[Fire Emblem Three Houses Mafia]

What's a Mafia?

[Alastor plays and ranks the whole series! Mission Complete! ...For now.]

24 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

A species is defined as a group of living organisms capable of producing fertile offspring together. Branded are not sterile, they can still have children of their own. Therefore beorc and laguz are both the same species, just as mutants are still human in X-Men.

Actually, looking into a bit more, saying that Laguz and Beorc are the same species is like saying the Asian Leopard Cat and Domestic House Cat are the same species and they clearly aren't despite being able to cross and create a fertile hybrid cat known as a Bengal. The definition you gave me is unclear- not to mention that definition could be refering to the fact that indiviuals of the same organism can create offspring, not specifically different animals. Or to put in example, your definition could be referring to how two Indian Peafowl can create more Indian Peafowl, instead of Indian Peacock x Green Peahen can create fertile offspring despite being different species. And  we know for fact that Beorc and Laguz are visually and physically distinct for each other, the latter can transform and have increased life spans, so calling them the same organism, or same species in this case it out of the question! 

[What is your unpopular Fire Emblem opinion?]

I actually posted this in another thread, but I thought it was worth posting because based on the conversations I've been seeing, it seems to be an unpopular opinion: I love the Monastery, Minigames, Tutoring Sessions in Three Houses and they beautifully illustrate the game's theme and setting so well. After finishing AM without NG+ on Maddening as well as starting SS on Maddening has not changed my opinion at all, rather it has made it stronger. Here's why:

Spoiler

 This is the one of most flexible Fire Emblem games when deciding classes, unit recruitment, how to beat maps, and different paths. Fodlan is land at peace with 4 distinct powers governing the nation, each with unique history and culture, and each student has a unique history to reflect the culture of their nation of origin. Why be in a such a rush to do battles when the continent is at peace? Nothing urgent is going on. Those battles can wait. In fact, why don't you go the library and read about all of Fodlan's history and traditions? This is not like Fates, Awakening, or Echoes where war has already started  and we are unwillingly dragged into it. Three Houses is a game where the player is rewarded for putting in effort for taking their time and getting to know peers as best as possible. And frankly, that's a good thing. By taking your time to know each student indiviually and participating with activities like Meal Sharing and Tea Parties, you get to build supports with your allies, and that also includes students outside the house you are teaching. Fatigue as a mechanic exists to ensure that player gives their default students equal attention. In previous games, the player could just bench a character if they did not want to use them. But that’s not the case in Three Houses the player is actively encouraged to use all their units by making their students in blank slates. You are given the free ability to tailor your students in any way you like, encouraging you to give each student a unique role in your army. Sure previous games, offered reclassing, but in those games, units would already come with a certain rank in weapons and reclassing meant going back to basic weapon levels if the class was entirely different. As a result, most players would stick to the base class and if they reclassed, it would often be a class that allowed the previous type of weapon to be used. Three Houses encourages reclassing by not only giving weekly tutoring sessions, but by also removing weapon locks given in classes, making it easier for players to reach weapon ranks to pass certification exams. Even personal weapons, specifically Heroe's Relics aren't character locked. In Three Houses, If the player really puts an effort to know a student by giving them gifts or returning lost items, they become closer, and if the support level is increased, it becomes easier to recruit them. The the big reason why I love Tea Parties. By paying close attention to supports, reactions to favorite gifts, and  the kind of items you return to students shows their personalities, and Tea Parties are the ultimate test. By executing a perfect tea party, you are rewarded charm for both you and the participant. You could recruit students by reaching the appropriate skill levels and stats, but that's not practical with the limited months. Alternatively, you could not recruit anyone at all and just use the default students, but you miss on bonuses like supports and paralouges for not taking time. All this points to the main themes of this game, which is: How beautiful and cherished life is, only for those cherished moments to go away so quickly and romance, but not in good way. The poem's first part refers to how wonderful and tranquil the academy days were, only for war to come out of the blue and change everything. The first part of the game does not vary because it does not need to. Fodlan is land at peace with no war going on, only for war to be declared later on. To think that we were once all friends- now we are enemies, fighting for what we believe is right- this happened so fast- I miss the academy days so much. It  also goes back to the romance part as well. We  became, friends but that may not be a good thing. It makes fighting in war even harder. On a player's first playthrough, a player is high unlikely to recruit every student, meaning that they are forced to fight against opposing students. And when they get killed, they are supposed to feel immense sadness. Remember, these aren't just people we have met for the first time or some random NPC- these were friends we used to eat and study with. New Game + encourages the player to avoid the same fate of students by making it easy to recruit the students you taught previously. You can even buys skill levels back in order to save time teaching in order to try new builds; for example you did Falcon Knight Ingrid last time, but wanna do Dark Flier? You can save time by relearning the required Flying Levels so you can spend more time with Reason and Faith tutoring. Crest Items are also available, allowing you to bestow any crest on anyone, meaning you can full advantage of the Heroes Relics with anyone. Three Houses maps are reused a lot, but since every run feature different runs as well as different classes, no attempt of the map is the same, And considering each lord, has a different goal for Fodlan, it means each story and outcome is different. And lastly also The theme " Edge of Dawn " explains the tragedy of Three Houses, from the point of Edelgard who declares war despite wishing to stay in the peaceful days of the academy. 

