Now that some time has passed, I'd like to give my thoughts on Three Houses again.

[Dinar87]

I've now completed both routes in the Black Eagles path, and have now played over 60 hours of three houses in total! I've seen a lot of the game already but am only halfway through the whole thing...it's hard to believe there's this much content in a fire emblem game to be honest, even if each path is quite a bit shorter than the typical fire emblem game's length.

For all my time on serenes forest, I've been constantly praising the Tellius games (FE: path of radiance and FE: radiant dawn) because I completely fell in love with the refined gameplay (except for the army switching in RD, that was annoying), the complex politics, the varied and in depth characters, the immense world building, and that AMAZING soundtrack!! Those games cost me about £200 (or $250) or get off amazon) but honestly? It was worth every penny. Those games are some of my favorite games of all time and I've already completed path of radiance alone about EIGHT times!! And for so long I was honestly depressed that such classics weren't getting the recognition I felt they deserved, and more importantly, that we'd never get anything like them ever again.....

And then came Fire Emblem Three Houses.

This game feels like a true spiritual successor to those games (and to FE: genealogy of the holy war, and FE: thracia 776) in a lot of ways; 3d models on the battle maps, complex characters (that actually get screentime in the main story as well), politics and world building again, smart gameplay decisions (such as forcing you to actually think about grinding for exp on hard mode, since it takes up a free weekend's time) and an amazing soundtrack once again!! I don't think anyone expected the game to be this good when we all saw the first trailer for it, as it looked even more rough around the edges back then and we had no idea they'd try this hard with the world building and character development side of things for the game.

Anyways, do you guys have any thoughts on this topic?

[Maddie]

I've not played every Fire Emblem game yet but so far I'm on my 2nd playthrough near the beginning of Golden Deer after the Edelgard Black Eagle route and it is amazing so far and probably my favourite game in general along with Persona 5 not just the Fire Emblem series. You could find faults in it but I thought the story so far is phenomenal since it focuses heavily on the characters and politics of the world rather than a simple looming threat that you have to defend against. I love how the game has the FTE in between main story missions which gives you a break and can develop the characters more with the supports which are so detailed so far and you can see characters develop rather than staying as a joke character throughout the game. The timeskip is such a great concept as it improves the story as the 5 year gap is more reasonable for the war to break out than suddenly at some point in the game beforehand and seeing the characters all grown up is really fun. Another thing I loved is the OST is absolutely fantastic and how my Fire Emblem amiibo's add extra songs from past games was really fun. I still absolutely loved the Tellius games, Gaiden, Awakening and Genealogy but Three Houses just beats it slightly for me because of me liking every single character so far and the story is really fun to play through.

[Fire Brand]

Haaaa.... Haaa...

Well, uh, it's my least favorite Fire Emblem. By far. 

Since I definitely have the unpopular opinion and no one really wants to read a lengthy rant, I'll keep it brief

Gameplay: Maps are dull and overused to death. Monastery padding is extremely obnoxious, especially post timeskip. The "three route gimmick" is literally just playing the same game over and over with slight dialogue/story differences. Best comparison I'd say is Shadow the hedgehog, except if Westopolis is two thirds of the game.

Story: I have never seen so much potential evaporate so quickly. It's an inconsistent mess that doesn't even qualify for the "so bad it's good category". Characters are constantly shoving their one note personalities down your throat, too.

 

The graphics are pretty underwhelming, too. The game looks more like an early Wii U game than something for the Switch. The music is probably the only thing I like about the game, and that got repetitive fast, especially when you realise the same songs are used across all paths aside from endgame themes. 

But yeah, that's just my opinion. Hope I didn't offend anyone, wasn't my intention. 

 

[Dinar87]

20 minutes ago, Edegard1902 said:

I've not played every Fire Emblem game yet but so far I'm on my 2nd playthrough near the beginning of Golden Deer after the Edelgard Black Eagle route and it is amazing so far and probably my favourite game in general along with Persona 5 not just the Fire Emblem series. You could find faults in it but I thought the story so far is phenomenal since it focuses heavily on the characters and politics of the world rather than a simple looming threat that you have to defend against. I love how the game has the FTE in between main story missions which gives you a break and can develop the characters more with the supports which are so detailed so far and you can see characters develop rather than staying as a joke character throughout the game. The timeskip is such a great concept as it improves the story as the 5 year gap is more reasonable for the war to break out than suddenly at some point in the game beforehand and seeing the characters all grown up is really fun. Another thing I loved is the OST is absolutely fantastic and how my Fire Emblem amiibo's add extra songs from past games was really fun. I still absolutely loved the Tellius games, Gaiden, Awakening and Genealogy but Three Houses just beats it slightly for me because of me liking every single character so far and the story is really fun to play through.

