Let's end this once and for all. (MAJOR SPOILERS)

[Osrio12]

Church Route. Do you think it was needed and if you had any criticisms, how would you improve it. Post your thoughts here. 

Haven't had the time to get to any route besides Blue Lions, but from what I can tell Church is basically GD re contextualized with a different final boss and no showdown at Gronder (Though correct me if I'm wrong but El's route doesn't have a Gronder rematch either). I personally think having the Church is kinda needed assuming you love your BE babies but don't gel with Edelgard's philosophy, but it can definitely be better. So go on folks, get to discussin'! What do you think of the Seteth and Flayn's wacky adventures route and how would you improve it?  

Edited September 16, 2019 by Osrio12

[Icelerate]

I think it was a missed opportunity for a playable Rhea. Imagine Rhea and Seteth being the main characters of this route. The plot would be completely different from GD and the geopolitics would be similar to BE empire route due to Rhea being there to support Dimitri but this time Rhea is the anti-hero unlike in the empire route where Edelgard is the anti-hero. 

[Brave Lance]

I really miss having a central lord figure for Byleth to bounce off of. Seteth tries to fill the role but ultimately it's Byleth that takes center stage, and that just doesn't work with a silent avatar. It offers less engagement than GD in that way and I guess is a little more difficult because you don't have access to a lord. Honestly, it's easy to tell it could of been better, but like Crimson Flower, it was rushed for the sake of not delaying the game further. 

1 hour ago, Icelerate said:

I think it was a missed opportunity for a playable Rhea. Imagine Rhea and Seteth being the main characters of this route. The plot would be completely different from GD and the geopolitics would be similar to BE empire route due to Rhea being there to support Dimitri but this time Rhea is the anti-hero unlike in the empire route where Edelgard is the anti-hero. 

This would definitely help fix it. I do have a radical idea, though:

Make the church route legitimately a church route. Have the black eagles students leave you, and start post-timeskip with only church characters/knights of seiros. Then, like in the other 3 routes, you can recruit them back after killing them. It would offer for some added weight, your choices "really mattering", and more opportunities for the students to have legitimate roles as enemies other than a named generic with a unique portrait.

[CyberNinja]

3 hours ago, Osrio12 said:

Church Route. Do you think it was needed and if you had any criticisms, how would you improve it. Post your thoughts here. 

Haven't had the time to get to any route besides Blue Lions, but from what I can tell Church is basically GD re contextualized with a different final boss and no showdown at Gronder (Though correct me if I'm wrong but El's route doesn't have a Gronder rematch either). I personally think having the Church is kinda needed assuming you love your BE babies but don't gel with Edelgard's philosophy, but it can definitely be better. So go on folks, get to discussin'! What do you think of the Seteth and Flayn's wacky adventures route and how would you improve it?  

You can fix the route by having Golden Deer actually run on some kind of logic. Claude is the leader of the alliance, him leading a resistance group against the empire is an act of war so it makes no sense he didn't just martial his forces against Edelgard in the beginning. It should have been the Golden deer early game actually being fighting other Alliance factions until you unified, then you're strong enough to fight an exhausted empire that's overstretched in Faerghus.

The church route as it stands, actually makes sense. you use subterfuge because you lack the numbers of an actual kingdom, even Claude sieges Enbarr while the knights sneak in as saboteurs and assassins. The knights of Seiros are lacking in numbers but still pack the punch as the other heavy hitters since all their senior leadership are major crest bearing nigh ageless centuries old warriors and sages that also are imbued with a crest stone ala Byleth.

Some people say it doesn't make sense to request secret soldiers form Daphnel and use it as evidence that its more a golden deer route than church route, but again, House Riegen leads the alliance and Daphnel is their major supporter, them having those troops should be a given and Claude fighting is an act of war so the alliance should be mustering all troops and invading conventionally by that point. In the Church route, its mentioned the Hero of Daphnel is devotedly religious like many Alliance lords and Faerghus is effectively eliminated as a faction, getting secret support form her makes sense as Claude doesn't want to engage the empire yet, and openly backing the resistance would be an act of war, but subtly supporting them fits Claude's personality and strategy to a T.

