Do you want a 4th, "true" path the provides closure for all three houses/lords/paths?

[Nihilem]

7 hours ago, Hekselka said:

Absolutely not. If they introduced a route like that they would diminish the other routes in the progress and make those routes a lot more meaningless.

 

If thats what you feel yoe can simply not play it. Also bringing the three houses together doesnt mean that nothing bad happens in that route. Or that noone dies. It just that the students (and house leaders in particular) get their happy ending.

[Strullemia]

7 minutes ago, Nihilem said:

 

If thats what you feel yoe can simply not play it. Also bringing the three houses together doesnt mean that nothing bad happens in that route. Or that noone dies. It just that the students (and house leaders in particular) get their happy ending.

That doesn't change anything.

I can also choose not to play Revelations yet the mere existence of the golden ending the route provides ruins any grey choice the game could've had with its other routes. It would be the same with 3H.

If the students and house leaders don't die in this special route then there's no reason it wouldn't be a morally better route. People tend to care more for developed characters as opposed to newly random introduced characters.

Edited September 4, 2019 by Hekselka

[Nihilem]

5 minutes ago, Hekselka said:

That doesn't change anything.

I can also choose not to play Revelations yet the mere existence of the golden ending the route provides ruins any grey choice the game could've had with its other routes. It would be the same with 3H.

If the students and house leaders don't die in this special route then there's no reason it wouldn't be a morally better route. People tend to care more for developed characters as opposed to newly random introduced characters.

I will probably never understand how the mere existence of something I dont like can ruin my experience if I can simply choose something I like instead. But ok, thats your opinion, I have a different one.

Edited September 4, 2019 by Nihilem

[kamineko]

I'd rather they make some sort of prequel, maybe seiros v. nemesis

I think there are loose ends to tie up with the current story, but I'm not sure putting everyone together will help with that. 

[Sid Starkiller]

4 hours ago, Nihilem said:

I will probably never understand how the mere existence of something I dont like can ruin my experience if I can simply choose something I like instead. But ok, thats your opinion, I have a different one.

"Is that the choice you want to make? OK. You're wrong, and your journey is meaningless because that's not what actually happens, but go right ahead."

That's the message a golden ending sends across by its mere existence. To some people (myself included) that's just an insult from the writers.

[Nihilem]

17 minutes ago, Sid Starkiller said:

"Is that the choice you want to make? OK. You're wrong, and your journey is meaningless because that's not what actually happens, but go right ahead."

That's the message a golden ending sends across by its mere existence. To some people (myself included) that's just an insult from the writers.

That would be a canon ending not a "golden ending". If the golden ending stands on equal foot with the others and they are just diffrent timeline or whatever your choice is not wrong or right. If the game devs told us like "Yeah Dimitris Route is canon" the sentence you said would also apply without any golden ending present.

[timon]

13 minutes ago, Sid Starkiller said:

"Is that the choice you want to make? OK. You're wrong, and your journey is meaningless because that's not what actually happens, but go right ahead."

That's the message a golden ending sends across by its mere existence. To some people (myself included) that's just an insult from the writers.

A path that has the lords working together doesn't necessarily make it canon. I'd get your point if they made a sequel taking a route to start from, but an alternative doesn't cancel out the other options.

Revelations is a bit of a middle ground because while it's an alternate choice it's also treated and marketed as the true and logical progression of the story (its very name says so).

If they give out a, say, "Orange Sun" route where Dimitri and Edelgard actually get to talk it doesn't hinder the rest of the experience. It'd still be a dark story, there would surely still be bloodshed and contrasting views and moralities. The only difference is in the characters you have to fight (maybe even Claude could become the main antagonist, who knows).

As of now, picking one of the lords means forcefully opposing the others (Claude is a bit on the side, but he's still there), but any other character is basically free picking, with very few exceptions. Just have a path where you don't have to oppose the other lords but other characters instead (by restricting recruitments like in CF, going fully against the Church, making the Alliance an actual enemy, the options are there).

As I previously said I'd like a path where you get both Dimitri and Edelgard, they're kind of made for each other, but I surely hope if it ever happens is not treated as a "golden" ending, and I think it wouldn't. After all they're both quite controversial and questionable, mashing them together is not necessarily going to give out rainbows and unicorns.

BUT please remember that all of this is completely theoretical, the directors CONFIRMED there won't be additional routes in DLC.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

My desire to not see "true ending DLC" is starting to become overtaken by my desire to see any route that feels complete in Fire Emblem Three Houses. But I think I'll stick to my guns and still say no on principle. Every time I think of how easy it'd be to make a larger, more comprehensive story out of these factions, I remember Edelgard telling us that maybe the game would have been better if we didn't side with her. Not unlike Corrin wondering if he purchased the correct game at the end of Birthright and Conquest. So screw the addition of more routes. This is the game we got.

[Eltoshen]

I'd much prefer they just expand on the original choices by doing things like adding more paralogues. Edelgard's route for example could use way more content as well.

