Fire Emblem: Three Houses impressions
Aug 19, 2019 10:57:30 GMT
Cervantes, stratogustav, and 1 more like this
Post by Imperial Khador on Aug 19, 2019 10:57:30 GMT
This is not a review. I intend to play through all the story paths in Three House, so it will be a long time before I consider it finished. However, I do have some thoughts, and since some of you are on my Switch friends list….and almost everyone on that friends list is playing Three Houses, I’m guessing others might want to discuss it a bit 😊
The School
I was leery of the school aspect when Three Houses was being promoted. It works in some games, but I’ve found that when added to existing games (Valkyria Chronicles 2 for example), it comes across as gimmicky, or just an excuse to use a set of standard high school anime clichés.
I think that the problems are mostly avoided in Three Houses. The nature of the school/monastery means that you get to meet and develop relationships with both characters who will be with you for the entire game, and potential adversaries.
You know this is Fire Emblem, so war will be breaking out, but you get a chance to see where everyone is coming from, and develop bonds. It helps you keep in mind that people will be drawn into conflict not necessarily because of simple good and evil, but because of incompatible world views and goals that they hold up to be more important than their personal connections.
It makes it all the more tragic when you have to face former friends, and although I haven’t completed my playthrough, it gives me hope that the connections made at the monastery might bring characters together at the end. Fire Emblem games often feature an unseen adversary, manipulating things from the shadows, so seeing enemies recover old relationships at the end of war in order to face a greater adversary could be a powerful way to take the end chapters of this game.
The monastery itself could also be considered a character. I enjoy wandering the corridors and seeing what NPCs are up to, what the gate guard says, etc.
I also like that the school environment gives you non-combat opportunities for characters to develop relationships. I haven’t felt the need to play maps over and over with characters standing beside each other for battle after battle until they have something to say. If I really want to see two characters interact, I can invite them both for a meal, etc.
Base mechanics had been experimented with for a while, through Awakening, and then Fates, but the monastery is my favourite so far (and isn’t required to be something out there, like Fates extra-dimensional dragon refuge).
Time Management
Going along with the school, is the time management system, with main story missions taking place and the end of the month, and needing to balance training, personal relationships, lesson plans, etc.
Other JRPGs have used this in recent years, notably Persona 3, 4, and 5. It isn’t quite as detailed in Three Houses, as you usually only decide what to do once per week, and special events like birthdays, but it gives a nice sense of time passing.
Aside from time skips, such as in Awakening, Fire Emblem has not been great at conveying a sense of time. Unless the story calls for some snow, the continents always seem wrapped in eternal summer, and it is hard to gauge how many months or years one of these ware takes.
Spoiler for part 2
The Protagonist
The Blazing Blade on the GBA (localized as Fire Emblem), the first game in the series brought to the West, introduced the Tactician as the player’s POV. Characters would address the tactician, but they didn’t have a combat role.
This was expanded in the last DS entry, New Mystery of the Emblem (or Heroes of Light and Shadow, as the most popular fan-patch calls it). The game was a direct sequel to the previous Shadow Dragon, and a remake of the Super Famicom’s Mystery of the Emblem. An Avatar character was introduced as Marth’s bodyguard, and the player assumed their POV. However, because they were not included in the original game, they had more of a back-seat role.
Robin in Awakening was basically a co-star along with Chrom and Lucina; Corrin in Fates was both player-avatar and main character.
That continues here, with Byleth definitely being the main character. I find they’ve made Byleth a bit of a cipher. Both Robin and Corrin’s had much more active voices in the narrative, whereas Byleth is mostly mute. You choose their responses in dialogue, but only ever see them express it with hand gestures. If not for the character commenting when they get some kind of level up, you wouldn’t here them at all.