Furthermore the knights of Seiros drop the Seiros banners and take up the Crest of flames, adopting Byleth as their new modern "saint" and christ-like figure. It makes sense that the organization would make this change given the organization as a whole used the Seiros crest under Rhea as a way to play homage to the saint. That Byleth takes her place in this route (becoming essentially god-king unless you S rank her) then this continues the themes present in this route, the changing of the guard. Furthermore, Edelgard's relationship actually make sense in the cutscenes with Byleth, because they actually have a relationship, having Byleth as her teacher turned foe. Furthermore, the role reversal with Byleth as Nemesis taking the role of Seiros and Edelgard the Seiros proxy acting out the part of Nemesis the pawn of TWISTD. Someone did a comparison of Byleth's and Edelgard's fight in the goddess tower and how it mirrors the fight between Nemesis and Seiros.

Point being, the Church route actually has the proper build up for the events and fits better thematically for what happens while the Golden Deer route only offers a slightly differing lore expansion and is basically carried by Claude's Charisma.

[ZeManaphy]

Since Dimitri appears to Byleth in a dream, maybe they could have the confrontation of Cornelia in Fhiridiad, since that confrontation only occurs on Azure Moon. ( Cornelia appears as as enemy under different circumstances in Crimson Flower ). Dimitri could request that they take Fhirdiad, and Byleth could gain support from the Kingdom for the sake of their fight for the empire. In the GD and SS routes, Cornelia simply disbands the Faerghus Dukedom and vanishes. 

But I feel that Silver Snow had a good concept: Fighting against a lord character who turns against you, which is a first in the series; and I honestly feel more like suited for its cutscenes than Verdant Wind, particularly, the death of the flame emperor makes no sense on Golden Deer, since you never taught Edelgard. The one moment that translates well on Golden Deer but not Silver Snow is the infiltration of Fort Merceus. The disguise appears out of nowhere, and the game literally teases the Avatar, bu having the question the plan. 

[Timlugia]

Consider all shared cutscenes, both in game and animated, fits Silver Snow much better, I believe Silver Snow was the original route with GD being reusing resources.

For example Byleth executes Edelgard, while Claude was nowhere to be seen, or that Rhea blocks attacks for Byleth, again without Claude. And all the soldiers in shared scenes were church soldiers in black armor rather than Alliance yellow color.

 

Only problem here is that Silver Snow is one chapter short, missing the three way battles for lore reason, making people accusing it as GD lite.

If they wanted to fix the problem, it's shouldn't be hard. They could either adding one or more chapters after Gronder Field, which makes sense as Seteth told Gustav that it would take "a few" month before Knights were ready for next battle. They could added one chapter on Tailtean Plains against Imperial occupation force to consolidated Kingdom loyalists after death of Dimitri, plus Tailtean Plains is a under used map with only featured once in Crimson Flower. And/Or they could add a few more paralouges in Silver Snow to cover some church history while making the route more unique.

[MiaMain]

I've only played the Church route so far, but I thought it had tons of problems. First off, there was a little too much foreshadowing with Edelgards  supports in part 1.Then in part 2 you are just kind of doing random missions encountering the other lords until you attack Enbarr. You should have fought Edelgard face to face more. If you don't do Petra's side mission, you only see Hubert the once. I don't know why you keep using the Church as a base of operations, and the mission against those who slither in the dark is completely forced and almost random. Rhea was never really exposed either, which was weird considering how bad the things she eluded to doing were. 

 

[CyberNinja]

49 minutes ago, Timlugia said:

Only problem here is that Silver Snow is one chapter short, missing the three way battles for lore reason, making people accusing it as GD lite.

 

You know what they would never do but could have been interesting? Give you control of the two lords and unrecruited GD/BL students and let you play out Gronder from their perspective. Divine Pulse disabled for the map.

38 minutes ago, MiaMain said:

First off, there was a little too much foreshadowing with Edelgards  supports in part 1

Problem with Black Eagles in general.

39 minutes ago, MiaMain said:

You should have fought Edelgard face to face more.

Kinda hurts the "next we meet, one of us will die" though, wouldn't mind encountering Hubert more, maybe have the Agarthan removal mission take place before the finale with Edelgard since Church route has the empire essentially win (GD are routed, BL as well.) but then lose to a surprise attack by the knights. It'd fit to have Hubert/Edelgard use Byleth to remove the last of their foes while they "cleaned up."

42 minutes ago, MiaMain said:

If you don't do Petra's side mission, you only see Hubert the once.

I don't mind more Hubert exposure, but he gets criticized enough for "I can't fall here and must retreat" so this is probably for the best.

43 minutes ago, MiaMain said:

and the mission against those who slither in the dark is completely forced and almost random.

