Fire Emblem Three Houses (Spoiler Thread)

I suppose I could see it being deliberate on the writers' part. Still, if that was the intent, it doesn't really add much to the world building of the game for me. I still would have liked a bit more visual differences, since that would make the world feel more alive for me. That's one reason why I prefer Elyos to Fodlan.

And because I don't want people misunderstanding me, I don't think that Fodlan feels like a "dead setting" or has subpar world building; I do think that the setting has enough to make it feel immersive for me. I just don't think it does a better job than most of the other games in the series.

I'm actually fine with how Valla turned out, since the place felt like a ghost town and I felt it fit with the whole onryou theme Anankos and his minions have going on. While I wouldn't say no to supplemental material going on a bit more of Valla's history, I do feel like the game gave me enough details to make it a compelling setting for me.

Valla actually kind of reminds me of a Monster Hunter or From Software fantasy level, and I mean that in a good way. Heck, Elden Ring had one particular level that made me think "Huh, kind of reminds me of Valla." Complete with (Elden Ring spoilers) a very powerful and dangerous dragon as the end boss.

Edited by dragonfire5000 on Apr 30th 2024 at 6:00:07 AM

As a ghost town-like place Valla works wonderfully. Where it falls flat is with everything else, mainly due to missing the unit/class identity Hoshido and Nohr have, and even the characters who come from Valla that are found there (ie. Water Ghost Mikoto & Arete) are seen with Hoshidan/Nohrian clothes respectively. EDIT: That, and Ananakos himself in his sanest state is... just some hooded guy, which doesn't really give you much to work with.

Back to the worldbuilding aspect; while I'm admittedly a big fan of the worlds having their own history as such, to me, as long the main plot and supports are somewhat connected to that world's history and past events, that's enough to me. In that sense, the Tragedy of Duscur in Azure Moon/Azure Gleam does a solid job at that given it's both acknowledged in the main story, and you can tell how nearly everyone (sans two examples) had their lives affected by it.

Edited by Blackress on Apr 30th 2024 at 6:07:46 AM

I certainly wouldn't have said no to Vallite units having a more unique identity, but I'm actually fine with them reusing units from Hoshido and Nohr, since I always thought it carried the subtext of people from both kingdoms getting dragged into Valla after their deaths to serve Anankos.

I've probably mentioned before that I really like the onryou theme it has going for it.

I also get that it was probably easier to reuse units from a mechanical standpoint, so that’s another reason it didn’t bother me.

On the subject of world building, I'll admit I don't always use the same criteria to judge, because I usually try to gauge what type of world building the writers are going for and then how much I think what they presented works with that in mind.

I do like how a lot of past events do tie into modern events in Three Houses, even if the biggest takeaway is usually "human greed made things worse." I don't think having all that history makes it feel like this game went "above and beyond" in world building, but I do appreciate that most of the events tie into the main events in some way.

Edited by dragonfire5000 on Apr 30th 2024 at 6:31:00 AM

Goddamn ya'll all writing novels in this thread lately. I ain't reading all that.

You know what? I'm gonna go against the grain and say no at this point. Three Houses definitely feels half-baked in some ways (Being menaced by a .GIF of the immaculate one being my personal fave) but I feel like at this point the game would have not been the touchstone that it is if it was allowed to file off the rough edges.

Games have to be released eventually, and Three Houses had already been delayed a lot. If after delays, patches, and a whole spin-off game they still can't tell a decent conclusion that probably speaks more to their priorities than anything else.

@Caellach In Three Houses that part is true no matter whether you think it's just TWSITD or the Church or a mix of both behind these things.

For example, Adrestia was divided because of conspirational forces that lead to War of the Eagle and Lion and Faerghus was divided because of conspirational forces that lead to the Crescent Moon War.

Fair.

It's inspired by Chinese and Japanese history where both countries were divided and then reunified for the betterment of the land(Romance of the Three Kingoms and Warring States Period). Edelgard is pretty much Cao Cao, the Martial Emperor, and Oda Nobunaga, the Great Unifier

The game's writers even come from a Dynasty Warriors and Samura Warriors background and both those games deal with Cao Cao and Oda Nobunaga.

For the record, I'm not agreeing with the writing just that that's the intention of the writers.

Edited by MadSkillz on Apr 30th 2024 at 8:26:42 AM

Next fire emblem lord that's part of the Empire should just be cartoonishly evil but attractive. Like, have them be as unsubtle and cacklingly evil as Frieza.

I wanna see what kind of arguments come from that.

If you think about it, Frieza is against the status quo.

Back to the Three Hopes grind, now that I completed the Magolor Epilogue in Dreamland Deluxe. I'm in chapter 7 rn. Dimitri is captured by Cornelia and her army and, judging from the title, feral Dimitri might be closing in.

Meanwhile, F!Shez is rizzing up Hapi and especially Ashe but failed to get Sylvain's attention.

Edit: spelling and specification

Edited by Ayumi-chan on May 11th 2024 at 9:44:57 PM

Enjoy this Three Hopes meme to inspire your Azure Gleam progress.

I mean, the difference is that Cornelia literally has a knife pressed against their necks

It's a joke, lass, don't worry.

Also no, Cornelia doesn't have a knife, she has lasers aimed at the population.

Edited by RedHunter543 on May 11th 2024 at 8:52:17 PM

Guys I had the wildest dream. I dreamt that the members of TWSITD are disguised as our party members. Like it was a dream plot twist.

