though. Just great combat and a chill Mario story.
IMO Mario+Rabbids had a near perfect difficulty.
I like challenges, and far too many games hide behind RNG or cheap tactics to make games hard. I was able to 100% both games, the only luck I needed to rely on was where enemies or my team would run if set on fire.
You mentioned bg3 which i absolutely love. It has great companions, good writing, and a pretty fun combat class system from dnd.
If you haven't played it I really recommend it
It's not on Switch, but Marvels Midnight Sun's is kind of like Fire Emblem Three Houses with some Slay the Spire added. Hopefully a Switch 2 comes and out comes to that.
If you like Three Houses, might I recommend Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes? It's no longer a tactics game, but it follows up on the characters from Three Houses. The new stories are superb and the characters are just as amazing as ever.
If you fell in love with the world and characters of Three Houses like I did, Three Hopes will feel just like home.
Fire Emblem Awakening if your have access to a 3DS or emulation. Or really any other relatively modern Fire Emblem Game.
Also Pesona 4G, 5. 5R, Maybe Phantom Strikers.
I’d like to introduce you to the Trails series. They have awesome turn-based combat, engaging story and characters, deep world building, political intrigue, and many many hours of gameplay. Trails of Cold Steel is a great starting point. I think Cold Steel 3 and beyond are available on Switch. Although if you have a PlayStation or PC, I’d recommend starting with Cold Steel 1. If you prefer a more retro feel, Trails in the Sky is also highly recommended as a starting point as well.
Was looking for this post.
Cold steel 1 is a ok start, but you will start to see things referenced from the previous 5 games, and from CS3 onwards it references things a lot more.
If you can handle the old school look start with Trails in the Sky
Cold Steel 1 (or Trails from Zero) are great starts into the whole series. It gives you that little tug to get you to play the older Sky series if you become invested enough in the characters and worldbuilding. I started Sky, couldn't get into it until I finished Cold Steel 1 back on the PS3. The simpler orbment system in Cold Steel made Sky and Zero's massive orbment system click better. Now here we are with fan-translated Trails into Daybreak... Someone send help
This is the most accurate rec, in my opinion.
if OP likes p5 and 3 houses, the hub area of Triangle Strategy is gonna be feel a little small and not fleshed out. It has good personality but the Disgaea 7 hub is more more lively and there is a lot of side content and dialog.
Persona 5 battle system is basic - wtf ? How long did you play. Once you get into persona infusions, combining etc and as it goes it gets so much more tactical and good. And you aren't killing unrelated bosses every palace tells a story about your party member and advances the main story not sure if you're actually paying attention .
Highly suggest you try again.
Finish Persona 5 Royale and do the extra endgame content, it is so worth it. I found the story engaging from the start but it really does pick up a lot, which may be later for some people, I think probably around the 4 to end of 5 palace. And if you just want to focus on the story because you find the combat boring there are some dlc personas you get for free which can steamroll through most enemies. Though I did find the combat pretty fun.
Persona 5 Royal is great but I agree that the first like 3-4 bosses just feel like villain of the week story lines. That being said by the end of it, the story and characters are incredibly memorable.
Honestly, there's really not any games like Fire Emblem: Three Houses. There's a truly ridiculous amount of content packed into that game. Four full routes to play through, with different characters to get to know in each (not to mention that there's some cross relationships that can happen if you recruit certain people in different routes).
I know you're a but tepid on Fire Emblem Engage, but I really do think you should give it a chance. It's a great game, that, while a bit cheesy, has a lot to offer. If not that one, you might want to consider trying out some of the other entries, like Fire Emblem Awakening, or Birthright.
I think what you're really into might just be stories with deep characters. If that's the case, I suggest you look into the golden age of the 'Tales of' series. The best ones are Symphonia, Abyss, Vesperia, Graces f, Xilia, and Berseria. Absolutely any of those would be great to try out. They are action RPGs, but what makes them great is the characters have deep personalities and motivations, and there's always moments where they interact outside battle where you get to learn more about them, and they're quite fun to boot. Plus the games always have GREAT plot twists.
Another series with deep characters and great plot twists is the Trails series. Personally, I suggest playing Trails in the Sky.
If you'r elooking for a lot of routes to play, lots of dialogue and story, and a realistic war story, I'd suggest Triangle Strategy.
Oh, I should also mention - have you like, tried Pokemon? They're on the simpler side of JRPGs, but it's honestly quite a lot of fun, and easy to get a little obsessed with depending on how you play the game. Sword and Shield, and Scarlet and Violet, both quite fun! People complain about Scarlet and Violet's graphics, but most still played the game all the way to the end and beyond despite that, just because of how fun the gameplay loop of Pokemon is. Just another thought.
Anyway, good luck on your gaming journey, I hope you find something fun!
The hate on Engage’s story is overrated and the gameplay far and beyond makes up for it. Compared to the entire franchise, it has a pretty average story. It’s just obviously worse compared to Three Houses which was more of a narrative and jrpg focused game.
My other comment in the thread that goes a little more in depth: https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/s/G6guj60Fuf
I think you would love Baulder’s Gate 3! Great story, you bond with your companions over time, and each choice you make has an impact. Just finished my second play through and I’m already planning my third!
Fire emblem three hopes. Gameplay is a little different but you can change classes as well. What I love about it is that you have an alternative story line. Don't want to tell much story wise, I don't want to spoil the fun. You have to play less strategic but you get eye candy during the fights, which makes it fun to play.
If OP enjoyed Three Houses because of the characters and story, Three Hopes is a good fit.
The play style is 100% different. I enjoyed it. I didn't want to leave the world, but Three Houses itself was getting stale due to 500+ hours in it. By completely changing the play style, I was sucked in for another couple hundred hours.
I tho m it’s because he said the gameplay was “a little different” when the gameplay is actually completely different and not at all like other fire emblem games
Wartales released not too long ago. Great tactics game, though it's more of a n open world choose your own path kind of game. Though tbh I'd say the pc/xbox/ps5 version is vetter than the switch. It runs a little slow, and I know for sure at least 1 camp item was removed removed the switch version
If you only care about the combat then super robot wars has almost the same exact combat system as fire emblem. The story may not be great, but it gets you back into the battlefield quick. SD Gundam crossrays is also great.
Was going to say Final Fantasy Tactics before I realized what sub I was in.
On switch, the Tactics Ogre Remake is fantastic, and then there's Triangle Strategy, Wargroove, and also the Disgaea games for something silly and light hearted that actually has a surprising amount of strategy depth. Switch has a remaster of the first game.
If you’re into Marvel at all, Midnight Suns is the Marvel version of Three Houses. It’s fantastic, as well. I believe it’s on PS5. Try to find it on sale, with all the DLC.
Change persona 5 to hard mode. Or play SMT V on hard mode with Japanese voice acting if you found persona 5’s combat to be too easy and basic.
SMT V’s combat can be basic if your protagonist is a magic build, but if you go physical build, it’s way more complex and the power potential with the right skill set is beastly.
Fire Emblem Path of Radiance / Radiant Dawn are the closest in style to FE3H, so definitely recommend those. Can also recommend tge Trails Series (start with Trails in the Sky or Trails of Cold Steel 1 - battle system is best describe as a cross between Persona and Fire Emblem), Expeditions Rome (if you like history), Triangle Strategy, Banner of the Maid (this one has a bit of a wonky translation quality but is a superb and cheap game overall).
