Discussion Piece: Fire Emblem Three Houses (Spoilers Ahead)
I should preface this by saying this is more me
talking about a game than a rigid essay or have a real structure to it like any
past writing of mine.
It’s been a long time coming I was over the moon when Fire Emblem came through my post box on Friday July 26th, I had waited a long time for this game to come and I wasn’t disappointed, all Fire Emblem games I’ve played I have enjoyed mainly for the characters in them, I looked up the houses beforehand and decided to select The Black Eagles as I see online I was in the majority, again as ever characters are the strength of a Fire Emblem game, seeing the evolution of them all is great to see, I love the quirks and personality of each character in that house that all feel different makes speaking to each one different and enjoyable. The addition of a full voice cast helps to sell this more then other games.
However, as I do on a first play through for Fire Emblem I recklessly charge ahead through the story keeping with at least the main core, foolish most likely I only ended up recruiting all the teachers and Lysithea of the Golden Deer class. Most by accident but I kept them. My issues are not really caring for the recruitment system I should look at that when it comes to a new playthrough guess I’m just use to the games giving you new characters like handouts not having to work hard for them.
I have to be honest part 2 left me disheartened, it features after picking a side (I stuck with the Black Eagles to rebel against the church, all hail The Flame Emperor) that after which I spent most of the game killing though the other students in a quest to unite the world. At first I thought it’d be like Fates and the Revelation path where you beat them in battle afterwards they join up with you. No they straight up die except a few you can spare and for me Lysithea who I was able to give the chance to join (I don’t remember interacting with her once), maybe it’s because I like the characters and don’t play for the strategy but I wish for the path where you can recruit everyone. Between improving character weapon handling, quests, paralogues, building up support ranks, professor level, lost items there isn’t enough time to do this and recruit characters as well I’m only human I can’t do it all, that’s what I liked about the other games I played (Awakening and Fates) was the paralogues didn’t take up in game time, you could do as many side quests and not a day would go by, it was simple to level up character which I feel this game was missing. If the game has a Phoenix mode that’s eliminate the need for half of this I wouldn’t have to worry and could spend more time recruiting characters, I was gutted when I had to kill Leonie, she spoke so much of learning from someone who trained under Jeralt, I just couldn’t get around to the recruitment of her and it annoyed me, there was a lot of interesting story to see and I just wasn’t able to. I felt in a sense there was too much to do the game needed to let time pause for side quests to let me do them and everything else in the school, maybe on a second playthrough I’ll have a guide handy for all lost items as a help the recruit as many others as I can. One of those two things would help so much with my enjoyment of this game. I’d love for there to be a new mode to allow this another story branch where all the main characters live, I had the same issue killing off main character in Fates and the Birthright path, I hated to see Camilla and the rest of the Nohr family die (also Kaze, that one hit really hard). This game has strengths but that holds me back from fully appreciating it. Failing that the chance to do stuff every calendar day even just exploring would help a lot and give chance to experience the full game.
I feel like I’ve been negative here a bit and don’t want to, my own shortcomings this playthrough have hurt this. So I want to finish off talking about all of the Black Eagles at the start of the game and why I like each individual one. What I feel speaking to them and their interactions with others.
Edelgard - kind leader, there’s a presence to the character as a leader but she doesn’t lack any humanity with it. It’s clear a lot of her peers look to her for support and it isn’t that she is always great with advice, she struggles with the weight of it all sometimes. Plus the red, black and white colour scheme I really like (those are my top three colours). The reveal of the flame emperor being her was really good as well, it showed her conviction to see what she felt was right through, it swayed me into choosing to side with her.
Hubert - arguably the most intimidating figure in the game with a one track mind to protect Edelgard. Was worried he’d end up killing Byleth in his sleep. Once you side with him he shows how ruthless he is. A cold character needed in the see of colourful warm characters the rest of the class is, it makes the interactions with him more interesting because of how different he is here.
Dorothea a.k.a best girl - really likes her story, her deep care for all and wanting the war to end I liked. She has pet names for most characters which is fun as none of the others don’t do this, her backstory sets her apart not being a noble and it’s nice to see how much see cares for all of her friends. Her not being of any nobility allows the character to have a different look on what is happening to the other characters which is a nice change of pace.
Ferdinand - his and Edelgard interactions make his character, with how his father is seen to her family by the actions he took, the rivalry between the two lifts him to being more interesting to me, without it he has nothing, on his own I really didn’t care for him but his interactions here make him more memorable.
Bernadetta - The only character in the game that doesn’t like leaving her room, the introvert of the Black Eagles. It was nice to see a character with these traits. It is a simple evolution to see her out of her room and talking to others as the game goes on. I found her really important to my strategy she was good as my main Archer.
Petra - I really like Petra and her dialogue choices, the way she cannot gasp the language. In a sense she reminds me of Starfire from Teen Titans (another character I like). Her turn of phrase makes her unique, her interactions with others always make me laugh. I liked how she was from a different place to the others give her a different look on it all from others. One of my favourite characters in the game.
Caspar - He doesn't have a lot to him in all honesty while headstrong and confident. I have to admit I don't have a lot to say on him he is the weakest character to me.
Lingardt - If I ever had a dream for my school days it would've been to sleep through but still be useful in the end, him being lazy and tired not wanting to do much is a trait I can relate to. It's all he really has but it is more then Caspar so that's something for him.
In conclusion, while I have my drawbacks to this game I am happy to play this game again, this time I'll spend more time trying to recruit characters. This time the war will be different.
