What do you think of Fire Emblem Three Houses' school setting?

[Deleted member 25799]

I can do with this. As long as we get to see the other three regions the school setting won't bother me. That and no student-teacher relationships.

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Yeah, this sort of important details are still too unclear for us to draw conclusions. The fact that we get to "choose" a region is troubling to me, but we don't know what it actually really entails yet.

Having the early game be something like Octopath's story with a nice second half that ties it all together would be nice, even though it's probably gonna be something like Fate's where you basically choose the game you want to play, but all in one single cartridge.

 

[-JD-]

Was Balamb Garden a school setting because I want more of that. Culturally vague future Japanese wartime high school.

 

[Watershed]

From what I can tell it seems like a new thematic wrapper for all the individual unit and relationship stat progression that has always been in the series. I'm sure there will be some new wrinkles, but it largely seems like a blown out version of what we've always had in FE games. I'm all for it as long as it is done well.

 

[Syril]

I also feel that school setting will heavily restrict character design by the way of uniforms. FFVIII, an older game somehow manage to circumvent this issue by having the characters wear their formal outfits on very rare occasions, but most of the time they have their distinct attire. School uniforms character design is utterly boring in my eyes. The more time the characters are in school uniform, the worse it is in my eyes.

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To its credit it dropped the school angle early on and heavily played up the child soldier angle instead and started playing up the Gardens as private military companies.

At least let them go to college. And not in their first year, maybe in their 2nd or 3rd as a real adult. Judging by their videogames and anime it seems like Japan is obsessed with high school life.
Maybe high school is more fun there than it is here in the US.

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Considering what corporate life (and especially the manga and anime industries) can be like, I'm not that surprised at a lot of creators being nostalgic about their school days. Also high school can have similar connotations that college does for us with entrance exam stresses and possibly having to move away.

Doesn't excuse the rampant character and situation cliches though.

Japan doesn't have the same culture of work being a chore you want to escape from when you're an adult, in the sense that adults are expected to be devoted to work on a cultural level, the classic stories of "Adult tired with a dead end job breaks out to follow their dreams" that are popular in the west would be an unthinkable mindset for a grown ass adult in japan.

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You're right, that would stretch suspension of disbelief. It's way more plausible for the character to give up hope and be perpetually burned out instead.

 

[nicolasacmf]

On the one hand, the avatar is one of those cancerous tropes that Awakening and Fates had. On the other hand, this games seems to have segments where you explore dungeons, which were a breath of fresh air for the franchise in SoV... I'm really conflicted with this game. SoV showed me that IS can still write good stories, but this apparently being split in three parts reminds me too much of that those trash Fates games...

 

[Dark_Castle]

Didn't see this before making a thread about this, my bad. Expressed how I felt about school setting there. https://www.resetera.com/threads/im-tired-of-school-setting-in-jrpgs.99569/#post-17893428

TLDR: Not a fan.

 

[Hailinel]

is fire emblem an isekai

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Fire Emblem Heroes literally is one, yes.

 

[Deleted member 9971]

As someone who personally hate schools irl i agree lol.

 

[LossAversion]

It's definitely my jam. I've never played a Fire Emblem before though, so I had no expectations otherwise.

 

[Zukuu]

Man, how I long for a new FF8-ish setting.

 

[Kouriozan]

It's new (for Fire Emblem) and I like it since it means more expansive customizations.

 

[Omanisat]

VC 1 doesn't have anything to do with school.

 

[Dark_Castle]

On the one hand, the avatar is one of those cancerous tropes that Awakening and Fates had. On the other hand, this games seems to have segments where you explore dungeons, which were a breath of fresh air for the franchise in SoV... I'm really conflicted with this game. SoV showed me that IS can still write good stories, but this apparently being split in three parts reminds me too much of that trash Fates games...

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Woah hold up. Three Houses is one game, not split into three like Fates. That would have been disastrous.

 

[NSESN]

People need to stop of being so afraid of changes. It can be bad, yes, but at least wait unitl the game launches to complain about what didn't even happen yet

 

[Bulbul]

Ys doesn't.

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Oh thanks for the reply! I misread what the OP was saying.

