Fire Emblem: Three Houses

[Marilink]

Hey friends. I've been playing this game. Uh, a little obsessively. I know IAN has it and Kat is at least seeing Squeege play it, but who else has dove in?

I'm loving it. I'm only in chapter 12, so obviously keep spoilers to a minimum--also, if you want to talk spoilery stuff, mark spoilers with the chapter/month so we know what to click or not click on.

in conclusion, Edelgard is best girl, Black Eagles rule and the other houses drool

[I am nobody]

in conclusion, Edelgard is best girl, Black Eagles rule and the other houses drool

End of part 1 spoilers:

Spoiler.

About that...

[smol Kat]

I've been watching s1x, too. He picked the Deer; squeege picked Black Eagle, so whenever I start my playthrough it's Lions for me!

End of part 1:

Spoiler.

ofc the downside to watching people first is that I already know because I watched s1x's brain asplode.

[Calamity Panfan]

I haven't even bought Mario Maker so unfortunately this is probably on the backburner until either a Black Friday deal or a Christmas present.

[Marilink]

btw @Apollo the Just , this game shows heavy influence of Persona 4 and 5

[S1x]

Midway through, some scattered views in no particular order:

- So far, this game is quite good
- I chose the Golden Deer, and they're a pretty cool group. Even the Nice Guy of the house has some redeeming moments
- I was skeptical about the Persona-like gameplay from exploring the monastery, but it's actually kinda engaging. Plus I like the teacher's goofy running animation
- Being able to train any of your students in potentially anything seemed odd, but there are strengths and weaknesses to keep in mind, so some paths are still easier than others. The fact that you need multiple different proficiencies for the master classes means you got to keep the future in mind too, not just the present
- It's really cool how archers can have 3 or 4 range depending on what they're doing. I also got one item that gives mages more range and it seems like the most broken item in the game so far
- The fishing minigame isn't as deep as Stardew Valley's, but I like how the Joy-cons rumble during it
- The small little additions for connecting online are pretty interesting! "Wait, why did a lot of people apparently die on this tile?"
- Weapon durability is back, but at least you can repair a weapon from 0 now! No more "whatif" fears where I never use the most powerful irreplaceable weapons
- There was no reason to make GBA-style sprites for every character, but they did anyway, and it's very cute
- Since when were enemy Pegasus Knights so dang powerful in addition to being speedy? They're really scary now
- Battling giant beasts seems like mini-raid bosses in Fire Emblem, and it feels really satisfying to smash away all their barriers and then double them for ridiculous damage
- I don't think I've fully wrapped my head around Battalions yet, but the stat boosts are no joke, and I like how they appear in the background of all the normal fights
- It appears a lot of effort went into the support conversations this time compared to Fates
- While I'm not mainly playing this game for the story, I've been totally blindsided at least once and I like it
- Even though I'm trying to use it as little as possible, thank you do-over power for existing
- This game is really really good

[smol Kat]

/barn on the Supports, btw. I honestly can't wait to complete our little trifecta.

Also: Support Circles when???????

[Marilink]

SO, I finished part 1, got to the time skip, and BOY IVE GOTTA SAY

Spoiler.

I was right. Edelgard is best girl. Black Eagle Strike Force gonna rule the world. Literally.

[Apollo the Just]

btw @Apollo the Just , this game shows heavy influence of Persona 4 and 5

I know you intended this to be a selling point but I am salty at the way Persona 4 and 5 just plagiarized 3's calendar system without the moon cycles justification and it feels formulaic and forced now.

FE3H does look cool. I've no desire to play it because I detest field turn-based strategy but it looks like they've implemented a lot of cool features in this one. And you don't have to buy like 3 different games plus DLC to get the whole story for once!!!!

[I am nobody]

More part 1 spoilers:

Spoiler.

- Jeralt's death is incredibly stupid. It's been established that the protagonist can rewind time multiple times in succession, and can do so significantly further back than that, and yet they make one half-hearted attempt at stopping his murder before giving up.

- Sothis merging with you is also pretty dumb. Partly because protag stands inside an obvious spell for like 5 minutes before getting sealed away, and mostly because of the idea that the literal progenitor god can't just kill the void herself. She made it!

- I have killed Edelgard in battle twice. She should be dead. If they didn't want her to be dead, they shouldn't have let me kill her in said battles.

- I also really don't like that counterattack ability that Edelgard and the Death Knight suddenly get. How does an axe user respond to Meteor from 10 tiles away? What is the point of range if units can just shoot me back from anywhere?

