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Fire Emblem: Three Houses |OT| My Students' Class Reunion Can't Be This Bad!
- Thread starter kuroneko0509
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Gilbert is a singularly terrible father, and it can hardly be said that he "tries," considering
he literally ran away from his family and ignored his daughter when she came seeking him. He starts trying later, but reluctantly and after much effort on Annette's part.
Jeralt's pretty good, given the hand he was dealt.
this is a cold take but i feel like this game would be a little better if the Lord Lonato and Sylvainn's Brother chapters were Blue Lion exclusive chapters, and the other Houses got different chapters that were also vaguely relevant to their countries/students. Having two unique chapters per route in the Academy phase would maybe make it feel like less of a slog when you replay it in other routes.
I didn't know that about Gilbert. I've only played BE and part of GD so I don't have any support with him.
Hmmm
I definitely agree that they do little to address Edelgard's flaws in her route, one moment that botheres is when she blames the church for Arianrhod and you have no dialogue option and just stay quiet. She lies to all of her biggest commanders and school friends and it is just ignored by the story like normal.
I was feeling it yesterday but I've definitely hit the burnout point on this game. Which is a shame because I love it but I don't have it in me to spend another 40-60 hours going through another story, especially with the ludicrous number of Switch games dropping next month. Sorry, Dimitri, you'll have to wait.
Agreed. I feel like it's incredibly dumb to not replace the Lonato stuff with some Alliance court intrigue, given it's an entire league of politicians.
I did BE my first run and now doing BL, made sure to recruit all of BE so I don't have to fight them later.
i mean there's even nods in that direction with lorenz's dad being an a grade asshole, not to mention the guy south of his territory who turns up in lorenz's paralogue
I dunno about BL (haven't played it), but I can vouch for the BE-E route. It's short but sweet.
Imagine just living your life as a minor anime villain and then a small albino teenager teleports a teen girl with pink pigtails and a full set of armor into your face, at which point she cleaves you in twain with a single swing of her axe. More reasons GD is the best house.
So, I'd really love to know more about Fleche and Randolph
Edit: I'm still early after the timeskip, but do they get more screentime? Blue Lions btw
Edit: I'm still early after the timeskip, but do they get more screentime? Blue Lions btw
Just finished my GD playthrough. So good. I wish I had paid more attention to supports and pairings though as I only got a few new ones. The Byleth/Marianne ending is heart-warming, though.
But did I miss something or do they never say what happens to Rhea in the end?
Just started playing the other day. Do I really have to recruit people from other houses? I thought the whole point of the 3 houses thing was for repalaybility with different characters.
So, I heard how good it was, so I decided to try this game out. It is my first time playing Fire Emblem , and my first SRPG. Now, getting used to it wasn't that hard because it's basically like JRPG but taking account of positioning. I played normal classic, which is actually really easy except for the final level and one paralogue. I was all out of Pulse, and poor Lysithia sacrificed herself healing Byleth so Byleth could live and strike the final blow. It was epic and filled with tension. Even then, during my replay of the level (which I did to check out another romance option), since I knew the map, it wasn't very hard. It was still enjoyable nonetheless, and the game has a very addictive game play loop. The monastery system is somewhat undercooked, and pretty useless late game. They can definitely refine a similar system way better in the future.
First route I chose was Black Eagle - E. Firstly, I was impressed by just how much there is for the support system. Even taking account of a single house, there are 64 conversations alone, all voice acted. The amount of effort put into the script and voice acting is unreal. They add a lot to the characters that at first glance seems like a collection of archetypes. I didn't think much of Linhardt, Ferdinand, or Bernadette at first, but the support conversations really turned me around to them. Caspar is still a little lame, but even he has some really good moments. I ended up liking the Black Eagle cast a lot.They are a bunch of missfits who don't seem to have defined loyalty to a cause, for various reason or another, and it takes Byleth's or Edelgard's leadership to steer them towards something. So it was cool how they interacted with the story.
I also ended up really liking the story.
Game overall is so close to being amazing, but I feel like it needs some glaring holes that need filling. This game at times is a little too over ambitious for its own good, which caused certain compromises in story and mechanics here and there. But at the same, it is because of the over ambition that I like it so much. The game is so enjoyable that it is bar none my favorite game on the Switch, even if Breath of the Wild is the better game.
