[Spoilers] Fire Emblem: Three Houses rumors surrounding story, characters, mechanics, and more

[decoyplatypus]

You are far from the only one. Most have just resigned themselves to the fact as there's really nothing that can be done at this point. It is what it is. Maybe we'll get lucky and there will some minor improvements on release for lighting and aliasing. But right now this is most likely what we're getting on July 26th.

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For my part, I can't get up in arms about an FE game looking rough. The previous 3D games were hardly the bleeding edge of Gamecube/Wii graphics and presentation. And I turn off all battle animations anyway. My main concern (in terms of presentation) is that Three Houses will need better-than-average UI design to deal with all its subsystems.

 

[Disclaimer]

The one piece of notable evidence for the leak is that we know that the leaker knew Rhea's name on April 27 before her name even was even revealed in Japanese.

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I have the image he's been sending people as "proof." It's a (GameFAQs?) PM timestamped 4/26/2019.

It has Rhea's and Setes' names, but the person sending the PM (to the leaker) says "keep in mind someone told me all this so I'm not 100% sure how it's actually written, but I'm 100% sure it's legit." Emphasis mine. So this "leaker" is, at best, playing a game of telephone several links down a chain.

The PM also says "As far as I know, we know all the playable characters already, except one," which is in direct contradiction to the leaker's AMA, where he referenced various unknown cast members. (Which makes more sense anyway — of course we haven't seen all the playables...)

To make matters worse, the "leaker" is lying about his identity as the leaker on GameFAQs (even though it's confirmed by their signature's friend code), and they've also said stuff that makes them seem ignorant of the game, and fanboyed the characters that got the most emphasis in their "leak" when they were revealed.

So the whole thing is very dubious.

 

[Enduin]

For my part, I can't get up in arms about an FE game looking rough. The previous 3D games were hardly the bleeding edge of Gamecube/Wii graphics and presentation. And I turn off all battle animations anyway. My main concern (in terms of presentation) is that Three Houses will need better-than-average UI design to deal with all its subsystems.

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Well thankfully the menus so far look pretty nice. The Battle UI is especially gorgeous. But yeah I anticipate we'll be spending a good deal of time in menus so hopefully they're structuring and layout good. Ohh and the music better be banging and not repetitive.

 

[Xlad]

I feel I'm the only one who thinks the overall presentation in this game just looks shoddy.
The textures are blurry and muddy, everything is very jaggy and the maps just look empty.
I don't think it looks very good at all.

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I think you are fourth message on this topic on both FE three house thread in past 2 day. So not a only one.

 

[Quinton]

I have the image he's been sending people as "proof." It's a (GameFAQs?) PM timestamped 4/26/2019.

It has Rhea's and Setes' names, but the person sending the PM (to the leaker) says "keep in mind someone told me all this so I'm not 100% sure how it's actually written, but I'm 100% sure it's legit." Emphasis mine. So this "leaker" is, at best, playing a game of telephone several links down a chain.

The PM also says "As far as I know, we know all the playable characters already, except one," which is in direct contradiction to the leaker's AMA, where he referenced various unknown cast members. (Which makes more sense anyway — of course we haven't seen all the playables...)

To make matters worse, the "leaker" is lying about his identity as the leaker on GameFAQs (even though it's confirmed by their signature's friend code), and they've also said stuff that makes them seem ignorant of the game, and fanboyed the characters that got the most emphasis in their "leak" when they were revealed.

So the whole thing is very dubious.

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Ah, swell.

 

[Raijinto]

I feel I'm the only one who thinks the overall presentation in this game just looks shoddy.
The textures are blurry and muddy, everything is very jaggy and the maps just look empty.
I don't think it looks very good at all.

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I've never been more certain of anything in my life than when I say that you are not the only one who thinks this. Even restricting to this site, you are in plentiful company.

 

[DecoReturns]

It's funny thing.

Fire Emblem actually looks better graphically then I anticipated.

Personally, always found the 3DS games really ugly when it was the 3D graphics. The character models especially.

Three houses ended up looking better then I thought. I knew it would have to ditch the way they did maps and all that on Switch. I'm glad the character models look good tho.

 

[Deleted member 2793]

It's funny thing.

Fire Emblem actually looks better graphically then I anticipated.

Personally, always found the 3DS games really ugly when it was the 3D graphics. The character models especially.

Three houses ended up looking better then I thought. I knew it would have to ditch the way they did maps and all that on Switch. I'm glad the character models look good tho.

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I'm the opposite. Awakening impressed me a lot because of how good it looked on 3DS, the presentation was on point.

This one here isn't terrible, but nothing that impresses me. I also dislike the menus a lot because seems like they're just copying p5.