Edited September 5, 2019 by Eltoshen

[Sid Starkiller]

5 hours ago, timon said:

BUT please remember that all of this is completely theoretical, the directors CONFIRMED there won't be additional routes in DLC

They did? Cool, honestly a relief.

Yes, they CAN make a golden route without being canon, I just don't trust that they WOULD.

This next point is more of a tangent, but I want to say it anyway. While I guess I can see the novelty in having every lord on your team, I prefer the much smaller rosters of the houses themselves, especially in a game where you rarely get to deploy more than 10 units. Awakening and Fates had tons of characters, but I only really became attached to a handful of them (and one Fates guy cheated by being a favorite from Awakening). Just getting 8 units plus the 4 faculty available in CF gave me both fewer units to manage and more time spent with each one, and I ended up liking all of them. Trust me, I wouldn't have looked twice at Ferdinand and Linhardt if I'd had the massive rosters I mentioned before, but here I got to know them, and eventually like them.

[Humanoid]

There's no route in which it's possible to get all three lords killed, is there? The church route would be the only candidate for gameplay reasons obviously but I haven't heard of any such option there. I'd totally play out a case like that as managing the power vacuum would probably be more interesting than everyone working together. Maybe Byleth is an agent of Brigid/Dagda/Almyra. 😉

[Mikethemaster2018]

would like one myself. woulnt really dimish the other routes for me because the games plays like a visual novel and like most visual novel they have multiple endings exist. does a good ending excempt a bad ending no not really, take fsn that visual novel has multiple endings but it doesn't cancel out the other endings and vis versa. 

Edited September 5, 2019 by Mikethemaster2018

[redlight]

Dimitri is really done dirty in GD and church route. So maybe a GD and BL union route with BE joining you after the reveal. A certain someone would still be your enemy tho because the game desperately needs a good villain

[CyberNinja]

1 hour ago, redlight said:

Dimitri is really done dirty in GD and church route. So maybe a GD and BL union route with BE joining you after the reveal. A certain someone would still be your enemy tho because the game desperately needs a good villain

Ok so like recruit BE on GD or BL route then? For gods sake you don't need a route to do the thing you can already do ingame. Honestly my antipathy is less toward having a golden ending route than it is toward the justification and story as being presented in this thread. It's ridiculously bad cheesy and should be cast down to the pits of fan fiction from whence it came.

[Ivan Tridelan]

Either way, I want less Claude favoritism. He's the only leader that keeps it together regardless of route, and the only leader that CAN survive on all routes. I call BS.

 

While I could see a "golden route" working, I don't particularly want or need one. I'm biased towards the two girl leaders (Edelgard and Rhea) and would like to see them both survive, sure, but I'm fine with the routes as they are. The idea of excess characters is silly IMO considering you can recruit almost every character anyways.

 

Although I WOULD like more CF content, perhaps after Tailtean Plains battle Edelgard decides to go deal with TWSITD (they've destroyed Arianhrod, so they're too dangerous to leave, Dmitri is dead and the Church is licking their wounds while preparing for a last stand so we have the time). Even one or two chapters before the final, epic clash with Rhea would be nice, just to get that stupid issue taken care of (for god's sake, they're the reason Edelgard turned out the way she did, the fact they get resolved not even off-screen but POST-GAME is absurd). They're the core issue behind Edelgard's trouble and yet that's the one route they're not dealt with during the game AT ALL.

[Nihilem]

14 minutes ago, Ivan Tridelan said:

Although I WOULD like more CF content, perhaps after Tailtean Plains battle Edelgard decides to go deal with TWSITD (they've destroyed Arianhrod, so they're too dangerous to leave, Dmitri is dead and the Church is licking their wounds while preparing for a last stand so we have the time). Even one or two chapters before the final, epic clash with Rhea would be nice, just to get that stupid issue taken care of (for god's sake, they're the reason Edelgard turned out the way she did, the fact they get resolved not even off-screen but POST-GAME is absurd). They're the core issue behind Edelgard's trouble and yet that's the one route they're not dealt with during the game AT ALL.

Technical they are even not dealt with Post Game. As the ending always just talks about a battle against TWSITD and never about actually defeating them. So it could be that they just ditched there well known bodies (as they seem to be able to change them on will) feign their death and went into hiding until Edelgard and her comrades died out of old age and they can resurface again. And in my personal mind that was their plan all along (or at least their insurance plan) - would quite fit to the slippery master schemers that they are.

They are waiting for a millenia for their plans to come into fruition after all - what is there a few dozend years more? And i also would find it completly weird if that they had no contingency plan what to do if Edelgard is finally in power and turns against them. Didnt they forsee that? I mean it is quite obvious that she hates them, she even direct says that into their faces.

Unfortunately I dont have finished Golden Deer campaign (or the church route) so I dont know if there is revealed how the bodies of the TWSITD work but from the other routes it seems that all the "TWSITD" (meaning Monica, Tomas and Arundel) were total normal humans until they vanished for a while and then had suddenly another personality after reappearing. So I assume that they can either shapeshift at will or somehow possess other humans. So it would totally be plausible if the feign death by letting Arundel and the other bodies Edelgard know die, get new ones and back into hibernation.