Next house I sided with is Golden Deer. I am a few chapters in and wow it's different. These people are collectively so off putting, haha.
First route I chose was Black Eagle - E. Firstly, I was impressed by just how much there is for the support system. Even taking account of a single house, there are 64 conversations alone, all voice acted. The amount of effort put into the script and voice acting is unreal. They add a lot to the characters that at first glance seems like a collection of archetypes. I didn't think much of Linhardt, Ferdinand, or Bernadette at first, but the support conversations really turned me around to them. Caspar is still a little lame, but even he has some really good moments. I ended up liking the Black Eagle cast a lot.They are a bunch of missfits who don't seem to have defined loyalty to a cause, for various reason or another, and it takes Byleth's or Edelgard's leadership to steer them towards something. So it was cool how they interacted with the story.
I also ended up really liking the story.
Finding out Edelgard was the Flame Emperor was legit uncomfortable. When the big choice came, I didn't like neither Rhea nor Edelgard. But in the moment I sided with Edelgard because Rhea seemed to have something planned for Byleth and I trusted her even less. I also got the sense that while she associated with Arundel's group, she herself had different motives to them and didn't like them very much. I did believe her when she said earlier that there are different motives in play. That said, when I started fighting against the church, and fully realized what her ambition entailed, I was like:
I felt like I was Darth Vader killing younglings when I killed Flayn. Really though, having to face the former class mates as the enemy after the time skip is brilliant, and legit uncomfortable. It is great that they added moral ambiguity to your actions and have you join the instigating force. Even more so when you realize that Edelgard made a deal with the devils who tortured her.
I was going to romance Edelgard at first, but felt bitter enough towards her that I ended up romancing Linhardt, which had the hilarious side effect of Caspar ending up with Edelgard somehow. I don't understand how these work, so I definitely did not intend for that to happen.
Regardless, Edelgard ended up being my favorite character. She is so right and so wrong at the same time.
I wish they would have tied up the loose ends better, but I was happy about it nonetheless. I liked it better than the BE - C route I took afterwards. Although that Shambhala level was pretty cool. Honestly though, they would have been better off dealing with Those Who Slither in a sequel or something, and hence why I felt better about E route. I think that dealing with them in that one battle is just anticlimatic. Heck, that was my problem with the church route, it just felt anticlimatic. Its just that nothing about Rhea gives me reason to root for her even if her side is better by default in that she didn't start a war that killed many, while Edelgard is written well enough that part of me wanted to follow her ambitions.
The biggest thing that hamper the story imo is Byleth. Firstly, I want to say that at least the player avatar is used well in that they don't overtly influence the plot and instead guide the house leaders. Meaning all agency is on the house leaders, which is good. But Byleth needs more. They need actual dialogue, they need to be a little less special, and I wish there was the option to act bitter even to the people you sided with. Byleth needs to be more of their own character. If they were, they would focus more on the way Edelgard was the indirect cause of Jeralt's death.
I felt like I was Darth Vader killing younglings when I killed Flayn. Really though, having to face the former class mates as the enemy after the time skip is brilliant, and legit uncomfortable. It is great that they added moral ambiguity to your actions and have you join the instigating force. Even more so when you realize that Edelgard made a deal with the devils who tortured her.
I was going to romance Edelgard at first, but felt bitter enough towards her that I ended up romancing Linhardt, which had the hilarious side effect of Caspar ending up with Edelgard somehow. I don't understand how these work, so I definitely did not intend for that to happen.
Regardless, Edelgard ended up being my favorite character. She is so right and so wrong at the same time.
I wish they would have tied up the loose ends better, but I was happy about it nonetheless. I liked it better than the BE - C route I took afterwards. Although that Shambhala level was pretty cool. Honestly though, they would have been better off dealing with Those Who Slither in a sequel or something, and hence why I felt better about E route. I think that dealing with them in that one battle is just anticlimatic. Heck, that was my problem with the church route, it just felt anticlimatic. Its just that nothing about Rhea gives me reason to root for her even if her side is better by default in that she didn't start a war that killed many, while Edelgard is written well enough that part of me wanted to follow her ambitions.