 

[Linde]

I'm the opposite. Awakening impressed me a lot because of how good it looked on 3DS, the presentation was on point.

This one here isn't terrible, but nothing that impresses me. I also dislike the menus a lot because seems like they're just copying p5.

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Awakening and fates also were beautiful at some points. They especially nailed the 3d effect.
Shoutout to the map where it rains and "don't speak her name" plays. Also the maps with large bodies of water looked so cool

 

[Disclaimer]

My only problem with Three Houses' graphics is how grainy they are. It needs some AA. (Maybe the actual game will look smoother than these pixelated screenshots.)

As a foundation for Fire Emblem graphics going forward, though, I think they're quite good. Just compare SoV to Awakening to see how much IS can improve within the same hardware.

 

[Enduin]

3DS game relied a great deal more on their 2D artwork. From character art, location backdrops, towns, pre-rendered/touched up maps and sprites on maps, etc.

Three Houses is now 90% 3D graphics and they're just not on that same level of quality or polish. A big thing so far for me is the animations during convos looks pretty rough. They didn't really need to worry about the smaller details on the 3DS but now when characters lack more realistic eye movements and facial expressions during voiced cutscenes where 90% of the screen is focused on their 3D model and environment and not on their 2D portrait it's kind of jarring.

 

[Weebos]

Awakening and fates also were beautiful at some points. They especially nailed the 3d effect.
Shoutout to the map where it rains and "don't speak her name" plays. Also the maps with large bodies of water looked so cool

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The 3D was excellent in the 3DS games, I never used it but whenever I turned it on I was impressed.

 

[Ondor]

You just know that Edelgard is an armour unit purely for the FEH whales when she releases there.

 

[BZL8]

3DS game relied a great deal more on their 2D artwork. From character art, location backdrops, towns, pre-rendered/touched up maps and sprites on maps, etc.

Three Houses is now 90% 3D graphics and they're just not on that same level of quality or polish. A big thing so far for me is the animations during convos looks pretty rough. They didn't really need to worry about the smaller details on the 3DS but now when characters lack more realistic eye movements and facial expressions during voiced cutscenes where 90% of the screen is focused on their 3D model and environment and not on their 2D portrait it's kind of jarring.

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I mentioned this once on Serenes' Forest, but for a company that hasn't made a console game in 12-13 years, let alone one with 3D exploration, it's not too surprising in my opinion that the footage is turning out kind of rough. The jump from handhelds to consoles is absolutely daunting for such a developer. Just ask Game Freak how development on Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee went, or ask Atlus how development on Catherine, their first HD video game, went.

 

[Enduin]

I mentioned this once on Serenes' Forest, but for a company that hasn't made a console game in 12-13 years, let alone one with 3D exploration, it's not too surprising in my opinion that the footage is turning out kind of rough. The jump from handhelds to consoles is absolutely daunting for such a developer. Just ask Game Freak how development on Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee went, or ask Atlus how development on Catherine, their first HD video game, went.

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Sure, there's a reason why things have turned out the way they have. I mean that's probably a big reason they brought on Koei Tecmo as co-developers as they have a HD experience. Also technically they did an HD console title already with Paper Mario Color Splash(but that doesn't exactly count or compare to the scope or style of FE).

Regardless that just goes back to my main complaint about the graphical style they chose for the game. They chose to go with more realistic/detailed environments, they could have and should have gone for a more stylized approach that would have better covered up their shortcomings as they built up their HD asset pipeline and refined their workflows. But for whatever reason they decided to more realistic and it's hurt them.

 

[BZL8]

Sure, there's a reason why things have turned out the way they have. I mean that's probably a big reason they brought on Koei Tecmo as co-developers as they have a HD experience. Also technically they did an HD console title already with Paper Mario Color Splash(but that doesn't exactly count or compare to the scope or style of FE).

Regardless that just goes back to my main complaint about the graphical style they chose for the game. They chose to go with more realistic/detailed environments, they could have and should have gone for a more stylized approach that would have better covered up their shortcomings as they built up their HD asset pipeline and refined their workflows. But for whatever reason they decided to more realistic and it's hurt them.

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Curious. What kind of "stylized approach" do you mean? You mean something like Persona 5? Wind Waker? Some other game?

 

[NSESN]

You just know that Edelgard is an armour unit purely for the FEH whales when she releases there.

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Trainee armored axe with prf skill and special

 

[Enduin]

Curious. What kind of "stylized approach" do you mean? You mean something like Persona 5? Wind Waker? Some other game?