I'm glad you enjoyed it as much as I did! Yeah I really need to play persona 5 but I'm waiting for persona 5 the royal to come out as it seems to be the "ultimate version" of that game.

 

 

15 minutes ago, Fire Brand said:

Haaaa.... Haaa...

Well, uh, it's my least favorite Fire Emblem. By far. 

Since I definitely have the unpopular opinion and no one really wants to read a lengthy rant, I'll keep it brief

Gameplay: Maps are dull and overused to death. Monastery padding is extremely obnoxious, especially post timeskip. The "three route gimmick" is literally just playing the same game over and over with slight dialogue/story differences. Best comparison I'd say is Shadow the hedgehog, except if Westopolis is two thirds of the game.

Story: I have never seen so much potential evaporate so quickly. It's an inconsistent mess that doesn't even qualify for the "so bad it's good category". Characters are constantly shoving their one note personalities down your throat, too.

 

The graphics are pretty underwhelming, too. The game looks more like an early Wii U game than something for the Switch. The music is probably the only thing I like about the game, and that got repetitive fast, especially when you realise the same songs are used across all paths aside from endgame themes. 

But yeah, that's just my opinion. Hope I didn't offend anyone, wasn't my intention. 

That's fine, we all like different things, and there's nothing wrong with that at all. I can remember when it was popular to hate on sonic adventure 1+2 because a few internet critics said they aged terribly, and then their fans started dog-pilling on anyone who dared to disagree with them that these games were bad. So I know what it's like to feel just kind of...alone? As in, nobody else seems to share your opinions in games and are also changing the games industry in a direction you don't like as well.

I do admit that play through the first 11 (iirc?) chapters before the route split is quite annoying on a new playthrough, but I love the war phase chapters to death personally just because of how much it contrasts part 1 of the game so much.

But really I still love Three Houses to death myself, and that's just how I feel.

[Maddie]

37 minutes ago, Fire Brand said:

Haaaa.... Haaa...

Well, uh, it's my least favorite Fire Emblem. By far. 

Since I definitely have the unpopular opinion and no one really wants to read a lengthy rant, I'll keep it brief

Gameplay: Maps are dull and overused to death. Monastery padding is extremely obnoxious, especially post timeskip. The "three route gimmick" is literally just playing the same game over and over with slight dialogue/story differences. Best comparison I'd say is Shadow the hedgehog, except if Westopolis is two thirds of the game.

Story: I have never seen so much potential evaporate so quickly. It's an inconsistent mess that doesn't even qualify for the "so bad it's good category". Characters are constantly shoving their one note personalities down your throat, too.

The graphics are pretty underwhelming, too. The game looks more like an early Wii U game than something for the Switch. The music is probably the only thing I like about the game, and that got repetitive fast, especially when you realise the same songs are used across all paths aside from endgame themes. 

But yeah, that's just my opinion. Hope I didn't offend anyone, wasn't my intention. 

 

I can definitely understand finding the monastery chapters annoying if you didn't really like a game much in the first place since the story doesn't really change much until later on and I can understand your hate for the character since they really don't develop much out of supports and their one 'joke' element of their personality is repeated too often. I also actually agree with the graphics being quite underwhelming especially in comparison to LOZBOTW and Xenoblade 2

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

It is a great game for the first time, but redoing the same maps and montastry stuff over again will become boring and tiresome fast. 

Storywise it is not a comparison to former parts since this game has an actual plot which makes sense and the intention of all three main characters is plausible. Also Byleth shows how an avatar must be desgined. She does not steal the spotlight of the other characters and I never had the impression this game is only about her.

The map design is a hit and miss. Some maps are fun and some are nasty to almost unfair if you do not have the required resources. 

I never care for graphics, so I cannot really compare. I find it aesthetic overall despite I am not the biggest fan of the artstyle.

The music is alright. It has some memorable tracks like the Battle of the Houses and chapter 8-10, but overall I do not find it outstanding overall. 

It is a good game overall, but not a game I would replay over and over again because things like exploring montastry and fishing slow down the game and drop the motivation. These things are nice, but they do not belong in an ordinary FE game. It is nice to see these things once, but not permanently. 

 

Honestly I cannot vote since second option is too strong and third is too weak. It is a good game overall, not more not less. 7.5/10

Edited September 27, 2019 by Ingrid Brandl Galatea

[Fire Brand]

1 hour ago, Dinar87 said:

I'm glad you enjoyed it as much as I did! Yeah I really need to play persona 5 but I'm waiting for persona 5 the royal to come out as it seems to be the "ultimate version" of that game.