The biggest thing that hamper the story imo is Byleth. Firstly, I want to say that at least the player avatar is used well in that they don't overtly influence the plot and instead guide the house leaders. Meaning all agency is on the house leaders, which is good. But Byleth needs more. They need actual dialogue, they need to be a little less special, and I wish there was the option to act bitter even to the people you sided with. Byleth needs to be more of their own character. If they were, they would focus more on the way Edelgard was the indirect cause of Jeralt's death.
Game overall is so close to being amazing, but I feel like it needs some glaring holes that need filling. This game at times is a little too over ambitious for its own good, which caused certain compromises in story and mechanics here and there. But at the same, it is because of the over ambition that I like it so much. The game is so enjoyable that it is bar none my favorite game on the Switch, even if Breath of the Wild is the better game.
Next house I sided with is Golden Deer. I am a few chapters in and wow it's different. These people are collectively so off putting, haha.
It's optional. I wasn't planning to either, I ended up recruiting a couple of students from other houses because they were so damn charming.
No, you don't have to. With your starting class members you can go through the story with no problems - plus, on most routes you get characters without having to recruit them.
People just like recruiting people from other houses in case one of your starting characters sucks due to RNG, covers a class you feel one of the students don't cover well or simply like that character.
Ok thanks, that's just what I wanted to hear.
You know, when I first saw the art style used for this game's character designs I was really turned off. I won't say I'm in love with them now, but the writing has really made the characters come into their own despite my intial aversion to the style. Three Houses certainly has my favorite overall cast of any past Fire Emblem title I've played. That's a far stretch from what I expected simply looking at them long ago.
You don't have to recruit from other houses. The point of the different houses is to have different effects and perspectives on the incoming conflicts. As you explore the monastery, depending on your route some students may have different things to say throughout the month about the situation. So there is unique dialogue to share amongst recruited classmates even among different playthroughs.
You don't have to recruit from other houses. The point of the different houses is to have different effects and perspectives on the incoming conflicts. As you explore the monastery, depending on your route some students may have different things to say throughout the month about the situation. So there is unique dialogue to share amongst recruited classmates even among different playthroughs.
Who could've guessed that in a cast full of young students, 50 year old Gilbert would be the most self-absorbed character.
i've been thinking about it and honestly i love my golden deer more than a lot of JRPG parties I've hung out with.
I think a lot of it is the intra-party s-linking, like, imagine if persona had s-links between party members instead of just with the protag...
I think a lot of it is the intra-party s-linking, like, imagine if persona had s-links between party members instead of just with the protag...
Finished my first run through. I was with the Golden Deer, and it took 75 hours. I was pretty happy with the story, but I wish I would have paired off my people a bit more thoroughly. The "forever alone" stories at the end are often sad ;p. I didn't recruit anyone from other houses, which made me super attached to the core team.
Here were my pairings:
Here were my pairings:
Hilda and Cyril - overcoming Hilda's ignorance! I didn't see it coming.
Lorenz and Marianne - This was also unexpected for me, as Lorenz and Hilda literally planned their wedding in their A rank. Being the noble cow family bugging Lorenz was too sweet.
Raphael and... Ignatz? My and I were initially excited by this, but it turns out Ignatz marries his little sister, which honestly fits the character and his arc better.
My (female) Byleth went with Claude. I was initially sad after he went away to Almyra, but the description of their reuniting was pretty sweet.
Lorenz and Marianne - This was also unexpected for me, as Lorenz and Hilda literally planned their wedding in their A rank. Being the noble cow family bugging Lorenz was too sweet.
Raphael and... Ignatz? My and I were initially excited by this, but it turns out Ignatz marries his little sister, which honestly fits the character and his arc better.
My (female) Byleth went with Claude. I was initially sad after he went away to Almyra, but the description of their reuniting was pretty sweet.
Completed the Golden Deer route tonight. Finished off the final boss with a critical hit, the best way to complete a Fire Emblem game.
Overall, excellent route held back a little by its pacing. I think the structure of the game, with the 12 chapters at the beginning is a little too long for the GD route, since it is such a world-building route. I think if this were a "normal" Fire Emblem game, they would've made Act 1 about three chapters shorter and moved those chapters to the end of the story. The story builds in a nice way and takes some unexpected detours, it's just they don't have enough time to cover everything with the proper gravitas without bloating the thing to, like, 25-28 chapters (which nobody would want).
I really enjoyed Claude's politics and ambitions, but the game is not very clear on how he is actually going to achieve these goals. He comes off as a bit of a reactionary, where he basically needs someone to start a war so he can come in, save the day, and restore order.