 

TLDR: If People are trying play Three Houses like previous titles where you just take a short break to repack on items or fix weapons and want to go from battle to battle with little breaks are not obviously not going to enjoy Three Houses because its a game that rewards you for putting time for knowing students, doing activities, and being invested and taking as much time as possible to learn about the world of Fodlan and its history and current political issues. 

 

\

[Alastor plays and ranks the whole series! Mission Complete! ...For now.]

4 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

A species is defined as a group of living organisms capable of producing fertile offspring together. Branded are not sterile, they can still have children of their own. Therefore beorc and laguz are both the same species, just as mutants are still human in X-Men.

Alright fine, thanks for the clarification. But the same time though, that would also mean that House Cats are the same Servals because they can produce fertile hybrids  called the Savannah cat. And that’s clearly not the case.

[Alastor plays and ranks the whole series! Mission Complete! ...For now.]

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

And Teach never makes it clear whether they feel qualified to lead. As for the isolationism, while it's alluded to, it's never clearly spelled out. Even the very head of the Church, Rhea, was willing to take in Cyril as her child-laborer-slash-soldier. And by the end of VW, Seteth has found the Almyrans to be his allies against the Church's true enemies (the Empire, and the Agarthans). It's not at all obvious that he wouldn't be willing to cooperate with them post-war.

Fodlan's Locket is a fortress that was built by Faerghus and Leicester to keep the Almyrans out. Its definitely clear that Fodlan wanted to keep foreigners out. Also so as Byleth at the end of Verdant Wind, and Byleth was literally blessed by the goddess, which in the Church's eyes, is more than enough to be leader. 

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

Point is, I wish you got more agency in controlling Teach's future. You know, Teach? The one character you're supposed to be making decisions for?

