Three Hopes General Discussion Thread

[Fabulously Olivier]

58 minutes ago, ZanaLyrander said:

Yup, they still get both their crests.

And Lysithea's unique support ability is even designed to take advantage of this.

[Shadow Mir]

On 7/13/2022 at 9:46 AM, ZanaLyrander said:

Yup, they still get both their crests.

 

On 7/13/2022 at 10:45 AM, Fabulously Olivier said:

And Lysithea's unique support ability is even designed to take advantage of this.

Okay then. I knew that this was a plot point in 3H as well, so I was naturally curious about this.

Also, several questions:

1. Is there a way to increase the amount of times you can use vulneraries?
2. Is there a way to increase your characters' recovery speed in forts?
3. How expensive is the training instructor? Because I tried a side fight after the prologue, and it was BRUTAL. Which begs the question...
4. Can you replay side fights for the sake of training?

[ZanaLyrander]

2 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

 

Okay then. I knew that this was a plot point in 3H as well, so I was naturally curious about this.

Also, several questions:

1. Is there a way to increase the amount of times you can use vulneraries?
2. Is there a way to increase your characters' recovery speed in forts?
3. How expensive is the training instructor? Because I tried a side fight after the prologue, and it was BRUTAL. Which begs the question...
4. Can you replay side fights for the sake of training?

1. Yes, via the Tactics Instructor
2. There are occasionally strategies you can select before battle that do that, but not permanently.
3. The training instructor is very expensive in terms of leveling people up, though you can upgrade it a couple times to be a little cheaper, it's still expensive though.
4. Yup, the record keeper allows you to replay side missions.

Edited July 14, 2022 by ZanaLyrander

[Shadow Mir]

7 minutes ago, ZanaLyrander said:

4. Yup, the record keeper allows you to replay side missions.

So I don't have to sweat it if I cannot S rank on the first go around, right?

[ZanaLyrander]

Just now, Shadow Mir said:

So I don't have to sweat it if I cannot S rank on the first go around, right?

Correct. If you replay a mission you didn't get an S rank on, and get an S rank, you will get the S rank reward.

[vanguard333]

I played through the Scarlet Blaze route of the demo, and I'm torn on whether or not to get the full game.

I'm glad that the game really is just a harmless what-if story that, from what I've heard, doesn't try to have a golden route or make any of its routes outright better or worse than the routes in Three Houses, and I liked that Scarlet Blaze has Edelgard immediately remove TWSITD from the empire. However, I'm not particularly enthusiastic about playing a what-if narrative after having essentially played four what-if narratives when I played Three Houses. If I get this game, I'd probably only end up playing Scarlet Blaze and maybe Azure Gleam, and playing a game like this only to play one out of three routes does feel like a bit of a waste.

As for the gameplay, I normally dislike combo-based combat and real-time strategy; I'm not really a fan of combos because I prefer combat that's more about making decisions rather than mindlessly pressing buttons in a specific sequence, and I'm not a fan of real-time strategy as I prefer to strategize at my own pace. But the game handles both of these in such a way that I can't really dislike it; the "combos" are just press a certain button a given number of times before pressing the other attack button, and there are also abilities, spells, blocking and dodging which all have at least some usefulness. As for the real-time strategy, I'd be almost hard-pressed to even call it real-time strategy, as, while you react to events in real time, you pause the game to give characters commands, so I do have time to think through what I'm doing. But even then, I'm not sure if I actually like the gameplay or not. I should probably point out at this point that I've never played a Warriors game until now.

Edited July 15, 2022 by vanguard333

[Fabulously Olivier]

4 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

I played through the Scarlet Blaze route of the demo, and I'm torn on whether or not to get the full game.

I'm glad that the game really is just a harmless what-if story that, from what I've heard, doesn't try to have a golden route or make any of its routes outright better or worse than the routes in Three Houses, and I liked that Scarlet Blaze has Edelgard immediately remove TWSITD from the empire. However, I'm not particularly enthusiastic about playing a what-if narrative.