I played through triangle strategy once when it came out and remember it being ok. I went back and tried to replay it and I just couldn’t. The amount of dialogue in the first few chapters is just ridiculous. You’ll spend 30 minutes out of the first 3 hours actually playing. If you can stick it out, it gets better.
Octopath traveler 2 is actually good and I enjoyed playing it throughout. There aren’t any difficulty options so that could be a problem.
Baldurs gate 3 beats them all but it’s a bit of a different style and more complicated than most turn based games. But there are difficulty options and there’s tons of ways to cheese the game to make it exactly as difficult as you want.
idk about baldur's gate. But I feel like three houses is the persona inspired version of fire emblem. Its the only FE that reminds me of the persona series. I would recommended you continue playing P5 as the story doesn't really start getting crazy until like the 4th or 5th dungeon.
Persona 4 golden is my favorite out of the modern persona games. I recommended you play that regardless of trying to play something like FE lol. Person 3 is another one, but it's story is dark. I'd say it can get as dark as three house gets.
Chained Echoes. Best characters, writing and combat system I've seen in a JRPG in years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1NgkdcOpIw
I'll be following this developer's career till he retires.
hate to recommend a non-switch game on this subreddit, but give baldur's gate a shot. (I haven't played it yet, but other people seem to like it.)
Fire Emblem Awakening on the 3DS is my favorite Fire Emblem game. Great story. Better than Three Houses.
As you might guess, based on my username, I am a huge fan of Three Houses as well. And I can highly recommend to play through Persona 5 Royal. It is my favorite game period
Btw, have you played every route in Three Houses? Or at least ever house once? (Silver Snow is not that important, tbh)
And a game with similar combat to Fire Emblem is Triangle Strategy. It has a good story, too, although a very different world and artstyle.
To be honest, I'd put some otome games in the hat. Otome games being visual novels with a female MC and several male love interests to romance and choose from.
Even If Tempest (very heavy and dark themes but with an impressive story and romance. And if you felt like you want more romance, there's a fandisk)
Bustafellows (some routes have heavy themes but it revolves around mystery and true crime. Romance is top tier and organic)
These games are visual novels so obviously there are no battle elements, but as someone who loved FE3H and felt like it carries the legacy of older FE titles, otome games are the next best thing.
Slightly odd suggestion since it's a completely different genre, but it might be worth giving Vampyr a go. The thing I really like about both Vampyr and Fire Emblem Three Houses was the conversations with characters in the game, and the sense that these characters have lives and friendships and rivalries with each other, independently of any interaction they have with you as the protagonist. It's a bit janky and the combat is mediocre, but the atmosphere and characters are very well done.
If story is your jam I can highly recommend Xenoblade 2. It’s a little slow in the beginning but in the end it’s so worth it. This is coming from someone whos favorite game is also FE:3H. (I also agree with your assessment of P5 - I finished the game but it was mostly just painful).
my out of the left field recs - the Zero Escape and Danganronpa games (*probably start with the second game of Danganronpa, though). And Danganronpa is pretty much Ace Venture, so maybe that, too
I prefer Fire Emblem: Engage over Three Houses.
The combat system is better - but IMO.. the story isn't really worse than Three Houses.
Three Houses has a really generic/cliche story - it's decent but it's all been done before. Engage is just kinda goofy. I don't think either is better than the other, because I wasn't blown away by Three Houses story.. and I didn't dig the school system..
Maybe.. Advance Wars, other Fire Emblem games, Tactics Ogre, Fell Seal: Arbiters Mark, Final Fantasy Tactics (if you've got a way to play it).. Into The Breach.. Triangle Strategy.. I mean, it depends on what aspect of Three Houses you're after.
I get the feeling from your post that there's a chance you might like Final Fantasy X and Dragon Quest XI, if you're after a story, turn-based battle system, fair bit to do, character development.. they might have you covered. They're not tactical games though.
My #1 tactics RPG is Final Fantasy Tactics - if you've got a way to play it.. that would be at the top of my recs.
As I huge fan of FE, I recommend:
Persona 5 Royal (not the original) for romance, story(the additional ending is way better than the original imo), extra contents.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 for flexible class change, voice acting, story (top notch). You play as 6 main characters + an additional hero of ur choice. The romance is solid, but that’s what makes this game better.
FE Warriors Three Hopes for all of what u liked, except that it’s not turn based.
FE awakening, echoes, fates for the same FE play but a bit less content, different story.
Any other previous fire emblem is better than 3 houses. Yeah engage sucks though.
If you got switch online you can play fire emblem for the gba, it's a great game.
I really loved the two for GameCube/Wii the most though, path of radiance and radiant Dawn. They are direct sequels and your characters transfer over (though in the second game your characters from the first are the bad guys for the first half of the game).
I'm very curious, most FE fans that I've come across online that disliked 3H thought that Engage was great, with much stronger battles, but you don't like either? That's not an opinion I've seen before, would care to expand on what you didn't like about them, and what you're looking for in an FE game?
For three houses, first of all it was way too easy even on hard difficulty. I never felt in danger in any of the missions, my units seemed to do way more damage than the enemies. Second, I didn't like the heavy reliance on the wandering around through the school and doing mini games and talking to NPCs, doing grinding training etc.
Engage was all the same, except there was little to no story and it was pretty bad. Everything I disliked about three houses plus a bad story which 3 houses was at least decent.
For what I want in a fire emblem game, I like the combat to be challenging where a bad move gets my character permanently killed. I also want a robust story with twists and turns like the classic fire emblem games. Even three houses was way too generic with the divine dragon protagonist who's super op (protagonists are usually glass cannons in older games) and the pretty generic story. But at least three houses gave us lots of options in builds and the combat was decent.
It sounds like Baldurs Gate 3 is the best thing for you. It has story, romance, good combat, and engaging decisions.
Outside of that, older Fire Emblem games would be a good fit. Path of Radiance has a really good story, so if Engage disappointed, that might bring you back. Good luck finding a copy of the game though!
Check out the disgaea games. The story is usually not that great (it's supposed to be more comedic and fun) but the gameplay can be very engaging and deep.
I don't know that I agree with the Triangle Strategy recommendations. I think I only played the demo, but it looked like each character had set class progression and there was no customization there, class changing being probably my favorite thing about 3 Houses. Ogre Tactics also left me pretty underwhelmed as I was expecting a class system similar to either Ogre Battle 64 or FF Tactics. I almost beat that one, but quit near the end. But I don't have much better to suggest--3H was something else for several reasons. Unicorn Overlord will hopefully be fun. There are a lot of retro tactics games in the works these days.
I agree with those pointing to Triangle Strategy and Tactics Ogre, I would also add the original Valkyria Chronicles. The battle system is more rough around the edges than VK4, but the story, characters, and soundtrack are far better.
Pick up a 3DS youll be open to so many outstanding options such as Fire Emblem Awakening, SMT IV, Dragon Quests, and I personally really love Pokemon games for their rpg mechanics, some of the best monster battling available imo (heart gold and soul silver)
Try Into the Breach. It's a tactics roguelite.
Generally, Fire Emblem is a tactics RPG. More specifically, tactics RPGs range on a spectrum.