Now that another poster brought it up, Final Fantasy 8 was a game I played did have a school setting! I really liked that game, so I have a positive experience about it haha.

 

[Kapryov]

I was ready to write up a paragraph about Japan and their school settings, along with some points for and against the general idea, but...

You're a teacher now?
That's badass, and rather unique actually.
Makes me worried about the romance options though...

 

[Enduin]

Somewhere between indifferent and trash. It feels really cheap and like they're chasing what is popular rather than something actually unique and worthwhile. School settings are popular in tons of other JRPGs and in tons of shows. It could still be good, but it's done nothing to alleviate concerns.

 

[Supau]

Same. I was excited for Three Houses until today. Now I don't know if I will even buy it.

 

[Coinspinner]

I don't play Fire Emblem one way or another, but I hate school settings so I can't see that tipping the scales in this one's favor.

 

[dreamlongdead]

I'm fine with it. Seems like IS is doing something different with Fire Emblem, which is good.

The game looks great, and I plan to get a Switch when this comes out.

 

[NHarmonic.]

People often say that japanese media is obssessed with school settings because after highschool your dreams are dead and you're supposed to become a full time work cog in the machinery of adulthood, so stories of adults don't resonate with the young audience unless they're completely removed from the reality of modern day japan.

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This is depressing.

 

[Swiggins]

Revolutionary. What the fuck there's a moth on my desk

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This absolutely reads like something Eric Andre would just randomly say.

 

[Morrigan]

I'm with you Dark_Castle. I almost didn't play Cold Steel games because of the setting (and other reasons). I find those settings insufferable.

 

[SliceSabre]

I'm ok with it because it isn't like this series has done it before and it's different from the exact same story set up we've had for like 20 years.

 

[Deleted member 1476]

I'm tired of it. Don't think it is trash nor good, just plain tired.

 

[AztecComplex]

I'm with you OP completely. Not just in JRPGs but anime too.

However on the FE front they're at least changing it up somewhat. It's NOT a high school, thank God, more like an Academy for young adults (at least 18+) and not populated by 15 year old girls in impossibly short school uniform skirts like most school settings do. And you're also playing a decidedly adult teacher, not a student.

So yeah I'm tired of the high school anime trope but FE is doing things differently at least.

 

[Deleted member 8593]

I guess I don't really play all that trash that you guys seem to be playing so aside from the Harry Potter parallels, I am kinda indifferent to it.

 

[ASaiyan]

I was definitely taken aback, and I really don't think it's a good idea. I like my warriors to be...actual adult warriors, and not some schoolkids on a field trip like something outta Final Fantasy Type-0.

But I loved both Awakening and Fates, so I have a certain level of trust in IntiSys. I'm willing to stick around and hopefully be pleasantly surprised by how this turns out...

 

[Dymaxion]

The trope is new-ish to me, so I don't mind and I'm not going to jump to conclusions now. There are so many JRPGs, and most of them are more like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy than Persona.

 

[PSqueak]

You guys must hate X-Men and Harry Potter too

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The saturation of superhero comic that takes place in a school vs that which does not is nowhere near close the ratio of Highschool manga vs non high school manga.

 

[808s & Villainy]

A handful of games with this setting out of hundreds

 

[AztecComplex]

Same here. Japanese media is obsessed with the shitty school setting.

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And it's always high school they're obsessed with. It's almost never college. It's always goddamn high school which lends itself for some very creepy designs for female characters of questionable ages.

Fire Emblem, from what I can see, is not falling completely in on this trope.

 

[Glio]

The saturation of superhero media that takes place in a school vs that which does not is nowhere near close the ratio of Highschool manga vs non high school manga.

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Ok but this is a JRPG, no manga

 

[Enduin]

I'm with you OP completely. Not just in JRPGs but anime too.

However on the FE front they're at least changing it up somewhat. It's NOT a high school, thank God, more like an Academy for young adults (at least 18+) and not populated by 15 year old girls in impossibly short school uniform skirts like most school settings do. And you're also playing a decidedly adult teacher, not a student.

So yeah I'm tired of the high school anime trope but FE is doing things differently at least.