 

 

That's fine, we all like different things, and there's nothing wrong with that at all. I can remember when it was popular to hate on sonic adventure 1+2 because a few internet critics said they aged terribly, and then their fans started dog-pilling on anyone who dared to disagree with them that these games were bad. So I know what it's like to feel just kind of...alone? As in, nobody else seems to share your opinions in games and are also changing the games industry in a direction you don't like as well.

I do admit that play through the first 11 (iirc?) chapters before the route split is quite annoying on a new playthrough, but I love the war phase chapters to death personally just because of how much it contrasts part 1 of the game so much.

But really I still love Three Houses to death myself, and that's just how I feel.

Yes, that's exactly how it feels. Everyone else is enjoying the game, and I just feel like a killjoy over here, haha. I even got a switch to play 3H, as it got hyped so much as the lovechild of Tellius and FE4. 

Funnily enough I also like the adventure games, actually. 

[Wolfen09]

I'm going to compare it to legend of Zelda botw, the bones are there but the story and a little bit of gameplay is lacking.  Good starting point moving forward though

[Garlyle]

I voted it as pretty good, but it's not close to be the best Fire Emblem game.

First playthrough was fun, story was mediocre, characters were interesting, I really liked the support conversations. Gameplay wise it helps you a lot to create different build, op ones, meme ones, and wacky ones. 

On the con side, different routes reuse too much from the others. Same goes for paralogue and aux maps, and the devs sometimes didn't even bother to change the clear condition or the starting location - a lot of missed potential right there. It hurts the replayability, but there are still a lot of things to play with.

The difficulty: I don't know how much difference normal and hard has, but hard and maddening has a difficulty spike between them that feels like there should be another difficulty setting between them. It's easy to get more exp and money you want in a hard/classic run too, and with the divine pulse around, there's really not much you need to worry about. I'll judge it over again once I play through Maddening again.

[Modirufa6317]

I haven't played enough FE to confidently say it's the best, but it's easily among my favourite! The music is so unique, yet never come across as unfiting; I love the world building, and the freedom of choice is refreshing.

I also unexpectedly liked the divine pulse (despite actively avoiding to use it in SoV, but I haven't finished it yet so...) : while the nbr of charges may be debatable, its overall less of a cheese button and more like a fair tools to fight equally against the RNG BS. I legit wouldn't mind if it became a standard from now on (but casual mode seriously needs to go. It just feels redundant now).

My only nitpick is some weird game design choices (flying units have literally no weakness?!), but that's about it.

[Jingle Jangle]

After a month of playing Three Houses for me, it's a solid Fire Emblem game. It's in my top 5 in the series. I love how detailed the world is, and how it takes a different approach to the franchise with the school environment.

What holds it backs to me is the repetition. Certain maps are completed about 4-5 times in the routes not to mention replaying part 1 again little changes even with different lords.  Missing content/ subtext: the Black Eagles routes does not feel finished, story beats in the time skip come and go so quickly to process. Certain characters are difficult to understand; trying to find a specific text to elaborate an idea in a 60+ hour game is difficult. Design is rough at times that include maps design, class progression. And general pandering, by the end of the game Blyeth, is the second coming of Christ that everyone wants to suck his/her crest.

If Koei Tecmo had a crack at the sequel, ironing it out it could be the best in the series. 

[dragonlordsd]

Three houses represents a huge step in the right direction for the series, but it's not without its flaws.

The biggest improvements were on writing and world building, which took a massive leap forward after a long downward spiral they had been on. Though the characterization is still trope-y in concept, they took the time to flesh out and add depth to the vast majority of the cast, which was sorely lacking in previous games.

The gambit system is functionally brilliant, and though it does unbalance a little at times, it is a well executed addition that I think should remain going forward.

That said, it's not without its flaws. The biggest flaw is map variety and design, which is sorely lacking. I also think the functional removal of level caps and stat caps (ie, placing them so high it's absurd) seriously damages not only the game's balance, but the ability for the developers too balance it.

The reclassing system is also the best I think it has been, but the classes themselves have not been well balanced to accomodate how this system works in practice.

Still, I think both of these flaws can be fixed, and I think this represents a great trajectory for the series as a whole.

[Maddie]

@dragonlordsd Yeah the map designs being repetitve and the lack of the level cap was kind of annoying in some sense as the game became way too easy but luckily it hasn't stopped me from enjoying it. Plus at the end of the day I actually don't mind characters who are tropey but this game gave them more depth than just Raphael is the loud greedy guy (which he is but it was hard to not like him).