I mean, it's no more random than it was in Gold Deer, at least it fits thematically here, them being the ancient enemy of the church rather than the quirky bad guys to "le upside down man."

 

I'd have dropped Rhea being saved form Enbarr and either had her captured by TWISTD or have her appear after the rest of the chapters have been completed. The inability to find Rhea would have the characters doing the standard "you should take over speech" and then her sudden arrival, the berserking of the Seiros knights, and final battle happens. You'd lose the explanation but it could be adding in elsewhere or given by Rhea after the end cutscene as a more standard cutscene with her on her deathbed, before the Godddess tower S rank cutscene with whomever you chose. Her death wll still be determinant on whether she's S ranked.

[Timlugia]

1 hour ago, CyberNinja said:

You know what they would never do but could have been interesting? Give you control of the two lords and unrecruited GD/BL students and let you play out Gronder from their perspective. Divine Pulse disabled for the map.

This is an interesting concept, like viewing it as a flashback maybe from soldier who gave you the report. A few other paralogue could also use flashback concept

Quote

 Her death wll still be determinant on whether she's S ranked.

I believe Rhea could survive with A support as well, which she will retires to Zanado. (with Catherine if she's unmarried)

Catherine single ending and CatherineXSeteth both have variations between if Rhea survives

[Dandy Druid]

I like the concept of Silver Snow and I get the writers' intentions behind it. However, the execution, while not bad, was just not as satisfying as the other routes. This game only really needed Azure Moon and Crimson Flower to feel complete IMO. Silver Snow adds some information and gives another perspective we don't get in AM or CF, and while it is cool, it ultimately wasn't necessary. Gameplay-wise, Silver Snow is really similar to Verdant Wind, the only difference being Gronder Field and the playable characters. Those two routes are just so similar they really could've been merged into one.

So let's do a hypothetical. What if there were only 2 main classes (Adrestia and Faerghus) and all of the GD students were new Knights of Seiros Officers that had just graduated. (All or nearly all. The young ones like Lysithea and Ignatz could be given to BE and BL respectively.) So instead of picking a class at the beginning, you ask Rhea to become a Knight of Seiros just like your father (which technically makes the most sense IMO). And because of your prowess, she gives you control of some new Knights to train and be a mentor to (the rest of the GD). You still get the Church Route and all of the charms of the GD students while doing this route. 

Tbh, if there were only 3 routes instead of 4, it probably would've given the writers a lot more time to develop more into CF as well as avoided the main issues with Silver Snow: a lack of a "true" main character (since you have Claude) as well as a lack of repetition.

[Crysta]

The idea of Claude being a Knight of Seiros makes me lol.

Raphael, Ignatz and maybe Leonie would fit but otherwise? Eh...

[Timlugia]

Quote

This game only really needed Azure Moon and Crimson Flower to feel complete IMO. Silver Snow adds some information and gives another perspective we don't get in AM or CF, and while it is cool, it ultimately wasn't necessar

There would be too much plothole to even hold up as a story with only AM and CF.

These two route have very little discussion about overall lore or world building, topics like TWSITD, Crests, history of Fodlan, truth behind the church...etc

 

Most importantly, if we only have AM and CF, we will only get to see Edelgard's perspective(misinformation) without any counter arguments since AM doesn't mention it at all. All the "truth" were learnt from either Silver Snow or Verdant Wind.

Edited September 17, 2019 by Timlugia

[LegendOfLoog]

I think it's an issue that results from the choice between the houses coming way too soon. You know next to nothing about the the three Lords when you make the choice, so IS had to throw in the church route for anyone who wasn't down to help conquer Fodlan with Edelgard. As a result, they spread themselves very thin, and each route suffered for it. Silver Snow is the only one that doesn't have a real Lord, so its flaws are probably the most noticeable. This is especially true if you've already played Golden Deer. What IS should have done to set up the choice is this. 

