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You're not dumb lol It just seems a bit closed-minded to dismiss the other routes though. It's okay to have a favorite lord/route. Trust me, Edelgard and CF may always be my favorites. But that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the others too. The only reason to flat out ignore a route imo is if you know enough about the lord to say that you really don't like them (like me with Rhea, since she's technically the "lord" of SS). But otherwise I'd say give the other routes a chance. It doesn't mean you like CF any less, it's just another side of the story. And one you might enjoy :)

You both bring up a really interesting point. AM and CF do seem very much like two sides of the same coin. One of my favorite parts of CF was Edelgard's character arc, learning about her past and her goals as Emperor. Seeing her develop and come into her own as a leader while remaining true to herself as a friend to Byleth and her fellow Black Eagles. It would be nice to experience Dimitri's character arc alongside Edelgard's this time as a way of seeing the story from both their points of view, even if I personally agree with Edelgard's more. It'll add some more depth to the Edelgard/Dimitri conflict, since I have a feeling I'm gonna love them both :) I'm guessing you say this because El dies on the other routes? I mean, that's just how the story works. It's war, the two lords you don't choose (except Claude) are gonna be killed. Someone who started with AM would have to see Dimitri die if they decided to try any of the other routes, and it's the same with El. And yeah it'll be a sad scene to watch, just like it was with Dimitri on CF. But I don't think a route like AM that explores the other side of the war is worth ignoring just because of that. If anything it would make me appreciate both El and Dimitri even more as characters. I see your point about SS, but for me it's not so much about siding against El as it's about siding with Rhea. Yes, you're on the same side as her on the other routes but not in the same way. Like on CF when Hubert mentions that they're still temporarily allied with Thales, it never feels like you're actually fighting for TWSITD or playing the "Thales route". TWSITD is just kinda there in the background and they get killed off in the ending. Same thing with AM and Rhea. She's forgotten about as a character as soon as the timeskip hits and she's even removed from power and replaced with Byleth in the ending. You're never following Rhea on AM, only Dimitri. Thanks everyone for your thoughts! I think I'll go for AM next and maybe try VW later on.

It's been a long journey filled with many surprises, challenges and unforgettable moments, but my first Crimson Flower run is now coming to an end. Only the final map is left and I can't wait to see the Black Eagles finally confront Rhea and get their well-earned happy ending. I'd like to take this chance to thank everyone in this wonderful community for their support! This was my first time ever playing FE and all your help has been very much appreciated! Crimson Flower was so much fun and I loved every moment of it, from the beautifully written story and characters to all the little things like music and NPC dialogue that really bring the world to life! I look forward to Cindered Shadows and of course my second CF playthrough on NG+. And I've also been thinking of trying another route alongside CF this time around (also on NG+ if that's possible). But I'm not sure which one though, Azure Moon or Verdant Wind. I've already ignored Silver Snow because there's really no way I'd start a Black Eagles run and not choose Crimson Flower. Willingly siding with Rhea is something I just won't do. And from hearing others' opinions on SS, it doesn't seem like I'll be missing out on much either. But between Azure Moon and Verdant Wind, which do you think I'd enjoy more? I know that just like Dimitri, El is killed off in every route besides her own. So I'm fully prepared to be hit in the feels by her death scene (Dimitri's on CF was sad to watch too, even without knowing as much about him. Especially his final words to Dedue and El's reaction afterwards.) But from the sounds of it, she gets a more "peaceful" ending on VW than on AM where she desperately pops a crest pill and goes Demonic Beast like Dedue on CF. I also know that VW has a huge focus on Rhea though, which doesn't sound appealing at all. AM on the other hand has Rhea completely disappear from the plot (and the monastery I'm assuming?) after the timeskip. And she only gets a passing mention in the ending cards. So maybe AM would be a better second route? I do like Dimitri more than Claude, tbh. It would be interesting to play his route and get to know his story better. Does this seem like a good choice? Or do you think VW would be better?