You do. The decision of which house they choose to teach, students to recruit, what classes to advance for themselves and units, all of which would determine the fate of the continent. This is the one of most flexible Fire Emblem games when deciding classes, unit recruitment, how to beat maps, and different paths. Fodlan is land at peace with 4 distinct powers governing the nation, each with unique history and culture, and each student has a unique history to reflect the culture of their nation of origin. Why be in a such a rush to do battles when the continent is at peace? Nothing urgent is going on. In fact, why don't you go the library and read about all of Fodlan's history and traditions. This is not like Fates, Awakening, or Echoes where war has already started  and we are unwillingly dragged into it. Three Houses is a game where the player is rewarded for putting in effort for taking their time and getting to know peers as best as possible. And frankly, that's a good thing. By taking your time to know each student indiviually and participating with activities like Meal Sharing and Tea Parties, you get to build supports with your allies, and that also includes students outside the house you are teaching. Fatigue as a mechanic exists to ensure that player gives their default students equal attention. In previous games, the player could just bench a character if they did not want to use them. But that’s not the case in Three Houses the player is actively encouraged to use all their units by making their students in blank slates. You are given the free ability to tailor your students in any way you like, encouraging you to give each student a unique role in your army. Sure previous games, offered reclassing, but in those games, units would already come with a certain rank in weapons and reclassing meant going back to basic weapon levels if the class was entirely different. As a result, most players would stick to the base class and if they reclassed, it would often be a class that allowed the previous type of weapon to be used. Three Houses encourages reclassing by not only giving weekly tutoring sessions, but by also removing weapon locks given in classes, making it easier for players to reach weapon ranks to pass certification exams. Even personal weapons, specifically Heroe's Relics aren't character locked. In Three Houses, If the player really puts an effort to know a student by giving them gifts or returning lost items, they become closer, and if the support level is increased, it becomes easier to recruit them. The the big reason why I love Tea Parties. By paying close attention to supports, reactions to favorite gifts, and  the kind of items you return to students shows their personalities, and Tea Parties are the ultimate test. By executing a perfect tea party, you are rewarded charm for both you and the participant. You could recruit students by reaching the appropriate skill levels and stats, but that's not practical with the limited months. Alternatively, you could not recruit anyone at all and just use the default students, but you miss on bonuses like supports and paralouges for not taking time. All this points to the main themes of this game, which is: How beautiful and cherished life is, only for those cherished moments to go away so quickly and romance, but not in good way. The poem's first part refers to how wonderful and tranquil the academy days were, only for war to come out of the blue and change everything. The first part of the game does not vary because it does not need to. Fodlan is land at peace with no war going on, only for war to be declared later on. To think that we were once all friends- now we are enemies, fighting for what we believe is right- this happened so fast- I miss the academy days so much. It  also goes back to the romance part as well. We  became, friends but that may not be a good thing. It makes fighting in war even harder. On a player's first playthrough, a player is high unlikely to recruit every student, meaning that they are forced to fight against opposing students. And when they get killed, they are supposed to feel immense sadness. Remember, these aren't just people we have met for the first time or some random NPC- these were friends we used to eat and study with. New Game + encourages the player to avoid the same fate of students by making it easy to recruit the students you taught previously. You can even buys skill levels back in order to save time teaching in order to try new builds; for example you did Falcon Knight Ingrid last time, but wanna do Dark Flier? You can save time by relearning the required Flying Levels so you can spend more time with Reason and Faith tutoring. Crest Items are also available, allowing you to bestow any crest on anyone, meaning you can full advantage of the Heroes Relics with anyone. Three Houses maps are reused a lot, but since every run feature different runs as well as different classes, no attempt of the map is the same, And considering each lord, has a different goal for Fodlan, it means each story and outcome is different. And lastly also The theme " Edge of Dawn " explains the tragedy of Three Houses, from the point of Edelgard who declares war despite wishing to stay in the peaceful days of the academy. 

TLDR: If People are trying play Three Houses like previous titles where you just take a short break to repack on items or fix weapons and want to go from battle to battle with little breaks are not obviously not going to enjoy Three Houses because its a game that rewards you for putting time for knowing students, doing activities, and being invested and taking as much time as possible to learn about the world of Fodlan and its history and current political issues. 

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Unfortunately, 3H is "Tell, don't show: the game". It feels like a really shitty highschool production of one of those Greek tragedies where they deliberately had literally everything interesting happen offscreen to save on sets and special effects.

Actually, there's very good reason why many Shakespeare and Greek plays have their moments offscreen. In Romeo and Juliet for example, they never tell us the reason why the two families are fighting, because if they did, we would choose sides, which Shakespeare does not want us to do. In the same story, Romeo's ex girlfriend Rosalin breaks up with him and he's heartbroken, despite Rosalin and the break up happening off screen and Rosalin never making an actual appearance in the play, it still an important backstory because it establishes Romeo as teen who desperately wants romance. 

In a similar vein, we never see the Tragedy of Duscur or people like Glenn or King Lambert in the game but they are nonetheless important because they establish Dimitri's PTSD and the cycle of vengeance he goes through in part 2 as well as his refusal justify killing for one's ideals, since he was a victim of the scheme for another's selfish gain; as well as making him a foil to Edelgard. It also reveals that the kingdom is not united on supporting the royal family which becomes critical when several kingdom lords defect to the empire and side with Cornelia during non-CF part 2.

3 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

The funny thing is that his argument means support to the dissolution of such an entity as the "United" States. After all, why foment a united body of government when all 50 states can just be their own nation-states? Why foment a single American identity when New Englanders, Californians, Dixies, Cascadians, Midwesterns, Hawaians, Appalachians, etc. can instead promote their own?

The US did actually try letting each state govern by itself as many states did not want a central government because they feared it would be another " King George " issue. But that did not work out at all, hence why a central government was needed to be formed.

EDIT: One last thing I forgot to quote, POR and RD don't technically deal with Racism. Racism is prejudice against one's own species. Its clearly established from what I've heard that Beorcs and Laguz are different species. What its really dealing with is Speciesism, or the philosophies of treating animals differently.

[Alastor plays and ranks the whole series! Mission Complete! ...For now.]

2 hours ago, Jotari said:

Well the solution there would be to actually include Seteth in Verdant Wind and have Claude defeat bigotry with facts and logic. Seteth having a Jill arc in Verdant Wind would really help the thematic throughline, because as is Claude's talks of unity are just empty platitudes, since he never actually confronts the issue of why things are the way they are. He just defeats racism by suggesting the notion that people should stop being racist.

