#FEH Story Mode

[hulloitsdani]

My Silly Askr Trio Team Builds!! Yippee!!

Warning before going in; I am going full nerd mode here. But like, the math kind. The nerd who likes the gameplay mechanics of anime war crimes chess game that’s really a math game in a trench coat. I also do not claim that any of these builds are good, just that I’ve had fun playing and making them. Also also I’m entirely free to play.

So without further ado, oh no I like playing Heroes actually:

First off; Brave Princess Veronica!!! Who is technically not part of the trio but I needed a fourth!!!

I haven’t really built her in the same way I’ve tinkered with the others. But I put a lot of thought into who to round out the squad with and I think she was the best option I could have picked.

Since the goal of this squad is the difficulty, I didn’t want the fourth party member to be a significantly better unit than the other three. I didn’t want any overshadowing or a clutch. They also had to be from Heroes. Hopefully a mage of some kind so we had magical damage on the board. But most importantly, I needed a support unit.

Now I classify a support unit in FEH as a unit who is purpose built to support others on the squad. Be that through healing, dancing, or Lilith repositioning Altina straight into enemy fire and watching how the stat buffs she provides render attacks against Altina null and pure crit building fodder. Brave Veronica is a fantastic support when EVERY BUFF COUNTS. Now the move pool I have to pick from for these guys has grown exponentially and I have slowly accumulated the resources to buff their stats. But this wasn’t always the case! Each story map clear used to be a struggle and the rallying/debuff effect she gives post attacking would be the difference at times. She fit right into the play style I was having fun with and gave the Askr trio a fighting chance. Also don’t judge that seal I have more important units to put the better skills on and honestly she could use the health.

Up next, my pretty outdated Alfonse!!! How many Brazens can I give this dude!!

So remember how I said every buff was important with these three? This load out is a fantastic example for what I mean. Over time, I have gained the materials to buff the crap out of Alfonse’s stats. The flower cap got higher, traits became a thing, then ascended traits became a thing, add some summoner support in there and now I have an Alfonse with workable stats. But this was not always the case! And you can see the remains of this with the speed refine on his sword.

In case it’s not clear yet, I don’t change the weapons these guys have. I only refine them. And god damn Alfonse had NO SPEED and it was KILLING HIM. Don’t let that 40 speed fool you that’s the ascended trait. I did not know until building Askr trio that every time a unit has low speed, FEH equips them with a skill to ensure that they can still double. Alfonse didn’t have this, I’m too free to play for the skill fodder game, and I have a life outside this game. So I kept running into this problem where he would actually have the stats to kill, but could not consistently double, so he’d die. Speed on Fólkvangr was the solution I came up with. Then I got the ascended trait thingy and decided to never worry about his speed again. But at this time I don’t have the material to refine his weapon into something else so it’s still speed lmao.

Reposition is my favorite skill in game and I have never needed rally skills more than with this team. The perk with movement rally skills is that it rallies two units instead of one, and as previously stated, Alfonse needed the speed buffs. So Spd/Def Link (gives +6 to both stats on both units when movement skill was used) was the best and only option I had.

Now infantry rush (infantry allies within 2 spaces get +1 special cooldown per attack if Atk stat is higher than their enemy) was a bit of a mixed skill for this group when I first equipped it, but it made him fun to use with my main groups in other game modes. Alfonse giving student Edelgard that little boost before repositioning her into enemy lines was a very fun combo. And although it didn’t help every time, giving the Askr trio grander opportunities to crit is NEVER a waste. It can be the difference.

Also 60 Health. Brazen Skill. What more must I say. He reaches a certain health threshold and kills everything in a ten mile radius.

Next up: Anna!!! My beloved commander!!! Who can actually take a god damn hit!!!

Here you can see my two brain cells finally coming together to give Anna a gimmick. And that gimmick is friends plus frenzy.

So the perk of Anna is that she can kinda go wherever you want her to, if that makes sense. I feel like with Alfonse, he kinda wants to be built tanky and it was extremely easy to slap 3 brazen Atk/Def on him. But with Anna, I have not touched her traits beside a weapon buff to her pitiful attack stat, so this is her basic stat spread plus 20 flowers. There are most definitely builds taking advantage of things like her higher res, but I honed on her speed because that’s the one I had skills for.

