Following the release of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, developer Koei Tecmo has a lot it can implement from that game into its next Nintendo-published Warriors game, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes. One of the releases coming during Nintendo's busy summer, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is similar to Age of Calamity in a way that sets them apart from their predecessors. Instead of being a celebration of an entire series like the first Hyrule Warriors and Fire Emblem Warriors, Age of Calamity's story, characters and gameplay are directly adapted from Breath of the Wild's gameplay. In a similar vein, Three Hopes will be directly adapted from 2019's Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
In trailers seen so far, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes seems to deviate from its source material in key ways. One of these is the player character. Instead of taking control of Byleth, the main character is a purple-haired mercenary original to Three Hopes named Shez. In a twist, Byleth will instead be the villain of this game, referred to in trailers by the Ashen Demon. Similar to the original Three Houses, while playing as Shez, players will get to unite with one of Fire Emblem's three houses to choose from, these being the same as the choices in the original game. Each of these houses will offer a different experience while playing through the game.
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes has three main ideas it should steal from Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. With Age of Calamity, Nintendo and Koei Tecmo produced the game in the Warriors subseries with the most personality; it even included a secret ending for players to unlock. From menus to characters, these are the ways Koei Tecmo can give Three Hopes as much personality as Age of Calamity had.
Fire Emblem: Three Hopes Needs A Hub Like Age Of Calamity's Map
In Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, when players load their save file from the main menu, they aren't greeted with a traditional menu to load missions. Instead, players go to a map inspired by the original Breath of the Wild. Using a map instead of a menu was an improvement on Hyrule Warriors' occasional monotony. This map is complete with markers that include everything that would be needed for the game. Main missions, side missions, character upgrades, and more are all accessed from this map. In the original entries of Hyrule Warriors and Fire Emblem Warriors, players would be spending a lot of time in menus upgrading equipment and characters as well as selecting missions from large lists. In Age of Calamity, there's still a lot of time spent in menus, but it doesn't feel as tedious since the menus themselves look and feel like the menu of Breath of the Wild. This close relationship helped Age of Calamity's sales, which surpassed 3.5 million.
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes could easily emulate this using the monastery from Three Houses. Where Age of Calamity loads and puts the players directly on the map, Three Hopes can load into the monastery. While it would still be intuitive to have fast travel features to be able to get players right where they want to go, having the option to explore and talk to fellow party members would make some of the monotonous busywork of upgrading and crafting a bit more engaging.
Like Age Of Calamity, Three Hopes' Roster Should Get Some Deep Cuts & Formidable Foes
With Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, Koei Tecmo had characters that it was expected to include. Link, Zelda, and the champions were must-haves for the game. However, that didn't stop the studio from including some weird choices for the game. For example, the Korok Hestu was a minor character included in Age of Calamity. In Warriors tradition, bosses were playable too, including Calamity Ganon and a playable Guardian in Age of Calamity's Expansion Pass. Obscure characters and strong bosses should make their way to Three Hopes as well.
Luckily, Fire Emblem: Three Houses has some strong contenders in both of these regards. For bigger enemies that could be playable, Three Houses has two contenders that could be especially interesting. The first is The Immaculate One, the dragon fought in two of Three Houses' four total paths. Similar to Calamity Ganon, this would be a huge boss that would be a fun power trip for a player to have. Another boss that could become playable in Three Hopes is Hegemon Edelgard. In the finale of the Blue Lions' route of Three Houses, this is the monstrous form that Edelgard takes on. While not as big as The Immaculate One or Age of Calamity's guardian, this form would still be a fun addition to a playable roster. As for deeper cuts, an obvious candidate would be the Fire Emblem Heroes character poll winner, Gatekeeper. Despite his only dialogue being "Greetings, Professor! Nothing to report!" he has become very popular among Three Houses players and would be a funny and beloved addition to the Three Hopes roster.
Like Age of Calamity's Hyrule, Three Hopes' New Characters Can Expand Fodlan Lore
Not only did Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity act as a love letter to one of the best games on the Nintendo Switch, but it also expanded on it in interesting ways. The narrative was more in-depth than most of Nintendo's other Warriors games have been, and its original characters added layers to Breath of the Wild's Hyrule. It's even possible for one of these original characters to make a return in BOTW 2 after Age of Calamity: Astor. While nothing is confirmed yet, his role in resurrecting Ganon would fit nicely with what's been shown of Breath of the Wild 2 so far.
The world of Fire Emblem: Three Houses has plenty of lore for Three Hopes to expand upon, especially given the branching nature of both of these games. One character who remains pretty mysterious is Sothis, the goddess who inhabits Byleth in Three Houses. Sothis gets little to no characterization across the routes of Three Houses, so the plot of Three Hopes focusing closer on Sothis would be an interesting decision, especially given Byleth's transition from hero to villain. This would also change drastically depending on when Three Hopes takes place compared to the original Three Houses. Judging by the character makeovers shown in recent Three Hopes trailers, the spin-off takes place either during or after the main game, not before. If Three Hopes does take place after Three Houses, the aftermath of Fodlan's war would be an interesting topic to explore with each of the three lords, Byleth, and Sothis.
Overall Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes has a lot it can learn from Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. Koei Tecmo seems to have found a way to inject its spin-offs with the charm of its source material. If Three Hopes gets the same care that Age of Calamity did with its menus, characters, and lore, it could be well-received by players when it releases on June 24, 2022.