Fire Emblem Engage is full of references to past titles that offer players a chance to revisit some older characters and locales. While the game largely focuses on Emblem Rings to highlight main characters from previous entries, Bond Rings are a great way to give other characters representation outside their original games. Although gaining these Bond Rings is done through a gacha-like mechanic, it never feels intrusive in Fire Emblem Engage, unlike other games with a similar system.
The Fire Emblem series is no stranger to locking content behind gacha mechanics, as the mobile title Fire Emblem Heroes utilizes it for unlocking new playable characters. Part of what makes this incarnation of the mechanic so maligned is its necessity, and the "optional" use of real-world money to acquire the best units. While many players lament the implementation of a gacha systems made popular by mobile titles, without needing to spend any real-world money, Fire Emblem Engage does a great job of making this mechanic more fun than stressful.
The Optional Nature of Bond Rings Dampens Gacha Stressors
Since players won't have access to all Emblem Rings throughout a large portion of the game, Bond Rings fill in the gaps by giving units a bit of a stat boost to compensate. These rings can be created by spending Bond Fragments at the Ring Chamber in the Somniel, and each represents other characters from the home game of their associated Emblem. As a completely optional task, it can be fun for players to try and collect all the rings from their favorite game without the stress of being pushed to spend actual money.
Each Bond Ring comes with its own stat bonuses that, while not as strong as those offered by Emblem Rings, can still be useful depending on the rank of the ring. Ranks range from C to S, offering more beneficial stat increases the higher the rank and even unique skills for certain S-rank Bond Rings. The stats and skills that a Bond ring offers depend on the type of unit the ring represents, such as a magic user like Deirdre offering increases to Mag and Res or a thief like Gaius granting bonuses to Spd or Dex.
Ring Melding Rewards Players for Creating Bond Rings
Although it can be a rush to pull an S-rank ring when creating a group of 10 Bond Rings, more often than not players will be left with a handful of low-rank rings. Luckily, the game still rewards players for crafting these rings through the ability to meld duplicates of a certain rank into a higher one. This mechanic is a great way to make players feel like pulling a C-rank ring is not a waste of Bond Fragments, since it can be saved to meld higher tier rings in the future - something not often encouraged by other gacha games.
More games that feature gacha mechanics should follow the low-pressure formula featured in Fire Emblem Engage. For players who still want to collect all Bond Rings and don't mind the grind, the option is there and doesn't come with any risk of throwing away real money on bad pulls. Player who only want to casually take advantage of the mechanic can still be rewarded for their efforts with the ability to meld duplicates into higher-tier rings. Either way, this gacha-like mechanic is a great way to feel the rush of hitting a good pull without the pressure tied to actual purchases.
Fire Emblem Engage is available now for Nintendo Switch.