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I mean we don't know their ages, plenty we've seen could easily be mid teens and almost all the girls are wearing skirts. Thankfully one with a short skirt is also wearing shorts underneath when it flutters up and about, but another is just wearing a super short pencil skirt with high heel boots leaping in the air in battle. Like none of them are really revealing or anything, but they're not exactly great either.

 

[Deleted member 1635]

There's a reason why I never enjoyed games with high school settings, including FF Type-0, Valkyria Chronicles 2, Trails of the Cold Steel, etc. It's like the characters are made to pander to every possible fetish so everyone can have their own favorite(s). They're mostly one dimensional.

What do you think?

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I think you're right. I fully expect it to be nothing but garbage anime tropes and pervy bullshit.

 

[AztecComplex]

You guys must hate X-Men and Harry Potter too

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Yeah because western superhero media and epic books aimed at children are FILLED with high school settings as much as anime is.

 

[Madao]

yuck

i avoid high school shit in games and anime whenever i can these days and this drops a lot of the desire i have for the game. not that i was that big of a FE fan but not feeling this one.

 

[PSqueak]

Ok but this is a JRPG, no manga

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Yes, but your examples were X-men and Harry Potter, i do know school settings are much more common for books, but not for cape comics.

 

[AztecComplex]

I mean we don't know their ages, plenty we've seen could easily be mid teens and almost all the girls are wearing skirts. Thankfully one with a short skirt is also wearing shorts underneath when it flutters up and about, but another is just wearing a super short pencil skirt with high heel boots leaping in the air in battle. Like none of them are really revealing or anything, but they're not exactly great either.

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I know we don't know the ages but at least they don't look like they're in high school. Tales of Cold Steel or Valkyria Chronicles 2 this is not.

Plus you get to play as a teacher who's most decidedly an adult. I can't think of another JRPG where I've seen that. You always play as a student.

 

[Ryutaryi]

The fact that you're a teacher makes the high school setting a lot more palatable and I'm usually very against high school settings in JRPGs.

 

[The Anonymous Wizard]

Someone wants a piece of that Persona pie... But it didn't work for Valkyria Chronicles 2 and I really don't think it belongs here either.

 

[Enduin]

I know we don't know the ages but at least they don't look like they're in high school. Tales of Cold Steel or Valkyria Chronicles 2 this is not.

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I disagree, several of the characters definitely look like they could be 15/16. You really think these two are 18+?

 

[Deleted member 9972]

Maybe they'll pull a FF Tactics and the school will only be a temporary setting that ends up being a part of a much deeper and grander tragedy with complex political alliances

Spoiler

I wonder if we'll be able to date multiple students at once

 

[Mechaplum]

It's all in the implementation, but am hoping they go deeper into the political intrigue than the typical high school tropey stuff.

 

[Glio]

I was definitely taken aback, and I really don't think it's a good idea. I like my warriors to be...actual adult warriors, and not some schoolkids on a field trip like something outta Final Fantasy Type-0.

But I loved both Awakening and Fates, so I have a certain level of trust in IntiSys. I'm willing to stick around and hopefully be pleasantly surprised by how this turns out...

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If you think about it, everything about raising levels, promoting and training is ridiculous if they are professional soldiers

 

[Lord Arcadio]

While I enjoyed Trails of Cold Steel, this aspect really bothered me.

Thors Military Academy is a two year thing where you are expected to get a job after graduation. Most of the characters start attending at 17 years old. So shouldn't it be more like a college or....you know....a military academy than a high school? So why are all the Japanese high school tropes in it? For a series that had amazing world building, this was really immersion breaking.

 

[mute]

If I'm honest this would be my first FE, for various reasons I avoided the others but nothing I see here seems enticing at all. Needs more colors.

The school setting aspect will probably change over the course of the game but it isn't interesting to me really.

 

[crimsonECHIDNA]

I'm surprised they didn't mention relationship mechanics. I'm totally expecting "Fuck Your Students: The Game" here

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[cucholix]

Not what I'd expect from a Fire Emblem game, I wanted to revisit old characters and new ones, instead we got generic students, you can't even play as the teacher.

 

[brochiller]

I never would have thought I'd be into it but I am. I haven't played Fire Emblem before but I'm tempted to give this a shot.