1. Don't immediately make Byleth a professor. Instead, he/she gets inducted into the Knights of Seiros along with Jeralt at the start, which is a much more reasonable place for Rhea to place a mercenary who seems to lack any emotions whatsoever. The first few chapters or so don't have Byleth following any one Lord, but he/she occasionally joins one of them on a mission inbetween typical Knights of Seiros duties. This is also where you would start building up the player's knowledge of each Lord's goals to hopefully make the choice between them more meaningful. 
2. The first year passes, and Rhea now offers Byleth the opportunity to become a professor since they're one professor short for the next year. It should be easy enough to justify since the students can't shut up about how great Byleth is most of the time. This is where the choice from the beginning of the game comes in, and ideally, the player should have enough information by this point to make an educated decision on what they're in for on each route. There's one more option, however. Byleth can decline and continue as a Knight of Seiros which would lead to the Church route. In this version of it, Byleth would not have the Black Eagles students along for the ride. Most of the information about Nabateans and what not would be exclusive to this route instead of shared with Golden Deer. GD would properly center around Claude and his ambitions without being dragged down by the Church's plotline too. The other two routes would be mostly unchanged in function. 

IS should have set up the routes more like the endings in SMT games where you sort of build toward it from the beginning, but the decisive choice is later on in the narrative. Choices don't feel like they matter if you have hardly any idea what you're in for. It would also make it so Silver Snow isn't considered the "bad ending" when picking Edelgard since it wouldn't be connected to her gameplay-wise. 

Edited September 17, 2019 by LegendOfLoog

[Ivan Tridelan]

Here's an idea: What if, after timeskip, during the meeting with Edelgard in the ruins of the monastery, instead of being steadfastly opposed to her, you decide you will not be by her side, but you will be her ally. Namely, you will not wage war against Kingdom and Alliance, but rather you will fight your own war in the shadow of hers, against TWSITD (whom Edelgard intends to get rid of anyways). The KoS join you, and Edelgard releases a humbled, weakened Rhea to you and the lot of you (plus any students who aren't totally on board with Edelgard, and especially Leonie given her desire for revenge against those responsible for Jeralt's death) move around Fodlan in the shadows of the ongoing war, striking against TWS agents such as Cornelia and Arundel. Without your seizing Myrddin Bridge Claude remains stalemated in the Alliance, and Edelgard baits Dmitri into committing to a battle in the western portion of the Kingdom (since non-BL Dmitri WILL commit if he knows Edelgard herself is commanding the enemy troops) and then takes over. In the end, Edelgard and Hubert join you for the final showdown against TWS (possibly including revived Nemesis), Rhea publicly acknowledges her failings and hands the Church over to Byleth, Edelgard gets her reformed, united Fodlan and Claude returns to Almyra like he does almost every ending.

[timon]

It would've been interesting if Rhea became your lord and playable (also giving her supports with non-Byleth people).

Seteth isn't fit for the position and it would also make for a different story from GD.

Wheter it's necessary or not... it's a nice bonus, a 4th path, but it's a bonus a developer should consider if they can deal with 3 paths first... which is not the case looking at the ABSURD rehiteration of maps and the incompleteness of Crimson Flower.

Also I'm convinced that Byleth's origins (which are actually completely explained only in Silver Snow) should be explained in every route, since they're central to the plot and the question is teased A LOT (eg in every conversation with Sothis or Jeralt you're left wondering what the hell you are, don't tease if you can't deliver, game. And no, expecting people to play 4 times isn't delivering).

[Moltz23]

I believe the Church route was a must from the start due to the nature of Edelgard's character, and while the idea of your main lord parting ways with you due to ideological differences is a cool concept, the execution leaves for me a lot to be desired (like others have said before, Silver Snow relies far too much on Golden Deer's content both gameplay and plot wise). And while I like Seteth a lot as a character, he's not what I would call "surprise backup lord" material.

As for improving the route, I like Timlugia's suggestions because it would allow the route to stand out more while also not requiring new resources or many changes. It's obvious by the time the devs they were wrapping up Golden Deer/Church they ran out of time so the choices they had likely were 1. either making those 2 routes share similar assets to make room for CF or 2. flat out remove Crimson Flower to make Silver Snow more unique and the "canon" Black Eagles route, which would've been a fairly controversial move if we take into account how much flack Edelgard's route gets already for not being on par with the others's lenght and production values despite how much the marketing focused on her.

3 minutes ago, Etheus said:

I think that a Church route could have been useful, but not in the base game.

 

Those resources should have been put into making Crimson Flower the better, longer route that it deserved to be.

The issue's that Intelligent Systems has never been on board with finishing games with post-release patches, meaning the chances of getting more content for Crimson Flower or even Church are fairly slim, if outright non-existant sadly.

Edited September 17, 2019 by Moltz23

[Fabulously Olivier]

I think that a Church route could have been useful, but not in the base game.

 

Those resources should have been put into making Crimson Flower the better, longer route that it deserved to be.

