Fire Emblem: Three Houses

[Daisy Jane]

I wanted my three favourite units from black eagles: Bernadetta, Dorothea and Petra, and I've got all but Petra (just need to work on my riding). I want to work on others (mostly ashe and ingrid but those 3 took a lot of work, and i kinda was slow at the beginning). when I play the next playthrough, I'll know specifically what to work on (and how to steal my favourite, units from GD, that Being Hilda (which will take forever, since she's non recruitable for a big chunk of time), Lythisia and strangely enough,Marianne. (probably Lorenz too)

 

[Gecklund]

I wanted my three favourite units from black eagles: Bernadetta, Dorothea and Petra, and I've got all but Petra (just need to work on my riding). I want to work on others (mostly ashe and ingrid but those 3 took a lot of work, and i kinda was slow at the beginning). when I play the next playthrough, I'll know specifically what to work on (and how to steal my favourite, units from GD, that Being Hilda (which will take forever, since she's non recruitable for a big chunk of time), Lythisia and strangely enough,Marianne. (probably Lorenz too)

I believe Lorenz and Claude are both unrecruitable. I highly recommend Felix. He is a monster.

 

[HanSolo]

I believe Lorenz and Claude are both unrecruitable. I highly recommend Felix. He is a monster.

Nope and yup. I got Lorenz as my last recruit to the Black Eagles. House leaders like Claude are not recruitable.

 

[Gecklund]

Nope and yup. I got Lorenz as my last recruit to the Black Eagles. House leaders like Claude are not recruitable.

I knew that Claude wasn’t but I thought each house had two (Edelgard and Hubert, Dmitri and Dedue).

 

[Daisy Jane]

I knew that Claude wasn’t but I thought each house had two (Edelgard and Hubert, Dmitri and Dedue).

in Golden Deer it's Hilda (up to a certain point).

I would like felix but he doesn't wanna join me. so he can go kick a rock.

 

[Gecklund]

in Golden Deer it's Hilda (up to a certain point).

I would like felix but he doesn't wanna join me. so he can go kick a rock.

You need high sword skill but he’s totally worth it. My top three characters are Byleth, Claude, and Felix by far.

 

[Gecklund]

Just finished my first play through. Very fire emblem esque game and very good game.

 

[HanSolo]

in Golden Deer it's Hilda (up to a certain point).

I would like felix but he doesn't wanna join me. so he can go kick a rock.

You need like b+ in swords.

 

[Daisy Jane]

You need high sword skill but he’s totally worth it. My top three characters are Byleth, Claude, and Felix by far.

You need like b+ in swords.

good gravy. lol i might have to spam this.
at least i know for the second play through.

 

[HanSolo]

Still not done with my first playthrough but this is easily a top 3 fire emblem for me. It took a game like this to realize the extent of how shallow the writing was in the 3ds games. Can't really get into it further without getting into spoilers but this is one of the most mature and deep stories this series has told yet. The visuals in combat are the best they've been but admittedly everywhere else, they really didn't utilize the power of the Switch well. That's really my only complaint. It is on the easier end at least at normal difficulty, but I never thought brutally high difficulty meant good gameplay. The need to think strategically is still there. And it's certainly different than Awakening and Fates whose objective really becomes to turn your units and their children into combat gods through skill farming and strategic marriage and childbirth (and from there figuring out the best pair up options to maximize damage output). Skills are still here in Three Houses but it doesn't feel quite as broken.

As far as I'm concerned, this is a near perfect Fire Emblem game save for the missed opportunities visually and the Monastery days feeling somewhat repetitive (the activity system does feel a bit repetitive but you do get fully voiced conversations that briefly develop the cast of characters every time and there is some strategy involved in what you choose to do with your explore day and instruction period.) but at least it doesn't feel like as much of a chore as the activity system in fire emblem fates. At least here there's some measure of choice and strategic decisions geared towards developing the player controlled character and his/her students.

good gravy. lol i might have to spam this.
at least i know for the second play through.