I find it makes Byleth come off as kind of a mute sociopath, and even dialogue from other characters (their father Jeralt in particular) mention the character being non-reactive or emotionless. There are spoilery story reasons for this, to be sure, but it still makes it seem a bit odd for so many of the other characters to develop deep, abiding love and respect for this person. A lot of support dialogue between other characters feels pretty natural, but you see Byleth’s supports more often and I find they always feel a bit awkward.
Adding to this, because you can rename Byleth, everyone only ever refers to them as ‘Professor’, regardless of deep emotional connection, or relative position. While it is fine for the students talking to Byleth, it is a bit odd given that the other professors are referred to by first name. Having someone who seems to rank above Byleth and be fond of them, like Rhea only refer to them as ‘Professor’ seems odd.
I realize this is likely just a direct translation of ‘Sensei’, but it feels awkward in English. I kind of wish they hadn’t given the option to rename Byleth. Alternately one of the things I liked about Mass Effect: Andromeda is that if you stick the default name for your main character, NPCs will use that fairly regularly instead of just calling you ‘Pathfinder’. Something similar would have worked well here.
Relationships and Characters
Character support conversations have long been a part of Fire Emblem. Awakening took this up a level allowing characters to marry during the game. Since a core plot element involved people returning from the future to avert a catastrophe, this gave you a chance to see their future children.
This proved so popular, that the mechanic was awkwardly shoehorned into Fire Emblem Fates with much stranger explanation (the characters immediately have a baby who is raised in another dimension where time moves faster). Because of the branching story lines, this also introduced a lot of character glut.
Echoes was remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden, so the mechanic was skipped, but I was afraid it would return in Three Houses. Thankfully these fears were unfounded. Only Byleth seems to have the option of in-game romance with another character when reaching support rank-S. Based on some rank-A support conversations I’ve seen, I assume some characters will get together when the war is over, and be mentioned in the epilogue, but the was the case pre-Awakening as well.
I like that the number of characters seems much reduced as well. It seems a lot easier to keep track of who is who, and for each recruit to get a chance to shine. A lot of support dialogue seems natural, and even though we only get a small glimpse at these characters, their motivations seem understandable. No more C-rank ‘disagreement’, B-rank ‘worse disagreement’, A-rank ‘we’re friends now’, S-rank ‘we’ve talked four times, let’s mate for life’ progression.
Classic/Casual and the Divine Pulse
One of the original defining characteristics of Fire Emblem was permanent death. As much as it was a hallmark of the series, I don’t think it really did what the designers were hoping. Instead of making every decision count, and valuing the sacrifice of a character that had to be lost to secure victory…every Fire Emblem fan I’d known would re-start the level when anyone died, myself included. Sometimes this would mean even if my save file said 30 hours, my actual playtime might be 2-3 times that. It also promoted a very defensive playstyle, inching across the maps, etc.
On the GBA entries, if you shut down the game, you place would be saved at your last action, but RNG would remain the same, so no turn do-overs to save characters. Path of Radiance on the GameCube introduced mid-fight saves, which at least cut down on having to restart the whole level.
The designers had noticed this, even among themselves, and so had introduced the Casual/Classic modes with New Mystery of the Emblem (along with the player avatar) and debuted them in English with Awakening. Characters who are taken out in battle are available for the next mission.
I found this greatly improved my experience with the series. I was invested in the stories of each character, so now I wouldn’t have to restart every time one died, greatly slowing my game progress. At the same time, it allowed me to try out riskier strategies in battle.
I still know people who play Classic mode, but even those who do admit to restarting every time someone dies and more or less just doing it out of habit. Still, there have been fewer and fewer as time goes on…
However, Echoes introduced a nice medium ground. Mila’s Turnwheel allowed a limited number of times per battle to reverse time a few steps if someone died or a strategy didn’t work out. It wasn’t too different from Path of Radiance’s battle-saves, but it was much less intrusive to the flow of combat than reloading a save.