It’s been a long time coming I was over the moon when Fire Emblem came through my post box on Friday July 26th, I had waited a long time for this game to come and I wasn’t disappointed, all Fire Emblem games I’ve played I have enjoyed mainly for the characters in them, I looked up the houses beforehand and decided to select The Black Eagles as I see online I was in the majority, again as ever characters are the strength of a Fire Emblem game, seeing the evolution of them all is great to see, I love the quirks and personality of each character in that house that all feel different makes speaking to each one different and enjoyable. The addition of a full voice cast helps to sell this more then other games.
However, as I do on a first play through for Fire Emblem I recklessly charge ahead through the story keeping with at least the main core, foolish most likely I only ended up recruiting all the teachers and Lysithea of the Golden Deer class. Most by accident but I kept them. My issues are not really caring for the recruitment system I should look at that when it comes to a new playthrough guess I’m just use to the games giving you new characters like handouts not having to work hard for them.
I have to be honest part 2 left me disheartened, it features after picking a side (I stuck with the Black Eagles to rebel against the church, all hail The Flame Emperor) that after which I spent most of the game killing though the other students in a quest to unite the world. At first I thought it’d be like Fates and the Revelation path where you beat them in battle afterwards they join up with you. No they straight up die except a few you can spare and for me Lysithea who I was able to give the chance to join (I don’t remember interacting with her once), maybe it’s because I like the characters and don’t play for the strategy but I wish for the path where you can recruit everyone. Between improving character weapon handling, quests, paralogues, building up support ranks, professor level, lost items there isn’t enough time to do this and recruit characters as well I’m only human I can’t do it all, that’s what I liked about the other games I played (Awakening and Fates) was the paralogues didn’t take up in game time, you could do as many side quests and not a day would go by, it was simple to level up character which I feel this game was missing. If the game has a Phoenix mode that’s eliminate the need for half of this I wouldn’t have to worry and could spend more time recruiting characters, I was gutted when I had to kill Leonie, she spoke so much of learning from someone who trained under Jeralt, I just couldn’t get around to the recruitment of her and it annoyed me, there was a lot of interesting story to see and I just wasn’t able to. I felt in a sense there was too much to do the game needed to let time pause for side quests to let me do them and everything else in the school, maybe on a second playthrough I’ll have a guide handy for all lost items as a help the recruit as many others as I can. One of those two things would help so much with my enjoyment of this game. I’d love for there to be a new mode to allow this another story branch where all the main characters live, I had the same issue killing off main character in Fates and the Birthright path, I hated to see Camilla and the rest of the Nohr family die (also Kaze, that one hit really hard). This game has strengths but that holds me back from fully appreciating it. Failing that the chance to do stuff every calendar day even just exploring would help a lot and give chance to experience the full game.
I feel like I’ve been negative here a bit and don’t want to, my own shortcomings this playthrough have hurt this. So I want to finish off talking about all of the Black Eagles at the start of the game and why I like each individual one. What I feel speaking to them and their interactions with others.
Edelgard - kind leader, there’s a presence to the character as a leader but she doesn’t lack any humanity with it. It’s clear a lot of her peers look to her for support and it isn’t that she is always great with advice, she struggles with the weight of it all sometimes. Plus the red, black and white colour scheme I really like (those are my top three colours). The reveal of the flame emperor being her was really good as well, it showed her conviction to see what she felt was right through, it swayed me into choosing to side with her.
Hubert - arguably the most intimidating figure in the game with a one track mind to protect Edelgard. Was worried he’d end up killing Byleth in his sleep. Once you side with him he shows how ruthless he is. A cold character needed in the see of colourful warm characters the rest of the class is, it makes the interactions with him more interesting because of how different he is here.
Dorothea a.k.a best girl - really likes her story, her deep care for all and wanting the war to end I liked. She has pet names for most characters which is fun as none of the others don’t do this, her backstory sets her apart not being a noble and it’s nice to see how much see cares for all of her friends. Her not being of any nobility allows the character to have a different look on what is happening to the other characters which is a nice change of pace.
Ferdinand - his and Edelgard interactions make his character, with how his father is seen to her family by the actions he took, the rivalry between the two lifts him to being more interesting to me, without it he has nothing, on his own I really didn’t care for him but his interactions here make him more memorable.
Bernadetta - The only character in the game that doesn’t like leaving her room, the introvert of the Black Eagles. It was nice to see a character with these traits. It is a simple evolution to see her out of her room and talking to others as the game goes on. I found her really important to my strategy she was good as my main Archer.
Petra - I really like Petra and her dialogue choices, the way she cannot gasp the language. In a sense she reminds me of Starfire from Teen Titans (another character I like). Her turn of phrase makes her unique, her interactions with others always make me laugh. I liked how she was from a different place to the others give her a different look on it all from others. One of my favourite characters in the game.
Caspar - He doesn't have a lot to him in all honesty while headstrong and confident. I have to admit I don't have a lot to say on him he is the weakest character to me.
Lingardt - If I ever had a dream for my school days it would've been to sleep through but still be useful in the end, him being lazy and tired not wanting to do much is a trait I can relate to. It's all he really has but it is more then Caspar so that's something for him.
In conclusion, while I have my drawbacks to this game I am happy to play this game again, this time I'll spend more time trying to recruit characters. This time the war will be different.
I feel I should add a second part to this.
ReplyDeleteSecond playthrough I found it much easier levelling up characters and recruiting others. By spending less time pointlessly exploring I focused on getting the best conversation responses and lost items the first week and the second week questing but not one's that expended energy in order to fully level up my characters.
While I still would like a story mode where you can get all of the house leaders at once or just Death Knight but the second run has made me really appreciate this game more