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Ni No Kuni, Valkyria Chronicles, BotW, SS, P5, WW, etc etc. Honestly take your pick there's tons of different styles that are more abstract and minimalistic that would help to make up for graphical shortcomings as well as in some cases make for easier to animate faces. Not to mention give the game a more unique look to help it stand out.

 

[BZL8]

Ni No Kuni, Valkyria Chronicles, BotW, SS, P5, WW, etc etc. Honestly take your pick there's tons of different styles that are more abstract and minimalistic that would help to make up for graphical shortcomings as well as in some cases make for easier to animate faces. Not to mention give the game a more unique look to help it stand out.

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Most of the games you listed were created by developers that had a lot of experience developing on the HD console medium. For Atlus, it took the development troubles of Catherine in order to gain experience in developing a HD game to help lead up to Persona 5. Three Houses, I think, is IntSys' own stepping stone into the medium and I wouldn't be surprised if the next FE installment on Switch turns out to look better than 3H, with IntSys' developers having gained experience working in the medium. Honestly, I find the art direction and graphical troubles excusable due to IntSys' own lack of experience on developing a HD game of this caliber and relying on a third party to help them.

 

[Enduin]

Most of the games you listed were created by developers that had a lot of experience developing on the HD console medium. For Atlus, it took the development troubles of Catherine in order to gain experience in developing a HD game to help lead up to Persona 5. Three Houses, I think, is IntSys' own stepping stone into the medium and I wouldn't be surprised if the next FE installment on Switch turns out to look better than 3H, with IntSys' developers having gained experience working in the medium. Honestly, I find the art direction and graphical troubles excusable due to IntSys' own lack of experience on developing a HD game of this caliber and relying on a third party to help them.

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I'm not as forgiving, this isn't 2006. It might be new for IS, but HD graphics aren't new by any means, nor is the idea of using a more abstract graphical style to overcome graphical shortcomings or to just simply make your game look more unique and interesting(which is my prime desire the rest is a potential bonus). That is not new to games at all, be they HD or 3D. You don't need HD experience to use a more stylized approach.

I'm conscious and understanding of the difficulties that come with development in general and especially when transitioning such as to HD, but as a consumer I'm not a fan of making up excuses for people creating a product they want me to pay for.

 

[gunlovefiction]

The game is shockingly ugly in screenshots. The textures are some of the worst textures I've ever seen in an AAA game ever!

 

[Enduin]

The game is shockingly ugly in screenshots. The textures are some of the worst textures I've ever seen in an AAA game ever!

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FE3H is not an AAA game. I wish it was but it's not there yet at all. Maybe if 3H can crack 3 or 4 million it will get a boost to its budget, but right now it's probably still fairly modestly budgeted in the A-AA range, whatever that really means.

 

[Maxina]

The game is shockingly ugly in screenshots. The textures are some of the worst textures I've ever seen in an AAA game ever!

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I'd be surprised if FE3H is even a A tier game.

 

[gunlovefiction]

Yeah you guys are right, FE3H is clearly not AAA

 

[Deleted member 2793]

FE3H is not an AAA game. I wish it was but it's not there yet at all. Maybe if 3H can crack 3 or 4 million it will get a boost to its budget, but right now it's probably still fairly modestly budgeted in the A-AA range, whatever that really means.

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idk about that. Awakening is a 2M+ Seller, Fates sold 3M. It's just how IS develops, it doesn't need to have a crazy high budget.

 

[Enduin]

idk about that. Awakening is a 2M+ Seller, Fates sold 3M. It's just how IS develops, it doesn't need to have a crazy high budget.

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AAA is generally tied to budget not quality or scope of a game. In the regard FE does not compare to the likes of Mario or Zelda titles, SSB, etc etc.

 

[Deleted member 2793]

AAA is generally tied to budget not quality or scope of a game. In the regard FE does not compare to the likes of Mario or Zelda titles, SSB, etc etc.

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I'm not saying it's AAA, I'm saying they aren't waiting for this to sell 3M to bump budget or something like that.

 

[Enduin]

I'm not saying it's AAA, I'm saying they aren't waiting for this to sell 3M to bump budget or something like that.

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Oh yeah they definitely saw a budget increase over the 3DS titles, but it was probably more in line with the requirements and needs demanded of an HD console title rather than this is now a consistent a multi million seller kind of budget.

Three Houses has to prove the success Awakening/Fates saw is the new norm and able to grow further. Nintendo is very conservative and they likely budgeted the game to be profitable quite a bit below the ~2 million Awakening/Fates achieved.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

My only issue with Three Houses' visuals are the non-in-game cutscenes. I miss the way PoR and RD's cutscenes looked. Every subsequent FE game's cutscenes have been significantly worse. Yes, I know a lot of people like the way Awakening and Fates' cutscenes looked, but that's strange to me.