 

Silver Snow, on the other hand, should have been a DLC story addition, fleshed out with Rhea as a fully playable lord and Cyril as a Hubert-style retainer. This would of course have entailed him being removed from other routes, but who cares; no one likes Cyril anyway. Alternatively, Gilbert could fill this slot, since he doesn't seem to be recruitable for non-BL players anyway.

Edited September 17, 2019 by Etheus

[Crysta]

I think SS needed to exist for the few players who picked the Black Eagles who may have had a change of heart by the time that choice presented itself. It's one thing to be sympathetic towards Edelgard, it's an entirely different deal to hop onboard with what she's clearly planning. I like the moral quandary, personally. I think it could be kept intact as is, and they could have decided to flesh out the Alliance politics more in VW, like they clearly did with the Blue Lions in White Clouds in spite of Kingdoms being the most standard political system ever in Fire Emblem games.

Probably would have swapped the boss fights, with SS getting Nemesis (fuck yeah rematch) and VW getting Rhea. Claude alludes to his desire to see Rhea gone numerous times. It'd be a better conclusion than just sort of stashing her away for most of the second half, taking her out just to ask her questions, then having her tank some nukes and presumably die offscreen lol... even if it's just another 'dragon goes crazy because we need a last boss fight' situation.

Edited September 17, 2019 by Crysta

[daisy jane]

I honestly don't have a problem with silver snow - though i do agree with people that they did miss out on Rhea being playable.  - it's for what Crysta said - i think theoretically having that moral quandary is so key. I kinda wish that the Nemesis boss was with Silver Snow. (i think it fits better there), and Claude gets Rhea (because hands down that actual twist of what she does to people w/the church....that's something imo that Claude would shut down ASAP).

the BE path though... it's... it's so weird. lol. Like I'm trying to understand why a chunk of people stay w/you (except for Flayn which is understandable). but because Flayn left i think there should have been more of a "i'm really struggling here... i need to leave for a while." for a few people (ie: FERDINAND). 

Edited September 17, 2019 by daisy jane

[DefyingFates]

17 hours ago, CyberNinja said:

Someone did a comparison of Byleth's and Edelgard's fight in the goddess tower and how it mirrors the fight between Nemesis and Seiros. 

Ooh, link please?

Speaking of links, I can't find one but I remember someone saying that at first only the two BE routes were planned with Koei Tecmo's added manpower letting them add AM and VW. It was from a Dualshocker article apparently, has anyone seen anything like this before?

Assuming that's true, it confirms what a number of you have said about the events of VW/ SS fitting the latter better (especially Edelgard's death) - because they were made for SS. So it's funny that so many assume the opposite is true. Same goes for the final bosses of each route: if you think about it, Nemesis being in cryosleep is a lot weirder than Rhea's injuries getting the better of her too - though in this case Nemesis' return is handled much better so feels like it makes more sense.

More on topic, despite the near-identical progression I like both VW and SS' plots. A bit of variance would have been appreciated though, but as mentioned before it probably makes more sense to ask that of VW instead. Maybe a return to the Tailtean Plains as @Timlugia suggested?

1 hour ago, Crysta said:

with SS getting Nemesis (fuck yeah rematch)

When you put it like that...yeah, that does sound nice. I think Rhea is initially too powerful to join your side though, then too weak to join your side after getting captured. Of course, you could say that she isn't as beat up in the SS route to justify her joining your side there, but that would just create the plothole of why she isn't treated exactly the same in VW too.

[Timlugia]

22 minutes ago, DefyingFates said:

Assuming that's true, it confirms what a number of you have said about the events of VW/ SS fitting the latter better (especially Edelgard's death) - because they were made for SS. So it's funny that so many assume the opposite is true. Same goes for the final bosses of each route: if you think about it, Nemesis being in cryosleep is a lot weirder than Rhea's injuries getting the better of her too - though in this case Nemesis' return is handled much better so feels like it makes more sense.

 

That's probably because VW got one more level Gronder Field, which is also a recycle from AM than SS, but people used it argue VW was the "better" route.

It's why I argued SS could get one unique level or a few paralouge so it's more different.

Also I really have some problem with Gronder Field, like why I have to engage Blue Lion/Golden Deer even after I defeated Edelgard? Why can't my lord orders a retreat to avoid killing other classmates?

Quote

I think Rhea is initially too powerful to join your side though, then too weak to join your side after getting captured.