Spd/Def form (if unit is in two spaces from an ally when entering combat, the will get a buff to those two stats based on the number of allies nearby) was serving Sharena pretty well, so I thought I’d give Anna the Atk/Spd variant. A lot of this group’s buffs comes from being nearby each other, so it fit pretty well. Decided to make those two stats her focus. That lead to Atk/Spd oath 4, which does a few things but mainly she can now move to spaces next to allies two spaces from her and get buffed by standing next to them.

Then. Then I found Frenzy. Frenzy also does a few things, but put simply it’s a damage reduction skill based on her speed. And I just gave her skills that all raise her speed. And her other team members can further buff her speed. Needless to say, Anna just went from the weak link to a god damn menace. On a unit with a stat total greater than 201, this could probably render attacks null. But on Anna, it entirely solves her 26 def problem. Usually when a unit has those paper thin defenses, it’s usually to account for a busted attack stat on a ranged unit. Glass cannon and all that. But Anna is an axe unit who needs serious Atk support to even turn one another axe unit. It was the inverse of Alfonse’s Spd problem and it was rough. This skill gave her the tools to survive and I have never felt so freaking smart playing this game.

Last but certainly not least; Sharena!!! She’s never done anything wrong ever!!!!

Unlike the other two, Sharena has no glaringly obvious issues. She’s got no res but that’s not new; no one here has res! So just don’t put her in range of magic. But that meant I really didn’t know what to do with her until I figured out Anna. The null follow is evidence of this. I was running into issues with follow ups, so I just threw a skill that made that problem go away on Sharena without thinking about how that could go towards her build. And that was basically her role for a long time. A random collections of skills to serve team needs.

That changed with the discovery of how speed plays into damage reduction and I gave Sharena a similar build with a different goal. Anna is built to hit and run, while Sharena is built to tank for way longer than she was meant to. Spd/Def form and refined Fensalir give her bonuses to Spd/Def around allies. Repel does the same thing as Frenzy with more bonuses to Spd and the ability to push people back. Godlike Reflexes uses her Spd to say that this attack from a mage won’t kill actually. Deflect melee is even more damage reduction to every consecutive melee attack after the first. Atk Oath Echo, while a nice tiny boost to Atk, is there strictly to help Sharena keep up with Anna. Again, every buff counts and those two are S supported to eachother. Giving her a higher movement skill to match her was an excellent use of that fancy x skill don’t @ me.

The result of all that math is a Sharena who can tank things 60 hp triple brazen Alfonse can’t. If I can time my specials right, Sharena can survive would be fatal hits from foes purpose built to team wipe. She is my Hail Mary. 25 Res is now all she needs to save me from very scary mages and Veronica can heal her up afterwards (something I can’t always do to Alfonse because it would take him out of Brazen range).

So yeah! Those are my guys! My funny little team! Thanks to power creep feh is very easily a pay to win game, but using these guys made me use my brain and made story mode missions actually satisfying to clear. It’s how I personally have fun. Book 3 final boss map on Lunatic haunts me to this day and that’s how I know I’m doing it right.

Wish me luck, because I am not even remotely caught up on recent books. These builds are going to have to withstand that onslaught soon enough and I fear triple brazen Alfonse might finally go down.

I would love to see others builds. Would definitely recommend playing FEH’s story mode with what are essentially Pokémon level caps. Makes it fun. Makes it mean. Feel the power creep come to kick you in the shins.

As a reward for reading this far, a gift!!! An even grander sneak peak for that one Alfonse alt I am going crazy making!!!

This was a total accident but it looks like an awakening crit portrait and I couldn’t be happier.

[thousand-winters]

Guys who learned NOTHING from the ordeal with Letizia. You really didn't gather that she wasn't the only noble opposed to peace??? I mean, you're all teenagers but... miss Henriette, please...

