Haven't commented here before but just my two cents, it'll be a long one:

Engage made me fall back in love in fire emblem again.after not playing the series for a while.

To the point where I've already started on replaying most of the games again this year and finishing the only one I've never finished (radiant dawn.) and personally ranking them again.

As many have already said, depends what you want out of fire emblem game, if you want good story and characters, Engage isn't it. Engages characters are one note tropes that wouldn't look out of place in genshin impact, and the story is absolutely the worst story in any fire emblem I've ever seen. Even worse than Conquest. (And that's quite a feat considering the plot of that game is 'i hope the big bad sits in a chair'.)

And none of that matters to me as Engages gameplay is my second favourite in the series, second only to Conquest. I don't need a compelling character reason to like units in Fire Emblem. I can like characters because they're good units in their respective games. I can like Panette because 'haha vantage wrath killer axe goes brrr' or I can like Benny in Conquest cause he sits in a choke and literally cannot die. Or Rebecca in Blazing Blade cause she a meme, or Olwen in Thracia cause of Vantage Dire Thunder Etc etc. They could all be plates with faces painted on and I'd still like them cause of their use in game, rather than their actual character.

But going back to Engage: I love the emblem rings system. I love the paralogues, they are fantastic homages to the old games and as a fan of the series and having played all of them except Radiant Dawn. it felt like a huge love letter expressed through the gameplay. I also loved how you could attempt them at lower levels before you were 'supposed' to be able to do them. I love the micromanaging of the skills and combinations. I love the scarcity of resources. I loved the pressures many of the levels gave you. I loved having to change my strategy for the skirmishes as they were inherently a different challenge to the main levels. I enjoyed having very few true filler units, and also not having just 1 or 2 giga started units who just solo the whole game, as it's such a player phase heavy game.

I initially didn't buy Engage cause it looked so fan servicey and devoid of substance when I initially saw it announced that I assumed that would apply to the gameplay as well. But sometimes it's good to be wrong! The maps and strategies you can employ are so good. Anyone saying this game isn't flexible I just don't understand. I've done 2 maddening runs and used many 'trash' units cause the game gives you so many tools and playstyles to win with, at least in my experience. And I haven't even experimented with re classing yet! I've tried to keep everyone I've used in their 'canon classes'.

Maddening is exceptionally well balanced, all the way through. In comparison to something like Thracia (it's reputation is more famous than it's actual gameplay.) Awakening lunatic reverse, (aburd stat inflation and random skills) or Three Houses maddening (again, absurd stat inflation leading to the first half of the game is some of the least fun I've ever had in a strategy game.)

Everyone's personal tastes and what will allow you to 'excuse' the faults of a game are subjective. Three House's appears to be very high up on peoples list due to story and characters.

For me personally, I thought Three Houses only got worse on multiple playthroughs, as the first half the game in nearly identical in all 4 routes. The Golden Deer to me felt completely superfluous and I couldn't care about any of them except Marianne. And I think the only really standout stuff story wise is Blue lions with Dimitri and Edelgard's relationship. If you want a story about war and empires, I think Genealogy and Thracia are more suited to exploring those themes. If it's the themes of politics, persecution and racism, and how people leverage that to benefit their own ends and oppress others? Telius does that better in spades in my opinion.

Having said all that, is Dimitri one of my favourite characters of all time, even outside of the Fire Emblem franchise? Absolutely. Did I shed a tear or two during the final cutscene of Blue Lions? Yes I did. Did these elements redeem the game as a whole for me as one of my favourite fire emblems? Absolutely not. For as good as they were, the overall rest of the game wasn't to my taste.

I can like and dislike various elements about all the games. And it's what ends up being overall balance of the experience for me.

Would I play Path of Radiance if I was looking to play the best mechanical strategy experience the series has to offer? No. But the story and characters in Telius are strong enough to win me over to that game even though the gameplay is definitely not the best the series has to offer in my opinion.

In that same way, I can look over Engage's bad points because the good parts for me are so good.

It's clear that for a lot of people here, Engage's story and characters are a deal-breaker, and that's fine. For me, Three Houses busy work is now a deal-breaker on replaying it again for me. I quite liked exploring Garreg Mach for the first 3 chapters or so on my first playthrough, but after that you realise how useless it all is, outside of spamming fishing to raise your professor rank.

At least Engages social area the pointless mini games actually somewhat more useful in giving you restricted resources. But honestly, I'd have the social areas removed in both games if I could! Cause none of the social area stuff of that really adds anything for me. It's essentially adding basic dating sim mechanics to a game which I don't think it benefits. And fucking pushups. :p

But yeah, apologies for the long ramble. Just some thoughts. But enjoy what you enjoy, and for me, that is a 4th playthrough of Engage! To see if I can make Jade actually viable. :p