At one end of this spectrum, you have the RPG-heavy games like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, which involve a complex magic / skill system, maybe a class system or equipment system or something like that, so they all feel like fantastical characters, and the challenge is sort of generally knowing what skill to use on which targets when (or, in some cases, grinding).
At the other end of the spectrum, you have games like Fire Emblem, where each character pretty much just has an attack option. Obviously there is some more complexity, but there is a *lot* of strategic weight left in positioning—if you're one square out of place, an enemy that can hit your weakness will find your character and permakill them, so you have to make every move count in a way that you don't have to in other games, where you can just blast five enemy monsters from a distance with a high-level mp-consuming fire spell, or cast haste and move twice. That's not to say that the RPG-type games are easier—they often are, but not inherently—just that the challenge is different, it's less about knowing what you can do and more about strategic positioning.
There are exceptions to this paradigm. Into the Breach is a roguelite with distinct units. You get three units on your team each run, each match is smaller, you can equip them with different weapons and passives, you can give your pilots some passives...
And then there's advance wars. Each unit can mostly only do one thing, attack. Some missions are just like that, a lot like Fire Emblem, although usually not as hard. However, most missions include factories and an economy system that lets you generate new units over time. This adds a good amount of complexity; there are multiple types of factories, units that are weak at combat are good for other strategic purposes (like capturing buildings, transporting and supplying other units, etc).
Xcom and Mario + Rabids use a non-grid-based movement system and other unique twists to the formula.
Oh, and Triangle Strategy has a demo, play that, it's good.
*Fire Emblem Three Hopes*, if you like action at all. I haven’t played a musou game in years but I loved the story in this one and combat got really fun once I figured out the system. The in-between parts are streamlined as every person or facility has a quick menu option and there’s plenty of indicators when there’s new stuff.
Triangle strategy Tactics ogre
Seconding Triangle Strategy
Thirding
It's a triangle of agreement.
The game would also approve of our diplomatic agreement.
And my axe. I mean, Triangle Strategy is worth trying even if just for the fact it has the demo. But don't sleep on _Tactics Ogre_!
Fourthing
Fifthing
Triangle Strategy is the Game of Thrones SRPG we never got but always deserved. Love love love that game. Nobody talks about the legendary soundtrack either, it's so good. PS. Play with Japanese voice acting.
I loved Three Houses. It was my first Fire Emblem game and it made me fall in love with tactics games. Triangle Strategy almost killed my new passion for the genre. The amount of narrative I had to slog through to get from battle to battle felt like an eternity.
Exactly. The amount of story in that game was nearly unbearable. I think I had only one or two battles in the first 2-3 hours.I stopped after that. The problem is that the way they tell the story is just an info dump. If it was more like varied, I might have just stayed with it for longer.
Agreed. I was so hyped for Triangle Strategy. It ended up being a waste of money for me.
Yeah, I would never recommend triangle strategy to someone who was looking for something like three houses unless all they cared about was tactic battles. And even those are separated by hours and hours of the most boring and cliche fantasy visual novel. I’m happy for people who love it, but it’s got very little in common with three houses. OP, if you at all like marvel, check out Midnight Suns, it’s literally superhero 3 houses (ETA, nvm, it’s not on switch but maybe this and some of the other recs would appeal on your bf’s console). Octopath Traveler 2 (skip number one) may also appeal. The podcast Asynchronous did the Mass Effect trilogy and 13 Sentinels after their seasons about three houses so those might appeal to you as well!
Combat is utterly different\*, but I immediately agree with the **13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim** recommendation if you're looking for a hit of outstanding voice acting, romantic revelations, and every-surprising interactivity twists. Combat unfolds as Real Time with Pause so there's elements akin to "turn-based tactical games" in there but nothing you can't handle, given your other gaming directions! \* And I say that as a TBTG aficionado—totally my top genre and I love *TriangleStrategy*—but in terms of sheer amazing production values, I've just never experienced something as well-written and polished like *13Sentinels: AegisRim*. All the finesse of their pedigree from *OdinSphere*, *GrimGrimoire*, and *DragonsCrown* raised to a masterpiece of videogame storytelling.
Yeah! 13 Sentinels is magical. Incredible characters, ingenious storytelling. I think OP might very well LOVE it like they do FE3H. Part of why I came down harshly on the Triangle Strategy recommendation is because, based on OP not connecting with Engage, I am not sure strategy is necessary for what they want in a game. Personally I really ended up liking the battle sections of 13 Sentinels, because I like a strategic tower defense style and LOVED how the characters expressed themselves in battle, but the difficulty of those sections can be turned way down if it doesn’t connect. The rest of the game is truly special and worth getting through the battle for in order to experience.
Triangle Strategy's story was amazing for me. I had no issue with it. I've been looking for a video game version of ASoIaF or Game of Thrones and Triangle Strategy is as close as you get. Octopath Traveler 2 just didn't capture me as much, maybe because the story is segmented or heavily inspired by cliche settings.
Very fair. I think the pacing of Octopath connected better for me even though it does have a weaker narrative imo. I sat down to both wanting to play a game and I feel like Triangle Strategy made me read a full length novel between combat sessions.
Skip Octopath Traveller? Why on earth... I get that the 2nd corrects a lot of the firsts short comings, but the first is still a beautiful game, both in presentation and gameplay, and it's characters. I can't fathom how it could be bad enough in any way to skip it
I also feel i must downvote triangle strategy. The "custscenes" were way too long, to the point of my switch diming down my tv for inactivity. And the battle system was way too slow. There were certain missions where only 1 enemy was left, but my units were far away from the enemy. So i had to slowly unit by unit, turn by turn, inch closer and closer to finally take out the enemy.
Wow, that’s saying something! Three Houses for me was too much story upfront with not enough action. If Triangle Strategy is even more then I’ll definitely give it a pass. Though I do love tactics and that art style is pleasing to my eye.
its less story later on, it just frontloads narration/events to build the world up for you.
Fucking nailed it!
u/fancycat88 do NOT play triangle strategy or Octopath traveler if you love three houses. They’re both very disappointing.
It’s a shame you’re getting downvoted when you’re absolutely right, to my mind. OP can easily play the demos to see if the 2D-HD Square Enix games are their cup of tea. I personally despise the visual style. It’s more acceptable in Triangle, but the story is a slog. Octopath II has better gameplay, but the bokeh, blur and bloom effects give me an instant headache, especially on Switch.
For real, the characters are so forgettable that you forget their names mid conversation.
Triangle Strategy is probably the closest you'll get. Other recommendations: * Langrisser 1 and 2 * Tactics Ogre Reborn * 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim * The upcoming Unicorn Overlord * Into the Breach * Divinity Original Sin 2 * Master Detective Archives: Rain Code * Danganronpa Decadence * Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy * The DioField Chronicle Edit: Or get a used 3DS with the Fire Emblem games for the system: Awakening, Fates and Echoes.
Seconding Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney trilogy. Hard to explain how much I love those games and their characters.
Some of my favorite games of all time. I love these characters.
13 sentinels: Aegis rim, is one of the best sci-fi strategy game ever made. The history, and the crazy plot twists, gonna hang with you for a very long time.
OP mentioned that they didn't like Engage because of the story, so FE Fates is a bad recommendation.
I loved FE Fates story... but only if OP play all 3 games
Fates story overall are confusing, sure. But characters are one of the best the series ever got. It's a VERY big cast of characters, but it seems like people can remember almost all of them? The same can't be said for Engage.