[takkamek]

can anyone give a summary of the newest feh channel and all the new stuff? i’ve only seen couple things and i’m super hype but won’t have time to watch the video till tomorrow

[saviourkingslut]

THREE HUNDRED ORBS AND THIS IS WHERE IT GETS ME >>>> NO XANDER

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

I used to really like FEH but honestly I hate what it's become. The story mode is too easy but on the other hand pretty much everything else is awful if you don't have the most powerful units. Powercreep has hit the game ridiculously hard; the only times I've seen games hurt by it worse, they were almost all idle games, which are always affected worse than any other genre. I quit playing after Book 5 bc I just wasn't able to enjoy it anymore, but I've been keeping an eye on things and a lot of what I've heard about the game since then scares me. What do you mean there's a character that can kill three units in one turn. Why are the skill descriptions so long. PvP has gone the way of all its kind in gacha games and become an unenjoyable pit (that's not new, I just hate gacha PvP)

Back when the game launched, I thought it was so neat, and there were so many characters I wanted to get. But it feels kind of gross looking at it now.

.

[emblemxeno]

Feh Channel Thoughts

-Uh, cool start, I guess? Ratatoskr is neat, I like squirrels.

-Veronica can't catch a fucking break lmaooooo why did they do that to her in the trailer

-Henriette on a wanted poster oooooh 👀

-HUMINA HUMINA WHOO WHOO AWOOOOGA WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!? 🥵🥵🥵

-Thracia bros I sincerely hope you get your moment sooner than later down the line cuz damn it looks like A!Ced and Sara being a backpack is the only things you're getting this year 😭

-Vaike/Teach bros I'm so fucking sorry that this bum-ass game has snubbed you like this again 😭

-Laurent is voiced by Chris Smith now? Wasn't he Patrick Seitz before? No complaints cuz he sounds great, but I wonder what the reason behind that is.

-Nice to see Severa and Inigo, but it seems like they're allergic to giving Inigo a prf

-THEY FINALLY REMEMBERED THIS FUCKER EXISTS AND HE GOT SICK ART DAMN

-Ma'am your coochie's about to fall out

-That sure is a new mode. I won't turn down stuff that I'll basically get for free, but if it's gonna be an auto-only mode, why even make a new thing to do in the first place?

-Cheap ass owl, couldn't even give us 8 orbs and still had the audacity to say "Oh look how many 8's there are in the rewards!"

Overall, not terrible but pretty whelming. Most interesting thing about the new story is Henriette being involved and whoever that new beefcake hunk with the huge manly arms is. I might pull for Lucina cuz of bias, but I might just wait until I see what the Christmas banner looks like before I do anything crazy.

[randomnameless]

Funnily enough, Byleth might be one of the more tolerable characters on CF specifically, if only because they just quietly enable Supreme Leader's bs instead of coming up with some character-assassinating nonsensical excuse for why they're helping the person that tried to kill them unprovoked five minutes ago like the rest of the non-Hubert and Jeritza BESF members; it's the only time that them being mostly silent does anything to benefit their character (other than shallow self-insertion that's half-assed in and of itself due to them still being their own character to an extent), since they're one of the only BESF members to make it out of the route with their characterization relatively unscathed due to not being able to say stupid shit like the rest of the recruitable cast (excluding how out-of-character it is for them to choose CF at all, but that's hardly an issue exclusive to Byleth lol).

Mmh...

After Nopes, Engage and FEH that fleshed Billy's character a bit more - Tru Piss!Billy is also Tru Piss'd.

A fwend made a list some time ago, but Tru Piss!Billy is callous and makes "jokes" at people's expense, when Billy doesn't (or when they do, it's in good fun).

Even in my first run I noticed Billy being WTF at Emile joining the gang to besiege Garreg Mach - and they finally get their answer about the Jerry incident and the Mole People thanks to Hubert in his paralogue...

But after Nopes, without taking Sothis into account, you want to tell me Billy wouldn't bat an eye and side with Flamey, whose associates (before Hubert tells them that no, they're mutually hating and using each other) killed their father? I'm not expecting Dimitri tiers of being pissed when Rufus says he killed Lambert, but even Barney was pissed at Clout in Golden Shower for the Randolph thing. Billy is just shrugging until, per chance, Hubert takes them along in their paralogue? Seriously??

Still, yeah, I guess not having lines means they escaped the assassination levels of other characters even if I can't say they escape scot free, plot and story wise, they lose the only link they had to their own mother (and if stroking the player's peepee wasn't that important, they would have lost their friend Sothis).