[Flere210]

I feel it's worse than conquest on anything that is not plot related. The map design is very limited and they recicle maps in a very stupid way(can you at least not use the same map for paralagues of characters in the same house?). And they took away Dragon Veins that could easily change the flavor of a recycled map. The class system is just broken and not in a fun FFT way where almost everything is broken. Battalions are somewhat of a dissapoint because i was expecting something like Tanith's reinforcements and not just stat sticks whit an extra combat art, but this is just me. 

Also this is going to be unpopular but the characters are not really better than most fateswakening characters, they just have a better presentstion, wich is what created that misconception about the 3ds games in the first place.

[Vince777]

7 hours ago, Fire Brand said:

Characters are constantly shoving their one note personalities down your throat, too.

 

That's kind of have always been the case with Fire Emblem characters before. It was either this or they had no personality at all. 

[Zapp Branniglenn]

If there was an auto monastery button, this would potentially be my favorite game and I may have even finished two replays by now. As is, I've still only beaten the game once, and my opinion of the game has only been dropping since my first playthrough. It's a game where half the play time is thoroughly uninteresting optimizations that don't ultimately matter and aren't fun to do. The calendar system restricts the player into doing all this content immediately since it's all permanently missable busywork and save scumming. If I could skip to the fire emblem gameplay with all that stuff done for me offscreen, this game wouldn't feel like such a waste of my time.

I've played much more disappointing Fire Emblem games before, but those games weren't announced so many years in advance. I didn't have to worry about Awakening's quality since it wasn't coming out outside Japan. And when it did come here it was a huge surprise.

[dragonlordsd]

1 hour ago, Flere210 said:

Also this is going to be unpopular but the characters are not really better than most fateswakening characters, they just have a better presentstion, wich is what created that misconception about the 3ds games in the first place.

Well, counter point, (not trying to argue, just a thought), characterization is presentation in games. I think the complaints about the 3ds ones are less about the characters and more the plot, but who knows?

That said, I think systemically, the idea of class progression this game introduces is superior to conquest's flat reclassing. It gives a bit more control and flavor to progression to train in skills to unlock classes.

That said, in practice, this doesn't work due to A) The classes not being balanced to compensate for the new system and B) The game not being difficult enough to justify it.

Thus, @Glennstavos It's not that the optimizations are uninteresting, just that there's no... point to them. I think the calendar complaints aren't really justified, as the same progression restriction in past games (Conquest as opposed to Birthright) is what made them work.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

22 minutes ago, dragonlordsd said:

Thus, @Glennstavos It's not that the optimizations are uninteresting, just that there's no... point to them.

I'm pretty sure that's exactly what I said?:

59 minutes ago, Glennstavos said:

It's a game where half the play time is thoroughly uninteresting optimizations that don't ultimately matter and aren't fun to do. 

Unless your correction is that they really are fun in which case I do not care. Like what you like.

Quote

I think the calendar complaints aren't really justified, as the same progression restriction in past games (Conquest as opposed to Birthright) is what made them work.

No, in Fates/Awakening nothing was limited like the calendar system. Paralogues can be put off indefinitely. You can do grinding maps and shopping whenever you want. But in Three Houses all of this is stuff has to meet a schedule. Like deadlines at school, this game is like homework you need to turn in before you progress the story. You can choose not to do the homework, but your units suffer as a result and that sticks in the back of your mind as you try to hurry the game along. If I could do that stuff on my own time I wouldn't feel so pressured to optimize.

Edited September 27, 2019 by Glennstavos

[Flere210]

34 minutes ago, dragonlordsd said:

Well, counter point, (not trying to argue, just a thought), characterization is presentation in games. I think the complaints about the 3ds ones are less about the characters and more the plot, but who knows?

You  are right, that is indeed a flaw and a big one at that, but nonetheless is tiring to hear every other day that character x is a one note trope when i can quote several supports that prove that wrong. 

[Fire Brand]

2 hours ago, Vince777 said:

That's kind of have always been the case with Fire Emblem characters before. It was either this or they had no personality at all. 

Honestly, I'd prefer no personality to an annoying one that's constantly shoved in your face. You can get attached to the characters through gameplay that way, like I did with many Thracia characters. Obviously neither are ideal, but of the two, I'd definitely pick a lack of personality. 

[Strullemia]

I've played the game 420 hours already and unlike let's say Skyrim none of those hours felt wasted to me so the game is definitely doing a lot of things right since there hasn't been any other FE game I've played this much.