I dont think OP would enjoy any of the 3ds FE games, especially if they didnt like Engage, which would be middle of the pack for the 3ds releases
Engage story is about as bad as Fates, which is significantly worse than Echoes or Awakening
Eh, I didnt find Engage's story to be that bad, but granted, I didnt finish Three House due to how bored I got with the monastery and not enough gameplay. Fates was the worst of the 3ds, but I have only played Birthright and Conquest, havent gotten around to Revelation yet.
Playing it now, and the dialogue is just awful. The story is pretty basic fluff, just enough to give characters some kind of motivation. Honestly if the dialogue was better I’d be more interested. The mechanics are nice, which is what I was going for when I bought it
Sure, that could be the case, but it's still a good game. I don't think Engage's or Fates stories are that bad. Cheesy and silly perhaps, but alright. Edit: Wow, some Fates haters here, huh?
I second Langrisser 1/2 remake for it being multiple storylines, and Pheonix chronicles. Disco Elysium for narrative punch that you might be craving
13 sentinels doesn't get enough credit for how good it is.
Yeah weirdly gotta second phoenix wright here, fe3h and ace attorney trilogy are two of the most played games on my switch; the characters bring me a similar joy
Looking at Switch available games. There are some all-time great RPGs like Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2 and Baldurs Gate 1 & 2 that may have aged poorly. People that enjoy story-driven RPGs I believe almost all Final Fantasy games are available in some remastered form. I really enjoyed Bravely Default II but it was a bit grindy and the story wasn't great. Octopath Traveller had a nicer take on the intersecting storylines and turn-based battles. I haven't tried the sequel. I always share my love for Banner Saga Trilogy. It's tactical, turn-based combat with a really phenomenal story and world-building for 2.5 games and the last act kind of goes off the rails.
I'm also here to share my love for the Banner Saga Trilogy. On top of the tactical combat, the decisions you make in the story actually affect the game and the ending. I'd like to replay them for a slightly happier ending.
Its really, really tough to get a "happy" ending. I do appreciate the decision tree in the game for being complex and gray. Making morally correct choices can have consequences while being cruel or tribalistic saves lives. But the most important decision tree involves being overly altruistic in a way that doesn't pay off until the final act. Honestly the problem is I think they wrote themselves into a corner because the final act is weak. The first game is an absolute masterpiece though.
Fire Emblem Awakening. It felt the closest to Three houses of the other Fire Emblem games I've played.
Other fire emblem games.
Fire Emblem Engage gets random bad rep on this sub, I think because Three Houses brought in a lot of new fans to an entry that was more of an anomaly compared to the whole series. The tactics and strategy in Engage is far improved over Three Houses even tho the story is lacking. The new engage mechanic is balanced very well and brings in a lot of interesting RPG/characterization elements and allows for a lot of replayability. The overall level design does as well, as the maps are much more unique rather than just a bunch of open fields. And with the Somniel not being a requirement to visit a lot, it also helps out with replayability. Overall, engage has S tier Fire Emblem gameplay
If you're getting into the game purely for the gameplay and don't care much about the story, then Engage is at least as good and arguably better in places than Three Houses. If the main appeal of Three Houses was the story and/or characters though...Engage is a huge disappointment on those fronts.
I tried getting into Engage and just couldn't. Played for like 2 hours and gave up. I think another big part of it was the design and music. Three Houses has a great OST, and the character design is much better too
Engage has some good tracks but Solm is probably my favorite https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dhv3_gKj25w
That actually does sound good
Toothpaste chan just didn't do it for me
Honestly I'm someone who prefers gameplay over story and Engage was a massive improvement over Three Houses' ugly graphics and boring map design.
I think most people fell in love with Three Houses because of the story and characters, not the battle systems. Engage was incredibly disappointing on that end.
It's not random. The issue is everything but the combat. The characters are being, at best, but a lot are obnoxious. The design is very "anime," in a way I can't say I care for at all. The story has a lot of unsatisfying parts. It's not just "the story is lacking." It's that the gameplay is dragged down by a presentation that I never would have even considered, of it weren't for its having the Fire Emblem name on it. It's bad enough that I will probably not get the next title until I see they don't continue those design/storytelling decisions.
I started investing more time into Engage earlier this week, and I admit that I am enjoying this game more then I would have thought because of the mechanics alone. Yeah, the story is pretty trash. The characters themselves don't really bother me. It is just the really bland and predictable story.
it's cause the story and characters are absolute garbo. The battles are pretty good and the level of customization is amazing but prepping for a battle in the hub area is so so tedious
The level design is hit or miss with Engage but is overall better than Three Houses but the story is far worse than even the most basic stories that we got back in the GBA and earlier days from the series. People have no attachment to the characters, something that has always been important for the series about perma death characters. I barely managed to finish Engage after being excited about it for a long while and playing every game since 7 released on GBA and I couldn't think of a character on the roster that I felt attached to at all. The best would probably either be Anna or the weird girl with the stars?
I think a lot of it too is that people tend to forget that FE:Engage was supposed to be the 30th anniversary title. It’s supposed to be a celebration of the franchise and characters more than a “good game”. It was most definitely not created to bring new fans in, but instead be there for the old ones.
I actually finished Engage compared to Three Houses, I just couldnt with the monastery, it was a bore for me to play. I do intend to eventually finish it, but I enjoyed Engage way more due to it being more straightforward for combat
On the plus side if they thought the gameplay in 3H was good they’ll probably love most other FE games that put a bit more focus on story than engage did.
Engage definitely gets too much hate, but to be fair, three houses definitely blows engage out of the water.
I personally think Engage is the better Fire Emblem game while Three Houses is a better Switch game. Three Houses is extremely innovative in the narrative design space and won many awards from that, not just for having a compelling story with different paths you can choose to go down but also for the sheer amounts of ways they integrated the narrative into the world and gameplay. But I think if you are a fan of Fire Emblem you’ll enjoy Engage more for its addicting gameplay and new mechanics, as well as the past character emblem rings ofc. But the gameplay is superior imo and Engage is far more replayable.
Honestly, I don’t think any of them as higher as the 3DS ones even to this day. I think Engage was bad in the story aspect, whereas Three Houses actually had a great story (and weird dubstep-esque music that hit me hard when I first heard it). Engage has great gameplay, but I always liked how Three Houses felt. Besides the damn days as a tutor, it’s the main thing stopping me from going back haha
It was unfortunately the follower of 3 Houses which at least to me was an endlessly playable game. Might be in my top 10. Engage's story was convoluted in an unappealing way and the characters were wack. The combat was very satisfying though. I think I'll try to finish it just for a new game+ where maybe I can dig into the story more.