This makes me think, we see way more people (or used to see?) angry because Billy doesn't react (they do actually, but not in the way some players would like?) to Dimitri's boar mode, but those very same people didn't have the same criticism about Tru Piss!Billy, when Supreme Leader sprouts her "lizards BaD bcs non humans" spiel, her "no matter what we must kill Dimitri", or anything regarding her conquest being for the great Gud who is erring somewhere.

I wonder why?

[felikatze]

Here's the spreadsheet btw. All major story content that I'm putting in my fucking playlist. assorted by date. Other game modes can go fuck themselves I guess because they're not really telling a Story yknow

And here's my WIP playlist because I thought "wow i SHOULD catch up on FEH lore so i can understand what the fuck chrobin are talking about" and then I got mad that there is no easy way to do so.

[bowserinthesky]

Ok feh talk! IntSys give a free male OC challenge difficulty: Impossible...

Tbh I kinda like the new designs, definetely more varied than last book "v-tuber waifus with giant boobs" design used for most characters... But still sad that the guys are getting more shafted every year!

The two mysterious characters are my favorite designs (probably based in the yggdrasill's goat and stag) but I know IntSys gonna make the guy have the tiniest role possible or be the books main villain... I REALLY want they at least make him summonable, his design is so cool and I don't want to wait, like, 2 years for his base form get in the game :c

Also, talking of guys shafted... L for Inigo! He joins Sylvain in the fan favorite guys that become a shitty demote gang (Inigo at least has better stats, but he is a infantry sword... The most bloated and usually powercrept class)!

About the banner, nothing much else to say... Lucina gets another alt but now with probably the fast oriented rearmed axe, severa is a godsword and the we also heve free OC that shuts down one of the most annoying mechanics of the game: teleportation (Sorry gatekeeper you definetely lost your niche and also flier stonks definetely sinking). A rant about the demote tho, everybody knew Laurent would be a demote when getting in feh, but what bothers me is that IntSys insists in giving repeated shitty skills in the 4-star pool! Seriously? Atk/Res ideal and rouse atk/res? That's the exact same kit as Hilda which was released what? 2 years ago? There are 3 grail units with that ideal skill while 2 have rouse! We have some of the most busted tier 4 skills but then can't even get us some decend bridge fodder...

New game mode can't say much, IntSys always focusing in the PvP instead of PvE, but this time auto-battles for you so you can pretend you don't care when your team loses against the most bullshit whale team you can find... Also, the mode rewards looks really bad...

Anyways, I know I'm focusing more in the negative, but at least OCs looks cool... I Hope Veronica do something in this book and I'm curious about the book showing some focus in the askr Queen! I always expect nothing about feh story, but It would be funny If Sharena's mom got more development than sharena herself in this book (also, I'm definetely more interested in this book and last one)

[childofaura]

Since I asked about your favourite 3H characters, who are your top 10 least favourite characters or characters that you absolutely hate?

Uhhh I’mma go ahead and tag this one out as discourse, because yes I do hate Edelgard. But at the same time I usually do my best to either not just spam Edelgard hate (besides my anti-Edelgard posts for FEH, which I actually feel is pretty valid because I’ve had so many people agree with me that Edelgard gets a stupid amount of favoritism in FEH; even people who LIKE Edelgard agree with me), and I do respect people’s opinions for liking Edelgard, even if I vehemently disagree with it.

So with that being said, I’ll list my least favorite/hated characters for 3H. Some I hate for character/story reasons, and at least one I hate for gameplay reasons (though I like him as a character). These will also be in no particular order but number one is definitely number one.

Edelgard. Won’t elaborate because I’m not here to start arguments.

Kronya. She killed Jeralt so she can eat shit >:(

Hubert. I get he’s filling the role of retainer, but man the shit he pulls and how he treats other people… he’s the exact opposite of Dedue.

Yuri. I admit to probably over-exaggerating how bad of a person Yuri is, but he still comes off as super annoying to me. He’s just not very personable or friendly, which isn’t a problem by itself but it’s more that you’re SUPPOSED to like him despite being all nonchalant all the time. And I really don’t.