I always use "explore days" for like two professor xp up opportunities and then the rest I use the Byleth tutors. I wasted too much time trying to train up my mage skills only to have the recruitable units who wanted those skills to be higher to keep saying no. Ended up just focusing on Swords, Lances, and bows.

But I can confirm that Felix is legit. He and Petra are arguably the best infantry sword units.

 

[Daisy Jane]

Still not done with my first playthrough but this is easily a top 3 fire emblem for me. It took a game like this to realize the extent of how shallow the writing was in the 3ds games.

i think though we also have to remember, that Awakening was the farewell (so i think it was just more of a love song farewell to the mechanics vs writing), Fates was to capitalize on the fact Awakening was popular - and Echoes was the remake of the game (i think they said they fleshed it out - but they also stayed truthful to that the game was).

but i have to say - no one can't say they don't listen to feedback. almost everything people hated in Fates - is not in this game. like Fates (and i enjoyed it) ended up being a slog at the end, and I hated Corrin. I love Byleth, i love golden deer and i am legit curious to finish this up (after i take my sweet-ole time), to play the other houses and re-plan how i do things. (It also really makes me hope that they remaster Genealogy of the Holy War and give it this treatment because most people of FE dom say it's that game that's the gold standard of FE (though people wanna say Path of Radiance is).

Can't really get into it further without getting into spoilers but this is one of the most mature and deep stories this series has told yet. The visuals in combat are the best they've been but admittedly everywhere else, they really didn't utilize the power of the Switch well. That's really my only complaint. It is on the easier end at least at normal difficulty, but I never thought brutally high difficulty meant good gameplay. The need to think strategically is still there. And it's certainly different than Awakening and Fates whose objective really becomes to turn your units and their children into combat gods through skill farming and strategic marriage and childbirth (and from there figuring out the best pair up options to maximize damage output). Skills are still here in Three Houses but it doesn't feel quite as broken.

I am playing Normal - it is a touch easier but it can be tough (or how i play i make it tough) but i agreee with you. not really tempted on playing Hard Mode though. but holy crap i agree with you in regards to the mature/deepness and the mouth dropping holy crap the game gives you. like i already have my precious bean crop before i played but every single one of them i legit want to like shelter them from the world, and give them love and sunshine and happiness. i love. ALL of them

As far as I'm concerned, this is a near perfect Fire Emblem game save for the missed opportunities visually and the Monastery days feeling somewhat repetitive (the activity system does feel a bit repetitive but you do get fully voiced conversations that briefly develop the cast of characters every time and there is some strategy involved in what you choose to do with your explore day and instruction period.) but at least it doesn't feel like as much of a chore as the activity system in fire emblem fates. At least here there's some measure of choice and strategic decisions geared towards developing the player controlled character and his/her students.

also agreed. what I don't like is that you do miss some days for teaching (and for exploring/battling), so that kinda irks. (I get why but still). this is hands down my favourite game (and honestly when i first heard the premise it was "Harry potter? no thanks." (but it legit works for me haha)

I always use "explore days" for like two professor xp up opportunities and then the rest I use the Byleth tutors. I wasted too much time trying to train up my mage skills only to have the recruitable units who wanted those skills to be higher to keep saying no. Ended up just focusing on Swords, Lances, and bows.

But I can confirm that Felix is legit. He and Petra are arguably the best infantry sword units.

yeah i did waste time in the beginning (and I do think i am running out of time on Felix. I DO have petra so that makes me happy). I do kind of get the hang of it.

i think for some units you need to be in the class (my friend is Blue Lion, and wants Lysithia and Marianne and they want MAG) so you basically need to be in a magic class to get that high enough to attract them. my other friend also said sometimes you can cheese the stat boosts if you have enough Support with them.

when i replay (and hoo boy, am I gonna replay), I know that basically now, my explore days is going to be improving myself and spamming gifts with one or two stuff to increase the professor points

(also. hint for everyone: fishing does help with Prof Exp. but the real money maker is waiting for the Multiude of Fish events on the map. I went from being 0 at prof B- to nearly maxing it out in one day). it was insane.