As for the gameplay, I normally dislike combo-based combat and real-time strategy; I'm not really a fan of fan of combos because I prefer combat that's more about making decisions rather than mindlessly pressing buttons in a specific sequence, and I'm not a fan of real-time strategy as I prefer to strategize at my own pace. But the game handles both of these in such a way that I can't really dislike it; the "combos" are just press a certain button a given number of times before pressing the other attack button, and there are also abilities, spells, blocking and dodging which all have at least some usefulness. As for the real-time strategy, I'd be almost hard-pressed to even call it real-time strategy, as, while you react to events in real time, you pause the game to give characters commands, so I do have time to think through what I'm doing. But even then, I'm not sure if I actually like the gameplay or not. I should probably point out at this point that I've never played a Warriors game until now.

The distinction of what-if is meaningless in Three Houses, because that's how it's always been. What if Byleth decided to join the Black Eagles instead of the Blue Lions? What if Byleth sided against the lord of his house rather than with them? Heck, every student you choose to recruit is in a way a what-if alteration to the story of the game. Three Houses was already a what-if game. So how is this different?

[vanguard333]

3 hours ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

The distinction of what-if is meaningless in Three Houses, because that's how it's always been. What if Byleth decided to join the Black Eagles instead of the Blue Lions? What if Byleth sided against the lord of his house rather than with them? Heck, every student you choose to recruit is in a way a what-if alteration to the story of the game. Three Houses was already a what-if game. So how is this different?

Oh; I completely agree that it's almost meaningless in the context of Three Houses; my original statement included that but was a lot longer and I didn't want to have a wall of text. I'm just not sure how enthusiastic I am to play through more of it after going through soon-to-be four routes (I say soon-to-be four as I've only just started Silver Snow) already. My main reasons for going back to play all four routes of Three Houses, besides the sake of completion, is the strategy RPG gameplay and experiencing different maps and characters. Does that make sense?

EDIT: I just changed my original statement to better reflect what I meant.

Edited July 15, 2022 by vanguard333

[Sire]

Just tried the "secret paralogue" that one gets after recruiting the "NG++ character."
-- On Hard, it was a bit of a difficulty spike as it definitely seems to be an endgame challenge map. No wonder I saw the map potentially being the hardest map available when in Maddening difficulty.
-- I did manage to S-Rank it on my second attempt, but I wonder how I'll have to optimize when I get around to trying the Maddening variant. The hardest part is meeting the HP thresholds...

Now, back to juggling Three Hopes with FGO's limited events...

[Seazas]

7 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

Oh; I completely agree that it's almost meaningless in the context of Three Houses; my original statement included that but was a lot longer and I didn't want to have a wall of text. I'm just not sure how enthusiastic I am to play through more of it after going through soon-to-be four routes (I say soon-to-be four as I've only just started Silver Snow) already. My main reasons for going back to play all four routes of Three Houses, besides the sake of completion, is the strategy RPG gameplay and experiencing different maps and characters. Does that make sense?

EDIT: I just changed my original statement to better reflect what I meant.

I mean hey, it may be a what if but it's still enjoyable and different. This time rather than having Byleth be the usual star of the show, we get a fresh new face to define dynamics very differently.

[Jotari]

I was hoping the other named Agarthans outside of the four (or three since Cordelia doesn't even have an Agarthan form and might be one of the generic ones) would get unique designs. Myson at the very least I feel could have a portrait since he's already showed up in multiple chapters in Three Houses.

[Shadow Mir]

On 7/13/2022 at 9:46 AM, ZanaLyrander said:

Yup, they still get both their crests.

 

On 7/13/2022 at 10:45 AM, Fabulously Olivier said:

And Lysithea's unique support ability is even designed to take advantage of this.

I see. I knew that was a detail that was mentioned in 3H, though in Edelgard's case, one of them is only revealed after supporting her. 

Anyways, are there other instances where an enemy commander cannot be staggered by attacks? And is it just me, or do those instances also have them nigh undamageable?