There is one story component with a certain character/backstory that is pretty slick in its execution.
Here's who I got for my end pairings. I married Byleth off to Manuela, partially to maybe make way for Catherine/Shamir and because I didn't want him to marry any of the students. Also Manuela kinda has an underlying sadness to her, so I think she and Byleth would make each other happy.
Catherine/Shamir (100% approve, they are such a good duo together)
Lysithea/Cyril (another 100% approve, their supports are extremely extremely heartwarming)
Leonie/Felix (these 2 absolutely deserve each other)
Marianne/Hilda (they got paired because of all the horseback-riding they trained for, but I don't mind, I really love the friendship they have)
Raphael/Ignatz (this is a very sweet pairing due to how their supports shake out and their Paralogue together)
Claude/Lorenz (an unexpected support pairing, but works thematically)
Overall, excellent game, really happy with how it turned out. On to the Black Eagles! :)
Overall, excellent route held back a little by its pacing. I think the structure of the game, with the 12 chapters at the beginning is a little too long for the GD route, since it is such a world-building route. I think if this were a "normal" Fire Emblem game, they would've made Act 1 about three chapters shorter and moved those chapters to the end of the story. The story builds in a nice way and takes some unexpected detours, it's just they don't have enough time to cover everything with the proper gravitas without bloating the thing to, like, 25-28 chapters (which nobody would want).
I really enjoyed Claude's politics and ambitions, but the game is not very clear on how he is actually going to achieve these goals. He comes off as a bit of a reactionary, where he basically needs someone to start a war so he can come in, save the day, and restore order.
Honestly, about 75% of the problems could've been solved if Claude and Edelgard fell in love and got married. They both seemed to want similar things.
There is one story component with a certain character/backstory that is pretty slick in its execution.
They talk early on about Claude's mysterious background. He is a person of color and considered an outsider in Fodlan. He reveals to Byleth in a support that he wasn't actually born in Fodlan. The game introduces Cyril very early on, who is from Almyra, and is also one of the few people of color. Claude mentions in training sessions that learning to fly a wyvern is a rite of passage where he comes from. Then the game introduces his retainer, "Nardel", which got the biggest eyebrow raise ever when they showed his portrait. Then the reveal of Nader from Almyra. Then in the credits supports, it is revealed that Claude becomes King of Almyra, reuniting the lands together. From what I can tell, it's not explicitly told that Claude is Nader's son, but they drop enough hints that it seems pretty obvious. At least to me it is, it's technically not confirmed. I think the inclusion of Cyril in the game is really organic and natural for this route, surprised they don't make a bigger deal out of him thematically.
Here's who I got for my end pairings. I married Byleth off to Manuela, partially to maybe make way for Catherine/Shamir and because I didn't want him to marry any of the students. Also Manuela kinda has an underlying sadness to her, so I think she and Byleth would make each other happy.
Catherine/Shamir (100% approve, they are such a good duo together)
Lysithea/Cyril (another 100% approve, their supports are extremely extremely heartwarming)
Leonie/Felix (these 2 absolutely deserve each other)
They get married and start a mercenary company, because of course they would do that. The company becomes as famous and renowned as Jeralt's. Then, after war stuff settles down, the 2 became street performers and were surprisingly good at it.
Raphael/Ignatz (this is a very sweet pairing due to how their supports shake out and their Paralogue together)
Raphael goes home and his sister Maya leaves to become an artist. She returns with her husband Ignatz. So they become brother-in-laws.
Upon setting up the new kingdom, Claude disappears and leaves Lorenz to run it, who takes Claude's lead in changing things. Claude returns as King of Almyra, to reunite everyone, which Lorenz suspects was Claude's plan all along.
Overall, excellent game, really happy with how it turned out. On to the Black Eagles! :)
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I got burnout pretty bad shortly after I hit the timeskip, 40 hours in. I did some other stuff for a week then came back and feel better. I 'suppose' they didn't intend us to play this much as a marathon.
It is absolutely required to recruit from other houses because if you don't you'll wind up having to hurt some combination of Bernie, Dorothea, and Marianne and hurting them would make you a monster.
I'm really curious how
Rhea, Seteth and Flayn have managed to keep their identities and apparent immortality a secret all these years, considering how easily multiple students have managed to expose Flayn after a couple brief conversations lol.