 

[Gecklund]

i think though we also have to remember, that Awakening was the farewell (so i think it was just more of a love song farewell to the mechanics vs writing), Fates was to capitalize on the fact Awakening was popular - and Echoes was the remake of the game (i think they said they fleshed it out - but they also stayed truthful to that the game was).

but i have to say - no one can't say they don't listen to feedback. almost everything people hated in Fates - is not in this game. like Fates (and i enjoyed it) ended up being a slog at the end, and I hated Corrin. I love Byleth, i love golden deer and i am legit curious to finish this up (after i take my sweet-ole time), to play the other houses and re-plan how i do things. (It also really makes me hope that they remaster Genealogy of the Holy War and give it this treatment because most people of FE dom say it's that game that's the gold standard of FE (though people wanna say Path of Radiance is).



I am playing Normal - it is a touch easier but it can be tough (or how i play i make it tough) but i agreee with you. not really tempted on playing Hard Mode though. but holy crap i agree with you in regards to the mature/deepness and the mouth dropping holy crap the game gives you. like i already have my precious bean crop before i played but every single one of them i legit want to like shelter them from the world, and give them love and sunshine and happiness. i love. ALL of them



also agreed. what I don't like is that you do miss some days for teaching (and for exploring/battling), so that kinda irks. (I get why but still). this is hands down my favourite game (and honestly when i first heard the premise it was "Harry potter? no thanks." (but it legit works for me haha)




yeah i did waste time in the beginning (and I do think i am running out of time on Felix. I DO have petra so that makes me happy). I do kind of get the hang of it.

i think for some units you need to be in the class (my friend is Blue Lion, and wants Lysithia and Marianne and they want MAG) so you basically need to be in a magic class to get that high enough to attract them. my other friend also said sometimes you can cheese the stat boosts if you have enough Support with them.

when i replay (and hoo boy, am I gonna replay), I know that basically now, my explore days is going to be improving myself and spamming gifts with one or two stuff to increase the professor points

(also. hint for everyone: fishing does help with Prof Exp. but the real money maker is waiting for the Multiude of Fish events on the map. I went from being 0 at prof B- to nearly maxing it out in one day). it was insane.

There’s also temp bonuses that help a lot (especially the DEX ones) that’s how I recruited Ingrid. By the way for everyone, it is much easier to recruit people in your next play throughs. I’m not going to ruin why though.

 

[Daisy Jane]

There’s also temp bonuses that help a lot (especially the DEX ones) that’s how I recruited Ingrid. By the way for everyone, it is much easier to recruit people in your next play throughs. I’m not going to ruin why though.

i think i know why
(oh that's right, lol eat, and get the bonuses) duhh

I also found out just plant flowers, and ply them with people.

 

[Daisy Jane]

I GOT FELIX wooo.
(and Ashe)

that's it because i want to save stuff for the other playthroughs

 

[HanSolo]

I GOT FELIX wooo.
(and Ashe)

that's it because i want to save stuff for the other playthroughs

The deeper I've gotten into my playthrough the more monstrous Felix has become. His stat spread is arguably the best I have besides Byleth. 37 attack with 40 speed is nuts.

 

[HanSolo]

Also Black Eagles spoiler cause I feel like I have to talk about it.

...

Spoiler

Jesus christ what the hell is this if you side with Edelgard against the Church, it's the shortest route? I assumed siding with the church was the "secret route"

It's giving me the feeling that the other three routes paint Edelgard as just a villain. I mean for sure she didn't really try peaceful measures to fix the problem she perceived so siding with her isn't the most noble route.

But she has some cause to rise up against the church all the same. Rhea is a psychopath who

1. Incurs the church to purge heretics and execute all perceived enemies without trial.
2. Propogates the social imbalance around the eugenics of the crests by either doing nothing to stop an injust caste system, or directly supports such practices (as far as I'm aware it's not clear which but either way she's not going anything to stop something that is clearly negatively impacting people in Fodlan).
3. Did nothing to bring justice to those who experimented and essentially tried to torture crests into the Imperial royal family including Edelgard.
4. Conducted human experiments on Byleth to attempt to make her into a vessel for Sothis.
5. Blamed the Empire for something the Church did to ensure the loyalty of Dimitri and the Kingdom.