Byleth. Yes, I don’t like the main character of Three Houses themselves; Shez was better executed as a character. Byleth is quite fully a Mary Sue/Gary Stu. Everyone’s infatuated with them, they’re practically undefeatable and don’t really have much to learn or grow from, they almost never make any kind of mistake, and they carry Sothis’s blood and crest; these aren’t necessarily an issue on their own, but altogether it makes for an incredibly boring character. And they’re so bland and expressionless.

Gilbert. I don’t hate him for his story, or his character. I think he’s great in those regards!… No, it’s because THIS MOTHERFUCKER is an IDIOT in Chapter 5. Runs right in range where the archers are located without moving into a safer position. There is no plausible way to keep this dipshit alive in Maddening Mode.

Sothis. I don’t HATE her, but I am definitely sick of her “incomplete” form. We should have had her regain her memories and become an adult again, that could have resolved SO many plot issues that were left open-ended, like with Rhea and maybe Nemesis and TWSitD. Maybe someday we’ll get Ascended Sothis in her original form from the mural.

Mathias. I ENJOY his story. I ENJOY the role he plays. Between the stalwart nobles and royalty that is Lambert, Rodrigue, and Gilbert, Mathias is the exact dark underside of the crest system that Dimitri believes is unjust. That being said, it’s still pretty fucked up how he treated both Sylvain and Miklan, and he’s decently responsible for how Miklan turned out (not to say that Miklan deserves no blame for his choices, he absolutely does. He willingly made his own choice of being a brigand and treating Sylvain like shit).

Dorothea. This one I’m mixed on because I don’t hate her or even strongly dislike her. But if there’s one thing I really don’t like about her, it’s how she gets really creepily seductive, especially in the Byleth supports. And in Ingrid’s support she straight up tells Ingrid she’s gonna physically sexually harass her (and she’s already verbally harassed her). Which is kind of stupid considering how gross she feels when people only view her for her physical beauty. So yeah, to some degree I dislike her enough to put her on this list.

Monica, actual Monica from Three Hopes. I’ve already mentioned how her character is poorly written into being yet ANOTHER character who ass-pats Edelgard for no plausible reason in the other routes. If Dimitri or Claude are the ones who save her in their respective routes, why is she so strictly loyal to Edelgard? Especially considering how Edelgard was fully aware of the Kronya plan in Three Houses which means she essentially let her die for her cause. I’ll never understand it.

That’s pretty much my whole list, this time I had to include Three Hopes because I actually wouldn’t have had ten characters otherwise for the list. And it goes without saying but this is obviously my subjective opinion and I respect that these are people’s favorite characters.

[crystalelemental]

Alright, this upcoming week should be datamine. Here's the bingo board, because I am bored.

Psychic with Fast Ramp - We are two years running with the bait units being Psychic types with Fast-ramp. This feels very assured.

Victor Alt - Feels like a safe guess. Unless there's a wild swing from nowhere (PLEASE), it's Victor.

Paulo Playable - There will be at least one event outside of Galar VA, and the safest bet is Paulo Resolution. It's been a while since an OC got into the game, and Paulo is long overdue at this point. Feels very likely we see him added.

3* Flying Gear - We've gotten a new one every month lately, and I want that trend to continue. Do Flying next, cowards.

Legendary Gauntlet - Been a while. We were supposed to have one this month, but nope.

Variety Scouts - The worst possible outcome of whatever happens that isn't Galar VA.

No Select Scout - When did we last get a Select Scout? Masters is going the way of FEH. No guarantees, but here's some bullshit in a randomly assigned pick. Paid gems only. The game is getting worse about this.

Shadow Rider Calyrex - I feel this is very likely, at least on thematic focus. They tend to skew legends, and Shadow Rider Calyrex is a really cool option, because of Spectrier. I don't particularly care who gets it, so long as it's not Victor.

Nessa Dynamax - Like how Brendan got his mega, I think it's time for adding Dynamax retroactively. I realized after finalizing this that she's actually Gigantamax, but I'm not going back to fix it.