On 7/14/2022 at 1:59 PM, ZanaLyrander said:

1. Yes, via the Tactics Instructor

Is the Tactics instructor someone that comes along later, or are they available immediately after you get into part 1?

Also, how much of a disadvantage must you be at to get "Against All Odds" (which says defeat an enemy general while at a disadvantage)? Because it isn't clear, but it seems that using a weapon type that is bad against the enemy's ain't enough.

[ZanaLyrander]

4 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

Is the Tactics instructor someone that comes along later, or are they available immediately after you get into part 1?

I don't know the answer to most of your questions, but I do know this one. You don't get the tactics instructor for a couple of chapters once part 1 starts, it's one of the last facilities you unlock, but you still get it reasonably early in the campaign.

[Anomalocaris]

59 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

Also, how much of a disadvantage must you be at to get "Against All Odds" (which says defeat an enemy general while at a disadvantage)? Because it isn't clear, but it seems that using a weapon type that is bad against the enemy's ain't enough.

It means being against someone with a super-effective weapon. Like killing an Archer when you're a Pegasus Knight, killing an Armorslayer-equipped Mercenary when you're an Armored Knight, etc.

Edited July 16, 2022 by Anomalocaris

[Aedan7479]

You know, I haven't really seen people talk about:

the lord's support conversations in the secret route. Even if Shez/Arval and Byleth/Sothis are underused there, the way the lords are used is great; we see them all discuss their ideals and methods, and then Dimitri gets to enjoy murdering himself... are we sure he's sane in this timeline?

[Shadow Mir]

19 hours ago, ZanaLyrander said:

I don't know the answer to most of your questions, but I do know this one. You don't get the tactics instructor for a couple of chapters once part 1 starts, it's one of the last facilities you unlock, but you still get it reasonably early in the campaign.

 

18 hours ago, Anomalocaris said:

It means being against someone with a super-effective weapon. Like killing an Archer when you're a Pegasus Knight, killing an Armorslayer-equipped Mercenary when you're an Armored Knight, etc.

Okay, thanks.

Are there are particularly tricky paralogues in this game? And if so, what makes them troublesome?

[Anomalocaris]

12 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

Okay, thanks.

Are there are particularly tricky paralogues in this game? And if so, what makes them troublesome?

I wouldn't call it tricky per se, but Annette's assumes you've built her as an axe fighter rather than a mage, with her side of the map having nothing but lance enemies.

[Etrurian emperor]

The map variety isn't bad per se but its still not ideal. There's a lot of recycled maps even in places where there shouldn't be.

Grondor field for example is the exact same map as Tailtean plains despite both locations arguably being important enough to get their own stage. Tailtean is also the final stage in Golden Wildfire so seeing it be a recycle was kinda disappointing. 

The default fortress map where you save Monica also gets reused a tad too much. Same with the generic town map.

Magdred Way and the encirclement of Ferdinant are obviously the same map

Curiously some other locations seem to be missing.

There's no Rhodos Coast despite it being a fairly unique location, and the city(not the palace) of Enbarr isn't a stage either. 

Edited July 18, 2022 by Etrurian emperor

[ZanaLyrander]

Ugh. While I am supremely grateful to whoever put together the Teachable Combat Arts/Spells page on the wiki, it does confirm some unfortunate things. For example, sorry to Mercedes, Flayn, and anyone else with Essence of Light who doesn't learn Abraxas naturally like Constance, the only person who can teach Abraxas is (Insert Postgame Character Here) who can't reach higher than C rank support with anyone. So you're looking at a 0.4% chance to learn Abraxas at best. Ugh.

Edited July 18, 2022 by ZanaLyrander

[Fabulously Olivier]

2 hours ago, ZanaLyrander said:

Ugh. While I am supremely grateful to whoever put together the Teachable Combat Arts/Spells page on the wiki, it does confirm some unfortunate things. For example, sorry to Mercedes, Flayn, and anyone else with Essence of Light who doesn't learn Abraxas naturally like Constance, the only person who can teach Abraxas is (Insert Postgame Character Here) who can't reach higher than C rank support with anyone. So you're looking at a 0.4% chance to learn Abraxas at best. Ugh.