Sure not everyone affiliated with the church is evil. Most people probably aren't. But as long as the Church stands, Fodlan exists in inequality and injustice.

I find the opportunity to hear Edelgard's motivations out and see if she lives up to her promise to bring peace and equality to Fodlan is inherently more compelling than whatever lies Rhea would use to justify the Church's path. At least there's underpinnings in Edelgard's dialogue that suggest that she's not waging war in the interest of being a cruel totalitarian. Accepting the counsel and assistance of Hubert who seems like the kind of guy that would slaughter infants if he felt it was necessary is not a point in her favor but she really does seem like a gray area antihero with a firm belief that her cause is just and necessary if not always noble.

Learning that her individual path was the "secret path" is pretty annoying because there was a lot more potential to expand on the ensuing war. I mean the whole conflict with the Alliance lasted two story chapters and one paralogue. And now I'm basically three chapters from the end.

All I know is I'm not doing the Church path until my last playthrough.

 

[Jovavic]

I read that the political intrigue and all that is reminiscent of the Suikoden series, is that true? I've never played a FE game before but if the story is like that I may need to get it sooner rather than later.

 

[Commander Clueless]

I'm still very early (my wife takes all the Switch time playing this game ), but this game is freaking fantastic. Are all Fire Emblem games this good?


Early GOTY favourite for me......not that it's had too much competition so far in my mind.

 

[HanSolo]

I read that the political intrigue and all that is reminiscent of the Suikoden series, is that true? I've never played a FE game before but if the story is like that I may need to get it sooner rather than later.

Not familiar with this series but I can lay praise at the feet of the political/social intrigue complexity of this game. I can't say too much without giving away spoilers, but I think I can say this much: The question of who among Church of Seiros and the Three "Houses" is really in control and/or responsible for the troubles of the land is the heart of a really well woven narrative that just drips with moral ambiguity in any given chosen alliance. Any of these four groups can be viewed as the good guys or bad guys within different perspectives.

To put it another way, I just closed out my first route's playthrough last night and I really struggle to see how I'm going to attain the perspective necessary to view the other sides as...either not misguided or outright responsible for Fodlan's troubles. Aside from feeling somewhat miserable having to now take up arms against my first chosen Lord and the students of their House.

Three Houses' narrative is a bold endeavor for the series and it really is remarkable to me how well woven it is with the added bonus of each group having some of the best written characters in the series whose personalities and stories don't feel separate from the plot, but naturally embedded into it.

I'm still very early (my wife takes all the Switch time playing this game ), but this game is freaking fantastic. Are all Fire Emblem games this good?


Early GOTY favourite for me......not that it's had too much competition so far in my mind.

No. In fact, I'd struggle to say that any of them are this good. If the metric for what makes a game good is challenging default difficulty, then yeah there's certainly other contenders, but for everything else, this is Fire Emblem at its shining best. Saw a review the other day that said the biggest problem with Three Houses is that it sets an incredibly high bar for future titles that may be hard to match. And I can't say I disagree. To maintain this level of narrative and character writing will be difficult.

That being said, there are some good ones to jump into. Awakening (3DS) if you still want the beginner's taste. Blazing Blade and Sacred Stones (GBA), Path of Radiance (Gamecube), Radiant Dawn (Wii).

 

[Chaels Arms]

What a great game. I hadn't touched my Switch in months but this has brought me back. I even went out and got a pro controller.

What is everyone' feeling on the seminars? I've been playing online which has been cool because you get to see the percentages of people picking explore, seminar or battle. There's some weeks on the calendar where explore and seminar are pretty close. It's usually right after battle weeks where I guess everyone's students are dead so a lot of people pick seminar. It seems to me though that now that I've got five action points it's better off to explore as I can always build motivation back up other ways plus I get to do fishing, gardening and the note box.