Peony Gaming - This is the wild swing. Bring Peony in to talk to Rose, let him be the second half of Galar VA. Just give me the olds. Peony, Opal, and Kabu. Please. I want this more than Gloria. I'll whale for it, DeNA, you can trust me.

Opal Time - Same as above, but more critical. Do you know how jarring it is to go through a Neo Champion event, where Hop and Marnie get to be close with the people most connected to them, and Bede's mentor isn't even in the fucking game? DeNA, fix this.

Hop Second Potion MPR - Grid expansion theory. Hop is going to be Sonia-esque. Patch up what she does that he can't. Double Potion MPR is the most critical aspect of this.

BAIT - I mean. Anniversary in September.

Leon Alt - Feels relatively safe, though please consider Peony.

Hoenn Appears Nonetheless - This goes hand in hand with Variety Scouts, and is at least likely. Maxie heralds further Hoenn focus. So far, we're 3 for 3 on the rerun Master Fair predicting the next set of alts. Will there be a fourth?

SS Leon Grid Expansion - The antithesis to Leon Alt. SS Leon really needs the expansion, just like Gloria. He's not...great.

Gloria alt - The single most likely outcome. Consider Peony.

Raihan Gigantamax - He'll be the PokeFair lodge rotation unit, because he gets Gigantamax.

SS Leon Rerun - Ties with 16. He's never been rerun. Almost 2 years.

Hop TM Barricade Buddies - This would be the swap. Sonia does speed, Hop does mixed bulk. I'd like to see it.

Corviknight - Fully expected. If we get 3* Flying Gear, it's guaranteed. Corviknight is a very popular Pokemon, and if Hop gets an alt, possibly even his Lodge alt (though I'd like Wooloo for that), Corviknight is destined.

When Drasna? - If we get another event, maybe it can be the Kalos E4 finally showing up. Sincerely, where the fuck?

Regidrago - In the Gloria/Victor/Leon timeline, this is the Regi I'd rather see. Eleki is less interesting, and we don't need Electric.

Caitlin Alt - The good outcome is that this happens in the style of a Dojo Gloria/SS Korrina event, just before anniversary. We know Caitlin sold well in her Halloween alt, DeNA. She's profitable, just do it. The worst outcome is Variety Scout.

Valerie EX - There are no Galar pairs lacking EX. It has to be a story mode pair. Please, DeNA. Please. My girl is suffering so badly, and you will not help her.

[clauderiegan]

Are you taking a break from FEH? :(

yeah i have been. the story is going in weird directions and they've been giving the same old people the same alts with the same kits with slight differences. i'll log in to try the new mode since it seems decent and i'm kinda interested in risen chrom

but it's just not holding my attention, my summoner being forced to make a magic baby with an OC was the reason for the hiatus lol

[pegasusknightsonly]

awakening vs engage is really funny to me bc awakening was intsys putting on the best damn talent show this town has ever seen because shadow dragon/new mystery were devastating flops (I've seen gameplay; i get why) so yeah a lot of mechanics were either stripped back or removed entirely to create gameplay that was simpler bc they wanted to bring in new players! they added casual mode to bring in new players! they took out support limits and weapons weights and greatly expanded the mark/kris role to bring in more players!

and this talent show was so fucking good that not only was the town saved but they've been trying to restage it almost every year since. it just doesn't hit anymore. fates' selling point was "heres all the things we think you liked from awakening, but better". sov narrowly managed to avoid the fe11/12 pit by having great art and emphasising it but it was still a remake and there's an entire post game content area that just gives you awakening lore. engage in the other hand is an extended advertisement for fire emblem heroes aimed at children that intsys had three extra years to polish and still had to keep patching because the gameplay balance isn't any good.

honestly the most interesting point of comparison is their approach to trying to bring in new players, which is the stated goal of each project: awakening went with a strong story, memorable characters, deliberately simplified gameplay and optional content and challenge maps for players who wanted more, alongside genuine replayability in the gameplay aspect of the kids. engage chose a vtuber designer for the visuals and had such a lack of coherent vision that she got no briefs for the characters she was designing. the story is unremarkable to genuinely bad, constantly dumbed down and thoroughly unrewarding. gameplay is focused so heavily around utility items masquerading as nostalgia that the game is unplayable without them and the additional content DLC is so badly designed they forgot to apply class growths to the auto leveling. engage doesn't really want players for whom it was their first introduction to the series to run off and purchase awakening on the 3DS eshop or pirate a copy of the impossible to legally purchase tellius games: it wants them to download heroes, spend money on heroes, sign up for feh pass and get addicted to gacha gambling. but yeah, engage having a casual mode is the problem 👍