 

[Jerrybeansman]

I dont think fire emblem has ever really looked good in 3d path of Radience battle animations were atrocious and the 3ds games weren't much better

 

[Bonejack]

I dont think fire emblem has ever really looked good in 3d path of Radience battle animations were atrocious and the 3ds games weren't much better

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Well, after the sprite animations of the GBA games, the more static 3D ones were always bound to look less "impressive" ... or rather "flashy".

Though i'd take PoR/RD graphics and animations over the crap that were the DS remakes of the Marth games. Now THAT was both ugly in-game and in-design and artstyle.

 

[Dark_Castle]

I'm personally more than okay for the game to look bad graphically if the gameplay and story holds up, which seems really promising based on what we know thus far. I'm also starting to warm up to the character designs. Still hoping for a last minute fix to F!Byleth design though.

 

[Deleted member 2791]

The leak got some part verified by today's tweet:

 

[Deleted member 36622]

The story leak is promising, i was expecting something similar to Fates but with school this time.

As for the maps instead, i wasn't expecting anything really, they showed almost nothing of those.

My only issue with Three Houses' visuals are the non-in-game cutscenes. I miss the way PoR and RD's cutscenes looked. Every subsequent FE game's cutscenes have been significantly worse. Yes, I know a lot of people like the way Awakening and Fates' cutscenes looked, but that's strange to me.

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Really? I think the anime cutscenes look very good in this game, i wish the game looked that way.

 

[Poodlestrike]

Very cool to have even a small piece of confirmation.

 

[Disclaimer]

Gods I hope this is real. The story details have such potential.

 

[Poodlestrike]

Gods I hope this is real. The story details have such potential.

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I know, a lord with sideburns!

 

[Xavi]

Ferdinand profile confirms that the leaker DOES know some stuff from 3H. Now we wait for Sete's (sp?) bio to further cement all this exciting speculation.

 

[Smoolio]

This would be my first FE game, love a variety of tactics and turn based games so should like the gameplay well enough.

But if I'm coming in with expectations of an epic story and f/f romance with Edelgard, will I be disappointed?

 

[Disclaimer]

This would be my first FE game, love a variety of tactics and turn based games so should like the gameplay well enough.

But if I'm coming in with expectations of an epic story and f/f romance with Edelgard, will I be disappointed?

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Maybe, maybe not.

If the leaks are true, the stories sound quite epic, and Edelgard seems romanceable by both genders.

 

[Smoolio]

Maybe, maybe not.

If the leaks are true, the stories sound quite epic, and Edelgard seems romanceable by both genders.

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Nice, sounding good.

 

[NHarmonic.]

Yeah, dating students? There's no way that can go wrong, right?

Rest of the stuff has me more sold than the trailers, tbh.

 

[Vamphuntr]

Yeah, dating students? There's no way that can go wrong, right?

Rest of the stuff has me more sold than the trailers, tbh.

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Hopefully it's after the 5 years time skip. Pretty good they got rid of the children as it was probably a nightmare to write all that crappy dialogue for characters that were pointless to the plot.

Leak does a better job at selling the game than the current marketing so far. I feel confident to use a voucher on this now.

 

[PSqueak]

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Sensible chuckle.gif

 

[NHarmonic.]

Hopefully it's after the 5 years time skip. Pretty good they got rid of the children as it was probably a nightmare to write all that crappy dialogue for characters that were pointless to the plot.

Leak does a better job at selling the game than the current marketing so far. I feel confident to use a voucher on this now.

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Oh yeah. Maybe it is after the timeskip.

Not gonna lie, having to kill the other characters depending on the path you take seems interesting, specially if they develop them enough on the first part. It could be really powerful if they deliver.

 

[Xavi]

Church is evil

SurprisedPikachu.png

 

[Deleted member 2791]

Won't even bother mention that the leak probably talked about it at some point because it was so obviously going to be that.

 

[Bonejack]

Let's see if the church is plain evil, aka nearly all of the higher animals are antagonists, or if it's Tellius Begnion-style.

Difference is, that in the Tellius games a large part of the Begnion theocracy are corrupt and evil, but there's still some good force, including the leader, left in it that tries to fight back.

Latter would certainly be more interesting.

 

[Raijinto]

That's sooooooo unexpected lol.

And that last little snippet before the preorder line wouldn't go down well here I don't think if it were given more exposure...

 

[Maxina]

It was so blatantly hinted at, so not surprised. I must admit though, it's disappointing that Japanese developers can't come up with something other then killing gods/religion bad cliche for their rpgs.