I can't comment on Jill because I never played Radiant Dawn, I disagree Claude is all talk and no show. He does use his Almyran heritage to assist in the war, notably using the Almyran Soldiers to lay siege on fort Merceus, as well as getting Nader and Holst to be friends. 

 

1 hour ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Ironically then, as someone who is not really part of the three powers, Byleth can work best as an impartial mediator as head of state of the united Fodlan but also not as entrenched with the Church as someone like say Seteth. Garreg Mach's location in the center of the continent was also chosen for the same reason all those centuries ago.

I highly doubt Claude would trust Seteth the same way he trusts Byleth. The fact Byleth was raised out of the church's influence and the fact they are now the head of church and the nation is a huge opportunity for Claude. Byleth is open to change, especially after witnessing a foreigner. Because of the church and Rhea, Fodlan has remained isolated for centuries. Knowing that Seteth is a steadfast follower of Rhea and the Church for centuries, he would almost certainly adhere to Rhea's traditions if the he was in charge. Also keep in mind that Claude doesn’t trust the church like Edelgard. He's understands that Seteth is very conservative in his views, and almost certainly not attempt to convince Seteth otherwise due to the aforementioned nature.

[Alastor plays and ranks the whole series! Mission Complete! ...For now.]

On 8/2/2021 at 9:22 PM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

I'd counter that they weren't a good choice to "lead the Church" in the first place. And de facto, they weren't leading anything during the five-year timeskip. Seteth, for instance, not only has more experience with the Church, but has more administrative knowledge to his name. He'd honestly be a more qualified leader.

Anyway, the biggest disappointment is that, in a game where "your choices really matter", your character's ending is set for you. If you got the choice to lead all of Fodlan, but could elect to decline (say, to become a mercenary like Jeralt, or to support your chosen spouse in their area of interest), I'd be more cool with it.

That’s something you should discuss with Rhea, since it was her decision to make Byleth the head should anything happen to her. Seteth makes it very clear in SS that he does not feel qualified to lead. Also if Seteth became the head of Fódlan and the end of VW, it would be high unlikely that he would permit Claude to open up Fódlan’s borders due to his presumably strict upbringing of the Serios Faith, which as always remained isolationist. 
 

What are you talking about ? Your characters fates do change in this game depending on who or whether A-rank someone or not. 

[What is your unpopular Fire Emblem opinion?]

1 hour ago, Ottservia said:

Ehh I’d argue the portraits were better simply because they were just more expressive. Say what you will about Kozaki but his character portaits oozed personality which is far more than what I can say about 3H’s portraits and “animations”. 

I'm actually a huge fan of Kozaki's work and I would love for him to return to the series at some point. Kurahana's work has grown on me though, and I do like the shining effect on drawings. It kind of reminds me of impressionism. 

[Alastor plays and ranks the whole series! Mission Complete! ...For now.]

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Yeah, but the Professor never demonstrates either skill or interest in administering the Church - much less an entire continent. They're a skilled fighter and tactician, and they're able to manage students in the classroom and soldiers in battle alike - I'll grant that. But they're also quite ignorant about politics, history, and the various people groups that make up the continent. They don't appear to be equipped to take on such a massive role

Yes, but they do save the entire continent from two threats that could have potentially ended the continent. Not to mention they are successfully the heads of an army that managed to secure victory over a nation, and those nations no longer exist because of the war. This leaves the church as the only institution of power remaining, and they are already the head of the church.  In this delicate aftermath for the commoners who do not support the empire, Byleth is the best option for the aforementioned reasons, and the fact they already the head of the church, as well as possessing the Goddesses power also adds to why Byleth should lead the people. 
 

Or George Washington was a general in the US army, but he came the 1st president of the US, a huge factor came from his victories as a US general. 

[What is your unpopular Fire Emblem opinion?]

5 minutes ago, Florete said:

Your mention of voice acting is moving the goalposts. This conversation is about how the animation impacts the effectiveness of the supports. I never claimed Fates supports were better in every way than TH supports. It wasn't a direct response to you, but I did state in one of these posts that I find the characters and writing are better in TH than Fates, and yeah, the voice acting is part of that.

Alright, fine. I dunno if this is an unpopular or not, but out of all the games I've played, I believe Three Houses has the best supports thanks to the animation and  excellent voice acting and attention to details. Definitely the animation can be improved upon, but I think this was a great start, and I believe they will improve in future titles. 