[harusha]

Finished Engage. The story is still awful but it had its good moments (Ex. Zephia and Griss’s final scene). However, the other problem is that they crammed everything interesting into the last 5-6 chapters, so it was a ton of character exposition and “I told you my sad backstory, so I am now off to die immediately” flags. There are 26 chapters, excluding DLC and Paralogues.

Honestly, outside of gameplay maps, Three Houses feels like the better game for me. The Engage maps are fun and there are some good mechanics. I don’t think they’re Conquest level maps but they’re still solid. Really enjoyed Griss’s teleporting map and the final battle thematically (even if I think gameplay wise, it’s bland).

However, the Paralogues are an absolute pain because they’re mostly faithful recreations of the originals, and I do enjoy the nostalgia since I’ve played them all, but if it wasn’t fun in the original, it’s not fun here. Horses and Fliers still dominate even if Backup Infantry is very good. It just becomes painful to travel like say, Camilla’s DLC map or Lyn’s Paralogue unless you have high Movement (which is, again, a problem of faithfully recreating maps) and others like Corrin’s are boring even if there’s a gimmick.

Like thematically it makes sense but gameplay? Eh…

And the skill system itself being locked behind Tempest Trials, SP, and post-game is awful. Unless you are on Normal/Hard for Skirmishes to grind/cheesing SP with Great Sacrifice, you’re getting one really good skill or two okay ones at best. They made Tempest Trials worse than FEH’s too because the maps are tedious and you can’t auto easily

Emblems are broken of course, and you can clear Maddening without inheriting skills, but it just feels horrid that key mechanics are locked behind a grindy mode (Crystals) or to post-game (SP books). Not to mention the problem of Emblems being busted.

Like do not use the DLC Emblems or weapons if you want a decently hard game. Camilla breaks the game and I made Dimitri 2 on a flying horse with Alfred (70-105 dmg per round with Pair Up and Canter + forged Spear and forged Fensalir). And Soren is basically broken because he allows for baiting bosses like Lyn does.

Even the base game Emblems are gamebreaking (Ex. Lyn!Kagetsu who can use clones to chokepoint entire areas with dodgetanking).

They give you a lot of tools, but the most fun is early to mid game imo. And Paralogues themselves are way too backloaded. It was a pain to play them.

And the story itself has a lot of cute callbacks but it’s like…the pacing is bad. Really bad. I enjoyed the cast and my favorites were Zephia and Alfred, but this is worse than Three Houses by a large bit (and you generally don’t expect games to backslide on new installments).

And this is very much personal preference but I prefer Three Houses Skill System because it feels like you can actually build units and not just slap Emblems onto them + you’re forced to use new units each route if you don’t recruit. It just feels more thoughtful at times even with Three Houses’s weaknesses.

While Engage returns to the normal formula of chapter recruits, the problem comes in of “why would I use this character if Emblems can patch up earlier ones that are weaker?” It’s a conundrum that makes it not worthwhile to use new ones unless they’re busted (Ex. Soren!Ivy or Micaiah!Hortensia) or you really like them. It’s not the same as with Nino or the other Ests of the series.

And the Somniel mechanics itself…they made the monastery but somehow worse, and I’m someone who liked the monastery. You get 10-20 glowing spots per visit, Arena is 3 sessions that you have to manually choose + can’t skip intro quotes, Sommie Pet and Feed are unskippable scenes (and I love Sommie), mini games will break your thumb even on Normal for the button mashing one, and so forth. Horrid after the novelty wears off.

Really feels like they saw that people liked certain mechanics and ideas from Three Houses and went “yeah let’s shove it in but make it worse.” Lumera just felt like a worse written and less complex Rhea too…

However, you can really feel the love in the game, and it’s a delight for series veterans like me for callbacks even if the gameplay suffers from bizarre decision making and poor story pacing. And some supports like Alfred/Céline are genuinely good imo.