- On the positive side, I do actually really like the character redesigns for part 2. I wish everyone had gotten an intro in that battle instead of just your first house members, but that's a minor complaint.

No spoilers:
- Leonie and protag basically can't take damage and Bernadetta and Dorothea can one-shot almost everything from 3+ tiles away. The rest of my characters aren't quite as broken, but the game really doesn't have an answer to that squad.

- The crit percentages are way higher than they claim to be. I did a tournament 15 times in a row to squeeze in a professor level before part 2 and got a supposedly 7% crit about half the time.

Also agree with most of what S1x said.

And I mentioned it in the other thread, but seriously, it's uncanny how similar this is to Cold Steel. Part 1 is basically a very short CS1, and Part 2 is starting out like an abridged CS2.

[smol Kat]

^Who'd you start with? Black Eagle?

[I am nobody]

Yup.

[Marilink]

Curious about the Part 1 split, Ian

Spoiler.

I sided with Edelgard, so now I’m basically conquering everything and that’s driving the plot. If you oppose her, where do you end up? Do your students follow you and oppose her, too, so you keep your house? Moreover, earlier, if you don’t follow her back to Adrestia to have her crowned emperor, what does that affect? Because following her there gave me a similar “THIS WILL DRASTICALLY CHANGE THE STORY” prompt.

[I am nobody]

Curious about the Part 1 split, Ian

Spoiler.

I sided with Edelgard, so now I’m basically conquering everything and that’s driving the plot. If you oppose her, where do you end up? Do your students follow you and oppose her, too, so you keep your house? Moreover, earlier, if you don’t follow her back to Adrestia to have her crowned emperor, what does that affect? Because following her there gave me a similar “THIS WILL DRASTICALLY CHANGE THE STORY” prompt.

Spoiler.

I also went with her to Adrestia, so I can't answer that part. I have saves before all the branch points in case I want to go back, though.

If you oppose her, you kill her at the monastery invasion and then the game decides she actually won the battle, Rhea turns into a dragon and disappears, and you get knocked out for five years. You wake up and fight a really silly battle where none of the enemies can actually hurt you and everyone from your house shows up in groups besides Edelgard (who gets a Darth Vader anime cutscene before that) and Hubert. Everyone else you recruited (besides at least Ashe) is then in your party with no fanfare. I'm still in the first month of part 1, but gameplay from so far is the same as part 1 but with everyone being older and now able to do training sessions with me. You also automatically recruit everyone in the church faction besides Gilbert, who isn't there.

Losing Edelgard and Hubert was a little disappointing because they were my 5th and 6th best units, but I'll be fine as long as that core group of four sticks around.

[Marilink]

So what’s your objective now?

It sounds like (beginning of part 2 spoilers)

Spoiler.

they may have put a lot more effort into the “siding with Edelgard” route than the “opposing Edelgard” route, but that’s just a snap judgment of your summary there.

[I am nobody]

So what’s your objective now?

It sounds like (beginning of part 2 spoilers)

Spoiler.

they may have put a lot more effort into the “siding with Edelgard” route than the “opposing Edelgard” route, but that’s just a snap judgment of your summary there.

Spoiler.

Beat her up and save the Kingdom/Alliance, basically. I'm not far into Part 2, so right now it's all still gathering strength. She seems like a rather unambiguous bad guy.

I have nothing to compare against, so siding with her may be a totally different game for all I know, but this route doesn't seem particularly low effort so far.

[smol Kat]

^

Spoiler.

From what I've seen with Squeege's gameplay, if you side with her it's a lot more ambiguous as to whether she's actually evil.

[I am nobody]

Spoiler.

That's what I figured, but considering she or her allies committed murder and kidnapping as well as going full Umbrella Corp multiple times even before the war started, I feel like the "who's evil here" ship had kinda sailed before it gets to that point. I get that they *want* the church to be ambiguous, but the worst they showed was that they execute rebels.

Doesn't help that the one paralogue I've done so far was Hubert trying to murder us all for the high crime of stopping them from forcing Brigid to join the war.

[smol Kat]

Spoiler.

see, and squeege keeps trying to convince me Hubert isn't evil. I have my doubts!

[Marilink]

Spoiler.

I’m also convinced Hubert isn’t evil, I just think he has an unhealthy obsession with Big E. But that also means I don’t think Edelgard is evil.

So Ian, do you have Claude or Dimitri with you at the monastery or anything?

And I only meant low-effort in that you mentioned “the game decides you actually lose the battle” and also you’ve killed her a few times but she keeps coming back.