The game really only should've had two routes (among other changes also spoilerz)

[Moltz23]

8 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

It's not clear that they originally planned Edelgard and Hubert to be playable post-skip in any capacity. At the very least, the shortness of the route, and the lack of cutscenes or CGs, suggest that Crimson Flower was not prioritized.

If the internal order of the monastery exploration script is any indication, Crimson Flower's short lenght was one of the very first things they decided about that route, and around the time the possibility of Silver Snow getting one more chapter was still open to boot. Everything else like the internal mission, story event and even voiceclip order does indeed point out it was saved for last, which from a practical and developer standpoint it makes sense to do, in particular if the other 2 routes follow a similar story beat to your template and thus can reuse more stuff.

[Druplesnubb]

11 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

It's not clear that they originally planned Edelgard and Hubert to be playable post-skip in any capacity. At the very least, the shortness of the route, and the lack of cutscenes or CGs, suggest that Crimson Flower was not prioritized.

What I've heard is, if Seteth is killed first, he retreats, as does Flayn. I haven't been qble to verify this in practice, though 

Nah, I defeated Flayn first with Byleth, and she and Seteth both survived. Seteth and Flayn literally have unique combat dialogue with Byleth that they don't get with anybody else about how they still owe Byleth a debt and will retreat if he/she spares them.

Edited March 23, 2021 by Druplesnubb

[The Exalt]

On 3/19/2021 at 3:20 PM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

My point was less that "Berkut is a really good villain", and moreso that Ian Sinclair's vocal performance seriously elevates the character beyond what the plot offers him.

That’s fair, Burkut is a terrible villain but that voice performance seems to have tricked people into thinking otherwise.

[Etrurian emperor]

It kinda already just has two routes. Crimson Flowers and all the other ones. 

As far as gameplay goes Azure Moon, Verdant Wind and Silver Snow are all more or less the same. Azure Moon doesn't have the final two stages of the other routes and has a little side stage regarding Cornelia after Grondor but most of the maps are exactly the same, and in the same order to boot. In terms of stories the routes are very similar too with the three routes all having the same world building where the Kingdom collapses, the Alliance is impotent and there's a big clash at Grondor before the invasion of the Empire begins. The cutscenes are different but I question how much of a burden that was for the development team. The cutscenes of Three Houses don't exactly seem like something that required a lot of work.

[Dark Holy Elf]

1 hour ago, Etrurian emperor said:

It kinda already just has two routes. Crimson Flowers and all the other ones. 

As far as gameplay goes Azure Moon, Verdant Wind and Silver Snow are all more or less the same. Azure Moon doesn't have the final two stages of the other routes and has a little side stage regarding Cornelia after Grondor but most of the maps are exactly the same, and in the same order to boot. In terms of stories the routes are very similar too with the three routes all having the same world building where the Kingdom collapses, the Alliance is impotent and there's a big clash at Grondor before the invasion of the Empire begins. The cutscenes are different but I question how much of a burden that was for the development team. The cutscenes of Three Houses don't exactly seem like something that required a lot of work.

Azure Moon is a little more different than that - Arianrhod (as you mentioned) and Derdriu are unique fights, and then both Merceus and the two Enbarr are very different in terms of enemy placement (and obviously there's a different final boss). That's still at most 5 chapters out of 22, so I do agree with you. It's somewhat akin to the Binding Blade or Sacred Stones path branches rather than a more true routesplit like Crimson Flower vs the other routes (or Birthright vs Conquest).

[Moltz23]

On 4/17/2021 at 7:09 PM, Etrurian emperor said:

The cutscenes are different but I question how much of a burden that was for the development team. The cutscenes of Three Houses don't exactly seem like something that required a lot of work.

I dare say having a route deviate from the template Silver Snow provided did take a toll of sorts for the devs. I've noticed both Azure Moon and Crimson Flower make heavy use of CGs from the moment the story goes to do it's own thing (Chapter 17 onwards for AM, 11 for CF).

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

On 4/20/2021 at 3:45 PM, Moltz23 said:

I dare say having a route deviate from the template Silver Snow provided did take a toll of sorts for the devs. I've noticed both Azure Moon and Crimson Flower make heavy use of CGs from the moment the story goes to do it's own thing (Chapter 17 onwards for AM, 11 for CF).

Not only that, but some scenes in CF get neither cutscene nor CG. Take the reunion in chapter 13, with your house Lord - a 2D anime-style cutscene in all other routes, but in CF, it's a regular dialogue scene. Or if you manage to beat chapter 17 before Dedue transforms, you get a sorrowful scene between him and Dimitri... with no background. No cutscene, no CG, no regular scene... but a black screen.

Azure Moon, at the very least, was on-point with its CG game. Moments like Dimitri's "the prince returns", Rodrigue saving Dimitri, and Mercedes mourning her brother's death, they're all shown.

[drattakbowser]

If only we have a Golden route like Fire Emblem Fates Revelation. With Edelgard, Dimitri and Claude.

[SSJDennis]

On 5/20/2021 at 10:26 PM, drattakbowser said:

If only we have a Golden route like Fire Emblem Fates Revelation. With Edelgard, Dimitri and Claude.

That was what I was expecting/hoping for with the DLC. Was a big let down it never happened.