I also like how Flayn's entire support with Byleth can basically be boiled down to: "How old are you?" "No you!"
I also like how Flayn's entire support with Byleth can basically be boiled down to: "How old are you?" "No you!"
Hilda is so lazy, that I didn't even realize she was the second in command for the Golden Deer and was basically the Hubert/Dedue.
granted I haven't played many JRPGs in the past 20 years, but I'm feeling the same way about both my BE and GD parties
i've been thinking about it a lot, because it's extremely my shit and it's something i wish games successfully elicited more. intra-party S-linking is a huge part of it for me, too. other big parts, i think:
- full, good voice acting
- character customization makes them feel more specific, like I actually have some involvement in who they are and in their successes and failures
- the instruction system (on top of them having strengths, weaknesses, and hidden potential) means that I actually spend time outside of combat thinking about who they are, what they do, what they want to do, what I want them to do. in most party-based games (JRPGs, CRPGs, tactics games, whatever) it feels like who my characters are in a fight and who they are during dialogue are flimsily related, if at all—here the two actually feel bound up with one another through gameplay systems that feel intuitive
- the sense of having chosen them, of them standing in contrast to other characters in other houses, really makes me feel way more protective of them and responsible for their well-being, compared to most RPGs where some number of available NPCs are just shoved onto you
What did people do for their dancer? I accidentally made Ignatz my dancer, and he was so panicked when I selected him that I almost reset out of vicarious anxiety. In the end though, he turned out to be an awesome dancer. I had already mastered assassin with him before I switched over, so if he couldn't kill some important target himself, he could dance up one of my heavy hitters to do the job. Lethality also made for some clutch kills, when he wasn't activating it on someone with one hp.
Ignatz is gonna be my pick for GD. I might have some fun and push him to be a Sword-heavy dancer—I think the usual move is to either slap your Dancer on a committed support character (like Flayn, who I will never use for anything because she is creepy) or an off-nuker with a solid spell list, like Dorothea
No, I've been giving them away for a while, but now nothing seems to fit who it should, like "someone who's afraid of ghosts" is someone other than Lysithea? Do they just start getting obtuse after a certain point?
Got Hilda on-side today, wondering if it's possible to squeeze in one more, but it'd be Lysithea or Dorothea and I just can't with more mages on my team.
Alois is a damn beast.
Ah, if its the Evil-Repelling Amulet then yeah, that one feels kind of like a curveball because it isn't Lysithea.
That's pretty much what I did for Ignatz, too. He was at least B+ in swords before making the switch to dancer. His magic was coincidentally pretty good, so I used levin swords a lot with him, and leaned more heavily into magic for him in the end game, mostly to see what he had. didn't really come in handy though until I busted his Levin sword plus and couldn't repair it.
I actually made Lysithea my Dancer for my GD playthrough I'm currently doing. She was ending up similar to how I had Dorothea in my BE run, so I figured I'd just go for a similar build with her where I focus on spells and support basically.
I'm enjoying my Assassin Ignatz but yeah, I can see how he would be a good pick for Dancer as well.
I think playing BE-E first has ruined the game for me. And by that I mean the logistical absurdity of what's going on the GD route is bothering the hell out of me compared to to BE-E lol.
Should beat this route tomorrow though. I might actually have the energy to do BL unlike what I thought, it's just that the in-between mission time after the timeskip is just awful. Then some story stuff happens and I'm reminded why I dig it.
Highly doubt the ending of this will top BE-E in terms of my satisfaction, but I'm sure I'll still like it.
Should beat this route tomorrow though. I might actually have the energy to do BL unlike what I thought, it's just that the in-between mission time after the timeskip is just awful. Then some story stuff happens and I'm reminded why I dig it.
Highly doubt the ending of this will top BE-E in terms of my satisfaction, but I'm sure I'll still like it.
Huh, I played BE-E first and after playing BL and then GD I legitimately thought the GD route was my favorite by the end of it.
Anyways starting my 2nd playthrough, this time on Hard/Classic with an aim to go Golden Deers. Before I get too far in, however, anyone mind telling me the characters required to do the paralogues to
since I missed that in my first playthrough?
discover the Death Knight's identity
I have half a mind to completely ignore church exploration after the timeskip. How screwed will I be if I do that?
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