My (spoiler-free) review of Three Houses.

[DefyingFates]

I loved this game to bits and just had to share my thought on it after completing it. What do you think?

What really blew me away was the attention to detail throughout the game, both in battle and in cutscenes. It's all truly incredible stuff!

P.S. I hope this doesn't count as self-advertising because I'm linking to another site. If so, please let me know.

 

[Sidereal Wraith]

As someone who felt disappointed by the 3DS era and the whole 'Waifu Emblem' discourse around the series, I approached this game with a lot of trepidation. I felt that although the game showed great potential, IS would screw it up. I've never been happier to be proven wrong. This game is Fire Emblem through and through, no stupid 'friendship is magic', a lot less 'Waifu Emblem' crap, instead refocusing on war and how it creates strong fellowship and tragedy in its wake. This game is the successer to the Jugdral Saga I always wanted and more. 

Edited August 24, 2019 by Wraith

[DefyingFates]

17 minutes ago, Wraith said:

As someone who felt disappointed by the 3DS era and the whole 'Waifu Emblem' discourse around the series, I approached this game with a lot of trepidation. I felt that although the game showed great potential, IS would screw it up. I've never been happier to be proven wrong. This game is Fire Emblem through and through, no stupid 'friendship is magic', a lot less 'Waifu Emblem' crap, instead refocusing on war and how it creates strong fellowship and tragedy in its wake. This is the successer to the Jugdral Saga I always wanted and more. 

I'm glad you loved it too! Yes, this game really felt like a return to the more grounded era of Fire Emblems and I really appreciated that!!

[Landmaster]

I was a bit unsure how to feel about the whole school aspect at first~ I was concerned that the game was going for a more "Waifu Dating Sim" theme when prerelease info talked much about eating together and having tea parties and my whole complaint was "where does the war come in?" (until we learned about the time skip, of course).

The game, however, completely blew me away. I think it is definitely my favorite entry in the franchise. I like the prospect of the 4 routes being dramatically different in terms of the themes and goals in each one. Each house leader's ambition being so different from each other makes each route really fun to play because you're always seeing another side of the story. I appreciate that there's no set in stone "canon" because it's frankly hard to choose which would be it because you get so much out of each route~

I agree very much on your points on attention to detail and the Supports~ They really put a lot into this game with every animation and minor detail. The obvious clothes and Mount clipping is obvious but I guess that's just a Fire Emblem staple at this point.

I didn't mind the Gender-Locked Classes but I do agree, it would have been nice to have some counterparts like a dual Magic wielding Male Class or a Brawling Female Class.

I also really liked Byleth as a silent protagonist simply because there is a reason for it. They're stoic as a plot point and it makes sense that they don't speak much because of it. It would have been a bit weird if they were like Robin or Corrin, IMO when we know they don't show their emotions often until they start working at the Monastery. 

And good Lord, MORE THAN FIVE SAVE SLOTS 2K20 PLEASE! We get 4 routes and a final slot for like one more good playthrough. I may sound greedy but I'm sorry, I need more than that. I'm the type that likes to leave my original saves for each route so it's a bit disappointing that 4/5 are taken up just trying to get all the story. This is also why I'm also upset there's no kind of "postgame"~ Even if it was just running in circles around the Monastery, let me do SOMETHING so my original memories of the game aren't just the S Support and credits~

Overall, good review, I agree on a lot of your points and critiques~

[DefyingFates]

@Landmaster, thank you so much for your praise!! I'm happy we agreed on a lot too!

53 minutes ago, Landmaster said:

And good Lord, MORE THAN FIVE SAVE SLOTS 2K20 PLEASE! We get 4 routes and a final slot for like one more good playthrough. I may sound greedy but I'm sorry, I need more than that. I'm the type that likes to leave my original saves for each route so it's a bit disappointing that 4/5 are taken up just trying to get all the story. This is also why I'm also upset there's no kind of "postgame"~ Even if it was just running in circles around the Monastery, let me do SOMETHING so my original memories of the game aren't just the S Support and credits~

I feel exactly the same way, including the thing about being happy just running around the Monastery. More saves, please!! As it stands I literally can't play anymore without overwriting one of my existing saves (because I still want a file for my Completed save file)!

55 minutes ago, Landmaster said:

I also really liked Byleth as a silent protagonist simply because there is a reason for it. They're stoic as a plot point and it makes sense that they don't speak much because of it.

I was going to mention this but forgot, my bad! But yes, Byleth being stoic makes perfect sense, I just wish they weren't 100% silent. Even Joker says a few lines in Persona's anime cutscenes, so even the odd line like that would have been nice.

57 minutes ago, Landmaster said:

The game, however, completely blew me away. I think it is definitely my favorite entry in the franchise

Agreed! I'm surprised yet so happy that everyone unanimously loves this game! While I still treasure FE8, I have to agree that this is definitely tied for first place for me too 😄