[What is your unpopular Fire Emblem opinion?]

2 hours ago, Florete said:

That quote does say "for me," btw. But Samz707 expanded on my issue with the supports pretty well. Too much has to happen off screen. Too many character animations are used over and over again. It's distracting and immersion-breaking. Yes, there are some details that work and add something to the experience; it's not all bad. But it's more bad than good.

And its somehow worse  than earlier entries where the character portraits would just change expression while everything that was being said was done without any visual indication? Like Takumi and Setsuna apparently hunting while the background is MyCastle? Or how Felicia started another fire despite it being never shown on screen? Yes, I don't deny that the game looks like a PS2 game, but you can clearly tell that they tried a lot to make the game's supports improve visually. Not to mention that every conversation is voiced, and that alone makes it very hard for me to go back to Fates and Awakening style of supports, especially when you notice all the details that adjust depending on what part of the game you are, like who you currently have in the army, and what part you on, or what chapter you are on. To me, the excellent voice acting as well the attention to all the tiny details is more than enough for poor visual quality of the animated supports. I know Shadows of Valentia had supports that are , but its very limited. Silque is one of my favorite characters, but she only has one support in the entire game for example. 

[What is your unpopular Fire Emblem opinion?]

1 hour ago, Samz707 said:

I'd say it fading to black anytime anything remotely "Advanced" happens is pretty bad.

Such as Petra "training", we literally have a good few animations for swinging a sword but I guess we can't bother having the player actually see her doing that, so she's going to swing a sword off-screen, then appear standing stock still as if she was just standing around doing nothing afterwards is a pretty big problem.

I'm not saying that its the best thing ever, I'm just saying that its a massive step up from portraits that were different from the 3DS titles. There's definitely room for improvement, and I am sure they will improve by the next game. 

[What is your unpopular Fire Emblem opinion?]

15 hours ago, Florete said:

On 7/31/2021 at 1:21 AM, ZeManaphy said:

college.

I approached this from the wrong angle; yes, they are animated. What I should have added is that the animation is so limited it actually detracts from the experience for me. It's both too little and too much at the same time; too little to feel like it really gives the scenes life, but also too much to allow my brain to fill in the gaps. I genuinely prefer just seeing two character portraits talking to each other to what TH gives us.

I disagree. Those small animations adds a nice subtle detail that brings out the mood in conversations. Like how Dorothea lowers her head in rage against Ferdinand at their A-Support, or how Hapi stretches her arms as a substitute to sighing. Honesty, it feels like your complaints against Three Houses support conversations are less of Three Houses problem and more like a “ You “ problem. 

[Alastor plays and ranks the whole series! Mission Complete! ...For now.]

32 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Oh yeah, that too. Not even gonna defend this ending. Teach getting to be in charge comes across as the height of avatar worship (like, at least Corrin only took the throne in Valla, where they had a birth claim to it). And Claude following up his big speech about "the bonds of friendship" by... abandoning all his friends to go rule a country we've never even seen is... not the most compelling.

I don’t see how Byleth being in charge of Fódlan is a bad decision at all. Byleth is not a nobody that Claude just appointed out of the blue. Byleth fought alongside Claude to stop the empire and defeat Nemesis. Rhea even appoints Byleth as the head of the Church in case something happened to her. Byleth ends up succeeding her, and since the Church is the only dominant power remaining, it makes sense that it takes over to resurrect the land. 

 

36 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Didn't you know? Thinking about doing something, and actually doing that thing, are morally equivalent! Checkmate, Agarthans!

I don’t know what you are trying to say here. Thinking and doing are completely different things. You cannot punish someone for thinking, but you can punish someone for actions. “ Actions speak louder than words “ as the saying goes. Regardless, Claude does indeed achieve his goals of reforming Fódlan without bloodshed through opening the borders allowing cultural diffusion between Fódlan and Almyra, something Edelgard does not accomplish with her methods. 

 

23 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

I have a feeling that, in the situation of the lack of a Kingdom heir, they'd rather just go with the unification so long they retain what power they already have, than another war for control of the Kingdom.

Highly doubtful the Kingdom would be unified. We know for a fact that not all the noble houses support the royal family in AM and CF. The House Kleiman servant reveals that his house and Rowe participated in the Tragedy of Duscur because they disagreed with King Lamberts policies. Also, in non-CF routes several Kingdom lords defect to the Empire and support Cornelia’s rule. Also in CF, Hubert openly states that the Kingdom is not united, and only the Houses of Bladdyid, Fraldarius, Galatea, Gautier, and Charon needed to be defeated to conquer the Kingdom. 
 