The mechanic makes its return here as the Divine Pulse, and most of my Classic-only friends seem to enjoy using it. On Casual mode, I’ve only had need to use it a single time when Byleth died, so suspect using both methods is a bit of overkill. Once I’m finished the playthrough of this path, I think I’ll try Classic mode next and make use of the Divine Pulse a bit more.
The School
I was leery of the school aspect when Three Houses was being promoted. It works in some games, but I’ve found that when added to existing games (Valkyria Chronicles 2 for example), it comes across as gimmicky, or just an excuse to use a set of standard high school anime clichés.
I think that the problems are mostly avoided in Three Houses. The nature of the school/monastery means that you get to meet and develop relationships with both characters who will be with you for the entire game, and potential adversaries.
You know this is Fire Emblem, so war will be breaking out, but you get a chance to see where everyone is coming from, and develop bonds. It helps you keep in mind that people will be drawn into conflict not necessarily because of simple good and evil, but because of incompatible world views and goals that they hold up to be more important than their personal connections.
It makes it all the more tragic when you have to face former friends, and although I haven’t completed my playthrough, it gives me hope that the connections made at the monastery might bring characters together at the end. Fire Emblem games often feature an unseen adversary, manipulating things from the shadows, so seeing enemies recover old relationships at the end of war in order to face a greater adversary could be a powerful way to take the end chapters of this game.
The monastery itself could also be considered a character. I enjoy wandering the corridors and seeing what NPCs are up to, what the gate guard says, etc.
I also like that the school environment gives you non-combat opportunities for characters to develop relationships. I haven’t felt the need to play maps over and over with characters standing beside each other for battle after battle until they have something to say. If I really want to see two characters interact, I can invite them both for a meal, etc.
Base mechanics had been experimented with for a while, through Awakening, and then Fates, but the monastery is my favourite so far (and isn’t required to be something out there, like Fates extra-dimensional dragon refuge).
Time Management
Going along with the school, is the time management system, with main story missions taking place and the end of the month, and needing to balance training, personal relationships, lesson plans, etc.
Other JRPGs have used this in recent years, notably Persona 3, 4, and 5. It isn’t quite as detailed in Three Houses, as you usually only decide what to do once per week, and special events like birthdays, but it gives a nice sense of time passing.
Aside from time skips, such as in Awakening, Fire Emblem has not been great at conveying a sense of time. Unless the story calls for some snow, the continents always seem wrapped in eternal summer, and it is hard to gauge how many months or years one of these ware takes.
Spoiler for part 2
It was also nice to see the character designs re-done after the 5-year time skip.
The Protagonist
The Blazing Blade on the GBA (localized as Fire Emblem), the first game in the series brought to the West, introduced the Tactician as the player’s POV. Characters would address the tactician, but they didn’t have a combat role.
This was expanded in the last DS entry, New Mystery of the Emblem (or Heroes of Light and Shadow, as the most popular fan-patch calls it). The game was a direct sequel to the previous Shadow Dragon, and a remake of the Super Famicom’s Mystery of the Emblem. An Avatar character was introduced as Marth’s bodyguard, and the player assumed their POV. However, because they were not included in the original game, they had more of a back-seat role.
Robin in Awakening was basically a co-star along with Chrom and Lucina; Corrin in Fates was both player-avatar and main character.
That continues here, with Byleth definitely being the main character. I find they’ve made Byleth a bit of a cipher. Both Robin and Corrin’s had much more active voices in the narrative, whereas Byleth is mostly mute. You choose their responses in dialogue, but only ever see them express it with hand gestures. If not for the character commenting when they get some kind of level up, you wouldn’t here them at all.
I find it makes Byleth come off as kind of a mute sociopath, and even dialogue from other characters (their father Jeralt in particular) mention the character being non-reactive or emotionless. There are spoilery story reasons for this, to be sure, but it still makes it seem a bit odd for so many of the other characters to develop deep, abiding love and respect for this person. A lot of support dialogue between other characters feels pretty natural, but you see Byleth’s supports more often and I find they always feel a bit awkward.
