Moltz23

IIRC

Some confirmation that the new units will have a post-timeskip appereance at least.

Also you can see some wrecked church golems on the scenery of the place, which feels quite ominous if you ask me.

1. Because the whole thing was being prepared in advance ever since Dimitri took over the Alliance and cornered Edelgard. In VW/SS the game mentions your team more or less pulls a surprise attack on Embarr for lacking the resources to pull off a fair fight. 2. Most likely because Arundel/Thales dying during BL means the slitherers can no longer abuse their intimidation toy (the javelins of light), so it's plausible to imagine they see killing them later as a triviality of sorts. 3. Likely because of Rhea and the Church. If she attemped to pull it off, a kingdom mage claiming Dimitri killed his uncle would end up being less credible if the goddamn archbishop of the whole continent defended him. 4. He sends troops to you and goes MIA in SS after the Gronder Field battle so Byleth and the church can be the heroes. 5. No clue. From a narrative standpoint, most likely because Rule of Cool (Nemesis) and Rule of Symbolism (Crazy Rhea). 6. No clue. 7. The entire slitherer war is skipped over during the epilogue so we have no idea how that went. Nemesis awakening is a legit possibility IMO. They aren't. The game skips that month outright (aka goes from month 3 to 5).

The scene I'm talking about happens before the routesplit actually, so it counts for both CF and SS. And nope, SS doesn't get that battle either because the game skips that month outright. Edelgard providing a reason would've helped a lot I think. Heck, the game could've done something interesting for the Holy Tomb buildup scene depending on whether you went to Edel's coronation or not, which is why I find so weird that moment never happens in that route yet it does in the others.

The weirdest part about that is the Flame Emperor in the other routes actually bothers to give a reason as to why she's raiding the Holy Tomb in the first place (which differs between each house), while in the Black Eagles route absolutely no explanation is given unless you stick to Silver Snow and talk to Hanneman later. That, and the fact the route doesn't have a build-up scene for the Holy Tomb Ceremony for some reason - which BL and GD do get - makes me wonder if the whole thing could've been a deliberate design choice (and an odd one at that).

Verdant Wind/Silver Snow and Crimson Flower bring him up in part 2 iirc. In the former it's monastery convo from Ignatz trying to piece together what exactly was the purpose of his shenanigans and what he meant about saying he was "a savior of all". In the latter case, Hubert mentions him when explaining to Byleth how he and Kronya once served Lord Arundel before the timeskip. Yeah, I liked that as well. Even then, I've heard some people find annoying how little reasons Edelgard's route give you to think the church's actually is an issue other than "Rhea's evil and literally a monster!!!", which in hindsight I find weird mostly because in practice everything shady about the Church begins and ends with the person running the institution in the first place AKA Rhea herself, and the followers end up as "bad guys" mostly by association and loyalty. I do think it's a huge missed opportunity the game never brings up the implications of Rhea and the Inmaculate One being the same person and how many cans of worms that revelation creates in the first place. In that same sense, it disappoints me how little Silver Snow dwells on the church's flaws (if at all), in particular because Seteth's solo ending outright states he does some reforms to make the church more tolerant and progressive, which at no point is it ever brought up during the story.

It makes sense. IIRC after the timeskip he does mention there are crests and relics lost to history so the guy being part of the underground expedition team fits him well.

Here's a few more details from the japanese site about how the Abyssal mode works: https://topics.nintendo.co.jp/c/article/64df73f3-31ec-11ea-b641-063b7ac45a6d.html Completely separate from the main game - you select it from the menu, select a Byleth/difficulty (no Maddening) and go. Takes place early in part 1. Byleth and the students pursue a mysterious figure and wind up in the Abyss, a town under Garreg Mach that the Church is silent on. The Ashen Wolves are former students of the Academy who have their own reasons for going to the Abyss. Doesn't follow the month/mission structure of the main game. No additional recruits - you have a set army. Said to be a little tougher than the main game.

The vanilla church golems that show up only in CF can be seen in the Holy Tomb during the trailer, so there's a chance that Rhea's paralogue could have happened before the timeskip at some point in development.

