Three Hopes General Discussion Thread

[ZanaLyrander]

There's something I've noticed about the combat arts in this game that bugs me: the little icons seem to lie a fair bit. Like, Shattered Sky, the unique combat art tied to the Lance of Ruin, has the icon that says enemies can't guard. But either I don't actually know what that means, or that's a lie, because I've seen enemies guard and take no damage from that combat art numerous times while playing as Sylvain.

[Archeleon]

29 minutes ago, ZanaLyrander said:

There's something I've noticed about the combat arts in this game that bugs me: the little icons seem to lie a fair bit. Like, Shattered Sky, the unique combat art tied to the Lance of Ruin, has the icon that says enemies can't guard. But either I don't actually know what that means, or that's a lie, because I've seen enemies guard and take no damage from that combat art numerous times while playing as Sylvain.

There is:

Guard Break - Breaks the enemy guard but the attack doesn't do damage. This one is the worst of the bunch as it doesn't take long for enemies to guard again and you are often animation-locked after using the CA.

Cannot Guard - Breaks through guard and does damage. Best one in theory.

Guard Pierce - Does not break guard but does a portion of damage. Good but you may still need to contend with a guarding enemy.

 

I don't have access to LoR to test but if you want to see what Cannot Guard looks like test out Rushing Blow (Gauntlets) in Mock Battle.

[ZanaLyrander]

1 hour ago, Archeleon said:

There is:

Guard Break - Breaks the enemy guard but the attack doesn't do damage. This one is the worst of the bunch as it doesn't take long for enemies to guard again and you are often animation-locked after using the CA.

Cannot Guard - Breaks through guard and does damage. Best one in theory.

Guard Pierce - Does not break guard but does a portion of damage. Good but you may still need to contend with a guarding enemy.

 

I don't have access to LoR to test but if you want to see what Cannot Guard looks like test out Rushing Blow (Gauntlets) in Mock Battle.

Yeah, Shattered Sky in theory has Cannot Guard. But either it's a bit glitchy, or in practice it does not have that attribute, because I've seen multiple enemies block the whole thing and take no damage.

On the subject of combat arts, I can't help but be kinda annoyed by Swift Slice. Don't get me wrong, it's crazy powerful. It's effective against all unit types, does heavy damage in a good AoE, and factors in Shez's ludicrously high speed. And that's not even mentioning how cool it looks. And yet it still doesn't feel strong enough to justify its absurdly long cooldown and high durability cost, especially when I feel like I can get similar or frequently better results out of one of Shez's ridiculously strong dark magic spells like Dark Spikes.

Edited July 28, 2022 by ZanaLyrander

[Sire]

Finally got to the divergence point (Kill Byleth) of my 2nd Golden Deer run.

Spoiler

Definitely enjoying the start of this divergence. It shows the consequences of Claude's scheme at Ailell due to Judith's death.
-- Also, we get to see more of Sothis, who suddenly becomes nonexistent after Byleth gets recruited.
-- Some of the voiced cutscenes have minor alterations, with some new scenes being specific to this path, which is nice.
-- There's even some changes in some of the camp dialogue, which is nice too.

... and I took a small break writing this post to get a little further, but then Arval's Paralogue kicked my butt despite minor preparations (getting F!Arval to Gremory). Even though I dropped down to Hard difficulty, Cichol got angry that I beat up Cethleann and removed like 75% of my HP in one shot, killing Arval. // Oh well, I wasn't on track to S-Rank anyway due to the damage taken and its a solo paralogue...
-- It doesn't help it uses "Bonus Unit Arval" which is difficult to train as Arval doesn't have access to the Training Grounds or is usable in campaign playthroughs. I get why there's the restrictions due to story reasons, but gameplay wise it would help immensely in raising the bonus units. The fact I have to grind their class masteries manually makes me not really want to control those bonus characters...
=== Also, raising characters who focus on MAG in STR classes sucks, since there are so many more STR classes than MAG classes. Sure, some of them may be able to cast magic or have combat arts that use MAG, but the default attacks still use STR and will hit like a wet noodle without using proper equipment for MAG conversion.

 

[Jotari]

Wow. They really made Baron Dominic the main boss of a chapter that had both Gustav and Annette...yet still refused to give him a face or even a name. It must be some kind of a joke. He's actually a rather likable character!

[Metal Flash]

I seriously don`t get why they could not give him at least a name.

Edited July 31, 2022 by Metal Flash

[Dark Holy Elf]

They even gave his son a name! (Possible DLC character?)

I feel like it wouldn't have cost that much to give a few more characters unique faces. Baron Dominic is definitely very high on that list. Count Rowe for another.

