kamineko

I can’t get over my fear of using up relic weapons, even though it’s easy to get Umbral steel from travelers ( I also horde the best healing items in rpgs and never use them >_>) I give flayn’s relic away, love added range)

Im about halfway through a BL playthrough with FByleth war cleric. I gave her a little training in reason for armored enemies. She’s great

I’d like this, I feel like there isn’t enough sothis

Well this conversation took a turn I haven’t explored it but ending pairings are my most unexplored supports

Even though I disagree with most of her decisions, Edelgard is my favorite BE character

Of those I would pick Annette but these days I usually do unpaired or sothis, just feels right

That’s what I’m saying. It was a choice. She lived, others died. im not looking to knock her and this isn’t the thread for it anyway. My point is just that these events make an impression that Can eclipse the shortcomings of the other characters.

Fates has weapon triangle, which I definitely miss, but otherwise I struggled to get through it. Just didn't care about the characters or story.

I would have liked to have been able to pick proficiencies. The defaults are fine the first time, but after a few playthroughs it's good to mix it up. I also thought the amount of points you got from training is not enough for a full activity point. Getting them(her) to Wyvern Lord was ridiculous, I'm a little embarrassed

This has been a fun thread to read. I get why people always bring up Edelgard. Byleth has close familial ties to the monastery, and she's involved in a conspiracy that leads to the protagonist's father's death. No, she didn't want it that way, but I think in most countries, once you enter into a conspiracy, you share culpability for outcomes. The death of Jeralt is a "loud" thing that makes an impression on first-time players. There's even different monastery music for the month. Continuing to work with her shitty uncle and TWSID was a decision. Maybe necessary to achieve her objectives, but not necessary. It's an end to a means. Like I said, these choices are all kind of "loud" and invite discussion (perhaps too much, but I think the designers intended this). I think these events and others make it possible to overlook how flawed Dimitri and Claude are. As the OP states, they cannot escape their pasts or circumstances, not fully. They, like Edelgard, either forgo or bungle diplomacy when tens of thousands (almost certainly more) of lives are at stake. They are all equally flawed and could have spared countless lives if they had been better listeners. I agree that Three Houses is a tragedy. I get confused by the many posts arguing for which lord is the better person. They all make bad decisions and only succeed because the protagonist chose them. That isn't to say I don't like the characters, I do. I even have a favorite. But OP did a good job of distilling a lot of my thoughts on the subject.

Ghost Dimitry did make me want to try other routes (SS was my first), but unless I missed it nothing later clarified the vision... what a strange scene

It's tricky because you have to decide before you actually know anything about the characters. I think AM works well as a self-contained thing that the other paths can expand upon. However, to keep SS and VW far apart, I'd go SS, AM, CF, then VW. Arguments can be made for either being last. The battle at the end of VW feels most like a *final* boss fight, and it answers the most questions. I think it should be last. CF is a good counterpoint to AM, and has a "the other side of the story" effect, so it works well there. Just by dumb luck, this was the order I played in. I noped on Edelgard the first time around, which I'm glad--I don't think it would have made as much sense without context from other routes.

I might try it after my current playthrough I agree that there is a big jump between hard and maddening

Marianne is a good holy knight. I train her up in reason, too, so it's healing and blasting with canto. I guess dark knight would have dealt more damage with black tomefaire, but fiendish blow felt like enough. I used her a lot, very solid unit. Gave her the healing staff

I think it's fine. The ending is kind of ridiculous, but it's nice having Seteth & Flayn plus the whole BE crew together I feel like liking the BE team and liking E are two different questions. You can answer yes to one, neither, or both Even though Seteth isn't a lord, he's the least messy lord The instructors are kind of junk, but there's enough people on the squad anyway I do wish Flayn made more stuff happen. In the grand scheme of things, Seteth isn't much older than her. I liked her character and wanted more