Adding to this, because you can rename Byleth, everyone only ever refers to them as ‘Professor’, regardless of deep emotional connection, or relative position. While it is fine for the students talking to Byleth, it is a bit odd given that the other professors are referred to by first name. Having someone who seems to rank above Byleth and be fond of them, like Rhea only refer to them as ‘Professor’ seems odd.
I realize this is likely just a direct translation of ‘Sensei’, but it feels awkward in English. I kind of wish they hadn’t given the option to rename Byleth. Alternately one of the things I liked about Mass Effect: Andromeda is that if you stick the default name for your main character, NPCs will use that fairly regularly instead of just calling you ‘Pathfinder’. Something similar would have worked well here.
Relationships and Characters
Character support conversations have long been a part of Fire Emblem. Awakening took this up a level allowing characters to marry during the game. Since a core plot element involved people returning from the future to avert a catastrophe, this gave you a chance to see their future children.
This proved so popular, that the mechanic was awkwardly shoehorned into Fire Emblem Fates with much stranger explanation (the characters immediately have a baby who is raised in another dimension where time moves faster). Because of the branching story lines, this also introduced a lot of character glut.
Echoes was remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden, so the mechanic was skipped, but I was afraid it would return in Three Houses. Thankfully these fears were unfounded. Only Byleth seems to have the option of in-game romance with another character when reaching support rank-S. Based on some rank-A support conversations I’ve seen, I assume some characters will get together when the war is over, and be mentioned in the epilogue, but the was the case pre-Awakening as well.
I like that the number of characters seems much reduced as well. It seems a lot easier to keep track of who is who, and for each recruit to get a chance to shine. A lot of support dialogue seems natural, and even though we only get a small glimpse at these characters, their motivations seem understandable. No more C-rank ‘disagreement’, B-rank ‘worse disagreement’, A-rank ‘we’re friends now’, S-rank ‘we’ve talked four times, let’s mate for life’ progression.
Classic/Casual and the Divine Pulse
One of the original defining characteristics of Fire Emblem was permanent death. As much as it was a hallmark of the series, I don’t think it really did what the designers were hoping. Instead of making every decision count, and valuing the sacrifice of a character that had to be lost to secure victory…every Fire Emblem fan I’d known would re-start the level when anyone died, myself included. Sometimes this would mean even if my save file said 30 hours, my actual playtime might be 2-3 times that. It also promoted a very defensive playstyle, inching across the maps, etc.
On the GBA entries, if you shut down the game, you place would be saved at your last action, but RNG would remain the same, so no turn do-overs to save characters. Path of Radiance on the GameCube introduced mid-fight saves, which at least cut down on having to restart the whole level.
The designers had noticed this, even among themselves, and so had introduced the Casual/Classic modes with New Mystery of the Emblem (along with the player avatar) and debuted them in English with Awakening. Characters who are taken out in battle are available for the next mission.
I found this greatly improved my experience with the series. I was invested in the stories of each character, so now I wouldn’t have to restart every time one died, greatly slowing my game progress. At the same time, it allowed me to try out riskier strategies in battle.
I still know people who play Classic mode, but even those who do admit to restarting every time someone dies and more or less just doing it out of habit. Still, there have been fewer and fewer as time goes on…
However, Echoes introduced a nice medium ground. Mila’s Turnwheel allowed a limited number of times per battle to reverse time a few steps if someone died or a strategy didn’t work out. It wasn’t too different from Path of Radiance’s battle-saves, but it was much less intrusive to the flow of combat than reloading a save.
The mechanic makes its return here as the Divine Pulse, and most of my Classic-only friends seem to enjoy using it. On Casual mode, I’ve only had need to use it a single time when Byleth died, so suspect using both methods is a bit of overkill. Once I’m finished the playthrough of this path, I think I’ll try Classic mode next and make use of the Divine Pulse a bit more.