First off, marry Lysithea on all three routes (or pair her with Hanneman or Edelgard). This is very important because those endings Aside from Lys though, here are the pairings I'd suggest. Crimson Flower: Dorothea/Petra, Bernadetta/Jeritza, Hubert/Ferdinand and Caspar/Linhardt are all favorites of mine for the Black Eagles. Ingrid/Sylvain is another popular choice but I personally don't care for it because Ingrid ends up Azure Moon: You don't have a lot of people I'd pair together on this route (Caspar but no Linhardt, Catherine but no Shamir). Tbh I wish Male Byleth/Dimitri could've been a pairing. I'd say Dimitri/Ingrid (or Ingrid/Ashe, both are nice) and maybe Sylvain/Felix (this is the only ending I'd suggest for Felix besides forever alone). Also make sure Gilbert ends up with no one haha Verdant Wind: Marianne/Hilda is another favorite of mine. I don't know a lot about the other Golden Deer (besides Lys), but Raphael/Ignatz seems pretty sweet too. You can also go for Alois/Leonie if you're not a huge fan of Leonie lol Of course, this is all just my opinion. I'd still read up on everyone's different endings before making a decision. I hope this helps though! :)

Yeah on NG+ I'm gonna hold off on getting that support until after Byleth merges with Sothis just for sheer "LOL NOPE" value haha

If you're playing as a female Byleth, then you should at least recruit Hanneman for his paired ending with Lysithea.

I just came back to this topic to say I'm glad to see how far this discussion about a character I never thought I'd like has come! Everyone's different opinions on Hubert have convinced me to give him another chance. And I have to say, his timeskip personality's actually started to grow on me. He's far from the irredeemable douchebag I'd made him out to be at first. His warming up to the other Black Eagles and his more caring side he shows towards Byleth and El have made up for his abrasive attitude in part 1. I've also gotten a few of his supports with Bernie, Dorothea and El, and they're surprisingly fun to watch! I love how he trolls Bernie! And his convos with El really show that even though she knows he's working in secret, she still trusts him absolutely. Shines a whole different light on that particular part of his character. I also enjoyed his paralogue and its unique side story that deals with TWSITD, though saving those dumbass mages was a hassle (thank Lysithea for Warp). Come NG+, I'll be giving a second chance to all the students who gave me a bad first impression like Hubert, including Sylvain and Leonie :)

I have female Byleth, but she's marrying Edelgard. I'll try to build up Felix's support with Ingrid, but if that doesn't work I'll just have to bench him. A shame since he's an excellent Swordmaster but tbh I was getting sick of all his kill steals anyway. Not to mention the fact that Jeritza's basically just a better Felix with access to magic and Canto. Would bringing Hanneman into battle to fight alongside Lysithea (instead of just making him an adjutant) help build more support? Edit: Okay, I'm at the beginning of Chapter 17 now and Felix is still first on Lysithea's list, but I managed to get Felix and Ingrid to the top of each others lists. Lys is still first on Hanneman's list, so the game should pair Felix and Ingrid and then go down to second spot (Hanneman) for Lysithea's pairing, yes?

Aside from Byleth and El, the only two people Lys has A-support with are Hanneman and Felix. I've been setting Hanneman as her adjutant in every battle since Remire and sharing meals with them every time I have the ingredients for the one dish they both like. She had an A-support with him waiting to happen before I even hit the timeskip and they were both first on each other's close allies list. Felix's A-support came a bit later. Lys usually sticks with his group whenever I split my party on larger maps, but I typically try to avoid linked attacks between the two. Even after she got A-support with Felix, he was still second to Hanneman on her close allies so I wasn't concerned. But now I'm on Chapter 16 and after a few paralogues Felix has slipped past Hanneman on her list. Worse, Lys is first on Felix's list now too. In other words, she's in some serious danger. Since this happened mid-month, the first thing I did was a bunch of battles on the next free day, Hanneman as Lysithea's adjutant, keeping her as far away from Felix as possible. When I split my party, she went with Byleth and El's group (where she has no possible pairings at all), not Felix's. But none of that's seemed to budge Felix from the top of her list. I'm not sure what to do, if I should keep doing what I'm doing, try to get somebody else (like Ingrid, who has Felix first on her list I think) to the top of Felix's list, or just bench Felix entirely. I wanna make sure Lysithea gets her ending with Hanneman so she survives. I swear, on my next playthrough I'm just gonna get my free Sylvain and glue him to Felix the whole game so neither one of them can screw up my paired endings.