If the Kingdom was left to their own devices after the death of Dimitri in SS and VW, it would most likely turn into a civil war of traitors versus loyalists, with each side hoping to gain access to the throne in order to spread their reform ideas. That’s probably why the church annexes the territories in SS and VW.

[What is your unpopular Fire Emblem opinion?]

1 hour ago, Samz707 said:

 I do prefer marriage being at the end like in FE7.

It makes no sense to me why our lot are apparently getting married in the middle of a war when time is usually of the essence.  (Like in Awakening.)

Also I'd rather have romances be for the characters sake than my Elite Eugenics Program to have the best child unit super soldiers. (even if I wish the 3H confession art was all in third person, I honestly just find it kinda creepy having first person CG art.)

I have heard of people meeting some of their best friends and spouses through serving in the army, so I don’t think it’s preposterous at all for people to marry while serving the military.

[Alastor plays and ranks the whole series! Mission Complete! ...For now.]

4 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

He still doesn't see anything wrong with refusing to give the kingdom and all of the dang alliance houses their autonomy back after Edelgard took it all.

The Kingdom and Empire lost their only successors to the war. If they were left to their own devices, a civil war would very likely break out between power hungry nobles in order to gain access to the throne. As for the Alliance, Claude was already the leader when the war started. That’s probably the primary reason why the SS and VW the church takes over both nations at the end of the route.

[Alastor plays and ranks the whole series! Mission Complete! ...For now.]

58 minutes ago, Maof06 said:

Relevant:

True, but Claude makes it very clear that he does not want to use bloodshed or force to obtain his ideals; he even states that he and Edelgard have similar ideas, but he cannot support Edelgard due to the sheer amount of lives she wishes to sacrifice. Your meme is a gross simplification of Claude’s ideals. 

[What is your unpopular Fire Emblem opinion?]

24 minutes ago, Florete said:

• They're not "animated," they just use the stock animations used for every character. I mean, I guess you could call that animated, but it's nothing special; the game cuts away for any scenes that would be more complicated.
• They don't have unique backgrounds. Those backgrounds are all used elsewhere in the game, mostly in the monastery. A lot of them have very obvious tearing, as well, making them look very unprofessional.
• I'm pretty confident there's no unique dialogue depending on part 1 or 2, though do share examples if there are. And I know there are no changes based on certain characters being around or not. There are other bits of dialogue in the game that exist based on characters being around or not/dead or alive, but not in supports.

1. Yes they are animated. And yes, these use generic animations, but its still animation nonetheless. Its a very common practice to reuse animations in film and video games, in fact, at the end of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, the scene where Belle dances with Prince Adam is reused frames from Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty according to developers because they ran out of budget for the ending scene. Even in Fates, Awakening, and Echoes, the majority of classes reuse animations and costumes bar a few characters like Ryoma and Xander. Its simply not practical to create unique animations for every character, animation is a lot of work and I know for a fact because I study animation in college.

2. You are right, the backgrounds are not unique and they do look from a PS2. Still though, this is the first time we had fully animated cutscenes and backgrounds for support conversations, which is a huge step up from the 3DS era, where all we had was character portraits changing to match emotions being displayed. This is a huge departure and for a first time, I think it execution was great. I mean yes, there is problems like you mentioned, but for a first time, I think it was great and I'm sure they will improve for future titles. 

3A .

Spoiler

Dorothea and Linhardt Support B:

Church Soldier: How did you know Dorothea was an orphan?
Church Soldier: I hear she buttered up some noble and he enrolled her in the academy...

In Part I

Church Soldier: Does someone like that even belong here?

In Part II

Church Soldier: She's higher ranking than us lot. How disappointing.

Dorothea: ...
Linhardt: I suggest ignoring them.
Dorothea: Ah! Lin, don't scare me like that!
Linhardt: You seem less scared than surprised, but that's quibbling, I suppose. As for those two gossips? Unimportant. I suggest forgetting all about them and their petty words. Join me for a meal. I've been the target of a lot of gossip, and eating generally makes me feel better.
Dorothea: Don't pretend we're the same. If I could brush it off so easily, I would.
Linhardt: It doesn't seem particularly difficult. Where's the problem? Is this about your pride?
Dorothea: No. Not even a little bit.
Linhardt: What then?
Dorothea: Lin. Please just...go away. I want to be alone right now.
Linhardt: That's fine. But your life is your own business. It's not something that can be affected by the petty words of a stranger. Ah, sorry. I kept talking, didn't I? I'll stop now.
Dorothea: Please do.