Wouldn't be the only situation like that.

 

The only person who can teach Lightning Axe that I'm aware of is Dedue, who is route exclusive. Needless to say, I prioritized giving it to Lorenz for his planned transition to GK asap.

[ZanaLyrander]

35 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

Wouldn't be the only situation like that.

 

The only person who can teach Lightning Axe that I'm aware of is Dedue, who is route exclusive. Needless to say, I prioritized giving it to Lorenz for his planned transition to GK asap.

Yeah, it's a pain when a move can only be taught by a single character. It's just especially annoying in Abraxas' case. At least Dedue has some people who he can reach higher than C Support with, so teaching Lightning Axe isn't always going to be a nightmare (though with most characters it's still gonna be a huge pain). But (Insert Postgame Character Here) can't reach B or A rank Support with anyone, so teaching Abraxas is always gonna be a pain in the ass no matter who you're trying to teach it to.

[Etrurian emperor]

The bossfight with Rhea is kinda badly designed in Crimson Flower.

You fight her in a fairly small room which means that her large attack range covers half of that room, and your NPC allies just aren't equipped to deal with that. They all hover around Rhea and get large amounts of damage whenever she does a large scale attack. I got a  game over because Shez just blindly ran into all the attacks until her healing items ran out.

And because the map consist solely of that room you can't order all your allies to go away and just deal with her yourself. Even if you do send them to the other end of the room they just run back, often straight into Rhea's attacks.

 

[Fabulously Olivier]

34 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

The bossfight with Rhea is kinda badly designed in Crimson Flower.

You fight her in a fairly small room which means that her large attack range covers half of that room, and your NPC allies just aren't equipped to deal with that. They all hover around Rhea and get large amounts of damage whenever she does a large scale attack. I got a  game over because Shez just blindly ran into all the attacks until her healing items ran out.

And because the map consist solely of that room you can't order all your allies to go away and just deal with her yourself. Even if you do send them to the other end of the room they just run back, often straight into Rhea's attacks.

 

Yeah, I don't look forward to that one on Maddening. It may be worth it to equip everyone with Monster advantage battalions. And use Hapi to ensure simpler bar breaks.

Edited July 18, 2022 by Fabulously Olivier

[Sire]

Out of curiosity, how does losing characters in Classic Mode actually work?
-- Specifically, does it save the data for when one "re-recruits" them (either by recruiting in a different route or starting a brand new playthrough), or does it reset everything back to their initial "starting state?"
-- I have no intention of testing this myself as I simply restart when a character dies (or simply shift to Casual once my Classic playthroughs are done).

Speaking of Casual Mode, any indicators of a special reward/title screen update for doing Maddening Classic in Three Hopes (through NG+ or NG)? While I currently plan on sticking with Classic for my 2nd round of playthroughs on Maddening, I am tempted to shift to Casual to try out HP Threshold builds and not be caught off-guard by potential "one-shots."
-- I know there are title screen updates for finishing routes, which I noticed after finishing my NG+ playthrough.

[Fabulously Olivier]

26 minutes ago, Sire said:

Out of curiosity, how does losing characters in Classic Mode actually work?
-- Specifically, does it save the data for when one "re-recruits" them (either by recruiting in a different route or starting a brand new playthrough), or does it reset everything back to their initial "starting state?"
-- I have no intention of testing this myself as I simply restart when a character dies (or simply shift to Casual once my Classic playthroughs are done).

Speaking of Casual Mode, any indicators of a special reward/title screen update for doing Maddening Classic in Three Hopes (through NG+ or NG)? While I currently plan on sticking with Classic for my 2nd round of playthroughs on Maddening, I am tempted to shift to Casual to try out HP Threshold builds and not be caught off-guard by potential "one-shots."
-- I know there are title screen updates for finishing routes, which I noticed after finishing my NG+ playthrough.

I haven't let anyone die, but I can't imagine it resetting them to a starting state - we have an Other Units pool specifically to maintain progression across playthroughs.