Gameplay wise, Rhea actually first showed up as an unit level 10 during Ashe paralogue, which is lagging behind compared to your class. So it's not too bad in terms of balance. And funny how she said she would fight besides you in Shambhla but never appears.

Edited September 17, 2019 by Timlugia

[timon]

1 hour ago, daisy jane said:

the BE path though... it's... it's so weird. lol. Like I'm trying to understand why a chunk of people stay w/you (except for Flayn which is understandable). but because Flayn left i think there should have been more of a "i'm really struggling here... i need to leave for a while." for a few people (ie: FERDINAND). 

my god why is this argument still running around.

You can justify literally everyone in every route, and I mean literally. Hell, even the one that can't actually happen, even Seteth has some reasons to join CF.

As for Ferdinand, he straight up tells you why he's there and why he's convinced. He knows his father wasn't a good man, and he admires Edelgard and takes pride in his role, therefore he decides to stick with her to be her advisor and make up for his father's missdoings. If you ask me it's even a better reasoning than going against her just because he's supposed to hate her (which is not the case if you read the supports) and she took his father's power (which Ferdie knows he uses wrongly).

Edited September 17, 2019 by timon

[DefyingFates]

11 minutes ago, Timlugia said:

Gameplay wise, Rhea actually first showed up as an unit level 10 during Ashe paralogue

I forgot about that, but in-universe I think (especially after outing herself as The Immaculate One at the Battle of Garreg Mach) she would just transform at the first sign of trouble and trivialise any conflict she was a part of (or at least call in her giant machines as she does in CF) so I still think she'd be too powerful to have with you. Part of the reason I'm hoping for prequel DLC is that she'd be weak enough (and lack "Rhea's" resources) to be playable.

@daisy jane: Have you talked to everyone in the temporary barracks before SS Chapter 12? Everyone there gives you their reason for staying with Edelgard. Even the deeply religious ones (Mercedes and Marianne) tell you that while they still believe in the Goddess they don't like what Rhea's doing with the faith.

Edited September 17, 2019 by DefyingFates

[Osrio12]

5 hours ago, timon said:

It would've been interesting if Rhea became your lord and playable (also giving her supports with non-Byleth people).

Seteth isn't fit for the position and it would also make for a different story from GD.

I actually REALLY like this idea. Have Rhea join a bit later on, maybe four chapters into SS and have Seteth be her retainer. Personally I've really warmed up to Mr. Green Hair Axe man, but I agree that he alone really can't support a route as lord alone. 

Also nice to see so many suggestions about possible tweaks to the SS route! Hopefully I can provide some of my own when I beat it. 

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

13 hours ago, LegendOfLoog said:

 

1. Don't immediately make Byleth a professor. Instead, he/she gets inducted into the Knights of Seiros along with Jeralt at the start, which is a much more reasonable place for Rhea to place a mercenary who seems to lack any emotions whatsoever. The first few chapters or so don't have Byleth following any one Lord, but he/she occasionally joins one of them on a mission inbetween typical Knights of Seiros duties. This is also where you would start building up the player's knowledge of each Lord's goals to hopefully make the choice between them more meaningful. 
2. The first year passes, and Rhea now offers Byleth the opportunity to become a professor since they're one professor short for the next year. It should be easy enough to justify since the students can't shut up about how great Byleth is most of the time. This is where the choice from the beginning of the game comes in, and ideally, the player should have enough information by this point to make an educated decision on what they're in for on each route. There's one more option, however. Byleth can decline and continue as a Knight of Seiros which would lead to the Church route. In this version of it, Byleth would not have the Black Eagles students along for the ride. Most of the information about Nabateans and what not would be exclusive to this route instead of shared with Golden Deer. GD would properly center around Claude and his ambitions without being dragged down by the Church's plotline too. The other two routes would be mostly unchanged in function. 

I like this framework, but my concern is that Byleth's relationship with the main Lord impacts their (the Lord's) decisions during and after the timeskip, and makes their reunion that much more significant. What if instead of a full year, Jeralt and Byleth get conscripted I MEAN voluntarily join the Knights of Seiros over a sort of (3-month) "summer break"? You get three months to go into maps with Jeralt, take lessons from Catherine, have Seteth scrutinize you, etc. before the "school year" (actually 9-months) starts and you get to choose a house to lead (or to stay with the Knights). This way, getting appointed a teacher becomes believable, you get to bond with your house members, and the "school phase" stays the same length as in the original game. Thoughts?