I gave it a bunch of tries using only the two of them and yeah it seems pretty impossible. No matter what I did, some random managed to slip past the border. I'd really enjoyed the Byleth and Jeritza duo mission (even if the actual fight was underwhelming), so the idea of Byleth and El going full two-woman army on her paralogue sounded like a lot of fun. But the whole guard the border part just made it too much of a nuicance to be worth it. I had to do the normal way with my whole party, but I beat the paralogue! The endless wyverns were a pain in the ass, but nothing Petra and Ingrid couldn't take care of. And Nader went down in two hits thanks to Byleth and El. I only use Aymr occasionally for Raging Storm's extra turn. I don't use any other combat arts with El since her basic attacks are typically strong enough and let her counter if she needs to. Zoltan's weight concerns me if I was gonna use it for basic attacks.

I'm only on Hard if that makes a difference. Doubt I'll ever touch Maddening tbh since I'm playing mostly for story with a just bit of challenge. If I go on the offensive and have Byleth and El work their way towards Nader, that leaves the defend point completely unguarded. How fast do the other enemies get there? And do they get distracted by fighting, or is getting to the defend point all they care about? I'm guessing it'll be as good as over once El's close enough to attack Nader. So if they both take the center path and cut through anyone in their way, any chance they'll reach Nader before the defend point's in trouble?

So Nader stays put, but what about the wyvern reinforcements? I'm assuming since this is a defense mission that they'll all start moving towards the goal from the start. In which case it would probably be better to keep Byleth and El in that spot and let the wyverns come to them, yes? Also is the wyvern spam endless? Or is it possible to just kill them all and then go for Nader when he's the last one left? Btw that Axe of Zoltan I found looks pretty useless. Just a discount Aymr with no Raging Storm lol

...using only Byleth and El. Is there anything I should know about going into this? I don't want any of the story details if that's possible, but basically I'd like to know ahead of time if there's any traps, ambushes or other things to avoid/watch out for (a la Petra and Bernadetta's paralogue). Byleth's in the Enlightened One class. She has the Sublime Creator Sword, Blutgang and a Silver Sword+ along with Nosferatu, Heal, Recover and a Magic Staff equipped. So she's set for healing, dodge tanking and dealing with magic-weak enemies. Edelgard's in the Emperor class and has Aymr, a Silver Axe+, a Brave Axe+ and a Killer Axe+ with a Silver Shield equipped. I just picked up an Axe of Zoltan off an enemy commander in my last battle but I haven't checked it out yet to see if it's any good. I also gave her the movement +2 boots a while back because I know Emperor's movement isn't all that. My plan is to keep Byleth and El together for linked attacks and gambit boosts, and so Byleth can heal El if needed. Byleth's batallion is Jeralt's Mercenaries (which I'm not changing) and El's is Empire Archers since I haven't found anything that suits her better in terms of stat boosts. Any words of advice (or warning lol) are much appreciated! :)

Yeah this one's pretty bad too imo. It's just a boring rehash of Sothis's paralogue but, like you said, without any actual pressure. The map's basically just a big square that makes it ridiculously easy to corner each monster if you split up your party. I don't even think Marianne needed to heal a single npc student either. They're just that good at dodging and healing. And Jeralt's death scene afterwards seemed very forced too. I mean, I get that he had to die for plot reasons, but the way it happened just felt like they threw it in at the last minute. Jeralt deserved better. Overall it was a huge letdown after Remire, almost like the game's way of preparing you for the trash fire that is chapters 10 and 11. I can't wait to do this one! I'm loving Crimson Flower so far and this sounds like such a perfect final battle for the Black Eagles!