Oof. Those are tricky questions, not gonna lie. I'll give it a shot regardless: Best route to do first - Any of them honestly. Each route for the most part provides a different experience so in that regard I'll normally suggest anyone to follow their gut feeling. Best route for a FE beginner - Depending on the player's expectatives, I'll say it could be either Verdant Wind or Azure Moon. For those looking for a strong first impression, Verdant Wind is the route to go. The cast is pretty fun, lighthearted and has good moments during the story, most of the stuff set during part 1 gets a payoff eventually, and the production values are off the charts due the insane amount of cutscenes used (after the Holy Tomb chapter, Claude's route uses a whooping amount of 9 compared to Silver Snow and Azure Moon which use 6 at best). The route ain't flawless though: Claude's backstory is hurt a lot by 3H's "tell don't show" shenanigans, there are no route exclusive units other than Claude himself, the Flame Emperor's Death cutscene feels really out of place and Nemesis coming back from the dead is very hit or miss depending how much you dig stuff that happens mostly because Rule of Cool. For those looking for a self-contained story with an actual character arc, Azure Moon is perfect for that. The cast has pretty good chemistry and is quite active, part 1 makes a ton more sense on this route compared to the others due to having a direct connection with the Blue Lions in some way or another, and Dimitri's arc is the very definition of a rollercoaster for all the best reasons. As far cons go, anything involving the intro cutscene, Rhea or the "technologically advanced molemen" becomes irrelevant which hurts a lot for anyone expecting some sort of closure for those characters, the whole Patricia thing feels pointless by the time the plot's over, and the heavy use of CGs around the middle of part 2 can be pretty off-putting for some. I would honestly love to recommend to a beginner either Crimson Flower or Silver Snow, but both routes have too many issues for my taste to go with it, especially if they're planning to give just one of them a try.

As of version 1.1.1 (the update with Sothis' outfit) I can confirm they fixed it, which makes sense since Wave 4 is gonna be released soon(?) and the DLC characters need to work as intended.

It could be possible, but at the same time it would be a bit cumbersome to pull off since Edelgard leaving with her deployment slot means you lose room to use more people if you're already planning on using the remaining Black Eagles + Seteth as well.

Speaking about the second battle at Gronder Field, it has always bugged me how in Silver Snow, the event canonically happens a month earlier than usual. Like, the route shares the same story beats of Verdant Wind and Azure Moon to a tee, so having SS take a sudden deviation from the status quo without providing an in-universe explanation feels quite baffling (the closest thing we get is a reason for Byleth & co. to avoid the place around that time). Makes me wonder if at some point during development there was a chapter meant to fill that chronological void which never ended up getting implemented because reasons. Edit: Someone pointed up to me the game actually skips the month where the Gronder Field battle happens, so...yeah. My bad (I still think SS should've gotten an extra chapter tho).

Ferdinand mentions in the monastery before the timeskip many of the imperial houses still cling to the dream of an unified Fodlan, so I assume that's what they meant by it. And considering when Edelgard's nobility cleanup happens it's mentioned in-game the purged noble houses were either corrupt or opposed the new emperor's conquest, that makes even more likely both Count Bergliez and Count Hevring fully support what Edelgard wants to do.

@KelluPato already explained what I meant, but if you want a few more examples: -Dimitri's death in Vedant Wind where Hilda tells us how he met his demise instead of us seeing it. -Everything involving Claude's past and probably also Rhea's.

It's possible. Three Houses is guilty of doing a lot of "tell, don't show" so it's very easy to miss some foreshadowing and even important plot points without meaning to.

It's heavily implied both in Black Eagles and Blue Lions she barely remembers Dimitri actually. - Like others have already said, if Byleth asks her in the Goddess Tower who was her first love, Edelgard says she can't say their name. In the japanese version she's even more explicit by saying she doesn't remember his name. - Edelgard's A support with Byleth explicitly says there's no one left alive to call her El anymore, which is quickly proven wrong in CF Chapter 17 by Dimitri himself in his execution scene as long Dedue dies as a Demonic Beast. After she explains the beef he had with her due to being associated with the people responsible for the Tragedy of Duscur, she almost cries in what is the only scene in all routes where she shows pity for him. - In the end of Chapter 2 of Blue Lions, Dimitri sees Edelgard leaving with Manuela to some mission and he, being the good guy he is, tells her to be careful out there. Edelgard's reaction to his worry is more or less something like "...why are you telling me to be careful? Have you no faith in my abilities?", which makes no sense for her to say if we assume she knows/remembers Dimitri is the same kid who gave her a dagger all those years ago. - Lastly, right before Azure Moon's endgame, Dimitri giving Edelgard back her dagger pretty much triggers the flashback about their last meeting, and before leaving she even says something among the the lines of "Thank you, my dear forgotten friend".