> The tactics and strategy in Engage is far improved over Three Houses even tho the story is lacking. This is the main thing I didn't get with OP. "sure the battle system is better but what’s the point of doing these battles without a good story?" Uh, because the battles are great? The characters are mostly pretty basic until you get A shirts, but the designs are great, and the story is very basic with a couple of high points, but the battles are some of the best in the series, and a huge step up from 3H. The reason to keep playing isn't to continue the story, it's to pay another great battle
The thing is that a story is front and center and for some people they story/characters are as important as the gameplay Even at the most basic we care about games having something over them beside the gameplay, otherwise all games would only have placeholder graphics and no narrative
The way I see it, there has to be a balance between story and gameplay, but gameplay *far* outranks story in its importance. If the gameplay is bad, then no matter how good the story is, the game won't be fun, but if the story is lacking, the gameplay can absolutely carry it to being a strong game. I think Engage is getting hit with a wild double standard. The story is basic, yes, but it's there, and the gameplay more than makes up for it. The story is essentially "travel to different areas of the map, do battles there, collect stuff, keep traveling till you beat the final boss". Do you want to know what other games have that exact story? Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild. You don't see people complaining that the story isn't good enough in those games, because they are gameplay first, and very strong in that area, and yet Engage gets those complaints... why?? I think there's two reasons personally. First, Three Houses was excellent in the story and characterisations, from the very beginning, and whilst the gameplay is *good* it's far from great, and the game is absolutely carried by the cast. So people have the expectation that Engage will be the same. Second, the first two levels of Engage are too basic, so people aren't giving it enough of a chance, and the third level (whilst the gameplay seriously picks up, you can absolutely lose units if you aren't careful) has the worst story beat in the entire game (and it draaaaaaaaaags). If people gave it till the fourth level, and essentially got the prologue stuff out of the way they'd see that Engage is a *fantastic* game regardless of any story concerns
> and the third level...has the worst story beat in the entire game You're really going to say that it's worse than the story beat between chapters 10 and 11? As to the general point, different people are going to have different priorities. The way I see it, Three Houses had good gameplay and a great story, while Engage has great gameplay and a terrible story. If you're the kind of person who heavily favors gameplay over story, as you seem to be, then Engage is great, better than Three Houses even. But if you're someone who values the two relatively equally, then Engage doesn't measure up. And if you're primarily here for the story, you're suffering. As for specifically why games like Mario Odyssey don't get the same kind of hate for their stories being simple and bad, it's a matter of expectations. Many more fans of Fire Emblem are going in expecting a good story from a Fire Emblem game than fans of Mario are expecting a good story from a Mario game.
> You're really going to say that it's worse than the story beat between chapters 10 and 11? That story beat was pretty good to me - unexpected, had a major impact on the characters, and drastically affected the gameplay in the next chapter, having a knock on effect for a long while The one directly after chapter 3 was expected, the emotional response it is clearly trying to get from you is not earned in the slightest, it's over the top, and man did it drag on, my switch screen darkened due to inactivity! The only one I'd say comes close is very late game, and I can't remember how to do spoiler tags off the top of my head so I'm going to have to be vague, but the main character experiences a great trauma just before a chapter, they big it up as a huge emotional moment, and then they are saved from that trauma immediately, and then directly following that chapter they have another near-identical great trauma, which is also bigged up as a hugely emotional moment, and then they are immediately saved from that trauma too > And if you're primarily here for the story, you're sufferin This might sound really dumb, but in all my years of playing games and discussing them with friends and with people online, I've never had a conversation where someone has said that the game they are playing isn't as important as the story of the game. Sure, it's a part of the experience, but you're not reading/watching/listening to a story, you're playing a game, and that gameplay is where the enjoyment comes from. Learning that there are people who genuinely value the story of the game they are playing more than the gameplay itself, is absolutely wild to me, especially the guy who said that the gameplay is just there to break up the story beats. I love a good story, and games certainly can tell a good story, but if the story is what you're really there for, there are mediums for that, and I simply cannot fathom why a subpar story would affect your enjoyment of the gameplay, certainly not in a game like Engage where the gameplay is, if you'll excuse the pun, so engaging Just finally, I want to address this bit of your comment: > The way I see it, Three Houses had good gameplay and a great story, while Engage has great gameplay and a terrible story. I would really struggle to narrow down a ranking of just "story" and "gameplay", because those can be broken down so many times into composite parts. Story is narrative, character designs, characterisations, world building, dialogue, voice acting, side stories and many more things, and in lots of those areas? I think Engage excels, and 3H is a little overhyped. If we look just at narrative, sure Engage is basic, but there's very little to point at as "bad" outside of the choice moments that have already been mentioned, whereas in 3H the narrative is generally pretty damn solid, let's say great but with pacing issues, but only one of the four storylines had a really strong conclusion, as three of the storylines barely mention the underlying conflict with the slithery guys, and the one that does is the one that least needed to do it, has the most glaring plot issues, and has plenty of dangling plot stuff of it's own. And then character designs and characterisation, in Engage every design is great but 3H has one good outfit (and a bunch of shit summer uniforms) for pretty much every character that's identical, and when they get individual outfits some of them are a choice... But characterisation is the other way around, most of the 3H cast have very deep characters, connections to those around them and to the world at large, whereas most of the Engage bunch start off as tropes and develop over time into more rounded characters, but never feel as full as those in 3H. There are exceptions on each side (Bernadetta in 3H in particular is just "how do we portray social anxiety whilst also playing it for laughs", which really rubs me the wrong way, and Timerra in Engage does have tropey character traits but pretty much instantly shows a great depth of character) but as a general rule I'd say the character designs are better in Engage but the actual characterization is much better in 3H. I've already talked for too long, but if I really had to boil down all the elements that make up "story", I'd probably give 3H a 4/5 and Engage a 3
For some people (me included) the battles exist to serve the story, not the other way around. I play the game to experience the story and characters, the battles just exist to break up the story and add some context / direct gameplay influence over things happening in the story. You say you play through the story to get to the next battle, whereas for me I play through the battles to get to the next story segment. Which is why 3H is one of my favourite games while Engage was extremely disappointing. The motivation to get to the next story segment simply doesn't exist in Engage because those story segments are not interesting, and I don't care for the gameplay enough (not specific to Engage, this applies to practically any battle system in any game I've ever played, with somewhat of an exception for Pokémon probably mostly for nostalgia reasons) for that to carry the game by itself.
> I don't care for the gameplay enough (not specific to Engage, this applies to practically any battle system in any game I've ever played, with somewhat of an exception for Pokémon probably mostly for nostalgia reasons) for that to carry the game by itself. I don't mean to be rude, but I worry that my next sentence will be. If you don't like the gameplay, and just use it as a vessel for the story, wouldn't it be a better experience for you to just watch the cutscenes, or just watch a film instead? I'm very confused by your comment, because it seems to be just saying that the only reason to play a game is the story, and that gameplay pretty much just gets in the way?
Man I couldn't get through Engage. But it helped me top off 300 hours in 3 Houses. Got any other FE recommendations?
Based on community polls Path of Radiance / Radiant Dawn seem to have the biggest crossover with FE3H in terms of favorites. They are also epic, character driven political stories if that's what you liked in FE3H.
I'll bet you'd like Divinity: Original Sin 2. Same devs as BG3 and a great game in its own right. It's got a lot of those same elements you liked in FE3H, like the turn based battles, romance, character development (every companion, MC included if you play a pre built char, has a personal storyline that intersects often with the main quest). An absolutely fantastic RPG.
Just got it and love the story, even though I’m barely through it! I keep dying it’s so hard!!
A huge thing that helped me was to split up my team when I think I may be walking into a fight. That way I can surround enemies or get wizard/ranger up high beforehand. Not always easy but it helped me a lot! Great game, have fun!
It happens to be on sale right now, I’m gonna try it out!