Note: In Crimson Flower, the Church Soldiers are instead Imperial Soldiers, in the Blue Lions and Azure Moon routes, they are Kingdom Soldiers, and in the Golden Deer and Verdant Wind routes, they are Alliance Soldiers.

3B. 

Spoiler

Felix and Sylvain Support B

Sylvain: Whenever I started doing something dumb, you'd yell at me about it.
Felix: And whenever you dragged me into something, Ingrid would find out and start lecturing us.

If Ingrid was recruited and is alive

Sylvain: All these years and not much has changed, has it?

If Ingrid died or was not recruited

Sylvain: All these years and not much has changed, has it? Even if we don't have Ingrid lording over us...

Sylvain: But you're different, Felix. You used to be so, I don't know...carefree when we were young. Now you're the exact opposite.

As you can see, I've shown you examples of dialogue changing whether or not it is in Part 1 or Part 2, as well dialogue that also changes if someone is in your army at the moment the conversation is being played. I can provide more if you are not satisfied. 

EDIT: On the topic of Chris Hackney's Voice Impression, that's not the point of whether or not Three Houses is a good game. You are asking why people love Three Houses, and I telling you people love how the good the voice acting is. It really helps bring out the emotion in scenes. Rhea's reaction to Byleth's betrayal in Chapter 11 is also fantastic voice acting. It really helps show how terrifying Rhea can be when provoked, something that’s significantly harder to do with no voice acting. 

 

[What is your unpopular Fire Emblem opinion?]

4 hours ago, Florete said:

17 hours ago, zuibangde said:

 

I'm already wondering why TH is so well-loved (and have been for a while), but this is a pretty common cycle

Maybe because the actions Edelgard does creates debates so long that you can write college essays on it? The voice acting is absolutely incredible, have you heard how Chris Hackney handles Dimitri in his psychosis? Or how every support conversation is animated with a unique background and is fully voiced and has unique dialogue ouge depending on whether its Part 1 or 2, certain characters being recruited etc.? 

Really going back to the gameplay though, my only criticism is that too many maps are reused for part 2, particularly for SS and VW, while some like Tailtean and Arianrhod are underutilized too little. Everything else I loved. I loved Battalions both visually and combat standpoint, like how to use battalions as a way to stun opponents for a turn, or using stride to gain enhanced movement. And I don't know is this is an unpopular opinion, but I really loved the Monastery and its activities. I loved doing Tea Parties, because I get rewarded for learning and caring for my allies with charm. In a similar vein, I enjoy eating with my units because it encourages me to learn about their taste preferences. And I enjoy feeding cats because I love cats in general and I get rewards for it. 

I also disagree with people saying Three Houses difficulty and maps are too easy. I remember on my first playthrough ( AM ) I had struggled with the later chapters because I had not fully understood the mechanics or what happens when you don’t recruit students. Even on consecutive playthroughs, even on Normal Mode, I never found the game too easy to the point I had to put handicaps.

 

47 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

3H feels like it’s trying to tell 3 different stories at once that both try to interconnect and relate with one another yet want nothing want nothing to do with each other at the same time.

That's more like the goals of the Three House Leaders. Three Houses  main theme lies with the Monastery: How quickly things can change for the worse. For the majority of the 1st Part, you are teaching your own class, but you are interacting with students and faculty that are not your own, you start to start to form friendships with them. You eat with them, have tea parties with them, do choir practice with them, and despite fighting with battles with them, you still have a feast with them and enjoy yourselves. These why the Monastery activities are important. You get to hang out with students and form connections. Why rush throughout the game when you could have a tea party with your friends? The world is not at war... yet. The game actively rewards you for participating in these activities like Charm for tea parties, fatigue refill for meals, and even students should you have enough of a bond with them.They are important because when the war starts, you realize only too late that these were moments that you took for granted and now are gone, and now you are forced to fight people who you called friends in a war that you know did not have to happen. 

17 hours ago, zuibangde said:

Also...I feel like I don't really see people hating on Freyja??? People hated Camilla for what she represents and IS created a new character with almost the exact same archetype (doting sister that is obsessed with her brother with 'two big reasons' for why she's so popular). She's now becoming one of the most popular OCs from Heroes but people are weirdly ok with her actions/popularity despite her bland and bare boned backstory. Is it because she's presented as a villain or do we just have lower expectations for Heroes OCs?