These are more my favorites and least favorites so far since I'm still in the middle of my first playthrough. Favorites Dorothea and Ingrid's paralogue for sure. First off, I love the story behind it. It was the very first paralogue I did and I was amazed how it felt like an actual side story to the main quest, not just another "kill the bandits because reasons" mission. And the map itself, whether it really makes sense or not, on top of the music set the perfect atmosphere for the battle itself, which seemed so simple at the start but is really one of the first fights in the game that actually forces you to think about every move you make. Sure, the Underground Chamber and the Miklan mission were annoying, but both were just long gauntlets of enemies that you had to brute force your way through. Dorothea and Ingrid's paralogue felt like the first wake-up call when it came to strategy. And yes, I failed it quite a few times lol But it forced me to get better at the game so I wouldn't make the same screw-ups again. I definitely agree with this one. And I like how the villagers actually heal and try to escape, not like the suicidally dumb villagers from Felix's paralogue. I also liked Crimson Flower chapter 14 for very much the same reason as Dorothea and Ingrid's paralogue. It's another map that punishes you for rushing in blindly, but feels very rewarding when you finally plan it out right. I had to trial and error quite a bit with Divine Pulse just to keep everyone alive. The fact that Byleth and El weren't one-rounding everything also made me realize how badly iron+ weapons fall off in part 2 and that I needed to upgrade to silver+. The option to spare Claude and the ending afterwards made it even better. Even as a Black Eagles/Edelgard fan I always enjoyed Claude as a character and I'm glad he got a semi-happy ending at least, with no hard feelings between him and El or Byleth. I'll definitely remember this plan for my NG+ run! I regret taking the town route since it made avoiding Hilda next to impossible. I didn't wanna kill her but she was too dangerous to just run past. Least Favorites Agreed. This felt like such a pointless battle. I knew full well I was going for Crimson Flower and I'd made all the preparations, so the whole time I couldn't figure out why the hell I was even fighting. To protect Rhea, who I hate and who just tried to use Byleth as a human sacrifice? To get back the crest stones that will never get mentioned again or serve any story purpose? It doesn't even attempt to explain why there are demonic beasts in there. All the demonic beasts besides Miklan so far have been TWSITD creations that had nothing to do with the Empire. It feels like they're there just because the devs decided this battle needed something else to fight besides generic mooks. They could've simply put the decision to side with El before the battle and then given us a fight in the Holy Tomb, against Rhea and her cronies, that actually made sense. I'm gonna put Chapter 10 here as well because while it was most definitely a fun chapter, the cutscenes felt contrived as hell. Like Kronya's death scene when suddenly it's Byleth chasing her through the woods and into Solon's trap when she wasn't even anywhere near Kronya to begin with. The game just assumes that Byleth was fighting Kronya, which makes it awkward when suddenly Byleth's right on top of her when she was halfway across the map two seconds ago. But I guess Solon realizing he caught Dorothea in his trap instead of Byleth would be anti-climactic wouldn't it haha Lastly I'd like to put the Underground Chamber here because of those stupid freaking warp pads. I wish the game had some kind of indication as to where each one went so I knew not to bother with them. Instead I missed out on killing the Death Knight because I sent Lysithea down the wrong path and she ended up on the opposite end of the map from where she needed to be. Luckily I was able to get him on the Remire mission where he litreally spawned right in front of Lys.

Ah, then Gremory's movement shouldn't hurt Lys too badly. She's taking forever to get places though compared to everyone else. I'm considering going for Valkyrie on my NG+ playthrough just to give Lys better movement. As for Dorothea, I'm thinking I'll give Gremory a try and see if I like it better than Dancer before making a decision. She's got the Caduceus Staff, so the movement shouldn't be an issue. Thanks for the info about paired endings! I'm pretty sure Dorothea and Petra only have A-support with each other right now (aside from Byleth and Edelgard, who are getting married), so I'm not too concerned. I try to keep everyone else at B with them so there's no risk. I still prefer to use Meteor though since it's the farthest reaching spell between both my reason magic users. The idea of having two charges of it sounds really useful. I'm already well into part 2 so recruiting's no longer an option. I have Marianne as my healer though. She doesn't fight unless she's in a situation where she absolutely has to, which is very rare. Her single focus is healing people so none of my damage dealers have to waste a turn to heal. Dorothea has Heal and Physic too, but she's an attacker first and a healer/dancer second. That's why I'm considering Gremory for her.