[Zyriex]

> Glances at Awakenings stupid false last choice (why the hell wouldn't you have your cake and eat it too?) 

> Sideeyes the entirety of Revelations

As much as I kinda want a Golden Ending since I actually like these characters ahaha haha no. No. I'm glad IS has the balls to actually have some tragedy again. 

[De Geso]

No. The point of the game is that there is no "true" path or way to victory that leaves everyone satisfied. Dimitri, Claude, and Edelgard's ideals are at odds with one another and I don't think there is a way to bring them all together besides "Sensei is so great at everything that we can put our differences aside to support him," which would be awful writing.

I like it how it is now.

[berriicoco]

No. I’d rather see characters such as Holst. There were many characters mentioned but not shown and it irks me.

[Eltoshen]

On 9/5/2019 at 9:39 PM, berriicoco said:

No. I’d rather see characters such as Holst. There were many characters mentioned but not shown and it irks me.

Pretty sure the fact that they named so many characters that we haven't seen yet means they might be part of DLC.

Namely Hilda's brother.

[Etrurian emperor]

On 9/5/2019 at 10:39 PM, berriicoco said:

No. I’d rather see characters such as Holst. There were many characters mentioned but not shown and it irks me.

Too true. Holst and count Bergliez first among them. Count Gloucester also wouldn't be amiss since he's often mentioned as a force opposing Claude. 

[MegaGax]

I would rather the Crimson Flower route got a chapter extension to at least be on par length-wise with the other three. Echoing the sentiments of others, dealing with TWSITD really should have been incorporated into her route.

Edited September 7, 2019 by MegaGax

[FoxyGrandpa]

One part of me wants a fifth path to resolve some important plot threads and missing story beats, but I can't see how it'd play out without being a mess. For one thing, TWSITD would have to be this path's main antagonist, and they'd have to have you fight Patricia or at least confront her at some point, but given that they are  already destroyed in the GD / Church Route, this wouldn't be as exciting as it could be. Another issue I see is, how are you going to get the three main characters working together Edelgard is the main source of the conflict throughout the story and Dimitri's lust for revenge makes him very difficult to convince as well, espicially if he has to join with edelgard.

One possible scenario I could see for a fifth path is that during the battle of Gronder Field, a Javelin of light is launch to the center of the map, and the three main heroes need to work together to overcome this threat. Cornelia and Thales take control of both the Kingdom and the Empire, so you'd have to fight both during the story. Still, this setup is a mess, since Edelgard, despite not liking TWSITD, fundamentally disagrees with the church system and hierarchy it places based on crest. Having her say something like "oh, the fight against the church was a ruse so we could get info on TWSITD by working with them" would really diminish her character for me. I can't see Dimitri working wtih Edelgard either unless he arbitrarily gives up his lust for revenge for the greater good here, despite not doing so beforre when he was asked to aid the kingdom. That would also ruin his character for me.

[timon]

35 minutes ago, FoxyGrandpa said:

Another issue I see is, how are you going to get the three main characters working together Edelgard is the main source of the conflict throughout the story and Dimitri's lust for revenge makes him very difficult to convince as well, espicially if he has to join with edelgard.

Look at it that way, if Edelgard and Dimitri talk it out he understands where his bloodlust should lie and she understands that her plan isn't so perfect, hence she'd probably not start the war.

How could it play out? Well TWSITD find out that Edelgard has shifted her goals and won't play as their puppet anymore, thus use their Empire influence to throw her out of the picture. She refuges in the Kingdom with Dimitri, and you basically play against a TWSITD-controlled Empire (with both Dimitri looking for his revenge and Edelgard trying to take back her throne, while also dealing with her past). Basically if Edelgard doesn't take immediate action then TWSITD will (which is also a big reason for her war, she's not fully in control after all), so the war would start no matter what.

What I'm not sure about is how they'd deal with the Church, they can either have Dimitri turn on them (which I could maybe see) or have Edelgard accept the institution itself, but still tear down the crest system (AFAIK that's something Dimitri agrees on). Which leaves Claude's role up for questions, but as I said previously I'm more interested in a Dimitri/Edelgard path than in a "perfect everyone in the party" thing.

[Eltoshen]

Claude's role is to bring the Almyrans into the fold, as well as other outlying territories, which has always been the purpose of his route anyways.

But I'm happy with the current routes and the only thing that felt off is Edelgard never dealing with TWSITD in her route. I could see them calming down a bit after their main purpose (to kill the god's children) is no longer a huge concern, though. However, in Edelgard route ending, I believe it mentioned her dealing with them in passing before abdicating the throne to a proper ruler.

So maybe story wise, they were trying to illustrate that following Edelgard's method of making use of evil to accomplish her goal meant it would take years before she was able to remove them from power since all other opposition is gone.

Edited September 7, 2019 by Eltoshen