[De Geso]

On 9/27/2019 at 2:28 PM, Hekselka said:

I've played the game 420 hours already

Blaze it, gamer.

I'm a big fan of Three Houses myself. The characters and story are engaging enough and I don't ask for more than that, and the replayability is about as good as it is in Fates: Conquest due to the sheer variety of things you can do. The monastery is a refreshing change of pace versus past titles where the closest thing was (the godawful) My Castle, which had no verisimilitude at all and felt so disparate from the rest of the game I wondered why it existed in the first place when a list on the battle prep screen would have worked just as well.

It's not perfect, though - the main gripe I have with the game is that Edelgard's route is unfinished and the excess of activity points once you hit a certain professor level, as well as how poorly done Seminars are - even at professor level D it's never better to do a seminar, when it should be viable all the way through the game. Also, a minor thing, but I think you should be able to see students from other classes attending seminars - it's weird that only some of Byleth's students go. Why wouldn't, for example, Ashe attend Shamir's Bow+Lance seminar just because he's not in my house? I just think it would be cool to see.

Edited October 8, 2019 by De Geso

[dragontamer]

Across story, gameplay, and map design... Three Houses is above average in story and gameplay, but below average in map design for sure. Honestly, a lot of the map balance issues (ie: fliers being overpowered) is mostly due to unrestricted flying and a general lack of enemy archers.

 

Monsters are nice however: their multiple lives prevent OHKO or ORKO strategies, and force the player to think around various issues (barriers, wide-aoe attacks, etc. etc.).

 

Three House's story is certainly better than Fate and Radiant Dawn. But gameplay is worse than Fates (and also Radiant Dawn). Fates had intelligent enemies who knew how to use skills (swap ninjas of great annoyance). Radiant Dawn has a similarly "dumb AI" which runs into you, but the addition of Cliffs had an element of true defensive gameplay that few other FE games have had.

 

Tactically, Three Houses is pretty bad (and the lack of weapon-triangle really hurts this game), only Monsters really provide a difference in tactics. And with a rewind-button + future-sight (the red-lines that automatically show you the computer's next turn...), there is almost no brain power of mine going into prediction or tactics in this game.

 

Strategically: with the skill ranks, classes, level ups, etc. etc... Three Houses is pretty damn good. Three Houses has the deepest "strategy level" Fire Emblem in a while, althogh the system is easily optimized. I think with a bit more balance to map design, Three Houses could have been even better, but I'm not disappointed with what we got.

Edited September 27, 2019 by dragontamer

[Elephantus]

3 hours ago, Glennstavos said:

If there was an auto monastery button, this would potentially be my favorite game and I may have even finished two replays by now. As is, I've still only beaten the game once, and my opinion of the game has only been dropping since my first playthrough. It's a game where half the play time is thoroughly uninteresting optimizations that don't ultimately matter and aren't fun to do. The calendar system restricts the player into doing all this content immediately since it's all permanently missable busywork and save scumming. If I could skip to the fire emblem gameplay with all that stuff done for me offscreen, this game wouldn't feel like such a waste of my time.

I've played much more disappointing Fire Emblem games before, but those games weren't announced so many years in advance. I didn't have to worry about Awakening's quality since it wasn't coming out outside Japan. And when it did come here it was a huge surprise.

I'm not sure I get it. Apart from the few mandatory Explores in the early game, everything else IS skippable, isn't it? You don't have to explore if you don't want to, and tutoring can be done automatically, so really, you can just do paralogues and battles every free weekend if that's what you want, can't you?

Now keep in mind I can't speak for Maddening since I haven't tried that yet, but I imagine that in Hard Mode, you can fairly easily compensate for your students' lack of motivation by doing more auxiliary battles and getting skill experience that way.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

34 minutes ago, Elephantus said:

I'm not sure I get it. Apart from the few mandatory Explores in the early game, everything else IS skippable, isn't it? You don't have to explore if you don't want to, and tutoring can be done automatically, so really, you can just do paralogues and battles every free weekend if that's what you want, can't you?

I'm asking for an auto-monastery option. Not for somebody to show me where the skip button is. I still want all this optimization and grinding done but I don't want to invest the dozens of hours each playthrough doing it. It's repetitive, not fun, has diminishing returns, and is not challenging. And the calendar system prompts me to do this stuff piecemeal in between story chapters. I could skip them, but I won't get those opportunities back without reverting to an older save file.

I could skip everything. Just as much as I could skip this game in favor of any other Fire Emblem that does let me progress the story at my own pace. That is what we lost.

Edited September 27, 2019 by Glennstavos