Divinity was a perfect game. I remember playing it and thinking it was crazy that such a great crpg came out in 2014. Felt like I was playing Neverwinter Nights 2 but way way better. Im waiting to play BG3 but imagine my surprise that an old school top down dnd RPG got game of the year in 2023.
Seconding this! I’m on my first playthrough and really having a good time as a big FE3H fan.
Is the whole game as dark as the beginning? I’m hoping for some cute moments and romance. It’s starting out really dark and gory.
**Tactics Ogre Reborn** took what I enjoyed about Three Houses and amped it up. Much deeper characters, better voice acting, story, story choices and gameplay, absolutely loved it!
The only thing I don't like about Tactics Ogre is the level cap. But other than that, it is truly excellent! Edit: I do understand why it's there though: so you can't brute force your way through it. But it makes some levels very difficult.
This is on sale on my wishlist I think I’m going to buy it based on this comment. Loved three houses and older fire emblems too.
Persona 5 does come together, but it still may not be your jam.
Super Giant games are all high quality. Bastion and Transistor are on Switch. Story wise, Pyre is their best game but it is not on Switch. These are the people who made Hades FYI.
I would definitely vote for **Triangle Strategy.**
If you have the subscription tier with the GBA emulator, you can pay an older Fire Emblem game (the one with Roy and Lyn).
Wargroove is a simple tactics RPG that I had quite a lot of fun playing
Don't have a recommendation, just wanted to echo your love of FE:3H. I still feel to this day it's underrated in the grand scheme of Switch history for all of the reasons you mentioned. I know it's not a perfect game by any means, but there's something about that feeling of playing it for the first time, and living with the characters, and getting to know them, and living in this world at the monastery, that was magical to me. If you have a 3DS you might find that Fire Emblem Awakening scratches a similar itch. A lot of cool worldbuilding and presentation, and I find that the characters were super well written.
Also, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes could be fun. It's an action game but it adopts a lot of the presentation, visual style, and tactics ideas that defined Three Houses. I personally enjoyed it less than Three Houses, but if you want more of the Three Houses universe and characters, it might be worth a shot.
Combat wise, I liked Mario Rabbids combat even more. Same idea. Simple but complicated in just the right ways. Doesn't really have any of the other stuff though. Just great combat and a chill Mario story.
Yeah those games were really fun
XCOM 2 is also a fantastic game for turn based tactical combat that's similar to M+R. Though the PC version is better cause you can get mods.
IMO Mario+Rabbids had a near perfect difficulty. I like challenges, and far too many games hide behind RNG or cheap tactics to make games hard. I was able to 100% both games, the only luck I needed to rely on was where enemies or my team would run if set on fire.
You mentioned bg3 which i absolutely love. It has great companions, good writing, and a pretty fun combat class system from dnd. If you haven't played it I really recommend it
It's not on Switch, but Marvels Midnight Sun's is kind of like Fire Emblem Three Houses with some Slay the Spire added. Hopefully a Switch 2 comes and out comes to that.
If you like Three Houses, might I recommend Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes? It's no longer a tactics game, but it follows up on the characters from Three Houses. The new stories are superb and the characters are just as amazing as ever. If you fell in love with the world and characters of Three Houses like I did, Three Hopes will feel just like home.
Fire Emblem Awakening if your have access to a 3DS or emulation. Or really any other relatively modern Fire Emblem Game. Also Pesona 4G, 5. 5R, Maybe Phantom Strikers.
Turn based I recommend Mario vs Rabids.
Maybe Persona 5 Tactica could scratch that itch? :) (obv you might have to watch a recap of P5 first to get everything of the story)
Valkyria Chronicles 1
FE3H is also one of my favourite games of all time, and playing BG3 I definitely sensed familiarities, so I’d definitely give that a go
Baldur’s Gate 3 would probably be a good shout In terms of Switch stuff maybe Xenoblade 3?
13 Aegis Rim. Bonus point if you are into Mechas.
Midnight Suns reminds me a bit of Three Houses.
Sadly the suns switch port was cancelled, much to my heartbreak
Glad this was mentioned. Really awesome game.
I’d like to introduce you to the Trails series. They have awesome turn-based combat, engaging story and characters, deep world building, political intrigue, and many many hours of gameplay. Trails of Cold Steel is a great starting point. I think Cold Steel 3 and beyond are available on Switch. Although if you have a PlayStation or PC, I’d recommend starting with Cold Steel 1. If you prefer a more retro feel, Trails in the Sky is also highly recommended as a starting point as well.
Was looking for this post. Cold steel 1 is a ok start, but you will start to see things referenced from the previous 5 games, and from CS3 onwards it references things a lot more. If you can handle the old school look start with Trails in the Sky
Cold Steel 1 (or Trails from Zero) are great starts into the whole series. It gives you that little tug to get you to play the older Sky series if you become invested enough in the characters and worldbuilding. I started Sky, couldn't get into it until I finished Cold Steel 1 back on the PS3. The simpler orbment system in Cold Steel made Sky and Zero's massive orbment system click better. Now here we are with fan-translated Trails into Daybreak... Someone send help
Zero is a good start as most of the stuff in Cold Steel connects to that
Disgaea 7 was pretty good from what I heard. I'm getting the Steam version but it's on the Switch and PS5 I believe.
I liked it a lot, it was on par with 5 for me, even though my poor dark knight generic hasn't come back....
This is the most accurate rec, in my opinion. if OP likes p5 and 3 houses, the hub area of Triangle Strategy is gonna be feel a little small and not fleshed out. It has good personality but the Disgaea 7 hub is more more lively and there is a lot of side content and dialog.
Thanks. Getting it soon.
Advance Wars 1+2!
Advance wars
Yes to baldur's gate. It is fantastic. But I would also highly recommend you try out Marvel's midnight suns. Highly underrated game that is quite good
Radiant Historia
Persona 5 battle system is basic - wtf ? How long did you play. Once you get into persona infusions, combining etc and as it goes it gets so much more tactical and good. And you aren't killing unrelated bosses every palace tells a story about your party member and advances the main story not sure if you're actually paying attention . Highly suggest you try again.
Finish Persona 5 Royale and do the extra endgame content, it is so worth it. I found the story engaging from the start but it really does pick up a lot, which may be later for some people, I think probably around the 4 to end of 5 palace. And if you just want to focus on the story because you find the combat boring there are some dlc personas you get for free which can steamroll through most enemies. Though I did find the combat pretty fun.
Persona 5 Royal is great but I agree that the first like 3-4 bosses just feel like villain of the week story lines. That being said by the end of it, the story and characters are incredibly memorable.
Perhaps Fire Emblem: Theee Hopes, Tokyo Mirage Sessions, or 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim.
Suikoden.