I actually use Meteor as an attack spell though. And typically early on so I don't build any accidental support with anyone not named Petra. Ah, I didn't know this. The extra spell charges sound tempting, but I don't know if they're worth it at the cost of her movement. I might also reconsider making Lysithea a Gremory if that's the case. Lys already has enough movement issues as a Mage. She's still one of the squishier members of my party, haven't checked her exact defense though. Will certifying hurt her movement like you mentioned above though? Or is that only if I switch her to Gremory? Either way, I'll probably stick with Dancer for now. Thanks for the advice!

My plan from the beginning was to keep Dorothea in Dancer and not make her a Gremory at all. But she's just reached Lv.30 and already has A's in both Reason and Faith, so I'm wondering if it would be a good idea to promote her to Gremory. She went straight to Dancer from Mage, skipping Warlock entirely, and has stayed a Dancer ever since. That said, I still find her casting spells and using her Levin Sword more than actually dancing. She's my best heavy armor killer with her +1 range Thoron from Caduceus Staff, and that added range on Meteor means she can wreck things from farther away than even Lysithea. Dancing's more just something for her to do if she's not close enough to do anything else. Too far away to attack? May as well give Petra another turn! But in exchange for her dancing option, Gremory gives her twice as many uses on all her spells, including Meteor. I know I can switch between the two as needed, but typically I like to keep everyone in one final class that suits them in every situation and leave it at that. Which would be my better option?

Rhea's a bit more of a difficult case since a lot of her "evil" actions (the ones that cement her as a villain for me) take place before the start of the game or in Part 1, so they happen regardless of route. I don't know if you've done the Church route yet so I'll hide the spoilers, but let's just say Jeralt was right to be wary of her, especially concerning Byleth's well-being. That said, she does come to regret her actions if But otherwise, (Sorry if I got any parts of Silver Snow's story/ending wrong. I haven't played that route so I'm relying on Google here.)

To be fair, I did check out his supports with Ferdinand, which make it pretty clear he's doing things that El specifically told him not to do. How much she's actually aware of is never clearly stated, but I think at most El knows that Hubert's sneaking around and acting against her orders. What exactly he's doing, I don't think she knows. But she's been friends with him for long enough and trusts him well enough not to be concerned about his loyalty. Whatever he's doing must be for the greater good. My initial dislike towards Hubert was because that seemed like a really scummy thing for him to do, especially to his childhood best friend, even if it was to her benefit. I still don't like that that's what he did, but I can understand that it came from a good place, even if I feel it was the wrong thing to do. And I do like that El even calls him out on it in their A-support, telling him that even though she appreciates his help, it's not right that he leaves her in the dark about everything. I'll definitely check out the Dorothea supports too. Dorothea's another character I really enjoy because she's so sweet and considerate to all her friends, especially Petra and Ingrid, but she won't take crap if someone's giving it, like Hubert or Felix. Much like Edelgard herself, actually. In some ways, he's essentially El if she didn't know where to draw the line or when to stop. El's his moral compass in a sense. As long as she's there to help reel him in and keep him from going too far, she can trust that he'll do the right thing. If El wasn't there, then we may have seen a more villainous take on Hubert than what we got.

It's interesting to hear everyone's different opinions on Hubert. It really goes to show how well-written the characters of FETH are that we can all share our thoughts on someone, whether it's Hubert or Edelgard or whoever, and everybody has their own unique take. Hubert isn't my favorite part of Crimson Flower, but now I'm glad the ol' sourpuss is there nonetheless haha This. Nobody would ever suspect that a hardass like Hubert would have feelings for anyone. Though it would've been nice to have an asexual character who still has supports with people (unlike Anna), just not romantic ones. From this thread: https://forums.serenesforest.net/index.php?/topic/88696-time-locked-support-conversations-compilation-thread-minor-spoilers/ Looks like I'll have to wait until NG+ to get his support chain. And yeah I realized after posting that Dark Knight doesn't need any Dark Seals. I'm not sure now about un-benching him though. There's only one spot left in my party and it's between him and Jeritza...