Its also the fact that she is an insanely good unit, unlike Camilla who wasn’t that great of a Heroes ever since it launch. 

 

17 hours ago, zuibangde said:

Three Houses will age poorly. A few years from now, people will start questioning why TH was so well loved. On the other hand, fans will also start to wonder why Fates was so hated and realize it wasn't as bad as people made it to be.

I highly doubt it. Its been two years, and its voice cast is still on the top 10 list or barley misses the top 10 for BehindTheVoiceActors. Its also the 5th most discussed game on GameFaqs for Switch.

 

And this going to be an unpopular opinion for sure, but I don't see why people are shocked and get angry that Awakening, Fates, and Three Houses get the most representation in Heroes. They are the games that sold the most, so obviously they are going to get the most reps. The first five games were never released, and the the ones that were released before Awakening and Fates did not sell superbly or was just not a popular game. So its very easy to understand that these games get the most representation, and I scratch my head when people get annoyed that these games get more banners compared to games like Tharacia 776 and Radiant Dawn. I started with Fates, and whenever I see characters from the pre-3DS era, I don't have any urge to spend money, which is probably the majority of international players. 

And speaking of which, this is an opinion not towards the games, but rather the fanbase. I get quite annoyed when people say the newer games are worse from the older games, simply because they are easier overall, the maps are objective are simpler, and supports and art style is too anime-esque. Well, for the former issue, Fire Emblem was notorious for being incredibly difficult between permadeath and difficult maps and tactics. That's probably a huge reason why FE games didn't sell to hot in the west, it was too difficult for the majority of players. Radiant Dawn was notorious for being way too difficult according to western critics. People here are these forums seem to forget we are a minority here, and do not represent the majority of fans. Huge maps and with complex objectives like Defend and seize are too difficult to be used on an average basis. That being said, Fates did try to cater to both sides, but was poorly recieved in the fandom. As for the anime style and influence, well that's a very broad , in Japan, anything animation is called Anime, but here in the west, its anything from Japan. And since the game is a JRPG, of course its going to be inspired by things like Manga. I also disagree that supports are a waste of time. One reason I love FE is because I love how characters interact and learn from each other. Its one of the biggest reasons I love FE over other RPGS, the abillity to see characters grow as a friends and have the ability to change potential endings based off these interactions is one of my favorite parts and I don't want it removed from future titles.

 

[Mythic Hero - Ullr: The Bowmaster]

Don’t really care much about Ullr, but Blue looks so good, since Serios and L!Dimitri are on it. I’ve been wanting another Legendary Dimitri ever since mine had -Atk. Will be pulling blue. Mila also looks tempting, but blue will be my priority.

[What is your unpopular Fire Emblem opinion?]

10 hours ago, DarkSage861 said:

Three Houses...that was just depressing

What's wrong with Three Houses that makes it depressing? And I completely disagree that they stopped trying. If they had stopped trying to make a good game, they would not have collaborated with Koei Techmo to ensure they could create a game on the Switch, nor would they have delayed the game for a Summer launch if they did not want their title to succeed. 

[Voting Gauntlet: Water Fight!]

I have both Marianne and Mercedes, so I'm divided.

[Female only banner... again.]

14 hours ago, Ottservia said:

From what I recall IS has stated most of their revenue comes from Japan while most of the users are from overseas.

Really? Most of their users come from overseas? That's a bit surprising since FE was intially Japan only until Melee came out, and even then, it didn't really become super popular until Awakening. I had expected most players to come from Japan, especially since Heroes features characters from the Japan only games that are strangers to most of the West.

[New Heroes: Dawning Reality & Nifl]

Surprised Amber Hood does Nyx she did not reprise for Soleil. I kind of tempted to pull for Nyx since I’m lacking in Speedy Red Mages, with Bridal Thanja being my only option. 

[Byleth: The Fódlan Star (June's Legendary Hero)]

18 minutes ago, Faellin said:

So glad they went with male Byleth for this.

Female enlightened one robes is one of the worst lord designs in the entire series. Period. Male byleth makes the look work so much better. Plus it spices up the whole avatar legendaries being all female up until now.

Wouldn’t be surprised if they had Female enlightened Alt in the future. They probably went with Male Byleth because he has 0 Alts while Female has 1. Looking at the remaining candidates for Legendary Heroes, only Male Robin and Corrin, female Byleth and Maciah are protagonist candidates. Curious what they’ll do after that.