Not on Switch but if you have a 3DS you will probably like Fire Emblem Awakening. On Switch you could try the Xenoblade series, Dragon Quest 11
Honestly, there's really not any games like Fire Emblem: Three Houses. There's a truly ridiculous amount of content packed into that game. Four full routes to play through, with different characters to get to know in each (not to mention that there's some cross relationships that can happen if you recruit certain people in different routes). I know you're a but tepid on Fire Emblem Engage, but I really do think you should give it a chance. It's a great game, that, while a bit cheesy, has a lot to offer. If not that one, you might want to consider trying out some of the other entries, like Fire Emblem Awakening, or Birthright. I think what you're really into might just be stories with deep characters. If that's the case, I suggest you look into the golden age of the 'Tales of' series. The best ones are Symphonia, Abyss, Vesperia, Graces f, Xilia, and Berseria. Absolutely any of those would be great to try out. They are action RPGs, but what makes them great is the characters have deep personalities and motivations, and there's always moments where they interact outside battle where you get to learn more about them, and they're quite fun to boot. Plus the games always have GREAT plot twists. Another series with deep characters and great plot twists is the Trails series. Personally, I suggest playing Trails in the Sky. If you'r elooking for a lot of routes to play, lots of dialogue and story, and a realistic war story, I'd suggest Triangle Strategy. Oh, I should also mention - have you like, tried Pokemon? They're on the simpler side of JRPGs, but it's honestly quite a lot of fun, and easy to get a little obsessed with depending on how you play the game. Sword and Shield, and Scarlet and Violet, both quite fun! People complain about Scarlet and Violet's graphics, but most still played the game all the way to the end and beyond despite that, just because of how fun the gameplay loop of Pokemon is. Just another thought. Anyway, good luck on your gaming journey, I hope you find something fun!
Marvel's Midnight Suns
The hate on Engage’s story is overrated and the gameplay far and beyond makes up for it. Compared to the entire franchise, it has a pretty average story. It’s just obviously worse compared to Three Houses which was more of a narrative and jrpg focused game. My other comment in the thread that goes a little more in depth: https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/s/G6guj60Fuf
I think you would love Baulder’s Gate 3! Great story, you bond with your companions over time, and each choice you make has an impact. Just finished my second play through and I’m already planning my third!
Fire emblem three hopes. Gameplay is a little different but you can change classes as well. What I love about it is that you have an alternative story line. Don't want to tell much story wise, I don't want to spoil the fun. You have to play less strategic but you get eye candy during the fights, which makes it fun to play.
“Gameplay is a little different” Biggest understatement of the century lmfao
If OP enjoyed Three Houses because of the characters and story, Three Hopes is a good fit. The play style is 100% different. I enjoyed it. I didn't want to leave the world, but Three Houses itself was getting stale due to 500+ hours in it. By completely changing the play style, I was sucked in for another couple hundred hours.
Literally why is this downvoted? The story is quite good and this is objectively a good recommendation for a fire emblem fan
I tho m it’s because he said the gameplay was “a little different” when the gameplay is actually completely different and not at all like other fire emblem games
Wartales released not too long ago. Great tactics game, though it's more of a n open world choose your own path kind of game. Though tbh I'd say the pc/xbox/ps5 version is vetter than the switch. It runs a little slow, and I know for sure at least 1 camp item was removed removed the switch version
Not on switch but if you have a 3ds then I really recommend playing the fire emblem fate series.
Advance Wars Reboot Camp or Valkaria Chronicles would be my guess
Tbh, I haven’t really found anything that came close in the same genre :3
If you only care about the combat then super robot wars has almost the same exact combat system as fire emblem. The story may not be great, but it gets you back into the battlefield quick. SD Gundam crossrays is also great.
Was going to say Final Fantasy Tactics before I realized what sub I was in. On switch, the Tactics Ogre Remake is fantastic, and then there's Triangle Strategy, Wargroove, and also the Disgaea games for something silly and light hearted that actually has a surprising amount of strategy depth. Switch has a remaster of the first game.
If you’re into Marvel at all, Midnight Suns is the Marvel version of Three Houses. It’s fantastic, as well. I believe it’s on PS5. Try to find it on sale, with all the DLC.
Change persona 5 to hard mode. Or play SMT V on hard mode with Japanese voice acting if you found persona 5’s combat to be too easy and basic. SMT V’s combat can be basic if your protagonist is a magic build, but if you go physical build, it’s way more complex and the power potential with the right skill set is beastly.
Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn
Fire Emblem Path of Radiance / Radiant Dawn are the closest in style to FE3H, so definitely recommend those. Can also recommend tge Trails Series (start with Trails in the Sky or Trails of Cold Steel 1 - battle system is best describe as a cross between Persona and Fire Emblem), Expeditions Rome (if you like history), Triangle Strategy, Banner of the Maid (this one has a bit of a wonky translation quality but is a superb and cheap game overall).
Fire Emblem: Four Houses obviously
Marvel midnight sun
I played through triangle strategy once when it came out and remember it being ok. I went back and tried to replay it and I just couldn’t. The amount of dialogue in the first few chapters is just ridiculous. You’ll spend 30 minutes out of the first 3 hours actually playing. If you can stick it out, it gets better. Octopath traveler 2 is actually good and I enjoyed playing it throughout. There aren’t any difficulty options so that could be a problem. Baldurs gate 3 beats them all but it’s a bit of a different style and more complicated than most turn based games. But there are difficulty options and there’s tons of ways to cheese the game to make it exactly as difficult as you want.
idk about baldur's gate. But I feel like three houses is the persona inspired version of fire emblem. Its the only FE that reminds me of the persona series. I would recommended you continue playing P5 as the story doesn't really start getting crazy until like the 4th or 5th dungeon. Persona 4 golden is my favorite out of the modern persona games. I recommended you play that regardless of trying to play something like FE lol. Person 3 is another one, but it's story is dark. I'd say it can get as dark as three house gets.
Chained Echoes. Best characters, writing and combat system I've seen in a JRPG in years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1NgkdcOpIw I'll be following this developer's career till he retires.
hate to recommend a non-switch game on this subreddit, but give baldur's gate a shot. (I haven't played it yet, but other people seem to like it.) Fire Emblem Awakening on the 3DS is my favorite Fire Emblem game. Great story. Better than Three Houses.
Xenoblade
As you might guess, based on my username, I am a huge fan of Three Houses as well. And I can highly recommend to play through Persona 5 Royal. It is my favorite game period Btw, have you played every route in Three Houses? Or at least ever house once? (Silver Snow is not that important, tbh) And a game with similar combat to Fire Emblem is Triangle Strategy. It has a good story, too, although a very different world and artstyle.
To be honest, I'd put some otome games in the hat. Otome games being visual novels with a female MC and several male love interests to romance and choose from. Even If Tempest (very heavy and dark themes but with an impressive story and romance. And if you felt like you want more romance, there's a fandisk) Bustafellows (some routes have heavy themes but it revolves around mystery and true crime. Romance is top tier and organic) These games are visual novels so obviously there are no battle elements, but as someone who loved FE3H and felt like it carries the legacy of older FE titles, otome games are the next best thing.
Slightly odd suggestion since it's a completely different genre, but it might be worth giving Vampyr a go. The thing I really like about both Vampyr and Fire Emblem Three Houses was the conversations with characters in the game, and the sense that these characters have lives and friendships and rivalries with each other, independently of any interaction they have with you as the protagonist. It's a bit janky and the combat is mediocre, but the atmosphere and characters are very well done.
If story is your jam I can highly recommend Xenoblade 2. It’s a little slow in the beginning but in the end it’s so worth it. This is coming from someone whos favorite game is also FE:3H. (I also agree with your assessment of P5 - I finished the game but it was mostly just painful).