 

[HanSolo]

What a great game. I hadn't touched my Switch in months but this has brought me back. I even went out and got a pro controller.

What is everyone' feeling on the seminars? I've been playing online which has been cool because you get to see the percentages of people picking explore, seminar or battle. There's some weeks on the calendar where explore and seminar are pretty close. It's usually right after battle weeks where I guess everyone's students are dead so a lot of people pick seminar. It seems to me though that now that I've got five action points it's better off to explore as I can always build motivation back up other ways plus I get to do fishing, gardening and the note box.

Personally I think seminar is a bit weak. Explore and battle yield more tangible improvements.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

Not familiar with this series but I can lay praise at the feet of the political/social intrigue complexity of this game. I can't say too much without giving away spoilers, but I think I can say this much: The question of who among Church of Seiros and the Three "Houses" is really in control and/or responsible for the troubles of the land is the heart of a really well woven narrative that just drips with moral ambiguity in any given chosen alliance. Any of these four groups can be viewed as the good guys or bad guys within different perspectives.

To put it another way, I just closed out my first route's playthrough last night and I really struggle to see how I'm going to attain the perspective necessary to view the other sides as...either not misguided or outright responsible for Fodlan's troubles. Aside from feeling somewhat miserable having to now take up arms against my first chosen Lord and the students of their House.

Three Houses' narrative is a bold endeavor for the series and it really is remarkable to me how well woven it is with the added bonus of each group having some of the best written characters in the series whose personalities and stories don't feel separate from the plot, but naturally embedded into it.



No. In fact, I'd struggle to say that any of them are this good. If the metric for what makes a game good is challenging default difficulty, then yeah there's certainly other contenders, but for everything else, this is Fire Emblem at its shining best. Saw a review the other day that said the biggest problem with Three Houses is that it sets an incredibly high bar for future titles that may be hard to match. And I can't say I disagree. To maintain this level of narrative and character writing will be difficult.

That being said, there are some good ones to jump into. Awakening (3DS) if you still want the beginner's taste. Blazing Blade and Sacred Stones (GBA), Path of Radiance (Gamecube), Radiant Dawn (Wii).

Fire Emblem games have never had great stories though, if you're playing the series for that you're doing it wrong, IMO.

That said, from what I've played so far the game has the best gameplay, structure, and balancing since Radiant Dawn, but still isn't quite on the level of FE 6-10.

 

[HanSolo]

Fire Emblem games have never had great stories though, if you're playing the series for that you're doing it wrong, IMO.

That said, from what I've played so far the game has the best gameplay, structure, and balancing since Radiant Dawn, but still isn't quite on the level of FE 6-10.

I've always felt those games benefit from favorable nostalgia. I still play a couple of them every now and then and people still have no problem glossing over some of their flaws. Especially Binding Blade. And don't get me wrong, I'd say the combat of 6-10 is on a higher level...for the most part, but I'm looking at the total package in saying that Three Houses is better. That includes both narrative writing, character writing, music, replayability, total content, player choice, etc.

 

[Daisy Jane]

The deeper I've gotten into my playthrough the more monstrous Felix has become. His stat spread is arguably the best I have besides Byleth. 37 attack with 40 speed is nuts.

I think Marianne/Lysithia has monster mag/res stats with enough speed to avoid doubles. nothing magical touches them, and then they OHKO them.

 

[Daisy Jane]

I've always felt those games benefit from favorable nostalgia. I still play a couple of them every now and then and people still have no problem glossing over some of their flaws. Especially Binding Blade. And don't get me wrong, I'd say the combat of 6-10 is on a higher level...for the most part, but I'm looking at the total package in saying that Three Houses is better. That includes both narrative writing, character writing, music, replayability, total content, player choice, etc.

i think that is that. My path completely keeps blowing my mind with all the twists and turns and the thing is - I have to imagine that being say Blue Lions- everything will be twisted on its ear again.

this game delayed for a reason-and it's evident in my opinion. this for me is the Gold Standard