0 Def Cleric

Fantasy games' logic does matter, though. There are godlike dragons and magical weapons, yes, but those are all established world elements. Of course, they don't logically work in the real world, but since they follow the laws of their universe and are explained, they're logical. Time travel is logical, to a point, but it fits better thematically with Fire Emblem to have a second generation following the first during their own time, rather than going back to the past to prevent a bad future. Thanks to the time travel, the kids lose screentime that they sorely needed, and lose basically all their pre-travel characterization they could have obtained. Even having some bad future chapters would have prevented that. Thus why Three Houses showing us how the kids are before and after the timeskip, and how war strips away people's innocence (the second Kostas battle comes to mind right away) is a nice breath of fresh air.

Still super mad that Emperor doesn't get magic when it had it in Jugdral. She would be a fantastic mixed attacker.

She's probably the best candidate for Thyrsus. And really, just give her a Seraph Robe or two, depending on how she grows HP. Her speed plus the natural defense of the Warlock class (12) means that nothing reasonable in the game will kill her if she has ~40 hp, even on hard. That is, if you want to make her a frontliner; she's top tier even without that investment, but it's like a dracoshield-for-Miledy situation; do you want to make an already good unit better or not?

Not exactly false advertising, considering the game itself tells you to follow her. Hell, even the game opening shows only her and Byleth's relics. Having an Edelgard hateboner doesn't really erase what the game pushes. (Though I don't exactly like the favoritism in it, even though I agree with her ideals. Let people make their own decisions.) And haven't they advertised perfectly fine on games with male lords in the past? Please.

You need to explore the monastery and speak to Edelgard in the entrance hall. And yes, you missed the competition by not doing the quest for it. A lot of important things only come up in the monastery, not in story cutscenes. So yeah, you're locked out of getting a dancer, and if you don't speak to Edelgard in the entrance hall by the end of the month (and/or don't have a C support with her) you will not be able to access her route.

As far as I know, nothing changes with Jeralt. There are three Dark Seals minimum. The max varies between different paths.

...I'm sorry, how does bisexuality make it worse? Are you kidding me here? Anyway, to not derail, Edelgard, because she's a wonderful idealist that actually works to make that a reality. And I like her crown.

Oh, I apologize. I was talking about this bit: Sothis isn't the church. And the church doesn't just have dark secrets regarding Byleth, they're a pretty corrupt organization in general. I should have solely quoted that bit, but I suppose I didn't. Anyway, in regards to route choices:

Only dark seals are limited. With Rhea and Sothis, you can gain supports.

Only the Mage lines, Noble/Commoner, and Dancer can use magic. All classes can use all weapon types.

Er.... what gimmick does the Lonato chapter have? Isn't it just a fog of war you can remove?

Doubtful; she's had basically all the promotional material. It is a bonus route, but it's definitely not a late-development addition.

18 chapters, as opposed to 24.

Nope, it's not another opportunity. You don't get that choice unless you go to El's coronation. It's just another opportunity to go church if you don't like finding out what she did post-ch11.

It's your power level in each class. Also, it's far better to keep her a falcon knight, or make her mortal savant as well. Swordmaster is pretty weak for endgame.

I give it two weeks to get a dedicated hatebase. Seriously, though, I've already passed through my honeymoon phase. It's definitely a good game, but it's got some glaring balance issues. Like, uh. All of my favorite FE games do? Oh, and the pre-skip writing is a bit heavy-handed at times in regards to the church. But overall, I like it.

The game is definitely about Edelgard's ideals, yeah. So although I'm not sure that any route is particularly canon per se, the game does seem to be mostly about her. (It helps that her ending addresses the one loose end that's left, making it essentially the best ending for everyone besides Dimitri and Dedue and the church.) Plus the fact that her route is the hardest to unlock.

Nah, I recruited Lysithea pre-skip on the Eagles route and she remained with Edelgard post-skip. Though that might not be the case for all characters, considering some have more personal stakes in the conflict than others.

Yes, after part 1 is done. I've been getting ~12 slots.

There's an event in the month where the ball is held that you can enter a student into, and if they have 14 charm, they'll become Dancer class on the third week of the month.

None of them are canon. Although the Black Eagles routes seem meatier writing-wise, all three have their own merits. And none of them are golden, so why make one canon?

Dancer isn't meant to be great offensively, it's meant to make your other units who are great offensively better. It's a utility class.