Altrosa

Personally, I find the idea of a “fourth” house more game breaking than just slotting in a few more students to each house since so much of the story and gameplay is built around the three. If the new students are given proper supports, it won’t feel that removed from how recruits currently work. However, the concept of Abyss mode being an alternate route from the current four that deeply explores Agarthan and Nabatean stuff sounds fantastic.

I think it’s worth adding that the Agarthans completely ruined Fodlan with their nukes. The whole reason Sothis went into hibernation was because she wore herself to the bone restoring the natural land. If they had the means to nuke everything, they didn’t have the means to repair the damage.

It’s not a spoiler. It’s foreshadowing.

Oh thank God. This is actually my first go at Hard/Classic anything FE, so mild panic happened lol

adhdkfajgfkfshfxkhManuELA NO

Enlightened One can use gauntlets since brawling is one of Byleth’s better weapon paths at the start, and the job is a infantry catch-all surprise promotion for whatever build you were playing Byleth with. Mortal Savant is pitched as a master step for Swordmaster, with each canon sword focussed unit also supporting gauntlet usage. Dancer could also be any unit aside from teachers, so you need to have all weapons open. Right now I have a sword/gauntlet Byleth build going because it works with Enlightened One and I’ve hardly experimented with the weapons so far, and the real advantage is the brave effect. The thing that really bugs me is brawler path jobs being gender locked, but it is what it is.

I forgot all about this chapter, and sure enough I’m playing GD hard with half my class replaced by recruits...😬 Only chapter 6 so I can fix this.

Well, now I’m curious if Dorothea gets mad if you say you’ll help her find it as M!Byleth, since she’s super relieved if you say you will help yourself verses referring to asking Manuela as F!Byleth. In things they DID NOT get past the radar, the changed Bernadetta dialogue in which she mentioned being tied to a chair by her father to learn to be a submissive wife, changed to cut out the latter part entirely. Big ol yikes once it clicked.

I don’t exactly disagree, but it all felt strange in retrospect. Despite being Edelgard’s endgame, CF really doesn’t go that deeply into the lore of TWSITD. CF being such a blitz to take out the other main royal forces without pause left no room to build them up organically, instead focusing on Rhea’s mental breakdown and second Seiros style revenge bender. Which is a shame since the Slither’s existence and past actions are used to justify Edelgard’s otherwise villainous actions up until Rhea starts screaming literal bloody murder. As for the whole deal with students siding with Edelgard and Byleth despite the holy tomb chapter, keep in mind Rhea waxes horrific and goes full Immaculate One in front of everyone immediately after the confusing, botched ceremony with Byleth, all with Edelgard calm and collected. In that position, I probably would’ve ran from the bloodthirsty dragon to protect my friend, so that never bothered me. The missile shot in CF was a warning to Edelgard to stay in line. The Slithers absolutely have the power to nuke everything, but don’t want to use it because the first time they had, during the huge wars in the pre-Red Canyon incident era, messed up the world so badly. I mean, they did let Sothis restore everything and go nap it off before Nemesis waltzed in. Thales unleashing the missiles in VW was a petty f-you move since they were completely defeated

Dimitri is plenty busted from his bases and crest stuff, and he’s the only lance infantry at that level.

Dimitri was part of their kid squad. It’s also why Felix is so venomous to Dimitri; seeing his dear friend go blood frenzied while both were still in mourning scared him to the core.

Tea and the same level of pre-planning as your other units. Though it would absolutely be a pain in the ass if you aren’t pushing NG+ renown and need those limited hours to boost everyone’s motivation, but turning Dorothea into a better mage unit could be more worth it than Lindy-heal botting and Dorothea dancing every turn. The other option is dark mage and working for fiendish blow, but I don’t think encouraging Death Knight action on maddening (without Lysithea, at least) is the best idea.

Dimitri’s route, Azure Moon, is uniquely disjointed from the others, as it focuses almost entirely on his fall and redemption and the how the tragedies that catalyzed the war affected him and the other BL students. I think it stands best on its own in isolation compared to the other routes, but it leaves so many small details unanswered that it nags you to play the others. What baffles me now is why Verdant Wind has so much copy paste from Silver Snow when Claude’s background could lead to multiple story threads beyond what we got. Edelgard’s Crimson Flower becoming a DLC route while putting the dev time into Claude’s side could’ve lead to a better game. But I guess they had little choice with Edel being the face of the game in most advertising.