Tbh, I did take Hubert's wording ("From the assassins I've eliminated, to the gold I've spent on bribes...to the identity of the one I love.") in that support convo to mean that he was only listing off a few of his secrets and that he later tells Edelgard more that we don't actually get to hear. Which is why I said we don't know the whole story, we only know the small part of it we hear in that support. Oustide of his Edelgard supports, it seems to me that Hubert's just not my flavor of character. His main appeal (pre-timeskip anyway) is his unapolagetic bluntness/not sugar coating his words, which I really don't care for. I can appreciate how others find it charming in a "lovable jerk" kinda way, though. But who knows, maybe his character development post-timeskip will change my opinion of him. I only just hit the timeskip yesterday but already he seems to have warmed up a lot to Byleth and the other Black Eagles. Possibly because he realized just how much Edelgard cares for them all, especially Byleth.

Fair enough. I'll admit I was quick to judge Hubert for what he did, but I guess you're right in that we don't know the whole story (what exactly he was doing behind her back, how much she knew and would've been okay with, how much he was reluctant to do, etc.). And he did after all come clean to her in the end, it's at least safe to assume that his heart was in the right place, even if his decisions were a bit rash. Honestly, I agree with this. The more I think about it, Hubert's not so much a bad person or a bad friend to Edelgard, just a bit tactless. He's a bit of a bad decision maker is all. But for as much as a jerk he is and some of the dumb choices he's made he's still fighting for the right cause (imo) and he's still loyal to Edelgard and cares about his fellow Black Eagles. And his supports with Bernadetta really are sweet in their own way. Thank you everyone for your honest opinions. I still don't particularly like Hubert, but hearing some other people's thoughts has made me appreciate him a little better as a character, even for all his faults.

I'd considered making this topic sooner or later on my first playthrough. Figured I'd ask it now since I just hit the timeskip today and so far I've come across very few reasons to see Hubert as an even remotely likable character. Which is pretty ironic considering how much of an Edelgard fan I am haha From the very beginning I never liked his personality. Crass, zero filter and just plain rude in such a "I don't give a rat's ass about you or your feelings" way. And I certainly didn't care for his selfish, Leonie-esque obsession with Edelgard. Lysithea and Felix at least have a unique charm to them that makes it funny to watch them snark away at everybody (including each other lol) to their heart's content. But Hubert didn't have any of that charm. He was just... Hubert ~_~ So I went online and checked out some of his supports with Byleth, El and Bernadetta since I heard those ones show a bit of his softer side. And while I didn't like his threatening "overprotective dad" speeches towards Byleth at all, his supports with Bernadetta (and his A-support with Byleth) did start to convince me that maybe he's not such a bad guy after all... ...until I saw his A-support with Edelgard, where he flat out admits that he's been sneaking around behind her back for years, doing all sorts of dirty dealings that she'd never approve of. All in the name of her goals, and all while putting up a front of absolute loyalty to her. So in other words, Edelgard's supposed best friend has been betraying her trust for years by going off and needlessly soaking her name in blood, all without her consent, and all the while pretending that he'd never do such a thing. And that for me just completely settled it. Edelgard's my favorite character in FETH. I agree with her cause and I believe that she's in the right (which is all I'm gonna say since I'd rather not have an Edelgard discussion), and now I wonder just how much of her negative reputation is actually because of Hubert. So I guess what I'm wondering is, since Hubert's clearly meant to be an enjoyable character for some (just like all the other students, even though each player has their own favorites and least favorites), what exactly redeems him? I know why I don't like Hubert, but I'd like to hear why others do. Especially after seeing how he warms up to everyone, Byleth included, after the timeskip. Is he really as bad as I've made him out to be?

Gonna have to second this, especially since meals are one of the only ways outside of battle to build support between my non-Byleth couples.