Game is heavily censored though to the point of contrivance as a note. It’s to the point where they censored all of Alear’s age appropriate relationships with other 17-year-olds and left in the adults only as explicit romance. Or how Veyle’s S Support now makes 75% or so of the game’s story and motivations bizarre and even incoherent/weaker.

NOTE: I don’t care about fictional characters’ rights, but it’s funny because you know they were trying to sanitize the game but somehow made it “worse.”

I think Engage is a solid 6.5/10 or 7/10 for me which is not a bad score.

Ultimately, if you want a good story, pick up Three Houses, Tellius duology, or Genealogy. Awakening for a solid, if vanilla, story.

If you want Gameplay, pick up Engage or like Conquest. Three Houses isn’t bad map-wise, it’s just weaker and the fact you have to play the maps at least 4 times to get the full story.

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

I really, sincerely hate Ephraim. I have yet to play Ephraim route but his stupid face makes me want to kill someone. Fe8 could've been such a great feminist story, where the hero is a woman who doesn't exist in the shadow of male characters but no!!! They decided to have Ephraim!!! WHY!! IT COULD'VE JUST AS EASILY BEEN A LITTLE TEAM OF SOLDIERS LEAD BY SOME NOBLE GUY FROM RENAIS BUT NOOOOO they just HAD to take attention away from Eirika. My friend who has played Ephraim mode insists it has important lore but guess what. I would bet two ribs that you could just as easily have all that lore by extending the game to be 30~ chapters like most other games in the series. There's no reason for Ephraim to exist but fulfill some qouta that every game has to have a male protag. And then in feh they completely ignore Eirika's entire thing of being a strong independent woman by making her an accessory to Ephraim!! And you know what the worst part is? Because Eirika has a brother, it is impossible to look at fe8 content without seeing deeply upsetting incest crap. Best case scenario, you just see some still awful shit of Lyon in a poly relationship with both of them but where they are not dating each other. Absolutely vile and I hate this fandom and the writers of fe8. The only silverlining is that Ephraim is a loser who had to have Eirika come save him but Eirika doesn't even get to have that victory because she would have been dead if it weren't for Seth noticing that Orson was suspicious as crap. Also final addition but they don't pronounce Ephraim's name correctly. In feh, Eirika says it as eh-frem when in fact it's pronounced as ee-fra-im. Dude is such a big failguy that they don't even get his name right.

-🛟

.

[hoesamo]

do you play any other gachas?

Yep, but housamo has been the one I’ve been most content with so far (granted, I don’t think I play that many gachas to begin with). I’ll make an unorganized list for this:

- I play FEH once in a blue moon nowadays (my first gacha, also I am still very much forever in love with my faves there). Whenever Ike, Lyn, or Tiki get a new alt I have to physically restrain myself.

- I loved GYEE’s art but got annoyed with the writing/translation, so I eventually stopped after getting Priapus (bc I am in love with Mentaiko’s art). I might come back to it at some point, but I’m still waffling on it.

- I tried Gaydorado but got fed up with the gameplay feeling like pulling teeth on ketamine.

- I once tried BSD and OPM’s gachas, since I enjoyed those animes. Again I quit shortly after getting my fave bc it just wasn’t holding up gameplay wise. Had nothing else going for it.

- Pokémon Masters I stopped playing bc the gameplay and story was boring (it was still young at the time) and my phone’s memory at the time couldn’t hold it anymore. Housamo beat it out and stayed on my phone bc it was just. Far more engaging in general. Deleting it was still painful bc I just got Cynthia shortly before I needed to free up space. ;w;

- I’m currently also playing Megaman X Dive, which has been sating my growing appetite for more megaman gameplay (since Capcom likes to blueball fans for any smidgen of new content for eons). I desperately wish it had better writing/translation, but at least the gameplay is doing something for me, though I WISH there was less grinding and a training mode for me to practice different set ups without wasting stamina.

- Love Nikki is an honorable mention because its gacha system is for clothes and not characters, but I still enjoy it when I do play it. I enjoy looking pretty in-game. :3

Anyway, those are the ones I can think of rn. Thanks for the ask!