[ZanaLyrander]

1 minute ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

They even gave his son a name! (Possible DLC character?)

I feel like it wouldn't have cost that much to give a few more characters unique faces. Baron Dominic is definitely very high on that list. Count Rowe for another.

It really is weird that they gave his son a name, but not him, when his son doesn't even show up (aside from a possible cameo in the SB route as one of the NPCs in a survey spot?), while Baron Dominic himself is a somewhat important player in the story.

[Namero]

Does anybody know the exact details as to how to recruit Gatekeeper? I keep reading that you get him on your second or third play of the game using new game +, but I'm currently on my 5th play through and still see no way of recruiting him.

[Shadow Mir]

are stat growths in this game fixed?

[ZanaLyrander]

32 minutes ago, Namero said:

Does anybody know the exact details as to how to recruit Gatekeeper? I keep reading that you get him on your second or third play of the game using new game +, but I'm currently on my 5th play through and still see no way of recruiting him.

Have you done every route? You usually get him on your third route.

11 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

are stat growths in this game fixed?

Yes and no. Character stat growths are apparently fixed, class stat growths are randomized like in Three Houses.

[Etrurian emperor]

14 hours ago, Jotari said:

Wow. They really made Baron Dominic the main boss of a chapter that had both Gustav and Annette...yet still refused to give him a face or even a name. It must be some kind of a joke. He's actually a rather likable character!

Its kind of a typical Koei thing where non playable but lore important characters tend to be portrayed by Generics. Everything from generals, to clan heads to Emperors. If they're not playable then they're going to be depicted by a generic officer. 

But I rather like him too. He's charming in that he's a clearly good man who's hand tends to be forced into doing what he doesn't want.

[Sire]

1 hour ago, Namero said:

Does anybody know the exact details as to how to recruit Gatekeeper? I keep reading that you get him on your second or third play of the game using new game +, but I'm currently on my 5th play through and still see no way of recruiting him.

You should get him on your 3rd playthrough if you play through each route once.
-- So, if you finish the Black Eagle campaign and then Blue Lions, and afterwards play the Golden Deer as the 3rd route, Gatekeeper should automatically join at Chapter 5.
-- However, if you are replaying the same route over again (such as once on Hard and then again on Maddening), I don't think it counts. I believe the requirements are to finish two of the main routes, and then on your third Gatekeeper is automatically recruited when he appears at the base camp (CH4 for Scarlet Blaze, CH5 for Azure Gleam and Golden Wildfire).

However, this is using NG+ chaining, meaning you play one route at a time and using the same "save file."
-- If you make three separate saves for each route (such as playing them all at the same time), even if you finish each playthrough, I'm not sure if this counts for NG+ purposes.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Its kind of a typical Koei thing where non playable but lore important characters tend to be portrayed by Generics. Everything from generals, to clan heads to Emperors. If they're not playable then they're going to be depicted by a generic officer. 

But I rather like him too. He's charming in that he's a clearly good man who's hand tends to be forced into doing what he doesn't want.

Kind of makes me pine for the days when everyone looked shared a portrait palette swap. At least those designs weren't intentionally made to look generic.

Baron Dominic of all the unfaced characters was unique positioned to become a real characters as they could just have him take off his generic helmet in a cutscenes

Myson is another one I feel they should have given a proper face to. He's actually one of the most noteworthy Agarthans, showing up a lot in both games.  I think they might have actually made him more generic in Three Hopes as, while not seen in his portrait in Three Houses, his model as noteably as unnaturally white skin almost like he's wearing a mask and gloves.

[ZanaLyrander]

I admit, I'm kinda bummed we don't get to see Cleobulus' true form, especially given the bombshell that he's actually male. I mean damn, we knew the Agarthians could magically disguise themselves, but Thales, Solon, and Kronya at least had similar builds to their disguised forms. Cleobulus' disguise is, uh, quite impressive.

Edited August 1, 2022 by ZanaLyrander

[Fabulously Olivier]

3 hours ago, ZanaLyrander said:

I admit, I'm kinda bummed we don't get to see Cleobulus' true form, especially given the bombshell that he's actually male. I mean damn, we knew the Agarthians could magically disguise themselves, but Thales, Solon, and Kronya at least had similar builds to their disguised forms. Cleobulus' disguise is, uh, quite impressive.

In some ways, it's disappointing. In others, perhaps its for the best that the series doesn't bring attention to a possibly transgender character being a major antagonist of their game.

 

Actually, that's an interesting question. Does Cleobulus count as transgender? While Agarthan transformations are utilitarian, there's no indication that they dislike the identity they have taken other than the inherent frailty of humans. Presumably Kronya could have possibly volunteered for the role, unless the others consider her too stupid to play that part (unlikely given how stupid they also are!)