Chances are decent we'll another What If? timeline and I fully expect which slitherers take whose places will get shuffled around. Imagine Cornelia and Rufus as staunch Dimitri supporters only for it to be revealed it's because Rufus was killed and replaced this time.

Extending that to the students would be quite the Player Punch...

Finished CHP 7. I can feel the "Dimitri coming to learn of TWSITD" in the air. I'm honestly very excited to see how it will all unfold. We also had a badass scene of Dimitri's rescue and some more revelation like Annette's uncle teaming up with the bad guys.

Also, can I say just how well made the cutscenes are because damn, they look pretty.

The chapter is still one of my top ten favorites and everyone who did their performance was fantastic in my eyes no matter what you say!

Much as AM gets a lot of (not wholly undeserved) flack for its second half, I genuinely adore the first half immensely; I’d even say it’s stronger on the whole than SB and GW, except the climax leading into the rest… Heck, I can’t even agree with the Arc Fatigue criticism of the internal civil war plot; at most it could’ve been a chapter shorter so we’d have more other stuff, but it’s really not as bad as some folks make it out to be.

Can we all agree, even those of us who don’t wish the whole thing was somewhat different (if not overhauled)… Even for those of us who are happy with the original 3H, can we at least say that “Hopes” and it’s problems stem from Franchise Original Sin? If not the setting itself, then the series… Because honestly? That’s kind of where I feel FE has been struggling since the early-2010s, in feeling constrained by its established tropes and conventions; both 3H games are just the natural result of trying to both deconstruct the formula but also play a lot of it straight, for better or for worse or somewhere in-between.

Sorry this got away from me, but it’s kinda where I’m at guys.

I think it’s telling more that even when there’s a ton of stuff in Houses itself that says what happens at the midway point was a thing already in Houses, narratively the story of both games not using it meaningfully anywhere else nor foreshadowing it in the route itself leading up to it is what serves as the biggest cudgel against it.

You shouldn’t have to play an entirely different game, a very specific route, and reach the cutscenes just before the final battle to learn very specific facts that will be extremely important and pivotal to the plot of another games route. In general this should be seen in multiple routes if you have more than two.

Also Thales complete lack of ability to be threatening, while other Agarthans manage to do that much better(Solon, Cornelia) or even exploit flaws in the characters(Cornelia, Thales, Myson).

It effectively serves as the biggest highlight of the flaws of both games writing as a result.

And I say this with AG being my favorite of the three.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on May 13th 2024 at 7:41:35 AM

Blazing Sword, Sacred Stones, and Path of Radiance all followed the same basic plot as Shadow Dragon, yet somehow that's considered the series' golden age.

It's interesting to see when people think the series got "cliched".

I use Mystery of the Emblem as a the trope comparison for modern games because that's the game that started a majority of the tropes in the series.

Which I guess is where the series started having a set formula?

And yet, a lot games don't fit that formula; Radiant Dawn and Awakening both have plots that span several conflicts instead of just a single one, Fates introduced the idea of seeing a conflict from multiple sides that Three Houses would take up again, Blazing Sword didn't even have a major war as part of its story...

Edited by MisterTambourineMan on May 13th 2024 at 9:59:13 AM

You don’t count Bern’s invasions of other countries a major war?

EDIT: For context, the post previously said Binding Sword instead of Blazing Sword.

Edited by dragonfire5000 on May 13th 2024 at 8:04:12 AM

Got the title wrong.

Path of Radiance might have a similar basic plot, but there is some variance where Ike isn't royalty, which affects his perspective and how people treat him a fair amount. And then he only grudgingly accepts the Lord title in order to do what he feels needs to be done. Makes it more relatable—even if it's still a standard hero's journey at its core.

Having a simpler plot doesn’t make a game’s story bad, if it’s focused; the GBA titles and POR are all straightforward narratives which tell their stories very effectively.

In The Sacred Stones, we have the twins’ friendship with Lyon that grounds what would otherwise be a conflict that’s hard to relate to.

In Path of Radiance, the Greil Mercenaries’ mission to help Elincia reclaim Crimea is a Coming of Age for Ike as a leader, even as they fight across Tellius seeking allies.

In Blazing Blade, we have first a Succession Crisis that’s not as important as Lyn meeting her grandfather; then, Eliwood and Hector and their respective arcs as they try to stop a catastrophe and fighting a shadow war.

Even Binding Blade, for all its meandering across Elibe, is thematically consistent in how many people are willingly betraying their own for power/survival, which ties into Zephiel’s disdain for his own kind — ironically these “allies” are the people he’d most use to prove his Misanthrope Supreme point — whereas Roy uniting everyone from different backgrounds is the counter to this (and to Yahn’s claim that human/dragon coexistence is impossible).

Where later games fall flat, is for instance Awakening having a rushed second half (especially the middle act). Or Fates trying to use a Greater-Scope Villain as a Conflict Killer that doesn’t actually address the other issues (which come up only as needed and are dropped). Or Engage cluttering a straightforward story about bonds with… melodramatically-long death scenes and ramblings. Or Houses trying to both have all sides as valid, yet also one Hate Sink faction, and losing focus.

Finished Chapter 8 of AG. We finally got to meet Cornelia again and convince Annette's uncle to join Kingdom forces. Unfortunately for the party, Cornelia dies before any information is extrapolated. There is a silver lining however: Edelgard has the info they need. So our merry band heads back to Arianrhood to confront the emperor once for all.