Crimson Flower also has the issue of Flayn bouncing out of your team when you are already dealing with limited EXP gains. Lindhardt’s crippled from not having access to Gremory, as his attack prowess is garbage despite warp utility. He’s as good of dancer material as Dorothea, if only for her having access to the better final class. Petra also has the same potential but slow build quirk as Ferdinand if you direct her to becoming your main flyer. I actually took full advantage of Byleth’s budding talent in white magic and made her a holy knight on my CF run, and I would not have won those last maps without her.

A magical flyer is my biggest wish, preferably unisex. I saw the lack of a lance infantry unit at that level as another suggestion, and seconding the female war master. Male units need something to balance Gremory, but with Dark Mages being male locked, a master class version to finish that line off could work.

More or less why I said they are “supposed” to be your tanks. Actually, Ferdie having the heavy armor talent is likely just so you can fall back on him in Silver Snow if you need to get a tank into your team. Edelgard promoting into a lord feels almost like a trap the more I consider it, considering her personal options.

Only that Falcon Knight in some recent, previous games had access to healing spells, and Zenith Knight, as described, is what Falcons were in Awakening and Fates. I’m only stuck on them since they were my fav classes.

The tank is supposed to be Edelgard, and Ferdinand has a budding talent in heavy armor, so yes and no since they lack an obvious damage sponge, like Dedue, but do have units who grow into that role. But I also say Azure Moon would be the easiest. The units you have are well balanced and fill every core role you need, and none of the church units you decide to grab vanish after the time skip. It’s, at least, the most approachable of the paths on maddening.

Zenith Flyer seems like a desperate twist to shove white magic back on to Falcon Knight, though I expect the DLC to include a Dark Rider/Malig Knight type class to cover the hole left by the lack of a magical flying class. That said, I’m fine with the new characters just being bonus students in each class as long as they get supports with more than just Byleth. I’m already worried they’ll be half-baked from their role as “bonus” units, when everyone else has a wall of supports. I don’t expect them to appear in most cutscenes since recruited characters don’t. Same goes for Jeritza and Anna. While the lack of supports isn’t the same handicap it was in Awakening or Fates, it would feel like a disservice otherwise.

Lindhardt - Bad first impression, ended up having the most painfully relatable portrayal of ADHD I’ve witnessed in media, some hilarious supports, and warp shenanigans made him one of my favorites.

Rhea doesn’t completely shatter mentally until after the fight that leaves Seteth (and possibly Flayn) dead when they attempt to reclaim the monastery. She had her remaining family die brutally to another human wielding a sword and crest made from her mother’s remains. I think at that point Rhea’s remaining faith in humanity was gone, and her actions from then onward had the side effect of giving Edelgard plenty of justification for the war to destroy the church and reunify Fodlan without it. EDIT: (Found out Seteth and Flayn both can flee, but they have to abandon Rhea, so the sentiment still stands)

I understood this is why Byleth doesn’t know how old they since Jeralt spun a story about a second wife that never existed. Also, an interesting bit that is skimmed over is Rhea’s clone attempts were aware of their status as failed clones to revive Sothis. At least Byleth’s mother was informed as she knew to ask Rhea to use her crest to save her stillborn baby. It’s possible that Rhea’s choice to let Jeralt run free with Byleth was an experiment to see if Sothis would revive under those different living circumstances as raising and working with the clones directly had failed 12 times to that point.

Byleth has a dancer model, so I assumed it was that, myself. Three Houses lacking beast/manakete classes could open up those slots, and Byleth lacks a second personal promotion after Enlightened One. (I personally want a dark rider type of class since none of the flyer classes are mages) Rhea has the whole 9 yards half programmed into the game, tea time, meals, archbishop to saint class promos, battle dialogue for level ups. Sothis and Jeralt have crit and level up promos, too. Rhea seems likely as a playable character, but right now it looks like it’s just cut content since Rhea appears as an ally and enemy plenty of times in combat.

I’ve noticed that the enemies sometimes switch targets when others on their own side move positions that block the AI’s planned path. I’ve also seen AI run to other units due to HP and Rally buffs that didn’t reflect on my phase.

I know in the Azure Moon path, there is a paralogue in the Holy Tomb where you retrieve the Seiros Sheild. It’s the only time you fight the automatons in that story, I think.