I honestly would be open to the idea SS was more "canon" than CF if it actually comitted to the many ideas it had and if another route didn't outright pick what the path already has but added more content over it and pulled it off 10x better (and while I'll give anyone that Edelgard's death makes more sense in SS, neither that one nor VW gives it a proper buildup compared to how Blue Lions sets up her demise). From a thematic angle, both Silver Snow and Crimson Flower needed to exist because the game is all about Byleth providing support to their chosen lord and leading them to victory while the others struggle, don't accomplish anything and may even end up dead by the end. To make SS canon in my book and safely remove CF altogether, both Rhea and Edelgard would need to be rewritten to be unquestionably good and a irredemably evil respectively, otherwise it becomes very blatant this idea is never explored at it fullest, in particular because the game is all about multiple paths. Lastly, from an interface and gameplay standpoint the game doesn't waste any time swapping the Black Eagles's emblem with the one used for the Crest of Flames in the save menu once you get to the timeskip, as if the game is telling you've ended up in a complete different campaign unrelated to your chosen lord. The fact both Blue Lions and Golden Deer get to keep their flag and the Black Eagles don't is a clear indication something is up.

That's at the very least speculation from Edelgard's part, which likely stems from the fact the church willingly supported Fhargus's independence - against the Empire's wishes no less - after the War of Eagle and Lion.

No, but at the same time something interesting could've been done with it, maybe even tied to Sid Starkiller's idea. ...Now that we're speaking about Edelgard's path, I also wanna ask something: am I the only one who thinks Silver Snow was rushed as well? I'm aware that's a weird statement to make considering SS got all the budget compared to CF, but I always found odd how, despite being considered by many the alleged canon BE route, not much is done with the betrayal aspect of the conflict compared to Blue Lions (in particular due to the 2nd Gronder Field battle happening offscreen), how the character interactions of the Black Eagles - despite sharing a similar script with Verdant Wind - feel very undercooked (which is an issue also shared with Crimson Flower which at least has the alleged excuse of being worked on last) and how out of nowhere TWSITD and crazy Rhea pop up in the context of the route whereas in Verdant Wind the group's presence in the Adrestian army is foreshadowed and the plot dump Rhea delivers is arguably far more traumatic than the one she gives in Silver Snow.

@Dark Holy Elf BE's Chapter 11 feels more incomplete than rushed in my opinion. Both in BL and GD, the Holy Tomb event gets a small build-up where the students share their thoughts/observations about it, with some even stating they feel something huge is about to happen. Meanwhile, in Edelgard's route this scene oddly never happens because the chapter starts with everyone already in the Holy Tomb. It's never explicitly stated, but it's likely the original plan was for Edelgard to outlast both Dimitri and Claude during the bandit attack in the initial place the three were camping (either by sheer stamina or outside help), which got ruined the moment Claude ran away and forced Edel and Dimitri to follow his lead (a random comment by Ferdinand even raises the possibility Claude knew mercenaries were nearby).

I do honestly think Crimson Flower trivializing Edelgard's actions as the Flame Emperor by leaving all of its repercutions happen offscreen was a huge missed opportunity, though it's not something that's a huge deal breaker for me in particular since Jeritza's finally present after the timeskip (his absence in the base game just didn't make any sense). Is it such a jarrying change tho? Compared to the other lords (which is more noticeable if you've done their routes earlier), Edelgard never truly opens up to Byleth during most of the timeskip until the latter makes the choice of joining her side. Granted, she confides her past and what drives her onward, but as far revealing herself off-the-clock goes, she always keeps the appereance of her cool and collected persona until the very end because she sees their eventual conflict with Byleth a foregone conclusion. Dimitri has the advantage of having the seeds of his redemption already there, namely: his group, childhood friends and the parental figure that is Rodrigue, so it's no wonder Byleth's able to bring him out of his darkness eventually. By comparison, pulling a conventional redemption arc with Edelgard would mean getting her out of her mindset with none of those elements around, which is both unrealistic and night-impossible, so it's hard to blame the writers for simply embracing her anti-villain mentality all the way through from the Holy Tomb onward (there's also the fact she already has an idea how to make peace with herself which consist of simply winning the war in her own terms, which muds the issue even further).

Yep, she's recruitable only if you bought the DLC pass.

Jeritza's free DLC though, so as long you have access to Wi-Fi you should be able to get him with no problems.