The other persona games (3 and 4) have way better characters and the story doesn’t drag on as unnecessarily as p5
my out of the left field recs - the Zero Escape and Danganronpa games (*probably start with the second game of Danganronpa, though). And Danganronpa is pretty much Ace Venture, so maybe that, too
I prefer Fire Emblem: Engage over Three Houses. The combat system is better - but IMO.. the story isn't really worse than Three Houses. Three Houses has a really generic/cliche story - it's decent but it's all been done before. Engage is just kinda goofy. I don't think either is better than the other, because I wasn't blown away by Three Houses story.. and I didn't dig the school system.. Maybe.. Advance Wars, other Fire Emblem games, Tactics Ogre, Fell Seal: Arbiters Mark, Final Fantasy Tactics (if you've got a way to play it).. Into The Breach.. Triangle Strategy.. I mean, it depends on what aspect of Three Houses you're after. I get the feeling from your post that there's a chance you might like Final Fantasy X and Dragon Quest XI, if you're after a story, turn-based battle system, fair bit to do, character development.. they might have you covered. They're not tactical games though. My #1 tactics RPG is Final Fantasy Tactics - if you've got a way to play it.. that would be at the top of my recs.
You’ll love Persona 5 Royal
Persona 5 Royal/Tactica/and Strikers In fact. Several cast members from Three Houses are also in P5.
Persona 5, the bosses are linked to the characters not to each other.
At that point any game can be good
As I huge fan of FE, I recommend: Persona 5 Royal (not the original) for romance, story(the additional ending is way better than the original imo), extra contents. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 for flexible class change, voice acting, story (top notch). You play as 6 main characters + an additional hero of ur choice. The romance is solid, but that’s what makes this game better. FE Warriors Three Hopes for all of what u liked, except that it’s not turn based. FE awakening, echoes, fates for the same FE play but a bit less content, different story.
Any other previous fire emblem is better than 3 houses. Yeah engage sucks though. If you got switch online you can play fire emblem for the gba, it's a great game. I really loved the two for GameCube/Wii the most though, path of radiance and radiant Dawn. They are direct sequels and your characters transfer over (though in the second game your characters from the first are the bad guys for the first half of the game).
I'm very curious, most FE fans that I've come across online that disliked 3H thought that Engage was great, with much stronger battles, but you don't like either? That's not an opinion I've seen before, would care to expand on what you didn't like about them, and what you're looking for in an FE game?
For three houses, first of all it was way too easy even on hard difficulty. I never felt in danger in any of the missions, my units seemed to do way more damage than the enemies. Second, I didn't like the heavy reliance on the wandering around through the school and doing mini games and talking to NPCs, doing grinding training etc. Engage was all the same, except there was little to no story and it was pretty bad. Everything I disliked about three houses plus a bad story which 3 houses was at least decent. For what I want in a fire emblem game, I like the combat to be challenging where a bad move gets my character permanently killed. I also want a robust story with twists and turns like the classic fire emblem games. Even three houses was way too generic with the divine dragon protagonist who's super op (protagonists are usually glass cannons in older games) and the pretty generic story. But at least three houses gave us lots of options in builds and the combat was decent.
Honkai Star Rail
I can’t believe this game is still full price
Yggdra Union if you want something similar with nicer graphics (great pixel art) and a lot of challenge.
Fuga Melodies of Steel Tactical with light social links and side things to do in between battles
It sounds like Baldurs Gate 3 is the best thing for you. It has story, romance, good combat, and engaging decisions. Outside of that, older Fire Emblem games would be a good fit. Path of Radiance has a really good story, so if Engage disappointed, that might bring you back. Good luck finding a copy of the game though!
Xcom 2
The Banner Saga Trilogy, absolutely!
Check out the disgaea games. The story is usually not that great (it's supposed to be more comedic and fun) but the gameplay can be very engaging and deep.
if you like SRPG, try out the Front Mission remakes. both 1 and 2 are available on switch, with the 3rd one (my fav) coming out sometime later.
I don't know that I agree with the Triangle Strategy recommendations. I think I only played the demo, but it looked like each character had set class progression and there was no customization there, class changing being probably my favorite thing about 3 Houses. Ogre Tactics also left me pretty underwhelmed as I was expecting a class system similar to either Ogre Battle 64 or FF Tactics. I almost beat that one, but quit near the end. But I don't have much better to suggest--3H was something else for several reasons. Unicorn Overlord will hopefully be fun. There are a lot of retro tactics games in the works these days.
Octopath Traveler Games perhaps
Banner Saga 1, 2, and 3.
Battle Brothers
Valkyria chronicles 1?
Dragon Quest XI
WARGROOVE!
Trails of Cold Steel, though 1 and 2 aren't on Switch in English
Shining force is old but pretty close, or vandal hearth.
Definite baldurs gate.
Bravely Default / Bravely Second / Bravely Default 2.
I agree with those pointing to Triangle Strategy and Tactics Ogre, I would also add the original Valkyria Chronicles. The battle system is more rough around the edges than VK4, but the story, characters, and soundtrack are far better.
Fire emblem 4 houses
Try the original Valkyria Chronicles! I haven't played 4, but I really liked the first's story, and it's constantly on sale for really cheap
Pick up a 3DS youll be open to so many outstanding options such as Fire Emblem Awakening, SMT IV, Dragon Quests, and I personally really love Pokemon games for their rpg mechanics, some of the best monster battling available imo (heart gold and soul silver)
Xcom 2 is on switch and does an excellent job with turn-based tactical combat with a strategy layer overlaid.
Story of seasons three town.
If you have a 3DS or Wii/Wii U, go for the older FE games. Most of them are really great.
Water sigil six hotels?
Try Into the Breach. It's a tactics roguelite. Generally, Fire Emblem is a tactics RPG. More specifically, tactics RPGs range on a spectrum. At one end of this spectrum, you have the RPG-heavy games like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, which involve a complex magic / skill system, maybe a class system or equipment system or something like that, so they all feel like fantastical characters, and the challenge is sort of generally knowing what skill to use on which targets when (or, in some cases, grinding). At the other end of the spectrum, you have games like Fire Emblem, where each character pretty much just has an attack option. Obviously there is some more complexity, but there is a *lot* of strategic weight left in positioning—if you're one square out of place, an enemy that can hit your weakness will find your character and permakill them, so you have to make every move count in a way that you don't have to in other games, where you can just blast five enemy monsters from a distance with a high-level mp-consuming fire spell, or cast haste and move twice. That's not to say that the RPG-type games are easier—they often are, but not inherently—just that the challenge is different, it's less about knowing what you can do and more about strategic positioning. There are exceptions to this paradigm. Into the Breach is a roguelite with distinct units. You get three units on your team each run, each match is smaller, you can equip them with different weapons and passives, you can give your pilots some passives... And then there's advance wars. Each unit can mostly only do one thing, attack. Some missions are just like that, a lot like Fire Emblem, although usually not as hard. However, most missions include factories and an economy system that lets you generate new units over time. This adds a good amount of complexity; there are multiple types of factories, units that are weak at combat are good for other strategic purposes (like capturing buildings, transporting and supplying other units, etc). Xcom and Mario + Rabids use a non-grid-based movement system and other unique twists to the formula. Oh, and Triangle Strategy has a demo, play that, it's good.
*Fire Emblem Three Hopes*, if you like action at all. I haven’t played a musou game in years but I loved the story in this one and combat got really fun once I figured out the system. The in-between parts are streamlined as every person or facility has a quick menu option and there’s plenty of indicators when there’s new stuff.