[ZanaLyrander]

1 minute ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

In some ways, it's disappointing. In others, perhaps its for the best that the series doesn't bring attention to a possibly transgender character being a major antagonist of their game.

 

Actually, that's an interesting question. Does Cleobulus count as transgender? While Agarthan transformations are utilitarian, there's no indication that they dislike the identity they have taken other than the inherent frailty of humans. Presumably Kronya could have possibly volunteered for the role, unless the others consider her too stupid to play that part (unlikely given how stupid they also are!)

I don't think there's enough information to go on to determine if Cleobulus is transgender honestly (though I kinda hope he's not, given that yeah, having the one and only transgender character in the game be a remorseless, sadistic monster would be unfortunate). All we really know is that Cleobulus is in disguise as a female individual, and that Thales refers to him by male pronouns. But Thales being who he is, we have no real way of knowing whether or not Cleobulus would take offense to being referred to as such, since Thales and Cleobulus never interact directly. So it's anyone's guess really.

[Shadow Mir]

20 hours ago, ZanaLyrander said:

Yes and no. Character stat growths are apparently fixed, class stat growths are randomized like in Three Houses.

Hmmm...is there any way to tell exactly what is which then? Also, what purpose does resetting levels serve?

[ZanaLyrander]

2 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

Hmmm...is there any way to tell exactly what is which then? Also, what purpose does resetting levels serve?

Resetting levels allows you to level up again in another class, and hopefully get better stat increases from that class. Your character stat growths will be the same, but you still might end up with fairly different stats. Honestly, I don't use the resetting levels feature, it's easier to just farm stat growth items through repeated NG+ runs.

[Anomalocaris]

I assumed Cleobulus isn't transgender, he just doesn't mind taking on a female form for the Agarthan's purposes. Gender's probably not a huge deal since they see their stolen bodies as mere disguises anyway, though Cleobulus does seem more hedonistic and self-interested than the other Agarthans.

It's worth noting that Thales only uses masculine pronouns to refer to Cleobulus in the localization; the original Japanese is gender-neutral. It could be the translation overstepping and making an assumption, but 8-4 is usually pretty good at not doing that, and were careful when it came to Shez, Byleth, and Arval's genders, so I have to wonder if they're privy to secret developer lorebook knowledge we aren't.

[Archeleon]

I think it was more a matter that Cornelia was the most convenient target in the Kingdom and that Cleobulus was the right person for the job. As mentioned by others, I don't think the Agarthans would let their plans be compromised by something as trivial as genders.

[ZanaLyrander]

1 minute ago, Archeleon said:

I think it was more a matter that Cornelia was the most convenient target in the Kingdom and that Cleobulus was the right person for the job. As mentioned by others, I don't think the Agarthans would let their plans be compromised by something as trivial as genders.

The right person for the job does seem an odd way of putting it considering they assigned an unrepentant sadist to play the role of a literal saint, but I get what you mean all the same. I don't know whether to be impressed by Cleobulus' acting talent that he managed to keep the act up as long as he did, or really, really disappointed in everyone in the Kingdom for not noticing the difference.

[Archeleon]

7 minutes ago, ZanaLyrander said:

The right person for the job does seem an odd way of putting it considering they assigned an unrepentant sadist to play the role of a literal saint, but I get what you mean all the same. I don't know whether to be impressed by Cleobulus' acting talent that he managed to keep the act up as long as he did, or really, really disappointed in everyone in the Kingdom for not noticing the difference.

People in the Kingdom aren't very bright.

[ZanaLyrander]

Just now, Archeleon said:

People in the Kingdom aren't very bright.

Man, I know she's almost certainly extremely dead at this point, but while I enjoyed getting to see the real Monica, the one I really wanna see is the real Cornelia. Woman who stopped a plague on her own and basically turned down any sort of reward other than asking the king to save her friend from the Empire. Like shit there's some interesting stuff going on there that we get almost no details about, and she sounds like a fascinating and wonderful person, and then the slithering assholes murdered her and replaced her with a massively sadistic asshole because Fodlan is not allowed to have nice things

[Anomalocaris]

45 minutes ago, Archeleon said:

People in the Kingdom aren't very bright.

In fairness, up until Tomas's fancy lightshow, the people of Fodlan would have absolutely no reason to believe shapeshifters are even a thing, let alone that Cornelia was replaced by one.

Now, the Blue Lions continuing to wonder "Hmm, I wonder why Cornelia's personality changed?" long after they've not only learned that the Agarthans can shapeshift but also that Cornelia is allied with them, that's about as bright as pitch.